by Tina Folsom
Maya’s hair on her neck stood. “What’s his problem? I’m just out with Thomas.”
“Apparently he didn’t authorize you to leave the house.”
“Authorize?” A cold shudder raked her body. Control. Somebody was trying to control her again. Again? Why did this feel so familiar? A strange sense of déjà vu filled her. She’d never let anybody control her life. So why did it feel like this had happened before?
A flash of a memory came and went just as quickly. Too quickly to register what it was. Control—it was the only word her brain could form. Had there been somebody in her past who’d wanted to control her? Instinctively her hand went to her neck, to the spot where the rogue had bitten her, where he’d lodged his fangs into her and drained her. A blast of cold air washed over her, like the fog this city was famous for.
Suddenly everything felt wrong. She felt fear clamp down on her and realized that she’d never again feel safe. Now that she knew what was out there in this world, the cocoon of safety she’d thought herself in when she was human didn’t exist. It never had, it never would again.
“Maya,” Thomas’ voice jolted her.
“Yes?”
“I said we’d better get back,” Thomas replied. Then he looked at Eddie. “And you’re coming with us.”
“What if I wanted to hang out here for a while?” Maya could tell that Eddie was merely teasing, but she wasn’t sure Thomas picked up on that.
“Out. Now.” Thomas’ tone was harsh and unyielding. Eddie answered with a grin and a wink toward Maya.
But Maya didn’t feel like smiling. She couldn’t allow anybody to control her, least of all Gabriel. If she did, she would lose what little of herself was left. She’d already lost her sense of security, her humanity, and her livelihood. She had to hold onto the last thing she had left: control over her decisions. She couldn’t allow anybody to make those for her.
Eighteen
Gabriel balled his hands into fists. How could Thomas show such poor judgment by taking Maya out of the house without sufficient backup to protect her? Had he already forgotten that the rogue was still out there, ready to attack her a second time? He couldn’t risk anything happening to her. He’d only just found her—the only woman he’d ever wanted for himself—and nobody had the right to take her away from him.
The fear in his gut churned to anger. Without Maya in his life, all light would vanish from it. After the hours he’d spent with her in bed where she’d allowed him to touch and kiss her, he’d felt happier than he ever had in his entire life. He’d floated on Cloud Nine until he’d met up with Zane to get a detailed update on his investigations.
The results Zane had presented had been bleak. Of all possible vampire males who could be responsible for the attack on Maya, some of Scanguards’ own were on the list. A frown crossed Gabriel’s face when he recalled the names on the list: names of vampires whose whereabouts couldn’t be confirmed at the time of the attack. Men he’d known for a long time: three excellent guards from Scanguards, and even Ricky and Zane were on the list.
Zane, straightforward as he was, had admitted to him that he too didn’t have an alibi, at least not one that could be verified—apparently he’d been at some dive fucking anything in sight. And true to his modus operandi, he’d wiped everybody’s memory of him. Apparently, Ricky had done the same at a different nightspot. Considering his recent breakup with Holly, that was to be expected and certainly not unusual.
Gabriel swallowed away his doubts. No, nobody that close to them could be responsible for this. If he couldn’t trust his own people, who could he trust? But still, could he simply dismiss the possibility because they were one of them? Zane had been in Maya’s room when she’d woken, but he had made no attempts at approaching her since. Was it deliberate? Was he staying away from her so he wouldn’t attract any attention?
And Ricky—he’d shown up at the house, and his lustful look hadn’t escaped Gabriel when he’d shaken Maya’s hand. He couldn’t really blame the fellow either. Maya was beautiful. Who wouldn’t lust after her?
The noise of two motorcycles halting in front of the house interrupted his dark thoughts. Gabriel rushed to the door and swung it open to see Maya rise off the back of Thomas’ Ducati. Eddie was riding the second bike. Gabriel had known instinctively that if somebody could find Thomas, it would be Eddie. After all, he spent the most time with him.
Still seething with anger over Thomas’ irresponsible action, he suppressed his urge to run to Maya and take her into his arms. He had to deal with Thomas first and make it clear to him that any further actions that endangered Maya couldn’t be tolerated and would be punished.
As the three marched toward him, Gabriel stepped aside to let them enter. He slammed the door as soon as they were inside the foyer.
“Did you have any idea what you were doing, Thomas?” Gabriel thundered. “Maya could have been attacked out there.”
“Gabriel, she was never in any danger.”
Gabriel crossed the distance between him and Thomas and went nose-to-nose with him. “You had no right to take her out of the house and put her at risk. I forbid you to—”
“Gabriel, stop!” Maya cut in. He snapped his head toward her and found her standing with her hands at her hips. “That’s enough. I asked Thomas to get me out of the house. I’ve been cooped up here for days. You can’t keep me locked up here forever.”
“Is that what you thought? That I’m keeping you prisoner?” All he’d done was protect her. Didn’t she realize that?
“It sure feels like it,” she grumbled under her breath, but Gabriel had no trouble picking up her words. They hurt.
“I was only trying to protect you. The rogue is still out there. He could strike at any time—you’re not safe out there.”
“I’m not safe anywhere! But you can’t protect me from everything.”
“I can,” Gabriel protested. “And I will. Even if I have to—”
“Lock me up and watch me twenty-four hours a day?” Maya tilted her chin up, defiance clearly written in her beautiful face.
“That’s not what I wanted to say.”
“But you were thinking it. I’ve led an independent life up till now. And I won’t change that—not for you or anybody else. Nobody will control me.”
He took a step toward her, but she raised her hand, making him stop in his tracks.
“I have to be able to defend myself. I can’t rely on somebody else to be there for me all the time.” She turned.
“Maya, listen.”
But she continued up the stairs. “I’m going to sleep. My mind-control lesson with Thomas has exhausted me.”
Mind-control lesson? Gabriel spun around to face Thomas, who still stood in the hallway together with Eddie.
“Why didn’t you say you were teaching her mind control?”
“Because you didn’t let me get a word in edgewise.”
Gabriel ran his fingers through his hair and let out a ragged breath. “It’s driving me crazy. When I’m not with her, I worry. Do you understand that?”
Thomas only shook his head. “You’ve got it bad. But if you don’t let go, you’re gonna lose her. She’s a strong woman.”
“Hell, what do I know about relationships? All I know is that I have to protect her. The rogue’s still out there.” Apart from his short-lived marriage to Jane, he’d never had a relationship with a woman that didn’t involve an exchange of money for services. Was he supposed to go to her and apologize, and if yes, when? Or was he supposed to wait until she gave him a sign of when she was ready to talk?
How the hell would he know! He couldn’t very well ask anybody.
“Protect her, but don’t suffocate her.”
Gabriel stared at his colleague. Had he really been too heavy-handed? All he was trying to do was to protect her from danger. He’d protected others all his life in his capacity as a bodyguard, so why would this be any different? “It seems that I don’t know the difference.”
&nbs
p; “Then you’d better learn it fast. Maya is unique—she won’t take any crap from anybody. And by the way, she won’t learn mind control.”
“What?”
Even Eddie gasped at the news. Mind control was an essential tool to any vampire, as important as his fangs were for feeding.
“I tried to teach her, but she can’t influence any human. Now, inanimate objects—that’s another story,” Thomas baited him.
“Explain.”
“She can move objects with her mind. Maya tried to plant suggestions in people’s minds, but instead she moved things. Glasses. Chairs. She has a unique gift.”
“But what will she do without mind control?” Eddie interrupted.
Thomas shrugged. “We’ll have to see how things develop. She might be able to compensate somehow.”
Gabriel felt worry course through him. Without mind control, she had no protection against the human world. If anything, he had to step up his efforts to protect her, not loosen the reins like Thomas had suggested. “Compensate how?”
Thomas smiled. “She needs somebody she can trust. And not a bull in a china shop who orders her around. This woman—” he pointed to the second floor. “—doesn’t like to be told what to do. If you want to remain in her good graces, I suggest you see her for what she is: an independent and strong woman. She doesn’t want a babysitter or a bodyguard.”
Gabriel nodded. Maya had been through enough. She was faced with too many changes right now. Her whole life had been uprooted and her identity put in question. What was she without her devotion to her profession, her friends, her family? He’d assumed that just because she’d responded to him with such abandon, that he would be enough for her. He’d thought that she would simply accept his help and his judgment and fall in step with him.
He’d forgotten that she was an individual, who needed to make her own decisions. And if he wanted to keep her, he had to give her that freedom. As hard as this was for him.
Gabriel remembered when he’d held her in his arms and pleasured her—not when she’d been delirious, but later, when she’d been awake and fully aware of what he was doing. She’d responded to him, looked at him with such desire in her eyes that he couldn’t think even for one second that she hadn’t wanted him then.
Maybe once he truly laid claim to her, once he was able to really make love to her, then things would be different. But he hadn’t been able to do that so far, and even if he followed her now and apologized for his gruffness, he couldn’t take her to bed like a man should. He couldn’t allow her to see him naked. She would recoil from him, and then he would lose her forever. No, he had to give her and himself the time to sort out the obstacles between them. She needed time to calm down and see his reaction for what it truly was: a move to protect her rather than control her. And he needed time to take care of his problem.
Eddie’s cell phone suddenly pinged. Gabriel turned his head and watched him open it and read the alert. “Excellent, AT&T’s servers are back up.”
Gabriel felt relief wash through him at the news. “Go, both of you, and get me the data. Just fax the phone list over once you have it. Oh, and call Yvette on your way to ask her to take over for you here.”
“Will do,” Thomas confirmed and opened the door, Eddie on his heels. With a start, Thomas pulled back and looked over his shoulder. “It appears you have a visitor.”
***
Maya let herself fall on the covers of the bed. As she turned her face, she could still smell Gabriel’s scent lingering in the pillows. How had everything suddenly gotten so complicated? Only hours ago she’d felt happy and satisfied. Now things were in uproar.
The man who’d stood in the entrance door when they’d come back from the Castro wasn’t the same man who’d held her in his arms and touched her with almost worship-like reverence. This wasn’t the Gabriel she thought she knew, not the tender, careful lover of the day before. This Gabriel was different: harsh, unyielding, powerful.
And from his exchange with Thomas, she knew he indeed did have the power he wielded so easily now. This wasn’t the man who’d kissed her tenderly and had told her he looked forward to dinner, as if he was the one feasting on her instead of the other way around. As if she could feed from him right now. She couldn’t face him right now, not after what she’d said to him only a few minutes ago.
She knew why she’d reacted so harshly to his reprimand. It was the flash of memory that had assaulted her in the bar.
Control.
The word spread in her mind again. Something about it filled her with fear. And when she’d seen Gabriel standing in the doorway, she’d seen it in his eyes: he was used to controlling those around him—maybe not because it was his nature, but because he was the boss. And at that moment, he’d scared her.
She had the strangest feeling that she’d had a similar conversation with somebody else. When she’d accused Gabriel of wanting to watch her twenty-four hours, she hadn’t really spoken to him. The words had come to her from a memory she didn’t have.
Maya shivered when her mind led her to connect the dots. The words had come from the memory the rogue had erased—words she’d spoken to the faceless monster who’d turned her. He’d wanted to control her, possess her. Instinctively, she knew that now, even if she didn’t remember it. Her memory of that time was still blank, but her body had retained sense memory. When she’d heard herself say those words to Gabriel, her body had remembered the fear she’d felt when she’d confronted the rogue with them.
She had to explain to Gabriel that she hadn’t wanted to snap at him. That this wasn’t about him but about her own fears. He would understand.
Nineteen
Gabriel set the empty glass of blood he’d poured himself onto the coffee table, then looked at Francine, who’d made herself comfortable on the couch.
The witch gave him a long look. “I’m concerned.”
Gabriel’s spine stiffened. “About?”
“I’ve had a long talk with Drake. I have some suspicions about Maya.”
“Suspicions?” He felt himself become defensive.
“Relax, vampire. When I say suspicions, I don’t infer that she’s deceiving anybody. She truly doesn’t know what’s wrong with her.”
“There’s nothing wrong with her.” In fact, he’d never met a more perfect woman.
The witch smiled knowingly. “Do you guys ever come off that testosterone rush, or are you always this jumpy?”
When he opened his mouth to retort, she merely cut him off with a move of her hand. “Luckily, I’m not the one who’ll have to deal with your ego. I’m much more interested in Maya’s condition.”
Gabriel exhaled sharply. “Why is that?”
“She’s a vampire, yet she drinks your blood and rejects that of humans. She went into heat when vampire females are known to be sterile.”
“You know an awful lot about vampires.”
She shrugged. “It’s important to know your enemies: the better to fight them. But pleasantries aside, have you considered the possibility that you giving Maya your blood has triggered her symptoms?”
Gabriel shot up from his seat. “You’re suggesting my blood is not good for her?”
“You sure are one to jump to conclusions. No. All I’m saying is that your blood could have awakened some latent genes in her. You told me yourself when we talked about your problem that your turning was just as difficult as hers. What if you have more than that in common?”
He raised an eyebrow. He’d told the witch an awful lot about his predicament that night just before Maya had collapsed. “We couldn’t be more different from each other.” She was perfect, and he was anything but. Even the witch had to know that.
“She craves your blood—and yours alone, as I understand it. Not the blood of a human, nor the blood of any other vampire.”
“Because I finished the turning.”
“No. Because there’s something in your blood that she needs. Maybe something her body recognizes.”
“You make it sound like I’m a drug to her.”
“In a way you are. But we won’t know for sure until I’ve analyzed blood samples of both of you.”
Gabriel narrowed his eyes. “If this is a trick for you to get vampire blood so you can—”
Francine let out an exasperated huff. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a vampire, who’s more suspicious than you are. Trust me, vampire: if I wanted to harm you, I could have done so long ago.”
Trust her? Maybe he had to if he wanted to know what was wrong with Maya and with him. “Maybe if you called me ‘Gabriel’ instead of ‘vampire,’ I’d have an easier time trusting in your good intentions.” He paused. “Francine.”
She raised an eyebrow. “If that’s all it takes, I can do that.” She paused for effect. “Gabriel.”
Gabriel relaxed and sat back down in the armchair by the fireplace. “How much of my blood do you need?”
“Just a small vial. I’ll take it to my lab and analyze it. Won’t take more than an hour.”
“You have a lab?”
“You didn’t think I could live off being a witch, did you? I work at a commercial lab downtown. It pays—” She winked. “—enough to buy crow’s feet for my potions.”
“Let’s go upstairs. I hope you don’t mind if we perform the bloodletting in the bedroom. I’d rather not be interrupted. My associates would find it strange to say the least if I gave blood to a witch.”
She stood and took her satchel which presumably contained all kinds of witchy things. “Normally I’d say no way, but seeing how infatuated you’re with Maya, I daresay you’re no danger to me.”
For the first time since the witch had arrived, Gabriel let out a small chuckle. “You’re an attractive woman, but no offense—I have no interest in you or any other woman besides Maya.”
Once in the master bedroom, Gabriel closed the door quietly behind him. “Just one request: let’s be quiet. Maya is next door, and I don’t want her to hear us.”
“Fine.”
