“Well,” she swallowed, “I, uh, didn’t give you much choice in the matter last night. I should have controlled myself a little better.” She looked down at her hands, trying to make herself unclench her fists.
Julius let out a loud, masculine laugh, the tension in the car dissipating in an instant. He looked at her side-long with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. “And I was fending you off with a bargepole.” he retorted. He caught her chin with his fingers, not bothering to pay attention to the road, and tilted her face to look at him. “It was an amazing night,” he said in a deep purr, ensnaring her eyes with his. Then he sighed and broke her gaze. “Can we save this conversation for later?” he asked, sounding regretful. “If we start talking about it now, I’m not going to be able to concentrate on the task at hand.” He ran the back of his fingers softly down her cheek as he withdrew his hand. “Perhaps we can discuss it at your house after we finish up here?”
Gabi felt a rush of sensation flood her, and she had to clamp down hard on her self control. “I might owe you another apology tomorrow if we do that,” she warned him, trying to keep a blush from her cheeks.
A slow, pleased smile lifted the side of his face that she could see, the tiniest hint of a dimple appearing as he tried to keep the smile from becoming a smirk. And then their conversation was brought to an end. They had arrived at their first ley line convergence.
Chapter 21
They had been at it for over four hours, and they’d found absolutely nothing. Between the three teams, they’d covered almost every square inch of the City and triple checked the areas with the strongest ley line activity. They’d unearthed a few things of interest, but there’d been no scent of a Demon, Ghoul or unknown Vampire anywhere. Kyle’s team had found a group of homeless humans staying in an abandoned warehouse who told them that half their number was missing, at least twenty of the people who usually crashed in the place had disappeared three nights ago and not been seen since. The unspoken consensus between the Hunters and their company was that they weren’t the only group who had lost members. Danté was obviously picking the easy prey, taking those who wouldn’t be missed. There had been a very slight scent of Demon left near the squalid warehouse, which only Kyle had been able to detect, but it ended a few blocks down the street, so it seemed that they’d left in a vehicle.
At 1:30 Gabi got a call from Byron. She was incredibly frustrated that there was absolutely nothing to report. Byron told her to send two teams home and leave on one patrol. It was pointless exhausting everyone when nothing was happening, the other two teams would still be on standby if things went pear-shaped. He assured her that SMV staff were monitoring the emergency call lines as well as the police frequencies, if anything strange went down anywhere in the City, they’d know about it. Gabi reluctantly agreed that roaming the streets aimlessly seemed a waste of resources, so she called the other two teams to meet at a late night coffee bar.
She sent Marcello and Matt in to get coffee while the rest of them gathered in the parking lot, as all of them traipsing into the small café would’ve scared the shit out of the handful of late-night patrons. When she told them Byron’s orders to head home while her team continued the patrol, there was a huge uproar. Nobody wanted to go home. Kyle finally made the point that she was the only one of the Hunters with a day job, so it would make more sense for her to go home. Eventually, she agreed to draw straws to see who stayed and who went home. Kyle grabbed some plastic coffee stirrers and broke them into different lengths. Fergus got to hold them and the three leaders chose. Kyle drew the shortest straw, so he and his team would stay on duty until just before dawn; the rest would go home but stay close to the phone and battle ready.
Julius drove Gabi back to the warehouse to collect her car. Then he followed her as she drove back to her house. Gabi could feel little tendrils of pleasurable anticipation curling in her stomach at the same time that anxious tension knotted her shoulder and neck muscles. She didn’t know where things were going between her and Julius, but she did know she felt more strongly about him than she’d ever felt about a man in her entire life. She was almost unnaturally drawn to him, and she worried it wasn’t real, and then she worried that it was real, was she falling in love with this man? This man who was a Vampire? Is that what the incredible urge to be with him, near him, a part of him was all about? Love? And even if she could figure out her own feelings, what about him? Was she just an amusing fling, a roll in the hay, a notch in the bed post? Something new and different and therefore interesting, for now, something he’d grow bored with in time?
She’d like to think she could sit down and have a conversation with him tonight, try to work out where their relationship was going, if they even had a relationship, but she knew better. She knew that the moment they were alone together the lust would flare between them. That she wouldn’t be able to keep her hands off of him. She’d spent the whole night keeping a tight rein on her actions, all the while wanting to find a dark corner and kiss him into insensibility. The strength of her need for him scared her. She realised she had two options; to not invite him into her home tonight, to tell him that she didn’t want a repeat of the previous night, to send him back to his estate and to keep away from him as much as possible until the war with Danté was over, and then to never see him again. Or she could give in to her desire. She could let fate take her where it may, to open her door and her body to him and see where it led them, knowing that she may have to pick up pieces of a shattered heart in the future. When she stopped the Mustang outside her front door, she’d made her decision.
She got out of the car and steeled herself, taking a deep calming breath as he unfolded himself gracefully from the driver’s seat of the Audi. She knew the next few minutes were going to be difficult.
“Let me go inside and try to ‘talk’ some sense into Razor first,” she said. “I’m sure you don’t want a repeat of the other night.” She allowed a small, teasing smirk to escape.
“I’ll just wait out here while you tame the monster,” he agreed with a slight growl. “But don’t take too long,” his voice became a sexy purr, with a hint of the accent he got when his fangs were extended. A delicious shiver ran down her spine as she turned and hurried into the house, leaving him in the dark, lounging against the Audi.
It took her a while to convey what she expected from Razor to the huge cat’s mind. Cats’ minds worked so differently to a human’s, and they saw the world in much more basic principles. The way she worked with the animals was by using pictures and emotions. Emotions were the easiest for her to control: she could force calm over a panicked or violent animal, she could encourage bravery in a timid animal, she could soothe a disturbed animal. Positive actions were also fairly easy to convey. She could visualise what she wanted to animal to do and give it a mental ‘push’ to do what she wished. Negative actions were the most difficult; the ‘don’t do this’ instruction was quite complicated, as she first had to show the action and then find a way to show the reverse of that action and convey that the animal was not to do the action. It was not the way their minds tended to work. So telling Razor to not attack Julius was a tricky undertaking. She could feel his fierce resistance to the whole idea. Finally she showed him that if he attacked then Julius would leave and so would she; Razor had a fairly well developed understanding of cause and effect, so that ultimately led him to give in, though he did so with very poor grace. He stalked off to sulk in the lounge, and Gabi had the feeling that her brand new lounge suite was going to need some repairs in the morning.
She was still in a crouch on the floor in the hall where she’d been conversing with Razor when Julius appeared in the doorway behind her.
“Amazing,” he breathed, “I can sense your power when you use it like that.” His eyes held a kind of wonder. “I could taste the emotions you were projecting to him, and then there’s a kind of pressure, like velvet brushing against my skin. I’ve never felt anything like it.”
He stepped into the
hall, put his hand out to draw her to her feet and laced his fingers with hers. As she straightened, he pressed close to her, crowding her until she was backed up against a wall. His free hand flew to the back of her head, and in a fraction of a heartbeat, he’d pulled the fastenings from her hair, and it tumbled down around her face in gentle, chestnut waves. His fingers wove into the strands at the back of her neck and pulled with enough force to tilt her head back, raising her mouth to where he could capture it with his own.
“I can feel yours, too,” she said in barely a whisper, as she watched his lips part to reveal his fully extended canines. “When you call to others, it feels like the tingle in the air before a summer storm.”
And then his lips were only millimetres from hers, he paused there and drew a slow lungful of air into his chest through his nose, as though relishing the scent of her. She unlaced her fingers from his and plunged both her hands into his hair dragging his head forward so his lips finally met hers. She felt him try to temper the joining of their mouths, try to take her mouth gently, but she was too far gone, and as their lips met, tongues tangling in a hard, desperate kiss, she felt his sharpened canines nick her tongue and pierce her bottom lip. His body shuddered against hers as the metallic taste of her blood swept through both their mouths. He groaned, plunging his tongue more roughly into her mouth, sucking at the small injuries, his hands now running freely over her body, removing weapons and sheaths with hurried dexterity, and then starting on her clothes.
The difference in their heights made kissing an almost gymnastic feat, so once he had removed everything but her lace panties he lifted her up, and she curled her legs around his waist, luxuriating in the feel of his tautly muscled body close against her bare skin. The coarse fabric of his shirt chafed pleasurably against her nipples, bringing them to hard, aching points. She realised she needed to get rid of the material between them and only barely stopped herself from ripping his shirt off again. She managed to control herself enough to pull the shirt over his head, and then pulled herself as tightly as she could against him as she pressed little biting kisses along the line of his jaw towards his ear.
“Bedroom?” he asked hoarsely.
“Down the corridor, second door on the left,” she whispered as her lips found his earlobe and her tiny canine teased the tender flesh. He tightened his grip on her for a brief second, and she could feel cool air rushing across her skin, she could feel his muscles undulate with movement under his smooth, cool skin but she kept her eyes closed as she started nipping her way down the graceful length of his neck. A moment later, she felt them falling. She blinked her eyes open as she hit the carpet, she could feel the softness of her fake fur rug beneath her back. He was above her, his body half covering hers. His arms had completely cushioned her body as they fell, she’d hardly felt the impact. They’d made it to her room, but not to her bed. She was vaguely aware of her bed a few feet from them, still mussed from her catnap earlier, but as Julius lowered his head to her body and she felt him rip apart the lace of her panties with his teeth, everything else in the world ceased to exist.
They did make it to the bed at some point, Gabi realised as she finally became aware of her surroundings again. They were both entangled in the sheets, her head was on his chest and his arm was wound tightly around her waist holding her close to him. The bedside clock told her it was a few minutes before 3am. She’d lost track of an entire hour. She was still breathing heavily, and her heart was pounding like she’d run the obstacle course twice. She knew they both could do with a shower, but she wasn’t sure how long it would be before her arms and legs would obey her commands. She could still feel the burning tingle where his fangs had pierced her inner thigh, and she felt a blush trying to rise in her cheeks at the memory, though her traitorous body clenched in recalled ecstasy. His arm tightened minutely around her.
“Shower?” he asked, kissing the top of her head.
“When I regain some control of my muscles,” she agreed. “You can go first, while I recover,” she suggested, knowing what was likely to happen if they got into the shower together.
“Or,” he said in a seductive purr, “I can carry you.”
She chuckled weakly and struggled to a sitting position; his arm released her, but began to trace a path up and down her spine.
“So many scars,” he said softly, as he traced a jagged one about three inches long across her left shoulder blade.
She snorted softly. “Goes with the territory, as they say.”
“I wish I could erase them for you,” he said, sitting up behind her and kissing the imperfection.
“Each one has a story,” she said thoughtfully, “Many of them are lessons I had to learn the hard way. I’m not sure I’d be willing to give them up.”
“Lea, my warrior,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.
“And you?” she asked him. “How many battle scars do you have?”
“No visible ones,’ he said enigmatically, but continued before she could interrupt. “Vampires don’t scar unless the injury is inflicted by silver, or the wound comes into contact with salt water.”
“Oh,” she said, surprised. “So Fergus’ face?” she left the question hanging. Julius took a breath and she could feel a sense of sadness surrounding him now. She wondered briefly at her ability to feel his emotions, she didn’t doubt for a moment that she was imagining it, it was simply too strong to ignore.
“He poured salt into the wound before it healed,” he answered slowly, “like you, he wanted to remember the lesson.”
She could feel that was all he was going to say on the matter and that whatever the sadness was about, it was old and deep-seated. She wouldn’t push him now; she would pry it out of him some other time. She peeked at him over her shoulder.
“Shower?” she asked with a raised eyebrow, then dragged herself off the bed and sauntered naked into her en-suite bathroom. As she turned on the water, she heard a phone ring. Her pulse leapt, even as she realised that it wasn’t her phone ringing. She moved back to the doorway and watched as Julius scooped up his pants from a pile on the floor and found his phone. He was glorious naked, she thought. He checked the caller’s number.
“It’s just the Estate,” he told her, “go and shower, I’ll join you as soon as I’m finished.”
She nodded and retreated to the steamy warmth of the shower cubicle. When she heard the shower door open, she scooted over to make room for him but instead of joining her he was already dressed.
“I’m sorry,” he said, “I have to go. There’s been some kind of accident at the Estate. I need to get there to sort it out.”
“Do you need some help?” she asked, all business now. “I can be dressed in a few minutes.”
He reached into the shower, putting his hand behind her head and drawing her close enough for a kiss, heedless of the water soaking his shirt sleeve.
“Thank you, Lea,” he breathed, “but no. It is probably better that I deal with this one without any distractions. Get some sleep, I’ll call and give you an update before I crash for the day.”
And in the next instant he was gone, just the memory of the feel of his lips remained in the shower with her. She unhurriedly finished her shower, pulled on some loose cotton pyjamas and then went to make a cup of hot chocolate and soothe Razor’s ruffled ego. The thought of her bed without him in it was strangely unappealing, but eventually with nothing else to do and at Razor’s insistence she went back to bed and crawled under the covers making sure her phone was in reach.
The atmosphere was grim when Julius strode into the huge house. Alexander was waiting for him, and the rest of the guard, except for Charles, Quentin and Tabari, who were still on patrol with Kyle, were milling uneasily around on the ground floor. They came to attention when Julius entered, and the house went silent.
“Come,” Alexander said shortly and started up the stairs.
Julius followed him wordlessly. At the top of the stairs, Alexander turned and heade
d towards Julius’s newly refurbished office. The door had been re-hung and most of the display cases and shelving had been fixed and refitted. The mess of glass and metal and wood had been cleared away, and a new desk stood in exactly the same position as the old one. Julius had left instructions for Sebastian to set up his new computer in the office tonight and to make sure his internet was running and the firewalls were in place. The new computer and its accompanying monitor, keyboard and mouse were sitting ready on his desk in front of his diary. Everything looked in place, exactly as it should be, except for the blood. And the smashed glass. And the decapitated body. And the head. Julius felt an almost physical punch in the chest as he took in the sight. If he’d had air in his lungs, it would’ve left him in a whoosh.
“It’s Sebastian,” Alexander said quietly, when Julius didn’t speak. “I came up to check if he’d made any progress on tracking our traitors. I said he could work in here once he finished setting up your computer.”
Julius could feel a cold, dark rage building inside him. He moved to the head, crouching down to turn it so he could see the features. Sebastian’s frightened eyes stared back at him unseeingly. The head hadn’t deteriorated yet, Sebastian was such a young Vampire that his body would decompose like that of a human. At least it made identification easier. The scene in the office showed that Sebastian had tried to fight his attacker or attackers off, but he hadn’t been able to put up much resistance.
“Who could have done this?” Julius asked in a tight voice.
Alexander sighed and slumped against the wall near the doorway. “I don’t know. I’ve kept everyone away from here. No one else has been in the room since I found him except me and you. I haven’t told them it was murder, I gave them the story I gave you on the phone.” He paused, tension tightening the muscles along his jaw. “I think it was someone on the inside, Julius. There are no unknown scents in here or anywhere else in the house. Not that I can detect anyway.”
A Cat's Chance in Hell Page 31
