by Tina Folsom
“I explained to you why I did it, and I apologized for it.”
“And then you turned around and continued lying to me about what you are!”
“What did you expect me to do? For the first time in my life I meet a woman who makes me feel things I’ve never felt before, who takes me to another place when she kisses me, who makes me feel the sun on my skin … and then I’m supposed to tell her the one thing that will make her run away from me? So I hoped that if I made you love me first, then maybe I had a chance that you’d stay with me once I told you. I needed more time. I was going to tell you.” Samson’s voice was pleading, urging her to listen to him. She didn’t know how to respond.
“Tell me about the sun on your skin,” the shrink demanded. “I’m curious.”
Samson looked at her when he answered the question. “When you kiss me, you transport me to a meadow of lavender. I can feel the sun shine on my skin, but it doesn’t burn, my skin doesn’t blister. I feel the warmth, and I can smell the scent of lavender in the air as if I was actually there, walking on soft grass.”
With every word Delilah recognized what he was describing. It was an actual place, a place she knew, a place she’d been to. There was no explanation how he could know about it. It wasn’t possible.
“How did you find out about this place?” She had to know if the background check had revealed it, as impossible as this seemed. Nobody knew what the meadow represented for her. It was all she had left from her childhood. The only good memories she had left of her baby brother, before the unthinkable had happened.
She doubted that even her parents ever knew what the place meant to her. A place where she felt at peace with the world. Happy.
Samson gave her an incredulous look. “You mean the place exists?”
“Of course it does! How did you find out? The background check on me?”
He shook his head. “No. I told you, when you kiss me, you take me there. I feel it. It’s as if you teleport me to it. I can feel it with all my senses. I can smell it, I can touch it, I can hear the sounds, see the sun. All of it.”
“It’s not possible. You’re lying.”
The shrink interrupted. “Tell us about the place. What’s its significance?”
“I don’t share this memory with anybody. It’s private.” She lowered her eyes.
Samson moved closer to her and crouched in front of her chair, looking up at her. “You’ve shared it with me before. You’ve taken me there before. Doesn’t that mean you wanted to show it to me?”
She shook her head. This was too close. If she let him too close, he’d hurt her.
“Don’t shut me out, please.”
“What do you want from me?” Delilah shot up from her chair. “Can’t you find another sex toy to play with?”
“I’m not playing with you. And this is not about sex.”
“This is not about sex?” the doctor interrupted.
“What makes you think this was about sex?” Samson gave his shrink a frustrated look. “Has anybody here been listening to a single word I’ve said? What the hell do I pay you for? Do I have to spell this out? This is about me wanting to blood-bond with Delilah.”
FIFTEEN
Ilona paced the full length of her eighth-floor condo, holding her cell phone pressed to her ear. Without interest she glanced out the floor-to-ceiling windows with the city lights sparkling just below. Tonight she wasn’t in the mood to admire the stunning view.
“No, you’re listening now. I’ve had it, you incompetent fool!” Her voice bristled as she let out a frustrated huff. “If we’d done it my way in the first place, we wouldn’t be in this predicament. But, no, you thought you could handle it better. Don’t you dare interrupt me.” She paused briefly, but the caller on the other end had finally started to listen to her and didn’t let out a single peep.
“Good. Here’s what you do, and I really don’t care how, as long as you do it tonight. I want her gone. Not only is she going to figure out what we’re trying to do to his company, but now he’s even made her his lover. Do you know how that stings? Do you?”
There was no reply. “I’m talking to you.” She was furious. No wonder everything was falling apart if she had to rely on family.
“I thought you didn’t want me to say anything anymore,” her brother finally said on the other end.
Did they really have any DNA in common? It was hard to believe.
“Idiot! I can’t believe I’m related to you.”
“Hey, I’m not as stupid as you make me out to be. I got you all the inside information you wanted. Don’t forget that. At least I can keep my mouth shut, not like you.”
“Don’t you dare bring that up again!” Her own failure still stung, even after nine months. She’d been so close! She’d virtually been able to taste victory.
Her brother flared up. “Oh, yes I will. If you had just continued to suck his dick until you were blood-bonded to him, all his money would have been yours, and you could have just let me kill him, but no, my big sister can’t swallow, can she?”
“Maybe you should have sucked his dick instead!”
“I’m not his type. So don’t make this sound like I’m the one who screwed up. You got yourself into this situation. Do you have any idea about the things I have to go through to fix this for you? No, you think it’s so easy.”
Ilona stomped her foot, not that her brother would know, but she needed an outlet for her frustration. Too long she’d worked on this, and finally the prize was within her reach again. Just another few days and all of Samson’s money would be hers.
“Oh, stop whining. Once all this is over, you’ll be swimming in money. Are you nearly done with the upload?”
“I’m working on the encryptions. A few hours more work and then I can start authorizing. We’re almost there.”
Ilona let out a sigh of relief. “Good. But we still have to take care of her. We can’t risk her finding what we’re doing and stopping us just before we reach the finish line.”
“I’ll get rid of her. Just as well he’s made her his lover. Samson will be so devastated; he won’t even notice what’s happening to his company. It plays right into our hands.”
What was her brother talking about? “Devastated? He’s just fucking her.”
“Just fucking her? Dream on. He’s in love with her, calls her ‘his woman.’ Looks like he’s finally over you. Took him long enough. I’ll call you when it’s done.”
“Wait,” she tried to stop him, but he’d already disconnected the call.
Samson was in love with that little bitch? She didn’t give a hoot one way or the other about Samson’s love life, but to be replaced by a human? Now, that hurt. Bastard!
Ilona tossed her phone onto the couch and kicked off her stilettos. On the way to her bedroom she shrugged off her dress and let it fall to the floor. Her staff would clean up later. She had more important things to do.
***
Amaury dialed Thomas’ cell phone and was connected instantly.
“I need your expertise.”
“What about?” Thomas sounded distracted. In the background he could hear somebody else.
“I need you to go through some files for me. You’re better at IT than I am.”
It was true. Thomas was the resident IT expert on anything to do with Scanguards. Whatever was needed, Thomas knew how to do it.
“Now? I’m in the middle of something.”
Amaury rolled his eyes. “Stop fucking Milo and get your ass in gear. I’ve found something that makes me think John Reardon was involved in something bigger than just siphoning off a few grand. He uploaded encrypted files to headquarters, and I need to know what’s in them.”
“You don’t need me for that. I know you’re capable of cracking the encryption yourself,” Thomas pushed back.
“I know I am. It’s just taking me longer than it will take you. So, do it.”
Thomas was clearly hesitating, until he finally conceded. “Fine. I�
��ll get on it. What’s the location for the files?”
Amaury informed him of the server location and the code by which to identify John’s files.
“We’ll split the work. I’ll start on the bottom and work my way up. You’ll take the top. Call me when you find something,” Amaury instructed him and finished the call.
It was a good thing Amaury had seniority over Thomas. When push came to shove, Amaury normally won the argument. It also helped that he was Samson’s closest and oldest friend.
He’d spent the last hour going through a history of what John had worked on in the last month, specifically which files he’d accessed. Delilah’s suggestion to look at everything accessed under his login had proven successful. John had been all over the place, sticking his nose into files he’d had no business viewing in his position, files other staff should have worked on, not he.
Carl stuck his head into the office. “Amaury, is Mr. Woodford with you?”
He shook his head. “You can call him Samson, you know. I know he’s offered it often enough.”
“I’d rather not.”
“He’s out with Delilah. What do you need?”
“I’ve remembered something that’s been bothering me.” Carl shifted from one foot to the other.
Amaury pointed at the chair opposite the desk, silently asking Carl to take a seat.
“It has to do with Miss Ilona.”
“Ilona?” Amaury couldn’t suppress his surprise. Nobody had mentioned her name in Samson’s household in over nine months. Just as well he wasn’t home. And hopefully wouldn’t be in the next five minutes. If he heard her name uttered in his house, there would be no telling how he’d react.
“She spent a lot of time here. I know she never liked me, so I stayed out of her way as much as I could. I didn’t want to upset Mr. Woodford, and after she left there wasn’t really any good time to mention it. Mr. Woodford was so unapproachable for a long time.”
Amaury remembered well. His friend had been withdrawn and preferred his own company to that of his friends. He’d built up a lot of anger, and the anger had turned to depression until he’d finally returned to what seemed his normal self. Except for the fact that he’d shunned the company of women after that.
“And then I just forgot about it, figured it wasn’t really important.”
“Carl, you’re waffling.” Amaury was eager to get back to analyzing the encrypted files.
“Sorry, Amaury. It’s just, I don’t even know whether it’s important.”
Amaury gave him an unmistakable look. Either talk or get out of the room.
“Miss Ilona. I saw her at his computer one day when he was out. I’m not sure whether she was able to log in or not, but when she saw me she pretended she was looking for a pen and some paper. Later that same night, Mr. Woodford threw her out. When I saw Miss Delilah sit at the computer last night, I remembered it again.”
“I didn’t realize you came back to the house last night.”
“You were all so engrossed in your work, you didn’t hear me. I didn’t want to disturb.”
Amaury nodded. It was true; they’d been so absorbed that they’d forgotten the time and missed sunrise.
“Don’t mention anything about Ilona to Samson. It’ll only upset him. I think we should keep it to ourselves. I’ll make some inquiries and see what I can find out.”
Carl got up. “Thank you, Amaury. I’m sure it’s nothing. It was just odd. Especially given that he never lets others touch his computers, except for you, and now Miss Delilah.”
Amaury smiled. “I think we all should get prepared for a lot more he’s going to let Delilah do.”
“You think she’ll become mistress here?”
“Mistress? I guess that’s as good a description as any. She sure has him in the palm of her hand. Not that she has any idea.” Amaury shook his head and smiled. How a woman could be so oblivious to the effect she had on a man, was beyond him.
“It will not be easy to hide who we are if she stays.”
He gave Carl a surprised stare then slapped his hand on his forehead. “Oh, that’s right. You don’t know yet.”
“Don’t know what?”
“She found out a couple of hours ago.”
Now it was Carl who had a stunned look on his face. “And she’s still with him?”
A loud thud told them that somebody had slammed the door shut. Seconds later the door was opened again and slammed a second time.
“We’re not done talking!” they heard Samson’s furious voice.
“Oh yes, we are. I’m not marrying a vampire!” Delilah shouted back.
Carl and Amaury exchanged smiles. “A hundred bucks says she won’t marry him,” Carl suggested.
Amaury shook his head. “You have to learn a lot more about women. Not only will she marry him, she’ll blood-bond with him.”
He stretched out his hand to seal the bet, and Carl took it. “And you have to learn more about Mr. Woodford. There’s nothing more that he likes than his peace and quiet at home. By the sounds of this, she’s not going to give him that.”
Amaury laughed out loud. Carl might have been spending more time with Samson in the last eighteen years than he had, but Amaury was the one who truly knew his friend best. And peace and quiet was not what Samson liked best at home. Not by a long shot.
There was one thing his friend craved more than anything else in his life, something he had never had since he was a vampire, despite the friendships he’d formed: family. But Carl couldn’t know that. His friend had never verbalized his deepest wish, but Amaury had always felt it.
Another door slammed, and he knew Delilah had entered Samson’s bedroom.
For the second time in as many days Delilah swung her suitcase onto the bed and threw in the few items she’d taken out earlier. She tried to avoid looking at the tangled sheets on the bed, evidence of their night of passion.
How could this have happened? She was in the house of a vampire. She’d had sex with him, mind-blowing sex, and he’d dragged her to the shrink where he’d announced that he wanted to marry her. And not only that. Blood-bond with her, whatever that meant. She hadn’t waited for an explanation.
Not that a girl didn’t like to get a proposal once in a while, but by a vampire? At the shrink’s office? It couldn’t get any stranger. Had Samson really thought she’d be jumping at the idea?
She couldn’t reconcile the man she’d made love to with the vampire who’d licked her blood off her hand. They were two different people. One she knew she was falling in love with, the other she didn’t even know.
The pain in her chest knowing she had to leave him felt unbearable. But she had to do it, and do it now. This man had lied to her at every turn. She would never be certain of what the truth was.
“Don’t shut me out,” Samson’s voice came from behind her.
She hadn’t heard him come in.
“Delilah, please talk to me.” His voice teased at her neck.
She shook her head.
“What are you afraid of? I know you’re not scared of me. I can feel it.” Samson touched her hand with his and intertwined his fingers with hers.
His touch was the last strain her psyche could take.
“Please, let me go. I can’t be with you.”
“I can’t let you leave. I’m connected to you. And you’re connected to me. Can’t you feel it? I’ve never felt this close to anybody. I can sense things about you … the lavender meadow … it’s like I’m in your head …”
“No, please.”
“There is more. I can feel the sadness, but I don’t understand it. It’s there when you think about the meadow. It’s as if there is pain associated with it. Delilah, let me in …”
How could he know about the pain, when she herself had tried to bury it deep in her memories?
“I can’t.”
“Sweetness, I need to understand you. I need to know.”
“You can’t know. Nobody can ever know what it
was like. What I did!”
“I’m here for you. Please, tell me what’s causing you this pain. I can feel it here.” He pressed his hand to his heart.
She couldn’t explain why he knew anything about her past, but she herself had had strange visions which were all related to him.
“The meadow,” she started, “it’s located near a small village in France.”
She looked at his face, but didn’t see him. All she saw was the meadow and herself as an eight year old girl …
Delilah cradled her little baby brother in her arms.
“Careful,” her mother cautioned. “He’s fragile. Hold his head up with your arm.”
“I can do it, Mom, don’t worry. I’m a big girl. See?” She showed her mother that she knew how to hold little Peter. “He’s so tiny. Was I so tiny, too?” With big eyes she looked up at her mother, who gave her a warm smile.
“Just as small. And just as cute as he is.” Her mother kissed her on the top of her head.
“Well, there are my two favorite girls!” Her father’s voice suddenly echoed from the path leading to the lavender meadow as he approached them.
Almost every afternoon when he was done with teaching he’d find them lounging in the meadow, enjoying the long summer days. They would spend their afternoons laughing, playing games and chatting, the perfect family. A loving mother, father, and a little baby brother. It was all she’d ever wanted.
Delilah’s childhood was perfect. She didn’t mind the fact that they lived in a country whose language she barely spoke, and that she had to make new friends at school. All her difficulties were forgotten when her bother was born. He made their little family perfect.
He was like a little doll she’d play with all day long. And she never got bored of him. She loved her brother, more than all her toys together.
Her parents trusted her with him. One night at the end of the summer, her parents wanted to celebrate their anniversary by eating out at a local restaurant. It was only one block from their house, so they left Delilah in charge of her brother.
