by Kathy Love
Just fun. Pleasure. No worries. That was what he wanted.
He strolled down the back hallway to the elevator. He stepped inside and pressed the button for the first floor. The lift jerked into motion, and he pulled in a deep breath.
Last night, he’d thought over Rhys’s question in great detail. Why wasn’t he confronting Mina? And he’d come to the conclusion that there was no reason to talk to her. She made her feelings abundantly clear. She disliked him enough to want to hurt his club. She fled his kiss. What was the point of talking to her again? She wasn’t worth his energy.
The elevator shuddered to a stop and he flung open the metal gate. He strode into the club, crossing the empty dance floor to the bar.
Nadine stopped wiping down the polished oak countertop, the damp rag forgotten in her hand, as he approached.
“I heard about Wilhelmina,” she said. “I’m sorry I was so wrong about her.”
Sebastian shrugged. “Shit happens. At least nothing and no one was affected.” Even as he said it, he knew that wasn’t totally true. He felt very affected by Mina, but he planned to ignore the sensation until it disappeared.
Nadine nodded at him, but he could tell she wanted to say more. Instead she finished wiping down the bar and headed into the backroom.
Sebastian sat down, watching as the other employees went about their usual business. He shifted in his seat feeling edgy.
He’d feel fine once the patrons got here, and his nights went back to their normal pattern. He just needed to forget that Mina ever existed.
Nadine returned with a couple of packages of cardboard coasters. She dropped them on the bar.
“I just don’t see how I could be so wrong about her,” she said. “I really thought she was a vampiress who just needed a little help, a little direction.”
“She needs help, all right,” Sebastian muttered.
Nadine sighed. “Well, I’m sure she’s gone for good. She disappeared last night in the middle of her shift. She must have realized you found out about her.”
Sebastian nodded, not correcting her deduction. For some reason, he didn’t want to share what had happened between himself and Mina in the stairwell. Not because he was embarrassed or even regretful. It was just private.
“I guess we never will know why she picked Carfax Abbey.”
Sebastian nodded, and again the edginess filled him. He considered ordering a drink to calm himself, but he didn’t think it would help.
When the patrons get here, he told himself again. He glanced at the door. A dark-haired woman walked in, and Sebastian straightened. Then he realized it was Valerie, late for work as usual. He leaned back again in his chair, trying not to question why he felt such sharp disappointment.
But his brain was rather insistent on telling him why. She’s going to bother you until you have answers. Until you understand. This wasn’t about attraction or desire. This was about getting the truth.
“I’ve got to go,” he said to Nadine, sliding off the bar stool. He didn’t wait for an answer as he exited the club into the drizzly night.
Flagging down a cab, he gave the driver Mina’s address, not questioning why he’d managed to commit that to memory. Then he settled back against the seats feeling calmer than he had since the moment his lips had touched Mina’s.
Sebastian knocked again, even though he knew the apartment was empty. He couldn’t sense Mina.
He glanced around to make sure he was alone in the long hallway. When he was certain he was, he concentrated, his limbs slowly disappearing as he dissolved to shadow and slipped under the door.
On the other side, he reformed, his body appearing like a blurred negative slowly coming into focus. He glanced around.
Mina’s apartment was small, typical for the city. The furniture was nice, but mismatched. Books and newspapers littered nearly every surface.
He could see Mina as a big reader. He supposed it could be because of the glasses she always wore. They looked scholarly, and were, of course, completely unnecessary. The glasses were just one of the many things he wanted to ask her about.
He strolled farther into the apartment, looking for any indication of where she might have gone. Although, if he didn’t find one, he was prepared to stay and wait for her. Breaking and entering-or rather just entering-would probably tick her off, but he figured, what with her sabotage attempts, she wouldn’t call the cops on him. Again.
He wandered down the hallway that he assumed led to her bedroom. He reached the first door and stopped outside the darkened room. Concentrating, he studied the feelings of the room, the scents, the residual emotions. It wasn’t Mina’s, although the room did belong to a female. A were. A wolf, he guessed.
He smiled. For reasons he chose not to ponder, he was pleased that Mina was living with a female.
His smile faded. Unless of course, Mina preferred females-which would explain her response to his kiss. Although her reaction seemed a little too over the top for that to be the case. Unless of course, she’d liked his kiss, which he believed she had, at least for awhile. But maybe that brief enjoyment had made her question her whole belief of her sexuality.
He considered that for a moment, then decided that was a dumb idea. She’d been far too responsive to him. Right up until the point she’d slammed him against the wall. He rotated his shoulder, just thinking about it.
He started away from the door, when something else stopped him. A scent, just barely there, drifted to him. Like a face where he couldn’t recall the name, the fragrance taunted him. The reason the scent seemed familiar was right there on the tip of his tongue, but try as he might, he couldn’t wrap his mind around what it was.
He concentrated a bit longer, then gave up, moving to the next door. The bathroom, small with a tub-and-shower combo. A toilet. A sink. The usual. Finally he reached Mina’s room. He recognized her scent immediately. That subtle floral scent like lilies of the valley.
He breathed in deeply, then flipped on the light. Her bed was unmade, and her waitress uniform tossed over the footboard.
He picked up the dress, the material cold and damp like his own clothing. He lifted it to his nose, hoping to smell some traces of the desire he’d tasted on her lips still clinging to the silky material. But the brocade only smelled of sulfurous city rain and faint traces of lily.
He dropped the garment back to the bed, and quickly searched the room for any hints of where she might be. He found nothing but more books: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and other classics. A stack of CDs-all classical-several news magazines. And one Weekly World News. He picked up the periodical. Apparently Bat Boy was on the loose again.
So Mina wasn’t all seriousness and sabotage. That made him feel better.
He had a lot good insights into Mina, but nothing that would reveal where she’d go late at night. He flipped off the light and walked back to the living room. A search of that room revealed nothing either. The kitchen, however, was the jackpot.
On the tiny, café-style kitchen table was a note, written in messy, flouncy cursive.
Dear Lizzie,
I did go to the Society meeting. We are meeting in the back of a restaurant-Grindelia’s, 21 W. 54th Street. If you get home in time, you’re welcome to join us.
W.
Sebastian picked up the paper. The Society? What was that? He placed the note back on the table.
He didn’t know if Lizzie would be able to make it, but he certainly planned on it.
Mina ducked around the corner of the restaurant and hurried down the narrow alley, skirting trash and other refuse. She reached the backdoor of the restaurant, just as the sky opened up and poured down on her. She knocked in a rapid sequence of timed raps. A large faery, who she thought was named Al, opened the door, allowing her entrance.
Because the preternaturals had yet to be accepted into the general populace, the Society considered it wise to keep their meetings secret. To join, you had to be invited. She wondered if her invitation w
ould be revoked after she told them about the Carfax Abbey fiasco.
She entered the meeting room. The lights were low and the scent of baking bread and spicy red sauces permeated the brick walls. The smells no long appealed to her hunger, but Mina still enjoyed them. Funny how the aroma of food cooking, even foods she didn’t eat, still made her feel warm and safe.
Vedette Grindelia, the owner of the restaurant and a very active member of the Society, greeted her with her usual warm hug. The woman was a werefox, a rather interesting irony, given her bosomy girth and grandmotherly looks.
“Glad to see you,” she said with a welcoming smile. “How are you, cara?”
Mina nodded, and forced a stiff smile. She liked the older woman, but disliked her use of Italian endearments. Just hearing them made her skin crawl. “Good, and you?”
“Busy. Always busy.” The werefox gestured to the chairs and the others, then bustled off to greet other arrivals.
Tonight, nearly fifty members mingled around the room. A large turnout. Of course. She would have a huge audience to hear about her sabotage catastrophe. She hesitated in the doorway, considering sneaking out before anyone saw her.
“Wilhelmina,” a suave, slightly accented voice called to her.
Mina’s heart sank. Jackson Hallowell. The Society’s president.
He came forward, curling her hand in his much larger, much colder one. Tonight, the flamboyant vampire was dressed in a peacock blue suit with a black turtleneck and heeled and immaculately polished black boots. His usual flash attire. Everyone claimed that he was trying to hold onto his Regency roots-although she wasn’t so sure about that.
“I’m pleased you are here,” he smiled, his teeth perfect and blindingly white. “How is your work at Carfax Abbey going? Have you stopped that vile Sebastian Young?”
“Well,” Mina began.
Another member called to Jackson, waving him over.
“Sorry, I must go,” he said to Mina. “Perhaps you will give an update to the whole group tonight. Yes?”
“Umm,” Mina hesitated.
“Excellent,” he winked and strolled away to speak to a group near the podium at one end of the room.
Mina remained at the back, near one of the several brick supports throughout the room, hoping to hide as long as possible. But all too quickly, the meeting was called to order.
The Society’s board members sat at a long table at the front of the room, and Jude Anthony, the vice-president, stood at the podium, waiting as the attendees hurried to find seats.
Jude was the opposite of Jackson. His appearance was that of a man in his early twenties, although he was actually much older than any of the preternaturals here. Or at least that was what Mina had heard; she wasn’t sure of his actual age.
He was large and muscular with thick dark hair and piercing green eyes. The tall, suave vampire image created by Hollywood was blown by him. Jude looked like a tough and half-wild gladiator in a button-down shirt and faded jeans. Although Mina admired his work for the Society, he always made her nervous. He was going to make her really nervous tonight. Maybe it was a bad idea to come.
“Good evening,” a smooth, almost oily voice said from beside her. Mina turned to see Daniel-she didn’t know his last name. But she did know that if Jude made her nervous, Daniel made her downright jumpy.
Tall and thin, Daniel reminded her of the silent film vampires. A smile split his narrow face, making his slightly concave cheeks even more sunken. Definitely striking, but not necessarily in an appealing way. Yet, he was oddly mesmerizing.
“How are you tonight, sweet little Wilhelmina?”
Mina frowned at the strangely familiar greeting. But he always spoke to her that way, as if they were old friends rather than mere acquaintances, who only ever saw each other at these meetings and only spoke briefly.
As briefly as possible, she hoped.
“Have you been enjoying the warmer weather?” he asked, and again she felt as if ordinary small talk about the weather was referring to something she should but didn’t understand.
“Yes, although I’m glad I didn’t have to go out into the downpours earlier,” she said, just to say something.
“I like the rain,” he said with an enigmatic smile as if he was letting her in on a secret. Again, one that she didn’t understand.
“It reminds me of the summers I used to spend on the coast,” he said, a smile splitting his face again. “We had the most marvelous storms there. Very violent.”
Mina stared at him, her breath catching in her throat. Suddenly she felt very threatened, but she couldn’t say why.
“Welcome,” Jude greeted the crowd and Mina released her pent-up breath, thankful that the meeting was beginning.
Daniel gave her one more inscrutable smile, then moved to sit up front.
Mina took a seat at the back, glad to be rid of him. She pulled in a calming breath, telling herself everything was fine.
That was until Jude said, “I’d like to get right to what our members have been doing since the last meeting.”
Mina’s stomach sank again.
Jackson pushed up from the table to join Jude, waiting, none too patiently, to speak. Jude gave the other vampire a sharp look, but he stepped back from the podium allowing the more flamboyant president to take the stage.
Jackson grinned at the crowd, a winsome flash of his perfect teeth.
“But before we get to the updates from the members on their assignments, I believe I see several new faces here tonight. So I would like to go over the Society of Preternaturals’ mission.”
Mina relaxed against the back of her metal folding chair. This would take awhile. Jackson was notoriously long-winded. Even though she’d heard the Society’s philosophies and goals many times, she welcomed hearing them again. That was why she came tonight, to remember what she was working toward.
“We are a group of preternatural beings who believe that we can be accepted into mortal society. Although we are different from human beings, we have all made a solemn pact to live as closely as human as we can. That means we do not feed, hunt, or use humans for any type of preternatural sport.
“The Society has worked very hard to change the perception of our kinds. We are not monsters,” he paused dramatically, “nor are humans our food source. We have a creed we all live by, which is…»
Again he stopped, to give his next words more impact.
“‘Humans are super and natural, too. “
Mina paused. Even though she’d heard that motto many times before, she even had a mug with the phrase on it which she purchased at a fund-raiser, it suddenly struck her as a little silly.
She straightened in her chair. But the organization did have a wonderful goal. She had to remember that.
Sebastian coughed, fighting back a laugh.
Humans are super and natural, too. Catchy.
He shifted closer to the brick column he leaned on, hoping he hadn’t drawn attention to himself. But as the room was suitably dim and gloomy, he imagined he had gone unnoticed.
Sebastian shook his head. Good Lord, these preternaturals were nuts.
“We also feel that it is our sworn duty to stop any injustices we see other preternaturals enacting on humans. Integration is not a possibility if we are feared by mortals. We cannot allow ourselves to be seen as fiends.”
Sebastian frowned. Seen as fiends? He was pretty sure none of his mortal patrons saw his preternatural clientele as fiends. Okay, maybe as sex fiends, but he knew that was half the draw of Carfax Abbey. Great hookups.
And in truth, none of the humans at his bar saw the preternaturals as anything but human. After all, that’s how vampires and shapeshifters had survived for thousands of years. What the hell were these wackos talking about? They were integrated. Or as integrated as they would ever get.
After watching the speaker, who looked like an undead Liberace, for a moment longer, he considered leaving. He couldn’t stand listening to this nonsense any longer. The
n two messy, knotted ponytails on the other side of the room caught his attention. Mina. And fortunately she was in the back row.
Carefully, he approached her, not wanting to draw the attention of the nutcase at the podium, or the large faery guarding the entrance.
He’d lucked out getting into the place by straggling in with another group, when he realized he had to know some sort of silly secret knock. The faery hadn’t even glanced at him, but he didn’t think it would take much to make the members here realize he wasn’t one of them.
As the vampire at the podium droned on about the injustices perpetrated daily on humans, Sebastian crouched down near Mina’s chair, touching her arm.
She turned, her eyes growing impossibly large behind her glasses. She opened her mouth as if she was going to scream. But before he could clap a hand to her mouth, her bowed lips snapped closed as if she didn’t want to draw any attention to herself, either.
“Come with me,” he whispered.
She hesitated, and he thought she was going to refuse, but instead she gave him a slight nod. Then she glanced around as if to be sure no one saw him, which they didn’t. Everyone was focused on the speaker, who was saying something about vampires being just like humans, except for their fangs, their liquid diets, their inability to go into the sunlight, their shapeshifting abilities, their unnatural looks, and their immortality.
Sebastian rolled his eyes. Yes, we’re practically humans.
Mina carefully stood up and tugged on his sleeve. She gestured to the door, and he could tell she was anxious. Obviously she wanted out of this place as much as he did.
Then he noticed her looking around again, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth. No, she didn’t want to leave, she just wanted to be sure he left before anyone saw him.
The idea pissed him off. She was embarrassed by him. When she was hanging out with these weirdos?
But he didn’t react; he just turned and headed toward the door. They both slipped outside without incident.
