He paused, looked away for a second, then looked back at her. “After what you’ve told me about the man in the bar, she could have fallen victim to Zurik or one of his followers. If that’s what happened, she could already be dead, or he could have turned her into a Watcher, in which case she would not dare try to contact you.”
“A Watcher? What’s that?”
“Someone who is devoted to a vampire and watches over his interests, especially his place of rest during the day. I have several myself. They usually spend their time in the courtyard, tending the garden and keeping an eye on the building, especially the lab.”
An image of the two men she had seen the other day in the courtyard popped into her head. “I saw a couple of men tending the garden. I just assumed they were your gardeners.”
“That was probably Lawrence and Anthony. This is their week on duty.”
She wasn’t sure she liked what he was saying. “You mean you’ve put those two harmless looking men under your control?”
Julian let out a chesty laugh. “Don’t let their looks fool you. They are quite capable of taking care of themselves. As to their being under my control, it is voluntary, I assure you. Unlike my enemy, I do not force anyone to watch over me.”
He held up a hand, indicating he had already anticipated her next question. “Make no mistake though, my dear Simone, they are quite dedicated to me and to our cause. They will not hesitate to defend me or mine with their lives, if necessary.”
When Julian finished, she looked deeply into his eyes and found herself hooked, as usual, by their haunting beauty. And once again she felt drawn to him, drawn inside him.
Lie down, Simone. Lie down so I can lie beside you.
Julian put his hand on her shoulders and gently urged her backward. She followed his lead eagerly and laid her head on the pillow.
She felt surprisingly relaxed. Or maybe she was just too exhausted to do anything more than let her mind and body drift to wherever they wanted to go. Or to wherever Julian led her.
Julian stretched out next to her, propped himself on an elbow, and passed the pad of his thumb over her lips.
The gesture was so very sensual. Are you trying to seduce me?
He chuckled. Is it working?
His thumb had moved to the corner of her mouth and rested there. She touched it with the tip of her tongue.
“Can I take that as a yes?” Julian asked, his low, husky voice filling the small room.
“You must know that when I look into your eyes, I’m entranced. Mesmerized. Under your wicked spell.” She smiled, but inside fear was building alongside the yearning for him that seemed to come from deep in her soul. “Can I trust you, Julian?”
“I meant it when I told you I would never force you to do anything you did not want to do.”
“It’s still very unsettling that when I’m around you I’m always waiting for that telepathic nudge against my mind.”
Julian’s thumb moved slowly from the corner of her mouth to her jaw then even more slowly down the curve of her neck.
“The attempt to link our minds won’t always be so obvious to you. Very soon you’ll hardly notice when it happens.”
She involuntarily tensed. “Then how will I—”
“The linking will be seamless, but always within your control. You will know subconsciously whether or not to open your mind to me. Each attempt will be a separate incident. If you think about it, you will realize you could no more be receptive to every one of my thoughts than I could be to yours. If we were, the result would be like wires crossed in a radio. It would drive us both crazy.”
Julian retraced the route with his thumb until it found the corner of her mouth again. The effect of his touch was almost as intoxicating as one of his kisses.
She realized he still hadn’t answered her question about trust. But at the moment it didn’t matter. She really did trust him, she admitted, as she found herself falling once again into the depths of his beautiful eyes.
COULD SIMONE trust him? Could he trust himself? Julian wondered as he gazed down at her. He hadn’t reacted to anyone this strongly since the days when he’d needed the taste of blood to stay alive.
He wanted to believe that his reaction to Simone was because he’d lived decades without a woman in his bed, but he knew it was more than that. Simone was the One who’d been sent to him. The one who could save him from eternal darkness, and thus begin the fulfillment of the Legacy.
Perhaps it was that knowledge alone that was heightening his desire for her. Or maybe it was nothing more than the urgency to mate with her, to capture her heart before time ran out.
Michael had tried his best to keep him from overreacting to the fact that he was running out of time. But Michael also knew as well as he that All Hallows Eve was the best chance for accomplishing what needed to be done, and that was only two weeks away.
Simone snaked her arms around his neck and drew his mouth down to hers. A burst of lust so strong he reeled from its force tore at his loins. Her scent, her taste, carried the strength of the ages in them. By all the gods and goddesses, he wanted nothing more in this moment than to sink himself so deep inside her he would feel the heat of the earth’s molten core in his veins.
But he couldn’t. Not yet. He knew that once he’d taken her for his own he would need to have her over and over again, would be compelled to visit her bed every hour that was not spent either in battle or renewing himself in his chamber.
And if he bonded her to him physically before her mind and her heart were ready, he could not retrace his steps. She had to truly love him before she would willingly sacrifice herself for him. If she wasn’t completely committed to him, all would be lost. The city of New Orleans would be doomed. His brothers would be lost forever. He would never have a chance at mortality. The chance to redeem his soul. The chance to rid the world of evil.
The demands on him were great, but he had always believed he was up to the task of meeting them. Now, when the end was near, he could not fail. He would not fail!
That didn’t stop the overpowering need to sink himself into her body and satisfy his physical lust while he sank his teeth into her neck and . . .
He jerked back from Simone as his incisors began to drop. He took several calming breaths. Then he dug into his pants pocket and removed a necklace with a tiny copper dagger in its center. It was a miniature of his ear studs.
He held up the necklace so Simone could see it. “I want you to put this around your neck for protection.” He slipped it over her neck before she could object. “It is never to be taken off. Never.”
She had made no attempt to stop him, but her rounded eyes spoke silently of her fear. He wanted to reassure her, but he couldn’t. The danger to her was real, and it wasn’t just the enemy she had to fear. She was in just as much danger from him.
He lifted himself to a sitting position and tucked the few stray locks of hair that lay across her cheek behind her ear. “We’ll talk more tomorrow night.”
He leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips, not daring to spend one second more with her. “And remember what I told you. Do not go out alone. Most especially do not go to that bar again. And,” he added, with renewed emphasis, “do not remove the necklace. Not when you sleep. Not when you work. Not even when you bathe.”
He got up and crossed the room. “I have to go now. There is something extremely important I must take care of before morning.”
He wanted to look away from the confusion that lined her face at what she no doubt felt was his rejection. He opened the door and left before he weakened and gave in to his desire. The fulfillment of the Legacy was too important. He couldn’t risk failure just to satisfy her physical lust and his suddenly overpowering need for her blood. A need that was so strong he wasn’t sure he’d be able to stop himself before he drai
ned her of every drop of her life force.
OUTSIDE IN THE night, with the damp, acrid smell of death and decay still hovering over the city, Julian lifted his face to the sky. With a supreme effort, he emptied his mind of Simone and let The Need carry him to the darkest part of the French Quarter.
This was the first driving thirst for human blood that he’d felt in decades. He’d thought it was over, that he would never again have to battle the fierce, unrelenting desire to sink his fangs into the flesh of a woman and drink from her. But tonight the raw hunger in him had been unleashed, and if he did not feed it, there was no telling what he would do to Simone.
He found what he was looking for in one of the dives near the waterfront. She was blond and thin. Her demeanor told him she was accustomed to life on the street. She came with him readily when he flashed his wallet, expecting the jab of his hot flesh inside her instead of the sharp stab of his fangs into her neck.
He took very little from her. Barely enough to quell the raging fire in his body. When he finished, he took great care to lave her neck and close the tiny wound. By morning, she wouldn’t be able to tell she had been punctured.
Using his power of transportation, he carried her to a small house he owned at the edge of the Quarter where his Watchers lived. He laid her gently on the bed in the room reserved for him alone.
He passed his hand over the young woman’s forehead to erase all thought of him from her memory. When she awoke in the morning, she would assume she had spent the night with someone she had picked up in a bar. Once she left the room she would forget she’d even been here.
He transported back to his chamber beneath the bar. There he fought the twisting in his gut. Even the small amount of blood he had taken made him want to retch. He knew the woman would be safe. He had made certain not to harm her. And feeding off her had been necessary to stop him from losing control with Simone. But still it haunted him.
He eyed his bed, longing for the comfort it promised, but turned instead to his coffin, the only refuge he had to renew his spirit when doubt and fear threatened to crush him. Once inside, he closed his eyes. His mind however, refused to shut down. His thoughts went directly to the Goddess herself.
Why, he asked her, did you wait so long to send Simone to me? Why did you wait until the need to taste her blood would bring me to the brink of madness?
Chapter Ten
IN BETWEEN SPOONFULS of a cereal Simone barely tasted, she fingered the copper pendant resting at the base of her throat. It hung from the necklace Julian had given to her before he tore out of her apartment last night.
What had she done to run him off? Had she come on to him too strong?
That was a laugh. Julian was a vampire, the leader of his clan. Surely a woman, even one eager to go to bed with him, was not reason enough to make him run for the hills. No. It was something more than that. Something important. At least that’s what he’d said on his way out.
After forcing down the last of the cereal, she stood and walked into the bathroom. Picking up the hand mirror, she looked closely at Julian’s gift. The miniature copper dagger was less than half the size of her thumbnail. In its center was a tiny pearl surrounded by even tinier turquoise stones. Her knowledge of jewels was not extensive, but she did know that the pearl was the oldest jewel known to man.
On the other hand, she knew quite a bit about turquoise. She knew, for instance, that turquoise stones had been worn throughout history either around the neck or on the hand to ward off evil. In ancient Persia, turquoise was most often worn around the neck to ward off unnatural death.
The longer she looked at the tiny dagger, the brighter it shone, and a pleasant warmth spread throughout her body. She recalled the flickering lights at Julian’s ears during the courtyard battle. His power and his strength? His protection? She would ask him the next time she saw him. Indeed, she had lots of questions for him, but the most important ones were what he thought might have happened to Dottie and if he could help find her.
Thoughts of her stepsister made her feel as if a weight had suddenly settled on her chest. The day Simone’s mother had married Dottie’s father, Dottie had taken her under her wing. Dottie had been ten years old and the big sister the seven-year-old Simone had always wanted.
Until they were both in high school, the three year difference in their ages had created a natural distance between them. But by the time Simone was ready for her Junior Prom, the gap in the years had disappeared. And when Dottie went with her to shop for her prom dress, Simone knew they would always be best friends as well as sisters.
Since Dottie had already had a job when Simone decided to go to law school, Dottie had helped pay for Simone’s tuition and books. Then Dottie had made it possible for Simone and her best friend Angela to open their own law firm. In the beginning, most of their legal work came from Dottie’s private investigation business. And it was also Dottie who’d taken Simone in when she fled from her abusive ex-husband.
Now she finally had the opportunity to pay back some of what she owed her stepsister, although she knew Dottie had never expected any kind of payment. She had helped Simone out of love, had always treated Simone as if they were blood sisters. And as far as Simone was concerned, they couldn’t be any closer if they actually had shared the same parents.
Thinking of Dottie reminded Simone of the note Mike had passed on to her the night before. She grabbed her slacks from the end of the bed and pulled out the piece of paper. Unfolding it, she read it for the second time.
I remembered someone who may be able to help you. It was signed Deke, with a phone number beneath the name.
Why hadn’t he called her on her cell phone? She’d given him her number.
She hurried over to her purse, lifted the phone from the side pocket and pressed the appropriate numbers. No missed calls. No messages she’d overlooked. She checked her watch. Not yet eight in the morning. Stuffing the note in the back pocket of the slacks she wore, she decided to wait an hour before she made the call.
She poured herself another cup of coffee, not that she needed the caffeine. She was already wound up tighter than a spool of thread. She needed to do something to rid herself of the nervous energy that was already building inside her,
On top of everything else, or maybe because of it, she hadn’t slept more than twenty minutes at a stretch last night. How could she, when her dreams had been invaded by the clash of the vampires and her consuming desire to have sex with Julian?
The piece of paper in her hand captured her attention again. What was she going to do about it? Suppose Deke wanted her to meet him somewhere? While she hadn’t said as much in words, she had tacitly agreed to Julian’s insistence that she not go out alone. But how could she not follow up on this latest lead?
She toyed with the miniature dagger around her neck, as if it would give her the answers she so desperately wanted. And, in a way, it did. Julian had said it would protect her. If that were true and she did venture out, wouldn’t she be safe as long as it was around her neck?
She couldn’t just sit here and do nothing. Too much time had passed already. Even if, god forbid, Dottie was dead, she had to know. She owed it to Dottie to at least bring her home to rest.
And there was her stepfather. She had told him she would be back in touch later this week. It was already later this week. If Dottie was one of the hurricane victims, the only way she could be identified was if her father sent his DNA to the morgue. And if he waited too long, the lab would be so bogged down it would take months for any identification to be made. Actually, the family doctor was waiting for her call, since her stepfather was in the middle stages of Alzheimer’s and his mental state varied from day to day.
A knock at the door jolted Simone away from her thoughts. She frowned, wondering who it could be. Certainly not Julian. He’d be asleep by now.
She rose and crossed
the room, cautiously opening the door. Mike stood on the other side.
“Julian asked me to check on you this morning,” he said.
”Why would he do that?”
“He thought you might be restless after last night’s . . . events. He also felt you’d probably have a lot of questions.”
Mike’s gaze focused on the necklace around her neck, and a look of relief crossed his face. Involuntarily, her hand went to her throat.
She wasn’t totally buying Mike’s explanation for being here. She knew instinctively that he was making sure she hadn’t left the apartment alone, despite Julian’s warning. It irritated her, and she wasn’t sure why. Probably because she was feeling a pinprick of guilt. She had, after all, been thinking about venturing out on her own.
She opened the door wider. “Would you like a cup of coffee? I just made a fresh pot.”
Mike nodded and stepped inside. She led the way to the kitchen.
“We probably should have a talk,” Mike said, settling into the chair Simone indicated.
“Yes,” she agreed, “we probably should.”
Now that the moment of truth had arrived, was she ready for whatever Mike had to say?
MIKE TOOK THE only other chair at the small kitchen table and studied Simone as she set a mug of coffee in front of him.
“First off,” he started, refusing her offer of cream and sugar, “I can only imagine how hard it must be for you to cope with what you’ve learned the past couple of days.”
Simone nodded and raised her mug to her lips, watching him over the rim while she sipped.
“What can I do to help?” he asked, hoping she could hear the sincerity in his voice.
Simone set her mug down softly on the table and studied him warily. While his psychic senses were not as keen as Julian’s, they were still much sharper than any human’s. He could feel her discomfort, her embarrassment, which he suspected had to do with the sexual bond she had with Julian. And although Julian had shared very little of the intimate details of his and Simone’s relationship, Mike knew this particular relationship was the most important in Julian’s lifetime.
The Vampire Julian Page 9
