“Voice duplication is another of Zurik’s abilities.” He dropped a kiss on top her head. “And she still could be alive. We’ll keep looking for her.”
“I spoke to Angela today and while she’s disappointed I’m not returning to Mobile, she is willing to take over my law practice for me. When things stabilize here in New Orleans, I’ll think about practicing law again.” After a short pause, she added, “And I’ll bring Casey here to live with me. With us,” she corrected, “as soon as the schools are open again.”
They were both silent for a few seconds before Simone spoke again, “The Goddess Lilith was beautiful when she came to me. She looked as alive as you and I.”
Julian laughed. “She is, my sweet. She’s immortal, remember?” Simone flipped over and straddled Julian before he knew what was happening.
“Think you’re smart, don’t you?” Julian nipped at her bottom lip.
“Your being ready all the time makes it easy,” she told him, taking her turn at his bottom lip, then closing her mouth fully over his for a deep, hot kiss.
They were both startled by the pounding on the living room door.
Julian cursed under his breath before he shouted, “Go away, I’m busy.”
“You’ve been busy for two damn days,” Michael shouted back. “You’re wanted on the telephone.”
“Who the hell is it?”
“It’s Jerome.”
Jerome?
Julian gripped Simone’s hips and lifted her off him.
“Sorry, my love, but I have to take this call. Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
“Jerome’s your brother, isn’t he? The triplet next in line to you?”
“Yes.” Julian toweled dry as he ran into the bedroom for his jeans.
Simone was right behind him, a large bath towel wrapped around her like a sarong.
“Do you think something’s wrong?” she asked, reaching for the robe she had thrown across the bed.
Julian stole a quick kiss on his way to the door. “I hope not, my love. But I fear it is.”
SIMONE STOOD ON the curb outside Mike’s and waved good-bye to Julian as he sped off in a cab to the airport.
Jerome’s telephone call two weeks ago had put Julian on alert for this trip to San Francisco. Jerome and the other vampires in his group had felt the first underground tremors of the earthquake the entire area both expected and feared. The chaos that would follow when the Big One hit could be even worse than what had befallen New Orleans.
Now that Julian could move freely in the daylight hours, he would be able to meet with San Francisco’s top leaders in government and business, just as he had this past week here in New Orleans. Together they would map out a strategy for dealing with the legions of evil vampires that would prey on San Francisco when the earthquake finally occurred. Unlike New Orleans, the West Coast would at least be prepared to deal with the supernatural predators in the event of a disaster.
Simone let out a sigh of frustration. There was still so much left to learn about Julian, about what it meant to be a transformed vampire. And most of all what it meant for him in terms of his responsibility to the Legacy.
Slayers of evil vampires. That was the calling of Julian and his two younger brothers, he’d told her. They were triplets and he was the firstborn. Now that he had become mortal again, it had fallen to him to transform the brother closest to him in age, as it would fall to that brother to transform the youngest of them. Each of the brothers had a role to play in their transformation.
Just as she’d had a role in Julian’s transformation. Without her, as she’d come to accept, there might not have been a transformation for any of them. As a descendent of the Goddess Lilith, she had been instrumental in setting in motion the Whitcombe Legacy. In her own way, she was every much a slayer of evil vampires as any of the Whitcombes.
Simone turned to go inside and her gaze fell on the plate glass window with its neon signs advertising beer and other spirits. She remembered that first morning, a month ago, when she’d stood in this very spot. Little did she know then that she was on the threshold of her destiny.
On the heels of that memory came a recollection of the conversation she and Julian had had just this morning while he packed.
“Will you have to stay in San Francisco very long?”
“Only a few days this time.” He had paid undue attention to the folding of his shirt before he added, “But I may have to return to help Jerome if the big quake does hit.”
“What about me?” she’d asked.
“What about you?” he’d countered, placing the shirt on top another with precise care. “If the worst happens in San Francisco and I do have to go there for a time, you’ll be perfectly safe here with Michael.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Besides, there’s still a chance you’ll hear from your stepsister.”
Julian had smiled at her dramatic sigh. He knew as well as she did that the odds of that happening were slim. She also knew Julian was trying to distract her from his real concern, but it wasn’t working. “If you have to be gone for any length of time, I’m going with you.” She clamped her lips together in a determined line.
“It would be too dangerous for you to be with me in the midst of a disaster. Think what it was like here a couple of months ago,” Julian had said with a resolve equal to hers. He had finished packing with unusual speed and snapped the luggage closed, ending the conversation. But he hadn’t been quick enough to hide the pain that a possible separation from her would bring. He could no longer hide anything from her in those revealing blue and gray eyes.
As if in afterthought, he’d added, “Besides, Michael needs you here. Without me, he’ll have more to do in the bar, not to mention the lab work and his experiments. Even though I no longer need his cure, the others could be helped if he succeeds.”
She knew who he meant by “the others.” And she did want Michael to succeed in his DNA work. She would do whatever she could to help.
“But Michael doesn’t need me nearly as much as you do,” Simone said aloud, just as she would have if Julian had been here with her.
Five minutes later she taped the sign Michael had made weeks ago to the inside of the window, then stepped out onto the sidewalk for a look.
BARTENDER/ASST. MGR. WANTED. WILL TRAIN.
She gave the sign a nod of approval. The “WILL TRAIN” addition was a brilliant idea, if she said so herself.
She’d deal with Michael when she went back inside. She’d take on Julian when he returned and they were alone. All she had to do was promise that transformed vamp a bathtub filled with warm, perfumed water and he was putty in her hands.
She gave the sign one last nod of approval. This should give them all plenty of time to get accustomed to a new face and a new routine should it became necessary for her to accompany Julian to California one day.
Michael may have need of her here, but Julian would need her more. Now that their fates were bound together it truly was until death did they part.
Since those had been Julian’s very own words there was no way he could argue with that logic. And win.
As she opened the door to step back inside, a familiar hum sounded in her ear.
I miss you already, my love.
She smiled to herself.
I miss you too, my love.
And she would miss him every minute, of every hour, of every day until they were together again.
The End
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The Vampire Julian Page 20
