Alone for the first time all evening, I take the opportunity to decompress with a hot shower. I am in and out in five minutes, too tired to stand under the pulsing jets. I have already begun to drift off to sleep when Lucan climbs into bed next to me. He’s wearing basketball shorts and an undershirt, which is a lot more than he usually wears to bed.
“I think you need to move in with me permanently,” he says into the darkened room. In spite of prefacing it with “I think,” the tone of his voice says this is more of a command than a suggestion.
“I agree.” This is probably the only time in my life I haven’t wanted to debate something. “My lease is up in a few weeks anyways—not that I was assuming I would move in here, but I haven’t had time to look for a place yet. Things have moved so fast with us I just kind of forgot about it.”
Lucan slides his hand under the blankets searching for me. “I also think we need to perform the ceremony immediately if Zaid doesn’t find Serge tonight,” he pauses. “As in tomorrow when we go to see the Council.”
“What?” I sound more exasperated than I intended. “What about all that talk the other night about how you couldn’t risk hurting me?”
“The other night, with the blood, I wasn’t in the best frame of mind. There has never been a moment since I met you that I didn’t want to go through with it. I was willing to wait for your sake so you could get used to the idea of me and what I am; but I can’t risk you being vulnerable to Serge. And you know as well as I do that I won’t be able to keep you from going to work if Zaid doesn’t find him tonight. You’re not going to let me watch you twenty-four/seven.”
“Well, at least you realize that,” I laugh, trying not to sound too self-satisfied. “Not that you wouldn’t still try.”
“Nope.” He snuggles closer to me and I curl into his chest. “I like that you think of the ceremony as more like a wedding than just a patch job on my immortality. I’d always hoped to find a wife, even more than a Sodalis.”
“The worst part,” I choose my words carefully. “Is that I can’t tell my friends or my family. I can’t tell them it’s not a wedding without revealing you’re a vampire, and I can’t tell them it is a wedding and you just practice a really strange religion without them freaking out that we just met. I’m not exactly sure how to tell my mom we’re moving in together either. My apartment is rent controlled so I can’t use escalating prices as an excuse.”
“Tell her the crime rate has gone up,” he says, smoothing my hair. “That part is at least true.”
“I really want you to meet her. And Lindsey. God, I haven’t talked to Lindsey in forever. Hell, she might be married to Brooks by now for all I know. I'm such a bad friend.”
“I'm sorry, Abri. I forget that my world is not yours and I have swallowed you up in it. Believe me; I’m only rushing things to protect you. If it wasn’t for Serge, I would agree to wait as long as you needed.”
“I'm just thinking out loud mostly. I’m ready to go through the ceremony today, tomorrow, or whenever. Whether Zaid finds him or not. I just won’t tell my mom for a while. Months maybe. A year even.”
“Good. It’s settled. I will have movers to your place tomorrow to pack. You can store anything you want to keep downstairs or move it up here.”
“There really isn’t anything I want to keep other than my clothes and personal stuff like pictures and books. All the furniture is crap, I wouldn’t even think of bringing it in here,” I reply. “Just have them pack it all up and I will go through it after things have settled down. We can donate the furniture and other junk if someone will have it.”
Lucan is laughing to himself next to me. “What’s so funny?”
“Oh nothing. It’s just that when I said I’d hoped to find a wife more than a Sodalis you didn’t exactly react the way I thought you would.”
He had said wife, hadn’t he. And I just kept prattling on about rent control, grubby furniture, and my family. “Well, were you asking or telling?”
“Uh, well… asking, actually.” He takes my hand in the dark. “Abri Elizabeth Cole, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” I squeak through tears of joy. “Yes. Tomorrow or a year from now, yes.”
Lucan kisses my forehead and then settles back down into the covers. “Good. We’ll get you a proper ring, I promise. Then you can plan the wedding for however far out in the future you want. We have all the time in the world.”
“Let’s get rid of that asshole Serge first.”
“Deal.” Lucan hugs me tighter to his chest.
I try to blank out my mind and not think about how incredible a day tomorrow will be or how surprising the last thirty seconds have been. I wish I could hear Lucan’s thoughts right now, but he’s blocking me because we are touching and I hear nothing. Luckily, sleep overtakes me before I have the chance to delve too deeply into it.
CHAPTER FIFTY
The rumble of male voices drags me from a rather peaceful dream featuring a white dress and hundreds of flowers. Zaid must be back. I promised breakfast to the humans of the house so I will my eyes open and my feet to the floor. Lucan has the shutters down so it is darker than I expected.
“Everything okay?” I call out as I search near the bed for my slippers. “Did you find him?”
“Unfortunately, no,” Zaid grumbles. “There was no trace of him in the park or Mark’s hotel suite. He’s been back to his apartment but he was gone by the time I got there. Smelled like he took a shower there. I waited but he didn’t come back. He could probably smell me from the street.”
He is pissed. Tracking was second nature to Zaid, even before he became a vampire, and he hated to miss a target. Amelia looks relieved, I can tell, but she’s keeping that to herself. Zaid wouldn’t see his safe return as a bonus when his target is still on the loose.
“Who’s hungry?” I ask. “I can make breakfast before we go.” Zaid and Lucan are indifferent, focused more on finalizing their presentation to the Council. However, I am more concerned with the other humans our ever expanding group. “Mark, is Sarah still asleep?”
“In the shower,” he answers. “I’m hungry and I know she will be too.”
Right, well, I don’t want to linger on the whys of that statement. “What would you two like then? Amelia, are you hungry?”
“I'm fine with whatever you’ve got,” she replies, not taking her attention off Zaid as he huddles with Lucan over a stack of papers. She is always quiet and reserved, but the stress of Zaid’s job has made her even more so.
“Meat of some kind, any kind.” Mark immediately blushes at his request. “If that’s not too much trouble.”
“Not at all. So does eating help more or the blood?” I find myself asking without even thinking. Funny how I have just accepted Mark into our fold like it’s nothing. I really have fallen straight into the rabbit hole of Lucan’s world. No going back now, right?
Mark’s mouth opens and closes a few times before he answers. “I’m not sure yet. I think the blood has done the most good but I still get hungry three times a day.”
“Well, there is a definite improvement,” I agree. “At least this time you’re not standing here trying to wear me for a hat.”
Mark pales. I forget he hasn’t had a chance to get used to my sense of humor yet.
“I'm kidding, Mark. You gotta believe us that there are no hard feelings. That shithead left you on your own, basically rotting from his inability to do the job right. Hell, he couldn’t even get kidnapping me right. You are one hundred percent part of the family now. Sarah too. I don’t hold grudges, okay?” I stride over and give him a big hug. “Now, let’s see what kind of stuff Lucan has to eat.”
Mark looks relieved. “You’re all right, you know that? I'm glad Sarah found you.”
“Me too, for both your sakes. Speaking of finding me, how did you know where to find me that night? It’s not like Lucan and I were public knowledge.”
“Of course Serge recognized your name on the divorce papers. H
e’d been talking about how you were dating Lucan and how he wanted you. He went on and on about how he’d seen you with him one night at the Enclave and how he’d hacked Lucan’s Enclave file to find out where he lived. I think he originally planned to come here and ambush you, but then he found out how powerful Lucan was, so he gave up. I guess I wasn’t sane enough to have the same fear.”
“Huh. That dude is a psycho,” I say, rummaging through the fridge. There is a large brown paper package labeled filet mignon and a dozen eggs. “Steak and eggs?”
Mark nods in approval. Zaid and Lucan are still deep in conversation so I skip them and look to Amelia. She gives me a shrug of indifferent approval. “Steak and eggs it is then. Rare, Mark?”
“Yes, please. I’m going to check on Sarah.”
***
After breakfast, I head to the closet to get dressed. What does one wear to a vampire death sentencing? I decide on a black pencil skirt and jade green blouse and then dig around for the black tights and sensible flats I know are somewhere at the bottom of the pile of laundry from the last few days. I brush my hair, secure it with a clip, and swipe a little make up on my face. Satisfied I look presentable enough for the Council, I head back into the main room.
“You look amazing as always,” Lucan purrs into my ear.
“Thank you. I wasn’t sure what one is supposed to wear to a vampire death sentencing cum Sodalis ceremony.”
Lucan helps me into my coat with a laugh and we head down the stairs to the larger elevators that reach the garage. We decide on the intimidating Hummer for our transport, as it is the only vehicle in Lucan’s collection that will fit us all comfortably. There is an air of nervousness in the truck as we head up the ramp and onto the street. Mark and Sarah look like they might bolt if given the chance.
This is the first time I’ve seen the light of day and my eyes balk at the brightness. Lucan taps a compartment over my head and a door falls open to reveal a pair of sunglasses. Grateful, I put them on, even if they are sized for a man and cover half of my face. I can’t help but hope Serge is stuck outside somewhere losing whatever strength he’d stolen from his victims.
Thankfully, the ride to the Enclave is brief since there is little traffic downtown on a Saturday morning. Lucan pulls up to the valet stand and we all pile out onto the curb. As the valet climbs into the driver’s seat, I steal a glance in his direction. He doesn’t seem to be the least bit interested in the half dozen humans and vampires making their way to the door. It gives me hope that he isn’t on his way to alert Serge to our arrival.
Inside there is no one at the front desk so we walk towards the elevator bank and pack inside the first car held open by a waiting attendant. I wait for the wave of nausea that is sure to overtake me in a packed elevator. Before it can erupt Lucan takes my hand. “I’ve got you,” he thinks to me.
The doors open again and we file out into the marble hallway outside the Council chambers. Sarah has been completely silent up to this point. “This place looks like something out of those Harry Potter movies,” she says.
Lucan laughs. “Abri thought the same thing the first time I brought her here. Stay here while Zaid and I go greet the Council.”
Amelia and I stand with Mark and Sarah outside the heavy chamber doors. The thought that I will walk about of here a bonded Sodalis sends a shiver up my spine. I haven’t told anyone about our plan to go through with the ceremony today or about our engagement. We are so focused on the hunt for Serge that it’s dominated every conversation this morning. Strangely, I am not nervous, only excited.
Mark looks nervous enough for the both of us. “It’s going to be okay, man,” I offer. “Between you and Serge, you at least haven’t eaten anyone. That’s gotta count for something.”
“I sure hope so,” he says quietly. “I can’t help but worry they will want to kill me if we can’t find Serge. Sweep it all under the rug.”
Amelia chimes in, “Abri’s right. The Council is nothing if not just. They wouldn’t take your life as payment for Serge’s misdeeds. Most Halflings are nothing more than the walking dead. It’s like a rabid dog; the only humane thing to do is to put it down. You’re no different from a full-blooded vampire as far as I can tell. As for what happened in the past, even Zaid and Lucan get a little trippy if they don’t eat right. The only information they will want from you is about Serge.”
Zaid opens one side of the chamber doors, muttering to himself in a language none of us understand. “Come on in. Jonathan’s out of town so they can’t give a formal order to kill his ass but they are still willing to take testimony from us. If only we’d been able to come here sooner.”
“What does that do to completing the ceremony?” I ask. Sarah gives me a questioning look.
“It’s a no-go as well,” Zaid grumbles. “Who goes on vacation this time of year anyways? He was just here yesterday afternoon.”
Arius and Sophie are standing at the front of the room with Lucan. They are dressed weekend casual and Sophie has a mug of what I hope is coffee in her hand. Seeing Arius in a Nike tracksuit is just weird. He looks like Paulie Walnuts from the Sopranos and is no doubt every bit as lethal.
“Abri, my love,” Arius calls across the room. “I'm so glad you’re here. It’s been too long since I’ve seen your lovely face.”
“It’s good to see you both as well,” I reply. “So I hear Jonathan is out of town. Does that mean you can’t give the order to dispose of Serge? Or perform the Sodalis ceremony?”
Lucan and Zaid groan beside me. I figure if we are going to stand around all coffee klatch cozy that I might as well be as straightforward as I would be with any of my own contemporaries. The Council was not my governing body. Lucan shakes his head at my thoughts.
“You miss nothing, Miss Cole,” he chuckles. “You are correct. Our laws dictate that a full Council must be present for both instances. Jonathan was called out of town unexpectedly. He will return next week.”
“Next week?” I fail at masking my anger even as I consider that the passage of time obviously means nothing to these two. A week’s passage would cause them no more notice than an hour’s passage would for me. “So what am I supposed to do until then? Lock myself in the bathroom and hide?”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, I feel horribly bad. Bad that I have been so disrespectful to Arius who has never given me any reason to believe he is anything other than a kind soul. Bad that I’ve spoken out of turn to the Council, even if they aren’t my rulers, they are Lucan and Zaid’s… and maybe Mark’s. Arius begins to chuckle, Sophie too.
“Child, it’s been years since anyone’s been that forceful with us,” she coos. “Lucan you have certainly got your hands full with this one.”
“Aye, Reveré,” Lucan says with his eyes cast downwards and a hint of shame in his voice. “Forgive Abri. She does not know our laws and means no disrespect. This situation has her trapped between our world and hers…something I forget possible after so long.”
“There’s nothing to forgive, Lucan. She’s just frustrated, as we all are,” Sophie chides in her sweet southern twang. “Abri, don’t you dare apologize for how you feel, you are completely within your rights to be upset. Now, let us hear from the Halfling. Come forward child.”
I am starting to think Lucan gives the Council too much deference. Then again, maybe they just think of my boldness as a curiosity and allow my outbursts for their own entertainment.
Mark lets go of Sarah’s hand and steps forward. Unsure of whether he should bow or shake hands with the two Council members in front of him he reaches his right hand out a bit and then tucks it behind his back, keeping his eyes downcast. Lucan and Zaid move to stand on either side of him in what I hope is a sign of solidarity.
“Sophie, Arius, this is Mark Ainsworth, the Halfling,” Zaid offers over Mark’s shoulder. “The vampire known as Serge Rozanov would be his maker, had he been able to complete the task.” The sarcasm in his voice causes Sophie to raise an eyebrow. So maybe i
t is just me they allow to be reckless with my words.
“Mr. Ainsworth, it’s wonderful to meet you.” Arius gives Mark a little bow. “Your existence is causing quite a stir around here.”
From what I knew of Arius, his comment is not meant to be accusatory or demeaning; he is just stating the obvious. Mark shifts nervously, not knowing how to respond, or if he should. After a second he offers, “I'm sorry.”
A chorus of laughter goes up in the cavernous chamber. First, from Arius and Sophie, and then followed by Lucan and Zaid. Relieved that the tension has been broken, the rest of us chime in as well. Even the halogen sconces seem to flicker in enjoyment.
“I think we’ve seen all we need to see,” Sophie states as she put her coffee mug down on the wickedly carved bench. “Mr. Ainsworth, welcome to the Enclave.”
“Does that mean you’re letting me live?” Mark asks, finally raising his eyes to meet her gaze. Lucan sighs in defeat at Mark’s direction questioning of the Council.
“Of course, my boy. Welcome,” adds Arius. “Now, let me speak with this charming lady. Sarah, is it?”
I give Sarah a little nudge and she moves forward to stand between Mark and Lucan. “Yes. Hello, sir,” she says quietly.
“Sarah. Tell me, how are you adjusting to all this? You are Mark’s wife, correct?” Arius asks, taking her hands in his.
“Yes sir, I am. I was shocked at first, but I figure if Abri can handle it so can I. I'm just glad he’s not crazy.”
“Good. Good,” Arius soothes. “Now, are you obliging to service his blood needs?”
Sarah blushes. “It was my idea,” she whispers. “He was eating raw meat before.”
The vampires in the room cringe. It dawns on me that Mark’s lucky he doesn’t have the digestive track of a full-blooded vampire or that would lead to a rather nasty post-dinner situation. Lucan holds back a gag as he hears my thoughts. “What?” I think at him with a smile on my face. “Don’t listen if you’ve got a weak stomach.”
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