Eternal Ever After

by A. C. James

  “You’re falling for her.” Tessa’s eyes narrowed. “Adopted? That would explain why her records are sealed.”

  “What do you mean her records are sealed? How do you know that?”

  “Victoria mentioned you’ve been frequenting a certain coffee shop and that the girl who worked there reminded her of the keepsake hanging in your old apartment.”

  Arie’s jaw clenched. “I’ve been meaning to get rid of that.”

  “I did look into it, but I haven’t heard back from the connection that I have investigating the girl’s history.”

  “Why would you meddle in this?”

  “Arie, how long have I known you? I don’t want to see you get hurt. But the girl could be useful, despite the uncanny resemblance. I saw her aura. Perhaps I should offer her a job. The pay would be considerable for someone with her skills.”

  “I know clairvoyance is a rare and valuable trait, but there are others.”

  Tessa sipped from her wine glass. “Fine. You can keep your pet to yourself for now. But we both know how rare it is to find someone like her. Tell me; in your many centuries, how many clairvoyants have you known?”

  Arie looked away. “Including Holly? Only three,” he said with a sigh. “Actually, I came here to see François. I sensed the presence of an Ancient that I haven’t seen in years. I think there’s a connection, and I wanted to see if he had information on any illegals, someone not registered in your Court.”

  “François…his term here is over. He transferred to serve on the Council of the New Orleans Court. You know how much he enjoys the French Quarter. But perhaps I can help you.”

  “The girl works over at the Coffee Grind, and I felt the powerful presence outside the café. I sensed no morality or logic from the creature. It felt sinister and mad, but it was strong enough to block my signal. I couldn’t search it out. I have not felt such a presence since…”

  Arie appeared lost in some distant memory as he failed to finish his sentence. I hated to see that pained expression. There were so many pieces to Arie and I knew it would take an eternity to find out everything about him. It made me wish I had an eternity to figure him out. There was so much more to him. Our chemistry was only part of it.

  “You know me better than anyone, except perhaps for Victoria. I haven’t thought about the past in a long time. Not until I met Holly.”

  It was painful to know that thinking of me called up what I imagined from the look on his face were unhappy memories.

  Tessa studied him quietly. “I’ll put a call in to him. I know what you’re thinking. But no one has seen or heard from her. She will not abide by our decrees or be confined by society. I find it unlikely that she’d turn up here, especially with me in command. I am older, stronger, and higher-ranking. And she has a lot to answer for. The Council does not tolerate disobedience.”

  “Of course, you’re probably right.”

  She toyed with the exquisite yet unusual ring adorning her finger. I’d noticed it while in her office—the setting had an elegant swirling pattern and held a dark green stone. “I don’t know why you waste your time thinking about that skank vamp. You are responsible for the clairvoyant while she is in my Court. Understood?”

  I gathered from their conversation that ‘Court’ must equate to territory in addition to referring to those who dealt out judgments, because they’d mentioned it in reference to their friend who went to New Orleans.

  “Fine. One last thing.”

  Tessa arched an elegant eyebrow.

  “I know you want a seer, but please leave her out of it.”

  Tessa flicked a polished fingernail. “I make no promises.”

  “You know seers end up dead unless they’re turned. Once turned, what’s to say she won’t go crazy? Like someone else we both know?”

  “Arie, you really need to let it go. She seems a lot spunkier than your little skank vamp. I’m sure she’s fine. If you really believed otherwise, would you have brought her here?”

  Arie sighed. “No. But it’s not like I had much of a choice. If it’s who I think is behind this, then Holly is safest if I keep her close.” He paused. “Do you remember what happened the last time I got involved with a mortal woman?”

  “I do, Arie. But you really need to stop blaming yourself for what happened.”

  He nodded at Tessa and rose from his seat. I tip-toed across and sunk into one of the seats in the lounge with information to process that left me with more questions than answers. My first question being, who was this ‘skank vamp’ Tessa referred to? Why was Tessa concerned enough about Arie associating with me to pull my records? And what the hell did my family history have to do with anything?

  CHAPTER 7

  Arie drove me home and kept looking at me as if he expected me to start an inquisition. Wait. Does he know I was listening at the door? I was about to launch into a million questions about what I’d overhead him and Tessa talking about when Arie surprised me with his proposition.

  “I think I should stay the night,” Arie said.

  “I’m sorry. What?”

  “An Ancient is after you, Holly. Let me stay.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He didn’t need to ask me twice, but I didn’t want to sound so eager about the prospect of him sleeping over. Sleeping was about the last thing on my mind.

  He pulled into an empty spot in front of my building. Walking toward my apartment, all I could think about was my pent-up sexual frustration from the club. I unlocked the door and tossed my keys on the coffee table before flopping onto the sofa. Arie sat on the opposite end, almost as far away from me as he could sit without sitting on the floor. He looked at me as if he could read my mind, despite his assurances that he couldn’t. And he looked like it took a great deal of restraint to keep from acting on his arousal. His muscles were tense, his arms were crossed. Was it that embarrassingly obvious that I wanted him? If he wanted me just as bad, I didn’t understand why he fought against it.

  “Arie, I…”

  I wasn’t sure which one of us moved first. I found myself straddling his thighs—half from launching forward and half from him pulling me onto his lap.

  One hand was up my shirt and under my bra while his other hand cupped my ass, grinding me into his cock. “Is this what you want?”

  “Yes.”

  His mouth crushed mine. His kiss was truth, and everything else, a pretense, a lie—him denying what he really wanted. Our tongues tangled as he pulled my top over my head. Somehow my bra found its way to the pile where my top had already landed while I struggled to unbutton his shirt.

  “Screw this.” I tore the ends of his shirt apart.

  My hands moved over his chest and around his neck. I welcomed the wet, demanding heat of his tongue, the bite of his teeth, sucking at my nipples. He lifted his head from my breasts. “Holly, tell me what you want.”

  His voice was raw and desperate, almost like he expected me to tell him I’d changed my mind. “I want you. I want all of you.”

  “I need to hear it. I need you to tell me exactly what you want.”

  “I want you to fuck me.” I cupped his cock through his jeans and squeezed.

  Arie groaned.

  Then he kissed me, hard, his fingers biting into my shoulders as he pushed me off his lap. He put just enough distance between us to unbutton my jeans and yank them to the floor along with my underwear. He’d undressed me in one graceful movement and pinned me to the sofa in the next. Despite the hammering of my heart against my ribcage that the press of his body incited, with his jeans brushing my pussy, I managed to fumble his zipper down. Before I could push his pants past his hips, his fingers were inside of me, his thumb on my clit, and I wanted to feel his cock buried there instead.

  “Fuck me, Arie. I want you to fuck me. I want that to happen.”

  If he needed to hear me say what I wanted, what exactly I wanted, then I’d make it clear in no uncertain terms. I pushed his jeans over his hips.

  With
a grunt Arie muttered what distinctly sounded like, “Oh, fuck it,” but I couldn’t be sure, and then his cock was inside of me. His head dropped so that it rested on my shoulder as he slid deeper. My hands slid up his muscled chest but when I reached the cords of muscles at his throat, he gripped my wrists, pinning them above my head. There was a strangled, involuntary sound that I didn’t recognize. He pulled out only to slam into me harder and I realized then the strangled moan was my own. In mid-stroke a hissing sound came from above my head and a gray paw batted Arie in the face. Mystic didn’t stop batting at Arie until he rolled off of me.

  Arie was pulling up his pants when I’d just managed to push myself up on my elbows.

  “We can take this to the bedroom. I’m sorry about my cat.”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “Most cats don’t like vampires. They get that we’re unnatural. I am unnatural, Holly.”

  When I touched his arm, he jerked, and I pulled away. “Wait. What just happened?”

  “Get some sleep.”

  “What if I don’t want to sleep?”

  “You just have to accept that the decision here is mine. I’m sorry. I can’t, Holly.”

  “Can’t or won’t?”

  Without waiting for a response I scooped up my clothes, clutching them to my breasts, and ran to the sanctuary of my bedroom. I didn’t want him to see how very close I was to losing it, angry tears spilling over my cheeks as I ran down the hall.

  ***

  The restaurant where we were seated offered the best Sunday Bloody Mary brunch in town. Except that today was not Sunday. I looked over the menu while Arie watched people from under the cover of his tinted glasses, which he wore despite being indoors. He had spent the night at my place.

  On the sofa.

  I’d tried to persuade him to join me in the bedroom so we could close the door, barring entrance to the cat. But it seemed like something else besides the cat occupied his thoughts, and it ruined my night. I wouldn’t look at him; looking at the menu was easier. Safer. He didn’t like the idea of me being alone in the apartment after it had been broken into. To be honest, I didn’t like the idea of me being alone in my apartment, but I didn’t share that with Arie. He could be controlling enough without knowing how vulnerable I felt. A chipper blonde waitress walked up to our table to take our order.

  “What can I get for you?”

  “I’ll take a Bloody Mary and Eggs Benedict. And keep the Bloody Marys coming.”

  “I’m sorry sir, but that special only runs on Sundays,” she said politely.

  Arie focused on the waitress’s eyes, his eyes flashing silver. “I want a Bloody Mary, and keep them coming, and Eggs Benedict,” he said, his voice soft and firm.

  The waitress looked at him with eyes that were glazed and empty-looking. “Of course, sir. And what can I get for you?” She turned to take my order.

  “Steak and eggs please. And some coffee.”

  She left the table.

  “I wish you wouldn’t do that.”

  “What? Dazzle her?” Arie asked.

  “I don’t like how you manipulate people to get what you want. You dazzle people like it’s an entertaining diversion.”

  “And it is…mildly, at least.” He paused. “Holly, I’m sorry about last night.”

  “Which part? The part where you rejected me, or for getting me hot and then leaving me hanging?” I sounded more bitter and sarcastic than I’d meant to.

  “I’m sorry for hurting you. Did you hear anything interesting at the club?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Last night at the club, when you were listening outside the door.”

  I looked out the window. Shit. Of course he would have known I was standing there. He balanced his fist on his chin. A similar-looking ring made from a dark green stone with red specks encircled his finger. “Your ring…the stone is like the one I saw Tessa wearing,” I said, hoping to change the subject.

  “I need to wear this to protect me from the sun—it’s bloodstone.”

  The waitress returned with coffee for me and a Bloody Mary for Arie. He sipped his drink and bit off a chunk of celery.

  “So the whole sunlight thing isn’t a myth?”

  “I see you’re going to avoid the fact that I caught you snooping.” Arie sighed. “I told you we are more like humans than you think. We carry a disorder that causes an allergic reaction to sunlight, and a type of anemia not yet discovered.”

  “Okay, so where does the bloodstone come in?”

  “Chalcedony, or bloodstone, strengthens and oxygenates the bloodstream. It strengthens the heart, spleen, and bone marrow; helps neutralize toxins within the body; and enhances physical and mental vitality. It also helps balance iron deficiencies. It’s a powerful healing stone that works well with allergies.”

  “And you know this how?”

  Arie laughed. “I guess we have time for a story. Legend claims that in 945 A.D., a midwife or wise woman, sage-femme, in a rural town just outside Paris, France had a daughter near death from St. Anthony’s fire. It’s caused by ergot poisoning, a fungus that grows on rye bread in cold, damp conditions. Her mother was a renowned healer. Someone told her that a cure could be found if she took her daughter to St. Mary’s church in Paris where Duke Hugh the Great, Count of Paris nourished the ill with his own store of ‘holy’ grains. When she took her daughter home the girl came down with the sickness again, only worse than before, and she now lay dying. Her inconsolable mother bewailed the cruel fate. So swept up by her emotional display of devotion, a vampire passing through observed the girl was of rare beauty. Desiring a consort, in empathy, he turned her. The girl’s mother, horrified at her allergy to sunlight, discovered bloodstone when a gypsy passing through traded her one in exchange for some herbs. She soon noticed that wearing the gem worked as a protective shield. We were known as Night Walkers.”

  “Where did you get the ring? It’s beautiful.”

  Arie took a sip of his Bloody Mary. “Most vampires have a jeweler fashion bloodstone into wearable pieces like earrings, piercings, bracelets, rings, or watches so they cannot easily be removed. Before that we were destined to walk in darkness.”

  “So what, you’ll burst into flames and die without it?”

  Arie laughed. “Not hardly. That’s just a myth that the Legacy proliferated to hide our existence from humans. We’re not suspect if we’re able to tolerate the sun. Most myths are ones we have constructed to confuse, like mirrors. We have a reflection, but again it only serves as proof that we’re not vampires.”

  “So what will happen?”

  “We have an allergic reaction to sunlight which causes extreme hives. It spreads and blisters before bursting to release a fluid that erodes and melts through the surrounding skin. The older a vampire is, the stronger the allergic reaction. For someone as old as I am, it would be painful and possibly scarring, but for a newly made vampire, it could be quite unfortunate.”

  “Do you have other weaknesses I should be aware of?”

  “Holly, I would not have made it this far if I divulged that information so freely.”

  I looked at him with apprehension. I felt sure from his tone that I had pried too much. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to ask so many questions, but I’ve never met anyone like you.”

  “Which I find really surprising.”

  “Why?”

  “Holly, I think all this is happening for a reason. You bear an uncanny resemblance to someone else I knew. She has the same aura—the same clairvoyance as you. She’s also a vampire. Like I said…your aura is like a beacon. And I think she’s drawn to it, drawn to you, because you look so much alike. I think you’re in danger.”

  “Why is this only happening now?”

  “I don’t know. I do know that auras get brighter with age, but then dim towards death. Maybe now is the first time it’s been bright enough to attract the supernatural. You are supernatural. And like attracts like, Holly.”

  “Because I’m
clairvoyant?”

  “Yes.”

  So much had happened and I couldn’t tell how it had shaped my fate. The life that I knew was gone forever, but my life had been tedious, and doomed or not, maybe this would be better. It was certainly more interesting than the Coffee Grind. Although part of me wanted to go back to it and at least try for normalcy with so many new revelations to consider. I took a sip of my coffee, grateful for its warmth, which comforted me when so much was changing.

  He reached across the table, brushing his fingers across my cheek. “I will protect you.”

  And right then I wanted him, wanted him so bad, that it hurt when his fingers pulled away. This was no safe thing that I wanted. But what was safe, with everything he’d told me? Suddenly, I felt tired and plain compared to the exotic-looking creatures at the Hellfire Club. Everything felt different in the daylight. On top of everything, someone was after me. If Arie felt the need to protect me I had the good sense to be afraid.

  I moved slightly back from him when the waitress returned to our table with our food. She placed the steaming plates in front of us and, her attention diverted to another table flagging her down, she left ours.

  “You think I’m strange, don’t you? Because I see things. It’s okay, everyone does,” I said, looking down at my plate. Over the years I’d faced plenty of rejection from being different. Why would it be any different with Arie? Last night still stung.

  “No,” he said, rubbing a hand over his face, giving a short laugh. “Hardly.”

  “You can drink from me if you want.” The random thought popped into my head as I thought about him feeding from the girl at the club. She didn’t seem to mind it. In fact, she seemed very much to enjoy it. And I thought maybe if I let him drink, I could get him to do the same. Maybe he could turn me. Then I could fight my own battles and whatever supernatural forces I might be attracting with my aura.

  He frowned. “You don’t know what you’re saying.”

  “I’ve given it a lot of thought after last night. And you said you wouldn’t hurt me. I want to believe that.”