by C. L. Quinn
He came around the front, scooted her legs aside and straddled the recliner. There was enough light from the garden and the nearly full moon to easily see her face, glowing in the reflected moonlight. She looked at peace. After he sat down, she opened her eyes and watched him. He pulled the earbuds out of her ears and took the little machine away, set it aside.
“What’s going on, Park?” he asked.
She moaned softly. “Just relaxing. Had a headache. Sorry about your meeting. Didn’t think you really needed me anyway.”
“That wasn’t your choice. I requested you attend.”
She closed her eyes again, waited before she answered. Then opened them again and said, “Bas, you don’t own me. I don’t own you. And you don’t need a silly little weak human in your strategy meeting to discuss how to deal with some rogue vampires.” She sighed. “You don’t.”
“I still asked you to attend. I asked you, Park, I didn’t demand.”
“I’m sorry, you’re right. Forgive me.”
Bas smiled. “Now that’s unsettling, you giving in so easily in our verbal sparring. But I am right.” He paused. “You really have a headache?”
“Sure,” she said. And he didn’t believe her. He felt her, as he had from the first moment with her. Something was off. He leaned in to touch her, and had no sooner touched her shoulder than his head reeled, he was dizzy, and then transported someplace else, somewhere he did not know, a horrible dark place. The events that unfolded were heart rending…a young woman, girl, really, her long hair tied back with a rag, her green eyes stained with sorrow and fear. An emaciated woman, heavily made up, heavily lined, was grinning evilly at her as she pushed her into the miserable room with a disgustingly nasty old man. What happened next shocked him, from the beginning moment when they were alone to the moment he was made to leave. His head pounded and he was dizzy again, then finally back in his own mind at this moment there on the balcony with Park. She was leaning against him now.
He pulled back sharply, his eyes captured hers. She shook her head.
“What?” she asked, confused at his sudden withdrawal.
At first he couldn’t speak. Then he scooted back in. His eyes searched her face. Yes, yes, he knew it. It had been her. Oh, god. He knew her mother was a bitch, but this…
She searched his eyes again innocently. “Bas, what is it?” Then it dawned on her. Their connection…oh, no, No, he couldn’t have…she couldn’t bear it if he had…
She pulled back and got up, went to the railing.
“What did you see?” she asked, her voice stoic.
“Park…I saw the…I saw what happened, why you’re up here struggling to forget it.”
She dropped her head. Oh, well…it couldn’t really matter…she’d be leaving now. It would have happened sooner or later anyway…no surprise it was sooner.
She turned to him. “I’m sorry. I’ll pack up. Just my own things. Can I get a cab out of here? I hope I don’t need to take one of your staff away to drive me all the way to town.”
Bas was behind her, his breath on her throat.
“What are you talking about? You are not leaving.”
“You can’t want me here now. Not after you see what I am. What I’ve done. I’m dirty, Bas. She always told me I was. You don’t want me here now…I’m going to go.
He grabbed her and held her.
“You will not leave my sight. What I saw was a beautiful young girl being treated horrifically by those she should have been able to trust. There is nothing wrong with you. You are smart and gorgeous and I want you more than anyone I have ever known. You don’t feel that?”
She lifted her head, glistening eyes looking into his. “I thought I did. But now that you know how I was…how I lived…Bas, I was always told I wasn’t worth anything. I try to get past it, but sometimes…” She shuddered. “Sometimes I’m back there and have to fight to get home again. That’s why I have the music. It gets into my head and helps me push it back.”
“You’re not going to push it back anymore. You’re going to exterminate it. Your past was the result of terrible people. You were a victim,Park. So do not ever tell me again that you are not worthy of me.”
He held her again, and then pulled back, looked deeply into her eyes, their connection intense, and kissed her, thoroughly, took her breath away, took her past away and left only the incredible present. When he pulled away, his eyes were shining too. Look at that, Park thought, a vampire with tears. It showed how much he cared that he could let her see that. It touched her like nothing else in her entire life. She could feel the healing begin. And touched his face.
“It means so much that you accept me.”
“I more than accept you. I want you and I’m going to show that soon. But now, I really have to get to that meeting. I want you to come with me. Will you?”
Park nodded. She’d go anywhere with him. For him. “Let me wash my face, fix my makeup.” He nodded and followed her into the room, but she could feel the sadness in him for her because he had witnessed that man’s assault.
“Bas, he didn’t hurt me.”
“No, he didn’t get to. But she did.” He hesitated before he asked. “Is she dead?”
“No, but I don’t know where she is. When I was seventeen, I asserted myself. I stood up to her and told her I was leaving. She laughed, tried to kick me, but she was too drunk to stand. Then she just started screaming. Said she was well rid of me. It was the first time I truly got to see the world. It was the last time I’ve ever seen her.”
“If I ever do, I’ll tear her throat out.”
“Bas, she’s my mother.”
“No, she’s not. She’s worse an animal than any vampire I have ever known. It offends me that she is still breathing.”
“It’s over now.”
He stepped forward. “When you can forget her, when you know how brilliant, how lovely, you are, without question, then it’s over. I intend to start helping with that tonight.”
Park smiled. “I think you’ll be an excellent teacher.”
As she walked away, he thought…and eventually we’ll have to talk about a little girl who could use her hands to make a man fly across a room.
When she was ready, she smiled sweetly, and he wondered how anyone could ever have treated that beautiful child so badly. He was half in love with her already. Somewhere in the back of his mind something told him to be careful…he didn’t need the distraction of love. That same voice scoffed…he hadn’t been in three centuries…it wasn’t a worry.
“Bas, where’s Bernie? Is she okay?”
“One of my oldest friends is taking point on her care. He volunteered to stay with her and make sure she makes the transition okay. His name is Vasali, and I’ve known him for nearly two hundred years. He’s a good man, I trust him completely. He’ll see she makes it through. I have to feed her still, but he’ll keep her from hurting herself. Yes, I know that sounds odd, but it’s a problem. She’ll be fine, I promise.”
144
Chapter Seven
He’d been in jail for twenty four hours already. He did know his rights. They would have to let him go soon. He pulled the thin smelly blanket up and rolled over.
What the hell happened to her? He’d left the restaurant only moments after she had and he’d seen her go around the corner to her car. She’d gotten in, he knew it, because he saw the interior light come on. After that, he’d gone to his own car and headed home. He’d been sorry it hadn’t worked out. She was gorgeous, obviously very bright, and he thought she seemed like a truly interesting person. But there was something…something he couldn’t touch. She was closed to him, almost from the beginning. Bernadette Meyer, the ex-girlfriend of an old roommate, had set them up. He’d gone only after his buddy had shown him a video of her from an old office party where Park had been telling a joke about two amoebas. It was her smile and then her laugh that caught him as much as her classic beauty.
But she had been missing from that night, an
d he stood accused. This was going to go well with his career path in the partnership. Even though it was his grandfather’s firm, being his only grandson did not make him a shoe-in for partner. If anything, it meant he had to kick ass to get it. This would not help.
The hard bench was playing hell with his back and shoulders, which had been complaining every time he worked out lately. His doctor had advised him to take a break, but he couldn’t. His workouts were important to him, having lost his father and two brothers to heart disease due to obesity and bad family genetics. He determined he’d find a way to defeat the family legacy. Well, the food he was getting in here wasn’t going to pose any weight gain issues. And neither was too much sleep.
Zach finally got up and did some stretches. The lights were still low, meant to simulate lights out for the “residents” here in city lockup. He was feeling pressure in his chest, but even with the family history of heart attacks, he wasn’t worried. He figured it was stress…being accused of abduction or worse wasn’t exactly harmonious with a state of calmness. He hooked his feet around the bottom of the cell door and started some crunches.
His mind kept returning to that night she disappeared. Yeah, it pissed him off that he was accused, and that they had some evidence that might place him at her home. They’d found a slightly muddy shoe print that perfectly matched the shoes he’d worn for their date that night, size and shape identical. So some other creep wore the kind of shoe he did. The most damning though, had been the maître d had told the detective that she was upset when she left and he’d followed her. He knew it looked damning, but he also knew how innocent the whole thing had been.
And although it upset him to be accused, he was more concerned with what had really happened to her. He’d really liked her. And kind of felt like whatever had happened to her had happened on his watch. Felt responsible for not making absolutely sure she was safely in her car and on her way home.
Okay, he flashed back to the night again. She’d only been a little ahead of him. He’d thrown down a couple hundred dollar bills to cover the tab and smiled at the waitress as he’d walked out. As he’d walked through the exit, he saw her go around the corner and since his car was parked in that direction, he followed. She was parked down from the corner, but he’d been able to see her. The interior lights seemed bright when he glanced down the dimly lit street. Did he actually see her get in the car? He was wracking his brain and as hard as he tried, he couldn’t remember. As he struggled to push out a few more crunches, his mind kept returning to that one moment, over and over. If she never made it into her car, he felt it was on him. When they released him today, and they would have to , they really didn’t have enough to hold him, then he was going straight there. He had to find out what happened to her. If it was the last thing he did, he would find her.
When Bas entered the room, noise exploded. Park actually stepped back out of self-defense as two large, loud, brilliantly dressed men came forward and grabbed him. One of them picked him up and swung him around. Bas groaned as he squeezed him.
“The usual hearty hello from my oldest friends. Park, these are Iain and Mick. They’re brothers to each other by birth, and to me by fate and choice. We’ve been together nearly three hundred years.”
Iain came forward with his arms out, a bear hug imminent, and Bas intercepted him.
“She’s too fragile for the likes of you.”
“Ah, Bas, ya know I don’t break my playthings. Vaz told me ya had a new human. She’s a looker, that’s for certain. Ya always liked blondes before, but I like this one. Partial to those fiery redheads meself ya know.” His brogue was thick, so Park imagined he didn’t spend most of those years in America.
And what did he mean by a “new” human. Park stared at Bas, the question in her eyes. He read it well and put his arm around her. “Go sit down, Park. We’ll talk later.”
She gave him a look that meant, oh, yes, we will, and did as he asked, the vampire Iain still watching her with a grin. They all had such perfect white teeth.
It was only a second later that she felt eyes on her, boring into her, demanding her attention…and a hostility that she hadn’t encountered here, but I was intense and threatening. Her eyes shot around the room, searching, and to the right to a striking woman who lounged on a full length divan, lethal looking spike heeled boots hanging off the end where her ankles crossed. With the dramatic hair and clothing, and weaponlike footwear, she was both stunning and frightening. She was staring dead on at Park. Bas crossed the room and kicked the sole of one of her boots, drawing her attention back to him. She looked up lazily and smiled, widely. Park felt the heat from her chair across the room. The spike-heeled woman wanted him. And she considered Park competition. Now the hostility was clear. And then the voice came to her, as clear as if it were spoken.
Yes, I do want him. And I also don’t like having humans around too much. You are not vampire. You don’t belong here. And you are no competition.
Then she looked right at Park, smiled, then back to Bas.
“Be good, Dez, she’s with me. You treat her like family.”
Dez unfurled herself and folded herself tightly against Bas, wrapped her arms around him, their heights almost matched. Her lips were level with his and she leaned in sensuously. As she touched her lips to him, he turned his head and took the kiss on the cheek. She leaned back and laughed.
“Now you know it’s been a long time since you had some Dez. And you know no one else give good…” she moved in and whispered in his ear. He smiled and pushed her back gently.
“Take a seat. We have a lot to discuss.”
She smiled again and sunk back into the divan, and didn’t take her eyes off him again.
Park wondered what she’d gotten herself into. Vampires, and one of them was telepathic and hostile. If she could send her thoughts to Park, she could probably read them and that made her very nervous.
Bas went back to the center of the room and made a one hundred and eighty degree turn to catch the eye of those seated around him.
“You all know something is going on. That’s why you’ve traveled here. What I’ve pieced together is that my former blood-bond, Bruno Shanks, has been brought over by someone else. That someone has been converting others. And they have been killing blood-bonds in at least twelve states that have been reported. And now we have three reports of vampire kills, two in New York City and one in Vegas. One of the murdered blood bonds was Maggie.” The Scottish brothers made sounds of dismay.
“Ah, no, Maggie was such a sweet thing. Ya must be pissed, Bas,” Mick said.
“Beyond. I will avenge her death, I owe her that. She was quietly finishing her life in Florida. She should have been able to go naturally. But this brings up the bigger picture.”
“Aye. This is war. Someone’s out to kill us wholesale.”
“And you think it’s one of us?” his brother asked.
“I know it is. I had a run in in Los Angeles with Shanks. You guys know I blood bonded him two years ago when he witnessed a feeding party. Well, he waylaid me one night about a week ago and attacked me. Grinned the entire time because he said that now he was as powerful as us. And he was empowered by his maker to take me out. I didn’t feel the need to inform him that new vampires are always significantly weaker than older ones. But he’s fucking motivated. His Sire put the mission to him to destroy me and he damn near succeeded. So I caught a ride back here to plan my strategy. But now, this is a great deal more. Iain’s right. We’re at war.”
“We’re safe here. My defenses, as you all well know, are, if not impenetrable, nearly are. And even if they were penetrated, we would have enough advance notice to escape untouched, so, we don’t have any worries here. However, none of us wants to spend the rest of our lives here. And there are others to consider. I have my team contacting everyone they can. Desiree gave them an email list as long as her legs, so they’ve sent notices to everyone to secure their residences and blood-bonds. I feel a responsibility to
end this, because one of my own blood-bonds has been turned into a weapon against us. So do any of you have any idea who could be doing this? Someone who might have a massive gripe against the vampire community?”
Silence answered him as they all watched each other. Dez exaggerated a shrug and sighed loudly. “I don’t much care. I just want to hurt the son of a bitch to death. He got my best girl.”
Mick turned to her. “Not Freda?”
Dez glared at him. “Yes, Freda. That little thing has been with me for fifteen years. He tore her to pieces. She made more money than ten of my other girls put together. I plan to tear him apart when we get him, piece by piece. Only he’ll be alive for it. Party time!”
“We have to find out who it is first and so far, none of us has succeeded. He’s clever. He knows once we know who he is, it’s over for him. That’s why he’d using new vamps to do his dirty work for him. He’s well organized, and apparently, highly motivated. Damn, I wish I could still get control of Shanks. But he’s a vampire, he has his own free will back. And he really wants me dead. I think he still feels some draw to me and it’s wreaking havoc on his system. So we need to find out who the hell this is fast! None of us are safe outside these walls until he is eliminated.”
Park watched the proceedings, once again wondering why she was there. She wasn’t super human, or super strong. At the second she thought it, Dez jerked her head in Park’s direction.
“Bas, why is your human here?
“Because I want her here.”
