by C. L. Quinn
Dez was the one hold-out, the one person she had yet to connect to, but their shared talent and a similar sense of humor made her want that connection.
“Zip, darling, I think I’ll take vampirella’s idea and go below to change into something more comfortable. You enjoy these men’s company until I can return.”
Zip moaned as he watched her stand, perfect rounded buttocks in his face briefly. “Hurry back,” he said.
Her smile soft and a little crooked, Olivia left the three males in the cabin alone.
Seconds after she left, a loud knock shook the front door. Zach and Zip looked up at Nikolai.
“Expecting visitors?”
Nikolai shook his head. “Not on a night like this. The locals know better.”
He struggled to get across Zach, still stretched out across two chairs.
Pounding on the door continued, and Nikolai called out. “I’m coming to the door, just be patient.”
Before he could reach it, the door blew open and two people came in assisted by a vicious wind. They were wrapped in fur, top to bottom.
“I tried to be polite and wait for an invitation, but ye’re winds are monstrous this night,” a deep voice with a Scottish accent came from beneath a well-wrapped face. By far the larger of the two figures, he pulled the smaller figure in front of him and closed the door to shut off the invading air.
He turned to face the residing men. “Zach?”
Zach still didn’t get up, but he lifted his head. “Here,” he admitted. “Who the hell are you?”
He watched as the giant of a man pulled the wrap from his face and lifted off the Russian style furred hat.
“Ya don’t know me, but ye’re friend Park sent me. I’m Koen’s brother, Xavier. This is my blood-bond, Sarah. Ye apparently have a mystery involvin’ first bloods, and we’re here to take a look at ye’re bodies.”
Zach stood and offered his hand to the big vampire as the smaller figure began to unwrap. The woman beside Xavier was slight, shivering, and lovely as a porcelain doll. Her features were delicate, her eyes enormous, and her smile cautious, but warm.
He looked back up to this man who claimed to be Koen’s brother. Koen had welcomed him into his home when the stronghold where he’d been converted had been destroyed. Initially, the huge Koen with a flashpoint temper had terrified him, but once they’d gotten to know each other, a mutual respect was born, if not friendship.
This vampire seemed to have the same gregarious, possibly aggressive personality. He could see the similarity. “Xavier, welcome. Sarah, pleased. Come in and share our table with us. You’ve braved a nasty night.”
Sarah bowed her head and smiled genuinely this time.
“You aren’t kidding. I wasn’t cold wrapped in all that fur, but that wind is crazy. We’re not used to this in Paris.”
“I wouldn’t think so. So, what would you like? We have several choices of liquid antifreeze.”
Laying the thick coat aside, Sarah preceded Xavier into the room. “Hot chocolate, if you have it? I wouldn’t object to whipped crème or marshmallows if they’re available.”
Zach noticed how graceful she was, quiet, elegant, in complete control. Large milk-chocolate eyes scanned the room, and Zach could tell that they missed nothing. This woman was brilliant, he knew it, and sent a thank you to Park for sending her. The oversized male, Xavier…well, he wasn’t so sure how much help he would be.
His winter gear dropped where he removed it, Xavier bulldozed his way into the room.
“Aye, that antifreeze sounds like the plan. So, our little first blood tells me that the sexy South American is here. Where is my little she-cat?”
Zach froze in place. What? His eyes moved over Xavier, easily eight inches taller than he, a third again wider and thicker, and he was a first blood, so there was no doubt that he was stronger and faster. He’d wipe the wood floor with Zach in seconds if it came to that. Zach didn’t give a fuck. He walked up to the man and stood his ground, his eyes hard, his jaw set.
“That she-cat is mine. Whatever you think you know of her, whatever you think you’re here for, it is fucking not happening. You have any other questions, we’ll meet outside and go over this again.”
Xavier’s chest blew up as he took a deep breath, now completely focused on this young vampire who apparently had a death wish.
“Stop it. Sir, go get your drink. We are not here for this, and you are not here for the woman if she is not yours.” Sarah stood between them now, a hand on each vampire’s chest, her eyes a warning that she was not to be ignored.
Zach’s breath held, he was ready for the confrontation because he was certain that the first blood male would not back down.
The huge vampire’s sharp eyes moved to Sarah, then back to Zach. A moment later, Xavier smiled. “Always the voice of reason, my little Sarah. Okay, it appears that I’m too late. Ye’ve nothing to worry about, little vampire. If the wildcat is yours, hands off.”
Relief rushed in as Zach nodded curtly and turned away. “Zip, would you take care of our guests?”
Dez threw her leather pants onto the single chair propped in one corner of the small room she shared with Zach. Her eyes wandered to the mattress and she smiled. Reaching for her bag she’d packed before she’d left Brazil, she pulled out a long tee shirt and stretch pants. It seemed like it had been months since she left home, so much had happened in the few days she’d been here.
Slipping the satin-textured shirt over her head, she turned to reach for the pants and found Olivia sitting on the edge of the mattress.
“Hi,” Olivia said simply. “Too much testosterone up there.”
With a tilt of her head, Dez acknowledged that she agreed.
Olivia reached out and pulled Dez’s bag towards her, her fingers gently rifling through it. “Your clothes are gorgeous. Not my style, but I think the leather suits your personality perfectly. I’m more the quiet shy type. You know, the blend into the room type.”
The laugh came out on a snort. “Yeah, you blend,” Dez said as she slipped her boots back over the stretch pants.
Olivia glanced up and smiled. “Okay, maybe not quite. But I don’t dress for attention. It isn’t me.” She glanced at the purple braid in Dez’s dark hair and fingered the pink one in her own. “But we have some tastes in common.”
“Zach, for one.”
Olivia’s smile widened. “Yes, well, that didn’t work out for me, but I fully understand now. You are pretty spectacular.”
Her eyes went back to the bag as her fingers touched a metal shape. Pulling it out, she slid her fingertips across the smooth carvings. “Ooh. Pretty. Looks old. How long have you had this?”
Dez glanced down at the spirit amulet lying in Olivia’s palm. “Recently. A few days.”
“It’s beautiful. And warm.” A few seconds later, she held it up to the poor light. “It’s getting warmer. Wow.”
“It’s a spirit amulet.” Dez paused as she turned to pick up her leather pants and fold them. “My, uh, mother gave it to me.” Mother. That sounded much stranger than she thought on her lips. Mother. Would she ever be able to use it without wincing? Would the word ever really mean something to her?
“How does it look?”
Dez turned and saw the amulet around Olivia’s neck, resting on her chest just above her full cleavage. Her first instinct was to rip it off her, but she calmed the urge.
“Please take it off. I haven’t even worn it yet.”
“You should. God, it feels amazing. Hotter yet against my throat.”
As she watched, the white marbled stone in the center of the amulet began to glow.
What the hell? Tamesine told her that it would only respond to Dez. It’s made only for you, Tamesine had said.
“Take it off, Olivia. Now. That thing has special magic and you shouldn’t have put it around your neck.”
Olivia reached to the clasp. Her fingers worked behind her neck for a few moments, then she looked up at Dez.
“I can’t find the clasp. Help me find it, and I’ll gladly take it off. It’s kind of weirding me out. I feel dizzy.”
Dez dropped onto the mattress behind Olivia and searched for the opening to the amulet. She fed the thin chain through her fingers, but it was perfectly smooth, there was no clasp. A mild electrical current sparked from Dez’s fingertips as she touched Olivia’s skin. Had to be the magics going haywire.
“Olivia, there isn’t an opening. How did you get this on?”
Blowing out hard breaths, Olivia had trouble speaking.
“Yes,” she gasped out. “Yes, there is. It has a hook and ring. Take it off, please, I feel like I can’t breathe.”
Searching again, still, there was no visible clasp, so Dez knew that magic hid it. “Hang on, Olivia, I’m going to make a quick phone call.”
Where the hell was her phone? Fuck, it was still in the pocket of her pants. Diving across the mattress, Dez yanked her folded pants off the chair and slid her phone out, unlocked the screen and punched in her call.
Seconds passed that seemed like much longer before a sleepy voice answered. “Dez?”
“Tamesine! How do I get the amulet off someone else?”
“What? Why would someone else…”
“Don’t worry about that! Another vampire put the amulet around her neck, the clasp is gone, and she’s having trouble breathing.”
“Dez, the amulet won’t do anything. It recognizes blood, so the magic will only activate once you put it on. The merge will begin when it touches your skin and your lifeforce enters into it. Otherwise, it is just a necklace.”
Olivia dropped back onto the mattress, a hand to her chest, her eyes now closed, her skin covered in shiny, slick sweat.
“Well, tell that to the woman lying here unconscious! She’s passed out, in apparent distress. Tamesine, how can I help her?”
“Dez, I’m telling you, the amulet is inert until it begins to bond with blood. But it has to be blood of my blood, you understand? No one else can touch its magics.”
“Let me just say that you are wrong, mother! You need to find someone who can help me help Olivia. Now! I need an old one who understands this thing!”
“I am not mistaken, Dez, but Xavier is on his way there right now. He should be there soon. Perhaps he can figure out what’s happening. Who is this woman?”
“Just a vampire Zach met.”
“She isn’t first blood?”
“Hell, I don’t know! I don’t think so. I think Zach told me that he clued her in. So she’s just a made vampire. Oh, shit, she’s completely out now.”
Scraping behind her let Dez know someone else had come into the room, so she swung around. Zach had entered, taking in the scene.
“What’s going on here?” he asked.
“Zach, something’s happened to Olivia. There’s a first blood heading here…”
“He’s here, he’s upstairs.”
“Go get him now.”
Zach was gone in a split-second, and Dez leaned over Olivia, who was shaking slightly, moaning quietly, unresponsive when she spoke to her.
“The first blood is here, Tam. I hope to fuck he can help her. What is that thing doing to her?”
“I…” Tamesine paused, then continued. “I really can’t say. It should not be doing anything. Dez, you really don’t know this woman?”
“No. Never met her before I came here to meet Zach.”
“Do you know where she’s from?”
“I don’t. Is she in pain? She’s moaning.”
“The amulet is filled with first blood magic from my blood and the blood of the earth. It bonds with a first blood offspring and binds that child to its own magic. The amulet weaves into the body and spirit, touches the mind, and protects the vampire. But only a blood relation, Dez. It is truly impossible that this spirit amulet that I prepared for you is bonding with her. I hope that Xavier can help her.”
Xavier, Koen’s obnoxious brother, he was who Park had sent? That sucked. Dez had felt from the moment that she met him as if that man was lucky if he could find his way through a well-lit hallway from one end to the other. He was her cavalry?
It was all she had, though, so she prayed to the universe to please let him know how to get this monstrosity off of Olivia. Dez ended her call with Tamesine without saying goodbye.
Heavy footfalls on the stairs let her know that everyone else was coming too. Xavier was the first through the doorway, his frame barely fit as he squeezed in.
“Hello, little Amazonian cat. What have we here?”
“She put on an amulet meant for me and she’s lost consciousness.”
“Well, take it off the lass, then.”
“Why the fuck didn’t I think of that? Maybe because there is no latch and it won’t budge.”
“Is she first blood?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“And the amulet was made for you?”
“It was.”
“Then it wouldn’t affect her like this. It can’t, without a blood tie. Ya make no sense, little cat.”
Dez released a loud frustrated sigh. “Would you dumb-ass motherfucking first blood assholes listen to me? You can see what it’s doing to her, can’t you?”
Xavier nodded, his eyes now locked on the motionless woman next to Dez. “Aye. It just makes no sense. Here, let me closer, lass.”
Dez pushed off the bed and let Xavier near. After looking over Olivia’s body, he touched the amulet, which glowed even brighter at his touch. “It recognizes me as first blood, but it won’t respond to my command to release itself. Lass, the amulet is bonding to this child, and I am telling you, it can’t do that without a blood tie. Who made this amulet?”
“Tamesine did.”
“The crazy little blonde? How is this girl related to her?”
“She isn’t.”
Xavier shook his head, a hand on Olivia’s forehead, which was hot to his touch. “Nay, lassie, she must be.”
“Nope. You first bloods apparently don’t know everything about your stupid little necklaces.”
“Who was the amulet meant for, if not this one?”
Dez paused. No one else knew her truth. It appeared they needed to if she was going to convince them that something was wrong here. “It’s mine. I found out recently that Tamesine was…is…my mother.”
Xavier whistled. “That explains things a little, then. Ye’re first blood, but without access to ye’re powers. Ha. Well, I can tell ya one thing, and that is for certain, this woman is bonding with an ancient first blood amulet made from ye’re mother’s very powerful blood, and that means, somehow, somewhere along the way in her history, this woman has a blood tie to you or her. I know that I’m not the most intelligent man on this earth, but I’ve been here for a great many centuries, and this, my darlin,’ is fact.”
It couldn’t be. How could it be? Dez knew that it wasn’t possible, but if Xavier insisted, then somehow, this woman must be related to her. God, could life get any more convoluted or confusing?
Zach came up behind her quietly and put his hands on Dez’s shoulders. “Baby, you both have telepathic abilities. Why don’t you try to reach her? Maybe you can connect and see if she’s okay?”
Moments later, Dez nodded. “Good idea. I’ll need silence, so could you all go back upstairs? Um, not you, Zach, I’d like you to stay.” Her eyes struck Zip, waiting at the back of the room, his eyes locked on Olivia.
“Michael, she’ll be all right.” Then Dez glanced at Xavier. “Right?”
“Aye. The spirit amulet will make her stronger, will protect her and guide her talents. She’s first blood, so she’ll be exponentially more powerful than before. It will be transformative. Ye’ll see.”
Zip nodded, worried, but he let Sarah lead him from the room, a gentle hand around his waist.
Left alone with Zach and the prone Olivia, Dez pulled him with her onto the mattress. “I need you, Zach. This is new territory for me, and you know that I’m not g
ood at shit like this.”
“Lady, you have a bigger heart than anyone. You just deny it so that you don’t get hurt. Now, you need to open it up and reach for Olivia, see if you can help her. Honestly, there isn’t anybody else here who can.”
“You’re right of course. Plus, it’s my amulet, so it’s my fault. I just wouldn’t have expected the thing to do this. My mother has a lot of explaining to do.”
“That’s quite a wow reveal, Dez. When this is fixed, I want details.”
“You’ll get them. Okay, stay near.”
Zach nodded as Dez sat cross-legged on the mattress and closed her eyes. Clearing her own mind, she reached for Olivia’s and connected easily.
At first, Dez felt Olivia reaching back, but then colors bloomed in front of her eyes and pushed her back. She tried to force herself past the colors that changed and expanded into massive bizarre psychedelic shapes and blocked her entrance. The harder she shoved against the roiling barrier, the harder it pushed back until she was thrown out violently. Her mind felt singed and she couldn’t hear anything around her.
Zach watched the telepathic attempt, his hand wrapped around Olivia’s to try to keep her tethered to what they were doing. Dez was still as stone, her eyes closed, one hand lying against Olivia’s chest. The events unfolding now had his head reeling.
Dez was first blood? Tamesine’s daughter? And somehow Olivia was related to one of them? And she had to be first blood too? Everything seemed so impossible, too coincidental.
Suddenly Dez groaned, her eyelids fluttered, and she very gently fell backward onto the mattress beside Olivia. Crawling carefully over to her, Zach lifted Dez’s head into his lap.
“Baby, are you all right? Dez, speak to me, are you okay?”
She didn’t open her eyes, but she answered him.
“Yeah, okay. I didn’t get in. Whatever is happening to her, it’s blocking my mind. It toyed with me before it shoved me out. Damn, the poor kid is on her own.”
“Could you sense it at all?”
“Power, and a lot of it. I’ve felt something like it once before, when I was drawn into the spirit realm last year with Tamesine in Brazil. Zach, it’s hard to relay the immensity of the power, but it’s tapped into the universe in a way we normal vampires can’t imagine.”
