Sucking Bites (San Francisco Vampires Series #3)

by Jessica McBrayer

  “Hmmm, I like that,” he murmurs, dipping his head to my neck and raking the tender skin with just the slightest hint of fang.

  “That’s the idea.”

  “It’s my turn next.”

  I giggle as he pours champagne all over me and takes his time lapping it off.

  “You should be illegal,” I pant.

  He laughs richly then tops up our flutes with more champagne.

  “We’re disgusting,” I say. “We lay around in bed all day. Helena and Julian must think we’re unsavory characters.”

  Sebastian says, “Helena is the one who insisted on the champagne.”

  “You're slipping, Bast, if Helena had to remind you.” His brows rise and he shrugs in his gallant way of acknowledging his momentary lapse in the art of romantic seduction. “Andrew will talk.”

  “Andrew will talk.”

  “Let’s take a shower and get dressed,” I say.

  We streak down the hall to our room and get in the shower where we make love in the steam and hot water. Afterwards, Bast puts on a pair of jeans and a dress shirt he leaves open at the neck. He grabs a jacket for later. I put on a Barneys New York Print Dress in black and white, with a pair of Manolo Blahniks. Brush the fangs, some eyeliner, mascara and lipstick and I’m ready.

  We walk downstairs together and I’m surprised to see my good friend and past almost-boyfriend, Aidan. Aidan, being a jinni, is especially keen to promote mischief. All the more if that mischief is pointed at Sebastian. I get twitchy when I drive with Aidan because he likes to make car doors pop open as I drive by and traffic lights change midway through intersections. He likes to feed off my energy when I get all stirred up. He says I’m delicious.

  He’s as tall as Sebastian, at least six feet, sandy-blond, tousled hair and ocean colored eyes. His body is amazing, taut and tanned, his rich voice carries an English accent that ties the package up neatly.

  “Welcome back from Greece, Aidan,” I say as I give him a kiss and hug.

  Sebastian never lets me out of his sight when Aidan is in the room.

  “Thanks, love. It was great being in the sun and surrounded by clear blue waters. I wish Sebastian would have let me take you. You look like you could use a vacation, maybe Istanbul? I’m up for another trip.”

  “Not on your life, fire boy,” Sebastian grumbles.

  He hasn’t forgotten the way Aidan fought for me.

  “Just for a day, Bast? It would be great to get out of town,” I half tease, half beg, finding I seriously want to go.

  It would be great but I know there is no way Sebastian will go for it.

  “Not unless I come with you. If you really want to go somewhere, I will take you. It will have to be when things quiet down at the club, though.”

  Right on cue, his cell phone goes off and he leaves the room to answer it. I curse under my breath.

  “All’s not paradise on the home front?” Aidan raises an eyebrow, sounding entirely too hopeful.

  “If I could, I would stick that phone right up….” I suggest. Aidan laughs loudly.

  “I personally hate the damn things. Of course if I want to talk to someone, I pop in and talk to them directly so I only gave my number to you and Hannah. But if you wish I can be of assistance with your desire as per the phone…”

  “No, no! I’m just venting,” I say quickly—I know he is all too ready and able to carry out that particular wish. “Where are Julian and Helena?”

  “They went upstairs to talk to the workmen and should be down any minute. We heard you in the shower, uh hmm, and knew you would be down soon.”

  “Sorry about that. It’s Sebastian’s fault. Really,” I say, totally embarrassed.

  “Lilith, if I had you naked in the shower, by the gods I hope you would be screaming my name as well.”

  “Aidan, if I could blush, I’d be beet red now. What’s got into you?”

  “It must be all the fresh Greek air.”

  “You better not let Sebastian hear you talking like that,” I say.

  “Better not let me hear him talking like what?” Sebastian asks as he walks through the door, a scowl on his face.

  “That she is lovelier than the goddess Aphrodite, more intriguing than Cleopatra, spicier than…”

  “Enough! You’ve made your point! I think that’s about all I can take. Isn’t it time you pop yourself into a bottle somewhere?” Sebastian suggests.

  “Au contraire, my French friend. I come bearing news. Have you read the papers this morning? Another mysterious animal attack in the city.”

  “No, I’ve been a little busy.”

  “Yes, I heard.” Aidan’s tone is frosty. “In fact we all heard. The whole house heard, including the workmen. You’re getting quite a name for yourself.”

  “Merde!”

  “Shit!” I say.

  “Say it in any language, you two are still the talk of the manse. Did you know Helena is adding sound-proofing material to your room?”

  “Oh God,” I say rubbing the bridge of my nose.

  “Well it serves you right,” Andrew says as he walks in with coffee. “Can’t have a respectable conversation without hearing ‘Oh Sebastian, Oh Bast, Yes, Yes, Right There, Yes, Yes, Lily, Cherie…’ ”

  Helena and Julian come in during Andrew’s impersonation of us and Julian shakes his head.

  “Andrew, that is eerily accurate,” he says.

  “Well of course it is. It’s all we hear around here.”

  “Andrew, dear, they are in love. Be gentle with them. Vampires have insatiable appetites. We can’t help ourselves,” Helena chides, coming to our rescue.

  “I don’t hear you and Mr. Julian going on and on.”

  “That’s because our room is sound-proofed and we’ve had time to get to know each other a bit more. Five hundred years will do that to a relationship.”

  “When I become a vampire, it’s payback time. That’s all I’m saying.” As he swings out of the room.

  “Helena, we better get that sound-proofed room finished soon, or we may have to look for a new butler,” Sebastian says.

  “You may have to look for a new girlfriend too. I can’t believe it. How embarrassing,” I say.

  “Have you got cold feet completely now?” Sebastian asks icily.

  “I was just joking, Bast. No big deal,” I say with a shrug, irritated. He’s always had a sense of humor but it seems to have taken a vacation, unlike him.

  “It is a very big deal and it should be wife, not girlfriend, but for some reason you think that’s no big deal either.” He leaves. We hear the front door slam and then the car pull out.

  “Damn Frenchman, so fired up about a tiny slip of the tongue. I swear he can be an ass at times,” I seethe.

  “Well, things aren’t so perfect in paradise, after all. My essence soars. I was just teasing before,” Aidan says.

  “He’ll be fine,” I say still fuming from Sebastian’s little temper tantrum. “Now about Istanbul…”

  That woman will drive me to find a way for vampires to get drunk, I swear to all that is holy. The way she lets Aidan flirt with her! Aidan will use every opportunity he can. Last night had been our worst fight ever. Not being able to hold her while she fell asleep made me feel empty. I thought we had made up and well. I shouldn’t have left her alone with Aidan. That damn jinni will take full advantage of the situation.

  Damn this fucking cell phone.

  “Oui!”

  “Sebastian, this is Paul. We’ve had three waitresses call in sick today. What should I do?”

  “Paul, this is what I hired you for. You’re the manager. You’re supposed to figure these things out.”

  “I guess we could just be short staffed tonight?”

  “No, we call in three people who have the day off. Offer to pay them double time for their trouble.”

  “Where do we keep the personnel files again?”

  “Never mind, I’ll be at the club in five minutes.”

  I click off
and tighten my grip on the steering wheel as I drive. Lily is right. Paul is proving to be hugely incompetent. I wouldn’t spend as much time on the phone running things if I got someone else as a manager. I’ll call that headhunter agency and see if they can do some scouting for me.

  I switch to one of my classical CDs replacing Lily’s contemporary bands. I try to settle myself and calm down. In all my years of women, beautiful women, who I could call to my bed with a casual gesture, I have never had to work so hard for a woman’s good temper. I want to spend eternity doing this? I must be crazy. The woman has me wrapped around her finger. I manage my employees, my assets, my past liaisons with women but not Lily. It frustrates me. But I can’t help admiring her.

  There goes the phone again. I swear to God if that is Paul, I am firing him tonight.

  “Allo!”

  “Bast, it’s me.” Lily’s sultry voice breathes into the phone making everything south of my waist twitch. “I just want to tell you I’m going to Istanbul for the afternoon. I’ll be back later. Ciao.”

  She hangs up. She fucking hangs up after dropping that on me. I can’t fucking believe it. I should turn around and head back home but I have this merde to deal with at work and Aidan has probably already jumped them there. Christ, what a mess my day is turning into. I would love to kill Aidan. Fucking always looking for a loophole. If he touches her, I will kill him. If I didn’t want this club to succeed so much, as a tribute to Lily, and to prove I can settle down, I wouldn’t put so much time into it.

  For once there is a parking place not too far from the club. The place shouldn’t be so quiet at this time of day. There should be cleaning and restocking happening. What the hell is going on?

  “Paul! Where the hell is everyone?

  “Cleaning is done and the restocking hasn’t arrived yet.” Paul yells from the back room. I feel the top of the bar—it is sticky and the floor dirty. Cleaning might have been here but they did a shitty job. Paul really should have been on this. Il est un crétin! First thing after I get wait staff for tonight, I’m calling that head hunter. I find Paul sitting at my desk reading a newspaper. There are a hundred things to do and he is reading.

  “Paul, I need you to go and wipe down the bar with the special cleaning solution and then sweep the floors.”

  His mouth falls open.

  “But the crew just finished up,” he says.

  “And they did a piss poor job. You haven’t been checking on their work and they have gotten lazy. The place is filthy. We will try to rectify the most obvious health code violations. Go. When you are done, come back and talk to me.”

  I grab his arm, haul him out of my office and shut the door. In my filing cabinet are the personnel files. It is easy to find three employees who are willing to work for double pay. Now to call the headhunter. This call is less painful than I thought it would be. They have two prospective candidates for me and will send them over tonight. Excellent. The day is getting better. Now I can go home and wait for Lily to come back.

  “Paul, I changed my mind. I will talk to you tomorrow. Just make sure everything is clean before tonight. We should be getting deliveries by now. We’ve always been first or second on the rounds. Why are they so late now? You’ve let that slide too. Things are going to be change around here. So much damage in so little time!”

  The cars are now bumper to bumper on the street. Everyone out shopping and enjoying the break in the weather. So many cars. I still remember when automobiles were a novelty. Julian and I had to have one. Driving up and down the hills of San Francisco was one thing, the tight cobblestone streets of Paris were another. Lily, Helena, Julian and I had gone to Paris for a while to live. We bought the first cars available there and spent the days driving hell bent on the narrow streets scaring Lily and Helena to death. I need to calm down and remember that I was always fascinated with Lily. Nothing serious, something like a school boy would have for a friend’s sister, someone out of bounds. I always felt she was too pure, too fragile for me. A car alarm startles me from my reverie. I get into my car and drive home.

  When we were in Paris we visited all the sites, befriended all the artists of the day, Picasso, Salvador Dali. Lily posed nude for Picasso, so did Helena. I secretly bought the nude sketch of Lily. It is amazingly representational. Pablo gave me a hard time, but promised to keep it quiet. I have it framed in my bedroom. Lily doesn’t know that it is her portrait because the model’s face is turned to the side. I love that sketch. It reminds me she’s still young and vibrant, of when she was a new vampire and everything was exciting. She experienced everything with a fire in her soul and often ‘big brother’ Sebastian was nominated to go along with her. She never knew how much I desired her. Not her body, but her spirit, her joie de vivre. It took seventy-six years to realize that desire had become love so powerful that it envelops my soul. I simply will not live without her beside me.

  And now she has run off to Istanbul with a djinn for the day to do God knows what. I have to admire her independence and stubbornness. If there is anything that makes me want to spank her like the child she is, it is this. I hope she knows what she is doing. I don’t trust Aidan to bring her back. He put himself at our side while we battled the warlock. But then he did that because he was protecting Lily. If he thought he could have Lily he may never bring her back. Fuck! This kind of thinking is going to make me crazy.

  I pull into the driveway of the manse and slowly, like an old man, I make my way into the house. I find Julian and Andrew in the library having a cognac. Andrew gracefully steps back into his butler persona and pours one for me.

  “Before you even say a word, I tried to talk her out of it. I think she was determined to piss you off, my friend,” Julian says.

  “That’s the conclusion I made after I had time to calm down,” I say.

  “Miss Helena has been upset all day and insists it is because you both are stressed out over the construction. She is vowing to get contractors in to work at night too,” Andrew says.

  I give a half-laugh, half-groan.

  “That will stress me out more than not having the room done. I will have to reassure her. I’m taking steps to ease the tension. I hired a headhunter to find me a better manager. Lily was right, Paul is a nightmare.”

  “I agree with her on that. Do you have any prospects yet?” Julian asks.

  “Yes, two tonight. Hopefully, my girlfriend will be back from her vacation in time for me to patch things up with her so I can go back to interview them.”

  “I’m sure they will be home in plenty of time. She’s just blowing off some steam and unfortunately she has a friend who can allow her to do that in a most inventive way,” Julian says.

  “My ass, he instigated the whole thing. I know he has ulterior motives. I’m not blind, Julian. He had better keep his damn hands to himself today or I will kill him.”

  “Yes, he still is in love with her. He would be crazy to do anything about it.”

  “No, he won’t hesitate. All he needs is a day alone with her in an exotic location, when her resistance is low. Like I said, if he touches her, I will kill him.”

  Helena strolls in and pours herself some cognac.

  “I think I have them talked into it. Your room will be done in no time, Sebastian dear. Now about Aidan and Lily, don’t worry about them. I am sure Aidan will try something, that is the nature of a jinni, but Lily loves you, sweetheart, she will not let you down.”

  Helena sounds so sure, I relax. That is until I see Aidan and Lily pop back into the room holding hands and smiling like two fools.

  “Where have you been?” Sebastian bellows at Aidan and me. We haven’t been in the room for three seconds.

  “I told you, Turkey.”

  “Why are you holding his hand?”

  “I have to in order to transmanifest. Remember?” I wonder if we should go back to Istanbul.

  “Why were you smiling like that then?” Bast yells, probably because we still haven’t let go of each other’s h
ands.

  “Because I had a really nice time today, I didn’t fight with one person. I had adult conversation instead of listening to someone on a cell phone all day and I did all this in the sun. It was such a relief and guess what? You have managed to take that great feeling and squash it like a bug in all of a minute and a half. Thanks, Bast!”

  I turn and march out of the room and up the stairs to the guest room. I didn’t really want to go there but I didn’t know where else to go. I know if I go to our room it will tell him things are going to be okay and they are so not okay.

  I get my handi-wipes out and wipe down the chair I am going to sit in. Then I get my hand sanitizer out and clean my hands. It is the first time all afternoon that I’ve had to use it. Damn him! I know he is jealous, but he is also mad at me. Doesn’t he take any of the responsibility?

  “Knock, knock, can I come in?” Helena asks.

  “Of course, Helena. Is Aidan still here?”

  “Can’t you hear? He and Sebastian are shouting at each other. Aidan was angry that Sebastian ruined your day and Sebastian told him to mind his own business. Aidan said you were his business and that really set Sebastian off. It’s like two grizzlies down there. I left it for Julian to sort out.”

  “I guess I wasn’t paying attention, I didn’t hear a thing. I’m too busy being pissed off.”

  “Yes, we have to do something about this. You and Sebastian seem to be on the extreme ends of things lately. And each end of it entails screaming each other’s names,” Helena says with a wry smile.

  This makes me laugh in spite of myself.

  “I think I need some space from him for a while. He needs to resolve some things with work. I can’t keep dealing with a phone instead of a person and he needs to realize I love him but need some time before we get married. I’m just not ready to give up my independence.”

  “What are you afraid of Lily?”

  “I’m afraid of belonging to Sebastian and not being me anymore.”