by C. L. Quinn
“I don’t know. Maybe. Just know I’m protecting you.”
“That isn’t your job. It’s mine to protect you. You matter, Alisa. More than I can believe.”
“So do you. It’s odd. I feel as if I’ve known you for centuries. Like that’s possible. But I do. So it’s going to be hard to say goodbye. But I need you to understand that I’m leaving the country again in three days, and we will have to step back from each other. If you’re okay with that, I would love to spend the next three days making love with you. It doesn’t matter if I’m sore. It just matters if you fill me.”
“Alright,” he agreed, after a few moments. Like hell! If she tried to leave, he’d be on her like a guided missile.
“Now,” Koen said, sliding down lower on the bed. He really needed to get them into a decent vampire-sized bed so he could have more room to move.
“I think I need to let your body rest a little, and anyway, I still need some practice with this method of stimulation.”
Alisa laughed.
“Hardly! If you were any more skilled, I’d have to shoot all of the women in Chicago just to keep them away from this room.”
“Nonetheless. Ma’am, please lay back and prepare for takeoff.”
Forcing her onto her back, he pulled her legs straight to the end of the bed, dropped on his knees and slipped his hands under her buttocks. He lifted her and began long strokes with his tongue, travelling upward from her knees painfully slowly until her reached her center. His tongue darted back down and then started on the other leg. By then, Alisa was begging him to go back up.
“Koen, please, you have me on the edge.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am. This flight has yet to achieve lift-off. All the seats are not yet in their upright and locked position.”
He returned to her leg and she suddenly sat up and pushed herself closer to his mouth. He looked up from the area he was working.
“Wheels up and leaving the runway.”
“Return to your post, captain,” she said, and he growled, pulled back up fully on the bed, spread her out, and took her straight to lift-off.
Alisa had never been a screamer, but this time, as she hit orgasm, she screamed, then covered her face afterward.
“Oh, God, I’ve never done that before.”
“Glad to hear it. I’ve done my job. Later, you’re going to have to let me check the oil before take-off.”
“Captain, your dipstick is welcome anytime. We follow safety protocol here, sir.”
Koen gathered her in his arms, kissed her again, and wondered how the hell he’d fallen in love with this woman in just two days.
The doorbell chimed, Alisa rolled out of the bed, grabbing some sweatpants and a sweatshirt that had been abandoned on a chair earlier.
Koen leaned out, grabbed his wallet, and handed her four one-hundred dollar bills.
She shook her head at him.
“It’s all right,” he said. “Just give them all of it.”
The wreck of their breakfast covered almost every corner of Alisa’s little bedroom.
“Ugh. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to look at French toast again.”
“But it was good. Your little café does a fine job.”
“It was, wasn’t it? I guess that’s all that matters in the end. Other than the bloated tummy. I think I need another nap.”
“Come over here. Sleep in my arms again. I find I am already addicted to that.”
Shoving a small mountain of cartons aside, she crawled up next to him.
They fell asleep almost immediately, entangled.
When the sun fell below the horizon in Chicago, Koen woke suddenly. Lifting his head, he searched around him, cautious and alert. It only took moments to realize where he was, but the warm body pressed against him felt like it had always been there.
He was in Chicago. With Alisa. Finally, she was well and truly made love to and safe beside him. Could life get any better? Not in this world.
It was dark. Thank God. He would take her somewhere nice and show her what I was like to be with him. To prepare her for the rest of her life with him. If she didn’t love him yet, he knew it would come. Because, like she’d said of him earlier, he’d been inside her. He knew her and her heart. They were meant to be together.
Cherise had used her empathic skills recently to determine destiny and fate’s role in the lives of Jacob and Starla. Ultimately, it had worked out perfectly. But he didn’t need her to tell him that the rest of his life would include this funny, sweet, brilliant, sexy woman.
Her long hair had fallen across her face and he brushed it back to look at her. Beautiful. Stunning. God, she was going to be glorious as vampire. She roused and her eyes opened.
“Hi,” she said softly.
“Hi,” he returned in the same quiet voice.
“Did we just spend an entire day eating and having sex?”
“We did,” Koen acknowledged. “And thanks.”
She buried her face in her hands and groaned.
“I’ve never done anything like that before. God, I feel incredible.”
“See what you would have missed if I hadn’t come for you? We could have been doing this for the last three months.”
Her smile faded. Then tried to return, but failed. She rolled up and got out of the other side of the bed.
“I would have loved that,” she said, so quietly, he wasn’t sure he could have heard her if not for his excellent vampire hearing. She would tell him why she was so sad. He still promised himself he wouldn’t use compulsion, but he was fighting the urge by the moment.
TWELVE
How to do it. That was the most important concern. Obviously, it needed to be in a way that would not implicate her. Or be traced back to her, through physical evidence or magic. And Windari thought it needed to be soon. She wasn’t mean, and it would be worse if she waited unil the child was closer to term.
Plus, it really pissed her off that the wench had his child in her belly. This powerful man was Windari’s and always had been. She had tolerated his little dalliances through the centuries, they were nothing more than that. She had done the same many, many times. None of those other women mattered to Ahmose, so they didn’t matter to Windari. But this one, this Star, it was obvious she was going to be in the community, and with Ahmose, forever.
No. Windari could not allow that to happen. So the little vampire must die and the child within. Beheading had worked for Windari before, and she thought it was her best choice again. Sun exposure was too cruel, and fire…Windari shuddered at the thought. No. Clean and quick. Make it look like that bitch with the predilection for blood-colored lipstick that had taken Star’s lover, had taken Star now. She just needed to arrange the details. Ahmose was no fool, so it would have to be convincing.
First, she needed to find the bitch. And she knew how to start. The lipsticked vampire had taken up with Azure, a quiet little vampire with a penchant for women. There was no doubt they had exchanged blood. Windari could do a blood trace, a unique talent she had shared with the dead twin which allowed them to locate anyone by blood, including vampires. It was a handy talent.
Azure would be at first meal, so she decided to intercept her after she left. Rounding the stand of bougainvillea that lined the edge of the gardens where they ate, Windari saw Starla with Jacob, and Ahmose nearby. Starla was looking at Ahmose and laughing. Rage built up inside her and she had to turn away to tamp it down. Little French bitch! No, that wasn’t right. She was American. That was the one country Windari had never travelled to. In the past two hundred years, she rarely left the village. Everything she wanted was here, and she had never wanted to risk Ahmose finding someone else while she was gone.
Although, in spite of all her efforts, this little American had wormed her way into his heart. Windari smiled. She liked that term…it seemed quite accurate. A squirmy worm that needed to be crushed. When Starla laid a hand on Ahmose’s upper arm, Windari flinched. Soon. Soon.
She
searched for Azure and found her smiling at her friends like she didn’t have a care in the world. There, near the front of the long tables, Windari took a seat and waited until Azure finished and turned to go home. She glanced around to make sure no one was watching her…and followed Azure from the garden.
Windari had the information, Azure’s memory wiped. The lipsticked vampire, Azure said her name was Crystal, was in Switzerland. The blood thread was still fairly strong, which meant Crystal had fed Azure a lot. As a means of control? She couldn’t know. However, the blood trace could track her down to the nearest town. It shouldn’t be hard in a place where most of the cities were small ski villages.
She needed a good cover story for her brief absence from the village. A gift. Yes, that was it. Perfect cover story. She would return with a lovely gift for the new child of the moon and his mother, showing her support of the new Shoazan.
After a week passed, she would do it. Once she planted her evidence, it would be over. Crystal would die for Starla and the baby’s murder. And Windari would make her move.
It was beyond time to demand Ahmose see her as his lover and mate. This dance had gone on long enough. She would give him time to grieve and then make her claim on him. Windari would be what she was destined for. Mated to the most powerful man on earth.
The flight was awful. Windari preferred to stay on the ground. She was of the opinion that flying was for birds and completely unnatural for humans. And the limited control over her fate was unacceptable. But this was the best choice to help her attain her goal, so she closed her eyes and tried to sit back in the fake leather seat to relax. It didn’t happen, but luckily she amused herself with one of those new tablet computers that allowed her to view the world in her hands. Of all the new technology, this was the only one she embraced.
The vampire was selling coffee and hamburgers in an all-night diner near Verbier. Amazed, Windari watched her deliver plates of hot food to overdressed people. She knew what Crystal had done. Knew she’d kidnapped the vampire mated to Ahmose’s Shoazan. Knew she could channel first blood talents. Knew she was powerful for a made vampire. What the fuck was she doing serving food to humans on holiday?
Windari made sure she sat in Crystal’s “section” and when she came to serve her, it surprised her that the pretty vampire not only did not recognize her, but she didn’t even seem to have any cognition that Windari was a vampire. Odd. And wrong. Someone had messed with her. Someone powerful.
Ahmose. Of course. He would have removed her ability to repeat her deed. He would have taken any memory of Africa or Jacob. And apparently, she wasn’t able to read vampire life signals, something any vampire could do. That made it convenient for Ahmose and Jacob. Harder now for Windari. Ahmose would have to believe that someone reversed the compulsion to block her memory. It would have to be another first blood. Fuck!
Okay, just a detour, not a closed road. This would still work. It was all a matter of details.
“What would you like?”
Windari looked up at Crystal, who had arrived at her table to perform her job of food server. She scanned Crystal from her shabby uniform to her hair scraped back into a messy bun with a cheap rubber band. She almost felt embarrassed for her…a vampire serving bad food in a dive roadside café. She looked like every other dull, short-lived human doing its thankless service job. For a few moments, she considered reversing Ahmose’s compulsion but that would trace it back to a first blood, and she didn’t want that.
With a bright smile, Windari handed the grimy menu to Crystal.
“I will have your Big Man’s breakfast. And bring an extra cup of coffee with it. I need the caffeine.”
Crystal barely inclined her head to acknowledge the order and moved to the next table to take their order before she headed to the counter.
While she was gone, Windari took an ornate knife from her bag and laid it on the tabletop. Wrapped in heavy brocade, it was very old and elaborately carved. And nothing anyone at the village would connect to her. A few minutes passed before Crystal returned with the two cups of coffee and a plate filled with packets of creamer.
Crystal carefully placed each cup on the table as her eyes went to the colorful fabric that showcased the beautiful knife. She paused as she studied it for several long moments.
“That’s pretty. I like the red stones. Are they rubies?”
“No, not rubies. The weapon is ancient. Those stones are garnets that represent stolen blood taken by an enemy. It is a vengeance weapon. Would you like to hold it?”
Without hesitation, Crystal reached for the knife and lifted it carefully from where it lay swaddled next to the steaming cup of coffee. She turned it in her hand and, without thinking, began to wield it like someone who knew how to handle a knife. Not for cutting bread.
“It’s heavy. I’ve never seen anything like it. And yet I feel as if I’ve held one like it before. Well, that doesn’t make any sense. Where does a waitress get her hands on an ancient knife?”
“Turn it over. Look at the inscription.”
“It’s Latin. I think. I can’t read Latin.”
Oh, for God’s sake!
“It says ‘blood is life.’ This weapon has taken many lives in many wars. You are holding a piece of history.”
“Wow. Well, thank you for letting me see it. Most I get to hold around here is cheap chipped ceramic and plastic.”
“Then I’m glad I gave you something interesting to look at tonight.”
Crystal fingered the smooth silver and inlaid stones for a few more moments and handed the knife back to Windari.
Windari kept her hands wrapped around the hot coffee cup.
“Oh, you can just lay it back down there, thanks.”
Laying it gently inside the folded fabric, Crystal smiled wearily and went to the counter to take care of a new arrival.
Swiftly, Windari wrapped the knife back up, completely encased in the heavy fabric, then slipped it into a thick leather bag.
Done. And that was how you frame an unsuspecting vampire for murder. Ahmose would bring in someone who could read the knife, they would find Crystal’s aura and prints all over the murder weapon, and this garbage with the soon-to-be-expired Shoazan would be over.
She stayed for her hearty breakfast and caught the next plane home just in time to turn in for the daylight.
Jacob and Ahmose finished first meal and got up from the table.
“Baby, we’re going to do a final walk-through of the yurt before the workmen finish. Do you want to join us?”
Starla looked at the two handsome men she loved so much. How lucky was she? Against all odds, against even Eillia’s doubts, these two men were finding a way to accept each other as family.
That this crazy little thing was working still blew her mind. Thank God!
“No, why don’t you two enjoy yourselves. I’ve been thinking about cutting some of those flowers to christen our new home. Besides, I’m looking forward to being alone with my thoughts for a change. I love all of you, but with Chione in the village tonight, and you two busy, I think I’ll just wander around on my own.”
Kissing her on the forehead, his fingers lingering on her arm, Jacob smiled at his mate.
“I get it. Okay, just keep in touch. Call me if you need me.”
“Deal. See you soon.”
A few hours on her own. Sounded like heaven. As much as she loved this new family, there was very little alone time. With so many enormous life changes just within the past few months, Starla needed some time when no one needed anything from her. Just solitude.
And flowers. Thankfully, the community was highly successful in growing flowers that bloomed at night so they could enjoy nature’s gifts to the fullest.
She still missed the sun, being able to walk through a field of wildflowers with the heat of the sun on her face. People raised in northern climates like Alaska really loved the life-giving sun. That was the only part about being vampire that broke her heart. And never getting to
see her family again. But nothing would change either of those situations.
Finishing a local sweet pastry, Starla got up and fished out the little cutter she’d brought for the flowers and walked over to the edge of the garden. So many beautiful choices. What would look best in her brand new living area?
Now or never, Windari thought. And never would not do. She stood out of sight in the garden watching Ahmose and Jacob with Starla.
Enjoy it, she thought, you’ll never see her again.
When Starla wandered out of the garden toward the front of the community, Windari followed her as she stopped to fondle different blooms.
Looking all around, Windari confirmed they were completely alone.
“Good evening, isn’t it?” she said to the pregnant vampire now kneeling in some yellow wildflowers.
Starla had been pulling wildflowers that grew in masses along the outside perimeter of the village when the first blood that looked like Tamesine suddenly appeared and greeted her.
“Lovely night for cutting flowers.” Windari said.
“Hi. Yes, it’s beautiful. But it seems like it always is. Do you ever have bad weather here?”
“Yes. Some. The village allows natural processes through. Air, wind, rain, sun, occasional storms. We cannot stop the Mother Earth from bringing the gifts of nature. But we can protect it from some of the more severe events.” Windari smiled suddenly, showing perfect teeth. “But we need the sun and rain for pretty flowers, don’t we?”
Starla studied her face closely. This was the longest contact she had had with Windari. It was remarkable how much she looked like Tamesine, the mentally unstable first blood who lived with them in France.
“You’re so beautiful, Windari,” she said abruptly.
Inclining her head in acceptance of the compliment, Windari’s eyes moved quickly back to Starla’s. “I thank you. It is our superior genetics, but I am pleased with my lot.”
