The Vampire Destiny 3: Awakening

by Alexandra Anthony

  Secure in his tender embrace, I lost track of time. Enveloped in his arms, I felt safe. His earthy, woody scent wrapped around me, as soothing as his physical touch. I'd never be alone, not as long as this man was at my side.

  "I will never leave you. We are together for an eternity." His mental voice was soft and reassuring. His love spilled out into our shared connection. My heart swelled, and I pushed my love back to him. I felt him inhale sharply, his hold on me tightening. He stilled, his thoughts racing.

  "What did you do?"

  "Nothing. I just thought about how much I love you," I stammered into his chest.

  Relinquishing his grip, he held me back by my shoulders. His eyes penetrated mine and the sudden severity of his beautiful face frightened me. He had that unguarded expression again, round eyes, slack lips. I'd managed to unhinge him in some way, to shock him to the point of making him feel helpless, weak...he was comparing it feeling human.

  "I felt it. I could feel your love. It was staggering." His voice was quiet. "I have not felt a presence like that since my human life. You have once again astounded me."

  The sound of the locks sliding open on the front door interrupted us. Lukas and Anna's voices spilled out into the apartment, breaking the solitude of our moment. They were bickering about something, Anna's loud voice easily overpowering Lukas. The sound became almost deafening as they approached Stefan's office, quickly silencing as they entered the room and took in our place on the floor. They looked bewildered as they took in our embrace.

  "Do I even want to know why you're on the floor?" Lukas asked. He rolled his eyes skyward and sighed dramatically.

  "Lukas!" Anna hissed, elbowing him sharply. She shook her head at him in exasperation, slapping him in the back of the head. “You need to learn that there’s a time to shut up. This is one of them.”

  I glanced at them both. With their dark hair and pale skin, they could almost pass as siblings. In the short amount of time since Anna’s change, they’d argued enough to be brother and sister.

  "It's just weird, Anna. We have to deal with an eternity of this mushy shit," Lukas whined. "If they aren't putting dents in the walls they're doing this weird shit."

  Focusing on Lukas, I concentrated on him for a moment. I wanted to see if Lukas could be influenced by my emotions as well. I flooded him with calm, wrapping tranquility around him like a blanket. His shoulders suddenly sagged, his lips relaxing from his typical purse into a sweet smile.

  It had worked as efficiently as my shield to immobilize him.

  "Lukas?" Stefan questioned. He immediately noticed the change in his behavior. His gaze shifted between us, his mouth gaping. "Josephine?"

  I nodded in assent. Stefan continued to stare at me with a combination of fear, adoration and pride flashing across his handsome face. I withdrew my influence and Lukas was visibly shaken as he regained his former prissiness.

  Lukas pointed an accusatory finger at me. His eyes were furious as he glared at me. "First you froze me and now you’ve influenced me. I find neither funny and you need to stop fucking with me, Josie. What the hell are you anyway?"

  Grinning widely, I didn't move from Stefan's lap. "That's the million dollar question."

  “Enough," Stefan spoke harshly. "Anna and Lukas, we will meet you in the living room. We have many things to discuss."

  They both lowered their eyes to the floor in submission, slightly inclining their heads and filing out of the room silently. We were left alone, still wrapped up in each other’s arms.

  "We need to explain what has transpired and what will happen next," he murmured against my ear. "They need to know our plans."

  "What exactly are our plans?" I hugged him tightly to me, snaking my arms under his shirt. My fingers slid over the satin of his skin and the hard muscles of his back. He shivered under the touch of my hands on his body, moaning in soft timbres.

  "When you touch me like this I do not think rationally. Now I am contemplating just walking away. I would love to leave the vampire world behind us, at least for a little while." He sounded wistful, his lightly accented voice a whisper in my ear as I held him in my arms.

  "But they'd send Adolfo to find us. We'd never be able to disappear," I reminded him. I rose to my feet and stretched. I soon felt the palms of Stefan's hand run over my shoulders, down across my breasts. His arms crossed around me, drawing me to him.

  I'd love to run away with Stefan. We could be anyone, go anywhere. I could forget about Kian, the Council...

  "We will do that someday. I promise you."

  "I know. A girl can dream," I sighed pensively. Taking his hand, I pulled him along behind me. "Let's talk to Anna and Lukas."

  When we entered the living room, they were both sitting side by side on the couch. Neither said a word and they didn't even glance up when we Stefan sat heavily in the chair, pulling me along behind him.

  "Josephine and I have bonded. We are mated in vampire law. She has also agreed to a human marriage. The more ways we can tie ourselves together, the safer she is,” Stefan began. He ran a finger back and forth across his chin. “As Lukas has discovered, Josephine has acquired new gifts. She is able to still a human or vampire using a shield of some sort. Earlier, we discovered she is able to use that shield to influence a being with an emotion. As you can assume, no one else is to discover this ability. Tell no one.”

  Anna and Lukas nodded in agreement mutely. Their eyes traveled first to Stefan, then studied me for a moment. Anna lips tugged into a small, shrewd smile. I was no longer able to read her future, but I knew what she was thinking. Her earlier words about me being more than human and vampire echoed through my own head.

  “Tomorrow we must meet with the Council. Anna needs to be registered as my newest child. We all will need to testify our accounts regarding the night Derek died. It is imperative that you say as little as possible and only answer what questions you are asked. Do either of you have questions?”

  Lukas folded his hands primly in his lap. He had wordlessly sat back and let Stefan talk without uttering a sound. He’d been biding his time and he now he chose to speak. “You never ask me about my day, Stefan.”

  I couldn’t hold in my laughter. It burst out into the room, a loud guffaw that caused Anna to snicker. Stefan raised up in the seat and I felt his anger surge at Lukas’ snide comment. Running my fingernails over his arm, I attempted to push calmness over him.

  Stefan sighed under the weight of my shield, relaxing back into the chair and simply exchanged a long look with Lukas. They stared at each other, silently communicating with one another.

  "Josephine and I are going to meet with Nigel soon. We have a few things to return to him," Stefan said. "In the meantime, stay together and stay vigilant. While we are gone, I want you to take Anna out. She needs to learn to acclimate herself to the smell of true human blood."

  Anna's gaze rotated between Stefan and Lukas. She started to speak, but stopped and caught her lip between her teeth.

  "Nikolaus does not count, Anna. While his blood is alluring,it is not entirely human." Stefan leaned forward, causing us both to pitch forward slightly. "You do not need to worry. You will do fine or I would take you. You are my child. Strength is in us."

  Smiling sheepishly, she shook her brown curls back from her face. She sat up straighter and focused her stare on her lap. "Yes, Stefan."

  Stefan nudged me softly, silently urging me to stand. "I need to call Nigel to set up a secure meeting place."

  He lowered his lips to my forehead. I closed my eyes under the weight of his lips. “I promise you, this will be fine. Jag kommer att skydda dig tills jag träffar min sista död.”

  He was off in a blur down the hallway, leaving me alone with Anna and Lukas.

  "Don't worry about the Council, Josie. It's a ridiculous formality." Lukas flicked his fingers in annoyance. "This bullshit at being at their beck and call has been a pain in Stefan's ass for 30 years, which in extension has been a pain in mine."

 
Shaking my head sadly, I preoccupied myself in preparing to leave. I went to the closet, grabbing my leather jacket and purse. "It's going to get worse before it gets better, Lukas."

  Lukas flitted to my side. "Be glad the Council is the face for the Board. They're a whole new level of crazy."

  Clutching my jacket, gave Lukas a sideways glance. "The others on the Board? Who are they?"

  Lukas was in his element. He loved to gossip almost as much as he enjoyed to meddle. His icy blue eyes gleamed as he stepped closer and whispered conspiratorially. "Silvio Armeni and Reginald Sylvester. No one has seen either of them in nearly 20 years. Your father is their spokesperson since they don't like to deal with political issues. Supposedly."

  "You sound like you don't believe it," I said. I knew little of vampire politics, but if my father was involved, the probability that something wasn't right was high.

  "I'd sooner believe I’ll meet my soul mate tomorrow. It seems much too tidy. Two equally powerful vampires decide to go into seclusion, never to be heard from again? You do the math."

  There was no need to do any deep thinking or calculations. As sure as I stood here, I instinctively knew my father had killed, or more likely, had the other Board members killed so he could have the power. The Board members answered to no one. They wouldn't have to reply to any summons to appear. It was the perfect situation for Kian.

  "Are you ready to meet with Nigel?" Stefan reentered the living room and touched my shoulder gently. He reached and carefully extracted my coat from my vice-like grip. His concern for spiked as his blue eyes searched mine.

  "Let's go. I have a few questions for Nigel."

  ***

  It was a short walk to our destination. We walked a few blocks to Billymarks West. Well known to Chelsea locals, it was a dive bar, lit up with neon beer signs and tucked away without the typical New York flair. It was rather dark and the perfect place for vampires to blend into the background. I was finding that this rule didn't apply if you happened to be with Stefan. His imposing presence and blond good looks caused heads to swivel and conversation to grind to a halt. How many times do you see an almost angelic looking man enter a hole in the wall bar in New York City? He was almost too impossibly perfect. I knew it from the very first time I saw him standing on the sand in Bali.

  Despite my attempts to overlook their stares, jealousy surged through me. Feeling my possessiveness, he gripped my hand tighter and pulled me closer to him. He ignored the stares and stalked down the long, narrow bar until we reached the last booth. Nigel didn't look up from his token bottle of beer. He simply gestured to the seat across from him.

  Sliding across the worn vinyl seat, Stefan pushed the satchel across the table to Nigel. He nodded and removed it from the table, putting it on the seat beside him.

  "What can I get ya?"

  We all looked up to see wiry, dark haired man with heavy black framed glasses at the end of the table. He totally ignored Stefan and Nigel, choosing me as his main focus.

  "We'll both have a Tanqueray and tonic. Thanks," I said, giving the man a distracted smile.

  The man stood transfixed at the end of the table. He tore his eyes from me long enough to glance over Nigel and Stefan. Even though a small part of me was human, I blended with them perfectly. And we stuck out like a sore thumb. From our glossy hair to our pale, luminous skin, we screamed ‘look at me’.

  "Did you not understand her order or do you need to have her repeat it?" Nigel asked harshly. He finally ripped his gaze from the beer bottle to glare at him.

  Frightened by the intensity of Nigel’s stare and voice, the poor man yelped and spun on his heel to hide behind the relative safety of the bar to fix our drink order.

  "Josephine. Stefan." Nigel nodded to each of us. His tousled light brown hair spilled over his shoulders and his ruggedly handsome face was solemn.

  "Nigel." Stefan inclined his head. They both sat like sentries on each side of the booth, too beautiful and still to be human.

  "You read the text?" Nigel questioned softly, his voice thick with his Australian accent. His hazel eyes flickered to mine. "And you. Have you read it?"

  "No, I haven't had the stomach to read it. Stefan told me the gist of what was inside." I shivered. The conversation stopped when the wiry man slid two glasses in front of Stefan and myself. He didn't make eye contact with anyone before backing away and resuming his position behind the bar, nervously wiping down the bar top.

  "I had two copies of the book prepared. One is in my safe, the other is hidden for security," Stefan replied. His long fingers danced over the rim of the glass. "A new Council member is still to be appointed tomorrow?"

  "Yes. Nothing has changed," Nigel answered cryptically. "Josephine is troubled about something. What exactly is bothering you, love?"

  "What happened to Silvio Armeni and Reginald Sylvester?" I blurted out. Picking up my glass, I sipped it, enjoying the pleasant burn of the gin as it hit my stomach. It was a nice buffer to help deal with the emotions that came rolling off of Stefan and Nigel.

  Stefan's mind pressed seamlessly into my own. I sensed his shock and nervousness at my question. He had expected me to question Nigel, but my subject matter had caught him off guard.

  Nigel smiled dryly. "Little lady, questions like that could get you killed in the wrong company."

  Raising an eyebrow, I propped my arms on the table and spoke in a barely audible voice. "But I'm not in the wrong company. Look, I know little about the politics I’m going to have to learn to live with. If I'm going to survive, both of you need to tell me how this works instead of keeping me in this ‘need to know’ holding pattern."

  Stefan and Nigel stared at each other. Stefan's mind was secured to the point that it was comparable to Fort Knox.

  Nigel’s expression was impassive as he resumed twirling the beer bottle around on the table. His desolate hazel eyes met mine across the table. "Silvio Armeni, Reginald Sylvester and Kian Ahearne assumed their vision for the Board nearly 2,000 years ago. They wrestled control away from the East Slav vampires in Kievan Rus who attempted to govern at the time. They've set the rules we as the Council follow and enforce today."

  "The Cliff Notes history lesson was nice, but it didn't answer my question. Where is Silvio and Reginald today?" I demanded. Swallowing another drink of liquid courage, I dragged in a deep breath and tried to force my lips into something that resembled a smile. "Nigel, I need to know."

  Nigel laughed bitterly. He appraised me for a moment before giving Stefan a meaningful look. "She is so much like Armes, Stefan. Armes amused Kian with her impetuous nature. She was a fascinating creature. Headstrong, smart and curious. It's likely what kept her alive as long as it did."

  "And it is also likely the catalyst in her early demise. Josephine is all of those things you described, Nigel. You understand why I fear for her safety?" Stefan queried. His tense shoulders slumped over the chipping formica.

  Nigel leaned back in the booth. The worn vinyl squeaked under his shifting weight. "Yes. I fully understand and can feel your genuine concern for her. You have bonded with her. A calculated and dangerous move, my friend.” He focused back to me. “Josephine, to answer your question, Silvio and Reginald issued a written statement 20 years ago that they no longer wanted to handle the monotony of politics. It went on to describe their growing desire to still govern, yet longed for the tranquility seclusion had to offer. They appointed Kian as the solitary member who would pass their deciding wishes along to the Council to be carried out."

  "That's a tidy little set up for Kian, isn’t it? For the last 20 years it's been radio silence from two of the founding Board members. And no one questions this?" I tried to make sense of the logic. How had Kian pulled this coup off? Not just once, but twice if you counted the East Slavs.

  Stefan took my hand. His large palm rested against mine as his fingers wrapped around my hand, completely swallowing it. "Who exactly are we to interrogate, vackra? Kian? If we question him, we either need to b
e prepared to go to battle or to die."

  "All along I thought American politics were bad. What you have is comparable to a dictatorship," I marveled. "The only difference is that Kian pretends the other founding fathers are kicking their heels up and getting away from it all. It’s fucking absurd."

  I exchanged glasses with Stefan and drank his with renewed vigor. The strong alcohol quickly numbed my mind. It was preferable to logical thought right now.

  "Yes." Nigel agreed. We all sat in silence. The low roar of the bar filled the lull of our conversation. I took in the other patrons, suddenly envious of their lives. They drank their beer, dealing with their ill-fated love lives, issues with their job. How many of them had a lunatic for a father? How many had to watch their back, waiting to feel the knife sunk into their flesh?

  Tears burned my eyes. Either the alcohol had brought on my sudden emotional state or the helpless reality of the situation finally registered. My throat became tight and the room began to spin.

  Stefan's voice sounded far away when he spoke. "Nigel, I need to take her home. She has had enough for one day."

  I felt myself being lifted into Stefan's arms. He held me against his muscular chest, his steady gait barely moving me.

  "Stefan..." My mind weakly reached out for him.

  The comforting cadence of his mind brushed against mine. The bond wrapped around me like a comforting blanket. "Shh. We will be home soon."

  Nodding softly, I clutched his shirt in my fingers. I sank into the peaceful blackness that sleep had to offer.

  Chapter 6

  Blinded by the Light

  One moment I was cradled in the secure embrace of Stefan’s arms and the next thing I knew I was surrounded by a dazzling brightness. Attempting to shield my eyes with my hands, I squinted against the light as I tried to make sense of where I was, yet there was nothing or no one. Alone, I was simply surrounded by nothingness, the air shimmering, swirling around me like a mist.