“Yeah, well, make sure she treats Trevor and Evelyn like the pervy aunt and uncle for the time being.” I cautioned, a grin still on my face.
“You’ve got that right!” Jack tipped back in his chair and lit a joint.
I let him light my joint for me. “So what have you dug up?”
“Fuck-tons of information that give us zero answers, that’s what.” he said, exhaling. “Bank accounts being opened, making one transaction, and then closing again. Massive sales of real estate, only to have whoever bought it to unload it at half the price a few days later. Entire villages of supernatural beings moving for the first time in a thousand years. And all of it taking place on the periphery of the supernatural underworld… for reasons that still elude us!”
“I hope that Trevor and Evelyn have more to give us when they get back.” I said hopefully.
“Yeah, them!” Jack exhaled. “They better have something, after all of the money we had to spend to get them out of the country!"
“Typical Trevor, from what people tell me.” I grinned.
“Yeah, well… it’s good to have you and Raina back.” he said. “As busy as I’ve been, it doesn’t feel right if I can’t kick things back and forth with my besties at the end of the day.”
“Yeah, well,” I said, inhaling, “if your girlfriend comes in here and strips, I’m leaving.”
“I’d want you to.” Jack said, grinning.
At that moment, the door swung open to reveal Raina. She breezed in and sat by us, lighting her own joint that seemed to appear out of thin air.
“So what's the hubbub, bub?" she said, exhaling.
“Jack’s filling me in on everything.” I grinned.
“Oh, you can spare me the sweaty details.” Raina said. “I just had a chat with Hatsu. She said that she had to tidy up after her sister jumped your bones.” she said to Jack, much to his embarrassment. “Really, dude? You guys did it on the mantle? Shit’s six feet off the ground… “
“THAT’S enough.” Jack cut her off with his hand. “These ladies are way more comfortable talking about sex than any of us are used to, so we can stop the blow by blow now, thank you.”
“Or maybe,” I said, my gaze sliding to Raina, “I could tell Jack about you, the two Fae girls, and the suspicious disappearance of a tub of cheese sauce… “
Raina cut me off. “OK,” she said, “I agree that it’s time to stop over-sharing!”
I started to laugh, and it quickly spread.
* * *
“Tell me about you and Angelique.”
Now it was my turn to be wrapped in a sheet, my body entwined with Vincent’s, laying on a bed. I laid against his chest much in the same way that I had found Katsu with Jack earlier, and I had to admit that I saw the pleasure in it.
“What would you like to know?” he asked.
“What was it like when you guys first got together?” I said.
“Well, it was intense, as it can get when vampires get together.” he replied. “It’s even more so when two vampires share the kind of connection that Angelique and I share… it’s pretty much sex and eat, more sex and then eat, and even more sex and then maybe skip the eating for more sex… Are you sure you want to hear about all this right now?”
“Well, it’s not like I never knew you guys were intimate before.” I said. “Some of the passages in Angelique’s diaries are pretty steamy.”
“Okay.” he shrugged. “So that’s how it went for the first… oh, I don’t know, century or so? Then our relationship started to change, to evolve.”
“Did you miss the constant sex?” I asked.
“Well, it’s not like we quit cold turkey.” he replied. “And it’s not like Angelique or I have ever lacked for interested parties, either. We were never exclusive, even during our heaviest sexual phase… then again, I’ve never met a vampire who was always monogamous all of the time... so it was more of a shifting of emphasis than any lack of opportunities.”
I pushed myself up until I was staring him in the eyes. “And that never bothered you? Bothered either of you?”
“What?”
“Your great love… canoodling with someone else?”
Vincent smiled. “Did I ever tell you about the first time I slept with Angelique? Not in one of her past bodies, but in her vampiric form?”
“No.” I said, cradling my chin in my hand.
“It was about three hundred years before I was born in this body.” he said. “I was a young farm girl in Germany, and I was seduced by a guest who was staying in our barn for a few days. It was Angelique.”
“Really?” I asked, surprised.
“Yep.” he replied. “We spent a few nights of passion together, and then she was gone… never to be seen by that incarnation of me again.”
“Damn.” I whistled low. “That sucks.”
“She told me later that she had received a vision some time before, that I was going to incarnate there and then in Paris some centuries later.” he continued. “Once we were together in vampire form, she knew that she’d not lose me so easily again, so it was easier to leave me in the previous life.”
“I assume that you have a point to all of this?” I grinned.
“A lot of people are afraid of their partners sharing intimate moments with others because they’re afraid of someone else stealing them away.” he said. “When you live as long as vampires do, our intimate connections are too strong for one night of physical pleasure to make a dent in it. Anyone can get you off.,, true love is far more uncommon, and far more resilient.”
I had no idea what to think about everything he’d just said, so I kissed him. I kissed him again, and started moving my hand lower.
“Well, I haven’t had you for a hundred years yet,” I said, a lusty smile on my face, “so I think we should be done talking for now.”
“Sounds good.” he grinned back.
* * *
I started the day ready for action. I then spent the afternoon in bed with the sexiest male vampire in the Western Hemisphere.
It was only fitting that I spent the evening stoned.
I lounged in my seat, one half of an overstuffed sofa, as we all gathered in the parlor to await Trevor and Evelyn's return. I had just finished my post-dinner joint and was enjoying Gaia rubbing my feet as everyone else milled around.
“Ooh, there!” I said as she hit a particularly good spot. “I’m melting.”
“Honey, you already melted.” Gaia grinned, and I had to nod.
The mood was broken by Trevor running into the room.
“Guys!” he said excitedly. “I’ve gotta warn you about… “
Splat! I watched in amazement as Trevor burst in a green, slimy explosion, bits of him flying everywhere. Behind him, standing in front of a swirling vortex, was… Trevor and Evelyn?
“Sorry about that.” the new Trevor said as the vortex closed behind him. “That, obviously, wasn’t me.”
“I’ll vouch for him.” Evelyn said, walking past him to sit nearby.
“And what was that?” Raina asked.
Trevor waved her off. “Long story.”
“Too long for now.” Evelyn concurred.
“So, what did you learn in South Africa?” Angelique asked, seemingly fine with what had just happened.
“Right, that!” The Brit walked farther in the room and sat near his sister. “Lots going down around there, but nobody can suss just what.”
“Well, that sounds familiar.” Jack said.
“I even contacted one of my best mates, guy by the name of Jexo.” Trevor continued. “Old Jex is a real occult mercenary, been involved in a whole shite-ton of mystical stuff for the past thirty-plus years. Not only does dude not know what’s going on, but none of his sources will call him back!”
“While I wouldn’t call Jexo one of Trevor’s ‘best mates’… “Evelyn began.
“Oh come on,” Trevor protested, “I just called instead of stopping by in case he was busy...”
&nbs
p; “For someone like Jexo, that never happens.” Evelyn continued. “It’s got his knickers is a real pretzel!”
“And the whole thing when you arrived?” I asked, trying once again to get something concrete out of them.
Trevor just shook his head. “Not connected. Personal business.”
I had to give up.
* * *
“Okay Annabelle,” Vincent’s voice said, “I want you to walk down the forest path and choose a gate… one that’s never been opened before… and go through it.”
I was grateful that he was willing to help guide me in my past life explorations. While I could, most likely, make the journey without help, I preferred having an impartial observer keeping an eye on things. It kept my doubting side from assuming that I was guiding the outcome, rather than observing.
I walked down the familiar route, feeling completely at ease. It was night, but the forest seemed to glow with its own radiance. I chose a dull brass gate on my left and broke the seal on it.
I emerged into a basement-like room. It was crowded, with my parents, my grandfather, and my three younger siblings all sleeping in a room that would have comfortably slept half that.
I was small… even though I had passed my nineteenth birthday, I was barely five feet tall. While I wasn't skinny, I was petite… which gave me the overall appearance of a fourteen-year-old.
But she knows me I thought. She knows the real me, the eternal me. The ageless me who has known and loved her before.
When she first came to me, I thought that we were dead. Her fine, angular features looked Aryan to me, and we had only recently taken refuge in Meyer Lupowski’s old root cellar to avoid being taken to the camps. Jews didn’t last long at the camps, we heard.
And a Jewish girl who liked girls? Dead meat.
I had never liked boys. Many were brutish, and the kind ones never excited me either. But girls?
Ester Cohen showed me that yes, I like girls a LOT!
I hadn’t seen Ester in a while. I hoped that she was all right.
But her… I thought, When I’m with her, I don’t think of Ester. I don’t think of the guards, the patrols that rumbled by at odd hours. I don’t have to. She’s with me.
Then I thought that she was Lilith or some other Jewish demon from my Grandfather's superstitions. I could see that her eyes burned with desire for me… was she a harpie, sent to destroy my mind and drive me insane?
And was it terrible that I burned with just as much desire for her, and that my sanity seemed a small price to pay for the sublime experience of her beauty?
And then she took me out of here. We walked right by the soldiers on the streets, and they looked away, as if by design, as we walked by.
“Do not worry about the Nazis.” she had said to me, her voice echoing in my head. “They will not remember seeing either of us three seconds after we walk by.”
And so, while my family slept, my dark angel and I would walk freely on the city streets, breathing in the night air like it was ‘the old days’, as my parents would say. There was no war, no camps, no pogroms, and all was right with the world.
And there is love, and passion, and my body coming alive in ways I never dreamed possible.
“Rivka.”
I turned, and she was there! She wore the same dress every time… black, velvety, and skin tight. While it matched her jet-black hair, it was the polar opposite of her pale, alabaster skin.
“Angelique.” I whispered back.
“Come.” she said. “We have much to speak of before the sun rises.”
I felt her hands on my waist, and soon I was being carried at dizzying speeds out of the basement, along the streets, and up the side of a building.
When everything stopped moving, I was sitting in an easy chair by a roaring fire. Nearby, a bed sat with covers turned down, waiting for our entry.
We’ve never made love in such a fine place! I thought. “Where are we?” I asked aloud.
“We are in the mayor’s house.” She said, looking through a stack of papers.
“What?!?” I said, panicked. “We’ll get caught! We have… “
Angelique was at my side in an instant, her cool hands calming the adrenaline rush of my fear. “Fear not, my beautiful one.” she said, cupping my cheek. “The mayor owes me his life. We will not be bothered here tonight.”
“Okay.” I smiled. “I love you.”
“And I love you.” she smiled in return. “But before we surrender to our passions, we have to go over some plans.”
“Plans?” I asked, puzzled.
Angelique sat on a footstool directly in front of me. "Rivka," she began, taking my hand, "it is no longer going to be safe here very, very soon. The other side of the war is going to start bombing Germany, and your shelter is too close to the munitions factory. We have to evacuate you and your family."
“How do you know this?” My mind was having a hard time wrapping itself around what I was hearing.
“It doesn’t matter, it is coming.” Angelique turned around and retrieved her papers. “These are all of the travel documents you’ll need to travel all of the way into Switzerland, where you’ll find one of my homes there. I’ve included a map… once you’re established there, my allies will give you all new identities and citizenship papers, as well as the deed to the house and a nice nest-egg in a Swiss bank account.”
“But how… “ Words failed me.
“We will return at first light with a transport big enough for everyone.” she continued, assuming that I was talking logistics. “As far as your family is concerned, I’m a German heiress who despises Hitler but uses my Father’s connections to smuggle Jews out of the country. I’ll see you to the German border, but will have to wait until after the war’s over to return to you again.”
I took the papers and carefully set them aside. Without saying another thing, I kissed her and finally felt her melt into my embrace.
Our hands roamed over each other’s bodies, shedding clothes as we explored. When we were finally naked, I looked her in the eyes.
“Why do you do all of this for me?” I asked.
“Because I have loved you from the dawn of time,” she replied, “and I will still be loving you when the stars fade and we are plunged into the endless night. For your love is all I need to keep me warm.”
I kissed her again and moved to pleasure my love in ways that I'd never tried before.
Because she deserved all of the love.
Because she deserved all of my love.
Chapter Eleven
From the Diaries of Angelique Dupre
05/23/1589
Roanoke Colony
Sarah is starting to show some real talent at healing magick. Her heart has always gone out to the little furry ones, and she tried healing the injured ones on her own quite early on. She eventually figured it out, and the rabbit, songbird, and deer populations are doing quite well this spring, if you will.
Petronia, I hope you’re proud!
She has been growing distracted more and more as of late. I try to find the source, but women in this era have learned how to keep the deepest parts of their hearts private. She says several boy's names… Matthew, John, and Tobias… in her sleep, but aside from Matthew, she hasn't spoken of the others while awake.
She is young. I have time to learn.
* * *
It wasn’t morning yet.
Well, it’s technically morning, I thought, as in ‘am.’.
The forest path was dark, but I had no problems finding my way. I had been noticing a slight haze around plants and trees, even the ones without leaves, on my early morning walks as of late. I was pleased to see that my theory was right.
I can see the life force of growing things when there’s no other light to drown it out. The sliver of moon that had yet to set would obscure the glow in places where it broke through, but I still had a well-illuminated path to walk either way.
Though covered with snow, the forest seemed
alive in a way I’d never encountered before. Well worth getting up at the ungodly hour of three am.
As if I could have slept any longer. My dreams had been of Angelique, and how her lips tasted in the moonlight.
Well, leave that past life in the past for right now I admonished myself. You’re out here to hunt beasties and commune with the forest.
I didn’t feel cold, either, even though I wore only thermal pants, sweats, and another borrowed hoodie, this one saying ‘Kiss me I’m Fae’ in sparkly letters. I am SO fortunate Raina’s a hoodie hound.
I had always worn dresses for most of my life and still preferred them for everyday use. While they were comfy, they weren't made for close combat, especially the long skirts I favored.
Not that even shorter skirts would improve things I thought with a grin. I’ve worn exactly three short skirts in my life, and they weren’t designed for the easy use of stairs, let alone fighting giant spiders!
Raina often talked about the power of repeated actions and mystical power… about how our subconscious remembers things, so the more often we do them, the more energy is there for the task at hand.
I’m experiencing that right now. When I put on my ‘action outfits’, as I called them, I felt like I was made of pure energy, ready to take on the world.
And that feeling was increasing.
I felt like I was floating above the ground as I moved. I was starting to feel like water flowing… infinitely flexible, unyielding, unceasing.
Until I heard it.
The sound started infringing on my consciousness so subtly at first that it almost escaped my perception. However, as I moved, the sound started getting louder.
Thump-thump… thump thump… thump thump…
I stopped moving. I tried to figure out just where the sound was coming from, but all I could see was the forest, still glowing with life.
“You hear it, don’t you?”
Gaia’s sudden appearance at my side didn’t phase me. I was too entranced.
“What is it?” I asked, full of wonder.
The Witch: Book Two of The Sorceress Saga Page 21
