Vampire Most Wanted

by Lynsay Sands

  "Your mother was older than your father, immortal, and yet a servant?" Marcus asked with surprise.

  Divine shrugged. "That's what I was told."

  Marcus sat back and shook his head at this news, apparently finding it hard to believe. She could understand why. As an immortal Tisiphone could have controlled and influenced any number of wealthy mortals into marrying her, and with them under her control, they would have let her do whatever she wanted with their wealth. Heck, she could even have just used mind control to make them give her their wealth if she'd been of a mind to. That was certainly no less dastardly than what she'd done to Divine's poor father. But the truth was she'd needed the power of Divine's father's family to get her out of servitude. Because she'd been a servant to another powerful, immortal family to pay a debt she owed for causing the death of one of their children.

  Marcus cleared his throat suddenly and Divine glanced to him. He was about to ask a question, and she knew exactly what it would be. What was the name of her father's powerful family? She couldn't answer that, so quickly said, "Of course, her lies and manipulations couldn't hold up forever. I was four when my father eventually figured out that she'd used him. Once he realized that, he apparently snuck out a message explaining the situation and asking for help with one of the servants, who was ordered to take it to one of his brothers."

  "She could still control him," Marcus realized with slow dawning horror at the predicament her father had been in.

  Divine nodded. "And she could still read him, which she must have done. The night after the servant slipped away with the message, she barricaded the doors and windows of our home and set it on fire."

  "And then took you with her when she fled?" Marcus asked.

  "Oh, she didn't flee," Divine corrected him. "She barricaded all of us in the house while we slept: myself, my father, the rest of the servants, and herself. She meant for all of us to die."

  "How did you get out?" Marcus asked at once.

  "The servants," Divine said quietly. "They slept on the main floor and woke first. She tried to control them and make them just sit down and let themselves burn, but there were apparently four of them, too many to control all at once. I gather she gave it a good try though," she added dryly. "She kept them busy long enough that by the time my father woke to their cries, the fire was raging."

  "He rushed downstairs, sent one of the servants up to get me, and tried to battle with my mother, but she could still control him. When Aegle, the mortal servant my father had sent to fetch me, returned to the top of the stairs with me in her arms, two of the remaining servants were dead and the third was rushing up the stairs while my mother and father struggled below, the pair of them engulfed in flames."

  Divine paused, more to let Marcus digest everything she'd just said than for her own sake. To her, this was an old story, one she'd lived with her whole life. She had no more tears for her long-lost parents and felt only sadness for her father who had been used so poorly and then had died trying to save her and the servants.

  "The servants got you out," Marcus said finally.

  It wasn't a question, but Divine nodded in response anyway. "They managed to unblock an upstairs window and jump out with me." She turned her fork absently on her plate and said, "I don't know what became of the other servant. I think Aegle said she left us, planning to return to her own family, but Aegle stayed in the area for three days waiting for my father's brother to come before giving up and setting out to try to find my family herself." She glanced to him and grimaced before explaining, "Aegle was actually my nanny, though I don't think they called it that back then. She'd cared for me since birth and had been trusted with our secrets. She knew that I was an immortal and needed blood to survive and did her best to help me get it. But I was young and couldn't yet control the minds of donors which made matters difficult."

  "How the devil did she see you fed then?" he asked with amazement.

  "I don't remember it, but I was later told that she lured men to a secluded area and then knocked them out so that I could feed on them." Divine smiled faintly. "Aegle was a very intelligent and creative woman."

  "No wonder she had to move after a couple of days then," Marcus said with amusement. "I'm actually surprised she stayed in the area as long as she did with those men no doubt out looking for her."

  Divine nodded.

  "So she was able to find your family and reunite you with them?" he asked after a moment when Divine didn't continue.

  "Eventually."

  Marcus's eyes narrowed. "How eventually?"

  Divine sighed. "I was eleven when we kind of stumbled across an uncle who read my mind, realized who I was, and took us to my grandparents."

  "Do you mean to tell me it took seven years for--"

  "Yes," Divine interrupted. "I'm afraid the way we were forced to live didn't help. Actually, it hampered it greatly. We could never stay anywhere long with her having to knock out people for me to feed on."

  Marcus dropped back in his chair with dismay. "You had no one to teach you to read or control their minds so she could stop knocking them out."

  "No," Divine admitted.

  For some reason her answer made him frown, and he said slowly, "But surely you began to learn to do so on your own? It is a natural skill. Training helps, but with enough time around mortals you should have begun to pick up on their thoughts, and then started to be able to begin to control them."

  "But I wasn't spending time around mortals other than Aegle," she told him. "We were constantly moving, traveling mostly at night to avoid the sun's damage and the need to feed even more often. And then the stories of Aegle's attacks on men became almost legendary and we had to avoid people in case they had heard of her and had been given a description."

  "Hmmm." Marcus shook his head. "It's a wonder you found your uncle at all."

  "That was pure luck," she admitted. "He happened to be in the same area as us on business. Aegle spotted him while she was looking for a likely man to lure away for my next meal. She noticed that he looked similar to my father, and then she saw his eyes and knew he must be an immortal like me because of the metallic silver in the blue, and she approached him. But when she asked if he knew Felix, he eyed her suspiciously and asked, "Who wants to know?"

  Divine smiled softly. "Despite all she did for me and the chances she made herself take to help me survive, Aegle didn't consider herself a brave woman and his reaction frightened her. My father had been such a charming and easygoing man that she felt sure she'd made a mistake and rather than say anything, simply scurried away and hurried back to me. But she'd caught his attention with my father's name, and he apparently read her mind, and followed her back to me."

  Her smile faded. "He was a hard man. Taciturn by nature and not very . . ." She hesitated, searching for the right word, and finally said, "He wasn't very sympathetic. He gave us quite a fright when he strode into our little camp, and then simply started barking orders. When we didn't move fast enough for him, he bundled us both up on his horse, grabbed the reins, and simply led us back to the village where Aegle had run into him. It was only then he said that he was my uncle, the one my father had sent a message to. That the family had been looking for me for years and he was taking us to them."

  "Aegle went with you?" Marcus asked with a smile.

  "Of course. She was the closest thing to a mother I knew at that point. I wouldn't have gone without her," Divine said solemnly.

  Marcus nodded in understanding, and then asked, "And your grandparents? Were they happy to see you when your uncle took you to them?"

  "Oh yes." Divine smiled. "They welcomed me with open arms. They were both very sweet and loving. They were kind to Aegle too. They offered her a position in the household as my guardian so that we wouldn't be separated, and paid her very generously, promising her a home and enough wealth to retire on when she was ready. We both suddenly had beautiful clothes and plenty of food and my grandparents taught me how to read and control minds.
Everything was perfect. It was all like a fairy tale really," she said sadly, and thought that every fairy tale had a monster.

  "But they didn't teach you about our heritage?" he asked with a frown.

  Divine shook her head. "They spent the next year not only teaching me how to use and control my abilities, but catching me up on all the things I'd missed as possible while wandering around with Aegle. I was eleven years old with no education at all other than how to hide and survive," she pointed out. "I had to learn to read and write and do math and . . ." She shrugged helplessly.

  "And after that?" Marcus asked. "Why didn't they teach you once you'd learned the necessities?"

  "They didn't get the chance," she said woodenly, and then took another drink of water, set it down, peered at him and said, "I guess you'll have to teach me about Atlantis."

  "Oh," Marcus looked surprised by the suggestion.

  "After you tell me more about yourself," she added firmly. "All you've told me so far is that your grandparents were Marzzia and Nicodemus Notte and that they were survivors of Atlantis."

  "Right," Marcus muttered and then made a face. "I'm afraid my history isn't nearly as interesting as yours. My mother was my grandparents' third daughter, Claudia. Her life mate was a mortal male she turned. My father, Cyrus, died, beheaded in battle shortly before I was born, and my mother returned to her parents to have me. They helped her raise me."

  "And then?" Divine prompted, unwilling to let him stop there.

  "A few years later my grandparents had their first and, so far, only son, and--"

  "So far?" Divine interrupted with surprise. "They're still alive?"

  Marcus smiled wryly and nodded. "They're a pair of tough old birds. Nothing short of an apocalypse will take them out."

  "Oh," she said faintly and wondered if she'd ever meet them . . . or if she ever had.

  "Anyway, they had a son, Julius," Marcus continued. "While he was my uncle, I was a bit older. Still the two of us were close enough in age that we became fast friends. Then one day my grandfather sat me down and told me there was a threat to Julius's well-being. Someone meant him harm and he wanted me to keep an eye out for him and watch Julius's back."

  Divine raised her eyebrows at this, but didn't interrupt again.

  "I loved Julius like a brother, so of course I agreed to the request," Marcus said. "And spent most of my life working and playing at his side."

  "What kind of work?" Divine asked curiously, trying to imagine what it would be. He was very strong and well built, which suggested physical labor, but he was also smart.

  "Back in the beginning it was many things; sword for hire, courier, etc."

  "Warrior," Divine said, nodding. She wouldn't have expected anything less. He had the body of a warrior who had to wield large weapons.

  "Later it changed to other concerns," Marcus continued, "And now we have an umbrella company that shelters several different industries. The main one right now though is an international construction company."

  Divine smiled. She could see him in construction. Shirt off, tight jeans clinging to his hips, construction boots, and his body dripping with sweat as he wielded a sledgehammer. A fantasy, she knew. If he helped run the company, it was doubtful he wielded anything more than a pen, but she was enjoying the fantasy.

  "Most of the family works for or has shares in the family company," Marcus continued, drawing Divine's reluctant attention away from her pleasant little daydream. "As have I off and on over the centuries."

  "Why off and on?" she asked curiously.

  Marcus shrugged. "Julius had his moments of rebellion over the centuries and since I was supposed to be watching his back--"

  "You had to go where he went," she finished for him.

  Marcus nodded. "And then a little over five hundred years ago Julius met his life mate and they had a son, Christian." He smiled wryly and said, "And then a similar situation arose with Christian, a threat to his life, and Julius asked me to--"

  "No," Divine interrupted on a half laugh. "Surely he didn't ask you to watch out for his son's well-being and guard his back?"

  "Yes, he did," Marcus said with shared amusement.

  "What did you do?" she asked curiously.

  Marcus shrugged. "What could I do? Julius was all grown up and whatever threat there had been hadn't seemed to manifest itself, but Christian was just a babe and the threat to him was very real."

  "What was the threat to him?" Divine asked curiously.

  Marcus hesitated and then said, "Julius was away when Christian was born and his mother bore him while away from the house. A servant then brought the boy back in a panic, claiming the mother had ordered him killed."

  "Had she?" Divine asked.

  "Yes," Marcus said solemnly. "She did give the order, though there was more to it than that. However, we didn't find that out at the time. All we knew was that she'd ordered him killed. He needed protecting."

  "From his own mother," Divine said with a shake of the head. It seemed her mother hadn't been the only cold, heartless, crazed bitch out there. At least she wasn't alone in that.

  "So you protected and guarded him," she murmured.

  "Yes," Marcus said solemnly.

  "For how long?" she asked.

  Marcus considered the question and then seemed to do some figuring in his head. "Everything was resolved about three years ago."

  "And what did you do after that?" she prompted. They were getting closer to the now. Had he started working for Lucian then?

  "Well, Julius connected with his life mate at about that time and was a bit distracted so I stepped in and took on the job of running the family company until he got past that, which took a couple or three years."

  "And once he was back running the company full-time?" Divine prodded.

  "Well, he didn't really come back full-time. Marguerite--his life mate," he explained with a fond smile that suggested he liked the woman--"she and her family live in Canada, so Julius spends a great deal of time traveling back and forth between Italy and Canada."

  "Italy," Divine breathed, sitting back in her seat as her gaze swam over his face. She should have known by the name and his looks that he hailed from there. He even had a bit of an accent, although it seemed to have been watered down and distorted, probably by his living in a lot of different places. Divine doubted he'd spent his whole life in Italy. He seemed to have French inflections, German, Spanish, and even English sounds to his speech . . . as she did. That being the case, she supposed she would have classified his accent as simply being European in origin.

  Realizing that he was peering at her in question, she shook her head. "Sorry. Go ahead. Julius travels between Italy and Canada so . . . ?" She tilted her head and suggested, "So you run the company when he's not there and step down when he is?"

  "I did," Marcus said wryly. "But thanks to developments in technology even that isn't necessary anymore. So long as he has a computer and cell phone handy, Julius can run the company from anywhere in the world. He can bank online, conference call meetings . . ." Marcus shrugged. "It took him a couple years to get a handle on the new technology, but now that he has, he doesn't really need me anymore. And now that Christian has met his life mate . . ." He shrugged and admitted wryly, "I'm pretty much at loose ends."

  Divine considered him solemnly. He wasn't going to admit to spying for Lucian and she supposed she couldn't blame him for that. What kind of a spy would admit they were spying?

  "Why stay here in North America?" she asked abruptly, wanting to know how he'd explain that away. "Why not return to Italy? Surely they could find a position for you in the family business?"

  "I considered that," Marcus admitted quietly. "And certainly they have many things for me to do there, but I found myself too restless to go back to the family company once Julius took over again. It just didn't sound appealing."

  "So you just suddenly decided to fly to America and join the carnival?" she asked quietly.

  Marcus hesita
ted, toying with his silverware and avoiding her eyes as he did. After a moment, though, he raised his head to offer her a crooked smile and said, "Actually I drove here and joined the carnival. I was in Canada until a couple days ago."

  "I see." Divine stood and began gathering dishes. "I guess we should call it a night."

  Despite refusing to look directly at him, Divine caught glimpses of the worried frown suddenly on Marcus's face, so wasn't surprised when he said, "But what about explaining Atlantis?"

  "That will have to wait," she said, unable to keep the stiffness out of her voice. "We've been talking most of the night as it is and it's nearly dawn. Morning comes early at the carnival."

  "Right," Marcus murmured, and began to gather the salad dressings, and then stopped and frowned as he asked, "Did I say something wrong?"

  "It's what you didn't say," she muttered, suddenly angry. He was her life mate. He wasn't supposed to lie to her, was he? Even by omission?

  "What do you mean?" he asked at once. "What didn't I say?"

  "Oh, I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" Divine suggested dryly as she turned to scrape her plate into the pull-out garbage pail under the sink. She then dropped the plate in the garbage to scoot desperately to the side in an effort to avoid his touch when he went to grab her arm. No doubt he'd merely intended to pull her around to face him, but she couldn't risk his touching her. One touch and they'd both go up like tinder. She was pretty sure of that.

  "Divine," he said with exasperation, moving to close the space between them. "I'm not going to hurt you. I could never hurt you. You're my life mate."

  "Really?" she asked, backing away from him. "I'm not so sure of that. How do I know you're not just like my mother? You could be lying about being younger than me. You could really be older than me and able to read and control me. Maybe you're just claiming to be my life mate to lull me into a false sense of security or something."

  "How could I lie about being younger than you? I never said I was. All I did was tell you how old I am. I don't know how old you are," he said reasonably. "And why would I want to lull you into a false sense of security?"

  Because you're Uncle Lucian's spy.