by Raine Miller
“It’s Sasa. Are you here, Vasilije?”
Her calls were met with silence. Fear raced through her at the thought that she was too late. She lurched forward, anxious for the sound of his voice or the sight of his piercing blue eyes, but in her haste she forgot the light and ran squarely into the couch, tumbling over it.
She landed on top of a body and felt the corded muscles of a man’s neck under her fingers. “Vasilije?”
“I do like a woman who knows how to make an entrance. Even better is a beautiful one who throws herself at me.”
Sasa sat up at the end of the couch and straightened herself in the dark. “Very funny. Why didn’t you answer when I called for you?”
“I was lost in thought.”
“Why are you sitting in the dark?” she asked as she turned on the lamp near the window.
In the light, she saw Vasilije lying back on the couch, dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt with his arms behind his head. “What happened with her?”
Sasa sat back down on the couch and began to tell him her news. “Vasilije, she got upset after I showed her the locket. She’s planning on coming to you tonight.”
She expected him to at least look interested in what she’d said, but he lay motionless, eyes closed. Had he understood?
“Vasilije, she wants you dead. She’s planning on having me help her get to you. I’m supposed to stay near you until she calls my cell.”
Opening his yes, a small smile crept onto his face. “Then I guess you better get over here, love.”
“Typical male. I’m not kidding. Why aren’t you more excited about this?”
“I’m excited. I’ll be even more excited when you get over here.”
Those blue eyes of his seemed to dance as he teased her, but Sasa wasn’t amused. Grabbing the waist of his jeans, she tugged him to get him up on his feet, but he was stronger and pulled her down on top of him.
“That’s better. Now what were you saying about me not being excited?” he teased as he ran his hands down her back and squeezed her ass playfully.
Sasa placed her hands on the couch next to his head and propped herself up. His face was so close and showed no evidence of concern over her news. “Vasilije, please listen to me. She’s furious. Please don’t underestimate her.”
“You feel so good, pet.”
He pushed his hips up off the couch, and Sasa felt his erection press into the area between her legs already feeling like it was on fire. Her mind told her body now was not the time to think of him snugly nestled inside her, but his body was more persuasive and she gently ground her body next to his.
“I’m glad you’re coming around to my way of thinking, love. And don’t worry about her now. Just think about how good it feels when I make love to you.”
Something in his voice sounded softer, almost sweet. And making love? He’d never called what they did together making love.
Sasa arched her back and pulled away from him. “What’s going on with you? You never say making love.”
Vasilije’s hands pulled her to him and he kissed her deeply, thrusting his tongue into her mouth to find hers. His passion surprised her and for a moment, she didn’t respond. When he tugged at the back of her hair and moaned deeply, her resistance melted and her concern faded into the back of her mind.
His mouth feasted on hers as he removed her clothes. Sliding his hands over her back, he pulled her into his body. The feel of his strong hands rubbing her tender skin excited her, and she moved her legs to straddle him. Gently at first, she began rocking against him, sliding her excited nub over his hardened cock.
“That’s my Sasa. Right there. Tell me what you want.”
Leaning down, she continued to rock against him and whispered into his ear, “I want you to be careful.”
“Not exactly what I was looking for, pet. But don’t worry. I won’t let her get me.”
He glided his fingers over her back in long, languorous strokes that sent shivers up and down her spine. The idea that Tatiana would try to take him out of the world that very night and here he remained to be with her touched her heart but frightened her at the same time. God, he should be in her car miles away from there by now!
In her ear, he whispered, “Love, if you’re concerned that this is my goodbye, don’t be.”
Sasa buried her face in his shoulder and closed her eyes tightly. The sound of the word goodbye made her chest hurt, but no matter how much she wanted to tell him she cared, the emotions she felt coming from him warned her not to.
Vasilije moved his hand from stroking her skin and his clothes seemed to vanish beneath her. Looking up at her, he took her face in his hands and cradled it sweetly. “Give yourself to me, Sasa.”
His lips pressed against hers with an urgency that made her ache for him. She wanted so much to feel him inside her, touching her deeply as only he could, his body melding with hers.
Slowly he entered her and filled her body completely. Sasa’s breath caught in her throat at the tenderness she felt from him, a tenderness he’d never fully expressed outwardly to her but existed all the same.
Later, as she lay next to him, she sensed that this time together had been a goodbye. Something had changed between them, something that she could sense as he held her in his arms. The idea of him gone from her life was almost as unbearable as Tatiana getting her revenge on him. In just a short time, he’d become so much more than any other man had ever been to her, and now he was going. She wanted to let him know that she understood, that she knew what they were and accepted that, no matter how much it hurt. But before she could tell him she understood why he had to leave, the quiet vibration of her cell phone hummed on the chair near them.
CHAPTER 17
“Mama, what’s wrong? Tell me. Do you need more blood?”
Sasa listened as her mother sobbed into the phone. Even in pain as she’d lain in bed for all those years, she’d never sounded this bad.
“Baby, I had Cam bring me home. I don’t want to stay there anymore.”
The streetcar crawled along St. Charles Street and Sasa prayed the next few stops before Canal Street would be empty. Her mama needed her, but at the rate the car was moving, it would take almost an hour to get home to her.
“Just hang on, Mama, and tell me what’s wrong.”
Her mother returned to sobbing again, and Sasa’s anger grew by the second. Goddamned Tatiana! She’d promised she’d be okay after she became a vampire How’d she put it? “Healthy as a horse.” Right.
“Is it blood, Mama? Do you need blood? I swear I hope that Tatiana gets everything she deserves and more for what she’s done to you.”
A sound like a low moan came through the phone. “Don’t say that, baby. Don’t say that. She hasn’t done anything.”
Sasa’s face grew hot in anger. Her mother was always too nice—too forgiving—for her own good. “How can you say that? She turned you...” Sasa looked around at the people near her on the streetcar and then continued in a low whisper.
“She was supposed to take care of you afterward, Mama. It wasn’t enough to give you some supplies for just a few days. Vasilije told me as your sire she’s supposed to make sure you’re okay for much longer than a few days.”
“No more of that. Just come home right now, Sasa. Please, baby.”
“I’m coming. Just rest and wait for me.”
After she hung up the phone, Sasa couldn’t wait any more for the streetcar and jumped off, convinced she could run the last few blocks faster than the car filling with tourists and college students on their way to the Quarter.
Boarding the Canal Street car, she took her seat on the nearly empty streetcar and wished she’d asked Vasilije to come with her. Her mother was going to need his help again, and this time she might be even worse than last time.
His willingness to give his blood to help another sire’s vampire made everything Tatiana had said about him so wrong. Her description of him as a vicious and selfish creature was so contrar
y to who he was when he was with Sasa.
Her feelings for him had grown out of those moments when he patiently drained enough blood from his wrist so her mother could have what she needed to survive. Still the old-fashioned woman she’d always been, she’d refused to put her lips on a strange man’s skin, but he’d just smiled and offered to do it another, more appropriate way. But Sasa couldn’t lie to herself. It wasn’t just his kindness to her mother that made her care for him.
She knew he could be the man he’d claimed he was when they first met. His words had almost convinced her when he found out the lies she’d told about Tatiana and Teagan. But beyond the hurt at her betrayal was a closeness she knew he craved from her just as she did from him. His tenderness and acceptance of her once again was proof of that.
Sasa frowned in sadness as the thought of Tatiana exacting her revenge on him passed through her mind. In truth, she had no proof he didn’t deserve her revenge. Maybe to her, he was everything she claimed him to be. She didn’t care. Whatever he may have done or not done, Sasa couldn’t let her kill him.
He meant too much to her.
That she likely didn’t mean as much to him wasn’t lost on her. No matter how tender he was when they were together, he’d never intimated she was anything more than someone he enjoyed. She’d never gotten the sense he was one woman’s any more than she’d gotten the sense he considered her more than she was.
Sasa couldn’t think about that now. It stung too much to think of him with another woman. Anyway, she had bigger, more immediate problems. As she had for so long, she once again needed to do whatever was in her power to take her mother’s pain away.
The streetcar jolted to a stop at the end of the red line, and Sasa quickly ran the two city blocks to her house. All the lights were dark and from the street, it looked empty, but she hoped her mother had finally taken her advice and gone to bed. Opening the door, she fumbled for the switch on the wall, and in the light she saw Tatiana.
“Good evening, my little spy.”
Her words dripped with sarcasm as she stood behind Sasa’s mother, her hands around her throat. Sasa scanned her mother’s face and saw no evidence of pain. Confused, she shook her head. “Mama, what’s this all about? I thought you needed me.”
“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t have...”
The regret on her mother’s face told the story, but Tatiana continued, eager to explain how she’d duped her.
“No, she didn’t have a choice. I’m her sire, and when I want her to do something, she must obey. It’s just one of the benefits of being a sire.”
The smirk on her perfect, pink lips signaled the woman’s pleasure at her success, but Sasa couldn’t let her think her win was complete.
“What about the responsibilities of a sire? You told me when you turned her she’d be healthy. Then you abandoned her and another vampire had to feed her so she wouldn’t die. If it weren’t for Vasilije...”
The look of rage that flashed across Tatiana’s face made Sasa step back in fear.
“Vasilije? He fed one of my vampires?”
Sasa watched in horror as Tatiana tightened her hold on her mother’s throat. “Stop! You’re hurting her!”
In a blur, Tatiana and her mother were inches away from her and the agony of Tatiana’s hold was evident. Her mother looked so helpless hanging from her iron grip.
“Please, Tatiana. Please let her be. She’s done nothing wrong. It’s me you should be angry with, but I had no choice. She needed blood.”
Tatiana seemed to consider Sasa’s words for a minute and then discarded Sandra Lambert with a push toward the couch. She landed with a thud as her head bounced off the back of the furniture.
“Mama!”
Sasa moved to comfort her, but Tatiana stepped in between them. “Time for your confession, empath.”
The urge to lash out raged through Sasa as she watched her mother reach out for her only to have her hand slapped away. “Sit still, you, and no more speaking. I want to hear her tell me about how having Vasilije naked under her is helping me get my revenge.”
A chill ran through Sasa at the knowledge that Tatiana had seen her with him—proof she’d been lying. The twisted look of rage on the vampire’s face told her she hadn’t been wrong when she’d guessed Tatiana was far more dangerous than Vasilije.
“It wasn’t what you think,” she weakly mumbled.
Tatiana laughed and sat down in a chair, her long legs crossed in front of her. Even seated, she was the most powerful being in the room, and Sasa saw she knew it too. Twirling her long blond hair around her index finger, she looked up at Sasa.
“Do you want to know what I think?”
In truth, the idea of what this monster thought terrified her, but Sasa tried to put up a brave front, if for no reason other than her pride. After how she’d treated her mother, she deserved at least to know respect wasn’t something she was automatically due anymore.
“Whatever you think, you’re wrong.”
“Oh am I, little girl? And just what reason other than fucking you would a man be naked under you?”
This was no use. There was no way she would ever believe her lies, and Sasa wasn’t in the mood to think up any. “You’re right. I slept with him, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Sasa saw the look of fear settle into her mother’s features. Turning toward her, she tried her best to calm her. “It’s okay, Mama. He’s not a bad man. Not like Tatiana said he was.”
“Really, empath, I would think you’d be able to read others better. Perhaps it’s a problem with vampires?”
“I read you just fine.”
“Then maybe it’s a good-looking man problem? I suspect someone like you doesn’t find too many of them interested in spending time with you.”
Each word felt like a slash into her skin, and Sasa winced at the pain. Foolishly, she snapped back, “You’re just jealous because he wants me.”
The evil smile that had accompanied her insults slid from Tatiana’s face. “Wants you? He’s had some of the finest beauties in Europe. Why would he now want some bayou bimbo? Trust me, empath. What he wants has never been anything like you.”
Every insecurity Sasa had ever felt about her looks flooded over her and whatever bravery and pride she wanted to believe she had evaporated under Tatiana’s withering stare. In seconds, she was merely Sasa, the empath.
“I don’t care. I don’t want to help you anymore. If you want revenge on Vasilije, you’ll have to do it yourself.”
Sasa waited for Tatiana’s attack, but none came. She simply sat back in the chair and raised one eyebrow. When she spoke, her tone was wistful, as if she were remembering something from long ago. “I see he hasn’t lost his skill in seduction. He always did know exactly how to get women to do anything he desired. It’s the eyes, isn’t it? I remember the first time he looked at me with those gorgeous eyes.”
“Tatiana, please, let us go. Whatever your problem is with Vasilije, it has nothing to do with us.”
“He can make a woman fall in love with him so easily. I warned you not to sleep with him, Sasa.”
Sasa moved to take advantage of Tatiana’s reminiscing and stepped toward her mother, who sat quietly obeying her sire. Gently, she stroked her hair as she had all those times she’d lain in bed, hoping to comfort her. Sadness over making her a vampire made tears come to her eyes. If only she hadn’t done it, maybe things would have been different.
Sandra Lambert leaned into her daughter’s touch and rested her head on her shoulder. Sasa decided to make one last plea. At least if she could get her mother to safety, she could deal with Tatiana on her own.
“Tatiana, please let my mother go, at least. She’s done nothing to deserve your anger. Punish me, but let her go.”
Finished with her memory, Tatiana turned to face Sasa and she saw the same look she’d worn the night she’d met her. “Can you tell what I’m feeling now, Sasa?”
Sasa
had intentionally blocked her emotions from the moment she’d seen her standing in her living room, but now she let her guard down and was stunned by the anger and hatred that surged toward her. Nearly overwhelmed by her emotions, Sasa closed her eyes, trying in vain to block them once again.
“I’ve waited so long, held in my vengeance for so many years and now when it’s so close I can taste it, you want to take it away from me. He won’t win this time. I won’t let him.”
“Tatiana, release her. Let her go back to my cousin’s. She has nothing to do with your revenge.”
An anguished look came over Tatiana’s face. “He always did like the sweet and selfless type. Don’t hurt them, Vasilije. Be gentle when you take them. Don’t hurt Mama.”
Tatiana’s grasp on reality was quickly fading, if what she was saying was any indication. As she continued to ramble on about memories from her past, Sasa tugged at her mother to make her move.
“Mama, let’s go.”
Sandra Lambert sat as stiff as a board. “Don’t bother. She won’t move until I say so. And right now, you have some explaining to do. So tell me, Sasa, how much does he know?”
“Tatiana, I didn’t have a choice. He found out somehow. I had to tell him or he would’ve killed me. Please understand.”
In a flash, the vampire was behind Sandra lifting her off the couch. “Wrong answer, empath. Now you’ll be forced to understand how your betrayal affects those around you.”
Before her eyes, Tatiana pulled a dagger out of her coat and dragged it across her mother’s neck. In seconds, blood was pouring from the wound and the life was gone from her eyes.
“No! Mama!”
Tatiana dropped her onto the couch where she landed in a heap as blood drained from her neck. Sasa fell to her knees and sobbed as she cradled her mother in her arms.
Her betrayal had killed her mother.
“Mama, please forgive me. I’m so sorry.”
Tears burned Sasa’s eyes as the realization set in that she’d lost the most important person in her life. They streamed down over her cheeks, landing in the pool of blood on her mother’s chest as she continued to sob uncontrollably.