I uncorked the larger bottle and held it to my lips. It smelled like old shoes, but I downed it without throwing up. “Oh god, that’s gross.”
“To having kids,” Jaz said, holding out a fist bump for me that I gratefully accepted.
Saving Simon
Four cups of tea in Headmaster Cauldron’s office hadn’t dulled the taste the potion left on my tongue. After they fixed my car and found the location of a few people for me, they opened up a portal back to the road outside the castle and gave me a locket that would open another portal if I needed to find them for anything.
Back near the castle, I sat on the side of the road staring at the purple filled bottle in my hand. With my children fixed, I had several missions now. I had to find Knight and make him love me. I had to bring Arthur here and make him love me. I had to convince Balthazar to love me in a non-family way, not to mention I had to fall in love with him in that way too. And I had to rally the vampires to find and defeat Alistair.
I could do this. The end goal was seeing my kids again. I could do this for them.
The second end goal was being with my husbands again. The last thing I’d said to them was ‘stick it up your ass.’ If they didn’t end up with me this time around, no matter if it meant not having my children again, I’d forever remember my pathetic send-off to them.
Unwilling to go home since everything was so off about being back there, I decided on spending the night in my car. It proved difficult because I hadn’t fallen asleep without either of my husbands beside me in decades, and I longed for their scents to wrap around me and lull me to a gentle sleep in their embrace. After tossing and turning almost all night, I woke up late the next morning from the phone alarm I’d set so I could make sure I was in town at least ten minutes before Simon.
“Hello, Lisbeth.” Balthazar was suddenly sitting in the passenger seat of my car, smelling like a truckload of lilacs. “You smell different. Did you do something?” He leaned into me, sniffing hard at my unwashed body, and my stomach fluttered the way it used to when Knight was with me. Even after all our time together, every time my Alpha was near me I’d had the same reaction.
I moved away from Balthazar’s nose, hating that I was reacting like that when Knight and Arthur still hadn’t met me. “No, I didn’t do anything. Move away, I can’t drive with you like that.” I turned the car on and started driving towards town. I had a child to save.
He shook a triumphant finger and smiled to himself. “You smell fertile. That’s what it is.”
“Ewww, what the fuck? You can’t smell that.”
“Who says?”
Damn it. “Why are you here? You weren’t here the first time I did this.” We pulled into the town and I navigated through the streets to find the right block.
“The first time you did what?” he asked, looking around us for something exciting we were about to do.
“Broke the law,” I answered, coming to a stop in a parking spot about a block away from where I knew Simon would be. I chanced a quick look at Balthazar and he was looking at me appreciatively, warmly, like he never knew how awesome I was, which was ridiculous because I’d always been awesome. “Stop staring at me like that.” I turned back to the intersection in front of us and thrummed my hands on the steering wheel.
“You’re low on blood,” he observed beside me.
“I’m used to it. It’s not a big deal. I’ll drink later.” Every movement of someone coming around the corner of the intersection made me jump, but they still weren’t here yet. I checked my watch and opened my door, getting out when it was safe to cross the street. Balthazar followed close behind me and we walked down the sidewalk, getting closer to the spot that had changed my life forever. We stopped there and I leaned against the bus stop bench that was nearby, waiting on pins and needles.
What if they didn’t come? How else would I get Arthur here? There was no way to find him unless Othello gave me his phone number, and I doubted Arthur would care enough to come to the stuffy castle for some airhead girl.
Maybe if I had a phrase I could say to him that would convince him I’m telling the truth about knowing him. Now that I thought about it, I knew exactly what I would say, but Simon and the Lycans were in front of me before I had to contemplate going back home and talking to Othello.
As before, Simon crossed the street with his parents and Alpha shouting for him to come back, but he was a child who wanted to do his own thing no matter what. We were waiting for him when he stepped onto the sidewalk and bumped into me for a second time.
“Simon!” his dad shouted across the crosswalk, unable to come forward without forfeiting his life to me. He glared at me, baring his teeth in a feral growl, and Alexander stopped him with a hand on his chest. I didn’t look surprised this time, and they weren’t terrified of me as they’d been before. They were angry. But they weren’t stupid, they stayed put as they waited for me to decide what to do.
“Simon,” I told the boy with his short, mussy black hair, and he stared up at me, looking almost exactly like my Jason. “The law says I have to kill Lycans that cross into vampire territory, as you have just done.” I knelt down to be level with his little head. “You look like my son.” My hands itched to reach out and push his hair back, but I kept them firmly on my lap, clasped so tightly my nails dug into my skin. “I’ve been on this earth for a very long time, and there is only one rule I have for myself, one I would do anything to uphold. I don’t kill children. Not even you.” My chin trembled and I struggled to hold myself together.
“Because of your son?” Simon asked me. I realized that was the first time I’d heard his voice before he grew to an adult, and he sounded so much like Jason, I wanted to die.
“No,” I told him. “Because you’re worth protecting, no matter what you are.” With shaking limbs, I stood and held out a hand for the boy to take, and I walked him up to the middle of the street where the vampire border ended. Simon eagerly went to his mother’s arms while I met Alexander’s thoughtful gaze.
“Why are you letting the boy go?”
Seeing the Lycan again after so long brought a smile to my face and I wanted so much to hug him. “You heard what I said.” The repeat of my words had come without me thinking.
“Your kind will find out,” Alexander cautioned as he had before.
“I’m counting on it. You should go now.” I gestured off in the other direction and waited for them to go, but as he had done the first time, Alexander started undoing his vampire teeth bracelet. I stopped him before he could get it unclasped. “No, you can keep that.”
His hands dropped and he studied me again, closely, trying to figure me out. “This will protect you against my kind. We owe you a debt.”
“I didn’t save Simon for a reward. I saved him because it was the right thing to do.” My fingers tapped against my legs, I was starting to become anxious we would be discovered by whoever snitched on me before. “Maybe…” I looked around, just in case there was a vampire nearby. “Maybe one day we’ll be allies. Maybe one day our species will stop fighting and make peace. I want that more than I want your gratitude.”
“I’ll take your name, then. That’s all I want.”
“Alexander, we have to leave,” Simon’s father growled out, edging them away while reaching a hand out to his Alpha.
“Lisbeth,” I told my old friend. “Now go.” They left, rounding a corner and disappearing into safety. I stayed long enough to make sure no one ran after them, and I turned to see Balthazar standing so close to me, he could’ve licked my nose with his tongue.
“What was that?”
I stepped back and straightened my jacket, hoping my cheeks weren’t as flushed as my insides were. “I saved him before. It’ll bring someone I need to the castle. I had to save him again or that person won’t come.”
“Not that. The son. You weren’t just saying that, you had a child in the future. I could see it when you looked at the boy, you were seeing your child’s face. I kn
ow what that looks like, I felt it with your grandmother, and now every time I see your face, I see her.”
If he kept holding a candle for her, he’d never love me back. I’d never see my children again.
“I’m not my fucking grandmother,” I snapped at him, unable to hold it in. “I’m a real person, and if you respected her at all, you would love me for me and not because of her.”
Taken aback, he blinked and looked away. “I’ve always loved you for you. Can’t believe future me never told you that.” He turned back to me and I focused on his cravat so I wouldn’t have to see his eyes. “When is this person coming?”
“Tomorrow night.” Only one day and I’d see my Arthur again, with his scarred face and his impossibly stubborn-ass attitude. I needed his strength to get through this, especially if finding Knight didn’t go well. “I can’t fucking wait that long, I’m on pins and needles as it is.” My phone went off with a text from Marie telling me to get my ass to the castle because they couldn’t delay the turning any longer.
Fuck me twice. God, I really had to play house until Arthur arrived, didn’t I?
Growling, I put my phone back into my jeans pocket and held up the Vulcan salute for the Incubus. “Live long and prosper, Balthy. I’ll be at the castle if you need me.”
“Balthy?” he scoffed, and disappeared in a huff, leaving me with only the scent of lilacs blowing against my face.
It took little more than ten minutes to get back home and I made sure to use the front garage entrance so I would enter straight into the turned dormitory where everyone was already gathered around the humans chosen to become vampires. Almost all of the Born vampires gave me dirty looks for being late and I kept my eyes down until I had navigated through the group to Olivier. She had her dreads in a thick braid and her mermaid dress on, looking exactly like she used to, and was giving me a pointed stare as she tapped her long nails on one of her dark arms.
“Where have you been? Othello has almost put out a search party for you. He’s not happy.”
Unbeknownst to her, he’d also probably already been informed about the incident at the border, considering how quickly Arthur arrived after what I’d done the first time. Othello was glaring disapprovingly at me over the crowd, but I smiled back until he softened just a bit. I wasn’t on trial yet, I still had some leeway with him.
Without a speech, since he thought speeches were self-serving, Othello motioned we begin with a flick of his hand.
My stomach growled even though my thirst was completely under control. I could’ve gone much longer before I needed blood, but I wasn’t about to say no to a three day supply. I’d be able to use my powers for a week with that.
Eagerly, I sank my fangs into the first human, drinking deeply and taking my usual daily amount from all three of my assigned humans. No one would notice my power level rising since I knew how to mask it, and I needed the extra blood for everything ahead of me.
Once the humans were fed from, I let them drink a small mouthful of my blood, and then it began. Again.
The humans all hit the deck and writhed in pain as the vampire blood worked through their systems. I impatiently waited for them to stop moving, tapping my fingers against the three blood packs Olivier had given me until the humans were temporarily dead, and gasping along with them when they came back to life.
This was the most tedious day ever.
After the new vampires stood up, we gave them the blood packs and after they’d had their first taste of blood, I assisted the bigger Born vampires with wrangling up the newly turned and stuffing them into their coffins. It was something I never helped with before because I’d been too delicate and wore fancy clothes.
I wasn’t delicate anymore.
Olivier gave me more than a few looks as we wrestled one vampire into his coffin before we shut and locked the lid. “When did you get so tough?” she asked me, like it was a normal day and a vampire hadn’t just sliced her cheek open. I motioned to the spot and she held the skin together until it reformed again, leaving a thin, pink line on her perfect skin.
“I’m a pirate, remember?” I grinned, calling back to when we’d first met and the pirate Olivier had taken me under her wing so we could bash around Europe together for decades. She met my grin and held out a fist for a fist bump, something she rarely did. “Where’s Renard? Are he and Cameron lifting weights again?” We watched a group of Born vampires struggling to put the last turned in his coffin, so we rushed over to help and locked it for them once he was inside. His fists beat against the thick wood and he screamed that we were vampire whores and he was going to murder us once he get out. Not that I was excusing his words, but I’d heard much worse during this stage of the turning. I casually leaned against the coffin and smiled at my best friend. “Wanna get a drink?”
“You’re acting weird,” she observed, but she was still relaxed in her stance so she didn’t suspect me yet.
My instant reaction was a Knight worthy retort of repeating her words back. He had really rubbed off on me. Not that I was complaining. “I heard someone broke the law,” I said casually, trailing my hand over the coffin and ignoring the screaming coming from inside it. “I was wondering if you’d heard the same?”
That was when her eyebrow slowly lifted and her stance changed. Shit, she was onto me. “No, I haven’t heard anything like that. Who told you?”
I made a raspberry noise with my lips and shrugged my shoulders up and down. “I was walking in the hallway and I heard someone talking about it. When I went to check, they were gone. Can’t say who it was.”
Her eyes narrowed and I almost ran away so she’d stop looking at me like that. “Why do you care?”
I put an offended hand to my chest. “I’m the second in command here. Plus, they said something about a vampire Hunter coming. Some hard ass dude.” I almost mentioned he was her ex, but she would’ve known I knew something because that wasn’t common knowledge.
She leaned against the coffin beside mine and I breathed a sigh of relief when she slightly relaxed her stance. “His name is Arthur. He’s only sent in when someone from an Order breaks the law.”
“As I said, I heard that happened.” I let a few seconds pass, tapping my finger still. “So do you think they’ll send him here?”
“Again, why do you care so much?”
Because I needed the fucker to fall in love with me and impregnate me. You know, normal stuff.
“I’m taking an interest in this Order now and I’m wary of someone coming here that I don’t know, call it paranoia. Will you tell me if he’s coming?” I bit my lip and tried not to show how anxious I was about her saying no.
Instead, she shrugged and I slipped off her radar. “Sure, whatever. You mentioned drinks, let’s go do that.” She turned and I followed her out, pumping my fist in a tiny victory.
Enter Arthur
A drink with Olivier quickly turned into us getting as smashed as possible in my suite, because anything less would mean I was awake enough to think, and I was tired of thinking. I just needed Arthur with me, then everything else would turn out okay.
I woke up with a hangover, feeling worse than I had the night before. As the turned were still cooking in their tombs all day, Olivier went to do some paperwork while I sat in the foyer of the castle, watching the sun rise and waiting for Arthur to arrive.
What if he didn’t come? Everything would be ruined.
It was lunchtime before Cameron came by and sat next to me. “Hey, you. What’s up? You and Olivier got drunk all over the living room. The carpet smells like vodka now. Kind of an improvement though.”
I wrapped my hands around my bent knees and rested my chin on them, feeling utterly defeated. “Everything sucks and I’m dying inside.”
He bumped my shoulder with his. “Oh, well, if it’s only that, then you’re fine.”
I smiled despite my mood and leaned my head onto his shoulder. I’d missed him so much, and he was here with me again. That thought had me tur
ning and putting my arms around his warm body, resting on the crook of his neck. “What if I can’t fix it all?” I sniffed and snuggled closer, drinking in the scent of him, the one I’d lost.
He chuckled, his chest bumping up and down against my ear, not even phased by my words, as if the world sucking was a normal occurrence for us. “You’re Lisbeth. You raised me right, right? You can do anything.”
“That’s what they used to say,” I whispered, holding in any tears trying to escape.
“Who’s they?” he asked, but the front door opened, interrupting us. I jumped up, only to see it was just a companion holding some grocery bags.
Fucking hell. When was he coming? I couldn’t take this.
“I’m going to the gym,” I announced, walking up the staircase next to us.
Cameron stood, looking at me like I just said I was going to eat bugs. “You never go there.”
“Shut up and come with me.”
We changed in our room, and I had to make do with a sports bra and some yoga pants since I didn’t have workout gear. Cameron followed me back down to one of the areas in the castle I’d rarely gone to before.
The gym had several vampires inside, as well as a few humans, all lifting weights or working out. I was more interested in the fighting mat. Being Arthur’s mates meant Knight and I had been his sparring partners, and we’d both learned to defend ourselves a long time ago, before Salvation was even a thought in our heads. We picked up the training after Gwen was born, and I had to admit, I was very good at it.
I wasn’t the soft-bellied girl I was before. I was a warrior.
I surveyed the room, noting the exits and any weapons I could use just in case, something Arthur had hammered into my head many times. I braided my long curls into a tight French braid and approached the sparring mat. A few big vampires were wrestling on it, just having fun, not really serious about hurting each other, or winning.
The Born Vampire series: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (The Complete Series, NSFW Edition) Page 86