by Melody Raven
The most notable thing about the bed was that it wasn’t made. Everything else in the penthouse seemed so neat and pristine, it was nice to think of at least one “human” thing Marcus did.
There wasn’t much else in the penthouse to show anyone even lived there. There were no pictures out or magazines lying around. It almost seemed more like a hotel than a home.
Marcus had said he wasn’t a city boy and he was just doing a job for Aleksander. She wondered how long he’d been here.
She walked downstairs and found Marcus sitting on the sofa with a laptop open in front of him.
He looked up at her as she approached. “How was the shower?” he asked.
Gena couldn’t hold back her smile at the memory of the warm water cleaning off the horrors of the night. “Amazing,” she said. “This entire place is amazing. Is it yours or are you borrowing it from Aleksander?”
“I’m temporarily renting right now.”
“Where do you stay when you’re not in the city?”
“I move around a lot. Aleksander is based in the Canadian wilderness and has a really nice place up there. If I want time to myself, I have a house in West Virginia.”
“You don’t have a home?” Gena was already homesick for the comfort of her familiar little house.
“When you’ve been around as long as I have, you don’t get too attached to people or places.”
Gena frowned. “I guess I never thought about that. Aren’t there any others like you that you’re close to?”
Marcus smiled. “I guess I should explain my position better to you. I’m a member of what is called the Council. Aleksander is king, and what he says is law. However, he has democratic tendencies, and appointed the Council to keep him informed of what thoughts were going through his people and advise him on various important matters.”
“So you’re a politician. Don’t politicians have lots of friends?”
“I have lots of friends and no friends at the same time. Any friends who were loyal to me before the war now consider me a traitor.”
Gena paused to consider whether she’d rather have all of her friends think she was dead or a traitor. She was sure Joy would never turn her back on Gena without good reason. “Why would those men believe you want Aleksander dead if you were a member of this Council?”
Marcus cocked his head at her questions. “Are you sure you want to go this deep into vampire history?”
“I’ve already been sucked into your present. I think I should know about your past,” she replied.
“Well, for time’s sake, I’ll try to give you the abbreviated version.” Marcus smirked. His blue eyes met hers and she couldn’t help but smile back at him. The man just oozed charm.
“You want to sit?” He pushed his computer off his lap and set it on the black coffee table in front of him. He sat back farther into the corner of the sofa and motioned her to sit with him.
The armchair adjacent to the sofa would’ve been better for two strangers to get to know each other, but Gena found herself on the other end of the sofa, facing Marcus. One cushion still separated them, so it was perfectly appropriate, she told herself.
He’d changed into an incredibly soft-looking gray t-shirt but still wore the jeans he’d been wearing when they met. His blond hair was casually tousled around his head, and his blue eyes stood out as the only color in the room.
Though he looked like an angel, she had to remind herself that he represented a world she wanted no part of. She was using him to get out of that world, and she was sure he was using her for his own reasons. Though she didn’t know what those reasons might be, she was sure he wasn’t being completely truthful.
He seemed to be looking her over too, but she couldn’t decipher what he was thinking through those emotionless eyes. She must look completely different with the heavy layers of black eyeliner wiped clean and her red lipstick gone. She wondered whether he preferred her like this or gothed up like all the other girls at Fang.
She pushed the thought out of her head as quickly as it had come. He shouldn’t have any preferences as far as she was concerned. “You were about to tell me why the other vampires would believe you’d want Aleksander dead,” she reminded him.
“I’m proud of you.” He smiled. “That’s the first time you actually said the word.”
“Well, I’m still convinced I’ve gone insane.” And was still waiting for Marcus to burst into laughter and tell her the entire thing was one idiotic, elaborate joke. But so far he seemed dead serious. “So why don’t you try finishing the story before I regain my senses.”
“Very well,” he conceded. “The basic need that drives vampires is the need to feed on blood, with human blood being our main food source.”
Gena shuddered at the verbal confirmation of what she already knew.
“For the most part, we’ve been kept a secret. Every once in a while, our presence among humanity would become known, but we were able to convince the vast majority we were nothing but scary stories and myths made up to scare small children and promiscuous women.
“The first king we ever had was named Kirill. Vampires were originally solitary and territorial. We were small in numbers and could be easily overpowered by humans if they had enough soldiers and skill. We’re also vulnerable to the sun and trapped for a good portion of the day.
“One of Kirill’s mistresses was murdered by a band of humans and his young son just narrowly escaped. Kirill vowed that vampires should never be powerless to the humans again. He was able to unite most of the vampires scattered around the Mediterranean and across Europe. However, not all vampires agreed that there should be one king. Many others believed that there should be a king, but they wanted the job personally. I was under my own arrogant opinion that I should bow to no one.”
“Obviously that changed,” pointed out Gena.
Marcus winced. “Bow is a very strong word. Through a strange turn of events, I ended up working with Kirill rather than against him. He was the king who created the Council. My opinion was especially valued since I held the point of view of the vampires who opposed Kirill’s rule. I could convince them better than anyone to see the light at the end of the monarchy tunnel.”
“Strange turn of events?” asked Gena. What could cause him to suddenly switch to Kirill’s side?
“I was vague on purpose,” responded Marcus.
Part of her wanted to know why he was keeping secrets. The other, more rational part, reminded her that they had only known each other for a matter of hours and he had no obligation to tell her every detail from his past. She let him have his secrets for the moment. “Fair enough. What role does Aleksander play in all this?”
“Aleksander didn’t play much of a role at all in the war. Kirill won, and vampires were under his rule for over four centuries.”
Gena’s jaw dropped. “Over four hundred years? You’re over four hundred years old?”
“A true lady would never point out how old I am.” He smirked.
Gena’s gaze raked over his youthful face and smooth skin. He looked like any other late twenties to early thirties male. Some strange impulse caused her to reach out her hand to touch his face, but at the last second she realized how ridiculous the action was and pulled her arm back.
She never saw him move, but a warm hand wrapped around her retreating wrist. She took a deep breath at the sudden feel of his warm flesh on hers.
“You want to know if I feel different,” he said. It was a statement and not a question.
Wordless, all she could do was nod.
His big hand released her wrist. “Feel free to touch whatever you want.”
Gena purposely ignored the suggestive underlying meaning of his words and she slowly reached out to touch the hard planes of his face. The cocky smile he’d worn just seconds before vanished and she felt his jaw clench under her fingers.
The tips of her four fingers lightly traced his cheekbone and down along the curve of his jaw. Light stubble tickled he
r fingertips as they moved along his face. His head turned slightly and brought his nose close to her wrist. He took a deep breath in, and she felt his warm exhale against the sensitive skin of her wrist.
He brought his eyes up to hers and she was shocked to see the normal ethereal blue color had turned jet-black. That wasn’t the only thing changed about him. His upper lip was now protruding slightly more than it had been a minute ago. Gena didn’t have to ask why. He was hiding his fangs from her.
She brought her hand back down. “Should I be worried?” she asked softly.
“I think that’s a loaded question. However, in relation to our current situation, I have enough control over myself to keep you safe from me.”
Well, she couldn’t fault his honesty. “You’re so warm. Shouldn’t you be cold to the touch?”
“I’m not dead,” he said. “I never was. I was born as a vampire and have always been one. I even have a heartbeat.”
Gena glanced at his chest. “So vampires can only be born?”
“Not necessarily. If someone is close to death and ingests vampire blood, there’s a chance they could turn.”
“Just a chance?”
“A slim chance. In order to convert, the vampire cells must be what we call ‘activated.’ A living person cannot activate the blood, and if it gets too diluted within a human body, they will not activate. So the blood must be ingested shortly before death, before the human immune system has time to fight the transformation. Once the person is dead, the vampire blood will become dominant and start converting the human organs and tissue. Once conversion is almost complete, the heart will start beating again and the new vampire will wake up.”
“So this isn’t done a lot?” asked Gena.
“Well, personally, I would only want to turn someone I enjoyed and respected and wouldn’t mind hanging around me for an eternity. Unfortunately, most of the time, the human dies and the conversion doesn’t take. So most new vampires are only turned if they are already dying.”
Gena nodded, feeling a bit overwhelmed at all the new information but also unable to keep herself from asking more questions. “Have you ever turned anyone?”
“Once,” he said. “Actually, it was just a few weeks ago.”
“If you just made a new vampire, shouldn’t they be here with you?” Gena didn’t know much about vampire life, but it seemed like there would be a traumatic adjustment period.
“Not in this case. I turned her as a favor to someone else. I mentioned that Kirill had a son who barely escaped an attack from the humans before the war. Well, once Kirill was king, his son, Nicolas, was his second-in-command for the next four hundred years.
“Kirill was a good king and did a lot of great things for us, but something seemed to snap toward the end of his reign. He started killing indiscriminately and slaughtering humans. He wasn’t discreet about it and was becoming a risk to everyone.
“Aleksander was the one who led the rebellion against Kirill. Kirill was killed and Nicolas was exiled. He stayed in exile for thirty years. A couple months ago, everything changed. Nicolas infiltrated Aleksander’s Canadian complex with a young human woman. They’d been led there by a member of the new rebellion that I’m now dealing with.
“The rebellion’s plan was to murder Aleksander and make it look as though Nicolas had done it out of vengeance. One of their members would have probably come forward to take Aleksander’s place as king and they would have all the power.”
Gena stopped him. “Your life is insane.”
Marcus let out a soft laugh. “You have no idea.”
“Obviously Aleksander’s not dead.”
He nodded. “The human Nicolas brought with him, Anna, had been childhood friends with Aleksander’s wife, which is another story entirely. Nicolas’s feelings for Anna proved stronger than his hatred for Aleksander. They were able to work together to discover one of the most trusted guards was part of this rebellion. Nicolas and Aleksander were able to stop the assassination attempt, but there was one casualty.”
“I’m assuming the one human in this story, Anna? She’s the one you turned?” said Gena.
“I was the first to find her.”
“Why did you turn her?” asked Gena.
Marcus shrugged. “There were a lot of contributing factors. She was already dying, so there was no harm in trying to save her. Nicolas was a powerful vampire for centuries. Now that he and Aleksander have come to an...” he paused to think of a good word, “understanding, Nicolas will once again be very powerful. It’s always good to have powerful friends.”
Gena gave him an incredulous look. “It had nothing to do with saving her life?”
“I don’t want you to have any false impressions of me, Gena. I’m no saint. The reason my people are so quick to believe I’m a member of this rebellion is because I have something of a reputation for being a heartless bastard.”
“If you have to tell me you’re heartless, it makes it less believable,” she pointed out.
“Maybe,” he agreed. “But no less true. Seeing as how you have known me for a whole five hours, what makes you so quick to defend my past deeds that I haven’t told you about yet?”
Gena didn’t know what to say to that. She knew very little about him and she was already defending him against himself. “I guess it’s just in my nature.”
“And that’s what makes us different.”
Silence hung in the air between them. What could she even say to that?
Marcus broke the silence. “You’ve had a long night. Some sleep would be good for you.”
Gena nodded in agreement. “Does the couch fold out to a bed?”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that, I’m afraid,” said Marcus.
“How complicated can a sofa really be?”
Marcus laughed. “You’re a funny girl,” he said in response to her sarcasm. Gena frowned. What she said hadn’t been that funny. “One of the advantages of my people is enhanced senses. Our sense of smell is far superior to yours.”
Gena didn’t like where this was heading. “What exactly does sense of smell have to do with where I sleep?”
“If those oh so pleasant men you met at Fang end up working with me, as I’m trying to get them to, there’s a good chance they will see this apartment at some point. With you staying here, your scent will be all over the apartment, which is exactly what we want. We want them to believe we’re together, as it appeared earlier tonight. The tricky part is that it will be suspicious if your scent is only in the lower level.”
Gena rolled her eyes. “Hell no. The upper level is your bedroom, and I’m not sharing a bed with you!” Gena didn’t care how sexy Marcus could be. She wasn’t the kind of woman to immediately fall in bed with a man.
Marcus shot her that snarky smile she was becoming so familiar with. “Don’t worry,” he assured her. “My scent has already been firmly established through the entire place. I can sleep down here.”
Gena looked him over. “You promise you won’t bother me at all? Not even for the bathroom?”
“There’s a second bathroom down here,” he said. “The shower isn’t as nice, so I let you use the master.”
“I don’t trust you,” said Gena, softly.
“Well, that just makes you smart.” Marcus stood up and held a hand out to her. “Let me take you to bed.”
Gena burst awake in terror. Her breath came in short pants and a thin layer of sweat covered her entire body. She concentrated on catching her breath as her shaky hands pushed the sweat dampened hair out of her face. Lady was rearranging herself on the bed next to her when the voice came out of the darkness.
“What’s going on?” asked Marcus.
The sound of his voice out of the silence elicited a startled jump out of Gena. “I didn’t even hear you come in.” Her heart calmed down.
“You were screaming bloody murder like a madwoman. Is everything okay? You sounded terrified and look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Ge
na was surprised he could see anything in the darkness of the bedroom. He’d told her his senses were better than a normal human’s. That good night vision would help prevent numerous stubbed toes, she thought.
“I’m okay,” she assured him. “I should’ve mentioned this earlier, but I was distracted by everything else going on. I have these night terrors and sometimes I wake up like this.”
He was silent, obviously waiting for her to continue. She didn’t like talking about this part of her life. It was embarrassing enough knowing that it happened, but it was even more embarrassing to know he’d heard and seen her in the throes of the terror.
“I don’t remember anything about it. I know I scream and thrash around, but once I wake up, I have no memory of what caused the screams. I’m just out of breath and confused.”
“How long have you had these terrors?”
“Ever since I was a teenager. It’s really no big deal. As I said, I don’t remember anything about what causes the screaming.” She wished he’d give her some time alone to collect herself.
“It’s interesting that you’re still having these in your new body,” he pointed out.
Gena’s brow furrowed at the implication. “You think these terrors I’ve had my whole life are somehow connected to what is happening?”
Marcus just shrugged. “I don’t know anything. I’m just saying it’s interesting.”
He was right. She’d discussed the night terrors with Hope, but she hadn’t considered whether they would continue after she was murdered. Now she knew, for all the good it did her.
Gena pushed all the questions she couldn’t get answers to out of her head. “What time is it?” She didn’t see a clock nearby in the darkness.
“About five in the evening,” replied Marcus.
Gena looked at the darkness of the room. “It’s pitch black in here. How is it only five?”
“The windows have sunlight-proof blinds. They are programmed to close at sunrise and open at sunset.”
“Huh,” muttered Gena. She supposed living in an apartment where half the walls were glass would be foolish if you didn’t have some amazing ways of blocking out the sun.