by Laura Lee
“What could they be after?” Tara asked.
“Well, I did hear them talking a little…it’s when my brain was going fuzzy so I’m not too sure. Something about removing a blood bond.” She looked at Leo. “Wait; something about removing her bond to you. Why would you have a blood bond with that psychotic bitch?”
Leo looked away in shame. “We have the strongest blood bond that exists. I am her maker.”
“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” she exclaimed.
“Afraid not,” I said apologetically.
“I felt it,” Leo whispered. “I felt it being pulled away but I didn’t understand it at the time.”
I glanced at him. “That’s a good thing, right? That you two no longer share a bond? ”
Vance and Leo shared a troubled look. “No, it’s not,” Leo replied.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because it means that I cannot track her, which was likely her intent. And we will have to worry indefinitely about her attacking you again, which she no doubt also intended. She thrives on others’ fear.”
Vance grabbed my shoulders, trying to pull me into an embrace, but I stepped back. I couldn’t bear his touch knowing he’d had his hands all over her no more than a few hours ago. “Karli, I promise I will find her. I’ll make her pay for this.”
My eyes glistened with unshed tears. “Yeah, I’m sure you will find her, Vance. Or she’ll find you. The question is, what will you really do with her once she’s in your hands?”
He looked guilty but I couldn’t bring myself to blatantly call him out in front of everyone for sleeping with Maria. I turned to Leo. “So blood bonds can be broken?”
Vance’s eyes glittered with triumph as he answered. “Yes, they can. I don’t know the exact process but I can look into it. We can get started as soon as I figure it out.”
Leo looked profoundly hurt, possibly thinking that I wanted to sever our bond. I glared at Vance. “First of all, I wasn’t asking you. Secondly, I don’t want to break my bond with Leo so please wipe that expression off your face. I was just curious.”
Vance looked stunned. What is wrong with you, Karli? Why are you acting like this? Why are you so angry?
I focused with all my might and managed to put up a mental brick wall. He flinched in shock, probably because I’d never been able to block him before. Leo, Tara, and Erica were watching us, clearly uncomfortable with our silent exchange. Leo seemed to pick up on my train of thought and said, “Karli, we can discuss this later.”
“Discuss what later?” Vance shouted. “What the hell are you two hiding?”
“Nothing,” Leo and I said in unison.
Vance stood there in stony silence. Erica said, “Okay, well now that that’s settled, can we please get the hell out of here?” She shivered. “I’ve had more than enough of this place.”
Vance replied, “Yes, of course. We can take your statements after you’ve had some rest.” He glanced at Leo. “It’s an hour before sunrise. Leo, do you think you have time to give Erica a lift? I’m going to take Karli home with me after I drop Tara off at the station.”
Leo turned towards me. “Is that okay with you?”
“No, actually it’s not,” I replied. I narrowed my eyes at Vance. “I’d prefer that you take Erica home, Vance. I’d feel much safer at Leo’s place for the time being.” I looked up at Leo expectantly. “Leo, would you mind if I stayed with you for a while?”
“No, of course not,” he said. Vance and Erica both stood with their mouths open in shock. Tara looked like she wanted to vaporize into the ether just to get the hell out of the room.
Vance charged forward and reached me in two long strides. He braced his hands on my shoulders, making me shudder. “Karli, what the hell are you doing?”
I shrugged his hands away. “Please don’t touch me.” I looked away quickly because tears were starting to threaten my eyes again.
“Karli, what’s---”
Leo stepped in between us, obviously sensing my pending outburst. “Vance, Karli is shaken up. I think you would be wise to respect her wishes and let us leave quietly. I will call you later in the morning and we can discuss our next course of action where Maria is concerned.”
I felt him trying to eradicate the wall I had built but I didn’t acknowledge it. I took Leo by the hand as he led me towards the open door. Before walking outside, I glanced over my shoulder at Erica. “Are you going to be okay?” I asked her.
She nodded. “Yeah, I just need some time alone.”
“I’ll call you later okay, Eri?”
“Uh huh.” She hung her head low and walked out with the two detectives at her side.
********
I stayed at Leo’s for two days before I was ready to face Vance. I went through countless mood changes; from angry, to sad, then hopeless, and onto my current state: resolved. I’d resolved to not let this break me. Sure, I could wallow in my self-pity and it would even be justified to most. But not me. I knew that deep down, if I looked hard enough, there was a stronger version of myself. Someone who could face the man that had eviscerated my heart and not shed a single tear. Someone who wouldn’t let this ruin her life.
Leo asked me many times why I was so upset, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak the words aloud. He was understanding and gave me my space without pushing the issue further. That’s one of the things I appreciate about him. He can be overbearing sometimes, but he’s always careful not to suffocate me. Vance called Leo incessantly since my phone was still sitting in my apartment. With Leo acting as my proxy on the phone, I agreed to meet Vance that night in the club.
As he lifted the hatch leading to his office, Leo asked, “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”
I grabbed the hand he was offering and stepped into the room. As I lowered the hatch I replied, “No, I’m not sure. But I have to get this over with.”
He bent over to replace the rug and pulled out a chair for me. “Do you want me to stay?”
I shook my head. “No, Leo. I need to do this on my own.”
He cupped my face with his hands and kissed my forehead. “I’ll be close by if you need me.”
“Thanks, Leo.”
Leo opened the door leading to the hallway right as Vance was approaching. He glared at Leo while saying, “Would you mind giving us some privacy?”
Leo returned the frosty expression. “I will leave, but only because Karli has requested it.” He gave me a sad smile. “Just call me if you need me, my love.”
I gulped. “I will.”
Vance closed the door and looked towards the security monitors. “Why did you want to meet here? Can’t we go somewhere a little less distracting?”
I grabbed the remote from Leo’s desk and turned the monitors off. “We can talk here or we don’t talk at all.”
Why did you ask Leo to take you to his place after we found you? Why can’t you look me in the eye?
Why do you think? I countered, annoyed at the intimacy of speaking telepathically. I put the wall back up.
He started pacing and raked his hands through his hair. “Look, Karli. Something happened the night I found you. Something really bad happened. But I need you to hear me out before you say anything. I can explain everything but you need to give me that chance.”
I held up my hand. “Don’t, Vance. You don’t need to explain anything.” My damn eyes filled with tears again as I thought about it but I refused to let them fall.
He stepped forward and tried grabbing my hand but I backed away from him. “Karli, yes, I do need to explain this. I need to tell you what happened. I can’t keep this from you in good conscience.”
I moved behind Leo’s desk, because I couldn’t stand being so close to him. ‘In good conscience’ my ass. His conscience didn’t seem to bother him while he had his dick inside that bitch. “No, Vance, you don’t.” My tears started to fall despite my best efforts to contain them. “You don’t have to explain because I saw everything.”
<
br /> His body tensed. “What do you mean you saw everything?”
I felt the blood rush to my face as I seethed in anger. I pushed Leo’s desk chair away from me and shouted, “I mean, that Maria thought it would be fun to videotape your sexcapades and then make me watch the whole thing afterwards!! Let me tell ya, Vance, it was a real eye opener. Not only did I get to enjoy hearing you tell her how much you loved her over and over again, but I got to SEE how much you loved her over and over again!!”
He paled. “Karli, you don’t understand. I don’t know how she did it, but it was as if it was the day she left me. You don’t know how many times I had dreamed of her coming back to me over the years saying those exact things. She made me feel as if no time had passed. It was before you were even born! It was like I had never even met you! I wasn’t in my right mind!”
I held my breath while trying to formulate my words. In barely more than a whisper I said, “That’s just it, Vance. You were able to forget I even existed. The more I think about it, the more I realize that she was right. You never stopped loving her. You’re never going to have room in your heart for anyone but her and it’s not fair to keep dragging me along for the ride.”
“What?” He started moving towards me but I held my hand up in warning, prompting him to stop. “Karli, no, that’s not true. I don’t love her! I love you! My God, didn’t this week mean anything to you? How can you not know that we were meant to be together after everything you learned about your parents? About your destiny? Didn’t it teach you anything?”
I stopped crying, refusing to let him see me crack anymore. “Yes, Vance. It did teach me something. It taught me that fate, or destiny, or whatever bullshit name you want to call it doesn’t exist! If it had, this whole situation with Maria would have never fucking happened!”
“Karli, baby, don’t---”
“Don’t you dare fucking use a name for me that you used on her!” I moved from behind the desk and started shoving him towards the door. “You know what? Don’t fucking even think about using any name on me! You don’t have the right to even think about me! I don’t exist to you, remember?”
“No, that’s not true!” he shouted. “Karli, just listen---”
“Leo, get in here now!” I screamed, knowing his vampire ears could hear me from wherever he was in the building.
Within seconds the door burst open. He rushed into the room and asked, “Are you okay? What’s going on?”
“Leo, just stay out of this,” Vance barked. “This is between me and her. Just leave us alone to work this out.”
“Is that what you want?” Leo asked me.
“No. I want him to leave. I want him to leave now.”
Vance came up to us and tried shoving Leo out of the way. “Leo, I said to fucking stay out of this.”
Leo whirled around and in a blur, had Vance pinned against the wall by his neck. Vance’s face reddened as his air supply diminished.
“No, Leo!” I screamed. “Don’t hurt him! I just want him to leave!”
Leo removed his hand from his neck and said, “You heard the lady. She wants you to leave.”
“Make me.” Vance said something in Latin which threw Leo onto his desk, scattering all of the contents onto the floor. Leo got up with his fangs fully extended and launched himself onto Vance.
“Omigod! Stop it, you two!” I tried breaking them up but they were going so fast I could barely figure out who each one was. Finally, I wedged myself in between them just as I was being blinded by a flash of light. I felt something hard smack into my chest right before I was thrown into the air back into the security monitors. I slid down the wall as pieces of plasma screen rained down on my head. “Uh, what the hell was that?” I moaned, trying to shake off the dizziness and the ringing in my ears. They both ran up to me with panic in their eyes.
“Oh God, Karli,” Vance said. “I’m so sorry. That was meant for Leo. Oh baby, please tell me you’re okay.”
I don’t know how I managed it with all the fuzz in my head, but I somehow summoned the strength to glare at him for calling me baby again. I looked and Leo and whimpered. “Please, Leo, I just want to lie down. Please just take me back to bed so I can lie down.”
“Are you sure, my love?” he asked. “Are you sure you don’t need a hospital?” He started picking pieces of the monitors out of my hair.
I conjured some dust in my hand and sprinkled it over my head. Closing my eyes, I searched my body and found a mild concussion and focused on removing it. I felt warmth in the back of my head similar to a blow dryer before the fogginess went away. I opened my eyes feeling no physical pain any longer. “Yep, I’m fine now. Just please, take me home with you.”
Leo helped me stand and Vance had enough common sense to back away from us. Leo hesitated and I could tell that he didn’t want to reveal the hidden door to his home. I looked up at Vance and said, “Vance, I think you’ve done enough damage to me for one evening, don’t you?” He winced but I could hardly give a fuck at the moment. “Please, just turn around and walk out that door. If you ever had any feelings for me, it’s the least you could do.”
“Karli, I---”
“Don’t fight me on this, Vance. Please. I’m done fighting. Just go.” I tucked my face into Leo’s chest so I didn’t have to look at him anymore. After a few seconds I heard him open the door.
With a growl Leo said, “I’ll send you a bill for the damage, Detective.” The door closed.
I looked up at Leo and said, “You ready to head downstairs?”
“Of course, my love.” He opened the panel gesturing towards the stairwell. “After you, beautiful.”
Eighteen
The drive to San Francisco took me about seven hours, giving me plenty of time to think. It should have taken me longer, but I couldn’t resist testing the limits of Leo’s Porche 911. Plus, the closer I got, the more anxious I was to see Irina. She’d moved back here to be with her coven while I’d been in college. I pulled up to her 1900’s Victorian style home and took a deep breath. Her coven had lived here since the manor was first built. It’d been beautifully restored over the years. A fresh coat of golden brown paint covered the wooden siding and the brick red door matched the trim. I climbed the long flight of stairs and rang the bell. When Irina answered, I just collapsed into her arms.
“Oh, draga, whatever has you so upset?” she said with her thick, Romanian accent. “Come in, my child.” She ushered me into the front room and sat me down on the couch. “Tell me what is wrong.”
I spent the next two hours telling her everything about my life with Vance and Leo right up until I’d left town earlier that day. I’d always been close to Irina and felt no need to keep any secrets from her, no matter how intimate.
“Irina, I don’t even recognize my life anymore,” I cried. “How did everything become so messed up? I thought I finally had it figured out, and the next minute I’m more confused than ever!”
“Perhaps it is not as ‘messed up’ as you say.” She paused. “I always suspected it was Vance when they followed him to the desert, but I had no idea there would be another possibility. Especially not a vampire.”
“What are you saying? Are you agreeing with Vance that we were meant to be together?” I asked.
“I’m not saying I agree,” she replied. “Only that maybe this is exactly where you’re supposed to be, my child.”
“Wait a minute…back up. Did you just say they followed him to Vegas?”
“Da, I did. They communicated with him often while they lived here. They would occasionally go there to visit, or he would come here. Your mother insisted on moving there when she found out she was pregnant. She said that he needed them.”
“Did you ever meet him?”
“Da,” she replied. “He brought his new bride on a few occasions. Apparently the little human was fascinated with the supernatural. He would do anything to please her, exposing her to as much of our world as possible, including my coven. I only obliged your p
arents because he was so important to them.” She took my hands into her own. “My dear, there’s something you should know.”
“What?” I asked.
“It wasn’t a coincidence that I moved out to Las Vegas only weeks before your parents passed.”
“What are you trying to tell me?”
“Would you like some tea?” she offered.
“Irina, quit stalling. What are you saying?”
“Copil, I haven’t been very truthful with you about certain matters,” she admitted. I gave her a look that pleaded for her to continue. “When your parents died, I didn’t exactly look for your grandmother as I had told you.”
“What?!?!?” I shouted.
She sighed heavily. “I’ve been wondering when this day would come. Please, calm yourself. Give me a chance to explain.”
I took a deep breath. “Go on,” I said through my teeth.
“You mustn’t be upset with me. I was only doing what was asked of me,” she insisted.
“And that would be?” I asked.
“Do you remember the first time we met?”
“Yes,” I answered impatiently. My parents and I had flown out to visit with her for a weekend a few months before they died. One of the earliest memories I had was riding the street car with them and walking along the pier while sitting on my father’s shoulders.
“Your mother came here to tell me about a premonition she had,” she explained. “She wanted to make sure you would be taken care of.”
“Are you telling me that Vance was right? That they knew they were going to die?”
“Yes. They knew before you were even born.”
I hung my head between my knees to battle the sudden bout of nausea I was experiencing. “I can’t believe this is happening! How could they have just left me like that?”
“My dear, they knew they could not prevent it,” she assured me. “They wanted to take measures to ensure your destiny would come true despite their absence.”
“And how would they do that?” I asked.