Triquetra

by Marguerite Labbe

  Weariness and a sick sensation in my stomach plagued me. I leaned my palm against a tree trunk, drinking in the feeling of the rough bark, the scent of earth and greenery. Real things in this hellish dark. It was almost as if I’d fallen into a waking nightmare.

  There had to be a way of finding Kristair that didn’t involve me running around the park like a clueless jackass. Kristair and I were still connected. I didn’t care what he or anyone else said, we were. I might not hear every thought, I might not feel him so intensely, but it was still there, dammit.

  Leaning against the tree, I closed my eyes and pictured Kristair. The way his dark eyes lit up with enthusiasm when a new idea came to him or how they softened when he looked at me. The way his lips would tug into a smile or frown in thoughtfulness, his disapproving expressions and quiet laughter. I had once felt his heartbeat inside of me every time he wished it, and now it seemed, in that silent moment, I could sense an echo of that.

  Following the instinct that tugged at me, I pushed away from my tree and started tracking him. I must’ve walked half a mile before the trees began to thin out again on a hill that sloped downward. The pull was stronger now, and I paused at the tree line, straining to see in the dark.

  A very familiar snarl drifted up through the night. “Kristair.” I raced headlong down the hill, bracing myself to keep from tripping and falling the rest of the way. Someone laughed, low and throaty, shadows writhed, and I came close enough to make out Kristair grappling with a tall, slight figure on the ground.

  The other person kicked him off, and Kristair went flying back, landing hard before rolling up into a crouch. Blood trickled from the corner of his lip, and he touched his tongue to it, a slow smile breaking out over his face that about took my breath away, it was so feral.

  His opponent laughed again, and shock jolted through me. It was a woman I’d heard. She jumped to her own feet and pushed a tangle of hair back from her face. It looked inhuman, like a blank mask on top of skin, her features blurred and indistinct.

  I frowned, coming closer up behind her, and pulled my gun. I raised it and pointed it toward the back of her head. There was something familiar about the woman, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

  “What do you want? Why are you hunting vampires?” Kristair straightened, his eyes flicking to me as I came within several feet of them, keeping my gun trained on her.

  “You really have no idea what’s going on around you.” She shook her head, her voice laced with mock pity. “But you will, before it’s all done and over with, you’ll know, and you’ll weep alone for centuries.”

  “Just say the word, Kristair,” I said, bristling at the threat to him and cocking the gun.

  The woman turned her head, glancing at me over her shoulder. “I’m not afraid of your weapon. But maybe you’re not smart enough to figure that out. I ripped off a vampire’s head with my bare hands, what does that tell you?” She smiled as Kristair snarled and took a threatening step toward her. “Call off your pretty boy or he’s dead right now.”

  “I don’t think so,” Kristair said, his voice icy. “You kill him now and it ruins your game, doesn’t it? That’s all this is, isn’t it? A game. You wanted my attention and now that you’ve got it you want to try to confuse me.”

  “Close, but not quite.”

  She was bluffing, or at least I hoped to hell she was bluffing. One thing was for certain, with her odd face and those white creepy eyes blazing through her tangled hair, she wasn’t an ordinary human. There went the hope that we were just dealing with a vampire hunter.

  “Why are you killing vampires?” Kristair demanded again. “One way or another, I’ll drag the answers from you.”

  “You two? I hardly think so. You’d better hurry and figure it out, Kristair. You’re running out of allies. Do you know why Nerissa turned you into a vampire Kris? Because you never stopped fighting. Even when you were dying, your lifeblood spilling on the ground, you wouldn’t stop. That should make this game all the more interesting.”

  I sensed Kristair’s sudden tension, the coiling strength of his body just before he attacked, but then the woman was gone, scampering off into the shadows quicker than a blink. Just fucking gone like she’d never been there at all.

  Kristair snarled and leapt forward again like he was about to go after her, and I grabbed his arm. His vest was torn and the white shirt was splattered with blood, but from what I could tell, it wasn’t his. Must’ve been that guy, Stamatis, he’d called him. “Just where do you think you’re going?” I snapped, furious all over again that he’d gone running off once already. “She’s fucking with us. We’re never going to be able to find her in those trees unless she wants us to find her. She has all the advantage.”

  Kristair quivered, seething. I could practically taste his need to hunt her down. He shook it off and glared at me, struggling to get himself under control. I studied the trees again, getting the feeling we were alone again.

  “You and I are going to have words, Kristair, just sayin’.” The man managed to rack up some rather unusual enemies, and I couldn’t figure out how he did it. He wasn’t an ass, he didn’t flaunt himself or try to screw people over. He was content with his books and his quiet life. But damn, people just wanted to fuck with that.

  He didn’t say anything, and when I looked at him, he was glaring at the spot where she had disappeared, his jaw set. I touched his hand. “Stamatis, he was one of those you used to trade information with?”

  He nodded.

  Thunder rumbled overhead, the air heavy with the promise of a storm that just wouldn’t come. I slid the safety on the gun, tucked it into my waistband, and took his hand. “Come on, let’s go home.”

  Chapter 10

  IT WOULD take several days for Jacob to recover from the double insult of having his beloved car vandalized and me forgetting to show caution so soon after I’d promised to do so. I was torn between wanting to placate him and just letting the storm ride out. Jacob didn’t stay mad long, even in situations like this, and he was easier to reason with once his fury was spent.

  I’d messed up. I knew I had.

  It seemed instinct ran far deeper than I’d expected. When our interlude in the park had been interrupted and I’d been confronted yet again by another fallen colleague, it had been enough to set my blood on fire. Just knowing that my enemy was close at hand threatening the both of us was enough for me to taste blood in my mouth. I craved the thrill of the hunt, the savage triumph of destroying my enemy.

  Jacob probably wouldn’t be reassured, but I was gratified to learn I hadn’t completely lost my predator’s edge by becoming human. I might have been slower and weaker than I had been, but I’d caught the woman. Next time I wouldn’t let myself be distracted and I’d drag her before Ussier.

  My phone made a funny little bleeping sound, and I warily stared at where it sat on the table in my library. Jacob had insisted on giving it to me this morning when he’d dropped by soon after I’d gotten to the library. Wanting peace between us, I’d agreed, though I hated the idea of being tied to a phone. I didn’t mind Jacob being able to reach me at any time, but the thought of being available to anybody who called was irksome.

  Making calls on it wasn’t difficult, and Jacob had thoughtfully added in the phone numbers for his own phone and Kayla’s, not that I remembered how to access the contacts. I just dialed direct, much to his disgust when he caught me doing it.

  The only problem was I knew that bleeping sound meant my lover had sent me another text message, and for the life of me, I still had no idea how to recover them. I picked it up and flipped it over. Sure enough, on the screen, there was a little envelope mocking me.

  This was the fifth or sixth message he’d sent in the last hour or so. Whatever it said couldn’t be that important, or he’d have followed it up with a call when I hadn’t answered. But I itched to know regardless.

  I carefully dialed Kayla’s phone number. She’d help me without too much teasing
, but when I heard my daughter’s voice as she answered, all thoughts of text messages left my mind. Kayla sounded tired and drained, and my hackles raised. “What’s wrong?”

  “Kris?” Her voice brightened, though it seemed forced to me. “Where are you calling from? I don’t recognize this number.”

  “Jacob insisted that I have a cell phone. He went out first thing this morning and bought me one.”

  She snickered. “Father, you may be two thousand years old, but if you’re going to keep up with Jake you’ve got to join the twenty-first century.”

  Kayla wouldn’t be able to foist me off that easily. “So are you going to tell me what’s bothering you? You sound tired.”

  “That’s because I am tired. There’s so much to do to set up the clinic and it’s frustrating because I want it to be done now and at the same time, I want it to be done right. It seems like I’m there night and day.”

  “How is Steve doing?” I could be polite, as much as I wanted to demand to know why he wasn’t taking better care of her. Kayla seemed stressed enough without me adding to it.

  “He’s even more wiped out than I am. And before you say something, he is taking care of me. There’s just more details involved in starting up a place like this than I had ever imagined. But that’s not why you called. What’s new with you?”

  I thought about Jacob’s proposal, however, that was something I’d rather reveal in person. And I wasn’t about to mention the mission Jacob and I were involved in either. She would only worry, and she clearly had enough on her mind. “You mean I can’t call just to check in on you?”

  “You usually don’t. You know it would just irk me. So what gives?”

  “Don’t laugh. I need to know how to retrieve text messages from a cell phone.” I paused as she stifled a snicker, but she managed to contain herself. “Jacob has sent me several in the last hour or so and I want to know what he’s up to. He’s causing trouble, I just know it, or he would have called instead.”

  “I have no doubt you’re right,” Kayla said, sounding both fond and amused. “Okay, it’s not that difficult.” I took careful notes as she ran through the process. We talked for a few minutes more about the progress she and Steve had made on her clinic before she hung up. She sounded much better by that point, and I felt free to let my concentration return to Jacob’s messages.

  I followed Kayla’s instructions to retrieve them, my curiosity firing anew at his first one.

  Jake: Just left the gym. Heading home for a shower cause I love ya like that.

  I scratched my head, trying to figure out the need for that bit of information, not that I minded the image of Jacob in the shower at all. It was rather nice. But it seemed odd he would go out of his way to tell me. And the tone of the message was almost playful, very much at odds with the attitude I’d expected given our evening.

  The next message had arrived only twenty minutes later.

  Jake: At home now, grabbing lunch. Thinking of you and that library.

  I didn’t need any more clarification to know what he was thinking. Jacob had some very vivid fantasies of me and my library. Some of which were locked in my head, thanks to the ritual that had given me all of his memories. I was sure he’d come up with more since then. I couldn’t begin to imagine what he found so appealing about the combination.

  Jake: Squeaky clean. Still thinking of the library. Dirty thoughts.

  A tingle of awareness went through me. I knew without looking at the other messages that Jacob was on his way over here intent on whatever fantasy he was entertaining at the moment. This was his way of trying to say he had warned me while knowing I shouldn’t have been able to get the messages at all.

  He wanted the control.

  The tingle turned into a shiver.

  Jake: On my way, you have 30 mins to call me back before I bend you over your table.

  My heart quickened at that image as I scrolled down to the next message.

  Jake: 20 mins, your ass is mine.

  Jake: 10 mins, oh the look that is going to be on your face.

  What the hell did the brat think he was doing, texting while driving? At that moment, my phone chimed again. My heart skipped a beat and my body stirred as I looked at the final message.

  Jake: Took me too long to find a parking space. Hope I didn’t leave you waiting.

  My thoughts churned as I shut the phone and sat it down on the table, staring at it over my steepled fingers. That Jacob would do what he set out to do I had no doubt, but that didn’t mean I had to make it easy for him.

  Jacob had his wicked way all too often as of late. As much as it made my knees weak, this time I wouldn’t give in so quickly, if at all. A little challenge would be good for him. Glancing at my watch, I realized Jacob was in all likelihood already in the building. I rose, flicked off the lights to the stacks, and disappeared along the dark rows of my books.

  Moments later, the door opened and awareness of my lover flooded through me. The hunt was on. My cell phone trilled, Jacob cursed, and I smiled. Oh no, mo chroí, you’re not going to get me that easily.

  “I take it you got my messages,” Jacob said conversationally, walking down the aisle between the stacks. Then he paused and turned into them. Listening to the sound of his voice, I began circling around to come up behind him. “I guess you realized that talking wouldn’t work, since you never called back, so that means I own your ass.”

  Jacob was still furious about the events of the previous night. I had hoped the thorough, detailed cleaning we’d done of his car late into the night and getting the new rear windshield installed would cool him down. He had yet to address how I’d taken off into the woods or how I’d confronted that woman on my own. And I was tired of waiting for the explosion.

  A good wrestling match for domination would heat up our blood and get the unspoken out in the open. I slipped into another row, conscious of how Jacob was closing in on me as if he somehow had a direct link to me. Maybe somehow he did, after all, he’d managed to find me in the vastness of Schenley Park.

  I eased around the corner into another aisle and ran on light feet, hoping to catch him unawares before he realized my change of direction. “I bet you’re thinking that if you just stay quiet, I’ll think you’re not really in here and just go away. Come on, Kristair, you afraid a little sex is going to sully your precious books?”

  I came around the corner, right behind him. He stiffened, and I caught him as he began to spin around. “I’ve got you now, mo chroí. I think your ass is mine, not the other way around.” I nipped the back of his neck. “I hope you remembered to bring some lube with you.”

  Jacob wrapped his hand around my scalp and twisted to kiss me hard and possessive. He bit my lip hard, and I tasted my own blood as I kissed him back. We both growled, and I began walking him toward the table. To my surprise, he didn’t fight me at all. His fingers twined with mine against his stomach, and the strength in him took my breath away. How had I not appreciated that before?

  “You aren’t gonna win, Kristair, not today,” Jacob said against my lips. “You don’t wanna win, but that don’t gotta mean you have ta stop fighting me. It’s turning me the fuck on.”

  With that, he pulled free of my embrace and spun around me. He was quick too; I had to give him that much. His hands gripped my shoulder and wrist, propelling me forward to the table. Adrenaline pumping, I flipped him over my shoulder onto the table and grinned as the air whooshed from his lungs. “I don’t intend to, Jacob.” I fisted my hand in his hair, tugged his head to the side, and bit his throat.

  “Fuck,” Jacob cursed, digging his fingers into my scalp and shuddering. “Fucking cheater. You know what that does to me.” I sucked hard, nipping and teasing until his skin felt hot against my lips. I pulled back and ran my thumb over the livid mark on his neck.

  “Just as you know how you get to me, so I say we’re even.”

  “Yeah, I know just how to get to you.” Jacob’s lips curved dangerously. Then I heard
the clatter of books and a cell phone falling to the floor.

  “You are such a brat.” I pushed away from the table and bent over to scoop up my precious books. I knew Jacob did it to get the upper hand, yet I could no more leave them lying on the floor than I could destroy one of them.

  Jacob slid off the table and grabbed me around the waist even as I set the books safely on a chair. My breath came faster as we wrestled, my body coming alive. I twisted around behind him again and pushed him against the edge of the table. “Is this what you wanted, Jacob? Is your blood on fire yet?” I nipped the shell of his ear and popped open the button, tugging down the zipper as I ground against his ass.

  “Just getting started.” Jacob shoved back against me and swept his leg out, knocking me to the ground. Then he was on top of me and we were rolling around on the floor. The mood was both playful and dangerous. My cock surged as I slid my hands down the back of his jeans, squeezing his ass.

  “This position’s just as good,” I groaned as he bit my collarbone.

  “Yeah, flat on your back.” Jacob snickered, grabbing a hold of my shirt and ripping it open.

  “Jacob Corvin! How am I supposed—”

  My lover silenced the complaint with a kiss, and I promptly dismissed my torn shirt. I was being consumed by the heat of his mouth, rough and possessive. Shoving his jeans down around his thighs, I sank a finger inside him, pushing past that tight ring of muscle, groaning in triumph.

  Jacob moaned into my mouth and clenched around my finger. “Fuck, that feels good. I’ll have to indulge you another day, but not this one.”

  I ignored that statement and thrust my finger again as the hard length of his cock throbbed against my own. Why was I still wearing my pants? Jacob needed to fix that. “You still seem to be laboring under the impression that you’re winning.”

  I dragged his T-shirt off of him as he knelt up, and just looking at Jacob made me go all hot and liquid inside. The torc gleamed against his throat, the patch of hair between his pecs a golden brown that matched the sparser hair between his thighs. I rolled his balls between my fingers and then stroked his cock, long tugs that had him leaping hot and alive in my palm.