Reluctant Partnerships

by Ariel Tachna

  “He is… my partner,” Angelique said after a moment. “I’m far too jaded to think in terms of love. While he lives, I will share his life and his bed. I’ve watched too many people sicken and die to commit to more than that. Why do you ask?”

  “Because he isn’t particularly old,” Pascale said, “certainly not old enough for you to be thinking of what will happen after he dies. It feels like you’re dismissing him already.”

  “He’s thirty-five,” Angelique said, “and I’ve been told wizards tend to live longer than the average mortal, but even if he lives for another hundred years, that’s still a drop in the bucket. I was turned in the 1400s. I’ve lived six times that already. And most mortals live nothing like that long. For most mortals, from the time they’re old enough to be of interest to me until the time they die is forty to fifty years. I might take a lover for more than a night, or even more than a year or two, but I can’t let myself fall in love. I’d never survive.”

  “How do you stop it?”

  “I lived in a different era,” Angelique reminded Pascale. “The idea of falling in love, of spending my life with one person, was unheard of. I lived in a harem and served at the will of my master. He preferred fairer women, so I was one of the girls he offered to visiting lords. There was no pretense of love, no desire for it. I found companionship with the other girls, but that was all I expected. David gives me that same companionship now. I’m willing to accept his conventions of fidelity because they’re important to him, but I’m also pragmatic enough to know I will be alone again sooner than I would like. Planning for that day makes me practical, not heartless.”

  “So you think I should avoid romantic entanglements with mortals?” Pascale asked. “That I should feed when and where I can and take my pleasure from that? It seems like a lonely existence.”

  “Why do you think I run Sang Froid?” Angelique asked in reply. “It guarantees a steady stream of people through my life. My employees rely on me for their livelihoods, and my customers rely on me to offer them the best selection of blood around. I never have to be alone if I don’t want to be.”

  “Was that really enough before you met David?” Pascale challenged.

  “It’s the one thing that will never leave me,” Angelique replied.

  It was hardly an answer, but Pascale let it go. She did not know Angelique well enough to force the issue. It seemed like such an empty to life to her. Not that her life had been full before she was turned, but she had lived in hope of meeting someone. She was only twenty-six. She had time to meet someone, or so she had always thought. Angelique’s attitude called that into question, but Pascale was not ready to give up on all her dreams. Orlando had not used the word “love” when he spoke of his Avoué, but Pascale had no doubt he felt it. He had not discouraged her from finding someone to share her life. Nor had he discouraged her from seeking companionship among other vampires.

  Pascale had no idea who Angelique had in mind when she talked about a night out with “the girls,” but perhaps one of them would be a vampire like herself who would be open to forging a friendship. Pascale had felt an almost instant connection with Orlando, although he seemed so wrapped up in his Avoué that she did not know if he would have time for her. The other vampires she had met, again, while busy, had all seemed approachable despite Angelique’s warnings. She would simply have to make an effort if she wanted to keep her future from being empty.

  “Will you help me go home tonight?” Pascale asked again. “I’d love to join you on the girls’ night, but I need to go home and get my feet under me again first.”

  “You can’t go anywhere until it’s dark,” Angelique said, “but once the sun sets, I’ll ask David to take you back to l’Institut. From there, someone can drive you home. David can’t cast a spell to somewhere he’s never been unless he’s following someone else’s magical signature. They keep a car at l’Institut for situations where using magic is impractical.”

  “Thank you,” Pascale said. “I’m sure you have lots to do, so I won’t keep you. I have a lot to think about.”

  “I’ll leave you to it,” Angelique said, “and I’ll bring David when it gets dark.”

  Angelique closed the door behind her as she left, cocooning Pascale in the relative darkness of her room once more. Pascale took a deep breath and tried to order her thoughts. If she had a plan, maybe everything would seem less overwhelming.

  Her first order of business had to be making sure she still had a job she could do in a way her boss would accept, and that meant explaining her new physical limitations. With the anti-discrimination laws that had passed two years ago, she did not have to worry about being fired because she was a vampire, but she still had to do her job or she could be fired for failing to meet the performance standards of her position.

  She was not looking forward to that conversation, but she had a good relationship with her boss. She could tell Pauline what had happened and explain her physical limitations. Pauline would be shocked, of course, but Pascale was still shocked, and she was the one living with it. Pascale’s record was good enough that she hoped that would merit her some consideration when it came to adapting to her new situation.

  Once that was done and Pascale was assured of having a way of making a living, she could think about her house and what changes she would need to make in order to stay there. She could cover the windows with blankets temporarily if she felt like the blinds did not give her enough protection, but she would prefer a solution that would not leave her feeling like a prisoner in her own home.

  Not that she had any idea what those solutions would be, but she knew a few vampires now. Surely one of them could help her.

  After that was finished, she could start thinking about the rest: her friends from before, the new vampires she had met, the women Angelique suggested she go out with. It helped as well knowing there was a branch of Sang Froid in Dommartin. Angelique would not be there, but it would guarantee Pascale a way to feed until she could begin to hunt on her own.

  She also needed to make contact with the Cour in Autun. Autun was a bit of a drive, but she could still go there if she needed to. If nothing else, she wanted to know what the Cour entailed and whether it could help her with any of the adjustments she would have to make in order to survive as a vampire. That could wait a few days or even a few weeks, though. Dommartin was closer, and from what she could gather, l’Institut had no shortage of vampires should she need immediate advice.

  Chapter 10

  “I had a good day at work,” David said, wrapping his arms around Angelique from behind. “When do I get my reward?”

  Angelique laughed and turned in her partner’s embrace, kissing him lightly as she rubbed the arse she had spanked that morning. David barely even hissed. “As soon as you take Pascale to l’Institut so she can go home. It’ll be dark in half an hour. You can take her then.”

  “You mean I’m supposed to wait?” David said with a teasing pout.

  “We’ll need far more than half an hour for your reward,” Angelique purred. “Take a shower and unwind now. You can pop her down to l’Institut when you’re done and then I’ll give you my undivided attention for the rest of the evening.”

  David grinned. “I can’t wait.”

  “Maybe you should eat too,” Angelique added, releasing him and walking toward the foyer of Sang Froid. “You’ll need your strength.”

  David groaned in anticipation. The revolution role-play, then. He had yet to figure out how a scenario that was ostensibly all about her always ended up being all about him, but he was not about to argue. Not when it always ended with him coming so hard he could barely breathe.

  He showered and changed quickly, all the while wondering exactly which “sexual favors” Madame Defarge would demand in exchange for escape from the guillotine tonight. The last time they had played this scene, she had drizzled honey all over her body and demanded he lick her clean. Then she had returned the favor.

  When he was dre
ssed again, he checked the position of the sun, deciding he still had a few minutes before he could take Pascale down to l’Institut. His impatience aside, he did not want to do anything that might endanger her. He took a few minutes to heat up the seafood risotto Angelique had made two days before. He felt bad sometimes that she cooked for him as often as she did when she could not even eat it, but she insisted she enjoyed it. He never asked and always made a point of thanking her profusely when she did cook, but he did not refuse when she did. Not when it was this good.

  By the time he finished eating and cleaning up, the sun had set, so he knocked on the door to the room Pascale had been using.

  “Are you ready to head out?” he asked when she answered.

  “Yes,” Pascale said. “It’s not like I had anything with me when I arrived.”

  “I know you’ll be glad to be home,” David said. “I’ll take you as far as l’Institut, and they’ll make arrangements from there.”

  “Yes, that’s what Angelique said,” Pascale replied. “Thank you for helping me.”

  “You’re welcome,” David said. “Shall we go?”

  Pascale nodded, and David cast the displacement spell, taking both of them to the courtyard of l’Institut. “Let’s go inside,” David said. “We’ll find Jean and Raymond, and they can figure out how to get you home from here.”

  David led her inside to the director’s office. The door was closed, but he could hear voices inside. He knocked and entered at Raymond’s terse summons.

  “I’ve brought Pascale back,” David said. “Angelique told me you’d take care of getting her home from here.”

  “Yes, I talked to her about it earlier today,” Raymond said. “Welcome to l’Institut Marcel Chavinier, Pascale. David, will you stay for dinner?”

  “I ate already, but thank you,” David demurred. “I should get back. Angelique is waiting for me.”

  “Don’t keep her waiting,” Jean said. “We’ll take care of Pascale from here.”

  David cast a second displacement spell, leaving Pascale alone in the office with Jean, Raymond, and Adèle.

  “Have a seat,” Raymond said. “Jean was just going over some names with Adèle in the hope of narrowing the list of suspects in your case.”

  “Really?” Pascale asked. “I didn’t really expect you to catch him. I gave you little enough to go on.”

  “That’s what I thought at first,” Adèle said, hiding her discomfort at being in the same room as the new vampire, “but I kept thinking about what you’d said about his voice being similar to Jean’s. Any linguist will tell you that you can place a person’s home by the way they speak. It occurred to me you might be able to place a vampire’s time of birth the same way. If your attacker sounded similar to Jean, it could be because he is a contemporary of Jean’s. And that means we can at least narrow down the list of vampires somewhat.”

  “You met Sebastien when you first came here,” Jean said. “Do you remember him?”

  “Yes,” Pascale said. “He helped get me to Paris.”

  “Did his voice remind you at all of the vampire who attacked you?” Jean asked.

  “No,” Pascale said, “not like yours does.”

  “So that gives us an outer limit on when the vampire was turned,” Jean told Adèle. “Somewhere before 1500, since Sebastien was turned early in the sixteenth century. The farther back you go, the fewer vampires there are to choose from. I can only think of a few dozen in France who predate my turning. Once you get to the time of Sebastien’s turning, the numbers increase. Not dramatically, but enough that it would be harder to narrow down. Since we can leave out everyone who postdates his turning, though, it’s a large but hopefully manageable list.”

  “Particularly when we eliminate those who weren’t likely to be in the area on Sunday,” Adèle said. “Monsieur Lombard, for example. When did he last leave his house, never mind Paris?”

  “Not recently,” Jean agreed, “although he goes out more often than he used to. You might check with Denis Langlois about that list as well. Those are the vampires I know, but I don’t know his Cour nearly as well as he does. He might be able to add some names.”

  “I’ll do that,” Adèle said. “I should go.”

  “Wait,” Jean said, “take Pascale with you. You’ve been to her house, so you can cast a displacement spell and send her home instead of Raymond having to drive her.”

  Adèle gritted her teeth in frustration. She had hoped to avoid this situation until she had more time to wrap her head around possibly having a new, female partner, but Jean had given her no choice. “I can’t,” she said. “My magic didn’t work on her when I tried to stop her from jumping off the bridge.”

  “What?” Raymond said. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”

  “Because it’s none of anyone’s damn business,” Adèle snapped. “How many times do I have to tell you I don’t want another partner?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “No buts,” Adèle interrupted. “I don’t want another partner. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have vampires to investigate.”

  She cast a displacement spell and disappeared before Jean or Raymond could say anything else.

  “Sorry about that,” Raymond said to Pascale. “She’s prickly at the best of times.”

  “It’s fine,” Pascale said, mind reeling as she tried to take in the implications of what had just happened. “Angelique told me Adèle hadn’t had a good experience with her first partner, and she doesn’t know me. She had no reason to believe I’d be any different.”

  “Oh, she has plenty of reasons to believe you’d be different,” Jean said. “For one thing, you’re a contemporary of hers rather than hundreds of years old and refusing to accept that times have changed, but she’s too stubborn to see it. She’ll come around.”

  “Do I get a say in the matter?” Pascale asked. “I mean, you just said she’s prickly at the best of times. Maybe I don’t want the hassle of dealing with someone like that.”

  “She is prickly,” Raymond said. “There’s no denying that, but that doesn’t make her a bad person or a bad partner. She’s one of the most determined, hardworking, fair-minded wizards I know. She hides beneath that gruff exterior because she believes that’s the only way she’ll get the respect of her generally older, generally male colleagues on the police force. If you can win her trust, she’ll show you her softer side.”

  “I’ve talked to Angelique, so I have some idea of what it means to have a partner and why that trust would be so important,” Pascale said, “but what if Adèle continues to refuse to have anything to do with me? Does that mean I can’t find a partner until after she dies?”

  “I don’t know,” Raymond said. “We’ve had vampires and wizards match and then choose not to form a partnership, but everything is still so new that we don’t know if they’ll be able to match with someone else, because only a small percentage of vampires and wizards who have completed the seminars have found partners at all. Maybe fifteen percent. The rest have either chosen not to try for a match, haven’t found a match, or haven’t taken the final step of becoming partners. There’s still so much we don’t know about what allows a partnership to form. We know how, but not why.”

  “So I guess I’ll go through a seminar to decide if I want to have a partnership, with Adèle or with someone else, and then take my chances,” Pascale said.

  “After you’ve done that, if you decide you do want a partnership, we can always try to persuade Adèle to reconsider,” Raymond said. “I can’t order her to do it, and I wouldn’t even if I could, because that’s what landed her in a partnership she didn’t want the last time around. We didn’t know what we were getting into, or we wouldn’t have rushed into them then. But that doesn’t mean we can’t try reasoning with her.”

  Pascale nodded. “I need to go home,” she said slowly. “I need to sleep in my own bed and wear my own clothes and feel like myself again. Angelique said I could use the branch of Sang Froid in
Dommartin until I get used to hunting on my own.”

  “Some vampires never hunt,” Jean added. “Some always use Angelique’s services. You won’t have grocery bills anymore, so you can use your grocery budget at Sang Froid if you choose to go that route instead of hunting.”

  It made sense, and Pascale suspected she would go that route more often than not. She was not aggressive as a rule, and while she had hunted successfully with Angelique at her side guiding her and shoring up her confidence, Pascale doubted she would fare nearly as well on her own. If she had a regular lover she could feed from, that would be different, but she did not, and now that she was a vampire, she would have even more trouble finding one than she had before. Unless Adèle changed her mind.

  “Would it be too much of an imposition to ask someone to drive me home?” Pascale said, not comfortable sharing her thoughts with the two men in the room. They wanted to help, but she did not know them well enough to confide in them the way she suspected everyone else did. They had that air about them, but everything was still too new and uncertain for her to trust anything or anyone.