by Lund, S. E.
I shake my head and smile. “No, not you. I was responding to something Soren said to me in my mind. He does that whenever he feels like it.”
Michel grins ruefully. “Sorry. It must be annoying.”
“It is. I refuse to answer him mentally so if you hear me say something out of the blue, it’s probably in response to something Soren’s said.”
I close my eyes once more and say nothing for a moment.
“You should rest for a while,” Michel says. “Someone will wait in the anteroom in case you want anything.”
“What will Soren do to try to force us all together in one bed?” I ask. “I know that’s what he really wants. He thinks I want it as well, but he’s wrong so don’t worry.”
“Oh, I don’t worry about it, Eve,” Michel says and I think I detect a slight bit of hurt in his voice. “It’s not something I want either, nor does Julien.”
“Good,” I say and close my eyes again, pulling the covers up around my neck.
Me thinks you and Michel doth protest too much…
I can almost see Soren’s grin in my mind’s eye, but I refuse to follow through with the visualization. I won’t give him that satisfaction.
Michel leaves me alone on the bed and I turn over, my back to the door.
In a very few moments, I can’t keep my eyes open.
* * *
Later, I wake when the grandfather clock in the corner of the room chimes softly, indicating the half-hour. I feel rested but have no idea how long I’ve slept. A female servant dressed in a maid’s uniform is placing a robe at the foot of my bed. She smiles when she sees me sit up.
“I’ve come to give you a bath,” she says and she’s really very sweet looking, with dimples and her hair up in a bun. “Then you’re to get dressed and join Lord Soren for dinner.”
I grab the robe that she hands me and pull it on. I glance at the mirror to see the place where the arrow pierced my chest, but now all that’s left is a small white scar. I’m sure the next time I drink blood it will go away completely.
I follow the servant into the washroom where the tub has been filled with warm soapy water. It feels good to slip into it, and I lie back and close my eyes.
While I’m lying there, I wonder how my staking and resurrection will screw up Michel’s plans.
I hope a lot.
I frown and splash water on my face, trying to distract myself from Soren’s words. I don’t want to even think in response to him, but it’s impossible. My mind can’t help but go there and I wonder how much my being in Manhattan has changed the future.
You have to keep me happy if you want me to end the plague sooner rather than later. Humor me, Eve.
“What will it take to humor you and get you to stop the plague?”
Sleep with Michel, at least once more before this is all over. I miss you two. So passionate in a very controlled way but you make Michel almost lose control for a change. I like that. You and Julien are just so cute but I prefer you and Michel, personally. I’m rooting for you to pick Michel, but I’d be happy with a threesome.
“I told you before that I won’t sleep with Michel again. He’s chosen celibacy, and I’ve chosen Julien.”
Not even to stop the plague this week?
I slam my fist down on the surface of the water. “You should stop it this week because you can, not because I sleep with Michel or not.”
I want what I want.
“I’ll tell you what,” I say, trying to think of a way to win. “You stop the plague and I’ll make a pass at Michel.”
I can almost feel Soren’s glee.
Deal.
“If he doesn’t sleep with me, it’s not on my head. You still have to go through with the rest of the plan and eradicate vampirism.”
Deal.
I feel like I’ve won a small victory with Soren. I’ll offer myself to Michel after Soren releases the antidote to the plague. Once I see that it’s taken affect, I’ll go to Michel and offer to sleep with him. He’ll refuse and Soren will have no recourse.
I smile to myself.
Don’t get too smug. He might say yes.
I laugh to myself. “Back at you,” I say. “He might say no.”
After my bath, I dress in something conservative and go to the dining room, where I see everyone has gathered, including both Michel and Julien. I check for an empty seat but of course, Soren has taken it upon himself to place me beside Michel, with Procel on the other side. Julien is seated between two of the other Twelve and so I have no choice but to sit where Soren’s placed me.
I move to my place and Michel and Procel both stand up. Michel holds my chair for me and I sit down. He helps move my chair in and his hands brush my shoulders for a moment and I know he’s done it deliberately.
Is he being tempted by Soren as well? Is Soren playing the both of us or is it just me?
Why don’t you and Michel have a nice little chat after dinner and find out?
I take a drink of water and don’t reply, either in my mind or out loud. Instead I try to ignore his suggestion. However, I am interested in talking with both Julien and Michel – separately – to find out what happened and what their stories are.
Of course, I can’t believe anything either of them tell me anymore, but at least I’ll get the sense of what stories they feel they have to tell me, whether out of compulsion or to protect me.
The meal is delicious, and I eat my fill of the roasted game and vegetables, plus there’s blood and wine. I don’t speak to Michel and he doesn’t speak to me. Instead, we listen to the Twelve discuss their plans for the aftermath of the plague and how to restore things, but with them at the helm.
I want to intervene and argue against them taking power because I don’t approve but I realize I’d just be an annoyance. To them, their own dominion is a fait accompli. Nothing I can say will divert them from their course, so I amuse myself looking at each one in turn and wondering what kind of being they are.
Are they aliens who came here eons ago and decided they liked this place and incarnated in our form to blend in and take over? Are they just mutated humans who possess powers that science has not yet been able to measure and describe? I have no idea which it is so until we have more evidence, I’m going to be agnostic on their origins and just accept that I don’t know what the hell they are.
Finally, dinner is over and everyone leaves the table and goes to the study with Soren. There, they sit in clusters or stand together in small groups and discuss different topics. It’s like some salon one might find during centuries past in France or perhaps Vienna. The conversation is elevated to issues of free will and the nature of freedom, and they genuinely seem interested and focused on being good shepherds but also not treating us too much like sheep.
Part of me feels a bit in awe of them but another part is extremely wary.
I grow tired soon and yawn. I’ve been sitting alone, in a chair by the huge bookshelves next to an arched window, looking at a volume of 18th Century anatomy, examining the drawings of the interiors of various animals. Michel sees me yawn, and comes over to me.
“Can I walk you back to our rooms? You look tired.”
I glance up at him, wondering if this is something Soren has planned or whether it’s on Michel.
“Our rooms?”
Michel shrugs. “Soren has decreed that the three of us will continue to stay together. Julien and I have the two rooms off yours. We’ll share the main living area.”
“And what Soren decrees, we must obey.”
Michel slips his hands in his pockets and looks around, perhaps to see if Julien or someone else is in earshot, but no one seems to be paying attention to us.
“We don’t have to obey,” he says softly. “But it’s unlikely that we can entirely resist and be successful. You have to decide what hill you want to die on, Eve.”
I nod, but don’t know exactly what hill I choose to die on. I don’t want to give Soren any satisfaction by letting him see the twin
s act jealous over me in public, but at the same time, I want the plague to stop and vampirism to be eradicated.
Those are the hills I want to die on, if I have to die.
I stand up, rejecting Michel’s hand, and we leave the room. Julien is in deep conversation with one of the Twelve, their heads bowed in the corner. I want to speak with him – I want to be with him – but I don’t want to cause a scene so I leave with Michel quietly and leave Julien to his conversation. If he wants, he’ll come to our rooms.
“So has Soren been trying to tempt you into sleeping with me?” I say to Michel.
He seems shocked at my words and says nothing for a while, walking beside me with his hands behind his back.
“Soren wants the three of us together. He wants a threesome, but I told him he’d never get one.”
“Why?” I say, angry at Soren’s doggedness about the threesome. “Why does he want it?”
Michel turns to examine my face. “Because he knows it would tear Julien and I apart and he wants both our pain. He’d relish it because he knows we’d be too jealous and would grow to hate each other. That’s why it won’t happen.”
“It won’t,” I say firmly. “You’re brothers. I love you both, but I don’t want you at the same time.” I shiver. “That would be incestuous.”
“I agree,” Michel says. “We had it much easier with Marguerite, but we never did a threesome with her. We always were with her separately. Soren wants to push us to demean us and make us suffer.”
“He really should get over his need for revenge. All these years later and he’s still wanting to make you two suffer…”
“He’s eternal. His emotions and desires are as well,” Michel says and shrugs.
We arrive at our suite of rooms and enter. I go over to the window and look outside at the darkness, then up to the sky to see what stars are visible. The moon isn’t up and so there are quite a few visible even through the glass. I wish I could go out and stargaze for a while, but I’m too tired.
“I’m going right to bed,” I say to Michel. “I’m sorry I don’t feel like talking. But while I get ready, maybe you could tell me about what happened – from your perspective,” I say and then add, “What you can say, of course.”
Michel follows me into the bathroom. I pour water into a basin and wash my face, and then brush my teeth.
“You were shot while you and Jan were leaving the city limits. From what Jan said, a truck pulled in from an alley and blocked your vehicle and someone used a crossbow to shoot a metal tipped wooden arrow into you through the windshield. They drove off, so you were the target. Jan went on foot to the first guard he found and carried you to us. I knew when I saw the arrow that this was Soren’s work. He knew that I’d have to come to him to resurrect you. There would be no one else who could bring you back.”
Michel’s voice breaks at the end and I’m surprised at his emotion even now.
“You knew I wasn’t dead permanently, though,” I say and turn to examine his face. “Soren was just manipulating you.”
He looks as if he’s struggling for a moment. I reach out and touch his arm, squeezing it softly.
“I’m fine, Michel,” I say and smile. Then, I remove the clips from my hair and brush it down, before turning to him.
“I don’t know what your plans are, but I know I can’t ask any longer. I’m fine knowing that the plague will stop and that vampirism will end. What you do about Soren, I’ll leave to you. I trust you to do what’s right.”
Michel nods. “Thank you,” he says softly.
“Just don’t get yourself killed,” I add, remembering that one of the futures involves the death of one of the twins. “I don’t want to pay that price. Whatever future you fight for, make sure it includes you both, okay?”
I smile and he forces one, but I know he doesn’t feel it right now. I can tell that he feels on the edge of breaking down, his skin flushed, his voice throaty.
“Michel,” I say and against my better judgment, I slip my arms around his neck and squeeze him against me for the briefest moment. It’s not meant in a sexual manner, but just to comfort him and reassure him, but he responds far more fervently than I planned. He pulls me against his body and squeezes so hard, his face pressed into my neck.
“Oh, Eve, I was so afraid he’d decide to create another one of you and let you die, I couldn’t bear that future.”
“I know,” I say and pat him on the back, wanting to assuage him. “I’m fine. He still needs me and he got you back as well. Everything’s going to be okay. Or at least, for now.”
I pull away and he lets me go with reluctance.
“Now, I really must sleep, considering I spent most of the last two days technically dead-dead.”
“Of course,” Michel says and lets me go, but before he does, he strokes my hair and smiles, his eyes wet. “Go to bed. Rest. You need your sleep.”
I leave him in the bathroom and go over to my wardrobe to remove my nightgown from the shelves. Michel goes to the sitting room, where he picks up a daily hand-printed newspaper. I return to the bathroom and change into my nightgown and then slip quickly under the covers, but I catch him looking above his newspaper at me in my little babydoll.
He can’t help it, I think to myself. He’s just a man after all.
He is. A man who still loves and desires you, despite his vows. Offer him your hand, Eve, and he’ll willingly take it. Do it.
“Go to hell,” I say out loud, not caring what Soren thinks.
Over at the couch, Michel stirs and folds down his paper. “What?”
“I wasn’t speaking to you,” I say softly. “Just Soren plaguing my mind. Sorry.”
I pull the coverlet up and sigh. “Good night, Michel.”
“Good night, Eve. Sweet dreams.”
I close my eyes but I fear they won’t be sweet.
Chapter 121
I wake up hours later when Julien arrives in the room and I hear he and Michel speaking. The problem of vampire ears is that you never sleep very deeply and any loud noise can wake you, despite how soft it might be. I sit up and Julien sees me and comes right over. He sits on the side of the bed and leans in to kiss me but I hold out my hand and stop him.
“No, Julien,” I whisper. “Not when Michel is in the room. Remember what you two agreed to.”
“Fucking Soren,” Julien says petulantly.
“I know,” I say and touch his face briefly. “There’s nothing to be done about it. One day we’ll be free to be together.”
“I hope so,” Julien says and looks in my eyes. “If not, I’m going to be pretty damn pissed about all the sacrifice for nothing.”
I frown. “Julien, it won’t be for nothing if we stop the plague and end vampirism. That’s bigger than us both. Bigger than our relationship.”
“I still have to live in that world and if I don’t have you, it won’t be worth much.”
“You’ll have me, if I survive.”
“You must survive, Eve,” Julien says and leans in, his eyes dark. “I can’t stand the thought of living without you. If you die,” he says and shakes his head. “I will, as well.”
“Don’t you dare say that.”
Julien kisses me, despite my admonition against showing any affection in front of Michel but luckily, Michel’s otherwise occupied with his paper and doesn’t see it – perhaps he’s studiously ignoring us so he won’t be jealous. Whatever the case, Michel doesn’t turn to see us and so I let Julien kiss me more deeply, because I miss him. I want him.
“Listen, Eve,” Julien says when we finally end the kiss. “I have some bad news,” he says, avoiding my eyes.
“What?” I say, a bad feeling starting in the pit of my stomach.
He purses his lips and then meets my gaze, his eyes intense. “Soren’s sending me on patrol, along with Procel and two others of the Twelve. He’s going to be releasing the antidote soon and he wants us to reconnoiter the area before sending a force to be near Blackstone’s residenc
e, to ambush him and take him out. Once we have that set up, we’ll be back. But you have to know that eventually, Blackstone will try to come after us. When that happens, as one of the oldest ascended vampires, I’m tasked with the job of capturing him, with the assistance of Procel. Of course, I couldn’t be happier.”
“Julien!” I say, alarm filling me at the prospect of him leaving. “Why?”
“Once Blackstone realizes that we’ve got the antidote, he’s going to want to retaliate. We have to stop him before he can. That falls to me, as the most seasoned warrior besides the Twelve.”
“What chance do you have against his forces? He’s very strong…”
Julien shrugs. “Soren’s been building his forces for years. All his compounds across the country, all the ex-soldiers he’s hired and has been using to train his forces. He’s as ready as he’ll ever be to fight Blackstone.”
I nod, and of course had already realized that Soren was preparing long before the plague struck. I still don’t want Julien to go.
“I thought Soren wanted us all together.” Even when I say it, I realize that it’s just me being upset that Julien will be gone and possibly will die in battle.
“He does, but he’s pushed his agenda up and will release the first antidote in a very short time – maybe this week. If so, I have to be prepared. We have to get ready to hit Blackstone before he’s able to respond. Today’s mission will be in preparation for that eventuality.”
I slip my arms around Julien’s neck and pull him against me. “I don’t want you to go,” I say.
He puts his arms around me and kisses me, his kiss hungry and desperate. “I can’t be with you, Eve,” he says, despite how much he responds to me. “I have to just say goodbye and go now, but I’ll be back in a few days.”
“I don’t like it that you’re the one who has to capture Blackstone,” I say. “He’s older than you and could potentially kill you.”
Julien shakes his head. “Soren’s promised me that you and I will be together once this is all over, if I bring Blackstone back. I have to believe that’s true. It’s all that keeps me going.”