“Oh, I’ve had it up to here of always being the idiot who smooths things over! If you want to disembowel each other, go right ahead! And good riddance!”
I left to get some fresh air in Scarborough, meeting Angela and Matthew for pizza at Danny’s; he was happy to see us reconciled.
In fact, two days after our return to the manor safe and sound, I’d gone to see Matthew to apologize for the horrible way I’d treated him. I’d unleashed upon him all the anxiety and frustration I’d accumulated for days about the precarious health of my beloved grandfather (at least that was what I told Matthew), and I would understand if he was angry. Luckily, that wasn’t the case, thanks to Angela and her support, and we found ourselves just as close as before.
After I returned home post-pizza, there were no traces of fighting, and each vampire seemed to be sulking in his own corner. My speech must have had an effect because, since then, Phoenix no longer lectured François about his liaison with a human woman, and François was keeping all his comments about us to himself. So even vampires could act like children.
As for Ichimi and Karl, we learned three days after the events of that night, just before Finn left, that they had admitted everything. The Greats had forced Ichimi to free Karl from his obligation, and Karl, unable to bear any further torture, had spilled everything he knew.
In theory, I’d hit the bull’s-eye with my accusations. Ichimi had saved Talanus’s life and had truly become friends with the Roman general who resembled him, but the connection that united them was nothing compared to the thirst for power that always burned in him, and that was revived by his lover, who pushed him further down that path. Ichimi finally admitted that the reason Kaiko hated my boss so much was simply because he was the progeny of Finn, the vampire who had killed her master. Unable to kill Finn because no one ever knew where to find him, she had turned all her anger on Phoenix. That anger hadn’t stopped growing, and it became limitless when Phoenix had been named angel by the very people who had taken the post they’d dreamed of right from under their noses. They then recruited henchmen in China, where the laws of the Great Change were not applicable yet, a veritable El Dorado for vampires like Heath and Huan, who liked to indulge in luxuries and fresh blood. Ichimi and Kaiko promised them a part of the spoils that they would get from blood trafficking on such a scale: branches of the business extended to South Africa, and all the intermediaries implicated had serious reasons to worry for they would all be hunted down without mercy by the Greats for having disrespected their authority and broken their laws.
Karl’s role in this matter hadn’t been more than that of a pawn, so in the end, no one worried. He’d essentially been created in Europe by Ichimi to do business, but according to his creator, it had been accidental, and unaware that he had a son, Ichimi had returned to Japan. His friends were then nominated to take over the New World in his place, leading him slowly to a destructive madness. When, by an unfortunate coincidence, Karl found him again, Ichimi, Kaiko, and Karl were united by the same wounded pride, and they had dragged each other into bitterness against the entire world and especially against Talanus, Ysis, and Phoenix.
Ichimi’s obligations kept him his own country, so he sent Karl to monitor Talanus and Ysis after teaching him the art of lying and self-control. In Karl’s case, it wasn’t enough to eliminate his arrogance and vanity; consumed by resentment, he had betrayed himself as well as his masters. There was a lesson to be learned: hatred only leads to misfortune, and those three hadn’t learned how to overcome it . . . I knew that I wasn’t like them and that even if I didn’t feel any compassion about their fate, I wasn’t angry anymore.
Justice had been done. It was time for me to discover the calmer side of my work . . .
Weeks and then months passed. Most of Phoenix’s contacts had accepted me and went through me to set meetings or to ask him for information. My boss finally had the tranquility he’d been dreaming of: carrying out his missions even if it put his life in danger, without having to bother with the paperwork he abhorred. As for me, I didn’t have much to complain about either. Most of his missions were simple, meaning financial or real estate transactions that didn’t require weapons or bloody hand-to-hand combat. I was only armed with my notepad and my smartphone, and that suited me perfectly.
Apart from that, Phoenix continued to train me, and I continued to progress in the mastery of all the combat techniques he knew. I was even learning to handle a sword!
We finally found the time for me to keep my promises, and I was giving him lessons in computer science. At first, he was an undisciplined and impatient student who, at any sign of difficulty, was ready to pulverize the computer. I had to exert all my influence to get him to spare the machine and learn to master it. In the end, he got by fine, and I was proud of being a good teacher. I had to compliment myself because if I’d had to wait for his gratitude, five hundred years wouldn’t have been long enough. There was no question about it: he could really get irritating.
We’d resumed watching Stargate SG-1, and Phoenix never stopped commenting, which drove me crazy enough that at one point, I bashed him over the head with a pillow, threatening to gag him and tie him up with silver chains. I hadn’t anticipated he would grab a second pillow to do the same to me. When François returned from his date with Angela and heard shouts and sounds of furniture being flipped over in the parlor, he appeared in the doorway, ready to attack. We hadn’t even seen him staring at us, dazed, too busy running after each other and trying to knock each other out with pillows and laughing like children. Phoenix was the first to notice our French friend and stopped so short that I didn’t have time to avoid him. Imagine slamming into a brick wall at full speed!
Seeing our faces—embarrassment for Phoenix, dizzy shock for me—François was content to give us a small mocking smile before disappearing from our sight. Disheveled and rumpled, we were still laughing when we resumed watching our show.
I was really happy, and things were going well. Before we knew it, it was the end of December, and the people of Scarborough were readying to celebrate Christmas like millions of people throughout the world. I loved that time of year, when people forgot their selfishness a little. Plus, I was an expert at decorating.
Phoenix hadn’t celebrated Christmas since his entrance into the world of vampires, and I found that a shame because it was a moment of sharing and love between family and friends. Since my boss was both family and friend, I knew I wanted to celebrate. With François’s help, I’d decorated the whole room in the spirit of Christmas, using my boss’s brief trip to Talanus and Ysis’s house as an opportunity to prepare it all, including the meal. Thanks to my new salary, I’d been able to go on a shopping spree and give free rein to my holiday fantasies. The result was red and green decorations throughout the room and a tree glittering with hundreds of lights. The turkey was cooking slowly in the oven, and the odor was mouthwatering. Even for the vampires. François was giving it the final touches on a platter when Phoenix arrived home and stood frozen in the doorway.
For a second, I was afraid that he would react badly. The last time he’d celebrated Christmas, his sister Keira had still been alive . . . I held my breath . . . and exhaled in relief when a smile spread over his face. Even better, the sudden gaiety transformed him and gave him a calm and innocent air.
Touched, I walked toward him and took his hand to show him our work.
“Merry Christmas, Phoenix.”
Making the most of his silence, I stood on tiptoe to give him a peck on the cheek.
“Oh, no, not like that! We have to follow tradition all the way. Look up, you two,” our musketeer interrupted from his stepladder.
We did, and there was a sprig of mistletoe hanging just above our heads. The implication behind François’s insistence hit me immediately. My heart leaped in my chest, and I even wondered if Phoenix would almost just ignore it. Paralyzed, I risked a glance at my boss.
His face was still raised to the mistletoe; I had
no idea what he was thinking. Finally, slowly, he lowered his head and fixed his eyes on mine. I thought I could see a bluish flash across his irises, but it was so fast that I wondered if I’d just dreamed it. Embarrassed by the closeness and that situation born out of a ridiculous tradition made up by people in need of affection, I tried to step away.
He put his hands against my back and held me to him. In the subdued light from the fireplace and the strings of lights on the tree, Phoenix’s whole body was bathed in an unreal aura. His suit gave him an elegance that he already had naturally, his smooth and crepuscular scent enveloped me in a sensual warmth, while his face, so perfect despite a few rebellious locks of hair that fell across it, leaned gently toward mine.
“O time, suspend your flight! And you, fortunate hours, stay your journey . . .” I wasn’t at a lake like Alphonse de Lamartine’s companion in his poem, but I thought that this wish had been granted. I wondered if what was to come was really a good idea.
“Merry Christmas, Samantha.”
His murmur was like a caress.
However, nothing could compare to the sensation of his lips on mine. Vampire bodies are cold because they’ve risen from the dead, but every time I touched Phoenix’s skin, I only felt silken smoothness. I’d never wondered if his lips would have this same power, but I had to say that they surpassed by far the little I’d experienced before. It was like a foretaste of paradise.
Lost and ready to fall into a void of absolute bliss, I was floating away from reality and the flow of time. My whole body was nothing short of a red-hot and relentless inferno, obeying the whims of the man whose lips on mine in a first real, and pure, kiss were burning me with exquisite pleasure. I couldn’t feel my body anymore, and my closed eyes kept me in a heavenly obscurity. All that was preventing me from believing it wasn’t just a dream was the endless sensation of his body and his mouth, with which I was entirely one . . . Then . . .
Boom. That magic moment was torn from me at the same time as his lips, while he was straightening up, pushing me gently away so he could see my face. My return to the present was so brutal that I couldn’t get my bearings or understand what had happened to me.
Baffled and shocked from the kiss but also by the reaction it had produced in me, I was tempted to flee and disappear. But I didn’t want to ruin the joy that was still visible on my boss’s face; he seemed to have already forgotten me, looking now with nostalgia at the Christmas tree that François and I had decorated.
François gave me an apologetic look. I knew that my confusion hadn’t escaped him, and he regretted having put me in that situation. Unable to take any more, I muttered something about needing to check on the turkey. Once in the safety of the kitchen, I tried to calm down and get myself together, but I had a hard time putting my thoughts in order. François had set us up in an effort to check what feelings were really coming alive in us. Phoenix had hands down passed the test, but I’d utterly lost my footing. What had happened?
“Sam?” Phoenix called from the parlor. I checked the time on the oven clock and realized he must be wondering what I was doing.
Come on, I couldn’t take a minute to focus in peace?
Adopting a festive attitude, I returned pushing a service cart upon which I’d placed the turkey and all the side dishes: potatoes, vegetables, fresh blood. Of course, the blood wasn’t for me. That evening unfolded in good humor, my two friends telling funny and personal anecdotes from their long lives. This allowed me to push the kiss and my reaction to a corner of my mind, swearing to do like Scarlett O’Hara . . . and think about it tomorrow. At least, that’s what I would have liked.
Taken over by a maelstrom of invitations (including one from Ginger, who, because of my clumsy intervention, had been able to reconcile with her daughter) during the day and by the heap of work that Talanus and Ysis were giving us at night, I’d almost completely forgotten that whole kiss thing . . . and that suited me just fine.
We arrived at New Year’s Eve following what had become our routine. Phoenix had ordered me to rest that evening and enjoy being with my friends while he attended to some business in Pembroke, about twenty minutes away.
“Will you be home late?” I asked.
“Probably not before two or three in the morning, why?”
“I’ll wait up for you.”
He raised his eyebrows, a questioning look on his face. I smiled, embarrassed.
“I just want to wish you a Happy New Year. After all, it’ll be almost a year since we met. That’s not nothing.”
My boss returned my smile. “I shall not dawdle, then.”
And he left.
I hadn’t thought to spend that evening with anyone other than Phoenix, so I’d declined invitations from Matthew, Angela, and François. To kill time, I stuffed my face with popcorn while watching television, flipping from documentaries to films, even watching some scenes from the daily life of the Kardashians. I really wasn’t paying attention to the quality of what I was watching. Suddenly I heard my boss’s cell phone ring and sat up straight. The sound was coming from the table in the dining room, where I’d left my own phone next to his. Looking more closely, I realized that my boss must have grabbed the wrong one by mistake. Knowing how vital this means of communication was for him, I decided I shouldn’t wait for his return, so I went looking for him.
The process didn’t take me long, because I’d equipped our computer with GPS software and linked it to our phones so we could know each other’s location. Phoenix was definitely still in Pembroke, and I had to hurry to not miss him. I memorized the route there and took off toward my destination, hoping to arrive in time to give my absentminded boss his phone.
I pulled up to 59 Cromwell Avenue, which was a luxury hotel. I walked toward reception, wondering what kind of business Phoenix would have in such a place.
“Good evening, how may I help you?” the concierge asked politely.
“Good evening, has a Mr. Livingstone come here? I’m his assistant, and he forgot his phone, which I need to give to him.”
“Oh, yes. Mr. Livingstone is one of our best clients. He comes regularly to do business. Would you like me to call him to say you’ve arrived?”
“No, that’s very kind, but he knows I’m coming. However, if you could give me his room number . . .”
“It’s five seventeen. Take the elevator to the fifth floor, and it will be on your left.”
“Thank you. Have a good evening.”
At least I’d had the luck of getting in easily, since the concierge wasn’t at all suspicious and hadn’t even checked my identification. In any case, I hoped that Phoenix wouldn’t be angry that I was interrupting a meeting, even if it was just to help him out. Not really worried, I whistled along to the elevator music. (The dentist I’d seen in Scarborough should have played the same station in his waiting room . . . He had a penchant for heavy metal, which all his patients loathed, especially since it was anything but relaxing). Finally, a bell rang, indicating I’d arrived at my floor. Following the concierge’s directions, I found the room easily.
I took a deep breath and knocked on the door with one hand, holding the phone in the other, and heard muffled sounds coming from the other side. Fearing for my boss’s safety, I didn’t wait, but opened the unlocked door and entered . . .
“Phoe—”
The second syllable of his name got lost as my voice broke at the scene before my eyes. I stopped cold, thunderstruck and profoundly shocked by what I was seeing.
The man I’d come to help, who I thought was in the middle of negotiations with a reticent vampire, was standing in front of me, completely naked. My gaze was horribly aimed at the part of his body I’d never seen before. I dropped the phone, which fell and broke into several pieces. Someone was behind him . . .
A magnificent young woman, with brown hair like mine but a stunning figure and long legs, cried out indignantly and tried to hide—she was only wearing a lace thong—behind my boss’s tall frame. He hadn’t said
a word, and I felt his metallic stare pierce through me. Realizing what I’d interrupted, something came over me.
At first, I felt my cheeks flame red, and I retreated, stuttering excuses and pointing at the broken phone on the floor. Avoiding Phoenix’s eyes, I was trying to apologize as I backed up and pulled the door close, but only senseless syllables made their way out of my mouth. When I finally felt the door of that wretched room at my back, I turned quickly, left, and slammed it behind me.
I was feeling horrible, winded as though I’d just run a marathon, and I had to lean against a wall and close my eyes to get back to breathing normally. Once my lungs were filled with air again, I started to walk to the elevator to put as much distance as I could between that love nest and me.
At that thought, I realized that something else wasn’t right. The shock I’d felt had sort of dulled my reaction as I arrived in that room, but now I was feeling it all too keenly . . . It was as though someone had sunk a white-hot blade right into my heart, trying to press down more to intensify the effects. Never before had I ever felt such pain, even when vampires had injured me.
But I didn’t have time to question any of that, because my boss was catching up to me with superhuman speed, fortunately after taking the time to slip on a bathrobe. The effect of this garment was comical, but the situation . . . no.
“Sam,” he said, blocking my path.
Too embarrassed to face him, I went around him. He grabbed my arm.
“Sam, I have to explain.”
The blade seemed to sink even further into my heart, the pain so intense that I collapsed forward, grabbing my chest and crying out. Phoenix rushed to hold me up, but I pushed him away decisively. The effect must have been convincing, because he backed off.
My voice lowered to a threatening growl.
“There’s nothing to explain. What an idiot I am! I really thought that you were here for business and that you wanted me to have fun tonight. When I saw that we’d switched phones, I didn’t hesitate a second, and I did everything to find you. In fact, I never thought you’d have other needs, and certainly not for me.”
Samantha Watkins: Chronicles of an Extraordinary Ordinary Life (Samantha Watkins Series Book 1) Page 39