by Mlyn Hurn
Iain lifted his body away from AnnaBelle, moving to lie on the bed. He reached down and pulled the blankets up over their naked bodies. Watching her face, Iain was aware that AnnaBelle had closed her eyes as he pulled free of her warm body. To be completely honest with himself, he hadn't felt awkward like this since he was a gawky teenager. Lying on his side, he reached out to stroke his fingers down the side of her face. Slowly his fingers trailed down until he reached the pulse at the side of AnnaBelle’s neck. Iain pressed his fingers to her warm skin, feeling the strong and steady beat her heart was making to shoot her rich blood throughout her body.
* * * * *
AnnaBelle knew she couldn’t lay beside Iain another second, feeling his fingers absorbing the pulsations of her blood. She had begged him to make her his. Twice she had demonstrated her willingness by nipping at his own neck, and she had even revealed her emotions, surprising herself when she’d called him “love.” Lying beside him, sated on the physical level only, she prayed silently that she could get Iain to leave before she started to cry at his rejection. Moving suddenly and without warning, AnnaBelle almost jumped out of bed.
Of course, she stubbed her toe, and then she couldn’t see any clothing lying around for her to put on and cover up her naked body. Tears were threatening to spill over from her breaking heart and stubbed toe. She yanked a dresser drawer open and pulled on a pair of panties. Next to the panties were some white T-shirts, so AnnaBelle quickly put one on. Immediately she realized it was one of the much smaller cotton shirts and therefore it fit snugly and ended above her waist, revealing her belly button.
AnnaBelle caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror. Between the high cut panties and skimpy shirt, it was doubtful that covering up with clothes was going to be all that helpful. Glancing around, she realized that she would have to pass close to Iain’s side of the bed to reach the closet, where her jeans were hanging. Reaching back, she gathered her hair together and tied it into a knot at the base of her neck.
“Damn it!” She cursed softly, wondering what the hell else was going to happen next.
* * * * *
“Hello! Fauster, you old dog! Are you here? I brought Chinese to eat. Damn it, dude! Why didn’t you call me?”
Since neither Iain nor AnnaBelle had closed the bedroom door, it was wide open. AnnaBelle had paused in her dilemma of deciding what to wear and unfortunately she was standing directly in front of the open door. A moment later, the man speaking had reached a spot where he was looking directly into the open bedroom.
“Holy shit! Fauster promised me a surprise for my birthday, but this is better than anything I’ve gotten before.”
AnnaBelle felt like a deer frozen in bright headlights. The man who had broken into her uncle’s loft was tall and dark-haired with brilliant green eyes. She could see that he was powerfully built by the tight fit of his black T-shirt and jeans. It was when he smiled that she finally was able to move. Her hand reached out and jerked the blankets off the bed to cover her body.
Iain had already started to sit up when he heard the man’s voice. Luckily his trousers were on the floor and he jerked them on quickly. A second later he stepped into the doorway, shielding AnnaBelle’s body from the stranger’s view.
AnnaBelle moved in close behind Iain, standing on tiptoe to look over his shoulder. “Who are you?” she demanded in a small voice.
The handsome stranger was putting the Chinese food down on the coffee table. He was still smiling though when he looked back up. “I can’t begin to tell you how disappointed I am.”
Iain tensed as the other man reached behind him. A second later, the stranger was flashing a police badge in one hand and police-issue handgun in the other.
“I am Lieutenant Pete Walters, New York Police. Fauster called me a few days ago and asked me to stop by this evening. He had a surprise for my birthday. Now, who are you two?”
Iain hadn't moved and he filled the doorway enough so that AnnaBelle couldn’t scoot around him. “Iain Dampier. I am a professor at the college.” He lifted his hands, palms facing the lieutenant. “My identification is in my wallet, in my back pocket.”
Pete shook his head. “Let the lady pull it out for you and toss it over here. And where the hell is Fauster? Did you two break in here?”
AnnaBelle couldn’t hold the blanket and check Iain’s back pockets. The first pocket was empty, but the second held Iain’s slim leather wallet. Still hiding behind Iain, she passed the wallet to him. AnnaBelle watched as Iain tossed the wallet over to land on the sofa, just to the side of the officer. As he picked it up, she spoke.
“I am AnnaBelle Blue. Fauster is my uncle, but he seems to have disappeared.”
Pete looked up from Iain’s identification. “Fauster told me his niece was coming, from Paris, right?”
AnnaBelle nodded, now peering around Iain’s right arm. “Yes. Uhm, do you know where Fauster is?”
“I haven’t talked to him since a few days ago. From what Fauster said, you were coming for a visit. He asked me to pick up Chinese and come here tonight.” Pete paused and looked at Iain. “Why are you here?”
AnnaBelle peeked over Iain’s shoulder and answered quickly. “I went to Iain for help when I realized that Fauster was missing.”
Iain looked over his shoulder at AnnaBelle. “You get dressed and then come out here where we can sit down to try and make some sense of this.” Iain reached for the doorknob and then pulled the door shut, leaving her on the inside.
AnnaBelle could hear the men’s voices in the living room, but not what they were saying. Angrily she stomped her foot. She was the only one who really had a right to be here, damn it all! Walking to the closet, she pulled out a jeans skirt and quickly dragged it up over her hips. As she yanked open the bedroom door, she paused to reconsider the fact that the T-shirt was too tight and the skirt only came to mid-thigh.
“Naaawwwww,” she muttered to herself. Nobody told her what to wear. In the back of her mind, she did acknowledge that she had just offered herself to Iain. And if he had accepted, then according to everything she’d learned about Vampiric relationships, Iain would have then been her “master.” She paused and rubbed the left side of her neck for a moment. Desperately she wished that her uncle would be sitting in the living room when she came out. Perhaps she could then get out of here quick enough to salvage a small bit of her pride.
Chapter 9
Iain and Pete had found some plates and utensils and set up a makeshift dining space on the coffee table. They both turned as AnnaBelle entered the room. Iain immediately took in the tight T-shirt, which did nothing to disguise the fact that AnnaBelle’s full, firm breasts were unbound beneath it. His eyes lowered and saw the super short skirt. Anger and jealousy roiled up inside him as it seemed that AnnaBelle was flaunting her body at the cop who claimed to be her uncle’s friend. Seeing her jeans jacket on the floor, he walked over and picked it up.
“Put this on,” Iain told her abruptly, leaving no room for discussion by the tone of his voice. He saw AnnaBelle’s eyes flare at his words, and he wasn’t surprised when she shook her head angrily.
“No, thank you, but I will eat something. I’m starving.” AnnaBelle walked over to the open boxes with the assorted Chinese foods. Grabbing a fork, she stabbed a shrimp and ate it eagerly. “This is good. Thank you for bringing dinner, Pete. Or should I call you lieutenant?”
Pete grinned at AnnaBelle, shaking his head. “Please, call me Pete, AnnaBelle. I must tell you that you are as beautiful as your name promised.”
Iain almost growled in jealous anger as he watched AnnaBelle flirt with the cop. He tossed her jacket towards a chair, but it missed and fell to the floor. Several things rolled out upon impact, but most alarming was the gun. AnnaBelle was too busy eating to notice, but Iain noticed that Pete had seen the gun. In fact, the tall cop was already walking over and picking the gun and jacket up.
AnnaBelle looked up just then and saw a cross and her high-powered flashlight
fall onto the floor and that her gun was now in Pete’s hand. “Oops,” she muttered as she chewed quickly and then swallowed. “I have a permit,” she offered hastily.
Pete was shaking his head. “Hellfire and damnation! Are you a bloody vampire hunter like your uncle?”
Iain looked from Pete’s accusing glare to AnnaBelle’s guilty blush. The man’s words indicated that he didn’t like the hunters, which suited Iain just fine. He spoke quickly. “Let’s eat and then we can try and make sense of this, hopefully.”
Pete nodded and laid AnnaBelle’s jeans jacket down, but checked the gun for the safety, and then tucked it into the back of his jeans. He picked up a plate and began filling it with rice and several different kinds of the Chinese food.
Iain sat on the sofa beside AnnaBelle, taking a plate and handing it to her. As she took the plate, he laid his hand quite familiarly on her bare thigh. Ignoring the slight jump of surprise, he squeezed her thigh.
“Eat up, my love. Low blood sugar can affect our judgment.” Iain took a plate for himself and then released her thigh. As he began filling the plate, he saw out of the corner of his eye that AnnaBelle started to fill her own plate in spite of the perturbed look on her face. He wasn’t completely sure as to why she was looking like that. The truth of the matter was that he didn’t like the way Pete had looked at AnnaBelle, and he wanted to make it clear she was not available. With a nearly imperceptible shrug, he acknowledged that he was “marking his territory” and he didn’t give a damn how it appeared!
* * * * *
It was nearly an hour later that they made their way down to the second story of the building. Pete paused to look around before he asked AnnaBelle a question.
“I’ve only been in here a few times, AnnaBelle. Does it look disturbed to you?”
AnnaBelle turned around as she nodded her head in agreement. “You have a few more visits here than I’ve had, Pete. But I had the distinct impression things were moved.” She crossed over to the screened area where the computer was. “It was the fact that the hard drive was completely empty that first alarmed me. Then I opened his file cabinet, which I don’t think ever really had any order to it. It’s been emptied and he showed me that he kept his back up disks in there.”
Pete had followed AnnaBelle, looking in the cabinet as well. “What was he working on? I’d guess that whoever nabbed Fauster broke in here and destroyed the hard drive and took his files.”
AnnaBelle flushed and turned to look at Iain before she spoke. “He has this new film, Pete. Supposedly you can capture vampires on film and identify them by the aura, like a faint glow, that surrounds them.”
Pete looked from AnnaBelle to Iain. “Are you putting me on, AnnaBelle? I know Fauster is brilliant, but I never put much stock in his puttering down here. If he really did have a film like that—“
“Hello? Is anyone down here?”
AnnaBelle, Iain and Pete all turned in the direction of the voice. Pete was pulling his gun out as a woman rounded the screen.
“Hello! Are you AnnaBelle? How silly of me! Of course you are, dear. I swear you are the spitting image of your grandmother.”
AnnaBelle knew her mouth was open as she stared at the middle-aged woman in front of them, but she couldn’t help it. The woman was dressed in a flowing gown or robe of some kind. The material was silky and covered with silver moons and stars. Her hair was a soft lavender color and was a very close match to her clothing. She wore lavender eye shadow, lipstick and nail polish. AnnaBelle didn’t consider it a guess when she figured the woman was a friend of her uncle’s.
“My dear girl, you simply must come with me and call your parents. They’ve called me twice already because it appears the phone line isn’t working here.” The woman reached out to her and AnnaBelle took her hand. It seemed like it was the right thing to do. They had walked a few feet when the woman glanced back. “Your little friends can come too, dear.”
AnnaBelle glanced back and saw Iain and Pete exchange a look. Pete returned his gun to its holster and they silently followed. They didn’t have to go far. The woman lived just across the street in what looked like a deserted building. On the way to the fifth floor, they learned that her name was Lamenta and she and Fauster had sex every Saturday.
AnnaBelle saw the grin the two men exchanged at Lamenta’s confession. Obviously it didn’t matter…man or vampire, when it came to sex their minds still worked the same way. She followed the older woman out of the freight elevator. In the woman’s living room or what she guessed was a living room from all the pillows scattered about, Lamenta invited the two men to be seated.
“Would you like some wine, or perhaps a beer? I have beer because Fauster likes it.”
“Beer would be fine,” Iain answered. Pete nodded his head as he replied.
“I’ll have the same, ma’am.”
Lamenta smiled. “Such lovely manners you have, young man. AnnaBelle dear, I’d have sex with both of these young studs.” With a broad, waving gesture of her hand, she added, “You can never have too much sex, you know. Clears the mind, frees the soul, dear. Now, come with me and you can use my phone.”
AnnaBelle knew her cheeks were bright red as she followed Lamenta. The woman’s bedroom was unbelievable. There was a huge mattress on the floor, tons of pillows in bright silk and a mural on the ceiling representing the celestial sky. Lamenta pushed her down onto the bed and then handed her a portable phone.
“Call your mother, child. If the urge takes you, just call out to one of those handsome hunks to join you in here. I won’t mind.”
AnnaBelle watched the other woman leave. She did end up lying back on the bed as she dialed the phone, listening to it ring. Glancing at her watch, she realized it was the middle of the night in England. Her father was a bear if he didn’t get a full night’s sleep.
“Hello! Who is this?”
AnnaBelle heard her father’s voice in her ear. “Hello, Dad. It’s me, AnnaBelle. Mom called here, I guess?”
Byron Blue paused and AnnaBelle guessed her mother must have awakened. A moment later, Camellia Blue spoke to her daughter.
“Hello, darling! I had to call Lamenta when the phone company told me the line was down to Fauster’s loft. He called here the other day and left the oddest message.”
“What, Mother? What did Uncle Fauster say?”
“Something about his latest invention, I gathered. Unfortunately the message was erased before your father could listen to it.”
“You’d think he would learn, Mother. He’s no good with answering machines, microwaves or computers.”
Camellia chuckled softly. “I know, AnnaBelle, but I’ll never convince him of that.”
Through the phone line AnnaBelle heard her father mutter something about modern inconveniences. AnnaBelle shook her head. “Was that all he said? Uncle Fauster?”
“That and he apologized for dragging you to New York.”
AnnaBelle was shaking her head as she heard her father’s voice again.
“Damned New Yorkers!”
Her mother laughed. “I told you not to bet with Fauster. I think Lamenta can tell the future, so Fauster will always know who’s going to win the World Series, Byron.”
AnnaBelle considered telling her parents about Fauster, but decided to wait until she knew more so she wouldn’t alarm them. Assuring her mother she was fine, she apologized for waking them and said goodnight. She had just set the phone on the low bedside table when a noise caused her to look towards the foot of the bed. Pete was standing there, his arms folded across his chest. She wondered how long he had been standing there, and then took a deep breath. There was no denying Pete was an attractive man, but she’d already given her heart to a man who didn’t want it.
Pete grinned and AnnaBelle watched his eyes move from her feet upwards. “You are a very beautiful woman, AnnaBelle. I wish Fauster had invited me over sooner.”
AnnaBelle ignored the unspoken implications that if he’d met her before Iain things wo
uld definitely be different right now. Lifting her hand towards him, she wiggled her fingers. “Help me up, please.”
Pete took her hand and pulled her smoothly to her feet. Before he released her hand, he told her softly. “It was very tempting to fall onto that bed and pretend I’d tripped.”
AnnaBelle shook her head. “I am an unnecessary complication for you, Lieutenant Walters. I live in Paris, remember?”
* * * * *
Iain looked up as AnnaBelle reentered the living room. Her hair was mussed and she was tugging her skirt down with one hand and the edge of her T-shirt with the other. Jealousy raged up inside of him. One more minute and he would have gone into the bedroom to see what the delay was. He stood abruptly.
“We should get going, AnnaBelle.”
AnnaBelle stopped at his words. He could see the confusion on her face. Lamenta interrupted before either could speak.
“You should have stayed and used my bed, dearest. I bet that cop has real stamina.”
AnnaBelle blushed hotly. “We do need to get going.”
Behind her she heard Pete reply. “Thanks for the compliment, Lamenta.”
Lamenta smiled at the attractive officer. “If you ever decide that you like experience over youth, young man, you know where I live.”
AnnaBelle rushed for the freight elevator. “Thank you, Lamenta, for the use of the phone.”
Lamenta waved as Pete and Iain joined AnnaBelle. “You’re welcome, sweet child. Tell Fauster I’ll be over tomorrow.”
The ride down was completely silent, and outside the building AnnaBelle almost ran across the street to her uncle’s building. Unlocking the door, she turned and spoke quickly, not looking at either man. “Good night. If my uncle comes back, I’ll call you both to let you know.”