Vampire Games (Entangled Ever After)

by Tiffany Allee

  We reached a gate and Claude flipped a latch. The gate opened, revealing a very well lit parking lot. Lamps like you’d see in a commercial lot lined the area, though they were a bit short and more stylishly done than most I’d seen.

  Claude’s car started before we reached it, and he helped me into the passenger’s side before taking his place in the driver’s seat. I almost bit his head off for it. I didn’t appreciate chivalry when it came to things I was more than capable of doing for myself, but I held my tongue.

  Now was not the time to bitch.

  “What happened?” he asked once we were on the road.

  “Why did you already have your keys?”

  “I carry a spare set. I’ll have to go back for the other set later.”

  I glanced out at the naked trees flying by. Long shadows lurked, ready to jump out at us at any second, flashing fang and steel.

  “Beatrice?”

  “I saw Nicolas Chevalier at the party.”

  “And?”

  “And I…I followed him when he went down a hallway.”

  “You what?”

  “He looked like he was up to no good.” Not a great defense, but true.

  I risked a glance at the vampire. Unhappy didn’t begin to cover the tension in his frame and the thin line formed by his mouth.

  “What? I’m an investigator. I was following a lead.”

  “You’re an investigator who isn’t on a case. You’re an investigator who is currently on leave. You’re an investigator without even a sidearm following a known killer—who also happens to be a vampire—down a secluded hallway.”

  “I didn’t say it was secluded,” I huffed and crossed my arms. What did he know anyway? Just because I wasn’t technically on a case didn’t mean the investigative part of my brain turned off. Besides, this was the most important case I’d ever worked on, whether he knew it or not.

  “Was it?”

  “Look, do you want to talk about how stupid you think it was, or do you want to listen to what I found out?”

  He grinned and my body clenched in response. “Lady’s choice.”

  Whatever. I was not going to fall before his charm. “I overheard Nicolas talking to your giant friend.”

  “That’s impossible. He hates the Chevaliers, especially Nic.”

  “He lied. Or he doesn’t like you more. Or, hell, maybe he just likes money more than he hates the lot of you.” I shivered and pulled Claude’s coat tighter. “They were talking about you. And they called me a fucking lapdog.” I tried to keep the outrage from my voice, but failed.

  Claude laughed loudly, body shaking. I burned with anger, tugging on my hair and too pissed off to speak. I wasn’t entirely sure if I was mad at Claude or just the man who’d called me a lapdog, but Claude was closer and the way I was feeling I was more than willing to use him as a punching bag.

  He laughed long enough I almost told him to pull over, lest he run us off the road, but finally his amusement faded enough that he could talk again.

  “What else did they say?”

  I just glared at him.

  “You’re not a lapdog, sweet. That’s why it’s so damn hilarious.” He shot me a sexy smile and his voice lowered. “If anything, you’re a tiger.”

  The scenery outside suddenly became very interesting to me.

  “So, did you get anything else?”

  “Sounded like your friend was the one who made that brand. And Nic said something about not being worried about you, that his father wouldn’t act without proof. Like, doubt-free proof.”

  “That much I know.” He pulled into the parking garage of his building.

  “The giant also mentioned that they were locked into a schedule. Things couldn’t be moved now. Something like that.”

  His face was grave when he looked at me, and I hoped some of the paleness was due to the ugly fluorescent lighting of the parking garage. “My sources and evidence were right. Something big is going down soon.”

  “Seems like it.”

  “I need to call Natalie.”

  “The witch? Why?” I asked.

  “She’s Covenant. The giant falls under her purview.”

  “Seriously? You’re going to let someone else bring this guy in?”

  His smile turned dark. “The Covenant doesn’t bring dark witches in, mon chou. And I’m not concerned with him. Nicolas is my problem. I’ll let the witches deal with their own garbage.”

  The shower made me feel better, as if fear was washable and I could scrub it off to swirl down the drain. Not likely. But at least I could wash away the sweat. I felt safe in Claude’s condo though, which struck me as especially stupid and further proof that my body couldn’t be trusted.

  Not that I thought Claude couldn’t handle himself. For all of his humor and playful attitude, the vampire was not a man to be trifled with. But if Nicolas came, he wouldn’t come alone.

  However, the Magister’s son struck me as subtler than that. As a man who worked in the shadows. I didn’t think he’d strike so openly even if he did suspect we knew something.

  “Hey,” I said when I emerged into the living room. Claude had the fireplace going. A gas fireplace, but pretty nonetheless. Calming. He handed me a glass of dark red wine, and watched me over the rim of his glass.

  I didn’t guzzle the wine, but I certainly sipped a bit faster than normal. Not that I’d get drunk—talk about a stupid idea when a vampire might want you dead for hearing too much—but a little bit would calm my nerves.

  “Are you well?”

  No, I wasn’t well. There was little doubt that Nicolas had heard me when I ran from his room, and likely even before that when I tripped like a clumsy oaf. Damn heels, anyway.

  “I’m fine. Just—” Freaked out. Scared shitless. Angry as hell. “—tired.”

  “Tired?” He gave me a lazy smile. “How tired?”

  I took another drink of my wine. I wasn’t ready to deal with the “us question,” but I also wasn’t sure that I could continue sleeping with him with the question still in the air. Not that there was even a question. I was done with him. Shit.

  “Did you call Natalie?” I asked instead.

  “Yes. She’s been working with the selkie, Coates. She’s made some headway there.”

  “I’m surprised that he’s allowing it. She must be more charming than you were.”

  “He’s freaked out enough to allow her to try to help. For now.”

  “We should go to the police. It’s time to call in backup, Claude.”

  “We can talk about that in the morning,” he said. But there was a finality in his tone. He was humoring me. This was his personal vendetta, not something he wanted police involvement in. No witnesses. No arrests.

  Did I feel differently about my need to bring in Luc Chevalier and question him about my brother? I wasn’t sure.

  There were still so many things I didn’t know. Like what exactly Natalie hoped to gain by examining the selkie—information, or freedom for him from the spell conditioning? Or, what was our next step, if not going to the police? But the look in Claude’s eyes halted my questions. And brought my thoughts back to him. Back to us.

  But mostly back to him.

  He approached me slowly, as if giving me time to run away if that’s what I wanted. And logically I knew that was the right thing to do. Because he was unattainable, and he got to me on a level that no man ever had. Because he’d hurt me before. Because he could so easily hurt me again.

  But every instinct in my body urged me to stay.

  My body was a damn traitor.

  “Claude—”

  “He could have hurt you, you know. Done things that you can’t imagine. Things he’s been tied to in the past. Death would have been a blessing.”

  “First, I’m an OWEA agent. I can imagine a lot. Second—”

  He touched my lips with his fingertip, silencing me. I wondered what he would do if I slipped the tip into my mouth and bit it. I knew he wanted me—he’d proven
that. But did he want me with the same intensity—the same fire—that drove me back to him when I should have run away?

  “Do you know what would have happened to me if I’d lost you?”

  Hope surged within me, unbidden and most unwelcome. Maybe he did feel something for me. Something powerful and real. Something like what I dared not admit—even to myself—I felt for him.

  “You are my responsibility, you know.” His words smudged my hopes, but didn’t dash them. Need coated his expression, under the worry.

  Need that I felt vibrating through every inch of my body.

  “Is that all I am? Your responsibility?” A silly question. A girl’s question. And I was no girl. Not the one he’d had an affair with.

  I kind of missed that girl. She’d been an optimist. A cheerleader. A believer in great love.

  “Ah, mon chou.” He slid the back of his fingers down my jawline and over my throat, his touch so soft I barely felt it. And his gaze weighed even more heavily on me, filled with such need that I barely believed my own eyes.

  Did my eyes reveal the same?

  “You never understood the way I felt. I made sure of that. You still don’t. And maybe that’s for the best.” He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, some of his normal amusement was there. My stomach sank. His guard was back up.

  And I needed to put mine back up, too. To step away. To go to bed. Alone.

  But when he lowered his face to mine, almost painfully slow, all I could do was tilt my chin to meet him.

  His mouth touched mine softly, feather light before moving away, then another light touch. I ached for him, and tried to push harder against his lips, but he held me firm, intent on his soft assault.

  Still moving slowly, he tugged off my clothes, one piece at a time, leaving soft kisses in his wake. He pulled off my bra, then knelt in front of me and continued his soft attack on my breasts.

  “Claude,” I muttered. I gripped his hair and turned his face up so I could meet his gaze. I didn’t say anything else, but I knew he could read the need in my eyes.

  “I love the way you say my name,” he said, his voice rough with need. “When I’m inside you, your blood filling my mouth, I forget myself. My past. My need for anything but you.”

  Bet you say that to all the girls was on my tongue, but the glib joke didn’t make it past my lips. His eyes shone in the dark when he looked at me, reflecting his feelings without guile.

  “When you didn’t return my call, I almost came for you. I wanted to drag you back. Force you to accept my apology. Convince you to love me.”

  The world stopped, and then spun. I gripped his shoulders and took a long breath. “Claude—”

  “Whatever happens. You should know that.”

  Dread rose in my stomach, mixing with my desire, curdling it. Whatever happens. What exactly did he think was going to happen? I couldn’t make myself ask the question though, couldn’t ruin the moment.

  “I would have gone with you. If you had come,” I said finally.

  A smile peeked out from his cloud of emotions, and he laughed softly. “Ah, mon amour, I’m glad to know that.”

  Even though it’s too late.

  He didn’t say it, but I heard the words all the same.

  And then his mouth was on mine, no longer gentle. He took what he needed from me, and I took from him. Desperate to have him all around me, I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. He carried me, I thought toward the bedroom, but we only made it as far as his dining room table.

  I pulled his shirt off, then struggled with his belt, only managing to push his pants down just enough for his cock to spring free. He pushed his tongue against mine, mouth bruising my lips, and I gripped his hardness. Satisfaction swept through me when he moaned, long and low.

  Then, hands on my hips, he pulled me to the edge of the table and thrust into me with one hard, swift motion. I cried out at the sudden fullness.

  This time he didn’t ask. His teeth pierced my breast near my nipple, and he sucked the wound and the nipple hard. The orgasm hit me immediately, spiraling through me as he pumped into me harder and faster with every beat of my heart. I held on to his neck with one hand, and pressed the other behind me for balance as pleasure hit me in waves.

  His fingers digging into my hips, he shouted my name against my breast, then stilled.

  Minutes passed, then he pulled me into a tight hug. Face buried in my neck, he took a deep breath. A fuzzy haze of pleasure enveloped me, and his scent filled my lungs. And for a moment, hope pierced my worry. Maybe we could make it through this together. Maybe we could take down Nicolas and find out what happened to my brother. Maybe we could come out of this not only triumphant—but together.

  Chapter Twelve

  Claude promptly ruined my hopeful mood.

  “I’m almost glad that you overheard them, because it lightens my load to know that Luc is innocent. But then, everything is worse. Because they know you’re helping me. Even if they didn’t see you, they know because I took you to that witch’s den. I’m so sorry, Beatrice.”

  My guilt that had been building since he’d knocked on my door suddenly needed an outlet. He believed his friend to be innocent, and I hated to make things harder for him, to make him question his place in the world. But he had to know.

  He pulled me in close and nuzzled my neck, threatening to distract me. But I couldn’t let him.

  “I’ve seen Luc before. In a vision. I’m sorry, Claude, but he isn’t innocent.”

  He stilled in my arms. “What did you see?”

  Out with it all. I was literally naked in his arms. Might as well be emotionally naked, too.

  “My brother Eddie disappeared when I was ten years old. He was older, nineteen. We—we never had the chance to become close, you know? And I’ve always wondered if we would have been—if we’d had the chance.”

  “I remember you mentioning him before. What happened to him?”

  I shrugged, and he stepped back and helped me hop off the table. Underwear. Surely I had underwear somewhere around here.

  “He disappeared. His body was never found. No information other than part of his jacket found on a street corner known for drug dealing. Some blood at the scene came back as his.”

  Ah-ha. My underwear. I dressed quickly, but Claude didn’t worry about his shirt. I did my best not to let my eyes roam over his hard chest. I couldn’t afford for either of us to be distracted right now, not until I’d gotten all this out.

  “And you saw Luc? That is…difficult to believe.” His joking tone returned. “Perhaps you think all us vampires look alike?”

  I tugged my shirt over my head and met Claude’s guarded expression on the other side. He might wear the grin of a man unaffected, but he wasn’t as nonchalant as he wanted to appear.

  “The detective came by so my parents could identify the piece of jacket. He took it out of the bag and set it on top. My mother was—well, she was upset. Both of my parents were. They left the room. The detective followed.” My voice sounded hollow to my own ears. Shouldn’t I feel something sharper? But I didn’t. I just felt numb recounting the story that had changed my life.

  “Leaving you alone with the fabric.”

  “Yes.”

  “Getting a vision so young would be…unusual.”

  Unlikely. Near impossible. That’s what he meant, but I silently thanked him for his word choice. “My parents thought—everyone thought—that it was just my imagination. That I had a nightmare that was so realistic it made me think it had actually happened. The nightmare part was true, it reoccurred for years after his actual disappearance. And I eventually convinced myself that was the real order of things. That I’d had a nightmare about my brother being attacked, and that it was so vivid I got confused.” I took a deep breath at the thought of the nightmares. “But it was a vision that caused the nightmares.”

  “What did you see?”

  “I saw Luc, smiling. I saw his fangs flash. A
dark car. I felt Eddie’s pain.”

  “That is all?”

  A rush of anger overtook my numbness. “It was enough,” I growled.

  He came to me and pulled me into a tight hug. I leaned against him, breathing his scent, for a brief moment allowing myself to relax.

  “I convinced myself that it was just a nightmare. And it made sense. I didn’t show any signs of psychometry again until after high school. I took a standard test when I enrolled in the police academy. The OWEA wasn’t far behind. My lack of a college degree didn’t even slow down their offer when my results came back.” I laughed, but it was halfhearted at best. “You should have seen my parents’ reaction. They didn’t even realize it ran in our family.”

  “It isn’t always active in those who carry the gene.”

  “Or it’s too weak for them to ever notice.” I shrugged. “Either way, they weren’t pleased. Then again, they haven’t been pleased by too much since my brother—” I shook my head. What was the use in dwelling on the past, on things I couldn’t change? Not much.

  His hand slid down my arm and I fought the urge to step back into the safety of his embrace.

  “My brother wasn’t an angel. He had been into some bad things before he disappeared. We were poor, and he wasn’t happy about it. He…wasn’t averse to making money however he needed to.” Dealing drugs. Who knew what else? For someone so young, he’d gotten himself into a lot of trouble. “But whatever he did, he didn’t deserve to just disappear like that.”

  “Have you looked into his case? Since joining the OWEA?”

  “Nope.” And it had taken every bit of my willpower and self-control not to at times, while at other moments I felt ill at even the thought of looking in that file. It was a Pandora’s box, ready to shit all over the bit of a life I’d built. Once opened, I’d never be able to close it.

  “Perhaps we should speak to Luc about this.”

  “You don’t believe me.” Something in my chest twisted. I hadn’t expected him to believe me—not exactly. But it would have been nice to be surprised for once.

  “It’s not that. I just—”