by M. J. Scott
My stomach rolled and I stopped breathing for a moment. Lord Marco Sebastiani was an Old One. They wanted me to see an Old One. Not just any vampire but the oldest one in Seattle, the head of the largest lineage. Jase’s lineage. Effectively the ruler of the vampires in this city No. No. No.
“No.” I managed to gasp when I got my breath back.
“Ashley, you have to.” Dan crossed his arms. “Tell her, Ani.”
“Lord Marco is okay,” Jase added.
Okay was not the word I would use to describe an ancient vampire. The thought of any vampire was bad enough but the Old Ones got to be Old Ones because they were the most powerful. Marco could take me as easily as Tate had. Probably even faster. And, even if he did seem to be one of the more civilized Old Ones, based on what I’d seen of him on TV and read about him, he’d spent plenty of years living the more traditional vamp lifestyle.
“No,” I said again as a shiver crawled across my skin.
“Daniel is right, Ashley,” Ani said softly. “You can’t be trusted if Tate has planted something in your mind. We’d have to lock you up.”
“But we don’t know if he has,” I argued, heart beating furiously. “He said he released me.”
“You’re trusting Tate now?” Dan asked sarcastically.
“He kept to our agreement,” I retorted.
“He beat you up and tried to turn you,” Dan roared. I could smell him, clearer than ever and just as clearly I could smell the anger rising within him, rousing the wolf.
I just didn’t care.
“And you bit me. You’re the one who actually changed me,” I yelled back. “So why should I listen to you?”
Dan’s eyes went that silver glass shade and I knew I’d hurt him. I couldn’t really bring myself to care all that much but it hurt me too, just a little.
“Because I’m trying to save your life,” he said in a flat no-arguments tone. “I don’t care if I have to tie you up and drag you there, but you are going to see Marco.”
“You and whose army?” I snarled.
“That would be mine,” Ani said and we both snapped our heads round to face her. Suddenly her scent seemed much stronger. “Daniel is right. I won’t let you endanger the pack. You will see Marco.”
“I didn’t ask to join your stupid pack,” I said even as my determination not to see Marco faded a little.
“I know you’re upset, Ashley,” Ani said evenly. “So you get a few breaks. But you’re acting like a child. Why would you want to carry the touch of a vampire inside your head? The fact you are arguing about this only suggests that Tate has indeed left his mark. You cannot come amongst the pack until it is gone. And believe me, you need to be with pack right now.” Her tone held a rumbling edge that drained the protests out of me. It made me want to sit up straighter and do as I was told.
Not my favorite feeling. It was bad enough when Bug did it but she, at least, had earned the right. Ani the elf hadn’t. Not yet. “I—”
“Silence,” Ani snapped. “You will go with Daniel and Jason to see Marco. Then they will bring you to our house. If you refuse then I have plenty of wolves who will assist Daniel in enforcing my will.”
Go willingly or be carried kicking and screaming. That message was coming through loud and clear. Nobody was going to tie me up again, that was for sure. “Fine,” I said. “We’ll go see Marco. Once the doctor clears me.”
“Excellent,” Ani said with a smile that had a distinct feral edge. She turned to the boys. “Perhaps you two should wait outside while I help Ashley get ready to leave.”
Jase and Dan both made a beeline for the door and Ani turned her smile on me. “Let’s get you ready. And then we can have a little chat about pack rules.”
Oh great. A pissed off alpha and an Old One. This was going to be a fun, fun day.
***
Ani’s lecture on pack etiquette was still ringing in my ears when I climbed into the back of Dan’s Jeep an hour later. The woman could give Bug lessons on how to make you feel like an idiot. I crossed my arms over my chest as we pulled out of the hospital parking lot and refused to look at either Jase or Dan.
Neither of them seemed very interested in starting a conversation so a chilly silence reigned in the car as we negotiated our way into Magnolia.
Just when it was becoming unbearable, Dan turned into a driveway and stopped the car. The way forward was blocked by tall iron gates and he lowered the window to speak into the intercom.
“Lord Marco’s done well for himself, then,” I said sarcastically to Jase as we drove slowly down a long paved drive lined with giant oaks.
“He’s an Old One,” Jase said, as if that were enough.
“What’s he like?” I asked, trying to prepare myself for whatever lay ahead.
“He’s okay for an Old One,” Jase said. “But he won’t put up with the sort of stuff you pulled on Ani.”
I’d already figured that much out. Ani had barely put up with what I’d pulled on Ani, and I got the impression the main reason she hadn’t kicked my butt was because I hadn’t changed yet. A vampire wouldn’t care about that. I intended to be scrupulously polite and get the hell out of there as fast as I could. I might want to die but I’d promised Bug I’d wait a year. So no doing anything suicidal like offending an Old One.
Daniel pulled the car up in front of the house when we reached the end of the drive. It wasn’t as big as I’d imagined from the grounds. Don’t get me wrong, it was big but it wasn’t the sort of huge Queen Anne style mansion I’d expected. Instead it was a sprawling white house with arched windows and a red-tiled roof. Dark green vines with tiny white blooms twined up columns and over the archways and red geraniums flourished in tubs leading up the stairs to the front door. It all looked vaguely Spanish or Italian or something.
Out of place in rainy old Seattle, that was for sure.
If there hadn’t been an Old One inside waiting to meet me, I would’ve liked it a lot better. I gripped the handle of the car door, not wanting to move another inch. Unless it was to run back down the drive and the hell away from here. I tried to breathe. It didn’t help. “How about I just stay here and you two can go inside?”
“Don’t joke around, Ashley,” Dan said impatiently.
I wasn’t exactly joking, I was starting to feel hot and vaguely sick at the thought of walking into a vampire’s house.
Shade sails made of UV proof fabric guarded half the drive and the path up to the house, making it safe for vampires to walk during the day. Which only emphasized that there were vampires inside. Sweat started to trickle down my back.
Dan and Jase climbed out of the car and headed toward the stairs, then stopped and turned back as one when they realized I wasn’t following.
Jase came back over to the Jeep. “What’s the matter?”
“Maybe this is too soon,” I said through clenched teeth, still clinging to the door handle.
“You don’t really have a choice,” Jase said. “C’mon, boss. Out of the car.”
I tried to open the door, I really did, but my body wouldn’t obey my mind. It knew exactly what was inside that pretty white house and it didn’t want any part of it.
“Ashley, stop kidding around.” Dan grabbed the door and pulled it open, almost yanking my arms off in the process. Only my seatbelt kept me from tumbling out onto the drive.
“I’m not,” I said honestly.
He looked from my hands to my face. “What’s going on?”
“Oh, you know, just having a disagreement between my feet and my brain.” I tried again to breathe deeply but my heart pounded like I was running a marathon and I couldn’t quite catch my breath.
“About what?” His voice had dropped to a low, soothing tone.
“About whether I’ll die if I go into that house.”
“Who’s winning?” He moved a step closer and put his hands over mine, stroking the knuckles.
“At this point, it’s kind of fifty-fifty.” I closed my eyes and sucked in ano
ther breath, focusing on his skin sliding over mine. Dan’s hands were warm and my grip loosened a little as he kept rubbing mine. For a moment I forgot how angry I was with him as the fear started to ease.
“Anything I can do?” Dan said, fingers still moving in slow waves that felt just a little too good.
“Distract me.”
“I could sing,” Jase offered. “You know. . . .” and he burst into the opening lines of Climb Every Mountain.
The incongruity of a vampire singing The Sound of Music made me giggle and Dan managed to unlock my fingers from the handle and slide them free. They closed around his arm instead and I didn’t try and let go.
“Listen to me,” he said softly. “I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you.”
“Neither am I,” Jase said, breaking off his song. “We have safe passage here.”
Whatever that meant. But I felt better. I wasn’t alone here. I wasn’t trapped. So I was just going to walk the hell in there under my own steam and let Marco kick Tate out of my head once and for all.
Chapter Sixteen
Jase had picked the wrong song. A Few of My Favorite Things would’ve been more appropriate. Wasn’t that the one they sang to distract themselves from fear?
Somehow I didn’t think imagining raindrops and kittens was going to work in this situation. I stood behind Dan and Jase as Dan rang the doorbell and tried to convince myself I was safe.
I wasn’t buying it. My heartbeat sounded loud in my ears. I wondered why Dan and Jase weren’t deafened by it.
The door swung open and a very human servant with, from what I could see, a bite-free neck, ushered us inside.
I looked around to distract myself. The foyer of the house was almost as big as my entire office suite. The white walls were hung with huge and colorful landscapes. A intricate mosaic of various creatures cavorting amongst flowers covered the floor. Not at all what I’d pictured. Weren’t vamp dens meant to be all dark walls and red velvet?
Or was that just Tate?
I shivered and gave myself a mental shake. Lord Marco was not Tate. And I had a werewolf and a vampire protecting me. I moved closer to Dan.
Another servant–a woman with cropped blonde hair—joined the first. “Lord Marco is expecting you,” she said with a slight bow. She led us away from the foyer, along a passageway lined with a series of doors. I focused on trying to slow my breathing, rather than thinking about what happened next. It worked, a little. My heart was only racing a little rather than pounding by the time the servant paused at one of the doors before knocking twice and opening it.
The room she showed us into was somewhere in the middle of the house. It had no windows but looked fairly normal apart from that.
If your idea of normal was very expensive furniture, extravagant floral arrangements, and an Old One, that is.
Not that Lord Marco looked like I expected either.
He rose from a chair pulled up to an elegant antique desk as we entered. He looked about my age.
That was the first surprise. For some reason my mind equated Old Ones with pictures of Nosferatu-ish monsters.
But this man was no monster. He was anything but. In fact, he was flat out gorgeous. Olive skin, dark hair cut close to his head that looked like it would curl if he let it grow longer and eyes a curious clear shade of green.
He wore a beautifully cut pair of pale linen pants and a white shirt and pretty much looked like he’d just stepped out of the pages of GQ. Or maybe Italian Vogue. I wondered exactly what European country he was from originally and what period of time. Despite his young appearance, there a sense of age surrounded him. Age and power. My heart sped up again.
Dan and I stopped, letting Jase going forward. To my surprise, Jase bowed. “My lord, this is Special Agent Daniel Gibson and—”
“Signorina Keenan,” Marco interrupted. “Ashley, is it not?”
His voice was deep, lightly accented and musical. Kind of sexy, in fact. Which only made me more nervous.
“Yes, my lord,” I said, following Jason’s lead on how to address him. I wanted to be polite and not upset him. But I didn’t bow and I kept my gaze away from his.
Marco came toward us and sweat started to break out on my back again. It didn’t matter that he looked like a model, my gut knew what he really was. I took an involuntary step backward and he paused.
“You are afraid of me?”
How did I answer that and not sound rude? I decided honesty was the best policy. “I seem to have a problem with vampires at the moment.”
He looked from me to Jason. “But you are not afraid of Jason?”
“No, my lord. I’ve known Jason a long time.”
“And me you do not know. Ah.”
I hoped I hadn’t offended him, tried to smile. He stayed where he was, looking at me curiously.
“I will not hurt you, Ashley. I do not take from the unwilling.”
I couldn’t help wondering how easily he turned someone from unwilling to willing with the power of that face and voice alone.
“It’s not you, exactly.” I managed.
“Si. I understand. It is Tate. He has done this to you. Allow me to apologize, Ashley. McCallister Tate is a problem I thought would no longer trouble us. It seems I was mistaken. He is no credit to my house.”
Nice to know that Tate had managed to fool everybody. And wait a minute, Marco’s house? Did that mean . . . Tate’s from your lineage?”
He sighed, looking apologetic. “Si. Yes. Sired by a wayward child.”
“Tate’s of your lineage?” I said, this time to Jase. “You never told me that.” It made me feel kind of weird.
“I didn’t know,” Jase said, holding up his hands.
“It is not something I advertise,” Marco added. “It is difficult enough managing our relationship with the public as it is. And after all, every family has its . . . what do you call them . . . bad seeds?”
“I think Tate is a bit more than a bad seed,” I said, only just managing to keep the sting out of my tone.
Marco nodded. “He should’ve been taken care of long ago, but he has evaded us. Believe me, now that I know he has survived, I am seeking to rectify the situation.”
That made me smile. I wouldn’t want to have the Old Ones after me. I hoped if they caught Tate, it would be a painful end.
“And of course, you will turn him over to the authorities if you find him,” Dan said.
Marco arched an eyebrow, looking almost amused by the concept. I found myself siding with him. The only thing to do with Tate was put him down like the rabid dog he was. No trial required. We all knew what he’d done.
“We have our own justice,” Marco said.
“And you’re trying to convince the public you’re just good citizens,” Dan retorted.
“You think Tate should be spared, Agent Gibson?”
I was kind of interested in the answer to that myself. What did Dan want to do to the man who had kidnapped and almost killed me?
Dan straightened his shoulders, “No. But I think there’s a system to follow.”
For some reason his answer annoyed me and I found myself feeling a little more sympathetic toward Marco.
“You are young,” Marco said. “Idealistic.” He made a dismissive gesture. “But you did not bring Ashley here to discuss legal ideologies.”
Jase nodded. “My lord, Tate—”
“He thralled her,” Marco said with another flick of his hand. “So I was informed. May I come closer?” he added, turning to me.
I nodded but couldn’t stop myself taking another step backward as soon as he moved. Marco stopped again with a frown. He took a deep breath, almost if he was smelling the air and his face cleared. Then he looked at Dan. “Perhaps if we do this on the couch. If you hold her, your touch, it will comfort her.”
“We’re not bonded,” Dan said.
Marco looked surprised. What did it take to surprise an Old One? I had no idea what the hell they were talking about
but decided to add it to the long list of things I needed to discuss with Ani.
“My mistake,” Marco said. “Still, you care for her, yes?”
“I can do it,” Jase said.
“I do not think adding another vampire to the situation will relax Signorina Keenan.” Marco retreated to one of two long sofas in the middle of the room. “If you would bring her over here, Agent Gibson.”
Dan held out his hand and I took it, allowing him to lead me over to the sofa. Under Marco’s instructions, Dan settled into the corner against the arms and I sat with him, my back resting on his chest, his arms locked around my waist.
The feeling of Dan at my back was almost as unsettling as having Marco only a few feet away. He was warm and solid and smelled better than ever. And the shifter buzz I’d normally feel was different somehow . . . warmer. More appealing. I moved away slightly but he tightened his grip, drawing me back.
“Relax, Ashley,” Marco said. “Your wolf will protect you.”
“He’s not my wolf,” I muttered, ignoring the warmth spreading through me wherever Dan was touching me.
Marco smiled. “As you say. Now, may I approach you?”
I nodded and with Dan holding me, managed to stay still as Marco came nearer. Thankfully his scent was nothing like Tate’s. He smelled earthy and strange but not unpleasant. I relaxed a little.
Marco reached out and touched my forehead. Then I flinched, shivered and started sweating again. Marco lifted his fingers.
“Peace, cara,” he murmured. “This will not take long.” His fingers descended onto my skin again
I leaned back against Dan and closed my eyes, fighting the panic the touch of cool skin had awakened. Then the touch was gone.
“Well?” Dan asked.
“There is something there,” Marco said. “I am not entirely sure. . . .”
My eyes flew open. That didn’t sound good. “What do you mean, not sure?”
“I can take care of this, Ashley,” the vampire said, “but I fear you will not like my method.”
I shrank back against Dan, heard him murmur something soothing in my ear. It didn’t help. “What does that mean?”