He frowned. She looked so small and helpless lying asleep on his couch, and she’d felt so fragile as he helped Jonathon take care of her injuries. He had only seen her in surveillance photos before tonight. In those she always looked proud, self-assured and utterly capable of ripping someone’s heart out without a second thought. She always had her russet hair tied back and a purposeful, almost arrogant mask on her face, and the ready tension in her body was visible even in those grainy images. And she had taken out Genevieve and Stephan, both Vampires over a hundred years old, without apparent difficulty.
Yet now, lying with her features calm and relaxed, she appeared very young and vulnerable, almost childlike. Her hair had come loose and was framing her face and neck in gentle, mussy waves. In the clear light of his office he could see a sprinkling of freckles across her cheekbones and the dark mark of a bruise slowly spreading across her right jawbone. There was also what appeared to be a burn mark streaked across her left cheek, though this must have happened prior to tonight, as it was still partly covered with make-up. He could sense the pulse of blood through the main artery just below her ear, and he felt his incisors lengthen instinctively. She smelled utterly delicious. Proof, he thought, that she was far more human than supernatural.
He found himself fascinated by her; something he hadn’t expected, it had been many years since he last found something so captivating, and it startled him. He wanted to know more about her abilities and capabilities, and how exactly she had come by her supernatural talents. The speculation was that she was part-Vampire, but he knew that was impossible unless she was ingesting Vampire blood, and that seemed unlikely. He’d heard many rumours and second-hand accounts of her feats, not too many first-hand accounts of course, though he had spoken some with Liam earlier. He knew she worked with animals as her daytime career, and he wondered how far her control of animals extended, and if she realised that this was a Vampire ability. Not many had it, but those that did were a sought after commodity in the Vampire realm, as they could also control Weres. He wondered if she had tried the talent on a Were, or if the idea had not occurred to her yet. Utterly intriguing.
On the whole, he’d never found women particularly interesting. Simone had been one of the exceptions, of course, intriguing him to the point of utter stupidity, and look what that had got him. Why was he only attracted to the dangerous ones? Death wish? He wasn’t sure. He took a deep breath and mentally shook himself out of the old memories.
He fervently hoped he’d made the right decision by approaching her. He’d been unable to dig up the names of any of the so called High Council of the Malus Venatori; it was much easier for them to hide themselves than it was for the Hunters themselves. Thank all that was holy for technology like facial recognition software and a loyal Clan member who knew more about computers than Einstein knew about physics. They’d waited weeks to get the chance at her alone, knowing that two Hunters together on patrol would probably fight to the death. They’d been ready to act the moment they could get her on her own. It was pure chance that she and her Werewolf friend had turned up tonight in one of his pool clubs and his barman had recognised her. His informants had confirmed that she was truly off duty, not just on an undercover job, and they’d put the operation into effect. It had seemed like it would work out so beautifully when they’d been able to separate her from the Wolf. And it had, right up to the point where Genevieve had attacked her.
He’d selected her to approach for two reasons; firstly, he had, apparently incorrectly, assumed that she would be the weakest link in the group of hunters, but secondly, and more importantly, he knew from his informants that she had some kind of special link to the High Council. They didn’t know exactly what the connection was, only that she had a direct line to them. So he was counting on that connection to be able to get things smoothed over enough to convince them of the need to work together with him and his clan.
He had allowed the Society to continue to function in his City because they took some of the responsibility of hunting down rogues and miscreants off his hands. Their misguided sense of honour kept them honest enough that they rarely took out anyone who didn’t deserve it, and as long as they stayed away from him and his immediate Clan members he saw no reason to put an end to them. Now he was facing a threat that seemed too big for even him to deal with on his own. He was hoping that by combining forces and resources with the SMV he could prevent outright war. He’d known it was only a matter of time before he was challenged like this, but he hadn’t counted on this particular nemesis making new and dangerous friends so quickly. The entire City was going to pay the price if he couldn’t find a way to resolve this. He had to get her to listen to him, accept what was coming and then convince the Council to side with him against his rival for control of the City. But first, he would have to gain her trust, and that could prove to be more difficult than the fight itself.
She stirred slightly, turning her head away from him and baring her neck invitingly. He almost groaned, closing his eyes and clamping down on his lust for a taste of her. What was wrong with him tonight, he usually had unwavering control over his thirst. He wondered briefly if he needed to find a quick snack before she woke. But it was too late. Her breathing suddenly changed, becoming uneven. She groaned slightly and then went completely still. He could almost follow her thoughts. He could see her body respond the moment she realised she was in strange territory.
She became aware of a burning ache down her right side and into her shoulder as the dark mist began to dissipate from her brain. Had she been hit by a bus? She heard herself groan and took in a quick breath to steady herself. As the air hit her nostrils she realised she wasn’t in her room at home, or in a hospital, or anywhere else that smelled familiar. She stiffened, instantly on guard. Something wasn’t right. She cast out her senses and hit a wall of Vampiric power. It all came rushing back to her. Shit. He was here in the room with her, wherever ‘here’ was. She kept her eyes closed, trying to slow her heartbeat and keep her breathing even, hoping he hadn’t yet realised she was conscious. She concentrated on her environment again. It was quiet. She could hear the purr of a computer, his breathing – huh, so Vampires did breathe - some footsteps and quiet conversation somewhere in the distance, behind walls. No immediate danger. The more conscious she became the more intense the pain seemed to get. Her shoulder was on fire now, her ribs in agony. She clenched her teeth against crying out. She was going to have to move soon to try and relieve the pain, but she wanted a few more minutes to collect herself. His low, husky voice broke into her indecisive thoughts.
“When you decide to stop pretending you’re asleep I have some painkillers for you,” he said with, what sounded suspiciously like, amusement in his voice.
So much for fooling the Vampire. She cracked open one eye, and then the other and turned her head towards where she sensed he was. She was in a room which looked incongruously like an office. Since when did Vampires have offices? The lights had been dimmed, so she didn’t need to squint while her eyes adjusted. She was lying on a suede covered chaise longue, with a small pillow tucked under her head and a light blanket covering her. She was surprised to find that she didn’t seem to be restrained in any way. She was still wearing her denim pants, but her shirt had been replaced by a man’s black silk dress shirt, and she could feel her boots still on her feet. Her right arm was in a sling and strapped to her chest, her ribs were strapped too by the feels of it, besides that she couldn’t tell much about her own state of health, beyond being in minor agony.
He was sitting in an office chair behind a desk a few metres away from her, he had his arms folded across his chest and he was watching her with an intense, hooded gaze. He seemed almost expectant. She wondered what he was expecting her to do. To be honest, her instincts were screaming at her to get her back to a wall and a weapon in her hand. Perhaps that was what he was waiting for. Unfortunately her body was not in any state to be doing anything like that, so she settled for trying to get in
to a sitting position without groaning. She slowly swung her legs to the floor and used the momentum to pull herself upright, biting her lower lip to hold back the groan. She was breathing in quick shallow gasps but she was upright, now she felt more ready to face the Vampire the rest of them called Sire.
The two of them appeared to be alone in the office. He was no less beautiful to look at now than he had been in the dim light of the rooftop earlier. Her eyes definitely hadn’t been playing tricks on her in the dark. She briefly and silently celebrated the fact that her vision now seemed to be back to normal and she could see him in clear, sharp focus. The broad expanse of his shoulders seemed even wider in the confines of the office, not the huge overly muscled shoulders of a body-builder, more the toned athletic look of an Olympic swimmer. The dark blue polo neck shirt fitted him snugly and hinted heavily at the toned muscles sculpting his chest and arms. And while his glorious face remained passive, his dark eyes glittered with a mixture of emotions she couldn’t quite separate out. She realised now that his eyes were an exquisite shade of sapphire blue ringed by the most amazing halo of age-darkened gold. She had never seen a more remarkable pair of eyes. She had previously taken them to be completely black, and she wondered idly if they changed hue with his moods. She had always thought of Vampires as cold and vicious; the dead Genevieve was to Gabi the epitome of the Vampire race as a whole, but there was something smoulderingly passionate about the Vampire sitting across the room from her. His skin was pale, like someone who didn’t tan easily, but other than that he seemed, in many ways, almost……. human. Which was actually laughable, as he was the single most powerful Vampire that she had ever encountered. This last thought reminded her that she really needed to get the hell out of there.
“You said something about painkillers,” she rasped, clearing her throat and swallowing against the dryness in her mouth. If he wanted to kill or torture her he was going about it in a very unusual manner. Then again, who knew with a Vampire, they weren’t exactly known to follow human norms.
He nodded. “The doctor left some tablets, for when you came around.” He unfolded his arms slowly and leant forward in the chair. “I will bring them to you, please stay calm; I’m not going to harm you.” He was using the same tone of voice she used when trying to calm a frightened wild animal. “It would be best if you didn’t move your arm too much as our doctor wasn’t certain of the full extent of your injuries without X-Rays," he said as he rose smoothly, at human speed, and turned to a table behind him with a carafe of water and some glasses standing on it. He carefully poured a glass of water and picked up a small bottle from the table. “He suspects a fractured collarbone and some fractured ribs. We got your shoulder back into place relatively easily, but the wrong movement could pop it out again,” he continued as he walked slowly and lithely over to her with the bottle of tablets and the water. He watched her closely, as though expecting her to jump up and run away, or leap up and attack him.
“Vampires need Doctors?” she asked him, slightly incredulously. She needed to steer him away from thoughts of her injuries; he must never guess that while she was healing she was almost as helpless as a full human. That was one of the secrets she held very close to her chest, only Kyle and Byron knew of that weakness. It could prove disastrous if that became common knowledge among the supernaturals, especially the Vampires. Fortunately it only applied to serious injuries, but that was bad enough.
He smiled slightly but ignored her question; instead he shook two tablets into his palm and held them out to her. “Oxycodone. Jonathon assured me they are very good for pain relief. I would have to take his word for it, of course,” he said with a wry tilt to his lips.
Gabi wasn’t quite sure what to make of his odd humour. “Water first. Please,” she asked. See, she could be polite when she needed to. She would’ve been polite to a Demon right now if he was holding the painkillers. Well…. maybe not a Demon. She took a deep drink. “Make it a double dose.” She took another sip of water as he shook out two more tablets.
“You’re resistant to painkillers?” he queried, not seeming to take offence at her demand.
She didn’t answer but handed him back the water and took the tablets from his large, cool hand, tilting her head back and swallowing them quickly. When she looked at him again his eyes had gone dark; the deep blue irises almost swallowed by his dilated pupils, the gold halo all but vanished, and his face hungry. She flinched back minutely and adrenaline surged through her. Before she could move he spun abruptly way from her. He was back at the small table without her having seen him move. Freaky Vampire, she thought, annoyed. She was instantly on her guard again, searching the room for something to use as a weapon, for the quickest escape route, but when he turned to look back at her a second later, his face and eyes were back to normal. A sardonic smile crossed his face.
“My apologies. Again. I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m not used to being around humans anymore. Or mostly-humans as the case may be,” he added when he saw the protest on her face. “Oh, yes. You are far more human than supernatural, my lovely Hunter, even with your unnatural resistance to human drugs.”
A growl rose in her throat. He thought he knew so much about her. “Firstly, I’m not your anything. Secondly, I am anything but lovely, and lastly what makes you think I am so human?” she demanded testily.
He walked two steps towards her, a dark, predatory look on his face. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. “Oh, your utterly delicious smell gives you away as mostly human, Gabrielle, you smell positively and irresistibly edible.” He smiled darkly, making sure that she got a glimpse of his elongated fangs, starkly white and glistening. Nothing like a flash of fang to remind you that someone is higher up the food chain than you. “But don’t worry,” he went on conversationally, “I’ve resisted more delectable morsels than you in the past. I have other plans for you.”
Gabi was caught on the back foot, no Vampire had ever gotten the chance to tell her how edible she smelled, and she found the chill sliver of fear running through her deeply disconcerting. She could hear soft footsteps nearing the office, her senses told her it was two Vampires. Julius looked up at the door as the footsteps slowed and stopped. His face suddenly went completely still and she felt a surge of power flow from him, it tingled over her skin like a million electrified butterfly wings. She was expecting the other Vampires to open the door, or at least knock, but instead she just heard the footsteps hurrying back the way they just came. The power rolling off Julius instantly subsided, leaving Gabi feeling like someone had just closed the door on a sandstorm. She looked at him in awe, a stirring of unease building in her stomach.
“What the hell are you?” she muttered more to herself than him.
He smiled, slightly arrogantly, obviously revelling in his own power. “What do your senses tell you?” he taunted, crossing his arms and leaning back against the desk. “I have it on good authority that you can sense a Vampire from miles away. Don’t tell me you can’t get a read on me.”
She couldn’t take her eyes from his face, and it wasn’t Vampire thrall that was holding her there. “My senses do say Vampire,” she said hesitantly. “But they also tell me that you are to the rest of them,” she indicated the rest of the building with a tilt of her chin, “as a tarantula is to a common house spider.”
His eyebrows lifted quizzically. “And that would be…?” he left the sentence hanging.
“The same species in principle, but the tarantula is a whole lot bigger, a whole lot scarier and a whole lot more deadly than the house spider,” she explained.
“Ah,” he said in understanding. “Well, then, your senses are quite possibly as good as they say.”
She had another sudden surge of desire to get the hell out of there. Julius had the ability to seem quite human and reasonable one minute, and then remind her very forcefully that he was powerfully Vampire the next. She was tired and sore and starting to feel a little light-headed from the painkillers. She
wasn’t sure that she was up to any kind of altercation with him, either verbal or physical. By the number of Vampires in the immediate vicinity she knew they were in some kind of Vampire stronghold. Fighting her way out probably wasn’t a viable option, she was going to have to talk her way out of this one.
A single set of footsteps approached the door now.
“Enter,” Julius said, without raising his voice and without looking at the door.
He was still looking at Gabi when a slim female Vampire entered the office carrying a small tray. The smell hit Gabi instantly and if it wasn’t for the broken ribs she would’ve sighed when she caught the whiff of fresh coffee. A double-shot, caramel latté with extra cream. Her instant cure for all ills. And in the bag she could smell baked apple Danish, her mouth was already watering. Julius moved towards the other Vamp and relieved her of the tray.
“That will be all Claudia. Make sure we are not disturbed again,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument.
“Of course, Sire. I will be nearby should you need anything further,” she replied with her head slightly bowed. Then she turned and was gone closing the door behind her soundlessly.
Julius picked up a small side table and placed it close to Gabi’s left hand, placing the tray on it. “I took the liberty of ordering you some refreshment, I hope we have your preferences correct,” he said.
“You’ve done your homework Jules,” she drawled, watching his eyes flash with annoyance at her shortening of his name. There was just something about poking dragons with sticks that she couldn’t resist, no matter how dangerous she knew the dragon to be. “I trust if you were going to drug me again, you would have just used the dart gun like last time.”
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