by Mlyn Hurn
“We’ll be fine. Mom and Dad are taking him to the very best doctors they can find. But Jordan was never as strong as the rest of us—” She spoke quickly, hoping to conceal her reactions and instinctive softening towards him.
“I know, my dear Blue. For some reason, Jordan is more human than anyone has been in your family for generations. I hate to say it, but it is almost as if Fauster’s grand plans backfired with Jordan.”
Blue felt Simon’s finger gently curl her hair around one of his fingers. Her head told her to push him away, but she didn’t. None of this made any sense. Why was she feeling more soothed by a virtual stranger than she had been by her own family? Jordan’s accident had affected them all, and of course they had all pulled together, but she was supposed to have protected Jordan. That had been her job.
“Hush, Blue. Don’t blame yourself for Jordan’s accident. That’s why they are called accidents, sweetheart. If it could have been prevented, then it would not have happened. You were but a child yourself. Stop persecuting yourself!”
The anger and frustration in Simon’s voice shocked her. She’d had no idea Simon had easily discerned her thoughts. And for some reason, even though he had not said anything new, she heard his words more clearly than anyone else’s. It really was not her fault. The speeding driver was at fault, not her because she had looked away for a few seconds. The drunk driver had veered up over the sidewalk and hit eleven-year-old Jordan. His little body had been tossed around like a rag doll.
Simon steered them outside, and away from other partygoers. A pristine white handkerchief appeared as he released her trembling body once they were away from prying eyes.
“Dry your eyes, Blue Belle. Then I’ll take you back to that simpering young fool.”
Blue nodded, dabbing at the corners of her eyes. She glanced at Simon and was struck once again by his handsome face and tall, strong body. He might be a vampire, but he sure was a well-aged one.
Suddenly Simon turned to look at her. “So, tell me, pretty girl, have you decided to become a scholar like your father or a hunter like your mother?” He reached out and eased one of her curls around his index finger again.
Blue shook her head, smiling and feeling better. “I’m no scholar. I leave that to Jordan. He got all the brains.”
“And you got all the beauty.”
Blue felt a frisson of desire shoot through her body, unlike anything she’d experienced before. This was insane, she told herself in that little corner of her brain that was still functioning. “No, I have strength and agility. My grandparents think I am a natural slayer.”
“Not just a hunter spawned for the new, weak-kneed generation of vampires? Were you born to the kill?” Simon asked softly, slowly unraveling the soft curl from his finger.
If it weren’t impossible and ludicrous, Blue would think Simon was flirting. That didn’t make any sense whatsoever. “Fauster has been pushing for the original slayer training, and my mother and Uncle Pete are always working with me. Sometimes it seems as if training is the only thing I do.”
Simon nodded and stepped behind her. “So, your life will be ‘have stake, must travel’ around the world?”
When he spoke, she knew he was right by her ear, yet she didn’t feel any whoosh of air disturb her hair or pass by her skin. “I don’t know… I mean, I probably should know what I’m going to do with the rest of my life, but I don’t. If I become a slayer, I could quite easily die tomorrow.”
Simon’s hands curled around her shoulders, gently rubbing. “Not with the right kind of training. With the right kind of coach, or instructor—”
“Like an old-fashioned watcher?” Blue asked softly, wanting to ignore the sensual feeling his touch caused.
“Sort of, sweet Blue Belle. Perhaps you need someone who has faced slayers in the past and can give you an edge against the competition.”
Blue told herself Simon was just chatting. He was not flirting, nor was she. And she did not feel any kind of attraction to this old vampire! Most assuredly not! That would be ridiculous, foolish and beyond—
“I think we could work quite well together. I have much more knowledge than either your father or Fauster.”
“Aren’t you the enemy?” Blue forced the question past her lips, more than half-fearing Simon’s answer. Why was he doing this, acting this way? It didn’t make any sense… but she didn’t care, she realized in stunned disbelief. She wanted him to desire her, physically. There was no denying the arousal she felt under his lightest of touches. What would happen if he really set about—
“I guess that depends. I will never be your enemy. I can promise you that.”
Blue spun quickly. “Can I trust you?” She held her breath, waiting his reply. Her chest hurt as her heart pounded fast and hard in her chest.
Simon reached out and his hand curved to the side of her jaw. His touch was gentle, but a definite caress. “Until the end of nights. Unfortunately, I think you require a few more years of growing, precious Blue, before you are ready. We’ll meet again.”
Blue closed her eyes at the touch of his hand on her face. The feelings shooting through her didn’t make sense, at all. Hearing Simon’s deep voice answering her question didn’t really help. Instead, she had even more doubts and questions, which now needed answers. When she opened her eyes a few moments later, he was gone. There would be no answers that night.
* * * * *
“Hello? Anybody home? A witch is coming in!”
Jordan laughed from the kitchen and shouted out his reply. “The bitch is back! Was that what you said?” He turned his wheelchair to face the kitchen door as he heard footsteps approaching. A moment later a bird flew into the kitchen, circling once before it landed on his shoulder. “Hello, Oef. What’s new?” Jordan greeted the unrepentant bird.
“Bitch back! Bitch back!” the bird squawked.
“Great! Now I won’t be able to take him out until I get that phrase out of his crooked little mind!”
Jordan smiled at his cousin, Taryn Blue. She was petite, about five foot three, and most of the time, her black hair fell to her waist. Today it was pulled back into ponytail. Her eyes were as green as Kentucky bluegrass or an emerald, depending on the light she was standing in at the time. Her face was cute, not classically beautiful like Blue, his mother, or even her mother, Tatiana. But her lips were full and always smiling while her eyes often foretold a joke was soon to follow.
“When did you get back?” Jordan asked.
Taryn walked further into the room. “Not long.” She picked up one of the carrot pieces he’d just chopped and fed it to her parrot. “I just dropped everything at Lamenta’s and thought I’d check on you two.”
“You look tan and quite fit.” Jordan appreciated his cousin’s figure without lust. “Is that all due to Europe?”
“No. I spent a couple of days on the Riviera, but more than that I couldn’t blame on hunting. I wanted to spend my time lying beneath the sun, not up all night prowling casinos and back alleys for vamps.”
Jordan smiled. “Do you have lots of information for me to post and cross-reference?”
“Tons, of course. And I’ve been in Australia, surfing the Gold Coast for a while. Revisiting my father’s old haunts.”
“Sounds like fun,” Jordan spoke softly, hoping he didn’t let the envy creep into his voice. With two such physically fit and active women in his life, sometimes he became even more aware of his limitations.
“I’m glad to be home. I missed you.” She paused and leaned down to press a kiss to Jordan’s cheek before she continued. “And Blue. I visited all the usual haunts, and I kept hearing rumors about some kind of vampire. He is different, somehow. Details are sketchy beyond the fact that he hasn’t been seen in Europe for some time.” Taryn reached out and took a few more pieces of carrot, munching on them idly, passing one or two to the greedy Oef.
Jordan turned back to preparing a salad for dinner. “You’ll stay for dinner?”
“You s
hould know I never walk away from food, Jordan. God forbid the day my metabolism slows down.”
“So, how is this vamp different from what you and Blue have faced before?” he questioned her further.
“It’s hard to say, Jordan. Sometimes I’ve felt like I should be able to pull the knowledge into my head, but then I get clouded. It reminds me of the old vampire movies from thirties, before there was better dissemination of knowledge regarding them. I feel close to the answer, and then my mind goes misty. I’ve looked around, trying to home in on any outside forces, but I come up blank every time.”
“You’ve noticed the lengthening of the night hours,” Jordan pointed out, pausing in his chopping of more fresh vegetables.
“Yeah. It’s the same both above and below the equator. Uncle Iain and Grandfather have been studying the phenomenon, and they still can’t find any ecological reasons. There have been no recorded geological shifts to account for it. My mom has been using the old contacts Lamenta had in Europe, through the generations of gypsy families, but all they knew were rumors. Unfortunately, there seems to be no news coming out of good old Transylvania central. Uncle Iain tried several times while I was there to contact Simon, but no response.”
The freight elevator indicated the arrival of someone, and the colorfully crested parrot tested his newest phrase quite loudly. “Bitch back! Bitch back!”
From the hallway they heard a loud curse, followed by yelling. “Old Fart! You better be flying by the time I reach the kitchen, or we’ll be having parrot stew for dinner!”
“Awk! Awk!” Oef took off from Jordan’s shoulder and flew out of the kitchen.
“I’ll beat that phrase out of you if you stay here, Oef.” Blue looked at the parrot as it perched on top of a bookcase. “The windows are open. Get out of here!”
Once again Oef glared at the woman who was threatening him and then flew out the window.
She heard him scream as he headed back across the street. “Bitch! Bitch!”
Blue Dampier entered the kitchen and found her cousin Taryn with her brother, Jordan. “Hello, stranger! I was hoping you’d drowned that old fart.”
Taryn laughed. “I couldn’t do that. I need him.”
“You should have taken Lamenta’s old cat for your familiar instead of that parrot.”
“Oef is smart.” Taryn defended the irascible parrot, even though she often agreed with Blue. “I am so glad to be home! I can’t wait to sleep in my own bed tonight.”
Jordan added the carrots, celery and cucumber to the salad he’d been making. “What else do you ladies want on your fiber?”
Blue stuck her tongue out at her younger brother. “Very funny. Whatever you like is usually fine with us.”
Taryn nodded, walking over and opening the refrigerator. “Here are some more veggies we can add. I can chop too, if you like.”
Jordan shook his head. “You with a knife in your hand? I don’t want another trip to the emergency room to stitch you up.”
“Give her a stake, a wand and a cauldron and she’s unstoppable!” Blue added with a grin.
“Give her a knife and you better get out the thread for stitches,” Jordan teased, referencing the episode that took the three of them to the emergency room in the middle of the night nearly two years ago.
“Ha ha.”
“If you brought your notes with you, Taryn, why don’t you start reading some of what you’ve got?” Blue interrupted what could be an ensuing battle of wits and magic.
“Besides great surfing and all the buff and hunky beach boys I stalked?”
Blue held up her hands. “Stop! I’m jealous! Just the facts, ma’am, just the facts.”
Taryn pulled a small, perhaps the size of a business card, leather bound book from her pocket. “I didn’t bring all my notes, just the most salient ones.” Taryn tapped the top cover three times with her right index finger. “Enlarge,” she murmured a moment later. As if it were being inflated with air, the book immediately increased in size until it was at least encyclopedia-sized.
“I’m glad you didn’t bring more,” Jordan jested.
Taryn now had to carry the book with both hands and close to her chest, walking into the living room.
Jordan listened while the two women began sharing information they’d learned since the last time they’d all been together like this. He had suggested Blue go to Europe, but his sister’s adamant refusal had taken him by surprise. With a shrug, he’d dropped the subject, but had continued to wonder why she’d so vehemently opposed a simple trip into Transylvania.
Alone, it was easy for Jordan to sometimes wonder what it might be like to wander the world without a care… like his sister and cousin did. He didn’t blame Taryn for his accident. He had seen the car coming and pushed her out of the way. No one else knew that, not even Blue. Occasionally, he wondered what his life might have been like if he still had two strong legs to carry him wherever his active mind might want to go.
“Jordan!”
He wheeled himself into the living room, seeing that Blue and Taryn were each sprawled across one of the sofas he’d recently purchased to replace the older one Fauster had had for much too long. The sofas were just one of many things he’d changed about the loft apartment. One of the major changes had been sectioning off the wide-open space into a partially enclosed kitchen. On the first floor, they had a complete workout gym where he did his daily routine of physical therapy, along with weight training.
“Jordan!” Taryn shouted again, not seeing that he’d left the kitchen already.
“You screamed, your majesty?” Jordan asked his cousin with a chiding grin.
“I’m sorry Jordan. I didn’t mean for you to come in here, just to say ‘what’, and then I’d ask you the question.”
Jordan grinned. “What?” Since he was already standing in the room with them, his shout obviously jarred the two women.
Taryn smiled back and then followed it with a childish, comical look. “Have you heard any rumors about the nightspots in the city? Your parents were talking about a club that Simon used to hang out at, whenever he was in the city. Maybe Blue and I should check it out.”
“Simon’s in town?” Blue asked quickly, sitting up quickly and barely catching herself as she went to jump off the sofa.
Jordan looked at his older sister. Something was definitely bothering her, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. All three had been sensing a strange sort of nervous tension of late. Sometimes Jordan felt like his whole body was tingling and on fire. “Not that I’ve heard of. I think the club was called Hell Fire. I know where it is, and we could all head down there after dinner.”
Blue was already shaking her head. “You aren’t going in there, Jordan. We can take the van and you can run surveillance from the outside, if you want. I could call Uncle Pete and see if he will join you.”
Jordan closed his hands tightly, squeezing the arms on his chair. “I am not a child, Blue, nor am I a complete invalid.”
“It will be crowded, Jordan,” Taryn interrupted quickly. “Blue is only suggesting this as a precaution. These clubs can be horrible to maneuver around—”
“You mean on two good legs? So, on wheels I’d be worse than an old woman with her walker.”
Taryn came to her feet, crossing the floor to stand beside him. One hand came out and lightly stroked across his brow. She moved to stand behind him and started rubbing his neck and shoulders.
Almost immediately Jordan could feel the anger and tension draining away. Taryn certainly had the healing touch. Perhaps she should have said to hell with tradition and gone to medical school. She’d make one hell of a doctor!
“In the van you can be recording everything we see, and hear.” Taryn spoke softly as she continued to massage Jordan’s shoulders and neck. “We’ve got all the new surveillance stuff from Pete. I bet he’d love to join us.”
“I should imagine Pete’s gorgeous wife keeps his evenings and nights pretty well-filled,” Jordan murmured
half under his breath.
Taryn pushed him a little.
His wheelchair rolled a few feet before he stopped it. Turning around he saw the upset look on Taryn’s face. He hadn’t thought she’d heard him. “Hey, don’t get all feminist and affronted. I’m just speaking the truth. Cheyenna is one hot babe!”
Blue shook her head while she looked at her brother. “Men! Cheyenna is the top agent in the intelligence field today.”
“You mean ‘she was tops’ because Chey is retired now.”
All three of them sighed together. Taryn broke the silence. “Come on, Jordan. I’ll help you finish dinner. Blue, can you call Pete?”
Chapter Two
“I don’t give a fuck—”
“Hush, Pete! You’ll disturb the baby!”
Blue looked from Pete Walters, former detective on the New York Police Department, to his new wife of one year as he argued and she replied. Cheyenna Silverthorne was quite obviously pregnant beneath her tight-fitting outfit for their undercover surveillance of Club Hell Fire.
Pete and Chey occupied two out of the lower three floors of Lamenta’s building, where Taryn now lived on the top floor, when she was in town. The ground floor held their self-defense school, which had grown to include branches in twenty-five major US cities, along with three in the different boroughs of the city. Pete had made enough money to retire and live anywhere. But he had continued here, even after Lamenta’s death and Fauster’s disappearance. He had been the one who missed Fauster the most.
Back and forth the conversation kept going, almost like a ping-pong ball between equally matched opponents.
“Stop nit-picking, darling,” Chey murmured, flipping open her compact. “I agreed because I don’t want to lose my edge while I’m pregnant.”
“You can stay just as sharp with you riding shotgun on surveillance while I go inside. I would feel a whole lot better knowing you are here with Jordan in the van and monitoring our cameras.”
Chey winked at Blue, adding an extra-thick layer of lipstick. “Pete, darling, the only place you would let me do uncover is for a daycare center.”