by Mlyn Hurn
Being the youngest was definitely a disadvantage, although she’d assumed they’d all be more concerned over Jordan. Disgusted with the situation, she walked over to Jordan. She took a moment to take in all the equipment he had, then she shook her head.
“Do you really need all this electronic stuff, Jordan?” She pulled a card table chair out and sat on it backwards, propping her arms across the metal top of the chair back.
Jordan looked at her for a second before he answered. “Are you questioning the spending of our funds or just feeling frustrated at being chastised by the folks?”
“Damn you, Jordan! Am I that transparent?” she asked petulantly a moment later.
“Nope, and yeah, I need all this electronic crap. Now, I ran the video we got off your glasses, before you ditched them and the audio from all three of you.”
“Did you find anything of interest?” Taryn asked, picking at the different things scattered around the top of the desk.
“I used the newest identification software, to see if any vampires or demons registered with the IHA were present.” Jordan took the stapler out of her hands.
“Is the International Hunter Archives up to date?” Taryn questioned, picking up a small bobble-head toy.
“Pretty much, but it is only as accurate as the hunter feedback and data input they receive.” Jordan removed the wobbling child’s toy from Taryn’s curious fingers.
“Point taken, Jordan. I won’t knock it again. Did you find anything? Was Dracula hanging around?” She began building something using the magnetized paper clips.
Jordan turned his head and glared for a second or two before he replied. “Scoff all you want, cuz, but don’t be surprised when I found the link we need to solve this thing.”
Taryn paused before she said anything else. Suddenly, she was aware of how Jordan must feel at times, always on the sidelines and never in the actual battle. The time he spent working on the background they needed to track leads on rogue vampires and demons was vital to everything Blue and she had done over the last couple of years. Abruptly, her throat constricted as she felt the loss of what might have been if only that drunk driver had taken a different turn that morning that changed all of their lives. Unable to resist, she reached out and lightly pushed the hair back from Jordan’s forehead.
Jordan turned immediately, confusion written on his face. “What’s wrong?”
Taryn shook her head, swallowing hard before she could speak. “Nothing, cuz. I need to catch up on some sleep also. Call me if you need anything and let Blue sleep.” Deserting her paper clip sculpture, she leaned across the short distance between their chairs and pressed a kiss to his temple.
“Are you and Blue coming down with something? I can’t remember the last time either of you had to catch up on your sleep during the day,” Jordan commented.
Taryn felt a flush steal up her neck and over her cheeks. Her night had been sleepless due to troubled dreams. She didn’t relish Jordan probing into her reasons. “I’m fine, just as I’m sure Blue will be with a few hours catching up. I love you, Jordan. You’re like my brother, and I’d do anything for you.”
“Now you are creeping me out, Taryn. What’s wrong?” Jordan, as usual, wasn’t easily distracted or deceived.
“Nothing at all, Jordan, I just don’t tell you how important you are to me often enough. I’ll stop now and let you get back to work. Call me if you find something, or need some help, promise?”
Jordan nodded and waved her off. “Yeah, yeah, I promise. Now get out of here and let me do the important work.”
Taryn laughed, shaking her head. “See you later!”
Jordan turned his attention to the computer as soon as the elevator doors swished shut. He had been following something the last few weeks through message boards and some obscure websites. Hesitant to bring it up until he could organize his data, he’d not mentioned that he was investigating something that sounded farfetched, even to him. A lot of crackpots were on the internet, just as there were countless wannabe vampires all over the world.
His contacts in the government had let him in on their research into the subject. While many rulers of the world were downplaying the impact, there was no doubt the increase in night hours, with the subsequent loss of daylight, would be affecting the world’s food sources before too long. Widespread panic would not solve their problem.
Quite possibly, all of his research would turn up nothing of substance whatsoever. Until he knew more and could verify some of the information he’d discovered, there was no need to bring Blue or Taryn in on this. The chance what he was doing would be the key to solving the early nights was unlikely, but just once he’d like to be at the center instead of on the sidelines.
* * * * *
The ringing of the phone awoke Taryn from a very sensual dream. She’d been in Damon’s bed, astride his hips. His cock was buried deep inside her, and she was so close to her climax—
Rrrrrriiiiinnnnggggg!
Angrily, she grabbed the phone on the sixth ring. “Hello!”
“I’m sorry, Taryn, were you asleep? I didn’t think that you’d be sleeping.” Damon’s voice sounded like rough velvet.
She couldn’t stop the shiver that streaked through her body as his deep, sexy voice reminded her of all the erotic dreams and thoughts starring him she’d been having lately. To go from her sexual dream to hearing his voice was a lot for a sleep-deprived girl to handle. She spoke without thinking. “I didn’t sleep much last night.”
The minute the words were said, she knew she’d made a mistake. Wasn’t there a rule or something about not telling the man you are lusting after that you can’t sleep, especially after seeing him that same evening? Frustrated, she banged the palm of her hand against her forehead. Maybe she could pound some sense into her head!
“Neither could I, Taryn. I kept having unconsummated dreams featuring you. I’d wake up alone and—” His voice faded away.
Taryn was unable to keep the image out of her brain of him, and her, in his bed, doing all kinds of consummating. She had to clear her throat before she spoke. “Uhm, about last night… I don’t think—”
Damon interrupted. “Thinking had very little to do with last night, Taryn. All I could do was feel… and you felt pretty damned good to me.”
Oh God!
Taryn covered her mouth with her hand. Surely, she hadn’t said that out loud. She couldn’t let him know that she was feeling the same way. If he put the move on her again, she had little doubt that she’d resist him for long, if at all.
“Taryn? Are you still there?” His husky voice interrupted her thoughts again.
“Yes, I’m here. Sorry, Damon. So, uhm, did you find anything out? Any leads Blue and I could check out?” She finally managed to squeak out a few words.
“There are a few. I spoke with my father, and he suggested we meet here, at the club around nine tonight. That way we can decide who will go to each place, and somewhere to meet up.”
“Okay, and I’ll tell Blue. She is taking a nap until five. I think she and your father had a fight last night. She was upset when I talked to her, and she’d been up most of the night she said.” Taryn sat up on the side of her bed. “I don’t know a lot, but I think there is a lot more to Simon and Fauster’s past history than any of us have been allowed to know.”
“Simon’s been like a lion with a thorn. Anytime I get too close, either physically or ask too many questions, he starts roaring, so to speak, and skulks off. Hearing that Blue had a restless night makes me suspect that each is the cause of the other’s problem.” He paused for a few seconds. “I pretended to my father I didn’t notice, but it was quite some time after you left before I heard Blue come down from the roof.”
“The roof! That’s where they went?” Taryn asked quickly, unable to hold back her surprise. “What in the world or I guess why is a better question. Why did he take her up there?”
“He has quite a setup on the roof. It’s almost a separate living qu
arters and he is often up there, alone. Sometimes I think he just does it to continue the image of the lone, tragic figure that history has portrayed vampires.”
“And none of that is true. Is that what you are saying?” she questioned him quickly, curious as to what Damon thought.
“For some vamps, I’d say that is true. But there have been many changes over the last hundred years, what with all the ‘coming out of the coffin’ and so on. Speaking from what I’ve seen, sanguineous vampires are fewer than ever before. Most are limiting their blood drinking to non-human, interspersed with the use of Black Swans.”
“I guess you could say that my great-aunt was one of those. She was reticent to talk about her relationship with Fauster Blue, but I overheard her talking to my mother one day. I learned Fauster did feed off her fairly regularly.”
Taryn stopped, unsure about how much she should reveal to this man—vampire—that she barely knew. Through the phone line she heard Damon clearing his throat.
“My father was unusually reticent when I tried to get more information out of him about Fauster and the relationship they had. After I came to New York City, Simon continued to visit for a few more years, but not once did he choose to reveal his sire was Fauster Blue, of all people, or that he lived here, in the city, as well. I don’t know anything about Lamenta. I do know that the relationship between a vampire and his Black Swan can be very intimate.”
Taryn thought about Lamenta, and all the joy and laughter she’d shared with her beloved aunt as she grew up. Even when things were particularly difficult with Jordan, Lamenta could find the perfect way to lift her and Blue’s spirits. Taking a deep breath, she started to speak. “Lamenta was the most joyful person I’ve ever known. Being with her always had something interesting or exciting happening.”
She paused, her thoughts catching up with her. If there was any topic she felt torn over, it was the relationship between Lamenta and Fauster. Like many children, it was difficult to see the adults she’d grown up with having a sexual side. For her, the bloodsucking and the sexual were all tied up together. Shaking her head in hopes of clearing her thoughts, she continued. “She and I were together when she… uh… the day she died.”
“I’m sorry, Taryn. I have to ask this though.” Damon hesitated before continuing with his query. “Why didn’t Fauster convert her?”
“I am sure he wanted to, but she told me when I asked her one day it was her choice. That was it, in her opinion.”
“So Fauster respected her decision, which doesn’t really sound like the man described by my father anyway,” Damon pointed out softly.
Taryn laughed, sniffling back the tears that always came when she thought about that last time with Lamenta. “Yeah, Fauster was pretty independent.”
“My father called him a character, but the tone of his voice was somewhere between disgust and admiration, I think.”
“That’s a good way to describe him. I just wish we knew where he was,” Taryn added quietly.
“He disappeared after Lamenta died?” Damon asked a few seconds later.
“Yes,” she replied, sighing deeply. “I guess I was the last person to see him, as well. I was in Lamenta’s loft, which is where I live now, when I heard a noise. I found him in Lamenta’s bedroom, on the floor. He looked surprised to see me, and left almost immediately. It took us all a few days to figure out that he wasn’t holed up in his lab working on something. By that time, the trail to find him was stone-cold.”
“And no one has heard from him.” Damon pressed for more information.
“For a while, Uncle Iain thought that perhaps he’d gone to Europe. He wrote to Simon, but he didn’t reply for the longest time. Anyway, he told us that he’d not seen or heard from Fauster. He sounded concerned, from what Aunt AnnaBelle told us. She was the one who took his call. She believed him, even though my uncle and father weren’t as sure.”
She heard Damon take a deep breath as she finished talking. Suddenly she realized how down she probably sounded. Her next thought was a surprise to her. Just great! Depressing woman is a super turnoff so I guess shouldn’t be worried about fending off the advances of this vampire—there most likely won’t be any!
“I was wondering.” Damon’s voice interrupted her private reflection. “Perhaps you and Blue could come early, and I’ll arrange for dinner.”
Taryn knew there was no answer that would feel right. Part of her wanted to spend as much time with Damon, vampire or not, while her head was telling her to stay away from men with fangs.
“I’ll talk it over with Blue, and if we can’t, I’ll call you back.” She heard herself say before she’d consciously made up her mind. After getting the private number for the club, she hung up the phone.
“Mother of the Earth, what the hell am I doing?” Taryn stood beside her bed for a moment and then she went limp and dropped back onto the bed. “I thought I had more sense than this, Lamenta,” Taryn spoke softly to her great-aunt, as she often did. “I understood about you, sort of. And the way it was with my mom and dad, as well as Uncle Iain and Aunt AnnaBelle. I know they fell in love, and you don’t necessarily pick the person you fall for… right?”
She stopped as she realized how weak her reasoning was. Silently, she argued that she’d only seen Damon twice. Last night had been a fluke… a flare of sexual energy. It didn’t have to go any further, she rationalized. She had free will, and she was going to make the choice to not give into these weakening emotions. If she let her feelings grow, when the time came, and tough decisions needed, would she be able to stay impartial? Yup! She could do this… all she had to do was just say no to the feeling!
* * * * *
Blue glanced over at her cousin as they entered the club that evening. She could still hear her brother’s shouts ringing in her ears. No way could she remember the last time Jordan had yelled so much, or so vehemently. Usually any disagreements were half-hearted because she would concede to his concerns. Protecting Jordan and not getting him upset had always been a priority, since the accident, like second nature
Taryn spoke loudly, to be heard over the crowd. “I don’t know if we are to wait here, or go on upstairs.”
“I’m sure one or the other of them will be down in a few minutes. One thing about sanguineous vampires is their depth of senses. Dad told me some of that diminished when he became psychic-dependent,” Blue added.
Taryn scoffed, shaking her head. “Maybe, but it seems to me that Uncle Iain and my dad always knew when we’d been out doing precisely what we shouldn’t have been doing.”
Blue laughed, looping her arm around her shorter cousin’s shoulders. “True, and they always knew before we walked in the door.”
“I just wish Jordan could see how this is going to help us get closer to solving this thing,” Taryn added.
Blue sighed deeply, hearing her cousin echoing her concerns out loud. “Me, too. I hated leaving him tonight with him so upset. I thought about calling Chey, but then Pete would get involved—”
Taryn giggled. “And that would be like having our fathers here in the van, listening while we were covered with secret cams and audio mikes out the wazoo!”
Blue shook her head. “No, Taryn. You and I would be in the van, twiddling our thumbs while they did this.”
“We’d be home, and they would have come here without surveillance at all!”
Blue laughed, nodding her head this time. “You’re right, I guess. Sometimes my dad is stuck in the eighteenth century instead of just stuck in the eighties.”
“Good one, girlfriend!” Taryn proclaimed and they both turned to high-five the other.
“Is this some kind of twenty-first century female bonding ritual?”
Blue turned, but she already recognized that voice. Still, she looked and damn! He was even sexier and yummier than when she’d last seen him… and that had been—
“Hello, S-Simon,” she spoke quickly, ignoring the slight break in her voice.
“Good evening, B
lue.”
Simon’s intense eyes made her feel like she was combustible and the tiniest spark would send her bursting into flames… of passion. His voice felt like velvet across her skin, raising goose bumps and shivers up and down her spine. There was no way she could ignore the wetness seeping across her pussy lips. She tried to stiffen her spine and ignore the sensations that were overwhelming her normally well-controlled body. Her last-ditch effort failed.
He continued speaking to them. “Welcome, Miss Blue. My son is waiting for us upstairs.” Simon gestured graciously for her to proceed towards the stairs that lead to the office upstairs.
Taryn smiled as she started down the wide marble staircase. “Thanks, Count Ruthven. We were just hanging out, hoping you or Damon would see us.”
“I assure you Damon has been watching the front staircase for the last twenty minutes, but please, don’t tell him I said so. When I pointed it out, he was not very happy with me. And please, Miss Blue, call me Simon. We are, after all, family in an odd sort of way.”
Blue was startled by the look that crossed her cousin’s face. She couldn’t decide if Taryn was pleased or not by the Count’s words. Suddenly, she wondered if she weren’t the only cousin susceptible to the Ruthven charm. Could Taryn be lured by Damon? That thought was almost as unnerving as her attraction to Simon. The difference was that if Taryn fell for Damon, she would fall hard. Taryn always seemed so much more sensitive to things than most people. Also, there’d be hell to pay from both sets of parents.
“Thank you, Simon, and please call me Taryn.”
Taryn’s voice caught Blue’s attention again.
Simon smiled and his hand curled around Blue’s elbow as he gestured for Taryn to precede them. “It’s a lovely name, and the choice of your great-aunt, if I’m not mistaken.”
Taryn didn’t reply until they reached the secluded flight of steps leading upstairs. “Yes, and I often asked Lamenta why she liked the name, but she would never tell me. Instead she’d smile and whisper ‘one day I’ll tell you’. But she died without telling me.”