by Mlyn Hurn
They had reached the door leading into the private rooms. Before Taryn could reach out for the knob, the door swung open. Damon was right there to greet them.
Blue forced herself to ignore the sensual onslaught of feelings and unspoken messages she’d been receiving from Simon to focus on Taryn and Damon. It would have been impossible for anyone to miss the look of anticipation on the younger man’s face. His gaze went immediately to Taryn’s, and it didn’t move. Blue almost gasped out loud as she saw the undisguised passion in the glance the two shared. Even though they only looked at one another for a few seconds before Taryn turned away, Blue recognized the attraction was two-way. And that spelled trouble, with more than just a capital T.
“Welcome, ladies,” Damon greeted them eagerly.
Blue continued to observe as Damon reached to take Taryn’s elbow in a polite way. The immediate jerking away from his touch by her cousin spoke volumes more than if she had just let him guide her into the room to a chair. Damon’s shocked reaction at the blatant rejection was also telling. Gone was the open, gracious demeanor. In its place, Blue perceived something dangerous, but not in a way that would endanger Taryn’s life, but most definitely it would involve her heart, her body… her essence.
Blue took a quick step forward to follow them.
Simon’s hand restrained her. “I think we should keep the conversation strictly on business for a while. I believe a storm is brewing,” he spoke softly, leaning towards her.
Blue considered arguing, but decided that keeping things coolly professional would be the best course of action. Nodding, she walked over to join Taryn. Her cousin had taken the only chair to sit on, instead of on one of the two sofas that faced each another in the conversational grouping of furniture. Hoping to keep things on an even keel, Blue sat on the sofa nearest to Taryn. “Thank you for inviting us to dinner. I was wondering about how many leads did you come up with for us to check out tonight. Will we be able to get them all done in just one night?” Blue asked.
Simon sat on the sofa and nodded his head. “By splitting the list in two, we should be able to give them all at least a cursory glance. If something seems suspicious, we would need to go back, most likely at a less busy time for further exploration.”
“It sounds as if you don’t want to spend any more time with us than you have to,” Damon stated flatly, looking at Taryn, even though she wasn’t the one who had spoken.
Blue let her gaze move from Taryn, to Damon and then back again to her cousin. Something was definitely going on between the two of them, she realized. And just what that might be set off alarms inside her. Was it possible that innocent little Taryn had been doing downstairs with the son precisely what she’d been doing on the roof with the father? It boggled the mind! More than that… it would bring the wrath of her Uncle Hunter down on them all! Oh shit!
Taryn spoke up.
Her little cousin surprised Blue.
“Not at all, Mr. Ruthven.” Taryn tilted her head, looking confident. “Blue and I have often felt the need to seek out vampiric sources from different echelons of society.”
As she listened to Taryn, Blue was feeling decidedly confused and she didn’t care for the feeling one little bit. What irked her was that she hadn’t yet decided what to say, or do, in this situation.
Silence followed her words. The insult was so obvious Taryn might as well have spit on the man. If Blue had needed further proof of naughty goings-on between them, she had it now. Taryn was obviously trying to separate herself from her feelings and put this whole thing on a business level, dealing with vampires, not individuals with thoughts and feelings. Holy crap! This was serious. Not like Simon and her little affair… now that was strictly sex, pure and simple. No confusion, no messy emotions and no one getting hurt—the perfect arrangement. When this was over, they could both go their own way. No hard feelings, right?
Damon looked like he was going to take some kind of action, and quite likely it would involve Taryn and shaking.
Simon stood and crossed to his son. He stepped in front of Damon, and spoke to him softly.
Blue couldn’t hear a word he said, but it looked as if father and son were disagreeing. Frustrated, she turned to glance at Taryn. “What’s going on with you? Maybe we should leave, and then Simon and I will do this later.”
Taryn lifted her gaze from her knotted fists. This was so much harder than she had assumed it would be. In her mind it had seemed so easy… it wasn’t. Her stomach was in knots, just like her hands. Her brain was going crazy with one jumbled disjointed thought after another.
“I have a better idea,” Taryn told Blue in a tone barely above whispering. “I’ll go now and you can get started later, with Simon. Or call me after you leave here with some places, and I’ll go alone, or take Pete.” Taryn could see Blue seemed unsure until her cousin mentioned taking the former cop along.
Nodding, Blue spoke softly. “If you think that is best for you, then go. I’ll call you after we leave here. You can decide at that time, if you still want to go out. We can go out tomorrow, just the two of us.”
“Exactly!” Before she had more time to change her mind, Taryn jumped to her feet. Without a word to her hosts, she ran out of the room, closing the door behind her. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out some black powder, muttering quickly, “Whither nither hither nigh, wings feathers air go high. Break the bonds that tie, take this spilth—” pausing, she tossed the super-fine powder into the air. “So I may fl—”
Chapter Six
Damon flung open the door and raced onto the landing. Looking down to the main floor, he didn’t see any sign of Taryn. Only thirty seconds could have elapsed since the door had closed behind her, which meant she still had to be on the stairs going down, or onto the roof. Turning on his heel, he felt something gritty but ignored it as he ran up to the roof.
He checked from one corner to the next but there was no sign of Taryn. There was no way that she could have run down two flights of stairs in thirty seconds. But she wasn’t up here—
Simon looked at Blue, not at all surprised to find her staring at him. “Alone at last?” He shrugged. “What just happened?”
Blue stood and walked towards him. He couldn’t resist letting his gaze travel upwards from her knee-high, heavy-soled black leather boots, to her jean shorts and short, black leather jacket. Her hair was braided tightly to keep it off her face, and she wore no makeup. He was still struck by how beautiful she was.
“I can’t say for sure, but I think something happened between Taryn and Damon while you and I were on the roof last night.” Blue stopped a few feet from him.
Simon smiled. “While we were pitching a little woo, you mean?”
“Yeah,” Blue murmured and then she took him by surprise. Her hands shot out and one curled into the belt on the jeans he was wearing. She pulled hard enough to catch him off balance. As he leaned towards her, he felt her pulling him closer. The other hand curled around his neck and less than two seconds later, she was kissing him, hard. To say he was caught off-guard was an understatement but he certainly kissed Blue just as eagerly in return.
His arms came around her, pulling her closer. His tongue met hers and all of his longing rushed through his body. To be honest, he had not been completely sure what to expect after the way she left last night. But kissing her now, he had no doubt at all. His one hand curved to the back of her head as he released her mouth. His lips trailed kisses down the side of her neck, and then he felt her hand curve itself over the jeans zipper where his hard cock pressed, demanding attention.
“God, Simon! I couldn’t sleep at all last night, but when I finally drifted off… my dreams were all about you. I need you!” Blue’s voice cracked as she spilled out her confession.
Simon was stunned by her honesty. There was something else he felt as well… what it was he couldn’t say except that he’d never experienced anything like this in his life. “Blue, honey, I was afraid after the way you left last night I
had rushed you. After waiting for so many years, I admit I probably acted rashly.”
“Are you saying that you regret—”
“Hell no, never! I wanted you to stay with me, or I would have gone to your place.” Simon reached out and curved his hand to the side of her face. “Right now, I need to hold you close so I can believe you are here.” He didn’t wait for her to reply. His arms pulled her into his embrace.
Blue sniffled.
He realized that she was crying. Quickly, he leaned back until he could see her face. “What’s wrong?”
“Me too.” She sniffed loudly before she rubbed the tears from her cheeks. “This is… I don’t know what it is, Simon!” She paused and pushed her way out of his arms. Her fingers scrubbed all the tears away quickly. “Can we go somewhere private? Just the two of us? I can’t go back to my place because Jordan is there.”
Simon nodded. She didn’t say it straight out, but obviously she didn’t want Jordan to know about the two of them. For a moment, he didn’t realize what that pain was in his chest. And then he recognized it hurt to know she was ashamed of her relationship with him, if that’s what they had going here. Damn! he thought as he watched her face. Am I in love with Blue? Sure he’d had the hots for her since she was sixteen, and when she became twenty-one, he downright lusted after her, in all ways possible!
“I know we should go check out those leads, but right now… please, Simon, I just need to be with you.” Blue leaned towards him, pressing her lips against his. “Taryn said she’d wait until I called.”
Simon had always prided himself on being a pragmatic man, and was rarely sidelined by the nonsensical things one often encountered during the humdrum of day-to-day living. With a beautiful woman pressed eagerly to his body, sharing her warmth and revealing her desire, he was not the kind of man to decline because the Super Bowl might be on the television. No indeed! “Yes, I have somewhere we can go. Let’s hurry before Damon comes back from chasing Taryn.”
Blue smiled. “Should we leave him a note? I doubt he’ll catch her. I don’t know how she does it, but I swear to God that sometimes she disappears into thin air!”
Simon shook his head as he took her hand in his. “We’ll call him once we get there.”
Damon reentered his apartment a few minutes later. “Father!” He glared at the opened bottle of wine. It was one of his best, from his private cellar and he’d chosen it specifically to impress Taryn. Hell! While foolish to do something like that, he had wanted to pique Taryn’s attention onto him. Seduction had been a major goal of his plan tonight, after their little jaunt to a few of the seedier places about town.
Having Taryn turn antagonistic towards him had caught him off-guard. After the phone call, he had been pretty sure that tonight would end as last night had not. Even his bedroom was properly prepared for “seduction of a maiden” he reminded himself as he came through the half-open door. Maybe it was corny, but he had candles spread about, champagne-colored satiny sheets on the bed and even a small table set with crystal flutes and silver ice bucket.
Angrily, he glared at the bed as he passed it, taking in the pièce de résistance—rose petals scattered across his king-sized bed. At the closet he began peeling his “dress to impress” clothes off and quickly pulled on washed-out jeans and denim shirt. Sitting on the bench at the foot of his bed, he replaced his expensive Italian suede loafers with sneakers.
Reentering the living room, he walked over to the phone on his desk. He canceled the dinner he’d arranged since it was obvious his parent had disappeared, as well. Still feeling put-upon and disgusted that he felt anything at all, he considered going downstairs and making the rounds. Maybe he could find a pretty young thing to take his mind off—
“Shit!” he shouted as he realized that both of the lists he’d made had been taken from the coffee table between his sofas. One list had been for his father and Blue to check out. He’d written their names on the paper to assure that they didn’t accidentally take the other. On the one with his name and Taryn’s, he had deliberately placed the most disreputable establishments. Maybe it was silly but he did feel somewhat protective of his father in spite of indications to the contrary of any need to do so. What bothered him was the possibility that Taryn might have grabbed that list on her escape. Surely, she wouldn’t go and check places like that by herself.
“Damn it, Taryn!” he muttered in frustration as he walked back to phone, dialing directory assistance after he called her line and let it ring twenty times. When the receptionist answered, he spoke succinctly. “I need the address and number for Pete Walters, both home and business.” He was glad he’d remembered the name of the cop who’d been friends with Fauster. As he wrote down the information, he decided to go to her place first, and then he’d proceed to check the places on the list. He was printing a second list from his computer as he waited on the initial call to Taryn’s.
“Hell,” he muttered finally, shoving the list into his pocket and grabbing his car keys. What next?
* * * * *
Pete Walters cursed loudly as the buzzer sounded impatiently and constantly for the twentieth time in a row. Whoever the hell was leaning on his bell was in for a rude awakening when he finally got downstairs. He’d been in the midst of a very sensual massage for Chey involving lots of shea butter and her rounded belly. Upon the completion of which, he was usually rewarded in a very pleasant manner. With his luck, by the time he got back upstairs she’d be sound asleep!
As he stomped across the reed-matted floor to the glass door, he couldn’t tell who the person was disturbing his usual sleep time at the moment. From the height and large outline, he guessed it was a man. For a second the thought flashed through his head that perhaps Taryn had a gentleman caller. Then he remembered he’d glanced at the clock when the third buzz sounded, and it had been close to nine. First, Taryn never had men come to see her at night, or during the day unless it was business-related. Second, why hadn’t Taryn answered her call button? That bothered him more than the fact she was having some guy here so late.
He paused abruptly, several steps from the entrance to the studio. It wasn’t really the hour that bothered him, or that it was here, at her home. No. What was really the rub was that he felt protective enough to be Taryn’s father and that business for her would involve vampires. No good ever came of that, excusing Fauster, Iain and Hunter.
The man outside must have sensed his approach because he turned a second later and their gazes met. A moment passed, and then Pete recognized the man. This was the guy who had approached Taryn two nights ago at Club Hell Fire. In his opinion, that meant this man… or rather, this was a vampire causing a disruption in his pleasure plans. Already, he didn’t like the vampire.
Using the key from his pocket, Pete opened the reinforced glass door. Putting on his most irritated of cop faces, along with his best impatient tone of voice, he spoke to the vampire. “What the hell do you want?”
He saw the flare of temper in the other man’s dark eyes, but before the stranger could speak or he could further irritate the bloodsucker, his wife’s words stopped him.
“Invite the man in, darling.”
Pete shot a dirty glance back over his shoulders. He hadn’t heard Chey sneaking down the stairs since he’d taken the elevator. “No, damn it all, Chey! He’s a fu—sorry, honey, a vampire.”
“That’s all right, dear.” The stranger’s voice held a definite tone of humor as he replied. “And yes, I am a vampire. I believe you know my father, Count Ruthven.” And then he looked at Cheyenne. “We met the other night, I believe, ma’am.”
Chey walked forward, cinching her long, silken robe above her waist. “Yes, we did. Please, come in and ignore my husband. He forgets that he’s no longer a cop.”
“Thank you and I am very sorry for intruding, but I felt it important. I’ve been trying to contact Taryn. She doesn’t answer her phone, and I’ve left several messages. It’s been more than an hour since she left the club, and
I needed to be sure that she’d gotten home safely.”
Pete closed the door behind his unwanted guest. He was going to have another conversation with his beautiful wife about not inviting vampires in at the drop of a hat.
“We can go upstairs and check her loft,” Chey said. “Taryn has been known to turn off the ringer on her phone sometimes. If you’ll follow me, we can take the elevator to the top floor. We’ve installed the special glass here on all the floors, so if you want to come back during the daytime hours… well, we’d be delighted to show you around.”
Damn! Maybe pregnancy had made her a little crazy. All the hormones were making her act without considering possible consequences. Pete entered the elevator right before the doors closed. “Delighted, yeah,” he muttered under his breath as his wife chattered on with the vampire.
Chey’s hand shot out and punched Pete’s upper right arm.
“Ow!” Pete rubbed the abused spot with his hand. Before he could add anything else, the doors slid open.
His wife led the way into the loft apartment, explaining her plans as she started down the hall. “Let me check her bedroom, and I’ll be right back.”
Pete turned on the overhead light which highlighted the living room. He noted little had changed in here since Lamenta died. The pillows might have new silk coverings or been replaced, but the general relaxed tone of the place, having successfully left behind the flower-power era of Lamenta’s design, was still present. The psychedelic and bright primary colors had succumbed to muted shades and tones. Now when he walked in here, he was reminded of the seashore.
Just as Chey came back, flapping sounds heralded the arrival of the brightly colored bird. Chey lifted her arm and the large, brilliantly plumed parrot landed on the proffered soft perch. “Awww,” Chey crooned sweetly. “How is my best boy?”