by Tina Folsom
Samson rocked back on his heels. “The new vampires who’ve moved into our city are a danger to us and our way of life. More so than we could have ever imagined.” He pointed to Zane who leaned against the armrest of the couch. “Zane and Thomas were following some leads last night and were able to track them to a building in Chinatown from which they seem to operate. We don’t know yet how many followers they’ve brought in, but their leader, a vampire named Xander, claims more are coming every day.”
Zane lifted his hand, a frown on his face. “How do you know his name? We didn’t go in.”
“Thomas did.”
“What the—” Zane growled.
Samson raised his hand to stop him. “I know. It’s against protocol. But he had his reasons. It was to protect you.”
Zane shot up. “I need no fucking protection!”
“You do.” He looked at his colleagues. “I’m afraid we all do. Xander and his people are no ordinary vampires.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Zane grumbled.
Samson glared at him. “If you’ll shut up for once, I’ll tell you.”
Zane crossed his arms over his chest, but remained silent.
“You all remember when, a few months ago, a vampire named Keegan came after Rose to get back a list she’d taken from him?”
He noticed how Quinn instantly straightened and leaned forward, alert and curious.
“As some of you witnessed, Thomas and his maker fought each other with mind control.
Unfortunately, it turns out that Keegan and Thomas aren’t the only ones who have that kind of skill. Apparently Keegan sired many other vampires, who all have the same trait. They can all harness mind control in a way that makes them stronger than other vampires.”
“Fuck!” Amaury cursed.
Samson could only echo his friend’s sentiment. “Yes, because while all of us know how to use mind control, none of us would ever dare to use it against another vampire, unless somebody attacks us with mind control directly. We’re aware of our limitations, and know that a mind control fight will lead to certain death. Whose depends on which vampire is stronger. However, that uncertainty is removed when it comes to Xander’s followers: their mind control skills are superior to ours.”
“Are you saying that whoever was sired by Keegan has that skill?” Gabriel asked.
“That’s the information I have.”
Gabriel sat forward on the sofa. “That means Thomas is as strong as they are. He can fight them. So why isn’t he included in this discussion?”
“Thomas almost died during the confrontation with Keegan. I’ve therefore decided that he won’t join in this fight.”
It wasn’t exactly the truth, nor was it an outright lie. But he couldn’t violate Thomas’s confidence and disclose that Thomas feared that any more contact with Keegan’s protégés would push him over the edge and unleash the dark power within him. Thomas trusted him to keep his secret.
Haven stepped forward. “On the contrary, he’s the ONLY one who can fight him, if what you say is true.”
“I agree,” Amaury added.
“No! My decision stands. We have to fight them with other means.”
“And be annihilated in the process?” Gabriel questioned him, jumping up. “I respectfully disagree.”
“What do they even want?” Quinn interrupted.
“To dominate the vampire world. They’ve started by driving decent vampires from the city, buying up their businesses for peanuts, threatening them. They killed Sergio and his mate when they refused to give in to their demands. What else do you want?” Samson tossed his friends a defiant glare.
“Is it confirmed that Xander’s people did all this?” Gabriel asked.
“He admitted it to Thomas.”
“Tell me another thing,” Gabriel continued. “How is it that Thomas is still alive if he confronted Xander?”
Samson threw back his shoulders. “It doesn’t matter how. It just matters that he was able to get away unscathed.”
“I think it does, because it proves my point: Thomas is as strong as they are, if not stronger,”
Gabriel insisted. “Otherwise why wouldn’t Xander have taken the opportunity to kill him? Why leave an enemy alive who can give us information about their group that may help us prepare against them?”
More than one pair of eyes shot to him, all of them waiting for an explanation. An explanation he couldn’t give.
“Are you questioning my authority?” Samson thundered. He hated having to put Gabriel in his place by reminding him that he was the boss. He’d always looked at his friends as equals, not as subordinates, but today he had no choice but to issue his commands without taking his friends’ concerns into account.
Gabriel glared back at him, his lips tightening into a thin line. “Very well. What do you suggest?” he asked after a pause.
“Good. Let’s get prepared. We need a head count of the newcomers. Their headquarters needs to be kept under 24-hour surveillance. Zane will give you the address in Chinatown.
Follow anybody who leaves and find out where they’re going, who they’re meeting. Find out if they have any other safe houses apart from the one in Chinatown. Assign somebody to tail the guy who now runs Al’s motorcycle shop. I want to know whom he meets with and where he goes. I also want you to assess the defensive features of their headquarters. How can we attack them there without causing civilian casualties? The place is located at the edge of Chinatown where it borders on North Beach. It’s a densely populated area with lots of nightly activities. The area is packed with restaurants and bars that are open late into the night. Attacking their stronghold will draw attention to us. We have to find a way to draw them into a less populated area before we can strike.”
“How?”
“I don’t know yet. Put your heads together and come up with possible scenarios.”
“Fine,” Gabriel agreed.
Samson acknowledged his second-in-command’s words, but knew it was a long shot to draw them away from their stronghold. If they had to fight Xander and his people in Chinatown, there would be human casualties, and he didn’t relish that prospect. Besides, they would also be at risk of exposure as vampires, which was a whole other problem.
If only he could convince Thomas to change his mind and use the power he had to fight their enemies. Was there no way to convince him that he wouldn’t succumb to the dark power and turn evil in the process? He’d known Thomas for over a century, and never even suspected the demons he fought against every day. Didn’t that prove that Thomas was much stronger than he believed himself to be?
“Let’s rock ‘n roll,” Samson announced and swept one last, long look over his friends, hoping that he wouldn’t lose any of them in the coming fight.
31
At the chiming of the doorbell to her medical offices in the basement of her house, Maya took a deep breath and walked to the entrance door. She already knew who stood on the other side before she even opened the door.
“Hi Yvette, thanks for coming!”
Yvette smiled, crossing the threshold with her baby in her arms, a thick blanket wrapped around it. “Hi Maya. She just fell asleep. I hope the examination won’t wake her again.”
“Don’t worry,” Maya said and shut the door behind her. There would be no medical examination. Maya had already taken care of that before Cain had brought the baby to Yvette.
She’d used it as a ruse to get Yvette to come to her house.
“Come!” She motioned Yvette to the stairs that led up to the main floor of the house, passing the door that led to her examination room.
Yvette hesitated. “But don’t you want to examine her down here?”
“The heating died earlier today. It’s freezing in there,” she lied. “I’ve moved my instruments upstairs into the living room instead. We don’t want the little one to feel uncomfortable.”
Without another protest, Yvette walked upstairs and turned toward the door to the
living room when she reached the landing.
“Go right in,” Maya encouraged her, smiling to herself.
Yvette turned the knob, pushed the door inwards and stepped inside the room.
“Surprise!” several voices called out.
Yvette froze with a gasp rolling off her lips. “Oh, you guys!”
Maya entered the living room behind her. She’d decorated it with pink and white ribbons and stacked the presents in front of the fireplace. Everybody had helped out, and was now assembled and greeting Yvette enthusiastically, surrounding her to get their first glimpse at the baby: Rose, Delilah with her baby daughter, Ursula, Portia, and Nina.
“Oh, she’s so cute,” Rose professed.
“Look, she’s opening her eyes,” Nina said.
Delilah held Isabelle so she could get a look at the bundle in Yvette’s arms too. “See the little baby? You were that small once too.”
Isabelle reached her tiny hand out to stroke over the baby’s face, but Delilah pulled her back quickly. “Careful, sweetheart, she’s still tiny and fragile.”
Maya watched how Yvette looked at the decorations and the presents. “I can’t believe you did all this for me!” Then she turned her head to glance at Maya. “I’m so grateful.”
Maya smiled back at her. She knew that Yvette wasn’t thanking her for the baby shower, but rather for the fact that she’d given the orphan to her, rather than raising her as her own daughter.
She could have easily made the request, and considering that Gabriel had seniority over Yvette, Samson would have had no qualms agreeing to it.
Despite the fact that she and Gabriel had unsuccessfully tried for a baby for many months now, she hadn’t given up hope. She was half satyr, and this meant that she was fertile, while pure vampire females weren’t. The next time she went into heat, she was positive that she would get pregnant. She just had no way of knowing when it would happen. Since she and Gabriel had bonded, she hadn’t yet gone into heat, and she assumed that this was an event that didn’t happen as frequently as she had assumed at first. Not that it stopped her and Gabriel from trying almost daily.
“Why don’t I hold the baby while you start unpacking the presents?” Rose asked and stretched her arms out.
Rather reluctantly, Yvette handed the baby to her.
Rose chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ll give her back!”
Yvette laughed nervously. “I know that, of course.”
Nina dragged her to the couch and made her sit down. “I’ll hand you the presents one by one.”
As everybody huddled around Yvette and watched her as she unpacked one present after the other with “oohs” and “ahs” filling the room, and laughter and chuckles echoing off the walls, Maya couldn’t stop her heart warming. This was her family, the people she cared about, and who cared about her.
“Have you decided what to call her?” Ursula suddenly asked.
Yvette stopped unpacking and looked at the baby that now looked up at Rose. “Haven and I are thinking either Lydia or Emily. Lydia was the name of his grandmother, and Emily was my grandmother’s name. We can’t decide.”
“They’re both great names,” Delilah assured her. “You’ll just have to see what fits better.”
Then she suddenly turned to Isabelle in her arms. “What’s that sweetheart?” Mother and daughter locked eyes before Delilah looked back at Yvette. “Isabelle says the baby prefers Lydia.”
Yvette raised an eyebrow. “But—”
“Well, let’s try it out and see what name she responds to.”
Maya watched with interest. Was Isabelle right?
Yvette shrugged. “I doubt that’ll work.” Then she looked at the baby, who still looked up at Rose.
“Emily,” Yvette called out to her, but the baby didn’t react. “Emily,” she repeated. Then she sighed. “Lydia.” Instantly, the baby turned its head and looked at her, smiling.
“I think you’ve got your answer,” Delilah said.
Yvette chuckled. “If she starts making her own decisions this early, we’re going to have our hands full.”
The others laughed. Suddenly the baby started crying and Yvette reached for it, pulling her into her arms.
“What’s wrong, Lydia?” she asked and rocked her in her arms.
“Maybe she’s hungry,” Delilah suggested. “Did you bring a bottle?”
Yvette nodded and pointed to the bag she’d set down on the floor earlier. She made a motion to get up, but Rose stopped her. “I’ll get it.” She rose and rummaged around in the bag until she pulled out the baby bottle.
Yvette tossed Delilah a questioning look. “Do I have to mix some blood into the formula?”
Delilah shook her head. “Too early. You’ll need to wait until she bites somebody first. After that, she’ll need blood regularly to supplement her human diet.”
Yvette sighed. “How am I going to learn all this?”
Delilah smiled. “Don’t worry! You’ll get the hang of it. But without a doubt, this will change your life dramatically.”
“No more bodyguard assignments for a while,” Maya added. “Have you asked Gabriel for a leave of absence yet?”
Yvette’s gaze collided with hers. A sliver of panic crept into Yvette’s eyes. “I hadn’t even thought that far yet. Oh my god, what if I’m completely useless as a mother? I don’t know the first thing about babies.”
The women chuckled.
“You’re going to do just fine,” Maya assured her and smiled. “You’ll be a wonderful mother.”
Yvette’s eyes moistened, then a pink tear ran down her cheek.
32
Dressed only in his robe, Thomas watched Eddie walk to the door that led down into the garage. Two days and a night had passed since Eddie had surprised him in his dungeon. While they’d both had to go to work during the night, the two days they’d spent making love.
“Are you sure you have to leave already? Your shift doesn’t start till nine.”
Eddie tossed a look over his shoulder as he opened the door. “Nina wants me to stop by her place. I haven’t seen her in a while.” He descended the stairs, disappearing from Thomas’s view.
Still not sated, Thomas followed him into the garage.
“Ah, fuck it,” he cursed under his breath, unable to keep his lust in check. It seemed the more time he spent with his new lover, the less he was able to pull away from him. At the same time, he’d noticed something else. The dark power within him had remained entirely dormant while he and Eddie had lain in each other’s arms. Yet now that Eddie was about to leave the house, he could feel it rising from its slumber. He wasn’t ready to deal with it. He wanted a few more minutes of peace.
Thomas reached the last step when Eddie took his leather jacket from the hook and was about to put it on. Thomas grabbed it, pulling it from his grip, and tossed it onto the motorcycle.
Without a word, he pulled Eddie into his arms and sank his mouth onto his.
A startled groan dislodged from Eddie’s throat, but he gave no resistance. Instead, his arms snaked around Thomas’s waist and slid onto his ass, grabbing his cheeks firmly and pulling him against his groin.
Coming up for air, Thomas moaned out his pleasure at feeling Eddie react to him. He couldn’t imagine anything better in his life than the body of his lover pressed against him, his hands exploring him, his tongue dueling with his.
“Just ten minutes,” Eddie rasped and tugged on the belt of Thomas’s robe, releasing the knot.
Thomas felt like releasing a triumphant growl, but he restrained himself, and instead busied himself with opening Eddie’s pants and shoving them down to his thighs.
“I love the way you get hard within seconds,” Thomas whispered against the tempting column of Eddie’s neck, planting hot kisses on his skin, while he wrapped his palm around Eddie’s cock.
“You don’t exactly give me a chance to ever get soft.”
“Is that a complaint?” Thomas moved his hand up and down Eddie’s er
ection.
“No complaint.” Eddie’s hand slid over Thomas’s cock, squeezing him hard.
Thomas felt his heartbeat accelerate and his breath rush from his lungs. He loved the way Eddie touched him—not tentatively, but with determination, with a directness that told him that there was no doubt in his mind about what was going to happen next.
When Thomas dropped onto his knees and moved his head to Eddie’s cock, Eddie’s hands on his shoulders pulled him back. “I only have ten minutes.”
“Trust me I’ll only need two to make you come.”
Eddie shook his head, his gaze locking with his. Lust and desire shone from his eyes, and something else flickered in them that Thomas couldn’t interpret, when he unexpectedly said, “I wanna suck you too.”
During the entire time they’d spent in bed together, Eddie had never sucked Thomas’s cock, even though he’d used his hands to make him climax. And now, as they stood in the garage with only ten minutes to spare, Eddie wanted to go down on him?
“Fuck, Eddie!” Thomas let out a ragged breath. “You couldn’t have chosen a better time for this?” Because feeling Eddie’s mouth on him wasn’t something he wanted to rush. He wanted to lay back in his soft sheets and luxuriate in the feel of Eddie’s lips around him, his tongue sliding down his shaft, his teeth scraping along his skin.
“I want it now.” Eddie stared at him, his eyes blazing. Then he lowered himself. Eddie pressed back with his hands against Thomas’s shoulders, and within a second, Thomas found himself on his back, his robe falling open in the front.
His lover pushed his pants down to his ankles, his boots preventing him from ridding himself of the garment altogether. Then he turned around and moved, bringing his cock in line with Thomas’s mouth. As Eddie bent over him, he reached for Thomas’s thighs, spreading them.
Then his head dipped lower, and he licked over the head of Thomas’s erection.
Thomas almost exploded right there and then. Eddie’s hips moved and suddenly his cock nudged at Thomas’s lips. He parted them, taking him inside his mouth, sucking on him greedily, just as Eddie began to suck him in earnest.