by T. S. Ryder
For a minute or so, he just stood there, watching her, but then he closed his eyes and sighed, making Kendra wonder what exactly was going through his head.
“There’s food on the night stand,” he said, abruptly opening his eyes, and beginning to walk to the door. “The shower’s to your left, and your clothes are in the wardrobe. Eat, get dressed and come find me. The guards at the door will show you the way.” And, just like that, he was gone.
Frowning, Kendra got off the bed and approached the window. She had no idea where she was, though she suspected it was somewhere in Louisiana – she knew from conversations with Dr. Duquesne that Roche Laboratories was situated in Louisiana, and her host’s lazy drawl only solidified her presumption. The exact location, however, remained a mystery, for all she could see was an enormous lawn and the beginning of a wood that seemed to stretch out endlessly into the dark. The window was barred, and it seemed the room was at least two floors up, which instantly eliminated one possible escape route. She was still wearing the clothes she was in when her cab was jumped, so at least she knew they hadn’t violated her... any more than they already had, that was. She thought that the cabbie was probably in on the whole thing, and cursed herself for not trusting her instincts when she should have. Now she was in a mess she had no idea how to get out of, and had only the word of her captor that she would survive the ordeal.
She found the main switch on the wall and turned on the light. The room they had put her in was large, and decorated in the ornate elegance of Louis Quinze. Pretty, but not something she’d choose herself. Still, it spoke of the kind of luxury one couldn’t easily acquire within a single lifetime and confirmed many rumors about the reclusive Roche family, who were rumored to be involved in many charities and even more investments, working mostly through intermediaries so they could enjoy their lives far away from the public eye.
Turning her mind to her current predicament, Kendra began to investigate the room, hoping to find something, anything that would give her at least some advantage, but she was out of luck. Her kidnappers clearly knew what they were doing. The only things in the room were her clothes, shoes and cosmetics, all neatly arranged in appropriate locations. Her laptop, her phone, her documents... she had no idea where they were, but they sure as hell weren’t here.
Sighing in frustration, she decided that, for the time being, she needed to play the part of the good little captive. Perhaps if she made herself seem unthreatening, they’d loosen up the restraints they had on her and she could escape, or at least sneak a secret message out when they force her into sending one of those emails Sebastien spoke of. She sat on the edge of the bed, next to the nightstand, where a large serving tray held a covered plate and a bone china set consisting of a single cup and saucer, a sugar bowl, a creamer dish and a pot of coffee. She lifted the cloche off the plate to reveal a beautifully prepared meal of broiled chicken with steamed rice and a colorful mix of sautéed vegetables on the side. Her mouth watered at the sight of it – she’d skipped dinner, counting on the in-flight meal, which she had clearly never received. She wondered if she should leave the food untouched, but decided that would be counterproductive. If she intended to run the first chance she had, she needed to keep her strength... and she could really use the coffee. She had no idea what time it was, but it was night and she was obviously expected to stay up a while longer. The more alert she could keep herself, the better.
Half an hour or so later, the plate was polished, the coffee was gone, and Kendra had made full use of the bathroom, which was just as large and lavish as she expected it to be. She’d changed her clothes as well, and once she felt she was as ready to face whatever it was that awaited her outside this room as she’d ever be, she knocked on the door and waited for the guards Sebastien told her were there to open it.
She wasn’t surprised at all when one of those guards turned out to be Alexander Beauchamp.
This time, she didn’t even bother to control herself and smacked the bastard with a jab to the cheek that would’ve made her Tae Bo instructor proud.
She expected the other guard to restrain her, but he just laughed heartily while Beauchamp swore like a sailor.
“Well.” The other man turned to Kendra, clearly amused (and, dare she say, impressed?). “Now that you got that out of your system... I’m Stefan. You ready to go?”
She nodded, trading dirty looks with Beauchamp before they took her away to hopefully find out what the hell was going on.
Chapter Four
Sebastien slammed the door of his office loudly and rested against it, suppressing the urge to bang his head back against the hard wood. Damn it. He had not expected the visceral reaction he had to Kendra Allenby and had no idea how to deal with it. This was supposed to be a regretfully forceful but fairly simple operation – they would bring in the woman, introduce her to their problem and put her to work in their labs, where she would hopefully find whatever it was they’d been missing for the past year in time to contain the infection and secure the premises before the Great Gathering.
But all it took was one look at her and he wanted to throw all the plans through the window and take her to bed.
It disturbed him on a number of levels. He had a healthy appetite and enjoyed indulging it whenever a willing partner could be found, which was often. It was uncomplicated and carnal, and he didn’t need anything more. Oh, sure, a number of ladies had notions of snagging the Clan Prince for themselves, but Sebastien wasted no time dispelling such delusions whenever they appeared. He felt no desire to be tied down to a single woman, and sincerely doubted he ever would. Sex was both a need and an entertainment, but never in his 177 years had he met a woman who made him feel anything but a passing physical attraction.
But this... this human... she was unconscious, lying on a bed in one of his many guest rooms when he first saw her, and he wanted to snarl at everyone to leave them alone, lock the door, and lay next to her so he could guard her in her sleep. And, once she woke up, he’d feed her, and bathe her, and shower her in pleasures of the flesh until she screamed his name from the top of her lungs – and he would sink his fangs into the rich vein of her throat, taking sustenance and marking her as his, forever.
Except that was the absolute worst thing he could do right now. For one, he needed her focused on work... and, more importantly, he felt like enough of a bastard for ordering the kidnapping as it was. She didn’t need to deal with his rebelling libido as well.
Unless she wanted to...
With a groan, Sebastien shook his head, putting a stop to that train of thought. It would be so easy to seduce her, so easy to use his powers to manipulate her will and turn the fear she felt into lust. But, damn it, he’d never once forced himself on a woman, and he sure as hell didn’t intend to start now. He knew many of his kind who saw nothing wrong in using their minor psychic abilities to bend humans to their will, but most vampires raised their children to see any unnecessary violation of another’s free will as tantamount to rape, a crime made even more heinous by forcing the victim to artificially enjoy it. He could not do it to her any more than he could do it to anyone else... and probably more so.
Then again, there were plenty of other things that drew women to him. He could say without conceit that they found him physically attractive even though he was not classically handsome, his features a little too rough and his style a little too casual. That didn’t seem to hurt his chances – quite the opposite, in fact – and, paired with his strong personality, it made sure that his advances would be enthusiastically welcomed more often than not.
He could have her if he wanted, he thought. He could find what made her tick and play it like a violin until she was in his bed, writhing under him in shared ecstasy.
But that was not why she was there, he reminded himself, conscious of the fact that he’d need those words like a mantra if he intended to give his plans any chance of success.
It was going to be difficult, though. He’d always had a weak spot f
or strong women, and Kendra Allenby was amongst the strongest he’d ever met, inside and out. The reports he’d read about her fascinated him. Born in the slum that was Paterson, New Jersey to a pair of emotionally volatile drunks who were too busy going at each other’s throats to take care of their child, Kendra applied herself ferociously to schoolwork, working part-time jobs to support herself, fighting for her future with everything she had. She finished high school a year early and won a scholarship to Brown, but when the time came to enter medical school, she was forced to take out a loan.
It was there she met Dr. Keith Duquesne, a visiting professor who took a shine to the fierce young woman and used his influence to make every step of her way as easy as he could. On his request, she was granted both residency and fellowship at the Moffitt Cancer Center, finally taking her position as his assistant and working under him until he left MCC at the request of Sebastien’s father when the disease started ravaging through the Clan. He was grooming her to become his successor, and if things hadn’t taken a turn for the worse, she’d probably have been taking over his position in a few years.
And, as if all that wasn’t enough, she was also one of the most beautiful women Sebastien had ever met. Tall and statuesque, she had the build of a voluptuous Amazon, strong and thick in all the right places. Oh, sure, he could see how Alex could classify her as simply fat, but Sebastien though himself rather less shallow than his best friend. The way she held herself, confident and proud, and clearly perfectly comfortable in her own body, gave her an almost regal bearing, which only made her more attractive to him. It was obvious, despite the generous padding, that she took good care of herself, from the abundance of energy she exuded to the healthy glow of her dark cinnamon skin. Her style presented a rather strange but appealing mix of practical and bold. She let her hair coil naturally, cropped short and layered throughout, giving her a simple and elegant look that required minimum maintenance, but favored bold colors in her makeup. Her clothes, while simple, professional and cut to flatter her figure, combined dark tones with splashes of bright details, revealing a keen, meticulous mind and a wild, passionate heart.
A woman that could be his match both in and out of bed, he thought.
Pity he could not risk testing that theory.
Although... who knew? Once all this was over...
Sighing, frustrated with both this situation and his inability to keep his thoughts in check, Sebastien walked over to his liquor cabinet and poured himself a stiff drink before picking up his phone and letting his sister know he’d be joining her in the lab soon.
He’d only spent about ten minutes with Anais when he felt Kendra’s scent reaching him, announcing her arrival. It made his body instantly alert, and he fought hard to concentrate on pretty much everything other than the way her blood sang to him, calling out to him to have a taste. “My, my,” Anais teased him. “That is an interesting, if unexpected, development.”
Sebastien rolled his eyes at the ribbing, but when he replied, he tried his best to make himself sound like the leader he was supposed to be. “It’s nothing,” he told her, but she just sniggered, amused with his misery.
Moments later, escorted by an annoyed Alex and his brother, Stefan, who seemed unable to stop grinning for some reason, Kendra came into the laboratory Anais and Keith had built together and equipped with the state of the art medical tools necessary for their work, and then some. This was but a portion of their private medical facilities, which spanned across the entire first under-level, and mirrored the equipment in Roche Laboratories proper, which served as the main medical facility for the needs of the Clan. The circumstances of Kendra’s forced involvement with the project made taking her to the official facilities a security risk Sebastien was not willing to take, so he was for once grateful for Anais’ workaholic tendencies.
“Dr. Allenby,” he greeted her, donning once again the cool façade he used to defend himself from the powerful influence Kendra had on him, “May I introduce you to my sister, Dr. Anais Roche-Duquesne.”
With a friendly smile, Anais offered her hand to Kendra, who shook it after a brief moment of deliberation. “How do you do?” Kendra replied, somewhat formally, and it was clear her mind was working fast to take in as much as it could, which both impressed and worried Sebastien. She was uncharacteristically calm for a recent kidnapping victim, which could mean that she was playing meek in order to sniff out and exploit any weakness that would allow her to run. That was, after all, what he’d do in her place, and would be in accordance with what he knew about her personality.
“I’m sorry,” Kendra began cautiously. “I may be a little forward, but I have to ask... Keith Duquesne...”
Anais smiled sadly. “My late husband,” she replied, “He spoke very fondly of you, Dr. Allenby, and I know he would’ve loved to see you involved in the work we’ve been doing here... in a more official capacity, that is.”
That last comment appeared to confuse Kendra. “I don’t understand,” she said. “You say that as if I’d already done work for you and clearly...” She paused, connecting the dots in her head, her expression changing as she finally understood what Anais meant. “The blood samples he kept bringing me,” she said, not sounding particularly pleased. “I’m presuming that has something to do with this whole SNAFU.”
Anais nodded apologetically. “I had no idea he had involved you until I found his private notes after the police released his belongings to me,” she admitted, “He had no right to bring you into this, or to keep your findings to himself... but now we can’t go on with our research without you, not without setting ourselves back for god knows how long.”
“Which we can’t afford to do,” Sebastien added, eager to get to the point and get out of the lab. Expelling Kendra from his mind completely may not have been possible, but it was much easier to do when they weren’t in the same room.
“But I barely know anything!” Kendra defended herself, but Anais didn’t back down.
“You know more than you think,” she told her. “And once you’re fully acquainted with the situation, you’ll be more useful to us than you know.”
“Then you’d better bring me up to speed because I don’t want to spend any more time here than I absolutely have to,” Kendra said with a tone of bitter resignation, frustrated but aware that she was not in control of the situation.
“Tell me what you know so far,” Anais prompted her gently, doing her best to diffuse the tension.
Crossing her arms, Kendra replied. “He only ever brought me microscope images and bloodwork analysis results,” she told them, “I begged him for samples, but he kept telling me it was too risky. I thought he was pulling my leg until I saw the first batch – everything was so... off. Parts of what I saw seemed perfectly normal, but then there were these details that kept popping out that definitely shouldn’t have been there. The blood from the control group seemed to be carrying far more oxygen than should be possible, and had ridiculously powerful white cells and regeneration levels that were through the roof, while the blood from the diseased group showed signs of damage that pointed to cancer – but somehow seemed to behave like a virus at the same time. But that’s all I know. Dr. Duquesne kept me in the dark as much as he could without making me completely useless and refused to answer any of my questions. If it was anyone but him running me through all those hoops, I would’ve told them to go screw themselves and left on the first day.” She looked serious and angry, a feeling Sebastien could sympathize with, but couldn’t prioritize above the wellbeing of his Clan.
“That was the part we missed,” Anais said, looking hopeful for the first time in months, “We kept treating it like cancer and getting nowhere, but if the disease has a viral component, then we could try harvesting antibodies to create a vaccine.”
“But how the hell could this thing have developed in the first place?” Alex demanded, pain and frustration making him callous. “Vampires don’t get cancer!”
Kendra laughed. She had a
beautiful laugh, bright and clear, a cheerful bell that rang through the laboratory... until she realized she was the only one amused by the comment. The laughter died out and she looked at them, confused and incredulous. “Oh, come on,” she exclaimed. “You can’t be serious.”
Sebastien looked to Kendra, half dreading and half eager for the moment of revelation. He stepped closer and opened his mouth, revealing the pronounced upper canines, longer and sharper than that of a human... and growing longer despite his efforts to control himself in response to Kendra’s vicinity.
This would be the true test of her mental strength and adaptability, and he prayed to god, more for her sake than for his, that she would not fail.
Chapter Five
Ah. So this was why he was so convinced that the police would not take her seriously if she went to them with accusations of kidnapping once they released her, the clinically detached, logical part of Kendra’s brain reasoned, while the rest of her was thrown into a frantic state of panic.
Like a trapped animal facing a hungry predator, her first instinct was to flee, but the men behind her grabbed her by the forearms the second she began to move, steadying her in place.
But they underestimated her will for survival, and when she kicked back, jabbing her heel into Beauchamp’s shin, he released his grip on her out of sheer surprise and the shock of the sharp pain that made him fall down and clutch his leg. Wasting no time, she punched the other man, who was no less surprised than his partner, and dashed into a sprint without looking back, desperate to get out of this place and away from the monsters that surrounded her.