vampires of san francisco 07 - suckers lost and found

by mcbrayer, jessica

  “Cherie, you have been most busy. Did you buy everything you saw?” Sebastian asks as he surveys all the packages.

  “Almost. Aidan got me to go by saying the magick words ‘Italian Shoes.’ It kinda went downhill from there.” Sebastian nods at Aidan and I realize I’ve been handled. Then again, I think of the lovely afternoon I had and decide I got the better deal. I could have been here fussing and worrying about the wedding.

  “Sit down, ma petite and have a glass of wine. Thank you, Aidan, for entertaining her all afternoon,” Sebastian says. I snort and they all know that I know what happened.

  “It was my pleasure.”

  “Did you get everything settled, Bast?” I ask.

  “Yes, Jules and I got a caterer to tend bar and a string quartet to play. The King is supposed to be arriving sometime tonight. Our hosts have kindly made up the other bungalow at the other end of the property for him.” We didn’t use it because it was so far away, but it is perfect for the King.

  “I wish he were staying in the city or better yet driving back after the wedding,” Aidan growls. “I went to see him again today and he refused me. He is walking a very fine line right now. He had better have something to tell Lilith.”

  “If he does have any information, we’ll get it out of him, Aidan,” Julian soothes.

  “You and Sebastian have to go to pre-marriage counseling, you should get going. Shoo!” Helena says.

  Helena sends us on our way. Two BMWs stand in the circular driveway under the trees. Rented to use while we are here. We take one of the Beemers now. Cars are one of the few places that are completely private for us. Vampire hearing is so good you never can tell what is being overheard at home.

  Sebastian takes my hand while we drive down the country road on our way to the small parish church of Father Benedetto. The countryside is ablaze with the sunset. All the fields with their crumbling ancient stone walls add to the patchwork feel of the scene. We get to the church ten minutes early, but the good father is ready for us. He is a gentle man and speaks excellent English, which is good since I speak almost no Italian and Sebastian speaks only a little more than me. He serves us a glass of wine and asks us a lot of questions about each other. When he is satisfied that we know each other sufficiently he asks us why we want to get married.

  Sebastian hesitates, thinking of his answer.

  “I want to spend the rest of my days loving and caring for this woman. She makes my life whole. Without her I am less than half a person,” Sebastian answers humbly.

  The priest is moved and so am I. I have a hard time finding a steady voice to answer.

  “I am honored that Sebastian wants to share his life with me. He makes me happy and we love and respect each other. Those are things to build a marriage on. I feel safe and complete when I am with Sebastian. I feel right.” I can’t go on.

  How do you say you feel like you are home? I look at Bast and my lip trembles and I grasp his hand.

  “I love you so much. How do I explain how complete that makes me feel?” I ask.

  “I think you just did, Miss Goodwill,” Father Benedetto says with a smile. “You two pass as far as the true love part goes,” he says with a smile. “Do you go to church? You need to feed your souls as well as your hearts.”

  “We need to spend some more time in church, Father. Lily’s schedule has made it difficult for her to attend mass on Sundays, but that has changed recently.”

  “Let’s see that you do. I think you two will be fine. Go with my blessing. I will see you tomorrow evening. Bouno notte.”

  “Good night, Father,” Sebastian says. “Come, cherie. You must be getting cold. Let’s get in the car and turn the heater on.”

  “Thanks, Bast. I love you, honey.”

  “As I love you.”

  When we get back to the villa, we find everyone in pretty much the same position as we left them in. Helena and Hannah have wraps on and I go to the bungalow to get mine. When I get back Aidan has summoned a patio fireplace and has lit a fire. Sebastian sits on a bench with pillows so I sit next to him. But that isn’t close enough so he pulls me onto his lap. I snuggle in to his chest and he wraps his arms around me. We are completely pathetic. That sappy couple. Even Aidan has a sense of humor about us tonight.

  “Did the priest say that two people that have sex as much as you two can’t get married?” Hannah asks.

  “Very funny, Hannah,” I say.

  “No, he only said people that yell as loudly as Miss Lily can’t get married,” Andrew says.

  “Andrew, you are one to talk. And I quote ‘Oh Liam, Oh Liam, please yes, oh God yes’,” I say.

  Everyone starts laughing and Andrew sits up straighter while Liam ducks his head. Poor Liam, he is a bit more modest than our Andrew or maybe he hasn’t adopted our earthy vampire humor yet.

  “Any luck today, Hannah?” I ask.

  “No,” she says and sighs. I can tell it’s getting to her.

  “You need to take a day off tomorrow, Hannah, love. I’ve got feelers everywhere. I know we’ll find her but you need a day to relax,” Aidan says. Everyone is quiet. We know what this time not searching for Manda does to Aidan. For him to insist on Hannah relaxing he is giving a true gift from the heart. Guilt overwhelms me whenever I think about what she might be going through. Especially after seeing that picture on Tumblr. Julian pulled me aside earlier and said the account had been traced from an IP address in Italy. Julian had someone there to check into it and they found an empty apartment. The place had been wiped clean. Another dead end.

  The group gently eases back into conversation and we spend a pleasant hour talking about our days.

  “Lily, we need to put away all those purchases you made today,” Sebastian whispers in my ear as he licks it, making me squirm in his lap.

  “You’re right, Bast, we should go take care of those right away.”

  “You two aren’t fooling anyone,” Hannah says. “We can hear every word you are saying.”

  “Then pretend you can’t,” Sebastian says and winks at her.

  He stands up lifting me from his lap and carries me to the bungalow. When we get inside he lays me gently on the bed and takes his clothes off. I quickly unzip my dress and take off my shoes. I left my panties for Sebastian to take off. He soon has his mouth on them and takes them off with his teeth. By the time he is done he is showing fang. Yummy!

  He moves his way up to my neck and starts nuzzling me and nipping my neck with his fangs. I moan his name and he moves his hand between my legs while he sinks his fangs into me, drinking hard. That’s all it takes to send me over the edge. I have my hands all over him, clawing his shoulders.

  “Lily, I want you so bad, are you ready, cherie?”

  “Yes, Bast,” I whimper.

  He enters me as he bites my shoulder again. It sends me into another orgasm. He moves rapidly, sending wave after wave of pleasure through my body. My fangs are out and I am nipping at his neck. He is saying my name over and over again. I hold back until he is on the verge of coming and then I bite him back sending him spiraling. He actually yells in French.

  When he looks down at me, I have the biggest grin on my face. I have made him yell for a change. He looks dazed in the moment of afterglow. I love seeing him like this. I hold him close and he lowers his head to my breasts and snuggles in. We lay like this for a long time.

  “I guess we should get dressed and join the others to wait for the King,” he says from between my breasts.

  “I suppose,” I laugh.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “It tickles when you talk from there.”

  “How about this, does this tickle,” he says as he sucks and licks one of my nipples.

  “Uhmmm… yeah… that feels perfect, Bast,” I say with a hoarse voice.

  “I thought so.”

  “Now quit that or we will never leave this bed.”

  “You’re right. I couldn’t resist though. They are the most perfect breasts I have
ever seen,” Bast sighs.

  He gets up and reaches for my hand to help me off the bed. We slowly get dressed mixing in a lot of kissing. By the time we dress we are so hot and bothered we are ready to take our clothes off again. We leave the bungalow hand-in-hand to walk back to our friends.

  “I can’t believe you made Sebastian yell, Lily,” Hannah says.

  “In French, no less,” Julian says.

  “You two put on quite the show for us,” Aidan says with a twinkle in his eye.

  “I’m sorry,” I say to everyone.

  “Nonsense,” Julian says. “It’s been what, twelve hours since you were last together? You must have been in withdrawal,” he teases.

  “It’s the eve of their wedding. We can cut them some slack,” Helena says.

  “Yes, but it is like this all the time,” Liam teases. “I can hardly wait until the wedding night.”

  “I think I will pop out tomorrow night. I don’t have ear plugs that strong,” Aidan says and he winks at me.

  I am glad to see he is in a good humor about it. It used to upset him greatly. It seems spending the day together had a balmy effect on my friend. Good vibrations feed him like nothing else can. I know deep down he never stops thinking of Manda. None of us can really forget that she is missing.

  Aidan is sitting next to Hannah with Fiona up against his chest. She is bundled up to keep warm.

  “Has anyone heard from the King yet?” Sebastian asks the group at large.

  “Yes, he will be here in about ten more minutes,” Julian says as he puts his phone back in his pocket. He must have had a text from the King.

  Sebastian and I sit down in chairs next to each other and we join in the conversation. Before long we hear the King’s car pull up. We all rise to greet him and Julian and Helena help him settle in. After that, he and Armand join us on the terrace.

  We stand to greet the King. He kisses cheeks, shakes hands and then when he gets to me he kisses me on the cheek but it is almost the mouth. He is incorrigible and it makes the boys edgy.

  “Bella, how good it is to see you again. It seems like an eternity since I last laid my eyes on you. How are you?”

  “Very well, Basilio. How are you?”

  “Better now for having seen you. Tell me, have you made all the preparations for the big day?”

  “Yes, with help from everyone else. Mostly I went shopping today.”

  He laughs.

  “As it should be, bella. You should relax and pamper yourself.”

  “That’s on the agenda for tomorrow. We women will be busy in the salons in the city tomorrow.”

  “Excellent.”

  We spend a good part of the night talking and drinking wine. Aidan summons coffee and tea for us. The tension builds as everyone waits for the King to give us information. Aidan is practically bouncing around in his seat. I know he is annoyed that Basilio is keeping us at bay, yet again.

  I can tell Sebastian is anxious to be alone with me and so I make our excuses to the King.

  “I believe that I will retire for the night. I have some last-minute things I need to do before I go to sleep for the day. As always it has been a pleasure, Basilio.”

  “I heard that you ran into Cristian. Was he accommodating to you, bella?”

  “He slipped me a mixture in my blood and it left me paralyzed. He said he was going to make me disappear after he played with me first,” I say giving Basilio a steady look, trying to read his reaction. Everyone is silent for a minute.

  Basilio slowly grabs his phone while keeping eye contact with me. I see a vein popping in his neck. He pushes one button and waits for an answer. He speaks in Italian rapidly and in clear crisp English.

  “Cristian, terminate him.” He hangs up then, stands and gathers my hands. “Bella, why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

  “I thought you might have heard of it already.”

  “And you think I would do nothing? That I am so cold I would let someone do that to you?” He has rage in his eyes.

  “No,” I say carefully. “I think that because I am American that it would cause problems if something happened to him because of me.”

  “Lily, I wouldn’t have tolerated his action from any of my subjects. Knowing he had his hands on you at all and tried to do that makes my skin crawl and my heart ache. Knowing what he could have done…” Basilio shakes his head like he is trying to clear it of some image.

  “You have to know,” he looks at everyone. “I didn’t know what he was doing. After your concern for your friend I was made aware of a rash of vampire disappearances. But I don’t know if Cristian is the only one behind this or if there are others, so I’ve been quiet. I planned on talking to you about it.”

  “I must talk to Cristian before he is killed. Please,” Aidan says.

  “Of course. Let me make a call.” Basilio speed dialed someone again. I don’t think I would want to meet the person on the other end. “Before you finish with Cristian, Mr. Aidan would like to speak to him. Call me or him. I’ll text you his number.” He hangs up again abruptly.

  “Thank you, Basilio.” I kiss his cheek and squeeze his hands before returning to Sebastian’s side.

  “Did he hurt you, bella? I must know. I feel responsible since you are in my country under my protection.”

  “No, Aidan was watching and realized what had happened. Then he and Sebastian extracted me. They brought the waiter that had served me the tainted blood with us and were able to convince him to tell us where the antidote was,” I say cautiously not wanting to open that can of worms. “When Aidan went back to find Cristian he had gone to ground.”

  “I am so sorry,” Basilio says to the group.

  “Your Majesty, you should know that this waiter had told us he witnessed Cristian doing this with six other women,” Sebastian says.

  “I don’t want this scum in my country. It’s beneath a royal – I forgot to mention that Cristian is royal. Conceived by my sister and then after I turned her she turned him. He is my nephew and I have never trusted him and let him get away with too much. But no longer. I am so sorry, bella.”

  “It’s done, Basilio. I am stronger and smarter for having gone through it.”

  “You are too brave for your own good,” Basilio says. His amber eyes are dark with anger and though he tries to act his usual severe self he seems too upset. This give me more reason to believe he is telling the truth than anything so far.

  “Yes, she is,” Sebastian says as he pulls me closer to his side.

  “Stubborn too,” Aidan says and winks at me. He turns a cool look at the King. He hasn’t forgotten the brush-off he received today.

  “Would you like some wine, Your Majesty?” Helena asks, transitioning us from the awkward silence.

  “I would love some, Helena, thank you.”

  “Armand…?”

  “Yes, Helena. Thank you.”

  “I think that Lily and I will retire for the night since tomorrow will be a long day,” Sebastian says kissing my temple.

  “I have some calls to make about Cristian. I’m going to retire too. See you all in the morning. Thank you for the wine, Helena,” the King says. Aidan is speaking in whispers to Julian. I’d bet real money the King is going to have a beetle attached to his pant leg.

  “I’ll join you. Again my thanks to you too, Helena,” Armand says with a nod.

  “Good night, bella.”

  “Good night, dears,” Helena says with a wave of her fingers.

  “I believe I will pop into the city again,” Aidan says. “I had quite an enjoyable time last night.” He turns to Basilio with a cold glare. “Text me with the information on Cristian when you have it.”

  I laugh at his audacity when talking about last night. It was about as fucked up as it gets last night. Aidan winks at me and then he disappears. I’m sure he is already in Basilio’s rooms. He wouldn’t miss an opportunity to eaves drop like this.

  Sebastian and I return to our bungalow.

  �
�Well at least the King seemed to behave himself. He is still much too familiar with you for my tastes.”

  “He was better though and he was upset. Perhaps because he is not on his turf. Aidan is so going mosquito in hopes of gleaning some info from Basilio. He’ll he probably bite him too.” Sebastian throws his head back and laughs heartily.

  “I was surprised that he was related to Cristian. It just gets more sordid the deeper we go.”

  “I wasn’t surprised. Foreign politics are very complicated. They mix actual family with vampire-made family and then there are the hierarchies. It’s very tricky business. I’m assuming that is one of the things Basilio likes about you. Your innocence.”

  “I’m just thankful that he is here and we might get a clue about where Manda is.”

  “As am I. But I’m pleased that Basilio seems to be on our side. I am also thankful for you and your sexy body, cherie. Let’s get it naked so I can fully appreciate it,” he says with his crooked grin that is so dangerous.

  I fall asleep in his arms. When I wake up it is to Aidan sitting in the chair next to my bed, again.

  NINE / LILITH

  “Good afternoon, love,” he smiles at me.

  “Aidan, I am not covered up properly, shame, shame on you!” I say as I pull the sheets up.

  “Believe me I am appreciating it,” he grins wickedly.

  “Give me my robe you naughty jinni and then turn your back!”

  He obliges me while I get out of bed and put my robe on.

  “This is starting to be a routine. Okay, you can turn around now.”

  “Here you go, love,” he says as he summons me a peppermint mocha, my favorite.

  “Oh thank you! You know how to make my day. Not that I don’t like seeing you, but what are you doing here?” Aidan smirks at me while I lust over my coffee.

  “I wanted to tell you what I found out last night.”

  “Tell me! Please let it be helpful…”

  “Basilio didn’t say much but he confirmed with one of his security people on the phone that there have been too many vampires that have gone missing. Too many are being turned and not registered and he is really pissed about it. He’s afraid to raise too many alarms because his enemies are just waiting for something like this to turn the court against him. No other info. But we know we are on the right track.” Aidan begins to pace. I can tell he is itching to get his hands on the King. “I will be escorting you and the girls to the salon. We decided it was the fastest way to get there and back. By the way, your dress is in the closet,” he says with a tired smile.