by Maya DeLeina
His breathing quickened.
Oblivious to what was happening to Steffan, Eilian continued reporting on the woman. “Okay, weird. She’s just standing there looking at the garden and then all of sudden, she starts having an epileptic seizure or something. She is hanging on to the vehicle for support.”
Steffan did not respond to Eilian’s report.
“Steffan, should I go out there? She’s like…shaking bad out there now, I need to help her. Steffan?”
Eilian turned around and looked over at Steffan in the corner.
Steffan’s back stiffened against the corner of the wall. His head doubled over in front of him. His mouth was slightly open, taking in and releasing heavy breaths. His eyes shut tightly. Bent at the knees, Steffan’s hands balled into fists at each side of his leg. His hips thrust up and down in a slow fluid motion. Steffan let out another long, needful moan.
“Steffan!” Eilian screamed. He ran to the corner and shook Steffan by the shoulders.
The red jasper rolled out of one of his balled fists, and Steffan opened his eyes sheepishly.
“What?” Steffan murmured.
Eilian responded with irritation, “What? You were in the corner here having a seizure just as I was telling you that our new homeowner was about to bite her tongue off in the street from a damn seizure as well! Are you okay? You never had seizures before. Shit! Did the sunlight hit you or something?”
“No.”
Eilian backed off of Steffan as he looked down at his pants.
“What the…your pants are soaked! What the hell did you do? You sure you didn’t accidentally move into the sunlight?” Eilian snapped his fingers in front of Steffan’s face to regain his attention. “Hello?”
“I…uh…no,” responded Steffan in a daze.
“I uh no? What the hell is wrong with you? Just wait for a sec, let me check on her.”
Eilian ran to the window, but the Anya had already driven off and was pulling back into her driveway. She got out of the car and bent over, resting her hands on her knees, catching her breath. “Hmm, I guess she’s okay.”
“Eilian, did she have almond-shaped eyes, olive skin, and long, black hair?” Steffan asked from the dark corner.
“Yes.” Eilian turned away from the window and walked back to the corner next to Steffan. “She’s actually quite stunning, when she isn’t going into convulsions, that is.”
Still leaning up against the wall, Steffan closed his eyes and asked, “Eilian, did she have a symbol tattooed on the back of her right shoulder?”
“Yes! But how did you…” Eilian turned and looked toward window and then settled back on Steffan. Eilian looked on the ground and picked up the red jasper. “Steffan, were you touching this as she came near the house?”
“Yes.”
“Her eyes, her hair, her tattoo…they all projected in your mind?”
“Yes.”
“Any strong scents you picked up on?”
“Yes.”
“And this is the same stone you found on Ryan that night?”
“Yes.”
Eilian’s eyes were wide in astonishment.
The air was thick with mystery and euphoria.
Steffan leaned back to look at his crotch. “Eilian?” His arms and hands were frozen in front of him. He was stuck in a position as if he was preparing to catch something.
“Yes?”
“I believe I just came in my pants.”
Chapter Seven
Eilian pulled the long needle out of Steffan’s vein. “This should be the last one. We can test in about fifteen minutes.” Eilian stood up from his kneeling position on the floor. “And I’ll even cross my toes this time.”
Black blood spewed from the puncture wound.
Steffan pressed his thumb firmly on the site to stop the blood flow. Bringing his arm up toward his mouth, he released his thumb and quickly brushed his tongue along his flesh and sealed the puncture instantly.
Situated on the edge of his king-size canopy bed, Steffan sat bare chested with only his black, silk pajama pants on.
Steffan drew his fist into his hair above his forehead and squeezed until the disheveled strands bunched between his fingers. “Eilian, this has to work this time, you hear me? I’m going insane! All I do is think about her when I am awake and dream of her when I sleep. It’s so strong that I don’t even need to touch the stone now. I feel her all the time.” Steffan emphasized his last three words as his fingers released his hair.
“I calculated out the expected schedule for your age, but for some reason, your body has still taken longer to adapt and accept Defender.” Eilian shook his head. He turned his back to Steffan as he worked on capping the syringe and placing it into a plastic container that sat on the nightstand.
Steffan peered up at Eilian.
As if a sudden hole bore through his back from the irritation radiating from Steffan, Eilian stated, “Don’t look at me that way. You brought this on yourself.” He turned around and entered notes of the time and units he had just administered on his laptop that sat on the bed next to Steffan.
“Each day you tested your resistance on your own, each day the serum failed to sufficiently protect you, you caused harm and injury to yourself. I had no choice but to lock you in this room so you could heal and not damage yourself further.” Eilian closed the laptop, walked to the seating area of the master bedroom and laid himself down on the leather chaise. “I have never met someone more tenacious than you. You just can’t accept that you’re not in control of anything right now, can you? You cannot control the Defender, you cannot control what you’re feeling, and you certainly cannot control her.”
Steffan nodded in response and lay back on the bed. He stared at the white gauze canopy that floated above him. For weeks now, he’d fantasized about making love to her under the canopy, imagining the way the white material would dance in the evening breeze, gliding over her skin, covering their writhing bodies. The visions were so vivid, so stimulating. He could feel every sensation their union would create. Every kiss, every touch, every breath they would share coursed through his body.
His mind was frenzied.
At times, he would visualize taking her slowly and gently, executing a methodical exchange of sheer ecstasy and passion. At other times, he would dream of a mildly sadistic tryst, taking her without regard, without care, unleashing his raw, animalistic desire for her. All he could do for these past weeks was resort to pleasuring himself as the images burned in his mind. Nothing could sate the hunger or thirst that still burned in him until he had her.
He had grown mad with desire for Anya.
“Steffan, are you even listening to me?” Eilian asked in an agitated tone as he sat up on the chaise.
“Sorry. I was daydreaming—of her.” Steffan smiled as he cocked an eyebrow and laid one hand on his chest.
“Look, I know this is hard for you. I’m telling you, according to the lab results, the dose I just administered should do the trick. After we test and officially call it a success”—Eilian paused to glance at his wristwatch—“which is now in about ten minutes, you can prepare for your long-awaited quest. Now, I suggest you spend that time resting and cleaning yourself up. You look like hell.” Eilian got up from the chaise and walked over to Steffan who remained lying on the bed. “And you’ll be happy to know I found her! I have some news to report on her for you since M.J.’s report didn’t give us much on Ryan.”
Steffan sprang up immediately from his position and stood face-to-face with Eilian. “News? I didn’t ask you to do anything that involved her! What did you do? Did you talk to her, go near her, touch her?” Steffan demanded.
Steffan searched Eilian’s eyes. “Do not tell me you fed from her!”
Eilian took a step back and pushed a hand against Steffan’s chest. “Relax. I’ve simply been following her!”
Eilian placed both hands on Steffan’s shoulder to push him back into a sitting position on the bed. “I will excuse your b
ehavior since you have no obvious control. This inborn trait to protect your potential mate, you have to try and control it! Trust me and trust in what I’m trying to do here. Don’t ever think I would do anything to harm the connection between you two. Even though we don’t share the same blood, I consider you my brother.”
Steffan looked down. “I’m sorry, Eilian. I don’t know what came over me. I never felt this way before in all of my years. I don’t like losing control.”
Eilian crouched in front of Steffan. “I know it’s hard, but you have to try and control yourself. Our existence, what we are, we’re predatory by nature. It will always be in us. You have to fight to suppress everything your body and mind tells you to do. She won’t be able to comprehend all of the intrinsic behaviors of a male vampire and how hard you’re struggling to manage it. If you can’t control yourself, you may end up scaring her off and driving her away for good.”
Steffan remained motionless, with his head hanging in regret.
“Between the lack of information in the reports and the fact that Ryan didn’t live in our town, I had no choice. I had to go find her and study her. We need to understand what the connection is with her and the stone. We have to make sure we piece together her relationship and importance to Ryan before you pursue her…otherwise it could—”
“Do you think I would carelessly put my desire for a mate first and potentially cause turmoil in this family? I knew this was something I would have figure out first,” Steffan shouted and interrupted Eilian. Steffan pulled the stone from his pocket and laid it out on the white satin sheets of his bed.
“Eilian, from the moment I first touched this stone on the night I turned Ryan, I made it a point to understand the connection before I pursued anything that was inherent in the touch reaction.”
Steffan rose from the bed, and Eilian straightened from his crouch. Steffan paced the bedroom.
“I told you, Ryan doesn’t recall the stone as ever belonging to him. I entered his mind several times. There’s no one there. I had him hold on to the stone. Nothing sparked for him. I can’t find anyone that he retained in his images or emotion. I talked to Vaughn, and Ryan never made mention of anyone when he came up here to visit. I’m telling you, I did my due diligence before I started trying to connect with whoever had touched the stone within that twenty-four-hour period and projected compatibility onto me.”
“Steffan, we have to be sure…”
“You want to know how damn sure I am?”
Eilian sat on the edge of the bed quietly awaiting Steffan’s response.
“After I was able to acquire her image, her scent, her voice…I projected everything, all of her, into Ryan.”
“And?”
“And still, nothing. Absolutely no reaction or recollection. Nothing. He has no clue who she is.”
Eilian sighed. “Absolutely nothing at all?”
Steffan shook his head.
“Well then, I would certainly say you did everything you could.” Eilian paused for a moment, smiled, and continued, “That makes me even more certain of their connection that I was able to piece together.”
Steffan ran his fingers through his unruly hair and his other hand rested at his hip.
“And you couldn’t tell me you already figured out their connection before I went on rambling?”
“I had to know what your frame of mind was, for your own protection. I knew your connection to her was deep. I didn’t know if you were going to be strong enough to look past your desire to pursue her as your mate or uphold the family’s principles first, you know…look at the situation from an ethical standpoint and think about the impact it could have on Ryan,” Eilian explained.
“After all these years…I thought you knew me better than that,” Steffan said with a hint of resentment.
“I’m sorry to have doubted you, Steffan. I was just looking out for your best interests. But I have no doubts now. You are truly a selfless man.”
Steffan nodded in understanding, his hand crossed over his chest. “Now, what is the connection?”
“She works part-time at that metaphysical shop in town, you know, Mystic’s Mirth, the one Michelle owns?”
“Dominic’s Michelle?”
“Yes,” Eilian responded.
“You are saying Dominic is somehow connected to my mate?”
“No, don’t you see what I am saying? Michelle’s shop is the link to the jasper, the jasper that linked you to your mate. Once I found her at the shop, I watched her for hours on end.”
“And,” Steffan said with agitation.
“And you could say Anya knew Ryan pretty well. He was engaged to Anise…her identical twin sister,” Eilian reported with a childlike enthusiasm.
“What? How do you know this to be absolutely true?” Steffan asked.
“At first, I got the sense that Anya was Ryan’s wife. But M.J. offered to come with me one day to watch her, you know, help make sense of it all,” Eilian explained.
“Given our past, I am surprised she wanted to help in my mate quest.”
“She holds no ill feelings. I think she is over you,” Eilian responded.
Steffan quickly changed the subject, “What in the hell is wrong with the man? He hasn’t recalled the woman he was engaged to? And, twins…identical twins, and he still didn’t recall anything even when I projected Anya’s images in his mind? Did she not mean much to him? Did he just view her as an object or possession? I mean, he put the house in her name, for Christ’s sake!”
“I know, it’s strange, really. He could recall all of his material positions, but no human connections. In fact, I am really tired of hearing about the damn Mercedes he wrecked in the accident. Didn’t you promise to replace it?”
Steffan let out a long sigh. “Yes.” He took a seat on the bed next to Eilian, crossing one knee over the mattress so he could face Eilian. “That was the only thing I could offer to appease him after I told him about the situation with the house. Well, that and the new house he could build to his specifications. That reminds me, is he working well with Richard?”
“For the most part. Although Richard has his moments of frustration. Ryan keeps changing the plans, always saying he wants it bigger than Steffan’s house. He apparently still doesn’t understand that your house serves as the main portal to the underground.”
“By the way, did you remind everyone to use the tunnels while our new mortal resident is out roaming the grounds?”
“They know. Everyone has been briefed. Anyway, about the red jasper. Ryan got the stone from Mystic’s Mirth. Anya must’ve handled the stone just enough to leave a good amount of trace on it, rubbing and clutching it before wrapping it up for Ryan the morning of the accident. I tell you, the timing of her touch on that stone that morning and him dropping in your hands that very same evening was pure luck.” Eilian shook his head in disbelief.
“Rubbing and clutching the stone?” Steffan asked, a look of confusion plainly etched in his expression.
“Yeah, they teach people about the properties of stones at the shop. How to use them, draw out their energy and healing power by rubbing it on an ailing part of the body, rubbing it with your fingers to disperse negative energy, things like that.”
Eilian drew the stone by its cord as it sat between Steffan and Eilian on the white, satin sheet. Eilian dangled it in front of Steffan’s eyes.
“How should I put this? This particular stone is said to have the power of arousal and to promote sexual gratification.”
“You don’t believe that, do you?” Steffan chuckled as he reached for the stone.
“Actually, it’s quite interesting. Ancient shamans believe that stone’s first and foremost purpose is to provide a layer of protection to those around it. The sexuality aspect, however, the power to encourage sexual compatibility, to create arousal and to prolong sexual pleasure, is its secondary power and is only released when there’s a pure connection made between two people who have touched the stone.”
; Steffan clutched the stone tightly in his grip. “I never believed in anything like this before.”
“So you’re saying you regularly dry hump the air in the corner of your house and bring yourself to an orgasm in your pants?”
“Good point.” Steffan rolled his eyes.
“Never, ever do that in front of me again,” Eilian stated.
Steffan hung his head in obvious embarrassment as he recalled the moment. “What else did you find out? I mean, what is her day like? What does she do?”
“She only works at Michelle’s store in the morning. By afternoon, she’s busy giving cello lessons in the warehouse district downtown. She plays elegantly and beautifully. Very much up to your standards, you’ll find.”
“Magnificent.”
“On the weekends, she volunteers her time to teach music to underprivileged kids. She even contributed her own money to the program and raised additional funds from donations and grants to purchase all of the instruments for the children to practice on.”
“Wow.” Steffan responded. He felt childish in his response and sat quietly in his reflection.
“Steffan, now hear me out on this.” Eilian paused and chose his words carefully as he spoke. “I’m overcome with a feeling of…unconditional closeness to her.”
“What are you saying?”
“I watched her for days on end because I didn’t get it at first. She felt so familiar to me, so comforting. Then it finally dawned on me. She was projecting you. I see so much of your mannerism in everything she does naturally, all the things you do and how you carry yourself mirrored in her. Anya even bites down on her pinky finger when she’s in deep thought like you. But honestly, she’s like-minded in the need to help people, placing the needs of others before anything else. You both are equal in that passion. And the music, my god, the music! There is no question about this. I hold no attraction for her even though she’s clearly beautiful and I feel a strong kinship to her without having met. It’s all because Anya is destined to be a part of our family, as your mate.”