A Forever Mate: Vampire Assassin League #18

by Jackie Ivie

  Holy hell.

  This was too much sensory stimulation, way too early in the morning, and way too soon in any relationship. And she was a novice. He was back. He held a bottle of spring water. Sealed. It was covered with water that dripped from the icy bath it had been in. The drops landed on her, making her jerk slightly each time. To disguise all of it, she started speaking.

  “You have... bottled water? Just like that? At your fingertips?”

  “Apparently, I have access to all sorts of things. Let me see... I’ve got lotions. Lubricants. Uh... this is odd. A tube of chocolate-flavored body jelly?”

  He was reaching again, lunging up, and putting all sorts of stimuli against her. Jill tipped her head to watch. The headboard must be following the theme of the bathroom. It was chrome-edged and made of glass. But it wasn’t see-through. Their headboard was one gigantic mirror. It reflected her as a shadowy darkness against the white sheets. There was a basket of items atop the headboard. She watched as he shuffled around in it.

  “Here’s a packet of roasted almonds. A tin of rose-scented wax. And a selection of these things.”

  He held a sealed condom package. Jill almost giggled. It was better to stay busy. She sat up, pretending not to notice anyone’s lack of clothing, opened her water bottle, doused her eye, steadied the bottle between her thighs, stanched any blush over that sensation, and then flipped the contact out. She was on her way to putting it in her mouth when she realized something completely incredible.

  She could see.

  Perfectly.

  It was better than she’d ever dreamed. No. Wait. It was beyond that. She had ultra-vision. Jill cried out and clapped her hands, and didn’t even care at that moment that she lost the lens.

  “What is it? What happened?”

  Sebastian was on his knees beside her instantly, lifting the bottle from her to glare at it. And then he turned a puzzled expression to her as she started laughing.

  “I can see! Oh, Sebastian... I can see!”

  He settled onto his buttocks, giving her a perfect view of perfect male, arrayed in absolutely nothing but air. Oh. My. This man? In that pose? The entire sculpting class would faint. And her new eyesight didn’t miss an inch.

  “Oh, Jill. Jill. Get a grip, Girl. Even if this doesn’t change, you’ll need to get it verified. Checked. Good thing you have a spare pair of contacts at your hotel. And your glasses. Because this... is not... possible.”

  He ran a finger up the inside of her arm. “You are talking to yourself again.”

  “Yeah. I know. Supposedly that’s a side-effect of Aspergers.”

  “Asp-what?”

  “Aspergers. That’s why I was home-schooled. And that’s why I am now broke.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t have it. Okay? I’ve been tested and re-tested, and poked and prodded, and just because I exhibit behaviors that some people find odd, does not mean I have been misdiagnosed.”

  “Mis... diagnosed?”

  “I do not have Aspergers.” Jill said again. “Look. If you want the clinical description, supposedly it’s an autism spectrum disorder characterized by difficulty with social interaction, intense fascination with one thing – in my case, fine art and sculpting. Oh! And sometimes it leads to very high IQ ratings.”

  “IQ ratings?”

  “You haven’t heard of that, either? It stands for Intelligence Quotient. And it’s all so pointless. The medical community isn’t even specific on what Aspergers is... or even if it exists. My parents had me tested. Twice. Both times came back negative. I’m fine. A bit withdrawn and antisocial, but completely normal. My parents agreed. My guardians didn’t. They spent almost every dime I own trying to get a proper diagnosis so I could be cured. Or so, they told the court when I sued them.”

  Her voice cracked. Stupid girl. What was the matter with her? She’d had the most amazing experience with the most unbelievable guy, and now she’d gained perfect sight! What a crazy time to bring up nonsense like this.

  “That is in your past, Jill.”

  “Yeah. I know. Thanks for the reminder.”

  “It’s not a reminder. It’s fact. You are my mate. We’ve shared blood. Physical ailments will never happen to you again.”

  “And there you go again, right into the psychotic arena. Sebastian. Listen. I think you’re... a-a-amazing. For my first ex-experience with... um... s-sex...” Crap. She was stuttering and blushing.

  “This better have a good ending,” he replied.

  “That’s just it. The ending stuff. Sometimes relationships work out. E-e-even those based on really great s-s-sex. Like... um... ours.”

  He growled. That didn’t sound like a good sign.

  “I’m not complaining... really. I’m more... overawed. Okay? I’m just, uh... working it out aloud here.”

  “You are my mate, Jill.”

  The bed shook beneath them. A picture fell off the wall behind him. She watched it from over his shoulder. Man! He had a great voice. She swallowed.

  “Wow. Sebastian. We really need to do something about that possessive streak of yours if we want a relationship. Okay? You can’t just up and claim me. This is not the Middle Ages. Men no longer have the right to own women. Got it?”

  He smiled at her, as if she’d said something amusing.

  “You mistake me, my love. It’s more than that. You see, it isn’t possession. It’s reality. And it works both ways. You are not just my mate. I am yours, as well.”

  “Well. That certainly has possibilities.”

  She was teasing. He wasn’t.

  “It was a surprise to me, as well.”

  “You see? Even you realize how bizarre this is.”

  “You mistake me again. It was a surprise because I was not expecting it. I had a wife. I loved her. I did not think it possible to love another. And to actually have and find my true mate? I thought it a fairytale. I was a naïve fool. I know that now. It has happened to me... despite everything.”

  “Wait a minute. You’re married?”

  “No. No, sweetheart. I am a widower.”

  “Was she very beautiful?” And why on earth did she have to ask that?

  “There is no comparison to you,” he replied.

  “You see? Even you realize how incongruous we are.”

  He gave worse than a growl this time. It was a deep throb of noise that punctuated the stillness.

  “You mistake me again! I say there is no comparison, because it is true. My time with Isabelle was sweet. Now? It is but a memory. A mere blink in the span of eternity. She was not my mate. I know that now. You are. And make no mistake, Jill. You are perfection, itself. Finding you is a prize I am unworthy to even grasp, let alone receive. And yet here you are. Do you understand yet?”

  “We can’t possibly be mates, Sebastian. I mean, honestly. Look at us. Just look.”

  She gestured to the headboard mirror and watched her movement coming from a weirdly indistinct and shadowy form. Sebastian wasn’t anywhere in the mirror.

  “Um. Sebastian?”

  Her reflection reached for him. She connected with a lightning shock that went right down her arm and into her chest, where it muted and then surrounded her heart with warmth. That sensation wasn’t probable. It certainly wasn’t physically verifiable. It still happened. And while that was distinct and real – her fingers told her how real – she watched as her reflection touched absolutely nothing.

  “Yes?”

  He was there. The word not only rumbled in the air, but she felt it reverberate through his chest where she was still touching.

  “You’re not in the mirror.”

  Her voice quavered. It was far shy of the reaction just starting somewhere deep within her, coming up from the dark corner where she’d once gone when her parents first died. The place that might actually be insane.

  “I know,” he replied. “I have no reflection. I haven’t for centuries.”

  “Why not?”

  “I told you. I a
m a vampire.”

  Jill blinked several times. Narrowed her eyes. Nothing in the mirror changed. She was still there, shadowy but provable. He wasn’t. She turned and looked at him. Back to the mirror. Back to him.

  “This is not possible.”

  He choked. He was probably amused. She wasn’t. She was busily assimilating facts. Reality. Emotions. None of this fit into any of her mental compartments, even if she tossed out the word impossible.

  He’s a vampire?

  From the bathroom area, a strange chirping noise started. It was barely audible. They both turned their heads toward it.

  “I appear to have a call,” Sebastian said. “You won’t move while I fetch my cell?”

  “I might faint.”

  “In that case, I’ll just take you with me.”

  A moment later, she was atop a shoulder, surveying all sorts of damage in what had been a luxurious bathroom. She’d never moved that rapidly in her life. Ever. She watched her reflection in a shard of glass, hanging from a broken frame. She looked like she hovered in mid-air.

  Strange.

  She didn’t feel insane.

  Despite the proof before her eyes.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Sebastian stooped to retrieve his trousers, found the cell phone pack in the back pocket. Slid one out. The entire time, he was trying to ignore how it felt to have her weight atop his shoulder.

  Her naked weight.

  Mating was too new. She was too wondrous. Every moment heightened a physical desire and need he was having trouble coming to grips with. His voice had a tremor as he answered his call.

  “Yes?”

  “Is this Sebastian Cole?”

  “Who were you expecting?”

  “Oh. I was expecting the Shah of Persia to answer your line. Who else?”

  Akron answered before Sebastian formed an answer. He could usually trade quips with Nigel without thinking. He was having trouble with that at the moment. His mate was giving off the most amazing sensation of warmth, and her scent had gotten more enticing. Intense. She definitely smelled like a sun-warmed field of lavender.

  “Nigel. Cease wasting time on frivolities. Have you reached Cole yet?”

  “Yes, Sir. He’s on the line.”

  “Good. Sebastian?”

  “Sir?”

  “Listen up. I appear to have made a few miscalculations in your last assignment.”

  Sebastian frowned. The private investigator? “Bracket’s dead,” he informed them.

  “Yes. I know. That’s not the part I’m referring to. Let me start by saying I’m rather grateful you used a new pilot this trip... especially one who is too young to worry over the effects of smoking. I’m also grateful that you gave him our number in the event of trouble.”

  “Ivan... had trouble?”

  “Yes. Well. Apparently, your new pilot, Ivan, stepped out for a smoke just after you landed. He is a very good man. You did well in selecting him. He noticed a lot of strange men about. Men who were wearing an odd shade of camouflage and carrying strange-looking weapons. Sound familiar?”

  “Hunters?”

  “Exactly. They have now surrounded the hangar. They’d have Ivan in interrogation if he hadn’t been sharp enough to call us... after you failed to pick up, of course. I don’t suppose you checked your messages lately?”

  “No.”

  “Well. I’ll just continue, then. That was my first miscalculation on this assignment. Pity. I really like that airfield.”

  “My failure to pick up the cell?” Sebastian asked.

  Akron chuckled. “No. No. I underestimated the amount of intelligence the Hunters actually possess. And sometimes even display. At the strangest moments. That was mistake one. They are now in control of your plane. And they know you are in the vicinity. Care to know what mistake number two was?”

  “What?”

  “Believing my associates when they say they detest a place. I actually took that to mean that a certain fellow actually did detest Paris. And wouldn’t still be encamped there.”

  Sebastian colored slightly. “I... found my mate.”

  “No way!” Nigel inserted. “He did not—.”

  “Nigel. Please. Hasn’t it ever occured to you that I might have a slight foreboding that something like this might happen? And that, maybe – just maybe – I make certain associates are in the exact place they need to be? Even if they claim to detest it?”

  “You... know?”

  “Oh. Dear. That sounds like a harbinger to future harassment. Perhaps I shouldn’t have given you that information.”

  “You mean... you know when my mate is going to show up?”

  “Perhaps.”

  “Really? Oh, Sir! That is so... totally cool! Where is she? What is she like? What nationality? Is she cute? Stacked? Can I meet her? See her? Check her out? Come on, Sir! Can’t I get just a hint?”

  “You know, Nigel. I am perfectly capable of avoiding this conversation until any mate of yours is well into her middle years. It might be considered by some to be a favor, since you did mention something about being cougar bait. Yes?”

  “What? Oh, please Sir. No. Not over forty-five. Please? I’m begging here. I can’t handle saggy boobs.”

  Akron laughed heartily. Sebastian’s ears rang. He had to move the phone away.

  “I do enjoy your company, Nigel. I really do. You are so... refreshing. You haven’t much in the way of sensitivity training, and zero sense of political correctness, but you are honest. Direct. And endlessly amusing. Sebastian?”

  “Yes?”

  “We’ll call you back. New phone.”

  The line went dead. Sebastian pitched that phone into the wreck of room behind him and slid another one out. Opened it. Pressed the “call” button. It went live instantly and Akron was already speaking.

  “...and if she’s a toddler? What then? You don’t want to know. Trust me, Nigel. Ah. Sebastian is back. Do you have your mate with you?”

  Sebastian glanced sidelong at Jill’s posterior atop his shoulder. His heart stuttered. Hmm. She had a very nice—

  “I take it that’s a yes,” Akron said.

  Sebastian choked. Colored. “Uh. Yes. Yes. I have her.”

  “Good. I also take it you’re still in the Oubliette Suite?”

  “How do you know that?”

  “You are a victim of your own arrogance, Sebastian. You used your real name to book the reservations, and you went through a travel agency. We’ve known where you were the moment we were informed that Hunters were on your trail. We scrambled all data to reservation desks to every major hotel in the city, and a few seedier places that Nigel picked out. While, that’s bound to give some front desk clerks nightmares, it isn’t fool-proof. And the Hunters aren’t fools. They might not know where you are yet, but I’m not underestimating their intelligence a second time. They sent two of their best after you. Pair Hunters. With a total of eight pair patches between them. I do not wish them to gain a ninth. That suite has access to the tunnels?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. I have Ivan and another jet fueled and ready at Cobley Airfield. Do you know where that is?”

  “I’ll find it.”

  “You do that. And Sebastian? If this was any other associate... I’d be making plans for their wake. Good luck.”

  The phone went dead. Sebastian chucked it, grabbed up his trousers, boots, sword, her cast-off clothing, and was back in the room before Jill spoke.

  “Okay. Okay. You move too fast. Holy cow, Sebastian. Slow down for a second.”

  “No time. You heard?”

  Sebastian bent forward and put her on her feet. And then, despite everything, he stopped for a moment and just absorbed the sight. Oh! Mating had such power. He hadn’t known. He hadn’t guessed. And, now that he had it, he wasn’t letting anyone take it from him. Especially a Hunter. His face set. His muscles went taut. Battle-ready.

  “I heard... a lot of stuff. Now I have to absorb and believe it. Let me get
this straight. Vampires are not only real, but so are vampire hunters?”

  “Yes. Here. Dress. Quickly. Please?”

  “And they really do hunt vampires?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “They don’t like us. The feeling is mutual.”

  “Now, this is really stupid. We aren’t just starting wars nowadays, we’re still having them in folklore? Why can’t everybody just get along, huh?”

  Sebastian had his pants on. Belted in place. His feet shoved into boots. His armbands strapped on. She’d donned her hip garment but stopped there to query him with her breast band thing dangling from her fingers. Sebastian had to look away. She was so tempting!

  “Please, Jill. We must hurry!”

  “Okay. Okay. Say I believe you. You’re a vampire. And I’ll go out on a limb and sound really crazy by saying I’m halfway to being one. But do I really have to believe in the vampire hunting stuff, too?”

  “It’s true. All of it. I swear. Please dress, love.”

  “But... why?”

  “So we can escape!”

  He glanced at her. She’d put breast-binding thing on. That piece of equipment wasn’t helpful. It was actually lifted her breasts somehow, creating cleavage that drew his eye and hardened his loins. Sebastian looked quickly away again.

  “I got that part. But I want to know why. Why on earth do they go around hunting vampires still?”

  “So they can kill us?”

  “Hasn’t there been any effort made toward peace? You’ve had... oh! I don’t know. Centuries? Millennia? Whatever the number. You’ve all had years of battling and not one of you ever thought of trying for a treaty?”

  “Please hurry, darling. Here.”

  He held out her shirt. Waited until the swish of fabric meant she’d donned it. And then he looked. That was almost worse. She was holding both sides and clicking her tongue, probably dismayed at the wreckage of the placket. He watched as she spun the ends into ties, revealing most of her midriff before she fastened a knot directly beneath her breasts. Sebastian’s knees wobbled. His eyes went wide.

  Oh. My.

  That view could severely hamper his concentration.

  “Well. I look like something from out of a seventies disco show, but I’m ready. What now?”