by L. E. Wilson
“I know. It was a long trip. I’m very sorry I kept you in there so long,” he murmured as he stroked her silky feathers. He heard the door click shut, but resisted the urge to look in that direction. He knew it was hard for Shea to give in; he wouldn’t make a big deal about it. She set her own bag on the nearest bed and went into the bathroom. He heard the water come on in the sink.
When she came out, she sat down and traced the pattern on the white comforter with one elegant fingertip. Jesse gave her the time to work out what she wanted to say.
“There are two beds.”
It amused him that the beds were the first things she was worried about. She appeared unable to decide if she was happy about their sleeping arrangement, or disappointed. He tried to hide his smile, but was unsuccessful. So, he made a pretense of setting Cruthú on the sitting chair by the window and bent down to unpack his things. “Of course. I want to keep you near, Shea. However, I wouldn’t want to cause you pain, even accidentally, as we sleep. And I am much more comfortable in a bed than trying to sleep in a chair.” Opening one of the dresser drawers, he started putting his things away.
She rubbed her forehead with her fingertips.
“I only need the drawers on this side.” He indicated which ones with a nod, as his hands were full of clothes. “You’re welcome to use the rest.”
“I normally just live out of my bag when I travel,” she told him.
A survivor through and through. Always ready to run. Why was he not surprised? “Well, if you change your mind, there’s plenty of room.”
“Thank you.”
Her voice cracked, and Jesse spun around on his heel, clothes forgotten. “Shea? What is it?”
She shook her head.
Angry that she still refused to open up to him, he helped himself to her thoughts, and quickly got the gist of what was upsetting her.
Basically, everything. The entire situation.
“I wish you would talk to me, Shea. Please talk to me.”
But she just looked away.
Patience. He needed to have patience. “I’m going to take a quick shower. I would ask that you not leave this room.” Once he’d ascertained that she wasn’t going anywhere, he went into the bathroom. Leaving the door cracked open just enough that he would see her if she ignored his request, he quickly and efficiently got cleaned up and dressed in black cargo pants and a forest green, short-sleeved pullover. When he came out, Shea was still sitting right where he had left her. And she was still worrying over things that were out of her control. It wouldn’t solve anything.
The remainder of his unpacking forgotten, he went to sit near her. She stiffened—her automatic response whenever he got too close, it seemed—but didn’t move away. Jesse had the passing thought that if he were a normal male without his many abilities, he would be quite convinced that this female wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. Luckily, he was not a normal male, so he knew exactly what was upsetting her.
“Shea, I will fix this between us. And the others will come around. You’ll see. They’re just angry right now, and striking out.” He supposed he would do the same, were the situation reversed. “And understandably so.”
She looked up at him then, and her green eyes were shining with unshed tears. “I hope you’re right.”
“I am,” he told her with maybe a little too much confidence.
One corner of her mouth turned up in the barest hint of a smile. Then she sniffed and took a breath. “So, what do we do now?”
“Now, we go find out the location of the demon’s blood. But first”—he stopped her from getting up—“we feed you.”
At his words, she immediately recoiled and shook her head. “No. I’m fine.”
But Jesse was adamant. “You’re not fine, Shea. You’re pale and shaky, and your lovely eyes are beginning to look too large for your face. You need to feed.” His tone would brook no argument, and for once, she didn’t push it.
“I brought the bags. I’ll drink one of those.”
His heart dropped, and he had to quickly hide his disappointment. But he pushed aside his own feelings of rejection, happy that she would be getting some nutrients, even if he wasn’t the one providing for her. Giving her a nod, he left her to her meal and went to clean Cruthú’s cage. He had eaten on the plane. It would hold him over until he could find a store to stock the room.
“So, how are you paying for all of this?”
At least his vampire was still talking to him. This was good. “I am quite wealthy,” he said without preamble. He wasn’t bragging, but said it as a statement of fact. “Vampires aren’t the only ones who know how to work the system.” Setting the last few things inside, he shut the drawer and turned to Shea just as she tipped a bag of blood up to her mouth.
Her face screwed up in disgust, but she managed to take a few swallows. “Oh my gods, that’s disgusting.”
He eyed her steadily, his mouth twitching only slightly as he said, “I’d be more than happy to slit my wrist for you.”
Shea glanced down at the wounds from the day before. They were still healing, and she quickly looked away. She shook her head, holding up the bag in her hand with a grimace. “I’ll manage with this. It’s practically the same thing.”
The mood for teasing left. “You’ll have to drink from me again eventually, Shea. You know this as well as I do. I will find a way to cease the pain it causes you to touch me, if it even exists. The substance in that bag won’t sustain you for long.”
“No, but it will do for now.”
“Until you can bring yourself to deal with the shame of being mated to me? Or until you allow the thirst to kill you?”
“Jesse—”
But he held up a hand, palm out. “No. Don’t bother. I need to make a call. Shower if you’d like. I’ll wait for you downstairs in the lobby. Do not leave the hotel without me.” Leaving one of the key cards on the bed next to her, he pocketed the other and left the room, silently telling Cruthú that he would be back soon.
One day soon, his vampire would be begging for his lifeblood, and with a solemn heart, he knew that he would give it to her without hesitation. He would give her anything.
Except the demon blood.
Punching the button to the elevator, he whipped out his cell phone just as it started to ring. “I just arrived, and will be going soon,” he told the creature on the other end of the line. “I have someone with me. She is not to be harmed in any way, shape, or form, or the deal is off.” Hanging up, he put the phone back in his pocket just as the elevator doors opened.
Jesse stepped inside. As the doors slid closed, he let his shoulders slump with exhaustion as his head fell forward, chin resting on his chest.
Chapter 13
Mammot, or Steven, as he now liked to be called, punched the button on his cell phone, ending the call with the warlock. As he stuck it back in his pocket, he glanced down at the vials of blood laid out on the table before him: hundreds of them, wrapped in cloth to protect them. The dark one would not be finding this blood, nor would he be bringing that bitch anywhere near it.
The monks had taken good care of it, updating the containers that held it as more modern material became available. Pulling the phone out again, he pushed the pattern of numbers he’d memorized a few weeks before. He held it close to his ear, but not touching, as the skin in this vessel was apt to break off at the slightest provocation.
“Do you have the blood?” The voice at the other end of the line sounded bored.
“I do,” Steven told him. “It was exactly where you said it would be. And I did your little spell before we left.”
“Did it work?”
“Yes.”
“Perfect. How soon will you be on a flight?”
Steven leaned back in his chair and pulled aside the ugly curtain. He looked out the window of his borrowed apartment, watching the tourists dodge the businessmen as they hustled up and down the street. The sun peeked out from behind the clouds, hitting his f
ingers with a beam of sunlight. They promptly began to smoke.
He dropped the curtain with a curse, shutting out the daylight and rubbing the back of his hand on his jeans. These fucking bodies. They may last longer than the humans they possess, but being unable to go out in the sunlight was not conducive to getting things done. “That might be an issue.”
“Why is that? You don’t need money.”
“No, that’s not it. But we’ve been in these bodies for a long time. And they’re beginning to smell. Even if we broke up into smaller groups, the sight of us walking through a crowded airport will be sure to cause panic with the humans, which in turn will alert the vampires—and the warlock—to our exact location.”
There was a great sigh on the other end of the phone. “I will send a plane. Get the others together and meet it on the tarmac. I’ll tell you exactly where after it has landed. Don’t go into the building. We wouldn’t want to upset the human’s delicate sensibilities.”
“What of the warlock?”
“Play along with him. Don’t give him any reason to think you’re not going to carry through with your end of the deal. Once you are back here and returned to your original forms, and your power, I will deal with him—once I’m certain you don’t plan to fuck me over as well.”
Steven picked up a vial, rolling it between his fingers. “You don’t have to worry about that. We want the same thing. There is no reason for me to betray you.”
“Be sure to remember that. I’ll call you when the plane lands.” The connection cut off.
The blood spun within the vial, coating the clear sides before running down to join the whole.
Chapter 14
Shea found Jesse in the bar just off the lobby. He didn’t acknowledge her when she sat down one stool away from him, but she knew he was more than aware of her presence, just as she was of his. She stared at his strong profile. The neon lights cast shadows in the hollows of his cheeks, making them appear sharper than normal. “I’m not going to apologize,” she told him.
Pushing away the glass in front of him, he gave her a tight smile. “I wouldn’t expect you to, Shea. You can’t help the way you feel.” He stood up. “Are you ready to go?”
“Don’t you want to finish your drink?” There was a good two fingers of amber liquid left. Whiskey, from the smell of it. This was the second time she’d found him with an untouched drink in front of him.
“No. I’m good. We need to go.”
Shea slid off the stool. “Where are we going?”
The tense smile was back. “To pay our respects to a certain group of monks.”
“Are they dead?”
“Not yet.” Extending an arm to the side, he indicated for her to go before him. “There’s a rental car waiting in front of the hotel,” he told her.
Shea headed out the front doors with the warlock close on her heels, but she waited until they were alone in the car before she asked the question that was burning in her mind. “You’re going to kill them? The humans we’re going to see?”
“Only if they don’t give me what I want.”
“The location of the demon’s blood.”
“Yes.”
A horrifying thought occurred to her. “Do you expect me to help you? They’re innocent humans, and monks are male. I wouldn’t be able to touch them, even if I wanted to. Which I don’t.”
He gave her a sideways look. “Ridding ourselves of a few human lives is a small sacrifice to make to save the world.”
“But we don’t have to hurt them. You can read their minds, and I can make them forget we were ever there. There’s no need for violence.”
“A pacifist vampire? What are the odds?”
It took her a moment to realize that he had gotten over his pique and was teasing her. “They’re holy men,” was all she said.
She felt Jesse’s eyes on her, but didn’t feel the need to elaborate. It’s not that she was religious. The gods knew, after all she’d been through in her life, she didn’t believe there was any higher power looking out for her. Yet, she felt an affinity with others who lived a holy life. And monks believed all life was important, even the tiniest insect.
Perhaps they would even see the value in a deranged existence such as hers.
Shea turned away to stare out the window. He could make fun of her all he wanted, she wasn’t killing anyone just for the sake of doing so. So, instead of arguing more, she tried to get her bearings as to where they were. If she remembered correctly from the last time she was here, it looked like they were just leaving the residential areas. The city had changed a lot over the years, but the monk’s location had not. “Isn’t the Temple like, a few days drive from here?”
“We’re not going to the main temple. There’s a small group just outside of town at a smaller temple near Dalian Xijiao National Forest Park. They’re the ones we’re going to see.”
“Oh.”
He was quiet for a few seconds, and out of curiosity, she tried to open herself up to what he was feeling. But if he was experiencing any nervousness or disquiet of any kind, he was blocking it from her again. She’d never met anyone who could do that. It was disquieting.
“Or maybe I’m just not nervous,” he responded to her unspoken thought. “May I ask you something?” he added before she could scold him for reading her mind—again.
“Sure. But I’m not promising I’m going to answer you.”
He smirked a bit at that. “Fair enough. What was your life like before you became a vampire?”
“My life?”
“Yes. I’d like you to tell me about your human life.”
“I was a lady’s maid, for a very rich and spoiled lady in London.” And she was. At least for a little while.
He glanced at her with a small frown. “You don’t sound like a Londoner.”
“That’s because I was born in France.”
“Ah, yes. Makes more sense. You still have a slight accent.”
Shea would swear she had lost her accent a lifetime ago. As a matter of fact, she tried very hard not to sound French. But perhaps she was not as successful as she believed.
“Did you like being a lady’s maid?”
“I didn’t like or dislike it. It was what it was. My employer was kind, and I was grateful for the income.”
“Why did Luukas turn you?”
Memories, long forgotten, flashed through her mind at warp speed. Lost in the nostalgia of times past, she simply said, “Because I asked him to.”
Jesse kept his voice even and his foot easy on the gas pedal, as though he knew how fragile her attention was. “Why would you ask something like that?”
“So I could kill her.” The words were out before Shea realized she’d spoken them aloud. Frowning, she looked over at Jesse, but he was staring straight ahead.
“Kill who?” He sounded neither shocked nor horrified, just genuinely curious. His eyes went back and forth between Shea and the road as he waited for her answer.
“The lady I served.”
“And did you?”
“Yes.”
“Are you glad?”
She took a deep breath, and looked directly into his stunning golden eyes. “Yes,” she said. “I am. It had to be done.” His face wavered before her. Shea blinked hard, and felt a single tear slide down her cheek.
He searched her expression, and then he nodded once. “Good.” Looking forward again, he added, “We’re almost there.”
Shea directed her attention back to the road. She’d never told anyone that before. Not even Luukas. The Master Vampire had turned her because she’d told him she was sick and pleaded with him to save her. One taste of her blood and Luukas had quickly figured out that she was lying. However, to this day, he’d never questioned her choice.
Yet, it was surprisingly easy to share that most intimate detail of herself with Jesse. “She was my sister.” The words came out with no coercion.
Jesse nodded, as if he had known this all along. And perhaps
he had and just wanted to see if she would tell him. Fool that she was, she’d played right into it.
“You’re wrong. I didn’t know,” he said softly. “Not until just now.”
She’d had enough. “Get the fuck out of my head,” she told him through clenched teeth.
“Shea….” He paused, inhaling a quick breath and releasing it again. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I haven’t respected your wishes, and I apologize.” He paused, and when he spoke again, his words were rushed, like he didn’t want to say them but felt that he needed to. “It’s hard for me to be patient, to feel any kind of separation from you, even if it’s simply something you don’t want me to know.” One side of his mouth lifted in a small smile. “Particularly if it’s something you don’t want me to know.” He glanced over at her. “I’m so used to doing it, I don’t realize that I am at times. With the company I’m used to keeping, it was necessary for my survival to know what others were thinking. I promise I’ll try to stop…for you.”
She sighed audibly, feeling like a complete bitch. “Jesse, I just—” She trailed off, unsure how to say what she wanted to say, or even what it was.
“I know. It’s all right.”
No more was said, for they turned down a gravel road that discouraged conversation, and soon arrived at their destination. The temple at the edge of the forest was surrounded by leafy trees, the stones weathered and covered with creeping vines, but alive with the ancient spirits of the monks who had come before. A light mist blocked the light from the torches burning on either side of the doorway, and made the entire scene dreamy and mystical. Shea kept her voice to a whisper, afraid of disturbing the peace and solitude of the place. “Are they expecting us?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know they’re here?”
Jesse gave her a look that seemed to say, “You really need to ask me that?” then got out of the car.
With another quick look around, Shea joined him.