“Too risky.” Oz looked at Selene. “You needed to get out of there tonight, before one or more of Tyrone’s goons showed up to do whatever it is he has planned for you. And believe me, whatever they have planned for you wouldn’t be pleasant.”
Several ideas of what Raymond Tyrone might have planned for Selene raced across Oz’s mind, and every one of them made his hatred for Tyrone burn stronger than the last.
“Remember what happened to Aurelia, a woman who willingly helped Tyrone. She never knew what he’d done to her, not until it was too late.” Oz stared out the window as a cold hollow pit opened in his gut. “You don’t want to be a revenant or a vampire.”
“I’d never help him. Never.” Shaking her head, she stared out the opposite window. “I’d die first.”
“He knows that, but he’d make you pay for your parents’ indiscretions.” Oz’s voice was a near mumble. The reality that he could have lost Selene before he had a chance to win her heart was near enough to make him physically sick.
“What indiscretions?” Selene turned to look at him, her expression a mix of confusion and anger. “As far as I know my parents never did anything wrong.”
There was a long silence, and no one moved for what seemed like ten minutes.
As the SUV pulled into the underground parking garage it was Hunter who responded. “Your parents believed in us. They believed in Serge and what he stood for. In Raymond’s eyes anyone who gives secrets to the enemy is a traitor. Your parents were two of our best allies and Raymond’s worst traitors.”
HER VAMPIRE PROTECTOR
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Making straight for Serge’s office to get some answers to the multitude of questions now running through her mind, Selene forgot all about the bags of possessions Alice had packed for her and the other members of The Guard who’d managed to turn her world upside down. The fact she was parading around the base in her pajamas did not phase her one bit. Though, the way Oz raced off in the opposite direction did.
“He can’t wait to get away from me,” she said to herself as she stomped down the hall still carrying the three pairs of shoes Maddie shoved into her hands. She should have known that when it came down to it, when the going really got tough, Oz wasn’t someone to be counted on. Oh, definitely good in a fight and good with emergencies, but anything deeper than killing revenants and chasing skirts and Oz was not your man. “Remember this, Selene. It will help to keep your head clear instead of floating in some foolish fantasy about a clod who will never, ever see past your boobs.”
She knocked on the door to Serge’s office and turned the knob at the same time, peeking inside the quiet room. “Serge?”
A lamp on the desk cast a triangle of light above several files that lay beside a closed laptop. The rest of the room remained dark.
Selene flipped the switch at the door, bathing the room in fluorescent light. Maps and spreadsheets lay on the worktable in the corner. Other than the giant tropical fish swimming in the tank in the wall there was no one in the room.
With a grunt she shut the door and went to her desk where she sat, staring at the starburst screensaver randomly exploding across the computer screen.
Vengeance? Her parents had been murdered. As with every other miserable thing that happened in Central City the man behind their deaths was Raymond Tyrone.
Selene wondered if Aunt Margery and Uncle Ralph knew. She wondered if they’d kept this secret all these years or if they would be as shocked as she to hear the truth.
Blue. Green. Red. White. Yellow. Brilliant splashes of color popped up here and there across the screen. Selene sat immobile, unable to move even a finger to awaken the computer.
Instead she watched with abject confusion.
Anger, cruel and unyielding anger, warred in her heart with the heartbreak of losing her parents. Now she wanted vengeance. She wanted Raymond Tyrone to die.
Why should such a vile, evil, and wretched man continue to walk the earth, to breathe, to think of ways to torture innocent people? Why did her parents, two of the kindest, most caring people, have to die?
She was no fool. Selene knew as clear as she knew she was sitting at her desk that she was no match for the likes of Raymond Tyrone. Openly confronting him would be announcing her own death wish and inviting him to execute it.
But there had to be something else she could do. There had to be some way to make him pay for everything he’d done to everyone in this city. It wasn’t simply the deaths of her parents or the demise of what had once been a beautiful, thriving city.
Hearing the nightly briefings and seeing the condition the guards came back in after battling the revenants proved Raymond Tyrone had no plans of quitting his savagery until he’d won or was killed.
Selene had no idea what she would do or how, but she would find a way to help The Vampire Guard stop Panthera Laboratories. She’d find a way to end Raymond Tyrone’s reign of terror.
Without thinking of what to do next, she set to work on spreadsheets and numbers, formulas, columns, graphs, and pie charts. When confused about what to do, work. That had always been her motto. Well, that and go to church where, if God wasn’t listening, Uncle Ralph and Aunt Margery were.
But at this late hour, under these circumstances work seemed like the better option. Besides, she was now in avoidance mode where it came to family. They’d humiliated her with the bizarre response to a vampire in church, which she did still wonder about and then Aunt Margery went into full-on lunatic mode, trying to marry her to Oz.
Rubbing her shoulders and rolling her head from side to side before letting it drop backward to leave her staring up at the ceiling, she slumped in the chair.
Traitors. Raymond Tyrone thought of her parents as traitors. Yet, supposedly, they believed in Serge and what he stood for, and Serge and The Guard considered them two of the best allies.
What exactly did Serge stand for? Humans? Not being a vampire? Changing back from a vampire?
Knowing Raymond Tyrone, he had probably rejoiced when her parents died. The very idea of someone celebrating the most horrific event of her life was unfathomable. Tyrone was an evil man who held grudges. It would not have surprised Selene if he did want to hurt her in some way to continue to make her parents pay.
She most definitely did not like the idea of becoming either revenant or vampire. She may have hated the late night visit by Maddie and Alice, the abrupt awakening and the not-so-hostile kidnapping, but they were a hell of a lot nicer than the alternatives. This evening they may have actually saved her life.
Selene turned off the computer. The realization she was incapable of concentrating and thus would make more mistakes than she’d be able to explain made it very clear working was no longer an option.
In spite of wanting answers it made no sense to tramp all over the base trying to find someone to question. At nearly three in the morning likely everyone was off the premises hunting revenants or staking out some newly discovered haunt of Tyrone’s.
There was no point in going down to the infirmary where she knew an empty bed could be found to try to sleep. Her mind ran from remembering the night of her parents’ deaths to worrying about Tyrone attacking her to Aunt Margery trying to marry her off to a very unwilling vampire. And then of course, said vampire, Oz, took up quite a bit of space in her brain.
She couldn’t work, couldn’t sleep, and wouldn’t exercise. With no desire or energy to attempt a workout, Selene wandered toward the kitchen. For sure a bowl of ice cream and a cup of hot cocoa would make this night better.
Settling on a chocolate cupcake covered with dark chocolate buttercream frosting and filled with chocolate ganache, Selene brought her treasure back to her office, not wanting to miss any opportunity to see Serge.
To her surprise as she entered the foyer to the administrative offices, raised voices could be heard arguing behind the door to Serge’s office. Easily she recognized Serge, Oz, Garrison, and Ricard as each man argued over the others about revena
nts and the poor residents of Central City.
Making her way back to her desk on tiptoes, she knew better than to linger at the door. It wasn’t getting caught eavesdropping that worried her. Instead, she had more concern that if she was caught, they’d lower their voices to ensure she didn’t hear a thing.
With eyes trained on the door and straining to listen, Selene quietly peeled the paper wrapper from her cupcake, licking the sweet, rich frosting from each finger as she stared at the door.
Serge’s voice boomed and Selene jumped. “We made a promise.”
Holding the cupcake poised at her lips, too intrigued to take a bite, she leaned forward. A promise? What promise? To whom?
“You made a promise,” Ricard argued. “Not me. I never made that promise.”
“Do you deny being inspired, driven even to finding the cure?” Serge challenged.
“No. I do not deny wanting a cure. But I never promised to experiment on anyone. Not like this.” The anger in Ricard’s voice was different than anything Selene had ever heard from him. As always his Spanish accent laced each word, but now a growl bordering on rage rumbled below the surface.
As if by pure automation she bit into the cupcake.
“Not even for the greater good?” Oz asked.
Chocolate perfection filled her mouth. The sweet hint of burnt sugar hit her tongue. The creamy buttery frosting coated the roof of her mouth. The essence of cherry brandy oozed with the ganache, and in spite of the intrigue, Selene closed her eyes to savor each flavor.
“Not for science. Not for you. Not for anyone.” Something metal scraped across the floor behind the door. “You leave me weary and worried for what you’ve become, Serge,” Ricard said. “I have always believed in your cause, but this is too much.”
“There is no need to worry, Ricard. I would not force you to do anything you did not willingly agree with,” Serge said.
“What if you had a willing volunteer?” Oz asked.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about Oswald,” Ricard said.
“I know what it was like to become a vampire. I can bet going back is just as bad. But someone has to be first.”
Selene opened her eyes. He wasn’t truly going to offer himself, was he? She gulped, swallowing thick, chocolaty goop that had tasted scrumptious only a second earlier, but now sat like a boiled egg in her throat.
“Besides, how long does a man need to be on this earth?” Oz asked.
Water. She needed water to clear the lump in her throat.
“Reversing the effects will take a miracle, and assuming it works, it would be the most horrific event of your life,” Ricard said.
Not bothering to worry about how lightly she was not walking Selene darted across the office to the water cooler stationed in the waiting area outside Serge’s office. She needed something to get the lump of chocolate down her throat before a fit of hacking coughs alerted everyone in that room of her awkward, sneaky eavesdropping.
“I’m sure you’re right, but someone has to make the sacrifice,” Oz said. His voice remained unwavering. “Besides, it’s possible being the focal point of this experiment is my destiny. This may be my entire purpose for living.”
“Don’t be a fool. You won’t survive. I have no idea what the purpose to you living is, but I know my purpose does not encompass experimenting on you,” Ricard snapped.
No cups! Not one damn cup remained in the little dispenser. The glob of chocolate lodged in her throat seemed to be growing by the second. Swallowing was not working and breathing was becoming impossible.
She couldn’t wait, couldn’t run back across the office to search through the supply closet. Instead, she bent over, positioning her mouth beneath the spigot and pushed the nozzle, sending freezing cold water rushing into her mouth.
Had she planted the stupid idea of sacrificing himself in Oswald’s head? Was she at fault for this? Was he doing this because she made him think it was good, and right, and valiant? What had she done?
The door to Serge’s office opened.
“If I can do one good thing with my life, let me. Why would you deny me the opportunity to save our kind?” Oz tore out of the room, moving too quickly for Selene to see him coming.
It was the sound of water glugging, then the feel of it sloshing down the front of her pajamas, followed by the weight of Oz’s body pinning her atop the now crushed cooler that made her realize he’d left Serge’s office and promptly tripped over her hunched body.
“Unbelievable.” Ricard stepped over them, his feet splashing in the five gallons of water now gushing over the floor. “Just unbelievable. It could not be more obvious that you were not ‘meant’ to be an experiment. Your purpose lies right in front of you. I’m going back to the lab. But mark my words, I’m not experimenting on anyone.”
HER VAMPIRE PROTECTOR
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The warm softness of Selene’s ass pressing into Oz’s abdomen banished every other thought from his mind. Her body fit perfectly with his.
Her heated back against his chest and the way her hair smelled clean and sweet, like one of those mists he’d walked through at the perfume counter of a department store, made it near impossible for him to think of moving away.
He wanted nothing more than to hold her close like this all night, to cradle her softness against himself and listen to her sleep. He’d wanted this for so long.
“Oswald,” she said his name, and the sound was perfect. In fact, it was the only sound he wanted to hear on her lips as he held her. “Oswald.”
She squirmed beneath him. The sensation of her writhing body moving against his was nearly his undoing.
“Oswald!” Selene’s shout alone knocked him sideways to land on his ass in a puddle of water. “Get off! You’re crushing me!” She crawled off the water cooler that Oz only now realized was crumpled beneath her. “What is wrong with you?”
With wet hair dripping to her shoulders and soaked clothing clinging to her body, she stared at him, and he had the oddest feeling he’d somehow turned himself into a spectacle, possibly a headlining act at a freak show.
Every time she blinked droplets of water sprayed from her lashes sending shimmers to dot her cheeks, cheeks that he’d have given anything to touch. She had high cheekbones and long lashes, such that whenever her eyes opened the lashes brushed the skin in what Oz was sure had to be a feathery caress.
Slap!
“Ow!” Oz rubbed his cheek, which for the third time in one night burned from Selene’s touch. It was not exactly how he’d ever imagined his bare skin would feel against hers. “What was that for?”
“What in the hell is wrong with you?” She backed away in a crab walk, feet slipping out from under her. “Damn it!”
Serge reached down to assist Selene to her feet.
“Thank you.” She jerked her bathrobe closed, and Oz could not have felt more conflicted. Gone was the view of her water soaked pajamas, which left very little to the imagination. An odd sense of loss tightened his chest while at the same time an insane desire to gouge out the eyes of every man in the room burned in his gut.
“Stop touching her.” He rose to his full height and stepped over the water cooler. “Stop. Touching. Her.”
Serge released Selene’s arm and gave a very slight nod.
“What is your damn problem?” Her back stiffened, chest pushing out. Then, in the most predictable way, she planted her hands on her hips in a stance that simply dared Oz to take her right then and there.
Selene was the problem. A major problem.
It took at least twenty seconds of internal chastising, warning, and literal planning on how not to touch her before Oz could even consider speaking. And, during that time the little pipsqueak stood, glaring at him as if she was a force of nature. Which she was, only Oz could not define exactly what that force was.
He breathed in, and although he wanted nothing more than to take the deepest breath he could to fill his lungs with nothing but he
r scent, he cut it short, knowing he was simply embarrassing himself. “I didn’t see you there.”
“I suspected that might have been the case.” Her expression didn’t waver.
“I apologize, but why were you bent over with your mouth on the water cooler?”
“My mouth was not on the cooler. It was below the spigot.”
“It was on it. I saw it.”
“I thought you didn’t see me.” Her left eye narrowed.
Oz shook his head. “Never mind.”
A camera shutter clicked rapidly.
“I will shove that camera so far up your…” Selene spun on Garrison, who lurched backward, hands up as if in surrender.
“Selene, you probably heard us debating about experimenting,” Serge said, blessedly changing the subject as he stepped over the water cooler. “We are not all in agreement, and as I’m the leader of this organization I need to make some difficult decisions that not everyone will appreciate or approve of.”
Oz turned toward Serge, ripping his attention from Selene. This was it. Serge had decided. Oz was going to have his chance to prove himself, to demonstrate that he could be more than muscle in a fight.
“Sometimes we have to do dangerous things that may even seem foolhardy and asinine.” Serge dropped into one of the dark gray chairs clustered in the waiting area. “Sometimes we have to let go of people, things, ideals.”
“What? You’re not serious, are you?” Selene scurried toward Serge.
“Yes. It’s time.”
“It’s a terrible idea. What about all the things I said? What about accepting who you are?” She threw her hands up. “You, you said, something like I was right or something like that in the kitchen. You can’t possibly think trying to change back is what you’re supposed to do.”
Oz nodded. “It’s time. I’m ready. I’m prepared to make the sacrifice for the betterment of humanity.”
“What?” Selene spun so quickly water shot from her hair, spraying everyone and thing in a six-foot radius. “You’re ready? I…you…there is no damn way I’m letting you be experimented on. Not after I’ve finally figured out that you’re the one from the crash. You’re the one who swore to protect me.”
Under The Kissing Bough: 15 Romantic Holiday Novellas Page 106