Eternal Ever After

by A. C. James

  His mouth looked serious when he said it but there was a joking light in his eyes. It warred with the gentlemanly side of him that I saw so often. The side that it seemed he slipped into when he forgot the customs of his current time period. The contradiction, though tough to swallow, was a total turn-on.

  I took a bite of sausage. Even though I wasn’t much for breakfast, I appreciated the gesture. And part of me really wanted to take him up on it—both being tied up and the fucking. “Thanks for breakfast. There’s nothing like sausage on a cold day like this.”

  A wide grin spread across his face before I realized what I’d said. “Indeed.”

  Half-moon indentations pressed into my palm as I gripped my fork. I sighed and went back to eating my sausage instead of acknowledging the embarrassment that I’m sure Arie could read on my face.

  CHAPTER 11

  Arie drove as we headed over to the club. Out front I could see Victoria scribbling on a clipboard outside. The snow almost disappeared in the fair strands of her hair. Her pale skin, almost the color of her hair, contrasted against the gray coat she wore. With tiny features, pale pink lips, and an angular chin, I thought she looked like an angel standing in the snow.

  “Have you always dreamt what is true?”

  I shrugged. “Yeah. I guess so. But not all my dreams are like that.”

  He parked the Venom and we headed inside. The lobby stood unattended and we crossed the black marble to the bar at the downstairs Goth club, which at the moment was closed.

  “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

  I nodded to Arie and perched on an empty stool at the bar. Victoria slid behind the bar so soundlessly as she entered that I startled. Clipboard in hand, she went through bottles lining the mahogany shelves, appearing to be doing inventory.

  “Hi,” she said, her voice soft. “So you belong to Arie?”

  “I came with Arie but I don’t belong to him.”

  “He’ll be good to you, no matter how you may judge him. I consider him family, and by extension you are included.”

  In truth, the idea of belonging to Arie appealed to me. I warmed immediately to Victoria. “I don’t judge him. How long have you known Arie?”

  “Two-hundred and fifty years. He is my maker. You’ll have to excuse me. We’re getting ready for our annual gala.”

  I thought about the dream that I had and now I felt certain it was really some sort of vision. “Annual gala?”

  “It’s Tessa’s thing—the biggest night of the year, and one of our biggest money-makers. She calls it the Kindred Spirits of Darkness Gala.”

  “That sounds like a lot of work.”

  “It is a lot of work for me. But a part of the proceeds goes to a local charity. I get the joy of making sure the burlesque acts and other entertainment gets booked.” Victoria scowled. “Actually, I pretty much organize everything.” The last part she muttered, almost to herself.

  “Well, I’ll leave you to it then. Is Tessa here?”

  “She’s in her office I think.”

  “Do you have one of those key cards?”

  The more I thought about my predicament with Arie going from hot to cold and back again, I thought maybe Tessa might be able to tell me something that might help break through his wall. Part of me was jealous of her beauty, but a little envious too. Maybe she could teach me a trick or two. And in all honesty the BDSM I’d witnessed at the sex club made me curious. No one I’d ever been with had been able to make me come. Besides, I wanted to know what this business of being a seer involved. I’d overheard her and Arie talking about it and he was against it, which only made me want to find out more.

  Victoria gave me a cool look. “I do.”

  “Would you mind swiping it for me? I need to speak with her.”

  She hesitated before leading me across the empty dance floor to the elevators on the other side. “Just be sure that you knock.” Victoria swiped the key card and the door slid open.

  I stepped onto the elevator and pressed the number three. “I wouldn’t think of not knocking,” I said as the doors began to close behind me.

  When I reached the third floor, I walked down the hall to her office, where a muscled vampire stood watch. The vampire guarding her office grabbed my shoulder, spinning me around.

  “I’m here to see Tessa,” I protested.

  “You can’t go in there unannounced. Take a seat,” the security detail said, pointing to a lounge across the hall from her office.

  I sat on a leather sofa waiting for Tessa to see me, glaring at the vampire, who continued to stand there like a stone statue. Wondering where Arie got off to and if he might find me, I swallowed the lump in my throat. When I came to her office with Arie I never noticed the engraved plaque on the wall. Then again, I was too busy eavesdropping and worrying about getting caught. The small scrolling font proved too difficult to read from where I was. Crossing the room, I came to a stop in front of its polished surface.

  “For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb,

  and her mouth is smoother than oil:

  But her end is bitter as wormwood,

  sharp as a two-edged sword.

  Her feet go down to death;

  her steps take hold on hell.

  Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life,

  her ways are moveable,

  that thou canst not know them.

  Hear me now therefore, O ye children,

  and depart not from the words of my mouth.

  Remove thy way far from her,

  and come not nigh the door of her house:

  Lest thou give thine honour unto others,

  thy years unto the cruel:

  Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth;

  and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;

  And thou mourn at the last,

  when thy flesh and body are consumed.”

  I shivered as I read the words and contemplated their meaning. Walking back to the sofa, I took a seat, and the guard spoke without approaching me.

  “She will see you now.”

  He must have communicated with her telepathically, because I never saw him move from his station. Standing in front of the office door, I hesitated with a hand on the knob and took a deep breath. Pull it together.

  “Come in.”

  I opened the door slowly. Tessa sat behind the large desk with a ledger open on its surface. Her large green eyes narrowed as I entered. A smile curved her mouth. I gulped under the domineering force behind her cat-like gaze. She stared at me with a depth that made me feel that she might swallow me whole.

  “Please have a seat.” She gestured to one of the chairs.

  I submitted to her request, noticing movement from under her desk. Familiar red hair peaked out from underneath. Clearly, she’d been going down on Tessa. Tessa yanked the redheaded woman up from underneath its surface by a fistful of long curls. I’d seen her before in two of my visions, first dancing in a cage, then with Tessa and Arie feeding on her. Again, undeniable jealousy coursed through me when I thought about her and Arie.

  Tessa stood, pushing the woman’s hips backwards until the redhead sat on the edge of the desk. Standing between her open thighs, Tessa twined her fingers through her curls. Tessa tugged them tight and pulled her into a deep fist-in-your-hair kiss. My mouth dropped open in shock as I watched theirs press hotly together. Tessa had no shame. But it irritated me that she would choose to do this in front of me.

  Tessa trailed the kiss from her lips down to her neck, yanking her hair and tilting her head backwards. The redhead remained complicit in her own demise, giving Tessa access to her pale smooth neck. Her fangs lengthened, penetrating the soft flesh at her throat. The redhead gripped the edge of the desk while hoisting her hips toward Tessa.

  My irritation dissipated and I began to feel turned on as I continued to watch the two of them. I felt surprised by my reaction to watching them in this increasingly uncomfortable situation. Watching them kiss so passio
nately made me think of Arie when he pulled away from my kiss and my whole body ached with a terrible hollowness inside of me.

  I wanted to fill it with the crescent moon of Arie’s mouth, a vice that could prove dangerous. I’d be the one who ended up getting hurt when every time we got too close he pulled away. His past with Katarina was a giant elephant in the room that kept us from moving forward. When Tessa broke the kiss and released her hair, the redhead stood to straighten her dress. It had snagged on the desk. Crimson flushed her cheeks. I didn’t need to imagine what they’d been up to—Tessa made it clear as she smoothed her skirt, which rode high around her thighs.

  “I can see this is a bad time. I can come back.”

  “Nonsense. This is one of my dancers. I’m sorry. What is your name again?” Tessa asked.

  “Isla,” the redhead said with a slight smile. She seemed unaffected by Tessa not remembering her name—like she expected it.

  I shook my head as I tried to wrap my head around the power dynamics at play. Then Tessa pulled Isla toward her, brushing her lips against hers with one last breathless kiss. I stood motionless with a voyeuristic gaze watching their lustful encounter. Finally, I drew my attention to the pottery on her desk with its depicted scenes of both male and female homoeroticism. With a sigh, I regarded my shoes instead as I contemplated my own reaction to the two of them.

  “You may go now,” Tessa said.

  Isla bowed her head, walking past me as she left the office. Tessa stood behind her desk and closed the ledger. I tried not to focus on her halter top, which came down in a deep V that plunged to her waist. Tessa walked around the desk. Beneath a stylish skirt, demure pumps replaced her usual stilettos. She toyed with the sophisticated, gold-clasped pearl necklace that graced her neck.

  She sat on the edge of her desk and leaned toward me. I wriggled in my seat, suddenly uncomfortable once left alone with her.

  “What brings you here?”

  My eyes lowered to the VII tattooed just above her right breast, exposed by her low-cut halter.

  “Why do you have a Roman numeral tattoo?”

  “Arie never told you?”

  I shook my head. “But I noticed Arie has one like it, except it’s on his hand.”

  “Since the nineties, members of the Legacy and Council have UV tattoos that designate our ranking. UV tattoos mixed with black ink are the only ones that stay on our skin without healing. Well, unless our rankings change and we deliberately use blood externally to heal it. All of us have the marking; all of us except for one.”

  I heard someone pass in the hallway outside her office as I considered this. It made me think of the plaque that hung across the hall in the lounge. “I like the poem outside your office.”

  “It’s not a poem. It’s Proverbs 5:3-11. Everyone thinks it’s a warning against adultery, but it’s really about us.”

  “Vampires are in the Bible?”

  “Holly, we are everywhere throughout all time. What can I do for you, pet? And where’s Arie? I see you’re off your leash.”

  “I heard you talking to Arie. You said that I could be useful because I have the Sight. You said seer. What’s a seer?”

  Tessa sighed. “Holly, we can use telepathy to communicate—we’re not mind readers. Seers can help us discern the truth in tricky situations. I do have a seer that works for me. Arie doesn’t want you working at the club. And at the moment we are busy preparing for our annual gala,” she said dismissively.

  I liked Victoria. And I thought about her comment that she had to take on everything herself to organize the gala. Maybe just being around would change Tessa’s mind. “Then I could help Victoria.”

  “Does Arie know you came to ask me for a job?”

  “I told her to wait downstairs,” Arie said. He stood in the doorway, his mouth a firm line. “Come with me.”

  Shit.

  So much for breaking down the wall that Arie put between us. He’d be angry with me for wandering off, especially with everything going on. I didn’t even get the chance to talk to Tessa about him. But at least I knew what being a seer entailed.

  I grabbed my army satchel and rose from my chair to follow Arie out. I nodded at Tessa, who looked vaguely amused. Too afraid to say anything that might upset him, I kept my distance and followed behind him in silence.

  He turned toward the right down another hallway. His pace slowed and he stopped outside a metal door. I followed him into a living room with a drop cloth spread on the floor, a ladder in the middle of the room, and a stack of lumber near one wall. It appeared that the living room extended through a wall that may have been a closet at one time. The room was in the process of being remodeled but the crew had left materials strew about. At the moment it didn’t look lived in, and there wasn’t any furniture. It seemed smaller than the loft but certainly bigger than my old apartment.

  “Arie…?”

  “What?”

  I could tell from his expression and curt response that he was aggravated that I didn’t stay downstairs with Victoria. I wanted to freshen up and give him time to cool off. “Where’s the bathroom?”

  “Down the hall and through the bedroom.”

  “I’ll be right back.”

  Past the kitchen stood a small hallway which I discovered provided access to a bedroom with a spacious bathroom and walk-in closet. I hoped if Tessa gave me a job, perhaps I could talk her into making this one of the perks. Arie had not moved when I returned to the living room.

  “I want you to take a look at something.” He gestured to an oil painting hanging on the wall. “I commissioned this during our travels through Italy. This is Katarina. Is this the same woman you saw in your dream?”

  The Italian artist captured her beauty in such a way that she looked almost alive. The sharp contrast in colors used to depict light and shade made the background appear shadowy and her figure illuminated. She had dark hair like mine, but without auburn highlights, and her eyes were hazel, not amber-brown. Her haughty smile dominated the picture, while her outstretched hand seemed like it might reach out of the painting and grab me.

  “Yeah, that’s her.”

  “If you see her…run,” Arie said, his mouth a grim line.

  I swallowed. “What is her painting doing here?”

  “This used to be my apartment before I bought the loft. It was an anniversary gift. I didn’t want to carry it with me anymore but I couldn’t see destroying something so beautiful. Perhaps I’ll donate it to The Art Institute of Chicago. I almost forgot it was here until Tessa mentioned it the other day. I’ve been meaning to get rid of it, but…”

  “I know you’re angry with me–”

  “I told you to stay downstairs. I wanted to check the surveillance cameras to see if Katarina has been to the club. It took a while to go through the footage from the past two weeks.”

  “It’s just that when I heard you two talking, well, Tessa said that the pay would be considerable. Marshall cut my hours, the place is falling apart, and it hasn’t been the same since his wife died. I figured considering everything going on that I’d be safer at the club and working with Victoria. You did entrust Victoria to guard me while you were looking into things.”

  “I don’t want you working for Tessa.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s dangerous. Being a seer can be dangerous when you’re not one of us. You’re not immortal, Holly, and seeing the wrong thing could get you killed.”

  “From what you’ve told me about my aura being so damn inviting, it’s going to be dangerous for me anyway.”

  He closed the distance between us; an underlying current made my pussy clench despite my anger and frustration. The sensation, wrapped in longing, conveyed that our pent-up frustration would be washed away if we gave in to our desires. Images of wrapping my legs around his waist as his cock pounded my pussy made every muscle in my body tense. I licked my lips. I wanted to feel his tongue and his teeth brush over my skin. I could smell his leather jacket
and I wanted to take it off.

  “Please, I’m sorry I didn’t stay—”

  “Perhaps I should punish you for disobeying me.”

  Desire flashed in his eyes and I knew he felt it too. Something about his words, a seductive threat, held my curiosity and kept me from protesting. I knew that I would be punished and I had an inkling that it might be like how Tessa had punished the man at the club. Part of me wished he would, because I wanted to know if it would do anything for me. No one and nothing had ever been able to make me come, except for my own hands, which knew the art of self-pleasure almost too well. I’d engaged in all manner of deviant vanilla sex but it had never crossed this line before. While I wanted it, and relished that this had finally pushed Arie over the edge, a tiny voice of reason argued that I should be a little scared too. His hand came down into my eye line and I braced myself, remembering how Tessa had slapped the man at the club. Instead, his fingers cupped my chin, lifting my head so that I looked him in the eye.

  “When I tell you to do something I expect you to do it.”

  I gulped.

  “Say ‘yes, sir.’”

  Of course he was right. I had no business wandering off, considering the circumstances. “Yes, sir.”

  The worst part was that I couldn’t argue with him. I wanted to look away, drop my eyes to the floor, anything, but I couldn’t. He wanted me to look at him. I could see that I’d broken his trust. Hurt and worry along with desire reflected in those winter-gray pools.

  “Bend over. Hands on the wall.”

  I wanted to laugh, or to protest or argue, but the seriousness of his gaze dashed any hope for negotiation. And his words were making me unexpectedly wet. Still, I couldn’t help but question his demand.

  “You’re serious?” Of course he was, yet I wanted to hear it and delay what I knew was coming next.

  “Yes. Now I’m not going to ask again. Spread your legs and bend over.”

  I stepped toward the wall on my right. Taking a deep breath, I bent at the waist and put my hands on the wall for support. He placed his hand on my back, running it down the length of my spine, until he reached the curve of my hip. It occurred to me to feel grateful that he hadn’t asked me to drop my pants. Still, my body tensed when his hand reached my ass. Yet I wanted it to continue its descent to my pussy. His hand lingered on my ass longer than I expected. I bit my lower lip in anticipation of the pain.