“I know,” Nial said as gently as he could.
“It’s even worse than being dragged back to a cushy job in London,” Sebastian said. “They’re being pushed to the front lines, not held back, and they’re being killed for it. It’s murder, Nial. It’s flat out murder.”
“I’m not saying it’s right,” Nial said carefully. “But it is the way things are right now. You can’t involve yourself. You just have to wait it out.”
“Why can’t I get involved?” Sebastian demanded, his eyes blazing with anger.
“For a start, the police are not fooling around. They’re arresting anyone that looks sideways at them. And you know as well as I do, Sebastian, that we cannot afford to be processed in any official way. They fingerprint people and photograph them….and all that data gets matched up by computers. The dodges we have used up until now won’t do anymore. I’ve already started to wonder how we can maintain the masquerade, going into the future. It’s only going to get harder.”
“I argue morals and you give me practicalities,” Sebastian said dryly. He flexed to his feet. “You’re missing the point, of course. I think you’re doing it deliberately.”
“Don’t go to the rally, Sebastian.”
“Are you giving me an order?” Sebastian asked softly.
“No. Of course I’m not giving you an order. But you must think this through. You have to stop reacting as a human. The rally will be dangerous. I’ve heard talk about it for the last two weeks. The numbers of protestors they’re expecting are scaring people, and scared people hit back.”
“And that’s the problem right there,” Sebastian said. “You refuse to let yourself be human and you won’t let me be one either.”
“You’re not human!” Nial cried. Then he caught himself and held up a hand. It was shaking. “I know you hate hearing that. I know you like to pretend it isn’t true, that you’re still as human as the next man. But for right now, you have to accept it and deal with this as the vampire you are. This is not our war, it is not our time. We had our time, you and I. Now we get to pass through the other times and merely observe. The war will end, eventually, and we will go on.”
Sebastian pushed his hand through his hair. “I will not go through centuries of existence and not try to live them. I never asked for this life. I never wanted it. But here I am and there’s a whole world out there for me to explore and learn about. People to meet. So many different things to try. You made me a vampire but I’m damned if I’m going to retreat from life the way you think I should. That’s not living at all, Nial. It’s not even existence. It’s…living death.”
“We are the undead,” Nial reminded him.
Sebastian gave a laugh that sounded bitter and a touch hysterical. “You’re already dead,” he said flatly, “but I won’t join you. I’m going to that rally. Don’t try to stop me, Nial. Just…don’t.”
* * * * *
Colorado University Campus, Boulder, 1969
There were over two thousand people in the rally, snaking back over a quarter of a mile, their signs waving as they chanted and marched.
There were nearly as many police monitoring the rally as there were protestors. The police all wore full riot gear and their guns. The protestors mostly wore love beads.
The rally was heading for city hall on Broadway, and was supposed to last four hours, but in the second hour, there was a scuffle along the side of the long snaking lines. Nial saw it all.
He had driven down from Loveland that morning, and parked the car a few miles away from the university campus where the rally started. He wore his most conservative dark clothes and tied his hair back and tucked it into the back of the jacket. He didn’t want the police to mistake him for a protestor. Once the rally started moving, he moved parallel to them, holding a camera and taking photos. It gave him instant access. The police didn’t want a journalist reporting about police brutality and the protestors wanted as much press as they could get.
It also let him scan the protestors, a section at a time. Then he would move ahead and check further along the rally.
Sebastian stood out. His blond hair and his height made him easy to spot once Nial was far enough along the line. Sebastian wasn’t wearing his uniform and he looked out of place in his white cheesecloth shirt and jeans and his cropped hair, among all the tie-dyed tee-shirts, kaftans and sarongs.
Nial dropped back behind Sebastian’s position and kept pace with the rally. That was how he ended up being at the perfect vantage point to see how it happened.
The police were staying alongside the rally, a single row of them strung out a few paces apart on each side of the line. They were jumpy, for the Washington rally had been only a week ago, and it had ended violently.
Nial saw the dog bounding across the front lawn of one of the houses they were passing. It was wound up over all the noise and movement, and thought there was a threat to its house. Nial sensed its distress as it passed him. It was confused and afraid. It launched itself right through the spread line of police and latched onto the nearest protester, snarling. The guy screamed.
The police stepped in to help. Nial saw the closest one raise his baton, to fend the dog away from the bleeding man. That was all it took. Others saw the baton raised and lowered, and heard the man screaming and a riot was born.
The rally halted and protestors surged around the wounded man. They leapt at the police, screaming insults. They didn’t seem to care that they were without weapons or armor. They threw themselves upon the police, using the weight of numbers to their advantage.
The police were forced to defend themselves. They clustered together, then tried to cut off the riot by spreading out through the crowd, calming and quelling. There was a lot of force being used.
Nial dropped his camera, letting it hang around his neck. Sebastian was on the far side of the riot, caught on the edges of it. The police pincer movement would fold him into the center, where the police would beat down any more resistance.
He wasn’t aware of the decision to move. He ran for the edges of the riot, where the police were all facing inward. He could work his way around to the back. If he could get to Sebastian before the police net closed in, then he could pull him out. Sebastian wouldn’t be aware of the danger that Nial could see from his outsider’s viewpoint.
In a crowd driven by a common emotion like anger, perceptions were often hazy at best. Nial used that to his advantage. He was able to use more of his strength to physically push and sometimes throw people aside, forcing his way through the crowd as quickly and as directly as possible. He lost sight of Sebastian, but steadily worked his way to where he had last seen him.
The police were there before him. They were closing into their circle now and could see that they had momentum on their side. They were swinging batons with furious energy. Sebastian had dropped to the ground and was trying to crawl between them, unnoticed. There was blood on the back of his head, a sharp contrast to the blond hair.
The police were trying to contain the chaos. The two beside Sebastian bent and flayed at him with the batons, forcing him back into the circle.
Nial leapt over shoulders, backs, all the bodies that were in the way. He stepped over Sebastian and straight armed the officer on the left, his hand ramming into the man’s throat. The officer choked and grabbed at his throat, folding over. He had lost all interest in rioters.
Then Nial turned and swung the same arm in a fast semi-circle and drove his stiffened fingers into the officer’s side. He would have preferred a front attack, but they wore body armor these days. His fingers sunk deep and the officer staggered, clawing at his side.
Then Nial bent and picked up Sebastian and dragged him backwards, out of the crowd. This side of the street was lined with stores and small businesses. He looked for an alley or an open doorway, but all the doors were shut up tight. There was a narrow space between two buildings and he half-dragged and half-carried Sebastian into the slender space. As soon as the danger of being see
n was passed, he bent and picked up Sebastian properly and carried him the length of the alley and out into a wider lane that ran behind the stores and offices.
Cars were parked along the edges, leaving a barely wide enough space for other cars to pass. Nial moved between two of them and lowered Sebastian to the ground. He propped him up against the brick wall. Sebastian’s eyes were closed.
Nial checked the back of his head. There was a lot of blood, but whatever the injury had been, it had healed over now.
Relieved, he sat on the ground beside Sebastian and waited.
After a moment or two, Sebastian groaned and reached for the back of his head. His fingers probed and he grimaced as he looked at the bloody tips. Then he focused on Nial. His expression didn’t change. “You followed me here.”
There were lies Nial could speak that would take away the hard light in Sebastian’s eyes, but he found he couldn’t do it. “Yes,” he said, finally. “But not to stop you.”
From the narrow alley, screaming and shouting filtered dimly.
“You just can’t help yourself, can you?” Sebastian said dryly.
Again, the justifications, the easy lies, rose to his lips and Nial thrust them aside. “I just wanted…no, I needed to watch out for you. Surely you can’t blame me for that?”
“I can look after myself, Nial. I’ve survived nearly two centuries already. But you’re never going to let me live my life, are you?”
He had expected anger for Sebastian, but this dry coldness was frightening. It was like all the anger had been drained out of him.
Finally, he tried to defend himself. “I didn’t stop you,” he pointed out. “I didn’t manipulate anything. I just came to watch and make sure you were okay.”
“I’m okay,” Sebastian said flatly.
Nial sighed. “We’re going to have to start over again,” he pointed out. “There were cameras, lots of cameras besides mine. Someone might have taken both our photos. I wasn’t very discreet, getting you out of there.”
Sebastian nodded. “You’re right. This life is at an end.” There was a terrible finality in his voice that made Nial’s heart slip loose and run hard. He looked at Nial. “We’re going to have to start again, but I’m going to do it alone.”
Nial tried to encompass what he was saying, but it was too large. Too horrible. “You don’t mean that,” he said stupidly.
“Unlike you, Nial, I mean what I say.” He dug in his jeans pocket, wincing as he moved. Then he tossed something on the ground between them. It was a plastic plug, with screw threads, just over an inch in diameter. There was a small, neat hole in the middle of it and the inside of it gleamed with viscous, dark oil.
“What is that?” Nial asked.
Sebastian rolled it over with one long finger, so the hole was clear. “You have always said mechanics was never going to be a natural talent for you. I didn’t even think you knew how to put oil in the car. But I think you’ve got enough self-interest to figure out what you needed to do, just this once. You’re smart enough to know that a slow leak of oil would stop the truck, once the oil ran out. I was lucky some other protestors picked me up.” He got to his feet, and spun to face Nial, throwing out his hands. “Christ, Nial is there nothing you would refuse to stoop to?”
Nial curled his hand over the plastic cap. Anything he could think of to say would just incense Sebastian more. So he said nothing.
“Tell me,” Sebastian demanded. “And don’t lie. I’ll know if you’re lying. After all this time, I can finally tell when you’re trying to con me.”
Nial couldn’t say the words. He knew the consequences that would come with them and he wasn’t sure he could speak. There was something gripping his chest, stopping his breath and his heart. Something painful.
Sebastian hung his head. “You’re breaking my heart, Nathanial.”
“Everything I’ve done, I did because I love you.”
Sebastian shook his head. He looked Nial square in the eye. “Vale, Nathanial.”
Goodbye, Nathanial. Latin, his mother tongue.
Sebastian turned and walked away, and for the first time in his life, Nial didn’t have the strength to follow.
Next in the Blood Stone series
Amor Meus, a print-only anthology containing all three of the Blood Drops stories released to date, including Vale, will be released in March 2015.
In the meantime, if you like sexy vampires, try adding time travel:
Kiss Across Time, Book 1 of the Kiss Across Time Series…and it’s free!
A single kiss can change more than one life…or two.
Taylor Yates is fired for insisting the 5th Century Arthurian poet, Inigo Domhnall, existed. When she hears Domhnall’s lyrics in a death metal song, she engineers a meeting with lead singer, Brody Gallagher. An unintended kiss sends them spinning back to the poet’s time, when Saxons were pillaging King Arthur’s Britain.
Brody’s all for kissing her again. More, he wants her to kiss his friend and lover, Veris, to see what will happen. When Veris’ kiss sends them back to the time of the Vikings neither man is willing to let Taylor simply walk out of their lives.
But Brody and Veris are more than lovers and sexual playmates, as Taylor learns when they investigate the kisses that send them across time. The secrets they share have the power to completely alter her life.
Warning: This story features two super hot alpha vampire heroes, multiple sex scenes, including anal sex, MM sexual play, and MMF sex. Do not read this book if frank sexual language and sex scenes offend you.
The time-space continuum was restored to order at the end of this book. Promise.
This is the first book in the Kiss Across Time Series
Kiss Across Time 1: Kiss Across Time
Kiss Across Time 2: Kiss Across Swords
Time Kissed Moments 2.1: Missing*
Kiss Across Time 3: Kiss Across Chains
Kiss Across Time 4: Kiss Across Deserts
[Time Kissed Moments are short stories and novellas featuring the characters and situations featured in the Kiss Across Time series.]
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Amazon #1 Bestseller, Vampire Romance
Amazon #1 Bestseller, Paranormal Romance
Amazon #1 Bestseller, Time Travel Romance
All Romance eBooks Bestseller
[She] has created characters that are engaging, unpredictable, outrageously funny and down-right appealing to readers who will steal their hearts. The Romance Studio
I think you’ll be as entertained and affected by the chemistry between the characters as I was. A fast-moving romance that spanned several lifetimes and included a paranormal aspect that was a fun and totally unexpected surprise. Whipped Cream Erotic Romance Reviews
This was a great story with wonderful and surprising plot twists. The chemistry between the three is tangible. Siren Book Reviews
Paranormal erotic romance doesn’t get any more creative than [this]. Romance Junkies
Download your free copy of Kiss Across Time from your favorite bookseller now.
About the Author
Tracy Cooper-Posey is an Amazon #1 Best Selling Author. She writes erotic vampire romances, hot romantic suspense, paranormal and urban fantasy romances. She has published over 80 novels since 1999, been nominated for five CAPAs including Favourite Author, and won the Emma Darcy Award.
She turned to indie publishing in 2011. Her indie titles have been nominated four times for Book Of The Year and Byzantine Heartbreak was a 2012 winner. She has been a national magazine editor and for a decade she taught romance writing at MacEwan University.
She is addicted to Irish Breakfast tea and chocolate, sometimes taken together. In her spare time she enjoys history, Sherlock Holmes, science fiction and ignoring her treadmill. An Australian, she lives in Edmonton, Canada with her husband, a former professional wrestler, where she moved in 1996 after meeting him on-line.
Her website can be found at http://TracyCooperPosey.com. Tracy appreciates hearing from
readers and can be reached at [email protected].
Other books by Tracy Cooper-Posey
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Blood Knot Series (Urban Fantasy Paranormal Series)
Blood Knot
Southampton Swindle
Broken Promise
Vale
Amor Meus
Blood Stone
Blood Unleashed
Blood Drive
Blood Revealed (Upcoming)
Beloved Bloody Time Series (Paranormal Futuristic Time Travel)
Bannockburn Binding
Wait
Byzantine Heartbreak
Romani Armada
Kiss Across Time Series (Paranormal Time Travel)
Kiss Across Time
Kiss Across Swords
Missing
Kiss Across Chains
Kiss Across Deserts
Guardian Bonds (Gargoyle Paranormal Series)
Carson’s Night
Beauty’s Beasts
Harvest of Holidays
Sabrina’s Clan (Upcoming)
Destiny’s Trinities (Urban Fantasy Romance Series)
Beth’s Acceptance
Mia’s Return
Sera’s Gift
Short Paranormals
Solstice Surrender
Eva’s Last Dance
Guns ‘n’ Lovers Series (Romantic Suspense)
Red Leopard
Black Heart
Blue Knight
White Dawn (Upcoming)
Silver Noon (Upcoming)
Vale: A Short Erotic Vampire Romance Story Page 3