Tomorrow night.
She closed her eyes. Tomorrow night she intended to visit Tammy, not his grandfather. Juliun said he would try to get Simone into the hospital, but she wanted to go immediately. She didn’t fancy going back to Ravenkeep at all.
She’d looked through the local directory for the hospital’s number straight after she’d left Juliun and called up Intensive Care, only to be told that information was only for next of kin. She imagined saying to Tammy’s parents, ‘I know she’s my best friend, but I haven’t visited her in hospital yet.’ Some friend. But at least Tammy’s parents had visited.
Simone needed glamour to get inside the hospital without being detected and didn’t want anyone recognising her. What to tell the police? She hated lying, especially to Mike down at the dojo. The sparring tonight offered no reprieve from the pain of deceiving the people who cared about her wellbeing. He’d been surprised by her speed in dodging blows, so she took a few to ease suspicion.
The years of training, reforming into a stronger version of herself stretched before her. Years that mocked the terrible weakness she thought she’d destroyed since that night so long ago.
The apartment seemed strange with all the windows shaded in layers of blankets, but she headed for the shower and washed away the night’s exertion. She sat in the bottom of the stall, hot water coursing down her face, blinding her vision. She pushed at the water-logged strands and stared at the white tile.
Tightness bloomed in her chest. She pulled up her knees and hugged them, hot water streaming down her back. Her life was changing, and she needed to be able to cope with that. She huddled into the corner, her cheek resting against the cold wall. She would lead a life without sunlight.
Tears coursed down her face, mingling with the hot water.
Chapter Twenty-One
The knocking on the front door reverberated in the apartment, and Simone groaned, rushing through her ministrations in the bathroom to answer the summons. A woman needed time to get dressed, didn’t anyone know that?
Who else could it be at this time of night? Would she have to explain the need for curtains all over again? She’d fumbled through her lame excuses with Vinnie and dreaded doing so again. Oh, the light has been giving me a headache recently. Hopefully, it wasn’t the police. That was one encounter she could do without.
“Hang on a minute,” she called out. “Vinnie, could you get the door, please? I’m not dressed yet.” She rifled through the paraphernalia on the counter, knocking over her makeup box. “Ah, crap.” She righted it, but little pots of makeup clanged and scattered onto the floor. She bent over, trying to gather them all up. “Shit, shit.”
“Sure,” Vinnie called. “Sounds like you’re having fun in there.”
“Ha, ha.” She rose and tossed the pots on the bench, pulled a brush through her long hair, put on some cherry lipstick and slid into her dress. Finally she rushed out of the bathroom in a cloud of her favourite perfume and rounded the corner from the hallway.
She stopped dead, heartbeat faltering. “Oh.” What was he doing here?
Juliun stood in the doorway and seemed to be carved of stone. A warning cloud settled over his face, his jaw clenched, and that light grey gaze turned flinty and zeroed in with pinpoint focus—not on her, but on Vinnie.
Her heart fluttered in her breast, then it decided to take up jump rope. She hurried on over, but as Juliun turned his grim regard upon her, she slowed her step. She couldn’t help it. The tension thickened between them, and she struggled to breathe. For some reason she couldn’t look away from his eyes, at least to smile and reassure Vinnie that it was okay. Juliun could look very scary without even trying.
“Hi, Juliun. This is a surprise. Welcome. Please come in,” she mumbled.
“You know this man, sweetheart?” Vinnie tensed, and he frowned at Simone, then at Juliun. “I don’t like the look of him.”
“Filter between brain and mouth,” she whispered to Vinnie out the side of her mouth.
Vinnie laughed.
“Sweetheart? You do not like the look of me?” Obviously not many people talked that way about the prince of vampires, at least, not in his presence and not at night. Juliun smiled dangerously, that kick up at the corner of his lips as though he was extremely amused, and a muscle flicked in his jaw. Finally, he looked at her. “I called you, Simone. Did you receive my message?”
The words came at her like knives. He stalked over the threshold and into the kitchen, the line of his mouth taking on an unpleasant twist at the sight of Vinnie’s bag on the table, and Juliun’s cold-eyed gaze held her still.
“Oh. Right.” She winced. Being near him made her question her decisions and her independence. “I forgot. Listen, I don’t think I’ll be able to make it tonight.”
His brows tightened with strain. His gaze swept over her figure. That muscle flicked again in his jaw. Tic, tic, tic. The return trip was slower going over her skin-coloured stockings and buttercup yellow sundress.
“Do you have other plans? Aren’t you going to introduce us?” Juliun’s grey eyes were guarded as he watched her.
Heat climbed up her face. “Yes, sure.” She swallowed and flicked a wary glance at Vinnie. “Juliun, this is Vinnie. He’s a very good friend of mine. I’ve known him for ages. And…err… Vinnie, this is Juliun, he is a…” She realised she couldn’t say vampire. “Well, he’s a—”
“Someone who also intends to be a very good friend.” Juliun stepped toward Vinnie with an outstretched hand.
She blinked and her mouth dropped open. He wasn’t going to tell Vinnie about the proposal?
Vinnie leaned back against the kitchen sink, his arms and ankles folded, glowering. He wasn’t going anywhere, and this was not turning out how she’d planned.
“Is that right? He’s not the one bothering you, is he, sweetheart?” Vinnie asked, jerking his head toward Juliun. “I’ll take him apart right now if he is.”
Juliun smiled as though he were looking for an opening. “Take me apart? Who are you?”
Simone’s eyebrows rose. “Like I said, he’s a—”
Vinnie pushed off from the sink, lean muscles bunching in his arms. “You know who I am,” he said. “You hurt her and you’ll have to answer to me. The last man who did that ended up six-foot under, get me?”
Juliun’s amused smile flashed, his head tilted, and his eyes became almost white in their fierce knowing. “That is unless you have no mind and cannot think,” he whispered. They stood toe to toe, and suddenly a cold force swept through the room.
A sick sensation roiled in Simone’s belly, and she took a step back. The vibrations were too strong. “Don’t you dare,” she warned. “Juliun, you mustn’t...” She laid a hand on Vinnie’s shoulder to pull him back, but he refused to budge. “Leave him alone.”
“Do not ever come back here,” Juliun said smoothly to Vinnie. “You know why.”
“Yours. She is yours.” Vinnie’s gaze fixated on the door. He stepped toward the opening and grabbed the knob.
“Stop it!” Simone stormed, grabbing Vinnie’s arm. “I mean it, Juliun. I’m not yours, I’m not anyone’s!”
He turned glowing eyes on her, looking like a fierce animal. “That is not true.” Then he let the full force of his glamour land on Vinnie again.
Vinnie smiled serenely, pulled from Simone’s grasp and left the apartment.
Juliun slammed the door shut behind him, breathing hard; his chest all puffed out as he strode forward and leaned against the kitchen counter, his eyes cold, muscles flexed. “Why was he here? Why were you undressed? Why is your lipstick smudged?”
She frowned at him and then looked over his left shoulder at the back of the door. “I can’t believe you did that. Vinnie was checking up on me. Take that off him right now. Like I said, he’s a good friend.”
“Mmm…”
The magnetic force of Juliun’s personality forced her to look at him even though the sight of his eyes and hard face made her tremble. “
Really.”
He cocked his head to the side and stalked around her into the apartment.
She growled low in her throat at his arrogance. “I do have them you know. And how dare you put a glamour him? He’s my friend. My lipstick is smudged because I can’t see my reflection anymore. Thanks to someone.”
He stiffened with his back to her. “We need to discuss why you cannot come tonight which was impossible with him here.”
She sighed and sat down on the sofa with Vinnie’s half-finished game of solitaire before her on the coffee table. “I don’t care what your reasons are. He’s my friend. He’s protective of me. If I’d asked him to leave, he would have. He doesn’t deserve what you did. Next time, communicate with me, and I’ll get him to go.”
Juliun’s countenance was immobile. “My reactions might not have been so rational at seeing him here and hearing you say you were not dressed. Are you in a relationship with him?”
She stared up at him, incredulous. “What?”
He turned his steely gaze on her. “Are you having a relationship with him, Simone?” Juliun asked, clearly. “Is that why he was here? Tell me now if it is so. Why were you undressed?”
She shook her head. “He’s a friend. He was here checking on me. He came over after I ate some steaks, and I was worried he’d notice all the blood on my hands and my face, so I took a shower.”
He briefly closed his eyes. “Fine. I have lifted it.”
She breathed a sigh of relief and leaned forward. “Don’t ever do that again. The few friends I have, I’d like to keep.”
“But it brings up the subject of you having a boyfriend. Do you?” he asked. She shook her head. “Someone else in your life?”
Her mouth parted and brow creased. “Wait. Remind me of how this is any of your business?”
He nodded slowly. “Will you come with me tonight?”
She blinked at the change of subject and the softening of his tone. “I want to visit Tammy. I know you said you would help arrange it, but I can’t bear it for much longer. She’s my best friend. I feel something’s wrong with her. I’m not sure how to go about it, but I need to see her.” Simone’s stomach growled, and she grimaced. “That’s why I can’t visit your grandfather.”
“Still hungry?”
A warm flushed raced across her face at his openly sensual look. He appeared a dark shadow in the centre of the living room and crowded her small apartment.
“I planned to pick up blood from the hospital on the way back.” Her stomach chose that moment to growl again.
“I am surprised you managed to control your hunger with your friend around.” He cast her a sardonic glance. “Newly risen vampires aren’t known for their self-restraint. Stay here.” He disappeared with a rush of black wind, then suddenly reappeared holding a silver bucket with a half-filled bottle of blood. “It’s warmed.” With his other hand, he placed two crystal glasses on the coffee table. “I’ll leave the warming canister here, and put some bottles in your fridge later on.”
She smiled at him. “Really? Thank you.”
“You are welcome.” He poured out two glasses, and then handed her one. They chinked glasses and smiled at each other over the rim of their glasses.
She finished off her drink in a few gulps and said, “Vinnie’s off-limits food-wise. I would never hurt him. You should have seen me last night at work when I was surrounded by humans.”
“You drank at the club. The edge would have gone.”
She nodded. “True.”
“To get into the hospital you’ll need to disable the cameras, use glamour on any staff you meet and hack into the computer base to find the details of her condition.”
“Make it sound easy, why don’t you?”
“It will be with my help.” A cell phone appeared in his hand, and he flipped it open. “If that is your only reason for not keeping our appointment at Ravenkeep, then we shall go to the hospital immediately. I planned to take you there tonight anyway.”
Her brows rose, and she blinked. “You did? You’ll help me break in?”
He smiled widely. “It will be a good chance for you to meet one of my employees.” He punched in a number on the keypad and spoke into the receiver, “Alec, we are coming down to see the friend. You know what to do.” He clicked the phone shut, dropped it into the inside pocket of his black overcoat and swept her to her feet.
“Wait! I need my shoes and a coat. My gun!”
He sighed and released her. “Women.” He waited while she pulled on a pair of brown calf skin boots and a thick jacket.
She tucked the gun inside the pocket of her coat. “All set.”
He strode toward her and held out his hands. “Come here.”
She frowned and balked. “We’re using the mist, right? I didn’t have to touch Willem to do that.”
“You are about to see your friend.” He gathered her close, and she shifted uncertainly in the warm circle of his arms, but loved the divine smell of his skin and clothes. Really, that shouldn’t make a girl weak at the knees. Blood and a full dose of Juliun were about to be her undoing.
With a sexy smirk and a rumbling voice, he added, “Argue later. Ready?”
She nodded.
His presence drifted into the non-parts of her being, and when she stood on solid ground again in an unfamiliar, darkened room, she didn’t need to be told he’d somehow merged with her during the fade. She’d felt him.
He ran a gentle hand over her shoulders, steadying her. “All right?”
Hot blood pounded in her ears. “How did you do that?” she asked quietly, pushing the hair from her face.
“What?” He sounded far too close in the darkness.
“I could feel you. We were like one cloud.” She ran a hand through her hair and forced herself to breathe slowly. “That didn’t happen with Willem.”
“No, it wouldn’t.”
A silence stretched between them. He safeguarded her from the outside world beyond the door, but she’d spent her whole life training to be her own protector. Predators preyed upon weakness. What did it feel like to have a wall tumble down inside her heart?
Juliun opened the door, and the hospital’s lights spilled in a square patch at their feet. “One step at a time, Simone. Alec will be waiting. Are you ready?”
“Yes.” She straightened and didn’t take his proffered hand. The memory of their closeness still rattled her.
If any nurses were to come along, they would probably drop their bedpans and run away, screaming in the opposite direction. Juliun’s dark overcoat swept down to his black leather boots, and he glided down the corridor, his long black hair in total contrast to the pale symmetry of his face and grey eyes swimming with unholy power. No wonder Vinnie had got his back up. He has a healthy sense of self-preservation.
A tall blond vampire in a white doctor’s coat stood at the receptionist’s desk. He bowed to Juliun. “Your Highness, I am most sorry to hear about—”
“Not now,” Juliun interrupted, making a gesture so fast Simone she wasn’t sure she saw it. “This is Simone Woods.” That last bit was said in such a happy tone she stared up at Juliun. “Simone this is Alec, our doctor.”
Alec’s gaze swerved to her, and he smiled, then bowed again. “It is my greatest honour to meet you again.”
She didn’t know how to reply to that so she smiled uncertainly. Again? “Likewise.”
“Please, follow me.” Alec turned and glided down the corridor.
She immediately looked up into the far corners of the room, seeking the camera’s unblinking lights, and the nurse seated behind the reception desk looked like she’d done twelve rounds of mind warp with the kind doctor. Fluorescents gleamed in the corridor, and Alec turned into the Intensive Care ward, but then went through another six doors. Finally, he pushed open a door to the right and stood aside.
“No wonder I couldn’t find her.” Simone entered first, and the sight landed such a hard blow that she doubled over. Tammy lay on the hos
pital bed, tubes sticking out of her nose and mouth. Simone made it to her bedside where the feeble nightlight above the headboard dimly lit the sleeping woman.
Simone swept a hand over her friend’s brow, gentle and soothing. “Oh, Tam. I’m so, so sorry.” She shook her head, grabbed Tammy’s pale hand, fighting back tears. “I should never have brought you here. I’m so sorry.” A heavy, warm hand landed on Simone’s shoulder, and she looked up in a blur of tears. “I did this to her. Me.”
Juliun’s gaze softened. “No. That onus lands on me. Let it come to me. I took Lars that night. You are not to blame.”
“What’s wrong with her?” she asked. And that’s when Simone noticed the smell. That earthy, cloudy scent that reminded her of the club. She drew back and shook her head. “No. It can’t be.”
“Yes,” Juliun said, implacable.
“No! She can’t be. Unless...unless Lars was?” Simone held a trembling hand to her cheek.
Juliun shook his head. “No.”
“She would have told me,” Simone said. “I would have known.”
“Told you?” Juliun asked, softly. “When would have been the right time for that then?”
“She wanted to help me,” Simone recalled, the light dawning. “She knew I was afraid of Whitby.”
Juliun gave her a strange look.
Alec strode to the other side of the bed, and he pulled out a stethoscope to check Tammy’s vitals. He strung the rope back around his neck and looked at Simone. “Her parents came today again, and they mentioned contacting you. I had to wipe their memories. They are human with no idea their daughter’s a werewolf.”
Simone pulled out a chair and sat down before her knees gave way. “You did what?”
“They talked of getting the police to break into your apartment. I paid a visit to the police they mentioned and wiped their memories as well. Your life would have been in danger.”
“How much did you erase?” Simone asked, dreading the answer.
“Everything concerning the accident. They will still have all their other memories,” Alec said. “I am very careful about what I remove.”
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