Forbidden Drink

by Nicola Claire

  “So, you have a Hemvarnet now, little Hunter?”

  “A what?”

  “A Swedish Guard. Erika was one of the best, she originally worked as a Hogvakten, a Royal Guard to the Swedish Royal Palace, I believe, before Michel found her. And now, he has her guarding you. Poetic, no?”

  Ignoring the dig at Michel guarding me. “She said she hadn't met you before.” How did he know so much about her?

  “No, we have not met, but I am aware of her reputation. She is formidable. The Champion wished for her services at one time, she was most put out that Michel would not share. But, that's Michel for you, he doesn't share his precious toys willingly.”

  “I am not a toy.” I knew what he was insinuating.

  “But, you warrant a guard all the same. A guard that he has not shared with any other. Perhaps, you and Erika are well suited, both pawns in the game he plays.”

  OK, so I may have just pushed Michel away and made him believe that what I felt for him was not true love, but I didn't have to pretend with Gregor. There was no chance that he would tattle on me and let Michel know I had been lying. So, I didn't hold back.

  “I am not a pawn in Michel's game, Gregor. You talk of me coming willingly to you, you know nothing of willingness. My love for Michel transcends all else in my world.” Liar, liar, pants on fire.

  “Touché, ma cherie.” He sipped some of the wine that had been waiting at the table and just watched me through hooded eyes.

  My coffee and I admit, delectable looking, chocolate cake arrived just then, saving me from meeting his gaze and giving too much of the turmoil I was in away.

  I concentrated on the tantalising taste of cocoa and caffeine, a finer mix could not have been invented and felt my body relax for the first time in hours. Caffeine has that effect on me, where normally people feel a little geared up drinking a coffee, I can feel a range of emotions, from invigorated to relaxed. Whatever my body needs, I seem to get it at the bottom of a coffee cup.

  “Where are we staying when dawn comes?” I decided to get back onto business, our accommodation sounded as good as anything.

  “My apartment.”

  “You have an apartment? Don't you have chambers here at the club?”

  “There are chambers for my line here, but I am accustomed to something a little more refined. My apartment is not far, just down the end of Lambton Quay. There is ample space for yourself and your guard.”

  He wasn't going to just drop the guard thing was he? But, at least she would be staying with us and not expected to stay here at the club. Even I wasn't sure how to handle Gregor alone in his apartment.

  I just nodded and continued to work on my chocolate cake and to be honest, it wasn't hard to get transfixed by it. It was rich and smooth and coated the roof of my mouth with succulent tasting cocoa, making my mouth water and my tongue dart out and grab any wayward chocolate from the edges of my lips. I couldn't bear the thought of missing some.

  Gregor suddenly laughed, his little huff of a laugh he does, as though he's trying to hold it in, stay professional, not let himself go, but unable to hold back completely. I flicked a glance at him and his eyes were sparkling silver and platinum in the grey.

  “You are delight to watch, ma cherie. Do you think it sinful?” He nodded towards the cake, his voice low.

  I shook my head. “You're just jealous you can't have any.”

  “Oh, I could have some. I could have some right now.” He shifted closer to me, bringing his upper body within inches of mine. I had a sudden flashback to Paris, where Gregor had bought me a coffee and a piece of Opera Cake. He told me he could taste whatever I ate through a kiss, or through drinking my blood, both thoughts erotic on their own. And then he proceeded to show me.

  His proximity now making me flush with heat and embarrassment at how close we had come to overstepping the mark, to passing that point of no return. And I had wanted it too. God I had wanted it. The fact that I had been under a member of the Iunctio's influence at the time, is all that keeps me from falling into a pit of guilt over that interlude. I swallowed now, as I watched him move closer and closer, the predator taking over the man. His eyes were on my lips, maybe I had a stray bit of chocolate there I had missed. I stupidly licked them just in case, before I could stop myself and it was enough. He pounced.

  His hand came behind my head, softly cradling me, his other came up and tipped my chin up, making my mouth line up to his. I raised my hands to his chest to push back and he whispered against my lips, “Don't fight it, ma cherie. You want this too.”

  I started shaking my head and he closed the distance between us in a flash, before I could gain any traction, push for any space between us, or turn away.

  His mouth was warm and soft, his tongue sure and confident as it flicked along my bottom lip and darted inside. I find it difficult to resist the connection between Gregor and me, logically I know it's the Sigillums, but he doesn't make it easy. He can kiss like no other. I think it's the temptation, the fact that he is something I should not want, that makes it so much better. He is the bad boy I shouldn't chase, the forbidden drink I shouldn't taste. He calls to me, as though I were a vampire, my body hums in response to his pull.

  He groaned against me, my body now flush against his chest, his hand up in my hair, pressing me close. “You are a drug to me, a fine wine, an exquisite perfume. I will have you in my bed, Lucinda. I will have you by my side.”

  I shivered at his words hot against my skin, so sure, so confident, so final. This was something I could not let happen. I loved Michel, even if I had pushed him away, I could not go into the arms of another and burn my bridges so comprehensively. Part of me knew this war, between the Dark and the Light, would not last forever and when it did end, I would get my Michel back. This was not a path I could afford to tread.

  But, oh how hard it was to turn away. His arms around me, his hands all over me, sending shockwaves of pleasure down my spine, his mouth against mine, moving across my jaw, down my neck, hovering over my pulse, gently suckling the spot, teasing my body, reminding it what it felt like to have him drink from me. I convulsed at the memory, gripping him tighter. I was drowning, where was Erika? I needed help, now.

  It wasn't Erika who came to my rescue, maybe it was Nut, although the thought of Nut placing an innocent in danger to rescue me from my flagging morals did not sound right. But for whatever reason, I thanked every god I could think of when I felt my pull. Not the pull towards Gregor, but the evil-lurks-in-my-city pull. The pull that overrides anything my body could be feeling at that time. It is so deeply ingrained in me, it is simply part of my soul. I cannot deny it.

  A vampire was about to strike, sinking his fangs into the neck of an innocent human and it would not be the fantasy I had just been living.

  It would be hell.

  Chapter 11

  Be Careful What You Wish For

  I pushed back against Gregor with a strength I think both he and I had not expected. Don't underestimate the power of the pull. His eyes searched my face and immediately realised what was happening. You can say what you like about master vampires, but they are very astute when it comes to their environment and survival.

  “Where?” he asked.

  “Down the road, one of the side streets. Just one, she's about to strike.”

  He just nodded. If he was frustrated at the interruption, he didn't show it. I knew then, that the lives or more precisely, recent deaths, of vampires of his line had affected him. His city was acting out of line. And now, a vampire in his city was about to break his rules, again, a slight on his control. No vampire likes to be disobeyed and no vampire likes to feel that they are losing control of something they own. Gregor owned Wellington, everything in it was his.

  We didn't waste time, heading for the main doors of the club in an instant. I flicked a glance at Erika and nodded towards the exit. She was on our tails immediately, no sword drawn yet, there were too many Norms in the bar to witness that kind of fighting pow
er. I quickly brought her up-to-date on the situation. I didn't want her thinking this was the humans and she was about to face off against a dozen. I could just imagine her fingers itching to draw that sword from its hidden sheath down her back.

  Once outside they followed my lead. I just followed that pull, allowing it to direct me, like water down a chute, I just followed the path that it set. My evil-lurks-in-the-city pull is undeniable and fail safe, it's never proved wrong. Like a magnet I'm sucked towards that evil, it's what makes me a born vampire hunter, a Nosferatin. The humans who were attacking vampires in Wellington have no such radar, no such beacon calling them to their target. They are aimless, set adrift in a sea of humanity and plethora of creatures of the night. The dangers that face them are phenomenal, but the chance of success is even less. I had to stop them from taking this any further, I had to stop them from getting themselves killed.

  It was at that moment, as I ran full speed towards the evil with two vampires at my back, that I knew Nut was sending me my answer. I wasn't to kill the humans, I was to save them from themselves. I sent a silent prayer of thanks towards my metaphysical mother, I needed to know I was on the side of good. If I questioned that at all, I'd never be able to complete my task, never be able to fulfil my destiny. I am the Light to the Dark. I just needed to be reminded of that from time to time.

  We came to the street I could feel the evil in, it was powerful. This was no baby vampire and if it was Rogue, then it was a free ranging master, something that was not common at all. My guess was it wasn't Rogue, it belonged somewhere. I just hoped it wasn't under Gregor's line. Even I didn't know how Gregor would take that.

  I stopped at the entrance to the side street and just breathed. Erika had her sword out, Gregor was all tension, radiating fury already. I didn't look at them when I spoke, but my voice was even and firm. I would not argue this with them and they needed to know.

  “You will not interfere. You will stand back, unless I ask for your help.”

  Neither acknowledged my words.

  “Do you understand?” My voice was lower than usual.

  “Yes, mistress.” Erika answered. I shook my head at her words, but put it down to the fact that she is of Michel's line and I am his Nosferatin. Perhaps, it was simply required of her to obey when I ordered and this was a vampire traditional response. I'd have to deal with that later, right now evil wanted to eat.

  I glanced at Gregor. “You need to let me do my job, Gregor. I'll take care of this.” My concern wasn't so much relinquishing some of my role as the vampire hunter, but more the fact that if I let them barge in there, nothing would be left of the scene. Maybe even the human who was being held captive would suffer too. There's a fine line between punishing the evil and avoiding collateral damage. I couldn't risk the life of the innocent to the rage of vampires. There is a reason why they don't have their own core of vampire hunters.

  I have fought beside Gregor before, against evil vampires and he is astounding and well controlled, but that was in Paris, not here. And I had picked up an altogether surprising signal from him since we arrived. He'd do anything to protect this city. He wasn't just a caretaker, he was in fact its master. The connection was undeniable. And a little frightening.

  If he was Wellington's Master, then he was here to stay. To relinquish one's position as Master of a City, is to die. It is seldom done without that closure. The fact that Michel was able to relinquish Wellington so easily was partly because he was already Master of a City elsewhere and partly because he hadn't connected in the same way as he has to Auckland.

  Gregor still hadn't answered me and the delay was making me twitch. The vampire hadn't struck yet, she was still playing with her meal, but any further delay could prove fatal for the human she held.

  “Gregor.”

  He flicked his eyes to me and nodded, reluctantly by the looks of it. It was the best I could hope for.

  I started down the street quietly, I knew exactly where the vampire was. We'd made it about about three metres when Gregor took in a sharp breath beside me. I stopped immediately and looked at him. He look pained, conflicted.

  “What is it?” I asked quietly.

  “The bait has been taken, my vampires are in trouble.”

  “Then go, I don't need you here. As soon as I finish, I'll come to you.” And then I thought of something else. “How many humans are there?”

  Gregor was a little wild eyed as he looked at me. I couldn't tell if it was the thought of leaving me to do my job without his support, or the fact that his vampires were under threat, but he looked slightly alarmed at the situation unravelling before him.

  “At least twenty.”

  Shit. That's a mob.

  “Go!” I said to him and he nodded and disappeared. I shivered at the fact that he had almost dematerialised in front of me and turned to Erika. “You go too.”

  “No,” she said, stepping up beside me. “I have my orders and they are to watch your back.”

  Yeah, I bet you do.

  “Was it a command?”

  She looked at me strangely, obviously not expecting me to question an order from Michel. If it had been a command, I would have to glaze her out of it, not something I take to lightly, but I needed her to help Gregor.

  “Well?”

  “No, but I will not leave you.”

  I sighed, I didn't have time for this. “Erika, this is what I do, this is who I am. But, what's happening down the street is out of my league and firmly in yours. Gregor needs your help more than I do and you know it.” I hated admitting this, I hated voicing it aloud, because to say it, to acknowledge it, was to give it power and I just didn't know if I was ready for that. “I don't want to lose him, he's important to me.”

  She baulked at what I was saying, to outrightly admit another master vampire meant so much to me was to lessen my connection to Michel, her master. I had thought pushing Michel away was a technicality, as I had counted on the fact that at least Erika and Bruno were aware of how cut up I still was, allowing me a connection to Michel still. But now, to openly admit such a connection to another, was the final blow. I may as well have been getting a dagger out and stabbing it through Michel's heart in front of her.

  Her face hardened, just slightly, before returning to its mask. The mask vampires wear when they truly don't want you to know what they are thinking or feeling. It was too late, I knew what she thought and there was nothing I could do to change that. I had spent a lot of time trying to figure out what I felt for Gregor and now I had just gone and tipped the scales. And I hadn't even thought the action through. It had been natural, instinctive and it scared the hell out of me.

  She didn't say anything for a moment and then just flashed away towards Gregor. Maybe she thought I deserved to get hurt, maybe she just couldn't stand to be near me right now, either way, she had done what I asked and I quietly thanked her.

  My attention was returned to the vampire down the street as I felt its hunger peak and the need to sink fangs into flesh overwhelm it. I sprinted towards that evil without a second's pause, no longer heeding my environment, just determined to get there in time before it was too late. I'd been delayed enough, now was time for action.

  The vampire, a female, had her captive human by the throat, holding him a few feet off the ground against the window of a clothes shop. His feet were making pitiful attempts to kick her, but only managing to move enough to make the window behind him threaten to crack. The whole façade of the store rattling as his heels kept gently pounding back against the glass. He was having trouble breathing and had turned a little blue around the lips, which looked ghastly against the ghostly white of his face. He knew what held him and he was terrified. She hadn't even bothered to glaze him, to convince him he was elsewhere, with something remotely human, normal, not some monster of his nightmares. Not something that shouldn't even exist. What was she playing at? Even blood crazed vampires knew enough to hide their tracks, but then again, she probably had no intention of
this one surviving, so maybe the not glazing thing was understandable. Why bother if you intend on wiping not only their mind, but their existence from this world?

  She'd had more than enough time to sink her fangs into his neck, I had been slower than usual to get here - a few distractions along the way, you might say - so she was clearly getting off on his fear and enjoying herself. That just made me sick.

  “You know, you really shouldn't play with your food. It's bad manners,” I said evenly as I came to a halt a few feet away.

  She whirled around to face me, keeping the human, her meal, still held firmly in her grasp, but now clutched to her chest like a prize, or a shield, I vaguely thought. She took in my outfit, from my black on black ensemble, to the shining silver stake in my hand, perfectly shaped, honed to the exact right size for a vampire kill. I was no mere human playing vampire slayer, I was the real deal and she knew it.

  She was well dressed; fine expensive clothes, a tailored pants suit in navy blue, a paler blue blouse underneath, exquisite jewellery at her neck and wrists, her hair immaculately coiffured, her make-up subtle, but definitely there. This was no Rogue to be sure, this was a vampire straight out of the upper echelons of vampire society, even Paris maybe. What the hell?

  “The Sanguis Vitam Cupitor I presume?” Her accent was French, so that narrowed her heritage down at least, but what was she doing in New Zealand? In Wellington?

  “You have me at a disadvantage, vampire, I don't believe I know you.”

  She laughed, a harsh tinkle in the narrow side street, bouncing off the windows of the high street shops, making the human in her arms whimper ever so slightly. Hang in there mate, just hang in there.

  “We have not met, Nosferatin, but I know who you are. My mistress knows who you are.”

  OK. So she was of a line headed by a female vampire, that would cut it down by at least 50%.