“She’s a force to be reckoned with,” I say to Diel. He nods and grins like he wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Damn straight,” Hannah says. Sebastian kisses both Hannah’s cheeks and lovingly tucks a stray hair behind her ear.
“A small tornado, ma petite maman.”
“Thanks Bast, I think…” Hannah looks unsure.
“It was meant as a compliment, Han,” Bast says.
“Well then let’s let loose this force of nature and get the girl fed. Vampire Diaries is on tonight and I never miss an episode,” Hannah says.
“OMG! You so did not go there,” I say.
“I so did, girlfriend. Diel just has to mop up the drool and deal. Besides, nothing beats a demon in bed so he knows he has nothing to worry about,” Hannah says as she strokes Diel’s chest which is puffed up like a peacock on display. I can’t help my giggles. I can’t stand TV but will occasionally watch a movie. I’d just rather spend time with friends or a good book, which is almost the same thing.
“Guys, I hate to break up the love fest but I am getting antsy. Can we go?” I ask.
“Oh course, ma cherie.”
“Take my hand, love. Come on, you all know the drill,” Aidan says as he motions everyone to join hands before transmanifesting us to the gods know where.
I’m pleasantly surprised to be in Golden Gate Park. There is a huge concert and plenty of people milling around on the fringes. Snacking on a few will be no problem. I snatch one out of the bushes we are standing among and start to feed before anyone else realizes what I’ve done. Not only do I get a bloodlust on the night preceding the full moon but during the three nights of the moon phase I am incredibly fast, agile, aware and hard to catch. I also have heightened sexual needs that in the past few months have been agonizing to go through by myself. Now that I have Sebastian, I can hardly wait for the games to begin. In the past he just took those three days off and we barely came up for air.
Soon enough the group is bribing me with another victim so I will relinquish the one I am feeding on. I barely register that I am hissing at them but then I catch the other’s scent and let go long enough to dive in with my fangs. After my fourth “donor” I am feeling replete. I had been more cognizant of my surroundings during the last feeding to realize the moaning that was going on was coming from me. I am rightly embarrassed.
“I’m so sorry, guys. I must sound like an overly hormonal gourmand. Moaning and groaning like that. But it is so good,” I try to explain.
“You remind me of Manda. She is quite the foodie and when she is eating she makes her fair share of appreciative sounds.”
“I really look forward to getting to know her more, Aidan. Why don’t you zap us home and you can get back to her,” I say. He looks appreciatively.
“I want you two to be friends, Lilith, but I would never have pushed it.”
“I know,” I say smiling. Suddenly very much happy with my feelings towards Manda. “Thank you, Aidan, for taking time away from her to help me tonight. It means so much.”
“You’re very welcome, love. Now line up everyone. I want to get back to Milan,” he says with a wink. We transmanifest back to the manse where Aidan puts a new set of designer clothes on me and cleans me up with a wave of a hand.
“I gave you a little present, Sebastian,” he says and sends us a wicked grin before blinking out.
It could only be my lingerie. Damn him… I hear Sebastian growl.
41 AIDAN
I know something is wrong the second I transmanifest into the room. The door is hanging off the hinges and there has been a terrible mess made. A struggle and Manda is missing. I immediately send out my energy searching for hers. I find nothing. Nothing! It’s impossible. Even if she were dead there would be a residual energy left so the shudder that goes through me centers me for a moment realizing that she is alive. That left one alternative. Her energy frequency has been changed. Vampires. Fucking parasites. Someone has changed her. Oh the gods no. I had to find them and now.
I transmanifest back to the manse and startle everyone. Helena and Julian are back with Liam. I am shaking with rage and grief and Lilith is the only thing that keeps me from annihilating the entire room of vamps. She rushes to my side.
“What’s happened to Manda?” She knows me so well. She’s caught me off guard enough to bring my temper back in check. Thank the gods she is here or I would have killed them all and they were friends and my only hope of finding Manda.
Lilith envelopes me in her arms and pulls me close while I shake. I realize I’m fisting my hands, white knuckles.
“Cherie, maybe you should back away from Aidan right now. I’m not sure it’s safe,” Sebastian warns.
“No! He needs me and is my friend. Something terrible has happened. He needs this, Bast. I just know it,” she tells him. I make a conscious effort to release my hands and wrap my arms around Lilith to hug her back before I let out a huge cry loud enough to shake the glass. It’s filled with grief but also fear. Fear that I will never see Manda again. Lilith just holds on tighter. I think I must be crushing her but she never lets go. Finally, I slump into her arms and she guides me to the couch.
“Aidan, honey, can you talk about it yet? What can we do?” she asks.
“Manda…” My voice sounds harsh and raw. I clear my throat and try again. “The room was destroyed. I can’t find her energy anywhere. No energy and even if she were dead there would be residual energy… The only thing that could have happened is if her energy had been changed and that could only have happened…”
“If she had been turned,” Julian says. I snap my head up to look at him and I have never seen him so angry. The fury is boiling just below the surface. “Aidan it’s imperative that you take us there immediately to see if we can pick up the scent. If it’s someone we know we can find her right away and ease her transition as much as possible. I’m sorry but you have no time to grieve right now. We have to move,” Julian says as he stands up. “Lily should come as her sense of smell is even more heightened right now.”
I nod and hold my hands out. I’m surprised by who rushes to me. Everyone. Even Hannah but Diel and I insist she remain at the manse.
“Hannah, my love. If something happened to you or Lilith it would truly be the final straw and I would cease to exist. Lilith is in her prime fighting shape at the moment, being in her werewolf phase. You can fight but you carry something too precious to risk. Please, for my sake if not your child’s, stay here and liaise with us.”
“Of course, Aidan. I wasn’t thinking. I just love you so much I can’t stand to see you hurt. I’ll be here with Julian’s computers at my command so let me know if I can do anything. Diel, keep me posted or you sleep on the couch until the baby comes,” she says and she steps back letting us go with tears running down her beautiful face.
I transmanifest us to our room in Milan. I’ve never moved this many people before so everyone wobbles a little when we land. Lilith gasps but Julian and Helena each hiss and bare their fangs.
“What? What! Who is it, Julian?” I demand.
“Zoe…” Helena hisses. Suddenly I am a one minded djinn. “Everyone grab hands I have a lock on her.”
42 LILITH
We land just outside of Milan in an old warehouse of sorts. Heavy machinery litters the building and magickal globes of light dot the interior, illuminating the Queen and her body guards. There is an olive-skinned man with midnight hair and flashing azure eyes. He wears a thick silver bracelet. He smells like Aidan but not quite.
Aidan sees him and growls low in his body. He snaps his eyes to Zoe.
“Release him, now, and I will kill you outright instead of making you hurt,” Aidan says. I’ve never seen him like this and am scared. I grab Bast’s hand and he tightens his fingers around mine. I can smell a hint of fear from him. It’s the first time I have ever smelled it come off him except when I have been in mortal danger.
“Now why would I release my pretty pet? It’s on
ly fair that if Lily has a Djinn that I do too.” Zoe laughs her tinkling laugh that has more than touch of lunacy to it.
“You bitch! Aidan has never been owned or mine. He is his own man. What’s more you took someone from him. Give her back, Zoe, or I will kill you myself,” I growl. Her guards immediately move in a semi-circle around her. She laughs again.
“Like you could, Lily. You little slut! You may not have bound Aidan but he was yours to command as you wanted.”
I feel like she had slapped me. I feel Sebastian and Aidan flinch too. I have to stop this now.
“You are so wrong. Aidan would and will do things for me but I would never ask that of him. That’s what happens when you love someone. Whether it is a lover or a friend. You risk and sacrifice. You don’t manipulate, you abomination.” I point at her guards. “How can you stand and protect her when she is playing petty games instead ruling our people. She’s gone mad.”
I see a couple exchange glances. One hesitates. Zoe senses their fear.
“Djinn, kill them,” she says as she points to the three offenders. The djinn doesn’t even stop to think it over but I can see him bite back on pain. It causes him pain to use his magick while being bound. Plus he looks like he needs to feed on something besides anger and hate.
The vampires vaporize before us and I feel guilty for drawing her attention to them. She sees this and smiles.
“Anyone else you want to kill, Lily, dear? Sebastian maybe?”
I step in front of him.
“I wouldn’t kill him. I want you to see him making love to me once I get him compelled to be my lover,” she says with all the bitterness of a jilted ex.
“Zoe, child, where is Manda? Tell me.” I feel Julian throw all of his vamp mojo into his words. The power behind them wraps around us. I want to give Julian the answer but I don’t know it. It is painful. I didn’t know Julian had this kind of power. Holy shit.
“My djinn has protected me from your Jedi mind tricks, Julian. Suffice it to say she is tucked away somewhere that you will never find her. Her life as a vampire will be short and very hard and painful.” She actually cackles. Fucking bitch. I want to lay a smack down on her so bad.
Aidan looks almost green, sickly.
“I am sorry, brother, she took my mate, my soul mate, I have to find out where,” Aidan says to the djinn.
“I understand.” He raises his chin. “I would rather die than live bound to this trash. I am almost there already, but know that I will still fight. I am compelled,” the Djinn says.
“I understand. Let’s begin.”
Suddenly the air in the room starts to thicken with magick that is being summoned by the djinns. Sebastian pulls my hand and with Julian, Helena and Diel we run towards Queen’s body guards. Liam and Andrew are right behind them. Liam is a special asset because he is werevamp, now and he can watch over Andrew, who hasn’t fought before. The guards don’t have a clue of what is going on. They take a defensive crouch around the Queen but that doesn’t stop our full on, blurring-speed attack. Sebastian and Julian make short work of two guards. Finally there is fear in the remaining guard’s eyes. Distantly, I hear metal and machinery being slammed against each other and the walls shake from its impact. I dismiss it and focus on the guard in front of me.
My time in kick boxing is paying off. I deftly block and parry around the bitch’s protector. Remembering to get a roundhouse in when I can, along with some back kicks. I send him flying across the room and go for Zoe. Abruptly, her laugh cuts off. Her fangs descend and she rises from her chair. She is over five hundred years old but she has hidden behind others for many of those years. I just hope that my rage and my inner wolf makes up for my inexperience.
She has talons for nails as she rakes them down the side of my chest. I feel the blood well and soak my shirt. I need to focus. I should have been able to block that. She grins.
“First blood, Lily,” she says as she licks off of my blood. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. You can’t beat me. You’re just a baby and a two-timing trollop at that. You never deserved Sebastian or Aidan,” she seethes.
“Trollop? Is that the best you got?” I refuse to give her satisfaction at how dead-on her blow really was to how I have been feeling. Thank the Goddess that Sophie and I have been working this out.
Zoe is pissed that she doesn’t get the reaction out of me that she was aiming for. Ha! Bring it!
“Come on, Zoe, are you going to fight or cry over spilled milk. Sebastian and Aidan didn’t want you! Is that what this is all about? You’re just a vindictive trumped up vamp who was snubbed for someone better.” In the background lightening is flashing and foreign words are flowing in the air. The Djinns are truly magnificent to watch but I can’t look for long.
Zoe screams as she comes flying at me. It is exactly what I wanted her to do. No more calculating. I want her sloppy. I easily move out of her way. I am faster than her as a werevamp. As she passes I punch her in her ribs hearing a satisfying shattering of bone.
Agony is what I hear in her next scream but it quickly turns back to rage. The others are still engaged with guards as only a minute has flown by. I see out of the corner of my eye the two djinns and that their battle is still waging. Aidan. It would be against everything he believes to kill a Djinn bound and acting on his master’s orders. I know it must pain him but at the time it seems like the only way to free him while Zoe is still alive. We need Zoe alive to question her about Manda, and the djinn has been ordered to protect her at all costs.
Focusing back on the queen bitch I see her trying to sneak up on me. Just before she can reach me I jump and twist in the air so I am right behind her with my fangs at her neck.
“Call them off,” I growl.
“Never,” she says.
I break her arm and she howls.
“Call. Them. Off.”
“Never,” she says through gritted teeth.
“No worries, cherie. We just killed the last guard. We have to wait out Aidan’s battle. Can you hold her?” Sebastian asks.
“Absolutely. Even though she reeks of lies and deceit, I think I can manage to keep a tight hold,” I say as I squeeze her middle making her cry out as her broken ribs are ground together.
“Let me help, Lily,” Helena says and then punches Zoe in the face breaking her nose spectacularly. “I’ve wanted to do that for at least three hundred years. Oh, that felt good.”
“You fucking bitch, Helena. Julian is too good for you,” Zoe says through a mouthful of blood.
I pull Zoe out of firing range of Helena as I see her wind another punch up.
“Helena, we need her to be able to talk. We have to find Manda,” I say. Helena nods but scowls in a very non-Helena way. I turn Zoe slightly so I can see Aidan and the other djinn.
It’s easy to see the fight is almost over. They are throwing everything they can at each other. Most of the machinery is melted into smoldering heaps in the corners. The other djinn is almost vapor. He’s managing to throw something akin to lightening at Aidan. Aidan’s answering bolts are much stronger but even I can see that this has taken a lot out of Aidan. Zoe starts to whimper as she realizes that her djinn will not be saving her after all.
“It’s over for you, Zoe,” I whisper in her ear. She moans softly as the reality that her life is crashing around her.
Aidan sends a final almighty burst of energy at the other djinn and the djinn vaporizes. Aidan hangs his head and lets out an anguished growl. When his head comes up his eyes are on fire and he strides over to Zoe with a snarl on his face. I’ve never been afraid of Aidan but I could be now. Zoe starts to squirm and protest so I tighten my grip and sink my teeth into her neck to let her know that I can take her in a second.
“Aidan, please don’t kill me. Think about it. Now Manda is able to live forever. She won’t die so soon. I did you a favor.”
With a wave of his hand Zoe’s fingernails are ripped out. She screams and her knees go weak. I keep her upright easily.
“Where
is she, blood sucker?” Aidan growls.
“Here in I-Italy. But I don’t know where. My contact took her and left,” Zoe mewls.
“Who was your contact?” Julian asks with as much fury in his eyes as Aidan.
“I don’t know her name. I put out a feeler … had a new vamp I wanted to disappear. She said I should be at the Palace near the back. They picked her up there. She’s still in transition…”
“Where did you put this “feeler” out?” Julian asks.
“A message board.” She whispers a URL and Julian calls Hannah, relaying the information. I can hear Hannah tell him that the site is no longer found.
“The boards only last for a day or two,” Zoe offers. She’s a pliant wench now that she is trying to do anything to stay alive.
“How do I find them?” Julian demands.
“Voogle, “vampire hunt” as search words. Then hope something comes up. It’s risky. The URL only lasts a day or so. They have everything encrypted.”
“I think we have as much out of her as we can get. We need to get to the Palace and see if we can pick up a vampire scent,” Julian says as he looks at Aidan in sympathy.
“You kill her, Lilith. If I have to transmanifest us, I’ll need my strength. But I want to watch the life drain out of her eyes.”
I smile. “With pleasure.”
I sink my teeth into her neck and drink.
43 LILITH
Aidan is able to get us to the Palace after we set the building on fire. We couldn’t leave so many bodies lying around. Aidan flicked his wrist and the building was an inferno. We each spread out but it is Liam who finds the scent first. Then I catch it. Our sense of smell is more acute right now. I can smell the Queen’s vamps and another plus the faint scent of peaches which I remember Manda smelling like.
Suckers Bite Back (San Francisco Vampires #5) (Vampires of San Francisco series) Page 20