Temptation

by J. C. Wilder

  “Make me come.”

  “Oh, aye.”

  Sinjin bent his head and applied his tongue to her flesh. He suckled her hot inner core, and she cried out as his fingers increased their gentle assault, stroking and teasing. He wanted to make her cry out in ecstasy. No, he wanted her to scream and he would accept nothing less.

  “Sinjin!”

  Vivian reached for his free hand and their fingers twined as she twisted against his mouth. She cried, a long and hoarse sob of release as she tightened around his fingers.

  He removed his jeans then stroked the soft skin of her lower back as she slowly quieted. Her body fell limp against the sheets, her skin damp with sweat. With their fingers entwined, he stretched out over her, nudging her thighs wider with his knees, then slid into her from behind in one smooth movement.

  “Mmm…” Vivian arched her back, taking him deeper. “Just lovely,” she sighed.

  He raised her arms so that her hands were near her head and he could balance his weight on his elbows. He brushed his lips over her cheek, her hair tickling his skin as he nuzzled her ear. Buried deep within her with her soft buttocks cushioning his belly was the closest a man could get to heaven and not be forced to don a pair of wings.

  He fought the urge to simply drive himself mindlessly into her body. His movements were slow, sensual, keeping them both aroused, but doing nothing to bring them to release. But her soft wiggling motions and the rhythmic clenching of her flesh frayed what little self-control he possessed. He clenched his teeth as he felt her shatter beneath him. Hearing her low cries of completion destroyed what little restraint he had left. Her body bracing his, he drove into her, hard, deep. Once, twice, three times…his head came up and he shouted as he came.

  Trembling, he collapsed over her. Replete, he had absolutely no desire to move away from her. He nuzzled her neck and the soft curve of her shoulder. Her curls tickled his nose as he nibbled the back of her neck.

  “That was fabulous,” Vivian purred.

  “Aye, it was.” He closed his eyes, savoring the warmth of the woman beneath him. His body and soul were replete.

  She gave a throaty chuckle. “I heard the funniest thing today.”

  “What is that?”

  “Brent said you were a—” a yawn broke off her words, “vampire. Can you believe that?”

  Sinjin froze, the warm afterglow of their lovemaking dashed like an incoming tide upon the rocks. Beneath him, Vivian drifted into sleep as the dawn continued its inevitable arrival. He slipped from her body to begin preparing for his dark sleep. And for the first time in centuries, he cursed the way of life that would separate them in the daylight hours.

  Chapter Twelve

  What a twenty-four hours it had been.

  Vivian took a sip of her strong coffee, enjoying the kick of the bitter liquid as it flowed over her tongue. The sun was bright overhead and even though it was barely noon, the air was growing dense with humidity.

  Across the garden, Maeve was up to her elbows in dirt as she planted rose bushes. Dressed in tattered jeans and a faded Cleveland Browns jersey, she looked as happy as anyone could be in a pile of mud.

  Vivian grinned. Almost as happy as she could be after a long night of good sex. She couldn’t wipe the smile off her face as she set her mug down on the table. Sinjin had been everything she’d imagined and more. Uninhibited, passionate and tender, he was everything she needed in a lover.

  How about a husband?

  She snorted. That wasn’t likely. He desired and respected her, but she was pretty sure he wasn’t in love with her. If he was, why had she woken alone in his bed with only sunlight as her companion? She picked up the mug again and grinned. Maybe he really was a vampire.

  The rattle of the gate brought her attention to the far end of the courtyard. Maeve leapt from the ground and darted to stand between Vivian and the newcomer.

  Brent Draven approached and Vivian’s smile grew wider. “Welcome, Detective Draven. May I introduce my friend, Maeve Leigh?”

  He nodded at the other woman. “Ms. Leigh.”

  Maeve gave him a curt nod. “Detective Draven.”

  Vivian was surprised Brent didn’t offer his hand to shake as she’d expect him to do. Had they met before?

  “How are you feeling, Vivian?” Brent asked.

  “I’m well, thank you for asking.”

  Maeve gave her a measured look. “Will you be okay alone?”

  “Yes, thank you.”

  The woman gave Brent a cool look, almost as if she were warning him to be on his best behavior. “I’ll be over in the rose bed. Just call if you need me.”

  Brent sat in the chair Vivian indicated and shot Maeve’s retreating back an amused look. “She’s very diligent.”

  “She’s been a good friend.” Vivian reached for the pot of coffee. “Coffee?”

  “No, thank you.” Brent settled into his chair, his big rangy body comfortable in his own skin. But he possessed a leashed sense of power and she knew that, no matter how relaxed he looked, he’d be ready to spring into the fray should it be necessary.

  “We could all use a good friend from time to time,” he said.

  She nodded, thinking of all the times she’d needed the support of her friends. “Indeed we do.”

  “Am I your friend, Vivian?”

  She laughed. “I barely know you.”

  He nodded. “True enough.” He reached into a pocket and withdrew a slim notebook. “If you don’t mind, I have a few questions.”

  “Sure, shoot.”

  He pulled a photo from the notebook. “Do you know this woman?”

  Vivian looked at the paper he slid across the table. It was a color photo of the leather-chick she’d seen on several occasions at the Chat with Sinjin.

  “I don’t know her but I’ve seen her before.” She looked up. “Who is she?”

  “Her name is Elena Vasquez.” He picked up the photo and tucked it away. “Do you happen to know where she might be found?”

  Vivian shook her head. “I’ve never spoken to her. She’s come into the Chat from time to time to see Sinjin. He might have some idea of where to find her.” She cocked her head to the side. “Is she a criminal?”

  “She’s wanted for questioning.” He glanced around the dilapidated courtyard. “Have you seen Sinjin today?”

  “No, I don’t usually see him until late because he keeps such long hours.”

  He turned back to her. “Have you thought about what we discussed at the hospital?”

  “Sinjin being a vampire?” Vivian gave a soft laugh. “I’m not really sure what you hope to gain by telling such a fib. Everyone knows that vampires don’t exist in the real world.”

  “Ask him, Vivian.” A mechanical beeping sounded and Brent reached for his pager. “I want you to ask him before it’s too late. If he does feel anything for you, he’ll tell you the truth.”

  “He’ll think I’m crazy.”

  “No, he won’t.” Brent rose from his seat. “Crazy or not, ask yourself this. Why haven’t you ever seen him in the daylight? Have you ever seen him eat anything? Come to think of it, have you seen any of the Chat employees eat anything?” He tapped the packet containing the photo. “And ask him who Elena is.” He paused, his expression grew tight. “I’ll bet my badge that he knows exactly what happened to you when you were mugged and why.”

  “I don’t see—”

  “Trust me, Vivian.” He pocketed the pager. “I have to go on another call, be safe.”

  “You too.”

  Disturbed, she watched him leave and a shiver ran down her spine. What would make a man, a police detective of all things, believe that another person could be a vampire? New Orleans was known for being steeped in mysticism and magic, but vampires?

  She looked across the courtyard to see Maeve watching her with a troubled look in her eye.

  * * * * *

  Heart pounding, Vivian perched on the edge of her bed at the hotel. The sun was sinking in the
western sky and still no call from Shai. Where could she be?

  She rubbed her hands down her arms, trying to rid herself of the chill that had settled in shortly after Brent had left that afternoon. Part of her, the part nearest her heart, wanted to laugh at the detective’s allegations. Who would believe that vampires could walk this earth?

  But there were so many things left unanswered, thanks to the detective, and those were the things that plagued her. She’d never seen Sinjin eat anything, though she had seen him drink from his black coffee mug from time to time. What had he been drinking?

  And what about Maeve? Did she know anything about what was going on? She was a good friend of Sinjin’s and she’d claimed to be a friend of Shai’s as well.

  As the last of the daylight faded from the sky, she picked up her cell phone. Since Shai hadn’t returned her call, there was only one other person she could call.

  “Hello?”

  “Jennifer? It’s Viv.”

  “Viv!” There was no disguising the pleasure in Jennifer’s voice. “I’m so glad to hear from you. Where are you?”

  “I’m currently in New Orleans.”

  “What are you doing there?”

  “I was doing some research for Erihn and I ran into someone you might know.”

  “Oh, really?” Jennifer gave an uneasy twitter. “I don’t know very many people in New Orleans.”

  “Maeve Leigh?”

  “Oh, Maeve.” Her laugh was easy. “Yes, I know Maeve. How is she doing? I haven’t heard from her in—”

  “And Damien St. James.”

  “Sinjin?” Jen’s voice faltered. “Where in the world did you run into him?”

  Vivian’s heart skipped a beat. “Do you know him?”

  “Yes. I’ve known him for years though I don’t know him very well.” There was a pause, then the sound of an indrawn breath. “Oh, Viv, you didn’t…” In the background, she heard the sound of something falling.

  Vivian closed her eyes as pain washed over her. Whatever the truth was, Jennifer knew.

  “Jen, if you’ve ever loved me, you need to tell me what the hell I’ve gotten myself into down here.”

  “You need to leave, Viv.” Jennifer took a deep breath. “Come to Colorado and I swear, I’ll tell you everything.”

  “No, you need to tell me now.”

  “Viv, please, I’m begging you—”

  “Someone tried to kill me, Jen.” She heard a sound of distress from her friend, but Vivian didn’t stop. “I have the right to know the truth.”

  “I’ll call Shai and Erihn. Please come to Colorado and we can sit down and talk about this—”

  “Shai and Erihn are involved as well?” Her knees gave way and she slid off the side of the bed, landing on the floor with a soft thump. She was dimly aware of Jennifer begging her to pack and leave. But didn’t she understand that, finally, Vivian had fallen in love? A hysterical laugh caught in her throat and threatened to choke her. She’d fallen in love and now her best friend was begging her to walk away. How was that for irony?

  “I want to know what’s going on, Jen. Either you tell me or I’ll find Sinjin and force him to talk to me.”

  Silence.

  “Someone told me that Sinjin is a…” She struggled to get the word out. “Vampire. What do you have to say to that, Jen?”

  “I don’t know what to say,” she said, her voice a little sad.

  “You can start by telling me that I’m crazy. That vampires don’t exist in the real world.”

  There was a slight pause before Jennifer spoke. “I can’t tell you that, Vivian.”

  She clutched the phone harder, her knuckles aching with the pressure. “Sure you can. You just say, ‘you’re nuts, doll’.”

  “You’re not crazy, Vivian. Vampires do exist.”

  The room seemed to shudder around her and she put her hand down, her nails digging into the carpet as she gripped it for balance. “How can—”

  “Vampires have been around since the time of the Pharaohs. I don’t know if anyone really knows their origins but they’ve been the silent observers of the passage of time.”

  “I don’t believe you.” Her chest ached with restrained emotions. “Why are you doing this to me?”

  “I never wanted you to know, Vivian. I love you. You’re my friend, but the reality is that the human mind finds these things hard to comprehend, and that’s why we never said anything to you.”

  A dawning sense of horror washed over her. “Who is ‘we’?” she whispered.

  “Erihn, Shai and I. We—”

  “You’re all vampires?”

  “No. There are several species of preternaturals who roam the earth.”

  “What the hell does preternatural mean?”

  “It means something that exists outside of nature. For humans, it’s anything that they cannot wrap their brain around.”

  “Are you trying to tell me that all of you—you, who’re supposed to be my friends—are these preternaturals?”

  “Yes.”

  “What are you?” her voice was faint.

  “I’m called a revenant, an immortal. We are the human servants to the vampires.”

  Vivian gulped. “Just h-h-how immortal are you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You can’t be killed?”

  “Well, no. I can be killed but it isn’t easy.”

  “What about Shai and Erihn? Are they immortals as well?”

  “Erihn is what is called a were-cat.”

  “A what?”

  “A were-cat, similar to a werewolf only in cat form. As the full moon nears, she changes form—”

  “Uh-huh, just like Lon Chaney and those characters she writes about. What about Shai? What is she?”

  “A vampire.”

  Dazed, Vivian stared out the window of her hotel room. How could her best friends be these preternatural creatures without her knowing it?

  “When did all of this happen?”

  “I’ve been a revenant since long before I met you. Shai, about twelve years, and Erihn, around a year or so.”

  “Val?”

  “He’s a vampire.”

  A sense of unreality set in. How could everyone around her be of another species and she not know it? How was this even possible?

  She cleared her throat. “And Sinjin?”

  “He’s a vampire, Viv.” Jennifer sucked in a noisy breath. “Where are you? I’ll come down with Erihn and we’ll pick you up and we can sit—”

  Vivian hit the “end” button, cutting off Jennifer’s words, and closed her eyes against the pain in her chest. She’d been fool enough to fall in love and what did she do? Fall in love with a vampire, of all things. Yeah, he was the perfect man for her, another bloodsucker like her father, only Sinjin was the real thing.

  Tears ran down her face as a bitter sob broke in her throat. Limp, she slid to the carpet as sobs racked her body. How could she have fallen in love with a man who not only lied to her, but wasn’t even human?

  On the floor, her cell phone rang, but she ignored it. It was probably Jennifer trying to get a hold of her and she had nothing to say to her one-time friend. There was nothing left to say.

  The phone fell silent and, slowly, her sobs faded. The room grew dark with the approaching night and still she lay on the floor, unable to move, barely able to breathe.

  Slowly Vivian calmed, her heart aching, but intact. Her tears dried to a sticky film on her cheeks. Exhausted, she struggled to rise from the floor. She couldn’t stay here any longer. She’d return home to New York and pick up the tattered threads of her life as best she could.

  She dialed the airlines and booked the first available flight out. Unfortunately it was to St. Louis, but right now north was north and she’d take it. The more space she put between herself and New Orleans, the better off she’d be.

  As she packed, her cell phone rang several more times. Hardening her heart, she ignored it. She had nothing to say to Shai, Jen or Eri
hn right now. Of course, it could be someone else. She picked up the phone and frowned when she saw her stepbrother’s home number on it.

  “Stephen?”

  “Viv, Christ—I’ve been trying to reach you for two days.”

  “Well, you succeeded.” She balled several silk shirts and stuffed them into the case.

  “I need you to come home right away. We have trouble with the business.”

  “I’m on my way. I have a flight booked for later this evening.”

  “You have?” The relief was evident in his voice.

  She was leaving New Orleans. Hands trembling, she snapped her suitcase shut. Was she actually going to leave without confronting Sinjin with what she’d been told? What happened to her vow of living her life with truth? The old Viv would have walked away without a backward glance. She’d have chalked up this mess to yet another bad decision of which she was glad to be rid.

  The new Vivian, the woman she was now, wanted the chance to confront the man who’d broken her heart.

  “Vivian? Are you still there?”

  “Yes, I’m here.”

  “I asked if I should send a car?”

  “Yes, send it to the Chat Noir at eleven p.m.” Vivian gave him the address of the club. “I’ll be waiting.”

  * * * * *

  Brent scowled as he walked down Bourbon Street. He’d lost sight of Elena Vasquez in the crowds and nothing annoyed him more than losing his quarry. Vasquez was a suspect in a series of burglaries that had taken place over three years ago. When he’d first seen her at the Chat two nights ago, his heart had almost stopped.

  His phone rang as he approached his car. He pulled the cell phone from his belt holder and flipped it open. “Draven.”

  “Detective Draven? This is Detective Grant with district two.”

  “Evening, Detective, what can I do for you?” Draven reached his car and unlocked the door.

  “I have some information on one of your cases. You’re the detective in charge of the Janee Reynolds murder?”

  “The woman who was found in the dumpster?” He slid behind the wheel of his car. “Yes, that’s mine. What do you have for me?”

  “On the same day we had a similar murder in our district. The woman’s body was found in the Quarter and her throat had been slashed. I was reviewing the inventory of items found at your murder scene and I think I may have found a similarity between the two crimes.”