“Is that a word?” His mouth twitched and she lost her train of thought. It should be illegal for a man to be as attractive as Stephan. There was a long, heavy silence in the car and she knew if Stephan moved even a single hair toward her, she’d be on that mouth in a moment, argument or not.
The headlights of a passing car brought her back to her senses. No. Nope. She would not. She would have some control and not get involved with a man who wouldn’t take her at face value.
The way she did him.
“Is what a word?” she mumbled, before giving her head a shake.
He laughed. “I heard vampires don’t spread blood diseases and are immune themselves.”
“That’s true. Our scientists think we evolved out of it because of the effect on our food supply.”
Stephan stuck his arm out. “Then let’s get oathed.”
Estelle cleared her throat. “It’s weird to do this here.”
“Do we need a more ceremonial place?”
Technically, no, but simply leaning over the gearshift sullied the formality. “Let’s at least get out of the car.” There were few cars on the parkway and the oath took only seconds.
They got out and Estelle came over to the passenger side so that if a human came by, they would be protected from being filmed and posted online. “Give me your arm.”
Stephan held out his arm and she pushed his sleeve up to reveal his wrist. In the dark night she couldn’t see the veins and arteries pulsing his blood through but she could smell it, breathing in the rich scent as her fangs extended further down.
This was the moment she loved best. Drinking from the living was to give in to sensation, the deeply intense connection.
“This won’t hurt,” she said. “At least, not a lot.” She lifted his wrist to her mouth, the warm skin salty under her lips. Unable to help herself, she flicked her tongue along the sensitive skin of his wrist. His fingers clenched.
“Estelle.” His voice was ragged. “Don’t tease me.”
He might as well have waved a red flag in front of her. How could she resist that? She took his hand in both of hers and gently opened his fingers. She ran her lips along his palm before taking his finger into her mouth.
He growled, a sound that started deep in his chest. Faster than she could imagine he’d moved them so she was backed against the car. He leaned over her, his hands planted on her hips, and she lifted her mouth to his.
Then he stepped back, breathing hard. “This is a bad idea.”
It was as though he’d dumped a cold cup of clarity on her. This was a monumentally bad idea. She cleared her throat. “Right.”
“Look.” He paused as if trying to find the right words. “I don’t need an oath. I trust you.”
She leaned against the car. What game was he playing? “I don’t get it.”
“If you tell me you won’t mess with my head, I will believe you.”
“I told you I won’t.”
“Then I believe you.” He breathed in. “I trust you.”
Estelle laughed out loud in sheer relief as the tension that had been building between them for months began to fade.
His eyebrows lowered in surprise. “That’s funny?”
“It made me happy to hear you say it,” she said simply. “But why now?”
“Because you’re right. I think I knew intellectually that you wouldn’t take advantage. You’ve never gone back on your word.”
“You mean it? You trust me?”
“I mean it.” He took her hand and kissed the palm, and she tried to keep her fingers from stroking his face. “Now let’s find your brother.”
Chapter 11
Back in the car, Estelle checked the GPS and pulled onto the road. Stephan looked curiously at his wrist.
“If you had bitten me, would it have left a mark?” he asked. He knew vampires were able to heal over the wounds they made, but would there be anything? “A bruise?”
“Nothing.”
“Are you worried about humans finding out that you can heal others? It sounds like something they’d want to exploit.”
“Yes.” She passed by what looked like sixteen white shuttle buses to turn into a gigantic parking area. “It only works on wounds caused by the specific individual, but that’s a nuance that would get missed as they tried to capture us for experimentation.”
“You can’t heal a wound caused by Felix then?”
She shook her head, her sleek hair fanning out around her. “Nope.”
Stephan mulled this over as she searched for a space. Another reason for vampires to want to either support the Law that hid all arcane groups from the humans, or to take control of them. With the vampires’ compulsion ability, they’d have a far better chance of influencing humans than any other group. He knew there were vampires in each camp, but for now, those who saw the benefit in the Law outnumbered those who didn’t. That was a plus.
Estelle parked and tucked the GPS in her bag. “Let’s go.”
Disney Springs was like any other outdoor shopping mall, but busier and with far more cartoon characters. Stephan was struck speechless by the number of people wandering around with brightly colored shopping bags. His hand twitched toward his wallet; there was something about this place that demanded he spend money, lots of it, right away.
Estelle, luckily, was invulnerable. “He’s in here, and I think I know where.” They strolled through the main shopping lane toward a gigantic volcano.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Stephan stared up as a huge flare erupted from the top and caused sweat to bead on his face. That was intense heat.
Estelle frowned at the line snaking out from the hostess’s desk. “Damn. The minute I go in, he’ll recognize me.”
“I can masque…no, I can’t.” Stephan glanced down. “He might remember my clothes.”
She stood back and assessed him. “Good thing we’re in a mall.”
Twenty minutes later, Stephan, now masqued as the shorter, white suburban dad Richard and dressed in flip-flops, shorts covered with images of Mickey Mouse and a baggy T-shirt, wound his way through the loudest restaurant experience of his life. Animatronic animals shrieked as a fake rainstorm thundered above. Around him, servers with huge white-toothed smiles delivered platters of fried food to tables of sun-exhausted diners. There was a fair scattering of arcana in the restaurant, enough that his presence wouldn’t be unusual. He passed a few vampires who barely registered him and several tables of masquerada who made curious attempts to assess his status. He pretended to be weaker than he was, and they turned back to their mounds of food with bored expressions.
It was the last place he’d expect to find Estelle’s snobby social-climber of a brother. Two laps of the restaurant later, he saw Felix outside with a beer. Raoul sat to his left, looking at his cheerful pink drink with a pained expression. Across the table sat a man and woman Stephan didn’t recognize. The woman leaned over the table, speaking intently while Felix stared at the water outside with a bored expression.
With no empty chairs nearby it was impossible to eavesdrop without being obvious, so Stephan grabbed a menu at the bar. Within seconds, a server with perfectly sculpted hair materialized at his elbow.
“Can I help you, sir?”
“I need a minute.” Stephan kept an eye on Felix.
“Of course! May I suggest one of our specials? We have a banana-cherry bourbon shake that’s very popular.”
“In a sec.” Shit. Felix was looking around and watching his interaction with the server. Better go to back into tourist mode. “You know, I’ll have a beer.”
“Coming up! Coors, Coors Light, Budweiser, or one of our famous local brews?”
“Local.”
“Light or dark?”
Holy God. “Light.”
“Do you like hoppy?”
Stephan gave up. “Why don’t you get me what you drink? I’m sure it will be great.”
“Yes, sir!” The server bounced off and for a moment. Stephan wondered what he was on that he could keep his energy levels that high and if he would share. Felix had turned back to the conversation and Stephan watched them closely, noting their body language and doing his best to lip-read without staring. It was an interesting play and he concentrated on Raoul. The librarian had pushed his chair closer and shifted his body very slightly toward the two strangers, though his eyes were on the table. Beside him, Felix had a little sneer, but he had moved away from the talk.
What were they hearing?
The beer arrived and Stephan made sure to drink; no tourist would leave a cold beer untouched on a hot Florida night. He drank again with appreciation. The server had good taste.
Too bad relaxing with a pint wasn’t why he was here. He needed to get a better look at the other two, so he walked back through the crowd and took out his phone. The best thing about being in an unabashed tourist zone was that no one looked twice at a man snapping photos. Within twenty seconds he had the shots he needed and in another minute, he’d slapped down enough money for his beer and a hefty tip and was back outside. He wanted to get away before Felix and the others left, in case they saw Estelle.
He should have known better. Estelle was in her new outfit and a baseball cap, drinking a huge iced coffee and bent over her phone. She sat with a good view of the door, but far enough away that she blended into the crowd. Stephan joined her, trying not to stare at her legs, revealed by the shorts she wore.
It was hard.
“Well?” She stood up and they walked away.
He gave her a quick summary. “Is Marianne sure it was Felix taking the lead?”
She laughed. “You don’t think it’s Raoul?”
“I’m not sure.”
“There’s no way. Raoul is smart, number one, but more than that, he’s not the type to get caught up in this sort of intrigue. If he was working for the Dawning, he’d be doing it through Lady Nadia.”
“Who’s that?”
“His aunt who is a complete bitch. Cressida was never able to prove she was supporting the Dawning, but we know she does.” Cressida’s only failure.
“Perhaps.” That made sense, but he was a masquerada. He knew what he’d seen. They could discuss it later. He showed her the photos he’d taken. “Do you know these people?”
Estelle shook her head. “I’ll get people on it, though. It sounds like Raoul might be our best bet.”
“Yeah, I…damn.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar face. “They must have left right after I did.”
It was only Raoul and Felix and they were deep in conversation.
“Follow my lead. It’s our honeymoon.” Stephan draped his arm around Estelle’s shoulders, pulling her tight against him. The rich smell of her coffee tickled his nose as she nestled into him, tucking her head a bit closer so her hat blocked her face.
Even when he was masqued as Richard, she fit against him perfectly.
* * * *
Estelle shivered despite the heat. Leaning down so their lips almost touched, Stephan stepped forward so the entire length of his body was against her. His hand came around to the small of her back to pull her in even tighter. This is what she remembered most about their single shared night. He’d been so deliberate about every movement and touch, killing her with anticipation.
Like he was doing now. She arched her body against his and this time he took her mouth.
Heaven. Estelle bit his lower lip gently and he laughed, then groaned against her mouth. “You did that before,” he said softly. “Do it again.”
She was happy to oblige—even masqued, Stephan remained…Stephan. After a year she hadn’t forgotten his taste or the smell of his skin against hers. His blood pumped hard to the surface and she breathed him in, tongue licking at the corner of his mouth as his hands moved down her back. She wanted to nick him slightly with her fang to get a little taste. A tantalizing taste.
“Excuse me. There are children here.” A woman’s scandalized voice cut through the haze in Estelle’s brain. She unglued herself from Stephan, who was almost purple with suppressed laughter.
“You should be ashamed of yourselves.” The woman herded her gawking brood away before Estelle could apologize.
“Way to stay hidden,” muttered Stephan. His lips trembled and Estelle twisted away before she either burst out laughing or pushed him up against a wall.
He caught her in a teasing embrace and slid a kiss along her ear. “Better to keep pretending we can’t keep our hands off each other,” he murmured. “Newlyweds.”
She could play this game. Sliding her arm around his waist, she made sure to brush her breast against his chest. His groan sounded like it had been torn from his body.
“Estelle.” His voice was ragged.
She gave him a big smile. “Back to work.”
Ignoring his curses—what was a bit of teasing between friends—Estelle scanned the crowd. Felix and Raoul had disappeared, but Stephan indicated a couple walking out of the bar. “Those are the ones your brother was with.”
“Stand over there.” She pulled out her phone.
“I’ve got some shots.”
“Doesn’t hurt to get more.”
Stephan moved to the side so she could take a few tourist shots that captured the two. He came back to her side and they strolled slowly along behind the two. “Not vamps,” she said.
“Not masquerada either.”
“Lithu maybe? The Dawning for certain.”
“I think so.”
Estelle checked Felix’s GPS tracker. It looked like Raoul was taking him back to her parents’ house, so she didn’t have to worry about them.
“Shit.” Stephan scanned the crowd, which had apparently quadrupled with the influx of several dozen tour buses. “Lost them.”
“We’ve got photos. Let’s head back.”
She started walking but Stephan lagged behind, staring longingly at a burrito booth. “What?” she asked.
“Can’t we at least get something to eat first?” Stephan’s stomach growled. “After that dinner, I’m starving.”
Chapter 12
Stephan barely saw Estelle for the next two days. He was busy shuttling around Wavena’s court meeting other vampires in a series of meet-and-greets that were high on formalities and low on substance. He assumed the real meetings would take place after Estelle took on her official role.
Eric’s stylist sent down a suit that arrived the day of the ceremony. “A tux?” he asked Eric on the phone.
“Lucy didn’t want you to embarrass us,” Eric said. “You’re our ambassador.”
“I’m the liaison,” he corrected.
“Oh. Must have forgot to tell you. You’re my official ambassador now. Congratulations.”
“C’mon. Why?”
“Because.”
There was no point arguing with Eric. “Any news on the couple who met with Felix?” He’d emailed the photos to see if they could find a match. Estelle had not been able to confirm their identities.
“Not yet.”
“No word about Jimmy either?”
“Nada.”
There was silence as both men considered this. Finally, Eric spoke. “See what you can learn at the invocation, then come back to Toronto.”
“Will do.”
They hung up. An hour later, Stephan was in front of the mirror painstakingly going through Lucy’s step-by-step print-out instructions on how do a proper bow tie. He wished she’d put in one of those clip-ons, but the stylist would probably pass out with horror at the idea. When he was done, he checked himself over. He was in his usual masque: tall with reddish-brown skin and shaved head.
His image shimmered. Refle
cted back was a man who he hadn’t seen in a long while. Short and squat, with heavy shoulders and a neck thick with muscle. He struggled with the bow tie, ripping it off so he could breathe, and heard a seam rip in his jacket.
Then he stared at his true self, how he’d looked when he was human centuries ago. His younger brother had been tall and slender, with chestnut skin, the model of male beauty. He’d always twitted Stephan about it, telling him it was good he could masque to a handsome man. Stephan would turn himself into an almost twin of his brother to make him laugh—that was the masque he used most often now. His brother had the admiration and he had the women he wanted—but he didn’t have the authority that Stephan did as firstborn. Neither cared. When Stephan had been chosen to bear the gift of masquing, his brother had hugged him and said he was glad Stephan would be there to look after his family until the end of time.
The end of time ended up being a hundred years.
Stephan shifted back, unwilling to look any longer at the man he’d used to be. It was too difficult to stare into those permanently grieving eyes. At least as Stephan he’d allowed himself the space to become a man who had hope. He was a man who had a name, not a man whose name had been ripped from him, along with everything else he’d valued—family, home, freedom.
Adjusting his shirt and retying the bow with shaking fingers, he thought again of his final image of those little children, the last of his brother’s kin. He’d managed to pinpoint where he thought his village had been, but there was nothing left, destroyed by the predations of the Europeans. It was reasonable to assume he had relatives, grand nieces and nephews somewhere on the continent, perhaps even here in North America. But he would never know, having been unable to find them after decades of searching. The devastation was so intense, the loss so grievous that even hundreds of years later, it was like a black hole in his soul.
Again, the multitude rose up on his mind and he did his best to thrust them away. He couldn’t take their pain on top of his own. It was too much.
Stephan squared his shoulders and tucked his phone into his pocket. He had spent enough time thinking about his brother over the years, reliving the truth and dreaming of alternatives. He finished re-knotting his tie as a knock came at the door. “Mr. Daker? The car is ready.”
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