by N Gray
The last thing I remembered seeing was Sebastian kicking Djimon in the head and the big man crashing to the ground.
Chapter 17
LÉON HELD MY HAIR BETWEEN HIS long fingers as he brushed the ends. I was sitting on a chair in front of a large mirror, wearing a navy lace bodice dress from centuries ago. He took his time brushing my long hair, from the top of my head all the way to the ends. My hair was much longer than I remembered and darker in color. He set the brush on the side table and placed his hands on my bare shoulders.
“There, all perfect again,” Léon said, smiling.
“What’s going on?”
“How do you feel?”
“Fine. Where are we?”
“Safe.”
Léon pulled me to my feet. He lifted my hands to his mouth, his soft lips caressing my knuckles. The look behind his sea blue eyes held concern, his face a graven image. It was only the flash of sensitivity behind those eyes that gave any kind of emotion away.
“What is it, Léon? You’re hiding something. What is it?” I tried to see myself in his eyes, but they were too dark.
“You were hurt. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Where is Sebastian?”
“He will be fine. He is healing as we speak.”
“How can you be here? You don’t have a mark on me.”
“No.”
He let go of my left hand and touched my cheek. His hand was warm against my skin. I closed my eyes with his touch and leaned into his hand. He cupped my face and pulled me in for a gentle kiss. My eyes were closed when he pulled away. As I opened my eyes to see where he was, his mouth found mine again.
The kiss was no longer gentle; it was desperate and wanting. I remembered what he could do with his touch, how he could find your deepest, undisclosed desires and give them to you. I wanted to pull free of his embrace, but he held onto me tightly. He drew me in closer, the line of my body touching his. I didn’t know what to do with my hands. It felt silly to leave them by my side, so I slid them around his waist. I ran my fingers up his back and felt the strength beneath his shirt. He pushed against me until my back touched a wall behind us. His tongue explored my mouth, and I explored his; my tongue found his fangs, and I nicked myself. I flinched from the pain. A moan escaped his mouth and it echoed inside mine, and he kissed harder at the taste of blood inside our mouths. I swallowed the metallic liquid.
It was all distracting; his mouth on mine, his tongue inside my mouth, his hands exploring my body as I explored his. When he pushed against me, I felt the hardness of his body.
A moan of frustration came out of my mouth. I wanted to feel his skin directly on mine, to see whether he was as cold as the dead or if there was some warmth to him. I wanted to feel all of him.
This didn’t feel right. Léon kissing me felt wrong. It was all wrong. I was with Sebastian, his brother. I had the metaphysical connection to Sebastian, not to Léon; so why was he here kissing me?
I dug my nails into my skin until I could think more clearly.
I remembered the way in which Djimon had looked at me. How I had hit the tree and hurt my right shoulder. How Sebastian had kicked Djimon to the ground. Sebastian appearing hurt.
When I could think of things besides Léon’s passionate kiss, his body against mine, I thought that this was a dream—that Léon had somehow invaded my mind while I was unconscious.
My hands moved to his chest, and I felt his heart beating beneath my fingertips. The rhythmic duh-dum of his heart was strong; he almost felt alive. Léon had the same look in his eyes that a junkie would for a fix. And it told me that he wanted more.
“No, Léon!” I said, and I pushed him away from me.
“Forgive me, Blaire.” His eyes glittered like stars. He was using a lot of power to do this, to invade my unconscious mind in this way.
“What’s going on, Léon? Why are you behaving like this?”
“I couldn’t help myself. Don’t you feel it, Blaire? I know you don’t carry my mark, but I so wish it hadn’t failed. I am completely drawn to you like an insect to a flame. To your flame.” He looked me over.
I thought of metal, large slabs of metal pulled high and all around me, and suddenly Léon was gone.
When I opened my eyes, I was gasping for air. The room I found myself in was dimly lit and in a place I didn’t recognize. As I tried to sit, pain shot through my shoulder and into my head, forcing me to lie back down.
“Don’t sit up just yet.”
I knew that voice: it was Mel.
“You always seem to be there to stitch me back together.”
She laughed, and it was a good wholesome laugh like she hadn’t laughed in a while. “Yeah, you seem to get into a lot of trouble.”
“It’s not my fault. Help me sit up.”
She walked away and came back with two pillows. She wrapped her left arm around me and pulled me up by my back, and I held onto her arm while her right hand placed the pillows behind me. I could see the room; it was painted an off-white hospital color, with a metal side table and a visitor’s chair. There was just the two of us in the room.
“Is everyone else okay?”
“Sebastian heals quickly. He was fine within minutes.”
“How long have I been out?”
“About four hours.”
“And Djimon?”
“Sebastian had to knock him out to pull the armband from his wrist. When Djimon woke up, he was back to his normal self.”
“How did that priest get to him?”
“In his spare time, Djimon plays cards. He attended a game before he came here. He remembers nothing after arriving at the venue. He remembers the vampire he usually plays cards with, but today there was a tall white guy with white eyebrows and white hair. Then he woke up here. He doesn’t remember anything in-between.”
“Shit.” I bit my fingernails. “White eyebrows and white hair! I need to speak to Djimon. I need to talk to him now.”
“I know. We all know it sounds like the voodoo priest you’ve been after. Although it seems more like he’s been after you these last couple of days.”
“We need to know who this vampire is, Mel. What if it’s someone in Léon’s clutch or brood or whatever they call themselves? What if this vampire has been leading the priest straight to us?”
“Dammit.” She turned and went for the door. “I’ll be right back.” And she was gone.
The knot that had started in the pit of my stomach started to ease, but only a little. I would only relax completely once I had found out who was helping the voodoo priest do all this. Someone was giving inside information to the priest; that was the only way for him to know where we were each time, and who would be there. It couldn’t be coincidence that every time we tried to do something, someone would try attack me. Had Ralph also been attacked? The side table was out of reach. I would ask for my phone once Mel got back.
There was a soft knock on the door. “You can come in.” I should have asked who it was first. Shows how hurt I was; I wasn’t thinking clearly.
I saw his short, dark hair first, then that hard marble body that had been kissed by death. Léon entered, and my heart started to thunder in my ears. I thought of the sensual dream we’d shared. Things tightened down below, and I felt my cheeks blush. He smiled coyly. His dark brown hair always stayed off his face and showed his smooth pale skin—oh, to be twenty-eight forever. His high cheekbones and strong jaw finished off his beautiful face. He wore dark jeans over black boots, a navy dress shirt, and a jacket.
When he wrapped his long fingers around my hand, I closed my eyes. The flashback of our kiss from earlier, the smell of his cologne, the ocean and the smell of him just beneath that was sensory overload and my body reacted to it. I managed not to writhe on the bed and opened my eyes when I spoke.
“Is it still Sunday evening?”
“Yes.” His smooth voice held promise, like velvet fingers caressing my skin. All the hair on my body stood on end with that
one word.
I pulled my hand out of his. Without physical contact, perhaps I could think better.
“What are you doing, Léon?” I held my gaze. To stare into a vampire’s eyes only spelled trouble, but I needed to see his eyes. I needed to see if there was any change in them. Did he flinch, or was he as hard as the marble they had carved him out of?
“What anyone else would do, Blaire. Don’t you feel it?” There was a hint of desperation in his smooth voice.
I shook my head a little too quickly. I couldn’t trust what I wanted to say.
He placed his hand over mine as it rested on my stomach. That one touch sent pleasurable heat burning along my hand, and lower on my body. “Please don’t touch me, Léon.”
He took his hand back and put them in his jacket pockets.
“You feel it, too, don’t you? I will know if you lie.”
“Yes, of course I feel it. But is it real, or is it just your power that you are wielding over me?”
“The only power I have used was that which allowed me to see you in your dream. What is drawing me to you is not my power; it’s you who is drawing me in, Blaire?”
“I can’t.” I whispered. “Sebastian.”
“You are drawn to him, too, I know. As he is attracted to you.” He sighed. “It was never this strong before, but since you have been back—”
I opened my mouth to say something, but the door opened, and Sebastian came in with Mel behind him.
“Léon, what are you doing here?” Sebastian said as he moved to stand on the other side of the bed. The two brothers scrutinized each other.
“I came to see how Blaire was doing.”
“Were you not given the messages?”
“Yes.”
“Then you didn’t have to come all the way here.”
They did that mind-to-mind thing they shared, and the air in the room became hot and stuffy. It felt like tiny flicks of hot ash falling on my skin.
“Sebastian! Léon! Enough!” I yelled at them. I had to stop what they were doing—I’d been hurt enough for one evening.
Both men glared at me.
“Who did Djimon say the vampire was?”
We had a bad guy to catch. My head throbbed from the increase in blood to my head from screaming at them. I exhaled slowly and sank back into the pillow.
“He doesn’t know; apparently no real names are given at the card game. As long as you show up with money, you can play. The only thing Djimon could tell us was that he had long brown hair and was big, like he lifted weights. Oh, and his eyes; they glowed red sometimes.”
“That sounds like Zachary,” Léon said.
Sebastian nodded. “I know.”
“What were you going to do, Sebastian? Go after him without informing me? We may be brothers, but I am still Master of this City.”
“Yeah, so you keep reminding me, Léon. I needed to make sure it was him before doing anything.”
“Mel, help me out.” I lifted the hand with the drip in. “I need to go with them.”
“You’re in no shape to leave, Blaire.”
“I can call Ralph. We’ll handle it,” Sebastian said.
“No!” I sounded angry, “I’m coming with you. Take this thing out or I’m pulling it out.”
“You are one of the most stubborn people I know.”
“I’ve heard that before.”
Mel started removing the tape from my hand and the needle from my vein.
“We will be outside,” Sebastian said, and they left.
When it was just the two of us, Mel said, “You know, I have never seen Léon so smitten.”
The comment caught me off guard. I swallowed air, and an ah sound escaped my lips. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The brothers are fighting over you, Blaire. It all started the night they found you.”
“How do you know?”
“I was there that night, remember? It’s the look in their eyes. When Léon couldn’t tie you to him, he was furious.”
“Why, though?”
“Why anything when it comes to them?”
When I said nothing, she continued. “Those two boys have always had a lover here and there, but no-one they’ve wanted to keep around for longer than a week. Then their father comes to town, and a month later you’re there, and this weird feud starts between them. And neither of them have had a lover since then. That is why I kept pushing you to meet with me. I wanted you to be aware of the entire situation. The only reason I’m saying this now is in case I don’t get the chance again.”
My head started to hurt, and I didn’t think it was from the fight.
“I don’t understand, Mel. Why?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know, but there is something. It may have started when Sebastian tied himself to you, and Léon flipped.”
That would explain all the power flares and stares between them. It would explain so much, but it raised yet more questions. I pinched the bridge of my nose with my fingers and pain pulsed between my eyes.
“Even Salvador is acting strangely around me.”
“Curious indeed,” Mel said and touched my hand; she was hot to the touch, just like all the other were-animals. That one touch took away my headache and the tension I was holding onto and, like magic, released it from my shoulders and neck.
“How do you do that?”
“It’s my gift to you.” She smiled.
“Thanks, Mel.”
“You have my number, Blaire. Use it. I’m here for you if you want to talk some more.”
“I will.” I climbed off the bed and pulled on my shoes. My shoulder was sore, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been. I wouldn’t be able to throw a ball any time soon, but I could pull my gun out and shoot. If I had to, I would use my left hand; I’d been training to shoot with both hands, just in case.
I felt the wound at the back of my head. It had been stitched and taped.
“Is it my imagination, or am I healing quicker than humanly possible?”
“Definitely. I think it’s because of all those strains inside of you. Were-animals heal faster. It might be worth seeing if you can tap into any of the other lycanthrope characteristics, too.”
“Hmm, maybe.”
One problem at a time. I could do all that when I wasn’t chasing the bad guy. I combed my fingers through my hair and slipped on my shoulder holster and gun.
The priest who had been trying to kill me these last couple of days had to die. If I died trying, then so be it, but he couldn’t be allowed to carry on with his murder spree.
And this vampire knew something.
Chapter 18
THE APARTMENTS ZACHARY MANAGED WERE SPECIFIC accommodation for vampires only. They were in a section of town that the mayor had reserved for them when the laws allowing mystical monsters to join society had been passed. It was these same laws that allowed the vampires to own businesses and to employ vampires or humans—and not forgetting that they ensured they had to pay taxes, too.
To protect humans, laws had also been passed to allow assassins like Ulysses to attain contracts to kill any of these monsters: vampire; were-animal; faerie; witch; warlock; voodoo priest; dragon—the list went on. But each contract was only legal if it was sanctioned with the appropriate documentation; it had to be properly researched with enough evidence to confirm that the monster was the correct bad guy they were after. They installed modern surveillance systems all around the city to monitor the interactions between humans and the monsters, just in case a human killed one of them and it wasn’t in self-defense.
Also in these apartments were vending machines on each floor which supplied blood to those vamps who needed a light snack, and there was a cafeteria on the ground floor where willing humans offered themselves to those vampires who could afford it. Some humans offered themselves for free to the more powerful vampires, while others made a living out of it, especially those with the rarest blood type. Apparently, their blood was the most sort after
by vamps.
Sebastian was sullen during the car ride. I had other things on my mind; a priest who had been trying to kill Ralph and I for four days. If we survived this, only then could we tend to our personal lives. Yes, it was awful of me to allow Léon to kiss me in the dream he had invaded, and I felt guilty about it, but it was out of my control, wasn’t it?
Ralph had been attacked at the same time as when Djimon tried to assault me. Ralph and Devan had been sitting in the garden when a delivery man had jumped on his back and tried to strangle him. Ralph had shot him, but his intention was only to wound him. When they had removed the armband, the delivery guy had told them he had been playing cards with a vampire, a heavyset man, and a man with white hair.
All these attempts on our lives were too coincidental. Hopefully Zachary could shed some light on it for us.
It was already past midnight when we parked outside the apartment block, met with Ralph, and followed Sebastian to Zachary’s apartment. There was a chill in the hallway as we entered; it was warmer outside under the autumn moon. The further inside the apartment hallways we went, the cooler it became; even the floor was a little slippery, as if we were ice-skating. Ralph pulled his gun out, and so did I. I zipped my jacket all the way to my neck and pulled my hoody over my head. When we exhaled, we could all see our breath in front of our faces.
“This isn’t normal, Sebastian,” I said as we arrived on the third floor.
Sawyer had his gun out, but it was pointed at the floor. He walked ahead of us while Ralph brought up the rear. Ralph had left Devan at his apartment where it would be safer. Sebastian walked beside me.
“No, it’s not normal. That’s his apartment over there,” Sebastian said, and he knocked on the door.
Sawyer came in behind Ralph and stood by the wall near the door. I stayed behind Sebastian. If anyone tried to shoot through the door, they would miss us and give us an opportunity to fire back at them.