Eventually he forced himself out of the shower and slipped into bed beside Sarah. She didn’t wake as he placed his arm around her. He closed his eyes, but it would be a long time before sleep would come.
JD’s alarm going off at 4.30am woke them both up. JD got up and turned it off. He purposely put it so he couldn’t reach it while in bed to make sure he got up each morning. He held a training session at 5 o’clock every day, which was compulsory for everyone. Today was going to be different. Nothing was going to make him leave Sarah’s side.
As he got back into bed, Sarah looked up at him and the tears began to flow once more. “Oh Jason,” she cried out and he took her in his arms as she wept. His own tears dripped onto the top of her head, but she didn’t notice.
None of the other hunters commented when JD did not turn up for the training session. Craig took control of the lesson, but didn’t work them hard. None of them had slept well. Craig, Katie and Jonathon didn’t know that Jane and Scott had spent the night together and wouldn’t have said anything if they had. As the only two without partners living at Sanctuary 14, it was understandable that they would turn to each other.
Neither JD nor Sarah made it down to breakfast, which was a sombre affair. Nobody felt like talking. Everyone except Natalie, whose shift didn’t start until later in the morning, headed off to work early just so they had something to occupy their minds.
Before leaving, Craig sent Sarah a text, telling her that he would let her boss know that she was sick and would not make it into work. He promised not to give any details. He had no idea when she would read it.
When JD and Sarah finally left their room, they didn’t go to the dining room. Neither of them felt like eating. JD was craving blood, so he found Natalie and took her into his office. She willingly held out her wrist and he took what he needed.
Natalie didn’t ask how he was; there would be no point as he probably didn’t want to talk about it. Instead, when he released her arm, she hugged him then left him alone. Sarah went in as Natalie left and sat down on his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and they were still sitting like that when Doc walked in a long time later.
“I need to talk to you two.”
“Not now Doc,” JD said.
“Yes, now.” Doc used the tone of voice he usually reserved for stubborn patients. Sarah turned around so that she could look at him, but made no attempt to stand up. JD moved his arms so they were around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.
Doc took one of the seats opposite JD’s desk then leaned forward.
“JD, this is not your fault.” JD opened his mouth, but Doc held up his hand. “Don’t interrupt me. You did everything right. You haven’t taken any blood from Sarah since you started trying for a baby, you stopped her from hunting and made her take it easy during training. And before you even think about suggesting it, no it was not the training that caused this.”
“Of course this is my fault,” JD said as soon as Doc stopped talking. “If I was human this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Don’t be an idiot,” Doc snapped at him. Maybe he should have been more sympathetic, but history had taught him that sympathy was never the right approach when dealing with JD.
“Miscarriages happen more often than most people realise,” he continued in a softer tone. “They happen for a number of different reasons. The father being a vampire might not be the cause. Yes, it is a possibility and I would be stupid to say that it isn’t, but there could be any number of other reasons this happened.”
“What are you saying Doc?” Sarah asked.
“I’m saying don’t blame yourselves and don’t let this stop you trying again. Give yourselves time to recover, then come and discuss things with me. I can give Sarah a full medical check-up then if you wish, but I don’t foresee there being any issues.”
“Is that an order?’ JD asked. As the trainer at 14, he had control over the hunters living there, but only in regard to training and hunting, and anything that he deemed affected either of those things. As head of the Sanctuary, it was Doc who was really in charge.
“No, it’s advice. Advice you should listen to.”
As he had no more to say, Doc left them alone. They didn’t talk about what he had said; it was too soon. But they would talk about it the next day, or maybe the day after.
Later on, JD forced himself to eat lunch. He didn’t want it and he didn’t need it, but it was the only way he was going to get Sarah to eat anything. They spent the entire afternoon in the TV room watching films. They weren’t really interested in the plots or special effects; it was just something to do while they cuddled together. Other couples would have been talking, assuring each other that they would get through the loss, but Sarah and JD didn’t need to say the words.
The next morning, JD forced himself to attend the training session. He needed to get back into the routine as soon as possible. He would make Sarah stay away for a couple more days, but by the weekend he would relent and allow her to join in once more. He didn’t go to work, explaining to them that he had a very sick wife that he needed to look after. He hadn’t told anyone at the law firm that Sarah was pregnant, thinking it was too soon, so didn’t give the reason why he wanted to stay with her.
It took a while, but slowly the atmosphere at the Sanctuary returned to normal. Yes it was a tragedy that Sarah had lost the baby, but they had been through worse and experience had told them that carrying on as normal was the best way to cope.
Sarah and JD agreed to try again as soon as she felt she was ready. He promised to do nothing different, to still allow her to train and not smother her in cotton wool, as the saying went, but it was a promise he was not sure he would be able to keep.
I have to leave
Sarah went back to work after a few days and was so busy getting everything on her project ready to hand over to whoever took over from her when she moved to Anna’s team that she didn’t have time to think about her loss.
Anna’s start date arrived and the first thing she did was call everyone together. Most of the team knew each other and had worked together in the past, so introductions didn’t take long. She then explained how she wanted the project to be run and started to allocate tasks.
It was unusual for the testers to join a project at the start, but Anna wanted them to know what was happening from the very beginning. She believed it would make things go smoother if they were aware of the changes that were going to be made prior to them being ready for testing. Also, experience had taught her that sometimes the testers thought of gaps and issues that the analysts, developers and architects missed and finding them early on would be a lot better than waiting until the testing stage.
She also gave them a lecture about dealing with Gabriel, which he seemed to find amusing. She made it perfectly clear that she would not tolerate anything going on with him and any member of the team or anyone else they needed to work with in regard to the project. Anyone making moves on him would be immediately reassigned. If she found out he was the one making the moves, he would be fired.
He rolled his eyes, assured her he would behave, then took every opportunity that presented itself to flirt with her. She politely told him that it wouldn’t work. She wasn’t interested in him in any way and she was his boss. Unless he had a very good reason not to, which he would have to convince her of, he would do everything she told him to and no amount of charm would get her to change her mind.
Before the end of the day, she received an email from Luke, asking if he could take her for coffee again. She was tempted, but refused. She changed her mind when he offered to give her some tips on dealing with his cousin. She wasn’t sure he would be any help, but there was no harm in finding out.
They met late in the afternoon and ended up staying until after everyone had gone home for the day. Initially they had talked about Gabriel, but soon moved on to other topics. They didn’t realise how much time had passed while they were together.
The next morn
ing, Anna took Gabriel aside. When he tried to flirt with her again, she grabbed hold of his crotch and squeezed hard. It was something Luke had suggested and, though she had never used physical violence against someone before, Luke managed to convince her to give it a try. Why she was trusting him, she had no idea.
“Let me make this clear,” she whispered in his ear. He was bent almost double so she had no problems reaching. “You will obey my rules or I will not only fire you, but I’ll make sure it’s a long time before you are physically capable of doing anything in bed with a woman. Am I making myself clear?”
She was taking a very big risk by following Luke’s advice. She would definitely be fired if Gabriel told anyone what she did, but she thought it was a risk worth taking.
“Yes,” he croaked.
“Good,” she said, released him and left the meeting room. She went to the kitchen to make herself coffee. She was physically shaking and needed to calm herself down before facing anyone else. Gabriel stayed in the room for a while and was walking a little tenderly when he made it back to the team area.
A short time later, Anna got a message from Luke. ‘Nicely handled’. Gabriel had obviously been complaining to his cousin.
‘Thank you for the suggestion,’ she sent back.
‘You can thank me properly by letting me take you out to dinner.’
Anna didn’t respond to the message; she had work to do. But that didn’t stop her thinking about it.
Gabriel did not try to flirt with her again and, to the best of her knowledge, he wasn’t doing so with any of the women in the team. As the week progressed, Luke asked her out to dinner on a regular basis and she found herself thinking about it more and more.
‘You’re persistent, I’ll give you that,’ she replied to his latest message.
‘Is that a yes?’
‘No, it’s not.’ Anna then closed the message window on her screen and went to a meeting. She reopened it when she returned.
‘My place, tomorrow night, 7 o’clock. I’ll cook.’ She then added her address and mobile number.
She stared at her screen for ages, silently debating whether to press send. She took a deep breath then hit the button.
‘I’ll be there,’ materialised on her screen almost instantly.
She couldn’t concentrate for the rest of the day and ended up going home early, claiming to have a headache. She spent the evening wondering why she had done something so stupid. In less than twenty four hours she would be playing host to a man she hardly knew. She would be alone in her house with him. She had never done anything like that before. What had gotten into her?
More importantly, what was she going to cook and what was she going to wear?
Friday dragged on. She never mentioned her date to anyone and nor did Luke, or so it appeared. Gabriel was obviously oblivious. Had he known, he would have said something to her.
She got home early and quickly showered. Three times she changed her outfit in between stirring pots and putting things in the oven. She had just decided that the dress she was wearing was completely wrong for the situation when the doorbell rang. It was too late to change her mind.
She opened the door and smiled at the sight before her. Luke was dressed in casual trousers and a short sleeved shirt, open at the collar, and he looked rather shy as he held out a single white rose to her.
“Thank you,” she said and held it up to her nose. Its fragrance was a lot stronger than she had been expecting. “Come in.” She moved out of the way so he could enter the house, then closed the door behind him.
Anna placed the rose in a vase and added some water before offering Luke a drink. He was driving, so she didn’t give him the option of having alcohol.
The food needed to stay in the oven for a while longer, so she led him into the lounge, where they sat down on the sofa.
“Thank you for listening to me in regard to Gabriel,” Luke said. “I wasn’t sure if you would trust me.”
“I’m not sure why I did,” Anna admitted. “What I did goes against everything I believe in as far as managing people is concerned and if anyone ever found out my career would be over.”
“Don’t worry. Gabriel would never say anything to anyone. He believes in fighting his own battles. The only reason I know about what happened is because he enjoys telling me all about his adventures with women, even those he fails at.”
“So why did you help me?”
“Because I don’t want to see him fired and if you didn’t do something drastic to bring him into line it would have been your only option.”
The timer on the oven went off before Anna could respond. The food was browning nicely, but was not quite there so she reset it for another five minutes.
“I have a confession to make,” Luke said when she returned to the lounge. “I’ve never done this before. I’ve never hounded a woman for a date until she eventually gives in. And usually I get to know someone before asking them out.”
Anna wasn’t sure she believed him. “So why didn’t you do the same with me?”
“I don’t know.” He looked at her as he spoke and she could see nothing in his face or body language to indicate he was being anything other than truthful. “All I know is that I wanted to see you again. No, that’s not true. I needed to see you again. I can’t explain why.”
Anna didn’t know what to say. She felt she should let him know that she had never invited someone she hardly knew to her home before, but something held her back. When she said the words in her head, they sounded like she was making more of the situation that she should.
Luke saw the look on her face and misinterpreted it. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to come on so strongly.”
“No, it’s okay,” she said hastily. “I kind of feel the same way.”
“Why don’t we start again?” Luke suggested. “Hi, I’m Luke. I’m delighted to meet you.” He held out his hand and she laughed as she shook it.
“I’m Anna. Now why don’t you make yourself comfortable while I serve the dinner.”
The evening went well. The food was good and they talked for hours, getting to know each other, not holding back from asking questions they would usually both avoid on a first date.
It was well past midnight when Luke announced he should be going. He kissed her cheek when she showed him to the door and she couldn’t help wishing he had done more.
Once Luke had gone, Anna went straight to bed and had some rather interesting dreams about him.
————————————-∞————————————-
The clock hadn’t reached nine the next morning when there was a knock on Anna’s door. She stepped back in surprise when she saw who was on her doorstep.
“I’m sorry,” Luke said. “I couldn’t keep away.” He stepped forward, placed one hand in her hair, his other arm around her waist and pulled her close to him. Then he kissed her. It was the sort of kiss she had been wanting the night before. He held nothing back and she gave as good as she got.
They broke apart when a wolf-whistle sounded from inside the house.
Anna turned a deep shade of red. “You had better meet my brother,” she said and took Luke’s hand. She could feel him trembling as she led him into the kitchen, where a young man with mousey hair and blue eyes was struggling not to laugh.
“Paul, meet Luke. Luke, this is my baby brother.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Paul said and held out his hand. It was a very flustered Luke who shook it. His own actions had taken him by surprise. He had not planned on kissing Anna, but as soon as he saw her he couldn’t stop himself. And he had not been expecting her to react so passionately. Finding out she wasn’t alone was almost more than he could take.
He already knew a lot about Anna’s younger brother. He had been told that he was nineteen, was studying chemical engineering at university and lived in what used to be his parents’ house with his girlfriend. He was also aware that Paul had been keeping a close eye on his sister eve
r since she had returned from her travels so he was expecting to be given the third degree about who he was and what his intentions were.
Paul, however, didn’t ask any of the expected questions.
“So,” he said casually. “Do you always greet women like that when you have only been on one date?” It was Luke’s turn to go red. “I’ll take that as a no,” Paul continued.
“Stop teasing him,” Anna said, “and put the kettle on.”
Her brother obeyed her and set about making coffee while Anna took Luke into the lounge. They were sitting close together and Luke had his arm around her when Paul brought in three steaming mugs.
Luke wanted to be alone with Anna. They needed to talk. Things were moving much too fast and they should slow down, but he could hardly ask Paul to leave.
Before anyone could speak, Luke’s phone rang.
“Sorry,” he said as he pulled it from his pocket. He pressed the answer button and spoke into it. “Gabriel.”
He listened to what his cousin had to say before exclaiming, “He did what?......How did the family react?......When’s the meeting?......Okay, I’ll head straight home.”
He hung up and returned the phone to his pocket. “Sorry. I have to go. Family emergency.”
“What did Gabriel do?” Anna asked.
“Nothing. Believe it or not, Gabriel isn’t the problem child in my extended family. Can I come back later?”
Anna nodded, then showed him to the door. Her goodbye kiss almost made his legs give way.
“What’s going on Anna?” Paul asked as soon as she returned to the lounge. “This isn’t like you. You hardly know the guy and you’re all over him.”
Anna sat down. “I know. I have no idea what’s going on with me. This isn’t some sort of silly infatuation. He doesn’t make my heart race whenever I see him or anything like that. All I know is that there is a really strong attraction that I can’t explain.”
Greater Vampires Page 4