2 Vampires, Warlocks, And Exes (8 page)

I followed his instructions and was speechless
upon my arrival.

I felt as if I had been transported into one of my smutty historical novels. The ‘grand hall’ as he
’d called it, was indeed magnificent. It was large enough to fit an entire army comfortably. It reminded me of a medieval ballroom and also had stone walls and marble floors. Several seating areas were scattered throughout consisting of plush couches, chairs, and chaises, all in shades of burgundy, brown, and gold. On the ceiling were exposed beams, cascading into a cathedral-like dome, with a large iron chandelier hanging from the top. On each end of the room was a hearth made of stone inside of which I could easily stand. It was rather disconcerting how something that felt so old seemed so effortlessly modern. Leo was sitting in a chair near the fireplace on the left. He stood and walked over to greet me, grabbing my hands as he leaned in to kiss me on the cheek. I couldn’t help the shiver that followed.

He smiled as he picked up on
his effect on me. “You look incredible in that dress, my sweet,” he said. “Are you hungry? I can make you something…I stopped by the grocery store last night before you came.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Planning a sleepover, were you?” I accused.

He grinned. “I was just trying to be a good host by anticipating all of my guest’s needs.”

I looked down at my dress. “I’d say you passed that test.”

His eyes slowly roamed my body from head to toe, scrupulously examining my curves. His fangs lengthened as I’m sure he was imagining the black lace that was currently draped over said curves. “I can’t say my motives were entirely selfless,” he admitted.

I blushed. “Well, regardless
, I appreciate everything. Thank you.”

He dipped his head to place a soft, sweet kiss on
my lips. “It was my pleasure,” he whispered.

I shivered
again and broke away from him before I did something crazy like peel my new dress off. I walked over to the hearth, sat down in a chair, and cleared my throat. “I want to know about Maria, Leo.”

He joined me in the
adjacent chair. “Ah, yes. I didn’t think I’d be lucky enough to have you forget about that,” he said. “Where shall I start?”

“How about the beginning?”
I replied.

He sighed. “The beginning it is then.”

Eleven

Leo shifted uncomfortably in his chair before starting. “What would you like to know first?” he asked.

“How did you meet?” I replied.

“Maria and I met in one of my clubs…in the early 1980’s.”

“And?”

“And
what?” he countered.

I rolled my eyes. “Leo, please don’t make me work for this
,” I pleaded. “It’s pretty obvious you don’t enjoy discussing it, but I need to know.”

He
steepled his fingers. “Very well, my love. But you have to promise to keep in mind that I was a very different man back then.”

I gave him my best
impression of a Boy Scout salute. “I swear.”

He sighed again. “Maria was young and bored since Vance often worked nights and left her home alone. She frequented my club often. When I realized who she was, I made it a point to get to know her better.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because Vanc
e, with his personal vendetta, made some of my business partners very angry. It was my opportunity to make them happy.”

Vance only had one vendetta from his past that I knew of. The mob guys who
’d killed his parents. “You mean the mafia?” I shrieked. “You were
in
the mafia?”

“No, I was not,
” he replied. “But we did have a working arrangement for quite some time building hotels.”

I exhaled. “Wow. So, what was the point in getting to know Maria?
To break up their marriage?”

“No, it was more to expose her behavior to keep him distracted. I have no doubt that their marriage would have ended sooner
or later. I just sped it up.”

“By making her a vampire?”

He shook his head. “No, I did not do that until several months later. We had an affair while she was human.”

“So you
are
her maker?” I asked.

He nodded.
“Yes, unfortunately.”

“Wait a minute, let’s back up. You said earlier that you were trying to expose her behavior. What did you mean by that?”

“Maria was obsessed with immortality,” he explained. “She did not want to grow old and with each passing birthday she became more desperate. She became a vampire groupie of sorts. She offered her neck to any vampire who would take it, male or female. She was quite promiscuous but very good at hiding it from Vance.” He scoffed. “He thought she was his perfect little human.”

“But he eventually found out?”

“Yes. She was careful at first, only agreeing to meet with me privately when she knew he would be deeply involved in a case. I tried to arrange several chance encounters, but she wriggled out of every one of them. Over time, she believed that I had developed feelings for her…that I wanted to be with her forever.”

“Did you?”

“No. Back then, I lied, cheated, stole… did whatever I had to do to get what I wanted. I figured it was the only way to make her drop her guard.”

“And what exactly did you get out of this arrangement?
” I asked. “Besides happy business partners?”

He smiled. “
Karli, above all else, I am a man. Her beauty pales in comparison to yours, but she is beautiful nonetheless. I had some pretty…gratifying times with her.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ugh!
Way too much information!”

He shrugged. “You asked. I answered.”

I glared at him. “So, how did he find out what a slutbag she was?”

“She eventually let her guar
d down when she felt that I would honor my agreement to make her a vampire. I fabricated a reason for him to come to the club one night…I told him my partners and I wanted to make a deal with him. He walked in on us having sex in my office.”

I released a breath.
“Omigod, poor Vance. What did he do?”

“He turned around and walked away.”

“He just walked away?” I asked incredulously. “Without a word?”

“Without a word
,” he replied.

“What did you do? What did Maria do?”

“She begged me to turn her that evening, because she knew she couldn’t go home and pretend everything was all right. I agreed with a condition that she leave town immediately since I no longer had use for her. She was hurt and confused by my demand, but ultimately decided immortality was more important. I never saw her again until last night.”

I hung my head in between my knees. “I can’t believe this. No wonder he hates you so much.”

He knelt before me and lifted my head. “Karli, that’s not the only reason. There’s one more thing that you need to know.”

I sat back and crossed my arms. “What could possibly be worse than that?”

“I need to preface this by saying that I didn’t know. I swear to you, I didn’t know until it was too late.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Leo, just spit it out.”

He sighed. “When I turned Maria, when her heart began to slow to near death, hers wasn’t the only one.”

I crinkled my brow in confusion. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“She was pregnant, Karli. With Vance’s child.”

Twelve

I shot out of my chair and ran out of the room. “Leo, I have to go.”

He zoomed past me, stopping in front of me about half way down the hall. “My love, please let me explain.”

I shoved past him. “Leo, I don’t need any more explanations. This isn’t about you. I need to get to Vance.”

He put his hands on my shoulders. “My dear, please don’t. I don’t want you to leave like this. Please don’t leave like this.”

I shrugged him off and threw my hands up in the air. “Leo, unless you’re going to hold me here against my will, I’m leaving. My God, don’t you get it? Everything that he’s ever said or done that confused the hell out of me makes sense now! Christ, he knew I was coming here last night. And I’m still here. Who knows what he’s thinking about what happened between us
! It’s got to be killing him!”

His body stiffened
and his expression could have frosted the desert. As he stepped aside he said, “My apologies. It is obvious where your priorities lie.” He was forcefully projecting his emotions to me to avoid any confusion about how pissed off he was.

“Leo, don’t be mad,
” I pleaded. “Please. This is just something I have to do.”

He stepped toward me
and kissed me on the forehead. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Go take care of Vance. I trust you can let yourself out?”

“I----” He walked b
ehind the library door and locked himself in before I could finish my sentence.

I banged on the door. “Leo, please open the door.” No response. “Leo, please answer me!” Still no answer. I reached out my feelers and could sense his anger, but it was mixed with a heavy dose of hurt. “Ugh! Fine, Leo
, you’re mad. I get it. I’m sorry, but I have to go now. I’ll call you later, okay?”
 

Not able to wait any longer,
I made my way down the hall and up the stairs. It took a little work but I finally managed to get the latch open so I could let myself out.

                                                                      ******

I drove fast and furiously to Henderson. The entire time I kept replaying every crazy conversation that
Vance and I had ever had in which I thought he was being irrational or short-tempered. Now I knew the story behind his behavior. Now I knew that my actions probably triggered awful memories about Maria and Leo. I know I couldn’t have helped it since I had no idea what he had gone through before knowing me, but I felt guilty anyway. It was so clear now.  I needed to make amends. I needed him to know how I felt about him. I needed to put his fears to rest once and for all.

I pulled into his driveway around noon. I walked up to his door preparing to ring the bell but he opened it before I had the chance. He looked confused. “
Karli, what are you doing here?”

“I
, um…I needed to see you. Do you have a few minutes to talk?”

He stepped aside to let me in. “I was just heading out to stake out Maria’s hotel room.” He looked at his watch. “I was hoping I’d catch her there since the sun
is out. She could be holing up somewhere else but it’s worth a shot.”

I stepped into his foyer and set my purse down. “Vance, Leo told me about Maria. About the baby.” I held my breath waiting for his response.

He pressed his lips into a thin line and shook his head.  “Karli, don’t do that. Don’t pity me. I’m the moron who couldn’t see who she really was.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked. “You had so many chances but you didn’t tell me. Why?”

He pulled me into the living room so we could sit on the couch. “Because I don’t like thinking about it. I don’t like thinking about what a fool I’d been, not being able to see the truth about her. More importantly, about the fact that she intentionally killed my child, Karli.
They
killed my child. The baby died during her transformation. I had wanted so desperately to become a father for as long as I could remember and she knew that. We were
trying
to get pregnant. She told me she wanted nothing more than to make my dreams come true and raise a family with me. It’s like she was living two lives. She was the perfect woman one minute and a lying, selfish, backstabbing bitch the next. I would have raised the baby alone without hesitation, but they never gave me the option. I didn’t even know about the pregnancy until…after. I found the test results a few days after she left. It disgusted me to think that she put her obsession over staying young above an innocent life. Her affair with Leo or her desire to become immortal wasn’t what killed me. I would have probably forgiven her eventually if she would’ve at least waited to become a vampire until after the baby was born. It took me years to get over it just enough to function with some sort of normal semblance. I don’t want to go back to that place. It was a very dark time in my life.”

I shifted my body towards him and
grabbed his hand. “Vance, I’m so sorry. If I had any idea, I never would have---”

He put his finger on my lips. “Don’t
, Karli. You have nothing to apologize for.”

I kissed his fingers before pulling them away. “No, you’re wrong
… I do. I could have saved us both so much grief if I could have just told you how I felt. I was so confused back then, but I’m not anymore. Everything is so clear to me.” I framed his face with my hands. “I love you, Vance...and I don’t want to wait another second to be with you. I
need
to be with you.”

He covered my hands with his own. “What are you saying?”

I smiled. “I’m saying that I want you to make love to me. Right now.”