Aris Reigns (5 page)

Sarah was amazed at how quickly he came up with such a plausible deception. “Did she buy it?”

“Luckily, she did. I told her you would call her when you returned so you had best decide what you are going to tell your best mortal friend before you telephone. We are just fortunate that we found you so quickly. Had it taken longer, I have no idea what would have been my next tale.”

“It's almost four o'clock in the morning in Chicago right now. I'm sure she's sleeping. And I'm simply exhausted. I can't think straight, much less give a credible report about a fictitious yoga retreat.” She yawned while leaning forward to place her empty cup on the coffee table. “I think I'll just go to sleep and call her when I wake up. It'll be afternoon for her and I'll be rested and able to make some semblance of sense when I speak with her.”

“Excellent idea.” Aris got to his feet. Taking her hands in his, he helped her to stand. Gently, he guided her through the bedroom door. Holding the comforter for her, he waited while she crawled between the clean, crisp, sweet-smelling white sheets. He covered her,
kissing her gently before turning out the light and slipping silently from the room. She was fast asleep before he crossed the threshold. Leaving the door open, he positioned his arm chair so he could easily watch her as she rested.

Gabriela gave Richard a knowing nod. They both knew Aris had no intention of letting her out of his sight while she was above ground and the evil King and Queen still walked the earth.

After Gabriela and Richard left the apartment, Aris watched Sarah as she slept. His sensitive ears could hear the soft whisper of her breath and the slow, quiet beat of her heart. Even in the dim light his Immortal eyes watched the rise and fall of her chest, the pulse of her blood just beneath the tender skin of her throat.

He was filled with a burning human desire and as he watched the steady throbbing of the artery in her neck, his vampire nature began to surface even through his measured restraint. He ached to hold her, to make love to her in time to the rhythm of her pounding heart. Yes, and to drink her blood as it pulsed through her beautiful throat. As he thought of their coupling, a deeper more beastly yearning raised its ugly head. He struggled to resist with all his Immortal strength, yet the same vile phrase haunted him over and over. “
Take her. Make her Immortal. Do not wait. Take her now. Take her while she sleeps. Take her now.”

He knew he could. He could make her his. For a moment, he was overwhelmed by his own dark vampire drive to taste her blood, to drink her, to possess her. As if in a trance, he rose from his chair and moved toward the bedroom door.

Reaching the threshold, he stopped abruptly as if an invisible wall stood between him and the trusting woman sleeping peacefully in his charge.
“What am I doing? What am I doing?”
Grasping either side of
the doorway, he closed his eyes as he fought for control of his dark nature. A battle between love and evil raged within him-ripping at his very soul. His limbs quivered as he fought to silence the beast that demanded her human life. After what seemed to him an eternity, his blood rage subsided; he was able to open his eyes to gaze at the human he adored. She slept soundly, trusting him completely.

Devastated by the thought of what he might have done, his shoulders slumped as he buried his face in his hands. He could have taken the only human life that truly had value to him. He would have betrayed his Immortal Queen and his society. He would have broken the Blood Oath for the third time. He swore to Queen Akira he would never break it again. She would have turned from him for a last time.

Slowly he returned to the chair. He sank into it, his long legs stretching out in front of him. He knew in his deepest soul he could never have Sarah while she was in her human form. But eternity without her would be an eternity without meaning. Would she ever care enough to give up her human life for love of her own free will?

Hours or perhaps only moments passed while she slept, but to Aris it was all the same.

CHAPTER 4

T
he gray morning fog hung like heavy drapes pooling on the streets of London as Aris lit a fire in the fireplace for the still sleeping Sarah. After she was in bed the previous night and before Richard and Gabriela left the flat, the three Immortals devised a plan. The two women would spend the day together, freeing Aris and Richard to meet in the Catacombs with Bartholomew. A soft knock on the front door announced Gabriela's arrival. She laid her coat across the arm of the sofa, then busied herself in the kitchen. Catching her attention as she opened the refrigerator, Aris waved good-bye, before quietly closing the front door behind him.

Sarah woke as the fragrance of freshly brewed coffee permeated the air. She wrapped a soft robe around her as she walked into the sitting room and curled up in the brown wing-back chair in front of the fireplace. Leaning against the velvety upholstery, staring into the dancing flames, her mind floated in that sweet place between sleep and wakefulness. There were brief moments when she wasn't even sure where she was, London or her condo in Chicago.

Memories of her life in Illinois flooded her mind. She thought of Carlos Havarro, the handsome young Latino man who had changed her life. Without his hypnotherapy sessions with her as his facilitator she would never have met Aris. Carlos died to save his family from
gang violence and there was still a deep ache in her heart for her lost friend.

Thoughts of Colleen Stevens-Drake, her best friend in the states, made her smile. Colleen's cocky attitude and her sensitive heart had helped Sarah through her messy divorce and without her suggestion, Carlos would have never begun his sessions with Sarah. As his parole officer, Colleen's recommendation of hypnosis for anger management brought him to Sarah and therapy.

She remembered all her friends and her life before Aris. She had found stability and contentment through her work. Her successful book added clients to her practice and rebuilt her confidence after her husband ended their marriage for another woman. Bonnie Petrillo, not only a dear friend, but her therapist, had been instrumental in helping her find herself once more.

Before Aris life had been predictable. Calm. When he first spoke through Carlos she thought he was a figment of her client's imagination. How could there be such a thing as he claimed to be. Vampires just didn't exist, not in her world anyway. But as their sessions progressed and she grew to know him, her disbelief turned into curiosity, then acceptance, and then something much more.

When Carlos died and Aris took over his body, her initial thought was to run away, but his kindness and understanding drew her to him. Her trust in him led to friendship and as she learned more and more about him, ultimately to love. With him life was magical, full of passion and adventure, a tight-rope that spanned fantasy and reality. She couldn't imagine being without him.

Returning to the safe life she had lived before him was simply out of the question. She was convinced he was her soul-mate and she would be safe with him no matter the circumstances. Yet try as she might, she couldn't see into the future with him. Vampire or human? A decision she knew she would one day be compelled to make. Even though she knew she wasn't ready to decide just yet, she also knew
she would love him as long as she lived. Now here she sat in London after having been kidnapped by evil vampires and taken to Spain. How could it all be possible? And yet it was.

She had no idea how long she had been staring into the fire when a muted sound close to her startled her wide awake. Her eyes opened to see Gabriela was carefully placing a tray on the table in front of the fire. On it rested a steaming mug of black coffee, a sugar bowl, a spoon and Sarah's cell phone.

“Coffee to wake you up and the phone to call Colleen once you're awake.” Gaby kissed her friend's cheek. “Take your time. I plan to sit in the corner to study Shakespeare as much as I can during ‘Sarah Watch.' Frankly, this is the first quiet time I have had in days. I look forward to it.”

“It appears I'm going to need a little while more to recover. I'm not always sure where I am.” She spoke slowly. “I feel as if I'm still in a dream. It was pretty awful.” She turned to Gabriela. “I was so worried about all of you and I didn't know how I was going to get out so that I could warn you.” Sarah trembled, wrapped her robe a little closer around her, then smiled. “But I'm here now and I'm sure this coffee is going to be the best I've ever had.”

Gabriela sat on the edge of the chair facing Sarah and leaned toward her, gazing directly into her blue eyes. “I want you to know I am here if you wish to discuss your ordeal and I am silent if you wish to be silent. I am your friend.”

“I know that and I'm so grateful to have you in my life. To have all of you in my life.”

“Now just rest.” The tall dark woman rose from her chair, picking up a leather bound volume of Shakespeare from the coffee table. “I will not leave you. I will be right here on the other side of the room if you need anything.”

Sarah sipped her coffee and felt greatly comforted by the genuine affection of her Immortal friend.

Colleen laughed into the phone when she heard Sarah's voice from across the ocean. “You are the only person I know who would go to London and take off on a yoga retreat.”

“I know; it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Poor Gaby. How did she fare?”

“She was great.” Sarah glanced at the Immortal curled in a chair across the room, the volume of Shakespeare resting on her lap. She appeared to be sleeping, but Sarah knew she was repeating the memorized lines of one of his plays to herself. “How are you and Bob? And how's that sweet baby girl of yours?”

“We're all fine. What is going on with Carlos and the art world of London?”

It had been days since Sarah heard anyone refer to Aris as ‘Carlos'. It was only humans who called him by that name, the name of her dear dead friend who had become host to the essence of the bodiless vampire. For months she thought in vain of ways to have everyone call him by his true name. In conversation she caught herself time and again remembering to refer to him as ‘Carlos' barely in the nick of time.

She answered her friend, “He's doing really well. He's being courted by an art agent who actually deals with members of the royal house.”

“What's up with that? Is he going to stay over there?”

Sarah could hear her friend's baby laughing in the background. For just a brief moment she felt homesick. “No, not permanently. But he won't be able to come home as soon as we thought. He's going to be touring.” She laughed at herself. Touring was a strange word for vampire war. She wondered what Colleen would say if she were told he was training an army of the undead to do hand-to-hand battle in the Pyrenees.

“When are you coming home?”

“That sort of depends on Bonnie. She said she could work with my therapy clients for a couple of weeks. I don't know what she has on her agenda, but I'd like to stay a bit longer, so, if she has the time, I'll be here until the end of the month. I'd like to travel with him for a while. I've never really seen much of England and it's a perfect season.” Sarah was silently grateful she had a colleague such as Bonnie. She had gladly taken over Sarah's practice while she traveled and Sarah knew she could trust her friend to treat her clients well.

“Well, we miss you. I know you're having a ball but don't forget to come home.”