Aris Rising: The Court of Vampires: AN INFINITY DIARIES NOVEL (18 page)

“Your voice sounds very serious, Sarah. What is it?”

She stammered as she answered. “I don’t quite know how to say this or if I even need to say it.” Unsure as how to continue she paused, hoping he would speak to ease the discomfort of the moment.

His only reply was a single word, “Yes?”

She was reminded of DeMarco when she told him about Aris and she remembered DeMarco’s single word reply. It had been the same. She wondered if it was a universal male-thing to not help the female at all when in the midst of what could become a strained
conversation. Continuing on, her sentences were short, clipped and to the point. “I’ve met a new friend and I’ve been seeing him for some time now. He told me he wants to be more than friends and I feel an attraction to him that I can’t explain. We haven’t taken the next step and I don’t know if we will or not. I don’t know why I even feel like I need to tell you, but I do.” She realized her words sounded as if they were spoken by a computer generated voice at the end of a phone line. She leaned toward him, taking his hands in hers. “I guess it’s because you’re one of my dearest friends and it feels dishonest to have someone in my life that you don’t know about.”

Staring into her eyes his voice was soft, controlled, as he spoke. “I have known about him for some time.” He leaned her back in her chair and released her hands.

A look of astonishment covered her face. “But, you never mentioned it.”

“No, I never did.” His face turned to stone, his voice a monotone. It took all of his Immortal power to control his jealous rage. He felt no competition from the outsider as long as Sarah didn’t speak of him; he was just a new colleague. The fact that she had been driven to tell him was the first sign this man was an opponent. He longed to roar from his soul, to break things. To hold her. To take her in his arms, to make her his own. Visions of ripping his rival to shreds filled his frantic mind. “I never did mention it.” With Immortal self-control, he held himself back. He could not influence her decision to become like him, to become a blood drinker. “
It must be her choice and hers alone.”

He leaned toward her, holding her hands again as he spoke out loud. “Those who are in your life are none of my affair. Sarah, any time I spend with you is a treasure. As long as you are safe, what you do when I am not with you is your business and yours alone.”

“Aris, I. . .”

“No, no more conversation about my rival. You have no reason to feel guilty.” He laughed to lighten the moment. “I would say let the best man win, however, that would put me out of the running, would it not?”

A tentative smile crossed her lips.

“I told you long ago, I am prepared to wait. That has not changed at all.” He spoke calmly while inside the venom in his veins boiled. He fought silently to hold the beast within him at bay. If he followed his instinct, he would crush her to him. He would devour her. He would change her. He would create his mate and there would be no other rival. With great effort, his alien side claimed power over him. The philosopher created by his centuries of existence quieted the human monster of jealousy. He calmed, acknowledging, once again, the choice must be hers.

A sense of relief flooded her at his response to her statement. She had anticipated more of an argument, yet here he was, a vampire and a gentleman.

He paused a moment before he spoke again and when he did, she noticed a great change in his demeanor. “Apart from all of that, I, too, have news.”

Sarah leaned more closely toward him.

“What news, Aris?”

He hoped she would understand his reason for telling her about his talk with Richard. It was two-fold, partially because he shared just about everything with her and partially so she would feel free to see whomever she wished to see without it driving him mad. If he wasn’t there to watch, he could ignore the fact there was someone else in her life. She needed to choose him, Aris, of her own accord.

“Richard spoke to me today about Sebastian.”

“Yes?”

“Of course, Sebastian had to be told the whole story of the
intruder and in the telling, he came to find out I am alive and incarnate.”

Sarah’s heart began to race.

“Yes?”

“Well, they both seem to think it might be a sound idea for me to return to the Catacombs to beg forgiveness. Sebastian believes it will be given and I will be welcomed back. He worries about the Spanish coven and knows I am the only Immortal with experience as a warrior. Information from our spies has led him to believe a conflict is coming and he wants me to return to lead the campaign. He told Richard Akira has longed for my company these past centuries. She cares for all her children, but I was one of her special ones. Richard agrees with Sebastian.” He grew silent as the sky darkened and more stars became visible.

“Sarah, there is a longing for my own kind. Being here with Richard and Gabriela has made me see that. I know I am able to live in a human world and I find your time fascinating. Yet each day I crave the company of the Immortals, of the creator of my kind. Can you understand that?”

She understood his need to be with his family. Even before she told him about DeMarco, she wondered how long it would take before he wanted to go back to London once Richard and Gabriela were in his life again. She more than understood. Imagining what it would be like to be separated from her family, her friends, was something that caused her a great deal of pain. But to lose him? What would become of their relationship if he left? Would he survive the inquiries of the High Council? And how would DeMarco fit into the equation if Aris was gone?

At last, she answered his question. “Of course I understand.”

“I have made no decisions. There is no certainty they will allow me to continue and I am without desire to end my existence now that I have found you. Yet I am sure my love for you will be one
saving grace in my plea. That and the additional fact they need a warrior in the face of a possible war with the Spanish coven. I am the only one of the Catacombs who has ever been at war. They will need my experience and leadership.” He paused a moment before he continued. “However, if you wish me not to go, all you need do is to say it.”

It distressed him to tell her he might leave. He hoped she would ask him to stay. He wished she would tell him no human could mean as much to her as he did. He waited for her reply.

She sat without speaking as the silence surrounded them, deep as the space that held the now twinkling stars above them. In spite of her sense of losing something much greater than herself, when she finally spoke it was from her heart. “I understand, Aris. I honestly do. Maybe it will be good for us to be apart for a while.” She choked back the tears that fought to spring from her eyes. “I will miss you dearly.”

“Sarah, I will not leave here until Sebastian has had a private conversation with Akira. He feels he will be able to convince her without giving away too much about my present life. When we are greatly assured of an acquittal, I will travel to London. While I am gone, if I do go, you will be able to live your human life without my intrusion.” Stepping aside for a while would give Sarah complete freedom to spend time with the human without guilt. As desperately as he desired her, he didn’t want to use his Immortal influence to manipulate her.

“Aris, I’ve never thought of you as an intrusion.”

“Those were the words you used when you thought I was the one to leave roses on your pillow.”

“You must believe me, you are a welcome part of my life, someone I will dearly miss if you are to leave. But I do understand your need and I respect you for your courage to embrace it. Of course, I want you to do as you feel you must. Just know I will miss you and wait
for your return.” She said no more but her mind kept going back to that century so long ago when, in her regression, he left her to go to the Catacombs. It ended in misery and death, but that was a different time and a different life.
“I won’t think about that right now,”
she thought. She rose as she spoke, “Let’s go inside. I’m getting cold.”

Gathering the blanket close around her to shield herself from the chill she went inside, then slid the door silently closed.

#

She shut her journal for the night, placing it and her pen in the night stand drawer. Her thoughts had been pushing her from one hemisphere to another, one century to another all evening. Journaling hadn’t been much better. Her session with Bonnie clouded her every thought. Suicide? If she committed suicide then, how would she get on without Aris now? He meant so much to her. Never had she felt more safe, more protected than she did with him. That was one fact she was sure of. She would feel empty without him if he left for the Catacombs. Another fact. She didn’t want to influence his decision, it must be his own. He said he would stay with her, to be only her friend, if she just asked him but in her heart, she knew he needed his own kind just as she would need hers if she were to go to the Catacombs.

Go to the Catacombs? Not probable, hardly even within the realm of possibility. However, the Immortals didn’t bite humans any more. That was a fact. Her existence had been so simple, so easy. Then Carlos walked into it and brought Aris with him. It had been upside down ever since. Would she change it? Not on her life.

And woven through and around her thoughts of the vampire was an unquestionable desire for the human male who had come into her life.

Her thoughts raced on until they were silenced by the dark cloak of sleep.

#

Her dream self was Elizabeth Wyatt and her dream time was sixteenth century England. Gazing at the tapestry on the wall of the chamber, she knew where she was at once. Candle sconces held glimmering lights that shined and shimmered on the silk threads depicting the hunt. Heavy, deep green bed curtains hung on the four huge posters, one at each corner of the down mattress. It was his chamber. Her beloved. Her Aris.

Standing nude in front of the tall, narrow window, the moon slicing through the dark sky and the stars, his back was turned toward her. His golden hair shimmered as a sharp wind cut under the glass causing the candle flames to gutter, then revive.

She rose from the bed, her chemise soft against her skin as she lifted it over her head. Quietly she crossed the room. Wrapping her arms around him, she pressed her warm full breasts against his back. He shivered. His desire rose as he felt their softness brush his hard muscles. Turning, he carried her back to the bed.

He laid her in the pool of satin made by her long blond hair. Lifting one thick curl, using it like a paint brush, he began to trace the contours of her body. He outlined the mound-like shape of each white breast; he traced the deeper pink full moon in each center. Lowering his head, his tongue traced soft trails behind the curl. She gasped as he took her sweet nipple between his lips. It grew hard as if to greet him and entreat him to continue.

He wrapped the waist-length velvety tendril around his throat as he began to kiss hers, sliding the tip of his satiny tongue slowly from her collarbone to her ear.

Her breath came in gasps as she attempted to wrap her legs around his powerful hips. He moved away only far enough to keep her from encircling him. Her taste reminded him of honey melted by the sun. Arching her back, she lifted her throat to him. His words were murmured in time to her pulsing heart.

“No, my sweeting, no,” yet still he teased her with his warm
breath caressing her ear. “This is not the moment. We must wait.”

“Please,” she moaned, as his lips traced the edge of her jaw.

“I must not.”

“Please,” she cried out, tears in her eyes, the pain of desire making her voice thick and deep. “Please, draw just a taste of my blood. Please.”

He could refuse her no longer. Slowly his teeth penetrated her pristine skin. She groaned as she felt him draw gently on her vein. As blood trickled from the tiny wound drop by drop into his waiting mouth, she exploded in spasms that wracked her body with a pleasure undreamed. Licking the final crimson drop, he kissed her, touching the very tip of his tongue to hers.

“Taste my darling. Taste the elixir of your life.”

Sarah’s eyes flew open. She bolted upright in her bed and grabbed her throat. There was no wound, no trickle of blood. Only an unanswered yearning.

T
he four friends chatted about their afternoon spent strolling in Millennium Park as they sat in Sarah’s living room gathered around the coffee table. They seemed very similar except for one rather large difference, only one of them needed to breathe. She was forever astounded each time she became fully aware they were not living beings such as she was. It was becoming more and more easy to forget they were not all exactly the same.

She heard Richard’s voice cut into her thoughts. “Aris, Sebastian would like to come to visit you. He will make certain it is a private trip. He simply wishes to see you once again. He knows you are the only one who can help us if war should come to the Catacombs and he believes it is imminent. Our spies tell of a training camp in the Spanish coven and battle weapons being forged.” Holding her hand in his, Richard traced patterns in the soft lines of Gabriela’s palm. He wasn’t sure how his friend would react to his request. Sarah sat quietly next to Aris watching his eyes. She saw the corners tighten and wrinkle as he winced.

“He cannot come here without Akira knowing, Richard. War or not, I am not ready to go before the Council. I am not ready for a verdict.”