Blood Ties (21 page)

After his breaths had quieted, he moved back to the couch and sat a few feet away. “We feed infrequently, every few weeks or so.” In the dim light, he looked like a sculpture of an angel. I reached out to hold his hand and he moved, as if the statue had come to life. He gave me a weak smile. “I’m sorry I frightened you again.”

“It’s nothing I can’t handle.” I mean, what else was I going to say? The jury was still cowering behind the bench.

He pulled me into his lap. He breathed into my hair. “You know, you’re quite intoxicating.”

“No, that’s my line. You have the most incredible scent. It’s hard to describe. It’s seductive, overwhelming.” I snuggled closer into his chest, his arms tightening around me. I felt so safe, as if I could tell him anything.

“Promise you won’t laugh.”

He chuckled. “Not if you do not wish it.”

“You drove me absolutely crazy, almost literally. The minute I met you, my dreams wouldn’t leave me alone. I couldn’t get you out of my head. I tried to, God knows I tried to.”

“I thought perhaps you were a ghost, that my mind played tricks on me. But then I inhaled your scent, heard your heart beat and I knew you were real.” He laughed. “I nearly drove Selene insane after that.”

He tweaked my nose. “Shame on you for stealing those composites.”

I pulled back, surprised. “You knew?”

“Of course. I was like a love-sick puppy, following your every move.” This explained a lo
t. That creepy feeling I’d felt.

“It was difficult being in the office with you. I was afraid, afraid I would lose control. I so desperately wanted to hold
you, whisper of my love to you. And that night at the gala, when I caught you, I was nearly undone. I almost took you then.”

I snorted. “Yeah sure, I would have made a scene.”

“You would have gone with me willingly.”

“No freaking way.”

He dipped his head to brush his lips gently against mine. I felt the barest of trembling in his body. His scent grew heavy and heat rushed through me.

He whispered something and I yawned, suddenly feeling exhausted. “Will you stay with me tonight?”

“Of course my love, until morning.” He swung me into his arms, carried me to the bedroom. He lay down next to me.

“You’re my angel, fallen from heaven,” I said as I laid my head on his shoulder. I wanted to hold the moment for as long as I could. As I drifted off, I thought I heard him whisper under his breath. “Fallen from heaven, but I’m no angel.”

Chapter 14

Friday morning I was deep into reading an enlightening
chapter, and I mean that with heavy sarcasm, on Bartolommeo’s influence on Raphael. I was in a foul mood. After Monday night’s visit in my apartment, Michael had refused to see me outside office hours. I was to spend my time hanging out with friends, not getting behind in my classes. We argued. Vampire trumped human.

He let me pout just long enough to read the same page ten times when he broke the silence. “By the way Liz, I have a couple of cousins coming in tonight to stay with us for a while.”

I gave him a sarcastic look. It was a good guess his cousins weren’t the kind I’d usually hang with. “Are these close cousins?”

He rocked back in his chair, fighting a grin. “They’re in town to help me with some business in Sydney and I was wondering if you’d like to meet them.” A thoughtful look slid across his face. “Perhaps you’d like to stay for the weekend? We’ll be in Sydney come Saturday and you’d be able
to catch up on the studying you missed.” The side of his mouth quirked. “Selene is just waiting to have you all to herself.”

The little girl inside me began to hop up and down squealing in
delight as if she’d just gotten a new bunny. The big girl in me narrowed her eyes suspiciously. He hadn’t answered my question and Selene wanting to be alone with me sounded like a chance for a little blood-letting.

“Sure, I’d love to,” I answered, drolly. “After all, what’s a few more sets of
fangs drooling over my jugular.”

He let loose a grin, a look that was pleased, satisfied, and a bit dark around the edges. Big girl didn’t like it one bit. Little girl didn’t care, she just wanted her bunny.

***

Growing up, my German shepherd had adopted a couple of black kittens. He’d mouth
ed them until they were wet and sloppy, but as they had the brain of a gnat, they’d kept coming back for more, trailing after him like baby chicks, mewling underfoot. One day he was a little too enthusiastic. Black kitties, crunchy on the outside, squishy on the inside.

I thought of that while Michael nibbled on my ear and neck while we waited for his cousins.

On the other end of the couch, Selene couldn’t sit still. Between her pacing and flinging herself back on the couch, she’d glower at our game of touchie-feelie. Just when we had worked up to heavy breathing, Selene jumped off the couch. “They’re here!” She raced to the kitchen to hover at the door that led down to the garage, bouncing like Pooh’s Tigger.

Michael stood and pulled me with him. Four shaky heartbeats later, I was standing on the other side of the couch next to the kitchen. Close enough for a good view but at enough distance to give me a head start in case self preservation kicked in. Yeah huh, as if I could out
-run a vampire.

Selene threw herself at the first one through the door. He was tall – all classic Nordic angles, broad shouldered with straight blonde hair cut in a longish business style. His eyes were an unusual shade of blue, the color of the sky on a clear summer day. He wore a pair of tan dress pants and an almost opaque white shirt, its sleeves casually rolled back.
Based on Michael’s description, it could only be Xavier. Originally from Chicago, he was a few years over a hundred and owned several nightclubs around Vancouver. Pretty much yummy – not that I was looking.

“Xavier, I’ve missed you sooo much!” He grabbed her up and swung her around as she slathered him with kisses.

The other cousin who had to be Mathew, a head shorter, patiently waited his turn. He wore jeans and a brown flannel sleeved shirt. His artfully mussed brown hair framed luminous dark brown eyes and a kissable, sweet mouth. The baby of the family, he was just shy of seventy-five and hailed from Seattle. He sang in a band. If Jen saw him, she’d immortalize him in a shrine.

“Matt, where have you been?”
she pouted. “You have forgotten your Selene, barely returning my calls.”

He hugged her. “Selene, you haven’t changed. Still as exuberant as ever.”

She shoved him playfully. Her eyes went wide. “A surprise? What is it?” She turned back to the door. “Stephen!” she squealed.

A young man, slight in build with blonde hair, emerged from the door. She literally jumped on him and wrapped her legs around his waist. He laughed, stretching his face away to escape her kisses.

“My dear, I am quite beside myself. I should come to visit more often.”

I froze. A flicker of something went through my mind. That voice. Where had I heard it before?

“You devil you, I can’t believe you came without even a hint you were sneaking in with them.”

“It wouldn’t do to give out spoilers, now would it?”

She ruffled his hair and hopped off him. With great fanfare, she escorted the three of them towards us, dragging Mathew along by his hand, a look of happiness on her face as if she were five and it was Christmas morning.

Stephen caught sight of me and a teasing smile spread across his face. “My, my, what do we have here? The morning dove doth rise from the ashes.”

I stiffened and put a death clutch on Michael’s hand. I suddenly remembered where I had seen him.

“I’m sorry love, you are just so … fetching,” he whispered as he pulled away, the cool touch of a kiss lingering. He gazed at me through lowered lashes then picked up a strand of my hair and brushed it against his lips, gently, back and forth as if he were petting his mouth. A smile came, a soft curl of lips.

I buried my face into Michael’s chest, his sweater wadded into my fists, drowning in the memory of hitting Stephen with my car. Why was I just now remembering this? How could I have thought I’d hit a deer?

“Sweetheart?” The weight of
his hand soothed my back in small circles.

“I swear old man, if I’d known she was yours I wouldn’t have touched her.”

Michael went rigid. A cool hiss slid across the hairs on my head. The sound of it crawled down my spine. A growl began to reverberate in his chest. I was suddenly so very cold.

Stephen
’s voice came, breathless, “An innocent touch, nothing more I swear.”

There was
a silence. I squeezed my eyes shut. This was bad, very bad. Nope, Michael wasn’t going anywhere. He’d have to rip off his sweater to get rid of me. Two hundred years ago he had a wicked temper, quick to violence. There’s no telling what he would do as one of the walking dead.

Michael took a slow breath
and held it. Then he released it as he eased his arms around me. He rubbed his cheek against the top of my head and his hand began again in its slow comforting circles. “C'est bien ma chérie, no harm has been done. Calm yourself. We are all family here.”

It was
as if a hand had waved a wand. I peeked out from underneath his arm. Selene glared at Stephen and the other two had satisfied smirks on their faces.

Stephen straightened and cleared his throat. He looked down at his black shirt tucked into black Levis, stroking it with graceful fingers, a stubborn pout on his bottom lip. “Well, you know these modern meta
l vehicles move so fast and …” He sighed and turned to me. “My apologies, sweet lady, no offense intended.”

He lifted his chin. “Must I remind everyone here, I’ve survived longer than all of your years put together, despite my ‘minor’ handicap.” Michael snorted deep in his throat.

“The writing’s on the wall ol’ boy,” Xavier quipped dryly, drawing out his last words.

“Be as it may, I’m still here to grace your presence.” He glanced towards me. “I’m afraid my sweet Liz, that I’m one of those … what do they say … ‘accidents-waiting-to-happen’, a bit of a bumbler actually.”

He was an odd thing. He looked like a teenager but when he opened his mouth, it was like a Masterpiece Theatre recitation.

Xavier snorted and murmured under his breath “… and waiting, and waiting …”

“Oh for Heaven’s sake,” Selene blurted out. She came to stand next to us. “Xavier, Mathew, Stephen, this is Elizabeth.”

Mathew walked towards us. I held out my hand and he briefly grasped my fingers. “It’s great to finally meet you Elizabeth, Selene has told us all about you and I hear …” Selene reached out and punched him in a blur. He swore and rubbed his arm, a frown on his face. She was quick with that fist of hers. I’d hate to be on the receiving end.

Xavier let out a sharp breath. “Can’t you keep a lid on it?” He rolled his eyes as he turned to me. “He’s been driving me crazy all the way from the airport with his incessant chatter.” He held out a hand. “It’s a pleasure, welcome home Alisé,” he said, clasping my fingers. That partial handshake of theirs must be some weird vampire custom.

As macabre as it seemed, I supposed I was home. It didn’t mean I couldn’t run screaming all the way back to
Iowa.

Stephen edged his way between them. Instead of the light grasp, he bent over and kissed the back of my hand, his cool fingers wrapped around mine. What was up with the kissing?

“At your service, Stephen, distant cousin, aka white-tailed deer.”

I giggled. “But you don’t look like a deer.” My memories were returning but there were still some empty voids.

His eyes twinkled but quickly faded when he glanced over my head. He backed away with his palms up. Michael’s jealousy was notorious. I had the unpleasant memories to prove it.

Verbal pleasantries aside, Michael turned me in his arms. He pressed his forehead against mine. He closed his eyes and sighed, his breath floating over my face. I wanted to roll in it like
it was some sort of vampire cat nip.

“My darling, please excuse us. We need to plan out our day tomorrow. I won’t be far. I’ll leave you to your studies and …
,” he looked to Selene, “Selene’s capable hands.”

Selene happily pulled me into the kitchen, my hormones trailing behind me in high-gear. I looked over my shoulder. They had disappeared and from the smell of it,
lasagna was on the menu.

***

“Aren’t they just fabulous? You know, they’re like our extended family.”

I came out of the bathroom, carrying my clothes. It took a conscious effort to be neat but it was so much easier when it was someone else’s house.

I shrugged. “What’s not to like, a triplet of gorgeous vampires?”