Charlotte & Sebastian (7 page)

Chapter Thirteen

It was nearly ten when they arrived at the Director's office. Sebastian knocked twice and waited.

“
Come in.”

He gave her a reassuring smile before pushing the door open and walking inside. She followed him at a slower pace and felt the Director's attention on her as soon as she entered. Raising her gaze to meet his, their eyes locked for a second and it was her who looked away first, unable to cope with the intensity of his stare.

“Sit, please,” the Director said waving at the chairs in front of his desk.

They sat and she waited for whatever he was about to say.

“She's stable?”

Sebastian answered in a calm voice, “She's as stable as she can be considering she has only been a vampire for five days; almost four of those were her recovering from the change and injuries she had at the time of her transition.”

“Senses?”

“
We worked earlier this evening with the help of Adrianna to see how well she could differentiate between floors and hear pulses. She was very good. We haven’t managed to test her eyesight yet, but I have an idea of what we could do.”

“
Blood?”

Charlotte flinched at the word and Sebastian found her hand and squeezed. “She is having some trouble in regards to blood. Half of her is repulsed by the act of feeding while the other half hungers for it. We're still working on it but in the mean time I suggest you pair us for missions until she's able to overcome it. I'm the only one who'll be able to keep her in control since I'd rather her trigger happy colleagues not shoot to kill.”

“How have they taken the news?”

“
Terribly,” she said before Sebastian could.

The Director raised a brow.

“Charlotte's best friend hasn't taken the news well and basically told her to watch her back. Everyone else seems curious about her; probably wondering if she'll turn out an ally, like me, or an enemy, like Lucien.”

A hiss left her at the mention of that monster. “Like I'd let myself do the same as that monster did to me and my family.”

Their boss held up a hand. “I trust Sebastian's judgement of you and I'll tell Adrianna to put you back on rotation.” His eyes went between them before settling on Sebastian, “I'm trusting you to keep her under control. If you don’t, I'm afraid she'll have to be terminated.”

Her lovers grip tightened on her fingers, almost grinding the bones together, as he tried to fight whatever was warring inside him.

Surely what the Director said hadn’t come as a shock to him? They killed rogue paranormal creatures daily: it was their job. If she went rogue—and she was going to do her damnedest not to—then she knew she would die at the hands of someone she knew.

“
I understand,” Sebastian finally growled and climbed to his feet, pulling Charlotte with him since he still held her hand.

“
Dismissed.”

They quickly left his office and in a blink, Charlotte found herself sitting on the edge of Adrianna's desk, Seb between her spread thighs. His forehead was resting against hers and she could see his body vibrating with some intense emotion.

“Sebastian?” She asked softly. “Seb?” Her free hand came up to touch his cheek and his eyes caught and held hers.

“
I can't lose you, Charlie.”

“
You won't,” she said, with as much conviction as she could.

His head moved from side to side slowly, “I should never have turned you.”

“Then you really would have lost me,” she reminded him.

“
Maybe. But as least I wouldn’t have—” he broke off and pulled away from her, shoving his hands into his dark hair.

Charlotte watched him warily, her chest aching, “At least then you wouldn’t have what?”

He cursed loudly and then turned back to her. “Charlie. There's still so much you don’t know.”

“
Then tell me!”

“
Vampire's can have mates; like shape-shifters, only it's a bigger commitment.”

When he didn’t elaborate, she thought it through in her head but couldn’t come up with anything. “Bigger commitment how?”

Sighing at length, he gripped the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. “Okay. Like I said: vampires have mates, too. The probability of finding him or her gets lower the older you get, though it isn’t impossible. A vampire can sense their mate, it's like a tingling under their skin, a prickling of their senses, whenever they're near”

Charlotte's brain worked overtime as his description sunk in. He seemed to know a lot about it for someone who hadn’t experienced it. Suddenly it clicked. “You found her; your mate.”

“I did,” he agreed, meeting her gaze. “She was like a breath of fresh air, light in a world that had turned dark and gloomy.”

She wasn’t afraid to say she was jealous of the woman he was describing. “What happened to her?”

Seb's brows drew together as he stared at her, the look on his face almost what she'd class as confusion. “She changed,” he finally said.

Changed? What the hell did that mean? And where was she now?

Palms clasped her face and urged her gaze to meet his. “Charlie,” he sighed, sounding almost amused, “she was changed into a vampire by me. Almost two years after we first met and she came to work here. She was a bad arse before she was turned but now she's deadly. She's getting really good with her vampire senses and is going to become amazing at resisting blood that she doesn’t get from me or out of a bag.”

She gasped, realising he meant her.

His eyes roamed her face, his lips pulling up into a grin. “Yes, I mean you. I knew from the first time I set eyes on you that there was something about you by the way my senses went haywire. I wanted to drink from you and I wanted to protect you in equal measures.”

“
I'm your mate?”

“
You are. We, uh, bonded the first time we made love and that has complicated the mating somewhat. We've been drawn to each other from the first meeting. That's how it works. If you'd still been human at the time, you'd have protected me at all costs but if I'd died, you'd have felt pain but nothing you wouldn't have been able to get over. Since you were a vampire, it's more in depth and now, basically, if I die, you die and likewise.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, God.”

“That's why I want us paired for missions, so I can watch your back for you from both enemies and supposed allies.” Blue eyes took in her expression, “You're okay with this?”

“
Just gives me more incentive to stay alive, I guess.”

A warm chuckle left his lips, “Yeah.” He sobered quickly, “I'm sorry I dumped all this on you at once.” Sebastian ran his thumbs across her skin in a soothing gesture and she let out a long breath as the realities of what he'd just told her sunk in.

“I did ask,” she said wryly.

His lips quirked and then he pulled her into his chest and rested his chin on the top of her head, his hands stroking up and down her back.

Charlotte's eyes closed.

She had a lot to think about now.

Chapter Fourteen

Charlotte pulled on her mission clothing of black long-sleeved t-shirt, black combat trousers and black boots and stared across her room at the bag of weapons. Should she arm herself? Or was she enough of a dangerous weapon already?

She sensed Sebastian heading towards her room and walked over to open the door before he knocked. This was their first mission since she'd been turned—a week since she'd woken in Sebastian's bed—and they'd been practising every night with her abilities and she'd improved a lot.

His brows rose as she opened it. “You're getting better.”

A slightly smug smile curved her lips, “I know.”

Blue eyes twinkling happily he stepped into her room, his arm circling her waist and pulling her against his chest as he walked her backwards and nudged her door shut. Tangling his free hand in her hair, he pulled her mouth to his and kissed her longingly. When they finally came up for air they were both breathing unsteadily.

“Hello to you, too,” she said huskily.

His chest vibrated beneath her as he growled warningly and she bit her lip to hide her smile.

It was amazing how well she'd grown into the idea of them being mates. It had been a shock at the time but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense.

When she'd been human she'd often wondered why she was drawn to him and now she knew why. Why she hadn’t been able to hate him for what he was. Why she'd given him her blood on more than one occasion.

“You weren't in bed when I woke up,” he said gruffly, “I was hoping for round three before we had to head out.”

Charlotte grinned against his lips. “Poor baby.”

Since she'd accepted their bond, their relationship had gone from strength to strength, too, and she'd spent most nights in his bed, being driven wild by his passion and hunger.

Her back hit something hard and Seb's body pressed into her front, his knee parting her thighs so he could settle between them and his head lowered to her throat, his lips teasing the pulse at its base. Her breathing grew unsteady.

“Later,” he rasped. “We'll finish this later, when we prove to the Director and the rest of these arseholes that you can do this.”

A stab of disappointment shot through her but she nodded.

Their mission was to locate an unknown creature that was luring men to their deaths along the Thames. Male bodies kept appearing in the river: all victims of drowning. No sightings to tell them what sort of creature it was but she had a feeling it was most likely a water nymph.

Nymphs could look truly human if they wanted to—with the help of a little magic—and were known to have jealous streaks a mile wide and would quickly turn lethal when shunned for another.

That was what she bet had happened with this one.

It was rare for nymphs to come out in public so openly so she had to be majorly pissed about something.

Or it might be a siren, luring men to their deaths with their beguiling songs.

“
Let's go, then,” she said, wiggling out from between his body and the wall. She caught the glimpse of her weapons cache and hesitated. “Do I need...” she gestured to the bag and Sebastian turned to see what she was referring to.

“
It might be best to take some since we haven’t really had time to work on your fighting skills.”

She turned to him with a glare, her hands grasping her pair of daggers. “My fighting skills are amazing.”

“As a human, yes. As a vampire, no. You're quicker, stronger, now. Your moves need to match that. We'll work on it another time.” He gestured for her to follow with a flick of his head and she slotted the daggers into their places at her waist before moving across the room and out of the door.

As they entered the garage, Charlotte was surprised to see Sarah and Mikey leaning against the black Hummer. As far as she knew they were the only ones going on mission tonight.

“
About time!” Sarah called sarcastically and pushed away from the car to climb in the passenger side.

Charlotte glanced across at Sebastian and he gave a slight shrug before walking towards the car. She followed at a slower pace and watched as Mikey and Seb greeted each other with a manly fist bump and grin.

Rolling her eyes at their antics she joined them and Mikey met her gaze. “You okay?”

Surprised by his question, she nodded, “Yeah. I'm getting there.”

“I'm sorry about Sarah; she's taken it all really badly. With what happened with her little sister...” he grimaced.

Charlotte closed her eyes as she remembered hearing the tale. It hadn’t been pretty. A slight shudder ran down her spine as some of the details came back to her: dismembered limbs, missing organs.

“Yeah. I'd forgotten about that.”

The car's horn suddenly blared making them all jump. Mikey swore under his breath before turning to glare at Sarah through the window. She indicated they should get in before looking at her watch pointedly.

A low growl left Mikey's lips before he climbed in the driver's seat and they engaged in some sort of argument.

“
Should we...?” Charlotte asked, indicating the car.

Seb nodded, “We should,” and then moved around to the other side of the car at super human speed and climbed inside. Charlotte pulled open the door of her own side and climbed in.

The argument was still ongoing but as she settled into her seat, Sarah's hand lashed out and struck Mikey across the face. A second later, Sarah was pulling him closer and kissing him like crazy, her hands fisted in his short hair. Charlotte stared at them in surprise until they broke apart.

“
We should get going,” Mikey said, his voice rough. He cleared his throat and glanced at them in the back seat before turning back to the windscreen and starting the car. Putting it in gear, he pulled out of the garage and drove at a sedate pace through the grounds until they reached the main gate, which lifted for them, and then they headed out into the city.

It was a fairly long drive out to the area of the Thames where the bodies had been discovered and most of it was passed in silence, though Sarah switched on the radio after a lengthy stretch before Mikey turned it off again when a techno song came on with a hectic beat that even Charlotte had to admit was very annoying.

Fifteen minutes later Mikey pulled up on a side street near the O2 Arena and they climbed out of the car. In the growing gloom they headed for the path that led down by the river, scanning the surroundings for anything suspicious.

Bodies had been appearing on the northern side of the river but with how the currents worked around the bends it was believed that whatever was killing these men was on the southern side of the river.

“Maybe we should head onto the beach since it's believed the creature's water based?” Charlotte suggested.

“
Good idea.”

They broke into pairs and headed onto the sandy surface in opposite directions, scouring the water and beach for any signs of life. There was no-one about but they could hear the sounds of traffic and the docks further down the beach.

Suddenly a shout echoed from the other direction. “Mikey!”

Charlotte tensed and shot a quick glance at Sebastian to see he was staring intently. “Magic,” he breathed, and then ran off down the beach. A second later she did the same.