Authors: Maya DeLeina
Eilian punched in his override code for that particular window, and the Roman shade sailed up the length of the window. Steffan stepped back into the dark recessed corner of the room as Eilian stood in the full sunlight and peered through the window.
“I see the moving van,” Eilian reported. “I see Fat Eddie eating something in the cab of the van and talking on the cell phone. I don’t know if this is possible, but it looks like Fat Eddie got, well, fatter. It looks like they’re wrapping up. The plastic floor covering is being pulled out of the entry and being placed back in the van.”
The house was situated first on the street and quite a distance away from Steffan’s house that sat in the bend of the crescent-shaped road. Eilian, however, could easily make out all of the details even from that distance.
From the darkened corner of the room, Steffan began to speak, “The deed was transferred to an Anya DeVera—”
Eilian interrupted Steffan, “Now that’s the part I still don’t get. Ryan sent the proposal to buy the house from us. Why wasn’t the house in his name? What name was it under again?”
“Anise DeVera. From what the attorney said at closing, Ryan purchased the house under an associate’s name for business purposes. This must be her sister who inherited the house. We’ll have to talk to M.J. and her team to get the latest transgression reports and find out what happened to Anise. I never intended for a mortal to move into our neighborhood, one we didn’t already have an evaluation on.”
“I know!” Eilian looked down at the floor, shaking his head. “I guess we will have to do some recon on her.”
Steffan continued as he changed the subject, “Keep looking. Can you see if it’s an entire mortal family moving in? If we have to, it would be a much easier task to enthrall one and not an entire family. And one is much easier to have as a feeder, if the palate is right.”
“Actually, it looks like this is her coming up in the SUV now. I don’t think she was here earlier.”
Eilian watched as Anya got out of her vehicle and thanked Fat Eddie and his crew. He caught the detail of a most delicate symbol tattooed on the back of her right shoulder before she wrapped herself in a shawl. As the moving truck turned around and started back down the road, Anya went back to her vehicle.
Eilian was delighted to report the news of what he saw next. “No children. No boyfriend. No ring on her finger. No dogs. Just a…a cello”
“A cello?” Steffan smiled. “Nice.”
* * * *
Anya’s long, black hair flowed all around her face in the wind.
She raised her sunglasses and settled them on her head in effort to keep her hair back and out of her eyes. She took a moment to examine her surroundings.
It was quiet. No cars. No children. No one was outside.
In the distance, she could see the home high on the hill. It looked like a castle right out of the countryside somewhere in Europe. She walked to the edge of her driveway and tried squinting out a better detail of the home.
Is that a formal English garden?
“Oh, I gotta see this!” she said out loud.
Anya hurried and placed the cello in the house, closed the door, and jumped back into her vehicle. She backed the SUV down the driveway and headed down the street.
Anya pulled in front of the castle, marveling at its dominating architecture and the maze of boxwood hedges that sat on the lawn. She stepped out of the car to get a better view.
* * * *
Suddenly, the red jasper in Steffan’s pocket started to vibrate.
He reached for the stone and was surprised by its warmth and, most importantly, the absence of any electric sparks that once radiated from the stone. The electricity had been replaced by an intense sensual sensation that permeated his body, centering its strength on his crotch. He grasped the stone tighter, not wanting to let go of the erotic experience. He braced himself in the corner of the room as he released a moan. The woman’s scent that had filled his nostrils since the day he first touched the stone was more pronounced. The fragmented images he had held started to reveal more of the woman, her almond-shaped eyes and dark, black lines etched on brown skin.
His breathing quickened.
Oblivious to what was happening to Steffan, Eilian continued reporting on the woman. “Okay, weird. She’s just standing there looking at the garden and then all of sudden, she starts having an epileptic seizure or something. She is hanging on to the vehicle for support.”
Steffan did not respond to Eilian’s report.
“Steffan, should I go out there? She’s like…shaking bad out there now, I need to help her. Steffan?”
Eilian turned around and looked over at Steffan in the corner.
Steffan’s back stiffened against the corner of the wall. His head doubled over in front of him. His mouth was slightly open, taking in and releasing heavy breaths. His eyes shut tightly. Bent at the knees, Steffan’s hands balled into fists at each side of his leg. His hips thrust up and down in a slow fluid motion. Steffan let out another long, needful moan.
“Steffan!” Eilian screamed. He ran to the corner and shook Steffan by the shoulders.
The red jasper rolled out of one of his balled fists
,
and Steffan opened his eyes sheepishly.
“What?” Steffan murmured.
Eilian responded with irritation, “What? You were in the corner here having a seizure just as I was telling you that our new homeowner was about to bite her tongue off in the street from a damn seizure as well! Are you okay? You never had seizures before. Shit! Did the sunlight hit you or something?”
“No.”
Eilian backed off of Steffan as he looked down at his pants.
“What the…your pants are soaked! What the hell did you do? You sure you didn’t accidentally move into the sunlight?” Eilian snapped his fingers in front of Steffan’s face to regain his attention. “Hello?”
“I…uh…no,” responded Steffan in a daze.
“I uh no? What the hell is wrong with you? Just wait for a sec, let me check on her.”
Eilian ran to the window, but the Anya had already driven off and was pulling back into her driveway. She got out of the car and bent over, resting her hands on her knees, catching her breath. “Hmm, I guess she’s okay.”
“Eilian, did she have almond-shaped eyes, olive skin, and long, black hair?” Steffan asked from the dark corner.
“Yes.” Eilian turned away from the window and walked back to the corner next to Steffan. “She’s actually quite stunning, when she isn’t going into convulsions, that is.”
Still leaning up against the wall, Steffan closed his eyes and asked, “Eilian, did she have a symbol tattooed on the back of her right shoulder?”
“Yes! But how did you…” Eilian turned and looked toward window and then settled back on Steffan. Eilian looked on the ground and picked up the red jasper. “Steffan, were you touching this as she came near the house?”
“Yes.”
“Her eyes, her hair, her tattoo…they all projected in your mind?”
“Yes.”
“Any strong scents you picked up on?”
“Yes.”
“And this is the same stone you found on Ryan that night?”
“Yes.”
Eilian’s eyes were wide in astonishment.
The air was thick with mystery and euphoria.
Steffan leaned back to look at his crotch. “Eilian?” His arms and hands were frozen in front of him. He was stuck in a position as if he was preparing to catch something.
“Yes?”
“I believe I just came in my pants.”
Chapter Seven
Eilian pulled the long needle out of Steffan’s vein. “This should be the last one. We can test in about fifteen minutes.” Eilian stood up from his kneeling position on the floor. “And I’ll even cross my toes this time.”
Black blood spewed from the puncture wound.
Steffan pressed his thumb firmly on the site to stop the blood flow. Bringing his arm up toward his mouth, he released his thumb and quickly brushed his tongue along his flesh and sealed the puncture instantly.
Situated on the edge of his king-size canopy bed, Steffan sat bare chested with only his black, silk pajama pants on.
Steffan drew his fist into his hair above his forehead and squeezed until the disheveled strands bunched between his fingers. “Eilian, this has to work this time, you hear me? I’m going insane! All I do is think about her when I am awake and dream of her when I sleep. It’s so strong that I don’t even need to touch the stone now. I feel her
all the time
.” Steffan emphasized his last three words as his fingers released his hair.
“I calculated out the expected schedule for your age, but for some reason, your body has still taken longer to adapt and accept Defender.” Eilian shook his head. He turned his back to Steffan as he worked on capping the syringe and placing it into a plastic container that sat on the nightstand.
Steffan peered up at Eilian.
As if a sudden hole bore through his back from the irritation radiating from Steffan, Eilian stated, “Don’t look at me that way. You brought this on yourself.” He turned around and entered notes of the time and units he had just administered on his laptop that sat on the bed next to Steffan.
“Each day you tested your resistance on your own, each day the serum failed to sufficiently protect you, you caused harm and injury to yourself. I had no choice but to lock you in this room so you could heal and not damage yourself further.” Eilian closed the laptop, walked to the seating area of the master bedroom and laid himself down on the leather chaise. “I have never met someone more tenacious than you. You just can’t accept that you’re not in control of anything right now, can you? You cannot control the Defender, you cannot control what you’re feeling, and you certainly cannot control her.”
Steffan nodded in response and lay back on the bed. He stared at the white gauze canopy that floated above him. For weeks now, he’d fantasized about making love to her under the canopy, imagining the way the white material would dance in the evening breeze, gliding over her skin, covering their writhing bodies. The visions were so vivid, so stimulating. He could feel every sensation their union would create. Every kiss, every touch, every breath they would share coursed through his body.
His mind was frenzied.
At times, he would visualize taking her slowly and gently, executing a methodical exchange of sheer ecstasy and passion. At other times, he would dream of a mildly sadistic tryst, taking her without regard, without care, unleashing his raw, animalistic desire for her. All he could do for these past weeks was resort to pleasuring himself as the images burned in his mind. Nothing could sate the hunger or thirst that still burned in him until he had her.
He had grown mad with desire for Anya.
“Steffan, are you even listening to me?” Eilian asked in an agitated tone as he sat up on the chaise.
“Sorry. I was daydreaming—of her.” Steffan smiled as he cocked an eyebrow and laid one hand on his chest.