Guildhall Guardian: Thamesian #1 (Thamesians) (15 page)

From then on, he understood Gioia would be the only lover he would ever want.

His human folly.

*

  I ached and writhed, almost banging my head against the glass. Knocking myself out in the middle of this delicious experience would be a shame. I was not my body's master anymore, it thrashed and moaned against my will.

Roydon slipped a finger into me. I wailed.  He had introduced my with the pursuit of pleasure so swiftly that whole five years of my ex seemed bullshit compared to Roydon's intimate touch. I wrapped my arms around his tanned, powerful shoulders to steady myself. He thrust in and out, again and again and I followed the rhythm, desperately meeting his hand.

Finally wrapping my legs around him he carried me to the four post bed.

I felt the heavy friction of his hardness.  He cupped my face and his one hand got me entirely open for him. 

I didn't care about slowing down, I wanted rough, messy, imperfect.

I wanted us to break each other down.

And then Roydon thrust into me, and I collapsed in shambles under the delirious snap of his punishing hips.

He bit into my hair. I felt him inside me and felt the ripples of pleasure roll on his back.

I cried into the most devastating climax of my life. The aftermath of my orgasm breaking into waves which lasted until Roydon's final moan of relief.

I didn't want to fall asleep.

Roydon couldn't fall asleep.

Sleepless Guardian with no end to his contract, no wonder he was weary of the job.

I had my head nestled against his torso.

Mr Thamesian was a stellar fuck, now I knew that, and he made a good pillow too.

I felt like he had changed me  forever. Mind blowing sex that was.

  "I can hear you thinking, Gioia" he warned.

  "So you're really are a vampire, Oh my God."

  "Sleep or I'll compel you to do it. You need rest for the auction."

  "You''ll be the main attraction. Go to sleep yourself'' I said with a yawn.

Damned Thamesian, he did all could to kiss me, fuck me, thrill me and then expected me to snooze.

  And I slept well into the morning.

I buried my head into the lushiest pillow ever. Get up, Gioia. Quit ignoring the fact that you're alone in Roydon's bed.

Thursday, I should have been in the office.

I woke up. I picked up my butchered dress from the floor. One bed sheet around my still too exposed body.

Roydon was the epitome of the British business man, reading the newspapers in the living room.

  "Good morning, Ms. Di Terzi." he said, with a rare typical Roydonian smile.

Morning after, not so bad. I didn't want to jump out the window and crash before St Pancras station per see. I just tried to keep it cool. To keep it frozen in fact.

This was not a one night stand, maybe, yet it was by no means a relationship.

I couldn't convince myself I had accidentally slipped into a vampire's bed.

What now?

  "Is there something caffeinated around?" I asked. 

*

  After last night, they had resumed their usual stance, it seemed.

He had left to the restaurant's lounge, in order to avoid kissing her again which could escalate quickly something else and prevent them to leave the room for the entire day.

And for now they didn't want that, did they?

They would go to South London and settle this matter and then he could resume his everyday life at the Guildhall.

Brand would call him a supernatural being enamoured with temporal routine.

So what?

*

    I was trying auto-brainwash. Stop replaying the night, go on straight to the auction. Be prepared to mingle with the underworld. Ignored the growing feeling of something very, very wicked coming our way.

Stay still, no matter what. This would be the hardest to follow for me.

Blazer, hair neatly tied, minimal make up. I was aiming for a smarter,older look. At least I hoped so.

It still felt odd not wearing my badge.

I determinedly walked to Roydon in the lobby.

He looked like a moody king not quite ready to battle.  Well, I could as well play around with the card's image.

  "My brother is waiting for us at King's Cross St Pancras tube station. The tube this is the last straw!"

  "Yay for the London Underground!" I answered.

Okay not quite in touch with my older, wiser persona.

  So basically we went from St Pancras to the other huge train station just across the road, King's Cross.

Brand looked like an advert for some magazine, standing before it.

  "It's not even four o'clock. We're early." I said.

  "Good" said Roydon. Of course.

I enjoyed immensely  riding the tube with the Thamesian brothers and their sunglasses. I must admit Brand made a more convincing human looking as blasé and uninterested as any famous dude stalked by paparazzi.

   Camberwell College of Arts.  It looked like a nice, typical British Uni, 18th century building. I wondered how they expected to conceal a supernatural auction sale from the students.

  "Isolde is expecting me in the art gallery." said Brand.

I didn't know what to expect from a witch, even less a Huntress.

Isolde Perdue stood at the gates of the South London Art Gallery and she looked terrifyingly sensational.

She was wearing a black belted jacket over a white shirt, black pants and loafers. Her little face was hidden behind round sunglasses, yet it giving away her deadly stare. 

  "Let's say hello" said Roydon.

*

  So that was Isold Perdue. Roydon had been mildly aware of her appearance before, and to be honest he couldn't picture this woman on the kill.

When they approached her, she leaned forward to give Brand a peek on the cheek.

  "Oh darling, here you are, quite the surprise for me to have you with me for once."

If Brand ever believed this was casual and no strings attached, he was sorely in need of a reality check. The witch only had eyes for him.

  "Isolde, this is my terribly boring brother Roydon and his friend, Gioia."

She mostly acted as uninterested as Brand usually did. Did she rub off on him or the other way around?

   "Didn't know you had a sibling. Let's go inside I want to take a seat before it gets crowded."

Really, didn't she know, or had she been the one shooting arrows?

*

   Wow, that was one skinny bitchy witch.

She didn't even feel the need to acknowledge us. She was all over Brand, seemingly convinced that the man was her soulmate because he matched her point by point stylewise.

To each their own.

We followed her into the building. Following a huntress straight into the trap.

Wise move.

Just after the entrance, a bodyguard stopped us and asked for invites or seller numbers.

  "Okay, Ms. Perdue and her date. Mr Thamesian and his date. It's right down the stairs, the auction is set to begin on time. Have a good evening" he said.

I felt sick with anxiety. Soon we'll be swimming with the sharks.

The stairs were neverending.

I reckoned I had spent a lot of time far from the surface these few days.

  "What can possibly be bringing you here, Isolde? After all there are no spotlights around."

  "Some parts of their catalog are true inspiration. The pieces are rarities I could use for a photo call." I heard her answer with her grating, overstressed accent.

  "And don't forget she can have a little meeting up with hunters buddies" said Roydon.

Isolde almost snapped her neck to shoot him an evil look.

  "This is not my main activity. And I don't have time for buddies, even less among hunters."

  "She's too busy being baad." said Brand.

I chuckled.

*

The auction room was medium sized but bigger than he had believed it would be. It added difficulty to the singling out of his attackers.

If they were asinine enough to attend.

They had challenged him, surely they wanted to see for themselves.

Isolde Perdue removed her sunglasses and her sneaky greenish eyes looked covetously around. She too was sniffing the atmosphere of the sale. Could it be her carefully staged set-up? Her hand was on Brand's knee. She genuinely seemed in love with him.  As much as a witch knew love.

Seated beside him Gioia was very straight, strangely stiff.

  "Are you allright?" he asked.

  "I am, why?"

  "You're very calm. That's suspicious."

She crossed her arms over her chest.

  "This is almost working environment for me, I can't be bouncing all over the place."

He brushed her temple, kissing into her ear "I like this look."

She didn't even look at him. Going all professional on him. Turn on.

  "So you had a look at the catalog?" he asked the witch.

  "Didn't you?"

  "Roydon is here to sell" said Brand.

  "The collection has many uninteresting pieces, some disgusting carcasses of old Vamps or believed to be such, coffins and stakes. Fangs even. I'm more into the living vampires tokens. Their paintings, silverware, sculptures, objets d'art, some are selling the whole furniture of their old estate. And then I as told some are being sold themselves. "

   "Are they?" said Roydon.

*

  We were sitting first row, as the witch had asked for. The stage was still empty.

I was catching up with my lack of experiencing auction sales. No clear signs of Camberwell College hosting in behalf of an art dealer. It was super foggy.

Roydon was quietly sizing up the attendance. Brand seemed about to drop asleep, if he could sleep.

  "Ladies and gentlemen, we do remind you that the doors are closing at five forty-five. Please check that you have all necessary documents with you before the start of the auction. Thank you." said a recorded announcing.

People were taking their seats around us and I tried not to feel too squirmish.

How many among them were cold-blooded killers?

  "Please don't tell me I'm the only human here' I whispered to Roydon.

  "On the contrary" he said''As far as I can see there are no more than a dozen of hybrids in here."

His yellow eyes flickered to the stage. "This one is an hybrid'' he said carefully.

A woman with glasses was standing behind the reading desk, rummaging through her notes.  I couldn't have told for sure.

A few metres in front of us, just next to the curtain, a glass box was exposed.

Oddly, the glass was warped and opaque I couldn't see through it.

I lightly bumped into Roydon's shoulder. He didn't feel a thing.

I pinched his hand to attract his attention.

  "What do you think is in there?" I asked.

Roydon fingers caught mine.

   "Whatever you do, don't climb on that stage to find out."

*

   "Sir, you're a seller, I think" said the woman rather shyly. "I am the sale's auctioneer, Aaren Salisbury."

Roydon shook her hand briefly. She was quite matronly, in her early forties, with thick glasses.

  "Roydon Thamesian, nice to meet you."

  "Can you give me your seller number, Mr Thamesian?"

  "It's 8447910."

She quickly entered the digits into her IPad.

  "I see there that you've haven't settled your price. In regard of your file I can offer you the starting price of 800,000 British pounds, do you agree?"

  "Yes"

"Very well.Thank you Mr Thamesian. Good luck with your sale."

She then went on to check on the second row.

*

  The female auctioneer had launched the sale. I wondered about her, she didn't quite seemed confident enough for the job. Several times she stuttered and stumbled on her words. Maybe it was her first big auction sale. It shattered my belief in overconfident hybrids.

The first artifact on sale was a little ugly statuette. With only one bidder, it sold quickly for a few hundred quids.

The bidders were very tamed and silent, the sale dragged on.

Vampires bones.

A jewel box belonging to an Irish well-know bloodsucker.

A mummy which was said to be the only surviving head trophy of a hunter's private collection.