Authors: DD Prince
“So that’s why you didn’t give me back my purse,” she said softly. He didn’t answer.
“What’s the story with Rebecca? There’s some serious animosity between you.” He shook his head and gritted his teeth. For a few minutes they were silent. He looked like he was brooding. She sure was. She was astounded that he’d be prepared to take off with her if things went awry. Finally, a burning question rolled off her tongue, “Okay, since you’re not going to tell me about Rebecca, yet, and I say ‘yet’ because I’m not giving up but how ‘bout for now you tell me what a functional trance is”
Tristan shifted in his seat a little uncomfortably. Clearly she wasn’t the only one with a personal bubble of steel.
“Esther. You said she was in a functional trance. What does that mean?”
“It means that she’s basically brainwashed, for lack of a better term. If we have use for someone who’s entranced, it doesn’t do well to leave them barely functional so we give them their faculties back but they remain loyal, follow directions, and don’t reveal anything about us. An elder with certain talents can program them.”
“So, there are degrees of entrancing.”
“Yeah.”
“Esther was my grandfather’s pet. She…” He trailed off and looked lost for words.
“Got old?”
“No. My grandfather died. Can you give the 20 questions game a breather, please? My head is just ---- ” He held his hand up over his ear for a second, clenched it into a fist and then grabbed the steering wheel.
A few minutes later he grabbed her hand again and let out a sigh.
“Your fingers? They’re not blistered anymore.” Kyla was shocked looking down at them.
“No.” He let go of her to look at his hand, “Fast healer. Even faster than usual, actually.”
Kyla wanted to ask again about how his grandfather had died and wanted to push to find out about the Rebecca issue and she had other questions about what would happen next but the 800 pound elephant in the SUV with them after the statement about Esther was something she couldn’t stumble over.
She stared out the window, feeling like she
was
in a trance. If there were degrees of entrancing then maybe Kyla was in just a different level, one where she was now linked to him but still had some of her own faculties. She decided to push that off for now and push away thoughts of being an old housekeeper serving pitchers of blood to vampires in a semi-catatonic haze while Tristan stayed youthful and beautiful or while Tristan was dead. Then again it wouldn’t be the way it’d go, would it? The minute another vampire tasted Kyla’s blood she’d likely be drained bone dry and there’d be no need for any sort of trance.
They arrived at a skyscraper of a fin-shaped glass building right downtown in an uber-trendy neighbourhood. Tristan’s place was beautiful. It had a great view of the city’s skyline. It was large and modern with a lot of glass and stainless steel. Very different from the Tuscan-style villa. The apartment was on the 57
th
floor with two storeys but just one large master suite that took up the entire second storey which overlooked the rest of the apartment and had a great view.
“I chose here so that we wouldn’t have to bring anyone. No room for houseguests or staff. It’s my oasis, when I need time alone. You can have more space to move around and I won’t have to stress about it.” He kissed her when putting the duffle bag down on the tan granite island in the kitchen.
It was a spacious apartment even if there was just one bedroom. She wandered around looking at it and admiring the view of the city.
“I have to make some calls, baby. You go on up to bed. I’ll be up in a bit. If you need anything, there isn’t a lot in the fridge, I haven’t been here in weeks, but there should be some water or juice or something to drink. I’ll get some supplies delivered.” He kissed her and folded her into his arms, “I’m going to keep you safe; I promise.”
She looked up at his face and the look in his eyes told her he meant it. She felt flutters in her belly and nuzzled into his chest. He smelled like warm oatmeal cookies. Then she yawned. It was 2:45 am and she was exhausted.
She guzzled a bottle of water, found a t-shirt of his as well as a pair of silky boxers and changed into them. He had a fairly well-stocked closet here so he’d be fine. She got into bed and turned out the lamp but she could hear Tristan’s phone calls.
First he called the hotel and asked them to have an event planner call him at 7:00 am. He said he’d need an urgent masquerade ball slash charity event held the following night beginning at 7:00 pm for about 100-120 guests with a dinner and a band as well as security. He told them, “Make it happen. Cost is not an issue.”
Then she heard him on the phone again.
“What’s the status on everything…
Okay, so there was a fire set at the house…
No, I don’t know yet…
I’m staying at the condo for a few days …
Booked the Four Seasons for tomorrow…
Yeah that’s where Tsakos is…
Right, well, make sure of it…
Fine, I know, it will be…
Okay, I’ll call you in the morning around nine.
Can you get texts sent to notify everyone we will firm up the event details and update everyone by tomorrow by noon?
Okay, bye.”
Then she heard his phone ring the familiar Marimba tune. He answered:
“Dawn.
His tone sounded strained.
It’s late. What do you want?
No, I’ve been a bit busy. My house was set on fire tonight.
Don’t know yet…
Won’t how bad know until tomorrow…
At my other place.
Yeah.
Moving it to a hotel…
Wait, hold on. Don’t come over.
Because I said don’t. I’m crashing in a few and I have to get up early.
Yeah, that’s true. You heard right.
She is.
His voice went from exasperated sounding to softer but angrier,
No, not necessary. I’m good.
What part of ‘we’re done’ don’t you understand?
That’s right.
Because I have too much shit to deal with right now and this is working for me.
I’m sure. Don’t show up tomorrow night. I’m serious.
Yeah, I’m bringing her.
Don’t show up, Dawn.
Bye.”
Kyla pulled the covers tighter. Dawn, huh?
She heard him make another call to, she assumed, a concierge as he quoted his suite number. He asked for a toothbrush, some coffee, milk, sugar, and a continental breakfast for two for 6:am. Then she couldn’t make out the rest of the conversation.
A few minutes later she heard Tristan trot up the stairs. In the dimness of the room she saw him shed his clothes. He climbed into bed with her and pulled her toward him. He was warm and made her tingle all over.
“Hey. You’re not sleeping yet,” he whispered in her ear, “Shaken up, baby?”
“Hey you. I’m okay. Who’s Dawn?” she pushed him back with her palms and looked to his face.
He let out a groan. “Great. Do we have to have an ex conversation right after my house burns down? I gotta be up in 3 hours, babe.”
“An ex? Dawn? Interesting vampire name,” Kyla muttered.
“Yeah,” he scoffed, “interesting.”
“When did you split up?”
“We weren’t ever exclusive.”
“Oh? Sounded from this end like she doesn’t want to be ex.”
“There’s that green-eyed monster again,” he teased, “She doesn’t matter. No one matters but you. C’mere. It feels so good to get you out of that house.” He pulled her closer, “Close those beautiful green eyes so we can both sleep. Big day tomorrow.”
“Understatement of the century,” Kyla muttered, then added, “You need to tell me the deal between you and Rebecca, too. I know there’s a story there and I’d like to know what it is. It’s obvious you aren’t going to tell me tonight but you need to. If you want me to trust you, you have to trust me, too.”
He said nothing but gave her a little squeeze. She snuggled in close.
“Joe said he brought someone to you the other day.”
She felt him stiffen.
“Why?”
“That’s Joe’s job. He’s one of my scouts.”
“Huh?”
“He scouted females for me, to keep me fed.”
Kyla shivered.
“I didn’t, princess. I haven’t since you. I think Joe was testing me.”
She nuzzled in. It did feel good to be out of that house. Odd. But good. The bed was comfortable and everything was quiet. All she could hear was Tristan breathing steadily. He had spooned her close and she could feel his warm breath against the back of her head, his hand cupped her hip. She dozed off to sleep feeling safe and protected.
More sleep. It probably didn’t matter that she’d just get a few hours before having to get up and face this big and ominous day. She’d been sleeping enough in the past week to last a month.
~~~
Kyla woke up feeling something scratchy and rough on her inner leg. She scratched her leg and swatted it away.
“Hey…” it was Tristan, all indignant. He was rubbing his stubbly face up and down her inner thigh.
The sun was barely up but Tristan sure was up.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m waking you up,” he grazed her inner thigh with his teeth. She gasped as his teeth punctured her skin.
It felt so good to be out of that house. She felt like things were different this morning. Waking up with him here outside of the house where she’d been a prisoner just felt… different. She knew things were probably more dangerous than ever and now she was worried about Tristan rather than just worrying about how to escape but she felt like she could deal with her one vampire, rather than worry about other vampires being under the same roof. 100 vampires? He booked the party for about 100-120 people so most of them would likely be vampires and from what he’d said, some of them dangerous, lewd, maybe with ulterior motives. She swallowed hard.
“Don’t do that,” he whispered, his hot breath making her inner thigh tingle, “it’s only you and me here. Forget about everyone else.” She fisted the silky sheets and enjoyed his very amorous wake up call.
~~~
They ate breakfast together and Kyla admired the view of the city as she devoured what was probably the most divine croissant she’d ever eaten while Tristan took a shower, dressed in a suit, and looked more like a dashing Prince Charming than ever. She was in a large white t-shirt, tied in a knot at her lower back and Tristan’s black and silver checked silky boxer shorts and felt like she looked like an orphan or something the cat dragged in.
“You are
so
out of my league,” she mumbled, twisting her unruly mop of curls up into a knot on top of her head.
He winked at her, his gemstone eyes twinkling, “It’s the exact opposite, believe me. You are so gorgeous in my underwear!” He smacked a loud kiss on her forehead and gave her bum a playful slap, then took her by the hips with hot firm hands, “Okay, I’m off to get the party sorted out and to run back to the house to pick up a few things and assess the damage. Please stay here and don’t answer the door. No matter what. Follow me.”
He took her hand and led her upstairs and at the back of his bedroom closet he opened another door that had a small windowless room. Inside was a futon, a laptop computer, and a small refrigerator, “This is a safe room slash panic room, if you will. There’s an icon on that computer’s home screen with a camera that faces into the bedroom. There are other cameras downstairs, too. If you have any problems, come in here and shut the door and hit the red button on the wall and it’ll go into lock down mode and I’ll get a text notification of the mode change. The green button on the ceiling will unlock it. No one will be able to get in from the other side. I have the only key. And if I lose the key, no worries, locks are another one of my specialties. Not something most vampires are good at,” he winked, “There’s a washroom and a few supplies already stocked under the bed and in the fridge.” There was another slim door that he opened that led into a tiny bathroom with a toilet, sink, and small shower stall.
“Hopefully you won’t need it but it’s here and now you know how to use it. Keep this phone with you at all times, particularly in case you have to go into the panic room.”
He handed her a shiny new iPhone, “I got this delivered for you this morning, too. My number is programmed. Call me if you need anything. I’ll be back in a few hours but if you need me phone me. There’s a spare charging cord with the computer in the panic room and another on the nightstand.” He pulled her into an embrace. She inhaled his desserty scent and leaned up and kissed him.
“You’re trusting me not to run,” she whispered, “big brownie points for you.”
“I am. I’m so in love with you, baby,” he whispered, “We’re going to get through this weekend and go from there. I’ll cash in those brownie points later, okay?” he winked, “It’s all gonna be okay.”
She looked down shyly.
He beamed at her. “See you soon.”
A gorgeous vampire prince is in love with me and showing me how to use his panic room. Out of my depth is the understatement of the year!
~~~
The morning was uneventful. Kyla read the newspaper online, lurked on Facebook (after ensuring the chat function was turned off), watched TV, stared out the window, and wandered around the fairly sterile apartment. She tried to stay out of her head but it wasn’t easy. She was worried about how things would go tonight. She was anxious for him to get back.
Just two minutes before noon music startled her.
It was the pretty new iPhone ringing with Tristan’s name and a photo of a chocolate brownie with a bite taken out. She giggled, recognizing the song, Hinder’s Lips of an Angel, and the chorus where the singer lamented about how sweet it was to hear her voice say his name. She answered the phone,
“Well holy swoon, Batman,” she answered. She felt all gooey and mushy inside.
“Princess.” She could hear amusement in his voice.
“Like the ringtone?”
“I do,” she breathed.
“Everything fine?” he asked.
“Yep. With you?” She was short of breath, her heart rate increasing just at the sound of his voice.
“Uh huh. Tonight’s all delegated and organized. I’m just at the house. It’s not that bad. Bedroom is in good shape. I’m bringing over our clothes for tonight and a few things and then I have someone coming to do your hair and other primping at 3:00. I’ll be there first so don’t let anyone in. There’s no one expected there before then. I’ll be there in half an hour and I’m getting you lunch.”
“Okay, I’ll be
your
lunch,” she giggled.
“Will you be my all-you-can-drink-and-fuck buffet?” his voice was gruff.
“Haha, very funny. And hell, yeah.”
“I love you,” he said softly, his voice breathy, laced with emotion.
Before there was any sort of awkward silence, he added, “See you in about thirty minutes. If something delays me even a minute after 1:00, panic room. Okay?”
“Okay.”
He was there at 12:26 and she felt her heartbeat’s tempo rise when he strolled in the door looking very much the GQ businessman. She felt like she hadn’t seen him in days. She was upstairs, watching over the railing as he entered with two men following him in with a rack filled with garment bags and suitcases and they both had bags as well. Tristan had his arms full too. He looked up and winked at her and tipped them and then when they left he trotted up the stairs and pulled her into a demanding kiss. Her insides turned to jelly. He tasted like lemon meringue pie.