Reluctant Partnerships (23 page)

Stepping back out of his car, he went inside to wait for Magali, hoping she would know to look for him, since he had never met her before. A few minutes later, a tall, statuesque blonde entered the hall. “Denis Langlois?

“Yes, I’m Denis.”

“I’m Magali Ducassé, Luc Cabalet’s partner. He asked me to bring you back to Amiens with me.”

“If it’s not too much trouble,” Denis replied.

“No trouble at all,” Magali assured him. “A flick of my wand and a simple spell and we’re off.”

“And you’ll be able to send me back here when Luc and I have finished talking?” Denis verified.

“Of course,” Magali said. “I can probably even send you home if you can give me enough detail.”

“My car’s here,” Denis demurred.

“Shall we go, then?”

Denis nodded and braced himself for the odd sensation of the displacement spell. Within seconds, he was once again in the salon where he had spent the first few hours after his turning. “Good to see you again, Denis,” Luc said, offering his hand.

Denis shook it. “And you as well. I see nothing has changed since the last time I was here.”

“Not quite nothing,” Luc said with a nod toward Magali. “Will you excuse us, Magali? Denis has some concerns of a personal nature. I wouldn’t want him to feel uncomfortable discussing them.”

“Of course,” Magali said. “I’ll be in my room when Denis is ready to return to l’Institut.”

She withdrew, leaving the two men alone. “I have to admit, I’m having trouble imagining you with a partner,” Denis said when she was gone. “After Fabien was killed, you always swore you’d never commit to any one mortal again.”

“Fabien was special,” Luc agreed, thinking of the young man who had been his lover during World War I and in the years following before he was killed at the start of World War II. “Magali is… different. She is both more and less than what Fabien was to me.”

“In what sense?”

“When Fabien and I first met, he saw me as an older, dashing gentleman with sophisticated tastes and enough money to indulge those tastes, even during the war,” Luc explained. “He did not even know I was a vampire until several months after we began our liaison. By the time I first fed from him, he was so smitten he would have accepted anything if it meant we could be together. With Magali, the reverse was true. The relationship started out as functional, practical. Neither of us has any illusions of being in love with the other. Her blood lets me function in daylight, it adds to my strength, but while I enjoy her company outside of feeding and while I enjoy her blood when I do feed, I’m not taken with her the way I was with Fabien.”

“That explains how she is less,” Denis said, thinking of Noël and how much he had loved the man. “How is she more?”

“Fabien’s blood was never enough,” Luc explained. “I couldn’t feed from him exclusively. Even if I never slept with any of the others, I fed from them. With Magali, I don’t have to go anywhere else unless I choose to.”

“And do you choose to?”

“Yes,” Luc replied, “if only to prove that I can. But you didn’t come here to talk about my partner. What can I do for you?”

“I didn’t know you had a partner when I called,” Denis said, “but that’s what I need to talk about. As I said before, I apparently have a partner if I want one. There’s a wizard at l’Institut visiting from Canada, and his magic doesn’t work on me. I went through a seminar, so I know how a partnership works—”

“You know how their partnerships work,” Luc interrupted. “Don’t misunderstand. I have nothing but respect for Bellaiche and the others in Paris and at l’Institut, and I don’t think they’re deliberately misleading anyone, but they’re basing their seminar on their experiences. An Aveu de Sang, and how many couples who were caught in a burst of wild magic that apparently couldn’t be resisted. Those of us like Magali and myself, who weren’t part of that, have partnerships without having all-encompassing bonds.”

“Do you have all the benefits?”

“
All
the benefits?” Luc repeated. “I couldn’t say, but Magali’s blood protects me from sunlight, and I am undoubtedly stronger now than I was before I started feeding from her. If I haven’t put her on a pedestal and made her the center of my life, that’s our choice, and believe me, she would make my life hell if I tried to do that to her.”

Denis chuckled. “Independent, is she?”

“You have no idea,” Luc said with a smile. “I don’t know that I’ve been much help to you, but now you know there’s a path between all and nothing.”

“How do you walk it?” Denis asked. “How do you keep it from becoming all-consuming?”

“You make that choice,” Luc said with a shrug. “Every time you feed. Every time you fuck, if you let it go that far. You talk about it and set the ground rules. Magali and I don’t sleep together. She lives here, but she has her own room, and she returns there every night even if she comes to my room first. I sleep in my own bed even if I feed from her in her bed first. If she had been local when our partnership formed, she probably would not even live here. She’s talked, a couple of times, about finding an apartment of her own, although she hasn’t done anything about it as far as I know.”

“Martin is from Canada,” Denis said slowly. “He doesn’t seem disturbed by my gender, and you know I’m not bothered by his, so that’s one obstacle out of the way, but that seems to be the only one. He’s here for a year with plans to return home at the end of that time. I’m tied to Autun.”

“I see your problem,” Luc said slowly. “I know Magali pops from here to Paris to Dommartin like it’s nothing, but I have no concept of whether that would be possible from Canada, assuming he’s willing to make that commute, of course. That would be a question for a wizard. How committed are you to your Cour? You’re young for the role.”

Denis shrugged. “It just sort of happened that way. Renaud had to go, and I was willing to do it.”

“That could well be your solution, then,” Luc said. “If the handover of power is voluntary, you could choose any vampire in the Cour to take your place.”

“I would have to be sure Renaud isn’t waiting in the wings to take back over if I step down,” Denis mused aloud.

“Have you seen him since you took power?”

“No, but I haven’t heard of him being anywhere else either,” Denis replied. “I’m still half convinced he’s waiting for a moment of weakness to challenge me. It’s only been six months.”

“Would he find any support within the Cour?”

“No, he’d have to recruit support from out—merde!”

“What?” Luc asked sharply.

“Nothing,” Denis said, not ready yet to share the idea that had suddenly occurred to him. He would have to think it over before he was ready to share this particular thought. “Thank you for your time tonight. I’m sure I’ll see you at the Congrès des chefs, if not before. Could you ask Magali to send me back to l’Institut?”

“If you need help,” Luc offered, “call me. Yes, I’m another chef de la Cour, but first and foremost, I’m your maker. If there’s any vampire you can trust, I’m it.”

“I know,” Denis said. “That’s why I called to talk to you about the partnerships. This might be nothing, but if it isn’t, you’ll be among the first to know.”

Chapter 14

P
ASCALE
summoned a shy smile for the wizard who arrived on her doorstep to fetch her for the seminar at l’Institut. She had offered to drive, but Raymond had shooed aside her concerns, assuring her that all the vampires would arrive with a magical escort and that way she would not have to worry about standing out from the crowd. She suspected no amount of magic on Raymond’s part could stop that from happening, but she had agreed to prolong the inevitable moment when the others realized she was
different
. She ought to be used to the feeling after all the times it had happened in her life, from the first time a classmate realized she was gay to the stilted conference call at work on Friday as she tried to explain to her coworkers why she could no longer attend meetings in person. It had yet to get easier. “I hope I haven’t brought too much,” she said when the wizard approached.

The man glanced down at the bag at her feet. “I’ve seen people bring more. I’m Alain, by the way.”

“Orlando’s Alain?” Pascale asked, flushing when she realized how that had come out. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded, but I spoke with Orlando last week, and he was very kind. He couldn’t say enough wonderful things about you.”

Alain chuckled. “I can think of far worse things you could say about me than to describe me as Orlando’s. Yes, I am Orlando’s Avoué. Are you ready to go?”

Pascale nodded, bracing herself for the disorienting displacement to l’Institut. To her surprise, the sensation was not nearly as strong as she had expected. “Either you’re really good at this or I’m getting used to being whisked around by wizards.”

Alain smiled. “Let’s get you inside. Madame Naizot will show you to your room.”

Pascale followed him inside as he handed her off to the matronly woman who escorted her to one of the monks’ cells, transformed much as the one Adèle had rested in the night before. Pascale pushed aside all thought of her potential partner. She needed to concentrate on the seminar this week. She could think about Adèle next week, when she had a better sense of what she was getting into.

She took a few minutes to unpack, needing the time to settle her nerves. When everything was set out to her satisfaction, she wandered out of the room toward the réfectoire. A number of people had already gathered there, but no one she knew. Feeling horribly out of place, she hung back against one wall, hoping eventually someone she knew would come in and introduce her around.

“Are you hiding from someone, or is the wall really that interesting?”

Surprised to be addressed, Pascale looked up at the young, almost androgynous man who stood before her. “Justin Molinière. And you are?”

“Pascale Auboussu. Are you here for the seminar?”

“I’m actually here to present some of the seminars,” Justin replied. “My partner Catherine and I are substituting for two of the usual presenters who are on vacation. This month is the second anniversary of the alliance, and I know a number of couples who consider this their anniversary month.”

“You don’t?” Pascale asked.

“We do,” Justin said, “but we celebrated last week. The date was less important to us than the commemoration. So what brings you here? Anything in particular?”

“A chance at a normal life again,” Pascale said. “Adjusting to being a vampire has not been easy for me.”

“It’s not an easy adjustment,” Justin agreed. “How long have you been a vampire?”

“A week.”

“A week?” Justin repeated. “That’s the blink of an eye. If you’ve adjusted at all, you’re doing better than most vampires I’ve seen after their turning.”

“I
COMPLETELY
forgot it was the first day of the new seminar,” Denis said when he arrived at l’Institut. “I would have waited until tomorrow otherwise.”

“Yes, things are a little crazy around here today,” Martin agreed. “I’m still getting used to the rhythm of life here. Not that I’m teaching any of the seminars since I don’t really have anything to add to the discussion at this point, but just the comings and goings of all the participants hasn’t become routine for me yet.”

“If you’re focusing your research on Pierre, you probably won’t have a lot to contribute,” Denis said. “Unless we manage to get him a lot more stable than he was last night, I’d be afraid to let him form a partnership. He wouldn’t be able to function as half of a whole without endangering his partner.”

“Yes, one of the things they stressed repeatedly when I went through the seminar is how careful both partners have to be not to let the vampire overfeed. That’s fine if the vampire is in control, but if the vampire isn’t, he could easily overpower his partner and do serious harm.”

Denis nodded. “Are you planning on trying anything tonight to help him?”

“I had thought to wait until tomorrow, since he fed yesterday and you said three days would be sufficient,” Martin replied. “Do you disagree?”

“Not with that,” Denis said, “but I want to talk to him if we can get him at all coherent. I had a thought about the case last night as I was talking with Luc Cabalet from Amiens.”

“Oh? Adèle will be interested to hear that,” Martin replied.

“I’d like to talk to Pierre about it first,” Denis said. “I could be completely off the mark. In fact, I’m mostly convinced I am, except I can’t let it go.”

“Well, let’s go talk to Pierre,” Martin suggested. “Maybe he’ll say something that’ll tip you over one way or the other.”

“Once we get inside the room, put a barrier between you and him so he can’t get to you,” Denis requested.

“He won’t try anything after yesterday,” Martin said, his voice full of confidence.

“You don’t know that,” Denis insisted. “Yesterday he was capable of talking. Today he might not have that much lucidity, and if he’s truly out of control, I want more between you and him than just me.”

“What do you really think he’s going to do to me?” Martin asked, not wanting Denis to see him as less than capable. Despite the visceral thrill of hearing Denis claim him the night before, Martin was used to being the one in control, the one protecting rather than being protected. “He’s half my size, underfed from the looks of him—”

“He’s a vampire,” Denis interrupted, annoyed at Martin’s comments when Pierre had proven the night before how wrong such assumptions were. He knew Martin’s type: always in control, always the most powerful. He could imagine Martin struggling with the realization that it would be different if he took up with a vampire. “Size doesn’t matter. He could overpower a man twice his size.”

Martin still looked skeptical enough that Denis’s temper snapped. He grabbed the wizard’s shoulders, pinning him hard against the wall. “Get away from me,” he demanded. “I’m even smaller than Pierre. You think you can get away from him. Get away from me.”

Martin struggled, his body rubbing against Denis’s, the friction enflaming Denis’s senses. He forced the awareness down, determined to stay in control of his instincts, but his fangs dropped despite his best intentions. “Pierre would have drained you half dry by now,” he ground out. “Put the barrier in place.”