Reluctant Partnerships (3 page)

Even if she were interested—which she most certainly was not—asking Pascale to think about a partnership only hours after she was turned into a vampire was ludicrous. Better to leave her with Jean and forget she had ever laid eyes on the vampire. Pascale certainly would not know. Jean and Raymond would insist she participate in a seminar, but she would either find another partner or else continue to function as an unpaired vampire, and Adèle could go about her comfortable existence much as she had the past six months.

Now if she could only believe that.

The wards at l’Institut parted easily to let her in, since she had set all of them when Raymond first hatched this crazy scheme. Adèle smiled at the memory, but despite her doubts as she first prepared the wards, Raymond’s “crazy scheme” had worked. More vampires and wizards flocked to l’Institut each week for the educational seminars, and the research they were doing had gained international attention.

Climbing out of the car, Adèle was surprised not to see Raymond. A moment later, a very rumpled Thierry came into the courtyard. “What are you doing back?”

“Where’s Jean?” Adèle asked. “I found a newly turned vampire trying to commit suicide on my way home tonight. I stopped that, but she’s lost and more than a little upset at the moment.”

Thierry ran his hair through his short blond hair. “Let me get Sebastien. At least he can talk to her vampire to vampire.”

“Where’s Jean?” Adèle repeated.

“He and Raymond went back to Paris for the night and tomorrow,” Thierry said. “Something about meeting with Anne-Marie Valour. Apparently she had questions Alain and Orlando couldn’t answer.”

Adèle nodded as Thierry went back inside the old abbot’s lodge that had been converted into living quarters for the full-time staff at l’Institut. Jean and Raymond had the actual abbot’s quarters. Thierry and Sebastien had rooms there, as did Alain and Orlando and a few others who presented regularly at the seminars. The participants stayed in the monks’ cells in the main building, where they could interact more easily.

Thierry returned a few minutes later, Sebastien at his side. The dark-haired vampire could not have been more Thierry’s opposite, slender where Thierry was broad-shouldered, dark where Thierry was fair, but Adèle had seen the strength of their partnership too many times to doubt they belonged together.

“What’s this about a newly turned vampire?” Sebastien asked.

“She’s in the car,” Adèle said, “but go gently with her. Apparently her maker didn’t give her a choice, and she’s wishing she were dead.”

“Didn’t give….” Sebastien’s face tightened. “There are names for people like that.”

“What name?” Adèle asked.

“
Extorris
if he isn’t careful,” Sebastien said.

Adèle recognized the word, although she had been only peripherally involved in the trial and execution of Edouard Couthon, the rogue vampire who had killed several human victims before participating in Orlando’s capture and torture during the war. Vampire justice had been swift and merciless.

“I thought that applied only in the case of a vampire hurting another vampire or an Avoué or something like that.”

“The vampire turned her, then abandoned her,” Sebastien said. “If you hadn’t found her, she would have destroyed herself. That sounds like hurting a vampire to me. What’s her name?”

“Pascale.”

Adèle winced as she said the name, sharing a pained look with Thierry. It would take more than two years of peace to get used to hearing that name without reacting when it had been a source of terror for the past four years. Two years of fighting, of watching people around her get hurt and sometimes die because of the evil of one man.

“He’ll calm her down,” Thierry said as Sebastien walked toward Adèle’s car. “He’s one of the most matter-of-fact vampires I know.”

“It’s Sunday night, “Adèle reminded Thierry. “There’s no one here for her to feed from.”

“We’ll have to take her to Paris,” Thierry agreed. “Angelique will help her, I’m sure. L’Institut can pay for it until she gets acclimated to her new situation.”

At the car, Sebastien slipped into the driver’s seat. “Bonsoir, Pascale. I’m Sebastien. Adèle tells me you had a bit of a surprise tonight. How long ago did the vampire bite you?”

“I don’t know exactly,” Pascale said, her voice heavy with emotion. “Sometime between ten and eleven, because I was coming home from a friend’s house when he grabbed me outside my house. I didn’t fight him, hoping he’d take what he wanted and let me go.”

“He did,” Sebastien said. “He just took more than you thought. So if that’s the case, it’s been almost seven hours, and you have to be starving.”

“I won’t do to someone else what he did to me!” Pascale protested.

“You don’t have to,” Sebastien assured her. “See that man talking with Adèle?”

Pascale nodded.

“That’s Thierry. He’s my partner. I’ve been feeding from him for getting close to two years now, and he’s as healthy as ever. Healthier in some ways. He’s certainly stronger than he was when we met.”

“I don’t understand.”

“What the vampire who turned you did was unforgivable, but it doesn’t have to be that way. With a bit of experience and a chance to learn control, you can feed as much as you need to without hurting anyone,” Sebastien explained. “If you’re willing, I’d suggest we go to Paris and see a friend of mine. She runs a restaurant for vampires. All the different flavors of blood you could possibly want.”

“So… what?” Pascale said, her stomach churning at the thought of more blood in her mouth. Even upset as she was, she understood what Sebastien was trying to do, but nothing could make this new life appealing. “I give him what he wanted and live this way?”

“Your other choice is to end your existence,” Sebastien said philosophically. “I’ve known a few vampires who made that decision, heard tales of a few more, but for the most part, we keep finding reasons to stay around a little longer.”

“How old are you?”

“About five hundred years old,” Sebastien said with a grin. “I’m told the years have been kind to me.”

“We’ll never get to Paris before dawn,” Pascale said, “and Adèle said I couldn’t be out in daylight.”

“Adèle obviously neglected to mention a few things,” Sebastien said with a short laugh. “Thierry, could you do me a favor?”

“Sure,” Thierry said, coming to the car. “What do you need?”

“Can you send my new friend to place Pigalle? I’ll get Adèle to send me too. Pascale needs to meet Angelique.”

“Of course,” Thierry said, drawing his wand. “Relax,” he told Pascale. “This will feel a little odd, but it won’t hurt.”

With a flick of his wrist, she disappeared. Sebastien dropped a quick kiss on Thierry’s mouth before calling for Adèle to send him to Paris as well. Moments later, he reappeared on place Pigalle, the Moulin Rouge to his left and Sang Froid, Angelique Bouaddi’s establishment, to his right.

“I don’t understand,” Pascale said again.

“Thierry and Adèle are wizards,” Sebastien explained. “Come on. Sunrise is getting closer. It won’t hurt me, but the same isn’t true for you.”

“Why won’t it hurt you?” Pascale asked, hurrying to keep up with Sebastien’s long strides.

“Because Thierry is a wizard,” Sebastien replied. “I promise to explain everything I can, but first you need to get inside and you need to feed.”

Sebastien held open the door to Sang Froid for Pascale.

“Sebastien, what are you doing here?” Angelique asked, summoned by the chime above the door.

Sebastien kissed Angelique on each cheek. “You’re looking lovely as ever, chérie. This is Pascale. Pascale, Angelique Bouaddi, proprietress of Sang Froid.”

“Enchantée,” Pascale said.

“Indeed,” Angelique replied. “What’s your pleasure?”

“She doesn’t know,” Sebastien said. “She was turned earlier tonight and then abandoned by her maker. Adèle found her and brought her to l’Institut, but Thierry is the only human in residence at the moment, and I didn’t feel like sharing.”

“Oh, ma pauvre,” Angelique fussed, wrapping her arm around Pascale’s shoulders. “Come inside and let me take care of you. Go away, Sebastien. This is girl talk.”

“As if you wouldn’t have the same talk with a male vampire,” Sebastien laughed.

“Of course I would, but that doesn’t mean Pascale wants you to hear her secrets,” Angelique scolded. “Go away. I’ll take care of her.”

“Is David around, by any chance?” Sebastien asked. “Because if he isn’t, I’m stuck here until Thierry sends someone looking for me.”

“Don’t terrorize my staff,” Angelique said. “David is asleep, but I’ll have him send you home when he wakes up. He had a bad case yesterday. I won’t disturb him if it’s not an emergency.”

“Can I use your phone, then, so Thierry knows that I’ve been delayed?” Sebastien asked. He respected Angelique’s protectiveness. David worked as a child advocate in custody and abuse cases. Sebastien suspected all of his cases were tough ones.

“It’s behind the desk,” Angelique said with a wave of her hand as she guided Pascale out of the main room and into her parlor-cum-office. “Now that the men are gone, we can talk.”

“Talk about what?” Pascale asked nervously.

“Which of my lovely employees will provide the blood you need tonight,” Angelique said. “You are hungry, aren’t you?”

“Ravenous,” Pascale said, “but how am I supposed to choose? Does one person’s blood taste different from another’s?”

“You aren’t supposed to choose,” Angelique said. “Not without some experience. I, on the other hand, have centuries of experience to share with you, and over a hundred years of matching vampires with my employees. And yes, the taste of blood varies from person to person. I’m sure we can find someone who appeals. Male or female?”

“Female,” Pascale replied immediately. “Well, as a rule, anyway.”

“Female it is,” Angelique said without blinking an eye. “Your age, younger, older?”

“How is this supposed to help?”

“Because what you prefer in a person generally carries over to what you will prefer in their blood,” Angelique explained patiently. “Answer the question.”

“Older,” Pascale whispered. “Not a lot, but a few years anyway.”

“Femme or butch?”

Pascale hesitated, not sure she was comfortable discussing such things with a woman she barely knew.

Angelique laughed at her shyness. “I lived in a harem, dear,” she said, holding up her henna-covered hands. “There is nothing about sex and sexual preferences that I haven’t seen and probably lived. You don’t need to be embarrassed with me.”

“Not butch,” Pascale said. “I don’t want someone masculine, but someone who can take charge and take care of me. I’m not the aggressor.”

“That may change a little now that you’re a vampire,” Angelique said, “but for now, any preferences in coloring?”

“Dark,” Pascale said. “Someone like you, if you weren’t a vampire.”

Angelique laughed. “Oh, darling, they stopped making them like me centuries ago, but I’ll find someone who suits. Let me show you to a room.”

“A room?”

“Feeding is very personal, very intimate,” Angelique explained. “As a rule, vampires feed in private. Since this is your first time, I’ll be there to help you find your balance. Your maker should have done this, but since he… she?”

“He.”

“Since he didn’t do his duty, I will take his place gladly.”

Angelique led Pascale to a finely appointed sitting room, furnished with two love seats and a chaise longue. “Make yourself comfortable. Take off your coat, your shoes, too, if you want. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Angelique left Pascale alone, shutting the door behind her. Pascale started toward the shuttered window, wondering what time it was, but the heat coming through the closed volets nearly burned her. She jerked her hand away, seeing the grey cast to her skin and feeling the painful tingling along her arm. “What nightmare have I walked into?”

Angelique returned a few minutes later with a beautiful, busty woman in tow, exactly the kind of woman Pascale might have flirted with when she came to the city. Exactly the kind who never gave her the time of day. “Pascale, this is Isabelle. Isabelle, the vampire I told you about.”

“Welcome to Sang Froid,” Isabelle said, holding out her hand. Pascale took it uncertainly, her eyes fixed on the pulse at the woman’s wrist. Her mouth watered. She could practically taste the blood flowing beneath the surface.

“Gently now,” Angelique said. “You can’t simply dive in. Have a seat on one of the couches where you’ll be comfortable.”

Pascale frowned. This was the part where her shyness always kicked in and she lost her nerve. She took a seat as Angelique instructed, wondering how she was supposed to make small talk while the urge to bite, anywhere she could, was nearly overwhelming.

“Take her hand again,” Angelique instructed. “Lick the skin of her wrist. You should always prepare the place you intend to bite. Your saliva will numb the area a little so the bite hurts less, and afterward, you lick the whole area again to help her heal faster.”

Pascale breathed a huge sigh of relief, lifting Isabelle’s wrist to her mouth and licking over the lightly perfumed skin. The smell went to her head, evoking an odd tingling in her mouth, then a sharp pain.

“Look at me,” Angelique said.

Pascale turned her head.

“Show me your teeth.”

Confused, Pascale smiled.

“Good, your fangs dropped on their own. Sometimes new vampires have a problem with that, and then it gets complicated. You can bite her now.”

Pascale looked up at Isabelle.

“Go ahead,” Isabelle said with a friendly smile. “I’m a willing participant in this.”

“You enjoy it?” Pascale asked, caught by the smile.

“Very much,” Isabelle said. “It’s a good job, and I’ve grown to crave the feeling of a vampire’s fangs in my skin.”

Bemused, Pascale lifted Isabelle’s arm to her lips, biting into the skin.

“Harder,” Isabelle said. “Your fangs are sharp, but you have to push them deep enough to draw blood.”

Pascale pressed harder, feeling the sudden give in the other woman’s skin as her fangs pierced deep. Blood flooded her mouth, surprising her. She almost choked as she tried to find the rhythm that would allow her to swallow.