Reluctant Partnerships (30 page)

“I thought vampires couldn’t eat regular food,” he said when the server had left.

“It doesn’t do anything for us,” Denis said, “but it doesn’t hurt us either. I often ate with Noël so we could go out together. Everyone was more comfortable that way, me included. It’s no hardship to do so now.”

“You must have loved him very much.”

“I did,” Denis agreed. “I do. He’d fuss at me for being here with you and talking about him. He was never one to live in the past or the future. For him, only the present moment mattered. It was one of the things I loved about him. If he could speak with me now, I know he’d tell me he’s been gone thirty years and that’s long enough, that it’s time to let him go, but that’s easier said than done.”

“And yet what is the alternative?” Martin asked seriously. “Decades or even centuries alone with anonymous encounters to see to your needs? Is it worth passing up a new companion out of devotion to someone who would give his blessing if he could?”

“By new companion, you mean yourself,” Denis guessed.

Martin shrugged. “There would certainly be benefits to it for both of us.”

“I didn’t get ‘benefits’ from my relationship with Noël,” Denis retorted. “I got a long, genuine love affair. If all you’re offering is a business arrangement, just say so, but leave Noël out of it.”

“I don’t know what I’m proposing,” Martin replied honestly. “We work well professionally. We’ve established that already. Maybe I’d like a chance to see if we could work well together personally as well. Would it be so awful to spend some time with me talking about something other than whoever turned Pascale?”

“What about your sabbatical?” Denis asked. “What about your plans to return home?”

“Plans can change,” Martin said with a shrug. “With the right incentive. I’m not suggesting you bite me tonight. I’m not ready for that, and you clearly aren’t either. I just thought we could do things together. Dinner, a movie, dancing. Other things. Things couples do when they’re trying to figure out if they can make it.”

Denis nodded slowly. His body’s betrayal last night had proven he found Martin attractive enough to consider a personal relationship. As with his vampire instincts, which urged him to pull the man into a dark corner and leave a mark on him no one would misunderstand, Denis would not allow his base desires to rule him, but he could have dinner with an attractive man without jumping him afterward. He could see a movie or even go dancing without it having to turn into something more. He
would
stay in control.

Chapter 18

T
HREE
days later, Adèle sat outside Pascale’s house, waiting for the sun to drop far enough for the vampire to be able to open the door. She could have cast a displacement spell, but that seemed presumptuous given the relative formality of their partnership at the moment. She would not do to Pascale what Jude had done to her, showing up unannounced and unwelcome, demanding what he needed with no regard to her feelings on the matter. Not that she expected Pascale to refuse to feed if Adèle offered, but she would at least respect Pascale’s home and not pop in without permission.

Seeing the sun fall beyond the tree line, Adèle climbed out of her car and knocked on Pascale’s door. A minute later, Pascale opened it, gesturing for Adèle to come in as she spoke into the phone.

“Sorry, the doorbell just rang. What time did you want to meet?”

Adèle frowned as Pascale continued talking. She stuffed her keys in her jacket pocket and took it off, tossing it over the back of the couch.

“Yes, I should be done with this by then. I’ll meet you around ten then.” Pascale paused again, listening to the person on the other end of the line. “I can’t wait to see you too. I’ll call if I get away early. See you soon.”

Adèle’s frown deepened as Pascale hung up the phone. “Sorry about that. You’re earlier than I expected.”

“I can come back if it’s a problem,” Adèle offered.

“Not at all,” Pascale replied. “I’m meeting a… friend tonight, so this suits me fine. I was going to take a shower before you got here so I’d be ready to go when we were finished, but this way I can feed quickly and then get ready without feeling rushed.”

“Someone from work?” Adèle asked, curious despite herself.

“No,” Pascale said, gesturing for Adèle to take a seat on the couch. “A woman from Dommartin. I met her when I went to the branch of Sang Froid there while I was at the seminar last week. We hit it off, and, well… just because I’m feeding from you now doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have a life of my own.”

“Of course not,” Adèle replied automatically, everything inside her clenching at the thought of Pascale feeding from her only to leave soon thereafter for a date. Pascale was
her
partner, not this other woman’s.

The vehemence of the thought shocked her. She had insisted from the moment she learned of Jude’s demise that she did not want another partner. She had avoided telling anyone when she realized Pascale had the potential to be her partner. She had even refused to discuss a partnership with Pascale at first. Yet only a few days after letting Pascale feed for the first time, she was already feeling possessive. It had to stop.

“We should get this over with so you can meet your friend.” The words tasted bitter in her throat, but she forced them out nonetheless. She and Pascale had agreed on a certain plan of action, and she would not be the one to violate that.

Pascale reached for Adèle’s arm, the opposite one from the last time she had fed. Adèle let Pascale pull it to her lips, her tongue flicking over the skin in preparation. As had happened the first time Pascale fed, Adèle felt her body react to the teasing touch. She reminded herself Pascale was simply trying to keep from hurting her, but it made no difference in the way her skin tightened and her stomach clenched. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to relax. She had learned the hard way with Jude that fighting the sensation of the fangs sliding beneath her skin only made it hurt worse. Unlike with Jude, she did not need to fight Pascale. The vampire had a date with someone else. She would not be looking to Adèle for sex to go along with her feeding.

The thought sent bile rising up her throat. She looked at the blonde head bent over her arm, fangs in her wrist now as Pascale sucked carefully on her skin, drawing blood into her mouth. Adèle tried to imagine the woman Pascale would be meeting, but she had no idea what her partner’s preferences were where a lover was concerned. Would she even consider Adèle attractive as a lover instead of a partner?

With a shake of her head, Adèle forced her thoughts away from those dangerous waters. She did not want to be Pascale’s lover. She wanted a man in her life, not a woman who went into hysterics at the first sign of an emergency.

Not a woman who cared for you when you were sick?
her conscience prodded.

Tensing more, Adèle shifted restlessly on the couch. Immediately Pascale disengaged. “Am I hurting you?”

“No, I’m fine,” Adèle said.

“Are you sure? The taste of your blood changed suddenly, like something was wrong,” Pascale said. “I can’t pick apart all the flavors the way a more experienced vampire can, but I can tell when something changes.”

“I said I’m fine,” Adèle snapped. “Did you take enough, or do you need more?”

“You don’t have to be churlish about it,” Pascale snapped back. “I know it’s a pain having to come here, but you agreed to this too.”

“I didn’t say anything about it being a pain,” Adèle retorted. “Don’t read things into my words that aren’t there.”

“Then tell me what’s wrong,” Pascale demanded.

“Nothing you can do anything about,” Adèle said tightly. “Finish feeding so you can get ready for your date and I can get back to my life.”

“I didn’t say it was a date.”

“You didn’t say it wasn’t,” Adèle replied.

“Now who’s jumping to conclusions?”

“I heard the way you were talking to your ‘friend’ on the phone,” Adèle said. “You don’t talk to friends that way. You were flirting. So you’ve got some trick on the side. There’s no reason to deny it. It’s not like we made any promises to each other outside feeding a few times a week.”

“Because you couldn’t deal with the idea of being with a woman,” Pascale reminded her. “So don’t go acting jealous now because I found someone else. It’s not my fault you’re too insecure to consider other paths than the one you’ve always followed.”

“Insecure?” Adèle roared. “Why, you little—”

“Little what?” Pascale demanded, her voice rising in turn. “Little bitch? Maybe I am, but if so, it’s because you’re being completely irrational. I think you should leave now before we both say something we’ll regret.”

“Did you take enough?”

“What do you care?” Pascale shouted. “You don’t want me for anything other than the magical boost you get from my feeding.”

“I don’t want anything to happen to you,” Adèle said helplessly. “Just because I like men, that doesn’t mean I want you to get hurt.”

“I can take care of myself,” Pascale said. “The door is behind you. You can show yourself out. I have a date to get ready for.”

She stormed out of the room before Adèle could stop her.

“Merde alors,” Adèle muttered as an interior door slammed shut. She could go after Pascale, try to talk through what had just happened rationally, but she was not feeling terribly rational at the moment, and from the continued sound of slamming doors, Pascale was in no better shape. Perhaps it would be better to leave and calm down before trying to talk to her partner. She could take a couple of days and sort through her feelings to decide what had happened tonight. Once she understood that, they could renegotiate if necessary. Either way, they would avoid a repeat of tonight’s uncomfortable scene.

Pulling on her coat, she returned to her car after casting a quick spell on the outer door to keep anyone from opening it from the outside, since Pascale had not come down to lock it behind her. Adèle might be pissed as hell at her partner at the moment, but she did not want anything to happen to her either.

Too worked up to go home and sleep, she debated her options. She could drop her car off at home and cast a displacement spell to go to Dijon or even to Paris. She could find a club where no one would care who she was and find a man to fuck. It would be mindless sex, but as worked up as she was, that was probably what she needed. Something to remind her what she liked about men and all the reasons why she could not possibly enjoy having a woman as a partner in any more than the magical sense of the word. Even if she had a few drinks, she would still be able to get home. The displacement spell came so naturally that she could manage it even when everything else was beyond her. She could get drunk, screw around, and be home no worse for the wear. If she stayed at home, she would end up imagining Pascale with her date, and that was simply unacceptable.

Yes, she would do that. Maybe Magali would even like to go with her.

Smiling again, she drove home and called the other wizard to suggest an evening out.

“I’m sorry, Adèle,” Magali said. “I promised Luc I would stay home tonight. It’s been five days since he fed from me, and he’s getting restless cooped up in the house during the day. We could go tomorrow night.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Adèle said. “Enjoy your time with your partner. We’ll try again some other time.”

“Be careful,” Magali cautioned. “It’s not safe to go out alone, even for a wizard.”

“I’ll be careful,” Adèle said. “I’ll call Catherine or Marie or someone to go with me. It’s not like we don’t have plenty of friends in Paris.”

U
NEXPECTEDLY
eager, Martin popped into the courtyard of Denis’s building. He had offered to arrange for someone to send Denis to Paris so they could go out there, but Denis had insisted they were not going on business for l’Institut or l’ANS and so they should not impose on the generosity of the other wizards. They could drive to Dijon in an hour and have plenty of options for a night out. Restaurants, movie theaters, clubs, whatever they decided they felt like doing, Dijon had, if not as many choices as Paris, certainly enough for them to find something they could agree on.

Martin had agreed because he could see Denis’s point. He was not sure he shared the opinion in the sense that he would not have been asking l’Institut or l’ANS but Raymond, who he now considered a friend. It was not worth arguing over, though. They could use the time in the car on the way to Dijon to talk and decide what they wanted to do for the evening as well as discuss other things. In the two days since their dinner in Paris, Martin had discovered an insatiable need to know everything he could about Denis. After they agreed to give a personal relationship a chance, conversation had turned to what they had learned from monsieur Lombard and Général Chavinier.

It was not the conversation Martin wanted to have, but that had not changed the necessity of their situation. Not that they had come to any firm conclusions. The two men’s suggestions coincided with ideas they had already discussed, so unless monsieur Lombard came up with something else from the depths of his library, they would have to hope they found any new victims before they fed or before any other wizard cast a spell on them for whatever reason.

Martin rang the bell to Denis’s apartment, waiting for the vampire to buzz him in. He hoped Denis would invite him in so he could see where his partner lived. The courtyard was typical of what he had seen since coming to France, a small open area surrounded by the walls of the square building. A few hardy flowers hung on in the protective shadows of the building, their color not yet faded by the change of seasons. As welcoming as the courtyard was, Martin really wanted to see Denis’s apartment, since the courtyard was almost certainly maintained by the concierge rather than by the building’s denizens. Denis’s apartment itself would be a far more interesting testament to the man himself.

The door opened moments later and Denis stepped out into the courtyard, dashing Martin’s hopes of seeing his apartment. “Shall we go? The sooner we get to Dijon, the more options we will have for our evening.”