Suckers Bite Back (San Francisco Vampires #5) (Vampires of San Francisco series) (2 page)

“Nice car,” I say when a sleek white Escalade pulls up. It is burning fossil fuels as we speak. My little Prius would be pissed if she knew I was two-timing her.

“Thanks,” he says to the valet as he holds the door open for me. I climb in and wait for him. As soon as we get going I am all over him, begging him to find a place to pull over. I don’t want to prolong this anymore and the tinted windows will hide my feeding. He does as I request and unbuckles to get nearer to me.

“Hey, babe. I get that you want me and all, but I usually use a bed. This is kinda hot, though.”

“I thought so too. Come here,” I say as I yank him over the seat by his collar.

I run my hand over his beautiful shaved head and then make to kiss his neck but bite instead. It is like drinking a vodka tonic minus the tonic. Pure one hundred proof. Drinking my fill before pushing him off me. I fumble for the door handle and grab for my purse. I fall out of the tall vehicle onto a sidewalk in the Presidio area, my old stomping grounds. I remember hailing a cab and mumbling something about my address and by some miracle get home.

2 SEBASTIAN

I hear a car drive up and then Lily dropping her purse and cursing.

“Lady, you got the mouth of a sailor,” a man says. “Thanks for the tip.”

The car pulls away and something crashes against the front door and slides down it. I find Lily on the other side sobbing. I pick her up in my arms to carry her into the library but she starts hitting me.

“Put me down dammit, Sebastian. I can fucking walk.”

She’s never cursed at me before. The shock of it makes me release her immediately and she falls to the floor making her let loose a stream of expletives. I try to help her up and she hisses at me. I back away and hold my hands up. I’ve seen her drunk before and she is usually giggly and happy, never like this. I reach for my cell and do something I never thought I would do. I call Aidan for help.

Aidan pops in and stands with wide eyes. Lily sits on the floor in a puddle of despair and anger. Aidan reaches to help her and she hisses at him too. He looks at me and I shrug.

“Lilith, dear, what’s wrong?” Aidan asks squatting down beside her, careful not to touch her. She starts sobbing. She’s sprawled on the floor.

“Lilith, lover, let me help you, please,” Aidan begs. His face is a mask of pain mirroring my heart. I hate seeing her in this state. I have no idea what has happened or how to help her, how to fix it.

“Don’t call me lover. Not your lover and I’m not yours either, Sebastian. Have nobody,” she cries.

“You will always have me, Cherie,” I say firmly.

“And me,” Aidan whispers hoarsely. He seems to break because of what Lily says.

“No, no one, no one to love me. No one.” She tries to get up but can’t. We both bend to help her and she hisses and shows fang so we back off. She ends up crawling, dragging her purse behind her.

I hadn’t noticed Julian and Helena behind us watching the scene before them. For some reason I’m angry at them. It is a completely irrational reaction as I love them but I didn’t want anyone seeing Lily like this. Rejecting me. So vulnerable and unreasonable.

Helena goes to Lily and she lets her help her, finally. I hear Aidan sigh. Helena takes the opportunity to scoop her up and flies up the stairs to Lily’s room. Aidan looks at me as if he is in shock. I feel like I am. This is the anti-Lily.

“Let’s go into the library and have a stiff drink, Sebastian. Come on Aidan,” Julian coaxes. We follow him silently.

Julian fixes him and me a brandies and I throw mine back. The alcohol burns going down and warms my body for the short time the vampire virus in me lets it. Julian sips his and puts a comforting hand on Aidan’s shoulder, sending calming energy out in the room which is Aidan’s only source of nutrition. He is a djinn and lives on the energy around him. Julian’s calm façade works, Aidan seems to relax.

“Sebastian, tell us what happened,” Julian asks.

“I heard a car pull up and then heard something hit the door and slide down it. I could hear Lily talk to the cabbie so at least she hadn’t driven herself home. I think she took the bus to work tonight.” I reach for the brandy and refill my glass. “I went to the door and found her in a tangle. I picked her up and she started hitting me. She cursed at me to let her walk and I was so shocked that I dropped her. She wouldn’t let me get near her so I called Aidan. You saw the rest,” I say as I rub my hand across my face and through my hair.

Helena still isn’t back.

“I’ve never seen her like this and I’ve never felt her energy like this. It was so hopeless. So broken. It’s killing me,” Aidan says. He sits down heavily on the settee. Andrew and Liam, the rest of our family arrive and are unusually quiet. They had heard Lily.

“Do you know anything?” Aidan asks as he goes to Andrew, our sometimes butler and all the time friend and family.

“A little. She was crying a lot. She was fired tonight,” Liam Chang, Andrew’s lover, says. He is a werevamp like Lily. He actually bit Lily and infected her before he knew what he was doing. We turned him into a vamp in order to lessen his symptoms.

“Oh, mon Dieu,” I whisper.

“There was more but she yelled at Helena to shut the door and, well, you know the room is sound-proofed so we didn’t hear anything else,” Andrew says, wringing his hands. He and Lily have a special connection. “I’m so worried about her.”

“We all are, Andrew,” Julian says.

I can’t help but feel responsible. I started her down this path. If I hadn’t been tricked into that love spell none of this would be happening. She wouldn’t feel she had no one. She would know she is loved.

Curse Zoe, that demented bitch.

3 LILITH

I feel Helena’s arms around me but it does little to console me. I feel so empty. The alcohol-laced blood is still burning its way through my body, letting me feel pain. I was going for numb.

“Helena, can you just go?” I beg. I am done talking. I want a hot soak in my bath tub. My bath tub built for two.

“Are you sure? You’re not yourself, Lily. I think we need to talk some more, darling,” she says as she smoothes my hair off my forehead. I swat her hand away. It just annoys me at the moment.

“No, I want to be alone. I’m going to take a bath and try to forget this night.”

“Okay, sweetheart. I’ll just be downstairs if you need me,” Helena says and she is gone like a sigh.

I strip with some difficulty, letting my clothes fall where I toss them, not caring what a mess I make. I walk across the room naked knowing that no one will walk in. The marble floor of the bathroom sends a shiver of ice through my dead body as my feet hit it. I go to the tub and turn the hot water on full blast with just a touch of cold. I add some rose-scented foaming bath oil and sink into the hot water. The steam fills the room before I turn off the faucet with my toes.

I lean back feeling warm inside and out. Why don’t I get drunk more often? I love the warmth of the alcohol spreading through my limbs, the numbness starts to set in, finally.

I lay with my limbs floating in the aromatic water. I think about the fact that I no longer have a job. Nice.

I didn’t know what to do with myself these last few months but at least I had my work three nights a week. I felt I was doing something worthwhile with my life. Now I have nothing. Hannah is too busy being newly married and getting ready to be a mom. Besides, it is so depressing being around her and Diel and all their wedded bliss. Something breaks in me every time I have to put on a fake smile and pretend I’m happy.

Sebastian and Aidan walk around me like I’m a bomb ready to off. I’m responsible for that to a certain degree. I have put the distance between us. I still can’t wrap my head around what has happened. I love them both and resent them at the same time. It’s complicated and I haven’t sorted it out yet. I’m afraid I’m going to lose them completely before I get it figured out, but I’m not going to hurt them with my indecision again like I did in the beginning.

The water has grown cold so I lift the lever with my big toe to let the water drain. I heave myself up and out of the tub. Grabbing a towel from the towel warmer, I luxuriate in its heat. Being perpetually cold, I am like a heat seeking missile. I brush my fangsters to get the taste of vodka out of my mouth then dress in a flannel pajama set I keep on hand for really bad nights. Even Helena doesn’t know I have them.

I think about writing everything down in my journal and find I just don’t give a fuck. That’s a first. It’s liberating. I snuggle down into the comforters and wait for Morpheus.

4 SEBASTIAN

I peek into Lily’s room after she’s gone to sleep for the day. I know Aidan has too. It’s something I have been doing since she broke up with me. I sit and watch her sleep for a few minutes, sometimes hours, whatever I need at the time. It calms me and gives me hope. Hope that she and I still have a future someday.

I have never seen her in anything but silk or satin. The flannel pajamas make her look young and innocent. I rub my hand over my face. Definitely not the woman who was drunk and cursing me out earlier. I know she is suffering. I wish she would share her worries with me. I used to be her confidante but I fear now I am the cause of her suffering. I can’t bear that. I sink down into the chair, defeated.

Maybe it is time to move on. Let her have some space. She might see what she truly wants if it isn’t in front of her anymore. My heart is broken and says no to this idiotic idea but my head says it’s the next step. I know that I’m lonely and tired of having no one but Helena and Julian to talk to. Lily barely joins our conversations now. Whenever she looks at me it is with pain in her eyes. If I’m causing her this much grief I need to show her that I can exist outside of her life. Maybe that will help her sort things out and eliminate some of her guilt. It seems to be what she wants. I get up from her delicate chair and look down at her once again.

But at what cost to me? I will die every minute away from her. I will always be there for her, no matter who she ends up with. I guess that is what love is about, being willing to sacrifice yourself. Dieu, I’m sounding maudlin. How far the player has fallen.

I lean down and give Lily a kiss on the forehead, brushing a stray fiery-colored curl off her cheek. Inhaling her scent and then walking out her door knowing I won’t be making any more of these morning visits.

I have the number of a French model named Nico who I might call. She slipped her card into my jacket pocket last night. She’s vain and plastic. Just the sort of woman I need right now. I want no attachments and no chance of feeling anything for her. I especially don’t plan on sleeping with her. She’ll be arm candy for a while. Nothing more.

I retrieve her card and call.

5 LILITH

I wake up with the faint smell of Sebastian in the room. He thinks I don’t know he comes in here and watches me sleep but he forgets that I can smell him. It’s never bothered me before but this morning I feel violated. How dare he. I made it plain last night that I didn’t want to talk or be near anyone.

I dress in a Zoe’s Lollipop Jersey dress in burnt orange. Put on some signature black Louboutins and march down the stairs. I find everyone in the library, including a very pretty woman hanging on Sebastian’s arm.

Andrew has just served a fresh pot of coffee and tea service and I help myself to some, ignoring the giant elephant in the room. Aidan eyes me suspiciously, like he’s waiting for me to burst into flames.

“Good morning everyone,” I say to the room in general.

“Good morning, Cherie,” Sebastian says. Oh, so it’s going to be like that, is it?

“Sebastian, I recall asking you last night not to call me that.”

“Yes, of course, Lily. May I introduce you to Nico? She’s a Parisian model visiting friends here.”

“Enchanté,” she says with an expressionless face. I think if she smiles her face might crack. I should’ve guessed that Bast would go for a French woman when he got tired of waiting for me. I just thought he would pick someone with more substance. Yep, that sound is my heart breaking a little more.

“Likewise,” I mumble. I take a spot of the sofa and tuck into my drink.

“How are you today, Lilith?” Aidan asks. At least he remembers my request.

“I’m fine, Aidan. Don’t worry about me.”

“I will always worry about you, Lilith,” he says and then he pops out, leaving me frowning.

Liam sits next to me and puts his hand on my thigh and squeezes, offering support.

“You look delicious today, girlfriend,” he says. I give him a genuine smile. It feels good to smile even if it only lasts a moment.

“Where’s Andrew?” I ask.

“Right here, Miss Lily,” Andrew says while coming into the room, giving Nico an ugly look. Sebastian raises an eyebrow at him but Andrew pays him no attention. He sits on the other side of me and pats my other leg.

I close my eyes and gather my strength. Reaching for my hand sanitizer, I slather on a huge glob of it. Covering my hands isn’t enough to calm me so I take more and wipe down my forearms too. It will be a long day with nothing to occupy it. No work to look forward to. Hannah is in Hell getting a baby checkup and I’ve scared Aidan off. Sebastian is obviously preoccupied. That leaves Liam and Andrew, my dear mates. I love them both. Andrew is like the sister I never had.

“Hey boys, have you ever been drunk since – you know?” I smile slowly and with wicked intention at Andrew and Liam.

“No, yay!” Andrew claps. Liam looks less sure.

“Lily…” Sebastian starts in that annoying parental tone he uses. I glare at him and dare him to start a fight in front of Miss Perfect.

“No.” Sebastian says. “I forbid you to take Andrew and Liam.”

“You can’t forbid me from doing anything, Sebastian. Besides, they should experience it once.”

“It will keep her out of trouble, too,” Julian says he walks into the room. He walks up to Nico and speaks in rapid French to her and then they air kiss on the cheeks. Puke. Et tu, Bruté?

“I’m in,” Liam says.