Vampire King of New York (32 page)

Her heartbeat slowed. Air entered her lungs, and Evelyn felt everything slowing down. She shivered with cold. They were still joined, but he managed to wrap a blanket around her. His chest was a huge source of heat to lay against.

“Evie?”

She opened her eyes and saw the worry in his gaze. “I’m okay. I think we got carried away.”

He caressed her face.

“And I thought I was supposed to be in charge this time.”

He sighed. “I’m sorry. All I wanted was to be inside you.  Ah, not your mouth.”

She laughed and shook her head. “Okay, my Maximum, we’re going to have to work on letting me be in charge some times. Really in charge.”

He nodded and they lay together in silence on their sides still entwined, gazing at each other.

Then it hit her. “Max, we mindtalked.”

“No, we didn’t.”

“Yes, we did.”

Max frowned but didn’t answer. Then his face brightened. “Evie, we did. We mindtalked! Try to think something to me again.”

She stared right at him.
Kiss me, Max, one of your wild, all-encompassing kisses.

“Did you think something at me?”

Defeated, Evelyn shook her head. “You didn’t hear me.”

He wound a curl of her blonde hair around his finger. “It doesn’t matter. We will mindtalk before you know it.”

The blanket had moved with their position, and now her backside was freezing. Max wrapped the blanket around her and brought her closer to him. Just that act made him push deeper inside her.

Evelyn moaned, a tremor passing through her and into him.

Embracing her tightly, rocking slightly back and forth, he kissed her, soft gentle kisses.

“My Maximum, I’m barely recovered and you’re starting again?”

“Just a nice slow, warm lovemaking. Something to put the tremors through us all night but in a manageable way. Work less. Enjoy it more.”

Evelyn trembled and squeezed him.

He breathed out, “Wow.” Max suddenly arched his back and everything in him relaxed. A minute later, he was slowly pushing against her again.

“Have you always enjoyed sex like this?” he asked.

She hugged him and gazed into his eyes. “I was thinking about that, and even when I was newly married, I don’t remember ever thinking sex was this great. I think I feel this way because of you. What about you? I know you’ve had women, maybe not long term relationships, but you were not celibate.”

He chuckled. “No, I was not celibate, but I might as well have been. Sex with a woman was like a hunger momentarily satisfied. It wasn’t enough. I kept looking in their eyes, hoping to find what I’ve found in you.”

Evelyn shook her head. “You are good. Have I been deceived by a master vampire?”

“No. There’s no deception in what is happening between us. We’re lifemates. We’ve found each other.” The night went on like that, slow, sexy, satisfying. But all good things must come to an end. So it is the same with a night of passion. The dawn comes too quickly.

Chapter 19

Max woke up and stretched. He’d never felt this wonderful in his entire existence. He believed that this time around for them was going to be better. Evelyn appeared delicate and small lying in bed beside him. He considered touching her, running his hand up her satiny legs, kissing her core again. Unraveling her was so much fun. But she appeared serene.

He eased out of bed and threw on a bathrobe. Looking at her from any angle was delicious. She had dreamt of him. They mindtalked. If it happened once, it was bound to happen again. He wasn’t worried about that.

Noiselessly he left the room and went downstairs to make breakfast. He considered steak and eggs. A raw steak for him, well done for her. Before he started, he thought that getting some flowers for her would make a perfect addition to the breakfast tray. Max turned to the living room and then went out through the den into the conservatory. He unlocked the glass doors and pushed them wide.

He stepped into the light. A bush blooming with deep red roses stood only a few feet away. Max had snapped off several blooms, when he spotted it. A dead raven.

Clutching the blooms, he backed to the doors examining his surroundings. Nothing moved in the garden but the occasional bird or butterfly. The sky was clear of predators as far as he could see. He reached the double doors, but they were locked.

Damn.
With a hill behind the house, it was unlikely neighbors would see him. He didn’t want to break the glass on the door to get in,. Max floated up close to the wall of the house to their bedroom and peeked into the window. He teleported inside.

Evelyn rolled into Max.

“We have to leave right away.” He hurried to put on clothes and took his wallet from the dresser. “Quick. Hurry. I don’t know how long it will be before they attack.”

Evelyn threw on a pair of jeans and sneakers. “How do you know this?”

“I found a dead black bird in your garden when I got locked out while picking roses for you.”

Didn’t you leave the door open?” Evelyn put on a bra.

“I left both doors open.”

“Did the wind blow them shut?” She slid a shirt over her head.

“There’s no wind.”

Shaking Evelyn grabbed her purse and the car keys. “Let’s go.”

They ran down the corridor. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, a crash came from the conservatory.

“Run,” Max breathed on her neck, turning and taking her with him as they raced for the back bedroom. He slammed the door on the ashen and shriveled creatures bounding after them.

“Evie, hug me tight and close your eyes.”

She did what he asked.

Chapter 20

Evelyn opened her eyes. They were in the foyer of Max’s house. Laura hugged her. “We’re glad you’re safe.”

Tears slipped unchecked down her face. “We’re glad to see you too, aren’t we, Max?”

She turned to Max, who was being hugged by Noblesse.

The group moved upstairs and around a small round table in the library.

“Evelyn thinks the master vampire is a woman.”

“Makes sense,” Laura said. “I believe she has shown herself once already to mock us.”

“You mean the woman who pushed me into the open grate,” Evelyn added. “I wish I could remember what she said to me. I wish I could remember what she looked like … Wait a minute, dark sunglasses, dark hair, thin, an accent. I can’t see her clearly, but I’m getting glimpses.”

“Focus on the accent. What does it sound like?”

She shook her head. “This can’t be right. It’s like a movie Dracula Romania/Transylvania accent.”

Max slammed his hand on the table. “Ruxandra is supposed to be dead.”

“Why did you think that?” David asked. “Who told you that?”

“Marsden.”

David narrowed his eyes. “Perhaps Marsden was not to be trusted. Where is he now?”

“In Europe somewhere.”

“Who is Ruxandra?” Evelyn asked, her voice small but determined.

Max looked down, shaking his head. “The one who made me a vampire.”

“Sleep in a dark place and lose your way.” Evelyn murmured the words like a sleepwalker stepping carefully between the waking world and dreams. She shivered. “There was no knife. She stroked my face with long claws. Her hands changed into claws. I saw it. Then she put her mouth over my face to suck away my breath. The world spun. All my memories were disappearing. Everything grew dark and cold. Then I heard you, Laura. You were calling my name. I remember screaming.”

She was pale, more than usual for a blond without a tan. Beads of cold sweat formed on her brow. Max was concerned. The stress alone could kill his lifemate.

Her eyes didn’t meet his but looked past him. “I’m going to rip the bitch’s head off.” Evelyn stood up with such force that her chair split in half and fell to the floor behind her.

“Whoa.” David stood up.

Laura leapt to her feet. “How did you do that?”

“I don’t know. I do know that I’m angry.”

The heat of Evelyn’s blood roared in Max’s ears. What did this mean? How did she break the chair? Over the centuries he had learned that desperate times require plumbing the depths for an over the top solution.

“Do you have a plan on how to get Ruxandra?” Evelyn asked.

She had his complete attention, biting her lower lip in concentration, an act that drove Max crazy with desire. Right now, there were more urgent matters to attend to, but he would remember.

She smiled.

God, how he wished she had fangs. Her smile was too cute.

“I do. Is this house secure yet?”

Hatcher walked into the room. “The elves have placed their charms. The house is secure. Nothing can enter without Max’s permission.”

“And the roof?” Evelyn asked.

“Well, no.”

“Have them secure the roof,” Max commanded.

Hatcher ran out of the room.

Evelyn put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. “Laura and Noblesse, please, go to the Arnhem Society library and find out anything you can about her powers, her weaknesses, her strengths, any weird habits or rituals.”

They ran out too.

Max and David remained facing her.

She stared at her hands in silence.

“Are you starting to come into your Telkhine powers?” David asked.

“I really don’t understand what happened with the chair.” Evelyn shook her hands and nothing happened. No flames. No lightning. Not even a tingling. “I do know it’s time for action. Max, I need to know everything about her. Everything you observed when you were chained to her bed.”

David’s eyebrows went up. His mouth dropped. “That’s a story I want to hear.”

While Max had chosen to tell Evelyn how he was made, he had neglected to share the tale with his progeny. “I’m afraid you will be disappointed. There isn’t much to tell.”

“Max, we should move to the Arnhem Society, where it is more secure,” David suggested.

“You don’t trust elven magic?” Max asked.

A tall dark-haired man entered the room with a small delicate looking redhead by his side. “I guarantee the house is safe, including the roof.”

Evelyn looked twice. Sure enough the woman had pointed ears.

Max stood up to shake the man’s hand. “Evelyn, my lifemate, this is Gregor and Regina Vasiliev.”

The tall man took her hand.

“You’re a shapeshifter—a bear.”

“How do you know that?” He gazed into her eyes.

“I felt it.” She turned to Regina. “And you’re …”

“Regina.”

“You’re not an elf. I can’t get an impression from you.”

Regina giggled. “I’m half elf and half leprechaun. You are a Telkhine.”

“How can you tell?”

Max saw the confusion on Evelyn’s face.

“There’s light all around you.”

The men shrugged their shoulders at that comment.

“Um, thank you. And thank you for securing our house.”

“No problem at all.” Regina smiled and her whole face lit up.

Gregor took his wife by the hand. “We’d best be on our way. Let us know if you need anything else.” Max walked them to the door and then returned to the table.

“I’m impressed that you have such good relations with other supernaturals.”

Max loved it when Evelyn looked at him with obvious admiration, but he couldn’t take all the credit. “I started many of the alliances, but David has built the friendships that make the supernatural community of the city so cohesive.”

“Okay,” David said. “If you two are going to keep staring at each other, I’m going to leave. Evelyn, you said you had a plan.”

“We have to devise a trap. Now that we have our safeguards in place, we need to lure her here to kill her.”

“Therein lies the problem,” Max said. “I can’t kill her.”

“What? Why not?”

David interceded. “A vampire cannot kill the one that made him.”

Evelyn shook her head. “What? Is this a law or something?”

“The creator vampire is stronger than their progeny.”

She stood up and placed her hands on the table. “Well, you’re going to have to come up with a way to become stronger than her. Put your heads together. Max, you escaped her once. What was different on the night of your escape? What made her power over you less that night? Think.”

“David, we will need weapons to use against her. I want to know how to kill her. Find me something portable and lethal.”

“On my way to the armory at the Arnhem Society right now.” David got up and left.

Max walked up to her and hugged her to him. Through the fire of an infernal war between Ruxandra and himself, Evelyn had grown hard. He saw the change in her eyes, and although he admired her strength, Max hoped they could regain their joy in each other when all this was done.

Evelyn took him by the hand and led him to his bedroom and the bed. She sat facing him. “Max, this woman hates you because you managed to escape her. You were her property. Your pleasure, your comfort meant nothing to her. She will not allow us to be together. It was obvious when she had her foul mouth over mine and was trying to suck the life out of me.”

Max shivered. He reached out to touch her cheek. Evelyn closed her eyes and lay her face in his hand. Tears slipped past her eyelashes.

“Maximum, you are my heart, and I would die without my heart.”

“You are my heart too, Evie. I would be lost in eternity without you.” He pulled her against his chest and she sobbed. This was the gentle Evelyn he knew not the steel-tongued commander from the meeting.

After a while, she wiped the tears away with her hand. “Now what do we do? I can’t stop shaking inside.”

Max lifted her into his arms as he got out of bed and carried her into the bathroom. He placed her gently into the bath.

“What are we doing?”

Turning the faucets, Max tested the water and poured some pink pellets from a bottle into the water.

“What is that?”

“Persian Rose bath salts.”

“You take baths with Persian Rose bath salts?”

Max smirked. “I am very secure in my masculinity, beloved. I thought it might soothe your anguish.”

Vapors rose from the swirling hot water.

“Aaaah.” Too late she slapped her hand over her mouth.

He chuckled. “I see it’s gotten to you.”