Part 3 (1/2)
Chapter 3.
”Lissa? Wake up, angel.”
I was swimming through mola.s.ses-at least that's what it felt like. Somebody was talking to me while sitting on the side of my bed.
”Whuh?” I finally managed to vocalize something, whether it made sense or not. I lifted a hand to my head; it felt as if it were stuffed with cotton.
”You're sleeping late this evening,” the voice came again. It sounded familiar, but my eyes wouldn't open and my ears weren't connected to my brain so I might determine who it was. Rolling over on my side with the hope that it would go away only brought hands to me-big hands that gripped my body near my hips and pulled me toward the edge of the bed.
”Henri says that he's this way too, whenever he mists several times in a short time span.” Another voice I should recognize but didn't.
”What does Henri recommend, then?” the first voice offered dryly.
”Here,” something changed hands.
”Come, Lissa, I'm taking you to the tub. I do not wish to spill this on the sheets.” I was lifted up and carried somewhere, and then settled against a cold surface. A hand gripped my jaw, forced my teeth apart and poured blood into my mouth. I choked and swallowed, fighting for air and struggling against whoever held me.
”Hush and drink this,” he commanded. My eyelids finally unglued and I glared at an unsmiling and willfully determined Gavin, who was doing his best to get me to drink a unit of blood. Both my hands were held effortlessly in one of his while the other held a bag of blood at my lips.
”It would be easier if you'd let my hands go,” I snapped as blood dripped off my chin. Yep-definitely not attractive, and I probably had bed-head on top of that.
”Are you going to drink?” A dark eyebrow quirked speculatively as blood continued to drip from the bag.
”Yes.” My voice was sullen. I now had blood all over my face, my chest and my pajamas. Gavin was leaning over the side of the bathtub while I wriggled uncomfortably beneath his hands. Charles stood at Gavin's shoulder, watching the whole thing with a bit of amus.e.m.e.nt in his eyes. Nope, not embarra.s.sing in the least.
”Drink first, then we'll clean you up,” Gavin said, letting my hands go. I s.n.a.t.c.hed the bag of blood away from his hand and started sipping. Getting into a tussle with him while we had an audience seemed unwise.
Gavin sent Charles away when I was ready for my shower. I tried to shove him out the door too, but he wouldn't budge. It was like moving a mountain-a very grumpy and protesting mountain. Gavin wanted to a.s.sist me in the shower but I drew the line at that, so he was forced to wait inside the bedroom while I cleaned up. He did help me dress afterward, even though I slapped his hands several times.
”What are you doing here anyway? Aren't you supposed to be somewhere bas.h.i.+ng heads in or something?” I snapped at him as he b.u.t.toned my blouse.
”I don't have to bash heads every day. I get time off now and then,” he corrected me. ”And Wlodek is waiting to hear from you, so I will be going along for that.”
”Oh, joy,” I muttered.
”I wouldn't have gotten in if he hadn't decided to show off the tiaras,” I informed Wlodek later. ”And I took a chance, allowing him to lock me inside. That vault was completely airtight; I couldn't find even a crevice to fit in,” I added.
”So what did you do?” Wlodek watched me, his face expressionless as usual.
I explained that I'd turned back, took the bag off and set it aside before turning to mist again, then coming back to corporeality but timing it so only my hands and feet became solid. Accomplis.h.i.+ng that, I was grabbing the tiaras and stuffing them into the bag. And then turning completely to mist while the alarms went off. I described how the vampire had returned to open the door, allowing me to escape.
”No wonder you were exhausted,” Russell said. He, Radomir and Gavin were all inside Wlodek's study with me.
”So, only your hands and feet were solid?” Wlodek asked.
”Yes.”
”Fascinating.”
I just shrugged at him, wondering where the tiaras were. It was none of my business now; I'd done what he sent me to do. Wlodek wouldn't be telling me anything else-I could see it in his eyes. I thought about going home and sleeping in my own bed. I was exhausted and my sleep hadn't helped much.
Wlodek finished with us a few minutes later and Gavin took my elbow when we left the study. ”Come with me,” he said.
”Gavin, I'm tired,” I complained. He didn't say anything, he just ushered me down the stairs, told Charles to have my bags sent to Merrill's and pulled me out the door with him. A car waited outside; a silver Mercedes SLR McLaren that gleamed in the moonlight. Gavin placed me in the pa.s.senger seat, fastened the seatbelt around me and closed the door. He was on the driver's side in no time, starting the car and crunching over gravel as we drove away.
I had no idea where he was taking me and at the moment, I didn't really care. I just closed my eyes and catnapped. Vampires don't usually sleep during the night, I guess, unless they're really tired. I was exhausted, actually, and Wlodek's grilling had made the situation worse. I couldn't even keep my eyes open at times.
”Where are we?” I asked after a while when Gavin stopped the car and then came over to open my door and unbuckle my seat belt.
”My place,” he said, lifting me in his arms.
”She's asleep,” Gavin explained to Merrill over the phone. ”Nothing happened. Nothing will happen. She's exhausted, that's all.” He listened while Merrill informed him that Lissa could have slept in her own bed just fine.
”I know that. It was a moment of weakness, nothing more. You'll have her back in one piece tomorrow night.”
”Lissa? Wake up, angel.” There was a gentle kiss and a nipping on my lower lip. Part of that nipping was sharp. I was awake and huddled against the headboard of a huge bed in less than a blink.
Gavin was staring at me as if I'd lost my mind. At least he was dressed-in jeans and a polo. Me? I was naked, thank you very much. I wanted to smack him across the room.
”Lissa, calm down, love. We can get you dressed in no time. I thought you might like to bathe first.”
His eyes were a deep, liquid brown and the term bathe held such a note of hope in it. ”I can bathe by myself,” I pointed out acidly, trying to pull the sheet over my nudity. It wasn't working; Gavin was sitting on the edge of it. ”And why is it you always see me naked,” I gave another jerk on the sheet, realizing that I'd rip it if I jerked any harder, ”and I haven't even seen you with your s.h.i.+rt off except when you were burned.” I gave up on the sheet and buried my head in my hands.
”I can remedy that,” he said, pulling the tail of his s.h.i.+rt from the waistband of his jeans.
”No! No, forget I said that,” I held out a hand. ”Just tell me where my clothes are, and where the shower is.”
”You're so sensitive about this,” he said, sliding off the bed. ”You know it's almost impossible to embarra.s.s an old vampire. That's an old saying, by the way.”
”I'm not an old vampire,” I snapped at him, sliding off the opposite side of the bed. His bedroom was dark and windowless; therefore, I had no idea where we were. We might have been on another planet for all I knew.
My clothes were on top of a tall chest on the other side of the bed. Gavin lifted them one-handed and shook them at me. I went over and s.n.a.t.c.hed them away while thinking about stomping on his foot. He had shoes on and I was barefoot, so I'd more than likely come out the loser in that little battle. He might retaliate, too, and I didn't really want to know what he'd do. I was turning on the taps in a huge walk-in shower when he came up behind me, his arms dropping around my shoulders. ”Don't you want to know what it's like?” He nuzzled my neck and nipped it. I'd never seen Gavin this amorous before and it scared me a little.
”Maybe I will sometime, Gavin. But I need to stop being afraid of you first.”
He backed away at my words, turning and leaving the bathroom after only a few seconds. We didn't talk much on the way home and I worried that I'd done something irreparable. Gavin walked me to the door, where Merrill stood waiting. If he'd been human, Merrill might have been tapping his foot impatiently. As it was, the mask was in place so I had no idea if I was in trouble with him, too. Gavin took my face in his hands before he left me, kissing me carefully before his deep brown eyes stared earnestly into mine. ”I cannot take your fear away. If I could kill Sergio Velenci again, I would do it without hesitation.” He kissed me once more, leaving me with Merrill.
”Did he harm you?” Merrill asked as we watched Gavin drive away.
”No,” I replied. ”He only kissed me.”
”I could see that for myself,” Merrill remarked dryly and led me into the house.
My lesson that evening was Vampire Law number six, when you were allowed to kill a human. ”You may kill if the human is threatening your life or the life of another vampire or those of the vampire race as a whole,” Merrill instructed. ”Obviously, if a human has a flamethrower, as Niles Abernathy did and it is a life threatening situation for you or another vampire as in Gavin's case, you are justified in taking the life. However, if there are human witnesses, they must have compulsion placed to forget the incident. If there is a body, then you must make it appear to be an accident somehow. You should hide it as well as you can anyway, so that it will never be found.”