A Forbidden Taking (9 page)

“He
knows me. And I don’t have a mate. It was just sex.” Megan put the mop back in
the bucket. “What are you going to do?”

Thomas
looked at her. She wasn’t one to fidget, but he made her nervous. She wanted to
cry, but after nearly a year and a half of this life she knew it would do her
little to no good to indulge in tears.

“What’s
your name? And are you a doctor?” His voice was gentle, something that
surprised her into answering truthfully.

“Megan
Reed. I…I was waiting for my results just before I was murdered. I passed my exams
twenty-four days after this happened.”

Thomas
nodded. “And that would be how long? Not much, I’m thinking. And you weren’t
murdered, young lady. Your life changed, but you aren’t dead.”

“You
think your way, I’ll think mine. January, a year ago. I was just getting off
work when he took me. And you didn’t answer my question. What are you going to
do now?”

He regarded
her for several more seconds before he spoke. “Nothing. For now. But you aren’t
going to be working here any longer. Not as a janitor anyway. Starting as soon
as you give me your board certification results I’ll put you on staff.” He
stood. “Aaron will have to know, of course. So will your mate.”

“I
don’t have a mate and why does Dingdong need to know?”

Thomas
burst out laughing. “I bet that goes over great with him. Dingdong, yeah, I
just bet it does. He has to know because I’m his subject and so are you.
Nothing goes on in his realm that he doesn’t know about, isn’t told about, or
hell is paid to whoever crosses him.”

He
started out the door before she spoke again. “What if I don’t want to be a
doctor?”

He
turned back. “You already are.”

~~~

Beau came
above stairs in a foul mood. He had awakened and Megan was gone. And not only
was she gone, but she was blocking him. Beau wasn’t even aware that you could
do that as mates. When he saw Aaron and Sara in the kitchen with their children
he nearly turned back around again.

“Hello,
Beau. Come in and meet my children.” Aaron stood and closed the door to the
sublevels before he could bolt. “This is my daughter Lizzy and her twin brother
Mac. Guys, say hello to
Beau
Desjardin. Sit
down, Beau. We were just discussing the finer parts of being a vampire.”

He
knew he had little choice in the matter so he sat. The little girl, Lizzy,
smiled at him. He could feel her touching his mind and nearly closed her off,
but then Mac said something to him and he let her go. Some things up there
might not be suitable for a kid, but he didn’t invite and saw no reason to
sensor her findings.

“Do
you like being a vampire, Mr. Desjardin? I’m not a pureblood like some, but I’m
immortal like my mom.”

“It’s
Beau and it’s all right, I guess. You have a certain…power about you, don’t
you?” Beau closed his eyes and reached into the child. “Necromancer. I’ve only
met one other like you. She’s not such a nice person so I tend to avoid her.”

“Yeah,
Patrice Skidmore. She’s dead. She was my tutor for a little while. Until
my daddy broke her neck and my grandda cut off her head for shooting my grandma.
Aunt Bailey saved her life.”

Beau looked at Aaron and sat up
straighter in his chair. Vampires didn’t kill other vampires. It was a written
law.

“It was justified. My house, my
rules. Not to mention I carry a great deal of weight with the Vampire Council. And
don’t worry, Beau. You haven’t done anything to warrant me killing you. Yet.”

Beau was suddenly uncomfortable. He
looked at the door and wondered what sort of excuses he could make to go back
to Kyle’s house. He wanted to be away before he did something stupid and this
man had to remove his head.

Then he felt her, Megan, and his
entire body tensed. She was upset, angry really, and he reached out to her only
to find the connection blocked and then nothing. Beau swore ripely then
flushed. He’d forgotten about the kids. “I’m sorry. I don’t…I don’t have a lot
of occasion to hang out around kids and ladies. I just…she is…damn it all to
hell and back.” He stood up and began pacing. “She is gone again. How do I
protect her when she…damn it.” It was several seconds before Beau realized that
the children and Sarah had left the room. He looked at the master and wondered
what he would do with him.

“Sit down, Beau. Your mate, I
presume? She is somewhat of a stubborn woman, isn’t she? I have found myself
wanting to strangle her myself.”

Beau growled low in his throat. No
man, especially not another vampire, touched anyone’s mate. And Beau was just
discovering how much he disliked having a mate. Especially one that didn’t
listen to him.

“Have a seat, Beau. We need to
discuss your mate. I don’t think she is all that happy about being a vampire
and I believe that she is much more than she seems. What do you know about
her?”

Beau nearly answered “nothing”
when Aaron’s cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and with an “I
have to take this,” he answered.

What did he know about Megan? Nothing
was an understatement. She was beautiful, long dark hair, dark eyes that
sparkled when she was aroused or pissed. He realized that she had been a great
deal of both around him and he shifted in his seat. Megan was tall, though not
overly so. A body that he would gladly worship, and do so hourly. A taste of
her was as sweet as honey and as spicy as hot peppers. He wanted to bury himself
in her and stay there. Beau looked over at Aaron and knew that he wouldn’t be
sharing any of that with the man. He scowled at the floor. Damn it, where was
she?

“That was Thomas Reilly, my good
friend and a damn fine doctor,” Aaron started. “It seems your mate is employed
at the clinic in the Merchant District with him and has been for several
months. He informed me that she is a physician of good standing and that he has
hired her on as the new doctor to work with him.”

~Chapter 10~

The human was dead. Not that Samuel
Rome cared, but he was still angry and needed more of an outlet for it. He
strode over to the other man cowering in the corner and yanked him up by his
hair. His neck snapped before Samuel could deliver the first blow. Tossing him
across the room, he roared with frustration.

“She cannot thrall me any longer.”
Men scrambled to get out of his way as he made his way up from his sublevel. “I
want her found, do you hear me? Found or I swear I will kill every one of you.”

Samuel entered his office and
threw himself in his chair. Three women immediately came in and draped
themselves all over him. He was just in the kind of mood to kill them all, but
held off. It was hard enough to get women to come to him easily, killing three
or four because he was pissed would make it impossible. He stroked the hair of
the woman closest to him.

“My lord, I have news.”

He glared at Simon and, with only
a raised brow, the houseman broke out in a profuse sweat. “It had better be
good, Simon, or else it will not go well for you. Either make sure that it is
or remove yourself from my sight.”

Simon backed up a step then seemed
to gather strength to take two forward. “The young miss, I believe I have
information on her whereabouts. She is staying in the Master MacManus home.”

Samuel bent his neck and the
resounding pop made the girl on the floor next to him jump. Simon nearly
bolted. Samuel might have thought it was funny if he wasn’t so pissed. “I know
that, you moron. What I don’t know, and what I have asked you to find out, is
why she is at his house, along with her name. When I sent that idiot Alfred to
find her for me he was…never mind. Do you have an address for this MacManus
person?”

Simon’s head was bobbing now as he
reached into a folder and brought out sheets of paper. He started to hand them
to Samuel then stopped and began reading them to him. “She is reputed to be
there with a male vampire. The male isn’t known to the circles around the area,
so I have surmised that he is either new to the area or a newly turned. Since
the man MacManus is the master, I am assuming that he is newly turned. I have
yet to learn his name or that of the young miss.”

Her name had eluded him from the
beginning, Samuel thought. Her beauty, however, he knew. When he’d seen her in
the hospital one night while acquiring blood for his stash he’d seen her
talking to Alfred. They had seemed friendly and Samuel had turned Alfred in the
hopes he’d bring the girl to him. But that hadn’t worked out either. Alfred had
taken her, turned her, and then the idiot had met the sun.

With as much calm as he could
manage, which wasn’t a great deal, Samuel turned to the man before him,
enunciating each word. “I want her name.”

Simon turned and ran from the
room. He would get it now or Samuel would happily kill him. It had been two
years. Nothing, surely not something as simple as a name, could take two years
to find.

Samuel cupped the woman’s head
that sat on the floor and brought her to his lap. Opening his robe, he pressed
her mouth to his erection. When she whimpered he jerked her head up and glared
down at her. “Take me or die. I want you to make me come down your throat. If
you don’t then I will find someone who will and they’ll do it over your dead
body. Do I make myself clear?”

Nodding, she wrapped her hand
around his cock. When her mouth slid over him he pulled one of the other women
up and had her stand close enough that he could suckle her breasts and finger
fuck her. He was not gentle with either woman.

Samuel wasn’t a big man. His cock,
even when fully erect, was barely five inches long and very thin, but that
wasn’t the point. The point was that he was mean, cruel really, and the women
flocked to him for protection. He alone could keep them from certain death once
they were brought to his house. If he didn’t like someone or didn’t think
someone would be worth something to him, he would feed that person to his
friends, quite literally.

Once he was finished, less time
than he thought but forever to the women, they were sent from the room and he
was left alone. He walked to the curtained wall and moved the panel hidden
there out of his way. He descended the stairs until he was in the lowest part
of the house. He walked over to the…the thing strapped there and shook him
awake.

Snarling, it raised his head and
looked directly at Samuel. His creation, he thought.
Mine and mine alone.
Smiling at it he pulled out the shirt he had found on Alfred.

“You must find her. I want her
here and I want her unharmed. If you do this well, my son, I will reward you
greatly.”

Snarling again, the beast, for
there was no other word for it, nodded once. Samuel walked to the far wall and
stepped behind the enclosure and when the door was shut he opened the chain
lock around the creature’s throat.

It sprang at the enclosure, fangs
long and sharp, his eyes red as blood. Samuel didn’t flinch, he didn’t so as
much as move. If he was honest with himself, and he seldom was, he’d admit he
was terrified of the beast. When the side door to this part of the house opened
soundlessly the creature looked out into the field then back at Samuel. With a
final snarl it leapt out the door and into the darkness. Samuel didn’t move
until he was sure the door was completely back into place. Then, with an
unsteady breath, he walked back up the stairs and to his chamber. The sun would
be up soon.

~~~

Megan finished her shift feeling
lighter than she had in the last almost two years. She was exhausted and sore,
her body felt battered and beaten, but she had worked as a doctor, a real
doctor.

Thomas had given her a few small
patients at first, a broken arm then a head wound. Then when he seemed
satisfied that she wasn’t a hack he left her alone to go about his business. In
all honesty she was terrified at first and the more she did, the more she
worked, the easier it became.

He had even given her an office of
sorts. It had a hidey hole under the desk he’d told her, and there were some
books, reference books on a small shelf along one of the walls. It had a
computer on a tiny table and a plastic chair. There was also a toy-sized
refrigerator and a microwave. The fridge had several bags of blood in it and
she was happy to realize that she wouldn’t have to take from someone here to
keep up with the stress of working all night. She was nearly to the cave when
she realized that after this she would be able to afford to get her car back.

The sun was just cresting when she
saw Beau at the mouth of her cave and he didn’t look any happier to see her
than she was him.

“You left me. And you’ve blocked
me all night. You aren’t supposed to do that with a mate. How would I find you
if something happened?”

She moved past him and into the
cave without answering. Megan was not going to let him spoil her great mood. She
knew he would follow her and she wasn’t surprised to find him right behind her
when she got in out of the light. It wasn’t bright yet, but she could still
feel it pull on her. “I’m tired and I need to die. Can’t you just leave me
alone? I was doing just fine before—what the hell are you doing? Put me down.”
He had picked her up and thrown her over his shoulder. Before she could do
anything more than yell at him they were in that bedroom again.

“First of all, you don’t die when
you sleep. It’s a regenerative sleep that all vampires go into at some part of
the day, usually the highest point of the sun. Secondly, you will stay here
with me during that time. You are my mate and, as much as it pisses you off, you
need me as much as I need you.”