I Only Have Fangs For You (9 page)

"I do," Sebastian said moodily. "But Mina is different."

Rhys raised an eyebrow, giving another of his irritatingly knowing looks.

"Not different like that. She's a damned saboteur, for Christ's sake."

Rhys nodded, still looking unconvinced. "So why aren't you off confronting her?"

That was the question of the night, wasn't it?

Wilhelmina perched on a kitchen chair, her legs curled up to her chin, sipping from a plastic tumbler. Each drink of the glutinous, cold liquid tasted more bitter, more unappetizing than the last.

She forced herself to ignore the taste, telling herself the unpleasantness of the flavor was just in her imagination. The protein concoction had never bothered her before.

She forced down one more sip, then placed the cup on the table, pushing it away. She rested her cheek on her knees and looked out the kitchen window at the heavy rain falling, reflected in the streetlights below. She hated the rain.

After her shower, and her complete meltdown, she'd crawled into bed and waited for dawn to arrive. As she knew it would, the sun had forced her racing mind to slow, and sleep to overtake her. And for those blissful hours of daylight, she'd forgotten everything.

She'd awoken tonight feeling calmer, but no less miserable. With that one kiss, she felt like her world had been turned upside down, and she didn't know how to get back to the peace it had taken her nearly a dozen decades to find.

"Wil," Lizzie appeared in the doorway. "I was planning to head over to the lab. If you're okay?"

Wilhelmina forced a smile at her friend. Clad in leather pants and a biker jacket, Lizzie hardly looked like the typical scientist.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Wilhelmina said. "Go on ahead. There's a Society meeting tonight and I want to go."

That was a lie. Wilhelmina didn't want to show her face to the Society. Not yet. Not with her failure so fresh. But she didn't want Lizzie to worry. And although Wilhelmina had assured her nothing had happened last night, she knew Lizzie was concerned.

Lizzie watched her with intense pale eyes. Eyes that somehow reminded her of another set of intense eyes-ones that were golden topazes rather than frosty blue.

"If you're sure? I'm really into something that I've been working on."

"Then go," Wilhelmina said, waving her away with an encouraging smile. "I'm good."

Lizzie hesitated, then nodded. She lifted her red motorcycle helmet in a gesture of good-bye. "I'll try not to be gone too late."

Wilhelmina smiled, knowing that once Lizzie got involved in her research she lost all track of time. "Good luck."

She listened to Lizzie leave the apartment, then turned back to watch the rain. Maybe Lizzie's way was the right one. To cure preternaturals, rather than to try to conform them.

She certainly hadn't been able to make a single change in the creatures of Carfax Abbey. In fact, she was the only one who'd come out of the experience changed. And not for the better.

She rubbed her cheek on her knee and tried to figure out how she could tell the others at the Society how badly she'd done in her attempt to stop Sebastian.

Sebastian. Even thinking his name made her remember things and feelings she didn't want to recall. She closed her eyes, hoping that would block out the memories, but it didn't. Instead she saw him, his beautiful features, his golden eyes. The pouty softness of his lips. Even the mere memory of his heady taste erasing the earlier bitterness of her drink.

She uncurled from her chair and paced the tiny kitchen. She couldn't do this. She couldn't stay here alone, thinking about things that were best forgotten. She had to move on. She'd moved on before, she could again.

Despite her reluctance to admit her total defeat, she would go to the Society meeting. Talking to the others could be a way to cleanse her soul. To surround herself with the preternaturals who held the same ideals she did. A way to reaffirm what she knew was true. A place to feel safe and sure and… okay.

She had to go back, even if it was hard. Feeling better, she headed to her room to get dressed.

Sebastian finished buttoning his shirt, then looked for his shoes. Finding them where he'd kicked them off by his bed, he slipped his feet inside, telling himself he'd head down to the club and get back to his normal life. No strange waitresses. No anonymous calls. No sabotage attempts of any kind.

Just fun. Pleasure. No worries. That was what he wanted.

He strolled down the back hallway to the elevator. He stepped inside and pressed the button for the first floor. The lift jerked into motion, and he pulled in a deep breath.

Last night, he'd thought over Rhys's question in great detail. Why wasn't he confronting Mina? And he'd come to the conclusion that there was no reason to talk to her. She made her feelings abundantly clear. She disliked him enough to want to hurt his club. She fled his kiss. What was the point of talking to her again? She wasn't worth his energy.

The elevator shuddered to a stop and he flung open the metal gate. He strode into the club, crossing the empty dance floor to the bar.

Nadine stopped wiping down the polished oak countertop, the damp rag forgotten in her hand, as he approached.

"I heard about Wilhelmina," she said. "I'm sorry I was so wrong about her."

Sebastian shrugged. "Shit happens. At least nothing and no one was affected." Even as he said it, he knew that wasn't totally true. He felt very affected by Mina, but he planned to ignore the sensation until it disappeared.

Nadine nodded at him, but he could tell she wanted to say more. Instead she finished wiping down the bar and headed into the backroom.

Sebastian sat down, watching as the other employees went about their usual business. He shifted in his seat feeling edgy.

He'd feel fine once the patrons got here, and his nights went back to their normal pattern. He just needed to forget that Mina ever existed.

Nadine returned with a couple of packages of cardboard coasters. She dropped them on the bar.

"I just don't see how I could be so wrong about her," she said. "I really thought she was a vampiress who just needed a little help, a little direction."

"She needs help, all right," Sebastian muttered.

Nadine sighed. "Well, I'm sure she's gone for good. She disappeared last night in the middle of her shift. She must have realized you found out about her."

Sebastian nodded, not correcting her deduction. For some reason, he didn't want to share what had happened between himself and Mina in the stairwell. Not because he was embarrassed or even regretful. It was just private.

"I guess we never will know why she picked Carfax Abbey."

Sebastian nodded, and again the edginess filled him. He considered ordering a drink to calm himself, but he didn't think it would help.

When the patrons get here, he told himself again. He glanced at the door. A dark-haired woman walked in, and Sebastian straightened. Then he realized it was Valerie, late for work as usual. He leaned back again in his chair, trying not to question why he felt such sharp disappointment.

But his brain was rather insistent on telling him why. She's going to bother you until you have answers. Until you understand. This wasn't about attraction or desire. This was about getting the truth.

"I've got to go," he said to Nadine, sliding off the bar stool. He didn't wait for an answer as he exited the club into the drizzly night.

Flagging down a cab, he gave the driver Mina's address, not questioning why he'd managed to commit that to memory. Then he settled back against the seats feeling calmer than he had since the moment his lips had touched Mina's.

Sebastian knocked again, even though he knew the apartment was empty. He couldn't sense Mina.

He glanced around to make sure he was alone in the long hallway. When he was certain he was, he concentrated, his limbs slowly disappearing as he dissolved to shadow and slipped under the door.

On the other side, he reformed, his body appearing like a blurred negative slowly coming into focus. He glanced around.

Mina's apartment was small, typical for the city. The furniture was nice, but mismatched. Books and newspapers littered nearly every surface.

He could see Mina as a big reader. He supposed it could be because of the glasses she always wore. They looked scholarly, and were, of course, completely unnecessary. The glasses were just one of the many things he wanted to ask her about.

He strolled farther into the apartment, looking for any indication of where she might have gone. Although, if he didn't find one, he was prepared to stay and wait for her. Breaking and entering-or rather just entering-would probably tick her off, but he figured, what with her sabotage attempts, she wouldn't call the cops on him. Again.

He wandered down the hallway that he assumed led to her bedroom. He reached the first door and stopped outside the darkened room. Concentrating, he studied the feelings of the room, the scents, the residual emotions. It wasn't Mina's, although the room did belong to a female. A were. A wolf, he guessed.

He smiled. For reasons he chose not to ponder, he was pleased that Mina was living with a female.

His smile faded. Unless of course, Mina preferred females-which would explain her response to his kiss. Although her reaction seemed a little too over the top for that to be the case. Unless of course, she'd liked his kiss, which he believed she had, at least for awhile. But maybe that brief enjoyment had made her question her whole belief of her sexuality.

He considered that for a moment, then decided that was a dumb idea. She'd been far too responsive to him. Right up until the point she'd slammed him against the wall. He rotated his shoulder, just thinking about it.

He started away from the door, when something else stopped him. A scent, just barely there, drifted to him. Like a face where he couldn't recall the name, the fragrance taunted him. The reason the scent seemed familiar was right there on the tip of his tongue, but try as he might, he couldn't wrap his mind around what it was.

He concentrated a bit longer, then gave up, moving to the next door. The bathroom, small with a tub-and-shower combo. A toilet. A sink. The usual. Finally he reached Mina's room. He recognized her scent immediately. That subtle floral scent like lilies of the valley.

He breathed in deeply, then flipped on the light. Her bed was unmade, and her waitress uniform tossed over the footboard.

He picked up the dress, the material cold and damp like his own clothing. He lifted it to his nose, hoping to smell some traces of the desire he'd tasted on her lips still clinging to the silky material. But the brocade only smelled of sulfurous city rain and faint traces of lily.

He dropped the garment back to the bed, and quickly searched the room for any hints of where she might be. He found nothing but more books: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and other classics. A stack of CDs-all classical-several news magazines. And one Weekly World News. He picked up the periodical. Apparently Bat Boy was on the loose again.

So Mina wasn't all seriousness and sabotage. That made him feel better.

He had a lot good insights into Mina, but nothing that would reveal where she'd go late at night. He flipped off the light and walked back to the living room. A search of that room revealed nothing either. The kitchen, however, was the jackpot.

On the tiny, café-style kitchen table was a note, written in messy, flouncy cursive.

Dear Lizzie,

I did go to the Society meeting. We are meeting in the back of a restaurant-Grindelia's, 21 W. 54th Street. If you get home in time, you're welcome to join us.

W.

Sebastian picked up the paper. The Society? What was that? He placed the note back on the table.

He didn't know if Lizzie would be able to make it, but he certainly planned on it.

Mina ducked around the corner of the restaurant and hurried down the narrow alley, skirting trash and other refuse. She reached the backdoor of the restaurant, just as the sky opened up and poured down on her. She knocked in a rapid sequence of timed raps. A large faery, who she thought was named Al, opened the door, allowing her entrance.

Because the preternaturals had yet to be accepted into the general populace, the Society considered it wise to keep their meetings secret. To join, you had to be invited. She wondered if her invitation would be revoked after she told them about the Carfax Abbey fiasco.

She entered the meeting room. The lights were low and the scent of baking bread and spicy red sauces permeated the brick walls. The smells no long appealed to her hunger, but Mina still enjoyed them. Funny how the aroma of food cooking, even foods she didn't eat, still made her feel warm and safe.

Vedette Grindelia, the owner of the restaurant and a very active member of the Society, greeted her with her usual warm hug. The woman was a werefox, a rather interesting irony, given her bosomy girth and grandmotherly looks.

"Glad to see you," she said with a welcoming smile. "How are you, cara?"

Mina nodded, and forced a stiff smile. She liked the older woman, but disliked her use of Italian endearments. Just hearing them made her skin crawl. "Good, and you?"

"Busy. Always busy." The werefox gestured to the chairs and the others, then bustled off to greet other arrivals.

Tonight, nearly fifty members mingled around the room. A large turnout. Of course. She would have a huge audience to hear about her sabotage catastrophe. She hesitated in the doorway, considering sneaking out before anyone saw her.

"Wilhelmina," a suave, slightly accented voice called to her.

Mina's heart sank. Jackson Hallowell. The Society's president.

He came forward, curling her hand in his much larger, much colder one. Tonight, the flamboyant vampire was dressed in a peacock blue suit with a black turtleneck and heeled and immaculately polished black boots. His usual flash attire. Everyone claimed that he was trying to hold onto his Regency roots-although she wasn't so sure about that.

"I'm pleased you are here," he smiled, his teeth perfect and blindingly white. "How is your work at Carfax Abbey going? Have you stopped that vile Sebastian Young?"

"Well," Mina began.

Another member called to Jackson, waving him over.

"Sorry, I must go," he said to Mina. "Perhaps you will give an update to the whole group tonight. Yes?"

"Umm," Mina hesitated.