Sex and the Single Vampire (29 page)

“It is totally out of the question.”

“Then, once I’m taken to wherever they’re holding your friend, I can tell you where I am, and you can come zooming in with reinforcements and rescue Sebastian, save me from whatever terrible fate Eduardo and Guarda have planned for me, and we’ll all live happily ever after.”

“This plan of yours is intolerable.”

It was my turn to sigh. I rolled over until I was stretched out on top of him, resting my chin on my hand. “Do you have a better plan?”

“Yes.”

“Christian, you know the only way to find out where Sebastian is being held is to allow one or the other of us to be captured, and let’s face facts—it will be easier for you to rescue me than for me to rescue you. I know my own strength, I know what I can and can’t do, and summoning up enough power to rescue two half-dead vampires is not within my abilities. I simply do not have the resources that you have.”

“Regardless—”

“No.” I put my hand over his mouth. “Rather than arguing about this for the rest of the day, why don’t you just recognize that I’m right, and start putting that formidable
mind of yours to work on how to keep me safe when I’m in the clutches of the triumvirate and rescue Sebastian at the same time.”

I will not allow you to endanger yourself.

I moved my hand and kissed him.
I have absolute faith in you, Christian.

You are everything to me. You cannot do this.

“I have to,” I said, tracing the silky line of his eyebrows. “Don’t you see? This is all part of my dream, part of us. If we don’t do this—together—our relationship will be incomplete, a farce, a shadow of what it should be. If we are truly meant to be together, we must see this through. We must fulfill the promise that our relationship holds.”

I sensed the struggle within him, the need he felt to keep me safe and out of trouble warring with the respect he had for my strength, the pride he had in my abilities. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly, his lips moving in a line of kisses on my forehead.
You are going to doom me to an eternity of righting every wrong, of saving every person in need who comes to your attention, aren’t you?

I smiled into his chest, closing my eyes and murmuring a prayer of gratitude that I had found him, knowing that I had asked more of him than he ever imagined, and yet he had been everything I hoped for, and so much more. Maybe giving up a little bit of control wasn’t a sign of weakness. Maybe, just maybe, I could remain strong even if I committed myself to Christian.
You told me you were knighted when you were twenty-one. Once a knight, always a knight. The only thing that has changed is that now you have a partner.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say the derisive noise that echoed through my head was a disgusted snort. I traced a ward over us both and fell asleep to the sound of his heart beating strong and true beneath my ear.

We held a war conference that afternoon. It wasn’t easy getting Christian to agree to it, since his natural tendencies made him (foolishly) believe he could make up plans on his own and then inform me of my role in them after the fact, but in a scene that had all five ghosts disappearing the instant Christian threatened to lock me in a room and conveniently lose the key, which, of course, I countered with a promise of slow castration, I eventually persuaded him that where he and I together might reign supreme over the triumvirate, other warm bodies would be a welcome addition to help with any minions who might be lurking about.

So it was that an hour after I described to Christian just how I would geld him (with a grapefruit knife and two egg cups), we sat in his comfortable study with Joy, Raphael, Roxy, and the ghosts (minus Alis, who had been left in an empty bedroom with several inexpensive ceramic knickknacks to amuse her). The TV was blissfully muted.

“This is so exciting. I’ve never rescued anyone before. I want a gun. Raphael, can I have a gun? I think I need a gun.”

“Firearms! What an excellent idea,” Antonio said. Roxy smiled at him. He stroked his beard and wiggled his eyebrows at her until he saw me watching him.

“No guns,” Raphael told Roxy, then shot Christian a martyred look that very nearly rivaled the one Christian was always wearing around me.

“There will be no need for guns,” Christian agreed. “Your role will not require it.”

She frowned. “Oh? Just what do I get to do?”

“I believe you will best serve our cause by keeping a protective guard over Joy. Raphael will feel easier to know someone is with her.”

“A woman who is anticipating a blessed event should always be kept calm and reassured.” Esme nodded sagely from where she sat next to Christian.

“What?” Roxy asked. “Why does she need to be guarded? No one wants to kidnap
her!”

“I could be kidnapped if I wanted to,” Joy said defensively.

“I would kidnap you if you were not … eh …” Antonio waved at her stomach.

“Thank you, Antonio, that’s very sweet of you,” Joy said, smiling smugly at Roxy.

Roxy rolled her eyes. “He’s just being nice to you because anyone can see you’re about to explode. I want in on this, too; you can’t palm off some stay-at-home job on me. I’m very good in a tight place; I’ve had self-defense training. I was tops in my class with the bottle of Mace. I bet I could take down at least a couple of this Trust’s goons.”

“There will be no taking down of anyone, no Mace, and no violence. My company specializes in nonlethal security, and I do not want to jeopardize its reputation because of a trigger-happy vigilante,” Raphael told her. We all nodded, even Jem, who had dropped the chains and torn clothing, and was now clad in a pinstripe suit and talked like he was a cross between a character from
Tom Jones
and
The Godfather.

“Maces are very old-fashioned,” Antonio commiserated with Roxy. “No one uses them anymore. I prefer a rapier, myself. It is very deadly, yet always looks stylish.”

She blew him a kiss. I frowned at both of them. “Christian and I talked this all out and we have a plan. If you will let us tell it, you’ll see where each of you fits into it.”

“I don’t have to stay at home with the beached whale, do I?” Roxy asked suspiciously.

“That’s it; you’re off the list as godmother,” Joy answered, trying to cross her arms over her belly but not succeeding.

“Expectant mothers should never be referred to as sea mammals,” Esme scolded. Jem sniggered.

“No, you do not need to stay at home with Joy if you don’t want to, although I happen to think she looks charming,” I answered. Joy beamed at me. “It’s really a simple plan, and I think you’ll agree that we have all the bases covered.”

Everyone looked at us expectantly.

Go ahead; I’ll let you tell it, since it was mostly your plan.

How very gracious of you.

Don’t push your luck. I’m still ticked off about that “locked in a room” comment.

Three hours and thirty-two minutes later four of us stormed the ARMPIT offices, clad in jumpsuits and ventilation hats labeled with the name of a natural-gas company, Raphael in the lead with a clipboard and an extremely officious manner. Aided by Christian, master of the mind push, we had the offices cleared out in just a couple of minutes.

“That was fun.” Roxy giggled as the last secretary dashed out the door, under the mistaken impression that a gas leak was about to cause an explosion of a catastrophic nature. She pulled off her ventilator and smiled at Christian. “That Vulcan mind-meld thingy of yours sure does come in handy. I bet you could make a killing at the racetrack, eh?”

I grabbed her arm and pushed her toward a row of filing cabinets. “Stop hitting on Christian; you’re married.”

She grinned and saluted me. We scattered around the offices, combing through both paper and computer files
for anything that might lead us to the two houses the trust owned in London.

“Hey, is this something? It’s a receipt for some temperature-controlled wine vault.”

“Wine vault?” Christian looked up from the computer on Guarda’s desk and came out into the outer office. “Guarda does not strike me as the type of person who appreciates fine wines.”

We all huddled around to look at the receipt.

“It’s in the basement,” I pointed out.

“And has a steel-lined door and reinforced walls,” Raphael mused. “Unusual, that. More like a bunker than a wine vault.”

“What’s the address?” I asked.

“It’s to the north. Hmmm. Might be worth a look.” Raphael and Christian exchanged glances, something I immediately put a halt to.

“Don’t even begin to think what you’re thinking,” I shook my finger at Christian, pulling on my coat and snatching the receipt from Roxy’s hand. “It’s all of us or none. Your choice.”

“I’d prefer it if someone stayed behind with Joy,” Raphael started to say.

“We left her the ghosts; they’ll let us know if anyone tries anything.” I pushed past Raphael and headed out the door at a fast clip, or at as fast a clip as I could get my wonky leg to move. After consulting with a map of the city, we piled into Raphael’s car and headed north.

The city quickly turned into bustling suburbia, then into a prosperous neighborhood of tall town houses. Respectability dripped from every eave, leaving me vaguely surprised that Guarda had chosen such a quiet, sedate suburb to use as her ghost and vampire storage facility. Raphael pulled up in front of one of a line of houses
pleasantly situated on a street that curved along a gentle crescent.

“That’s number eighteen, down there. The one on the end.”

We all looked where Raphael was pointing. The house looked no different from any others on the street.

“Doesn’t look very creepy, does it?” Roxy asked.

“Which just makes it all that much more chilling,” I answered as I got out of the car. “Everyone know the plan? Roxy, you and Raphael create a distraction at the front door while Christian and I slip in the back way.”

“Yeah, yeah, piece of cake. No one can create a scene like I can.” She grinned.

“An understatement if I ever heard one.” Raphael groaned, but allowed her to grab his arm and drag him off toward the door to number eighteen.

Christian took my hand and tugged me down a narrow alley that ran behind the crescent.

You will conform exactly to our plan
, malý váleèník.
You will not try to rescue Sebastian by yourself.

We dodged trash cans and parked cars, eventually coming to the back of the last house on the row. The tiny garden was sodden with the incessant rain, water squelching into my boots. I glanced up at the house, shivering at the dark, blank look of the windows. The house felt guarded, as if it were used to holding secrets inside and never allowing them out. Somewhere in there was a Dark One, kept weak and barely alive for who knew what nefarious purpose. “I’ve already promised you three times I won’t endanger myself, Christian. Just remember to stick to your part and don’t get any ideas about throwing yourself between me and any danger we run into. If I need help, you will be the first person I ask for it.”

His sigh brushed my mind as he waved a hand at the back door. It clicked open.
My next Beloved is going to be a
mild, sweet-tempered woman who will never question me, and will not give me one moment’s concern.

He slipped through the door with me right behind him. We were in a semidark small room, a mudroom by the looks of it. Discarded boots littered the floor, and musty-smelling coats hung haphazardly from a row of pegs on the wall. Christian froze for a moment at the door, the sound of Roxy’s high-pitched yelling counterpointed by the rumble of Raphael’s bass clearly audible even in the back of the house. Bless Roxy, it sounded like she was out there giving birth to a wildcat. If her histrionics didn’t attract everyone within hearing distance, I’d be an imp’s aunt. Without even turning back to wave good-bye, Christian melted into the shadows and headed toward what I assumed was the door to the basement stairs.

I peered around the dim light of the kitchen to make sure it was empty, then laid my hand against the wall and stood for a moment, opening my mind up to the house. The spirit I was after was being held upstairs, in a small attic room. On the floor below me I could feel Christian as he searched for his friend.

Christian?

Yes, Beloved?
I smiled into the gloom of the kitchen as I started up a dark, uncarpeted stair, Roxy’s voice echoing through the house as she accused someone of trying to cop a feel.

Your next Beloved isn’t going to love you nearly as much as I do.

I grinned at the stunned silence that followed my statement.

We are going to have a talk when this is over, Allegra. A long, long talk. Preferably in the bathtub.

Be careful, Christian. Whoever it was who helped Eduardo and Guarda trap Sebastian is not going to treat you with kid gloves. You might be a bossy, arrogant sort of vampire,
but you’re
my
bossy, arrogant vampire and I don’t want anything happening to you.

He smiled into my mind.
You are my Beloved. You mean more to me than my life. I will do everything within my power to do as you command.

I figured that was about as good as I was going to get. Roxy’s voice took on a new level of stridency as I limped to the top of the stairs, then started up the second flight. By the time I reached the top of the third flight, my leg was screaming. The wards I’d sketched around me glowed a soft green, indicating that something demonic was in the house.

Everything okay? I
checked with Christian.

Yes. I have located the wine vault. The door is locked and warded, but I believe I will be through it shortly. You have not seen anyone?

Not a soul
, I thought, then gave a mental grimace as I hurried toward the room that held the ghost.
I just hope Roxy can keep them busy a little bit longer. Let me know if you need help with the wards.

Follow the plan
, Christian replied sternly.
No deviations. No unauthorized rescues. I will not have your safety compromised.