Tegan's Power (The Ultimate Power Series #4) (21 page)

Her expression turns
frosty.

“Fuck off,” she spits
as she turns back around and continues to chop up potatoes with a little too
much fervour.

I wince and laugh. “I
bet she’s wishing those spuds were your balls right now, mate,” I say as I take
another bite from my carrot.

Lucas grins at me with
teeth. “Well, that’s women for you, always crazy.”

Tegan whips around to
face him. “Just get out of here. Amanda’s not interested in what you have to
say.”

 “Christ, everyone’s so
bloody uptight these days,” he mutters and then raises his voice. “Just so you
know, I have no intention of drinking from her ever again. I was trying to make
a joke. I forgot humans had no sense of humour.”

Then he slinks out the
door and I watch Amanda’s body slump in relief once he’s gone. Tegan puts a
hand on her shoulder in a gesture of comfort. Amanda gives her a nod to show
she’s okay and they continue to prepare the food.

“Funny, I always
thought it was vamps who didn’t have a sense of humour,” I quip.

Tegan laughs. “Yeah, me
too. Though when you spend more time around them you realise that they do, it’s
just extremely morbid.”

“Huh.”

When Allora enters the
room I call her over to me before pulling her between my legs and wrapping my
arms around her middle, her back pressed to my front. I lean in and place a
soft kiss to her neck and she shivers.

“You hungry?” I ask in
a low voice.

“Mm-hmm,” is the only
reply she gives and I can tell that she’s tense. She’s shy about me being
openly affectionate with her in front of other people. Well, she’d better get
used to it, because I have no intention of stopping.

I stroke my hand across
her belly, and when Tegan begins gathering vegetables and dumping them into the
pot she watches us curiously. The front door opens and shuts and seconds later
Cristescu is strolling into the room. He laughs tenderly when he sees Tegan fretting
over her concoction; the way he looks at her gives me pause. I’ve never really
seen the two of them in an everyday environment like this before; it makes them
both seem so normal…and so in love.

God, why do I have to
notice things like this? It screws up those ideas the DOH drilled into me for years
about vampires being cold-hearted creatures who are incapable of real emotion.

I’m so caught up in my
own thoughts that I don’t immediately realise Allora’s tugging on my sleeve.

“Are you okay?” she
whispers.

“I’m good,” I say and
wink. “Better now that you’re here.”

The way she blushes and
looks anywhere other than directly at me kind of makes me hard, so I have to
think about other stuff so as not to embarrass myself…such as Theodore naked.

Brrr.

Yep, that did the
trick.

We all sit through
dinner once Tegan’s stew is ready and it’s actually not too bad. She overdid it
a little on the garlic, but overall it was a good effort. Once night falls and
they’ve all left for Ethan’s big birthday bash (I know it’s not his birthday,
but it has a nice ring to it) I go to my room and plan on spending the night
chillaxing for once.

I lie down on the bed,
bunch up the pillow until it’s just right and close my eyes. Several minutes
later I start to feel cold and I realise that the room has dropped drastically
in temperature. I glance out the window and there’s frost on the glass. The
weather wasn’t exactly warm today, but it certainly wasn’t cold enough for
frost.

Sitting up from the bed
I walk over to the window, running my hand along the surface of the glass. I
quickly withdraw my hand when a zing of magic flits through my skin. This is
just too weird.

The frost has grown so
thick that I can’t see out anymore. I jump when something moves across it,
clearing some of the ice and my heart thumps when I see that it’s a hand.
Someone is on the other side of the window, a window high up on the second
floor.

Moments later a circle
has been cleared and I find myself staring through the pane only to be met by
Rita’s dark gaze. An unnatural grin forms on her lips as she crooks a finger at
me.

Tegan

I’ll say one thing for this Nicu Arcos
fellow, he really knows how to throw a party. I enter Crimson arm in arm with
Ethan. Delilah, Ira and Lucas are behind us, and all I can see is glittering
gold and red confetti as it falls from the ceiling. It’s sort of magical how
the lights reflect off the confetti, making the entire place seem as though
it’s sparkling.

The vampires crowded
into the club all cheer Ethan’s arrival, some of them even thrust bouquets of
flowers into his arms. If it was anyone else, they might look bewildered, but
not Ethan. He takes it all in his stride with an urbane smile and genteel words
of appreciation.

For a second I’m
reminded of the victory march of an ancient Roman general, returning home with
the spoils of war. Only I’m not sure that taking a hold of the reins in Tribane
is really much of a victory. In my opinion it’s more of a poisoned chalice, considering
how every single governor I’ve ever met, Herrington, Pamphrock,
and
Whitfield,
has died a distinctly gruesome death.

A large table has been
set up in the VIP section, and Nicu guides us all to it where we’re seated and
offered glasses of champagne. It’s not that cheap Prosecco stuff either, as I
glance at the bottle and see the recognisable labelling of Dom Perignon. I’ll
be having my fill of that tonight, no doubt about it. Who knows when I’ll next
get the chance to drink £200 champagne?

Perhaps I’ll even sneak
a bottle home to share with the others.

You can take the girl
out of the poor, but you can’t take the poor of the girl. Or something like that.
To be honest, I think I’m already a smidge tipsy, and I’ve only had one glass.

Our table is a flurry
of activity as vampires come and go, all wishing to have private words with
Ethan. The two occasions where he showed them what he does to traitors must
have made them extra eager to convince him of their loyalty.

I’m wearing a tight
black sleeveless dress that’s moulded to every curve of my body. I’ve already
caught a couple of vampires surreptitiously giving me the ‘I vaaant to suck
your blood eyes’. I draw my magic to me as a precautionary measure, just in
case any of them decide to act on their thoughts. Delilah and Ira are on the
dance floor and I watch as Ira lifts her up off the ground and twirls her
around as though she weighs nothing. I guess for a shapeshifter like him she
probably doesn’t.

I realise I’m not paying
enough attention to what’s going on around me when I feel a warm hand sliding
up my leg. I turn to see Ethan’s intent eyes on me as he licks his lips and
stares at my cleavage.

Knocking back a sip of
my champagne, I ask, “Feeling frisky, are we?”

He smiles darkly. “With
you, always.”

The next thing I know
he’s leaning forward and capturing my mouth with his. His fingers move further
up my thigh to my underwear and I gasp when he presses between my legs. His
other hand sinks into my hair and grips the base of my neck, pulling me closer
to him.

“Ethan,” I whisper
hoarsely. “This is a little public for my taste.”

“Shall we go somewhere
private then?”

I grin. “That would be
terribly rude to your guests.”

The waiter walks by and
replaces my glass of bubbly with a new one, while Ethan’s predatorily sexual
eyes zone in on my tongue as it sneaks out to wet my lips.

“I suppose I’ll just
have to get you later then,” he murmurs right before Nicu appears at the table
with another old male vampire who wants to be introduced to Ethan.

I take the opportunity
to pay a quick visit to the bathroom. After I’ve done my business I’m accosted
by two lady vamps who ooh and aah over my dress and my hairstyle, complimenting
me endlessly about every little detail of my outfit. I never realised just how
much there was to be said about a plain black dress and matching heels, I think
to myself sarcastically.

“You must come shopping
with us sometime,” says the blonde one. “I know a little boutique that you’d
just love.”

“Oh yes,” says the
other, “and come for tea at my house. We always have small get-togethers on
Thursdays and we’d love if you would join us.”

On and on they talk at
me and it finally dawns on me what’s going on. They want to get in good with
Ethan’s human, because getting in good with me is a step closer to getting in
good with him. For a brief second the blonde’s eyes flash red and her fangs
slip out. She seems embarrassed as she quickly regains her composure and her
fangs disappear back inside her mouth.

“I apologise,” she
says. “You just smell so good.”

The other one laughs.
“I didn’t want to say anything, but I was thinking the exact same thing.”

Suddenly, I don’t feel
all that comfortable stuck in the ladies’ room with these two, so I hastily
make my excuses and leave. Sometimes I feel like a pot of honey next to a swarm
of flies when I’m around vampires. All the champagne I’ve been drinking really
has gone to my head, because I’m starting to edge into the realm of ‘too drunk
for a vamp party’. Eager eyes seem to watch my every move as I make my way
through the club.

I’m struck with the
thought of how easily any one of these vamps could attack me right now and my
heart skips a beat. Panic grips me. I really need to find Ethan.

The place is so crowded
that it takes me forever to get back to the VIP section. I can’t see Ethan
anywhere and my breathing quickens. Then someone’s gripping my arm and I turn
to find Lucas standing over me, his expression surprisingly etched with
concern.

“Tegan, are you okay?”

I swallow hard. “Um,
yes. I mean, no. Yes. Uh, I think I might be having a panic attack.” I put my
hand to my chest and rub, trying to calm myself down. “The crowd is freaking me
out,” I say then and Lucas nods.

“Come on, I’ll take you
to Ethan’s office. You can have a moment to relax in there.”

He leads me back to the
office and opens the door to the empty room. I step inside and the space
instantly makes me feel much better. Lucas steps in after me, but he leaves the
door open a little and I’m grateful for that.

“Thanks,” I say to him
finally. “There were these two women in the bathroom who wouldn’t leave me
alone and I just panicked.”

“They wouldn’t leave
you alone?” he questions.

“Yeah. Well, not in a
bad way. Not really. There were just being nice,
too
nice. And then they
started getting all fangy and saying how good I smelled and I had to get away.”

Lucas chuckles. “Fangy?
Really, Tegan?”

I wave him off. “You
know what I mean.”

Lucas walks into the
adjoining bathroom and returns with a glass of water, handing it to me. “Drink
this, it might sober you up a little.”

I snort. “I’m not
drunk.”

The only response I get
is a cynically raised eyebrow.

“I’m serious. This is
what I call tipsy. Drunk is a whole other ball game.”

His eyes trail to the
ceiling and he seems bored now. I sip on the water and study him.

“So, what was that all
about with Amanda earlier? Ethan said you’d agreed to steer clear of her, and
yet, there you were, being all provocative and shit,” I slur and I have to
wonder if maybe I am drunk.

“I take it you mean
provocative as in provoking, as opposed to provocatively sexual?” he asks
smartly and I scrunch up my nose at him.

He sighs. “I’m not the
evil person you think I am. I actually have a bit of a soft spot for little
Amanda if you must know. I’ve never had a blood donor stay with me as long as
she did. I see how you and Ethan interact and it makes me wonder if maybe I
could be with a human and not have to drink from her.”

Whoa. Um, okay. I’m not
sure what to say to that. I simply stare at him, slack-jawed, and he laughs.
He’s about to say something else when suddenly there’s the noise of a commotion
coming from the main area of the club. I hop off the desk I’d been perched on
and follow Lucas as he hurries out.

The vampires have all
left the dance floor. Now they hover around the outskirts of the club, an air
of fear permeating them. When I move to get closer and see what’s happening, my
heart literally stops beating. In the centre of the dance floor are Theodore
and Rita, and in front of them are ten people, each wearing a black bag on
their heads and matching black jumpsuits showing numbers from one to ten.

Ethan strides from
where he’d been sitting in the VIP section, his eyes glittering with silver and
red, his fangs gloriously extended.

“What do you think you
are doing here, Sorcerer?” he demands in a calm voice laced with undertones of
simmering rage.

Theodore giggles in
that high-pitched way of his before answering, “I thought I’d pay a visit so
that we could play a little party game.”