The Vampyre Legal Chronicles - James (16 page)
Read The Vampyre Legal Chronicles - James Online
Authors: Cc MacKenzie
Tags: #Romance, #Paranormal, #Vampires, #Witches & Wizards
The stunned joy in those amazing blue eyes made Charlotte's heart beat too fast.
Her icy fingers shook as James held her hand in his, brought it to his mouth and pressed his lips to her flesh.
She wasn’t exactly sure what he was saying but it sounded like some sort of prayer.
Vivid blue eyes pooling with emotion he pulled her into his arms and sat on the bed with her on his knees.
The way he rocked her back and forth muttering heartfelt words in a language she couldn’t understand made her lean back to stare up into that fabulous face.
"What are you saying?"
His smile lit up his face in a way that caught her throat.
Well, that was one question answered.
Her husband was more than delighted they were to have a child.
"It is the language of my people. It’s Gaelic.
‘Tha gaol agam ort.’
I love you."
The way he held her, as if she was made of glass, had her nuzzle into his T-shirt.
She inhaled the scent of him and prayed as she’d never prayed before for a good outcome. Anxiety for what their future held lay like a heavy stone in her gut. There were too many
what ifs
in her future.
Hadn’t Anais and Saira mentioned how hard it was for a human to become pregnant never mind carry a vampyre child to term?
The soft knock at the door brought their heads up.
Ezekiel entered wheeled in by Saira.
His sharp eyes moved over James and he nodded in approval before they met hers.
"Good. I see he has taken the news well."
"Why would I not?" James snapped, ever ready for a fight with his perceived enemy.
The way her husband’s deep voice vibrated under her ear made Charlotte's mouth curve.
He sounded as if he wanted to tear Ezekiel’s head from his shoulders.
Saira perched on the end of the bed and folded her arms.
"I’ve spoken to Constantine. His scientists are working on a personalized hemoglobin and healthcare programme for you to make sure the fetus does not become parasitical. You will need to be carefully monitored with regular blood tests. We’re going to do everything we can to make sure you and the baby arrive safe and well at the end of this journey."
Now James held her tight.
"This will be the first child born to our Gillespie clan for over two hundred years. What are the risks to Charlotte?" he demanded in a harsh tone.
Now Saira frowned before she took a deep breath.
"In the past, few humans survived a vampyre pregnancy." Her eyes slid to Ezekiel before she continued, "However, we have learned much from the Legion’s failures. But in recent years, even as we have had success, the mortality rate for human females is still too high at fifteen percent."
Lifting her in his strong arms, James placed Charlotte in the bed and stood.
Charlotte watched his vampyre rise as her husband stared down at the medic.
"I’ll nae risk her life, Saira."
As Charlotte opened her mouth to speak, Ezekiel interrupted,
"I believe this is not an either or situation, prince. You have forgotten one thing. Charlotte is not one hundred per cent human. And I believe the fact she is pregnant is what saved her life when the soul-eater tried to take her soul. The tiny thread that clung to her came from her womb. A diminutive flicker of life hanging on to its mother. I’ve never seen anything like it."
Now Charlotte pressed the flat of her hand to her belly.
Her baby saved her life?
"Explain," James demanded.
"The child was conceived in love. There is no greater power than the power of true love. Love has an energy in the universe, in the very structure of nature within the Earth. During the time of my father, vampyre and human women were abducted, violated, forced, and none brought a baby to term. I believe Charlotte’s pregnancy will go well." Then he shrugged vast shoulders. "Of course, this is just my theory. And another theory I have is that the use of any kind of magic attracts a portal to the event. I used magic in the kitchen of your house to remove evil from the wine and a portal opened. And Charlotte’s magic rose in your apartment and a portal opened. Each time magic is used a portal opens in our reality."
"You mean they, whomever
they
are, are able to track us?’ Charlotte asked and felt terror rise for herself and for her baby.
Ezekiel nodded. "Do not look so worried. This is a good thing because it means the opening of a portal is somewhat predictable. Next time we use magic we will have an army awaiting."
Silence.
Now Saira rose to pace to the door and back.
"Yes, but who are
they
? And if my sister’s joined them it means we have a conspiracy on our hands. Who can we trust with this information?"
"Constantine," said Ezekiel without missing a beat. "He’s a Precedential Elder. He has the power to help us."
"Aye, but what about my father and the other partners in the firm?" James growled.
"No!" Saira spoke, her voice heavy with the combined burden of guilt and regret. "Until we know who to trust we say nothing about our theories."
James turned to his silent wife, caught her hand in his and brought it to his mouth.
"Are you okay with all of this? Are you feeling well?"
Was she?
Her mind was spinning with a feeling of complete joy and too much information about a world she didn't understand.
She didn't know what to think.
But Charlotte did know one thing.
The overwhelming emotion she had for her husband and the child growing in her belly was a love that made her strong and she’d do anything within her power to protect her family.
"In myself I'm feeling well. And I’ll go along with whatever all of you decide."
Now Ezekiel stretched his long legs and gave a wince of pain which had Saira eye him sharply. "You need to rest," she snapped.
The way his dark eyes rested on the medic and the way Ezekiel’s mouth twitched and the way Saira flushed to the roots of the hair made Charlotte battle hard to hide a grin.
The witch and the vampyre medic might fight like a pair of alley cats but it didn’t take a genius to work out they were crazy for each other.
And she thought she and James had problems?
Later that evening James and Charlotte stood in the silvery light of a half moon on the balcony of their penthouse apartment overlooking the majesty that was the Golden Gate Bridge.
Her vampyre eyes swept the buildings below.
Was it her imagination or were there even more Centuri lining the rooftops?
James stood behind her and pulled her to him, his arms wrapped loosely around her waist.
Resting his cheek on her hair, he spoke,
"Yes, my father has increased our guard. You’ve made him a very happy man, my little witch."
Her hand rose to finger the heavy bloodstone that hung around her neck on a gold chain.
James's bloodstone.
A jewel which would protect her as she moved into the complicated culture and politics of vampyre society in the weeks and months to come.
Would she ever get used to the way her husband entered her mind these days?
"Works both ways," she said.
"I bet you have no more Dirty Little Secrets left for me to discover."
Now she smiled and remembered her naughty purchase from Eleanor’s sex shop.
She turned in his arms and lifted her face for his kiss.
"No? I might have one or two more Dirty Little Secrets."
He lifted his head and twinkling blue eyes found hers.
"Who’s been a bad girl?"
Around the world three portals simultaneously opened.
Somewhere in the depths of the jungle in South America an entire family of rhesus monkeys disappeared.
In Rwanda four colonies of African killer bees were taken.
And deep in the Great Mountains of Eastern China, Tà Shãn, a family of five humans and their livestock simply vanished.
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DANIEL
Book 3 of The Vampyre Legal Chronicles
OUT SOON
Think Buffy meets Blade in this exciting new paranormal series.
Gia Del Russo has a dangerous secret and one ruling passion, music.
Her songs, the power of her voice make women weep and men ache.
But Gia also has a ruthless enemy who wants the beautiful singer in his bed, whether she desires him or not.
When corporate lawyer and vampyre prince Daniel Gillespie arrives home to his penthouse apartment in New York, he finds his PA,
Gia, asleep on his couch. But before he can discover why his gorgeous assistant has taken refuge in his home, Daniel's vampyre rises and takes Gia's vein.
However, Daniel isn't the only man with plans for Gia's future.
And when that man is an organized crime boss,
Daniel and Gia fight for their lives against a deadly foe who is not quite... human.
EXCERPT
How the hell had she ended up here?
Two minutes to midnight and the tinkle of glasses, the low murmur of voices sounded too loud in Gia’s ears. Palms damp, the wave of nausea from stage fright dumped over her, nearly made her knees buckle. Whoever said that phobias were overcome the more you confronted them was a big fat liar.
Smoking tobacco in public venues was banned in New York City, but someone had forgotten to tell the management of the exclusive Sly Fox club, since taking a single breath was like inhaling one hundred per cent pure nicotine.
The skinny stage was unlit and the piano player tickled the keys as a jazz guitar strummed. A gaunt drummer clicked his sticks together in a countdown beat.
Tall and slim in a sheath of gold leather, that could have been sprayed on, Gia Della Russo hit centre stage as the spotlight struck her.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and belted out the first bars of Adele’s big hit about fire and rain, unaware of the stunned silence or the way heads jerked up in shock.
She neither saw mouths drop open, nor was she conscious her voice had punched every gut with a power and an emotional intensity that made women’s eyes sting and every man ache.
Three hours later Gia counted two thousand dollars in hundreds and fifties, folding the money before tucking it inside a strapless bra that fully delivered on the promise to lift and separate.
Thank God she’d agreed to take a percentage of the nights take rather than a flat fee of a few hundred dollars.
After six nights the word had spread that the Sly Fox had a new singer with a heartbreaking voice like honeyed spoonfuls of soul.
But no one would ever know what it cost her each and every night she stood before the punters, alone and too vulnerable as she sang her heart out.
Dragging a grey hoodie over her dress, Gia kicked off the gold four inch heels and thrust her bare feet into tatty running shoes. She didn’t look in the mirror since she couldn’t cope with seeing the total stranger reflected there, reminding her of just how far she’d fallen.
Sheer willpower alone kept the desperate wedge of tears in her throat from stinging her eyes.
She’d come a long way from her Irish and Latin roots singing in the church choir of St. Columba, a good catholic girl who’d never put a foot wrong. And all because of one error of judgement; an error that had taught her to shy away from good-looking charmers. Like everyone else mistakes learned in the past were to be avoided in the future and influenced her choice of remaining celibate today. Liam’s honest blue eyes had conned her, her grandparents, and even their priest.
Liam had been quick with a joke and generous with his time and attention. He’d never talked about his kinsfolk other than to complain that they’d had plans for him to join the family firm. But he’d needed freedom to be his own man, he’d told her, to find his own road in life. His choice of career was something vague and far into the future.
Naïve and starved of affection, Gia had sucked up every smooth word. Believed every slickly delivered line. He’d dazzled her with his charm, told her she was gorgeous, told her she was beautiful. The number of times he’d lost or forgotten his credit cards she was so dazzled by that little boy smile she’d hardly noticed. And when in a fevered excitement she’d handed him her innocence, he gave her the impression of being deeply, even madly, in love with her. But she would never, ever, forgive herself for not seeing through the son-of-a-bitch.
When he’d popped the question she’d agreed, happy to keep house for him and keep his bed warm. She’d married a man with an engaging personality, with a pretty face and a crafty tongue who’d turned out to be a human being who was a liar and thief and liked to use his fists and worse on his wife.
When he’d lifted his hand to her that first time she’d truly believed she deserved it for disappointing him. By this time he’d chip, chip, chipped away at her confidence, her shaky self-esteem. Instead of love, the icy clutch of dread had taken up residence low in her belly. Of course he’d made sure not to mark her face or anywhere the bruises might show.
Throughout it all she’d been employed by Gillespie, Pattullo and Hindmarch, working hard as the personal assistant to top corporate lawyer Daniel Gillespie. The long hours Daniel demanded were rewarded accordingly. While Liam chased after his own interests, which included other women and spurning employment. Good job the bastard was dead or she’d have killed him herself for the pain and misery he’d brought to the people she loved more than anything in this world or the next. He'd died, murdered, by the man he owed money and refused to pay the debt. A debt that she'd taken upon her shoulders, not that she'd been left any choice.
So here she was homeless, moonlighting by singing in a smoky club, dressed like a slut and fighting off over stimulated members of the opposite sex each and every night.
Gia hiked up her backpack and shouldered open the side door to the alley.
Shivering, her breath smoked in the freezing air of a New York February.
The sidewalk glistened wet and dank.
"Hey, babe. How many times have I told you not to use this exit?"
The deep rumbling voice with the musical tones of the Caribbean made Gia grin up into the big moon face of Jesus Rutherford, doorman and unofficial bodyguard who’d taken her under his wing.
"I’m taking a taxi, Jesus."
"You killed them tonight, honey."
Gia gave a jerky shrug of a thin shoulder, gathering up heavy hair the color of dark copper into a high ponytail. She secured it with a hair tie.
"It’s not a big deal," she said her voice no more than a whisper.
Built like a sumo wrestler, Jesus shook his head and gave a gentle tug of her ponytail.
"I’ve no idea what sort of trouble you’re in, Gia, but two of Donatti’s goons were asking questions about you yesterday and tonight. Don’t nobody wanna be on those bastard’s radar."
The constant anxiety that had taken up residence her gut for six long months morphed into a rock of solid ice. It had taken her weeks to find this gig. She wouldn’t be terrorized into moving on again. Perhaps the time had come to make a stand?
Who was she kidding? Liam had betrayed an organized crime boss for God’s sake, stolen drugs and cash and they wanted payback.
She’d sold her house and was paying them every week, but it didn’t matter, they always wanted more. And she knew they wouldn’t be satisfied until she was under their total control. Especially the control of Enricho Donatti who’d taken one look at her at Liam’s funeral and made it crystal clear he wanted her, all of her.
Enricho wasn’t the clichéd corpulent Mafia Don either. He looked like a handsome advertisement for one of the Wall Street types with a wide mouth that had a ready smile and a polished manner.
But it was his eyes that terrified her.
They were dead, cold, and forcibly reminded her of a reptile she'd once seen at the zoo.
Under his handsome good looks, the man was a monster.
Revulsion crawled up Gia’s spine along with a dark despair.
What was it about her that attracted control freaks? Did she have
Please treat me like shit
tattooed on her forehead?
Donatti's text messages, the voicemails, the invites to breakfast, to lunch, to dinner, were becoming more and more insistent.
The boxed white rose, which arrived every single day was seriously freaking her out.
She knew she was becoming desperate now and desperate people did desperate things.
How many times had the sly whisper of ending it all entered her mind?
If it hadn’t been for her grandparents and her church she’d have made the ultimate sacrifice long ago.
And she knew that if Enricho Donatti laid a manicured finger on her she would do it in a heartbeat even if it meant an eternity burning in a fiery hell.
Dark eyes glued to her face, Jesus heaved out a sigh when she kept quiet.
"I’ve organized my brother Jerry to take you home every night. No, don’t argue. Just call it payback for the pleasure you give me listening to the voice of an angel."
The small act of kindness had Gia blinking rapidly.
Eyes riveted on her sneakers she scuffed her toe on the sidewalk.
"Thanks."
A yellow cab slid into the alley and a man with his brother’s genetic footprint and even bigger than Jesus hauled himself out of the driver’s door.
"Yo bro, is this the babe?"
"Yep. You make sure she gets to where she’s go 'in in one piece."
Gia slid into the back of the cab and Jesus closed the door.
Jerry turned to her with a smile bright enough to be seen from outer space.
"Where to?"
In spite of her worries Gia found she couldn’t help but grin back.
"GPH Towers."
Black brows winged up his forehead as he blew out a low whistle.
"You live in the financial district?"
Her bland stare had him nod and the car swung out of the alley.
At this time of night the streets were quiet.
Gia stared unseeing out of the window and wondered how the hell she was going to get out of the big deep hole her late husband had dug for her.