VA 2 - Blood Jewel (10 page)

I felt my body instantly relax and
Chansey said, “She’s gone, isn’t she?”

“How did you know to do that?” I
asked in amazement.

“It doesn’t matter if she’s a
vampire or a human. There’s not a woman on this earth that is going
to sit back and watch the man she loves make love to another
woman.”

She reached for her black lace bra
on the bed and regretfully said, “She didn’t have to know we
weren’t. She just had to think we were.”

I partially sat up and propped on
my elbows to watch the back of Chansey as she sashayed to the
bathroom to get redressed. She closed the door and I fell back
against the bed and let out a frustrated groaned.

She thought I didn’t want her, but
nothing could be further from the truth. She was all I wanted and I
needed to reassure her.

She came out of the bathroom and I
sat up on the bed. I patted the bed and she granted my request by
sitting next to me. I put my arm around her and pulled her close.
“I can’t tell you how much I want you, but it’s important to me
that we do this the way we were intended to do this. It will only
make it better when it does happen.”

“I know, but I don’t want to wait.
Something inside me constantly pushes me to just go for it. I’m
sorry. I know that doesn’t make it easier for you.”

“I hope this didn’t entirely ruin
your birthday.”

She rested her head against my
shoulder. “I wouldn’t give her the pleasure of ruining anything for
me, but I do have a birthday wish and I think I deserve it after
what Marsala just pulled.”

I was afraid to ask, but I did
anyway. “What is it?”

“I can’t do it as a human so I
want you to change me so I can kick Marsala’s ass.”

8 This Isn’t Rocket Science

Chansey’s move was successful, but
one that would enrage Marsala even more, so this attempt definitely
wouldn’t be her last. Successfully reaching me through Black Magic
was Marsala’s first taste of contact with me in almost 22 years and
it was only going to ignite a renewed desire in her to find me. Now
that the love of my life had bested her, she wouldn’t be satisfied
until she saw her dead. Of this, I was certain.

I leaned over and kissed her
forehead. “Come on. We need to talk to Sebastian and the others
about devising a plan to keep you safe.”

I wasn’t wearing the blindfold when
Chansey and I entered the living room, but no one mentioned it
because they knew what had just taken place in my bedroom. Solomon
got up from the chair where he sat and crossed the room toward us.
He held his fist out to Chansey for her to bump like they were high
school pals. “I guess you showed that crazy bitch who was in
charge.”

Chansey bumped her fist against
Sol’s. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

Sebastian stood by the fireplace
with his hands on his hips. “Chansey’s plan was a great one and I’m
glad it worked, but we need to decide how to keep the two of you
safe now that she knows you are in New Orleans.”

As hard as I tried, I couldn’t feel
easy about sticking around in New Orleans any longer than we needed
to, so I wanted to get Sebastian’s opinion. “I thought we should
leave New Orleans immediately, but Chansey doesn’t want to change
our plans. She thinks that we are safe to stay until
tomorrow.”

Chansey felt the need to defend her
decision. “Even if she were close and made it to New Orleans
tonight, she wouldn’t have time to find us here at the compound.
We’ll travel home tomorrow while the sun is up.”

“I agree with Chansey. It isn’t
necessary to leave tonight, but it’s not safe to return to
Pascagoula to stay. Marsala will search for you for a while in New
Orleans, but the house in Pascagoula will likely be the second stop
on her list when she doesn’t find you here.”

Chansey looked at me with panic on
her face. “I won’t put my grandparents in danger by staying
there.”

I didn’t have time to consider our
options before Sol blurted out, “Curry can have my position at the
Savannah Compound. Marsala would never find them there.”

It was a generous offer, but one I
couldn’t take from him. “No, I can’t take your position,” I argued.
“It means the world to you and you’ve worked too hard on it to hand
it over to me.”

“I would gladly give it up to keep
you and Chansey safe,” he offered. “You would do the same if the
roles were reversed.”

Chansey’s safety was the only
reason I would consider the offer, but I needed to hear her
opinion. Living in Georgia meant moving a couple of states away
from her grandparents. “What do you think of living at The Savannah
Compound?”

Her face gave no indication of how
she felt about a move to Savannah and I waited patiently for her to
tell me her thoughts. “I think we don’t have much of a choice, but
there is a problem with the plan. I can’t just up and leave my
family to live with you if we’re not married. Granna and Granddaddy
didn’t raise me to live with someone if we weren’t married. They
would never get over it and I couldn’t disappoint them like
that.”

Solomon casually fell onto the
couch. “Jeez, this isn’t rocket science, guys. Go ahead and get
married and then move to Savannah. You’re going to do it in a few
months anyway.”

I looked at Chansey to see her
reaction to Sol’s suggestion. “You know my stand on the issue. I
would marry this minute if you’d agree.”

She looked torn. “I know, but it’s
always been my dream to be married at my grandparents’ house at the
top of the open arms.”

Lairah stood up and walked over to
Chansey. She took her by the hands and said, “Don’t worry. You can
still marry Curry just like you dreamed. Gia and I will help you
put the wedding together. What do you think of doing it on Saturday
evening?”

Chansey’s eyes grew large. “That’s
not even a week away.”

Sebastian explained,
“Unfortunately, you don’t have a lot of time. If Marsala hasn’t
found a sign of Curry by the end of next week, she will probably go
to your grandparents’ house and you must be gone before she
arrives.”

Lairah shook her hands and arms to
snap her out of her coma-like state. “Don’t freak out. It’s going
to be fine. We’ll go over everything tonight and you’re going to
tell us what you want for the wedding. Gia and I will take care of
everything and then all you have to do is find your dress and show
up.”

Chansey was shocked by the offer.
“I can’t believe you would go to so much trouble for me. Planning
even a small wedding is a tremendous amount of work.”

Gia joined Lairah at Chansey’s
side. “You’re part of our family now, but this wedding isn’t just
for you. It’s for our brother, also.”

Chansey hugged Lairah and Gia as
she said, “I don’t know what to say or how to thank
you.”

“Taking him off of our hands is
thanks enough,” Gia laughed and smiled in my direction. “Come on,
Chansey. We have about six hours to plan this wedding before
daybreak.”

She smiled at me as she peered over
her shoulder on the way to Lairah’s quarters. “Now would be the
time to speak up if you have any requests.”

“You’ve already granted me the
only request I had so choose anything you want for our wedding. I
don’t care how much it costs. If you want it, it’s
yours.”

“I don’t know if you need to say
that in front of Gia and Lairah. I think they could break the
bank,” she warned as she walked toward the girls’ quarters with Gia
and Lairah.

“I mean it, girls. Give her
anything she wants,” I called out.

“Don’t worry. We plan on spending
lots of your money,” Lairah called back.

Once the girls were in Lairah’s
room, I turned to Sebastian in hopes of learning more about how
Marsala reached me through Black Magic. “How did she do it? Witches
hate vampires. They avoid us like the plague. How would she have
gotten one to cast a spell for her?”

“I have no idea, but my guess is
that it took 22 years to find a witch willing to help her otherwise
she would have done this already. You’re going to have to be
careful because we have to assume it will happen again. She has
gotten a taste of what it feels like to get to you and she isn’t
going to stop after one failure.”

I heard Sully’s voice from across
the room. “There are witches that are willing to work with vampires
for a price.”

He unexpectedly caught everyone’s
attention with his announcement and all eyes turned to him. “When I
was with Zoyah and her coven, they were working with a witch in
exchange for vampire blood. I don’t know all of the details, but
they were using her magic to find an Agápe.”

I felt myself becoming furious with
him because he was putting Chansey in danger again and was too
stupid to see it. “Why didn’t you tell us this before
now?”

“Finding Chansey had nothing to do
with anything the witch did. I found her because Curry visited our
parents’ grave. It had nothing to do with Black Magic,” Sully
defended.

I turned to Sebastian for his
assessment and didn’t like the look on his face. “Sully, you and
Curry have familial blood ties. When the witch cast the spell to
find an Agápe, you served as a link to Chansey through your
brother. You and Curry were drawn to your parents’ graves at the
same time so you could reunite, but it wasn’t a coincidence.
Finding Curry led you to Chansey. The witch’s spell had everything
to do with that.”

Sully slowly shook her head as he
realized the horror of his mistake. “I’m sorry, Curry,” he
apologized. “I swear I didn’t know.”

“I know. I believe you,” I
reassured Sully.

Sol left the couch where he had
been lounging carelessly. “Marsala and Zoyah are both armed with
witches and they’re after Chansey. What are we going to do about
that?”

I wasn’t certain I liked the
desperation in Sol’s voice. He sounded a little too concerned for
Chansey’s safety and I admit that it sparked a bit of jealousy in
me. I was her protector, not him. I remembered Gia’s accusation the
previous night and wondered if there was merit to it. Did Sol want
Chansey for himself?

I shoved the thought aside and
turned to Sebastian. I recognized the look of concentration on his
face and then he said, “Zoyah lost her connection to Chansey when
Sully left her coven, so I don’t think we need to worry about Zoyah
finding Chansey. Her witch could just as easily lead her to a
different Agápe, if there is another one out there. Marsala has
non-familial blood ties to Curry because they exchanged blood and
that is why she was able to connect with him. Marsala is the one we
should focus on.”

Thatcher had sat quietly on the
couch, but spoke up and brought a good point to our attention.
“What are the witches doing with our blood?”

“They use it to strengthen their
power,” Sully answered.

Say it isn’t so. “Sully, please
tell me Zoyah’s witch didn’t drink from you and bond herself to
you,” I pleaded.

“No, she drank from Zoyah because
she was an elder.”

I felt immediate relief. I didn’t
want to, but I was prepared to send Sully away if he was a link
that could bring danger to Chansey.

“I guess we have a plan. We’ll get
these two crazy kids married on Saturday and then ship them to The
Savannah Compound,” Sol said and I definitely picked up on
something in his voice I couldn’t quite identify.

“Come with us, Sol,” I pleaded. “I
don’t want to take your position. I’m going to be a new husband and
Chansey will expect me to spend time with her. I’m not the man for
the job, but it would be an honor to act as your
assistant.”

Sol looked uncertain about my
offer. “What do you think, Sebastian?”

“I think Curry is right. Your
offer is a noble one, but the Savannah Compound is yours to manage.
It has been drawing you there for a while and I don’t think you
could turn your back on it if you tried.”

I could see Solomon thinking it
over. “You’re right. I feel like it’s where I belong.” He turned to
me. “I wasn’t looking forward to losing my best friend and now I
guess I don’t have to.”

≈ ≈ ≈

The sun was threatening to rise at
any moment when Gia and Lairah let Chansey go and I had been in bed
for a couple of hours when I finally felt her next to me. “I never
realized there were so many decisions to be made about a wedding.
It’s incredible.”

She snuggled next to me and I
pulled her close. “Did you get it all done?”

“No. I had to tell them to pick
out the things I didn’t have time to choose,” she sadly
said.

“I’m sorry you’re not getting the
wedding you would have planned if we had more time, but I can’t say
that I’m sorry I will be your husband in less than a week. That’s
the only thing I can thank Marsala for.”

She nestled into my shoulder. “The
only thing I need for the perfect wedding is you. We don’t have to
have all of that other stuff to make it perfect.”

“Don’t worry. Lairah and Gia will
make sure that everything is the way you want it,” I
promised.