Once Upon A Midnight... (The Firsts Book 9.5) Read online

  Her arms wrapped around that strong back, she felt safe, and warm, and loved, even though she knew that she wasn’t any of those things. But this connection insisted that she was. He pumped into her body, life-giving, life-amazing, from his body to hers, the gift of new life, that would never happen if they were killed here before they ever got free again.

  But she felt it, felt him giving to her his pleasure and seed. Tears welled in eyes that were closed as she imagined the life that would never be, the children she would never have, dreams that would die here in the dark. Why was she pinning her lost future on this man?

  Because he was here, inside of her, and holding her, and would die here with her. A shared fate for a man and a woman in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  Collapsed against each other, both breathing hard, Taggert’s hand slipped back to her face. He let his fingers explore her features. “I don’t want to let go of you. God, I want to see your face, your eyes, every inch of you.”

  “You might never get to.”

  “I know. But I’d like to know how much you look like what I’ve pictured.”

  “I’ve pictured you with a Cro-Magnon forehead, a uni-brow, and teeth the size of Chiclets. How close was I?”

  Suddenly, Taggert laughed, and it was so contagious, Merry began to laugh, too. They were laughing so hard, still holding each other, that they were almost bouncing off the floor.

  Tears streaming down both of their cheeks, Taggert reached up and wiped his aside. “I wonder how much of that was hysteria.”

  “At least half.” Once the amusement subsided, they lay quietly.

  A good ten minutes later, Merry thought that she should say something. “You’re really good at this. Making love, I mean. Well, sex.”

  “I’m good, but I don’t know if that was all me or the fact that both of us know that it might be the last time.”

  “Yes, that’s crossed my mind. Still, you know how to use what you got.”

  “Gorgeous, I was motivated.”

  “Gorgeous? What, you think I’m gorgeous, even after my uni-brow comment? You might want to reserve that judgment until you’ve actually seen me.”

  “I don’t need to see you. I know that you’re gorgeous. You’re courageous, and bright, and have a wicked sense of humor. I know enough about Lauren to know that she would never be interested in someone who didn’t have a big heart, so I know that about you.”

  “Wow.” She didn’t know what to say. How generous he was to have thought this through and decided that, based only on the little he knew of her, that she was a beautiful person. That action alone made her opinion of him the same. She thought that he had to be one of the most noble men she’d ever known. And in spite of the dark, she was convinced that he was really attractive as well.

  His fingers moved across her breasts, playing with the nipples, erect still due to the stimulation and cold.

  “Also, these are one hundred percent tactile. I don’t need to see your breasts to know that they are spectacular. And that I need to get your clothes back on you and warm you up.”

  Merry realized that she must be cold, but she wasn’t feeling it.

  “Thank you for indulging me. I feel better. No matter how this plays out, let me just say that, if I had to be trapped in a room, I’m glad that I was trapped with you.”

  “I never turn down a lady. And, uh, ditto.”

  Ditto. She’d never really appreciated the elegance of that word. Tonight, it was perfect. Tonight, she would sleep, even here, cold and worried, because he had his arms around her and, true or not, she felt warm and safe there.

  A moment comes when you have to surrender to the truth, accept what is inevitable, and when that moment happens, and is embraced, a peace comes. The peace lets you know that it is all okay, allows you to accept that whatever happens will happen. A moment comes when you know that you must finish the hand that you’ve been dealt and that the cards will not change and the outcome is out of your hands.

  Both fell asleep, wrapped together, and true rest came. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Merry realized that it was Christmas Eve.

  Six

  “I can’t,” Tamesine whispered to herself as she finished dressing.

  But she knew that she had no choice. Not only could she do this, but she would.

  Marc poked his head into the bathroom. “Babe, are you okay? I haven’t heard one word from you tonight.”

  Nodding, she slid the final button into place on her blouse and smiled to her mate.

  “I am. I’ve just spent the past half hour trying to sort this mess. It just seems as if I should be capable of resolving this problem so that we can stop this man. But nothing comes.”

  “You told me before we went to bed this morning that all of this will work out in the end. I believed you then and I still do. The power within this household coupled with the intensity of your love of family and life is beyond anything I’ve ever seen. If you have to play along with him to get those people to safety, then you’ll play. I have no doubt that in the end, it will be the vampires, not the crazy human, who will be victorious.”

  “You always pick me up and make me feel sane and good.” Taking a deep breath, she stood. “Let’s get to first meal, then I’m going to go get this thing started.”

  Each took a child and moved down the stairs to join their family. Voices trailed from the dining area, laughter, and children’s giggles. As she and Marc entered with their babies, Tamesine scanned the room. Everything that she loved was in this house right now. Except Dez, and that was new. She still didn’t know what to think about the daughter that she’d given up centuries ago and only just found out about recently.

  But these vampires, friends and adopted family, she would do anything to protect them. Marc was right. This would go well because it had to.

  Koen looked up when he saw Tamesine and made his way through the increasing crowd of new arrivals. Once he reached her, he put a hand carefully on her forearm.

  “Have some dinner, then we’ll go,” he said.

  “We? No, Koen, I’ll do this alone. We don’t want to antagonize him. I’ll be fine.”

  “Bullshit!”

  Tamesine looked behind her. Marc was bouncing Fia in his arms as he looked from Koen, to Ahmose, to Xavier, who had gathered around them.

  “We’re your posse. Not negotiable, my love, so don’t even try to complain,” Marc told her.

  Tamesine shook her head. “He only asked for me. What if he thinks he’s been betrayed and refuses to release them?”

  Xavier had just finished a long draw from a bottle of MoonShine. “Damn, this stuff is amazin’.” He looked at Tamesine then. “The arsehole doesn’t care. As long as he gets what he wants, he doesn’t have any interest in the rest of us. We’ll make him nervous, but I don’t give a fuck about that! As long as ya convert him, he’ll be happy.”

  Koen pushed his aggressive brother back. “Bottom line, Tam. You’re not going in there alone.”

  Pulling her son closer and hugging him, her face buried against his soft cheeks, she felt moisture on her cheeks. She looked up at her collected protectors. They all knew that she was more powerful than every one of them, and they still stood there shoulder to shoulder telling her that they would be with her.

  “I love you all, you know that. These past years have been the greatest gift. I am truly blessed and this Christmas, I want to celebrate all of the wonderful things that the Mother Earth and the fates have seen their way to providing for us. I welcome your company. But, yes, Koen, let’s clear out this amazing food.”

  After Tamesine finished a plate filled with colorful Christmas tortes, she pulled the dirty business card from her pocket.

  Catching Marc’s gaze, she watched him nod his understanding, then dialed the number on the card.

  When he picked up, Claude said one word. “Good.”

  “There isn’t anything good about this, but I’m ready. Do you have what is required?”

 
; “You mean the restraints? Yes. I will send the address and I expect that you will be here soon.”

  Tamesine ended the call without responding. “He’s sending an address.”

  Koen stood. “I’ll have the cars brought around.”

  “All right. Let’s get this thing done. Park? Eillia?”

  Park and Eillia came forward and took the quiet babies from Tamesine and Marc after they kissed their foreheads.

  “Be good, my babies,” Tamesine whispered, then looked up at her friends. “Thank you. I expect we won’t be long.”

  Eillia smiled. “Just be careful. We have a lot planned for tonight.”

  “I look forward to it.”

  Xavier winced. “All right now, let’s get this finished so that I can get back here and have a conversation with that lovely little chef ya have, my brother.”

  Koen punched Xavier in the arm none too gently. “She’s human, and the daughter of one of my oldest blood-bonds. You keep your mitts off her.”

  “Bastard.”

  “Bitch.”

  But they grinned at each other. They’d lost precious centuries by holding grudges and they determined that they would stay close now. Whatever came, they loved each other and had each other’s backs. As young men nearly a thousand years earlier, they had a code that they lived by and it applied to their relationship now more than ever.

  “Be back soon.” Koen kissed his mate, who he thought looked more delicious than the triple chocolate chip cake his chef had prepared. He planned to lick the frosting off her later tonight.

  Marc took Tamesine’s hand and they followed Koen, Xavier, and Ahmose, three of the most powerful male first blood vampires known, out to the two waiting SUVs.

  An unremarkable dilapidated villa half an hour from Koen’s sat alone at the top of a hill.

  “Dismal,” Xavier remarked as the cars stopped in front of crumbling steps.

  “Fitting,” Koen said.

  Her heart beating hard, Tamesine got out and walked up the steps carefully. “Let’s just slice my wrist, get him fed, and get the fuck out of here.”

  “A lady with a plan. I like that.” Xavier laughed as he upturned another bottle of MoonShine.

  Ahmose grinned. “I think I’m going to have to send you some bottles. This is the best wine in the world.”

  “I agree with ya, and I’ll take ya up on that.”

  “I will make the arrangements.”

  Normal conversation, Tamesine thought, as she pushed the door open without knocking, Marc on her heels, the others right behind.

  At a table made of local wood, Claude sat with a half-filled bottle of vodka. He looked up, apparently drunk.

  “Ah, my angel has arrived,” he blurted out, and rose up to face the group of vampires.

  His eyes moved slowly from one face to the next. Finally, he spoke. “I’m not surprised. Fine. I have no problem with your being here. It doesn’t affect anything. So, my lady, shall we go below?”

  Tamesine had no response. Her eyes hard, her jaw set, she just stared at him.

  “O…kay… Um, follow me, please.” Claude turned and went around a corner to stairs that disappeared into the dark. “Be careful, they’re steep and not in the best shape.”

  Tamesine followed him down the steps, the four huge men behind her. She’d never felt so angry, because of what she was being forced to do, or so safe, because of these big men that loved her and were there for her.

  Leading her into a second large basement room, devoid of any outside light source, Claude walked to the back wall and turned to face the five vampires.

  “These cuffs and chains should hold me. I should let you know that I’m not alone here, either. I have ten people here to watch and make certain this goes well. They will take care of me while you sleep. Each night, you must return to continue the infusion of blood. Once we’re done, I will make arrangements for your people to be released. It may take some time, I really have no idea where they are. But I’ll do it. I promise.”

  “Your promises are worthless.”

  Claude nodded as he snapped the cuffs around his wrists. “All right. I’m ready.”

  He looked nervous. Tamesine advanced on him, her mind racing. He should look nervous, she had half a mind to tear his heart out right there, right then. Only two feet from Claude, who waited silently, she stopped and stared at him. How could he justify his cruel actions? How could she give him power and near immortality?

  “I’m not afraid,” he said, loud, his chin raised.

  “Then you’re a fool.”

  Claude nodded. “Maybe. But I still win this round. I told you once before that I knew someday we would meet in battle and I still believe it’s true. But not tonight. Not tomorrow night.”

  Glancing behind her, Tamesine gave her protective troop a smile. “At least he got that right.”

  Claude watched the four men smile at that. He wasn’t afraid, but he wasn’t as certain as he sounded that he wasn’t going to die here tonight instead of achieving immortality. “I also have a staff that will watch all that you do, and they’re equipped with cameras. Anything that doesn’t feel right could result in death for your friends. Well, that’s all I have to say. When are you going to…”

  Tamesine struck before he could finish the question.

  Her wrist torn, she shoved it over his mouth and forced him to the ground. “Drink! You wanted this, so drink!”

  He choked, she knew that he would.

  “I’ll do this. But carefully, as pleasant as possible? Never.”

  Pressing hard, she watched his eyes go wild with terror. He couldn’t breathe through the brutality of this initial feeding, and he tried to push her hand from his mouth. It wasn’t possible for a human to overcome the strength of a first blood vampire so his pummeling fists landed like taps on her slim wrist. He tried to groan a protest.

  “Shut up. This is your making, at least be a man about it. I already know that you are a pathetic coward, but try not to keep proving it while we do this.”

  Fury burned Tamesine, made her cruel, and she hated that almost as much as she hated Claude. She was a gentle soul who had found her way through deep pain, from a tragic life to the beautiful one she had now with her family and mate, and this forced conversion was fucking with her spirit. Closing her eyes, she tried to reach inside herself to touch the woman she had become and purge the beast that used to live inside.

  Suddenly, she felt a warm hand on her arm, the one that held Claude down, and another on her neck beneath her hair. “I’m here…I’ll always be here.”

  Marc, holding her, grounding her, loving her. She sighed and pressed back into him. “Thank you, my love. I am fine now.”

  Behind them, Koen, Ahmose, and Xavier waited, ready in case this wasn’t what the asshole had said it was. They were all here because they expected something worse, expected this man to trap or kill Tamesine. He had been a part of one of the worse disasters in supernatural history, the final link to that abomination that targeted those not fully human. There was no trust, no belief that he wasn’t up to something that might rebuild that threat, and they would not let that happen for anything.

  The fact that he was chained to allow this conversion meant that he probably did mean it this time…that what he really wanted was to become vampire. Koen didn’t believe that he’d let his hostages go. He looked at Ahmose and Xavier, both as edgy as he was, their eyes moving around the nasty basement. He looked back at Tamesine with a smile. She wasn’t making it easy. Outstanding.

  This did not matter. She would make Claude vampire, as he requested. Whether he ultimately released the little flower shop girl and Koen’s head of security, Koen vowed that he wouldn’t be vampire for very long. They could do a blood trace for Tamesine’s blood, they could find him, and they would end him forever.

  Four big guys came down the stairs as Tamesine finished the first blood feeding. They were all human. The five vampires looked at them with questions in their eyes. The b
iggest of the group stepped forward, a big handgun at his side, which he left there.

  “We work for him. We’re just here to protect him while you are gone. That’s it. Sir.” His voice was strong, but a little wavery. It was apparent that Claude had told them what they all were, and that he was nervous.

  “You might want to get a new job. This one is going to kill you. Eventually. Tam? Finished?”

  She’d wiped her wrist with a wet towel that Marc gave her. “For now, I am. I’ll have to come back later for another feeding.”

  Koen nodded. “I know. We’ll be here.”

  This time she didn’t argue with him.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here, then. We have a Christmas Eve celebration to get to.”

  “I’m stoked. Dancin,’ singin,’ fuckin,’ booze and pie. My kind of night.” Xavier was already halfway up the stairs before his brother caught up to him.

  “One of us should remain here to keep an eye on this creature.”

  Xavier rolled his eyes. “Aye, I agree. Who gets first shift?”

  Pursing his lips, a glimmer in his eyes, Koen smacked Xavier lightly on the chest. “I’ll spell ya in four hours.”

  “Fuck me,” Xavier whispered, but he nodded and headed back down the stairs. “Make sure that someone sends me a few bottles of that wine from Africa, eh?”

  Ahmose was just walking by. “I’ll see to it. I will take the next shift.”

  “I should be the one who stays. I have to feed him anyway.” Tamesine came from the back of the basement, Marc’s hand wrapped around hers.

  “Nay, little lady. Ye have kids and it’s Christmas Eve. Go enjoy the holiday with them. I’ll figure out how to amuse meself.” His eyes landed on the collapsed figure beginning to writhe on the concrete floor. “I don’t have a contract with the man to behave, now do I?”

  “Don’t do anything to him, Xavier. Please. This needs to go right. I took my rage out on him even though I know better. You don’t poke the bear if you don’t want it to bite you. Two lives are at stake.”