42nd & Lex (19 page)

“I should say it does. Suit her that is.
Don’t you agree, Lucan?” The older vampire chimes in again with a little
chuckle. The old man was probably around when people still spoke Latin. Lucan
nods in approval and laughs as well. The others are soon laughing too and I
feel as if I have missed an inside joke, possibly at my expense.

“Mr. O’Reilly,” begins the younger man. “Do
you think there is a connection between Ms. Cole and this Halfling?”

“Aye, Reveré. Ms. Cole is an attorney and
she is handling a divorce matter for the young lady who is married to the
Halfling. It is believed he knew of the divorce suit when he came to my apartment
last night as he was served with the papers that morning. Ms. Cole certainly
had no indication he was anything but human when she took the case. I received
confirmation this morning from an associate of mine that the Halfling, Mark
Ainsworth, has hired Virgil Hicks to represent him.” The last sentence hangs in
the air over our heads. The two men on the Council give quick glances to the
woman seated between them at this news but she gives no sign that this fact
should bother her. 

“I see,” the old man says thoughtfully.
“Thank you Mr. O’Reilly. I trust you will agree to serve as Indagator for this
matter?” Indagator? I remember a little bit from of Latin from high school. It
means investigator. I knew the old man had been around when they spoke Latin.

“I am most honored, Reveré.” Lucan bows
again. “And if it would please the Council, I have another matter of business
to discuss with you as well. Unrelated to the Halfling.”

“That can wait, Lucan.” The blonde woman
waives him off. “First, let us introduce ourselves properly to Ms. Cole. My
name is Sophie Colette. This is Jonathan and Arius.” She gestures to the men on
either side of her. Arius, the older man, nods at me and smiles. Jonathan
extends his hand down to me over the bench. I reach up, intending to exchange a
rather awkward handshake, but instead he pulls my hand forward slightly as he
bends down to kiss the back of it. 

“It is a pleasure, Ms. Cole. Welcome.” He
purrs after his cold lips brush the back my hand. I feel no amps coming from
him, which is strange given what I know about them. Maybe Jonathan is just
being polite by in keeping them in check.  

“The pleasure is all mine, each of you.” I
reply looking each of them directly in the eye. My closer examination of Arius
reveals not only is he old, but he is really, really old. He must have been
quite ancient when he became a vampire. His eyes are not gray but actually a
clouded over blue. How could a vampire have cataracts and why didn’t he get
them fixed? Maybe he did not trust modern medical science, or maybe they didn’t
bother him. I have so much to ask Lucan when we are alone again. I don’t look
but I imagine him rolling his eyes at me, having already heard my questions.

“Now, Lucan,” Sophie Colette begins again. “What
other business would you present to us this day?” Her formality coupled with
her Louisiana accent makes me smile. 

Lucan steps away from me and snaps to
attention like a soldier. This must be the part that involves me, the part
unrelated to Mark and his visit. He looks gravely serious and a wave of
apprehension washes over me. So far, I have managed to charm the Council and I
hope whatever Lucan has to say keeps me in their good graces. I can feel them
staring at us in anticipation.

“Reveré,” he begins solemnly. His voice is
strong and the accent of his ancestry more prominent than usual. “I believe I
have found my Sodalis and I seek your permission.”

“Sodalis, eh?” Arius’ cloudy eyes are
sparkling behind their haze as he mulls over something in his mind. “Wonderful,
Lucan. I was beginning to worry. One such as yourself should not be left to
wander eternity unmatched.”

Sophie and Jonathan looked at each other
thoughtfully and then down at me with big, goofy grins out of sync with the
formality of Lucan’s address. “Well then, permission granted Mr. O’Reilly,”
Jonathan adds, still smiling at me. “It was wonderful to meet you Abri. Please,
if there is anything we can do for you, all you need to do is ask.”

“Ah, thank you, that’s very kind,” I
stammer. I look over at Lucan with a pointed stare.
What the hell is a
Sodalis?
I know he can hear my question but he is ignoring it. The goofy
grin has spread to his face as well. My temper begins to flare, as it’s obvious
I am on the outside of something very important and apparently very amusing.

The Council is gone before I can risk asking
Arius any further questions.

I have managed to keep my thoughts in check
the entire elevator ride back to the lobby and out on the curb while we wait
the valet to bring the car. But once I am behind the wheel I can’t take it any
longer. Being in charge of the car gives me a sense of control over the
situation. “What’s a Sodalis?” I demand.

Lucan is completely still unlike our last
confrontation in the hallway outside the Council chambers. He’s like a deer
caught in the headlights; not twitching or squirming the way a human might
after being asked an uncomfortable question in an enclosed space. He’s not even
breathing. After a few seconds, I hear him inhale deeply. “It’s Latin.”

Arg,
here we go again with the Latin. “I might have guessed that. Latin for what?”

“I
thought you took Latin in high school? You knew Indagator,” he says through his
teeth. This is going nowhere and if either one of us has reason to be speaking
through their teeth it’s me. 

“True, but only for two years. I don’t
remember much. Is it something bad? Something I don’t want to know about?”

“Soul mate. It means soul mate.” The words
hang in the air between us as I ease the Evora to a stop at a red light. Lucan
is looking up at the roof of the car and biting his lower lip when I glance
over. He cringes almost imperceptibly as our eyes meet. Before I have chance to
formulate a response he begins again. “When you’ve been around a hundred years
or so you can start looking for your Sodalis. Been a vampire, I mean. Not
everyone finds theirs but you know when you do because…” he stops again and
looks to the ceiling.

“You
can hear each other’s thoughts?” I venture with a little more sarcasm than
necessary.

“Yup.” The one word reply pings around the
car begging me to follow it with words of acceptance. Lucan is drumming on the
door with his right hand as if he’s preparing to abandon ship if necessary.

“Okay.” I can’t think of anything monumental
to fill the widening void between us so I figure this will have to do. Is that
all, is that what he’s been worried about, I wonder. Relief washes over me
because he has put into words the feelings I have felt since we met in the
elevator. Two simple words to explain my life. I bite down on my lower lip to
stifle the giggle welling up inside of me. My shoulders are shaking as I fight
to keep myself contained.

“Are
you crying?” Lucan asks as if he’s suddenly deaf to my inner monolog.

I shake my head, still biting my lower lip.
I can’t hold it anymore. My laughter bursts forth, filling the empty space
between us, drowning our previous one word exchanges.

“I’m sorry, Lucan. I’m not laughing at you. This
is obviously serious shit. I laugh when I’m nervous.” I wipe away a few tears with
the back of my hand. The light turns green and I steady myself to navigate the
Evora forward again. “It’s just funny, you know. Monday morning I’m lying in my
bed with a serious hangover thinking about how lonely I am and how I’m wishing
for something more. I haven’t had a date in months. The next day, I meet you in
what I'm sure you can agree were some very unusual circumstances. Lucan, I
can’t get you out of my head, not from the instant I stepped on your toes in
the elevator. There is a connection between us that I can’t deny. Call it soul
mates, chemistry, happenstance, whatever, I don’t know. This whole time I’ve
been thinking my girly emotions are getting the better of me and now it turns
out I’m not the only one feeling this way. I’m sorry, but that is just fucking
funny to me for some reason.” I forget to add that I curse a lot when I’m
nervous.      

Lucan is still looking at the roof of the
car, silent and still. “Oh well, at least it’s not weird or anything. I don’t
know if I could handle it if you thought it was weird.” I can spot sarcasm. 

“Weird? No, I mean unless you’re going to
tell me that you turn into a bat during the full moon or something. That would
be weird.”

“Good,”
he sighs. “No bats.”

It is that moment that I know I have sealed
my fate with Lucan. We are soul mates, Sodalises,—er Sodali, and I am no longer
soul restless and empty. We ride the rest of the way in silence. I have so much
to think about but I obviously need some space for that.

Once upstairs in the apartment, I start packing
my bags in anticipation of returning to my own apartment before dinner. Lucan
appears to be calmly channel surfing in the living room but I can feel the
worry and anxiety rolling off him. He’s trying to give me my space while I pack
and I appreciate it. After a few minutes, I peek at him from behind the
bathroom door. He is pretending to watch a basketball game. It’s just after
five o’clock when I check my watch. How did this day go by so fast?

“Lucan, honey?” I call from the bathroom,
taking a look at my hair in the mirror. I’m going to need a shower before
dinner. “I think I’m going to head over to my place and get ready. Are you
coming with me or what?” He is behind me before I finish the second sentence,
kissing my shoulder. “Are you coming with me?”

“You’re not mad that I want to come?” he asks,
his eyes begging for my approval in the reflection of the mirror. “Especially
after this afternoon, I don’t want you to feel like I’m smothering you.”

“I’m
not mad at all. I’m just used to being independent, that’s all. And as for this
afternoon, I kinda dropped a little relationship bomb on you as well, so we’re
even.”

His
eyes light up and he nuzzles my neck, grazing me with his teeth. My breath
catches and he takes an apologetic step back. My heart is in my throat. I’m not
ready to admit to him that I want this so I clamp my mind shut.

“Ah,
sorry,” he mumbles. “I promise you won’t even see me. Just have fun with your
friend and I will make sure to stay far enough away that I can’t, um, hear you
either.”

“When you say hear me, do you mean with your
ears or your mind?” I hadn’t considered before that his proximity tonight would
allow for both possibilities. 

“Both. I think I have figured out how to
tune you out some. I was able to shut it off while we were at the Enclave. Plus,
I can’t hear your thoughts when there is a wall or something solid between us. Just
now, I didn’t know you were planning to leave until you called my name. As for
my hearing, a crowded restaurant typically takes my hearing down to just-above-average-human
if I’m not concentrating. I’ll bring my iPod just in case. I think we will be
fine.”

Good. At least there is hope that I won’t
spend the rest of my life retreating to the bathroom every time I need to
think. Maybe we need an apartment with a few more walls in it. Lucan’s face
drops a bit.

“Honestly, Lucan! I can’t not think about
things just because you’re in the same room forever. Seriously, you would know
everything—what I was planning to do for your birthday, what I got you for Christmas,
whether I was really in the mood or not. Actually, that last one might not be
so bad.” I back myself into him a bit just for emphasis. 

“So you’re planning on being around long
enough for my birthday and Christmas?” he replies, skirting the obvious sex
reference. 

“I don’t know, when’s your birthday?” I
tease. 

“March 17
^th
,” he replies,
squeezing my shoulders just a bit. Screw his hands; I want him to run his teeth
across them but I know he won’t after my reaction. I bite my lip at my wayward
thoughts. What’s gotten into me lately?

“Saint Patrick’s Day? You’re joking?” I
giggle, turning around to face him.

“No, but in all fairness that wasn’t even a
holiday, at least not like you’re accustomed to, when I was born. What about
you?”

“October 31
^st
.” Mine isn’t much better.
“So are you coming with me? I am going to take a taxi if you aren’t ready. I
don’t want to have to worry about parking a car tonight, especially the Evora.”

“I’ll come with you and we can take the
sedan again. Were you planning on spending the night at you’re place?” He tries
not to look to expectant.   

“Well, I hadn’t thought about it exactly.” I
am lying. After his stunt with the nuzzling neck bite, I am coming back here
come hell or high water. “I figured we might go back to my apartment after dinner
and hang out. Let’s drive over in the car and then Sarah and I can cab it from
there.”

“Okay. Let me know when you’re ready.” His
response gives no indication of whether or not he knows what I’ve been thinking
about.

Lucan’s security sweep of my apartment reveals
nothing but my poor housekeeping but he insists on standing guard while I am in
the shower, just in case. With the bathroom door closed, I am free to let my
mind wonder. Lucan knocks on the door just as I turn off my hairdryer.

“It’s almost time. I’m going to head out
before Sarah arrives. Please be careful,” he shouts through the door.

In keeping with my plan to pick up where we
left off Wednesday night, I open the door for him wearing just my towel. “What?”
I ask as if I hadn’t heard him over the noise.

“Uh, I am leaving since it’s almost time for
Sarah’s arrival, although I might have changed my mind now.”

“Later,” I tease. “Now be a good boy and see
yourself out. I’ll be fine.”