Charlotte & Sebastian (8 page)

Chapter Fifteen

As they approached they saw Sarah pulling on Mikey's arm as he waded into the water. She was having no effect and Mikey was already waist deep.

“Mikey! Snap out of it!”

Sebastian raced to her side and helped her pull him back to the sand. Still under what she assumed was the creatures influence, he began to struggle against his colleagues and yanked his arm free, his elbow connecting sharply with Sarah's face and she cried out as she fell backwards onto her bum in the shallows.

Charlotte knelt at her side, “Are you okay?”

Sarah's eyes had teared up at the pain but she nodded and climbed to her feet. “We need to stop him somehow. He'll just keep fighting until he gets to it.”

Maybe Sebastian heard her because his hand moved to Mikey's neck, near his collarbone, and pressed. Instantly Mikey sagged, his eyes rolling back in his head and Seb caught him before he hit the water. Charlotte hurried over to help him pull the dead-weight that was Mikey onto the beach.

“
Did you hear anything?” Sebastian asked as they set him down.

Sarah shook her head. “No. It was strange; one minute we were searching near the water, the next he was walking into it. I tried to stop him but it was like I wasn’t even there.” Her eyes lowered to her lover, “Is he going to be okay?”

“He should be. I just knocked him out for a little while so we could carry on searching without having to worry about him taking another swim.”

Charlotte strode over to the water's edge and stared out at the boats bobbing on the surface a little ways out. If she remembered correctly, Mikey had been heading in their direction before they'd subdued him. Was the creature somewhere within those crafts?

Glancing over her shoulder, she said, “I think she's somewhere in those boats. That's the way Mikey was headed before we stopped him.”

Sebastian came to stand beside her and stared intently. “What do you sense?” He asked.

She blinked, surprised by his question but closed her eyes and let her senses expand. The noise of the traffic grew louder, as did that of the docks so she filtered them out until they were nothing but a quiet buzz at the back of her mind.

She sensed the river's current and knew their guess had been correct about the death's happening on this side. Pulling back a little, she could make out small life-forms moving through the water—fish, she was sure—and then she found a larger form. Her head tilted a little as she listened to what her senses were telling her. A female.

“A female creature,
within those boats
,” she said, opening her eyes once more. Turning her head to look at Seb, she was surprised by the look of admiration on his face.

“
You really are getting good at this,” he said, pulling her into his side and pressing a kiss to her forehead. She had to fight the urges to grin like an idiot and throw herself into his arms.

“
We should do something before he wakes up and we have to worry about him drowning again.”

“
I could stay with him, it might be safer for me than swimming out there,” she said, nodding at the water before looking back down at an unconscious Mikey and stroking his face.

Watching how her ex best friend stared down at the other man she had to wonder just how deeply her feelings ran for him. It was unusual for Sarah to be so concerned about her bed partners or even for it to be the same guy for more than one night.

“That's probably a good idea,” Charlotte agreed, and caught Sarah's surprised glance in her direction.

“
All right then, we should go now.” Sebastian said and headed back into the water.

It took them a good ten minutes to swim out to the boats and in the darkness they looked ominous, especially when a vengeful siren or nymph could be waiting in their depths.

Something touched her arm and she whirled away, frightened.

She'd never been a fan of open water, mainly thanks to watching
Jaws
when she was younger but it hadn’t helped when she'd had an accident in a kayak as a teen and been submerged under water for several long minutes before she'd managed to free herself.

“
It's just me,” Sebastian said quietly and touched her cheek lightly. “I think we should split up. We'll be more likely to find her.”

Charlotte opened her mouth to argue but then closed it again, realising he was right. She glanced into the shadows of the boats and shivered. She could do this, she told herself. “All right. I'll shout if I find her.”

“Me too,” and then she heard the sound of him swimming away, obviously going to the other end of the boats to start from that side.

Taking a deep, calming breath she swam between the two boats and glanced around. Nothing stood out. She went deeper into the depths at a slow pace and closed her eyes to concentrate her senses.

Her eyes popped open and she stopped. She was close. Very close.

Clouds moved in the sky and soft moonlight lit up her surroundings. Charlotte took the opportunity to glance around and froze. Several feet away she made out the top half of a woman's head, just the eyes above water level and they were staring directly at her.

The creature had pale hair from what she could make out in the darkness and the eyes were almond shaped. From what she could see, the creature was very pretty and would catch the eye of any male who happened by.

“
Sebastian!” She called, never taking her eyes off it.

Lifting its head a little it gave her a smile, showcasing its small but incredibly sharp pointy teeth before slipping beneath the surface with barely a ripple.

That was just creepy.

Swallowing hard, Charlotte used her feet to propel her backwards until her back hit the boat behind her, her eyes scanning the water nervously.

“Charlie? Where are you?” Sebastian called.

“
I'm near where I started my search.” She told him, then added, “She's gone underwater, Seb, I don’t know where she is!”

She could hear splashes coming from her left and knew he was coming to help her but her panic was growing.

A ripple to her right grabbed her attention and she spun to face it but there was nothing there. Turning back she came face to face with the nymph.

Charlotte screamed as the creature lunged at her, tackling her under the water and into its cold depths.

Instinct took over and Charlotte swung at the creature but the water slowed her movements and the blow barely connected. Irritated, she pushed away and swam for the surface but the nymph grabbed her leg and tugged her back underwater. Her lungs were starting to burn and she kicked out with her leg hoping to dislodge her but if anything the nymph grasped harder and began to tug her back towards the bottom.

Twisting her body in an attempt to escape, she began to panic when her instinct to breath became unbearable and black spots began to dance in her vision. If she didn’t breathe soon she would pass out and drown but if she took a breath while down here, she'd drown anyway.

A shadowy form swam past her and ploughed into the nymph, who let her go to defend herself.

Charlotte kicked with her legs in an attempt to get to the surface before she passed out but it seemed the further she swam the further away the surface became. Her limbs grew heavy and seized with lack of oxygen and the instinct to breath just took over.

Her lungs filled with water and the pain was unbearable but it didn’t last long before she slipped into a world of black.

Chapter Sixteen

Charlotte was in a world of pain. Everything hurt, absolutely everything.

Her head turned the slightest bit and she almost sobbed from the agony it caused. A weak noise left her lips and she sensed someone come to stand beside her.

“Charlie? You need to wake up.”

A noise of protest left her and she tried to swallow but her mouth was too dry. She licked her lips.

“Would you like some water?”

Forcing her eyelids open she squinted against the bright light and saw Seb leaning over her, his brow drawn together in worry. When he saw her eyes were open, he smiled. “Hey.” He held up the glass of ice chips in question.

She managed a nod and he plucked a chip from the glass and popped it in her mouth. It felt glorious on her parched tongue and she moaned in relief. Her lips parted silently asking for another and Sebastian obliged, sliding another ice chip into her mouth.

After her fifth ice chip she felt better, “You kicked her arse, right?”

Sebastian's face grew sombre. “Of course. She nearly killed you.”

“
And Mikey's all right?”

He nodded once, “He was awake by the time I pulled you back to shore. He drove while I kept you alive in the back.”

Kept her alive? “So... I died?”

“
Your heart almost stopped twice,” he answered, his face going pale and strained. “Once in the water. As soon as I felt the connection between us breaking I pulled you from the water onto one of the boats and gave you CPR. The nymph was gloating the whole time and when I made sure you were stable, I made her pay for that. The second time was on the drive back to the compound. I gave you CPR again with Sarah's help and you were stable when we arrived here.” He ran his hands through his hair and let out a shuddering breath. “It's been three days, I was beginning to think you weren’t going to wake up.”

Her heart had almost stopped twice. To think she'd come so close to dying and taking Seb with her. She grasped his hand in hers and squeezed. “Sarah helped?” She asked, surprised.

“She was pretty hysterical in the car when I told her your heart was failing.”

Charlotte could picture the scene easily in her mind and it made her shiver. “I'm glad we didn’t die.”

“Me too.”

They sat in silence for a while just grateful that they were both still alive.

The door to the room opened and Sarah and the Director walked in, both looking uneasy, though, Sarah guessed, for different reasons.

The Director stepped forward, his eyes taking in Charlotte before moving to Sebastian, “We have a problem that I could use your help with.”

The vampire nodded once and bent to press a light kiss to her lips before following the boss from the room.

Sarah shifted awkwardly from foot to foot and scratched at her arm. “I want to thank you again for saving Mikey.”

“Of course we were going to help. He's a friend.”

“
Well, you didn’t have to and—”

Charlotte's brow furrowed. “We did,” she interrupted.

Sarah groaned. “I'm making a pig's ear of this. Look. I'm sorry, all right? I'm sorry for what I said and did to you after you were turned. It was uncalled for and I really am sorry. Of course I'd have wanted you to live! You're my best friend. At least I hope you still are?”

Charlotte snorted out a laugh. “It hurt what you said, but I never stopped being your friend, Sarah.”

The other woman stepped closer to the bed. “So we're still besties?”

“
As long as you can live with me and Sebastian being vampires, yeah.”

“
As long as you can knock my boyfriend out again the next time he gets snared by a nymph?”

They both started laughing and the door opened, Sebastian coming back into the room. He looked between them, a small smile playing about his lips as he took in their happy faces. “Friends again?”

“Yep,” Charlotte said, a huge smile still on her face. “What did the Director want?”

He hesitated and shot a glance at Sarah.

For once her friend actually picked up on the silent message. “I really should go check on Mikey. See if he's all right.” Walking to the bed, she leant over and hugged Charlotte. “I'll see you later?”

“
Sure.”

Her friend slipped from the room and Seb came to sit on the bed beside her.

“Is it that bad?” She asked, noting how tense he was.

“
It was about Lucien. They think he's planning something so they're thinking of moving him somewhere else.”

“
What's that got to do with you?” She asked.

Running his hand through his dark hair, he looked across the room and seemed to gather his thoughts. “I set up the Agency.”

“What?”

“
After I was turned and went through what I did with Marielle, I set up the Agency as a way to stop what happened to me, happening to others. It started with members of the church. A priest took me in and I explained what had happened to me. Luckily, he took pity on me and told me that he and a few others had been ridding their city of creatures like me and much worse for a while and that they'd be happy to have my help. After a few months when we'd recruited more people to help us, we set up the Agency. It's evolved a bit over the years but it's still basically the same company I started decades ago. I passed the company over to a Director long ago and they only involve me when it's something major.”

“
Like Lucien,” she said softly, fascinated by the story he'd just told her. She'd never thought of how the Agency had started life or who might have been behind it. She'd thought them long dead. But it had been Sebastian. She stared at him in wonder. “That's why you're the only paranormal who works here.” He gave a wary nod. “Wow,” she breathed.

Sebastian's lips turned up at her response. “Are you feeling better? Do you need some more blood? I gave you some as soon as you were comfortable and we've been giving you bagged blood while you were out.”

Charlotte's stomach let out an embarrassingly loud rumble at the mention of the liquid and she cringed. “I feel a lot better, but I am hungry,” she confessed.

Her lovers smile turned sexy and he leant over her to press his lips to hers in a soft kiss. Parting her lips, she sighed into his mouth as his tongue licked at her fangs. Jolts of euphoria ran through her body, obliterating what pain she felt and her hands came up to tangle in the dark locks of his hair.

Sebastian crawled onto the bed and hovered over her as they kissed. His tongue repeated flicked at her fangs and she felt her body respond, writhing beneath him. She gasped his name and arched off the bed, wanting—needing—to feel him inside her. But he didn’t even try to undress her. Instead he shifted his weight onto one arm and used his other to run down her body, circling her nipples, running over the slight ridges of her ribs, down past her navel and lower. All it took was a slight brush of his thumb on her clit and she shattered, her neck arching and her body spasming as she came.

Sebastian's hand gently grasped her nape and lifted her to his throat. She didn’t even hesitate to sink her fangs into his neck and drink. His blood tasted like nectar and she lapped at it greedily.

She vaguely heard his groan of pleasure and the shuddering of his body against her own.

After several minutes she stopped, feeling full, and licked at the bites marks on his neck and Sebastian rolled to lay at her side and pulled her into his arms. His lips brushed her temple, “Go to sleep, Charlie. We'll deal with Lucien later.”