Contingency (12 page)

I thought it over for a minute but really there was nothing to mull over for long. I didn’t care what people thought of me normally and I hoped to be long gone out of 1904 soon, so I definitely didn’t care what everyone here would think. Working so closely with him would definitely give me ample opportunity to find out all I could about the supposedly rogue vampires.

I smiled across the room at my blood sucking companion. “I’d be glad to be your pretend mistress, then. Should I call you Soren?” The vampire walked across the room to stand only inches away from me. His power seemed to roll off of him making me realize in a blink who and what I was dealing with. Unfortunately, he seemed prone to dark mood swings at the most bizarre moments. I caught myself before I backed up a step to get away from the power radiating off of him. I couldn’t appear to be a weakling, cowering away from his stare at every turn. I stiffened my back and tilted my chin up to stare directly into his beautifully powerful eyes. I idly wondered how old he really was and how much he had seen in those years to make him seem so untouchable.

“Yes, Soren would seem right, wouldn’t it? And I’ll call you Sage, of course.” He leaned in a bit closer his eyes boring into mine and his breath stirring the hairs around my temple. “It won’t be so bad pretending to be lovers, would it?” he asked in a low husky voice. I swallowed and wet my lips with the tip of my tongue. His gaze followed the movement and I’m pretty sure my heart rate would have tripped emergency alarms had I been hooked up to a hospital monitor. “No, it won’t be so bad.” I said honestly. “But, that’s all it would be, correct? Just an understanding, a masquerade to keep your bachelorhood intact so you can carry on with your nefarious deeds?” I was trying for a teasing tone, wanting him to take the bait and ease back on the powerful waves rolling off his body. I felt like those waves were battering my body against the rocky shore of a deserted beach somewhere.

He produced a devilish smile that did nothing to assuage my nervousness and his eyes twinkled at the challenge. I gulped. “Having you on my arm will be a delight, I’m sure. I find myself looking forward to our
conversations
.” His voice lowered to a rumble causing my lower stomach to quiver; and his tone made it clear that he had more in mind than mere conversations, but I wouldn’t let his insinuations scare me off, I was getting exactly what I needed out of this deal. I felt ecstatic and wanted to jump up and down or do the jig.

A moment of insanity seized me and I decided to see how safe I’d be while working in close quarters with Soren. I never knew that somewhere inside me there was a little girl who liked to play with fire. Hell, this little girl evidently was a pyromaniac just waiting for the right moment to add gasoline to the mix and pray she wouldn’t get burned. Yeah, good luck with that!

Before I lost my nerve, I leaned my body slightly into his and wrapped my arms around his neck burying my fingers into his hair. “Seal the deal with a kiss?” I asked, my lips an inch away from his. He seemed momentarily thrown of kilter but recovered amazingly fast as he gently rubbed his lips across mine, one caress, two caresses, three caresses. Oh my. His lips mashed against mine as he angled his head to gain better access. His arms encircled my waist and he crushed me against his chest, I brought my hands down to his shoulders to steady myself against the tremors that threatened to wrack my body.

My mind screamed that this wasn’t supposed to be happening just as my lips opened to allow his tongue access inside me. The rational part of my mind went completely silent as my pretend vampire lover kissed me like I was some foreign delicacy to savor. I ran my tongue over his bottom lip and he answered in kind with a growl deep in his throat.

Somewhere between the growl and my aggressive response, something that neither of us expected happened. I felt my body tighten like it was getting ready to spring... or like I was about to warp, and a warm rush of power washed over me leaving a tingly sensation all over my body. I gasped and Soren jerked away from me like I’d whipped out a stake and gone all Buffy on him.

Oh, shit.

Chapter Nineteen

Soren stared at me from a few feet away with a mix of wonder and rage. Let me tell you, being at the receiving end of a vampire’s powerful stare is not a fun position to be in. My lips still felt tingly and swollen and my heart beat was winning its own little race as I slipped my hand into my pocket. My fingers didn’t even get to graze the hilt of my dirk before Soren had me pinned against the top of the desk.

I only entertained warping for a split second before I dismissed it as counter productive, I’d already screwed up my mission up bad enough. With his hands around my neck he leaned down and whispered harshly into my ear. “Who are you and who sent you.” I opened my mouth with no idea what to say, when he cut me off “and don’t dare lie to me, I already know you are not who you say you are after that little show of power.” My mind went blank momentarily. Had that been
my
power? If it was I had never experienced it like that before, I had thought it was his power washing over me.

The fingers of his left hand were digging into my cheeks as he held me in place. I tried to think quickly, to come up with some logical explanation for what just happened that he would believe, but I was very sure he’d see right through any crap that I’d feed him. So, I told him the truth. I took as deep as a breath as I could “I don’t know what that power wave was... I thought it came from you. I am here to try and figure out what is going on with the rogue vampires at the behest of the Cererbus.” I met his stare with difficulty. His grip lessened just enough to allow me to breathe a bit easier.

“So, Cerberus must suspect me of being involved or at least aware of what is going on in order to send in a spy.” he nearly spat the word. I didn’t deny it when he looked at me for confirmation. “That still doesn’t explain you.” He said thoughtfully. You’re not a vampire or a were, no you’re not entirely human either as much as you’d like me to believe you are,” he commented almost lazily to himself. “One more time. Who are you?” he asked. I opened my mouth to deny it when he grabbed the edge of my skirt and jerked it up over my knees. My sense of self preservation kicked into high gear and I couldn’t have stopped myself from warping if I’d tried. Even as inhumanly fast as I warped, Soren was just fast enough to grab the dirk from the thigh holster on my garter. I was across the room against a far wall breathing heavily before I realized he had been going after my weapon and hadn’t intended on sexually abusing me.

Too late to take it back though, his rage earlier was nothing compared to his shock just then. He looked at me with his hazel eyes wide and the golden ring around them glowing brightly. I looked at the ground cursing myself for allowing my fears to rule me. Again. I straightened my skirt and walked slowly over to the settee and sat down feeling more tired than ever, and feeling disappointed that I’d ruined my mission before it had even begun. Soren came over to sit in a chair in front of me, he reached over slowly and handed me my dirk. I raised a brow in surprise.

“You’re a warper,” he said, his voice soft and a bit thoughtful. I jerked back in surprise. How would he know? He looked at me guessing my thoughts. “When you’ve lived as long as I have there isn’t much you wouldn’t know about or at least have heard,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. He stroked the imaginary stubble at his chin and sighed “Things are far worse than I imagined, then.”

I snorted. “You could say that. I’ve been working on my powers and taking classes for weeks since I warped here, just to go undercover and blow it all in one hour by a damn kiss.” I couldn’t help myself, I was pissed off at the whole situation and I didn’t see the need to pretend in front of him any longer. I dropped my head into my hands. “Now what the Hell am I supposed to do?” I groaned.

If he was offended at my blunt language he didn’t say anything, his next words were not even close to what I was expecting. “We continue on with your mission just as planned.” Soren said making my mouth drop open. “What do you mean? YOU were my mission, to figure out what was going on in your little vampire secret society big enough to cause a Warper to warp from a hundred years away!” My voice had been steadily rising until I almost shouted the last part. He didn’t react to my outburst, he simply raised an eyebrow, and I entertained fantasies of throwing my dirk at him for a split second.

“I am not even aware what is going on except for the rise in rogue killings and a few other whispers in the vampire gossip mill. So, like I said, we will continue on as you planned and won’t mention to Cerberus that I have been enlightened to these recent events.” I looked at him in astonishment. Was he proposing a partnership? Was it even possible? I felt a little spark of hope in my chest. “I want to figure out what is going on as much as you do, Sage. The killings make my way of life dangerous and unstable, not to mention what would happen if a mass panic seized the city.” He said sincerely.

I couldn’t believe it, not only would I still be able to investigate but I’d be able to do it with the help of one of the most powerful vampires in the U.S. Maybe that kiss hadn’t been the stupidest things I’d ever done after all. I stood up and walked over to him and stuck my hand out. “How about we shake on it this time?” I said with a hint of sarcasm in my voice. Amusement sparkled in his annoyingly gorgeous eyes as he took my hand in his. “We’ll start tomorrow.” he said as he gripped my hand.

Chapter Twenty

On the drive back the townhouse I debated telling the others about the day’s outcome. I hated to lie to everyone, especially Aldwin, but I had a feeling that if they knew what had happened they would pull the plug on the entire operation, and I couldn’t allow that. I wouldn’t be lying exactly, more like an omission of the truth, and that was different...right? I couldn’t afford to let anyone else call the shots when it came to my only hope at getting back home and this would benefit Cerberus as well. I nodded my head at the brilliance of my logic. I was doing the right thing.

When I got back home it was nearing dinner time and I felt exhausted. A stack of invitations and calling cards were on a small table when I entered the foyer. I flipped through the fancy cards wondering how they would feel after tomorrow night when I showed up on the arm of one of the most eligible bachelors in town, who also happened to be known to keep mistresses. I smiled, at least it would be interesting.

Marie hurried to take my gloves and hat. “Mrs. Howell, Mr. Connely, and Dr. Blake are waiting to have dinner with you, Mrs. Hannigan.” She sounded a bit breathless. Wow, that was quick. I guess they were anxious to hear how it had gone. This should be fun, I swallowed nervously. I really did hate to have to lie, even if it was for their own good.

I entered the small sitting room and all chatter stopped abruptly as all eyes anxiously turned to me. I let a huge grin split my face and Elaine let out a very unladylike WHOOP! And threw herself into my arms for a quick hug. Travis stood there a bit stunned while Aldwin came over to give my arm a squeeze and say “Good job, Sage, we knew you could do it.” I blushed and looked away from his approving gaze, my heart felt a pain for being so deceitful. Travis came over and shook my hand and offered his congratulations as I led everyone into my little dining room to talk and celebrate over dinner.

Dinner flew by quickly with everyone in high spirits at my supposed success and we all laughed and toasted to our good fortune. We were all served dessert of fruit cobbler and ice cream when I asked the question that had been on my mind since earlier that day.

“Why didn’t any of you tell me that Soren would expect me to pretend to be his mistress as part of my ‘employment’ with him? It would have been nice to have known ahead of time, so I wouldn’t have been thrown off guard.” I said with a little chuckle. You could have heard a pin drop. I looked around at my dinner companions, my fork poised halfway to my mouth. I lowered it and asked quietly “What did I say?”

Elaine cleared her throat “It’s just that he never has before. His female companions just took care of things behind the scenes, so to speak, and went with him to secret meetings and such, so it was never necessary to have that kind of understanding or cover.” She looked a bit bewildered at this turn of events and looked over at Aldwin. “Dr. Blake?” she asked. I looked over at him and couldn’t help but shiver when I saw his thunderous expression.

He laid down his fork and took a long drink of the wine we had indulged in celebration. “He either knows something is up and wants to keep an eye on you. Or...” If it were at all possible his expression darkened even further. “Or, he is
interested
in you, and wants to keep an eye on you. Either way, it’s a complication.” He had no idea what the real complications were. I nearly laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of the whole situation. I looked over at Travis who was scowling down into his plate, and since he hardly ever scowled I figured I’d better try and salvage the situation.

“I don’t think he was onto anything, Aldwin.”
Unless you counted him pinning me to the top of his desk.
I thought absently. I must have had a bit too much wine, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a good time to giggle. “And I very seriously doubt he has a crush on me. He is a very powerful vampire, who could have any woman he wants. He wouldn’t look twice at someone like me when he has so many choices.” I said honestly. Aldwin threw his hands in the air