Moon Child (26 page)

She smiled and he kissed her on the cheek. Face still against the side of hers, he took in a deep breath of vanilla orange and the bite of sweat, their scents combined.

“I’m just angry at myself. I can’t have anything normal and it just…” He sighed across her neck. “It pisses me off.”

“I understand.”

“I know. Look, I’m happy we finally got to do this.”

Her smile turned sly, her eyes taking in his naked torso. “Me too.”

He chuckled and kissed her neck. “And I’m willing to try again, even if you have blood hunger. We’ll figure out a way to be safe until you’re ready to go all the way.” And by all the way, he meant her biting him for real. He couldn’t hide the little tremor that shook his shoulders as he imagined it.

Ash hid her frown behind her hands where they crossed her knees. The only safe way she knew of was going back to being celibate again, but that’s not what she wanted. She wanted to be free to act on her impulses, all of them. And she was inclined to, if biting Tristan wouldn’t mean the possible loss of what made him, him. France was evidence enough for her. 

A knock at the door made Tristan stiffen and he licked his lips. “We’ll be okay.”

“Yes,” she answered softly and he gave her a tender kiss, lingering just long enough to feel her relax.

With a smile he scooped up his shirt and went for the front door, pulling the bedroom door shut behind him. There was another knock and then Mamoru’s worried voice calling out for Tristan without having to full-out yell. It was the middle of the morning after all.

“What?” he grumped as he pulled the door open.

Surprised, Mamoru took a step back, nearly backing into Innokentiy. “Um, can we come in?” The flush on the man’s sharp cheekbones and the grin on Netty’s porcelain face said it all. Mamoru wouldn’t look up, but Innokentiy eyes were fixed on the new hickey Tristan wore. They knew exactly how Tristan and Ash had just spent their last forty minutes of private time together. Tristan put on a little smug smile and shrugged as he stepped aside to let the others in.

Mamoru practically tripped over himself as he came in with the small tray of food for Tristan. It was an early breakfast that the staff agreed to whip up with a little extra compensation. Two poached eggs over thick toast, a jar of currant jam on the side, a mound of potato bites cooked in heavy olive oil, and a canned soda. It wasn’t what Tristan would have ordered for himself but it was food and smelled good. He ate just about anything anyway.

Tristan kicked the door shut, not bothering to lock it. If another vampire showed up, a little deadbolt wouldn’t mean anything. Hell, Tristan almost wished Genoveva would show up, save him the trouble of hunting her down because there was no way they were going back to Japan with her trailing along behind them to fuck things up for them there, killing along the way.

Feeling the other’s eyeing him, especially Mamoru, Tristan pulled on his shirt, hiding the massive scar over his stomach, a memento from one of Malik’s disposable lackeys. There were a few other scars, some jikininki bites marking his thighs and a deep gash on his forearm under his tattoo, but the one on his stomach was the one people stared at. It was his badge of honor, proof he survived an attack from a hundred-fifty year old vampire. A vanilla, but a ruthless, strong monster nonetheless.

“So, what’s the plan?” he prompted when no one said anything.

Clearly in a daze, Mamoru jerked to attention. The Japanese man’s face flushed a deeper shade of red when his eyes found that purple mark on Tristan and he shifted uncomfortably where he stood in the middle of the room. “We need to buy a trunk.”

Tristan’s gaze went to Innokentiy lounging on the sofa in the corner, looking at home. “For the vampires?” His thoughts went to the beautiful piece of furniture Yuki sent to them in France. Thinking on it now, it was larger than normal, large enough to fit a person in it. Maybe that was the idea to start with. Too bad it had been sent back on Yuki’s empty plane to Japan.

Mamoru nodded. “It’s the only way to get them on the boat and across the water into Crete during the day.”

“Do they need to come at all?” He hated the thought of leaving Ash behind but it was easier to move without the vampires.

“I insist,” Innokentiy answered with a bit of venom in his voice despite his smile before Mamoru could impose his own answer. From the look on Mamoru’s face, his angry eyes and pursed lips, it was a point of contention between the two.

“As do I,” Ash’s voice boldly replied.

All three men turned at her presence as if she’d demanded it. And, in a way, she had. Ash was singular amongst her kind, loathe as she was to admit it.

Tristan sighed but nodded, knowing there was no point in arguing with her. Mamoru caught his eye and smirked. Tristan shrugged, he was a fast learner, albeit stubborn to apply sometimes. 

“You sure you wouldn’t rather stay here?” he directed at Ash and then looked to Mamoru. “I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of riding that fucking ferry back and forth.”

The man gave a little laugh, nodding his agreement. “Hai, hai.”

“I would like to have a few words with that old witch,” Ash said with an angry lilt.

There was something in Ash’s voice that made Tristan tense. “You’re really going to kill him, aren’t you?”

She shrugged, trying to make light of her anger. “I have yet to decide that.”

Tristan wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. Granted, a pythia wasn’t a human—those he swore to protect. What kind of bad karma would it be to kill a keeper of fate though?

Mamoru made a little noise and when Tristan’s attention went to him, he saw the same questions in the Japanese man’s expression.

“All right, so we find a trunk, shove the vamps inside, hop the boat and talk to Agamemnon again, hope to find Genoveva somewhere along the way. That about the gist of it?” The others were all nodding and Tristan huffed. “Not much of a plan, is it?”

The look Ash gave him was condescending but gentle. “And you are the model planner?”

He shrugged, going to sit in the only single chair in the room. “Just sounds a little reckless to me and I’m trying to not be reckless anymore.”

The looks Ash and Mamoru exchanged at that pissed Tristan off. Like either of them really knew what he was thinking deep down. Hell, maybe Ash did, but he refused to believe that anyone could know him just on being able to read this thoughts alone. It was one’s actions to back up those thoughts and words that made the man.

“The Uruwashi in this time are so very interesting.”

Everyone turned to look at Innokentiy, nearly forgotten in the corner of the room.

“You two think such interesting things. Like thinking you might outwit or overpower me,” he said nearly laughing as he looked at Tristan. “Your ancestors might have shunned you—killed you for being softhearted. No vampire was worth redemption in their eyes.”

Tristan frowned, thinking that it sounded an awful lot like vampire culture.

“Yes!” The Viking chirped, standing to put the others on edge. “But worse. Uruwashi lived on a complicated mix of vampire
and
human beliefs. It was a holy mess. It’s no wonder your kind didn’t survive. They never were meant to be. Nature’s failed experiments, gone with the dinosaurs.”

Tristan was sure he didn’t like being compared to a dinosaur, as cool as they were. “But you believe that the pythia helped make the Uruwashi…”

“Perhaps.” The older vampire gave a light shrug, trying to imitate his more modern counterparts and put the Uruwashi at ease. “The pythia have been known to pervert nature… from time to time, for their own means.”

He casually strolled towards the suite door, everyone’s attention fixed on him. He wasn’t to be trusted, but the risk of danger from him was low now that their differences had been reconciled. He wasn’t a prisoner and welcome to leave at any time. None of them would say no to his help either. He had yet to
really
show them what he could do.

“If you ask me, they are more dangerous than any of the shinwa or heikō and do more harm to the great order of things than help. Odin save us all from their meddling. They are the ones who bring about wars and strife if you ask me.”

“No one asked,” Tristan snapped. “Why are you here anyway? Don’t you have some built in locator or whatever for your scions? Why don’t you go take care of her, keep her out of our hair?” Tristan really wanted to have a few words with the crazy vampire himself, but he knew she was out of his league, and insane to boot, liable to do anything.

“And I would be able to find her,” Innokentiy was saying almost as if to himself, “with a thought if it weren’t for some pythia messing with our affairs. I believe Genoveva herself has been spelled, though I find that a surprise. Last I was with her, she was more afraid of the pythia than any other creature alive. I’m not sure who this witch is that’s had his hand so far up nature’s skirt, but he must be stopped.”

“Agreed,” Ash and Mamoru all but said in unison.

“You think it’s a man?” Tristan asked, thoughts going to Chrysanthe.

The vampire gave a lose shrug, a little pout on his lips. “I suppose it could be Chrysanthe, but she’s too much a child. The one messing with things has to be an antediluvian and Agamemnon is the only one in the area.”

“What are we doing about those two anyway?” Ash asked before Tristan could. 

Mamoru’s sigh drew their attention. “I’ll give Desmond a call, tell him we’re going over without him—” He lowered his voice and muttered, “The frightened child.” He straightened, but looked tired. “I don’t care what he does, so long as he keeps those two here until we get back.”

Tristan groaned at the idea of two more boat rides. He really was tired of wasting whole days on the fucking boat. “And when we’re back?”

Mamoru shrugged, exchanging a look with Innokentiy. “After they’ve helped us end Genoveva? We send them along their way.”

Ash drew up beside Tristan, eyes full of unspoken thoughts. “Sounds like one of your plans.” She smiled suddenly, lighting up her tired expression. “Fly by the seat of your pants, is it?”

He smiled at her in turn. “Works for me.”

The small vampire stretched, making himself look almost tall. Sure, the man was a bona fide Viking, warrior ‘n all, but he wasn’t much taller than Ash. And under that beard, his features were just feminine enough to make him almost pretty. He was nothing like the cartoons on TV of thick, rough, dirty men in horned hats.

“If I’m going to be shoved into a tiny box, then by Frigg’s wisdom I’m going to pick my own coffin.”

“Trunk,” Ash corrected with a deep frown.

The other vampire shrugged casually saying he didn’t really see the difference in choice of words. “I’ll see myself back to the room before dawn,” he was saying to Mamoru. But the Japanese man was already on his feet and moving towards the vampire, his expression determined. “Don’t wait up for me.” It was flippant and turned Mamoru’s neck a shade of red that made Tristan snicker as he suspected that the vampire had propositioned Mamoru several times.

“I shall accompany him,” Ash announced before Mamoru could say anything. At Tristan’s worried look she smiled, marching confidently up to him. “I wish to have a few words with my ancestor.”

Tristan’s jaw tightened, even as he opened his arms to hold her when she wiggled into him. He hated the idea of her going off with the strange vampire, but he was in no position to stop it. She was her own person, with her own thoughts and, despite her current condition, still stronger than him. He trusted her to come back whole. “Just be careful.”

She smiled and when she went on tip toe, a hand pulling at the back of his neck, Tristan made a little surprised noise. He wasn’t used to her showing any affection and the fact that she just gave him a tender, but very possessive kiss in front of the others confused him all the more. She smiled at his bewildered shock, slowly pulling away with mischief in her eyes.

Damp with the taste of her, Tristan licked his lips and suddenly grinned. He could get used to a bolder Ash, one not afraid to finally show what she was feeling—and enough that everyone around him would know without a single uttered word those feelings.

“I live for careful,” she said softly but with laughter in her voice.

He smiled at her, his thoughts going back to fifteen minutes ago. What they’d done was anything but careful. As if she could read his thoughts, Ash’s olive tone flushed slightly a shade of dusky pink. Tristan chuckled and kissed her again before whispering, “I love you,” across her lips.

Mamoru shifted uncomfortably, eyes fixed on his feet. Behind him, at the door waiting with a big smile, Innokentiy wasn’t as embarrassed. “We don’t have much time.”

Ash nodded and marched out after him without so much as a glance back. She was coming back, he had to believe that.

The scent of food found Tristan and remembering it, he went over to sit on the sofa to eat. “Nothing for you?” he asked around a mouthful of flavorful potatoes, now gone cold.

Face still flushed with embarrassment, Mamoru took a seat next to Tristan and popped the top on the soda. He took a drink before pushing it back into Tristan’s space. “I’m not a growing boy.”

Tristan snorted at that. Sure, he could eat like a hog sometimes, but he’d had a rough few days and a little food to keep his energy going was just what he needed.