Perilous Partnership (10 page)

“What are you suggesting? That we have different partners somewhere else who we won‟t ever meet?” Orlando scoffed. “I don‟t buy that.”

“You probably don‟t,” Thierry allowed, thinking about how far Orlando had come since the early days of the alliance, “except think about how unlikely it was for you to trust Alain the way you did. I‟m not saying you misjudged him, because you obviously didn‟t. But everyone commented on it at the time.

You‟d gone from being almost a complete loner to having an Avoué in a matter of days. Hell, almost a matter of hours.”

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“It‟s not unheard of for a vampire to form an attachment that quickly,”

Sebastien said, thinking of his own Avoué, dead nearly four hundred years, “because we can sense so much about a person from the blood we drink. Yes, Orlando had more reason than most to be distrustful, but that doesn‟t change the fact that he could sense Alain‟s basic trustworthiness from the first time he bit him.”

“That doesn‟t answer the question of proximity, though,” Thierry insisted.

“If we took one of the wizards or vampires whose partner did not survive the war somewhere else, would we find a new partner for that person?”

“Again, it‟s a question we can research,” Raymond said. “There‟s also the question of whether those people would want a new partner. Many of them have drifted off my radar since the end of the war.”

The timer buzzed in the kitchen, interrupting their conversation. “Excuse me a moment.” Raymond rose and disappeared into the other room. He reappeared a few minutes later with a large Limoges soup crock in hand.

“Dinner is ready. We have bœuf bourgignon and steamed asparagus, if Jean will be so kind as to get it from the kitchen. We can continue the conversation as we eat if you have other things to add.”

Jean went to get the asparagus while everyone else moved to the table. “It smells delicious,” Alain commented. “Shall I pour the wine?”

“Thank you,” Raymond said as he ladled the thick stew into bowls for the wizards. “Orlando, Sebastien, you are welcome to some if you wish. Jean told me it doesn‟t hurt you to eat even if it doesn‟t provide any nourishment. Don‟t feel obliged, though. I live with a vampire, so I‟m used to him sitting with me while I eat.”

Both vampires demurred, although they did each take a glass of wine.

“What I want to know,” Thierry said as Jean came back in and the three wizards began to eat, “is how you and Jean plan to do everything that needs to be done by yourself. This is a major undertaking.”

“We aren‟t going to start everything at once,” Raymond replied. “We‟ll start the education program first, since it won‟t require as much work or as much space. As space is ready, we‟ll get the research component underway.”

“I repeat. That‟s too much work for two people. At least let me help oversee the repairs. I probably can‟t do anything about the research, but I know stone. I can help find the safest areas of the building, the ones that need the least repairs, so the repairmen can work more efficiently,” Thierry proposed.

“I didn‟t want to ask,” Raymond said. “L‟Institut isn‟t going to be a small commitment, and this isn‟t the Milice anymore. You‟re entitled to a private life and time off and—”

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“And what you‟re doing there will be good for all of us,” Thierry interrupted. “No, none of us want out of our bonds, but how many times have I heard you say that knowledge is never evil and something everyone can benefit from? Let us help you, Raymond. Alain and me, but also everyone else. I think if you asked for volunteers, you‟d be amazed at the response.”

“Who among the wizards are you thinking would be good candidates for the school aspect?” Alain asked. “I can start talking to people to see what kind of interest there is.”

“People who use magic as part of their professional lives,” Raymond said immediately. “They‟re the ones who would benefit most directly from having a partner because they‟re the ones who may be limited at times because of their own abilities or strength. Having a partner would help them in concrete and immediate ways.”

“So wizards attached to the medical community, the military, and law enforcement, as well as the wizards within l‟ANS who deal with the magical equilibrium and don‟t already have partners,” Alain enumerated. “Anyone else?”

“Probably, but that‟s a good place to start. I hope once word gets out, people will come to us instead of us having to seek out candidates,” Raymond said.

“We can only hope.”

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“I DON‟T think I‟ve ever seen such an incredible collection of antiques outside of a museum,” Thierry said as he, Sebastien, Alain, and Orlando left Jean and Raymond‟s apartment.

“I haven‟t seen such an incredible collection inside most museums,” Alain agreed with a shake of his head.

“Jean has had more than twelve lifetimes to collect it,” Orlando reminded them, slipping his hand into Alain‟s now that they were no longer in their employers‟ home. “Maybe even more, if you consider the average lifespan when he was changed. He was changed sometime before the fall of 911, because he should have died in the Viking invasions that ended with the Traité de Saint-Clair-sur-Epte when Rollon became Duke of Normandy.”

“Oh là là,” Thierry said, whistling under his breath. “I knew he was old, but I didn‟t know he was that old!”

“You‟d never know to look at him,” Alain agreed, dancing away from Orlando‟s poking fingers. “Just because I have your brand on my neck doesn‟t mean I‟m blind.”

“You two are so married,” Thierry said as he rolled his eyes.

“And you‟re not?” Alain retorted. “Seems to me I remember listening to a discussion recently of the relative merits of an apartment in town and a house in the banlieue.”

“It was a valid discussion,” Thierry defended. “You were the one who kept asking me what we were still doing in Aleth‟s house in Versailles.”

“How‟s the settling in going?” Orlando asked Sebastien, deliberately cutting off the incipient bickering. He had been around Alain and Thierry long enough to know better than to let them start trading insults. He had other plans for the evening—plans that did not involve his lover‟s best friend.

“It‟s a bit of a challenge going from two apartments and a house to one apartment, even if it‟s larger than either of the original apartments,” Sebastien replied, “but we‟re making progress. We put Thierry‟s apartment on the market last week, and mine should be ready to go in less than a month. The house is

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the biggest problem because we have to figure out what to do with the furniture and things we can‟t use.”

“There‟s always the Secours catholique,” Orlando suggested. “I know that‟s who Jean has given things to in the past when he‟s found a more unique piece to replace something mundane.”

“He has mundane things?” Sebastien quipped.

Orlando laughed. “Not in the salon, no, but I know he was still looking for some pieces to complete his kitchen and bedroom. Not that I‟ve seen the inside of his bedroom. He doesn‟t let anyone in there. Well, except Raymond, I guess.”

All four of them laughed at that. “I hope he lets Raymond in,” Alain said.

“I‟m quite sure he does,” Orlando said. “I‟ve known him for over a hundred years, and I‟ve never seen him as relaxed as he was tonight, even when it was just the two of us. Whatever there is between them, it‟s good for him.”

“For both of them,” Thierry said, “because I could say the same about Raymond. He‟s still trying to take on too much at once, but it isn‟t because he‟s looking for an excuse to hide anymore. It‟s because suddenly he feels like he can take on the world. At least that‟s the way it looks to me.”

“I‟d agree with that.” Alain felt exactly the way he suspected Raymond did.

“It‟s like he‟s come into his own this year, with the new responsibilities.”

“So how are we going to make sure they don‟t burn themselves out?”

Sebastien asked. “I don‟t know who the Cour would devolve to in Jean‟s absence, but I don‟t particularly care to find out. He‟s ushered in a new era for us, and I want to see where he can take us.”

“We start by making sure they get back to Paris at night so they can sleep in their own bed,” Alain said. “We can take turns casting the displacement spells on Jean. I don‟t see Raymond staying at the abbey without him.”

“Just make sure you tell Jean before you cast the spell,” Orlando requested.

“If you suggest it as a way to make sure Raymond takes care of himself, he‟ll go along with it, but you don‟t want to be on the receiving end of Jean‟s temper if you take that kind of decision out of his hands.”

They reached the subway stop, stamping their tickets and descending into the warmth of the station out of the cold winter night. They had several stops along the same line before Sebastien and Thierry had to change trains to head north to their new home. “So I guess we‟re about to get better acquainted with le Morvan,” Thierry said as they waited for the train to arrive. “I‟ve never been one for the country, but I like a challenge.”

“Is that why you‟re still with Sebastien?” Alain joked. “Something new and different?”

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Thierry shot Alain a dirty look. “No,” he said, his voice tight as he reached for Sebastien‟s hand. “Something worth keeping.”

“I know,” Alain said, all teasing gone from his voice. “You know I know.”

Thierry glared at him a moment longer and then let it go. “Between the three of us, you, me, and Raymond, we have three of the four elements covered.

I know Raymond mentioned getting Adèle to help with the wards, but she probably has the most restrictive job of any of us. We need someone else to help with fire.” He still hesitated to suggest the most logical choice. Despite having learned the truth of Eric‟s apparent defection to Serrier‟s camp, Thierry was not entirely sure Alain was ready to work with the man again.

“David,” Alain said, his voice betraying his lack of enthusiasm, “but we couldn‟t count on his partner being free to help him for anything big.”

“Not to mention that he can be a self-righteous prick at times,” Thierry agreed. “We could ask… Eric.”

“We could,” Alain replied slowly, “although he doesn‟t have a partner.”

“Not a vampire one,” Thierry agreed, “but we learned the art of boosting each other‟s strength before we knew what our partners could do for our magic.

Just because Vincent isn‟t a vampire doesn‟t mean he can‟t help. If he wants to.”

Alain‟s face tightened even more at the mention of the former dark wizard.

He had mostly forgiven Eric for his part in Orlando‟s capture during the war, but even a year later, the mere thought of the four days Orlando had been missing and the hell he had gone through at Serrier‟s hands was a physical ache in Alain‟s heart. “If Raymond wants him around, I won‟t say no.”

Orlando squeezed Alain‟s hand gently. “I‟m here because of them too.

Don‟t forget that part.”

Alain smiled wryly. “I won‟t. You won‟t let me.”

Thierry and Sebastien exchanged an amused glance. Orlando had started a campaign almost the moment he awoke from his starvation-induced coma to mend fences between Alain and Eric. Thierry doubted their friendship would ever go back to the way it was before the war, but he continued to believe they could find a new balance. “This is our stop,” he said, looking up as the train pulled into the station. “We‟ll see you tomorrow at the office. We can go out to the abbey from there.”

“Bonne soirée,” Orlando and Alain said as the other two exited the train, leaving them alone in the car.

When no one got on from the platform, Orlando turned to Alain with a mischievous grin. “Lock the door.”

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Alain‟s eyes widened slightly as he lifted his hand to cast a spell on the sliding doors. “Don‟t distract me too much. We‟ll miss our stop.”

Orlando laughed as he pulled Alain into his arms, his lips sliding over the brand on Alain‟s neck as he pressed Alain against the wall of the métro car.

“Like it would be the first time.”

Alain did not reply. He could not, with Orlando‟s fangs slipping beneath his skin. From the first time Orlando had bitten him, on a cold October night over a year before in the Père Lachaise cemetery, the feeling of those sharp canines sliding beneath his skin had sent him reeling with a sensation far too sexual for logic. In the intervening time, he had stopped registering the pinch of pain. His only reaction now was to beg for more. Knowing his mind would not function well enough to form words, he settled for sliding his fingers into Orlando‟s dark hair, massaging his vampire‟s scalp as Orlando sucked life-giving blood through the brand that bound them together.

Alain‟s eyes closed as he focused on the mental bond that had developed between them as well, the wave of love and desire he felt from Orlando only adding to his own need. He worked a hand between their bodies. When his fingers found the hard bulge in his lover‟s trousers, he stroked along its length, tantalizing Orlando as Orlando‟s fangs tantalized him. Immediately Orlando‟s hands closed over his arse, pulling Alain closer as he rocked against the wizard‟s hand and groin, an erotic dance with only one end in mind: orgasm.

Alain moved his hand, letting their bodies rub together, and sought instead the hem of Orlando‟s sweater, sliding beneath it in search of sensitive flesh.