Perilous Partnership (43 page)

The stewardess came by with dinner, but though Jean‟s stomach grumbled hungrily, the rougail she was serving would not assuage his need. Only blood— Raymond‟s blood—would do that.

“Are you sure you don‟t want anything, monsieur?” the stewardess asked.

“It‟s a long flight.”

Jean knew exactly how long it was. Shaking his head, he let his fangs drop as he smiled up at her. “I‟ll be fine until we get to Paris.”

She recoiled in surprise. “As you say, monsieur.”

He knew it was petty of him to take such pleasure in the sight of her hurried retreat, but maybe she would leave him alone for the rest of the flight, leaving him to comfort himself with memories of making love with Raymond and dreams of doing so again soon.

The plane finally landed in Paris shortly before six in the morning. Jean waited for his suitcase at baggage claim, scanning the crowd for Raymond‟s broad shoulders and dark head, but he saw no sign of his lover. Telling himself it was just as well given that he could hardly feed from Raymond right there in the airport, he caught the RER back to Paris, hoping he was early enough to catch Raymond still at home.

Perilous Partnership

237

He let himself into the apartment, finding it completely dark. He grinned.

He could wake Raymond up in the most pleasant of ways. His fangs dropped as he slipped down the hall to the bedroom, only to find the bed empty and unslept in. If Raymond had been there, he had been gone for some time.

Frowning, Jean told himself Raymond‟s absence was not a rejection. He had no idea what might have happened to require his lover‟s presence at l‟ANS

or even at l‟Institut. He could not help feeling a little hurt that Raymond had not left him a note, though. Surely he had not forgotten that Jean was coming home this morning.

Going back out, he glanced at the lightening sky as he walked to the subway stop, judging the métro would be faster than a taxi at this hour of the morning. He arrived at l‟ANS to find chaos.

“What‟s going on?” he shouted.

“An explosion!” Fabienne said, grabbing his hand and dragging him toward her office. “At l‟Institut. Alain and Thierry are on their way. One of them can take you there.”

“What? When?” Jean asked, heart pounding at the thought of Raymond possibly being hurt.

“Ten minutes ago,” Fabienne said. “I made Mathieu go ahead, since Alain and Thierry weren‟t here yet. Now I wish I hadn‟t.”

“Oh, thank God!” Thierry said as he and Sebastien ran into the office.

“Come on, Jean. Let‟s go.”

“Send Mathieu back!” Fabienne called as they disappeared.

They reappeared seconds later to find the scene at l‟Institut in just as much chaos as the one at l‟ANS. “Where‟s Raymond?” Thierry barked.

“No one has seen him,” Mathieu replied, his face covered in dust as he came running up to them. “Julien, the chef who stayed last night as a watchman, called in the explosion.”

“Where is he now?” Jean demanded. The wing they had completely condemned was nothing but rubble now, and Jean‟s heart clenched with fear.

“Where is he?!”

“Over there,” Mathieu said.

Jean ran to the man‟s side. “Tell me everything you know.”

“Monsieur Payet woke me up, saying someone was on the grounds. He had someone else with him already, someone I didn‟t know, and he was dragging the man with him as he ran toward the main building,” Julien recounted. “The man kept shouting about the sun rising, but monsieur Payet just ignored him, saying it was dark inside the building. And then I heard this awful noise, like a

238

Ariel Tachna

bomb, and the entire wing collapsed. I didn‟t know what else to do, so I called l‟ANS.”

“You did the right thing,” Thierry assured him, having come up in time to hear the end of the conversation. “A vampire?” he asked Jean.

“It sounds like it,” Jean said absently, his eyes fixed on the ruined wing.

“Merde. Julien, tell everyone we need all the blankets, sheets, tablecloths, anything you can find. If there‟s a vampire in there, we‟re going to have to protect him from the sun, or it will destroy him before we can get him out.”

“Oui, monsieur Dumont. I‟ll take care of it.”

“He‟s dead, isn‟t he?” Jean said dully.

“What are you talking about?” Thierry demanded.

“Raymond. He doesn‟t need a wand to do magic. He could just cast a spell and get out of there, but he hasn‟t. He‟s dead, isn‟t he?”

“You don‟t know that,” Thierry insisted. “He could be unconscious. He could be trapped in such a way that he‟s afraid to try a spell. He could be injured badly enough that he can‟t do a spell. He doesn‟t have to be dead, so get your head out of your arse and use your senses to find him.”

“I can‟t—”

“Yes, you can,” Thierry interrupted. “They told me about the search and rescue in La Réunion. The vampires could smell the blood and used that to find the victims. I know you weren‟t there for long, but surely you can do that.”

Jean took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing thoughts. If he had insisted, if Raymond had agreed, he would know right where his lover was. As it was, they would have to go by his nose and hope his senses were sharp enough to find Raymond in time.

Julien came running back with his arms piled high with blankets just as Alain and Sebastien arrived. “Mathieu,” Alain snapped, “go back and get Orlando and anyone else who‟s arrived. We‟ll need all the help we can get here.”

“Raymond is trapped somewhere in that mess,” Thierry told them as soon as Mathieu disappeared, “and apparently there‟s a vampire as well.”

“That‟s going to slow things down,” Alain said with a low whistle.

“Yeah, I know. You‟ve got the affinity with air. Can you keep the blankets shading whatever area we‟re trying to clear so we don‟t burn the vampire to ashes before we can help him?”

“Yeah,” Alain said, his hands summoning the wind and lifting the covers from Julien‟s arms to form a tent over the closest section. “Get started.”

“What‟s the fastest way to do this?” Sebastien asked Thierry.

Perilous Partnership

239

“I haven‟t a fucking clue. Move the rubble. I‟ll try to keep the rest from collapsing, unless someone has a better idea.”

No one did. Sebastien and Jean started grabbing stones, pushing them away and searching for any sign of the missing men. As more wizards arrived, Thierry put them to work, stabilizing areas, moving rubble, anything to speed up the search.

“Here!” Orlando shouted. “I see a foot!”

Everyone rushed to where he was working, combining their strength and magic to free the body buried in the remains of the building. “It‟s Jude.”

“What the hell is he doing here?” Thierry demanded.

“I don‟t know,” Jean said, crossing himself at the sight of the bloodied corpse, “but he won‟t be able to tell us. It looks like his neck was broken. I only hope it destroyed him before the wall crushed his skull.”

The hopelessness in Jean‟s voice was palpable. “Hey,” Orlando said, putting an arm around Jean, “he was only a vampire. Raymond‟s a wizard.

Don‟t give up hope yet.”

“What can he do against tons of stone crushing down on him?” Jean asked in despair.

“Put up a shield,” Thierry replied. “Put the blanket over him, Alain, until we can deal with the body, so you can help search.”

They worked systematically through the rubble, shifting enough to see underneath before moving on.

“Raymond!” Jean cried, catching sight of the wizard among the debris from the crumbled wing.

“Easy,” Thierry said, grabbing Jean‟s arm. “Let me secure the area. You don‟t want to cause more to fall on him.”

Jean waited impatiently for Thierry to give his permission before scrambling over the stones to the timber that had provided some protection for Raymond‟s head. He felt frantically for a pulse, finding a weak, thready one at the base of Raymond‟s neck. Relief flooded through him. “He‟s alive!”

“Don‟t move him. We have no idea how badly hurt he is,” Alain cautioned, pulling out his cell phone. “Let me see if I can get Constance down here. She‟s a doctor.”

Jean stayed where he was, stroking Raymond‟s short hair, willing the wizard‟s eyes to open. “Don‟t you die on me,” he muttered. “Don‟t you dare die on me and leave me with all this unresolved between us.”

Orlando blinked at the prickle of tears that could never fall and went back to work trying to clear the rubble around Raymond‟s body. Jean could dictate to

240

Ariel Tachna

destiny all he wanted. Separation was a fate that awaited every partnered vampire.

“She‟s on her way,” Alain said. “Can you get close enough to bite him? It helped during the war.”

“His pulse is already so weak,” Jean equivocated. “This isn‟t a magical injury.”

“He isn‟t bleeding,” Thierry said. “He‟s probably in shock, and feeding did help that. If you taste him getting weaker, you can stop, but if it buys a few minutes for Constance to get here, it could well save his life.”

Gulping past the lump in his throat, Jean scooted closer to Raymond until he could reach the wizard‟s arm. He bit carefully, ready to pull back at any second. The pain in Raymond‟s blood was nearly debilitating, but Jean forced himself to look past it, to find the kernel of self at his lover‟s core and to focus on it.

“What happened?”

Jean heard Constance‟s voice, but it was unimportant. All that mattered was maintaining the connection, however tenuous, with Raymond. He could hear Alain and Thierry explaining, hear Constance casting a spell, but he ignored it all.

“We need to get him to the hospital.”

“Jean,” Orlando said, holding his shoulder. “Let him go now. Constance needs to move him to Paris. She needs to operate.”

Jean broke the connection with great difficulty. “Will he be all right?”

“I‟ll do my best,” Constance said, using her wand to immobilize Raymond‟s body. “Come to l‟Hôtel-Dieu when you can. We‟ll keep you updated on his progress.” With a second wave of her wand, she and Raymond were gone.

“Did she say what was wrong with him?” Jean asked.

“She said she saw evidence of hemorrhaging in his brain, although it seemed like the bleeding had stopped, but she has to relieve the pressure so it won‟t cause brain damage.”

“And I bit him!”

“And that probably stopped the bleeding,” Alain said, grabbing Jean by the shoulders and shaking him slightly. “We didn‟t move him. We provided first aid. We did everything right. Constance and the staff at l‟Hôtel-Dieu are some of the best doctors in the country. They‟ll help him.”

“I need to go to Paris. I need to be there if….”

Alain looked at Thierry who nodded. “Okay,” Alain agreed. “Let‟s go.”

Perilous Partnership

241

JEAN paced the waiting room of l‟Hôtel-Dieu, unable to sit still. Somewhere in the inner recesses of the hospital, Constance and a host of nameless, faceless doctors fought to save Raymond‟s life. No one had come out to tell Jean that the situation was dire, but he did not need to see their faces to realize that he ran a very great risk of losing his lover before the day was over.

Flashes of Raymond‟s smile, his laugh, his face awash with passion tortured Jean‟s mind as he lost himself in memories, from the first time they had seen each other in Orlando‟s apartment to the last time they had made love in the hotel in La Réunion, the tension of the disagreement heightening their release.

He took consolation in the thought that the last words he had said to his lover were
I love you
, but it would be mist against the firestorm of his grief if Raymond did not survive. He wished again futilely that they had made their Aveu de Sang before this happened because Jean could have shared his strength with Raymond through the bond that would have linked them. Even if that did not help, he would have known if Raymond was still hanging on instead of fearing the worst.

“No news is good news,” Alain said from across the room as if he could read Jean‟s thoughts. “As long as they don‟t come tell us he‟s dead, they‟re still working on keeping him alive.”

“Constance said he was bleeding in the brain,” Jean snapped, as if the wizard had not been the one to relate Constance‟s diagnosis to him. “That can‟t be good news.”

“She also said the bleeding had stopped,” Alain reminded Jean patiently, “which means they don‟t have to find broken blood vessels and repair them, just drain the blood that‟s already spilled. You gave Raymond that small advantage.”

“I let him come back alone,” Jean disagreed. “If I had insisted on finding a way to come home with him, he wouldn‟t have been alone when that corridor collapsed. He might not even have been in it to start with.”

“He wasn‟t alone,” Alain reminded Jean slowly. “He had a vampire with him, a vampire who is now destroyed. You don‟t know that you could have

242

Ariel Tachna

made any difference. In fact, worrying about you might have slowed down Raymond‟s reaction for his own protection. You can‟t second-guess this, Jean. I learned that the hard way when Orlando was missing. All you can do is pray for the best possible outcome now.”

Jean nodded, looking up as the door opened, but the doctor called a different name. Taking a seat near the door, he leaned his elbows on his knees, folded his hands, bowed his head, and prayed like he had never prayed in all the long years of his existence.