Shadow Rising (16 page)

“I don’t want you fucking anybody you don’t want to—not even to help me. But you need to tell Roman yourself, so he’ll believe you. He promised he’d back off if you said no.” I paused, glancing over at the cars. Camille, Morio, and Roz were taking her Lexus. Nerissa and I would take my Jag. They were waiting for me to head out, to take the lead. I steeled myself and turned back to my love.

“I have more to tell you, and this doesn’t concern Roman, but let’s get a move on. We need to be at the VA in half an hour.”

She nodded, uncrossing her arms, and followed me to the car. As we slid in and fastened our seat belts, Nerissa smiled a tired smile. “I love you, you know. Thank you, for not pushing the issue about Roman. I’ll have to think about it.”

“Save your thanks until I tell you about last night.” I started the ignition and pulled out of the driveway, heading into the fog-laden streets. “Last night, I fed from Roz.” And then, I told her the whole story.

After I finished, I shot a quick look her way. “Do you hate me?”

A brief pause, during which I felt a million years creep by.

Then, “Hate you? Why the
hell
do you think I’d hate you? You were under the control of a spell. You couldn’t help it—it’s not like you took a long look at Roz and went,
Gee, I’d love me some cock and blood. Gonna bite now.
Seriously, get real, Menolly. You’re still so insecure about why I would love you, when you’re a vampire? Can’t you just accept that I love you because you are
you
? Because you’re my sexy, gorgeous partner? I want to make you my
wife
, and you assume that I’m going to change my mind just because of a spell?”

Oops.
I had some backpedaling to do and I’d better do so quickly. I glanced behind me. The others were close on our tracks and I couldn’t just swerve off the road for a chat.

I tried to explain. “I don’t want you afraid of me. It has nothing to do with me thinking you don’t love me. It’s about safety. I fed on Roz—I feel horrendous about that and I swear
I’ll never do it again. But what…what if I fall under another spell? What if I attack
you
next time? I couldn’t live with that, Nessa.” There it was. My secret fear.

Nerissa made a little sound, like a cat, and then laughed. “So, what if I accidentally toss the broom to you and it hits you in the heart? Or what if I buy you a necklace without realizing it has silver in it? There will
always
be chances for us to hurt each other, but it’s the same for any couple. You can’t protect me from all possibilities. I’m not a little girl, and I don’t need a mommy. I need my lover.”

Relief flooded over me and, ignoring the others behind us, I pulled to the side of the road. Leaning over, I unlocked my seat belt and fastened my lips against Nerissa’s, my tongue probing her mouth as my hands roamed over her body. Oh, how I wanted her. Right here, in the car, naked and under my touch. I wanted to run my fingers over her skin, to lower my lips to her breasts, to make her moan with delight. I wanted to hear her tell me she loved me.

She groaned in my mouth, her fingers slipping under my shirt. “Don’t we have to get to the meeting?” Her whisper was low, regretful.

I slowly edged away. “I want you so bad. Roman’s a fun playmate but there’s nobody in the world I want more than you. Nerissa, how did I ever come to deserve you?”

She laughed. “Just lucky, I guess.” And then, as I disentangled from her and fastened my seat belt again, she touched my arm lightly. “I love you. I love you more than I’ve ever loved anybody. Menolly, you’re
the one
, you know. The only woman who will ever hold my heart in her hands.
I give you my heart.
I give you my
love
. I would give you my life if you needed it.”

And just like that, my fears were quelled, and I held her hand, raising her fingers to my lips to graze them gently. “I never believed I could find love. Not once Dredge turned me. I never dreamed I’d be able to have a relationship, or love, marry, anything normal again. Thank you, for giving all of that back to me.”

She sniffled. “You’d better get this car moving, before I
start crying. And Menolly—if it will help you with Roman, I’ll do it. He’s not offensive. But…if he gets rough…”

“If you decide to say yes, and he gets rough, I’ll stake him through the heart.” And with that, I pulled back onto the road, where the others were waiting, hazard lights flashing, and we headed for the VA meeting.

The VA meetings were held in what had been Sassy Branson’s manor, now known as the Seattle Vampire Nexus—the SVN.

When she’d died—when I’d killed her, to be exact—she’d left it to Wade Stevens, the leader of Vampires Anonymous. The mansion was to be used to help give new vamps a safe introduction into the life. Wade was a former psychologist who had chosen to devote his new life—as a vamp—to helping newbie bloodsuckers adjust. He helped them fit into society instead of turning into the monsters that made everyday citizens want to go all Buffy on them.

Wade and I’d dated for a while, but his mother had been a stumbling block—one I wasn’t willing to skirt around. Belinda Stevens was every woman’s worst nightmare of a potential mother-in-law. And, as we walked through the doors of the mansion, Belinda Stevens just happened to be lying in wait.

“Menolly!” Belinda hustled over. She was a short, stout woman whose upswept copper bouffant was lacquered with so much hair spray that it would take a brick to put a dent in
it. Add to the picture a twang that placed her from the Jersey shore and a hideous pleather pantsuit in brilliant chartreuse, and she was impossible to ignore. But Belinda Stevens wasn’t East Coast born and bred. I knew for a fact that she was a Seattleite.

Her beady little eyes latched onto me like I was a duck caught in the crosshairs of her shotgun. I’d rather deal with Gulakah any day over talking to Wade’s mother.

“Menolly, how are you? I see you brought your girlfriend, isn’t she adorable—I was telling Wade just the other day how much I missed seeing you around. I said to him, ‘Wade, why don’t you bring those delightful D’Artigo girls over for tea?’ but he just brushed me off as usual.
So
like him—you know how it is—sons, they never listen to their mothers! We work and slave making a good life for them but then they just up and grow up. And the pity is I’ll never see grandchildren—but I suppose that no one would believe that I’m old enough to be a grandmother—”

Even five minutes of her nasal yammering was enough to make me want to stake her. And to make it worse, she didn’t need to stop in order to take a breath. “Mrs. Stevens—if you’ll excuse us, I need to find Roman.”

Her eyes glittered, but she opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water a couple of times and then forced another toothy smile. “I believe Lord Roman is somewhere in the main meeting hall. How lucky you are to have forged such a powerful connection, my dear. And how
lucky
Roman is to have one of the
mighty D’Artigo sisters
for his consort.” And with that, she turned her attention to another group of vamps who had just entered the hall.

I looped my arm through Nerissa’s and dragged her into the main meeting room, Camille and the others following.

The hall had originally been Sassy’s parlor and office and a drawing room. Wade had opened up the three rooms into one gigantic meeting space and now we had a lovely, elegant hall big enough to hold more than a hundred people. Which came in handy for the Supe Community Meetings, now that the Supe Community Center had been burned to the ground. They were in the process of rebuilding, but it would be several
more months before it would be ready to open to the public again, and the SVN had opened its doors to help.

The room was filling up. Ever since Wade had opened up the Seattle Vampire Nexus and Roman had backed the group, vampires had flocked to the place. Vampires Anonymous had gone from being a small, insular group to having a countywide membership, and now groups were hiving off in other cities like Bellingham, and even as far as Portland, Oregon.

Roman had set Wade in charge of teaching a select group of leaders on how to approach their members. While he couldn’t go out and turn a bunch of shrinks in order to have the knowledge base needed, a few doctors were willing to work with the vampires and train those geared toward the healing arts. We’d managed to form a connection with the medical community that was still tenuous, but growing. And they were willing to work with us to secure vampire rights.

Blood Wyne, Roman’s mother and queen of the Vampire Nation—also known as the Crimson Veil—had sanctioned the Seattle Vampire Nexus and Vampires Anonymous as worthwhile organizations, and I had a feeling eventually she would order all new vampires to attend the meetings.

I still wasn’t sure what she was up to. I’d never had the chance to meet the woman and wasn’t sure I wanted to. Any mother who would turn her own children into vampires in order to keep her “dynasty” intact wasn’t in the running for Mother of the Year. At least not in my book.

I glanced around the room. The hall was set up just the way it had been the first day I’d walked into a VA meeting. I hadn’t wanted to go but Camille had tricked me into it, and I ended up glad I went.

The chairs were set out so that vampires’ living family members were encouraged to sit on the side nearest the door. In case of emergency, it gave the breathers a fighting chance to get away. A table filled with cookies and coffee and soda offered the guests refreshment, and another table held bottled blood for members. Drinking from a living host during the meetings was strictly prohibited.

The seats were rapidly filling up. I recognized the
regulars—at least some of them. Brett waved at me. Forever caught in geek-land, Brett had been turned while young. I wasn’t sure if he’d been in high school or college, but he’d been a nerdy, shy, comic-book-loving guy. After death, he decided to use his newfound vampiric powers to foster his superhero complex. And so Brett’s alter ego became Vamp-Bat, and he’d saved more than one woman from being attacked in his nightly rounds through the city.

There were others—Albert and Tad, both Microsoft em-ployees who worked the night shift. They’d kept their jobs and were actively working on the computer system for the Seattle Vampire Nexus, and the software was state of the art. The Supe Community Council had hired the pair to work with Tim Winthrop, the brains behind
their
computer network.

Of course, the most conspicuous absence was Sassy. The memory still stung. As if reading my mind, Wade swung up next to me and murmured, “Sassy would have been proud of what we’ve accomplished here.”

I nodded, unable to speak. Sassy’s death had hit me hard, especially since I’d been the one to cause it. But she’d strayed too far into her predator, and I’d fulfilled a promise I’d made to her. When I staked her, she was free to move on, and I’d seen her spirit leaving, with the young daughter she lost so long ago, and her best friend—Janet—who had been her faithful companion for most of her life.

Wade seemed to notice my silence. “It’s okay, Menolly. You did what she wanted you to. You did what she couldn’t. When the predator takes over, it’s almost impossible for a vampire to walk into the sunlight on their own. Sassy’s happy now. She’s reunited with her daughter, with her best friend. You gave her freedom.”

“I suppose I did,” I said, hanging my head. “But why do I feel like I destroyed one of the best friends I could have?”

“Shush…it’s over. You did what you had to. And sometimes, the right thing isn’t the easy thing.” He nodded toward the far corner of the room. “Roman’s over there. He’s talking to a few new members. They’re awestruck, of course. You might as well be dating a rock star.”

I snorted.

Nerissa, who had come up behind us, cleared her throat. “She may be
his
official consort, but she’s
my
fiancée.”

Wade grinned at her, the tip of his fangs barely showing. His spiky platinum hair was a brilliant contrast to his leather pants and button-down silk shirt. Wade was really quite cute, but I didn’t envy his current girlfriend. Let
her
cope with his mother.

“Touchy, touchy.” He laughed. “Roman knows perfectly well that you guys are engaged. He was mentioning earlier how well he thinks you suit each other.”

I wasn’t sure what to think of that, but I let it drop. “I need to ask the membership a few questions. We’ve got a missing OIA agent, and he was last seen around White Center. The fools sent him over here without checking what kind of an area they sent him into. While Andrees has a good head on his shoulders and can fight his way out of most situations, he’s never faced down a gun before, or a low-rider full of gang members.”

Wade whistled. “White Center? So not good. All right. I’ll make sure you’re first on the agenda so that people are still paying attention. They tend to drift off after about thirty minutes.”

We took our seats and Roman made his way over to us. He was wearing the requisite smoking jacket—this time in deep purple—and a pair of expensive black jeans and black motorcycle boots. Beneath the jacket, the ruffle of a cream-colored shirt peeked out. His hair was loose tonight, swinging to his shoulders in perfect precision; whoever cut it was an artist. I repressed a laugh. Roman really didn’t fit in with any crowd, that was for sure.