Sucking in San Francisco (22 page)

“Are they dead, Aidan?” I whisper. I hear their faint heart beats but they look dead, ashen and lifeless. I want a guarantee.

“No,” Helena answers for him. “They’re not staked, although I can see one here, damn them. What happened, Aidan?”

“Sebastian was tricked into drinking goat’s blood.”

Helena gasps. I sink to my knees and hold Sebastian’s head against my chest. I can’t stop kissing his forehead, the only part of his face not covered in bruises.

“Iris held a stake to Sebastian’s heart to coerce Julian into translating the texts,” Aidan says. He looks at the two men with pity. “Without me to tell him where to put the mistakes, he would have had to translate it correctly. They could have bound me.” He runs his hand through his hair. “There was a containment spell placed on the house. Once I popped in I couldn’t leave. You two saved their lives and my soul.” He lowers his head to us, in a small, but humble bow. “Thank you.”

I meet his eyes. Then I return my eyes and attention to Sebastian. I can’t stop thinking how close I came to losing him.

“Have you made your decision then?” Aidan asks hoarsely.

“No,” I whisper. “I can’t bear to see him like this, though.”

“I understand. Let me take him back to the manse for you.”

“If you could just put him in the car, Aidan. I don’t want to freak him out too much.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Aidan gives me a weak smile.

“You can joke later mister, after you help Helena.” Leave it to a djinn to lighten the situation.

“Fine, fine. No fun after you kick ass.” Aidan transmanifests Sebastian into his car for me and I get in to drive him home. He begins to wake up.

“Cherie, what happened?”

“I took care of Indio and Helena handled Iris. You guys can stop teasing me about my hand sanitizer because it saved my life today, so there.”

“You’ll have to tell me more about that later, ma petite. Right now I’m thankful you are safe. I didn’t want you involved. It was all I could do hoping you would not be killed too for my foolishness.”

“You’re welcome,” I say as I fidget with the steering wheel.

We get to the manse. I put an arm around his waist to help him into the house. We go slowly upstairs to his bedroom.

“Where are all those silk pajama pants, Bast?”

“Call Andrew,” he grunts as he sits on the bed.

I ring for Andrew and am almost knocked over when he runs in.

“Mr. Sebastian. Oh thank God! I’ve been so worried. Ohmygod! Look at your face! What happened? Are you going to be okay? Of course you’re going to be okay – super healing powers and all that. Those witch bitches! First you and Mr. Julian leave and don’t come back. Then Miss Helena was frantic and pacing waiting for Miss Lily to wake up. When Miss Lily woke she came running down the stairs yelling and cursing. I’ve never seen her so angry and ready to bite something. Her little fangs were out while she was pacing!” The whole time he rants he’s efficiently running around the room, turning down the bed, getting extra pillows and locating those elusive pajama bottoms.

Sebastian tries to laugh and grunts while holding his side.

“I would have liked to see that,” Bast says.

“Then Miss Helena and Miss Lily were all ‘We have to do something, let’s kick some ass!’ I’ve never been so scared. I didn’t think anyone was ever coming home again. Where are the others?”

“They should be here by now too, Andrew,” I say.

“What did you do to the witches?”

“End of story, they won’t be bothering anyone anymore.”

“Cherie, you take my breath away.” Sebastian’s expression serious.

“They took you away from me, Bast.”

“I know, darling. I know what it feels like.”

Quickly changing the subject I ask, “Andrew, can we get some tea for him please?”

“Of course, Miss Lily.”

Bast goes into the bathroom to freshen up and change. When he comes back out he looks a little better. The bruises and cuts are starting to heal. It will take a while for the internal damage from the goat’s blood to heal, though.

I get him settled when Andrew brings in the tea.

“Thank you, Andrew. You’ve been such a trooper through all of this. I don’t know what we’d do without you,” I say.

Andrew blushes.

“Just think of what I could have done if I were vampire.”

“I will think about it, I promise. I sure don’t want to lose you to old age. Which by the way, your birthday is tomorrow isn’t?”

“Yes, Miss Lily, the top of the hill, everything is downhill after tomorrow.”

Sebastian rolls his eyes. Andrew leaves and I swear he pretends to limp. Sebastian pats the bed next to him.

I’ve rarely been in Sebastian’s room. I look around. It’s so masculine, deep reds and dark woods. I stretch out on the bed next to Sebastian. He leans back on the pillows and sighs.

“You know the effects of the blood only last a few hours.

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve been teasing me for a couple of weeks now. I’ve
been fantasizing about you for a year. It’s not complicated.”

“Bast, you won’t be up to anything like that! Besides you know what I said. I need some time.”

“We will see,” he says, his eyes darkening.

I let Sebastian rest and trundle down the hall to visit Helena and Julian. I knock gently on their door, not wanting to disturb Julian. Helena answers quickly.

“How is he?” I ask.

“Insisting that I let him see Sebastian. He is pretty traumatized, poor dear. He is still weak, but I guess he only had one dose of the blood and Sebastian had two.”

“Sebastian didn’t say anything about that. He’s just focused on the fact that we are all alive. He doesn’t seem to care about anything else at the moment.”

“Since he is in such good spirits I will let Julian go and visit him for a bit. Maybe then Jules can rest. Come in, Lily. Jules, darling, you have a visitor.”

Helena has decorated their palatial bedroom to look like something from her youth. Very Mediterranean. It is a beautiful room with white flowing curtains around the bed and at the windows.

“Lily, I’m sorry. I couldn’t stop them from giving him the second dose of blood. Iris was serious about using the stake. She didn’t care what Indio wanted. Indio was too cowed or too naïve to realize Iris liked killing. She was looking for an excuse.”

“I think you’re right, Jules. You distracted them. You were able to slow them down and managed to protect Aidan in the process. I don’t know what I would have done if we’d lost any of you.”

“You’re welcome, Lily, and thank you. Without you and ‘Lena to save us idiot men, well, as I’ve always known, we are the weaker sex.”

“Nonsense, but it is nice to be the hero for once.” I’m content, my family is safe.

Helena and I help Julian down the hall to Sebastian’s room. Julian complaining that he can walk by himself the whole way, but I notice he is still shaky.

“Jules,” Sebastian yells before we can knock, “get in here. I could hear you worrying like an old woman the whole way down the hall.”

“It’s these women, they save our lives and they think they rule us. Really, Helena! I can sit down by myself.”

She lets him go and he falls into the chair. He gives a loud grunt and grimaces.

“Looks like you could still use ‘Lena’s help, old man,” Sebastian says.

“Easy for you to say, you’re still in bed,” Julian huffs.

“I think you should be in bed too, dearest,” Helena says.

“In a minute. I’m fine, really. Just a little weak. How about you, Sebastian?”

“I feel fantastic. My body is a little sore and stiff and I’m weak. It will pass, though, nothing that will slow me down.”

“You should take it easy for at least twenty - four hours, Sebastian. You had two doses, close together,” Julian says. “I’m not sure what that will do to you, but I know that it will make you very weak and you should feed if you can. We can take you out and have Helena lure someone to you later when you feel a bit better.”

“Thanks. It’s not time for me to feed for another week but I’m famished.”

“That’s the damage from the blood,” Julian says. “You’ll feel more energized after you feed.”

“Let’s do it now. I have plans for tonight,” he says looking at me.

Julian and Helena exchange glances, Julian shakes his head.

“No my friend, you won’t be up to that tonight.”

“I told you,” I say.

“We will see,” Bast says.

It’s difficult for an immortal that is practically invincible to come to terms their weakness and have to deal with its consequences. He would just have to find out the hard way. I kiss him on the forehead.

“I’m going to go and take a shower. I feel like I’m covered in witch cooties. I’ll be right back,” I say.

“Don’t tease the dumb animal,” he says.

I go to my room, leaving Helena and Julian to entertain Sebastian. Tearing everything I’m wearing off, I throw it into the garbage. I turn the shower on as hot as I can stand and then climb in. As the bathroom fills with steam, the adrenaline wears off and I start to cry. I feel empty. I cry until I am nothing but a prune. I killed her. Her life was in my hands and I took it away. I tell myself she would have kept going until she succeeded in killing me or someone else in my family. I know it’s true but I still cry. God forgive me. I will have to live with this.

I wash and get out. My eyes are swollen so I don’t bother putting makeup on. Grabbing a pair of yoga pants and a long sweater, I dress. I look worse than when I left Sebastian. I take my time returning to Bast’s room.

“I thought you might have tried to drown in there,” he says. Then he sees my face.

“Oh, Cherie. Come here. Come, get up in bed with me.”

He doesn’t have to ask twice. I crawl under the blankets with him.

“I wondered how long it would be before it would hit you. It’s not in your nature to be ruthless.”

“She would have killed us all and Iris would have killed you. It was self-defense. I had to do it.”

“I know, Lily. I know you had to. I’m not saying you didn’t. Killing will never be easy for you – but it was necessary. I’m so proud of you and so thankful for what you did today.” He shivers. “Every moment she had that stake against my heart, all I could think about was you. Not seeing you again, not knowing you, not loving you anymore. I could not believe that my life could end that way.” Sebastian turns on his side to look at me and tries not to groan. “I was made to love you. We were made to be together. I needed that chance.” He gently takes my hand and squeezes. He still has no stamina and I make up for it by pulling his fingers to my lips and kissing them.

“I was so scared when I saw you unconscious. You looked like you were dead.” I smooth his hair from his eyes.

“Shhh… Dearest, I don’t plan on leaving you anytime soon.”

“Try not to scare me like that again.”

“Never,” he said fervently.

I kiss him gently even though I know it sends the wrong message. I just need to. He kisses me with more force. His lips still work fine.

We lay in bed talking for a few hours until Helena knocks on the door.

“Come in, ‘Lena,” Sebastian says.

“It’s time to go and feed, Sebastian. I think you should be up to it now. Julian feels well enough to hunt for himself.”

“Sounds good, let me just get dressed.”

“I’ll meet you downstairs, dear.” She is off in a blur.

“Do you need help getting dressed?” I ask, purely from a medical point of view.

Sebastian raises an eyebrow. “I think if you help me dress we might not make it downstairs, Cherie.”

“I meant, should I call for Andrew?”

“Sure you did.” He grins.

“A gentleman wouldn’t question my motives…”

He cocks an eyebrow at me. “No one ever accused me of being a gentleman. Wait for me right there, I’m going to throw some clothes on.”

He rustles around in his closet for a minute or two. I only hear a stifled grunt. He isn’t completely healed. When he comes out he is wearing old, faded jeans, an oversized cable knit sweater and loafers. He looks gorgeous. That’s the thing about Sebastian, he can dress up or down and he still looks yummy.

“You are looking at me like I am something to eat, Lily,” he says.

“That’s because you look good enough to eat, Bast.”

He gives me a look that says behave yourself, Lily.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he says.

“It was meant as one. Come on, we don’t want to keep Julian and Helena waiting. I’m going with you, by the way. I don’t want you out of
my
sight this time.”

We walk downstairs slowly. I don’t help him but I stay close just the same. His face is tight.

“Once you feed, it will help, Sebastian,” Julian says. “Let’s get you in the car and go get dinner.”

“Where are we going? I brought some handi-wipes if you’re going to the docks again. Those guys are just disgusting and you’re not getting back in the car with me after you sucked one of their necks without washing it first,” I whine.

Sebastian sighs.

“No, we are not going to the docks. My car stands out a bit there, Lily. We thought we would go to Chinatown,” Julian says as Helena starts driving.

“That sounds good. Easy to find people there too,” Bast agrees.

I let Sebastian rest his head in my lap on the way. He is worn out from the walk down the stairs. I really hope the food will help with his energy.

We find a spot to park and only have to walk a little ways. We don’t have far to go before we have the perfect place for Sebastian to rest and wait for Helena to lure him a meal. I sit next to Bast and hold his hand. He is shaking. The walk has taken what remaining energy he had left. In a few minutes we see Helena backing into our alley with a young woman following her in a trance. Tourists are always plentiful around here, especially since we are close to the cable car stop. Helena leads her to Sebastian and he hungrily bends her neck back and starts eating. I get why Bast thought I was sexy when I feed. He turns me on. It’s a vampire thing, that’s all I can say. The primal need to feed, fangs out and knowing of the ecstasy of the taste of the blood, all these things combine to make me excited.