The Fabled (19 page)

My mouth dropped open. Did he think he
controlled me now?

“Fine. If pretending to be your lover until
these killers are caught is all I have to do then so be it.”

He laughed. “Oh you won’t be getting off that
easy. Remember that I will have to teach and protect Tristan until
he reaches his full power.”

“You expect me to be your slave for the next
hundred years?!”

He seemed thoughtful. “Hm. Slave, I like the
sound of that.”

“Dream on Vamp. I said I would do anything
not everything in exchange for Tristan’s life.”

“Oh, should I end him now then?”

I narrowed my eyes at him and he just stared
back. After a moment I smiled.

“You wouldn’t. There is no way you would
create a child just to destroy him. As you said, there is a bond
between you now.”

He smiled in return. “Touché. Still, you must
admit one small task like pretending to be my lover hardly equates
to ‘anything’. You will do what I say until I deem you have paid
your debt in full.”

“Or?”

“You do wish to see your son again don’t
you?”

“You wouldn’t.”

He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
“You obviously don’t know me as well as I thought. See, I always
get what I want. One way or another.”

“Always seems like a bit of a stretch don’t
you think?”

“Always.” He shrugged in conceit.
“Eventually. Lucky for you, I’m a patient man.”

“Whatever. Leave me alone. I need to catch
some z’s on your hoochie couch.”

He stood up. “Get used to it. I have a
feeling you’ll be spending plenty of time on it.”

I ignored him.

“
Playing the part”

I woke that afternoon to see Roman sitting on
the opposite couch watching me. Now that’s not creepy at all. I sat
up and raised a brow at him. He sat back and put one arm on the
back of the couch while crossing his ankle over the opposite
knee.

“How is Tristan?”

“He finished the change and has fed for the
first time as a Vampere so it is evident he will be fine. I thought
it would be prudent to discuss your role as my lover.”

I rolled my eyes. “I know how to act like I
like someone. Even if I don’t.”

“You cut me to the quick, Sunshine. I merely
meant that it is expected of you to not only provide me with sex
but blood as well. All will know you are not truly mine if I don’t
take from you.”

Oh hell no! A Vampere feeding can be an
extremely intimate experience. Especially if both parties are
already attracted to each other.

“And how will they possibly know that you
haven’t taken from me? It’s not like you usually feed in front of
everyone or leave hickeys.”

He tapped his nose. “It’s all in the smell
love. Not only mine but yours as well.”

“You’re saying that someone could smell me
and tell if I let you feed off of me?”

“A Vampere could, yes.”

“Then I’ll just have to keep my distance from
them because I refuse to be your afternoon snack.”

“Sunshine, be reasonable. You are bound to be
around them at the club. How will you convince them you are mine
when you won’t even let me feed?”

I shrugged. “Don’t really care. I was yours
before without being your blood donor.”

“That situation was different and you know
it. And if the killer suspects you are here for reasons other than
what you say. Would you really let a killer go free because you
don’t want to feed me?”

“I’m more concerned with the Vampere that
took my son. Don’t think you’re off the hook for that one. It’s
awfully convenient that the killer dumped him at your club.”

“Or they left him here because they knew you
would find him. His being dropped here was most likely a message.
Or to ruin me further. Not to mention your little show last night.
At the rate you are going, I will be lucky to have a club in a few
weeks.”

“Don’t blame me because you can’t protect
your own clientele.”

“And don’t blame me because you can’t protect
your own son.”

I lunged at him and before he could move I
had his arms pinned at his sides with my knees. A smile passed over
my face as I looked him in the eyes. Then I reached forward, put my
hands on both sides of his face and, as hard as I could, twisted
until I felt his neck break.

“I’m sorry, Sunshine. I shouldn’t have said
that.”

He woke me from my fantasy and I eyed him
evilly. “I’m not feeding you Roman and that is the end of this
story.” I stood up and started toward the door. “I’m going home for
a shower and to prepare mentally before tonight’s performance.”

“Will it be so hard to play the part of my
lover? I seem to remember you pulling it off beautifully.”

“That was a long time ago and before I was
freed from your lies.”

He looked away and I took my leave of
him.

When I got back to my house there was a
delivery man ringing the buzzer at the gate.

“Can I help you?”

“That depends. Are you Sunny Dubois?”

“That depends. Who are you and why are you at
my gate?”

“Whoa. Slow down sugar. Just delivering a
package’s all.”

He held out a clipboard for me to sign. I
took it suspiciously and signed my name. Once I handed it back to
him he pulled a package out of the back of his van and tipped his
hat to me before getting in his van. I looked at the package while
he was backing out of the drive. The return address was from Canada
so either K had sent me something or the alpha wants me to go
steady. I’m betting on K.

I drove up to the house and went inside
before opening my package. When I lifted the lid off of the box
there was a note lying on top of something wrapped in tissue paper.
I picked up the note and read it.

Sunny,

I’m sorry I didn’t have time to force you to
go bridesmaid shopping with me. I’m sure you will get over it
though. When I saw this dress I envisioned you in it. Hope it fits
as well as I know it will. Can’t wait to see you Saturday. I’ve
attached directions.

Much love,

K

I put down the note and moved the tissue
paper aside. There was a charcoal gray dress inside. I lifted it
out and saw there wasn’t much to it. It was strapless and would
probably only come to mid-thigh. I did love the color. Much better
than the pink dress I had to wear when my sister had gotten
married. Of course that was over sixty years ago. Style had changed
quite a bit since then and if I have to wear a dress I’m glad it’s
not that big, poufy, ruffled, hot pink thing I was drowning in all
so long ago. I shuttered just thinking about it.

I held the dress up in front of me in the
mirror. I was right. It did only come to mid-thigh and a second
look in the box showed a pair of silver four inch heels. Hopefully
I wouldn’t look like I belonged on a street corner in this getup.
Nothing I could do about it now so I took it upstairs and hung the
dress in my closet and placed the shoes on the floor beneath. They
looked out of place among my t-shirts and jeans. Just the thought
made me dread this upcoming event.

After a shower and quick meal I headed back
to Eternal Darkness. I really want to press Roman to let me see
Tristan but I know that newly made Vampere need to rest and come to
terms with their new selves. And I know Roman won’t want me to see
Tristan until he thinks he’s ready. I’ll wait for now and
concentrate solely on finding the asshole that did this to him. A
smile crossed my face as I thought about what I would do to that
Vamp. I can promise his fortune cookie will be blank.

“Oh, it’s you.”

“Aw. Such a heartfelt welcome. Thanks Carly.
I love you too.”

She rolled her eyes and started down the hall
leaving me to close the door behind me. And here I thought we had a
real connection last night. Guess that was just the booze talking.
She turned around halfway down the hall and I about ran into
her.

“Roman told me the new plan. If you hurt him
again, I will kill you. I tried to talk him out of this stupid idea
but he won’t listen to reason when it comes to you.”

“Jealousy is such an ugly emotion. Wouldn’t
you agree?”

Her eyes narrowed. “You don’t think I can
kill you? I can make your karma so horrible you’ll be dead in a
week.”

“You wouldn’t do that unless you’re stupid.
Any rookie knows better than to mess with fate. If you aren’t woman
enough to put a blade in me then you aren’t worth my time.”

I pushed past her and walked through the door
that led to the main club. Roman was there talking to Charles and
another Vamp. I walked up and gave him a kiss on the cheek before
wrapping my arm around him and standing at his side. I don’t know
if he told all of his security about the arrangement but I figure
it’s better to play it out for everyone. Besides, other than
Charles I don’t know any of the security. They could be the killer
for all I know.

“Hey Romy.” The nickname would serve two
purposes. First, it sounded endearing and second, I knew Roman
would hate it.

He looked at me with a sly smile. “Hello
Sunshine. Did you manage to get any sleep while you were away?”

I smiled back realizing what he was implying.
“I got a couple of hours.”

“I suppose that will have to sustain you.” He
turned back to the other Vamps. “You know your places. Charles,
I’ll leave it to you to tell the others.”

“Yes sir.” He nodded to Roman then to me.
When his head came back up he winked with a smile while I rolled my
eyes in return. The other Vamp nodded as well then they both left
the club area.

I stayed in my position with Roman and
whispered in his ear. “Do they know the truth?”

He smiled and shook his head slightly. “My,
you are insatiable. I’m sure you can wait until after the
show.”

I looked around. There were several servers
and a couple of bouncers nearby getting everything ready for
tonight’s opening. Great. Now everyone in the immediate area thinks
I was asking him for sex and got shot down. I stuck my tongue out
at him and walked over to the stage where the guys were
practicing.

“Hey fellas.”

They all looked at me warily.

“Oh come on. We were cool two days ago. Sure
I acted like a freak last night but my kid got stolen. How would
you act if your child was kidnapped?”

“Your kid was taken? I didn’t even know you
had a kid. Do you know who took him?” Dan asked.

“Not yet but like I said last night, whoever
did it is a dead man.”

“No wonder you went all
The Shining
on
us.”

“Really? That’s what you compare me to? Jack
Nicholson in
The Shining
.”

“What? No, I was referring to that creepy kid
that kept saying ‘red rum red rum’. You were totally putting out
the crazy death foreteller vibes last night.”

“Thanks Dan. That’s just what I was going
for.”

“You’re totally good at it.”

Apparently he doesn’t know what sarcasm
is.

“Are we going to practice or what?”

“As long as you’re not going to freak out and
kill the crowd I don’t think we need to practice. We’re already
warmed up and since I’m not singing I’m good.”

“No promises. Do you think anyone will even
show tonight after what happened?”

“I got a boat load of calls today from peeps
asking if you were singing tonight,” Keith said.

“What did you tell them?”

“I told them they would just have to come to
the club and find out.”

“Do you think they wanted to know because
they didn’t want to come if I was going to be here or because they
wanted me to be here?”

He shrugged his shoulders. I looked at Dan
who looked just as uncertain. Well, we would find out in a few
minutes.

We retired back stage while the club opened
and everyone got ready for the night’s performance. A look at the
crowd showed it was just as big as the other night and Dan said
there were even more people outside waiting than before. He also
told me that Roman had setup a sort of outside party area in the
event of another large crowd. Apparently the empty lot next to the
club is also owned by Roman. He had it cleared and added some
lighting. A couple of big screen TVs and a portable bar completed
the area. It was open for those that were waiting to get inside.
That way even though they couldn’t see me live they could still
experience the show and he would make a boatload of money off the
drinks he sells.

It doesn’t really surprise me that Roman
thought of that. He has always been really good when it comes to
making money. I remember the first time I visited his home in Las
Vegas. My jaw had road rash from dragging on the driveway leading
up to the estate. I asked him how a psychologist could afford such
an enormous home and he told me he came from old money. Now I know
that the money was old and so was he. One can accumulate quite the
savings when they’ve been around a thousand years.

Roman came backstage just as we were about to
begin. He walked up to me and put his hand to my face softly then
rubbed his thumb across my bottom lip.

“I will be walking you out tonight,
Sunshine.”

“Uh, okay. Why?”

He just smiled at me before turning to the
other members. “Are you ready?”

There were a round of yes’s and Roman
motioned for me to precede him. When I walked out on the stage
everyone stopped and watched me. I can honestly say that I don’t
think I will ever get used to that.

Roman grabbed the mic off the stand. “Thank
you all for coming. Both those inside the club and those joining us
outside. I am happy to say that our beautiful, little Thief has
decided to join us again and will be staying for some time. The
reason for her outburst last night was due to someone making an
attack on one that she considered hers. I can assure you this
attack will not be tolerated. Together we will find them and
together we will make them pay. Until then I have persuaded her to
stay here with me and I can also assure you my powers of persuasion
are quite exemplary. Now without any more posturing. I give you the
lovely and incredibly talented, Sunny Dubois.”