The Vampyre Legal Chronicles - Marcus (5 page)

Like a good
little lawyer, his assistant usually answered questions with yes or
no. Anais might be one of the best attention- to-detail people he'd
ever employed but it had become quite apparent to Marcus that the
girl was all work and no play. Now white teeth were worrying and
abusing her bottom lip. When her guard was down he could quite
clearly read the emotions crossing her expressive face and in those
big eyes, anxiety, excitement and most intriguing of all... a
change of heart.

"The thing is I
didn't think to bring an appropriate dress," she told him.

"No problem.
I'll have the hotel boutique to send up a selection." His eyes took
a measured stroll from the top of her dark head to her toes. "A
size two?"

Her eyes
flashed with something like temper as her mouth opened, and closed
with a snap. "Okay. Ten-thirty then."

"Deal." Marcus
smiled as she stalked down the hallway and banged the door to her
rooms behind her.

Temper,
temper, Anais.

That was the
first time in six long months that she'd shown him anything but a
steely composure. At last, Marcus thought when he sat back in his
chair. Underneath the buttoned up black suits and white silk shirts
there was plenty of fire along with the ice. Thank goodness. He'd
begun to wonder if he'd misjudged his instincts about her. Since
his hearing was outstanding even for a vampyre he'd heard exactly
what the Chinese aide had called her. He'd watched her fight to
remain calm and contained.

Epic fail,
Anais.

Now she
believed she'd lost her job.

Marcus wondered
how far he could take her and how far she would go to keep her
position in his company.

He grinned as
he spun his chair around to look out over the vast skyline of
Shanghai.

No matter how
hard he'd worked and challenged her, Anais had held her nerve.
Until today. Just as well, otherwise he'd still be cooling his
heels waiting for an opportunity to make his move. She'd put up a
brilliant fight against her wild attraction to him. He had to admit
it had been fun watching her and waiting. She'd wanted to prove
herself and he had to admire that about her. No way would Anais
sleep her way to the top. Bless her. The key to the success of his
species was the ability for a vampyre to harness an endless
patience. And Marcus had been ruthlessly patient with Anais for
over six long months.

The first time
she'd walked into the interview for the position of a junior
partner, in front of the entire board, his attraction had been
immediate and absolute. The way she'd answered their questions in
that fabulously clear, calm voice, had soothed the beast within and
the coolly beautiful features had turned-on the man. The moment
that cat-like gaze had held his, reserved and crystal clear, the
vampyre living within him had wanted her. Recognising her for what
she was. His.

Anais was
ambitious but not viciously so. She was sharp, too. Very sharp.

There were
certain skills his mate would need to cope with her transition to a
new born vampyre. If, she survived it. One of those skills was an
open mind. And Anais had a beautiful mind. Logical. Strong.
Tenacious.

However,
something about her - something that felt like a vibration, a
little hum, in her blood - troubled him, just a little.

The side of
Marcus that was human listened to an instinct that had served him
well for over two hundred years. There was something about Anais
Walker that cautioned him to keep her at arm's length and to take
it nice and slow and easy until he discovered what it was that
bothered him.

A careful and
thorough check of her past had revealed nothing sinister. Still,
his instinct for self-preservation held him back as Marcus took the
time to understand what it was about her that made him... wary.
Having spent many decades waiting for a woman to trigger his
yearning, Marcus understood patience. And Anais was the woman he
yearned for. He had her exactly where he wanted her. Now he eased
back in his chair, stretching out long legs. And wondered what
surprises the night might bring.

He couldn't
wait.

Sipping a thirty year
old malt whisky, a Glenfarclas, out of a heavy glass of Edinburgh
crystal, Marcus strolled onto the wrap-around balcony of his suite
and studied the moon hanging in the heavens. A rare blue moon. A
moon that many believed brought a warning of doom and destruction.
Could be worse, it could be a blood moon. And then they'd really be
in the shitter. Without moving his head, his eyes did a sweep of
the heavens and the rooftops. The Centuri of his personal guard
were locked and loaded. Dressed from head to toe in black leather,
some carried lasers, some wore swords crossed on their back while
others carried good old fashioned guns. In spite of what the movies
said, his kind could not out-run a speeding bullet. Although never
fatal, slugs did plenty of damage to a vampyre and healing was a
bitch.

The sound of a
vampyre sniffing the air brought his brows together.

"Nice threads.
Going somewhere?" asked James.

"
Pepper
club."

"Not smelling
like that you're not, pal."

Marcus turned
to his brother who stepped out to join him.

James was a
typical Gillespie. Tall and dark with the build and demeanour of
their Celtic warrior clan. He was six foot two, to Marcus's six
foot four and twenty vampyre years younger. Although to a human eye
they might have been twins.

Except for the
hair.

With his black
hair tied in a short tail at the base of his neck and his lean good
looks, James Gillespie looked more like a rock star than a
corporate lawyer. Marcus ignored the little niggle of disapproval
and irritation. They were wasted emotions. James did what he
wanted. James played by his own rules, always had done and always
would do. He'd taken a human female as his mate and still hadn't
taken her vein to bring her fully into their world. It really was
pitiful behaviour for a vampyre prince.

But after that
statement, Marcus slid a finger into the unbuttoned neck of his
black silk shirt, bent his head and sniffed. All he could smell was
shower gel and a cologne he'd worn for over two hundred years,
specially mixed for him in Paris.

"I smell fine,"
he growled.

His brother's
black brows flew into his hairline.

"You reek of
yearning. The elevator stank like a vampyre brothel. I could smell
Anais, too. You should stop torturing and playing with the
girl."

A vampyre's
yearning hit him once in his lifetime and only if he was lucky
enough to find the woman for him. It was true that Anais was
becoming more and more turned on around him. And it was also true
that Marcus was having the best time toying with her. He'd waited a
long, very long, time to find her. So why not enjoy the journey
rather than rushing headlong towards the destination? Patience, as
the old saying said, was a virtue. However, his vampyre was being
driven crazy with the wildly exotic scent of her arousal and
becoming impatient with Marcus's lack of action. Although he was at
the right age and maturity to take a mate, for a vampyre, Marcus
was physically disciplined in all things. He refused to permit a
bone deep desire of a mere woman to undermine his well-honed
ability to stay in control of his emotions and, his body. Unlike
others of his kind, he'd never indulged himself in the joy of an
exquisite release, by taking the vein of a human female while
making love. Marcus reserved that honour, the deep bliss of the
experience, for his fated mate. Once he had fed from Anais and she
from him, his yearning would abate. And life as he knew it would
return to normal.

For many years
he'd refused to feed from a warm, live human. Instead, like his
father and brothers, and other senior members of his race, he'd
become accustomed to using specially manufactured hemoglobin to
keep his hunger at bay. The results were a win-win for vampyres and
humans alike. For his species the enhanced hemoglobin created an
increased strength and endurance and, it was hoped, advanced
longevity. For humans it meant less disease, less of the infections
that had crossed the species, in some cases killing millions of
humans. The great plague of 1665 and the Spanish flu of 1918 being
two cases in point. If humans ever discovered that vampyres were
the cause of the swine flu pandemic and now Ebola they'd be on a
mission to hunt and destroy.

Unlike his
father, Marcus wasn't particularly concerned about humans finding
out the truth. The whole vampyre legend had become an integral part
of human myth and popular culture. These days humans were riveted
by vampyre novels, film and hit television shows. The crazy thing
was that many humans would do a happy dance if they even thought
that vampyres existed. Although, unlike fiction, humans could not
be turned
unless
they carried a certain amount of vampyre
DNA. Since finding humans with the correct DNA was rarer than hen's
teeth, the issue for Marcus and his brothers hadn't arisen.

"I've been
talking to Constantine," James said now, his deep voice low. "He's
interested in conducting a close medical study of our
yearning."

"Is he? Maybe
he should concentrate on his own personal life. He's over four
hundred years old, isn't it about time he saw to his own
yearning?"

James shrugged.
"Do you want to be the one to tell a vampyre Precedential Elder to
fuck off?"

No. Marcus
didn't. Constantine Mabille was one of those rare beings, a vampyre
warrior turned scientist and physicist who owned one of the largest
pharmaceutical companies in the world. He'd done a lot for the
advancement in health of the general population for humans and
vampyres alike. Plus, Constantine was pretty tight with their
father.

"What does he
want?" Marcus couldn't keep the irritation from his voice.

"He's sending
Saira Pattullo and a team of her Centuri medics to take samples
from you and Anais. He suspects that your yearning was triggered by
something in Anais. It's only a theory, but he wants bloods, etc.
And he's taking samples from me and Charlotte, too."

"What excuse
are you going to give your wife, who just happens to be a nurse, to
persuade her to give a blood sample?" Marcus wanted to know.

James rubbed
the back of his neck and gave him a dark look.

"I'll deal with
it," he growled. "I need to take her vein soon. When I'm around her
my vampyre is becoming increasingly unstable. I'm terrified to
touch her."

"I don't
understand why you have not brought her fully into our world."

"You don't
understand because you've never been in love," James shot back. His
eyes scanned the heavens, and then he sighed deeply. A sound leaden
with anxiety. "I want it to be her choice. And it scares the shit
out of me to even think about hurting her. I don't want to lose
her."

Now Marcus took
a seat and leaned back.

He stared up at
his brother, understood his concern.

When a human
became a new born vampyre the transition was not only unspeakably
painful, but, if things went wrong, potentially fatal. Add in the
fact that the ancient scrolls documenting the transition process
had been stolen by the Legion over two hundred years ago and the
Gillespie brothers were, well, working in the dark. However, Marcus
was quite prepared to be the first of his brothers to bring his
mate into their world. It was a simple exchange of blood. A
specific amount of blood. How hard could it be? As far as he was
concerned his baby brother needed to man-up.

"
Love,"
Marcus drawled in a voice filled with something like disgust. "Is
highly over-rated."

Since James had
heard it all before, he didn't rise to the bait.

Instead, he
shook his head and eyed his brother.

"I can't wait
to see how you handle Anais. And speaking of Anais, what happened
during the meeting today?"

"She was called
a whore and it upset her." Marcus understood why his brother cursed
under his breath. James liked and respected Anais. He continued,
"So that's why I'm taking her out tonight for a little bit of rest
and relaxation. Then we'll see what we'll see."

His brother's
eyes went wide.

"You can't take
her out while you both stink of yearning? Christ, the locals will
be all over the pair of you like cats high on catnip."

Now Marcus
stood, picked up a slim black velvet box from the table. "No, they
won't."

He opened the
box and James blew out a low whistle.

"Are you
certain now is the right time to give her that?"

A vampyre only
gave his bloodstone to the woman who held his heart.

Marcus
carefully removed the necklace from the box.

"While she
wears my bloodstone, no one will touch her."

James moved to
put a strong hand on his arm.

"I still think
it's too dangerous. I'm coming with you."

Now Marcus sent
him a lazy grin. "Playing gooseberry?"

"Nope. I won't
cramp your style." James eyes lifted to study the heavens. His brow
creased. "I've just got a feeling."

Their eyes met
and Marcus read his brother's genuine concern.

Although they
bickered, all the Gillespie siblings were close and over the years
Marcus had learned to have a healthy respect for his brother's
feelings
.

His eyes lifted
again to the night sky to study the blue moon.

A harbinger of
doom.

He didn't
really believe all that superstitious nonsense.

What harm would
it do if his brother wanted to tag along?

If there was
trouble James was a good man to have in a fight.