True Faces (9 page)

I nodded my head and bowed to him. “Thank
you Master.”

He nodded his head. “Call tomorrow and I
will say if you come or not.”

I nodded my head and grabbed my bag. I
walked outside and sighed. It was four thirty and the sun would be
going down around six. I jogged home ignoring the pain in my legs
and head and locked the door and checked all of the other locks. I
pulled out the three stakes I kept in my house and set them around
the house for easy access if a vampire somehow got in without my
invitation then changed and showered. As I was walking down the
stairs someone knocked on the front door. I walked slowly to the
door and peeked through the peephole. Eric. I unlocked the doors
and he came inside carrying two bags from the local sandwich shop.
I slammed the door shut behind him and locked the doors. He walked
ahead of me and got to the living room before I could. He stared
down at the coffee table where a stake was sitting. “Expecting
someone?” he asked with a curious twinkle in his eyes.

“I can’t really explain…” I said as I
fidgeted nervously. How does one explain that vampires and
werewolves and everything that we are told are metaphors actually
exist?

Eric set the food down and picked up one of
the stakes. “Do you have any crosses?”

I shook my head then frowned. “Wait…you know
about vampires?”

Eric smiled. “I know quite a bit.”

I started to concentrate to open my eye, but
Eric pulled me against him. “I won’t let anyone hurt you. You know
that right?”

I frowned. “Yeah, but…”

He shook his head. “Ciara, you’re
fired.”

I stared at him in shock. “You’re firing me?
But I tried to quit and you wouldn’t let me. Why are you firing
me?”

He put his hand behind my neck and kissed my
lips softly. “Because I can’t date my secretary when she has an
issue with dating her boss and I can’t resist you anymore.” I
looked down, but he tilted my head back up. “Or was me being your
boss just an easier excuse then telling me you aren’t
interested?”

I saw his guarded face and knew he expected
me to hurt him. To deny my feelings for him and I couldn’t do it. I
pulled his head down and kissed him on the lips. He moaned as my
tongue slipped across his lips. He kissed me back as if I was air
and he was suffocating. He picked me up and carried me to the
couch. I kissed him back as though he were the only thing keeping
me alive. He laid us down on the couch and ran his hand up and down
the sides of my body as he kissed me. I tugged at his shirt and he
pulled back and took it off. I stared at his muscular upper chest
and eight pack of abdominals. He was even sexier than I had
imagined. I leaned up and kissed his ear and nibbled his neck. He
moaned and nibbled my neck back. He pulled my shirt off and kissed
down my chest and down my stomach. I gasped as he licked along my
waistband. He sat back and stared at me smiling. I frowned. “What?
What is it?”

He shook his head and lay down on top of me
so that his eyes were level with mine. “I love you Ciara.”

I stared at him in shock then realized that
as crazy as it was I felt the same. “I love you too.”

He smiled the most perfect smile I had ever
seen and kissed me. He sat me up and was reaching around to unsnap
my bra when the door splintered and broke open. Eric jumped up and
stared at the door, “You do not have permission to enter this
house.”

I put my shirt back on and looked at the
door. I opened my eye and stared in shock at the four men standing
at my door, two of which were vampires and the other two
werewolves. I whispered to Eric still watching the men. “Eric, two
of them are werewolves. They don’t need an invitation.”

Eric growled beside me sounding like an
animal. “I have claimed this woman as mine. You have no right to
enter this house.”

The vampires smiled. “You have not claimed
her. She does not smell of you.”

Eric sighed sadly. “Because you interrupted
me. Come back in twenty minutes and let me finish.”

I turned to look at Eric,
shocked at what he said, and gasped as I saw a black furred wolf
face with golden eyes overlapping Eric’s human face.
“You’re…you’re
not
human.” I walked slowly back from him and he started to
follow me.

“Ciara, I never lied to you.”

I grabbed one of the stakes and shook my
head. “No! Omission is as bad as lying! You should have told
me.”

He frowned and asked, “Would it have made a
difference? Would you care any less for me?”

I shook my head and continued backing toward
the side door. “You should have let me decide.”

Eric groaned and threw his hands up into the
air. “I thought you knew. You didn’t tell me you weren’t using your
Sight. You are a Seer, so I thought you could See what I am. I
thought you were just trying to get me to say it so you could
refuse to see me.”

I snarled. “It doesn’t matter what I would
have done you should have told me.” The four at the door laughed
and I glared at them. “What the hell do you want anyways?”

One of the vampires put his hand against the
invisible barrier on the doorway. “If you let us in we could talk
about it in a more civilized manner with you.”

Eric growled. “No.”

I glared at him. “My house.” I turned to the
vampire. “No. Tell me what you want.”

The vampire said, “We are here to take you
back to our Master. The Council wishes to start a force to find
criminals who are in hiding and they feel that your particular
talent would be most useful.”

I folded my arms across my chest. “And what
would I get to help them?”

Eric stared at me in complete shock. “You
can’t honestly be thinking about going with them? They’ll just kill
you as soon as you have worn out your use.”

“I’m currently unemployed if you recall. And
they’ll just kill me if I refuse.”

The vampire smiled. “She’s very smart Eric.
I can see why you want her.”

Eric started toward them and I stepped
between them and said, “Answer me vampire.”

The vampire smiled. “You will be paid twice
what you would make here, be provided with food and shelter and any
thing else you require.”

Eric shook his head. “Don’t do it
Ciara.”

I spun on him and pushed him in the chest
making him stumble. “Go in the kitchen. Let me talk to them.”

He stared at me in shock. “If I am not here
they will send the wolves in to take you.”

I growled in frustration. “I already have a
wolf in here. Two more wouldn’t make a difference.”

Eric shook his head angrily. “You don’t
understand! I want to protect you. I wasn’t lying about what I
said.”

“Just give me two minutes. If they try
anything you can come try to kill them,” I said with a smile.

He glared at the vampires and wolves and
said, “If any of you touches a hair on her head I will kill
you.”

The wolves started to look nervous and
nodded their heads and the vampires made an “X” over their hearts.
Eric kissed me on the lips before I could pull away and stomped to
the kitchen. I walked closer to the vampires and asked, “What’s the
real deal? What aren’t you telling me?”

The other vampire smiled, “I can see that
tou are very smart and will be very helpful.” His smile faded and
he turned serious, “If you refuse our offer we have been authorized
to kill Eric and take you by force. A Seer like you cannot be
without the protection of the Council or you will be killed by
criminal preternaturals.”

I stared at them in shock. “You’ll kill Eric
if I don’t agree to come with you?”

The vampire nodded his head. “We do not want
to, but our Master was very specific that we use any negotiation
technique necessary to get you to come with us.”

I groaned. “Will you give me your word that
if I join this force and help you that I will not be forced to
change?”

The vampire smiled. “We would not try to
change you anyways. You might lose your gift.”

I looked toward the kitchen where I could
hear Eric breaking plates. “You must promise not to hurt him. If
you hurt him or kill him I’ll kill myself.”

The werewolves stared at me in shock. The
one on the right who looked to be the youngest asked, “You would
give your life for his even though you shunned him for being a
wolf?”

I sighed in frustration. “I didn’t shun him
because he is a wolf. I am angry with him because he didn’t tell
me. Plus, I love him and I don’t want him hurt.”

The first vampire said, “We need your
answer.”

I looked toward the kitchen and felt my
longing for Eric. I did love him and I couldn’t let him die. “I
will join your force if none harm Eric, pay me what you said, feed
me, give me housing and any other reasonable desire.”

The two vampires nodded their heads and
spoke in unison, “You have our word.”

Eric walked out of the kitchen and dropped
to his knees in front of me, “Ciara, I’m begging you to stay with
me. I can defeat them!”

I felt the tears threatening to break free
and shook my head, “I’m sorry Eric. I have to accept their
offer.”

Eric jumped to his feet and grabbed my arms,
“You don’t know what you’re saying! You can’t trust them.”

I looked up in to his eyes and saw his pain
and his anger, “I love you and always will, but I must go with
them. It’s the only way.”

He growled, “It’s not. I can protect
you.”

I kissed his lips then quickly took off the
ring handing it to him, “Move on Eric. Find another mate.”

He shook his head and hugged me tight,
“You’re my mate. I only want you.”

I shook my head and pulled out of his arms,
“I’m sorry. You’ll find another mate. I’m sorry.” I backed up until
I was outside the door and one of the vampires held out his
hand.

Eric’s body started shaking as he began the
change, “I won’t let them take you. You’re mine! We belong
together.”

The two werewolves started moving toward him
and I yelled, “You promised!”

The vampires hissed at the werewolves and
they stopped. The vampire holding my hand picked me up in his arms
and they ran. I could hear Eric’s heartbroken howl behind us and
cried in to the vampire’s shirt. One of the werewolves barked and
the vampire holding me sighed, “Just distract him until we are far
enough away, but do not harm him. If you harm him I will let Ciara
kill you.”

The werewolf barked again then disappeared.
The vampire sighed and rubbed my cheek, “It will be alright. You
will adapt to your new life and will be treated as royalty.”

I stopped listening to his voice and focused
instead on the sound of the wind rushing around us as we ran. The
vampires climbed in to a black limousine and we drove away from
Luna Villa. I hadn’t even gotten to say goodbye to Akio. I knew
Eric would find him and Akio would disown me. I would not be
allowed to return and I would never be allowed to see Eric
again.

I needed to focus on my new life and most
importantly keeping myself alive. I didn’t want to be ruled by
vampires, but if I worked for them and kept my head down then maybe
I could adapt and live a life as normal as a Seer like me could
have.

I curled up in to as small
of a ball as I could in the limo and cried myself to sleep. I had a
new life ahead of me and I would only allow this one cry over my
former life and my one love. I would never love another man
again.
Never.

###

BOOK TWO OF THE CIARA
STEELE NOVELLA SERIES WILL BE RELEASED IN JUNE 2012.

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