Unbitten (46 page)

The machines she was hooked up to started beeping and
alarms went off, bringing a nurse running.

“Oh!” the nurse said, seeing Jo and Henri
making out like teenagers, paying no attention to the
machines whatsoever, each so happy that the other was safe,
and that they were together, no matter what.

The next afternoon, Jo was in cottage number four, helping
Marianne pack.

“I can’t believe I missed all the
excitement,” Marianne said, not for the first time.

“Um, I think you were enjoying plenty of excitement
right where you were,” said Jo, referring to the fact
that while she was trying to keep flying stakes from
hitting the vampire she loved, Marianne had been holed up
at Thierry’s house, having wild sex and eating big
meals, for four days straight.

“He didn’t even show up for work!” Jo
said, laughing. “And Thierry always shows up for
work, always. He practically lives at the stable. Or he
used to!”

Marianne paused in her folding of clothes. “He is a
good man, isn’t he?” she said dreamily.

“Look at you!” said Jo, with a note of triumph
in her voice. “You are
besotted!
”

Marianne laughed. “Yes,” said. “Very
happily besotted. You just wouldn’t believe what that
man is capable of,” she said, her voice dropping
almost to a whisper. “And the
food!
”
she added.

“Wait, you’ve got all the stuff hanging in the
armoire left to pack,” said Jo, seeing Marianne
zipping up her suitcase.

“I meant to ask you–is there someplace you
could keep those?” said Marianne, blushing like a
schoolgirl.

Jo grinned, waiting for her to explain.

“Thierry has asked me to come back and stay for a
long visit, and I told him I would,” she said, unable
to look like anything but the happiest woman on the planet.
“I have no idea how it will all work out–my
job, all the details of having a life in another country.
But we are going to see….”

Jo sprang up, stopping short when her hurt side protested
with a jolt of pain, then moving more gently, threw her
arms around her friend.

“I’m so glad!” she said. “You know
you mean more to me than I could ever say. Thierry is a
great friend. And the best thing is, I get to have you
right here in Mourency!”

“You’re never leaving, are you?” asked
Marianne.

“No,” said Jo, simply, and with great
assurance. “I’ve found where I am meant to be,
and I’m not leaving him, not ever.”

Later that night, Jo was in her room, dressing for dinner.
She was excited as she rejected this dress and that pair of
earrings, finally settling on a flaming red, tight dress
that she had never had the courage to wear before.

The last few nights with Henri–nights spent in bed,
touching each other, loving each other, carefully because
of the wound in her side but emotionally, not careful at
all, but full-out, open-hearted, holding nothing
back–these nights had brought Jo to an awareness of
herself that she had never gotten to before.

Now she understood that she had always kept something back,
no matter how much she had been convinced of her love for
some man. How she had always felt that her body needed
protection, sheltering, and had never truly released
herself, let herself fall, because she hadn’t had
confidence that anyone would be there to catch her.

She had that confidence now.

Jo gave her hair one last brush until it shone in the low
light of her bedroom, then tossed the brush on her bureau
and went to look for Henri in the dining room.

In the large foyer, Angélique and Albert were
waiting for some late guests to arrive. When she saw Jo,
she beamed and threw her arms around her. “I’m
so happy you’re all right,” she whispered in
Jo’s ear. “And so glad you’re going to be
staying on.”

“Same with me,” said Albert, grinning, and
kissing her on both cheeks.

“Thank you!” said Jo, practically singing.
“You know I love it here, and part of that is because
you both have been wonderful,” she said.

She was anxious to see Henri, since he had been sleeping
all day, resting up from their extremely vigorous time
together.

Henri appeared in the doorway at just that moment, and
opened his arms to her.

Jo had to force herself not to leap into his arms. Her side
was still terrifically sore.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“Of course,” said Jo, although she took
Henri’s hand and held on tight. She wasn’t sure
she would ever get used to visiting
Le Seigneur
and Antoinette. But she was more than willing to do it
because it meant so much to Henri.

They walked around the outside of the Château,
breathing out plumes of vapor in the cold air. Before they
got to the dungeon door, Henri stopped and turned Jo
towards him.

“It’s funny for me to be in a hurry,” he
said, with a light laugh, “because as you know, I
have endless time ahead of me.” He hadn’t seen
Jo in hours, and couldn’t resist leaning in and
kissing her, next to her ear, in a place he had discovered
was especially sensitive.

“But there’s something I want to ask you, and I
can’t wait another minute.” He wrapped his arms
around her and pulled her up against him.

Jo had a very good feeling that she knew exactly what he
wanted to ask, and she was shocked to realize that finally,
she was ready to hear it. Wanted to hear it.

Henri did not waste time but got right to it. “Will
you stay in France, at least for a while, Jo?” he
asked, his voice all gruff with emotion.

Jo laughed.

Henri’s face had about six expressions pass over it
in quick succession–surprise, anger, hurt,
wondering–and then, seeing how happy Jo was, and
feeling how her arms stayed around him, holding tight, he
started to laugh too.

“I just–oh Henri, I dove in front of a
stake-launcher for you, yes, I’ll stick around
awhile! But I just, I never thought I’d be
with…a vampire,” she said, her voice full of
incredulity and happiness, all at once. “That I would
be so happy to be with a vampire, is what I meant to
say,” she said, laughing some more, and grabbing his
face and kissing him.

They stayed outside in the cold, kissing and murmuring to
each other, for longer than either had intended. Eventually
Henri said that his parents would be looking for them, and
they began the unlocking of doors and the slow walk in the
dark, down to the dungeon.

Jo was holding Henri’s hand as they entered the
chamber.

“You are late!”
le Seigneur
cried.

“Good evening, Father,” said Henri. He walked
first to his mother, who was curled up in her armchair with
her feet tucked under her.

“Hello, son,” she said, her voice soft, but
seeming to be aware, her mind clearer than it had been
lately.

“I see you’ve brought her again,” said
le Seigneur
.

It sounded to Jo as though “her” was possibly a
prize goat or something.

“Yes,” said Henri. “I have brought Jo,
who is going to be staying here with us, at least a little
while longer.”

There was silence in the dungeon. Dead silence. Jo could
hear something creaking, somewhere, but that was all.

“Come here,”
le Seigneur
said to Jo.

She left Henri and walked up to
le Seigneur
. He
reached for her hand and pulled her a step closer. Then
with a great deal of difficulty, he stood up, and pressed
his nose into Jo’s armpit and inhaled deeply, before
she quickly stepped back out of reach, trying but not
succeeding to hide her shuddering.

Jo looked at Henri with her eyebrows raised up so far they
were practically climbing over the top of her head.

“Father!” said Henri. “You are not to
touch her, or we will not visit you again.”

“Come here, child,” said Antoinette.

Jo walked to Henri’s mother, careful to give
le
Seigneur
a wide berth.

Antoinette took Jo’s hand. It felt to Jo as though
her hand was being held in a cage of bones–she could
feel no flesh, really, just a lot of scaly bones holding
her hand while Antoinette’s other hand stroked her
arm. Jo took a deep breath to find some calm.

“Do you care for my boy?” she said, looking
deep into Jo’s eyes. Her own eyes glowed faintly
around the irises, which looked spooky in the very faint
light of Henri’s flashlight.

“Yes,” said Jo, forthrightly, and perhaps a
little too loudly.

Antoinette let go of Jo and put her hands over her ears.
She began rocking her body slowly, and muttering something
neither Jo nor Henri could quite make out.

“If this woman is going to be staying here
indefinitely, she should join us fully,” said
le
Seigneur
.

“We don’t need to discuss this right
now,” said Henri.

“By fully,” said
le Seigneur
, turning
to Jo, “I mean that you should be turned. You should
be one of us.
Like
us.”
Le Seigneur
smiled at Jo then, and there was no question about
it–his smile was way, way worse than his not smiling.
She saw his fangs, fully down. She saw the bloodlust in his
glowing eyes.

Henri stepped close to Jo and put a protective arm around
her.

“There’s no danger,” he whispered, as
quietly as he could.

“Danger of what?” said le Seigneur.
“Danger of my ripping a wound across my chest and
allowing your woman to suck me? Yes, there very much is a
danger of that, my son,” he said, and actually
cackled, like he was playing a role in a movie.

“Good night, Father,” said Henri, “and
goodnight to you, Mother. I will be back at the usual time.
I hope your night passes well.” And he pulled Jo
along, towards the door and then through it. They hurriedly
trotted up all the stairs, both of them yearning for some
fresh air and some light.

When they got outside in the open air, they hugged again.

“Ah, parents, what are you gonna do?” said Jo.

Henri shook his head. “I am sorry,” he said
simply. “At an earlier time, they were
more…presentable. My mother was a wonderful lady, a
noblewoman to admire. But now…” he trailed
off.

“It’s never easy seeing your parents
decline,” said Jo.

Henri shook his head. Then he reached his hand up to touch
Jo’s face. “Of course, you would never
ever
want to go near my father,” he said.
"But please–not now–but sometime–consider
that if you
were
turned–your own decision of
course, totally your own decision–the life we would
have together will be so much longer.

“Nearly infinite,” he said, kissing her.

She kissed back, pouring all her affection, her admiration,
her love for this man, this vampire, her Henri–into
the kiss. She could not imagine, right now, leaving her
human self behind for good, and changing to another
species–a bloodsucking species!–not even for
Henri.

But who knows, she thought, walking into the dining room,
holding hands, excited to see what Marcel had prepared,
having outdone himself by a factor of ten in his relief
that Jo, and Callie, and the la Mottes were all okay.

Mushrooms were involved, slabs of beef, potatoes Anna,
several reduction sauces–and Marcel had even invited
in a
pâtissier
from the next village to help
with dessert. Jo was going to have the best evening of her
whole life, there at the table surrounded by Thierry and
Marianne, Angélique and Albert, and even David,
there at Château Gagnon of Mourency–a very
festive and delicious meal with her beloved nest of
vampires.

Valerie du Sange has lived in France and wishes she still
did. She is currently working on Book Two, which will be
set in Paris and concern some of the characters herein.
Book Three of the series will be set during the Middle Ages
in the time of the Black Death.

You can email Valerie at [email protected], and
read her blog at valeriedusange.com