VA 2 - Blood Jewel (9 page)

I thought back to the moment I
noticed it beginning. “Chansey and I were dancing, so I was looking
over her shoulder as we danced in a circle. That means she got a
panoramic of the entire room. When I stepped back, I looked
directly at Chansey’s face, so she knows exactly what she looks
like. When we came to the tables, I was straining to see all of
you. You know what that means.”

I heard Sully say, “Lairah and I
weren’t sitting at the tables when Chansey led Curry to the tables.
We were at the bar getting drinks, so she didn’t see
us.”

I guess you can call it the big
brother in me, but I was relieved to hear that because I didn’t
want Marsala to know that Sully still existed.

I heard Sol’s voice next. “Guys, we
have a problem. Look at the sign behind the bar.”

“What does it say?” I
asked.

No one responded to my
question.

“Somebody tell me what it says” I
shouted.

Sebastian was the only one brave
enough to reply. “Club Infinity on Bourbon.”

I reeled in my anger at Marsala and
myself as I calmly said, “Will someone call the driver? Chansey and
I have to leave New Orleans immediately.”

7 I’ve Got
This

I wore a blindfold on the ride home
since we didn’t know the details of the spell being used by Marsala
and her accomplice. Chansey was silent and it terrified me because
this was exactly the type of situation I was waiting for to drive
her away.

I felt her reach for my hand and I
didn’t know what it meant, but I was flooded with relief. I spoke
into the pitch black in her direction. “Love, I am so sorry. This
is all my fault.”

I felt her slide across the seat
and she laid her head on my shoulder. “It’s not your fault. It’s
that monster’s fault.”

This was a lot for anyone to be
forced to face. “I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to leave
me.”

Since I was blindfolded and still
hearing the chanting, I didn’t see or hear it coming when she hit
me in the chest with her fist. “You really piss me off when you say
stupid stuff like that. I don’t want to ever hear anything like
that come out of your mouth again. I mean it. You feel
me?”

Because she made me more human, I
really did feel her and her fist. “Yeah, I’ve got it.”

She relaxed again and leaned her
body over onto mine. “Now, what are we going to do about
this?”

“We’re going to leave New Orleans,
like yesterday,” I explained.

“No. we’re not leaving tonight.
We’ll leave tomorrow as planned. Marsala isn’t going to find us
tonight and she can’t travel in the sunlight, so there’s no reason
to cut our visit short with our family.”

I laughed under my breath and
Chansey felt my chest vibrate. “What are you laughing
at?”

“You said ‘our family.’ and I
liked it. I’m laughing because you are like an unstable stick of
dynamite. I’m not sure Marsala would stand a chance against
you.”

“I hate bullies and that’s exactly
what she is. I want to tie her to a tree at dawn and watch the sun
fry her ass.”

I rubbed my hand up and down her
arm. “That’s my badass girl.”

“What do you think Sebastian will
tell us we should do?”

I reached for her head and gently
encouraged her to lay it against me. I rubbed her hair and
whispered, “I don’t know, but I’m sure he’ll have a
solution.”

Chansey became quiet and I thought
she was asleep until she asked, “What are you thinking
about?”

“About how broad Sebastian’s
knowledge is. He recognized that Black Magic spell immediately and
I’m wondering how.”

“He’s a scholar and he’s been
around a minute,” she reminded me.

“Yeah, I know, but that isn’t your
typical realm of vampire knowledge.”

“I don’t care how he knew. I’m
just glad he did and it does my heart good to know that Marsala
didn’t win this round.”

She didn’t know how much I hoped
she was right because this wasn’t over. I could still hear her in
my head.

≈ ≈ ≈

I was pissed. This wasn’t how I
planned to spend Chansey’s birthday. We didn’t have a choice but to
discuss what we would do about Marsala with the family, but it
wasn’t going to happen before Chansey and I finished celebrating
her birthday. I refused to let Marsala ruin this time for
us.

My family arrived at the compound
before us and were all waiting in the living room when we got
there. Although I couldn’t see them, I felt their stares on me and
I didn’t like it one bit. I stood at what I thought was the entry
to the living room and said, “There are definitely things we need
to discuss, but Chansey and I have some business to tend to first.
I need a little time alone with her and then we’ll be back to
discuss what it is we’re going to do about this.” I didn’t even
want to say her name. I hated the way it felt rolling off of my
tongue.

As we left the living room, I
called over my shoulder, “Feel free to discuss it without us and
come up with a solution to this mess while we’re gone.”

I reached blindly for her hand.
Although I couldn’t see a thing, I led her to my bedroom. I stopped
at my door and turned to her before I opened it. “Once we’re on the
other side of this door, we will not discuss anything pertaining to
her or this situation. We’re going to finish celebrating your
birthday. Agreed?”

“Absolutely.” She was smiling. I
could hear it in her voice and the way her voice sounded when she
answered me.

We entered my bedroom and I shut
the door once we were inside. It felt good to tangibly shut the
door on the problems we had outside of this room. In this room, we
were free of problems, or at least we could pretend.

“I’m afraid you’re going to have
to help me. My senses are all thrown off here,” I
explained.

“What do you need me to do?” she
asked.

I hoped Gia and Lairah were
listening when I told them what to do. “There should be something
on my desk for you.”

“There’s a birthday cake with a
lot of candles. Like at least 50.”

Damn, could I not depend on them
for anything? “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I am,” she said as she rubbed her
hands up and down my arms. “You need to loosen up.”

Whew! I would get her back for that
one later. “Good. That means Gia and Lairah were paying attention
to my directions.”

“It’s a beautiful cake, but I
don’t think I want any right now. It’s not that I don’t appreciate
the trouble you went to to get one for me, but...”

I didn’t want her to feel bad, so I
interrupted, “No, you don’t have to explain.”

The chanting was getting louder and
I needed a distraction. “Let’s move on to your gifts. They should
be on the bed.”

“There are two gifts on the bed.
Which one do I open first?”

”The big one in the polka dot
paper and bright bow.”

“Okay. I’m opening it now.” I
heard the sound of paper ripping and I wanted to yell angrily
because I wouldn’t see her happiness. “It’s killing me that I can’t
see the look on your face. It was one of the things I was looking
forward to when you opened this gift.”

The sound of paper shuffling and
tearing stopped. “I can wait until all of this is over to open
these. It’s really not necessary to open them now.”

“It is necessary. I want something
to go right for your birthday and this is the only thing I can give
you that’s right at the moment.”

She didn’t reply, but I heard the
sound of paper tearing again and then a moment of silence except
for the acceleration in her heart rate.

“Oh, my goodness. How did you do
this?”

“I came back to the house twelve
years ago after I took an interest in photography. I thought it was
the house drawing me closer, but it was you all along. It was a
strange day because I couldn’t stop taking pictures of you and your
family, but now I know why. Even then, you were my
Agápe.”

I felt her arms wrap around me.
“This is without doubt the best gift I have ever been given. I love
you so much and it’s not because Anteros says I have to. I would
have loved you regardless.”

The chanting was getting louder and
the pain behind my eyes was increasing, so I reached to rub my
eyes. “I knew you’d love it.”

“It’s getting worse, isn’t
it?”

I didn’t want to admit it because
she would realize she didn’t have the undivided attention she
deserved, but I wouldn’t lie to my Agápe. “Yes, it’s getting much
worse. It sounds like she’s screaming in my head and it feels like
stakes driving into my eyes from the inside.”

Chansey was quiet and I felt her
lightly trace her finger over Marsala’s ownership mark around my
upper arm. “Do you trust me, Curry?”

“Why would you ask me that? Of
course, I trust you, Love.”

“If I asked you to do something
for me without question, would you? I mean if I believed it would
put an end to this?” she asked.

“As long as you remain safe,
there’s very little I wouldn’t do to make this stop.”

I felt her reach up and remove my
blindfold. “I know exactly how to put a stop to this.”

I reached up and grabbed her by the
wrist. “What are you doing?”

“Nope. You agreed to no questions
asked and I can go to the living room and have the others verify
that if I need to. I don’t have to be a vampire to know how to
solve this problem, but I need you to trust that I know what I’m
doing.”

I sat on the edge of the bed with
my eyes shut, wondering what Chansey was doing. I heard her rummage
in one of my drawers and then walk into the bathroom. She shut the
door and I was briefly amused because I wondered what she thought I
would see with my eyes squeezed shut.

A few minutes later, the bathroom
door opened and I heard Chansey’s graceful steps cross the wood
floor. She stopped walking toward me when her feet met the rug.
“Are you ready?”

“I guess I am, but I don’t know
what it is you want me what to do.”

I heard some slow, seductive jazzy
music playing and then a woman’s voice began to sing. I recognized
the voice, but not the song. “You only have to do one thing. Look
at me.”

Had she lost her mind or did she
just not grasp the severity of this situation? “I am not doing
that, Chansey. What kind of music is that?”

“It’s called Nasty Naughty Boy and
yes, you are going to look at me. I am not wrong about this and
we’re going to beat her at her own game. I’ve got this.”

“Why the sexy music?”

She laughed and said, “It sets the
mood for what I’m going to do.”

Chansey believed her plan would
work and even if it was difficult, I had to put faith in her. That
was how I needed this relationship to work because I had already
experienced the alternative and maybe I was curious about what was
up with the seduction music. “Okay. I’m going to do it because I
have complete faith in you, but I want you to look around first to
be certain there isn’t anything that could identify our
whereabouts.”

“I’ve already done that, Baby.
We’re clear.”

I felt like I was on the edge of a
cliff ready to jump, but I suddenly discovered I had a fear of
heights. I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly as I eased my
eyes open.

Chansey stood in front of me
wearing the sexiest black lace bra and panties I’d ever seen. As I
looked at her, she slowly slid one of the straps off of her
shoulder to tease me. She turned around and slid the other strap
down her shoulder before taking it off and tossing it in my
direction over her shoulder.

She was only wearing black lacy
panties when she turned around and started walking toward me. I
swear this would be the most perfect moment in my life right now if
I didn’t have Marsala screaming viciously in my head.

Her screaming grew louder as
Chansey came closer and I realized the motive behind Chansey’s
moves. “I understand now and to say it’s driving her crazy would be
the understatement of the millennium.”

She smiled as she shoved me back on
the bed and crawled over me. She lowered her face to my ear so
Marsala couldn’t read her lips and whispered, “Touch
me.”

She leaned back and waited for my
hands to seek her body as she straddled me on the bed. I reached
out to stroke her cheek and she said, “Not my face.”

I stopped my hand in midair as her
words registered with me and I looked at her eyes. She slowly
nodded and reached for both of my hands to bring them to her
breasts.

I felt Chansey’s breasts against my
palms as her chest heaved up and down, but I knew it wasn’t enough.
I had to show Marsala what I was doing and that meant looking at my
hands on Chansey’s body.

I lowered my eyes toward my hands
and I heard Marsala’s fit of rage in my head. At the moment I
thought my head would burst from her high pitch shrill, it suddenly
stopped. There was no more chanting, no more screaming and no more
pain behind my eyes.