Dying to Date (14 page)

“Eternity is a long time. We might meet again.”

It was cold comfort when her arms would be empty tonight.

“I—” But she couldn’t say the words her heart cried. It was too soon. And too cruel. He didn’t need such a burden when walking away from her.

“I know,” he breathed, his voice almost too soft for her supernatural hearing. “Have a happy life, Melissa. Find your mate.”

I already found him,
she wanted to scream, but instead she nodded. “Goodbye, Tarian. Be safe.”

He pressed his lips to her forehead, a mockery of the kiss she truly craved, before stepping past her. Tarian didn’t pause as he walked out of the door and out of her life.

Melissa waited in silent pain as her ears heard the sound of the elevator doors close behind him.

Only then did she turn to her father.

“I will never forgive you for this,” she vowed.

He looked at her with bleak eyes as he inclined his head. “I know.”

Turning on her heel, she marched away from the family she’d spent days trying to reach.

Chapter Fourteen

“There’s a walk-in for you, Ms. Redgrave.”

Melissa glanced up from her desk. “I have a few minutes, Mary. As long as the issue isn’t too pressing, show them in.”

She turned back to her computer screen, staring sightlessly at the plans for the museum fundraiser she’d once been so excited about. But that had been B.T.D. Before Tarian Drake. Life after him seemed far more colorless than it ever had before. Her charities and responsibilities were monotonous. For all of the difference she was making in the human world, she had zero power in the supernatural one.

“Melissa?”

The soft voice had her head shooting up. Abbey stepped through the doorway, crossing to her desk as she had a hundred times before.

“Don’t,” Melissa warned as she sat.

“It’s been a week,” she said. “Time to come out of mourning.”

“Oh really?” She arched a brow. “How long were you laid up the first time Lucian dumped you?”

Abbey flinched, and for a moment she regretted the harsh words. Her friend was not the real target of her anger.

“As you point out, I’m no stranger to loss,” Abbey began.

“Temporary loss,” Melissa cut her off. “We can’t trade war stories until Lucian walks away from you and never looks back.” An impossibility, and they both knew it.

“Lucian is my mate,” Abbey tried. “It wouldn’t be the same.”

She turned back to her computer and refused to look at her friend.

“I’m sure Tarian was adventurous and fun, but he wasn’t your mate,” Abbey said.

Silence stretched while she refused to comment.

“Was he?” Abbey breathed.

A growl caught in her throat. “I don’t know,” she nearly snarled. “My father ruined any chance of finding that out.”

“But…it’s so fast.”

“You are the relationship expert. Tell me how long mates normally take to recognize each other.”

“Two to three months,” she said in reply. “Though not all matches follow that time frame.”

“What was the fastest you have on record?”

Abbey chewed her lip before relenting. “Twelve hours.”

Melissa snorted. “Sounds like time doesn’t really factor into this then, does it?”

“Fair point. But Melissa, if he was your mate, you’d be bleeding right now.” Abbey drew a deep breath. “When Lucian left me it was like the color left the world. I know humans view mating differently than you do, but the devastation would be the same. So the question remains, is that how you are feeling?”

She turned away, unwilling to confess anything to a woman who would only report back to her father.

Abbey waited a long moment before pulling something from her bag.

“You got a 94 percent match,” she said, tossing the folder onto the desk. “I told you Vivian was running a recruitment campaign, and it actually worked. We had a flood of new members in the past few days. There are a few others I could set you up, with but none as high as him.”

Melissa flipped the beige folder open and looked down at the print out of a member’s match profile.

“Gryphon,” she said.

“Strong. Handsome. No baggage. He’s not likely to abduct you before a date.”

“Neither did Tarian.”

Abbey waved the protest away. “Semantics.”

Melissa snapped the file closed. “I’m not interested.”

“A match that high is unheard of.”

She refrained from hissing at her friend. “Did I push you to date when you were abandoned?”

“I believe there was some talk about getting back on the horse, yes.”

Shame shot through her. “Then I’m sorry. That was insensitive of me.”

“You are really taking this hard,” Abbey said, surprise on her face.

Melissa picked up the file and held it out to her. “I’m not interested in any matches. I realize I have four more handpicked dates left, but I really don’t care. Please put my account on hold for the time being.”

“On hold? Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she replied. “As much fun as pretending not to be heartbroken sounds, I’d prefer to stick my hand in sunlight.”

“Melissa,” Abbey reproved.

“My point,” she stressed, “is that unless you are here to tell me Lucian has allowed Tarian to see me without endangering a whole society of people you need to leave.”

“I might be Lucian’s mate, but I’m your friend,” she protested.

“Exactly. If forced to choose, which way do you fall?” Abbey looked away, and Melissa smiled darkly. “I rest my case.”

“So that’s it? Lucian and I never hear from you again?”

She fell back against her chair. “I don’t know,” she answered truthfully. “But I’m done with being treated like a child, and he won’t see me any other way.”

“Maybe we can work on that.”

“He’s got three bodyguards shadowing my every move. Did he think I wouldn’t notice?”

Abbey sighed. “I told him not to do that.”

“Try harder next time.”

“He’s just worried.”

“Why?” Melissa demanded. “He chased off the only man I’ve been serious about in years. I’m well into cat-buying mode by now.”

“Be serious.”

“You think I’m not? Not only are they great companions, they’re fantastic substitutes for those late nights when you just don’t feel like hunting.”

“Seriously?” Abbey asked with a shudder.

“Look, my point is, both of you need to back off. While I have no issue with you per se, you come attached to a man I’d rather not see for a few decades, and if Lucian has an issue with that then he’ll just have to deal. It’s his actions that landed us here in the first place.”

“He did what he thought was best.”

“He failed. Now, I have a midnight appointment with the curator of the Met. I’m sure you can see yourself out.”

Abbey sighed as she rose. “We’re still family, Melissa.”

“For millennia to come,” she agreed. “This might make for great family reminiscences three hundred years from now, but not today. Tell Lucian to back off, or I will move to Europe and he won’t see me for a century.”

“I’ll pass it on,” she agreed, but not before she rounded the table and hugged Melissa with an awkward one armed embrace. “I’m here if you need me.”

Melissa watched her walk from the office and wished she could demand she make Lucian change his mind. Tarian would have to give two weeks notice at his work, but after that he’d be gone and beyond her reach. She might never be able to track him down again. After all, one thing necromancers were good at was disappearing.

…

He needed to vanish.

Tarian paced through the downstairs, checking in each room. “Eilin?” he called. Where was that girl?

His real estate agent had called today with an offer for the house. He only needed a few more days to tie up his position, and then he’d be free of the city. Eilin had been less than impressed with the news they had to move again, but he’d refrained from pointing out that it was, at least in part, her fault.

“I’ve got an offer on the house we should discuss,” he called up the stairs. His sister had been avoiding him for days, but he hadn’t begrudged her the solitude. Actually, it had made things simpler. Far easier to hide a broken heart when no one was watching.

Not a broken heart,
he told himself once again. He’d have to love Melissa for that to be the case, and a few days in her presence weren’t enough to convince him she was the woman he’d waited lifetimes to find.

Of course, his previous lovers hadn’t haunted his dreams after the relationship ended. They hadn’t consumed his every waking thought. All he had to do was close his eyes, and he remembered the desolate look on Melissa’s face as he’d walked away.

She is not your concern,
he thought. In order to protect his people, he could never see her again.

Even if he ached to.

“Eilin,” he called again, running up the stairs. The silent treatment was getting old. His sister was in her eighties, not her teens, and though moving was a hassle, she needed to help with this process.

“I’m coming in,” he said, knocking on her door. Opening it, he glanced into the empty room. Eilin was nowhere to be seen, and her queen bed was neatly made, as if no one had slept in it. With a frown he shut the door and searched the rest of the floor. Not only was she not in her room, she wasn’t anywhere.

The doorbell rang before real worry could set in. Eilin had given her word she wouldn’t leave the house, and he still had the basement to check.

“Coming,” he called as he jogged down the steps. Wherever his sister was hiding he’d find her and force her into a decent conversation with him. They needed to plan their next steps. His drive through Oklahoma had endeared him to the state, but he still needed her input before he uprooted their entire lives and picked a new spot.

Tarian yanked open the door and regretted it instantly.

“Hello, Tarian,” Dominic said.

“You are not welcome here.”

“I suspected as much.” He pushed past Tarian and into the hall. “Despite the fact it was my money that purchased this land for your mother.”

“She wanted nothing to do with you,” he said. “You know that.”

Dominic glanced back at him before prowling deeper into the house. “Yes. I know very well, Tarian.”

He shut the door as he debated his options. As much as he’d like to denounce the man, Dominic still shared his blood. He could call the vampires, but Lucian would just label him as guilty as his grandfather was.

“What do you want?” he asked, pacing after Dominic.

He found his grandfather standing in the family room, looking out at the sunny space with smiling pictures of Eilin and himself framing the walls.

“You tried to make a home here,” Dominic said, walking past the worn gray sofa and cluttered coffee table.

“It would have worked had you left well enough alone.”

“Ah yes. You’d have the house, the job…” He glanced back at Tarian. “The girl.”

“We’re moving,” Tarian said. “In a few days. You’re to thank for that.”

“Had you not ruined our plans, this could have been your permanent home.”

“Not even for this house was your plan reasonable.”

Dominic scoffed as he leaned forward to study the pictures. “You never let me know her,” he said, studying a smiling photo of Eilin.

“You had contact by phone.”

“But few visits. My own granddaughter.”

“It was all you needed to seduce her to your way of thinking. I shudder to think how brainwashed she’d be if I’d let you any closer.”

“Not brainwashed,” Dominic corrected. “She wanted to fight for our people. For our cause.”

Tarian shook his head in disgust “And that’s all you cared about. Creating another soldier for your war. There isn’t a paternal bone in your body
.
”

“It would have been nice to know I was leaving the community in good hands should anything happen to me.”

“I promise, should you disappear, it will be in far better hands.”

“Those of a pacifist?” Dominic asked, glancing at him. “You are my heir, Tarian, and you’ve never had the stomach for blood.”

“Not past the fifteenth century, no.”

“I tried to convince your mother not to coddle you. She was so distraught after her husband’s death.”

“Mate,” he hissed. “She lost her mate and still managed to survive him for centuries.”

“Makes you wonder how strong the bond was, doesn’t it?” Dominic asked, turning to face him. “She found a replacement for your father, something a truly mated woman should never have been capable of.”

His hands clenched into fists but he refused to get pulled into the argument. Whatever his parents’ relationship, it was all in the past.

“Whatever she was, she was clear about her desire to separate from you,” Tarian said.

For a second he could have sworn pain flashed across Dominic’s face. “Yes. She hid you for centuries. Always moving. Always avoiding the conflict. But then Eilin came into the picture.” Dominic clasped his hands behind his back. “Quite the little revolutionary you’ve raised, Tarian. Did you know she walked into my car without much prompting at all?”

Ice ran down his spine. “What?”

“I have Eilin,” Dominic said, moving away from the pictures. “And I can see so much of your mother in her. It would be a shame if anything were to happen.”

Tarian shook his head, resisting the urge to rend flesh before he fully understood the situation. “You took Eilin? Why?”

“Because you have direct access to the woman I really want.”

“Melissa.”

“Melissa,” Dominic agreed. “I’m quite happy to trade, of course. Once I have the vampire, you and Eilin can go wherever you wish. I promise not to contact you again. I can do that much in the memory of my poor daughter.”

“But protecting her children doesn’t count as honoring her memory?”

“Not if it conflicts with my plans,” Dominic said, his eyes hard. “We both have something the other wants. Honestly, Tarian, even with your peaceful views this should be an easy call. After all, it’s not like the vampire is your mate.” He laughed at the notion.

“You wouldn’t hurt your own flesh and blood,” Tarian said, ignoring the digs.

“Oh, I assure you, in order to help our people I would rip both you and Eilin to shreds, if I thought it was necessary.” He shrugged. “Luckily it is only a vampire I need.”

“I don’t have access to her anymore.”

“You’ll figure it out.” Dominic tossed him a burner phone. “You can contact me via that line. Call me as soon as you have the vampire to exchange, and I’ll meet you with Eilin. This doesn’t need to be any harder than you make it, Tarian.”

“Eilin trusted you,” he said. “She loved the idea of having a grandfather out there, even if he wasn’t with her.”

“She’s young,” Dominic said with no inflection. “She’ll learn not to be such a fool in the future.”

“I won’t ever forgive you for this. Neither will she.”

Dominic strode forward and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I don’t need your forgiveness,” he said. “I need your lover.”

He walked past Tarian and down the hallway.

“Call me when you are ready to exchange,” he said. “And don’t keep me waiting. For Eilin’s sake.”

The door closed behind him on the way out.

Tarian stood in the empty family room and looked at the framed pictures of his sister. No matter what happened, he was not sacrificing her for family ambition.