Forbidden Alliance: A Werewolf's Tale (Forbidden Alliance Trilogy) (34 page)

What in the hell?
I’ve never heard of such a thing.
Vampires can be oathed into not doing something?
!
That is just
stupid
.

“Very well,” Tanis said
and started towards him, but I pulled him to a stop.

“No.
You can’t be serious! He can simply promise not to do something?! What will keep him from going after me?” I demanded.

Tanis forced a smile which quickly fell.

d’Artagnan laughed. “Obviously you are ignorant to the mystical world you stem from,” he called out. “The curse of vampires restric
ts
us to our word and open invitations. Hence why we need an invitation to enter your home, and not a thralled invitation either…it is a way for the vampiric gods and politicians
to
keep us on a short leash. Something you should know much about, Res Bitch.”

I am so going to kill him when the opportunity presents.

Tanis nodded his agreement. “In not so many words, Duckie, me brother is correct. If he breaks the oath, without you absolving it, he will take the repercussions upon himself in a form of waking nightmarish lunacy
until he is no more. The French call it Danse Macabre, the Spanish Danza de la Muerte,
the
Catalonians
Dansa de la Mort
…in essence
,
those
whom
are hurt,
whom
were taken in essence when the oath was broken,
would haunt him until he join
s
them.”

Holy shit. Either Tanis is completely bat shit crazy or someone has been severely limiting my knowledge of the mythical world.

“Are you messing me with?” I whispered.

d’Artagnan roared with laughter. “Ooh, you really are ignorant to the world around you, little girl.”

I flipped him off.

“May we discuss this later?” Tanis asked.

I nodded and took d’Artagnan’s
ring
from Tanis. “
I think he needs to chill out for a bit.
Some time for internal reflection,” I
suggested with a smirk.
“When the sun sets, lock up and get your own damn ring,” I
said to the no-long-amused vampire in the garage.

“Don’t you dare,”
d’Artagnan
hissed.

I smiled wide before running
across the street and scrambled up a tall maple tree.
“See, Sparkles?” I
called out, holding
his ring up
so he could see it before I s
lipped it on the highest branch I could reach.
“After you’ve calmed down
, picked this shit up
and closed up shop, you can have it back.
Until then, think about some shit!”

I skipped back to Tanis and he laughed
as his annoying brother yelled.

“That was very naughty,” Tanis purred
.
He leaned and whispered in my ear, “
And I must admit,
I like it.”

I smiled wide and climbed in the driver’s seat—
I was
driving.

 
I
was
g
obsmacked
over what Jay Dee did to
d’Artagnan
.
It was brilliant, but what was even more amazing about it was the fact that she showed absolutely no fear, took on a bloody vampire by herself, and didn’t fall for his
bollocks
routine. Obviously she cared about me much more than I realized
,
and because of that apparent dedication, I didn’t decline her invitation to dine with her family as I was going to do when I picked her up, feigning a scheduling conflict.

d’Artagnan was going to narked
when he finally
got his ring back
.
I asked Steffen to keep an eye on him to make sure that he didn’t destroy
anything
or get a body count; Steffen
was
one of the few who can put my lovely brother in his place.

To
my surprise, Mrs. Lightfoot
s
aid yes to me coming for dinner,
Mr. Lightfoot apparently had no say in the matter, however
,
Jay Dee didn’t feel that meatloaf would be very appealing for someone like me,
thus
she wanted something
slightly fancier
.
That was most agreeable;
I hate
d
meatloaf
.

Jay Dee and I bickered the entire time at the grocery store; she
tried to shop cheap and I
didn’t do cheap
.
After twenty minutes of
putting
everything she tossed in the cart back, replacing it with what I saw fit, she pouted
as she
softly growl
ed
under her breath at me.

I
t
was turning me on, strangely enough.

Sadly, her defiance didn’t stop there and she proceeded to argue with me about paying when we reached the register. No longer in the mood for her unusual form or torture, I threw her over my shoulder and paid, earning a hard sm
ack on my arse for it in return
.

While Jay Dee showered, I made dinner. I refused to let her cook after she commented we
may
have to order pizza…again. Jarvis sat on the counter, taking up precious workspace,
and watched
me. And their mother, Sky,
hovered
in the kitchen the entire time with her son,
which filled the tiny space to near capacity.

Sky
wasn’t rude,
that
was surprising considering I was a vampire with an open invitation to her home, she simply wasn’t
talkative.
She was vigilant, which I
didn’t
blame her for; having a vampire in the house
could
be rather offsetting, especially if you
were
once
their immortal enemy.

Jay Dee laughed when I bought a large bouquet of flowers for her mum.
I had to remind her of
the century in which I was born, and explain to her the rules for properly courting someone, which she snorted and laughed over for ten minutes straight.
In all fairness, I did break the number one rule of courtship by sneaking through her bedroom window and snogging, not
to mention, staying the night. But old habits die hard, not that I had ever properly courted anyone before.

Eventually,
Jarvis couldn’t take it anymore and huffed.
“Okay,
Count Suckula
, what’s the deal?”

I looked
up
at
him while
blindly
chopping vegetables.
“What do you mean,
mongrel…I mean
,
Mr. Jarvis
?”
I asked.

“Ruff ruff,” he
growled before laughing
. “Obviously you’re not going anywhere.
I was hoping that the weather would keep you away, but somehow you’re beating the sun.”

Thank
God
his sister didn’t tell him about the totems.

“SPF ten-thousand,” I said and he gave me a look.

“
Uh huh.
Since you like my
baby sister
, what are you getting her for her birthday?”
he asked.

Sky laughed, shaking her head as
she headed out of the kitchen;
obviously
t
here was no threat
t
here.

“I already told you of
the
dilemma with that particular proble
m,” I reminded him.

Jarvis rolled his eyes.
“Whatever, Dude.
Just do what everyone else does;
get her what you want and listen to her bitch about it for two months straight, just in time for Christmas, then
you get to do it all over again!
It’s a vicious cycle with my sister.”

I
actually hadn’t
thought
of
that.

“What do you suggest?”
I reluctantly asked.

He laughed.
“Hell, I don’t know.
If you hadn’t noticed, she hardly has
anything
.
So anything is more than she currently has.”

“
You are
not being very helpful
in the least
,” I
pointed out and he smiled wide so I shoved the bowl of salad at him I
had
just finished dressing
.
“
Mongrel,
tell me
what she needs and I will take care of it
.
If you like, you may put your bloody name on the card so you can take credit for it as well.
”

“Fine,” he
huffed and made a face at me.

I continued cooking while he thought about,
drumming his fingers on his chin
, his dark lips twisting into a contemplative pout more than once.

“Ah, I’ve got it!
” he proudly proclaimed and I looked over at him. “A car!”
he
beamed before roaring
with laughter.

That was easy.

“Done,” I said.

“Wait, what?” he
choked and
looke
d at me confused, then laughed. “Whatever, Dude.
What’s for dinner?” he asked, grabbing some plates and started setting the table.

Bloody hell, h
ow did we go from him telling me to leave his sister alone this morning, to him telling me not to h
urt her, to talking to me like
…. acquaintances, not friends, but friendlier
?

“
New York strip, grilled asparagus with a four-cheese sauce, and a green salad with baby leaf and romaine, Brie, green apples, roasted garlic, and toasted almonds with champagne vinaigrette.
And for dessert, a classic Crème Brûlée,” I
said and smiled wide; I loved food.

“Huh,” he
huffed and looked at me
curiously
.
“If you were a chick, I’d totally hit that.”

“Um...thanks?”
I offered with a cringe.

Thankfully
,
Jay Dee joined us
before her brother tried to man-rape me
. Her long wet hair was rolling down her back
in clingy, wet curls
, and
the
vintage gray Star Wars shirt
she wore
presented her breasts masterfully
,
the
matching pajama pants
made her arse look even rounder
, and
the fuzzy slippers on her feet made me chuckle.