Forbidden Drink (3 page)

“Damn you, Michel.” I pushed past him into the bathroom and grabbed a towel. He didn't stop me, probably knew he'd hit his target, there was no need to continue. He'd made his point, or so he thought. He'd hurt me, but would that stop me from defying him again in the future? Not on your Nellie.

I dressed quickly, not wanting to face him in a wrapped towel. He, however, was quite happy to stand there and watch me. He'd dried off, but not bothered to cover up. He wore nudity like a fashion statement, wielded it like a weapon, displaying it whenever it suited his needs. Right now, I gathered, he hadn't finished chastising me and his body on display was a sure-fire way to put me off balance.

“How am I to protect you, if you refuse to let me?” he said, a little too reasonably for my liking.

“I don't need your protection, Michel. I'm more than capable of taking care of myself.”

“Like you did tonight?” he asked incredulously.

“I was doing fine, I'd got away. I was getting away.”

“You did not look fine, Lucinda, you looked close to having an accident in fact. Had I not turned up, would you have ended upside down in a ditch on the side of the road?”

“Is that what you're worried about? Me crashing your car?”

He barked out a sound full of anger. “You know damn well it is not! Lucinda, you are precious to me, I will not have you in danger.”

I doubted the
precious to me
part, but I let it go. “My life is full of danger, Michel. Would you wrap me up in cotton wool and place me on a shelf for safe keeping?”

“If I have to, yes.”

We just stared at each other for a while. He would do it too. His damn stubborn ideas of protecting and providing for me were insufferable. He might be a centuries old vampire from a different time, where things were done differently than today, but I'm a modern girl, I don't give up that easily.

“Get used to it, Michel. I am what I am and I will not change for you.”

“Oh, I am well aware of what you are, my dear.” Michel was always good at sarcasm.

I shook my head and went out the door. If he wanted to continue this, he could either follow me buck naked into the club, or get himself dressed and chase me out the door. Either way, I was leaving.

Of course, I hadn't counted on Bruno, Michel's second. Nor on that telepathic communication Michel has with his vamps.

I started across the clubroom floor, weaving through the usual Friday night revellers. The club usually making me feel at home, with its plush surroundings, dark wood and sleek furnishings, all in deep reds and golds. But I was not even registering it tonight, I'd almost made it to the door too, but then he pounced.

“Going somewhere, Luce?” His evil smile making the piercing blues of his eyes shine fiercely in the club's lights.

“Yeah, Bruno, I am.” I tried to step around him, to get to the door, but Bruno's big and I mean brick out-house size big. He just crossed his arms and sighed.

“Now you know I could just block your way, or glaze you into staying, but I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, because I like you. And offering you a chance to behave yourself.”

I just glared at him, crossing my arms in front of my chest in a mirror of his stance and almost stomping my foot. I stopped myself though, just in time. He just smiled knowingly.

“How about we have a drink?” He nodded towards the bar.

I know I could have just given in, just gone with the flow. It was Bruno and he is fast and strong and can amazingly glaze me when he wants to - not many vampires can - but I was mad. Spitting fire out my nostrils mad. So I smiled sweetly and nodded. He looked momentarily surprised and then suspicious, but I turned towards the bar and he came with me. We took a few steps, he relaxed a little, I could feel it. And then I bolted for the door.

I'm fast, faster than a human and as there were humans in the bar tonight, I was kind of breaking the rules, but shit. I was mad. So, I high tailed it at top speed, but then Bruno's older and faster and just that much more vindictively nastier than me.

Before I'd gone a few feet I was airborne, over his shoulder, whacking my head down on his big broad back as he swung me around and headed back towards the bar, holding firmly to my thighs in front of him. There were catcalls and whistles and many jokes being passed around the room, but the vampires in amongst the humans had stilled. They knew me. They knew what I was capable of and if they'd been paying attention since I walked in the room, then they damn well knew how pissed off I actually was.

I let my Light build up inside me. The vampires would have felt the power grow, would have sensed my magic, if you can call it that, they all knew what was coming. I held it tightly coiled, but if Bruno could sense it he was ignoring it, or choosing to let me fall completely into the hole I was creating, because he just kept carrying me towards the bar. When I couldn't contain the Light any longer, I started to open up, about to unleash it on him, make him fall to his knees in blindingly bright white Light. And then I breathed, letting it all out towards him.

It would have been so easy, he would have been awash in my Light and unable to do a thing about it. I hadn't made it sensual like I have been known to in the past, I was angry, so it probably would have hurt, hurt like a bitch. A bit like a full fight bruising in one hit, but it didn't go to Bruno, because suddenly Michel was there, touching my arm, opening up his mind to me and the Light recognised him and flew straight for him, bypassing Bruno and smashing into Michel's chest.

He gasped and collapsed to his knees; white, ashen and in pain. Bruno dropped me to my feet and turned to his master and all of a sudden I had a three foot long sword thrust at my neck, pricking my skin ever so slightly, by a short and very angry blonde female vampire.

Damn.

“Pull it back.” Blondie had an American accent.

“You first,” I replied evenly.

My hand had already gone for my stake, inside my jacket pocket, but how I thought I was going to land a blow when she was still over three feet away, at the other end of her wickedly sharp looking sword, I don't know. But a vampire hunter can live in hope, can't she?

Michel was still gasping on the floor, Bruno hovering. The rest of the vampires had secured the room, stopped any Norms from leaving or entering and had started to glaze up a storm. The usual, Obi Wan routine;
these are not the droids you are looking for.

Blondie and I just stood still, staring off at each other. She looked about my age and was pretty, of course, they all are. A little taller than me, maybe an inch, with pale perfect skin, long blonde straight hair and brightly blue eyes, almost electric blue. She had a red tank top on, displaying well toned arms and low hipster dark blue denim skin tight jeans, tucked into red leather knee high boots. No heels. I don't think her lack of height had given her a complex, she carried herself with an assured confidence, completely unaffected by the taller people milling around us. I had a sudden liking for her.

I felt down the link or connection that joined me to Michel, just to see how he was doing and I stifled my own gasp. I had obviously been angrier than I realised, because he was in real pain. I almost went to call the Light back straight away, but with Blondie's sword to my neck, I knew that wasn't an option. It's not that I wanted to prove a point, but giving in to a vampire was not a good political move. I could occasionally give in to Michel, if it suited me of course, but an unknown vamp was a totally different thing altogether. Never show fear. Never give an inch. Always stay on guard. They were mantras, Nero my Nosferatin trainer, had instilled in me. Repeatedly. So, I wasn't backing down right now.

“Luce,” Bruno said, from the side, tentatively. “Michel's hurting, you don't want to do this.”

“You don't know what the fuck I want to do, Bruno, so shut it.”

I was starting to shake with controlling the Light for so long and I was angry, still, more so than before. Not just at Michel and his insistence that he control me, not just because I am still haunted by unwanted images of him in Paris, but also because of Bruno for throwing me over his shoulder in front of everyone, like I was a sack of potatoes. And now this foreign vamp who had taken it upon her blonde self to protect my kindred vampire. He was mine to protect or otherwise, not hers. I suddenly realised how bad that actually sounded. Not good.

I shook my head to clear the thought. “Get the Norms out of here.” My voice was surprisingly steady, but quiet.

“Now, why would we do that, Luce? With them here, you might behave yourself.” Bruno again.

“Does it look like I'm behaving myself, Bruno? Get them out of here, now!”

I had shifted my gaze to his when I spoke the last and followed it up with a glaze. It was a relatively new Nosferatin power I had come into, being able to glaze vampires. They, of course, can glaze humans and me sometimes, but anyone ever being able to glaze a vampire is new. And very scary for the sunshine challenged. I don't like that vamps glaze, having influence over another's mind is not right, so I had sworn I would only do it when in a life or death situation.

I didn't think I was in one now, but it was too late. A little bit of the Dark that I constantly feared had seeped in and was setting up home right inside me.

Bruno commanded the vampires to clear the room of Norms, much to the protest of Blondie. They didn't hesitate, Bruno may not be their master, but he was second in command, so they knew how to obey his orders. Vampires are nothing if not military in their hierarchy.  I just smiled sweetly at the blonde at the end of the sword and raised my eyebrows. She frowned.

“Now what, Luce?” Bruno asked, almost begging for a further command. Yuck, I hated glazing. How had I got myself into this mess? Too late to stop now.

“Lower the sword.” I tried to catch Blondie's eyes, but she'd cottoned on to my game and refused to make eye contact.

“Pull back your power,” she replied, looking at a spot over my shoulder.

“You know, this could go on all night,” I said conversationally.

“Or not,” she replied, pushing the sword a little deeper into my flesh.

I didn't pull away, that would have been showing fear and she was only threatening, not yet following through on the action, so I felt the trickle of blood as it escaped the tip of the sword, where she had breached my skin.

But, it wasn't just that she could impale me, slit my throat, kill me, it was holding the Light that was taking its toll. I'd got good at it recently, having spent a lot of time using it for defensive purposes and also in training with Nero. He had made it our number one training session over the past week, since returning from Paris. It was a tool and a powerful one, but I needed to be in control and sometimes, just sometimes, when faced with a particularly Dark vampire, the Light just took over. I never wanted to stand by and watch it do its thing again, without having the ability to pull it back. But, despite all of that training, this was a lengthy piece of time and I had put an awful lot of emotion into that Light, so I was waning, tiring. I only had a few minutes left in me before it became obvious to those vampires around me and they took their chance.

Even though I was Michel's kindred Nosferatin and they were all sworn to protect me, his life and health would always prevail. I was a threat right now and they wouldn't hesitate to deal with me if the opportunity arose. So, what to do?

The Norms had all been bundled out onto the street, so it was just us left in the club. Fifty odd vampires - who had suddenly appeared out of thin air more than doubling the original number in the club when I had first arrived - and one Nosferatin. Not great odds, but there you go. I took a hold of the Light again, I wanted to change it from pain, but the concentration required was too great, if I paused to alter its effect now, I could lose it and lose this battle. Even if I had begun to realise how wrong this all was, I was stubborn, I would not give in to a vampire. It's not in my blood.

I grabbed the Light roughly from Michel and threw it out into the room before he could stop me, making every vampire there fall to their knees in pain, including Blondie. It was horrendous, so
not
what I would normally do, so wrong, so not me. It made me sick to the stomach, but I had won.

Michel just looked at me, as the Light slowly dissipated into the room, releasing the vampires, I'm not quite sure what the look said. It wasn't fear, it wasn't anger, it wasn't pride, I think it was calculation. He was deciding how best to use this new powerful tool in his arsenal. He was deciding how to use me.

“Fuck you, Michel.” It was all I could manage before sinking to the floor in exhaustion.

He smiled. “Always so eloquent, my dear.”

All of us had ended up on the floor, trying to recover. The vampires would manage it faster than me, they had only been awash with pain, it would pass, but me? I was exhausted and angry and more than a little ill at what I had just done.

I felt the vampires moving to their feet, in that languid otherworldly movement they have, all grace and smooth motions, like a puppet on a string. I couldn't move, just sat in an undignified heap on the polished concrete floor of the club.

“Do we move her?” Bruno asked. I guess he was talking about me.

“I am tempted to say no, but she is my kindred Nosferatin, so I shall have to bow to centuries of protocol and aid her in her hour of need.” Oh, Michel was loving this, wasn't he?

Rub it in a little more why don't you.

Now, now. You know I adore you when you are angry, ma douce, lets not fan the flames any more than completely necessary.

He'd answered my thought in my mind. We can project thoughts to each other, I hadn't realised I'd projected that last one.

I just glared at him as he bent to pull me to my feet and into his arms. We stared at each other for a long moment, he'd wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close, unable to look away. The thing with vampires is, they love confrontation. I'm not so good at it, I run whenever I can, but vampires, they love it. They also love shows of power and strength, and I had not only confronted all the vampires in this room, but shown them just how much mojo I really had. Michel was in heaven right now, luxuriating in my actions, like a cat rolling in the sun.

Blondie coughed into her hand. It wasn't uncomfortable, just a sound to bring us out from the bubble Michel had created.

“Ah yes, Erika. So good to see you made it.” Michel turned me in his arms to face the petite vampire. “Erika Anders, my kindred Nosferatin, Lucinda Monk.”

Erika bowed at the waist, her fisted hand across her chest, the formal bow a vampire makes to their master, or another of equal standing.

“I pledge my undying allegiance to my master's kindred Nosferatin.” Oh, here we go, I'd heard this one before. All of Michel's vampires had made the same proclamation when I joined with Michel, but I hadn't met Erika before, she was new to me. And the thought that she was one of Michel's made a small flutter of anxiety, no maybe jealousy, settle in the pit of my stomach. “But, if you ever pull a stunt like that again, Nosferatin, I will impale you. Not kill you, mind you, but maim. Definitely maim.”

My mouth dropped open in utter surprise and I felt Michel begin to laugh, his body shaking as he held me against him.

“Oh I have missed you, Erika. Welcome home.”

“It's a pleasure to be here master.”

Michel huffed. “Since when have you called me master?”

“Since you joined with a powerful Nosferatin.”

“Oh, am I finally worthy of your respect, little one?”

She laughed and it was delicate but strong, a full throat laugh, that made the other male vampires in the club turn to watch her.

Dangerous this one,
I thought.

Indeed
,
replied Michel. I just elbowed him in his solar plexus as a returning answer, receiving a satisfying grunt in reply.

Erika smiled. I think she liked that I held my own with the
master
, clearly she wasn't one for conventional vampire hierarchy. Maybe we could get along after all.

Michel led us over to a private booth, the club had opened up again, Norms returning none the wiser. The vampires peeling off into the night, only a handful remaining, socialising, guarding, whatever the hell they were meant to be doing. Doug, Michel's vampire barman, brought a tray of drinks over and surprisingly a plate of cheese and crackers for me. He just winked as he placed them in front of me, no words, he's a vamp of little words. And then he headed back to his station at the bar.

I wasn't so sure I could stomach food after that little incident, my mind was still reeling from what I had done. Michel simply placed his arm over the back of our bench seat and gently stroked the back of my neck. The motion alone calming me, settling my stomach and allowing me to breathe.

He can feel my emotions through the connection we have. He would have been able to tell what I was experiencing, the pain I was putting myself through, he was simply doing his part as my kindred and grounding me again. I picked up a cracker and began to nibble the edge.

“So, how fares the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave?” Michel began to sip his Merlot, still stroking my neck, still giving me that connection to his calmer self.

“Well, it's definitely brave, but for vampires, I'm not so sure of the free,” Erika replied, she flicked a glance at me and then continued. “But, nothing new to tell since my last report.”

“You can speak freely in front of Lucinda, she is well aware of our relationship difficulties with the American Families,” Michel offered.

I nodded. “I met a representative of the Council of Families once, we had a disagreement.” He'd appeared in Michel's bar one night when there was a private vampire function on, the type where the humans in attendance are all either part of the menu or part of the entertainment. I hadn't realised and walked right into it. He'd assumed I was dinner. I didn't much go for that.

“Oh, that would be Jonathan.” Erika laughed, another one of those delicate but throaty peals. “That would also explain why he is fixated with you.”

“Fixated with me?” I looked at Michel, he just did one of his shrugs that always seemed to be so elegant on him.

“What is there not to be fixated with,
ma douce
?”

I rolled my eyes at Erika, she chortled.

“So, you live in America?” I asked her, realising I was about to chomp into my fourth cracker and cheese. So much for my conscience having an effect on my appetite.

“Lived. I guess I'm setting up home here now.”

I frowned. “Why?”

Erika looked pointedly at Michel. “You haven't told her?”

Michel didn't look uncomfortable when I glanced at him, just relaxed, sipping his wine. “Why don't you, little one.”

I don't know what sort of relationship Michel and Erika had, but the fact that he had a pet name for her said something. I hadn't decided if it was something worthy of my jealousy or not yet, I was tending towards not. I liked her, I figured the pet name was more of a tease than an endearment and I felt her struggling not to rise to the bait.