Silent Bite-A Scanguards Wedding (1001 Dark Nights) (3 page)

Ursula ground her teeth. “Oh, crap!” Her gaze drifted to a crowd of people coming down the escalator.

He chuckled. “I’m assuming that’s a ‘yes’?”

She nodded reluctantly and glanced at him as he pressed “send” on his cell phone before slipping it back into his pocket. She’d had no choice, because she’d just spotted her parents at the top of the escalator. There was no time to come up with another solution.

“They’re here!”

From the top of the escalator, her parents descended, their eyes scanning the waiting area below. Her mother, a petite woman with impeccable taste and style, wore a costume that looked like it was designed by Chanel, though Ursula knew that her mother would never spend that kind of money on clothes. She was a veritable bargain hunter, and Ursula was sure that she hadn’t spent more than a hundred dollars for her entire outfit including her shoes and her fancy handbag.

Involuntarily, Ursula had to smile. Her mother would be shocked if she found out how much money Oliver’s family was spending on this wedding. Her parents were well off, with her father earning an exceptionally large salary as a high-level diplomat for the Chinese embassy in Washington D.C., so there was no need for her mother to be frugal, but it was so ingrained in her that she just couldn’t help herself. It seemed almost like a sport to her.

Ursula waved as she caught her father’s eye. He beamed at her, then touched his wife’s arm to point to where Ursula and Oliver stood waiting. Excitedly, her mother waved back, but Ursula’s gaze wandered back to her father. It seemed as if he’d lost weight. His face looked paler than usual too. She shook her head. The neon lights weren’t flattering for anybody’s skin tone. It had to be an optical illusion or the fact that he was tired from the flight.

When her parents reached the bottom steps of the escalator and stepped off it, Ursula flung herself into their arms, reaching around them both and hugging them tightly.

“I missed you!” she said, pushing back the tears.

“We missed you too, Wei Ling,” her father said, calling her by her Chinese name as he did so often.

“You’re going to squash your mother if you hold on any tighter,” Oliver said from behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.

Ursula stepped out of their embrace, wiping away a tear that had escaped her eye.

Oliver moved to her side and stretched out his hand toward her mother first. “It’s very nice to see you again, Mrs. Tseng.”

Her mother took his hand and shook it, then put her other hand over it to clasp it. “Young man, maybe it’s time to stop calling me Mrs. Tseng. My name is Hui Lian,” she said with the Chinese accent that even after two decades in the US had not diminished.

Oliver grinned. “I’d like that very much, Hui Lian.” Then he turned to her father and shook his outstretched hand. “It’s good to see you, sir.”

“Call me Yao Bang. And considering you’re stealing my only daughter from me, I’m rather happy to see you too. It’s good to know she’ll be in good hands.”

Her parents exchanged a look.

All of a sudden, a strange sense of unease slithered down Ursula’s back like a snake. A cold shiver followed.

“Well, let’s get your luggage so we can get you home,” Oliver announced and motioned toward the carousels.

* * * *

He shouldn’t even be on the arrival level at San Francisco International Airport, but he’d followed a particularly tasty smelling woman who’d made her way down there from the departure level where he’d been about to check in for the red-eye to New York. When he’d smelled her enticing blood, he’d decided to get one last
snack
before his flight and had followed her.

He was done with San Francisco. After he’d been captured by people from Scanguards, the self-appointed police force and self-righteous group of vampires who thought themselves above everybody else, they’d incarcerated him and others like him for several months and forced them to undergo a detox program. Rehab they’d called it!

He and the other vampires had been addicted to special blood from Chinese blood whores that a blood brothel in Hunter’s Point had provided. But one day the blood brothel had disappeared and shortly afterwards, Scanguards had killed its owner and the guards, taken the girls away, and rounded up the clients. To make them undergo treatment!

What a crock of shit that was! He knew that now. And the reason he knew it was because there at one of the luggage carousels, one of Scanguards so-called bodyguards stood, his arm around one of the blood whores he recognized. And from the fragments of conversation he picked up, he realized that this vampire, who he’d met before and whose name was Oliver, if he wasn’t mistaken, was getting married to this blood whore.

Hadn’t the people from Scanguards said that all the blood whores had been sent home? Clearly, they’d dished up a bunch of lies, trying to pacify him and the other addicts, while behind their backs they were keeping the blood whores for themselves.

His mouth salivated as the girl’s smell drifted to him. He pulled the scent deep into his lungs. Instantly, his sense memory projected vivid images into his mind. He’d never experienced anything as exhilarating as the blood of these women. It was special, and it acted like a drug to a vampire. He’d experienced that drug and had never felt a high as powerful as when he’d been suckling on the neck of one of the blood whores.

His gut clenched as the same hunger resurfaced now. He’d thought he was clean, but it appeared rehab hadn’t worked. He wanted the drugged blood of this woman. And it wasn’t fair that the people from Scanguards kept this treat for themselves. What hypocrites! They’d made him and the others suffer through the symptoms of withdrawal while they gorged themselves on the delicious blood.

The woman he’d followed earlier was forgotten, as was his flight to New York. He wasn’t leaving. No, he would stay and get his fair share. The Chinese girl on Oliver’s arm would become his meal. He would show those arrogant men from Scanguards that he had just as much a right to this blood as they.

He would show Oliver that he had no right to monopolize her.

3

Oliver set the two suitcases down inside his room and turned around, motioning his soon-to-be in-laws to enter.

“I hope you’ll be comfortable here.”

Ursula’s parents stepped into the room and let their eyes roam, while Ursula walked in behind them, her eyes equally examining the bedroom, though he was sure she was searching for her bra. Blake had not texted him back, therefore it was possible that he’d either not received the text instructing him to search for the bra or was out.

“We could have easily stayed at a hotel,” Ursula’s mother said. “There was no need to go through all this trouble.”

“No trouble at all,” he replied quickly. “My parents thought it would be best if you two took my room. And Ursula will be in the guestroom. That way, you’re all together, which makes it much easier for all the wedding preparations.”

Ursula’s father looked at his daughter. “You’re staying in this house, Wei Ling?”

“Uh, yes, Dad, but only because of the preparations for the wedding. I just moved my stuff from the dorms this morning. It would be such a trek each day to get over the bridge from Berkeley and back. I would waste too much time, and there’s so much to do,” Ursula replied hastily.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for you to stay in the same house as Oliver. It’s bad luck,” her mother cut in and turned toward Oliver. “I’m sorry, Oliver, but we can’t do that. We can move to a hotel with Ursula. Somewhere central.”

Oliver took a steadying breath. Ursula had warned him that her parents were old-fashioned as well as superstitious. “It’s really not an issue. I won’t be staying here this week. I’m going to stay at my boss’s house until the wedding.”

Mrs. Tseng raised an eyebrow. “Your boss’s house? That’s very generous of him to let you stay. Well, then, of course . . . ” She exchanged a look with her husband.

Ursula’s father nodded. “Thank you, Oliver. That’s very thoughtful of you. This looks very comfortable and spacious.”

Relieved, Oliver pointed to a door. “You have your own bathroom and sitting area so you can relax. But feel free to use any part of the house. I’ll show you around once you’ve had a chance to freshen up.”

His sensitive hearing picked up the sound of footsteps on the stairs. Then a human smell drifted to him. He recognized the smell immediately. A moment later, Blake popped his head through the door.

“Hey!” he said.

“Hui Lian, Yao Bang, meet my half-brother, Blake. Blake, these are Ursula’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Tseng.”

Blake let a big smile spread over his face as he walked toward them and shook their hands. “So nice to finally meet you. Ursula talks about you day and night.”

“Day and
night
?” her father repeated, aiming a stern look in Ursula’s direction.

Crap!
Oliver thought. Leave it to Blake to say something that could get them in trouble. “What Blake means is Ursula speaks of you whenever she visits. You know, during the day.”

Oliver felt sweat build on his nape. He tossed a displeased glance at Blake who shrugged, while Ursula’s parents looked at their daughter.

“Yes, I told you, Dad. Oliver’s family invites me over for dinner quite often,” Ursula added and smiled.

Well, it wasn’t entirely a lie, only that Ursula had become
Oliver’s
favorite dinner and that after being invited to stay for the first time, she’d never left. But then, those were only minor details, albeit details they had to keep from her parents. Together with the other minor detail they had to hide: the fact that they were guests in a vampire household, and that their daughter was marrying a vampire.

What the hell had he been thinking? This would never work! Not his union with Ursula. No, they would be perfect together, but keeping the secret about what he was from her parents.

“When will we meet your parents, Oliver?” Ursula’s father suddenly asked.

“They should be back any minute. I believe Rose had some shopping to do,” Oliver replied, glad that the subject had turned to something less precarious than sleeping arrangements and how much time Ursula spent at his house.

“Rose? You call your mother by her first name?” Yao Bang asked in surprise.

“Well, she’s my stepmother, so I’ve always called her Rose instead of Mom.”

“Ah,” Ursula’s mother interrupted. “So, Rose is your mother then, Blake?”

“Yes, but, uh, well, since Oliver always called her Rose when we grew up, I call her Rose too.”

Oliver turned so Ursula’s parents couldn’t see his face and rolled his eyes at Blake. Did he have to change the rules of the game? They’d expressly discussed who would call whom what. And now Blake threw a wrench into the whole machinery. Soon, this would blow up in their faces.

“Uh, I see,” Mr. Tseng commented. “Well, as long as you all get on.” Then he turned to peruse the room once more, his wife doing the same.

She walked closer to the bed and placed her handbag onto it.

“Oh, dear!” Mrs. Tseng suddenly said with a start and looked in the direction of his nightstand. Oliver followed her gaze, but Ursula’s father was blocking his view.

Oliver turned to Ursula next to him, catching her panicked look, while he heard how her heartbeat accelerated. Clearly, she was thinking the same as he was: his mother had spotted Ursula’s bra on the floor.

He had no choice now. He had to wipe her parents’ memories to make sure that they never remembered seeing Ursula’s incriminating underwear in his bedroom. He took a deep breath when he felt Blake’s hand on his shoulder. Instantly he turned to him. His half-brother gave a slight shake with his head and dropped his gaze. Oliver followed it to Blake’s jeans pocket. A little bit of black lace peeked from it. He grinned and shoved it down with his hand, making it disappear from Oliver’s view.

Oliver mouthed a silent “thank you” to him and turned back to his future in-laws. If Mrs. Tseng hadn’t found the bra, then what was she looking at?

With trepidation, Oliver took a few steps to walk around Mr. Tseng and saw what Mrs. Tseng was finding so offensive.

He had to stifle a laugh when he finally set eyes on the offending item. There, between his nightstand and the bed frame, one of his boxer briefs had gotten caught and hung suspended between the two pieces of furniture.

“I’m so sorry,” he said hastily, grabbed the item and balled it up in his fist, then attempted to shove it in his jacket pocket.

“Maybe it was too inconvenient to get you to give up your room after all. We really shouldn’t have imposed,” her mother said.

“No, no. You’re not imposing at all. I’m sorry. I guess I was in a hurry today.”

Yeah, he sure had been in a hurry—in a hurry to make love to Ursula one more time before he was forced to move out of the house until the wedding. When he’d gotten dressed after they’d made love, he’d been in such a daze that he hadn’t found his boxer briefs instantly and simply grabbed a new pair from his chest of drawers.

When he heard sounds behind him, he sighed in relief. The cavalry had arrived.

“Well, it looks like our guests are here,” Quinn said from the door as he walked in, his wife Rose on his heels.

“I’m so sorry we weren’t here to greet you,” Rose instantly apologized and stretched her hand out to Ursula’s mother.

“This is Rose, my stepmother, and this is Quinn, my father,” Oliver introduced them. “Dad, Rose, these are Hui Lian and Yao Bang Tseng.”

He watched as the faces of Ursula’s parents turned to surprise while they shook hands and exchanged greetings with Rose and Quinn.

“You both seem so young,” Ursula’s mother said finally. Mr. Tseng nodded in agreement.

“Good genes,” Quinn replied with a broad smile on his face.

“We get that all the time!” Rose chirped with a soft laugh and exchanged a loving look with her blood-bonded mate. “We were practically kids when we met. We got married when we were very young.”

Oliver swept a quick gaze over Quinn and Rose. Both didn’t only look like they were in their mid-twenties, they also looked nothing like him or Blake. While both he and Blake were dark haired, their supposed parents were both blond and had fair skin. There was no family resemblance among the four of them and rightly so. Quinn had sired Oliver with his blood and turned him into a vampire when he lay dying after a horrific car accident, and Blake, though he was their blood relative, hadn’t retained any of Rose’s and Quinn’s fair looks. Blake was six generations removed from them, and they were in fact his fourth great-grandparents.