FIVE
Nick’s cryptic comments hung in the air for just a split-second. Then, face flaming, I suddenly choked a little, seemingly on thin air. Now that he’d said what he had about wanting to become my “very good friend,” I just couldn’t turn my gaze to his face for some reason. I couldn’t have done so even if my life had depended on it. I felt somehow naked and exposed, even though I was fully clothed.
Without missing a beat, he gave my hand another gentle squeeze but didn’t say anything further. With my stomach doing a wild flip because of his touch, as if I were on a roller coaster, I turned my gaze from Nick to a plush, cream-colored rug on the floor. And when I spoke, my voice came out in a cross between a whisper and a squeak.
“I think I might like it if we became very good friends.”
Even though I still had no idea what that meant.
With my face feeling as if it were engulfed in flames, I moved my face just a degree or two toward Nick, sensing him looking at me intently but still determined not to look directly at him. “Yes…I think I might like it if we became very good friends…maybe.”
Nick was still holding one of my hands, and his touch almost made me want to yell yes, that I’d love to be his “very good friend.” I hadn’t forgotten that I intended to kill him, though. And I also wondered just what in the hell he meant by “very good friend,” so finally, I just came right out and asked him.
He took a deep breath before responding. “In the interest of time, and government guards probably soon waking up, I’ll try to make this ‘friendship’ offer as brief as possible. In short, I know you have the were-gene, and I know that’s why the government abducted you and has been holding you here. I also know that you’d probably like to be free. Is this correct?”
I still couldn’t look directly at him. I could, however, see the outline of his long, lean, muscular body crouched down beside me in my peripheral vision, and the sight of it was serving to increase my dizziness. Also, he was still holding my hand and was now caressing the back of it very lightly with his thumb.
This action, combined with the sound of his deep voice, had me under such a sensuous spell that I couldn't remember exactly how I was supposed to be acting, or even why I was supposed to be acting. All I knew was that I wanted to say yes to whatever Nick wanted me to eventually say yes to. All I knew was that I wanted to sleep with Nick and have him bring me to the powerful orgasm that something just told me he could.
In my whole life, I’d actually never had an orgasm that I would have described as “powerful.” Maybe “satisfactory.” James had been a decent enough lover, I supposed, but I’d certainly never seen stars with him before. Sometimes I’d even had to make myself issue a faux moan here and there, just so that his ego wouldn’t be bruised by complete silence on my end during some of our lovemaking sessions.
During the entire course of our relationship, he’d never once asked me if I was happy and satisfied in bed. However, to be fair, I’d never asked him, either. I’d always just figured that since he always climaxed, even when I didn’t, he must have been at least fairly happy with things.
While I tried to ignore the effect that Nick’s caressing of my hand was having on me, he continued.
“Now, as far as what I want, to be perfectly blunt, I want to have a child with a woman who possesses the were-gene. You’re the only woman I’ve ever met who has it. I want to have a vamp-wolf hybrid child who will be the most powerful supernatural creature the world has ever seen. I want this child to help defend my people from the government and the Dormio Coven in the coming years.”
I knew what was coming next, and I wasn’t wrong.
“If I take you away from this secret government prison, Tiffany, will you agree to come to Everglen with me and try to conceive a child with me? You could live in my home indefinitely, safe from the government, and we could raise the child together. In exchange, I’ll keep you and our child safe, always.”
Mind reeling, I didn’t speak right away, and Nick spoke again.
“The government will never stop hunting you, you know…but my people and I can keep you safe. Just say yes, that you’ll go to Everglen with me and try to conceive a child with me.”
I realized that with his seeming compassion, his low, tender voice, and his caressing my hand, Nick was probably trying to manipulate me, and that maybe the stern man who’d first entered my apartment was more like who he usually was. However, I also realized that going to Everglen with Nick would give me the perfect opportunity to execute my plan of revenge.
Additionally, I realized that I really didn’t have much of a choice. If I refused Nick’s offer, he could take me to Everglen anyway, by force, I was sure. And even if he didn’t, I’d still be a captive of the government, kept as a prisoner indefinitely. I knew there was a chance they might even try to kill me at some point.
As if reading my thoughts, Nick soon made comment on this. “I’ve heard things, Tiffany…things about how they might just simply kill you one day. They can’t figure out what else to do with you, but they don’t want to ever release you. At the same time, they’re concerned about what might happen if they continue to hold you as a captive and you get your powers back. They know that you’re some sort of a witch who only lost her powers because of a car accident. They know it’s possible that your powers might return someday, and they’re afraid that this could lead to you escaping them.”
Finally, having made up my mind, I shifted my gaze to Nick’s face. “I’ll go with you to Everglen…and I’ll agree to sleep with you and try to conceive a child.”
I could only hope that wouldn’t happen before I got a chance to execute my revenge plan against Nick.
In response to what I’d said, Nick took my hand firmly and got to his feet, looking visibly relieved. “Good. Thank you. I promise that you won’t regret agreeing to this arrangement. I’ll get you out of here and keep you safe, and I’ll make sure that our efforts to conceive a child are very…” Pulling me up from the overstuffed chair, he paused in what he was saying, seeming to be having difficulty maintaining eye contact with me, “satisfying for you.”
A little shocked by what he’d just said, although undeniably excited, I couldn’t prevent my rate of breathing from accelerating, and it hit me all at once that I was no longer even remotely playing a part in order to get revenge. I wanted Nick badly, so badly that my desire for him had suddenly pushed all thoughts of my murdered coven to the back of my mind. This was shameful, I knew. It was beyond shameful.
But I could tell that fighting my body’s urges around Nick was going to be an uphill battle. Not like I actually had a choice whether to fight them or not. I knew that going to Evergreen with him was going to require me to literally sleep with the enemy. Maybe many, many times, I thought, as I stifled a sigh of pleasure upon catching a whiff of Nick’s masculine, woodsy scent.
After looking into my eyes for a long moment, as if to make certain that I was really going to go to Everglen with him, Nick gave my hand another squeeze. “Come on. Let’s make our escape while we still can. We’ve got to get past all the still-hopefully-knocked-out guards and onto the street before they wake up. From there, we’ll walk to see a friend of mine who lives just a few blocks away. He’ll lend us a car so that we can drive north to Everglen with all speed.”
I said okay, and Nick began leading me out of the apartment but soon paused.
“Do you have another sock and some shoes to put on?”
I’d completely forgotten that I was currently wearing only one sock.
Deeply embarrassed, I shook my head. “My other socks are being washed, and they took my shoes away because I tried to use them as weapons. I only have a pair of fuzzy slippers now.”
Wearing an expression of faint amusement, Nick said that was fine. “Go grab them. I’m sure people living in Detroit have seen stranger things than a woman walking down the street wearing slippers.”
I was sure he was right, and I dashed away to go grab mine, feeling a distinct pang of regret when I had to pull my hand free from Nick’s to do so.
*
Everglen was a lovely city, something like a smaller, much cleaner Detroit, with shorter, newer buildings and much less congested traffic downtown. As Nick had said, the city was literally hidden among miles of forest land in the north of the state. When he’d told me that we’d arrived, all I could see was a long row of trees. He’d had to perform some kind of enchantment to pull me through them and into the city, saying that that was the only way that non-vampires could get in.
After a short walk, during which many people greeted him as Commander Alexander, he led me inside a twelve-story building made of gleaming glass and steel. “This will be your new home now. It’s a residential building for me, my advisors, and my ‘inner circle’ coven members. For now, you can have an apartment on the eleventh floor. Mine is on the twelfth. Maybe in time, though, once you feel comfortable, we can both live in my apartment together, for convenience’s sake.”
Because we’ll be sleeping together frequently in order to make a baby, I thought, experiencing a little thrill at the thought. However, I hoped that I wouldn’t get pregnant before I did what I needed to do to avenge my coven. If I did, though, I wasn’t too concerned. In that case, I’d just make an escape out of Everglen with my baby, telling him or her later that their father had been a bad man who’d hurt mom’s coven, and that was why he wasn’t in our lives.
Once he’d led me up to what would be my gorgeous new apartment, which offered breathtaking views of the city, Nick went out to the spacious kitchen, alone, and made a call to someone -- I didn’t know who -- to ask them to bring up some things for me. Just a short while later, several older women, whom I could only guess were in Nick’s employ in some capacity, began bringing up groceries, clothes, and other things I needed in my new home, since of course, I’d arrived with just the clothes on my back, literally.
My clothes and my fuzzy, sky blue slippers, anyway. To my chagrin, I’d noticed some funny looks at them while Nick and I had been walking to the building.
While my fully-furnished new apartment was being filled with all manner of stuff, Nick and I had a seat together on a long, sand-colored couch in the living room, and I thanked him for providing me with all the possessions I’d need.
“And thank you for breaking me out of ‘government jail,’ too.”
With a small smile, he told me not to mention it. “It’s the least I can do…for what you’ve agreed to do for me. Maybe we can even start on that later if you feel ready to…maybe after some dinner in your new dining room. We don’t have much in the way of restaurants here in Everglen, on account of most of us residents being vampires and not having a need to eat regular food.
“We do have some human residents, though, so we have a few little grocery stores and restaurants. I can have one of them send up something for you to eat. I’ll even have something with you, too. Even though vampires can’t eat regular food, many of us can drink alcohol, and I’m one of them. Maybe we can share a drink or two.”
I really hadn’t heard much Nick had said after he’d suggested that maybe we start our baby-making activities “later on.” Somewhat to my surprise, I felt that I was more than ready to. Even just looking at him sitting next to me on the couch, I was experiencing something that felt a lot like mild arousal. This feeling intensified when, in response to me agreeing to have dinner and drinks with him, Nick took my hand and began tracing slow circles on the back of it with his thumb.
I was actually starting to have thoughts that maybe we’d just skip dinner and drinks altogether. Maybe once his three employees left, I’d just ask him to kiss me, and we’d just get right into things. I was starting to think that I wanted nothing more.
However, to my disappointment, right after the women had left the apartment, a large cellular telephone that Nick had brought up with him began ringing. The thing really was a marvel, not having any cords or cables at all, and even though Nick had shown it to me when he’d picked it up on the ground floor of the building, it still surprised me just to hear it ring.
One of the women who had filled my new apartment with stuff had brought me up a cellular telephone of my own, too, although I wasn’t sure if I’d ever really use it much. Because it was at least the size of a paperback book, with a pull-out antenna at least half a foot long, I’d at least have to find a purse that would fit it.
Without even leaving the couch, Nick answered his cellular telephone, and said “all right” and “I’ll be there” before hanging up by pushing a quarter-sized button that said End Call.
“I’m so sorry, Tiffany, but I’ve got to go, and I probably won’t be back in time to share dinner and drinks with you tonight. A few members of the Dormio Coven, probably spies, have just been spotted not too far outside of Everglen, and I and some of my elite coven members need to go investigate and possibly fight them. Not to mention that even before this, I needed to meet with my advisors and elite coven members and tell them what happened to me weeks ago.
“None of them even know that I was abducted by the government, aided by the Dormios. Last time my people heard from me, I was heading to Detroit to do a bit of spying on one of the Dormios in particular.”
Nick soon left, and I silently cursed the Dormios for interrupting what I had a feeling could have been a very steamy night, and one that I very much needed. But then I remembered that the Dormios weren't my enemies. The man I was so eager to hop in the sack with was my enemy. He was the one responsible for killing my coven family.
John had even suggested once that it had likely been him personally. James hadn’t said that he thought it had, but he had said that he was sure that the slaughter hadn’t happened without the direction or at least approval of the leader of the Everglen Coven.
Once I heard my apartment door close behind Nick, I all but flew up from the couch and began pacing, irate with myself. It was one thing if I basically had to sleep with him to get him to trust me in order for me to accomplish my revenge mission, but wanting to sleep with him was a different thing entirely.
I couldn’t believe I’d allowed myself to want to. All I could think of in my defense was that by caressing my hand how he’d been doing, maybe Nick had cast some kind of a spell over me that had made me especially susceptible to the feel of his fingers on my skin. I knew that was a stretch, though.
Other than possessing superhuman strength that gave them the ability to, among other things, hurl themselves and each other hundreds of feet in the air, vampires typically didn’t possess any skills as far as supernatural spells and wizardry. It seemed more likely that I had just let myself fall prey to some very human, very sensual feelings.
After pacing around my new living room for a few minutes with my anger at myself only increasing, I opened the glass French doors in the middle of a wide row of windows and stepped out onto the balcony, hoping that some early evening fresh spring air might cool me off a bit, in more ways than one. To my extreme irritation, images of Nick’s handsome face and his long, hard body had been stubbornly flashing through my mind the entire time I’d been pacing.
Placing my hands on the high, wrought-iron railing that surrounded the balcony, I looked down on the city, trusting that the view from the eleventh floor would be enough to distract me from the unwanted thoughts spinning around in my head. I wasn’t the kind of person who was absolutely terrified of heights and looking down from high places, but I was the kind of person who felt plenty enough rattled by it, usually just enough to get my mind focused on the distance between me and the ground, if nothing else.
It was now after seven, and because it was only April, the sun was already sinking low, painting the few dozen tall buildings around me in shades of brilliant orange and gold. Although tall for Everglen, the buildings were all on the shorter side compared to the ones I was usually surrounded by living and working near downtown Detroit, each of them being anywhere from five to ten stories tall.
For a city the size of Everglen, some of them might have even been considered simply high-rises, not “skyscrapers.” However, since these buildings were probably the tallest buildings around, and since they constituted the entirety of the city skyline, the definition of “skyscraper” almost seemed to fit.
The majority of the buildings were made from gleaming steel and glass, which made them all appear golden in the dimming light. I imagined that I might take my morning coffee outside on the balcony every morning, just to see the beautiful sight of all the buildings gleaming in the sunrise.
Across the street from my building, one of the tallest buildings in the city stood proud and shining, with a steel-framed wide base and three progressively narrower levels ascending to the top, where an enormous blue-and-black flag, which I guessed must be the official flag of Everglen, flapped in a stiff breeze. On our way up to my apartment in a glass-walled elevator, Nick had told me this building was where all official Everglen business was conducted, where all elite coven spies were trained, and where Nick held meetings with his council members and advisors.
The building my apartment was in was a building primarily used for residential purposes. Nick had a penthouse on the floor above me, but other than him, I had no clue who my neighbors were. Nick hadn’t said who shared the eleventh floor with me, if anyone, and who lived in all the floors below, and I hadn’t asked.
Far below me, shiny cars wound their way through the city streets. From what I’d been able to see at a distance, all of the cars were brand-new, which didn't surprise me. Nick had mentioned that a few decades after the city had been built, residents had started manufacturing cars at a plant to the east of the downtown area. Nick had thought of the idea in order to accomplish two goals at once.
For one, it provided the city’s residents with jobs and purpose, something Nick said that many people needed, being that most vampires only needed to sleep an hour or two a day. This had been the same with the members of the Dormio Coven, so this was at least one way the two groups were alike. For another thing, the manufacture of cars increased the city’s wealth, which Nick had said was important to keeping all residents happy.
“No one wants to live in run-down dwellings like the other vampires,” he’d said. “What little they have, they’ve stolen. It’s not a right way to live.”
He hadn’t elaborated, and I hadn’t asked, but I got the feeling that the “other vampires” he’d been referring to had been the Dormio Coven, back in Detroit. And although I hated to admit it, them being accused of stealing sounded about right.
Many of them had been thieves back during the time when I’d dated James, anyway. I hadn’t liked it, but he’d insisted it was necessary. Something about how stealing from humans and various private businesses wasn’t wrong because the ends justified the means, or something similar.
I had to admit, grudgingly, that no matter how evil Nick’s coven of vampires truly was, his idea to get the city started in manufacturing cars for the good of everyone struck me as a fairly noble one. It was at least better than stealing.
I remained out on the balcony, just looking down at the ant-sized cars, for a long while, until I suddenly realized that my feet were freezing, and one of them in particular. A glance at my feet told me that somehow, I was still only wearing one sock, after having taken my slippers off inside the living room. And the early spring evening certainly wasn’t warm, probably only in the upper fifties. Hoping that Nick’s employees had filled my dresser drawers with lots of socks, I soon left the balcony and headed back inside.
After making myself some dinner and enjoying a long bubble bath in my luxurious new master bathroom with sunken marble tub, I didn’t sleep well that night, tossing and turning. I’d always been something of an insomniac, and the problem had only gotten worse while I’d been held captive by the government. So it was safe to say I was used to it. However, on this night, my first night in Everglen, my insomnia problem seemed to even be a bit worse than usual.
Three times, I awoke after dreaming about Nick -- his handsome face and his long, lean, muscular body. In the third dream, he was holding me and kissing me, with his hands freely exploring my naked body. But almost as soon as this dream had begun, it morphed sickeningly into the scene when I’d found all my coven members dead, drained of all blood and their throats ripped out.
I awoke from this third dream, although maybe nightmare would have been a better description, in a cold sweat, trembling, and at least an hour went by before I was finally able to fall asleep again.
The next day dawned clear and cold, and I took my steaming mug of coffee out on the balcony, knowing that this day would be the day that the sexual parts of my dreams about Nick would likely come true. Which thoroughly revolted me, even while at the same time, I couldn't stop butterflies from swarming in my stomach. I couldn’t deny that I’d never wanted a man as badly as I wanted Nick.