The Secret
LUCIEN DROVE INTO the car park under his office building.
He was furious.
The drive to his office took well over an hour. A four car pileup caused a massive backup with subsequent delays. More times than he could count, he stopped himself from turning around and going back.
Back home.
Back to Leah.
Back to explain things to her, smooth that hideous look out of her features, the pain out of her eyes, inject the life back into her voice.
But he couldn’t. This was Gregor. Gregor was a member of The Council and with Gregor’s alliance he could assist with making Leah safe. Twice, he’d postponed a set meeting and he’d done it to spend time with Leah. He couldn’t delay again. Gregor was impatient, the meeting important, even imperative, he’d told Lucien through Avery.
He had to take the fucking meeting.
He guided the Porsche to its spot thinking she loved him. His Leah loved him.
He knew it. He knew it was happening. Not only because Stephanie warned him, Kate told him, but because he felt it.
And that was why he’d done what he’d done. Selfish in the extreme, but it was too beautiful, Leah’s love. Better than her beauty. Better than her smell. Even better than her blood. It was like a drug. The feeling of ecstasy. Constant, from waking until sleep and even in his dreams, having her close.
Fuck.
Fuck!
He should have talked to her as Kate asked. As a priority.
He should have talked to her.
He parked, shut the Porsche down and exited the car without delay.
He needed to get this meeting done. He needed to get back home.
Back to Leah.
I’m in love with you, Mighty Vampire Lucien.
The words pierced his brain as he closed the door to the car and he lost control. The door slammed to and the entire car shuddered and shifted four feet into the next, luckily vacant, spot.
He stared at his vehicle as it continued to rock then as it stopped. He closed his eyes, leaned into his forearms on the roof of the car and dropped his head.
Sweetling, look at me.
Please, get off me. Husky. Agonized.
Leah, sweetheart, please, look at me.
I shouldn’t have said it. Forget I said it.
Look at me.
It didn’t happen. Just wipe it from your mind. Go to your meeting. We’ll both forget it and everything will be okay. Whispered. Desperate.
Agonized.
Desperate.
He’d done that. He’d made her feel those things. Being selfish. Taking and forgetting he couldn’t give. Taking and forgetting his duty was to keep her safe. Taking what he couldn’t stop himself from taking and forgetting to protect her, causing her agony, just like at her Bloodletting.
He’d never forget she’d said it. He’d never be able to wipe it from his mind. It was burned there, literally for eternity.
“Fuck,” he whispered.
His eyes opened, he lifted his head and looked blindly through the car park.
He thought of Gregor. Not the impending meeting. Gregor’s decision five hundred years ago.
Lucien had three choices. Keep taking from Leah. Make her his mate and put her in even more danger, conceivably making their nightmares come real.
Or, for her sake, release her.
No. He had only one choice.
The last.
Fuck.
He sucked in breath, straightened from the car and eschewed the elevator in order to race up the forty flights of stairs with vampire speed. If a mortal saw him and it came to the attention of The Council, fuck it. Let them fine him. In mere hours he was losing everything.
Everything.
He slowed when he hit the hall and stayed slowed as he opened the door and moved through his busy offices. He took out his cell and turned it off in preparation for the meeting while employees nodded to him, lifted their chins, Lucien returning the gestures.
He saw Sally behind her desk through the glass wall that exposed her office. She’d been in his employ for ten years. In that time she’d met and married her husband, had two children and lost her mother. In that time, he hadn’t aged a day.
It was time to move on. Create new companies, sell his vast holdings to himself, distribute severance packages, references, let his workforce go and move. This time, he’d need to disappear, hire someone young and competent to act in his stead for twenty, thirty years. Then he’d need to go through the motions again, managing his holdings as a ghost. In sixty, seventy years, he’d resurface, or perhaps continue as a phantom looking after his fortune.
He’d been considering it awhile. He’d even planned to discuss the destination for their future home with Leah.
Now he decided Singapore. Magdalene had moved there three years ago. She loved it. And he’d never lived there. It was as good a place as any.
In order to protect the knowledge he was vampire, he’d done this times too numerous to count. It was a chore that was never less than trying. And every time he wished he could simply be who he fucking was and not be forced to engage in this aggravation.
He pushed through the glass doors to Sally’s outer office. Sally looked up and smiled. Then she read his face and the smile died.
Therefore, instantly, she reported, “I’ve given them coffee and bagels, told them you called and explained your delay.”
“Thank you, Sally,” he muttered, moving to the glossy wood panel double doors that led to his office.
“Would you like fresh coffee?” she called to his back.
He’d had nothing but Leah’s blood and he’d had her blood not knowing it was the last taste of her he’d ever have. He always savored her. If he’d known, he would have taken the time to savor more. Not just her blood, all that was her when she gave it to him.
“No coffee and no interruptions,” Lucien answered, turning the knob and pushing open the door.
He took in the room before he closed the door behind him.
Cosmo leaning against the side of his desk, arms crossed, ankles crossed. Stephanie lounging in an armchair in the seating area at the side of the room, legs crossed, coffee cup in hand. Avery and Gregor both seated on the couch, Avery’s posture relaxed but alert. Gregor, however, was lounged back like Stephanie, legs crossed, looking bored.
Lucien walked to the seating area as Cosmo pushed away from his desk and approached from the other side.
“I apologize for the delay. Traffic,” Lucien muttered, stopping at the back of the vacant armchair across from Stephanie.
“These things happen,” Gregor murmured, studying Lucien.
Lucien crossed his arms on his chest and leveled his eyes on Gregor, ignoring the others.
Rude, he knew, but he didn’t give a fuck. He needed to get this done and he needed to go home and release Leah so she could begin healing from the wounds he’d willfully inflicted, enjoying every fucking second of it.
“Unfortunately I must apologize again. I know my postponements have been frustrating and today’s delay the same, but the reasons for this meeting are now moot. This afternoon, I’ll be releasing Leah from her contract.”
He heard the swift hiss of Stephanie’s indrawn breath at the same time he heard Cosmo’s whispered, “What the fuck?” Both of these came with Avery growing more alert and Gregor’s gaze turning sharp.
“I’m sorry?” Gregor asked softly.
“I’m releasing Leah,” Lucien answered.
“Fucking hell, Lucien!” Stephanie snapped as she shot out of her chair. “What’s going on?”
Lucien looked to Stephanie. “It’s none of your concern.”
Her eyes got big. “None of my concern? Are you mad?”
Lucien took in a long, slow breath and held her eyes, but he did not speak.
Stephanie didn’t like that, leaned forward and demanded, “Answer me! Are you mad?”
“I’ll repeat, Teffie, it’s none of your concern.”
“You are mad,” she whispered, her eyes narrowing.
“Lucien even you cannot expect to tip our culture on its head after five hundred years of convention then, weeks later, change your mind on a whim,” Cosmo put in, his voice low with anger.
Lucien’s eyes moved to Cosmo as he spoke, and when he was done, he stated, “It’s not a whim.”
“What is it then?” Cosmo retorted.
“What it is, is none of your fucking concern,” Lucien shot back.
“This is unbelievable,” Stephanie hissed, and Lucien looked to her.
“Teffie, calm,” Avery murmured.
Stephanie’s head was a blur when she turned to Avery and shouted, “I will not be calm! We’re on the cusp of war!”
“You’re in love with her.”
The room went still when Gregor spoke these words and Lucien’s eyes moved to him.
“Yes,” he confirmed without hesitation.
“Oh my God,” Stephanie whispered.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Cosmo said softly.
“You know my choices, Gregor,” Lucien stated calmly. “You’re the only one in this room who does. I can keep her safe but for how long? The feeding I’ve done from her, it won’t have had the chance to have much effect, give her a longer life. She has forty, fifty years left of mortal life. That’s better than living whatever length of time I can keep her alive, doing it on the run and her life ending on a scaffold while she watches me burn. You know that better than anyone in this room. Therefore, this afternoon, I’m releasing her.”
“How long have you known?” Stephanie asked quietly and Lucien’s gaze went to her.
“The minute I saw her twenty years ago,” Lucien answered.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Her voice was rising.
“Because I only admitted it to myself two minutes ago,” Lucien replied.
Stephanie closed her eyes and dropped her head.
“Why?” Cosmo asked, and Lucien looked to him.
“Why?” he repeated.
“Yes, Lucien, why? If you love her, why are you releasing her?”
“You’ve never mated. Seven hundred and fifty-three years, Cosmo, you’ve been on this earth and not one woman, mortal or immortal, have you stood beside and exchanged blood and vows. When you do, you’ll know why,” Lucien returned.
“None of this was about the taming,” Cosmo accused. “It’s bullshit that you only knew two minutes ago you loved her. You’ve known it all along.”
Lucien inclined his head. “On some level, yes. But I was denying it for Leah’s safety. And bullshit it might have been, Cosmo, but you knew too. So did Stephanie. And Isobel. And anyone who really knows me. If you’re honest, all of you knew I was doing this for more reasons than to tame and fuck a concubine.”
“So on some level you knew you couldn’t have her and she couldn’t have you and you did it anyway,” Cosmo reminded him.
“What I knew from what I had with Maggie was that having Leah for even a little while was better than not having her at all. Not only for me, but for her. And our time together proved me right. And I knew, this time, our time together would be short. So I knew I couldn’t waste any. What I did not factor was that Leah would return my feelings so swiftly.”
At this, understanding dawned. Lucien knew it when Cosmo flinched and turned his head away.
Lucien looked to Gregor.
“She shared she was in love with me today. As The Council is considering my request, I’ve reflected on this. My first instinct was to talk logic to her in an effort to prolong our Arrangement. But this is Leah. I know her better than that. She consumes life, she’s ruled by emotion. She won’t enjoy what we have for a short time. And she cannot know I reciprocate her feelings. If she does, she’ll never let me go. And I’ll not want her to. Thinking I don’t share her love, she’s already shut down on me. She’s retreating in an effort to control the pain I’ve caused. I must release her for her sake. Therefore, I do not need The Council’s permission. That said, if other vampires wish to indulge in a taming, you should know I will champion them.”
“Please sit, Lucien,” Gregor requested quietly.
Lucien shook his head. “I must get back to Leah.”
“Please, Lucien. Sit,” Gregor said more firmly.
“This is done. I must get back home.”
Home.
Home.
Not anymore.
Fuck.
Fuck!
Gregor held his eyes.
Then he stated, “What I’m about to say is known by very few. A very select few. If anyone outside of that sacred circle and the occupants of this room ever speak of what I’m going to tell you, it won’t matter which one of you shared the secret. All of you will be hunted. All of you will be captured. All of you will be tortured until you beg to be burned. Every member of your family will have the same fate. And everyone you love, immortal or,” his eyes sharpened on Lucien’s face, “mortal will share that fate too.”
“Holy shit,” Stephanie breathed, sitting back down.
“Speak,” Lucien barked and Gregor lifted his chin.
His gaze swept the room as he announced, “Immortal history is a lie.”
Lucien felt his eyes narrow.
“I beg your pardon?” Cosmo asked.
“Immortal history is a lie,” Gregor repeated. “Millennia ago, a decision was made. There was much fighting. Bloody battle after bloody battle was waged. Immortals tortured, beheaded, burned. It was gruesome, it was destructive, and in the end it simply decimated the number of our species. Tragically. There were very few of us left. Any of us.” He lifted a hand to gesture to Avery. “Vampires. Werewolves. Wraiths. Phantoms. Golem. The Wee. So the remainder of the species came to an agreement and made their decision. Many of our people need humans to survive. A way needed to be found that we could live amongst them peacefully. The battles were mostly fought over conflicts about domination. Being vastly stronger and extremely difficult to kill, there were immortals who felt our kind should rule mortals, and when I say that I mean enslave them. The others were bent on a more democratic co-existence, even if they knew it would mean hiding who we are.”
“This is not news, Gregor. These ancient battles are known amongst all immortals. To this day it is a very ill-kept secret that there are those who still harbor these different political opinions,” Lucien informed him.
“Yes, you do know of that, of course,” Gregor stated, looking up at Lucien. “What you don’t know is that the different species are not mutated from homo sapiens, a transmutation of wolf and human, an evolutionary process based on geography, or a metamorphosis of natural forces into human forms. Nor did we evolve to what we are today from primordial slime. We were made from magic.”
“Holy shit,” Stephanie breathed.
“That’s ridiculous,” Cosmo bit out.
Gregor looked to Cosmo. “It may seem so, but it’s absolutely true. We are otherworldly. We are supernatural. There is no explanation for us. We are magic.”
“Explain,” Lucien growled and Gregor’s eyes came to him.
“I cannot, Lucien. As I said, there is no explanation for us. There has been much research on the topic, but whenever and however we came into existence, in those ancient times there were no records kept. And there were so many of our species killed in these battles and the secret has been kept for so long, even the ancients who made the pact have since expired. If they knew the secret of our origin, they took it to their deaths.”
“This can’t be possible,” Stephanie whispered.
“It isn’t,” Gregor informed her. “That’s what makes it magic.”
“If that’s the case, explain how we share the same exact body structure as humans. We mate the same. Reproduce the same. Breathe, sleep and, for the most part, eat the same,” Lucien demanded.
“I do not know the answer to that either. But think about it, Lucien,” Gregor encouraged softly. “Each species does, indeed, share the same exact body structure as humans and yet, unless we are beheaded or burned, we do not die. On this earth, nearly everything dies eventually. Even the ancients who made that pact didn’t die naturally. Some were killed and others killed themselves.”
“We consume mortal blood to nourish us, keep us alive,” Stephanie put in. “We’d die without it.”
“You’d be weakened significantly. But you would not die. This is not a fact understood by our kind because none of us have tested this theory by abstaining. But it is nevertheless true,” Gregor stated.
Stephanie’s eyes got wide and Gregor carried on.
“But wraiths and phantoms consume mortal energy. How is that possible? It seems natural to us since we’ve known it for what seems like eternity, but, Stephanie, it . . . is . . . not. If you think about it logically, you know it too. Not to mention, werewolves are immortal and they don’t consume anything mortal or anything different than mortals do. Except to say they consume a lot of it and metabolize it much faster.”
“Why would immortals be told we’re humans?” Stephanie asked. “Lying to us about who we are doesn’t make sense.”
“We already are different from humans and unfortunately that species is prone to fearing the unknown and we all know that fear often manifests unpleasantly. To convince immortals that they share integral parts with humans gave immortals a sense of humanity. A oneness with the other beings inhabiting this earth. Doing it built in immortals an affinity between the species. If you feel you’ve evolved from a species that is inferior to you, but you have the capacity to feel compassion, it would assist in eradicating urges to subjugate your inferiors because they are an extension of yourselves. And, for millennia, you must admit, this has worked very well.”
“This is bloody insane,” Cosmo muttered.
“Indeed but it’s also absolutely true,” Gregor returned.
“And this great secret,” Lucien stated and Gregor’s attention returned to him, “you’re sharing this with us now because . . . ?”
“Because of The Prophesies,” Gregor answered.
“Oh shit. Here we go,” Stephanie murmured and Gregor turned to her, his eyebrows snapping together.
“You know of The Prophesies?”
“No,” she retorted. “But two minutes ago I learned I’m supernatural. It would stand to reason right on the heels of that you’d spout nonsense about prophesies. Fuck, Gregor, I’m hundreds of years old. I’ve read my fair share of books. With supernatural shit, there’s always fucking prophesies.”
Stephanie was pissed but she was also amusing.
Even so, Lucien did not laugh.
Gregor responded, “Well the ones you’ll learn of today all have to do with The Three. The Three being The Sacred Triumvirate which includes a vampire whose strength and cunning know no equal, but who also has added abilities beyond any shared by his species. He will find his lifemate, a mortal woman of great spirit, who also has her own abilities. Those she was born with, one of which is the ability to absorb her mate’s powers through his feeding.”
The air in the room went thick and Lucien’s gut wrenched as his chest squeezed.
Gregor wasn’t finished.
“The second is the King of Werewolves who will find his lifemate and she too will have otherworldly powers. And the last is a werewolf, vampire hybrid whose mortal lifemate will also be exceptional.”
“Werewolves and vampires cannot produce children,” Cosmo declared.
“Yes, and neither can vampires and mortals, but if The Prophesies come true, Lucien will sire four children on Leah in the next ten years,” Gregor returned.
Lucien couldn’t have held back his reaction if he tried. But he didn’t try. His hand shot out, his fingers curling tightly around the top of the chair in front of him.
“My God,” Stephanie whispered.
Gregor looked to Lucien.
“Times are changing,” he stated softly. “War is nearly upon us. And this is not a war amongst vampires who wish to be freed from the constrictions of the Immortal and Mortal Agreement against those who do not. It will be war amongst all immortals allied with mortals who will fight against the immortals who wish to rid the planet of their brethren who think differently than they do. Brethren who want to live amongst what their enemies consider their inferiors. And our enemy wishes to enslave their inferiors to serve them in all ways. And, I’m sorry to say, Lucien, as you have endured much in your years, you and your Leah are part of The Three. A trio of lifemates who will be instrumental in stopping this or the six of you will perish trying.”
Fuck.
Fuck!
“What does this mean?” Cosmo asked.
It was Avery who answered.
“This means it is time for immortals to make inroads as immortals into the mortal world. And to do this, this means The Council have already amended the Immortal and Mortal Agreement. It means that not only will vampires be free to tame their concubines, they will be free to tame any mortal they desire. And lastly,” his eyes moved to Lucien, “they will again be free to mate with mortals officially. The Sentence has been done away with. They’ll be making an official statement on Monday.”
Lucien’s hand released the chair, he turned and moved swiftly to the door.
“Lucien,” Gregor called, Lucien stopped and turned back.
But not because of Gregor’s call.
“Are these Prophesies written?” he demanded.
“They are,” Gregor replied. “But—”
Lucien interrupted him, “I must get to Leah. Later, you’ll arrange for me to read them.”
“That’s impossible,” Gregor returned.
“Make it possible,” Lucien clipped.
“You don’t understand,” Gregor said carefully.
“And you can explain it to me after I speak with Leah,” Lucien retorted.
“I might be able to arrange for you to see some of them, but it is highly likely you’ll only be allowed to see those Prophesies that do not concern you, but instead the other two sets of lifemates in The Triumvirate,” Gregor explained.
“Pull strings, grease palms, exchange favors, but find a way for me to read those Prophesies,” Lucien gritted.
“Luce, do you believe this nonsense?” Stephanie asked in disbelief and Lucien’s eyes cut to her.
“That Leah’s my lifemate?” he asked, Stephanie nodded, and Lucien finished, “Absolutely.”
Stephanie’s head jerked right before her eyes narrowed and that was right before she grinned.
“Okay, then do you believe about The Prophesies?” she queried.
“If anything is written about Leah and me, I want to read it whether it was written yesterday or three thousand years ago and whether I believe it or not,” Lucien replied.
“Understandable,” she muttered, still grinning.
“There is much still to talk about,” Gregor cut in and Lucien’s attention went to him.
“We’ll arrange another meeting. Two weeks,” he stated.
Gregor’s eyebrows shot up. “Two weeks?”
“Gregor, I’m about to walk out of this office, go home and ask the woman I love to spend eternity with me. Yes, fucking two weeks, and consider yourself lucky I’m not going to arrange a fucking meeting until after two months.”
Gregor’s eyes dipped to his knees but not before Lucien saw them light.
Jesus, the vampire wasn’t entirely cold and unfeeling.
This was good to know.
On that thought, the door opened and Lucien turned to it to see Sally’s head stuck in.
His body went solid when he registered her pallor, her wide eyes and smelled her fear.
“I’m so sorry, Lucien. I know you said no interruptions, but Edwina’s on the phone and she said it’s a dire emergency.”
Fuck, he’d turned off his cell for this meeting. And with Cosmo, Stephanie and Avery at the meeting, he’d necessarily but unwillingly left Leah unprotected.
Fuck!
He strode swiftly to his desk, forcing himself to do it at a mortal’s pace, demanding to know, “What line?”
“One,” Sally replied.
He yanked the phone out of its cradle and put it to his ear, hitting line one at the same time.
“Edwina.”
“Lucien,” she breathed, her voice hitching. “Oh, Lucien.”
“Talk to me,” he ordered.
“Your . . . your father, Ka-Katrina, Marcello and, um . . . I don’t know his name, but there were four vampires here. They busted through the door. They—”
Fuck. No.
Oh fuck, no.
“Leah?” he barked.
“She’s gone,” Edwina whispered and Lucien’s gut twisted as his free hand curled into a fist and his chest started to burn.
“Gone?” he whispered back, stunned at their audacity as well as livid. “They took her?”
“No, no . . . she left. They, your father that is, he said the most awful things to her, Lucien. You wouldn’t . . . I couldn’t even believe it. He told her such awful things. And he told her about some woman named Maggie.”
Lucien closed his eyes as his fist tightened. He put it to his desk and leaned into it.
Edwina kept talking.
“He . . . he . . . oh Lucien, I’m sorry to tell you this about your own father, but . . . he touched her.”
Lucien opened his eyes but he saw nothing but red.
“He touched Leah?”
“Oh fuck.” He heard Stephanie whisper but Edwina was again talking.
“He touched her and he spoke to her, such vile things. She was . . . she was crying, Lucien. It was . . . oh goodness, the look on her face. I’ll never forget it. I tried to explain, but she . . . I’m sorry, she packed her things and left. She was so desperate to get away, she left me tied up, but called the police to come get me. They’re here now. They got here just minutes ago. I called you as soon as I—”
“Do not leave. Do not make a complaint to the police, but keep them there until I’m home. I’ll bring others with me so you’ll be safe.”
“All right, Lucien,” she whispered. “I, uh . . . you should know, your father said they would be prepared for your response.”
Fuck.
“Did they harm you?” he asked belatedly.
“They scared me and taped me to a chair. It hurt when they ripped the tape off, but I’m fine.”
They would burn for the hurt Edwina endured when the tape was ripped off.
They would scream before they burned for attacking Leah.
And his father would beg for his life to end.
And he’d do this for a long fucking time.
“I’ll be home in twenty minutes,” Lucien told her.
“All right.”
He put the phone down and turned to see Avery and the three vampires all on their feet.
“What do you need from us?” Cosmo asked immediately.
“You hunt Katrina,” Lucien ordered.
Cosmo’s face went hard but he nodded.
Lucien looked to Stephanie. “You bring me Marcello.”
Stephanie smiled a humorless smile before she nodded.
Lucien looked to Gregor. “There was another vampire there. I want to know who he was.”
Gregor simply nodded.
Lucien looked to Avery. “Gregor finds out, he tells you. You send Rafe.”
Avery tipped up his chin.
“They’re expecting you,” Lucien warned all of them.
“We heard,” Cosmo replied.
Lucien nodded and looked at Avery. “I’ll need you to follow me. Guard Edwina.”
Avery lifted his chin.
Lucien moved to the door.
“Are you hunting your father?” Stephanie asked his back.
“No, he can wait,” he turned, hand on the doorknob and looked at Stephanie, “I’m hunting Leah.”
He heard her indrawn breath but he walked out the door.