Hope and Vengeance (Saa Thalarr, book 1): Saa Thalarr, book 1 (27 page)

"I'm surprised you knew where to take us," I smiled down at Kiarra.

"I found where you live by
Looking
," she wrinkled her nose at me. "If you want to go somewhere else, you'll have to drive us."

"The Jaguar or the Mercedes?"

"I've never ridden in a Jaguar."

"Then the Jag it is. But first, you have to see my apartment."

"Don't forget this is three years ago—it's just daylight," she reminded me as I took her arm and led her across the street to the building I owned in London. The top floor contained my living quarters. The underground portion housed my vehicles. Three floors in between, I used for storage. One tends to collect things if one lives centuries, after all.

"No elevator?" Kiarra blinked curiously at me as I unlocked the door leading to the stairs.

"I can hear a human bumbling up the steps long before they arrive at my door," I pointed out. "It's free security."

"In addition to the paid security?" she asked dryly as I tapped a code into a keypad beside the door.

"It's never wise to invest your safety solely on electronic gadgetry."

"True."

She followed me up four flights of steps to my top-floor apartment, breathing a contented sigh when I led her through the door.

"You like?" I asked.

"I love."

"Come now, you were expecting a bachelor pad, minus pizza boxes, weren't you?"

"Well," she shrugged.

The furniture was expensive, contemporary and comfortable. The rugs on the wood floors were hand-made Persians. I'd consulted with a decorator for furniture, pillows and artwork, but the final decisions had been mine.

"It's like walking into an oasis after the desert of your stairwell," she shook her head in disbelief.

"Do you think I want to invite thieves in during prolonged assignments?" I asked.

"I keep forgetting you can't set up shields," she said. "Sorry. Wasn't thinking."

"Come with me," I motioned for her to follow. "I want to show you something."

"Adam, I've already seen John Thomas."

"Not John Thomas, although he is asking to see you," I replied. Without another word, I strode toward my bedroom and the closet beyond.

"Your closet? Sweetie, you have more clothes than I do," she said, staring at rows of suits, shirts, ties and shoes, segregated by colors and hanging in the room I'd converted into a walk-in. "This feels nice," she touched the sleeve of an Italian silk shirt, custom-made to fit.

"I've had plenty of time to collect clothing," I pointed out.

"Really?" The word was dry and filled with humor.

"I didn't bring you here to show you my clothes, as much as I like them," I said. "I brought you here to show you this."

There is an island in the center of my closet, filled with drawers and storage space. A delicately carved wooden box takes up part of that storage. "This is what I wanted you to see," I said, lifting the box from its cubbyhole.

"This is beautiful," she breathed, touching the hand-carved wings of dragonflies and lilies. I'd had it made nearly a century earlier, for a very specific purpose.

"Yes, the box is lovely," I agreed. "But I want you to see what's inside it."

Setting the box on top of the island, I lifted the lid. Lined with silk, the box held rows and rows of jewelry. All kinds of jewelry. Sparkling gemstones of all colors adorned necklaces, earrings, bracelets and rings.

"I don't understand." She blinked at me in puzzlement.

"You know I saw you decades ago."

"You said that, yes."

"I've been buying jewelry every year since then, on that anniversary. For you. All of that will be yours, if you'll marry me."

Chapter 14
 

"Adam, I," she whispered. "You can't have. This is too much."

"This," I pulled a small box from its nest in a corner, "is what I'm asking you to wear tonight." Lifting the lid of the tiny box, I revealed the first thing I'd bought for her. A huge diamond, flanked by sapphires. "If you wear this, it means yes," I said.

"I'm afraid to touch it," she said.

"What are you afraid of?"

"That this is a dream, and I'll wake up."

"Here." I pulled the ring from its bed of satin and held it up, my fingers shaking slightly. "Give me your hand."

With only a moment's hesitation, she held out her left hand. I slipped the ring on her finger. It was a bit loose, but not enough that she'd lose the ring.

"I can adjust it with power," she sighed, staring at the ring on her finger for a moment. "It's beautiful, Adam."

"Then tell me you love me, and say yes."

"I love you, and my answer is yes."

* * *

"Right this way, Mr. Chessman." Employees were falling over themselves to get us to a table and seated comfortably. I wanted to smile. I didn't. They didn't see me often—they generally dealt with my business manager during the day. He always said the chef at this restaurant was exceptional. He would be put to the test tonight.

"Adam, there's a vegetarian version of a cottage pie on the menu," Kiarra breathed.

"That's," I frowned, prepared to complain to the chef about so common an item being offered.

"It's wonderful. I want that," she shut her menu with a happy sigh.

"Then you'll have as much as you want." I went back to studying the menu. "I believe I'll have the Beef Wellington."

"Lion and Dragon love that," she said.

"Wine?"

"You choose."

"All right." The wine steward barely blinked when I ordered the most expensive red they had—the Domaine Faiveley Musigny Grand Cru.

Remember—it doesn't take much to get me drunk
, she informed me in mindspeech.

I seem to recall that, yes
, I replied.
In fact, I'm counting on it.

Please don't carry me out of here
, she countered.

I'll take your elbow like a gentleman. I can't say I'll continue that ruse once I get you into my bed
.

You're quite the rake.

I've had nearly a century to imagine what things I wanted to do with you, and how I wanted to do them. Most of them involve sex, I'm afraid.

You're living your dreams?

Oh, the reality is so much better than the dream. Dreams are cold. Reality is warm, my heart
.

I will admit that sex is much better than I imagined.

You didn't have much to base it on. This is love. That was violence. There is a vast difference, as you know.

I know
. She lowered her eyes. I'd upset her.

"None of that," I tilted her chin with a finger. "I promise I will kill that bastard, and smile when I do it."

"Adam, what if," she began.

"No, none of that, either." She attempted to turn away. I cupped her face in my hand to prevent it.

The meal was excellent. I worked to keep a conversation going, and learned many things. I already knew she was First, but had no clue as to what that really meant. She explained that it meant she might consult with the others regarding difficult decisions, but the final decision would be hers on most things.

"Dragon is a master strategist. Lion has experience in the trenches. I listen to both of them all the time," she said.

"What about Griffin?"

"He only listened to himself," she shook her head. "That's how I ended up with the bastard as my healer, instead of choosing one for myself. Griffin met Amara and wanted her as his healer. Saxom didn't want to retire. He was forced on me, when I didn't feel good about him from the beginning."

"It makes me curious as to why Saxom didn't want to retire."

"There was always a streak of cruelty about him—at least where I was concerned. I hated asking him to heal anything—and I had to ask," she muttered, staring at her hands. "I often went to Karzac instead—he didn't mind and he was kind instead of malicious."

"Karzac appears most knowledgeable," I agreed.

"As I am First among the Saa Thalarr, Karzac is First among the healers. His decisions are final regarding treatment. He can only be trumped by Pheligar, and often they work in tandem on difficult cases."

"Such as yours, recently."

"Yeah. That's the first time my guts have been strewn across the floor."

"I liked it not at all," I grumbled. "Although I am grateful they took me with them when you were removed."

"I figure Pheligar didn't want to hear your howling all the way to the Larentii homeworld."

"Here." I poured more wine into her glass. It was our second bottle, and I intended to consume all of it. "Joey will care for your bumps and bruises from now on. He's looking forward to it."

"I'm comfortable around him," she agreed and sipped her wine. "He has a sense of humor, too. That's important."

"He certainly has that," I agreed. "He taught me to smile again."

"You forgot how?"

"Nearly. Most vampires lose their humanity after a while. Joey restored mine."

"A point in your favor," she held up her glass. I did the same and we drank to humanity, although we were neither.

* * *

Her elbow was firmly gripped by my left hand as she wobbled out the door. The valet had already brought the Jaguar around, and it was waiting at the curb. I settled Kiarra on the passenger seat, shut the door and then slid into the driver's seat, the warm leather creaking comfortably about me as I fastened the seat belt.

"How do you drive on the left?" she giggled and then hiccupped.

"Is that a serious question?" I turned the wheel and drove away from the restaurant.

"It just seems wrong," she snickered.

"In this case, the Brits feel that driving on the right is wrong," I parried. "Stop signs? Those are for amateurs."

"Did you just snort in derision?"

"Derision may have been involved."

"Feeling superior, are we?"

"As a British vampire, how could I feel otherwise?"

"How do the Italian vampires feel about that?"

"You see the Council is located in England, don't you?"

"Somehow, I knew that was coming. Adam, I'm drunk."

"I know. We'll be home in a few."

* * *

I woke when she slid off the bed in the middle of the night. "Water," she croaked and headed toward my small kitchen. I lay back against my pillow with a satisfied sigh—this was wish fulfillment on my part—that she was in my bed.

She was naked, too—and I enjoyed the sight of her backside as she walked out of my bedroom on her way to get a drink of water. I intended to wait for her return, then convince her to let me love her again.

I waited patiently for her return, until I heard the front door to my flat open. I was out of the bed in a blink and rushing toward the kitchen, claws out, while the question of who might have broken in without setting off the alarm flew through my mind.

Lion's arm came around me like an iron band, keeping me from leaping into the kitchen.

The past is changing
, he warned me mentally. I blinked past him into the interior of the kitchen, where my former self from three years ago stalked into the kitchen, likely wondering why the refrigerator door was standing open. Kiarra's hand gripped the top of it while she rummaged among bags of blood, looking for who knew what.

"Adam?" her head popped up over the top of the door and she blinked at the vampire I'd been years earlier.
What was I doing here, then?

"Why are you dressed?" she frowned. I was dressed—for a Council meeting, it seemed.

"What are you?" the former me growled. "Never mind. Never mind." I watched as he—I—stalked toward her. Lifted a hand as if he were in a trance and traced her face with his fingers. Lion silently placed a hand over my mouth.

I have to get you out of here
, he sent.
If the two of you touch, it's lights out
.

I wanted to scream as Lion folded space, taking me away.

* * *

"At least she's already given you permission to take her blood," Lion set a cup of tea in front of me. He'd taken me to Kiarra's planet and set me down in the kitchen.

"How did you know?" I asked, still puzzled over recent events.

"Pheligar, who likely got a message from a higher up," he said, taking a seat beside me. "You can be in the same place at the same time, with permission or if you're one of the powerful. You really didn't have permission. That's why she asked about a time when you were away from home—so the former you wouldn't meet the future you. You'd have fought yourself. Wouldn't you?"

"If he put his hands on her. If I put my hands on her," I corrected. "And he—I—did."

"That would have canceled one—maybe both of you. This is stranger than you can imagine," Lion sighed. "I know you recalled that time perfectly—before you went. How things became so twisted, I may never know."

"Is she all right?"

"Kiarra can take care of herself."

"Time is a strange entity," Dragon arrived and took a seat on my other side. "It may be that someone was watching you in the past. Saw you show up at your restaurant with a woman, which you never do. This would involve the powerful, no doubt, but then enemies can be anywhere, and form dangerous alliances."

"I worry that this may be a larger, more dangerous plot than that," Pheligar appeared and
Pulled
in a large chair to fit his height. "It worries me more that I cannot find reasons by
Looking
, and even the Wise Ones are puzzled."

Wise Ones?
I sent to Lion.

I'll explain later
.

"Well, that's fucked up." Kiarra arrived, looking rumpled and weary. "Adam, we may have to discuss your vampire lust and stamina."

Yes, I laughed with the rest of them.

* * *

"My love, I have those memories, now," I grinned as I slipped her shoes off. "It felt as if I'd been given the best Christmas gift ever."

"You bit me twice," she pointed out, slapping a hand over her eyes.

"Hush, I'll get you in bed and let you sleep. This time," I said. We sat on the edge of her bed while I worked at removing clothes and shoes.

"You remember that now, because I allowed it. I had to mute the memory when I left you in bed for the day. I can't believe how much danger you were in."

"Stop worrying about it. Lion carried me away from there. Problem solved."

"But what if," she said.

"None of that." I unzipped the dress and lifted it over her head.

"Sweetie, you don't understand. You might have been lost."

"I'm right here," I soothed. "Time for sleep."

* * *

"My Lord," The Ra'Ak Prince bowed to Acrimus.

"H'Jerix, I am displeased. I gave you important information, yet the goal was not achieved. A fight was imminent, and she would have attempted to intervene. All of them should have fallen."

"We cannot account for every piece of interference—we cannot see all things," H'Jerix objected. Acrimus cared not that H'Jerix wore his serpent's guise and his words were often hissed. "It is as if our attempt was recognized and thwarted."

"She is dangerous to us. Make her a priority from now on. I care not how you accomplish this—I wish her destroyed."

"May I ask why? You know Saxom will be outraged if he learns of it."

"Saxom is merely a pawn. Mostly ineffective. He is alive for one reason, and you are cooperating with him—for one reason."

"Moxas," H'Jerix hissed.

"This is important to the future," Acrimus growled. "Do not fail me again."

* * *

"She's still tired, I can feel it," Joey informed me. He was proud of himself—for reading Kiarra's condition from a distance and for folding space for the first time. Bearcat arrived with him, but Joey had transported both of them.

"Then she needs the sleep," I said. I wanted her awake with me, but I hadn't spent the night engaged in the sexual Olympics. Yes, I was—and wasn't—responsible for that.

"I can't believe that happened. Tiger told me," Bearcat held up a hand.

"Does everything go like that—what one knows, the others do, too?" I asked.

"We're a collective intelligence," Bearcat teased. "No, it's not like that—we can have secrets, but once it's out to one of us, the rest of us usually get the information."

"Are you sure you understand what could have happened?" Joey frowned at me.