Passion For Hire (Passion #5) (21 page)

“Adrian?” I spoke softly, wanting to break the lengthening silence between us.

“Don’t Faith. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.” He lowered my feet to the ground and stepped back, tucking himself back into his jeans and zipping them up.

His words didn’t surprise me. I’d expected them. His words shouldn’t have hurt me, but they did of course, but mostly his words just made me, furiously angry with him. Not letting on how I was feeling, I stepped back into my jeans, ignoring the fact I had no panties thanks to him, and that his cum was running down my legs like thick sluggish rivers. I pulled the denim over my hips and did them up, and only once I’d stepped back into my shoes did I raise my head to him.

“So, it’s to be like this every time we fuck is it?” I ground out, unable to conceal the anger in my voice from him. “We fuck, you get your rocks off, and you remind me again how delusional I am for believing we are meant to be together, and then you run the fuck away.”

“Don’t speak like that Faith, it sounds wrong coming from your sweet lips.”

I laughed without humour. “I’m vampire Adrian, remember? I’m probably more vampire than you. You are nothing more than a hypocrite. You repeatedly deny that my visions could have any truth to them when it comes to you and me. Yet you seem to get off on fucking me, but then you run again and deny there’s anything between us. Of course, the funniest thing is, you won’t believe in my visions when it’s in relation to us. Now you want to know what I saw when I used Katherine and your father to see what the future held for her. Why would you want to know? You don’t believe in my visions, remember? You can’t be selective in your beliefs Adrian. You can’t believe for my visions for Katherine, but continue to deny my visions about us. You know what your problem is? You’re nothing but a damned coward. You could have it all. Your family loves you, everyone loves you dammit but you choose to play the role of Mr Fucking Miserable. Why? What is in this behaviour for you? What are you hiding from?”

He stared at me for a moment, some fleeting expression crossing his face and I wondered what it was. “You think you know me from a few visions Faith? You don’t really know me at all. Stay the hell away from me, and stop trying to psychoanalyse me dammit.” He snapped, his tone sneering, almost cruel. This was a side to Adrian I’d never seen before.

“Well stop fucking me!” I shouted back.

Adrian opened his mouth as if to say something back, but suddenly we weren’t alone.

“Son, please can you come back inside for a moment? You need to be here while we discuss a few more things with Katherine.” He looked between the two of us, his nostrils flaring, and I could tell he was sniffing at me. Damn, could he tell we’d just had sex? “Is everything alright?”

“Everything’s fine.” He answered before I could say anything and with one final glance at me, he brushed past his father and headed back to the house.

“Before I go back inside little one, you can tell me what you saw when you touched Katherine. Your expression although you did well trying to mask it, showed me that you saw something that upset you. Please, your secret is safe with me. What did you see?”

I met Fabian’s watchful gaze. “There were no pictures only sound with her and I think…I think I witnessed her death. She has to go to that place I saw when I touched you. She’s not well and she’s running out of time. She needs to have some happiness while she still can.”

Fabian squeezed my shoulder. “She will. Now are you coming back inside? I gather things are still very turbulent with my son although it’s obvious you two have fucked. You smell very strongly of it little one. Be patient with him. I think when he stops being so stubborn, and perhaps once he hears all Sirene and I have to say to him, he will stop being so hard on himself, and open himself to love. He can fight it all he wants but I do believe he cares for you Faith. Please, don’t give up on him.”

He turned before I could say anything, and I chewed on my bottom lip, my mind turning over with what he’d said to me, as I watched Fabian walk back into the house.

Once I was alone again, I started thinking about all that had happened tonight, what I’d seen and heard for Katherine, my time here in the garden with Adrian, the sex, the hot, all consuming sex with him and our fight afterwards. I wanted to do as Fabian asked, stay positive, don’t give up, but it was hard when Adrian could be so angry, almost hateful towards me. It was a side to him I’d never seen, and I wondered if we were truly meant to be together when I seemed to do nothing but bring out the worst in him all the time.

I turned around; ready to reluctantly take myself back into the house when I noticed something gleaming in the moonlight. I stepped towards it for a closer look and realised it was a set of keys. I bent down, picking them up and saw immediately that it was the keys to the Trans Am. They must have fallen out of Adrian’s pocket when we’d had sex. I knew I’d better get them inside to him before he noticed they were gone, but as I turned them over in my hand, an idea began to take shape in my mind. I didn’t have to stay here, I could leave. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go. Not home yet, but somewhere. Maybe I’d just drive, I wasn’t sure, but all I knew was I didn’t really want to go back in that house and face Adrian again. He’d been hurtful in his remarks to me, and it was getting harder and harder not to let the pain he was inflicting show on my face.

With one more flip of the keys in my hand, my mind was made up. I was going to take the Trans Am for a drive and to hell with Adrian. He would have plenty of time to rant and rave at me later for taking his precious car. It was his fault. If he hadn’t used me for sexual relief, he wouldn’t have dropped his keys and I wouldn’t be here now, contemplating doing a runner in his car. I knew everyone would panic if I disappeared. Not so much because they gave a shit about me necessarily, but Fabian would be worried I’d lose control and feed off someone, or do something to draw attention to myself. Well, he needn’t worry. I had fed off Adrian, and as a half vampire the desire to feed was different. If I got hungry, I’d buy some food.

Before anyone could come outside looking for me, I hurried to the gate in the imposing fence and quickly slipped through it, standing for a moment looking up and down the street. There were a few cars parked but no one was getting around, it was all quiet. The Trans Am wasn’t immediately outside the house, it was parked a couple of doors down which in my mind, was even better. Hopefully the fact it was parked down the road a bit would be enough that no one in the house would hear it. It was noisy and had a distinctive rumble but if I didn’t put my foot down, I might be able to sneak out of the neighbourhood undetected.

I hurried to the Trans Am, unlocking it and climbing inside, the smell of the leather filling my nostrils mixed in with a scent which was undeniably Adrian. I started the engine and sat rigid, half expecting to see the gate in that imposing fence fly open, and for one pissed off vampire to rush at me, but there was nothing.

I put the car in gear and slowly accelerated so the engine wouldn’t respond too loudly, and instead of driving past the house and risking being heard, I eased it right around and headed off in the opposite direction.

I hadn’t been driving that long when I noticed headlights shining into the car behind me and I squinted trying to see if it was Fabian’s car, but it didn’t appear to be. The headlights stayed behind me as I drove all the way into the city of Hobart but when I turned off, heading towards the beach, the car behind me didn’t follow.

Once I got to a section of beach which was well and truly secluded this time of night, I parked the Trans Am. I sat there for a little while, simply staring out into the darkness which was broken up only by the moonlight shining on the water, and the white foam of the waves as they crashed along the shore. I might have felt like I was completely alone, if it wasn’t for the other car parked further up the car park from me; something dark and unidentifiable to me.

After a while I climbed out of the car and walked towards the few stairs that led down onto the beach. There was an area with a scattering of large rocks which I headed for, and that gave me a place to sit, think and watch the waves as they danced over the sand.

I wasn’t sure how long I sat, thinking, thinking of Adrian, remembering the visions I’d had of him, reliving the sex we’d had earlier. I was so caught up in my own thoughts I didn’t see the lone figure walking towards me until she was almost upon me.

“Oh, I’m sorry; I thought I was alone out here tonight.” She said and I noticed she had a fairly pronounced accent. She looked at me and I could see she was an older woman, but quite beautiful despite the fact she had to be around forty or fifty years of age. I couldn’t make out her eye colour in the dark but her hair was long and slicked back in a tight, very severe bun on the back of her head.

“It’s ok; I came out here to think.” I smiled at her, trying to ignore the sound of her heart beating and the faint whooshing sound of her blood pumping around her body. There was something unusual about her, something almost familiar, although I didn’t think I’d ever seen her before. It was just something I couldn’t put my finger on. She was smiling at me and seemed friendly enough and with all I had going on in my head, working out a stranger wasn’t that important to me.

“Is it a man?” She asked. “It’s always a man. That’s why I’m here too, to think and work out what to do.”

“Yeah, it’s a man. Isn’t it always?” I tried to make light of it and she laughed.

“Oh darling, yes, these men are destined to drive us quietly insane.” She looked to the patch of rock alongside of me. “Do you mind if I join you?” She held up her bag. “I have chocolate and isn’t chocolate always that one thing that makes a broken heart feel better? Well, that and ice cream.”

At the mention of chocolate, my interest was piqued. I hadn’t had chocolate in so long, and certainly not since I’d become vampire. This woman was a stranger, but didn’t they say that it was good sometimes to unload on someone we would never see again?

“Of course you can.” I indicated the spot by my side and the woman gave me a grateful smile before sitting down. She was wearing some exotic smelling fragrance which teased my nostrils and there was some underlying scent which I couldn’t put my finger on. “My name is Faith.” I introduced myself.

The older woman smiled at me. “Ah Faith; what a lovely name that is.” She held her hand out to me. “My name is Nadine.”

I smiled at her. “So where’s this chocolate you spoke of, or was that just to lull me into a false sense of security so I gave up part of my rock for you?” I joked.

She laughed softly and dug around in her purse, producing a white paper bag which surprised me. I’d been thinking a block of chocolate, but this was more an assortment of various kinds of what appeared to be homemade chocolates. She held the bag out to me and I stuck my hand in, pulling out some sort of white chocolate. I popped it into my mouth and bit down, moaning as the heavenly sweet flavour seemed to explode across my tongue.

“Have more Faith. One piece of chocolate will not mend a broken heart. Here.” She held the bag out to me again and this time, I took two pieces of chocolate; one caramel and one with a minty centre.

Once I’d enjoyed the chocolate, we both sat staring at the ocean as it constantly moved and distorted the image of the near full moon that was reflected in it.

“So who is this young man who has you sitting here alone, looking so sad, well until I came along?”

I sighed. “His name is Adrian. He is supposed to be with me but he won’t accept that. He is gorgeous, so handsome and sexy. He was my first.” I shot Nadine a shy smile. “I…I love him and the sex is incredible but he keeps saying he’s not good enough for me and he wants me to leave him alone. Yet he comes to me and we fight and we have sex. Only tonight we…” I fell silent, suddenly aware I was probably being too open with a stranger.

“You had sex tonight? Is that what you were going to say? I presume you fought again, since you are here and not with this young man?”

“Yes, you are right.” I said quietly. I sat for a moment in silence before forcing a smile to my lips. “So what’s your story of a broken heart then Nadine?”

She smiled but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “My story is about a young man I’ve known for a couple of years. He has been my friend, my lover. The sex was amazing and his stamina.” She stopped and shot me a quick look. “He could just keep going and going and the pleasure was like nothing I’ve ever experienced.” She fell silent and I watched her, waiting for her to continue.

“So what happened? What went wrong?” I asked.

“He came to me needing me to help him. He said he was having problems and I took him into my home. We were intimate and at the end of it he told me there would be no more, that we couldn’t see each other anymore. He told me there was a woman who was messing with his mind.” She turned to me and something in her eyes had changed. “He told me this woman had said she loved him but he didn’t love her. I told him I loved him, and do you know what he did?” Her eyes burned into mine when she turned to me again. “He was horrified, he ran. He used me, and he ran and told me that was it, that we wouldn’t see one another anymore.” Her voice had taken on a harsher tone and suddenly I didn’t feel so comfortable with this stranger. “He denied that he loved this woman and yet, even with me naked, he…he couldn’t get it up.”

I stared at her in growing horror. Something wasn’t right. This woman wasn’t right. Something about her story was familiar yet not right. As I stared at her, waiting for her to say more, suddenly almost afraid to hear what she had to say, a horrific cramping pain hit me, causing me to double over, groaning in pain.

“What…did…you…do?” I gasped, clutching at her arm. As soon as I touched her flashes of images hit me.

I saw Adrian sleeping on a bed. I’d had this image before, I recognised it. A woman climbed onto the bed and lay behind him. He turned to her, smiling and she leaned over him, her face coming into view, something that hadn’t happened last time. When I saw her face, I gasped, it was Nadine.

The image changed and I saw this woman again with Adrian. She had her hand wrapped around his cock and she was trying to arouse him but he was limp and unresponsive. He pulled back and I saw what looked like horror on her face. She said something to him and although I couldn’t hear his response, it seemed he was arguing with her.

Again there was a flash and another vision filled my head. Adrian was leaving what I presumed was Nadine’s home, he was holding her face and staring intently at her as he spoke, and I was pretty sure he was mind controlling her. He walked down to his car and I saw Nadine turn and head inside again. She smiled and then began to laugh. I got a closer look at her face and gasped in shock. There was such anger and hatred showing in her eyes, and something else, something that made my stomach plunge.

I snatched my hand from Nadine’s arm and turned to her. “What are you? I saw you. You know Adrian. Are you one of his clients? You told him you loved him? Where did you come from?” My eyes widened. “Oh my God, was that you who followed me? You stopped following me though. How did you know I’d come here? That other car, it’s yours isn’t it?”

“I’m a seer Faith. I’m not unlike you. I can see the future. Not everything but I knew what Adrian was, I knew he was vampire, but I’ve pretended not to know. I’ve let him think he’s mind controlled me every time he’s come and made love to me. It’s the only way I could be sure he would keep coming back. I’ve had a very fulfilling sex life with him. We became good friends. He chose to come to me when he couldn’t handle the pressure you’ve been putting on him, and the fighting with his family. He could have come to love me but you had to get in the way. Look at you; you’re just some skinny, pale bit of fluff. My darling Adrian would never be interested in someone like you.” Her tone was sneering as she looked me up and down.

I opened my mouth to say something when another powerful cramping pain had me groaning and doubling over. “What…did…you…do…to…me?” I ground out through gritted teeth, as I tried to ride out the pain. “You already knew who I was, what I am, didn’t you? If you’re a seer you should have already known about Adrian and me. You would have already known everything about us.”

She laughed softly. “Of course I knew. Not everything. Like you, what I see is not always as it will be. Things can change, destiny can be altered. If he wasn’t so preoccupied with you and his family problems he would want me, I know this. I need you to realise that Adrian is destined to be mine. If you’re not around I can try and convince him of that. I can do things to help, how shall I say it.” She paused as if searching for the right words. “Twist his arm. I have a few little tricks I can call upon.”

“Adrian is vampire he will not bend to your will.” I told her. “Plus my visions told me he is my destiny and I haven’t managed to convince him of that yet. Why would you think you’d have a better chance with him?”

“I know he’s vampire, I’ve always known he was. I also know you are vampire or half a one at least. Now that must be a crushing blow to your self-esteem mustn’t it? You couldn’t even turn full vampire.” She made some tsk tsk sound and gave me a pitying look.

“Adrian sired me, didn’t you know that? He made me what I am.” I gasped, fighting the intense pain as another cramp left me writhing in agony.

That seemed to stop Nadine momentarily. Hadn’t she ‘seen’ that at all? “Why would my darling have made you?” She spat the words out like they were leaving a bad taste in her mouth.

“His son tried to turn me, Adrian saved me from a certain death. He seems to sire only half breeds or hybrid vampires.” I tried to give her a gloating, smug look around my pain. It was all just a show of bravado though. “Adrian is my sire. We will always share that special connection that the sires have for those they turn. You can remove me from his life, but I will never be forgotten to him. Not to mention he was my first, he took my virginity and it was the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced.”

“I will make sure he forgets all about you. He will be mine, he will have no choice.” She snapped.

“What are you going to do? Please, don’t kill him.” I begged.

She laughed again. “I’m not going to kill my darling vampire. I love him, why would I kill him? No, I just need you out of the way. It’s you I’m going to kill.”

“How will you do that? I’m still half vampire, a hybrid and stronger than a human.” Again I tried with the false bravado, not wanting to let this woman see my fear. “You might be able to make me sick, but there are only so many ways a vampire can be killed.”

“Yes but you can still eat human food.” Nadine raised an eyebrow at me. “Oh why does my darling think anything of you at all, and why does he want to lie between your pale skinny thighs? You’re not very smart are you?”

My mind was reeling with all that she’d said and then cold, harsh reality hit me. It had to be the chocolate. As soon as I made the connection in my head and faced the reality, another severe cramp hit me and I cried out.

“What’s in that chocolate? What have you done? Is it just going to make me sick? You can’t kill me, I’m vampire. Poison won’t work.”

“Oh Faith, Faith, you are too innocent. Is that what he loves about you; your innocence, your naivety? There are ways to kill vampires. You know that they are not indestructible. Nothing is truly immortal. You are perhaps easier to harm because you can consume human food and because of that, you are still partially human. So that means you can be poisoned. I had hoped you’d eat more of the chocolate so the effect was a bit faster. Still, you should have had enough in those three pieces.” She paused for a moment. “You know what makes this all the more delicious? The poison isn’t going to kill you. As you said, you’re vampire, poison won’t kill you” She shot me a triumphant look. “It won’t kill you, it will merely paralyse you. To anyone looking at you, you will appear to be dead. Even darling Adrian will think you’re dead if he finds you.” She frowned momentarily. “Unfortunately I wasn’t able to see that, whether he finds you or not.” She gave me what was supposed to be a smile but it looked more like a twisted curl of her lips. “Do you have any idea what torture it will be for you? You are going to look and seem dead to everyone. You will be unable to move, speak, nothing, but you will hear everything, see everyone if they bend over you, and your mind will still work. You are going to become a prisoner of your own body. Enjoy. Of course the icing on the cake will be the damage done to you. If you spend hours lying in the sun, even with that mark on your neck, how long do you think you’ll take that hot burning sun for?”

“You’re fucking nuts.” I spat. “Do you really think you’re going to get away with this?”

“I know I will. I will get my darling Adrian back too. Once you’re out of the picture and he realises that he couldn’t bend my mind to do his bidding, he’ll come back to me. There will be nothing to stop us being together.”

“You are completely mad; you have to be, to think you will get Adrian by getting me out of the picture. He doesn’t want me anyway so all this has been for nothing. You could have had him. I don’t want a man who doesn’t want me.”

“I know you are lying. You know he will be upset when he learns of your death. He might deny he loves you but I saw him.” Nadine stood and began to pace up and down in front of me. “I was naked for him. Normally he will make love to me over and over again. He will demand I take him in my mouth, that I pleasure him until he fills me and I have to swallow his essence. He couldn’t get hard for me and he lied. He thought he’d controlled my mind and he told me we’d made love already. Do you have any idea how hurtful it is, and how disappointed I felt to not be woman enough for that man?”

“I...I don’t know Nadine.” I tried hastily changing tactics. I would act like her confidante, show concern and sympathy for her. “I can only imagine what a blow to you that would have been, but Adrian is a man and they can be so horrible. He has hurt me too you know. He has said and done some very hurtful things to me.”

Nadine made some noise in her throat. “Do not take me for an imbecile Faith. I know what you are trying to do. You talk of him not wanting you, of hurting you and yet I can smell his essence on you. You spread your legs for him only a couple of hours ago. He couldn’t get it up for me and yet you…you he gets turned on by and can get it up. How do you think that makes me feel?”

“I don’t know and I’m sorry, so sorry.” I stood to walk to her but my head began to swim, everything starting to spin. I clutched a hand to my forehead waiting for things to still again. “Please Nadine, don’t do this, don’t make me a scapegoat for your pain.” I begged. I tried to take another step towards her but I collapsed, everything spinning faster now.

As I lay on the sand, groaning from the cramps that seemed to have me under siege now, I watched Nadine’s feet approach me. She bent down and I struggled to lift my head enough to meet her hard, hateful eyes.

“You have to die.” Her voice was filled with venom. “I can’t truly make Adrian mine unless he thinks you’re dead. You are not suitable for him. You are a worthless little piece of shit. You are nothing and I will make him see you are nothing more than dog shit on the sole of his shoes.” She straightened and I couldn’t focus on her any more as swirling grey was starting to cloud my vision. “Goodbye Faith.” Her voice came to me as if from a distance.

“No, don’t leave me here.” I said, finding it harder to speak. It felt like I had a mouthful of marbles.

“Oh, you’re probably right. I can’t leave you here now can I? We don’t want you found too soon.” She bent towards me again and wrapped a hand around my hair.

When she started to drag me up the beach by it, I cried out from the pain. After a few minutes it didn’t hurt any more. In fact nothing was hurting any more. The stomach cramps stopped and Nadine’s voice as she droned on to me about something felt like it was coming from the other end of a tunnel.