Rebirth of the Seer (24 page)

He raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I can see that.” Ian nodded, casting a quick gaze around to his other cohorts.  “Very well, then, we’ll be on our way. I’ll be expecting you by the end of the week.”

“And I shall be there.”

“Indeed you shall.”
As he turned
his back on us
, he shot a wink at Monica. My watcher tensed and my hold on her tightened again, possessing an implied request for her to not cave into whatever temptation had captured her.
The procession
of four vampires followed Ian away
and
Monica stayed in place, though I could imagine the action required a great deal of effort
.

‘
Shove it up your immortal ass.
’

I did not attempt to suppress the smirk. Monica
kept the thought unspoken
, but even the tight-lipped smile
upon her face would have uttered
volumes had the others still been watching us. She managed
somehow to suppress her loathe
until Ian and his coho
rts disappeared from sight.

“Be mindful of curses, Dearest,” I said, my gaze still fixed on the road ahead. “You almost shouted that directly into his mind.”

“No, I shouted it into yours. I figured that was safer,” she said. My eyes met hers as she pushed away enough to turn and face me. Monica scoffed. “He has to be one of the most revolting vampires I’ve ever met. Turn me to the correct side of things? Please. He wishes he could be so lucky.”

I burst into laughter despite myself, a gesture which provoked her to smile. Shaking my head, I struggled for composure again. “I would sooner unleash hell upon them than allow one fang to blemish that neck of yours.” As the tension left itself in a tidal wave of relief, I relaxed enough to focus closer on my watcher. My hand rose to touch her face, fingers tucking strands of her hair behind her ear. “Violent telekinetic episodes aside, I suppose it is a good thing we left the house. If nothing else, it proved some of
Wesley’s suspicions are
accurate.”

“I think he knew who you were.” Her smile turned playful.

“As always, my reputation precedes me.” My humor dried the longer I looked at her, smile dissipating under the weight of her stare. She gravitated closer again, chest touching mine with her chin tilting enough to allow our eyes to continue to meet unencumbered. I swallowed hard, my voice turning quieter. “You assumed he knew of me, and yet you addressed me as Peter.”

“Seemed like the right thing to do at the time.” Her breath slowed, body quivering as I leaned forward. A half-lidded gaze penetrated through me like fire. “We should probably tell the others what happened. Just in case.”

“Perhaps so.”

Her eyes shut completely. “Or, I guess it could wait.”

“I was hoping you would say that.”

My eyes closed as well and gingerly, I brushed my lips against hers, almost mimicking the first tentative kiss we exchanged on the floor of the living room. Her mouth parted, though, and a gasp escaped in a rush of air before I pressed my lips more firmly against hers and indulged a kiss unlike any I had tasted since becoming immortal. I felt her lips motion against mine, her embrace tightening while I reciprocated the motion in a feverish rush toward an undetermined point. Somewhere within a distant light began to burn. Some hidden clarity ripped through me and I experienced a need for it so desperate, I might have sold my soul to continue to experi
ence it. To be honest,
though,
I ha
d already bartered it
.

It belonged to her.

Her hand slid up my back, planting firmly between my shoulders. One of mine traced down her side, memorizing the curves of her body before daring to brush against a breast. She ripped from the kiss, but this time, when she looked at me,
her flush
was not from
panic. “I’m ready to go back inside,” she said, punctuating the implied demand with a hard swallow.

I smirked. Without another word, I swept her into my arms, carrying her back to the apartment building and not letting her down until we made it into the living room. The door barely had chance to close behind us. She slid down the length of my body and her feet touched the floor as I reached for the light switch. Monica removed my glasses and folded them into my coat. I watched, captivated, as she stripped off my coat and tossed it onto the chair. In the darkness, she looked stunning, and had I a breath to take, it would have been captured by the way she regarded me.

When she surged forward, my arms were already open and waiting.

Our lips crashed together, a litany of hungry embraces bleeding one into the other as she pushed me back against the wall. One leg curled around mine, and as my hands settled on her bottom, she used their hold as leverage and wrapped
her
legs around my waist. Both hands tangled in my hair. I groaned with approval and she shivered, parting from the string of kisses seemingly to catch her breath.

“This is wrong,” she whispered, our noses touching and her chest heaving into mine. One of her hands slid downward to touch my chest. “I shouldn’t want this as much as I do.”

Turning around, I shoved her against the wall and trailed my lips down to her neck. “I care very little for what we should or should not do.” The fingers of one hand teased up her thigh and back to her breasts. “I only know what is before me and how much I want it.”

Her back arched when I gave her a firm pinch, eyes fluttering shut as the crown of her head
rested back against the
wall. The
more harshly I rolled my fingers
, the more she gasped until a frenzied moan floated past her lips. I nipped at her ear lobe and her nails dug into my shoulder. “Why me, though?” she asked through lusty gulps of air. “I’m sure I’m one of a long list of women you’ve had since Lydia.”

“Yes. I cannot lie about that much.” I paused, but just for a moment, taking a steadying breath before whispering in her ear. “I have been afraid. I feared this might merely be my vampire in
stincts clamoring to be sated. B
ut I cannot deny what my heart says to me. You might not be the first whom I have slept with, but you are the first I have loved.”

When our lips met again, the kiss took on a deliberate manner. I allowed my hand underneath her shirt and she let her fingertips trace down to the buttons of my shirt. Her war
m hands upon my cool skin contrasted
with my cool hands upon her warm back. The frantic union of tongues and lips was only interrupted when Monica lifted her arms to rid her body of her shirt. I took in the sight of naked flesh and felt every inhibition within me melt onto the floor.

She pushed the fabric of my shirt away from my shoulders. It, too, dropped to the floor, with her hands wasting no time in searching my bare skin. I shuddered, staring into her eyes as she hitched up and scratched deliberately across my chest. My eyes rolled back. “Good fucking gods,” I murmured. “I want you, Monica.”

“Then take me.” Her mouth pressed against mine again. Both of us tumbled to the ground, landing half on the rug and partly atop our already discarded clothing. She tugged at my belt while I found the zipper to her skirt.

‘
I am not taking advantage of you
.
’

‘
I know you’re not
.
’

‘
I am not merely seducing you. You know this, correct?
’

‘
I
f you were just s
educing me you wouldn’t be
tearing at my clothes
, Peter
.
’

I laughed just as she lifted enough to shimmy from her skirt. The bout of merriment was short-lived, however. She kicked her boots and skirt to the side and as I opened my eyes, I witnessed the sight of her climbing on top of me, clad only in her undergarments. I swallowed past a lump in my throat and traced
between her breasts
with my fingers. “Say it again,” I whispered.

“Say what?”

“My name.”

She smiled and lowered her body down atop mine, kissing my cheek and speaking softly. “I love you, Peter.”

I barely suppressed another laugh, this one of delight. “And I love you, Monica.”

Monica nipped at my ear in response and I groaned with unsatisfied lust screaming at me for consummation. The remainder of our clothing found itself discarded piece by piece, with each of us
becoming
more daring with every item shed. Hands teased and lips caressed. Shivers were exchanged with moans and gasps with cries for more. My fangs strained as I rolled her onto her back. Slipping inside her was unparalleled bliss. She lifted her wrist and stared into my eyes as she captured me between her legs again. I bit down with our opening thrusts and lavished
in
the taste of
her
blood before licking the wounds shut.

The rhythm of our mo
vements might have started as controlled and deliberate
, but they
rapidly
became swift and frenzied. I provoked the moan of my name
as many times as I dared. E
ach time she rewarded me with it, the humanity within me desperately vied for another invocation, and then another. Her body melted into mine and as she shudder
ed
, I pushed harder, further, feeling awake and alive for the first time in years. Her cries reached a crescendo and I fell along with her into the throes of climax. Somewhere inside the haze of afterglow, I lost myself for interminable moments.

A kiss brought me back to reality, calling me into the present from the paths my mind traversed. I slipped from her and continued to kiss her, rolling onto my back and lifting her on top of me in one fluid movement. Her head rested on my chest, her hand
settling
above my silent heart. “That was so much better than I imagined it would be,” she said, her voice still breathy. “I don’t know what planet I’m on, but I’m sure it isn’t Earth.”

“Better than you imagined?” I
followed the question with a chuckle while m
y fingers brushed through her hair. “That would
suggest
you
have been fantasizing about this
, Dearest.”

“Maybe I have. Maybe I haven’t. Can’t inflate your ego too much, can I?”

“A few minutes ago, you seemed rather determined to do just that.”

“B
astard.” A laugh floated past her lips which brought a broad smile to my face. As her hand crept up my chest, it settled on the necklace I kept draped around my neck, bearing Lydia’s pendant as homage. She traced its intricacies with her nail. “You have this way with watchers. We’re
not supposed to get
emotion
ally entangled with our seers, but y
ou managed to rope in not just one, but two.”

“My good looks and charm, perhaps?”

“Oh shush, I’m trying to be serious.” She sighed, but the exasperation was half-hearted at best. After a brief pause, she continued. “You have a pure heart, Peter. I think that’s your bigger problem. You see the darkness so pointedly because you live in the light.”

I frowned. “Why does the darkness entice me so, then?”

“I think it’s even more tempting for the pure of heart than it is for anyone else. You had to create a whole other persona for it.” Monica lifted, her elbow resting on my shoulder and our eyes meeting. “I could go back to calling you Flynn, if you really wanted me to.”

“No.” I sighed, but managed a slight curl in the corner of my mouth for her. “Aside from in front of Wesley and the others. I have not completely found Peter again, but for once I believe you might be right. Perhaps my humanity is not as dead as previously thought.”

“I know it’s not.”

My grin broadened. Our lips met in a tender kiss, but as they parted again, I motioned for the clasp of Lydia’s necklace and freed it from my neck. Monica furrowed her brow, raising up enough to see me lift it toward her and holding still as I secured it around her. Her hand lifted to touch the pendant. “What was that for?” she asked.

“Someone special gave it to me, to protect me when I was in danger. I know I have been an ungrateful cad about your care over me. Consider this my promise that I shall always try to protect you as well.”

She smiled and kissed me again, lying with me for a few, peaceful moments. For
once
, my thoughts were neither melancholy, nor sadistic. They were, instead, consumed with Chloe’s assertion that my own miracle was coming to me.

Did I deserve a taste of the miraculous? Perhaps not.

But
it seemed The Fates had their own agenda as far as I was concerned.

An Uncertain Future

“
I had a dream, which was not all a dream
.”

Lord Byron

Had I been granted the ability to refuse, we would have never left the house. Between the moments of stillness and the heartfelt words we exchanged, I imagined an evening spent in either
blessed
calm or the throes of exploration until the sunrise demanded we finally rest. Our tenor remained light-hearted – even when Monica reached for her clothes – and I stole kisses along her shoulder, regarding the prickles of her skin as tells of how she truly felt about the matter. Her words possessed more severity, howeve
r. “We need to get back to work.”

She even punctuated the comment with a sigh.

I frowned, resting my weight on a bent elbow while she sat up and secured her undergarments into place. Her back to me, I could not see if she looked as crestfallen as I felt. “Could we not give it a rest for the remainder of the night?” I asked, my tone of voice soft. I still lay naked on the floor, unaffected by her sudden pull toward responsibility.

Monica hung her head for the briefest of seconds before pivoting to face me again. I perked an eyebrow and the slight curl of her lips in response bore more apology than mirth to it. She hesitated, not answering me at first in the form of words. As she inched closer, she rested on her elbow and faced me, her fingertips coasting across my face before brushing back into the locks of my hair.

“I wish we could,” she said, in the same quiet tenor as I had spoken. Her gaze fell to my lips before lifting back to meet my eyes. “You know as well as I do that Ian has something more up his sleeve, right?”

I sighed, but relented toward nodding. “Yes, I received that distinct impression. He wore his opinion regarding the Order on his sleeve.”

“There are no such things as coincidences. And I’m sorry, but he knew who the hell you were, human name or not.” The way Monica regarded me bore gravity to it, though I could not be certain what all laid behind the look. As she leaned forward, I shut my eyes and when her lips met mine, the rest of the world faded for a lingering moment. I allowed myself to immerse in it, not apt to care whether or not our new antagonist was indeed playing the game I had surmised we were playing.

As such, her first words upon pulling away were especially jarring. “I’m going to go call Wesley.”

My eyes snapped opened. I glowered
, which prompted her to laugh
as she came to a stand. “Why must we involve them?” I asked.

A pair of
pants suddenly flew at me. I lifted my hands to catch them, but tumbled onto my back in the process. Her voice bore far more amusement than I thought the situation permitted. “After what just happened, you’re still jealous of him?” she asked as she padded around the living room, tossing various garments in my direction. I rose to a seated position when the deluge ceased, in time to see her hands on her hip
s with
her skirt clutched in the palm of one. Her smile betrayed the sentiment of her words. “Go
on
and get dressed before I leave without you.”

“Bloody witch.” I pushed the laundry pile from my lap and sorted through it, locating my boxers and standing to put them on. She winked as I bent to pick up my pants and I could only grumble before she walked off and into the kitchen. A few lines of terse profanity made it past my lips by the time I finished securing the buttons of my shirt and fastening my belt back into place.

It only took a few minutes for exteriors to be polished, shoes to be slipped on and coats procured. Had I bothered to ask Monica what she said to her friends, she might have informed me she woke him and the others from their rest. As it was, seeing the disheveled appearances of the trio when they greeted us at the door bore enough evidence that we could have stayed in and left the theatrics for the evening following. I sat in a chair, allowing Monica to relay what had transpired to her friends while silently fuming. Mercifully, Wesley, Jesse, and Mark were yet too groggy to
pose more questions
.

The house itself had been a short bus ride over. The living area far more spacious than our apartment
, I could see why Wesley
preferred one residence over the other. The room we occupied had been furnished comfortably, yet bore enough disorder to suggest three men did indeed cohabitate there. I had positioned myself away from
the large console television
, in part to avoid giving away my lack of reflection. It was the person whose image had been captured by the dark glass who commanded my attention when she sat across from me.

As her eyes met mine, I fought against the grin wishing to tug at the corners of my mouth. A smile crept across her facial features and, unwittingly, I
mirrored
it. Monica blushed when I sighed, her fingers drifting to the pendant dangling from her neck. I was
tempted
to laugh, especially when she started stroking it gently.

Wesley
interrupted the exchange
, though, when he stood and began pacing. “This is mind-blowing, Flynn,” he said, surprising me when he addressed me and not my watcher. Tempted though I was to issue a snarky repartee, I merely sat back in my seat and studied the high strung human. He laughed. “You managed to convince a vampire
elder
you were one of them?”

“Yes,” I said, continuing the plan devised between me and Monica on the ride over. While I had not been inclined to inquire about her friends, she had made certain we had a story in place. I held steady eye contact with Wesley through the lenses of my glasses. “It is a trick we perfected in Philadelphia. My glasses prevent them from seeing the color of my eyes and she casts a spell to cloak my pulse. We were able to get rather close to the heads of the Philadelphia covens by orchestrating this ruse.”

“It’s bloody surgical, I’ll give you that,” Jesse said from the couch where he sat. Mark rested on the other side of the couch, eyeing me in a conspicuous manner while Jesse lit a cigarette. He set the pack and his lighter onto a table bearing an ashtray within arm’s length. “The bastard believed it?”

“Not
without some suspicion. At least
he did not require any empirical proof.”

“Brilliant.” He glanced at Mark and reached with his other hand to swat
his compatriot
across the shoulder. “You ever think of using the spell like that, mate? I know you and the other sods forced to do field work had to know that bit as one of the standards.”

Mark slowly diverted his gaze to Jesse and sighed. “No, we never tried anything like that.” When his eyes met mine again, I saw the barest hint of a smirk on his face. “Not many of us were pale enough to make it believable.”

“The benefit toward not spending much time in the sun.” I forced a tight-lipped grin in response and addressed the others with my next words. “Monica and I have become proficient at making
the most of what we have. Ne
cessities which come with operating outside the full cooperation of the Order.”

Wesley huffed. “You’re preaching to the choir with that one, buddy.” He shook his head and glanced away. “This is… incredible,” he said, but failed to follow the comment with anything else.

“Whatever the matter, it would appear as though providence has smiled down upon us.” My eyes shifted to Monica, the next comment temporarily lodged in the back of my throat. She looked to me again as though unable to look away and something foreign
suddenly
buzzed in the space between us. My stomach gave a slight twist. A strange sensation crawled through my skin
,
enough for me to force my gaze away and back to the others. “We are convinced your instincts on the matter are sound. He made several allusions which suggested he might have something up his sleeve.”

“Oh, he’s got his plans
alright
,” Wesley said, his pacing coming to a stop. As we regarded each other, I furrowed my brow at the way he frowned. “You did read the notebook, right?”

“Yes, I did.”

“All the secret meetings and visits from out-of-towners?”

Admittedly, I had not made it that far. “Yes, I read about them. As such, the tension exchanged in the few moments we shared gives me enough reason to believe we should pursue this further.”

“Tension?” Jesse asked, entering the fray again.

Reaching in my coat, I pro
duced my pack of cigarettes, deciding
to join Jesse in the indulgence. I lit one and drew from the filter, exhaling a cloud of smoke as I responded. “Because I was from out of town. I had to tell him I was a member of his former friend’s coven in order to earn his trust. I shall be able to determine more about him when he and I meet. Perhaps he might allow us to speak alone so I can interrogate him.”

“And if that doesn’t work?” Wesley asked.

I shrugged. “Then I shall have to snoop through their rooms should I be provided the chance to break away.”

Wesley stared at me for several beats. I held a steady gaze, but became unnerved at the pregnant pause until he finally spoke again. “You’re not going to do anything in the way of reconnaissance beforehand?” He laughed at the expression which surfaced on my face and sat on the arm the couch, forcing Mark to positio
n himself more upright. “Flynn,
I’m sure you’re a god among seers, but pulling off the ‘I’m a vampire’ ruse isn’t going to be easy. Not for one whole evening. If they give you blood or ask you to feed with them, you’ll be fucked.”

I perked an eyebrow
, drawing from my cigarette again
. “I have blended with vampires before.”

“Well, this isn’t a matter of blending, it’s a matter of knowing what to expect.” He glanced toward Monica. “He hasn’t been trained?”

She winced. “We haven’t gotten him out to Seattle yet. I’ve been privately training him while following some of Lydia’s old research notes.”

The bold-faced lie hung unnoticed in front of Wesley’s face. He nodded. “That explains a lot.” And while I was tempted to ask what exactly that explained and what it had to do with Seattle, he looked to me and interrupted the question before I could even speak it. The mirthful dancing returned to his gaze. “This is standard practice for missions. Before we charge into the middle of a battle, we get as close as we can to ground zero and figure out what to expect.”

Suppressing the twitch
of annoyance
was a challenge. “I am familiar with the concept of reconnaissance.”

“Well, it applies to everything a seer does, including and especially what you’re
planning
. You should know what you’re walking into first.”

“Granted.” Sighing, I ignored his impudence, reminding myself he did not know of my experience as an as
sassin. I pondered the concept while glancing around for an ashtray and finding one situated on an adjacent shelf.
“I suppose scouting the coven would be the best course of action prior to my meeting with Ian. I shall have to make it a point to do so.”

“Why not all of us?
” Wesley asked eagerly as I tapped the ash from the end of my cigarette.
“
Five sets of eyes are better than one, after all.”

My gaze darted toward him once more.
“Absolutely not.” The answer blurted past my lips in such a conspicuous manner, it begged for explanation. I visibly regrouped and ignored the shock
registered on Wesley’s face,
focusing my attention on Monica instead. “I do not think we shall need reinforcements for this, do you?”

She
furrowed her brow
, bu
t looked at Wesley as he glanced at
her.
He lifted an eyebrow
at her in turn. I expected her to issue a sound protest, thoroughly backing up my hesitance to play team captain to a band of ama
teur vampire hunters. W
hat she finally spoke was worse. “Maybe I
should
just accompany Flynn, Wes. He’s pretty savvy and I only have enough juice to keep us shrouded.”

“
W
e have Mark.” He pointed in Mark’s direction, which spurred the other man to look up. Wesley continued, “He can cast for us. I know the area
, after all
.”

“And I’ll fetch the coffee,” Jesse quipped, interjecting.

Wesley ignored him. “If we’re all going to be a part of the infiltration, we should all be part of the recon.”

“I have my own bag of tricks, Wesley,” I said, shooting Monica a deliberate stare before regarding
him
again. “It would not be the first time I have been forced to consort with their type. And I shall be armed this time. If I somehow fail their test, I have enough to make it out alive.” A grin tugged at the corner of my mouth. “I have bested a crowd of two dozen immortals without assistance.”

He scoffed. “That was either luck or stupidity on their part.”

I bristled. In my periphery, I saw Monica sit up in her chair and did not spare her even a passing glance when her voice chimed in again. “Wesley does have a point about one thing, Flynn,” she said. “He knows this area better than we do. Why don’t you show him the card Ian gave you so he can at least point us in the right direction?”