Spartan Resistance (3 page)

The woman stood silent as a stone. Her expression was stony, too.

“No, really,” he said, trying again to smooth it over. He turned back to the dashboard. “I saw your layout here and it’s…it’s fascinating,” he lied desperately, for fascination was the last thing he felt about the offensive tangle of circuitry in front of him. “I can see you’ve got some really powerful feeds coming in.” He reached to point to a cluster at the top of the board. “I’ve never seen input feeds like those. It almost looks like, well, weather.”

His hand didn’t make contact with the board. With a screech that made the hair on the back of his neck rise, she snatched away his wrist and at the same time her body slammed into his. Gawaine went staggering, surprise doing more to move him than her bodyweight. She was as light as a snowball.

But then she fell on him, leaping up from the ground with a jump that was astonishingly powerful, to land right on top of him where he stood with his jaw hanging open in stupid surprise. This time he
did
fall and her knees on his chest drove the wind out of him. The impact of the ground against his back made his ribcage and shoulders creak.

He tried to breathe, but her weight on him and the shock of his landing had locked up his chest. He drew in shallow sips of air, telling himself to stay calm, that he would be able to breathe better in a minute or two. He just had to draw air slow and steady for now or he would pass out.

The woman’s fingers were gripping his shirt at the shoulders. She was holding him down—as if he was capable of any sort of defense right then. Her leap upon him had disturbed her clothing and where the multi-colored shirt-thing wrapped over at the front, it had come askew and was gaping. He tore his gaze away as he realized he was looking at the tops of her breasts. Two full, rounded milky breasts….

She tapped his cheek with one hand, not gently. He looked at her face. She waved her finger at him, like he was a naughty schoolboy. “That is how you get your neck broken for you. Don’t touch. Don’t pry.”

“You’re a vampire!” he gasped. There could be no other conclusion. Her leap, the unearthly scream, the way she was holding him down, even the very exact way she was speaking all said she was.

“Very good,” she conceded. “Does that scare you?”

He considered. “Only if you really
do
want to break my neck. I know I couldn’t stop you.” It took two inhalations to get it out. But he could feel the pressure on his chest starting to ease as the muscles relaxed.

“Smart, too,” she crooned and her finger slid along his jawline. “For a human, you’re quite intelligent. I like smart people.”

He stared at her, the flesh along his jaw sizzling at her touch. “Are you…hitting on me?” he asked.

“I seduce. I don’t hit,” she replied. “Do you want me to seduce you?”

He cleared his throat. “Not that I don’t find it flattering, that you’re even considering seducing me,” he began, “but part of the problem is that women like you don’t even
see
guys like me, generally. So…and again, I mean this is the nicest way possible, but I find it hard to believe your offer is genuine. Something in the order of two hundred to one against it. That’s about how often my offer is taken up, against how often I consider offering. And that’s another thing, no offence, but shouldn’t I be the one offering? If I wanted to offer, that is. Because—and I can’t believe I’m going to say this—but you’re sitting on top of me and that has a way of diminishing a guy’s ego, to the point where even if he really was interested enough to offer, he probably couldn’t get the words out because he felt like such an idiot. Speaking hypothetically, of course.” He managed to halt his tongue then. He blew out his breath and looked at her.

She studied him, her knees not moving. “You’ve never had a woman on top?”

“Dozens,” he said instantly. “But their knees are not usually where yours are.”

She smiled and this time it wasn’t a polite, neutral expression like when she had first looked at him. This time, her smile made his breath hitch again. “You have some things to unlearn, young one, like your quaint idea about the man controlling things. A man doesn’t always want control. Many men like to be seduced. They like a woman to take charge, to take control of their pleasure and orchestrate it in time with their obedience. I know, because I have been such a conductor many, many times.” She leaned down, bringing her face closer to his and even closer, to the point where her lips were brushing his cheek. “I could give you such pleasure, little one. Say yes.”

His chest was back to being locked again, for the pressure of her knees had intensified as she folded over and brought her head toward his. Gawaine instinctively reached for her, to push her off his chest. His hands nearly came together as he grabbed her waist. It was a lot smaller than the wispy semi-transparent fabric had hinted at. And soft.
So
soft.

He lifted her for she was, after all, the weight of a snowball even if her vampire status gave her muscle power to spare. Gently, he put her back on her knees on the grass beside him and sat up and brushed at his shirt. “Thanks for the offer, Mavourneen, but I think I’m just an old fashioned guy. Whips and ropes don’t do it for me.”

She smiled at him. “Call me Neena.”

“Neena,” he amended.

Then she swung her fist and caught him on the corner of his jaw. “Do not
ever
touch my equipment again!” she screamed at him. Then she got to her feet and stalked across the dried out grass, her boot heels digging into the soil with each step. She brushed past Mariana, who was still standing on the verandah, her reading board in her hands.

She had been watching. Her eyes were very large. That meant news of what he had done would reach Nayara. Gawaine had a healthy respect for the chief of the Agency. He didn’t want her attention drawn too closely to him, for she might pull his visiting privileges. Now, this.

Gawaine rubbed at his jaw. He could taste copper in his mouth and pushed a finger inside, exploring. He withdrew it and it was covered in blood. “Perfect.” Relationship stuff wasn’t nearly as straightforward as circuits. No wonder he could never get it right.

* * * * *

Chronometric Conservation Agency Headquarters, Villa Fontani, Rome, 2265 A.D. – some hours later.

There were no formal business hours at the agency. Vampires could work around the clock if they chose to and the time jumping they did meant that even if they did have internal body clocks like humans, they would have been all messed up from the jumps, anyway. The work went on, as the personnel involved in each project ebbed and flowed.

Mariana had got into the habit of working until she was tired, then sleeping for the eight hours or so her body needed, regardless of the time of day it might be. She would rise, shower and dress and head back to the offices. On the way she would stop for food and coffee and often took it with her back to her desk. Eating, socializing and even relaxing had been integrated into her work so that they blended seamlessly. Most days, Mariana considered her job to be one of the best in the world and marveled over the run of sheer luck that had landed her here.

But not today. Around three p.m., she found her energy flagging and her body throbbing with tiredness. She wasn’t hungry and it was too early for her to retire for eight hours, even though Nayara insisted that if she wanted to continue working so hard, she must listen to her body and feed and care for herself as needed. Normally, her energy would run out later in the day as she followed a nearly normal human work day pattern. But today, she was wilting.

She logged a message for Nayara’s implant, for Nayara to pick up when she had a spare moment, letting her know she was off-grid for a while, then made her way through the elegant colonnaded walks and open passageways, through two cavedium and into the personal wing where agency people had rooms. Nayara had strictly limited the numbers that lived within the agency, for it was located in the heart of Rome and accommodation could be found in the city. Unlike the space station, Villa Fontani was easy to reach at any time of day for those agency people who couldn’t just jump where they wanted to go.

Mariana’s quarters were one of the smaller suites. She had assigned herself the smallest as she was never there, anyway. But it had a comfortable bedroom, bathroom and a small sitting room with a window looking out onto Nayara’s rose garden. She sat on the sofa that faced the big window and let out a slow, soft sigh.

Why was she so tired? Just because the day had begun with challenges and hadn’t slowed since wasn’t a good enough explanation. She had a lot of days like that.

As she sat considering, Mariana realized that she wasn’t so tired she could fall into bed and be instantly asleep, which was what happened most nights. Instead, most of the draining sensation came from a place inside her that seemed tight and hard. It was making her body ache.

As soon as she localized the tension, she knew what had caused it. Rubbing her temples with her thumbs, she let herself recall one more time the moments with Brenden.

I can’t stand here waiting for your human-slow brain to get it.
 

The way he had wrenched the board out of her fingers.

His anger.

The look in his eyes, made of equal parts of contempt and impatience.

Mariana pushed to her feet, the roiling in her guts and the heavy, hard beat of her heart not letting her sit still. There was no way she was going to be able to go to sleep, even if she didn’t let herself think about it. If she even
could
stop herself from thinking about it.

She turned on her toes, looking for something, anything, to distract herself with, but the room was as impersonal as it had been when she moved in. Her job was her sole distraction—but Brenden was a part of that job. When she had been taken back into the past, two years ago, she had lost contact with all the neural net groups that had been her entire social life, too.

There wasn’t anyone in the Villa that she could call upon just because. She didn’t know anyone in a personal way like that, even though she considered nearly everyone at the Agency to be a friend of one degree or another. Vampires treated friendship differently. It was an undemanding thing that didn’t require attention, time and pre-planned social events to weld them together. A day, a year or a century could go by, but if one friend asked another for help, that vampire would circle the globe and the nine worlds besides, if that’s what it took to help.

But there was one other human still living in the villa.

Mariana pressed her lips together, trying to measure whether calling upon her would be appropriate, then gave up. She was too agitated to think. So
do
.

She left the suite, moving with purposeful strides and deliberately squashed any speculation about the future, any recall about her day and every scrap of hurt that floated into her consciousness.

* * * * *

Because it was mid-afternoon, Deonne was in the communications wing of the agency, although Mariana found her striding around the PR pool, talking about the upcoming gala with her hands waving.

Mariana stepped inside the big room and stayed by the wall, watching Deonne as she worked. She ran her gaze over the skin-tight übersilk suitdress she wore, the classic heels and the way Deonne had clipped her hair into an elegant bun low on the back of her neck, her hair gleaming in dull gold curls and sweeps. The artless, unstudied look was not for Deonne. She wore the latest fashions, she wore them well and she paid close attention to every neat detail about her. Mariana didn’t know where she found the time. Looking at her as she leaned against a table and discussed press releases with one of her staff, it was impossible to tell that she had delivered a baby only six months ago.

Finally, Deonne looked over to where Mariana stood and got to her feet with a smile. “Does Nayara want to see me?” she asked moving over to her. Every movement Deonne made seemed to draw attention to the length of her legs and her elongated body.

Mariana shook her head. “Actually, well…it’s personal.”

Deonne’s brows lifted. Then she smiled and this time the smile was warmer. “Really?”

“Is that…do you mind?” Mariana asked hesitantly.

“I
love
that you’re asking. Come on. Walk with me.” Deonne twisted to look over her shoulder. “Cassie, I’ll be back in ninety minutes.”

“No, really, I don’t want to pull you away from—” Mariana began, but Deonne took her elbow and steered her back into the open passageway on the other side of the door. “Believe me, it isn’t you pulling me away. You just
look
like the reason I’m sneaking off.”

“I don’t understand,” Mariana said simply.

“You will. So what’s wrong, Mariana?
Is
there something wrong? Is that why you finally came to see me?”

“I’m forever in your office,” Mariana pointed out.

“The CEO’s personal executive assistant is always in my office. I don’t believe Just-Mary has ever dropped in to say hello.” Deonne steered her into another corridor. They were heading for the personal wing again.

Just-Mary. Mary had been the diminutive she had used online and how she had introduced herself at the Agency, that first night when Cáel Stelios had brought her to meet Ryan Deasmhumhain and Nayara Ybarra in person. That had been when the geo-stationary space station had been agency headquarters, before Gabriel blew it up. “That nickname….” Mariana sighed.

“It’s cute,” Deonne said.

“Exactly. I’m not cute.”

“No, cute is one of the last words I’d use to describe you, back then
or
now.” Deonne was still smiling. “So, how can I help? I’m going to presume you want my help, you see, even though you avoided the question.”

That made Mariana smile, despite the heaviness in her heart.

Deonne held up a hand. “Just give me five minutes, then I’ll give you my undivided attention.” Then she pushed the door in front of them open and went inside.

Mariana followed her in. She knew what this room used to be, for she had helped assign its purpose as a common room for personnel living at the villa to use for socializing. But now it was a day nursery. Deonne’s pregnancy and her status as one of Gabriel’s most wanted had decreed that she remain in the villa as much as possible. One of the largest suites had been reworked to suit her changed status and her new family and this room had been remodeled for daycare.