"Good." She sighed. "But I"m afraid your friend is going to really have to love Andrei to hang on through what he might put her through."
Tatiana sighed. "He"s going to hurt her?"
"As Mikhel would gladly tell you, not everything I see is clear or comes true, but much of it does. And I see her... suffering a lot on his behalf."
"I suppose she"ll hang tough-she does want him and I know that if he gives himself a chance and gets to know her, he"ll want her too."
Katie nodded.
Tat smiled suddenly. "So, Katie Dumont, tell me about yourself, little matchmaker."
Katie averted her gaze for several moments. When their eyes met again, Tat saw a glimmer of tears in them. "I have always wanted a sister... an older sister. Someone I could look up to, someone...I could share things with. Someone just like you."
Tatiana"s own eyes welled with tears. She drew Katie into a gentle embrace. "And you are the little sister for whom I"ve always longed. I think you and I will get along just fine, my little Katie."
Katie drew back, wiping her cheeks. "I suppose this means you"ll want to share Mark."
The right to make love to a sibling"s bloodl.u.s.t was one of the many benefits of being a vampire that Tat had never expected to enjoy. But now that she had a little sister, she intended to get better acquainted with the charming, albeit somewhat shy Mark Lewis.
"Share him? No. Make love to him upon occasion?" She grinned. "Absolutely."
Katie gave her a wary look. "I know it"s your right, but do me a favor and promise not to fall in love with him."
Like Mikhel fell in love with Derri. The unspoken words hung heavy in the air. Mikhel had fallen in love with Serge"s bloodl.u.s.t Derri. Tatiana gave Katie an encouraging smile. "I think I can safely promise that. Your Mark is undoubtedly charming, but my heart and my affections are already engaged elsewhere."
"Good. l.u.s.t I can deal with, but not love. I don"t know how Serge stands knowing Mik is in love with his woman."
"He stands it because he knows Derri is his...no matter what Mikhel feels for her." She turned to study Katie"s profile. "You"re very young now, but as you grow older, you"ll realize more fully just how powerful a force bloodl.u.s.t is. Granted, love is a powerful force as well, but in a vampire"s life, love pales in comparison to bloodl.u.s.t."
"Are you sure about that? Because Mikhel really-"
"Yes, Katie, I am sure about it. He may very well love Derri, but he"s in bloodl.u.s.t with Erica, in addition to loving her. Why does his relationship with Derri bother you?"
"Because I"m afraid Mikhel"s feelings for Derri will lead to trouble between him and Serge."
"But the relationship doesn"t seem to bother Serge."
"I know. He"s so...he doesn"t like to admit it, but he looks up to Mik so much, he can"t imagine him doing anything to hurt him."
"But you can?"
"No!" She frowned. "Don"t misunderstand. I know Mik would never willingly do anything to hurt Serge, but he wants Derri so much... I"m afraid what he"ll do to get her."
"He loves Erica."
"I know, but he loves Derri too."
"Maybe, but he"s not in bloodl.u.s.t with her."
"So he says, but sometimes..." She shook her head. "Sometimes I"m not sure how deep his feelings for her run or where they"ll lead him. Sometimes I wish Serge had never met that d.a.m.ned Derri. And the worst part is, I did what I could to help her cause with Serge."
Tatiana arched a brow. "But she"s his bloodl.u.s.t. How could you wish he"d never met his perfect mate?"
Katie grimaced. "Put like that, it makes me sound selfish, but-oh, never mind. Maybe Mik is right. I"m probably overreacting." She shrugged and smiled. "What about you? Is there a bloodl.u.s.t of yours I"ll get to share?"
Tatiana sighed. "Not yet."
"Is there anyone on the horizon... anyone interesting?"
"Actually, there are two men. I... " She shook her head. "I don"t know what"s going on with either man yet. I believe you"ve warned me off one of them."
Katie blushed. "I hope you don"t think-"
She smiled. "It"s all right. Even before your warning, I had... reservations about one of them. h.e.l.l, I have reservations about them both. Neither one of them is someone the family will embrace."
"Do you love them?"
She sighed. "I"m not sure what I feel for either of them. But I"ll keep you informed."
"So? Are they...well endowed?"
"I"ve had men with bigger d.i.c.ks, but none sweeter."
"That"s what counts. A big c.o.c.k is useless if it doesn"t belong to a man who makes your p.u.s.s.y melt. I"ll take an average-sized Mark any day over a well-hung man who doesn"t turn me on."
Tatiana nodded. "As would I."
Katie licked her lips suggestively. "So? When can I meet them?"
"Meet them or f.u.c.k them?"
Katie grinned. "Both."
Tatiana laughed. "We"ll see, little hussy. Now, can I buy you lunch?"
Katie nodded. "Yes."
As they left the park, Tatiana smiled. "Have you ever considered modeling?"
"Who, me? No! Why?"
"Yes, you. Why? Because you"re absolutely gorgeous, little sister. I have yet to meet a supermodel who has anything on you."
"Yeah? Well, maybe it runs in the family."
"You mean Mother?" Tatiana nodded. "She is stunning."
Katie stopped and placed a hand on her arm. "Yes, she is, but I meant you. You are the most beautiful female I"ve ever seen."
Tatiana smiled and slipped her arm through Katie"s. "Let"s talk. I"d like to get to know you better."
Chapter Two.
Feeling weary and frustrated at his inability to locate the vampire fem for whom he" d spent weeks searching, Jace Makefield resisted the urge to return to his newly acquired condo at the Jersey Sh.o.r.e. He turned his SUV homeward instead. Homeward? He sighed. He supposed home would always be where his mentor and father figure Wilfredo Miguel Santiago resided. Presently, that was in a big, two-story stone mansion in the Philadelphia suburbs.
While normally happy to see Wilfredo and the other hunters who had become his family over the last half century, Jace found himself reluctant to face the other male. For the last fifty years or so, if things were haywire in his life, he always had the comfort of knowing Wilfredo was there-ready, willing and eager to listen. h.e.l.l, sometimes he even listened without offering unwanted advice.
When he had lost Carollina, along with his will to live, Wilfredo and the others he had come to view as his siblings had been there-pushing, prodding and encouraging him until he overcame the urge to slaughter every vampire in sight. Back then, Jace had actually believed he could tell Wilfredo anything.
Now he knew better. How the h.e.l.l could he tell a centuries-old full-blood vampire -whose sole purpose in life was ridding the world of rogue vampires-that he no longer shared that goal because he was so deep in l.u.s.t with a vampire fem, it felt like bloodl.u.s.t? While Jace was no longer fully human, he was not a vampire. How could he experience emotions or pa.s.sions that even approached the magnitude of bloodl.u.s.t, which had been known to drive more than one vampire to the brink of insanity? It didn"t seem possible, and yet he longed for that fem who had called herself Ana with all the hunger and desperation of a vampire lost in the grip of bloodl.u.s.t. For the first time in his life, Jace felt an overpowering need for s.e.x and, more disturbingly, a need for blood from a woman-from Ana.
A need for blood? Before he"d met Ana, Jace wouldn"t have thought he had any means of consummating such a hunger. He ran the tip of his tongue over his teeth. Encountering the pointy edges, he shuddered. At first he"d thought he was imagining things. But now there was no denying he had sharpened incisors. What the h.e.l.l was happening to him?
He had thought his need for Carollina was all-consuming, but that seemed so much less urgent since his s.e.xual encounter with Ana, which had made everything else in his life seem trivial. At the same time, he no longer embraced or welcomed thoughts of his lost love. That knowledge left him feeling guilty.
While thoughts of Carollina had never been buried deep within his subconscious, lately he felt almost as if her memory stalked him. At night, she invaded his dreams. Dreams? Nightmares were more like it. With each successive nightmare, he felt less able to cope. Had he developed incisors before or after the nightmares? He was no longer certain.
Feeling a trickle of sweat rolling down his back, he shook his head, forcing thoughts of Carollina from his conscious mind. He turned his thoughts back to another fem... Ana.
Another fem? He sucked in a deep, cleansing breath. When she had died, Carollina had been a latent, not a fem. d.a.m.n if he would let these inexplicable nightmares ruin his sweet memories of the only woman he"d ever loved.
Gulping in another deep breath, he sighed. Carollina was lost to him forever. But Ana was not. He had to find Ana or, G.o.d help him, he would lose his mind.
Jace tightened his grip on the steering wheel and allowed his thoughts to drift. Several weeks earlier, while returning from an encounter with the full-blood vampire, Aleksei Madison, battered and dazed, he had encountered a tall, dark, sultry vampire fem. As a hunter of rogue vamps, he should have been her natural enemy. Instead, the breathtaking fem had stopped to a.s.sist him.
In the brief time they had spent together, they"d made love and he"d lost what was left of his heart to her. She had fled from him, leaving him obsessed with the need to find and reclaim her. He knew it was madness to think they could ever enjoy a serious relationship, but for the chance to be her lover, he would march through the fires of h.e.l.l and happily sell what was left of his human soul.
He ran his tongue over his incisors again, uncertain how much humanity he had left to lose. But however much remained, he would willingly surrender, to find and possess Ana again. No matter how long it took or what he had to do, he would find her. G.o.d help anyone who tried to come between them.
He sighed. Before he could expect to fully enjoy her once he found her, he would need to rid himself of his nightmares. For that, he would need Wilfredo"s help... and his understanding. He didn"t doubt Wilfredo"s willingness to help him, but he dreaded the painful memories the discussion would generate for both him and the vamp who now stood in place of the father he had never really known.
With thoughts of Carollina and Ana warring for dominance in his heart and mind, he pressed his foot down on the accelerator, sending his vehicle speeding down the road.
"Ready to meet your new boss?"
Seated in the driver"s seat of his late-model Mercedes on the bottom level of a munic.i.p.al parking garage, Jordan Guidry-Sonnier turned to look at the woman occupying the pa.s.senger seat. Shaniqua Malone, thirty-four, tall, slender, with smooth skin the color of heavily creamed coffee, smiled at him, her gray eyes alight with mischief.
He frowned. "Mornings like this make me wonder why the h.e.l.l I keep working for a living." He pushed open his door and got out of the car. She alighted as well and they met in front of the car.
Dressed in a dark trouser suit that hugged her slender curves, she looked as if she should have been gracing the cover of Black Enterprise Magazine instead of getting ready to spend the day gathering evidence for the district attorney"s office. She arched a brow. "How many times have I told you if I"d inherited several million dollars, I"d be lying on some sun-soaked South Pacific Island while an Antonio Banderas look-alike tickled my toes, instead of working the mean streets of Philly?"
Jordan"s love of investigating kept him between a rock and a hard place. If he didn"t love police work, he would have retired from the department several years earlier when he"d inherited seven million dollars from a great-uncle. At the very least, he"d take more promotional tests to improve his rank-except that if he was promoted beyond detective sergeant, he would have to give up investigating in favor of supervising the officers who did the actual investigating.
He shrugged. "Some days you can"t win." He glanced toward the trunk where she"d tossed her garment bag and overnight case when they"d left his apartment nearly an hour earlier.
She followed his gaze. "I"ll stop by sometime tonight or tomorrow to pick up my bags." She glanced at her watch. "Right now we"d better get going. Especially you. You don"t want to make a bad impression on your new boss by showing up late on your first day, do you?"
She turned toward the exit and he fell into step beside her. "What do you know about this Matt Savoy? What kind of guy is he? Will he make a nuisance of himself or allow me to do my job?"
As he held open the door to the stairs leading toward the street level, she grinned at him. "Him? I think you"ll like Matt Savoy just fine."
After eight years of friendship, eighteen months of which they had spent as lovers, he knew when Shaniqua was having fun at his expense.
He put a hand on her arm. "What do you know about him that you"re not telling me?"
She continued up the stairs, pausing at the top when he joined her. "Trust me on this, Jordan, you"ll like-no, love Matt Savoy."
He pushed opened the street door and followed her out. As they walked down Arch Street toward the Philadelphia DA"s office, he decided not to give her the satisfaction of asking any more questions for which she clearly did not intend to provide answers.
Fifteen minutes later, when he was shown into a.s.sistant District Attorney Savoy"s office, he understood the source of Shaniqua"s amus.e.m.e.nt. Dressed in a dark, tailored skirt and matching three-quarter-length jacket, a tall, full-figured woman with skin the color of warm, sweet honey, dark brown eyes, full lips and short, natural hair rose to meet him.
With a quick glance, he noted her large b.r.e.a.s.t.s, big legs and bootilicious b.u.t.t. Aware of his penchant for full-figured black women who didn"t hide their natural beauty under layers of makeup and chemically treated hair, Shaniqua had rightly a.s.sumed this woman would pique his interest.
"Detective Sergeant Guidry-Sonnier?" She extended her hand. "I"m Madison Savoy."
Her voice, vibrant with a husky quality, danced along his nerve endings. Although not conventionally pretty, when she smiled, her eyes sparkled with an inviting warmth that captured his attention. As he engulfed her soft, warm hand in his, he knew he would need to keep a tight rein on his emotions.
He nodded. "Please call me Jordan."
She removed her hand from his and studied him in silence for several moments. He wondered what she thought of him. He had first become aware of his s.e.xual preferences when he turned seventeen and had two eighteen-year-old women offer him s.e.x as a birthday present. One had been a stunning strawberry-blonde with pale skin, green eyes and a slender body. The other had been a woman with skin the color of cocoa, big b.r.e.a.s.t.s, a bigger b.u.t.t and short locks, and was what his best friend Raja called "cute at best".
He had immediately chosen the latter. Heart full of l.u.s.t for her dark, s.e.xy body, he had plunged his aching c.o.c.k into her moist p.u.s.s.y and had his first taste of brown sugar. Holding him tight in her arms and whispering encouragement, she licked and bit at his ear and then found his mouth and kissed him until he couldn"t breathe. She had allowed him to come inside her several times that night and he had felt certain he"d died and gone to heaven.
Afterwards, she had told him she had a thing for tall, well-built, drop-dead-gorgeous white guys with curly dark hair and sky-blue eyes. He had never lacked a lover after that first night. Although he did not consider himself handsome, let alone drop-dead gorgeous, he knew some women did. Did Madison Savoy find him attractive?
"Jordan it is." A quick smile touched her full, sensuous lips. "As you"ve probably heard, a number of people insist on calling me Matt."
He cast a quick glance at her bare left hand. "And you prefer?"
"Madison, but under duress, I answer to Matt." She indicated one of the two chairs in front of her desk. "Please." She moved back to her desk and sat down.
He took the indicated seat. Keeping his voice neutral, he asked the question uppermost in his mind. "Why did you have me rea.s.signed?"
"I"m sorry about that. I usually request volunteers rather than commandeering them."
"Then why was my squad commandeered?"
She considered him in silence for several moments before speaking. "Actually, I didn"t ask for your squad-just you."
"Why?"