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Boy, she wasn’t going to like this at all. “Jenn will learn control through exposure to humans while fasting.”
“So, you’re telling me that you’ll starve her and then dangle a human in front of her?” she asked angrily.
“We withhold blood for a period of time and then a Blood Swan comes to tempt them. It’s a gradual process and we build up to the level of control she will need to live among humans. It’s a difficult process, but it is doable unless she completely lacks impulse control.”
She turned from me and shook her head. “It seems so cruel.”
I could feel her pain and I pulled her into my arms. “Let’s not talk about it anymore tonight. I want to enjoy my first night home with my wife.”
I immediately felt her mood shift and she turned to face me. “Would it be rude for us to go hibernate in our bedroom?”
“Hmm...Let me see. We’re dealing with a guy that sticks it to me every chance he can just because he thinks it’s funny. I don’t think I care if we’re rude.” I stood, pulled Chansey into my arms quickly and kissed her mouth. “Let’s hurry before he comes back upstairs.”
16 The Razor’s Edge
Over the next two days, I felt Chansey’s fear like something tangibly squeezing in the heart of my chest where I always felt the things she was feeling. Neither of us mentioned the rescue mission, but I could sense that her fear multiplied as the time drew nearer.
Saturday evening arrived and I was standing in front of our bathroom mirror shaving when Chansey walked up behind me. She snaked her arms around my bare waist above the towel around my waist and overlapped her hands. “I love you.”
I dipped my razor into the sink water and shook it to rinse the lather away. “I love you, too.”
I reached for my face and stroked the triple edge razor over my chin and I felt her place her cheek against my bare back. She took a long, deep breath and blew it out slowly. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to you.”
It was her first mention that anything would be happening tonight. I rinsed the razor again and laid it on the counter before I turned to her. I lifted her chin and said, “Hey, everything is going to be fine. I’ll be back first thing in the morning with the girl. Gia and Lairah are here to keep you company and Gia will only leave briefly to pick Sol up in the morning. You should have a little girl fun while they’re here. Let them take your mind off of what will be happening.”
“There’s no way I’ll be able to think of anything except getting you home safely in the morning. I won’t rest until I have you back in my arms.”
She went up on her tiptoes to kiss my mouth and she ran a finger along my lathered face. “Can I finish this for you?”
I smiled against her lips and put my hands on her small waist. “You want to shave me?”
She leaned back and gazed into my eyes. “Yeah, is that okay?”
I reached for the razor and passed it to her. “You never cease to amaze me, Mrs. Brennan.”
She stepped around me and hopped up to sit on the raised bathroom counter. She reached for the razor and then dipped it in the water. “Chin up, Mr. Brennan.”
I lifted my chin as my wife instructed me and she slowly finished the job I had started. After her last stroke, she rinsed the razor and let the water out of the sink. She reached for the hand towel on the counter, wiped the remaining lather from my face and pulled me closer so she could wrap her legs around my waist. “We have a few minutes until the others are up.”
She licked her lips and reached behind my neck to pull me closer for a kiss. Her kisses quickly became urgent and I felt her reach for the towel around my waist. “Chansey...I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
She stopped in her tracks and looked up at me with hurt in her eyes. “You don’t want me?”
I smiled and said, “I always want you...Always. But I don’t think it’s a good idea to chance these vampires smelling you on me. I mean...smelling you on me in a sexual way. That would most definitely be a red flag to them.”
She looked at me with large eyes. “Do you mean what I think you mean?”
I had never told her that little tidbit because I knew it would mortify her. “Yep, I’m afraid so,” I confessed.
Her face became mortified more and more as she thought about it. “So, Solomon and the others always know when we’ve been intimate because they can smell me on you?”
This part was even better. “Technically, they smell the mix of our body fluids. It’s very distinctive.”
She lifted a brow. “And you can smell the mix of us, too?”
“Hell yes and I love it,” I growled as I leaned into her and nibbled her earlobe.
“How embarrassing! I wish you hadn’t told me.”
I grabbed her hips and pulled her closer as I leaned between her legs and groaned into her ear, “There’s nothing else like it.”
Her slow breathing turned to panting and she said, “You’ve got time to take another shower.”
“I laughed, but it sounded more like a teasing rumble from my chest. “It doesn’t work like that, Love. A shower helps, but the scent doesn’t completely wash off and it takes several hours for it to wear off on its own.”
“But last night and this morning was okay?”
I ran my rose along her jawline. “Yes, it’s been long enough that our scent has faded.”
“Gah, how embarrassing. I can’t even imagine what Solomon must think about us.”
I laughed at her consideration of Sol “He thinks that I am one lucky bastard.”
Chansey leaned back to look at my face. “Why do you say that?”
“Sol sees how happy we are and he wants a mate, but not a vampire mate. He hoped Shelby would be his Agápe.” I shook my head and said, “He would be so pissed at me if he knew I was telling you this stuff, so don’t mention it.”
“Sounds to me like he’s lonesome. Jenn won’t be an Agápe for him, but maybe she could turn out to be exactly what he wants. We can always hope.”
Yeah, maybe Jenn was exactly what he needed to turn him around so he would see that a vampire mate was just what he needed.
˜ ˜ ˜
I would have expected some confusion on her part, but Jenn’s directions to Vincent’s were amazingly accurate for someone that had been held prisoner inside for so long. We turned off of the road and the protective gates at the entrance to Vincent’s house were swung wide open, welcoming any fool vampire to come inside and fall prey to his deception.
Sol pulled the stolen black Lincoln Towncar forward to allow us a better view of the ornate design within the black wrought iron gate. He held up Jenn’s sketch of the Vincent
’s Sigil and compared it to the gate’s ornamental design. “This is definitely where we’re supposed to be. It’s a match, just as Jenn said it would be.”
I looked toward the house at the end of the long drive and saw what appeared to be an old plantation, quite similar to our compound in New Orleans. Sol drove toward the house and we passed approximately 50 vehicles parked perfectly along the lawn.
Three men dressed in slacks and button up shirts with vests stood in front of the mansion and one motioned for us to pull forward. Sol came to a stop next to him and said, “Are these guys supposed to be valets?”
The young man standing outside the car door answered, “Yes, sir. It would be an honor and privilege to park your vehicle for you.”
“A fledgeling, no doubt,” Solomon commented before the valet opened the door.
“Yes, sir. I was turned only six months ago,” the young vampire responded as he waited for Sol to get out of the car.
We exited the car and then allowed the fledgeling to take my only mode of escape for the girl and myself in the morning. That left me more than a little bit uncomfortable, so we stalled for a minute so I could see the location of my parked getaway ride before we went inside.
After seeing where the Towncar was parked, Sol and I entered the double doors unaware of what awaited us on the other side, but finding a pair of tall, muscular vampires just within the foyer inspecting guests as they entered came as no surprise. The larger of the two vampires huskily asked,“What is your business here?”
I stepped forward identifying myself as leader over Sol and said, “My companion and I have come to celebrate The Blood Jewel Ceremony with Vincent.”
The two eyed us suspiciously before the smaller one said, “Wait here,” He returned in a moment and said, “Gentlemen, welcome to the home of Vincent Godfrey. Please enjoy yourselves this evening at The Ceremony.”
Relieved we made it through the first round of inspection, Sol and I walked down the wide corridor through the center of the house. As we wandered, we noted crowds of vampires gathered in each room we passed, appearing as a sea of tuxedos and evening gowns. A server carrying a tray of crystal glasses filled with blood approached us and offered, “Would you care for an O negative, sir?”
