Sucking in San Francisco (25 page)

I wake up in Sebastian’s arms. It takes me a moment to remember why I can’t seem to focus. I recall the events of last night. The memories return as the pain comes flooding back. I bite my lip as I try to reposition myself. Sebastian moves quickly and winces when I moan. At least I can think through this pain. It is better than it was at first - not much, but some. The hours until I can sleep again stretch ahead. I worry about what my incapacitation is doing to Sebastian, Aidan and my family.

“Good morning, Cherie,” he whispers. “I wanted to hold you while you slept. I’m so sorry that you still hurt.”

“It’s not your fault, Bast. Where is everyone?”

“Downstairs, doing research.”

“Where’s Aidan?”

“He’s hunting Alexander.”

“Oh.”

“I love you, Lily. Seeing you like this is pulling me apart. I’ve never faced something I couldn’t fix before.”

It hurts too much to talk. I touch his hand.

“I’m a grown man. I don’t like feeling helpless. I want to do something for you and I can’t. I will kill him for you, though. We’re going after him tonight. Helena has some protective spells to put on us that will slow him down. Aidan has some tricks up his sleeve too.”

“Please, please be careful.” I groan as I try to sit up more. “You could end up like me, or worse, dead.”

“We’re being careful,” he says as he eases a pillow under my head. “Everything that can be done is being done, Lily. Your only job is to rest and wait until I kill the bastard so this spell will end.”

Aidan comes in then and tentatively lowers himself to the bed.

“How are you feeling, love?” he asks.

“I’ve been better,” I say. I smile, but it is a weak effort.

“I can tell, your energy is terrible, all muted, grays and black mixed in,” he says as he takes my hand gently.

“Yummy. Must make you hungry.”

“Quite. You need to rest. We are going to take care of this, love.”

“Be careful,” I whisper.

“Always. Rest now.”

I do what he suggests. Andrew comes in a few hours later with some tea and coffee. Sebastian hasn’t left my side. Aidan has visited several times. I wait for him to smile but he is reserved. It makes me sad. He’s tied up with my pain. We’re too closely bound.

“Helena wants to put the spells on you too, Lilith,” Aidan tells me. “Just in case Alexander breaches the house, she doesn’t want you completely defenseless. She is going to put them on Andrew too. Hannah is still here. She wants to talk to you. Are you up to it?”

“Yes, I’m always up for Hannah.”

Hannah slides in the room without her usual bounce. She’s drawn and wearing only half the makeup she usually does, unquestionably out of character. I try to sit up to reassure her, but it only makes me grimace.

“Hey girlfriend, I hear you are feeling under the weather,” she says sitting in a chair Sebastian placed next to the bed.

“Just a little bit.”

“I’m going with the boys later tonight. I figure they need a femme fatale to back them up and keep them in line.”

“Han, are you sure? He’s lethal. Very bad mojo.”

“Hey, I missed out on the last action. I’m not missing this too.”

“Wish no one had to go.”

“Don’t talk crazy, sister. The sooner we take care of him, the sooner we can go about our business. Then I’m thinking I might go somewhere for awhile. Get out of town for a couple of weeks.”

“Nice. Hear they have a friendly community of herbally enhanced people up in Oregon.”

Hannah smiles but it is a dim reflection of her usual bright spirits.

“I have to go now, Lilith. I’m going to scout Alexander. I want to know where he is and what he’s up to. I’ll be popping in and out through the night. Rest, my love,” Aidan says touching my face lightly. Then he is gone.

“I should be furious at the way he talks to you, but I can’t blame him for loving you. Just as long as he keeps his hands to himself,” Sebastian says seriously, as he holds my hand.

Helena glides in and starts weaving spells around Andrew. When she is done, she moves to Sebastian, then Hannah and then to me.

“Now Lily, I don’t think this will hurt you. But I don’t know what it will do to you since you are already compromised.” She looks like she’d just as soon not find out.

“It is necessary,” she says.

“I know, Helena, just do it,” I urge her.

She places her hands on me. At first there is a warming sensation throughout my body. This isn’t so bad. Then it grows, becomes a fire. Building, it feels like I am being branded across my body. I want to scream. I bite down on my lip and close my eyes. I taste blood. Everything fades. When I open my eyes again, things are hazy and everyone stands around me, looking concerned. Helena is shaking.

“Oh, Lily, I’m so sorry. I had no idea,” she says.

“Did it work? Did you finish all the spells?” I whisper. If she was able to build my defenses it is worth it.

“Yes,” she whispers.

“Then I’m okay. Just as soon not do it again though.”

“I promise, darling.” She is reassured, regaining her characteristic calm. Helena is the kindest vampire I know. Causing pain to someone she loves is not in her nature.

Sebastian removes some of the pillows from behind my head and has me lie on my side.

“You need to rest, Lily. We will let you be for now, just lie here and rest if you can,” he tells me.

He makes everyone else leave the room. They kiss my cheek before going. Then Sebastian takes up his post in a chair next to my bed.

“Bast, I need you to be here with me.”

“I can do that. I wish I could do more,” he says, reaching to touch and remembering in time.

“I wish you could scoop me up and make it all go away too, but that’s not going to work this time.”

“Rest now, ma petite.”

Alexander’s insanity is a distinct marker as I follow him through San Francisco. I pick up traces of him but just miss him, twice. Finally I connect. He’s driving, he’s talking to himself. “Vampire whores,” he mumbles. “I will burn their nerves slowly from the inside. They’ll want to die long before the spell is complete.” Dark energy and crazy.

He weaves through the city, narrowly missing cars and pedestrians in the Mission District and downtown. Behind him, spells he casts make the trees lining the sidewalks fall at random, blocking the road. Cars he misses have accidents in his wake. He drives for hours in senseless patterns with no destination. He babbles, but incoherently, giving me no insight to his plans. If he is going to try and draw the vamps out or go to the manse, it is not clear to me. It looks like he’s going to give up for the day, when he turns toward the Pacific Heights neighborhood. I can see he is headed for the mansion. He’s crazy
and
delusional. To deliberately enter a nest of vigilant vampires is suicide. Even for a warlock. Yet he incapacitated Lilith with a few words. Who knows what else he can do? I need to warn them.

I pop into the library.

“Julian, Helena, Alexander is on his way!”

“Oh fuck!” Hannah says.

“Andrew, go up to Lily’s room and tell Sebastian what is happening and then stay with her. We need to keep that room the safe room as long as possible,” Helena orders, eyes narrow, voice compelling.

Andrew runs up the stairs. Julian passes in a blur from room to room barricading the windows and doors. I know they have spells on the house as well. Sebastian comes flying into the room.

“Are you sure?” he asks.

“He was on Union Street headed this direction. I wanted to give a heads up. He is completely mental and has worked himself into a frenzy.”

“Thank you,” Sebastian says. His eyes steely. Ready to defend his love and his home, even if it means working with me.

They make plans. The house has been physically barricaded. Helena steps into the middle of the room and drops her hands to her sides. She starts to chant and draws energy from the wood, marble, all the organic materials of the house itself, to cast a major protective spell that we hope will seal everything out.

Julian moves back into the room as we hear a car pull up. Hannah is twitching, ready to fight. All fangs out. Sebastian and I go to the front door.

“I just need to get close enough to grab his neck,” Sebastian tells me. “I will rip the throat out of the son of a bitch the second I can touch him.”

“I can throw obstacles in his path. It should distract him,” I reply, ready to let him take the lead. I can’t believe I am in league with vampires. There is
nothing
I wouldn’t do for Lilith. I’ve given myself to her even if she hasn’t returned the gift. I’ve made my choice. Now I hope I can live with the consequences.

“That’s all I’m asking for,” Sebastian guarantees.

A car door slams. There is silence then humming as footsteps approach the front door and stop.

“Come out and play, Helena, and I’ll leave the rest alone,” Alexander jeers.

“Come in if you dare, Warlock!” Sebastian shouts.

“You really don’t want to make me mad, vampire. Just send the leech bitch out so I can settle the score and I’ll go away.”

“Go fuck yourself!” Sebastian answers for all of us.

Alexander incants a spell and the door shakes. It won’t be long before the first of our defenses goes. Everyone is in the hall. Alexander speaks again in a deep commanding voice in Latin. The hall glows.

“Damn!” Helena says under her breath.

“Easy, Helena, we suspected he could do this. Just get ready,” Julian says to her. “If he breaches all the spells, I want you upstairs to protect Lily and Andrew.”

Helena looks like she is going to refuse.

“Sneaky spell, Helena. Sneaky but I can handle it,” Alexander calls out.

The house begins to shake and then glows. The air stands still and the vamps stop breathing.

“Last chance, give me Helena now!” Alexander shouts.

“Go, Helena,” Sebastian says.

Helena gives Julian one long, anguished look and then streaks up the stairs. Hannah takes her place.

“Let the bastard come,” she hisses.

“No? Okay, little piggies, here comes the big bad wolf,” Alexander yells. There is a tremendous blast and the sound of splintering wood, with an aftertaste of sulfur, as the front doors are blown away. We stagger back and miss another blast. He takes out part of the wall and plaster dust rains down on us.

I send a jet of fire at him. He deftly blocks it and sends it out of his way, dissipating it before it ignites the house. Julian and Sebastian close on him from opposite directions. Alexander throws a blast at Julian while maintaining an energy shield to keep Sebastian from getting close. Julian dodges the blast.

I throw obstacles in front of him, all the obvious ploys: fire, wind, rain, snakes, crocs, and the gaping gates of hell. He forces us back.

Hannah and Julian are ready and leap as I send a wave of water at Alexander. It doesn’t stop him for long but it disrupts his focus. They almost reach him. Instead he casts a spell that sends Julian and Hannah flying, their bodies hitting the walls with a loud thump but they are vampires. They are up and ready to attack again.

Alexander and Sebastian circle each other. Alexander’s confidence slips. A thin sheen of sweat gathers on his brow. This is costing him. The reserves he’s forced to use won’t last forever. Panic flashes through his face as the three vampires circle, fangs out, hands clawed. He sends a few minor hexes at me which I easily deflect. Is it sinking in that the vampires will tear him to pieces?

“What are you?” he snarls at me.

“Don’t you wish you knew,” I taunt him, smiling at his frustration.

Sebastian leaps and is knocked back by a spell. Hannah flies at him and is thrown into a window, sending shards of glass like raindrops everywhere. I create a plane of disruption that knocks him down. He recovers before Julian can reach him, still well protected. A few steps at a time, Alexander fights his way through vampires, deflecting my attacks, pushing us back as we try to keep him from reaching the stairs. But despite our best effort he reaches the top. Sebastian lunges, almost reaching him, but Alexander turns in time and sends a violent hex toward him. Sebastian dodges more quickly than the eye can track. The blast leaves the banister smoking. The smell of burnt wood lingers. Alexander reaches the end of the hall, almost to Lilith’s room.

“Warlock, I heard your cousins tasted good,” Sebastian goads. I admire his strategy. It slows the bastard down.

Alexander stops and turns around. He hurls blast after blast at Sebastian. I deflect the energy with shields. Finally he projects one over our heads that collapses the ceiling on top of us. The vamps are buried. I lift the rubble away but by then Alexander is already at Lilith’s door trying to deconstruct the spells. His face is set in concentration, the shine of a mad man glinting in his eyes. As I break through the rubble I find that he has made it through the final ward. I hear growling and hissing coming from the room. I panic. He can’t get to her.

I’ve tried all the major blockbusters. Maybe I need to try pestilence. I send a jet of locusts at him. Hey, it worked in the past. The attack is esoteric and Alexander is unprepared. He doesn’t know what to do with so many targets. The insects cover him. He tries to concentrate but he’s flustered.

It isn’t long before Helena soars into the room.

“He has breached our defenses and will be in the house soon. We need to be ready in case he makes it up here,” Helena tells us.

She had been shaking earlier today when her protection charm hurt me, but now she is a warrior. She begins chanting, pulling wards around the room. She circles in a blur, and is back to us in a second, putting her hand on Andrew’s shoulder.

“They will take care of him, Miss Helena, don’t worry. Mr. Julian and Mr. Sebastian have never been so angry,” Andrew tries to reassure her. “I’ve never heard Ms. Hannah hiss so much.”

“I know, Andrew. Julian is a mighty fighter. I forget sometimes because he is always buried behind his books,” she replies quietly. “He fought in the Crusades and many times since then.”

“Aidan,” I whisper.

“Aidan too, Lily,” she says.

Shouts and blasts come from the hallway. An explosion shakes the floor and I know it must have taken out part of the house. Then something splashes, like a huge wave and more shouting. Sebastian taunts Alexander and Alexander screams at him. Then detonation after detonation shakes the house and the tremors resonate through me. I gasp as nerves flare. A few more hits and part of the house collapses. Alexander is in the doorway. I am determined not to die lying in bed. I use Andrew’s arm to drag myself up, preparing to fight to the death, whatever it takes. Anger surges through my body. Where are the rest? What’s happened to my friends and family? I feel Andrew straighten up and know he is steadying himself for a fight as well. Helena hisses and our fangs come out.

Alexander makes short work of the wards on the room and enters the doorway. Helena engages him. The two of them casting spells, with Helena moving so fast she doesn’t give Alexander a chance to land a curse on her.

As he weakens, I can feel the spell on my body weaken as well. My limbs are shaking from the exertion and my head pounds. I need some kind of weapon. A flash from the clashing energy catches my eye. Andrew left the heavy, silver serving tray with the coffee service on the bedside table. I sweep everything off and force my fingers to get a strong grip on it. My fingers burn but I increase my hold. I will not let this ‘man’ hurt Andrew. I don’t know what’s become of everyone else and he will pay for that as well.

A terrifying buzzing noise rises created by thousands of locusts. Alexander stumbles and waves his arms at his face trying to dislodge them. Helena is too close to him and is covered by them too. Now is my chance. I use all my energy to rush him. He doesn’t see me as I raise the tray. With all my strength, I hit him on the head. He begins to crumble at my feet.

Sebastian and Aidan rush in, covered in plaster. Aidan races to my side and catches me before I fall. Sebastian grabs Alexander by the neck. With a gut-deep growl, he bites down on the warlock’s neck and drains him. He is magnificent.

The pain recedes slowly. First my hands and feet start to tingle like they have fallen asleep. Then they are blessedly pain free. The feeling moves up my arms and legs and finally to my head. Just as my mind registers that I no longer hurt, I hear Sebastian say my name.

Aidan rubs my back and kisses my forehead then he releases me to Sebastian who is more direct and kisses me fully on the mouth.

“Lily,” he says.

“Bast,” I say smiling.

He immediately looks relieved. His shirt is torn and he is blackened from the battle. Blood runs down his chin. He is gorgeous.

“Are you better, do you feel all right?” He takes my face in his hands.

“Yes, Bast. Everything is better now.”

He kisses me long and hard, unconcerned by witnesses.

“Ahem,” Aidan clears his throat. His eyes narrow. He is standing to the side glaring at Sebastian. Aidan in all his glory, eye candy to the max. Strong, beautiful and pissed.