Safe Hex With a Vampire (14 page)

She shot him a look meant to pass as
irritated, but ended up smiling at him. In front of her there was
an omelet, pancakes, a muffin, hash browns, and a double order of
bacon. “The ceremony took a lot out of me. I’ll be eating like this
for the next couple of days.”

“You could just help my ego out here and say
it was the great sex.”

“I get the feeling that you don’t need any
help with your ego.” Then she started eating with no shame at all
as Aiden watched her intently. “If you don’t eat your own food
soon, I may steal it.” She threatened with a grin.

Aiden just smiled and shook his head before
taking a bite of his club sandwich. Tempest actually had a bit of
food envy. It was just after one and after some debate she’d
decided to have breakfast. Now she was wishing that she’d ordered a
lunch item as well.

When he noticed her eying his sandwich,
Aiden put a quarter of it on her plate.

“I’m sorry about your cousin,” Tempest said
softly when she was a little over half way done with her food.

They hadn’t spoken much since leaving the
house. Aiden knew that talking would bring up reality, and that was
something he wanted to avoid for just a little while longer. It was
obvious that Tempest didn’t want to deal with reality either since
she still hadn’t called Ivy. Things had been great that morning,
but he knew how tenuous this truce was. Food seemed like a safe
topic. His cousin’s death seemed a little too serious. How do you
tell someone that the death of your cousin didn’t bother you that
much? It sounded kind of callous.

“I didn’t really know him very well.” he
admitted. “I was born several years before Nathaniel, and my
parents didn’t interact much with the rest of my family. My father
and Nathaniel’s father had some sort of falling out long before I
was born.” Aiden took a deep breath and confessed something he
hadn’t planned to. “I was kind of jealous of Nathaniel. I mean he’s
born years, actually decades, after me and treated like the prince
of our family. I was expected to take orders from him.”

Tempest shook her head. “I can’t imagine you
taking orders very well.”

“I guess that’s one of the reasons I didn’t
know him very well. Maybe if I’d grown up around the family, I
would have just accepted the hierarchy like everyone else did.” He
thought for a moment and smiled. “Actually, I think you’re probably
right about me not taking orders very well. It most likely wouldn’t
have mattered where I grew up. He wasn’t a jerk who lorded his
authority over me or anything but it still rubbed me the wrong way
that he was in charge.”

“So why were you living with him,” she
asked.

“After my parents died I was lonely,” he
admitted.

“It’s hard to believe that a fight between
two members of your family resulted in you being so isolated from
everyone,” she said.

He shrugged. “Roman is the head of the
family. I still had Ursula part of the time,” he said. “Sofia
visited me sometimes, but that’s not exactly a comfort.”

“Who are Ursula and Sofia?” Tempest asked.
It was obvious she was trying to sound casual but a hint of
jealousy seeped into her voice.

“That’s a good question,” Aiden said and
then thought for a moment. “They’re both kind of like my
grandmothers. Sofia was my grandfather’s wife, but she’s never
really been the motherly type. Actually, she’s kind of scary.
Ursula pretty much raised my father and all of my uncles. According
to my father, Ursula is probably either my grandmother or my
great aunt. From what I’ve been told my grandfather wasn’t a
very good man and certainly not faithful. It’s likely that Sofia
didn’t give birth to several of his sons. It’s a big family
secret.”

“Who needs a soap opera with your family
history?” Tempest said and then bit into her last piece of bacon.
“It’s nice that you at least have Ursula.”

“Not often,” he said. “She kind of goes
around taking care of everyone. Mostly, after my parents died I was
alone. I don’t need to tell you what it’s like to live surrounded
by humans, but not really be one of them. There are some other
families like us, maybe a dozen, but my grandfather burned most of
those bridges before his death. They want nothing to do with us.
Actually, they don’t have much to do with each other most of the
time.”

She nodded her understanding.

“It’s even harder when you don’t age. The
most I could ever hope for was ten years of friendship with a
human, and that was pushing it.”

“I kind of understand,” she said. “We don’t
age normally. Nothing like you, but we still age slower than most
people. I told everyone that I graduated from high school early so
that people wouldn’t ask too many questions about how young I
looked.”

“How old are you?” he asked.

“Thirty seven,” she admitted.

That surprised him. He had guessed that she
was in her early to mid twenties, but he should have realized how
foolish that was considering she was a doctor. “What’s the average
lifespan of the women in your family?”

“About a hundred and fifty years,” she said.
“We do grow old, but it’s at a very slow rate. I have a
great aunt who is nearly a hundred and seventy five years
old. So I guess we got some of the longevity but I’ll look like an
old crone in a hundred years while you’ll probably look the same as
you do now.”

“I’ll bet you still look fantastic when
you’re a hundred and thirty seven years old,” Aiden said with
a smile.

She snorted. “Yeah right.” Her voice
sobered. “I’m sorry that you were so alone most of your life. I’ve
always been lucky to have my family, especially Ivy.”

“When my parents were alive it was easier,”
he said. “I still felt lonely at times, and a little jealous of
what they had. A lot of the couples in my family really hate each
other. My parents were so in love that it was kind of annoying at
times. My mother always dreamed of having a huge family, but for
some reason she never conceived after me. Most of the couples only
have one or two children because they just can’t stand being with
each other longer than that.”

Tempest shifted uncomfortably. “So that’s
why you got so angry when I said I would just take the baby and you
would have no obligations?”

Aiden pinned her with his stare. “I want
what my parents had.”

Tempest sighed. “You can’t force that on
someone.”

“I know that and you know I’m not forcing
you to stay,” he assured her. “I only drained you so that you would
know that I could have forced you to stay. Yes, I am aware of how
childish that sounds. I wanted you to believe that I was giving you
the choice because I wanted to, not because I had no other options.
I really didn’t do anything that horrible to you, did I?”

“You did kidnap me,” she pointed out.

“You kidnapped me first,” he argued.

A passing waitress gave them a strange
look.

Tempest looked out the window of the
restaurant and panic flashed in her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Aiden asked. He was
immediately tense.

Tempest pointed a shaky finger at the
sidewalk across the street. “I could have sworn that I saw Brian
standing over there, watching me.” Then she shook her head as if to
clear it.

“Brian? As in the guy you dated in medical
school?” Aiden looked around the street which was useless since he
didn’t even know what the guy looked like.

“I must have been seeing things,” Tempest
said, still sounding a little shaky. “He moved out of the area
after medical school for his internship and residency. Why would he
be back here? He doesn’t have any family in this area.”

Aiden shrugged, feeling more than a little
uneasy. “Isaiah could probably track him down on the computer if
you’re worried. He has a knack for that sort of thing.”

She thought for a moment and then shook her
head. “I’m sure I was mistaken. I think it’s just because I talked
to you about him recently. It’s the first time I’ve mentioned his
name in five years, and now I’ve imagined seeing him twice.”

“Twice?” Aiden asked.

“The last time I went out hunting, I could
have sworn I saw him racing to get on the BART train I was on,” she
explained.

Aiden knew that Tempest wasn’t the sort of
woman to imagine things. “Give me his complete name and any other
information you have on him and I’ll give it to Isaiah. Hopefully,
he’s not too crazy to do this sort of thing now.”

“Don’t worry about it, Aiden,” she said as
she leaned across the table to put her hand on his. “Even if he is
here, he would have no reason to contact me. Things didn’t end on
good terms, and he’s made no attempts to contact me since we
graduated from medical school.”

Reluctantly, Aiden let it go. He didn’t want
to but he knew that Tempest could take care of herself. She
certainly didn’t need him to defend her. That was both comforting
and annoying. He loved her strength, but there was a part of him
that really wanted her to need his protection just a little. Maybe
he would get lucky and she’d be afraid of spiders or something.
Scratch that, spiders really creeped him out. Maybe she was afraid
of snakes or mice. Those he could rescue her from. “So are you
going to stay with me for a little while?

“Okay,” she agreed without hesitation. “I
really do need to call Ivy and let her know what’s going on. I
should ask her if she wants to meet our cousins too.”

Aiden shook his head. “I’ve been thinking
and that might be a bad idea.”

“Why?”

“She’s not really capable of defending
herself like you are,” he pointed out.

“Your cousins don’t seem that dangerous,”
she said.

He started to argue but Tempest put a hand
on his lips to stop him. Just that simple contact made Aiden so
hard that he groaned.

“Trust me,” she said, “Ivy can take care of
herself. She is not nearly as fragile as you seem to think. One of
her talents is that she can cause those around her to believe the
image that she wants to project. She works with victims of domestic
abuse most of the time so she projects a safe image. She wants
people to see her as sweet and unthreatening. I’ve also seen her
project fear into a man with such intensity that he peed his
pants.” Tempest was smiling at that memory.

He nodded and moved her hand away from his
mouth. “Finish eating quickly.”

“Why?”she asked innocently and flashed him a
knowing smile.

He leaned forward. “Because I’m going to
take you back to my room and make you scream my name.”

Her face flushed slightly but not from
embarrassment. “I’m done,” she said and yanked him out of his seat
as soon as he tossed the money on the table.

Claudia actually laughed at me. “I don’t
regret last night, Roman. I won’t regret tonight. I do want to find
a priest as soon as possible. It goes beyond my morality. The only
way to stay safe is to blend in with the rest of humanity. I was
tried as a witch because I stood out. I know that we could just
lie, but we have so many other things that we will have to lie
about.”

Excerpt from Roman Draksel’s blog

Aiden practically dragged Tempest up the
front steps and into the foyer. He didn’t bother closing the door
before he lifted her off of the ground and kissed her. Tempest
wrapped her legs around his hips and kissed him back.

When Tempest tore her mouth away from his,
Aiden moved on to kissing her neck. “Aiden, we can’t do this here.
People will see us.” Her legs were still wrapped around his hips
and she was grinding against him as she uttered her weak protest.
With only the thin layer of fabric from her panties between them,
she was fully aware of his erection between her legs. Her body
rebelled against her mind’s suggestion that they stop and take the
time to walk upstairs.

Aiden didn’t reply; he just shifted her
weight some so that he could slide his hand between her legs and
into her panties. Then he slid a finger into her. “Just tell me to
stop and I will,” he said with an evil grin.

Her eyes drifted half way closed and
her lips parted. She wasn’t sure she could talk at that moment. All
she managed to get out of her mouth were a few inaudible whimpers
as she wiggled against his hand.

When Aiden’s tongue slid playfully across
her bottom lip, the energy between them flared again. Her body
hummed and the vase on the nearby table started to shake.

“I can’t wait any longer,” he groaned and
set her down just long enough to undo his pants and free his
erection. Then he lifted her back up, yanked her panties to the
side, and penetrated her in one swift move.

She gave a little screech.

“Did I hurt you,” he asked with a worried
look on his face.

She shook her head and squirmed against him.
“I was just surprised. It’s vibrating again,” she said in wonder.
“Why does it do that?”

He groaned and seemed to struggle to speak.
“I don’t know, but it only does it with you. Damn, I feel like I’m
going to explode just from entering you.”

“If you don’t start moving soon I’m going to
hurt you,” Tempest warned as she wiggled against him again.

Aiden chuckled. “You are a demanding little
witch.” Before she could follow through on her threat he started to
move. He leaned her against the wall, and she stopped thinking
altogether. She rocked her hips so that she could meet his
thrusts.

Tempest clawed at Aiden’s shirt, and
screamed out his name as she climaxed. When the spasms finally
stopped she saw him watching her.

“I love watching you come undone,” he said,
his voice raw with passion.

He started to move again, this time slower
as he stared down at where their bodies were joined. It wasn’t long
before Tempest felt the pressure building up inside of her again.
Aiden moved faster inside of her as her muscles clenched around
him.