Where Loyalty Lies (48 page)

It’s the blue one with white stripes.

I stood in silence for a moment before screaming and jumping around the room like I was having some kind of fit. When I knocked into the corner of the sofa and almost smashed into the coffee table I decided I should stop. I tried phoning Holt but there was no answer. I left a message rambling on about how grateful I was and how much I loved him, but eventually the machine cut me off.

I grabbed my bag and left. Poor Dale was about to lose a couple of hours’ beauty sleep.

I knocked on Dale’s door and listened as his snores continued. I banged harder and the snoring stopped but there was no sound of movement.

“Get your lazy arse out of bed, Dale!” I shouted through the door.

There was a surprised grunt and then some heavy footfalls before the door cracked open to reveal a very groggy Dale.

“Faine? You’re at the door,” he said.

I rolled my eyes in impatience. “Yes, I thought I’d try the correct protocol today.”

“Uh,” he grunted, “what time is it?”

“About nine.”

“Nine? Bloody hell.” He ran his hands through his hair but only managed to mess it up more.

I leant casually up against the door frame. “Well, you can go back to bed if you like, but I was thinking we could go out for a drive.”

“You can go out?” he said, finally waking up.

“That’s right and I was thinking I could take you for a spin in my new motor.” I jangled my keys in front of him and he caught sight of the horse.

“No. Way.”

“Yes way. So have a shower, get dressed and meet me in the car park.”

Despite being surrounded by Porsches and Aston Martins, my Mustang stood out a mile, but that might have been because of the gigantic blue bow that was sitting on top of it.

I walked around it, aware that I must have looked just like Henry had, the day his new Lamborghini arrived. It was typical of Holt not to be around for this, he was always willing to do good deeds but unwilling to be thanked for them.  Well, if he thought that being away for a couple of days was going to get him out of the fuss I was going to make of him, he was very wrong.

By the time Dale arrived, I’d removed the ribbon and driven round the car park a couple of times.

“Don’t tell me the vamps gave you this just for being one of them?” he said as he climbed in.

“It’s from Holt,” I answered.

As we pulled up to the gates, I expected the guard to tell me I wasn’t allowed out, but he simply took my name and Dale’s and waved us through. When the gate was just a small blemish in my mirror I let out a shriek of pure excitement, making Dale jump before he joined in with his own crowing.

“So where shall we go?” I asked.

“Nowhere, let’s just drive,” Dale replied.

So that’s what we did, we cranked the radio up and sang, laughed and talked. After a couple of hours, we started heading back, stopping only once to get fuel for the car and for ourselves. When we were back on the road that led to Rillith, Dale turned the music down and gave me a serious look.

“I’m happy for you, Faine.”

I laughed. “I’m pretty happy for me too right now.”

Dale smiled but it looked sad. “I mean it. I’m really happy that, after all the shit you’ve been through the last few months, you’ve got what you want. I know you’re going to be really happy.”

I stopped laughing now and glanced over at Dale. “Why are you talking like that?”

“Like what?” he asked.

“Like we’re not going to see each other again.”

Dale looked away from me and my stomach sank. “Dale? Are you leaving Rillith?”

“No.” He still didn’t look at me.

“So why the hell are you talking like that?” I snapped.

He didn’t answer. I checked the road, there were no cars in sight so I hit the brakes and pulled over to the side.

“Dale, what’s going on?”

He sighed and finally stopped staring out of the window. His gaze still didn’t quite meet mine and he ended up staring at the steering wheel.

“You’re a vampire now; I get it if you don’t want to see me anymore.”

“What?” It came out a little more screechy than I’d intended. “You think that because The Sénat decided I’m enough of a vampire to live with them, I’m just going to drop you?” Silence. “Well, let me tell you something, I’m not a vampire and I’m not a human. In the words of a very good friend of mine, “I will never truly be either”. I’m half of each and actually I’m damn proud of it.”

Dale’s eyes finally met mine.

“You’re my best friend, Dale and nothing The Sénat ever say or do will change that. Hell could freeze over and I could be made a Sénator, and I’d still want you in my life. In fact, now that I’m going to be living at Rillith indefinitely, I’m going to need you more than ever. You’re my only human friend and I love that you’re always there for me when the vampire world gets too crazy.”

Finally he smiled. “Good, because you’re my only vampire friend and I love that you’re always there to add a little crazy in my life.”

We grinned at each other and I got out of the car, leaving the engine running.

“What are you doing?” Dale asked as I opened his door and yanked him out.

“Thought you might fancy driving.”

I didn’t need to say it twice. Dale moved with almost vampire speed as he ran round the car and hopped into the driver’s seat. As he pulled back onto the road I thought over what we’d just said.

“Honestly, Dale, why would I ask you to come with me today, if I didn’t want anything to do with you?”

Dale gave me a sheepish look. “I thought maybe it was your way of saying goodbye. That you were going to tell me you couldn’t see me anymore and this was the last thing we’d do together.”

I shook my head in disbelief. Little did I know that, actually, that’s exactly what this would turn out to be.

Back at Rillith, Dale and I went our separate ways. I’d just gone through the main doors when Saul appeared at the top of the stairs in the front hall.

“I was looking for you,” he said as he trotted down the stairs and swept me up in his arms.

“I went out for a drive with Dale,” I said.

Saul smiled. “I take it you got Holt’s present, then?”

My grin answered his question.

“And there I was, about to ask you if you’d like to go back to our spot.”

I didn’t need to ask where our spot was. It was where we’d shared our first kiss.

“Oh, I want to go there,” I said.

Saul laughed. “But you’ve only just got back; we can wait until tomorrow.”

“No. Four whole months I’ve been cooped up here, let’s go now.”

“If that’s what you want.” Saul lowered his head to kiss me. I thought it was going to be a quick peck but his mouth stayed on mine. His hands trailed down my spine, stopping at the small of my back so that he could pull me even closer to him. Eventually he pulled away, leaving me a little breathless.

A figure at the top of the stairs caught my eye and I looked up to see Monique. She was glaring at me but, as Saul followed my gaze and glanced up at her, she quickly became less hostile. When Saul barely even acknowledged her and looked back at me, her eyes narrowed to slits. His casual attitude towards her had upset her more than anything I could have said or done.

“I’ll be right back; I just have to grab my coat.”

I went to move but Saul held me still.

“I’ll get it for you,” he said.

I opened my mouth to protest but he was already halfway up the stairs. That left me and Monique. It was the first time I’d seen her since our spat on the day of the swearing in. It hadn’t been that long ago but, in that time, I’d been declared both a vampire and Saul’s mate. For a long while she just glared at me and I ignored her. I was so bored of her and I certainly wasn’t going to let her ruin my day.

“Don’t think you’ve won, this isn’t over, little half-breed,” she said quietly.

“Yes it is,” I said. “I’m his mate and ‘mate’ trumps ‘fuck buddy’, no matter what you do.”

I don’t know if she’d have replied or not but, at that moment, Saul turned up wearing his own black knee-length jacket, carrying my brown one over his arm. He’d been so quick that I knew he’d picked up on the tension. His eyes flicked between Monique and me, then his arm swept around my shoulders and we left.

It took a lot longer than I’d remembered to get to our spot, but that might have been because I didn’t drive at over a hundred miles per hour like everyone else seemed to.

Once there, we started our trek through the woods. Saul took my hand, only letting go of it when the path got too narrow to walk next to each other, but even then he always seemed to keep a hand on me. When he put a hand on my bum I turned to face him.

“Do you mind?” I asked.

He raised his eyebrows, the picture of innocence. “I was merely trying to help you climb that boulder without slipping.” He pointed to a rock that was probably the same size as my fist.

“Oh I see; it’s lucky you’re here or I might have had a serious accident.” I gave him a playful shove and then carried on walking. “You want to be careful, though, or you’ll go back on your word.”

“I don’t remember promising to keep my hands off you.”

“Well, you didn’t promise it, but you said you wouldn’t ever do it.” I glanced back to see Saul frowning.

“No, I think I’d have remembered saying that,” Saul said.

I stopped again and turned to face him. “You did say it. I told you that there were only two things a guy usually brings a girl out into the woods for and you said you’d never do either of them.”

“Oh, that,” Saul remembered.

“Yes that,” I said.

Saul must have picked up on my feelings because I saw the amusement on his face.

“That’s why you were in a bad mood? Because you thought I meant I didn’t want you?”

“Well, I don’t really see how else I could have taken it?”

“I only meant that I wasn’t the type of guy who brings women into the woods so that I can have sex with them. I didn’t want you to think that was the only reason I’d brought you here. I was trying to be a gentleman.”

I nodded, feeling more than a little embarrassed.

“Of course,” Saul continued, “now I know how much my not wanting sex in the woods upsets you, I’ll be more than happy to cheer you up.”

I could see the mischievous glint in his eyes.

I mirrored his look. “Only if you catch me first.”

I tore up the path. I didn’t hear him behind me, but I knew he was chasing me so I wasted no time looking behind. I kept waiting for his weight to crash into me but it didn’t. Only when I reached the edge of the tree line and the grassy hill stretched out in front of me did I risk a look behind me. He wasn’t there. I stopped in my tracks and scanned the trees for him but there was nothing. I was about to call out when there was a rustle above me and a figure dropped to the ground less than a foot away from me.

Saul picked me up and wrapped my legs around his waist.

“Caught you,” he said.

Heat instantly shot through my body. I knotted my fingers into his hair so that I could pull his mouth to mine. Without breaking our kiss Saul found his way up the hill and into the house. Our bench was still where we’d left it in front of the window but he pushed it out of the way with his feet.

Holding me to him with one arm and then the other, he managed to shrug the coat off and lay it on the floor before gently settling me on top of it.

As we made love the sun set outside, filling the room with a burning orange glow that seemed to mimick my feelings. It bathed us both in a luminous blush that made the moment dreamlike.

Afterwards Saul got up and sat back against the bench, pulling me to sit in between his legs with my back against his chest. We sat in silence watching as dusk turned into night.

As usual, Monique’s words flicked through my mind. I tried to push them away but it hadn’t been quick enough.

“Are you ever going to tell me what it is Monique said to you?” Saul asked.

I knew he’d sensed the animosity between us earlier but I didn’t know how he’d known I was thinking about her now.

“What do you mean?” I asked, hedging my bets in case he’d only been guessing.

“Every time we’re together now, there’s a moment when I can sense you’re upset and anxious. I didn’t know what it was until I felt the exact same emotions from you earlier when you saw Monique.”

I obviously hadn’t been as good at hiding my emotions as I’d thought.

“Judging by the spite pouring off Monique, I think I can guess what she told you,” Saul continued.

            “It’s nothing, I can’t handle,” I said. “Having you is worth putting up with a jealous ex.”

I felt Saul tense slightly behind me and realised that maybe he hadn’t known that I knew about the two of them. He swept my hair back from my face and rested his chin on my shoulder.

“She means nothing to me, Faine. You know that, right?”