Bannockburn Binding (Beloved Bloody Time) (18 page)

Her climax blazed through her and her empty pussy clenched. So did her ass, and Rob immediately gave a hoarse, soft cry, his cock spasming as he came in hard little pumps.

“No!” Lee said helplessly. Desperately. Tally turned her head and saw Lee throw his head back, his tendons standing out on his neck, as he came, too.

He fell forward, propping himself up over them both, breathing as heavily as Rob.

For long minutes their breathing was the only sound in the room. Then Lee lay on the bed next to Tally and Rob and sighed deeply. He stroked Tally’s bottom lip with his thumb, something he hadn’t done for nearly seventy years. The little caress brought tears to her eyes.

Lee looked up at Rob. “That was a fine, fine idea ye had there, Robert MacKenzie. I could get used to it.”

Rob eased himself onto the mattress beside Tally. “Better get used to it fast, Lee Hamilton. Because as soon as Tally has had something to eat so she gets colour back into her cheeks, I plan to take ye both again and this time you won’t be able to stand up afterwards.”

Tally held up a hand. “On one condition,” she said.

Both men looked at her expectantly.

“We arrange modern plumbing and a fully equipped bathroom with a shower in this cottage, or neither of you lay another hand on me again.”

Chapter Thirteen

Stelios looked far different from the frightened, filthy man who had begged them for food outside the Louvre. It wasn’t just a wash and clean clothes. Ryan could see he had restored his self-confidence in the last few weeks. Stelios looked Ryan in the eye when Ursella re-introduced them and even held out his hand for Ryan to shake it.

Ryan reassessed the man, trying to remember that he was both human and over ninety years old. His youthful, vigorous appearance was deceptive and Ryan realized that this was a factor that had made vampires seem so alien to humans, at first.

Cáel Stelios was a good looking man. The strong Greek heritage that ran in his family had given him the best of that race’s genetic endowments and none of the faults, as far as Ryan could see. Stelios was nearly as tall as Ryan, with the olive skin, dark eyes and glossy, thick black hair of a Mediterranean native. His eyes were one of his best features, giving him a particularly intense and focused gaze. But his smile was disarming: wide, white and warm and he turned it on Ryan at full strength as they shook hands the old fashioned way. To Ryan’s surprise, Stelios initiated the handshake.

“I appreciate you giving me your time, especially without warning in this way,” Stelios said.

Ryan glanced at Ursella. Her smile was forced. “I am merely a conduit here, Ryan. Cáel did not want to approach the Agency as a client, but rather as…well, I’ll let Cáel explain.”

“I’m here in my role as a member of the Worlds Assembly.”

“You have been appointed?” Ryan asked, surprised.

“This morning’s session.” Stelios’ black eyes twinkled.

“And your portfolio?”

“I don’t have one yet. Member at large.” Stelios grinned. “But I plan to change that very soon.”

“I’m sure you will,” Ryan said politely. “And as a member of the Worlds Assembly, you have made one of your priorities a visit to the Agency. That makes me curious.”

“It should scare you spitless, Ryan. I didn’t just make it one of my priorities. It was my first, period. As soon as I was sworn in and got the keys to the palace, so to speak, I accessed the information I was looking for and what I found was enough to send me straight here.”

“I’m listening,” Ryan assured him cautiously, wondering what the man was about to say.

The door chimed with Nayara’s code and Ryan let it open for her.

Nayara swept in.

Brenden must have warned her that Ryan had unexpected visitors, for Nayara had changed from the ancient Scottish clothing Ryan had seen her wearing just before she had left, a day ago.

From experience, Ryan knew that when Nayara was uncertain of a situation, she went for impact. She liked to intimidate and gain the upper hand.

Sweeping into the room was her first strategy and Ryan had to admit that Nayara could do it very well indeed. She didn’t wear the minimal acceptable business robe that most wore these days, like Ursella, but a gown that Ryan, who had seen centuries of fashion come and go, had a hard time pinning down and describing. He knew only that it made the most of her figure and the green glowing fabric emphasized her red hair. Her hair was loose and tumbling down around her waist in big curls. Her clear, pale skin was glowing with good health.

She took in the two visitors with a searing glance.

“Ryan, you asked me to stop by when I got back,” she said smoothly, failing to add that her return was from a thousand years away and halfway across the globe.

Stelios and Ursella both turned and Ryan saw Stelios’ jaw descend before he managed to catch it up once more.

Nayara radiated power and grace. As she walked over to Stelios, Ursella tugged at her own skirt and touched her hair.

Stelios cleared his throat. “I’m guessing you’re Nayara Ybarra.”

“And you’re Cáel Stelios,” she replied. “But I interrupted. Please go on.” She smiled at him.

Stelios spread his hands in a gesture Ryan instinctively understood. All nonsense over. This was plain speaking. With that one movement, he had dismissed the effect Nayara had on him and got back to business. “Have you heard of a man—a psi—called Gabriel?”

Both Ryan and Nayara shook their heads. Nayara settled herself on the corner of Ryan’s desk, her sleek length elongated by the pose. Ryan knew it was a practiced position. It was also a defensive one. The casual lean on one hand looked indolent, but it put Nayara in the best position to push herself up and into action in one quick movement. Nayara was still wary about Stelios.

Stelios frowned. “That surprises me.”

Ryan braced himself. “How much do you know of this Gabriel?” he asked Stelios. “What can you tell us?”

“A lot of it is speculation. Psi-filers are hard to document—hard to pin down.”

“We’ve noticed,” Ryan said non-committally and saw the corners of Nayara’s mouth turn upwards.

“Gabriel is the son of psi-filers. Two of them, so he’s technically a full psi himself. More interesting is that his parents were both designated File P. That makes them one of the last batches of psi ever made. By then, the geneticists had learned a lot about what they were doing and they were turning out some very powerful psychics. Not just the range of abilities, but the power they could wield was enormous.”

“We have a File P psi working for us,” Ryan said. “We’re familiar with their abilities.” There was no harm in telling Stelios that. Ursella had surely already revealed it.

Stelios nodded, as if this was not news. “Gabriel himself may or may not have inherited all his parents’ abilities, or more. With them both being psi, there’s no knowing what came out of the mix of their genes. Worse, he had an uncontrolled childhood.”

Ryan lifted his brow. “Uncontrolled?”

“All the original psi, the ones raised in state crèches, had basic ethics and discipline instilled—for all the good it did us.”

“I wasn’t aware of that,” Ryan responded. It occurred to him that there was a lot he didn’t know about Pritti. He had found her in the streets, fighting off a pack of scratch acid freaks. There had been five of them and all of them outweighed her. Such basic unfairness had caused Ryan to even the odds a little. Later, when he brought her back to the Agency to have her wounds dressed, she’d hinted that she had been living on the streets for many years. She had gone to work for the Agency after that and had demonstrated her character. Demands for further proof would have been an insult.

Stelios carried on. “Without the state crèche, Gabriel shouldn’t have developed much more than a strong sense of selfishness, but it seems that the man has a mission.”

“Psi rights,” Ryan finished flatly.

Stelios didn’t look surprised, merely thoughtful. “Yes, I thought you might leap to that sooner than most.”

“Psi can’t be trusted with the full responsibilities and freedoms of an adult human,” Nayara said.

“That’s what they said about us, once.” Ryan kept his tone mild, even though Nayara’s disparagement was not like her.

“It’s what many people still say.” Nayara’s gaze slid towards Ursella, who had the grace to blush.

“When it comes to psi, I tend to agree with them,” Stelios added. “Individual rights should come with equivalent responsibilities and the psi as a race have not shown they are capable of carrying much responsibility at all.” He straightened. “Which brings me to why I’m here. I think the Agency is in danger, Ryan.”

This time, Ryan completely failed to hide his surprise. So did everyone else in the room, but Ursella was the most shocked.

She straightened, her eyes widening and her mouth dropping open. “But…” Then she remembered where she was and shut it again. Her lips grew very thin. “Assemblyman Stelios, you had me bring you here under false pretences.”

“Yeah, sorry about that, old girl. But you wouldn’t have brought me here otherwise and I didn’t have time to build up my contacts and grease the skids.”

Ryan hid the smile that formed at Stelios’ casual ‘old girl.’ “You could have just called,” he pointed out.

“And cooled my heels for three weeks while you tried to figure out what I wanted. I don’t think you have the time for that.” Stelios brought his hands together. “Where I come from, a man discusses serious business over ouzo and ice. I don’t suppose you…?” he said hopefully.

Nayara went to the bar to pour the drink. Stelios looked pleased. “I was hoping, but I didn’t think you guys could eat or drink anything.”

“We can physically eat and drink, even though we don’t need to do either. Our bodies don’t use it for energy and can’t eliminate it. So eating and drinking comes with unpleasant side effects. Still, it allows us to pass as human when we need to.”

Nayara handed Stelios the freed-crystal glass.

“Then this…?” he asked, holding it up.

“For human visitors, such as yourself.”

“Your loss, then. Cheers,” Stelios said and drank. A sigh followed and he sank back in his seat. “Authentic stuff. I’m glad to see you know how to spoil your visitors.”

Ryan waited him out.

“It’s been a very long day so far,” Stelios said, putting the half-empty glass aside. He sat forward again. “If this Gabriel fellow is organizing psi, pumping them full of enthusiasm for his cause, then he’s building a bloody army, one that will come gunning for your folk.”

Ryan considered that. “If he’s interested in psi rights, then why would he build an army at all? Politics doesn’t need an army.”

Stelios shook his head in disagreement. “He’s building one, anyway.”

Ryan studied Stelios for a long moment, while the man sipped his ouzo. “You know something. Something else, not connected with this agency. That’s the thing you found out today, that brought you straight here.”

“Very good,” Stelios said softly.

“I must point out, for the last time,” Ursella said, “that this information is privileged and sensitive. You can’t just hand it over to anyone you feel like.”

“Ms. Shun, you’re an employee of the Worlds’ Assembly and by extension, you serve at my pleasure,” Stelios told her. “This man here saved my life.”

“He’s vampire,” she pointed out coldly.

“Vampire, human, psi—we’re all men at the base. We can all interbreed, with the right conditions, so don’t confuse your distaste with pragmatism.”

Having chopped Ursella off at the knees, Stelios turned back to Ryan, who hid his amusement carefully. It wouldn’t do to make Ursella too much of an enemy.

Stelios drained his glass, put it aside and spread his hands on his knees. Back to business again. “A bill has been introduced to the Assembly. It went through a reading this morning, but I’d heard rumour of it before today. It’s a comprehensive health bill, but buried in the footnotes is a nasty little clause that, amongst other things, calls for the enforced sterilization of psi…and their off-spring.”

Nayara caught her breath. It was a soft sound, but Ryan knew she was thinking of Natália, trapped back in the past, and how every vampire who knew of Natália’s plight was envious of her chance to bear off-spring. To be able to have children and then have that ability forcibly ripped from you… Yes, it was a nasty clause.

“And the Assembly supports this clause?” Nayara asked.

“It’s not being talked about openly.”

“It amounts to genocide!” Ryan declared. “This is intolerable. Why is no one talking about it?”

“I believe many in the Assembly are unaware of the clause. And there are some who silently support it.”

“How could anyone support it?” Ryan was horrified.

It was Ursella who responded. “Psi-filers breed indiscriminately and run rampant. The half-breeds have even less conscience and control. Their upbringing is abysmal, then their parents die young and leave them uncivilized.” She grimaced. “I must point out that I am quoting recent dinner conversations, not pronouncing my own feelings. After two hundred years fighting for vampire rights, Ryan, why do you need to ask this? Many people believe that psi are unnatural, a failed experiment that should be shovelled into the garbage can and forgotten. They also feel the same way about vampires, but vampires can’t breed.”