Bound in Blood (9 page)

It could be done, with care, and although it would be so much easier if Christopher actually knew the truth, why should he be burdened with such an enormity? Vampirism, as seen through the human psyche, was enough to make the strongest man or woman run in terror. No, it was not yet time for the truth. And again, Carlos chastised himself for almost losing control and letting the bloodlust take over. He shuddered as he thought of the consequences had he not fought it with every vestige of his will.

Never could he allow that to happen again.

Hearing the sounds of murmured voices in the house, he stood and made his way downstairs to find Roger and Marcus in the living room, side by side on one of the couches, discussing something they had seen in the newspaper. Marcus looked up and smiled as Carlos entered the room.

“Hey, Carlos—” Roger waved the newspaper at him. “Get a load of this. Some guy swears he was attacked by a vampire the other night.”

Carlos took the newspaper and quickly scanned the article, sighing with some relief as he read the last lines. “
Although Billy Richards swore he was not hallucinating, the police have put
little credence to his statement, as no one else involved in the fracas saw anything strange about their
attacker. The men described their assailant as extremely tall—close to seven feet, one said, and
weighing about three hundred pounds
. Nothing strange indeed,” Carlos chuckled.

“Well, they wouldn’t want to sound like a bunch of wimps,” Roger pointed out, winking at Carlos. “I mean anyone who could actually lay out six men at once had to be huge

—or a
vampire.
”

BOUND IN BLOOD

J. P. Bowie

58

“I thought I had cleared their minds of the moment I revealed myself,” Carlos said, frowning. “Obviously I missed this one.”

“Or he had some form of immunity against mind control,” Marcus suggested. “We know there are certain humans who cannot be influenced by us—fortunately, a very few.”

“Well, the police think he’s looney-toons,” Roger remarked airily, “so I wouldn’t worry about it.” He rose from the couch. “I’m going to get ready for our night out.”

“I hope you don’t mind.” Carlos touched Roger’s arm. “I invited Christopher to join us at La Fortuna tonight.”

“Wow.” Roger beamed at him. “This
is
getting serious.”

“So Roger, try to be low key, please,” Marcus warned him. “I’m sure Carlos doesn’t want his date scared off by any of your of-the-wall remarks.”

Roger put his hands on his hips and tried to look offended. “
Well
, I would never try to spoil Carlos’ date. I shall be the soul of tact, as always.” Carlos and Marcus looked at one another and smiled. Roger narrowed his eyes at Marcus. “You, on the other hand, Mister, will have to do without later tonight.”

“Without what?” Marcus asked innocently.

“You know what—what you crave from me incessantly!”

Marcus raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow “That’s funny. I could swear it was the other way round.”

“Huh!” For once, Roger seemed stuck for a comeback. Instead, he flounced towards the living room door with a, “Get ready, you two,” command that left Marcus chuckling.

“I’ve said it before,” Carlos remarked, watching Roger’s exit, “but he is one of the most unusual vampires I’ve ever met.”

“Roger is a one off, for certain,” Marcus agreed.

“And he was mortal when you met.”

“Yes.”

“And how were you going to cope with that, if your ex-lover, Thomas, and the Comte hadn’t interfered and necessitated him being changed?”

“We had talked about it,” Marcus said. “I had laid out the options for him. Just like Andorra’s blood gives Tony a longer life, so it could have been with Roger and me.” He gave BOUND IN BLOOD

J. P. Bowie

59

Carlos a knowing look. “So it could be with you and the mortal of your choice. If he is, of course, willing.”

“Yes, I have thought of that.” Carlos smiled as he remembered. “He responded, uh…very well to my blood the other night.”

“Well…” Marcus chuckled softly. “Before you make any decision, see how he responds to meeting your friends tonight.”

“Should I be concerned?”

Marcus raised an eyebrow. “Roger will be there.”

“Ah.”

BOUND IN BLOOD

J. P. Bowie

60

Ron Hendricks, the manager of La Fortuna and lover of vampire Jean-Claude Lepeltier, took a look round his empty restaurant and sighed with relief. The last of his customers had just left, and now, he could set up a table for his late night guests. A corner table, out of sight from those passing the restaurant’s window was already occupied by Jean-Claude. The slim and elegant Frenchman smiled at Ron as he hurried over carrying a tray of wine glasses.

“Relax,
mon cher
,” he said, taking a couple of the glasses from the tray and placing them on the table. “It will be a few more minutes before they arrive—time for us to enjoy a glass of wine, alone together.”

Ron leant in for a kiss from his lover. “That sounds good. I brought a bottle of your favourite Pinot Noir up from the cellar.” Ron had long since explained these late night gatherings to the restaurant’s owner as a small club of wine connoisseurs. The owner, delighted with the extra revenue and the fact that Ron took care of it himself and had no need to pay any of the staff overtime had brought in some speciality wines for the ‘club’ to sample. If he wondered why all the white wines were ignored, he did not ask why.

“You could always tell him we’re the Red Wine Society if he asks,” Roger had suggested. “You know, like the Red Hat one.”

Ron smiled as he thought of Roger and Marcus and the others, and of how much his life had been changed since meeting Jean-Claude. Not as much as his friend Micah’s had been, he reflected with a wry twist to his lips. Ron was still a mortal, though destined to live longer than the normal span of human life, due to the occasional infusion of Jean-Claude’s blood.

But Micah had made the decision to join Joseph in immortality after he and his lover, Joseph, had both narrowly escaped death at the hands of an evil vampire and a crazed demon.

A tap at the door broke into his thoughts.

“They’re early,” he said to Jean-Claude, pulling the cork from the bottle of Pinot Noir.

“Could you let them in?”

“Of course.” Jean-Claude squeezed Ron’s arm as he passed him on his way to the door.

“Don’t be alarmed, but I think we have a mortal visitor.”

BOUND IN BLOOD

J. P. Bowie

61

“Who?” Ron fell quiet as Jean-Claude opened the door and admitted Carlos and a young stranger.
Oh boy
, he thought gloomily.
It’s gonna be a ‘pretend night’.
Ron had, over the course of his relationship with Jean-Claude, been able to tell vampire from mortal at a glance.

Some vampires, such as Jean-Claude himself, Marcus and Roger, could pass for mortal without difficulty, while others had an ethereal quality that set them apart and made them easy for him to recognise. Ron had not met Carlos before this evening, but he knew immediately who he was. Roger had called ahead to let him know to expect their friend from Spain. Ron also knew that the young man accompanying Carlos was most definitely not vampire.

He sighed as he thought of the side-steps everyone would have to take to keep him ignorant of the fact that the man he was dating was an immortal—that was exactly why he never invited Jonas, his brother, to these get-togethers when he was in town. Jonas would freak if he ever found out Jean-Claude was vampire. Ron’s lips twisted in a wry smile.

Actually, freak wasn’t a strong enough word
.

He pushed those thoughts aside as he went to meet Carlos and his friend.

“Ron…” Jean-Claude smiled at him as he introduced Carlos. “This is our friend from Spain, Carlos Galeano. Carlos, my lover, Ron Hendricks.”

Carlos took Ron’s hand in both of his and bowed slightly. “My pleasure, Ron. Roger has told me what a good friend you are to him. I believe you have had some adventures together.”

Ron grinned, charmed by Carlos’ gracious manners. “Life’s never dull when Roger’s around.”

“And this is Christopher Jeffries,” Carlos said, taking Chris’ arm.

“Hi.” Chris took Ron’s proffered hand with a shy smile. “Thanks for inviting me.”

“Oh, you’re welcome. I’ve just opened a Pinot Noir,” Ron told Chris. “The guys are all red wine drinkers, but I have beer if you’d rather?”

“Red wine’s great,” Chris said quickly.

Carlos took Chris’ hand as Jean-Claude led them to the corner table. “Christopher’s parents own a vineyard in Santa Barbara.”

BOUND IN BLOOD

J. P. Bowie

62

“Wow.” Ron sounded impressed. “Hope this Pinot Noir passes muster.” He put a glass in front of Chris and poured a small amount of the dark-red liquid. “I’ll let the expert be the judge.”

“I wouldn’t say I’m an expert,” Chris mumbled, raising the glass to his lips. He took a small sip, savouring the wine on his tongue before swallowing. “Very nice.”

Jean-Claude patted Chris’ shoulder. “You have good taste. That is my favourite.”

A loud rapping at the door had Ron chuckling. “That’ll be Roger.” He ran to the door and flung it open.

Chris stared, startled, as a blond-haired young man threw himself into Ron’s arms and started to chew on his neck—or at least, that’s what it looked like from where Chris was sitting. He felt a rush of relief when Ron laughed and disentangled himself from the young man’s arms and legs.

“Roger, you really are too much.”

“Better than not being enough,” the one called Roger replied then cast a long look towards the table where Chris sat. “You must be Chris…topher,” he said, advancing on the table, all smiles.

“R-right.” Although not tall, Roger had a larger than life appearance that made Chris slightly nervous. As his hand was taken in Roger’s cool grip, Chris couldn’t help but notice the man who loomed over Roger’s shoulder was, without doubt, the most beautiful man he had ever seen in his entire life. He found himself almost mesmerised by the emerald-green eyes that twinkled at him from a face that could only be described as perfect.

Roger caught Chris’ expression and grinned at him, showing very white teeth. “This ugly guy is Marcus, and I’m Roger. Pleased to meet you.”

Chris shook hands with them both, wondering if any other corner table in LA could boast so many hot-looking men. And it wasn’t over yet. Ron answered the door again and admitted two more handsome strangers introduced to Chris as Joseph Meyer and Micah Fitzgerald.

How many more hotties are going to show up
? he wondered.

“That’s it, no more,” Roger said, smiling at him. “The gang’s all here.”

Chris stared at him.
Did he just read my mind
? “Did you just read my mind?”

Roger chuckled. “Yes. Didn’t Carlos tell you I moonlight as a clairvoyant?”

BOUND IN BLOOD

J. P. Bowie

63

Good-natured laugher rippled round the table, but Carlos didn’t miss the warning look Marcus cast at Roger. It seemed that Roger’s impishness could get a little out of hand at times.

“Christopher is from Santa Barbara,” Jean-Claude said, changing the subject from things paranormal.

“Nice,” Micah remarked. “A bit conservative though.”

“Tell me,” Chris laughed. “West Hollywood’s at the opposite end of the spectrum in comparison.”

Ron brought another bottle of wine to the table. “This vintage has passed inspection by Christopher who is heir to a vineyard in Santa Barbara.”

“Wow, impressive.” Roger held out his glass for a refill. “What label should we look for?”

“Mountain Ridge Fine Wines,” Chris replied, a trace of pride in his voice. “The cabernet won honourable mention in
Great Wines Magazine
last year.”

“I’ll tell the boss to order some for the bar,” Ron said. “He’s always looking for new brands.”

“I’m going home for the weekend, so I’ll bring a bottle for you and him to sample.”

Chris looked around the table at the handsome men and found himself relaxing in their company. He’d been a little nervous of meeting Carlos’ friends, but they seemed so nice and friendly. He couldn’t help but notice how bonded the couples were. If Micah sat any closer to Joseph, his lover, he’d be in his lap, while Ron and Jean-Claude traded small smiles with one another across the table. Roger was a kidder, but easy to like, and Marcus—well, his sexy smile and husky voice would turn anyone’s head—even Chris’—if he wasn’t already smitten with Carlos. He turned to smile at the man in question and took his hand.

Funny, that his hands were always so cool to the touch, and now, when he thought about it, all the men he’d shaken hands with had that same coolness—all except Ron whose hands had been as warm as his own. Strange… He was suddenly aware Roger gazed at him with mischievous eyes.

“Cold hands, warm hearts,” Roger murmured.

“You did it again,” Chris exclaimed. “How do you do that?”

Roger’s expression changed to one of innocence. “Do what?”

BOUND IN BLOOD

J. P. Bowie

64

“You read my mind, again. You weren’t kidding when you said you were clairvoyant, were you?”

“
Roger
.” Marcus made an imperceptible movement with his hand, and Chris laughed suddenly.

“That’s the darnedest thing.” He flushed slightly with embarrassment. “I’ve totally forgotten what we were talking about. I’m sorry.”

“You were telling us about the cabernet from your vineyard,” Joseph said, leaning forward with seeming interest.

“Oh right. Well, it’s not mine. I mean, it’s my parents’ vineyard, but I’m very proud of what they’ve done.” He wondered why Marcus was looking daggers at Roger, not that Roger seemed worried about it. He was smiling sweetly at Marcus who gave a loud sigh of resignation. Well, he must have missed something there, he guessed.

Chris leant back in his chair as Carlos massaged the back of his neck with his strong fingers. Oh, but that felt good. The sensations rippling through his body created in him a need to be alone with Carlos, to show him just how much he loved him, and would miss him while he was in Santa Barbara.