Charlotte & Sebastian (2 page)

Chapter Three

“
Charlotte? Sebastian?”

She turned at the sound of her name and saw the Director walking towards them. He waited until the two girls had been led off by someone from the psychology department who would help them come to terms with their friend’s death.

“Tell me they’re dead.”

Sebastian nodded, “All beheaded. They won't be coming back.”

The Director nodded, “Good work.” His gaze shifted between them, his brow rising when he saw the slashed shirt and the smooth skin beneath. He didn’t question it, thank God. “I’d like your reports before Wednesday.”

Charlotte nodded, wincing when she felt the bite mark burn at the small movement. Her fingers itched to touch it, to see if it had started bleeding but she managed to refrain as the Director turned and walked away.

She sensed the moment Sebastian turned to face her and felt her cheeks begin to heat. Suddenly uncomfortable she headed in the opposite direction, away from Seb and the Director, heading for the training room. She needed to work off some of this tension she was still carrying around.

Pushing through the double doors, she started removing her bulkier weapons as she headed down the long corridor and hip bumped the next lot open before heading inside the first doorway on her right.

Setting the guns and pair of knives on the bench seat that ran almost the length of the room, she reached into the back pocket of her cargo pants and pulled out the small key for her locker and shoved it in the lock. She twisted it and pulled the door open, removing the modified black sports bag from within and set it down at the side of her weapons and took her time putting them inside, all in their individual pouches and slots. That done, she hefted it over one shoulder and moved back into the corridor and pushed through the next lot of doors and entered the gym.

Charlotte paused when she saw Sebastian was already there and hammering the hell out of one of the heavy punch bags. It was swinging wildly from the ceiling, small bits of rag and foam falling to the floor as the seams began to give under the force of his punches. He moved beautifully, sleekly, like the predator he was.

Images flashed of the monster who'd killed her family and she looked away. Moving further into the room she headed for the treadmill on the opposite wall to where he was still pounding away at the bag. Setting her bag of weapons on the floor she stepped onto the machine and cranked up the speed to a fast jog. When that hadn’t done anything to her after several minutes, she put the speed up some more until she was at a steady run. Her breathing grew harsh and unsteady but she kept running, needing to tire herself out.

Glancing away from her own tiring face in the mirror, she saw that Sebastian was no longer pummelling the bag and had vanished. Good. Looking back at herself, she saw the strain on her face and pressed the large emergency stop button on the control panel.

As the belt came to a stop, she grabbed the rail on either side and bent her head to suck in deep lungfuls of air.

Suddenly feeling a presence beside her, on instinct, she backed up and rolled herself backwards over the rail of the treadmill, landing in a crouch on the other side and staring up at whoever it was.

“Nice move,” Sebastian enthused.

Charlotte glared at him. “What are you doing here? I thought you'd gone?” She climbed to her feet and folded her arms across her chest.

“I didn’t go anywhere.”

“
Obviously!”

“
Spar with me.”

She blinked, “Sorry, what?”

Gliding away from her towards the matted area in the corner, he gestured over his shoulder for her to follow him. She did so slowly, wondering what he was up to. Sebastian stood at one side of the mats and indicated she should stand opposite him.

“
Sebastian, I'm too tired for this.” He took no notice and seconds later she found herself on her back, winded.

“
Fight me.”

“
No.”

“
Fight me!”

Pushing to her feet angrily she dove at him, tackling him to the floor. Straddling his waist she drew back her fist and punched him in the face. It did nothing to him at all but sent a flare of pain up her arm. Then just because it had hurt she punched him again, harder.

His eyes flashed red for a second and suddenly she was transported back, his face morphing into that of her families' murderer and her body froze. Adrenaline began its rush through her and her body acted on impulse and before she was consciously aware, she had driven her small silver switch-blade in the side of his neck.

Eyes flaring icy blue, he howled in pain and reached up to touch the metal, shrinking back when his fingers touched the blessed silver and it burnt him.

Blinking, Sebastian's face once more transformed back into his own and she realised what she'd done. “Shit...Oh my God, Sebastian! I'm so sorry!”

His neck muscles were standing out and his skin was getting a translucent cast to it so she could see his veins beneath the surface and the odd colour that was slowly working its way down from the wound.

The silver was infecting him, killing him from the inside out.

Sebastian's throat worked several times before he managed to force any words out, his voice rough with pain, “Out. Pull it. Out.”

“You'll bleed out,” she said, her throat aching as she tried to hold back her tears.

His fingers were suddenly wrapped around her wrist, his grip painfully tight. “Pull. It. Out.”

Charlotte nodded and he released his grip. Leaning forward she gripped the handle and closed her eyes for a second to calm herself. Then with one hard tug, she pulled the blade out of his neck, cringing when she felt the resistance and heard the suction sound of it leaving his skin. He roared his pain and then collapsed on the floor, his chest heaving, eyes closed.

Blood began to pour from the wound and she pressed her palm against his neck hoping to staunch it somewhat. It worked for several seconds and then began to trickle between her fingers.

“You need blood,” she said, glancing down at him. “Is there any close by that I can go fetch for you?” He didn’t answer and she began to panic. “Sebastian? Sebastian!” Icy blue eyes flickered open and locked with hers. “Blood? Any close by?” His head moved slowly from side to side and then his eyes closed once more and he just lay there, still as death. “Shit.”

Glancing at the knife in her hand, she shuddered at the thought of what she was going to have to do.

She may have caused this but she hadn’t meant to and no matter how much he annoyed her at times she didn’t want him dead.

Placing the blade against her wrist, she looked straight ahead and ran the blade against her skin. Her breath hissed in through her teeth as she tried to keep her pain quiet and get on with it. Wrist throbbing, she pressed it against Sebastian's slightly parted lips and glanced away as she saw a trickle of blood leaking out of the corner of his mouth.

A jolt went through Charlotte when she felt suction at her wrist and she cast a quick glance in his direction. His hands fastened on her wrist and she had to fight the urge to pull away from his vice-like grip. There was a pinch and then she started to feel nice and a buzz went through her. It didn’t hurt any more and she looked at him in wonder.

Sebastian's ice blue eyes glanced across at her after several seconds and his grip tightened. She gasped from the pain and wobbled where she knelt. Her head was feeling fuzzy and her  eyelids were drooping. She was so tired. Eyelids flickering closed, she felt herself slump to the side and couldn’t bring herself out of her stupor to stop her fall.

Hands caught her gently and she felt weightless.

With a small smile on her lips, she slipped into sleep.

Chapter Four

When Charlotte awoke the next morning she had a headache. A pounding like she'd never felt before and it hurt.

Letting out a soft groan, she rolled over and bumped into something hard and rolled back over. Nestling her face into her cushion, it took her a few long seconds to realise she wasn’t alone in her bed and then she sat upright, pushing the covers aside. She teetered to one side and put out a hand to stop herself from hitting the mattress and stared wide eyed at a semi-naked Sebastian laid watching her.

“
Morning.”

Her mouth dropped open at his casualness and then snapped shut again. “What are you doing in my bed?”

Brows raising over his sapphire blue eyes, he asked, “What do you remember from last night?”

Last night? “The mission; we killed the rogue werewolves and retrieved two woman from the warehouse before they could come to harm.”

“What happened after that?”

Charlotte's brows drew together as she thought back to the previous night and what had happened after the mission. “We were in the gym. I was on the treadmill, you were destroying the heavy bag,” she said, lips quirking. “Then you wanted us to spar...oh God,” suddenly she remembered everything. Scrambling across the mattress she touched his neck in the exact spot where she'd stabbed him with the blade, but there was only smooth skin. “You're okay,” she whispered.

Sebastian's fingers covered hers, “Thanks to you.”

An unladylike snort left her lips and she absently stroked his lukewarm skin, “It was the least I could do after causing the wound in the first place.”

“Want to tell me what it was all about?” He asked softly.

Thoughts of last night and the reasons behind it made her uncomfortable and Charlotte shook her head before moving back to her own side of the bed and flopping onto her back. She closed her eyes, hoping he'd get the message and leave. It was her day off and she wanted to sleep this headache off and hopefully create a few pints of blood while she was at it. Feeling helpless was not something she liked or wanted to become accustomed to and blood donation was not something she was going to volunteer for often, if ever again.

“Charlie?”

Groaning a protest, she reached down for the covers and pulled them over her head. The duvet was quickly whipped back off her body and she rolled over to glare daggers at him. “Don't you have something better to do than bug me?”

His dark blue eyes met hers, “I am running a little low on blood.” Her cheeks began to burn at his reference to last night but held his gaze. “I may have to go hunt down a willing donor since I can't go outside...” he trailed off as his eyes flickered to her throat and the pulse pounding there, “and the blood stock is running low. Can you think of anyone who'd let me take some blood?”

Charlotte tried to ignore the surge of jealousy burning through her, but she was sure it was obvious in her next words, “Is my blood not enough for you?”

His sooty lashes dropped to rest on his cheeks to hide his expression but she saw his smirk and wanted to smack it from his face. He knew how she felt and was enjoying it.

“
I lost a lot of blood last night and though I took a lot from you, it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t going to make you anaemic just so I could be sated. I took just enough to be able to function, carried you back here, and stayed with you through the night to make sure you were okay. Now I need more.” Sebastian ran his hand through his dark hair, making it even more tousled, “and you're hardly in a position to volunteer.”

Dropping her gaze to the amethyst coloured sheet beneath her, she smoothed out the wrinkles. “Adrianna, the Director's PA, might let you take some from her. I think she's enamoured with you.”

A second later she felt his breath against her cheek and he said quietly, “You have no need to be jealous, Charlie. You're the only woman I'm interested in and if you were feeling okay, I'd be sinking my teeth into your skin and my cock into              your body.” She sucked in a quick shocked breath but her body responded to his words, her nipples tightening and a shiver running down her spine. His head turned, his lips grazing her skin briefly and then he was gone. The soft click of the door told her of his exit from the room and she puffed out a breath.

She couldn’t believe what she'd done last night; losing it like that and attacking Sebastian. It was crazy. Stupid.

Charlotte couldn’t get over how nice he was being considering she'd almost killed him. If it had been the other way around she'd have made him regret it, not held him all night to make sure he was okay. She shook her head and let out a sigh.

Determined to go back to sleep she shut her eyes and removed any thoughts of last night and one blue eyed vampire and eventually slipped into her sleep.

That didn’t stop him from entering her dreams; erotic dreams of burning blue eyes and the flash of fang as he made love to her, her body aching like never before as he brought her to the brink only to stop and tease a different part of her body until she was begging him. He was just about to fulfil her wish when her eyes flew open.

Her gaze flicked around her room cautiously, wondering what had woken her. She'd been asleep little over an hour but her headache had already subsided to a dull throb that she could live with.

Pushing up on her elbows, she listened for several long seconds and caught a slight whine, like a door that wanted to squeal a protest at being used. Just like her en-suite one did. With a curiously cautious air, she climbed out of bed and silently worked her way over to the door.

It could be any member of the Agency behind that door; she hardly ever locked her door, if ever, and they all knew each other from working together at some point in time. Though why they'd come in today on her day off she had no idea. And her bathroom?

Turning the handle she pushed the door open and it whined, just like it had earlier and she found herself staring at fellow agent and close friend, Sarah Mullins. The other woman turned and smiled at her as she smoothed her hair back into some semblance of order. “Morning,” she chirped.

Brows pulling down, she leant against the door frame, “What are you doing in my bathroom, Sarah?”

Lips pulling up into a satisfied grin, she shot Charlotte a sideways look, “I needed to smarten up after a little tête-à-tête with Mikey.”

Unable to help herself, she gasped, “Mikey? You just--? With Mikey?”

Mikey was the hottest guy in the Agency minus Sebastian, who didn’t really count since he wasn’t entirely human. He was as hard headed and ice cold as he was sexy and Charlotte was aware that her friend had been trying to crack him since she'd first met him almost a year ago.

Sarah's grin grew wider as she turned to face her. “Uh huh. It was so much better than I thought it would be.”

Charlotte grinned at her friend, happy for her. “Is it going to be a regular thing or—?”

Her sentence trailed off as her room door opened again and in walked Sebastian. His eyes met hers briefly before he turned to shut the door behind him, and as he turned she saw the  small trickle of blood at the side of his mouth and suddenly felt sick.

Sarah must have seen something on her face because she moved forward, coming out of the bathroom and eyeing Sebastian suspiciously. “What are you doing in here?”

They'd never liked each other.

The vampire's eyes flicked to Charlotte briefly and then he turned his smirk on the other woman. “I was curious as to the two heartbeats in here and thought I'd check it out. I didn’t expect it to be two women; the most beautiful ones at that.”

Sarah's face showed her disgust and she prodded him in the chest with her index finger, “I don’t know how Charlotte puts up with your bullshit or the fact that you're a bloodsucker, especially after what happened.” In the seconds following that sentence, Charlotte could once again feel Sebastian's eyes on her, wondering what had happened in the past, and this time she avoided his eyes. “But
I’m
not going to put up with your shit, so why don’t you fuck off to wherever a monster like you goes during the day?”

The venom behind Sarah's words had Charlotte wincing.

“Later, Charlie,” and then she felt the faintest brush of something against her cheek and then  he was gone.

A noise left her friend and she glanced at her to see Sarah's lip curled in a sneer. “He needs to stay away from you. It's like he's obsessed. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed?” Charlotte's mouth dropped open, ready to argue but nothing came to mind to dispute her friend. “Anyway, I need to go,” her friend said, voice softening, “I'm on duty. Take care.”