Fallen Stars (The Demon Accords) (30 page)

“One of your better ideas… back when you had them,” she said.  The jibe was delivered gently, and she waited to see how I took it.

“You know, there’s been speculation that I hired that vampire myself just to erase my memories of cruel punk vampires,” I replied.  She smiled and nodded as she handed the biscuit into the toothy maw and instant dog biscuit oblivion. “And to answer your question, the book is supposed to be impervious to fire.”

The others were still checking out the book, although Tanya watched our little banter with a small smile.

“So this is sort of some kind of doomsday book?” Gramps asked, puzzled.

“Well, the witch that wrote it was very powerful and it has her darkest secrets, but the Hellgate in Asheville was like a coincidental confluence of events.  The house had stored and built up psychic energy for decades. The spell had been conducted but never finished, so when the book was found, somehow those little were girls triggered it,” I said.

“I’m not sure I buy all that.  I don’t much care for coincidence.  Especially when you add another gate here in the City,” Gramps said, patting his pockets.  I knew what he was looking for.  I couldn’t tell you where the majority of my possessions were or what my password to Facebook was these days, but I knew Gramps was looking for his pipe.  When thoroughly vexed with a problem, he liked to clench it in his teeth even if it wasn’t lit.

“It’s in your jacket pocket… I can smell it from here,” I said, pointing to where his Carhartt lay draped over an expensive armchair.

“You know, the fact that a second gate had formed close to the time of the first one did bother me as well.  What’s going on to create these things?” Lydia asked, watching the old man as he found his pipe, packed it with Captain Black tobacco, and dug out a lighter.  “Whoa there, cowboy. No smoking in these rooms.  We just had this suite renovated,” she said.

He looked guilty for a moment, then a bit rebellious, and finally resigned to just clench the unlit pipe.  Looking at the stern vampire, he opted for a redirection tactic.

“Tanya, when was the last time you fed?” he asked.

I knew his ploy, as I’m sure the others did, but it worked.  We all looked at my beautiful vampire.

“I’ve fed,” she said, defensively.

Both Lydia and Nika laughed.  “You’ve had two units of
bagged
blood in the last four days.  You haven’t fed properly since Chris had to exit stage left!” Lydia said.

“You’re gonna take care of that… right, boy?” Gramps said, looking at me sternly.

Uh oh!
  I knew vampires drank blood, but the whole question of whether
my
vampire drank from me had been a twitchy little question I had avoided thinking too much about.  It made sense, but I didn’t remember any of my previous life.  Did it hurt?  Was it violent? 

“Listen up, whelp,” Gramps said after reading my expression.  “You are the only person that
your
girl will feed from!  Now, I realize that you don’t remember anything, but from what
I
know, you like to feed her as much as she likes to eat.  As in it’s something you
really, really
enjoy!  So you need to get over any little squeamish girly feelings and get her fed or by God, I’ll do it!”

My grandfather is old school to the core, and his respect was one of the most important things in my life.  The fact that he talked to me at times like the former Marine Captain he had been, chewing out a soldier, was, perversely, a point of pride for me.  It didn’t matter that I could juggle refrigerators or hang upside down from the ceiling in my sleep.  He wielded my respect for him like a mother used guilt on her kids.  Not to mention the instant, unreasoning jealousy that flooded me at the thought of the beautiful, azure-eyed vampire's teeth touching anyone else’s skin but mine.

“I’ll take care of it,” I almost growled back before adding a belated, “Sir.”

He looked at me with a level gaze for a moment before turning back to
my
vampire.  “Just why did Christian have to rush out of town, anyway?”

She grimaced.  “My grandmother, Senka, is a ruthless creature.  She has plans within plans for everything.  Old vampires get like that… constantly plotting and planning, but she takes it to a higher level.  Anyway, she and Tzao decided to fill the third Elder position, and they knew who they wanted for the job.  Trouble is, the Elder positions are theoretically picked by a conclave of very old vampires.  So she needed to influence the outcome.  She used my Christian to do it.  She planted seeds in certain ears and let the attached mouths spread rumors about him.  The candidate, Mausya, took the bait and used it as a campaign for office.  Then Senka manipulated events to cause one of the other candidates to attack my Christian.  That one died, in a rather dreadful manner as he should have, only it truly terrified the older vampires.  Your grandson has the ability, without exerting much effort, to cause an old vampire to realize all their pent-up years at once.  Frimunt died of old age in moments.”

Lydia laughed, “Looked like the Crypt Keeper from that old television show, Tales from the Crypt.”

“I thought Senka liked Chris?” Gramps asked.

“Oh, she loves him,” Tanya said with a casual wave of one arm in my direction.  “But that has nothing to do with using him.  She uses everyone around her.  Me, Lydia, Nika, my mother, everyone.  It’s her nature.  It’s a very vampire thing to do.”

“So how does that stand… the older vampires fear of Chris.  Is that why a vampire shot him?”

Anger flashed across Tanya’s perfect features. “The Conclave has dispersed.  Almost all the old vampires have left.  Mausya and Senka are still here, but both will leave shortly to see Mausya settled as Elder in Europe.  The ones remaining are still afraid of my Chosen but have greater fears at the moment.”

“Yeah, they fear Tanya!” Lydia said.  “She’s been on the warpath since you left, Chris. When you got shot, she challenged and dueled the seven most vocal opponents of your existence… all at once.  Killed all seven in one big brawl.  The funny thing is that now we don’t think that sniper was sent by any other vampires.  We think he was a hired mercenary.”

I studied Tanya, who was carefully not looking at me but was facing my grandfather.  Her beauty was so overwhelming, it was hard to see the dangerous predator underneath.  But if you ignored her feminine curves and instead noted the taut muscles and perfect balance, then a hint of her dangerous potential peeked through.  And she was mine.  I couldn’t remember my life before, yet I looked at her and just
knew
that we were a matched pair.  Something that went beyond the crazy vampire bond that she had with me.  Her gaze finally moved to meet mine as she felt what I felt.  Then she smiled, somehow both shy and sly at the same time.

“I’m hungry,” she said.

  “The lady has spoken," I said to the others as I went to her, letting her draw us into one of the suite's bedrooms.

Chapter 33

It was noon by the time I cracked the door on our bedroom.  Tanya was fast asleep, which I gathered was normal for vampires.  Our night had been… a revelation.  Gramps was right: feeding my vampire was amazing.  The flood of sensation and emotion that had accompanied her bite had been like nothing I had ever experienced… well I had, I just couldn’t remember it.  And sex?  Sex was beyond whatever I had imagined it to be.  Apparently, my body remembered more than I did, as my responses to her had been more certain than they had any right to be.

Gramps was sipping coffee and working his way through a book of crosswords.  Awasos was lying by his feet in bear form like a small couch.

“Hey, kiddo, how do you feel today?”

A shit-eating grin lit up my face and nothing I could do would wipe it away.  “Like that, is it?” he asked with a laugh.

I shrugged, still grinning like an idiot, but my path to the table was sidetracked by the covered plate of food on the counter.  Four empty and tongue-cleaned plates were lined up on the floor underneath it, testimony to my were bear-wolf’s breakfast.

I grabbed the plate, filled a mug with coffee from the carafe on the counter, and moved to the dining table.

Gramps watched me get settled with my oversized plate of eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, and hash browns.

“You seem pretty good for a fella that took a .308 round to the head,” he noted as I started shoveling food into my face.

“I guess.  I’d rather have some pain and scars but have my memory back,” I said around a mouthful of sausage.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, boy,” he said automatically.  “Listen, now that the ladies are all down for the day, this is a good chance for us to have a talk.”

I just nodded, choosing to keep the food intake at full steam rather than use any words.

“So I get a phone call yesterday that you’d been shot.  Tanya called me herself, which was good, because if she believed you were physically okay, then I did, too.  I
knew
she would move heaven and earth if need be.  Then she sent a helicopter for me.” He shook his head as he spoke, like the memory still floored him.  “Damn thing set down right in the north field.  Brett and company were with me when it landed,” he said, then paused at the question in my eyes.  “Oh, right.  You don’t know who I’m talking about, do you?”

I shook my head, still eating.

“Brett Mallek is the Alpha werewolf of a small pack that lives next to us. 
You
set the whole thing up.  His parents are the Alphas of the New York City Pack, which is the one that your blonde werewolf is part of.  We’ll get back to
her
in a minute,” he said, giving me a level look which I returned, adding a twirling hand gesture to get him to continue.  He raised one eyebrow but went on.

“So three security guys roll out of the chopper and take up positions around the damn copter like I’m the president or something.  Then this fireplug of a fella steps up to me and introduces himself as Deckert.  Runs the human security force for your princess, which I guess is a big job, but he came to get me himself on account of I’m
your
family and he wasn’t taking any chances.  Former Marine Force Recon.  Good guy.  We talked on the way down.  The kinda solider most officers would want to clone and fill a platoon with.  Anyway, here I am, zipped from the farm to this posh hotel in mere hours.  I gotta tell you, Chris, I was pretty worried when you stepped in.  I didn’t know if you were half lobotomized or what.  But you seem really good.  Although –" he paused to draw a breath, “you seem a bit different as well.  Lydia mentioned it after you and Tanya… retired.  She noticed that you’re much edgier.  Quicker to jump down someone’s throat.  I see it, too.  Thought we should talk about that.”

I had a mouthful of pancake, so I took a moment to chew and swallow, which gave me time to think.  When it was finally safe to open my maw, I
almost
had my thoughts in order.

“I have no idea what’s going on almost all the time.  I don’t know anyone, I don’t recognize anything or any place, but it’s all being shoved at me rapid fire.  People look at me and I can tell they know me by their body language, but I don’t have a clue who they are.  I can do all this stuff—lift cars, jump on top of buildings, move really fast.  Did you know I can take quarters and shoot them like a plasma weapon?”

“Actually, I did.  Len and I figured that one out for you,” he said with a grin.

“Anyway, it’s all one steady, full on mindfuck—sorry.”  Gramps wasn’t big on swearing although there were moments when it was appropriate.  My use of the word showed him how messed up I was.

“That’s why it’s so great to see you.  You’re the only one I know.  I can
feel
that I know Tanya and I can feel her emotions, which is bizarre, but that’s the only ace I got.  Gramps, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing or how I got this way.”

A giant furry head pushed its way onto my lap and I lay one hand over the massive skull without thinking about it.

“What about him?” Gramps asked, smiling at the beast.

“He feels right, like he belongs with me, but I don’t remember him.  The temper thing you mentioned is there, sir.  It’s frustration, mainly.  But also... I’ve lost so much time.  I don’t want to lose more time to stupid things.  People with shitty attitudes, people that expect butt kissing, or any crap like that.  I’m not going to waste brain power on that stuff.”

He was watching me carefully, a look I remembered well growing up.  It was his
evaluation
look, the one he used when he was judging my attitude, and it was so damn familiar, it almost made me cry.  One thing that I could recognize.  I almost hugged him for just looking at me that way.

“I guess I can relate to that.  But listen, kiddo.  You need to temper that a bit.  From what I understand, you have lots of time, decades, maybe centuries of time.  So you need to be a little sensitive to how things flow, ya see?”

“They told me about that; at least, Stacia did.  That I don’t age anymore.  But sir, I feel like I just got out of college.  That I just graduated.  But I didn’t.  I led a whole life and now I’ve got none of that.”

“That brings us back to Stacia.  Tell me about her,” he said, sipping his coffee.

“Well, she was the first person I met after… after the shot.  Her and ‘Sos," I said, patting the bulk on my lap.  “She helped me… with everything.  Never asked me for a thing.”