Perilous Partnership (41 page)

“I‟ll be fine,” Jean said. “I fed the night before last.”

“Are you sure? I don‟t want anything to happen to you,” Raymond said, holding out his wrist in offering. “Even if it‟s not a full feeding, take a little to tide you over. I‟ll worry the whole time we‟re apart if you don‟t.”

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The offered hand was a slap in the face. With a roar, Jean tackled Raymond to the bed, his lips going to his lover‟s neck as his fangs dropped and penetrated, sucking deeply.

The taste of Raymond‟s blood calmed him almost immediately. No matter how he had taken the gesture, Raymond still loved him, was genuinely worried about him, and reacted to his bite with the same breathtaking desire he had felt since they became lovers. Gentling his feeding, he cradled Raymond‟s head in his hands, stroking the short, dark hair tenderly as he swallowed enough blood to hold him until he and Raymond could be together again.

When he was full, he lifted his head, licking at the wounds to close them.

“Don‟t ever offer me your wrist like that again unless you‟re telling me you‟re done with me as anything but a casual partner,” he said. “Even if we‟re arguing, don‟t push me away like that.”

“I‟m sorry,” Raymond said immediately. “I wasn‟t thinking like that. I was thinking about speed, that‟s all.” He kissed Jean tenderly, heedless of the blood still staining his lover‟s fangs. “I‟ll see you in Paris, either tomorrow morning or the day after at the latest. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Jean said, watching with a sinking stomach as Raymond and his bag disappeared.

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RAYMOND detoured by his and Jean‟s apartment only long enough to leave his bag before going out to l‟Institut. He kept looking automatically for Jean, only to remember that the vampire was still in La Réunion.

Thierry met him in the cloister, the wards having alerted him to Raymond‟s arrival.

“Adèle has changed the wards again,” Thierry said without preamble.

“Approved people can still come and go, but any time someone comes through, the wards sound a notice. If nothing else, it should keep whoever is here aware of arrivals.”

“Does she have any idea how the perpetrator got through the wards last night?” Raymond asked.

“None whatsoever,” Thierry replied. “She‟s checked the entire perimeter and couldn‟t find any weakening or any evidence of tampering. She‟s completely baffled. Unless the person who did it had help on the inside.”

“Someone from l‟Institut?” Raymond gaped at Thierry. “You can‟t be serious!”

“According to Adèle, we‟re either looking at an inside job or someone who can cut through her wards like they aren‟t even there without her magic even recognizing the intrusion.”

“Leighton?” Raymond postulated.

Thierry shrugged. “That was my first thought too, but she says her wards and other locking spells have worked on him before because they actually affect the door handle or the wall or whatever instead of Leighton himself, but I still think it could be. I‟d rather it was him than think we‟ve got a saboteur in our midst or a rogue wizard or other magical creature that can brush Adèle‟s wards aside like they aren‟t there.”

“That would be… disconcerting,” Raymond agreed.

Thierry smiled at the understatement. “Downright terrifying,” he corrected.

“Adèle‟s wards are second only to Marcel‟s. Serrier couldn‟t get through the ones she did at Milice headquarters. I‟d rather deal with an inside job, as much as I hate to think of that kind of treachery.”

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“Let‟s take a look at the damage,” Raymond said. “We can stand here debating all day, but we only have about ten days to get l‟Institut back on its feet before the next seminar begins.”

“I called everyone I could think of for help,” Thierry said. “Angelique says she remembers where they bought most of the furniture. She‟s offered to take madame Naizot and whatever wizard can send pieces back here once they‟ve made purchases to start furnishing rooms in either the abbot‟s lodge or the monks‟ cells for the wizards, since I don‟t know if we can get the Hostellerie usable again in time.”

“I knew there was a reason I left you in charge,” Raymond said, summoning a smile. “Thank you, Thierry. Seriously. Everything is all out of whack at the moment, so I really appreciate you being on top of things.”

“Everything?” Thierry said, glancing pointedly at the bite marks on Raymond‟s neck.

Raymond sighed. “Everything. Jean wants more of a commitment from me than I feel prepared to make. It made for a tense day yesterday.”

“That would be rough,” Thierry agreed. “I‟m not prying, but if you ever need someone to talk to, don‟t forget that Alain and I both have vampire partners in our lives, and while Orlando is different, Sebastien is every bit as stubborn as Jean is, and even Orlando has his moments. Alain has told me stories that certainly surprised me.”

“Thank you again,” Raymond said. “I might take you up on that.”

“Careful when we go inside,” Thierry warned. “Magali, Vincent, and I have stabilized everything as much as we could, but you might want to put up your shields just in case.”

Raymond summoned a barrier of protective magic, sensing Thierry doing the same next to him. It was not something he could maintain indefinitely, but it would provide some protection during the tour of the damaged building.

“The fire started here,” Thierry said, pointing to the remains of the curtains on the windows just inside the door. “The arson inspector found traces of gasoline dashed on the cloth here and on the rugs. The stone itself wouldn‟t burn, but the drywall the previous owners had used to cover the walls caught and helped the fire spread from room to room, as did the wooden beams. We may want to consider leaving the walls stone after we clean the rooms. The fire would not have done nearly the amount of damage it did without the drywall.”

“We‟ll definitely keep that in mind,” Raymond agreed, surveying the blackened walls and ruined furniture. “How much of it is like this?”

“The entire ground floor and most of the second floor. The third floor is mostly smoke and water damage. The arson inspector recommended a fire

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recovery service in Dijon that could help with the cleanup and restoration. I haven‟t contacted them yet because I want to make sure the structure is sound before we let anyone in.”

“Not to mention that we have no idea who did this in the first place, and the more people we let in for whatever reason, the harder it will be to catch the person responsible,” Raymond said. “I‟ve seen enough. Unless there‟s something in particular you need to show me?”

Thierry shook his head. “It‟s more of the same upstairs. What are you going to do now?”

“Prepare a statement for the press, contact the participants in February‟s seminar and be honest with them about the sabotage in case they want to change their minds, and call in every favor owed to me by every wizard in France to get the repairs done here as quickly as possible,” Raymond said.
And
if I keep busy enough, maybe I won’t spend every second expecting Jean to
appear.

“D‟accord,” Thierry said. “I‟ll be here doing what I can. Call if you need anything.”

Raymond nodded and returned to Paris. Fabienne had not come in yet, so he went in his office and shut the door, trying to focus his mind on anything besides Jean‟s absence. He had not realized how used to his lover‟s presence he had become, but they had hardly been separated since they met, other than a few hours here and there for this meeting or that. He kept hearing Jean‟s voice playing in his head. “A quick little burn and we could be joined.”

Heart pounding at what he was considering, he left a note on his door saying he had gone out and would be back shortly. Going home, he went into Jean‟s library, running his finger along the spines, trying to find anything that would tell him more about the Aveu de Sang. He could ask Alain about it from a wizard‟s perspective, or Sebastien, Orlando or monsieur Lombard from a vampire‟s perspective, but that would mean revealing his interest, and he was not sure he wanted to do that. The Aveu de Sang, if he and Jean made it, would have to be a secret, and the more people he talked to about it in theory, the more people who would wonder, who might even ask, if they had made one.

The organization of tomes frustrated him, leaving him no closer to finding an answer to his questions. With a sigh, he leaned back in the chair and tried to decide what to do next. He had to make a decision, and he could not do that without all the information he needed. Deciding to bite the bullet and take Alain into his confidence, he pulled his coat back on so he could return to l‟ANS.

He opened the door to his apartment in time to dodge Alain‟s knock, which would have hit him on the nose if he had been a little slower.

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“What are you doing here, Alain?” Raymond asked, surprised to see Alain on the landing.

“Looking for you,” Alain said. “Orlando was adamant that I find you right away.”

“Why? What‟s wrong?” Raymond asked, concerned now that something else had gone wrong.

“He didn‟t say,” Alain replied. “He just kept saying I needed to find you.”

“Well, I‟m glad you did,” Raymond said. “Would you like to come in for a few minutes? I can make us some coffee, and I‟d actually like to talk to you about a couple of things.”

“Sure,” Alain agreed, coming into the apartment. Raymond hung up his own coat and took Alain‟s as well.

“The kitchen is tiny, but you‟re welcome to join me, although I think you‟d be more comfortable out here,” Raymond offered.

Alain followed him into the small room. Raymond took comfort in the familiar ritual of making coffee as he searched for a way to ask his questions without revealing the depth of his interest. “It must be strange, having Orlando in your head all the time.”

Alain frowned a little. “What, you mean because of the Aveu de Sang?”

“Yes,” Raymond said. “How do you know what thoughts are yours and what are his, even?”

“It‟s not like that,” Alain said quickly. “I can‟t sense his actual thoughts, first of all, just general emotions. I know if he‟s happy or sad or hungry, that sort of thing, but I can‟t tell what he‟s thinking. If I had been able to, it would have made the search for him much easier when he was missing. All I knew then was that he was in pain and that he missed me.”

“But it‟s still always there, right?” Raymond said. The coffee pot hissed as it finished brewing, so Raymond poured them each a cup, setting one in front of Alain. He had watched the other wizard drink coffee often enough to know he liked it black. “So how do you know what you‟re feeling is your emotion and not his?”

Alain took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to explain the connection he had with Orlando. “Yes, if we‟re fighting, I have to be careful not to let his anger trigger mine, but most of the time it isn‟t like that,” he said slowly. “It‟s like hearing someone else‟s laughter. It‟s contagious, but you know you‟re reacting to something external. If you laugh with them, it‟s because you share their amusement, not because they‟ve somehow forced you into it. I can feel Orlando‟s emotions, but I always know they‟re his, and most of the time,

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they‟re just there, in the back of my mind. I don‟t even think about it anymore, unless he deliberately projects something to get my attention.”

Alain did not mention the occasions when Orlando would send a jolt of desire his way during a particularly boring meeting, a promise of later to tide him over until the end of the day. He had no idea what Raymond was driving at with his questions, but some things were meant to be private.

“And if you really need to concentrate? If having something like that happen would be a distraction?” Raymond pressed.

“It‟s possible to block it for a short period of time,” Alain replied, “but honestly, I find it more disruptive to my concentration to put the block in place than I do to feel Orlando there. If I really need to concentrate on something, I let him know what‟s going on and he has enough respect for me not to disturb me. I would imagine you ask Jean not to disturb you occasionally if you‟re in the middle of something. It‟s the same thing, just on a different plane.”

“So you don‟t feel… I don‟t know, like you‟ve lost a part of yourself because of the Aveu de Sang?”

“Does Jean want to mark you?” Alain asked. “Is that what this is all about?”

Raymond hesitated, but he could not make himself lie. “He mentioned it while we were in La Réunion. It caught me totally off guard, and I reacted…

badly. If you had it to do over again, knowing what you know now, would you do it again?”

“In an instant,” Alain said, his conviction ringing in his voice.

“You don‟t feel like his opinion influences you unduly?”

“Any relationship influences you,” Alain reminded Raymond. “You think of things because of Jean that you wouldn‟t have considered a year ago. Is that unduly influencing you, or is that being sensitive to the needs and desires of the person you love? The Aveu de Sang isn‟t any different. Okay, maybe it‟s a deeper bond, but you have to remember that it goes both ways. Orlando is as aware and as influenced by my needs and wants as I am by his. You‟re thinking about it in terms of losing yourself, which I understand because I had the same reaction at first, but it isn‟t like that. I haven‟t lost anything by being Orlando‟s lover, by being his Avoué.”