Scent of a Vampire (20 page)

We walked all the way down to the dock in silence. There he spun me around and forced my head to the side. He sucked in his breath when he saw the faint marks on my neck. "That sonofabitch," he swore. "Why didn't you tell me?" he demanded.

"I didn't think it would matter." I said.

"Did he say anything?" he asked. I thought of all of the things that Alex had said to me. All of the sweet, intimate things and to tell Roberto would feel like a betrayal.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

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"When he bit you? Did he say anything as he did it"?

I thought back and remember him saying something about offering his life.

"No. He didn't say anything." I lied. Roberto looked relieved but still not happy. I felt like I needed to explain, "Alex lost a lot of blood. We weren't in a place where we could hunt and my only other option was to lure someone to the room and I couldn't do that. I was the only option."

Roberto turned away and asked, "Did you enjoy it?" I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him and rested my head against his back, "I'll be honest with you. It was pleasant and there was some sexual tension and he became excited. I was able to control myself and we did not have sex. I wouldn't do that to you." He turned in my arms. "Ohhh, piccolina. It's not that I don't trust you. It's just that you're so new to your Sensay abilities it would be easy to get carried away. And Alex did have a claim on you."

I began to get a little angry, "I'm not going to pretend to understand your vampire ways but no one has a claim on me. I am my own person and I make my own decisions."

"I'm sorry Olivia, of course you are. It's one of the things I admire the most about you."

He wrapped his arms around me. "We have only known each other a short time and we have much to learn about one another."

What he said was true. It was only five days ago that I walked into his casino.

Roberto bent his head down to mine. "I want to spend the rest of my life getting to know you cara. But right now, I must feed and then we need to go shopping."

"Shopping?" I questioned.

"Yeah, I'm tired of every guy staring at your ass in those leather pants. I am going to buy you some very baggy clothes." He teased.

I laughed and said, "Yeah, some decent clothes would be nice, though I do like these leather pants. They make me feel like a bad girl."

Roberto sucked a breath in when I rubbed myself against him. "Mmmmm, maybe you should keep them after all. Though I really need to go feed. Juan is waiting for me," he said in a reluctant tone.

I wanted him to understand the depths of my feelings for him so I suggested seductively, "You can bite me if you want to. I would like it." I looked at him through half closed eyes. The thought of Roberto biting me made my knees go weak. I felt Roberto grow hard against me and my body responded by a rush of wetness between my thighs. So I was shocked when he stepped back and said, "I would love nothing better than to slide my cock deep inside you and
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sink my fangs into your neck or better yet between your creamy thighs. The thought of if drives me mad with lust." He shivered, "But you should know Olivia, that taking blood is something very special among my people. When I take you in that way, I want it to be perfect for both of us." I was disappointed, but also touched that he wanted it to be more than just sexual gratification. Though, at the moment sexual gratification would have been just fine with me.

We walked back up to the house where Juan was waiting. Andy and Mark were nowhere to be seen.

"Did Andy and Mark go home?" I asked. Roberto said, "They are close by, but they are off duty right now. They normally sleep and then report back here just before dawn to get a briefing.

We will only be gone for about a half an hour. Why don't you get ready to leave by then?"

"All right." And since I didn't know what else to say I added, "Happy hunting."

Roberto laughed. Juan turned and walked out. I was getting a definite vibe from Juan. I raised my eyebrows up in question to Roberto and he sighed. "Alex and Juan are very good friends. He is upset over Alex's capture."

"He blames me doesn't he?" I asked. Roberto looked like he didn't want to answer that. "Well, he isn't alone. I blame myself too. I promise you though; I know I can find him. You just got to trust me on that."

Roberto placed a kiss on the top of my head. "I do trust you piccolina. Don't be so hard on yourself. We'll be right back."

When he left, I sat down on the chair in the kitchen. Roberto trusted me. But I hadn't been totally honest with him. Well hell, I actually lied to him. Alex had said words to me when he bit me. "I take what you give to me and offer you all that I have." I didn't understand what compelled me to lie. I honestly couldn't remember having consciously told a lie before. I had a feeling that I would come to regret not telling Roberto the truth.

When Roberto and Juan returned, I was ready to go. Roberto excused himself and left me alone with Juan. I felt uncomfortable and didn't know what to say, so we said nothing. When Roberto returned he asked, "Are you ready to do some shopping?"

With a look of regret at Juan I answered, "Yes." We went out to the SUV and Juan got in the driver’s seat. When Roberto opened the door for me he said, "Don't worry piccolina, it will work out." He closed the door and got in up front beside Juan. When we were on our way he turned to look at me and said, "Its a few miles until we get to Oswego, we might as well talk about our plans on the way." I leaned forward, "We got plans?" I asked.

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"Well, not formal plans as of yet. A lot of it depends on how you will locate Alex. Do you have any idea which way to go?" he inquired.

"South," I said without hesitation. Juan slammed on the breaks and turned around and asked me "How can you be sure?"

"I'm not sure how I know." I said, staring ahead, but not really seeing. "It's like Philly is the connection point for us. And as I drove north it felt as though the connection was being stretched tight. And then at some point, I felt like the connection got thinner. Like Alex was being taken farther from me in the opposite direction."

I came to myself and looked to the men in the front seat.

"That sounds crazy doesn't it?"

"No piccolina. It's not crazy considering your blood exchange." Roberto said in a strained voice.

I felt bad about the blood exchange with Alex but I knew I would do it again if we were in the same circumstances.

Juan started moving the SUV again but looked in the rearview mirror at me. "That is good news.

We can begin by traveling south and see if Olivia gets any stronger vibes."

"Yes, we have to prepare for the journey though. Set up some safe houses and get some supplies. I'd like to take some time to work with Olivia too." Roberto said. Juan nodded in agreement and I asked, "What do you mean work with me?"

Roberto replied, "I don't want you to be defenseless Olivia. During the day I want you to work on self-defense training with Andy and Mark. At night I'll work on you." My face must have shown embarrassment, as I could feel the heat invading my body.

Roberto laughed, "I meant I will work with your control over your powers piccolina."

"Oh," I mumbled, embarrassed. But when I glanced at Roberto there was a promise in his eyes that he would work on "other things" with me too. I shivered at the thought. God that man was so virile and sexy. I loved the way he smelled, like sex and the ocean breeze at night. And the way his hips swayed when he walked into a room, almost the same way they moved when....

I heard Roberto clear his throat and came out of my daydream to see him looking at me and Juan's hands clenched on the steering wheel.

I realized that with their bat senses, they probably had picked up on my excitement. If I thought that I was embarrassed before, well now I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me. I hoped Roberto could teach me to keep my lustful thoughts to myself.

We arrived in downtown Oswego a short time later. It was a lovely town that had a lot of charm. It reminded me of fishing villages of yesteryear. We didn't have too much time for
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shopping because the shops closed at ten. Still it was enough time to get what we needed. Juan said he was going to the sporting goods store and Roberto and I headed over to a row of boutique stores.

We entered one and I found it very charming. They had a large selection of clothes and thank God, comfortable walking shoes. I grabbed a few pair of jeans, some regular t-shirts, and to Roberto's consternation a pair of silk pajamas. I laughed at the look on his face as I held up, for his inspection, some very sexy black lace thongs and matching bras.

He swallowed hard and nodded yes. I had to shake my head to dispel the images of me trying them on for him later. He walked over and talked to the clerk and then came over to me. "I gave the clerk a credit card. Get anything you want. I need to run to another store quick." He bent and whispered in my ear. "Get several of the black lace. I want to rip them off with my fangs later." He kissed my ear and was gone.

"Ohhh boy, oh boy," the clerk said watching Roberto walk out. "You are one lucky woman." She said. I had to admit that I was. He looked especially handsome tonight in black trousers and a black silk shirt that was open at the top. He had his sleeves rolled up to his forearms; something that I found turned me on immensely.

I snapped myself out of my lustful thoughts and laughed when I realized both the clerk and I were standing there with the same expression on our faces. It took her a minute more to come to but when she did she said, "I have something special for you." And she pulled me towards the back of the store where I saw they carried a more diverse type of clothing.

"I just know your man would appreciate some of these things." She exclaimed.

I took a look around and there was leather mini skirt, corsets, thigh high boots, and teddies.

"Oh my, I'm not sure." I stammered. It was one thing to have to wear the things Leeds had picked out for me and another thing to go out of my way to buy them. Then I remembered the look on Roberto's face when I held up the lace thong.

"I will take that little skirt that laces up the front, along with the matching top. And oh, do you have those boots in a size seven?" I pointed to a pair of four-inch thigh highs that would most likely kill my feet.

The store clerk hurried, got my items, and took everything in the back to wrap, just in case Roberto came back. She was just finishing ringing everything up when Roberto returned.

He carried only one small bag. I was nervous at what the total would be for all of the things I bought. I had never shopped to the extreme I did today. Roberto didn't bat an eye when he signed the receipt. I glanced over his shoulder and cringed when I saw that it was over a thousand dollars. The clerk handed the bags to Roberto and with a wink to me, thanked us and asked us to please come back. I'm sure she wanted us to come back; what with the amount of money we just spent, she could probably expand her shop!

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As we walked out of the shop, I felt like I had to say,

"Roberto, I will pay you back. I have a savings account, of course I don't have my debit card anymore but I'm sure there will be a branch of my bank around here somewhere." We had reached the SUV and Roberto put the bags in the back before he turned to me, "Olivia, you don't have to pay me back. If you haven't noticed, I have more than enough money."

I looked down at the ground, "It's not that, it's just I'm used to working and I work hard for the money I earn and it's a sense of accomplishment to be able to buy things with the money you earn. This is weird. Not having a job or a purpose."

"Piccolina, you have a purpose. Probably the most important purpose on this earth. You are a Sensay. And after we get Alex back safe and sound you will begin your training to fulfill that purpose."

I looked at him with one of those, "what have you been smoking?" looks. He sighed and said,

"Trust me Olivia, in the near future you will be working hard to earn your keep."

That statement just caused me to give him a leery look. He laughed and kissed the top of my head. "You are such a pleasure in my life Olivia. Let's find Juan and see if we can get dinner before we return home."

We found Juan still at the sporting goods store. It appeared he had bought out the entire store.

We helped him carry his packages to the car and then drove to a restaurant that overlooked the Oswego River.

We had a great dinner of steaks and a nice bottle of wine. We talked about our plans to head south and find Alex.

"I think it's important to follow the same path that I took in getting here. I'm not sure why but its kind of a gut feeling." I said half expecting the guys to laugh and make fun of me. Juan instead said, "I think that's a good idea." Roberto added, "A Sensay's gut feelings are legendary Olivia. Soon you will walk as one with the earth." I laughed nervously, thinking they were banking way too much on my being a Sensay. I honestly didn't think I would have great power someday. Though the thought of having such a power and taking revenge on the people responsible for killing my parents made me want to believe. A thought came unbidden to me.

Something I hadn't thought of since we left Buffalo. I had killed a man. Shot him down in cold blood. I suddenly felt like I was going to be sick. Roberto stood, "Piccoilina, there's dancing outside on the patio."

He took my hand, "Dance with me cara, please." Juan said, "Go ahead, I'm going to order another bottle of this wine."

I put my hand in his and let him lead me outside, "I have to warn you Roberto that I'm not a great dancer."

Scent of a Vampire – Jude Stephens