“It is necessary. I want something to go right for your birthday and this is the only thing I can give you that’s right at the moment.”
She didn’t reply, but I heard the sound of paper tearing again and then a moment of silence except for the acceleration in her heart rate.
“Oh, my goodness. How did you do this?”
“I came back to the house twelve years ago after I took an interest in photography. I thought it was the house drawing me closer, but it was you all along. It was a strange day because I couldn’t stop taking pictures of you and your family, but now I know why. Even then, you were my Agápe.”
I felt her arms wrap around me. “This is without doubt the best gift I have ever been given. I love you so much and it’s not because Anteros says I have to. I would have loved you regardless.”
The chanting was getting louder and the pain behind my eyes was increasing, so I reached to rub my eyes. “I knew you’d love it.”
“It’s getting worse, isn’t it?”
I didn’t want to admit it because she would realize she didn’t have the undivided attention she deserved, but I wouldn’t lie to my Agápe. “Yes, it’s getting much worse. It sounds like she’s screaming in my head and it feels like stakes driving into my eyes from the inside.”
Chansey was quiet and I felt her lightly trace her finger over Marsala’s ownership mark around my upper arm. “Do you trust me, Curry?”
“Why would you ask me that? Of course, I trust you, Love.”
“If I asked you to do something for me without question, would you? I mean if I believed it would put an end to this?” she asked.
“As long as you remain safe, there’s very little I wouldn’t do to make this stop.”
I felt her reach up and remove my blindfold. “I know exactly how to put a stop to this.”
I reached up and grabbed her by the wrist. “What are you doing?”
“Nope. You agreed to no questions asked and I can go to the living room and have the others verify that if I need to. I don’t have to be a vampire to know how to solve this problem, but I need you to trust that I know what I’m doing.”
I sat on the edge of the bed with my eyes shut, wondering what Chansey was doing. I heard her rummage in one of my drawers and then walk into the bathroom. She shut the door and I was briefly amused because I wondered what she thought I would see with my eyes squeezed shut.
A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened and I heard Chansey’s graceful steps cross the wood floor. She stopped walking toward me when her feet met the rug. “Are you ready?”
“I guess I am, but I don’t know what it is you want me what to do.”
I heard some slow, seductive jazzy music playing and then a woman’s voice began to sing. I recognized the voice, but not the song. “You only have to do one thing. Look at me.”
Had she lost her mind or did she just not grasp the severity of this situation? “I am not doing that, Chansey. What kind of music is that?”
“It’s called Nasty Naughty Boy and yes, you are going to look at me. I am not wrong about this and we’re going to beat her at her own game. I’ve got this.”
“Why the sexy music?”
She laughed and said, “It sets the mood for what I’m going to do.”
Chansey believed her plan would work and even if it was difficult, I had to put faith in her. That was how I needed this relationship to work because I had already experienced the alternative and maybe I was curious about what was up with the seduction music. “Okay. I’m going to do it because I have complete faith in you, but I want you to look around first to be certain there isn’t anything that could identify our whereabouts.”
“I’ve already done that, Baby. We’re clear.”
I felt like I was on the edge of a cliff ready to jump, but I suddenly discovered I had a fear of heights. I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly as I eased my eyes open.
Chansey stood in front of me wearing the sexiest black lace bra and panties I’d ever seen. As I looked at her, she slowly slid one of the straps off of her shoulder to tease me. She turned around and slid the other strap down her shoulder before taking it off and tossing it in my direction over her shoulder.
She was only wearing black lacy panties when she turned around and started walking toward me. I swear this would be the most perfect moment in my life right now if I didn’t have Marsala screaming viciously in my head.
Her screaming grew louder as Chansey came closer and I realized the motive behind Chansey’s moves. “I understand now and to say it’s driving her crazy would be the understatement of the millennium.”
She smiled as she shoved me back on the bed and crawled over me. She lowered her face to my ear so Marsala couldn’t read her lips and whispered, “Touch me.”
She leaned back and waited for my hands to seek her body as she straddled me on the bed. I reached out to stroke her cheek and she said, “Not my face.”
I stopped my hand in midair as her words registered with me and I looked at her eyes. She slowly nodded and reached for both of my hands to bring them to her breasts.
I felt Chansey’s breasts against my palms as her chest heaved up and down, but I knew it wasn’t enough. I had to show Marsala what I was doing and that meant looking at my hands on Chansey’s body.
I lowered my eyes toward my hands and I heard Marsala’s fit of rage in my head. At the moment I thought my head would burst from her high pitch shrill, it suddenly stopped. There was no more chanting, no more screaming and no more pain behind my eyes.
I felt my body instantly relax and Chansey said, “She’s gone, isn’t she?”
“How did you know to do that?” I asked in amazement.
“It doesn’t matter if she’s a vampire or a human. There’s not a woman on this earth that is going to sit back and watch the man she loves make love to another woman.”
She reached for her black lace bra on the bed and regretfully said, “She didn’t have to know we weren’t. She just had to think we were.”
I partially sat up and propped on my elbows to watch the back of Chansey as she sashayed to the bathroom to get redressed. She closed the door and I fell back against the bed and let out a frustrated groaned.
She thought I didn’t want her, but nothing could be further from the truth. She was all I wanted and I needed to reassure her.
She came out of the bathroom and I sat up on the bed. I patted the bed and she granted my request by sitting next to me. I put my arm around her and pulled her close. “I can’t tell you how much I want you, but it’s important to me that we do this the way we were intended to do this. It will only make it better when it does happen.”
“I know, but I don’t want to wait. Something inside me constantly pushes me to just go for it. I’m sorry. I know that doesn’t make it easier for you.”
“I hope this didn’t entirely ruin your birthday.”
She rested her head against my shoulder. “I wouldn’t give her the pleasure of ruining anything for me, but I do have a birthday wish and I think I deserve it after what Marsala just pulled.”
I was afraid to ask, but I did anyway. “What is it?”
“I can’t do it as a human so I want you to change me so I can kick Marsala’s ass.”
8 This Isn’t Rocket Science
Chansey’s move was successful, but one that would enrage Marsala even more, so this attempt definitely wouldn’t be her last. Successfully reaching me through Black Magic was Marsala’s first taste of contact with me in almost 22 years and it was only going to ignite a renewed desire in her to find me. Now that the love of my life had bested her, she wouldn’t be satisfied until she saw her dead. Of this, I was certain.
I leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Come on. We need to talk to Sebastian and the others about devising a plan to keep you safe.”
I wasn’t wearing the blindfold when Chansey and I entered the living room, but no one mentioned it because they knew what had just taken place in
my bedroom. Solomon got up from the chair where he sat and crossed the room toward us. He held his fist out to Chansey for her to bump like they were high school pals. “I guess you showed that crazy bitch who was in charge.”
Chansey bumped her fist against Sol’s. “Yeah, I guess I did.”
Sebastian stood by the fireplace with his hands on his hips. “Chansey’s plan was a great one and I’m glad it worked, but we need to decide how to keep the two of you safe now that she knows you are in New Orleans.”
As hard as I tried, I couldn’t feel easy about sticking around in New Orleans any longer than we needed to, so I wanted to get Sebastian’s opinion. “I thought we should leave New Orleans immediately, but Chansey doesn’t want to change our plans. She thinks that we are safe to stay until tomorrow.”
Chansey felt the need to defend her decision. “Even if she were close and made it to New Orleans tonight, she wouldn’t have time to find us here at the compound. We’ll travel home tomorrow while the sun is up.”
“I agree with Chansey. It isn’t necessary to leave tonight, but it’s not safe to return to Pascagoula to stay. Marsala will search for you for a while in New Orleans, but the house in Pascagoula will likely be the second stop on her list when she doesn’t find you here.”
Chansey looked at me with panic on her face. “I won’t put my grandparents in danger by staying there.”
I didn’t have time to consider our options before Sol blurted out, “Curry can have my position at the Savannah Compound. Marsala would never find them there.”
It was a generous offer, but one I couldn’t take from him. “No, I can’t take your position,” I argued. “It means the world to you and you’ve worked too hard on it to hand it over to me.”
“I would gladly give it up to keep you and Chansey safe,” he offered. “You would do the same if the roles were reversed.”
Chansey’s safety was the only reason I would consider the offer, but I needed to hear her opinion. Living in Georgia meant moving a couple of states away from her grandparents. “What do you think of living at The Savannah Compound?”
Her face gave no indication of how she felt about a move to Savannah and I waited patiently for her to tell me her thoughts. “I think we don’t have much of a choice, but there is a problem with the plan. I can’t just up and leave my family to live with you if we’re not married. Granna and Granddaddy didn’t raise me to live with someone if we weren’t married. They would never get over it and I couldn’t disappoint them like that.”
Solomon casually fell onto the couch. “Jeez, this isn’t rocket science, guys. Go ahead and get married and then move to Savannah. You’re going to do it in a few months anyway.”
I looked at Chansey to see her reaction to Sol’s suggestion. “You know my stand on the issue. I would marry this minute if you’d agree.”
She looked torn. “I know, but it’s always been my dream to be married at my grandparents’ house at the top of the open arms.”
Lairah stood up and walked over to Chansey. She took her by the hands and said, “Don’t worry. You can still marry Curry just like you dreamed. Gia and I will help you put the wedding together. What do you think of doing it on Saturday evening?”
Chansey’s eyes grew large. “That’s not even a week away.”
Sebastian explained, “Unfortunately, you don’t have a lot of time. If Marsala hasn’t found a sign of Curry by the end of next week, she will probably go to your grandparents’ house and you must be gone before she arrives.”
Lairah shook her hands and arms to snap her out of her coma-like state. “Don’t freak out. It’s going to be fine. We’ll go over everything tonight and you’re going to tell us what you want for the wedding. Gia and I will take care of everything and then all you have to do is find your dress and show up.”
Chansey was shocked by the offer. “I can’t believe you would go to so much trouble for me. Planning even a small wedding is a tremendous amount of work.”
Gia joined Lairah at Chansey’s side. “You’re part of our family now, but this wedding isn’t just for you. It’s for our brother, also.”
Chansey hugged Lairah and Gia as she said, “I don’t know what to say or how to thank you.”
“Taking him off of our hands is thanks enough,” Gia laughed and smiled in my direction. “Come on, Chansey. We have about six hours to plan this wedding before daybreak.”
She smiled at me as she peered over her shoulder on the way to Lairah’s quarters. “Now would be the time to speak up if you have any requests.”
“You’ve already granted me the only request I had so choose anything you want for our wedding. I don’t care how much it costs. If you want it, it’s yours.”
“I don’t know if you need to say that in front of Gia and Lairah. I think they could break the bank,” she warned as she walked toward the girls’ quarters with Gia and Lairah.
“I mean it, girls. Give her anything she wants,” I called out.
“Don’t worry. We plan on spending lots of your money,” Lairah called back.
Once the girls were in Lairah’s room, I turned to Sebastian in hopes of learning more about how Marsala reached me through Black Magic. “How did she do it? Witches hate vampires. They avoid us like the plague. How would she have gotten one to cast a spell for her?”
“I have no idea, but my guess is that it took 22 years to find a witch willing to help her otherwise she would have done this already. You’re going to have to be careful because we have to assume it will happen again. She has gotten a taste of what it feels like to get to you and she isn’t going to stop after one failure.”
I heard Sully’s voice from across the room. “There are witches that are willing to work with vampires for a price.”
He unexpectedly caught everyone’s attention with his announcement and all eyes turned to him. “When I was with Zoyah and her coven, they were working with a witch in exchange for vampire blood. I don’t know all of the details, but they were using her magic to find an Agápe.”
I felt myself becoming furious with him because he was putting Chansey in danger again and was too stupid to see it. “Why didn’t you tell us this before now?”
“Finding Chansey had nothing to do with anything the witch did. I found her because Curry visited our parents’ grave. It had nothing to do with Black Magic,” Sully defended.
I turned to Sebastian for his assessment and didn’t like the look on his face. “Sully, you and Curry have familial blood ties. When the witch cast the spell to find an Agápe, you served as a link to Chansey through your brother. You and Curry were drawn to your parents’ graves at the same time so you could reunite, but it wasn’t a coincidence. Finding Curry led you to Chansey. The witch’s spell had everything to do with that.”
Sully slowly shook her head as he realized the horror of his mistake. “I’m sorry, Curry,” he apologized. “I swear I didn’t know.”
“I know. I believe you,” I reassured Sully.
Sol left the couch where he had been lounging carelessly. “Marsala and Zoyah are both armed with witches and they’re after Chansey. What are we going to do about that?”
I wasn’t certain I liked the desperation in Sol’s voice. He sounded a little too concerned for Chansey’s safety and I admit that it sparked a bit of jealousy in me. I was her protector, not him. I remembered Gia’s accusation the previous night and wondered if there was merit to it. Did Sol want Chansey for himself?
I shoved the thought aside and turned to Sebastian. I recognized the look of concentration on his face and then he said, “Zoyah lost her connection to Chansey when Sully left her coven, so I don’t think we need to worry about Zoyah finding Chansey. Her witch could just as easily lead her to a different Agápe, if there is another one out there. Marsala has non-familial blood ties to Curry because they exchanged blood and that is why she was able to connect with him. Marsala is the one we should focus on.”
Thatcher had sat quietly on the couch, but spoke u
p and brought a good point to our attention. “What are the witches doing with our blood?”
“They use it to strengthen their power,” Sully answered.
Say it isn’t so. “Sully, please tell me Zoyah’s witch didn’t drink from you and bond herself to you,” I pleaded.
“No, she drank from Zoyah because she was an elder.”
I felt immediate relief. I didn’t want to, but I was prepared to send Sully away if he was a link that could bring danger to Chansey.
“I guess we have a plan. We’ll get these two crazy kids married on Saturday and then ship them to The Savannah Compound,” Sol said and I definitely picked up on something in his voice I couldn’t quite identify.
“Come with us, Sol,” I pleaded. “I don’t want to take your position. I’m going to be a new husband and Chansey will expect me to spend time with her. I’m not the man for the job, but it would be an honor to act as your assistant.”
Sol looked uncertain about my offer. “What do you think, Sebastian?”
“I think Curry is right. Your offer is a noble one, but the Savannah Compound is yours to manage. It has been drawing you there for a while and I don’t think you could turn your back on it if you tried.”
I could see Solomon thinking it over. “You’re right. I feel like it’s where I belong.” He turned to me. “I wasn’t looking forward to losing my best friend and now I guess I don’t have to.”
≈ ≈ ≈
The sun was threatening to rise at any moment when Gia and Lairah let Chansey go and I had been in bed for a couple of hours when I finally felt her next to me. “I never realized there were so many decisions to be made about a wedding. It’s incredible.”
She snuggled next to me and I pulled her close. “Did you get it all done?”
“No. I had to tell them to pick out the things I didn’t have time to choose,” she sadly said.
“I’m sorry you’re not getting the wedding you would have planned if we had more time, but I can’t say that I’m sorry I will be your husband in less than a week. That’s the only thing I can thank Marsala for.”