A Bite to Remember Read online

  Tiny nodded and then changed the subject. “Neil is grateful for what Vincent did by turning Stephano, but doesn’t seem to think his brother will be.”

  Jackie glanced at him with surprise. “Why?”

  “He says that when his mother married her husband and became immortal, she offered to use her right to turn one immortal on Stephano, so that he would be immortal like the rest of the family, but he refused. He said he’d take the hand fate had dealt him.”

  Jackie considered that, wondering how she’d feel if she was turned without her permission. It was considered a nono to turn someone without their consent, unless it was an emergency and their consent couldn’t be gained. As had been the case with Stephano.

  “You know Vincent can’t turn a life mate now,” Tiny said quietly.

  “Yes, it was very selfless of him to turn Stephano as he did,” Jackie said on a sigh as Marguerite returned. Vincent was presumably still with the delivery boy. “We’ll have to hope his selflessness is rewarded and his life mate, when he meets her, is already an immortal.”

  “He already has, and she isn’t,” Marguerite said grimly and Jackie glanced around at her with surprise.

  “He has?” Jackie asked and for some reason this news sent pain shooting through her chest. Recognizing the feeling as jealousy, she ignored it, telling herself that it was for the best. She would have no illusions now and wouldn’t be foolish enough to allow herself to fall for the guy any harder than she already had.

  “Yes, he has,” Marguerite announced, but before she could say any more, Vincent entered the room. He looked better than he had when he’d left. He wasn’t quite so pale, but he still looked tired and worn out by the day’s events.

  “You should get some rest,” she said with concern. “We all should. We’ll start on this first thing in the morning.”

  “I want to go check on Stephano first,” Vincent murmured. “Then I’ll head to bed.”

  Murmuring goodnight, he left the kitchen again and Jackie found herself frowning as she watched him go and realized the implications of what he’d done by saving Stephano’s life.

  Vincent would have to watch his life mate age and die and then would have to continue on without her. If he even got the chance to do that, Jackie thought. She knew, if it were her, she wouldn’t want that. She wouldn’t want to love and be with a man who would continue to look twenty-five to thirty years old while she aged, and wrinkled, and her hair turned white.

  It would be fine for a while, until she hit about forty and then she’d look like the older woman with the young stud. By fifty or so, people would start to mistake her for his mother, then at seventy as his grandmother. She supposed they could avoid that by not going out in public much, but there was still the fact that while his body stayed young and beautiful, her own would age. She knew life mates bonded, but was there enough bonding that he would still find her attractive when her body began to sag and wrinkle? Or would the woman have the courage to let him see her so? Jackie didn’t think she could. She’d be more likely to set him free and hope he found another. She wouldn’t want him to watch her body and health disintegrate and the last breath leave her body. She couldn’t be that selfish.

  Ten

  Jackie pushed the button to open the driveway gate, moved to the front door, tugged it open, and waited impatiently. A scowl pulled at her lips as she watched a little white hatchback careen up the driveway, and her irritation only intensified as the car squealed to a halt in front of the house.

  “You’re early,” she snapped, glaring at the young man in the drugstore uniform as he sauntered up to the door. “I told the girl not to send the order until two-thirty P.M. It’s only one-thirty P.M.”

  The guy wasn’t a day over twenty and had longish hair that he now brushed back in an affected manner as he offered her a charming smile. His nametag read Darryl. “I was passing, so thought I’d stop and see if you were in early. You are. So here I am.”

  Darryl held up the small drugstore bag, his expression expectant, but Jackie continued to scowl as her mind raced over what she should do. She’d spent most of the night pondering ways to bring a meal to Vincent. Just before she’d dropped off to sleep, she’d come up with this one.

  Jackie had a prescription for birth control that she hadn’t bothered stopping after breaking up with her last boyfriend. It was near needing renewal. She’d decided to have her drugstore fax the prescription to the nearest neighborhood drugstore, then call and ask for it to be delivered…at two-thirty P.M.

  Vincent usually got up between three and four, but Jackie had intended to wake him just a bit early to see him fed. She was hoping the saboteur had been watching long enough to know that three was the earliest Vincent usually woke up. If so, he might not be watching when this delivery was made. If he was already out there somewhere watching, she hoped he’d just think it was a plain old delivery for her. Jackie could see Vincent fed and save anyone from being marked for death at the same time. Brilliant. Or it would be if Darryl, the delivery guy, hadn’t decided to deliver early. Now she wasn’t sure what to do. Did she wake Vincent up to feed? Or did she send the guy on his way and find some other way to feed him later?

  Jackie debated the issue briefly, but there seemed little to debate. If she didn’t wake up Vincent then a perfectly good opportunity to feed would be wasted.

  “Come in,” she sighed with irritation and turned to lead the way up the hall. “I need to get my purse. Follow me.”

  There was a moment of silence, but then she heard the shuffle of feet and the door closed.

  “Do you want me to wait here?” Darryl asked uncertainly as she started up the stairs.

  Jackie scowled at him over her shoulder. “I said follow me, didn’t I? So follow.”

  “Right.” Darryl rushed forward, the bag swinging from his fingers as he hurried to catch up to her.

  Muttering under her breath, Jackie shook her head and continued upstairs, knowing Tiny wouldn’t come out of the kitchen to see what was up. He already knew. She’d talked to him about it before making the necessary calls to set the matter in motion. Jackie had needed to know his opinion on the matter, wanting to be sure he didn’t think it was disgusting that she was dragging unsuspecting fellow mortals to the house to be fed on by a vampire. She herself could hardly believe she was doing it.

  Fortunately, for her conscience, Tiny had merely shrugged and rumbled, “He has to feed. Think of it like they’re making unknowing donations to the blood bank.”

  Sensible Tiny, Jackie thought and felt some of her tension and irritation slip from her as she recalled his words. She’d needed him to say exactly that to make it all right.

  “So, let me guess, your purse is in your bedroom, right?”

  Jackie glanced over her shoulder at the knowing comment from Darryl and caught him ogling her behind as he followed her up the stairs.

  Great! Jackie thought with disgust. Now the guy had the completely wrong idea. Still, she decided that idea would make things easier, so played along, forcing a smile to her face when he finally deigned to glance up and saying, “As a matter of fact, it is. You don’t mind, do you?”

  She’d tried to instill a sexy purr into her voice, but suspected it sounded more like a growl. Jackie wasn’t the sort to play games, especially when she didn’t mean it. It was a flaw of her character that could hamper her at work at times.

  “No baby, I don’t mind,” Darryl assured her with a leer. “Lead the way to your boudoir of love.”

  Jackie managed not to roll her eyes until her face was forward again, then she let the eye rolling rip. Men, she decided, especially young men, could be the most egotistical idiots on the planet when they thought they smelled the possibility of sex. Honestly.

  Pausing at Vincent’s bedroom door, Jackie turned to glance back toward the delivery guy and froze. Her mouth—which she’d opened to speak—stayed there, hanging loosely as she saw that Darryl had started to strip. The drugstore package now sat on
the hall table at the top of the stairs. His shirt lay in a heap several feet past that, and he was already working on the zipper of his jeans.

  Snapping her mouth closed as the zipper went down, Jackie turned sharply and opened Vincent’s door without knocking. She was desperate to get Darryl to Vincent before the idiot was completely nude.

  The room was in complete darkness which took her by surprise. Jackie wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but she hadn’t expected pitch black. Moving cautiously, she hissed Vincent’s name in a bare whisper and moved in the direction she remembered his bed was in from the day she’d come in search of Allen Richmond and found him in Vincent’s room. Jackie immediately stilled as the bit of light coming from the hallway disappeared when Darryl stepped into the door frame, cutting it off.

  “Wow, you like it dark, huh?”

  “Vincent?” Jackie hissed, ignoring the man as she felt the edge of the bed bump her knee.

  “No babe, my name’s Darryl. You can call me Vincent if you like though,” he added quickly as if afraid she might change her mind if he didn’t play the game.

  Jackie’s slightly panicked mind had just registered the fact that Darryl’s voice had grown closer, when he suddenly stumbled into her back, plunging them both forward onto the bed.

  “Whoa, babe. There you are.” Darryl chuckled and squirmed on her back as Jackie quickly struggled to get out from under him. She managed to do so, rolling to the side and onto her back beside him, only to have him lunge on top of her again so that they were now face to face.

  Jackie froze as she felt his naked legs rub across hers. She then reached out to push at his stomach, misjudged her aim and found herself with a handful of Darryl’s jewels. They were nothing to write home about.

  “Dear God, you’re completely naked!” she squealed, wondering how he’d been so quick. Jesus. He had to be some sort of quick-change artist, but then, perhaps most horny young guys were.

  Releasing Darryl’s dangly bits, Jackie threw her hand out to the side and thumped at the bed. “Dammit Vincent! Wake up!”

  Much to her relief her hand hit something hard. A knee or hip bone was her guess as a grunt sounded from the top of the bed.

  “Trust me, baby. I’m awake.”

  Jackie screeched with frustration as Darryl’s hands began roaming over her body. Reaching out, she thumped her fist at the mound in the bed she’d hit moments ago. This time, instead of a grunt, there was a sleepy “Hey!” then the lights went on.

  Jackie blinked in the sudden brightness and found herself staring at Vincent, who was now sitting up in bed and blinking right back. He stared with incomprehension at Darryl, who had his hands closed over her breasts, then his gaze dropped to her face with incomprehension and Jackie closed her eyes briefly, and said through gritted teeth, “Will you control him please?”

  “What?” Vincent asked blankly, apparently still not quite sure what was going on.

  “Control him!” Jackie snapped. She took advantage of Darryl’s confusion to shove him off and roll quickly closer to Vincent to hiss, “Slip into his mind and blank it out.”

  “Hey, you know, I’m not into threesomes with other guys,” Darryl said with a frown. “Maybe if your friend here was a girl…we could talk, but I’m not into the gay scene. I have—”

  Jackie sagged on the bed as the young man suddenly went still and his face went blank.

  “What’s going on?” Vincent asked with confusion. “Why is he naked?”

  “He thought I was luring him up here for sex and stripped on the way upstairs,” Jackie explained wearily as she got to her feet beside the bed.

  “Were you?”

  To give him his due, Vincent obviously wasn’t quite awake yet. Still, Jackie found herself stiffening with offense. Turning, she glared and snapped, “Feed.”

  “Feed?” Vincent seemed no less confused by the instruction than anything else happening in that moment.

  “Yes, feed,” Jackie repeated succinctly. “Feed, then wipe his memory, have him dress and send him on his way.”

  She started for the door, then paused abruptly and turned back. “I almost forgot. Here.”

  “What’s this?” Vincent asked as she moved back to hand him money.

  “It’s for the prescription,” she explained. “With a big tip. Give it to him when you’re done.”

  Jackie turned away again and started past Darryl, then paused to kick him in the leg.

  “That’s for groping me. I know I let you think it’s what I wanted, that’s the only reason I’m not really hurting you,” Jackie told the blank-faced young man and then stomped out of the room, weaving around Marguerite, who had appeared in the doorway.

  Vincent stared after Jackie, a slow smile easing across his face as his befogged mind finally grasped what was happening. Jackie was feeding him. She’d brought the drugstore delivery guy up here for him to feed on just as she’d had Tiny order a pizza last night for him to be able to feed. She was taking care of him…which must mean she cared about him…at least a little. The idea made him feel all warm inside.

  “It took you long enough to wake up.”

  Vincent glanced toward his aunt as she crossed the room to set what he suspected must be the delivery guy’s clothes on the foot of the bed. Marguerite arched an eyebrow at the bewilderment on Vincent’s face and shrugged.

  “I couldn’t believe you slept through that racket. I woke up when they were halfway up the stairs. I was beginning to think I’d have to step in myself when she finally thumped you one.”

  “I had trouble getting to sleep this morning,” Vincent explained with a grimace. It was something of an understatement. He’d gone to talk to Neil, discussed the saboteur situation with him, then come to bed, but had lain awake fretting over the attack that day and worrying over the fact that if he went out and tried to feed, he might be marking whomever he chose to feed on for death…Something he wouldn’t do.

  It had been after noon when he’d finally drifted off to sleep, which was why he’d been so slow to wake up.

  “After noon,” Marguerite murmured, obviously reading his mind. She shook her head. “Which explains why you still look so groggy.”

  Vincent nodded.

  “Feed,” Marguerite suggested. “After you have finished I shall wipe his memory for you and see him out.”

  Vincent almost protested at his aunt taking care of him, but then gave in. He was tired, and while he should have too much pride to allow two women to take care of him, it felt so good he was reluctant to pass it up. No one had cared much for him since his mother’s death three hundred years ago, he thought, then acknowledged that this wasn’t really true. Aunt Marguerite and his cousins had always cared for him, or would have if he hadn’t avoided them as much as he had over the years. Vincent had found it painful to be around them and see the close, loving family unit they were when his own relationship with his father had fallen apart with his mother’s death. He hadn’t even been able to cope with his aunt caring until now.

  However, with Jackie trying to look after him too, it seemed different. It made him feel good instead of sad. It made him feel cared for in a special way rather than like the poor, pitied orphan cousin.

  “You were never the poor, pitied, orphan cousin, Vincent,” Marguerite said quietly. “You were family. Now, feed.”

  Vincent shifted off the bed and walked to the delivery boy.

  He made quick work of his meal, then left Darryl to his aunt’s tender mercies and went into his en suite bathroom to shower. He was in an exceptionally good mood and even found himself whistling show tunes in the shower.

  Were anyone to ask him what had him in such good cheer, his answer would have been one word. Jackie.

  Truthfully, Vincent shouldn’t be as happy as he was. A saboteur was out to ruin him, people around him were getting hurt and even killed, and now he feared feeding and endangering whomever he fed on.

  In effect, Vincent should be miserable. And he probably would be, i
f it weren’t for one thing…Jackie.

  As far as he could tell, Bastien had been right on the money in sending Jackie to him. Vincent had every confidence in her ability to quickly clear up the problem of the saboteur. But that wasn’t why he found himself smiling as he shampooed his head and sang, “I’m gonna wash that saboteur right out of my hair,” taking liberty with the lyrics as he went. Vincent was smiling because of what Jackie had just done. And last night, she had ordered the pizza with the specific intention of seeing him fed. He knew that went against her very nature and beliefs. This was the woman who had been offended on catching him snacking on one of the laborers, yet when his aunt had commented that he needed to feed, she’d immediately turned to Tiny and asked him to order a pizza.

  He was rather amazed that Jackie was allowing herself to care for him at all, having been warned by Bastien that she had some attitude toward immortals, and learning about Cassius from reading Tiny’s mind. But he was glad she did. The more he knew her, the more he liked her, and the more he found himself attracted to her.

  After showering and pulling on jeans and a t-shirt, Vincent jogged downstairs and into the kitchen on a natural high.

  “Good afternoon!” he said brightly to the trio seated at the table as he made a beeline for the coffeepot. One sniff of the air told him it was fresh coffee and he sighed with pleasure. Vincent suspected he was becoming addicted to the drink and didn’t care. Carrying the coffee back to the table, he settled in the seat across from Jackie, smiled at her widely, then managed a more solemn expression as he said, “So? Did anything happen while I was sleeping? And what are we going to do today?”

  Jackie opened her mouth to speak, but before she got out even a word, Vincent added, “Thank you for my breakfast, by the way. That was really sweet. No one’s ever brought me a meal before. I’ve always hunted my own. Well, except when I was a kid of course, we had nursemaids then, but no one’s brought me a meal since I started to hunt for myself and this was even more special, you bringing me breakfast in bed like that.”