Bite Me If You Can Page 7

Chapter Seven

 

  Leigh considered it a good sign when there was no sound of running water coming from the bathroom as she slid into Lucian's room. She was sure it meant he'd finished his shower, as she'd hoped. It was only as she pushed the door closed with her foot and surveyed the empty bedroom that she realized she was lucky she hadn't entered to surprise Lucian in his towel. . . or even naked. That could have been embarrassing. Well, for him at least. The idea was filling her mind with images that made her face flush, but not with embarrassment. Really, the man is dangerous, walking around with that muscular physique, she thought, recalling him standing half-naked in the kitchen.

  Forcing away the memories and the thoughts they invoked, Leigh crossed to the bedside table to set down the tray she carried. It held two cups of coffee, a bowl of sugar, and a bowl of powdered milk. Having no idea how he took his coffee, she'd brought the fixings with her.

  It was bribery, and there was no denying it. She was hoping the coffee might make him look more kindly on her pestering him with questions. Leaving the tray for the moment, she walked to the bathroom door and paused to listen. There was no sound at all coming from beyond the door; no movement, no rustle of material, nothing.

  Leigh bit her lip. Perhaps she'd missed him and Lucian had already dressed and left the room. Her gaze slid around the bedroom, but it looked the same to her as when she'd left earlier. Perhaps he'd fallen and hit his head getting out of the shower. That was more worrisome than the first possibility, and she immediately raised a hand to knock sharply at the door.

  "Hello? Lucian? I brought you coffee," she announced. When silence was her answer, Leigh frowned and shifted her feet uncertainly. What should she do? Her hand moved uncertainly to the doorknob, but hesitated.

  "Lucian?" she tried once more. When there was still no answer, she drew her shoulders up and turned the knob. She had to be sure he was all right.

  "Lucian?" she whispered, her voice dropping as the door slid open to reveal the neat, white marble countertop with the sink in it, then a toilet, and finally the tub itself. Her eyes widened in alarm when she saw Lucian lying, seemingly unconscious, in the large clawfoot tub. His eyes were closed, his long eyelashes fanning over the marblelike skin of his cheeks.

  Gasping with alarm, she rushed to his side and dropped to her haunches as she reached instinctively to grab his shoulder, though what she'd intended to do, Leigh couldn't say. There was no way she could lift him out of the water by herself. Fortunately, there was no need. The moment she touched him, Lucian's eyes shot open. He stabbed her with a glance that went from sleepy to sharp in a heartbeat, then sent the water roiling and splashing from the tub as he abruptly sat up.

  "What's happened?" His voice was harsh, his expression dark with concern.

  Leigh stared, suddenly unable to speak as her gaze slid over his wide chest and dropped of its own accord down to where he disappeared below the bubbles that filled the tub. She was surprised that he would have bubbles in his bath, and also disappointed at how it blocked her view of what they hid.

  "Leigh?" he snapped, reaching for the towel on the floor beside the tub.

  "I -- Oh!" Shaking her head back and forth with a jerky repetitive motion, she stood from where she'd been kneeling and abruptly turned her back to him. Then she gave herself a mental slap and forced herself to speak. "There's nothing wrong. I just -- I called out, but you didn't answer, and I was worried you'd fallen and hit your head or something. "

  When her only answer was the soft slosh of water in the tub as the water slowly settled, Leigh risked a glance backward. Lucian had the towel in his hand, but was still seated in the tub, his expression blank.

  "You were worried about me?"

  She frowned at the surprise in his voice and the bemused look on his face. Surely anyone would have been worried. Turning away before she could be tempted to ogle him once again, she shrugged.

  "You said you were taking a shower but there was no sound of running water and no answer when I called out to you," she repeated.

  "I decided to take a bath instead. I guess I fell asleep. "

  "Yes, I saw," Leigh muttered, then cleared her throat and forced away the image of him naked in the water. "I thought I'd surprise you with a cup of coffee. "

  "Hmm. "

  She bit her lip at the skeptical sound to that grunt, and wasn't terribly surprised when it was followed by the sarcastic comment, "And no doubt to take the opportunity to ask some questions. "

  There was a soft splash as he shifted in the tub, then he said with exasperation, "You're going to hound me until I answer, aren't you?"

  "No, of course not," Leigh said quickly, then belied the words by adding, "But if you could just answer a few questions. . . ?"

  His snort of disgust wasn't encouraging, and Leigh sensed her chance to get answers slipping away.

  "I'm not trying to be a pest," she said apologetically. "It's just that this is my life. And I have no idea what's happened to me, or how it will affect my future, or. . . anything," she finished weakly.

  The silence following her words seemed to spin out for a very long time, then she heard a soft curse.

  "Oh, very well," he said with resignation. "Ask your questions. "

  Leigh felt relief course through her, started to turn in her excitement, caught herself, then asked, "Would you like your coffee? How do you take it? I'll fix it and -- "

  "I don't drink coffee," he interrupted.

  "Right. " She frowned. He didn't drink coffee. Should she offer to make him tea? Or --

  "Ask your questions before I change my mind. "

  "Yes, of course. Thank you," she murmured, then blurted the first question on her mental list. "If we aren't vampires because of some curse, how are we vampires?"

  "Nanos," he answered promptly, and Leigh couldn't help herself, she glanced over her shoulder in surprise.

  "Nanos?" she asked uncertainly.

  "Yes. I'm afraid it's due to plain old science, not some romantic curse that would leave you soulless. "

  Leigh grimaced, aware that she actually was disappointed to learn it was science, not a curse. Really, how stupid was that?

  "I'm going to give you the short explanation," Lucian announced, distracting her. "If you want more in-depth answers, you'll have to talk to my nephew Bastien. He's the answer man. In future, if you have any questions or problems, he's the one to go to. Understood?"

  "Bastien," Leigh murmured, nodding.

  Seemingly satisfied, Lucian shifted again in the water. Leigh turned quickly away when she realized that her eyes were drifting away from his face, to more interesting bits.

  "The short version is I come from a people who were very advanced scientifically. In search of a way to repair wounds and attack diseases such as cancer without invasive surgery, our scientists combined nanotechnology and bioengineering to create bionanos. These were shot into the bloodstream of the ailing or injured person, where they were programmed to make repairs and regenerate cells from the inside.

  "It was quite a breakthrough when they succeeded," he acknowledged. "Or seemed to be at first. Several people were treated with it, my mother among them. She was pregnant with myself and my twin brother Jean Claude at the time, which is how we came to be infected. "

  "Infected?" Leigh queried softly, and glanced back to see him shrug.

  "As I say, it seemed to be a miracle cure at first, but it wasn't long before they realized the nanos did more than intended. They were supposed to repair the wound, or attack and kill the disease and then shut down and disintegrate, for the body to flush out. What the scientists hadn't considered was that the nanos were programmed to search out and find any ailment or injury in the body. While they may have been introduced to a person to attack a cancer, once that was done, they didn't shut down, but turned to other repairs needed in the body. "

  "And this was a bad thing?" Leigh asked with confusion.
<
br />   "As it turned out, yes. The human body is in constant need of repair. It's attacked daily by sunlight, age, environmental factors. . . " He shrugged again. "The nanos turn their attention to those things, constantly regenerating themselves and making repairs and helping to generate new cells in their host. "

  "So the host never gets ill, never ages," she realized.

  When he nodded, Leigh considered what he'd said. In effect, his people had found the fountain of youth. She blinked as a question occurred to her. "But why the fangs and the need for blood?"

  "The nanos were developed to live in and travel through the body via the blood. They also use the host's blood to make the repairs and regenerate cells as well as themselves. Unfortunately, human bodies don't create enough blood to support all their activities," he explained quietly. "The nanos use up the blood at an excelerated rate and then attack the organs in search of more blood. This problem was dealt with through transfusions before Atlantis fell, but -- "

  "Atlantis?" Leigh interrupted with disbelief. Some part of her mind had been assuming Lucian and others like him were from another planet or something. It was just what she'd automatically assumed when he said he came from a people who'd been highly advanced. But now he'd referred to human bodies not creating enough blood and. . . Atlantis?

  "Yes, I am from Atlantis," Lucian acknowledged.

  Leigh couldn't help it, she whirled to gape at him. "But Atlantis was. . . that was. . . " She shook her head with bewilderment, not even sure how long ago in history Atlantis was rumored to have existed.

  "Eons ago," he acknowledged, sounding weary.

  God, she thought, staring at him with a fascinated horror. He'd said his mother was one of the ones the nanos had been used on. . . and she'd been pregnant with him and his twin brother at the time, which meant he and his brother were original Atlanteans. "But that would make you. . . "

  "Older than you," he acknowledged dryly.

  "Older than me?" Leigh echoed with disbelief. "Lucian, you're older than America. England, even. You're -- " She cut herself off abruptly when she saw the closed look that came over his face and realized how rude she was being.

  "Sorry," she muttered. An uncomfortable silence filled the room, and then she cleared her throat and forced herself to recall what he'd been explaining before she interrupted him.

  "So, before Atlantis fell, this problem was dealt with by transfusions," she prompted.

  Lucian frowned, his gaze dropping away as he apparently tried to find the thread of his explanations again. The moment he wasn't looking her way, Leigh found her eyes drifting down over his wide chest and flat stomach. Damn, the man sure looked good for his age. And now she supposed she understood why he was as crusty and grumpy as her grandfather. He certainly came by it naturally. The man was ancient.

  "Yes, the transfusions. " He cleared his throat. "They used transfusions in Atlantis, but when it fell -- "

  "How did it fall?" she interrupted, curious.

  His face darkened briefly with memories that were obviously painful, but then cleared, leaving his expression flat. "A double whammy of a volcanic eruption and an earthquake. Atlantis was on the tip of the continent, separated from the rest of it by a high mountain range. We were an insular society, never looking outward to see what was beyond our mountains. An earthquake changed that. It split the mountain, cracked it open, bleeding the volcano onto the city, then a second earthquake -- or the aftershock -- swallowed it up. It just sank into the water. "

  He shook his head. "The few of us who survived were all immortals, and we were suddenly left without our technology. While Atlantis had been advanced technologically, the world we now found ourselves forced to join was peopled by far less advanced societies; hunters and gatherers, for the most part. There were no more transfusions, no more science, but the nanos were still doing what they did and using up our blood to keep us alive and in peak condition. Most of us had never known the hunger for blood until then and were consumed by it, but the nanos were programmed to see to our survival, and on some the nanos made the necessary changes to see to that survival. "

  "The fangs," Leigh breathed, understanding.

  "Yes. The nanos made us evolve into beings able to get the blood they needed. . . we needed. They made us stronger and faster to be more efficient at the hunt, they improved our night vision so we could hunt at night and avoid the damaging rays of the sun that would increase our need for blood, and they gave us fangs to get the blood we needed. "

  "They made you night predators," she realized.

  "Yes. And you are now one, too," Lucian said quietly.

  Leigh stared at him with dismay. "But other humans are our prey. "

  "It's not as bad as it sounds," he assured her quietly. "Especially now that there are blood banks again. "

  Leigh felt relief rush through her. Of course, there were blood banks. She wouldn't be expected to run out and attack poor unsuspecting people and suck on their necks.

  "Despite popular lore, we do not have to kill our prey," Lucian said quietly. "In fact, it's better if we don't. As my nephew Lucern likes to say, that would be like killing the cow that gives the milk. It also would draw attention to our existence. Before the advent of blood banks in this society, we fed a little here, a little there, and did our best not to do anything that would increase the need to feed; hence the reason we avoided sunlight. "

  "But we can go out in the sun," Leigh said, wanting to be clear on that point.

  "Yes, but it means consuming more blood," he reminded her. "And the less we had to feed back then, the better if we wanted to avoid detection. Of course, now we can go out in daylight when necessary with little problem so long as we have a supply of extra blood with us. "

  "I see," Leigh said slowly, then asked, "How much stronger and faster will I get?"

  "Really strong and really fast. "

  Leigh considered his words, recalling how swiftly Donny had moved last night, if it had been last night. She wasn't sure how much time had passed since then, but now that her thoughts had shifted to her attack and turning, other questions crowded into her thoughts.

  "Why didn't you kill me along with the others in that house?" she asked. Leigh's memories were becoming clearer as time passed and her confusion lifted. She'd heard the shouts and sounds that broke out once the men left her in the kitchen and hurried down into the basement. She'd understood at once that Morty and Bricker and the third man she now knew was Lucian had been killing the vampires she'd seen in the basement. It was the impetus that had given her the strength to get out of the house and try to escape. By that point, she'd been fleeing them as much as Morgan and Donny.

  "There was no need to terminate you. Morgan hadn't had a chance to convince you that you were one of his ghouls, and get you to feed off mortals and so on. "

  Leigh nodded in understanding, thinking she was lucky in the timing of her attack and when Lucian and the others had made their approach.

  "They were rogue. You weren't. So you were spared," Lucian said simply.

  Leigh frowned at the answer. "What is a 'rogue'?"

  He paused, considering before answering, "There are rules our kind have to live by. If you break these rules you'll be considered a rogue and go up before the council. If you can defend your actions, fine. If not, or if you don't show up, you'll be marked for termination. "

  "And Donny and the others were rogue?"

  "Yes. "

  "Why? What are these rules?"

  "The first rule is that you can turn only one mortal in a lifetime. The second is that you can only have one child every hundred years. "

  "One child every. . . hundred years?" Leigh stared at him with horror. Spacing kids out was one thing, but one every hundred years? Dear God. "Why?"

  "Population control," he answered promptly. "It wouldn't be good to let our population outgrow the blood source. "

  "Oh, I see," she murmured, and did. "So, n
o turning more than one mortal in my life and no more than one child every hundred years. "

  "Yes. The other rule is we are restricted to bagged blood except in cases of emergency. "

  "Okay," Leigh said. It seemed like a good rule to her. She had no desire to go around chomping on neighbors and friends anyway, but just to be clear on things she asked, "What kind of an emergency?"

  "If you're in a car crash, or an airplane accident away from blood banks and unable to call in help," Lucian said as an example. "You could feed on a human then if necessary. "

  "If I survived," Leigh said dryly.

  "Unless you're decapitated, your heart's ripped out, or you're trapped and burnt up, you will survive," he assured her. "And even with the burning, you quite literally have to be burnt up. You'll survive third degree burns all over your body. You basically have to be cremated. "

  Leigh grimaced at the thought, but said, "I'm guessing the biting is what made Morgan a rogue. He bit me. "

  "He did more than that, he turned you," Lucian pointed out. "He's turned a lot of mortals, and all of them are feeding on other mortals. He has to be stopped. He's turning people willy-nilly and he's turning them rogue as well. "

  Making a face, Lucian shifted unhappily in the tub. "The man had them living in that dump, sleeping in coffins, letting them think they had to hide from the sun, and feeding off other mortals and only mortals, and not nicely. "

  He made a sound of disgust and added, "He, like other rogues before him, is churning out some heartless, bloodthirsty immortals that think they're living a really bad vampire movie. From Dusk till Dawn and so on. "

  Leigh tilted her head curiously. "Do many of your kind go rogue?"

  "Our kind," Lucian corrected, reminding her she was one of them now. He paused and seemed to consider her question, then said, "Even one going rogue and turning innocent mortals into monsters is one too many. "

  Leigh supposed that was true. "What makes them turn?"

  "What?" He seemed surprised by the question.

  "Well, why is Morgan doing this? I mean, Donny was an okay guy, but from what you're saying, he probably thinks he is a soulless, cursed creature of the night. " Or rather, child of the night, as she recalled Morgan using that term. "Why is he doing this?"

  Lucian shrugged. "Madness, boredom, who knows?"

  Leigh arched an eyebrow. "You have no idea? All these years and no one has noted even one similarity between those who go rogue?"

  Lucian considered the matter, then said reluctantly, "They're usually older immortals. "

  "Older like you?" she asked. When he stared at her blankly, Leigh pointed out, "Well surely you're one of the oldest, aren't you?"

  Lucian scowled. "I said usually older. Sometimes they aren't. They. . . " He stopped to glare at her, then said, "What made Jack the Ripper suddenly start killing prostitutes? Or what made Charles Manson do what he did? Or Jeffrey Dahmer? Who knows why they suddenly turn? It could be a loss of hope, or anything. Many of them are alone, without families or loved ones or anything to keep them grounded. "

  "You have family," Leigh said with quiet relief. It wasn't that she'd feared he would suddenly go rogue and take her down with him, finishing what Morgan had tried to start, but still, she found the fact that he had Marguerite and the others reassuring.

  "Yes, I have family," Lucian said quietly, then asked, "And what of you?"

  Leigh stiffened. "What about me?"

  "Do you have family?" he asked. "It can be something of a problem if you do, Leigh. You can't reveal what you are to them and -- "

  "That won't be a problem," she assured him solemnly, then explained, "My parents died when I was ten. My grandfather raised me, but he died while I was away at Harvard. I'm alone now. "

  "I'm sorry," he said gruffly, and Leigh shrugged.

  "I've been alone a long time. I'm used to it," she murmured, but even as she said the words, she knew they weren't true. She doubted if she would ever get used to being wholly alone in the world.

  Lucian cleared his throat, but his voice was still gruff when he said, "If you're finished with your questions, I suggest you leave. My bath is growing cold and I'm going to get out now. "

  "Oh, yes of course. " Leigh stood abruptly and moved toward the door. She still had questions, but the more urgent ones had been answered and the rest could wait. At the door she paused and murmured, "Thank you, Lucian. I know you're very tired and I've been a bit of a pest disturbing your bath and everything, but I -- "

  "Leigh," he interrupted.

  "Yes?" She glanced back wide-eyed.

  "I should have answered your questions as soon as you woke up. I should have realized you would -- " He shook his head and sighed. Apparently giving up on trying to give her what she was sure was an apology of his own, he simply said, "Just go on. I want out of this bath. Besides, I hear a car coming up the drive and need to see who it is. "

  Leigh's eyes widened. She couldn't hear anything, but had no doubt that he could, and she was suddenly reminded of Marguerite's promise to send her daughter over to explain things.

  "Oh, that will be Rachel," she said, hurrying to open the door. "Marguerite said she'd send her over to help answer questions. "

  "Rachel?" Lucian sounded more alarmed than relieved to hear someone was coming to help him out like this. Leigh didn't stop to ask why, however. She hurried out of the room, barely noting Lucian's curse as she rushed to answer the doorbell that was now sounding through the house.

  As it happened, Marguerite's daughter didn't wait for the door to be answered, Leigh arrived at the top of the stairs and glanced into the hall below to see a man and woman kicking off their shoes and removing light fall jackets by the front door.

  The man bore a pronounced resemblance to Lucian, though his hair wasn't quite the same quality of blond. It was more a dirty blond to Lucian's icy, almost white blond. And while he seemed about the same height, his build was a little less muscular and more wiry in the t-shirt and tight jeans he wore. The woman was a redhead; slender, pretty, and confident looking in black dress slacks and a white blouse.

  "Leigh?" the man asked, spotting her as she descended the stairs to meet them.

  Forcing a smile, she nodded and paused on the last step, but her gaze moved to the woman. "Marguerite's daughter, Rachel?"

  "Marguerite's daughter-in-law Rachel," the girl corrected with a smile, and then explained, "I was just fortunate enough to gain her as a mother through marriage. My husband, Etienne here, is her son. "

  "Hi," Etienne said as Leigh's gaze shifted to him, then he added, "I must say you look better in my clothes than I do. But you could have picked a more appropriate t-shirt. I must have left something more suitable than that in my old room. "

  "These are yours?" Leigh asked with embarrassment, then glanced down at the t-shirt saying and blanched. It read, I'M THE TEENAGE GIRL YOU HAD CYBER SEX WITH IN THE CHAT ROOM.

  "It's funnier when a guy's wearing it," Etienne said wryly.

  "Etienne is a computer geek. He makes PC games," Rachel said dryly, as if that explained everything.

  "Oh," Leigh said lamely.

  "Is that coffee I smell?" Rachel asked, glancing toward the kitchen door.

  Leigh stared at her wide-eyed, amazed that she could smell it from the front door, but then relaxed as she recalled all she'd learned about their state. Shaking her head, she muttered, "Oh yes, vampires senses. "

  "Exactly," Etienne said lightly. "Kind of like spidey senses, but with more bite. "

  Rachel groaned, then smiled at Leigh. "I did mention he was a computer geek, didn't I?"

  Leigh merely smiled. Despite the woman's teasing, there was a look of open love and affection on her face as she glanced at her husband.

  "Come on. We may as well enjoy a cup while we talk," Rachel said, moving up the hall toward the kitchen.

  Etienne picked up a bag off the hall table and followed, then glanced ba
ck with a smile. "Come on, Leigh. "

  "You two sit," Rachel instructed as they followed her into the kitchen. She moved to a cupboard and began to retrieve cups. "You made the coffee and Etienne bought the doughnuts, so I'll pour. "

  "Doughnuts?" Leigh glanced toward the bag the man held, noting the Tim Horton's name and logo on it as they both settled at the table. "We can eat real food?"

  "I wouldn't call doughnuts real food," Rachel said with a laugh. "At least not real healthy, but yes you can still eat food. "

  "Oh. " Leigh's gaze slid to the doughnut bag again, her mouth suddenly watering. She supposed she should have guessed she could still eat by the fact that Lucian had brought her food earlier, but. . . well, it had been dog food. And perhaps she could only eat during the change, but wouldn't be able to after. However, if Etienne and Rachel still ate. . .

  Rachel grinned as she carried three coffees to the table. "Guess what the best news you'll hear today is?"

  Leigh raised an eyebrow in question as the redhead turned away to retrieve the canisters of sugar and powdered milk. "What's the best news I'll hear today?"

  Rachel settled in a seat, then reached into the bag Etienne had set on the table. She pulled out a jelly-filled doughnut, held it up and announced, "You can eat all the doughnuts you want and won't gain an ounce of weight. "

  Leigh watched blank-faced as Rachel smiled and took a bite, then chewed with relish.

  "Really?" she finally asked with disbelief.

  Rachel nodded and swallowed. "No matter what you eat, or how much, your body will work to keep you at peak physical fitness. " She let that sink in for a moment, then added, "Of course, it means you have to increase your blood intake. "

  "Oh. " Leigh frowned over this news and Rachel shrugged.

  "There's always a price, isn't there?" she said dryly. "Unfortunately, anything you do that causes damage to your body means an increase in the blood you have to consume; overeating, exposure to sunlight, consumption of alcohol. . . " She made a face. "All mean you have to suck back more blood. "

  Leigh nodded slowly as she accepted this.

  "So," Rachel said a tad sharply, after chewing and swallowing another bite of doughnut. "According to Marguerite, Lucian is being his usual pain and refuses to explain things to you. "

  "My wife isn't too fond of Uncle Lucian," Etienne explained, a hand moving to cover his wife's where it had fisted on the table. "I'm afraid they didn't get off to a very good start. "

  "I -- Oh," Leigh said lamely. She was curious about this claim, but since Lucian had just spent his entire bath explaining things to her, she felt moved to defend him. "Actually, he did answer my questions in the end. In fact, we just finished talking when you arrived. "

  Rachel seemed more irritated than happy about this news, but Leigh hardly noticed. Her attention was taken up with what Etienne had said before she'd spoken. "I'm sorry," she said with a frown. "Did you say Uncle Lucian?"

  He raised his eyebrows. "Yes. "

  "But -- " She shook her head. "He doesn't look any older than you. "

  "Ah. " Etienne sat back with a smile. "And how old do you think I am?"

  Leigh stared, taking in his youthful skin and demeanor. He wore hip-hugging jeans and a t-shirt that said GEEKS DO IT BETTER. He could have been anywhere between twenty-five or thirty. . . but he was a vampire, she recalled, and Lucian had told her she wouldn't age and her life would be prolonged so long as she didn't get trapped in a fire or decapitated. He could be any age, she realized, and she shouldn't be surprised that Lucian was his uncle, though they looked about the same age.

  "Exactly," Etienne said, and Leigh blinked in confusion.

  "Exactly?"

  "We don't age and we all look about twenty-five to thirty years old. . . well, once we reach twenty-five or thirty," he added.

  "Are you -- Did you just read my mind?" she asked with amazement.

  "I'm afraid so," he said apologetically. "Rude, I know. I'll try not to in future, but it's difficult because you're broadcasting your thoughts at the moment. It happens to everyone when they first turn. You'll learn to tone them down and keep them to yourself eventually. "

  Leigh shrugged his apology away and asked, "Can I read minds, too?"

  "Probably not yet, though you'll gain that skill in time. However, you'll probably never be able to read the minds of the older of our kind unless they're distracted or upset. "

  "But you can read me?" she asked with interest.

  "Yes. "

  Leigh glanced to Rachel. "And you?"

  Rachel nodded.

  "Can you control me, too?" Leigh asked, recalling the way she'd found herself unable to move, or struggle, or even yell, while Morgan had bitten her.

  "Probably," Etienne acknowledged. "But I wouldn't. "

  Leigh considered that, her mind slipping back to something Lucian had said on the phone to Marguerite: No, I can't control her mind and make her wait, I can't get into her thoughts. She hadn't understood it then, but did now.

  "Lucian can't read you?" Rachel asked, her voice sharp with interest.

  Leigh blinked, taking in the fact that her mind had been read again, or she was broadcasting her thoughts. Letting it go, she said, "No," then added, "But then he's tired. He thinks that's why. "

  Rachel turned to her husband with dismay. "He can't read her. "

  "No," Etienne agreed, a slow smile spreading his lips. "Damn. . . Uncle Lucian's finally met another mate. "

  Leigh stiffened, but before she could ask what they were talking about, Rachel asked, "Do you have any family down in. . . Kansas, was it?"

  "No, I'm all alone and. . . " Leigh paused as the meaning behind the question sank in. "What do you mean down in Kansas? Aren't we in Kansas?"

  "Sorry, but no, you're not in Kansas anymore, Toto," Etienne said lightly, then seeing the dismay on her face, said more solemnly, "You're in Canada, Leigh. "

  "Canada?" she squeaked with disbelief.

  "Toronto, to be exact," Rachel informed her, then asked with irritation, "Didn't Lucian tell you that?"

  "Why am I in Canada?" Leigh asked instead of answering her question.

  "Because that's where we live," Etienne said simply. "I gather he brought you up here for my mother to look after, but Mom was on her way to Europe, so he had to look after you himself. "

  "But how did I get here?" Leigh asked. "I wasn't even conscious. Surely they don't just let people drive through the border stops with unconscious women? Or did we fly? They certainly wouldn't have let him carry me on the plane unconscious and covered in dried blood as I was. "

  "I think he used the company jet," Etienne said soothingly. "There would have only been Lucian and the pilot and co-pilot to see the state you were in. "

  "Even so, the airport officials -- "

  "Would have been handled," Etienne said quietly.

  "Oh yes, the mind control thing," she said faintly, then asked, "So he just carried me on a plane? Without my purse? I don't have ID, or credit cards, or anything. "

  "It's all right," Rachel said quietly. "You're safe here. And we'll see what we can do about getting your purse with all your credit cards. Where did you leave it?"

  Leigh blinked. "I'm not sure. I had it when I was walking home. I think I dropped it, though. " She grimaced. "Yes, I did drop it. I remember it hitting the ground. "

  "I doubt they would have left it lying there in the street," Rachel assured her. "I'm sure they would have taken it when they took you to the house. If so, we can get it back. "

  Rather than feel relief at these words, Leigh's shoulders slumped with defeat.

  "What's wrong?" Rachel asked. "If it's at the house, we can just have someone go out and pick it up. " She glanced at Etienne. "Can't we?"

  "I'm pretty sure they burnt the house to the ground," Leigh admitted, then added, "Unless that part was just a dream. "

  "It wasn't. " The announcement made all
three of them swivel sharply to the open doorway, where Lucian now stood. His hair was still damp from his bath and he was wearing soft, pale blue jeans, and a tight, plain white t-shirt that lovingly hugged his muscular chest. He looked delicious, Leigh acknowledged, as he said, "We set the house on fire before we left. "

  "Why?" Rachel asked with amazement, then understanding donned on her face. "To remove any evidence of the pack and what they were. "

  Lucian nodded, then glanced at Leigh and said, "That's another rule; you avoid hospitals, the police, and all other mortal authorities at all costs. Don't go to a hospital, or the doctor's, if you're somehow injured. Do not call the police if you have a break-in. Call Bastien. We handle all our problems ourselves. We can't risk anyone in an official position seeing, hearing, or finding something that might give away our existence. "

  Leigh nodded her understanding, then glanced to Rachel when the other woman patted her hand.

  "It's all right, ID and credit cards can be replaced," the redhead said.

  "Yes, but in the meantime I'm without," Leigh said quietly. She hated the idea of being dependent on the kindness of these people, who were really -- nice as they seemed -- strangers. She'd been independent too long to be comfortable with it.

  Rachel sighed, then turned a glare in Lucian's direction, obviously blaming him for it. But he merely shrugged and revealed just how much he'd overheard by saying, "I'm not the one who left it in the house. "

  Leigh made a face at the man as he moved to lean against the kitchen counter. It wasn't as if she'd forgotten it in her rush; she'd been weak and sick and escaping kidnappers, not worrying about her purse.

  "Don't worry, Bastien will take care of it," Etienne assured her. "He deals with stuff like this all the time. "

  "We'll call him in New York as soon as we get home," Rachel added to his reassurance as she got to her feet. "Or actually, later in the day. He'll be asleep by now," she added, glancing at the clock on the wall as Etienne stood up beside her.

  "Where are you going?" Lucian asked with a frown as Rachel led Etienne to the kitchen door.

  "Home," Etienne said, following his wife out of the room.

  Leigh glanced from the closing door to Lucian as he suddenly sped across the floor. He moved fast. Super fast. It was like watching a video on fast forward, and she was left blinking at the closed door with both surprise and curiosity, wondering why he seemed in such a panic over their leaving.