A Quick Bite Read online

“He couldn’t get back to sleep after we woke him,” Lissianna answered, but the other woman wasn’t listening. She’d spotted the loose rope lying on the bed by his ankle.

  She turned on Lissianna with amazement. “What were you doing?”

  Lissianna hesitated, then merely said, “He needs to use the bathroom.”

  “Well, you can’t let him,” Elspeth said at once. “What if he were to slip out the bathroom window and escape? Aunt Marguerite would have a fit.”

  “Yes, I know. But…” Lissianna bit her lip, then blurted, “Do you know he was suppose to fly down to Mexico this morning for a week’s vacation?”

  “That makes sense.” The comment came from Mirabeau as she slid through the door that Elspeth had left open. Crossing the room, she added, “Your mother’s a smart cookie. No one would miss him if he was supposed to be away on vacation.”

  “Hmm.” Lissianna didn’t look pleased. “I wonder if mother put the thought into his head to book the trip, or if it was just a stroke of luck for her that he’d planned one.”

  Greg blinked at the suggestion. He’d been planning this trip for months and was pretty sure it had just been a lucky break for Marguerite. Before he could say so, Jeanne Louise led the twins into the room, and asked, “What’s everyone doing up here?”

  “I suppose Thomas is on his way up here, too,” Lissianna said with exasperation, as the twins waved at Greg in greeting.

  “You suppose right.” Thomas was yawning and stretching as he entered the room. “Who could sleep with all that racket downstairs?”

  “They’ve started vacuuming the hall outside the living room,” Jeanne Louise explained. “It’s what woke us up.”

  “So, what are we all doing up here?” Thomas asked.

  “Lissi was about to untie Greg,” Elspeth announced.

  Lissianna scowled at her cousin as the others turned on her in horror.

  “Do you think that’s wise?” Jeanne Louise asked with concern.

  “You can’t!” Juli gasped. “He’s supposed to cure your phobia. He can’t go until he’s done that.” There were nods of agreement all around at this.

  “So…What?” Lissianna asked. “We just keep him here against his will? He’s hardly likely to want to cure me when he’s being held here like this,” she pointed out, and seven sets of eyes turned to survey him.

  Greg tried not to scowl, but his need to use the bathroom was growing painful.

  Lissianna moved to his other wrist and continued, “The fact is, the man’s supposed to be on his way to Cancún for the first vacation he’s had in years and isn’t pleased to be stuck here instead.”

  “Couldn’t you at least wait until Aunt Marguerite wakes up and talk to her about it?” Elspeth asked, but much to his relief Lissianna shook her head.

  “No, it will be dinnertime before she wakes up.”

  “So?” Mirabeau asked.

  “So, by then it might be too late for him to get another flight down to Cancún today,” she pointed out. “Guys, he’s promised to help me when he gets back. I’ve had this phobia my whole life, another week or so isn’t going to matter…if he can even cure it,” she added doubtfully.

  Greg frowned at her lack of faith. He was considered one of the best in his field. If anyone could cure her, it was he.

  “Oh, I’m sure he can,” Elspeth said quickly. “He’ll help you beat it, Lissi, then you can feed like the rest of us.”

  “What if he goes to the police or something?” Jeanne Louise suddenly asked.

  “He won’t go to the police. He climbed into the trunk himself, and it will show that on the parking garage security tape,” Lissianna pointed out, using his argument.

  “But—” Jeanne Louise began.

  “I’m untying him and taking him home,” Lissianna said firmly, then propped her hands on her hips and turned to face her cousins. “You guys might want to go downstairs while I do it so you won’t get in trouble for being involved.”

  Greg held his breath as the cousins all exchanged glances, then closed his eyes as hope began to build in him when Jeanne Louise said, “Well, if you’re determined to set him free, I’ll help.”

  “We’ll help,” Elspeth corrected, and there were nods all around again.

  Lissianna smiled faintly. “I don’t need any help.”

  “Sure you do,” Thomas countered. “First, you need a ride, and second, it will spread the blame around. The more of us involved, the less trouble you’ll be in.”

  “Honestly, Thomas, you are truly wicked when it comes to getting out of trouble.” Jeanne Louise looked impressed. Greg was pretty impressed himself.

  “That’s sweet, guys, really,” Lissianna said. “But you don’t have to—”

  “Neither do you,” Elspeth pointed out. “But if you’re in, we’re in.”

  “One for all, and all for one, huh?” Lissianna asked with gentle amusement, then much to Greg’s relief, gave in. “All right, but if you’re coming, you’d best get dressed.”

  Greg blinked in surprise, suddenly aware that everyone but Lissianna was still in pajamas. Funny, he hadn’t noticed. He should have. There was a good deal of exposed flesh in the room, but while he’d noticed Lissianna’s baby doll at once when she’d entered, he hadn’t paid any attention to what the others wore as they straggled in. This was a bit alarming.

  “We’ll go change, then come back for you,” Mirabeau said.

  “You don’t have to. We can meet you downstairs after I finish untying Greg,” Lissianna said, but Mirabeau shook her head.

  “You’re forgetting the cleaners. They could go tattle to Marguerite,” she pointed out. “It’s better if we come back to help sneak him out.”

  “Oh, this is going to be fun,” Juli said excitedly as she hurried for the door, with Vicki on her heels.

  “Were we ever that young?” Jeanne Louise asked, as the rest of them followed.

  Lissianna shook her head, then turned toward the bed. She was smiling, Greg noted, and it made him smile, too, then he cleared his throat, and asked, “Could you finish untying me now? I really need to use the bathroom.”

  “Oh!” Much to his relief, Lissianna bent quickly to the task again.

  He watched her untie his wrist, his gaze drifting over the white silk top she’d changed into, then down to the black dress pants. She looked good. Not as good as she had in the baby doll, but good enough that he felt his interest stir.

  “What’s your phobia?” he asked suddenly, as she finished with the first wrist and turned away to walk around the bed.

  “Don’t you know?” Lissianna asked with surprise as she came up on his other side to set to work on the last limb still strapped to the bed.

  “No.” He watched her work at the knots in the rope around his left wrist. She had the long slender fingers of a pianist, beautiful and graceful.

  “Oh.” She grimaced, then admitted painfully, “I’m a hemaphobic.”

  “Hemaphobic?” Greg asked slowly, his mind awhirl. She was a hemaphobic? He had been kidnapped to cure a hemaphobic?

  Okay, he admitted to himself, so he hadn’t been kidnapped, but he had been kept tied up, supposedly because they wanted him to treat her for a life-afflicting phobia. Thomas had said it would be like his fainting at the sight of food. Greg had taken that literally, but it had nothing to do with food. The woman fainted at the sight of blood, for God’s sake! Millions of people had hemaphobia and lived perfectly normal lives.

  Dear Lord! He sat there recalling all the heartfelt pleas her family had made, each of them creeping into this room to tell him how much Lissianna needed him, how her phobia afflicted her…

  Oh, now he was pissed. Greg could maybe understand if she was an agoraphobic, or if she had some other phobia that made it impossible for her to live a normal life, but hemaphobia? Christ, even arachnophobia would have raised more sympathy in him. Spiders could be found anywhere…but hemaphobia? Blood was not something a person ran into on a daily or even weekly basis. It ha
rdly affected life in any meaningful way. It wasn’t good, certainly; she would be useless in an emergency and would react badly to any injury she herself, or anyone nearby sustained, but to hold him here for this was just—

  “All done.”

  Greg glanced down to see that she’d finished untying him. He was free. Muttering a “thanks,” he leapt off the bed and hurried for the bathroom before he said something he might regret. He wanted to yell and shout and break things he was so mad about missing his flight over this, but he couldn’t afford to. He wasn’t going to do anything that might jeopardize his getting out of this madhouse.

  Chapter 7

  Greg was silent and tense as they snuck him through the large house he’d been held in. He remained that way as they all clambered into a large blue van in the garage, only half-hearing Mirabeau explain to Lissianna that someone named Bastien had sent it for Marguerite to use while she had company, and they were “borrowing it” for this excursion since they couldn’t all fit in Thomas’s Jeep.

  Greg noted the name on the side of the vehicle as Thomas directed him to the front passenger seat: ARGENEAU ENTERPRISES. He filed the name away in his memory.

  The rest of the group joined him in silence once Thomas started the van and used a remote to open the garage door. They were all tense as he eased the van forward and steered it up the driveway. Greg supposed they were all afraid someone would come rushing out of the house and leap in front of the van to stop them. That never happened, however, and they reached the end of the long drive unmolested.

  “Where to?” Thomas asked as he pulled onto the road.

  Greg hesitated, reluctant to give his home address. Just as he was about to give his office address, he realized his briefcase and his coat with his keys in the pocket were still in Lissianna’s room. He’d had them with him last night and hadn’t thought to grab them on the way out. There was no way he was risking going back for them, though. With his luck, Marguerite would catch them and stop his leaving.

  In the end, Greg reluctantly gave his apartment address. At least there, the doorman could let him into the building and call the superintendent to bring him a spare set of keys. Besides, it was a security building. It wasn’t like they could just walk in and drag him out if they later changed their minds.

  The trip seemed long to Greg. He suspected he wasn’t the only one who felt that way. While the twins chattered nonstop, obviously finding the entire episode a grand adventure, the adults were, for the most part, silent. At least, until they reached the city proper. Then he heard Elspeth whisper Lissianna’s name. The very fact that she was whispering, made him subconsciously strain to hear what she said.

  “Lissi? I’m getting these waves of anger from Greg. Did something happen while we were all down getting changed?”

  “Anger?” Lissianna sounded concerned. “Are you sure?”

  Oh yeah, it’s anger, Greg thought sarcastically, then frowned over the fact that Elspeth had sensed it. He really had to watch himself around these people. He already believed Marguerite had strong psychic abilities. Why shouldn’t the others be capable of it?

  “He’s been quiet since he went to the bathroom.” Lissianna’s solemn voice drew him back to the conversation taking place behind him. “But I just thought he was nervous about getting out of the house without Mom stopping us.”

  “Oh. Well, maybe that’s all it is.” Elspeth sounded doubtful.

  “Do you want me to read him for you?” came Mirabeau’s quiet voice.

  “What? Lissianna, you haven’t read him?” There was no mistaking that half whisper, half squeal as coming from anyone but one of the twins. He thought it was probably Juli since she seemed always to be the first of the pair to speak.

  “She couldn’t read him, remember?” Jeanne Louise joined the conversation. “It’s why she bit him.”

  Juli heaved a sigh. “I wish we could ‘feed off the hoof,’ too. Just once, at least, to see what it’s like. It sounds much nicer than bagged blood.”

  “You will,” Elspeth said. “Mom’s taking you out when you’re eighteen.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Juli sighed impatiently. “So we’ll know how to feed naturally should an emergency ever arise where we only have that recourse.”

  She spoke the words by rote, as if having heard them a thousand times before. Greg noted absently, but his brain was trying to make sense of what they were saying. He didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. Lissianna hadn’t bitten him; a small nip maybe, but mostly she’d sucked on his neck and probably given him a huge hickey. Speaking of which, he wished he’d checked it while he’d been in the bathroom, but his thoughts had been so scattered by the knowledge that the dreaded phobia was nothing more than hemaphobia that he hadn’t even thought of it.

  “But what if we have an emergency before we turn eighteen?” Vicki asked.

  “You’ll just have to hope you don’t have one until after your eighteenth birthday,” Elspeth said shortly.

  “This is so not fair.” Juli sounded sulky. “You guys got to feed ‘off the hoof’ when you were way younger than we are.”

  “Juli, there was no other way to feed then,” Jeanne Louise said patiently.

  “Do you want me to read him for you and see if there’s any problem?” Greg was positive that was Mirabeau speaking. Her words brought an immediate end to Juli’s complaints. In fact, it seemed to end all conversation. Greg found himself holding his breath during the silence that followed, and wondered if he could somehow block the woman from reading his thoughts. Maybe if he made his mind blank? Or if he—

  “Here we are!” That cheerful announcement made Greg glance around. Thomas was squinting out the window as he pulled the van to a stop. Not that he should have had to squint, the van windows were all treated with some blackening agent. It was like the vehicle itself wore sunglasses, and yet Thomas still seemed bothered by the light filtering through the screen.

  Greg peered out the window at his high-rise apartment building. After the briefest hesitation, he opened the door and stepped out, shuddering as the cold air hit him. He almost left just like that, but something made him turn to peer back into the van. His gaze swept the occupants. They all stared back with solemn expressions.

  “Thanks, for untying me and for the ride,” he muttered reluctantly, then, with a nod, he closed the door and turned to hurry up the walk and into the building, positive with every step that one of them would leap out and try to drag him back. It was with a sigh of relief that he slid through the glass doors to the lobby.

  “Lissi, take the front seat,” Thomas said, as Greg slipped into his building.

  Lissianna unbuckled her seat belt and shifted to the front passenger seat. The moment she’d pulled on her seat belt there, Thomas shifted the van into drive and steered them back into traffic.

  “I read him on the drive in,” he announced.

  “You can read him, too?” Lissianna asked with a frown. It was bad enough that her mother could read Greg where she couldn’t, Marguerite was loads older than Lissianna, so much more powerful. She could even have accepted if Mirabeau had been able to read him, since her friend was over two hundred years older than she, but Thomas was only four years older, and yet he could, too? Why couldn’t she read the man?

  Aware that her cousins in the back of the van were now leaning eagerly forward to hear what was being said, she asked, “And?”

  “He was mad.”

  “Why?” she asked with surprise.

  “I gather he asked what your phobia was after we’d left to change?” Thomas asked. “And you told him it was hemaphobia?”

  When Lissianna nodded, he said, “That’s why he was mad.”

  Juli was the first to speak. “I don’t get it. Why would that make him mad?”

  “Aunt Marguerite interrupted his vacation and dragged him to the house where she tied him to a bed, all in an effort to get him to help cure Lissi’s phobia,” Thomas pointed out. “Then we all insisted her phobia was
bad and ruining her life.”

  “Well, it is,” Elspeth said grimly.

  “Yes, but hemaphobia wouldn’t be that bad an affliction for a mortal,” he pointed out.

  “But Lissianna isn’t a mortal,” Jeanne Louise said. “She needs blood to survive. Blood is food to her.”

  “Exactly,” Thomas agreed. “But Hewitt doesn’t know that, does he.”

  “Ohhh.” It was Juli and Vicki together who murmured the word, but it was silently echoed by the older women as realization dawned.

  “We have to tell him you’re a vamp, Lissi,” Vicki said. “Then he’ll understand.”

  “Oh yeah, he’d understand all right.” Mirabeau snorted. “He’d think we were crazy. Besides, do you really think he’d allow us to get close enough to tell him? Geez, the guy’s probably arranging to move house even as we speak.”

  “Mirabeau’s right,” Jeanne Louise said. “He probably will arrange to move, and he won’t help.” She frowned. “What I don’t understand, Thomas, is—if you knew all this—why did you just let him leave?”

  Thomas didn’t answer Jeanne Louise, but glanced at Lissianna instead. “Would you still want to let him go?”

  “Yes,” she answered without hesitation. “He couldn’t be controlled or calmed. Mother made a mistake in kidnapping him.” Usually they could submerge the wills of mortals and put thoughts and suggestions into their heads. With most people, Marguerite would have been able to keep them pliant, pleased to be there, and eager to help. It would have been safe to leave them free to wander the house without fear they’d try to leave, or even want to until she released their wills…and by then she would have wiped the whole episode from their memories, leaving vague alternate memories in their place. In effect, they’d have been stealing time from the person, but it was time the person wouldn’t even know was missing. Lissianna could have accepted that as a necessary evil to cure her phobia.

  But Greg wasn’t most people. He appeared strong-willed and resistant to control. He would have had to be kept tied up during his entire stay, and they would have had to force him to treat her phobia using threats and the promise of freedom. That wasn’t acceptable to her…and she knew her mother would agree—once she got over her initial anger at their having set Greg free.