Sex, Lies, and Vampires

It took me three tries: one incomplete ward that luckily held the door when Sebastian rallied enough strength to try to escape; a quarter-drawn ward that was so bungled, it tied itself into a knot and froze the doorknob; and then at last I completed a full ward.

"That's it," I said, breathing easier as Sebastian threw himself in vain against the door. "Let's get out of here."

We made it out of the basement, up the stairs, and out the back door that led into a dark alley without anyone the wiser, although I knew it wouldn't be long before the unconscious muscle-man and the missing Sebastian were noticed.

"So, we're off to London, right?" I asked as we stood crammed together in a phone booth a few blocks away from the house from which we'd just escaped. "We go find your brother and get back the ring?"

Adrian pulled a black notebook from his satchel, rifling through it. "Reach in my pocket and find some coins small enough for the phone. We are going after Saer, but first we must seek assistance."

I dug around in the pocket of his wool duster as he found the phone number he was looking for in his book. "Assistance? What kind of assistance? Shouldn't we be hot on Saer's heels? He's had a couple of hours' head start on us—"

"I have no money," Adrian reminded me. "I cannot get us to London without money. I have a friend here in Cologne who will help me. Once we have the necessary funds, then we will fly to London."

"Yeah, but that's going to take time," I pointed out, driven by some inner need to hunt down Saer and get back the ring that I knew would save Adrian.

"I wish to leave as much as you do," he suddenly exploded, his eyes furious. "Every molecule in my body is screaming for vengeance, but I cannot give in to it. You seem to think I am the paranormal equivalent of Superman, but I am just a man, Nell. Immortal, yes, but I cannot breach the boundaries of time and space, nor can I manufacture something out of nothing. As much as it galls me to be beholden to another, I must seek assistance in order to continue."

Mortified, I wrapped my arms around him and kissed the wild pulse behind his ear. "I'm sorry. I have been expecting you to work miracles, haven't I? Blame it on Buffy. That show has done some serious misleading about vampires."

"Dark Ones," he corrected, his voice gruff now, but gruff with a warmer emotion as he tipped my head up to kiss me.

"I think my brain is recovering. I can feel what you're feeling when I touch you," I said just before his lips claimed mine. His mouth teased and tasted, his moan captured between us as I gave in to his demands and parted my lips, allowing his tongue to slip into my mouth, tormenting me with its sweet touch. He was surrounded by a thick veil of desire that had me squirming with a matching fire. I couldn't merge with him fully, but pressed against him as I was, his tongue invading my mouth, I knew he was as aroused and full of need as I was.

A man in an overcoat, huddled under an umbrella that streamed silver by the light of the blue-tinted streetlight, rapped impatiently on the glass door of the phone booth. I sucked Adrian's bottom lip for a moment, then released it. "I don't suppose this friend of yours has a room we could use for a little bit?"

An odd look flickered across his face as he turned to the phone, dropping in the coins I handed him. "As a matter of fact, she does."

He spoke briefly into the phone in German so rapid I had a hard time keeping up with it.

"OK, I got that your friend has opened her door to us, but what was that about Brussels? Where exactly does she live?" I asked as we vacated the phone booth.

Adrian wrapped his arm around my waist, hauling me up close as we hurried through the dark, wet streets of Cologne.

"Gigli lives on Brüsseler Platz in the Belgische Viertel, the Belgian Quarter. We can take the tram."

Cuddled up against him, I could feel both his distraction and concern as he constantly scanned the people passing, no doubt watching for Sebastian or Christian. No one tried to stop us as we boarded the train that led to an area of town filled with historic old buildings and expensive apartments.

"So, exactly who is this Gigli woman?"

"She's not a woman, she's a knocker."

"She has what?" I asked, my voice filled with outrage as I stopped dead on the cobblestone street. Vampires don't use words like knockers! Everyone knows that!

Adrian tugged me forward. "Not what, who. Gigli is a knocker."

"And what's a knocker when she's at home?"

"Knockers are Welsh spirits. They used to inhabit mines."

I stopped again, but Adrian was ready for me and hauled me up tight, urging me forward over the slick cobblestones. "A spirit? You're taking me to see a spirit? A Welsh spirit?"

"Yes."

"Spirit as in ghost? You have ghost friends?"

"Spirit as in an incorporeal being now inhabiting a human form."

"Oh." I contemplated that during the time it took for us to turn the corner toward a small square. "What is a Welsh spirit doing in Germany?"

Adrian shrugged. "She likes the beer."