Vamps: Human and Paranormal (15 page)

“Oh,” Lucy said, her eyes widening for real this time.  But her attention was torn away from Luvici a moment later.

The ballroom was decorated with wild flowers and roses, orchids and lilies.  Candlelight made the room sparkle and glow.  Huge crystal chandeliers hung from the vaulted gold inlayed ceiling, and the walls echoed the same theme, gold encrusted walls and long, elegant inset mirrors.  Carved vines and flowers and angels shimmered from the gold.

The parquet floor was deep mahogany and polished to a dazzling sheen.  But no sooner did Lucy take in the grandeur of the place than she realized that the three hundred or so elegantly dressed partygoers were all suddenly staring right at her.

She gulped.

“The natives look hungry.”  Luvici dove right on into the crowd of Gabe’s family, pulling her along, introducing her to a couple dozen aunts and uncles, nephews, nieces, great aunts, great uncles (one an older, more distinguished version of Luvici: his father.)  Lucy felt as if she were being twirled around in an ever quickening dance.  Before she knew it everything turned into a blur.  She didn’t even notice when Luvici was replace by Dante. 

Dante looked, if possible, even more regal and handsome than before.  She’d seen him a few times when she’d go to see Gabe at Enoch Industries, and they’d talked often on the phone.  He’d filled in some of the gaps in Gabe’s history.

But even with Gabe and Dante hand feeding her facts and crucial events from Gabe’s past, she still felt there was something huge missing.  Something that just made the picture they had painted not quite mesh.  If Gabe’s life had been a jigsaw puzzle Lucy knew she would never be able to finish it. 

Too many pieces missing.

Fun…

Abruptly Lucy found herself standing before Gabe and the most elegant, beautiful middle aged couple she had ever seen.  The man was a larger, broad shouldered version on Gabe, with long graying hair that was swept back from his face in thick waves, just long enough to touch his collar.  The woman had long golden blonde hair pilled in exquisite curls on the top of her head.  Her dress was vintage Dior, silver silk, and hugged her rather lithe body to perfection.  She was stunning. 

The parents,
Lucy thought with a mental gasp.  If Dante had looked like royalty, these two were certainly the king and queen.   Lucy felt underdressed, out classed and yearning to have a few months more time to prepare herself…or reinvent herself.   

But that wasn’t happening.  You didn’t get do-overs in real life.  So she took a deep breath and offered her hand to Mr. and Mrs. Enoch.

“So,” Mr. Enoch said, smiling broadly.  “This is the young lady that has captured my son’s heart.”  He bowed and kissed Lucy’s hand.  When he stood back up he said, “I am Jonas Enoch, and this is my wife, Vivian.”

Vivian Enoch smiled as she took Lucy’s hand and gently shook it.  A beautiful warm smile was in place, but her eyes were cold and searching…questioning.  She obviously didn’t believe her son had eyes for Lucy.  That or she simply didn’t think Lucy was good enough for him.

Either way, the coldness in Vivian Enoch’s eyes made the annoyed heat ignite in Lucy’s head.  Where only a moment ago Lucy felt she was over her head, and drowning in the varied richness and elegance of the Enoch family, Vivian Enoch’s chilly gaze filled Lucy with that good old feeling of
Who does this bitch think she is?

Nice,
Lucy thought as Mrs. Enoch released her hand and gave her a flat, cold glare.
  She hasn’t said a word and I’m calling her a bitch…

“Lacey,” she said intentionally, rubbing the fingers of the hand Lucy had just shook like something sticky had rubbed off.   “I’ve been dying to meet you.”  She gave Gabe a rather chilly smile too.  “Gabriel has absolutely refused to bring you to the house.  I can’t for the life of me understand why.”  Her gaze returned to Lucy.  “You’re just…stunning.”

Oblivious to his wife’s obvious dislike for Lucy, Jonas Enoch held out his arm to Lucy, asking, “May this old man have the first dance?”  He was addressing both Lucy and Gabriel.

“Of course,” Gabriel said.  He looked at Lucy as he always did.  Friendly, yet distant, as if he expected her to pick her nose, or break out in Hillbilly song. 

At least now I know where he gets it from,
Lucy shuddered.
That cool way of making you feel like you’re below him, and he’s slumming it just talking to you.  Good old Mom.

“I’d love to,” Lucy said, smiling at Jonas with genuine warmth.  She didn’t spare a second glance for Vivian.  She would have to ask him someday why he’d married a woman like her.  But for the moment she let herself take in the thrill of being the object of everyone’s attention as Jonas Enoch lead her out onto the dance floor.

There was a small orchestra by the dance floor, and their music just seemed to flow through the room like water in a stream, as if it had been playing the entire time: a waltz.  Lucy had heard it in a movie once.  Mozart or Chopin or someone dead long before the advent of electricity, or the hair dryer, or anything else Lucy found instrumental to everyday life.  But the music was beautiful, and Jonas Enoch was an amazingly graceful dancer, twirling her around the floor, yet never pushing so fast that she could not keep up. 

She suddenly realized that Jonas Enoch’s hands were hot, just like Gabriel’s and Dante’s were.

Jonas caught Lucy’s eyes in his gaze and smiled.  “So what are your intentions for my son, young lady?”

Direct.  Maybe he wasn’t as affable as she’d thought. 

“What do you mean?”  Lucy said, stalling for time, trying to get the more calculating and clever part of her brain to take over.

“What I mean is no one has even heard of you before a couple of weeks ago.  Where has he been hiding you, and what has he been doing with you?”

Okay, now we’re talking,
Lucy hit Jonas Enoch with her million dollar smile. 
This guy is sharp, and no amount of guile and complement is going to placate or fool him.
  So Lucy decided to go for the honest approach…kind of.

“Well, we haven’t really known each other much longer than that.”  Lucy smiled up at Jonas as if to say, that’s that, and Jonas gave her the expression of being unimpressed she was looking for.  “Well,”  she continued, “Gabe really wants to go further…if you get the gist, and I told him flat out that I wasn’t about to sleep with him until there was a huge rock on my finger and a big old honking checking account at my disposal.”

For a moment Jonas Enoch looked as if he were going to turn red as a fire hydrant, and then his handsome expression relaxed and he chuckled.  “You’re good…you really had me going there.”

Lucy beamed her best smile up at Jonas then felt something warm slide up inside her chest, something that made her heart start to thump in her chest.  And suddenly she just started talking.  Not really to Jonas, not really to anybody, maybe just to herself.

“There’s just something about him…Gabe, you know?” 

Jonas nodded and took a breath to say something, but Lucy just kept talking.

“It’s like, most of the time he drives me crazy.  He’s so freaking bossy and anal, and he’s just such a jerk sometimes…but then sometimes when we’re alone, and he’s talking, telling some stupid, pointless story about college, or boating, or whatever…I just can’t take my eyes off him.”

“Love is strange sometimes.”  Jonas looked a little confused.  Obviously he hadn’t expected his future daughter in law to bad mouth her groom at the engagement party.  “Truth be told, I spent most of my youth hating my wife.”

Lucy looked up at him with shocked eyes.  Was he really saying this?

“Vivian was my best friend’s little sister.  A real snob, even though we were both from wealthy families, both going back…”  He coughed, and then smiled at Lucy as if he were just remembering she was there.  “Let’s just say, she had no place looking down her pretty little nose at me…but that didn’t stop her.  And then one night, at the party for her brother’s graduation, we just started talking…mostly about her brother…”  The look on his face was as if he were remembering the most wonderful night ever.  “And then right before I left she pulled me aside, onto a balcony overlooking the King…er, I mean a garden, and right there and then she kissed me.”

“Oh…”  Lucy whispered.  She felt like she was melting inside.  “That’s so romantic.”

“Yes, it was very romantic.  And then she slapped me and wouldn’t talk to me for three weeks.”

“How did you get her back?”  She felt her breathing coming more and more rapidly.  She just had to know. 

“Well, she waited for a hunter’s moon, and when our two families were in the forest, she lured me onto a mountain and, well…”  Jonas’ face blushed beautifully.  “She jumped me.”

Lucy laughed as her own face flushed hot just thinking about it. 
Cold as ice Vivian jumping big old Jonas’ bones.

“That’s our little secret,” he said tensely.  “If Vivian ever even suspected I told you—”

“She’d jump your ass, but not in a good way?”

“Exactly.”

Suddenly a large, gorgeous young man deftly lifted Lucy’s hand from Jonas’ and spun her around and out of her dance partner’s arms.

“Micah!”  Jonas said, chuckling again.  Jonas had a great laugh.  “Be careful with your brother’s fiancée.”

Lucy’s eyes snapped wide open with surprise.  Looking up at the tall, handsome man that was spinning her around the dance floor with blurry speed, she could see a little resemblance to Gabe…something about the eyes and the set of the mouth, but truthfully he was a taller, broader version of his father.

Where did these huge beautiful men come from?  Lucy was used to maybe six foot tall quarterbacks, the occasional six three basketball player.  But Jonas and Micah were enormous.

“I’ve been dying to meet Gabe’s brother.”  Lucy started to feel a little dizzy as Micah twirled them a path through the din of dancers. 

Suddenly Micah spun her around and deposited Lucy, dizzy and breathing heavily, onto a marble bench on a veranda.  The view of the city was beautiful.  She looked up at Micah and saw the most mischievous smile. 

Crap!
  Lucy was flashing back to Jonas’ story: the balcony, the kiss.  What the hell was going on?  Was she going to have to defend herself from a big meaty Viking of a future brother-in-law?  She would’ve worn something more athletic if she’d known.

Micah plopped down on the bench beside her, throwing one of his muscular, tuxedo clad arms over her shoulder.  He smelled like a forest…no, a wild garden?  And she could see, even though his suit was very expensive and stylish, he was wearing it completely rumpled, as if he’d been partying in it for days.  Even his longish dark blond hair was haphazardly tucked behind his ears.

“I’m surprised he mentioned me.  We don’t see eye to eye on most things.  He’s more business minded, and I’m the…” he stopped, staring out into the night, searching to the right word.

“The screw up of the family?” 
Just taking a shot in the dark here
.

“The warrior type, I was going to say.”

Warrior?
  “So you’re into hostile takeovers?”

Micah snorted.  “War is always hostile.”

“You’re in the armed forces?”  Lucy asked with more disbelief than she’d intended.  Micah just didn’t strike her as the soldier type.              

“Not exactly, but you’ll find out soon enough.”  A song sprang from the open door to the ballroom.  It was fast and very vibrant, and a chorus of applause erupted from the room of dancers and party guests.  Micah winked.  “Time to get you back inside.  The natives are just dying to get a piece of you.”

Micah jumped up and pulled Lucy along to the doors. 
This can’t be good.

THERE WAS NO ESCAPE.
  Every person in the room was forming a huge circle, all eyes seemingly on Lucy.  Across the way, looking very uncomfortable was Gabriel.  But uncomfortable or not, he looked great.  Handsome, beautiful, sexy…

Lucy shook her head, trying to catch her breath as her heart sped on with ferocious speed.  Why was she feeling like this?  Weeks had gone by and the most she’d felt for this man was irritation, loathing and a touch of pity.  And now she was feeling like her flesh was going to burst into flame every time she looked at him.

I must be a better actress than I thought.  This must be what it’s like with method actors.  It’ll pass…just go with it for now…it’s just a job…nothing more.

Suddenly Gabriel caught her attention from across the room.  The heated charge to his gaze was anything but professional.  And for a horrible moment Lucy felt naked and exposed, and as if they were the only two people in the room.  And then the person on either side of her grabbed her by the hand.  One was Micah; he leaned down and said into her ear, “This isn’t hard to learn.  Just follow everybody’s lead, and try not to impale anyone’s feet with those heels…especially mine.”

“I’ll try,” Lucy mumbled.  She could do this.  She was a former cheer squad captain, and she’d taken ballet for almost ten years.  She could handle some sort of folk dance.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Micah said as everyone moved slowly to the right.  “He must really like you if he lets you call him Gabe.”

“I just started calling him that because I knew he didn’t like it,” she confessed. 

“Nobody gets to call him that…well, I do when I’m looking for a fight, but that’s usually when he goes all Mighty Mouse on me.”

“Mighty Mouse?”

Micah smiled wickedly, and then the crowd really started to move.  Lucy found herself having to concentrate to keep up.  And then the music spiraled and everyone separated, weaving in and out of each other.  Someone caught Lucy’s hand and pulled her into the fray, and with a confused laugh she fell into step and zigzagged her way through the dance.  Now and then everyone stopped and the man next to her twirled her around, and then the whole thing started again…but a little faster.

Everyone was having a hell of a good time, including Lucy.  And without even noticing it, she’d instantly fallen in love with the entire Enoch clan.  She saw Micah fly by, and then she was suddenly dancing with Luvici.  His face was rosy and he was sweating, but he looked happier than she’s ever seen him.  Obviously being with his family did that to him.

Lucy felt a short, sharp pang of misery as she flashed on the last time she’d danced with her father.  It was at a stuffy old Christmas party almost two years ago, but she could recall that moment with utter clarity.  The way he’d smelled, the room, the song, the way he smiled at her and told her what a beautiful young lady she’d become.  “His little girl.”

With a brutal jerk Lucy was back in Luvici’s arms, and she felt like she was about to start crying.  Luvici picked her up and spun her around once, setting her down effortlessly, and making her squeal with unintended delight.  And then just as suddenly he swung her around and she crashed right into a man’s broad, tuxedo-clad chest.  The music stopped and the room fell instantly silent.

Lucy looked up and found Gabe looking down at her.  He wasn’t smiling, and he didn’t look particularly happy, but he was looking at her like he wanted to devour her.  The heat in those brown eyes was enough to burn down a house, and now that she was staring into those beautiful eyes, she felt like she was drowning in them.  Her hands were against his chest, feeling his breath heave in and out of him. 

She felt a twinge of fear…what was she doing?  What was
he
doing?  Was this just part of the act, or was that lusty look really coming from him? 

She stepped back.

Suddenly the room erupted in a wave of boos and cat calls.  The room was vibrating with the Enoch clan’s bottled up energy.  But Lucy still couldn’t take her eyes from Gabriel’s.  She could stand there forever and stare into those melted chocolate eyes.

“Kiss her!” a voice that could only be Micah hollered.  A short burst of laughter, whistles and applause broke out.  And then more voices started to chant.  “Kiss her!  Kiss her!  Kiss her!”

Gabriel gazed down at her with genuine affection, his mouth curling on one side in a crooked smile.  “We’ve been set up.”

Lucy peeled her gaze from Gabe’s eyes, taking in the fact that every pair of eyes in the room were anxiously waiting for them to kiss.  She caught sight of Jonas and Vivian, and Vivian looked like she would’ve bet her best jewels that they weren’t going to be able to do it.  Or was that a look of disgust, like when you take a bite of spoiled shrimp.

“We didn’t practice this,” Lucy whispered. 
We really should’ve practiced this!  We didn’t even talk about it.  How stupid are we?

The roar of a ballroom full of people whooping and clapping their hands and stomping their feet ricocheted around the room.  Were some of the guests actually howling? 

Lucy’s startled gaze swept the room, giving her a slight dizzy feeling as she turned her attention back to Gabriel.  Abruptly the crowd fell silent, as if they were in their own little bubble.  All she knew was that Gabriel was suddenly the most beautiful man in the world, and she could feel herself falling into his dark, hungry eyes.

Gabriel reached out and took hold of her shoulders, his hands gentle yet scalding hot, his palms burning her bare shoulders.  His breathing came hard and fast through his mouth, the look on his face was actual hunger, which just amazed Lucy, made her feel like her heart was about to ignite in flames.  Gabriel looked not only hungry for her, but downright shocked.

Happily shocked?
  Lucy wondered.

But she didn’t have to wonder long.  Gabriel’s hands slid from her shoulders as he pulled her to him, the cool smooth fabric of his suit sliding against Lucy’s flesh, giving her goose bumps and making her gasp, the feel of his strong, muscular body as he wrapped his arms around her and crushed her against him made her tremble. 

Oh…my…god…

And then his lips captured hers.  Smooth soft lips and a most indescribably delectable taste engulfed Lucy’s senses. A shock, a current, a freaking lightning bolt surged between and through and around them.  Gabriel’s arms pulled tight around her, clasping her to him—her own arms entwining about his neck

Okay, this is nice…

Standing there, being kissed by a man a few weeks ago she couldn’t stand, she forgot her own name, why she was there, or that there was even one other person on the face of the earth besides him
.  Him.
  No longer Gabriel, no longer Gabe (just to annoy him), but
him...

Lucy felt every molecule in her body move toward Gabriel, wanting nothing more than to get closer to him.  Some white hot flame had been ignited inside her chest, in her head, at her core, and she could feel it searing her from the inside, hotter even than Gabriel’s touch or even his lips against hers.

The only sound Lucy could hear was her own heartbeat clamoring in her head, its rhythm thudding in her chest.  She could feel Gabriel’s heart beating through his chest against her own.

             
They’re almost in sync.
  And that little thought tore Lucy from the seemingly endless rapture she’d found in Gabriel’s arms, and she pushed away from him and gasped for breath as their lips parted.  Her entire body shook and her legs wobbled as she tried to pull away from him. 

I hate this guy! 
She clenched her eyes shut. 
It’s all just a job, a way to get my life and future back.  That’s it…that’s all!

And yet when she opened her eyes, the way Gabriel stared at her, how his arms still clung to her. 

The world pushed back in on them as Gabriel’s family rushed toward them, cries of relief and happiness replacing the silence, and Lucy found herself surrounded by legions of partygoers, all of them kissing her cheek and giving her heartfelt hugs.  Gabriel was besieged by slaps on the shoulders, hands being shook, and smiling/crying women congratulating him with more kisses and hugs.

Inexplicably Lucy felt like she was about to burst into tears.  She was so confused.  What the hell just happened?  Why did she feel so shitty about all these people congratulating her? 

And…why do I care so much for all these strangers?

If any of them knew, they would hate me…

She saw Gabriel through the crowd.  He looked happy. 
He never looks happy!  What the hell’s going on here?
She caught sight of his eyes, and there it was again, the one thing she hadn’t ever expected to see in his eyes: need, want, adoration…love?

No…

Lucy turned away as tears spilled from her eyes, rolling in streams down her cheeks.

I have to get out of here…

Lucy tried to move through the crowd without causing a scene, but she knew that if she didn’t get away from them all she was going to fall apart.  She couldn’t let anyone see her like that.  She refused.

She took some deep breaths, swiped the tears from her eyes and plastered a smile on her face.  She pushed urgently through the throng of party guests until she saw an EXIT sign glowing red in the distance.  It seemed to take forever, but she finally made it through to the mahogany wood door, grabbing the knob and thankfully finding it unlocked.

~*~

The cool night air felt good on Lucy’s skin, and even though it was rancid with the aromas of garbage and decay, breathing it in helped steady her as she stepped haltingly out into the alley behind the club.  She let the door click shut, cutting off the ebb and flow of the celebration, leaving her in peace and silence.  The only sound was her breathing and the click and scrap of her heels on the cracked pavement of the alley.

I’ve so screwed this all to hell…
Lucy held her hands to her face.  Her flesh was so cold. 
What was I thinking?

Lucy expected her bitchy inner voice to chime in with her two cents, but instead she was struck by a terrible, potent feeling. 

She didn’t know how she knew, she just knew—something was there.  She felt it.  Somewhere in the darkness that surrounded her, something was watching her.  She looked around her and backed up toward the door a step.

I’m going to die...
she heard an inner voice say. 
That’s comforting.
  Another voice said,
Quiet...can you feel that?

She
could
feel it.  It was cold and dead and absolutely wanted to kill her.  And no sooner did she think this, than it rushed upon her, unstoppable.  A flash of golden blonde hair and the whitest teeth—or were they fangs?  It grabbed her by the throat, picked her up in the air and slammed her back against the cold bricks of the wall. 

As her feet dangled in thin air she fought to take a breath.  She tried to pry the hand from her throat, but it was so strong.  She looked down and felt an instant shock.  Staring up at her, eyes frosty blue, long blonde hair blazing in the wind, stood a girl no older than she, and not a bit bigger.  Her lips peeled back to bare the whitest set of fangs.

A fire erupted in Lucy’s head—she was pissed. 
What does this chick think she’s doing?  
She grabbed hold of the girl’s wrist and glared down at her. 
Let me go!
 

For just a moment Lucy felt something prickle across her skin, then it seemed to flow into fang chick’s wrist.

The girl’s arm shook, and she lowered her captive about six inches before pushing her back up into the air.  The look on her face was still seething bitch, but something flickered in her eyes, if only for an instant.

Lucy locked her gaze on the girl’s cold blue eyes.  Another surge, one much stronger flowed from Lucy into the girl.  The annoyed burning in her skull was almost painful. 
Get your filthy hands off me!    

When the blonde girl just set her down they shared the same look of deep shock.  They staggered away from each other, the blonde shaking her head as Lucy fell back against the wall, gasping up the foul air of the alley. 

This
really
can’t be happening. 
Lucy held her hand to her aching throat and used the other to hold herself up against the side of the building.  But then she looked over at the blonde, and sure enough she had fangs still—not an optical illusion and not Lucy’s imagination getting away from her in a dark alley.

The blonde hissed.  “What the hell did you just do to me?”  She looked like she’d just tasted something disgusting.  “I can’t believe you used magic against me!”  The blonde came closer a step, a cruel smile on her face.  “Two can play at the game.”  She closed her eyes, holding her hands out, looking for a moment like a bleach blonde, really skinny Buda.  That was until she open her eyes and they were blood red.  No pupil, no whites, just a liquid pool of blood red shimmering in the darkened alley.

Immediately Lucy felt something crawl across her flesh, grabbing at her arms, wrapping around her throat, making goose flesh pop up all over her body.  But that’s all that happened, just the feeling that something was crawling over her, trying to grab hold of her, and it was radiating from fang chick.