Titan shook his head. “I’m sorry. Lazarus did say that I should escort you if you wanted to return to his suite.”
She nodded.
“Just call reception and have them contact me.” He smiled, turned and walked away.
Right! Enough already. She was not going to sit around and mope because she was worried about Lazarus, she also wasn’t going to sit and agonize over this story. She was going to start to write the article. She could possibly show it to the kings…miracles did happen.
They did.
Maybe there was a way of doing this without going behind Lazarus’ back. She could get to know him better. Date him for real and if there was definitely something there…which she suspected Lazarus was right about…then she could give it to the kings to read and maybe they would be okay with it. Otherwise, no, she didn’t want to think about the alternative.
Alex headed to her room and after a quick shower, she got to writing. There was a knock on the door and a glance on the clock on the wall told her that almost two hours had passed. Sheesh! Time always flew when she got stuck in a story. Her gut was on the money when it told her that she was onto something here. There was another knock.
Alex stuffed the book under her pillow and went to open the door. “Hi.” It was a room attendant.
“Can I please come in and clean your room?” The tall, utterly breathtaking vampire lady asked. She was any guy’s wet freaking dream in her French maid’s outfit. It was really short and really tight.
“Sure thing. I already made the bed so you can leave that.”
The lady nodded. Alex had to stifle a giggle. The vampire sex-kitten maid had a feather duster in her hand.
“I think I’ll pop out for some fresh air.” Alex gestured down the hall.
The sex-kitten maid nodded and smiled. She waited patiently at the entrance to Alex’s room while Alex grabbed her purse and put shoes on.
“You’ll lock when you leave?” She raised her brows.
The lady vampire nodded and smiled. “Of course.”
“Thanks.” Alex walked up the hallway to the reception area, where she was given Sarah’s room number. Within minutes, she was knocking on the other woman’s door.
“Oh, hi.” Sarah smiled. She had a towel around herself. “Come on in. I was just getting ready. Someone is taking me to that poor vampire just now. You know, the one that died.”
“I think his name is Griffin.”
“Yeah, that’s right. I can’t believe it when they tell me that he is okay. Still in bed but on the mend. I have to see it with my own eyes. He apparently wants to thank me.” She blushed. “It’s totally unnecessary.”
“You deserve to go and see him, Sarah.” Alex smiled at the other woman. “You practically saved his life. You get ready and do your thing, I’ll come back a bit later.”
Sarah made a negative noise. “Come in. They aren’t going to be here for half an hour.” She looked at the watch strapped to her wrist. “We have time to talk.”
Alex shrugged. “Okay.” She walked in and took a seat on the wing backed chair in the corner.
“I won’t be a minute.” Sarah grabbed the clothes and underwear that were laid out on the bed and disappeared into the bathroom.
Within a few minutes, she was back. The other woman wore a pair of black slacks and a casual top. It was white with a blue flower print around the top part. She slipped on a pair of flats. “How was Lazarus?” She rolled her eyes. “By the way, watch out because he’s the new flavor of the day since Lance is out of favor.”
Alex rolled her eyes right back. “We’re exclusively dating one another so I wish them luck. I don’t know him all that well, but I don’t think he’s the kind of guy that would fool around.”
Sarah picked up a brush and began to brush her still wet hair. “I don’t think so either. He would be crazy to go down that road. None of those women would even give him the time of day up until not so long ago.”
“Um…” Alex licked her lips. “He’s gone on some or other mission to save Jenna. You were right to be worried. It looks like she is in trouble.”
Sarah dropped the brush. “What happened? Where is she?”
“Look, I don’t know the details. Lazarus didn’t have much time. He did say her name while taking a call and he did look worried. I overheard some of what King Zane said. I know he asked Lazarus to assemble a team. It sounded like a rescue operation.”
Sarah’s eyes filled with tears. “Shit! I really hope she’s okay.” Thankfully she didn’t actually cry.
“Sorry! Maybe I shouldn’t have told you. It wasn’t my intention to upset you.”
The other woman made a flapping motion with her hand. “Oh please. I’m glad you told me.”
“Try not to let it get to you. I know it’s asking a lot but just try. You saw them train; those vampires know exactly what they are doing. They will help her. Lazarus will sort it out. I’m sure of it.”
“Oh my word.” Sarah giggled. “Your voice went all funny when you spoke about him. They are freaking addictive aren’t they? You’re falling for him…I can tell.”
“It’s far too soon for that.” Alex shook her head but deep down she knew it was true. Really, really crazy but true.
Sarah put the hairbrush down and applied some lip gloss looking like she was done.
“Here…” Alex fished around in her bag. “I’m pretty sure that beneath all of that blood and gore there is quite a handsome vampire. I have just the thing for you.” Alex said as her hand closed on the round bottle. “Give yourself a spritz or two of this. Griffin won’t know what hit him. Maybe he’s just what you need after Lance.”
Sarah looked at her like she’d just grown a pair of pink tipped fangs. “What?” She was tempted to get up and check herself out in the mirror just in case.
“Oh my god. You’re serious?” Sarah shook her head. “What kind of crash course training did they give you? You should really complain. It’s just not right.”
“What? Griffin seemed like a nice enough guy and he’s seriously hot.”
“I’m not remotely interested in Griffin. I’m talking about that.” She gestured to the perfume bottle in Alex’s hand. “You should not be wearing any type of strong perfumes. Vampires have a fantastic sense of smell. Strong scents like that are offensive to them. Just in case you weren’t aware, they also have really good hearing so you shouldn’t talk shit about them while standing anywhere near them because chances are that they will hear you. They have fantastic vision and can see in the dark as well.”
“Okay. Wow!”
“Vampires are not referred to as superhuman for nothing.” Sarah pointed at the perfume. “So put that away right now. You’re liable to get yourself thrown out.”
Alex felt just a little sick as she remembered how Lazarus’ nostrils had flared earlier. It was right around the time that certain parts of her had puckered, clenched and tightened. “Right, so they could smell if say…we were…I don’t know…afraid?” Aroused.
“They can smell any emotion. Happy, afraid, scared, horny.”
Oh no!
“They can tell if you are on your period. They even know if a woman is ovulating.”
“Really? You’re shitting me.” Alex felt her jaw drop.
“Aside from unwanted pregnancy, it’s the reason we have to be on the pill. An ovulating woman is enough to drive the guys nuts. They have this built in need to reproduce. They can be really base like that.”
“Okay.” Alex’s heart raced and she tried not to panic. Hopefully she had already ovulated this month. She had no idea about reproduction timetables in women. If that was even the right word for it.
Her mom had struggled to become pregnant with her. It was the main reason her folks had never had any more children. Maybe the same was true for her. She really hoped so but she also wanted kids so at the same time she prayed not. This was ridiculous.
Sarah touched her arm and she jumped. “You look like you’re having a silent panic attack.”
“I don’t like the idea of someone knowing such personal things about me.” All true. Well mostly.
“They are used to it so it’s not a big deal to them.”
“I suppose so.” Alex still didn’t like it. She was probably going to have sex with Lazarus. “You said they can even scent ovulation?”
Sarah nodded. “According to our trainer. Did you have Kathy as well?”
Alex shook her head. “No, I had Ellen.” A total lie but what the hell else was she supposed to say?
“That’s probably why you didn’t get such great training. Kathy was amazing and so in-depth….anyway, she said that they can even tell if you are about to ovulate. Sometimes even days before.”
“Wow! That is amazing.”
“We don’t have to worry about it since you don’t ovulate when you’re on the pill. I’m going home tomorrow so I don’t have to worry period. I’m actually looking forward to it.”
“I thought you wanted a vampire.”
“I thought I did.” She shook her head. “Lance ruined it for me. None of the others will choose me…I don’t think I would want one of the others anyway.” Sarah shrugged. “I’m cool with it. I’m more than ready to go back home. I’m a school teacher, they’re using a substitute so my old position is there for me.” She looked nostalgic. “I miss the kids they—”