"Sentin. Just Sentin will be escorting me. I intercepted Rodrigo in the jungle attempting to dine on a Forbidden."
There was a long silence, then, "I guess that explains why you have his phone." Reyna sighed. "Dammit. I had plans this weekend. He was going to cat sit. Well, I guess you've returned just in time. I imagine many of the less honorable men have been bending the rules since you … " She screamed loudly, "Took your fucking vacation! Get to work! And clean it up before I change my mind about taking you back!"
The words Call Ended, flashed across the tiny screen.
Niccolo let out a long, slow breath and then turned to Helena. She was still trembling.
"Please, just let me go back to my friends."
Niccolo grabbed her hand and planted a lingering kiss on her palm. "That is exactly what I plan to do." He held up the phone. "Give me your coordinates so I may converse with you on this device when the time comes to send for you."
He could sense her emotions. Deception. She did not want to return to him. She was afraid. She was also intrigued.
He added, "And do not think of hiding from me, Helena. I am thirteen hundred years old now, and you are my mate. I will hunt you. I will find you."
Chapter 4
Three weeks later
The nocturnal salty breeze carried the sound of crashing waves into Helena's second story window. Although the ocean was a full four blocks away, the soothing crests often sounded as if right beneath her window. It was normally her favorite thing about living in the lax beach town of Santa Cruz. But since her return from Mexico, nothing made her happy.
Being alone in the enormous yellow house didn't help either. Her mother was staying at Aunt Rita's in San Diego-her first vacation in a long time.
Helena nibbled her thumb, glared at her cell phone, and then flopped down on her white bedspread, arms sprawled to her sides. It was eight pm. When would he call? When would he send for her? What would she do when he did?
"You're obsessed! Stop it!" It had been weeks since her return, yet her mind had never left that dark night in the jungle. The memories haunted her every moment of the day and every second of her dreams-when she managed to sleep. Tonight was not one of those nights. Tonight she'd dwell again on his final parting word: "forever."
That night, after Niccolo surprisingly informed Helena he would let her go, they'd hiked through the jungle for an hour, and he'd asked all sorts of bizarre questions. How did people travel? What weapons were prevalent? Who was currently at war? What form of currency was best?
Helena explained all about cars, the Euro, planes, bombs, and guns. Then the Middle East. Niccolo listened with fascination to every word. When they finally reached a road, she wondered how he would react to seeing a car. Was he really thirteen hundred years old? How could that be physically possible? He'd also mentioned having waited three hundred years for her. Asleep. The absurdity of that statement swam endless laps inside her head. Not only from a scientific standpoint, but also because she had the worst luck with men. They always seemed intimidated by her independence. To imagine a male like Niccolo waiting around just for her? It made her insides liquefy.
Oddly enough, she wasn't hung up on his vampirism. Maybe because her field of study, Evolutionary Biology, was grounded in the improbable becoming reality. Take the overly endowed Argentine lake duck, for example, with a member the length of its body. Or the Madagascar sucker-footed bat with real suction cup feet.
When it came to Nature's will, wasn't anything possible? Even nocturnal human-like creatures with super strength? Who drink blood, and live for thousands of years, and look like they just walked off the cover of Hotty Magazine, and … She shook her head. Okay. Maybe not.
From another world, then? She had witnessed Niccolo flag down a blue pickup that night by merely whispering, "Stop your mechanical carriage."
After the driver pulled smoothly to the side of the two-lane highway, Niccolo instructed him to take Helena to her hotel and guard her with his life. The driver nodded with an obedient, empty gaze and waited for Helena to get in. As she was about to step inside the cab of the truck, Niccolo unexpectedly pushed her against the side of the vehicle and slanted his mouth over hers. His hands cradled the back of her head as he deepened the kiss. No one had ever kissed her so passionately, with such desperation.
Before she knew it, she was indulgently stroking his tongue with hers and within moments, he had her aching. She knew that only the feel of his skin, of their bodies merging, could possibly extinguish that little blaze-okay, forest fire-scorching her insides.
Niccolo broke the kiss, leaving her breathless. "If I don't stop now, I will not be able to. And you must go before they catch up to me," he'd said.
Helena had nodded, her mind a jumbled mess of hormonal overload and adrenaline.
"Helena, remember what I said. Do not think of hiding from me. I need you, and I've never needed anyone."
"I-I don't understand," she'd replied.
He placed a soft kiss in the corner of her mouth. "You were born for me-to save me from this hell. I will not rest until we are together again and you are safe with me … forever."
That powerful word haunted her every breath. Even now as she paced across the hardwood floor of her immaculate room. Why was his life a hell, and why did he believe Helena would rescue him? Did he intend to make her like him? "Forever" carried a lot more weight when it was said by a vampire. Regardless, she knew she wouldn't be content until she saw him again.
I am certifiable.
"Dammit. Where the hell is he?" She glared at her pink cell on the nightstand.
As if magically complying with her wish, the phone suddenly rang, making her jump.
Caller unknown. Helena's heart nearly stopped. She plucked up the phone and listened for several moments before answering. "Hello?"
"Hey, Lena! What's going on?"
"Ann?" Helena asked, hiding her disappointment.
"Yup! Where are you, girly?"
Helena sighed. Helplessly pining away at..."Home. Is everything okay?"
She heard a gasp on the other end. "I'm calling from a payphone, sitting here all alone with bags of plates and cups. You forgot, didn't you?" Ann was irate.
Helena's mind raced. "Nooo. How could I forget? It's so … important … Okay. I forgot. What are you talking about?"
"Yeah. Weird. Considering the surprise beach party thing was your brainchild..."
Oh hell! "Jessica's birthday." It was a girls-only bonfire party. She had to go pick up the drinks, logs, cake, everything. And the party started in an hour.
"Be right there." Helena slammed down the phone and scrambled to her closet. Crap. Okay. Jeans. Find jeans. She turned and began digging through a pile of neatly folded clothes in a basket on the floor. Dammit. She tugged open her top dresser drawer. "There you are!" Helena had few pleasures in life, but she never skimped on comfortable well-fitting jeans: classic straight leg, ultra-low waist.
"Helena, my love," she heard a deep voice whisper from behind.
Helena gasped and held on tight to that breath.
Jeans clutched to her chest, she turned slowly toward the voice.
There was no one there.
"It's official. I'm obsessed."
***
Helena arrived just as the dozen other guests showed up. She'd invited all of the girls from their surf club and a few close friends from the university-mostly Wino Wenches. After summer was over, they'd all be going off in separate directions to start their lives. Jess was taking a job in Seattle. Ann in Chicago. Some of their grad school classmates were going on to doctorate programs out of state.
Helena had planned to live with Aunt Rita and work for an ecological disaster response organization based in San Diego. Helena had loved her internship, cataloging mutating bacteria from the Gulf Coast last summer, and only wanted to get back into the field. She loved learning. She also had a mountain of school debts to pay and wanted to work for a few years before going for her PHD. If she went. For the first time ever, her future felt like a murky pond instead of a wide-open road paved with possibilities.
Helena looked up at Jess who'd just arrived and realized the event was in her honor. A satisfied grin swept across Helena's face as Jess squealed with delight and hugged everyone while laughing hysterically about being duped.
Helena realized how much she would miss seeing her friends every day. They'd been her rock these last years and filled a void left by not having much family around.
Helena pasted on a smile. The party must go on.
She passed out sodas for the drivers and beers to everyone else. She then popped in an old Beach Boys CD. Everyone sang and laughed, ate cake and talked about their plans for the future. Everyone except Helena. She just listened and soaked them in, knowing it would be the last time they'd all be together.