I Only Have Fangs For You

CHAPTER 26

She froze as she saw the tall, cadaverlike figure next to her. "Daniel." All the wonderful desire and anticipation that had been flowing through her veins disappeared. "What are you doing here?"

"Jackson sent me here. The Society heard about the attack here the other night, and they decided someone should come see exactly what's happening here. With you." He stepped closer. "They will be quite surprised, won't they?"

"There's nothing happening here that involves the Society," Mina stated.

"Isn't there?" Daniel cocked his head to the side. "When a member, who claims to be one of the group's missionaries, starts fraternizing with the enemy-" his eerie dark eyes wandered down her body-" in a very intimate way, then I think the Society needs to know."

Mina swallowed, refusing to be intimidated by this vampire. There was something different about him tonight. He still made her very nervous. Nervous in a way that told her she needed to run. That he was dangerous. But there was something else there. Just beyond her grasp. Something pushing at her brain, telling her she should know more about this vampire.

But she wouldn't be intimidated. She faced him squarely, lifting her chin. She needed to hold her ground, not only for herself, but for Sebastian. She couldn't let this creepy vampire go back and tell them she'd gone over to Sebastian's side. Not because she cared about their opinion of her; she was afraid of how the Society might retaliate. She couldn't let Sebastian or the club be hurt. She would protect him as he'd protected her.

"Daniel, I've done exactly what I promised to do. I've stopped Sebastian."

Sebastian's steps slowed as he got away from Mina. She'd just told him she wanted him to bite her. Biting-for Mina the ultimate act of trust. Or surrender. To him.

Instead of feeling elated, he felt scared to death. He wanted Mina. That he didn't doubt. He cared about her more than anyone, outside of his family. Hell, he wanted to be with her every moment. And when he wasn't with her, he was thinking about her. But he hadn't been able to tell her he loved her. Saying those words seemed like giving up all control. It was like losing himself.

He stopped on the other side of the dance floor, casting a look back to where he'd left her. He couldn't see her past all the dancers.

He took a deep breath, and tunneled a hand through his hair. "What am I doing? She's offering you everything. Take it."

"Hi, Sebastian." A svelte brunette, who he vaguely recognized, stopped by his side. "You look lost. Can I help?"

Sebastian stared at the woman. She was tall with a perfect figure, sultry bedroom eyes, full lips, and Sebastian felt-nothing. Nada. Zip. This woman was a knockout, and all Sebastian could think about was Mina.

He wanted Mina forever, and it was that simple. The realization didn't scare him any less, but he knew it was what he wanted. He wanted to take this final step between them. He wanted to make her his in every way he could.

"Umm," he frowned at the woman beside him, "yeah, I have to go." He didn't wait for her answer as he weaved back through the mob of gyrating bodies.

This was right, he told himself. Mina meant so much to him. He loved making love with her-more than loved it. But he also adored talking to her. He loved hearing her opinions. He loved her laughter. Her frowns. He loved watching her read. He loved lying in her arms and holding her in return. He loved everything she did. It was insane. But true.

And he still felt like he might hyperventilate.

But then he saw her, and suddenly everything seemed right. Just as it did every time he saw her. The world just seemed better and to make sense.

He picked up his pace, needing to tell her just that. But as he got closer, he frowned, his steps slowing. He could feel her emotions sharply in the air. Not the desire he'd felt when he left her. This was-agitation. He picked up his steps. He was definitely sensing her agitation. Not fear exactly, but rather nervousness. And maybe fear, although she was working hard to block that emotion, he realized.

He reached the alcove where he'd left her, for the first time seeing the tall, thin vampire standing near her. Sebastian started to interrupt them, but Mina's firmly stated words stopped him.

"Daniel, I've done exactly what I promised to do. I've stopped Sebastian."

"Stopped him, how?" the tall vampire asked, his voice smooth, oily rather than appealing.

"He isn't biting."

"Which you've stopped by," the vampire's dark eyes roamed down her body, "allowing him to-mate with you?"

"My strategy isn't your business," Mina stated, her small chin rising.

"My, won't you go that extra mile for the cause."

"Yes, I will. So there is no reason to go to the Society. I've got him under control."

Sebastian gritted his teeth at her words. She had him under control. Fang-whipped, as he liked to say about his brothers. Was he that easily manipulated?

"What of the attack here? Are you denying there was one?"

"There was, but it wasn't Sebastian. I was with him."

The tall vampire laughed, the sound cold, rusty. "I'm sure you were. But as I see it, if the club is still functioning, then you haven't really fulfilled your mission. Perhaps the Society needs to be more aware of that."

Mina paused at the vampire's statement, seeming to flounder a minute for what to say. "Daniel, that will take more time. But-but the more I have Sebastian under control, the more I can get him to do."

Daniel laughed again, the sound grating over Sebastian's skin. His fangs distended in rage.

"So, you plan to seduce him into closing the club."

"Yes," Mina said with no hesitation.

"You really think you can do that. That he is so charmed by you?"

"Yes," she said again, no doubt in her voice.

More rage filled Sebastian. Here he'd thought she was a rather endearingly bumbling saboteur, but she'd known exactly what she was doing the whole time.

"We'll see," Daniel said, although he didn't sound remotely convinced. Then the vampire disappeared. Not to shadow, not to mist, or even into a bat. He simply disappeared, which Sebastian had never seen a vampire do. Sebastian paused over that, but only for a fraction of a second. Like he gave a shit about the SPAMM freak's shifting abilities. All he cared about was what he'd heard come straight from Mina's mouth.

He stepped out from the shadows, and Mina jumped.

"Sebastian," she said, her voice full of relief. She took a step toward him. But Sebastian's expression must have stopped her.

"Sebastian?"

"Who was your friend?"

She frowned at him, and he knew she intended to deny the other vampire's existence. More rage filled him.

"I have to agree with your friend. You really are willing to go the extra mile for the Society, aren't you?"

Lightning fast he was against her, pinning her to the wall.

Mina made a small squeak at his speed, at his roughness, but she remained still in his hold.

"Sebastian, please, you have to listen to me. I can explain." Mina's voice was pleading and he could feel her fear. This time the fear didn't affect him. Maybe that was an emotion she could turn on and off at will. Another way she'd controlled him.

"I heard enough, Mina," he ground out. And not once had he heard her defend him. She hadn't said that Sebastian wasn't a threat. That the club wasn't used to hurt humans. Not once had she told that freak vampire to go back to the Society and tell them that she was now on Sebastian's side.

"You know," he said, "I remember wondering why you agreed to that bargain I made so easily. Perhaps I am narcissistic after all, because I just decided it was because you liked me. You know, deep down." He said the last two words in a way that sounded almost dirty. Mina shifted against him.

"But you were very clever, weren't you? You saw an opportunity and jumped on it. Literally. And through a way you knew would work. I'm never one to turn down a willing woman."

"Sebastian, please. Stop," she said, trying to break away from his grip, but he held her easily, her wrists over her head against the wall. The position held chest to chest, his face only inches from hers.

"Please, what? Please screw you?" He moved so his knee was between her legs, parting them. "Please bite you? What other trick do you plan to offer to maintain your control over me? To make me not bite humans? To make me shut down my club?"

"Sebastian, I just told him that so he wouldn't go to the Society. So the Society wouldn't send someone else to hurt you." Her blue eyes pleaded with him to believe her.

He didn't. "Why would I believe that, Mina? After all, you were willing to do anything to see this place closed earlier. Fire. Police. How do I know you didn't stage the attack the other night?"

She gaped at him. "Why would I do that?"

"To get the patrons scared. To make them think twice about coming here."

"You know I didn't do that!"

Sebastian shook his head, looking down at the first woman he could recall allowing himself to care about. He heard the adamancy in her words as she'd talked to Daniel. Was that an adamancy to protect Sebastian? Or was it panic not to destroy her hard work?

"I don't know anything anymore," he admitted.

"Yes, you do. You know that I trusted you to make love to me. You know you were my first. You know about my past. You are the only one who knows that whole story. I never told it to anyone but you."

He glared at her. "Hell, people light themselves on fire for their causes. They run suicide missions. Losing your virginity for your cause was hardly a hardship, baby. And as far as your past, who the hell knows if that was even true. You could have told me anything, right?"

Mina shook her head, her eyes still pleading with him, even through the hurt he saw there.

"But I told you I love you."

He snorted, even though her words ripped at his insides. Oh yes, she had said that. And he'd believed her.

"Like I said, you could say anything, couldn't you?"

"Sebastian, I didn't just say that. I do love you."

He growled deep in his throat. He didn't want to hear this. He couldn't.

He pressed her wrists tighter to the wall. His body pinning hers. "If you love me, then let's have that little bite you offered earlier. Were you really going to do that for the cause too?"

He smiled, showing his full fangage.

She stared at his fangs, a strangled noise coming from her throat. "Sebastian, please, you are scaring me." Her voice crackled, and tears began to roll down her pale cheeks, her eyes huge with fear.

He made a strangled noise of his own and pushed roughly away from her. He turned unable to look at her. To look at her wounded eyes.

"Sebastian, please." He felt her hand on his back, and he whipped around. He didn't want to feel her touch again. Ever again.

"Leave now, Mina, or I swear to God I won't be held accountable for what I do."

She stared at him for a moment, then nodded. He watched as she fled through the club. And even though he'd told her to go, somehow her leaving solidified what he believed. She'd played him for a complete and utter fool.

Mina didn't remember leaving the club. She didn't remember how she reached her apartment building. She only recalled sinking down on the concrete steps, crying.

She'd told Daniel those things to protect Sebastian. To stop Daniel from going to the Society and convincing them that Sebastian was a bigger threat. Her only thoughts had been to protect Sebastian.

Sebastian hadn't even listened to her. He'd been convinced she'd been doing everything for the Society. How, how could he believe that after what they'd shared? Hadn't he known, felt, everything she'd felt for him was real? She wasn't doing any of this for the damned Society. She didn't care about the Society. She only cared about Sebastian.

Anger started to replace her heartbreak. Hadn't he made the "no biting" bargain to begin with? Hadn't she tried to deny her attraction to him? How could he believe those things to be her manipulations? She felt like since she'd met Sebastian he'd been controlling her. She hadn't minded that control, because she had learned to trust him-to love him. And he didn't trust her one tiny bit.

He certainly doesn't love you, she realized. He couldn't think the absolute worst and love her.

She pushed up from the steps and headed into her apartment. The place was empty as usual. Tonight she wished Lizzie was home. She needed a shoulder to cry on. And she no longer had Sebastian's.

She raised her chin. She needed to start this minute forgetting about him. If he couldn't trust her, then they'd had no future anyway. Which she'd known all along. The end had just come sooner and with much more anger than she'd imagined.

She wandered into the kitchen. Lizzie had left her a note on the table that said she was going to the lab, if Mina should happen to come home. She also had her cell phone with her should Mina need anything. Lizzie also hoped everything was okay.

"No, everything is not okay," Mina announced to the empty room.

She considered calling Lizzie's cell, but thought better of the idea. What would she say? She hadn't told Lizzie what was going on, purely because she hadn't physically seen Lizzie since things had gotten more involved between her and Sebastian, and it had all seemed a little too strange to explain over the phone. The story was even weirder now, and too much to tell in a phone conversation.

As if taking offense at that decision, the telephone mounted to the kitchen wall rang, the sound loud and jarring. Mina moved to answer it before another grating ring echoed through the apartment.

"Hello?" she said.

"Wilhelmina? It's Daniel."

She paused, her first thought to hang up the phone. But then more anger filled her. "What do you want, Daniel?"

"I've been asked to call you. To let you know that the Society has organized an emergency meeting. Tonight. To deal with the issue of Carfax Abbey and Sebastian Young. And you, too."

Mina frowned at the clock on the microwave. The time glowed in blue digital numbers: 2:42 A. M.

"It's rather late for a meeting, isn't it?" she said.

"Well, once I spoke to Jackson, he realized this was of immediate interest to the group. All the board members will be there. And I recommend you be there too."

Mina shook her head at how fast that little snitch had gone back to the board. But she intended to be there. She was going to tell them the truth. That she was no longer involved with Sebastian Young, and that Carfax Abbey and its owner were in no way a threat to humans or anyone.

She brusquely asked Daniel where the Society was to meet, then hung up the phone.

She hurried to her bedroom to change. She was going to tell the Society exactly what she thought of their list of the most dangerous vampires. And she was going to tell them exactly what she thought of Daniel.