“Jules, you brought a snack.”
Thea swiveled to face me and raised an eyebrow. So far, she was taking finding a naked woman in my bed well. Too well. Maybe she was spending too much time around vampires. Still, this was going to be hard to explain.
“Actually, I brought my girlfriend,” I said in a tight voice. “Jacqueline, this is Thea. Thea…”
But Thea had gone from curious to some mixture of amused and flabbergasted. Maybe the introduction had been too much.
Jacqueline slid from the bed and sauntered toward us, acting blissfully unaware of her own nudity. I knew her better than to believe she’d just forgotten she was naked. It was a power play. One intended to size up the newcomer in the room. She planted one hand on her hip and offered Thea the other. “Enchanté.”
“The same,” Thea murmured, her eyes darting around as if looking for a safe place to land that wasn’t Jacqueline’s breasts.
“I’m sorry for the intrusion. I didn’t expect to see Julian with a human.”
Thea blinked, obviously startled by her bluntness.
“Well, we certainly didn’t expect to be seeing so much of you,” I said through gritted teeth. “Perhaps, some clothing?”
“Oh, of course.” She waved a delicate hand as if it was all a silly mistake and then sashayed toward the en suite bathroom. She left the door slightly ajar, dressing within plain sight. “I wish I’d known you were bringing someone. I would have stayed dressed.” She poked her head out and slid her gaze down Thea once again. “Then again, I could stay naked, and we could all–”
“Get dressed,” I cut her off. Next to me, Thea was turning red. “And maybe call in the future?”
“You gave me the key.” Jacqueline came out of the bathroom, tying the belt of a khaki coat dress.
“A mistake I won’t repeat.” I reached for Thea’s hand, but she seemed oblivious to me. I couldn’t blame her; Jacqueline could dazzle any creature. No one–vampire, familiar, or mortal–could resist her.
Jacqueline tossed her blonde locks over her shoulder with a careless ease that made Thea’s eyes widen. I could almost see my girlfriend calculating where she stood next to this mysterious vampire. But before I could correct the misunderstanding, Jacqueline continued. “You asked me to decorate. I decorated. And this is how you greet me.”
“Jacque, you were naked in my bed.” I glared at her.
“Come on, it was funny!” She looked to Thea for confirmation but got none.
Instead, Thea finally found her voice and blurted out, “Um, who are you?”
“Jacqueline DuBois. Julian’s oldest and only friend.”
“Oldest is true,” I muttered. “We grew up together.”
“Oh,” Thea responded in a small voice, her eyes finding the floor.
“Wait, does she think…?” Jacqueline reached out and smacked me in the chest so hard that I nearly flew back and hit the wall. “You haven’t told her about me?”
“No, he hasn’t.” Thea held up her head, doing her best to hold her ground, even as her lower lip began to quiver.
“You dick. Now you made her cry.” Jacqueline wrapped an arm around Thea’s shoulders before I could stop her. Thea seemed too surprised to say anything. I couldn’t blame her for that. The whole situation gave off a distinctly scandalous impression.
“You made her cry,” I pointed out.
But Jacqueline was ignoring me. She lowered her voice–as if I couldn’t hear her. “He didn’t say anything about me? Jacqueline? Sometimes he calls me Jacque? Or Jackie?”
“No.” Thea shook her head.
“It’s your fault if you didn’t prepare her,” Jacqueline argued.
I opened my mouth to protest, but Thea beat me to it.
“Are you his real girlfriend?”
Jacqueline looked at me, her eyes brightening merrily, and then we both burst out laughing. “Oh, honey, no!”
“You have a key,” Thea pointed out, “and you were naked…”
“That was an inside joke,” I explained quickly, before turning on Jacqueline, “I can’t believe you actually did it.”
“I promised you the most beautiful house in Paris and the prettiest female I could find waiting for you in bed,” Jacqueline reminded me, still hugging Thea close to her. “I was trying to give him some incentive to give up his stupid plan to take an eternal nap.”
“Eternal?” Thea echoed the word, glancing over at me. She knew about my time-out from the world, but I hadn’t filled her in much on the reasons why I’d gone to sleep. Thanks to my best friend, I was now going to have even more explaining to do.
“I see your ego is still intact,” I said, turning the conversation back to Jacqueline’s transgression. “Or is there a shortage of pretty women in Paris these days?”
“I said the prettiest.” She looked Thea over again. “Although, I might have competition.”
“She’s my girlfriend, not yours.”
“I can look,” she said defensively.
“But no touching.” It was best to remind Jacqueline of this rule, especially where Thea was concerned.
“Wait, are you flirting with me?” Thea asked suddenly.
Jacqueline loosed a bell-like laugh. “A little.”
Thea turned on me. “And you aren’t going to rip her head off or anything?”
“Has he been ripping people’s heads off a lot?” Jacqueline asked slowly, but she didn’t release Thea.
“Only once,” I said before Thea could tattle on me.
“Only once?” Jacqueline shot an impressed look at Thea. “He must really like you.”
“So…she’s not a threat to you?” Thea pressed.
“Her? No,” I said with a chuckle. “She’s practically my sister.”
“So, you two have never…” She trailed off with a look as pointed as my fangs.
“No,” Jacqueline said, but once again, I found I couldn’t lie to Thea.
“When we were kids,” I admitted, earning me a frustrated look from Jacqueline and a frown from Thea. “You have to understand that teenage vampires are…”
“Horny,” my old friend finished for me. “And it was the fourteenth century. There wasn’t much else to do. I slept with everyone just to keep from staking myself out of boredom.” The corners of Thea’s mouth danced up slightly, and Jacqueline took this as a sign of forgiveness. “And, honestly, you are much more my type than Jules. He doesn’t know how to have fun.”
“Stop hitting on my girlfriend.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Remind me to have the locks changed.”
“That is unfair. I did an exquisite job on this place.” Jacqueline spun Thea to face her. “Don’t you think?”
“It’s beautiful,” she said sincerely, looking a bit dizzy at the change in conversation.
“You have to see the bathroom. It’s fit for a queen.” She grabbed Thea’s hand, shot a triumphant look at me, and dragged her into the en suite bath.
This was my fault. I should have guessed that Jacqueline would have heard that I was returning to Paris and surprise me. It wasn’t that I was avoiding her. I’d simply expected to have some time to prepare Thea to meet her and to speak privately with Jacqueline about what was going on. But the trouble with best friends, especially ones you’d known forever, was that they might pop up anywhere at any time. Even naked in your bed.
I was really going to have to explain that better to Thea later.
I wandered onto the terrace, taking in the view of La dame de fer and wondering exactly what to do next. I hadn’t seen Jacqueline in decades, and the fact she was here meant she expected to catch up. But I wouldn’t risk overwhelming Thea, not on the cusp of the Parisian social calendar. That was bad enough. But Jacqueline had something no one else in my life offered–what I needed most.
Perspective.
My parents were too caught up in the politics of the Rites to be trusted. Sebastian was too busy fucking everything that moved. And Celia had an annoying habit of dropping cryptic remarks and then refusing to elucidate what she was getting at. Jacqueline was as blunt as a sword’s hilt and as sharp as its blade. It was one of the reasons we got along. There was no time wasted on tiptoeing around the facts. She called me on my bullshit. I called her on hers. It worked for us. Most of the time.
The last time I’d seen her had not been one of those times.
“Your lovely companion is tired,” Jacqueline’s musical voice called as she escorted Thea back into the bedroom. “She needs a nap.”
“I’m fine.” But even as she said it, her hand snapped up to cover a wide yawn.
“I can see that,” I said dryly. “I should see you to bed.”
“It’s two meters away.” Jacqueline rolled her eyes. “She can see herself. She needs rest, not an overbearing vampire keeping her up.”
Thea’s mouth clamped shut as if she was holding back laughter.
“I left the two of you alone for five minutes, and you’re in cahoots,” I grumbled.
“Cahoots?” Thea repeated, giggles spilling out. “Okay, old man.”
I glared at Jacqueline, who held up her hands with wide eyes. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because she spent a moment alone with you, and now she’s calling me old man again.”
“You are old,” Jacqueline said with a shrug of her slight shoulders, earning more laughter from Thea. She nudged Thea toward the bed. “Rest. I need to catch up with Jules, but tomorrow…”
Thea nodded to some unspoken plan. If she had any lingering concerns about my friendship with Jacqueline, they weren’t enough to keep her from climbing into the bed and collapsing against a mountain of silk pillows. I moved to her side, past an increasingly amused Jacqueline, and leaned over her. “I’ll wake you at midnight. It’s the best time to see Paris. Now rest, pet.”
I brushed a kiss across her forehead, earning a soft sigh that only reminded me that I hadn’t brought her up here to rest. A spark of darkness flickered inside me, and I moved quickly away before my blood-lust took over and stole Thea’s chance to sleep.
By the time I reached the door, she was already snoring softly. Jacqueline joined me, lapsing into silence as we made our way to the fifth floor, which wasn’t a floor at all.
“I think you have the best view in the city,” Jacqueline said as we stepped onto the roof. Before, this was nothing more than a flat opening, devoid of any personality. Now it was filled with silk cushions in the colors of precious gems amid small tables meant for conversation. As usual, it seemed my best friend wanted me to make more friends. The whole space was clearly intended for entertaining.
“It’s why I bought the place,” I reminded her. “The market value will only increase.”
She groaned, even though she knew me too well to be surprised. “And it will be a lovely place to raise a family. Plenty of room for little vampires.”
“Not you, too.” The last thing I’d expected from her was pressure to marry. Whatever end of the spectrum my mother was on, Jacqueline usually took up residence at the other end of it. But it seemed the season was messing with even the most libertine among us. The next thing I knew, Sebastian would be planning my wedding. “Is everyone around me obsessed with the bloody Rites?”
“The Rites?” Jacqueline turned on me, crossing her arms, and glaring. “You think this is about those stupid rituals?”
“What else would it be about?”
She stared at me for a moment, studying my face as if looking for some clue. Just as I grew tired of being watched like a lab rat, she threw her head back and laughed. The sound of it filled the rose-colored sky.
“You really don’t know,” she said, her eyes gleaming wickedly as she finally got ahold of herself.
“What now?” I muttered. “If they’ve found some new archaic bullshit to–”
“Julian,” she interrupted, grabbing my shoulders and looking me directly in the eye, “you’re mating.”
