Chapter 4

She approached the vampire embassy, a building clearly signposted as such in gold lettering above the front door and by the propaganda that covered the windows on the lower floor. There was a line painted around the door and a sign plastered on it. She knocked on the door, watching her angel out of the corner of her eye, and saw him brace his arms against the lip of a roof, the scowl on his face darkening.

The sign on the door read:

"Vampires in Attendance On Thursdays and Mondays

Auditions only on these days

All auditions only by appointment.

Appointments issued only to online applications.

Outside of these Hours Call…"

The door opened and an exceptionally elegant blonde woman dressed in immaculate designer wear from top to toe, leaned against the frame, red flashing in her eyes as she rolled them heavenwards.

"Auditions are held on Thursday and Mondays," she said in a disinterested drawl. "And only by appointment when an online application has been lodged. It is illegal to turn humans until the paperwork has been through the appropriate channels, and the age of said human has been ascertained."

She started to close the door.

"I am not a human," Ashlynn stuck her foot in the door.

The vampire curled a lip, and her eyelids sunk to half mast, bored. "You may feel that you are not a human, and that your purpose in life is to be a vampire, but that is due to mental illness. You should seek psychological counseling. We do not turn anyone until a full psychological analysis has been performed to ensure that the individual requesting turning is of sound mental health."

"Incendio," Ashlynn summoned fire to her fingertips, and saw the vampire recoil. "I am not human, I am not hoping to be turned, and I don t need psychological analysis. What I need is a lift home."

"Surely your coven…"

"Not a witch," Ashlynn smiled tightly. "Either. Who is in charge here? Can I see them?"

She looked dubious but moved back from the door. "You will need to wait."

"I am perfectly happy to wait," Ashlynn replied. She stepped into the entrance hall and shivered as she looked around. It was, she thought, like a movie set for a vampire movie. The windows were hidden behind heavy velvet drapes, the walls clad in dark wood paneling, the floor in rich red-toned carpet, and the furniture heavy, dark wood and upholstered in dark fabric. Even the art, she saw with amusement, was horror-movie-like – old fashioned portraits of pale, grim faced people in dark clothing. "Who does your interior design? I was thinking of having my apartment done in just this way. Vampire-gothique, isn t it called? So, on trend."

"Wait here," the woman s lip curled.

"No central heating?" Ashlynn shivered as she threw herself into one of the upholstered chairs.

"We are vampires," the woman closed the door and arched an eyebrow. "We do not feel the cold."

"You have guests," Ashlynn pointed out, although the entrance hall was bare of anyone other than them. "It would be polite to keep things temperate for them."

The vampire dragged her eyes from Ashlynn s ill-fitting shoes to the tip of her head and down again. She met Ashlynn s eyes, her lip curling in a sneer. "We apologize for your discomfort." She turned on the red-sole of her high heel and sauntered down the hallway towards the double doors of an elevator.

"Fair enough," Ashlynn muttered.

She wondered what her mate was doing. Her mate, she repeated to herself with satisfaction. She might not have a wolf-self, but at least she was wolf enough to recognize her mate when she came upon him.

It seemed to take forever, and Ashlynn began to get fidgety. She changed seats to one that looked down the hall to the elevator door, and then went to the bookcase and trailed her fingers over the spines of the books there. Fake, she grinned. Fake books, in a fake room designed to cater for human expectations of vampires.

She wondered if every embassy was the same, or just this one.

She heard the ding of the elevator bell and turned guiltily, caught snooping. A male vampire walked into the room, shoved his hands into his pockets, paused to stare at her for a long moment, before turning and walking back away. She heard a door close down the hallway.

She tiptoed down the hallway, pausing by an opulent flower arrangement, to examine a stack of brochures as the pretty face of Elior on the cover caught her eye. "Why not?" She folded one and tucked it into her pocket feeling like a fan-girl.

She returned to her upholstered chair and rested her head against the wing with a yawn, her fingers tapping on the arms of the chair.

The ding of the elevator bell had her jumping to her feet. The woman had returned. "Come."

Ashlynn stood and followed her down the wood panelled hallway, and a series of closed doors, to a double set of doors against the far wall which opened into an elevator.

The vampire selected the top floor and the doors closed behind them.

"Not busy, eh?" Ashlynn couldn t resist.

The vampire glanced over her shoulder haughtily. "Vampires are remarkably self-sufficient and rarely require the intervention or aid of an embassy. It serves more as a base for visiting dignitaries, and a tourist attraction, than a resource of aid for foolish travellers."

"Okay," Ashlynn raised her eyebrows. She was sure that she fit into the classification as a foolish traveller according to this vampire.

The lift doors opened into a plushly carpeted and elegantly decorated hallway, rich in reds and golds.

"Homely," Ashlynn commented, as they made their way down the hall. She was sure the woman before her sighed heavily.

She opened a door into a small room, and Ashlynn made a sound of appreciation as she stepped into it. There was a fire in a hearth, and it was a heavenly warmth. "Oh, god," she moved towards the flames, holding her frozen hands out to them.

"You look enough like your father," the man in the armchair observed. "That one might overlook the similarities to your mother."

She turned to look at him and felt a shock of recognition. "Elior," she said, in astonished delight. "I have seen you on TV. Huge fan."

He chuckled as he rose to standing. Tall, she thought, taller than he looked on TV. He had less gloss than when he was on TV though, his dark hair was loose around his shoulders, and his cheeks wore the stubble of several day s growth. He wore jeans and a long-sleeved cotton top, the top buttons left undone.

Prettier in person, she added, feeling the kick of desire. Well, she thought, if there was ever an excuse to scratch an itch…

Elior walked up to her fencing her in against the fireplace, and she looked up at his grey eyes, the red glow of the Other picking up the dancing firelight. "You don t look this tall on TV," she commented looking up at him.

It was one thing to be told the nature of vampires, and quite another to share a small room with one. He leaned over and inhaled. "You smell like her," he murmured. "The font. It has been a long time since I have seen her. About," he leaned back and evaluated her. "Twenty odd years."

"And you smell like patchouli and rosewood. Expensive and very, very nice," she replied.

He turned and walked back to the armchair. "What brings you here, child of Raiden Grenmeyer and Cecelia Alexis?" He asked as he sat back down. He lifted a brandy glass full of thick, red liquid that she was certain was blood.

She understood, suddenly, the purpose of the fire in the room when its heat made no difference to him. It kept the blood in his glass at a temperature he enjoyed. The vampire version of a brandy to wind down with, she speculated, a woodfire and a glass of room-temperature blood.

"I seemed to have gotten myself into a situation," she said. "And attracted the attention of the Wingless. My car was totalled two days ago, along with my purse and phone, and my apartment was attacked tonight, so I cannot go back there. I need to get home, to the pack."

He gazed at the dancing flames. "And you decided that a vampire embassy was your means of a ride home?" He turned his grey eyes to her, a frown pinching his brows. "Did your parents not speak to you about what your bloodline was to us?"

"Of course, they did," she resisted rolling her eyes like the woman vampire who had showed her into the embassy. "Did you think my parents let me out of pack lands without the means to protect myself?" She asked him.

He rose and moved to her so quickly that his passage was nothing more than a blur to her vision, until he stopped so close to her that had she leaned forward only slightly, she might have planted a kiss between his pectorals. She tilted her chin up to look at him. He raised a hand and laid it along her cheek.

"You are prettier than your mother," he murmured, and leaned down until his lips brushed against hers. His lips were soft, and his tongue held the faint tang of blood. He drew her up against him, his hand against her hip, and explored the contours of her mouth in an entirely leisurely way. "Quite beautiful, actually." He said against her lips.

She slid her hands up the cotton of the shirt, noting the muscles that lay below it, and threaded her fingers into the heavy fall of his hair, slightly warmer nearer to the scalp. He groaned, his hips pressing against hers.

He eased the jacket off of her shoulders, so that it hit the ground behind her heels. "What the f-k are you wearing?" His lips were against her cheek.

"I was on my way to bed when I was attacked," she replied. "And I needed to adlib on my way here. It is cold and wet out, and, unlike you, I feel the cold."

"Hmm," he worked the buttons loose on her pyjama top, before peeling it off of her. "Mhm," held another tone as her breasts were revealed. "Are you not going to stop me, daughter of Raiden Grenmeyer and Cecelia Alexis?" He wondered as he released the button holding her stolen jeans up.

"I am waiting to see where you go with this," she replied, letting her head fall back on her neck. His lips rested against the pulse point in her throat, fighting the temptation to pierce through her skin with his teeth and taste her.

He laughed, his teeth grazing her skin. "Where do you think this is going?"

"Mmm," her eyelids were heavy. "I am hoping you remove some of your clothing soon. It seems only fair."