Prologue: Present Day Mind Games Lead to An Inappropriate Babysitting Experience

I never thought I’d be sitting in a woman’s living room babysitting another man’s kid as the love of my immortal life runs his hand up my thigh and tries to get me to give up and fuck him.

“Luc,” I gasp, as those fingers once again brush their way far too tantalizing near my crotch while ‘reaching for the TV remote’.

“What? It’s been a mind-numbing three hours just listening to that creature scream,” he refers to baby Ben. “It might actually cheer him up, having something colorful onscreen to entertain him.” He leans in closer toward my ear. “Then you and I can slip off to the bedroom…”

“Luc.”

“What? He doesn’t understand innuendo, Julian. He’s fucking two months old.”

“No swearing in front of the baby,” I hiss. “And he is twelve months old.” Not that time has any meaning to a vampire as ancient as Luc.

I loved him from the first second I laid eyes on him. I know almost every twisted secret of his past now, after three decades together, living inside his coven. This past year in particular was a major step forward for us. He’s been so open and honest, confessing he loves me more than any of the other thousands of partners he’s had throughout the ages…

“And seeing that look in your eyes…” Luc beams, sparkling green eyes holding me helpless as he teases his breath right up against my lips. “Put down the drooling puke sack and we’ll make love right here on this couch.”

I blush bright red: a shade of equal parts outrage and white-hot arousal. I adjust my hold on Ben and stalk over to his crib. It is to get us both away from Luc, to be clear, not to give in to his absurdly inappropriate advances, despite that echo of command in his voice pushing me toward compliance. “Say that was not an order.”

He rolls his eyes. “Of course it wasn't. I am a naturally assertive person, that’s all. You know you find it sexy--”

“Why did you even come here today, if all you’re going to do is make lewd comments? This is why Leah won’t let you babysit without me--”

“Like I ever want to actually babysit,” Luc scoffs. “But it has been literal ages since you’ve given me the time of day! I’ll resort to any tactic necessary to see you.” My blush grows all the hotter, wanting to blurt out giddily how warm that admission makes me. “Are you angry with me again?”

I stiffen, setting Ben down and holding Luc’s eyes with concerned conviction. “Angry? No. Of course not--”

“Then why are you spending every second of time with Leah and that half-wit Gracen?” he demands, pressing up against me.

“Luc...” I sigh, face falling. “You’re doing it again.”

“Doing what?”

He teases his hand lightly up my back, and damn it if I don’t want to just drop to my knees and pleasure him. That’s what that look in his eyes is begging for. But Ben is staring at us. One year old infant, lying literally right there in our sightline. And I don’t want to have sex with Luc anyhow, I insist, not today, because the only reason he came here… “I’ve been gone from the coven for literally two days--”

“Two and a half,” he murmurs, dipping his fingers right down inside my waistband. “And you didn’t think I’d miss you?”

I rip free of his gaze and gently lift aside his hands, trying to subdue my rising libido and keep organized my thoughts. “You only miss me when you’re jealous,” I whisper, and he arches an eyebrow. “You can ignore me for years so long as no one else--”

“I’ve never ignored you,” he insists, lifting my chin. “You ignored me for years, but I respected your needs and gave you space.” While playing a dozen painful, heartbreaking games to turn my head and win back my desperate compliance to his every sadistic wish. “Now I definitely hate that look in your eyes,” he mutters in discontent. “I thought we’d moved past this.”

Moved past all the resentments and bitterness? Yeah, I thought we had to. “But I am not going to fuck you in front of a freaking baby,” I hiss, and Luc gives a heavy sigh, drawing back.

“So you want to waste the night sitting side by side instead, watching some meaningless garbage on screen while that puke sac snores and gurgles?”

“Please stop insulting him.”

“Why? He does not understand full sentences,” Luc cruelly enforces. “And he is not your kid. He’s an abomination. So why do you care so much?”

I care because I love his mother. Not in the way that I do Luc where I belong to her, enslaved to her every wish. “I just want to make things easier for her.”

“Well sure. I do too,” Luc claims. “But she has Gracen to parent. She needs you only as a sex object and a shoulder to cry on. But I am in much sorer need of a sex object, I will have you know. After two entire days--”

“Is that truly all I am to you?” I still question it from time to time. As much as he claims to value me…

He catches wind of those depressing thoughts and instantly seizes my hand, kissing my forehead. “Sex object was a compliment. If the gods could sculpt a perfect sex doll to my specific tastes it would be you in every facet. It would speak like you, and paint like you, and blush that adorable shade…”

“I couldn’t replace you with a doll,” I force out the words past the lump in my throat, dropping his hand and heading straight for the door. “Not with a thousand paintings, or other partners. Not even a kid. And it is not even my kid, like you said. So stop being jealous and just… get out.” I turn the knob, holding it open for his exit.

He lifts his eyes to the heavens. “You remain so ridiculously sensitive.”

“Insufferably melancholy,” I quote him bitterly. “I know. Now leave.”

Ben starts crying again, maybe upset by our tone and the escalating tension in the room. Luc scoops the baby right up out of the cradle, lifting him up in front of his face. The tears instantly stop and Ben stares at him wide-eyed, mesmerized by the glowing green orbs now swallowing his vision. I was just as ensorcelled our first meeting. Luc can command any behavior he wishes with just a turn of his head. “What’s got wittle Ben so upset?” he coos in sudden, unexpected baby voice, and Ben lets out a giggle. “You want to play with your blocks? Or just chew some plastic? Or chew my finger, yes. Bravo. Ow!” A pair of little fangs just pierced the flesh of his index fingers. Still, he doesn’t pull away, not until Ben releases his lock-jawed hold of his own volition. “You are a savage little brat, you half-breed,” Luc coos in just as sweet a baby-voice, and I cannot help my exasperated smile. “I am not going anywhere, but go home if you want to, Julian. Relax and do some painting. I’ll be watching over this little bundle of terror until his mother gets home. But if you do go and ditch me, you had best make it up to me later.” He lays Ben back down in his cradle, meeting my eyes with a wicked grin. “In private of course, for your most prudish comfort.”

Even after all these years, I still thrill at that offer. He seldom wants less than a three way, but the best nights are the intimate ones, when it is only the two of us and nothing else exists outside that bedroom, no games and no politics. I first settled for a shared piece of him only because he gave me no choice in the matter. We’ve found a happy new equilibrium with Leah in recent months, but still… My human self, the me with a soul, was never one for polyamory. That naive kid with a Catholic conscience fell for Luc hard and fast, believing whole heartedly that he felt the same, that when he said he wanted to spend eternity together, he meant it as a real commitment. That we might even get married someday...

We are married now, I remind myself, fiddling with the silver wedding band on my finger. I do not at all regret that decision. Even on days like these when he’s being pushy and manipulative... I love him with all my heart. I love his playful, wicked nature, his dramatic charm, and every inch of that perfect body. I thirst for him just as desperately as he does me. If the gods were crafting more than sex dolls… If they were to create a true soulmate, a partner for all eternity… For me it could only be Luc. A part of me has always known that.

Though our love story is far from a happy one.