Chapter 27
Chapter twenty-seven
Saiden
“Someone’s crankier than usual this morning,” Baylin commented as Saiden stole the blood bag straight out of his hand. “And here I thought that you covered up my camera so I wouldn’t see you sneaking into Cora’s room.”
Saiden grimaced. “No. As much as I wanted to, Raven said no more seduction.”
“And you listened?”
Ignoring his brother’s shocked face, Saiden just shrugged. “Nothing I was doing worked. So yeah, I listened. I left Cora alone last night.”
Baylin let out an amused snort. “Well, that explains the four hours of footage I found this morning of you in the weapons locker. What happened to sleeping on the floor outside her door?”
“I was going to but then…”
Saiden’s hand that was gripping the blood bag squeezed tighter when he thought back to the sounds that had been coming from his room, and he forced himself to relax before the bag popped and redecorated his brother’s room in red. “I just changed my mind. Okay?”
“Fine, fine,” Baylin defended, throwing up his hands in protest. “No need to get testy with me just because your testes didn’t get any action.”
“Baylin,” Saiden growled, his voice infused with the very real threat of violence.
“Aaand I’m shutting up about that.” Baylin mimicked zipping his lips. “Care to share where you’ve been all morning then? I saw you dip out at dawn.”
“Tressa said she was going to spend time with Cora, and I would just ‘mess shit up,’ so I took the McLaren to Joe in town. He’s going to order a new tire, but it’ll probably be a few weeks.”
Baylin gasped in mock surprise. “Whatever will you do in the meantime?”
“Drive one of the other ten vehicles? Not all of us are attached to our toys like you are.” Saiden tilted his head at the bank of high-end monitors.
“Hey now,” Baylin protested, running a hand gently over the nearest computer. “These aren’t toys. These are my babies. Not to mention incredibly useful for keeping an eye on your girl.”
“Please tell me you haven’t been spying on her all morning.”
His brother grinned mischievously. “Not all morning. Only the last hour or so after Raven joined in. Like I was going to miss that show. And look, they’re having a wonderful time.”
He gestured to one of the monitors, and the moment Saiden’s eyes landed on the screen his heart skipped at least three beats.
Laughing. Cora was laughing.
“Turn on the sound,” he whispered, mesmerized by her brilliant smile as she chatted with Raven and Tressa.
Baylin obliged, and Cora’s giggle filled the air of the massive tech room. The sound stirred something inside him. His mate was happy, and just the sight of her laughing made him… elated. As if her joy was his joy. He’d never felt such absolute contentment before.
Sinking back into the oversized black gaming chair beside Baylin, Saiden punctured the pilfered blood bag with his teeth.
He stared transfixed at the monitors as Cora sipped martinis on the back patio while he sipped his O+ in Baylin’s room.
She was on the completely other end of the compound, yet he felt her as if she was right there with him.
His hand drifted down to rest on his right thigh, wishing he was caressing hers, and something warm bloomed in him when Cora mirrored the action on the screen in front of him.
Almost as if she could feel his hand on her.
“Tell us more about you, Cora,” Raven said on the monitor.
Saiden watched his mate bite her lip before responding. “Like what? I’m just a human. Aren’t we all kind of the same to you?”
Tressa leaned forward, placing a hand over top of Cora’s. “Not at all. We want to know everything about you, Cora. How did you get into directing horror movies? It must be a fascinating way to make a living.”
Cora chuckled, and Saiden felt another jolt of happiness race through him again.
“I mean, I wouldn’t call it making a living,” she said.
“More like accepting poverty status to pursue a dream. I graduated film school a couple years ago and directed a few shorts that did decently on the festival circuit. I’m currently working on my first feature with my best friend Jinx…
” Cora paused and glanced around. “Which, by the way, I think I’m supposed to talk with—”
“Jinx, you say?” Tressa asked, cutting Cora off. “What a fun name. I bet she’s wonderful.”
Saiden held his breath, hoping Raven’s tactic would work. The last thing he needed was for Cora to start pressing about speaking with his sire. As soon as that happened, she would realize the whole thing was a ruse.
“Did you warn Marquin last night?” he asked his brother, relaxing only when he saw Baylin nod out of the corner of his eye.
“Yeah. He was pretty upset that I was the one who told him you found your mate, but once he calmed down he agreed to play along. He’s going to stay out of sight for now, so you have some time.”
Saiden fought back the guilty feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Marquin was the closest thing he had to a father, given that his human one abandoned their family shortly after his sister was born.
He really should have been the one to share the amazing news.
More than anyone, Marquin worried about how disconnected Saiden had become, and the fact that he found his mate probably thrilled his sire.
He’d need to carve out time to go explain everything.
After he watched his mate just a little bit longer.
On screen, Cora’s face scrunched up for a second then relaxed back into something peaceful and easy. It was an expression Saiden had seen on countless human faces over the years.
Lilith bless you, Tressa, he thought.
“Jinx is like my sister,” Cora gushed, once again smiling and chatting happily.
“She’s also my assistant director, but we grew up together like family.
She lost her hearing in a freak accident when she was twelve, and we started watching horror movies more and more because there wasn’t as much dialogue as other kinds of films. Plus she said the silence often made it creepier.
The more we watched, the more we fell in love with the genre and wanted to make our own. ”
“I’m sorry to hear your friend went through that,” Tressa said. “That must have been hard for her to adjust to.”
Cora took a sip of her drink then nodded.
“It was. Her left ear eventually healed enough that she could pick up some sound, and she has a hearing aid that helps. She’s not the type to let anything keep her down, though, and we make a great team.
She’s amazing at details like scheduling, and I’m better with big picture ideas like plot and visual style.
We moved out to L.A. together right after high school. ”
“From where?” Raven asked casually, lifting her glass to her mouth then setting it back down.
Saiden wondered if Cora would even notice that Raven wasn’t actually drinking.
Alcohol didn’t affect vampires much since their increased metabolisms burned it right off, and it took so much for them to get drunk that Baylin was usually the only one who even bothered.
The drinks must have been Tressa’s idea since she spent considerably more time with humans and would have had the best idea at how to get one to open up.
“I grew up in Beaverton,” Cora answered on screen. “I do miss it sometimes. Not the rain of course, but the trees. Not many of those in L.A.”
Saiden glanced at Baylin who mouthed, “Oregon.”
Tressa clapped her hands excitedly. “You should see it here in the fall. It’s absolutely—”
Baylin flicked a switch, and the sound cut off. “I don’t recommend spying on her too much, dude. She’s already gonna be pissed about everything else. You don’t want to add snooping on her girl time to the list.”
Saiden sucked down the last bit of blood then tossed his empty bag into the trash by Baylin’s desk.
He probably would have spent all day watching Cora talk with his cousins.
Anything to learn more about her when she wasn’t in defensive mode.
His brother wasn’t wrong, though. He shouldn’t be constantly spying on her.
He’d already messed things up worse than a toddler left alone with finger paints and lollipops.
“You’re right, for once,” Saiden conceded, dragging his eyes from the screen and Cora’s animated gestures.
Whatever she was describing had her eyes lighting up like the Eiffel Tower on New Year’s, and he wondered if she had ever been to France.
Or anywhere in Europe for that matter. He’d love to show her his hometown in Sicily sometime.
Palermo looked quite different these days, but the Collesano farmhouse he’d been born in still stood.
Thanks to Baylin’s incredible skills, the deed was even in his name.
As far as the world at large knew, they were all basically their own great, great grandkids.
Except with a handful more greats in there.
“Anything new turn up in your Cora search?” Saiden asked, turning his attention back to his brother. He figured Baylin spent all morning continuing to scour his resources. His brother could uncover things you wouldn’t even find on the dark web.
But when Saiden’s eyes met Baylin’s, he suddenly regretted asking the question. The freshly ingested blood coursing through his veins curdled at the sight of his brother’s grimace.
“What?” he asked, fear ramping up inside him. Almost nothing caused Baylin to lose his sense of carefree frivolity. Anything that made his brother’s face contort in pain and sympathy was not going to be good news.
“I did find something you should know,” Baylin began slowly, as if each word out of his mouth drew razors across his skin.
“Tell me,” Saiden demanded, his panic level reaching heights beyond what he thought himself capable. Whatever his brother uncovered they would deal with, but it had to be tragic for him to not immediately spill the details.
Baylin let out a pained sigh. “You know how you thought she might have a medical condition? Well, she does.”
“And?”
Baylin rubbed his face, and if Saiden wasn’t so terrified that he could barely move, he might have considered brutally maiming his little brother for dragging it out.
“And?” he demanded again, his voice growing louder and infused with the kind of menace that sent most rogue vampires fleeing in terror.
“And you might not have decades to convince her to become a vampire.”
“What does that—” Saiden’s question died before he could finish asking it because the monitor over Baylin’s shoulder caught his eye, showing his mate shaking and clutching at her throat.
He was out of his seat and racing down the hall before it even dawned on him that he never got a full answer from his brother.