Vincent was disappointed when he returned to the kitchen to find Jackie had already left. His disappointment was balanced by relief, however. He had a little time to adjust to the possibility that she might be his mate. It was time he could use.
"Oh, hey," Tiny smiled and got to his feet as he entered. "If you're hungry, there's lots of chicken left."
Vincent opened his mouth to say "no thanks," but then caught himself. Actually, he was hungry. He hadn't felt hunger for anything other than blood for a long time, but now he was experiencing actual hunger pangs at the thought of the delicious smelling chicken Tiny had brought out earlier.
Reading Vincent's expression correctly, Tiny moved to the refrigerator to pull out the chicken.
"Thanks, Tiny," Vincent murmured as Tiny filled a plate with chicken and then added some coleslaw. Taking the plate from him, he led the way back to the table and settled across from the other man to eat.
Vincent bit into the first piece of chicken and sighed as the robust flavor hit his tongue. "Mmmm. If you ever decide to give up detective work to start your own restaurant, let me know and I'll bankroll you."
Tiny merely smiled at the compliment as he ate his own food. The two of them ate in silence for a while, then Vincent said, "So, if I were to ask you what Jackie's problem is with immortals, I don't suppose you'd tell me?"
Tiny was silent so long, Vincent had begun to think he wouldn't answer, then he asked, "What do you think of Jackie so far?"
Vincent considered the question before admitting, "I think she's beautiful, intelligent and interesting. She appears tough as nails, but I suspect isn't as hard-boiled as she appears." He hesitated, debating revealing that Marguerite thought Jackie might be his life mate, but in the end just said, "And for the first time in a very long time I've met a woman I'd like to get to know better."
Tiny nodded, but remained silent for several more moments. He finished off his own food before finally saying, "She is beautiful, intelligent, and interesting. And she isn't as hard-boiled as she'd have everyone believe she is. Of course, there's a reason for her hard attitude, but I couldn't possibly tell you. That would be betraying a friend, and I couldn't betray her like that... even if it was for her own good."
Disappointment was just claiming Vincent when the man added, "I like you. I think you're a good man. I think you're the kind of man who could make Jackie happy."
Vincent raised his eyebrows, but remained silent, waiting. His patience was rewarded when Tiny added, "When we first meet immortals, Jackie and I are always on the alert for the possibility that they'll try to read our minds. Jackie stays that way because of an experience I couldn't possibly divulge without betraying her trust. I, however, tend to relax my guard if I come to like the immortal... as I do you."
Vincent blinked, wondering if Tiny was suggesting what he thought he was.
"Of course, if you were to read my thoughts and learn about Jackie that way, I wouldn't be betraying our friendship," he said mildly. "However, if you were to do that, I would expect that you'd never ever admit such a thing to me, because then I might have to feel bad about not guarding my thoughts properly."
Vincent felt a smile tugging at his lips at the man's cleverness.
"Now, you just sit there and eat quietly. I'm just going to spend a few moments pondering the reason Jackie has a hard-on for immortals and how sad it is that she does."
Vincent prevented himself from laughing by biting into a fresh piece of chicken. As he chewed, he cleared his mind and began to probe the thoughts Tiny was offering up.
"I'm surprised you didn't have Allen Richmond install a higher wall and put electric wire along the top," Tiny teased as they walked along the perimeter of the yard, following the high brick wall that ran around Vincent's property. Jackie smiled, but seriously considered the possibility. It wouldn't be a bad idea now that they knew the saboteur had definitely turned their attention Vincent's way.
A frown claimed her lips as she thought of the letter that had arrived today. Jackie had found it on returning downstairs from taking a shower and changing. She'd spotted the small stack of fresh mail on the hall table as she was passing it. Realizing Tiny and Marguerite must have collected the mail on returning, she'd picked up the small stack and leafed through the envelopes as she walked into the office. There had been two bank statements, a credit card statement, an electric bill, and a new letter from the writer they suspected was the saboteur.
Jackie had stiffened as she saw the telltale return address. It was the same as the delivery address. She'd quickly opened it and read:
Ready to play?
The hair on the back of her neck had suddenly stood on end and adrenaline had shot through her like a cold bullet. Clutching the note, Jackie had whirled toward the door and hurried to the kitchen, only to find Tiny there alone. Vincent and Marguerite had left ten minutes earlier to make the rounds of the clubs.
Jackie had spent quite a while discussing the implications of this letter with Tiny. It was a change in pattern. The previous letters had all been dated the day after each event took place, taunting Vincent after each occurrence. This one seemed to imply a threat of something to come. It had Jackie worried and she knew Tiny was worried too, but they didn't know what they should be worried about. They had no idea what the saboteur's plans were.
After discussing it for quite a while, Tiny had suggested a walk around the perimeter of Vincent's estate. Jackie knew it was just an excuse to work off a little of the tension and anxiety the letter had caused in them both. She didn't really expect to find anything of interest as they followed the high brick wall that ran around Vincent's property.
"I doubt a higher fence or electric wire would do much good," she said now. "Immortals can jump higher than us, but who knows how much higher?"
"Hmm." Tiny eyed the wall with consideration. "And no doubt they can climb trees too. There are lots of those on both sides of the wall."
Jackie nodded. "The real security is the motion sensor cameras and alarms on the house itself. Hopefully those will help."
Tiny grunted agreement and they fell silent. When he spoke again it was to change the subject. "Marguerite is an interesting woman. She cares about Vincent a lot."
"Oh?"
"She seems to thinks he's lonely," Tiny added and Jackie glanced at him with a start of surprise.
"Lonely?"
"Yes. Marguerite thinks he's losing interest in life. He takes on acting roles less and less often, and she thinks he's spending more time at home. Marguerite says she doesn't think he's been feeding enough either, that she'd noticed he'd lost weight when she saw him in New York."
Jackie had spent enough time around immortals to know that boredom was their worst enemy. When they lost the passion for life and fed less and became reclusive, it could lead to indifference and depression, then self-destructive behavior. She didn't like the idea that Vincent might be sinking into depression.
Her thoughts scattered as Tiny suddenly took her arm to turn her to the left. Jackie glanced around to find they'd reached the gate at the driveway and he was urging her up toward the house.
The lights on the ground floor were shining brightly, but Vincent and Marguerite hadn't yet returned. Jackie wasn't pleased that he was away from the safety of the house just now, she had a feeling things were going to start happening soon.
"You've got that hinky feeling," Tiny commented.
Jackie smiled faintly at the term they'd coined for her sense that something was about to happen. "It's showing, is it?"
"You're about ready to crawl out of your own skin with tension. That's usually a good sign that you've got that hinky feeling."
She nodded and blew her breath out on a sigh. "I do and the walk hasn't helped ease it much."
"Why don't you go for a swim?" Tiny suggested.
"Maybe I will," Jackie murmured.
"In the pool or ocean?" he asked. While the house was on prime oceanfront property, there was also a heated outdoor pool. Excess in Hollywood.
"The pool," she decided. Excess or not, Jackie had seen Jaws on television at an impressionable age. She wouldn't be able to relax in the ocean if she was scanning the horizon for shark fins and jumping every time some poor fish brushed against her.
"If you're swimming in the pool, I'll join you."
"You saw Jaws as a kid too, huh?" Jackie asked with amusement.
"Oh yeah. Wouldn't go in the local pool for a week afterwards."
They chuckled together as they entered the house, then parted to go to their rooms and change, agreeing to meet at the pool. Jackie made quick work of stripping her clothes and donning her red one-piece swimsuit. She returned downstairs and went into the kitchen to find she'd beat Tiny back.
Pausing at the security panel, Jackie punched in the code to release the kitchen door so that their opening it wouldn't set off the alarms. She then stepped out onto the patio only to hesitate.
The air was still warm from the day's heat, but it was dark night outside and she briefly debated whether to turn the pool lights on. In the end, Jackie decided the light shining from the kitchen windows lit up the area well enough. It wasn't as bright as daylight, but light enough they wouldn't swim head first into the side of the pool, which was good enough for her.
The patio tiles were cool under her bare feet. Jackie dropped the towel she'd brought with her onto one of the iron chairs around the patio table, then walked over to sit on the edge of the pool. She dangled her feet in the water and leaned back to peer up at the star-studded sky, her thoughts wandering briefly. After a moment, Jackie glanced impatiently back toward the house, wondering what was taking Tiny so long.
She was about to go look for him when the kitchen door opened and Tiny walked out in baggy swim trunks with Sylvester the cat on them. Jackie grinned with amusement and shook her head. The man's size scared most people silly, but no one would be scared if they knew the real man.
Or perhaps they would, Jackie decided. Tiny had as much courage as common sense and was stronger than your average bear.
"What are you waiting for?" Tiny asked as he crossed the patio. "You're dying to dive in. Go on."
Chuckling softly, Jackie pushed off, gasping as the water enveloped her. Heated it might be, but the water was still cooler than her body temperature. She quickly dove under the surface to wet herself everywhere and speed up her body's adjustment to the temperature. When she broke the surface again and glanced around, Tiny was in the water, swimming laps. Jackie relaxed for a while, just paddling her feet, then she too began to swim laps.
It was a good twenty minutes later when she noticed movement at the side of the pool. Stopping abruptly, Jackie peered about, relaxing when she saw it was Tiny. He'd got out and was now drying himself off at the poolside.
"Are you done?" Jackie asked.
"I'm here. Go on and keep swimming," Tiny assured her as he sat down with the towel wrapped around his shoulders.
Nodding, Jackie continued with her laps. When next she stopped, Tiny was no longer in the chair and Jackie glanced around sharply to see where he'd got to. She then saw the shape moving toward her through the water and gave a little laugh.
A heartbeat later, her amusement gave way to confusion and even fear as she realized the figure moving through the water was too small to be Tiny. Just as Jackie was about to strike out for the pool's edge, the swimmer surfaced in front of her and she blinked as Vincent's head and shoulders popped out of the water.
"You're home." As greetings went it was pretty lame, but it was the first thought that popped into Jackie's head.
Vincent chuckled at her surprise. "We got home a couple minutes ago. When I realized you two were out here swimming, I changed and came to join you."
Jackie nodded and glanced toward the house. "Where did Tiny go?"
"He headed in to change and dry off now that you wouldn't be left alone."
"Oh." Jackie shifted in the water. While she hadn't been ready to get out when Tiny was there, now that Vincent was there instead, all she could think of was getting out. It suddenly felt dangerous being there, like she'd suddenly discovered she was swimming with a shark.
Jackie headed for the ladder, but then recalled Tiny's words earlier, about her fear and Vincent not being Cassius. Tiny liked Vincent and Jackie trusted her co-worker's judgment. She decided to stick it out and try to be pleasant despite her fears and anxieties. She could handle it, Jackie assured herself, and determinedly ignored the defense mechanisms screaming at her to flee, or insult him, or do whatever was necessary to get herself out of his sphere of influence.
As if sensing her discomfort, Vincent began to backstroke away from her, giving her space. Jackie watched, finding herself admiring his efficient stroke.
"I'm surprised you chose to swim in the pool rather than the ocean," he commented.
Jackie's gaze flickered to his face, then she eased into a side crawl as she said, "I like to see what's in the water with me."
Vincent chuckled softly.
"I take it you like to swim in the ocean at night?" she asked.
"Yes. I rarely use the pool." They fell silent for a minute, then he asked, "Is the ocean cold to swim in during the day?" Before she could answer, he said, "I suppose it would be, wouldn't it?"
"You've never swum during daylight?" Jackie asked.
"No, never," Vincent answered. "Is it nicer than swimming at night?"
Jackie frowned as she considered. "Not nicer, just different," she decided. "Do you miss the freedom to go out in sunlight when you wish?"
"You can't miss what you've never known," he said simply.
His answer made her wonder what else Vincent didn't miss because he'd never known it. She tried to think of things that were strictly daytime activities, but found she couldn't come up with anything. Jackie worked days and there wasn't much she did on her days off that couldn't just as easily be done at night. Swimming, fishing, barbecuing... all of them could be done at night. She supposed sunbathing with a book would be out, but then the specialists claimed the sun caused skin cancer anyway.
"What's it like to live so long?" Jackie asked suddenly.
Vincent stopped swimming and moved to the side of the pool to hold on to the rim while he considered her question. After a moment, he shook his head. "I don't know what to say. It's all I know, I have no way to compare it to not living long."
He glanced thoughtfully off into the distance, and Jackie thought that would be the end of his answer, but then Vincent spoke again. "At first, it was great fun and I felt sorry for mortals who saw their youth and beauty wither away with each passing year while I stayed young and healthy."
When he paused, Jackie found herself saying, "It must be incredible though. Traveling the world, seeing the different ages, meeting great people like Shakespeare."
Vincent smiled faintly. "If only you knew they were great when you met them."
She raised her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"Well, now, four hundred years later, Shakespeare is'the bard,' but back then he was just another playwright, a successful one, but still just a playwright. When I met him, I had no idea I was in the presence of someone who would be so important historically." Vincent grinned. "Had I known, I might have treated him with more respect."
"You were a child when you met him," Jackie pointed out.
"I was a spoiled brat," Vincent corrected, and shook his head.
"The file my father's company had compiled on you says meeting Shakespeare convinced you to become an actor." There were files on quite a few of the immortals in the agency's cabinets, all holding bits of information gleaned over the years.
Vincent laughed. "Then the file is wrong. It wasn't meeting him so much as seeing all the pretty ladies that haunted the theatre and admired the actors. It also helped that the church was up in arms over the theatres then, calling them immoral and indecent. That just made it more attractive."
"Rebellious youth," Jackie said with amusement.
"Perhaps," he allowed. "But I've always backed the underdog and without the support of royalty and the nobles, theatre would have been crushed by the church."
Vincent leaned back against the pool edge and allowed his feet to float just under the surface, gently paddling them in the water. "The theater was special back then, so much energy and excitement."
"And now?" she asked.
"Now." He frowned. "Now it's a lot of cold ambition and the pursuit of the almighty dollar. Very little seems new and creative anymore, especially in Hollywood whererather than create brilliant new scripts and showsthey just repeat old money makers or bring video games to screen."
Jackie frowned. Vincent did sound tired and cynical and she wondered if Marguerite's fears weren't justified after all.
"If you think so little of Hollywood, why do you live out here? Why not live closer to your family?"
"I've been wondering that myself, lately," he admitted, then gave a laugh. "To tell you the truth, I half suspect I have been rebelling."
"Really?" she asked with surprise.
"Well, you know, fathers want their sons to follow in their footsteps."
"And sons often rebel," Jackie said with a faint smile, but her smile faded as she added, "Your father is an enforcer for the council."
Vincent raised an eyebrow and she knew that some of her anger had shown in her voice. The council was the governing body for immortals, and the enforcers were the equivalent of their police. Jackie had always resented that immortals saw themselves as above human laws and felt they had a right to their own laws and enforcers.
On the other hand, she knew mortal police couldn't enforce mortal laws on them. The idea was laughable. Should Vincent, or another immortal, be pulled over for speeding, all he need do was slip into the officer's thoughts and convince him that he hadn't been speeding, and, in fact, that the officer had never seen him. It was pretty much the same for every law. Having experienced having her mind controlled and what they could make mortals do against their will, Jackie knew how scary their abilities were. One of their kind could probably kill someone in front of a room full of witnesses and make every last person forget what they'd seen. Their enforcers were necessary.
As for their own set of laws, while Jackie wished they had to follow all mortal laws, she understood that immortals were so spread out that the enforcers couldn't possibly keep up with making them follow every law. So, they'd decided on the laws that were important to them such as restricting them to bagged blood and not feeding off mortals except in emergencies and in cases of medical issues that required live donors. Most of the rest of their laws seemed to simply be meant to prevent the possibility of overpopulating the earth; restricting them to having only one child every hundred years, and allowing each to turn only one mortal in their lifetime.
Jackie knew these laws were enforced with death, and not a very pleasant one either. According to her father's files, the last immortal to try to turn more than his allotted one, had been hunted down here in California. He'd been staked out in the sun all day, then beheaded at sunset. The beheading had probably been the kinder action. Leaving him out in the sun all day, so he dehydrated and his nanos began to eat his organs in search of needed blood was apparently the true punishment. According to Bastien, there was no worse torture for one of their kind and the man would have been grateful for the beheading when it came.
"How many enforcers are there?" Jackie asked suddenly. It was a subject she'd always wondered about.
"I'm not sure," Vincent admitted. He guessed, "Perhaps a dozen or so here in North America."
"How many of your people are here?"
He shook his head. "To tell you the truth, I'm not sure about that either. I'd guess there are about five hundred here in North America."
"And Europe?"
"More," he said solemnly.
Jackie nodded. She knew that the European immortals were ruled by a different council than the North American council and that there had been friction between the two for centuries. It went back to when some of the immortals had first moved to the Americas, scared out of Europe by the witch hunts. The European council had felt the immigrants should still have to answer to them, but the immigrating families had different issues, and felt the European council was out of touch with their needs. They'd wanted to rule and police themselves.
According to Bastien, the battle that had ensued had paralleled the American battle for independence in a way, but on a much smaller scale. In the end, the European council had just washed their hands of their people in the new world. They hadn't really had a choice. They weren't in the Americas to enforce their control.
Jackie steered the topic away from the councils and asked something she'd wondered about since arriving in California. "How much blood do you need a day?"
Vincent hesitated, then said, "Most go through three or four bags a day. Some need more. It varies."
"And you?" she asked. "How many people do you bite a day?"
"Only one or two a day now."
"Why do you need less blood?"
"It's not that I need less, but..." He shrugged indifferently. "I only feed enough to get by."
"Enough to get by," Jackie echoed, recalling Tiny saying Marguerite thought Vincent had lost weight when she'd seen him in New York. Obviously, feeding "enough to get by" wasn't enough. "Why?"
Vincent didn't pretend not to understand what she was asking, but avoided her gaze as he said, "I'm beginning to find the hunt a terrible bother."
"A bother?" Jackie asked with concern, positive this was bad.
"Everything seems to be a bother these days," he admitted with dissatisfaction. "You were right. I didn't eat before you and Tiny got here. I stopped eating about three hundred years ago. I shouldn't have, because it helps in building my own blood and reduces the amount I need to feed, but having to eat food as well as hunt became a bother. Food became boring, and hardly worth the trouble."
"Food became boring?" Jackie goggled at him, sure he was joking. She'd never imagined boredom was the reason vampires didn't eat, and had difficulty believing it. How could anyone think food was boring?
Vincent chuckled at her reaction. "Yes."
"So you all stop eating eventually because of boredom?"
He hesitated, then said, "Some stop eating and some don't. My cousin Lucern was born two hundred years before me, during a time when size and strength were important. He was a warrior, large and muscular. It takes a lot to keep his muscle mass. He has always eaten as well as fed, and when he tires of eating, he continues to do so out of necessity, to keep his mass. On the other hand, my cousin Lissianna, as a woman, has no such concerns. When she tired of eating, she simply stopped... though, she has started eating again since meeting Gregory."
"And you weren't concerned about body mass?" Jackie asked.
Vincent grinned and held out his arms. "By the time I was born, skill was more important than strength in any battle one engaged in. We dueled with ¨¦p¨¦es, or used pistols. I didn't need the same muscle mass Lucern did to wield his great sword and have never desired to have it. So, when I grew tired of food, I simply stopped eating."
Jackie tilted her head and eyed him. He made it sound like he was a skinny little guy, but he wasn't. He wasn't as muscle-bound as Schwarzenegger, but he had nice wide shoulders and a muscular physique all the same.
She shook her head. "I still find it hard to believe you could find food boring."
Vincent chuckled at her expression. "Lots of things become boring after a couple hundred years."
"Like what?"
Vincent raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"What else has become boring to you? What else have you stopped doing because it seems more trouble than it's worth?" she explained.
"Sex."
The answer startled her and Jackie felt herself blush in the darkness.
"Cat got your tongue?" Vincent teased when she remained silent.
"I don't know what to say," she admitted. "I guess I find that as surprising as that food could be boring."
"Yeah." He sighed. "I was pretty surprised myself. I used to enjoy sex a lot. I was good at it too."
Jackie really didn't know what to say to that. Vincent said it so nonchalantly, not bragging, just stating a fact like someone else might say they were good at crosswords. It was hard not to believe it was true. On the other hand, she supposed all men thought they were good at sex, whether they were or not.
Growing tired from treading water, Jackie gave up her position in the center of the pool and swam to the edge a little way down from him. She held on to the side of the pool like he was doing to give her arms and legs a rest as they talked.
"Enough about me," Vincent said suddenly. "I know your father started the detective agency. What about your mother? What did she do?"
"Mother died when I was four," Jackie admitted. "I don't recall much about her. She was a secretary in my father's company before and after I was born."
"So your father raised you?" When she nodded, Vincent asked, "So, were you a tomboy, or a girlie girl?"
Jackie smiled with amusement at the question, then blinked in surprise when he said, "I bet you were a tomboy."
"Why?" she asked warily.
Vincent shrugged. "You were an only child, raised by your father and probably eager for his attention. That usually leads the girl to try to be the son he never had to gain his approval."
Jackie scowled. She had been a tomboy, and she supposed she had tried to be the son he never had to gain her father's attention and approval. Perhaps she was still doing so despite his being dead, trying to be the son he would have wanted.
"Come." Vincent suddenly propelled himself up and out onto the tiles around the pool. Standing, he then bent to offer her a hand. "You're starting to shiver; time to get out of the water."
Jackie realized with surprise that he was right, she was shivering. Still, she almost refused his hand, but then sighed and reached up. Vincent caught her fingers and suddenly she was standing dripping wet on the patio tiles. He'd lifted her out one-handed and with no effort whatsoever. Almost before that realization had struck, he'd collected her towel and wrapped it around her.
Jackie shouldn't have been surprised, but always found it startling how strong and quick immortals really were. She'd decided long ago that most of the time these beings moved at what must seem a sluggish rate for them, probably in an effort to appear normal to the mortals around them.
Her thoughts on their speed and strength scattered as Vincent used the ends of the towel he'd wrapped around her to brush the drops of water from her face. It started out as an almost maternal action, but then his hands slowed and softened and she became aware that his eyes had settled on her mouth and stayed there. His expression stilled, becoming serious. It was an expression Jackie was not used to from Vincent Argeneau. He generally wore good humor and amusement like a uniform, but neither of those masks was on his face now. His expression was solemn, his eyes beginning to glow silver-blue with a hunger she didn't think had anything to do with blood.
Jackie found herself holding her breath. His body was a whisper away from her own and if she swayed just the teensiest bit forward, her breasts would brush his chest. The idea made a shiver of anticipation ripple down her back and that made Vincent blink and frown.
"Come, it's chilly tonight and you're cold." Vincent released her towel and took her arm to urge her toward the kitchen door. "Inside to warm up."
Jackie nodded and led the way, telling herself she was relieved he hadn't kissed her. All in all, this encounter had been relatively painless, nice even. She hadn't sensed his trying to read her thoughts, and he hadn't taken control of her and made her do anything she didn't want to do. Perhaps she had allowed her old fears to make her treat him unfairly. Maybe he was just as nice as Bastien. And perhaps all immortals didn't look down on mortals and set out to use and hurt them as Cassius had done. This was a huge admission for Jackie to make; it shook the foundations of a belief system she'd lived by for years.