FIRE: The Elementals Book One

Chapter 4

4

Later that night, Alec was regretting his impulse to join his mother’s party. He’d already been toasted twice and had roughly half the vampire population in the city paraded in front of him.

The damn female half. His parents had apparently decided to drop their more subtle efforts to persuade him to take a mate.

Alec smothered a yawn, annoyed they were resuming their campaign. The pressure to marry and produce a child before he turned had thankfully been abandoned when he had gone through his change early. Most turned after thirty human years or more. He had been an unprecedented twenty-four, a shocking event at the time. But after only a few hundred years reprieve, his parents had started hinting that the joys of taking a partner were a blessing despite the absence of children.

He had never felt the slightest temptation to find out if that was true. As for the steady stream of eligible female vampires being paraded in front of him, women were the last thing on his mind. Clearly his mother had chosen to ignore his polite requests that she stop matchmaking. He needed to speak to her about it, but he’d been avoiding a direct confrontation. His childless status was a sore point with them.

Eager to escape the inane conversation, he retreated to a chair near the fireplace and pretended to admire his mother’s latest redecoration effort. It almost made him smile. The opulent ballroom, with its red silk damask covered walls, had some of the most elaborate chandeliers he’d ever seen outside a casino.

I feel like I’m in Vegas.

“Hello, Alec,” a low female voice purred in his ear.

He turned away from the chandeliers to see Sylvan perched on the right arm of his armchair near the fireplace, a monstrously large piece that would have been at home in the grandest castles of Europe. Sylvan smiled invitingly and braced an arm above his shoulder. She couldn’t get closer to him unless she sat on his lap.

She trailed her hand up his arm, looking as if she was going to climb on top of him any second. He shifted slightly, trying to dislodge her crawling fingers.

“Hi, Sylvan,” Alec replied, his voice flat and discouraging.

Sylvan was the worst of his mother’s potential daughter-in-laws. Her large breasts were almost completely exposed to the n****e, a dark green dress hugging every voluptuous curve. He’d never been into her, but Sylvan was tenacious. She wanted to be at his side at the top of the coven hierarchy, the mistress of the manor when his parents stepped down.

“It’s good that you’re finally home, Alec,” she continued, her tongue curling around the syllables of his name.

Shifting in his seat, he stayed quiet.

Not pleased with his response or lack of one, Sylvan started again. “A little bird told me you were going to w***e tonight. You should come with me. They know me there.”

Of course they do. “Oh, I think I might fly solo. Or I may not hit a club after all. I have some work to do,” Alec said evasively.

Not for the first time, he wished vampires didn’t have twenty-twenty vision. Cleaning a pair of spectacles could have provided a distraction. Anything to avoid direct eye contact. Sylvan was like the sun—a bright shining star that burned out your retinas if you looked at it too long.

“You’ve devoted centuries to your research,” she replied, a hint of a sneer in her voice. “Your parents think it’s time you settled down and took over your responsibilities here.”

What responsibilities? Throwing the best party? Showing visiting dignitaries around town? Taking them clubbing?

“They’ve made that clear, but I’m simply not the marrying kind,” Alec said with a deprecating smile.

“Don’t compare a vampire bond to a human marriage,” Sylvan spit out. “Our kind bonds for eternity. It is more than a stupid human marriage; it is a union of souls.”

“Of course it is.”

I will not roll my eyes.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me!”

Damn.

“Anyway,” Sylvan continued, regaining her purr with remarkable speed. “I know all the clubs from here to Miami, and most of the ones in LA. All the ones worth knowing, that is. You really should join me sometime.”

“Maybe. . .sometime. But tonight is bad. I have some errands, and a few books to acquire.”

That was a good one. Sylvan never read. Not even sure she knows how. A surprising number of vampires didn’t bother to learn.

“Suit yourself. Just give me a buzz if you change your mind. I know everyone who’s anyone. You’ve been out of the loop for too long,” she said, rising from her perch in a smooth fluid motion that drew attention to her curves. “If you want to mix with the Otherkind, you need to know who the right people are. I can help you with that.”

“Some social guidance would not be amiss,” Alec said, reminding himself that his investigation was too important to brush her off outright. “Why don’t you start now? Why don’t you tell me about the local undesirables?”

“Really?” Sylvan asked, sitting back down on the arm of his chair in a flash. She leaned in conspiratorially. “Well, let’s see. Where should we start?”

She turned to the room at large.

Diana was outside the coven house, crouched in a treetop in the square. It was later than she had planned, but it seemed like the coven was staying in tonight. They were having a party, which meant the later she went in, the bigger the crowd. She’d rethought her plan and, if all went, she would circumvent the need for violence. Or at least major bodily harm.

Remember not to kill anyone. If they’re not involved with Katie’s disappearance, you’ll never hear the end of it from Serin. The current generation of leaders for this coven hadn’t met an Elemental before. She hopped down from the tree and headed to the house.

Time to make an impression.