10. Sebastian

Chapter 10

Sebastian

D eck five was another high-class deck with higher-end suites . Not as good as Grace's and my suites, but much better than the typical stateroom.

It was to one of these suites that my security team and I went. They gathered around me, ready to proceed at my orders.

"The level has been cleared?" I asked Gray.

"Yes, sir."

He didn't really need a gun because he could go full wolf shifter, and he was one of the bigger of his kind, but he still held a handgun in one hand, loaded with gold-plated bullets, just in case.

I nodded at the security officer who had the room key card, and she swiped it. The door beeped to let us in, and my team immediately swarmed into the room. I waited a moment while they secured him and then followed. They'd bound the vampire's arms and legs together, and put an iron cage over his head, locking it with chains that wrapped between his legs and up to his shoulders. The room was dark, the blackout shades drawn.

I strolled up to him, and leaned close, as though it were just a conversation between him and me, although we both knew differently.

"I know what you are," I whispered. "And I don't mean a vampire." I turned to leave, dismissing him easily as the lowest of curs. "You're being sent to our liege. Your last free days are upon you. You might want to try to make peace with that."

I entered my office with my phone to my ear.

"Yes?"

"My liege, this is Sebastian Solace. I'm sending a present to you."

"Will I like this present?"

"No, my liege, you won't. A siren friend of mine has pointed a vampire on my ship out. He's a danger to others, sire. One of our kind who preys on the innocent."

"Ah, this siren has the knowing that most of her kind have?"

"Yes, my liege."

He sighed. "We'll be ready to receive him. I'm grateful to you and your siren for sending him my way."

"I'll have my security send a file of all that we know of him, but I think his life and habits need a closer scrutiny than we have the means or time for, my liege."

"We'll handle it. When can we expect him?"

"In about six hours, sire."

"Thank you, Sebastian. We'll be ready. I've heard good things about your cruise line. My consort and I were thinking of getting away for a bit. We're both in need of a vacation."

I would imagine so, given the headache it surely was being the king of our kind.

I had to feel for my desk chair before I sat down in it or I would have just kept going until I hit the floor. I swallowed. "My liege, if you would let me know before your arrival, I can have everything taken care of for you and Consort Mia so that you don't have to worry about a thing."

Few things made me nervous anymore, but apparently my king was one of them . It was a disconcerting feeling, but not an unpleasant one. Older vampires were strange, in that we welcomed new or forgotten experiences or feelings as another would welcome fine wine. Even if the feelings or experiences could be considered negative by some.

My liege chuckled. "We're looking forward to meeting you, Sebastian. Talk with you soon."

I took a deep breath in and then let it out. Whatever ship they chose, I needed to be on it. I couldn't leave the king of the vampires to just my staff, excellent though they were. Their visit would need a personal touch. I just hoped he and Consort Mia vacationed after this month with Grace. Because I needed Grace too, and if I had to choose, I'd choose Grace.

We set off from the harbor in a rented boat. I'd hired a captain and a few crew members to take us to Turtle Canyon. It was one of the best places off the coast of Oahu to see sea turtles and actually get to swim with them. I knew from Grace's reaction the day before that she'd more than likely love Turtle Canyon. It was a popular Oahu destination for a reason.

The captain had told me the snorkeling would be especially good at this time of day because the seas would be fairly calm. We arrived after a few brief minutes, and everyone loaded up on snorkeling gear and last-minute reef-safe sunscreen. Even I had to wear some. Although the full Hawaiian sun felt like a very mild electrical shock to me most of the time, it still had a tendency to burn. I was used to the mild shock. It was actually invigorating most of the time, which other vampires told me was a bizarre reaction. It was probably my age. I was what the young vampires called eccentric.

Grace was in an adorable yellow and blue tankini that made her olive skin tone look golden brown in the sun. She'd braided her long hair into a crown braid to keep it up and out of her face for the day, and she looked like a fairytale princess.

I'd always secretly found it amusing when people told me their stories of how they'd met their significant others. Some said they felt a powerful pull the moment they met. Some claimed they'd just known. I now regretted all of my private scoffing at those stories over the years. It turned out that, while falling in love at first sight wasn't possible, having a deep pull toward someone, having the strongest feeling that you'd met the person you were going to spend the rest of your life with, was entirely possible. Because it was currently happening to me. I was all for it, if anyone cared to take my vote. And this was coming from a man who'd put the word casual into casual dating. I was old enough that I felt like I could claim that title.

I'd spent my long life dating casually, never caring to settle down with anyone. I'd never realized it was because I hadn't met my person yet. My Grace. I'd always just thought that it was me; that there was some deficiency in me that kept me from becoming serious about someone.

I wasn't a huge extrovert, but I enjoyed being around people. My extroversion was largely because of my insatiably curious nature. I enjoyed meeting new people. I enjoyed their different viewpoints, histories, and cultures, and I never tired of hearing their stories and learning about their lives. I never tired of learning.

As the crew of the boat moved around, setting up shade with a few awnings and getting out drinks and snacks, Grace came to me and asked me to rub lotion onto her back.

It had been quiet all morning between us since our discussion last night. I didn't want her to retract her desire for a slower pace and for a foundation of friendship between us first. I agreed wholeheartedly that she should have that if she needed it. But... that didn't mean that I couldn't encourage her to consider me fondly when she was ready for a relationship.

I grinned shamelessly as I squeezed some of the white cream onto my hands, enjoying the tropical scent of the lotion. I starting working it into her shoulders, neck, and back. Her skin was already sun-kissed from the tropical sun above us and was warm under my hands.

I moved her tankini straps and rubbed cream under them, just in case her straps shifted while she was snorkeling. I lathered more cream into my hands to warm it up and got the upper part of her neck, including the backs of her ears.

I looked down at her arms and fought a grin. Goosebumps prickled her skin. I'd managed to make a one-minute sunscreen top-off last an entire five minutes, and I didn't feel one bit bad about it.

Grace turned when I finished and stared up at me with her beautiful brown eyes. "I see what you're doing," she said.

"You wanted to go slowly," I reminded her. "I respect that." And then I grinned, and I could feel it was shark-like as I said, "I never said I wouldn't fight for you, Grace."

She looked frustrated. "I hadn't realized it was a fight at all."

I cupped her shoulders with my hands. "The prize is your heart, yes? Of course it's a fight, Grace. A really important one for me."

She melted; I could see it in the reflection of her eyes, and in the release of tension in her body. Now she knew why I'd been quiet. I hadn't been angry or petulant at her request, like other boy-men might have been. I'd been planning my battle strategy and working to enact it.

Once again, Mama Liora stayed close to the boat, in case she became fatigued. Meanwhile, Grace and I explored a little more thoroughly around the canyon. Rafe swam off on his own, but he always kept us in his sights in case we ran into trouble. The coral reef here was vibrant with layered colors of purples, blues, greens and reds that were teeming with various fish and aquatic life.

At first, we didn't see many turtles—just a few as they lazily swam past us. But just like last night, they seemed to catch Grace's scent in the water after a few moments, and suddenly it was turtle Grand Central Station.

I could see the delight on Grace's face as the turtles came to say hello to her. They touched her with their noses, and even though I didn't think we were supposed to, they let her touch their shells. In fact, they seemed to insist upon it. A few dolphins came over and she laughed as they spun her in circles and nudged her to hold on to a fin. They seemed to sense when she needed air, as they nudged her toward the surface and rose with her.

I could hear Mama Liora and the crew of the chartered boat exclaim at the number of turtles that were in the canyon, and their excitement that the dolphins had joined in, but their noise was a mere backdrop to my focus on Grace.

Suddenly, Grace's head shot up, and she was laser focused on a dark spot in the water, further in the depths. I looked in the direction of her gaze and was horrified to see someone in scuba gear aiming a spear gun at Grace.

Grace must have thought the scuba diver was trying to harm the dolphins and turtles because I could read her lips as she screamed "NO!" threw out both hands, and darted in front of the dolphin she'd been playing with.

I knew I couldn't reach her in time, but I hit my vampire speed and tried anyway.

The speargun discharged a long, lethal looking spear that sped towards Grace. The sea creatures dove en masse just as the spear pierced Grace's right hand, and her left hand threw out what felt like a sonic boom. Since I was in front of Grace, swimming towards her at vampire speed, the boom hit me with full concussive force and threw me nearly thirty yards.

Up was down; down was up. I was so disoriented that I had to cling to a large boulder while my equilibrium returned. My ears rang, and my head was spinning so badly my vision blurred. I shook my head, still unable to hear anything, and glanced frantically around for Grace.

Rafe, who'd shown up out of nowhere, and the dolphins were towing her toward the boat at top speed, and the turtles were following. I could almost see their concern in the way they swarmed her, protecting her back from any more spears. I shook off my disorientation enough that my vision cleared and I glanced back toward the scuba diver, only to find they'd vanished.

It didn't matter. My priority had to be Grace and getting her medical help. I would deal with the scuba diver later.

I got to the boat just as the crew was pulling her aboard. I hurried to pull myself up and get to Grace as she was led over to a bench and instructed to sit. Her mom was already on the boat and demanding to know what had happened.

"A scuba diver took a shot at her with a speargun," I said, as I sat down behind Grace and encouraged her to lean on me for stability and strength.

"I saw the whole thing," Rafe said furiously. "I was on the aft side of the boat when they took the shot."

"They were aiming for the dolphins," Grace said, shivering.

I privately disagreed, but I said nothing because I didn't want to cause panic and frighten Grace. At least, not until we'd dealt with her hand and the blood dripping from her wound.

I had a slight problem, though. In that split second interaction, I'd been unable to determine if the person had been paranormal or human, or even if they'd been male or female, as their face and hair had been completely covered.

If they were human, they now knew for a fact that Grace was not human. I wouldn't go so far as to say they would think she was a paranormal, but humans having the equivalent of superpowers was definitely not the norm. Most humans tended to attribute what they'd seen or heard to other things, like natural phenomena, but some got vocal about things they saw and caused trouble for the paranormal community.

Grace was hissing as the boat's medic pulled the lightweight, small spear out of her hand and deep-cleaned and disinfected the wound.

"You definitely need a hospital, hun," the woman said, her expression calm as she wrapped Grace's hand tight to stem the bleeding.

Grace nodded, resigned. I asked Mama Liora to grab two shirts from my duffel bag and bring them to me. She helped Grace into one while I hurriedly tossed on the other, and then we were moving toward land at twice the speed we'd come out in.

It was late evening by the time we got back to the ship. Grace was tired and a little loopy from the pain meds that she'd been given at the hospital. She'd also been given an antibiotic that she had to take for a week or so to make sure she didn't pick up an infection. Thankfully, the spear had only gone through the fleshy part of her hand and the slightest bit of muscle there. They'd had to stitch the wound, but it hadn't been as bad as I'd first feared.

Mama Liora had gone ahead to find something for Grace to change into, and Rafe had long since returned to the ship to handle ship business while I wasn't aboard. He'd also continued the investigation with the local police regarding the person who'd fired the speargun. A speargun may be an odd weapon, but it was still a weapon, and we'd been fired upon.

We were all still in our swimsuits, and none of us had eaten since morning, so we were all starving. Grace leaned into me, sleepy but happy as we waited. Mama Liora came quickly down the hallway with their clothes, and she and Grace went to a private staff member bathroom on level one to change. I slid my card into the access slot to let them in.

I was fine in my swim stuff. It was just shorts and a tee shirt, but I could see why the girls had wanted to be out of their swimsuits before sitting down to eat something.

I leaned against a handy wall and, for the first time since the incident, I tried to piece things together in my mind. I could see the dark shadow of someone as they aimed the speargun, the discharge, Grace screaming no and holding her hands up as though she wanted to stop what was happening, the spear as it pierced her right hand, and then the sonar boom that had shot from her left hand.

After that I'd had a minute or so of disorientation, and then I'd swam for Grace and the boat.

I'd never heard of a sonic offensive ability, but it was clear that Grace had one. Maybe it only came out underwater, and when she was in distress?

And the human, or paranormal? Had they been aiming for the dolphins? Or had they been aiming at Grace?

Regardless, I vowed to stay closer to her until we could figure it out.

We all wanted something easy for dinner, where our casual attire wouldn't be gawked at, so we went to the level three Captain's Buffet.

"Thanks, guys," Grace said. "I just wanted a big salad tonight. It's too late for something super-rich."

"Well, that discounts Sebastian," Mama Liora snarked. She winked at me. "Sorry, Sebastian. It seems you need to leave."

I smirked just as Grace said, "Mama!" in a half laughing, half aghast tone of voice.

"Well, it's true!" Mama Liora declared. "What do they say in my Regency romance novels? That he's richer than Croesus?"

Grace groaned and her cheeks turned pink.

I, of course, found this adorable.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered to me. "My mama after ten p.m. is really something to behold."

"I heard that, Grace Evelyn. I'm just fine."

"Not the middle name, Mama," Grace teased.

Her mom shook her finger at her, and they both laughed.

I found them completely charming.

Grace was just fine until she figured out that getting food from the buffet tables was going to be difficult with just the one hand. Her other hand was swaddled in bandages, and she had been instructed not to use it or get it wet at all. She grumbled under her breath as she tried to maneuver everything.

"Would you like some help?"

"No, thank you."

I rolled my lips in to keep from smiling, and went down the buffet line, picking up things that looked interesting. I'd already pulled a crew member aside requesting some A-, my favorite type of blood, to be delivered to our table.

Grace had discovered that if she set her plate down, and used the scoops and utensils one at a time, that she could manage to get what she wanted onto her plate. And this was how she went down the line. Set the plate down, use the scoop, pick the plate up, set the plate down, use the scoop, pick the plate up.

I wanted to laugh at her stubborn determination, but I didn't dare not. Independence was obviously important to her. If she needed something, though, I hoped she would ask rather than suffer in silence as so many beings seemed to.

We picked a booth that looked out over the ocean, as both Grace and her mom seemed to prefer those, then we quietly dug into our food. I'd grabbed a green salad and some other types of salads on one plate. The potato salad here was always delicious. My second plate had an assortment of ribs and barbecue chicken with coleslaw. Unlike Grace, I had no qualms about eating heavier tonight. My body needed it. Between that and my glass of A-, I finally felt satiated.

Mama Liora quickly finished her food and kissed Grace's cheek, excusing herself to their suite so she could clean up and get to bed.

"Good night, Mama Liora," I said, dipping my head politely.

She reached over and patted my head like a dog, snickering as she moved off.

"I think your mom is trying to train me," I said to Grace. For what, I hadn't a clue.

She laughed and carefully scooped up some salad with her left hand. "I don't doubt it. I tried to warn you. She's a firecracker."

I took another soothing sip of blood, and Grace's eyes followed my movements.

"Do you ever drink from someone directly?" she asked.

I swallowed and hummed in the back of my throat. "Directly is best. It gives the most nutrients. But it's also very... personal. Many vampires choose not to, unless it's from their significant other."

"Oh." Her eyebrows beetled in concentration as she thought over what I'd said.

"Have you ever―?"

I shook my head. "No. I've never felt the need." I smiled. "Even though blood bottles and bags are the equivalent of fast food compared with the rich dining experience of direct blood."

She snickered. "So, you're basically a fast food addict. I'm glad I've found this out now, rather than later."

I shrugged, smiling at her teasing. "I wouldn't mind drinking from you, if you ever wanted to offer," I said casually, but Grace's head snapped up, and she dropped her fork onto her plate with a clang.

"You wouldn't?"

I nodded, taking a sip of water to rinse my mouth out. "I would love to drink from you."

She goggled at me for a moment or two, before she got control of her facial expressions, and tried to casually go back to eating. I could read the excitement in her gaze, though. Her expressions were the gateway to her inner thoughts and feelings. She seemed unable to hide most of what she felt, and I found this adorable as well.

Handy too, as it meant I rarely needed to guess, which I appreciated.

As I walked Grace to her suite, Kazi was waiting for her outside her suite like a father waiting for his baby girl to get home. She laughed and reassured him she was fine. He snuffled her hand a bit, snorting at the harsh chemicals and cleansers they'd used on her wound, and then he nosed me to say hello and went back inside.

"He's protective of you. I really think he loves you."

Her cheeks turned pink. She looked adorably bashful, but pleased.

I moved slowly forward, and Grace's eyes went wide as I used my body to back her up gently against the door. When she could go no further, she made a small sound in her throat as she stared up at me. I could scent her feelings: shock, excitement, desire. I leaned close to her lips, like I was going to kiss her. Instead, I moved slightly and nosed her neck, skimming up the length of it until I found the spot where her scent was the most saturated. I breathed the intoxicating aroma in deeply and laid a gentle kiss there.

Grace made another small noise while she gripped my tee shirt so tightly I thought she might tear the cloth. I hid my grin against her neck before I pulled away, completely straight-faced. I bowed at the waist. "Goodnight, Grace. I hope you sleep well." As I walked away, I heard her collapse against the door with a groan of frustration.

"Well played, Sebastian," she whispered. "Well played."

I couldn't help my wolfish grin.