Louise Ch. 02

Three hours later, they were at the house where Veronica was being held captive. Nathan stuck to her like glue making her feel almost stifled but good at the same time. Much to her relief, the nagging tingling feeling had gone away leaving her able to concentrate on where she was going.

As soon as she entered the house, she felt the pain and loneliness. It hadn't always been that way, underneath the pain and sorrow; there had been a much happier time.

"What happened here?" she asked herself as she tried to pull away from Nathan who kept himself between her and any doors. The further into the house they got, the deeper the pain and misery became. Nathan was holding her hand and she tightened her grip. She had never felt such strong emotions; it almost took her breath away. Nathan stopped her, took her into his arms and kissed her head. Suddenly, she felt less oppressed. She looked up at Nathan who nodded and then smiled at her.

"She's down here!" she heard someone cry.

The scene before her stunned her, Veronica was alive and seemed to be intact but the man on the floor was dying and needed comfort. She pulled away from Nathan, went to the dying man, sat on the floor next to him and began to comfort him in the same manner she had her mother. As she looked into the handsome face, she realized that none of the people with her or at Patrick's house looked older than their mid to late thirties. She didn't have time to wonder about it, the man was dying, he had only a minute or two left. Louise took the man's hand in hers ignoring everything that was happening around him and said her magic words, second's later, the man was gone and Nathan had her on her feet and was hustling her out of the room not allowing her to look behind her.

The drive back was even quieter than the drive there. She was exhausted and didn't resist when Nathan put an arm around her and urged her to lay her head on his shoulder. Moments later, she was asleep and didn't wake up until they were back at Ethan's house.

She didn't know how to respond to the hugs and the sincere "thank yous" that she and Kevyn both received neither did she know how to handle the fact that Nathan Sinclaire was still holding on to her nor the fact that she liked it.

***********

Nathan didn't want Louise going anywhere near the lunatic that was holding his cousin hostage but the strength that he suspected she had showed when she overrode his decision that she not go. He knew that she was feeling something and that she didn't understand what it was. He was looking forward to getting to know his mate and finding out what her gifts were as well as her likes and dislikes. His cock stirred at the thought of being the first to make love to and with her, he was very happy with the fates.

The only thing that he wanted right now as for this over with and Louise safely at home with Kevyn and Patrick. Veronica's safety was still important but the second Louise walked into his life, his priorities changed. Louise Yancy soon to be Louise Sinclaire was now his first priority.

The drive to wherever they were going was uneventful until Kevyn peeked into his thoughts. He overreacted but he didn't want anyone knowing his thoughts about the beautiful woman sitting next to him. He hadn't even begun to think about how he was going to tell her everything. The intrusion into his thoughts had come as a surprise but he now knew why Kevyn had to be with them but what about Louise? He wondered. Why was she here? It didn't matter he decided, just so she came out of it safely.

He now had a better understanding of the love that his parents had for each other although if he were honest with himself, he didn't completely understand it. He was grateful that his mother kept him given the way that he was conceived but he didn't totally understand how she could have forgiven his father enough to marry him, have another child and be expecting yet another.

He pushed the thoughts of his parents aside and thought about Louise. This wasn't going to be a quick mating at least by their standards. He planned to gradually introduce Louise to her new life as his mate... he would start with something low key as she didn't appear to be the dress up kind of woman. The idea of a slow chase and seduction made his heart beat faster. Unable to resist, he took her hand in his marveling at the softness of it and how small it was in comparison to his.

Suddenly, they had arrived and reluctantly he let go of her hand.

"Wait here." he told her as he got out of the car.

A few minutes later, he helped her out of the car and to his dismay; she took off following the others without waiting for him.

"You have to stay close to me." he reminded her when he caught up with her. To ensure that she would indeed remember, he put an arm around her and pulled her close to his side as they followed the others to the house. When they got to the house, he felt the oppression that was underlined with a long ago happiness. He had never considered himself an empath and wondered how much of it was him feeling what Louise was or if she had brought out a latent gift. It was something to think about later after Veronica was safe and back home. He kept his body between her and any open areas as he scanned for any source of possible danger to her.

The yell from the basement that Veronica had been found hurried them along. When they got to the basement, Nathan made Louise stand behind him. He had no idea of what happened or of what they would see and he wanted to protect her.

The first thing that he saw was Rik holding a bloodied and angry Veronica who was still holding on to the chains that she had used to strangle her captor. The second thing was the body of the vampire that had stalked his family. At first, he thought that he was dead but he wasn't.

"Move!" he heard from behind him and then felt Louise pushing at him.

He moved aside but grabbed her hand as she tried to go past him. He wasn't going to let her go any closer and once again wondered why she was even with them.

"Let me go!" Louise demanded and pulled her hand free.

Nathan followed her over to the body of the almost dead vampire and watched in total amazement as she sat on the floor next to him, brushed his hair back from his face and took his hand in hers. He listened to what she said to him and watched the results.

"It's going to be alright." she murmured as she stroked the vampire's hand.

Nathan watched as the vampire relaxed and then gave Louise a grateful smile before dying. As soon as the last breath was taken, Nathan lifted to her feet and placed her in front of him. He wasn't ready to explain how someone could turn into dust.

The drive home was quiet with Kevyn sleeping off the remnants of a headache. She had expended a lot of psychic energy and was drained. Nathan had his arm around Louise urging her to rest her head on his shoulder. Eventually she dozed off and he took the time to think.

The drive seemed to go so much faster than he wanted. Suddenly, Ethan and Katrina's house loomed in front of them reminding him that he had to let Louise go as much as he wanted to take her home with him. Once in the house, he kept his arm around her to buffer her from the wealth of emotions that were thrown at her. It was then that he realized that for most of her life she had gone unappreciated with almost everyone with the exception being Kevyn. She didn't know how to handle the hugs and words of appreciation. He pulled her even tighter against him and sent out a quiet telepathic message.

"She is overwhelmed."

Almost immediately, everyone backed off to give her room to breathe. The only people he allowed near her were Veronica, Ethan and Katrina. The rest could talk to her later after she rested and had time to get a handle on the evening.

After Ethan, Katrina and Veronica spoke to her Nathan pulled Louise aside.

"You did well."

"I didn't do anything but thanks." Louise replied blushing. In her mind, she hadn't done anything that she hadn't done before.

"You underestimate yourself." Nathan said softly touching her cheek not missing the wide-eyed confused look in her eyes. "Go home with your sister and Patrick; I will call to check on you later."

"I.... um... ok." Louise stammered.

The tingly, throbbing feeling was back.

************************** The days after the rescue

As soon as they got home, Louise said goodnight to Patrick and Kevyn and rushed to her room. She could already feel the tension building between them and wanted to be out of the way. While the bathtub filled, Louise stripped and examined herself for a few brief seconds deciding that while not anywhere near as beautiful as Kevyn, she wasn't too bad looking.

She wondered about Nathan and what he could possibly with her. In the end, she decided that he was just being nice and that he had to be a playboy of sorts with his blue eyes and blond hair. On the tail end of that thought another followed, "he isn't like that."

"Yeah well." Louise muttered and got ready for her bath. By the time she was finished with her bath, brushing her teeth and in her pajamas, she was about to drop. She was almost asleep when the phone next to her bed rang. Frowning, she almost didn't answer it thinking that it had to be a wrong number. She hadn't given the number to anyone because she didn't know what it was herself.

Curiosity got the best of her and she picked up the receiver.

"Hello sweetheart." a deep masculine voice said softly in her ear.

"H...Hello... how did you get this number?" She asked nonplussed.

"You're staying with my uncle and I know all of his numbers and I asked him which room you were staying in." Nathan replied. "I told you that I would be calling, how are you?"

"I'm ok, just tired." Louise replied.

"Are you in pain?" Nathan asked concerned.

"No... I just took a hot bath so I'm fine."

"Good." Nathan replied, "Get some rest and I'll call you later."

Louise hung up and was asleep a few minutes later.

************

Nathan hung up and closed his eyes envisioning his shy, voluptuous mate's body in the bathtub with him sitting behind her, his cock pressed....

"Nathan Clarence Sinclaire stop it right now!" He chided himself as he stood to get ready for bed trying to ignore the raging erection that tented out the front of his dress slacks.

It was going to be a long few weeks he thought ruefully as he headed to the bathroom to see if cold showers really worked. On his way in, his cell phone chirped. Thinking that it might be Louise, he answered without looking at the number.

Hearing a female voice that didn't belong to Louise reminded Nathan that he had several phone calls to make. He was never one to stop seeing a woman without an explanation that never included "it's not you it's me". He always gave a valid reason and if the woman wanted to remain friends, there was no problem with that as long as they understood that the relationship was no longer a physical one.

"Geneva, hello." he greeted politely. "I'm glad that you called... yes, I can't continue to see you as we were. Yes, I've met someone. Yes and best wishes to you as well."

After he hung up, Nathan deleted Geneva's name from his contact list and called the next woman. He repeated the process until the only numbers left in his contact list were those belonging to family. He toyed with the idea of getting a phone that would be dedicated just to Louise and changed his mind. In his mind to do that meant that he had something to hide when he didn't.

He plugged the phone in on his way to the shower wishing that Louise were getting in with him.

**********

Louise got up unable to sleep and decided to explore the house. As soon as she stepped out of the room, she felt the difference. The house seemed to be unhappy. It didn't feel anything like Bradford's house did but the feeling was there. She sighed and said a quick prayer that whatever issues that Patrick and Kevyn were having they would be quickly solved.

Patrick was trying to keep his feelings of guilt inside and he could understand him keeping them from her but not from Kevyn and Kevyn needed to be upfront with him too. She stopped at the doorway and for the first time wondered how it was that she knew so much about the way people felt. When she was at home, she accepted everyone's explanation that she was just sensitive but since she arrived in California, it seemed that that sensitivity had increased tenfold.

She wandered throughout the house ending up in the kitchen. She ran her hands over the marble counter and touched the cookware that even the TV chef Emeril would envy. She closed her eyes and envisioned her own exclusive little restaurant that would serve no more than twenty guests and would have a limited menu that would be exchanged every few days and the desserts....

Louise allowed her mind to wander to her notebook where she had recipes that she had created but never tried. She wondered if Patrick and Kevyn were up to being guinea pigs. She looked through the cabinets and the refrigerator to see what was available. She was impressed with the variety of spices available some of which she could never afford including saffron which could cost anywhere from 500.00 -5,000 per pound depending on the quality and cubeb pepper which was something virtually unknown in the United States. She didn't even want to think about how much that had cost although Saffron was reported to be the most expensive spice in the world.

Her next question was how Patrick had gotten so many of the herbs and spices that she had only heard about by watching the food network. She also wondered if Patrick would mind if she used some of the rare spices. These she wouldn't experiment with without permission. She would use the recipes that she had written in her notebook but she would ask first. Even though Patrick kept assuring her that she could do whatever she wanted, it was still his house.

After she finished her exploration of the kitchen, she went back to her room but not before noticing that the anxiety level of the house had increased even more since she came down the stairs. She went back to her room where the anxiety was non-existent. She flipped on the television and settled in to watch the food network until she fell asleep.

She didn't see Kevyn or Patrick until that evening and was relieved that the house's anxiety hadn't increased but it hadn't decreased either. It didn't take her long to figure out that the main source of the Anxiety was Patrick. While he seemed all right, he really wasn't. She was however gratified to see that he seemed to enjoy the dinner that she cooked although as she had told him, it was nothing spectacular.

"Is it alright if I use the herbs and spices in the cabinets?" she asked.

"You can use anything you like and I should mention in case you haven't noticed, I love to eat and am more than willing to be a tester for anything that you cook up." Patrick replied enjoying the pleased look that was on Louise's face. "Kevyn says that you want to go to cooking school."

"I... someday." Louise said.

"If there was a way for you to go, would you accept it?" Patrick asked.

"I... like what? " Louise asked.

"A full ride scholarship to any culinary school that you choose." Patrick replied.

"From who?"

"Me, who else and before you say that you'll pay me back the only thing I want in exchange is for you to practice on me. Deal?"

Louise looked over at Kevyn who was as surprised by the offer as Louise was.

"Don't look at me." she said laughing, "It's up to you." Kevyn said.

"Think about it." Patrick said as he finished off the last of the food.

Louise's next question was about word games.

"I'd love to play." Patrick replied and then told them about Katrina and all of the girls' love of word games. "Let me clean up and I'll meet you in the living room."

"I can clean up." Louise said as she started to gather up the dirty dishes."

"I've got it." Patrick said taking the dishes from her, "you cooked and if I didn't say it, it was wonderful. Why don't you and Kevyn relax and get prepared to be beaten." he teased.

Kevyn led the way to the living room and sat down on the sofa. Louise sat next to her and watched her before speaking.

"Kevyn, is everything alright?"

"I think so, why?"

"I don't know he just seems different." Louise replied.

Kevyn knew what Louise meant but didn't think that Patrick would appreciate their personal business being discussed with someone even if it was Louise.

"He's just tired but he'll be fine."

Louise didn't believe her and let it go hoping that Kevyn knew that she could talk to her about anything.

"So tell me about Nathan." Kevyn said changing the subject.

"Not much to tell." Louise replied blushing.

"Uh huh, that's why he calls you several times a day." Kevyn teased as she patted Louise's hand. "Did you notice how good looking all of the guys in this family are?" she asked.

Louise's face burned but she had to admit that Kevyn was right about the men being handsome but the women were all beautiful too and none of them, even the woman who said that she was Patrick's mother looked a day over thirty five. "The miracles of botox" she thought to herself.

Three game of scrabble later, Louise excused herself and went to her room. Whatever was happening with Patrick was going to come to a head and she wanted to be in her room when it happened. She wasn't afraid that Patrick would hurt Kevyn, if that were the case, she wouldn't even think about leaving them alone.

***********

Nathan paced restlessly. So far he hadn't told anyone that Louise was his but he was sure that they all knew but then again, maybe not. Everyone was so focused on Veronica that little attention was paid to the obvious bond between them. When he spoke to them all telepathically, that should have told them something but then again everyone was concentrating on Veronica.

He knew from the tone of Louise's voice whenever he spoke with her that she was nervous about the attention that he was giving her. The only reason that he hadn't gone over to see her was because he wanted her to have a chance to relax before he started his pursuit of her. Nathan frowned; he didn't like the term pursuit and tried to think of a better word. The word courtship came to mind, it was an old-fashioned term but he like it better than the word pursuit.

He thought to do some research on her but changed his mind. Everything that he learned he wanted it to come from his observations and by talking to her. Instead, he called Veronica to see how she was doing and was going to ask to talk to Rik. Between Rik and Luc, he was closer to Rik, found him easy to talk to, and was going to talk to him about the whole mating thing. He spoke to Veronica for a few minutes, hung up and called his father. He could always talk to Rik later but he couldn't deny his father the happiness of being called for advice.

"Pop? Are you busy?" Nathan asked.

An hour later, he was off the phone and glad that he called his father first. The joy in his father's voice at being the first to be told about Louise and asked for advice was unmistakable. The advice that his father gave him was sound and worth giving serious thought to. Actually what Martin had suggested wasn't too far off from what he himself had been thinking. He would start slowly and would give her another day to relax before asking her out for coffee.

He settled down a little now that he had a plan. He looked at the calendar and saw that that Vanessa and Veronica's wedding was about a month away. He took a red pen and circled the date a week before the wedding, it was the date by which he hoped to at least have explained everything to Louise if not have her in his bed. That thought led to another. He needed to buy a house but he would wait for Louise so that they could pick it out together. He wondered if she would want a wedding and if she did, she would have whatever she wanted.