Excerpt: Perilous Partnership
Perilous Partnership by Ariel Tachna
A Partnership in Blood novel
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Blurb:
A year after the end of the war that brought them together, Raymond Payet and Jean Bellaiche have found a balance in their relationship: Jean drinks only Raymond’s blood; Raymond sleeps only in Jean’s bed. The demands of their public roles as president of l’Association Nationale de Sorcellerie and chef de la Cour of the Parisian vampires keep them busy dealing with fallout from the war and the alliance, particularly the not-always-successful partnerships between vampires and wizards.
The foundation of an institute to research and educate wizards and vampires about the implications of the partnership bonds only adds to those responsibilities. When political factions, both vampire and mortal, oppose their leaders' decisions, the stress begins to affect Raymond and Jean's deepening relationship. And when political opposition turns to vandalism and then to violence, they'll have to find a way to reconcile their personal and professional lives before external and internal forces pull them apart.
Raymond shook his head at Jean’s grumbling. “Get out of here. Some of us have work to do.”
Jean laughed as he left Raymond’s office, but the questions raised by his sudden jealousy lingered. He wandered past the office Sebastien and Thierry shared, but the door was shut, and the light was off. He did not want to have this conversation over the phone, and he did not have time to take the train all the way out to Versailles and back before the press conference. His feet carried him out of l’ANS headquarters and halfway to Sang Froid before he even realized where he was going. Once he did, he sped up, hoping Angelique would be in and have time to talk. She had been a friend for many long years, as in touch with her vampire nature as any vampire he had ever known. If anyone could help him make sense of his feelings, it would be Angelique.
Arriving in Montmartre, he smiled to see the improvements to the exterior of Sang Froid in the year since the passage of the equality legislation that had allowed vampire business owners to come out of hiding. Where once the entrance had been nondescript, not attempting to draw attention to itself, now the entrance had an elegant sign proclaiming the name of the business. Where once Jean would have slipped across the square clinging to the shadows, now he walked openly to the door, not worrying someone would see him and wonder about the nature of his visit.
“Jean!” Angelique said, surprise and delight clear in her voice at the sight of the chef de la Cour. “What are you doing here? I know you don’t need the services of my employees.”
Jean laughed. “You never know, Angelique. Raymond could have decided he’s done with me.”
Angelique rolled eyes. “You don’t expect me to believe that. I can smell the blood and sex on you, mon cher. You’re as besotted with him as ever.”
Jean nodded. “That’s why I’m here, actually. I seem to fall more in love with him every day, to the point that I have trouble letting him out of my sight. If we were simply Raymond and Jean, that might not be a problem, but we’re also president of l’ANS and chef de la Cour.”
Angelique nodded. “Come into my parlor,” she said with a wink, leading Jean toward the room she used as an office. Only the escritoire against one wall gave any indication of the functional purpose of the room. Beyond that, the room could have been the boudoir of any high-class Middle Eastern courtesan, a reminder of her origins. Jean had often wondered how Angelique’s partner had adjusted to her past. “What brought this on? You’ve been chef de la Cour for almost four hundred years. I realize Raymond’s position is newer, but he doesn’t strike me as someone whose head would be turned by the spotlight.”
“It isn’t that,” Jean said. “He is one of the most down-to-earth people I know. He keeps insisting we need to be discreet about the depth of our personal relationship because of the nature of our public personas. I know he’s right, but it goes against everything I am. I want to declare him to the Cour as my Consort. I want to give him that security and have it for myself, but I can’t. No one would care who my Consort was if it were anyone else, but I don’t have a different partner. I have Raymond.”
“Do you really want a different partner?” Angelique asked.
“No! Mon Dieu, non!” Jean exclaimed. “I can’t imagine being with anyone else this way, not when I can have him. If, God forbid, he had not survived the war, perhaps I would have considered finding someone else, but he is as much a part of me as my hand.”
“Or your cock?” Angelique teased.
Jean flushed, something he swore he had overcome centuries ago. He could hardly deny it, though. “Or that. The point is that I don’t want anyone else. I have to learn to live with the partner I have, with all that entails. And at the moment, letting him out of my sight is nearly impossible, which makes doing our jobs difficult.”
“So what do you need from me, besides someone to listen to you vent?”
“I need to know if I’m the only one feeling this way. We haven’t made the announcement yet, but we’re going forward with a research institute to try to understand the partnership bonds. If I’m the only one feeling this way, then I’ll just have to learn to live with it, but if I’m not, we need to address that as we begin our research and as we prepare other wizards and vampires to take partners,” Jean explained.
Angelique smiled. “You aren’t the only one, and you’re doing far better than many. You wouldn’t believe the number of vampires who have come to visit me, hoping the taste of someone else’s blood would help them put things back in perspective. It has yet to work.”
“Who?” Jean asked, worried now about the stability of the Cour.
Angelique shook her head. “I don’t share information about my customers. You know that. It’s one of the reasons you always felt safe coming here before you met Raymond. I won’t jeopardize my business without a legal order requiring I share those records. I will tell you that most of them left with the intention of making things work with their partners since they couldn’t rid themselves of the need for them. And I don’t have to tell you who doesn’t feel that way.”
“Leighton.”
“You’ll want to do something about him, Jean. I don’t know what the solution is, but he’s a loose cannon, and that isn’t good for the Cour, with or without l’ANS,” Angelique warned.
Jean nodded. “I just wish I had an idea. Maybe our research will help us find a solution. I know he made his own bed with the way he treated Adèle, but I can imagine how I would feel if Raymond suddenly pushed me out of his life. It doesn’t excuse Jude’s behavior, then or now, but I feel sorry for him.”
“Well, stop,” Angelique ordered. “I worked with him and his partner, and I wanted to slap him more than once. Her restraint in not killing him was phenomenal.”
“No, they just fucked each other over by fucking each other silly,” Jean said with a sigh. “I’ll talk to Raymond. He wants Adèle to help with security for l’Institut. Maybe something can be done as we move forward, some spell or potion or something to either help Leighton control himself or to help her find a way to tolerate him.”
A Partnership in Blood novel
Buy now!
Blurb:
A year after the end of the war that brought them together, Raymond Payet and Jean Bellaiche have found a balance in their relationship: Jean drinks only Raymond’s blood; Raymond sleeps only in Jean’s bed. The demands of their public roles as president of l’Association Nationale de Sorcellerie and chef de la Cour of the Parisian vampires keep them busy dealing with fallout from the war and the alliance, particularly the not-always-successful partnerships between vampires and wizards.
The foundation of an institute to research and educate wizards and vampires about the implications of the partnership bonds only adds to those responsibilities. When political factions, both vampire and mortal, oppose their leaders' decisions, the stress begins to affect Raymond and Jean's deepening relationship. And when political opposition turns to vandalism and then to violence, they'll have to find a way to reconcile their personal and professional lives before external and internal forces pull them apart.
Raymond shook his head at Jean’s grumbling. “Get out of here. Some of us have work to do.”
Jean laughed as he left Raymond’s office, but the questions raised by his sudden jealousy lingered. He wandered past the office Sebastien and Thierry shared, but the door was shut, and the light was off. He did not want to have this conversation over the phone, and he did not have time to take the train all the way out to Versailles and back before the press conference. His feet carried him out of l’ANS headquarters and halfway to Sang Froid before he even realized where he was going. Once he did, he sped up, hoping Angelique would be in and have time to talk. She had been a friend for many long years, as in touch with her vampire nature as any vampire he had ever known. If anyone could help him make sense of his feelings, it would be Angelique.
Arriving in Montmartre, he smiled to see the improvements to the exterior of Sang Froid in the year since the passage of the equality legislation that had allowed vampire business owners to come out of hiding. Where once the entrance had been nondescript, not attempting to draw attention to itself, now the entrance had an elegant sign proclaiming the name of the business. Where once Jean would have slipped across the square clinging to the shadows, now he walked openly to the door, not worrying someone would see him and wonder about the nature of his visit.
“Jean!” Angelique said, surprise and delight clear in her voice at the sight of the chef de la Cour. “What are you doing here? I know you don’t need the services of my employees.”
Jean laughed. “You never know, Angelique. Raymond could have decided he’s done with me.”
Angelique rolled eyes. “You don’t expect me to believe that. I can smell the blood and sex on you, mon cher. You’re as besotted with him as ever.”
Jean nodded. “That’s why I’m here, actually. I seem to fall more in love with him every day, to the point that I have trouble letting him out of my sight. If we were simply Raymond and Jean, that might not be a problem, but we’re also president of l’ANS and chef de la Cour.”
Angelique nodded. “Come into my parlor,” she said with a wink, leading Jean toward the room she used as an office. Only the escritoire against one wall gave any indication of the functional purpose of the room. Beyond that, the room could have been the boudoir of any high-class Middle Eastern courtesan, a reminder of her origins. Jean had often wondered how Angelique’s partner had adjusted to her past. “What brought this on? You’ve been chef de la Cour for almost four hundred years. I realize Raymond’s position is newer, but he doesn’t strike me as someone whose head would be turned by the spotlight.”
“It isn’t that,” Jean said. “He is one of the most down-to-earth people I know. He keeps insisting we need to be discreet about the depth of our personal relationship because of the nature of our public personas. I know he’s right, but it goes against everything I am. I want to declare him to the Cour as my Consort. I want to give him that security and have it for myself, but I can’t. No one would care who my Consort was if it were anyone else, but I don’t have a different partner. I have Raymond.”
“Do you really want a different partner?” Angelique asked.
“No! Mon Dieu, non!” Jean exclaimed. “I can’t imagine being with anyone else this way, not when I can have him. If, God forbid, he had not survived the war, perhaps I would have considered finding someone else, but he is as much a part of me as my hand.”
“Or your cock?” Angelique teased.
Jean flushed, something he swore he had overcome centuries ago. He could hardly deny it, though. “Or that. The point is that I don’t want anyone else. I have to learn to live with the partner I have, with all that entails. And at the moment, letting him out of my sight is nearly impossible, which makes doing our jobs difficult.”
“So what do you need from me, besides someone to listen to you vent?”
“I need to know if I’m the only one feeling this way. We haven’t made the announcement yet, but we’re going forward with a research institute to try to understand the partnership bonds. If I’m the only one feeling this way, then I’ll just have to learn to live with it, but if I’m not, we need to address that as we begin our research and as we prepare other wizards and vampires to take partners,” Jean explained.
Angelique smiled. “You aren’t the only one, and you’re doing far better than many. You wouldn’t believe the number of vampires who have come to visit me, hoping the taste of someone else’s blood would help them put things back in perspective. It has yet to work.”
“Who?” Jean asked, worried now about the stability of the Cour.
Angelique shook her head. “I don’t share information about my customers. You know that. It’s one of the reasons you always felt safe coming here before you met Raymond. I won’t jeopardize my business without a legal order requiring I share those records. I will tell you that most of them left with the intention of making things work with their partners since they couldn’t rid themselves of the need for them. And I don’t have to tell you who doesn’t feel that way.”
“Leighton.”
“You’ll want to do something about him, Jean. I don’t know what the solution is, but he’s a loose cannon, and that isn’t good for the Cour, with or without l’ANS,” Angelique warned.
Jean nodded. “I just wish I had an idea. Maybe our research will help us find a solution. I know he made his own bed with the way he treated Adèle, but I can imagine how I would feel if Raymond suddenly pushed me out of his life. It doesn’t excuse Jude’s behavior, then or now, but I feel sorry for him.”
“Well, stop,” Angelique ordered. “I worked with him and his partner, and I wanted to slap him more than once. Her restraint in not killing him was phenomenal.”
“No, they just fucked each other over by fucking each other silly,” Jean said with a sigh. “I’ll talk to Raymond. He wants Adèle to help with security for l’Institut. Maybe something can be done as we move forward, some spell or potion or something to either help Leighton control himself or to help her find a way to tolerate him.”