by Viola Grace
“I got you some hair clips to hold your hair in the twist you prefer. What else do we need to do?”
“Update my appearance with the peacekeepers and report the theft of all assets from my accounts.”
“Right. We will do that next then head to Z-Tech and get your new credentials, so I don’t have to go with you everywhere in the building.”
She batted her lashes. “Then lunch?”
“Not until you are wearing something more fun.”
They were heading toward the parking area when a peacekeeper stopped them. “Dr. Krizt and Arcady?”
They glanced at each other and then nodded. “Your assistance is requested at our headquarters, Doctor. Your boss told us where we could find you.”
“Yeah, she’s good that way. We will follow you as I require my vehicle for the rest of the day, and my head structure does not fit into most standard configurations offered by back seats.”
The man nodded. “Ask for Captain Morswin.”
Krizt nodded.
Arcady smiled, and as they headed to the vehicle, she brought up all alerts and found nothing. They were buckled in, and she muttered, “They want to question you about the blood samples found at the scene.”
“Ah, yeah, I did break a nail.” He put the vehicle in gear, and they exited the parkade. “They probably want to arrest me for my part in the massacre, which was most of it.”
“What happened there?”
“Zera called me and told me where you were. I didn’t know that all her escorts had trackers.”
“Oh, yeah, under our navels. For just that purpose. Keeping us on the grid when other things can take us off.”
“I didn’t see that in the scan.”
She chucked. “It is just a tiny monitor bead activated by extreme pain, panic, or presence of sedating drugs. The moment those kick in, a beacon is activated.”
“So, that is how she tracked you.”
“Yup. Good thing, too, or I would be dead by now.”
His hands flexed on the controls, and the vehicle swayed. “Please, refrain from mentioning that.”
“Why? It was an actual thing.”
“Because my other half appeared, and he tore some folks apart. He does not like the thought of you out of his grasp. He’s possessive.”
“So, a separate consciousness?”
“Yes.”
Arcady grinned. “Neat. So, what stopped him?”
He pulled in to park at the peacekeeper headquarters. “You were crying.”
She blinked. “What?”
“You had started to cry, were covered in blood, and the marks of them tearing at you were still in your flesh. He was... concerned. He gave you over to the team member, and you were brought to the hospital to be stabilized so I could put you in the tank.”
She unbuckled and waited for him to open her door. He held her hand to ease her out of the vehicle, and she took his arm as they walked past a number of peacekeepers, who looked at their obvious active status, but they didn’t say anything.
Inside she smiled as she saw the team member that she was most familiar with. She had a soft spot for the blood drinkers. Broad shoulders, narrow waist, perky butt, and he was better at night. His red eyes and black hair made him a creature out of myth and legend.
Krizt nodded. “Tycho. What are you doing here?”
He grinned. “Hey, Krizt. I am the local teams’ lawyer, and I have been loaned out to you for this occasion.”
“Oh. Do they rent you by the hour?” She slapped her palm over her mouth when his gaze focused on her with his lenses slid down.
“You are the infamous Arcady. I have heard a lot about you. Zera is a big fan of your ability to keep Krizt on track.” He held out his hand, and she lifted her fingers to his. The moment he made contact, her eyes went wide.
Krizt smiled. “You have met him before.”
She withdrew her hand as Tycho froze. “I wasn’t what he was looking for.”
Tycho smiled slightly. “I think that status has shifted. You are allowing biting now.”
She blushed and touched the side of her neck. “Uh, yeah.”
Krizt sighed. “Him, too?”
“Yeah, but we just had a normal date.” She wrinkled her nose. “Ish.”
Tycho laughed.
“Krizt will be my primary once I am listed as recovered.” She felt Krizt relax under her hand.
“So, he is your physician and your lover?”
“Don’t forget boss.” She smiled at Tycho.
“Ah, how could I forget. You are still going to play as scientist and assistant?”
Krizt murmured, “And experimental subject. That is the one that gets me excited. Her genome is on the cusp of another activation. It is very interesting.”
She shivered when he said that. There was something in the tone that said he wanted her strapped to a table with scanners on, and there was going to be a lot of investigative contact.
Tycho looked her over, and he smiled. “Well, we are here to deal with a few unsolved matters, so we shall get that over with and then perhaps... lunch?”
He was looking at her when he said that, and she felt her heart speed up.
Krizt chuckled. “It might not be a bad idea. I can barely keep up with you.”
She covered her eyes with one hand. “Oh, god.”
Krizt stroked her cheek. “You also have a lot to give, boss. You know what people need.”
“I know what they need and what they want, and sometimes they are very different things.” She glanced at Tycho. “He’s already had something to drink today, so he is dealing with a want. He just learned that an okay toy has an extra level he didn’t unlock.”
Tycho grinned. “That does sum it up.”
“He’s a regular with Zera, so there isn’t much I can offer him.” She shrugged.
Krizt snorted. “I think you will find that the potential in your blood offers quite a bit to any who can earn your favour.”
The peacekeepers were gathered and watching. Tycho looked at them and sighed. “To business, I suppose.”
The captain was waiting for them, and they were directed to a boardroom. A city attorney was there and sitting silently to one side. He introduced himself and then resumed his observation.
The captain introduced himself to Tycho, and Krizt then looked at Arcady. “I am not sure that I know why you are here, Miss.”
She hid behind Krizt and looked at him with huge eyes. “If this is about the night I was taken, I should be here.”
Krizt looked at her in surprise, and then, he shrugged in resignation. “This is Arcady. She was at the heart of the investigation. She was the victim of the event.”
The captain approached her slowly and extended his hand. “Miss, you don’t match the description.”
“Dr. Krizt had to fix me. I was broken.” She hid her face against Krizt’s sleeve, careful not to smudge her makeup.
“How do you know Dr. Krizt?”
She smiled shyly and peeped out at him. “He’s my boss. I am his assistant, and I do things in the lab that he can’t because of the horns.”
“How long have you worked for him?”
“Eight months. I was hired because I was helpful.” She looked at him with wide eyes. “Now, I don’t know what I am. My eyes are purple, my hair is white, and I am a bit taller than I used to be.” She smiled and looked down. “My clothes still fit.”
The captain exhaled and looked at Krizt. “Please, have a seat. You, too, counsel. Miss, I think you should sit in the hall. The sergeant will give you a nice cup of coffee or hot cocoa.”
She crawled into Krizt’s lap. “I am staying here.”
“Miss, there are going to be some rather gory photos. We need to discuss the damage that the doctor did.”
She looked over at the captain. “I was there. I know what damage was done, and I know what he stopped from being done. Run your little slide show.”
The captain’s brain had to change ge
ars as she went from being a cute little scared bunny to a bunny with teeth.
The enhanced video showed her being strapped down onto a chunk of rock, her legs splayed wide. The blood on her head was evident. Twelve men were circling and trying to get their nerve up to attack.
She spoke softly. “Pause the video.”
She looked at the captain. “Three minutes to enter the park and splay a woman out for gang rape. There are three peacekeeper stages in the immediate area, and while an alert was actually called in, there was no one sent until this moment. Continue the video.”
The captain went wide-eyed and continued the video.
The red stripes began to appear on her skin as they clawed her. One man took a place between her thighs and reached up to tear her panties away when he disappeared. The screaming started.
The blue and silver blur moved, and red exploded a heartbeat later. She watched as her hands and legs were freed, and she did the classic protective move and curled on her side and then lay still with the blood pooling on her skin.
An attacker came back with a pipe and moved toward her. His arm just came off.
That was the point where the team and the peacekeepers showed up.
“Pause the video.”
The captain paused it and looked at her warily. Tycho had his smirk hidden behind his fingers.
“So, what I want to know, is the delay because I am an escort, an active, a woman, or that it was right around break time for standard peacekeepers?”
The captain blinked. “It doesn’t explain the active that slaughtered those men.”
She held up her hand. “Please. He defended my life. He saved my life. He made sure I was safe. Play the footage.”
The careful lift and handing off to Hron were shown from multiple angles. Krizt’s transformed face was wider, his shoulders were massive, claws were long, and his total physique could have rivalled the heavy-lifting team members. There was blood dripping from his fangs, and he nuzzled her before he handed her over. Zera and the team then interceded and got him out of there.
“Our concern is over the sudden appearance of a new activation.”
Krizt was amused as she said. “What do you mean?”
“This aspect isn’t on our books.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Are you going to shoot me now?”
He blinked. “No, of course not.”
“Rape me? Bludgeon me? Punch me?”
“No, that is ridiculous.”
“Right. So, you are equipped at this moment to do all of those things. What you lack is the will and motivation. Krizt has this secondary form that he has access to. What he does not do is abuse it. This night, the night in question, he had will and motivation. He and I were co-workers who had a personal and un-acted-on attraction. We spend over nine hours a day together and some weekends at Z-Tech. So, before we could even have our first date, someone tried to brutalize and kill me. That provided him with the will and motivation. I would have done the same for him, in a somewhat less spectacular fashion, because I am not equipped to tear someone in half.”
The captain looked at his talking points. “Uh, right.”
She smiled and cuddled against Krizt. “Also, Doctor Krizt is listed as a physically manifested active. As you can see, he is. Physical manifestation is just that. No more, no less. The healing that I got in the tank to reinforce my shattered skull caused me to alter into a physically manifesting active with secondary intuitive skills. I was going to come in today to upgrade my status because I am a law-abiding citizen. I am even a legally registered escort.”
She stroked Krizt’s jaw, and he looked down at her, and she kissed him softly.
Tycho looked at the captain and the attorney for the city. “Your thoughts?”
The attorney smiled. “There is nothing to go on here. The families of the dismembered have no grounds to pursue a class action suit. Miss Arcady has more right to sue them for the alteration to her biology that was necessitated by the injury they caused.”
She smiled. “If you are eager to prosecute someone injuring the public, I can offer my brother Thomas. He has been defrauding the city by getting grants and pocketing the money for years.”
The attorney smiled. “Is he an active?”
“He is not.”
The smile got wider. “Can I give you my card?”
She lifted her wrist. “I normally don’t take numbers from humans.”
He winked. “Neither do I. What’s your BDC number?”
“Seventeen, but my biology has taken a turn.”
He smiled, and his fangs were exposed. “I can tell.”
She got his number and sent copies of the reports to him. She had everything ready to go. She had never blushed while sending incriminating documents before, but there was a first time for everything, and she had saved her first time for Krizt. Any other biters would just have to get in line.
Chapter Eleven
Lunch at Klauz’s impressed Tycho. They sat together at the owner’s table, and Klauz brought them what they wanted.
Tycho sipped at his tea and asked, “So, do you often do that thing?”
Krizt was nuzzling her neck. She asked in a breathy voice, “What thing?”
“The helpless bunny thing. You had me believing it for a moment. Your eyes looked so sad and innocent.” He sipped delicately at the tea. “It made me want to chase you through the woods.”
She yelped as Krizt’s tongue emerged to caress her skin. He slid a hand into her blouse and undid the top button, peeling the soft fabric back. It didn’t open wide enough, so he opened the second button.
“Uh, Krizt?”
“Mmmhmm?” He laved her skin with his tongue.
“You are undressing me at the table in a public restaurant.”
He raised his head. “Your point?”
“You are taunting Tycho a little.”
Krizt shrugged. “He doesn’t seem shy. He can join in if he likes.”
Tycho set his teacup down neatly and eased closer. He slid his hand up between her thighs, and her eyes went wide. When Klauz appeared around the corner with a ceramic cup of soup, he paused and chuckled. “Right. Privacy field activated.”
She gave him one thumb up as she gasped and held Tycho’s shoulder. He was driving his fingers into her as he sucked on her shoulder, and Krizt was caressing her breasts while he drank from the other. She was pinned between them.
Klauz left laughing, and when she had the bit of privacy, she shook hard between the two, her channel gripping Tycho’s fingers, and both of them groaned when the pleasure hit her bloodstream.
It took them nearly a minute to withdraw their fangs and clean up after themselves. She sat up slowly and ignored the throb between her thighs that had risen to an insistent level again while they finished taking what they needed.
Tycho helped button her blouse, and she reached for her mug of soup with a shaking hand. She muttered, “That was not the way I planned to spend lunch.”
Krizt slid a hand around her hip and murmured, “That was just the first course.”
She elbowed him.
Tycho looked around. “This is a nice place. I wonder why they don’t offer this as a date venue?”
Krizt chuckled. “It books up months in advance. Humans save up to have dinner amongst the actives. The actives get a discount for being viewed, and Klauz gets a reputation as an excellent host.”
There was a chime at the privacy screen, and Arcady quickly smoothed her blouse, made sure her pink marks were covered, and then, she realized her skirt was up around her hips, and Tycho’s hand was wrapped around her thigh. Before she could fix that, Krizt opened the screen, and Corianne came toward her, her eyes glowing. “May I join you?”
Krizt released her and murmured, “She is welcome here if you will have her.”
Tycho used his telekinesis to lift her over him and set her down on the side where Corianne was standing.
Arcady was still aroused from th
e previous round, so she stood in front of Corianne. “You are welcome to join us. Is there anything I can get you?”
Corianne didn’t hesitate. She grabbed Arcady and pulled her against her, sliding a hand between her thighs. The kiss was savage, and Arcady whimpered as her senses spun. Corianne tasted great, and she was an excellent kisser.
Arcady gasped and moaned as Corianne stroked her clit. When their kiss was broken and her patron’s mouth was trailing over her neck, she felt the needle-sharp teeth descend and pierce her neck. She moaned softly, and Corianne drank eagerly. Her fingers moved, and Arcady rocked her hips and then bit her lip as she shuddered in the other woman’s arms.
Corianne jerked softly and released Arcady’s neck, panting softly before licking up the stray blood, and her saliva sealed the punctures. She pulled her fingers from Arcady’s sex and licked at them, with her eyes glowing once again. “That was good. I want more.”
“Not until I have lunch. I need to keep my strength up now that I am moonlighting as a snack.”
Corianne cuddled her. “I didn’t take much. I didn’t need much.”
Tycho nodded. “Me too. About a tablespoon. I didn’t need more; I just liked the feel of your skin against my tongue.”
Krizt nodded. “Me as well. Just a little is enough. I have been monitoring your bio signs, and you replace blood as it is taken.”
Corianne tsked. “I got some on your blouse. Looks like I will have to buy you some new clothes.”
Arcady blushed. “I am not a dress-up doll.”
“No, but I think you could really make a statement in some designer stuff.”
She snorted. “The statement would be, please, don’t spill on me.”
Corianne shrugged. “If you needed new clothes, you would only have to ask.”
“Whoring myself out for couture?”
“No, this is over and above any dates. I would just like to see you in moments like this and know that you are wearing something I chose for you.”
Tycho blinked. “We are allowed to do that? Zera never mentioned.”
Krizt nodded. “There is a setup so that it is given to the escort without us seeing them. Like a tipping system.”