Vampire Master: Vampire Queen Series: Club Atlantis

by Joey W. Hill

  Wolf wondered if she and Hollow were having a non-stop dialogue, but watching them, he somehow doubted it. They didn’t have that kind of vampire-servant relationship. More of the approved kind; sexual, functional, not overly emotional.

  Since the other night on the dance floor, he’d had a lot of really reasonable discussions with himself, about talking in his head to Ella. He told himself not to do it, not to make a habit of something that wasn’t going to go in that direction. It didn’t matter that she knew he was a vampire. She worked in a club under the direct supervision of a vampire, so as long as she worked here and Anwyn claimed her, no Council rules would be broached. He could keep his mind closed to her, discourage that level of intimacy.

  But checking on her safety was a different matter.

  She was at the little cottage she called home. She’d picked up an eggless egg salad and was sitting on the back stoop, eating her late dinner. As she licked her fingers, she watched the fireflies floating over a bank of dahlias. Since she wasn’t wearing shoes, her toes curled in thick grass. Toes that wiggled as a grass spider skittered over them.

  Second mark access gave him some sensory input. Not as much as third, but enough that he thought he could feel the brush of her thick hair along her neck, inhale the flowery soap she used. He thought of dancing with her, holding her, driving into her willing, supple body. So small and fragile, and yet so strong, holding onto him, digging into his chest, her mouth open and chin tipped back.

  She’d had an orgasm when he’d bitten her. Christ. How in the hell did anyone resist that kind of temptation?

  By reminding himself how much he liked her. By reminding himself of the number one rule for a Dom, whether a Daddy or any other kind.

  Take care of your sub.

  Anwyn came in then. He noticed she looked tired, an unusual thing for a vampire, even when they were tired. Gideon’s expression, though well-cloaked, showed concern.

  She’d had a seizure, a bad one. Probably within the last hour. He exchanged a look with Gideon, who nodded imperceptibly. Things were okay. But Wolf suspected her servant was really wishing she was resting, rather than doing this, risking a seizure in front of three vampires.

  But Wolf understood it was a fine balance. Give in too much to those demons she fought, and it would make it worse. She’d feel like she was losing the war. Being in this meeting, actively participating in the protection of all she’d built, might just help her beat them back.

  She stopped by James, put a hand on his shoulder. He reached up and gripped the hand warmly. His shrewd gaze registered what Wolf had, but James was one of the few humans at Atlantis who knew what Anwyn was. She’d second marked him some time ago. Which meant he might see the same tiredness, but he wouldn’t say a word about it. Especially not in front of other vampires.

  “Glad to have you back,” she said. “Though I’m sorry we had to cut your sabbatical short.”

  “That was my choice. If Atlantis is under attack, this is where I need to be.”

  She registered the tightness in his expression and shook her head. “You’ve already gone over everything, James. Your team did their job. None of us saw this coming. Perry was embedded well before you left. You didn’t fail me.”

  “Respectfully, agree to disagree, ma’am. If the club was damaged and people were hurt, then I failed. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

  Wolf knew Anwyn was right, but so was James. Anyone in charge of protecting others couldn’t see it any other way. It was how they became the best at what they did, and James was one of the best. Plus, all of them were beating themselves up for missing Perry’s duplicity, including Gideon and Anwyn.

  “Sounds like the right note to get started on this.” Fort looked up, pushed the file away from him. “There’s no security plan in the world that’s a hundred percent fool proof, something everyone here knows. But when you have a pretty hefty bank roll to fund it, and the right minds designing it—”

  “Check, check,” Allan interjected.

  “—we can upgrade you so your security will reflect what they have at higher risk target sites. It may cause some discomfort among your guests, cause you to lose some memberships.”

  Anwyn lifted a shoulder. “That’s marketing. I can repackage what we offer so the members realize the value of what they’re getting, in exchange for the inconvenience. It will become routine to them over time, like security checks at the airport that weren’t in place before 9/11.”

  “Good. So we don’t have to anticipate any back pedaling on what you say you want.”

  Anwyn gave him her standard grab-them-by-the-balls Mistress look. “I’m paying you for your expertise. I’d be a fool to ignore it, wouldn’t I? If I have a problem with anything you’re proposing, then we review it and determine if we can still accomplish the objective with some modification acceptable to us both. If we can’t, then safety is the number one priority. I won’t go to a funeral because I was too busy protecting feelings or my bottom line.”

  Fort glanced at Wolf. “Glad to see my boy here never fails in his judgment of good people. Let’s get down to the details then.”

  Fort, Saturnia, Hollow and Allan knew their business, and laid things out pretty straight. They’d get started with execution and have the whole job done in a couple of weeks, tops. It helped that James already had his men well-trained, because getting them up to speed was part of that timetable.

  Anwyn laid out her plans for repairing the wall and they integrated the two efforts. When they were done, her expression was a little easier. Moving forward was always better than standing still and looking at the wreckage something had made of your life.

  She rose to take her leave, Gideon at her side. “As we discussed, the plan is to re-open with Burlesque theme night. I’m giving the staff the interim time off with pay, but Wolf, I’d appreciate it if you would work with James, helping Fort and his team while I’m focused on the repairs. You’ll know what impacts club operations and be able to troubleshoot. Bring me in as needed.”

  “Sure.” Wolf met her gaze. “This place is invincible, Anwyn. Just like its Mistress.”

  Though the gesture was strained, her smile was genuine. “I hope so.”

  After she and Gideon left the room, Gideon’s hand falling lightly on her back, Wolf and the team hammered out work division, rollout schedule. Then Allan gave him a nudge.

  “Hey, let’s get a drink. I want to talk to you about something.”

  Wolf glanced at Fort. His face was a blank wall, which tipped Wolf off. “What does Fort want?”

  Allan grinned. “Come along and I’ll tell you. What’s the closest watering hole?”

  Wolf snorted. “Right here. Selection is better from the main floor bar. You can choose your poison and we’ll take it up to the second level. More private up there. We just have to leave money in the till to cover our consumption.”

  “What, free alcohol isn’t covered on this job?”

  “Were you in the meeting with the same smart business woman that I was?”

  Allan laughed. “Point taken.”

  “You coming?” Wolf asked Fort. The team leader shook his head, jerked his thumb at Saturnia. “We have some groundwork and phone calls to do. You can help after.”

  So whatever this was, Fort considered it serious. Wolf took Allan out to the bar, snagged them both a couple bottles apiece of their preferred brew and guided him up the wide velvet-carpeted staircase to the second level. Allan whistled at the look of the more intimate area, brass and wood, deep blue carpets and shadowed booths. The chandelier that caught the dim lights sparkled like diamonds.

  “This place is something else.”

  “Yeah.” Wolf couldn’t help looking toward the dance floor. Remembering. Which made him want to touch Ella’s mind again, make sure she was still okay. Fuck. It was too damn easy to rationalize being in her head.

  Which didn’t stop him from doing it.

  She’d recently taken a shower, something
he was sorry he’d missed, and was back on her porch, listening to the night sounds. Fucking hell, she was wearing his shirt again, and nothing else, her bare bottom on the smooth step. Her back hurt, her feet even worse. They’d had a million customers at the grocery, and she’d helped with everything; stock pulls, bagging, and hauling out more inventory.

  Despite that, she’d noticed she was less tired than she’d normally be. Her clever mind had already put together that her sensory input had sharpened. She’d asked him nothing directly about the vampire stuff, though. Except for that remarkable statement on the dance floor, she’d made no direct reference to it since then, even more peculiar.

  Or not. Ella had exceptional intuition. She’d realized the circumstances had required extreme measures, measures that might not have otherwise been taken. He would tell her what he wanted to tell her when the time was right.

  Now she had her arms around herself, and was thinking about having his arms around her. In the alley, giving him blood to help him survive, I don’t remember that as clearly as I want to. But on the dance floor…he didn’t take the blood just to help his wounds, I don’t think. He was taking blood for reasons more than that. And…I loved it.

  Yeah, exceptional intuition. A reminder of why he shouldn’t even be doing this, sitting silent in her mind, hearing her thoughts.

  He tuned back into Allan, popping the cap off his beer. They sat at the bar, a couple stools apart so they could stretch out long legs, prop them on the adjacent chair legs between them.

  “So what’s up?” Wolf asked.

  “I was at Lord Richard’s place a month or so back. He had some work for our team, but it was a one-person job.”

  The Southern Region Master’s home. If Region Masters were asking for their services, Fort’s team was making strides in the vampire world. Wolf wondered what Lord Richard had needed them to do, but Allan would volunteer that if he could reveal it, or if it had to do with what he wanted to talk to Wolf about.

  “I would have come to see you then,” Allan continued, “but Fort had us on back-to-back jobs. When I finished what Lord Richard needed, I had to get back to Colorado. There’s a second mark in Lord Richard’s household. Been there ten years. He’s looking to make a move, and Lord Richard is cool with it. Haru would really like to be someone’s third mark. He's discreet, unobtrusive, intelligent as hell and can fight like a cross between a Samurai and a Viking berserker. He can give you blood when you need it.”

  Why in the hell was everyone obsessed with him getting a third mark? Though she was too fragile for him to get in her face about it, the more he’d thought about it, the more certain he’d been that Anwyn had prompted the second mark between him and Ella mostly because of her own opinion about his non-servant state.

  He bit back a sharper retort, but the edge was in his voice. “I’m not looking for a third mark.”

  “Why not?” Allan pressed on, despite Wolf’s answering frown. “You made an impression with the overlord and the Region Master out west, Wolf, and you know it. You're strong, serious and focused. It's not impossible that you might someday be considered for an overlord position yourself. You can say you don't want that, but you're a leader. You always have been. It keeps seeping out through the cracks."

  "I'd prefer nothing to be seeping from me, thank you."

  Allan's quick grin flashed. "Thank God for vampire immunity to STDs then. With our libidos, our dicks would rot off within the first year of our turning.”

  Wolf shook his head. “Why now? What’s the push?”

  Allan sobered. “You want to play dumb, fine by me. Not a lot of mades get the born elite’s vote of confidence. Since the born numbers have been decreasing, the Council is paying a lot closer attention to mades with a track record of loyalty and strengths that augment the vampire race.”

  “Glad to know I’ve made the dean’s list, but still clueless on why a servant figures into that.”

  Allan’s brown eyes narrowed. “You’re not that clueless. Everyone knows a vampire with a third mark servant is a stronger vampire. His management of the relationship proves he’s reached a certain level of maturity.”

  “Maybe I don’t want to go down that path.”

  Wolf put down the bottle, turned it on the surface of the bar. He imagined third marking someone, letting them in that deep. Yeah, he couldn’t stop himself from seeing Ella’s face the moment he had the thought, but he couldn’t go that way. He wouldn’t.

  Allan hooked an arm around the back of his chair and pushed it back on two legs, studying Wolf. "Maybe you should march down to Savannah, into the heart of Council headquarters,” he said at length. “Risk your ass to ask the oldest, most deadly vamps among us the question."

  "What question?" Wolf frowned again.

  "How many decades you have to live before you realize you can forgive yourself for being fucking human. For not being the superhero you believed you were, that nobody is, not a hundred percent of the time."

  Temper surged, but before he could unleash it, they were joined by a third party.

  "Wrong crowd to find human beings forgivable.” Saturnia topped the stairs and drifted toward their table, carrying a bottle of wine and a glass. “Most of the Council were born vampires. Don’t go down this road with him, Allan. It ends with broken furniture and you bleeding profusely. Been enough violence here this week."

  Allan spread his hands out. “Okay, but let me say one more thing. How can you do the therapy thing, help others, and yet you don’t believe in it for yourself?”

  “Because they’re humans, and their situation is different from mine. Time to move on, Allan.”

  “That’s just my point. Sheila’s dead, man. And Ross moved on a long fucking time ago. You—”

  The two bottles were swept to the floor with a spew of liquid and the crash of broken glass. Wolf seized Allan’s shirt front, lifted and slammed him down on the bar. Allan struck out immediately, but Wolf was faster and stronger, and had him down.

  Saturnia was there though, her shoulder firmly wedged between Allan’s chest and Wolf’s bulk looming over him, her hands flat on Wolf’s chest.

  “Dial it back,” she said sharply. “He’s young and stupid, Wolf. He still thinks he’s human half the time. He doesn’t get it.”

  She stared up into his face, mostly blocking the view between him and Allan, though he could see Allan’s expression. Allan hadn’t seen this side of him up close and personal. The former Ranger looked startled by what he saw burning in Wolf’s eyes, and felt through his death grip on him. Good.

  Yeah, Allan was still young, for a vampire. He didn’t know how some things burrowed into an immortal’s soul and stayed there forever, like a wounded dragon always ready to rise up and kill when roused. That dragon only got stronger as the years passed.

  “Yeah, she’s dead, Allan,” Wolf ground out. “You think I don’t know that? And that I don’t know why? I live with that, and I live with it my own fucking way. When you’re there, you come talk to me. Until then, shut the fuck up and leave it alone.”

  Saturnia kept her eyes on Wolf, her hands on him, but she cocked her head toward Allan. “Message received, kid?”

  “Loud and clear.”

  “He’s got it, Wolf,” Saturnia said. “Let him go. I want to drink my wine before it breathes its last breath.”

  Wolf released Allan and stepped back with an oath, pivoting to walk away, walk it off. He knew he needed better control over this particular trigger. That redness wouldn’t go away, and his hands ached with the need to tear something apart. Not just his hands. He needed to use his whole body.

  He’d go work out. He’d push himself past even a vampire’s endurance, make sure he was a hundred percent again after the blast. Get this shit buried again, where it belonged.

  But at the top of the stairs, he recalled himself enough to stop, take a breath. Two. Three. Then he turned.

  Allan was standing, his eyes flashing, body tense. Wolf’s behavior would have set
off his own bloodlust. Now that he’d been released, he was trying to get a handle on it. Sat was at his side, her hand resting on his shoulder.

  At Wolf’s steady look, Allan lifted a shoulder. Managed to speak without snarling.

  “I may be young and stupid still, but I care about you, man. And I fucking do know something about the road that took you…where it did. We all do.”

  “I know that. I know all of that.” Wolf rubbed a hand over his face. He owed the man he knew was his friend an answer. Even if right now he still wanted to beat on him like a rug.

  “I do the therapy to keep others from going so far down that road they can’t find their way back. Some of them still get there, still burn their fucking bridges to ash, because some of us are too goddamned stupid to know what we have until it’s too late. But if I can turn them back, I do. I’m not trying to save myself, Allan. Just trying to respect what I lost. Don’t fuck with that again. All right?”

  Allan nodded unhappily. Though he did add one more thing, a dog with a bone he wouldn’t let go. “Fine, but Lord Richard might be coming here for Club Atlantis’s reopening. A show of support for Anwyn. He’ll likely bring Haru with him. If he does, I hope you’ll at least consider the servant thing. He’s a good-looking kid and strong. He was in the Navy before he moved into our world. Never saw combat, but he does understand something of that world.” Allan gave him a tight smile. “I know you’re not opposed to enjoying a male body.”

  “No, he’s not,” Saturnia interjected. “But I think he’s hung up on the cute bit of fluff he second marked in the alley.”

  She patted Allan absently, like a puppy who had learned his lesson, for the moment, and returned to her chair and her wine. Allan shot her a narrow look. It almost made Wolf smile, since he was sure Sat had done it intentionally. She had no evident sense of humor, except in subtle moves like that. It helped him even out a little more.

  “Anwyn says she’s a hell of a service submissive,” Allan said thoughtfully, telling Wolf they’d discussed Ella. His temper growled again, though he pushed it down, worked on keeping his expression impassive.