Song of Awakening

by D. R. Rosier

  Grimes grimaced, “I want to ride along. It’s my partner out there.”

  I frowned, “Your agency handed the problem over to us, it’s a supernatural hunt now.”

  Grimes cursed, “Damnit, I’m…” he broke down into a coughing fit.

  Thank the goddess Lisa and I were immune to most viruses, our bodies would stomp them out pretty fast, often before any symptoms at all developed.

  Lisa rolled her eyes and finished his sentence, “About to pass out. We’ll put you in the back so you can be on hand for your partner, but if you try and get out before we say, or interfere, I’ll shoot you myself.”

  I was sure this was a bad idea, but I felt bad for him too, and I was hardly a stickler for the rules. Of course, if we got Grimes killed I’d be driving a desk for the next sixty years.

  My voice was resigned, “Alright, let’s go.”

  We left the house, piled into the car, and started heading out. Gary had a head start of about two hours. Which meant it was possible the hunt was over and he was already heading south, hopefully they stopped for breakfast…

  “Who’s your partner?” I asked.

  Grimes replied stiffly since Lisa was driving over a hundred in a thirty, she had the reflexes to handle it.

  “Halley Nichols, she’s young, just a couple of months since she’s earned her badge. She’s fast, and has run in a marathon or two, but inexperienced.”

  I turned away from him and grimaced, even the fastest human couldn’t match the speeds of the slowest supernatural. Speed wasn’t everything of course, but without a gun, and knife against claw, it was very unlikely she could win or hold out for very long.

  Even as sick and miserable as he was, I couldn’t help but notice Grimes kept trying to subtly check me out. It got old after the third time, but I bit my tongue. A part of me expected it, and even liked it, it was a part of who I was, and getting my way most of the time, at least with men, was hardly a burden, but sometimes I hated the way it colored absolutely everything. Well, everything but Lisa and Brent.

  The problem was, it was distracting and cut into my focus. Not that I was tempted to do anything or even slightly turned on, I had more than enough energy and power from Lisa, and wasn’t attracted to him at all, the distraction was just from feeling his eyes on me, and hearing the direction of his song. Nothing I could do about it anyway, short of knocking him out.

  A lot of Texas was flat, but around Crandall there were rolling hills, trees, and a lot of large acreage ranches. We pulled off of one seventy-five onto a dirt road and I glanced over at the navigation system, we had about five miles to go, and Lisa was pushing seventy. I knew we didn’t have much time. I double checked my magazines, made sure I had silver rounds loaded, and also made sure my katana wasn’t caught up in its scabbard.

  I turned my head, “Do not leave the car.”

  He looked mutinous, but nodded his head.

  We pulled off the dirt road a few minutes later, and up a dirt driveway. There was a large black van on the side of the road. Lisa pulled up behind it, and ran the plate quick.

  Lisa said, “It’s registered to a Brant Greenly, the address is around the block from Gary’s house. I’m sending a suggestion for a black and white to go check up on him.”

  I said, “They aren’t nearby,” as I opened my door.

  Lisa got out, and so did Grimes.

  Grimes said, “Listen…”

  I’d never know what he was going to say, because Lisa was on him before I could blink. She sunk her teeth into the marshal’s neck and took a sip or two. When she pulled back off she looked pissed off.

  She ordered, “Get back in the car, and don’t fucking move until we get back.”

  I snorted, “Nice.”

  She shrugged and winked at me, “Compulsion works better after I take blood, besides, this way he’ll be over his cold by the time we get back as well. I was getting tired of his constant sniffling.”

  “Bitch,” I teased, but it came out all soft and gooey, goddess I was so helpless now. My inner bitch seemed to be on vacation.

  She smiled wider and eyed me up and down, “Slut… my slut,” in a tone of voice that reminded me of last night, and earlier this morning.

  Right… I was suddenly wet. What the fuck was wrong with me.

  “Hunt, bad kitties,” I said brilliantly in a sultry bedroom voice, so not my fault.

  She snorted, “Right, I got their scent, try to keep up.”

  She took off and I chased after. I thought for sure with all this energy I’d be faster than her now. Even before last night I’d been faster than most other vampires, just the older much more powerful ones could outpace me. I was much faster this morning, and after a few seconds she had to slow down to pace me.

  Just how old was my cute sexy vampire anyway?

  Sure, she looked like she was in her early twenties, but they pretty much stopped aging when they were made. I’d never asked her, and on top of that she was at her weakest in the sun, at night she’d be even faster. I knew I would be around for a long while, hundreds of years at least was my guess based on my siren side, that may change depending on what my other side was.

  Shifters ranged from a couple of hundred for wolf shifters to a few thousand for dragon shifters. Elves were good for six hundred or so, humans about a century, three hundred for a siren, witches and mages were basically human, but got an extra eighty to a couple of hundred years on average from their magic. The more powerful they were, the longer they would live. So it was a toss-up on how long I would live. I couldn’t help but think whatever it would be, it would just be a drop in the bucket compared to Lisa’s age.

  I still looked about twenty even though I was twenty-seven. I could even pass for younger if I dressed the part. That was a meaningless ratio at this point, because I hadn’t stopped normal human aging until I was fully adult, at nineteen or so. I looked pretty much the same now as I had seven years ago.

  We’d gone about two miles in less than three minutes, and I wasn’t even winded. My eyes snapped up and to the right, as I felt their song a split second before Lisa changed course in that direction, and we ran up a hill. There was one human, and five lion shifters. As we came up over the other side, Lisa stopped and I ran up next to her.

  It looked like the five of them had Marshal Nichols treed, she was about twenty feet up the tree. Of course, cats can climb, but it was till a decent plan, they couldn’t attack her from multiple sides, and their approach was limited to the trunk of the tree because lion shifters were also about eight hundred pounds. She was high enough up there was no way the branches would support their weight.

  Right now Nichols was holding the knife defensively, almost hanging by her legs. Only one lion was on the tree with her, the other four were stalking in circles on the ground.

  “Plan?”

  “Shoot them,” Lisa said coldly, “Then we’ll stab them until they die.”

  There was my bloodthirsty goddess. I grinned, “So were leaning toward the dead side of dead or alive?”

  Lisa shrugged, “There’s no rehabilitating a shifter who hunts and eats humans. Why burden the taxpayer? Those fuckers eat a lot.”

  I snorted at her twisted logic, and pulled my guns, “We should give them a chance to surrender first,” I said playing devil’s advocate. I knew there was no way they’d actually surrender, but there were rules.

  They still hadn’t noticed us at the bottom of the hill, our scents were being blown in the other direction.

  Lisa yelled, “You’re all under arrest, shift, and lay down on the ground with your hands behind your heads, or we will use lethal force.”

  The cat in the tree turned its head and roared, and the four on the ground predictably took off toward us. We started shooting and put a few silver rounds in each before they got too close, and we holstered our weapons and pulled swords. Three were still coming, but they’d be weakened, the fourth had taken one in the skull and was down and out.

  One each l
unged at both of us, claws first, while the third circled to get behind us. Lisa read its trajectory easily and simply dropped down on her back, and opened it up from neck to nuts as it flew over her. It swiped at her, but it’s legs were too short, and it landed with a wet death rattle. I rolled to my left and twisted, locked on its trajectory, and it was helpless to do anything but twist its body desperately as I brought my sword up and over. I was a little too far away to take its neck, but I cut into it a little bit, and took its right paw clean off.

  I heard the one in the tree, who I assumed was Gary, roar in rage and jump toward us, leaving the marshal in the tree. Lisa lunged at the one I’d hurt, and took it in the side and through the heart, and a second shifter song was silenced. Now we had two great cats circling us from about twenty feet away.

  “Here kitty kitty,” I said in a baby voice, and then started singing a song of confusion.

  The two of the great cats roared with outrage and pounced. Angry and confused, they stopped being intelligent fighters, and merely went for the instinctual front claw grab and back claw disembowelment. Lisa and I both turned and pivoted, our attacking cat’s eyes stayed locked on us as we stepped out of range, and were too enraged and confused to notice we’d essentially just switched spots. The Lion that had lunged at Lisa never saw my sword as I ran it through the throat and twisted.

  Even damage such as that done with a normal sword would have healed quickly, but the silver laced in my sword made that impossible, so it landed with a gurgle, and one more song was cut off. Lisa took stabbed at hers in a similar fashion but it twisted at the last moment and was only wounded. It was something we didn’t even have to discuss, we’d been fighting together for a long time now, and could read and predict each other flawlessly.

  Lisa laughed chillingly as we squared off with the last lion, who looked indecisive as well as being wounded. He wasn’t sure if he should run, or attack, and my confusion song wasn’t helping him decide. A couple of seconds hesitation was way too long, and the lion roared as it saw we had surrounded it on opposite sides.

  It took a step toward me, and then lunged. At least, it tried to. Lisa lunged in unbelievably fast, and grabbed his tail bringing him up short. It was almost too easy at that point, as I slid my sword into his chest and moved it around until I found important things. His song was silenced as well.

  We walked down the hill and looked up, “Need help getting down?” I asked.

  Marshal Halley Nichols looked like she might pass out, but she was smiling, “Thanks, I got it I think.”

  We stayed underneath her just in case she fell, which gave us quite an interesting view, considering Gary always hunted them naked. I started to take off my blouse, I still had the tight white shirt and armor on under it. When she came down, I was looking at a rather attractive woman in her mid-twenties, and I handed her my shirt.

  She grunted, “Thanks,” she said gratefully, but was looking at me with narrowed eyes.

  Lisa smirked, “She’s a siren, so try to ignore your suspicious and untrusting feelings. Your feet look pretty bad, I can carry you if you want? Dan, your partner, is waiting back at the car.”

  “Call me Halley, since you saved my life and all. How did you find me, and who are you?”

  Lisa picked her up and we told her all about who we worked for and how we tracked her down. Her eyes seemed to glow a little at the idea that Dan was desperate to track her down. It was… obvious she had a thing for him. As far as Dan though, I was pretty sure he just wanted to find a young partner that he felt responsible for. Maybe not though, he was sick as a dog earlier after all, so I might not have gotten a good read for that.

  Dan looked pissed, until we opened the back door and put Halley back there. I handed him a first aid kit so he could work on her feet. She blushed a little and pushed my shirt between her legs, trying to cover up. I went into my bag and pulled out a tightly rolled up pair of yoga pants and handed it back to her wordlessly.

  Lisa asked, “So where should we drop you off?”

  Dan cleared his throat, his cold obviously gone, and said, “Perp’s house? My car is there, and I can take Halley from there to be checked out.”

  He added grudgingly, “Thanks, I hate that you forced me to wait here, but thanks.”

  I looked back and nodded, Halley was actually blushing, but at least she was dressed now, sans bra but it was all covered at any rate. To my amusement it got quieter and quieter in the back seat, and although I didn’t look, I heard what was obviously kissing for the last ten minutes of the drive. They both thanked us again, and I have to say Halley did her best to get passed the siren thing. I decided to take her words at face value, and ignore the look of disgust on her face.

  We left them there and headed back toward the office.

  Lisa asked, “What was that about, I didn’t get the impression he was interested in her like that.”

  I shrugged, “It could just be the whole life and death thing, or it could have been my shirt.”

  Lisa snickered, “Your pheromones were probably all over it.”

  I nodded, “I doubt it would have worked alone though, he must have had feelings for her. The pheromones probably just cut through all the inhibitions.”

  Lisa asked, “Hungry?”

  “Yes, I’d love a burger and fries.”

  Lisa made a face, “No pickles.”

  I raised an eyebrow and had a ghost of a smile on my face.

  Lisa explained, “Food changes how blood tastes, since you’re my meal now, I get a say.”

  I laughed, “Is that why you cooked me breakfast this morning? Flavoring your meals?”

  She blushed, “Maybe a part of why, but not the only reason.”

  I nodded, “Very well, no pickles, anything else I should avoid?”

  She shook her head, “Nothing that you normally eat.”

  The rest of the work day was pretty quiet. We stopped and got me some food to go, and took a shower when we got back to the office. We’d managed to keep the blood spatter to a minimum, but I still felt better getting cleaned up. Outside of our reports for the hunt, nothing else came up and as far as I could tell Brent was either very busy, or ignoring me for the rest of the day.

  After work, I considered going to Theo’s sanctuary, but it would be packed. I figured it could wait one more day, we’d have a better chance of catching him sometime tomorrow morning.

  That night, well I hardly needed the energy, and Lisa wouldn’t need blood for days, but that didn’t stop us from going to bed early, this time in my bedroom… Of course, energy absorption from sex was automatic for me, kind of like breathing, so once again I found myself wide awake with a raven haired sleeping beauty in my arms. I wondered if I’d ever sleep again, I didn’t feel tired, or wrung out, I just felt like I’d just woken up after a long night’s sleep. All my senses were alert, and my body tingled with a pleasant soreness that I enjoyed immensely.

  This time I was prepared for a night alone with my own thoughts, I grabbed the kindle off the night table and switched it on…

  Chapter 10

  I wondered if I was taking my life into my hands as I woke Lisa up with my head between her legs. Her thighs were like a vice as she was rocked by waves of pleasure, courtesy of my tongue and nimble fingers. My head however, did not burst like a watermelon, so it was all good. She returned the favor, and then we put off a shower for just a little longer.

  The sex with Lisa was mind-blowingly good. She had the benefit of who knew how many years of experience, and I was guided by her song. Sure, I couldn’t read her emotions that way, but I could read her health and physiological responses to my attentions. Which made it very easy for me to coax her ever higher into more powerful explosions of blissful ecstasy. By the time we were both cuddled up and shaking in intense aftershocks, it was close to nine in the morning.

  “Shower?” I asked.

  Lisa giggled, “I’d better go to mine, if you touch me again I might explode.”

  I k
issed her and reluctantly rolled out of bed. I both didn’t want to leave our bed, but I also wasn’t looking forward to my conversation with Theo. I admitted to myself I was rather intimidated by the idea of questioning a dragon for any reason, much less about my personal life and about my origins.

  The hot shower left me feeling energized, and I grabbed a quick breakfast and a coffee in my robe, before drying my hair and getting dressed. I was in a pair of jean shorts, clingy black shirt, and calf high boots with a couple of small dagger sheaths.

  Lisa came out in a cotton, stretchy, black with white designs pencil skirt that hugged her waist, ass, and legs down to lower thigh, along with a light blue blouse, and black boots. She looked delicious.

  My eyes must have twinkled when I took her in, because she winked at me and smiled. We headed south of Dallas to the middle of nowhere, the sanctuary slash country music bar had a number of cars already at this time of day. A lot of cross species business took place here, so it didn’t have typical bar hours, and was in fact open twenty-four seven. Still, it was far from packed as it would be in the evening and night.

  I was about to get out of the car when Lisa said, “You know this is insane right? He’s obviously gone through some trouble on your behalf, but just as obviously has kept it a secret.”

  “So what?” I asked a little annoyed, “Should I just let it go?”

  Lisa shook her head, “Just be careful, dragons aren’t known for their patience, and you can be a little…”

  I snorted, “Bitchy?”

  Lisa snickered, “Yup, that one.”

  I sighed, “I’ll try to keep my temper, but if Brent’s involvement in my life has all been engineered, then is anything about my life real? Did I earn my way to where I am, or was I kept around so Brent could keep an eye on me? I need to know the truth, so as long as he tells…”

  I cut myself off and looked around. I could swear I heard something, but I didn’t see a damn thing. The door locks clicked open and the back door opened and closed. I still couldn’t see anyone, or hear a song, but I could feel someone in the back breathing. What the hell could block their own song of existence, even blocked, I could still hear Brent’s.