by Hayden, Sean
The quiet noise of Victoria's bare feet as they crossed the room broke me from my mental state. I reached up to push away the stray hair that had fallen around my face and rubbed my fingers across my once again smooth forehead. My horns had receded. Thanks be to the gods. I would have had a hard time explaining them if they'd stuck like that. A mental image of me shopping in the Home Depot for a grinder crossed my mind and made me laugh.
Remembering Marcel and Strozzini, I looked around for them, but they were nowhere in sight. I had a very bad feeling. As a matter of fact, there wasn't a human in sight either. None of the vampires made a move to go anywhere though.
"Did you see where Marcel and Strozzini went?"
"No, master, I didn't."
"Stay here, don't let anyone else leave," I told Victoria and took off as fast as I could back up the way we'd come.
I burst through the open hidden door and into the almost empty club above Santiago's lair. I found them on the dance floor, but they weren't dancing. Strozzini held two wicked curved silver blades and fought to hit Marcel with them. Marcel expertly blocked every strike with what looked like part of a stripper pole. "Fuck," I said quietly and attacked.
He'd been too engrossed with his fight with Marcel to notice me attacking from behind. I landed on his back and did the only thing I could do. Reaching around, I latched on to his chest with my talons and bit him in the neck. I felt his blood hit my tongue and I groaned. Immediately, he let his blades fall to the ground as the pleasure of my bite spread through his body. Marcel dropped his make shift weapon and stood watching me as I fed.
"You need to make a decision, little one. He no longer believes the story we concocted. He ran away to get word to The Council about you. You can either let him go and deal with The Council, turn him like you did the other, or kill him," Marcel said to me resignedly.
The vampire fell limp in my arms. I knew if I kept drinking I could take his spark, but I really didn't want another death on my conscience. What I did to Victoria, I would never do again. I had trouble enough taking care of myself. To be someone's master wasn't something I would ever want. I knew in my heart I'd have to deal with the Council sooner or later. Making my decision, I stopped drinking and let Strozzini fall from my grasp onto the dirty floor of the strip club.
"I won't kill him. Hell, I didn't want to have to kill Santiago," I said more to myself than to Marcel. He nodded and drew me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around him as far as I could and he kissed the top of my head.
"You have so much to learn, and I'm running out of time to teach you. You keep fumbling through a world which has rules older than I, and you don't know the basest of laws. I will teach you, or find someone who can. It would have been much simpler if the FBI hadn't been so eager to use their new weapon." He sighed into my hair. I just tried not to cry.
"I'm sorry, Marcel. I promise to learn as fast as I can," I said earnestly.
"I know you will, mon enfant," he said and stepped away from me. "Go collect your new second. Take my hotel key and wait for me there. I will find my own way. Should you talk to James, don't mention anything about what happened here. Tonight didn't happen. We came, we talked, and we left, bon?" I nodded and ran back to where I'd left Victoria. As soon as she saw me she moved to my side.
"Stay here," I said to Santiago's vamps, or the ones left standing anyway. "Marcel will be back down shortly and take care of you. I'm sorry," I added almost as an afterthought.
I didn't look back as we got into the suburban and made our way back to the hotel. Why should I look back, Marcel would fix it. Marcel fixed everything.
* * *
I woke not remembering going to bed. I was completely under the comforter and enjoyed the feel of soft skin covering most of my body. I opened my eyes and Victoria's head rested in the crook of my shoulder. She hadn't stirred yet, so I kept my movement to a minimum. Laying there holding her felt quite relaxing and after the night we'd had, I deserved to relax a little. I moved my fingers to her hair and began to stroke its silky smoothness.
"Good Evening, master," Victoria said without looking at me. She tightened her arm around me and her cheek shifted as she smiled against my shoulder.
"Good morning," I said and stretched. You never see vampires stretching and I liked to think it set me apart just a little more. The more I learned about the vampire world, the more I looked for little differences to use as insulation between us. Victoria untwined her legs from mine and rolled over on her back, giving me the freedom to either stay where I lay, or get up and start my night. As much as I wanted to stay, I needed to talk to Marcel. He either hadn't made his way back to the hotel or came back after I had drifted off to sleep.
I pulled back the covers and rolled out of bed, giving a little gasp as I realized I stood there very, very naked. I looked over at Victoria and saw she lay there exposed completely as well. I ignored the blood rushing to my face and tried not to stare while I walked to the bathroom to take a shower. I didn't close the door behind me as I wanted to, but reached in the shower starting the water while I brushed my teeth. Water temperature meant absolutely nothing to me, but I wanted the water as hot as possible to wash away the remains of the previous night.
I shut off the sink and stepped under the spray, immediately letting it flow over my hair and face. I grabbed the little bottle of hotel shampoo and poured it directly into my hair. I stepped forward to give my head a quick spray so I could work it through my hair. Victoria's hands reached up and started massaging the soap into my scalp. I closed my eyes and concentrated on Victoria and felt her spark just behind me. I tilted my head and let her work her magic on my scalp. She pressed against my back as she worked and I reached behind her and pulled her tighter against me.
The suds from the shampoo trapped themselves between us and made the sensation of her naked body sliding against mine quite pleasurable. I lay my head back against her shoulder and her face pressed against mine as she worked the lather over my skin. She cleaned every inch of me and I shuddered under her touch. When she finished, I did the same for her. She looked at me, surprised when I started, but I enjoyed bringing her pleasure.
We shut off the water still giggling and dried each other off completely before slipping back into the bedroom to get dressed. I couldn't in good conscious let Victoria slip back into her see through dress, so I loaned her a pair of jeans and a T-shirt I'd brought with me to wear when I wasn't wearing my FBI suit or skirt.
"Do you live around here?"
"I have a room back at Santiago's. Most of the dancers live there," she said solemnly. I realized I didn't want her going back there for any reason.
"Well, we'll go shopping later. I'll buy you some new clothes. I have money so don't worry about it."
"Thank you, master," she said and bowed low.
"Hey, Vic," I said to her. "Do me a favor, don't call me that."
"If it's just you and I, I will call you whatever you command me to, master, but in front of others it is my duty," she said and bowed again. I had a lot of work to do.
"Call me Ash or Ashlyn, whatever you prefer."
She bowed for the third time and I refrained from saying anything about it. I made my way to the bedroom door and she reached out and opened it for me without me asking. Maybe she had more work to do on me than I did on her. I'd never get used to being waited on hand and foot.
Thompson sat dressed on the couch and had his feet up on the hotel coffee table with the television remote in his hand. When Vic and I walked out of the bedroom he hit the power button and crossed his arms without getting up. I did however get one raised eyebrow.
"What?"
"What the fuck happened last night, kid? Do you know how many phone calls I've ignored from Sanders? He's the fucking Deputy Director of the FBI. I wanted to talk to you before I called him back, so you better have something good to explain it." I had never heard him yell before, and I didn't like it directed at me.
"What are you talking about?" I was t
ruly confused. Hadn't he talked to Marcel at all? "Where's Marcel?"
"Not here, but that's not the point. I'm talking to you right now. What happened last night?"
"We met with the master of Sacramento and questioned him. He didn't have anything to do with the attacks on the governor so we left. Why? What's going on?"
Thompson gave me another dirty look before he stood and walked over to the desk. He picked up a newspaper that looked like it had been read, reread, crumpled up, and read again. He spun it as he tossed it to me and the front page landed in my hands face up. A picture of a large fire stared back at me and I recognized it at once. "Bare Fangs" had been reduced to a cinder. I read the caption underneath the picture and then read the article twice before dropping it onto the table Thompson had been using as a footstool.
"What happened last night, Ashlyn? You were the last one to see those twenty-seven vampires alive
"I told you, Jim, we talked to him and that's it. By the way, I wasn't the last one to see them alive. Whoever killed them saw them for the last time." I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
"I spent the entire night with my master, she didn't kill anyone." Vic chimed in next to me with the worst imaginable timing ever. I needed a story to explain her to Thompson, and I hadn't come up with one yet.
"I'm sorry, who the fuck are you?"
"Thompson," I snapped angrily. "She's mine." I clenched my teeth.
"Excuse me?"
Fuck, I need more time. Why couldn't you have stayed in San Diego for another day?
"It's a long story," I started as the door to the room beeped merrily and Marcel entered the room. Thank the gods.
"Welcome back, James," he said and sat down on the couch where we were having our discussion. "What's going on?" He spoke as if he didn't have a clue. As far as I knew, he didn't, but the nagging feeling in my stomach begged to differ.
"This is," Thompson said and picked up the front page of the newspaper and handed it to Marcel. "Care to tell me what happened last night?"
"Oui," Marcel said and glanced through the paper. He tossed it back down on the table and looked up at Thompson. "Where should I start?" He looked up at the ceiling dramatically. "Oh yes, I know. Your stupid FBI found themselves a new kind of vampire. You trained her how to be an agent, but she has no fucking clue how to be a vampire. She needs to be trained and she needs it now. Last night she broke one of our oldest laws, and she didn't even know she had done anything wrong! She accidentally ended up not only binding one of the master of Sacramento's vampires to her, but she also turned her into whatever she is! To top it all off, we had concocted a story for Strozzini so he wouldn't run off and tell the Council that somehow, there is a new type of vampire running around more powerful than a master vampire! Do you think they would let her stay alive?"
I could hear the disbelief in his voice. So much for his plan that last night never happened. He must be really pissed off.
"Marcel, what did you do?" By the look on his face, he had the same sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Marcel sighed and continued, "The only thing I could, my friend. I ended Strozzini's life and the lives of all the other vampires who witnessed what happened. When I finished, I burned their bodies and set the blaze to destroy any evidence we had been there. Now the North American Council needs to find another master of Sacramento," he finished nonchalantly.
"You killed the master of the city, too?" Thompson groaned inwardly.
"Non, that one I cannot claim. He attacked our girl, and she defended herself to the best of her ability, unfortunately for Santiago." Marcel gave me a little grin I didn't return. He pissed me off. I'd decided to let Strozzini live, and yet he took it upon himself to end his life, as well as the rest of his vampires.
"Next time you tell me nothing happened, I'm going to swat you in the head." Thompson sat down rubbing his face with his meaty paws. "What the hell am I going to tell Sanders," he mumbled.
"Tell him the truth, maybe it will convince him I need time with Ashlyn," Marcel answered. "Or tell him she had nothing to do with it and she has a witness to prove it, and let her continue stomping all over the vampires of this country. I really don't care. She wanted me to let Strozzini go and let him run back to the Council. After she left and I looked at his prone form, I realized I couldn't let that happen. I lost the woman I loved to their fears and jealousies, and I knew I couldn't let it happen to her, too."
"Jesus, Marc, you killed twenty-seven vampires. How the hell can I forget about that?" Thomson nearly cried in anguish.
"Ask yourself this, what would you have done? I've seen the lengths you have gone to protect her. Would you have done anything different?"
Thompson leaned back against the couch and looked at the ceiling before giving a simple, "No." I felt my chest catch a little and my anger toward Marcel vanished. "No I would have done the same, I just would have hid the bodies a little better."
Chapter 11
I stared at Thompson. He'd smoothed things over with Sanders after a four-hour conversation, but as soon as he clicked the end button–"What do you mean we're going to Los Angeles?"
"Greer is going to be hobnobbing it down in L.A. for a week. Sanders got a call from the governor himself asking for more protection. Made us look like a couple of rookie assholes by not going through us. No offense, kid," he added.
"Why would he ask for more protection? Doesn't he realize it's not our job to protect him, but to find the people trying to kill him? I took those stakes because I knew he couldn't, not because it's my job."
"He doesn't see it that way. In fact, he doesn't want us to leave his side while we're down there. If you ask me, he sounds a little paranoid about going to L.A. Sanders said good work by the way. Apparently, Greer couldn't go on enough about how you saved his life. Wants you to get a commendation, too," he said and smiled ironically.
"Fuck off, Thompson." I stormed off to my room to pout a little, and just to be alone. I shipped Vic off to go buy new clothes and anything else she might need and Marcel volunteered to go with her, leaving Thompson and I alone in the room while he called the Deputy Director. I'd pulled my bank card out of my wallet, but Marcel handed it back to me and told me it would be his pleasure. He's the first man I've ever seen who wanted to go shopping.
Darkness filled my bedroom like a comfortable blanket and I refused to turn on the light. I didn't need it anyway, so I jumped on the bed, turning midair to land on my back on top of the fluffy comforter. I stared at the ceiling and thought hard about what I wanted out of my life. I couldn't keep going the way I had been. I'd end up getting myself, or someone else, killed. The FBI had been very eager to use me and for the millionth time since I started the job, I found myself doubting my effectiveness. In Chicago, I made a million rookie mistakes and indirectly my first partner had been killed. I'd been told it wasn't my fault, but doubt still nagged at my subconscious every day.
Now, here in California, my utter ignorance of the vampire world had gotten twenty-seven people, or vampires, killed. That didn't nag my subconscious; it cut my soul every second. I counted myself as one of the good guys, but I didn't feel like it anymore. I felt more like a self-serving prick. Tears welled in my eyes and I let them fall. I heard the drops hit my chest and it sounded like a soft drum to my vampiric ears. Without realizing it, I let out a soft sob, and it quickly developed into a fit of body wracking convulsions as I let it out.
Thompson knocked on my door and let himself in without so much as a sound from me. He flipped the light switch and walked to the bed while I lay there crying like a five year old whose puppy just got ran over in the street. He didn't say anything, just sat next to me. Finally he lifted me into the crook of his arm, positioning my face so I could literally cry on his shoulder. I flung my arm over him and held on to him like a giant teddy bear. Okay, maybe a giant stuffed werelion, but I clutched him just the same.
Finally, the sobs slowed to whimpers, and then the whimpers faded i
nto silence. The whole time Thompson didn't say a word, simply held me and comforted me. Long after the tears stopped falling, he finally shifted, freeing me to wipe the tears from my face.
"Thanks, old man," I said and meant it.
"Don't make it a habit, kid," he said with a cheesy smile to let me know he didn't mean it. "If the shit that happened last night didn't bother you, I'd be worried. Ash, you're a good kid. Don't ever forget it and don't let the vampires change you. I'm not saying to do exactly what you have to do to survive, but always let it bother you. The minute you don't is when you become one of the monsters. I hope you don't mind the advice, but my father gave it to me and I thought you could use it, too."
"You know what? I don't mind, and in fact, feel free to drop it on me anytime. Honestly, I don't know what I'd do without you. Thanks for putting up with me."
"Alright, enough with the Hallmark bullshit, we've got work to do. Come on," he said and led me out to the other room. He sat at the desk and called Greer, getting the details of our flight out tomorrow night, the name of the hotel, and all the pertinent information we might need. I found myself hoping Victoria would be okay without me for a few days, but I knew she wouldn't mind spending a few days in the hotel. I hoped I could talk Marcel into staying with her.
I sat around, vaguely listening to Thompson on the phone. I knew we had seats on the governor's helicopter and that someone from the L.A. field office would be meeting us when we landed. I also knew we were staying at the Kyoto Grand hotel along with Greer and his aides. After his forty-five minute conversation that had been all I'd caught. I needed to start paying attention.
As if on cue, as Thompson hung up from booking our reservations, Marcel and Vic walked through the door. Both of them looked like they'd won a shopping spree at the mall. Each carried at least fifteen bags with a different store name blazed across it. I rolled my eyes and gave a little smirk at the bliss plastered on Victoria's face. It pleased me to see her happy.