I bit my lower lip to keep from laughing out, and hurried into my and Martin’s room to change. “Back to cause me more pain?” he smiled, bringing back the color to my cheeks that I had temporarily forgotten about. I explained to him what was going on and then went in the bathroom to change. My dress was pale burgundy trimmed in black lace like Tammy’s, down to the bow in the back. My problem wasn’t the tights, but getting the dress buttoned up in the back. The short sleeves, that weren’t much to call sleeves, kept falling off my shoulders as I worked to get the hooks fastened. I must have been cursing louder than I thought because Martin called out to me.
“I’m fine, I just can’t get this stupid thing hooked,” I called back.
“Come in here, so I can see,” he called back to me, causing me to roll my eyes.
“Fine,” I grabbed up the huge bottom and pushed my way past the door.
“You look breathtaking.”
“My hair is everywhere and I don’t even have the dress on good yet,” I stopped to look over at him.
“It is the way your hair falls over the dress that makes you look so beautiful. May I be so bold as to say that I would have you no other way in the gown. Come, let me see if I can help.”
“No, I better get Tammy or someone to help me, Martin. I don’t want you to hurt yourself again,” I replied, not able to make eye contact.
“Come,” he patted the side of the bed. “Hooking the back will not cause me pain, taking the gown off of you might.”
“You just had to say that didn’t you?”
“I could not help myself, now come,” he repeated, smiling so wide I could see the white shine of his fangs.
“How do you feel?” I asked, sitting down with my back to him. “You look better every time I come in the room.”
“We heal fast,” he said, running his fingers across my back, causing me to close my eyes. “Would you mind pulling your hair to the side?”
“Oh sure,” I said catching my breath, reaching up and baring my back by pulling my hair to the side.
“And your feet?” I was saying anything to keep my mind off of the feel of his hands grazing the flesh on my back as he hooked the dress.
“I fear it will be some time before I am able to use them again. But the rest should be fine before you need to put this gown on again,” he replied, with his voice so soft the impact made me swallow loudly. “There, now stand and let me see how you look.”
I took in a deep breath and let it out as I got to my feet. I threw my hair back as I turned around and frowned as he shook his head. “What? Should I find another one?” He just smiled and shook his head. “Well, say something. Does it fit right?” I asked, looking down at myself. I glanced to my right seeing myself in the mirror and began trying to unhook the back. “I’ll find another one. It’s too tight anyway.”
“You will wear that one. I have never seen you look so exquisite.”
“Are you sure? You don’t think it’s too tight across my chest?”
“I do not mean to embarrass you, but you need take your hand and reach in and pull your breasts up, or if you would like, I can do it for you?” he lifted one side of his mouth and reached out with one hand.
“I think I can handle that,” I replied, turning my back to him and reached in until I had them situated correctly, then turned back around for his approval.
“Perfection.”
The way he said that one word made me look back in the mirror. My breasts were small but stood mounded over the top curve of the neck line, reminding me of the dress that Yvette had put me in the night she fooled me into thinking I was her special guest, only to find out that I was being placed on the auction block to be sold to the highest bidder.
“Why such a long look on your face, my love?” he asked, holding his hand out to me. I walked over and sat down on the bed, trying not to remember, but the thought kept flooding my mind with the horror that happened.
“I wish you could read my mind, than I wouldn’t have to ever talk about what happened in Cuba,” I replied unable to look at him.
“You never have to talk about anything that you wish not to,” he said, lifting my chin. “We have all of eternity, time enough for the worst of all memories to fade.”
“You have to understand that I could and will die fighting to stop this, Martin.”
“Will you not come to my home in France after you and your people have dealt with London?”
“How can I? The elders have these assassins after us and until we stop them, your home or no other home will be safe.”
“You are so brave. Had I had your strength this may have been different many years ago.”
“There is something you could do for me, something more important than my own life.”
“I would walk the sun for you, Renee. You need but ask, and I will bow at your feet,” he replied, picking up my hand and kissing the back, then bringing the palm to his cheek. “I will even fight at you side.”
“I want you to take Johnny and Shyanna back to France with you until this is all over with…”
“But…”
“Please, hear me out. I will come to you after we put the elders down, Martin. We can live as a family. We can raise Johnny as our own and deal with his age when it happens. I need you to do this for me.” I leaned down on his chest, looking him right in the eyes. “Your legs may never heal the way you need them to, to fight, and I won’t see you go through this again, ever. I need to know my family is safe so I can do what I do best.”
“And if you never come?” he asked, running his hand through my hair. “Then what shall I do?”
“Take care of those that you know I love. Only then, knowing that they’re taken care of by the man that I love, will I be at peace,” I whispered, kissing his lips softly.
“There is no changing your mind, is there?”
“No.”
“Then My Lady will have her wish.”
I reached up and smoothed my hand over the side of his face thanking him with all the love that I could with my eyes. Just knowing that my baby brother would be out of harm’s way was all that I could ever hope for, no matter what my future held. I knew that Martin would take care of him and Shyanna in the event that I didn’t return. It was something that would set my dark soul at ease and leave my mind where it needed to be when it came to fighting the highest of the breeders and the hardest battle that we would face when the time came. Martin knew Cornelle’s people and said that I had used good judgment when I left our other three with them. He said they would fight to the death to keep them safe, which made me take that piece of worry from the back of my mind, and replace it with the task that we would soon face.
I left Martin to rest and joined the others, who all stopped what they were doing when I stepped in the doorway of the family room. I waited for them to burst out in laughter, but no one did. Jacob stood in his knee high pants and ruffled shirt that was unbuttoned with the jacket loosely open, and walked up to me bowed at the waist, took my hand, kissed the back, and then spun me around. “Lady Earlene,” he said, bending at the waist again, still holding my hand as we stepped further into the room. “I give you, Your Mistress.”
“Oh, stop it,” I laughed, pushing him away.
“I would have never believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes,” Cates said, reclined in one of the high-back chairs that were closest to the fireplace.
“I could say the same about you, ya know,” I replied, getting a brow raised in response.
“I think you look lovely, Renee,” Tanda said, getting up from the couch she shared with Derek, walking behind me and began braiding my hair. “I want to see what you look like with the wig on.”
“Yeah, she made all us of put them on, and inspected us like cattle.” Garvin grinned, pulling at his blue jacket.
“If I have to stay behind the least I can do is help dress you, brother,” Tanda replied, handing me the end of my braid. “Hold this while I put it on your head, we can wr
ap it up under the wig when we pin it in place.”
She pulled the stiff thing down to my ears, and I pushed it back up, getting a slap on the hand for my efforts. I let her fiddle with the wig and fix the bow at the back of the dress, but when she went to adjust the front where my breasts were, I had had enough. I thanked her for helping, then walked in the center of the room and then turning in a circle. I started to bow at the waist, then quickly turned it into a curtsy, and the wig fell to the floor. “I sure hope that doesn’t happen at this shindig. If it does, we may be in a bit of trouble,” I laughed, picking it up.
“Trust me, Tanda will have so many pins in it that you may not be able to get the thing back off,” Derek mocked as he scratched at his head.
“Had you left yours alone, I wouldn’t have had to pin yours on,” she snapped, smiling back at me.
“Now, what do we do if the assassins show up at this gala thing?” I asked, trying to sit down in the small chair that was in front of the roll top desk at the right side of the room, getting the hoop bottom right in my face. “Why didn’t this happen when I sat down on the bed?”
“Because you must have sat to the side, which is the way one sits in a gown like this, not sloppily flat down on ones backside,” Tanda said, trying to adjust my legs.
“What on earth are you doing, Tanda?”
“I am trying to show you how to be a proper lady.”
“For such a small thing, you sure are bossy.”
“See, I told you,” Derek said, pulling the wig off of his head, taking some of his own hair with it. “I think you’re letting the whole dress-up thing go to your head just a little too much.”
“Would you like to do it? I could let you dress the others, since I am to bossy and you seem to know so much more about it,” she replied, putting her hands on her hips and waiting for him to answer.
“No, I don’t want to dress everyone. I don’t even wanna dress myself.”
“Then I suggest you let me do what I have done for the last fifty years of my life, and keep your tongue to yourself.”
“I would listen, young Derek. Females that hold a govern over your heart use it to wield a large hand,” Cates said, getting to his feet. “Come woman. I wish to wear these binding contraptions no longer.”
“I like what I’m wearing and want to see Renee when Tanda’s finished with her hair,” Tammy replied. “But, no one’s stopping you.”
“What say you, young Derek? Will you join me to rid ourselves…of these monstrosities called clothing?”
“I can’t. Tanda wants to make sure this jacket’s gonna fit right,” he frowned, moving his first two fingers up and down, quoting in silence what he had already been told.
“He may have to wait for the artist,” Garvin grinned, speaking about, Tanda. “But, I do not.” Then he got up to join Cates who was already in the double wide doorway.
“I must agree,” Jacob added, standing, then stretching his arms above his head. “I too will retire from this wear.”
“You may have a seat next to Derek, Sydney. I have to find you another set of leggings,” Tanda smiled, still standing next to me, and Sydney sat back down without argument.
Chapter Twenty Two
Fala was the only one who seemed fitting in his gala attire. He was Native American Indian, and going as my personal body guard and dressed like a eunuch. The only difference between Fala and the others was that he stood proud. His black hair hung free over his dark, tanned skin and the outfit that Tanda had found him wasn’t much different than the one he was wearing when we first met him. His wrap went around his waist and down just above his knees. The color was different; it was almost the same burgundy color of my dress, only darker. His torso looked like a rippled river flowing up into the mountain of muscles on his chest. The burgundy wraps around his wrists gave just enough to catch the eye when he moved his arms, which were impressive all on their own. Fala had strong features but they were always softened when his hair hung free because the contrast of black strands with the ‘V’ shape coming down from his forehead hid the masculine square of his jaw line. He was everything like what my parents had talked about when they told stories by the fire. Stories of them and their families traveling by wagon and encountering the likes of Fala’s people, who did not like sharing their land.
Tanda was explaining that it was best that a lady did not sit at one of these functions when Jacob stepped back in the room in his cloths that were most comfortable to him; black silk, wide legged bottoms that covered his feet and wrapped tight around his waist. Jacob’s nationality was unknown to him but the slant of his dark brown eyes showed he was at least part oriental. His body structure was half the size of Fala’s but his frame was covered in the same rippling waves that, to me, were not in any waytypical for the normals in my neck of the woods. Jacob’s skin was even paler when he wore his black wear and with the same color of hair to match Fala’s and mine, he was almost porcelain. All of my younger boys were soft in their features and I believe it was due to most of them becoming breeders before their bodies had a chance to change into manhood.
I was thinking how different Jacob and Fala looked standing in the doorway when something smashed into the front door, spinning them around as if they were standing on a floor that moved them. I jumped up and knocked Tanda backwards as I tried to get to the entrance of the foyer. Sydney and Derek were out of the room before I could take another step, and Cates’ massive form darted by the opening. “Damn this dress!” I yelled, and picked the bottom up and ran. Derek and Fala stood on one side of the door while Jacob and Cates took the other. I slid around the entrance of the study across the hall and looked around as Jacob pulled the lock back. He opened the door about two inches and then flung it back with Sydney grabbing it. All of my boy’s stepped out, holding a blade, from where I had no idea, at a cloaked figure in the breezeway on the porch.
My first thought was ‘assassin’ until the figure moved, and it wasn’t like the movement of any man, other than Felicia and we had him upstairs. The figure stepped in the room as if it didn’t notice, or care, that four men had weapons ready to strike. We were all shocked to see a beautiful woman underneath. She lifted the wide hood off of her head and asked for the mistress of the house. “Who’s asking, lady,” Derek said, taking a step forward, with Jacob putting a hand on his chest. She had reddish hair, pulled back from her face and done in tight ringlets that spilled over the neck of the dark gray cloak. She was a small woman with delicate features; small round nose, oval shaped pale green eyes, with ruby red puffy lips. Her face looked like she wore some kind of powder, because I could see the faint color of her freckles under it but she was without doubt a beautiful woman, until she opened her mouth a second time.
“I am Inara, Mistress of Castle Montclair, second highest in London.”
“Yeah, well you're nothing here, so the first name is all ya get,” I said, stepping out, pulling the wig off my head, letting my braid fall down the front of my dress.
“You must be the one my Bernard has told me so much about,” she replied, putting far too much emphasis on the last word.
“And your point is?” I raised my right brow and stepped right up to her. “We don’t have all night. Can’t you see we're getting ready for a party?”
“I do, and that is why I am here; that, and to see my Alex with my own eyes. If he is dead and I do not return in one hour…this house will fall.”
I grabbed her around the throat and back walked her right into the door that Sydney had swung closed behind her. “Don’t you ever step in my home and threaten me or my family.” Her eyes were wide with shock, thinking the announcement of her name would have been enough. I yanked her head to the side and sank my fangs in as she started screaming. Jacob grabbed me by the shoulders and I fought him, drinking her blood, letting her know who was running this particular show. I pulled my head back and she grabbed her own neck. “Let ‘em come lady…haven’t you heard? We love a good fight.” I growled as
close to her face as Jacob’s hands on my arms would allow. She had said the wrong thing and pissed me off.
“I mean you no disrespect, I merely wanted to protect myself,” she said, looking back at me with a noticeable trembling in her body. “I have wanted my sister out of power for years, we all have.”
“Then go out and tell one of your men to take the message back that you’ll be home before dawn. What we have to discuss may take more than an hour. He can use one of our horses.” I replied, yanking my arms away from Jacob’s bruising grip.
“May I please see my son after?”
I nodded my head toward Jacob and the others, walked back into the study and took a seat behind the desk. A few minutes later, after she had come back inside, Inara looked in at me and lowered her eyes as Cates took her elbow and led her up the stairs. Alex did have marks on him, nothing of substantial damage, and it would show her that we stood on our word; not like herself and those she wished to be rid of. I could hear Alex cry out from where I was sitting. I saw Tammy look up the staircase as she and Tanda walked in to join me. Garvin came in and sat on the edge of the desk with a worried look on his face.
“Something on your mind?”
“I wish to speak to you but I do not wish for you to take it in the wrong meaning.”
“Just say it Garvin, you can tell me anything,” I replied, getting a little worried about what he had to say.
“What you did just now…was the very thing that I had seen Yvette do a hundred times,” he glanced back at me. “I heard her tone in your voice.”
“That wench had it coming,” I swallowed, running my fingers over the desk, “undermining me in my own home.”
“That too sounds like what she would have said,” Tanda added, holding herself at the entrance.
“I’m fine, Tanda. I didn’t mean to scare you. I don’t even know what came over me. I just heard her say that our house would fall and I lost control.”
Bloodbreeders: Lies Beneath London Page 22