by E. Blix
They would contact Analie, have her tell them where she was, and then arrive and kill the vampire. Simple.
Christoph was looking out the window. Ashi was a little surprised at the other’s silence. He attempted light conversation.
“Sorry for the short notice. I’ve packed a bag with clothes and such for the both of us.”
Christoph nodded.
“I’ve arranged to stay in a motel, so that’s taken care of. I’ll cover the cost.”
Another nod.
“You have Analie’s number, right?”
Another nod.
“Good. We’ll call her once you feel up to fighting. She’ll tell us her location and we’ll go in and deal with her host.”
Christoph’s bleary eyes focused on Ashi. “You can’t ‘deal’ with him.”
Ashi stared at Christoph. “Pardon?”
“You don’t know how strong he is. You don’t know how fast he is. We can’t ‘deal’ with him.”
Ashi kept staring at Christoph as he reached over, set a hand on the other’s knee, and popped off his kneecap.
The tendons on the back of Christoph’s hands stood out as he clenched them into fists. To his credit, he didn’t make a sound.
“I think you should let me do the thinking and only use that bright little mind of yours to process my orders,” Ashi said quietly, a thin smile on his face.
Christoph nodded, his head jerking up and down.
“Very good.” Ashi let go of Christoph’s knee and sat back.
Things were going rather smoothly, in his opinion.
Chapter Six
Analie was going to barf.
Don’t barf, she thought.
It was a challenge.
She was feverishly tearing the bed apart. The mattress lay in one corner, the box spring in the middle of the room, and the sheets and blankets everywhere else. The pillows were shoved in the far corner, for they carried the strongest scent of musk. Analie intended to get rid of them as discreetly as possible.
Not that she was being particularly discreet right now.
The bedframe and slats that supported the mattress were useless. Analie cleared a path through the fluffy chaos and shoved it against the far wall. God, why was there such a thing even in this room? She almost threw the box spring, but then remembered Royce’s warning. She dragged it over to the bed frame and put it on top.
Stupid, useless shit!
She had the idea she might be going crazy.
Okay, mattress. She put that in a new corner, one away from where the leech must have slept. The new corner was nice. Analie noticed her hands were shaking. She grabbed a blanket and put it on the mattress. Better, more like a proper bed. Okay, the sheet. Have to cover up the area. Closet too small to sleep in. Gotta cover it all up. Analie realized she was mentally rambling. It was distressing. The situation was distressing. The fact that she had nothing to hang the sheet off of was distressing.
Get the box spring, prop it up against the wall. Useless as a lean-to. Too unstable for a wall. Useless! Bed frame? Weird, constricting. Not good. Okay. No covering for the bed. That was okay with her. She could deal with that. It wasn’t a bad thing.
Oh god. Don’t barf.
She folded the rest of the blankets up and put them at the foot of the bed. Good. That was good. She looked around, spotted an easy chair. Yes, go sit in the easy chair and calm down. It would be more like home—a reminder of Gavin.
Analie felt her heart sink a little. Her foster father would be worried. If they couldn’t find another Were to take her place, would he gain a new cub? Would it stay in her room? The thought made her eyes water and throat hurt.
Analie hurried over to the chair and curled up in it. It was soft, and she wondered what the leech did here. Sit and read? Contemplate leechy things?
Feed?
She was up and across the room in half a second. Her stomach was rolling. She clapped a hand over her mouth and took deep breaths. It only made the nausea worse as she inhaled the reek of vampire.
She had to change the scent in the room. It was child’s play to get the scent from your hair to an object, but she would end up covering herself in the scent of the room considering the size of it. That thought was horrifying. And it made her want to barf.
Okay, sit on the floor and think of this logically. No, don’t stay still. Put the bed frame nicely in the corner with the box spring in it. There. Orderly. No reason for Royce or Mouse to point out that the room was in disarray. Good. Okay, change the scent.
Analie ran over to the drawers and opened each one, scrubbing her fingers in her hair and rubbing the insides of the drawers. Good, they smelled okay. No more leech reek. Right. She smelled her hair. Musky. Like a leech.
Don’t barf.
The whole room had to change right now. Not later, not in a couple days, now. She made sure there weren’t any shadows lurking about in the room, kicked off her clothes, (hands still shaking, why were her hands shaking so badly?) and closed her eyes.
Out of the pink stuff, into the fuzzy stuff. Into the big, strong, warm, powerful, safe stuff. She was too big as a full Were to fit in the room. As a wolf she’d fit. That was good.
Bones changed, rearranged, set themselves into place. Her face pushed outward, fangs filled her mouth, and the scent of vampires became stronger. She coughed. It came out as a short snarl.
She carefully picked her way around the room, rubbing her fur against the walls, the furniture, and the floor. She was smelling worse and worse, but the room was smelling better and better. She could shower, but the room had to change.
She stood in the center of the room and shook. There. She no longer felt the urge to barf. Things looked and smelled better—more like home. She sat down, panting, exhausted. She’d shift back in the morning, before anyone noticed. And she’d sticky-roll the easy chair and the box spring. Right now she was tired.
Analie froze in the middle of the room at the tap on the door. Pony-sized wolves would likely not be welcome in this particular household, though she was used to seeing them in Gavin’s house. She stared at the door as if she could will the damn thing to stay shut. It was apparently working, as whoever was on the other side did not enter.
She was exhausted, and it took a long time to become pink again. When at last she could fit back into her clothing—though she was still a little fuzzy, a little fangy—she shuffled over to the door and opened it.
The softest, friendliest looking stuffed bear stared up at her from the floor. Analie crouched and sniffed at it. Vampire reek. Some vampire here slept with a stuffed bear. Probably Mouse, unless Royce was particularly fond of things small and fuzzy.
Analie picked up the toy. It smiled at her. She smiled back. Abruptly, she found herself crying again. Stupid. She looked around, hastily swiping her face dry, but Mouse had retreated to parts unknown.
Analie backed into her room, shut the door, and went to her bed. She was tired, but she didn’t want to sleep. Sleep was dangerous. She hugged the bear close. Sleep was definitely a terrible, horrible idea. Yep. She closed her eyes. Awful, just awful. A foolhardy venture until she could at least get the desk up against the door. Yep.
She curled up around the bear and was out before she could remind herself not to.
Chapter Seven
The stink of vampire was the first thing that penetrated Analie’s consciousness. Not realizing where she was immediately, her first reaction was to jerk upright, banging her head on top of the makeshift fort she’d made out of the box spring and mattress. Clutching at the top of her head, the teddy bear flew upward before tumbling to the floor beyond the sheet curtain she’d arranged for privacy.
“Finally awake?”
Analie groaned quietly to herself, last night’s events crashing back into her thought
s.
That Royce was invading her personal space raised her hackles. She bared her teeth as she crept out of hiding, but he wasn’t impressed by her display of aggression. He reached toward her, and she instinctively flinched back.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
She’d been so angry and on edge that she hadn’t looked at what he held—a plate of fish sticks, complete with a tiny bowl of tartar sauce, and a heaping side of still-steaming French fries.
She stared. That she hadn’t scented the food over the layers of vampire reek thoroughly disturbed her—but it was her favorite food. Ever. Being offered by one of the scariest things she’d ever seen. Or didn’t see. Well, she saw his shadowed outline. Whatever. She hesitated, her stomach giving an embarrassingly loud growl as she froze, locked in indecision.
“Jacques was a bit incensed at the request, but I’ve been told his skill in the kitchen is incomparable. I’d hate to see his efforts go to waste,” Royce said, withdrawing the plate and making as if to leave.
“Wait,” she said, the single word coming out high and strangled.
He paused, silently regarding her.
“I want it. Please.”
She was fortunate that she couldn’t see his smile, delightfully devious. He extended the plate to her once more, his voice deliberately low and soothing.
“As you wish. Tonight, Mouse will take you shopping for new clothes and anything you might like to make your room more comfortable. Jacques will start your lessons in another day or so.”
Analie inched forward, gingerly taking the plate and retreating as rapidly as she could without spilling half of it to the floor. Even under the overwhelming reek of leech, it smelled fabulous. Everything was perfectly cooked, fried to a crispy golden brown. As much as she wanted to tear into it, she felt too uncomfortable to eat in front of Royce, fidgeting uncomfortably as she stood there with the plate.
“Um, okay. What am I supposed to do in the meantime?” Aside from crawl up the walls until she could get this horrible, damned smell out of her room.
“Eat, for one thing. Don’t wait on my account.”
Damn him to hell. He must have realized how much it was triggering her defensive instincts to have him here, worst of all with food in her hands. She looked at him, down at the plate, back at him. Shuffling uneasily over to a nightstand, she set the plate down and crouched beside it, gingerly popping a French fry into her mouth.
God, this is good, she thought, closing her eyes in bliss at the salty, tangy taste. These weren’t made in a microwave or bought from a drive-thru. They tasted too fresh for that, with some kind of spice on it she wasn’t familiar with.
“Jacques will be teaching you after hours at La Petite Boisson. The kitchen closes to new orders at midnight, which is when your lessons will begin. I haven’t finished arranging a teacher for your other subjects yet, but I imagine I will have them arrive sometime shortly after sunset so they can take you to Jacques afterwards. You will study six nights a week. On the seventh, you may spend your time as you wish, as long as one of my people is in attendance to supervise.”
Analie twitched, munching on the first fish stick as he laid out the rules. If it wasn’t so tasty, she would have leapt at him with fangs and claws extended. The food was far superior to anything she’d ever thrown together in her kitchen at home. Even the tartar sauce tasted better than the stuff she was used to. Mmm, and the fish sticks were so crunchy on the outside…
“While you’re with Mouse tonight, you can get anything you may need to fill your hours when you aren’t in class or doing homework. If you wish to use a phone line, I’ll have one installed. We’ve got wireless Internet set up for the building, so if you have a laptop, get with John and he’ll give you the passwords to connect to the network.”
Why was he offering all these things? “I don’t have a laptop.”
“No? Get one tonight if you want.”
Analie choked a little on the last bite.
“Are you all right?”
Oh, yes. I’m in the hands of a leech. Home is three thousand miles away. I won’t see my friends or family for five years. I’m just peachy, Analie thought. Out loud, she said, “Yes, I’m fine.”
“Hmm.”
Analie fidgeted under his scrutiny. He didn’t say anything more, and she was too mortified to take another bite of food, tempting as the thought was. Why wasn’t he saying or doing anything? Why was he just sitting there?
She couldn’t take it anymore. She was hungry, damn it, and wanted him to go away. Her voice came out more like a wail than she’d meant, only grinding her embarrassment home further.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what? Waiting? I need to give Mouse her instructions and the car keys. She’s still getting ready.”
“No. Why are you being so nice to me? You’re… you’re a vampire. You’re supposed to be this bad, evil thing. We’re enemies, aren’t we? You’re just—you’re not supposed to be like that,” she finished lamely, her tirade dying out at his soft chuckling.
“Oh, my dear,” he said, reaching up to rub away feigned tears of laughter. “You have been sadly misled by someone. I have no desire to be considered an enemy of your pack, but I could not let the damage you and your little friend did slip by without penalty. If I did, I’d lose the respect of the local packs and perhaps even my own people. My anger last night was not with you, but with Christoph. I don’t wish to see you suffer more than necessary to carry out what was supposed to be his sentence, and I would rather keep things friendly between us once you do go home. You understand, don’t you?”
Analie thought about it. He sounded sincere. There were no other telltales to go by, not scent or heartbeat or even a slight shift in breathing to indicate the truth of his words. It was unnerving. All she had to go by were his actions. Aside from the whole making her be a live-in servant for the next five years thing and the stern reminder to do as he said, he hadn’t done anything mean or evil. Even when he smacked her up against the wall, he was making a point, not really hurting her. Dominant werewolves usually did so more painfully than the vampire had. If he’d truly meant for Christoph to be the one in her place, then he might be telling the truth.
“I guess so,” she finally answered. If he insisted she spend all her time with another leech in attendance, Mouse seemed okay. Some of the tension filtered out of her shoulders, and she picked at the food on the plate again.
“Excellent. I’m glad to hear that. Now, there is one other small matter I would like to attend to later this evening.”
Analie eyed him warily, saying nothing. If it had anything to do with blood, she was so out of here.
“I don’t know anything about your pack structure or who to go to if I need to contact someone with any concerns while you’re here. Would you help me with that?”
She blinked, not having expected the request. It seemed reasonable enough. “Sure, I guess so.”
As Royce had hoped, she was too young and too guileless to realize what a tactical error she’d be committing in granting his request. His sly smile widened.
“Thank you very much.”
Analie shifted her weight awkwardly before hunkering down next to the end table and picking up another fish stick. Okay, he hadn’t done anything mean. He’d only asserted his dominance directly when she showed signs of being rebellious. Under the circumstances, his actions were caring and thoughtful—nicer than some of the Weres higher up in the pack structure had acted towards her. This went against everything she’d ever heard or been taught about leeches from the time she was a toddler.
He wasn’t a pack member, and he certainly wasn’t Gavin. But maybe he wasn’t as terrible as she’d assumed. Even Mouse had been unexpectedly kind, leaving her the teddy bear, knowing she’d be desperately lonely for her family and friends. Thi
s wasn’t home, not even close, but maybe she could live through this with her sanity intact.
Maybe if she acted contrite enough, he would even let her go home sooner.
Royce settled back in the chair as she started eating, not just picking at the food on the plate. He felt it was a good sign that she was now relaxed enough to eat in front of him. He’d refrain from any direct physical contact unless he needed to lead her somewhere in the future. The less threatened she felt, the better. It would make befriending and milking information out of her easier in the long run.
Mouse rapped lightly on the doorframe, announcing her presence. Analie was proud of herself for keeping her knee-jerk reaction contained enough not to send the plate and the little bit of food remaining on it flying in all directions.
Royce rose and passed her a list of things he wanted her to get done and purchase for Analie.
“Thank you for doing this. I need her back here by midnight so I can have a few minutes to discuss some things before the meeting with Gerald. Can you manage?”
The mute vampire nodded, her expression wry. Aside from clothes and a few things to keep her entertained when she wasn’t being schooled, the young wolf looked like she badly needed a haircut. Mouse would be sure to fit that into the schedule, too.
“Good. Text me if you run into any trouble.”
Mouse nodded again, stepping aside as Royce paused in the door, smiling wide enough to flash fangs at Analie. “Have a good time tonight. Don’t worry about the cost, just enjoy yourself. Consider that my first order.”
Analie paused with the last fish stick halfway to her mouth. She’d suddenly realized that nothing came for free with Royce and was starting to think that this might be his way of softening her up to ask something of her later.