Silent Cravings

by E. Blix

  Ashi slowly moved out of the corner, standing to his full height to see how he measured up to Thad. Disappointingly, he was a few inches shorter. Back home that wouldn’t have made any difference at all. Being conscious of his height only added more discomfort to his current situation.

  “Thanks,” he said, taking the water and the vitamins. He downed them in a few gulps and found his sense of taste had also been dulled. “I think I can get my clothes back. Just have to convince the cub downstairs to get them. If she’ll agree to that.” He frowned. He’d only brought two changes of clothes.

  He should probably say something about the room. “I’m sorry about the room. I wasn’t expecting to stay for any length of time. At all.”

  Analie shook her head. “No, duh. I haven’t been around John much, but you two seem different. I could say the same thing about Ashi—he’s a piss-poor example of what a Goliath should be.”

  “If you’d have met Barry,” Christoph put in, “or Manny or Damien or Amelia—”

  “You would have gotten along with Amelia so good,” Analie laughed. “She’s awesome.”

  “Gavin’s a good example,” Christoph added.

  Analie nodded, her enthusiasm fading. “Yeah. Gavin’s a good example of a real Goliath. Oh, hey, gimme a sec.”

  She hurried to her bedroom, got Gavin’s old jacket, fished around in the inside pocket, and went back to the couch. She showed Mouse the photograph.

  It was a picture of Gavin just before a watermelon fight. He wore a white T-shirt with “Go Go Goliath” on it in red and black sharpie. His straw-colored hair was tied back, and the picture had been taken when his beard had just started to get unmanageable again. His teeth were slightly pointed, and even though his eyes were squinted against the sun, a glimmer of gold was still captured by the camera.

  “This is Gavin. He’s pretty much the best person in the whole world.”

  Mouse looked at the picture, and the smile froze on her face. It took a very long moment for her to manage to start moving again, and she took great care not to give away her thoughts as she scratched out another note.

  He looks nice.

  She wrote nothing else. No point in mentioning that she’d barely escaped a raid he’d been a part of when she was newly turned. Max had been visiting another vampire, and she’d been part of his small delegation to negotiate some treaty or another.

  The vampire who ran the town they’d been visiting had mentioned they’d been having some problems with Weres. She couldn’t even remember the dead vampire’s name, it had been so long since she’d seen him, but she could still recall the screams, the terror, the sick feeling as the Weres fed on the bodies, and most of all, the faces of the Weres when they shifted back to human as she and Max watched from their hiding spot. The Were in that picture had been there. He’d rinsed off some of the gore from a nearby barrel of water, and his chiseled, handsome features were unmistakable.

  If she hadn’t been warned by Max about the Goliaths and their gruesome habit of feeding on vampire flesh to extend their lives, she would never have thought it possible or thought she’d ever see a familiar face from that pack again.

  Swallowing back her fearful reactions, the brittle smile relaxed into something more natural as she reminded herself that she was older now, more capable, and had Royce’s protection to turn to if Gavin should ever show his face here.

  Thad took the glass back when Ashi was done with it.

  “Hey, no worries, man. Sorry if me and Sebastian were being unsociable tonight. We weren’t expecting to have to move all our stuff around. He’ll probably mellow out by tomorrow.”

  Thad leaned against the door frame, looking around the sparsely furnished room. He’d taken all his posters and a bit of the furniture, leaving it emptier and less inviting than usual. No doubt Alec would send someone to help Ashi fix it up within the next couple days.

  “What’s your name? Where’d you come from?” he asked, curious. Was he calling Analie a cub? Why? To Thad, he looked human enough, so he couldn’t quite understand why he’d refer to Analie that way. Unless there was another person Thad didn’t know about here, too. “Are you any relation to that girl downstairs with Mouse, or are you talking about someone else?”

  Analie smiled at Mouse. “Gavin’s my caretaker. He’s like my adoptive father, kinda sorta. He raised me from a baby, so he’s my dad, I guess. He’s the nicest person in the whole world. He’s like a big papa bear.”

  Analie started feeling a funny sort of lump in her throat. She coughed and frowned at herself. “Oh, hey, in the background, if you squint really hard, you can see my friend Kimmy. The one with the pigtails. This isn’t a recent picture, she doesn’t have pigtails anymore. She’s a Walker. They have the coolest parties in the world, and they’re all really nice.”

  “They’re all drink-the-Kool-Aid nice,” Christoph grumbled.

  “Shut up,” Analie snapped. To Mouse she said, “They’re nice because they like helping people. They’re big on community service and charities and stuff. Maybe when this cub-hide is over, I can get Freddy to lend me his photo album. Then I can show you a better picture of Kimmy and some more of Gavin.”

  Ashi realized he was rubbing his neck again. He dropped his hand. “Huh? Oh, uh, no problem, having a stranger move into your territory is always unpleasant. And yeah, Analie and I are both Goliaths. There was a—a thing... and....” Ashi shook his head, clenching his jaw. “It was stupid. She got herself into this. Shouldn’t have risked my neck for a weak low-rank like her.”

  Thad wasn’t sure what a Goliath was, but he could guess. As a matter of course, he wasn’t supposed to fool around or mingle with the young Were downstairs, and neither was Sebastian. Royce’s orders. So why was a different Were being moved right into his old room?

  Though abruptly wary, realizing what Ashi must be, Thad figured he couldn’t be that dangerous or Royce and John would never have let him into the building. Regardless, this was a werewolf. A somewhat angry and disgruntled one. Who seemed to be a bit of an asshole, judging by his feelings on Analie’s situation.

  And it was right in front of him. Sharing his apartment.

  Joy.

  “Listen, uh… it’s getting late. I’m going to hit the sack, I’ve got work in the morning. If you want to watch any movies, just make sure you put them back when you’re done. And help yourself to anything in the fridge. If there’s something you want, write it on the list on the counter. Everything is ordered on Thursdays and delivered Friday.”

  With that, he started beating his retreat, hoping Ashi would stay the hell away from him.

  Ashi nodded. “Thanks.”

  As soon as Thad was gone, he grabbed the blanket off one of the two beds and wrapped it around himself. He crammed himself into the closet, shut the door, and dropped his forehead onto his knees.

  Mouse nodded, afraid of writing anything in answer. Analie was too young, tender-hearted and naïve to use veiled threats, so Mouse was certain that she wasn’t talking about Gavin that way just to unnerve her.

  That meant that her own pack must shelter the younger ones from the grim reality of what it meant to be a Goliath Were. Mouse was not about to educate her.

  Christoph may or may not know, but either way, she didn’t want to come off like she was afraid or unsettled. If Christoph knew, it would make him think he or his pack would have the upper hand if she was ever faced with them in battle. If he didn’t, best not to let either of them find out from her. Whatever the reason their own pack kept quiet about it, Mouse didn’t feel comfortable being the one to enlighten them.

  Analie yawned mightily and rubbed her eyes. “Urgh, I have school tomorrow. G’night, Mouse.” She shuffled to her room to crawl into her den-bed. Hopefully Jacques didn’t have some super-complicated monstrosity in store for her.

 
Christoph was sleepy, too; his head was lolling to the side. Too much excitement and ass-whooping.

  Mouse nodded and gave Analie a wave, watching her go. She glanced down at Christoph, breathed a silent sigh, and tucked the blanket around him before retreating to her own room.

  Tomorrow would be a very interesting day.

  Chapter Ten

  Wesley was not having a good time.

  He didn’t have a headache. He couldn’t, really. Not anymore. But he felt like he should have one.

  John had been ungodly chipper last night when he’d come in and started yammering about the new blood in the building. Free game, he’d said. He wouldn’t shut up about it.

  He also said that Wesley would need to be extra vigilant in today’s watch since the new bird might try to fly after John took a taste last night. Didn’t seem to like it too much, apparently. Scared the hell out of him, as a matter of fact.

  Wesley really wanted to hit John.

  Instead, he’d wearily agreed to be on his guard, and instead of listening from his room (“I swear, I could hear a mouse creeping down the hall even with Rush Hour 2 at full blast on the telly! Promise!”), he was stationed in the foyer by the front door at the desk with the mail baskets. He’d taken a couple paperbacks and his laptop to keep busy, but he wasn’t having a good time and couldn’t concentrate on anything for very long, what with the regular donors going in and out to get to work or go shopping or visit family, the human maintenance and security staff wandering through, and some of Royce’s lawyers and financial advisors stopping by.

  He wanted to go back to bed. Instead, he sat there with his cup of coffee, watching the passersby, and tried to focus on the paperback in his hand.

  Ashi needed to escape.

  To do this he figured he’d need water, clothes, Christoph, and a map of the area. Water was easy to obtain. Analie could get him clothes and a map. Convincing Christoph without the aid of beer would be difficult, but Ashi was confident he would come.

  Christoph’s knee was no handicap to the plan. In fact, Ashi was relying on it. Christoph needed to break down, attracting any pursuers so that Ashi had a better chance of escaping.

  Convincing Analie to get him clothes, good shoes, and a map would most likely be harder. She didn’t see him as dominant anymore, even acted as if she was dominant. That really got to him. She was supposed to be cowering before him, not slamming him against walls.

  The escape would have to happen during the day. Ashi didn’t have Were strength, but he had been very athletic before he was turned. He had to treat this like a sprint and then a marathon. If he got far enough away, then found a secure location to stay for the night, he could make it.

  Analie coughed. “Isabelle?”

  “Yes?”

  “Geometry is lame. Just thought you should know.”

  “Thank you for your opinion. Work.”

  Analie jotted down a few answers before looking up at her tutor and coughing again. “If I finish ten problem sets, can I get literature for homework again?”

  “Nice try. You’re behind on math. You know that and you know why.” Isabelle raised an eyebrow.

  Analie ducked her head, scribbling away on her scrap paper. “Too much reading.”

  “I am thrilled you’re interested in Dostoyevsky’s Winter Notes on Summer Impressions, and that you’re devouring every modern and classical writer in the world, but you’ve set everything else aside. Not good.”

  “I would like to see one mathematician humanize a quadratic equation,” Analie grumbled.

  “And I would like to see you get through page forty,” Isabelle returned, giving Analie a look that the young Goliath interpreted as high-rank-about-to-go-all-high-rank-on-your-ass.

  She quickly nodded. “Page forty sounds awesome.”

  As their banter came to a close, Mouse wandered into the living room. She didn’t seem to notice or care that Isabelle leaned away when she paused to look over the papers on the table. After a long, drawn out pause, Mouse blinked wearily and continued on to the kitchen, where she got herself a cup of water.

  Isabelle watched in wary fascination as the elder vampire drank the entire glass in one go, refilled it, and started shambling back toward her room. She didn’t usually make appearances during the day, but she’d come out three times already, each time going for glasses of water. She looked tired and worn, but otherwise not terribly out of sorts considering she was up while the sun was still shining.

  After last night, Mouse was feeling particularly restless, and wasn’t sure why. She’d looked in on Christoph the first time she came out. Other than that, she hadn’t bothered or interrupted any of them, since this was supposed to be “education time.” She had zero interest in geometry or Analie’s progress on her homework.

  Ashi slowly crawled out of the closet and stood, cracking his back. Sleeping while smashed into a tiny ball was not workable. Still, it was more appealing than sleeping on the bed. Maybe under it?

  His stomach growled. Ashi tip-toed to the bedroom door, opening it a crack. No one in the living room. He scurried to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Box of Chinese, chopsticks poking out, no mold. He grabbed it and sprinted back to his room. He devoured the box in the bathroom, unwilling to stay in a wide-open space.

  Isabelle made a faint hissing sound when Mouse drew by again. The vampiress stopped in her tracks, then slowly turned to look at Isabelle.

  Analie looked up, her hair fluffing. When she saw Mouse shift to face Isabelle, Analie casually turned slightly in her seat, looking away. She was clearly saying, “Hey, look, I’m acknowledging your dominance, pay me no mind.” However, she kept her eyes locked on Isabelle.

  The Were narrowed her eyes and sidled over just a bit in her seat, away from Mouse, who lifted her lip, showing her contempt for the Were.

  Mouse was positively itching to return Isabelle’s hostility in kind. The only reason she didn’t was because of the laws of homestead, and because she didn’t want to scare the bejeezus out of Analie.

  If Isabelle did turn on her and attack first, Mouse would happily take up arms and cut her in half.

  Isabelle repeated that faint hissing sound, not quite a growl, not quite a curse, but offensive all the same. Mouse bared her fangs briefly in a silent snarl, and Isabelle shot to her feet as the vampire turned her back and continued on toward her room, showing no interest in rising to the bait of Isabelle’s challenge.

  Isabelle stayed where she was, silent, watching Mouse go with narrowed eyes turned a hot, angry amber.

  When Isabelle jumped up, Analie dropped facedown to the floor, covered her neck with her hands, and prepared to roll out of the way should Mouse and her tutor start a dominance battle in the living room.

  When two Goliaths got into a dominance fight, everyone got the hell out of Dodge. No one wanted to be around when two seventeen- to twenty-foot Weres started beating the shit out of one another. Analie had seen the damage that could be done to a spectator entirely by accident.

  The challenger also forfeited his right to life. The challenged could kill him if he saw fit and was able to do so. Analie didn’t much like the thought of Isabelle being sliced to ribbons by the impressive weaponry on the walls.

  So she did what any cub would do when in distress. She lifted her head and howled.

  Christoph was pink and hurt and, despite his extended siesta, tired. However, the only thing that registered was that a cub was howling and it behooved him to get his ass over there as fast as possible.

  The howling was enough to draw the attention of nearly every elder and ancient vampire in the building.

  Wesley was in Mouse’s door before the sound had completely died out, fangs extended and eyes red as blood as he looked for any sign of danger. John was soon there too, along with a woman and two other men who were al
so showing their fangs and shouting questions to see where the danger was, all of them appearing like magic as they used their incredible speed to come to Analie’s rescue.

  Royce was one of the last to show, but only because he had to negotiate two flights of stairs—which was a trifle difficult when going Mach Five without decimating walls in the process.

  Mouse had rushed to Analie’s side before Christoph made it halfway off the couch. Her fangs were fully bared, eyes a red haze.

  Isabelle had not expected this many of the vampires to be up and about. God, they were so fast, she hadn’t even seen most of them move, only show up in the door. That Alec Royce was watching with a mixture of curiosity and irritation from over the shoulders of the people blocking the door—the only exit—scared the living hell out of her. She quickly backed up, dropped the threatening attitude, and held up her hands in surrender as her back hit the bookshelf behind her.

  Analie had, at the most, expected to wake Christoph and maybe earn a look from Isabelle and Mouse.

  At the least, she had expected to be pointedly ignored. Maybe tossed against a wall as the two went at it.

  She hadn’t expected a veritable vampire posse to show up.

  Christoph was looking as wigged-out as she felt, and just a little embarrassed. Probably because he hadn’t been the first to reach her. To his credit, he still held his protective pose in front of her.

  Christoph’s eyes darted over the assembled vampires. Thank god Analie couldn’t see how damned terrifying they were like this.