Bite Back 05 - Angel Stakes

by Mark Henwick

  Small beginnings. I had no more than a hazy idea of where it might end. A loose association of Were? The alphas wouldn’t thank me for getting them involved in politics and making them attend the new Assembly, but Emergence had to be on behalf of all the supernatural races. As syndesmon, this was my duty.

  Just need to tell Felix and the other alphas I was doing it. Maybe not tonight.

  My work done, Yelena and I got dressed and left. Party poopers.

  I’d predicted there would be problems with the clothing. Yelena ended up shoeless and wearing someone’s bright green vest that was a size too large. My clothes, shed later than everyone else’s, were in one place. That was lucky because I was barely aware of dressing. A reaction had set in and I was so tired I couldn’t walk properly.

  “Diana will kill me,” Yelena hissed as she half-carried me down the mountain.

  Wolves escorted us, leaping and bounding around us, friendly monsters standing four feet tall, rubbing against us, gently—so they thought. We were both staggering when we finally cleared the trees and made it to the car.

  I slept on the way home; a fitful sleep, haunted by beautiful cloud dancers I could not hold.

  There were still guards on the gate at Manassah, but at four in the morning, it was silent inside.

  “The others will be coming soon,” Yelena said as she deposited me in the living room.

  “No. Don’t wake them,” I said. “I just want to sleep.”

  I wasn’t sure if that was still true. I’d been exhausted at Bitter Hooks, and now I was suddenly itchy. Restless. I wanted to prowl.

  She laughed. “I don’t need to wake them. You stay away from your House for a month, they won’t be able to sleep through your return. Neither will you. You’ll sleep better afterwards, though.”

  Her voice sounded oddly far away.

  I shivered.

  Come.

  I blinked. Had I said something?

  Manassah lay around me. Not silent. Beating like a heart. The night was the whisper of silk flowing across my skin and the taste of my marque on my lips.

  I remembered the first time I’d felt this, on the way in to the charity ball, drinking in the sensation. The exhilaration of the hunting predator and the fear of what I was becoming.

  Fear no longer.

  Come.

  Pia and David stumbled into the room, eyes wide and bright.

  My House closed about me and it didn’t matter how tired I had been. Their nearness was like fire in my veins. The last thoughts of sleep vanished.

  “Mistress,” whispered Pia, burying her face in the crook of my neck. Behind the press of her lips, I could feel her fangs manifest. And David’s too, as he pressed against me. And Yelena’s.

  Yesss.

  I hugged them tightly; David and Pia were still warm from their beds. Yelena was as chilled from the night as I was.

  I shivered and soaked in their warmth, their closeness.

  And yet David and Pia’s marques were wrong. I had known that already, but now it felt like gripping rose thorns. I needed them to match me exactly. Needed it. Like I needed air.

  My House.

  My neck felt loose, my head lolling back against Yelena. I grabbed David and Pia by their hair, holding their faces against my throat.

  “Feed,” I urged them.

  Tongues against my skin. Hot. Soft. Little ripples of pleasure snaked through my body.

  Fangs brushed my neck. Anticipation burned, exploding upwards.

  “Now. Now!” I gasped, unable to breathe with the storm rushing up through me.

  Two pairs of fangs sank into my neck.

  Yelena bit my upper arm, long fangs seeking the deep radial artery. Her pleasure shone through her eukori to me and fueled my own need.

  “Yes.”

  They pulled, and I felt my Blood searing through them, scalding them.

  All their eukori merged and overlapped, flowing through me as my Blood flowed through their taryma, down into the Athanate organs at the base of the neck.

  My own damaged eukori blended with theirs. I could feel the difference, sensing them directly rather than relayed through Yelena. They could tell too. Layers of pleasure doubled, one over another.

  No wonder Yelena said Athanate have orgies.

  And beneath it all, the thorn-gripping sensation of wrongness began to melt away. David and Pia’s marques began to swing slowly into line with mine as my Blood pulsed in their veins.

  The moment their marques settled with finality on mine sent a bell-clear, shocking pulse of pleasure through all of us.

  David’s head went back. His eyes rolled up and his fangs slipped out. He would have fallen if not for Yelena’s grip on him. Pia groaned, but she stopped biting and licked my neck on both sides, her aniatropics stinging me as they sealed the wounds she and David had opened.

  We staggered and fell onto the sofa.

  “David?” I asked, my voice rasping. I gripped his feverish face, and he murmured something unintelligible.

  Yelena cradled him carefully. “Just too much, too quickly,” she said confidently. “He’ll be fine.”

  We slipped from the sofa to the floor. I didn’t want to let go of them, any of them. If I did, I thought maybe the feel of that Blood ecstasy, that bone-deep satisfaction, would also slip through my fingers and be gone.

  And they weren’t Jen and Alex, or I’d have torn my clothes off and there would be a lot more than holding happening.

  They knew it. Yelena was grinning as she teased me with kisses on my shoulder.

  Pia was worse, if anything. The silk T she slept in was long enough to be a dress, but somehow it had ridden up her body. And it was about as concealing as breath mist on a glass.

  “Hussy,” I said.

  We laughed, but I didn’t miss the quick exchange of looks between Yelena and Pia.

  Oh, yes?

  Something serious in all the fun.

  Pia had drawn the short straw. She spoke solemnly as she combed fingers through the ends of my hair. “You need to choose your Diakon. Other Houses already think it’s strange that you’ve delayed this long. That maybe it shows you’re still damaged.”

  Our eukori were still tangled. She was scared that I would choose her. Ashamed that I knew she was scared.

  I’d been expecting this. Not tonight, but certainly while I was in Denver. I kissed her brow. “I’ve learned that sometimes, the duties of the Diakon are split between people.”

  “In large Houses,” Pia said.

  “Or special circumstances,” I countered. “I need you to be Mentor to Aspirants, Pia.”

  “Zamenik, we call it in Carpathia,” Yelena said.

  Pia was still scared, but being a Mentor was what she’d trained for. As Mentor, she’d failed David badly, but I trusted people who learned from their failures more than those who’d never known failure.

  “Yes, Mistress.” Her face serious, she stretched across me to kiss Yelena, acknowledging my implied decision.

  I confirmed it. “I need you, Yelena, to be my Diakon. Is it a different name in Carpathian?”

  “It’s the same.”

  “And sleeping beauty here.” I kissed David’s closed eyes. They were twitching as if he was dreaming. “I guess he’ll have to be in charge of technology and stuff like that. You have a Carpathian name for them, too?”

  “Yes. We call them IT managers,” Yelena said.

  We laughed again, and David stirred. His jaw clenched suddenly, but then he relaxed back.

  “No one feels like changing into a wolf suddenly?” I asked. A prickle of worry wound its way around my stomach. Athanate created new Athanate by biting humans with the intention to change them. That simple intention activated Athanate glands to produce the complex brew of prions that infused a human and started the change. Weres lacked the fangs to deliver the infusion. They started the change in humans through…how had Alex said it? Repeated intimate contact.

  David biting me definitely qualified
as intimate. A lazy pulse of pleasure beat in my throat.

  Pia pursed her lips. “We’ve never had a hybrid before, but I’m guessing Yelena and I are too old as Athanate to respond, even if you’ve given us an infusion of hybrid Blood. I’ll monitor David, of course, but if he becomes hybrid, so be it.” She shrugged. “Same for all of us. I would welcome it to be closer to you. More importantly, as Athanate, you cannot deny your House your Blood, whatever the consequences.”

  Yelena snaked her way along my side. “Or your bite,” she said and pulled the green vest off.

  “I claim priority.” Pia pushed her away. “I have been with her longer.”

  “I am Diakon!”

  “Big deal.”

  They tussled playfully, waking David.

  “Go on then.” Yelena pouted and wrapped a dazed David in her embrace. “I will look after him.” They kissed. Serious kissing.

  Pia was unconcerned. She wriggled underneath me and tugged my face down against her neck.

  “It’s time. Feed, Mistress,” she breathed.

  My fangs manifested with a surge.

  Yesss.

  Chapter 38

  I dreamed I was a lake, high in the mountains, fresh and clear and sparkling in the sun. Blue sky reflected in my still waters and a cool breeze kissed my face. I woke alone in bed, drifting gently up from sleep, feeling completely renewed and calm.

  My eukori stirred, stretched out like a cat, and then slowly faded like mountain mist.

  That was a huge improvement. And no pain.

  I was healing, and the strong scent of my marque hung in the air, resonating powerfully deep inside me. That was deeply comforting. I felt like I could face anything today.

  Today?

  It was broad daylight. Half the morning was gone.

  I jumped out of bed in a panic, grabbed a bathrobe and ran to find out what was going on.

  Yelena was in the kitchen.

  “Morning, Boss,” she said.

  “Morning. It’s…ahhh. What time is it?” My internal clock had failed.

  “Ten twenty.”

  She was dressed for the day, sitting at the breakfast bar, eating omelet and bacon on toast, sipping coffee and reading the Denver Post.

  Some things you just can’t control; I reached for a slice of crispy bacon.

  She blocked me.

  “Exercise first. I’ll start cooking your brunch in half an hour.”

  She was right. Like all Athanate, I did need to exercise. Put the effort in, and the Athanate Blood returned it threefold with health and strength and speed. Stop, and the negative effect would be as dramatic; my body would start to fail quickly.

  And the House charter I’d been drawing up with Pia insisted that everyone not only exercised, but became proficient in martial arts. I needed to keep setting an example.

  “Okay. Where are the others?”

  “David and Pia went to the office at six, as they do most days. The others went to work at about eight. Claude’s gone in to college. Savannah is job-hunting. The servants, I gave a day off.” She crunched the second-to-last bit of bacon. One piece left. “I think Jo’s in the study; she’s waiting to exercise with you.”

  I noticed that, next to the Post on the table, she had our cellphones.

  “That’s my cell.”

  “Yes.” Yelena held it up to show it was switched off.

  “Yelena! Felix will be trying to get hold of me. Naryn probably, too.”

  “Nothing from Naryn. Felix has called three times this morning. Very insistent. That’s why it’s off.”

  “You can’t—”

  “If you respond every time they call you, they’ll keep calling you and you’ll have to keep responding. You have a job to do, and you’re doing it. I’m your Diakon. They can call me. You need good rest when you’re resting, and enough time to complete the last impossible task they gave you before the next one.”

  “But…” There was something in the look on her face. A suspicion formed in my mind. “What did you say to Felix?”

  “I told him to fuck off.”

  I made it to the sink before all the coffee exited through my nose.

  “What?” I coughed.

  “Am stupid Ukrainian,” she said, hamming it up. “English not good. Also, not werewolf. Am stupid Athanate. Don’t understand. No idea he big boss I must kiss feet.”

  I couldn’t stop myself from laughing, but I had to protest. “It might have been important.”

  “Oh, for sure,” she said normally. “Everything an important person says is important; this is a definition, not so? But look at it this way. You’ve just done something impossible at Bitter Hooks which makes him number one wolf in America. What more does he want today?”

  I shook my head. There was a crazy Carpathian logic in there, but there’d be hell to pay when I called Felix back.

  I wasn’t going to convince Yelena. “Okay. I’ll deal with that after exercise.”

  Yelena nodded. “Today I think we should hunt Fay Daniels. Maybe find something about Forsythe.”

  “And visit Mom,” I said.

  I watched as she lifted the last crispy slice of bacon and started to nibble it. I made puppy-dog eyes.

  She laughed like the evil bitch she was.

  It was cold downstairs, in Jen’s basement gym.

  That was okay; I warmed up quickly enough, but I was barely into my abbreviated regime when Jofranka came in.

  I’d known the niece of my car mechanic since I’d been a rookie in the police, about the length of time I’d known Tullah. They’d both shown too much energy for any sane person to bear; I’d introduced them, hoping that they’d wear each other out. That hadn’t gone as planned.

  Now Jofranka was the only employee of my struggling private eye company that was still actually working for it, since neither Tullah nor I were around.

  And she was part of my House. What was the word Yelena used instead of kin? Katikia. Kin of the House.

  Unbitten.

  My jaw throbbed. After I dealt with my Athanate requirement for exercise, there was a requirement for Blood that needed attending to.

  If she agreed.

  Pia and I were working on a charter for House Farrell, and we couldn’t yet find the solution to this one problem. By my rule, the Athanate in my House must never take Blood that was not freely offered; no force or compulsion allowed. The rules for all Athanate, however, stated that any human in an Athanate House had to be kin or Aspirant. Humans that did not want to be bound to the House had their memories erased, and were allowed no further contact.

  And Skylur demanded I follow the Athanate rules.

  I put it aside for the moment while she paused at the door and bowed.

  Good.

  When the room was empty, maybe it was a gym. When someone came to use it as we did, it was a kwan or a dojo. You showed respect for the effort of all that used it. Not that I expected anything else of Jofranka, but I was pleased at her acknowledgment.

  She was dressed in her black training gi, her wild hair bound back.

  I paused my execution of Liu Leung’s Dragon form. Liu had modified the standard form to include fully linked butterfly kicks. That would be what Tullah had taught Jofranka, and I wanted to see how she handled them.

  I waved her forward and she came to stand next to me, not meeting my eye. “Dragon form, Shi Fu?” she asked quietly.

  She seemed more nervous than the exercise warranted.

  “Yes,” I said. “Lead. I’ll be right behind you.”

  She swallowed and began.

  I made her go through it twice before leading her in a simpler form.

  Tullah had done a good job teaching her over the last couple of years. Everything needed a little more work, but it always would.

  I took her through the butterfly kicks once more. “These are only for practice and exhibitions,” I warned her. “Or if you make it in the movies.”

  That got a smile from her.

  A
t the end, we bowed and knelt opposite each other, letting our bodies relax after the exercises.

  My fangs pulsed again. Now that I’d started biting, the urgency to bite all my House was growing. And I had Skylur’s orders. I closed my eyes and tried to reason through it, while my jaw kept pulsing.

  “Boss?”

  I blinked. “Huh? Sorry.”

  “It’s time.”

  “Oh. Yeah, Yelena said she’d cook me brunch.”

  “No.” She rolled her eyes, pretending exasperation when in fact she was a bundle of nerves. “Not eat. Bite. Time for you to bite me.”

  I was shocked; I had not seen this coming. I’d known I would have to talk to Jofranka eventually, and figure out what would be best for her. I hadn’t expected her to come to me.

  The fangs didn’t care. They wanted out now.

  I took a deep breath, willing my Athanate back down.

  “This is a big decision, Jo. And you have your brothers to think about. They can’t be part of the House until they’re old enough to make their own decisions.”

  When Jofranka had moved out of her abusive father’s house, she’d taken her two young brothers.

  “I can be kin and still look after them, can’t I?”

  “Yes, so long as you make sure they don’t know about the Athanate.”

  She swallowed and nodded. “Okay.”

  I started to say more about what binding meant, but she stopped me.

  “I know once I’m in, that’s it, that the binding will mess with my mind, but I guess what I’m saying is, my mind is already messed. Pia’s told me all about rights and responsibilities. She’s explained it all. I know what I want.”

  “Are you absolutely sure? No one’s put you up to this? Said you have to do it?”