by Angela Foxxe
“Ahh, Mr. Park, as if you had a choice.”
He opened his mouth to speak, she pounced on him, kissing him with an intensity that sent electricity down his spine. She could feel him kissing her back, her tongue in his mouth, his body responding immediately.
Men, so easy.
She kissed his cheek, running her lips down his neck; his breath came in ragged clumps. She paused, giving her canines time to elongate, before sinking her teeth into the carotid artery. He grunted, a low moan echoed in her ears as he came instantly. She held him close as his body bucked against her. She felt his pleasure, his pain, she could see, to some degree, inside him. She drank deep, only stopping when she sensed his heart racing, struggling to pump enough blood through his body.
She released him with a shudder. He collapsed to one knee, his head rolled back and forth, and his eyes hung open with an incoherent glaze about them. She turned her back to him as she spoke.
“This is Devado, do as she says and obey.”
“Yes, mistress.”
She smiled, taking slaves always left her excited. She stripped out of her dress as she walked for her bedroom. She could sense Devado usher the man out, she would take care of things.
In her room, two men waited for her. While many vampires took new thralls constantly, growing bored or tired of old ones, Christina kept them for as long as they could physically please her. They learned, and she hated breaking new ones in. The men, one in his thirties she had kept for almost a decade now, the other only a few years into college, sensed her presence and rose from the bed. They were naked, as she liked them to be, and they could tell what she wanted from the soft sheen of excitement that coated her body.
As they embraced her, she let herself be carried to the bed, for it was their role to pleasure her.
*
Reign held Cara close to her breast as the little baby fed upon her mother’s milk. All the excitement and confusion had left the baby untouched, not a mark on her, nor was she screaming, just famished.
She tried to make herself relax. All she could see was Skye’s bloody back hunched over her baby. She was thankful that Cara was okay and more so that Skye was also, but who would do this? She heard Richard enter, his breathing told her that he was still upset.
“Who could have done this?” she asked, not looking at him.
“It wasn’t the council, they would have come themselves, or sent someone like Heidi, no, whoever did this sent humans,” he said.
Reign could hear the worry in his voice. She was taken aback by it.
“Is that a big deal?”
“You know what pains we take to keep humans ignorant of our existence. Whoever did this uses humans as enforcers. That’s dangerous; it means they have no fear of being discovered. Which means they play for keeps.”
“You know who it is, don’t you?”
“I’ve got an idea.” He poked his head back out the hallway. “Indigo!”
A few seconds later, the Spaniard appeared, Skye limping at his side.
“She insisted, wanted to make sure the baby was okay.” Indigo ushered her in the room.
Skye immediately went to Reign and the baby.
“Thank you,” she whispered to Skye. “You could have died.”
“And let something happen to me bairn,” she said with a tired smile.
“Reign, a second?” Richard asked. She handed Skye the baby, which she gladly took.
“You two don’t look happy, what is it?”
“Vampires,” Richard said quietly.
“They’re real? I mean, I know right, but I mean, real?”
“Yes, but not like you think in the movies. A hundred times worse.”
“How could they be worse than blood sucking demons that feed on the living?”
Richard took a breath and let it out slowly. “You can’t kill them; like a bad penny they just keep coming back.”
“What about wooden stakes and silver?”
“Superstition. You can burn them till there is nothing left but ash, but eventually, they come back.”
“That sucks.”
The three of them paused for a moment and then broke out in chuckles.
“Okay, what’s the plan?” Reign asked.
“There’s only one thing to do, boss.”
“I know, I don’t like it, but we can’t win this; we run. Make the arrangements.”
Indigo gave a curt nod before departing. Richard took Reign by the arm and led her to the back of the loft.
“They are looking for us for a reason, it may be we violated their territory, or something else, but only one thing has changed recently…”
Reign waited for a moment; when he said nothing else, it dawned on her.
“Me and the baby.”
Richard nodded.
Reign stifled the fear that flooded through her. If she believed in werewolves, then it was only logical that everything else was true. Hell, I met a Norse god. She hadn’t even wrapped her brain around that one.
“Don’t forget your magic, that’s new too, unless there’s something you’re not telling me?”
“No,” she said with a smile, she leaned in to kiss him; she needed the comfort of his warmth next to her, to be held.
After a few moments, she was able to breathe again, to focus.
“Where are we running?”
“To the equator, it’s a contingency plan Indigo and I worked up years before.”
“Why?”
“The sunlight part is true, it won’t kill them, but they hate it. Imagine having the worst sunburn ever, that’s what they get.”
“Okay, good, the equator it is, when do we go?”
“Now. You and I will hang back and wait for your passport, but everyone else goes now.”
Abbey, who must have been hiding around the corner, stepped forward.
“I want to stay with Reign, it will take more than just you to protect her, and if there’s trouble, I want a chance to avenge TJ.”
Reign could tell Richard did not like the idea, but she could also tell that if he said no, Abbey would just leave, and likely die on her own.
“Done, get a day bag; we got to get out of here today.”
Abbey nodded and headed for the room she shared with the other girls.
“Listen, Reign, the next thing I have to ask you isn’t going to be easy.”
“I have to leave the baby with Skye.”
Richard looked amazed and she wished she could take a picture of him.
“I expected to have to fight you on this.”
“Why? It’s the right thing to do. Come on, let’s help everyone get packed.”
Reign held Richard’s hand as they watched the pack leave. All that was left was Abbey, Indigo, and the two of them. Skye, despite her recent trauma, was in charge. It amazed Reign how willing the pack was to just leave like that. No questions, no doubts, Richard said go to Brazil and they packed up and went. Taking her baby with them. It felt wrong, but she knew it was the right thing to do. Skye could look after her, and she would be safe from the vampires.
“Now, what?” she asked a little louder than she meant.
“It will be okay, honey, we just have to wait the day or so for our guy to get you your passport.”
It really was only a day. Richard's phone beeped during breakfast the next morning. A casual glance at it told him that the passports were ready and could be picked up.
Excellent.
Abbey sat across from the table where they were all eating breakfast. Feeling like it would be a good idea to go out to eat, Richard had taken them to one of the many breakfast joints that dotted Seattle. This one was his favorite. It sat snugly under the overpass to I-90, had three major roads nearby, and the absolute best French toast he’d ever eaten.
Reign troubled him though, she looked calm, but he could smell the fear and anxiety on her. She had come to the decision to let Skye take the baby easily enough, but he could tell her conscience was weighing on her
.
“It’ll be okay, Reign, this time tomorrow we’ll all be sitting on a beach, and nothing has to keep you and the baby apart again.”
“That obvious?”
“You’re a new mom, and you've been separated from your baby, it doesn't take a shrink to figure it out.”
Indigo smirked. “You remember that time the Army doc thought you were crazy?”
Richard sighed.
Abbey looked disinterested, barely having touched her coffee and toast. Reign, however, had a delightfully inquisitive look on her face. “Do tell more,” she said to Indigo.
“It was during the war, and Rich had just come back from a monthly turn, he didn’t have to, mind you, but you want to, you know?”
Reign nodded, Richard took a sip of his coffee and a bite of his eggs.
“I suppose there’s no way to get you to tell the story, right?”
“I am! So he’s just outside the tent, naked as the day he was born, and he decides, since the moon is still out, one last howl before the night was over. You don’t know the pull the moon has over us, howling at it, well its a religious experience. Richard throws his head back and roars, just a tremendous roar.
“When he's done, there’s this Captain, our CO, watching him. Now a lot of guys do stuff to make you think they are crazy in war, anything to get out, but Richard, well he was a volunteer. The Captain comes over to him, and says ‘Why are you naked, howling at the moon? You trying for a section eight?’, and Richard just looks the guy square in the face and says, ‘It seemed like the thing to do, sir.’”
Indigo could not keep talking, he burst into giggles as if it was the first time he heard the story. Reign followed suit, Richard just hid his face behind his mug.
“I was a lot younger then,” he said in defense.
“That’s what you always say,” Indigo said between fits of laughter.
“Why do I even keep you around?”
Richard sighed again as the table finished their laughter at his expense. It was good for them to laugh, and if his slight humiliation could get it from them, it was an even trade. He pushed his plate to the side. He sipped his coffee and watched Reign as she spoke to Indigo, asking him questions about the war, about their past. He loved watching her talk, just looking at her, her pretty brown eyes, the way her hair fell over her shoulders, the place where her neck turned into her jaw.
“Hey, lover boy, time to go,” Indigo broke his trance. He hadn’t even realized so much time had gone by, he was just lost in looking at her.
“Right, okay, let’s roll.”
He dropped a hundred on the table to cover a forty-dollar tab. He caught a glimpse of the server's smile as he shut the door. It always made him happy to make someone’s day.
“I love that about you,” Reign said to him.
“What?”
“You are generous. When we met, you offered to pay for everything, even if it wasn’t part of the contract. You do that, you make people happy.”
He pulled her aside, drew her close to him; his hands roamed the small of her back, luxuriating in the feel of her skin under her tank top, the goose bumps that immediately formed when they kissed.
Her lips were warm, wet, and inviting. Their kiss turned into a deep, long exchange of love. His heart pounded for her, hers for him; he could feel her love, and excitement, and he wished or hoped, she could feel his.
Indigo politely coughed after what seemed like an eternity. Reign smiled and looked up to Richard, a playful, yet loving gaze.
“God, I love you,” she whispered to him.
“I have to say, I love you more every day. No man should be this lucky.”
He leaned into her, kissing her one more time, before heading for the car. They had rented a sedan for the day, something inconspicuous to get them around town. It was a twenty-minute drive on I-90 to Bellevue, over Lake Washington, and away from the city center. Part of why he chose the restaurant he did was because it was right there.
Saturday mornings were not terribly busy on the bridge, traffic hummed along nicely, no accidents or construction slowed them down. Halfway across the bridge, Indigo stiffened in the passenger seat. Richard said nothing, his friend would let him know when the time was right.
He looked himself but could see no one following them. The enhanced senses they carried were a bit useless inside a car, all they could smell were the other people and the plastic-ness of the interior.
After a few moments Indigo spoke. “We’re being followed.”
Richard looked again, but still could not see anything out of the ordinary.
“I give up, which one?”
“The police car.”
As if by magic, the squad car turned its lights on.
“Shit,” Indigo muttered.
“What now?” Reign asked.
“We can’t pull over on the bridge. Take the first exit, it’s possible it's just a random stop,” Richard said. He didn’t believe it, though, not for a second. He had heard rumors that the Seattle-based vampires controlled the local government, even some police, but he hadn’t believed it; not even the craven undead could be that bold.
“Run or stop?” Indigo asked, with a calm Richard didn’t feel.
“Wait,” Reign said. “Let me try something.” The girl closed her eyes while all other eyes in the car were on her.
What is she up to? Richard didn’t have time for much musing before her eyes popped open.
“When we were in the loft, I didn’t really have time to explain, but they had a sort of… glow.” She looked embarrassed, her eyes downcast and her cheeks turned a little pink. “I don’t really know how to explain it, but they were gray, and these guys are too.”
“How’s that help us?” Abbey spoke up, a grim sort of anger on her face. She wanted to fight.
“Everyone else is sort of this orange color, with some pink, you guys are bright yellow, so I figure its some kind of mark. My point is, they work for the vamps.”
Indigo didn’t wait for the order, he stomped on the gas. The rental roared as it shot through three lanes of traffic to the exit. Indigo kept the car on the road at impossible speeds as he navigated the exit.
“How come they aren’t using their siren?” Reign asked from the back seat.
“The whole department isn’t under their control, if they use their siren they draw in other police,” Indigo replied, his brows furrowed in concentration. There was a few moments of silence; no one spoke for fear of breaking their driver’s concentration. The rev of the engine, followed by screeching brakes, then more revs, were the only sounds for the next few minutes.
“We're going to go around this corner and lose them for about a minute boss, but they know the city and I don’t. Sooner or later we're going to get caught.”
Richard swore; he didn’t like to, often, but he felt the net closing in.
“Okay, plan B, Reign you and I hop out under that bridge. Indigo, take Abbey as far as you can and get to a bus or a train and head south.”
“Roger,” Indigo replied.
“But I want to fight,” Abbey growled.
“Girl, there’s no winning this, only surviving, stay with Indigo, he’ll need your help.”
“What about us?” Reign asked.
“We get lost in the crowd.”
The car screeched to a halt and Reign leaped out, she was barely a foot away when it took off again. Indigo certainly could drive. Richard was there, arm around her shoulder, the two walking casually into the parking lot full of booths from the street fair. The police car sped by and it took all of Reign’s willpower not to look.
“That was close,” Richard whispered in her ear. It felt good to have him by her again, to feel his warmth, especially now that the baby was so far away. She put one arm around his waist and melted into his side. Since he was so much taller than her she fit snugly underneath his shoulder.
“Too bad we're running for our lives, this would make quite the nice date,” Richard mused.
Reign agreed, the booths were set up to sell all sorts of wares, including scarfs, rugs, and handmade pottery. An assortment of blown glass and bamboo mats were just beyond the first set of booths.
Reign grew up in Seattle and the variety of cultures and people that lived and worked in the Puget Sound never ceased to amaze her. As they walked among the crowd, one minute turned to five, which turned to thirty. Reign began to relax.