Riding the Storm
Page 17
“I don’t know and I don’t care. I’ll let Gavin know what’s going on, and probably Josef and a few of his top people. Everyone else will find out when they ask questions.”
“What does this mean, as far as time you and I spend together?”
“It means you get access to the main floor of the house. Once everyone in my section of the house approves of you, you’ll have twenty-four hour access to the basement and you’ll be able to come and go as you please, so if you want to show up a few hours before the sun sets so you’ll be there when I wake, you can. Or, if you want to stay with me until I rest at dawn, you’ll be able to get out once I’m down for the day. Until you get daytime access downstairs I can let you downstairs once I rise in the evening, but we’ll need to make sure you’re gone before I’m down for the day.”
Kendra paused, then rushed into saying, “Just so you know, most human companions are live-ins. If you want to move in once the other downstairs residents give the okay, you can. If you don’t, that’s okay, too, but I just needed to get it out there, so you’d know you have the option. You aren’t technically a human companion, you’re my lover, my boyfriend — you’re my equal, but, it’s kind of a protocol thing to make the offer.”
“Are you asking me because of protocol, or because you want me to move in?”
“A little of both? I don’t expect you’ll actually move in permanently because your yacht is your home, but it’d be nice if you’d come stay for a bit, and then maybe we could stay here for a while, though we’ll need to work on some security concerns before I regularly rest here in the daytime. I know you have work to do, and while I have about a week of mostly downtime with The Library, once the contractor gets to a certain point then we’ll start training employees and getting ready to open, and I’ll be busy again for a while.” She leaned in, gave him a quick peck on the lips. “In between us needing to work, I guess I’m hoping we can spend more time together, if you’re okay with it.”
“Sure, I can give you a couple of drawers here to keep stuff, and let you take over one of the closets in a guest bedroom for clothing you need to hang.”
“And I can make room for you in my suite, as well, so you can keep some of your things at my place. You’ll need to hang out for a while, though. The downstairs residents will need to get to know you before they give you twenty-four hour access to the downstairs — each suite of rooms locks, but vampires are a bit touchy about who can get to within one locked door of them during the day.”
Chapter Fourteen
Kendra didn’t mention much to her housemates about Eric, though they all noticed he was with her a good bit. The new security system had been installed for a while now, and once the initial discomfort of ‘something new’ was over, the vampires appreciated it. Eric had also been teaching a class a week, each filled to capacity. Even vampires already using computers attended a few of the classes, and most said they’d learned enough to make it well worth their time. Within a week, the downstairs residents gave the green light for Eric to have twenty-four hour access to the basement.
Eric opted to stay home and work for opening night of The Library, as he knew she’d be busy. Abbott arrived at midnight, pleased with the activity as well as the amount of money going into the registers. He’d seen the plans, knew Kendra had put in roof access, and motioned her to the stairwell.
When they emerged into the cool night air, the stars twinkling above in the midnight sky, he said, “The Owl King, as well as the female owl we intend to take to the council, are supposed to meet us at TBC at three, which should give you enough time to close here and still make it. We’ll decide during the meeting who’ll take the girl to the council tomorrow night.”
“What do I need to know?”
“Tricia, the female, is considered something well above a genius. The man she works for was a computer prodigy and multi-millionaire before he was of driving age, and by all accounts, considers his inner circle as family. The Owl King has implied he won’t hesitate to trade her off for political clout; however, if she doesn’t return to work after the two week vacation she’s requested, indications suggest we’ll have a billionaire human with infinite resources looking for her.”
Kendra shrugged. “So one of us pays him a visit and changes his memory of why she left and when she’ll be back. A one year sabbatical to see the world, and when the year’s up, she can call him and tell him she fell in love with someone in Dubai and isn’t coming home.”
“When Gavin tried to peer into the human’s mind, he couldn’t. There’s a possibility he’s built the kind of shields necessary to keep us out, and he’s too important of a human to kill off, should we expose ourselves to him without a way to make him forget.” Abbott looked away, watching humans walking up the hill to a parking lot, hand in hand. “There’s something else. She appears to be… what is the current word? Fuckbuddies, I believe, with one of Aaron Drake’s tech people. He also expects her back in two weeks, and since he’s a horse, she can be honest with him about where she’s going.”
Kendra’s stomach rose into her throat as she realized the ramifications. “The Council won’t be able to keep her.”
“Correct.”
“We can’t guarantee Eric’s safety from them.”
“I’m afraid not. I’m sorry, Kendra.”
“How far will you step out, to go to bat for him?”
He sighed and looked into the distance as he said, “You’re special to me, and he’s special to you. I’ve been worried about you, these past decades.” He shifted his gaze to look at her, his expression caring, almost sad. “You’ve gone through the motions of living, but haven’t found much joy in it. He’s put life back into you, so I’ll go farther than I would for another human, but you have to know I can’t put any of our people at risk to save him.”
Kendra wrapped her arms around herself, needing touch, and as her Master, Abbott knew and pulled her into his embrace.
“Thank you for caring about him, and about me,” Kendra said, her face at his chest as she let him hold her. “I trust you’ll do what is in your power to do, Master.”
Abbott looked up, and she felt him taking in the energy of the night as he said, “I have a few more stops to make before the meeting. I miss the days when I could fly on a dark night. Electricity and photography have made life simpler, but it means I must get in a car and drive, instead of taking flight.” He kissed the top of her head. “I’m happy with what you’ve done here, getting a new establishment up and running. I’d like you to work with my media people to keep up with the advertising campaigns you’ve begun, but otherwise, your job is finished and my people will take over keeping it running.” He let go and stepped back. “I’ll see you in a few hours.”
* * * *
Kendra didn’t text Eric when she finally left The Library. When he was with her he usually stayed up to somewhere around two or three in the morning, but when not with her she knew he often went to sleep closer to one.
In the past weeks they’d bundled up and gone roller blading, bicycle riding, rappelling, and caving — and Eric had finally taken her on the nighttime hang gliding flight he’d promised.
He hadn’t told her where they were going, only that they’d have to leave right at sundown, and what she should wear. He’d driven her to the Ocoee area, where they could get away with being towed up by an ultralight at night without too much risk of getting caught. One of Eric’s friends had agreed to a nighttime tow, and then Eric had piloted them for over an hour until they landed, the feel of the wind in their faces as they silently soared and drifted through the crisp, night air. Kendra had been speechless at first, awed by the sensation of being lifted by the air, moved by the breezes, and flying in a whole new way. Hang gliding was such a different feeling than that of flying magically, and her heart soared as Eric piloted them through the inky black sky.
She pulled into the parking lot at TBC and immediately knew something was wrong.
Abbott?
He wasn’t going to tell her until they were face-to-face, so she made her way across the parking lot, and the front door opened as she approached.
“You know Natalia, Mitroff’s second,” Abbott said as she walked in, “and to her left is Abel, His Highness the Owl King. Beside him is Tricia.”
Kendra gave a respectful nod as she said, “Your Majesty, it’s nice to meet you.” She turned to the girl, “Hello, Tricia. I’m sorry you’ve been dragged into this, we’ll try to make it as painless and quick as we can, so you can get back to your life.” She looked at Natalia. “Of course, how quickly we can get through this likely depends upon Natalia, who I wasn’t expecting to see, tonight.”
“Yes,” Natalia said, her expression much too smug. “When we realized you had no intention of delivering the human to us, the Council decided to collect him ourselves.”
Abbott was holding strong shielding, protecting the vampires and human companions in the city, so Natalia couldn’t weevil her way into anyone’s thoughts or willpower while she was here. He looked at ease and relaxed, but she knew better. Natalia would’ve never been allowed in the territory under normal circumstances, and was only here now because of her position within the Media Council.
As much as she wanted to tear into Natalia, doing so wouldn’t help Eric. “I trust he’s being treated well,” she said, her voice cool, “his value as a human is great. He’s under The Abbott’s protection, as well as mine, and I believe you’ll find he has other advocates in the supernatural world, as well.”
Natalia inclined her head. “The Council is prepared to financially remunerate both you and Abbott for the human. He’s going directly into the operant conditioning program, so he can be trained as quickly as possible to be the most use to us.”
Operant condition was political-speak for the “do as you’re told or we’ll hurt you” training program, and Kendra cringed as she realized he’d likely be there at least until tomorrow night before they could get him out. She needed to complete this meeting with Natalia and get on the phone with Aaron Drake… and hope Eric’s connection to Ranger was enough to get the security company’s help in going after the Media Council.
“We refuse monetary compensation for the human, and we require his safe and swift return,” Abbott said, his voice succinct.
“And we require a human qualified for the job, as well as a supernatural who will accept a full time paid position. It is my understanding the owl girl you’ve brought is not interested, and I’m also led to believe she has connections with a security firm we do not wish to incite at this time.”
“As does the man you’ve taken,” Kendra told her. “You’ll need to find another human, if you wish to avoid entanglement with Aaron Drake and his people.”
Natalia observed her a few seconds before saying, “You seem to believe you are speaking truth, but nothing flagged on our research so I’ll have to believe you are mistaken, unless evidence presents itself otherwise.”
“Remove him from the operant conditioning program immediately, and make arrangements for me to pick him up, Natalia.”
“Sorry, the Council is in unanimous agreement we need to rectify the video game problem as soon as possible, and your human seems to be well qualified to help us staff the division. We’ll need players as opposed to creators, but he seems to have a stable of people who play his games and help with development. As is the case with the readers and reviewers we’ve commandeered, most qualified humans should be more than happy to take on a life of playing video games one after another, with only food and lodging given in payment.”
Eric would never be happy being kept indoors, living a life of video games instead of being outdoors having new adventures. It would kill him.
She was also aware Natalia was likely working towards making whatever offer her Master had sent her to make, and Kendra needed to end the meeting before the offer was made, because she couldn’t ask Abbott to back off the fight for South Carolina over one human.
“If no further negotiations are possible with you alone, then I’d like to request a meeting with the entire Media Council, within the three days specified under supernatural grievance procedures. In the meantime, nothing irrevocable is to be done to the human.”
Natalia gave a curt nod and looked towards Abbott. “I assume you’ll have your second drive me to the airport, and watch me leave?”
Gavin stepped forward. “Your pilot was sent home. You’ll be returned home on our jet, so we can be sure you don’t detour while in our territory.”
She flinched the barest amount, which meant Gavin had messed up her plans. Natalia recovered quickly and moved to the door, gliding on her stiletto heels in her pencil skirt and suit jacket, the jet black bun at her hairline as severe as the rest of her, and the red of her lipstick the only color on her body.
The second the door closed, Abbott was on the phone. “Aaron, we have a situation, do you have a moment to speak in private?”
Aaron and Abbott were close friends, but each tried to keep their politics separate from the other. In this case, since Eric was a blood relative of one of Aaron’s men, he could justifiably step into the situation without the supernatural community making as many waves about a shapeshifter and vampire joining forces, politically.
He took a few minutes explaining the situation in succinct words, and Kendra wondered why he was letting Abel and the girl stay to hear their conversation. Abbott did nothing without a good reason, though, so she took her seat and listened.
After he’d explained, the entire room heard Aaron ask, “Is Abel still present?”
“He is.”
“Put me on speakerphone, so we can all have a proper conversation.”
Abbott put his phone in the center of the table and Abel said, “What can I do for you, Aaron?”
“Since you’ve been brought into this by virtue of one of your people, can I ask for your help in neutralizing the situation on behalf of your girl, without having to resort to the treaty between the Owls and Swans?”
Abel was silent a few moments and finally said, “No, but I’ll do it as a personal favor to you, to try to make up for the insult to you and your wife when I ordered her abduction. She’s long since forgiven me, but I’m aware you have not.”
Aaron was silent long enough Kendra thought he was going to refuse, but he finally said, “I’ll consider a step towards forgiveness, Your Highness.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty. What do you need from me?”
“I need to work with Abbott and Kendra while they’re still awake. I’ll contact you with your instructions after dawn.”
Chapter Fifteen
Eric had known someone was in his head, but hadn’t been able to get them out. They’d somehow forced him to remain motionless as they boarded his yacht, put him on a boat, drove to a marina, transferred him to a car, drove to the middle of nowhere, and then flew him to wherever here was. All he knew was it was on top of a remote mountain, with no visible streets leading to the mostly underground fortress.
Putting a shield up didn’t kick out the intruder in his brain, but when the people who’d abducted him handed him over to other people, he felt them pounding his shields, unsuccessfully trying to get in.
“I thought this man wasn’t a human companion?”
“Not to my knowledge, why?”
“I can’t get in. Did you have problems?”
“None.” He felt someone else trying to come in, and then, “He wasn’t shielded when we took him. He’s been taught, but hasn’t learned to hold them fulltime, apparently.”
Eric realized he could move now that everyone was out of his head, but knew he was no match against vampires. He pointed his thoughts towards Abbott, called to him, but there was no response. He tried Kendra, but again, no response.
He took a breath and told his captors, “
I’m under the protection of The Abbott, and demand to make a phone call.”
“The Abbott will be compensated for your loss. Did he teach you to shield?”
“No one taught me. I read a book after a testing made me curious.” He concentrated on the true portion of his statement, and hoped they didn’t smell the lie.
One of the vampires grew long talons on her hands, stepped to him, and within seconds Eric’s clothes were in tatters at his feet.
“First lesson will be what happens to you when you shield your mind from us.”
Someone grabbed his arms, held them behind his back, and another person knelt before him and grabbed his nuts. Eric sidestepped them, but the pain in his arms and balls had him moving back in place with a scream.
Five seconds later his cock was in a steel prison, a steel ring was snug behind his balls, nearly strangling them, and someone put a heavy weight at the base of the ring, dragging his balls toward the floor. Eric closed his eyes, breathed through the pain, and concentrated on the egg shaped metal shield around him, as if he were in a one-person spaceship.
Kendra and Abbott would come for him, he just had to keep everyone out of his head until he was rescued.
“Can’t you just bite him and force him to our will?” one of the men asked, and another answered, “Not until The Abbott and his third have been compensated and the paperwork complete. Natalia might choose to do so when she arrives, but I won’t risk the wrath of The Abbott by having the blood of someone under his protection flowing through my veins.”
This person stepped in front of Eric and sounded like an attorney, his voice precise and authoritative as he said, “You’ll earn water, food, sleep, and the ability to enjoy an erection with good behavior. Misbehavior will earn you pain and humiliation. Your girlfriend started legal proceedings for a hearing, and until the hearing we can’t alter you permanently.” Eric opened his eyes and took in the teenager in front of him, common sense telling him if this was a vampire, the teen looks were deceiving. The boy-man continued. “Since by all accounts you’re likely an anal virgin, we can’t fuck your ass until after the hearing, but nothing says you can’t provide oral sex to both the males and females who demand it. We can’t turn you into a vampire or any kind of shapeshifter, nor can we do anything that’ll create a permanent scar. However, there are millions of things we can do to bring you inline, until the hearing where you become the irrevocable property of the Media Council, from which point we can do whatever we wish, including kill you, should you prove to be untrainable.”