Riding the Storm

by Candace Blevins

  “It’s okay,” Kendra told Eric. “My feelings aren’t hurt. Duke is working it so I can be accepted at a later date, because trying to force it too early won’t work. If you want to ride with them, you should go.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The intel Eric and Brain gathered told them Mitroff was indeed planning to hit them the next night, to be followed up with daytime attacks by the various shapeshifter groups in South Carolina, even though they’d signed agreements with Abbott.

  As a result, the supernatural leaders were able to move their people just outside the threatened locations, and the battle turned into a slaughter, with Mitroff’s people overwhelmed by numbers, strategy, and battle hardware. When it was over and dawn was approaching, the vampires who could fly all went to ground as they often had to in the days of old when they were away from home — by going into the woods and literally burying themselves. The rest were driven to bunkers Abbott and Aaron had built but not told anyone about. In this manner, there were no scent trails for anyone to follow.

  The RTMC gave Eric a locker for his things, and let him sleep in one of their underground rooms. Kendra was busy with the fighting and didn’t come home for days, but checked in with him when she could, and made it a point to make sure he knew she was safe just before sunrise, and then when she rose in the evening.

  On the fourth day, the vampires and many of the shapeshifters attacked Mitroff’s strongholds again, including a few places they only knew about because they were following emails and other correspondence. They still didn’t get the Master Vampire, but they took out more of his top people, further eroding his power base.

  Eric had fun partying with the bikers, and he made friends with more than just Duke and Brain. In between working on his game and partying, he designed a way to make a secure resting place in the basement of his yacht. It would only be large enough for Kendra to lie in, but when he’d finally seen the tiny drawer she slept in at the safehouse, she’d reminded him she literally dies at sunrise — it isn’t sleep, and she doesn’t need space to be comfortable.

  There was no reason he couldn’t put a hidden drawer in the bowels of the yacht, as long as he fireproofed it, and made sure once she was inside, it was impossible to open from the outside. Some research showed him a new type of fireproof concrete weighing a fraction of the traditional kind, and he ended up with a titanium shell inside the concrete, with an ingenious locking mechanism. He ran the plans by Abbott, and got the name of a contractor the Master Vampire said was trustworthy to not talk about what he’d built.

  At six days, Kendra finally returned, and she and Eric moved back to the coterie house. However, it was another two weeks before Abbott gave the okay for Eric to move back into his yacht. By this time, Kendra’s new hidden resting spot was finished, and the depth of emotion she showed when he surprised her with it floored him.

  “Hey,” he told her, stroking her cheek. “What’s going on? It’s just a place for you to sleep, so we can be sure you’re safe.”

  “No one besides Abbott has gone out of their way to make sure I’m safe since…” she leaned into him, squeezed a little tighter. “I’m not sure I remember the last time. My original Master did, but that was more about him keeping his property safe. My second Master put me in a safe place, but it’d already been built, he just assigned it to me. I’m not sure a lover has ever created a safe place for me, Eric. I’ve always had to arrange it for myself.” He hugged her, at a loss for what to say, and she continued, “And you’ve thought of everything. It’s hidden so no one can find it, and the smells of the engine room will cover my scent as I walk to and from it. It’s fireproof, and I have two ways to get out in case of an emergency. Words alone can never tell you how much this means to me, Eric.”

  Their sex that night was exceptionally good, but it was once again two Doms being intimate, with neither truly in charge. Kendra knew she should offer to submit to Eric again, but felt as if the ball was in his court, now. She’d offered, he’d turned her down… but surely he meant to keep her around a while if he built her a resting place on his yacht?

  During the Christmas season, Eric entered his yacht into Chattanooga’s annual Parade of Lights, where boats are decorated in spectacular fashion to participate in a parade on the water. He enlisted the help of the vampires he’d made friends with, and they all had a lot of fun decorating, and then partying on the boat during the parade.

  Kendra loved seeing him so at ease with her friends, and didn’t want the magical night to end. They watched the fireworks after the parade from the top deck, arm in arm while oohing and aahing.

  Eric spent Christmas at the coterie house, and was surprised so many of the vampires got into the Christmas spirit, Kendra included.

  Kendra wanted Eric to see she could travel to fun places, so her gift to Eric was couples accommodations for two weeks at a vampire friendly ski resort in Colorado — with night skiing under the lights until two, and then skiing without lights for the rest of the night, and secure areas for vampires to rest during the day. She also made arrangements with Abbott for the use of his plane to get them there and back.

  Kendra had been watching for one of the new ultra-books to come on the market, and Eric managed to get a preproduction unit from the manufacturer for Kendra’s gift.

  After the magic of Christmas, Kendra decided it was time to tell him a little of her past. He hadn’t brought it up again, and she knew he was curious. She also knew something had to give at some point. They were getting along great, but they were also in a holding pattern, with neither willing to rock the boat enough to move them beyond.

  So, she’d open up to him about those first centuries of her life, and then take the bull by the horns and do something about their sex life.

  She could hear his heartbeat nearby when she rose for the night, and immediately knew he was in his office, working. It was still daylight out, and even though the yacht was in the boathouse, she still didn’t feel comfortable going up to a level with so many windows.

  I’m up.

  Hungry?

  For you? Always.

  I’ll be down in a couple of minutes.

  She’d showered before she rested for the day, so she got in his bed now, naked, to wait for him.

  He came into the room ten minutes later, obviously tired.

  “Did you work all day?”

  He nodded. “I woke up at seven this morning with an idea, and I’ve spent most of the day working on it. Time got away from me, I haven’t had dinner yet.”

  “I’ll make a phone call, and in twenty minutes I’ll have a steak dinner here for you, and a nice bag of dinner for me. Were you at a good stopping place, or do you need to work some more?”

  “I can feed you, Kendra. The steak sounds good, but don’t order the blood.”

  She shook her head. “You were going to need a few nights off soon, anyway. You know human companions were never intended to be a vampire’s sole source of nutrition. You’re tired, you need your energy. Come lay with me while I make the phone call.”

  As he ate, she sat across the table and told him, “You once asked me about who changed me, and I gave a few details, but…” she shook her head again. “Honestly, you don’t need to know the details of what happened in those first centuries, but in order to understand me fully, you probably need to understand what didn’t happen.”

  “I’ll listen to whatever you want to tell me.”

  “I lived a hard life before being turned, but then, just about everyone did, back then. Remember, this was before electricity and running water, before police officers and judges and pretty much any of the luxuries of what we think of as a civil society. I’m not sure what I did to gain the attention of Gouspatzi, but he captured me, raped me, tortured me until I was nearly dead, and then decided I had enough fortitude to become his new plaything, and he turned me.”

  Eric opened his mouth to speak, but she jumped in, to keep him from saying anything. “It wasn’t the first
time I’d been raped, or even the twentieth. I told you, I’d already lived a hard life. The important thing you need to know is that vampires have to be taught control, we have to learn how to overcome our inner beast, remember what it’s like to be human. We have to learn to shield, and learn to use the magic available to our new bodies. Gouspatzi had total control over me, and he taught me none of these things. I was a raving monster, chained outside his private suite of rooms so only he could enter. I wasn’t taught to eat without killing. He encouraged me to be as messy and vicious with my killings as possible, and he killed many people in front of me as he drank them, to give me an example of how it was done.”

  “Kendra, you have to know—”

  “It wasn’t my fault? I’ve long since worked through my guilt for killing so many people in those first couple of hundred years. The point is, he used me, he enjoyed hurting me. I was an animal to him, not a human. When he focused on me, played with me, I was nothing more than a puppet, without control over my limbs or voice box unless he…” she shook her head and looked away. This wasn’t the part Eric needed to hear. It wasn’t relevant to who she was today, while the lack of training had very much shaped her.

  “What you need to know is he turned me into an animal, a psychopath. No, worse, I was a beast, a monster. I didn’t even speak the language of the house, and couldn’t understand what was being said around me, as they only spoke my language when they wanted to tell me something. However, over the decades and centuries, as I figured out their language and overheard conversations they didn’t know I could understand, I learned. He turned a prodigy a century after he turned me, and I overheard the training, learned there was a way to keep people out of my head, and a way to get into other people’s heads. I was smart enough not to do it, though. I was a pet, a plaything. If I’d become too resourceful they’d have killed me. So I practiced on his other pets, learned to go into their heads, and made sure I never put a shield up when someone was coming into my head.”

  Eric put his fork down, reached across the table for her hand, but she squeezed it and let go. “No, let me get this out, and then we need to do something fun, to get it out of my head and remind me of my life now.”

  He nodded, but he reached his foot across, hooked it behind her ankle. She told herself he needed the contact, and she didn’t pull away.

  “He unchained me when he… played with me. There shouldn’t have been any danger — he could completely control me, after all.” She shook her head, looked away from him, and said, “But then one day, something snapped inside me, and I twisted the way he was controlling me, until I controlled him. It shouldn’t be possible, but I’d been practicing calming the other beasts, chained as I was. They were downstairs in the dungeon, not chained outside his suite as I was, but I could still feel them, sense them. I saw them when he brought them upstairs to play with, or when he took me to the dungeon for one of his fucking parties.”

  Damn, she was getting off topic again. She gave him an apologetic smile and said, “Anyway, I took control of him, and made him slaughter his people. He knew his body was doing it, and he screamed at me in my head, then begged me to stop, but I didn’t until they were all dead except the one person in the place who’d been kind to me. I had him go to that person and hand him a knife before lying on the floor and asking to be killed before he slaughtered anyone else.”

  “I think it’s possible he suspected I was behind it, but he never said anything during the investigation. In the end, I was sold to my second Master, as at that point I was only an asset to be monetized in order to pay Gouspatzi’s debts.”

  “My second Master bought me because he wanted a wild sex slave, but since he hadn’t made me and didn’t have the kind of control my first Master had, he arranged for me to be taught in the ways I should’ve been from the start. He not only used me himself, he rented me out for parties, where I was used by dozens of men during the course of the evening. Still, I wasn’t treated as an animal, so it was a step up.”

  She took a breath and said, “I chose my third Master, as he’d been kind to me when he’d used me. I had no money or assets when I went to live with him. I’d learned to feed without killing, but didn’t have the confidence to go into human society and try to act human. In exchange for him giving me a roof over my head and sustenance, he had unlimited use of my body, as it was the only thing I had to barter. However, while he humiliated me and made sure I knew my place, no one else was allowed to treat me as a slave. He let others use my body — servants who deserved a bonus, guests to his home, and occasionally he paid off a debt by loaning me to someone for anywhere from a night to a month. However, as long as I gave them total access, and responded with the sexuality and desire to please he demanded, they weren’t allowed to disrespect me. I was a companion for them, not a slave. It may not sound like much of a difference, but when you live it? It was.”

  She took a breath, got back on topic. “Abbott was my fourth Master, and while he almost always demands sex of the powerful vampires who offer their fealty, he’s never demanded it of me, and turned it down when I long ago offered. He told me I need to know he respects me for who I am, for the other talents I can bring to him. He’s also never asked me to bed someone for political reasons, though I’ve done so on my own, when I knew it would benefit us. He took me in from the very beginning, treated me as person, as special. He took me into society on his arm, taught me to interact with humans, stood with me during my first couple of dozen feedings, until I had the confidence to do it on my own.”

  “And the man who helped you, when you were with your second Master?”

  “He was Abbott’s second for centuries, but eventually he left and took over his own territory. The two haven’t battled, and they’re friends so I hope they never do, but I think it’s likely he’s more powerful than Abbott, now. He’s in Eastern Europe. I consider him a friend, but our lives have gone in different directions.”

  Eric walked to the sink, rinsed his plate and silverware, put them in the dishwasher, and turned back to her. “That’s where your saying comes from? You rode through a hellish storm for centuries before you found your blue skies. What I went through sounds so trivial now, next to what happened to you.”

  She went to him so fast she startled him, and slowed before putting a hand to his cheek, gazing into his clear blue eyes as she caressed his jawline.

  “That isn’t why I’m telling you this, Eric. You thought me a monster after what I did to the people who hurt you, and I want you to understand there is a monster inside me, and it’s a part of me I’ll never lose. Most vampires lose the beast inside during the training process. As they learn control, their inner beast fades away until they can no longer draw on it, but because I lived as the beast for so long, it’ll always be with me. I can also play human, and it’s possible for me to love, but you need to understand who I am, and why.”

  Eric pulled her into his embrace, and she rested her head on his shoulder and let him hold her.

  “When I first saw you, first met you, I saw this thick, icy exterior, and wanted to know what’d happen if I thawed you out.” He ran his hands through her hair, kissed the top of her forehead. “I found the squishy center, and I know you’re all heart, and the ice bitch thing protects the emotions you only let those close to you see.”

  He leaned his head, gazed into her eyes. “I know who you are, Kendra, and I love all of you. Thanks for telling me how you got this way, and you know I’ll always listen, no matter how horrible the things are you need to tell me. I can’t change what happened, but I can love who it made you.”

  Kendra’s eyes watered and she buried her head in his chest. “God, how did I get so lucky? Thanks Eric. I love you, too.”

  “Anything else you need to share tonight?”

  When she shook her head, he said, “Okay then, would you prefer a wild ride in the ski boat, a night out dancing, or a ride on the back of the fastest production motorcycle on the planet.”

 
“One more thing, then the motorcycle ride?”

  He lifted his eyebrows in question, and she said, “We’ve been in a holding pattern, and if you aren’t going to get us out of it, I will. I’ve reserved the coterie’s playroom for the first available time slot — the night of January first and the morning of the second. Keep the night open because your ass is mine that night.”

  His scent was… conflict. Apprehension and relief, and… a mix of too many other things for her to key into them.

  Eric’s eyes, though, were clear and open as he said, “Okay. I’ll be there.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Before Eric went to bed after their New Year’s celebration, Kendra instructed Eric to be prepared for her when she awoke the following evening. Her final instructions were to, “Eat and shower two hours before sunset. When I rise, I want you naked, with a bath already drawn for me.”

  She was terrified he’d refuse, and wanted to dance for joy when he swallowed, looked down, and nodded. She scented his trepidation, but he wasn’t scared, and the heady adrenaline scent saturating the room told her he’d have a full day of nervous anticipation tomorrow.

  When Kendra awoke the next evening, Eric was awake and lying beside her in bed, naked. When he realized she was awake, his heart sped and his arousal levels rose. She took a deep breath, taking in his scent, and kissed his forehead before standing and walking to the bathroom.

  Eric had drawn her bathwater at the perfect temperature, and added the jasmine oils she liked. Not too strong — he hadn’t done it to a human’s sense of smell, but to a vampires, which meant he’d paid attention when she put them in herself. How had she gotten so lucky?

  She piled her hair on top of her head and sank into the fragrant water.

  When he followed her into the bathroom, she told him, “Please kneel on the rug, ass on your feet, knees apart, hands behind your head.”