Crossing the distance already wearing her high heels, Charlotte placed her hands on both sides of his head pulling him towards her to kiss him on the lips. Her breasts pressed against his shirt tantalizingly before the woman pulled back and warned him breathlessly, “I’m sorry, but I might have to fight Nicola for you, if just kissing you is like that.”
She hurried to pick up her black top and pulled it into place. Again the beauty had picked a half top, but this one had no straps leaving her breasts to defy gravity and keep it in place. With a thin gold chain holding a small golden wolf just below her collarbone, Nick had to admit she looked stunning; but wouldn’t allow himself to agree with the passion of their shared kiss.
After a short time spent waiting for Charlotte to finish with her makeup and hair, the two said goodbye to Logan’s door receiving muffled acknowledgement from within. He didn’t want to know what they had been doing for the last few hours anymore than Charlotte and was glad that the rooms were as sound proof as they were.
It was still early and yet there was already a line leading to a stairway of what looked like a warehouse. While it had once been exactly as it appeared, Marek and his vampires had taken over the place, had it rezoned for a night club and now ran one of the hottest clubs in the city, even though much of the advertising had been from word of mouth. Of course, when vampires had the ability to glamour their patrons into spreading the word, free advertising took on a new form.
While his voran blood had managed to keep the small coven of vampires relatively human in their nature, they were still the predators of legend in skill. Speed, strength, and a certain amount of aggression were common to the species. Marek’s vampires didn’t have to drink anyone’s blood beyond a few drops of his every few days, but they also had powers to mesmerize humans and could make them do their bidding. Nick hadn’t witnessed too much abuse of their abilities, so he had never stepped in to put a stop to any of it.
They were vampires and he was supposed to be the one who killed them in theory, but from his first meeting with Marek aboard a freighter crossing the Atlantic the voran had held back. Marek was on the ship attempting to flee his maker. While Nick had often been curious as to what had made him flee and made him believe he could, the voran had never asked. Some things were just too personal and if it was important one day his friend would tell him.
Meanwhile, Marek’s clan had been dealing with some major changes. The battle with Cyrus and his army had been bloody and though they had prevailed with Nick and the werewolves’ help, four of their members had experienced the final death. In their place, as the remaining vampires held in mental bondage by Cyrus came to their right minds; a handful had joined the coven. It was the two new women in particular that Nicola was having problems with now. While some could blame a vampire’s territorial nature, Nick had a feeling it was more to do with women being women.
Tossing the keys to a valet, he left his expensive Mercedes sports car to a girl named Tara hoping for the best. Though he knew the female valet from his many previous trips to the Lair, it was still an expensive item to just give away without a little worry.
Charlotte looked a bit worried as well as she met him as he crossed the front of the SL550. Her hands took his arm and he noted her perfectly manicured nails, a project the woman had worked on the remainder of the afternoon. She had filed them to perfect curves and painted them silver with specks of black in the coloring. They reminded him of the silver coated swords the vampires of Marek’s original clan had purchased to deal with werewolves interestingly enough. Pure silver would harm both vampire and werewolf alike, but the swords were one of their best weapons to use in their fight as long as the handles weren’t of the same material. It was as if Charlotte had armed herself with pristine fashion to face Nicola.
“She’s going to hate me,” Charlotte sighed as they began walking past a line of people, some of whom began to protest. The fact that he was part owner of the place made him ignore those waiting behind the ropes and their complaints.
“Evening, Brad, Hawk,” he greeted the two large men with a wave as they approached the base of the stairway standing free of the rope. The second man’s real name was Brian, when Nick was of a mind to joke with him he ignored the persona he adopted for work known as Hawk. This night wasn’t likely to be quite as fun as some, but both men noted the beautiful brunette on his arm. As a werewolf, she had always been leery of going to the home of the coven of vampires even if they were considered allies and long standing friends of the voran.
Both of the bouncers’ eyes were wider than normal viewing Charlotte. She was an above average beauty, especially when she tried with her makeup and hair.
“Evenin’, Mr. Steel,” the smaller of the two men, Brad said first eyeing the werewolf jealously. “Who’s your friend?”
“I’m Charlotte,” she replied placing an award winning smile on her face. “I’m his roommate.”
Both men cursed envious of such luck, but the second larger, black bouncer called Hawk quickly reverted to business as usual even as he couldn’t help staring at the woman. Unhooking the rope, they watched as the two walked up the four stairs. “You should have brought her sooner,” the man nodded appreciatively.
Charlotte continued to smile though her fingers tightened slightly on his arm and not in fear of stumbling with her heels on the stairs. Her pheromones kicked out an extra whiff to Nick’s nose in response and he had to assume it was her instinct to make their bond stronger while driving off other potential males. Still she managed to say politely, “I may have to come more often, if people are going to be so nice.”
“Definitely,” the first man replied with a grin plastered onto his face that revealed her looks amazed him completely.
As they passed through the door opened by the larger, Hawk; Nick leaned a little closer cautioning, “Nails.” Her grip had become quite uncomfortable as her tension rose.
“Sorry,” she apologized softening her grip and the pressure exerted by her nails. Sliding her fingers over the marks, Charlotte rubbed his arm while taking in the surrounding space.
Two bars flanked either side of a large room. Having been a warehouse in a former life, the ceilings were high and looked industrial though painted black including the metal braces holding it securely aloft. Moving lighting dangled panning across the floor or were turned on and off in response to the music by the DJ. Just past the entry, a dance floor took up the first area. A half dozen stairs on either side led to the main sitting space and dozens of tables already filled with patrons.
If they were there to dance, it would have been hard to find an open place on the floor. Skirting the wood creating the dance area, he followed the carpet around to the bar on the left. It was also the gateway to the kitchen.
“Do you want anything?”
“Whiskey and coke,” she stated giving him a look that said she needed the whiskey more than the coke.
Ordering for Charlotte and a beer for himself, Nick led the werewolf to a more secluded part of the club. A simple set of red drapes were protected by a pair of bouncers, both of whom knew of his status in the club. Though his part ownership was less known, the voran was a regular visitor with the vampires. Entering the secluded room, he noticed a handful of tables were already occupied. It was a bit unusual, since this room was the final buffer between the club and their true lair and home.
He gestured to a table and sat with Charlotte who looked askance of the man.
“They know we’re here,” Nick concluded and took a swig of the beer. It was an opened bottle, since he hadn’t bothered with the tap tonight. Charlotte joined him taking out half her drink in an instant. He had a feeling she could have polished all of it off in a single swallow as she appeared anxious despite crossing her legs and trying to be at ease. Her gently kicking foot gave away her nervous energy.
Peering at the half drained glass in her hand, the woman stated, “I’m going to need more of these.”
“If you’re worrie
d over what Nicola will say, then leave it up to me. I can smooth it over so that she’ll realize it isn’t your fault,” the man replied as her perfume came to him sweetly. It was almost too easy to read her thanks to the werewolf’s physiology.
“It’s partly my fault. I’m attracted to you and that’s what caused me to bond on you,” Charlotte said with a shake of her head before draining the second half of her drink. “I knew that you were with Nicola, but I couldn’t help myself.”
Her eyes told him that she was sorry, but the fact that she might be in love with him wasn’t necessarily what she apologized for now. While he had rarely been in love, he knew it from the other side of feeling sorry that he couldn’t love Vivian. His mentor had been his lover for a time, but Nick had never truly felt like he was in love with her, especially the way the movies told him he should be. Hollywood might over glamorize true love and exalt how someone should feel, but the voran had a feeling that what he had felt for Vivian was less true love than giving in to being with someone as uniquely alone as himself.
Gesturing to the waitress standing near the far wall for another drink for Charlotte, he realized that his beer was almost gone as well. Before they received their order, the door to the inner lair opened. Nicola and one of the new additions to the coven, a young man named, Justin, entered through the door. A natural hostess, Nicola waved and greeted a few of those using the VIP section. Since they were here, it was likely that the vampiress would know them enough to be able to greet several by name. Though she seemed to be taking her time, Nicola’s eyes flicked to their table often.
Taking a moment to tell Justin to go check out the main club, the blond haired girl maneuvered towards their table soon after. Nick noted her short, black leather skirt and top cut low with its base barely touching the top of the skirt. Her final touch was a small, black, leather jacket that was designed to only come halfway down her back and accessorized with her favorite black, high heeled boots. Like Charlotte, Nicola appeared ready to try to seduce any males who should dare look her way.
Leaning over him, Nicola moved in for a kiss nearly sitting into his lap. As she pulled back, her face revealed that something wasn’t right. He noted her keen nose sniffing the air before her eyes found Charlotte and narrowed just barely avoiding true anger. “Why have you been kissing my boyfriend?”
She hadn’t pulled any punches and, while Nicola could be tactful as the best politician, there was little in her now. Nick was about to respond when the waitress returned with their second order of drinks.
Pointing towards the door the woman had entered through, Nick suggested, “This involves matters that others shouldn’t hear.”
While personal lives wouldn’t be good to air in front of a crowd either, the vampiress understood that he meant more than that. The three stood and started towards the door, though Charlotte drained her new drink as she did for courage. A single werewolf was walking into the den of a house full of vampires. It was daunting at the best of times and her current condition wasn’t leading her inside with good news to tell.
The door closed behind them and Charlotte took in her new surroundings. A large living room opened onto a kitchen using an island to separate the two spaces. With a dining room area designated by the long table there, the first three areas were hemmed in by a wall with doors on two levels. Open metal stairs led up on either side with the living room revealing all with a ceiling that raised over twenty feet above them.
A fun area far to the left had a pool table and foosball table for the vampires to blow off steam together. Most were born in an era well before video games or even televisions, so common games of skill were more likely to be their forte than something electronic.
Sitting on a couch, a young looking woman sat with two of the men. They were among the youngsters added to the group. Where Marek and his original people were around a century old with their youngest remaining member in her fifties, the new people were all in their early twenties. The men were all either military trained or martial artists, while the women had been scouts for Cyrus and were good looking socialites of the local bar scene.
Nicola had been complaining about the women in particular as they all tried to get along, but as they entered the blond shooed them all out of sight. Realizing something was wrong that they certainly didn’t want to get into the middle of, the three hurried out towards the bar calling their fifth a blond woman to join them from her open room. They were all ready to go out anyway, so only a last warning from Nick, “Don’t bite the patrons”, saw them on their way.
Since the vampiress could smell Charlotte on him from earlier, Nick started cautiously, “We had a new hiccup today.”
“What hiccup makes this wolf kiss you? I smell her all over you and why is her perfume so strong?” Nicola complained.
The other two glanced to each other in surprise. The werewolves who weren’t supposed to be a part of her bonding wouldn’t call her pheromones perfumed and women that would be competition were supposed to have a similar response. Charlotte could smell Kate and vice versa, but for some reason they had said that their scents smelled sweet as well. Eric had no knowledge of the problem, so they were on their own, but a vampire shouldn’t have noticed anymore than a human in theory. Even if one did, they should have a similar reaction to those not needed, but Nicola was telling them that Charlotte smelled like perfume.
“It’s part of the hiccup,” Nick replied considering where to go with his explanation.
Charlotte, in typical werewolf fashion in large part due to her raging hormones, stated bluntly, “I’m in heat, for lack of a more flattering word. My perfume is my pheromones going crazy.”
Her eyes gauged Nicola’s reaction as she added, “According to Eric, when a female werewolf goes into heat, she is trying to form a bond with the lead wolf; but for some reason my pheromones didn’t try to attract any werewolves.”
The thought sunk in and the normally pale skinned vampire’s cheeks started to turn red. “So what does that mean?”
Sighing at having both women be similarly impulsive, Nick admitted, “Charlotte’s perfume isn’t supposed to affect humans and in theory no vampire should notice either. It’s a way to strengthen the pack. At the moment, she lives in my house with just her brother and I. Since Logan thinks she smells awful...”
“Hey!” Charlotte complained at the remark before realizing that Nicola looked ready to claw her eyes out.
“She obviously won’t see him as a potential mate.”
Edging closer to Nick, the blond haired vampiress looked ready to pounce as she concluded, “You bonded with my Nicky? How could you? I’ve treated you as a friend and now you betray my friendship by trying to take him from me?”
“It isn’t that simple,” Charlotte argued raising her hands in protest. Gone were the words she had said to him earlier of fighting for him, as Nicola’s hurt permeated the craziness of her hormones. “I didn’t know it would happen and I definitely didn’t know it would happen with a human or voran. It isn’t supposed to work like that according to Eric.”
Nicola edged past Nick, who watched waiting for a sign that things were going to become violent. If Nicola were a normal vampire, a showdown between a werewolf and her would be inevitable; but the woman showed restraint as she listened to the unpleasant news.
“So it isn’t supposed to work like this. Then explain to me why I smell him all over you as well?”
Taking a deep breath and letting it out, Charlotte answered, “Apparently, if he doesn’t have sex with me, I need his touch on my body or I’ll break into hives and a fever. The itching turns to burning pain, so I rubbed my clothes on Nick after we realized that the oils on his skin can be transferred to them and do the same as his touch.” She pulled out the small washcloth from her small clutch purse and held it out for Nicola to smell it.
“You figured it out after you made him touch you or forced yourself on him to do so, I assume. How much petting did you need from your new master? Shou
ld I just assume the worst and break up with him now?”
Again Charlotte held up her hands even as Nick made to answer in protest. “He rubbed my skin. It was no more than a doctor like touch. I swear we didn’t do anything more than that.” Suddenly the woman’s face turned crestfallen as she admitted, “Well, except I kissed him when I was feeling too full of myself and forgot who I would be hurting.
“You shouldn’t break up with Nick unless there’s another reason. He didn’t do anything other than try to help me; short of what Eric says will make it all go away. I swear it’s the truth, Nicola.”
Nick entered the conversation with other information, “The woman who turned Logan, and in turn Charlotte, is going through the same thing at the same time. She’s in love with Logan and was still with the pack. In only about an hour after talking with Logan and bonding to him, Kate was in a park with hives and a fever. We don’t know what will happen if they’re apart from the ones they bonded with for much longer than that.
“Clothing with my scent that has touched me takes care of the symptoms. We shouldn’t have to go to the extreme. The only real problem is that Eric doesn’t really know how long it lasts or if it will get worse later.”
“So you want me to give you permission to have sex with... her?” Nicola asked quietly turning from the other woman to him. Her face was so calm, that he couldn’t truly read her. Only her words let him know of the anger seething underneath. “You won’t even touch me that way. Am I supposed to be some cold, unfeeling vampire that can just give you away?”
While he could hear her pain, something kept pricking at the back of his mind. As if he hadn’t just heard a word she said, the voran rubbed his chin as he rested the arm on his right considering something she said earlier.
“She smells like perfume to you?”
Surprise and shock at his response made Nicola finally shout her fury at him, “Didn’t you hear a word I said? How can you ask such a stupid thing?”
Standing Before Monsters (Vorans and Vampires) Page 8