by Amber Lynn
“I think you are getting a little possessive of your dinner there, buddy. Plus, this day in age anyone making fun of me is just a tad bit moronic, if they do it within my hearing range. Your anger, though, is kind of sexy. You don’t usually get worked up over such little things,” I say brushing my hand across his cheek.
“We both know, love, that you are more than just a meal to me. You have been from almost the very start,” he says leaning down to kiss my forehead. “If the boy makes too much of a nuisance for you, just pack your things up and move here with me. You can still pick up their little contracts, without having to be under their watchful eye. I have even offered you the head security position here, if you want to get out of the assassin business altogether.”
“I know and you are a sweetheart for giving me options. I will talk with Ryan tonight and see if we cannot get this worked out. It’s been the only home I have known my whole life. Even with the way the others act around me, it would be really hard to leave,” I tell him.
“I just want to make sure you don’t forget those options exist. So, aside from pea for brains, how have things been going for you? We haven’t had a nice sit down, or lie down, talk for a while. You have been so busy that I didn’t want to bother you.”
“I trust Hamburger and Milkshake have kept you nourished without me,” I say with a laugh. “Things have been good. Lots of paranorms acting out right now, so I have been spending most of my time seeking the riffraff out. Got a short trip to Paris out of the deal running one of them to ground.”
“I am guessing you didn’t actually get a chance to enjoy the scenery. Maybe sometime we should take a vacation there. Get away from the dreary underground of Night Owl City and spread our wings.” This is a new tactic. He hasn’t ever tried to get me to go on vacation with him before. It is somewhat intriguing. “And just for the record, I am surprised you haven’t figured it out, there is no Hamburger and Milkshake around when you are off crime fighting. That would feel like cheating and I find that very distasteful.”
I stare it for a full minute after that comment. What is it about the guys in my life revealing things I am not sure I want to know? First Ryan acts like we are a real couple and now this.
“There is no way that is possible. Vampires have to feed every day to even function. You wouldn’t be here talking to me, if you hadn’t fed in the last month.”
“Well yes, most vampires would need to feed that often, but I have two things going for me that make it so daily feedings aren’t necessary. One I am old, really old. I don’t go around town telling people my exact age, but suffice it to say I am probably the oldest vampire anyone can find. Because of my age, even when we first met I only had to feed once a week. From the beginning you were always meant to be my only source of nutrition.
“The second reason I can go so long is your blood itself. I didn’t realize it at first, but eventually I started testing how long I could go without having to call you. As you can see, we are up to a month now and I called you more tonight because I missed you than really having to eat. Don’t get me wrong, I still hope to have a bite of my cheeseburger, but I wouldn’t go insane or weak without it,” he says lifting up my arm and smelling my bloodlines.
“Seriously, I am the only vintage you have tasted in about three years? You don’t even take that much. I guess I hang out with more werewolves than vampires, but it just seems odd,” I say as he starts licking my arm. “I would think you needed more.”
“You should stay away from other vampires when not in my presence. I don’t think it would have the same effect on them, but I don’t want to chance someone else finding out about you. This vintage is one that I have bought the entire stock of,” he says as he sinks his fangs into my wrist.
Briefly pondering why he thinks he is special, I am quickly wrapped up in the normal feelings that come with Sebastian eating his dinner. He quickly figured out how to make it so we both feel completion during our intense feedings. Like usual, the second he bites down I am taken to a world so full of pleasure a tornado could rip the building to shreds around us and I wouldn’t care.
“Oh God yes,” I hear Sebastian scream as he releases my arm.
I become aware enough to realize that at some point during his snack, I grabbed his arm and bit down hard enough to draw blood myself and am now slowly having my own unexpected meal. I quickly release the arm and try to figure out how and why that happened.
Sebby has obviously gone delirious because he decides now would be a good time to test the sponginess of my tonsils and crawls on top of me securing his lips to my mouth. His kiss is nothing like the ones Ryan has given me, even the ones where Ryan was trying to be passionate.
Sebastian’s kiss blows me into the Milky Way with the amount of desire that starts to flow through my body. Before he goes too far, I bite gently on his tongue to try to tell him we need to talk about this. Just because the Kool-Aid was extra sugary tonight, doesn’t mean we get to sleep together in the way he seems to be hoping.
Knowing me as well as he does, he takes the bite to be the red light and not some symbol to move on full steam ahead. He pulls back after giving me one more kiss on the lips and rolls over on his back returning to his side of the bed.
“Well that was different,” I say trying to clear the air as we both catch our breaths.
He chuckles in a sort of drunken way. “Love, you have no idea. When you bit me I thought I might shoot fireworks out my head. That was without a doubt the best experience I have ever had and I am still wearing my pants. Here, in the chaos I didn’t get your wound sealed. You don’t want to leave here with that still opened.” He grabs my arm and swiftly closes up the small holes.
“I don’t know how much time passed, did you get enough? I don’t really want to offer more right now, but I don’t want you to be hungry,” I say still a little blitzed from the feeding.
“After that, I am not sure I will ever have to eat again. I guess I should ask if you got enough, love. I think your trying to get a little taste is what blew it up to volcanic proportions.”
“Since that is the only thing that was different this time, I would have to agree. I really don’t know what possessed me to do that. I didn’t know I even had at the time. Is your arm okay? I don’t exactly have nice pointy teeth to make nice incisions,” I pick up his hand worried about the damage I may have done.
“No problem, it is all healed,” he says waving it in front of me. “You are going to have to keep yourself alive for the next week or so. I don’t imagine you got a ton of blood, but until it is out of your system there is the chance you might turn. Maybe sometime we can talk about finishing that process, but I don’t think either of us is quite ready.”
“I am not sure I could handle being a vampire right now, so I will be extra careful on my next mission,” I say sitting up. Now that they euphoria is wearing off, I should probably get going. Sebastian has already been talking like we are a couple and it pains me to hear these things from him. I try to go into our meetings thinking he just finds me a delicious meal and attempt to make myself deaf when he calls me love. If I knew my heart wouldn't eventually get broken, I would go full steam ahead with the relationship. It would be a great solution to my Ryan problem, but in the end I know it wouldn't work out.
“Running already. You would think I would become used to it. Maybe next time if I don’t wait a whole month, you won’t turn into a wild woman,” he says standing in one fluid motion. It is really creepy sometimes to watch him move. “Remember, if pea head starts acting stupid, my door is always open for you, my love.”
He walks around and lifts me off the bed and to my feet. “You will be my first stop if my talk doesn’t go as planned. I probably better brush my teeth before I go and change back into my dress. I don’t want anyone getting suspicious.”
“You do that,” he says caressing my face. His hand feels good, so I lean into it and close my eyes. “I wish I could ask you to not take this next mission. I hav
e seen things that worry me and may affect how you feel towards me. If I could prevent them, I would, but I have always promised myself to allow you to live your life.”
“No hints?” I whine as I open my eyes to stare into his sad ones.
“No, the gift of the future I have never hated more than I do now, but I still will not sway you. Just know I am always here for you and will always love you,” he says giving me one last kiss before he flashes out of the room.
“I love you, too,” I whisper to the empty room. Sadly, it is the truth, even though eventually he will be forced to leave me, I cannot help but feel love for him. He may call me love all the time, but this is the first time he has actually declared his love for me. For now, I choose to be happy with his declaration.
I hurry in the bathroom to change and get myself righted. No one in the club would notice a disheveled woman walking through, but I never know who may be waiting outside while I make the trek back to the van.
I fold my clothes and I know Sebastian will have them laundered while I am away. I also take a moment to send him a quick text saying I will see him again within two weeks. A month was obviously too long for one of us, and amazingly enough it wasn’t the hungry vampire.
Chapter 4
Man troubles. Who needs them?
The trip back to the van and the ride to the Collective habitation are uneventful. In fact, they are downright boring. After quickly changing back into my assassin attire, the only thing I had going for me was trying to figure out how to make Sebastian happy and what his cryptic message actually meant. I don’t know of anything that would make me feel different about him. Even though I have only known him for three years, he really is my closest friend. Short of going on a killing spree, he can do no wrong.
With my oldest friend driving me crazy as of late, I really cannot stand to lose Sebby. He has to know I would always choose him over something one of my targets say. I mean, my targets are marked for death, they would say anything to get me to not kill them.
I haven’t received my next assignment yet, so I have a little time to decide what I should do. I know he said he wanted me to make my own choices, but the fact that this choice may make me not want to be close to him, has me not wanting to take the assignment.
After parking the car, I follow the path to my living quarters. The co-Hab, as we call it, is a secluded building in a large wooded area. With all the werewolves it houses, the forest comes in handy when they need to shift and go for runs. It is more or less a motel. Entrances to the rooms are all on the outside, so there isn't a lot of mingling, which is all done in the Collective proper. Right as I am about to initiate the fingerprint scan that will allow me entrance to my pod, a voice startles me.
“You reek of him tonight. I thought maybe so much time had passed that you had stopped seeing him.”
I turn around to face Ryan looking at me with angry eyes that match Sebastian’s from earlier. There was a small moment when my night was actually going good. Maybe I should go back in time and not kill the target for tonight and see if it doesn’t turn out differently.
I complete the scan, so we can take the conversation inside the apartment. I am guessing by the way he is acting this isn’t something I want to be heard by others. For that reason, I press my privacy button the second we enter. That should jam any listening devices that have been installed in my quarters and keep outside ears from tuning in.
“How do you know my informant isn’t a female?” I ask. The answer is obvious and Ryan thankfully doesn’t know who this informant is or what the nature of our relationship really is. I do have a few other vampire informants, so it isn’t like Sebastian is the only one. He is the only one I see privately in his bedroom, but not the only one I talk to.
“You already know I can sense the difference. This werewolf nose is at least good enough for that. What happened tonight that made it so I want to stand downwind of you?” he asks plugging his nose. We both know that won't do him much good and it is more a gesture of his disgust for the kind of people I have been hanging around.
I am guessing the fact that I have a bit of Sebastian’s blood running through my veins has something to do with that and no shower is going to make it better. Of course, I cannot exactly just come out and say that to Ryan. It would be the second time tonight that I had a guy thinking about shooting fireworks out his head and this won't be the happy variety.
“Nothing really. He just asked to meet, so he could tell me about a shifty character he has seen around town the last few nights in case it is something I end up having to follow up on. It was like any of our other meetings,” I say. As far as meetings went, the description was on par with what usually happens with my other informants.
“I am tired of playing second fiddle to him. I think I should come along on these meetings to see what really does transpire. I am your boyfriend and I have a right to know how you are spending your time with other males,” he says.
“First off, in case you didn’t notice you are my pretend boyfriend and if that is getting to be too much of a hardship for you we can make that relationship go away easy peasy,” I say getting angry myself. I cannot believe he thinks he owns me. Sebby gets upset that I have Ryan here, but he doesn’t try to control how I live my life.
“Secondly in case your werewolf nose has taken a little vacation or cannot sense it through the vampire stink, as you would call it, my virtue is still safely intact, so there should be no worry on your part about how I spend my time. I am not out there making myself available to anyone who can offer me some information on one of my targets. They, like you, have mates that eventually, I am sure, they will find, so I don’t waste my time trying to hook up with them. Now, if you started smelling tasty humans on me, you might have an issue because with them I don’t have to worry about some girl walking in one day and breaking my heart by taking a guy away from me.”
I really wish that dang mate issue wasn't standing in my way. Sebastian and I have such an easy relationship that it wouldn’t be hard to fall into a habit of living with him day after day. Of course, living behind a club where people have sex, do drugs and try really hard each day to be even more depraved than they were the day before, may have an effect on that decision.
“Wait hold on just a second,” Ryan says in his calming voice. “No one said anything about us breaking up. I don’t want that at all. I just get frustrated when I smell another male on you and it is worse than usual. I am sorry I lost my temper.”
“Look Ryan, you have been my friend forever and I really appreciate that,” I say copying his calmness. “You stuck around even when that made you unpopular, but I really think you should get out and try to find the right girl for you. We both know she isn't me because I am not a werewolf. You have spent so much time with me that I am afraid you are missing out on other opportunities.”
“It's him isn't it,” he yells back doing a total one eighty. Heck, this might be a three sixty. His face is growing redder by the second. “That's it. I don't care what kind of information he is giving you, you cannot see him anymore.”
“Out!” I scream at the top of my lungs. “You get out of this apartment right now and don't you ever come back making demands of me again. You don't own me Ryan Hart.” I walk to the door and open it waiting for him to exit.
“I think we should both take some time to calm down. Being around your scent and his is making my head muddled. I will leave for now, but once you are cleaned up we will continue this conversation,” he says storming out of the room still acting like he would have a say in whether or not I meet with Sebastian.
Fat chance, I think to myself as I start moving my tongue around in my mouth. My gums have started to hurt and for some reason something feels off. I shut and lock the door and head to the bathroom to see if maybe during Sebastian's thorough kiss something got nicked.
When I look in the mirror to investigate, what I find is definitely not what was expected. First I have targets telling me I am a
werewolf and now I conveniently sprout little baby vampire fangs. Oh, this is just too good to be true.
Sadly, since I have spent more time with the wolves, I don't exactly know how to make the teeth pop back into my gums. I really hope I don't start having crazy cravings. As I mentioned to Sebastian earlier, I just don't think I can handle being a vampire at present. Speaking of the devil, I should probably call and ask what to do about the teeth. Even though they are kind of cute, I don't want to walk around here flashing them.
I dig out my secure throwaway cell phone that I have, so far, never had to use. It only has one number in it and that goes straight to Sebastian's cell phone of a similar nature. I really hope he has it on him because I don't want to spend all night trying to get a hold of him.
Thankfully he answers on the second ring. “Love, what's wrong. Pea brain didn't try to hurt you did he?” he asks with a worried edge to his voice.
For some reason, I find it funny and laugh. “No darling,” I respond calling him something I have never called him before. “He yelled some, but even he is smart enough not to take me on. I do have a slight issue, which is probably going to cause me to move out of co-Hab for a while, but not necessarily in with you.”