An Unhuman Journey

by Candace Blevins

  I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, so Nathan knows me a little too well, maybe, but I do need to be sure you’re okay.”

  He grabbed two sandwiches — one in each hand — and sat heavily in one of the sturdy conference room chairs. “I was an ass to you. You see me walking and eating, that should be enough.”

  “Not sure we’ll leave you being an ass entirely in the past,” I said with a smile and hoped he could tell I was joking with him. “Okay, I’ll take your word for it. Tell me everything you can about him.”

  “Not yet,” said Nathan. “We’ll get to it, but I want to debrief from the beginning once everyone’s here.”

  I gave Randall a hug as I told him, “I’m glad you’re safe.”

  “You did good helping us coordinate and stay connected.”

  I shook my head and started to argue I’d gotten emotional when Martin was injured, but Lewis stepped in and spoke before I could say anything.

  “Yes, you did great. Having someone competent on the other side of the comms can mean the difference in success and failure sometimes. We have at least three more Celrau because of you keeping us aware of what was happening elsewhere. Also, because you knew when to speak up and go over Randall’s head to give orders, Martin was the only person who got hurt.”

  I looked to Martin’s third to see if he knew what Lewis was talking about, and he said, “The Celrau warned the human there were bears coming, and they all left. If you hadn’t sent the bears it’s possible the human would’ve cut more of us down.”

  * * *

  The debrief was recorded on video, plus Nathan took plenty of notes as the group gave details of what happened, how many Celrau they encountered, and what they overheard. They’d collected cellphones, tablets, and laptops, as well as a filing cabinet and a couple of small safes, and Nathan said they already had analysts going over everything.

  When we finally made it to the part with the human, I took my own notes as the various supernaturals described him physically, including the way he smelled. Mordecai came into the room as we began talking about the human, but he sat in a corner and didn’t say anything.

  I’m afraid I didn’t learn anything new about him, and it was nearly dawn when I finally left the Drake Security offices. Tyler and Nathan were still busy, and Randall offered to drive me home.

  We were barely out of the parking lot when Randall asked, “What’s the real reason you were on the comms and not there tonight?”

  I considered how much to tell him, and decided I owed him an explanation. He’d made me a Friend of the Pack, after all.

  “When I first returned from the Hell realm I decided I was going to pull away from all things supernatural. I’m a mom, and my daughter has already lost her first family. She’s my priority.”

  “But pulling away might put you in more danger.”

  I nodded. “Right, so I’m trying to find a balance. How can I stay involved with the community enough the bad guys know I’m still part of the inner circle, and yet stay out of it enough I’m not targeted?”

  He sighed. “This human is going to complicate things for you.”

  “I know, and it both pisses me off and has me curious. Two of us at once with these abilities, when no human has ever managed it before?”

  “What are you going to do?’

  “Nothing, for now. If circumstances allow it, I intend to spend time with my daughter and forget everything supernatural for at least a week or two. I figure it’ll take the Drake analysts a while to go through everything collected in all of the houses, and with any luck the Celrau will find another hidey-hole and lick their wounds for a while. So, I’m going to keep my guard up just in case, but mostly I’m going to come home from work and cook complicated meals, and go to a movie with my daughter and a few of her friends, and maybe even let her have a slumber party for no reason whatsoever.”

  Chapter 21

  The following days were surprisingly normal. I worked and spent time with Lauren and Xiaolan, had my session with Master James, worked out with my regular martial arts instructor, and had no contact with anyone supernatural.

  I struggled through my nine attempts a day of engulfing my entire right hand in flame. I could cover most of one finger, but when I stretched it farther, it went out. Mordecai had told me not to get frustrated though, just to keep logging my nine times a day until it worked.

  I wanted to know more about the human with my abilities, and I knew I’d need to reengage with the community soon, but I needed some time to just be a mom and therapist and nothing else.

  I had two Mondays in a row with Master James, and he can center me better than practically anyone. He demands my complete attention, and he assures he has it with whips, floggers, canes, paddles, nipple clamps, butt plugs, and a plethora of other sadistic tools. I wish I could talk to Master James about Mordecai, and how much more I value aftercare with Master James now. I’ve always valued it, but now I appreciate it even more after experiencing sessions where someone else steps in to take care of me. I burst into tears as he held me after a particularly intense scene, but he just held me and comforted me, assuming it was an emotional release after he’d pushed me so hard.

  I had ten days without contact from anyone in the supernatural community, but I’d agreed to have dinner with Bran the next Friday. I tried to change things the day before, so I’d just meet him at the restaurant, but he insisted on picking me up. It was what he’d requested when I’d asked what I could do to repay him for his hospitality, though, so I let it go.

  Lauren didn’t see him as other, which was a relief, and I chuckled as I saw the Aston Martin parked in my driveway. The oldest vampires always seem to have off-the-wall expensive cars. The few I’d met, anyway. “Love the car, where are you taking me?”

  “The Fairyland Club, and I’ve arranged for us to have one of the private upstairs rooms so we can be sure no one hears our conversation.”

  He opened my door for me and I bit my tongue to keep from reminding him I’d been specific about this date not ending in sex. I’d promised him conversation and nothing else, and to bring it up again would’ve been rude, but I couldn’t think of another subject of conversation.

  Thankfully, he filled the silence with questions about my job as therapist, and about upcoming productions at our local theater. I asked him some questions about how his household worked, with the slaves Abbott allowed him to have, and he answered them all with ease. I got the impression he asks a lot of his slaves, but also gives a lot in return. I’d met a few of them when I’d been at his house, and none had seemed afraid of him. Also, Madeline adored him.

  It wasn’t until we were well into the main course that he brought up the conversation he’d intended to have all along.

  “I have a proposition for you.”

  I once again held my tongue and didn’t remind him there’d be no sex. “I’m listening.”

  “I’d like to have full access to you from an as-yet-to-be-specified Thursday evening until Monday morning, for which I will pay you ten thousand dollars.”

  I opened my mouth to turn him down, but he held a hand up. “No safeword. No limits. I’ll do whatever I want, however I want, with the understanding you’ll be rested, healed, and back to normal by seven o’clock Monday morning.”

  “Which means you’ll use your blood to heal whatever damage you inflict?” Shit, I’d meant to turn him down before asking questions, but that one had just popped out.

  “Yes.”

  “So, you’ll have me to play with Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night, with the worst of it happening the first night, probably.”

  “How and when things happen will be entirely up to me.” My traitorous body reacted to his words and my clit throbbed between my legs. Never mind I had no intention of agreeing to his insane offer, my body very much liked the fantasy of it.

  Bran may not be magical, but he still has an enhanced sense of smell. My libido had just gone crazy so there was no sense trying to protest I had ze
ro interest in even the idea of it. “I’m truly flattered by the offer, and truth be told — a little turned on. However, I’m going to respectfully decline.”

  He lifted his brows and leaned back. He eyed me a few seconds before offering, “Twenty thousand dollars.”

  I shook my head again and took a sip of wine. “Sorry, Bran. I’m really not interested. My body reacted to the fantasy, but thankfully my brain is making this decision.”

  “I’ve seen you flogged. I know you enjoy pain.”

  “I do, but only when there’s trust — when there’s a connection.” I wanted to tell him I wasn’t a whore, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try to stay on his good side as I turned him down.

  He took a drink of his wine and considered my response before he finally said, “I don’t do relationships, which I’m sure you’ve figured out.”

  “I’ve been told, though I’ve also seen you with Madeline. Perhaps it might be more accurate to say you only partake in relationships when you’re in total control?”

  The look in his eyes told me I’d touched a nerve, and I quickly said, “Sorry, that was out of line. I’m flattered by your offer but it isn’t my thing.”

  “Give me a dollar amount.”

  “Pardon?”

  “What would you agree to?”

  I shook my head. “I’m not for sale, Bran.”

  “Sure you are. We just haven’t found your number.” Somehow, his conversational tone allowed this to be a friendly discussion and not the antagonistic and uncomfortable argument it could’ve easily been.

  “What’s your number,” I asked. “How much would it take for me to buy you, for say… an hour? Would a thousand dollars do it? Ten thousand?”

  “You can’t afford me.”

  I grinned. “You’ve thought this through? What would you sell yourself for?”

  “Since you couldn’t pay it, the point is moot.”

  “If you let me know your number, perhaps I’ll put serious thought to what mine might be.”

  “If I give you a number then any price you give me will be an actual offer and not a hypothetical.” Before I could disagree with his provision, he said, “I’d sell myself as a Service Top, to a man or woman I’m attracted to, for seventy-thousand an hour. As a bottom for a million an hour with a few stipulations designed to make sure I’m not bound and staked through the heart or decapitated. If I’m not attracted? I’m not sure, but likely three or four times that amount, if not more.”

  I leaned back and gave sincere consideration to what I’d be seriously tempted to accept, but then remembered if I said anything at all I was obligating myself to that amount should he choose to take me up on it. With that in mind, I told him, “I’d agree to a two-hour scene for five hundred thousand dollars, but only if I’m allowed to stipulate a list of hard limits.”

  He looked at me long enough I worried he’d pull his phone out so we could set a date, but he finally nodded once and said, “My final offer of the night — sixty thousand dollars and I’ll take you to my private island in the Caribbean on Thursday when you finish with your patients, and will fly you home Sunday evening. You’ll be healed well enough to return home Sunday night, and will be back to one-hundred percent by Monday morning. Again, no limits on what I can do.”

  “And again, I’m flattered by the offer but I’m going to have to decline.”

  I knew the kind of damage his blood could heal, and even if I could get past the whole being-paid-for-sex thing, I knew better than to agree to any kind of scene with no limits.

  He nodded. “It’s an open-ended offer. Should you change your mind, let me know.”

  Other than the part where he negotiated to buy me, Bran was the perfect date and I had a wonderful time. We went from The Fairyland Club to a nightclub with a live band, and we danced until the early morning hours. When he finally drove me home and walked me to my door, he gave me a panty-melting kiss before saying goodnight and leaving.

  I had an email from him the next morning thanking me for a lovely evening and reminding me his offer still stood, but there’d be no hard feelings if I never took him up on it.

  Chapter 22

  The next week, I opened my door to let my final patient of the day leave and saw Aaron Drake sitting in my waiting room. My receptionist wasn’t at her desk, which was normal, as she usually leaves after I take the last appointment into my inner office.

  I walked my patient out before I jumped into Aaron’s arms and hugged him so hard I’d have hurt him if he wasn’t supernatural.

  “I have about an hour to give you,” he told me as he returned my hug, “and I don’t have time to tell you everything that’s happened, so I’m going to focus on the fact I’m engaged. Nathan knows the full story and he’ll explain everything else later.”

  I let go of him and backed up. “You’re engaged? Does this mean you found another Dragon?”

  He nodded, and I threw my arms around him again. “Oh, Aaron! I’m so happy for you! Tell me all about her, and why she’s been hiding all these years! Do you love her? Oh, I hope you’re madly in love with her!” I let go long enough to look into his eyes again. “Please tell me you are?”

  He lifted a bag from a table and pointed me towards my office. “I am. Let’s eat while we talk.”

  “Her name is Sophia,” he told me as he pulled boxes of food from the bag, “and I hope the two of you can be friends. She’s been kept a prisoner in her father’s home all of her life. She’s going to need friends.”

  He evaded my questions about anything supernatural, or where he’d been, saying he wanted to tell me about her, not about what had happened. I was assured Nathan would tell me the rest of the story later, so I let him talk.

  My heart was warmed by the look in his eyes as he spoke of her — there was no doubt he was head-over-heels in love with her.

  He also asked me about my time in the Underworld, and he didn’t relent until he’d heard the whole story — though I admit I skimmed over the parts where Xaephan and I had sex. I didn’t lie, I just didn’t give any details beyond the fact demons’ cocks get so hot they glow, but he’d thankfully kept it cool enough to keep from burning me.

  Aaron apologized for not being around when I needed him, and I told him, “Don’t you dare apologize! You were the one who insisted Nathan and I figure out how to get along, and he’s taken such good care of me. You set up a system that can survive without you. We didn’t like not having you, but we made it okay. I missed you, though. Please don’t leave like that again.”

  * * *

  Nathan came to the house that evening, and once Lauren and Xiaolan were upstairs, he told me the full story of where Aaron had been and what’d happened while he was gone.

  I’d been to a wedding the year before at a fantastic venue, and I printed out pictures and information about it from the web. In the following days, I also bought some bridal magazines and a blank wedding planner scrapbook. It was nearly another week before Aaron said it was safe for me to meet her, and I made the drive up the mountain straight after work.

  Perhaps I overwhelmed her with my bridal magazines and the blank scrapbook, but she genuinely seemed to like the venue, and I thought she might cry as she looked through the pictures and other information.

  “I know you’ll probably want to take Madeline with you to shop for dresses,” I told her, speaking way too fast because I was nervous, “but I’d love to come, too, if you need another eye. I’m so happy to finally meet you! Aaron’s been terribly protective of you, keeping you hidden away.”

  “You know Madeline?”

  Madeline and I had become friends and had gone to dinner and lunch several times since we’d met. Once I knew about Aaron and Sophia, Madeline hadn’t hesitated to tell me she’d been Sophia’s whipping girl, and had grown up with her.

  “Yes,” I told Sophia. “It’s a long story, but I took shelter at Bran’s house a while back and became friends with some of his…people. Madeline was super nice to me and
we’ve become friends.”

  Her smile seemed genuine as she told me, “I’d love for you to come with us to look for wedding dresses. I know you’re important to Aaron and I hope we can be friends.”

  We talked for a good two hours, and I was about to leave as Aaron came home. I wasn’t sure whether to hug him or not, but he pulled me into his arms and said, “I can tell by the look on my true love’s face that the two of you hit it off. Thanks so much, Bug.”

  “You don’t have to thank me, Aaron. I’m so happy for the two of you.”

  I’d agreed to a meeting with Abbott and Mordecai, to be held at Abbott’s house, and Aaron walked me next door. “Seriously, thanks for whatever you did to make her like you so much. I could tell how happy she is by her energy as I walked in the door.”

  “She’s made you happy, she’s in love with you… how could I not like her? Now, wish me luck for this meeting with Abbott and Mordecai, and go spend the evening with Sophia.”

  * * *

  I was surprised to see Nathan, Bran, Randall, and Cora in the room as well, but I only slowed a little before walking to Abbott and giving him a hug. He’d asked me to do it, though I hadn’t known all of these people would be here.

  I walked to a chair and sat alone, and looked to Abbott in hopes he’d explain why I was here. Instead, Mordecai told me, “We thought we’d found the human but Nathan put his people on it and found out it was a trap. The Celrau might not be able to take you to Hell again, but it would appear Aquila is still set on capturing you and making you one of them.”

  “If you’re okay with it, Nathan’s assigning me to you for the foreseeable future,” said Cora. “I’ll move in with you again, camp out in your waiting room while you’re at work, and just generally hang out for everything except your sessions with Master James, since you don’t seem to want me to know what happens.”