by Joey W. Hill
He set down his fork. “So maybe the answer isn’t trying to force me to be a snitch, but getting a message to them. There’s a rumor going around, that vampires who have a strong relationship with their human servant are more likely to conceive.”
At her unreadable look, he lifted a shoulder. “Doesn’t matter how many leaks you try to shut off, water’s going to find a way to flow out a dam. The sudden poker faces around the table tell me it may be more than rumor. If so, maybe the Trads need to hear that. Maybe it would make them look a little differently at humans if they see them, not as food or objects, but a legitimate pathway to an increase in their birth rate. They’re not all idiots about that, like Goddard was.”
“An emissary of sorts.” Lyssa pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Not a bad idea. Would you be willing to be that emissary, Cai? This latest incident won’t help reduce tensions between our two peoples. While I won’t shy away from war if that’s where it goes, we’d all prefer a different outcome. Well, most of us.” Her lips twitched. “Lord Belizar is not here to voice his opinion, but he far prefers battle to diplomacy.”
“You think I would be a good diplomat?” Cai tried not to scoff. For one thing, he’d just eaten a cheese thing and was afraid he might accidentally spit some of the crumbs in the queen’s direction.
Lyssa’s lips twitched. “You’ve said they’re a rough group, with no patience for civilized vampire polish. I think you’d be exactly the right person. It’s not a decision to make tonight. But if you do decide to serve in that role, your interactions with vampires in our world will necessarily increase.”
She glanced around the room. “Our social-gathering etiquette is in place for a reason. It allows all of us a place to safely exercise the more savage parts of ourselves, in ways that don’t result in bloodshed. It’s also a way to explore our natures and that of our servants. You yourself indicated you might warm to it. Even if you don’t feel you have the right to command your servant’s choice, if he agrees to take that step with you, you might find it brings both of you pleasure and a deeper understanding of your bond.”
She’s encouraging you to go ahead with the dinner stuff, if I’m okay with it. Rand spoke in his head.
Really? She painted it on the wall in big red letters. I missed that.
Rand ignored the sarcasm. I can do this.
Do you have any clue what they want you to do?
No, but I expect I’m about to find out.
You don’t have to. I’m not going to be some bullshit emissary. I’m going to get the hell out of here and leave this area for a good long while so they can’t irritate me. Go to the desert, like I said.
The obvious place for a sun-averse species, Rand observed. Cai, I can handle this.
No. He said it decisively.
Rand’s mind voice was puzzled, even a little hurt. With Dovia, I was able to…
I won’t allow it. Cai brought his palm down on the table with a sharp impact that shuddered through the wood. He didn’t care.
Before the vampires could react, he answered Lyssa. “I might be willing to talk to some Trads, get some kind of dialogue going between you so you could meet,” he said. “But once I did that, then I’d be done. I’m not interested in being a formal emissary to you or to the Trads. Neither one of you is part of my world.”
Older vampires really did have extraordinary eyes, the jade green of hers like a spiral, taking him deeper, holding him. No one spoke, which probably meant bad things for him and Rand, worse than him being sent from the table. Unavoidable consequences usually called for him to say something snarky, and he had a million possibilities on the tip of his tongue.
But as he looked at the vampire queen, he saw her in bare feet, calling back her dogs. Or reaching out to lay her hand on Georg Greenwald’s arm, steadying him. Most importantly, he thought of every look and touch she’d shared with Jacob. Her servant. Maybe he was crazy to talk to a thousand-year-old-plus Council vampire like this, but something entirely unplanned came out of his mouth. Straight from the heart.
“I didn’t feel like I belonged to or with anybody…for a long time,” he said. “But the worst part was remembering when I did. I was a kid. A kid with a family, some ideas about what I’d do with my life. I’d probably have ended up working the land like my father did, at his side, until I found some village girl to marry, have a bunch of babies with, and keep the cycle going. There’d be sunrises and sunsets, early dawns and hard work, where I’d wish for just a few more minutes of sleep. I’d look forward to harvest festivals where I could dance with girls with flowers in their hair.”
He was aware of a change in the scrutiny toward him, but he kept his attention on her. Except for her and Rand, there was no one else in the room. “I remember a couple times I noticed the muscles of farm boys as much as the soft tits of farm girls, but I pushed that away. Wasn’t any context for having those thoughts in that world. But other than that….it was a life. The life I thought I’d been given.”
He picked up his fork, put it back down. “Goddard took that away, and then he and his Trads took everything, every bit of who I was. I thought about dying, a million times, and then one particularly awful night, I decided I’d had enough. I killed myself. Or I thought I did. Instead, Lodell found me before I was all the way dead, and he turned me.”
He felt Rand’s gaze boring into the back of his head, but he didn’t look toward him. Didn’t need to. Those threads between Lyssa and Jacob? He and the wolf had their own version of those, particularly in a moment like this.
Cai shook his head, barked a harsh half laugh. “Said he wasn’t going to let me give up on life. That I was too damn tough of a little bastard, and I was going to figure it out, figure out how to live life on my own terms. Fuck, I hated him for that. Hated him for a good ten years, until I realized he was the best and only friend I’d ever have in the Trads.”
Rand had moved, because he rested a hand on Cai’s shoulder. It was a ballsy decision in this crowd, but Cai took it, accepted it. He felt the understanding in Rand’s mind. He’d sense it, see it, but Cai still opened his mind wide to him, so Rand could see the more complicated layers of what Cai couldn’t express, even in formed thought.
It wasn’t that Cai didn’t think Rand could handle a fun orgy with some hot-looking human servants. Cai couldn’t handle it. Something he hadn’t realized until just now.
Lyssa’s eyes were assessing, measuring, but they weren’t unkind or cruel. He didn’t take stock of what else was happening at the table, but he’d probably ruined the mood for the after-dinner fuckfest. Yeah, don’t invite that guy again. What a killjoy.
“I’ve been around enough to know what being a vampire’s about. I don’t know your world well, but I get some of the whole vampire-servant thing and why it’s so fucking fabulous to have this person who belongs entirely to you. Maybe in time, if I hung around with you all long enough, in your world, I’d start to feel more comfortable with it, and so would Rand. Then we’d all enjoy it a lot more, right? Because the big difference between you and the Trads is the servants. Your servants are with you willingly and, for some of you, that bond…it’s a strong, indescribable thing.”
His gaze shifted meaningfully between her and Jacob. “The Trads destroyed who I was, remade me. Am I a Trad? Maybe I am. I’m broken, I know it. I’ve killed plenty of humans for blood needs; haven’t thought a damn thing about it and probably never will. I don’t dream about their faces or who they were to their families. They were food, pure and simple.”
Now it was harder to feel Rand’s gaze upon him. But he pressed on. “Rand reminded me of what it was to notice. Of why it makes sense to take what you need without taking a life, when it’s possible. He reminded me how bloody awful killing and taking away free will is. He took me back to the beginning, and has stood at my side, seen what I am and still stood at my side. Just like he’s doing now. We haven’t known each other long, but it feels like a lot longer.”
He saw understandin
g, not only in Lyssa’s eyes, but in Jacob’s, who had also shifted closer to his lady. Cai could cover both their expressions in one glance. Fortunately, Jacob’s looked a lot less like You are so fucking up.
Rand’s fingers tightened on him. “I’m still not sure if that’s a gift or curse,” Cai continued. “But it makes me sure of one thing. I’m asking you, respectfully as I know how. Don’t push him into the world where I had to live for too long. Don’t do that to him.”
He set his jaw. “If you try, I’ll finish what Lodell interrupted and take us both out. My pathetic life is totally worth protecting him from that treatment, ten times over.”
Cai pushed away from the table, causing Rand to step back, but he did it to rise and face Rand. “And if the only way to free Rand from your demands, now and going forward, is to remove our marking, then I request that.”
He couldn’t believe how hard it was to push the next words out, but he did it. They were for Rand alone. “Probably the best thing. You know my mouth is going to get me killed, and you don’t want to die because I’m an incurable smartass.”
Rand’s blue and gold eyes were fixed on his with an intent look. When the wolf spoke in his head, the words lodged in Cai’s chest, like a thrown spear.
Gotta die of something.
Cai swallowed. He offered a bare nod of acknowledgment and turned to face Lyssa, though he executed a credible bow to all of them. Pretty well, if the surprise on Helga’s face was any indication.
“I’m sorry if I was rude to anyone here. I’m willing to help improve relations between you and the Trads, the way I described it. I’ll hang around tonight if you want to talk about that with me, but I’ll be gone before dawn. Back to the world where I belong.” He straightened. “Though if we could have a doggy bag of those meatball things, Rand would appreciate it. So…um. Good night.”
He’d almost made it to the door when Lyssa spoke, bringing him to a halt.
“Mordecai.”
Hell, he’d known it wasn’t going to be that easy. He turned, subtly—or maybe blatantly—positioning himself in front of Rand. When the wolf began to move, intending to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, Cai warned him against it.
Protocol, remember? You don’t stand next to or in front of your vampire. Jacob said so.
Rand stayed where he was, but it was a tenuous leash that might snap at the least provocation from the table. It was what Sheba had known, and Cai did, too. Rand was a pack leader. No one was threatening his pack, and Cai…Cai was his pack. Thanks to Cai’s big mouth, Rand was obviously feeling that even more strongly now.
But it was sloppy seconds, falling so short of the kind of pack Rand should be leading. One that would want to be led, for one thing, rather than one constantly doing his own thing and dragging Rand into this kind of trouble.
Lyssa rose and came to stand before Cai. She had a graceful, gliding kind of movement that Cai expected spawned the lore about vampires floating just above the ground rather than striding like a human.
“This Council and I are deeply grateful for what you and your servant did for Dovia and Lord Greenwald,” she said with quiet formality, though her gaze said a lot more. “You have our leave to depart whenever you wish, but you have friends on the Council now. Please do not hesitate to come to us if you have need of that friendship. If you are willing to approach Trad colonies you think would be amicable to meeting with a delegation from this Council, to discuss ways to resolve some of our deeper conflicts, then see Ingram before you leave. He’ll provide you my contact information.”
Her gaze shifted to Rand. “Just as we are learning more about the Fae culture, thanks to the liaison role of Lord Keldwyn with our Council, I think it would be beneficial to learn more of your kind, Rand. I understand you are a private people, and you may not wish this. We’ll leave it to you and them to decide if you wish to initiate those dialogues.
“If you do, then Cai will have the contact information so you may seek informal or formal audience with me about it. Vampires are learning, slowly, painfully, that we benefit more from friendships than conflict or isolationism. I know trust of our kind has not always been warranted, but we are working on that.”
Isolationism is a hell of a lot easier than that other stuff, Cai observed to Rand. And you don’t have to dress up for dinner.
Cai…
Rand’s warning kept the words inside, but Cai was just yanking the wolf’s chain. He gave Lyssa a slight bow.
“Thank you, my lady. I would also ask…what you promised, or implied you’d do, earlier. Can you not speak of what Rand is outside this room? As I said, water finds a way past a dam, but no reason to help it.” A tight smile touched his lips. “Sometimes it’s better for some things to remain a fantasy.”
Lyssa looked to the others, meeting each vampire’s eyes in turn, finishing with Mason. Whatever was communicated between them had her offering Cai a nod.
“If the time comes when the rest of the Council must know, I will speak of it, but as long as there is no pressing issue related to shifters, I see no reason for the information to go further than the Council in this room and the staff here, whom you may trust to keep the information to themselves.”
“Thank you.” And he meant it. Which felt awkward. “In return, I’ll never reveal to any vampire I was here, or what we did for you. Even if I meet one of those absent Council members. Wouldn’t want it to get around that you guys owe a favor to a bastard like me.”
Her eyes glinted with amusement. Beneath that was something more serious, unsettling. “I think there are far worse favors to owe. Before you go, see Lord Brian. He has something for you. It will please you. Also, Rand may visit the kitchen and request any leftovers either of you desires.”
She’d let him off the hook. Her lips twitched, acknowledging his barely masked relief and Rand’s doggy bag needs, before she turned away, a clear dismissal.
Cai didn’t need to be told twice.
Cai didn’t slow his strides until he was deep into one of the gardens, where the forest was only a few hundred feet away. Tempting. Way too tempting. He was under an archway of a big vine thing that formed a cave. He’d told Rand to go to the kitchen and get some food. Had insisted on it, making it clear he needed some alone time. The wolf complied, especially when Cai shut down any mind communication and ignored Rand’s silent questions.
He stayed in the garden for a while, trying to sort through his thoughts. Removing the third mark… Yeah, he should deal with that. He didn’t really care what Brian had for him, but maybe the servant’s vampire had to sanction the separation in person, or there were forms to sign. Who the fuck knew.
He thought of being with Rand without the bond the mark provided. He didn’t like it, but it wasn’t about what he liked or disliked. It was what made the most sense. Which was why he was sitting in the middle of a Council-vampire garden, brooding over it. Shit.
He tried not to think of anything. Trying not to think of what was behind all of it, and what had been reinforced with a big highlighter tonight, after seeing Rand around the Council vampires. A huge, Grand Canyon contrast to him being with Fane’s family.
Shit and double shit. Cai rose and wandered into a different section of the garden. It was then that another scent came to him, one that a vampire found hard to resist. Especially a vampire looking for a much-needed distraction.
Following the path with quiet stealth, Cai discovered exactly why those “servant entertainments” had sounded so intriguing. And why wouldn’t they be, with so many hot looking servants close to hand?
The Council delegation had retired to a large open pavilion to enjoy after dinner coffee and the tableau currently on display before them.
Jessica, Mason’s servant, was stretched out in pale, silky nudity upon a patch of soft green grass, populated by lavender flowers. Shondra, a lovely woman with hazelnut skin and a million dark ringlets of soft cottony hair, had her mouth buried between Jessica’s legs. Mason’s servant was writhing, her
arms stretched out to either side, mouth open and neck arched back, so close to release. But it seemed Carola kept Shondra curbing her pace, so she took Jessica up and up, then brought her back from the edge, intensifying the experience.
“Master…” Jessica’s self-restraint broke with the plea. Mason had pulled his chair close enough to her that her fingers coiled and uncoiled on the hem of his slacks. His gaze remained fixed upon her, his mouth set in a stern, waiting line, though his eyes had fire in them. Before the night was over, Cai expected his servant would be fucked past the ability to walk. Mason looked like he put the D in Dominant. Whenever his servant was touched by another, even a woman, he was probably quick to reinforce his own claim on her. Repeatedly.
Cai thought of Rand and Dovia. Yeah, he got that.
He imagined Rand in the same position, the female servant working him in her mouth. Rand would be blindfolded, so he wouldn’t know if the mouth was male or female, except by guessing. Since a cock could care less when it came to the tactile stuff, it would be ramrod straight, the knob slick and gleaming as she sucked and polished, went all the way down, earning a strangled groan from him.
Would the words come from his lips the way they did Jessica’s now, a whispered supplication?
“Master…let me please you.”
Jessica was blindfolded, too, so her Master’s gaze was on her mouth, her parted lips, tongue touching them. Did the movement show that she wanted her Master’s cock, even more than she wanted the orgasm she was so perilously close to experiencing? Cai expected it did. What Master could resist that?