Without further ado, she unzipped his pants and pulled them down.
“Revenge is bad, revenge is bad,” I murmured to myself as Ben reluctantly lifted each foot so she could pull his pants completely off.
She reached for his penis, but Ben caught her by her arms and spun her around, whispering something in her ear. She laughed again, a shrill sound that made the hairs on my arms stand on end, and called out in a loud, clear voice, “Poor Ben hasn’t eaten since yesterday. He doesn’t think he can perform until he does so. Is there any objection to me feeding him first?”
“Make it fast,” the man named Micah called out, fondling the boobs of one of the two other women.
“By all means, don’t let my hunger keep you from celebrating the glory of the set,” Ben said, moving with Naomi to the far end of the area. She twined an arm around him, offering her neck, but he took her hand instead, his head bent over her wrist.
“Clever Benedikt,” David said softly. “He bought himself some time.”
“He can’t feed all night,” I said, watching him and Naomi with many dark thoughts that would have shocked my mother. “Sooner or later he’s going to have to stop, and then they’ll want him to join in the orgy.”
David was silent for a moment. “I can only imagine what you think of me for asking this of you, but I assure you that what Benedikt does tonight, he does for the welfare of my pride. He will not enjoy himself in the least.”
“Do you have a wife? Girlfriend?” I asked him, noting that he was right—the others were on the blankets, rolling around in one big mass of writhing arms and legs. I avoided looking at just what it was they were doing, keeping my attention on Ben.
“No. Why?”
“Because if that was your girlfriend out there about to have sex with someone who wasn’t you, I think you’d have a different perspective on the whole thing.”
He said nothing, but shifted uncomfortably.
“They don’t seem to be holding your buddy prisoner,” I added, my eyes drawn to him when he arched up from where one of the women was bent over him, and howled in wordless ecstasy. “In fact, he seems to be having a pretty good time.”
“So I’ve noticed,” he answered, a hard, flinty edge to his voice.
“I see I’ve arrived a little early.”
Both David and I ducked as two men strode within twenty yards of us, stopping at the edge of the ring of lights. I gaped in openmouthed surprise, then mentally chided myself for doing so yet again. I never used to be the sort of person who stood like an idiot with her mouth hanging open. It must have been Ben’s influence on me. He made me fall in love with him, thereby causing me to become a mouth breather.
Or something like that. I stared in disbelief at the dark-haired man who had appeared when I tried to summon Loki. “What is he doing here?”
David shot me a quick questioning glance, and whispered, “You know them?”
“I know the one. Well, kind of. I summoned him by mistake, but I don’t know who he is.”
“We have had a late start, but you are welcome to join in the celebration of the set,” Naomi said, stroking her hand through Ben’s hair. He was still bent over her wrist, although now I could see he was kissing his way up her arm. A stall tactic, no doubt, I snarled to myself. “Come, my darling. We must initiate you properly.”
She led Ben toward the mass of bodies. He stopped just at the edge of them, looking over at the two men who stood watching the scene. The man I’d summoned had a sneer on his lips. The other man, thin and anemiclooking, shot little darting glances around, as if he was looking for a way to escape. “I don’t perform in front of strangers,” Ben said. “Who are those people?”
“Just a friend of mine and his pet necromancer,” Naomi cooed, sliding her hand down to his crotch. He tried to sidestep her, but she had hold of him so he couldn’t. “Let us partake of the blessing of the set, lover.”
Ben, his brows lowered, glared at the strangers. “I said I don’t perform in front of strangers. Make them leave.”
“They can’t, darling. They are needed for what’s to follow your initiation,” she purred, pulling him down onto the blanket.
I clutched the trunk of the tree so hard my fingernails broke through my gloves. With a snarl, I ripped them off, holding the Vikingahärta tight, sick to my stomach with indecision and anger. I wanted to help David, but not this way. There had to be another way.
“What is to follow? I thought my initiation into the set was the highlight of the tyro. Now you tell me it’s not?” Ben’s voice was filled with arrogance and hauteur, and for a moment I smiled at it. The arrogance, yes, that was him, but he was never haughty, and I knew he disliked being the center of attention as much as I did.
“No, lover, of course your ceremony is to be the highlight,” Naomi said, trying to pull him back when he moved out of her reach. Beyond them, the others were fully engaged in their orgy, little cries and groans filling the night air. “We had an unexpected opportunity to further our experiments for de Marco, that’s all. Just as soon as we’re done with your ceremony, we’ll get on with the experiment, and then he will leave and it will be just us again.”
De Marco? The name rang in my head like a bell. What had he to do with this?
“I do not like how I have been shoved aside for another,” Ben said, getting to his feet, and to my intense relief, snatching up his jeans and pulling them on. “I will not have it. I am a Dark One, not some mortal you can appease with a little sex and then set aside.”
Naomi’s eyes narrowed on him. “Benedikt, you are important to us. But you cannot be one of us unless you complete the ceremony.”
He glared at the man I had summoned, and insight hit me with a flash. Was that de Marco? The man who’d had a baby with my mother?
“I will not be treated in this manner!” Ben snapped. “Obviously, you have some reservations about my involvement, or you would not delegate me to such a lowly status. Until such time as you realize my true value, I will find something else to occupy my time.”
Ben’s performance drove speculation about the mysterious de Marco from my mind. I wanted to cheer him, and kiss him, and lick every square inch of his delicious body. And then I would make him fall in love with me, so we could live together happily, and he would be safe from the wiles of smut-mistresses like Naomi.
“I think, perhaps, it is you who have reservations,” Naomi said slowly, getting to her feet. She had her back to me as she faced Ben, so I couldn’t see her face, but her body language made it clear she was no longer in sex kitten mode. “It is that damned Beloved of yours, isn’t it? She’s leading you around by your cock. I knew I should have taken care of her when I had the chance.”
Ben gave her one of his haughtiest looks. “No woman leads me, Naomi. No woman.”
“Such a shame.” She ran her hand down his bare chest. He stepped back. “You had such potential, too. Isaak?”
I had been ignoring the orgy in order to concentrate on Ben, but when I glanced back, I was surprised to notice that everyone appeared to be finished with their lechery. They lolled around in attitudes of limp exhaustion, their bodies draped over each other with apparent abandon. At Naomi’s call, Isaak pushed Luis’s legs off his stomach and got up.
“I believe in addition to our scheduled event, we have an extraordinary opportunity at hand.” She smiled at Isaak before gesturing at Ben. “Our friend here seems to prefer his Beloved to us. De Marco, have you ever tried a Dark One?”
“Uh-oh,” I whispered, my stomach tightening. “I think things have gone wrong. Not that they were right to begin with.”
“Yes,” David said slowly, his gaze moving from person to person. “I suspect you’re correct. Are you armed?”
I looked at him in surprise. “No. I don’t . . . I’m not big on guns and things. I have the Vikingahärta, but it’s not a weapon. At least, I don’t think it is. It protected me from Loki once, but that could be due to some other circumstance.”
/> De Marco had strolled into the center of the ring by that point, followed by the slight man who reminded me of a nervous ferret. “I hadn’t thought it was possible, but now that you bring it to mind, it would be a good experiment.”
“Experiment on someone else,” Ben growled, snatching up his shirt. “I am no one’s guinea pig.”
“Do you know what experiment they’re talking about?” I asked David softly, holding on to his arm as we leaned forward to hear.
“No. But if that little man is a necromancer . . .” His voice trailed off as he eyed de Marco.
“They raise the dead, don’t they?” I shivered at the implication.
“Yes.”
“But Ben is immortal. They can’t kill him.”
“So is Luis, and yet they have destroyed countless therions over the last decade. Immortal simply means we’re harder to kill than mortals. It can be accomplished.”
“Not so fast,” Isaak said, jerking a gun out of a backpack that lay beneath strewn clothing. The sight of a naked man holding a gun on Ben might have struck me as amusing in another circumstance, but I wasn’t laughing.
Ben did, though. He gave a short, harsh laugh. “Do you really expect me to feel threatened by a gun? I’ve been shot more times than you can imagine, mortal.”
The gun in Isaak’s hand wavered.
“Oh, for god’s sake . . .” Naomi stomped over to where she’d left her clothing and bag, marching over to Ben with a glinting dagger about twelve inches long. She thrust it toward Isaak. “I swear, if I want something done, I have to do it myself. Here! Take this. You can slit his throat with it, or cut out his heart, or whatever, but just do it!”
“Right. That’s enough for me. How good of an actor are you, David?”
He looked confused. I didn’t waste time explaining, I just marched forward until I reached the lights, hauling a softly protesting David with me. The second we became visible, I switched my determined stride to a stumbling stagger, leaning heavily on David as if my legs couldn’t hold me up. “That was the besh party I’ve ever sheen. Washn’t it the besht? I gotta say, theshe Germans know how to throw a shindug. Digshug. You know what I mean. But man, I gotta pee. Back teeth are floating. Oh, look, a blanket.”
I came to a stop near the sated orgyists, who quickly scrambled to their respective feet.
“David!” I said in a faux whisper, cupping my hand around his ear but not turning my head into it. “Peepsh! They’re having a naked party! We should totally join in. Do you naked peoplesh have a Porta-Potti around here? Gotta pee.” As the surprised faces of Naomi’s group turned toward us, I staggered to the side, pointing. “David, look! It’s that evil Naomi! And Ben! You bastard!”
“What the hell is she doing here?” Naomi demanded to know of Ben.
Fortunately, he looked as genuinely surprised as the rest of them, which gave me just enough time to do my best drunk walk over to him, waving my fist as I did so. “I am sho gonna punch you! I’m your Beloved, bushter!” I unguarded my mind just as I reached him. Hello. Would you duck, please?
I drew back my arm and swung in a huge circle. Ben obligingly ducked, which left Naomi the only body in the way of my fist.
I’d also like to know what the hell you’re doing here! he thought furiously at me. This is no place for you, Francesca!
She screamed and leaped toward me.
Did you honestly think I was going to let you go off and have sex with someone else?
Isaak and Micah jumped into the fray as Ben jerked Naomi to the side, roughly pushing her away from me.
No. I thought you would trust me to uphold my promise to you. There was pain behind his words.
David roared, actually roared as he shifted into lion form. He leaped onto Isaak, knocking the man to the ground.
I do trust you . It’s Naomi that I have issues with. And I’m glad I did, because clearly, you need us.
“I want him!” de Marco said, pointing at David’s lion form. “And the vampire. I want them both, along with the other therion.”
Fran, get out of here!
No way, Jose.
The two women whose names I never did hear looked at each other, then turned and grabbed their clothing, disappearing into the night. Luis stood watching the men fighting, looking confused and unsure of himself.
“Are you Alphonse de Marco?” I asked the man who was now yelling at Isaak to hurry up with it. “And did you once know Miranda Benson?”
He stopped shouting long enough to shoot me a piercing look. “Just who are you? Why do you keep interfering in my plans?”
“I’m his Beloved,” I said, pointing at Ben. “And you can’t have him. He’s mine.”
Ben and Micah had been duking it out until Ben sent the latter flying a good twenty feet. He turned toward me, his face a picture of shock. Did you just say what I think you said?
Look out! Naomi, with a bloodcurdling shriek, threw herself at him, slashing at his torso with the knife.
It was my turn to scream, and scream I did. “You bitch!”
Ben twisted her arm just as I ran toward them, intending on pulling her off him, which sent the dagger flying. Naomi suddenly seemed to radiate a shock wave of light, knocking back everyone nearest her with a deep compression blast.
I stared in surprise as I got to my knees. She turned on me, a strange black and blue light glowing around her in a corona that filled me with dread. “Now I will be done with you!” she snarled, lifting her hand toward me.
“No!” Ben leaped forward to stop her, but he wasn’t fast enough. A pulse of light shot out from her toward me. Without thinking, I raised the Vikingahärta, yelping when it glowed white for a moment as Naomi’s dark power hit it.
It was her turn to stare in openmouthed amazement as I did a little dance, transferring the burning Vikingahärta from hand to hand until it cooled down enough to hold.
“You . . . What is that . . . ?”
“Luis!” David was back in human form now, Isaak and Micah having been knocked out. Uncaring about his nudity, he jerked his pride member to the side, shaking him and speaking rapidly in an unfamiliar language.
I looked up from the Vikingahärta to Naomi, my eyes slits. “I have had enough of you.” I raised the valknut, but rather than it blasting her with its power, it shifted in my hand, changing form, the three triangles rotating until they all slid into a new position.
“What in the name of all that’s green and glorious . . .” Did you see that? Did you see what it did?
Are you all right? Ben was at my side in an instant, one arm around me as he looked not at the valknut but at my hand, before pushing me behind him as he faced Naomi. “Harm her, and you will die.”
I looked up from where the Vikingahärta had settled into a new arrangement, surprised by the threat in Ben’s voice.
“That goes for you, too,” he added, looking at de Marco.
He looked furious. “Your woman matters little to me, vampire. Just keep her out of my way. You, however, I will see again.” Without saying anything more, he spun around on his heel, shoved the slight man out of the way with a rude word, and strode off into the darkness. The second man shot us an unreadable look, and followed. Which left us with . . .
“Naomi,” I said in a sickeningly sweet tone as I turned to face her. “I have a score to settle with you.”
Francesca, do not, Ben warned me. She is more powerful than you know.
“It’s not nearly so big as the one I have for you,” she answered in similar style, smiling to boot. Her gaze dipped to the Vikingahärta for a few seconds, her jaw tightening as she lifted her chin and looked down her nose at Ben. “I am not done with you, either, lover.”
I started toward her, but Ben wrapped an arm around me, pulling me into his side.
She laughed, and with sublime indifference to the fact that she was still naked, strolled casually over to her stuff, slipped on a discarded robe, and left with her clothing stuffed into her bag.
Cha
pter 16
I looked around at the remains of the orgy. Isaak was covered in blood oozing from deep claw marks and bites, and was half sitting up, groggily touching his chest. Micah was still out. David, who had left off shaking Luis, and had given him a couple of hard slaps, turned to face Ben. “He’s drugged. He won’t come out of it for a while. I don’t know what they used on him, but it’s effectively stripped him of his will.”
I was filled with contrition. “I’m sorry I messed up the tyro,” I said, leaning into Ben. I feel horrible. Did I ruin everything?
No. To my surprise, there was laughter in his mind. On the contrary, I think you progressed us quite a bit.
How so?
We now know that there is someone else working with the Agrippans. Who is this de Marco? You seemed to know him.
I’ll tell you about him later.
“You didn’t mess it up. Luis is safe, and although Ben has been outed, I believe that we should be able to learn what we wish to know from Luis once we can counteract the drugs he’s been given. I might have wished for things to turn out a little differently, but no, you didn’t ruin anything. On the contrary, I have much to thank you for, although Ben looks ready to hang me up by my intestines for letting you get involved.”
“Not your intestines. Your balls,” Ben answered with a dark look.
I nudged his side with my elbow. He made a big show of sighing. “When I was young, I used to dream of the day when I had a Beloved who would allow me to take care of her as I was born to do. I never imagined she’d be a woman who spurned that which I had to offer. You may stop looking daggers at me, Francesca. I know perfectly well that you are able to take care of yourself.”
“Just as I know you can’t help being overly protective. What are we going to do about them?” I nodded toward the two men.
“I’m sure David has plans for them.” Ben lifted his head, his body language tense for a moment before he smiled and relaxed when Diego emerged from the trees.
“Oh, yes,” David said, a note in his voice sounding remarkably like the low rumble of a lion. I edged closer to Ben. “I have plans.” He said something to Diego in whatever language it was that therions spoke to each other, then tossed Ben a set of keys. “Take Fran home. We won’t need you any more tonight.”
In the Company of Vampires do-9 Page 20