by D. R. Rosier
I smiled, “Samantha? Pleasure to meet you.”
She tilted her head slightly, “And you Andrew, Lilith, and Julia, my pleasure. Shall we sit? I’m rather starving to be honest.”
She turned without waiting for an answer, and walked back toward the hostess. I tried and failed not to look down. Her ass was petite, sexy, and quite well defined in her pants. I looked back up as we followed, and I ignored the smirk on Lilith’s face. Her connection may have made me have an increased libido and inclinations toward the opposite sex, but there was nothing wrong with just looking, was there?
Chapter Four
Samantha winced as soon as she turned around. Starving to be honest? Hopefully her blush would clear before they sat down. The hostess led them to a table for four, and she sat across from Andrew, while Lilith and Julia sat to her left and right.
She felt a little off balance but tried not to let it show. It wasn’t this meeting, or at least not just this meeting that made her feel that way. It was that reprobate prick bastard Jake Crandall. That idiot had been trying to get into her pants, and sabotage her career all at the same time for the last five years. She really hated him, but she was more disturbed by the idea of the council having her followed and watched. She’d screwed up badly by facing down Edith the way she had, worse, she’d shown a part of her true power, which had probably scared the whole council.
The second part that was pulling her off balance, was the memory of what she’d watched. She couldn’t look at Andrew and not picture his sweaty strong muscled body, and his big cock as he fed it to Katia. It was making her… warm and tingly down below, which was bad, very bad. That was another thing she hadn’t reported to the council last night, the presence of a human with the warlock. She swallowed and took a sip of water, and tried to clear her mind.
The succubus smirked knowingly at her, and she froze for a second. Was she reading her mind? No, that was impossible, only greater demons could do that, and there weren’t that many of them. She highly doubted that this was the Lilith of legend, impossible. Just in case though, she cast a veil over her mind which would block that sort of thing. Of course, she was also just as sure that Julia, the cat shifter-vampire hybrid could scent her arousal, but generally they didn’t share that kind of information. Still, it had her off-balance.
Andrew cleared his throat, and she looked at him. Had she zoned out again? Great, she thought sarcastically. Before she could talk, the waitress came by and took all their orders.
When the waitress left, she cleared her throat.
“The council wanted me to meet with you, to both welcome you to Seattle, and go over what we can and can’t offer you. We were of course, also curious about your own plans and intentions in our city.”
Andrew nodded, “I’m a little curious how you maintain neutrality.”
She studied him for a moment, his hazel eyes were both warm and intense.
“We offer our services to both the vampires and shifters, at a price of course, but our services only deal with their internal issues. Such as tracking down a rogue of their own kind. We don’t share information or assist either of them in a way that would allow them to get an edge over their enemy. In other words, we’re useful to both, and don’t work against either, so they leave us in peace.”
He frowned, “That’s convenient. What kind of services?”
She shrugged, “Tracking something or someone with magic, brokering information, we also have a number of business connections in the human world, help with money transactions, that sort of thing.”
He asked, “So, does that make me competition? I already have a treaty with the shifter pride, and can offer the same things.”
She frowned, “How about we call it cooperation? Do you intend to offer services?”
He smiled, “Not really. I plan to continue my alliance with the cat shifters, but I doubt I’ll have anything to do with the vampires, or with the rest of the packs, though I can’t rule it out. My primary intention is to work as a warlock, deals and such, and I’m not looking for enemies.”
She asked, “Work as a warlock?”
He nodded, “We tend to work with a human clientele, my connection to the pride is through Julia, and I see no reason to be greedy and try to steal mage business. I just want to do my thing and live my life without being embroiled in… drama.”
She believed him. She’d already thought the shifter thing yesterday was more about Julia and what she got out of her pact for being his guardian than any true ambition on his part. Julia was also almost as distracting as Andrew was. Between her imagining him naked, and the cat shifter pheromones, she felt like there was a damned pool between her legs. She ignored it, the best she could. Point was, any sense of his ambition was clearly tempered by a solid sense of morality, as she’d believed.
“What about the vampire attack?” she asked curiously.
The food came, she got a linguine in a creamy sauce with veggies and shrimp. It looked delicious.
Once the waitress had left he said, “I don’t get why they want to kill each other so badly, and I don’t blame my actions for causing it. I don’t want a fight, but if the vampires go after the Pride, they’ll regret it. The group that attacked them last night all died before they could cause harm.”
Her heart skipped at the look of deadly intent in his eyes, and not with fear. He really did care about the pride, or at least about Julia.
She nodded, “Your wards I’d imagine.”
At his sharp look she explained, “I saw them in the process of tracking you down, in fact…” she trailed off as she reached under the table and pulled a folder out of her purse.
She handed it to him, “This is an example of the kinds of services we can offer you, if we can cooperate and not work at cross-purposes, and it sounds like we can if you truly intend to leave our interests alone.”
He frowned, “What’s in here?”
She said, “It’s an in-depth analysis of your wards, weaknesses, how to correct them, and how to make the wards more magic efficient. Honestly, it was a good first effort, impressive given how new you are at this. Consider it a gesture towards cooperation. It also has my business card inside, I know learning magic in a vacuum can be difficult, having someone to help answer questions, and the whys of things, might help you learn faster and more efficiently. Just one more thing we can offer you.”
She added, “Of course, we can’t get involved with anything relating to the shifters and vampires. But the reverse of that works in your favor as well.”
He said, “Thanks, I’ll look over this, and give what you said some thought. It would be nice to have someone to bounce thoughts off, and ask questions.”
He looked like he wanted to trust her word and intentions, but he wasn’t quite there yet. She didn’t blame him, not after all he’d gone through already in the first week. Still, it was a good first meeting, trust would take time.
He added, “Let me give you my contact information as well, I don’t have…”
He trailed off when Lilith cleared her throat, and pulled out a business card and handed it to her.
She took a quick look at it. Andrew Stewart Moore, and then a few phone numbers. She dropped it into her purse, and subtly rubbed her legs together. Her core was on fire, and the longer she breathed in those pheromones, and enjoyed Andrew’s presence, the worse it seemed to get.
They didn’t talk business at all for the rest of lunch, she had her answers and he had hers, and despite herself she couldn’t help but be a bit charmed as they made small talk. It was a good start, but she knew more progress would have to wait. She just wondered what sort of progress she really had in mind…
Julia was watchful, but also very amused. She could scent Samantha’s arousal, which was off the charts, the woman had to be flowered open and ready for it. She could also scent Andrew’s arousal, and while he wasn’t as bad as she was, that was probably because he’d just had sex with Lilith. Full humans were so weird, they should j
ust get it over with and fuck in her opinion. Still, it was entertaining to her.
After lunch, they said their goodbyes and headed toward the door. She was careful to keep herself between the mage and Andrew. She was sure the mage was okay, scents don’t lie, she wanted his cock not his death, but her cat instincts had her on edge and vigilant. Or was it how much she cared about him? Either way, she evaluated the street as they stepped outside, and headed toward the alley so they could go home. Teleporting in front of the restaurant would be a bad idea, with all the humans around.
She heard a loud bang, and perceived the bullet hitting the shield of protection from physical attacks that Andrew had placed over her. She was a strong supernatural and knew it, perhaps the strongest in the city right now, but even she would be toast if her brains had been scattered on the sidewalk. In short, what she had thought of as paranoia on Andrew’s part, had just saved her life.
People screamed and ran for cover, and she saw the sniper up on a roof two blocks away, and surrounded herself, Lilith, and Andrew in shadows. Everyone was panicked, and no one was looking toward them. She wasn’t worried about being seen just then. They appeared on the roof and saw a vampire. What the hell!
“Freeze!” she ordered as he met her eyes. The vampire froze like a statue.
She was shocked at how well her compulsion worked on the young vampire, but she shouldn’t have been. Lilith had told her it would be strong, she’d just never used it before.
“Who are you, and what’s your mission.”
The vampire was still frozen by her strong compulsion, except his mouth, “James, I was ordered to kill you as the higher danger, and then the warlock.”
She growled, “Why? And who ordered it?”
James said, “I just do what I’m told. The orders came from the top, I don’t know why Arthur wants him dead.”
She ordered, “Guess.”
James said, “Arthur is a control freak, the warlock adds an unknown and chaotic element to the city’s supernatural balance of power and political structure. He likes the status quo, and your warlock is changing that up. My guess is he let him live this long in the hopes of the head alpha being killed, or thinking the head alpha would kill the warlock and it wouldn’t fall to him.”
“How did you know where we were? This was an ambush.”
James said, “Jake Crandall tipped us off, he’s a mage investigator that’s tracking Samantha.”
She growled, and asked, “Did Samantha know about this?”
James replied, “I doubt it.”
She looked at Andrew.
He said angrily, “I have no more questions, good job.”
She lunged forward and tore James’ head off.
Andrew used balefire to incinerate the corpse, there’d be nothing to find but ashes. Then she took them home to the study…
Chapter Five
I pulled Julia toward me and held her in my arms, she nuzzled into my chest and made a contented noise. It soothed me. That fucker had tried to kill her, and me. He was dead, but the one behind it wasn’t. I also knew better than to plan a reprisal right now, or I’d be liable to take the scorched earth approach. I needed to calm down, and send a more appropriate message than full out death and destruction.
Thank the infernal I’d made the decision to protect her with my spells. I kissed the top of her head and released her, then moved toward my desk.
I dropped the packet Samantha gave me onto the desk as I reached for my cell phone, and I called Samantha. I didn’t think she was in on it either, but it really didn’t matter, her race was, which at best meant her people were fucking her over too. Either way the mages were on my shit list as well.
Samantha answered, “Hello? Andrew? Are you alright?”
I said, “I’m fine, except everything you told me about neutrality was a lie, or at least, in my case it was a lie.”
Samantha asked, “What are you talking about?”
I told her what happened, the vampire sniper, who sent him, and most importantly to her the fact the vamps were tipped off on my location by a mage.
Samantha cursed, which shocked me a bit, she was very professional in the restaurant.
“He said Jake Crandall, you’re sure?” she asked in a viperish tone.
I replied, “Yes, and under compulsion, so he believed it to be true.”
She said, “He’s a jackass, give me a chance to get to the bottom of this. It might just be him acting on his own. I don’t think the council would risk their neutrality.”
I laughed, “I’m just a race of one Samantha, they might want me dead and figured the vampires were good for it. I’m competition remember, and they’ve got this Jake guy watching you right? Just saying, they might avoid risking their neutrality with the vamps and shifters, but I’m just one person.”
She was silent for a minute, “Yeah, but that makes me the honest patsy to get your guard down, and I don’t like that idea at all. I’ll call you and let you know what I find out.”
She hung up.
I put the phone down, “She seemed truly outraged… Opinions?”
Julia frowned, “Samantha didn’t know about it, and truly doesn’t believe her bosses are capable of it. I think she’s a bit naïve, like you said, they don’t betray their neutrality with the others because it would pull them into a war and hurt their bottom line. Not for some… moral reason. I don’t know, we should wait to hear back from Samantha before deciding what to do with the mages.”
Lilith said, “I can agree with that, I felt and read no duplicity in her.”
I grunted, “The vampires… I need to calm down and think on it a bit.”
Julia stepped into me, and kissed me aggressively while she caressed my face and chest tenderly. The two tactile extremes, plus the scent and feel of her were overwhelming. She pulled back and looked me in the eyes.
“I know what will help you relax.”
She smiled naughtily, and dropped her pants at vampire speed and bent over the desk, and gave me a fuck me look over her shoulder that made my cock jump to attention. The close call had made me realize I cared about her more than I believed I did, but I wasn’t at all sure it could be described as love yet. But she was mine, loyal, beautiful, amazing, and I opened up my own pants and walked up behind her, dropping them to my ankles I stepped out of them.
I caressed her back slowly, softly, and then ran my fingertips over her sweet supple mouthwatering bubbled ass as I lined myself up. I drove inside of her, my Julia, my kitten, and started to fuck her hard and fast, without mercy. She gasped in pleasure and arched her back, and started to buck back against me with a wanton abandon that matched my own, and tightened herself around me for each back stroke. She felt amazing, and she was alive and home with me.
She was safe.
It was cathartic, and although I fucked her hard and fast, roughly and without mercy, my fingertips caressed her ass and lower back softly. The dichotomy of my feelings, as I claimed her as mine, and reassured myself that she was still alive and whole, while at the same time using her hard to get the frustration at the Seattle supernatural community out, was a little crazy. I lost myself a bit, as passion overwhelmed me, and she loved every minute of it as she slammed back into me, taking me as hard as I was taking her.
I felt responsible for her, cared for her, and treasured her presence, her loyalty, her fierceness, her intelligence, and everything else she was. My life was extremely complicated lately, but this wasn’t one of the complicated parts, or at least it didn’t need to be. I was falling in love with my guardian, slowly but surely, and I feared losing her.
She was gasping out my name as she came around me, I honestly wasn’t sure if it was her second or third orgasm, I just kept pumping into her hard and fast, never letting up, and I could feel myself racing for my own finish as the wickedly tight silken friction along my sensitive cock. The feel of her sexy curvy body under my hands, her wonderful scent of arousal, along with the deep feelings I was starti
ng to feel for her, sent bolts and waves of pleasure through my body as I reached for the heights of ecstasy.
My mind and body were overcome with bliss, and I squeezed her waist with my hands as I buried myself hard inside her, filling her with my essence, claiming her with the most primitive part of my psyche. It was so intense I had to hold myself up on the desk as I collapsed forward, to avoid crushing her body. I almost laughed at that idea, a truck couldn’t crush her shifter-vampire hybrid body. Still, it was reflex.
I stayed buried inside, and caressed her back softly, a continuing soft counterpoint of the rough and hard way I’d taken her. Or she’d taken me.
I leaned down and kissed her back, nibbled her neck, and then pulled out.
Lilith cleared her throat, and with a flash of light we were both dressed.
“That’s really handy, otherwise I’d be taking like… six showers a day.
Lilith snickered, “That’s why I do it.”
I pulled Julia around the desk, and into my lap as I sat down. We shared few soft lingering kisses that told each of us of the deep feelings we held but hadn’t spoken of yet, and her dark amber eyes had a hooded sated look to them when our lips parted.
“Okay, so responses, should we include the pride?”
My initial thought was not to, but they were supposed to be my allies, not just the other way around.
Julia shrugged, “The mages didn’t really attack us, just shared our location. Not sure that we’re entitled to their help on that one. As for the vampires, I guess it depends on what you have in mind.”
I continued to caress her body and play with her hair as she wiggled and got comfortable on my lap.
I sighed, “We have to measure our response carefully. We have to respond, but we don’t want to set off a full-scale war either. At least I don’t. Let’s hold off on the mage part until Samantha gets back with us, maybe it’s not too late to get some kind of peace with them. The vampires…” I trailed off, not sure. I was a lot calmer, but I was still tempted to go after the bastards hard.