"How was easy," she says. "I walked in. Why is much more complicated."
Her amusement is infectious, but I try not to show it as I retort, "Neither of which is an answer!"
"Are you going to finish your shower?" She laughs as her eyes drift to the water that is still running.
My head spins around. Part of me wants to, part of me wants her to watch me, a slight thrill runs through me at the thought of it, but I think of Wolf and shake my head. "No, I'm done now."
The refusal does nothing to diminish her attitude of delight. I find myself grinning at her.
"Then are you going to get dressed?" Athene steps out of my bathroom into the tight hallway.
I follow her out then walk to the bedroom three steps away. Going to my closet, I open it up to try and find clean clothes to put on while Athene settles herself on the edge of my bed.
She is wearing a red corset with a flower print, covered with a small jacket that leaves her arms mostly bare. There is a ring and snap across the front, leading up to a choker collar. The jacket leaves ample cleavage exposed, her pale white skin fills out the bust fully, the corset accents her curves. On her legs are tight leather pants that creak softly as she moves, red chiffon peeks out through slashes in the fabric, and on her feet are thigh high boots that lace up the front. She is full bodied, curvaceous and soft but as she moves her arms I see the lines of her muscles, strength in her body that is not just supernatural in nature.
I tear my eyes away, concentrating on finding clothes. I have nothing that will make me feel comfortable next to her. I feel inadequate next to this classical beauty; my build is slight, my breasts are small, my red-dyed hair lies limp even when it's not soaked. The only asset I have is my ass, which does have a good curve to it.
She watches me fumble with my shower curtain and the closet, digging one handed for clothing while trying to remain decent. The closet has a cheap wire shelf system I use in place of a dresser. As I reach up to get a pair of pants off the top shelf, a roach runs out from a hole in the corner. I scream and jump back, losing the shower curtain as I do.
Athene's eyes run up and down me as she smiles a half smile, her eyes are half lidded. "You are quite beautiful," she says softly. "I see what Wolf likes about you."
I blush from head to toe standing here naked before this woman.
"Ah, you lack confidence. Don't. Beauty standards change with time, to me you are magnificent."
I look down to avoid her eyes and return to the closet in search of clothing and some modicum of self respect.
"Why are you here?" I ask again, distracting myself from thoughts of my nakedness and the feel of her soft lips brushing mine.
"To see you of course! Though I certainly did not expect such a fuss," she chuckles.
"A fuss? You break into my house, scare the devil out of me in my shower but you don't expect a fuss?" I hold my pants in front of me like a shield.
"Oh, I don't understand all this bother about being in your house," she says. "I came to help you."
"Help me? Help me what? Have a heart attack?" She amazes me!
Athene grins and looks around the room. I pull on the jeans and grab a t-shirt to wear, slipping it over my head.
"They will seek to use you; to maneuver him yes, but also for fun. You are feisty and that will bring pleasure to them. It entices the dark desire in each of us. You present a challenge which can be such a . . . wonderful thing to find in nights grown long."
She drags her last sentence out which makes me stop and look at her. How old is she?
"Do vampires live forever?" I put it bluntly; I have no idea, only myths, stories and movies to go off of.
She smiles at me again. "A long time yes, forever, not that I've seen."
"How old are you?"
"Is that any kind of a question to ask a girl?" she replies coyly but I feel the monster in her, the beast, the darkness, whatever you or they wanted to call it. In a vampire it is a tangible thing, I can sense it in them, when it wakes I can feel it. I frown at that thought.
"Do others feel . . . the beast like I do?" I feel my eyebrows scrunching.
"No, child, they do not."
"Why . . .how?"
"I do not know, it is part of what makes you so interesting. You are mortal, yet you feel the darkness in each of us, the monster inside." Athene pats the bed beside her. "Come, sit."
I think about it for a split second then join her on the bed. "I've always. . ." I begin then trail off. Old memories come to the surface, ones I always keep locked away, but I need to see them now. I have to understand. "I've always felt and known when people were bad, I guess."
Athene nods and remains quiet. She starts running her fingers through my wet hair working out the tangles. I lose myself in the memories only dimly aware of her actions but finding them nice all the while. "The men my mother would bring around, I could feel it in them. I knew they were, well, worse than average I guess. When I'm around Wolf, even you, I feel the monster in you. In Griogar it was scary, in Wolf its ... enticing."
"He does have that effect," she laughs lightly.
I feel her begin braiding my hair so I continue. "How old is he?"
"Oh he's not that old, not even two hundred yet."
"Two hundred?" I know intellectually that vampires don't age but it's still hard to wrap my head around Wolf being there for the American Civil War.
"Do you love him?" I ask, a flare of jealousy in my heart.
"Of course I do and I hate him at the same time. He is Wolf, runner in darkness, breaker of worlds. He will bring knowledge back from the darkness, but no myth says the darkness does not taint him."
"You mean more than the beast inside him, don't you?"
"Yes dear one, I do."
I nod, thinking of what Griogar had referenced. "What is 'forbidden fruit'?"
Her hands stop mid-motion in her braiding then start again. "Where did you hear that term?"
Shit. "Griogar said it to Wolf before the Assembly. It sounds bad, how much trouble am I in? How much trouble is Wolf in?"
She works my hair in silence and I start to think that she will not answer me at all; much like Wolf would have done himself. Then her hands are on my shoulders and she starts massaging them.
"Do you know how we eat?" she asks as her hands knead gently at the muscles of my shoulders.
"You drink blood." That is really the extent of my knowledge, mostly confirmed from what I saw the night Wolf took me to a society gathering.
"Yes. We do, but it doesn't have to be human blood. We can feed on animal blood, though it is harder and less sustaining."
I nod to keep her going, my muscles relax under her touch and I feel a warm comfort spreading out from where her hands work across me.
"But the best, the most craved, is that of another vampire. It is forbidden to feed on another vampire. There are - risks but also rewards."
Why is it forbidden to take the blood of another vampire? "What is it like? To take blood from someone?" I feel a sick curiosity, part of me is so repelled by the idea that I feel nauseous but some part of me wants to know.
"It is indescribable," she says and her voice goes down in pitch, huskiness settles into it. "It is like an orgasm that doesn't end, you drink in and it overwhelms your senses, it takes you away with it, it fills you."
I can feel myself being carried away with her words and as she speaks she creates desire in me. Her hands move down my sides, thumbs massaging as they move. The sensation of her hands on me creates warmth as she talks. I imagine fangs dragging across my skin, and then the moment where they pierce in, pain balanced against ecstasy.
"When you taste it, you take in life, the stronger the source the deeper, more pleasing the sensations. As vampires age, our blood thickens, becomes richer, stronger," her hands trace the curve from my hips to my shoulders, brushing the edge of my breasts as they move.
My nipples harden in response, I sway with her words, desire climbing.
; "Our power is fueled by life, but we are death. If a vampire drains someone they take some piece of their darkness into them, even if it is a human this happens." Her lips are close to my neck, she exhales softly across my skin. "If they do this to another vampire, they can gain power, stronger blood, and new abilities. That is called the Forbidden Fruit. Much as Eve stole the Apple of Knowledge and gave it to Adam, that fruit gives unwarranted power to its taker."
I feel her teeth brushing my skin, it feels as good as I imagined, better even. Danger floods adrenaline into my veins but it only serves to heighten my awareness, to increase the sensations of pleasure as her hands explore me.
"You are a lovely creature, but you are not mine to take," she says, and then she is gone.
I turn my head quickly but she is not behind me. I look around the room and see her standing by the door, still staring at me with half lidded eyes. My mouth is open in shock and dismay. Her presence at my back is comforting, secure and warm. I am chilled by her absence.
"I will not anger Wolf again, not now, too many threads are spinning, I cannot add to them." Her fingers drift to the scar down her cheek, tracing its line. "They will use you, you must play along. Know you are not alone. I will watch over you as well as Wolf. They want him dead, but they can't break their own rules to do it, so they manipulate him through you. They will put you in danger to make him lose control. We will help where we can." She turns and starts to walk away.
"Athene!" I call out, almost involuntarily.
She pauses in the hallway looking back at me.
"Thank you," I say lamely at last, no other words will come. I do not know how to express my thoughts or feelings now.
"Be careful little one," she says softly. "The night is fraught with perils and you are a pawn in a very dark game." Athene looks at me sadly, or is it pity? "Wolf has eyes only for the moon." Then she is gone, moving faster than I can blink an eye.
I let myself fall back onto the bed and sigh. My life has never been easy, but it has never been this complicated before, either. I glance at the clock, it is almost midnight. Wolf will be waiting, I have to hurry.
CHAPTER SIX
I
walk out into the street and he is waiting there for me leaning against a light pole, one leg propped up, cowboy hat slung low over his eyes, black duster adding to his man of mystery air.
"Evening, Wolf," I say as I walk up to him and stop a couple of feet from him. He nods to me and I remember the note for him.
"Athene says to tell you 'hi'," I try to keep my voice light.
"What?" his head raises quickly, his eyes lock on mine. I can tell he is angry by his voice, the way the word growls out of him in a rumble. He pushes off the pole in one fluid motion, looking around. His posture looks like he expects and attack; his knees are slightly bent, his hands are down to his sides, elbows slightly bent, his claws start to extend from where his nails should be as he sniffs at the air. He stops his spin looking north from my apartment door, apparently having picked up some scent. "Where?"
"She's gone now," I say taking a step back. My eyes are on those claws and I twist my face in resentment. Why is his first reaction always to make me afraid? I feel his beast rising in him, it hits against me in waves, one wave filling me with fear, the next lighting desire. The constant, unthinking manipulation of my body is getting old. I inhale deeply, steeling myself against its reactions and wait for him to regain control. The claws retract and he turns towards me, straightening as he does so.
"What happened?"
"She met me last night after my shift at the station. She just wanted to talk," I shrug my shoulders. "She seems to care for you."
He snorts at my words but something passes behind his eyes.
"I walked with her, she talked and I listened."
"Shouldn't have gone with her," Wolf growls. "Dangerous."
"And not going with her was a choice?"
He shakes his head and doesn't answer which is answer enough.
"How do you know her?" I wait so long for an answer I just about give up.
"She's family," he says looking away from me. "Touched by Owl."
"Owl? Seriously?"
"She sees things. She brings wisdom," he shrugs. "Sometimes."
"What happened to her face?" I ask thinking of those scars.
He looks down at the ground then back up at me. "Sometimes you don't want to hear what she brings," he says.
I see the history between them in his eyes and feel a pang of jealousy, but for whom I'm not so sure. Something clicks and I feel my eyes go wide, those claws on his hands, her face.
"You did it!" I yell.
He looks down at the ground, the brim of his hat hiding his face from me.
"But can't she, like, heal or something?" I sound lame, even to myself.
He shakes his head without looking up at me. "Not my claws."
"Damn . . . " I breath in and let it out in a whistle. "She's family? How? Vampires have family?" I can feel his frown and reluctance to answer me.
"Yes, when we are - made - it is considered family."
"Oh," I say.
He glances up at the sliver of moon that hangs in the sky.
"Is she older than you?"
He looks at me quickly, too quickly. "What did she say to you?" he growls.
"Oh nothing really, I just . . . wondered you know?" It seems best to cover for her; I don’t want to be here if he gets really angry. The beast in him would tear me apart before he regained control. I can feel its desire to maim me, to shower in my blood, to reduce me to a pile of gore and stains on the asphalt. Strange, I never felt that from Athene.
"We need to go," he says and takes off walking.
I struggle to keep up with his loping gait as we move through the city. Next man I get rescued by will have to have a car, all this walking is killing my thighs.
"Do we have a plan for this trial tonight?"
He nods without stopping or speaking.
"Care to fill me in?" I remain calm. I've avoided being noticed as a first priority all my life. I should be scared now that I am front and center of attention, but then by the same logic I should be dead. Having decided to take control of my life I feel fear less than I would have, but tonight I am scared and trying to not show it.
"They will threaten you. The trial is a game, just a play. They want something. We let them tip their hand, then see what happens."
See what happens, sure. Anxiety spins around, playing through my mind. Images of Stones kneeling before me, the cold silence that followed the reporting echo of the gun exploding in my hand. I feel old, locked doors in my mind straining to get free; memories struggle to return to haunt me again.
The street we walk down is cloaked in darkness, the street lights have broken bulbs or they're just not working. Two hundred yards ahead, a working street light creates an island, everywhere else lit only by a slice of moon.
My dark-adjusted eyes watch Wolf move just ahead of me, the burn in my thighs as I push myself to keep up with him pulls at my attention so I focus on that to avoid the past.
Wolf stops in front of me, dropping into a crouch. His head moves from side to side and he makes a low warning growl, challenging the night. I move closer to him so that I am inches away from him. Shadows move around us, they surround us in an instant as if every pool of darkness hides some creature previously unseen. The gloom forms into shapes that become men. They are dressed in dark gray suits, white silk shirts contrasting slightly. They each wear identical sunglasses and highly polished shoes; they look identical, as if each one is a duplicate of the previous. They form a circle around us without a word, silent as sentinels. I feel the monster inside each of them, caged violence waiting to be unleashed, different than what I feel in Wolf or Athene.
Run! The primal urge within me screams, the flight or fight mechanism. Through a force of will I lock my knees and watch Wolf out of the corner of my eye while trying to keep my attention on the ones who surround us.
No one says a word; it feels as if my heart will burst out of my chest, pounding so hard I'm sure they can all hear it. My breath comes in a shaky rattle, filling my lungs slowly, seemingly inadequately. I feel light-headed and spinney.
Wolf stares at the men but they look straight ahead without seeming to pay any attention to either of us, each focusing on the man across from them. I hear a flutter, the sound of beating air, like a giant bird working to take off. I turn my head slightly to see what is making the sound in time to see a large man landing in the open space of the circle. Bat-like wings fold up as the creature stands directly in front of Wolf.
As the creature-man lands, I see him truly. He appears to be carved of granite, his nose is sharp and hooked, his eyes are sunken, black, and beady things, even his hair seems as if it is carved of stone. He steps forward closing the distance between himself and Wolf and as he does so his skin becomes more normal, his hair relaxes and shifts in the breeze. He adjusts the suit he wears as he moves, tugging at the sleeves and straightening first his tie, then the blue silk kerchief in his pocket. He smiles at Wolf, his dark eyes glancing at me for only a moment before he puts his attention fully on my companion. I try to sense the beast within him but feel nothing, just an empty void in what should be there.
"Dallas," he says to Wolf. His voice has a pleasant rolling lilt. "A pleasure to see you again. I'm glad we did not have to hunt you down."
Wolf stands from his crouch, a good three to four inches in height difference forces the newcomer to look up at him. I feel the beast in Wolf straining to be set free almost as if I can hear the rattle of the chains in which he binds it to maintain control.
"Glad I didn't have to kill you tonight Balthazar," Wolf speaks easily as if there would be no question of the outcome.
Balthazar does not react much, merely smiles slightly and nods. "Always a good thing," he says. "We are here to escort you to Trial."
There is no tension between the two men as they face each other, as if they both know their roles and the outcome, there is no question of what will happen, just a matter of when and they both accept the fate they see before them. They seem like friends.
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