by D. R. Rosier
The car trip was long, thirty hours or so and we’d taken turns driving. I wondered if she’d ever stop, but as we got closer to the west coast I figured she’d have to stop soon. Ocean and all. Yeah, so maybe I wasn’t sure I was sane yet, I was starting to doubt myself, that it even happened. Had Celeste been real?
At the thought of the gorgeous redhead, my cock twitched, just from the mere memory of her. Oh, yeah, she’d been real alright. But a demon? Demoness? My mind went helplessly in circles, as we drove and drove and drove. We even stopped at a hotel for a few hours for showers and a few hours of sleep outside of the car.
My mother seemed a bit paranoid, and kept watch at the window for a long time. Eventually, I’d fallen asleep, only to freak out when I woke up the next morning at her touch.
She’d said, “We’ll be fine, and it’ll make sense when I explain, but not yet.”
I’d asked, “Where are we going?”
She’d replied, “Seattle.”
So, there we were, in the car, heading for Seattle. So far that was the only information I’d been able to get out of her, but I didn’t know what else to do. I felt… helpless, and I hated that feeling a great deal. That next evening, we arrived in Seattle in what I guessed was the business district. There were high rise office buildings, and my mother pulled the car into one of them, and typed in a code which opened the below ground parking garage. We pulled in and when she parked the car she closed her eyes, and blew out a breath.
“We’re safe here for now, but I’m not sure for how long. Come on, let me make you dinner, and I’ll explain everything.”
She looked a little nervous, and worried.
I nodded, “Alright mom, I’ll listen.”
I just wondered if I’d believe it. I grabbed my backpack, and we walked over to the elevator, which went up to the first floor. We switched elevators then, and my mother pulled a security card out of her purse, and put it in the slot, and hit the top floor button.
I wondered where she got that from, along with the knife and access codes, but I was also a little numb. I was worried, but the car drive had been almost two full days, and there was only so much worry, adrenaline, and freaking out the body was capable of.
The elevator doors opened up to an entrance room, or foyer, which led us into a large living room, with wood flooring, black leather furniture, a ridiculously large television, and a full-sized bar in the corner. The latter of which I swore to myself I’d ignore. Last thing I needed right now was a drink. My stomach turned a little just considering it, merely at the memory of the scent of whiskey.
I asked, “Where are we? Wasn’t this an office building?”
She laughed, “Yes, it is, except the top floor is a four thousand square feet home. It’s also yours, if you want it. But that’s skipping ahead.”
She pointed to the right, “Through there is the hallway leading to a kitchen, dining room, workout room, and a study of sorts,” she pointed to the left toward another hallway, “That way is six bedrooms, and three baths.”
I raised an eyebrow, “Three baths?”
She grinned, “There’s one in the master suite, and in the second largest suite, the other four rooms have to share the hall bathroom. Why don’t you drop off your stuff in the master bedroom, and take a look around, find me in the kitchen when you’re done.”
I sighed, “Mine? Mom, you know this is crazy, right?”
She laughed, “You have no idea, just wait.”
With that not so comforting comment, she headed for the hallway on the right. Before I went looking around, I moved to the large glass window walls, and looked out over Seattle. It was a hell of a view.
I shook my head, and checked out the other hallway, just poking my head in all the rooms. The modern living room gave way to deep red oak furniture in the bedrooms, and lighter brown wooden flooring. All the rooms were large, and all faced the outside of the building. The same large window walls in each. The master bedroom however, was about twice the size, had a California King sized bed, and two walk in closets. The Master bath held an unusually large stand up shower with seven jets, and there was a large whirlpool tub.
One of the closets had clothes in it, which weirded me out a bit, especially since they were all in my size. Expensive clothes, suits, slacks, button down shirts, but there were also comfortable looking jeans, and less formal shirts, like collared pull overs, but no t-shirts.
I shook my head, and headed back to the living room, and made my way around the building to the other hallway. The first door was a large open archway, no door, which was the kitchen where I saw my mother making a pasta dish. It was a full kitchen, a six-stove top burner range, with two ovens, a large island with a griddle built in, and a kitchen table that sat eight. All the appliances were stainless steel.
I kept going, the next room was a formal dining room, with more red oak furniture, including a table for twenty, chairs, and a very large china cabinet. The next room had workout equipment, all the same stuff I’d expect to find in a gym. My mind was a little overwhelmed, how could this be mine? I mean, my mother made good money as a surgeon, and we’d always been comfortable, but our condo had been relatively small, just twelve hundred square feet. This place was crazy, and the monthly cost of being on the top floor in a commercial building must be insane.
I moved on to the last door, which she said was a study, of sorts, whatever that meant. I tried to open it, but it was locked. I frowned at the door and turned back to return to the kitchen. The closed door wasn’t the only mystery either. The elevator opened fairly close to the front of the building and led into the living room which was beyond huge. The two hallways on the left and right were on the far sides, and only had rooms facing the outside of the building. So… besides the study being locked, there was a large chunk of this floor that was unaccounted for, a big square in the middle, minus the size of the elevator shaft.
I shrugged, maybe the space wasn’t part of the home, and had support pipes and other building infrastructure in it? I wasn’t complaining, this place was amazing, although I’d never considered living in Seattle before. Didn’t it rain a lot? I laughed at the absurd thought, that was the least of my problems.
I sighed apprehensively, and started toward the kitchen, it was time to find out the rest of what was going on, and what the price would be, I was sure the bill would come due…
Chapter Three
Julia stared into the bathroom mirror with empty dark amber eyes. She wasn’t entirely sure what just happened. The normal creamy tan perfect complexion of her neck, was marred by black bruises, finger marks. One of her fellow shifters, a wolf, had just tried to strangle her to death while taking her against her will. She watched as the marks slowly faded, soon there would be no proof, not that proof would matter to the head alpha.
She laughed, it was a disturbing sound, empty of joy, empty of hope, and it shocked her own ears when she heard it.
Her creamy tan skin was not only marred with the marks of his fingertips, but also marred with his blood. Her long straight blue-black hair was also streaked with blood, as was her voluptuous body. She couldn’t remember it, but she knew she’d panicked. He was going to kill her, which made no sense at all, and also made perfect sense. She’d lost her mind, and had woken up with her tiger’s jaw wrapped around his neck, his body still and undisturbed by a heartbeat.
Her white fur and black stripes had been painted with his blood and viscera.
It made no sense to her. No, not his death, that made perfect sense, she’d killed the bastard. What didn’t make sense was why he’d done it. Had the head alpha ordered it? Did he hate her that much?
She’d learned the facts of life growing up, cat shifters were to put it mildly, the genetic sluts of the supernatural world. Ever since she’d been a grown woman, she’d needed sex at least once a day to maintain her mental equilibrium, preferably twice, twice was better. Three times a day, was really the only time she felt fully sated. The cat shifters were al
so highly biased to female births, only one in six born would be a male, which would leave four of six births to be mated by the other shifter species, if they were lucky.
Until mated, accommodations were made. Shifters were all a randy bunch, it didn’t take much to arrange the single shifters from the other groups to drop by the pride house, and avail themselves of what she, and the rest of them so willingly gave. It was far from perfect, but it was necessary. Her appetites would drive her mad if she couldn’t… scratch that itch, and do so often.
Ten years ago, it hadn’t been perfect. Male shifters tended to look down on them, even as they availed themselves of their pleasures. Despite being talented fighters, intelligent, and very capable, the others had a hard time seeing them that way. She knew a large part of that was their pheromones and naturally oozing sex appeal. Most men just couldn’t resist a cat shifter if she was at all randy, which was almost constantly save that one delicate time during the month.
She looked back at her young face again, although she looked not a day past eighteen, she was already in her forties. She was stunning beautiful, and she knew it… and she hated it. Her face had an exotic beauty that drew more than her share of men’s attentions, high cheek bones, button nose, wide dark amber eyes which were usually filled with lust and joy, not empty like they were now. Long eyelashes, and delicate ears. It gave her a natural beauty that required no makeup to draw looks from all men across a room. Her chin was delicate, her lips full, and her neck gracefully long.
She turned around and put the shower on, and stepped inside. She shivered under the spray until it warmed, and steam filled the room as the blood washed from her body in rivulets down her generously curvy body. Her D cup breasts were rounded, full, and with her shifter genes, were surprisingly pert and firm for their large size. They looked even larger than they really were on her petite five foot two frame. Her nipples were large, and a dark pink against her creamy skin. Her waist was waspishly thin, and her hips flared back out. She had a supple bubble butt she knew drew men’s eyes. Between her strikingly beautiful face, a body built for sin, and cat shifter pheromones, she practically dripped sexual appeal without even trying, and evoked desire in most men.
She fucking hated it.
She didn’t always hate it, when she was younger, even just ten years ago, she enjoyed her effect on men quite a lot. Sure, she would have liked to be respected in other ways, but she needed the sex just as badly as the men wanted her, and she’d always had her pick, most men vying for her attention and charms.
But ten years ago, everything changed. The head alpha died, and a bear shifter took over. In theory, the head alpha’s only authority was over his own shifter type, he was the ultimate authority over the bear shifters, and he represented all other shifter types to the other supernatural races in the city and surrounding area. Head alpha was supposed to be a spokesman, a political posting to present a united front to the other races, but not an emperor. But, Joseph Bennington hadn’t been satisfied with that.
He’d done a lot of things the shifter community hadn’t liked, but the thing that affected her the most was when he’d declared the cat shifters his personal harem. The current cat shifter alpha at the time had objected strongly, and had challenged the bear, who had promptly ripped the lion’s head off. The next alpha for the cat shifters was another tiger liker her, Gina. Gina was a sweetheart, and would have made a good alpha, in maybe a hundred years, but she was too young, and cowed by Joseph.
All the other shifter alphas, for the birds, snakes, wolves, sharks, dolphins, and sea lions were terrified of him, and wouldn’t challenge his role. That meant he wins, strength rules in the shifter world.
Now… she didn’t get a choice at all who was her sex partner, none of the cat shifters did either, for the last ten years. They were all his property, and his personal fuck toys. They fucked when he said, who he said, and only at his word. She’d… been his favorite for years, until she’d had enough of his shit, and had stupidly pissed him off. Since then, two months now, he’d given her to every asshole and prick in the shifter world. Crude and sadistic men, who weren’t satisfied with a willing partner, who liked to cause pain when they took their pleasure. She was tired of it, her life had been a nightmare the last ten years, and much worse than that the last two months. The last straw had been an hour ago, when the latest one decided to take her by force, and she really thought he was going to kill her.
It didn’t matter, she was a dead woman as soon as Joseph figured out what she’d done. She thought that maybe even he’d ordered her death in such a fashion, she wouldn’t be surprised. He was a sadistic bastard, not just power hungry.
She heard a gasp from out in her bedroom, and then Gina ran in and grabbed her in a tight hug, joining her in the shower. She almost smiled, she really did love her alpha, she just wished she could protect them from that twisted bastard Joseph. She’d do anything to see that prick taken down, anything. She lacked the power though, he’d kill her without effort. Her anger was an impotent one.
Gina asked, “What happened?”
“He was too rough, I was dry! When I told him to slow the hell down, the dick started to strangle me, and pound into me even harder while he slapped me. I… froze, until I started to lose consciousness, and my tiger came out to save me.”
Gina sighed, “You need to run.”
She laughed, “Where? Another city would kill me as a rogue, or call Joseph and turn me over, and there’s nowhere to hide in Seattle.”
The vampires held the city proper, the shifters surrounded the city, literally, since the water shifters were in the lakes and lived in houseboats as humans. The two races did not get along well at all, at least not in Seattle, and most other places as well. She’d wind up being killed quickly if she tried to hide in the city. The mages in the area were everywhere, and stayed neutral, so she couldn’t find protection there either, they wouldn’t interfere. If there was a way out, she wouldn’t have put up with the abuse the last ten years, she’d have run long ago.
Gina shrugged, “You’re dead if you stay, and the bastard will torture you first. At least in the city you won’t be tortured or made an example of. It might be worth the risk to lay low.”
She shrugged, “For the next three hundred years?”
Gina sighed, “Joseph will get his one day, and you can come home then.”
She held back a bitter laugh, Gina was ridiculously positive as a person, considering how screwed up their lives were. She sighed, maybe that would be better. At least her alpha wouldn’t have to watch her be tortured and killed.
“Fine, I’ll go into the city, and try and avoid the vamps. Maybe the homeless, the vampires are kind of snobbish. Plus, what homeless guy wouldn’t want some of this?” she waved down her body.
Gina giggled, and kissed her softly, “I love you Julia, please try, don’t just humor me. I want you to live, that’s an alpha’s command. Don’t fail me.”
She blushed, and nodded, tears gathered in her eyes as her shock finally broke. Her alpha held her for a long time as she sobbed in fear and loss, and worked the emotions out. Then Gina helped her finish washing, her alpha had such a soft loving touch, she wished they had time for... but they didn’t.
Gina said in a crackling voice, “Go…”
She got out of the shower and dried off, and got dressed quickly. If she was going to get out before word reached Joseph, she had to move now.
Really though, she was already a dead woman. This was just a final gift to her alpha, she would try her best to live, but she knew it was pointless. Gina was right about one thing, the vampires would kill her fast and cleanly for trespassing on their territory. Something to look forward to…
Chapter Four
“Mom?”
“Eat, we’ll talk after.”
I frowned, but dug into the plate of pasta. Whatever story my mother had for me, she was obviously nervous about telling it, and highly conflicted about it. Still, baked ziti with mozzar
ella, ricotta, and a homemade meat sauce was my favorite dish, so I dug in.
I was on my third forkful when she started talking, and I decided not to look at her while I kept eating. Maybe that would make it easier for her to talk about it.
Carolyn said, “I was in my second year of med school when I started to get cramps, and had trouble eating. I just wasn’t hungry. I figured it was stress, and I just dealt with it like an idiot, instead of getting examined, and dove into my studies to become a doctor. By the time it was identified in a standard checkup as a potential problem, and I got tested, I was already in stage three ovarian cancer, not far from stage four.”
I looked up a bit shocked, but she wasn’t even looking at me, she was looking at her plate.
Carolyn shrugged, “All the normal treatments didn’t work, it was too late to remove my ovaries, the cancer had already spread. I was given a few months to live, and went home to die. My dreams forgotten. Then he knocked on the door. He was just like you, handsome, tall, confident, and there was something captivating in his eyes. He talked his way in the door, and told me he wanted to make a deal.”
“What was his name?”
She looked over at me with guilt on her face, and I was immediately sorry for interrupting with a question.
“I have no idea, he wouldn’t tell me. He said he had enemies, strange enemies. Then… he lit his hand on fire, a green eerie fire that licked his skin but didn’t burn it. He told me he’d cure my cancer, but only if I did him a favor. His world was such that he needed hidden heirs just in case he died. He said he’d cure me and pay me money if I had his child and raised him as my own.”
I had no idea what to say to that, and I drank a sip of soda. Normally, I’d be wondering what the joke was, or what happened to drive her crazy, but… we were in a four thousand square foot home at the top of a sky scraper, and I’d been attacked by a succubus earlier today, or yesterday. I was half convinced the guy was some kind of demon too, since the body was gone. No, too much weird shit had happened the last few days for me to even come up with a token objection, plus I’d already had two days on the road to help get me over the shock of it.