by D. R. Rosier
She smirked at his self-deprecating tone, and squeezed his arm, “Obviously,” she teased.
He pulled the door open for her, and they went inside. It didn’t take long to be seated, and she enjoyed the atmosphere of the dim lighting, and looked a little shyly into Andrew’s warm hazel eyes before she picked up the menu.
He asked, “Everything going well?”
She nodded, “I got things mostly straightened up, I’ll see where things are in a month or so. It will take time to… break old habits and develop new ones. How about you?”
He replied, “Things are going much better now, and they’re looking up. I’m sure there’ll be some bumps in the road, but overall good. It’s nice to know I’m not being actively hunted, at least, not in a bad way.”
She laughed, “Do I make you feel hunted?”
He smirked, “Let’s call it mutual.”
She smiled, and closed the menu as the waiter approached. She ordered pasta and shrimp with a cream sauce, and a white wine.
They talked and got to know each other a bit, she didn’t talk about her past much, but she did tell him a few things about who she was if not how old or about her history. He had a confidence to him that was very attractive, and although she scented a little nervousness to betray that perception, she knew that was normal. Everyone was nervous on a first date, including her at her age. He handled it well.
She also caught herself sending him subtle signals several times during the meal, completely subconsciously. There was no doubt she was interested, on all levels from the cerebral to the tingling needy desire between her legs, and everything in between.
He was just as obviously attracted to her, yet wasn’t leering or obvious about it at all. But she could see the subtle signs that he wanted to possess her, and it was fun to flirt with him, knowing that wouldn’t happen, at least not that night, and probably not the next. She needed to be sure first.
They agreed on a lot of things they discussed, such as her philosophy of life, but there was enough they didn’t quite meet eye to eye on to make things interesting.
At the end of the night, she gave him another cheek kiss, that lingered just a few seconds too long, with her warm body pressed up against his. She was going to have to take a cold shower tonight, or maybe she’d just break out her rabbit, the best invention humanity ever made…
There was something very wrong with me, there had to be. I had five women who loved and adored me, yet all I could think about later that evening was the date I’d just had with Annaliese. Julia and I were walking down the sidewalk together, holding hands, while I tried to work through all my thoughts. I didn’t want to take thoughts of Annaliese to bed when I retired with my other ladies. I’d always been present and thinking of who I was with, when I was with them, and I didn’t want that to change.
Annaliese was half mysterious, and half playful fun, and one hundred percent powerful, alluring, sexy, and captivating. She was a strange mix of ancient and impossibly young and innocent, she acted like an eighteen year old woman excited and loving life, but had the wisdom and outlook of an ancient and kind being, which gave her a quirkiness that drew me in like a fly to honey.
Her red dress had been gorgeous, or maybe it was just the way she wore it. She had a petite curvy body with a perfect set of tits, and a tight sexy ass. Crass or not, it was the truth, at least in my opinion.
She was also easy to talk to, flirty, fun, intelligent, thoughtful, and even the things we hadn’t agreed on she’d been gracious and teasing with me, rather than being uptight about our differences of opinion. I couldn’t wait to see her again, and couldn’t get over just how much fun I’d had with the diminutive sexy vampire tonight.
Julia said, “I like her, she’s quirky in a fun way, and she’d be a good ally. You should date her again, but before you get too close…”
I replied, “I know, a pact. Samantha told me already you all approved, and wanted me to do the pact.”
Julia kissed me, “I did approve, so did the others, and now after your date, I still approve.”
“Right, point taken. I also agree with you, but sorry for interrupting.”
She kissed me again with a strange mix of sweet aggressiveness, and then bit my lip, Annaliese who? I loved my Julia.
She said, “Go ahead, I can tell you want to call her.”
I pulled out my phone and called her.
Annaliese answered, “Annaliese here.”
“Hi, it’s Andrew.”
Annaliese giggled, “It’s been fifteen minutes, you know there are rules to dating. I think this makes you look desperate or something. I read it in Cosmo about fifty years ago. You should call me tomorrow or something, just tell me you butt dialed by accident, or it’s a wrong number,” she finished in faux gravity.
I snorted, “Fine, I desperately want to see you again. Since we’re busy tomorrow night, how about dancing the night after?”
Hmm, that sounded funnier in my head, but out loud it just sounded… true. I was desperate to see her again.
Annaliese mock accused, “You just want to get your arms around me, and feel our bodies close together.”
I replied without missing a beat, “Guilty as charged.”
Annaliese laughed, “Me too, so dancing sounds like an excellent second date. Swing?”
If I remembered right, there was a lot of spinning, cuddling, and touching in that type of dancing. So… yeah.
I replied, “That depends, are you a good teacher?”
The strikingly sexy ancient vampire giggled.
“I think that can be arranged, I’ll text you when and where, I’ll have to find a swing club first.”
I said, “Sounds good, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She said softly, “Can’t wait Andrew, thanks again for tonight,” and hung up the phone.
Julia said, “I think she likes you.”
I nodded, “Me too, I’m not sure what her intentions are though, I’ll try and find out on our date.”
Julia said, “Good idea. This is weird for you still, isn’t it?”
I frowned, “A bit. A month ago, I was in love with one woman, and I’d have spent my whole life happy, and would’ve been faithful to Katia, and not missed a thing. Now I’m deeply and crazily in love with five women, and dating a sixth. I keep expecting one of you to get mad at me, so the encouragement to date and win over Annaliese just feels strange. Not wrong, I do get it, but still strange. It runs counter to the way I was raised.”
Julia smirked at me, and raised an eyebrow, “Five women?”
I blushed, “Didn’t I mention?”
Julia shook her head, with a big smile on her face, like the cat that got the cream. Only in this case, the cream was information about me.
“I realized how much Gina meant to me the other night, when we all went over there?”
Julia smirked, “I’m happy for you. Have you told her?”
I shook my head.
Julia shrugged, “You know, I could take you over there more often. I don’t think she’d mind a three in the morning booty call every day, from me, you, and Lilith, you could take an hour off from studying infernal magic.”
And there they go again, suggesting I should fuck another woman more than I already do. It was a bit… hot, but also strange. It also sounded like a really good idea, I was already taking care of my other loves at least once a day, why not Gina too?
“Are you sure she wouldn’t mind me interrupting her sleep every night?”
Julia shook her head, “Of course not. She’d be thrilled, she loves you too, you should tell her.”
She sounded very excited about it, but then she loved both of us, and it was what she knew and how she grew up, sharing.
“I will. I just didn’t that first night I figured it out, I wanted to think about it first. You know, I loved you for quite a while before I said anything.”
She nodded, and tapped her nose.
I pulled out my phone, and sent a text. A few moments later,
I got a yes.
“She’ll be expecting us tomorrow at around three.”
Julia beamed.
I would never understand women, but I also knew it would be stupid to argue. I was damned spoiled, and it was looking like I’d be even more spoiled. I still needed to figure out what Annaliese’s end game was though, it obviously wasn’t a quick fuck, which I was honestly very happy about. I’d be happy to have her as a permanent addition to my life, and for many reasons. Her being a good ally, was way down at the bottom, just below her looks. She really was an amazing woman, and for me that was enough.
“Home?”
Julia took my arm, led me into an alley, and we disappeared into shadows…
Chapter Sixteen
Samantha walked in the workout room the next afternoon, and winked at Julia, who was floating in the air. She got on the treadmill, and reached up to fiddle with her own lesser ward necklace. She’d seen no reason not to use it herself, and it’d freed up five more potential spells which she could store in her partitions.
She looked over at Julia, “Have you tried blocking out mental intrusions yet?”
She knew Annaliese could block Lilith’s mind reading, so Julia should be able to do the same, in theory.
Julia shook her head, “I’ve tried it a few times, but I haven’t figured out the how yet. Thanks by the way, for these lesser wards.”
Samantha grinned, “No problem.”
Julia asked, “You finish moving out of the apartment yet?”
Samantha nodded, “All my stuff is either here, or in storage. I just need to pay the final bill, and I’m all done.”
Katia came in and smacked her ass on her way by.
She mock glared at the gorgeous woman who just winked at her. It was late afternoon, and Andrew was getting some private time with Lilith as far as she knew. Sometimes it was hard to keep track, she just knew her next night was in a couple of days. His dates with the vampire had required… adjustments to their schedule. Sometimes she wondered if she was crazy sharing like she was, but in truth she’d never been happier, she was pregnant, had a mate that treated her like gold, and three other supporting and loving women to spend her time with.
Besides, she got all that extra time alone with him for magical tutoring.
“What was that for?”
Katia giggled wickedly, “I heard you like that sort of thing.”
She blushed. She really did, like it that is. She didn’t like pain, not real pain, but the light sting mixed with pleasure when spanked was an entirely different story. Plus, it was kind of naughty, and she got a thrill from it, and she loved how tender Andrew was afterward.
Julia grinned, “Really? Actually, I’m just teasing, we’re all a bit kinky at times.”
Katia looked innocent.
Julia snickered, “Don’t forget about my ears, or my nose.”
Katia blushed, and she was intrigued, but didn’t ask.
Katia said, “Is everyone going to that peace talk thing tonight?”
Julia replied, “Just Lilith and I, we limited the guards to two on the invitations, that should put twelve people in the room and is more than enough.”
She nodded, “I’d go if it wasn’t for that. We could do something tonight.”
She’d rather be going to watch his back, but she understood the politics involved. She’d just be nervous not being there, but Julia would protect him if he needed it. She was also between projects, or at least, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to tackle next. Lesser wards had more potential, but she wasn’t quite sure if that was a good thing or not, the protection spells were one thing, they had too many people to protect, and even more on the way to waste the potential, but if she took it too far it would promote laziness. Like… a lesser ward of sleep or other attack spells. It would be a crutch, and in the long term would make her lose her edge.
Katia said, “We’ll think of something.”
She was sure they would, even if they just relaxed, watched a movie, and made love. Actually, that sounded pretty damned good to her…
Julia looked around the room. There wasn’t anything special about the room itself, it looked like a conference room. There was a table that could seat ten, so there was plenty of space between Damon, Andrew, Annaliese, and Samuel. She stood against the wall next to Lilith, and behind Andrew, the other guards acting in a similar fashion as well. There were a few white boards, and a pull down screen for a projector, though that went unused.
The biggest surprise for her was that Damon had brought two alphas with him as guards, or maybe they just wanted to be here to witness it first hand? Regardless, she was pleased to see Gina, and the new bear alpha, Carl.
Then there was Annaliese, she’d brought her top lieutenants, Jason her head of security, and Helen who was highly ranked in the coven, but she wasn’t sure what the woman did. She knew Helen had been Arthur’s mate, but she didn’t really know her function in the coven.
She liked Annaliese well enough, the woman was attractive, polite with everyone, and a bright spot for those that she liked. The only thing that bothered her was that she didn’t know what the woman was up to, or what she wanted. Outside of the attraction for Andrew that she could scent on the ancient vampire, and the fact they were dating, she didn’t know the vampire’s end game.
She’d be nervous and very protective of Andrew until she knew that information, and once Annaliese had accepted a pact not to harm him. She really wasn’t happy about the dancing thing, the vampire would have her arms around his neck half the night tomorrow, but she also knew if Annaliese intended harm, her touch wouldn’t reach his skin. She’d have to be satisfied with that, for now.
She loved Andrew, and she wasn’t quite sure what she’d do if he died, except lose it. Of course, her and Lilith held the guard positions for Andrew tonight. Andrew seemed confident and relaxed, and surprisingly Annaliese was the second most relaxed by scent. The mages and shifters seemed to be the ones that were most nervous in the room.
Then there was the mage faction to this little get together. Samuel Pierson had come with two security mages, and that’s it. She’d been a little surprised he hadn’t shown up with other councilors, or at least the more powerful investigators, and wondered why that was.
She looked back at the shifters, and could scent the anger toward the vampires from Damon and Carl, but they seemed to be controlling it well. Gina just smelled curious, which wasn’t a surprise, it wasn’t her first-time meeting Annaliese, and she knew her old alpha was curious about the strangely polite and almost gentle vampire. Gentle was probably the wrong word, Annaliese was just slow to anger, and slow to kill.
Point was, and she hated to admit it, but her own people, the shifter contingent, were probably the group most likely to lose it and attack, she hoped that didn’t happen.
She listened to them argue for a while. Damon wanted the strict borders to remain. Samuel seemed to want to have trade included in the treaty, and Annaliese wanted to open the borders completely. It was complicated to say the least, and she was glad it wasn’t her having to deal with it. She just needed to stand there, and kill anything that threatened Andrew. She was happy to share her opinion with Andrew in private, but here… she was content to be his guardian.
Chapter Seventeen
The meeting hadn’t degenerated into yelling yet, but I could tell it was moving toward being defeated by detail. So far, I hadn’t spoken outside of the introductions and greetings, just listening to see where everyone stood. As a warlock, I didn’t have a whole race of people to worry about like the rest of them did, so it made sense to a certain extent to let the others lead the conversation.
Plus, I was hardly a diplomat. I knew I tended to be too blunt, but maybe blunt was needed.
Damon said, “… the border around Seattle. We need time to get used a peace, and find those that will inevitably go rogue from this decision. My people can skip the city life for a few more years, and I’m sure vampires can hold off on th
eir camping trips.”
Annaliese frowned at Damon and was about to respond, but looked over at me as I cleared my throat.
I said, “There are a lot of complications in this, and issues we all want heard, but for now I think we should keep it as simple as possible. Take baby steps, and give people time to become accustomed to the new reality. I suggest if we can, we agree to a simple non-aggression treaty, with provisions for dealing with rogues that break it.”
Annaliese said, “I can agree with that Andrew, any rogues will be dealt with, and discussed between the leaders when an incident happens. But it’s not that simple, if there is still a border, does that mean my coven should still hunt any shifter that steps into the city? I don’t believe any shifter that steps into the city should be labeled as a rogue, and I’ve already given orders to my coven that the practice will stop.”
Damon said, “I’d prefer you hunt them. Any shifter in the city will be a rogue, and looking for trouble, because their alphas will be telling them not to do it.”
Annaliese smirked, “Suppose my people just take pictures of any shifters found in the city and let you deal with them. I’d prefer not to ask my people to kill unless it’s in clear self-defense. If they do attack us of course, that’s a different story altogether.”
Damon grunted, “That would be acceptable. What would you expect of us if vampires are found in our territory?”
Annaliese replied, “That isn’t likely to happen, but if they aren’t attacking your people I would prefer to be notified, to get to the bottom of why they were there.”
Damon said, “I can only promise to try, we are very territorial. Perhaps in the future when we’ve been at peace long enough, and are more comfortable with the idea, the borders can come down.”
Annaliese nodded reluctantly.
I said, “Should we stop there? Other treaties and closer ties can be done on a more one on one basis between us.”
Samuel frowned, “You mean trade, right?”
I shrugged, “This non-aggression treaty is between all four races, I don’t think we’re going to find agreement on trade among all of us, but there’s nothing to stop you from making one with each of us, heck, you already have a trading relationship with the coven and packs.”