Michel has had a long time to practice his wiles on members of the fairer sex and he'd spent the first two years of our platonic relationship assessing me, figuring out what made me tick. I'd just spent it surviving his charms and staying on my side of the line. Consequently, he knew how to push my buttons far better than I did his.
I wasn't affected by him being in the bathroom with me though, we'd long ago passed that awkward stage, so I just let him watch as I stepped inside the shower and let the water fall around me, luxuriating in its warmth. I adjusted a few of the nozzles to get the best effect, massaging away the heinous start to the night and reached up for my currently favourite shampoo. It smelt of cherries and vanilla and made my slightly longer than shoulder length dead straight brown hair, shine like I'd spent three hours at a hair salon. It felt gooood.
I was just reaching for the conditioner when I heard the shower stall door open and Michel stepped in. I turned and gave him a look. He cocked an eyebrow at me and reached for the conditioner, taking it from my hand and turning me away from him. He massaged my hair, letting his fingers ease more of the tension and letting the smell of cherries and vanilla fill the room. His touch always had an effect on me. I knew, logically, that it was the Joining and Bond we shared. As kindred, we needed to have that touch; physically, emotionally, mentally, it made us stronger, but I couldn't help responding to it even if my brain was saying: slow down tiger, it's not all you.
I had tried to stay away for a while, to sort out how I really felt. But after Paris, when we had almost died, when things had got a little kooky, what with gods and extraordinary powers and all that madness, I hadn't been able to make the break from him again. He was my drug, but not by choice. And because of that, I swore daily I would find a way to be me and not just the kindred Nosferatin of perhaps the most powerful vampire in the world.
“What happened at Whenuapai?” His voice was soft, but he still managed to surprise me. In the shower and he's all business? This was new.
I sighed, I knew what I was about to say would not be well received. “I went to see if I could stop it.” He knew what stop it meant, he knew the challenge was on tonight, he'd made me promise to stay away. Oops.
“I gather that didn't work out how you planned.” Now his voice was flat, even, but he still massaged my head, fingers moving deftly, making it hard to concentrate, hard to ignore the feel of him naked behind me, his breath against my neck. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in to steady myself.
“No. I saw Rick kill him.”
He stiffened slightly, paused from his massaging, but only a moment, then pulled me towards the shower of water to rinse my hair clean. “Close your eyes,” he whispered, turning me towards him now and helping the suds out of my hair. When he was satisfied I was squeaky clean, he pulled me closer, until I felt the wet slickness of water on his skin against mine, his arms going around me as we stood under the spray together.
“How close did you get, Lucinda?”
The fact that he was no longer using his pet name, ma douce, for me anymore, was a sure indicator of just how angry he was.
“Enough to be paralysed by their power,” I answered.
I felt his Sanguis Vitam climb then, but he reined it back in immediately. Just a brief loss of control, enough to make me realise how much danger I was actually in. An angry vampire in the close confines of a shower stall, not the best place to be.
“Is there a reason you insist on defying me and endangering yourself, Lucinda? Do you wish yourself harm?”
“Firstly, I am not yours to control.” I pushed away from him and scowled. “Secondly, he was my friend, Michel, I had to try.”
“But it was futile, was it not? You were unable to do a thing but stand by and watch.”
And there you have it, Michel knows me so well. Right now he's angry, furious even and he's lashing out. Part of me knew it was because he was scared that I had almost got killed tonight, part of it though, was because I had gone against his wishes and he wanted me to pay for that defiance. He is a vampire, it's how they operate. I disobeyed him tonight, so he was punishing me. And saying I had to watch another friend die, saying that that's all I could do, was a little too close to home. I had watched Rocky die and did nothing to stop it. It haunted me and Michel knew it.
“Damn you, Michel.” I pushed past him into the bathroom and grabbed a towel. He didn't stop me, probably knew he'd hit his target, there was no need to continue. He'd made his point, or so he thought. He'd hurt me, but would that stop me from defying him again in the future? Not on your Nellie.
I dressed quickly, not wanting to face him in a wrapped towel. He, however, was quite happy to stand there and watch me. He'd dried off, but not bothered to cover up. He wore nudity like a fashion statement, wielded it like a weapon, displaying it whenever it suited his needs. Right now, I gathered, he hadn't finished chastising me and his body on display was a sure-fire way to put me off balance.
“How am I to protect you, if you refuse to let me?” he said, a little too reasonably for my liking.
“I don't need your protection, Michel. I'm more than capable of taking care of myself.”
“Like you did tonight?” he asked incredulously.
“I was doing fine, I'd got away. I was getting away.”
“You did not look fine, Lucinda, you looked close to having an accident in fact. Had I not turned up, would you have ended upside down in a ditch on the side of the road?”
“Is that what you're worried about? Me crashing your car?”
He barked out a sound full of anger. “You know damn well it is not! Lucinda, you are precious to me, I will not have you in danger.”
I doubted the precious to me part, but I let it go. “My life is full of danger, Michel. Would you wrap me up in cotton wool and place me on a shelf for safe keeping?”
“If I have to, yes.”
We just stared at each other for a while. He would do it too. His damn stubborn ideas of protecting and providing for me were insufferable. He might be a centuries old vampire from a different time, where things were done differently than today, but I'm a modern girl, I don't give up that easily.
“Get used to it, Michel. I am what I am and I will not change for you.”
“Oh, I am well aware of what you are, my dear.” Michel was always good at sarcasm.
I shook my head and went out the door. If he wanted to continue this, he could either follow me buck naked into the club, or get himself dressed and chase me out the door. Either way, I was leaving.
Of course, I hadn't counted on Bruno, Michel's second. Nor on that telepathic communication Michel has with his vamps.
I started across the clubroom floor, weaving through the usual Friday night revellers. The club usually making me feel at home, with its plush surroundings, dark wood and sleek furnishings, all in deep reds and golds. But I was not even registering it tonight, I'd almost made it to the door too, but then he pounced.
“Going somewhere, Luce?” His evil smile making the piercing blues of his eyes shine fiercely in the club's lights.
“Yeah, Bruno, I am.” I tried to step around him, to get to the door, but Bruno's big and I mean brick out-house size big. He just crossed his arms and sighed.
“Now you know I could just block your way, or glaze you into staying, but I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, because I like you. And offering you a chance to behave yourself.”
I just glared at him, crossing my arms in front of my chest in a mirror of his stance and almost stomping my foot. I stopped myself though, just in time. He just smiled knowingly.
“How about we have a drink?” He nodded towards the bar.
I know I could have just given in, just gone with the flow. It was Bruno and he is fast and strong and can amazingly glaze me when he wants to - not many vampires can - but I was mad. Spitting fire out my nostrils mad. So I smiled sweetly and nodded. He looked momentarily surprised and then suspicious, but I turned towards the bar and he came
with me. We took a few steps, he relaxed a little, I could feel it. And then I bolted for the door.
I'm fast, faster than a human and as there were humans in the bar tonight, I was kind of breaking the rules, but shit. I was mad. So, I high tailed it at top speed, but then Bruno's older and faster and just that much more vindictively nastier than me.
Before I'd gone a few feet I was airborne, over his shoulder, whacking my head down on his big broad back as he swung me around and headed back towards the bar, holding firmly to my thighs in front of him. There were catcalls and whistles and many jokes being passed around the room, but the vampires in amongst the humans had stilled. They knew me. They knew what I was capable of and if they'd been paying attention since I walked in the room, then they damn well knew how pissed off I actually was.
I let my Light build up inside me. The vampires would have felt the power grow, would have sensed my magic, if you can call it that, they all knew what was coming. I held it tightly coiled, but if Bruno could sense it he was ignoring it, or choosing to let me fall completely into the hole I was creating, because he just kept carrying me towards the bar. When I couldn't contain the Light any longer, I started to open up, about to unleash it on him, make him fall to his knees in blindingly bright white Light. And then I breathed, letting it all out towards him.
It would have been so easy, he would have been awash in my Light and unable to do a thing about it. I hadn't made it sensual like I have been known to in the past, I was angry, so it probably would have hurt, hurt like a bitch. A bit like a full fight bruising in one hit, but it didn't go to Bruno, because suddenly Michel was there, touching my arm, opening up his mind to me and the Light recognised him and flew straight for him, bypassing Bruno and smashing into Michel's chest.
He gasped and collapsed to his knees; white, ashen and in pain. Bruno dropped me to my feet and turned to his master and all of a sudden I had a three foot long sword thrust at my neck, pricking my skin ever so slightly, by a short and very angry blonde female vampire.
Damn.
Chapter 3
The Call to Come Home
“Pull it back.” Blondie had an American accent.
“You first,” I replied evenly.
My hand had already gone for my stake, inside my jacket pocket, but how I thought I was going to land a blow when she was still over three feet away, at the other end of her wickedly sharp looking sword, I don't know. But a vampire hunter can live in hope, can't she?
Michel was still gasping on the floor, Bruno hovering. The rest of the vampires had secured the room, stopped any Norms from leaving or entering and had started to glaze up a storm. The usual, Obi Wan routine; these are not the droids you are looking for.
Blondie and I just stood still, staring off at each other. She looked about my age and was pretty, of course, they all are. A little taller than me, maybe an inch, with pale perfect skin, long blonde straight hair and brightly blue eyes, almost electric blue. She had a red tank top on, displaying well toned arms and low hipster dark blue denim skin tight jeans, tucked into red leather knee high boots. No heels. I don't think her lack of height had given her a complex, she carried herself with an assured confidence, completely unaffected by the taller people milling around us. I had a sudden liking for her.
I felt down the link or connection that joined me to Michel, just to see how he was doing and I stifled my own gasp. I had obviously been angrier than I realised, because he was in real pain. I almost went to call the Light back straight away, but with Blondie's sword to my neck, I knew that wasn't an option. It's not that I wanted to prove a point, but giving in to a vampire was not a good political move. I could occasionally give in to Michel, if it suited me of course, but an unknown vamp was a totally different thing altogether. Never show fear. Never give an inch. Always stay on guard. They were mantras, Nero my Nosferatin trainer, had instilled in me. Repeatedly. So, I wasn't backing down right now.
“Luce,” Bruno said, from the side, tentatively. “Michel's hurting, you don't want to do this.”
“You don't know what the fuck I want to do, Bruno, so shut it.”
I was starting to shake with controlling the Light for so long and I was angry, still, more so than before. Not just at Michel and his insistence that he control me, not just because I am still haunted by unwanted images of him in Paris, but also because of Bruno for throwing me over his shoulder in front of everyone, like I was a sack of potatoes. And now this foreign vamp who had taken it upon her blonde self to protect my kindred vampire. He was mine to protect or otherwise, not hers. I suddenly realised how bad that actually sounded. Not good.
I shook my head to clear the thought. “Get the Norms out of here.” My voice was surprisingly steady, but quiet.
“Now, why would we do that, Luce? With them here, you might behave yourself.” Bruno again.
“Does it look like I'm behaving myself, Bruno? Get them out of here, now!”
I had shifted my gaze to his when I spoke the last and followed it up with a glaze. It was a relatively new Nosferatin power I had come into, being able to glaze vampires. They, of course, can glaze humans and me sometimes, but anyone ever being able to glaze a vampire is new. And very scary for the sunshine challenged. I don't like that vamps glaze, having influence over another's mind is not right, so I had sworn I would only do it when in a life or death situation.
I didn't think I was in one now, but it was too late. A little bit of the Dark that I constantly feared had seeped in and was setting up home right inside me.
Bruno commanded the vampires to clear the room of Norms, much to the protest of Blondie. They didn't hesitate, Bruno may not be their master, but he was second in command, so they knew how to obey his orders. Vampires are nothing if not military in their hierarchy. I just smiled sweetly at the blonde at the end of the sword and raised my eyebrows. She frowned.
“Now what, Luce?” Bruno asked, almost begging for a further command. Yuck, I hated glazing. How had I got myself into this mess? Too late to stop now.
“Lower the sword.” I tried to catch Blondie's eyes, but she'd cottoned on to my game and refused to make eye contact.
“Pull back your power,” she replied, looking at a spot over my shoulder.
“You know, this could go on all night,” I said conversationally.
“Or not,” she replied, pushing the sword a little deeper into my flesh.
I didn't pull away, that would have been showing fear and she was only threatening, not yet following through on the action, so I felt the trickle of blood as it escaped the tip of the sword, where she had breached my skin.
But, it wasn't just that she could impale me, slit my throat, kill me, it was holding the Light that was taking its toll. I'd got good at it recently, having spent a lot of time using it for defensive purposes and also in training with Nero. He had made it our number one training session over the past week, since returning from Paris. It was a tool and a powerful one, but I needed to be in control and sometimes, just sometimes, when faced with a particularly Dark vampire, the Light just took over. I never wanted to stand by and watch it do its thing again, without having the ability to pull it back. But, despite all of that training, this was a lengthy piece of time and I had put an awful lot of emotion into that Light, so I was waning, tiring. I only had a few minutes left in me before it became obvious to those vampires around me and they took their chance.
Even though I was Michel's kindred Nosferatin and they were all sworn to protect me, his life and health would always prevail. I was a threat right now and they wouldn't hesitate to deal with me if the opportunity arose. So, what to do?
The Norms had all been bundled out onto the street, so it was just us left in the club. Fifty odd vampires - who had suddenly appeared out of thin air more than doubling the original number in the club when I had first arrived - and one Nosferatin. Not great odds, but there you go. I took a hold of the Light again, I wanted to change it from pain, but the concentration required was too great,
if I paused to alter its effect now, I could lose it and lose this battle. Even if I had begun to realise how wrong this all was, I was stubborn, I would not give in to a vampire. It's not in my blood.
I grabbed the Light roughly from Michel and threw it out into the room before he could stop me, making every vampire there fall to their knees in pain, including Blondie. It was horrendous, so not what I would normally do, so wrong, so not me. It made me sick to the stomach, but I had won.
Michel just looked at me, as the Light slowly dissipated into the room, releasing the vampires, I'm not quite sure what the look said. It wasn't fear, it wasn't anger, it wasn't pride, I think it was calculation. He was deciding how best to use this new powerful tool in his arsenal. He was deciding how to use me.
“Fuck you, Michel.” It was all I could manage before sinking to the floor in exhaustion.
He smiled. “Always so eloquent, my dear.”
All of us had ended up on the floor, trying to recover. The vampires would manage it faster than me, they had only been awash with pain, it would pass, but me? I was exhausted and angry and more than a little ill at what I had just done.
I felt the vampires moving to their feet, in that languid otherworldly movement they have, all grace and smooth motions, like a puppet on a string. I couldn't move, just sat in an undignified heap on the polished concrete floor of the club.
“Do we move her?” Bruno asked. I guess he was talking about me.
“I am tempted to say no, but she is my kindred Nosferatin, so I shall have to bow to centuries of protocol and aid her in her hour of need.” Oh, Michel was loving this, wasn't he?
Rub it in a little more why don't you.
Now, now. You know I adore you when you are angry, ma douce, lets not fan the flames any more than completely necessary.
He'd answered my thought in my mind. We can project thoughts to each other, I hadn't realised I'd projected that last one.
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