by Julie Wetzel
***
“Darien?” Vicky called as she peeked into his office. She could hear him rummaging around for something. When he didn’t respond, she pushed the door open and stepped in. “What are you doing?”
Darien looked up from the dusty tome he was reading. “Looking for something.” He snapped the book shut and dropped it to the table. There was already a growing stack of them. Turning back to the shelves, he pulled another one out. “There was something in one of these books about being human.” He flipped through some of the pages before closing the book and dropping it on the pile. Another book was soon in his hands.
Vicky came over and put her hand on the precariously stacked books. They had started to shift and were in danger of falling off the desk. “What was it?”
Darien skimmed over the next book before dropping it to the desk. “I don’t remember.”
Vicky took it and stacked it neatly with the others.
“It had something to do with some type of fay wanting to be human.” He flipped through the next volume, only to discard it into Vicky’s waiting hands. “There was a love story involved. The fay wanted a girl, but she wouldn’t have him as he was.” Darien continued to search books as he spoke. “He did something to turn human. It was something horrible, but I can’t remember what it was.” Vicky continued to catch the discarded books as he dropped them. “Aha!”
Darien’s cry of discovery startled Vicky into knocking one of the stacks over. She scrambled to catch the aged books before they fell to the floor.
Darien plopped down into his leather chair and read over the story. “Oh, oh no,” he exclaimed when he got to what the fay had done to turn human. Shutting the book, he shook his head. “No, no, no.” Standing up, he slipped the book back on the shelf.
“What?” Vicky asked. Her curiosity was killing her.
Darien started picking up the books and returning them to their original places. “I didn’t do that.”
“Didn’t do what?” Vicky pushed as she handed books to him.
“Well, he ate the hearts of several young girls.” Darien paused in his movement and shuddered. “But it was how he got them out that…” His words trailed off.
Vicky considered pushing for the rest of the story but decided not to. “I don’t even want to know.” She shook her head and let it go. If it was gruesome enough to make a vampire falter, it must have been bad. Vicky already had enough of her own nightmares to last a lifetime; she didn’t need any more.
***
Vicky rolled over and stretched out the sleep from her muscles. She rubbed her eyes and looked around the empty room. Since Darien had been so sick yesterday, she had taken the liberty of clearing his Friday schedule so he would have time to recover. She had expected him to sleep in a little, but he was already gone. Zak had taken up sleeping with Sue since the wolf’s arrival. In fact, he had barely left the wolf’s side. Vicky pushed back the covers and pulled on the man’s robe Darien had given her. She loved the feel of the woolen dressing gown.
Slipping into her bedroom, she checked on her guest. Sue and Zak were curled up on the bed.
Zak turned his beady, little eyes towards Vicky and gurgled quietly.
Vicky reached out and ruffled his tentacles before turning to leave. Sue was snoring lightly in her sleep, and Vicky did not want to wake her. They were going to have to do something about her soon.
The house was unusually quiet as Vicky made her way through it, looking for her love. She checked the office Darien kept filled with unusual things but didn’t find him. Walking through the living room, she pushed back the wall to the family room. He wasn’t there, either. Leaving the wall open, she went to the other side and passed through the dining room to the kitchen. There were two plates of untouched food waiting in the breakfast nook, but no sign of Darien. Concern filled Vicky, and she searched for her link with him. She could feel his contentment, but there was something else—a rage she couldn’t quite explain. It didn’t match the rest of his feelings. Vicky followed the feeling up the steps to the rooftop terrace.
Drawing the long robe tightly around her, Vicky stepped into the cold, December morning. Her breath fogged the air as she exhaled. It only took her eyes a moment to find the man she was looking for, sitting on the stone walkway with his face turned up towards the sky. He was only wearing a T-shirt and pajama pants from last night.
Vicky rushed over to him. “What are you doing?” The patch of sunlight he occupied didn’t do much to break the chill carried in the air.
“It doesn’t hurt.” Darien’s voice was filled with wonder.
Vicky knelt down in front of him so she could look at him better. His lips were a light purple, and he shivered from the cold. Her shadow blocked the sunlight from his face, and he opened his eyes to look at her.
“I didn’t realize how good it could feel.” His eyes flipped back and forth between hers, imploring her to understand him. “I don’t remember a time when the touch of sunlight didn’t hurt.”
Vicky’s eyes softened as she caught on. “Yes.” She smiled at him and reached for his hand. He gave it to her. His long fingers were ice cold, and Vicky rubbed them with hers to warm them up. “It is very nice, but you need to come inside now. You’ve already been sick once this week.”
“Oh, Vicky!”
Vicky squeaked as Darien surged forward and caught her up in his arms.
Pulling her to him, he crushed her in a hug. “I had forgotten what it’s like to be truly alive.” He let her lean back enough to look at him. “I want to do everything.”
Vicky looked at him, shocked by his enthusiasm. “Okay,” she agreed as she gathered up her scattered thoughts.
Darien pushed her from his lap and stood up.
“Like what?” Vicky asked as she let Darien help her to her feet.
Darien grinned at her. “Like eat!”
An amused smile turned the corner of Vicky’s mouth. “You eat all the time.”
“Yes, but I’m always careful about it.” He grabbed her up, and she giggled as he spun her around, listing all the food he wanted to eat in excess. She was breathless when he put her back down.
Grinning at him, she said, “You’ve been sick, so maybe we should start off slowly.” His excitement was infectious.
Tugging her to him, he kissed her softly. “I also want you,” he said softly against her lips.
Vicky tightened her arms around him and pulled back with a warm smile on her lips. “You’ve already had me,” she teased.
Darien drew her against him again and rubbed his cheek on the side of her head, feeling her. “I want you like this.” His voice was soft and low. “I want you without the call for blood at the back of my mind.”
Vicky stiffened a little as he nuzzled the soft curls of her hair.
“Just your soft skin against mine, with no push, no drive, overshadowing it. It’s something I’ve never known.”
She relaxed into him, enjoying the soft caress of his hands.
He tilted his face to the nape of her neck and drew in a deep breath. “And I want it now,” Darien breathed out across her skin.
Vicky’s breath caught at the desire in his voice. Before she could react, Darien stooped down, caught his shoulder in her stomach, and lifted her up in one swift movement. She laughed as Darien’s stride took him to the stairs, unwilling to wait for the elevator. It took almost no time to get back to his penthouse. The stairwell door opened after a quick knock, and Darien had Vicky in his bedroom before she could see who had opened the door. Setting her on her feet, he kissed her again, harder.
“All right,” Vicky agreed when he finished with her lips. She rubbed her hands up and down his chest. “Since you’re feeling so much better…”
Darien made a contented noise at her.
“But, then it’s breakfast time. And you’re going to need to shave.” She reached up and rubbed the day-old scruff on his cheek.
Surprise lit Darien’s face, and he reached up to feel t
he prickly skin. “Should I do that now?” he asked in concern.
Vicky shook her head and circled her arms around his neck. “Not now.” She gave him a light kiss. “I kind of like it.”
Darien growled in desire and reclaimed her lips more passionately—a prelude of things to come.
There was no difference between the two swatches of fabric Vanessa had insisted Vicky compare. She held up the antique white square next to the champaign one. “Which do you think is better, Sue?” Vicky held them up where the wolf could see.
Sue looked from one to the other and laid her head back on the rug next to Vicky’s leg without comment.
Vicky looked at the two pinkish squares. “I can’t tell the difference, either.” A chuckle rolled out from the end of the couch where Darien was sitting.
“I don’t think her eyes see enough of the color to tell a difference,” he elaborated.
Sue snorted out a breath in response.
Darien smiled at the wolf and reached for the swatches. “But, I can’t, either,” he added after Vicky handed them to him.
Vicky shook her head and took the material back. She folded them neatly into the tablecloth file and stuck it back in the box Vanessa had left. There were color samples for everything from ribbons for the bridesmaid’s hair to containers for the party favors. One whole box was filled with arrangements of pressed flower petals. The file that surprised Vicky most was the one filled with plans for her bachelorette party. Not only did it have addresses and prices of local male strip clubs, but it also had photos and cards for the dancers in case they wanted to have a more private session. And the party favors listed in this file would make sailors blush.
Vicky put the lid back on the file box. “I never would have thought about half these things.”
Darien turned the page in the newspaper he was reading. “And that’s why people hire wedding planners.”
Vicky made a scoffing noise and opened her mouth with a retort, but she was interrupted by the sound of the phone in the kitchen ringing. Surprised, she popped up from the floor and went to answer the mostly unused phone. “Hello?” she asked timidly.
“Good afternoon, Miss Westernly.”
Vicky recognized the voice of Ethan, the building’s concierge.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, but there is a gentleman here by the name of Karl McDowell asking to see you.”
“Oh, yes!” Vicky smiled as she recognized the name. Rupert had said that he would send Karl to talk to Sue. “We’ve been expecting him.”
“Very well. Would you like me to send him up?” Ethan asked politely.
Vicky thought about that for a moment. It would give her time to let Darien and Sue know he was on his way. “Yes, please.”
Ethan confirmed her request, and Vicky hung up the phone.
Darien looked up at her when she came back into the room. “And?”
“Karl’s on his way up.”
Sue growled a little from where she lay on the rug but didn’t move.
Zak wiggled against her side protectively. Vicky was starting to feel a little neglected by the small fay. He had been Sue’s constant companion since she had arrived.
Vicky lifted up the box containing the stuff for her wedding, deposited it in the dining room, and slid the wall back in place. She would just have to look over it later. The sound of the elevator door pulled Vicky from her thoughts, and she went to meet Karl.
“Hey.” He greeted Vicky with a halfhearted smile. “Is she here?”
Vicky smiled back and ran her eyes over him. He looked like he’d been under a lot of stress lately. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his wavy, brown hair was sticking up where he kept running his fingers through it. “She’s in the living room.” Vicky held out her hand so that Karl could lead the way into the room.
He stopped just past the end of the fireplace and looked at Sue, still lying on the rug with Zak.
Zak gurgled a warning at him.
Ignoring the small fay, Karl came around the seating area so that he could see Sue’s face.
Sue lay there, snubbing him; but once he was in her line of sight, her eyes tracked him.
Darien folded his newspaper and got up from the couch. “I’ll be in the other room if you need me.” He slipped from the room so he wouldn’t be in the way.
Vicky turned to follow him. These two obviously had something to work out.
“Please stay,” Karl called from where he was crouching next to the loveseat.
Vicky turned back to look at the pair of wolves standing off. There was a palatable tension hanging between them.
Karl looked up at Vicky for a moment. “She may not want to talk to me.”
Smiling reassuringly at him, Vicky moved to sit on the arm of the closest couch. “She isn’t talking to anyone right now,” she said, folding her arms across her chest.
Zak gurgled at her.
“Except maybe Zak.”
The little fay wiggled his ends over Sue’s fur in a reassuring way.
“Please,” Karl begged.
Vicky could see that the man was at a loss, so she slid over the arm of the couch and onto the cushion to watch.
Karl turned his attention back to the wolf lying on the rug and a dropped to his hands and knees. He crawled towards her very slowly. Sue’s ears swiveled back as Karl pushed the glass table across the rug, giving them more room.
Vicky had never studied wolves, but she could tell that this was some sort of dominance display.
Never taking his eyes from Sue, Karl lay down and rolled to his back. Slowly, he closed his eyes and stretched his neck out, exposing his throat to Sue.
Sue stared at the offering for several long minutes, but Karl never moved. Finally, she got up and moved to him. She stood over Karl’s prone form for another long moment before lowering her head and tightening her jaws around Karl’s neck.
Vicky held her breath as Sue’s white teeth pressed into the medic’s throat, stretching the skin.
Karl swallowed, waiting for Sue’s decision.
After another unending minute, Sue released her hold on his uninjured skin. She licked his face a few times before nosing him up from the floor and sitting down beside him.
Karl wrapped his arms around Sue’s neck. “I’m sorry.” He buried his face in her fur. “For everything.” Their embrace lasted a long time before he pulled away and looked into her golden eyes. “Can you shift back now so we can talk?”
Sue let out a loud whimper and lay down against him.
“Come on, Sue.” Karl sunk his fingers into her thick fur, rubbing her on the back of the neck. “Rupert is beside himself with this whole attack thing.”
A rumble of anger rose from the tawny wolf.
“I know you wouldn’t have done it without reason, but we need to know why.”
Sue whined again and wiggled closer to him.
Karl let out a frustrated growl.
Vicky considered the problem, and an idea popped into her head. “I’ve got it!”
Karl, Sue, and Zak all turned as Vicky jumped up from the couch and practically ran from the room.
She was back in a few minutes with a small, velvet bag. “The problem is Sue can’t talk in wolf form, and she won’t shift back,” Vicky stated matter-of-factly.
Karl nodded. “That’s part of it.”
Vicky waved the rest of the issues away. “Come here.” She went over to the open floor behind the loveseat. Karl and Sue slowly followed, their curiosities piqued. Vicky turned to look at them with a grin splitting her face. She opened the bag and dumped the contents over the bare floor.
Karl’s eyes widened as he recognized the square, wood tiles from a scrabble board. “This is prefect.” He knelt to the floor and started flipping the squares over so the letters were up.
Vicky helped, and they soon had most of them spread out where Sue could touch them.
Karl looked over at Sue studying the letters. “Can you tell me what’s wrong, now?”<
br />
Sue shifted so she could paw at a letter.
Karl picked it up and read it. “P.”
Sue pawed another letter.
“R.” He moved this one over with the first.
She picked out another.
“E.”
Vicky’s eyes found the next letter as Sue touched it.
“G.”
Vicky grabbed Karl’s arm. “Oh my God! She’s pregnant!” She squeezed his arm in emphasis.
Sue chirped at her.
Karl looked at Vicky in shock and turned back to Sue. “Is this true?”
Sue sat down and solemnly nodded her head.
“Is it mine?”
Sue snarled, making Karl fall backwards, away from her.
“Okay, okay,” he said defensively. “It’s just that we haven’t been seeing much of each other recently.”
Snorting at him, Sue relaxed.
Karl sat back up and reached out to caress her fur. “I’m sorry for that, too.”
She leaned in against him, forgiving him of his errors.
Vicky smiled at the two werewolves. They looked so content with each other. A soft touch on her arm drew her attention to the little fay.
Zak wiggled into her lap and nuzzled his face into her stomach.
“You knew, didn’t you?” Vicky petted his top tentacles back. They curled around her fingers as she worked them around. “That’s why you’ve been so protective of her.”
Zak purred and wiggled around until he could look at the wolves. They had turned their eyes to the hellhound. Zak gurgled again and waved his ends.
Karl closed his eyes and nodded his head at the fay. “Thank you.” Zak purred louder as the wolf looked back up. “I’m going to be a father.”
Vicky saw several emotions race across Karl’s face, but elation was the last one she saw before he buried his face into Sue’s neck. “Well, if you need anything else…” Pulling Zak’s tentacles away from the wooden tiles he was playing with, Vicky stood up with the fay in her arms.
Sue gave her a grateful look before closing her eyes and leaning back into Karl.