“Not just the tips I should think,” I answered and heard a low growl from the background down the line.
“Um, gotta go, Gregor's turning feral.” The growl got louder. “I think I need to put him out.”
“Walkies!” I sang loudly down the line.
The last thing I heard before the phone went dead was Amisi's chortle and Gregor's ever deepening growl getting closer to the phone.
Chapter 9
Not You Again
It wasn't rocket science, but it did take longer than ten minutes for Doug to show me the ropes. My job would not only include serving any post work Norms that entered the bar from five in the evening until when Doug decided to show, but I was also in charge of getting the float out of the safe and having the cash register ready to go. The bar fridges would be stocked the night before and all the glasses cleaned and shining brightly. I just had to empty the last under counter dishwasher, make sure all the lights illuminating the mirror and liquor shelves behind the bar were on and that the chefs had arrived and were setting up shop in the small industrial kitchen out the back and the bus boy had all the chairs down on the floor. Oh, and any entertainers were all good to go.
Then door open and I was ready to rock and roll. Doug went through pouring beers correctly, showed me where all the decorations and condiments were stored, you know, sliced lemons and cocktail umbrellas and the like, and made sure I knew how to pour a decent double shot. Half an hour later he left me to reading my cocktail book and then the first of my customers arrived. It was busy, but not manic. Enough clientèle to keep one slightly faster than human Nosferatin happy and occupied and only as the vampires began to appear in the corners as 9pm approached did it start to get a little popular.
Sensations has groupies, but even if they don't know that vampires exist, or that that gorgeous guy sitting in the corner is actually eyeing your jugular, not your baby blue eyes, they still feel compelled to congregate. They also know, that the good looking ones who frequent Sensations only arrive when the sun has set. So, they do to. I knew instantly when the sun had passed the horizon and the stars came out to play and it had nothing to do with the Sanguis Vitam that began to permeate the air, or the increase in scantily clad customers, both male and female, but more to do with my natural Nosferatin abilities.
It's like I get a tingle between my shoulder blades, not uncomfortable, a little more anticipatory than hairs-standing-on-end-down-my-arm. I knew what the night can bring and it is not always nice, those monsters you thought hid under your bed when you were a kid, do actually exist, but they're out on the streets, sitting next to you at the pub, breathing down your neck as you suck back your mixer and nibble on a peanut. And I'm OK with that. It feels right, like a part of me wakes up when they do. Until that sun sets I'm kind of in limbo, waiting for when my life feels real again, when the monsters come out from under the bed and drink a Merlot beside you at the bar.
I'm OK with it, as long as they behave.
My first shift at Sensations passed without incident and I have to say, I enjoyed it. I handed over the reins to Doug, feeling like purpose had been returned to my normal daytime life and my bank account would appreciate it. I had no idea what Doug would pay me, but no doubt in a week's time I'd get a pleasant surprise when I checked my on-line bank account. It didn't bother me in the slightest if he paid above industry standards, Michel could afford it and as long as I wasn't taking it as an outright handout, I could live with that too.
I hung around for several hours, well into the night, to make sure all of Michel's line who were going to turn up saw me. They needed to be reminded. They needed to see me and know the words I'd spoken last night had not been hollow, empty, meaningless letters strung together just for the hell of it. Surprisingly, it felt good to be surrounded by Michel's vampires again, it felt right. And I think it felt right for them too. I could tell they were more settled by the end of the visit, than when I had arrived yesterday. I had a feeling that this was going to be a pattern, at least until Michel returned. I'd work the first few hours of the night, then commune with his vampires for the rest and if my pull happened to occur during those hours, then I was in the CBD where I needed to be.
Samson turned up eventually and I managed to have a chat and drink with him, catching up on his current project for the Durand line. Michel, or maybe Jett, was using him well. Samson's expertise was in IT. He was a whiz with electronics and was currently in charge of making sure the line's computers were adequately protected.
Once I was sure I had made the necessary impression in the club, I headed home.
Marcus and Matthias had arrived not long after dark, the one downside of starting work before the vampires did was my guard couldn't shadow me in. But I'm a big girl, I can handle the daylight hours on my own, so it was a risk I felt confident in taking.
By the time we made it home, dawn was kissing the horizon and I was knackered. I showered briefly, dressed in some shortie cotton PJ's, black with hot pink kittens all over them, stake under my pillow and settled in to get some shut eye. I was just about drifting off to sleep, when the phone rang.
Bloody hell, if it was Amisi wanting a catch up at this hour of the day I would personally head down there and stake her.
“What?” I answered, none too friendly.
“Ma douce?” Michel was not used to that tone, even from me.
“Michel,” I said softly in reply. His voice alone could soothe my nerves.
“Ah, that is better. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“I was just settling in under the covers, it's been a long night.”
“Not too eventful I hope,” he asked, voice even.
“No. I spent the entire sunless hours at Sensations catching up with your line.”
There was a soft purr over the phone, comforting and adorable at the same time.
“You did?” he said and then, “You are perfect you know that?” I didn't, but I liked hearing him say it.
“What's happening in your world” I asked, pulling the covers up around my chin and snuggling down under them, his voice lulling me into a sleepy, but safe, state.
“They are stalling, I will probably not meet with the Champion this night. Patience, it seems, is the order of the day.” He paused and I could hear material ruffling in the background, like he was getting more comfortable too. “I missed you, ma douce. I want you here with me.”
“I could Dream Walk. It's been 24 hours since my last Dream Walk to you.” I needed to allow 24 hours between each Dream Walk or run the risk of being out cold for three days. An annoying caveat of my talent, one I could not afford to forget. Especially without Michel here to protect my sleeping body.
“No, ma douce, just let me hear your voice. I do not want even your Dream Walking self in the Palais, who is to say that is not what they are waiting for.” They were, of course, the Iunctio and we still didn't know why they had called Michel to them. It could be a trap, just as he suspected and me Dream Walking to my kindred might be exactly what they wanted.
“So, how come you can read my mind from all the way over in Europe. It seemed pretty strong last night. Stronger than before.”
When Michel had been going through the claiming, he had been able to read my mind. We hadn't put two and two together at the time, but obviously the claiming believed his reading my mind would aid him in his task of claiming me as his own. It had done, it had made it easy for him to second guess my every move, to behave in a way that I had subconsciously wanted, just by being able to read my inner musings and deepest and darkest desires. The claiming had been successful, Michel no longer needed to read my mind. But now, all of a sudden, that talent was back. And it felt stronger.
“I am not sure, ma douce, but it is stronger. Very much so.”
“Do you think the claiming is back?” I asked.
“No. I still want to let everyone know you are mine, but it is completely under my control.”
Michel had been, at times during the cla
iming, ruled by it. The loss of control had been new to him and he had battled with that. Michel never likes losing control. Probably why he was having trouble accepting his loss of control of Erika. She had been stolen from him by the King of the American Families, without even Michel being aware. That required some power on the King's part, but some serious deviousness on hers. She had acted like the blood bond she and Michel had, was very much still there.
He went on. “I am not sure, but I feel it returned when I needed to hear your thoughts the most. When I was at a crossroads and so close to choosing the wrong path.”
The choice of his words made me think of something. “You know Nut told Gregor that we all have paths mapped out for us in life, that we get some choice, but the end result is always the same. Kind of like fate or destiny if you like. When Gregor's path was taking him away from that preordained destiny, she stepped in and guided him back on the correct path.”
“Are you saying your goddess helped me, a Nosferatu, when I was about to step off my chosen path?” Michel asked, a little sceptically.
“Maybe it wasn't you she was helping.”
He was silent for moment, considering my words, then conceded. “Perhaps.”
I heard a knock in the background down the phone line. “What's that?”
“Ah. My scheduled dinner for the night.”
I tensed. Michel had been feeding from others than me during our estrangement. I had accepted it, what could I do? He fed from me last night and would normally feed only from me if we were together, but of course now, he was there, I was here and vampires need to feed daily, or risk growing too weak. But, that wasn't the only reason why I was having a mini conniption. The last time we had stayed at the Iunctio's Palais Michel had been under the influence of an Iunctio member's power and had not only fed from another but ended up getting up close and personal with her too.
Needless to say, I had been devastated at the time, but then I too had been under the spell and almost crossed a line with Gregor. I didn't then, that wouldn't happen until I was back in New Zealand and not under a spell, but instead extremely pissed off and lashing out laced with the Dark. Still, the images of Michel with a blonde French beauty in our bed at the Palais are still quite front and centre in my mind.
“I feel your emotions, ma douce," he whispered down the line. "I have requested only male donors for my stay and if it makes you happy, please stay on the phone while I feed.”
Michel is the most heterosexual man I have ever met, I simply can't see him attracted to a male. I let a breath of air out I had been holding.
“OK,” I said, quietly.
I heard the door to his chamber open over the line and Michel say something abruptly in French to whomever was on the other side of the door. I couldn't make out the conversation, as it was rapid and a little muffled. God knows where he had his phone, but finally he came on the line and was not a happy chappy.
“They have sent a female and apparently have no males to offer this evening.”
“You have to feed, Michel. This was planned. They don't play nice. Just do it and think of me.”
“That, ma douce, will not be difficult.”
I heard him say come in, in French to the donor and then felt him open up his mind to me. I could see what he saw. Everything. He wanted me to be absolutely sure of his faithfulness. She was of medium height, slightly taller than me, but not by much and had long straight brown hair. A nice figure in a short skirt, dark colours. I laughed, she was almost a dead ringer for me.
“Well, they couldn't be more obvious if they tried,” I said, amazed at the Iunctio's audacity.
“Hmm,” was all I got from Michel. He was definitely not happy.
“Assoyez-vous, s'il vous plaît,” I heard him say and watched through the images he showed me as she curved her body into the couch, looking up all doe eyed and compliant.
Michel walked around the back of the sofa and simply leaned over and took one of her wrists in his hand, pulling it up and behind her head, so she couldn't see him feed and he wouldn't be looking at her. It would have felt uncomfortable too. Michel normally would make it a more pleasurable experience for the donor, but I was picking he was really pissed off at the Iunctio right now. No one likes to be a part of someone's games.
He instructed her to not move an inch, no touching, not a word. All in crisp, succinct French. I had no doubt he was saying it slowly, so I could catch every word and translate with my rudimentary French lexicon in my head.
He didn't waste time, his fangs bit quickly and cleanly, he tempered the sting with a feeling of warmth and safety and nothing else, and drained what he needed in thirty seconds flat. He stood up and stepped back several feet from her and said in a low growl, “Vous êtes écartés.” You are dismissed. A more palpable signal to the Iunctio to back off, there couldn't have been.
She left quietly, with her head hung low. She'd obviously failed her master and would pay for it. Not my problem. Michel's mind was still open to me and I felt his anger, his excitement and his blood lust merging with a more fervent hunger for me. Feeding to a vampire is very sexual, but can be controlled for day to day needs, but mix that up with a power play, a little confrontation and vampire anger management issues, and you've got a recipe for one extremely turned on vampire. He may not have wanted her, but now he definitely wanted me.
I watched him pick up the phone with his left hand and settle back down on the couch. I wanted to say something to soothe him, to make him know it was all right, he'd done well. I wasn't feeling threatened by the Iunctio's attempts to seduce him, he was mine and he'd proved it. But the words were stolen from my mouth as I watched his right hand slip down the front of his white shirt, pushing his deep blue silk tie aside, undoing his trousers, revealing a very obvious tenting to his black boxers.
“You know, ma douce,” he whispered over the phone, as his hand released his hard sex from the confines of his boxers and he repositioned himself on the sofa for a better angle, then wrapped his large fist around his shaft and started to pull slightly, just a bit. I was mesmerised and my breath started coming in ragged bursts. “It is your scent I smell now, it is your blood I taste, so rich, so sweet, so full of life and Light.” Another tug on his rock hard erection, a small pearl of moisture at its tip. He groaned slightly and I think I may have whimpered. “I can picture your hair, right now, how it would look in the lights, bent over me, in front of me right here.” He paused, I could hear him swallow, his breath came a little faster, his movements increased, the long, thick length of him swelling even more. “Your mouth is one of the sweetest parts of your body, it is made to wrap around me, suck me, take me.” He bucked slightly at that last, obviously getting a clear image of just that in his head, but all I could see was what he was showing me, his movements increasing in speed, his cock so hard and big and his muscles in his abdomen bunching, readying for release.
“Tell me how wet you are right now,” he breathed unevenly down the line.
My hand immediately went between my thighs, my fingers finding swollen and wet folds. I sent the sensations I was feeling back towards him, let him feel what my fingers were, how ready for him my body was and then started playing with myself and sending him images of my legs spread, my hand and fingers at work and my body arching off the bed.
“Yes,” I heard him breathe. “Come for me, ma douce. Let me feel you come.”
It wasn't hard, I could still see see him pumping himself, how close he was to the edge, how hard and full his sex had become, how urgently he wanted to let the release wash over him and how much control it was taking to wait for me. I cried out as an orgasm shook me, the best self induced orgasm I have ever managed and watched through the images he sent me, somehow managing to keep his eyes open in order for me to see what he was doing to himself, as his hot seed sprayed up and over his hand and his trousers, and I think, all over the coffee table a metre away too.
He called out my name as he came, then finally let his eyes
close and savoured the moment, his breath uneven and harsh down the line.
Eventually, when he had got himself together, he whispered huskily. “Je t'aime, ma douce. Now sleep.”
I smiled at the half hearted command and whispered back, “I love you too.” Then shut the phone off and had to play with myself all over again. Phone sex with Michel, I couldn't help falling asleep with a big smile on my face.
I did manage a few hours sleep, but before it had even reached midday, I was woken with an urgent pull. I groggily brushed hair out of my eyes and tried to home in on the signal. It took me a couple of attempts, but after a minute or so it was obvious that the pull wasn't local, not even in Wellington. So, I took a deep breath, somehow sensing before I had even entered that black void before Dream Walking and seeking, that this felt familiar and was no doubt going to be very bad. I sent my senses out and located the Dark signature of the pull.
It was the ancient vampire I met recently, same location, Knightsbridge in London and he had already killed one human and was about to tuck in to another. I tried to sense any other vampires nearby, but came up with nothing. He was alone at least, but to have managed so much death and destruction already meant there was no Nosferatin in the vicinity. Or they were busy. I'd have to have a chat with Citysider, the Nosferatin in charge of our website and based in London. This was the second time my talent had called my attention to this vampire, as though it was trying to tell me something. But more importantly, if Citysider and his corps of London Nosferatin weren't even stopping this vamp, then what the hell were they doing?
I filed that thought, slipped out of bed and shoved on some jeans and a sweatshirt, then slipped my feet into sneakers, no socks. I wasn't going to Dream Walk to London in my shortie PJ's and nothing else. It was winter over there, I'd freeze my butt off. I grabbed my stake from under my pillow and lay myself back down on top of the covers, then let my body sink into that black nothingness and follow the undeniable pull.
Dancing Dragon Page 10