by R. Sullins
“Kate!” Amber hissed at her.
“No, no, she’s absolutely right.” I smoothed back my hair. “I’m sorry, guys, what can I get you to drink?”
Freddy looked irritated, Amber was still glaring at Kate, Ted was red, making his freckles more pronounced and Kate looked smug. Oh well, let her have her moment. Kate didn’t know what was really happening at the mansion with Crispin and I. She was jealous and didn’t realize I was just another tool for Crispin to use.
I left them with their menus to get their drinks, stopping at my other tables on the way, glad that only one person needed a refill. After gathering their drinks and the other customer’s refill of soda I returned to the table, carefully placing down the drinks. When I placed Kate’s water in front of her she loudly complained, “Where’s the lemon?”
“I’m sorry, Kate, I didn’t realize you wanted lemon. I’ll go grab you a few in a bowl.” I turned to go, not wanting to get on her bad side any more than I already had when her loud voice called out, “Make sure you don’t touch them with your hands! Who knows what you’ve touched and the last time you washed them?” Her haughty voice carried through the diner causing several of the customer’s heads to turn. I simply nodded, ignoring my red face, and quickly gathered a few lemons into a small serving bowl, using tongs, of course.
When I got back to the table the group was whispering fiercely at Kate while she just waved dismissively at them. I hovered around the corner where I could just barely see the group when I overheard one of them say, “The master is going to be pissed that you are being so bitchy towards her. It’s obvious that she is special.” Kate’s scowl darkened ominously and returned, “Special how? I am the one he keeps in his bed and uses to feed from. She is nothing special. He’s probably just training her to be a sentinel or something. Who knows why? She’s pathetic.” “Really, Kate? You in his bed? When was the last time he even fed from you?” Smugly she replied with, “Just last night after he sent her away I was with him.”
I couldn’t hear anymore. I placed the bowl of lemons next to her glass and looked at the other three, ready to take their orders.
I avoided any more small talk, escaping with the excuse of needing to tend to my other tables and nodded from across the room when they all got up to leave. Kate looked relaxed and happy while the others were upset. I couldn’t help the pang of sorrow I felt knowing that he already had a woman and everything I had felt from him was only in my mind. Kate was obviously not a nice person but if she was what he preferred there was nothing I could do about it. There was no way I would come between a man and another woman.
*
We were sparring again and I was having a hard time concentrating. Time after time I ended up on my ass. Each time Crispin growled at me I glanced over and saw the smug face on Kate’s face. I was trying hard to ignore the pang of jealousy and the sharp pain that accompanied it in my chest.
“I’m sorry, Master. I will try harder.” I ignored the frown that crossed his face at my words and brought myself back to standing, determined to put aside all thoughts of him and Kate in bed together, him at her neck while he ground himself into her. I blinked rapidly to stop the moisture that came to my eyes at the vision.
“Who told you to call me that?” He seemed angrier now than he had while reprimanding me about not paying attention through our sparring.
“N-no one told me. I just assumed that I should since everyone else calls you that.” I ran a shaky hand over my sweaty forehead.
“If I wanted you to call me Master I would have told you. Now hands up, ready for attack.”
Again and again, we went through the moves. I never did get to the place inside me where I could anticipate his moves. The distraction of having his lover smirk at me and the pangs in my heart that didn’t want to go away were weighing me down.
My distraction cost me when he kicked out. I was too slow to defend myself and the delay cost me a cracked rib. The sound of the bone breaking was loud enough to be heard by all the vampires in the room. I hushed settled through the vampires and the humans, realizing that something was wrong, quieted down as well.
I stood hunched over, holding my side while the pain radiated through me. I had received many pulled muscles and deep bruising in the last few weeks of training but this was the first time I had been injured to this degree. I became so angry at myself for letting this man get to me. I wanted to rage and rant about my stupidity. When I looked up at him standing motionless in front of me I lost my hold on my flaring temper.
I flung myself towards him, ignoring the pain in my side. I kicked and punched, I screamed my frustration out as I found myself taking every ounce of hurt, frustration, pain I had endured over the last six years. I needed to let it out. It had stayed bottled inside for so long while I whiled away my life. I let out the hurt that I felt at my sister’s treatment of me even though everything I did since I was 15 years old was to try to earn her forgiveness for me not being hurt instead of her.
I screamed out my rage at my mother for abandoning me when I needed her the most. I punched and kicked at the man that my heart couldn’t stop yearning for even though he wasn’t mine to have.
When I tired myself out I sank to my knees on the mat, panting and shaking with exhaustion. It took me a few minutes to get the nerve to lift my head and face Crispin. I knew I had crossed a line that few would ever dare cross and live to tell about. He had every right to end my existence. I had no words of apology or explanation.
I acted on extinct. My body and mind needed to purge the tortuous feelings that had been coursing through me, poisoning my mind, for way too long. It was a foolhardy thing to do, attacking this master vampire, taking out all my rage on him. But I felt better for it, more at peace. Something had finally settled in my soul.
When I made eye contact I was surprised by what I saw. It wasn’t anger, hate, or even pity. It was understanding.
“Some people go through such horrible things in their lives that they never get over the experience. They let it depress them until they take their lives. Sometimes they let it fester until it becomes a rot inside them until it destroys their very soul. The lucky ones eventually let it go and become a better person for what they went through.” He held out his hand and helped me to my feet.
I was still shaky and badly in need of water to soothe my sore throat. He led me over to the table where we sometimes spent time teaching me the things I needed to know of the vampire world. He gently pressed down on my shoulder, urging me to take a seat and went to retrieve a couple of water bottles.
I mumbled my thanks and gulped down the water before running the icy bottle across my forehead.
“About what happened…” I started on my apology but he held up a hand, stopping the word flow.
“Do you feel better?” He tilted his head taking in my face, studying me for whatever signs he was looking for.
I nodded.
“Good. I will call in Mac to take a look at your ribs. I’m sure you will be fine but I’d feel better knowing that you didn’t do any extensive damage.”
I finally looked around and noticed the room was completely empty of everyone except for Crispin and myself. The relief I felt at his kindness, that he didn’t allow anyone else to see my breakdown went straight to my heart. I was very afraid that I would never be able to get over this man.
Chapter 9
*****
It had been several days since the Hunter had broken down and stripped herself of all the angst and stress that she’d had bottled inside of her for so long. Crispin was glad that she seemed more at peace with herself but becoming irritated at the woman. She was professional and worked hard. She was improving daily and he was proud of her progress. Already he considered her better than most of his sentinels in hand to hand combat. He knew it was time that she began training with weapons.
No, it wasn’t her progress that irritated him, it was her avoidance of him. He missed her blushes, her looks she would give when
she didn’t know he could see her. She no longer stole glances of his body while they trained. Not even when he purposely removed his shirt to wipe the sweat that covered his body. He was starting to feel like a youth trying to gain the attention of a young maiden. When they weren’t grappling she was stiff and polite.
“Water break!” he announced and stepped back from his Hunter. He watched as she nodded stiffly and turned around to walk to the refrigerator that had water and sports drinks. One of the humans handed her a bottle of water and she smiled at him before taking a big swallow. He watched her tip her head back and the delicate muscles of her neck work. Then he saw red when the human male wiped a drop of water off her chin and they laughed together.
“They are just friends Crispin.” Rhys, his first in command and best friend spoke softly next to him.
“She hides from me, Rhys.”
Rhys, being perceptive, understood his master’s meaning and nodded his head even though Crispin never took his eyes off the female. “There has been talk, Sire. One of the human females told me this evening that Kate has laid claim to you and warned off the Hunter.”
Finally, Crispin turned his head to look at Rhys, his eyes glowing with his anger. “Warned her off?”
“Yes, Sire. The Hunter was told that the human female was your source of blood and warmed your bed. I was also informed that she has been quite the bitch to your Hunter. Apparently, there is a group of humans that go to the diner that the Hunter works at during the day and spends that time being rude to her. Seems she takes great joy in having the Hunter wait on her and is quite demanding.”
Crispin frowned. “Why is she still working during the day, she should be resting up so she can train at night.”
“Well, Sire, it’s my understanding that she has much in outstanding debt and medical bills. She also has to support her sister.”
Crispin’s frown deepened. He had forgotten about her personal life and the sister that was such a burden to his Hunter. The Hunter pay for being in his service would likely pay all her debt and then some, allowing her a much easier life than what he expected she was living. The thought of her struggling for money to support herself and her ungrateful sister didn’t sit right with him.
“I have a feeling I know which human female is responsible for Ivy’s mood. It looks like a talk is in order.”
“Yes, Sire.”
*****
Oof. I lay on my back, staring at the ceiling high above me again while trying to catch my breath. My bruises were going to have bruises. I had always thought I was in good shape. I was athletic in high school and I ran nightly as a de-stressor. But this? I found myself woefully underprepared for this type of training. Crispin was just too fast, too strong, too…everything. It was embarrassing to continue to land at his feet every time I was supposed to put him on HIS ass.
Almost six weeks we have been doing this. Night after night, we grappled as he taught me the fine points of hand to hand fighting. I had been assured that we would be moving onto weapons soon, but not until I was capable of defending myself with my bare hands. I was learning how to use my strength and speed to my advantage, whereas I had spent most of my life hiding what I was capable of.
What was interesting was that I was remembering simple lessons my mother taught me while I was young. Timing me with household chores when I was older, building blocks when I was even younger, to make sure I was steady and quick. Everything she was doing by setting fun challenges and timing my progress to encourage me to improve my speed. They were all simple forms of training a child in their speed and dexterity.
I no longer looked at Crispin in challenge. I had come to respect him for his capabilities and what he was obviously able to teach me. I was trying to be as good a student as I could and he was actually being quite patient with me. He was stern and demanding but he was encouraging and I swear I had seen humor in his eyes on more than one occasion. Our partnership, if you can call it that, seemed to be working out fairly well, though I had been doing my best to keep it a strictly professional partnership no matter how much it was killing me.
Light gray eyes interrupted my study of the crown molding. “Miss Moore? Would you like a pillow, perhaps a throw blanket? Maybe even a nightcap? I am assuming you are comfortable down there and that is why you aren’t getting back up to continue your training. So you can learn how to become a killer instead of puppy chow for the revenants that want nothing more than to eat your insides for a late-night snack.”
I gritted my teeth against the comeback bubbling up at the back of my throat. He’d been taunting me since the beginning of our training session, obviously taunting me into a reaction. By now I’d want to strangle him if I hadn’t caught the humor lighting his eyes or the slight twitch of his lips. Or the shine of pride when I was able to dodge an attack. I still wanted to kick his ass though. I just didn’t want to kill him. Exactly.
He reached down to help me to my feet and surprised me with a towel and a bottle of water. I hated to be thankful to him for anything, but I had to show my manners. I nodded my thanks to him and sighed after a long drink of the cold refreshing water. I wiped the sweat off my neck and arms and handed the towel and bottle to a human with a thanks, before nodding to Crispin and taking my stance back in front of him again in the large room. We used to have a space similar to when I was in gymnastics as a little girl and when I was learning cheerleading. The mats were of much better quality though. Too bad after the thousandth crash land my body didn’t feel the quality anymore.
“Hands up, body loose, chin slightly down, eyes on me, yes, excellent.” His praise made me want to preen like a hormonal teenager. I tried to focus on his eyes instead of the bare chest in front of me. We both lost our shirts an hour ago, me in my sports bra, and him with nothing but his bare chest with the tiniest bit of black hair at the center of his pecs and a slight trail that began under his belly button leading down below his sweat pants that were dangerously low on his narrow hips. He lightly bounced on the balls of his feet in a boxer’s pose, one fist higher than the other, shoulders straight, abdominals looking like he was mid-crunch, each ridge and his adonis belt in such absolute definition that even after this last hour I was still having difficulty maintaining eye contact.
He also had a plethora of scars across his chest and back that I wanted so badly to ask about but was afraid to. We just didn’t have that kind of relationship, and to my everlasting disappointment, never would if his girlfriend had anything to say about it.
I took a deep breath in and slowly let it out, trying to lower my heart rate and center myself. The anticipation and knowing he was about to spring out at me at any time was killing me. Finally, he leapt at me with his right hand up, ready to grab my throat. I twisted my body and grabbed his forearm, our combined sweat made it hard to get a good grip but the adrenaline rush from the attack had me tightening my grip while pushing my chin down against my chest to keep him from getting a hand around me. With my lower center of gravity, I was able to get my shoulder into the center of his chest, but just as I was going to use our momentum to throw him he used his left hand to grab my ponytail and yanked my head back until I was gasping and staring at his smug gray eyes.
I kept hold of his wrist with my left hand but reached up with my right across the back of his neck, grabbing onto his trapezius hard and yanked him so his body twisted just as I stuck my right leg between his legs and caught the back of his knee. It took him off balance and he started to fall. Inwardly I was jumping up and down cheering with glee that I finally managed to get the better of him, but that was before I realized he still had a hold of my hair and I started to fall with him. I was completely incapable of stopping myself and ended up landing hard on top of him with a grunt and a groan from us both, my back diagonally across his front.
Finding myself laying across a hot, sweaty guy, both of us out of breath, sounded great in theory but in reality, it was actually quite uncomfortable. His body was just too hard, and my body was half
on him and half on the floor, so I was at a weird angle and needed to move to relieve the pressure on my back. I started to roll to my left, but it was more uphill, going against his chest, so I started to go right until his big hands grabbed me, one on my hip and one on my sweaty shoulder.
“Stop Hunter.” His hands tightened down on me when I started to wiggle to get loose. I really wanted to get up from my uncomfortable position.
“Let me up Crispin, this is uncomfortable.” I whined while continuing to wiggle around.
“Miss Moore, I really need you to be still for a minute and I’ll help you up.” He all but growled at me. I rolled towards his face to see what had him all pissy again. We were getting along pretty well while he’d been kicking my ass. When I tried to roll back towards his chest, he surprisingly let me and helped by pushing my shoulder up and pulling my hips up from across his hips. I gasped when I saw how his eyes were very silver. Something had upset him.
“Wh-what’s wrong? What did I do? Did I hurt you? I’m so sorry!” In my panic I rolled my body across his and slid down, straddling him, running hands across his chest and down his abs. I sat up and ran them up and down each arm while he groaned like he was in pain. I became terrified that I had somehow really hurt this master vampire and would have to answer to some vampire police for damaging him! I leaned over him to reach around his neck and under his head, checking for head injuries.
“Miss Moore,”
“Shh, just be still. I’ll help you, but you can’t move.”
“Miss Moore!”
“Crispin, stop! You must be still. If you’ve got a neck injury you could be seriously hurt! I don’t want to be responsible for damaging a vampire king. Just let me check you out.”