Only Human (Kirsten O'Shea Book 1)

by Blevins, Candace

  “It sounds as if you’re giving him a chance, and I’m glad. Listen to your gut and do what feels right. You’ll figure it out.”

  “Thanks. I should probably get out of the tub and get ready, I’m meeting my parents and Lauren for lunch in a little over an hour.”

  “Take care, Dear One. See you tomorrow.”

  Xiaolan came home as I was putting my makeup on, and she was clearly hung over. I wasn’t one to judge, as I’d partied a lot my first few years of college. However, Xiaolan was just beginning to experiment and I felt responsible for her. I was happy she’d stayed put for the night so no one had to drive her home after drinking, but wasn’t sure how to tell her, and figured now wasn’t the time, anyway. I’d talk to her later about drinking responsibly, in a non-lecturing sort of way. I’d have to figure out how to do that, of course. Maybe wait until Lauren was in bed, and sit with Xiaolan and offer her a drink for our talk? Yeah, that might work. My mom was against alcohol in all forms and quantities, and I’d had to figure things out on my own. I learned a few lessons the hard way, and if possible I’d like to save Xiaolan from having to learn through experience.

  Lunch with Lauren and my parents was actually a pleasant experience — my mom was on her best behavior since I’d let her take Lauren to church.

  Lauren and I went to the grocery store afterwards, and I was standing in the produce section when Abbott called. I told him where we were, that I wouldn’t be able to come see him today, and invited him to come to the house after dark if he’d like. He realized I couldn’t say much with Lauren listening, and said he’d love to and he looked forward to seeing me.

  I had a great day doing normal, everyday stuff with my daughter, and when we got home we put the groceries away and cooked together. Xiaolan came down looking rough, she’d slept most of the day and still wasn’t feeling great. I offered to steam her some plain jasmine rice and she said that would be great. So Xiaolan ate rice, and Lauren and I had gourmet homemade chili.

  When the kitchen was clean I had Lauren try her Halloween costume on so we could figure out what to do with her makeup and hair. My mom loves to sew and be over-the-top creative, so they do that part and then I get to help with hair and makeup. Lauren had decided she was too old to be a princess, and had my mom create a beautiful dress fit for a Queen — a beautiful Elizabethan deep-purple velvet dress with metallic gold braiding and trim. It was perfect, and luxurious, and she looked twenty-five years old.

  I pulled her hair up into a fancy braided bun, put her golden crown on, and made up her face as if she were royalty.

  And wished she’d chosen to be Raggedy Ann, or anything less beautiful. She’d missed out on trick-or-treating as a child living in an orphanage, though, and thoroughly enjoyed dressing up, even at her age.

  She was still in her costume when Abbott arrived, and I’d expected her to stay upstairs and change back into street clothes. However, she came down the steps as if she were truly royalty, and he looked thunderstruck. I forced myself to keep from going off on him in front of Lauren, though I seriously considered letting something happen to the dress so she couldn’t wear it in public.

  It wasn’t really sexy, just luxurious and regal and beautiful.

  Lauren’s best friend goes to a Methodist Church and she’d be going to their party. My mother doesn’t approve of this church because they (horror of horrors) allow the women to attend in pants. I thought it unusual that a church was calling it a Halloween party and not putting a limit on the kinds of costumes allowed, and to be honest it made me think better of the church and its congregation.

  I sent Lauren up to change clothes, and suggested this might be a good opportunity to wash and deep-condition her hair. Abbott and I went to the family room and I got us both a glass of filtered ice water. And yeah, I put it in fancy stemmed water glasses. Wealth alone didn’t normally impress or flabbergast me, but Abbott’s age, intelligence, experiences, and wealth combined was threatening my normal self-confident mindset. It wasn’t so much I needed to impress him, as I needed to not look like a country bumpkin.

  I handed him his glass and said, “If something should happen to me and I’m not around to protect her, Lauren is off limits to the supernaturals until she’s at least twenty-five — old enough to make up her own mind without being talked into something she may end up regretting. I want your word you’ll leave her alone until then, and that you’ll make sure everyone else does, too, though I’ll be extracting the same promise from everyone close to me, also. No one touches her; no one talks to her. She’s not to know of your existence.”

  “I regret if you misunderstood my expression upon seeing her in that beautiful gown. I was alive when the style was popular, and I was appreciating how well she wore the dress, and not her in particular. I will, of course, give you my word to what you ask. She is off limits until she is twenty-five, and I will put her under my protection to make it so, if necessary.”

  I was still glaring at him and he got a bit indignant, “Kirsten, I am not a child molester. Your daughter is safer around me than anyone else I know. Not only would I not lay a hand on her, but I would protect her from anyone who tried. You’re special to me and you love her with all of your heart. I first fell for you when I saw the look on your face as you watched her on stage. I know how much you love her.”

  “If I ever catch you around her when you shouldn’t be, I’ll kill you. Understood?”

  His eyes and face shifted into the way they looked when he’d vamped out to scare the rednecks who’d called the demons, and he spat his words at me, his voice an inhuman growl that scraped across my nerves. “Perfectly. I hope this is the last we need to speak of this.”

  “As long as we understand each other,” I told him, not wavering from our eye contact, no matter how scary he looked and sounded at the moment. “I’ll die protecting her, if I have to.”

  He gave a nod, nothing else, and we continued to glare at each other.

  I was angry and resolute, and pretty sure there was no fear for him to smell. Or, I hoped so, anyway.

  His face morphed into a true monster, but I continued to hold furious eye contact with him, not looking away, and ignoring how frightening his eyes and face looked, refusing to look down at his fangs.

  Abbott blinked and looked away, then down. He composed himself and when he looked back up, his eyes and face had returned to normal.

  “You’re a wonderful mother. You and Lauren are lucky to have each other. However, a piece of advice — most vampires do not react well to a threat of death, it speaks to our inner vampire and most will lose control and kill. I have enough restraint to keep from doing so, but not all of us do. You may want to choose your words a bit more carefully, in the future.”

  “I don’t know any other way to say it, and I won’t sugarcoat it. Perhaps, should it be necessary to tell anyone else, I’ll just put some distance between us so I can react before they have a chance to try to kill me.”

  “I don’t wish to fight with you. I will just say again to choose your words carefully.” He reached out to me. “Come, let me hold you, let me feel your warmth.”

  I believed him, but I’d needed to make sure he knew how serious I was, which I felt I’d done. So, I went to him and let him hold me, and it felt good to be in his cool embrace.

  As I relaxed in his arms, I realized he hadn’t argued about my ability to kill him. He’d treated me as a threat. Interesting. I wasn’t sure if this was good or bad, and figured a little of both, probably.

  “Tell me, Carena, how are you feeling today? What are your after effects?”

  “A little surface bruising, nothing major. I’m fine.” I didn’t tell him how sore my pussy was, though.

  “I can smell a little bruising. Stand up and turn around; I’d like to see your lovely ass.”

  I’d worn loose yoga pants, so it wasn’t a problem to pull them down to let him see my ass and the backs of my thighs. He needed to know how my body reacted, and I had no problems wi
th showing him. I mean, sure, it was a little uncomfortable, another reminder of our position, but I knew he needed to see. So, I stood, turned, and dropped the yoga pants. He touched a few of the bruised areas, and then helped me pull them back up. I grinned at him as I sat down, and he pulled me to him and ravished me with his mouth.

  I was breathing heavy, my vision once again blurred with lust when he pulled back and said, “Those are my marks, I put them there. Next time they will be much more prominent. I will make it my ass, and the reminder of who owns it will be with you a while. I know you said we aren’t exclusive, but you should know I’m feeling terribly possessive of you.”

  “You can never give me total exclusivity, can you?”

  He didn’t say anything, and I added, “You told me sex and feeding are closely linked. If I’m not willing to be your food source, you can’t be exclusive to me.”

  He pulled me into his embrace once again and said, “I’ll do my best to give you space to figure things out. If we continue as we are now, it will be enough for me. For now.”

  He let me go and put his finger to his lips, and moments later I heard Lauren coming down the steps, going through the foyer, through the hallway, the kitchen, and she finally bounded into the room in sweats and a t-shirt. She gave me a goodnight hug and kiss, and then bounded back upstairs, apparently planning to go to bed early. The experts say emotional age for institutionalized children begins at adoption, and over the years I’ve seen the truth in this statement. In some ways, Lauren is seven years old, in others, she’s sixteen. Parenting her can be tricky, at times, but I wouldn’t trade a second of it for anything.

  I decided it was a good time to change the subject, and asked Abbott, “Are there any famous moments in history you were present to witness?”

  “Yes, several actually. The original Friday the thirteenth, when the Knights Templars were rounded up, for one. I left about a month before Rome fell, so I was there for the events leading up to it, but decided it would be wise to not stick around for the final fireworks. I also spent some time in Hong Kong and Canton just before the Opium wars hit.”

  I grinned. “I’m sensing a theme here, you leave when the writing is on the wall that things are about to get bad? No wonder you’ve managed to live so long.”

  He stayed until around eleven, when I ran him off so I could go to bed. Our conversation wandered all over the place, and it was late before I knew it. I could’ve talked to him all night, and I think he felt the same.

  I walked him to the front porch, and his goodnight kiss made me wish I could take him upstairs and let him have his way with me again, no matter how sore I was from his ravishing the night before.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Monday morning I again made sure everything was shaved that should be shaved, and then got ready for work. James had texted me to go to the same cabin as last time. We didn’t go to this one very often, so I thought it a bit odd. The only things this one had going for it were the hot tub in the master suite, and the fact it was so far away from civilization we could do things outside without worry of anyone hearing or seeing.

  As it turned out, after inspecting me for damage, he spent the day working on my ability to take things anally. James is good at mixing enough pleasure with the pain to make it good, but anal stuff is hard for me so it was a difficult session and I was crying when he finally untied me and held me.

  “I’m sorry,” I said into his chest, knowing I’d been a huge baby.

  “Sshh, it’s okay, go ahead and get in the tub. We’ll talk about it.”

  He’d run the water earlier, and my hair was already up in a ponytail, so I lowered myself into the water without delay.

  Master James brought a kitchen chair into the bathroom, and sat in it with his bare feet on the side of the tub. He wore jeans and a t-shirt today, but he usually kept his shoes on.

  “You’re wondering why I’m doing this to your back entrance — causing you pain when I’ve worked so hard to teach you pleasure there?”

  “Yes, Master James, I am.”

  “You’ve told me how large your new man is, and said you felt as if you’d been fisted by a woman—” He raised a hand to keep me from correcting him. “I know you said he isn’t actually that big, it’s just the way he felt, but I’ve been preparing your ass for the eventuality that someday someone would require anal sex of you. However, I prepared you for a normal sized cock, not someone as large as your new man. I want your first experience to be pleasurable, so we’re going to work to prepare you for him.” He reached for the vanity and pulled one of the dildos from the sink — the last one he’d used on me. “Put this into your hand and see how it compares.”

  “It’s about as big around as he is, though it’s longer than him, Sir.

  “You’ve learned to accept and wear the plugs, but you’re only spread wide for the largest part for a few seconds, and then you only have the smaller part holding you open. I intend to work with you until you can handle the width of a dildo that holds you open as wide as your man will.”

  I looked down as I pulled my knees up and wrapped my arms around them in the water. “I understand, Master James.”

  He leaned forward and caressed my cheek, “I am not disappointed in you, Dear One. I was hard on you and you handled it well. We’ll work on this together. It’ll be okay. Lean back and relax for a little bit, and let the water heal you.”

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Wednesday night was Halloween. I’d notified my late Wednesday patients months ago that we’d be closing the office at four today so I could spend time with my family.

  We had an early dinner, and I followed Lauren to my parents’ house for pictures before I turned her loose to drive herself to the party. Watching her drive off in her dress fit for a queen was damned hard. Parenting isn’t for the faint of heart.

  I went home, donned my salt-encrusted clothes and hiking boots, and headed to Drake Security, as the plan was to meet there and ride to the battlefield in Drake vehicles.

  Aaron might’ve allowed me to participate, but he’d assigned me to a far corner not likely to see activity. As far as I knew, there’d never been demon activity near the Alexander’s Bridge section of the park.

  My babysitters for the night were Randall, Cora and two of Abbott’s vampires, Kieran and Ronald. I wondered how much political wrangling had been involved in my having these particular bodyguards, and decided to ask Aaron about it later. If he’d assigned me Randall, and Abbott had insisted some of his people be with me as well, I wanted to know.

  I also realized every supernatural who’d be sensing for activity tonight had several people as backup, and I hadn’t actually been assigned babysitters.

  We were dropped off so there was no car to give away our position, and we went far enough into the woods to not be seen from the road.

  It was a chilly night, but I’d dressed appropriately and would be okay. There was still enough of a moon we could see, though barely. I knew everyone but me had excellent night vision, so I kept my flashlight in my pocket. They’d see, hear, and smell anything long before it arrived. Sure, I’d have felt better with a little light, but we were keeping a low profile. Plus, I didn’t need to remind them of my human weaknesses.

  Randall opened a chair facing due north, and used an actual compass to situate it before pointing for me to take a seat. Aaron had handed the compasses out when he’d given directions. The long-lived appreciated technology, they just didn’t trust it to tell them where north was, apparently.

  When those of us sensing felt something, we were to give the clock position to Control, and if multiple people were reporting then Control could triangulate and send people. If only one or two people sensed it, they’d still send people in the general direction, but zeroing in on the specific location might be harder.

  So I sat in the woods with my imaginary membrane stretched a few inches out from my shields, and waited to feel if someone was “disturbing the force.” As hokey as it
sounded, we’d done it the other night and it’d worked.

  It felt a little silly now, though, while sitting in the woods.

  If we needed to get somewhere fast I was supposed to ride on Kieran’s back, as there was no way I could keep up with vampires and werewolves. We had instructions to stay together as a group, and I had no idea if the vampires or the wolves would be faster, but figured it was best not to ask.

  A little before eleven, Nathan felt activity. Surprisingly, it wasn’t around Snodgrass Hill, but about four hundred yards east/southeast of the tower, hidden in the woods.

  Those close were directed to the area, while we were told to move northwest about a mile and a half and hold position, still a good ways from the activity.

  I levitated up enough to wrap my arms and legs around Kieran so I could ride his back, and said, “Let’s go.”

  The Control Room had sent coordinates to Randall’s GPS, and we made the trip in less than two minutes — on rough terrain, going through the woods at night, and following the GPS. I was happy with my human status but had to admit being supernatural had its perks.

  I levitated down to standing, Randall aligned my chair with north, and we held position while I started sensing again, still getting nothing. After only a few minutes the GPS units had new coordinates. I levitated back up to Kieran’s back and we were on the move again as Control spoke into our earpieces to let us know another group had three human men inside a circle of blood, with a black cat ready to sacrifice.

  We weren’t terribly close when I felt something off to my right and said, “Stop.”

  My group did so immediately, and I levitated back to the ground a few feet away from the others, to be sure what I was feeling.