A Place in this Life. Chapter Seven: I must be crazy.
I must apologize to anyone who's been left hanging. When I checked to see when I'd last updated this fic, I was shocked to discover that it had been more than two months. Ugh. I just don't do that. So I won't make you wait any further. Here it is.
Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter franchise. The world and all its inhabitants belong to Laurell K. Hamilton. I’ve just borrowed her world for my own, and hopefully your, entertainment. I make no money from this work and discourage any attempts to sue me as being fiscally unrewarding.
Warnings: Legal adults only. Graphic sex, violence, adult themes, vampires and lycanthropes. Read at your own risk.
Authors Note: Ever had a character keep pestering you in the back of your skull until there was nothing to do for it, but sit down and write? Damian may be quiet, but he’s bloody persistent. Enjoy.
Chapter Seven: I must be crazy.
The good thing about being one of the first people up was that there was no wait for the shower, Erica mused. She stood under the spray, enjoying the feel of it beating down on her head. She’d taken the upstairs bathroom on the theory that Anita and Micah would want the downstairs one whenever they finished.
She had just reached for the knob to turn off the water when the shower curtain was pulled back enough for a naked body to slip through. She let out a startled squeak and found herself trying to climb the tiled wall. The intruder simply grinned at her, pulling the curtain closed behind him.
“Caleb! What are you doing?”
“Joining you. You really should lock the door if you want privacy.” He reached across her to adjust the knobs, ducking his head under the spray to wet his curls. She stared hard at his face, willing herself not to look at anything else. He didn’t pull away when he was done, instead he leaned closer to her, speaking in a low, teasing tone. “By the way, I locked it for you.”
“This is crazy, Caleb. You don’t just…” Her words faded away as she met his eyes. There was something hot and dark lurking behind those brown orbs and it made her freeze, heart pounding. She rested one hand against his chest and found his skin even warmer than the water. She’d meant to push him away, but the heat of him caught her attention, distracting her. “Caleb…” Her eyes fell on his chest, taking in the bits of silver that pierced his nipples, sliding lower, following the beads of water as they formed a trail across his well-formed abs. Lower still until they were lost in the dark shadow of hair that framed his…
She wrenched her gaze back to his face with a gasp, her cheeks burning. She should tell him to get out. To leave her alone. She should push him away. Call out for Nathaniel or Noah or someone. She bit her lip in indecision. Caleb smirked at her as if he knew all the thoughts running through her head and knew what the answer was already.
As if it had a mind of it’s own, her hand slipped downwards, her fingers tracing the lines of his ribs, touching the smooth hardness of silver at his nipple with curious fingertips. The bit of flesh tightened around the metal and Caleb made some soft sound that drew her gaze back to his. He wasn’t smirking any more.
“You can touch me if you want. I’m not going to complain.” He reached out and slipped his hands around her waist, pulling her from her corner and reversing their positions so that the water beat down on his shoulders. His hands felt hot on her skin, though somehow that translated into shivers traveling up and own her spine.
“I must be crazy.” She murmured as he continued to move her backwards until her shoulders pressed against the slick tiles.
“Why? You want me. I want you.” He moved closer, trapping her between the tile and his body until she could feel that part of him she’d been trying so hard to ignore pressed between them.
“Aren’t you afraid of Damian?”
“He’s dead to the world right now.” He kissed her then, his mouth hot and hungry on hers, his body pressed tight against her. Erica felt the last of her resistance slip away. Praying that she wasn’t making a big mistake, she kissed him back. She let her hands slide over his skin, slick with water, but warm to the touch. He groaned softly when her hands found the firm curves of his ass and squeezed. He broke the kiss with a gasp and began to nibble along her jaw and down her neck.
Slowly his mouth moved lower, sucking and licking the water from her skin. He paused to take each nipple in his mouth, his tongue flicking over the tips until she moaned and whispered his name. Her hands slid up his back to his shoulders as he slowly sank down to his knees, his mouth burning a hot trail down her stomach. He pressed a lingering kiss against the skin just above the damp patch of hair between her thighs, then looked up the length of her body.
“You smell good enough to eat.” The brown of his eyes had begun to bleed to gold and a thrill of fear fluttered low in her belly. One hand slid down her calf to take her foot and rest it on the edge of the tub. He pressed her knee aside, opening her wider to his hungry gaze. “Relax. You’re going to enjoy this. I promise.” The smirk was back, but there was a new bass growl to his voice.
“OK.” She whispered, leaning one arm on the tiled wall for support while the other reached out to tangle in the mass of wet curls on top of his head. The smirk widened into a grin for a moment. Then he leaned forward, pressing his lips against that same patch of skin. This time he nipped and licked at it before beginning to work his way lower.
Erica felt as if she were on fire, burning up from the center outwards. His tongue was hot and wet against her, flicking hard over her clit and making her shudder. Her foot slipped a little on the edge of the tub. He reached up to steady her with one hand while his mouth closed over the little bundle of nerves and began to suck. She found herself scrabbling at the tile with one hand while the other clutched at his hair.
“Oh God! Caleb!” She gasped, her knees feeling weak as he began to explore the sensitive folds of flesh between her thighs with lips and tongue and teeth. He worried at her almost as if he intended to truly devour her, then soothed her with long, slow strokes of his tongue. Again and again, he returned to her clit, giving it lingering licks or sucking at it until she began to squirm against the tile.
Erica whimpered in frustration as the pleasurable tension built with each lick and nibble. He pressed his face hard against her and plunged his tongue inside her, thrusting and licking. It was almost enough to send her over the edge. Almost, but not quite. She found herself pulling at his hair, wet curls wrapped tightly around her fingers. She forced herself to loosen her grip.
“Please, Caleb. Please.” His hand pressed against her belly stilling the involuntary gyrations of her hips. He looked up at her with yellow-gold leopard eyes and it made her gasp. His lips and chin were glistening and wet with her juices. He narrowed those eyes and gave her a smirk.
“I know what you need.” His voice was low and growling now. She shivered at the sound, but something low in her body twisted in response. Still holding her pressed to the tile, he drew a hand up the inside of her thigh. Keeping those eyes on her face until the last moment, he brought his mouth against her again and sealed his lips around her clit. He sucked at it eagerly, then his tongue began to flick across it, making her pant and cry out. He pressed first one finger, then another between the swollen folds guarding her entrance.
She groaned as his fingers began to move inside her, twisting and stroking, searching until they found just the right spot while his mouth sucked and nibbled and licked at her mercilessly. What had been not quite enough just moments before became too much, spilling over and flooding her body with sensation. She gave a startled cry while her body shuddered, her knees threatening to buckle while her hands scrabbled clumsily against the tile.
“Oh God! Caleb!” She panted as he suddenly rose to his feet before her. Strong hands slipped beneath her thighs, lifting her from her feet. Too fast for her to follow or protest, he slipped between her thighs, shoving himself deep and pressing her body into the hard tiles behind her. Her eyes flew wide open with shock, and she clutched at his shoulders in reaction. “Wait! Caleb…No…No condom?”
“You’re on the pill, aren’t you? I saw them in your stuff.” He moved slightly, slipping even deeper and she gasped in reaction. “You can’t catch what I’ve got. Not like this.”
“I...yes…Oh…” It was hard to think with him moving inside her. His body pressed warm and hot against her. He pulled back and she moaned, her body writhing in reaction. He plunged himself deep again and whatever thoughts of caution she had were lost in the sensation of flesh against flesh. He thrust hard, hard enough to shove the breath from her lungs and make her grunt. She clutched at his shoulders, fingers sliding over his slick skin searching for purchase, her fingernails digging into his skin.
He seemed to like that and he moved faster, his hips slamming against hers with nearly bruising force. A trickle of worry worked its way through the raw animal pleasure. Worry that he might lose control and hurt her. Leopard eyes stared at her from his human face. Finding it disconcerting, she closed her eyes, letting her head fall back against the tile. He followed her, leaning forward until he could catch the skin of her throat between his teeth, biting down until she cried out his name.
“That’s it. Say my name.” He growled in her ear as he fucked her. “Say it.”
“Caleb. God. Caleb.” She panted between thrusts, her body beginning to tighten with the first stirrings of another orgasm. “Don’t stop. God! Caleb!” Her body shook in his grip, arching and straining, caught between wereleopard and wall.
“Yeah. That’s it. You feel so damned good.” He thrust even faster as her body shuddered around him as if each spasm spurred him on further. “Fuck!” He cursed, shoving himself as deep as he could go, dragging a whimper from her. His hips snapped against her while he swelled and twitched inside her. He held her tightly, pinned against the wall, his face buried in the hollow of her neck while his body spent itself in a series of shallow thrusts. Then at last he was still, his chest rising and falling against hers as his breathing slowed.
After a moment he pulled back and let her slide down the front of his body until she stood on her own feet again. She rested against the wall chest heaving, staring at him in shock, unable to believe what had just happened.
“Damn. You should see the look on your face.” He grinned at her. His eyes had begun to bleed back to human-brown again and she gave a small sigh of relief. Then he leaned forward to kiss her, catching her open mouthed. The kiss was deep and possessive, aggressive, his mouth still flavored with her juices so that the taste spread throughout her mouth as he explored and plundered. It was as if he wanted to fuck her mouth like he had fucked her body. At last he drew back, still grinning.
“I…I can’t believe I just did that. We just did that.” She didn’t know whether to grin back, or grab her towel and clothes and run.
“It was fucking great. Worth the wait.” He backed away from her, still grinning so that he stood under the shower spray. He shook his head, sending beads of water tumbling from his hair. He grabbed a bottle of body wash and puff and began lathering up, though his eyes remained fixed on her. “Come on, Erica. You had as much fun as I did.”
“Yeah. I guess I did.” Even though it was much rougher than anything she’d tried before, she’d enjoyed it. But as she began to wash for the second time, doubts began to deflate her excitement. What had she done? What should she do now?
Caleb, on the other hand seemed perfectly comfortable. Relaxed. Though there was something in his eyes whenever he caught her looking that made her tense a little. A sort of knowing. Or maybe it was possessiveness. Whatever it was, it made her uneasy. She finished her shower quickly and began to towel dry. It suddenly seemed important to get some clothes between her and the wereleopard.
By the time Caleb emerged from the shower, she had donned fresh clothing and was combing out her damp hair. She watched him go through his own routine from the corner of her eye. His grin had faded somewhat and she caught him watching her right back. Tension grew until it was something she could nearly touch. When he reached around her to grab a brush, she pulled away.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Erica.” A quick glance showed her an expression as serious as she’d ever seen on his face. He moved closer and wrapped an arm around her waist. It was too possessive for her current state of nerves and she ducked away. “What the hell? You enjoyed it. I know you did.”
“Just slow down, Caleb. All right?” She dropped the brush on the counter, needing both hands to pull her hair back into a no-nonsense ponytail. She checked her reflection in the mirror, flicking a nervous glance at her companion. The bathroom suddenly felt claustrophobic and she needed to get out. She stepped away, reaching for the door. Before she could open it, he was there, one hand pressed against the wood, the other wrapped around her elbow.
“You’re not going to just walk out of here like nothing happened.” His voice was low, almost growling and she shivered. Her pulse sped, her heart pounding.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do.” She stared at the door, her hand on the knob. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Let me go, Caleb.”
“If you’re afraid, all you have to do is call for help. Noah would love an excuse to beat my ass. So would Micah, if Anita didn’t shoot me first.” He let go of her arm and turned to press his back against the wall, one shoulder still blocking the door. “I didn’t hurt you. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“But you want to.” Erica swallowed; suddenly wishing she could take it back. He blinked, and shifted slightly, but he didn’t move. And he didn’t deny it. Her mouth went dry and she searched for something to say that would get her out of the room without testing his self-control any further. “You got what you wanted, right? Isn’t this where you blow me off?”
“Why? The sex was great. Did you just fuck me to get me off your back?” There was a hint of something vulnerable in his eyes. And for the first time it occurred to her that he might be hurt rather than angry.
“No. No. It wasn’t that.” Erica bit her lip and turned enough to rest her forehead against the door a few inches from his shoulder. “What do you really want, Caleb? What happens when I stop being afraid of you? If I stop?”
“I don’t know.” He sounded so lost she had to look. “I just wanted to fuck you. Why does it have to be so complicated?”
“Because it is. I don’t usually do this. I never do this.”
“Do what?”
“Date two men at the same time.”
“Date?”
“OK. Have sex. Fuck. Whatever.”
“Do I have to date you to fuck you?” He was frowning slightly.
“Apparently not.” Erica sighed heavily.
“Oh.” He ran a hand through his curls. “You’re not a slut. Sluts don’t make me work this hard.”
“Really?” Erica gave him a skeptical look.
“Yeah. That’s kind of what makes them sluts.” He gave her a grin.
A sudden knock on the door made them both jump. Noah’s voice came through the wood, a bit too loud. Erica wondered if he’d been listening.
“Erica? Everything all right in there? Nathaniel’s ready to go.”
She looked pointedly at Caleb and he moved aside with a shrug, returning to the mirror and picking up a brush.
“Yeah. I’ll be out in just a second.”
~*~
Erica had expected the drive out to the store to be full of awkward silence, but she hadn’t considered Nathaniel’s eager sociability. If she had to hazard a guess, she’d have said that the young wereleopard was even more stir crazy than she. Or maybe he was making certain that there would be no awkward silences by filling it with amusing stories about the minor dramas that took place among his fellow dancers at Guilty Pleasures.
By the time they piled out of Noah’s Grand Cherokee, they were all in a good mood. Caleb seemed to be taking his body guarding duties more seriously than she’d seen so far. He’d insisted on riding up front with Noah and trailed behind Nathaniel and her while they filled their two carts with an astonishing amount of food and other household goods.
“Do you always get this much stuff?” She asked as she loaded several packages of paper towels into her cart.
“Sometimes.” Nathaniel paused to check paper towels off the lengthy list he carried. “But I try not to let things get this low. We never know when we’ll have extra people over.”
“It doesn’t seem fair that Anita has to pay for all this.” Erica felt a little twinge of guilt and wondered how much of the bill was due to her staying with them.
“Oh, she’s not. I buy most of the groceries.” He caught the expression on her face and smiled. “Don’t worry. I make plenty and I enjoy entertaining. Besides, Jean Claude slipped something extra in my last paycheck. Anita won’t take his money directly.”
“Oh.”
“So don’t tell her, OK?”
It was hard to believe there was any real danger in the brightly lit aisles. By the time they returned to the Jeep, Noah and Caleb had relaxed enough to help load the groceries in the back. That was when they struck, when all three wereleopards had their hands full.
She never saw where they came from. In fact, she had just turned to pick up a bag full of canned goods from the cart beside her. An awful growling made her whirl around.
Caleb had vanished from sight, the case of soda he’d been holding lying on the pavement with one corner dented. Noah was on the ground, buried beneath two attackers. Both were muscular and heavily built. The taller was bald, tanned and wore a black t-shirt. The second was black with close-cropped hair and dressed in a blue t-shirt. It was hard to pick out any more detail in the writhing mass of bodies.
A snarl to her right drew her attention. Nathaniel was pinned against a minivan, holding a third attacker at bay. Or trying to. His lavender shirt was stained with blood. Sunlight glinted off something metal in his opponent’s hand. Erica got only an impression of broad shoulders and shaggy brown hair. The knife flashed again and Nathaniel gave a pained cry.
Erica gave a startled jerk and began to grope around in the nearest grocery bag. Her hand closed around something solid and heavy. Without looking, she pulled it out. There was no real conscious thought. It was almost as if she watched someone else do it. It felt unreal until she felt the shock of impact travel down her arm and into her shoulder. The stranger staggered and swayed. And there was blood on the…can?
The man whirled with a snarl, moving so fast that she barely had time to register her danger before she was shoved out of the way. Her improvised weapon fell from her hand and rolled away, but her eyes were on the combatants before her. Caleb had simply appeared and was trading bows with Nathaniel’s attacker. The fight was over quickly, the stranger retreating at a shout from one of his fellows.
“Get him in the Jeep.” Noah’s voice sounded harsh and growling. He’d come up behind her and his hand on her elbow made her jump.
“Shouldn’t we call the police? Or an ambulance?” She looked around, half expecting to see curious bystanders or to hear sirens. But the parking lot was nearly empty of everything except silent cars waiting for their owners to finish shopping.
“When lycanthropes are involved, the cops tend to lock everyone up just on principle.” Caleb added, fishing under the minivan and producing a battered can of peas.
“But Anita is a cop.” Erica glanced from one face to the other. Noah was scanning the parking lot while Caleb moved quickly, collecting fallen groceries. Erica thought it odd that he seemed more concerned with the food than Nathaniel until he used an empty shopping bag to collect the fallen knife without touching it.
“It’s silver.” Nathaniel growled. He was leaning against the silver fan, one arm cradled against his side. His lavender eyes and faded to an alien gray and when he offered her his uninjured arm, she hesitated. “He’s right. No way the police will accept this story without us telling them too much.”
Erica flushed, embarrassed by her hesitation and hurried to take the injured wereleopard’s arm, slinging it over her shoulder and helping him into the Jeep. She quickly got him out of his ruined shirt, balling it up and pressing it against the worst of his wounds. He’d been slashed several times along his left arm and shoulder, but none seemed terribly deep.
“There’s a first aid kit under the seat.” Noah called through the hatch. Erica glanced at him, taking note of the darkening bruise along one cheek. Caleb looked uncharacteristically serious as he hurriedly loaded the rest of their groceries in the back of the Jeep.
Erica found the first aid kit easily enough and busied herself with trying to stop the bleeding. She had barely begun when the other two men climbed into the front seats.
“How bad is it?” Noah asked while he started the engine.
“I’m not sure.” Erica frowned, pressing a gauze pad against one wound. She reached for the tape intending to fasten it down, but the vehicle lurched into motion, forcing her to steady herself instead.
“Not too bad.” Nathaniel replied. “If I shift, it’ll close the wounds.”
“Nobody shifts in my Jeep.”
“I’m not going to.” Nathaniel made a soft noise as the Jeep turned a corner a bit too fast. Erica felt uneasy, suddenly aware that she was in an enclosed space with three lycanthropes and smeared with blood. Nathaniel’s eyes still had not gone back to their usual lavender color. She was afraid to try to see the other two.
“Don’t.” Nathaniel murmured, catching her hand and pressing it against the seeping wound. “Don’t be afraid.”
“Sorry.” She whispered. Now that the crisis was more or less over, she was beginning to shake.
“They were trying to kill Nathaniel.” Caleb’s voice held an undercurrent of excitement.
“They were lycanthropes too, weren’t they?” She asked.
“Yeah. Must be from out of town. We don’t have any were boars in St. Louis.” Caleb answered her.
“Call Anita. Then call Dr. Lillian.” Noah ordered.
“You want me to tell Anita we let her favorite lap kitty get cut up?”
“Do it, Caleb.” His tone was sharp.
Caleb did so. She thought he sounded anxious as he answered his Nimir-Ra’s rapid-fire questions. She could hear the tone of the woman’s voice over the cell phone speaker, though she hat to guess what was said by Caleb’s responses.
“He says it isn’t too bad… Noah said to call you first.” He turned in his seat, craning his neck to give Nathaniel a quick look. Erica was relieved to see that his eyes were human brown. He seemed fine except for the bloody scrapes on the back of his hand. “How is he?”
“I’m fine.”
“I’ve got most of the bleeding stopped.” She glanced at her patient to see if he wanted to say more. He simply nodded at her to continue. “I’m not a nurse or anything, but none of them seem all that deep to me.”
“Did you hear that?” Caleb’s eyes remained on her as he listened to Anita’s response. “You’re all right, aren’t you?”
She nodded in response.
“Not a scratch on her.” Caleb winked at her and seemed to relax slightly, turning back around in his seat. “I guess they figured she wasn’t a threat. Ignored her until she clocked the guy with a can of peas.” He sat up a little straighter. “There were five of them Anita. Two of them jumped me. I got there as quick as I could. I’m just a dancer. These guys were body builders or something…”
The conversation didn’t last long after that, halting after Caleb mentioned he need to call the doctor to meet them at Anita’s place. That call was brief and businesslike. By the time he finished they were pulling into the driveway. Anita must have called ahead because people came boiling out to meet them. Erica and Nathaniel were hustled inside by Cherry and Zane, leaving the unloading of groceries to other hands.
Once Cherry was sure that Erica was uninjured she shooed the girl off to change out of her bloodied clothes. She wound up in the kitchen with Caleb on the pretext of assembling some sort of meal for the growing crowd milling about Anita’s small house. But before she could begin, she felt she should tend to Caleb’s scraped knuckles. She had found him at the kitchen sink awkwardly trying to do it himself. He seemed surprised at her offer to help. She could see the wounds already beginning to heal around the edges. He’d been scrubbing to remove the dirt and other bits of debris before it could become embedded in the skin.
“This is kind of nice.” She looked up from her careful cleaning of his hand with a small frown of puzzlement.
“I’d think it hurts.” In fact, he’d flinched a few times when she scrubbed too hard.
“A little. It’s just nice to have someone worry about me for a change.” For the moment, there was none of the usual cockiness in his expression. She wondered again at why he seemed to be excluded from much of the pard’s closeness. She opened her mouth to ask but he spoke first. “I can’t believe you hit that guy. He was twice your size. Hell, he was almost twice my size.”
“I have a hard time believing it myself.” She began to smooth antibiotic salve on his wounds, wondering how best to bandage them. “I thought he was going to kill Nathaniel.”
“He was trying. I saw that much.” Erica began wrapping gauze around his hand, being careful not to smear the salve. She knew the antibiotic was probably unnecessary, but she thought the salve might help the skin heal better and keep the gauze from sticking.
By then, other members of the pard had crowded into the kitchen. Apparently Anita had taken over the living room for an impromptu meeting. A peek through the door showed her several new faces, as well as Micah, Merle, and Nathaniel. After a quick head count, she returned and found herself drafted into chopping vegetables for salad.
The rest of the afternoon was spent just trying to stay out of the way as people came and went, looking very busy. Anita did call her into the living room briefly to give her own account of the attack on Nathaniel and to ask her if she’d ever seen the men before. She hadn’t recognized any of them and she was left with a vague feeling that Anta disapproved of something she’d done but the woman sad nothing overtly critical. In fact, she’d given a grudging apology for not having taken greater precautions to guard their safety. Maybe she was just upset that someone had tried to kill her boyfriend.
By nightfall she was looking forward to a quiet evening with Damian. But that wasn’t to be. Shortly after he rose and fed, he was caught up in another round of meetings as vampires began to arrive with the dark. After assuring Damian that she was fine, she settled down on his couch with a book and her cat in her lap. He seemed to approve of her willingness to stay out of sight.
“Do not wait up for me. I will wake you when I return.”
“This means there’s more trouble, doesn’t it?”
“It means someone wishes my mistress ill and is determined to carry out this wish. Beyond that, I know no more than you.”
Maybe it was all the excitement of the afternoon. Maybe it was some lingering fatigue from the blood loss. Or maybe she was simply tired from spending so much of recent nights awake. Whatever the reason, she found herself yawning over her book until she gave in and went to bed.
When she woke, it was late. The house had that quiet hush of the early morning hours when dawn was not even a glimmer on the horizon. Too restless to go back to sleep, she climbed the basement stairs, thinking a bite to eat might help her settle down. The first floor was dark except for the spill of light coming from the kitchen. The sound of voices made her hesitate, as did whom those voices belonged to.
Anita sat on the kitchen counter, a cup of coffee next to her. Damian stood close, very close, his hands stroking up and down the length of her arms. Anita wore something thin and black beneath a short red robe. Damian wore only a pair of pajama bottoms that he must have gotten from the basement without waking Erica. The touching wasn’t blatantly sexual, but somehow she knew that Damian had been Anita’s nighttime “feed.” Of course, Nathaniel had shifted on the doctor’s orders and was probably still furry and Micah had taken the morning shift.
She waited for the jealousy to come. It didn’t, though she definitely felt a little odd about it. She watched as Damian reached up to stroke Anita’s face. The woman closed her eyes and leaned into the touch.
“This isn’t fair. I should have asked Jason to stay. Or maybe Requiem.”
“You have had an unsettling day.” His voice was soft and soothing. Anita sighed.
“So has Erica.”
“She was sleeping soundly. And it is my touch that brings you calm.”
“I hate to say this Damian.” She rubbed her face against his hand like a cat. “But when this over, she has to go. You can’t keep a pet human in my basement.”
“She is not a pet.” A trace of anger threaded through his tone. “And where else should I take her? Or do you mean to forbid me to see her?” Erica held her breath and willed her pounding heart to quiet.
“No. I didn’t mean that.” Anita grasped his hand and held onto him when he began to pull away. “It came out wrong. It’s just that our lives are dangerous. People get hurt. Especially human people, Damian. Look at what happened today. What could have happened.”
“So if she were another vampire, you would not object?” His voice was heavy with sarcasm, though he did not pull away from his mistress. “Shall it be his and her coffins in my little basement crypt?”
“No. And I wouldn’t even suggest that.” She let go of him and crossed her arms, frowning stubbornly. “Right now, she can just walk away from this. I’m not going to take that option away from her and neither will you.”
“I had no intention of doing so. I value her mortality. Perhaps more than you.”
“Don’t try to make me out as being anti-human, Damian. I’d feel guilty if something happened to her. There’s a reason I don’t date humans. And it’s not because I don’t like them. It’s because dating me or even just being my friend tends to shorten their life expectancy.”
There must have been something in the other woman’s eyes that softened his anger. Something Erica couldn’t see. Or maybe he could simply feel what she felt? Damian moved closer and embraced his mistress. She allowed him to hold her close, unfolding her arms and pressing her face against his shoulder.
“I want you to be happy, Damian. I really do.” Anita’s voice was muffled. “I thought I’d gotten over feeling guilty about all this. But with her here… Do you want me to take you off the rotation?”
The vampire shifted, turning his head to press his cheek against the top of his mistress’s head. Erica started as his eyes gazed toward the open doorway and she shrank back a little further. For a moment, she thought she had avoided discovery, but something must have given her away.
“Perhaps you should ask her yourself.” His green eyes were piercing as they picked her out of the shadows. “Do not hide from me, my lovely.”
Anita stiffened and pulled away. Damian did not let her go completely and she had to settle for staring into the shadows from the shelter of his arms.
“Erica?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.” Caught, she stepped into the kitchen, blinking a little at the light. “I woke up hungry.” She walked slowly past them to open the cabinet where Nathaniel kept the glasses. She saw Anita push at Damian out of the corner of her eye.
“I’m sorry. I know how this must look.” Erica winced at the awkwardness in the other woman’s tone. Strangely, hearing it made her feel less awkward. She turned with a glass in one hand and a plate in the other. The other two were still caught in that same push-away-hold-on embrace. Anita looked as if she wasn’t certain what to feel and Damian just looked…blank.
“Go ahead and touch him.” She gave a half smile and set her burdens down closer to the refrigerator. She opened the door and began assembling the makings of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, complicated slightly by the sheer number of choices of jelly. After shopping with Nathaniel she now understood why there were so many. “That’s part of the whole master and servant thing right? Wanting to touch each other all the time?”
“Not all the time.” Anita protested.
“But much of it.” Damian intoned. “You have been speaking with Nathaniel.”
“Well, we’ve both been kind of stuck here a lot.” Erica shrugged and turned look at them again. Their postures no longer seemed quite so stiff. “And I want to understand as much of this as I can. Does it bother you to see Damian and me together?”
“No.” She did sound definite about that, Erica thought. “But Damian’s not my…” She trailed off as if uncertain what word to use.
“Boyfriend sounds wrong for someone who was born centuries before my ancestors ever set foot in this country.”
“I would say lover, but that does not help.” Damian sighed and shifted so that he could face Erica, one arm sliding around Anita’s waist to stroke her opposite arm. “She does not care for me as she does those she calls her ‘sweeties.’”
“I’m sorry, Damian. I can’t love all of you. Not and do any of you justice.” She scowled and crossed her arms. “Why do I always end up having these conversations past midnight?”
“I suspect it comes of associating with the dead.” His delivery was dry, but there was a sparkle of amusement in his eyes. “But you do not answer the question, Erica. Shall I continue as Anita’s sometime lover?”
“We already had this talk.” She turned back to her half made sandwich and resumed spreading sticky stuff on her bread.
“But you have not had it with Anita.”
“I guess I’d prefer the term lover, myself.” She stalled, spending far more concentration into putting things away and pouring herself a glass of milk than the task warranted. “Though I guess you’d say ‘sweetie.’” Her listeners remained silent as she took her snack to the larger table and sat down.
“Does it bother you to see me with Damian?” Anita’s tone was direct, almost impatient.
“Not as much as I expected it to. Besides, it’s not as if we’re exclusive. I meant to talk to you about Caleb, Damian. Before someone else said something. But today…I guess it’s yesterday now, was so crazy it kind of got pushed to the back burner.
“We had little time for talk.” His blank expression was no help to her. “And you have done nothing wrong.” She relaxed a little and took a bite of her sandwich, washing it down with a swallow of milk.
“You’re avoiding the question.” Anita prompted.
“I’m thinking.” Erica swallowed hard and took another swallow of milk. “Like I said, I’m trying to understand all this.”
“Have you changed your mind?” Damian’s voice was so empty of emotion that it made her search his face for some hind of expression. She found none, but Anita unfolded her arms to grip on of his hands.
“This is your house. This is your kitchen. Even this food I’m eating is yours. He’s your vampire servant. He’s yours. I’m his pomme de sang and his woman.” A flicker of disapproval crossed the other woman’s face. She didn’t like that term, did she? “I’m his and he’s yours. So I guess I’m yours, too.”
“Erica.” Anita began, but Erica raised a hand to cut her off.
“Damian was completely up front with me about it. I’ve already agreed to it. If I can’t handle it, that’s my problem.”
“I’m not that hard up. I can feed on others.”
“Damian’s got only one of you.” Erica paused. Damian had straightened, pulling away from Anita slightly. He was frowning, but still silent. “He needs to touch you.” She shrugged again, uncertain how to word what she saw. “Without the feedings, the sex, a lot of that touching will stop, won’t it?”
“You don’t know me that well.”
“Nathaniel does.” Damian intoned solemnly. “But she is right. You resist the craving to touch as you resist everything.”
“So I’m stubborn. Why are we talking about me when we’re supposed to be talking about you and Erica?”
“I didn’t think you’d believe just a yes or no answer without an explanation.” Erica was surprised to find she’d polished off both sandwich and milk.
“So that’s it? No rules? No objections? Just like that?” Anita sounded disbelieving.
“I’m not sure how I’d feel if I walked in on you or something.” She rose to take her dishes to the sink. “I don’t need to know all the details. But I guess it’d be nice to get a heads up so I don’t make plans or wait up for no reason.”
“So not in front of you and let you know if I’m going to…ah…borrow him for a feed.”
“Well, it’s like blood for you, right? If you don’t get enough, you start sucking the life out of Damian and Nathaniel?”
“It’s not something I choose to do.”
“Sorry. That’s not what I meant.” Erica turned and leaned against the sink. “If it’s a real emergency or might become one if you have to take time out to find me, then don’t worry about hurting my feelings. If you have time, then it would be nice. That’s all.”
“I think I can live with that if you can.”
“Good. Are you guys done talking?”
Damian looked at his mistress. “I think we have more to discuss.”
“I won’t keep him long. I didn’t mean to keep him this late.”
“OK. I’ll see you downstairs.” Erica walked past them, or intended to, but Damian stopped her with a hand on her arm. He took her face in both hands, his skin cool against hers. But the kiss was warm and brought so much heat to her cheeks that she knew she was blushing. For a moment it didn’t matter that they had an audience, much less who that audience was. It left her a little breathless.
“I will not be long.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter franchise. The world and all its inhabitants belong to Laurell K. Hamilton. I’ve just borrowed her world for my own, and hopefully your, entertainment. I make no money from this work and discourage any attempts to sue me as being fiscally unrewarding.
Warnings: Legal adults only. Graphic sex, violence, adult themes, vampires and lycanthropes. Read at your own risk.
Authors Note: Ever had a character keep pestering you in the back of your skull until there was nothing to do for it, but sit down and write? Damian may be quiet, but he’s bloody persistent. Enjoy.
Chapter Seven: I must be crazy.
The good thing about being one of the first people up was that there was no wait for the shower, Erica mused. She stood under the spray, enjoying the feel of it beating down on her head. She’d taken the upstairs bathroom on the theory that Anita and Micah would want the downstairs one whenever they finished.
She had just reached for the knob to turn off the water when the shower curtain was pulled back enough for a naked body to slip through. She let out a startled squeak and found herself trying to climb the tiled wall. The intruder simply grinned at her, pulling the curtain closed behind him.
“Caleb! What are you doing?”
“Joining you. You really should lock the door if you want privacy.” He reached across her to adjust the knobs, ducking his head under the spray to wet his curls. She stared hard at his face, willing herself not to look at anything else. He didn’t pull away when he was done, instead he leaned closer to her, speaking in a low, teasing tone. “By the way, I locked it for you.”
“This is crazy, Caleb. You don’t just…” Her words faded away as she met his eyes. There was something hot and dark lurking behind those brown orbs and it made her freeze, heart pounding. She rested one hand against his chest and found his skin even warmer than the water. She’d meant to push him away, but the heat of him caught her attention, distracting her. “Caleb…” Her eyes fell on his chest, taking in the bits of silver that pierced his nipples, sliding lower, following the beads of water as they formed a trail across his well-formed abs. Lower still until they were lost in the dark shadow of hair that framed his…
She wrenched her gaze back to his face with a gasp, her cheeks burning. She should tell him to get out. To leave her alone. She should push him away. Call out for Nathaniel or Noah or someone. She bit her lip in indecision. Caleb smirked at her as if he knew all the thoughts running through her head and knew what the answer was already.
As if it had a mind of it’s own, her hand slipped downwards, her fingers tracing the lines of his ribs, touching the smooth hardness of silver at his nipple with curious fingertips. The bit of flesh tightened around the metal and Caleb made some soft sound that drew her gaze back to his. He wasn’t smirking any more.
“You can touch me if you want. I’m not going to complain.” He reached out and slipped his hands around her waist, pulling her from her corner and reversing their positions so that the water beat down on his shoulders. His hands felt hot on her skin, though somehow that translated into shivers traveling up and own her spine.
“I must be crazy.” She murmured as he continued to move her backwards until her shoulders pressed against the slick tiles.
“Why? You want me. I want you.” He moved closer, trapping her between the tile and his body until she could feel that part of him she’d been trying so hard to ignore pressed between them.
“Aren’t you afraid of Damian?”
“He’s dead to the world right now.” He kissed her then, his mouth hot and hungry on hers, his body pressed tight against her. Erica felt the last of her resistance slip away. Praying that she wasn’t making a big mistake, she kissed him back. She let her hands slide over his skin, slick with water, but warm to the touch. He groaned softly when her hands found the firm curves of his ass and squeezed. He broke the kiss with a gasp and began to nibble along her jaw and down her neck.
Slowly his mouth moved lower, sucking and licking the water from her skin. He paused to take each nipple in his mouth, his tongue flicking over the tips until she moaned and whispered his name. Her hands slid up his back to his shoulders as he slowly sank down to his knees, his mouth burning a hot trail down her stomach. He pressed a lingering kiss against the skin just above the damp patch of hair between her thighs, then looked up the length of her body.
“You smell good enough to eat.” The brown of his eyes had begun to bleed to gold and a thrill of fear fluttered low in her belly. One hand slid down her calf to take her foot and rest it on the edge of the tub. He pressed her knee aside, opening her wider to his hungry gaze. “Relax. You’re going to enjoy this. I promise.” The smirk was back, but there was a new bass growl to his voice.
“OK.” She whispered, leaning one arm on the tiled wall for support while the other reached out to tangle in the mass of wet curls on top of his head. The smirk widened into a grin for a moment. Then he leaned forward, pressing his lips against that same patch of skin. This time he nipped and licked at it before beginning to work his way lower.
Erica felt as if she were on fire, burning up from the center outwards. His tongue was hot and wet against her, flicking hard over her clit and making her shudder. Her foot slipped a little on the edge of the tub. He reached up to steady her with one hand while his mouth closed over the little bundle of nerves and began to suck. She found herself scrabbling at the tile with one hand while the other clutched at his hair.
“Oh God! Caleb!” She gasped, her knees feeling weak as he began to explore the sensitive folds of flesh between her thighs with lips and tongue and teeth. He worried at her almost as if he intended to truly devour her, then soothed her with long, slow strokes of his tongue. Again and again, he returned to her clit, giving it lingering licks or sucking at it until she began to squirm against the tile.
Erica whimpered in frustration as the pleasurable tension built with each lick and nibble. He pressed his face hard against her and plunged his tongue inside her, thrusting and licking. It was almost enough to send her over the edge. Almost, but not quite. She found herself pulling at his hair, wet curls wrapped tightly around her fingers. She forced herself to loosen her grip.
“Please, Caleb. Please.” His hand pressed against her belly stilling the involuntary gyrations of her hips. He looked up at her with yellow-gold leopard eyes and it made her gasp. His lips and chin were glistening and wet with her juices. He narrowed those eyes and gave her a smirk.
“I know what you need.” His voice was low and growling now. She shivered at the sound, but something low in her body twisted in response. Still holding her pressed to the tile, he drew a hand up the inside of her thigh. Keeping those eyes on her face until the last moment, he brought his mouth against her again and sealed his lips around her clit. He sucked at it eagerly, then his tongue began to flick across it, making her pant and cry out. He pressed first one finger, then another between the swollen folds guarding her entrance.
She groaned as his fingers began to move inside her, twisting and stroking, searching until they found just the right spot while his mouth sucked and nibbled and licked at her mercilessly. What had been not quite enough just moments before became too much, spilling over and flooding her body with sensation. She gave a startled cry while her body shuddered, her knees threatening to buckle while her hands scrabbled clumsily against the tile.
“Oh God! Caleb!” She panted as he suddenly rose to his feet before her. Strong hands slipped beneath her thighs, lifting her from her feet. Too fast for her to follow or protest, he slipped between her thighs, shoving himself deep and pressing her body into the hard tiles behind her. Her eyes flew wide open with shock, and she clutched at his shoulders in reaction. “Wait! Caleb…No…No condom?”
“You’re on the pill, aren’t you? I saw them in your stuff.” He moved slightly, slipping even deeper and she gasped in reaction. “You can’t catch what I’ve got. Not like this.”
“I...yes…Oh…” It was hard to think with him moving inside her. His body pressed warm and hot against her. He pulled back and she moaned, her body writhing in reaction. He plunged himself deep again and whatever thoughts of caution she had were lost in the sensation of flesh against flesh. He thrust hard, hard enough to shove the breath from her lungs and make her grunt. She clutched at his shoulders, fingers sliding over his slick skin searching for purchase, her fingernails digging into his skin.
He seemed to like that and he moved faster, his hips slamming against hers with nearly bruising force. A trickle of worry worked its way through the raw animal pleasure. Worry that he might lose control and hurt her. Leopard eyes stared at her from his human face. Finding it disconcerting, she closed her eyes, letting her head fall back against the tile. He followed her, leaning forward until he could catch the skin of her throat between his teeth, biting down until she cried out his name.
“That’s it. Say my name.” He growled in her ear as he fucked her. “Say it.”
“Caleb. God. Caleb.” She panted between thrusts, her body beginning to tighten with the first stirrings of another orgasm. “Don’t stop. God! Caleb!” Her body shook in his grip, arching and straining, caught between wereleopard and wall.
“Yeah. That’s it. You feel so damned good.” He thrust even faster as her body shuddered around him as if each spasm spurred him on further. “Fuck!” He cursed, shoving himself as deep as he could go, dragging a whimper from her. His hips snapped against her while he swelled and twitched inside her. He held her tightly, pinned against the wall, his face buried in the hollow of her neck while his body spent itself in a series of shallow thrusts. Then at last he was still, his chest rising and falling against hers as his breathing slowed.
After a moment he pulled back and let her slide down the front of his body until she stood on her own feet again. She rested against the wall chest heaving, staring at him in shock, unable to believe what had just happened.
“Damn. You should see the look on your face.” He grinned at her. His eyes had begun to bleed back to human-brown again and she gave a small sigh of relief. Then he leaned forward to kiss her, catching her open mouthed. The kiss was deep and possessive, aggressive, his mouth still flavored with her juices so that the taste spread throughout her mouth as he explored and plundered. It was as if he wanted to fuck her mouth like he had fucked her body. At last he drew back, still grinning.
“I…I can’t believe I just did that. We just did that.” She didn’t know whether to grin back, or grab her towel and clothes and run.
“It was fucking great. Worth the wait.” He backed away from her, still grinning so that he stood under the shower spray. He shook his head, sending beads of water tumbling from his hair. He grabbed a bottle of body wash and puff and began lathering up, though his eyes remained fixed on her. “Come on, Erica. You had as much fun as I did.”
“Yeah. I guess I did.” Even though it was much rougher than anything she’d tried before, she’d enjoyed it. But as she began to wash for the second time, doubts began to deflate her excitement. What had she done? What should she do now?
Caleb, on the other hand seemed perfectly comfortable. Relaxed. Though there was something in his eyes whenever he caught her looking that made her tense a little. A sort of knowing. Or maybe it was possessiveness. Whatever it was, it made her uneasy. She finished her shower quickly and began to towel dry. It suddenly seemed important to get some clothes between her and the wereleopard.
By the time Caleb emerged from the shower, she had donned fresh clothing and was combing out her damp hair. She watched him go through his own routine from the corner of her eye. His grin had faded somewhat and she caught him watching her right back. Tension grew until it was something she could nearly touch. When he reached around her to grab a brush, she pulled away.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Erica.” A quick glance showed her an expression as serious as she’d ever seen on his face. He moved closer and wrapped an arm around her waist. It was too possessive for her current state of nerves and she ducked away. “What the hell? You enjoyed it. I know you did.”
“Just slow down, Caleb. All right?” She dropped the brush on the counter, needing both hands to pull her hair back into a no-nonsense ponytail. She checked her reflection in the mirror, flicking a nervous glance at her companion. The bathroom suddenly felt claustrophobic and she needed to get out. She stepped away, reaching for the door. Before she could open it, he was there, one hand pressed against the wood, the other wrapped around her elbow.
“You’re not going to just walk out of here like nothing happened.” His voice was low, almost growling and she shivered. Her pulse sped, her heart pounding.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do.” She stared at the door, her hand on the knob. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Let me go, Caleb.”
“If you’re afraid, all you have to do is call for help. Noah would love an excuse to beat my ass. So would Micah, if Anita didn’t shoot me first.” He let go of her arm and turned to press his back against the wall, one shoulder still blocking the door. “I didn’t hurt you. I’m not going to hurt you.”
“But you want to.” Erica swallowed; suddenly wishing she could take it back. He blinked, and shifted slightly, but he didn’t move. And he didn’t deny it. Her mouth went dry and she searched for something to say that would get her out of the room without testing his self-control any further. “You got what you wanted, right? Isn’t this where you blow me off?”
“Why? The sex was great. Did you just fuck me to get me off your back?” There was a hint of something vulnerable in his eyes. And for the first time it occurred to her that he might be hurt rather than angry.
“No. No. It wasn’t that.” Erica bit her lip and turned enough to rest her forehead against the door a few inches from his shoulder. “What do you really want, Caleb? What happens when I stop being afraid of you? If I stop?”
“I don’t know.” He sounded so lost she had to look. “I just wanted to fuck you. Why does it have to be so complicated?”
“Because it is. I don’t usually do this. I never do this.”
“Do what?”
“Date two men at the same time.”
“Date?”
“OK. Have sex. Fuck. Whatever.”
“Do I have to date you to fuck you?” He was frowning slightly.
“Apparently not.” Erica sighed heavily.
“Oh.” He ran a hand through his curls. “You’re not a slut. Sluts don’t make me work this hard.”
“Really?” Erica gave him a skeptical look.
“Yeah. That’s kind of what makes them sluts.” He gave her a grin.
A sudden knock on the door made them both jump. Noah’s voice came through the wood, a bit too loud. Erica wondered if he’d been listening.
“Erica? Everything all right in there? Nathaniel’s ready to go.”
She looked pointedly at Caleb and he moved aside with a shrug, returning to the mirror and picking up a brush.
“Yeah. I’ll be out in just a second.”
~*~
Erica had expected the drive out to the store to be full of awkward silence, but she hadn’t considered Nathaniel’s eager sociability. If she had to hazard a guess, she’d have said that the young wereleopard was even more stir crazy than she. Or maybe he was making certain that there would be no awkward silences by filling it with amusing stories about the minor dramas that took place among his fellow dancers at Guilty Pleasures.
By the time they piled out of Noah’s Grand Cherokee, they were all in a good mood. Caleb seemed to be taking his body guarding duties more seriously than she’d seen so far. He’d insisted on riding up front with Noah and trailed behind Nathaniel and her while they filled their two carts with an astonishing amount of food and other household goods.
“Do you always get this much stuff?” She asked as she loaded several packages of paper towels into her cart.
“Sometimes.” Nathaniel paused to check paper towels off the lengthy list he carried. “But I try not to let things get this low. We never know when we’ll have extra people over.”
“It doesn’t seem fair that Anita has to pay for all this.” Erica felt a little twinge of guilt and wondered how much of the bill was due to her staying with them.
“Oh, she’s not. I buy most of the groceries.” He caught the expression on her face and smiled. “Don’t worry. I make plenty and I enjoy entertaining. Besides, Jean Claude slipped something extra in my last paycheck. Anita won’t take his money directly.”
“Oh.”
“So don’t tell her, OK?”
It was hard to believe there was any real danger in the brightly lit aisles. By the time they returned to the Jeep, Noah and Caleb had relaxed enough to help load the groceries in the back. That was when they struck, when all three wereleopards had their hands full.
She never saw where they came from. In fact, she had just turned to pick up a bag full of canned goods from the cart beside her. An awful growling made her whirl around.
Caleb had vanished from sight, the case of soda he’d been holding lying on the pavement with one corner dented. Noah was on the ground, buried beneath two attackers. Both were muscular and heavily built. The taller was bald, tanned and wore a black t-shirt. The second was black with close-cropped hair and dressed in a blue t-shirt. It was hard to pick out any more detail in the writhing mass of bodies.
A snarl to her right drew her attention. Nathaniel was pinned against a minivan, holding a third attacker at bay. Or trying to. His lavender shirt was stained with blood. Sunlight glinted off something metal in his opponent’s hand. Erica got only an impression of broad shoulders and shaggy brown hair. The knife flashed again and Nathaniel gave a pained cry.
Erica gave a startled jerk and began to grope around in the nearest grocery bag. Her hand closed around something solid and heavy. Without looking, she pulled it out. There was no real conscious thought. It was almost as if she watched someone else do it. It felt unreal until she felt the shock of impact travel down her arm and into her shoulder. The stranger staggered and swayed. And there was blood on the…can?
The man whirled with a snarl, moving so fast that she barely had time to register her danger before she was shoved out of the way. Her improvised weapon fell from her hand and rolled away, but her eyes were on the combatants before her. Caleb had simply appeared and was trading bows with Nathaniel’s attacker. The fight was over quickly, the stranger retreating at a shout from one of his fellows.
“Get him in the Jeep.” Noah’s voice sounded harsh and growling. He’d come up behind her and his hand on her elbow made her jump.
“Shouldn’t we call the police? Or an ambulance?” She looked around, half expecting to see curious bystanders or to hear sirens. But the parking lot was nearly empty of everything except silent cars waiting for their owners to finish shopping.
“When lycanthropes are involved, the cops tend to lock everyone up just on principle.” Caleb added, fishing under the minivan and producing a battered can of peas.
“But Anita is a cop.” Erica glanced from one face to the other. Noah was scanning the parking lot while Caleb moved quickly, collecting fallen groceries. Erica thought it odd that he seemed more concerned with the food than Nathaniel until he used an empty shopping bag to collect the fallen knife without touching it.
“It’s silver.” Nathaniel growled. He was leaning against the silver fan, one arm cradled against his side. His lavender eyes and faded to an alien gray and when he offered her his uninjured arm, she hesitated. “He’s right. No way the police will accept this story without us telling them too much.”
Erica flushed, embarrassed by her hesitation and hurried to take the injured wereleopard’s arm, slinging it over her shoulder and helping him into the Jeep. She quickly got him out of his ruined shirt, balling it up and pressing it against the worst of his wounds. He’d been slashed several times along his left arm and shoulder, but none seemed terribly deep.
“There’s a first aid kit under the seat.” Noah called through the hatch. Erica glanced at him, taking note of the darkening bruise along one cheek. Caleb looked uncharacteristically serious as he hurriedly loaded the rest of their groceries in the back of the Jeep.
Erica found the first aid kit easily enough and busied herself with trying to stop the bleeding. She had barely begun when the other two men climbed into the front seats.
“How bad is it?” Noah asked while he started the engine.
“I’m not sure.” Erica frowned, pressing a gauze pad against one wound. She reached for the tape intending to fasten it down, but the vehicle lurched into motion, forcing her to steady herself instead.
“Not too bad.” Nathaniel replied. “If I shift, it’ll close the wounds.”
“Nobody shifts in my Jeep.”
“I’m not going to.” Nathaniel made a soft noise as the Jeep turned a corner a bit too fast. Erica felt uneasy, suddenly aware that she was in an enclosed space with three lycanthropes and smeared with blood. Nathaniel’s eyes still had not gone back to their usual lavender color. She was afraid to try to see the other two.
“Don’t.” Nathaniel murmured, catching her hand and pressing it against the seeping wound. “Don’t be afraid.”
“Sorry.” She whispered. Now that the crisis was more or less over, she was beginning to shake.
“They were trying to kill Nathaniel.” Caleb’s voice held an undercurrent of excitement.
“They were lycanthropes too, weren’t they?” She asked.
“Yeah. Must be from out of town. We don’t have any were boars in St. Louis.” Caleb answered her.
“Call Anita. Then call Dr. Lillian.” Noah ordered.
“You want me to tell Anita we let her favorite lap kitty get cut up?”
“Do it, Caleb.” His tone was sharp.
Caleb did so. She thought he sounded anxious as he answered his Nimir-Ra’s rapid-fire questions. She could hear the tone of the woman’s voice over the cell phone speaker, though she hat to guess what was said by Caleb’s responses.
“He says it isn’t too bad… Noah said to call you first.” He turned in his seat, craning his neck to give Nathaniel a quick look. Erica was relieved to see that his eyes were human brown. He seemed fine except for the bloody scrapes on the back of his hand. “How is he?”
“I’m fine.”
“I’ve got most of the bleeding stopped.” She glanced at her patient to see if he wanted to say more. He simply nodded at her to continue. “I’m not a nurse or anything, but none of them seem all that deep to me.”
“Did you hear that?” Caleb’s eyes remained on her as he listened to Anita’s response. “You’re all right, aren’t you?”
She nodded in response.
“Not a scratch on her.” Caleb winked at her and seemed to relax slightly, turning back around in his seat. “I guess they figured she wasn’t a threat. Ignored her until she clocked the guy with a can of peas.” He sat up a little straighter. “There were five of them Anita. Two of them jumped me. I got there as quick as I could. I’m just a dancer. These guys were body builders or something…”
The conversation didn’t last long after that, halting after Caleb mentioned he need to call the doctor to meet them at Anita’s place. That call was brief and businesslike. By the time he finished they were pulling into the driveway. Anita must have called ahead because people came boiling out to meet them. Erica and Nathaniel were hustled inside by Cherry and Zane, leaving the unloading of groceries to other hands.
Once Cherry was sure that Erica was uninjured she shooed the girl off to change out of her bloodied clothes. She wound up in the kitchen with Caleb on the pretext of assembling some sort of meal for the growing crowd milling about Anita’s small house. But before she could begin, she felt she should tend to Caleb’s scraped knuckles. She had found him at the kitchen sink awkwardly trying to do it himself. He seemed surprised at her offer to help. She could see the wounds already beginning to heal around the edges. He’d been scrubbing to remove the dirt and other bits of debris before it could become embedded in the skin.
“This is kind of nice.” She looked up from her careful cleaning of his hand with a small frown of puzzlement.
“I’d think it hurts.” In fact, he’d flinched a few times when she scrubbed too hard.
“A little. It’s just nice to have someone worry about me for a change.” For the moment, there was none of the usual cockiness in his expression. She wondered again at why he seemed to be excluded from much of the pard’s closeness. She opened her mouth to ask but he spoke first. “I can’t believe you hit that guy. He was twice your size. Hell, he was almost twice my size.”
“I have a hard time believing it myself.” She began to smooth antibiotic salve on his wounds, wondering how best to bandage them. “I thought he was going to kill Nathaniel.”
“He was trying. I saw that much.” Erica began wrapping gauze around his hand, being careful not to smear the salve. She knew the antibiotic was probably unnecessary, but she thought the salve might help the skin heal better and keep the gauze from sticking.
By then, other members of the pard had crowded into the kitchen. Apparently Anita had taken over the living room for an impromptu meeting. A peek through the door showed her several new faces, as well as Micah, Merle, and Nathaniel. After a quick head count, she returned and found herself drafted into chopping vegetables for salad.
The rest of the afternoon was spent just trying to stay out of the way as people came and went, looking very busy. Anita did call her into the living room briefly to give her own account of the attack on Nathaniel and to ask her if she’d ever seen the men before. She hadn’t recognized any of them and she was left with a vague feeling that Anta disapproved of something she’d done but the woman sad nothing overtly critical. In fact, she’d given a grudging apology for not having taken greater precautions to guard their safety. Maybe she was just upset that someone had tried to kill her boyfriend.
By nightfall she was looking forward to a quiet evening with Damian. But that wasn’t to be. Shortly after he rose and fed, he was caught up in another round of meetings as vampires began to arrive with the dark. After assuring Damian that she was fine, she settled down on his couch with a book and her cat in her lap. He seemed to approve of her willingness to stay out of sight.
“Do not wait up for me. I will wake you when I return.”
“This means there’s more trouble, doesn’t it?”
“It means someone wishes my mistress ill and is determined to carry out this wish. Beyond that, I know no more than you.”
Maybe it was all the excitement of the afternoon. Maybe it was some lingering fatigue from the blood loss. Or maybe she was simply tired from spending so much of recent nights awake. Whatever the reason, she found herself yawning over her book until she gave in and went to bed.
When she woke, it was late. The house had that quiet hush of the early morning hours when dawn was not even a glimmer on the horizon. Too restless to go back to sleep, she climbed the basement stairs, thinking a bite to eat might help her settle down. The first floor was dark except for the spill of light coming from the kitchen. The sound of voices made her hesitate, as did whom those voices belonged to.
Anita sat on the kitchen counter, a cup of coffee next to her. Damian stood close, very close, his hands stroking up and down the length of her arms. Anita wore something thin and black beneath a short red robe. Damian wore only a pair of pajama bottoms that he must have gotten from the basement without waking Erica. The touching wasn’t blatantly sexual, but somehow she knew that Damian had been Anita’s nighttime “feed.” Of course, Nathaniel had shifted on the doctor’s orders and was probably still furry and Micah had taken the morning shift.
She waited for the jealousy to come. It didn’t, though she definitely felt a little odd about it. She watched as Damian reached up to stroke Anita’s face. The woman closed her eyes and leaned into the touch.
“This isn’t fair. I should have asked Jason to stay. Or maybe Requiem.”
“You have had an unsettling day.” His voice was soft and soothing. Anita sighed.
“So has Erica.”
“She was sleeping soundly. And it is my touch that brings you calm.”
“I hate to say this Damian.” She rubbed her face against his hand like a cat. “But when this over, she has to go. You can’t keep a pet human in my basement.”
“She is not a pet.” A trace of anger threaded through his tone. “And where else should I take her? Or do you mean to forbid me to see her?” Erica held her breath and willed her pounding heart to quiet.
“No. I didn’t mean that.” Anita grasped his hand and held onto him when he began to pull away. “It came out wrong. It’s just that our lives are dangerous. People get hurt. Especially human people, Damian. Look at what happened today. What could have happened.”
“So if she were another vampire, you would not object?” His voice was heavy with sarcasm, though he did not pull away from his mistress. “Shall it be his and her coffins in my little basement crypt?”
“No. And I wouldn’t even suggest that.” She let go of him and crossed her arms, frowning stubbornly. “Right now, she can just walk away from this. I’m not going to take that option away from her and neither will you.”
“I had no intention of doing so. I value her mortality. Perhaps more than you.”
“Don’t try to make me out as being anti-human, Damian. I’d feel guilty if something happened to her. There’s a reason I don’t date humans. And it’s not because I don’t like them. It’s because dating me or even just being my friend tends to shorten their life expectancy.”
There must have been something in the other woman’s eyes that softened his anger. Something Erica couldn’t see. Or maybe he could simply feel what she felt? Damian moved closer and embraced his mistress. She allowed him to hold her close, unfolding her arms and pressing her face against his shoulder.
“I want you to be happy, Damian. I really do.” Anita’s voice was muffled. “I thought I’d gotten over feeling guilty about all this. But with her here… Do you want me to take you off the rotation?”
The vampire shifted, turning his head to press his cheek against the top of his mistress’s head. Erica started as his eyes gazed toward the open doorway and she shrank back a little further. For a moment, she thought she had avoided discovery, but something must have given her away.
“Perhaps you should ask her yourself.” His green eyes were piercing as they picked her out of the shadows. “Do not hide from me, my lovely.”
Anita stiffened and pulled away. Damian did not let her go completely and she had to settle for staring into the shadows from the shelter of his arms.
“Erica?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.” Caught, she stepped into the kitchen, blinking a little at the light. “I woke up hungry.” She walked slowly past them to open the cabinet where Nathaniel kept the glasses. She saw Anita push at Damian out of the corner of her eye.
“I’m sorry. I know how this must look.” Erica winced at the awkwardness in the other woman’s tone. Strangely, hearing it made her feel less awkward. She turned with a glass in one hand and a plate in the other. The other two were still caught in that same push-away-hold-on embrace. Anita looked as if she wasn’t certain what to feel and Damian just looked…blank.
“Go ahead and touch him.” She gave a half smile and set her burdens down closer to the refrigerator. She opened the door and began assembling the makings of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, complicated slightly by the sheer number of choices of jelly. After shopping with Nathaniel she now understood why there were so many. “That’s part of the whole master and servant thing right? Wanting to touch each other all the time?”
“Not all the time.” Anita protested.
“But much of it.” Damian intoned. “You have been speaking with Nathaniel.”
“Well, we’ve both been kind of stuck here a lot.” Erica shrugged and turned look at them again. Their postures no longer seemed quite so stiff. “And I want to understand as much of this as I can. Does it bother you to see Damian and me together?”
“No.” She did sound definite about that, Erica thought. “But Damian’s not my…” She trailed off as if uncertain what word to use.
“Boyfriend sounds wrong for someone who was born centuries before my ancestors ever set foot in this country.”
“I would say lover, but that does not help.” Damian sighed and shifted so that he could face Erica, one arm sliding around Anita’s waist to stroke her opposite arm. “She does not care for me as she does those she calls her ‘sweeties.’”
“I’m sorry, Damian. I can’t love all of you. Not and do any of you justice.” She scowled and crossed her arms. “Why do I always end up having these conversations past midnight?”
“I suspect it comes of associating with the dead.” His delivery was dry, but there was a sparkle of amusement in his eyes. “But you do not answer the question, Erica. Shall I continue as Anita’s sometime lover?”
“We already had this talk.” She turned back to her half made sandwich and resumed spreading sticky stuff on her bread.
“But you have not had it with Anita.”
“I guess I’d prefer the term lover, myself.” She stalled, spending far more concentration into putting things away and pouring herself a glass of milk than the task warranted. “Though I guess you’d say ‘sweetie.’” Her listeners remained silent as she took her snack to the larger table and sat down.
“Does it bother you to see me with Damian?” Anita’s tone was direct, almost impatient.
“Not as much as I expected it to. Besides, it’s not as if we’re exclusive. I meant to talk to you about Caleb, Damian. Before someone else said something. But today…I guess it’s yesterday now, was so crazy it kind of got pushed to the back burner.
“We had little time for talk.” His blank expression was no help to her. “And you have done nothing wrong.” She relaxed a little and took a bite of her sandwich, washing it down with a swallow of milk.
“You’re avoiding the question.” Anita prompted.
“I’m thinking.” Erica swallowed hard and took another swallow of milk. “Like I said, I’m trying to understand all this.”
“Have you changed your mind?” Damian’s voice was so empty of emotion that it made her search his face for some hind of expression. She found none, but Anita unfolded her arms to grip on of his hands.
“This is your house. This is your kitchen. Even this food I’m eating is yours. He’s your vampire servant. He’s yours. I’m his pomme de sang and his woman.” A flicker of disapproval crossed the other woman’s face. She didn’t like that term, did she? “I’m his and he’s yours. So I guess I’m yours, too.”
“Erica.” Anita began, but Erica raised a hand to cut her off.
“Damian was completely up front with me about it. I’ve already agreed to it. If I can’t handle it, that’s my problem.”
“I’m not that hard up. I can feed on others.”
“Damian’s got only one of you.” Erica paused. Damian had straightened, pulling away from Anita slightly. He was frowning, but still silent. “He needs to touch you.” She shrugged again, uncertain how to word what she saw. “Without the feedings, the sex, a lot of that touching will stop, won’t it?”
“You don’t know me that well.”
“Nathaniel does.” Damian intoned solemnly. “But she is right. You resist the craving to touch as you resist everything.”
“So I’m stubborn. Why are we talking about me when we’re supposed to be talking about you and Erica?”
“I didn’t think you’d believe just a yes or no answer without an explanation.” Erica was surprised to find she’d polished off both sandwich and milk.
“So that’s it? No rules? No objections? Just like that?” Anita sounded disbelieving.
“I’m not sure how I’d feel if I walked in on you or something.” She rose to take her dishes to the sink. “I don’t need to know all the details. But I guess it’d be nice to get a heads up so I don’t make plans or wait up for no reason.”
“So not in front of you and let you know if I’m going to…ah…borrow him for a feed.”
“Well, it’s like blood for you, right? If you don’t get enough, you start sucking the life out of Damian and Nathaniel?”
“It’s not something I choose to do.”
“Sorry. That’s not what I meant.” Erica turned and leaned against the sink. “If it’s a real emergency or might become one if you have to take time out to find me, then don’t worry about hurting my feelings. If you have time, then it would be nice. That’s all.”
“I think I can live with that if you can.”
“Good. Are you guys done talking?”
Damian looked at his mistress. “I think we have more to discuss.”
“I won’t keep him long. I didn’t mean to keep him this late.”
“OK. I’ll see you downstairs.” Erica walked past them, or intended to, but Damian stopped her with a hand on her arm. He took her face in both hands, his skin cool against hers. But the kiss was warm and brought so much heat to her cheeks that she knew she was blushing. For a moment it didn’t matter that they had an audience, much less who that audience was. It left her a little breathless.
“I will not be long.”
“I’ll be waiting.”