Deceptive Changes: Kat LaMond Book 1 (59 page)

“M’lady, my name is Michal,” he said softly and bowed.  He was young when he was made a vampire, I’d put him around eighteen or so.  His blond hair was pulled back tightly against his neck and he was wearing a tuxedo with tails.  His light blue eyes were pleasant to look at.  “I ask your forgiveness of my companion.  She will be punished for her indiscretion.”  He waited silently for my response.  How was I going to respond to that?  He had just apologized and threatened to punish her.  I nodded and smiled a small, tight smile.  He bowed again and took his leave.  I watched him walk back to his companion and slip his hand under her elbow.

The other vampire, a bit older, around twenty-five when he was made a vampire, cleared his throat.  I turned to him.  His brown hair was cut short and styled spiky.  He had on a tux with tails as well.  I looked into his dusky brown eyes and waited.  “My queen.  I am truly sorry for my companion’s offensive comments.  She will be punished, as well.” 

I tilted my head and asked, “And you are?”

“My humblest apologies, my queen.  My name is Reginald.”  He bowed and waited for me to either speak or dismiss him. 

“What are you exactly referring to?” I asked.  Todd’s hand tightened on mine.  I shot him a look before turning to look back at Reginald and waited. 

“She was speaking of your…uh, your lifestyle, my queen.”  His eyes travelled the table and landed back on mine. 

“You can leave now.”  I waved my hand and watched as he bowed gracefully and leave the area.

Todd leaned in and kissed my cheek.  “Would you like to dance, my queen?”

I nodded and rolled my eyes.  “Yes, my king,” I replied sarcastically. 

He helped me from the chair and escorted me to the dance floor.  He held me tight against him with an arm draped around my waist and my hand laid against his chest with his hand over it. 

We danced like we did when we were married.  The whole world vanished until it was just the two of us.  I could hear his breath and heartbeat.  I laid my head against his chest and swayed with him.  He turned us in a circle and bent me back slightly to kiss me gently. 

A few gasps ran through the crowd.  He righted me and I looked around.  It wasn’t us that they were gasping about, it was Sven and Thorn.  They were dancing tightly together.  Their five-eight, thin frames, were pressed together and I could see why the gasps.  They glowed, literally.  I smiled as I watched them sway to the music.  They had the same thing Todd and I had when we danced.

When the music ended, Haven appeared and tapped Todd on the shoulder.  “May I?”  Todd smiled, kissed me lightly on the lips, and nodded.  Haven took me into his arms and started to dance. 

“Uh, Haven,” I whispered.  He turned his icy blue eyes to me and smiled.  “I don’t know how to, um, dance like this.” 

He leaned down and whispered, “You don’t have to.  I’ll dance for us.”  He laid his lips gently on mine and we danced, well he danced and I floated along with him.  He had lifted me enough off the floor so I wasn’t dancing so much as letting my feet dangle. 

Sven and Thorn had twirled over to us and chuckled as they saw my feet floating.  Thorn traded places with Haven seamlessly.  It was different.  I was the same height as Thorn in my heels.  He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist and kissed me on the neck.  I purred against him.  “Oh, love, do that again,” he whispered against my neck and kissed me.  I purred.  His hands tightened further and his fangs slipped into my skin.  I arched against him and tried to keep quiet but he wasn’t about to let that happen.  An orgasm ripped through me.  I gasped loudly and sighed, giving him a mock-annoyed look.  He pulled back and laughed softly.  “You did good, love.”

“I’m learning,” I said when I could breathe again.  Thorn’s eyes had bled to gold and silver.  “Too bad I can’t repay the favor.”  His laugh was like a brush with a feather across my neck.  I arched against him and tightened my hands on his shoulders.  “Oh, God,” I whispered shakily.  He blinked in surprise.  He twirled us off the dance floor and over to the table.  He guided me into my seat and sat in his.  I looked at him and saw that he was shaking.  “Thorn?”  He looked up and came over to me when I waved him over.  “What’s going on?”

“Not here, love.”  I nodded.  We didn’t want to tip off the other vampires of something amiss.  I had already done that with my temper tantrum.  We couldn’t speak further since the dessert was going to be served shortly. 

Everyone was filtering off the dance floor and Haven took his seat next to me.  He flashed a smile and kissed my cheek.  I ran my hand along his face and then turned to Todd.  He was looking at the crowd.  He turned to me when I placed my hand on his.  He smiled and licked his lips.  “Mmm, Kat, that was yummy to watch.”  I blushed.  “Dessert and then the guests will start to leave.”  He kissed my cheek and turned to speak with Trace.  I could hear the conversation but I wasn’t interested in what they were talking about. 

I was interested in the conversation far beyond where we were sitting.  Two women were gabbing about how they’d love to get involved with some of my men.  I tightened my hands and frowned.  They were saying how they would only want them for a night, just to see how good they really were. 

Another conversation was about me.  Two men were speaking about how they wanted to test-drive me since six men had given up their lives and were madly in love, or madly in lust as one said, with me.  They were interested in how good I’d be in the sack, their words not mine.  My jaw tightened as I listened to their conversations about me and my men. 

I jumped when Haven placed his hand on mine.  I looked into his icy blue eyes and relaxed.  I bit my lip as he smiled at me, wide enough to flash fangs.  He leaned into me and breathed against my neck.  “
Ma
minette
, you must calm down.” 

I nodded but didn’t say anything.  He was breathing on my neck and I was trying really hard not to arch and scream in pleasure.  Just his breath running along my neck was causing me to have mini-orgasms.  “Haven,” I whispered, “back off, please?”  He pulled back and looked puzzled.  I shuddered and fisted my hands.

Todd leaned into me and asked if something was wrong.  “I can’t talk about it right now,” I whispered.  He nodded and went back to talking with Trace.

Dessert was placed in front of me.  My stomach turned as I looked at it.  I put my hand to my mouth and bit back the urge to throw up.  Haven put his hand on my side and I immediately relaxed.  I wondered what was going on.  I took a couple bites and didn’t feel the urge to toss it up.  I looked at Haven.  He was smiling and thinking improper thoughts, I could tell. 

I set my fork down and nodded.  His smile widened and he ran his hand down my side.  I grabbed Todd’s hand as the orgasm went through me.  Todd snapped his head over to us and clenched his teeth as the orgasm went from me to him.  I saw him grab Trace’s hand and the orgasm went down the table and ended with Erick.  We were gasping and blushing. 

I smiled at Todd and batted my eyes.  He took in a deep breath and set his napkin in his lap.  I forgot about the suits.  Damn.  I turned to Haven and found that a napkin was in his lap.  He seemed extremely surprised by having to do that.  Just like Thorn had.  I leaned over and looked at Thorn and Sven.  They were talking softly about nonsense and chuckling softly.

I caught Thorn’s eye and he looked at me, his brown eyes gold.  I looked at Sven and found his eyes cobalt.  I inhaled sharply as he turned his eyes to me.  He blinked his cobalt eyes and blew me a kiss.  I giggled and turned from him.  I looked at the crowd.  They were talking amongst themselves but weren’t really paying attention to us.

Shortly after two in the morning the ball broke up and vampires with companions left.  Only a few were left behind.  One was Marishka.  She came over to the table and bowed gracefully and said, “Thank you for a lovely party, my king, my queen.”  Todd nodded.  “If I may say, you are stronger now.  I would be curious as to know what happened.”  We didn’t say anything.  I was curious as to what happened too.  She studied us for a long moment before saying, “Thank you again, my king, my queen.”  She bowed again and left.

The few vampires that were still around left after Marishka did.  We stayed until everything was cleared and the humans were ready to leave.  Todd filled in a few loose ends with the humans and then escorted them out.  He came back and kissed my cheek.  “Let’s go home, babe.”  I smiled and nodded.  Haven and Todd escorted me outside and into the waiting limo. 

After we started moving, I asked, “What the hell was that?”  The two vampires smiled sheepishly.  “Explain, please.”

Haven’s eyes had turned silver.  He was afraid of my reaction.  I didn’t know why, I wasn’t that hard a person to talk to.  “Our powers seem to have increased.” 

I rolled my eyes to the ceiling and looked at him.  “I know that.  You’re saying that your ability to bring people has increased along with other things, right?”

“Yes,
ma
minette
.  Our bite, our breath, has increased a lot.” 

I sighed.  “Haven, it’s okay, you don’t have to hide from my reaction.  I was just curious.”  His eyes bled back to normal and I smiled happily.  Sven crawled over to me and put his hand on my arm.  I gasped and arched my back as a small orgasm ripped through me.  I cried out as a stronger one ran its way through my body. 

“Oh, I can get used to this,” he said softly.  He pulled off my glove and ran his breath along my skin.  I bit my lip as another, smaller, orgasm ran through me. 

“Stop, please,” I said breathlessly. 

He pulled back and grinned.  “Oh, yeah, I can totally get into this.”

“Be careful of this ability, Sven.  You can do it on the wrong person and it will get you into trouble.  Control it first and then use it,” Haven cautioned. 

Sven nodded and crawled over to Thorn.  He breathed on Thorn and had him crying out and bucking against the seat.  “Mmm, Thorn,” Sven said softly as he kissed Thorn’s hand, causing him to cry out again and push off the seat and into Sven’s arms.  They rolled around between our feet and caused each other to spasm as orgasm after orgasm went through them. 

They lay on the floor, gasping and smiling.  The car stopped shortly after and we got out.  I was much more sure-footed with Haven’s blood running through me.  I was surprised my body hadn’t absorbed it already.  Much stronger.  We walked into the house and went into the bedroom.  I started unbuttoning the lace around my neck when Haven came over to me.  He grabbed me around the waist and held me.  “You look so beautiful, why do you want to take off the dress?”

“It’s a beautiful dress, Haven, really, but I’m much too uncomfortable right now.”  He sighed and helped me out of the dress.  I started to take off the necklace but his hands stopped me. 

“Leave it on, please?” 

I nodded and went to the closet.  I grabbed pj’s for all of us and stripped out of my corset, hose, and shoes.  I slipped on the pj’s and tossed the others theirs.  They undressed and I regretted giving them pj’s.  I looked at their bodies and sighed as they put on pj bottoms. 

I looked at each of them.  Thorn and Sven were holding each other, their mouths locked onto each other’s necks.  Haven had Todd in his arms and was taking blood and bringing Todd over and over again.  Trace and Erick were holding each other on the bed.  Trace bent his head and locked onto Erick’s neck.  Trace bit Erick hard enough that a thin stream of blood was running down Erick’s chest.  Erick arched against Trace as he ran his hand over Erick’s groin.

Sven and Thorn separated and climbed onto the bed.  They pulled Erick and Trace onto their laps and bent their heads in unison.  Haven let Todd go and held him for a moment, making sure that Todd could stand on his own.  Todd walked over to me and wrapped his arm around my waist.  I kissed him softly and heard a knock at the door.

I walked over to the door and found Ardeness on the other side.  I walked out and shut the door even as Erick cried out Thorn’s name. 

“Ardeness?”  Her eyes were tight and worried.

“I’m sorry to bother you so late, Katja.”  She bowed her head and bit her lip.

“It’s okay.  Is something wrong?”

She sighed and said, “Maybe.  Beatrice hasn’t come home.  I’ve tried her cell phone a number of times and she isn’t answering.”

“Was she going out with someone?”

“She had a really hot date.  That’s what she said anyway but she said that she’d be home around two in the morning.  It’s now almost four.  I’m worried.” 

“Okay.  I’ll try her cell phone.  If I can’t get a hold of her I’ll try something else.”  That seemed to ease her a little.  I walked into the kitchen with Ardeness close at my heels.  I grabbed the phone and called Beatrice’s cell phone.  No answer.  I left a short message for a call back and hung up.  “Okay, why don’t you go back to the house?  I’ll see what I can do, okay?”  She nodded and left. 

I clenched my fists and walked back into the bedroom.  Todd came over to me and asked what happened.  I filled him in and walked up to the bed.  Trace was lying against Sven’s chest with a sated smile on his face.  Erick had his head buried in Thorn’s arm and was running a lazy hand along Thorn’s hand.

I bit my lip and said, “Trace.”  He looked at me, smiling, and when I didn’t smile back he sat up and got a worried look on his face.  “I need you to help me.”

“Anything, Kat.”  He slid to the edge of the bed and grabbed his pj’s.  He slipped them on and grabbed my hand.  “What is it?”  I told him about Beatrice and he sighed.  I knew exactly how he felt.