Endless Days (The Firsts) (21 page)

In another part of the household,
the second resident first blood vampire came up behind an unsuspecting human man who was getting ready to check nightly patrols before he took his rest.  He felt a soft hand move down his back and into his jeans, slip around the waistband and then into the front, further, until they wrapped around the girth of his manhood.  He closed his eyes.

“Is it alright?  Is he well?  Is he going to kill me?”

“I belong to you, and I always will.  David is in bed right now with the love of his life.  I think that’s where you ought to be, too.”

Gunnar swung around and trapped the naughty vampire against a heavy table and pushed her down.  He crawled on top of her and slid his body against her.  He knew this perfect body so well that if he never saw any light again, he would remember every curve, the color of her skin, the dusty rose of her nipples, every detail of this woman, forever.  Had David Patric decided he loved Katerine, and wanted her back with him, Gunnar knew he’d go to the ends of this world to keep her with him.  He sighed in relief, and let moisture fill up his eyes.  Yeah, he was a softie.  But he loved deeply, and with that came a passion and joy that carried with it emotions that often overwhelmed.

“You’re such a girl,” the woman beside him whispered.

He slid his pants off and moved his engorged penis against her.

“Really?” he inquired, and set about making sure she understood exactly what he meant.

Lauren was terrified to approach the vampire stronghold.  She was not only one of the people indirectly responsible for David Patric’s detainment and pain, but she was a lone human arriving during the
day in a place that she had been trained to think of as dangerous.

But she was here and there was a very good reason for her to be.  Penance sucked, but if she ever thought to have a life
beyond this, she had to close this chapter by helping those she’d wronged.  If they didn’t kill her on sight.  Or shortly afterward.  Or torture her.  Or use her for vampire feed.  Or…
good god, stop
yourself, you moron.
 
Man up, woman!
   Hell, she’d already decided she was going to die for this anyway.  Might as well do it bravely.

So she stepped up, hesitated before punching the button that would let them know she was there, and then realized as soon as the big door swung open and several men with guns pulled her inside, that they had surveillance, of course, and had watched her argue with herself for the last ten minutes. 

Lauren drew a deep breath and faced the biggest man in the middle.

“Uh, hey.
  I am here to see one of your guests…a woman, Cherise Devereaux.  It’s, uh…urgent.  Could you get her for me?”

He shook his head.  “Sorry.  She’s retired.  You can tell
me
what you want, though.”

With a nervous laugh, she let her eyes wander around the huge cave of a room. 
Then looked back at him.  “Listen, I really can’t.  But trust me…well, I realized you have no reason to, but it is vital to the safety of this place, and especially to the safety of your leader, David Patric.  So, just, wake her or something, but get her now.  You’ll regret it if you don’t.  Seriously, this is a matter of life or death.”

“Come with me,” he said, and had his two henchmen follow them out of the massive room into an adjacent small four walled space.  Like a holding cell, except without bars. 

“Stay here, please.”  Then he was gone, the door closed, and the henchmen…probably on the other side of the door on guard.  Well, good.  They needed to be cautious.  They were all in terrible danger.  And…well, her own self, too, now that she was here with them.  Looks like she would never get that peaceful life she’d wanted.  She looked around the innocuous room.  There was nothing there but a small table and chairs with a pad of paper and some pens lying on it. 

“Oh,” she sighed out loud to herself. “I’m going to die in a most horrible way.
”

Then she noticed the cameras around the ceiling.

“Great, I’m going to die in a horrible way, and everyone will know what a coward I was.  Well, I didn’t have a choice, that’s what this is.  Me, being honorable.”  She sighed again and sat down.  “How’s that working out for you, Lauren?”  No one came for another twenty minutes.

When the door finally opened, the woman who stepped through was gorgeous.  Project files had details of everyone in David’s life.  Lauren recognized her from photos, but they certainly didn’t do her justice.  She was in a diaphanous nightgown and robe, with matching satin pumps on her feet.  A slight frown wrinkled her perfect forehead.   Lauren knew she’d interrupted her sleep…or perhaps something else.  She decided to speak first. 
“Um.”  Pause.  “Hi.”

“Um.
  Hi, back,” Katerine mocked.  “So, I understand you are here for Cherise.  Who are you and what did you need?”

“There is something she needs to know…well
, all
of you here need to know.  It’s urgent.”

“Okay.  So, again, who are you?”

“My name is Lauren Collins.”

Katerine sighed.  “That doesn’t tell me anything. 
Who
are you that you are here in this place and asking for her?”

Lauren sighed too.  No easy answer. 
Well, not one that
wouldn’t get her killed
.  A vague answer was her only answer.

“I have access to information that has something to do with David Patric’s abduction.  I know who you are, and I know a lot about this household.  I’m not here to cause trouble.  Please, Cherise will vouch for me.  And you need to hear me.”

“Cherise is resting.  I won’t disturb her.  So, you can tell me what you came to say.”

The elegant vampire pulled out a chair and sat down. 

Swallowing, Lauren leaned in.  “I know David is a first blood.  I know you are, too.  What you need to know is that I think a first blood had something to do with David’s abduction and years of imprisonment.  Someone named Tamesine.”

Katerine was suddenly
very
alert.  She drew a deep breath.

“Well, that
does
affect things.  You realize we need a lot more from you.  Hope you planned to stay a while.  Oh, and we’ll get to how you know this, in depth, you can depend on that.  For now, we’re going to get you to a room for the day.  I’m sorry, but it
is
going to be locked.  If you need any food or drink before they settle you down, then have them provide it.  Someone will be in for you in a few moments.”

Katerine left the little room with her heart pounding.  Oh, fuck!  They should have known.  Huma
ns should never have been able to imprison a first blood.  But with the complicity of another first blood…well, yeah, that would have been doable.  That one of their own would betray them…the world just got darker.  Tamesine.  She didn’t recognize the name.  And she knew every first blood known to the community.   Of course, they’d always realized that there could be others out there they just couldn’t read.  Now, it seemed that it was so.  And this one…this one was an enemy to have allowed this to happen to another first blood.

An old friend, a vampire named Bas, had fought a great enemy last year when a rogue vampire had gone on attack.  This was so much worse.  A rogue first blood, with the power and abilities a first blood could wield…who had already tortured a first blood.  Yeah, it couldn’t get much worse.   And who was this human who showed up out of nowhere on the night they finally helped David regain himself, to once again throw a taste of hell at them?  A strange woman who knew this household and the vampires who lived here?   Katerine paced, wondering what she should do now.  They were exhausted after the merging to help
David, she didn’t want to wake him or Cherise.  But this was potentially so serious, should she wait?

She stormed down to the south underground tunnel where she and Bryn had their daylight chambers.  He groaned from within when she pounded on his door to rouse him.  He came to it naked and yawning.

“What the hell, Kat?” he asked.

“I need to speak with you. 
Immediately.  We may be in serious danger.”

He blinked twice and led her in, sat down on the end of his bed, and yawned again.

“Alright, what’s so dire?”

“I got some news tonight. 
Disturbing news.  There may have been a first blood involved in David’s abduction.”

“What?  You guys are like family.  Who is it?”
 

“One I don’t know.  I don’t think anyone I know has heard of her.   But we need to find out the truth.”

“Well, who told
you
?”

“A stranger.
  Woman.  Human.  Showed up a little while ago looking like she was going to puke.  She asked for Cherise.  Should I wake them?  Or wait until tonight?”

“Damn it to hell!  Can’t things just get right around here again?”   He paused, rubbing his eyes like a three year old.  Katerine thought how incongruous, considering the huge naked man with impressive equipment she’d just compared to a small child.  She loved Gunnar, deeply, but she still felt a twitch in her nether regions as her eyes scanned between Bryn’s legs.  She’d been with David too long, so she’d never sampled him.  And she wouldn’t now, with Gunnar her mate.  But…he was ridiculously compelling sitting there
nicely displayed.

“No.  No.  Let them rest.  It’s not that many more hours and I think we all need to be sharp to deal with this.”

“Okay.  That was my thought, too.  Just wanted a second opinion.  Well, I’ll see you at breakfast.”  She paused.  “You have some nice toys there, vampire.  You need a playmate.”

She watched his penis twitch and harden under her gaze.

“You interested?  What about David?”

“David’s with the empath.  I’m with Gunnar.  I know, confusing.  David knows
, he’s okay with us.”

“Och.
  Just my luck.  Two incredibly stunning women in the house, me with this…”  He palmed himself, now fully erect.  “And you’re both spoken for.”

Katerine laughed.  “You can compel a house girl, although I sort of think that won’t be necessary.  Just let her get a look at that, and
she’ll
jump on
you.
”

“Nay.
  I know what to do.  Go get your sleep.  Wake me if I’m not there when Jules lays out the food.”

Katerine quietly closed the door and went to her own room, slipped off the gown and robe, and curled up next to her very warm human. 
Ummm.  That was one of the things she loved most.   He ran so hot.  She willed herself to sleep and was out in moments.

Breakfast was in full swing when Katerine joined Bryn, who was already there.  He grinned at her as he stuffed a wad of bacon in his mouth. 

“You made me hungry last night, lassie.  I never
did
quite get back to sleep after you left.”

“Sorry, Bryn.
  Guess we need to get you a playmate, after all.  Hey, maybe the one who showed up last night with our game-changing intel.”

“She’s a looker?”

Katerine considered the question.  “She’s…unusual.  Not a classic beauty, no, but…interesting.  Well, you’ll see soon.  Gunnar’s bringing her shortly.”  She looked around.  “No David  yet?”

“Not yet.  Maybe his little human is keeping him busy.”

David’s quarters were still dark.  Only the glow of a soft nightlight
illuminated the area near the bed where a fully alert vampire leaned on his arm and played with the soft brown curls that clouded around the sleeping woman’s head.  But she was rousing. She moaned, and he hardened immediately at the sound that led his mind to another place.  Somewhere in the day, he’d gotten up to remove his clothes and went back to bed.  He was grateful, as he responded to the sexual urge.  And moved a leg to let himself expand.  He looked down to see her eyes opened now.

“Hello, sweetheart,” he said.

Cherise pushed herself up on her arm as well and faced him.  “Hi,” she said softly.  “Are you alright?”   She remembered immediately what he’d been through last night.

He fingered a long strand of hair that dropped over her face.

“I’m perfect,
cherie
.  How are you?  It was a really hard time for you, too.”

“Oh, I don’t matter.  I’m always okay.  It was you who came back through your pain.  You
do
remember who you are now?  Completely?”

He nodded.  “And I’ve thwarted your prediction.  I am still very much in love with you.”

Cherise moaned and threw herself into his arms.  He buried his head against her, too, and they just laid there holding each other for a long time.  His penis kept pressing against her.  She pulled back and laughed.