Human Interaction (16 page)

"I vote we play with her first. Then flip a coin to see who gets to drink her dry." The tallest of the small bunch suggested, the evil glint in his eyes set my heart to pounding and my palms to sweating.

The stoutest of the group slipped behind me, running his grimy hands up my trapped arm, pausing at my shoulder. I sidestepped, but he followed easily, leaning in.

The door to the club opened, a lone figure stepped out. From this distance, I couldn't make out more than just a silhouette in the dark, but it was good enough.

I screamed.

The next few minutes became a blur.

Teeth pierced my skin, sending a sharp pain rushing to my brain. I jerked back in response, gaining a small modicum of freedom. Kicking and biting, I managed to extricate myself from the arm hold. Slaps, hits, bites, yells. It turned into a free-for-all. My objective fixated around simply escaping to live another day. Once more teeth sank in, this time at the junction of my neck and shoulder, way too close for comfort.

In the middle of a struggle for survival, I thought of my kids.
Who would take care of them?
They were already minus one parent.
Orphans.
The word tore at my heart. I knew they would be taken care of, but kids needed a mother. They needed me.

Energy and desperation took over. My life might suck at the moment. Romance didn't seem to be working. I might be lonely and sad and maybe I would never find another man to share my life. But, I'd be damned if I let some uneducated, slime ball, blood suckers turn my boys into orphans.

My fight renewed. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught glimpses of two others joining the skirmish, helping to even out the odds. Distractedly, I made a mental note to thank them afterward for their timely assistance.

One particular cuff to my temple slammed me to the ground. The world spun for a few seconds as I fought to keep my belly contents inside as opposed to splattered all over the nearby asphalt. A loud ringing began and slowly decreased in volume before fading away.

A pair of vaguely familiar leather men's shoes stepped into my line of vision. Spotless black suit slacks settled over those expensive loafers.

I sucked in a breath. "And, here I am fresh out of used chewing gum." I meant to sound snarky and haughty, but what came out hinted more at breathless exhaustion. Glancing up, I caught Drake tightening his lips. His sense of humor always left something to be desired.

Drake and I had an ongoing banter. I stick chewing gum on his Berluti loafers now and again. He lets me live because he finds me entertaining. The fact that he and Dad are friendly compatriots and best friends didn't hurt either.

People called him the king of the Clearwater City vampires. I called him a horse's rear, although never to his face. I could be considered reckless at times, but never suicidal. All in all, he was an okay guy, if you liked the 'it's my way or no way' attitude. One positive when dealing with the vamp, he kept his promises and he never lied. The big negative side revolved around the fact if you crossed him, you suffered until death became a blessing.

People stood around gawking, calmness where a riot had played out just seconds before. Gathering my waning strength, I focused on putting my legs under me and pushing. With the help of my car, I managed to gain upright status. Maybe not the most graceful rising, but effective. Good thing the vehicle was there to lean on as well. I would hate to embarrass myself by falling over like a stack of cards. I bucked the theory that women were the weaker sex and needed looking after by a dominant male. Toppling over would only provide the surrounding men more ammunition for their take on the long debated issue.

"Would you care to explain this"—Drake waved his hand—"melee,
ma petite
?"

Oh great. My head hurts, my shoulder hurts. Heck, my hair hurts. And the top dog vampire wants to ask me twenty questions? Okay. Okay.
This was his territory after all. The bad guys had disappeared from sight. I missed the mass exodus of the unruly vampire clan and honestly didn't care. Besides, I was too busy at the time trying not to upchuck on myself to bother with such trivial details.

"Those vampys…" A movement caught my eye. Ducian slid into view of the lamplight. Behind him, Meat stepped out, striding determinedly my direction.

"They are rogues, exiles," Drake declared. "No matter. Their sentence has been cast."

"Wills."

The name escaped before I could bite it back. Rattled and holding onto my composure by a thread, the name slipped out in my moment of need.

Meat found his way to my side, his eyes traveling my body. One hand reached out to brush locks of hair from my cheek as his gaze raked me from head to toe. "Oh, Shy." Tenderly, he stroked over a developing bruise.

Drake stared down at me, sympathy crossing his features. "Ma petite, your husband ceased to exist the night you received the phone call about his disappearance."

Those absolute words slammed into my mind. My gut clenched as my chest tightened. Breathing became a struggle. My already unsteady legs gave way as I crumpled to the pavement.

In some tiny secret section of my heart, I'd always held out hope Wills would return. He had left, yes. He wouldn't return, yes. But, in the deepest recesses hope sprang eternal. To hear those words so final… my shock and grief consumed me. I could only wrap myself up in a ball and fight the great sobs.

The vampire's deep voice sounded from a distance, then much closer as he squatted down in front of me. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to break it to you like this. Never wanted to tell you at all. I thought with time you would grow to accept the fact. When you called for him, I realized I did you no favor in withholding the information."

I could only nod. Speaking and thinking weren't abilities I had control over at that time. I didn't even bother questioning Drake's source of information. As king, he knew things no others did and he simply didn't lie, especially not about something as important as this. He spoke the harsh and absolute truth. Wills was gone forever. My tiny sliver of hope vanished like a lighted candle blown out with a small puff of breath.

Strong arms hauled me up against a warm chest, holding me secure. "Come on. I'm taking you home." Meat's baritone voice, soft and soothing brushed over me.

Coldness enveloped me, like Jack Frost blew a permanent icy chill into my body. I shivered, sniffled, and took large breaths between bouts of tears.

Meat walked a few steps and paused while my face plastered against his chest for warmth and comfort. Someone draped a jacket over me, muttered a few words. I couldn't even look in their direction or make any indication that I appreciated their consideration.

Numbness began to set in.

One second we stood in the parking lot of the club, the next in Meat's family room via teleportation.

I squirmed in his arms. "I need to go to my home." My voice broke.

"Shhhh." He held me a bit closer to his chest, lowering his head to rub his chin over the top of my crown. "We just need to get you cleaned up," his low words cajoled.

I protested once more. "The boys…"

"Exactly." He turned toward the hallway and glided down the length. "We can't take you home in this shape. What if your boys saw you in this condition? Think how upset and traumatized they would be."

He had a good point. "Okay." I weakly agreed. "But my home afterward."

"I'll get you home, promise."

He pushed the bathroom door open with his foot, before looking down at me. "Think you can stand? Or, I could just flash your clothes off and take us both into the shower."

Shifters and their disappearing clothing act. Of all the varieties, I never understood why they'd received the largest chunk of magical abilities. Didn't seem quite fair. The rest of us had to deal with clothing the slower old-fashioned way.

My juggled brain sparked back to life.
Me naked in the shower with him? Yikes!

"I can stand." My voice didn't even waver. "And, I can take a bath myself. Been doing it for years."

That drew a small smile from him. "Uh huh."

Nodding, I wiggled in his arms, gaining my freedom when he set me gingerly on my feet. I willed my legs to be solid. The alternative of a naked Meat showering with an equally nude me scared the living daylights out of me even as it stoked the hussy devil on my shoulder to shout, "Go for it."

"You can go do whatever you need. I'll just take a few minutes in the bathtub. Even wash between my toes."

His eyes raked over me before reaching eye level once more. "Chicken." A wide smile covered his face as he gathered up bathing supplies, putting them within easy reach of the tub.

"
Bok
,
bok
," I answered, shuffling my way closer to the tub.

"Tyger! The club said you aren't…" The snapping of heels and an all too familiar female voice stopped at the entrance to the bathroom.

"Not now, Misha." Meat glanced at the intruder, then focused back on me.

"What is she doing here?" Misha demanded, crossing her arms over her ample bosom. "I told you what evidence I had found. She's using you, lying to your face…"

She had to be related to a muskrat or even be a mole shifter herself. No matter how much you wished and tried, such vermin always returned to destroy things. Come to think of it, her nose was a bit pointy looking. I backed up a step, anger giving me the strength to face the beauty with the devious core.

"Great. Just what I needed tonight. A visit from the hellacious demon with a superiority complex."

She growled low in her throat. "You harlot…"

"Stop it!" Meat reached out to steady me, his voice gentling. "Take your bath. If you aren't out in ten minutes, I'm coming in."

I nodded and counted to ten under my breath. Reason returned. As much as I wanted to yank her hair out, I had more than enough fighting for one night. Clasping my hands, I waited for all to leave before stripping down and doing a turbo body wash.

"Out!" He gestured and herded the female shifter in front of him. The door shut with a quiet click.

Hastily, I turned on the hot water to the tub, then bit back a moan as I tried to lift my arm to get my blouse off. Taking a deep breath, I tried once more only to discover I stood in the nude.

"Hey!" Grumbling about overbearing males with too many genie powers, I lowered myself gingerly into the tub. Positive the Neanderthal would clock my time, I set to quickly cleaning up the remnants of the battle so I could be done and semi-dressed in approximately eight minutes.

"What the hell is going on?"

I could hear Misha's raised voice through the door. I lucked out tonight. Entertainment with my bath. Goody.

"This isn't the time."

I heard footsteps walking from one room to another. Her clip-clop steps followed him.

"I told you about her. Warned you. Then I come here to find you almost in the shower together?" She stomped. "You have dick for brains these days? I thought you were smarter than that."

Meat answered in a snarl. "She wouldn't be here, in that state, if it wasn't for you and your meddling."

"What?" She nearly shrieked.

"Yeah, you went searching out of jealousy for something bad on her. Then, when you found a scrap of information, you assumed and conjured up the rest." A drawer shut. "You do know assuming makes an ass out of you and me? Because it did."

"I don't…"

"Your information was only the tip of the iceberg. But you didn't bother to seek the truth. Instead, you thought you had found the Rosetta Stone of evilness. Well, guess what?" A small pause, then he continued a touch louder and angrier than before. "You know jack shit about her and her accounts."

"How…?"

He cut her off once more. "Because of your possessive jealousy and my stupidity, she almost lost her life to a vampire attack tonight."

A longer moment of silence commenced.

"Is she…?"

"Like you care." He flung in answer.

A knocking on the door startled me. "I found you a shirt and sweats to wear." His voice softened dramatically from the loud berating of moments before. One hand reached through the slightly open angle of the door to toss the clothing on the rug beside me.

I paused in mid-scrub of my hair. "Umm. Thanks."

"Two minutes, babe."

"What?" Biting my tongue, I scrubbed a bit faster, then dunked my head under the faucet.

I didn't hear any more arguing, so decided that Misha got ticked off royally and flashed out. Whether she stayed or went really didn't matter since I had just under two minutes to be presentable before Meat popped in and received an eyeful.

With seven seconds left, I tied the string on the sweats, squirming. Going commando would take some getting used to. Of course, he wouldn't have women's panties just laying around for me to borrow. Well, on second thought, maybe he did, but I certainly wasn't going to ask. My luck, he would have some of Misha's available, and I would get some sort of nasty heat rash from them.

The door opened as I stood with brush in hand.

"Well, damn. I missed it." He flashed a smile and those boyish dimples at me.

I couldn't help but return a tired grin. "Yeah, too bad for you."

Shaking his head, he took the brush from my hand. "Let's get you doctored, then I'll brush your hair."

I frowned. I hadn't forgiven him for his words, his lack of trust. Besides, I needed some space and time to decide what I wanted to do, if anything. The longer I stood in his house being pampered like a princess, the quicker my heart melted centimeter by centimeter.

"It'll only take a minute," he assured, picked me up, and hauled me into the kitchen.

I glanced around the room as we went. No sign of the evil devil in a red dress.
Thank goodness. Not sure I'm up to beheading a snake tonight. Or would that be spearing a mole?

Meat sat me down on the kitchen counter, next to first aid supplies laid out and ready for use. Reaching for my borrowed shirt, he started undoing the buttons.

"Hey!" I grabbed the shirt, holding it closed.