Riding the Storm (12 page)

Saturday morning Kendra showered and then pulled out the
clothes she’d wear on her date with Eric, so all she’d have to do was arise and
dress. One of the benefits of dying instead of sleeping was she didn’t move
around, so her hair wouldn’t need much touching up.

She still wasn’t really sure what she was doing. Common
sense told her to just write Eric off and go find someone who’d make a good
human companion. However, she’d lived a long time, and learned the people who
are truly special don’t come around very often, and Eric seemed to be one of
those people. However, she also knew that just because someone was special,
didn’t mean a relationship would work. If all parties didn’t have their shit
together, the relationship was doomed. Was she willing to risk a broken heart
on the chance he might figure things out? Not really, but the reverse was true
as well — she wasn’t willing to walk away, since she thought there was
still a chance he might figure it out. Which meant she was kind of stuck giving
him a chance.

She was having a hard time investing her heart back into the
possibilities, though.

* * * *

As always, it seemed she closed her eyes and then opened
them a few seconds later — she never had a sense of any time lost during
the day. Pulling open the mini-fridge by her bed, she reached for a bag of
blood and poured it into a glass.

She took her time getting ready, and was climbing the steps
in her heels as the sun dropped below the horizon. The doorbell rang as she
walked towards the front of the house, and she opened the door and stepped out.
“Hello, Eric. Perfect timing. How did you manage that?”

He grinned at her. “I know how to use the internet, and
there are sites out there that let you put in longitude and latitude to find
out exactly when the sun sets for any particular date. My watch automatically
resets itself four times a day to the U.S. Atomic Clock in Colorado, so it’s
pretty close to accurate. I know how long it should take to walk from
downstairs to upstairs so I wai—”

She interrupted him with a smile. “You know, to be such an
adrenaline junkie, you may be even more of a geek. I don’t think I’ve ever seen
both in the same package before. Not to the two extremes you take them,
anyway.”

He laughed and offered his hand as he turned to step off the
porch. “Flattery will get you everywhere tonight, Kendra.”

His laughter soothed her, and she accepted his hand and
walked down the stairs in step with him. “I’m not sure it was meant to be
flattery, just an observation.”

As they walked to his Range Rover, she noted two bicycles on
top, without the front wheels, so the frame seemed to be bolted to the roof.
“What’s with the bicycles?”

“Oh, they’re just still up there from earlier. Do you know
how to ride a bike?”

Hmm, she sensed partial truth,
interesting
. She
answered his question without calling him on it, though. “In the eighteen
sixties, or maybe eighteen seventies, I was living in England and was friends
with a gentleman named William. William and his friend John owned a bicycle
company, and John actually invented what is now the modern bicycle, with the
chain. Or, if he didn’t actually come up with the idea, he finally made it
work. Before John’s invention, which he called the ‘safety bicycle’ we had
those bicycles with the huge wheels, which were anything but safe. Anyway, back
then only men rode bicycles, and there were these adult sized tricycles women
were expected to ride. I, of course, got my friend William to teach me to ride
a bike. But I haven’t ridden one in, oh, I don’t know, maybe eighty years?”

They were pulling onto the street by this time, and Eric
said, “You knew the person who invented the modern bicycle? Kendra, that
just... I don’t know. Blows me away, I guess. You weren’t friends with
Alexander Graham Bell, by chance, were you?”

Kendra laughed. “No, I wasn’t. Never met him, in fact.”

“Did the bicycle inventor know you were a vampire?”

“He did not, and neither did William, who liked to work at
night, and would ride outside of town on occasion as he tested his friend’s
latest inventions. I was curious, so I went outside to watch. As far as he
knew, I was a widow and my husband had left me a house and enough money to live
comfortably. He knew others lived there, and I told him I’d allowed some family
members to come live with me, to help with expenses. Anyway, he never asked too
many questions, and he was more than happy to teach me to ride a bicycle, as it
helped him test the new designs. He marveled that I dared to wear pants —
I told him they’d belonged to my late husband, and were much more practical for
learning to ride a bicycle. In reality, I borrowed them from one of the male
vampires who lived in the coterie at the time. I’m tall, so it worked out okay
as long as I belted them tight enough they didn’t fall off. Anyway, it was night
and no one saw me but the vampires and William, so society didn’t have a
conniption over it, and I had fun.”

They talked of inventions for most of the rest of the way
into town, the things she thought had made life easier, and the changes some of
the inventions made that she didn’t like. Kendra worried this would freak him
out again, but realized if it was going to scare him way then it was better to
do it sooner than later.

When they arrived at the theater and went in, she was
surprised to see he’d managed to get tickets on the third row in almost the
center. She’d started to ask Abbott if they could use his box seats tonight,
but had opted to let Eric handle everything since he was supposed to be taking
her out. Since he appeared to like the theater, she’d have to invite him to a
play later, and then they could use Abbott’s box. Assuming there would be a
next time, of course.

They both enjoyed the play, and when it was over Eric
commented, “My goal in life is, if I ever manage to have a family, it’ll at least
be a functional one.”

Kendra realized she didn’t know anything about his
childhood, and asked, “Where did you grow up, Eric? You don’t really have an
accent.”

“That’s because I grew up all over the place. My dad was an
Admiral in the Navy, and I was his oldest child and only son. My uncle was in
the military too, spec ops. I think I learned my adrenaline habit from my uncle
— he’s the one who arranged for my first parachute jump. But, my dad and
uncle would take me rappelling and mountain climbing together, so I guess I
learned it from them both. My uncle is only about ten years older than me, but
my dad was pretty old when I was born, so he died a few years ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “I can’t imagine how much death you’ve
had to deal with. I miss my dad, but that’s life. My mom remarried almost right
away, and I still haven’t really come to terms with it. She’s come to visit me
a few times, but I haven’t been to see her. I’ve met her new husband once and,”
he looked sheepish as he admitted, “I’m not dealing well with the idea she
replaced my dad so quickly, I guess. But, I had a great childhood. I lived all
over the world and I had two loving parents, as well as an uncle who kind of
filled in as father when my dad was away. I sometimes went a long time without
seeing my dad, but when he was home he spent a lot of time with me.”

“Your dad was an Admiral, so he was probably, ah,
commanding
?
Do you think your parents had some sort of power exchange relationship?”

His chuckle filled the intimate space between them, and felt
like a caress against her touch-starved skin.

 “No, not at all. There’s no doubt my mom ran the house. She
made it clear to my dad that she’d never enlisted in the Navy, and being
Admiral didn’t give him authority over
her
. There were five of us kids,
and she kept us all in line and got us all healthily into adulthood as
constructive members of society. My dad didn’t let her push him around, either,
they were partners, but he also acknowledged it was her job to make the house
run smoothly, and he did what he could to help, which usually meant doing what
she said. I know she didn’t like it when he took me rappelling and sailing and
stuff, so it’s not like he did everything she said, but when it came to how the
house was run, he pretty much did. I think it was more about respect —
she ran the house on her own when he was away, and he didn’t want to undermine
her when he came home from a long trip.”

“You were close to your dad?”

“Yes, though I was just as close to my uncle, to be honest.
When he was on leave, he often spent most of it with us, so there were lots of
times my uncle was around when my dad wasn’t. I’m not sure how, but they
usually managed to get sent to the same areas of the world at about the same
time. I mean, not exactly the same time, there might be a six month or even
year long period when they were in different parts of the world, but eventually
they’d usually end up close enough so my uncle could easily stay with us.”

“How often do you see your uncle now?”

He shrugged. “Until last year, I usually saw him when he was
on leave, but we’ve only been able to talk via email for seven or eight months,
except for a surprise phone call on my birthday. I hope he gets a long leave,
since he’s been on this mission so long. We email each other a couple of times
a week when he isn’t in a communications blackout, but it isn’t the same.”

“You have four sisters? Do you see them very often?”

“Not really. I’m close to one of my sisters, but the
others... not so much. It’s not that we don’t get along, I guess we just don’t
have all that much in common.”

They were back at the Range Rover now, and Eric stood on the
floorboard of the driver’s side with his shoulders above the roofline, doing
something to the bicycles.

“Are you making sure they’re on good?”

“No, I’m getting them down. We’re going to ride around
downtown on this section of the riverwalk.”

“Eric, I told you it’s been decades since I rode a bicycle.
I don’t even know if I can, anymore.”

“If you fall while you’re remembering how, you’ll heal,
right? I brought a helmet for you, so we don’t get harassed about wearing them,
but if you think you need knee and elbow pads, too, we can run by one of the
big box stores. I’d kind of figured you’d be okay, but if you need them...”

She started to glare at him, but saw the twinkle in his eyes
and her glare turned into a grin. “Fine. We’ll see how I do, but I’m wearing
three inch heels — it would’ve been nice if you’d let me know to bring
athletic shoes.”

“I noted the size and brand you wore when we went
rappelling, there are some socks and shoes in the back of the Range Rover that
should fit you. You can put them on while I get the bikes down and the front
wheels back on.”

Once on the bike, Kendra was pleasantly surprised to
discover the old adage about riding a bike was true, and within about ten
minutes she had enough confidence to ride around town. They rode across the
pedestrian bridge going over the Tennessee River, and then covered a good bit
of the riverwalk. She couldn’t handle the sharp curves going up to the Hunter
Art Museum, and was forced to walk her bike over that section, but she managed
to handle everything else. After several hours of riding and talking, they made
their way back to the theater parking lot, and Eric stowed the bikes back on
the Range Rover and took her home. He kissed her goodnight at the door and
asked if she’d go out with him the next Saturday night.

And so it went for the next four weeks. They went out on
Saturday night, and exchanged a few emails during the week. Eric did no more
than hold her hand or put his arm around her during the date, and then he
kissed her goodnight when he took her home. They saw a movie once, and went to
a couple more plays at other community theaters, and afterwards he always had something
else for them to do. Once he brought four different size rollerblades for her
to try on, and he taught her to rollerblade. Another night, he took her dancing
at a club not owned by Abbott, so she could relax and let go without feeling as
if she needed to act as bouncer, should people act up.

And finally, on a Sunday morning as he was taking her home
after a night of dancing, when he asked if she would go out with him again the
following Saturday night, she said, “I’d like to take you out Tuesday night, if
you’re free.”

Eric’s face and scent told her he was both surprised and
happy. “I’d
love
to see you Tuesday night.”

“Good. I’ll pick you up about thirty minutes after the sun
goes down. Wear a couple of layers — long johns and a middle layer, and then
warm tech-fleece over the top. Everything on the outer layer should be black,
and don’t forget something for your head and hands, preferably black, or at
least dark, as well.”

Kendra’s project with The Library was coming along nicely.
Abbott had agreed to let the assistant manager at TBC make the move to manage
it, the interview process for the other positions was coming along, the
contractors were just about finished, and opening night wasn’t too far away.
This had worked out well, keeping her occupied while she and Eric slowed things
down.

Friday night was the new moon, but Tuesday night was close
enough, and she had the evening free. Plus, the small sliver of moon wouldn’t
rise until almost four in the morning, and she planned to have him home by
then.

Kendra was going to take him flying tonight, so it was
important it be dark. People pretty much only noticed when she took off and
landed, but still, it was something the vampires had to be careful of since
nearly everyone owned a camera phone.

She had two harnesses — one connected them at the
shoulders and the other at the waist. She’d start out with him on top of her to
let him get used to it, and could put him on bottom, later. Riding on top was
easier because his entire body weight could rest on her, but flying under her,
face down, was more exciting because there was nothing below him. However, with
his weight totally held by the harnesses, it wasn’t as comfortable.

When she arrived Tuesday night, he was in the grass beside
the parking lot, feeding the ducks again. When he saw her, he tossed the rest
of the food to the ducks in the back, and strolled to her car.

“So, what are we doing tonight?” he asked as he slid into
her passenger seat.

She grinned at him. “It’s a surprise.”

She’d made arrangements with the Alpha of the local
werewolves to use his land, but she couldn’t tell Eric werewolves existed, as
supernatural law only allowed her to tell the secrets that were hers to share.

As they pulled off the road and traveled a few miles on a
private drive, they talked about how the security system for the house was
working out. Eric had put a palm scanner at the top door going down to the
basement, and a retinal scanner on the bottom door. It was perfect, since there
were no keys to lose, or to fall into the wrong hands... and no combinations to
forget, or for the wrong person to get their hands on. Only people who were
authorized, or who were with someone authorized, could get in. Each vampire had
needed to be scanned twice — one while in human form, and another time
when vamped out, but otherwise, the scanner didn’t have a problem with their
eyes.

Eric was working on a more complex system now, so only
people authorized to bring guests in could do so. Eventually, even if the
retina scanned correctly at the bottom, the door wouldn’t open if there were
more people than allowed, and an alarm would sound while the beings in the
stairwell were trapped there until security could check them out. Vampires
could bring up to three humans in, and a few humans would be allowed to bring
one human, but a human could never bring a vampire in. This would keep a rival
vampire from taking control of a human and using him or her to gain entry.

“Your system will be able to tell a vampire from a human?”

“Yes, though Abbott doesn’t want that part to get out. I’m
using a combination of scanner to determine the number of bodies, and then a
body temperature scanner of each body, and a measure of carbon dioxide.
However, a vampire who knows how to raise body temperature, with a balloon of
carbon dioxide he lets out as he walks down the steps, could fool it.”

Kendra smiled, impressed with his ingenuity and resourcefulness.
“Right, because we breathe out the same oxygen we breathe in, while humans
convert a portion to carbon dioxide.”

As they talked and brainstormed, Kendra drove past Randall’s
house and kept going, eventually parking in a field. She popped the trunk and
walked to the rear of the car.

“Come here, Eric. Time to get you suited up.”

She pulled one of the harnesses from the trunk, and Eric let
her put the straps around his thighs and waist and adjust them. He lifted the
remaining straps hanging from his front and looked at them and then her, trying
to figure out what she was up to. She just grinned at him and put the other
harness on his shoulders, snugging it behind his shoulder blades and across his
sternum so the strap would stay put. She told him to put his gloves and hat on,
and grinned when he obeyed.

She stepped in front of him with her back to him and began
attaching herself to him and Eric couldn’t stay quiet any longer. “Exactly when
am I going to find out what this is all about?”

Kendra decided to stop messing with him, and she went into
super vamp speed to get herself into the rest of the harness, and within about
six seconds she was in and they were securely attached at the waist and
shoulders. She slowed long enough to double-check everything, and then leaned
forward and let her feet float up until she was horizontal, with him lying on
top of her, though only a few feet off the ground.

“I’m going to take you flying tonight, Eric.”

She heard his heart go into overdrive and smelled the
adrenaline rush. He put his hands around her torso just under her armpits,
resting them below her breasts and said “This is incredible, Kendra, you’re
just hovering, above the ground!”

“Cross your legs at the ankles and rest them on top of my
feet. If you hold them up you’ll get tired — just relax and let me
support you.”

She waited until he complied, and then flew straight up
while staying horizontal, rising like a helicopter until they were about twenty
feet up, and then she
flew
.

Since he was an adrenaline junkie, she gave him the F-15
version of her flying skills, taking off like a bat out of hell almost straight
up into the air. Once she was up, she darted around all over the place and gave
him a ride to remember. She could tell he was enjoying himself or she’d have
backed off, but she was happy he trusted her, and was capable of enjoying it.

Kendra had a blast, both with the exhilaration of flying
through the inky-black sky dotted with stars, and with the pleasure of giving
him this special treat. How many humans got to fly around on the back of a
vampire? Yes, he’d lose out on some things in life by dating her instead of a
human, but she wanted to show him what he’d gain, as well.

His hold on her was firm, but it wasn’t a death grip, and
she knew he was enjoying himself despite the fact his breathing and heart rate
were all over the place. She could smell excitement and healthy fear, but not
the scared shitless kind of fear. She kept her hands over the top of his for
much of the flight, mainly because she just wanted to touch him, connect with
him. She flew by magic and didn’t need her arms.

After a while she figured he needed to catch his breath so
she leveled off, held her hands out like an airplane, and said, “Put your arms
on top of mine.”

* * * *

Eric had never experienced anything like this, and
considering all of the hang gliding, sky diving, back country snow skiing,
kayaking over waterfalls, and other crazy-assed adventures he’d had… Kendra had
given him a gift larger than she could possibly imagine, and he wasn’t sure he
could explain it to her, but he vowed to try.

For now, he rested his arms over hers, and his heart soared
as she seemed to glide through the air now instead of catapulting them through
it as before, and he had a chance to observe the texture of the dark land below
them as she tilted sideways to make long, slow, sweeping turns.

Where before she’d given him the crazy-assed g-force
fighter-jet version of flying, now he felt like a crane, or a hawk, gliding on
air even though he’d already figured out this was flight by magic, not by
manipulating the winds.

“Kendra, this is... this is incredible. It’s even better
than the first time I flew in a glider. Better than my first parachute jump. I
think you may have just given me one of the top three experiences of my life.”

She made another gliding, graceful turn, and straightened.
“Glad you like it. When you’ve had a chance to catch your breath, hold onto me
again.”

He enjoyed the slow pace another couple of minutes, and then
put his arms around her again, and she started a series of loop-de-loops. For a
brief moment he was so scared he wanted it to stop, but she slowed down a
little going down the backside of a loop, and by the time they levelled off, he
wanted her to do it again.

She didn’t disappoint, and as they topped the second loop,
upside down and backwards, he could revel in the adrenaline shooting into his
system, could ride the excitement and enjoy it. Kendra didn’t slow down this
time, but seemed to go even faster, and his war-whoop of pleasure seemed to
just egg her on to go even faster and higher.

After a dozen loop-de-loops, she made a sharp right and dove
for the ground, skimming a few feet above a meadow before making another sharp
ascent just before they reached the edge of the woods. They missed the tree
tops by a few feet, and Eric’s heart had a hard time keeping up. Kendra wasn’t
afraid to take risks, to have fun, to
play
, and he never wanted this to
end.

Later, when she returned to the car and he thought she was
about to land, he asked her for a few more loop-de-loops, and she gave him what
he wanted before returning them to the car.

* * * *

Kendra decided to save putting Eric on bottom for another
time. Tonight had been full of new experiences, and she’d be able to surprise
him with something else new the next time she took him flying.

As she got herself out of the harness she luxuriated in his
energy, practically vibrating with vitality and life. She breathed him in, and
wanted a taste of him so bad her mouth watered. His smell was intoxicating.

She’d brought blood in a cooler because she knew she’d be
hungry after flying, but she wanted
his
blood. Badly. She got him out of
the harness and he took her into his arms, angling his mouth towards hers. This
wasn’t the goodnight kisses she’d been getting, but a kiss designed to set her
on fire.

She let herself get lost in his arms, let him control the
kiss, control
her
, but when he finally ended it, she kissed her way from
his mouth, to his cheek, to the back of his jawbone, and finally slid her lips
to the tantalizing pulse point she desperately wanted to sink her teeth into.

“Eric, I want you. I want to taste your excitement, your
adrenaline.” She kissed the point again. “Please, tell me I can.”

 “I don’t want to orgasm right now. I want to take you home
and make love to you, and have you bite me
then
, as we come. But if you
can bite me now without making me orgasm, that’d be nice.”

Kendra put her arms around him to support him in case his
knees gave out, quietly let her fangs down, and closed her eyes in bliss as she
bit and got the first taste of him on her tongue. She injected the numbing
agent first thing, and then the right combination to give him bliss but no
orgasm. As his knees went weak she held him firmly so he didn’t fall.

She didn’t drink too much, about five or six ounces —
she’d make sure he drank some fluids on the way back so she could take as much
again later. She wanted to make love to him, too. She liked his idea.

He tasted like sunshine and blue skies, and his blood was
intoxicating — the adrenaline, joy, and arousal in it not only tasted
exquisite, but those chemicals in her bloodstream made her feel as Eric did.

He gave a full-body shudder as she gently pulled her teeth
from him and licked the punctures, and she held him until she felt him get his
legs back under him. She gradually let him go, making sure he could stand okay,
and then walked him to the passenger side and sat him down, fastening his seat
belt for him before she closed the door, grinning at his relaxed, happy, goofy
smile.

She tossed the harnesses in the trunk, grabbed some bottled
water, slid into the driver side, and started the car. She opened one of the
bottled waters and handed it to him. “Drink.”

Kendra started to open hers, but liked having the taste of
him in her mouth and didn’t want to wash it away just yet. She would before
they got back to the marina, so he wouldn’t taste his blood in her mouth,
though. Humans sometimes got a bit touchy about that.

When they arrived at the marina he’d fully recovered, and
they held hands as they approached his boathouse. At about thirty yards away, a
heartbeat sounded as if it were coming from his yacht, but at first she assumed
it was from a nearby boat. However, as they got closer, she zeroed in on it,
and at about twenty yards away she stopped and held him back. “There’s a
heartbeat, coming from your yacht. Someone’s in there.”

“You can hear a heartbeat inside the yacht, inside the
boathouse, from
here
?”

“Yes. I told you, I have excellent hearing.”

“Kendra, excellent hearing is a bit of an understatement if
you can hear a heartbeat from here.”

“Wait here while I go investigate.”

“No, it’s my boat, I’ll check it out. I was about to tell
you
to wait here, but... oh, hell. Let’s just go together.”

Kendra wasn’t up to arguing with him, so she just went,
which meant it looked to Eric like she disappeared again. She was already in
the boathouse when she heard him exclaim, “Dammit, would you stop
doing
that!”

Kendra knew it was a werewolf before she opened the door, so
she was prepared to take down a supernatural before she reached him. He only
had a few seconds warning from when she opened the door to her rushing him and
taking him down, her weight on his legs, one knee in his back, his arms held so
he couldn’t move without hurting himself, and couldn’t shift into a wolf
without dislocating important joints.