Silent Cravings (25 page)

“Welcome, laddie! Good tae have ye join th’ fun an’ games,” he said, giving him a jovial slap on the back that might have sent a lesser man flying. “Th’ name’s Angus.”

“Angus, ye great big oaf, donnae hit the lad so hard.”

“Hush, Clarisse, ye did nae introduce us.”

“He’s human, ye ruddy ox. Be easy with the boy.”

“Right! Anyway. My name is Ken,” the handsomely dressed vampire said, holding out his hand for introductions.

A chorus of names were called out, and people lined up to shake Christoph’s hand, welcoming him with cheerful smiles and sly, innocent-at-the-outset questions designed to gauge how long he planned on holding out on Mouse.

Meanwhile, Mouse was trying surreptitiously to sneak off to her room. Clarisse prevented it by putting an arm around her shoulder, grinning across the room at Christoph.

“Don’t be shy, lad. Mouse is more than enough o’ that for the two of ye.”

Christoph forced a smile, though he was absolutely
prickling
with desperation to hide. Angus scared the living crap out of him but reminded him strongly of Barry. If they weren’t natural enemies, Barry and Angus would probably get along just fine.

Ken. He’d have to catch him before everyone filed out. The thought of tormenting Ashi was one that gave him warm, fuzzy feelings. Evil warm, fuzzy feelings.

It was odd having such a human reception. There were no challenges, no growls or stare-downs. No one was sniffing him over. He made sure his own mannerisms were human rather than Were. There was a familiarity to the gestures, the hand-shaking and smiling, that he found he had missed. He’d tried to explain it to Analie once, but she’d only snorted and said that humans were weird anyway. Life without a pack structure was alien to her. No wonder she was twitchy here.

The questioning was odd, but he shrugged it off. At least they were nice. This wasn’t anything like he thought a house full of vampires and their chow would be.

Most of the vampires were easy to mistake as human, even when surrounded by normal people. They blended eerily well. It was only in the slight gleam to their eyes or a subtle sense of strength behind their handshakes that made it clear that roughly ten of the twenty-odd people in the room were not human.

Every one of them was friendly, curious, and some were good-naturedly disappointed that Mouse “got to him first.” A few offered to lend him clothes or shoes or anything else he might need. A couple of the ladies—Lisa, the only other female vampire besides Mouse and Clarisse, and a handful of the donors—were a little
too
friendly, making Mouse even more uncomfortable than she already was.

“If ye need a bit o’ company, lad,” Lisa said in an unmistakable Scottish brogue when it was her turn to introduce herself, batting thick lashes at him and smiling in a decidedly wicked manner, “ye can come see me down the hall any time.”

Christoph smiled at Lisa, a sense of unease at the vampire’s offer making it hard to hold the cheerful expression. He didn’t say anything in response. He’d never been great with putting words together nicely for a girl and would be glad when everyone was gone.

Ashi sat on the edge of the bed and breathed. Calming down was his main concern right now. His heart had been beating like a rabbit’s since he arrived. John chomping on him didn’t help anything.

Once he was calm, he could figure out what he needed for a long run and how to get it. Analie would have to help, as would Christoph. He wondered what the ape was doing right now. Probably getting the life sucked out of him.

“Off with ye, ye flamin’ harlot,” Clarisse said, shooing Lisa away.

Lisa threw her hands up in mock-surrender, flipping her long, blond hair over her shoulder and whispering something in Mouse’s ear that made the other vampire look ready to sink into the floor.

Seeing that he was the “strong silent type,” a majority of the people in the room lost interest after the initial introductions. A few were bold enough to place their bets before leaving, but most only waved or said goodbye and went about their business.

A handful hung around: Jessica, Angus, Clarisse, Ken, and two donors, Melissa and Brian. The vampires crowded around Mouse, mostly talking with her about what to do about having the two Weres around, and a bit of good-natured ribbing about how Christoph seemed a good match since he was nearly as quiet as she was.

Jessica, Melissa, and Brian, on the other hand, cheerfully started a chattering storm at Christoph, centered mostly around who was currently dating whom, speculation on where Mouse would take him shopping for clothes, and invitations to come watch movies or have a beer. None of them minded that he wasn’t being talkative; they made up for his silence in spades.

Jessica was the last to introduce herself. She seemed rather relieved that he wasn’t being antisocial. After a lull in the conversation, she commented on it.

“I’m glad you’re more like Analie than that guy upstairs. I know it’s scary getting bit the first time, but I don’t get why he was flipping out on everyone who tried to help him.”

Christoph smiled at Jessica. She seemed nice enough. “Ashi has been an asshole since day one, so no surprise there. I do see where he’s coming from, though. Getting bitten is not something our pack endorses. Hey, I want to make sure Ken knows where he is. He seems easy-going. Maybe he’ll calm Ashi down.”

Christoph grinned.

Wesley brought the pizza to Thad when it arrived, muttering about being “the damn bellhop of the building” on his way out. Thad plopped the box on the coffee table and pulled out a slice, settling down on the couch next to Sebastian and leaving a seat for Ashi.

“Food’s here!” he shouted through a mouthful.

At the call, Ashi shuffled out of his room. The pizza smelled heavenly. Definitely not something he ate on a regular basis. He gingerly sat on the edge of the sofa—as far from Sebastian as possible—and took a slice.

“What movie is this?” he asked after taking a few bites. Damn, this was
good
.

“
The Transporter
,” Sebastian answered, as Thad’s mouth was full. His eyes were glued to the screen. “You missed a bunch. The baldish-looking guy there transports illegal goods for a living. He found out he was transporting this hot chick and saves her. He’s helping her save some other people. Mostly it’s about fighting and explosions and shit. Just watch, you’ll see.”

Ashi thought it was the most stupid thing he’d ever heard of in his life. He stared raptly at the screen as explosions went off and people were throwing punches at each other. Well, he was in this far. Might as well finish it.

Just to see if the ending was stupid.

“Aw, that’s sweet of you,” Jessica said, smiling brightly. She hadn’t noticed Christoph’s malicious undertone. “Ken’s a doll, but I don’t think he’d get along well with Ashi. He’s sensitive.”

“I heard that!” Ken said.

“You know it’s true!”

“Yeah, well, there you go.”

Jessica’s smile widened.

“Being bitten only hurts a little the first time,” Melissa said. “Plus, Mouse is the nicest vampire here. She hasn’t scared you, has she?”

“And are you really a werewolf?” Brian asked, his expression dubious.

“Uh, well—no. No, she hasn’t scared me. And yes,” Christoph said to Brian, staring him down. “I
am
a werewolf.”

Whoa, easy. No need to go all Goliath on this guy.

“Just not feelin’ so fuzzy at the moment.”

“Weird,” Brian muttered, eyeing Christoph. “So how’d you end up with Mouse? I mean, don’t get me wrong, but some of the guys here would kill to be in your shoes. If I wasn’t with Lisa, I know
I’d
be jealous.”

“Oh, stop it,” Melissa said. “I’m sure that’s not really any of your business. Nobody asked
you
how you ended up with Lisa.”

“That’s not fair. I didn’t show up out of the blue.”

“So what if he did?” Jessica said, rallying to Christoph’s defense. She’d been watching Mouse over her shoulder, taking note that the silent vampire was in an agony of embarrassment. Jessica felt bad for her, but there wasn’t a lot she could say surrounded by people.

“Obviously Mouse likes him. Leave the guy alone, he’s not about to steal Lisa away from you.” She paused. “…are you?”

“Yes, I was already plotting how to take Brian down and steal Lisa away for my own—of
course
I’m not going to ‘steal Lisa’! Besides, someone already owns me.” He shook his head. “I followed a higher-ranking Were here. Ashi, the douche upstairs. He had some plan—anyway, it ended badly. So we’re here. For a while. I guess.”

“Doesn’t stop some of the people around here from being letches,” Melissa said.

Jessica snickered. “Yeah, Angus would sleep with anything in a skirt if she’d let him. He doesn’t care who they’re contracted to either.”

Brian grinned. “He hit on you again?”

“Oh yeah.”

As the movie came to an end, Thad grinned and looked between the two. “
Transporter 2
?”

“Yes,” Ashi said quickly. He reined it in. “...if that’s cool. Whatever.”

If it had as many fights, he would be a very happy man.

Thad pulled out a six-pack of Budweiser, put it on the table, then put in the next movie. He settled back in the couch with a Bud and a grin.

“Showtime.”

After Thad’s second beer, Sebastian grabbed one. The two of them made the occasional comment, shouted epithets at the screen, or cheered at some amazing fighting or explosion. The movie didn’t lend itself to much conversation, but the brothers were both pretty happy that Ashi was finally loosening up.

Ashi was enjoying himself. He’d never admit it, of course. Not even to himself.

He told himself that the movie was stupid and he had been right in avoiding this sort of entertainment for the better part of his life.

Also, pizza. Good thing he didn’t eat this on a regular basis. Though he could. Dear God, could he ever eat this stuff by the pound on a daily basis. Usually he had chicken. Chicken and veggies, chicken in curry, chicken with pineapple. Digested easily, good fats, kept him fed. Eating out was expensive, so he made everything at home on his tiny stove.

Alcohol was something he stayed the hell away from. After seeing what it could do to Christoph, and abusing that to the greatest extent, he wanted no part of it.

He sat back, feeling very out of place on a couch with a vampire and human, still in sweats and a fetish collar, and enjoyed the movie.

Secretly.

Christoph glanced down at his sweats, wondering what The Underground was. “Normally I wouldn’t pass up something like that, but this is the only piece of clothing I have. I didn’t expect to stay.”

“That’s not a problem,” Jessica assured Christoph, turning around and waving over the flock of vampires. “Hey, Mouse! C’mere a sec!”

Mouse gave Jessica a pleading look which went ignored as Clarisse and Angus led her into the kitchen, then took a seat on countertops or leaned against the cabinets. Ken picked up one of the bags on the floor, curiously examining the contents.