The House (10 page)

“Shayana!” I
shouted and waved at a tall, tanned woman on the other side of the
patio. She weaved through the crowd with ease and arrived at my
side in seconds. She didn’t even jostle anyone. It wasn’t a feat I
could have managed.

“Trix! I see
that your fighting skills have improved since we last met,” she
laughed. I’d almost forgotten the last time she’d put my skills to
the test. I hadn’t really been in touch with my magic then. In
fact, I had been so anti-Covenant that I refused to use it at all.
That, and Shayana is a true-born shifter like me so she is just as
fast and just as strong. I’d had more than a few fractures after
that meeting.

“I don’t think
so. You are just a much harder opponent than Hercules.” I laughed
as well; she looked somewhat like a warrior. Her muscles were
visibly well-defined beneath her tank top. Her loose cargo pants
hid her legs but they still seemed to go on forever. She was the
envy of many a woman, especially since she also had the face to go
with it. She looked like she should have paid for her looks. I’d
heard the odd woman saying that she was lying when she told them
she hadn’t had work done. Several had hassled her for the name of
the surgeon. Really it was just good breeding. Breeding being the
optimum word to describe some of it. A love match was barely a
concept to most of the old families. Many of them had chosen the
most beautiful matches when they started to run out of powerful
ones they weren’t related to.

“We’ll have to
find time to test that theory.” She sounded distracted and half a
world away, then I saw she was looking at Hercules and I laughed
even harder. “What?”

“I was just
thinking about what would happen if you beat him up. I don’t think
he’d come out of his room all week,” I said. Me, he could handle.
We were fast friends at least but Shayana was different. Mainly
because she was drop dead gorgeous, but also because Hercules saw
women as people to be protected and looked after. I guess it goes
to show what he thought of me - a lady I was not.

“
You
did,”
she said, pretending to be indignant. It didn’t even come close to
working. You’d have to work a lot harder to insult Shayana, not
that many people ever tried.

“I used magic,
so I didn’t insult his manhood or whatever. I think you’d have to
knock him out to make him give up. He can take a lot of damage.” I
spared a glance for Hercules who was being slapped on the back by
James and laughing with some of the boys. He didn’t look like he
had a scratch on him. The bastard.

“Unlike you,”
Shayana said as she looked at me. “Are you alright? I could have
sworn one of those punches broke your ribs.” She ran her hand along
one of my ribs and put a tiny amount of pressure just where it
hurt. I gasped before I could stop myself and she lifted her
eyebrows at me. There was no accusation in her eyes but I could
feel that she thought I was being an idiot.

“I’ll be
fine.” I moved away a fraction and she let her hand drop away. It
hurt more than I liked to admit, and she knew that, but if we kept
talking about it I’d get stick from Hercules. That would be worse
than the pain. Looking at him hanging out with everyone I didn’t
think it would just be him making fun of me either. Lessons in
equality only work if you don’t show pain afterwards. I just had to
keep telling myself that. “But if you want to get Hercules to bed I
recommend not beating him up,” I added to Shayana.

Shayana again
looked at me like she was offended and shocked but I just laughed
at her. Subtlety was never one of her strong points and I have a
gift for reading people. She stole a glance at Hercules that gave
her away completely; not a lovey-dovey look, just a look that said
she’d like to find out how he is in bed. I didn’t think I’d ever
seen Shayana look at anyone in a way even close to lovey-dovey. She
left that to the humans; we couldn’t afford it. Like me, Shayana
would be set up with, and expected to marry, a witch her family
chose and produce more true-born babies. Assuming she didn’t die in
the process.

“Go on. Men
can be extremely dense with these things; you might have to spell
it out for him. Just stick to Hercules because James and Stripes
have been making eyes at each other for months.” Shayana nodded her
agreement and I knew she’d be off. I turned to talk to someone else
but didn’t get far enough to see who was behind me.

“You sure
you’re ok with it?” Shayana asked. I just looked at her.

“I have never
slept with Hercules,” I said, very slowly and very clearly. Why is
it that people always assumed I slept with everyone? It just wasn’t
true. Well, not for a few years anyway.

“What about
the new guy?” Shayana jerked her head over to where Eddie was
standing alone. I realised I’d completely forgotten about Eddie.
Probably not a good idea considering the trouble he radiated, but
then again even I deserved a night off every now and then.

“Go for it,
he’s already managed to piss off everyone else. I’d love to see how
he reacted to you,” I told her. Although, if she actually went for
him I’d probably caution her against it. It would be hard enough
work convincing him to trust us without first convincing him we’re
sluts. He struck me as the kind of person who would look down on
someone for that. I didn’t even think it would be reserved just for
women. He probably wouldn’t like a man who slept around either.

“My, Trix …
what are you saying?” I just laughed. Shayana was probably the most
intimidating person I had ever met with the exception of her
brother, Marlow, who just plain scares me. I’d never met anyone he
didn’t scare. Except maybe Shayana and it’s difficult to scare your
sister when she knew him as a child. I assumed he wasn’t always
terrifying.

“Go see for
yourself,” I replied. Her only response was to raise her eyebrows
at me again. Then she disappeared into the crowd - quite an
achievement because it’s difficult to disappear into a group of
only twenty people. I certainly couldn’t have managed it. I saw her
reappear in front of Eddie who looked like he was trying to get
back inside away from all the people. The look on his face drew my
smile even wider and I started to weave through the people to
rescue him.

Shayana would
probably manage to be offended by him, which would lead to disaster
and I didn’t want it on my conscience. Or rather, I didn’t want
Marie to blame me if he ran off or if Shayana beat him up. I had a
feeling that he had an ego that wouldn’t survive it. I traversed
the crowd with surprising ease and arrived next to Shayana in no
time at all, to find that Eddie now looked practically terrified.
Shayana was laughing in a way that made me worry about what had
happened.

“What’s up?” I
sighed.

“I don’t think
he understands me.” Shayana laughed and I watched Eddie’s face get
redder, it was almost comical. Or it would have been if I wasn’t
the one who’d have to sort out the mess.

“Well, if you
made any sense…” he replied but Shayana cut him off.

“Although he
is quite entertaining.”

“Like I said,
if you would actually…” His face was getting gradually redder and
redder.

“Oh, be
quiet,” I said finally. The two were never going to understand each
other but I could at least keep them from coming to blows. I
thought his head might explode the way his face was changing
colour. I stifled a giggle in order to introduce them properly.

“Shayana this
is Eddie. Eddie this is Shayana, one of the only other true-born
shifters I’ve ever met.” I smiled reassuringly, hoping that he
would say something soon. At least his face seemed to be returning
to normal.

“You’re like
Trix?” he asked and Shayana laughed.

“Trix and I
are completely different,” Shayana said. I could see that she
understood as little about Eddie as he did about her.

“You seem the
same.” I held my breath but luckily Shayana just laughed and turned
away from him. I wondered if Eddie had some extra skills he wasn’t
sharing. Or didn’t know about. I banished the thought; it would do
me no good to think about it. I could overanalyse it later when he
had condescended to tell me anything about himself and I didn’t
have to wildly speculate.

“I think I’ll
go in search of more amiable company,” Shayana shot at me. She
raised her eyes at me once more and the next thing I saw she was
standing next to Hercules. He was leaning against the wall in an
odd parody of the pose I had seen Eddie in. I did my level best not
compare the two but I had to admit that Hercules looked better, if
only because he didn’t look so grumpy.

If he ever
smiled I’d have bet Eddie would have won out in the looks
department. I had to forcibly remind myself that I was not
comparing them, not even theoretically. I had told the truth when I
said that I’d never had sex with Hercules - that didn’t mean we
hadn’t had a few close calls.

“She’s kind of
testy,” Eddie said. I was just glad he was finally talking to me.
“Are all the people around here on such short fuses?” I took a deep
breath. I had to strike a balance between not offending him and not
allowing him to offend us. I had a feeling that it was going to be
one of the more difficult things I’d ever done. Diplomacy is not my
strong suit.

“Shayana is
one of the most powerful shifters you will ever meet. She and her
brother are the best warriors in several centuries. She can do
whatever she wants,” I explained. Ok, not strictly true but I
didn’t feel like explaining all the ins and outs of our entire
world to him right at that moment.

“She’s more
powerful than you?” Eddie asked, surprised.

“She’s powerful in a different way,” I continued. I
was
going to have to
explain all of this to him. Right that moment all I could think
about was the pain in my ribs that was growing sharper, seemingly
in response to my ignoring it - or trying to. But in trying to
ignore it I ended up paying more attention to the pain. “Can I
explain this tomorrow? Or you could ask Marie. She knows much more
about all of this than I do.”

His face
started to close off and I felt myself losing him. It might be my
only chance to forge a connection, to get him to open up to me.
Hopefully, once that happened we could fix whatever was wrong with
him and send him on his way. Not that Marie had ever just sent
anyone on their way but you can’t blame a girl for hoping.

“
Fine
, but
I need to bind my ribs first,” I growled. I turned and gestured for
Eddie to follow me inside through the glass doors. They lead to a
secondary living room and were only opened when we had a lot of
people round and needed more space. I smiled at the few people
sitting in the well-worn sofas and armchairs. Hunter winked at me
and made to start talking but I waved him away. “Later,” I
said.

I made my way
to the kitchen with Eddie in tow. The medical cupboard is packed
full because, despite our improved healing abilities, we have an
even more amazing ability to injure ourselves. I took out a long
bandage and closed the cupboard. I hopped up onto the bench and
ignored Eddie’s stare as I lifted up my top to get a better
look.

The entire
right side of my lower ribs was coming out in a lovely purple-blue
bruise. We bruise quickly because we heal quickly. If it had been
only a bruise then I’d have been fine in minutes; a fractured rib
would take several hours at least. A lesser power than me would
have needed medical attention. I heard Eddie gasp as the full
extent of the bruising was revealed but I was careful not to pull
my top higher than the edge of my bra. I’m not a prude; I just
didn’t want to risk his sensibilities since I didn’t know his
limits.

I held the end
of the bandage with one hand whilst trying to wrap the other around
my body. I wasn’t particularly successful and Eddie grabbed the
bandage after my first failed attempt. He wrapped it surely and
tightly but not so tight it was restrictive. He must have had some
experience with bandaging people up. I wasn’t so sure I wanted to
know where he got that experience. Of course, maybe it was just
good first aid training at school. Yeah, I totally believed
that.

“Thank you,” I
said, my voice only slightly strained.

“Uh … no
problem, I guess,” he said as he tied of the end of the bandage and
I pulled my top back into place.

“What did you
want to know?” I asked, still sitting on the counter. I swung my
legs back and forth; I’ve discovered that that’s the most
comfortable way to sit when your feet don’t touch the ground.
Otherwise I felt awkward and stiff.

“I don’t know.
Nothing I guess, don’t worry about it.”

“Just ask your
questions Eddie, I don’t bite. Not much anyway.” He actually smiled
at that, which surprised me so much that I grinned even wider
myself.

“Why are you
two so different? I mean, you feel different.” He was looking at
the floor as he spoke and I could tell he felt his question was
inappropriate. In all honesty I was just surprised he didn’t
already know all of this.

“We’re
true-born,” I replied. “We were born with two forms instead of
being turned.”

“That makes
you more powerful?” he asked, glancing up at me before returning to
his examination of the floor.

“Not in and of
itself but, honestly, I don’t know. I guess it’s only powerful
shifters, non-lunar shifters I mean, who can even give birth to
true-born children,” I said.

“What about a
human woman with a shifter father?” Eddie asked but I didn’t
answer. I heard Marie’s footsteps heading towards the kitchen and
cut off my reply. “Well, what about…”

“I heard
you.”

“The child
would most likely kill the mother.” Marie answered the question and
I hung my head. Pregnancy and the lack thereof was a sore spot for
Marie. I had hoped she was upstairs and wouldn’t hear our
conversation. She didn’t linger but I saw the lines around her eyes
and mouth deepen for a moment, an old hurt, but I could see it
still in her face.