The Seed of the White Tiger (4 page)

Chapter4

She sat in the car in the parking lot for a few minutes with the phone in her hands. The call was still connected, and she knew that she had to talk to them eventually. She turned the volume up and answered the call. “Hello?” It was more a question, to make sure that there was someone still on the line.

Anna’s voice came over the phone. It wasn’t the person she had originally called, obviously the woman had been patched through to help with the severity of the threats being made against one of her agents and a traveling diplomat. “Are you alright?”

“He didn’t hurt me.” Dom said, her voice was flat, still numb from her encounter. “He just threatened me.”

“They did something to lock us into the building. We couldn’t get anyone to you in time. We tried, and there should be someone with you soon.”

“I think I’m ok, I just want to go home right now.” She told her boss, hoping that her voice wasn’t shaking too badly. “I think I’m going to skip my grocery shopping for right now and just head to the house and try to get some rest.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to send anyone to stay with you?”  Anna’s voice carried a large amount of concern.

Dom did her best to calm the powerful district leader before the pregnant witch ended up trapped in protective custody. “I’ll be fine. I just need some time to get myself back together.”

“I’ll send someone down to check on you later. Get home and stay safe, I’m worried that it won’t take them long to go beyond threats. In the meantime, I’m going to try to talk Gregor into staying somewhere else. He’ll want to protect his child.”

“He doesn’t know.” Dom confessed.

“I might have to tell him.” Anna’s voice was disappointed. It almost broke Dom’s heart to hear it in the woman’s words. It was obvious that Anna had expected better of her, and she wasn’t living up to expectations. They disconnected the call and after a few minutes, Dom pulled out of the parking lot.

The ride home was filled with paranoid fantasies about being followed. “It’s not really paranoid if someone is actually threatening you.” She told the words to herself, hoping to understand the frustration she was feeling.

By the time she pulled into her driveway, she was incredibly jumpy. Looking over her shoulder she was ran for the door and unlocked it. Her breath was ragged as she made her way into her home, her safe haven. She walked into the living room and immediately noticed the mess.

She started to put things back together, working through the load of dishes that had been in the sink since the day before. She walked through her house, picking up trash and depositing it into the garbage can before she reached under her sink to remove the dented metal watering can that had been passed down through three generations. When she touched it, the soothing effect was almost instantaneous. She immediately felt better as she channeled energy through her.

The energy had been there long before she existed in this form. The thought brought her some comfort as she filled it with water and began to care for her plants and strengthen her defenses. There was a vibration in the air as it filled with power. She hummed along, creating a tempo and adding to the strength of the spell.

The humming led to chanting as she moved to her backyard and opened up her greenhouse. She continued to take care of the plants that sustained her practice and her physical form. “The strawberries are coming in nicely.” Her words were said with the chant. “I should get a basket and pick some of my plants.” She noted.

As she entered her home she could feel the first steps being taken on her property. Someone was coming. At first she couldn’t decide what to do about it, but then decided that she wasn’t just going to hide.

She walked through the kitchen and grabbed the first weapon she could find. It was a long bread knife with serrated edges. Looking at it, it wouldn’t be immediately good for stabbing so with it in her hand she reached into her utensil drawer and pulled out a large fork that had been meant for carving large cuts of meat.

It was an ancient tool, and she hadn’t realized why she kept it before this moment in time. The rust flaked off of it as she lifted it into a ready stance. The tool had been her grandmother’s. She loved to cook giant roasts and chickens, surrounding them with homegrown vegetables from the garden and green house. That was before Dom had gotten to the point that she couldn’t handle thinking about the little animals that sacrificed themselves so that they could eat. After her grandmother passed away, Dom refused to eat meat again. She shook her head, trying to keep the memories from clouding the magical senses that were enhanced by the protections that were placed on her home.

She tensed as she heard the key turn in the lock. She took cover in the tiny hallway that separated the kitchen from the living room. She held both of her weapons, ready to attack anyone coming in. She held her breath as the door opened. “Dominique?” The voice was familiar.

Dom stepped out of her hiding place. She still had the weapons in her hands. “I didn’t think you would come back.” She told him, her voice still shaking slightly.

“Are you going to stab me?” He asked, putting his hands up in order to indicate the knife and fork that she was carrying.

“No, no, I’m not going to stab you.” She put the weapons down on a table. Her movements were hurried, embarrassed. “I’m sorry.” She admitted, hanging her head.

“There’s no reason to be sorry. You thought I was coming to hurt you, after a day like today nobody can blame you. I’m just surprised that you didn’t run.” He lowered his hands and smiled at her.

“What can I say; I’m not much for running.” She smiled sheepishly at him, looking up slightly.

He laughed at the motion; she looked so shy and demure, even though that he knew that she wasn’t known for being so much like a school girl. “Is everything alright? Did he hurt you?”

“No, I’m not hurt. He just threatened me, tried to rattle my cage. He wanted you to leave. How did you get here?” She knew that she was rambling a bit, but it was keeping her from crumbling from the stress that she had endured through the day.

“Someone from the office gave me a ride. Did you know that no one knows where you live?”

“I like to keep it that way. Nobody comes to bother me.”

“They said that they can put you in a safe house.” Gregor knew that she wouldn’t even consider the possibility of moving. The woman was in tune with her home, it was very much a part of her. She had spent her entire life in this house; in fact at least two other generations had spent their lives in this house.

Gregor’s suggestion wasn’t exactly hard to refuse. “This is my home. I’m not leaving it just because some vampire cop stopped me.” Dom’s stance grew determined and her eyes turned to steel. It was obvious that she wasn’t one to hide from a problem.

Gregor took a moment to admire her strength before he continued his argument. “I don’t want you to be in danger. I think that you should go somewhere safe.”

“I don’t care what you think. I’m not going to run from these people.” She knew that this offer was going to be made, but she had already decided that she wasn’t going to run from this. She didn’t know quite when she had made the decision, but she knew that it hadn’t been fully realized until she had been pushed to defend her position.

“Why do you want to stay here?” He had no idea why she was so attached to her home, but he knew that she wouldn’t leave it easily.

“This is the safest place I can be. I have protections here, and they’ll stop any intruders.”

“Someone should stay with you.” He commented, accepting her decision, even if he didn’t like it very much. “I don’t think I’m going to change your mind about this.”

“I’m sure they’ll send someone to stay with me.”

“I’m going to stay with you.” His voice was firm, unwavering and it was obvious that he had made his decision.

“You should go someplace else.” She would be lying to herself if she said that she didn’t want him to stay.

“I’m not going to leave unless you ask me to.” He stated, his decision had been made, and he wasn’t going to back down unless she made him. “Even if you ask me to leave your home, I will still be in town. Now that the vampires have gotten themselves involved in the outcome of these talks, its more important than ever that we finish them.”

“I’ve never been known to give in to threats.” Dom explained, her voice growing steadily braver.

“Let them bring it on. I’ll strengthen the protection spells and target some toward vampires.”

“The shifters might just have found a common enemy to defend against. It might get them a little more eager to talk.” He seemed very confident in his plan. “Perhaps I can talk them into listening to me now that the vampires are sticking their little pointy teeth into this.” He practically spat the word vampire, and she got her first taste of the distrust and outright hatred between both of the groups.

“You need to leave town. They’re not going to stop trying to hurt you. They don’t want these things to happen.” Dom felt the panic starting to well up in her throat. She wanted to keep him safe and as long as he was here, she wasn’t sure if her protections would hold.

“I’m not leaving. My people need me and I’m not going to abandon them, especially now that I know that there are vampires involved.”

“You can’t protect them if you’re dead.” Dom’s retort echoed into her ears, full of possibilities she didn’t want to face. It was a fact that now that he had found his way into her life, she didn’t want him to be out of it forever.

“That’s not true. The vampires aren’t going to kill me. They’re not that stupid.” He scoffed at the possibility of his own demise.

“Right.” Dom agreed. “That would just make you a martyr and they don’t want that to happen. Your death would greatly expedite the peace talks.” They both laughed.

“It’s not like they could get past your amazing defenses anyway.” He added.

Dom remembered how quickly he had arrived. “I thought you were meeting with both groups today.” She reminded him.

“I heard about what happened during a break. I explained it to the shifters and they understood. For some reason, they might think that you’re my mate.” The hint wasn’t very subtle.

“Did you tell them I was your mate?” Dom scoffed, her voice was filled with incredulity. “I can’t believe that you would do something like that.”

“I didn’t tell them.” Gregor put his hands up again, surrendering to her symbolically. “When they saw how worried I was, they assumed that you were my mate. I just let them assume.”

“You didn’t correct them?” Dom stomped, her shoulders back and her eyes wild with rage.

“I didn’t have time to correct them. I was trying to get to you.” He looked hopeful that she would believe him.

“Do you consider me your mate?” Dom hit him with the hard question. She knew that she was hitting him in a tough spot, but she wanted the answer so she was willing to fight a little dirty.

She still wasn’t sure how she would feel about the answer either way.

It was Gregor’s turn to stumble over his responses. He didn’t know how to respond to it so he stuttered for a few moments trying to recover. It took him a few minutes to formulate the thoughts that he was trying to put into words. He was afraid that if he said too much, she would run away, she would make him leave. “I just wanted to make sure that you’re safe.” He finally got the words out. “If that impression let them understand my needs at the moment, I let it happen. I’m sorry if it hurt you, but would it really be that bad?”

“I- I don’t know.” Dom kept her stance while she thought about it.

“I want to be near you. Let me stay with you, we don’t have to make any decisions right now, plus you’re cute when you’re angry.” He tried to find a compromise with her frustration.

“Fine you can stay, but you need to give me some time to adjust. It would make my situation a lot easier if you don’t make comments about how I look when I’m angry. I need someone to watch out while I strengthen the protections. Can you do that?”