Any characters
you recognize belong to Sherrilyn Kenyon or Laurell K. Hamilton. I’m just doing
this for fun. This is rated PG-13 to be safe.
Once
again I need to thank two most wonderful people. Maggie, my
beta, who puts my nonsense into a readable format. And Luna, who allows
me to use her character, and is a great help. Thanks ladies. I know you have
both been way stressed. Love ya!
After delivering
Luna safely to Asher underneath the club, I turned to leave. Asher touched my
arm as if to stop me.
I looked from his
hand to his pale blue eyes and told him. “She needs you. I have something to
do.”
“Will you return,”
He asked, dropping his hand.
I shook my head. “Not
tonight. I'll come back tomorrow night if you'd like?”
He smiled. “I would.
I believe there is much I need to explain.” I shrugged and looked over at the
Princess. Ares and the others flanked her. “I assume it was quite a shock.”
I turned back to the
master vampire, “In more ways than one.”
I left then, didn't
know what else to say. I walked back to
Dead Druids, went inside and retrieved my jacket. Callie and the crew had left so
I rode over to the station. I stepped off the elevator and into Jake. The blond
stood about five ten, and weighed in at about two fifty. He had an attitude
that screamed jerk.
Still I asked, “Where's
Callie?”
“Do I look like the
help desk guy?” He sarcastically asked.
“I thought that was
your next job.” I stepped around him and walked down the hall to the studio
before he could say anything else.
I watched Callie
through the glass. She had headphones on and was swaying to some song, smiling.
I knew she liked to keep the door locked especially if she was in the studio
alone. I knocked on the glass hard enough to get her attention. She turned
frowning, then smiled and let me in.
“You
going to show me that tattoo?” I queried.
“I thought you'd be
busy. I mean you left with those people.”
“I had to make sure
they got to their destination safely,” I explained.
“I thought you and
that guy were going to come to blows. I didn't think she'd be the one to hit
him though,” she confessed.
“They have a past.”
“Well duh.” She
rolled her eyes and I laughed. “You gonna to stay the
rest of the night with me?”
“Well there are all
those new tattoos I haven't seen.”
“Yeah,” She gave me
a wicked grin as she slid her arms around my neck.
It was a long night
of starts and stops and frustration especially since the blocks just weren't
long enough to really get into good tattoo appreciation. So when Dougie walked in at eight A.M.… late, Callie and I found an
empty office to use. I made sure the blinds stayed closed this time.
I woke to semi-darkness
and reached for Callie only to find her gone. It wasn't a real big surprise.
She worked with
I had just gotten
dressed and turned on the overhead lights when she walked in with a bag from
Burger King.
Holding up the bag
she told me, “Thought you might be hungry.” I started to tell her it wasn't the
food I was hungry for but I stopped myself as she continued. “I'm working for
“I can't tonight. I
have an appointment to keep.”
She frowned. “Is
this where you tell me that it's been fun, but we can't see each other again?”
I grinned. “No, this
is me telling you, I have an appointment. I'm not sure how long it will take.” I
took the bag of food out of her hand. “Trust me; we're going to do this again.”
I kissed her, “Preferably on something softer.” She giggled at that.
Checking my watch, it
was a little past 1600 hours. For you non-military types, that's four pm.
Military time is just easier for me. I know precisely if it is morning or
evening. It had kept me from becoming crispy.
I knew that Asher was probably up or close to waking but I figured I had
some time. So Callie and I sat in the lounge eating our burgers and fries and
laughing like a couple of teenagers. It felt good. Mitch came in around five to make sure the
station was crewed. He gave us an odd look and shook his head.
“I want to come back
to work.” I told him.
He nodded. “No
problem. You can start next week.” I
smiled. “But if a certain jump happens...”
“I know. But if Roan
and Irish are here it should work out. Have you heard anything on that front?”
I asked.
He sighed. “Truce is
holding so far.”
I nodded. Standing I
kissed Callie on the cheek. “I need to get going.”
Mitch followed me
out to the elevator. “This thing between you and Irish… Is it going to be an ongoing
pissing contest?”
I shrugged. “He's
the only one that knows. I didn't start it.”
I got on the elevator.
I was going to go back to the condo and get cleaned up but I suddenly had this
overwhelming feeling of need. It practically took me to my knees. A chill went
through me. Asher. I left the station in a panic, doing well over eighty on the
Ninja to reach the District.
Buzz led me down to
the suites. I walked in closing the door behind me. Asher was sitting in the
chair by the bed. I closed the distance from the door to the chair and knelt in
front of him. I ran a finger along his face, letting it glide along the scars
down his cheek to his neck as I looked into ice blue eyes. He was so cold and
hungry. A little voice in the back of my mind was saying run but this was
Asher; he wouldn't hurt me. The voice said, “You are a fool.”
I ignored it as I
told him, “I'm here Asher. Take what you
need.”
“You do not
understand what it is that I need hunter. I fear if I tell you, you will not
like it.”
I sighed. It sounded
harsh. “Jesus, Asher. Do we have to do this every time? I've told you...”
He lashed out and
knocked me backwards. Everything slowed
down. Asher stalked towards me, those blue eyes boring into me as he reached
down and grabbed a hand full of my shirt, to lift me up and throw me onto the
bed. He grabbed my wrists and pinned my arms above my head with one hand as he
shoved my head to the side with his other.
I was trying to think about what I had done to piss him off when he sank
his fangs into my neck. He threw a lot
of power into me as he drank. I could suddenly feel other things around me. I
could feel Luna. She was talking to Ares. She suddenly gasped and I could see
panic in her eyes, like she wouldn't make it in time. I was so screwed.
When I opened my
eyes, everything was too bright. They'd bled over. I was sitting in the big tub
again but this time I wasn't alone. Asher held me against his chest, my head
resting on his shoulder. My mind was on
some weird high. Asher kept repeating
one word over and over. It took me a minute to realize what the word was…
Regret… regret.
My voice came out in
a whisper. “Asher, I provoked you. It was not your fault.”
He shook his head. “I
should have more control. I could have killed you.”
“Not your fault.” I
sighed. “Luna's here.”
“How do you know
this?”
“I can feel her.” I relaxed and closed my eyes, letting him hold
me. “I can feel everything.”
A few minutes later
the door opened and Luna walked in. The
minute she touched us a wave of pleasure ran through me causing my back to bow
and a cry escape my lips. We all felt it. I heard Asher gasp and exclaim, ”Merde'” right before Luna said,
“Oh my God.” They sounded like they were talking nonsense to me.
Luna’s voice was
rough as if her beast was leaking through, “What have you done?”
“I may have gone too
far.” He explained.
She sighed. “Jesus
Asher, what's happened? I felt him… you.
I felt what was happening and I couldn't stop it.”
I was shivering. The
water had turned cold. I got out of the tub, wrapped a towel around me and left
them to talk. I climbed onto the bed in
all my wetness and pulled the covers up. I was freezing. A few minutes later I
felt the bed move. I watched as Asher climbed in beside me. He pulled me close
as the bed dipped again, behind me. One of Luna's arms came across my side as
she reached for Asher. Their touch was almost too much.
I tried hard not to
feel as I asked, “I thought you two were playing twenty questions?”
The master vampire
whispered, “Your well being comes first.”
“Just close your
eyes and rest. We'll sort all of this out later.” Luna assured me.
“You just wanted to
see me naked.” I didn't have to see her face to know her lip was twitching at
my comment.
There were dreams
and bits of dreams. Some were mine, but others... all held incredible pain and
abandonment: Knives and claws; the body splitting apart; skin and bone tearing,
breaking and knitting back together to form a whole new being. Drops of acid on the skin, as I tried to
force a scream and the screams of another close by calling a name… His name…
Then there were two small boys laughing one minute, dead at my feet the next.
This dream out of all of them brought me awake screaming.
Arms pulled me down,
voices whispering and soothing but all I wanted was to get away. Thrashing
wildly, I broke free.
Jumping to my feet I
searched frantically for the door, finally found it and threw it open to escape.
Running down the hall, I tried to open doors along the way. There had to be a
way out! There had to be! At the end there were steps, one last door. Climbing the steps, my hand on the knob... A voice
shouted. “No!”
Strong arms pulled
me down away from the door as it opened. Streams of sunlight poured through
before the door was slammed shut. Something slammed into me and I sank into
darkness once more.