This is my fic that I'm continuing from fanfiction.net.
*sob* Here goes:
Title: In Return For Death
Author: Satan's Sidekick aka Connie
Rating: PG-13 for a bit of swearing. May get violent later on.
Email: [email protected], or [email protected]
Disclaimers: Nope, none of this is owned by me. Not getting any money either.
Summary: The bare minimum: Edward has a hit on Jean-Claude, and Olaf is back in
town. Possible A/E.
Edited by: vampgal13 at: 12/14/02 3:26:45 am
vampgal13
Anitaverse Addict
(11/25/02 4:15:55 am)
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Part 1
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~*One*~
The call came at four in the
morning. I had just gotten back from my last zombie raising – four in all – and
was utterly exhausted. The ironic thing was that it wasn’t the zombies that had
given me a splitting headache; it was those freaking lawyers. Several times
during the night I had been tempted to shove a gun in their face and scream at
them to shut up. The only reason I didn’t was because it was unprofessional.
I would have actually had to take
five, but Larry offered to do my last one for me. He could do about three a
night now, and I wasn’t too sure how I felt about it. I advised him not to tell
Bert if he found that he could do more than three. Larry didn’t get the advice,
but I hoped that he would take it anyway. I would have to remember to buy him a
thankyou card or something. Let him deal with the lawyers.
The house was empty when I came in.
Nathaniel had moved into his own apartment a week ago, and I wasn’t quite used
to it yet. When Jean-Claude had finally taught me how to feed from a distance,
Nathaniel ceased being my pomme de sang, but that didn’t mean I didn’t miss
him. I still saw him often, but it wasn’t really the same to waking up to the
smell of coffee and bacon frying. Besides, he was the only one who I really
talked to; Richard had stopped talking to me, I had stopped talking to
Jean-Claude and when Micah and I got together, we didn’t talk. Lust is a bitch,
but love is bitchier.
Once, I might have confided in
Ronnie, but we had grown too far apart for that. The last time we talked was
about a month ago, on her birthday. Now days I worked out by myself.
I dropped my keys on the kitchen
bench, eager for a bath, or at the least a shower and wash all the chicken
blood off me. I had barely walked two steps when the phone rang, making me
jump.
Throughout my years, I have learnt
that when the phone rings at four in the morning, it’s usually the police or
the pard. Either way, it wouldn’t be good news. I contemplated letting the
answering machine get it, but I knew I would feel guilty about it afterwards,
so I picked up after the third ring and turned off the machine. No rest for the
weary. Or was that wicked?
“It’s Edward.”
Well that was new, though not
necessarily good. He either wanted my help, or knew I would want his. I wasn’t
sure which I preferred. The last time we had gotten together I had almost died,
but what else was knew? I wondered if this was a Donna-sanctioned call.
“I know you’re there Anita.”
“Let me guess,” I said, “you can
hear me breathing. What’s up, Edward?”
“Couldn’t this have just been a
social call?” he asked. I could hear amusement in his voice. Damn him.
“I don’t think you’ve ever made a
social call in your life, Edward. Not to me at least.”
He laughed. “Am I so predictable?”
“No predictable,” I said. “Just
obvious.”
“Glad to hear it,” he said, and the
laughter drained from his voice. He was being deadly serious now. “In a way,
this is a social call,” Edward said softly.
“What are you talking about?”
“I was offered a hit on your undead
bloodsucking boyfriend. Enough to make it worth my while.”
It was after a few seconds before I
could think, and a few more before I said anything. “Did you take it?” I
finally asked, though I thought I knew the answer already.
“Would I call you if I didn’t?”
I swallowed. This was foreign
territory, and I was stepping carefully. Edward and I had gone up against each
other before, but I’d never had the experience of him threatening someone close
to me. I didn’t know how to respond.
“I don’t want you to kill
Jean-Claude.”
“Why not?” He was amused, damn it.
He had no right.
“Because we’re bound by the marks
and killing him might kill me and Richard.”
Edward seemed to think about this
for a moment. “I’m willing to take the chance. From what I hear, you’re pretty
powerful yourself. Raising vampires, vampire servants and being a Leopard
Queen. I think you’ve got what it takes to survive.”
Damn he was good. “Who’s your
informant anyway?” And could I kill him?
He ignored the question. “I don’t
want to hurt you, Anita, but if you get in my way, I won’t hesitate.”
I did a quick mental list of what I
could use against him. And came up with nothing. Well, almost nothing. “What
about your fantasy about hunting me?” I asked. I was stalling, fishing, biding
time, whatever. He knew it and I knew it, but I did it anyway.
“You know I would love to hunt you
Anita, but this is about you and my hit. Put it simply, if you try to stop me,
I’ll hurt you. Maybe I won’t kill you, but I can hurt you enough to make you
wish you were dead.” Was that bitterness I could detect? “Don’t make me hurt
you, Anita,” he said softly.
That was good to know, but… “I can’t
let you kill Jean-Claude.”
“I knew you would say that,” he
said. “It was worth a try. I’ll be in town tomorrow. See you then.” There was a
click as he hung up the phone.
I stood in the room, trying to
compose myself. Edward and I had never really been on the opposite sides of an
argument. Though the first time we met we mistook the other for a vampire, but
that didn’t count. Even when he talked about hunting me we hadn’t really
disagreed. Somewhere in the dark depths of my mind, I wanted to know too. And
now, maybe we would find out.
The whole thing seemed unreal. If a
hit man were after Jean-Claude, I would’ve called Edward. But now Edward was
after Jean-Claude and my headache was just getting worse. I made myself a cup
of coffee, and hit the speed dial for Circus of the Damned. Jean-Claude’s
private line, so I didn’t have to go through vampire red tape.
“Oui?” Asher, Jean-Claude’s second
banana, had picked up.
“It’s Anita. Could you put
Jean-Claude on? It’s kind of urgent.” If Edward was as good as he was – sorry,
no if – then he would kill Jean-Claude in daylight. God knew how he was going
to get into the coffin room. Jean-Claude didn’t even let me in there, unless
under special circumstances.
“Of course, ma cherie. I shall fetch
him at once.”
There were a few minutes of silence,
before Jean-Claude answered the phone.
“Ma petite?” His voice purred like a
great cat, making me feel dirty just by listening to him. It was as distracting
as hell, but I didn’t bother to yell at him.
“Edward’s got a hit, and you’re the
target. You should probably put up extra security; maybe have some people
patrol around in the daylight. Make sure there aren’t any entrances except for
the ones you know about.” I had planned to be calm and composed about this, but
it all came out in a rush. Guess I was more worked up about this than I had
thought.
Jean-Claude was silent for a while
on the other end. Long enough for me to ask if he was still there.
“I am thinking, ma petite. Monsieur
Edward has been offered money to kill me, correct?”
“Yes.”
There was another pause. “Are you
trying to stop him?”
“Yes.”
“Then I would be more worried about
yourself. The Circus is a very hard place to infiltrate. Has he threatened you
yet?”
“He said I would only get hurt if I
tried to stop him.” I realised that I was uncomfortable with the whole
situation. It seemed too much like ratting on Edward. Besides, wasn’t
Jean-Claude supposed to be the one protecting me, not the other way around?
“Have you told him of our
triumvirate?”
“Yes, and he’s willing to take the
chance.” I was going to blow his informant’s goddamn brains out.
I heard Jean-Claude say something in
French to Asher.
“I will take extra precautions, ma
petite, but it is truly you, not me that you should be worried for. As I have
said, the Circus is well-equipped to deal with these circumstances.”
“You can’t stay in the Circus
forever,” I said, and then actually thought about what I was saying. “I mean, I
suppose you could, but you wouldn’t be able to.”
“Such distress over my well-being,
ma petite. I am honoured by your concern, but it is ill placed. I am very hard
to kill.”
“Don’t I know it,” I muttered,
feeling a bit grumpy that I had made a big deal about it. Jean-Claude probably
had to deal with millions of people wanting to kill him at some time or
another. I knew I sometimes wanted to. This wouldn’t be any different for him.
“And how do you fare, ma petite? You
have been avoiding me, I know,” he said, starting the voice tricks again.
Invasive bastard. It was times like these that I wouldn’t have minded him being
dead.
“I’m fine,” I said shortly. “I’ll be
over tomorrow night. To make sure everything is secure.” I hung up before he
could say anything else.
Maybe I was making a big fuss over
nothing, but I knew Edward. If there were some secret way to get into the
coffin room, Edward would find it. And if there weren’t, then he would probably
make one.
The next person that I rang
surprised me, and almost as much as it surprised the person on the other line.
“Hello?” Ronnie’s voice was sluggish
at four thirty in the morning.
“It’s Anita,” I said, and felt
guilty for waking her up.
“Anita!” she said, and I had a
mental image of her sitting up in bed. She didn’t sound tired or sleepy
anymore. “Is there anything wrong? It’s four thirty in the morning!”
Didn’t I know it. “I’m sorry for
waking you up. I know we haven’t been too close recently, but I just want you
to listen, ok?” I filled her in on the latest developments in my life, leaving
out Micah and the ardeur. My life was already too complicated for my supposed
best friend to think I was a monster. I told her about Edward’s threat.
“Well, honestly, I’m all for killing
fang-face. But since this isn’t what you want to hear, what would you like me
to do?”
“Can you match up the names Edward,
Theodore and Ted against the names Forrester and Van Cleef? Any records that
come up with a blond, Caucasian male, about 5’8” I want to hear about, no
matter how stupid.”
I spelt out a few of the names, and
Ronnie jotted them down. Either that or she was playing tic tac toe by herself.
“Earliest I can get them to you is tomorrow night, though it would probably be
closer to be the morning after.”
“I don’t care. I just want them as
soon as possible.” It was about time I found out about the real Edward.
“Um, and Ronnie? Thanks. For
listening and helping.”
“Take care of yourself, Anita. Try
and get some sleep.” We exchanged goodbyes and hung up.
It was five by the time I had gotten
off the phone, and five thirty when I actually crawled into bed with Sigmund.
The Firestar was under my pillow because I was feeling more paranoid than
usual, and the Browning was in its usual place on the headboard.
If I dreamt, I didn’t remember it.
vampgal13
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(11/25/02 4:17:31 am)
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Part 2
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~*Two*~
I woke up to the sound of the phone
ringing. The clock read a few minutes past eight. Two and a half hours of
sleep. Yippee. I let it ring, so the machine could get it, but realised I
hadn’t turned it on again the night before. I mentally smacked myself and
picked up the phone.
“Hello?” I said groggily. I was
hoping that it was Edward calling off the whole thing, or to explain that it
was a joke, but somehow I didn’t think my chances were too great.
There was no reply on the other end,
but there was breathing. Slow, deliberate breathing. The hairs at back
prickled, but I refused to be spooked out.
“Who the hell is this?” I would have
yelled, but I really didn’t have the energy to.
More breathing.
“If you don’t tell me who the fuck
this is-“ I began, but was rewarded with a familiar click and a dial tone. I
sighed and put down the phone. I would have said it was Edward trying to creep
me out, but he didn’t do shit like that. I debated on whether to call the
police or not, but decided that it was probably some kid playing a prank.
Probably. It was too early in the morning for this type of shit.
The next time I woke up, it was
twelve. I decided that I had gotten all the sleep that I was going to get, and
stumbled into the bathroom. The warm water hit me with a blast, waking me up a
bit, though I wouldn’t be truly awake until I had my coffee. It had been nice
when Nathaniel was there to make my coffee for me.
Minutes later I came out the
bathroom, reasonably refreshed and walked into my bedroom to get dressed.
I found Edward sitting on my bed
with Sigmund in his lap. I frowned, and snatched Sigmund back, placing him back
with the rest of my collection. The penguins had overflowed the loveseat and
were beginning to take over the floor.
“I should’ve known you’d be here bright and early.”
Edward just watched me with
predatory eyes.
“Are you going to tell me why you’re
here? Or are you just going to stare at me until I break down and admit
everything?”
His lips twitched. “Why do you think
I’m here, Anita?”
We had hardly exchanged ten words,
and I was already getting pissed. “Oh, I don’t know. Because you like to annoy
the shit out of me?”
Edward smiled. “Besides that.”
At least he had admitted to it. “Why
don’t we just cut to the chase, and you can tell me why you’re here. This way,
we don’t have to play twenty questions.”
He nodded. Down to business then. “I
want you to cancel the search that is currently being conducted by Veronica
Simms.”
For a few seconds I couldn’t do
anything but stare. “How do you know these things?” He had one hell of an
informant. Either that, or he had bugged my house, and now that I thought about
it, it was entirely possible that Edward would be keeping tabs on me inside the
house. When I had gotten over my initial surprise, I said, “What I do in my
spare time is none of your business.”
Edward made for my arm, and I
stepped back, going for my gun, only to realise that I had nothing but a towel
on. He caught hold of my forearm and clamped onto it tightly. I looked into his
eyes, and was so surprised to see emotion there, that the words stuck in my
throat.
“Anita, this is deadly serious. You
search for records about me, and you send up flags all over the place. It’s
going to alert a lot of dangerous people. My kind of dangerous. So far I’ve
managed to keep your friend’s search quiet, but if she continues it, I won’t be
able to.” He squeezed my arm a little bit harder, enough so that it would hurt.
To show that he meant business. “I’ve been very careful to keep you a secret,
but they caught a whiff of you in Santa Fe. They don’t know who you are yet,
but trust me, they’re searching hard.”
I vaguely remembered Bradley telling
me that someone had flagged my file. I had also seen Edward’s type of dangerous
in Santa Fe, but hell would freeze over before anyone told me what do.
“I’ll tell Ronnie to call off the search,” I said, although I had no intention
of doing such a thing.
Edward let go of my arm and sat
down. “Thankyou.” It was as emotional as I had seen him get. He narrowed his
eyes at me, “But if I find out you’ve been lying to me…” he left the threat
unfinished.
He knew me way too well for comfort.
Still, I thought that I could bluff it out. “Edward, you saw me when we were in
that gunfight. I was useless. Why would I want a repeat of that?” I didn’t try
to look innocent, but I did try to look helpless.
Apparently, it worked, because
Edward was nodded his head slowly. I felt a small surge a triumph, but kept my
face expressionless. If I was fooling Edward, it meant I had become an
accomplished liar. Was that a good thing? Maybe not, but it was definitely
useful.
“So what now? You go after
Jean-Claude and I try to stop you?” I walked towards my dresser and discovered
that there was a black box it that hadn’t been there before. I looked at Edward
questionably.
“It’s a gift,” he explained. He
stood and began walking to the door. “I’ll be fair and give you a head start.
You’re smart enough to have warned Jean-Claude already, but I’ll give you until
midnight tonight until I go for the hit.” He stopped at the door and looked
back at me. “They’re the monsters and we’re the humans, Anita. That’s how it
works.”
I shook my head. “We might be
humans, but we’re monsters too.” And now I wasn’t even sure about the human
part.
Edward left and I opened his gift.
To my surprise it was the Seecamps .22 that I had wanted, but had never got
around to ordering. Edward must have known, so he had ordered it for me. The
grip fit nicely in my hand, although I would still have to go out to the
shooting range and try it out later. He had been considerate enough to give me
a box of silver ammo with it as well.
There was a short note at the bottom
of the box.
“This is to make up for the hit.
Enjoy.”
I would have laughed if the
situations had been different. Edward had always known what to get me.
Meanwhile, I was late for my consultations at work, and I was also going to be
asking for the night off. Bert was going to kill me someday.
vampgal13
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(11/25/02 4:18:55 am)
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Part 3
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~*Three*~
I was home by seven that night. As I
had suspected, Bert had threatened to fire me, and chop my head off if I didn’t
turn up for work the next day. I politely informed him that Friday was my day
off, and I wasn’t working on Saturday or Sunday. Some insults were exchanged,
but I left victorious. I would get my night off.
Usually when I visited Jean-Claude,
I would wear something formal, commonly a dress of some type. In this case, I
decided to go in with my Browning, Firestar and my knife down my back. I was
tempted to bring the Seecamps with me, but decided that I probably wouldn’t
need it that night. Edward may have given me until midnight, but I would bet
that he would go for Jean-Claude in the day. I did, however, bring an extra
clip of ammo with me.
It was eight-thirty when I arrived
at the Circus. It was already crowded by then, but I spotted Jason straight
away, and for once he was dressed normally. I guessed that Jean-Claude did it
so he didn’t look conspicuous. Usually, when Jason was left to himself, his outfits
covered only the bare minimum.
He made his way towards me, and he was still the same, with or without flashy
clothes. He looked too damn happy for comfort, which made me instantly
suspicious. But despite everything, I was still glad to see him. He was, like
Edward used to be, one the constants in my life. Jason only stopped grinning
when things got really bad.
“I see you’ve decided to dress like us normal people today,” I commented to
him, when he stood in front of me.
I saw him pout. “I know. Jean-Claude made me wear this. It’s no fun.” He
grinned. “But if you like it, Anita…” Jason made a ‘come hither’ motion.
I took the lead and Jason trailed behind me. The clowns on the sign had fangs.
It reminded me of the time when I was first there – I had scrambled out of
Nikolaos’ hideout, almost pissing myself in fear. And now Jean-Claude was the
Master of the City and I was his human servant. How times had changed.
My thoughts swung to Edward again. He had been with me when I killed Nikolaos,
and he was there again when we took out Oliver. He was the one reliable thing
in my life up until now. I touched my Browning. He had given it to me after the
police had confiscated mine. In fact, more than half of my weapons stash were
originally ‘gifts’ from Edward.
Once upon a time, I would’ve helped Edward kill Jean-Claude, and felt pity.
Now, I was protecting Jean-Claude, but if the circumstances were right, I could
kill him without hesitating. It was true; I was a monster. The fact that it
didn’t bother me, did bother me. It made me wonder how far I would really go,
and had gone. Edward had once told me that only I could decide that. Sometimes
I thought it was too late.
“Earth to Anita,” Jason said, knocking me out of my thoughts. He was waiting
for me to walk through the door, and down the stairs that would lead into the
Master’s hideout. I rid my head of any thoughts, and prepared to meet
Jean-Claude for the first time in a month.
I let Jason walk down first. I stared at his ass. With everything going on, I
had forgotten to feed the ardeur that day. Fan-fucking-tastic.
~**~
Jean-Claude was sitting motionless
on the couch when I entered. His face was turned away from me, but he knew I
was there.
“Play nice,” Jason said with a wink. He slid out of another door and shut it
behind him, leaving us alone. He didn’t know Edward as well as me, so he could
be excused for being bouncy. On the other hand, Jean-Claude had always known
just what Edward was capable of.
Jean-Claude stood in one smooth motion
that made me think of lap dancers. The outfit was one of the more
‘conservative’ ones – a sheer white shirt, black leather pants, and suede
boots. Standard clothes for a person who constantly looked as if he’d just
walked out from someone’s wet dream.
“Good evening, ma petite,”
Jean-Claude said and I felt the ardeur stir under my layers of control. I dug
my nails into my palm, and I could concentrate without thinking about sex. But
if Jean-Claude touched me that night, I was gone.
“You have not fed the ardeur,” he
said. It wasn’t a question, and I could hear the anger in his voice. Goody.
I shrugged. “I forgot. As long as we
don’t touch, I’ll be fine. I can stop Guilty Pleasures later tonight.” I would
usually stop by for ten to twenty minutes every night before I went to my
zombie raisings. I was enough of a regular by then that they had reserved a
table for me. Not near the stage, but in the middle of the audience, where the
lusty feelings were coming from. “We have more important things to do anyway.”
My body was screaming that I should jump him, but I just stood stiffly and
tried ignored it. A few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have lasted minute, but I had had
practice since then.
Jean-Claude sighed, and the sound
rubbed down my back. “I shall fetch Jason.”
I frowned. “No, you shall not. I
think I can stop myself from turning into slut-girl for an hour or two. I won’t
use my friends, especially when there’s another way.”
It was his turn to frown. “Jason will
not mind.”
“That’s beside the point,
Jean-Claude. I will mind. I don’t use friends as food. I don’t feed off them,”
I paused. “Not unless I have to.”
He shook his head, and looked weary.
“Your morals make you who you are, ma petite, but do not let them make you
stupid. Our friend Richard is a good example of how that can happen.”
The anger that was cooling rose
again. I had forgotten that I hadn’t speaking to Jean-Claude for a reason.
“Leave Richard out of this. I came down to check that your security’s ok, not
for you to mother me.”
Jean-Claude let out a frustrated
noise. “I keep trying to help you, Anita, trying to help us, but you and
Richard oppose me at every turn. When will you realise that you cannot deny the
triumvirate we have made?”
“I’m not denying anything,
Jean-Claude. I just won’t feed the ardeur using my friends.”
“So instead, you will feed it using
the lust of strangers. Strangers who do not understand what is happening to
them, and who have not consented.”
“Damn it, Jean-Claude. It’s not like
that, and you know it.” The headache I had was returning fast, and I would’ve
given almost anything for an aspirin.
“No, Anita, I do not know,” his
voice was warm with anger when he said it. “I do not understand why you refuse
to take my advice, or why you deny the ardeur a proper feeding. Perhaps you
could explain to me?”
I was suddenly very, very tired. “I
didn’t come here to fight, Jean-Claude. I am not feeding on my friends, and
that’s final. Nothing you say will make me change my mind.”
Jean-Claude just looked at me for a
few seconds, his face in a pleasant mask that I could never read. We had
managed to piss each other off, yet again.
“I shall call for Asher and Damien,”
he said tersely, and walked out of the door.
I was going to meet my boyfriend’s
former vampire lover, and my vampire servant. By this time, I had stopped
thinking about how deep I was buried in preternatural shit. There was no point:
I was already six feet under, and still sinking.
vampgal13
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(11/25/02 4:20:11 am)
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Part 4
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~*Four*~
“When did these new toys get
installed?” I was standing in what seemed to be a control room, with enough
panels, buttons and screens that made me feel I was in the Starship Enterprise.
Beam me down, Scotty. But somehow, even here, Jean-Claude had managed to make
the room look like it was part of show. Lush carpet, stuffed couches, and
goddamn paintings. It was these times that I couldn’t understand him at all.
Jean-Claude had upped his security system since I had last visited. Either that
or he had done it a long time ago, and I hadn’t noticed the security cameras in
each room. Which I hadn’t.
“I am not sure of the precise date,
but I believe it was a fortnight ago.” Damian nodded to support Asher’s
statement. “It is currently still in its trial stage.”
Jean-Claude had installed a new
security system only two weeks before I learnt of Edward’s hit. A coincidence?
Maybe not, but I could’ve just been more paranoid than usual. He had mentioned
that he’d gotten a few challenges, so I had assumed the system was installed while
I was trying to get my shit together. Obviously not.
“Is that the coffin room?” I asked
peering at one of the screens. The coffins were lined up neatly in two rows,
and the image was clear enough for me to see a pair of fuzzy dice. Some things
never changed. “What happened to the door?”
“Jean-Claude had a new door
installed: steel enforced, three inches thick, and heavy enough so that no
ordinary human could open it. You need security clearance to get past it too,”
Damian added. He pointed to another screen. “That’s a camera filming on the
other side.” I looked at it, and was happy to see two guards there. Still, even
I had to admit that the guards were a little excessive. With a security system
like that, it could probably hide the crown jewels, so long as only humans
tried to break through. And Edward was human, as far as I knew.
It occurred to me that Jean-Claude
had only set up human precautions, not preternatural ones. If he had been
really worried about challengers getting too enthused, then he would have
gotten a witch to ward the coffin room. Or at least gotten some sort of
preternatural power trigger. Was it possible that Jean-Claude knew about the
hit before Edward? I wouldn’t put it past him.
“Did Jean-Claude ever mention why he
wanted to do this? You guys seemed fine with the security before. Why the new
high-tech gizmos?” I had meant to sound curious, but it came out sounding
suspicious. Ah well.
Damian shrugged, and it was Asher
who responded.
“I do not know, cherie. Jean-Claude
merely felt the need for better protection. It is not our place to question the
Master.”
The last comment was said sarcastically. It made me wonder if Asher and
Jean-Claude’s relationship was really ok. It had always been strained, but for
most of the time, they seemed to get along. I saw Damian give Asher a quick
look before turning back to me.
I was more or less done for the
night. I checked my watch. It had to be a miracle. It was only ten o’clock. If
only all vampire shit took this long. Hopefully I could just get home, shower
and sleep. Strangely, I had been doing a lot of that lately. My zombie
appointments weren’t too hectic, and there hadn’t been a sign of preternatural
or police trouble for a month. I would’ve been relieved if I didn’t know that
something would come up. And something had. The only difference was that I
wasn’t in control this time. Edward and Jean-Claude were the people calling the
shots. All I could do was stand in the sidelines and try to keep everyone
alive, including myself. The arrangement did not make me happy.
“I should probably go,” I stepped
forward to kiss Asher on the cheek, which had become a sort of routine for us.
Out of nowhere my ardeur flared up.
Asher and Damian exchanged a glance, and I wondered whether vampires were
telepathic. Whatever had been keeping the ardeur at bay was gone now, and I
wasn’t sure if it was stress, anxiety or anger or a mix of all three. But what
mattered was that the ardeur was hungry, and it was hungry now. I took my step
back, so I was out of reach, and even as I did that, Damian stretched out to
me.
My instincts took over, and Damian
ended up frozen in mid step with my Browning pointed at his chest. He just
stared at me with his startled green eyes, and I think everyone in the room
knew I could and would do it.
“You could kill me,” he said simply.
There was no emotion in his voice, and he was shielding so I couldn’t tell what
he was thinking. Somehow I didn’t think it would be happy thoughts.
“Yes, I could kill you. Now step
back, and get the hell away from me.” I looked at Asher. “That goes for you
too.” Damian did what I told him to do, and I put down the gun, but I didn’t
put it away. I wasn’t the most trusting person when the ardeur was active.
Hell, I wasn’t a trusting person without the ardeur.
“Nobody touches me,” I said, and began backing away from the two vampires. I
hit the wall and stopped. Neither of them made any move to want to approach me.
Smart boys.
“Ok, let’s stay calm. I just need to
get out of the Circus, and to my car without touching a male.” My eyes staring
fixedly at Damian’s bare chest, and I was already thinking bad thoughts. I
wanted to sink my teeth into him, to hold his flesh in my mouth. When I started
stripping him down in my mind, I scratched my arms, and that didn’t even help
much. I had denied the ardeur for too long, and I was losing focus fast.
“Alright, I need restraints.” It was
all I could do to stay still, and not jump on both of them.
Asher nodded to Damian who walked
out of the room, hopefully to get some rope or something. I was left alone with
Asher.
“You could feed on Damian,” Asher
suggested when he was out of the room.
My anger rose out of the ardeur long
enough for me to think. I could not believe this. What are the chances of being
mothered by two bloodsucking fiends in one night? “I am not feeding on my
friends. Get me to Guilty Pleasures – hell, it doesn’t have to be Guilty
Pleasures, anywhere with lust will do. But under no circumstances am I feeding
on friends, when I can feed from afar.”
“Ma cherie, he is your vampire
servant. You are entitled to feed on him, and Damian will not mind.”
The response was almost the same as
Jean-Claude’s. It was eerie. “I am not feeding on Damian because I’m his
master. He’s mine, and I protect what’s mine, I don’t use them as food. And
he’s not only a servant, he’s a friend.”
Asher gave me a condescending look.
“Anita, you do not have to love him to have sex with him. You can have sex with
a friend that you love in a different way.”
I was going to tear my hair out
soon. The only good thing that was coming out of this was that I was momentarily
distracted from the ardeur. “Jesus Christ, what do I have to do to get through
to everyone that I will not be feeding on my friends? And since when does sex
have anything to do with it?” Ok, I was lying, sex had everything to do with
it, but thankfully at that moment, Damian entered with some rope.
He walked towards me with it, and I
turned my back to him so I couldn’t watch him. So I wouldn’t be tempted to do
something stupid. I slid both hands behind my back.
“Be careful not to touch-”
The warning came too late. Damian’s
hands touched mine, and the ardeur rose and rode us both. I felt his body tense
as I pressed my back into his chest. He was afraid of me and I liked that. I
liked that a lot.
I called out to Asher. “Help us!”
I was turning, and pushing our bodies towards a leather couch that sat against
a wall. It was a dark mahogany colour.
“I cannot help you, Anita, and you
must feed sometime.” He started to head towards the door. “I will leave you
alone with your servant.”
I wanted to say, “Fuck you,” to
Asher, but at that same moment, Damian ripped open my shirt, and unhooked my
bra. We had landed on the couch with him riding on me. My mind stopped focusing
completely when he began to lick my nipple. I heard him whisper my name, and I
felt his warm breath tickle my stomach. His body was warm, and he had taken
that warmth from someone else that night. It was that thought that made me take
control.
“Damian, look at me.” His eyes
looked up from fiddling with my pants. “I’m on top,” I told him. I knew that I
could control the ardeur, so I wouldn’t do anything that I didn’t want to. I
didn’t trust Damian so much.
His eyes were wild with need, but he moved slowly off me. After a bit of
manoeuvring, we managed to swap positions with me straddling his torso.
“Damian, I’m going to feed on you because I can’t stop now, but we are not
having sex,” my voice was flat, and controlled, although I was struggling to
keep the ardeur overriding everything. Brownie point for me. “I don’t-”
Damian pulled me down and began
kissing me. “Anita, I don’t give the fuck. Just touch me,” he whispered
hoarsely.
My will collapsed, and I did.
~**~
I stared at the mirror. There were
two delicate fang marks on the right side of my neck. Damian bore my bite on
his right shoulder. We hadn’t had sex, but we had come close. Very, very close.
Fortunately, the ardeur had been sated enough that I regained myself before we
went through with it.
Asher had dumped me in Jean-Claude’s bathroom to clean up. I had learnt my
lesson, and now I kept at least one outfit of mine at the Circus. I had
showered, so I was clean. I had clothes, and I had weapons. I wasn’t hungry for
anything except food. What more did a girl need?
Nothing. Then why was I sitting on the bathroom floor, staring at myself in the
full length mirror? I would not cry, especially when I didn’t know what exactly
I was crying about.
My cell phone rang. It was probably important. Not many people called you at
eleven thirty at night. I noticed the number was private. Edward. I was almost
relieved.
“Edward?”
I heard a chuckle. “Hello, Anita. How did you know it was me?”
“You’re the only person who would ring me on a private number. What’s up? Besides
trying to kill my boyfriend.”
“I’d like to have a talk, Anita. I’ll meet you at your house in forty-five
minutes. You should be able to get there quickly from the Circus.”
I scowled. “I am not putting up with any of your bullshit tonight. No more games,
Edward. I mean it. I just had the shittiest day.”
“Then it’s about to get worse. Forty-five minutes, Anita. I’ll see you there.”
vampgal13
Anitaverse Addict
(12/14/02 3:25:53 am)
Reply Part 5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
~*Five*~
The Circus was in full swing when I
left. It smelt vaguely of popcorn and candy with the undertone of blood and
death. The car park looked ominous with pools of light coming from the lamps
above. The cars threw shadows everywhere, and there was a particularly dark
shadow over my Jeep. As I walked towards it, a figure slipped out from the
darkness. I knew that figure. And I had thought my day couldn’t worse.
“Gretchen,” I said flatly. My hand
went for the Browning, and I had it unholstered and pointed in a matter of
seconds. I had released Gretchen from her coffin prison, and I hadn’t heard a
peep from her ever since. Until now. Some people never learn.
“Anita Blake,” she hissed. She
started to approach me, but I made a motion with the Browning. She stopped.
Maybe old dogs could learn new tricks after all.
“I am too tired for this,” I
muttered to myself. To Gretchen I said, “You want to take me on? Take a number.
Now get the fuck away from my car.” Actually, I wanted her to give me an excuse
to shoot her. I think Gretchen knew that too, so she did what I said.
“You broke your word. You said that
you did not want Jean-Claude. That you would wed the werewolf,” she said. She
was one royally pissed off vampire, but I was the one holding the gun. I think
she would have torn me in half if I hadn’t been armed.
“Well, Gretchen, if you hadn’t
noticed, I was the one who wanted you released from the coffin. And a lot can
happen in three years.” I had gotten better in three years. I had formed
freaking army of preternatural creatures in three years. “Does Jean-Claude know
that you’re hounding me?”
“Is that what you will do, Anita?
Tell Jean-Claude? Run to your Master so he can save you?” Gretchen seemed
bitter about that. I suppose being locked in a coffin gives you time to think.
Her comments would have usually
annoyed me more, but I didn’t want to be late to my appointment with Edward.
“Jean-Claude is my equal, not my Master. Nor has he ever been my Master,” I
added.
She laughed, and it was a bitter,
sad sound. I felt pity for her. Well, almost. “Oh yes, I have heard of your
magnificent triumvirate. Of how you and your werewolf tricked my Master to
share his power with you. You will both pay,” she emphasised the word ‘pay’,
“and when my Master realises his mistake, he will make me his lover.” On that
note, she disappeared again.
A fanatic vampire to end off the
day. But, no wait, there was more. I still had to have a ‘talk’ with Edward. I
sighed, and climbed into the car. I needed a vacation.
~**~
He was sitting at my kitchen table
with two cups of coffee. I assumed that one of them was for me, and I almost
drank it in one go. Edward made good coffee, just how I liked it, but at that
moment, I wouldn’t have cared if it was cat piss I was drinking. I went behind
the counter and poured myself another cup.
“Something’s wrong, Anita,” he said.
I glared at him. “You think?” I sat back
down.
“Are you going to tell me what
happened tonight at the Circus?” he asked.
“No.”
“I followed you.”
I was suddenly angry and I wasn’t
quite sure why. I slammed down the cup. “You know what? It would serve you just
right if I didn’t say a thing. If I just said, ‘Fuck you’ like you do to me.”
Edward didn’t even blink. That man
had nerves of steel. “I don’t say that to you, Anita.”
“The hell you don’t. Stuff this,
Edward. What do you want to talk about?” I started to calm down, which meant
the coffee was doing its job. But I was still pissed off, and no amount of
coffee that night was going to remedy that.
“Your friend, Veronica Sims, is
missing.”
My heart sped up a little. I hadn’t
told Ronnie to stop the search. Edward had warned about the dangers, and I had
chosen to ignore them. Now my best friend was missing. I hated it when I was
wrong and when other people payed for it. “What do you mean she’s missing?”
“She never returned to work after
her lunch break today.” Edward checked his watch. “Yesterday.” He paused. “Of
course, you already know that because you called her up,” the way he said it
made it clear that he knew I hadn’t called.
“I could have called in the morning,
before her lunch break.”
“You could have,” he said, “but you
didn’t.”
There was no point in lying to
Edward. “No, I didn’t call, but from what you’ve said, it wouldn’t have been
much use anyway.”
“You lied to me, Anita,” his voice
held no emotion when he said it, but I’d known Edward for long enough that he
wasn’t happy about it.
“Don’t tell me that you haven’t lied
to me before.”
It was a while before Edward said
anything else. For a few minutes there were only sounds of coffee-drinking
taking place. The silence was fine by me and it gave me a chance to look at
him. His hair had grown since I had last seen, and it was long enough that I
could distinguish a definite curl in it. His eyes hadn’t changed. His skin was
more tanned, but other than that, he was the same.
That led me to Donna. Had she
changed him at all, or was it just an act? More importantly, was Edward going
to marry her? If he wasn’t, then what was he going to do? We had established
that he didn’t want to leave them, but I really couldn’t see any other
solution. In the end, someone was going to get hurt.
“Do you remember the day we met?”
“What?” He’d taken me completely by
surprise.
“The day we met,” he repeated.
I shrugged. “Sure I remember the day
we met. You burnt the house down with a flamethrower and scared the shit out of
me. We killed a lot of vampires. What does that have to do with anything?” We
kiss of vampires that had gone rogue and went on a killing spree. Edward and I
first met by shoving a gun into the other person’s face. A few years ago,
Edward had been faster and I had been slow to kill. A few years ago, my body
count hadn’t been so high.
“Why do you think I was there, Anita?”
“It was only after your second visit
that you told me you were a hit man. I guess I assumed you were hired by one of
the grieving families with enough money. I’ve never really thought about it.” I
frowned. “I still don’t see what this has to do with anything.”
Edward cocked his head to one side.
“Think about what you’ve just said logically. Why would someone go to the
trouble of hiring me, when the Executioner was going to kill the vampires
anyway? And at the government’s expense?”
He’d thoroughly confused me now. “I
don’t know. What are you trying to say, Edward?”
“Did you ever think that I was there
for a reason, other than killing vampires?” He finished the coffee, and set the
mug down on the table. He stood up and started walking to the door.
“Was there a reason?”
Edward stopped in the doorframe, and
turned back to look at me. “The location of the lair was kept secret and the
building was guarded to make sure no vamps could get out and no humans could
get in. The killings were hushed up because it was embarrassing for the police.
Many of the victims did not have family, and the ones that did, wouldn’t have
had enough money.”
I stood up. “For God’s sake, Edward!
If you want to tell me something, then say it!”
“I don’t want to tell you anything,
Anita. I want you to think about what I said, and maybe next time you’ll have
something to tell me.” He started to leave.
I walked over and I grabbed his arm.
He just stared at my hand with waves of disapproval and menace. I ignored it. I
had done that trick too many times to count. “What about Ronnie?”
“What about her?” His face was blank
again.
“You have to help me find her.”
Edward smiled, and it was a little
condescending. It reminded me of Jean-Claude. “Anita, I’m an assassin. What the
hell do I know about a missing person?”
I looked up at him. “Please,
Edward.”
He looked at me for a few seconds,
and then something gave way. “Alright.”