Undesirable: Chapter 12
TITLE: Undesirable (A vampire novel)
RATING: NC-17 (This chapter R)
GENRE: Porn with plot -- heavy on the plot. Action/adventure, some black humor, some romance.
PAIRINGS: George x everyone. Mostly Slash, some het, three and moresomes. Vampire sex.
WARNINGS: (this chapter) violence.
WORD COUNT: 5472
Chapter 12
"I'll tell you what, Jeffrey," said Nadette with the air of someone being immensely generous. "You are right that this party would not be happening without you. And to show my appreciation of your… unique method of finding George, I'll let you stay. And I'll even let you bid on him tomorrow night, if you so desire, though I doubt your pockets are deep enough to afford him. In the meantime, you can have your glimpse of Eugenist politics, if that really is your desire. Perhaps, you might even learn something." She tapped him gently in the center of his chest.
"I might," agreed Jeffrey with a huge grin, seemingly unperturbed by the condescension.
"Speaking of which," said Anna, "I did wish to run an idea past you." She meant Nadette, not Jeffrey, who she promptly turned her back on. Jeffrey didn't seem to mind being snubbed, either. He gave me a quick sly glance then followed along behind the two.
I was left alone at the end of my chain. I couldn't hear a damn thing that the vampires were saying over the constant dull roar coming from the next room. Seconds stretched to minutes, and I was faced with the rather awkward position of being a wall-flower at my own party.
I tried sitting down, but the arms of the large chair felt too confining. I stood again, trying to be casual about it. I wondered if I could tow the chair off without inviting derision and came to the decision that it was just a bit beneath my dignity. That and I doubted I could get very far without someone stopping me. After trying a few positions, I settled for standing to the side of the chair, and propping my elbow on it's back. I kicked the curl of chain into the shadow under the seat, and tried to give the appearance I was just taking a break from the festivities.
My eyes drifting over to the arched divider when a sudden burst of laugher caught my attention. A couple of guys just on the other side were doing something that looked a hell of a lot like fun. I felt a mix of envy and irritation. This was my grave they were dancing on, had they no respect? And if I didn't rank as worthy in their mind, you'd think they'd at least be curious as to what their masters were up to. But, no, they seemed content.
It was unsettling. Would there be an event like this in the future, where I would be one of those guys mingling in a side room while my master, whoever he or she turned out to be, made policies on how to run the world? Would I mind my place and just enjoy the free booze? Uncomfortable thought.
"Hello there, Mouse,'" said Jeffrey, amicably.
I jumped so hard I nearly lost my balance. Gripping the back of the chair with white knuckles, I turned and nearly headbutted Jeffrey. He'd left the knot of vampires and was now about two inches away from my face. Stepping sideways away from the wall, I put a more socially acceptable amount of space between us.
"I'm not going to say 'I told you so," said Jeffrey with calculated affection.
"Sure, you are, " I said, wearily. I saw no reason to be tactful to him. He was the one vampire in the room who wouldn't be walking off with me.
Jeffrey looked comically flustered at my contradiction, but I knew it was mostly an act. The guy had done nothing but put on a show since he'd walked in the place. There was no reason for him to be genuine with me. For some reason this just made me even more tired of the situation.
"No. I said I wouldn't."
"Yeah and by doing so you, you managed to get not only all the words in but the message as well." I sighed. "I know, I deserve it. It's not like I didn't know what I was doing was -"
"Dangerous," supplied Jeffrey.
"Pointless."
"That too," agreed Jeffrey. "But ah well, done is done."
I leveled my skepticism at him. For a vampire who has just been cheated out of a major prize, Jeffrey was taking it awfully well. In fact the only time in this whole evening when he looked even the least bit put out was when Nadette had asked for his submission. By all rights he should be royally pissed at me. Instead he was regarding me with a distant, cool amusement, as if this were a game and he fully expected to win in the end.
"So tell me," he said after a moment, "Do you fancy any of them?" He pointed off to the group. "When you look at them, do you wonder what it would be like to be pleasured by one of them. Do you think you could find comfort in their embrace?"
My stomach roiled. Ironically, if I had a say, which obviously I didn't, I would have preferred Jeffrey over any of these strangers. Maybe it was because he was a known evil, and I had a vague notion of what I could expect. Maybe it was because I did feel some natural physical attraction towards him - as much as I could feel towards any guy. But I suspect a lot of it had to do with the way he'd conducted himself. I couldn't help but admire a guy who had the balls to crash a party of his political enemies and shame the host before her guests. I'll admit it. I was envious. Damn, I wish I could be as cool about all this.
But I couldn't see how he was going to end up with me. On that score I trusted Nadette. She was taking no chances with my security, and I could tell by the distain and disgust the rest of them showed Jeffrey that they'd be willing to go the extra mile - or dollar in my case -- just to be sure that he didn't succeed.
Wally was right. I should have turned around and gone back to Chicago. I should have gotten out of the bus bathroom and let Jim and Ted take me back. I really had a talent for digging myself in deeper.
Jeffrey laughed. "Well, there's my answer. So it wasn't really me that you detest, it's vampires in general. Bit prejudiced wouldn't you say?"
"Do you honestly care what the food thinks?" I snapped, ashamed that I'd forgotten he could read my thoughts. Although the question was meant to be rhetorical, I found myself actually wanting to know the answer. "I mean, you vampires make nice to it, buy it …" I looked down and gestured to my outfit, "Clothes. Things. But when push comes to shove it really doesn't matter. You are just going to take its blood, everything else is window dressing. Even the sex, it's not intimacy, it's just about making the blood taste better."
"But there you are wrong," replied Jeffrey gently. "The sex is very intimate, and our harem are more than just food. Were you just a meal, Mouse, there would be no point in trying to make you happy, or, for that matter, seeing beyond your most basic needs. No matter how decrepit and miserable your life was, I could make you ecstatic for the few minutes I needed to feed. Such a simple thing-- if all I cared about were the flavor of your blood.
"But it is part of my nature that eating and bonding are inextricably connected, much the way sex and procreation are for you. It is fundamental to our very nature that vampires take care of those that feed us - their welfare, after all, is what leads to ours."
He leaned back against the wall. "I cannot change the fundamentals of my being, anymore than you can change yours. I need to eat, regularly - though perhaps not as regularly as I have been." He smiled with sheepish pleasure. "And in eating, I connect to my prey on a level you can't hope to understand. You have no idea how beautiful humans are to me. How precious and magnificent they are. And every meal is a celebration of their being. Tell me, when we were together, did you feel nothing of this?"
"Precious and magnificent?" My voice cracked with incredulity. "Are you kidding? It was a spur of the moment orgy. 'Everyone gets a piece,' remember."
Jeffrey looked bemused. "Oh, yes, that's right." He rubbed his chin, staring off into the past. "Yes, I can see how that might seem a bit less than romantic." He came back to the present with a satisfied smile. "But the sex was very good, you must admit." He looked expectantly at me.
"Would have been better if I'd said yes."
"Ouch!" Jeffrey rocked his head back as if from the blow a fist. Then seemed to grow serious. "That's an old argument. You know, if we had to wait until a human said yes, we'd either starve or, in our hunger, take too much. And if we started doing the latter, there would soon be no one in the world who would agree to say yes. Round and round. Listen, my kind knows that your kind gets the short end of the stick. We know this. But the alternative is so miserable and unacceptable, that it constitutes torture, and I have as much right to a decent quality of life as you do."
"Jeffrey," said a new voice, and I realized with a start that Gregory was behind me again. I quickly stepped out of the way, but it seemed that his attention wasn't on me this time. "Conspiring? He's not yours anymore."
Gregory was biting his tongue to be civil. Yeah, I knew that look. The jealousy that burned in his eyes was alarming. Even Jeffrey was momentarily taken aback, but then he simply donned his merry façade.
"Who me? Conspiring? Hardly. Check his mind if you wish, I've been trying to convince him that Vampires aren't so bad and he really shouldn't be afraid to be with one."
"No need for that. He'll figure it out eventually," said Gregory, a bit testily. "But speaking of starving, I heard an odd rumor that you brought no Harem with you. What are you up to?"
"Considering what happened last time I allowed one of my Harem into Nadette's territory, I figured it was prudent to leave them behind."
Gregory looked nonplussed.
Laughing, Jeffrey went on. "Oh, rest assured, I'm not going to go chasing after your harems - tasty bunch that they seem. I'm perfectly well fed."
"Really." Gregory crossed his arms.
Jeffrey shrugged. "As it happens, I positively gorged myself earlier on a nice young Red. He was a bit bland, of course, and I had to take rather a lot to satisfy, but he sweetened up to surprisingly palatable." Jeffrey smiled, as if savoring the memory. "I'm not lying," He said in response to Gregory's skepticism. "He was a screamer, wouldn't you know. Been a while since I had one of those. Actually got a good yell out before I could shush him. I think the neighbors were annoyed." He waved off the notion as a bad thought. "Anyway, I figure Nadette won't mind me poaching one of hers, seeing as she has this charming lesbian affectation and a much narrower palate."
"So first Black and now Red?" Gregory raised an eyebrow. "What is next, Brown, Green?"
"What can I say," Jeffrey shrugged. "As a wise person once said: 'Taste the rainbow'."
I gaped.
"Wise -" Gregory frowned, puzzled for a fraction of a second before leveling a look of utter disbelief at Jeffery. "You do realize that is a candy slogan."
"Is it?" Jeffrey's eyes widened with surprise. "Oh, well I knew I'd heard it somewhere -- I'm surprised you would know, but then, perhaps I shouldn't be. Commercials are part of your little empire aren't they?"
The tension in the air was really starting to thicken up. Defensively I took a couple of steps to distance myself from both of them, stopping only when my chain grew taut.
Jeffrey narrowed his eyes and leaned closer to Gregory. That predatory intensity was back. "Or could it be that your tastes are somewhat more broadminded than your politics? Tell me, do you eat human food, every so often. Just for kicks. I bet you do, in secret, when you think none of your staff are looking."
Gregory seemed to take this as an enormous insult. "Why would I do such a thing, when I have an entire flock of actresses and actors, each as succulent a meal as anyone can dream of, at my call, should I feel the need?" Gregory gave an arrogant little sneer. "My collection of Whites more than satisfies any craving for novelty."
Jeffrey looked disappointed. "Well, I like candy," he muttered, letting the tension go, like he'd dropped the rope in a game of tug of war. "I'll let you in on a little secret. It may make you throw up, but a lot of these modern confections taste really good going down. You should try them some time."
Gregory was completely flustered. Jeffrey seized the moment to step closer, forcing Gregory to step back. He then realized that he'd let Jeffrey put himself in front of me. Clicking his tongue he circled until we made a triangle again, by which point he'd regained his composure.
"Why would I poison myself with candy or rubbish blood."
"Because it's fun," said Jeffrey. "Because you are curious. Because there's so little adventure left in our lives we have to grab it where we can.
"George," Jeffrey's attention snapped to me like a whip and I jumped back, nearly tripping myself up with my chain. I wish he'd stop doing that. "Tell, me Mouse. Do you know what my job in this brave new world is?"
"No," I said.
"It's boring!" Jeffrey rolled his head. He was back to acting like a ham again. "Soul crushingly boring."
He turned his attention back to Gregory. "Do you remember how it used to be? No paperwork, no duties, just the hunt. Survival based on our wits, success as much a confirmation of our abilities as it was meal. Remember how exciting it was to happen upon a plump and tender lad, follow him back home, and feast our way through his friends and family? How fun it was to remind his mother of her youth and teach his old pa a few new tricks?" Jeffrey beamed. "And then when we'd start to get too emotionally attached for their own good, we'd convince them all that they'd just had a nasty bout of dysentery and move on to the next hunt. Those were good times."
"They were," agreed Greg somewhat wistfully. "But these are better. No danger, no worries, guaranteed quality. And I, for one, enjoy my job."
They continued to bicker for a bit. But something Jeffrey had said struck a chord of terror in my mind, and I couldn't shake the implication. Remind his mother of her youth and teach his old pa a few new tricks.
I had this truly awful vision of Jeffrey going after my parents. And if there is anything more fundamentally disturbing than talking to your parents about the attentions of a vampire, it's thinking about your parents being pressed in to Service. Oh hell, no. My mind adamantly refused to go there. Unfortunately, with Jeffrey, this sickening scenario was disturbingly likely. After all, he'd tried Black and Red, there was no reason to leave Green alone. Is age really that much of a deterrent? Especially if taste is largely genetic, and I, apparently, was delicious?
On second thought, no, I would not pick Jeffrey given my choice. It was a good thing I'd run from him. A very good thing. Sure I was up a creek, but at least it was just me. Gregory might be terrifying, but I could trust him to leave my family alone. I couldn't trust Jeffrey to do anything.
Apparently, I'd thought this very loudly, because the vampires stopped bickering. Gregory favored me with a smug smile, and Jeffrey frowned, nonplussed.
"You see, Jeffrey," said Gregory. "Even the humans prefer my philosophy to yours. Perhaps you should have considered Nadette's offer."
Whatever Jeffrey meant to reply, he didn't get a chance, because there was a sudden stirring all around. Claudia had stepped into the room again, and though she did nothing to call attention to herself, it seemed every vampire in the room instantly locked onto her. Once she had their attention, Claudia stood very ridged and formal and announced, "My Lady, your special guest has arrived plus one."
Nadette stepped away from the group clapping her hands lightly. "Excellent and punctual! How accommodating. Ladies and Gentlemen," she said to the assembled vampires, "Our opening entertainment has arrived. I do hope you all brought a change of clothes."
They all laughed, except for Jeffrey who looked just as confused as I was. There was something ugly going on with the mood, and I got the feeling that the "entertainment" wouldn't be a musician or a stripper.
Gregory lost interest in me again and moved to join the others and even Jeffrey drifted to Nadette. "Entertainment?" he asked. She put him off with a wave of her hand.
I realized that the laughter on the far side of the room had died down to silence, and in fact the crowd itself seemed much sparser than before - as if the humans decided that now was an excellent time to be somewhere else. The few left were backing off after one last stare at whoever was coming.
Oh, not a good sign. Not a good sign at all.
I'd have joined them if the chain on my ankle hadn't precluded it. I thought the tension when Jeffrey entered was bad, but this was much worse. This was painful. My breath seemed to catch in my chest and I felt like I'd stepped into a horror movie. I didn't want to know what was coming, and yet, I did. Anticipation made a few seconds seem like an eternity.
I saw Claudia first, standing in the archway and ushering whoever it was behind her. Then appeared a much shorter woman with glossy black hair and prim suit far more appropriate for a business meeting than a fancy party. Her expression was a combination of consternation and confusion. I heard her voice carry across the now empty party room. "Was I misinformed? Or does Lady Nadette usually carry on her appointments this way?"
The voice reminded me more than her looks. I knew it: the broad, flat accent, the sharp tones. I'd heard them before, a long, long time ago. Lady Dingaling -- Darlene Strobel. If there was anyone less welcome in this crowd than Jeffrey it would be her. Why had Nadette brought her here? What possible motivation could Dingaling have to show her face after what she'd done.
Unthinking panic gripped my gut. No, no, no - go away! Run! I didn't dare yell it and, for once, no one reacted to my thoughts.
"Catch up," Lady Dingaling said rather sharply to someone beyond the bend. I heard a clatter of heavy footsteps, and a tall blond man in a dark suit joined her. It took me only a moment to process his looks, and suddenly I completely forgot about Darlene and Jeffrey and all the other vampires in the room.
"WALLY!" I yelled.
His eyes shot over to me, then his face lit up. "Geo!" He walked over as fast as his long legs could take him. And man was he a great sight. It was such a relief to see him, words just can't express it. I was so sure I'd never have a chance to even speak again, and here he was, in all his pale, buff glory. Losing all sense of self-consciousness I grabbed him in a huge bear hug as soon as he came within my perimeter. He grabbed me back and tried to lift me up, but the chain on my ankle nearly yanked off my foot, the chair rocked and slid against the floor and pulled Wally off his balance. We had an awkward moment where our reunion nearly turned into a pratfall, but Wally caught himself and managed to set me down only a little suddenly. To make up for it, he hooked an arm around my throat and playfully attempted to strangle me.
"God, it's good to see you," I said. "And please don't take this the wrong way or anything, but what the fuck are you doing here? And with her?"
I glanced over to the Vampires. Darlene had vanished into the middle of a ring of black. I couldn't see anyone's face, I couldn't hear what they said, but I knew, with the sixth sense of the gut, that the wolves were back in the room.
Wally tapped my face and brought my attention back to him. "I know you hate her, but she's my Patron, so please, don't screw things up for me," whispered Wally, slouching in an attempt to make to make his 6'2" look small. "Sorry," he added at normal volume. "I had to ask her for permission before I could try to contact Lord Chauncey on your behalf - and once she figured out who you were and that we were roommates… well. Here I am. But the good part of this is that we have a real chance of getting you back."
"What?" I couldn't imagine it. If Jeffrey couldn't do it -
"There's some form of Vampire etiquette that says that you can pay a fee or something and get back a run away."
Oh, fuck, no.
"It's a bit of a long shot, but Lady Darlene is petitioning on Chauncey's behalf for you. She thinks we might be able to do this quietly enough that he won't notice you ever went missing.
"I'm not so sure about your old Patron, Geo," continued Wally, wide eyed with worry. "Lady Darlene seems to be pretty scared of him. He's apparently really, really old and powerful. And … weird."
Old, powerful and weird or not, Lord Chauncey finding out about this debacle was the least of Dingaling's worries. She had no fucking clue what she'd walked into.
"It won't work," I said tensely. Panic tightened my chest. "God, Wally, you need to get yourself out of here - now! She needs to get out of here."
"What?"
"Darlene's the one who had me classified as Black, Wally. They know that -"
"Both of you, hush," said Jeffrey, softly. Christ, he'd done it again. One minute he'd been with the rest of the vampires, the next he was here, standing a bit behind Wally. Wally jumped a little and attempted to turn around, but Jeffrey had him, a casual arm hooked over his shoulder. He leaned in and spoke in Wally's ear, but I could hear him as clearly as if he'd spoken in mine. "What is about to happen is not something either of you can do anything about."
My heart sped up. I'd never seen Jeffrey like this: stone cold sober and scared out of his wits.
"You can't defend her," Jeffrey went on. "What she did, by our own customs, is indefensible. I'm afraid your Patron is a lost cause. But you don't need to worry, young one," His attention was solely on Wally, who was absolutely stiff with terror. "I will champion you for tonight and see that you leave these grounds safely. For now, both of you need to be still, and not call attention to yourself. Not a word. They aren't totally in control of themselves, and this is not a side of vampires that humans should ever see."
Darlene's voice rose up. "You don't know the circumstances -"
"He is twenty-three!" interrupted Nadette. "Nearly a quarter of his use is already squandered."
"I can pay a fine," said Darlene. "Or submit. My bonds with Chauncey have lapsed. I'm free to make it up however you choose --" Her voice was panicking. "It's not my fault!" she screamed. "You should blame Chauncey for this - I was in submission to him. He clouded my mind. He was the one -"
The pack closed on her.
Wally let out an involuntary cry of surprise and fear, which Jeffrey quickly muffled behind his hand. The sound stopped almost immediately, and I noticed that Wally had stopped moving except for his eyes which twitched over to me with a heart wrenching plea, as if I could do anything. But I couldn't. I really couldn't.
What went down 20 feet across the room should never have happened outside of a horror movie. But it wasn't special effects, and it wasn't scripted. The ear splitting shrieks; the dark, charnel stench of blood and viscera and fear; the sight, sketchy and half obscured, so alien to my experience that at times I couldn't make out what I was seeing. But when I did, oh, I would have given anything to look away. Anything. But some deep-seated survival instinct kept my eyes mercilessly glued to the scene, drinking in every hideous, soul scarring moment of it.
They were ripping her. They were fucking shredding her with their fucking bare hands. Christ.
I fought an insane and futile desire to go to her rescue - not for any rational or altruistic motive. Just to get her to shut the hell up. Just to get them to fucking quit it. Get it all to fucking stop and put an end to this surreal waking nightmare. Fuck. But the chain held me still, and if not that, Jeffrey would have. I'd felt weak and useless before, but now I saw how out of my depth I really was.
My God. What had I done? Guilt hit my stomach like a punch, and I found myself half crouching, hiding my face behind my splayed fingers like some small child. Bile surged against my shut lips as the ugly truth sank into my dense skull. This is my fault. I set her up for this. Yes, I'd held a long-standing grudge against Darlene - she'd scared the living shit out of me as a child. But I never wanted this. Never. After all, she'd done me a huge favor by misclassifying me, and that after I'd thrown up on her. To think I once considered this a practical joke. There was nothing funny about this at all.
At what of Wally? I managed to glance his direction, only to see that he was frozen, eyes mercifully away from the scene. Listening. This was his Patron. He'd never said a word to me about her, not a word to let me know how close he was to her or what he felt about her. But if he felt even the tiniest bit of loyalty that Claudia felt towards her Patron…
Would he ever forgive me?
Then, abruptly, it ended. I don't know what kind of heroic measure of strength she used to do it, but Darlene managed to break free of the pack. I saw her only as a blur of red and darkness as she shot out the door, moving with a swiftness only vampires could achieve. The pack hesitated only a moment, as if they were stunned their prey had actually managed to slip past them, then they gave chase, out of the room.
There was a loud bang from the other room, and then silence.
Four of us were left in the huge room: myself, Wally, Jeffrey and Nadette. The host of the party turned, a look of satisfaction on her face and walked towards us. I noticed that her hands were clean and her clothes pristine. She had merely watched as her guests carried out their heinous retribution.
Guilt settled like a rock around my throat. My brain was in full skipping-record mode: This was all my fault and not Darlene's, but she paid the price, and I was going to skate. It was so terribly unfair. Over and over.
"Oh do cut that out," snapped Nadette. "You really do feel remorse at the strangest times." I stared at her, horrified. "It was perfectly fair," she went on, with just a tiny bit of defensiveness. "She willfully deceived not only her own master, but the entire Vampire Protectorate. But perhaps it's just as well you have no stomach for justice."
"Justice?" I was incredulous. "That was a goddamn lynching!"
Nadette glared at me. "Justice," She reiterated. "And much overdue. You should have been put into Service on your eighteenth birthday, you should have been groomed for it years before that. And now we all pay the price of her incompetence. So much wasted time, then and even now, all because that silly twit couldn't keep herself out of trouble."
I choked. Words failed me entirely. I couldn't see the humanity in Nadette anymore. To condemn one of her own kind to -- that -- for such a tiny transgression? She was a monster. They were all monsters.
"Nadette," said Jeffrey sadly. "I think this lesson might be too harsh. Especially on this one." He was referring to Wally, who he still held in a friendly half-embrace. Wally said nothing. No longer frozen, his eyes were drawn to the pool of blood and … chunks… left on the floor. "Do you really want to send these two on to their next Patrons with nightmares and phobias?" Jeffrey chided. "The longer the trauma sits, the harder it will be to root out."
Nadette's eyes sharpened. And there was an exchange between them that I didn't understand at all. Then I felt it -- the presence of a vampire in my brain. I don't know which of them it was, but I suspect Nadette, because the contact was brief, but to the point.
The terror faded, replaced by a bizarrely inappropriate sense of peace. I breathed deeply and felt calm. I had not forgotten Darlene's attack, but the whole event seemed distant to me, like something I'd read about in a newspaper, rather than just witnessed - caused to happen.
"Satisfied?" asked Nadette.
"In part -- but one more request," said Jeffrey, this time giving Wally a little squeeze to bring him to Nadette's attention. "Walter, here, has nothing to do with the situation, but he cannot remain here. I promised I'd escort him to his car and see him off."
"No!" I said. I was being selfish. I'd barely seen Wally - I didn't want him to go. He was the one good thing of the evening.
"When the others return, they will be hungry and very riled up," warned Jeffrey. "It really would be best if there not be any… collateral reward… for them to fight over."
Wally swallowed. "I'll go. Geo, there will be another time. I'm not a White. I'm not even regular harem. No one cares where I go." This was a lie, but then he had no Patron anymore to object to his travel - or protect him. God, when had the United States become so dangerous?
He gave my arm a last grip then he reluctantly turned around and headed to the door. To my relief, Jeffrey merely walked a few feet behind him, showing to all intents no interest in Wally beyond his general welfare. They rounded the arch and disappeared from sight.
And I was left with Nadette - and soon a group of riled up, hungry vampires. Yeah, what could go wrong with that?
"Their harems will soothe them," said Nadette. "They will be well fed and comfortable before I let any of them touch you. Don't worry." She looked at me for the first time with something resembling kindness. "Harem life will not always be this unpleasant."
I said nothing.
And the moment of sympathy was over. She favored me with a bit of distain. "It's an ugly thing to see Vampire justice in action, but a worthwhile one, I think. For you, especially. You think there are no consequences for your actions, simply because direct punishment would spoil your flavor. But, as you see, there are consequences to everything."
She lifted my chin so that I looked into her face. "You should think of that before you attempt to do something reckless. Next time the one to suffer may be someone you care more about."
She meant Wally.
I leveled my hate at her. It was a stupid, futile, impotent gesture, and one she could have easily taken away if she chose to. But instead she just smiled and dropped my chin. Then she walked out of the room, calling to Claudia, who had hidden in the next room over, to see that the mess on the floor was cleaned.
Back to Chapter 11
On to chapter 13
RATING: NC-17 (This chapter R)
GENRE: Porn with plot -- heavy on the plot. Action/adventure, some black humor, some romance.
PAIRINGS: George x everyone. Mostly Slash, some het, three and moresomes. Vampire sex.
WARNINGS: (this chapter) violence.
WORD COUNT: 5472
Chapter 12
"I'll tell you what, Jeffrey," said Nadette with the air of someone being immensely generous. "You are right that this party would not be happening without you. And to show my appreciation of your… unique method of finding George, I'll let you stay. And I'll even let you bid on him tomorrow night, if you so desire, though I doubt your pockets are deep enough to afford him. In the meantime, you can have your glimpse of Eugenist politics, if that really is your desire. Perhaps, you might even learn something." She tapped him gently in the center of his chest.
"I might," agreed Jeffrey with a huge grin, seemingly unperturbed by the condescension.
"Speaking of which," said Anna, "I did wish to run an idea past you." She meant Nadette, not Jeffrey, who she promptly turned her back on. Jeffrey didn't seem to mind being snubbed, either. He gave me a quick sly glance then followed along behind the two.
I was left alone at the end of my chain. I couldn't hear a damn thing that the vampires were saying over the constant dull roar coming from the next room. Seconds stretched to minutes, and I was faced with the rather awkward position of being a wall-flower at my own party.
I tried sitting down, but the arms of the large chair felt too confining. I stood again, trying to be casual about it. I wondered if I could tow the chair off without inviting derision and came to the decision that it was just a bit beneath my dignity. That and I doubted I could get very far without someone stopping me. After trying a few positions, I settled for standing to the side of the chair, and propping my elbow on it's back. I kicked the curl of chain into the shadow under the seat, and tried to give the appearance I was just taking a break from the festivities.
My eyes drifting over to the arched divider when a sudden burst of laugher caught my attention. A couple of guys just on the other side were doing something that looked a hell of a lot like fun. I felt a mix of envy and irritation. This was my grave they were dancing on, had they no respect? And if I didn't rank as worthy in their mind, you'd think they'd at least be curious as to what their masters were up to. But, no, they seemed content.
It was unsettling. Would there be an event like this in the future, where I would be one of those guys mingling in a side room while my master, whoever he or she turned out to be, made policies on how to run the world? Would I mind my place and just enjoy the free booze? Uncomfortable thought.
"Hello there, Mouse,'" said Jeffrey, amicably.
I jumped so hard I nearly lost my balance. Gripping the back of the chair with white knuckles, I turned and nearly headbutted Jeffrey. He'd left the knot of vampires and was now about two inches away from my face. Stepping sideways away from the wall, I put a more socially acceptable amount of space between us.
"I'm not going to say 'I told you so," said Jeffrey with calculated affection.
"Sure, you are, " I said, wearily. I saw no reason to be tactful to him. He was the one vampire in the room who wouldn't be walking off with me.
Jeffrey looked comically flustered at my contradiction, but I knew it was mostly an act. The guy had done nothing but put on a show since he'd walked in the place. There was no reason for him to be genuine with me. For some reason this just made me even more tired of the situation.
"No. I said I wouldn't."
"Yeah and by doing so you, you managed to get not only all the words in but the message as well." I sighed. "I know, I deserve it. It's not like I didn't know what I was doing was -"
"Dangerous," supplied Jeffrey.
"Pointless."
"That too," agreed Jeffrey. "But ah well, done is done."
I leveled my skepticism at him. For a vampire who has just been cheated out of a major prize, Jeffrey was taking it awfully well. In fact the only time in this whole evening when he looked even the least bit put out was when Nadette had asked for his submission. By all rights he should be royally pissed at me. Instead he was regarding me with a distant, cool amusement, as if this were a game and he fully expected to win in the end.
"So tell me," he said after a moment, "Do you fancy any of them?" He pointed off to the group. "When you look at them, do you wonder what it would be like to be pleasured by one of them. Do you think you could find comfort in their embrace?"
My stomach roiled. Ironically, if I had a say, which obviously I didn't, I would have preferred Jeffrey over any of these strangers. Maybe it was because he was a known evil, and I had a vague notion of what I could expect. Maybe it was because I did feel some natural physical attraction towards him - as much as I could feel towards any guy. But I suspect a lot of it had to do with the way he'd conducted himself. I couldn't help but admire a guy who had the balls to crash a party of his political enemies and shame the host before her guests. I'll admit it. I was envious. Damn, I wish I could be as cool about all this.
But I couldn't see how he was going to end up with me. On that score I trusted Nadette. She was taking no chances with my security, and I could tell by the distain and disgust the rest of them showed Jeffrey that they'd be willing to go the extra mile - or dollar in my case -- just to be sure that he didn't succeed.
Wally was right. I should have turned around and gone back to Chicago. I should have gotten out of the bus bathroom and let Jim and Ted take me back. I really had a talent for digging myself in deeper.
Jeffrey laughed. "Well, there's my answer. So it wasn't really me that you detest, it's vampires in general. Bit prejudiced wouldn't you say?"
"Do you honestly care what the food thinks?" I snapped, ashamed that I'd forgotten he could read my thoughts. Although the question was meant to be rhetorical, I found myself actually wanting to know the answer. "I mean, you vampires make nice to it, buy it …" I looked down and gestured to my outfit, "Clothes. Things. But when push comes to shove it really doesn't matter. You are just going to take its blood, everything else is window dressing. Even the sex, it's not intimacy, it's just about making the blood taste better."
"But there you are wrong," replied Jeffrey gently. "The sex is very intimate, and our harem are more than just food. Were you just a meal, Mouse, there would be no point in trying to make you happy, or, for that matter, seeing beyond your most basic needs. No matter how decrepit and miserable your life was, I could make you ecstatic for the few minutes I needed to feed. Such a simple thing-- if all I cared about were the flavor of your blood.
"But it is part of my nature that eating and bonding are inextricably connected, much the way sex and procreation are for you. It is fundamental to our very nature that vampires take care of those that feed us - their welfare, after all, is what leads to ours."
He leaned back against the wall. "I cannot change the fundamentals of my being, anymore than you can change yours. I need to eat, regularly - though perhaps not as regularly as I have been." He smiled with sheepish pleasure. "And in eating, I connect to my prey on a level you can't hope to understand. You have no idea how beautiful humans are to me. How precious and magnificent they are. And every meal is a celebration of their being. Tell me, when we were together, did you feel nothing of this?"
"Precious and magnificent?" My voice cracked with incredulity. "Are you kidding? It was a spur of the moment orgy. 'Everyone gets a piece,' remember."
Jeffrey looked bemused. "Oh, yes, that's right." He rubbed his chin, staring off into the past. "Yes, I can see how that might seem a bit less than romantic." He came back to the present with a satisfied smile. "But the sex was very good, you must admit." He looked expectantly at me.
"Would have been better if I'd said yes."
"Ouch!" Jeffrey rocked his head back as if from the blow a fist. Then seemed to grow serious. "That's an old argument. You know, if we had to wait until a human said yes, we'd either starve or, in our hunger, take too much. And if we started doing the latter, there would soon be no one in the world who would agree to say yes. Round and round. Listen, my kind knows that your kind gets the short end of the stick. We know this. But the alternative is so miserable and unacceptable, that it constitutes torture, and I have as much right to a decent quality of life as you do."
"Jeffrey," said a new voice, and I realized with a start that Gregory was behind me again. I quickly stepped out of the way, but it seemed that his attention wasn't on me this time. "Conspiring? He's not yours anymore."
Gregory was biting his tongue to be civil. Yeah, I knew that look. The jealousy that burned in his eyes was alarming. Even Jeffrey was momentarily taken aback, but then he simply donned his merry façade.
"Who me? Conspiring? Hardly. Check his mind if you wish, I've been trying to convince him that Vampires aren't so bad and he really shouldn't be afraid to be with one."
"No need for that. He'll figure it out eventually," said Gregory, a bit testily. "But speaking of starving, I heard an odd rumor that you brought no Harem with you. What are you up to?"
"Considering what happened last time I allowed one of my Harem into Nadette's territory, I figured it was prudent to leave them behind."
Gregory looked nonplussed.
Laughing, Jeffrey went on. "Oh, rest assured, I'm not going to go chasing after your harems - tasty bunch that they seem. I'm perfectly well fed."
"Really." Gregory crossed his arms.
Jeffrey shrugged. "As it happens, I positively gorged myself earlier on a nice young Red. He was a bit bland, of course, and I had to take rather a lot to satisfy, but he sweetened up to surprisingly palatable." Jeffrey smiled, as if savoring the memory. "I'm not lying," He said in response to Gregory's skepticism. "He was a screamer, wouldn't you know. Been a while since I had one of those. Actually got a good yell out before I could shush him. I think the neighbors were annoyed." He waved off the notion as a bad thought. "Anyway, I figure Nadette won't mind me poaching one of hers, seeing as she has this charming lesbian affectation and a much narrower palate."
"So first Black and now Red?" Gregory raised an eyebrow. "What is next, Brown, Green?"
"What can I say," Jeffrey shrugged. "As a wise person once said: 'Taste the rainbow'."
I gaped.
"Wise -" Gregory frowned, puzzled for a fraction of a second before leveling a look of utter disbelief at Jeffery. "You do realize that is a candy slogan."
"Is it?" Jeffrey's eyes widened with surprise. "Oh, well I knew I'd heard it somewhere -- I'm surprised you would know, but then, perhaps I shouldn't be. Commercials are part of your little empire aren't they?"
The tension in the air was really starting to thicken up. Defensively I took a couple of steps to distance myself from both of them, stopping only when my chain grew taut.
Jeffrey narrowed his eyes and leaned closer to Gregory. That predatory intensity was back. "Or could it be that your tastes are somewhat more broadminded than your politics? Tell me, do you eat human food, every so often. Just for kicks. I bet you do, in secret, when you think none of your staff are looking."
Gregory seemed to take this as an enormous insult. "Why would I do such a thing, when I have an entire flock of actresses and actors, each as succulent a meal as anyone can dream of, at my call, should I feel the need?" Gregory gave an arrogant little sneer. "My collection of Whites more than satisfies any craving for novelty."
Jeffrey looked disappointed. "Well, I like candy," he muttered, letting the tension go, like he'd dropped the rope in a game of tug of war. "I'll let you in on a little secret. It may make you throw up, but a lot of these modern confections taste really good going down. You should try them some time."
Gregory was completely flustered. Jeffrey seized the moment to step closer, forcing Gregory to step back. He then realized that he'd let Jeffrey put himself in front of me. Clicking his tongue he circled until we made a triangle again, by which point he'd regained his composure.
"Why would I poison myself with candy or rubbish blood."
"Because it's fun," said Jeffrey. "Because you are curious. Because there's so little adventure left in our lives we have to grab it where we can.
"George," Jeffrey's attention snapped to me like a whip and I jumped back, nearly tripping myself up with my chain. I wish he'd stop doing that. "Tell, me Mouse. Do you know what my job in this brave new world is?"
"No," I said.
"It's boring!" Jeffrey rolled his head. He was back to acting like a ham again. "Soul crushingly boring."
He turned his attention back to Gregory. "Do you remember how it used to be? No paperwork, no duties, just the hunt. Survival based on our wits, success as much a confirmation of our abilities as it was meal. Remember how exciting it was to happen upon a plump and tender lad, follow him back home, and feast our way through his friends and family? How fun it was to remind his mother of her youth and teach his old pa a few new tricks?" Jeffrey beamed. "And then when we'd start to get too emotionally attached for their own good, we'd convince them all that they'd just had a nasty bout of dysentery and move on to the next hunt. Those were good times."
"They were," agreed Greg somewhat wistfully. "But these are better. No danger, no worries, guaranteed quality. And I, for one, enjoy my job."
They continued to bicker for a bit. But something Jeffrey had said struck a chord of terror in my mind, and I couldn't shake the implication. Remind his mother of her youth and teach his old pa a few new tricks.
I had this truly awful vision of Jeffrey going after my parents. And if there is anything more fundamentally disturbing than talking to your parents about the attentions of a vampire, it's thinking about your parents being pressed in to Service. Oh hell, no. My mind adamantly refused to go there. Unfortunately, with Jeffrey, this sickening scenario was disturbingly likely. After all, he'd tried Black and Red, there was no reason to leave Green alone. Is age really that much of a deterrent? Especially if taste is largely genetic, and I, apparently, was delicious?
On second thought, no, I would not pick Jeffrey given my choice. It was a good thing I'd run from him. A very good thing. Sure I was up a creek, but at least it was just me. Gregory might be terrifying, but I could trust him to leave my family alone. I couldn't trust Jeffrey to do anything.
Apparently, I'd thought this very loudly, because the vampires stopped bickering. Gregory favored me with a smug smile, and Jeffrey frowned, nonplussed.
"You see, Jeffrey," said Gregory. "Even the humans prefer my philosophy to yours. Perhaps you should have considered Nadette's offer."
Whatever Jeffrey meant to reply, he didn't get a chance, because there was a sudden stirring all around. Claudia had stepped into the room again, and though she did nothing to call attention to herself, it seemed every vampire in the room instantly locked onto her. Once she had their attention, Claudia stood very ridged and formal and announced, "My Lady, your special guest has arrived plus one."
Nadette stepped away from the group clapping her hands lightly. "Excellent and punctual! How accommodating. Ladies and Gentlemen," she said to the assembled vampires, "Our opening entertainment has arrived. I do hope you all brought a change of clothes."
They all laughed, except for Jeffrey who looked just as confused as I was. There was something ugly going on with the mood, and I got the feeling that the "entertainment" wouldn't be a musician or a stripper.
Gregory lost interest in me again and moved to join the others and even Jeffrey drifted to Nadette. "Entertainment?" he asked. She put him off with a wave of her hand.
I realized that the laughter on the far side of the room had died down to silence, and in fact the crowd itself seemed much sparser than before - as if the humans decided that now was an excellent time to be somewhere else. The few left were backing off after one last stare at whoever was coming.
Oh, not a good sign. Not a good sign at all.
I'd have joined them if the chain on my ankle hadn't precluded it. I thought the tension when Jeffrey entered was bad, but this was much worse. This was painful. My breath seemed to catch in my chest and I felt like I'd stepped into a horror movie. I didn't want to know what was coming, and yet, I did. Anticipation made a few seconds seem like an eternity.
I saw Claudia first, standing in the archway and ushering whoever it was behind her. Then appeared a much shorter woman with glossy black hair and prim suit far more appropriate for a business meeting than a fancy party. Her expression was a combination of consternation and confusion. I heard her voice carry across the now empty party room. "Was I misinformed? Or does Lady Nadette usually carry on her appointments this way?"
The voice reminded me more than her looks. I knew it: the broad, flat accent, the sharp tones. I'd heard them before, a long, long time ago. Lady Dingaling -- Darlene Strobel. If there was anyone less welcome in this crowd than Jeffrey it would be her. Why had Nadette brought her here? What possible motivation could Dingaling have to show her face after what she'd done.
Unthinking panic gripped my gut. No, no, no - go away! Run! I didn't dare yell it and, for once, no one reacted to my thoughts.
"Catch up," Lady Dingaling said rather sharply to someone beyond the bend. I heard a clatter of heavy footsteps, and a tall blond man in a dark suit joined her. It took me only a moment to process his looks, and suddenly I completely forgot about Darlene and Jeffrey and all the other vampires in the room.
"WALLY!" I yelled.
His eyes shot over to me, then his face lit up. "Geo!" He walked over as fast as his long legs could take him. And man was he a great sight. It was such a relief to see him, words just can't express it. I was so sure I'd never have a chance to even speak again, and here he was, in all his pale, buff glory. Losing all sense of self-consciousness I grabbed him in a huge bear hug as soon as he came within my perimeter. He grabbed me back and tried to lift me up, but the chain on my ankle nearly yanked off my foot, the chair rocked and slid against the floor and pulled Wally off his balance. We had an awkward moment where our reunion nearly turned into a pratfall, but Wally caught himself and managed to set me down only a little suddenly. To make up for it, he hooked an arm around my throat and playfully attempted to strangle me.
"God, it's good to see you," I said. "And please don't take this the wrong way or anything, but what the fuck are you doing here? And with her?"
I glanced over to the Vampires. Darlene had vanished into the middle of a ring of black. I couldn't see anyone's face, I couldn't hear what they said, but I knew, with the sixth sense of the gut, that the wolves were back in the room.
Wally tapped my face and brought my attention back to him. "I know you hate her, but she's my Patron, so please, don't screw things up for me," whispered Wally, slouching in an attempt to make to make his 6'2" look small. "Sorry," he added at normal volume. "I had to ask her for permission before I could try to contact Lord Chauncey on your behalf - and once she figured out who you were and that we were roommates… well. Here I am. But the good part of this is that we have a real chance of getting you back."
"What?" I couldn't imagine it. If Jeffrey couldn't do it -
"There's some form of Vampire etiquette that says that you can pay a fee or something and get back a run away."
Oh, fuck, no.
"It's a bit of a long shot, but Lady Darlene is petitioning on Chauncey's behalf for you. She thinks we might be able to do this quietly enough that he won't notice you ever went missing.
"I'm not so sure about your old Patron, Geo," continued Wally, wide eyed with worry. "Lady Darlene seems to be pretty scared of him. He's apparently really, really old and powerful. And … weird."
Old, powerful and weird or not, Lord Chauncey finding out about this debacle was the least of Dingaling's worries. She had no fucking clue what she'd walked into.
"It won't work," I said tensely. Panic tightened my chest. "God, Wally, you need to get yourself out of here - now! She needs to get out of here."
"What?"
"Darlene's the one who had me classified as Black, Wally. They know that -"
"Both of you, hush," said Jeffrey, softly. Christ, he'd done it again. One minute he'd been with the rest of the vampires, the next he was here, standing a bit behind Wally. Wally jumped a little and attempted to turn around, but Jeffrey had him, a casual arm hooked over his shoulder. He leaned in and spoke in Wally's ear, but I could hear him as clearly as if he'd spoken in mine. "What is about to happen is not something either of you can do anything about."
My heart sped up. I'd never seen Jeffrey like this: stone cold sober and scared out of his wits.
"You can't defend her," Jeffrey went on. "What she did, by our own customs, is indefensible. I'm afraid your Patron is a lost cause. But you don't need to worry, young one," His attention was solely on Wally, who was absolutely stiff with terror. "I will champion you for tonight and see that you leave these grounds safely. For now, both of you need to be still, and not call attention to yourself. Not a word. They aren't totally in control of themselves, and this is not a side of vampires that humans should ever see."
Darlene's voice rose up. "You don't know the circumstances -"
"He is twenty-three!" interrupted Nadette. "Nearly a quarter of his use is already squandered."
"I can pay a fine," said Darlene. "Or submit. My bonds with Chauncey have lapsed. I'm free to make it up however you choose --" Her voice was panicking. "It's not my fault!" she screamed. "You should blame Chauncey for this - I was in submission to him. He clouded my mind. He was the one -"
The pack closed on her.
Wally let out an involuntary cry of surprise and fear, which Jeffrey quickly muffled behind his hand. The sound stopped almost immediately, and I noticed that Wally had stopped moving except for his eyes which twitched over to me with a heart wrenching plea, as if I could do anything. But I couldn't. I really couldn't.
What went down 20 feet across the room should never have happened outside of a horror movie. But it wasn't special effects, and it wasn't scripted. The ear splitting shrieks; the dark, charnel stench of blood and viscera and fear; the sight, sketchy and half obscured, so alien to my experience that at times I couldn't make out what I was seeing. But when I did, oh, I would have given anything to look away. Anything. But some deep-seated survival instinct kept my eyes mercilessly glued to the scene, drinking in every hideous, soul scarring moment of it.
They were ripping her. They were fucking shredding her with their fucking bare hands. Christ.
I fought an insane and futile desire to go to her rescue - not for any rational or altruistic motive. Just to get her to shut the hell up. Just to get them to fucking quit it. Get it all to fucking stop and put an end to this surreal waking nightmare. Fuck. But the chain held me still, and if not that, Jeffrey would have. I'd felt weak and useless before, but now I saw how out of my depth I really was.
My God. What had I done? Guilt hit my stomach like a punch, and I found myself half crouching, hiding my face behind my splayed fingers like some small child. Bile surged against my shut lips as the ugly truth sank into my dense skull. This is my fault. I set her up for this. Yes, I'd held a long-standing grudge against Darlene - she'd scared the living shit out of me as a child. But I never wanted this. Never. After all, she'd done me a huge favor by misclassifying me, and that after I'd thrown up on her. To think I once considered this a practical joke. There was nothing funny about this at all.
At what of Wally? I managed to glance his direction, only to see that he was frozen, eyes mercifully away from the scene. Listening. This was his Patron. He'd never said a word to me about her, not a word to let me know how close he was to her or what he felt about her. But if he felt even the tiniest bit of loyalty that Claudia felt towards her Patron…
Would he ever forgive me?
Then, abruptly, it ended. I don't know what kind of heroic measure of strength she used to do it, but Darlene managed to break free of the pack. I saw her only as a blur of red and darkness as she shot out the door, moving with a swiftness only vampires could achieve. The pack hesitated only a moment, as if they were stunned their prey had actually managed to slip past them, then they gave chase, out of the room.
There was a loud bang from the other room, and then silence.
Four of us were left in the huge room: myself, Wally, Jeffrey and Nadette. The host of the party turned, a look of satisfaction on her face and walked towards us. I noticed that her hands were clean and her clothes pristine. She had merely watched as her guests carried out their heinous retribution.
Guilt settled like a rock around my throat. My brain was in full skipping-record mode: This was all my fault and not Darlene's, but she paid the price, and I was going to skate. It was so terribly unfair. Over and over.
"Oh do cut that out," snapped Nadette. "You really do feel remorse at the strangest times." I stared at her, horrified. "It was perfectly fair," she went on, with just a tiny bit of defensiveness. "She willfully deceived not only her own master, but the entire Vampire Protectorate. But perhaps it's just as well you have no stomach for justice."
"Justice?" I was incredulous. "That was a goddamn lynching!"
Nadette glared at me. "Justice," She reiterated. "And much overdue. You should have been put into Service on your eighteenth birthday, you should have been groomed for it years before that. And now we all pay the price of her incompetence. So much wasted time, then and even now, all because that silly twit couldn't keep herself out of trouble."
I choked. Words failed me entirely. I couldn't see the humanity in Nadette anymore. To condemn one of her own kind to -- that -- for such a tiny transgression? She was a monster. They were all monsters.
"Nadette," said Jeffrey sadly. "I think this lesson might be too harsh. Especially on this one." He was referring to Wally, who he still held in a friendly half-embrace. Wally said nothing. No longer frozen, his eyes were drawn to the pool of blood and … chunks… left on the floor. "Do you really want to send these two on to their next Patrons with nightmares and phobias?" Jeffrey chided. "The longer the trauma sits, the harder it will be to root out."
Nadette's eyes sharpened. And there was an exchange between them that I didn't understand at all. Then I felt it -- the presence of a vampire in my brain. I don't know which of them it was, but I suspect Nadette, because the contact was brief, but to the point.
The terror faded, replaced by a bizarrely inappropriate sense of peace. I breathed deeply and felt calm. I had not forgotten Darlene's attack, but the whole event seemed distant to me, like something I'd read about in a newspaper, rather than just witnessed - caused to happen.
"Satisfied?" asked Nadette.
"In part -- but one more request," said Jeffrey, this time giving Wally a little squeeze to bring him to Nadette's attention. "Walter, here, has nothing to do with the situation, but he cannot remain here. I promised I'd escort him to his car and see him off."
"No!" I said. I was being selfish. I'd barely seen Wally - I didn't want him to go. He was the one good thing of the evening.
"When the others return, they will be hungry and very riled up," warned Jeffrey. "It really would be best if there not be any… collateral reward… for them to fight over."
Wally swallowed. "I'll go. Geo, there will be another time. I'm not a White. I'm not even regular harem. No one cares where I go." This was a lie, but then he had no Patron anymore to object to his travel - or protect him. God, when had the United States become so dangerous?
He gave my arm a last grip then he reluctantly turned around and headed to the door. To my relief, Jeffrey merely walked a few feet behind him, showing to all intents no interest in Wally beyond his general welfare. They rounded the arch and disappeared from sight.
And I was left with Nadette - and soon a group of riled up, hungry vampires. Yeah, what could go wrong with that?
"Their harems will soothe them," said Nadette. "They will be well fed and comfortable before I let any of them touch you. Don't worry." She looked at me for the first time with something resembling kindness. "Harem life will not always be this unpleasant."
I said nothing.
And the moment of sympathy was over. She favored me with a bit of distain. "It's an ugly thing to see Vampire justice in action, but a worthwhile one, I think. For you, especially. You think there are no consequences for your actions, simply because direct punishment would spoil your flavor. But, as you see, there are consequences to everything."
She lifted my chin so that I looked into her face. "You should think of that before you attempt to do something reckless. Next time the one to suffer may be someone you care more about."
She meant Wally.
I leveled my hate at her. It was a stupid, futile, impotent gesture, and one she could have easily taken away if she chose to. But instead she just smiled and dropped my chin. Then she walked out of the room, calling to Claudia, who had hidden in the next room over, to see that the mess on the floor was cleaned.
Back to Chapter 11
On to chapter 13