A Hunt Among Vampires (The Angel Series) (16 page)

“
I’m so sorry Christien. I couldn’t help it.”

“
It’s okay
amour.
I understand you could not control your thirst. I did not mean to put you through this again. I promise we will work on your control so you can feed without taking it all. Thank you for securing our home.”
He says sincerely.

I look into Christien’s eyes and see only respect and admiration. He does not look angry or upset for what I have done or look jealous from me feeding from yet another man. I offer him a weak smile and he kisses my lips affectionately.

The master vampire is still in a blissful state and lounging in the chair, staring at me with lust in his eyes.

“Thank you for allowing us to stay in your city, Master Edward.” Christien calls out to the Master of the City. “We will show ourselves out.”

Christien takes my waist possessively and escorts me towards the door. The master does not ask how Christien knows his name or tries to stop us. He is still watching me as we walk outside. The four of us get in and that is when I see Brig and Pantor staring at me curiously but with respect.

“What?” I ask moodily, angry about the encounter inside.

Pantor breaks the silence first. “I know how strongly you feel against feeding from live donors, especially after the master told us what happened with Ian and Logan.”

I squirm under his scrutiny.

“When our master offered you to the Master of the City to secure our place here, I will admit that I did not think you would do it. You have my respect and loyalty for putting aside your own needs for ours.” He bows gracefully and smiles lightly.

“I’m glad you see how difficult that was for me. You are right. I don’t like feeding from others. It is a small sacrifice for me to pay, for you all to stay here without problems. I can’t let my squeamishness about feeding from others to affect my duty to the get.”

Christien grins approvingly of my response and shows his appreciation by kissing me softly on the lips. I accept his kiss and deepen it for a moment before pulling away.

We arrive back at Christien’s place. Brig and Pantor go their own way as Christien leads me upstairs to his bedroom. He carefully removes my dress. I step out of it and make my way to the bathroom, desperate to get the smell of the Master of the City off me. The shower heats up and I remove the rest of my underwear before stepping under the steaming spray. A moment later, the door to the shower opens and Christien steps in.

Without saying a word, he takes the washcloth and soap from me and lathers it. He washes my body, scrubbing me with gentle, yet firm pressure. After washing me, he picks up the shampoo and washes my hair. The gentle massage releases the last of the tension in my body. I am limp and nimble as he rinses the last of the conditioner out of my hair.

“Go dry off and get into bed. I will be there in a moment.” He says as he lathers the washcloth to take a shower of his own.

I follow his instructions and climb into bed after slipping into one of the silky nightgowns Christien has bought for me. I have just pulled the covers up when Christien exits from the bathroom. He smiles at me and opens the drawer to pull on a pair of pajama bottoms. Sliding in the bed behind me, he pulls me into his arms, resting his body against my back.

“Are you okay
ma chatte petite
?” He asks quietly.

“I’m okay. I feel bad for influencing him like that, but I would do it again if it keeps you and your get safe.” I reply.

“Thank you,
chatte
. I know it was not easy for you to feed from him. It was not easy for me to watch you either.” He admits.

“Why did you want me to influence him?” I look over my shoulder into his eyes.

“He was younger than I thought. The master of the city is closer to 400 than 500. Did you have any difficulty influencing him? Did he offer any resistance?”

“No, it was just as easy to influence him as it was a human. He must not be a very powerful master or he wasn’t shielding against me at all. I know I can’t take control of a vampire’s mind, but isn’t making them lust after me uncontrollably just as bad?”

“He is actually not a master vampire at all. A vampire does not turn into a master until he is around 500 or so years old. I am surprised to see such a young vampire in control of the city. The vampire we ran into the other night is not a master vampire either. It seems that I am the oldest vampire in our city. I wanted you to influence the vampire so we would require no issue with him in the future. I must say, you were quite mesmerizing tonight. He could not keep his attention on our negotiations.”

I frown. “I thought that was what you wanted.”

“It was. I had no idea that you would be that successful in gaining their attention. His guards neglected their duties as they watched you flirt.”

“I noticed that too.” I giggle. “I was nervous when you offered him a kiss.”

“I would not have allowed him to kiss you
ma chatte
. You are mine. I knew he would try to press the advantage and try to feed from you. With his fascination with you and your body, I knew he would accept my terms to allow you to feed on him. I admit I did not like you feeding on him, but since you would be sacrificing your own ideals for us, I realized the least I could do for you is reign in my jealousy for a short time.”

“I heard your negotiations. Contrary to what you might think, I was paying attention. You have to pay him ten thousand dollars a month in addition to loaning him vampires. That’s a lot of money.”

Christien laughs. “I could have paid him less with as much as he was in thrall with you. I should be paying him ten times that. I make more than a million dollars every month. He should be making one hundred thousand dollars or more a month from me. This is another testament of his inexperience. If I wanted, I could take the city from him with no problem.”

“Are you going to?” I ask curiously.

“I will not take over the city unless it becomes dangerous or another vampire disrupts our peace. For now, I would rather focus my attention on finding Hassan than worry about the position of Master of the City.”

“Good point. Have you heard anything new from Roman or Kayle?” I roll over to my other side to face him.

He rubs my back and nuzzles my neck. “I do not have any news yet. It has not been very long. It will take them time to gather information and report back. We can use this time to train and prepare for our arrival in Europe.”

“Do you think they’ll find Hassan?”

“Hassan will not hide for long. I imagine he is still smarting from the blow we delivered. Now that we know he has gone to the Vampire Council, I am sure he will try to hide until the Council makes a ruling.”

“Say the council rules in Hassan’s favor. Also, let’s assume that they manage to kill you. Why would they give Hassan your vampires? Why wouldn’t they keep them for themselves?”

“That is a lot of assuming,
ma chatte
.” He grumbles. “They would not allow Hassan to take over my get. Most of my vampires are masters. The Council will either take my get or allow the older vampires to leave, creating their own gets. The young vampires would likely be given to Hassan since they are from his
ligne de sang.”

Chapter 12

The next afternoon, I walk downstairs after getting dressed in a pair of shorts and form fitting shirt. Hidden are my daggers along with the stakes in my hair. I grab a bagel for breakfast and a mug of blood. Searching through the house, I hear familiar sounds of fighting coming from down the hall. Cautiously, I walk down the hall pulling out my daggers the closer I get to the noise. My eyes narrow in the darker hallway. I use my ears to pick up any additional signs of distress. No one has sounded the alarm so I keep the tension in my body and move closer. The scent of sweat and blood penetrates my nostrils. I creep forward and take a quick glance inside the room. I chuckle inwardly at my paranoia and walk into the room.

Several vampires are sparring in the spacious room. The back wall is a mirror so I am able to see everything in the room while standing at the door. The ceiling is at least two stories high to allow plenty of room for leaping. I step into the corner to keep my back against the wall around all the vampires and watch the action with a look of longing on my face. It has been a while since I’ve had some training and I’m itching to get some action, but not enough to take on a group of vampires with weapons.

“The master demands that we train on the days that we are not on duty. The oldest among us spar earlier in the day so the youngest have the facility at night. You are just in time. Are you interested in going a round with me?”

“Christien still has not had a chance to practice with me yet to assess my skill. Have you seen him?” I tell her disappointedly.

“He was in his office earlier. Come on, we can just do some warm up exercises. We have training tools of all types.” She points to the bokens hanging on the walls around the room. “We do not need to use actual weapons. There is a space right over there.”

She guides me to a corner of the room unoccupied by anyone fighting. I look around the room in caution.

“They will not bother us. No need to worry.” She removes her weapons and puts them on the ground near the wall.

I remove my daggers, but leave the stakes in my hair. We collect a pair of bokens from the wall and check their weight. After a few questions about my training history, we begin our warm up. I remain aware of the others in the room, but keep my attention on her and her movements. Her technique is flawless. I imitate her movements in admiration stopping only to allow her to correct my technique.

“No sharp instruments or deliberately try to draw blood. If you do, we are no longer sparring and I will stake you.” I stare at her so she will understand how serious I am.

“Understood.” She gets into her stance and we begin sparring.

A long time passes and I am sweating so profusely that I am having problems keeping my grip on the boken. She stops suddenly and lowers her boken.

It is then that I notice the room is silent. I look around to see all the vampires in the room watching us, including Christien.

“That was really good Jess. You are an excellent student. You still need to work on your form, but true to your word, you can hold your own.” Brig reassures me.

Wary of all the eyes on me, I drop the boken and pick up my twin daggers.

“No one will harm you
chatte
. I will not allow that to happen.” He motions to the vampires in the room and everyone, including Brig, leaves. I relax immediately. “You have done well for yourself. Brig is a formidable opponent.”

“I didn’t realize everyone was watching.” I admit.

“They were curious about your training. I am too. I have seen you fight, but if I need to train you, I think it is important to see you spar.”

“I see.”

Christien and I continue training together for over an hour. I drag myself upstairs to the shower and soak in the huge spa next to the oversized shower stall. I turn on the jets and rest my head on the side of the tub. Christien walks into the bathroom with an armful of blood.

“I thought you might be a little sore.” He hands me a bag of blood.

I down each of the seven bags as he hands them to me, tossing the empty bags on the floor beside the tub. On the sixth bag, I can see the heavy bruises on my arms rapidly disappearing. I sigh in contentment as the warm jets relax my muscles. Christien and I talk while he washes my body. I turn into jelly as he lifts me out of the bath into a soft, warm towel. When I enter the bedroom, I see a short, leather skirt and silk blouse on the bed waiting. I put on a bra, panty and knee-high hose. I get dressed and find a pair of soft, high-heeled, knee-high leather boots to match. Christien quickly changes clothes and escorts me downstairs to the dining room. Several vampires are in the room sitting at the table. Christien takes the head of the table as I sit on his right. Although food does nothing for vampires, substance wise, everyone makes a conscious effort to make me feel welcome by joining us for the meal. I learn about the get and their travels. Before coming to Arizona, Christien and his get were staying in Canada. All of the vampires in the room are at least 500 years old and are true master vampires.

Later that evening, Christien introduces me to all of the human blood donors. They bow and curtsy as if I am a queen. I guess to them, I am royalty. I remind Christien about healing the children in his get and he nods.

“
I have already done so,
ma chatte petite.
”
He telepathically replies.
“The parents are grateful for my generosity. I explained to them that it was your desire that the children do not suffer. I still left the option open to any adult that wishes for a cure.”

“
Any takers?”

“
Not yet, but I am sure once they realize I need them and it is not necessary for them to keep their disease in order to stay, I am sure they will change their minds.”

I sigh. Missing Roman’s company, I call and leave him a message asking him to call me when he can. It is still early in the night so Christien, Pantor, Brig and I sit outside in the backyard and talk. Brig and I get to know each other better while Christien and Pantor discuss business.