Only Human (9 page)

“Everything makes sense now. Unfortunately.”

“Unfortunately? Are you telling me I’m in some kind of danger?”

“No, to the contrary. You are quite safe, with friends in high places. Fortunate for you, possibly unfortunate for us. I need to go now; it is almost dawn. Have a good day.”

And he was gone.

I grabbed my tablet, checked email, and found a message from Aaron at a little after four in the morning telling me it’d taken longer than he expected, he was going to bed, and would text me when he awakened so I could call him between patients. He said Nathan would be watching me today and to try to get along with him.

Why did Nathan need to watch me? Vampires can’t be up during the day, so I should be safe. Maybe this was about the murders? Or perhaps it was a combination of the two, and Aaron was just being cautious. I really didn’t want to have to spend time with Nathan, but I’d been through this before with Aaron. When he thought I was in danger his primary concern was who could best protect me, not who I wanted to spend my day with.

I woke Lauren, made sure Xiaolan was up, and proceeded to get myself ready. We ate a quick breakfast and headed outside to see Nathan sitting in his car in front of the house.

“Pretty sure that’s creepy, mom.”

I agreed, but told her, “Not creepy, but it’s a long story.”

Amazingly, she didn’t ask.

Nathan followed me as I dropped Lauren off at school and made my way to my office through the downtown traffic.

We parked in the garage, and didn’t speak as we walked to my office with Xiaolan. Nathan is a touch over six feet tall, sandy blond hair, clear blue eyes. He’s gorgeous, and he comports himself much like the lion he shifts into. He’s large and muscular, and he walks as if he owns the planet and just lets the rest of us live here. Kind of like my mom’s cat.

I looked around and saw a man leaning against the building across the street. He looked just like my old friend Alex, but I hadn’t seen him in at least ten years. I’d been eighteen when we met and I was probably around twenty-four the last time I saw him. He’d told me he was nineteen when we met, so he was a year older than me. However, the man I saw across the street looked as if he were in his early twenties and was standing in the sun, so it couldn’t be Alex. Nathan saw me looking at him and went into bodyguard mode, herding Xiaolan and I into the building. I looked back out once we were in the lobby, but the man across the street was gone.

When I finished with my twelve o’clock appointment I had a text message from Aaron, asking me to call him when I could. Since I had a thirty minute break to grab some lunch, it was good timing. I warmed up the leftovers from the night before and got comfortable on the loveseat with my lunch before calling him.

“Hello, gorgeous, how are you and Nathan doing?”

“So far we’ve managed to not speak to each other, so pretty good, I guess.”

I told him about my early morning call from Kieran, and asked him what was up. He wasn’t pleased I’d been told about the existence of the Interspecies Council, and he changed the subject when I asked who the American liaison was. All Aaron would tell me was he’d had a talk with Abbott and I was free to date him or not, whatever I wanted to do.

“Do you not like Abbott? Is he untrustworthy?” If Aaron didn’t like him, I should probably stay away, which made me a bit sad, knowing the Master Vampire was a Dom.

“On the contrary. He’s one of my best friends, but you frequently travel outside of the Southeastern U.S., and if you’re seeing him and end up in someone else’s territory you could be in danger. I needed to be sure you’re safe, and Abbott wouldn’t necessarily be able to do this with his enemies, but by keeping you safe from him I’ve made you safe from all vampires.” He hesitated and added, “Or, the ones who are afraid of the council, which is most of them, thank goodness.”

“Oh. I had the feeling you didn’t like him, when I first mentioned him.”

“I don’t like the idea of you getting embroiled in his world, but I have no problems with Abbott, personally. He’s a nice guy, and if you’re interested in him it should be safe to proceed.”

“Now that I know he’s a Dom, I think I kind of need to see if there’s anything there,” I told him, my voice soft to try to take the sting out of my words.

“Yeah, I figured. I’ve done everything in my power to keep you safe. Nathan is probably overkill, because you’re capable of taking care of yourself once you know there’s a threat, I just worry you’ll forget to be aware of your surroundings and someone will be on you before you can react.” He sighed. “I know how you feel about Nathan, so I’ll send someone else later in the day. Someone who’ll alert you to a problem and help you fight it off, but who probably won’t be able to fight a supernatural without your help.”

“So, you’re sending Tyler?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem. I’ll have people in shifts around you for probably two or three days. I won’t send anyone you don’t already know, so if someone claims to be there to guard you and you don’t recognize them, kill them.”

“Right. I’m going to hang up now. Bye, Aery.”

Tyler is human, but used to work for the government. I’ve always romanticized him as an American James Bond, though I know it isn’t exactly accurate. At any rate, he’s a Dom, a very
married
Dom, but he’s my friend and we enjoy spending time around each other. We’ve worked together before, and Aaron is right — Tyler knows danger is coming long before most people figure it out, sometimes even before the supernaturals. He’s constantly aware of everything going on around him.

I remembered another question I needed to ask Aaron and called him back.

“Does Abbott know what you shift into?”

“He’s one of the few people on the planet who know, but I’m glad you asked. You should always assume only you and Nathan know unless I tell you otherwise.”

Chapter Eight

When I finally made it home, Lauren was in her room video-chatting with a boy, and Xiaolan was downstairs on the computer, probably doing homework.

My parents had taken Lauren to the theater for practice, since I’d scheduled myself to see patients until six-thirty. I generally worked later on Tuesdays and Wednesdays to accommodate my patients who had trouble getting away from work during the day.

But now it was dark, Abbott would be awake, and I needed to figure out if I was going to call him or not.

Oh, who was I kidding? I knew I’d call him, the only question was when, and figured I may as well do it sooner rather than later. I turned some music on, closed my door, keyed his numbers into my cell phone and saved them all so I’d have them handy later, and then called his home number.

“My darling Kirsten, I was hoping to hear from you.”

“Unless I’ve missed something,” I said with what I hoped was a teasing tone, “I don’t believe I’m your darling. How are you doing this evening?”

“You’ve created quite a stir, did you know?” His tone was conversational, not accusing, but he made it feel as if this was politics and business, not personal.

My heart sank a little, as I was hoping to flirt some and maybe agree to go out with him again, which couldn’t happen if he didn’t ask. However, I kept my voice casual as I answered, “Kieran mentioned it, but to be honest I’m not really sure what’s happened, other than my friend Aaron freaked when I mentioned the owner of The Diamond Club was expressing an interest in me. I assumed his reaction meant he knew what you are, but I of course couldn’t ask him. I suppose it’s possible he just thinks you’re a demented sexual freak and wants to make sure my virtue stays protected.”

“Your virtue.
Right
. You aren’t the only one capable of snooping. You’re being trained by James Arrington, are you not?”

Shit
. It isn’t a big secret in the BDSM world, but I’ve never seen Abbott at any of our functions so I was surprised he’d be able to find out. But, since he already knew, there was no need in evading his question. I kept my voice strong as I answered, “Yes, I am.”

“James Arrington has a reputation for being quite the stern Master. He’s been training you for some time, hasn’t he? Somewhere around ten years?”

“Yes, he does, and yes he has, but I’m not sure he’s as stern with me as he’s been with past submissives and slaves. He tells me he’s mellowing as he grows older, so don’t get the idea I’m as well trained or hard core as you might assume.” While this was what James said, I couldn’t imagine him being much stricter during scenes, so I had a hard time believing it. Still, it seemed a good thing to tell people when I thought they might expect too much of me because of my history with Master James.

“When can I see you again?” he asked.

I closed my eyes, relieved he’d asked, though my pulse sped with the promise of what could happen. However, I had some questions before I agreed to anything with him, no matter how bad I wanted to know how skillfully he could wield a flogger.

“Is there a primer on vampires I can read, or should I just start asking questions?”

“I will answer almost any question you have, but I’d rather not do so over the phone.”

“Almost?”

“Yes, almost.”

“What time will you wake up tomorrow night?”

“I’m more powerful than most, so I awaken earlier in the day though I cannot leave my home until darkness falls.”

“Okay then, what time would you be able to leave your house?” Sure, I could’ve looked up the sunset time, but figured he’d know off the top of his head, and I was annoyed at having to play twenty questions to get it out of him.

“I own another home not far from you. It’s on a golf course, since many of us enjoy the game and this allows us nighttime golf privileges. We call it the Coterie house. It’s where a number of my people live together. I can stay there tomorrow, and will be close to you once the sun goes down. Sunset is a few minutes after seven, and I could be at your home within about five minutes.”

“The timing works out well, as it’ll give me about thirty minutes with Lauren to talk to her about her day. I’ll see you shortly after seven — I can email you directions, unless you already know where I live?”

“When we researched you after you’d first learned our secret, I was made aware of much about you, so yes, I already know where you live.”

I needed to do something extra special to thank Aaron for assuring my safety, as I had the feeling I was in way over my head. As soon as I thought it, my phone beeped, and I looked to see Aaron’s name.

“I’ll see you tomorrow night,” I told Abbott. “Another call is call coming in, and I need to take it.”

“Goodbye, darling. I look forward to tomorrow evening.”

I switched to the incoming call, “Hi Aery, what’s up?”

“We have problems at the battlefield. I’ll be at your house in ten minutes to get you. Get geared up, ready for anything.”

“Okay, see you in ten.”

Chapter Nine

Ready for anything?
Shit
.

The “battlefield” is Chickamauga Battlefield, the scene of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. Over thirty thousand soldiers died in two and a half days of battle. Today, it’s a National Park.

If you’re looking for a place with negative energy, look no further because it attracts devil worshippers or satanists or whatever they want to call themselves by the droves. Most are idiots who stumble through what their elementary research has told them is a dark ceremony, others know what they’re doing. When the former succeed it’s a nightmare because they don’t know what to do with what they’ve called, when the latter succeed it’s a nightmare because they know
exactly
what they want to order the evil beings to do.

Every once in a while someone manages to call something up they
really
shouldn’t have disturbed. When they do, I’m the one who gets to deal with it. Why me? Because I can, I suppose. The various shapeshifters can fight most of them off pretty good, and can usually injure them enough to send them back to where they came. However, I can actually kill them.

I keep a pair of thick hiking pants and a warm fleece top ready. They’ve been soaked in a salt solution and allowed to air dry, which seems to help me repel most of what gets thrown at me on these expeditions.

It was thirty-eight degrees outside, so I wore my long johns under my fighting clothes, as I can’t be bothered with a coat when I’m fighting. I laced on my heavy-duty hiking boots, which are sprayed with a layer of salt water after every wearing. My bag has a salt-soaked ski mask and gloves, and some safety glasses, but I wouldn’t put those on until we arrived. One toss of something towards my face usually destroys the glasses, and I carry four extra, just in case.

I strapped on my knife sheaths, slid the knives in, secured my Sig P938, put my hoodie on and zipped it enough to conceal the weapons, took a deep breath, grabbed my backpack, and ran downstairs to the family room to let Xiaolan know I was going out on an emergency run and I didn’t know when I’d be back. I’m pretty sure she thinks when I go out on these runs a patient is threatening to commit suicide and needs saving, but I’ve never offered the information and she’s never asked.

I ran out the front door and bounced down the steps. Aaron hadn’t arrived so I slowed as I headed to the road. He came around the corner and I sped back up and slid into the passenger seat.

Aaron frequently takes my breath away. He’s a tall, muscular man — six foot three inches tall, Nordic blond, and graceful despite his muscles. Built like something between a sexy male ballet dancer and a boxer, he looks like a Norse God. It really is too bad things didn’t work out between us.

He was all business tonight, though. “Denny called, they have activity at the battlefield — scattered explosions and a few forest fires. The fire department can’t put the fires out fast enough.”

Most of Chickamauga Battlefield lies within the City of Fort Oglethorpe, and while the park service has jurisdiction, an agreement between the federal and city governments allows local law enforcement to respond to calls and investigate crimes inside the park.