Riding the Storm (5 page)

Common sense told him to wait until she left and then drive
his yacht, far, far away… but his sense of adventure told him to stick around
and see what happened. She hadn’t hurt him, and both Kendra and Abbott seemed
to be trying to explain things as kindly as possible, without talking down to
him.

Could he date a vampire? And how often could she drink from
him, because her bite had been fan-
freakin
-tastic.

However, he wasn’t going to submit, even though he wasn’t
sure how making her submit was going to work.

He returned to the sofa, sat beside Kendra, and reached for
her hand. “I’ll listen to the rest of Abbott’s explanation in a moment, but
first I want you to tell me how you envision our relationship working.”

“While Abbott is correct about not often telling me what to
do, he frequently offers sage advice. He’s an expert at maneuvering through the
political machinations of vampire society, and it’s usually wise to listen to
his counsel. He’s advised I tell my housemates I’m grooming you to be a human
companion. They’ll smell confusion in my statement, but it can easily be
explained away by my saying you’re unlike any human I’ve ever met, and how I
think carefully guiding you into the relationship is going to be a fun
challenge.”

She paused and he asked, “But you said you didn’t want me to
be just a companion. I thought you wanted a regular relationship?”

“Yes, Eric, I do. Abbott’s advice is to go slow with my housemates,
so they get to know you before they realize you’ll be more than mere companion.
My telling them you’re going to take some finesse to groom will free us to act
as one would expect during the beginning of most any human relationship. At
some point, the other vampires will realize we’re acting like a human couple
for longer than expected, at which point I’ll admit to having decided against a
formal human companion arrangement with you, once again hinting you’re
different than most humans, and I’m having some wonderful adventures with you.
This way, when it’s discovered I’m submitting to you, I’ll have paved the way,
a little. I’ll let Abbott explain the political ramifications of my submitting
to a human.”

Abbott’s face looked pleasant enough, but Eric had a feeling
it was a façade, and asked, “I won’t be putting her in danger, will I?”

“I appreciate your concern for Kendra, but she’s capable of
taking care of herself. As a human, it’s our job to ensure your safety.” Abbott
looked at Kendra as he said, “He’ll lose the protection automatically given to
companions as soon as you tell someone you aren’t grooming him for it, so
you’ll need to formally put him under your protection the first time, and
every
time you tell someone. Also, I recommend this happen a minimum of two weeks
before it comes out you’re submitting to him sexually.”

Eric leaned forward in his seat. “Protection? I know you
said we’re going against the norm, but why do I need protection? And what will
it entail? I don’t want to put Kendra at risk.”

Abbott and Kendra looked at each other, and Abbott answered.
“There are many vampires who see humans as a lesser species. Kind of the way
humans view pets. Or, perhaps the way you view some of the smarter monkey
species.”

Eric was momentarily speechless, and was about to ask them
both to leave when Abbott added, “Kendra and I don’t see you that way, so don’t
get defensive, I’m just trying to explain there will be some vampires who’ll
take it as a personal insult when a vampire over them in the hierarchy submits
to a human. There’ll be challenges to her status as third, but she’s more than
capable of taking on any challenger. However, if you aren’t under the
protection of a strong vampire then it’s possible some of them could try to
challenge you — the logic being that if you’re holding yourself as
stronger than a vampire, then you’re putting yourself in a position to be contested.”

Eric shook his head as he considered the problem, and said,
“You’re the Master of the territory, right? Why can’t you just put me under
your protection? Wouldn’t that solve the problem?”

“If I were to do so, it would undermine Kendra’s position,
as it would say I didn’t believe her to be capable of protecting you. I’ve done
this for weaker vampires who took on a human girlfriend or boyfriend without
giving them the protection of companion, but politically, I can’t do it for
Kendra.”

Kendra reached for Eric’s hand and gave it a small squeeze
as she looked to Abbott and said, “Actually, if he were working for you then
he’d be protected as an employee. Haven’t you been looking for someone to teach
some of the older vampires who’ve refused to embrace technology? If you can get
them set up to check and send emails and text messages, it’ll make contacting
everyone for minor things, when telepathy isn’t called for, much easier.”

Abbott looked at Eric. “You make computer games for a
living, correct?”

Eric nodded, and Abbott asked, “Would you be qualified to
teach ancient vampires how to use a computer? Most importantly, how to check and
send email, and how to send and receive text messages on a cellphone? I realize
money probably isn’t an issue for you, but it would pay well, and would include
being placed under my personal protection.”

“If you set me up with a classroom with as many computers as
I’ll have students, I can teach them all at once. I find a group setting works
better for people who are resistant to learning, as long as at least half the
class is motivated. If you give me notes on some of the resistant people’s
interests, I can target the example internet searches to help show them how it
can benefit them personally.”

Eric looked at Kendra a few seconds, deciding how much he
wanted to offer, and decided he wanted to get to know her, and he’d do whatever
it took to keep her from having to come to his rescue.

He looked back at Abbott. “I assume you have some kind of
security system in place, and I can also look over your current set-up, find
the security holes, and plug them. If you aren’t already, I can teach you the
various ways to encrypt sensitive text and email messages, and can show you how
to speak on an encrypted connection. And, as I see emerging technologies that
may be of use to you, I can bring them to your attention.”

Abbott looked thoughtful. “Kendra, this could work. Having
him teach classes puts him in kind of an authority position to start with.” He
looked back at Eric. “Once our contract is in place and you’re my employee,
should anyone challenge you in any way, you must say, ‘
Since I have a formal
arrangement with Abbott Hamilton, any challenges toward me should be directed
to him
’. Once you’re under my protection, you’ll be able to speak to me
with your mind, and you’ll need to open up so I can hear those words. I’ll know
who you’re saying it to, and I’ll then be able to control them. If you act in
any way to defend yourself then my protection will do you no good, though, so
it’s imperative you don’t try to go all macho when challenged by any of my
people.”

Telepathy? Eric decided not to question it — if Abbott
spoke of it, odds are, it was real. “Can Kendra and I speak to each other that
way? Through our minds?”

Abbott looked at Kendra, and she explained, “It’s possible,
but I didn’t bind you to me, I only bound you to your promise. If I join us
together metaphysically we can speak telepathically, but I don’t want you to
see it as an invasion of privacy, so I won’t do it until you fully understand
the ramifications, and ask it of me.”

“But Abbott will have to bind me to him to protect me?”

“Yes, but what he does will be different. Mine will be
personal. His will be business.”

There was so much he didn’t understand, so many questions,
but he started with, “Once he’s bound me, can he make me do what he wants, even
if I don’t want to do it?”

* * * *

Kendra didn’t want to have this particular conversation, but
Eric needed the truth. “He can make you do anything he wants
now
,
without binding you. He’ll have a better connection once he puts you under his
protection, but it won’t give him more power over you than he already has.”

“What do you mean? Explain.”

Kendra smelled the acrid tang of fear and temper on him, and
tried to give him the truth without further freaking him out. “You’ve heard the
old wives tales about people compelled to do things by vampires? Stories of
women who get up out of bed and walk outside to the hungry vampire. No one
believes them, the stories are said to be people who are sleepwalking and who
dream of vampires, but…” She shrugged. “It isn’t something either of us is in
the practice of doing, and Abbott has rules about how vampires can and can’t
use those powers in his territory. Neither Abbott nor I are going to force you
to do something against your will.” She sighed and added, “Not unless you need
us to prove it to you, and then one of us can.”

“You’re telling me the vampires who live here are all
good
?
Because a bad... because one who was bad, wouldn’t live in Abbott’s territory?
But wouldn’t that mean there are places to live where it’s dangerous to be a
human? How can vampires have kept their secret if there are areas where
vampires are killing lots of humans?”

Abbott took this one, his voice soothing. “Even Master
Vampires are constrained by rules, and are required to make sure their people
conform. The biggest rule is there can be no activity that risks exposure.”

“Who keeps the Master Vampires in line?”

“We can’t tell you all of our secrets Eric.” Abbott didn’t
get impatient with him, didn’t seem annoyed with the question, was just letting
him know he couldn’t answer.

Eric looked at him a few moments and regrouped. He needed to
ask questions directly related to Kendra, for now. Take care of the issue at
hand, and deal with his other questions later.

“Okay. Thanks for being patient with my questions. To be
sure I’m clear on this — when I’m at Kendra’s house, I act like a
boyfriend for now and everything will be fine, right? I only pull my Dom stuff
out when we’re behind closed doors?”

“For now you’ll only be able to do your power exchange
activities away from the house. Vampire hearing is phenomenal, and anything you
do in Kendra’s room can be heard throughout the house — even a whisper.
You’ll probably also want to make sure you don’t have the boat too close to the
house. We’re up on the cliff, but we often hear conversations in boats below on
the water. We tune them out most of the time, but if someone heard Kendra’s
voice they’d tune in pretty quickly.”

Eric wanted to ask how far they could hear, but once again
aimed his question towards what he needed to know for personal reasons. “How
soon before you and I do whatever contract you mentioned, and we formalize our
arrangement?”

“I’ll email my attorney tonight, and unless she’s in court
all day she’ll have the contract to me when I awaken tomorrow evening. You and
I can go over it in detail and write our own addendum, if necessary, before
signing. I’ll get you a credit card number to use, and will authorize you to
purchase computers and other equipment you’ll need.”

Abbott looked at Kendra. “Make arrangements for deliveries
to be taken to the shelter area, please, and show Eric the table and chair
options available in the storage areas. Also, have Josef oversee his people
setting them up as Eric needs.”

Abbott looked back at Eric. “Josef is my head of security.
You’ll also be working with him to help us use technology for security
purposes. Our current system includes a variety of keyed and combination locks.
I’d like you to work with Josef on some solutions not involving keys that can
be lost or stolen, or number sequences too easily shared.”

“A fingerprint scan should work for vampires the same as
humans, but we’ll need to do some research to see if retina and/or iris scans
will work for vampire eyes. You should know there are times I’m up against
deadlines with my regular work, and I won’t have time to work for you. I’m in
the creative stage with my newest project right now and there are few deadlines
during this part of the process, but there are at least a few weeks a year I
spend twenty hours a day immersing myself in the world I’m creating, barely
taking time to sleep or eat.”

“Understood. We’ll talk tomorrow evening about what I’ll pay
you. We have a soundproof office in the coterie house, if you can come there
tomorrow night around eight o’clock, we can take care of our business without
Kendra present, to make it clear you and I have a working relationship separate
from the personal one you have with her. I’ll also introduce you to Josef, and
we can discuss the current security arrangements so you can draw up your
recommendations.”

* * * *

Abbott peeked into Eric’s brain enough to see he’d pushed
his emotions to the side and was dealing with the logistics of what he was
being told, for the moment. Not many humans were capable of this, and even
fewer gained the skills at such a young age. Abbott saw a glimpse of Eric
having to make micro-second decisions when hang gliding, kayaking, and mountain
climbing, and realized this human was used to thinking straight while his
system was flooded with adrenaline, pushing past his fight-or-flight responses
to deal with whatever problem was at hand.

Abbott didn’t personally turn a lot of people, but if Eric
should desire to become Vampire someday, he was one of the few humans the
Master Vampire would consider changing.

Back to the subject at hand, though — there were other
things Kendra wasn’t likely to tell her human, and if Eric had any hope of
successfully Topping a vampire, Abbott would need to irritate her by filling
him in. He focused on Eric, locked Kendra out so she couldn’t speak to him
telepathically for the next minute or two, and told Eric, “There are a few
other things you should know about us, and then I’ll go so the two of you can
spend some time alone. First, you should know vampires have excellent healing
abilities. We hurt just as much as humans, our nerve endings work the same, but
the strongest of us can heal from most injuries in less than ten minutes
— damage a human may need weeks or months to recover from. Extreme damage
can take longer, of course, while minor damage heals almost instantaneously.”