Silent Cravings (32 page)

Analie reached a hand back, embarrassed at how badly she trembled, and patted Freddy’s massive head. Her skull could have easily fit in his jaws.

“Look. J-just look. He still th-thinks a-and he’s ha-ar-armless, s-seriously. See? It’s just Freddy.”

Analie took a step back and put her arm over Freddy’s shoulders, slowly kneeling down until their heads were level. Freddy was still shaking and his tail had fluffed out to twice its normal size. He shoved his head under Analie’s chin and she hugged him, her fingers lost in the thick fur around his jaw.

“L-look. It’s Freddy. He’s just a shifter. He got stressed out and he shifted. He doesn’t want to be a tiger right now.”

Analie looked pleadingly at Mouse. “He’s not going to do anything, I swear. You could pet him, honestly. He’s like a really big kitty.”

Ashi looked up, saw John advancing, and scrambled up the stairs, practically on all fours. This was
not
a good day.

John watched him go, debating whether or not to pursue. It amused him to be such a terror, but he didn’t really feel like playing cat-and-mouse.

Then a thought struck him. A rather wicked one.

He gave a sidelong look at Mouse’s apartment. She’d be distracted for a while.

That fiendish grin only widened as he slowly paced toward the stairs, growing anticipation bringing a crimson glow to his eyes.

Mouse did not look amused. Analie couldn’t see it, but she was still snarling, fangs openly bared in visible threat. The hellish light in her eyes dimmed but didn’t fade entirely.

Sebastian warily put a hand on her shoulder, and she abruptly let the swords drop, pulling away from his touch and setting the weapons down deliberately on the coffee table. The look she was giving Freddy was murderous. He was supremely lucky she had stopped to listen to Analie, for while she wielded deadly self-control and skill, when it came to protection of their building, she was easily overcome with mindless, deadly rage. It was partly habit, partly instinct. It was why she made such an effective guard dog, and now Analie had a much clearer idea of why Mouse’s apartment was situated where it was, and with so much weaponry readily at hand.

Analie would have been in total awe of how bad-ass Mouse was if she hadn’t been so close to gibbering terror.

“I’m sorry! I’m really, really sorry,” she said, her voice shaking. “Remember when I told you Ashi broke Freddy’s arm and leg?”

Freddy garumphed in distress. Analie clapped a hand over his mouth, as if it would help muffle the bone-rattling noise.

“He saw Ashi in the hallway. I dunno why he’s downstairs, but it scared the living shit out of Freddy. He shifts when he’s stressed. Seriously, he doesn’t want to cause any trouble. He just got super scared.”

Ashi bounded up the stairs and tripped on his overlarge sweats. He felt suspiciously like a chick in a bad horror film. He wasn’t quite sure how he could draw that comparison, not having seen many movies.

Maybe if he could get to the room he shared with Christoph, John would leave him alone.

“Why run? You know I’ll catch you in the end.”

John didn’t hurry or swoop down on Ashi when he fell over himself trying to escape. He took his time, deliberately pacing up the stairs, burning eyes locked on Ashi’s retreating figure.

“I heard you said you liked it. Why run from it, then? You know it won’t hurt.”

He ran his tongue over one incisor, the single fang gleaming in the little light in the stairwell. Somehow this was more menacing than if he’d fallen on him like some wild, ravening beast.

“I promise not to take too much…”

Mouse was tense and unmoving by the table. Close to the weapons.

“Um, sorry, but I’ve got… things… to do. Yeah. I’ll see you later,” Sebastian said, edging around Analie and Freddy as he hurried toward the door.

Mouse gave him a look, and the younger vampire cringed. He thought being a monster would make him brave, but the sight of Freddy had scared the (un)life out of him. Harmless or not, he wanted out of here.

After a moment, Mouse’s frown deepened, and she turned thoughtful. Grabbing the nearest pad and pen, she scrawled something down, holding it out to Sebastian, who read it aloud.

“Ashi didn’t get hurt, did he?’”

Analie shook her head. “No. Freddy backed away. He’s afraid of Ashi. I don’t blame him.”

Freddy pulled back and hid his head behind Analie, the massive muscles under his fur rippling.

“And he’s really afraid of you right now. Can I take him to my room and I’ll explain everything right after?” she asked Mouse.

Ashi ran down the hallway to the apartment. He threw open the door, made a beeline for the bedroom, grabbed the doorknob, yanked and—nearly dislocated his shoulder when the door didn’t open.

He pounded the door with his fist. “Christoph!”

“What?” came Christoph’s muffled voice.

“Open the door!”

“No.”

Ashi pounded the door again, frantic.

“
Christoph, stop wanking and let me in!
”

“Hey, I’m not wanking. I just don’t want to let you in when you’re angry. You’ll throw off my chi.”

“You don’t have any fucking chi! Let me in!”

“Hey, Ashi?”

“What?”

“Go fuck yourself.”

Ashi took a step back and kicked the door. It shuddered mightily, but it didn’t give, and hurt his foot a little.

“Holy shit! Don’t break the door!”

Ashi cast about for something in the living room he could use as a weapon. Finding nothing, he pounded on the door again.

“
Let me in!”

“No!”

John took his time walking down the hall, relishing the fear in Ashi’s voice. It was rare these days for him to be allowed to take advantage of the fear of his prey, so he wanted to savor and make the most of it. No doubt one of the bleeding hearts in the building would try to make him stop at some point, but until Royce said so, he would gladly continue terrorizing the pair of Weres. It helped that they were enemies, though he would’ve done the same to a human if he was given the option.

Something about fear made the blood taste sweeter to him.

As he reached the apartment, he nudged the door open, the low creaking sound of the hinge announcing his arrival as dramatically as that of any horror movie monster. Just the way he wanted it.

Mouse gave a short nod, the hellish light finally dying out of her eyes as she mastered her temper and reined in her instincts.

“Thank you,” Analie gushed, then grabbed Freddy by the scruff and hauled him into her room, slamming the door behind them.

Freddy turned to face her, looking as worried as a seven hundred pound tiger can.

“I’ll get you some clothes and get the box,” Analie assured him.

“Aaouraaarrrrourgh,” said Freddy.

“Yeah, I have no idea what you just said, but you’ll be safe in here.”

Analie left her room, sprinted to the hallway, grabbed the remnants of Freddy’s clothes and his box, and hurried back to her room. Freddy was hiding in her den-bed, as evidenced by his tail and hindquarters sticking out into the room.

She squeezed in beside him and scratched along his cheek.

“We are like the luckiest damn people in the
world
right now,” she told him.

Freddy nodded.

“Christoph!” Ashi shouted, still pounding on the door.

“
What
?”

“For God’s sake, let me in!”

At the sound of the door creaking open, Ashi spun around, his back thudding against the wall. His expression was one of abject terror as he watched the door swing wide, revealing John in all his horrifying glory.

“Seriously, I’m not letting you in while you’re mad,” Christoph said from inside the bedroom.

Ashi pushed away from the door and staggered backward across the living room, not willing to turn his back on John. His breath was coming in harsh gasps and it felt like his heart was making a break for it through his ribcage. He’d never felt fear like this before. He
did not
want to get bitten again.

“No place left to hide,” John said, moving inside. His appearance did not really lend itself to intimidation.

He was shorter than average, with sandy brown hair and a boyish face that made him look like an underdeveloped twenty-something. His brown eyes did not often reflect particularly deep, meaningful thoughts, and no matter how he dressed, he always seemed like a kid trying too hard to fit into grownup clothes. The only thing he had going for him were the fangs and the fiendish glow to his eyes, and that Ashi knew just how fast and strong he could be if he chose to exert himself.