Vampire Trinity Part 4

"That what we did would make him react that way." He'd come into their bedroom and she was grateful to see the soft quilts and inviting pillows. Gideon put her feet on the ground, pulled back the cover, and then helped her ease in. She held on to his arm, pulling him in with her. Stay with me until I fall asleep. Stay with me until I fall asleep.

As long as you need. He folded his arms over her chest as she turned her back to him, fitting herself to his planes and corners. "So why did you do that?" He folded his arms over her chest as she turned her back to him, fitting herself to his planes and corners. "So why did you do that?"

"You know why, if you were listening in."

He shook his head. "Murky relations.h.i.+p-plotting stuff is a female foreign language, even direct from your head."

She bit his arm, gently, but enjoyed the way her fangs pressed into the flesh enough to take it deeper, find blood. He held her, didn't pull away or flinch at all as she enjoyed several drops, for pleasure, not hunger, and then traced the puncture wounds with her tongue, helping them close. "Daegan said they were the perfect Master-servant relations.h.i.+p, each one understanding how the relations.h.i.+p is supposed to work. I guess I see more there, simmering under the surface. I wanted to bring it to the top. Maybe for myself, more than them."

And maybe for Gideon as well, to remind him of what he'd said about his brother and his Mistress. She closed her eyes. She did herself no favors, making futile gestures like that. But Gideon's arms tightened around her. He said nothing for a while, and then, when she suspected he thought she was asleep, she heard his thought.

He'll be home soon, Anwyn. You won't have to worry so much about me then.

He was wrong, on both counts. Daegan wouldn't come home until she invited him . . . and meant it. And she'd have balance only when they were both both with her in this bed. with her in this bed.

Since Daegan had given her blood to serve as her surrogate sire, she could talk in his head and he in hers. However, as Daegan hadn't spoken in her mind since he'd left, she suspected he could be out of range. So she dialed his number on the cell and put on the earpiece so she could be hands free, tuck her cold fingers under her pillow. It was early afternoon, and she'd woken thinking of Daegan, what had happened last night. Gideon was on his afternoon run outside Atlantis, Brian was asleep, and of course Debra would probably be reworking the day's notes.

She'd thought about everything for quite a while before reaching for the phone. She didn't know what time it was there, but with a vampire, it didn't really matter. If it was heavy daylight, he'd sleep through the phone ringing. Otherwise, he'd be awake.

He answered on the second ring. "Cher." "Cher."

She swallowed at everything that was in that one syllable. She didn't want inane chitchat, didn't want to circle around like a dazed moth uncertain of that flame. Not anymore. "I want you . . ."

To come home, to be with me, with us, even if I get angry again. But, remembering the night they'd met, she realized the words he'd said then covered it all for her, as they had for him. He'd just been waiting on her to come to the same conclusion. "I want you." But, remembering the night they'd met, she realized the words he'd said then covered it all for her, as they had for him. He'd just been waiting on her to come to the same conclusion. "I want you."

During the long pause, she closed her eyes. Imagining how close his mouth was to that phone, she had a crazy, adolescent desire to press her mouth to her own receiver, as if it would bring their lips together.

"Slide your hands down to your throat. Overlap them."

She turned to her back and did it, collaring herself with her fingers, and gasped at the immediate thought of it being his hand, holding her there as he often did, just enough pressure on the windpipe as he leaned down and sampled a breast, or nipped at the inside of her thigh, trailed his mouth over her navel and the quivering line of her upper abdomen.

"Now down over your b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Cup them, bring them together. Offer them to me. Arch your back. Don't touch your nipples."

It was hard not to do that, because she was itching to make a pa.s.s over them, imagine his mouth, his teeth, or the pinch of his fingers, but she did it, holding that position as the silence drew out. Was he touching his c.o.c.k? Somehow she knew he wasn't, though she was sure he was hardening. This was about his Mastery of her, and all his focus was on it, such that she could feel his intensity even from this distance.

"Down your stomach now, to your p.u.s.s.y. Spread your legs. Are you naked?"

"Yes."

"You f.u.c.ked Gideon before you went to sleep? His seed is still inside you, marking your thighs?"

"Yes."

"Next time, you tell him to clean you with his mouth. He shouldn't be leaving his Mistress messy like that."

Her breath whispered between her lips, curving in a soft smile. "Daegan."

"Cup your hands over your c.u.n.t. Seal in the heat, your desire. Let it feel the pressure of your palms. No fingers inside of yourself."

As she did, a gasp shuddered from her, her c.l.i.t spasming. "Now." His voice had dropped even lower, and she heard it then, the note of the primitive male animal, the one he unleashed with her when he was at his most possessive and feral. Vampire. "Who do you belong to?"

"You," she whispered. "Come home, Daegan. Please. I need you." She swallowed, hard, and said what she'd never said to him. Never said to anyone in her entire adult life. "I love you. I hate you. I can't be without you."

"Will you still be angry with me?"

"Yes," she admitted. "But I can't get over it until you come back."

His chuckle s.h.i.+mmered over her like dark, erotic notes of music. "Spoken like the Mistress I know . . . and love."

Tears welled up in her eyes. "Daegan."

"More than life itself, cher cher. I will take your anger, your hatred, your love, and I will not fail you. I am yours, Anwyn Inara Naime. And I have been, since I walked into your club."

"Come home."

"I'm only a dream or two away." He paused. "How is Gideon doing?"

"Debra took him from behind tonight, while he was inside me. It was a new experience for him. Messed him up some, but he's out running it off."

"But Brian did not touch him. Or you."

Her body quivered under the cup of her hand at that tone, deadly and ferocious. "No. He didn't. Only to place the sensors on me. He touched my throat lightly when he did that, but nothing else. You were right about him, Daegan. He's a good man."

"He was Gideon's suggestion. It is Gideon who deserves the credit for his presence."

"Mmm. I didn't let him touch Gideon because Gideon doesn't desire men. I know what the vampire world is like, but whenever I have control over it, I'm not going to let a submissive . . . a servant of mine be forced to do something entirely against his nature just for my sake. He has no desire to be touched by a male. Not generally."

"Not generally."

She suppressed a smile. Gideon believed no male touch aroused him. He'd rationalized anything that had happened with Daegan as an ancillary symptom of his arousal for her.

She wasn't going to force the issue or the truth. She was saving that pleasure for the specific, very territorial male who had had aroused Gideon, no matter how much Gideon tried to block it from his mind or bury it. aroused Gideon, no matter how much Gideon tried to block it from his mind or bury it.

4.

WOMEN. Once they knew when Daegan was coming home, Gideon wasn't surprised that his Mistress went into major to-do mode. The top three on the list were: she wanted Chantal to do her hair and toenails; she wanted to go with Gideon to pick Daegan up at the airport; and she wanted to drive. Once they knew when Daegan was coming home, Gideon wasn't surprised that his Mistress went into major to-do mode. The top three on the list were: she wanted Chantal to do her hair and toenails; she wanted to go with Gideon to pick Daegan up at the airport; and she wanted to drive.

The first part was easy enough. Pleased with her mood, and wanting to make sure she could hold on to it, he'd accompanied her upstairs, sat on the comfortable couch in the staff break room. With his booted feet crossed, long legs stretched out, he perused an entertainment magazine and listened to her talk to Chantal and some of the other "girls" during pre-opening. It was just girl chat, but for all they'd dealt with these past few weeks, he found it soothing and somewhat charming, though he never would have admitted that. Chantal did the hair and had Ella do the nails, since Ella also worked at a nail salon.

As he watched them and her mind was distracted, he mused over the challenges of the upcoming days. They'd be dropping Brian and Debra off at the airport the same night they picked up Daegan. Brian's work on the injection had improved to the point that for the past seven days her seizures had been low-level and easily predicted, between her vitals' monitoring and Gideon's perceptive senses. The restraints had been employed every time. In each case Gideon had had enough lead time to get her to a secluded environment, if she was no farther from one than her upper office. An added bonus was that the longer they spent together, the less vocal the nasty gremlins were. As long as their minds stayed closely interlocked. With Daegan back, it was just going to be a matter of continued practice and guarding against dangerous complacency.

Not much chance of that, though. For all the improvements, she still got antsy if Gideon got too far out of range. The flip side of the improvements was, when he was away from her, the gremlins were far more vocal, like trapped wild animals who'd been pent up in a cage. He'd started doing most of the necessary errands while she was sleeping, during the strongest hours of daylight, because if he left near evening, or worse, in the evening itself, the effort of keeping her reality separate from the nightmares they whispered in her brain, the images they delivered in front of her eyes, could exhaust her, as well as override Brian's serum.

He knew it could make her despair, and he ached for her. He and Brian both reminded her it hadn't been that long yet, such that they couldn't know how things would improve as time went on. Still, it was as if, as they got hold of the one thing they could manage, the one thing they couldn't was becoming stronger.

She was struggling with what every person who found their life significantly altered by a handicap faced. Depression, mood swings, intense flashes of anger. But he had to admire her grit as well. She worked through it, just as she had those first horrible seizures before they had the sire's blood. In between those bouts, she was humorous, determined, clever and always ready to use s.e.x as an outlet for her frustration. He was happy to help.

She'd caught that thought, for she glanced over her shoulder at him, her eyes glittering with humor. What are you reading? What are you reading?

He lifted the magazine. Reading tabloid trash was something he'd done to pa.s.s the time as a vampire hunter, those brief pauses in safe places like grocery stores and newsstands. Truth, he'd gotten a bit hooked on it. It was mindless fantasy, no connection to his reality, and often had pictures of scantily clad starlets with augmented b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Most of the time they looked like they were ready to hurl themselves into a catfight.

She rolled her eyes at him, went back to talking to the women.

A lot of the staff had come through here to briefly hang out, talk to her, but this core group of women had stayed, surprising him at how close they were to his Mistress, who'd seemed so isolated to him up until now. James had expanded her alibi, said she was having some ongoing family issues that were limiting her working hours to brief visits during the pre-opening late-afternoon hours, while she handled most management tasks through her computer. He was impressed that they didn't pry, but they all managed to convey sympathy and support, with warmth and obvious affection for their boss. She needed that, and he could tell she enjoyed her time with them, though it was a little odd to see her having "girl time" with women she'd commanded to strip and oil down his body on his earlier visits to Atlantis. The Dommes who'd tried to break him were giggling and acting like any gaggle of women he might see out together at a Starbucks.

He wasn't oblivious to their speculative glances, or Janet's appealing smile, which made it clear, if he weren't involved with Anwyn, she'd be more than willing to keep him company.

Only if you want an appendage removed. With a dull steak knife.

Meow. Gideon gave her an arch look as Anwyn shot him a warning glance. Gideon gave her an arch look as Anwyn shot him a warning glance. I'm all yours, sweet Mistress. Just nice to know I have options. She does have incredible t.i.ts. Not better than yours, of course . . . I'm all yours, sweet Mistress. Just nice to know I have options. She does have incredible t.i.ts. Not better than yours, of course . . .

You do know I can read your mind? You better put down that shovel before the hole gets deep enough to put you in it.

He gave her another grin, returned to his reading, an article about a teary-eyed starlet who'd broken up with a top action-hero actor after a grueling six weeks of marriage. Against the cus.h.i.+on of female chatter, he realized he was almost relaxed. Knowing she was safe and everything was okay for now didn't happen often, these lulls. And not just with her. When he'd been on his own, he'd had one here or there, like when he'd visited aquariums or parks where he didn't have to be hyper-vigilant. But he'd always been alone there. He didn't feel alone now.

Of course, Daegan was coming back. That thought tightened up his gut, and he wasn't sure how he felt about it. Relieved, because Daegan could handle anything that came at her that might get past Gideon's guard? Or apprehensive and disappointed, because he'd sort of had her to himself for a month, no compet.i.tion for her affection? The explanation didn't quite fit, because from the beginning, while he'd occasionally felt like that third wheel, he'd oddly never felt it necessary to challenge Daegan's claim. What went on between the three of them was different from that, as if he and Daegan fit the "apples and oranges" idiom, two different things she needed.

Or maybe he was just kidding himself, and Daegan's return just underscored the fact his days of truly being needed were numbered. Those gremlins quieted down when Daegan was in her mind as well, though not quite in the same way.

He was the understudy, whereas the main player was returning home tonight. Sourly, he turned the page, and wondered if he had room to criticize the teary starlet, since he might never reach six weeks with Anwyn . . . or any other woman.

"Okay, I said I wanted to do this. Demanded it. Now I'm scared to death. I feel like such a girl." She stared at the car keys in her hand. "Brian said this would be okay, right?"

"You are a girl, thank all the G.o.ds, and yes, he said it would be fine. He's dedicated his every waking moment to testing you like a lab rat, to the point you should have whiskers and a tail. He's 99.9 percent positive you are deep in the green zone for the next five to six hours. It's eleven o'clock at night. We're making a very very brief stop to drop Debra and Brian at the main airport, and then we're going to go pick up Daegan at a private airstrip, where there will be few people. The risk is minimal. I have the restraints in the back. If we get a hint of something going south, we can get them on you and put you in the backseat until it pa.s.ses. But unless you have an unexpected stressor, you should be fine." brief stop to drop Debra and Brian at the main airport, and then we're going to go pick up Daegan at a private airstrip, where there will be few people. The risk is minimal. I have the restraints in the back. If we get a hint of something going south, we can get them on you and put you in the backseat until it pa.s.ses. But unless you have an unexpected stressor, you should be fine."

"Should, minimal risk, less than a hundred percent positive. That's all I'm hearing. I should stay here. I'm going to bring on that stressor just thinking about it."

"Okay." Gideon shrugged, took the keys from her hand. "I'll go get him. And while I'm out, we'll stop at the Blue Room, your compet.i.tion. Daegan and I will see if we can't find a Mistress with some b.a.l.l.s. You know, you say I need a pretty firm hand, and since you're becoming a real chickens.h.i.+t-"

The keys disappeared from his hand, and he let out a yelp as his t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es were given a sharp pinch by a hand that was gone as fast as it gripped him. She appeared at the driver's side, eyes shooting daggers at him. "Get in the car," she ground out.

Gideon grinned at her, a baring of teeth. "And she's back." He sobered, drew close, even though he knew he was risking further retaliation, temper still in her gaze. "You can trust Brian on this one. The past few days, he's been spot-on, right?"

Debra and Brian were already in the backseat of the car, waiting on Gideon and her to finish their conversation and join them. Brian had promised to see if there was any type of modified medication, similar to what human schizophrenics took, that he could develop for Anwyn to help with her gremlins, though no telling what side effects such a serum might have. Yet another way her life might change.

Gideon could tell she was trying to quell the resentment such thoughts brought, because she didn't want any of that disrupting her antic.i.p.ation of Daegan's homecoming. There'd be enough things to disrupt that when he got here, since he knew the two of them still had some smoke to be cleared between them. He was in her mind, after all. But it was clear, she loved Daegan.

She'd told Daegan that, and Gideon had heard her recall the conversation more than once, much as he was trying his d.a.m.ndest not to listen in to her thoughts uninvited. Particularly when they ripped open his gut like a box cutter. Of course she loved Daegan. That was hardly a news flash, right? He'd known that the first time he'd watched them together. A woman could love only one man with that kind of heat and pa.s.sion. Gideon was serving a different role for her, one that was valued differently. How could he want or demand the same thing from her, when they all knew he eventually had to leave? He should be glad she'd have someone to give all that.

He knew in her mind that she was getting really attached to Gideon and wanted him to stay, keep that balanced triangle. He wanted to absorb the happy fuzzies the thought gave him, but she knew as well as he did that she was going into a world he couldn't share. Eventually he was going to have to get off the train.

As he got into the pa.s.senger seat, Gideon watched her slide off her shoes and push them back under her seat with her heels, revealing her bare feet, the polished toenails with tiny flowers painted into the pedicure. She saw him looking. "So did Ella do as good a job as you could have done for me? You did say you know how to give a pedicure."

"Fair. I probably could have done better." He grunted, giving her a sidelong look. "I know how to paint inside the lines and everything."

"I'll bet." She smiled, glanced back at Brian and Debra, murmuring over some paperwork. "All set?"

Debra gave them a distracted smile. Brian didn't even register the comment, too immersed in whatever he was calculating on his mini-laptop. Anwyn gave Gideon an amused look and put the car in drive. They were in Daegan's roomy BMW, since he'd had it delivered back to Anwyn after he left, so they could use it as an extra vehicle if needed. She had to adjust the seat upward, a reminder of his long legs. Gideon fiddled with the b.u.t.tons, found the seat warmer and started as the upholstery heated beneath him. "Why the h.e.l.l would a vampire need a seat warmer?"

"It's possible for vampires to get cold. It just doesn't bother us as much. Plus, it feels good to humans." She looked back at Debra. "She's appreciating it. You don't like it?"

"I thought I'd p.i.s.sed myself when my a.s.s got warm."

She chuckled, checked the rearview mirror. "What are you two so intense about back there?"

"Brian thinks he may have figured out an improvement on another project he's been testing," Debra said absently. "Reverting a marking so a human is no longer a marked servant, no longer connected to the vampire."

Anwyn's fingers gripped the wheel as Gideon turned to look back at them. "Say what?"

Debra closed her mouth, apparently realizing too late the impact of such a statement on those in the front seat. Brian gave her a censorious glance, but suppressed a sigh. "I've been working on it for a while, because we've had instances where younger vampires rashly turn a servant against his or her will. Though it only works if the servant's bond is less than five years, there are other applications now, such as a vampire infected with the fatal Delilah virus who wishes to spare her or his servant. We haven't been able to test it," he added, "because in the two cases we've had of that, even with the bond being so young, the servant flatly refused to take the serum. They both wished to make the pa.s.sage to the next life with the vampires who marked them.

"However, as far as the cases where a vampire turned a servant against his or her will and wished to undo that mistake, I tested it on several subjects recently. It worked well, but there were some unpleasant, but not fatal, side effects I've been trying to remedy. Nausea, headaches, et cetera." His brow furrowed, suggesting he was now conversing more with himself than with those in the car. "Those might be because of the interaction of the memory wipe with the chemical injection, two different mediums."

"Memory wipe?" Gideon prompted, before Brian could start his manic scribbling on the steno pad balanced on Debra's knee.

"Yes, the Council required that, because of course we have to limit human knowledge of our world. As you know, a servant who has seen so much of it can't be turned loose to risk sharing his or her knowledge. Even if he or she can be trusted for that, they could be used as a p.a.w.n of other vampires who want the knowledge of the particular Master or Mistress the servant served."

Anwyn still had that death grip on the wheel. Gideon cautiously touched her mind, found it almost unnaturally still. "Anwyn-"

"So if I reach the point I'm comfortable with the management of these seizures, you could reverse Gideon's marking. Free him from me when it's time for him to leave."

"I'm not going anywhere at the moment, sweetheart."

"Don't try to cus.h.i.+on this, Gideon," she snapped, then stopped, taking a breath. "If you look at that monitor, Brian, I swear I will stop this car and rip your arm off."

Brian's brows rose, but he still calmly checked the small hand monitor for the sensors he'd attached to her beneath her clothes. They'd discussed embedding them under the skin, but with the vampire penchant for healing, he didn't know how her body would handle that. Plus, once they established certain patterns, she-or her servant-could possibly become as accurate as the monitor.

"Hey." Gideon reached out, covered her hand on the wheel, brought her gaze to him. "Nothing's changed, Anwyn. I'm here for you as long as you need me. This just means when you're ready to be rid of me, you can really be rid of me. Though the memory thing is pointless-I already know most of the things they'd want wiped, and have for quite a while."

Plus, there was no way in h.e.l.l anyone was giving him something that took away a single memory of Anwyn.

She pressed her lips together, and her fingers s.h.i.+fted beneath his, overlapping and tangling. "Yes, I suppose that's good news. My grocery bills have doubled since you moved in."

"That's not my fault. I haven't been making up the grocery list." His gaze roved deliberately over her. "Though I will point out, I'm eating for two."

While Gideon didn't do much cooking, Anwyn had started to do so. Apparently, it was something she'd used to do, but had gotten out of the habit with the demands of running Atlantis. As well as keeping company with a vampire who didn't really eat. She seemed to like cooking for Gideon, though, making him things to try, even swapping ideas with Debra, who also liked to cook. It created a familiar domestic respite in their typically unusual and volatile days. He knew Anwyn thought the knotted hardness of his body needed filling out, and he liked the look in her eyes when he ate for her. He hadn't gained much, not with how much he ran and worked out in Daegan's weapons room, but he'd made the lines of muscle more sleek, less knotty, and that pleased her.

They didn't say much for the next little bit. After a thoughtful pause, Brian and Debra had returned to their notes, tactfully avoiding further conversation on the subject. It didn't matter, since it was now out in the open, but Gideon was glad to see Anwyn was putting it aside for now, trying not to let it spoil the mood. She obviously really wanted to savor being out in the world, Daegan coming home, and Gideon at her side. It gratified him, to hear that he was part of the happiness equation tonight.