“Pssh, I spend hours slaving over these ribs and you’re excited about cookies,” I joked, not serious in the slightest. Lisbeth bit into one of Arthur’s cookie with gusto and she started smelling like pure love, most of which was not directed at me for the moment.
“You know how much she likes pastries,” Arthur defended, but he gave my meat a sniff and a look of appreciation, just in case I was actually wounded.
“Mk crssn nx tm,” Lisbeth said, mouth full to the brim with cookies. Arthur raised an eyebrow at her, and she just smiled back as she chewed. I almost translated her food talk, but Arthur was already rolling his eyes at her.
“I’m not making croissants.”
“Fk yu,” she protested, and stuck her tongue out at him with cookie all over it.
Glaring, Arthur set the cookies down on the table we’d set up beside the grill. “You’re so gross.” She flung her leg out to kick at him but he deflected without looking. “Two kids in and you’re still as immature as ever.”
“Three if this works out,” she noted, taking more bites of cookie. “But I don’t intend to change. Ever.”
“God help us if this baby turns out like you,” he said as he took a cookie for himself.
“Hey,” I interjected, having enjoyed watching their banter up to that point. I stuck my spatula at him in warning. “You know Lisbeth is awesome, and you’d be lucky for your little sperm baby to turn out like her.” I pictured him jerking off into a cup before the vampire doctor squirted it up Lisbeth’s baby maker. Did he think about her when he did it, when he stroked himself up and down until he came? I shook my head and flipped another burger, taking a sip of my drink, and tried to erase the image of Arthur jerking off. When I looked up, Lisbeth was gaping at me, cookie halfway to her mouth, and her thoughts pushed into my head.
‘Why were you just picturing Arthur wanking his cock?’
Turning to explain, I got interrupted when Jason approached with his Lycan friends. They were too busy grabbing cookies to notice my face flush with embarrassment. The boys went back to playing a game in the middle of the lawn and Lisbeth left us to go talk to her friends, giving me a wicked look that meant we’d be discussing my transgressions later.
Heaven help me.
Arthur took one of my sodas and opened the bottle-cap top without a tool, show off, took a long sip and leaned against the table next to me as Lisbeth walked away from us to meander through the crowd of our friends.
“How’s she been?” he asked quietly, watching her laughing at a friend’s joke.
“Why don’t you ask her?” I met his eyes to see his typical look of ‘you’re asking me a dumb question.’ “She’s fine, as you can see. Sometimes she has her moments, even though you’ve been back for ten years now. It really did a number on her, you going away like that.” He tipped his drink back for a sip, watching me turn some burgers over. “You still love her, I know you do.”
“Why do you think I left?”
I met his eyes again and he had his guard down, giving me an unfiltered look of longing. I knew it was for Lisbeth, but the sight of it brought a flush to my cheeks. What was wrong with me?
I looked down to get control of myself again and poked at the ribs with my spatula. “How’d that work out for you?”
“It didn’t.” He took another drink and the look disappeared behind his icy wall until he saw her again, and he looked so… forlorn. It tore at me, but I didn’t know why. I had to stop myself from reaching out to take his hand.
“Cheer up, bro. She’s got your spunk in her now. That’s almost like fucking her.” I smiled through his death glare and we watched our girl, both near and far away at the same time.
With the cookout over, the committee gathered the next night to discuss the fate of the drone.
“The thing is dead,” Jamie pointed out. He was a clean cut, hair braided into tight braids, family man type of guy. “I don’t see the reason to panic further. It’s not like there are dozens of them on the streets. It was just one.”
Hades crossed himself at the thought of more drones. “You mind yourself, son. You weren’t there for the war, you don’t understand.” Hades had been a rogue vampire at the time and came out of hiding after the war was over. None of us had the heart to point out that he hadn’t been there either, because his words were correct.
“We know it came from Alistair, and that’s enough to be concerning,” Lisbeth said gently, trying to keep everyone as calm as possible. “Olivier and Renard are still out searching for more drones. Meanwhile, Toni is doing some lab work on the creature, trying to see if we can find out where it came from and how long its been alive.”
“And then what? We sit on our hands until Alistair makes his next move? I like that plan less than pretending this isn’t serious.” Hades sent a pointed glare to Jamie to emphasize his point, and Jamie flipped him off as an answer. Those two. They should just kiss and get it over with.
Toni appeared through the door Arthur was standing at. I caught his eyes on me and we both looked away quickly. Toni’s sun-kissed skin and luscious curves fueled her seductive aura, and it had an effect on Jamie and Hades despite their dislike for her, and Hades’ asexual orientation. Both pretended to be very interested in something on their nails. The succubus had a folder in her perfectly manicured hands, which she passed to Lisbeth before standing in front of the committee. Lisbeth opened it where Clara and I could see, peeking over her shoulders like good little nosy bodies.
“Preliminary testing suggests,” Toni started. Damn it, science jargon. Can’t she just say, so I did the thing and this is what I found out? I realized I’d zoned out because she was talking about spore samples or something like the dude was made from mushrooms. “Since the flora testing was negative, I went instead to finding out the age of the drone. He’s been that way for ten years.”
Lisbeth’s forehead wrinkled in thought, and she passed the folder when Hades wiggled his fingers at her for it. “Why ten years ago? There wasn’t a drone issue then.”
“My best guess?” Toni offered, shrugging. “An experiment. The drone was imperfect. I conducted multiple tests, this is unlike any drone I’ve ever seen.”
“So Alistair is being all ‘Frankenstein-y,’” I surmised, sneering at the thought. “That’s great. What if he starts going bigger than just one?”
As soon as I said it, we collectively realized that he probably would. After all, last time he pulled all the stops when he turned an entire city into drones. He clearly had no reservations about mass turnings, and he’d had decades to plan his revenge on us. All because the Born vampires had abandoned him centuries ago.
If only we’d caught him sooner. Someone hadn’t done his job well enough. A rage built inside me, focused on the fuckwad blue-eyed soldier standing at his post, whose gaze on me went from an almost smile to deadpan annoyance when he saw the look I was giving him. My fingers thrummed against the desk in front of me and I waited for everyone to stop talking so the meeting would be over. As soon as Lisbeth said meeting adjourned, I was out of my seat and across the room before she’d even gotten up. Arthur’s eyes stayed forward even when I stood so close I could smell his cologne. And man, it smelled good. Damn it.
“Her office. Now,” I demanded, locking eyes with him. My fists clenched, I made my way to Lisbeth’s office with Arthur on my tail. She joined the line behind him almost immediately, yelling something to Kitty to make her stay behind. Once I reached Lisbeth’s office, I stopped at her desk, and even the little dancing sunflower on the wooden surface couldn’t make me smile.
“What’s this about, Knight?” Arthur asked evenly. Lisbeth closed the door and stood in front of it. I could hear every breath she took as if I was right beside her. That helped calm me, just a smidge. I wished, more than ever, that I was a normal Lycan and I could just shift to show everyone how ticked off I was. Instead, I had to actually live with the rage, become one with it. No amount of anger would let me hide behind fur and claws.
“I see. It’s my fault he’s still out there, is that it? And yes, by the way, that’s exactly what I was doing for most of those ten years.” His blasé attitude was enough to enrage me a second time.
“You could’ve prevented this if you’d done your damn job and caught him the first time,” I accused bitterly. Lisbeth’s sudden disapproval of my words was like a smell in the air. I knew exactly what face she was making without turning around.
Arthur let out a very small sigh. Gigantic, for him. “And you think blaming me for your inadequacies will make it better?”
I turned on him so quickly, Lisbeth jumped forward to make sure I wasn’t about to tear his head off. “What the fuck does that mean? You want to push me, icy breath?”
A muscle ticked in his jaw, and he watched Lisbeth put her hand on my chest to steady me. “You say I’m to blame because I couldn’t find him after a decade? I didn’t see you helping. Was that because you didn’t have any blood to do your little werewolf tracking parlor trick? Or maybe you didn’t realize the ramifications of not finding him until it was staring you in the face?” Even after all that, the only indication of his anger was his hands clenched into fists. We glared at each other for much longer than necessary. Only Lisbeth by my side kept me from lunging at him and taking a chunk of him with me.
“I didn’t…” I swore under my breath and looked away. Damn him. Sometimes he knew me better than I knew myself. Why did this pissant get under my skin so much? “I didn’t volunteer because I knew Lisbeth would come with me.”
“I know, and I understood that.” His fists relaxed. Back to the normal Arthur. “As if either of us can tell her what to do.” We shared a rare smile then, in respect for our lady.
“Standing right here,” Lisbeth stated, waving her spare hand.
The tension disappeared and Arthur loosened up just a bit. Lisbeth had that effect on both of us. He really did love her as much as I did. “Knight,” he said calmly, his hands almost reaching out before he stopped himself. “I know you well enough to understand that your anger is only because you know your family is in danger. We all are. We did everything we could to prevent this.”
Lisbeth searched my eyes with hers, her fingers pressing into my skin. “You know that, right?”
I picked her pale white hand off my chest and kissed every finger gently, only feeling slight shame that Arthur was watching. Let him watch. “Yes. I do. And I’m sorry about the tirade. I’m just worried about my…”
“Inadequacies?” Arthur offered, like a cheeky ass.
“Yes, thank you, that’s fucking perfect.” I flipped him off and leaned against Lisbeth’s desk. She fit between my legs when I pulled her to me. Right where I liked her. “What are we supposed to do?” I asked absently, my fingers working the fabric on Lisbeth’s hips.
“We’re supposed to discuss these kinds of things with the committee,” Lisbeth chided with a smile, her finger touching right on my stomach where my scars were. I tried not to react with Arthur standing there, and I pulled up off of her desk, taking her hand and kissing her fingers.
“Sure, fine. Let’s do it.” We marched out of the room the way we came and into the meeting room chamber. Everyone was still there chit chatting, thankfully. “I have a proposal for the committee.”
Hades curled his lip at me, but he lifted a hand in acknowledgment. “You have the floor.”
“We send out as many as we can to find Alistair and stop him before he puts his plans in motion. No matter what he’s plotting, we have to stop him. Everyone has to help. Everyone.”
“We’re a committee, not a parliament,” Jamie pointed out cautiously. “We can’t force the people to do anything they don’t want to do.” Or anything he didn’t want to do.
“Volunteers then,” I conceded, though the mere thought of people saying no made me uncomfortable. “As many as we can get.”
Balthazar clicked his cane against his foot in thought. “It is bewitchingly easy to believe that Alistair remains on the loose from an oversight on our part. I’m glad my ego is too large for guilt trips. We all did what we could to stop Alistair, and now we’re going to do even more. I’ll be the first to volunteer.”
“Dad,” Kitty exclaimed, pulling on his jacket sleeve with worry building on her face. “It’s too dangerous.”
He reached back to her, pinching her hooded cheek, and they shared a smile that made my stomach hurt. “I’m aware, my crumpet. The risk of further danger outweighs the risk at present.”
Kitty stepped forward, chin up and determined. “Then I volunteer as well.”
Lisbeth, Arthur, and I chimed out a harsh ‘no’ before Balthazar waved his cane at us. “While I realize no one is asking me, and I don’t get a say in the matter, I believe the girl is old enough. It should be her choice.”
Lisbeth bit back several remarks, making her face twitch for a few seconds. “I… you…. Shit. This isn’t…” Finally, she facepalmed so hard Captain Picard would’ve been proud. “Let’s discuss it later,” she murmured and then pointed a finger out to Arthur with her other hand. “Hush, you. I can manage my daughter.” It didn’t matter how many times she, or I, told him to be quiet, he was never going to.
Arthur stiffened and directed a minuscule glare at her finger. “I was merely concerned for your mental state should she be in danger.” Of course he was.
“Anywaaaay,” Hades said, drawing it out. “We should hold a city meeting for volunteers.”
Jamie was on it, eager to get away from our family drama. “I’ll go post it on the website and social media. Hades, want to go door to door?”
“You mean talking to people I don’t like?” Hades chewed on it with a frown. “Fine, whatever. Let’s go.”
As soon as they were gone, Lisbeth’s hand dropped and she focused on her daughter’s face. “Kitty, I understand you want to go out and save the world.”
“You have no idea how old you sound saying that,” Kitty quipped. All three of us guys took a step back from the women, just to be on the safe side. It would either end with blood and tears or just tears by themselves. Neither option was preferable.
Lisbeth’s face appeared blank, but I could see the fire raging underneath as she fumed at her child. “I literally remember exactly what it was like to be your age. Literally. Perfect memory.” Kitty attempted and failed to not roll her eyes.
Mayday, mayday. Abort mission. Save the women and children. Tell my mother I loved her.
Lisbeth let out a string of unintelligible words before placing her hands together against her mouth and sighing. “Okay. Let’s do it your way. You can go out with whomever you want and look for Alistair.”
What the fuck.
“I’m sorry, I just died. What did you say, dear?” I asked her sweetly.
“You all heard me, don’t be dramatic,” Lisbeth sauced, waving her hand in dismissal. “Vampires need to get out and be on their own when they’re old enough, and I don’t get to decide what that age is. It could be thirty-five, it could be one hundred and five. Either way, you have my permission, but you don’t need it. I certainly never did.”
Kitty brightened, like her night sky had turned to sunlight. When had I last seen her that happy? “Really? What about you, dad?”
Balthazar shrugged with a smile. “Your mother is correct. It’s not our job to stop you from growing. Do whatever you want. Date boys. Date girls. Get a tattoo. Maybe one of those piercings the humans like.”
Making a noise of disapproval, Lisbeth held out a hand to stop him. “Okay, whoa there, cowboy. I said she could go hunt for a dangerous criminal, not get inked.”
Kitty didn’t care, and s
he vaulted into her mom’s arms for a hug. “I love you, mom.” She pulled back and I desperately wanted to offer her a high five or a fist bump. I knew she wouldn’t go for it, because she never did. I had about as much of a chance of getting Arthur to high five, and he also refused to do so.
“I assume one of your team will keep you fed?” my wife asked Kitty, petting her daughter’s long curls with silent worry. Kitty nodded. She didn’t have a companion, so all the vampires close to us rotated who she fed from every day. “Good. Please make sure they are very discrete with their feeding.”
Kitty rolled her eyes. “I know, mom.”
“Does that mean I can go out too?” Jason asked, popping up at the front door to catch the last of the conversation.
That time, all five of us shouted out a crisp, “NO!”
4. Silver Spice
After nightfall, once the meeting was over and everyone was in bed, I went outside in the cool, spring air to our backyard where Lisbeth was swimming in our large pool. Her lithe body sliced through the water like she was parting the seas. She dipped under and surfaced with a smile in my direction.
“I seem to recall a time when I found you swimming late at night,” she said, pushing her wet hair back. Even with the threat of Alistair looming over everything, I was very appreciative of the amount of skin she was showing. Her black two-piece bathing suit was a favorite of mine. It had many straps decorating it, including ones that hugged her cleavage.
“As I recall,” I noted huskily. “That was the first time you saw me shirtless. I’ve held up hope all these years that you liked what you saw.”
Lisbeth’s hair still managed to curl even when soaking wet and it formed a tussled halo around her as she walked seductively up the pool steps. “I very much so liked what I saw, I can assure you, as much as I pretended not to notice.” Her mouth twisted into a heated grin.
The Born Vampire series: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (The Complete Series, NSFW Edition) Page 59
