by C. M. Cevis
It had apparently been a label scout that had put the idea in her head that she could be the next big thing. Unfortunately, he’d given her that idea because she was doing the whole bowling ball straw thing, and his interest in her talent ran out as soon as she stopped using her other talents on him. Part of Owen wondered why she didn’t see the connection, but while she may not have been the best girlfriend in the world, he wasn’t in the habit of completely shitting on someone’s dreams. For now, he simply tried to shield her from the reality of how awful she was. If someone informed her, it damn sure wasn’t going to be him.
“I hate waiting,” Mia said, the pout clear in her voice. Owen rolled his eyes and chose not to say anything to that one.
~*~
NOAH’S EYES POPPED OPEN AS Amber’s arms wrapped around his naked torso. He was at least marginally sure that he’d gone to bed alone, but that was her perfume wafting around the room and her bracelet that her father had given her a few years ago for her birthday tapping against his chest.
“Well hey there sleepy head,” she purred, her hands drifting lower and lifting the sheets. Noah flipped over on his stomach before she could grab hold of anything important and turned his face towards her. He wasn’t interested in sex just then. Hell, part of him wasn’t interested in her just then.
“Did I sleep late again?” Noah asked, slapping a grin on his face to make it look as if he hadn’t noticed her reaching for his manhood.
“A bit,” she said, trying to stifle the obvious disappointment she was feeling. “It’s evening, the sun is setting.”
“I’m sorry, babe. I guess I stayed out a bit too late last night. I would have found you when I got back, but the place was practically dead and waking you up seemed cruel.”
“You can always wake me up, you know that,” Amber said, leaning in and kissing Noah’s lips softly. She tasted like pineapple candy, like usual. It was the lip gloss that she used that gave her that flavor when her lips met his. Most men would have probably looked at the tanned blonde with the double Ds, the toned body, the bright green eyes, and the ridiculous sexual appetite and thought they were in heaven. That was the curse of being observant, of seeing people’s reasons. He couldn’t simply enjoy having Amber to himself because he knew that she was only with him because he was the strongest physically in the pack and hung like a horse. Had either one of those not been true, she probably wouldn’t know that he existed.
“Leo was upset that he couldn’t find you. You know he just makes things more difficult for you the more you antagonize him.” She was right, but he couldn’t make himself simply sit there and take Leo’s shit. In that relationship, he wasn’t getting anything from it. At least he got something out of being used by Amber.
“He’ll get over it. He isn’t required to know where I am at all times. I’m starting to think he’s in love with me or something.” Noah chuckled, and Amber joined him, laying the side of her cheek on his shoulder and smiling up at him. It was moments like these where he almost believed that she was genuine. Almost.
“So what should we do today?” she asked. Noah hadn’t been aware that they were spending the day together, but sure. Whatever.
“What do you want to do?”
“Shopping?” Ugh.
“Sure.”
8
“WAS THAT THE FAMOUS MIA that I just heard leaving?” Roger asked, coming out of his bedroom with a toothbrush in his mouth.
“That it was,” Owen said, fully invested in towel drying his freshly washed hair. “She asked when she was going to be able to meet you.”
“Are you sure you want to do that? I’d hate to take your girl.”
Owen laughed. “Dude, I’m a rock star, I always win.”
“You are such a brat,” Roger laughed, moving to the kitchen sink to spit.
“I have been the same since the day we met. Me being spoiled isn’t something new to you.”
“Fair enough,” Roger replied, wiping the toothpaste residue from around his mouth with a dishtowel. Owen made a face and grabbed the towel before Roger could put it back. That was going in the laundry. The last thing he wanted was to wipe out a glass with Roger’s spit and toothpaste residue. “So I found something.”
“What’s that?” Owen said, only halfway paying attention. The other half of his brain was focused on his phone.
“I found a flyer inviting vampires to a gather of ‘like minds’ of a sort.” Owen looked up with a frown.
“Like minds? What the hell does that mean?”
“If I had to fathom a guess, I’d say like minds against your father.” Roger handed Owen a colorful and rather worn piece of paper, waiting as he looked it over.
Why should we be under a tyrannical rule? Why shouldn’t we have a say in our lifestyles and decisions? Come meet with others of like mind, and let’s shake this oppressive regime together!
Owen almost snorted. “This is terrible, who would fall for something this badly written?” he said, tossing the flyer down on the counter.
“Badly written or not, this might be what your dad is looking for. We should go check it out,” Roger said.
“There’s not even a meeting time or place on there.”
“But there is a website, and that has the time and place. Luckily, there is one happening tonight.” Roger and Owen shared a slow, devious smile.
“Well then, I guess we’re going out tonight,” Owen said.
“Indeed we are,” Roger replied with a wink before the two went to their rooms to get ready.
~*~
THE MEETING WAS TAKING PLACE in a small, rented space in what amounted to a rec center. It wasn’t anything special, simply an open space with chairs set up and an obvious place at the front for someone to speak. Roger had simply been able to make himself presentable, his years on the other side of the country more than enough camouflage for him. Owen, on the other hand, had to hide the light blonde hair, pale skin, and ice blue eyes that he was known for. He’d tossed on a wig and pulled a hat low over his face, thanking his lucky stars that the room was pretty dimly lit. It wouldn’t have been enough to hide him from paparazzi, but it was enough for a gathering of vampires who weren’t paying attention.
“Reign it in,” Roger whispered as they moved further into the room, reminding Owen that he had a tendency to fill a room with his power. It was something that all vampires did if they weren’t pulling it in a bit, but because of how powerful Owen’s line was, his flavor was distinct and very potent. That would give him away before a bad disguise would here.
The two men took a seat towards the back and leaned in close as if they were simply having a conversation amongst themselves. It kept people from interrupting to introduce themselves, and possibly getting too close. All they needed was for the festivities to begin so that they could find out if these were the ones causing all the problems.
“If you could all take a seat, please,” a young girl called out from the front of the room, calling for attention and quiet. She was super young, maybe fifty, and was turned from the feel of her. Turned when she was about eighteen from the look. Owen wondered if she resented the fact that she’d look like a teenager for the rest of her life.
“Thank you all for coming here tonight, we are so glad to see so many new faces,” she said, looking around the room and pointedly smiling at quite a few people. “We’re going to have someone different speak tonight since we’re trying to vary it up. Our leader is charismatic, sure, but sometimes it’s nice to hear a fresh voice.”
“Damn,” Owen hissed under his breath. It was the leader that they wanted to see. They’d picked the wrong night to come out, apparently.
The woman who stepped up to speak was old enough for the feel of her to seep into your bones. Not that she was particularly powerful, but the fact that she’d been alive as long as she had made the room quiet around her, and she didn’t need to raise her voice to be heard.
“My name is Valencia, and I am… considerably older than I’d
like to let on, honestly,” she started with a nervous laugh. The speech was short and eloquent, as she touched on her life before coming to Baltimore, and how initially she had loved how the area was run. She stated that several years ago, a few decisions that were made on behalf of the vampires in the area made her question her loyalty, as no one was asked their opinion on what was done. There was no vote, no other opinions taken into consideration, only that of the Suzerain.
Owen felt personally attacked there under his disguise. He knew all too well that his father took into consideration the opinions of the masses as much as he possibly could, but that sometimes the majority was wrong in regard to what was best for them. Several decisions that the city had hated, ended up saving lives and renewing the people’s trust in him when the truth was revealed. To say the complete opposite was a lie, and it hurt Owen to hear someone speak about his father that way.
“Didn’t he say that he wants an example made?” Roger leaned in and whispered is question, being sure not to mention names since everyone in the room who was paying attention could most likely hear him. Owen glanced up at his friend, who chose that moment to look down at Owen’s hands, tightly clenched into fists in his lap. Roger really was the best dude in the world, wasn’t he?
“He damn sure did,” Owen hissed, a wicked smile spreading across his face.
The meeting wasn’t equipped with security any more dangerous than a few people who stepped between Owen and Roger as they strode down the center aisle of the room, and approached the woman speaking. For her part, she didn’t so much as flinch as they approached. Owen could respect that, but it was too late for her.
Blood spray has a very shocking effect on pale blonde hair and lily-white skin, a fact that Owen was reminded of as Roger’s hand shot through the woman’s chest, leaving a gaping, bloody hole through which protruded his hand holding her heart. The second, more fantastic spray came as Owen snapped Valencia’s neck with such ferocity that he almost spun her head clean off. The arterial spray spurted onto his clothes but gave his face and hair a wonderfully warm shower as well.
He turned to face the now captive audience bloody and smiling enough to flash his fangs to the room. Roger waited until Valencia’s body fell to the ground at his feet, now truly dead, and moved to stand beside Owen still holding the heart.
“My name is Owen Blyth, son of the chosen Suzerain. My father has sent me to issue a warning to all those here.” Owen looked around the room, meeting the eye of every vampire there. “He is one of the most considerate and fair Suzerains currently under the employ of the Directorate, something that probably brought a good many of you to this city as opposed to elsewhere in the country. But know this: He will not tolerate insubordination.” Owen began a slow walk back down the center aisle of the room, leaving bloody footprints behind him as he watched for anyone feeling a bit froggy.
“You all know the Suzerain’s office hours, right?” Roger’s voice rang out as he allowed the heart to slip from his hand and drop to the ground with a wet smack. Owen chuckled and left the room with his best friend on his heels.
9
THE ROOM WAS ALIVE WITH angry, confused chatter. It had been three days since the incident at the meeting, and nothing had been explained. That was part of why Roger had called them there. He’d known that the actions that he and Owen had taken would cause some questions to be asked, but he’d wanted to allow it to fester for a bit.
The night had been two-fold. It had proven his loyalty to both Owen and his father in case they’d doubted, and it had confirmed for his merry band of usurpers that he would do what was necessary if he was crossed. That was something that they hadn’t had the opportunity to see before, how proficient Roger was when violent. It was something that he had been taught early in life when Max had put Owen into intense training and he’d been invited to come as well on Max’s dime. It seemed a shame to formally betray a family that had been good to him his entire life, to give up a second father and his best friend, but there were bigger things in play here. Not to mention that he had a plan of his own.
“Good evening, everyone,” Roger said, finally choosing to enter the room. He’d been shut in a smaller room to the side listening for a solid thirty minutes before emerging. He’d wanted to make sure that the group was rightfully panicked.
“Roger, it’s been days and we haven’t…”
“Why did you allow that to happen to…”
“I can’t believe she’s gone…”
The room exploded into panicked bouts of words, and it took several minutes for Roger to calm those there and convince them to take seats and allow him to explain what happened.
“I am truly sorry about Valencia, guys. Really. I didn’t want that for her,” he said, starting off on a somber and somewhat empathetic tone that was complete and total bullshit.
“You had to have known that Owen would do that. You were there with him, I saw you two come in together.” That was Remi. She and Valencia had been friends, and she probably wasn’t taking her death well.
“I didn’t know that he’d do that. We didn’t walk in there with the intention of ripping Valencia a new one, you have to know that.” That was the truth. Owen probably hadn’t thought about it until Roger brought it up, but he wasn’t going to share that little tidbit with the room.
“Well, why didn’t you stop him? You’re stronger than him, right?” Remi asked. That was a completely illogical leap, but then again, he had gathered these particular beings together and allowed them to be a part of his plan because they had that loyal, blinding faith that he’d wanted. He wasn’t going to be the one who told her any different.
“Listen, everyone,” Roger started, pointedly ignoring Remi’s question as he looked around the room at everyone. “Valencia did not die in vain. She knew what she signed up for when she walked into this room and pledged her loyalty to me, you all did. Right?” A nod traveled around the room, along with some looks between these eyes and those, but agreement none the less.
“Won’t people be afraid to listen to us now?” Bannon asked.
“It might scare off some of the weaker minds, but do we really want those types of people aligned with our cause? Wouldn’t they just do more harm than good in the long run?” Roger took stock of the room again before continuing. “I know that this wasn’t the best outcome, but we can use this to our advantage. Valencia can still help the cause, even in death.”
“How?” Bannon asked from the other side of the room, where he stood with his back to the wall and his arms crossed tightly over his chest. Roger was not fond of being questioned, but he let that one go for now.
“This obvious display of power, this attempt to assert power and domination over the masses, it will cause people to fear Owen and Max. But not in the way that they desire, more in the way that we desire. We can use this spectacle to drive people into the gentler, more sympathetic arms of our cause by instilling the fear that if they step out of line, the Suzerain has no problem cutting them down swiftly and brutally.”
There was a thoughtful and pregnant silence as the others mulled over what Roger was saying.
“The execution was rather shocking. It doesn’t exactly make me want to visit the office of the Suzerain to voice a concern.” Seth said.
The fact of the matter was that the events that had taken Valencia from the world were actually very tame in terms of vampire rule. However, Max had taken such and gentle and soft hand with the area he was placed in charge of that a lot of vampires were now asking for more human rights, such as democracy and the like. Owen had actually done the right thing by quelling the uprising, and had Roger been in charge, he’d have slaughtered the entire room to make sure that there were no remnants to continue opposing him, much like just about every other Suzerain in the country would have. That was part of the problem that others had with Max: He was a bit too soft with his people.
But Roger would change that as soon as he came into power. He had two angles working at the
moment, and this was one. The other, he’d get the ball rolling on soon. For now, he simply had to keep hold of the others. That wouldn’t be hard.
“Trust me, guys. I didn’t steer you wrong when I was still in California, did I?” He looked around again, noting the head shakes and softly uttered nos. “I won’t steer you wrong now.”
Everything was going perfectly.
~*~
ROGER UNLOCKED THE DOOR TO Owen’s condo and stepped inside. It was dark, which most likely meant that he wasn’t home yet. That was expected, he’d had a few things to do, one of which included cleaning up, and had told Roger that he’d probably be late getting in.
Roger had stopped past his new place on the way and been informed that it would be ready in a week. Perfect. While Owen’s place was really nice, it was really hard to plot on the person that you were living with without getting caught sometimes.
“Oh!” Mia said, stumbling into the kitchen where Owen stood and turning on the light. She probably hadn’t heard him come in, and he hadn’t been aware that she was still there.
“Evening,” Roger said, grabbing a beer from the fridge and popping the top on it.
“Where’s Owen?”
Roger shrugged his shoulders. “Dunno. He said he’d be late.”
“How late?”
“Late late,” Roger replied. Mia smirked and popped her hip out to the side.
“So then we have time to…” She stepped closer and ran her fingertip down Roger’s chest with a smile that dripped sex and sweat. Roger set the beer down on the counter, and immediately picked Mia up by the thighs, wrapping her legs around his hips.
“Yes, we have time,” Roger whispered against her lips as he carried her into the extra bedroom that he was borrowing.
10
