by E. Blix
As Clarisse explained the facts of life to Ashi, Jessica was shaking Thad awake from the light stupor he’d fallen into on the couch. “Go get Analie, please? I’ll be right back.”
“Ugh.”
“ʼKay. See you in a minute!”
Ashi stared at Clarisse. He’d still get bitten if he made nice with someone, but at least he wouldn’t be a public drinking fountain. Somehow this brought absolutely no comfort. He didn’t want to get bitten at all. It was like telling someone you’re only going to shoot them once with a shotgun, not three times.
“That’s like a cow making friends with a butcher,” Ashi said, shuffling a few steps toward the bed.
“Ah, no, lad,” Clarisse said, going grave for the first time. “Cows are killed for their meat. Donors are kept, and kept well, by their hosts. What good is a dead donor? If ye have someone who thinks ye a bit of a tasty treat and give them reason tae be interested in ye aside from what ye can do for their hunger, then ye have no worries of being treated poorly.”
Thad shuffled downstairs, rubbing his eyes on the way. He tugged his pajama pants up and scratched his bare chest, yawning hugely as he knocked on Mouse’s apartment door. He hadn’t expected it to be ajar, and it opened up at the rap of his knuckles, revealing something that made Thad wonder for a second if he was hallucinating.
There was a giant… furry… something lying on the floor.
His eyes widened, a sharp breath taken as it looked at him. It only took a second for the terrified reaction to switch from frozen in fear to actively attempting to claw his way through the wall behind him.
“What the heck is that?” he screamed, rapidly backpedalling.
Analie whined, looking worriedly at Thad. Christoph stood up, holding up his hands.
“Hey, hey, it’s cool. This is Analie. Calm down. Look.” He reached down and scratched under Analie’s chin. “See?”
Thad was clearly not convinced that this made her harmless.
“What the fuck?”
Wesley poked his head around the doorway down the hall. “What the hell is going on over there?”
Thad pointed, gaping, not saying anything else as he stayed mostly flattened against the wall.
Christoph urged Analie to flatten herself against the floor. He’d have rather gotten her to her feet and farther away from Thad, but a pony-sized Goliath wolf rising to its full height was probably not the best move.
“It’s okay! She’s harmless!” Christoph said. “Please don’t freak out.”
Analie whined loudly, her ears pinned back.
“Look, she’s afraid of you. Please, just calm down.”
Wesley, overhearing the commotion, jogged over to see what was making that whining noise and what Thad was pointing at.
Half a second later, he was plastered against the far wall next to Thad, also pointing and gaping.
“What the fuck?”
Ashi laughed softly, without humor. “So it’s more of a ‘pet’ situation than ‘livestock.’” He glared at Clarisse. “I don’t know how anyone here stands it. I never want to be bitten again. I’ve seen and done some intense shit in my life, and I would rather get mauled by enemy Weres than have a vampire bite me.”
His whole body was shaking badly. He wished it was due to rage rather than an I’m-ready-to-piss-myself reaction.
Clarisse sighed, giving his shoulder a good-natured pat. “Not quite, lad. Usually donors know beforehand what they’re getting into. Unfortunate it wasn’t that way for ye, but ye can at least make the best of what lot ye’ve been given, aye?” She frowned. “Did ye not like how it feels?”
Ashi took a few jerking steps away from Clarisse.
“How is that a good thing?” he snarled. “That’s worse. That’s worse! It was supposed to hurt. It was supposed to be the most painful thing any Were has ever felt. It’s not supposed to feel good!”
He kept backing up until he hit the wall. “I’m not supposed to like it! I’m supposed to feel pain! It should hurt! I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to! I didn’t want to beat the living shit out of him and run away! I liked it!”
His voice had slowly risen until he was now shrieking.
“What the hell is wrong with this place? What is wrong with these people? This is insane! Everyone here has got to be fucking insane!”
Clarisse held up her hands in a “calm down” gesture, looking worried. “Maybe it’s that way for some vampires’ bites, but not Alec’s line. Please just relax, somebody might wake up and not take too kindly tae that kind of talk.”
Her, for one. Yeah, this one was obviously a little too high strung to be one of her pets. She hoped Thad would bring Analie and that she’d know what the hell to do about Ashi’s panic attack because she sure didn’t have a clue.
“Just leave me alone,” Ashi hissed. “Okay? Just leave me alone.”
“It’s Analie!” Christoph shouted. “Christ, guys! Grow a pair!”
He moved closer to Analie. “Look, she’s like a big puppy. A fuzzy, cuddly puppy.” He threw an arm over her wide shoulders. Analie almost growled but thought better of it. “See, she’s cool. Look, she likes head scritches. See? She’s a good Were! She’s da best Were in da world. Are you da best Were in da world? Yes, you are! Yes, you are, looka dat Were!”
Analie’s swishy tail thumped against the floor.
“Is da Were a big bad Were? Nooooo, she’s not a big bad Were. She’s a puppy! She’s a puppers! Looka da puppers!”
Please, dear God, will those two idiots calm down already? This is the second most emasculating thing that’s happened to me in twenty-four hours.
“Will you guys shut up so we can sleep already? Jesus!” someone shouted from down the hall.
It broke Wesley out of his fright enough to regain a semblance of poise. Okay. The big, giant, furry, scary thing with really big teeth wasn’t attacking. He could deal with this.
Shuddering, running a hand raggedly over his face, he inched away from the wall.
“Look, just… just… don’t… just…”
“Fuck me, that thing is—”
Wesley slapped a hand over Thad’s mouth so hard, the human’s head thumped against the wall.
“Can you just shift back? Please?” he finally got out, all in a rush.
Clarisse narrowed her eyes, getting a trifle peeved.
“Look, jocko, ye’re not winning yerself any friends by acting this way. Might I suggest ye calm down before ye wake up Angus and he does it for ye?”
Jessica wandered in with her bag of medical supplies, her eyes widening at Clarisse’s switch from cheerful gaiety to flat out hostility in the short time she’d been gone.
“If you leave the room, I’m sure she’d be happy to,” Christoph said. “She’s not going to shift right in front of you. She’s au naturel currently.”
Analie rounded her back sharply, shoving Christoph away. She bared her teeth at him briefly and put her head back down.
“I don’t care. I don’t want to be friends with anyone here!” Ashi shouted. “This is insane! How can you be so god damned cheerful?” Ashi pointed at Jessica. “You’re food!”
Jessica laughed at him.
“Is that the bug that’s crawled up your ass? Look, hon, we’re all a heck of a lot more than food to our hosts. Does a lion treat a gazelle to a trip to Rio or help pay their way through med school? Give them work, a home, and an entire network of professionals to go to whenever they need something? I doubt that very sincerely. And it’s not like we’re opening veins to them on a daily basis. They space out their feedings so that none of us are in danger from having too much taken in too short a period. So kindly sit your ass down, shut up, and let me check your blood pressure.”
“Gladly. One sec,” Wesley said, turning to int
erpose himself between Thad and the doorway, blocking his line of sight to the Were as he slowly removed his hand from the guy’s mouth. Wesley wasn’t thrilled about turning his back on the monster, but he figured he was fast enough to get out of the way if it should attack. “Thad?”
Thad stared blankly up at him.
“What did you come down here for?”
Thad gestured weakly.
“One of those two?”
A nod.
“The guy or the…?”
“The other one,” he whispered, eyes widening.
Wesley sighed, turning back to face the pair. “Look, when you’re… uh… decent, go upstairs and to the end of the hall, last apartment on the right. Sebastian or somebody wants you up there for something. Probably to do with that other new guy.”
Christoph turned his back as Analie slowly shifted back and dashed to her room. Christ, she really wanted her old thrift store clothes handy. Being Were could be expensive.
As soon as she was dressed in her one pair of jeans and one of the ratty T-shirts Freddy had given her, she skipped back out to the living room and pointed at Christoph.
“Your task is over and you are hereby forgiven. Let this be a lesson learned and may you hold it close always.”
Christoph resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Thank you. I have learned and will act accordingly in the future.”
Analie grinned at him and bounded out the door. She took the steps three at a time, eager to see how Ashi was getting on. He was probably back to his stony, unfeeling ways. Analie almost laughed at the idea of him not being able to do anything about her future insolence.
She heard the shouting on the second landing. Frowning, she leapt up the rest of the stairs and rushed down the hall. She didn’t need to remember where Wesley had told her to go. The shouting was indication enough. Ashi was loud.
Analie thought about knocking but then thought better of it. A woman she didn’t know was already there and a shadow. Analie thought it might be Clarisse but didn’t want to risk accidentally greeting the wrong vampire.
“Uh, hi.” Analie tapped Jessica’s shoulder. “I’m wanted up here?”
“You’re just as insane as the rest of them!” Ashi screamed at her.
“Bite me.” Analie then turned to Jessica. ”Do you want me to hit him or something?”
Jessica rolled her eyes. “Can you get him to calm down and sit still so I can take his blood pressure? For God’s sake, you’d think I was asking him to hop in the sack with John.”
Clarisse cocked her head to one side, then looked over her shoulder. “I think ye all might want tae duck and cover. Sounds like Angus is awake.”
Jessica groaned.
Analie was glad the vampire there was Clarisse. She smiled at the shadow, then walked over to Ashi.
“Stay away from me!” Ashi shrieked.
“Okay, seriously, grow up,” Analie snapped, reaching for him. “You’re acting like a pup at—”
She didn’t even register the first three blows until the fourth one landed.
“I said stay away!” Ashi screamed.
Analie realized her nose was bleeding. And that her face hurt. Holy shit, Ashi was still fast when he was pink. With a low growl she grabbed his arm, spun him around, and caught him in a lock, both arms immobile and his head in the crook of her arm.
“Okay, Jessica. Now is a good—shit! Stop biting! Ow! Whatever you’re going to do, do it now!”
Jessica might have taken that moment to explain that she couldn’t take Ashi’s blood pressure while he was so wound up, except that a very large, very hairy, very bare-assed naked man came stalking into the room just then, and she was a bit busy hiding her eyes and the blush that marred her cheeks. Clarisse didn’t seem nearly as put out by the sight as she should be, watching with a thin smile and one brow arched.
Every inch of skin on his chest not covered in hair was covered in scars. He had an unruly tangle of copper red hair that fell a bit past his shoulders, a beard long and thick enough to braid, and a darkly tanned, heavily muscled frame that was tall and wide enough to barely clear the door frame. His normally blue eyes were glittering crimson, and he might have been snarling and showing some fang, but it was hard to tell around the bushy beard bristling on his jaw.
“What,” the man roared in a deep, reverberating voice as he took up a wide stance and planted his hands on his hips, “in th’ name o’ th’ gods is all the good-God-damned racket? Och, a man cannae get any sleep around ʼere!”
“Angus,” Clarisse said, not bothering to hide her grin, “ye’ve forgotten yer plaid again, lad.”
He paused, looking down at himself. He raised one very red, very bushy eyebrow, and surveyed the responses of the ladies in the room. “Ye all need tae be bloody quiet ʼere I ferget these things,” he rumbled in a slightly less loud, but no less gravelly, voice. He folded his arms across his chest but otherwise seeming not in the least self-conscious about his current state of undress.
“Analie, Ashi, meet Angus MacLeod,” Clarisse said, gesturing dramatically at the still decidedly naked, very hairy vampire posing in the door. Jessica was trying desperately to contain hysterical giggles and her blushing but was failing miserably. Angus didn’t seem to notice.
“Och, which one o’ ye was makin’ all th’ bloody racket?”
Analie had jumped at the loud noise and large shadow but other than that held her composure. She couldn’t understand Jessica’s reaction. Hell, right now she was trying not to freak out. Angus sounded like Gavin when he was angry, except more gravelly and with a Scottish accent.
She squinted at the shadow. Christ, the lighting in here was not made for creating deep shadow. Which was ideal in a room but not ideal for her eyes.
What was Clarisse talking about when she mentioned plaid?
“He’s freaking out,” Analie squeaked, snuffling up some blood. Ew. She looked down at Ashi, who had stopped biting her and was staring at Angus. “Um... he’s new and part of my pack so vampires are kinda scary... to us... so please, um, don’t... hurt... him....” She trailed off, glancing around. “Am I missing something?”
“Somebody hit ye, lass?” he boomed out, not sounding particularly concerned. Though he did cock his head at the sight of Ashi being held down by a little girl. Either the boy was into those submissive games some weirdos enjoyed, or there was something more to those two than was readily apparent. He took a second to consider what she said, then thought about the mention of a pack.
A pack.
Weres were the only humanoids he knew of that packed up.
A slight sniff confirmed it.
“What in th’ name o’ th’ gods is another Were doing in th’ ʼouse?” he roared, startling everyone.
“No need to shout about it,” Clarisse scolded, shaking a finger at him.
Jessica was having a very difficult time muffling her laughter.
“It’s not like I invited them!” Analie squeaked, wincing.
“I think we’re going to get our asses kicked by the Highlander. That’s a vampire?” Ashi mumbled, still staring.
“Can you not be an asshole for three seconds?” Analie hissed. “Seriously, shut up!”
Analie still couldn’t see the vampire. Damn it, her pack’s little “quirk” was downright aggravating. She squinted. Nope.
Angus was rather nonplussed that Analie was staring at him like a bug under a microscope. He ran his hands raggedly through his hair, not helping the tangles much, and wandered over to sit on the bed, which sagged under his weight.
“What’s all yer pissin’ an’ moanin’ fer, lad? Ye woke me up, seems I should be the one upset ’round ’ere.”
“Angus, for God’s sake, will you at least put the blanket over your lap or something?” Jessica finall
y asked, remembering belatedly that Analie was just a teenager.
He turned a startled look on her, looked down at himself, shrugged, and yanked one of the pillows over to lean his elbows on and cover the most glaringly obvious part of him.
Analie ducked her head, her cheeks and ears turning beet-red as she realized what everyone had been avoiding staring at.
“Ye take the fun out of everything,” Clarisse said with a low chuckle.
“Don’t see why yer so cheerful, missy,” Angus growled. “Bit past yer bedtime, too, methinks.”
She shrugged, leaning against the wall and watching Ashi get manhandled by Analie with interest. “New blood in the house, ye ken.”
“Aye?” he said, suddenly interested in Ashi again.
“Here we go,” Jessica muttered.
Ashi was trying to worm his way out of Analie’s grasp. She shook him. “Cut it out, or I’ll convince Mr. MacLeod to claim you.”
“Wouldn’t you rather he lay claim to you?” Ashi sneered.
“I’m going to break your neck!” Analie growled, going even redder. As soon as this was over, she was going to her room and hiding there for the rest of the year.
“She’s going to shift! Someone knock her out!” Ashi yelled. Analie wrapped the arm he’d bitten around his throat and choked him off.
“For Seeker’s sake, just shut up.”
Angus gave a bristly grin, unmistakable even with the beard. “Sorry lad, ye don’t look like yer much me type. Bit of a weak thing, lettin’ a wee lass like that haul ye ʼround.”
Clarisse’s look turned sly, and she sidled over to give Ashi’s collar a little tug. “Alec had one o’ them magi come by yesterday. He cannae fight her because he’s got this.”
