Heir to the Coven

by Melissa Leister

  I laughed. “The red eyes when I’m pissed are more than enough. I don’t need fangs on top of that.”

  Dawn said, “If I had everything you did I wouldn’t bother hiding it, I’d flaunt it.”

  “And then the Elders would come kill her for showing the world there were things very like vampires who could walk in the daylight,” Mercy said.

  “The public knows about us already.”

  “They know about your average half-caste, Dawn, they don’t know about half-castes like Natasha. Maybe it was a mistake to go to a human bar.”

  “Ladies,” I said. “Tonight is supposed to be fun not a debate about the fundamentals of our society. We came here to have fun and to let the vampires know I will be keeping an eye on our humans. Let’s have fun.”

  Dawn saluted me. “One round of fun coming up, Tash.”

  She ordered a round of shots, but I changed mine to a non-alcoholic concoction that was mostly chocolate. I saw them eying me, but all I said was, “Sweet tooth. Besides me drunk would be a dangerous thing.”

  “Speaking of sweet teeth,” Dawn said, “I heard Anton couldn’t take his eyes off you. I always thought he wanted you and the guy is hot.”

  “And a vampire. I am no one’s dessert.”

  “I am no one’s dessert!” I had snarled that at Anton twenty-six years ago when he made me a counter offer on my deal. I had offered to ally my coven with his caste to chase out the invading force trying to pit us against each other in exchange for sharing the city and he had said he would only go against Vincent, who had refused me, if I slept with him on a night of his choosing.

  “One night does not make you a dessert. Blood and years of service do that.” His eyes had run over me from head to foot and blazed red.

  “Well, I don’t ‘service’ anyone and I have enough vampire blood in me, thanks. Besides, we both know that the second I fall into your bed you’ll tell everyone that I am your creature to command.”

  He reached out to stroke my hair, but I grabbed his hand. Anton smiled. “Such a rare thing you are Natasha. So close to being a vampire and yet still so human in your responses. I can be discreet, in fact my life often depends on that and in this case if things go badly and it’s learned I went against Vincent and lost our city for a piece of half-caste ass, my life will be over.”

  “Are you saying you want me, but I’m not worth dying over? You do know how to flatter a girl brother dear.”

  Anton snarled, as he always did when I called him brother. “No one is worth dying for Natasha; even you.”

  “Is that why you left me? Better to give me over to the Elders than to possibly die trying to protect me from Lucius?”

  “That is what you hold against me?”

  “That is why I guard against you Anton. Your motto is ‘survival at all costs’, mine is ‘never count on anyone’.”

  He sneered then. “Is that what you say to your boy? Oh, I’ve surprised you. Yes, I know about you two. Why not admit he is the reason you refuse me?”

  “Leave him out of this!”

  “Only if you will. What do you care about more, Natasha? Your city or your lover?”

  “Why do you want to get me into bed Anton? To prove you can or because you know this is the only way you could ever have me?”

  His hands lashed out to grasp my upper arms. Ten claws dug into my flesh as he yanked me towards him.

  “Tash? Earth to Tash!” Mercy called.

  I jumped a little on my stool. “Sorry, Mercy, I was thinking about times gone by. Being back here after all that time is stirring things up.”

  “Do you miss him?”

  “Who?” Even distracted I knew better than to answer that question without having it clarified first.

  Mercy’s eyes widened. “You thought I meant Anton! Oh, my god Tash, he’s right when he goads you, isn’t he? Part of you is attracted to him.”

  “I am not attracted to that arrogant, snide, over dressed prick.”

  Dawn laughed. “Deny, deny, that’s all you ever do. Come on Natasha, just for once admit the guy makes your blood scream.”

  “I am not having this conversation. Anton was a large part of my dubious childhood and, yes, I liked him very much until he dumped me on the Elders to save his own neck. Giving anyone blind trust is a mistake; one that could prove fatal to us all if I made it. My big brother has his uses, but warming my bed won’t be one of them.”

  “You need to lighten up,” Dawn said without an indication that she was joining in with Mercy’s teasing. She was firmly criticizing me and I didn’t like it.

  Now I had two choices. I could react like a friend, roll my eyes and ignore her impertinence or I could react like Rainor’s heir who had just had herself questioned by a subordinate and, well, do what I was about to do. I did say I am not a big people person. My hand shot out and I backhanded Dawn across the face, knocking her off her stool and onto the floor. For an instant she sat on the ground, stunned, but she got up and bared her teeth. If she had had the ability to snarl she would have been. Every pair of eyes in the place was glued to us except for Mercy’s; she bowed her head and stared demurely at her feet. Dawn took a step toward me.

  Calmly, but firmly I said, “You forget your place. Now step back or I will permanently mark that pretty face of yours.” To add some punch to my threat, I held my right hand up with its fingers spread wide so that the lights above the bar could twinkle off my diamond bright claws that had been carefully filed to look like normal nails. Dawn did not regenerate quickly enough to heal cleanly, if I slashed her face she would carry my mark for the rest of her life. But I also had to be careful how far I took this in public. Chastising anyone in front of humans was considered bad form, but sometimes it had to be done. Before Dawn could push to see how far my adherence to the rules was, I put a snarl in my voice and said, “I only give one warning.”

  It seemed to sink in that her friend was not going to give her a free pass this time. Dawn bowed her head and went to one knee. “Forgive me Mistress.”

  “Return to the house and tell Kain you are at his bidding for the evening. I’ll decide if there’s anything further you need to do to earn my forgiveness in the morning.”

  Dawn snapped to her feet and walked out. I sat back down and sipped my drink.

  Here is an interesting commentary on human males. None of them would take a step near me when I was the icy brunette at the bar that they secretly feared might kill them, but seeing me bitch slap another woman had them all panting at my feet. I was literally surrounded five seconds after Dawn left. I looked over at Mercy and rolled my eyes. Her smile was hesitant and I knew she was reevaluating our friendship and me. She thought I overreacted to Dawn’s comment. Well, that was her problem to get over; I was no longer a child to feel stung when someone disapproved of me and seeking approval was not a quality that lent itself to a long life in a coven.

  “Hey,” said the twenty-something looking man who took Dawn’s former stool. He had auburn hair and green eyes and just enough vampire blood in him to attract my attention, but not enough to be useful to anyone.

  Just as not all vampires were required to live or associate with their castes, many roamed about alone, not all half-castes joined a coven. Usually the ones too weak to fight or who popped up accidentally because mom liked to get frisky with the undead and wanted no part of the war steered clear of coven life. Unlike vampires, our covens were a hodgepodge of bloodlines brought together by geography, or order of the Elders if one coven had too many strong fighters while another had too many weak members.

  I raised a brow at him and turned to talk to Mercy.

  “Christopher,” he said.

  “James.”

  “Huh?”

  “I was tossing out a male name. Isn’t that the game we’re playing?”

  “She has a sense of humor, I like it.”

  “And he’s not intimidated by what he saw and he has a fraction of the power the woman I sent sprawling does. It means yo
u’re either very self-assured or very stupid. Neither is very amusing.”

  “Ok.”

  Once again I tried to speak to Mercy when he tapped my shoulder. To Mercy I said, “It’s persistent isn’t it?”

  “It told you its name,” Christopher said, “and it would like to know yours.”

  I laughed. What can I say? I’m a sucker for a smart ass. I held out my hand. “Natasha.”

  Christopher smiled. “Wow, an actual response. It must be my lucky night. I met a beautiful woman and managed not to get killed before I got her name. I was on shaky ground there I could tell.”

  “Most people do not consider themselves lucky to have met me. Usually they run in the other direction.”

  “Not me. Can I buy you a drink Natasha?”

  I tapped the glass of chocolately goodness in front of me. “I’m covered.”

  Christopher glanced over at Mercy. “What’s a guy have to do to impress your friend?”

  Mercy smiled. “I’m staying out of this one.”

  “Don’t want to end up on the floor?”

  “No, for this she’d be more creative. Bleach in my shampoo or maybe ipecac in my morning cereal.”

  “Now wait a second,” I interrupted. “You know I wouldn’t put ipecac in your breakfast Mercy. You get up at four to start guard duty and I’m still in bed.”

  Mercy’s eyes bugged. “See, creative and so subtle with her threats.”

  “What’s a girl have to do to dissuade you?” I asked.

  “Secretly be a man,” he joked. “Come on, one dance. What could it hurt?”

  I did come out to have fun and he was one of us, which meant he lacked most of the complications a human would come with. And it was just a dance. “Sure.”

  I took his hand and let him lead me to the dance floor.

  Chapter 4

  Rainor was sitting up in bed with some color to his face when I arrived at his room after my meeting with our business managers and accountants. I tended to think it was knowing that I was here to ease his burden now and take over once he was gone that perked him up. I handed him the papers I had been given, along with my notes, and waited while he read them.

  Rainor shuffled the papers back together and put them on his nightstand. “You want to turn the Kensington into your ‘hybrid’ club.”

  “It’s near the vampire border and it’s not doing outstandingly as it is. Makes sense to either close it or convert it.”

  “Beautiful, brainy and deadly. My kind of woman,” Rainor teased.

  “Careful, you might give me bad ideas. I do like the bad boys.” I glanced over at the picture on the wall. The blonde woman smiled back at me above the scowling face of the little boy she embraced from behind. “You miss Claire a lot, don’t you?”

  “She made me laugh and she gave me peace. I knew what loving a human meant, but I wouldn’t trade all our years together to escape the heartache of losing her.”

  “So it was worth it then?” Not a question I would normally have asked, but his time was limited and he was one of the few people who I would ask such a thing of.

  Rainor eyed me for a moment and instead of answering me he asked, “Have you ever been in love Natasha?”

  “Now that’s a loaded question,” I said with an uncomfortable riff of laughter.

  “That’s not an answer.”

  Had I? I really didn’t know. I thought I was once, but the darkness in me and in him twisted it and in the end…well the end made me wonder if it had ever been love or even close to being love. The other time, I was too young to really know or to do anything about it if I was and then he left me so it did not matter what I felt.

  “Natasha?”

  Rainor obviously wasn’t going to let me off the hook. “Sorry, I was thinking.”

  “If you have to think about it, the answer is no.”

  “You sound disappointed,” I said. Rainor sighed, but did not comment. “I haven’t led the sort of life that lends itself to love. It’s an emotion that has been discouraged in me in every imaginable way and I don’t think that’s entirely a bad thing.”

  “No weakening of the inner walls?”

  “The lone hunter.”

  “Ah. But is the hunter lonely?”

  “Can we talk about something else, please, sir?”

  “Still out of contact with those feelings and still eating nothing but sugar. The cook tells me you eat cupcakes for breakfast, ice cream for lunch and chocolate bars for dinner.”

  I laughed. “Are we going to delve the murky depths of my eating habits now?”

  “No. But out of curiosity, how long will this last?”

  I shrugged. “As long as I crave it.”

  “Right.” Rainor rubbed his eyes and yawned.

  “I’ll leave you to rest sir.”

  “One more matter before you go my dear.”

  “Yes?”

  “Dawn.”

  What could I say about Dawn? Did I tell Rainor that she was as she ever was, but that my patience for her had thinned? Or did I tell him that she lacked respect and needed to be disciplined? I didn’t want to be a tattletale, nor did I want to cover for someone who did not deserve it.

  “Be honest Natasha. You chastised her in public, something must have happened last night.”

  “I’m not sure if it’s my new lack of tolerance for her or if she will try to challenge me. Either way she’s likely to end up dead for it.”

  “No lingering loyalty to old friends?”

  “To Mercy and Kain, as much as I can safely allow, but to Dawn…we were never that close. Dawn was always fun, but our only real bond was Mercy.”

  “Thank you, Natasha. That will be all.”

  I bowed and left him to sleep. Out in the hall I sighed and leaned against the door. That had been an unexpected probe into my psyche. I had not realized how hard it would be to fit back into being one of many after being on my own for so long. Being around other people made them think they had rights to comment on your life. That had never sat well with me. What made them think they could pass judgment on what I did or felt or didn’t feel? I didn’t go around….this train of thought was going to have me hitting the next person who said hello to me.

  I needed to get out of this house.

  One of the perks about coven life were the cars. We had a garage full of them and from the day I had taken my now vacated position as Rainor’s enforcer I had not needed permission to use whichever one I wanted. Since it was a bright sunny day I took the convertible and went for a drive. Here was where I was really lucky; I might have the complexion of a vampire, but I didn’t burn. I healed sun damage as quickly and flawlessly as I regenerated from a knife wound. The only downside to me in the sun was how unearthly white it made me look. Usually I wound up with a dozen people asking me if I had sunscreen on.

  The drive began to clear my head of account balances and renewing old ties. I found myself thinking about two things. First was the half-caste baby and who brought it over to our side. Second was Christopher. Who was I kidding? First I was thinking about him and then I was sparing a thought for the innocent child who could get everyone I knew in the city killed. That’s a girl, I thought, always thinking of our hormones.

  Ok. Chris was cute in a two-month-old puppy sort of a way. He was playful and sweet and a good dancer. Definitely the sort of guy most girls would love to bring home to their parents. Trouble was, I did not have parents and I was fairly certain he would run screaming from the coven that would want him to prove he was worthy of dating their soon-to-be leader. They liked to test people. Test his reflexes by accidentally dropping a glass of wine on his pants. Test his stomach by talking about gory war stories over dinner. Test his faithfulness by having every woman in the place proposition him. Well, maybe not the last one since going after the leader’s guy was taboo. When Rainor was in full command, yes, but likely not now when they were still feeling me out. And certainly not after what I did to Dawn.

  I sort of felt ba
d about that. It would have been less severe if I had grabbed her by the throat, pinned her to the wall and threatened her with physical punishment. But, my blood said, what we did was so much more effective and fun. It was right. Maybe I should find my own place instead of trying to live in the coven house right away. I could still be at hand when Rainor needed me, but without constant contact with other living creatures it might give my neglected social graces time to recover themselves.

  Or I could practice being with other half-castes by calling Chris up and asking him out. Wouldn’t Anton love hearing about that? Wait a second. How did Anton wind up in that thought? The entire time I was away I barely gave him a thought and now he seemed to be popping into my head. I suppose another thing I had to readjust to was being in the same city as him and shutting off the strange connection we had. Best way to do that was to occupy my mind with other things. Focus on the treaty violation and on getting a normal life, or as normal a life as I would ever have. Besides the life would help my cover since it would look like I was building a life for myself because I was here to be Mistress and wanted to establish myself.

  My stomach growled and I realized I had been driving for hours. I was not exactly in the best section of town, but what was any human going to do to me? I pulled into the parking lot of a diner I found around the corner and went inside. It seemed to be one of those places that had regulars and where strangers were few and far between because all the waitresses were calling the customers by their first names and everyone turned to stare at me when I took a seat at the counter. Or maybe it was my sex kitten meets biker chick outfit of a short black skirt, silver top, leather jacket and knee high boots with heels.

  One of the waitresses appeared in front of me. “What can I get you Mam?”

  Most women bristle at being called Mam, but I had long passed forty and still looked as good as ever so what did I care? “I’ll have a piece of that chocolate cake and a peanut butter milkshake.”

  I swear she shivered as she wrote down my order. “Anything else?”