Slate's Mistake

by Tigertalez

  “You had a human living with you for your blood supply? I didn’t think there were that many live-in donors,” Slate said.

  Dex shrugged. “There aren’t. She’s the daughter of donor family who wanted to work on her botany. In return for teaching her what I know, she let me feed from her. But now that I’m mated, I can’t and won’t drink from another, so I sent her back to the coven.”

  “Did you tell Elise about her?”

  Slate could see Dex’s cheeks slightly pink. “Yes. I wanted her to know what to expect to see in the coven.”

  “I take it she didn’t take the news so well.” Slate would have chuckled, but he was actually concerned. No one wanted to hear about their mate’s exes.

  “It took a bit to get it across to her that my donor wasn’t a girlfriend or lover even.”

  “Wait, I thought your bites caused orgasms, so how was she not a lover?”

  “We may cause orgasms to whoever we feed from, but most of us don’t have sex or even kiss our live-in donors. They generally start to believe we loved them and get hurt when we find our beloveds. There are several stories where beloveds were endangered, injured, and a few times even killed by an ex-lover donor.”

  Slate winced at the thought. Even if a vampire could survive the heartbreak of losing their soul-mate, they couldn’t drink from anyone else so they slowly starved to death. “Then, if you don’t mind my asking, how do you get your rocks off? You can’t tell me you were a virgin.”

  Slate heard Pierce in the back seat. “Psh, don’t be ridiculous. We go to clubs and whatever for one night stands. That’s how most of us get our blood most of the time. The donors are used as infrequently as possible. They’re only around for times when we can’t get out for a feeding and for awakenings.”

  Slate looked over at Dex. “The awakening is when you go into a coma during puberty, right? Only coming awake at night to feed?”

  “Correct. Like shifters whose animal first comes out during puberty, vampires don’t require blood until puberty. We go into a coma-like state from about two weeks to a month, coming out once a night to feed. That’s how the myths of vampires draining people and only coming out at night came about. Because their bodies are just starting their change, their urges are the strongest they will ever be. Their parents would supply donors or bagged blood and watch over their teen, making sure to keep them from killing or hurting the donor. Over the month’s time, their urges lessen, and after they come out of their coma state, their control is much more manageable.”

  “Huh, I did not know all of that. Ok, so does Elise understand now?”

  “Yeah, but I think she’s still a little doubtful.”

  Slate glanced at his vampire brother-in-law. He looked like he was hiding his true hurt. “Don’t worry, she will understand it all in time. Just be patient.”

  “I am.”

  Because of the heavy clouds, Slate used his headlights to see through the rain as Dex pointed him toward a refurbished old factory in an area of the city where large warehouses and old factories were abandoned. This is where he lives? As they approached the one Dex pointed to, Slate wasn’t sure how to respond. It looked maintained, and greenery grew and hung in various places, but once he drove into a parking spot inside the large structure, he caught his breath.

  Beads of rain dropped on the glass skylights that allowed light to filter into the well-lit forest of vegetation. The vampire had an indoor garden spanning the entire open space. A river rock stone path in swirling structured patterns led them through the maze of foliage. He could see other paths leading in other directions to inlets within the shrubbery that created various “rooms”.

  Dex explained where things were as they passed. One path led to the dining area, another to a fire pit. Comfortable furniture lined the path in various spots, and in the center was a large stacked stone fountain. The water bubbled from the top and cascaded all around through various places over live plants. In the pool at the bottom swimming around lilies and lotuses and other water plants, were different kinds of koi.

  The air, even to a shifter nose, smelt fresh. Colors from flowers dotted areas here and there. At the very end, they made their way up to the second story platform. Below it was the kitchen and office, but the second story held a “patio” and some bedrooms. On the patio, Slate looked over the space from a higher point and was amazed at the various spaces hidden in the foliage. There were even two more bedrooms complete with bathrooms. He marveled further at the open stone and floral showers they sported.

  On the patio and overhead catwalk, draping plants grew long and full in a multicolored floral fall. Chairs and couches lined the patio, and underfoot grew a carpet of soft moss in different shades of green and textured patterns. All around Slate saw amazing things, from stone statues to actual fruit trees.

  Slate closed his eyes and took in the scents and sounds. His companions spoke in awe at the place, and the babble and clatter of water from the distance gave a calming effect.

  “You like it?”

  Slate looked over at Dex, who now held a small inlaid wooden box. “It’s the most amazing home I have ever seen.”

  “Do you think your sister will like it?”

  Ah. Slate saw where this was going. “I think you should ask her, but I can’t imagine anyone not loving this place. So you’re hoping she’ll move here with you instead of you moving to Bancroft?”

  Dex gave a slight shrug and looked down at the box in his hand. “I could always sell it or keep it as a vacation home. I’ll be happy wherever she is.”

  “But?”

  “It took me decades to make it, and I’ve enjoyed the jobs I’ve been contracting lately. I enjoy living in the city.”

  Slate didn’t know his sister enough to give Dex any promises, but he felt he could give him hope at least. “Well, she’s going to need to re-enroll in a good school for her field of study. The best place would be here, and this is a great space to let out her lion, and if that doesn’t work, you can always come up to the pack. It’s only a few hours away.”

  Dex gave him a wide grin, showing off his fangs. Most vampires didn’t make a habit of smiling too big because their fangs couldn’t be brought up into their gums like a shifter’s. Slate smiled back, knowing he’d done a good thing for his new family member.

  The rain started coming down heavily as they twisted and turned heading through the neighborhood, on their way back home. They were all talking excitedly about Dex’s talent and possible ideas for the pack. They weren’t watching for possible trouble, which turned out to be a big and costly mistake.

  Glass shattered around them, and Slate saw a mist of blood spray out from Dex’s chest. Slate swerved the vehicle as the chaos continued. Shots were camouflaged in the rolling thunder that spiked overhead. Slate turned the car sharply into a parking lot of an abandoned warehouse. Pierce was attempting to help shelter Dex and stop his bleeding while Matteo was on his cell, from the sounds of it, with Alphy.

  Veering around the corner of the building, Slate slammed on his brakes, but they hydroplaned into a three foot cement wall. Their airbags popped out, and the old fence that was on the small wall fell forward, landing on top of them.

  With the airbag going off in his face, Slate was dazed. As he started to come around, he felt strong hands shaking him and Matteo’s voice pleading with him. “Come on, Slate, snap out of it. They’re coming. You need to come around.”

  Slate shook his head and blinked his eyes. “That’s it, Slate, come on. We need to get out.”

  Slate looked around. The windshield was mostly caved in into a web of shattered glass. The fence that had landed on them covered the front half of the car, so the only way out was through the back doors.

  Behind him, Pierce hissed in frustration. “Dex won’t be able to heal faster until he gets blood, and he can’t drink any blood other than his mate’s.”

  “Fuck!” Slate slurred. “We’ll have to fight. Matteo, can you shift?”

 
“Yeah.”

  “Good, slip up high somewhere. Take your cell with you. I don’t care if you have to hold it in your teeth.”

  “Take it anyway. Got it.”

  Slate huffed with slight amusement at the “Oh fuck” coming from Pierce. Most shifters, when they shifted, were larger than the average of their kind. Matteo was an anaconda, and their kind was already pretty massive.

  Before any more could be said or done, a speeding vehicle turned the corner and slammed into them. More glass projected forward, and they were rocked forward by the impact. Slate unbuckled his seatbelt and tried squeezing through the center seats into the back. He followed the leather clad Pierce out his side door and into the rain to face their aggressors.

  Through the haze of the heavy rain, Slate could see a dazed Carl in the passenger seat clutching a rifle, and a man he didn’t know in the driver’s seat of the smashed blue Chevy. Smoke curled between the opened creases on the hood and licked across the metal until the wind puffed and moved it around Slate rushed Carl. He reached through the open side window and pulled out the rifle and threw it aside. It landed with a metallic splat and clatter as the metal hit asphalt though a heavy mud puddle. Slate wanted to gut this piece of shit himself.

  Pierce attacked the driver, driving his fangs deep into the man’s neck and began draining him. Slate could tell it was another lion shifter, but this one wasn’t anywhere near as strong as Carl. Slate said, “Hey Pierce, don’t drain him. I want to question him.”

  Slate pulled Carl out of the truck. Carl threw a punch that Slate easily dodged, but another punch slammed into his gut staggering him backward, but he kept himself from falling. The telltale signs of his father shifting had him reaching for his lion. With his practice, he was able to finish his shift before his father. Another thing that surprised him was how much bigger and stronger his lion was than his father’s. Coming out of his shift, he could tell when his father noticed the same thing.

  Slate’s lion chuffed at seeing the startled, worried look in his father. Slate had worked hard to make himself and his lion stronger just for this day of retribution. He might have found it in him to be merciful, but after what his father did to his mother and sister, his lion wanted blood and he didn’t want to deny him.

  Slate leaped into the air, coming down with his claws extended and his mouth pulled back to reveal his massive canines. A rush of water droplets flew and danced around him as he swiped his claws across his father’s furred face, making contact and stretching a line of blood the length of his face. Blood mixed with rain, rolled down his muzzle and maw.

  His father roared and lunged back, swiping but missing. Slate countered with another swipe to the face. This time after he made contact, he lunged forward and closed his powerful jaws over his father’s nose. His father’s pained yowl reached his ears, but had no effect on him. Claws futilely slashed at his mane, but it was too thick to do any damage. With a flick of his head, he sent the older lion skidding along the puddled ground.

  Now he circled his father as the lion staggered up. He could see the rage in Carl’s eyes as he appeared to be going over his options in his head, but Slate wanted him to know he didn’t have any. He lunged again and leaped back, and repeated the move several times. Each time he was successful at drawing a line of crimson over the golden fur. His father tried to lash out with a counter strike, but he missed every time.

  He gave his father a look that spoke his future. His father tried to submit, but it was too late for that. Slate was going for retribution. He let a low growl echo though his enlarged ribcage, and he gauged his next attack. Water showered down upon them and cascaded off their furred forms. In the case of his father, a rusty colored puddle gathered beneath him.

  Slate lined up his death-blow and struck. His powerful jaws sank his enormous canines deep into the underside of his father’s neck. The metallic flavor of blood flooded his mouth and streamed down his jaw and into his mane. He clamped hard while his father struggled beneath him, closing the airway as his canines bled his father out. He continued to hold the position for a while after the form stopped struggling.

  He let the knowledge run though his head that he had just killed his father. He wasn’t a vengeful man, or bloodthirsty, and yet he felt satisfied with the outcome. His mother, sister, mate, and cub were now all safer because of this.

  Finally letting go, he let the lifeless form drop into the filthy water that pooled on the ground beneath them. Looking over to Pierce and the unknown lion, he roared out his victory. It was probably a good thing the thunder chose to shake the sky, because a lion’s roar could be heard for miles away, and his victory would have most definitely been heard.

  The smaller lion was conscious, but weak. He shivered under the guarding vampire’s hand. Slate initiated his shift and stood naked, letting the rain wash the blood from his now furless skin. Shifters ran hotter than humans, and it was still summer, so the rain didn’t bother him at all. It actually felt good to let it wash over his flesh.

  The sleek form of Matteo’s wet anaconda slithered down the building and shifted. “Raymond has men on their way.” He took over guard for Pierce so the clothed paranormal could rush back to Dex.

  Suddenly worry bit through his gut. If Dex died, so would his sister. He couldn’t go too close because of all the glass, so he could only stand there and watch as the man checked over his sister’s mate. Two black SUVs pulled up to the scene. Several jumped out and rushed to the crashed car, while the others helped take over the prisoner and help him and Matteo. But he refused to move until he got word that Dex was still alive.

  Pierce looked back at Slate and nodded. He watched them found a way to pull him out of the wreckage.

  Slate continued to watch the crew carry the bloody unconscious vampire and place him in one of the vehicles. It tore him up inside to see the inlaid box still clutched tightly in Dex’s hands.

  He hadn’t realized how shallowly he was breathing until he started walking to one of the SUVs. He had to take in a few deep breaths before jumping in and being sped away from the scene.

  Back at the coven’s main building, he and Matteo were given some sweats and a t-shirt and a phone to call his alpha. While the two recounted over the speaker to Alphy what happened, Raymond and a few others of his inner circle listened.

  “We’ll have to keep a watch for the alpha and his crony councilmember,” Alphy grumbled.

  “And that Damon Miller guy from the herd,” Matteo reminded him.

  “Fuck. Anything else you want to add?” Alphy growled.

  “Yeah,” Slate piped in. “You’re going to need another car. We should start running a tab.”

  “Fuck you!” Slate could hear the laughter in his voice and knew Alphy wasn’t seriously angry. “All right, Marek took off a little while ago with Elise, in the van. They’re headed down your way, Raymond, as fast as they can. Please keep me informed, if you will, on his progress.”

  “I will.” Raymond nodded, even though he knew Alphy couldn’t see him over the phone.

  “You know what I don’t get? If Carl was protected by his alpha, why did he travel all this way? And how the hell did he even find you? In the city, no less!”

  Matteo answered him. “We questioned Maximus Stone, the lion shifter assisting Carl. He’s very cooperative. He was forced under duress to do as Carl said. He informed us that Carl had been acting more and more crazed this last year, reiterating what Elise had said. He said the incident in Tyler pertaining to Beverly, pushed him past his breaking point. The vampire physician has some suspicions and is doing an autopsy. As for finding us, he said they had followed us from Bancroft but couldn’t find the right moment to attack. They had followed us into the area where Dex’s house is, but lost us at a turn. They were driving around looking, and it was actually a sick kind of luck that they found us when and where they did.”

  “I would very much like to know the results of those tests. Raymond, would you be willing to have the results sent to
our Seamus?” Alphy asked.

  “I believe he already plans to do so, but I will run it by him to be sure.”

  “Thank you. Slate, you need to get you home as soon as possible. Something about the tests they ran having come back with some results.”

  Slate’s anxiety sped up his heart and tightened his gut. “Is anything wrong?”

  “I don’t know. They just said they got results back from the tests and that it’s about the pregnancy. They won’t talk to anyone. Katie locked herself up in her room, and Seamus won’t reveal anything to anyone until you get here. She’s not even letting your mom or her own sister in.”

  “Fuck!” Slate shouted and through the phone.

  ****

  Katie lay on the bed trying to come to terms with the news she’d just learned. She felt bad for turning everyone away, including her dad and sister, but she needed the time to process and accept the information she had been given. She contemplated how to tell Slate and everyone else. She even contemplated not telling anyone until later, but from the number of people asking for her, she could tell they were all too concerned to wait any longer then they had to, to be told. So after mulling it over, she decided to wait until Slate came home, then tell everyone all at once. A bit dramatic, but this wasn’t a normal family, so who was to judge really?

  Their room was on the side where vehicles arrived. This allowed her to hear a speeding vehicle approach, and the sound of tires scratching to a stop on the dirt was heard, too. Katie sat up, but that was all she was able to do by the time the door banged open, causing her to jump. She would have glared daggers at Slate, but his face told her he was panicked, and she had put him like that. He was only in a pair of sweats, showing her his pert nipples and curved muscles.

  Slate rushed across the room and scooped her up into his arms. “Are you all right? What’s wrong?”

  “I’m fine. I just needed time to process. Let’s head downstairs and I’ll give the news to everyone at once.” She didn’t really want to go now that she was warm and flush against his bare skin. Something suddenly occurred to her. “Um, Slate, not that I’m complaining, because I’m not, but why are you wearing only a pair of sweats? You didn’t leave looking like that.”