“Just in case your shooting doesn’t improve,” he said. Elora rose and went ‘round the table to give Kay a kiss on the cheek and a neck hug. “Hey. I’m an engaged man.”
She reseated herself with a big smile. “Thank you. You never know when such a gift might come in handy.”
The second part of Kay’s plan to make the evening an occasion included sharin’ B Team’s most embarrassin’ moments, includin’ me givin’ Storm mouth to mouth. Paddy. I had worked hard at purgin’ that experience from memory.
We threw everything we could think of at her, hopin’ the important stuff would stick. Or come back to her if needed.
“Never allow yourself to be separated from your partner,” Kay said. Storm nodded. “And we can’t ever let the team be trapped together at a dead end or elevator, places like that.”
“And there are better ways to identify leeches than askin’ to see their fangs.” Criminently. That was one for the annals.
“Like what?” she asked.
“You encountered a vamp by himself, but that’s unusual. They like to work in twos or threes. The one you followed was hopin’ to get a free ride. Like buzzards waitin’ their turn for the ones closest to the carcass to get their fill and fly off.”
“Ew,” she said.
“Are you sure you’re no’ too squeamish for this kind of work?”
“I guess it’s too late to consider that now,” said Storm, allowin’ his surliness to resurface.
“Back to the subject.” I gave Storm a pointed look then turned to Elora. “After a while you’ll be able to recognize vampire on sight. They move differently, stiffer I guess you’d say.”
“Stiffer?” Kay said. “Funny, Ram.”
“Well…” I shrugged as if to say I can no’ help that I’m naturally entertainin’. Back to Elora, I said, “In the beginnin’ you can rely on us to help identify targets.”
She surprised me then by sayin’ to Storm, “The day you told me about what happened to Lan, you mentioned aphrodisiacs and I didn’t question it at the time. I know there are differences, but in my world, aphrodisiacs were proven to be a myth.”
I had no’ known about the conversation, but I supposed there must have been quite a lot that passed between the two of them without my knowledge. I tried to make light of it. “I, for one, would very much like to hear how that was proved.”
“Um, actually, it was a TV show called ‘Myth Busters’. Every episode they would take a commonly held belief and put it through a series of scientifically designed tests to determine fact or fiction. I saw the one on aphrodisiacs.”
Storm looked unconvinced. “Like you said, what if it’s one of those other-dimension differences?”
“Could be. I’m just saying that aphrodisiacs can be a convenient ‘devil made me do it’ excuse.”
Storm nodded. “Noted.”
I noticed that Kay was lookin’ at Elora with more interest than usual. “On another note entirely,” he said, “I don’t want to be the dead messenger, but I think you ought to do something about the hair.”
Elora blinked. “Like what?”
“Like cut it off.”
“What? Why?”
“Your hair is great, Elora, but you didn’t just fight your way into a beauty contest. Your priorities have got to shift from cuteness to battle readiness.
"This must have been mentioned in your hand-to-hand training. If you leave all that hair down, sooner or later it will get in the way, could easily create a blind spot. Wearing it up is almost worse because it might as well be a handle; grab, jerk, pull you off balance at best, snap your neck at worst. I think I speak for all of us when I say I’d rather see you alive with shorter hair.”
Elora looked from Storm to me for our reactions. I did no’ entirely agree because, after all, I wear my hair longer than most. But if it would improve her chances of survivin’…
“Well, when put like that, how can I no’ agree?” Even as I said it I was thinkin’ about all the nights I’d laid in bed fantasizing about divin’ into a tangled mass of jasmine scented silky strands. Or feelin’ it trail down my body in concert with feathered kisses from chin to cock. Or havin’ it brush against my thighs as I watched her ride me with her head thrown back. I looked at it with longin’ and said, “I, too, prefer you alive.”
Elora looked down, clearly no’ happy with the suggestion. “I’ll think about it,” she said. Without segue her head came up and she seemed reanimated. “I’ve had an idea and want to run it past you.”
We nodded or gestured for her to continue.
“I was thinking about Baka’s gig as bass player for Notte Fuoco. We might expand on that idea. He could maybe arrange for jobs for the four of us. Then we could be there every night. Sort of like under cover without raising suspicion, but keeping each other in sight?”
The three veteran members of B Team looked at each other. ‘Twas no’ just a good idea. ‘Twas nothin’ less than brilliant.
“I think you should be a dancer, Kay,” I said.
“Funny, Ram. I think you should bus tables.”
”Okay. Seriously. If the vamps are coming and going from the live music level in the basement, then, shouldn’t that be the center of the operation?”
“Yeah. She’s right,” Storm said. “She should serve drinks. Right or wrong that’s what patrons expect to see female employees doing. Plus it gives her a mobility that we wouldn’t have as bouncers or bartenders.”
“If she’s going to serve drinks, then Ram should bartend. That makes the most sense. They might not be in constant contact, but he could keep an eye on her.”
“And vice versa,” she corrected Kay, makin’ me smile.
“And vice versa,” he repeated, lookin’ between the two of us.
“We’ll be bouncers.”
Elora nodded. “Makes sense. You look the part.”
“Sol’s call. We have to run it by him, but I’d give you dimes to dollars, he’s gonna love it,” Storm said.
And he did.
Elora worked hard the rest of that week. She worked on target practice and spent considerable time with the bar staff tryin’ to pick up the fine art of professional drink delivery.
When she was no’ busy trainin’, she was workin’ with that dog. Alsatians were versatile dogs, good at just about any task you set before them. So it was no’ a surprise that Blackie took to her ‘hunt the vampire’ game that she’d devised usin’ two halves of Baka’s shirt.
One afternoon she knocked on my door.
“Come play a game with us.”
Now how could I refuse such an invitation? “Sure. Do I get to name the game?” I leered.
“No,” she ignored my innuendo. As usual. “I want you to play hide and go seek with my dog. Give me one of your tees from the laundry. Then I want you to go hide somewhere in the building.”
I opened my mouth to ask where, but she held up her hand.
“Don’t tell me where. I don’t want to influence the outcome. We’ll give you a, what do you think, ten minute head start?”
“Okay.” I went back inside to grab a shirt out of the hamper. I’d just had laundry done so there was no’ much to choose from. As I handed her my favorite Black Sabbath shirt, I said, “I need that back. No blood. No rips. No teeth marks.”
She laughed. “If he doesn’t find you in,” she looked at her watch, “half an hour, I’ll call you and tell you the first attempt failed.” She started away. “Oh. Start in the Hub though. That’s where I’m going to set him on you.”
“Set him on me?”
Chucklin’ she said, “You know what I mean.”
“No’ sure that I do.”
“Come on. It’ll be fun.”
I got off the elevators at the Hub, but got back on and went down to the lowest level. I knew exactly where I was goin’ to wait. The cage that used to be his prison.
I had brought a book and planned to settle in for half an hour before gettin’ a phone call, but five m
inutes after I was in place, I heard the sound of claws tappin’ on the tile floor. By Paddy, the dog had done it and in time that must be some kind of record. He rushed to the outside of the cage and barked a song of victory in between moments of grinnin’ at me.
When Elora arrived, she had Storm with her. Blackie looked over his shoulder, waggin’ his tail and put a paw up to the cage like he was ready for his trophy photo.
Elora went to her knees and let that mutt lick every inch of her face while she praised and petted him.
I got up and let myself out. “I’d be askin’ for a hello kiss myself if you were no’ wearin’ so much dog drool on your face.”
Storm gave me a dirty look. I supposed ‘twas because I talked about Elora and kissin’ in the same sentence. The lad was goin’ to have to get over it.
CHAPTER 21
Ram
Like Elora, I had my own homework to do. If you ask me, my job was harder. It requires a much higher level of education to mix drinks than to take orders for them and carry them to tables. So I started carryin’ a little handbook around, studyin’ recipes and such. Elora quizzed me before and after dinner every night and I was startin’ to feel like a bartender. Perhaps I did no’ have the flashiest moves, but the ladies like to look at me and that counts for something. If the Black Swan gig ever dried up and I did no’ want work as a prince, which I definitely did no’, well, people will always drink.
We hit a snag with the uniforms. Well, no’ Elora. She got field operations to modify her skirt so that she could attach a gun to a garter and no one would be the wiser. I’d never thought I had a weapons fetish, but that image never failed to get me hard. My hands itched to reach under that skirt and gently pop that garter. I know. That was neither here nor there. Just sayin’. Some day.
Notte Fuoco dress code was no’ so much a problem for me because I could stow a satchel under the bar, but Kay and Storm had no way to hide splat pistols under black tees and jeans. They were bare ass except for stakes in boots, which was a much bigger risk to themselves.
The Fates must have been doubled over laughin’ at me. As a demonstration of ‘bein’ careful what you’re wishin’ for’, B Team was back on the duty roster. I’d been ready to get back to work and wantin’ to see our names posted, but that was before. In my defense, I could no’ have guessed in a hundred years that my mate would be the first female knight in the history of The Order. And on B Team!
We had Thursdays and Sundays off because those were the slow nights at the club. And Mondays, o’ course because the club levels were closed.
So Tuesday night found me behind the bar tryin’ my best to look like a whiskey-slingin’ professional. It was no’ too hard except for the fact that my first priority was keepin’ an eye out for where my teammates were at all times. And, o’course, lookin’ for signs of vampire.
I lived for the trips Elora made into the bar to leave or pick up an order. She always had a smile that seemed to say she thought of me as special, but I could have been readin’ too much in.
Every hour we got a ten minute break. When the crew arrived to spell us, I turned to Elora and said, “Let’s go up to the street. I’m feelin’ bat shit claustrophobic down here.”
“Sure,” she said. “Sounds like a plan.”
It felt good to be out on the street. It felt good to have Elora all to myself. ‘Twas without my teammates ‘round. ‘Twas when I had the idea that a day in the city would be a perfect ruse for a romantic date. I could always say I was just givin’ an out-of-towner a tour of the city. If she happened to fall in love with me by the by, how could I be blamed?
We turned in response to the noise bein’ made by a group of young women who emerged from the club lookin’ like they’d had way too many spirits in too short a time. One of them noticed me and, even through a drunken haze, I saw interest click behind her eyes.
She headed straight toward us, pushed her way between my partner and me, and tried to press her comic fake boobs into me. I had taken a step back and was just about to tell her to buzz off, when she jerked right and stumbled into her friends.
Elora had taken her by her sideways ponytail and shoved her aside. “Find something else to do,” she said.
The lady, and aye, I use the term in the most generic sense, grabbed onto one of her friends to get her balance while swearin’ in a way that would make Paddy, himself, turn away blushin’.
When she looked up at Elora, I could see she was contemplatin’ a cat fight. The idea of a drunken girl thinkin’ about a brawl with a Black Swan knight, especially my partner, was so ridiculous I laughed in the girl’s face and said, “Oh. I definitely would no’ if I were you.”
Her friends decided on her behalf that my admonition was good advice. She half-staggered as they pulled her away under protest.
Crisis averted, I had the opportunity to consider what had just happened. ‘Twas no’ my imagination that time. My mate had acted on jealousy. There was no other reasonable explanation. And that realization must have made me look very much like the Cheshire cat.
When I turned my very delighted smile on Elora, she looked around like she was embarrassed and said, “I really have no idea why I did that. It was wrong. I mean it’s not as if you can’t take care of yourself or decide whose fake chest you want pressed against you.”
“Elora…”
She walked away before I could respond, sayin’, “I’ve got to visit the Ladies’ before time’s up. I’ll see you down there.”
“Hold on. Partners stay together. Remember?” I caught up to her before she opened the door to go back in.
Looking agitated, she said, “You are not using that as an excuse to come in the women’s restroom with me.”
I smiled, hopin’ to put her at ease. The last thing I wanted was for her to ever feel embarrassed ‘round me. No’ for any reason. And particularly no’ if she was feelin’ an instinctive reaction to keepin’ other females away from me. What I wanted more than anything in this life was for Elora Laiken to see me as claimed territory. “No? Well, then I’ll wait outside.” Then I added, “For a count of one hundred.”
Wednesday night, I knocked on her door to signal ‘twas time to catch the whister. For the second time, you could have knocked me over when she opened up. Her beautiful hair had been shorn close to her head. ‘Twas less than three inches long. Spikey. Messy. ‘Twould fit in with club work, but oh. How I would miss that hair.
“Kay’s right. Long hair’s too easy to grab. I found that out last night.”
I nodded just before reachin’ up to run my hand over her head, wishin’ I’d done that when ‘twas still long. “Still beautiful,” I said. And ‘twas the truth of it.
She closed the door. As we walked toward the elevator, I screwed up my courage and said, “Would you like to spend tomorrow with me?”
She glanced sideways, but kept walkin’. “I would, but I can’t. Storm’s taking me to the mall shopping and teaching me to drive.”
“He’s takin' you shoppin' at a suburb mall and teachin' you to drive? Okay. Better him than me.” ‘Twas a lie. I would have been glad to take her anywhere, partly because I wanted to be with her and partly because I did no’ want her with Storm. Great. Paddy.
She gave me a playful punch to my bicep. I laughed on cue although I was feelin’ like givin’ Storm a much less than playful punch to his smug-all ugly face. “Then Sunday. Give me Sunday.”
“Sure.”
“Ten thirty. Street clothes.”
The next day I was incurably irritable and no’ fit for company of any kind. Knowin’ Elora was spendin’ time alone with Storm sat in my gut like a burr under the saddle.
I had dinner by myself at the bar and then headed to the back of the lounge for poker. On the way back, I passed Ghost playin’ darts. He caught my eye and lifted his chin in acknowledgement. Paddy, he was an ugly fucker. I could no’ say for sure that I saw hard feelin’s in his stare, but I suspected he was no’ at all happy about bein’ passe
d over. Especially by a woman.
Truth be told, most males would have a problem with that and ‘twas compounded by the fact that she’d skipped the dues-payin’ that the rest of us had undergone. Aye. She was the exception to almost every rule in the book and I knew that better than anyone. Still, it might be a hard pill to swallow for a seasoned knight expectin’ a bump.
I mimicked his chin tip on the way past and closed the door to the card room behind me.
On my way to my usual seat at the table, Sanction said, “Hawking, I was just saying that we have a guest tonight. Storm has been teaching the Lady Laiken to play poker. Since Bellstrong is on duty tonight, I told him she could sit in, that we’re just as happy to take her money as somebody else’s.”
My mood instantly elevated. That meant that, any minute, she’d be walkin’ through the door and sittin’ nearby. No sooner did I have that thought than she did come through the door, followed by Storm.
As she took the seat opposite me, I scanned her body slowly. For damage. You know. She appeared to be alright. In fact, she sent a high beam smile my direction that played my body like a xylophone.
Since I’d been off my feedbag all day, I was feelin’ more than peckish. I ordered one of the Hub’s big club sandwiches made with thick nine grain bread, no’ stingy with the bacon. Things were lookin’ up.
I could no’ wait to see how well Storm had taught her to play and if she’d be able to hide anything from me. She looked at the first hand and grinned at everyone like she’d drawn a royal flush, then folded. I saw a series of glances exchanged ‘round the table and, really, I did no’ blame them. ‘Twas strange even for an outworlder.
By the sixth hand, I had caught on that she was tryin’ to disguise the transparency of emotion, usually imprinted on her face in exquisitely expressive ways, by actin’. I had to give Storm credit due if he’d deliberately taught her that. ‘Twas workin’. I was sure that, given enough time, I could decipher a pattern, but for one night? She might at least get out of the game without heavy losses.
Knights of Black Swan, Books 7-9 (Knights of Black Swan Box Set Book 3) Page 51
