Of Humans and Monsters

by Candace Blevins

  “I don’t have definitive answers. There’s a good chance it’ll fade, but no guarantees.”

  I shook my head and moved on. “If my abilities aren’t because of my DNA, how do we explain Josh being able to gain them?”

  “He’s a mess, Kirsten. The Celrau screwed with his head in ways...” He gave a weary sigh. “They discovered light-weapons are possible by watching you, so they somehow researched your past and tried to replicate years of study, experience, and soul searching with months of rearranging his memories and thoughts.”

  “What do we do to help him?”

  “He’s probably going to need the years of soul searching you had. I can explain to Aaron and Nathan what he needs so they can see he gets the appropriate teachers, but he’s a ticking time bomb right now.”

  I started to make him promise he wouldn’t hurt my cousin, but Mordecai touched his finger to my lips and shook his head. “We’ll discuss him later, when I know more. I can’t make you any promises today, other than to say I’ll do everything in my power to keep you apprised of where we are with him.”

  “Aquila calls me Kitten. Do you think he knows who I was, or is it a coincidence?”

  “I don’t recall him being in France or the surrounding countries at the time. We’ll consider it a coincidence for now, and I’ll let you know if I find out otherwise.”

  He’d said we needed to go back, but I didn’t want to return yet. “Can we walk around town?”

  “Not today. I’ll bring you back another time, if you wish.”

  “Okay.” I sat on a hard, wooden pew as I realized we probably should go back soon. “If Nathan has the Drake control room look for it, he might be able to see my cellphone in France.” I honestly didn’t know if my phone would roam in France or not. It worked in China, but I had no idea about the French cell systems.

  “We should get back anyway. They’ll be worried about us.”

  Mordecai had kept touch to a minimum, but his calming presence, his deep voice, his smell — it all worked to help center me in ways I hadn’t been able to achieve in Abbott’s basement great room. And I was so damned happy to have him back. I’d missed him terribly while he’d been gone.

  I was about to tread on shaky ground, but I had to say something. “I know I’m not supposed to give any energy to any feelings I may have about you, but I’m not sure what I’m feeling, or if it’s a closeness because of the past, or something romantic. I’ve been hit with too much in the last couple of hours — I’m being bombarded with scents I’ve never smelled, and there’s the threat of the bloodlust coming back, and my hearing is so much better... and I have vivid memories of what it’s like to morph from human into a large cat, and how it feels to stalk and run on four legs.” I leaned against the back of the probably-ancient pew. “To be honest, what I need right now is a couple of days in China with my old teacher. I need to sit on top of that mountain and meditate without any input from the rest of the world.”

  “I’m your teacher and we both know that’s as far as we can go. It’s normal to have feelings for your teacher. Don’t give energy to them — don’t fight them, don’t feed them. Accept them and move on.” He sat on the floor and looked up. “Traveling to China likely won’t be possible in the near future. You have to schedule vacations far in advance with your patients, yes?”

  Unless he could zap me there for a weekend, but I didn’t have the nerve to ask. I joined him on the floor. “I assume we’re going back to Abbott’s?”

  “Yes, your scent has evened out and I don’t believe anyone will smell the shapeshifter in you now.”

  He wrapped his arms around me and I rested my head on his shoulder. His embrace was comfortable — like an old friend. I wanted it to be more, but I focused on his friendship. I’d been merely his student, but with the memory of Amiens I believed he now considered me friend.

  The grey nothingness swirled and danced around us again until Abbott’s basement great room solidified around us. I unwrapped myself from Mordecai, walked to a chair, and sat. On the way there I decided to get the conversation away from me right away, so I said, “Let’s talk about plans for tomorrow. Who’ll be guarding me while I work?”

  Abbott started with “Carena, we were worried—” but I interrupted.

  “Yes, I’m sorry about that and we’ll try not to do it again without warning, but right now I’ve had all the introspection I can handle and I need to talk about something else. So, please, can we discuss logistics? Also, where am I staying tonight?”

  Abbott’s voice boomed throughout the room with power behind it. “You are not leaving this house until daylight tomorrow.” He must’ve realized how he sounded, and he reined his voice back to normal. “Tomorrow is a full day?”

  “No. I had a poly group scheduled for my three to five slot, and I didn’t replace them when they called to cancel last week. My two o’clock appointment gave birth to twins last week and I figured I’d keep her slot open through December.” Because even finding time for online Christmas shopping had been hard in recent weeks.

  “Marco and Ryan will transport you from here to your office tomorrow morning in a vehicle,” said Nathan. “When you’re through with your last client, Marco will fly you to Bran’s house without being seen, and we’ll have time to dress you for the trip so it won’t affect you as badly as it did today.”

  “No,” said Mordecai. “I can safely get her from location to location without making her sick.”

  “When will I meet with Adonis? Can we do it tomorrow when I’m through with my clients?”

  “He’s planned a dinner for tomorrow evening,” said Nathan, “and has invited most of the local leaders, but you’re the guest of honor. We’re to arrive between six thirty and seven, with dinner served at eight.”

  “It’s to be a formal affair,” Abbott said from the other side of the room. “I have an outfit being made for you, so you don’t have to worry about what to wear.”

  Nathan chuckled. “If I were you, I’d ask to see a picture and get Cora’s input.”

  Abbott glared at Nathan, but that wasn’t what I keyed in on. “Abbott, we aren’t an item anymore and you aren’t responsible for dressing me.”

  “I can assure you, nothing in your closet would be suitable. Please let me help with this.”

  I sighed. “Let me see a picture, and I’ll want to pay your person for it, but thanks for making the arrangements.”

  While he pulled the image up on his phone, I looked at Nathan to ask, “Should I eat ahead of time so I don’t have to make a point of being a vegetarian?”

  “He’s been told,” said Bran from the hallway as he stepped into the room.

  “Are you okay?” I asked as I stood and walked to him. “I’m... I’m sorry I didn’t stop. I heard you saying it was enough, but it’s like I didn’t realize you were saying it to me. It sounds lame now, but at the time it felt like I was just in the room while others were talking around me, not to me. I’m so sorry!”

  “No need to explain, I completely understand. You’ll learn to handle it, and from your demeanor now, I’m betting you’ll have control much quicker than any of us expect.”

  “You’re sure you’re okay?”

  “Never better. Let’s see this dress Abbott’s picked for you.”

  I turned and looked at Abbott, and he held his phone up. I’m not sure what I expected, but it looked fine. A little flashier than my taste — tight fitting with a lot of rhinestones — but it was pretty and everything was more than covered.

  Bran looked over my shoulder. “You’re serious with this?”

  Abbott stared at him without answering, and I couldn’t interpret the look. I reached for my phone, took a picture of Abbott’s phone, and texted it to Cora with a note explaining.

  Ten seconds later she texted, Oh, hell no. Hang on and let me find a pic.

  “Cora doesn’t seem to like your selection,” I told Abbott.

  “You likely won’t appreciate her suggestion.”<
br />
  Cora sent me a picture of her in an outfit I’d be hard pressed to call clothes. It was more string than fabric, and while it was a dress in the loosest definition possible, there was no way in hell I’d be caught dead or alive in it.

  Instead of texting her, I called her. “What the fuck?”

  “Sometimes it seems formal gatherings with the Old Ones have everyone competing for who can look formal while wearing the least amount of actual fabric. Randall explained a little of what’s happening via telepathy, and let me just say Abbott’s being a shit. If Kendra’s there, she can help you design something — she’s really good at the whole fashion thing.”

  “No way in hell am I wearing something like the picture you sent.”

  “Seriously, see if Kendra’s there and enlist her help.”

  I eyed Abbott as I put my phone away. “If Kendra’s still here and agrees to help me — will you let her help me of her own free will, without giving her orders for how you want me dressed?”

  He sighed. “Of course. She’s on her way down as we speak.”

  She grinned at me as she entered the basement. “Come to my room and I’ll show you what I’ll be wearing, and then we’ll sketch something for you.”

  I followed her to her room and into her closet.

  “I’m actually debating between two dresses,” she said as she pulled out a lavender dress with a long flowing skirt, slit up the side so her leg would peek out when she walked. The top was ultra-skimpy but had a flowing mesh thing around it in places so even though her stomach would show, there was something over it. Kind of. However, the other dress would be even more revealing than the picture Cora had shown me, and Kendra chuckled at my expression.

  “I can get away with a long skirt because I’m so tall. I think we’ll be better off giving you a shorter skirt and showing pieces of your midriff. Hang on, I know just the thing.

  She grabbed her phone, searched about twenty seconds, and came up with an outfit I wouldn’t have been comfortable with before I’d seen the super-skimpy ones, but I could live with it when I considered the alternative. The skirt came to just above the knees with a slit on the side, and the top was comprised of a combination of solid fabric and see-through, but all the important bits were covered.

  “Yeah, okay. If everyone will be dressed this way, I’ll be fine in that.”

  “I’ll text it to Abbott’s tailor. He has your measurements and some pictures of you, and he’s great at adjusting the design to show off our good parts while hiding the parts we’d rather not flaunt. I use him too — you’ll be in good hands.”

  “Thanks. Now I just need shoes.”

  “We’ll have it made in black with gold trim, and you can wear those soft, leather, black lace-up boots I like so much.” Before I could respond, she shifted to another conversation. “Abbott’s planning to offer you his room tonight, to sleep. He won’t be in it, and he wants you downstairs and not in one of the bunk rooms aboveground — and I agree from a security standpoint. You’ll need a supernatural in the room in case you’re overcome with bloodlust again, but they’ll need to stay awake to watch you so it shouldn’t be part of your daytime guard. Do you have a preference?”

  “I’m worried I’ll hurt someone if I’m out of my mind.”

  “We had that discussion while you were in the shower. There are ways to immobilize you, but we can’t explain them or you’ll know how to counter them. We won’t put anyone on you who won’t be able to safely handle you.”

  I breathed out in relief. I hadn’t realized how much tension I’d been holding with worry of hurting my friends.

  “If I get to choose, then Ranger or Patrick, but I assume you’re offering my choice of one of your people. So long as it isn’t Piers or someone who’ll creep me out, I’m not sure I have a preference. Is there anyone you’d recommend?”

  She hesitated, looked at the door, and finally back to me. “Marco doesn’t require much sleep, but you’ll need to ask Bran to lend him to you, and not ask Marco to do it, if that’s your choice. If you don’t want to go that route I can put one of our female wolf guards down here with you.”

  I nodded, considering her point. “Okay, thanks for the heads up. Supernatural politics can be a bitch. I’ll talk to Bran.”

  Chapter 13

  The next morning I awoke to the alarm and felt like I had a hangover. Nathan and I were in Abbott’s bed, my back to his front, his heavily-corded arm over me. If you’d told me a few months ago I’d sleep in Abbott’s bed with the Amakhosi, I’d have laughed at the absurdity. I wore pajamas and he wore boxers, and nothing had happened, but we’d snuggled into an intimate spoon position in our sleep. Even more troubling? I didn’t want to leave his warm embrace. Nothing would ever hurt me with Nathan’s arms around me, but more than that — he soothed my energy and made me feel cherished. I didn’t even want to open my eyes for fear the moment would end if reality intruded.

  I thought back to the night before, and how Nathan had put himself through a variety of emotions so I could get a sense of what each smelled like. Interestingly enough, the positive emotions like joy and lust smell good, while the more negative emotions like anger and jealousy smell bad.

  Marco had been in the room the first part of the night, and he’d let me smell some emotions as well, so I could sense how they’re similar but different for each person.

  However, I’d known one of the wolf guards would relieve him partway through the night, as Bran needed his most trusted bodyguard for something in the early morning hours. I could smell the wolf, but I could also smell Abbott. I thought it was because we were in his room, but the smell grew stronger and I opened my eyes to see him reaching for the clock on the bedside table. A quick glance told me we were a little over an hour from dawn.

  My senses finally kicked in and I realized I was in the Lion King’s arms while in the Master Vampire’s bed, and I pulled out of Nathan’s warm embrace as I sat up. My eyes wouldn’t stop blinking though, because seeing in the dark wasn’t normal. I finally put my hands over my face a few seconds and tried to gain some control. When I moved my hands away, I told Abbott, “I’m sorry. The alarm should be waking us in ten minutes. I’d planned to be out of your bed before you need it.”

  “I’m changing it so you can sleep another hour before you need to get ready for work. You’ll be up late tonight, and I can bunk with Kendra. I’m sorry I seem to have awakened you.” He eyed Nathan a few seconds before turning to the wolf sitting in the shadows. “Take a fifteen-minute break and then see who needs relieving. Kirsten’s kitty cat is awake and can make sure she doesn’t try to eat anyone.”

  “Thank you, Master Abbott. For the record, I smelled strong bloodlust while she slept, but she didn’t awaken.” She looked at me. “Do you remember dreaming of wanting someone’s blood?”

  I’d forgotten until she brought it up, and I put my face in my hands at the memory. Fuck, I’d drunk one of Bran’s people while Bran had beaten me with a leather strap. I felt a teeny bit of bloodlust at the memory, and I took a deep breath and asked Abbott, “Do you have some Coke in here?”

  He went to his mini-fridge, pulled a bottle out, and handed it to me. I downed half the bottle and the craving for blood subsided.

  “Yeah, I remember the dream. I drank under controlled circumstances while Bran directed me, and I didn’t kill anyone. So that’s saying something. Right?”

  The wolf curtsied to Abbott before leaving, and Nathan stood and stepped into the jeans he’d left on the floor by the bed. We’d both kept our weapons on our nightstands. I watched as he situated his guns and knives in various holsters and sheaths on his body. I’d had to wear a holster over the body armor, but I’d be back in business clothes today and could wear my bellyband again.

  “Will I be safe around my patients today? Is there a way to make sure before my first appointment?” I didn’t want to put anyone in danger, but I also couldn’t just cancel on them with no warning.

  “We’ll let you a
round Ryan this morning to see how you do,” Nathan answered. “Keep a snack at your desk, and if you feel out of control you can feign illness and rush to your bathroom. You’ll only have to deal with one or two humans at a time, and you aren’t in the habit of hugging them. If you keep your distance and stay well-fed, you should be okay.”

  “And if I’m not?”

  “We have a plan in place. We won’t let you hurt your patients.”

  “Won’t there be humans at the party tonight?”

  “No,” said Abbott. “And not because of you. It’s a relatively small guest list, and the sixty-five people invited aren’t welcome to bring a date.”

  Nathan and I brushed our teeth, and he went into the main downstairs area while I showered and slid into a business suit and dressy shoes, thankful someone had been able to bring my bag from the cabin. I quickly wrapped my hair into a low bun near my neck, and took thirty seconds to center myself. We all needed to be upstairs before dawn, and we made it with time to spare. Abbott had apparently secured the downstairs residents’ approval for Nathan and me to be in his room after dawn, but since we were up, it seemed easier to leave.

  Abbott handed Nathan a sheet of paper as we left, and I took it from the grumpy lion as we hit the upstairs kitchen.

  My people found part of the local Celrau nest and wiped them out overnight. One of the members was visiting here from Argentina and we learned some things from his laptop. I’ve handed all electronic equipment over to Drake Security. Please keep me informed of any further information you receive. I’m also sharing with my counterpart in Argentina. I know him well and trust him. He’s on our side.

  Randall was at the stove cooking bacon, and Cora was breaking eggs into a bowl. I started pulling down plates to set the table while Nathan propped himself on a stool at the island to make a call to Chance — one of Drake Security’s best computer geeks.

  “Nathan,” Chance answered without preamble. “You want to know what I have from the electronics Abbott’s people brought me. It doesn’t look like they took out any of the Celrau leaders — these guys are the soldiers, bellyaching about the leadership not telling them shit. My guess is the top guys concealed their hidey-holes a whole lot better. I’m still working my way through the phones and laptops so I hope to get more information, but for now...” We heard the clicking of keys, and he continued. “Humans are stupid. The nuclear plant is built on the fault line that runs under the Tennessee River. Some idiot decided it made a good place to lodge the main building’s footers — the one housing the nuclear reactor — to make sure they stayed put.”