by Kallysten
"You're staring at her again."
Daniel's quiet, teasing words jostled Leo back to what he was doing, and he realized with some surprise that there was now a woman serving drinks next to Daniel. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed her come in.
In between customers, he introduced himself to her. Joana had been hired the same day he had, but she certainly looked just as much at ease behind the counter as he was. Even with three bartenders now behind the bar, customers still had to wait in line. Leo could see why Brett had needed to hire two bartenders in the past few days.
When the end of his shift came, he felt a little guilty of abandoning Joana and Daniel to the sometimes impatient customers, but there were things he needed to do, even if he didn't look forward to them. He went down the staircase and stopped on one of the lower bridges to watch Lisa. She wasn't dancing with anyone in particular; instead, there were a handful of men and women around her, dancing with her and together. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves, and Leo was thinking about joining them when Lisa raised her head toward him. She stopped dancing almost at once, to the dismay of some of her companions. They tried to stop her when she started toward the staircase, but with a few smiles and a few words, she appeased them and came up to Leo.
They climbed the staircase together, shoulder to shoulder, and when they were high enough that the music wasn't drowning out every sound in the club, Lisa asked, “Are you ready?"
Leo felt like chucking, but couldn't manage to. “Not particularly. But I don't think I have much of a choice."
A hand on his arm stopped him. He looked at her, surprised to discover concern in her features.
"Leo—"
"I don't mean I'm having second thoughts,” he explained. “I just wish I didn't have to talk to him."
They started walking again.
"You didn't seem to have a problem talking to Brett,” she said after a few seconds, startling Leo.
"He told you?"
"Yes, he told me."
Leo thought about that as they finally reached the first floor. He wouldn't have expected Brett to tell Lisa about his apology, although he didn't mind that he had.
"Aren't you going to ask me if I'm still upset?"
He glanced at Lisa, frowning. “You think that's why I told him?"
"I don't know.” She truly sounded as if she were puzzled, and not merely trying to make Leo talk. “Why did you?"
He snorted. She had claimed earlier that day that he didn't understand her, but the opposite was true as well.
"Because I had to, didn't I?"
The answer seemed to puzzle her even more, but she didn't question him any further. He was rather thankful for that. He wasn't sure how he could have explained something that was still so strange to him.
* * * *
On the computer screen, the images of Lisa and Leo were small but recognizable. She paused just on the threshold and turned her face up toward the camera; it seemed she knew exactly where it was before even looking. Brett smiled when she brought two fingers to her lips, kissed them, then blew the kiss toward the camera. Leo had observed her actions, and he looked up at the camera as well and winked. Brett's smiled widened a little more.
They disappeared outside the club, Leo's hand on Lisa's shoulder. Brett wondered where they were going, of course, or why Lisa was going out with Leo when she had said earlier she didn't want him to join them that night. To his own surprise, however, he wasn't jealous. He was exhausted, and had no desire to go out so late. In a way, he was even glad they had each other. At least he didn't have to be afraid they wouldn't be back by morning. They would both return—he was sure of it—together.
A shadow passed in front of the camera, and Brett lost his smile. Pausing the video feed, he moved the image back, frame by frame, until the face of the darkly dressed man became visible. It was the face of the Special Enforcer who had come to him earlier that day: Hutson.
An uncomfortable feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. Having the camera didn't seem like such a great idea anymore. He trusted Lisa and Leo—he wanted to trust them—but he could think of a dozen ways the video could be used against them, and not one that might help them in any way. The decision wasn't too hard to make. He went down to the office, and with a few keystrokes deleted what had been recorded so far, resetting the recording to write over the erased files.
John came into the office just as he was finishing. Brett glanced up at him. He should have known his return would be noticed.
"No offense, John, but next time you suggest your family for a job here, I'll run the other way."
He had put enough humor in his voice that John didn't tense up. Instead, he sighed. “Something wrong, boss?"
Brett gestured at the computer, and the drive the technician had added that afternoon after installing the camera. “The damn thing froze. I had to reset the entire system, and it looks like all the files were erased. It's not going to help us much if everything gets deleted every time there's a glitch."
The lie had come out more easily than Brett would have expected. Judging by John's crestfallen face, it was a convincing one.
"Want me to call my cousin and yell at him?"
Brett stood and moved around the desk.
"No need. He'll be here tomorrow. I'll tell him what I think of his skills."
"Sorry about that, boss."
"Not your fault. Anything to report?"
John shook his head. “Everything's clear."
"Good. Let's hope it stays that way."
Saying his goodbyes, he returned upstairs and lay down in bed. For a long time, he remained there, eyes open and staring up at the ceiling, and wondered if it had been silly to erase the files, or if he had made the right decision. He would know by morning, he supposed.
Chapter 10
The wind was blowing through the streets, as light as the sparse raindrops that did so little to cool down the night. Leo glanced toward Lisa at his side. She hadn't said a word since they had left the club, but her scent gave away the increasing wariness that she hid behind her silence. Leo was beginning to regret taking her up on her offer to accompany him. She clearly was as uneasy as he felt at the prospect of confronting Nicholas.
"Listen,” he said quietly as they were about to reach what had been, so long ago, their lair. “You don't have to come in. There's no reason for the both of us to face his anger."
She stopped next to him but kept her eyes on the building ahead of them. He followed her gaze. Light filtered through the fourth floor windows, and a silhouette stood there, looking out, no doubt waiting for Leo.
"Too late,” she replied. “He's seen me. If I don't come with you, he'll think I'm afraid. I won't give him that satisfaction."
She was afraid, Leo realized, and Nicholas would see it as easily as he did. He was trying to figure out how to point that out without insulting her when she started walking again.
"Whatever happens,” she said when he caught up with her, “whatever he says or does ... it's not your fault, OK? I'm here because I choose to be. I'm not an idiot, and I know what he's capable of. We'll just ... go along with it. And we don't have to see him ever again after tonight."
They had reached the building door, and Leo almost put an end to it, right there and then. Nicholas and his demands could go to hell. He had done enough to make their lives more complicated and—
Lisa pushed the door open and took his hand, linking her fingers with his. The gesture was so unexpected that he let her guide him inside and up the steps. And when she seemed to falter on the second landing, he squeezed his fingers around hers, letting her know that he understood.
He wasn't stupid, either. He knew just as well as she did that anger, in Nicholas, manifested itself in one of two ways. If his temper got the best of him, he resorted to violence, and there was nothing to do but endure it. Even at the height of her disobedience, Lisa had never raised her hand on Nicholas in return, and Leo couldn't even make himself think of s
triking his Sire. If the anger built slowly, however, if Nicholas kept it and himself under check until fire burned in his eyes while ice covered his words, it could be worse. In that state of mind, all Nicholas could think of was to assert his control over what he considered his—his Childer—in any way that he could. Make them crawl at his feet, make them plead with words he put in their mouths, make them kill or fuck whomever he ordered: he had done it all, to the both of them. He was their Sire.
When at last they reached the fourth floor, the door to the lair was open, inviting them in. Leo pulled Lisa's hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to her fingers before letting go. He preceded her inside, knowing she would follow and more grateful than he could express to have her at his back.
He had been glad, the previous night, when he had come to grab his things, not to find Nicholas in the lair. Now he wished Nicholas had been there; Leo wouldn't have had to come back, then.
At the other end of the apartment, Nicholas was still standing in front of the bedroom window, visible through the open door. He remained with his back toward them until they entered the bedroom, and then turned to face them, his lips pursed in a strange smile.
"Ah, there they are,” he said just a little too loudly. “My wayward Childer have returned to me. Or have they?"
"I came to say goodbye, Sire,” Leo said as respectfully as he could manage, hoping it would help.
"Goodbye?” Nicholas repeated with feigned surprise as he took slow steps toward them. “You'd abandon your Sire?"
You abandoned us first, Leo wanted to reply, old rancor he had thought long forgotten leaping to the front of his thoughts, but he managed to keep it quiet.
"You don't need me,” he said instead.
Nicholas continued to approach until he was only a step only in front of Leo, but his eyes remained on Lisa behind him. “And you need Beth?” he asked, his voice very low.
"I...” Leo didn't know how to reply. Needing her was part of it, yes, but there was much more to his decision, more than he wanted to tell Nicholas. There was also the quick smile and easily conquered trust of a human, the desire to settle down somewhere rather than move from town to town week after week, the ever growing disgust and sense of waste at taking lives when he didn't have to. Brett and Lisa had offered him the alternate path he had longed for without even knowing what they were doing.
"Show me,” Nicholas demanded, his eyes intense as they met Leo's.
For a moment, Leo thought Nicholas would try to put him under thrall, and he steeled himself against the onslaught. Nothing came, however, and he finally asked, a little wary, “Show you what?"
"Show me how much you need her. Kiss her for me."
With some difficulty, Leo stifled a sigh as he turned toward Lisa, though he couldn't have said whether he was sighing in relief or something else. Surely, Nicholas could have demanded much worse from Leo, but at the same time he was showing himself so predictable, choosing to prove his power over them in this way.
Lisa gave him a tight smile when he looked questioningly at her, and she mouthed, “It's OK.” Grateful for her assent, he brushed his mouth against hers, a caress more than a kiss.
"I said kiss her,” Nicholas growled at their sides. “Now, Childe. Don't play."
Before he had finished talking, Lisa pressed in and crushed their mouths together. Leo closed his eyes and parted his lips to invite her tongue to play, but a punishing hand on his forearm wrenched him away. Confused, he stared at Nicholas, who was now looming over Lisa, holding her face in his hand so she would look up at him
"I told him to kiss you,” he thundered. “Now be still. This isn't your show; it's Leo's. Understood?"
Her answer was a pained whisper. “Yes."
Nicholas let go of her and turned back toward Leo. “I'm asking for the last time,” he said darkly. “I will become much less pleasant if you don't listen. Kiss her."
There was the barest hint of thrall in his voice, not enough to affect Leo but enough that, when he saw Lisa's blank eyes staring back at him, he knew right away that she would be as still as Nicholas had ordered her to be. He felt guilty even before he touched her for kissing her when she was under thrall, but he would feel much worse if Nicholas hurt her because Leo wouldn't do what he said.
This time, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight against him. Her lips parted when he laid his mouth on hers; he gave a small lick to her bottom lip before slipping his tongue into her mouth to caress her tongue. After a few moments, she made a small, almost purring noise at the back of her throat.
"That's better,” Nicholas commented in a much more pleasant tone. “Continue kissing her and take off her shirt. Slowly, now. Take your time."
Leo slid a hand from her back to her front and started undoing the buttons of her shirt, starting from the bottom and slowly going upward. She didn't react to his actions, and an icy feeling seeped into Leo. Without thinking, he stroked his tongue where her right fang hid until it descended and scratched his tongue. She suckled at the blood lazily. He only wished he could have offered her more as both thanks for being there and apology for not having protected her from this.
The shirt slipped easily over her shoulders, followed, at Nicholas’ prompt, by her bra.
"Suck on her tits,” Nicholas demanded. “Nice and slow."
Opening his eyes, Leo broke the kiss. For a moment, he thought he could see a glimmer of something in Lisa's eyes, but he shook the hope away and looked down. The twin bite marks on her breast did not surprise him much, and he laved them with his tongue before fastening his mouth on her right nipple. Memories resurfaced as he gently suckled, bent in an awkward position in front of her.
Nicholas had done this before, sometimes thralling one of them, sometimes both, and sometimes trusting them to obey without thrall. Next he would demand that Leo finish undressing her and lap at her nether lips until she came. Then it would be Leo's turn to undress, and either fuck her mouth or cunt. Nicholas would join only then, taking one then the other, marking them both with cock and fangs. His Childer, he would call them, and demand that they call him Sire in return. He had never seemed to understand that he didn't need to remind them; they knew. Even when they defied him, they had always known.
"Enough,” Nicholas grunted. “Is she wet?"
Standing straight, Leo looked at him with some surprise. He hadn't expected Nicholas to diverge from the old script.
"I ... think so. She smells—"
Still standing next to them, Nicholas was stroking the length of his cock through his tented pants. Leo suddenly became painfully aware of his own cock, throbbing inside his pants despite the situation.
"I didn't ask what you think or what she smells like. I asked if she was wet. Check. But don't undress her any further."
Lisa's leather pants were tight, but Leo managed to slip a hand past the waist and down to her crotch inside silk panties. He pulled back fingers that were slick with her wetness and showed them to Nicholas.
"Take your cock out. I want to see you jerk off."
Leo unbuttoned his pants, turning toward Nicholas as he did, but Nicholas shook his head.
"Look at her while you do it."
Once again, Leo thought he saw a hint of awareness when he met Lisa's eyes, but it was gone as soon as he noticed it. He closed his fist around his cock and tried to summon the memory of the smile Lisa had given him when confiding—it felt like an eternity ago—that she wanted him in her bed along with her new human lover. They would be back with Brett soon, he promised her blank eyes. It would soon be over.
Caught in the urgency of his growing need, he barely noticed Nicholas sliding behind him, so close that his chest was against Leo's back and his cock pressed to his ass.
"You need her,” Nicholas murmured against the crook of his neck. “But I want you to remember something. When you're in her arms, when you're fucking her so hard it hurts ... Remember that I am your Sire. I made you. The both of you. And every time you come, it's
because I. Allow. It."
With his last word, he bit down on Leo's neck, and molten lava ran through Leo's veins. Then he bit him again; this time Leo came, all thoughts leaving his mind save for one idea to which he clung with all his might. He had made the right decision, and he wouldn't regret it.
* * * *
The door softly clicked shut behind Lisa. She rested her back against it for a moment, taking in deep breaths she didn't need. On the other side of the hall, she could hear Leo's door close as well. She had expected him to ask to come in with her, or at least hint at it, but he had given her a quiet “good night” in front of the door, a peck to the cheek, and he had gone to his own apartment. He hadn't said a word to her since asking her if she was all right after they had left Nicholas, but all the way back to the club, he had clung to her hand, his touch telling her exactly how he felt. She had told him he had nothing to feel guilty for; she wasn't sure he had heard her.
Slow steps took her to the bathroom. Usually, long, hot showers could soothe away any concerns she had. This one didn't help, leaving her instead shivering and cold even when she turned up the temperature. It was all in her mind, she knew it. Vampires didn't really feel the cold. Sensory memories from her human life, however, felt more than real and never failed to resurface when her mind was a jumbled mass of confusion, as it was now.
