Defining Human (Only Human Book 4)

by Candace Blevins

  The pain of the backlash hit so hard this time, I knew I was going to pass out, but I couldn’t do anything about it. I remember hoping I awoke again — it’s never good to be passed out in the lair of a pissed off and possibly injured Master Vampire.

  “Dammit, Kirsten. You should’ve awakened by now. I can sense your…”

  Kendra’s face showed relief and she put her hand to my cheek. “There you are. It’s good to have you back. How do you feel?”

  “Like I just severed yet another fucking blood-bond and had to take the backlash. Damn, my head hurts.”

  “Gavin isn’t doing so good either. I suggest you work out a deal with Abbott, so you’re assured he’ll keep Gavin on a short leash. I’m worried for you.”

  I looked around. “Where’s Abbott?”

  “Feeding and fucking, from the sound of it. He’ll be back when he finishes. Did you really challenge him to break the ties or kill you?”

  I sat up, and put my hands to my head. I felt wetness under my ears and opened a drawer in a side-table. Relieved all of Abbott’s lairs seemed to be similarly stocked, I pulled the entire baby wipe container out and started wiping everywhere I thought might be bloody.

  “It’s possible Bran’s blood isn’t helping me anymore. I’d love an ice pack.” I remembered my instructions to Cora and asked, “How long was I out?”

  “Thirty minutes, give or take.”

  I pulled my phone from my pocket and called Cora. “I’m okay. Mostly. Don’t send a rescue party just yet. If I don’t call you back in fifteen minutes, call me.”

  “We’re just about there. We should wait outside?”

  “Yes.”

  Are you close enough to hear me?

  Yes.

  I’ll keep the conduit open so you can listen. Don’t come to my rescue unless I need it.

  I disconnected the phone and put it back in my pocket.

  “What happens next?” I asked Kendra. “I usually trust Aaron and Nathan, but they’re at odds. Aaron’s being a stubborn dragon, and Nathan is…” I shook my head. “How do we get everyone back to a truce?”

  “You should go. Get patched up and we’ll talk later. Abbott’s grumpy, and Gavin would just as soon kill you as look at you right now. He’s so angry about you finding and destroying his last thread into your head, I worry he might go against Abbott’s orders and do something we can’t fix.”

  I’m right over your phone signal, Cora said in my head. Come out and I’ll take you back to Nathan’s.

  I nodded to Kendra. “How do I get out of here?”

  “I’ll show you out. It’s probably best you don’t just appear in our lair again.” On the way up the steps, she said, “I’d prefer if the outside world didn’t know I’ve taken the position of Second. If possible, I’d like to hand it back to Gavin once all this is finished. Abbott’s enemies don’t need to know our new power structure.”

  “I’ll keep it to myself, then.”

  Kendra walked me laterally about forty yards through concrete hallways, up two flights of steps into a restaurant, and out into a parking lot. Abbott had built a secret lair adjacent to one of his businesses, and I’d just blown his secrecy. Oops.

  Chapter 32

  Sophia met me as I stepped into Nathan’s from the garage, and I hugged her hard.

  “Everything’s so fucked up,” I told her. “Aaron’s trying to fix things by being Switzerland, but I’m not sure it’s working. Nathan’s pissed, Randall’s pissed, and Kendra thinks Gavin’s hatred of me has reached the point he’ll go against Abbott’s orders to kill me if he has a chance.” I pulled back. “Where are the triplets? Are they safe?”

  “They’re in the Summer Queen’s castle. No place safer for them right now. Nathan caught me up a little, but let’s sit and have dinner, and you can tell me everything that’s happened from the beginning. I think it’ll do you good to go through it all again.”

  Nathan, Jonathan, and Cora stood against three walls with their arms crossed, in total bodyguard mode. I didn’t know what they expected but I didn’t sense danger and wasn’t in a mood to get worked up about it. My head hurt and I was tired.

  RaeLynn put four casserole dishes in the oven and pulled assorted finger foods out. I started with Griffin kidnapping me in Africa and moved forward through everything that’d happened since. We’d eaten lasagna (veggie for me and Sophia, meat for everyone else), some kind of potato and cheese casserole, and key lime pie by the time I finished.

  Sophia looked to Jonathan and asked for his phone. He handed it to her, she spent a few seconds touching the screen, and set it on the table in speakerphone.

  “Yes.” I could tell Aaron was in a bad mood from the single word.

  “I’m at Nathan’s. Our children are with Titania. Do you have a plan?”

  “I do.”

  “I suggest you share it with us,” Sophia told him. “Otherwise, we’ll devise our own plan and I’d hate for someone to get hurt because you refused to communicate.”

  “I’m working on getting everyone to the table. Nathan and Randall want recompense from Abbott since Kirsten was under their protection. Abbott feels as if he kept everyone apprised of his plan so he doesn’t owe anyone anything. Honestly, if I can just let them all have another twenty-four hours to calm down, I think we’ll be okay.”

  “You don’t have twenty-four hours,” I told him. “Things are escalating and getting worse.”

  “I’m aware. Who else is in the room?”

  “Kirsten, Jonathan, Nathan, Cora, and RaeLynn,” said Sophia. “What can we do to help you bring people to the table?”

  “Go back to Faerie.”

  “With Rinaldo gone, I’m safe at Nathan’s. Tell me what I can do to help or I’ll figure it out myself.”

  “Phone calls. Be the voice of reason, advising calm. Abbott and Kirsten are on their way towards patching things up. Once that happens and proper recompense is paid, Nathan, Abbott, and Randall can negotiate a truce and we can all be one big happy family again.”

  “Okay. I’m on it.”

  I called Randall but didn’t bother with speakerphone. “The next time we’re together, I’d like you to repeat the little blood-thing so we can speak telepathically again.”

  “I assume you’re safe?”

  “So I’m told. Are your people safe?”

  “As many as possible. Some have jobs they refuse to step away from, despite the fact I can’t keep them safe at night if they aren’t with me.”

  “What recompense are you asking for?”

  “I’m not prepared to speak with you about those negotiations at this time.”

  He doesn’t want to talk with Nathan listening, Cora told me, and I assumed Randall had telepathed it to her, though I couldn’t be sure without asking.

  “Can anything be gained by you and Nathan talking?”

  “You’re grasping at straws,” said Nathan. “Randall and I have spoken. We both want to kill Abbott but understand the possible repercussions. We have to do something though, because he abducted someone under our protection.”

  “From my view,” said Randall, “I believe it’d look better for you to hide out in my brother’s compound, rather than in the Amakhosi’s home.”

  “Better for who?” I asked.

  “For Randall,” said Nathan.

  “The Alpha has gone out on a limb for her,” said Cora, “and there are those who feel he’s done so without benefit of her company.”

  I closed my eyes and tried to look at it from all sides. “Randall, I’ve told you I’ll do my best to show up for a full moon run. Is there anything else I can do to help with appearances? I feel safe here, and we have Lauren and Smokey settled in comfortably. I’d rather not expose my daughter to the bikers, and I’m not sure how Smokey would deal with a clubhouse full of werewolves — or if he’d even be welcome.”

  Randall’s sigh came through loud and clear even through the phone, but he said, “I understand.”

  Cora’s
voice sounded in my head again. He says he’ll let me know if we can help defuse a situation. I think he assumes you’ll teleport us to him.

  “I look forward to hearing from you if I can help.” I wanted him to hear it from me and not through Cora, and I hoped he got the message.

  Sophia made some phone calls, Cora made a few as well, and I ate more pie. I’d just decided there was nothing for me to do and I may as well get ready for bed, when Cora telepathed, Randall’s facing off against Abbott. He’s asking us to come to him.

  “Can I see your phone?” I knew as I asked, I was about to piss Nathan off, but if we had the Alpha Wolf and Master Vampire facing off, the last thing we needed was the Lion King there, too.

  Cora handed it to me without asking why. I settled it and my phone on the kitchen bar, and grabbed Cora’s arm. She put her hand on mine to let me know she was ready, and I stepped us out of reality and right back in as fast as possible. I imagined us appearing behind Randall so we could walk up to the fight, but I miscalculated and we were so far behind we didn’t make a grand entrance. Three-dozen wolves versus seven vampires, but none felt me arrive? I’d need to consider that more, but later. “I’m going to take us closer, off to the left of both. Ready?”

  She squeezed my arm and I took us into the action. Randall expected us, Abbott didn’t, but he quickly recovered.

  “What seems to be the problem, boys?” Yeah, I was in bitch mode, but I was also hoping to lighten the mood.

  Abbott stood tall, his energy like a cloak around him. “Randall’s wolves attacked two of my vampires. I felt their death and arrived to try to save them. Seven wolves against two vampires who were minding their own business.”

  “And your vampires haven’t attacked my wolves? They raped and drained them! They’re only alive because they changed and healed!”

  “Both sides have hurt the other.” I used my calmest therapist-voice. “Which is unfortunate, but is there any chance we can keep it from happening again? I keep hearing about recompense, but I’m not sure I understand exactly how it works. Can someone explain, please?”

  “It’s a way to make things right,” said Cora. “More killing just makes it worse. Abbott would give money to the families of the wolves his people hurt. Randall will give money to anyone being supported by the vampires his people hurt.” She put her hand on my shoulder. “Also, there will have to be negotiations about payment for kidnapping you. Nathan and Randall lost face because Abbott took you despite the fact you were under their protection.”

  The wolves and vampires had been facing off, probably ready to tear into each other, and I walked right down the center of them to stand by Randall and face the vampires. Cora and I were joined, though I didn’t remember doing it on purpose. I formed a quarterstaff with knives on the end, handed it to Cora, and created another for me. The knives aren’t helpful unless I’m fighting reptiles, but I’m told they make the quarterstaff look scarier, and I was hoping to avoid a confrontation by convincing the other side they should negotiate for a truce.

  Abbott hadn’t known Cora could wield my weapons, but I only saw an instant of irritation before his expression went back to bland. If I hadn’t dated him, I’d have missed it, but I knew him better than most.

  I kept my eyes focused on Abbott, my voice soft, my senses tuned to any movement on the other side. “Randall. What dollar amount would make you happy?”

  “A million dollars to you, and three million to me so I can disburse it amongst the widows and now-fatherless children in my Pack.”

  “Your response, Abbott?”

  “Mediators aren’t supposed to choose sides.”

  “You’re still alive despite the fact you ordered a sadist of the worst sort to abduct and imprison me. He may think he blocked my memory of nearly killing me, and the satisfaction he took from watching and feeling the life force flow out of me and into him, but I remember.” I shook my head. “My body was cold. My soul was fucking cold. You’re alive because I trust Aaron and he asked me to take a little time before doing something I can’t undo.”

  Abbott sighed. “I’ll pay you a million, and I’ll insist Gavin give you double that. He wasn’t supposed to…” The ancient vampire shook his head. I sensed true remorse, but I didn’t trust my senses when it came to Abbott. He looked at Randall. “Five million to you and the Amakhosi. I care not how the two of you split it up.”

  “No,” I said. “You’ll negotiate with Randall now, and I’ll set a time for you to talk to the Amakhosi later.”

  “Gavin tells me you’re fucking The Lion King? You’ve felt his barbs?”

  “Did Gavin tell you he ejaculated while he replayed my memory over and over?” I looked around the group he had with him. “Why do you not have your Second and Third with you?”

  No response, but I saw the muscles of his jaw flex.

  My hand squeezed my quarterstaff, and I forced myself back into a relaxed-and-ready pose. “Tell me you haven’t hurt Kendra.”

  “This conversation might be easier if you and your wolf weren’t wielding light-weapons.”

  “What did you do?” My instincts were to scream the question, so I spoke quietly instead — so soft a human probably wouldn’t have heard, but Abbott did.

  “You injured Gavin when you cut the threads. He didn’t have time to heal before the dawn took him. I assigned her to help him when he rose, but he had some unfortunate things to say when he woke, and she hurt him worse. She’s handling another issue for me at the moment, and I have others seeing to Gavin’s health.”

  I read between the lines. “You can’t afford to punish her at the moment because you need your junkyard dog who scares the shit out of your enemies.”

  A slight tilt of his head told me I was right. “Will two million dollars bother Gavin? I imagine he has billions and you just gave him a small fine.”

  “Two million dollars, and I’ll restrain him and allow you to torture him from sunset to sunrise. Whips, belts, knives, fists, butt plugs, even a fucking strap-on if you wish to fuck him. You can do whatever you wish as long as he can fully heal within forty-eight hours.”

  “He has to be in perfect health before I start, and he can’t retaliate for anything I do.” I shrugged. “Let Kendra and Cora help me, and you have a deal.”

  “Cora. Not Kendra.”

  I shook my head. “No deal.”

  “I’m not sure he can make the deal to let Kendra help you,” Randall said from beside me. “He depends on his top people in ways you don’t understand, and I imagine he’s having a hard time keeping them a team at the moment.”

  “He should’ve thought of that before he ordered Gavin to abduct me.”

  I met Abbott’s gaze and put some heat in his head. Not enough to kill him, but enough to remind him of my powers.

  “You know what I can do.” I withdrew the heat and refused to look away despite the fact my soul ran cold from the fury in his gaze.

  “It isn’t possible for me to allow Kendra to torture Gavin. However, I will provide Kendra’s services to you on two occasions, providing you do not use her against a valuable ally, one of my people, or someone under my protection.”

  You should take the deal, Cora said in my head. Randall says it isn’t going to get any better, and he’s surprised Abbott’s giving you this much.

  I put heat in his head. Threatened to blow it up. Kind of.

  “Okay. Deal. So, you and I are square? And you and Randall?”

  “Not quite.” Abbott glared at Randall.

  The Alpha werewolf sighed. “Four years. I’ll pay tuition, books, and thirty grand a year for any human or shapeshifter who was supported by a vampire one of my wolves killed. If they become a regular meal to another vampire, my support stops.”

  Abbott looked back to me. “The Pack and the Coterie are square.”

  Randall’s cellphone made a roaring noise, and he chuckled. “It would appear the Amakhosi is calling me.”

  I let my quarterstaff absorb back into me
and held my hand out to him. “I imagine he’s pissed at me for leaving my phone behind so he doesn’t know where I am.”

  Randall connected the call and put it on speakerphone. “She’s with me. She’s safe.”

  “I’ve helped negotiate a truce between the Coterie and Pack. Abbott and I have also come to a satisfactory agreement, though I doubt I’ll ever trust him again.” Or his people, but I had to figure out how Kendra fit into that.

  “So you’ll let Gavin live?”

  “I get to torture Gavin for a full waking night. I’m looking forward to spending time with him when he’s bound and can’t stop me from having my way with him.”

  Total silence. I waited as long as I could, counted to ten on top of that, and finally asked, “Are you there?”

  “You can’t torture him.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Perhaps not,” he acknowledged. “The deal’s been struck so it’s too late to change it, correct?”

  “Correct.”

  “Can The Abbott hear me?”

  “I can, Lion King.”

  “Drake Security parking lot. One hour.”

  I was certain having the negotiations in the parking lot instead of inside was probably an insult, but Abbott readily agreed so I figured I’d ask why later.

  “You too, Kirsten. I expect you’re standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Wolf Alpha?”

  “She is,” said Randall, “but it’s possible you’ll put her in danger if she does the same for you.”

  “Abbott knows what Gavin saw,” I told Nathan. “I’m not sure having me there will be helpful, but I’ll stand by your side if you feel you need me.”

  Okay, so that last part was me being a bitch, but it did the trick.

  “I don’t need you, I merely hoped you’d show the Pride the same support you gave the Pack.”

  “Then I’ll be there.”

  “No. I can negotiate without you.”