She motioned towards the laptop with her head. "Tristan has upped the level of play, and you need to get on board, or you're going to lose. I can't have that, so, until this is over with, I did what I must, and I will keep doing so. As it stands, one cup of my blood is not nearly enough."
"My safety isn't your responsibility," I ground out through clenched teeth as I squirmed beneath her trying to break her hold on me, but short of hurting her, it wasn't happening. I decided to play dirty. I rolled my hips up into her effectively grinding the front of my denim-covered crotch into the center of her unprotected panties.
"Let me go, Irulan,” I implored softly, taking all traces of anger out of my voice. I looked up into eyes that had become big as saucers and bucked my hips up slowly again, massaging her with the rough fabric. My gamble looked like it was working.
She inhaled her next breath sharply and pushed down, rolling her hips against me. "Not fair, Valeria, and you know it, but no worries."
My strategy backfired. "Two can play this game," she said just as she pushed her excited aura against mine. My eyes blacked over instantly and my sexual frustration from the night before slammed into me causing me to arch up off the bed and press into Irulan’s body even more intimately.
Now it was my turn to protest. "You know my aura is still reeling from last night, this isn't right." This was so true! I'd managed to reel in the sexual energy that rode my aura last night, but I had far from gotten rid of it. Until I found release it would ride my aura waiting for any opportunity and, dummy me, I had just given it a perfect one.
"What's not right about this, Valeria?” She asked as she leaned over and ran her lips across the rise of my right breast. “Is it the way your body is reacting to me and the fact that I'm a woman? Her teeth nipped at the swell of my left breast. “Is that what's so wrong, huh? If that's it, then your mind needs to catch up with the rest of you," she said just as she pressed a knee into my crotch reversing the pressure I tried to use against her.
Her action sent a wave of need rolling through my body that left me panting and fighting for air. Irulan chuckled softly and leaned down to run her tongue across my earlobe before she softly whispered, "You're too new at this to try and play me baby.” Before I could reply, her mouth was on my neck, warm and wet pulling my skin into her mouth softly sucking on it.
I tried to protest. I wanted to jump up and give her a thousand different reasons why what was happening was so wrong, but her mouth felt so good that I couldn't verbalize even one. She took her time and kissed her way from one ear to the other, and I was helpless against her, moaning each time her lips found a new spot to tease. Inwardly, I protested when they left my body if only for the second it took to move half an inch along my skin. Her thick mane of hair fell over us washing me in the scent of pomegranate and roses, drawing me farther into a sexual haze.
My traitorous body moved of its own accord, my legs wrapping around her trying to get the rest of me as close to her as they could. No matter how close I got, it still didn't feel as if I were close enough. The clothes, that's what was wrong. They shouldn't be there. The only purpose they served right now was to keep our bodies farther apart from each other, and the need to get rid of them was becoming paramount in my mind. My mounting desire was waging war with my sense of self, the part of me that was immensely confused with what I wanted and was still trying to pull me back before I went too far.
Just as she kissed her way up the side of my face and was about to move in for my lips there was a loud knock at the door followed by the cry of, "Room service!"
Ding! Ding! Ding! Literally, 'saved by the bell’. I used the distraction to break her hold and flashed to the door to let in the room service attendant before she could stop me. Once he was gone, I pulled the cart to a nearby table and sat down to eat, still breathless from the need Irulan had planted inside me. Unfortunately, Irulan wasn't having it, she was up off of the bed and pushing the cart away from me just as I was about to uncover one dish.
"Is this how you wanna handle this, Valeria? Come on, really, are you actually gonna act like that just didn't happen?" Reaching past her, I tried to snag a piece of broccoli off my plate, but she slapped my hand and pushed me back into my seat. "Are you seriously going to ignore what's going on between us?" she asked again. "Hell, even Sophie could see it, and she'd known us all of what, an hour tops?"
If I could honestly ignore everything, I would, but sadly, that wasn't going to solve anything. That also didn't mean we were going to do this now. I needed time to figure out exactly what was happening to me, to figure out if this were something I really wanted.
Damn her for pushing this on me right now! "No, alright!" I countered. "It's gone too far to ignore, but damn it, it's gonna have to wait until this job is done. I can't afford the distraction of emotions, Irulan. That's why you being here is such a bad idea on so many levels.” I looked around the room towards the covered windows, anything to avoid looking at her. "I should be out there looking for Tristan, not here making out with my best friend, who knows I'm straight, by the way."
"Who are you trying to convince, Valeria? Me, or you,” she asked softly.
Once again, I was at a loss for words. "Still don't think it's a good idea,” I mumbled weakly. Irulan had a smug look on her face as she uncovered her own plate and grabbed a knife and fork from the cart.
"So say you now, Valeria, but just wait, before this is over you'll be thanking me for taking time off of my busy schedule to come with you. I'm wearing you down, Baby. I'm wearing you down," she exclaimed in her best Urkel imitation. Even if I had wanted to, I couldn't have held back my burst of laughter. A three hundred plus year old Sidhe quoting Steven Q. Urkel - who would’ve thought the day would come?
CHAPTER NINE
After we had eaten our food, we both agreed it was time to get down to some serious footwork. The research we'd managed to do was a big step in helping us get a better understanding of what we might be up against, but the real work was waiting for us on the streets. We still had a few hours before Priest could join us and I wanted to make good use of them.
If he really was a plant to hold me back, I needed as much away time away from him as I could get. Though to be honest, I was seriously starting to question the Council's motives for having him accompany me. I mean if they really wanted to keep that close of an eye on me, then they should have known better than to send someone that couldn't cover me during the daylight hours. They would have fared better sending one of Eric's familiars. (As a master Vampire's powers grow, they acquire an affinity for specific animals. Eric's familiars were snakes but extended to other snake-like animals also.)
As I pulled out the body-sized duffle bag that held my weaponry, Irulan went to the bathroom to change into some more appropriate clothing. By the time I'd strapped two kodachis to my back, and various throwing stars and knives to my legs, she had gotten ready. (Couldn't use my arm holsters, I was wearing a vest and had already blown the idea of inconspicuous to hell and back. I didn't want to push it any farther than I already had.)
With her long hair pulled back and braided, Irulan had dressed in a black tank top, red suede pants, and a matching jacket. I gave her a once over and noticed a slight bulge at her waist and calf.
It felt funny to me, but she was armed. I knew it shouldn't be an issue, but outside of the kitchen, I'd never seen her with anything remotely dangerous in her possession. As I said, it just felt wrong to me, but. I shook it off, and we headed out. "We've followed up the Gullah lead as best we can until tonight when we try to catch up with Sophie's lead," I said as we traveled down the elevator. "Now we need to concentrate on territory. If the newborns are as numerous as our seers say they are, then they've got a nest set up somewhere, maybe more than one."
We walked out into the sunlight, and I took a deep breath hoping that I would catch the faint trail I scented the night before. Unfortunately, I got nothing. I motioned with my head, and we set off heading north on Broad St. I
nwardly, I prayed we were heading in the right direction, but after fifteen minutes of walking I hadn't scented one Vampire. "Something is off about this place," I murmured and came to a standstill.
"This city has a thriving Extras community, and I haven't scented one vamp, wolf, big cat or anything, not even the hint of one. Impossible." I pulled out my phone and mapped the city’s businesses that marketed to Extras. "We're right in the middle of an Extras district called Lands End, but so far, the only Extras I've seen or sensed are us.”
Irulan walked over to a shop window and looked inside. "As far as I can sense, nothing but Humans." She looked back at the street behind us and closed her eyes. "Reach out with your aura and tell me what you feel, Valeria."
I relaxed the barriers on my mind and felt my awareness ease out of me, searching the area around me. "I feel Humans, that's all. Nothing but Humans."
Irulan frowned, "Exactly. Nothing but Humans. I don't feel any wildlife, or even the murmur of Pixies among the trees.” She headed back in the direction we came from with a determined look on her face. She had an idea of what was going on, I was sure of it, but she wouldn't voice her assumptions until she had conformation.
"Open your shields all the way, Valeria, and tell me if you hear anything."
I reached out and grabbed her arm forcing her to stop, "Are you crazy? I'll catch glimpses of every mind within a mile radius. Do you know what that'll do to me?"
Irulan huffed with exasperation and shot me a look filled with ice. "There are times when I forget how trying the years of youth can be, but you never fail to remind me, Valeria.” The lines of her face changed from exasperated to insistent. "Drop your shielding now," she said with a timbre to her voice I had never heard there before.
I reluctantly closed my eyes, braced myself, and did as she asked. Just like ripping off a Band-Aid, I threw open the floodgates to my mind. What hit me after they were open was just as confusing as the lack of Extras presence around us. "Nothing.” I opened my eyes to find Irulan sporting a look that said, I told you so.
"Tristan knew exactly where you were staying and that one of the first things you would do was try to find a nest.” She grabbed my elbow and pulled me a few feet further back the way we came and knelt to one knee putting her palm flat against the sidewalk. Her glamour faded some as she loosened the hold on the energy within her and directed it into her palm. The rose-colored skin of her hand glowed as she began to speak in her native tongue. "Senauvah nue une," she spoke in an unfamiliar voice.
Foreign languages were never my strong point during my studies. I gravitated towards the more physical subjects. From what little I could remember from her tutoring, I believed she said something close to, 'make yourself known'. Once the words left her lips, she held her head up to look around, frowned, and then dropped it again. "Senauvah nue une,” she repeated this time with even more force. The air around us buzzed with a faint charge as a dampening net appeared around us.
"Fuck me,” I exclaimed as I turned in a slow circle taking in the sheer size of the net surrounding us. As far as I could see, the glimmering haze was everywhere, like a huge umbrella covering the city for blocks.
Irulan stood and ran her hand along the net, "There's a lot of magic in a net this size. It had to take more than one practitioner to do this. The energy feels familiar but uncommon at the same time.” She sent a small burst of her own into the net and smiled, "This is Gullah, tastes the same as Sophie but not as sweet." She jerked her hand away and rubbed it on her pants leg as if she were trying to rub it clean. "It's tainted, twisted with something dark, but I believe I can break it.”
Irulan took off her jacket and passed it to me. "Turn around and move away from me. Close your eyes tightly, and cover your head with my jacket. Am I clear?” For once, I didn't argue, I just locked down my mind and did as she said. Once I was away from her, she explained what she was about to do. "I'm going to overload the net with power and short it out. Hopefully, it'll dissipate and not explode because if it does, every aura sensitive Human and Extras under it are gonna have a hell of a headache once I'm through. To do it, I'm going to have to drop my glamour, and your eyes can't handle that."
I felt it the instant her glamour melted away. The very air I breathed began to burn its way down my windpipe and into my lungs, set afire by the sheer magnitude of power that radiated off her. Irulan was bad assed as hell.
I struggled to breathe the smoldering air for almost ten minutes. Just when I thought I couldn't take anymore, I felt the air begin to cool around me.
"It's OK, Valeria," Irulan called, "You can look now.” I stood and handed her jacket over to her. After she had put it back on, she leaned forward onto her knees and took a deep breath.
"The Gullah are stronger than any Witches I've ever known and their bloodline makes them stronger even than Elves. As far as I know, the arcane division is staffed by only those two races.” She dropped to one knee again. "If I wasn't with you, this dampening net would have been around you the entire time you were here."
She pressed her hand to the ground for an instant then stood up straight again. "All traces are gone. Try scenting the area again."
I took a deep breath, and the air became alive with a variety of smells. "I smell wolves and panthers, can't tell if they're males or female, um, Gullah, so many Gullah.” I headed off, crossing the street and letting my nose guide me. "I smell Vampire, but it's not strong enough to name the house.”
Purebloods alone possess a sense of smell acute enough to differentiate the minute variations in the blood of Vampires. They teach us at a young age to recognize both the taste and smell of the blood of other Pureblood families. If I’m on a hunt and my marks are ‘made Vampires’, the trace of the maker's blood is still within them. A few of my hunts have ended before they started once I informed the appropriate house.
Unpleasant publicity is bad business for the houses, so they usually end up taking care of the problem for me. The ability is extremely useful in my line of work, but I was the only Pureblood I know of working as a Sentinel, and we didn't advertise that bit of information to outsiders. The CMS wasn't going to be using us as bloodhounds anytime soon. Well, except for me. We left that to the huge Were and Shifter population on payroll, their noses were even better than ours were.
The longer I followed the scent trail, the stronger it became, until I was sure at least a dozen Vampires had traveled this same path. The majestic homes and modern storefronts gave way to an oceanfront warehouse district. Huge iron cranes worked, tirelessly loading and unloading trucks and forklifts, manned almost entirely by Humans. This was a perfect spot for a large nest. Most Humans were still scared shitless when it came to us. Although they're all over the place now, I'm sure the night shift would be a different story. If I came back here in four or five hours, I'll bet money that the crews would be mostly Extras.
My nostrils flared as we walked past one abandoned-looking building, "On point, Irulan, this one has potential.” The building was small compared to others around it, three stories, tops, and the loading dock was so dilapidated it might as well be nonexistent. The building sat off in a corner away from the main activity, but even if it didn’t, I’ll bet not one of those guys would come near it. The lonely-looking building oozed ‘stay the hell away’ loud and clear.
We found an entrance secured by a rusted out lock close by. Irulan raised her hand to get rid of the lock, but I beat her to it. I grasped the lock and flexed the muscles in my hand, grinding it to dust. "Show off," huffed Irulan as we slipped in unnoticed.
Once we were inside, the scent of Vampire was so strong I knew we had hit pay dirt. "They're here somewhere," I spoke, with no regards to try to be quiet. Long southern days had to be a bitch during the summertime for made vamps. Priest was lucky. The CMS provided him with a cocktail that he ingested. Whatever was in it allowed him to gain a few more hours of light time. These guys were deep in the throes of the day sleep and wouldn't be able to move around until the
sky was completely dark.
The inside of the warehouse was darker than I expected, but when I looked up at the windows I realized that they had been painted over, "I'm going ultraviolet, Irulan, stay close to me.” I relaxed my concentration, retracted my films, and slipped into UV. I didn't have to look far before I saw the cool blue outlines of sleeping vamps huddled into a nearby corner.
Shit! Part of me was hoping I'd come up empty. I had a real problem with killing vamps while they were helpless in the day-sleep. It turned my stomach. To me, it seemed like such a coward’s move. "They've got to be put down, Irulan."
She looked taken aback by my unpleasant revelation. "I thought we were just identifying a possible nest."
I nodded, "We were. Now that we've done that we move on to the next step.” I took a deep breath, found my resolve, and drew one of my kodachis. "Tristan's kill order is an instant death sentence to any Deadborns he may have created. As long as he's still alive, they're the most susceptible to his will."
Irulan quickly moved to block my path. "This is wrong, Valeria, condemning innocents based on the crimes of their sire is murder, not justice". I tried to step around her, but she moved into my path again, "How can you be sure the Vampires here belong to Tristan anyway?” she asked. "Just scenting their blood isn't enough and you know it.” She was right. Scenting wouldn't fly as a means of identification when I turned in my final report, but I knew what would.
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