by C. L. Quinn
Sighing, Dani hit ENTER on her keyboard to save all her recent work. “Maybe. Yeah, I guess.”
“So your feelings, your reactions to Saul, are just normal for you and what you both went through. Dani, are you embarrassed about it?”
“Not quite embarrassed, that isn’t the right word. But disappointed? I mean, I’m an earth warrior with magics, I should be capable of protecting myself. And not act like a teenager because a vampire touched my bare skin.”
“I don’t agree. All your talents are geared toward connecting with someone you touch or who touches you. Dani, I know how deep your magics reach, I’ve been in your grip. I do think it frustrates you to have feelings you don’t know what to do with.”
“Gods, San, you’re right. I don’t know why I had such a strong reaction to him.”
“You’ll have to face Saul soon.”
“I’m fine. He won’t bother me.”
Sanquinetta laughed. “Really? He bothers me.”
Shoving her friend back, Dani pushed from her seat to refill her coffee mug. “That’s because you run hot all the time. Ugh. We have a nice mix of feminine strength and intuition and male testosterone now. Adding another first blood is going to overwhelm the balance.”
“Now that I’m afraid I agree on, but Saul’s a done deal. He’s a true soldier, and we already know we work well together.”
“I know. He’s Jack’s sire.”
“He is, but it’s more than that. Saul proved to us that humans and vampires can work side by side with respect, trust, and friendship in spite of a pretty horrible history. None of us are innocent here.”
“I understand. He’s family. I’ll welcome him. After all, in actuality, I’m the newbie to this team.”
“In a way, yes. But we love you lots, girl.”
“Love you back. Okay, enough trauma drama. We have a job to do, so let’s drop the topic and do it. I’m completely okay now that I’ve confessed to my bestie.”
“Um, huh,” Sanquinetta commented, unconvinced.
But they got to work.
Three
“I can’t do another. Can’t concentrate anymore.”
“Sun’s up. Neither can I,” Kwano agreed. “We’re finished for tonight. Let’s get something to eat and go down for the day.”
The two vampires headed to the large table in the center of the big room. Kwano studied the FP unit to see what had been programmed into it. “Lots of nice choices.”
As he chose some items, he saw the exhausted Saul drop into a seat and lower his head onto his folded arms.
“You’re good at this, Saul. I’ve watched you. Your instincts, your compassion, the gentleness with which you handle each case, are exactly the right way to discover each person’s truth.”
Saul lifted his head. “I just know what it’s like to have your world torn away.”
So there was quite a backstory with Saul, Kwano thought. “I won’t push you to explain that now, maybe someday. When you’re ready. Okay, after we eat, we’ll feed the others and crash.”
Lifting off the chair, Saul pulled down six plates for the remaining vampires they would vet tonight as Kwano programmed in large portions of a potato casserole to share with everyone.
“Do you want to do Barringer tonight, or would you prefer I do him? We already know he kidnapped Dani and threatened to rape her. You knew him before this incident, though. Are you comfortable with assessing him?”
“I am. While I had a passing acquaintance with him several years ago, it never went beyond that. He’s a wild card and his actions last night are unacceptable. Does he deserve to die for that? Is he a threat to us or others? Maybe. It’ll interview him. Then, I guess it’s up to Xavier.”
“All right. Come on, fill your plates. It may be only a cot, but I can’t wait to crawl into it.”
Saul watched as Kwano took over kitchen duties and prepared each waiting plate. Glancing into the corner of the room where the final six sat corralled, he watched Barringer on his cot, his eyes hard, pissed; a compelled vampire that couldn’t understand how.
This was ugly business. That he was now powerful enough to control vampires still freaked him out. Should anyone have the power to control another person’s body? No, they truly shouldn’t. Compulsion allowed too much room for unacceptable abuse. Yet he was grateful that within the first blood community he’d met only honorable people who used their abilities for the good of humanity.
A slow smile replaced his tight-lipped grimace. He was part of this incredible race that topped the evolutionary scale. For a man who had wandered through centuries without family or close ties of any kind, to have this type of connection, to be a part of such a beautiful clan; Saul had no words.
His eyelids dropped hard and he gave in to sweet sleep.
At Hunter HQ
“Dani, you finished all those profiles already?”
Sanquinetta whistled. “You are on it this morning.”
“Thank you. I needed the distraction.” Dani tried to cover a yawn when she noticed San’s eyes on hers.
“You’re tired. Did you sleep much last night?”
“Honestly? Not much. I’m okay.”
Jack put his hand over Dani’s monitor. “You’ve done a lot today, but it’s obvious you need some rest. Go home, young human, before I take you there myself. You know I know where you live.”
Eyes rolling, she pushed him away. “Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the loan of your house you can’t live in anymore.”
A second yawn made Jack and Sanquinetta’s point as she backed him up. “Go. We’ll finish after you’ve had a nice uninterrupted stretch in Jack’s bed. Not too many women can say that.”
“Whatthefuckever.” Jack lifted Dani from her seat. “This is an order, lady. Go. Sleep.”
“All right, you mother hens.”
Dani snatched her bag as a third lengthy yawn came, and nodded, the gesture almost too hard to do. “See you tomorrow.”
The journey back to her borrowed home couldn’t be quick enough. As soon as she entered, she dropped her bag, walked through the sunlit rooms, dropped every stitch of clothing on the floor as she moved, and fell into the king-sized bed that could easily fit three more people. Pulling a double layer of soft sheets up, she fell into deep sleep almost immediately.
Dani shot up. Something had wakened her. Movement? Yes, someone had passed the opened glass door that led to the elevated deck off her bedroom. Waning sunlight cast long shadows eerily across the now empty space.
“Who’s here?”
No one answered her loud demand. Moments passed before a dark silhouette moved from the corner of the room to block the dying light. Male. He was big, his shape showed thick muscles, back-lit by the weakened sun, and Dani could see no evidence of clothing. This man was naked.
Before he could move forward, she had her hand curled around the XT45 handgun she kept near her pillow. Hunters hated to be without a good weapon. Especially when as vulnerable as alone in bed asleep.
“Stop. I have a gun aimed right at your chest.”
The low rumble of a laugh surprised her only slightly more than the fact that the voice sounded familiar. There wasn’t a tinge of fear in it.
“Who are you? What the fuck are you doing here?”
“It’s Saul. Dani?”
What was Saul doing in her bedroom? She pushed back further against the headboard, setting her feet in front of her, the gun straight out, held steady in both hands.
“Yeah. What are you doing here, Saul?”
“I have no idea.”
No idea? Huh? She realized she was shaking her head over and over. These were the oddest couple of days.
“Saul, why did you come here?”
The big shape moved closer. “I really don’t know what I’m doing here. Honestly, Dani, I would never just show up in your bedroom.” He paused before he continued. “And I seem to be naked.”
“So am I, but that’s typical when I go to bed. Look, I think you’re a
good man, but you can’t expect to invade my home and come into my bedroom like this. I don’t know what you think you’re going to do, but you can forget it buddy. You might not die if I shoot you, but it’s sure the fuck going to hurt when I pump lead into your cock.”
She saw his hand drop between his legs to cup an obviously erect penis.
“Whoa. Look, something else is going on here. Did you notice something? The sun is still in the sky. It’s low, but it’s there.”
“So?”
“Think about that.”
The answer struck her at once. “You’re vampire.”
“Bingo. And I can’t stand in front of an open glass door with a setting sun shining on me. Not without burning. Something isn’t right.”
Dani closed her eyes and reached out to the spirit world. No, something wasn’t right here. Her eyes shot open again when she knew the truth.
“We’re not awake. Saul, you’re a dream walker?”
“Um. I don’t know. Maybe? I’m still discovering my first blood skills.”
Hesitating only a moment longer, Dani lowered the gun and slid forward, pulling one of the sheets around her.
“You’re in my room and we’re asleep. I can’t dream walk, so it has to be you.”
“Really? You think I can go into someone’s mind while they sleep?”
She smiled. “It would appear so.”
Which begged the answer to her next question.
“Why did you choose here? Why have you come to me?”
Saul stepped forward out of the doorway, moving to the side of the bed. The remaining sunlight illuminated his body.
God, he was beautiful! Dani tried to lower her eyes, but she couldn’t look away. Saul still massaged the tip of his hardened cock just inches from her, the most arousing thing she’d ever seen. Moisture pumped between her legs, and she was grateful for the sheet wrapped around her.
His eyes glistened, his teeth white as he smiled down at her. “It’s self-explanatory. My reaction to you when we met was, uh, highly erotic under the circumstances. I know you were in danger, I was there to protect you, but I had a powerful reaction to you. And I think you felt the same way.”
Truth. Okay.
Dani shrugged, hoping to downplay the attraction. They were going to have to work together, this couldn’t happen.
“I acknowledge that. You’re fifty layers of masculine hotness, I admit it. Yeah, we both felt the sexual pull, but we’re going to be working together. We aren’t going to date. Or fuck.”
“Even so, I’m here, without choice, because apparently my mind sought you out, and apparently, it wanted me to be naked when it did. And you too.”
“This is ridiculous, Saul. Go back to the brewery and sleep this off.”
“I would, but I don’t think I have any control over this. I’m asleep, Dani, and so are you. How do we make our dream avatars do what we want them to do?”
“I really don’t know.”
“And on that point…”
Saul surged forth and lowered himself onto the bed on his knees. “If we both want to, and this is a dream world, why can’t we enjoy each other?”
“No. Bad precedent. I assume we’d remember when we woke, so as far as this goes, it will be like we fucked in real life. We’ll have those memories.”
“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me. May I?”
His outstretched hand was only a few inches from her face.
She should say no. Stay by her conviction that anything intimate between them couldn’t happen. Even if, in reality, it didn’t.
But she nodded.
Gently at first, fingertips only, Saul touched Dani’s cheek, moved down to her lips, then when his thumb pressed between them, she opened up and sucked it in.
It was a mistake, she knew it instantly, because it proved what he already knew, that she wanted to touch him too. That this wasn’t reality and that what happened in the dream world didn’t count.
God, she hoped not, because when Saul slid closer, she let the sheet she held like a shield against her chest, slide.
Eyes dropping as the sheet dropped, Saul stared at full round breasts and dark nipples he’d thought of since he first saw them, and after only a second’s hesitation, slid his hands from Dani’s face down her body, slowly, until they rested on her waist as his lips and tongue tugged on nipples begging him to continue.
The wise thing to do would be to push him away, but Dani laid back. Shaking her head, she pressed it into her fluffy pillow even though Saul’s hands slid lower, lifting her buttocks as he slid the sheet away and unwrapped her completely.
“I plan to take my time, little hunter. Are you okay with that?”
His voice had turned her on from the first moment she’d heard it. Now, his breath as he spoke blew across her breasts while his fingers slid from her buttocks and between her legs.
“Yeah, I’m okay with that,” she barked out, low, not even sure she’d actually spoken until his tongue took its time sliding down the center of her chest to land just above her slit.
“Good choice.”
She wanted to see; wanted to watch him. Just enough light remained in the sky when she lifted up on her arms to see his tongue stroke her and then…Saul faded.
Dani startled awake in complete darkness, disoriented, her head fuzzy, unable to remember where she was. Catching her breath, she pushed off the bed and stood facing the open French door that led to her balcony. A crescent moon winked at her as bits of memories began to filter through her confusion.
Saul?
Why was Saul on her mind? He’d touched her when forced to by her abductor. No, that wasn’t what she was remembering.
Saul, his hands on her, his tongue wrapped around her breast, then nearing her…
Pushing out a long held breath, she wandered out onto the balcony into cool night air and a stiff breeze that bit her bare skin.
“A dream,” she whispered out loud.
And what a dream! It appeared she hadn’t been right when she told Sanquinetta she was over the trauma of her abduction and the weird attraction to her rescuer. Working with him would be difficult.
“Well shit!” Leaning over the elaborate iron railing, she watched barely illuminated waves brush the shoreline under the tiny light of the barely there moon and thousands of twinkling stars.
As always, in a life that spanned decades longer than she’d ever been entitled to, and events that still shocked her even now after all those years, Dani let her mind settle and her heartbeat calm. This wasn’t even a blip on her radar with what she’d been through.
She could work well with every member of this team, the newest vampire included. Yes, her libido fired up at the thought of him, that freaking dream was proof, but it was just a dream. No controlling the subconscious.
Glancing at the projected clock, she saw it was only 8 o’clock. Jack and the others would likely have just gotten to HQ. Getting back to work would be the best thing for her. Forget about Saul, the danger she’d been in, and take care of business.
Her image in the bathroom mirror nodded to her.
“You rise up, girl. Show your metal, earth warrior.”
Stepping into the shower, Dani lathered her hair after a vigorous scrub, enjoying the warm water coursing through her hair and against her scalp. She let her guard down for a moment and envisioned the dream. Her recall of every moment of it was shockingly detailed. Saul, walking toward her, the glow of sunlight surrounding him, then the silhouette of his heavy body as he turned and she saw his cock, thick, bouncing as he moved, his fingers still wrapped around it. Yes, he wanted her, and yes, if the dream had continued, she’d have taken that massive penis inside her. He was vampire, and she was ridiculously attracted to him, and knew sex with him would be remarkable.
“Whew.”
Dani lowered her head back to rinse her hair, longer now than she’d ever worn it. She groaned. Waking before they fucked in her dream was fortunate, no matter how much s
he would have liked to see it through. Just thinking about him, she was wet again. Sliding her fingers between her legs to caress the swollen folds, she began to rub, her eyes closed, but she visualized Saul doing the same thing, his own fingers squeezing his cock.
Oh, Gods, it really was going to be impossibly hard to work with him.
Reaching up, Dani brought the pulsating shower wand lower and leaned against the tile as she visualized Saul’s tongue doing what hard jets of water were.
At Hunter HQ
Kwano shoved Jack so hard he smashed into the brick wall that formed the back of the building.
Recovering from the blow, Jack raced toward Kwano, forcing him into the tile floor, Kwano rolled over using air displacement and easily pinned Jack.
“First bloods are stronger, Jack. Always. I’ll win against you in any physical fight. You have to be smarter to stop me. Use strategy.”
Kwano looked up at Evaleigh and Sanquinetta with raised eyebrows and a grin. “We’re better at everything.”
“Fuck!” Under his breath, Jack spat the one word he could squeeze out since his breathing was cut off.
While Kwano was preening for the ladies, Jack caught him off-guard enough to toss him forward, and as the first blood lost his balance, he crawled out from under him.
“Hah!” Jack ripped the distance between them using air displacement, and stood holding a hot cup of coffee, leaning against the counter. But he was still breathing rough. “Okay. Fuck. Lesson learned. Remind me never to wrestle with Ife. She would kick my ass into the next century. That woman is powerful.”
“She’s an earth warrior, like me.”
Everyone turned to face Dani, who had silently entered the break room where the group often congregated at the beginning of their work “day.”
“Dani!” Evaleigh hadn’t seen Dani since the abduction and rescue, moving to give her friend a hug. Blue eyes searched Dani’s big chocolates. “You seem okay. You look rested.”
