CHAPTER NINE

Spectra

 

The snow was just starting to fall as we drove down the narrow roads between large properties. “I've never been in the country when it snowed.” I spoke quietly, watching the white fall through the blackness of night.

“You grew up in Wolfenden?” Bay shook his head, humored.

“It's the suburbs. Estate houses yes, but still the suburbs. This is beautiful. I understand why you've chosen to live out here despite your life being in the city.” I turned to look at Bay and found him watching me, an emotion I couldn't pinpoint in his eyes. “What?”

He turned his eyes back to the road. “You've been alone a long time, haven't you?”

I frowned. “Since I was fourteen.” I turned my eyes back to the dark. “My mother didn't die till I was sixteen, but she stopped existing the day my sister died. If it wasn't for Henry and Philippa, I probably would never have made it to college in the first place.”

“Henry Williams? L'Paix took you in? That is why you became close with Alexander.”

My hands started fidgeting of their own accord. “I've known the family since I was in primary school. They were our neighbors. There were a lot of empty fridge moments in my house after Danika died. My mom went missing for days at a time. She'd come home dirty, covered in bruises from de Sang bites. I don't know if she even knew what was happening to her. Eventually, she lost her prestigious job, and we started eating through her savings and my college fund.” I swiped at a lone tear that escaped. “I spent a lot of time next door with Alexander and his family.”

“How did you know they were de Sang bites?”

“I heard Philippa arguing with Henry one night about it. I didn't know what they were talking about until...”

“You met one,” Bay filled in for me. It must have been in the look on my face.

“He came to the house looking for my mother, except she wasn't there, I was.”

Bay's fingers on the steering wheel tightened, knuckles turning white. “He fed on you.”

I looked down at my hands. “I screamed. Luckily Alexander was on his way over to bring me home for dinner. After that, they had to reveal it all. A few days later, my mother took her own life.”

Bay gritted his teeth. “He did it to punish your mother for not being there. That's why Alexander hates my kind more than any other predator. One of us attacked the girl he loves.”

“Don't,” I sighed. “Don't ever say that to me. Alexander's feelings are as complex as his power and well above my level of comprehension.”

“He only smokes around you.”

“I know.” I touched the window where a snowflake was stuck to the other side. “I've seen him when he doesn't know I'm there, how he is with others.”

I saw Bay glance at me in the reflection of the window then turned the wheel, and we pulled into a driveway surrounded by forest. As we passed by the trees I'd escaped through, I finally recognized the landscape.

“Is there anything else I should know?” Bay queried. I looked at him. “About your preferences with sex.”

I shrugged. “I like the plain old boring variety, not the kinky shit everyone's into these days,” Bay smirked. “Is that a bad thing?”

“No.” Bay kept his eyes on the road. “I was just thinking the last time I had sex with a woman, if she was willing to be naked in front of you, she was considered brazen. Most times they kept their undergarments on at a minimum. I'd been around in the times where nudity was acceptable. Part of my loss of interest was the restrictions and how prim and proper women became.”

“What was the other part?” I dared to ask, wondering how anyone lost interest in sex.

“The feeding. You couldn't feed from a woman's neck. The bruising would get questions asked. So things became tricky. It ended up where my head between a woman's thighs achieved my feeding easier. I was able to bring her to pleasure and feed from her femoral as she climaxed, but then she would be unconscious. So I got used to not having the physical benefit myself. One day I just stopped getting turned on.”

We pulled into the garage and Bay turned off the ignition. “Until me?”

He turned to look at me, eyes serious. “Until you looked at me with such loathing where any other woman would have looked at me with lust.”

I smiled. “So this isn't a special connection, soul mates, or some bullshit. This is you wanting the one woman who didn't want you?”

Bay slipped his hand behind my neck and gently pulled my face to his. “I honestly don't know what this is, Spectra. I just know, from the minute we met, I had to have you.”

His lips touched mine, and for a minute we sat there, our lips pressed to each other, and then our mouths started feeding on each other like starving animals. The only sound was my heavy breathing and the wet sound of our mouths kissing.

Bay's hand tangled in my hair and pulled my head back so he could kiss down my neck. I half opened my eyes and saw a man watching us through the window. I screamed before I could stop myself and jumped back to my side of the car, hands over my mouth to stop my heart escaping through it.

Bay turned and was out his car door instantly, ready to face a threat. He immediately relaxed and turned back to the car, bending over to meet my eyes. “It's okay, Spectra. Just breathe deep.” He shut his car door. “What the hell, Luke?”

“Sorry, boss. I saw your car return and didn't realize you'd have company. We have a situation you need to deal with personally.”

Bay swept a frustrated hand through his hair as he walked around the car and opened my door. “Get one of the wives not on duty.” He took my hand, helping me out of the car as the other man walked out of the garage. “I'm sorry, Spectra. Something has come up. I'll need to deal with it first.”

“Will it take long? I could go home, and we can try another night.”

Bay shook his head, worry creasing his brow. “Stay. Please?”

The man was back with an attractive blonde who was dressed casually. I nodded, and Bay smiled. He pulled me to him and kissed me till my body molded to his, and then we kissed a little longer. Luke cleared his throat. Bay pulled back and looked over his shoulder at him, nodding his head.

“This is Gina, she will keep you company until I get back.” Bay took my hand, leading me over.

“And what if you're kept late into the night again, boss?” she asked. No sarcasm intended. Just a factual question requiring a factual answer.

Bay kept his eyes on Gina. “She'll sleep in my bed.” Gina gave a singular nod. Bay dropped my hand and followed Luke inside the house. “Tell me?”

Luke lowered his voice so I didn't hear his response. The blonde, however, shook her head before turning her big brown eyes on me. “You were a beautiful ghost, but you're even prettier in the flesh.”

I swallowed. “You were one of the lions last week?”

She nodded and turned to walk inside, expecting me to follow. “My husband was very annoyed that you were able to pass by us. We didn't realize you were still alive.” I raised a brow, and she shrugged, “He bought you in unconscious. I've never known him to kill a feed, but there is always a first time.”

“I wasn't a feed,” I grumbled.

“So I hear.”

We entered the house from the garage entry and passed by a few rooms on the way in. Gina pointed to the first open door. “That's our gym for working out.” She was very fit and strong by the looks of it. A few closed doors later, she entered a small library with what looked to be study desks. “I just have to grab my laptop. I was studying for an exam next week.”

“You don't have to stop for me. I know where Bay's bedroom is. I can make my own way upstairs.”

She frowned at me. “I don't think the boss would appreciate me letting random women roam his home. No offence.”

“None taken, though I'm a far sight away from random, don't you think? Still, I accept I'm a stranger here. Did you want to bring your laptop with you and I'll read or something while you study?” I indicated the walls of books, thinking there must be something I'd want to read here.

Gina smiled. “It's okay, I was getting tired.” She collected her laptop and textbook and walked back past me into the corridor. “Here, I'll put your coat in the cloak room.”

I slipped out of my jacket, ensuring I kept my phone with me. Gina stopped by a door and stepped inside, hanging the coat up with several others. We turned the corner and emerged into the foyer from the back of the house and started up the stairs. At the first floor, she opened a door and led us into a lounge room, putting her laptop on the side table before plopping down on the lounge.

Gina seemed like such a normal college student it was hard to reconcile she was a predator. I sat at the opposite end of the lounge, unsure what to do next except to take my heels off because they were starting to hurt.

“So you're the woman Bay's coming out of celibacy for?”

I turned and found the blonde's eyes looking me over. “Apparently.” I looked down where I was wringing my hands.

“That makes you uncomfortable, that you have that effect on him.”

“Psychology major?” I raised a brow.

She smiled. “You'll have to excuse that I'm not very good at girly talk.”

“That makes two of us then. I live with a bunch of nuns. We're not exactly up doing shots and braiding each other's hair at night.”

Gina frowned. “Wait, are you a nun?”

I laughed. “God no! I just live there.” I looked over to where she studied me. “You're in a polygamous relationship, how does that work?”

She shrugged and relaxed a little. “It's not what I expected. It's like having sisters I guess. We don't all get along, but we love Calin, and he manages to make it work.” She smiled. “I was never very good at relationships. I always found guys to be either too clingy or assholes. Calin was different. He was up front that there were other women and always treated me well, but at the same time gave me all the space I needed. He was the first guy I ever actually found myself missing.”

I swallowed. “How did you end up here?”

She gave me gentle eyes. “You mean how I made the choice to become a beast?” I nodded. “I lived here for a year with them first. It wasn't a choice I made lightly. Calin and I were seeing each other for two years before that. I could have chosen to stay human, and Calin still would have loved me and kept me. The boss doesn't really care one way or the other either. It's always our choice.

“I kept working my job in the city, because that's one thing both men won't tolerate. You have to earn your keep here. You can become one of them and join the company, or you work in the human world. Our choice either way, but there is no sponging allowed.”

She tapped her finger on the laptop. “It was this that made up my mind for me. I always wanted to go to college, to get somewhere in life and do something no one else in my family ever dreamed of. I'm trailer trash by birth. I was good at school, but couldn't afford anything past it, so I got a job in a bar. It was a dead-end job, and I was on track to following in my mother's footsteps when I met Calin.

“Along with the benefits of strength and a lack of aging, if you join the company, the boss will pay your way through college. But you have to apply yourself, and you have to study something that will benefit the company. So in the end, I get a family, an education, a good paying job, an amazing place to live...” She looked around the room with a smile and tucked her hair back behind her ear as she did. I spotted a delicate tattoo of a lily behind her ear.

I swallowed. “That's a cute tattoo. Did it hurt?”

Gina's smile disappeared, and she pulled her hair down to cover the tattoo. “Yes, but it was short-lasting. Calin's not really a fan of tattoos, so I try to keep it covered.” She turned her face back to mine then met my eyes. “If you could have the life you always dreamed of, would you take the opportunity when it was offered?”

I hesitated. “I couldn't do anything that involved hurting a human.”

Gina's eyes flashed with anger. “We eat animals, deer, rabbits, stuff like that. I've never tasted a human ever. The only time we would attack a human is if our work required it.”

“I'm sorry. You never know with the Nachtwelt where predators draw the line. It's like the human world, there's good and bad and downright evil. It just seems to be more of the latter two in the Nachtwelt than the first.”

“Is he bringing you in?” she asked cautiously.

I looked surprised. “It's just one night.” I looked towards the window and the snow as it fell heavier. “Or until he returns me.”

“To the convent?” She smirked. “There's something rather chauvinistic and ancient about that situation, isn't there? Hiding a beautiful woman away in a convent and only taking her out when she's to be used for pleasure.”

I felt myself blush, and her smile widened as she laughed. “You've blushed every time I've called you beautiful, but that, that was your liking the idea of being used for the boss's pleasure.” Her demeanor sobered. “And yet, last week you ran terrified from him.”

I stood up, walking to the window, watching the snow fall over the grounds. “The idea of being with him terrifies me, but last night,” I took a breath to steady my heart rate as it suddenly sped up at the memory. “Last night, I felt his intentions, felt why he wanted me. It scared me even more that I could be so heartless to deny him that need.”

I watched out the window as one of the lions sprinted across the snow. “You're so graceful when you run, but it must be terrifying for the person you're running toward.”

“It took me a while to get used to it.” Gina chuckled behind me.

I watched another animal dash across the snow and found myself surprised. “Bay has a panther living here too?”

“What do you mean?” Gina came to the window quickly.

“I just saw one running after one of the lions, like they were playing chase.”

“Not one of ours,” she said, grabbing my arm as she dragged me towards the door. She opened the door and yelled: “Calin!” She started dragging me up the stairs quickly.

We were at the next landing when a door opened and a blond-haired man looked over the railing at Gina. “What is it?”

“We've got company.”

The blond man's eyes went wide, and all of a sudden there was a cacophony of noises as the front door flew open and claws thundered across the marble entrance and started up the stairs.

I looked down to see a black panther sprinting up the stairs. A second later, a lion caught up and launched itself at the panther's back. A second panther passed the brawl on the stairs.

Gina cursed and threw me back against the wall as she pulled off her top and started transforming. I hit the wall hard and stumbled to my knees as the panther made it to our landing. Gina wasn't through the change yet, and her head snapped up as the panther launched toward her.

“No!” I yelled and threw myself at the panther as I breathed out. I collided, twisted, and passed through the beast in mid-air, concentrating on my siphoning ability. I felt his power and pulled it into me. I passed through the other side and the naked man fell beside Gina, panting heavily, his eyes wide with fear as I continued to fall unseen.

If I'd been corporeal, I would have landed on the stairs and probably broken my neck as I tumbled to the bottom. Instead, I passed through them and kept falling to the ground floor and farther. The string of curse words that passed through my brain, when I stopped falling in the darkened cellar, would have made Father Mathew give me a week’s worth of penance.

I concentrated and breathed in, sitting up in the cellar and trying to get my bearings. It was so quiet down here after the noise upstairs that I was tempted to stay put till daylight. Unfortunately, I'd just taken a predator’s power and needed to do something with it. Getting to my feet, I stumbled through the cellar till I found a wall. Stepping carefully, grateful for a cement floor that seemed clean, I followed the wall till a subtle glow came into view and the smell of chlorine hit me.

As the blue light grew brighter, I stepped through the archway into the underground swimming pool area. It was still quiet here, only the whirring of the pool’s filtration system preventing dead silence.

“Perfect.” I smiled as I walked toward a small garden that grew in the corner of the pool room. I delved my hands into the soil, wiggling my fingers to ensure my hands were buried before earthing some of the power I'd siphoned.

Standing up, I felt heat burning across my back. I turned around and came face to face with a man. His dark eyes watched me intently as I tried to take a step back and found the garden in my way. “Human? How unexpected.” He looked down at my dirty hands and smiled. “Are you the gardener?” His eyes assessed my dress. “No, not in that dress. And no bruises, so you're not food. Who are you?”

His narrow mouth pulled up in a smirk when I didn't answer. “What did you bury just now?”

I met the sorcerer's eyes evenly, being very careful to control my breathing as I let it out enough to become insubstantial without it visibly being apparent.

His power cycled around him like a hurricane. He raised a brow when I didn't answer him. “Like that, is it?”

He stepped around me and put his hand out above the garden, smiling at me. The soil shifted, but when nothing came out, his smile disappeared. He went to grab me by the throat and his hand passed through me. It took all my effort to remain non-reactive and just walk off, allowing myself to become fully incorporeal as I did.

The sorcerer shook his head. “Ghost? She seemed so alive.” Gathering himself, his eyes became focused again as he stormed towards the darkened cellar.

Closing my eyes, I concentrated on finding Bay. I felt my body lift and float through the ceiling and farther until the noises of the house bombarded me again. I opened my eyes and found Bay standing over a couple of dead naked bodies, his hands covered in blood, anger radiating from him. I breathed in to return to form and Bay turned, grabbing me by the throat before he realized it was me.

“Spectra.” He relaxed and exhaled with relief. His hand released and caressed my neck.

“There's a sorcerer in your cellar looking for something.”

Bay's eyes went wide. “Stay here,” he instructed as he ran out of the room.

I realized I was standing in the kitchen and relaxed. This wasn't my fight. I sat down hard on the floor, eyes staring at nothing, until I focused and saw the bodies in front of me. That's when I pulled myself up, found the door to outside, and started running.