Title: House of Pain
Description: After a one-night stand, Rachel and Trent act like if nothing happened. Which makes Rachel wish for Trent to disappear from her life. Someone out there in Cincinnati seems to be in agreement but for different reasons. After some Weres have gone missing and then so has Trent, it is up to Rachel whether she wants to help and rescue him. Rachel/Trent, Ivy/David
Disclaimer: As always, the characters belong to the incredible Kim Harrison.
Chapter 1: Dancing Pain
After reuniting with my mother, Takata, a.k.a. Donald, as he wanted me to call him, has been in high spirits. He even decided to start a world tour, which he would take my mother with him. I guess after being a stay at home mom and lamenting for all this years, maybe going around the world with one of today's popular music artists was not a bad idea. Before going on tour he organized a huge party at one of Cincinnati's biggest concert halls. The biggest names in the industry were in attendance as well as our very own City Council underground drug lord. Otherwise known as Trent Kalamack. I was in the party because Takata as it turns out is my biological father. And ever since I found out he is my father he has been trying hard to get on my good side. And as you can see he is doing so by inviting me to this party. I'm not much of a party type girl and as you might guess I lost myself in the immense crowd, not knowing what to do.
Takata and my mother were at the other extreme of the concert hall. When I first saw her in the party I was proud to see my mother so happy and beautiful. I decided to let those two enjoy the party. Meanwhile I felt out of place and wished I had brought Ivy or Jenks. Ivy would have attended with Rynn Cormel, the new master vampire of Cincinnati. Instead he decided to take her somewhere more personal and romantic. Jenks, as much as I understand that family comes first, decided to stay home. Matalina seemed to be getting better but then unexpectedly her health took a dive.
I stood on the outer parts of the concert hall near the different tables with h'or dourves. I had taken a small plate and placed several fruit slices, cubes, and wedges on my plate. From here I could see the huge black and white checkered dance floor with the biggest disco ball twirling on the top. Many of the executives or artists with their model girlfriends were on the dance floor dancing to the fast beats. I ate my fruit while I watched them dance. At first I didn't mind when someone stood next to me. I figured it was someone trying to get to the food. At first I didn't pay much attention but the person remained standing next to me, a little bit too close for comfort. Slowly I glanced to my right. The first thing I noticed was that he held a cup of champagne, he had a black suit and the dress shirt was forest green. My gaze finally went up to see those all too familiar green eyes.
"I'm amazed that Takata allowed anyone to attend his party," I said while putting some grapes in my mouth.
"My thoughts exactly," Trent replied. With such elegance he took a sip from his champagne.
"Funny. At least I have a true reason why I'm here. We both know what Takata is to me."
"Then again it's not like you have accepted him for what he is too you."
A waiter passed by with a bottle of wine. As long as it was not red wine I was good. He stopped before me and poured me a glass of white wine. I nearly drank the entire contents in one sip.
"Slow down, Morgan. Or you might give yourself quite a buzz."
"Didn't know you cared."
I finished my drink and as I set the glass away from my face I noticed a woman standing before us. I was surprised at her sudden appearance. She was much taller than me, almost as tall as Trent. She had long straight blood red hair that fell to her waist. It looked so red over her ivory skin. Her eyes looked surreal. She had thick black eyeliner and mascara to make those Husky blue eyes stand out. Apparently red is her favorite color since she wore it over her pouty lips and on her long fingernails. She had a long black gown with red lacing and stitching. On her neck she wore an amulet. She stopped before us and flashed a beautiful smile. A smile a dentist would approve. We were both fixated on her. Who was she? And why is she before us? I looked at Trent to see if he knew her, his expression told me he didn't.
"I don't mean to intrude. I just had to greet Mr. Kalamack. It is so nice to finally meet you. You've done wonders to this wonderful city," she said in a sultry voice.
Enjoying the praise Trent flashed his own smile, "Thank you Miss…?"
"Where are my manners? I'm sorry, my name is Victoria La Fleur." She said with her perfect smile. Trent took her hand gently and shook it.
I was beginning to feel as the odd one out that I started to scoot aside and leave the lover birds alone.
"Miss La Fleur, it is a pleasure to meet you," before I made my exit he had to bring me to the spotlight. "Meet my friend, Rachel Morgan."
"Rachel Morgan! What a pleasure to meet you as well!" she exclaimed.
I was surprised at her sudden outburst. Although I was more surprised that Trent called me his friend. Too bad my exit strategy didn't work. I tried to give her my friendliest smile; after all there was no way I could compete with these two.
"Nice to meet you too," I replied.
"I've heard about you. You're a Runner, right?"
"Yeah. I own my own agency. Well with my two other partners."
"Yes, Vampiric Charms?"
"Yeah. That's the name." I was starting to like her she didn't seem too bad. Since she seemed to know of me, or knew of me through my agency.
"It was a pleasure meeting both you. Once again I apologize for the interruption. Before I leave, I have to mention that the media is right; you do make a lovely couple. Ta-ta!"
She turned around so graciously and walked away, mingling with the crowd. I just stood there stunned. You know how I said I was starting to like her. Scratch that. I was not too happy with her last comment. The media had this erroneous misconception that Trent was my boyfriend. Just ask any cop in town and they will let you know the facts about how wrong they are. Just at the right moment another waiter was passing by. I didn't care what kind of alcohol he had in the tray I needed something to calm my annoyance. Or was it fury?
"You! Give me one, no make that two of those." I told the waiter. I grabbed two drinks. I took a large gulp from the alcoholic beverage. With the mixture of the previous drink I was starting to get a small buzz, instantly feeling the effects of the alcohol. I noticed Trent was still standing next to me. "What are you still doing here?"
"Enjoying making you turn into a nervous wreck." He said. He had taken one of the same alcoholic beverages and was now taking small sips from it.
"You drink like a girl," I said, with a slight slur in my voice.
He looked at me and clearly he did not like it. The rest of the evening we were sort of having a drinking contest. I'm not the type to get drunk or even drink alcoholic beverages but for Takata's party I was making it an exception. I was in such an ditzy mood I managed to make my way towards the dance floor and boogie down with the dancers. I danced with everyone that was around me. I felt someone get close enough for me to be able to dance with. In one of my moves I turned around and it was Trent. I started to giggle seeing him attempting to dance to the fast beats the DJ was spinning. We were so drunk we didn't care how silly and goofy we looked. The crowd around us cheered us on as we swayed and shook our tushies to the dance beats.
During one of my moves I turned around and saw my mother with Takata. I left Trent in the dance floor and went towards them. "Hi mom! Hey Don! How's it going?"
"Rachel, are you drunk?" she looked at me carefully.
"What? No! Of course not!"
"Sweetie, you could stop shouting. We can still hear. It's not like I'm that old."
"The music is so loud! I can't hear you!"
"I'm glad you are enjoying yourself Rachel," Takata said. He leaned forward and patted me on my side.
"Thanks for inviting me!" I said. Another waiter was passing by and I took a glass that was some sort of mixed drink with different colors. I was about to take a sip when my mother took the drink from me.
"I think you've had enough, dear."
"But…!"
"No, I said you had enough. Trust me, you will be complaining by tomorrow."
"I won't!"
A looming tall figure stood next to us. It was none other than that freak Jonathan. "My Sa'han requests your presence."
"Yeah, well tell your Sa'han that I'm busy with my parents." The moment I said the last word, which to me at the moment didn't seem as odd, Takata looked at me. He seemed very happy and were those tears building up in his eyes?
"He wants to speak to you Ms. Morgan," He said, clenching his jaw to prevent himself from shouting at me.
"I'll see what that elf wants! I'll see you two around!"
"We are off to the world tour after this, dear."
"Oh! I forgot mom!" I hugged her first and then gave Takata a quick hug. "You two kids enjoy yourselves! Call me when you come back mom!"
Jonathan started to walk away and I followed the tall elf. We were away from where my mom and Takata stood when Jonathan stopped walking. He turned around and faced me. As if he could intimidate me, ha!
"A word of caution, witch. My Sa'han would not like it if you blurt out what he truly is. If it was up to me I would have cut off that tongue of yours."
"Well if it was up to me I would have kicked your sorry ass!"
He was red with fury while I stood, or wobbled, with indifference. He turned around and continued to walk, pushing aside some of the party attendants. I continued to follow Jonathan and saw Trent leaning next to a counter. He had taken off his jacket and with one hand he had it on his back. He stood there looking oh-so-yummy. I'm definitely drunk if I think he looks so yummy. He stood there with the first few button undone, just begging to have his shirt ripped open and expose his taut tummy.
"What do you want elf?" Except I didn't finish calling him an elf since he covered my mouth with his fingers.
"Have a ride with me," he said. It wasn't a question, it sounded almost like an order.
I should have said no especially since it sounded like he war ordering me to go with him I'm blaming it on the drink because I was not thinking clearly since I found myself walking out with him. Jonathan was way ahead of us and already had the limo's back door opened. The rest of the night was even fuzzier. I remember getting in the car with Trent and we were laughing about who knows what. Everything seemed so funny. He led me inside his mansion and we ended up in one of his many rooms.
We were in a room in the dark, yet I could tell it was not his. It didn't have any personal touches to it. It only had the essentials a guest who spent the night needed, a comfortable bed. Of course this was not your typical guest room since it was very spacious. We looked at each other and neither of us was laughing anymore. The moonlight lit up the room in hues of blue. Part of his profile was visible by the blue light. I looked at him and felt the sudden urge to caress that side of his face. I don't remember who started first but we ended up on top of the bed and kept our lips busy in our heated kissing.
My mother was right. The next morning when I opened my eyes and tried to get up I felt the entire world spin around me. I felt sick to my stomach. Now I know what drinking does and believe me I will not do the same mistake twice! I tried to move slowly out of the bed. The moment I pulled the covers away from me I felt an instant chill. I glanced down and noticed I was not wearing any clothes. What in the Turn! What happened? I was now alert yet the massive headache did not make matters any better. Frantically I looked around at the unfamiliar room. I was able to think and realize that I was not at the Church. Definitely I was not at my mother's home. Even though I didn't know where Takata lived, this somehow didn't feel like I was at his house. I felt the bed move. Fear got me frozen in place. There was someone next to me while I was in my birthday suit! I looked at the night table next to me and took the first object I could get my hands on, which was a box of tissues. Not life threatening but I was in a panicked state and anything will do at this moment. I turned around and saw Trent yawning and stretching next to me. What in the Turn is going on!
I screamed. I didn't intend to sound like a girly shrill. I bounced out of the bed and threw the box of tissues at him. By then he was beginning to sit up and the box hit him right in the forehead.
"Rachel! What is your problem?" He said glaring at me. "Rachel? What? What are you doing here?"
I pulled one of the loose blankets and had wrapped it around me. "What am I doing here? I don't know! Why were you next to me?"
"Because this is my house!"
"Well how convenient! I bet this is not your room though!"
He didn't say anything. Instead he lifted the remaining covers on top of him and looked at himself. He cursed lightly. "Did we…you know…do…it?"
"I hope not! Why is this happening to me! First I have the biggest headache in the entire Turn and then I find I'm sleeping in my birthday suit next to the biggest jerk in Cincinnati!"
"Do you think I'm happy about this?"
"I don't care what you think or care." I started to look around for my clothes. "As far as I'm concerned…this never happened!"
"Fine by me." He plopped back down.
I found my clothes and I noticed he was still looking at me. "Don't look at me as I'm getting dressed! Look away, you perv!"
"Rachel, stop it with the shouting. You think you are the only one with a headache?" he said softly while covering his eyes with one hand.
As he lay there with his hand over his eyes I got dressed in record time. I tossed the blanket back on the bed and ran out of the room. I didn't stop running until I reached the front gates of his home. A car approached me, when it stopped next to me and the driver pulled down the electric window. I saw it was Quen who stuckhis head out of the window.
"I wonder if you want a ride home?"
"Please don't tell anyone I spent the night here Quen. I wish this never happened."
"Nothing happened, Rachel. My lips are sealed."
I didn't realize I was crying when I accepted his offer. I ran to the passenger side and thanked him. He drove in silence, which I was thankful because I needed to get my act together. I pulled down the window and let the cool air caress my face. I sat there with my eyes closed and relaxed as he drove me home. I must've dozed off since I didn't realize the car was not moving.
"Will you be alright?' Quen asked suddenly.
I opened my eyes to look at him. "Y-yeah. Thanks again."
"Go on. Take a shower and get some rest. You'll feel better."
I continued to look at him; I was surprised at his fatherly tone. I never realized to ask Quen if he ever had any children, prior with Ceri. As far as I knew the baby that Ceri carried was his first. I nodded, not trusting my voice. I got out of the car and did exactly what he said.
To be continued…