Chapter ten:
"Mickey?"
Mick froze. There was only one person in the world who called him that. Even when every other person including their parents had called him Mick she had insisted that he was her Mickey.
Mick looked down at the young female vamp next to him ...and promptly took a double take. If this wasn't his sister then it was her vampire twin for sure, same eyes, same hair, same everything. "Mick what are you waiting for?" Beth yelled "stake her now!". Elaina's eyes flash silver at Beth's words and despite the pain pumping thru her shoulder she got to her feet and was on Beth in a swift movement.
"Tell me young one" Elaina hissed, reaching out with her good arm to throttle Beth "why shouldn't i feed on you? I mean after what you have just done to me...tit for tat you know". "Elaina no" Mick called out "Beth is my partner and girlfriend...i ask you sister, please don't" Elaina dropped Beth to the ground where she gasped for air and was choking. "Sister?" she gasped out.
"What are you doing here?" Mick asked walking towards his sister, still in a stupor. "I'm L.A.s new guardian" Elaina explained "and i was following leads about a cleaner crew disappearance. I was checking it out when Penelope Pitstop over there shot me!"
"Your guardian?" Mick confirmed "so you know Josef?" "Kostan? Yes i report to him directly" Elaina said nodding her head. "Well..." said Mick eyeing her arm " i think we should pay Mister Kostan a visit...we can get that silver out of your arm and i believe our mutual friend owes me an explanation".
The three set off out of the factory together.
Joseph was practising his putting when Elaina walked in, arm bandaged. Josef glance up and smirking said "let me guess...i should see the other guy?" "o i brought the other guy with me Josef" replied Elaina smiling sweetly "it just so happens he turned out to be my biological brother?!?!"
Josef stopped mid swing. Crap he thought oh crap crap crap. He should have taken Elaina to Mick's the other night, now she had found out the worst way. Judging by the look in her eyes he was in trouble. Elaina continued to speak sweetly "apparently you two are best friends....known each other years and years...and you did not feel this was something maybe worth mentioning to me??? You kept this from me??? Her voice was rising as her anger took hold. "Who else knows? Am i the last to find out, the fool at the end of the road? I am this cities guardian; yr suppose to be the elder- I'm suppose to be able to trust you!!!". Elaina paused for breath, collecting herself.
"Does Huielen know?" she asked quietly. Josef closed his eyes and nodded, dreading her reaction to this news. When he opened them again he could see she felt stung by the betrayal. "sit " he gestured to all three " we need to fix Elaina's arm and i need to explain the story".
Josef started off the tale "Mick, Elaina was accidentally sired by Coraline, she tried to kill her but due to Elaina fighting back, she was...well obliviously made into what she is now. She was raised by Hueilen , another elder of the community who felt it would not be best to allow Elaina to seek you out till she could stand firmly on her own two feet and deal with your...em...habits. She is the newly appointed guardian of the city and is a masterful ninja as despite several attempts to double security she still manages to leave her report on my desk each day."
He turned to Elaina and gave the other side of the story "Mick was turned by Coraline on their wedding night and she forced him to cut all contact with you. Years later, Mick and Coraline split, and Mick as been living in a pool of brooding and morgue blood since....which was one of the main reasons that Hueilen didn't want you finding out too soon. Mick drinks morgue blood and denies himself every vampire pleasure...except for Miss Turner in the corner over there."
Josef paused to take a breath. Elaina slumped down onto one of the arm chairs "wow" she breathed.
Josef smirked then noticed her wince; her shoulder was obliviously painful. He caught Mick's eye and inclined his head towards her shoulder. Mick went to fetch the tools needed to remove the bullet while Josef put in a call to the freshie wing. Mick set to work on taking out the bullet; and both men and Beth were impressed, despite some sharp intakes of breath, Elaina never said boo during the entire bullet retrieval.
As Mick finished up, a young man walked thru the door. He had long blonde hair and was much tanned. "i figured you would need to eat after that adventure. Please enjoy him on me." Elaina nodded her thanks to Josef as he spoke and went up to the young man; he offered his wrist and she bit down, lapping at the blood and immediately thralling him. The young man sighed in pleasure as he became weak against her. She caught him deftly, her strength returning.
It was only as she finished and turned that she realised the three other occupants of the room were staring at her. Josef was amused to say the least; Elaina would bet he was trying outright not to laugh. Mick was shuffling from foot to foot awarkwardly his hand being held by Beth; he had obliviously being trying to cover her eyes. Beth looked shocked, and then it hit Elaina, Beth had never seen a live feed. She laid the young man down on the armchair and clearing her throat, drew herself up to her whole height. "All's fair in love, war and self preservation" she said haughtily, smirking at Beth. Beth remained complete still with her mouth open. "Mister Kostan" she continued "thank you for your hospitality but i should go. Good evening."
With that Elaina strolled out the door and into the night.
Back inside, Josef let a short laugh. "If i had known how well this method of action would have kept Blondie quiet, I'd have done it months ago" he chuckled. Beth turned and stared at Mick wide eyed.
"Can you do that?" she asked. "What?" he questioned somewhat puzzled. "that feeling that went thru the air as she fed, like ....an aura of pleasure...or something...don't tell me you didn't feel it" Beth choked out. "it's called thralling blondie" Josef smirked " we all do it to make the feed more pleasurable for our donors...so they come back...Mick was quite good in his day, almost rivalled me...maybe he'll show you some time..."
Josef let his words hang in the air as he saw Beth digesting them. This would be a perfect way to get Mick back live feeding if blondie decided she wanted to play too. And it was totally worth the glares Mick was giving him right now.
Beth and Mick left a short time later, Mick still giving him filthies over what he had told Beth. Josef settled back in his chair and his focus shifted to Elaina. She had been on his thoughts a lot lately, since the night of the club. He loved her fire and inner sparkle; she truly was a tiny powerhouse.
Josef smirked and without hesitation picked up his phone.
Elaina was sitting in her house, going over the events of the night. She was shell-shocked and could not make much sense of anything at the moment. Perhaps she should call Hueilen for some advice...no she thought, what i need is a really steep drink. As this thought crossed her mind, her phone rang.
Seeing the caller i.d., Elaina picked up her phone. Josef spoke "i am sure after all you just went thru you could use some relaxation time. Perhaps i could interest you in a good glass of red wine and a game of pool at my house. You could even if you're feeling generous let me in on how you get into my office so easily."
Elaina smiled and agreed to the meet up. Dragging a brush thru her hair, she set off for Joseph's house.
When she arrived, Darren the head of security let her in. Josef was smoking a cigar and playing a round of pool by himself. "Practicing?" she teased lightly picking up the other cue. "De-stressing after a long day. I like to pretend each ball is an employee's face" he replied with a smirk.
"Now" he said clapping his hands together "where is that wine i promised you?" grabbing a bottle of wine and a bottle of blood from a side tray, he poured a generous measure of each into a glass and handed it to her. Then he prepared one of his own. Elaina drank in silence for a few moments, savouring the flavour of the wine and the blood. "Mm..." she sighed as both went to work on her body, relaxing her. Josef raised his glass in salute and fetched the triangle to start restacking the balls.
A few games and 3 bottles of blood and wine later, both of them had reached the slightly tipsy stage. And since neither of them could now hit the balls straight, they had decided to abandon the game and had retired to the couch to chat.
"You know you defy logic?" he blurted out to her "most fledglings who are abandoned don't make it past a year. You are 50 times better than the stats..." he trailed off as she giggled "I'll take it that is an attempt at a compliment Mister Kostan..." Josef shook his head vigorously to ensure her that it was but that made him dizzy so he collapsed back against the soft cushions of the sofa.
Her laughter rang out at his actions, clear and crystal like the bubbling of a new spring at the side of a mountain. She was tempting he had thought so more than once before but her laughter so carefree and abandoned took over his senses and removed the last will he had to resist her.
Hoisting himself up from the pillows in a rapid move, he deftly caught her chin and pulled their mouths together attacking hers. She gasped as she felt the strength of his lips against hers, his scent surrounding her. Her gasp allowed his tongue to slip in and taste the inside of her mouth. He felt her fangs lengthen and his did too.
Elaina was not sure if it was the wine or the kiss or both but her head was spinning about 8 ways from Sunday and she did not understand why but she felt if she somehow kept kissing the vampire in front of her everything would be okay.
As her fangs lengthened, her hands came up to fist his hair. She felt him bite down on her tongue, tasting her and eliciting a moan from her. To him she tasted, wild and spicy and free; a perfect match to her personality Josef mused somewhere in his brain. As he lapped from her tongue the vampire inside her insisted she taste him. Not being one to deny her inner vamp anything, she bit his lip, and he flooded down her throat. Elaina had kissed vampires before but none as old and powerful as Josef. He tasted delicious and as his powerful blood spread thru her, she felt the loss of what little control she had left. Josef laid her back against the cushions of the couch and within moments they were lost in the passion they had for each other.
Some hours later, Elaina's house.....
Elaina arrived home about 9am that morning. She felt she was simply on autopilot as her mind tried desperately to wrap around the pleasure that had been the last few hours of the early morning. She had work to do but she didn't know if she could focus. How did she always get herself into these messes? She was supposed to be the guardian of this city and her plan to protect it was to what sleep with the elder? Hueilen would have her head, shoulders, knees and toes for this one.
Okay she thought breathing out. Focus on the work at hand, the rest of stuff can be dealt with later...or possibly never. Denial did not just have to be a river in Egypt in this case. But back to work for now.....
She still couldn't figure out what had happened to the cleaners. FRU had also told her the freshies had been delayed so it was bottled blood again. Which really didn't sit well with her inner vamp after she had gotten to eat fresh earlier. Some freezer time may help.
She slipped up into her freezer and fell into a fitful dose.
Josef had given Mick Elaina's L.A. address ...and Beth had borrowed it as Mick had retired to his freezer. She wanted to talk to Mick's sister, let her know she loved Mick and to hopefully establish a ground rapport with the other vampire. She could guess that after last night between her face at the feeding and the shooting that she didn't rank high on Elaina's fan list.
Beth pulled up outside the house and looked it over. It was she could tell from the outside one of those open plan Mediterranean houses, not quite as grand as anything Josef had but definitely very chic none the less. She spotted a wing attached on the side, no doubt where the freshies lived she mused. Strolling up she banged on the door. She waited. Then banged again.
Elaina groaned as the first bang on the door shook her from sleep. She felt ill tempered and unrested and hoped the person at the door would simply go away. However at the second loud insistent bang she knew her luck was up. Elaina climbed out of the freezer and grabbed a chocolate brown silken robe. She tied the belt and shaking her head, alighted the stairs and checked the camera by the door.
Beth. His brother's little woman. Groaning Elaina opened the door. "Yes?" she asked cattily. She was tired she was grumpy she had no fresh blood and she was most definitely not a sun person.
"Can we talk?"Suggested Beth nervously. With a sigh, Elaina gestured into the house. Beth steeped in. As Beth had predicted the house was very open plan on the inside and very cool and shaded, a perfect place for a vampire. The walls were decorated in white and blue and boxes we stacked in every corner. Elaina still hadn't had a chance to move in properly. Probably will have to wait until after this crisis to do so she reflected silently.
Elaina motioned to the kitchen. She poured herself a glass of blood and Beth a glass of water. Handing the glass to Beth she propped herself up at the breakfast island. "So " she said with a sigh " whet was ever so important that you had to come here at 3 in the day to discuss it?" "Mick" Beth replied "and me making peace with you"
Elaina's eyebrows shot up in surprise but she said nothing. Beth rushed on "i wanted you to know i was sorry, if i had known who you were i would never have shot/ intended to stake you / etc. And I'd like us to get along because i know Mick was so happy to find you even if he didn't say it last night or show it. I know you r a proper little vampire and all that but is there any chance we could make a fresh start? For Mick?"
Elaina had to admit the woman in front of her was ballsy. Smart and tough Elaina mused, makings of a good vampire. Elaina pondered what she should do about Beth's question. Josef seemed well acquainted with her and no one said anything against him....but then Josef was an elder and she was very new and very young starting out. Elaina sighed...she really needed to stop thinking about Josef ...and his kiss...and his body...she shook her head , trying to remove the thoughts.
Still though this was his brother's girlfriend and Elaina's instincts told her that she was good for her brother. As much as her instincts had hated Coraline they liked Beth. Elaina decided to take a chance and held out her hand gracefully.
Beth had watched the vampire sit in silence for several moments and she feared Elaina would say no and attacks her but she held her ground for Mick. All of a sudden the vampire's hand had lifted and Beth realised she was reaching out her hand to shake Beth's. Beth took the cold hand and shook it firmly. Maybe there was some hope after all.
The women chatted for a while before Elaina brought up last night's visit to the docks. "You never said why you guys were there" she said. "O we were following one of Mick's cases...strange things have been going on in the docks...lots of shady deals that's sort of thing. And we were wondering if it had something to do with the recent art thefts" Beth explained pulling out the pictures of the art to show her. Elaina looked at the book and the sword that had been stolen and gasped.
"This is the lost book of Minot" she breathed. "No no...it's some old civilisation book" corrected Beth " no one has ever been able to open it." "That's because to open it you need two types of blood...vampire and hunter" Elaina replied "there are vampire hunters loose in L.A."