Greetings from The Lady Mage.
AUTHOR NOTES: Hello, and welcome to chapter sixteen! Thankyou so much for the lovely reviews! I'm really enjoying writing this as much as I hope you enjoy reading it, and FINALLY, the story moves! Took me enough time, huh? Thanks to VampyricAngel21 and LadyK for all the help and feedback- and just listening to me ramble now and then . . . well, all the time, but you get the idea. Love you guys! Oh, and I've put all the French into italics so you can just glance and know. . . yeah. Okay.
Read, enjoy, review!
DISCLAIMER: . . . . you should know by now that I don't own this. If I did, this would be book 2, baby. Yeah!
RATING: PG-13 cause I said.
"Come on, Kindra. Open the door? Please?"
Kindra hardly looked up from Sondra's collection of babydolls, doing her best to ignore her mate.
"I play too?" Nikkie asked, picking up a doll and cradling it like a teddy. Sondra seemed pleased with him, nodded, and lifted a doll of her own to mother.
"Kindra, I didn't mean it like that! Just open the door?" On the other side of the locked door, Damon sighed, running a nervous and frustrated hand through his midnight locks. He contemplated punching the wall, but figured Selene would greatly dissapprove of a new hole. Instead, he settled for a myriad of ugly faces directed at no one in particular- just something to do to vent.
"You know, if you aren't careful, your face will freeze that way."
The young lycan nearly leapt out of his skin, growling instinctually at the two vampiress's standing in the doorway. He scowled at them, then scowled at the closed nursery door. Erika, who had spoken, gave him a concerned look.
"Something wrong?"
"Pissed her off again." he muttered, crossing his arms.
"Again?" Selene repeated. "What did you do this time?"
"Said somethin'."
"What did you say?"
"I'd rather not repeat it in front of either of you." He quickly looked up, knowing they'd get it out of Kindra. Ever since he had marked her, those two had taken her under their wings, allowing her to join their rank as wives. She'd tell them anything. "But I didn't mean it how it came out!"
"I don't care how you meant it!" Kindra shouted through the door, followed by a thump as though a pillow had been thrown at the door.
"Kindra, come on. Just open the door, please?" Damon asked through the door. "I'll do anything! Baby, you know I'm sorry."
"Don't you 'Baby' me, Damon!"
"Svp, Amour! Je t'aime! Je suis desole! Laissez-moi dedans? (Please, Love! I love you! I'm sorry! Just let me in!)"
"Et comment pouvez-vous m'aimer si je suis juste un vampire?! (And how can you love me if I am just a vampire?)" She hissed back to him. "Vont le chiot parti et odorant de loup! (Go away, smelly wolf puppy!)"
"CHIOT? Je suis plus age que vous! (PUPPY? I'm older than you!)"
"Et toujours une bete odorante de bebe! Allez-vous -en! Je ne vous parlerai pas encore ce soir! (And still a smelly baby beast! Go away! I won't speak to you again tonight!)"
Damon fought the urge to whimper. Usually by now, he'd have her back to him. She'd listen to him explain himself, then quietly accept an apology, while giving one of her own. Now, she was sending him away for the night?
Selene put her hand on his shoulder. "Perhaps you should go and stick with Michael and Marcus? We'll talk to her."
"Go on before Lucian catches on that she's upset again." Erika said. "Unless you would like a matching bruise on your other shoulder. Then feel free to stick around."
With a sigh and grunt of resignation, Damon turned and left the suite, heading for the underground.
Once the 'chiot de loup' was gone, Erika tapped on the nursery door. Sondra opened it, smiling up at her mother and aunt. She stepped aside to let them in, then shut the door behind them before returning to Nikkie and their babies.
Kindra sat on Sondra's bed, trying to finish sewing up one of Damon's shirts. She hardly glanced up at Selene and Erika until they sat on the bed as well. "We were walking down the hall and he said he smelled a damn vampire." she said casually as if discussing such boring topics as the weather.
"A damn vampire?" Erika asked with a deep scowl. "What?"
"We were walking back down the hall. He stopped, said he smelled something plutot mechant. (rather nasty)" Kindra explained, tying off her last stitch, then holding the shirt up for inspection. "I asked what. He said it smelled like a damn vampire."
"The little goon." Erika murmered.
"He didn't mean it that way." Kindra said, her voice still sweet and casual.
"Then why the fuss?" Selene asked.
Kindra smirked. "He needs a bit of discipline now and then until he learns what to say and what not- and actions as well." She folded the shirt in her lap. "I'll go down and see about him when I put the children down for their nap. Until then, let him stew."
Erika laughed quietly. "I've taught you well."
"Yes, you have."
He had heard the young lover's quarrel, and listened with interest from the linen closet he hid within. His ears perked when he heard her voice, or rather, their voices. Them, the two women who had betrayed him.
Selene.
Erika.
Though he did wonder for a few moments what the young Ordoghaz maid was doing with Selene, he quickly dismissed the blonde from his mind, concentrating instead on Selene. Now was his chance- his opportunity to repay his debt to his treacherous queen. He was going to make her pay. Perhaps he couldn't hurt her physically, but he could break her from within.
All he had to do was find her weakness.
He peered out through the crack between the door and its frame, watching Selene and Erika converse quietly for a few seconds before walking together down the hallway. Once the coast was clear, he slinked from his hiding place, slipping into the room next to the closet.
The room he was in was obviously a bedroom suite. It was done up victorian styled like most of the castle, in navy and black velvet. A massive canopy bed dominated the room, piled high with throw pillows to make it look luxurious. The room also contained a desk covered in papers, a chaise with a matching armchair, a few bookcases, and a vanity. But Kraven did not pay any attention to the furniure in the room. Oh, no. What had his attention was sitting innocently on the nightstand.
A picture of Selene, her hybrid, and the little dark-haired child he'd seen earlier.
Selene's daughter.
In the next room, Kindra sat with Sondra and Nikkie. It was finally nearing their 'lunchtime', which meant it was time for them to review the few lessons that Selene and Erika insisted they be taught. Kindra smiled, listening to the two of them quietly sing their alphabets- in French, then in Russian.
Once they were finished, Kindra helped them put away their toys.
"Qui a faim? (Who is hungry?)" she asked the two, tossing the last stuffed animal onto Sondra's bed.
"Je! Je! (Me! Me!)" both answered, rushing to her and taking her hands. WIth a smile, she lead them from the nursery, headed for the kitchen, blissfully unaware of the sepant-like man watching her from the keyhole.
Once the girl was gone- Kindra, he believed was her name- Kraven slithered into the nursery. He paused, taking his time to examine the room. It was the epitome of 'girly' with its pinks and creams, and contained only a few good places to hide.
He sniffed around. He could smell Selene and Erika here- and he could smell Selene's brat, as well as Kindra and the little boy with them. It wreaked of lycan enough to make him want to cover his nose, but he fought the urge in lieu of hiding until the nanny returned with the children.
Only then could he put his slowly-forming plan in motion.
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The Lady Mage