Mr Compton's Children

by Templarlady

Bill becomes an adoptive maker to Azaria and Lazlo is brought to trial.

3. Chapter 3

I looked up at Bill who had fallen silent. "So was that the first time you met Nan?" I asked.

"Yes" said Bill, "she told me about the AVL's agenda and The Authority's involvement with the development of synthetic blood. It was, well...I don't know how to describe it really. To find out that there were others like me, who felt the same. Who wanted to come out of the shadows and live a relatively normal life, and that it might even be possible! It was...well, a revelation! More than that...it was a miracle, it was what I had been dreaming of for decades but never thought could ever actually happen."

I watched as Bill became more animated as he spoke of that night, the memory still bright and clear in his mind.

"Of course I knew that there were others who would oppose it. There still are. But when she asked if I was prepared to join them, to help the mainstreaming movement, I didn't hesitate for a moment. I knew, as well as they did, that the vampire monarchies would oppose the movement. They had a vested interest in retaining the status quo. They had immense power and influence which might well wane considerably if we were out in the open. Nan explained that the AVL needed spies to infiltrate the monarchies to "plant the seeds of discord from within." I volunteered to become one of those spies, in the kingdom of Louisiana, my home.

Sadly there are many of us who feel that we are superior beings. That, since we are immortal, we have the right to treat humans as animals, which are there to be hunted at our convenience. I've never really understood this attitude since we were all once human. At first I thought that this only happened in the oldest of our kind, that age brought some kind of detachment. But it seems that, in some people, the turning flips a switch in them, turning off their humanity. Perhaps they believed they were superior even when they were alive. I don't know, I only know that it didn't work for me."

"So what did you do?" I asked softly, unwilling to break his train of thought.

"Nan gave me her card with a number where she could be contacted. I called her the next night and she came to my house in Camden. I found it amusing that, despite all the information she supposedly had about me, she was surprised to see Claudia. Even more surprised that she treated me with the deference and respect a vampire shows to their Maker.

"I didn't know you had a child" she said. "We don't have you on record as a Maker."

I said nothing, merely looked at Claudia, waiting to see if she would have the confidence to speak up for herself.

"Bill's not my Maker" she said sitting down gracefully in an armchair opposite Nan. "But he's done more for me than any Maker could have. My true Maker abandoned me. I try not to think about what might have happened to me if Bill hadn't found me. We are...good friends."

Nan sat watching us, looking slightly flustered. Had I known at the time how rare an occurrence this was I might have enjoyed it more. As it was I simply asked her to expand on what she had told me the previous night.

After she had left Claudia and I talked for a long time. I knew that I wanted to be involved in this new movement. It's goals seemed to me to be what I had longed for for decades and to be truthful, I wanted to go home to Louisiana. I tried to persuade Claudia to come with me but it was obvious that she did not wish to leave London. I could not blame her for this, it was her home after all. I gave her all the information I had on the AVL and made her promise that, if she ever needed me, she would contact me.

Then at the end of the week, all the arrangements were made and we parted."

Bill gave a little sigh, of what might have been regret, and hugged me closer to him.

"And so I spent the next 30 years ostensibly working as Procurer for Queen Sophie-Anne of Louisiana whilst really I was working undercover for the AVL, reporting back everything I knew of her depraved Court to them, providing them with sufficient information to prevent her becoming an obstacle to the Great Revelation.

Unfortunately, I did such a good job that Nan managed to persuade me to stay on after the Revelation."

Bill paused, seemingly lost in thought for a moment.

"Procurer?" I asked "Is that what it sounds like?"

Bill turned to me, looking a little uncomfortable "Yes, actually, it probably is."

"Do I want to know about it?" I asked carefully.

"I doubt it. It's not something I'm very proud of." He lay down and rested his head against my shoulder. "I've done so many things that I'm ashamed of…I can only say in my defence that it seemed like the best option at the time. That I considered it was for the good of all our kind, humans too. And of course, if I hadn't done it, someone else would, although that's not meant as an excuse."

I reached over and began to stroke his hair, "the lesser of two evils" I murmured quietly.

Bill turned his head and looked up at me sadly "Yes, that was how I looked at it." He sighed "and then, somehow she met a girl called Hadley, who told her about her cousin, a waitress in a bar in a small town which just happened to be the town where I was born, where I had lived all my life, where I was happy, the place I felt I'd been trying to return to ever since. Sophie-Anne decided that she wanted this girl and dispatched her Procurer to fetch her."

At this point I had my own small revelation. "That was Sookie?" I asked.

"Yes" he said softly "A girl from my own home town, someone whose ancestors I had known in life, a girl who had lived her whole life within sight of my ancestral home, the house where I had grown up, where I had lived with my wife and family a century and a half earlier. She turned my life upside down for a second time."

I put my arm around him and hugged him.

"So" I said, thinking it best to change the subject. "You didn't see Claudia again until we met her in Amsterdam?"

"No" he answered, looking up. "We wrote to each other fairly regularly for a few years, it was difficult to try to talk on the phone because of the time difference and gradually I became caught up in the AVL and she became more independent and we simply lost touch." He smiled to himself. "She's grown into a beautiful, confident woman and a great asset to our cause. I'm so proud of her!"

I bent my head to kiss him gently. "I'm quite sure that, one day, you'll be equally proud of Azaria." I said.

We lay comfortably together for a while until we really had to get up, reluctantly, since I was very hungry and Bill had a meeting in town. I told him that I had promised to take Azaria shopping when I got back from the course and he looked horrified at the thought.

"You think I'm going to let two women loose with my credit card!" he said. "I may be a little out of touch, but I'm not completely crazy!"

"I'll only use it for her, I've got my own!" I said turning to the chest of drawers where I kept my clothes. As I bent to open the drawer I felt Bill's arms slip around me, pulling me back against him. He bent his head to my neck and kissed my ear. "Now you know I wasn't serious!" he muttered into my hair, sniffing at my warm skin. "I'd be perfectly happy for you to buy whatever you want. Especially if it's some more of this body lotion, you smell absolutely delicious!" His arms tightened around me and he began to kiss my neck in a rather more determined manner.

"Bill, stop that! You'll be late for your meeting!" I laughed.

"I'd much rather stay here with you" he murmured.

"No you wouldn't, believe me!" I said. "If I don't get something to eat soon I'll pass out!" I wriggled out of his grasp and pulled on some clothes. "Can you give us a lift into town?" I asked as Bill reluctantly headed into the bathroom.

"Yes, sure. I'll be up in a minute." He said. I grabbed my jacket and headed upstairs to the kitchen.

Azaria was already up and sat on the opposite counter watching me as I cut bread for toast and scrambled some eggs. By the time Bill was out of the shower and dressed we were ready to go. He dropped us in the centre of town and Azaria and I hit the shops.

After some consideration I've come to the conclusion that there must be something in the female genetic code which is hardwired to favour shoes. Azaria was an Inca princess who had gone for four centuries without ever setting eyes on a pair of Jimmy Choos but as soon as she saw them in the shop window she was determined to have them.

"Do you think perhaps a lower heel? Just to start with maybe?" I suggested, watching her walking gingerly in front of the mirror. "You've not had any experience at walking in these after all." She had selected a pair of silver sandals with a heel at least five inches high and thin silver straps up the instep to the ankle. I had to admit, they looked good on her.

"I can practice at home" she said excitedly. "Oh they make my legs look so slender, and long! Do you think Bill will be cross with me?" she asked.

I looked at the price tag on the box and winced. Then I watched Azaria admiring her ankles in the mirror and said "Leave him to me!"

I selected a pair of black pumps with a slightly lower heel and soft grey detailing on the side which would be just perfect with my dove grey evening dress and then we set off again. We spent several hours wandering about, stopping at one point in a small café for a coffee and a Tru Blood. They seemed to serve it everywhere these days. When I had first met Bill we had been hard pressed to find bars which stocked it but now, since he had become Sheriff, there was sufficient order among the vampire community that the human population had developed a much more relaxed attitude to vampires.

Our final purchase was a beautiful evening dress for Azaria. It was a soft black satin with silver detailing to match the shoes. The bodice was fitted leaving the arms and shoulders bare and there was a matching black satin strap around the neck. This was joined, front and back to the bodice by a mass of silver embroidery which flowed out from the collar and down one side of the bodice to the fitted waist. She looked stunning in it, the black satin showing off her bronzed skin and her glossy black hair falling down her back to blend into the satin of the dress.

We had arranged for Bill to pick us up at Carmillas after his meeting so we headed there and stashed our purchases in Bill's office. It still seemed really odd to me to feel confident that I was safe in a vampire bar but it was really the safest place in the area for us. Everyone knew us there and were well aware that we both belonged to Bill. The staff looked after us because Bill was the boss and the local vampires treated us with respect because Bill was the Sheriff.

We were able to sit at the bar with our drinks and relax since anyone else, vampire or human, who dared to try it on was swiftly dealt with by Ilario, the big Mexican bouncer who watched over Azaria like a mother hen with one chick. Anyone who dared to attempt to speak to her was given one chance and one only. If Azaria asked him to leave and he hung around when he was not wanted then he ran the risk of being comprehensively bounced.

Ilario obviously adored Azaria and when she had first arrived to stay with us, had been in awe of her and treated her like some ancient and powerful goddess, and I supposed that, to him, she was. Although the way she now teased him unmercifully about it meant that he was beginning to get over it.

We were just finishing our drinks when Bill arrived. "Had a good day ladies?" he asked with a smile, leaning in to give me a kiss.

"Wait 'til you see your office." I said. "We might need Ilario's help to carry our purchases to the car!"

Bill heaved a patient sigh and turned to Azaria. "I hope she's not teaching you all her bad habits!" he said.

"Like what?" she asked innocently.

"Oh...like buying half a dozen pairs of the same shoes in different colours." He suggested with a laugh. Azaria's eyes lit up, she hadn't thought of that, she had a lot to learn, I thought with a smile.

"Don't give her ideas!" I said. "She's doing quite well on her own."

We finished our drinks and Bill helped us load our bags into the car and drove us home. He had some paperwork to do resulting from his meeting so he left us together in the lounge and took his briefcase and laptop into the study.

Azaria and I sat down on the sofa together and she looked at me for a moment and then said rather tentatively. "I need to tell you something, but you have to promise you won't be angry with me?"

"Well, okay." I said. I didn't want her to be afraid to tell me things, after all.

"While you were away Bill and I talked about lots of things. I know you wanted to give us some time together..." she looked up at me questioningly.

"Well, yes. That was part of the reason I accepted the place on the training course." I said.

"We talked about all kinds of things, including Lazlo...my relationship with him." She looked down at her hands. "Our physical relationship."

"I see." I said. I took a deep breath, this wasn't fair, I wasn't old enough to have a teenage daughter! "You want to talk about sex?"

"I didn't know anything about it! I'd been very sheltered by my father's servants. Oh, I knew that someday I would have to marry some nobleman chosen by my father, but I knew nothing about...sex."

"Until Lazlo...?"

She sighed. "I saw him one day as I was out walking with my friends. I wasn't really supposed to go out alone of course, although I did manage to get out sometimes by myself. He was sitting on a rock by the river watching us. I'd never seen anyone like him in my life before. All our people were dark with black hair and brown eyes. He had yellow hair and his eyes!..….they were pale, not bright blue like Bill's but a paler grey, like yours. I just couldn't get him out of my mind and for days I looked for him every time we left the palace. Finally I sneaked out late at night and went back down to the river and he was there, waiting."

She sat with her feet curled up under her on the sofa looking out of the windows into the night. "He was just so unlike anyone I had ever met before! His pale skin almost glowed in the moonlight. He spoke our tongue but his accent was strange, exotic. He told me he had come from very far away, across the sea, that he had seen me out walking with my friends and had fallen in love with me. That he had been returning to this place by the river every night in the hope that he would see me again."

She turned to me with a little laugh. "Oh you must think me such an idiot…..I was so naïve!"

"Not at all!" I said "I'm sure he was very convincing. Perhaps he really had fallen in love, who knows?"

"Perhaps he had." She said quietly. "It certainly seemed so to me, but I was completely inexperienced. I'd never even been alone with a man before. We met often after that, I would sneak out at night and go down to the river where he would be waiting for me. He told me all about his home and his travels and he kissed me, but soon he wanted more than that. He said he loved me, wanted me. I didn't understand what he meant at first but then when I did, I didn't want it, I wasn't ready. But he was so strong...he forced me" she whispered.

I stared at her in horror. "He raped you? A virgin? Oh my..." I reached for her and she leant towards me and let me pull her into my arms. "You poor child!" I said, the fact that she was in fact many hundreds of years older than me completely forgotten in the sudden rush of emotion. "You didn't tell anyone?"

"I never had the chance" she said, turning her face to me, her eyes pink with bloody tears. "He held me to him and told me that he wanted me with him always. He opened his mouth and…..I had never seen his fangs before, I was terrified. He…..he bit me and….I don't really remember what happened after that."

She sniffed and sat up. "He wanted me again of course, many times" she said in a small voice. "After he...turned me, it didn't hurt so much, but I never really liked it. Then, when I came to live here, with you and Bill, I started to read books and use the internet and I read that other women enjoyed it!" She looked up at me. "I couldn't really believe it, I thought they were just saying that to please men. But then Bill showed me that it could be…..."

I froze. "He did what?" I asked quietly. Oh my God, was this why she had made me promise not to be angry?

Suddenly she seemed to grasp the implications of what she had said. "Oh no! No, no, no not like that!" she looked up at me with those enormous, soft brown eyes. No, it was nothing like that!"

She looked down again uncomfortably. "You did promise you wouldn't be cross with me?"

I just looked back at her silently and she took a deep breath and said "I watched you."

"You watched me?" I said, puzzled, "watched me when?"

"The night you came back from your training course" she explained. "Bill had asked me to stay up in my room for the evening, to give you some time together. I'm not stupid, I knew what he meant, I've seen how much he loves you Alex, how much he missed you while you were away. So I sneaked out onto the landing and lay on the carpet looking through the banisters." She stopped, watching me with a guilty expression as I looked up through the arched doorway into the lounge to see the landing, right in line with the sofa, and the rug in front of the fireplace. Oh no...!

Azaria was watching my reaction in my face and reached out to put her hand on my arm. "Please don't be angry with me" she said "I was just curious, and when I saw you together...he was so gentle and tender with you, so sweet. Watching the two of you enjoying one another made me realise that there was so much more to lovemaking than what I had experienced with Lazlo. That it could be wonderful!"

Azaria and I were sitting together on the couch when Bill returned. Azaria got up and said "I'll just take those bags to my room and leave you two in peace." She smiled at me and left the lounge heading for her own, light tight room.

"Well" I said getting up and stretching, "I could do with a shower."

Bill gave a little smile and watched as I followed Azaria out of the room.

Sure enough, as soon as I stepped into the shower I heard the bathroom door open. I looked around to see Bill leaning on the doorframe, watching me.

"If you took up my suggestion and bought some more of that delicious body lotion I'd like to volunteer my services to rub it in for you" he said, giving me a sly little smile.

I took a sponge off the shelf and squeezed some lemon bodywash onto it. "Need your back scrubbed sweetheart?" I asked. Bill was naked in seconds and in the cubicle with me. I switched the shower on and stood under the hot water for a moment shaking my head to get my hair thoroughly wet. Then I turned to Bill and began to soap his chest with the sponge. I waited until his eyes began to close and then said quietly "Azaria seemed to enjoy herself today."

"Mmmm?" he said softly.

I began to move the sponge down to his stomach with long gentle strokes. "She found herself a lovely pair of shoes." I murmured.

"Just the one pair? I'm impressed with her restraint!" he replied, watching me slide the sponge down over his thighs.

I reached around him and began to scrub his back. "Well," I said "They were quite expensive." I felt him stiffen slightly at the sound of the word "expensive" and moved around behind him, running my fingernails gently down his back and over his buttocks.

He shuddered, "Um, how...how expensive, exactly?" he asked as I slid my soapy hand between his legs and began to carefully wash his balls.

I took his rapidly hardening member in my hand and began to soap it, gently at first and then more vigorously. "About four hundred pounds." I said.

"Wha...Ohhhh! Alex!" he leant forward, bracing his hands against the tiles as I soaped him more thoroughly than was perhaps absolutely necessary. He gasped and pulled himself together with an effort. "How much!" he asked.

"Four hundred" I said, pressing myself up against him from behind as I reached around him and began to massage his eager manhood with both hands.

"Four...!" suddenly I felt myself being lifted up and swung around until I was being held with my back against the tiled wall. Bill was standing under the shower head, water running down his hard muscled body and dripping from his hair. He leaned forward and fastened his mouth on mine, kissing me hungrily, passionately, sliding his wet hands down my body and underneath my buttocks, lifting me up level with him. Holding me firmly against the wall he stepped forward and drove himself into me with a groan, pushing me back against the tiles. I wrapped my legs around his waist, his skin slippery with soap, put my hands on his broad shoulders and hung on as he thrust himself into me. I laid my head on his shoulder savouring the feel of his thick shaft sliding into my hot, wet flesh.

"Oh...Bill!" I whispered. "That's...oh!" I could feel Bill's powerful arousal through the bond and his emotions were so strong that within a few moments I felt a familiar tightening deep within myself. "Oh...Bill" I cried again, more urgently this time. Bill gave a growl and began to thrust harder until we both collapsed in a heap on the tiled floor, the shower still pouring hot water down over our tangled limbs.

After a moment Bill picked me up and stood up, carrying me out of the shower cubicle. He pulled a handful of towels from the rail and headed into the bedroom where he laid me down gently on the bed. I lay flat out on the bed breathing hard while Bill began to carefully dry my body with the soft towels.

"Thank God she didn't want the black velvet pumps" I panted.

Bill paused and grinned down at me. "Why, how much were they?" he asked.

"Eleven hundred" I muttered "God knows what I would have had to do for that!"

Bill laughed, "Oh you wicked, wicked girl!" he said.

I turned my head and winced as I felt a twinge of pain in the muscles of my neck.

"Are you okay? Did I hurt you" he asked.

"Just a little stiff" I said.

"Here, let me help you with that" he murmured climbing up onto the bed and kneeling behind me. He lifted my head and shoulders into his lap and began to massage my neck and shoulders. I closed my eyes and relaxed, the feel of his long, strong fingers kneading the muscles making me sigh with pleasure. After a while I felt something brushing against my cheek. I opened my eyes and smiled to myself, evidently Bill was enjoying this as much as I was! I moved my head slightly to one side, rubbing my cheek gently against his hard length, feeling a new surge of arousal flow through the bond. I ran my tongue along him, the skin feeling warm from the hot water and from my body, a slight scent of citrus remaining from the lemon body wash I had soaped him with so liberally earlier.

I began to lick at him more firmly and his rhythmic massaging of my shoulders began to falter as he relaxed into the pleasure. I turned my head and tried to take him into my mouth but the position was too awkward and Bill, ever the gentleman, lifted my head and shoulders from his lap and laid me down flat on the bed, kneeling over me. Knees spread out on either side of my head. I stretched up and began to lick at the underside of his shaft, curling my tongue slowly around his heavy balls with each stroke. He gave a soft moan and began to lean forward, angling himself down towards my waiting mouth and easing the head of his shaft between my lips. I closed my lips over him and sucked, drawing another moan from him and making him spread his knees further apart and lean further forward, trying to encourage me to take more of his length.

He slid his hands down my body, pausing to caress my breasts gently and then moving on downwards, his long fingers exploring the soft wet fur between my legs. He bent his head and planted a soft kiss on my belly and then slipped his arm under my hips. With one quick movement we were flipped over and suddenly he was lying on his back and I was astride him, his hands on my thighs. He gave a gentle push of encouragement and I fell forward putting out my hands on either side of his hips with a little gasp as his rock hard member seemed to leap up towards my face eagerly. As I took him back into my mouth I felt Bill's hands move up to my buttocks and his tongue began to move gently over my still twitching folds. I began to move my tongue in time with his, feeling the swollen head of his shaft rubbing against the roof of my mouth in the same slow rhythm.

He continued to caress me gently with his tongue until I felt the muscles in my thighs begin to cramp and I knew that they would no longer hold me up. Now my weight was completely supported by Bill's strong hands on my hips. We lay locked together, pleasuring each other and feeling each other's pleasure through the bond, Bill's talented tongue pushing me to the brink of ecstasy and then easing back over and over until I began to convulse in his hands and he eased his tongue away from me and sank his fangs into the soft flesh on the inside of my thigh pushing both of us over the edge completely. I felt my blood pouring out into his waiting mouth at the same time as his seed poured out into mine.

Bill gently lifted my limp body off his and laid me down on the bed. He got up and turned around so that he was lying alongside me.

"Well" I said, when I'd got my breath back. "That was... interesting!"

Bill smiled down at me "I'll have to take a look at these shoes, but I can tell you right now, they were worth every penny!"

I smiled back up at him "I'm glad you think so" I murmured. "I certainly thought so!"

"You enjoyed that?" he asked softly.

"Mmm...yes."

"Good." Bill began to trace patterns on the skin of my breasts and stomach with his long, elegant fingers. "I want to please you. I want you to tell me what you like, what you even think you might like. I want to be able to fulfil your most secret fantasies."

I gave a sigh "Oh believe me Bill, you do!" I lay still and watched this dark creature looking down at me, his brilliant eyes full of warmth and love who, only the previous night had held me down on this bed in his jaws, almost lost to the darkness which surrounded him and in the process had given me the most powerful orgasm of my life.

"So, do you have any secret fantasies?" he asked with a little smile.

"Oh Bill," I laughed. "I'm yours...I'll do anything you want...well, within reason. Don't go pulling out a pair of furry handcuffs or anything kinky like that!"

Bill's expression turned thoughtful. "You never know" he said "You might enjoy it! Being powerless can be quite...liberating."

I looked up at him, surprised. "Come on, you're so strong I'm pretty helpless anyway without the assistance of handcuffs!" I had a sudden flash of intuition "or are the handcuffs for you?"

Bill chuckled and leaned down to plant a kiss on my stomach. "I think you might like that!" He laughed and lay down beside me again. "Some other time perhaps?" he said. "Actually I need to talk to you about Azaria." He sighed and said "I've been trying to think of some way to bring this up but I can't think of an appropriate time. You spent some time with her tonight, did she talk to you?"

"Well yes, we talked" I said, wondering what he was getting at.

"While you were away she told me something of her past, something particularly which worried me." He paused for a moment. She told me that Lazlo had raped her" He looked at me helplessly "I...I didn't know what to say, what to do. Perhaps you should talk to her. Maybe another woman... I just don't know what I can do to help her."

I thought of my earlier conversation with Azaria and couldn't help giggling "Oh, I think you've done enough already!" I said.

"What? I haven't done anything." he said, puzzled, "What are you talking about?" He looked so worried and confused, bless him, that I decided that, despite having thought earlier that this was something that I would never mention, I would have to tell him.

"Well" I said with a smile "I don't think you'll have to worry about that any more." An expression of such profound relief washed over his face that I giggled again, I couldn't help it.

"You see, you..." I burst out laughing and Bill's patience finally snapped. He rolled over until he was on top of me, holding me down.

"Alex!" he said sternly "Stop that giggling right now and tell me what you're talking about!"

"Okay, okay, I will. But you have to promise not to be angry" I said, still giggling.

"Why would I…...okay, okay, I promise." he said.

"You remember the night I got home from the course?" I asked.

His face softened instantly and took on a reminiscent expression. "Oh yes, I think I can remember that" he said softly.

I took a deep breath and said in a rush "Well Azaria was lying on the landing carpet watching us through the banisters."

There was dead silence for a moment as Bill took this in. "What?" he said faintly, sounding stunned.

"She was..."

"Yes, I heard what you said...I just didn't believe it! You mean she watched us...?"

"Yes."

There was a pause, during which Bill rolled off me and lay down beside me again. "And that helped?" he asked.

"Apparently, yes."

Bill was now looking stunned as well as sounding it.

"Well there's no need to look quite so surprised. I admit I was a little shocked, not to say embarrassed, when she told me, but can see how it would." I said.

"I can't….how?" he asked bluntly.

"Come on Bill! Put yourself in her place. Her only experience of sex was of being forced by Lazlo. She thought she loved him and so she allowed it to please him. She obviously knew that he enjoyed it, but she certainly didn't." I gave a disgusted, and highly unladylike, snort. "You know Lazlo, does he seem to you like the sort of person to go out of his way to please anyone, other than himself that is? She'd had a very sheltered upbringing and she didn't really understand that women could enjoy sex as well, she just accepted that it was something we had to put up with to please men. An opinion that a quite lot of women seem to have to accept I must say." I said crossly. "It's all very well for men…...ouch!"

Bill gave me a nudge in the ribs "You're wandering from the point! Don't give me all that feminist stuff, you're preaching to the converted here!" He gave me his warmest, sexiest smile. "Or do you have some complaints about my technique?"

I giggled again "No….don't be silly! But anyway, when she started reading stuff about it on the internet…."

"What!" Bill sat up suddenly "are you telling me she's been looking up pornography on the internet?" he asked, horrified.

"Oh don't be so stuffy Bill, she's not a child. She's older than you are! You can't read, or go on the internet or even watch TV these days without coming across sex in some form. And that's what happened, when she found women who said they enjoyed sex, she didn't really believe it. Then she watched us….."

Bill looked at me with an embarrassed little grin on his face. "Well I was certainly enjoying it!" he said.

I smiled reminiscently "So was I, that's the point. She said that watching us had made her realise that, what she had experienced with Lazlo was not…well…..normal. That it could be better than that, much better.

"I hope this doesn't mean that she's planning to try out her new-found knowledge?" asked Bill darkly.

"I don't think so." I said. "At least not any time soon!"

Bill sat silent for a moment looking thoughtful and then startled me by suddenly bursting out into laughter.

"Hey!" I said indignantly "This isn't funny. She was very serious!"

"Yes I appreciate that" he said between laughs "But I've spent the last couple of nights, ever since she told me, worrying myself sick over how I was going to deal with it. Or how I could even bring it up so that I could ask you to deal with it! And all along I'd already solved the problem without even knowing…and I even had fun doing it!"

I started laughing as well "See, I told you you'd be good at this."

"Hey, I'd no idea it was going to be that easy!"

"But it is easy Bill" I said, suddenly serious "you don't have to be a stern father figure or a mentor or anything like that. You just have to be yourself. She adores you, she respects you and she wants to be like you. I always knew that you would set her a good example...although I admit that wasn't quite the example I had in mind!"

Bill kissed me gently "And I always knew you would be a great help to me." he said as he pulled me closer.

Everything was relatively normal for the next few weeks. Well, as normal as my life ever gets. But, as usual, just as I was thinking that everything was going well, the bombshell dropped on me. One day at work I received an e-mail saying that there was going to be a major re-organisation in the company and that my post was no longer required!

Bill and Azaria were still asleep when I returned so I sat alone on the terrace wondering what to do next and fuming quietly to myself. My emotions were swinging wildly from an irrational terror of unemployment, fear that I would never find another job and fury that someone could do this to me. Just turn my life upside-down on a whim.

I sat and watched the sun sink below the horizon and, as it did so the terrace doors were flung open and Bill appeared looking terrified.

"Alex! Are you okay, what's happened?" He flung himself down on his knees in front of me. It suddenly hit me that he had been feeling all my conflicting emotions through the bond.

"Oh Bill darling! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to frighten you" I said, taking his hands. "It's just..." suddenly it was all too much for me and I burst into tears.

"Oh my precious! What is it?" Bill picked me up and carried me back into the lounge, sitting down on the sofa and cradling me in his arms.

"Oh Bill! I've lost my job!" I said with a sigh. "I'll be okay, it's just...scary, that's all."

"Come on sweetheart. You've dealt with things much scarier than this" he said, trying to comfort me.

"I know, but then at least there was something I could do!" I said angrily "There's just nothing I can do about this. I just can't believe it! They send me on an expensive, two week training course in computing and accounts and then they tell me I'm going to be made redundant!" I got up and began to pace up and down the lounge. "I suppose I'd better start signing on with some agencies to try and get another job!" I flung myself back down on the sofa with a scowl.

Bill was watching me carefully with a strange look on his face, as if he were trying to gather his courage for some dangerous task.

"Do you really need to find another job?" he asked quietly.

"And what else am I supposed to do?" I snapped back angrily. "Become your kept woman?"

Bill appeared to take a deep breath and braced himself. "You could work for me" he suggested quietly.

"What!"

"Now don't get cross with me Alex. It's only a suggestion." He said, backing away. "But yes, actually I do need an assistant. Originally I left the running of my various businesses to managers but increasingly I'm finding that I need to get involved myself. There's also a lot of extra work I need to do as Sheriff, obviously I wouldn't want you to get involved with that…."

"Good grief, you're serious aren't you?" I said quietly.

"Yes, I am." he replied. "You've helped me before now to sort out problems with things I've brought home on my laptop. You understand accounts, spreadsheets, databases, you've been very helpful. Plus I get the advantage of that two week course!" He gave me a careful little smile "Alex…I really need someone I can trust, really trust, to do all the things that I can't do, things that have to be done in the daytime, that I would have to pay someone else to do. You have to understand that it's difficult for us to have to rely on humans, difficult to judge their loyalty when it may only be because you're paying them."

"Does that mean you won't be paying me?" I asked.

"Of course I will! Well…..not me personally. My businesses are owned by a limited company of which I'm the sole shareholder so technically you'd be employed by the company and they would pay you."

"But you'd be my boss?" I said with a little smile. "I'd be, sort of, your PA?"

"Something like that" he said. I noticed that he had visibly relaxed now that he was confident that I wasn't going to have a tantrum or haul off and slap him. I reached up and took his hand and he sat down beside me.

"You seemed very wary of making that suggestion" I said. "Did you think I was going to get mad at you?"

"Well, I thought it was a strong possibility. I've always admired your independence and I was just a little worried that you might hate the idea." He replied with a grin.

"I'll have to think about it, it might not be a good idea, you realise that? Living with your boss?"

"I'd like to think of us more as…..partners." He said putting his arm around me and pulling me a little closer.

"Oh right!" I laughed "Partners, but you're in charge? Depends what kind of boss you'll be. Maybe I should interview you!"

"Shouldn't that be the other way around."

"Well you're the one who offered me the job! What did you have in mind exactly?" I asked.

"Well, I won't be sending you away on any long training courses, that's for sure!" He laughed. "He pulled me closer and leaned in to kiss me gently.

"Hmm…I can see you're going to be the demanding kind of boss" I said with a smile.

"Oh very!" he murmured, trailing kisses up my jawline towards my ear. "I'm extremely demanding!"

"So it would be mostly administration then, or do you have any other duties in mind for me?" I asked innocently.

"Oh I might have some specialised duties for you from time to time" he said, his voice soft and seeming to warm my skin. I could feel his lips curve into a little smile.

"That sounds like it could be fun…..but I really don't think I want to be paid for it! There's a name for women like that!"

Bill froze, his lips nuzzled under my earlobe. "That wasn't what I meant!"

I sighed. "Yes, I know that…but I wonder if this would actually be a good idea?"

Bill sat up and looked me in the eye. "I really do think you'd be perfect. You could be a great help to me, I know you could and I trust you absolutely to act in my best interests. But if you don't think it's a good idea, if it would make you uncomfortable in any way, then we'll forget about it." He gave a sigh and reached over to trace his finger down my cheek. "If I have to make a choice, I'd much rather have you in my bed than in my office!" he said bluntly.

I flushed, embarrassed "You really think I could do this don't you?" I asked seriously.

"Yes, I do" said Bill, those brilliant blue eyes fixed on mine. "I've said this before, you're an intelligent and resourceful woman Alex. You could do this easily, you could be a valuable partner to me in so many ways."

We stared at each other in silence for a moment. "Why don't you try it for a few months?" he asked tentatively. "You can look for other jobs at the same time if you like. Just see how you get on, if it doesn't work out then I'll have to find someone else. Or perhaps…no, maybe not." He paused.

"What?" I asked.

"No, that's going too far." He said shaking his head.

"Bill!...what were you going to suggest?" I asked "If we're going to work together you have to be straight with me!"

"I'm always straight with you!" he cried indignantly "You know that! It's just…..I was thinking." He looked at me seriously. "Now don't get mad at me okay?"

Now I was starting to get worried. "What on earth have you got in mind?" I asked.

"Well, since you've moved in here almost permanently I was thinking that, if you wanted to have more of a stake in the business, you might think about selling your house and investing the money with me. Then we would be genuine partners."

My mouth dropped open as I sat and stared at him.

"Alex…. say something please." I simply couldn't think of anything to say. "Okay, it was a bad idea, forget it!" he said quickly.

"No, no it's not a bad idea." I said slowly. "Actually I have been wondering if I should do something about the house. I was thinking I might let it out just in case…"

"Just in case you needed it?" said Bill quietly, his lips curling up into a little smile. "In case I threw you out into the cold?" he pulled me over to him and kissed me. "You know I never want you to leave!"

I smiled back "I know, but it's just such a big step. You know I trust you, I trust you with my life, but with my money? That's different!"

Bill laughed and put his arm around me. "Yes, I can understand that. It's a big step. Just think about it. We would have to arrange to tie up your money somehow so that it would be safe, but I'm sure we could manage something." He put both arms around my waist and pulled me closer. "And once I've got my evil hands on your money..." he kissed me tenderly "...then I can start on your body!" He began kissing me more passionately.

"Mmm...I'd just be your helpless slave!" I murmured pulling him down onto the sofa with me.

"Bill!...Bill where are you?"

We sat up suddenly as Azaria came into the lounge in a pair of soft jersey pyjamas holding Bill's phone.

"You left it on the hall table...it was ringing" she said handing it to him. Bill took the phone and flipped it open. He read the text and his face changed.

He looked up at us with a worried expression. "It's from Ulrich, he wants to speak to us, all of us, about Lazlo. He's on his way here, he says he'll be here in a few hours."