The witches cast their spell, Myka worries, and Sally reacts badly to the result. As always, terribly violent and stuff. Just FYI.
The next day passed in a quiet blur. The calls were fairly routine – domestic calls, one car accident caused by a notorious drunk-driver who ended up in their small jail waiting for a transfer to county for the fourth time that year and a daylight fistfight outside of the local bar that took Pete, Steve, and the new deputies to break up. The jail cells were going to be full that night as the various perpetrators sobered up. Myka was sure that there would be some lectures delivered by the significant others of those gentlemen when they were bailed out the following morning.
"Boss, I got all the vampire gear we ordered from the New Orleans PD," Claudia said after knocking on the doorjamb of her office. "You want me to hand them out?"
Myka nodded.
"Ok, boss. You first, then," Claudia said, handing her several boxes of silver bullets, a Kevlar vest laced with silver, a variation on Mace that contained silver powder and holy water and the last resort – a silver-tipped wooden stake.
"Really? They use stakes in New Orleans? I thought that was just a story," Myka said, crinkling her face sceptically.
"Yeah, well, according to the officer I spoke to, they lost three men to close quarter combat with vamps before they came up with these. It's not so much that the guys are now crack-shot vampire slayers, he said, but more that the vamps don't want to get too close just in case," Claudia said.
"Okay. Thank you, Claud. You've done an amazing job," Myka said, and the young woman blushed.
"Just doing my job, ma'am," she said, disappearing as quickly as she'd appeared. Myka suppressed a sigh. She was going to be "Ma'am" from now until the end of time, whether she liked it or not.
The evening was quiet and still, and by the time Helena arrived, Myka's tank top was see-through with sweat.
"Good evening, love," Helena said, bending to kiss Myka, who was seated as usual on the porch swing.
"Hey," Myka said, smiling crookedly at her vampire. "You have some colour in your cheeks. Did you just feed?" she asked, feeling a little… was that jealousy?
"True Blood only, my darling," Helena assured her. "I have no desire to drink from another, you can be assured of that. Your taste is like no other," she murmured, kissing Myka's pulse point where her fang marks from the previous night were clearly visible.
"I wish I knew what time to expect Valda and his witches," Myka murmured, as Helena kissed her neck, cool lips against her skin making her shiver.
"Wonder no longer, Sheriff," came Valda's voice from the woods. She sat up with a sigh and Helena moved away from her smoothly.
"Welcome, Mr Valda," Myka said. "Can I offer you anything to eat or drink?"
"No, thank you, Sheriff. My pack will be heading to hunt after we settle this matter," he said, bowing politely.
To Myka's surprise, the rest of the pack appeared along with Leena, the dispatcher from the station.
"Leena is one of our resident witches," Valda explained. "And this," he said, indicating a beautiful Latino woman who was next to Leena, "is Kelly Hernandez, who is also a witch, or as she terms it, a bruja. They are, I am told, possessed of incredible power. It would normally take an entire circle of witches to cast this spell, but they can do it together," he said, bowing slightly at the two witches.
"Good evening, Leena," Myka said politely, vowing silently to herself that she would, at some point, stop being surprised by the extra-curricular activities of the people in this little town. She wondered vaguely if anyone was actually human aside from her. Being a telepath didn't make her a supernatural being, right?
Kelly Hernandez shook her from her reverie, offering her hand to be shaken.
"It's nice to meet you, Sheriff," she said, smiling widely. She was incredibly beautiful, with straight white teeth and a mischievous smile. Myka thought idly that she should introduce her to Pete, then she stopped herself. Since when were she and Pete friends who set each other up? Since when were she and Pete friends?
Leena was already busy with jars of coloured sand, and Kelly joined her. Soon there were intricate designs inside a circle in the centre of the yard.
"Okay, Sheriff, Mr Valda, we're ready," Leena said, calmly, seating herself on the rough grass in the yard, and Kelly sat opposite her quickly, taking a long, calming breath through her nose.
"Very well," Benedict Valda proclaimed. "You may begin."
Myka was jiggling her left leg, an old habit when she was worried. There was a lot riding on these witches and their powers. She wasn't sure she even believed in magic, and here they were with an entire pack in the woods near them, ready to tear them apart if this spell showed them somehow to be guilty. Myka knew they weren't guilty of a thing, but that didn't matter, necessarily. Magic could be manipulated, right?
As she worried, Pete approached from the side of the house in his human form flanked by Jeff and Liam.
"Evening, Sheriff," he said, tipping an imaginary hat.
"Hey, Pete," she said, nodding at the other two. At least they had backup if this all went south.
As she looked out at the trees she saw a whisper of silver that became more defined, eventually taking the shape of a rather ghostly Marcus Diamond with a gun in his hand. From behind him came Walter Sykes, and Myka shuddered involuntarily at the image of her would-be rapist and murderer.
She stood up suddenly, realising that all the 'action' had taken place right here on her porch, and Helena followed her to stand next to Pete, Jeff and Liam, off to one side where they could see both sides of the silent conversation between the ghostly figures of Marcus Diamond, Walter Sykes and her past self, who was stood, frozen, on the porch. Myka watched in fascination as the ghostly image of herself put one hand in her back pocket, making the telephone call that summoned Helena and ultimately saved her life.
She watched with her heart in her throat as the ghostly figure of dog-Pete jumped at Walter, only to be shot in the chest by Marcus. There was a chorus of growls at that, from both next to her and from the trees where the pack was watching.
She saw herself scuffle with Sykes, and watched as she broke his nose. This time the triumph she felt wasn't a surprise. But when she saw how hard Marcus Diamond hit her, how many times he kicked her, in the face, in the throat, in the stomach, she could hear the weres all around growling, and Helena was standing behind her, suddenly, with her arms around Myka, and her growl was deep and rumbling and terrifying.
As it became clear that Marcus and Walter had been the perpetrators here, rather than Myka or Helena, Benedict Valda cleared his throat.
"I don't think we need to see anymore," he said, looking away in disgust as Walter Sykes began manhandling Myka's prone body in the ghostly scene on the porch. "It's clear that Marcus brought his fate on himself, as did this Sykes character. Sally, I'm afraid your petition is refused. You must…"
He stopped speaking in astonishment as a black panther, presumably Sally, launched itself across the yard and straight towards Myka. Myka stood frozen for a second before remembering the silver spray on her belt. While it was meant for vampires, it would work perfectly well on weres. She pulled it out and sprayed a mist directly in the face of the oncoming panther. The effect was instantaneous; Sally-as-panther let out a feline shriek and fell to the ground, writhing in pain and trying to clean her face with her front paws, only making matters worse as the silver then burned at her paws. Myka looked at her dispassionately, and after a moment Benedict Valda joined her.
"I'm sorry, Sheriff. Clearly Sally is overcome with horror at what her boyfriend did to you and is acting out of character as a result. You may consider this matter closed. Sally Stukowski will not bother you again."
Sally's outline had begun to blur and become liquid, and Mr Valda took off his jacket, spreading it over her form before she changed. He was an interesting character, this Benedict Valda – a contradiction in many ways. Myka thought it might be a good idea to keep him on side, and decided to speak to him at a later date to discuss allying the pack with the Sheriff's department, to keep all the townspeople safe, were and human.
At Valda's nod, two brawny men appeared, carefully putting on gloves despite the stifling heat, and they picked up Sally Stukowski carefully and carried her away into the trees. Before long only Myka, Helena, Pete and friends and the two witches were left in the yard. The spell had yet to run its course, apparently, and Myka watched in fascination as she watched Helena dispatch both Marcus and Walter within seconds. The vampire looked around her, chest heaving, which was odd since she didn't need to breathe, but Myka reasoned that it was just a conditioned response to rage. The ghostly Helena bit at her own wrist savagely, before lifting Myka's limp figure onto her lap and dripping blood into her mouth. Myka watched herself revive magically while Helena fed her blood to the naked figure of Pete Lattimer before picking Myka up and taking her indoors. After that she came outside and lifted Pete, blurring away into the trees.
"Well, that's all she wrote, folks," Kelly said, clapping her hands together once, and the candles that were placed at strategic points around the circle extinguished themselves. Leena shot her a filthy look.
"Show-off," she muttered, and Kelly laughed.
Helena's arms tightened around Myka. She turned in Helena's arms to look at the vampire.
"What's wrong, Helena?"
"I almost lost you," Helena murmured, her eyes black. With rage or pain, Myka couldn't tell.
"I'm here. You saved me," Myka said quietly, knowing that no matter how quiet she was, almost everyone could still hear her. She couldn't quite bring herself to care as she looked into Helena's eyes, the world seeming to still around them.
"Ahem," Pete said loudly. Myka took a deep breath and turned to him.
"What is it, Pete?"
"We're gonna take off, boss, if that's okay. Do you gals need a lift?" he asked suddenly, smiling roguishly at Kelly and Leena.
"Ah… that would be nice, actually," Leena murmured, smiling as she looked between Pete and Kelly. Kelly looked at her in surprise, and then shrugged.
"Sure," she said, smiling. They began to gather up their candles and they shuffled around in the sand circle together, disrupting the pattern they had drawn for their ritual. The weres and witches were gone within a minute or so and Myka's backyard suddenly felt too big and too quiet.
Myka and Helena walked back to the porch swing, and Myka noticed that they both avoided the part of the porch where Myka had lain, helpless, while Marcus Diamond beat the hell out of her and Walter Sykes tried to force his disgusting self on her.
"If I could kill him again, I would," Helena hissed, her teeth bared and a deep, rumbling growl beginning in her chest once again.
"He's gone, Helena," Myka said mildly, trying to dispel the nausea she felt at watching Walter Sykes' attempt at violating her. If Helena hadn't been there…
"I know. But I would kill him again. I will kill anyone who touches you…" the vampire growled.
"I think that's a bit of an overreaction, honey," Myka said as she sat in the porch swing, turning to face Helena with one leg up on the chair. "A lot of people touch me every day. That's kind of how we humans do things. Will you just try to relax, please? There was a threat, but it's over. You killed them for me and I am grateful, believe me. So let's just leave them in the past where they belong, okay?"
Helena nodded her assent, but her fangs were still extended and her eyes black. Myka heated some True Blood and made herself some tea, and they sat together for a while in silence, Myka leaning against Helena with Helena's arm around her abdomen.
"Where did you get that spray?" Helena asked suddenly.
"Oh yeah. I forgot to tell you. I got some new defences for my people from the New Orleans police. They have had to deal with a lot of out of control vampires since you all came out of the coffin," Myka said.
"Good," Helena said.
"You know, I didn't notice, but you didn't try to defend me from Sally. Why is that?" Myka asked, intrigued.
"Your heart rate increased, but only a tiny amount. You were not afraid, and I realised that you had some form of defence. I didn't expect that, however," Helena said, chuckling.
Myka didn't feel it was a good idea to mention that the reason she had been carrying the spray was Helena's daughter. They sat in silence for a long time, both processing what had happened.
"That was something, that spell," Myka mused. "I never realised magic existed, even with vampires and weres and everything. It was… weird, watching myself walking around like that."
Helena nodded.
"Yes, it is one of the matters our kind like to keep very quiet, I believe. To preserve the illusion that vampires have a virus, or whatever tosh it is that they're using as an excuse now, to deny the existence of the supernatural. I think that if the weres and shifters ever come out, as it were, there will be no way to deny it any longer."
Myka looked at her curiously. Technically, Helena was dead. Her pallor, her sometimes bluish colouring – she was actually dead, and walking. Myka couldn't figure out why that didn't bother her.
"You're thinking about the fact that I'm actually dead, aren't you?" Helena murmured, looking at her through half-lidded eyes.
"Yeah," Myka said, tilting her head slightly as she ran her eyes over Helena's face. "I don't know why, but it doesn't bother me. I guess when you've been able to hear people's thoughts since you were old enough to understand language, a little thing like you being dead isn't enough to freak me out."
Helena smiled at her.
"You really are the most unusual human I've ever met, Myka Bering," she said, her tone a little wondering.
"I guess I'm a little different," Myka allowed, with a half-smile.
"You are more than a little different, Myka. You accept things that would make others run or faint with only a blink. You are so curious and so fascinated by everything. And yet you are still terrified by what is inside you," Helena said, looking at Myka with her head slightly tilted, a spot of blood on her lip from the bottle she held in her hand.
"I'm not afraid," Myka said, protesting a little. She wasn't, was she?
"Perhaps not afraid. But you want to keep this ability locked up inside you, instead of taking Mr Nielsen's advice and using it, or at least controlling it enough that it doesn't make you suffer. That, I do not understand, Myka. As I said to you before, it is a disability now, and you have the means at your disposal to change that. I cannot understand why you wouldn't want to at least try."
"I… I don't know, Helena. I guess I feel like things are going okay – better than okay, right now, and I don't want to mess with that, you know?"
"And how would you learning to control this ability change things for the worse, Myka? I am not encouraging you to use it – that is up to you. But at the moment you have headaches, you are overcome by the emotion of others. If you learn to control it, you can at least block those things out. There are of course obvious advantages to a Sheriff who can hear the thoughts of suspects, but again, that would be up to you. So what is it you fear, my darling?"
Myka stared at her for a long moment. She was trembling. She wasn't sure why.
"I… I don't know," Myka said, her voice coming out in a raspy whisper.
"Come here, darling," Helena said, pulling Myka close and pulling the blanket from the back of the swing to wrap around her. She rocked the swing a little, running her fingers through Myka's hair gently.
"I did not mean to upset you, my love," Helena said softly. Myka carried on trembling, unable to articulate her fears. Her greatest fear was losing this, she realised. Losing Helena, being abandoned by another person she loved because of her gift.
Loved? When – how had that happened? She couldn't be in love with Helena, could she? It had only been just over a week, surely that wasn't long enough to fall in love?
"Are you okay, Myka?" Helena asked, suddenly concerned.
"I'm fine, Helena," Myka said, suddenly clear. Regardless of what this was with Helena, losing her was a fear – a big one.
"I'm frightened that you'll leave me," she said, blurting it out before she could think better of it.
"You think that I will leave you if you can hear the thoughts of other humans?" Helena asked, sounding perplexed.
Myka shrugged.
"I didn't say it makes sense. I just – I have been hiding this for years, Helena. I was so scared that the people I cared for would reject me if they knew. So I guess now we're here, and we are what we are, and I don't want to lose that."
Helena turned Myka to face her fully.
"My love. I cannot promise to be here forever. I do not know what the future holds. But I can assure you that I would never leave you because of this ability of yours. It is in part what drew me to you, I think. You need not hide it from me, and it is my belief that mastering this ability will be good for you. So don't make any decision, Myka, based on fear of losing me."
Myka nodded. She would call Abigail tomorrow, take things from there. It was time to take control.
Helena carried her to bed chivalrously, but they didn't have sex. Helena just held her and kissed her, telling her how wonderful she was, how beautiful. Myka slept feeling safer than she'd ever felt, even as a child before her parents abandoned her.
The next day, Myka called Abigail first thing and made an appointment for that evening. It was surprising that Abigail always had time for her; thinking about the people in her own town, it seemed like a lot of people could do with that sort of help. Myka thought idly that she would recommend Abigail to anyone she thought might need the help. But that would involve telling people that she'd had therapy herself, which she wasn't keen on. She sighed and started dealing with the stacks of timesheets and requisition forms on her desk. Myka's day was long and boring, but she would take boring over exciting any day, especially lately.
She grabbed some True Blood on her way to Abigail's. There was only this one shop in the vicinity that sold it; no wonder Helena had been having such difficulty finding it. It made Myka's teeth clench when she thought about Helena feeding on any other humans. She resolved to find some way to get True Blood or one of the other synthetic blood products shipped to Helena, wherever she was living, so she didn't have to take blood from anyone but Myka.
Abigail was polite and welcoming as ever.
"So, how are you, Myka?" she asked, after they'd gone through the usual preliminaries of making coffee and talking about the weather (hot, humid).
"I'm fine, I guess," Myka said, shrugging slightly.
"You guess?" Abigail asked, her eyes narrowing.
"Well, I've been thinking about what you said, about what my gift could be like if I could use it, and I think that I should probably see if I can train it. It's holding me back as it is, giving me headaches, and when I'm around strong emotion, it can be… overwhelming," she said, wrapping her arms around herself as she remembered the waves of despair that had almost overtaken her when she broke the news to the twins' parents.
"Hey, Myka," Abigail said, touching her arm gently. "It's okay. Whatever happened, we can work through it. Have some coffee, you're trembling."
Myka wondered idly how long she'd been quiet before Abigail had decided to touch her to snap her out of it. She took a long swallow of the coffee, letting the heat of it warm her and the bitterness snap her back into the present.
"The twins – you heard about the girls we found?" she asked, and Abigail nodded, her face sympathetic and a little worried.
"When we went to break the news to their parents, I couldn't speak. Pete had to deal with the parents - I was paralysed – their grief, the despair they felt – it was rushing through me, and I couldn't block it out. I couldn't stop it. I very nearly lost it, Abigail. I went home and Helena found me – I don't know how long I was sitting in my backyard, just lost in that feeling. She made me drink something hot, she fed me. She kept me sane, that night. If she hadn't been there, I don't know what I would have done, honestly. I… I need to get this under control. Even if I can never hear people's thoughts, I need to be able to block out other people's emotions at the very least."
"Okay, Myka. I agree. For your own safety, at the very least. I will recommend to Mrs Frederic and Mr Nielsen that you go back and start taking lessons on how to control this ability. But I think it would be beneficial for you to carry on seeing me for a while too. There's a lot I think it would do you good to talk through, to think through. What do you think?" she said, tilting her head.
"Yes, I agree," Myka said. She did agree; she knew she needed this, for now and for a long time to come, maybe.
That night she barely spoke to Helena, practically dragging her to bed and making love to her with abandon, over and over. Helena seemed to sense her need and spoke little, matching her intensity and using her fangs in places that made Myka yelp and squirm, halfway between pain and pleasure. She wore Myka out thoroughly, and she had to admit defeat, falling asleep once again wrapped in Helena's arms.
The next morning she received a call from Sally Stukowski on behalf of Arthur Nielsen. The woman was all sugar and sweetness, and Myka responded in kind, not knowing how to handle the woman at all. Arthur wanted her to come by around 3, sober and ready to concentrate, Sally said, her tone apologetic.
"Sure," Myka said, uneasy. "I'll be there."
She decided she would bring her new anti-vampire defences, including her gun – silver was effective against weres so if Sally had anything planned, Myka would at least have some way to defend herself.
The rest of her day – a Saturday – was spent tending her garden, running on her treadmill for an hour and going to the local pool for a swim. She had been neglecting her fitness because of the heat – the idea of running in the heat and humidity was ridiculous. But she had air conditioning and a treadmill, so really she had no excuse.
She arrived at Arthur Nielsen's office at 3 o'clock sharp, her service weapon in an underarm holster. She needn't have bothered, however, since Sally wasn't even there.
"She works Saturday mornings, Sheriff Bering. Why are you so concerned about Sally Stukowski?" Arthur Nielsen asked, appearing as suddenly as if he'd transported in, like Star Trek. Maybe he had; Myka had no idea if demons had that kind of power.
"Do you know what happened with Walter Sykes and Marcus Diamond, Mr Nielsen?" she asked politely. Clearly he could read her easily; there was no point in trying to hide it.
"I was aware that Marcus had disappeared, although Sally thinks very little about Mr Sykes. I picked up on what happened, from her point of view at least. But even she can't delude herself into thinking that you were at fault for what Diamond tried to do. Succeeded in doing, in fact. Without your vampire you would be dead," he said, suddenly serious.
"Yes," she said, simply.
"Well, come in, and let's talk," he said, brusquely, filling a cup with coffee from the machine in the corner and passing it to her. They made their way into his office and he sat down, looking at her silently for a long moment.
"Vanessa is very impressed with you," he said, finally.
"She's a very impressive person herself," Myka said, unaccountably warmed by his comment. Dr Calder was impressive, and to be held in high esteem by her – well, it felt good.
"She thinks that you are a good person, Sheriff, and despite Sally's accusations and lies, I agree with her. I would like to help you fix what has broken, and I will, if you wish, teach you to block the gift as much as you desire. If it is something you want, it is possible to block your gift permanently with magic. I would urge you, however, to think long and hard before making that decision. Your ability is a gift, in the most literal sense of the word. Passed to you from Mr Cataliades himself. Your bloodline is special, Myka, and I would hate to see you turn down this birthright," he said, astonishing Myka.
"Okay," she said carefully. "I have a whole lot of questions about that, Mr Nielsen, but what about if we just concentrate on trying to get my gift under control for now? You know what happened when I was breaking the news to the twins' parents?"
He nodded.
"Well, I can't afford for that to happen. Christina – she's dangerous, and if she knows I have this weakness, she might try to use it against me."
"She's your vampire's daughter?" he asked, his voice quiet.
"Yes," she said.
"Why on earth would she turn her own daughter?" he asked, disgusted.
"She was dead," Myka said. "I don't think Helena was thinking straight. She was grieving, Mr Nielsen. I don't think people generally make sensible decisions in those circumstances. She's a good person," she insisted, her voice sincere.
"Hmmph," he said, but he said nothing more about Helena.
He led her through a series of breathing exercises, and his advice for now was simple.
"Listen. Open your mind, touch people - it helps. You have ingested vampire blood, which will increase the strength of your gift for a while. Touch will help you re-open your mind. Listen, always. Do these exercises often, visualise your mind as a flower opening, or whatever image works best for you, in terms of visualising your mind opening, the door of that room in which your ability is locked being opened, the key turning. Whatever works for you, Sheriff. I will see you in a few days, and we will see if anything has changed."
She nodded, leaning over to shake his hand and thank him. She drove home and made herself a steak and potatoes, chugging a beer along with her dinner. She hadn't drunk anything since that night she'd thrown up in the bushes. She figured one beer wouldn't hurt, however.
She went out to the porch just before sundown to find Pete lying there in dog form. His tail started wagging as soon as she opened the door.
"Hey, Pete," she said, leaning over to scratch his ears. "Everything okay?"
He nodded, and she relaxed.
"You just come for the company?" she asked, and he whined uncertainly. Clearly it was one of those questions that couldn't be answered with a simple yes or no.
"Okay, well you're welcome to stay as long as you don't listen in on anything private. I have a little steak left over – you want it?"
His bark was loud and piercing, and very decisive. She smiled and went into the house, grabbing the steak and a few leftover potatoes, mixing it up with a little gravy from the pan. She got him a bowl of water too, bringing it all out on the porch for him. He ate the food in what looked like about four gulps, slopping up some of the water with his huge tongue afterwards, and then he jumped up on Myka's knee, unexpectedly, licking her face from chin to hairline.
"Pete!" she yelled, giggling at the odd sensation. Pete the dog was clearly as much of an ass as his human counterpart.
"Deputy Lattimer, would you like to retain that tongue of yours? If so, I suggest you keep it away from the Sheriff's face in future," Helena said, and dog-Pete yelped, jumping off Myka's knee and hiding under the porch swing.
"That'll teach him," Myka said wryly, wiping her face with a sleeve. "Hi, by the way," she said to Helena, leaning over to kiss her. Helena backed off, holding up a hand.
"No kissing, Sheriff, until you have washed that slobber from your face," she said, her face a picture of disgust. Myka laughed.
"You want some True Blood while I'm inside?" she asked lightly, and Helena nodded, smiling.
She washed her face and heated up Helena's drink.
"How was your day then, my love?" Helena asked, taking the True Blood with a smile.
"Well," Myka said, "I saw Arthur Nielsen, and he gave me some work to do, to try and reopen my mind to other people's thoughts. He says that my ability will be stronger because I ingested your blood. And it's stronger when I touch people. So I guess my homework is to try to touch people, try to listen. He gave me lots of breathing exercises to do, and visualisations."
Helena looked at her carefully for a long moment.
"You're sure this is what you want, love? I don't want you to feel that I have pushed you into this," she said, her brow creasing slightly.
"You didn't push me into this, Helena," Myka said sincerely. "You pointed out very logically that I need to get it under control before I get hurt. I could easily have killed myself last week; it was a close thing."
Pete whimpered from under the bench.
"It's okay, Pete. I'm fine now."
He made his way out slowly, watching Helena carefully, and put his head on Myka's knee, looking at her mournfully.
"Really, I'm fine," she said, petting his head gently. "I was overwhelmed by the Catherine and John's emotions. It's because I don't really have a handle on this gift, I guess."
"Okay," Pete said, in her head, and she jumped a little.
"Wow," she said, to both Pete and Helena. "It really does work better with touch. Could you tell me something, Pete? Something I don't know?"
"Kelly Hernandez and I are seeing each other," he said, distinctly, and she smiled, wanting to squeal.
"He's seeing Kelly Hernandez, the witch from the other night," Myka said to Helena.
"I know," Helena said. "I can smell her on him."
"Really?" Myka asked, fascinated. "That's amazing."
"And gross," Pete said, obviously grumpy that Helena had threatened him earlier. Myka laughed.
"You're actually enjoying this, aren't you?" Helena asked, a soft smile on her face.
"Well, yeah!" Myka said, shrugging. She put her hand back on Pete's head. "I can hear him talking in my head, and it's clear and there's no buzzing. It's amazing. As soon as I take my hand off though," she said, demonstrating, "the buzzing comes back. It's okay when he's a dog," she mused, stroking his nose absently, "because the noise is a lot smaller. I can barely hear the buzzing. But when it's a lot of people – it's horrible. Like being stuck right next to the speaker at a gig with a million people shouting all at once. You can't hear anything, but your brain is still trying to pick out individual voices and words. It's exhausting," she said, finally.
"I see," Helena said. "That sounds… tiring, to say the least."
"Yeah," Myka said wryly.
Pete rubbed his face on her knee and then went to sit next to the porch swing, turning in a circle several times before flopping down with a sigh.
"So, that's what I did today," Myka said with a smile. Helena leaned over and kissed her gently.
"I am proud of you, Myka. This must have been a difficult decision for you, and I am proud of your courage in taking this step," she murmured. Myka kissed her, then, and they began to kiss in earnest, Helena's fangs extending inside Myka's mouth. Myka tasted them with her tongue, and then remembered Pete.
"Okay, Lattimer, time for you to go," she said, gesturing at him. He whined and shook his head, and she stared at him for a minute. She felt like she could almost – almost hear him, like a whisper.
"Come here," she said, and he stood, turning to place his head in her hands.
"I need to stay with you. Mrs Frederic's orders," he said, an overtone of worry in his mind.
"Why?" she asked out loud.
"I don't know, Myka. She doesn't tell me the why."
"Okay, but you stay downstairs, okay?"
He nodded, and they went inside, Myka placing a soft blanket on the couch for him to snuggle into. She and Helena went to bed, enjoying each other, while Pete the dog stayed awake downstairs, his eyes open and his mind worried. Mrs Frederic had been very clear; Myka was in danger, and it was his job to look after her. He wouldn't fail her again like he had with Diamond and Sykes.