"Where are we going to start, James? How do you plan to do this?"
"When will you stop asking questions and learn to just trust me?" James sighed, slowing to a halt.
"I'm simply curious." She stopped beside him, and he tugged thoughtfully on a lock of her bright hair.
"Curiosity killed the cat, you know."
"Meow."
He laughed, a surprisingly warm sound, and furrowed his fingers through her hair. "My dear, it's very simple. We listen to stories- the humans in these rural villages see more than anyone knows- their towns are ravaged my the Children of the Moon, and any real authority ignores thier tales as insanity. Mass homicides, they'd rule. It's amazing how blind humans can be when they don't want to see," he murmured, tickling the sensitive spot beneath her chin. Victoria purred playfully, and he drew her closer to run his hand up and down her back.
"And once I get the scent, it should be simple."
"If you say so- you're the boss," she sighed, rubbing her cheek against his chest. He petted her several moments longer, before turning away and darting back along their path.
They ran for hours, mostly in silence. They stopped to feed in towns when they were thirsty, but James clearly had only the hunt in mind. They stayed carefully out of sight in the sunshine, and were able to run more freely in the night, but James didn't halt other than to eat until the rain began.
"James..." She didn't mean to complain- in fact, she had been very good for nearly a week on the long trek to Asia. He glanced irritably at her, but after a moment, he slowed.
"The brush over there is thick enought to keep you dry, and there's a town a few miles off. I'm going for a drink. You will remain here under any condition, understood?" he commanded. She nodded ducked gratefully beneath the foliage, curling up and listening to the quick, retreating footsteps, then the pattering of the rain when James was gone.
He'd been out nearly an hour when she felt it. The calm relaxation that was the nearest she could come to sleeping was washed away, to be replaced with the familiar, tugging need to flee. She was up before a coherent thought could form, and then she froze.
James had told her to stay. Very specifically not to move from this spot.
The moment of hesitation was all it took- suddenly, her arms were wrenched back, and she was forced, face-first, into the dirt. She tried to struggle but was held immobile. The male holding her yelled in a foreign language to another, but Victoria was certain that if they meant death for her, she would surely be burning by now.
"Release me, now! I am not alone, he's coming back for me, let go!" she cried, still unable to move. She was either ignored or not undertstood, and her captor hauled her up, and a dark cloth was placed over her eyes. "This is ridiculous, you can't kidnap me!" She was being carried now, wrists still tightly held as they flew through the forest.
It had to be at least an hour before they slowed. More words were exchanged, and Victoria was shoved roughly forward. The hands released her, and the sound of a door closing echoed behind her. She ripped away the blindfold, and found herself staring at dozen pairs of wide red eyes.
The room was darkened, roughly hewn of rock and wood, and appeared to be quite breakable. Every vampire that stared back at her was female, all in the age range from late teens to early thirties. They were silent as they regarded her, and she ignored them, drawing an arm back in preparation to demolish the prison and flee.
Immediately, the hut was filled with alarmed cries, and ten women fell upon her. She could tell she might be stronger than any individual there, but together, there was no chance of victory. The restraining hands became gentle when she stopped fighting, and lead her tenderly to the center of the room. She was surrounded on all sides.
"What are we doing in here? Why haven't we fled? Where are we?"
"Engleesh," one woman declared over the murmurs of the others, and short, shapely brunette strode forward.
"I thought so," she said demurely, "But it was difficult to tell over the noise. I'm Kayleen." Her voice was scarcely more than a whisper.
"I'm Victoria. What's going on?"
"Please if you don't mind Victoria, might you keep your voice down? We don't want to upset them. All your questions will be answered. They will kill us if we flee, and if an escape attempt is made by one, many will be punished." She shuttered slightly. "We are kept, dear, is all. It isn't so bad once you become adapted to it. They won't feed you for a while, but after that, you'll get a human every other day."
"But what is this?"
"A tribe. We're in India. The runners find us women, and food. We stay in here during the day, but we're taken out in the open in the evening and at night. We learn each other's languages in the day- today Lian is teaching us Mandarin. We haven't gotten to English yet, but soon everyone here will speak it as well as we."
Surely you're not just... accepting this?" Victoria hissed, aghast.
"We have no choice, not if we want to survive. Not if we want to drink."
Victoria could not focus on the soft voices as they translated word after word, phrase after phrase. It was nearly dawn- she could see the changing light creeping under the slats of the shack.
Suddenly the door was yanked open. Victoria looked up hopefully- but it was only another cowed looking woman- and then another. And another. At least a dozen more crammed into the space, with a single male guard behind them. Victoria monopolized upon the oppurtunity.
"There's been some sort of mistake, you must let me go!"
The door slammed shut.
The day streched on- she kept hoping that James would arrive to rescue her, but there was no such luck. Around noon, there had been a small commotion, but beyond that, no disruption had hinted at his arrival. She refused to converse with the fellow captives, and at twilight, the door opened again.
Before Victoria could open her mouth to beg once more for freedom, the guard seized her wrists and nodded at the other women. They lined up neatly, and as Victoria was hauled forward, they followed single file. Out in the open, she looked around wildly. For all that it was constructed mostly of jungle finds, the compound appeared to be quite luxurious. There was an open a pen on the far side they appeared to be being led towards, but a large, free air gathering space was adorned with silks and gold, in addition to the wood and leaves decor. And, lounging on a cushioned settee and chatting amiably with a bronze-colored male who was clearly the leader, was James.
"James!" she yelled, relief flooding her. "Oh, thank goodness. James, help!"
He didn't look up from his conversation.
"James!" He certainly heard her- why wouldn't he do something? The guard rolled his eyes and shoved her through the gate of the enclosure. She could have easily broken free, but remembered Kayleen's warning. "James," she growled under her breath, furious now.
Meanwhile, James spoke easily with the chief.
"... And I do apologize for her behavior. She's quite obedient to me, but can be difficult around strangers."
"I would like to see that- but perhaps after she's calmed down and we've had a drink. Fascinating hair, she has."
"That's why I decided to take her with me. I must ask, are the Volturi not concerned by the large gathering of our kind you keep here?"
The other chuckled. "My friend, that pompous Italian gang has no jurisdiction here. We elude them quite efficiently. In fact," he gestured at on of the guards, who took one of the females from the rest and disappeared into the forest villa. "I want to show you some thing."
"Oh?" James looked curious, but Victoria could detect a wary hunch to his shoulders. Not that she cared, disloyal bastard. She hoped churlishly that it was something that would eat him. Then she immediately took the thought back and apologized fervently with her mind.
"Nothin to fear, although I must ask you refrain from any sudden movements or loud sounds. You see?" The woman was returning with something cradled in her arms. "My son."
James's eyes widened in shock, and Victoria gasped quietly, but none of the others seemed alarmed.
He was a beautiful little boy, dark skined with shining curls. Victoria immediately felt her initial horror disapate, and felt herself softening towards the child. His eyes were bright red- clearly a vampire baby, clearly forbidden, but still Victoria wished to hold him.
James did not seem to feel the same way. He was leaning slightly away from the giggling toddler, face an impassive mask.
"Very interesting indeed."
"Not my true son, obviously, but my boy that I found, picked out. Come here, precious one," he took the child from the woman's arms, and the boy screeched in delight. Victoria looked around at the other women. They were all smiling affectionately at the little one as well.
"He's just been fed, but that won't keep him from being greedy while there is blood around. Take him back," he commanded as he handed him off to the guards again. "And bring out our supper."
After all the men had gorged themselves, the remaining humans were given to women, one for each, as Kayleen had promised. She had also said that Victoria would go thristy, but there was most certainly a person alloted to her. She grabbed the nearest human and, once all the other women had begun to drink, sank her teeth into the victim's throat, eyes darting about nervously. Once she was done, the guards quickly took the bodies, and one grabbed Victoria by the arm.
"Let go! What are you doing?" She was ignored, but fell silent when she realized they were taking her over to James. He still hadn't acknowledged her presence.
"Here you are, friend," the guard announced, releasing her by his feet.
"Oh, him you speak English for?" she snarled, but an abrupt glare from James silenced her. He reached behind his head to seize a pillow, and dropped on the ground before him.
"Sit."
She did so, worried by the irrate look he was giving her. Had she upset him by being captured? Did he blame her for interrupting their journey?
She relaxed slightly when she felt his fingers thread through her hair. Part of her knew she ought to be offended by the gesture- he was, after all, petting her as though she were some sort of lap dog in front of this crowd- but his hand was warm and reassuring. He continued to speak over her head as though she weren't there and she leaned slightly into his touch.
A sharp tap drew her attention. His fingers on the back of her head appeared to be randomly twirling her fiery hair, but she realized suddenly that there was a particular pattern.
Letters.
His finger moved in a single downward squiggle. 'S'. He lifted it, and started the next. A vertical line intercepted perpedicularly by a horizontal one. 'T'
A-Y-S-I-L-E-N-T. Stay silent. She could do that. He began again: P-L-A-Y-A-L-O-N-G. That was easy enough too. Play along with what though? One final command: O-B-E-Y. Well. Fine then. The gave the tiniest of nods, and his hand dipped down to stroke her neck. She kept her eyes lowered demurely, relaxation flooding her after an entire day of worry and stress.
The leader was still talking. "It is late friend; you can choose to retire in any of our spare chambers, or stay out here with the guard and several others of my companions."
"I appreciate your hospitality; I would be grateful for whatever accomodations you would offer."
"Of course. Phillipe," A dark, lanky vampire strode into view when he was called. "Take our friend to his room."
Phillipe nodded and turned; James rose to follow, indicating with a jerk of his chin that Victoria should come as well. She rose and trailed close behind him while they were led to another antechamber. It was dimly lit by torches. The walls seemed to be made of bamboo, and the ceiling was thatched. A wide, low bed piled high with animal furs and swathed with red silk drapes was in the center of the room. A water pump in the corner over a tightly woven basket provided place to wash, and there were braided wool rugs scattered about.
"Here you are," Phillipe announced, then quietly ducked out, closing the door behind him.
"This is certainly much nicer than where they keep the women. Beds seem a bit superflous though. James,"
He was bent over the basin, washing his face and neck with the cool water.
"I'm sure the women see these rooms enough, and use the beds too. Surely you don't think they keep them around for decoration?"
Victoria was quiet for a moment. "This place is dreadful," she whispered. James shrugged, pulling his shirt off.
"You approve!" she gasped, horrified. "You would live like this, really?"
"No. I imagine it would get quite dull. But I do see the appeal."
"That's sick, James," she muttered, not looking at him as he settled onto the edge of the bed. "They keep those females like animals."
"You though I was going to leave you here," he inferred, eyes narrowed. "Victoria?" he prompted when she remained silent.
"You... It just took so long, and I knew you could have found by then, and I didn't know what was going on, where you were..."
"Come here," he murmured, holding out his arms. She obeyed, sliding into his lap so she straddled him and resting her head against his bare chest. He wrapped his arms around her, stroking her hair softly.
"Did you think I could storm in here and fight them all? Demolish that shack I knew you were in and pull you out? I could smell your fear from the other side of the courtyard. They might have seemed civil, but if they saw me as a threat- well, there are far too many to fight, as I said. We'll leave tomorrow morning. Walk freely out, and continue on our way."
"I... I guess that was a good idea," she admitted. It made sense- she had just been too panicked to consider that possibility. With a heavy sigh, she twined her legs around his waist, nuzzling against his neck and taking utmost advantage of his momentary compassion. He tilted onto his back and into the deep furs, pulling her down with him. Victoria felt boldness welling up inside of her as she stared at him and, not pausing to allow herself to consider the consequences, she tipped forward to kiss him.
She was taken aback by the sudden jolt the contact sent shooting through her body, but had no desire to stop. For a moment she worried when he shifted beneath her, but it was only to take ahold of her waist and flip their positions so he could bear down on her, their lips never parting. They'd never kissed before- not like this. In the past, he'd scattered pecks across neck and shoulders, petted her and caressed her thoughtlessly- but this was different. His mouth moved hungrily over hers, possesive and messy, unchoreographed in his impatience. There was no hint of a hidden agenda, nothing convoluted in the way he tugged at her shirt, shoving up the fabric to expose her white skin. She responded all too willingly, twisting their bodies as close as she could manage, tangling the fingers of one hand in his hair while the other darted across his bare chest.
Victoria wasn't conscious of the exact moment it happened, but she suddenly realized he was merely accepting her kissses rather than demanding them. All the hurry had drained from his touches; now he simply stroked her waist and hip with calm, languorous movements. For a desperate moment, she clung to him, trying to will his enthusiasm back.
"Please?" she whispered, drawing away and pressing her forehead to his shoulder.
"Some other time, Victoria," he murmured lazily, rolling onto his back.
"But James, I want..." She wasn't sure what she wanted, but he knew. He turned onto one elbow, smirking.
"What do you want, Victoria?" he prompted.
"I..." She sat up, hands twisting in her lap. "I want to the keep kissing me. I... I like it when you touch me like you were."
"Just kisses? It that all you want?" He reach out with his free hand, cupping her neck and drawing her close. "Just this?" He pressed his lips firmly to hers.
"No. It's not," she mumbled.
"You want... this?" He pressed her back again, sliding his hand beneath her blouse, still light, teasing. Biting her lip, she nodded slowly.
"Oh? And... this?" He moved his hand higher. Again, she bobbed her head.
"And when I touch you, like... that?"
All she could do was hum in wordless apporoval as he gently kneaded her breast. His hands dipped down again (to her great disappointment) but did not stop at her waist this time. With carefully calculated movements, James unfastened her well-worn jeans and eased them down her hips.
Victoria wasn't breathing- in fact, she could easily have been mistaken for a marble statue if not for her eyes, darting quickly, and her shimmering hair, which refused to ever be entirely still.
"And," his lips were at her navel now as he gently stroked her legs, nudging them apart with utmost care. "How do you feel about... this?"
She gasped as he slid one finger into her, eyes growing huge.
"Victoria?" His face a perfect mask of innocence. "Is this not what you wanted?" He withdrew the digit, curling it as he did so and causing her to arch against him. "I can stop, if you like," he continued when she said nothing, mock contrition clouding his features.
"Don't!" she cried, twisting her fingers in his hair. He chuckled softly, a dangerous glint in his eyes.
"You're very pushy, you know."
"Will you ever stop mocking me?" she demanded, sitting up abruptly.
"Probably not," he conceded. "Why do you ask?" James rolled over onto one elbow, staring at her appraisingly.
"You don't love me," she whispered, voice trembling. "I don't even think you like me all that much. Why? Why do you take me along with you, tease me; you even came to rescue me- why?"
"I do like you, Victoria," he evaded the question skillfully. "I like you very much. You amuse me with your childish temper, and while I can't say I don't miss solitude, there are certain benefits to having a partner."
"Partner?" she echoed, scarcely allowing herself hope.
"Partner," he repeated firmly. "Not mate."
He would, of course, emphasize that point, she thought bitterly. But either way, partner still implied equality.
James seemed to read her expressions. "It didn't sound right to replace 'partner' with 'subordinate'; there are plently who would be willing to cater to my whims. But you, my dear Victoria, take unpaid servitude and devotion to a whole different level."
"You know," she snapped, crawling onto the other side of the bed and facing the wall, "Sometimes, I really hate you."
(Author's Note: you know, I seem to be having a lot more fun writing this than you all do reading or reviewing it. But that's okay, because thats the only reason people write on this site: fun! This story will probably be updated again before anything else because I'm enjoying it so much, sorry if you were hoping differently. But I'd still love to hear your thoughts on it!)