Standing Before Monsters (Vorans and Vampires) (10 page)

Frowning, Charlotte stood and gestured to the clothes replying, “Until Nick figured out that the oils from his skin were on the clothing that he’d worn I was itching so badly that I was rubbing up against him naked, Ray. Wearing sexy clothing wasn’t even necessary when I could have his hands holding my breasts.”

“You didn’t?” Kate questioned with a gasp as she jumped up with a start.

Chuckling, Charlotte looked at her friend and replied with a nod, “You know how bad your body itched until Logan leant you his towel and clothes. His touch made the pain go away.

“I was hurting so badly that I took my top off and had him cup my boobs with his hands. It felt so good that I nearly wet myself. Then I tried to take a bath. Worst mistake I made today, even over breaking a guy’s nose. It was like pouring acid on my skin. I don’t know how we’re going to wash. Maybe I’ll have to try to convince Nick to get into the tub with me,” she laughed.

“
Mmm, a bath, naked with Logan,” the shorter girl mused making Ray, who was already making faces at the earlier description of things, raise his hands in disgust.

“You two are sick. Maybe it’s a good thing you’re gone. Hopefully the twins will be more interesting than you,” he said before stomping away down the hall.

Looking at each other with grins on their faces, Charlotte stated what both were thinking, “If I had known that’s all it took to get rid of him I would have talked dirty to him years ago.”

“Wait until he discovers what Min and Sally are really like,” Kate laughed.

Chapter 6- The Other Woman

His apartment was no longer his own, Nick thought as he sat on the couch with the television on in front of him. The day had been so hectic that he had barely had time to check on the news to look for any unusual stories relating to the strange vampire hunters, but his attention couldn’t remain on the stories the local news had for him.

As soon as they had returned, Logan had taken Kate to the room they had agreed to share. The bed was a queen size, but he had a feeling that they wouldn’t need it all especially the first night. He was pretty sure that the two werewolves were going to try using Eric’s method of fixing the girl’s problem. Luckily for the voran, as the evening took over, he had places that he could go and leave them their privacy.

When Charlotte called him to help her in their shared bedroom, he was surprised when she held up some of her clothing that had been sitting on the bed. The woman brought a top and skirt towards him, the voran took a step back questioning her motives. Stepping behind him, the werewolf lifted the back of his shirt and began rubbing the clothing against his back.

“What are you doing?” he asked feeling very strange as the man stood still being rubbed with women’s clothing.

“You are not leaving me with them all night. I am not going to listen to my brother doing it with his new girlfriend. She might become my sister-in-law soon enough, but I don’t need to hear that and since you are most likely going to the Lair to see Nicola I can’t go like this. You’re touch is what keeps me from losing my mind with the itching, so I am going to have to prepare some of my clothes for a night out.”

When she produced a g-string bottom, he just had to close his eyes and shake his head. The last item Charlotte rubbed against him was a wash cloth.

“What’s with the wash cloth?” he asked giving in to the strange rub down.

Giving him an odd look, she replied, “I can’t very well go to a night club with a full size bath towel now can I? Unless you plan on rubbing me down in front of your girlfriend in public, then I think a moment’s wiping you onto this shouldn’t be a bother for you.”

He sighed.

“I wonder if you should stick it in your pants rather than using back sweat,” Charlotte mused behind him trying to tease the man.

“No,” he stated firmly.

Peeking around his shoulder with her hand still holding the cloth to his back, the brunette grinned and offered, “I can stick it down your pants for you, if you want.”

“Definitely not!” he warned stepping forward to turn to face the girl. While Nick could tell that she was just joking, he also knew that there was a line to be crossed that he couldn’t return from in relation to both Nicola and Charlotte. The line had been much frayed after today.

“I’m just teasing, Nicholas,” she retorted as if talking to a child in irritation. “If you’re not going to commit to touching me in those places, then I may as well tease you about yours.”

Taking his shirt off and dropping the shorts immediately after becoming naked so quickly that Nick couldn’t pull his eyes away at first, Charlotte began to dress by pulling the g-string into place. Not giving her the satisfaction of making him turn away in embarrassment at the first sight of her naked body, the voran gave her a moment of glory before moving to his closet to pull out a button up shirt.

Nick took off his t-shirt keeping his back to the woman and threw it on the bed before pulling on the new shirt. “A fresh shirt for sleeping tonight or for tomorrow morning,” he stated quickly.

“Thanks,” she replied but, as he turned already dressed though he needed to stop in the bathroom to add some deodorant, he found the beauty still topless. Her smirk as she put on her earrings told him he had fallen into another of her traps. The smell of her pheromones inundated the room though not as strongly as when she was worked up. Charlotte was toying with him with a clear mind.

Crossing the distance already wearing her high heels, Charlotte placed her hands on both sides of his head pulling him towards her to kiss him on the lips. Her breasts pressed against his shirt tantalizingly before the woman pulled back and warned him breathlessly, “I’m sorry, but I might have to fight Nicola for you, if just kissing you is like that.”

She hurried to pick up her black top and pulled it into place. Again the beauty had picked a half top, but this one had no straps leaving her breasts to defy gravity and keep it in place. With a thin gold chain holding a small golden wolf just below her collarbone, Nick had to admit she looked stunning; but wouldn’t allow himself to agree with the passion of their shared kiss.

After a short time spent waiting for Charlotte to finish with her makeup and hair, the two said goodbye to Logan’s door receiving muffled acknowledgement from within. He didn’t want to know what
they had been doing for the last few hours anymore than Charlotte and was glad that the rooms were as sound proof as they were.

It was still early and yet there was already a line leading to a stairway of what looked like a warehouse. While it had once been exactly as it appeared, Marek and his vampires had taken over the place, had it rezoned for a night club and now ran one of the hottest clubs in the city, even though much of the advertising had been from word of mouth. Of course, when vampires had the ability to glamour their patrons into spreading the word, free advertising took on a new form.

While his voran blood had managed to keep the small coven of vampires relatively human in their nature, they were still the predators of legend in skill. Speed, strength, and a certain amount of aggression were common to the species. Marek’s vampires didn’t have to drink anyone’s blood beyond a few drops of his every few days, but they also had powers to mesmerize humans and could make them do their bidding. Nick hadn’t witnessed too much abuse of their abilities, so he had never stepped in to put a stop to any of it.

They were vampires and he was supposed to be the one who killed them in theory, but from his first meeting with Marek aboard a freighter crossing the Atlantic the voran had held back. Marek was on the ship attempting to flee his maker. While Nick had often been curious as to what had made him flee and made him believe he could, the voran had never asked. Some things were just too personal and if it was important one day his friend would tell him.

Meanwhile, Marek’s clan had been dealing with some major changes. The battle with Cyrus and his army had been bloody and though they had prevailed with Nick and the werewolves’ help, four of their members had experienced the final death. In their place, as the remaining vampires held in mental bondage by Cyrus came to their right minds; a handful had joined the coven. It was the two new women
in particular that Nicola was having problems with now. While some could blame a vampire’s territorial nature, Nick had a feeling it was more to do with women being women.

Tossing the keys to a valet, he left his expensive Mercedes sports car to a girl named Tara hoping for the best. Though he knew the female valet from his many previous trips to the Lair, it was still an expensive item to just give away without a little worry.

Charlotte looked a bit worried as well as she met him as he crossed the front of the SL550. Her hands took his arm and he noted her perfectly manicured nails, a project the woman had worked on the remainder of the afternoon. She had filed them to perfect curves and painted them silver with specks of black in the coloring. They reminded him of the silver coated swords the vampires of Marek’s original clan had purchased to deal with werewolves interestingly enough. Pure silver would harm both vampire and werewolf alike, but the swords were one of their best weapons to use in their fight as long as the handles weren’t of the same material. It was as if Charlotte had armed herself with pristine fashion to face Nicola.

“She’s going to hate me,” Charlotte sighed as they began walking past a line of people, some of whom began to protest. The fact that he was part owner of the place made him ignore those waiting behind the ropes and their complaints.

“Evening, Brad, Hawk,” he greeted the two large men with a wave as they approached the base of the stairway standing free of the rope. The second man’s real name was Brian, when Nick was of a mind to joke with him he ignored the persona he adopted for work known as Hawk. This night wasn’t likely to be quite as fun as some, but both men noted the beautiful brunette on his arm. As a werewolf, she had always been leery of going to the home of the coven of vampires even if they were considered allies and long standing friends of the voran.

Both of the bouncers’ eyes were wider than normal viewing Charlotte. She was an above average beauty, especially when she tried with her makeup and hair.

“Evenin’, Mr. Steel,” the smaller of the two men, Brad said first eyeing the werewolf jealously. “Who’s your friend?”

“I’m Charlotte,” she replied placing an award winning smile on her face. “I’m his roommate.”

Both men cursed envious of such luck, but the second larger, black bouncer called Hawk quickly reverted to business as usual even as he couldn’t help staring at the woman. Unhooking the rope, they watched as the two walked up the four stairs. “You should have brought her sooner,” the man nodded appreciatively.

Charlotte continued to smile though her fingers tightened slightly on his arm and not in fear of stumbling with her heels on the stairs. Her pheromones kicked out an extra whiff to Nick’s nose in response and he had to assume it was her instinct to make their bond stronger while driving off other potential males. Still she managed to say politely, “I may have to come more often, if people are going to be so nice.”

“Definitely,” the first man replied with a grin plastered onto his face that revealed her looks amazed him completely.

As they passed through the door opened by the larger, Hawk; Nick leaned a little closer cautioning, “Nails.” Her grip had become quite uncomfortable as her tension rose.

“Sorry,” she apologized softening her grip and the pressure exerted by her nails. Sliding her fingers over the marks, Charlotte rubbed his arm while taking in the surrounding space.

Two bars flanked either side of a large room. Having been a warehouse in a former life, the ceilings were high and looked industrial though painted black including the metal braces holding it securely aloft. Moving lighting dangled panning across the floor or were turned on and off in response to the music by the DJ. Just past the entry, a dance floor took up the first area. A half dozen stairs on either side led to the main sitting space and dozens of tables already filled with patrons.

If they were there to dance, it would have been hard to find an open place on the floor. Skirting the wood creating the dance area, he followed the carpet around to the bar on the left. It was also the gateway to the kitchen.

“Do you want anything?”

“Whiskey and coke,” she stated giving him a look that said she needed the whiskey more than the coke.

Ordering for Charlotte and a beer for himself, Nick led the werewolf to a more secluded part of the club. A simple set of red drapes were protected by a pair of bouncers, both of whom knew of his status in the club. Though his part ownership was less known, the voran was a regular visitor with the vampires. Entering the secluded room, he noticed a handful of tables were already occupied. It was a bit unusual, since this room was the final buffer between the club and their true lair and home.

He gestured to a table and sat with Charlotte who looked askance of the man.

“They know we’re here,” Nick concluded and took a swig of the beer. It was an opened bottle, since he hadn’t bothered with the tap tonight. Charlotte joined him taking out half her drink in an instant. He had a feeling she could have polished all of it off in a single swallow as she appeared anxious despite crossing her legs and trying to be at ease. Her gently kicking foot gave away her nervous energy.