Standing Before Monsters (Vorans and Vampires) (32 page)

Chapter 18- Given the Shaft

When his phone had rung early in the morning, Nicola was still awake though beginning to tire from the sun’s first rays. Charlotte had retreated to bed when they had returned home from the dining and dancing, and they found Logan and Kate were also in bed despite the relatively early hour. Though it was doubtful that they were asleep by eleven, the previous night had been a full moon and had taken a lot out of all the werewolves followed by a mentally hard day returning to Eric’s pack.

Nicola on the other hand was very lively and they could only hope to not keep everyone else awake.

Having basically decided to take a night off from patrols, Nick had spent some quality time with the vampire. She hadn’t complained about his going with the wolves for the full moon or acted hurt by his bonding with Charlotte either. In fact, the vampire seemed almost to enjoy having them all together as if it bonded the two like sisters.

When the phone rang in the morning, Charlotte was already up as well, though barely. She had joined them on the couch with a cup of coffee just talking between the three, a strangely comfortable thing, Nick noted. It was as if the three belonged together though who had fated such a thing must have an odd sense of humor to put them together.

When Nick noticed the name on the caller ID, he answered the phone questioningly, “Shedu?”

The voice coming through the speaker greeted him, “Nick, I know this might be quicker than you had thought to talk, but we discovered a large nest of vampires. You had said that our mission was the same as yours. We plan to hit the building at noon, if you wish to join us.

“There are over a dozen vampires in this one site, so we are a little hesitant to try with just our three.”

Frowning as he considered the idea, Nick asked, “You have scouted this and know that there is that many in one nest?”

“We followed one of three that we let believe he had escaped while destroying two others. When we followed him, he tried to throw us off by using misdirection, but his scent led us to a shut down furniture store. We couldn’t get closer than the buildings surrounding it, but we came across enough trails leading into it to know what we are facing.”

Considering it for only a moment, Nick agreed, “I’ll meet you there, text me the information.”

After he had ended the call, both women were looking at him disapprovingly. Nicola was the first to voice the complaint, “You are joining these people on a vampire hunting mission only two days after meeting them? It seems awfully soon to be calling you for help, doesn’t it?”

Charlotte added, “I’m going with you. Maybe Logan and Kate will come as backup.”

Patting the air as if to ward off their worries, the man said, “Take it easy. Take it easy. We have to start the trust somewhere, don’t we? I said that I would help them and asked them to leave the coven alone. If I expect them to honor my wish, the least I can do is go see what they have planned.

“Shedu said they just ran into this vampire last night and found a nest. If these are members of Cyrus’s group that have finally banded together, then I should be there to help end the chaos that he caused.

“If you want to come along, Charlotte, that is fine. I told them that I have allies from both the pack and coven, so they shouldn’t be surprised if you or the others come as well.”

Nicola looked like she wanted to argue further, but now he was taking back up. With Charlotte there, it was like being there by proxy. The two women were his night and day. Like two sides of the same coin in their cycles, the two were remarkably similar in many other ways, which was probably why they got along so well.

“I wish I could go with you also,” the pretty blonde said with a bit of a pout.

Nick smiled and replied, “I’ll have Charlotte with me. There will be times when it will be night and best for the two of us to work together. Other times I might need to do things like this with Charlotte. Having both of you around means I can always find someone who has my back.”

Nicola didn’t look as convinced, but she knew her limitations, besides Nick had been working alone in daylight his whole life. A vampire girlfriend couldn’t change that, but there was Charlotte now.

Looking a little more evil, Nicola suggested, “Do you two want the bedroom for a little while? I can hold off going to sleep for awhile longer, if you two want.”

The topic had been shifted surprisingly and Charlotte started to blush. Shaking her head, the pretty brunette replied, “While I enjoyed having sex with Nick the other night, he doesn’t have to take care of me every day.”

Nicola shook her head at her opposite in response before standing and tugging on a hand of each of them. “Don’t be so afraid of our relationship. If you want to try and have some fun before your brother is up, then you should hurry up and go.

“We may as well consider him our husband and like those people in Utah, we’re like sister wives, right? So as your new sister, I say get in there and do something you two. You might be putting your lives at risk in a few hours, so you may as well have a reason to keep on living.

“Besides I had my way with him last night,” the blonde vampire giggled making the other two both embarrassed though for different reasons.

Prodded along the hallway, the two were suddenly alone in his bedroom. The bed was still unmade since Charlotte hadn’t taken the time to do it yet, besides it was Geni’s day to clean again. Looking at one another and occasionally glancing at the door, the two resembled two teens shoved into a closet at some party where they were supposed to kiss though they were virtually strangers.

Again Charlotte shook her head refusing Nicola’s ideas. “Seriously Nick, we don’t have to do this just because she says so. You helped me out when I needed you, but I don’t expect you to be with me like that all the time.”

Cocking his head to the side as if examining the woman’s face in front of him, Nick replied with a slight smile, “Is this the same woman who was going to fight Nicola to win me just a few days ago?”

The brunette turned bright red and put her hands out waving him off as her eyes closed. “I was about as hormonal as a woman or werewolf can get. I wasn’t in my right mind. You shouldn’t give my delusions any credibility.”

Moving closer to the woman, he gently lifted her chin getting her to open her eyes and look at him in surprise. He had noticed that she wore the dress shirt he had worn to dinner the night before as if wearing his previously worn clothes had become habit after her ordeal in the bonding process.

“I don’t regret the other night and I don’t expect us to stop being in love or making love just because the full moon is over now. Nicola’s probably right, even if she did make this more awkward than it needed to be.

“We’re all in this together now and you don’t have to feel like the one who shouldn’t be loved just because your body wanted to force the situation.” He laughed and added, “In fact, this whole werewolf in heat thing just revealed how we were beginning to feel for each other.
To wonder if anything would have happened at some point or not is moot.”

They moved together for a kiss and Nick found his fingers playing with the upper buttons of the shirt. He wanted her for her. It didn’t matter that Nicola had initiated the moment alone or not.

While their passion took a little bit to warm up; the couple realized pretty quickly how much they wanted to take advantage of the moment. A kiss led to undressing and more. They found the bed and tried to keep the noise of their passion down, even with Nicola helping by keeping the TV playing in the other room. Werewolf and vampire hearing were too good to hope that someone wouldn’t hear and know that they were making love, but soon it didn’t matter.

After a time and several tries at their love making, the two moved to the master bath and the shower. Sharing the water, they managed to work in a little more play before they actually managed to wash up. Having a partner to scrub one’s back was new to both of them and quite enjoyable.

They had dressed after the shower for their upcoming adventure with the kasha. By the time they came out of the bedroom, Nick and Charlotte found the others in the living room. Geni hadn’t arrived yet, but Logan gestured to the end of the couch where Nicola had fallen asleep. Daylight, and probably a concerted effort to not pay attention to the couple in his bedroom, had caused the vampire to succumb to her need for rest.

Picking up the pretty blond woke her slightly. Her gray eyes opened groggily and she smiled as he carried her. Leaning her head against his shoulder, Nicola whispered, “I love you, Nicky.”

“I love you too, Nicola,” he replied meaning every word as the man carried one of his two loves into his bedroom.

He pulled the cover over her body wearing lingerie that had become her favorite attire of late. As Nick stepped back admiring her beauty, the voran wondered how having a romance with someone who could live for eternity could possibly last forever. Of course, a voran was still human and he would die one day. Charlotte was likely to only live a normal human lifespan as well. Compared to her, he was like the vampire; both her elder and likely to live well beyond her death.

Considering death after making love, a symbol of life; Nick felt a little morbid. People weren’t supposed to think of death when they were young, but who knew what the day could bring. He was as nervous as the girls about joining the kasha. They could be true allies or the engineers of his death if he wasn’t careful; but Nick always tried to be careful.

The Escape parked a block south of the address given him by the kasha. Exiting the vehicle, Nick looked across to Charlotte. As she had insisted, the werewolf had joined him. Both rear doors let out another werewolf each as well.

Charlotte had asked Logan before Nick returned from putting the vampire in bed and her brother was quick to join his sister. Her eternal protector after nearly killing her in that first blind rage, Logan wouldn’t let his little sister be in harm’s way without having the opportunity to be a shield and protector to her first.

That Kate had come wasn’t a complete surprise either; but Logan had urged her to reconsider. He didn’t want a second loved one to fear for, but the woman wouldn’t hear of it. The bonding had only sealed what her heart had felt for years. Kate would die for Logan. The woman want to atone for transferring her curse onto him and that it entailed, but love added to that meant there was no way she would stay home when he was in danger.

They had barely walked up the block towards the abandoned furniture store when two forms moved out of the shadows of a building on the east side. Shedu and Lamassu were dressed casually as if they were simply out on a walk in the neighborhood, only the neighborhood was a bit run down as the economy closed businesses and caused people to become more desperate, especially in areas like this.

Shedu nodded and greeted Nick, “We’re glad that you came, and I see that you brought extra hands.”

He sniffed at the air and added, “Werewolves come to help us. I hope our scent doesn’t make you hate us. I’ve never worked with a werewolf before and have no idea if our natural protection against vampires will bother you.”

Nick changed from the man’s worries to introductions. “This is Charlotte, my girlfriend and her brother, Logan. The other lovely lady is Kate, his girlfriend.”

Partially bowing, the Indian man answered with, “I am Shedu of the kasha and this is Lamassu. Our associate Alad is closer to the storefront attempting to reconnoiter the building to better prepare our assault.”

None of the werewolves were sneezing or appeared more annoyed than having to wait as well as being slightly worried over a possible betrayal. Logan managed to ignore any of those worries as he asked, “I have never heard of a kasha, though I suppose other animals might be tied to cursed humans, so why not cats.”

Lam frowned shaking her head answering him before Shedu could try, “We don’t view it as a curse. Kashas aren’t compelled by the moon to change against our wills and we don’t lose our sanity in a change. We know friend from foe no matter what level of change we are.”

Inadvertently hurting Logan with her words, the young woman continued having missed his wince, “It is mostly genetic, though I believe some have managed to transfer their gifts onto others not originally on the path. We can turn into our cat forms anywhere from partial transformations to full, though being a panther or lion in an American city would likely be just as noticeable as partial transformations, since they aren’t common to this land.”

“We would be believed as escaped zoo animals most likely,” Shedu sniffed in disgust. His eyes were still looking to the north for Alad. The third man’s reconnaissance had been longer than expected.

Lam added, “Our kind has been living in the shadows for almost as long as man has been around. While we tend to hunt creatures of the night like vampires, our ability to sense evil and powers to draw away evil souls to destroy them could even pertain to humans or werewolves. Our claws can pull out the evil in small amounts or the whole,” she finished swiping her hand towards Kate and Logan as her claws extended.

His mate was concealed by Logan with a hand of protection as he stepped slightly in front of the other woman. Lam’s eyes blinked in surprise and she stepped back looking apologetic.