The Guilty Innocent (2 page)

These two guys are so very alluring and charming. Sometimes, Darian can surprise me with his completely jaded and aloof personality. I understand that he's immortal, and I think once someone knows they can't die, they become detached, this is just my own opinion. In a way, I want to revive Darian, don't get me wrong, he's a pretty vibrant person, I just think his spirit needs some CPR. I want to help him see the human side of himself again. Xavier, on the other hand is fun, enthusiastic and somewhat mischievous. However, it is Darian that I have to watch myself around most of all. Darian has a way of being completely seductive in everything he does. I think it's a skill that some supernaturals develop over time. Though, I have no idea of Darian's age, I'm willing to bet he's over a century, so I'm quite certain that he has perfected his skills of seduction. Which is why I have not bedded either one of them. I want to make certain that they're interested in me as a person and not just a body for their threesome. What can I say? I'm an old-fashioned kind of girl.

I thought they would get tired of waiting, like so many men do. But then I remembered, they are vampires...immortal, what's four months to their eternity?
I'll
give in before
they'd
give up. My guess is that's what they have been doing, breaking down my protective barriers that I had to build in order to prevent myself from being hurt again. They've taken me to dinners and on shopping sprees, which at first, I participated with some trepidation. I learned long ago, that to accept a gift from some men, is to make a secret promise, and I didn't want that to be the situation. Darian and Xavier must have sense my apprehension, because they sat me down one day and expressed to me their feelings. Each explained to me that they truly cared for me and wanted only my happiness. I was convinced on my birthday when both out did themselves! Darian gave me a gift that I could not refuse-a Cobra SX32! The car of my dreams! Six cylinder engine, automatic transmission, power everything...and that's just the basics! Three CD/DVD changer, moonroof, navigational system and temperature controlled leather seats! Needless to say, I loved that car as he knew I would. When I first laid eyes on it, the first words I could utter were: “I can't drive this...” then shamelessly, I finished the sentence saying: “...Without the keys!” I know, I know, it would seem that I have no will power. But I do, honestly, I do. It's just easier to get around town, in your own set of wheels. ..right?

Xavier's gift was just as lovely. Thanks to him, I'll always have trouble relinquishing my bed. He brought me a beautiful redwood bedroom set. Being the gentleman that he is, I supposed he paid close attention to all of the instances where he noticed me massaging the back of my neck and shoulders, thanks to all of the restless nights I suffered from sleeping on a lumpy mattress. Xavier picks up on little things like that, which makes him a total romantic. I loved my new bedroom set complete with dresser, armoire, side tables, foot and head board, not to mention the queen-size, super comfortable mattress and box springs. Well, with all of the lavish pampering, I was close to breaking in that new bed had Annette not stopped me. I would have jumped into the bed with them before I was actually ready, having been caught in the moment. Good ol' Annette, looking out for me as always.

Looking at the body care products on my bathroom counter, I noticed that I was almost out of my
Anisi Original for Her,
I'll need to place another order soon, I've
got
to have my
Anisi,
it's my one true indulgence. These products are pricey, even for me, but worth every penny! After my shower, I scanned over the many new outfits (my guys brought me) hanging unorganized in my closet. Boy, if mom saw that I had three of my suits hanging on wire hangers, she'd go mad.

I needed more room, a lot of my clothes where pressed too close together and I literally had to pry back and forth to look for something to wear. Thanks to Annette's strict diet, I've lost an additional twenty pounds in the past few months. So now, I'm down to a size six and able to fit those stylishly designed clothes I fantasized about wearing not less than five months ago.

After fishing through my clothes, I'd decided to go with a light grey pants suit for today, something that accents my rediscovered womanly curves. Now I'm not much for heels, but I will wear them. I like to alternate my shoes. Sometimes I'll wear sneakers and then I might wear a pair of heels, boots or flat-soled shoes. I combed out my curls, letting my curly, dark brown ends rest on my shoulders. I have natural light green eyes, at one time, I thought about trying hazel colored contacts, just for a change, but decided I like the natural me better. Well, I gave myself the once over. Pleased and confident about the way I looked, I grabbed my coat, purse and keys and headed over to Annette's bedroom to tell her I was leaving. I peeked into her room, she was not there. The sheets on her bed were all rumpled as if she had slept there, but I didn't remember hearing Annette come home last night nor did I hear her leave earlier this morning.
Hmm, she may still be out with some hot stud from the club.
Annette's not the type of female that desires a serious relationship with men. She's only interested in their companionship for maybe one night. Annette had confided in me that she had experienced a few bad relationships in which the men she dated tried to control and dominate her. Some even physically abused her, especially if she fought them... and fought them she did. So now, she is no longer interested in any man on that level. I can't blame her really.

I closed her door, making a mental note to call later to find out if Annette made it home alright. Arriving to work on time, my supervisor, Darla gives me a friendly greeting. I'm pretty fortunate to have one of those managers that understands that
happy employees create an easygoing working environment where people love to do their jobs.
I have worked at places in the past where management was never friendly and harassed their employees all day long. Checking my email, (the new department protocol), I see that my assignment for today is to take some pictures of a political conference...oh so boring. I arrive at the conference twenty minutes later. Turns out, this conference is about whether or not they should integrate shape-shifter children into the public schools. I don't see the big deal-well, I can see why people might be afraid to let in the unknown and unusual into their lives. I was like that myself, then I met Warren, Xavier and Darian. I now have a better understanding of their lifestyles. I have asked them all sorts of questions and discovered that they weren't much different from humans. In my opinion, more adult education regarding the supernatural culture is really what is most needed. They need to understand that shape-shifter children do not gain their supernatural abilities until they reach their age of maturity. Warren told me that shape-shifters mature between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two.

I think it would be good for the schools to be integrated. It will allow the human and shape-shifter children to interact with each other. Kids don't have prejudices, just their parents, if you enlightened both the children and their parents, then the world will grow to be a better place. There are many controversies concerning the supernatural and human interaction. 'Should it be done? What can be done to prevent it? Etc' In my opinion, these are the half concocted babbles of power hungry politicians. You really can't prevent the interaction. Back when humans first discovered the supernaturals, the humans tried to destroy them but the supernaturals retaliated. I believe there were more human related deaths than supernatural. The government had to call in martial law to gain order over all the chaos that had erupted. After meeting the three supernaturals that I know, I have less fear of them now. Besides, no mortal man has ever treated me with as much respect and tenderness as these three men have. So who has the right to call them monsters? Certainly not the human species, we've been killing each other since the dawn of man.

After five hours of debating, neither side could agree on the issues at hand, but I knew that will not be the end of it. There are politicians who are beginning to see the potential of the co-existence. Many are also trying to make good on the fact that the supernaturals pay taxes, and are a huge part of the economy, not to mention they can vote. The election will be coming up in November this year, we'll see what happens then.

Okay I've taken all the photographs I'm going to take of this boring ass debate. Packing up my equipment, I drove back to my office to give Carl my film so that he could develop it and keep Darla off my case. After the grueling (and boring) workday, I was more than happy to be heading back home, especially after lane surfing through some pretty thick traffic which slowed down my travel time considerably. Finally, I get home, and before I could walk through the door, I heard my telephone ringing. I dashed through the open door and dove for the couch, catching the phone on the fifth ring. Pretty damn cool if I may say so myself...and I do!

“Hello?” I ask breathlessly.

“Natasha Hemingway, please.” The voice said, the voice sounded like my supervisor, Darla. Oh, I hoped not,
I'd just gotten home!
“This is she, what can I do for you?”

“Oh great! Natasha, this is Darla. I need you to go down to
Desires Unleashed.
They are having a huge publicity party there. It seems that Governor Andrew Wallace is going down there to drum up some support from the supernatural community for his re-election in November. I need you to take pictures, don't worry, you'll get time and a half. Can you do that?” Darla asked me. Well I could do it, but I did not want to, nevertheless, I knew I would do it anyway.

“Sure, Darla, I can go there tonight.” What I really wanted to say was. “Hell no, people tired!” but that was out of the question.

“What time is the publicity party?” I asked flatly,

“Excellent, Natasha, excellent. It will be at eight o'clock tonight, thank you, I owe you,” with that she hung up.

Bah! Why me? Well, I have just enough time to grab something to eat, or take a nap. I decide to check on Annette first, I'm sure she's home by now, probably sound asleep. I walked to her room and opened the door. Her room looked the same way it did this morning. Could she be at work? It would not be the first time she had left a one nights stand and went straight to work afterwards. However, we had agreed that she would call me if she was going to be out for twenty-four hours. I checked the voice mail to see if she left a message, nothing. Okay, now I'm worried, this is not like Annette.

Chapter Two

Reasonable Doubt

I dined on left-over meatloaf and potatoes from last night's dinner, and left to go to the nightclub. When I arrived, I noted that Darian had arranged for this publicity stunt to be a grand event. I could see a line of people extending around the corner, all trying to get into the hottest supernatural-owned nightclub in the city. To tell the truth,
Desires Unleashed
was voted number one out of the top twenty best nightspots in the city by five different newspapers including the one I worked for (Chicago Word), even out-ranking the extremely popular, human-owned,
Slayer's Lair.
Go figure. Huge portable multi-colored spotlights were on the ground in front of the building, panning their brightness over the area, flashing over the patrons and the building itself. I could hear the music blaring from within the club already, a techno beat. The kind of music where one sentence reigns supreme throughout the entire ten minute song. Something like “the system...is down, the system...is down...” I like that sort of music. I walked over to the huge boulder of a bodyguard and flashed him my press badge. He glanced at it, nodded and smiled at me as he reached for the red velvet rope.

“I know who you are, you don't need that badge, you're the bosses' girlfriend. Go on inside anytime.” He gestured for me to pass.

“The bosses 'girlfriend?”
well this is news to me. I did not know we were official, I'll have to talk to those two about this. I smiled at the bouncer as I past by him into the club. The atmosphere of the club was really vibrant tonight. Normally, the dance area isn't jumping until around ten o'clock, But now, the dance floor was covered with people grinding and bouncing to the beat of the music. Hell, I almost wanted to “Drop it like it's hot” to the music myself, but I was here on official business. Looking around at the people dancing in the club and the media lining up at the entrance, it appeared that Darian had an immense understanding of how the world works. I wondered again just how old he was, I need to remind myself to ask him later. As I navigated my way through the dancing bodies, I noticed Darian sitting in a booth, he was gorgeous. It was obvious that his clothes were tailored especially for him, he looked too perfect in them. He was wearing a black satin shirt, and soft black silk pants. His long, wavy, jet black hair fell past his shoulders almost blending with his shirt. The shorter locks of his hair caressed his face. His deep forest green eyes locked on mine, almost making me swoon. He was magnificent!