The Guilty Innocent (33 page)

I knew why she did so. Just a few days ago, Sergio had called me a liability, but now we are all in this together. I suppose this is another chance I get to show my mettle. I was excited just sitting there talking about what we were going to do.

“Actually Elise, there will be fourteen of us,” I said, everyone gave me a perplexed expression.

“What do you mean, fourteen?” Elise asked.

“Well, remember I spoke with Warren. He called his pack master and they are sending two more people to help us.” I said feeling better about our chances. Everyone seemed to consider the new information and I began to see a few heads nod in return. We continued to come up with different ideas for our strategic approach.

“Hey guys, don't look now, but we are planning a mission.” I said cheerfully. They looked at me, Elise, Rachel and Carmen smiled. Daniel chuckled softly, Miranda kind of just stared.
Boy was she a tough cookie to crack!

“So we are...so we are,” Elise smiled pleasantly.

We were talking away when we heard a door open. Everyone looked up to see Xavier emerge from the bedroom. His soft brown locks flowed over his shoulders, his grey eyes scanned over the living room as he inspected everyone. His gaze settled on me and he smiled.

“About time you got up,” I said jokingly.

“Looks as if I've walked into a funeral. Four coffins and everyone is wearing black.” Xavier joked then he walked over to me and kissed me lightly on the lips. His breath did not have a scent to it, which is good, considering. He was still shirtless, which I found to be a little distracting, because he was so extremely sexy.

“Let me introduce everyone to you,” Elise said, then she proceeded to do just that.

“Nice to meet you all.” Xavier said, then he looked at the wall clock. “I know we don't have much time to waste, so I won't take long hunting.”

“We do not have time for you to hunt either, or the rest of your coven, do not worry, we have decided to feed the six of you.” Elise said, I was really enjoying the sound of her French accent as she pronounced her words.

Xavier's raised one eyebrow. “Well, I thank you.” Then his gaze panned over the faces that stared up at him. “I don't mean to be rude, but I am just curious as to which one of you will donate?” he asked charmingly.

“I will!” Carmen exclaimed.

She jumped up from the chair and sashayed towards him. Okay, that made me jealous and if we were in a different situation, I might have said a thing or two. But I looked at Xavier, he winked at me and I felt better. Carmen stood in front of him, she bared her neck seductively. You know what, I had liked her up until this point, but I found her behavior to be disrespectful, before I could open my mouth, Elise let her have a piece of her mind.

“Carmen!” she said sharply. The other woman turned around to face Elise. The look on Elise's face told her that she did not approve of her behavior. Carmen looked down and nodded. When she faced Xavier again, she held out her wrist.
That's better.
Xavier flashed her his charming smile.

“Thank you,” he said.

He took her wrist into his hand gently and I watched his fangs extend from his eyeteeth, he pierced her skin, his lips locking around the blood that bubbled up from the two puncture wounds. Everyone was silent as they watched Xavier feed. For some of them were getting a “bird's-eye-view” of what they would be experiencing later when the other vampires awoke. Carmen had began to pant frantically, then she cried out in pleasure. I tried very hard not to pout as I watched Xavier give another woman an orgasm. I knew that it was out of his control. He told me that a vampire's bite was orgasmic to mortals and shape-shifters and extremely pleasurable to other vampires, as vampires can give each other dry orgasms through the sharing of blood. That did not stop me from being jealous though.

Xavier released her after a few minutes, his feeding was fast, he looked at Carmen, his eyes glazed over. I noticed that look in his eyes, it reminded me of the moment right before his climax when he was making love to me. Just looking at him in that state made me want to take him into the bedroom and have a little fun with him. I banished the thought from my mind, we really did
not
have time for that.

“Hello,” a voice said, everyone turned and looked towards the bedroom, John was standing in the
doorway. And just as if it were rehearsed, the lids of the coffins began to open. I will admit, it was creepy seeing people rise from the coffins, but I kept my composure through it all. Xavier watched as the vampires emerged from their coffins, one equally as breathtakingly beautiful as the next. I looked around the room and was amazed that there wasn't a person I was looking at that could not pose for any major magazine. All of the shape-shifters and vampires were resplendent, so much so, that they were captivating. The women were curvaceous and the men possessed well sculptured physiques. I couldn't help but feel an itsy-bitsy smidgen of jealousy. The vampires walked over to Xavier, there were three females and one male. The male I did recognize from the club, I believed he was the bartender, I think his name was Tony. His long blonde hair was in a braid. He brushed his long bangs away from his ocean blue eyes. He was wearing a black t-shirt, boots and jeans. The three females were also wearing black pants and shirts.

“Let me introduce you all,” Xavier said then he began the introductions.

I was right, the blonde stud was Tony. Xavier gestured to an Asian female with almond shaped brown eyes and olive toned skin, he said her name was Miko, she had her bone straight black hair done up in an intricate braid design which I thought was very pretty. Then he pointed to another female that had long, brown, wavy waist-length hair and blue eyes, her name was Annabelle. The last female had milk chocolate toned skin, she had her hair in cornrows braided back to the middle of her spine, her name was April, her brown eyes panned over the room and she gave everyone a short wave. They all seemed friendly enough, but I was really starting to feel the subtle differences in our species.

I watched as the four Shape-shifters donated their blood. John and Tony both fed off of Daniel and I was willing to bet that Daniel couldn't have been happier. There was a goofy expression on his face the entire time. John fed from one wrist and Tony had the other. After a few moments the living room was filled with the sounds of people having climaxes. My face turned beet red, I felt as if I was in the middle of an orgy. Hell, maybe I was! Finally it was finished and the shape-shifters and vampires were calming down from the feeding. Xavier came over to sit by me, he took my hand into his, kissing it tenderly.

“Did you miss me?” he asked

“You know that I did.” I looked at him, I could still feel my cheeks flaming. “I want you to know that this was very weird for me.”

He chuckled. “Oh, I can imagine what you must be thinking.” he flashed me his megawatt smile then he leaned forward and kissed my throat. It tickled and I squealed which made him laugh.

“Don't
do
that, you know how ticklish I am!” I said, giggling.

“I know, that is why I did it,” he teased, still grinning. Then he looked around the room, when it appeared that everyone was settled, he began to speak.

“Alright, first things first, I want to know if any of you have come up with a plan, or have any ideas?” Xavier asked as he looked at everyone. Elise began to tell him what we had discussed earlier and he listened intently to everything she said, nodding his head at certain ideas that were mentioned.

“That sounds good, we know what we have to do.” Xavier paused, then he looked at me. “All of us,” he smiled.

“Everyone looked at the weapons already and I've briefed them on the type of ammo we have,” I said proudly. Xavier chuckled.

“Well we haven't been 'briefed',” April said. I looked at her, she was sitting on the armrest next to Tony.

“Okay, no problem,” before I could bring them up to speed, there was a knock on our cabin door. “That must be the two people Warren sent.” I said as I rose from the sofa but Xavier grabbed my arm with lighting quick speed. It startled me and
I
yelped.
I
looked down at him, confused.

“I'll go, we are not sure if these shifters are the ones we're expecting,” he said, then he rose from the sofa and walked towards the door.

I now have an idea how strong a vampire's sense of smell is. “Can
I
help you?” Xavier asked pleasantly once he opened the door.

I heard a deep sexy voice speak. “Warren informed us that you would need some help, our Pack master, Xander sent us.”

I recognized the voice immediately. It was Adrian, Warren's lover! I could not believe I was actually going to see the face to that sexy voice. Xavier stepped to the side and the two shape-shifters entered the cabin, and oh my god! They were huge! Well, compared to my petite five-feet-two frame, they were huge. The tallest one had to be at least six-feet-five-inches, gorgeous caramel colored skin and striking, hypnotizing silver eyes. His full sensuous shaped lips turned up in a smiled when his eyes focused on me.

“So you're Natasha, Warren said you were beautiful.” The man I suspected was Adrian, flashed a sparkling white smile that simply took my breath away.

Okay now I could match the voice with a face, and boy! What a face! “Thank you,” I said-blushing. “It is nice to meet you...Adrian?” I guessed, hoping that I was right, he chuckled and nodded.

I looked at the other shape-shifter that came with him, he was six-feet-three-inches, light brown eyes and long black hair tied in a braid, he looked to be Japanese. Both he and Adrian were physically splendid. Just like everyone else, they were dressed in black. I looked back at Adrian and naughty little me, my eyes took notice of his crotch and almost popped out of my sockets when I saw what Adrian was packing in
his
cargo hold! I thought Sergio was huge! He had to be at least an inch longer than Sergio and if you can believe it...thicker! How can Warren handle all of that!? I was so deep in thought, that I had not realized that Xavier sat down next to me.

“Get a good look?” he asked playfully, I jumped and looked at him, I smiled coyly. “Caught in the act of gawking,” Xavier teased.

“Man, what did you expect, it is my first meeting with Warren's boyfriend. One could say that I am a little...surprised is all,” I said modestly.

“Yeah, I know what surprised you,” Xavier chuckled. “Admit it, you are guilty.”

“So,” I smiled, and he leaned over and kissed me on the forehead.

“I took the liberty of introducing them to everyone while you were ogling male genitalia,” Xavier teasingly informed me.

“When did they tell you their names?” I asked, relieved that Xavier took the initiative to make the formal greeting, since I was... rather...preoccupied.

“They flashed me their ID's as they walked into the cabin.”

“Oh,” I looked at Adrian again as he leaned against the wall, his arms folded across his broad muscular chest. He was listening to everyone talk about the mission. He leaned closer to his friend and whispered something into his ear and the other man chuckled. Elise looked at him and frowned.

“If you can think of something better, feel free to speak up now.” Elise said, putting Adrian on the spot.

Oooh, now I want to know what Adrian said to his partner, I might ask Elise later.

Adrian cleared his throat. “Fine then, I'm listening to everything that you are all saying,” he paused, he tilted his head slightly. “And some of it makes perfect sense, but you are all omitting an important aspect. You want to sneak up on this enemy and that can not be done with other shifters standing guard. From what I have been told, you have been ambushed and attacked from afar with silver ammunition. Really, two can play that game. Now, if you're not above shooting from afar, I suggest we snipe the watch guards from flanking positions.”

I was impressed! Warren did say they were the enforcers.

“Exactly, we take out their senses of sight, scent and sound, then we will be able to infiltrate a damn sight better,” said the other man.

I was such in a daze, that I did not hear when he was introduced, I decided to be bold. “Everything the both of you just said makes perfect sense. Um...I did not catch your name.” I said gesturing towards the Asian.

“Nagesa.” He said flatly. I looked at him and Adrian again and was beginning to anticipate seeing them in action, just as I was excited to see everyone else do battle, including myself.