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And she was one of Mordecai’s many daughters. Would she be jealous of Lauren? Or would she see her as a stepsibling to be protected at all costs?
Ellania met his gaze from across the room and gave a tiny nod. They’d met around twelve hundred years earlier, when Gavin had lived in what is now known as Çarsamba, in Turkey.
Lauren talked to the shapeshifters about their food needs, and about how they weren’t obligated to feed the vampires. She called Gavin to the front of the room and asked him to explain, again, how he was making sure the vampires were fed from willing donors.
“In an emergency,” Gavin told them, “if a vampire is in danger of facing their final death, I hope someone will offer up a vein, and I’ll be honest and tell you I’ll be pissed if no one does — if you just stand there and watch him or her die without doing anything to stop it. Around eighty percent of those in this room have it in their contract that you will not be required to feed any vampire. If you decide you want the extra income, a pay increase starts at the once-a-week level, and you’ll have the option of listing up to ten vampires you specifically do not wish to feed. Most people list one or two vampires, few have issues with more than five, but you can name up to ten.”
Gavin saw them looking around the room, trying to figure out who’d agreed to feed vampires in their contract.
“Caterers will bring a different meal every day between performances,” Lauren told them. “Roast beef on Wednesdays, barbecue on Thursdays, a taco bar on Fridays, and hamburgers with a myriad of fixings on Saturdays. Since we only have the one matinee show on Sundays, we aren’t catering food between performances. I realize we have some vegetarians, and I’m assured there’ll be offerings you’ll find attractive as well.”
Everyone in the room looked over at the deer and gazelle shifters, and she saw the gazelles move to shield the deer. Gavin approved, but he hoped to eventually have a room divided up amongst the acts, rather than organized by shifter type. It would have to happen organically, and only if trust could be built, so the deer felt the apex predators would protect them, rather than want to eat them.
Finally, Lauren dismissed all but five of the shifters, and she had them dance a portion of the finale of the first act. It looked like a train wreck, and the choreographer looked suitably chastised. “To be clear,” Lauren told her, “these five excel at their individual acts, but this number is clearly not in their wheelhouse. I’ll leave it up to you as to whether you work with them on this dance, or have them do something else entirely. The two who perform on silks can probably do something in the air, for instance.”
When they were gone, she closed the door, took a few steps inside, which still put her fifteen yards away, and told Gavin, “This is not an invitation to come closer. Please stay where you are.”
She took her shirt off, so she stood in dress pants and her bra, and Gavin resisted the urge to cross his arms.
“I didn’t ask, before. Do you like the tattoo?”
This didn’t call for a yes or no answer. She needed to know how he felt about it, not just whether he liked it. Complete truth. Nothing partial.
“The tattoo is beautiful. Young vampires can’t help but heal them, but older vampires learn enough, we can selectively heal, but once it’s been there a while, it’s even more permanent on us than it is a human. However, we go through identity after identity, so tattoos don't really work for us. For this reason, most vampires won’t consider turning someone with a tattoo, either. Shapeshifters can be tattooed, but they’ll lose it the first time they shift, unless they were tattooed long before they were turned. As a result, tattoo means human, in my mind, so it’s going to take a little while to get used to it perhaps meaning the opposite, for you.”
When she didn’t say anything, he closed half the distance to her and said, “While I’m being completely honest, I’d like to explain…” He didn’t like towering over her for this, so he took a few steps to a chair and sat. “In the past, when I was nice to someone, or kind, or not an asshole, it was part of a strategy. I could be cruel or nice, whatever was necessary to obtain the desired results. With Queenie, and with a few others, I’ve eventually reached the point I was sad to see them go, but not because of any connection or attachment to them — it was more about their ability to make my life run smoother, than the fact I liked them. I trained them to be the person I wanted to have around me, and so they were. But with you, I’ve liked you from the beginning. Just sitting and talking to you was enough to make me like you. And miss you.”
Lauren slid her shirt back on, moved a chair so it was a few feet in front of him, and she sat, but didn’t say anything.
“Telling you this goes completely against strategy,” Gavin continued, “but I need you to understand. I care about you in a way I don’t think I’ve ever cared for anyone. Even Zander, I grew to love because of what he did for me, and the need I had for him in my life, but I love you for who you are. Unique. Intelligent. Kind. And yes, you’re beautiful, but it’s the person inside I need in my life.”
When he finished this time, he was silent. It took several long moments for Lauren to speak, and it killed Gavin to have to wait to see what she’d say.
“I’ve told you I’m drawn to you. I can’t tell you I love you, but I care about you, and I miss you when I go too long without spending time with you. When something good happens, I want to share it with you. I’m not sure how one truly defines love, but I can define importance, and you’ve grown important in my life.” She leaned back and looked at his face, as if analyzing it for a specific question. “As to strategy, I believe telling me plays into a strategy as well — one where you do everything you can to try to keep me in your life, even if that means you don’t have the upper hand you’re used to having in nearly all your interpersonal relationships.”
“Nearly all?”
“Abbot, now Zander, wasn’t the case. Likely other vampires I’m not aware of.” She bit her lip. Released it. “Nick thinks I chose the two of you because neither of you can demand a monogamous relationship from me.”
“I’ve demanded it of many in my long life, despite the fact I wasn’t interested in giving it to them in return.”
“But you were in their heads, right?”
“I was.”
She didn’t say anything, and he discovered he had more to say on the subject. “I’ll need to be the number one vampire in your life. That isn’t to say you can’t have a fling with a vampire, but I’ll have trouble handling it if I’m not your top vampire.”
“Nick said he had to be the only lion, preferably the only cat, but I guess that doesn’t matter anymore.”
No, it probably didn’t. He’d hoped Nick would show more maturity, but if the Rex continued upon the path he seemed to be choosing, he was going to push Gavin to do somethingeveryonewould regret. Gavin wasn’t going to involve Lauren in that, though. Not if he could help it. To make sure they stayed away from what Nick was doing now, he reverted to what had happened before. “I regret asking Nick to accompany me to talk to you. He wanted to give you some space, and I thought we should come to you together.”
Lauren shook her head. “Nick knew better. He’s known me longer.” She tilted her head. “Okay, so technically, I met you first, but I was a child, and I spent a grand total of maybe fifteen minutes in your presence until we talked in Alaska. Nick and I have spent hundreds of hours together, possibly thousands if you include time on the phone and video chat.”
Seven people had come toward the practice room door while they talked, and he’d deemed that all of them could wait, so he’d had them decide not to knock on the rarely-closed door, but to go do something else.
Lauren ended up in his lap, snuggled against him, and he held her and talked and enjoyed her energy. Her spunk. Her conversation.
Until she asked a question he wasn’t expecting.
