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“If that attitude changes, come talk to me or Dusty. We’ve both talked a lot of people through the after-effects of taking a life, no matter how necessary the act was.”
Lauren understood why some people were traumatized by the act, after the fighting was over. The visuals had been hard to see, and walking amongst dead bodies had brought home what she’d done so it was impossible to ignore, but she didn’t feel bad about having to do it. Those people had come to Branson to kill not just her and Gavin, but their people. As she’d told Link, it was kill or be killed, and she’d chosen the former.
“I don’t expect it to,” she told Link. “Mom says my early life in China, at the orphanage, made me more practical than most humans. She says I’m even more practical than a lot of the supernaturals she knows.”
“I can see how that could happen. Still, the offer is there. I know you can go to your mom, too.”
“Mom’s going to turn the bodies to ash, and then they’re going to use those huge pressure washers to wash everything away, right?”
“Most of the ash will be put into boxes and disposed of elsewhere,” Gavin answered, “but the last of it will be moved away with the pressure washers, yes. They’ll also need to use metal detectors to make sure they get all the bullets out of the pavement.”
“Not mechanical metal detectors? You have people who can do that?”
Gavin kissed her forehead. “Was that something you’d have known before, or did your hawk tell you there was something else in my micro expressions?”
“How do you know my bear didn’t scent something off?”
“Because I can control my scent markers.”
“I don’t honestly know how I knew. Now, I’m going to have to figure out which animals can detect metal, because I’m guessing this falls into the whole ‘someone else’s secrets’ thing, and you can’t tell me.”
The driveway ended, with forest to the right and left, and the side of a steep hill in front of them, with no visible structure, but Lauren’s vision let her see a pathway leading to an odd shape that was likely a door. So, this was an underground house.
Before Link had even turned the motor off, Lauren was out the side door and making her way to the odd shape in the side of the hill. By the time Gavin made it to her, she still hadn’t figured out the mechanism to open it.
“Most people can’t see anything except a hillside. What gave it away?”
“The hawk’s vision, I think. Something about the pattern of the hillside not being quite right in this little rectangle.”
“It would seem I need to look at my hideaway properties through the mind of a bird shifter, in the future.”
Gavin flipped a piece of stone out, and a hinged piece swung out to show a smooth piece the same color as the surrounding rock. Gavin placed his palm on it, lifted his palm to show a keypad on the touchscreen, and he keyed a six-digit number in. Something clicked directly in front of Lauren, and she noted that a handle now showed. She grasped it, pulled, and a door-sized piece of stone swung out to allow entry.
“There’s one way in and out,” Gavin told her once they were in a narrow tunnel. Fifteen yards in, and they were in a ten foot by twenty foot chamber, well lit, with a kitchen in the back left corner, a small dining area to the left, and sofas and chairs forming an inviting seating area to the right.
Gavin’s chef was working in the kitchen, and a cheetah was lounging on a sofa with an old-fashioned book. Lauren noted a bookshelf with a few dozen hardbacks.
The space was lit with flickering candlelight, but a battery powered booklight was clipped to the top of the book.
“If there’s no electricity, how are you cooking?” Lauren asked the chef as she stepped near the kitchen area.
“Propane tank, buried outside. Gas stove and oven.” The chef spooned soup into two bowls and set them on the counter. “Spoons are already on the table, along with plum juice for Lauren and beer for Link and Ambrose.”
Lauren would’ve sworn Ambrose hadn’t been there when they walked in, but she decided not to explore why she hadn’t seen him. He was here now, and she was happy to have him close.
* * * *
Gavin had fed twice since the battle, but he needed at least one moregoodfeeding to put him back to fighting strength. He didn’t especially want to feed in front of Lauren, but he wasn’t going to hide it from her, either.
The cheetah had set the book aside and was waiting for instructions when Gavin stepped to him.
A simple command, and the cheetah stood, waited for Gavin to get comfortable on the sofa, and then the young man straddled Gavin’s lap, his head resting on the vampire’s shoulder, baring his neck. This position was comfortable for both and was more about substance than sex when both parties were clothed.
I’m going to take a lot, but you haven’t donated blood in the weeks you were on vacation, yes?
Correct, Master Gavin. I willingly give. Take what you need.
Because the cheetah willingly gave of himself, and because Gavin knew he was in a safe space and could focus on his meal, he took in enough of the cheetah’s life force that it wasn’t just the sustenance of the blood that fed him, but of the power of life, sunshine, and growing things. Vampires can’t absorb those things directly, they must take them from the creatures who can live in sunshine.
