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“If you’ll let me witness the entire process, I’ll only charge twenty.”
Fuck. I wanted to turn him down, but this was going to have to be Marco’s decision.
Ryan wants to give us a thirty-thousand-dollar discount if he can witness what is done to the duck shifter he can provide. I’ll pay the discount out of my personal funds to keep him out of it.
I would love to let you do that, but I don’t like the message it would send to the slayer. Odds are, he’s already witnessed what happens during a feeding from lust. I can’t see that he’ll learn anything new. In the interest of appearing as if we have nothing to hide, we should probably let him watch, but I’ll make that determination later. Tell him I’ll call him to negotiate those terms once we’re en route to TBC.
I told Ryan, “Marco will call you once he’s back in the limo, and the two of you can work out your part in the lesson.”
“I will await his phone call. I regret we didn’t have much time together when you rose this afternoon, but I look forward to doing so later tonight, or possibly in the coming days.”
“At this time, I don’t know whether we’ll move the baby vampire into the coterie house, or whether I’ll babysit her a few days at her current home.” Or whether she’d fail to follow orders tonight and force me to kill her, but I left that option off. “Either way, it may be a few days before we can play our third and fourth chess games.”
“When I win, we won’t need a fourth.”
I couldn’t help my grin. “When I win, we’ll need a tiebreaker, since some idiot decided that me pushing you to a stalemate doesn’t qualify as a win.” We’d agreed on which rules to use ahead of time, though, so I wasn’t disputing the fact it was a stalemate, just bitching about it. It was also a tiny test, since the idiot’s name was Staunton, and the rules of chess changed back in 1860 because of him.
“I look forward to spending leisure time with you again, and I’ll do my best to keep it professional between us should Marco allow me to take part in tonight’s lesson.”
So, did that mean Ryan wasn’t around back then? I thought it probably did. People were still bitching about it decades later, so it was likely he’s younger than a hundred and fifty.
I followed along with what was happening in the basement and was pleased Marco didn’t explain what was going to happen to Kelsey or her men, but merely announced Kelsey would need to be taught how to control this new power.
Three shifters were responsible for seeing to the baby vampire’s needs — acting as a hierarchy over her and providing sustenance, though only two were on the menu. The mongoose shifter was apparently the main disciplinarian, and she wasn’t feeding from him. She fed from the grizzly bear and the leopard on a schedule, and it appeared those two men were lovers, food, and disciplinarians when the situation called for it.
The mongoose shifter chose to ride separately, the sexy leopard shifter rode in the limo with us, and the grizzly chose to stay home. The uber-sexy leopard talked with our security team as if he was one of them, but I sensed otherwise. It was as if he had multiple doctorates while our men were still working to obtain a bachelor’s degree, he was so far above them. I don’t believe he meant to broadcast the fact he was clearly more elite than our men, but I easily picked up on it. I’d researched Kelsey’s men while in the limo on the way — I knew he was ex-military and worked for Drake Security, so I should’ve expected it, but it came as a surprise.
Kelsey’s men could’ve easily disabled the security you walked into the room with, I told Marco.
I’m aware. Her men represent the best of the best. I sent you the documentation on them.
Yes, the Fabulosa Trio. I read it, but listening to this conversation while sensing the energies in the vehicle slammed it home.
Our men are more than capable of keeping us safe. Comparing them to Drake’s top-level people isn’t exactly fair.
They can keep us safe as long as we don’t go to war with Drake Security, or as long as we don’t go to war with someone who’s hired similarly trained mercenaries.
I’m comfortable with the contracts between us and Drake Security as well as those between us and the Amakhosi, who owns half of the company along with the Dragon King. We’re the newcomers, but we’re also at the top of the food chain. Our kind has always been more powerful than our security, unlike humans, who hire security who could overwhelm them without a thought.
You’re saying we don’t want people like this leopard on our security, because he’s too strong?
Kelsey has limited access into his head, which means I can take a peek, and I have. I would trust him if he oathed to me and meant it, but I’m not so certain of the mongoose. For all three of them, it’s good to have them as allies, but no, I’m not certain they would make the best employees for our purposes.
When we arrived at TBC, our security carried the three of us, still in our lightproof bags, through a side door and down the steps to the underground. As soon as my bag was settled on the ground, I crawled out of it myself, rather than wait for assistance. I sensed the mongoose watching me, but I didn’t turn to him and acknowledge the attention.
I walked Kelsey into my office through the door in the back, and into my suite of rooms, which I’d ordered cleaned and sanitized after my night of sex with the Slayer. They’d done an excellent job, and I didn’t pick up even a hint of Ryan’s scent.
I didn’t explain what I was doing, at first. I held Kelsey motionless with her own mind, paralyzing her, and then I ate her fear. The more of her life force I consumed, the more terrified she became, and it was a feast of a meal, drinking her down until there was barely more than a spark of her left — until she was certain she was at death’s door.
In reality, she was in the lobby, in view of the proverbial door but a safe distance from it, because taking a baby vamp down to just a tiny spark of life is tricky. Plus, the goal was to teach Kelsey a lesson, and not to permanently attach her to me. I left enough energy, her oath with Marco was still firmly in place, and I was careful to give her mostly her own energy back, and very little of mine.
When she had half of her own energy back and seemed to be on top of the panic and terror, I released her mind enough she could talk, and I ordered, “Explain to me what just happened.”
“You eat fear. You terrorized me and ate my life force.”
“Eat is a strong word, but sure, we’ll go with it. What do you eat?”
“Sex?”
