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His cock tried to grow in the steel cage, and I found that most interesting. Nothing I was going to deal with on this day, but perhaps I could use it to convince my slayer that Largo wasn’t as opposed to being tortured as one might think.
* * * *
A few nights later, Venom and I followed Marco and Cora to the RTMC’s compound in the city. Since Venom wasn’t comfortable taking Andreas until he understood the political landscape better, and I didn’t think it a good idea to go public with the fact I’m fucking the slayer, we opted to go together.
We were admitted into the gate without fanfare, directed to parking spaces, and two bikers were walking towards us before Venom had the engine turned off. I recognized one of the men, but not the other, which seemed odd since I’d met with the top men shortly after we came to town.
“Marco, Cora, Etta, and Venom,” Duke said, “I’m so glad you’ve come. I’d like to introduce you to Bud, the president of our Atlanta chapter.”
Bud offered his hand to Marco, who shook it, and then Cora stepped forward and gave the other werewolf a hug. “I’m so happy you’re here. It’s been entirely too long since I got to spend time with Nickie.”
After a short exchange with Cora, Bud also shook my hand, and then Venom’s, and the two wolves walked us to the action. I considered the fact the Alpha Wolf hugged both lone wolves, clearly happy to see them and familiar with their families. Chattanooga was certainly an unusual town.
I was a little surprised to discover this party felt like something from a few centuries before, where the men congregated together in one area, and the women in another. Some women were with the men, and the notes I’d read told me these women were called sweetbutts — fully available for sex, but they wouldn’t speak unless spoken to in a way that required an answer.
The ol’ladies of the RTMC are an eclectic bunch. There was a research scientist who works with pharmaceuticals, a mechanical engineer who works for the government agency over the dams on the Tennessee River, a real estate agent, a security analyst, and a hair stylist. And of course there was Mattie, who isn’t technically an ol’lady since he’s a male, but he’s the gay partner of one of the men, so he hung out with the ol’ladies rather than the brothers. I’d met him already, of course, since he’d redecorated my office and the suite behind it.
Conversation and liquor flowed freely for about an hour, when someone organized a paintball game, men against women. I insisted on some target practice with the weapon they handed me before the competition began, and I cringed a little at the pink splat I made on the tree I targeted. I don’t do pink, but I kept my mouth shut about it.
On Cora’s suggestion, I’d worn black jeans and a deep, bloodred shirt. Well, her suggestion had been jeans and a casual shirt. I’d gone for the darker colors, and this would be a huge help to stay hidden while moving about in the little wooded area in the back corner of the compound.
Our team of five was me, Cora, Kirsten, Angelica, and Harmony. The men’s five included Marco, Venom, Duke, Brain, and Nathan.
Gen handed out oversized black t-shirts for the women, and I put mine on over my clothes. I hadn’t been looking forward to having to wear blue paint splatters on my clothes for the rest of the night, so I appreciated the cover. The men all took their shirts off, and I wasn’t the only female admiring all the muscles this presented.
The women went off to the side, and Harmony asked me, “Can you do the dome-of-silence thing?” I put a force field around us that blocked sounds from entering or leaving, and we were in silence except for four heartbeats, and the sound of the air entering and leaving the shapeshifters’ lungs.
“Thanks,” Harmony said, and kept looking at me to ask, “Are you okay with me asking Cora to lead us? Or do you think you’re better at strategy? I don’t want to step on toes, but we’re used to asking Cora to do it. You’re older, though, so I’m good either way.”
“She’s accustomed to this game, and she knows our foes better. She’s the perfect person to lead us.”
“They’ll put the vampires in the trees,” Cora said. “With Kirsten’s help, I can levitate up as well, so we have three people we can put up top. Harmony prefers climbing, too, which just leaves us with one person on the ground.”
“I can levitate Angelica up with me,” I said.
“I’m better on the ground,” Angelica said. “I’ll draw fire while ya’ll take them out from their own level.”
We spent the three minutes we had to strategize doing just that, and then we made our way to the forested area. We were to stand on one side of the wooded area while the men stood on another, and when a bell was rung, it meant gameplay began.
I’d been assured everyone watching knew about supernaturals, so I levitated up and then made my way through the branches and towards the men. I sensed movement in front of me and shot at the same time I sensed something catapulting towards me, and I moved out of the way on instinct. The paintball splattered into something behind me, and I shot again.
“Marco’s out!” a male voice shouted from below, and I turned my head to the right at another sound. I was swinging my gun around to fire when something arrowed through the air toward me once again, and I kicked off the branch sideways to barely miss it.
Twenty minutes later, Kirsten and I were still in play, with the only male left being Nathan. Kirsten had given a polite telepathic knock when it was down to just the two of us and Cora, so now, the Harlequin and I were conversing as we moved.
I scent him off to your left, I told her, and I believe he’s either on the ground or close to it. If you drop to the ground and shoot at your two o’clock or perhaps two-thirty, and start from three feet up and shoot up progressively, it could work.
Thirty seconds later, Nathan was wearing a pink splat on his right shoulder, and Kirsten taught me how to high-five once our feet were back on the ground in the little wooded area.
“Damn, girl!” Cora said when she came to us, and I assumed she was talking to Kirsten, but she was looking at me. “You looked like something out of The Matrix, the way you avoided the paintballs. Can you do that with bullets?”
I stared at her, trying to figure out how to answer. It hadn’t occurred to me no one else was dodging the small projectiles, but now that she mentioned it, I realized they had not. It’d seemed second nature to me, at the time. “I have no idea. Can none of you dodge them?”
“If we could’ve, we would’ve,” Venom told me.
I’m due to watch The Matrix with Jayce Sunday night. Is there something I need to know to understand what they’re saying? I asked Marco.
He sent me a visual of people leaning in odd formations to avoid being struck by bullets, and I said, Thank you for that.
