AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Sadly, there wasn’t an opportunity to try it out in sunlight. I’d directed both of my companions to be fully focused on their work and research, so they didn’t notice what was going on around them. Once Alaric was gone, I’d go in and tweak Furio’s memories so he didn’t recall Alaric arriving. He had strong shields and I didn’t intend to do a lot of rewrites, but neither of them needed to recall Alaric’s presence.
The food had been a sensory explosion, but I’d limited myself to one large bite and two small ones. Alaric had tried to insist I have more, but I’d told him I needed to be on top of my game in Charlotte, and didn’t want to risk the food putting me out of sorts.
There’d been a trick to getting out of the skin. Probably someone’s idea of a joke, but I’d had to perform the signum crucis, the sign of the cross, and then run my finger from my Adam’s apple down to my sternum, and the suit had opened so I could easily step out of it.
Alaric had packed everything away, and I’d put my clothes back on and sat in my seat, though I didn’t use the seatbelt — I didn’t want to be bound in any way with Alaric so close.
However, as soon as the door opened, Alaric said his goodbyes, exited our plane, and stepped onto another.
Furio’s promised SUV was awaiting us, a human man holding a sign that said Bodine Party. I understood this was a play on Furio’s name, and an alias he used for casual trips. This was a rental vehicle we would keep with us, rather than a limo with a driver. Furio would drive us, and we’d have the vehicle available if we needed to make a quick exit.
I noted Furio pressed a one hundred dollar bill into the delivery man’s palm when the keys changed hands, and I looked into my bodyguard’s mind to see what was special about the car. Turns out, it was fully armored, body and glass, with a massive engine that could handle the extra weight.
“My personal vehicles aren’t armored,” I noted.
“I would very much like to send the two you most frequently drive to be retrofitted,” he told me. “The idea was to show you how normal this vehicle looks before I opened up the discussion with you.”
I wanted to insist vampires are rarely taken out by snipers, but since Etta had nearly been killed by snipers when she and Ryan had first become an item, it was certainly something to keep in mind.
“Run it by Josef,” I told him. “We’ll set a time in a few weeks for the three of us to discuss it.”
The ride to the coterie house was uneventful, and I handled a few tweaks to make sure neither remembered Alaric, or anything else from the trip, other than what they’d been focused on.
Upon arrival at the Coterie house, vampires took our bags to our rooms, and a shapeshifter escorted us to Sybil, who maintained a receiving room that reminded one of the throne rooms kings and queens once utilized.
It wasn’t a throne, merely a large chair with carved wood showing at the sides and under the arms, and padded upholstery in the center. I sat in the next largest chair, facing her, and my companions took up space on the walls — Furio behind me, guarding the door, and Julian off to the side, nearby in case I needed something from my assistant.
“Your food looks more like a guard,” Sybil noted.
“I prefer sustenance from the apex shifters. I understand you’ve purchased an event venue?”
“Oh, yes! Weddings are such a big business, these days. The property has space for corporate functions as well, and I’m set up to handle all the details — floral needs, invitations, catering, bar services, everything. Two large events at a time, or up to fourteen small events.”
“On your knees, Sybil. Pleasure me with your mouth while I decide where and how I’ll fuck you.”
It was bad form to do this so soon after arrival, but if I had to sit and listen to her talk about how she was all set for wedding planning on a huge scale for the next hour, I’d belt the fuck out of her before I fucked her, so this seemed the kinder, gentler approach.
“Of course, Master.”
She hated every second of the next three hours, but I’m much stronger than her, so she had no choice but to defer to me. I went from her mouth to her cunt and denied her even a tiny bit of pleasure, much less an orgasm, though I ejaculated five times. When she wasn’t exuberant enough, I clamped her nipples and moved from her pussy to her asshole, and towards the end, I offered her mouth to Furio, who gladly joined me. He quite enjoys not having to worry with making sure the mouth and throat he’s fucking might need oxygen.
Later, I went through the mind of her top vampires as well as her flock, and found too many pieces of missing time in the flock’s memories. A certain amount is normal, but this much pointed to more secrets than one should expect in a healthy coterie.
But I found nothing in the vampire’s minds, so all I could do was require Sybil and her top five to oath to me once again with a healthy exchange of blood, and it was time for us to return home.
No way did I want to bed down in this territory for the day.
I finally got around to reading the slayer’s report on the way home, and it was unfortunate I hadn’t been able to ahead of time. There were specifics I would’ve followed up on, had I been able to.
I phoned the slayer in question from the plane, rather than deal with intermediaries.
“Sybil’s once again proved herself to be toeing the line. I agree with you that something isn’t right, but I’ve gone through everyone’s head, and there’s nothing to be found.”
“And the poolhouse?”
“I didn’t have an opportunity to visit the poolhouse. Your report was handed to me as I stepped onto the plane, and I was obligated to use the flight time for another task during the short flight there. If you need me to read a report before a visit in the future, please get it to me sooner. I’m reading it now, on my way back to Chattanooga.”
He sighed. “Well, fuck. My grandparents would take her and her top people out on just the suspicions I have, but I want proof.”
