"Are you awake?"
Johanna opened her eyes to find a woman in a white lab coat standing in front of her with a syringe in hand. The woman's black hair was neatly combed back from her face, gathered in a tight bun on top of her head. A white mask covered the lower part of the woman's face, but her brown eyes ran over Johanna from head to toe, and the flinch that her appearance evoked made Johanna chuckle.
Dr. Rebecca Lee shook her head as she moved closer to Johanna. "You look terrible."
"You don't say." Johanna did not have to look at the mirror to know how dreadful she must look. Shackled underground for years and practically starved, she knew that nobody would call her pretty. Besides, Rebecca Lee could be mean; the doctor was, after all, the only friend she had in this place.
Rebecca pressed the syringe close to Johanna's arm, but instead of sticking the needle in, she kept it outside, emptying the serum against Johanna's skin and deftly wiping it off with a handkerchief she was hiding inside her sleeve. "I truly wish I can help you."
Johanna quickly glanced at the cameras located in the opposite corners of the room. They were both aimed at her, but there were no lights blinking - which only meant that Rebecca's man was in the control room tonight.
"Where is she?" she asked the doctor, who was now taking another syringe from her collection. Johanna's lips barely moved as she voiced out the question, and her slightly bowed head made sure that the cameras would not catch her lips moving, even by accident. It never hurt to be cautious.
"You know that you wouldn't have to ask me if I knew," Rebecca answered. She repeated the procedure with the second serum: she pressed the syringe against Johanna's skin and emptied its contents there, making sure that nothing went into the prisoner's bloodstream.
Johanna merely sighed and closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. Rebecca's was the only comforting scent in this whole hell of a place.
"Are you sure you don't want to search for her yourself?"
Although tempted by the doctor's suggestion, Johanna shook her head. There were too many risks involved with an attempt to escape. She might be able to break out of her shackles and get out of the room, but then what? How would she get out of this rotten place without a full-blown fight against slayers? In her current condition, Johanna knew that she would not last.
"I need allies," Johanna whispered. "I can't break out of this prison otherwise."
Rebecca's eyes were full of worry when she glanced up at her. "You have me."
Johanna smiled. "Of course. But I can hardly ask you to fight."
The doctor sighed but nodded as she reached for another serum. This one, unlike the two before it, was for Johanna's nourishment - Michael Gilford's way of keeping her alive so that she would break. Johanna closed her eyes as Rebecca stuck the syringe in her arm, pumping the serum into her bloodstream.
"Stay strong, Johanna," Rebecca said quietly. "If there's anything else I can do..."
"There is," Johanna said. "I need you to help me reach out to Ashford Hayes-Crowe."
"Johanna..."
Rebecca fell silent, and Johanna knew that she was asking for too much. There had been no hesitation from Rebecca when Johanna asked her to work for Reginald Gilford to keep an eye on Raine; there had been no hesitation when Johanna asked her to tamper with the results of Raine's blood tests. But the hesitation - even objection - emanating from her now was hardly unexpected.
Johanna understood. Rebecca had vowed never to get involved with vampires again after the betrayal that they suffered fourteen years ago. The doctor had been James's research partner - most likely his lover. After James's gruesome demise in the hands of vampires, Rebecca could not find it in her heart to ever trust the vampires again.
But Johanna did not ask her now in the hopes that the woman herself would approach the vampires. Far from it.
"I'm not asking you to approach Hayes-Crowe yourself," Johanna said, flashing a soft smile when Rebecca met her eyes. "There's a slayer I want you to communicate with."
There was curiosity in Rebecca's eyes. "Which slayer?"
"The woman who was with Gilford the other day," Johanna answered.
"Miranda?" Rebecca shook her head. "No. There is a reason why Gilford allows her into this place. She is one of his most loyal followers."
"No, she is not." Johanna was sure of it. "I can smell the essence of a vampire all over her. She sleeps with one and takes pleasure in doing so. I don't know what her end game is, but a woman does not sleep with a vampire over and over and over if she doesn't feel attracted to him."
"How would you know this?"
Johanna grinned. "By scent. For the past two years, I have noticed the vampire's essence on the woman. On and off, on and off. Which only means that she shares their bed from time to time."
Rebecca did not look convinced. "How can you tell that she is sleeping with Hayes-Crowe?"
"Not Hayes-Crowe, no," Johanna said. She would never forget the scent that always came with the slayer's; Johanna spent years with the vampire. "Melisande."
*****
Melisande sat cross-legged on the side of the bed, sulking. Seth was away on official business - what and whose business, he would not say - and she was left alone to deal with Ashford's wrath. Her sire had come so close to killing her after what she had done to Raine. Not that she blamed him. Raine had no idea who she was -
what
she was - and Melisande's advances had awoken the wolf in her.
The wrong half, unfortunately,
Melisande thought ruefully.
She heaved another heavy sigh - the umpteenth one tonight. She had
really
wanted Raine. The woman was just too irresistible. Never mind that she was a half-breed; Melisande could feel the wetness developing between her thighs just thinking about the delicious body that Raine was blessed with. And her scent... It was so alluring. She should have smelled foul, being a half-wolf and all, but Raine smelled much too human. Sweeter than most, sultrier than most, but human. It was the scent that fooled Melisande in the first place.
The sound of the shower getting turned off broke her reverie, and Melisande smiled when she heard the humming coming from the bathroom. If nothing else worked right, at least her favourite human was available.
Melisande stood up while listening to the soft footsteps that were now leaving the bathroom and heading to the bedroom. She was not supposed to be here for hours yet, but patience was not a virtue she had ever possessed. She needed Miranda's company now, before the agitation caused by what was going on devoured her.
There was a hint of surprise in the slayer's eyes when she found Melisande in the bedroom, quickly replaced by a coy grin.
"I was not expecting you this early," Miranda said, fiddling with the belt of the bathrobe she wore.
Melisande walked over to where the woman was, stopping only a foot away. She reached out for Miranda, stroking the woman's arm gently. "Would you rather I leave?"
"What's the point?" Miranda said, stepping closer. With her lips inches away from Melisande's, she whispered, "I expect you to come back, anyway."
The kiss that Miranda gave was soft. Gentle. As if she was kissing delicate petals. Melisande groaned. There was so much gentleness and frailty in this human being who had killed hundreds of vampires over the years. Was she the only one who saw it? Even Seth did not understand why Melisande was so taken with this one woman.
Cradling Miranda's head, Melisande deepened the kiss, slowly running her tongue over the other woman's lips. The scent of Miranda's arousal filled her senses, calling out to the vampire deep within.
Take her. Devour her.
If she let her instincts take over, she would end up ripping this girl apart.
Miranda shrugged off her bathrobe, letting the soft garment pool around her feet. Melisande pulled her closer. She could feel her own body responding to the heat emanating from the slayer, and the answering wetness between her legs was a welcome reprieve. She had wanted this woman once due to the uncontrollable urge to feed; she wanted her now for the comfort and companionship that Miranda's presence offered.
Leading Miranda to the bed, Melisande vowed never to let anything happen to the human girl. If it meant keeping her distance from Raine...
Gritting her teeth, Melisande knelt on the bed to feast her eyes on Miranda. She had a perfectly toned body, honed by years of hunting renegade vampires. Firm, round breasts capped with rosy nipples hinted at her arousal, and Melisande was reminded of another slayer's body, as painfully alluring as this one's, if not more.
If you care for your little slayer friend at all, keep your hands off Raine
, Ashford had warned her the other day.
Don't force my hands, Melisande. I would hate to break your toys
.
Beneath her stares, Miranda now spread her legs in silent invitation. Melisande licked her lower lip as she leaned down to take her first taste of the woman's sex. She was sweet - salty sweet, as always. And she wanted this.
Gently, Melisande parted the woman's nether lips and ran her tongue over it. The moan of appreciation that escaped Miranda's mouth made her smile. Different they might be, but it could not be denied that both she and Miranda were slaves to their desires and pleasures.
Melisande glanced up at Miranda's face, drawn to a pair of beautiful brown eyes turning dark with desire. Her lips curved up in another smile before she gave her attention back to the woman's nether regions.
Her sire would probably never understand, but Melisande had never considered Miranda a toy.
*****
Cassandra purposefully walked down the corridor, heading for the conference room. It was not every day that she got a call from her assistant saying that the owner of Titan-Argentum was waiting for her, a furious girl in tow. Cassandra instructed Jenna to get a conference room for the three of them, already anticipating quite an interesting day.
What greeted her when she walked into the room, however, was beyond Cassandra's expectations. The air was so thick with tension that she was not left with any doubt that the two people seated with her at the table had known each other for a long time. To her right sat Nicholas James Collbreed, leader of her pack, as grim and cold and brooding as she had never seen him to be. Which was saying much, as the man had been quite grim and cold and brooding for the past several years.
To her left sat her granddaughter, Raine Amethyst Reinhart, half-wolf and slayer extraordinaire. For a minute, Cassandra studied the young woman's face, wondering why she had never guessed that this was Johanna's child. Although her deep blue eyes resembled her father's, Raine had her mother's straight nose and sensual lips - even Johanna's frown, which Raine was wearing now.
Cassandra cleared her throat loudly. She had to clear the air between these two if she were to convince them to work together.
"All right, you two," she said, feeling as if she were talking to children. "I don't know what's going on here, but I hope that you can look past your differences and cooperate."
She paused, and in that moment, Cassandra noticed the glance exchanged between the two, as quickly averted as it was thrown. Leaning back on her chair, she studied her younger companions closely, trying to glean as much information as possible from the uneasy silence that permeated the room.
