Breathless

This story is a bit wordy and fairly long, so if you are looking for immediate gratification, you might want to look elsewhere.

The following story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between these character and events and any real person or events is strictly coincidental . . . and pretty darn impressive seeing as it is a science fiction story. Do not reproduce or copy this story without the consent of the author.

This story is based in an alternative universe, where history took a different course than the one we are used to. In this world, the creatures which we now believe to be legends have walked alongside man for the duration of our existence. Vampires, werewolves, wizards, witches, sorcerers, and a host of other beings share our world.

The following story contains, in one chapter or another, lesbian and heterosexual activity in different proportions.

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Melissa was sitting on Sadie's sofa on the verge of hyperventilating. She wasn't sick, and she wasn't in her general state of anticipation of learning some new sexual trick from her vampire mentor. No, she was on her last nerve awaiting . . . dinner. More specifically, Sadie's dinner guest. More specifically, a wraith.

She had accepted that Sadie was not like most vampires, or like most law enforcers, or . . . or like anyone, but this was pushing even Melissa's credulity. No one had a wraith over for dinner, much less ask one to bring a salad. It wasn't that wraiths were evil or hideous, it's that they were barely "there" at all. You could touch one, thought the people touched by a wraith tended to do so while being ripped apart for some terrible wrong they had committed. You could hear them talk, but their lips didn't move. You could see them, but they didn't have that sense of solidity: they were in the world but not really a part of it. When they moved, they made no noise, and they gave off no scent. While not immune to magic, they could not be targeted with direct magic, and they were immune to magical influences on the mind. And heaven forbid you have a stray vengeful thought with a wraith around, because they would be likely to act on it for you if they got the chance.

"She's not due for a few more minutes," Sadie said, taking a perverse glee in Mel's nervous behavior. "If you're THAT freaked out --"

"I'm not freaked out!" Melissa's voice sounded like that of a teenage boy going through puberty. She reached down and scratched the ears of Sadie's new nameless cat as it wound its way absently between her legs. The feline purred, then slunk over to the bed and made herself at home.

"Of course not. Then go get the tenderloin out of the oven."

"We could have just eaten at the fund-raiser you know."

"But then I wouldn't have had an excuse to leave early and have dinner with Mary!"

"You . . . you're insane! You don't obey any kind of logic --"

There was a knocking at the door.

Sadie looked at Melissa and motioned to the door. Mel's eyes shot open and she shook her head. Sadie nodded vigorously. Mel shook her head. Sadie rolled her eyes and headed over to the door. Melissa stood up, not sure how one was supposed to greet the one species more undead than vampires.

"Greetings," Mary said, holding a pre-packaged salad in her hands. She looked as if she didn't know why she was there or what she was supposed to do.

"C'mon in!" Sadie said cheerfully. "Put that on the table. Mel, would you get the dressing out of the . . . Mel?"

Melissa was staring at Mary, who was staring back. Mel blinked several times . . . Mary didn't.

"I'm afraid that I'm making your friend nervous," Mary projected.

"Is she just standing there motionless not making any real facial expressions?" Sadie asked from the kitchen.

"Yes."

"Don't worry, she's always like that."

Melissa's trance broke long enough for her to shoot Sadie a dirty look. When she looked back at Mary, she saw the wraith actually crack a little smile.

'She's not that different than me,' Mel thought. 'She's actually scared.' It was more Melissa's intuition than anything that directed her down that thought path. "My name's Melissa," she said, her voice firming as she spoke. She extended her hand.

It was the second time in a week that Mary had been offered direct physical contact with another being. It was the second time in a century that someone had done so without being on the receiving end of vengeance. She shook this lovely young creature's hand. "Mary."

"May I take your . . . shawl?" Mel asked, trying to be polite but not sure what she should be asking for.

Mary, pulled the bluish-black garment from her hand and gave it to Melissa, letting her waist-length silky-black hair fall freely.

'She's beautiful,' the goth chick thought. 'Not ming-blowing sexy like Sadie, but more elegant.' It was easy for her to see that the woman had once been a vampire. There was something about the way her lips were formed. She wondered if Mary still had fangs. For some reason, that thought made her neck tingle. She gently folded the garment and placed it on a hanger behind the door.

Mary placed the salad on the table where it was rapidly picked, opened, and deposited in a bowl by Sadie.

Melissa relaxed a little and approached the dining table. "I didn't know you cooked."

"I can't," Sadie replied. "This is mostly just heat and forget stuff."

"I was wondering. I thought you lived entirely on gas station food and blood . . . and Guinness."

"Good point!" the vampire muttered, grabbing a black bottle of her favorite brew out of the fridge. "Mary, you drink?"

"Alcohol? I've never consumed anything but wine, and it's been a long time since that."

"No sweat." She glanced in the bottom of her refrigerator. "I've got a bottle of Bordeaux . . . 1945." Friend of mine gave it me and I never got around to drinking it."

"That sounds exquisite," Mary said.

"Great. You open and poor. Wine isn't my thing. Mel?"

"I'd love to try the wine," she said.

"Traitor."

And just like that, any remaining tension eased away. It turned out that Mary was very intelligent, having had nothing much to do except wreck vengeance on the wicked, read, mess around on the world-wide web, and pet her cats for quite some time. She had completely renovated her house on her own, ordering supplies on line and having the delivery personnel leave it in a nearby abandoned warehouse. No one was willing to drop it directly off at her front door.

"That reminds me," Sadie said. "I've got everything measured out and holes dug, so would you be willing to help put up my deck next weekend? I've got an eye on some great redwood --"

"Redwood? Maybe you should consider an artificial wood. It would handle the weather here much better. What are you smiling at?"

"You sounded like 'This Old House' for a second. And no fake woods! The redneck in me would never allow it."

"Very well." The wraith still looked cautious, as if this was all some big joke, but she was willing to risk being the butt of it. Even the most casual of acquaintances was better than the life of solitude she had chosen. "Do you have sufficient tools?"

"I dunno. I may not," Sadie thought.

"If you could arrange transport, I have everything you might need."

"Cool."

"Can I help?" Melissa murmured.

"You?" Sadie asked. "Physical labor?"

"Hey, you got me in a dress," Melissa shot back. "How hard could it be to build a deck?"

"Building things with your hands takes sweat and discipline," Mary said, feeling that her favorite hobby was being disrespected.

"Oh, I don't think that sweat and discipline is a problem for our little Melissa," Sadie said. Mary missed the joked. Melissa did not.

"You know who else is good with his hands?" Melissa asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sadie looked at her. "Terrence? That pretty boy?"

"He's an an ex Navy Seal you know," Melissa said. "He can probably handle a hammer. But that isn't who I was talking about."

Sadie was baffled. "Then I say, 'hunh'?"

"Officer Koloff," Mel said. "You two need to do some bonding anyway, and you looked quite comfortable with him at the fund raiser."

Sadie laughed it off. "Cute. Vlad is quite married and besides, he and I are like oil and water."

"Slick and wet?" Mel asked innocently. Like everyone else, she didn't much care for Vladimir's wife, and wouldn't mind seeing someone drive a wedge between them. Sadie could do it, and they had looked quite fetching together.

"You are so getting yours later!"

Mary watching the verbal sparring between the two friends and felt . . . warm. It was good to be amongst others again.

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The next evening . . .

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Sadie pulled her weary carcass into the precinct building only with the help of a strong pot of coffee and pure will. The coffee was Mel's idea. Every time that the goth chick slept over, Sadie didn't get much rest. But it was hard to even pretend to be too mad about it. They always drove their separate vehicles when they came into work however. They were friends with benefits. Sadie was Melissa's mentor, and that was it.

Unfortunately for Sadie, she had forgotten about a little bet that she had made, one that Vladimir was happy to remind her of the moment she eased into her creaky wooden chair.

"So, you ready to see who can cuff who?"

"Crap," Sadie said, lifting her overly hot coffee to her lips and then yelping when it touched her tongue.

"I'll take that as a 'no' then," Vladimir replied with a smirk. "Very well. I supposed I can take a rain check, unless you'd prefer just to concede now."

Sadie's half-opened eyes narrowed to a squint. She could taking being teased, insulted, mocked . . . but challenged? "I just don't want to have to embarrass you even more by kicking your ass while I'm only half awake."

"Tough talk for a chick still sitting in her chair."

'That's it,' she thought. 'No one challenges me AND calls me a chick and doesn't get his ego bruised.' She stood up, adrenalin providing her strength that her lack of sleep had taken away. "Who's sitting now? If you want, I'll let you go change into your panties before I spank you."

Koloff grinned. He wasn't sure that pissing her off would make her easier or more difficult to spar with, but it sure was fun. She practically glowed when she got feisty. "Why wait? Let's dance in what we'd be wearing in the field."

"I've seen you dance," Sadie replied. "You might want to stick with an analogy involving something you're good at." It was a cheap shot, and completely untrue. He'd been a fine dancer. Nice firm body and a kind of grace -- 'Stop that,' she thought.

The two of them heading back to the precinct's exercise room, complete with spacious sparring mat. Somehow, word of the impending challenge had already spread, and every person not occupied with important official business got swept up in their wake. By the time the two of them reached the sparring mat, there was already a "fight, fight, fight" chant echoing through the halls.

Sadie took her cuffs off her belt and opened up one of the storage lockers, putting the belt inside. Vladimir did the same, then closed the locker before returning to the mat.

The vampire was really looking forward to this. Not a lot of people she faced could really test her, but she knew deep down that Vlad could. He had that werewolf strength, military training, and that intangible but very real confidence. She glanced around, noticing that her entire team was there, including Bart. That made her scowl, but he had mostly left her and Mel alone. Sadie had successfully taken the fun out of it for him. He was probably just there to relish in the violence, even if it was only practice.

"Wait!" boomed a voice from the hall. Captain Grom looked annoyed as he strode down the hallway. "What do you two think you're doing?"

"Captain --" Vladimir started.

"We were just --"

The Captain waved them off. "I know what you're doing he said, breaking a sly smile. "I was just upset that you were starting before I got here. You think I'm going to miss a chance to see this?" He looked from one contestant to the other. "Well? Lay on!"

With the start given, the two combatants approached each other with their stances widened and their hand raised. Both were trying to identify what style the other was going to use, and both came to the same conclusion: neither opponent had an identifiable style. Both knew a hodge-podge mixture of techniques, so this would be a fight of adaptation rather than prediction.

Sadie decided to try and utilize her speed and endurance, since she was damn sure not going to overpower her opponent, even in his human form. She wondered what it would be like to take him half-were'd out. 'Imagine the possibilities.' She was brought back to reality as he feinted a grab towards her right arm. She bit on the feint just enough to let him know what her reaction would be, and she had cursed herself for that. She decided not to kick him in the groin, partially because any male worth his salt knew to protect it and . . . well, it was just too mean.

She ducked and spun, trying a sweep kick to take him off of his feet. He jumped it easily and tried jumping for her back. She actually did a reverse somersault to get out of his way, hoping he'd over-pursue and trip up. No such luck. He slowly and methodically backed her into a corner, a smile on his face. He was having as much fun with this as she was. Sadie ducked and made it look like she was going to charge his knees. He made a good defensive move, crouching down but keeping his shoulders square to help keep his balance. But when she charged, Sadie didn't go low but rather vaulted upward, placing one hand on the top of Vladimir's head and flipping over him to the open space beyond. He tried cuffing the hand on his head, but she was past him to quickly.

"Tsk, tsk," Sadie said, dancing backward out of his reach. "I thought the old dog was going to teach me some new tricks."

"Don't want to end it too quickly," he replied, a little red around the face. "Otherwise, you won't learn nothin'." He stepped up the pace after that, pushing her towards a corner and using his mass to his advantage. He kept his punches close in, getting extra power from his hips rather than swinging from the shoulder. Sadie played a range game, moving in quickly and using her legs a lot more. She wasn't going to match his upper-body strength, but she could kick like a government mule.

This went on for many minutes, and the crowd was getting a clinic. Finally, Vladimir rushed her with his shoulder, looking to knock her on her ass and out of breath. She sidestepped most of the charge, but got spun by an extended elbow. She saw his other arm coming in with cuffs open and new she was going to be halfway to being beaten, but halfway wasn't all the way.

Vladimir was grinning like the wolf he was when he secured her wrist, but his expression faded into surprise as Sadie secured the arm he had just extended. The two combatants eyes met, and they game stepped up a notch. Elbows and knees began flying, trying to create an opening. This wasn't where Sadie wanted to be, playing in close with a werewolf of Vladimir's ability. They almost formed a merry-go-round, gripping one end of their cuffs while the other end was attached to their opponent's wrist.

Sadie made a bold move, crossing Vlad's body and ducking under his arm. But Vlad was quick and wrapped his arms around her. Sadie threw her free arm as much as she could around the werewolf's side. If he wanted to cuff that wrist, he was going to have to let go of something.

"Your move," she whispered, feeling him tightening his grip. She was pressed tight against his hard body, and she could actually feel his manhood pressed against her bum. 'If that's him soft, I wonder what he'd look like hard. I can't believe I just thought that! Yes I can,' she admitted. He tightened his grip again, obviously trying to figure out the best way to get to that wrist.

She knew she needed to try something and quick, so she opted for guile. In a choked sounding whisper, she said, "Can't . . . can't breathe."

Out of instinct, Vlad loosened his grip just a little. He didn't want to hurt her. It wasn't until it was too late that he realized what she'd done. When his grip loosened, she dropped straight down and slid backwards between his legs. With his cuffed arm trapped between his legs, he frantically released his grip on his own cuffs to try and elbow the woman standing behind him. His elbow missed and he felt her hook the other end of her handcuffs to his wrist.

The crowd went wild, and Sadie fell back on the mat completely exhausted.

"You bitch!" he said, flushing from anger at losing but still mightily impressed by her performance. "'I can't breathe,'?"

She laughed so hard that she rolled onto her back. "Didn't say that I NEEDED to," she replied. She got to her feet and got the keys. She unlocked on of Vlad's wrists and then handed him the keys. Finally, she turned to the crowd.

"Okay, he's the moral of the story. Officer Koloff is as good a fighter as he is an officer. That was the best damn fight I've had in decades," she said, meaning every word of it. "Some people might think it's a dirty trick to take advantage of the fact that he's an honorable man, but that's what being an Arbiter . . . hell, that's what being a good cop should be. I knew something about him that gave me an advantage and I used it, and that's something everyone should keep in mind. I promise you," she said, giving Koloff a sweaty and admirable glance, "he won't make that mistake again. Neither will your quarry, so do it right the first time."

"Yes Missus Arbiter," someone said in a whiny, school-kid voice. Everyone had a laugh.

"Nothing to see here," Captain Grom said with a grin. "Everybody at least pretend to get back to work."

Sadie looked over at her colleague who was rubbing his wrists where the cuffs and cinched in. He looked like he was playing the whole contest over again in his head.

"Don't try," Sadie said warmly. "Every time is different and you know it." She met his gaze. "You're right though. It was a cheap shot. Don't worry about the drinks --"

For the first time, Vladimir looked genuinely angry. "I made the bet, and you're completely right. Outsmarting someone is just as valid a way to win as being stronger or faster." He calmed down a bit and offered his hand in respect. "And you were right about one other thing."

She shook his hand. "What was that?"

He grinned. "Don't ever think I'll take it easy on you again."

"Easy?" Sadie shoved him hard enough that he landed on his ass, laughing up a storm. She stormed off, trying hard to pout. "He called that easy --"

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Several hours later . . .

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Sadie sighed as she turned the cruiser into a residential district she'd never visited before. She'd been paired up with Devlin again, who alternated between oggling her assets and giving her the silent treatment. He'd tried a few times during the previous week to make her reconsider sponsoring him to be Turned. She had steadfastly refused, which made for an uncomfortable trip. He had refused to even come inside when she made her nightly stop at Roll The Bones for dinner.

She watched as the squat, solid houses of the neighborhood entered and passed her view, broken occasionally by a nicer structure that rose up a couple of stories and might once have been nice places to live. These latter houses were all boarded up and abandoned, and she wondered why no one else had moved in.

"Goblin town?" she muttered, wondering if Devlin would actually bother to respond.

"How did you know?" the human asked, looking around and seeing no one on the streets.