Aaron's Kiss Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 7) (111 page)

CHAPTER SIX

“Okay, I mean they feel alive, not are alive. That isn’t any better, is it?” She didn’t know how to explain to her. Diana would surely call the men with the butterfly nets as soon as she left her. Maybe that’s just where she needed to be, she thought, in a padded room.

“Why don’t you just show them to me?” When she started walking over to them, Airic was actually relieved. Maybe if she saw them then she’d take them away. She turned the music up a little more as she walked by the radio.

It didn’t really help, not unless it was really loud. She could hear every little sound now. The wind blowing through the trees if the windows were open, even the leaves tumbling across the yard the other day. It was driving her insane. The other day she had searched for nearly an hour for a sound in the house she was hearing. It turned out to be the neighbor’s cat purring on her deck. She chased it off, not very nicely, but it hadn’t been back to annoy her since.

The pictures didn’t talk to her. That wasn’t what she meant when she’d told Diana they felt alive, but she could feel what they were trying to tell her. She was supposed to paint them so that others could see, realize. She watched as Diana turned over the first canvas and held her breath.

“Oh my. Oh my, my, my. Ms. Ben…Airic, they’re…they’re very powerful, aren’t they? I know what you mean. They do look alive. I…it’s beautiful, mesmerizing, tragic…I love it. Are there more? Like this one, are there more?” She began flipping over the others; there were perhaps ten or so in the same genre that was still in this part of the building. When she stood back and looked at them, so did Airic. They really were tragic, she thought.

The first one was done with bold colors of deep reds and even deeper blues. It was of a cave, not her cave, but one with stalagmite and stalactites in it. When one looked closer, deeper into the paint, colors, and the painting itself a person could see the wolf. His coat was dark, so dark it was almost indecipherable against the walls of blue. He was changing, shifting, moving from the form of a man into a wolf. The change had started at his hind legs and moved to the face of a man, blurred by the darkness. The others were the same, moving the wolf through the change in different areas of nature, but always just dark enough, blurred enough that one wasn’t quite sure if that’s what he or she was seeing.

“Your signature, you signed these differently. Why?” Diana had knelt down in front of the fourth painting to look closer at it.

“I don’t know. I…it seemed important that they were apart. I don’t care if they’re together in the show, that people are aware that they’re mine, if they’ll take them that is, but they needed to be different. I’m different when I paint them.” She was sure she wasn’t explaining it correctly, but Diana just nodded again.

“Oh, they’ll take them. I’ve no doubt about that. In fact, I’m betting they sell faster than the pottery pieces, unless they are the same style. But you’d already said that the pottery was the same as before, didn’t you? Oh Airic, these are wonderful. Is this all of them?” She didn’t turn, so she didn’t see Airic flinch.

She almost said yes, yes that’s all, but in the end, she showed her the others. There were fifty-six of them as well. For each pottery piece there was a corresponding painting, though not the same style. She’d had to complete a painting or at least start it before she could throw a piece. If she didn’t, then the wheel would just turn and she wouldn’t be able to center the clay. It was as if there was some force holding her back somehow.

All the paintings were dry enough to cart up but the last six, the oil still damp to the touch. But Diana insisted on taking them all with her too, loading the last ones into her Hummer all in different areas of the car.

The moving van arrived on time and was loaded and ready to roll by the time the cleaning crew had gotten the biggest part of the house finished and was now finishing up in the kitchen. They said that they might not be able to get the laundry finished, but there were clean sheets on the beds and clean towels in all the linen closets.

Airic had been ordering extra things over the Internet, she was ashamed to admit. In fact, if she remembered correctly, she had just ordered another two dozen towels a few days ago. The trouble with doing the laundry, she thought, was it wasn’t just a matter of throwing stuff in the washer. You had to gather it and sort the stuff because if you didn’t everything was linty the next time you wore it. She’d learned that the hard way; the little fuzzies made her sneeze for a week. Then and only then could it be put in the washer, not too much though. Another hard lesson learned; measure out the liquid stuff and hope nothing the wrong color was now making everything you owned bright pink. Of course, then there was the dryer!
Sheesh,
she thought, that thing was a terror. If you didn’t remember to turn the stupid thing on, the clothes soured. Too gross to think about. And it could shrink a shirt to the size a doll could wear in thirty minutes.

Diana put away the food that had arrived promptly at six and stayed long enough to go through the mail and make a hot dinner for them both. Airic had lost a great deal of weight, Diana had pointed out, and fussed at her during dinner because she was picking at her food. She really hadn’t thought about actually eating for a while now and rarely had much of an appetite.

Airic had always been plump, overweight actually, but she didn’t care. There were curves where there had only been excess fat, muscle where there had been flab. She had had to get out the treadmill a few months ago. The energy burning through her made her jumpy and sore, achy really. Running had helped with that and the extra weight loss as well, she supposed.

“Airic, are you seeing anyone? I mean about the changes. I’ve sent you the information on the lady who said she’d help you that’s local.” She had hoped they could get through this without her bringing it up, but it wasn’t to be. Airic knew she meant well, she knew that Diana had her best interests at heart, but the she just wanted to be left alone about it.

“No. And I don’t need any help. I’m doing just fine on my own. Just fine if you consider that once a month I’ll get as hairy as the lady next door’s dog. But of course you know that, don’t you? All your packets and information you send me, I want you to stop, please. I don’t want to go to someone else. I want to die. To be dead, forgotten.” Airic hated that she was taking it out on her; all of it had been her fault, not Diana’s. But she couldn’t seem to stop herself.

“You’ve lost weight, a lot of it too, or haven’t you noticed that either? What is it, about fifty pounds more? And if the dark circles under your eyes are any indication, you’re not sleeping worth shit either. I’ve been in your house Ms. Bennett, and I can see what you’ve been doing out here too. It won’t go away, ever. You were bitten, not killed. You’ve lost your family, I know that. I can see them as clearly as…I got bit too, you know.” Diana stood up and walked to the door to leave, Airic just knew it.

“But do you change every full moon, Diana? Does every single bone in your body break and pop with the pain so intense, so horrible that you pass out from it? Does your skin suddenly grow hair that covers your entire body? Your jaw elongate and fangs tear through your mouth, making you bleed? Do you have to run on four legs, on paws, being careful not to be seen so some fucking farmer doesn’t mistake you for an animal and shoot you? No. No, you don’t. So don’t tell me what you’ve lost. I lost my life, all I was; all I’ll ever be was ripped from me. Because I wanted to show off and take my family on the vacation of a lifetime!” She swiped angrily at the hot tears and turned away from her.

“Airic, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

When Diana reached to touch her, she moved away from her. She could see the pain in her eyes, the hurt, but she was hurting too. “I’d like for you to go, please. I’ll contact you tomorrow. I’ve had a really bad day and I…I think I’ll go take a nap.” She walked out of the room and to the stairs. She heard Diana follow her into the hall.

“Don’t. Please don’t make me leave. I’m sorry. You’re right. I’ve been…I’ve been a martyr, and a bitch. Please. I’m sorry.” Diana laid her hand on the banister and cried.

Airic walked over to her and tentatively pulled her into her arms while she wept. “I’m sorry too. Let’s not…I need you to be my friend, not my counselor. I don’t have any friends; they’re all afraid I’ll eat them. I’m sorry, that wasn’t funny. I’m kidding.” It was the first time anyone had touched her in eighteen months, two weeks, and four days. She wished it had been longer.

CHAPTER SEVEN

“I swear to…if you do not stop with the stupid shit I’m going to have David put both your asses in jail. Forever! We’ll see how that makes you feel. Every day for the past two weeks I’ve had to smooth someone’s fur because of you two idiots. I’ve had it! You will clean out the stalls, every fucking one of them, for the next month, every stall, every day for an entire month. Do. Not. Say. A. Word.” Bradley was breathing hard and barely keeping his wolf inside. His “get out, now” had the two boys nearly falling over their chairs trying to get out of his office.

When someone knocked on his door several minutes later, he was no closer to calming down than before. “Come in!” He snarled out. He knew it was unreasonably loud, but he was pissed, damn it.

“Is the coast clear? I saw those two young pups running outta here like the hounds of hell were after their butts. Hope you didn’t cut them any slack. I certainly didn’t cut you any when you did the same thing twenty years ago.” His grandfather sank down in the big chair across from Bradley’s desk and sat his feet up on it. Bradley couldn’t say anything because that’s where his feet were currently at. He just hoped Martha, the housekeeper and cook, or heaven forbid, his grandmother, didn’t catch them. The punishment he’d just given those two boys would seem like a walk in the park.

“I did not paint anyone’s house bright orange and toilet paper every tree on their property.” At least no one had caught them doing it, he thought. He smiled at the memory.

He and David had been about the same age as the two he had just ordered stall duty. David had scoped out the house for over a week, watching to see when they’d be gone and how long they’d have to do their job. Funny how that had been useful in his later career as a cop. Anyway, Bradley had gotten the paint, not orange, but robin’s egg blue, because David had said it would draw less attention to them when they bought it, and waited. It had taken them most of the long day to get it done, painting the windows and doors over too. The job had turned out better than they thought. Then they had bathed in the river, washing all of their evidence down the stream. They had been smart, though, unlike these two. David and he had painted the house buck naked, bare-assed, without any clothes to find. Which was how Phil and Daniel had been caught. Their own mother had ratted them out to him, their alpha. The sun burn on Bradley and David’s butts had been so worth it. To this day, no one knew for sure who had done it. Grandda had only thought they were guilty, but had never been able to prove it.
Never will, old man,
he thought with a sneer.

“Sure you didn’t. What do they have to do, paint the house again? Mow the pack lawn with scissors? Tell me!” Grandda moved forward in his chair and reached for the whiskey bottle sitting on the corner and a short glass.

“Cleaning stalls, all of them, for a month. If Grams catches you with that, she’s gonna have a kitten or two. And if she asks me, you might as well know I won’t lie to her.” He just stared at him, watching as he poured two fingers of the smooth liquor in the glass, glanced around, and tossed it back in his throat with a small salute and smile. He put the glass on the bottom of the small stack of others.

“She won’t know to ask you about it if you don’t let on like you know anything. Damn woman is driving me insane with all her healthy living crap. ‘You can walk over to the house, it’s not so far. And you’ll save gas too.’ Wouldn’t even let me take the golf cart over here. Isn’t that what it was bought for? For me to ride around now that I’m in my golden years? What’s a man to do, I ask you?” Bradley let him rant. It was an old argument he’d been having with himself for over a month now since Gram had read in some magazine that one was only as young as he or she felt. She apparently felt Grandda needed to feel a lot younger.

The phone rang and he reached over to answer without moving his feet to the floor. If those two had gotten in trouble after leaving his office, he was gonna kill them himself.

CHAPTER EIGHT

“Hello, Wolff speaking,” he barked into the phone. Okay, that was harsh. Even his grandda raised a bushy eyebrow at him. He didn’t even know if it was them and had nearly taken the ear off the person at the other end.

No one said anything for several seconds, so long in fact that Bradley had thought they had hung up. Just as he was about to ask if anyone was there, she spoke up.

“Hummm…I…maybe I should call back some other time, like when you’re not around.” The female voice didn’t sound scared, but humored about his tone.

“Sorry, bad morning. Perhaps I should start over. This is Bradley Wolff, may I help you?” Better, but not quite his usual charming self.

“Hummm, well, okay. You know my boss is like that too, all snarly and snarky. You two should probably meet sometime. This is Diana Lake, we spoke the other day. At least I think it was you. I didn’t get a first name, and that guy was considerably…politer. I’m calling about the gallery in the Merchant district and the show this weekend.”

Bradley sat up in his chair so quickly that his grandda raised the other brow. “Ms. Lake, yes, this is Bradley. Everything is set here; do you know if the piece count will be what we were promised?” He was so excited about this opening. It was the first visiting artisan for the “Nature’s Eye” and his first grand showing with a professional. Then there was the artisan herself.

He had never met Ms. A. A. Bennett, but he had been collecting her art since before she was famous. He actually had two of her vases. He had gotten one at an estate auction a few years ago, and the other he had purchased at her first show in New York.

When his partners had decided to open an art gallery, he wanted to be in charge of it. It wasn’t much of a fight as his other partners had wanted nothing to do with it. Kyle had taken over the running of the nightclub and hotel combo called the Blood Moon, Aaron had taken the casino, the Golden Glory, and Colin had wanted the grocery stores, both of them. Their company, B.A.C.K. inc., had been doing very well since they had practically purchased an entire city and made it their own little slice of nonhuman heaven. It was mostly run by the vampires and wolves in the combined areas, but there were a few humans mixed in as well.

“About that, I have great news for you. She actually has had a very good couple of months, so I have more than we agreed upon. And some art, oils on canvas, if you’re interested. Canvases she called them. This is new for her, and if you’re not interested, which I believe would be a major mistake, then I’ll simply put them in another gallery. This isn’t a pressure sell, Mr. Wolff, but I’ve never…these pieces are amazing. I’ve…I can’t tell you how…you must see them before you decide, of course.” He could hear her excitement and her awe.

“I would, like to see them, I mean. When can we get together? The showing is in eight days, so if we need to make changes to the rooms, then we will need to get them into the gallery as soon as we can.” He had never met this woman either and pictured her as a small tornado.

“I’m actually driving into the city now…would you hang on a second?” He had heard another voice shriek in the car, but nothing more than that as Ms. Lake had obviously muted the phone from him.

“Mr. Wolff, I have…Ms. Bennett is here with me and I need to drop her off first. She had quite a few errands to run, it seems. But I can meet you in front of the gallery in say…twenty minutes. The truck has already arrived, I understand, and they are unloading the pottery pieces now. Most of the canvases are with the pottery. I have an additional six with me now that are still wet. Would that be acceptable to you?”

“Of course, twenty minutes. I’ll see you there.” Bradley hung up the phone and stood.

“Where you headed? Can I come?”

Bradley didn’t really want to take his grandda, but he had little choice it seemed as he was putting on his coat as he asked. “I’m going to the gallery. I suppose you can come if you can behave yourself. No flirting, and keep your paws to yourself. I’m trying to make a good impression, all right? And as much as I love you, Grandda, I will tell on you about the whiskey if you give me any problems.” Bradley knew it was useless to say these things to him and they both knew the threat was empty, but later, if he had to kill him, it would be as good a defense as any other.

“See how you are. You’re just jealous because I get more ladies than you do. Maybe you and I should go to the Blood Moon together, leave your grandmother at home. I could show you a few moves that will get you laid if you want.”

Bradley just looked at him with an open mouth. His grandfather had not just said that to him. “You know, I might have to kill you here before we leave instead of doing it when we get back. Have you any idea what it means to behave at all? I am not going to the Blood Moon with you and if I even hear of you going there without Grams, I swear to you I will…I don’t know what I’ll do to you, but it won’t be pleasant for you.” They had made it to the car and he was delivering his threats to the now closed door on the passenger side. Bradley leaned his head against the roof and banged it slowly and repeated over and over to himself,
I will not be like him when I’m old, I will not be like him when I’m old.
He raised his head up when he heard the window crank down.

“Hey! Pup, we going, or are you gonna nap on your car instead?”

Yeah, I will not be like him when I’m old
.