Two birds, one stone. She'd done what she could to warn the man while not acting overly interested in his welfare.
He nodded at her throat. “I see your lover has bitten you and you have lost blood. As a newly Chosen I am surprised you can resist the offer.”
“As you have already pointed out, I have a very strong will. That's why I made it through the succubare.” She gave him a cold little smile. “In fact, if you must know, I don't like dining from other Chosens' leavings.”
The human reacted as if slapped. Awareness snapped to attention in his bloodshot eyes, and he speared her with a look to kill. Daria was surprised he still retained an ego to be bruised. Of course the man didn't know she was trying to save his pathetic life.
Carlos's gaze took her in from head to toe. “You have an attitude already and you are but newly born.” A slow, small smile that turned her stomach spread over his face. “Perhaps you will do well here after all.”
She returned his smile. “I'm pleased you think so.”
Daria sensed Alejandro's approach behind her.
Carlos looked over her shoulder, glimpsing him. “Ah, and here is your Emanuel. I will take my leave.” He turned away to melt back into the crowd, trailing the blood donor behind him. That poor man wouldn't last the night, voluntary service or not. Idiot.
She turned and caught Alejandro's gaze. His eyes were hooded and he looked pissed off. Of course, unless he'd taken himself in hand after she'd left, she wasn't surprised he was agitated. His cock had been like a steel rod, and she'd left him unsatisfied.
Anything?
He'd opened a private mental pathway. Even in her brain, he sounded tense.
No
. She paused.
Look, it makes me nervous to speak this way. I'm afraid I'm going to slip and broadcast all over the place
.
You won't. It doesn't work that way, but we'll work on it tonight in the room, okay? Let you have some practice before we do this anymore.
He cut off the pathway so fast her brain practically spun. Yep, he was still mad.
She knew from the manual that the telepathic abilities between Chosen took a long time to master. It required several steps in order to address more than one person at a time, steps she wasn't ready to try yet. Steps she didn't even know. Still, she was shaky on her newly Chosen feet and didn't want to take any chances. Doing these things in reality was far different than reading about them in orientation.
Alejandro came to stand near her. His body heat radiated off him and she absorbed it with gratitude. Despite the press of bodies in the room, she remained chilled. In the distance, they both watched Brandon enjoying himself.
“I see Brandon has settled in well,” Alejandro murmured.
“Yep.”
“Sante's been here. I heard from someone in the crowd.”
Her body stiffened.
“He's gone now.” He took a swig of his beer. “Back into his hole here under the dome, wherever that is. People around here talk like he's a god.”
Frustration at missing his appearance tightened her stomach. “To these people, he probably is.”
Carlos climbed onto the podium, and everyone in the room clapped and cheered. Daria scanned the area near him, but saw no sign of the male blood donor. She hoped Carlos had sent him away. Or, even better, he'd left on his own. Carlos held his hands out in a gesture meant to quiet the crowd and the roar died to a murmur.
“Let us all give thanks to our benefactor, Christopher Sante, for hosting this gathering tonight. Without him, we would not have the pleasure of each other's company, sustenance in our veins, or a roof over our heads. We all benefit from his generosity.”
The crowd went crazy, hooting and clapping. Daria tried not to gag as she applauded politely and smiled.
When everyone calmed, Carlos continued. “Tonight we celebrate to welcome new members into our community. We hope they are happy here . . . and are productive.” The crowd cheered, and he made the hand gesture again. The boisterous Chosen again quieted. “So tonight, eat, drink, and be merry. Tomorrow we go back to work!”
Work?
Alejandro and Daria exchanged a quick look. The outside world knew next to nothing about the Shining Way. It was a theory that the commune produced some kind of product, origins masked by an unknown distribution company, in order to finance themselves. Or it could be some kind of work related to the trafficking of blood slaves, or drugs, or both. Really, it could be anything.
Daria eased the beer bottle from Alejandro's fingers and took a drink herself.
12
ALEJANDRO sprawled on the bed, dressed in just his jeans, and studied Daria across the distance. “Okay, open up a pathway.”
Daria sat clear across the room from him, as far as she could get. That was probably a good idea. She'd left him with a rock-hard cock earlier that day and just about the only thing he had on his mind now was stripping her bare, spreading her across the bed, and fucking her until neither of them could think straight. Having her in this room with him, her scent filling his senses, was nearly more than he could bear.
It's open.
Good. Now I want you to bring an image of Brandon into your mind and open a pathway in the direction of that picture in your mind's eye. I want you to talk to both of us at the same time.
She concentrated. It took a few minutes, but she finally pinged them both.
Brandon, are you there?
Silence. Then,
Busy
. His voice came terse and out of breath. The pathway collapsed.
Alejandro let out a bark of laughter, and Daria looked at him and threw up her hands. “You did it right. That's all I wanted. You felt the shift of your awareness, right?”
She nodded and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Daria did that when she was tired. “It felt far different talking to you alone than it did addressing two people at once. They talked about that during my training, but now I truly understand it.”
“So you see that you'd need to specifically direct your intent in order to broadcast to a room at large, and, if you did, you'd know it. It's nearly impossible to do accidentally.”
“How do you address people whose faces you've never seen? I still don't understand that. How did the guards speak to us as we approached the Shining Way?”
“All you need is an image to open up a pathway. The guards saw us, we were in their range, and therefore they could communicate with us even though they'd never seen our faces. If you had a picture or holo of someone you never met who was miles away, you could open a pathway. But you could not initiate communication with someone across a distance without knowing what they look like.” He paused. “Well, you could try, but you'd probably get a wrong number,” he amended.
“All that was covered in the training, but it's much different in reality.”
He nodded, letting his gaze travel from her slim bare feet, up her long legs, to the press of her breasts against her shirt, to her face. Her body appeared tense, in direct contrast to the relaxed slouch he maintained on the bed. His fingers itched to massage away the stress she so clearly held in her shoulders. “Why are so far away from me, Daria? Are you afraid I'll bite you again?”
She made a frustrated sound and stood. “Not everything is about
you
, Alejandro.”
Daria walked to the closed door of the courtyard. It was a beautiful night, but they kept the doors shut most of the time so they could speak freely. “I'm wondering where Ari Templeton is tonight. I'm wondering what happened to that man I fed from this morning. Are they both lying facedown somewhere, dead?” Her voice broke. “I couldn't do anything for that blood donor today. He was being passed around like an hors d'oeuvre and there wasn't a damn thing I could do to stop it.”
He rolled off the bed and came up behind her. Knowing he probably risked a limb, he reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. She startled, but then relaxed under his palm. “Ever since I first met you, I've seen this desire in you to protect everyone in the world, Daria, most especially the downtrodden and weak. It's one of the qualities about you that I most admire, and it's something that attracts me to you.” He paused. “But you can't take on responsibility for everyone you meet and still stay sane.”
“Please don't tell me that man chose his addiction. Don't talk to me about consensual crimes.” Her voice and body had gone bowstring tight.
He took a moment to answer. “I've known Chosen who have deliberately addicted humans. They held them captive and forcibly fed from them until their victim was under their thrall. It's the same thing as rape. So I won't say a word about choosing addiction. We don't know anything about the histories of the donors employed by the Shining Way. Knowing what I know, I won't make judgments about any of the humans I saw today.”
She turned and looked up at him, studying his face. “You've seen that kind of mistreatment? Why didn't you stop it? Were you in thrall and unable to step in?”
He dropped his hand from her shoulder. “Yes, I was in thrall to Lucinda at the time. It was after she'd Chosen me, and I was still very weak. When I could help, I did, but Chosen hierarchy is a complicated thing. I was not free to act for the first three years after my making because she'd placed me under her dominion. I could do nothing without her consent. The minute I was strong enough to break away from her, I did.”
“Why did you free me, Alejandro? Why am I not under your dominion? It seems like you'd enjoy that.”
He shook his head. “Do you really think that of me? I would never hold another in thrall,
never
. Although I was urged to do so. Without sharing my energy from the dominion, many in the GBC figured you'd be weak as a newborn kitten and of no use to the mission. As usual, however, you've stood strong. I thought you would. That's why I didn't think twice about releasing you after the Choosing.”
She stared up into his eyes, her solid resolve clear in her gaze. “I have no other choice but to stand strong.” She pursed her lips, her expression hardening. “Tell me about Lucinda Valentini. How did she come to Choose you?”
He turned away and pushed a hand through his hair. “She saw me in a club one night and sensed I had the genes to make it through the succubare. She took a liking to me, and decided she wanted me for her own. So one night she cornered me outside a bar in New Chicago with three Chosen males. I was pissed drunk at the time, so I didn't put up much of a fight. By the next morning I was Chosen, had a lover I never wanted, and some shiny new mental tethers to her.”
“Damn,” she said softly. “I never knew. It's like you were raped and enslaved.”
He turned back to her. “It wasn't all bad. I never asked to be Chosen, but I'm stronger now, faster.” He turned and gave her a feral grin. “Not to mention immortal, if I can prevent the insanity.”
“Yeah, I'm still getting used to that idea.”
“I gave Lucinda as much hell as I could. I snapped at her from the end of my leash for all the years I was under her dominion. Once I could get out, I got.”
“Good.”
He studied her. “When will you tell your family?” He knew how close she was to her mother, but he also knew her well enough to understand she hadn't told anyone about her Choosing beforehand. That would've jeopardized the mission.
“After.” She shook her head. “I don't think she's going to understand.”
“She will. Remember, I've met your mother. She loves you and will accept you any way you come to her. You'll walk in and she'll be baking that banana bread of hers that makes my mouth water. She'll hug you, tell you she loves you no matter what, and that will be the end of it.”
She smiled. “She always liked you.”
He spread his hands and grinned. “What's not to like,
querida
?”
Her smile faded and she looked out the window, up past the opening of the courtyard and into the star-scattered sky. “We should get some sleep.”
“You need to feed again, Daria.”
He could only see her profile, but he still glimpsed her expression darken in her reflection. “I already fed, remember?”
“That was this morning. I fed from you afterward, weakening you. You're a new vamp and I know you need more sustenance than you're getting. Daria, you're strong, but you're not that strong. Stop jeopardizing the mission by resisting me.”
He knew that last sentence would get through to her.
Jeopardizing the mission
.
Her jaw tightened, and she closed her eyes briefly. “I suppose if I must feed, I would prefer it be from you.” Her voice sounded flat, expressionless.
“I'm glad you sound so excited about it.” He turned, switched off the light, and lay back on the bed. Daria remained at the window, staring out. The moonlight bleached the color from her form. “Whenever you're ready, sweetheart. I would like to get some sleep, too.”
In reality, he simply couldn't wait to get his hands on her. Couldn't wait to get the scent of her skin on his. Couldn't wait to share the warmth of her body.
She turned and came toward the bed.
“Uh, uh.” He made a
tch tch
sound. “Clothes off. If we're not having sex, then we need skin-to-skin contact.”
Daria hesitated, anger flashing over her features for a moment before she conceded defeat. She pulled her shirt over her head and tossed it to the floor, then kicked her boots off and shed her pants.
Clad in only her tiny blue panties and white cotton bra, she walked to the bed. Alejandro's mouth grew drier with every step she took. Daria didn't need lace and silk to enhance her body's allure. Her curves and soft skin needed no embellishment to make his cock hard.