Christmas Consort

Enter the Vampire Male

It took a lot for Silas to sit passive as Lara helped the wane young woman into the house. The woman smelled of fresh blood, a hard temptation, and looked like she was in shock. He knew better than to appear overly interested in anyone Lara dragged under his nose. He kept his newspaper in front of him and barely glanced over the top as Lara eased her burden onto the divan.

"We don't bring our food home, Lara."

"I was in a car accident," she said.

"No carry out, take away, or doggie bags. You know this is for your own protection, sweetie."

Whatever hope Kylie felt upon seeing the man sitting calmly in the wingback chair reading the paper teetered. He didn't seem to see her as a person.

"I had to, Silas. I was so mangled by the accident, You wouldn't believe! And anyway, she already knows about us. In fact, she was traveling trying to find one of us. You know what that means."

They exchanged a significant look. Kylie had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but whatever the lie implied made little difference to her at this point. She simply wanted to rest a bit and get her bearings. She glanced around nervously looking for possible escape routes. The big windows all over appeared promising even after Lara locked the front door.

He said, "Well she certainly does not appear too amenable to our...hospitality at this point."

Lara ran her hand from Kylie's forehead and back over her head to the nape of her neck. Then she did it again. Kylie kept her mouth shut, but she sure as hell wasn't going to purr. "She's a little scared is all." Lara hemmed and reluctantly admitted, "I was so desperate, so weak, I might have...well," she folded her hands together in her own lap. "I was so wretched, I might have been a tad violent when I latched on to her."

"Lara," the way he said her name carried a light and understanding rebuke.

"Anyway, I figure Kylie here saved my life."

He didn't appear to buy it.

"No, really," she said. "I never could have made it back to you, and you know how I would have tried. And I could have been somewhere out there when the sun--well you know. And then it'd be goodbye Lara forever." She shook a shiver through her body at the thought.

Kylie took note.

Silas put aside his newspaper and crossed to kneel on one knee before Lara. She blinked her eyes, sniffled and everything about her expression indicated she would cry--except for the total lack of tears.

"It'll never come to that L. I would have come and found you," he took her hands in his. "I'll never let you burn."

The female slipped onto the floor to embrace the male, and Kylie did not know where to look. How many times had she wanted to be a fly on the wall for some confrontation or private conversation? Here she sat. Entirely uncomfortable as the two vampires went from hugging to comforting kisses to flat out groping as if they could not get enough of each other.

Kylie would never have conceived that her final words might be 'Get a room,' but the probability increased by the second.

Until the male vampire pulled Lara's face into his neck. Then all the female's energy went into feeding off her mate. His face, as Kylie saw it over Lara's shoulder, was expressionless till he opened his eyes and shot white hot daggers at her. Lara might seem a tad psychopathic, but he was absolutely murderous. For the second time that night, Kylie lost hope.

The male ran his hand up into Lara's hair, wadded it into his fist, and lifted her head, and thus her fangs, away from his neck.

"That's enough."

"Oh Silas," she hugged him hard and tried to bite down again.

"I mean it, L. You will be okay. Right as rain already. I'm sure."

She sniffled and pouted. "Sure. But for how long?"

He cocked his head, brows knitted.

"I mean, I thought she was looking for one of us because she was a blood-bag, or was at least a wanna be. Now I've healed, but I felt the taint, Silas."

He almost grimaced, turning aside with distaste. She, rather artfully Kylie thought, stayed on her knees.

"The death taint is spreading through me, and if Rid--" she broke off and gave Kylie a quick glance. "If the enforcer comes, he'll smell the taint on me--in me--a lot of it, and...well, I won't burn but I won't last too long without my head. And what will you do? Stand there and watch my execution? Or will you...maybe could you...what I mean to say, well, surely you're strong enough? You could take him or at the very least fight him off. I'm sure you could."

He touched the side of her face as she gazed up at him. "Your faith is appreciated however misplaced." He strode back to his chair.

"He can't be that old. And how much stronger do we get?"

"Raw power is hardly the foil when it comes to the Old Ones. Skill. Talent. Focus. The man has been fighting since before his change and immediately after took up the enforcer's robes back when they actually wore robes."

Lara hurumphed and scooted back to lean against the sofa. She wrapped one arm around the Kylie's leg and leaned her head against Kylie's knee.

"I know. Sometimes I feel like there's no one really here for me. I know you love me, but how much?"

"You've brought this up before, L. There's only so much I can do. We all make our own choices." He tapped the arm of his chair a moment. "It has been a while since his last visit. Tell you what. Tomorrow night we'll consort, and every night after that we can till the taint is so diluted not even Jackson Ridley will be able to detect it."

Lara sucked in a bit of air in shock and shot Kylie another look. It was as if he had said something in front of Kylie that he shouldn't, or that Lara wanted kept secret. Kylie went over his words in her head. Was it the consort thing? She hoped that didn't mean what she thought, or that they were partial to beds rather than the living room floor if it was related. Her presence put the P. in P.D.A. as far as she was concerned. Maybe that wasn't the secret though.

"What if it doesn't work? What if he decides to-to--well, you know."

He reached for his paper, "It worked the last time you had a...a misunderstanding with one of your pets. It'll work again."

He picked up the paper and unfolded it to read.

Lara bit her lip. "There is one little thing you could do for me."

The paper went back down, and his brows went up. The inquisitive interest was odd to see on a vampire's face. The gleam in his eyes was not white at all.

Lara grinned, "Not like that. Not yet. It's the cars, or her car anyway. Mine is no biggie and probably a total loss. Her car might get noticed, reported and picked up or something."

"You want me to take care of the automobile issues, make sure no undesired attention is drawn to her motor carriage?"

Motor carriage? Kylie thought. The guy obviously predated the Model-T.

Lara gave him a lash flutter and coy grin.

"Your wish is my command," he folded his paper and tucked it away in the side table's basket. He unbolted the door and paused. "Where are her keys? Do you know?" he asked Lara and pointedly ignored the owner of said vehicle.

"I'm not sure. Where are they?"

Kylie was uncertain if she should answer. Wouldn't that give Lara the excuse she was looking for to kill her?

"Hey," snap snap, "I'm talking to you. Where. Are. Your. Keys."

"I uh," Kylie shook her head. "I don't remember. Maybe in the ignition?"

"I'll give you a break this time," Lara said before reaching over to Kylie's purse and dumping the contents on the floor. Kylie saw the light of her cell phone as the device hit a button on the side and then fell face forward. Maybe Lara wouldn't notice. Once every pocket was turned out, she shrugged. "They must still be in it."

He gave a nod. "Consider your worry alleviated," he said. Kylie wished he was speaking to her.