Serpent's Quest

Chapter ten: Stalking

CHAPTER TEN

STALKING

Well, I offered to work for my bread, Malthus thought, wiping his sweating forehead on his sleeve. The lycans had put him to chopping wood that morning as his contribution to the upkeep of the sanctuary. He had been at it for hours, but now had the woodbins filled. This was the last of it. He laid the ax aside and pulled his shirt over his head, tossing it onto a bush. The cool breeze sighed over his well-proportioned chest and arms, chilling the moisture clinging to his muscular limbs.

He had been back from his secret trip to Hell's Widow for five days now, and savored the taste of Cullen's death as an antidote for boredom. Malthus had not yet deepened the compulsions he had set in the five adult sa'necari enough to turn them into a harem, but was considering it – although he had stolen a night here and there with Kandaishee. However, he did not dare to risk acquiring the very reputation he had so carefully cultivated for Beth.

The sa'necari helped with the children, the building, and other chores necessary to keep the sanctuary going. There was always at least one watchful lycan with them, and more often several. The lycans provided the place with nibari for the sa'necari adults and children to feed upon and all such meals were carefully supervised. Malthus' deception denied him access to the nibari, but he had always liked the taste of lycan best.

Lord Daemon's contacts had provided him with more preserving bottles of blood, but it was not the same – there was no taste of fear along with the blood – so he contented himself with Beth and fed Ros from the bottles. Even the best trained and most trusting of nibari held some small measure of fear before a master's fangs entered her. A rite would be better. That would completely satiate him for a time.

"I thought you might be hungry." Merissa walked up to him with a basket of bread and cheese, a bottle of wine sticking out of the top, and a folded blanket draped her arm. "We can let the children play together. Darmyk kept asking about Ros. He likes her."

The toddler rode his half-grown kitten beside Merissa. Ros and Lyrri rushed up when they saw them and the playing began as they each got the kitten to chase one and then the other in a game of cat tag. Ros and Darmyk grabbed Kenly and fell into a little heap for a moment when he shook them both off. A shiver of concern ran up Malthus' back when he saw the hungry glitter in Ros' eyes as she gave Darmyk's back several strokes. Ros was surprisingly strong for her years, and he wondered how long his coercions would be able to prevent her from sinking her fangs into Darmyk. Blood hunger was a nearly irresistible force, especially in the young. If the lycans knew she was this advanced, they would spellcord her.

Malthus took the blanket from Merissa, spread it on the ground, and indicated she should sit first. Her visits had increased from once a week to nearly every day. He no longer had to go looking for her. Her beauty made heat rise in his body, and his throat tighten with longing for a taste from her veins. Malthus imagined the exquisite pleasure of piercing her just behind her delicate ear and opening her legs to his rod of possession. She would be afraid. Done right, there was always fear before passion. He could see how his brother would have wanted her: he wanted her.

Merissa sat and began taking food and drink from her basket, fruit juice for the children and wine for herself and Malthus. He settled close to her where, at the proper moment, his hand could steal across hers.

"Your son is a pretty child, Merissa," Malthus told her, watching the children playing. He was very careful with them, concealing their precocities. Ros had been born with her fangs, which was a very rare thing.

"No more so than your nieces." Merissa opened the wine and poured them each a glass.

Malthus accepted his with a languid smile and began to sip it. Merissa's wine was always of a better quality than what the sanctuary provided, or what he could buy in the shops. "You are a pleasant surprise, as ever, Merissa. Your presence makes my losses bearable."