Chattanooga Supernaturals: Riding The Storm Part 20

Chapter Twenty-Six.

Kendra pulled just inside the gate of the motorcycle club's compound at three in the morning, parked, and got out of her car but didn't walk farther inside. She let the guard know she'd come for Eric, and he radioed inside. The wolves weren't happy about having a vampire on their compound, but were polite and civil, and welcomed her with words, if not body language, while she waited for them to bring Eric to her.

Eric?

You okay? How'd it go?

Don't know for sure, but I'm guessing they'll turn our offer down. How are you?

Kind of busy. Looks like we're both going to have to explain later. I need to concentrate.

She was contemplating whether to leave him alone or ask another question when a big, barrel chested biker stepped to her and said, "Eric's with Brain," as he motioned her to follow him through the parking lot. Kendra had looked through Abbott's file on the Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Club, and recognized him to be the president.

"I'm hoping the two of them aren't hacking the Pentagon or anything," he told her. "No one can understand them, but they're side by side on laptops going at something. Our original deal with Aaron was you could come to the compound and pick him up, but we intended to bring him out to you. After spending time with him? I'd kind of like to get to know you, see the two of you together." He shook his head. "a.s.suming you can decipher whatever he and Brain are up to, and get them off the computer."

He stopped twenty feet from the door. "I'm taking you in as my guest. I know you're Abbott's third, so you aren't likely to cause problems."

"Why are you really inviting me in?"

"Eric calls you his girlfriend. This usually isn't the case between human and vampire."

"And if you determine it to not be the case with Eric and me, Duke?"

He hadn't introduced himself to her, and he tilted his head in acknowledgment as he answered. "Wolves can't get involved, officially, but he's under Aaron's protection, so at the very least I'd have a conversation with him."

Kendra smiled, offered her hand. Duke looked at it, didn't accept it, and Kendra told him, "Thanks for having Eric's back."

Duke shook her hand with a smile, and led her inside.

The room was full of people, and she immediately found Eric with another guy, in two recliners side by side, both with their legs up and fingers flying on their laptops.

Eric stopped long enough to kiss her when she leaned down, and he said, "Five minutes? We should be able to wrap it up by then."

"Wrap what up?"

But he was back into whatever he'd been doing, and Duke laughed. "You got a few seconds of his attention, at least. Can I get you something to drink while you wait? Scotch on the rocks, maybe?"

Duke sat at the bar with her and drank a beer as she sipped her drink. "So, can you tell us how the talks went? Have we avoided war?"

She looked around, and he said, "Everyone here's RTMC or a wife. Not even girlfriends tonight, while we're protecting people for Aaron."

"No," she shook her head, answering his war question. "We gave him an ultimatum, and he said he'd let us know in forty-eight hours. He isn't going to agree to it, and will probably attack tomorrow night, thinking we won't be prepared."

"We invited Eric along on a ride to Helen, Georgia next weekend, even though he rides a crotch rocket. He ever needs a safe place to stay, have him call and let us know. I'd rather hear it from him than you."

Duke was letting her know they'd watch over Eric without demanding return favors, and she wasn't sure what to think of this rough-and-tumble, werewolf biker.

"I can't offer official help from the vampires," she told him, "but if you ever need anything from me, personally, I'll do what I can to help."

He nodded. "Appreciate it, but that isn't why we'll protect him."

Eric and Brain both whooped and then gave a deep, "Yeahhhhhh!"

"Can you two wise-a.s.ses let the rest of us in on what you've been up to?" Duke asked them with a smile.

Brain looked around the room, glanced at Eric, then Kendra, and finally to Duke. "In your office? You probably don't want guests in mine."

Duke stood and motioned Kendra to follow as he said, "d.a.m.ned straight."

Eric opened his laptop and set it on the desk so everyone could see. "I've been trying to hack Mitroff's organization for a few days. I've had more than twenty computers working to break his encryption, but he switches things up every eighteen hours, and I was just gonna have to luck up and hit the right combination in those eighteen hours, when I needed more than fourteen hundred hours, which with only twenty computers, wasn't anywhere near enough time."

"So he explained the setup to me," Brain continued, "and I got the idea if we used his twenty and my... well, all the ones I can control, to set up a DOS attack, and then we both tried to squeeze in the cracks-"

"English, Brain!" Duke interrupted, and Kendra could tell it wasn't the first time he'd said it. These two were long-time, trusted friends. She'd read it in Abbott's intel sheets, but she could see it in their interactions.

"We don't care or understand how," Duke continued. "We just need to know the results."

Brain looked at Eric, who said, "We have all of their correspondence, their strategy, their orders to people in the field, schematics... everything."

"Will they know we have them?" Kendra asked, her stomach fluttering with the possibilities.

The two looked at each other, and Brain answered, "They won't know we have them, but as to whether they'll know someone has them? Doubtful, but possible. When Eric told me how the walls were built, I recognized the hacker who did it. They contracted it out, which means they likely don't have someone in-house good enough to recognize a break-in. If they do? They'll change pa.s.swords and think it makes them safe, but Eric wrote a back door in, so we can get in no matter what, now."

"All of their past correspondence is currently writing to a server I own in Russia," Eric told them, "and will mirror to a server in the Caribbean. I'll copy it off the second server and put it on thumb drives - one for every person with access. I'm a.s.suming Abbott, you, Gavin, and Josef?"

She nodded. "Yeah, and one to Aaron. He'll make copies and get them to the people he feels needs them." She looked to Brain, "I know you can get it whether we get it to you or not, but I'd like to go through channels to give it to the RTMC officially, if you want in."

Brain's gaze s.h.i.+fted to Duke, who said, "We're officially staying out of it. I don't mind protecting a few trusted people, but no one finds out Brain had a hand in hacking them, okay? We aren't Switzerland, we're on Abbott and Aaron's side, but we don't intend to actively engage any more than we already have - and we went in with Drake Security clothes on before, we didn't go in as RTMC." He paused and added, "I'd still like a copy of the files, though."

"Then I'll work to get them to you, so you don't have to pretend you don't have them."

Duke chuckled and Brain said, "Thanks. I've enjoyed having Eric around, and we've invited him to go on a ride with us next weekend. We'll guarantee his safety - well, unless he crashes his bike, but I'm betting he knows how to handle it."

"The point is," Duke continued, "it's an overnighter. We've stayed at this hotel before. They give us a wing to ourselves, and a big room for us to party in. It might be better to let him come on this one alone, and then we can make arrangements for you to join our evening revelries another time."

"No," Eric said, stepping forward and putting his arm around her. "If Kendra isn't welcome, it might be better for me to hold off and do one of your day-rides later, when I'll be home to see her that evening."

Kendra kissed his cheek, touched at his loyalty to her. "They didn't say I wasn't welcome, they're just suggesting you give it some more time for the rest of the club to spend time around you without your vampire girlfriend."

I know I'm not supposed to ask, but what are they?

I can't tell you. They'll have to.

Aloud, he told Brain, "If you know she's a vampire, then you have to be supernatural, too. If it's something that doesn't get along with Kendra because of what she is... I'm not sure I should expose her to you. I'm kind of flying blind here."

"Traditionally," said Duke, "vampires and werewolves haven't always gotten along. Some vampires can and do enslave shapes.h.i.+fters, and in some locations the wolves are more numerous than the vampires, with a stronger Alpha Wolf than Master Vampire, and the area's vampire population is decimated. Abbott has worked to unite the various supernatural groups in his territory, and I trust and respect him, but a lot of my men will be uncomfortable having Kendra around until they get to know her, and they won't see a need to get to know her unless they want you to be around in the first place."

"It's okay," Kendra told Eric. "My feelings aren't hurt. Duke is working it so I can be accepted at a later date, because trying to force it too early won't work. If you want to ride with them, you should go."

Chapter Twenty-Seven.

The intel Eric and Brain gathered told them Mitroff was indeed planning to hit them the next night, to be followed up with daytime attacks by the various shapes.h.i.+fter groups in South Carolina, even though they'd signed agreements with Abbott.

As a result, the supernatural leaders were able to move their people just outside the threatened locations, and the battle turned into a slaughter, with Mitroff's people overwhelmed by numbers, strategy, and battle hardware. When it was over and dawn was approaching, the vampires who could fly all went to ground as they often had to in the days of old when they were away from home - by going into the woods and literally burying themselves. The rest were driven to bunkers Abbott and Aaron had built but not told anyone about. In this manner, there were no scent trails for anyone to follow.

The RTMC gave Eric a locker for his things, and let him sleep in one of their underground rooms. Kendra was busy with the fighting and didn't come home for days, but checked in with him when she could, and made it a point to make sure he knew she was safe just before sunrise, and then when she rose in the evening.

On the fourth day, the vampires and many of the shapes.h.i.+fters attacked Mitroff's strongholds again, including a few places they only knew about because they were following emails and other correspondence. They still didn't get the Master Vampire, but they took out more of his top people, further eroding his power base.

Eric had fun partying with the bikers, and he made friends with more than just Duke and Brain. In between working on his game and partying, he designed a way to make a secure resting place in the bas.e.m.e.nt of his yacht. It would only be large enough for Kendra to lie in, but when he'd finally seen the tiny drawer she slept in at the safehouse, she'd reminded him she literally dies at sunrise - it isn't sleep, and she doesn't need s.p.a.ce to be comfortable.

There was no reason he couldn't put a hidden drawer in the bowels of the yacht, as long as he fireproofed it, and made sure once she was inside, it was impossible to open from the outside. Some research showed him a new type of fireproof concrete weighing a fraction of the traditional kind, and he ended up with a t.i.tanium sh.e.l.l inside the concrete, with an ingenious locking mechanism. He ran the plans by Abbott, and got the name of a contractor the Master Vampire said was trustworthy to not talk about what he'd built.

At six days, Kendra finally returned, and she and Eric moved back to the coterie house. However, it was another two weeks before Abbott gave the okay for Eric to move back into his yacht. By this time, Kendra's new hidden resting spot was finished, and the depth of emotion she showed when he surprised her with it floored him.

"Hey," he told her, stroking her cheek. "What's going on? It's just a place for you to sleep, so we can be sure you're safe."

"No one besides Abbott has gone out of their way to make sure I'm safe since..." she leaned into him, squeezed a little tighter. "I'm not sure I remember the last time. My original Master did, but that was more about him keeping his property safe. My second Master put me in a safe place, but it'd already been built, he just a.s.signed it to me. I'm not sure a lover has ever created a safe place for me, Eric. I've always had to arrange it for myself." He hugged her, at a loss for what to say, and she continued, "And you've thought of everything. It's hidden so no one can find it, and the smells of the engine room will cover my scent as I walk to and from it. It's fireproof, and I have two ways to get out in case of an emergency. Words alone can never tell you how much this means to me, Eric."

Their s.e.x that night was exceptionally good, but it was once again two Doms being intimate, with neither truly in charge. Kendra knew she should offer to submit to Eric again, but felt as if the ball was in his court, now. She'd offered, he'd turned her down... but surely he meant to keep her around a while if he built her a resting place on his yacht?

During the Christmas season, Eric entered his yacht into Chattanooga's annual Parade of Lights, where boats are decorated in spectacular fas.h.i.+on to partic.i.p.ate in a parade on the water. He enlisted the help of the vampires he'd made friends with, and they all had a lot of fun decorating, and then partying on the boat during the parade.

Kendra loved seeing him so at ease with her friends, and didn't want the magical night to end. They watched the fireworks after the parade from the top deck, arm in arm while oohing and aahing.

Eric spent Christmas at the coterie house, and was surprised so many of the vampires got into the Christmas spirit, Kendra included.

Kendra wanted Eric to see she could travel to fun places, so her gift to Eric was couples accommodations for two weeks at a vampire friendly ski resort in Colorado - with night skiing under the lights until two, and then skiing without lights for the rest of the night, and secure areas for vampires to rest during the day. She also made arrangements with Abbott for the use of his plane to get them there and back.

Kendra had been watching for one of the new ultra-books to come on the market, and Eric managed to get a preproduction unit from the manufacturer for Kendra's gift.

After the magic of Christmas, Kendra decided it was time to tell him a little of her past. He hadn't brought it up again, and she knew he was curious. She also knew something had to give at some point. They were getting along great, but they were also in a holding pattern, with neither willing to rock the boat enough to move them beyond.

So, she'd open up to him about those first centuries of her life, and then take the bull by the horns and do something about their s.e.x life.

She could hear his heartbeat nearby when she rose for the night, and immediately knew he was in his office, working. It was still daylight out, and even though the yacht was in the boathouse, she still didn't feel comfortable going up to a level with so many windows.

I'm up.

Hungry?

For you? Always.

I'll be down in a couple of minutes.

She'd showered before she rested for the day, so she got in his bed now, naked, to wait for him.

He came into the room ten minutes later, obviously tired.

"Did you work all day?"

He nodded. "I woke up at seven this morning with an idea, and I've spent most of the day working on it. Time got away from me, I haven't had dinner yet."

"I'll make a phone call, and in twenty minutes I'll have a steak dinner here for you, and a nice bag of dinner for me. Were you at a good stopping place, or do you need to work some more?"

"I can feed you, Kendra. The steak sounds good, but don't order the blood."

She shook her head. "You were going to need a few nights off soon, anyway. You know human companions were never intended to be a vampire's sole source of nutrition. You're tired, you need your energy. Come lay with me while I make the phone call."

As he ate, she sat across the table and told him, "You once asked me about who changed me, and I gave a few details, but..." she shook her head again. "Honestly, you don't need to know the details of what happened in those first centuries, but in order to understand me fully, you probably need to understand what didn't happen."

"I'll listen to whatever you want to tell me."

"I lived a hard life before being turned, but then, just about everyone did, back then. Remember, this was before electricity and running water, before police officers and judges and pretty much any of the luxuries of what we think of as a civil society. I'm not sure what I did to gain the attention of Gouspatzi, but he captured me, raped me, tortured me until I was nearly dead, and then decided I had enough fort.i.tude to become his new plaything, and he turned me."

Eric opened his mouth to speak, but she jumped in, to keep him from saying anything. "It wasn't the first time I'd been raped, or even the twentieth. I told you, I'd already lived a hard life. The important thing you need to know is that vampires have to be taught control, we have to learn how to overcome our inner beast, remember what it's like to be human. We have to learn to s.h.i.+eld, and learn to use the magic available to our new bodies. Gouspatzi had total control over me, and he taught me none of these things. I was a raving monster, chained outside his private suite of rooms so only he could enter. I wasn't taught to eat without killing. He encouraged me to be as messy and vicious with my killings as possible, and he killed many people in front of me as he drank them, to give me an example of how it was done."

"Kendra, you have to know-"

"It wasn't my fault? I've long since worked through my guilt for killing so many people in those first couple of hundred years. The point is, he used me, he enjoyed hurting me. I was an animal to him, not a human. When he focused on me, played with me, I was nothing more than a puppet, without control over my limbs or voice box unless he..." she shook her head and looked away. This wasn't the part Eric needed to hear. It wasn't relevant to who she was today, while the lack of training had very much shaped her.

"What you need to know is he turned me into an animal, a psychopath. No, worse, I was a beast, a monster. I didn't even speak the language of the house, and couldn't understand what was being said around me, as they only spoke my language when they wanted to tell me something. However, over the decades and centuries, as I figured out their language and overheard conversations they didn't know I could understand, I learned. He turned a prodigy a century after he turned me, and I overheard the training, learned there was a way to keep people out of my head, and a way to get into other people's heads. I was smart enough not to do it, though. I was a pet, a plaything. If I'd become too resourceful they'd have killed me. So I practiced on his other pets, learned to go into their heads, and made sure I never put a s.h.i.+eld up when someone was coming into my head."

Eric put his fork down, reached across the table for her hand, but she squeezed it and let go. "No, let me get this out, and then we need to do something fun, to get it out of my head and remind me of my life now."

He nodded, but he reached his foot across, hooked it behind her ankle. She told herself he needed the contact, and she didn't pull away.

"He unchained me when he... played with me. There shouldn't have been any danger - he could completely control me, after all." She shook her head, looked away from him, and said, "But then one day, something snapped inside me, and I twisted the way he was controlling me, until I controlled him. It shouldn't be possible, but I'd been practicing calming the other beasts, chained as I was. They were downstairs in the dungeon, not chained outside his suite as I was, but I could still feel them, sense them. I saw them when he brought them upstairs to play with, or when he took me to the dungeon for one of his f.u.c.king parties."

d.a.m.n, she was getting off topic again. She gave him an apologetic smile and said, "Anyway, I took control of him, and made him slaughter his people. He knew his body was doing it, and he screamed at me in my head, then begged me to stop, but I didn't until they were all dead except the one person in the place who'd been kind to me. I had him go to that person and hand him a knife before lying on the floor and asking to be killed before he slaughtered anyone else."

"I think it's possible he suspected I was behind it, but he never said anything during the investigation. In the end, I was sold to my second Master, as at that point I was only an a.s.set to be monetized in order to pay Gouspatzi's debts."