Lover Awakened

In quick strides, Mr. X went to the bathroom and threw back the clear plastic shower curtain. With a curse, he kicked the bottles of girlie shampoo and baby oil that were lined up in the corner. Then he marched over to the ammunition supply closet and pulled out the ice chest that was hidden behind it. He upended the thing so the food inside hit the floor. As lessers didn't chew and swallow, that was as clear a confession as any.

Mr. X's pale face was furious. 'You've been keeping a pet, haven't you?'

O considered his plausible denials while he measured the distance between them. 'She's valuable. I use her in my interrogations.'

'How?'

'Males of the species don't like to see a female hurt. She's an inducement.'

Mr. X's eyes narrowed. 'Why didn't you tell me about her?'

'This is my center. You gave it to me to run as I want.' And when he found the fucker who'd squealed, he was going to peel the bastard's skin off in strips. 'I take care of business here, and you know it. How I do the job shouldn't matter to you.'

'I should have been told.' Abruptly, Mr. X went still. 'You thinking of doing something with that knife in your hand, son?'

Yeah, Dad, as a matter of fact I am. 'Am I in charge here or not?'

As Mr. X shifted his weight onto the balls of his feet, O primed for a collision.

Except his cell phone went off. The first ring was shrill in the tense air, like a scream. The second seemed less of an intrusion. The third was no BFD.

As their head-on got derailed, it dawned on O that he wasn't thinking clearly. He was a big guy and a damn good fighter, but he was no match for Mr. X's tricks. And if O got himself injured or killed, who would take care of his wife?

'Answer it,' Mr. X commanded. 'And put it on speaker-phone.'

The news was from another Prime. Three lessers had been eliminated at the side of the road only two miles away. Their car had been found wrapped around a tree trunk, and the burn spots of their disintegrations had scorched the snow.

Son of a bitch. The Black Dagger Brotherhood. Again.

As O ended the call, Mr. X said, 'Look, do you want to fight with me or do you want to go to work? One way will get you killed for sure and right now. It's your choice.'

'Am I in charge here?'

'As long as you get me what I need.'

'I've been bringing plenty of civilians in here.'

'But it's not like they're saying much.'

O went over and slid the mesh top back on the third hole, making sure he could see Mr. X the whole time. Then he put his combat boot on the cover and met the Fore-lesser in the eye.

'I can't help it if the Brotherhood keeps themselves secret from their own species.'

'Maybe you just need to focus a little harder.'

Do not tell him to fuck off, O thought. Fail this test of wills and your female is dog food.

As O tried to rein in his temper, Mr. X smiled. 'Your restraint would be more admirable if it weren't the only appropriate response. Now about tonight. The Brothers will go for the jars of those slayers they wiped out. Get over to Mr. H's house ASAP and get his. I'll assign someone to A's place, and I'll cover D's myself.'

Mr. X paused at the door. 'About that female. If you use her as a tool, that's fine. But if you're keeping her for any other reason, we've got a problem. You go soft and I'll feed you to the Omega piece by piece.'

O didn't even shudder. He'd lived through the Omega's tortures once, and he figured he could do it again. For his woman he would go through anything.

'Now, what do you say to me?' the Fore-lesser demanded.

'Yes, sensei.'

As O waited for Mr. X's car to get gone, his heart was going off like a nail gun. He wanted to take his woman out and feel her against him, except then he'd never leave. To try and calm himself, he quickly cleaned his S&W and armed up. It didn't really help, but at least his hands had stopped shaking by the time he was through.

On his way to the door he picked up the keys to his truck and engaged the motion detector over the third hole. That techno prop was a real ass-saver. If the infrared laser was broken, a triangulated gun system would go off, and whoever got curious would have a serious case of the leaks.

O hesitated before leaving. God, he wanted to hold her. The thought of losing his woman, even in the hypothetical, made him mental. That female vampire… she was his reason for living now. Not the Society. Not the killing.

'I'm going out, wife, so be good.' He waited. 'I'll come back soon and then we'll wash you.' When there was no answer, he said, 'Wife?'

O swallowed compulsively. Even though he told himself he should be a man, he couldn't make himself leave without hearing her voice.

'Don't send me out with no good-bye.'

Silence.

Pain seeped into his heart, making the love he felt for her soar. He took a deep breath, the delicious weight of despair settling into his chest. He'd thought he'd known love before he'd become a lesser. He'd thought that Jennifer, the woman he'd fucked and fought with for years, had been special. But he'd been such a naive fool. Now he knew what passion really was. His captive female was the burning pain that made him feel like a man again. She was the soul that replaced the one he'd given to the Omega. Through her he lived, though he was undead.

'I'll be back as soon as I can, wife.'

Bella sagged inside the hole as she heard the door shut. The fact that the lesser was going out off-kilter because she hadn't answered him pleased her. So the madness was complete now, wasn't it?

Funny that this insanity was the death that awaited her. From the moment she'd woken up in the pipe however many weeks ago, she'd assumed her demise was going to be of the conventional, broken-body variety. But no, hers was the death of self. As her body lingered in relative health, the inside of her was no longer living.

The psychosis had taken its time getting a hold on her, and like corporeal illness, there had been stages. At first she'd been too petrified to think of anything except how the torture would feel. But then days passed and nothing like that happened. Yes, the lesser struck her, and his eyes on her body were revolting, but he didn't do to her what he did to others of her species. Nor did he rape her.

In response, her thoughts had gradually shifted, her spirits reviving as she'd grown hopeful that she'd be rescued. This phoenix period had lasted longer. A whole week, maybe, though it was hard to measure the passage of days.

But then she'd begun the irreversible slide, and what had sucked her down was the lesser himself. It had taken her a while to realize it, but she had a bizarre power over her captor, and after some time had passed, she'd started using it. At first she pushed him to test boundaries. Later she tormented him for no other reason than that she hated him and wanted to make him hurt.

For some reason the lesser who had taken her… loved her. With all his heart. He yelled at her sometimes, and he did terrify her when he was in one of his moods, but the harder she was on him, the better he treated her. When she withheld her eyes from him, he'd go into a tailspin of anxiety. When he brought her gifts and she refused them, he wept. With increasing fervor, he worried over her and begged for her attention and curled up against her, and when she shut him out, he crumbled.

Toying with his emotions was her whole, hateful world, and the cruelty that fed her was killing her. Once she'd been a living thing, a daughter, a sister… a someone… Now she was hardening, setting like concrete in the midst of her nightmare. Embalmed.