especially given how hard it was to get him react.
“No, I don’t need to see that,” he hastened to correct me. “I meant watching you do some things involving your speed and strength.”
He wanted me to show off. “No problem. How about you grab your notebook and tag along as I train with some of my troops?”
“Perfect,” he exclaimed as he jumped up. “I’ll be right back.”
I sighed as I found myself watching his ass as it walked away from me out into the hall.
At least I could go out to the training yard and work out some of my frustrations-my poor soldiers. Given my present mood, they’d never know what hit them. I drummed my fingers impatiently as I waited for Rafe to return. He did so quickly, his dratted notebook in hand.
I stood and motioned for him to follow as I led the way downstairs to the gym I’d had created. Massive in size, I hadn’t dished out for padded mats and the like. The whole point was to win against your opponent, and I wasn’t about to molly coddle those who failed. A few hard crashes onto the concrete floor provided the incentive to stay on their feet. The walls I’d covered in shatter proof mirrors, the reflections bouncing around, confusing the fighters. I found them an effective tool for training. It forced my troops to learn to trust their instincts instead of their eyes. I’d also stocked the gym with every weapon imaginable. A vamp never knew what he or she would face from daemons or other foes determined to end our existence. I forced them to learn how to both defend and use the items from a simple kitchen knife to a sharpened stave. I expected nothing but the best from those who served under me, and in return, they got to live.
I could hear Rafe furiously scribbling as we entered. I inhaled deep the scent of violence and enjoyed the musical sounds of combat-in other words, grunts and thumps. Those two things meant my soldiers were working hard, determined to beat anything that dared step in their path.
I shed my zip up sweater to reveal a skin tight tank top. I left my black yoga pants on. On occasion, I made my subordinates fight naked, because, as I liked to remind them, menace could arrive at any time and in any form. What I didn’t mention was how entertaining I found their swinging cocks. The females in my ranks used snickering as a means to throw the males off. I wondered if that tactic would work with the daemons who thus far appeared as only males.
I stretched my limbs as I sauntered towards the action. I didn’t make it to the mat when a change in the air currents made me whirl and knock a vampire aside. I grinned at Jerome after he lifted himself from the floor.
“You almost managed it,” I said with encouragement. “Keep trying and maybe one day you’ll catch me and win the prize.”
I’d challenged my soldiers a while back to sneak up on me. If they managed to take me down, I’d promised the winner a night with me. To my inner preening satisfaction, they’d been trying their damnedest to get me. And while none of them had yet succeeded, I could admit they’d gotten a lot better since we started.
My presence noted, my ranks of men and women stopped their sparring and cleared a circle for me amidst them.
“Looking good,” I encouraged them. “But, you need to practice more on working as teams. Your enemy might be bigger and stronger than you. Heck, they could be as nasty as me.”
Chuckles met my announcement. They knew I didn’t boast, but hard ass as I might be, I took care of my own, and they loved me for it.
A shift in their attention wasn’t needed for me to know Rafe approached. I’d never lost my awareness of him, a tickling radar that made me want to bang my head on the wall in incomprehension.
“This is Dr. Angelus,” I said gesturing in his direction without looking. “As most of you have heard, he’s been sent by the humans to examine us. I expect you to treat him with the utmost courtesy, in other words, please be reminded he is not to be hurt or used as a snack. And Jasmine,” I said turning to the petite vampiress who eyed Rafe with interest. “No playing with him.”
Jasmine’s full lips pouted, but given her taste for human men-she had a harem at home-I figured the extra warning was warranted. Besides, if anyone got to touch the doctor, it would be me. And only me. I never did acquire a knack for sharing.
“All right then,” I said clapping my hands. “Team up in groups of four. Let’s see how you do against me. And remember, do your best because-” I paused to smile coldly, “I’ll be doing my best to take you out.”
I saw Rafe stiffen from the corner of my eye, his mouth opening as if to protest. But I ignored him as the first squad came at me.
I spent the next few hours tossing, smacking, and in general hurting my soldiers, all the while offering a commentary on where they’d gone wrong. It worried me that even with all our training, they still couldn’t take me down in groups of four. Although, at least they now managed to land blows whereas six months ago I would have danced around them, unharmed. Of course, I did have the unfair advantage of being much more gifted than them in terms of speed and strength. But I didn’t have the centuries needed for them to grow older and more powerful. Thank goodness, these recruits, the greenest of all my soldiers, weren’t yet needed in the field.
But I dreaded their fate if called upon too soon.
Workout over, I grinned as I mopped my sweaty face and watched my soldiers limp off to the showers.
I’d almost managed to forget my silent observer. Okay, that was a total lie, but at least, I’d managed to distract myself.
“That was quite impressive,” he said as he tucked his notebook under his arm.
“Glad you enjoyed the show.”
“Can I ask why you’re training them so hard? It’s almost like you’re preparing them for something.”
Having not yet decided whether or not to let the doctor in on the secret of the world apocalypse arriving soon, I lied. “When you have an eternity to look forward to, you need something, a regime, to keep you from going mad. Since our kind tends to be attacked and persecuted by those who see our diet as monstrous instead of necessity, knowing how to defend ourselves is a skill all of my kind need to learn and it gives them something to do.”
His blue eyes narrowed behind his lenses. “Why do I get the impression, you’re not being a hundred percent truthful?”
I chuckled. “You’re being paranoid. Haven’t I cooperated fully with everything you’ve asked so far?”
I didn’t wait for his reply. I sauntered off to find my room and a shower. I looked once over my shoulder to see if he followed and stumbled as I caught Rafe staring at me with smoky eyes. A look he quickly shuttered. The man was like a robot who could turn it on or off at will. I unfortunately couldn’t. I raced away from him, suddenly hungry, a craving ache that wouldn’t dissipate no matter how many pints of blood I imbibed.
Chapter Five
Sleep proved unattainable as I tossed and turned all day long, my body and mind restless. Just before sunset, I gave up and rose to prepare for the night. A really long shower later, I still felt like the dead. My attempt at humor with myself did nothing to improve my mood.
I breakfasted on Reginald who also doubled as my chauffeur, but as I sucked on his neck, much as I tried not to, I couldn’t help wishing I had a different neck at my mercy.
Disgruntled, I snarled at my staff, who, used to my mood swings, stayed well out of my way. An hour passed, then two, before I went looking for Rafe.
I found him-big surprise-in his lab-A.K.A, his medical torture chamber.
“Ah, there you are,” he said turning and greeting me with an absent smile. “I wondered when you’d show.”
I tried not to gnash my teeth. I’d assumed he’d come looking for me. It galled me that all this time he’d been waiting for me to cave and come to him.
Just like the previous day, he wore shapeless garments covered in a white lab coat. His blond hair was deliciously rumpled though as if he’d run his fingers through it.
“What’s on the agenda today?” I asked, perching myself on the bed.
