Heart of a Warrior (24 page)

She nibbled his shoulder, following the corded muscles to his neck. Trailing kisses up his neck to his ear, she explored it with the tip of her tongue and then sucked his earlobe. She released him, and he whimpered for more.

Building speed, her hips moved up and down as she rode him hard. Nic thought he would lose his mind, she rode him so hard and fast. A thought flashed through his mind,
I didn’t use a condom
. His throat tightened. He didn’t care. For a wild second, he wanted to fill her with his seed and make their baby. Christ, he’d lost his mind over this woman.

He tried to hold back.

“Nic, I’m coming,” she cried out as the orgasm swept over her. Her head fell back, and she arched as she took him deep inside her, her inner spasms massaging his cock, bringing him to orgasm at the same time.

“Fuck. Gonna come.” Nic groaned. His fingers pressed into the flesh of her hips and held her to him as he pumped his hot cream into her molten core. Again, another extended orgasm, more powerful, more draining than he’d ever experienced, rocked him.

Panting, Fiona collapsed against him, and shaking, he held her as they lay sprawled on the floor of the shower. The water had turned tepid as they made love, and now it was definitely cooling.

Nic lifted her chin off his chest with his finger and kissed her forehead.

“I love you, darlin’, so much.”

She smiled into his eyes, “I’m yours, Nicodemus, completely.”

“I know.” He drawled and grinned at her, and she punched him weakly on the arm.

His cock, once solid and hard, now tender, slipped from her inner grasp as she stood. He missed its velvety sheath. Nic got to his feet and they quickly soaped up and then rinsed off in the cool water. They grabbed towels and dried each other off.

“Can I come?” Fiona asked. Nic grinned at her, enjoying the way her breasts jiggled as she ruffled the towel over her hair.

“I thought you just did.” Nic laughed and reached for his razor.

She put the towel down, made a face at him, and stepped up to the side of the double sink without all of Nic’s male paraphernalia.

“You know I did. I was asking if I could come with you to the meeting.” Her gaze met his in the mirror.

“I don’t know. It’s supposed to be secret.” He covered his chin in warm shaving cream from his heated dispenser.

“Oh, right.” She shrugged, squirted toothpaste onto her brush, and began to brush her teeth.

Nic thought for a moment longer. “Sure, why not. I want you to come. They need to know my status has changed.” He began to shave, careful not to cut himself.

“Your status?” She spoke through a mouthful of toothpaste and the brush that was still in her mouth.

“Yeah. That I’m involved with you, and that you’re going to be a part of my life, and as such, you’ll have knowledge of a lot of my work.” He held the razor to his throat, swallowed, and glided it over his Adam’s apple.

Fiona rinsed, spit, and then washed her toothbrush and put it back in the cup.

“Will they approve that?” She leaned against the counter.

“It’s not up to them to approve it, this is the way it is.” Nic finished shaving, leaning over to rinse the last of the shaving cream from his face. He applied a lightly-scented balm to his hands and wiped it over his now baby-smooth skin.

“Mm, kissable,” Fiona purred as she touched his cheek with her hand.

He reached to take a squeeze of her ass and mimicked her. “Mm, kissable.” He grabbed his toothbrush and loaded it with toothpaste.

They laughed and he began to brush. Fiona slipped into the toilet stall, closed the door, lowered the seat, and sat. After flushing, she came out, they changed places, and he closed the door.

“I’m not used to sharing a bathroom, Nic. Maybe we should keep to our own,” she suggested.

“Why, are you embarrassed?” he called from inside the stall.

“Just a little. I’ve never really been around guys before, except at the dojo, and the facilities are separate there.”

“You’ll have to get used to it, darlin’. You’re here to stay.” Nic came out and gave her a cocky grin.

After dressing, they looked in on Cho.

“Hey, buddy.”

“Oh, it’s you. Well?”

“Well, what?”

“It was good, right?”

“It was unbelievable, Cho.”

There was a mental lizard sigh.

Fiona walked over and offered her hand. Cho skittered up it and perched on her shoulder before flicking his tongue out to taste her neck.

“You taste good.”

“Just had a shower.”

“Hey, can we talk about what you said last night, Nic?”

“About what?”

“Me getting laid, of course.”

Fiona laughed and shook her head.

“I didn’t realize when I joined up I’d have to be a pimp for a lizard.”

“Comes with the territory, right, Nic?”

Nic rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“So Nic, I suppose we could do a quick scan of the local pet shops.” Fiona shrugged.

“Sure, but what do we do with all the rejects?”

“Rejects?” Fiona looked puzzled.

“You don’t know this lizard. It’ll be, ‘She’s not nice to me,’ or ‘I don’t like stripes,’ or ‘She’s a he.’” Nic’s voice took on a whine as he imitated Cho’s voice. Fiona snickered behind her hand.

“Shut up, Nic. I promise, Fiona, it won’t be like that.”

“We’ll see.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Cho skittered off her arm and settled on the table, where Fiona diced up a slice of apple into fine pieces and put it on a plate for him to eat.

“Yummy! Dessert first! Nic, why don’t you spoil me like Fiona?”

“I wonder what it would be like to have a lizard that doesn’t talk.”

“Don’t even think about it. I can’t be replaced, buddy, you know that.”

“Right, I forgot, you’re one of a kind.”

“That’s right.”

“Lucky me.”

Nic fixed ham sandwiches on thick, dark pumpernickel bread, with Swiss cheese slices and loaded with mustard. Fiona fixed a pitcher of lemonade to go with it. The three of them sat at the table, or on it in Cho’s case, with Nic and Fiona passing bits of ham and cheese to the lizard.

“Do you think you’ll get them to change their minds?”

Nic gave a noncommittal shrug and took a bite of his sandwich.

Fiona took that as a “probably not.”

“I wouldn’t count on it, princess.”

“It’s not right,” she insisted.

Nic was quiet as he chewed. She couldn’t get another word out of him.

•

At one thirty, they headed downtown to the Main Library. Nic parked in the lot, and they went inside. Following the signs, they found the reference section in the basement of the old building.

The round, wooden desk looked like it had been there for at least fifty years, and the old man who stood inside the circle looked as if he’d been standing there all that time. Nic walked up to him and waited for him to finish putting some books in order.

“Can I help you?”

“I’m looking for Mr. Deeds.” Nic expected him to laugh, but instead he nodded and went to one side of the table, lifted a portion of it, and came out. Leading Nic and Fiona to the back, he showed them a door.

“Through here, please.”

They opened the door and stepped into a small, empty room with another door on the opposite side.

“Is this the right place?” Fiona looked around the room.

“Yeah, see the scanner?” Nic pointed to the door where a small black box was positioned on the wall at hip height.

He walked to the door and placed his hand on the scanner. It scanned his hand in a red light and then flashed green. The door unlocked and Nic opened it.

They stepped through into a hallway. At the end of the hall, an old man in a black suit stood waiting.

Nic walked down the hall with Fiona following him. When he reached the old man, Nic nodded.

“This is my new partner.” Nic indicated Fiona with a jerk of his head. The old man looked her up and down and then nodded.

“She’s a step up from the lizard.”

Fiona flashed a smile at the old man, who smiled back. Nic thought his wrinkled, old face would crack under the strain, but it didn’t.

“I still have the lizard.” The old man looked as if his stomach hurt as he looked around Nic, probably expecting Cho. “He’s at home.”

The man sighed with relief and nodded. “They’re expecting you. Alone.”

“Wait here, Fiona.”

“Sure, Nic.”

The old man faced the door, reached up, and pressed a spot on the wall. The panel opened, and a deep red, velvet curtain hung behind it.

Nic stepped through and into the chamber. It looked as it always did, the soft green light that hung from the center of the ceiling and twelve chairs in a circle.

Every chair was filled.

Nic looked around and let out a low whistle. This was big business with the entire Council of Twelve in residence. He hadn’t seen so many old, wrinkled faces since he’d caught an early dinner at the IHOP.

“Nicodemus, come forward.”

He strode to the center of the chamber and stood at parade rest, his hands clasped behind his back and legs shoulder width apart.

“We understand you have some questions?” A voice asked.

“Yes. I want to know where the information came from claiming the two vampires left in town are extremely dangerous.”

“I’m not sure we can tell you that.”

“Well, I’m not doing a damn thing until I find out.” Nic folded his arms.

“Nicodemus, why the sudden interest?”

“Well, it seems that this Council is being used,” Nic answered.

“Used how?” The voice was calm.

“By the ruling group of vampires.” Let them choke on that.

“They don’t have a ruling group,” another voice sneered. “They’re incapable of that sort of organization.”

“Well, I have a news flash, boys. They do, and it’s called the Board of Elders. It seems they have a whole lot of power, even the power to make things happen right here in this room.”

There was an uneasy rumble from around the room.

“That’s a big accusation, Nicodemus.”

“I’m not accusing anyone. I’m just saying they’re using us to do their dirty work.”

“Explain,” someone from behind him ordered.

Without turning around, he replied, “That last job I went on was set up by them. They were having a battle over some turf, and they used us, or me that is, to wipe out one of the factions.”

“What does it matter, as long as vampires were killed?”

A voice came from the side. “It matters because we’re not supposed to be a resource for them, but a deterrent against them. If they are using us, we’re much weaker than we thought we were.”

“Even though I’d killed the males, they would have been replaced by females. Did you know about that?” When no one answered, he said, “I thought so.”

“Thank you for bringing it to our attention, Nicodemus. Your orders stand.”

“What?” Nic spun to see who’d spoken. The voice came from behind him, but he couldn’t tell which of the men it was.

“Kill them. It’s what we pay you to do. I thought it was what you lived for.” There was a sneer in that voice, and he didn’t like it, not at all. He decided to drop the issue for now.

“That reminds me. There has been a change in my situation,” Nic said.

“What? Did you lose the lizard?” Someone sighed.

“No, I’m getting married.”

Commotion broke out around the circle as heads leaned together, nodded or shook, voices low, and then separated.

“This woman, does she know what you do?”

“Yes, she’s seen me at work firsthand. She was one of the virgins at the frenzy.”

“Was?” Someone snorted.

Nic chose to ignore that remark. “She helped to rescue the girls. We fell in love.” Nic shrugged.

“She helped you?” a voice asked, obviously not quite believing what he was hearing.

“She’s good with a sword.”

“Is she still a virgin?” the voice from behind sneered again. Nic made a note of where that voice was coming from but refused to turn to face him.

“That’s none of your business,” Nic growled. “But she’s going to be with me, so I thought I should let you know. She’ll be working with me sometimes, and she’ll have to know enough for her to make sense of things.”

“Nic, we certainly can’t tell you that you can’t have a life, but…”

“We can’t put her on the payroll, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I’m not.” Nic jerked his chin up. “I just wanted to inform you about her.”

“Very well. Consider us informed.”

“Are you going to marry this girl?”

“If she says yes.” Nic was getting uncomfortable talking about his love life with these men.

“Is she pretty?” a voice in the darkness asked wistfully.

“I think she’s beautiful.” Nic sighed. “Enough. End of discussion.”

“Kill the vampires. End of discussion.”

“Take this orb. It will lead you to them. And no ‘magic eight ball’ jokes, Nic.”

The man floated a blue orb to him. Nic took it and stowed it in his jacket pocket. Setting his jaw, he gave a curt nod to no one in particular and left, wondering if he should have told them about Ivan and Annie and their unauthorized mission. He couldn’t do anything about it now; it was done and over.
Shit, what will Fiona say?

Stepping through the curtain, Nic looked for her. She sat on the floor across from the old man in the black suit, laughing at some story he’d been telling her.

“So I said, if that’s the best you can do, forget it!” The old man delivered the punch line and Fiona laughed.

“Here’s my ride.” She jerked her thumb at Nic. He quietly signaled her not to ask questions. “Nice to meet you, Oliver.” She smiled at the old man and followed Nic down the hall.

“His name is Oliver?”

“Yeah, didn’t you know?”

“I guess I never asked.” Nic shrugged, placed his palm on the scanner, and then opened the door. They stepped back into the small room, walked to the other side and out the door. The man at the round booth was no longer there. Instead, a female librarian manned the station. She looked up when they came through the door and frowned.