Candy: Book 5 of the Lord Emperor Vampire Saga

Chapter 207

Apparently there was a manual to raising the young vampire. Who knew? Well either Sasha or me obviously. It was written in the early 1900’s and had been updated as the gathering places of the ‘prey’ changed over the years. The brotherhood made it in as a footnote – as a sample of what not to do. I was the poster vampire for a fledgling gone wild. That damned kilt poster had made it as a full color illustration. I thought we looked hot. I didn’t see why X was so sick of it. We actually looked better now I had abs of steel. So in the end, the mysterious authors of the manual were questioning Sasha’s parenting skills. I say mysterious because no one claimed to have written it. They weren’t stupid. You don’t call the Black Death a horrible father then stand there and wait for the blade.

I just didn’t believe that my kitty was upset about it. How did I know he was upset? He sat in the back of limo and oozed cool. Sitting beside him was akin to standing beside an open freezer in a grocery store on a hot, hot summer day. It was positively frigid. I knew it upset him because I offered to decorate his lap but he set me firmly on my ass on the seat. Okay, Lex was sitting beside me but I’ve always made my wingkitty my chair. I wasn’t planning on being naughty...well, okay, not that naughty. There was a winglet in the car.

Lex glanced over at his Ded then turned his attention out the side window. He was feeling the vibe as well.

“You know, my muzh, technically you aren’t my Father.”

Arctic blues turned towards me. Oh, crap. “Armor made X.”

“It is not Armor that is listed in that book.”

“Since when did you care what everyone thought of you?”

“Because.” I waited for him to continue but there was just silence. Because? That was all he was going to say?

Screw it. I shifted and climbed over Sasha setting my knees on either side of his hips and sat my rump right down on his thighs. “We know the truth. Lex knows the truth. Am I a bad papa, Lexy?”

“No...all of you have been good Papas.”

“Where did I learn to be a Papa?” I leaned forward and set my forehead against Sasha’s.
“Your human father.”

I laid a forefinger on the tip of his nose. His eyes narrowed in to give me a cute cross-eyed look as he stared at my finger. “You forget, I cut myself off from my human family at the age of nine. X took over and he made ourself sullen as our eyesight faded. We loved no one and we were sure no one loved us...I tried to make sure no one loved me.”

“Armor...”

“He only has eyes for X. He has only ever had eyes for X. Me...I was lost in the dark.” I slumped forward so Sasha had to bring his arms up around me. “Even if you technically never were my Father...you taught me how to love. Even when I acted like a spoiled brat, you were there and when I needed correction...damn kitty, you have a wicked right hand.”

“Amen to that.” Lex piped in.

“So, get your head out of your ass and buck up.” Sasha’s hand tightened on my hip.

“What did you say?” Oops, I got the non fun eyebrow arch.

Lex joined into the lets-make-Sasha-smile brigade. “Why would you care what a hack writer whose only contribution is a footnote in the 45th edition of a book that everyone considers a joke? Ded, you kept the Papas alive. You were our only Father figure until Papa escaped from Orel Wessel. You taught us respect and honor. Compared to other fledglings out there, the sisters and me are way more cool. That is with wings aside.”

“See?” I arched an eyebrow at him.

“I never thought I would ever be a Father. With Claudia, I just provided the building blocks. Genève and the Baron provided everything else.”

“You can’t deny that Claudia is your daughter.”

“I have never denied her when asked.”

“Why do you think we call her Chippie? When she gets a mad on...she turns into a mini you.”

“Ha, I get it. A chip off the old block.” Lex started laughing. “We’re here.”

“Better?”
I got a peck. I never got a peck. A peck wasn’t enough. I got a palm to my face and Sasha pushed me back, right off of him. I bounced my ass off the carpet.

“So, we going to do this?” Lex gestured to the sprawling mall the limo had pulled up in front of.

Loyal had already lined up with umbrellas for Lex’s protection from the sun. His eyes were bright even if still tinged with sadness of his first loss in his life. He knew we went hunting for blood. Azrael and Marcus had taken the winglets hunting at all age raves, but they had gone as chaperone’s and instructors, not as fellow hunters. The winglets had watched us get ready for a hunt. The clothes weren’t the only thing were different when the Boys from Von Drachenfeld went out with fangs bared.

Come to my parlour said the spider to the fly. I don’t know how many fathers, much less Vampire fathers, get ready to teach their son how to dress for dinner.

“Let us do this.” Sasha caught my wrist and yanked me up after him. I do love it when my muzh get’s all physical. Lex popped open the door and stepped out onto the sidewalk. The limo had sat still long enough that we had attracted a small interested crowd. There were a few girlish squeals as Lex straightened to his full height. Well look at that. Even if he didn’t have musical talent he looked like a rock god just in his normal street clothes. I think it was the long hair.

The sun was beginning to fade but the light was enough to still sting. Lex and the Loyal took off for the doors of the mall. Sasha dragged me after him at a more leisurely pace. The teeny boppers had surged after Lex which left befuddled mothers and thirty somethings standing there to catch the next act. You could tell from the expression on their faces that they sort of recognized the white hair. It wasn’t until I stood up behind Sasha that everything clicked in. Unlike teeny boppers, thirty somethings grab. What the hell...I just got goosed. Our Loyal escort swarmed through the hands and we had walking room.

“SEX! SEX!”

“OHMYGOD! IT’S KITTEN!”

Kitten? Sasha’s expression got stoic and we surged forward to the mall doors. The question was why the heck we were going to a mall. The answer was easy. Frederick. Oscar his partner in the business of Joker’s Wilde and in real life, finally had enough of the jet set stressed life of high fashion and threatened to pull the plug on the business and the family life. One store. One bed that was filled with one lover every night. If Frederick couldn’t give it to him, he would find someone who could. Joker’s Wilde was sold lock stock and name for mega riches. I remember Frederick complaining that only the ancients had the resources to be idle...not bad to be among the idle in less than twenty-five years. Retirement didn’t suit either of then well for long. So, the two of them settled for fetish wear with a tasteful storefront in a popular mall in midtown which made it kind of hard for them to close the store down just for us. Lord Odyssey for the boys. Leatherella for the girls.

Lex was looking around in different shop windows totally oblivious to the ‘aaahhhhs’ and doe eyes being cast his way. That just made me wonder again: pink or blue?

“Alexander.” Sasha never deviated from his goal. That’s my muzh. I usually got glorious satisfaction from his single mindedness. Ooof. I walked into his back.

“Hey what’s the big ideal?” I stepped around my man and I saw what stopped him in his tracks. Egads...this was just as bad as the trophy wall of a stalker. Frederick had no compulsion about hiding his light under a basket. He had no qualms about telling everyone that he was the mastermind behind the meteoric rise of Joker’s Wilde and I guess this was Oscar’s concession to making his love give up his passion.

There were those dreaded posters. Red headed me in various states of undress and smoldering. There was pigmently challenged me again in various states of undress and more smoldering. There was Sasha...some of those photos I hadn’t scene...and trust me, I would have remembered them. Hubba, hubba. Then there was the last official modeling photo that both Sex and Kitten had done. Sex Kitten...oh my god. It dominated the wall. I was in metallic blue leather capris type pants and a skin tight stretchy shirt, well it would have been skin tight, if more buttons were done up. Sasha was there in all his darkness with his black wings as the backdrop. He wore a red silk long sleeve shirt, again san buttons and painted on black leather pants. We came with an actual warning label about flammable material – that was the name of the line. I was sprawled on my back looking up at him. My paleness stood out more against his body. My arms extended up, cupping the back of his head. He had leaned forward, one hand on my thigh, close enough to tantalize and unease the straight crowd. The photographer had called out to Claudius and he had glanced up with such....sexiness. This poster that was the launch for the leather store didn’t dethrone the kilt poster, but it came second by a nose. To think we wouldn’t have done it if Oscar hadn’t have come around and asked in his quiet and polite way. You just couldn’t deny the guy. He had Frederick wrapped around his little finger...and Frederick wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

Sasha but a hand on top of my head and turned my face away from the way to the actual poster that had stopped him. Arctic blues stared out of a snowstorm of hair.

“Lex!” I bellowed.

Frederick looked past the customer he was ringing through and his face lit up.

Lex wandered back to us from a rack of leather pants. I pointed up to the poster behind the checkout counter. “Can you explain that?”

“It’s a picture.”

“You know what I mean.”

Lex gestured to a couple of other posters decorating the store. Oh. My. God. Wolfgang and Jax were poster boys for bondage gear. Gack, my baby boy was a poster boy for bondage gear.

“Now before you freak...we all got scouted at a bar.”

“How the hell did you get into a bar?”

“Okay an all ages rave. They were working the crowd. We needed some capital for the group and...”

“You receive a generous allowance, Alexander.” Sasha spoke quietly.

“Yeah, I receive an allowance. Wolf and Jax got part time jobs.”

“I could have bankrolled your whole band.”

“Papa....part of the dream is to make it on our own. We’re good. I haven’t heard anyone’s voice like Wolfs. Jax is a fiend on the skins. I’m okay on guitar and I’m eye candy—I know that.”

I puffed up like a grouse. “My son is not just eye candy.”

“Papa...I’m just a taller version of you. Neither of them will take money from me, so when the Agency called with a shoot, we all went down. It was rather humiliating. How the hell did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Make love to the camera.”

“I never made love to the camera.” Lex turned and pointed at the big flammable poster. “I wasn’t making love to the camera. I was making love to Ded.”

He moved to another picture. “Armor. Lanny. Ded. Ded. Ded.”

“Okay...I get it...but this way we got enough to upgrade our system and get a used van.”

“What was your model name?”

A flush broke over his cheeks. “Is it that important?”

“Well Papa Xavier doesn’t mind it as much now, seeing it’s my name and...Ded?”

My Sasha gave a big sigh, “I would rather not have strangers yelling Kitten at me in the streets.”

Frederick finished with his customer and bounced over to meet us. “My favorite models. Kitten, Sex and Incubus.”

“Incubus?”

Lex ducked his head forward slightly, “I wanted to be called snowflake.”

I burst out laughing. Lex popped his head and his eyes narrowed at me. Oh my, he was serious. “I think the real Snowflake would have had a problem with that.”

“Who picked Incubus?”

“My Oscar. I agreed with you fully, Sex. Snowflake would have been a horrible name to saddle the boy with.”

I turned towards Frederick and crossed my arms across my chest, “Have you lead my baby down the garden path?”

“Are you kidding me? I didn’t even know there was another garden...the path opened up to me as it were. What do you think?” Frederick gestured my boy closer.

Lex leaned against the counter and stared up at the big 24 x 36 print. “You use a filter? My eyes are not that blue.”

“But my dear, yes they are. They just look more blue because it’s a close up and it’s framed by all of that gorgeous hair.” Frederick reached out to touch Lex’s hair. I slapped his hand away. “You are first in my eyes, Sex. Oh mymymy.”

I turned and saw that the Loyal had made a barricade and the crowd that had followed us in was getting bigger. “It had to be a mall?”

“Well the highly successful designer of Joker’s Wilde can’t stay eternal and remain anonymous at the helm of a huge conglomerate...unless it’s Shadoe Inc. I don’t have that kind of clout. Retirement didn’t suit either of us...so voila! Being a property owner sometimes is a big pain in the tookus: like I want to shovel snow off the sidewalk at seven am in the morning. Anyways...what can I do for you lovelies?”

“I’m going hunting.” Lex flashed Frederick a wide heart melting grin.

“Already? They grow up so fast.”

Sasha stepped up. “Haley was killed today. We are going to his wake. One of his last requests is that we show up in hunting gear.”

Frederick just lost all animation. “Haley? Why would someone harm that boy?”

“We’re working on that. Work your magic, Frederick and we’ll get the hell out of your store before a riot breaks out.”

“Well can you blame them? The best looking things since sliced bread had sauntered in and is looking at fetish leather. Although it pains me to do it....I will have to close the store. Have your men in or out. I have a push button system here.”

Sasha moved forward to pick the detail. Six loyal came in and the rest stepped out into the mall causeway. Frederick pushed something under the counter and wire embedded glass doors began to slide out of a hidden panel in the wall. Once the ten panels were locked in place the windows darkened.

“Impressive.”

“You are not the only celebrities I get. Privacy is a premium. And let me tell you, premium is very premium. Shall I take young Incubus in hand, so to speak?”

Sasha bowed his head forward slightly, “But of course, Frederick. We are here for the stylist as well as the clothes.”

“My Kitten, you are a honeydripper. Patent Leather – over there.” Frederick linked his arm through Lex’s and pulled him toward the other side of the store.

I caught Sasha’s hand and pulled him to a halt. “Let me dress you.”

A got another eyebrow arch but this one was slow and sexy. “If I get the same privilege.”

“Always.”

I got a hand around the back of my neck and ended up plastered against Sasha’s front. “Although, I do prefer to undress you. It is like unwrapping the most coveted thing I have ever wanted.”

“Unnnn...” What was I doing? Oh, yeah. “If you say you have an erection for me, Sex Kitten is going to end up on a fashion runway someplace in nothing but leather straps.”

“I could do leather straps.”

Whoa. I had to step backwards. Sasha had my number and he had no qualms about pressing my buttons. I think my numbers were worn off...but what a way to wear them. I did my own eyebrow thing and turned to sashay away. /Sway, Fallen, sway./

I broke out laughing then got down to some serious shopping. Not that my kitty didn’t look good in black but Haley wasn’t a black kind of pup. A wake was supposed to be a celebration of a lost one’s life. Then again, Haley knew Sasha only wore black when hunting. “Fallen?”

“Not black.”

“Pardon?”

“This is for Haley. You can’t wear black.”

“Then pick another color.”

“You’ll wear it?”

“I may have been strict with Haley but I held him in great affection...as I do for all his line.”

I turned around and just looked through the store. My muzh wore color. He had orange in his closet. Too Halloweenish. I would love to get him into something shiny...but it had to be classy too. Shiny, classy and smoking hot. Was that asking for too much?

“I will search for something for you, lubov moya...I will take the sensibilities of the brotherhood into consideration.”

I found stuff I wanted him in but that would be confined to the brass pole in the bedroom and for my eyes only. Ahhhhh. I found it. It was royal blue but it had metallic blue tribal patterns stamped into it. They were...breeches? Capris? They ended at the knee. I knew he had black boots at home. So that left a top. Ruffles didn’t go with the modern feel of the pants. There was a silvery mesh tank. Hmmmm....not really....ooh. There was a sheer blue t-shirt. The neck band and arm bands were the same metallic as the pattern. This would show off the branded Von Drachenfeld glyph as well. Okay, showing his rock hard abs were good too. He would need a coat though.

Sasha came up behind me and pressed a hanger to my back. “No.” I turned my head and watched him take a flaming red leather vest back to the rack. Good. None of us were a vest kind of guy. Shudder.

Frederick ushered Lex into a change room then headed back to me. “Ah, so young and impressionable.”

“Focus on the young part there.”

“Please...do I tell you how to negotiate an arms deal?”

“Arms deal?”

“You do have a reputation.”

“Don’t believe everything you hear.”

“I don’t, just listening to half of what they say about you alone is enough to give someone nightmares.”

“But not you.”

“I will always remember you from our first meeting.”

“Blind?”

“No, you were chasing your tail in a circle with your hand down your pants trying to see what size you were.” Technically that was X but yeah...we were doing that.

Frederick looked at me with a sly look on his face. “I hear about something blowing up and Bloods disappearing and I think about the 4 day old fledgling who had brought the formidable Lord Marcus to his knees. Now I see the Black Death wrapped around your ring finger. I knew there was something special about you...that falls to your son as well and your lovely daughters who are over in Leatherella with your lovely Empress. They have picked such fetching hunting gear.”

“Have Claudius try these on.” I shoved my choices at Frederick.

“There is a passage in the storeroom to the next store...while Lord Odyssey is swamped...they don’t know that you can get in through Leatherella.”

I wasn’t going to run. I wasn’t overly concerned...my baby girls were with their mom. Claudia was the most levelled person I knew. But then, didn’t she run me to ground everywhere when she was courting me and didn’t she have a Claudius worthy leather Chinese dress with a cut out that showed.....okay, I ran. I knew it was a double standard but...these were my baby girls. I was not having them look like biker sluts from hell. It was bad enough that I looked like biker sluts from hell on occasion. Okay, frequently. Okay, everytime I could.

But that was me. The poster boy for the fledgling gone wild. These were my babies...and my babies were my babies. Come hell or black leather