Clove : Book 4 of Lord Emperor Vampire Series

Gack I upgraded my work computer at work to Vista and now all my icons have disappeared. I am commando posting so until I get everything fixed and working, no Kudos. Eek!

Chapter 171: Limo Interlude

“Can you get off me, please, Armor.”

“Azrael?”

“Yes…”

“Where is X?”

“He’s fucked up, what do you think? Let me go. This is part of what set him off.” Armor dropped me like I was a hot potato in tin foil at a family picnic. X wasn’t kidding when he said his face was broken. And those were slaps. My fangs were fine. I leaned against the bench seat. God, I thought he was knocking us around before when X and Sex were taking the abuse as humans. He was pulling his punches back then. I didn’t rate that any more. Both zygomatic arches were cracked. My orbital socket had hairline fractures. And if he didn’t slap me down, he’d no doubt be dead right now along with my Marcus.

“What do you mean?”

I held up my hand and just winced. No blue light. Crap. Why the hell didn’t…ok Skell was out of the question. Sex was still on lockdown. Damn it, I was just going to have to suffer through this.

“Skell does not do well with bondage. This means, that this body does not do well with bondage. Which also means, Puppy and I will a problem to overcome..”

“Bondage?”

“You restricted his movements. You invaded his personal space. You scared him at a base level. Well not you. I think he had a flashback…or he had Skell’s flashback. No, it was probably his. I can remember those bitches on me in the shower…” I let my voice trail off.

“You were raped. All of you were raped?”

“It’s an effective way of breaking down a prisoner. Bondage didn’t work that well for me. Crap, Marcus did worse to me while I was trussed up like a turkey than they did at first. Then they found out about drugs and how well they worked on us. My time, I was drugged. I couldn’t move but I felt and heard everything. It was never a single rape either. It was always a party.”

I could feel an anger vibe just emanating off of the big guy. “You were gang raped.” I think X did the right thing by booking his way back to the beach. Sex would be there for him. Skell would be too offering up what support he could.

I groaned and reached into the small bar fridge and pulled out two blood packs. One I stuck on my fangs. The other I held against my rapidly swelling eye. It felt blessedly cool.

“X didn’t want to tell you any of this. He told Sex not to tell Claudius. This is what happens when you keep secrets. I’m not going to kid you, Armor. We were not considered anything more than labrats. We got shot up. We got tested. We got things shoved were only our lovers had been before and then we got handed to the grunts. Not all of them were into boy love but those that did…fucked us over anywhere and any time, most of the time was in the showers.” I stopped talking and sucked the blood back dry. My face moved from someone tap dancing on my face to just a dull thudding. At least, I was healing just as fast as the Ancients. Thank God for small favors.

“Where is Xavier?”

“He’s on the beach. He was out of control. If you didn’t do this…” I dropped the cooling blood pack from my face and turned toward him. His face winced. Oh yeah, it looked as good as it felt. “…Elder brother would have killed you in his claiming of you. In his own way, he was protecting you. If you’re dead, Orel Wessel can’t harm you any more. That was Skells’ motivation. Yes, he was blood starved, but he had gotten a body that was used to running at 10%. What you encountered was the extent of the starvation/sexual frustration. It was nowhere near the warehouse incident when X took a steel rod through his chest but it was bad enough. You’re strong enough to hold him off but a fledgling had no chance of stopping this body when it fell like that.”

I reached over for another blood back and set the warmed one on my fangs. AAAhhhhhhhh. The coolness felt so good.

“Still, he almost ripped you a new neck.”

My push button start was pulsing. “Copy Cat.”

I looked over at his open shirt. He wore my shield and X’s ring. I was his mirror image. “Xavier needs to be here.” Armor returned his voice calming and now his whole demeanor had changed to a lover’s concern – a mate’s apprehension.

“Yes, he does. Elder brother has competition now. Sex has stepped up to the plate and has been carrying the team for a while.”

“Plate?”

“Sports reference. Sorry. Let’s just say that Number One brother is proving that he is, the number one brother. Feral boy has changed. Hell, we all have changed. Only time is going to tell if it’s for the better.”

The limo rolled to a halt. I sat up and looked out the window. We were at Pixie Motors. This was going to be fun. I looked like I got the wrong end of an ugly stick and Armor. Jees, X clawed him deep. There were still welts on his flesh. His neck was bruised. My throat was no walk in the park either. I started buttoning my shirt.

Armor moved to close his shirt then found all the buttons missing. “You owe me a shirt.”

Whatever X wants, X gets, unless you can break his zygomatic arch. Armor reached for the intercom, “Riot, could you get my suitcase from the back.”

I cocked my head at him. “I have copied a page from Xavier’s book. I carry extra clothing. You never know if you’re going to get bloody.”

“Or mussed up. How’s my boy?”

“Marcus is fine. He had fun at the BDSM party. Which didn’t seem to bother you there.”

“That was Sex. He was with Father and even though Claudius can be freakin’ scary, he just ain’t that way with our little wild child.. Sex has been through hell and he just shakes it off, until it comes from Father then it’s just as devastating as this lingering Orel Wessel shit.”

The door to the back of the limo opened and Armor’s case hit the pavement. I must have looked worse than I thought. “What the hell are you doing to each other!”

I blinked at his outcry. Well, we did make him family.

“Orel Wessel left us a few suprises.” Armor returned stripping off his shirt. I could feel Riot’s eyes zeroing in on the latest chunks of jewelry. He picked up the suitcase and set it inside.

“Shall I get the manager?”

“If the owner is not here.”

I looked over at Armor still holding the warming blood pack to my face. Hmmm. Considering he claimed to have retreated back to the womb, I was noticing changes in the autocratic bastard. A little too much like the old days for my taste…then again, Armor wasn’t really my concern. My Marcus had changed enough that I was going to have to learn this new one.

He looked up from his bare chest and caught me watching him. “What?”

“You cut to the chase.”

“I have always cut to the chase. Xavier did not particularly like cutting out the middle.”

I smirked but then gasped as my cheeks started throbbing harder. Which was a surprise because I didn’t think they could hurt worse. Armor moved behind me and opened his wrist with one flick of the head. “Drink.”

I would have argued with him but the pain was just something I didn’t want to deal with right now. It was strange. Here we were doing some of the most intimate things two vampire could do and we were trying to keep from touching each other. I dropped the blood pack turned my torso so I was sitting against him and he pulled me back against him. “Tell Xavier, he belongs here. I will not have him pulling a Sex on me. I have waited just as long as Father. My Little One belongs in my arms especially if he is hurting. I want him here.”

Humph. That’s all I could say with a mouthful of Armor apple essence. I could feel my breaks begin to knit. Mentally Armor might only be eleven to our ten but Marcus flowed through him. He had the blood of an Ancient. I would have liked to have seen that Welcoming Ceremony. I bet he looked smoking hot and all elegant and stuff. He cleaned up real good when he wanted to.

I pulled off Armor’s wrist. I debated for all of half a second then began to lick the wound closed. I could tell he didn’t’ expect that by the way he tensed up. Now that the feeling that my eyeball was going to pop out of my head was gone, I looked up into his face. “You all nervous because of little ol’ me?”

“We fought, you were only at a fraction of your strength. You broke my knee again.”

“Over and done with, brother from a different mother. We did our “Mortal Kombat” thing, shared a drank over it.and bonded like Marcus wanted. Just because you sort of look like the hunk of my dreams, doesn’t mean I’m going after you.” I just shivered. “That just ain’t right.”

“Ditto.”

“Ditto? Who the hell says ditto?”

“You need to clean your ears, Azrael. You seem to have a hearing problem.”

“Let me lay it down for you. I see things a little clearer that the rest of them. Maybe that makes up for the fact that I don’t have anything other than what the normal average vampire gets. I have no doubt there are a number of hidden triggers in all of us. You, big man and Father are going to have to be nearby always until these get sorted out. X freaked because he thought of what might happen if he was near the kids and something like this happened. I would love to say that we had the strength of will to stop, but that would be a lie that would have horrid consequences. Right now X wants to move out.”

“What?”

“He’s scared of what he is capable of doing.”

“Everyone has had blood starvation at one point or another.”

“Agreed. Running, is a Sex thing. I’ve accepted that now because that is actually part of Sexy’s make up. Doesn’t mean I won’t trip him if I could catch the bugger before he takes off. Skell, I like the kid but I don’t have a handle on him yet. Procrastination is not in his vocabulary. If something needs to be done, he’ll do it and he’ll do it right now. You or Marcus are going to have to watch him.”

Armor pulled his new shirt out of the suitcase and ripped open the package. “Lanseng will probably be with him.”

I touched my face. It ached but it wasn’t pounding anymore. “Lanseng…not that I don’t like the blue haired freak-a-zoid, but he told me when I gave into temptation that he could do nothing for my darkness, but he would follow me down whatever path I chose. He won’t be egging Skell on, but he won’t be the voice of reason either. He has found his Lord Hashmalliam.”

I rebuttoned my shirt. My tie lay on the floor. No, that would be pushing fate. I was as put together as I was going to get. I went to reach for the door. “I thought X wanted to buy his nieces cars.”

“That’s why we’re here. X has got some peculiar tastes.” I arched an eyebrow in his direction, “You are a case in point. Besides, I can tell you right now that no seventeen year old, male or female wants a four door sedan even if it’s free. I’m going to get them some safe cars, with some style. After the deal is done, I’ll get X back here.”

A hand caught my shoulder. Marcus leaned forward, moving in slowly. I lifted my head and accepted his kiss. “You really okay?”

I lifted my hand and rubbed along his face. “You’re here, I’m just peachy.”

“Just until Xavier gets back.”

“That’s fine. Does that hurt? X ripped through you rather hard.”

Marcus looked down at his nipple. “It throbs. Kiss it and make it better?”

I snorted but then leaned over and licked at his chest. I pressed quick light kisses over to his left brown nipple. A hand lifted and cradled the back of my head as I suckled him. I let my salvia pool into my mouth then used my tongue to paint around the puckered flesh and warm metal. Okay, I wasn’t caring that the piercing was healed already. I just had my Vampire in my mouth.

He groaned. “Azrael…”

I sucked on his nipple like it was a milkshake. He arched up into my mouth and pressed his head tighter to him. I slurped off him. “Hmmmmm, apples.”

“Better?”

“Hell no.”

I turned and caught my version of a tall brown handsome man in my arms. I pressed my forehead to his. “Promise me, Marcus. Promise me that if I go all feral on you you’ll take me down hard and fast. I don’t think I’d want to life if I hurt my kids.”

“I’d slap you down so hard, you’d like it when you got back to yourself.”

“I’m not kidding.”

“Neither am I. I will be between you and your children if it comes to that.” Marcus angled his head and gave me a nice, chaste kiss. Oddly, I was disappointed. “I might be able to help if Xavier will allow me.”

“Mindwalking.”

“Through all of you…all the brothers. I could try and search out whatever is hidden. It may prevent other..surprises like this.”

“You mind fucked X pretty damn hard, Babe.”

“Puppy.” He corrected me gently.

“Puppy.”

“I know I hurt him badly. Just ask them. If they do not trust me, it is something I will have to live with and try to earn back. This might be a safer alternative to stumbling into another trigger.”

“I’ll take it to the committee. You might find some things up here, “ I leaned back on my heels and tapped my forehead, “that you won’t like.”

“This is not about me. I love you, Azrael. You’ve come back to us, to me. It doesn’t matter that you have had to do or become or endure. You are home.”

Shit. I blinked. Damn it. I had tears in my eyes. Marcus caught my face in his paws and then leaned forward kissing the salty drops from my eyelids. “I’m glad you’re home…Master.”

“I’m not your Master, Marcus. We are equals…”

“Then you can call me Master, and I’ll call you kitty.”

“Kitty?”

“Kind of runty to be a puppy.”

“Hey…we’ve already got a kitty…wait, four kitties in the House.”

“So, Master?”

“Master. Riot’s coming back. Get dressed. I don’t need anyone else coveting that gorgeous body of yours.”

“Riot is as straight as a ruler.”

“Indulge me, Puppy.”

“Yes, Master.” I reached out and opened the door climbing out. I got a swat on the ass that had some spin on it. “So firm.”

As Riot had the owner of Pixie Motors in tow, I couldn’t do anything about it. The man staggered to a halt. My face must not have returned to it’s normal shade of pale. I came out from behind the limo door and extended my hand. He paused for a mere second before he reached out and caught it in a strong handshake. He tried to look everywhere but at my bruised face. I pointed to it, “Occupational hazard. It was someplace it shouldn’t have been.” I smiled to set him at ease.

It worked until Marcus unfolded himself from the darkness of the limo. A massive godling in shades of taupe and brown. His hair was still mussed but he was presentable. He had a wicked looking bruise to the side of his neck where X had ripped him open.

“Mr. Pixie.”

“Uh, no. That is my wife’s first name. Charlie..Charlie Dukes.”

“May I call you Charlie?”

“Of course…”

Riot supplied rather coldly. “Mr. Von Drachenfeld.”

“Mr. Von Drachenfeld. What can I do for you today?”

“I need two cars, identical except for color. For delivery later this afternoon or evening.”

“Uh…there is licenses, insurance and taxes.”

“I’ll leave that for you to sort out. Price is no object, Charlie. I was out of the country and I missed my nieces graduation and birthdays. I want those cars delivered today. The sooner we find something they’ll like, the more time it leaves you to get everything arranged.”

I could see dollar signs dancing over his head. I didn’t care if I got gouged. I was in agreement with X on this. I made promises to Lois and Lane. I might be a year late but I did keep them. Besides, I think they’d love whatever I found, cause it sure as hell wouldn’t be a station wagon or a mini van. Sometimes, X has no taste when it comes to cars.

Charlie turned and lead me toward the lot. Marcus came up behind me and I ended up with a couple of fingers hiked into the back of my waist band. The warmth of his fingers against the small of my back. Riot rolled his eyes and redeployed the men in black around the car lot in strategic locations. Marcus just stayed where he was with his hand partway down my pants. Charlie’s main concern was the sale. He saw the Loyal. He knew Marcus was doing some monkey business but he remained the consummate salesman. I turned my face toward the sun. Damn it was good to be alive.

The rest of the afternoon past in a blur. I stared out the window at the passing scenery. Armor had tried some small talk but I felt too damn guilty to play along. When Claudia had heard that we were going to the Family Farm, she gathered up the whole kresh and said she would meet us there. This was after I got a lecture about breaking Vladimir’s cranium. It wasn’t much of a lecture. She was feeling guilty about being with the white Russian. I was going to have to set both of them aside soon. We needed to talk about them and the Female Alphas.

Everything was just so complicated.

Father moved from the opposite bench sat between me and Armor and grabbed both of us into a headlock. Crap. “I do not know what happened but the bruising on your throat, and on your face tells me that it was not a happy occasion. Talk to me now.”

I tried to push myself up. He tightened his grip on me. “Ah, ah. Blue line and ancient. You are not getting away from me Xavier.”

“I triggered a blood starvation.” Armor grunted out. Father let him go.

Armor sat up. “Please, let him go. Restraint was part of the trigger. We think.”

Claudius released me but didn’t let me slide back across the seat. “Family. We are a family no matter how extended or varied. More than other families, your problems are our problems Xavier.”

“We’re free. We shouldn’t have to worry about what they left in us.” My voice was barely above a whisper.

“Do not let them win. Despair is another weapon that they will use against you.”

“It’s not despair.” God, I sounded like a pouty brat. I took a deep cleansing breath. “I tried to kill Armor. One second we’re playing the next…I almost tore his throat out.”

“So that is why your face is so colorful. You had to beat him unconscious?”

“No. The fact that I had to defend myself so vigorously was enough to snap him out of it.”

“Then it was not a blood starvation. You’ve suffered through those in the beginning Armor, well as Marcus, but it has been decades since you have had one. How many did it take to stop your rampage last time, my son?”

“Twenty, with darts and tasers.”

“And you are twice as strong now.” Claudius leaned over and pressed a kiss to my head. “If you wanted to truly kill Armor, you would have done it. This was something else.”
He took my shoulder and dragged me across the seat basically throwing me on top of Armor. “If Sex cannot be here, you best make the most of your time. Oh, by the way, your sister re-married.”

What? The limo slowed but didn’t quiet roll to a halt and the door was ripped open. Holy! Haley jumped in bounced once on the carpet and got deflected by Father’s arm. He bounced on his back on the bench seat by my legs.

Haley let loose a snarl then yelped it back as Claudius caught him by the ear and pulled the poor little Lycan out of the limo after him.

“Ded!”

“Ded!” There was a chorus of shouts for Father then there was the dreaded, “HALEY!”

I went to get up but Armor laid his hands on my shoulders and brushed his hands down my pecs to my nipples and their new and old adornments. “Did Azrael tell you of Marcus’ offer?”

I shifted. He tightened his grip. I fled from him earlier today. That wasn’t going to happen again. I got a little of that old I-am-your-Master-and-you-will-obey-me-or-I-am- going-to-make-you-and-you’ll-be-crying-at-the-end-of-it-so-you-might-as-well-give-in- now-and-save-us-both-the-effort since Azrael kicked my ass back off the beach. I kind of missed that first year asshole, in a truly fucked up way. Life was a little simpler then. Just play “Armor says” and everything was okay.

“Papa!!” Lex stormed into the limo trailed by Wolfgang and Ike. “Ded said to wake you and Uncle Marcus up. We got potato salad!”

I tried to sit up but Armor tightened his hold. “Why are you laying on Uncle Marcus? Why is your face all ick?”

Ike crossed his arms in front of his stocky tweener chest and growled “You’ve been fighting. Who hit you, Alpha?”

I blinked. This little twelve…no, six year old pup was going to rip my attacker a new one. Armor sighed. “I did.”

“You are supposed to be nice to Alpha. You are number one mate.”

Armor let me go this time mainly because of the total confusion on Lex’s face. I didn’t need to get into this discussion right now. They didn’t know about the brothers yet. Gaiety was something I was hoping not to have to discuss for say, fifty years. I caught Alexander up in my arms and stepped out of the limo.

The gang was all here. All the winglets. All the pups. Jack was rolling around with Yuri. Both Alpha packs were here. About thirty Loyal. Gees, we needed a circus tent.

“Sigmund Edward Xavier Sex Azrael Skell Von Drachenfeld! Front and center.” My mom’s voice voice rang out over the whole crowd. This was her Regent Hunter’s voice. It would carry the length of a football field.

Lex hugged my neck. “Oh oh, Grandma used your whole name. You are in trouble, Papa.”

A hand came up and rubbed my shoulder. “I have your back, X.”

Ike came up and pushed at Armor’s hip. He just looked down at the small Lycan who was trying to herd him away from me. “Hands off, go sit at the picnic table and think about what you’ve done.”

“What have I done?”

“You made Alpha cry.”

I blinked again. “Why do you think I was crying?”

Lex spoke up, “I fell down the stairs and hurt my face. It was all ick like yours. I cried really hard because it really hurt.” He reached up and pulled my face toward him then pressed a sticky kiss on the darkest remaining bruise. “I kiss your booboo better, then it don’t hurt anymore.”

He began to squirm so I set him on the ground. He reached up and grabbed Armor’s finger and started pulling at him to get him to the timeout picnic table. Ike had moved around behind Armor and was pushing on his ass trying to get him to move.

“Come on Uncle Marcus. The sooner you get to the table, the sooner your punishment is over. We can play in the leaves.”

“You better go before someone pops a blood vessel.” As soon as the rest of the puppies was Ike herding Uncle Marcus, they joined in. I caught his indulgent eye as he sat down on the bench by the layers of food. Ike stood in front of him and started giving him a lecture about playing nice.

Oh, that was going to go over well.

I turned and made my way toward the assembled adults. I was expecting my regular greeting from Mom when I’d done something stupid. I got way laid by two tall blonde haired Amazonians. “Uncle Eddie!” Lois almost ripped my head off with her hug.

Lane jumped on my back. If I wasn’t ready for it, she would have driven me right into Mom. Both of them began crying and squeezing. Holy Toldeo! They were definitely Shayne’s daughters. “Just because he died once, doesn’t mean he can live without air. Get off him.”

They pushed themselves away with tears in their eyes. I guess they were happy to see me. Mom looked so old and frail. I burst into tears and dropped to my knees. She caught me and pressed my face against her stomach. “You’re home now Baby Boy. Welcome back home to the whole pod of us who love you.”

Loise and Lane dropped back on me and I was caught in a triple hug of love. Everything was going to be just fine. Just fine.