Author: catstark

From Inside the Grey House:

“Natalia.”

She heard her name as if the wind were speaking it. When Natalia looked up, her heart and breath stopped. Vincent was standing not five feet from the desk and was coming closer. Last night, when he left her, the look on his face suggested disappointment. Now, there was lust. Natalia closed her eyes and took deep breaths to calm her racing heart. She slept poorly last night, waking often, reaching for the vampire that was not there. Not too long after sunrise, she woke for the last time, gave up trying to clear her mind and went looking for a shower and spare clothing. One of the house humans had shown her the spare bathroom and lent her clothing.

Showered, she went to the kitchen, allowed someone else to make her food and came to the library. She had nothing better to do all day than read. Natalia knew it was past sunset the moment she saw Vincent. Before his appearance, time meant nothing. The day had been a series of written words and brief naps flavored with the feeling that Vincent would not want to be with her tonight, either. And now, there was Vincent.

From Inside the Grey House:

As she walked calmly up the stairs, Natalia started twirling her own necklace, almost wishing she could hypnotize Vincent into giving her what she wanted. It had been nice being able to get her necklace back. She was now using her mom’s old necklace, as hers was lost in the woods. After taking her mom’s necklace out of the jewelry box, Natalia cut the string and sang the words, taking extra care to weave her will into the tiny silver beads. Lilly guessed once that the necklace and songs were probably a spell of sorts, but assured Natalia it was still all her own will at work. Her first trial with the new necklace had been on Anthony; she found she could still control him. She tried it on a rare occasion when they were alone in a room with Vincent.

The men had been in Vincent’s study. Natalia walked in on them unexpectedly, immediately hypnotizing Anthony. It had been too easy. Vincent let it happen. With Anthony hypnotized, she asked her lover why he didn’t tell his main spy about her ability. Vincent suggested it was for the fun of it, but Natalia knew better. There was something else, but he wasn’t going to tell her.

From Inside the Grey House:

“I have a request.” Her voice mirrored her shaky confidence. Joseph continued to hold the sword to her but raised an eyebrow. She was stalling and he knew it. “Can we wait until Vincent returns?”

“No. He would never allow this fight to start. Take this rapier and face me as I demand.”

She wrapped her hand around the hilt, testing the weight of the blade as Joseph let go. “Won’t you get in trouble then?”

“I’m the master of the fight. I do not intend to be stopped by the master of the house.” He bowed to her. “We will fight each round until there is an obvious winner, not to the first hit. Best of three wins. Ready?”

From Inside the Grey House:

Two humans knelt by his side, the closest bearing their wrist to him. The human pulled out a dagger and slit his arm carefully, allowing Joseph to grasp his arm and suck on the blood. Joseph took what he could then pulled back, not wanting to kill the human. The second took out his own dagger, slit his arm and presented the wound to the downed vampire. Joseph grasped his arm as the first human pulled back, gauze pressed tightly to his wound.

When he had taken enough from the second human, Joseph closed his eyes and blindly nodded to Kimberly. She grasped the end of the staff and pulled it out slowly as Joseph healed his wound. They timed it well, and he bled no more. Once healed, Joseph opened his eyes, looking for more blood. As the two donors slipped out the door, two more came forward to feed him. He smiled his thanks and took what they gave gratefully.

From Inside the Grey House:

Other than the fights about her training and her disappearances, the past year with her had been bliss. She was everything he could want in a woman: willing, adventurous, limber. She was also intelligent. She went through the books in his library asking for his help when she couldn’t read the language. Most of the books were first editions of classics, which she had read in school.

Natalia rearranged the books according to fiction and non-fiction, to make it easier to find the ones she considered useful. She integrated the Slayer journals as well, placing them in order by year started, showing Vincent the ones written about him. He enjoyed her company and found himself wanting to integrate her into his business life. First, he had to stop her from fighting. He was also annoyed that Natalia never apologized for her actions and her words. She simply went about doing her best to aggravate him.

From Inside the Grey House:

Edwin stood speechless as she passed, stuffed the kerchief in his pocket, reached out to grab her, and missed. She was too fast. She was already out in the main part of the room, seemingly waiting for him. “Vinny, tell your human to obey me and give me her blood.”

“I don’t belong to him. If you want something from me, you’ll have to actually address me.”

She stood tall, staring at him. When he turned to address Vincent, she scanned the room. She saw that Mierka, Ben and Owen were herding the three young ones out of the room. She also noticed four of Edwin’s men trying to get closer to her. The other people in the room were moving away from her and Edwin, leaving a wide-open space between her, Edwin and the private corner. The ones trying to reach her were being pushed back.

From Inside the Grey House:

She didn’t know much about Kimberly and her man Owen. They fought well and followed Vincent’s rules, but seemed to need to hunt in the city far more than any of the other vampires. Vincent, Joseph, Mierka, Dr. Elving and Ben only took their blood from the humans in Vincent’s house. When she had first entered Vincent’s house, Natalia asked the vampires for information on their hunting techniques so she could make sure not to track Vincent’s people. Owen targeted the homeless, being careful never to kill anyone; Kimberly preferred picking up drunken single men in newly opened bars. She never killed her prey either, but it was still best not to have anyone recognize her. Going to new places lessened the chance that someone would remember her.

Natalia went back through the paperwork and saw Jeffery’s notes stated there was a new bar near Golden Gate Park. No wonder he had been there more in the past few weeks. Knowing that one of Vincent’s people was in danger, Natalia slammed the papers back onto the desk and ran to the door. She had the presence of mind to lock the door on the way out, then raced down the steps, out the back door and to her car. She yanked open the car door; fell into the seat, startling Charlie. The wolf yelped as she slammed the door shut. He changed to his human form, staying low to ensure no one saw him.

“What the hell?”

“He’s hunting Kimberly.”

From Inside the Grey House:

Joseph knew that every room in the house was wired with cameras and microphones. Vincent liked to make sure guests weren’t plotting against him. Joseph reached into his pants pocket and took out a small remote control he always carried with him. Vincent gave him the device when the surveillance equipment had been installed, in case Joseph wanted to have some privacy with Mierka. The device also came in handy when he and Vincent needed to have private conversations. Though now a days, they could control there were apps to control such things, but apps and phones could be hacked. This remote could not be.

Though Joseph used the device sparingly, he needed to have a private conversation with Natalia. The sequence of numbers he entered into the device controlled the microphones and cameras for this room only. He knew the code for every room, had programmed them with Vincent. When the code was entered, it turned off the recording devices. In the security room the only thing the guard would notice was the video screen changing to a different room. Rebecca was there now watching the screen intently. She had convinced the on-duty guard to take a break. Joseph ordered her to the security room to distract the guard; she decided to take over the watch.

From Inside the Grey House:

She gave him a pleading look. “Vincent, I don’t feel like doing this tonight.”

“And why not?”

She gave him a heartbroken look. “I failed you.”

He gave her a confused look. “You nearly sacrificed yourself to the Slayer to make sure that he wasn’t able to use a deadly sword on our men and you think you failed?”

Natalia missed the significance of his words and shook her head. “The notes I studied pointed to this ambush and I missed it. Had I figured out the Slayer’s plans earlier, we could have stopped this before it started.”

“To what end?”

“Jesse’s dead.”

From Inside the Grey House:

Vincent felt his sword arm open as the rapier split his flesh to the bone. He dropped the sword, wincing as the rapier slashed across his back three times. He turned, reaching out to grab the thin sword. She pulled the sword out of his hand, slicing through his skin to the bone. He bared his teeth, growled and she lunged forward to thrust the sword through his chest. She aimed to his right, avoiding his heart. She pulled back, assessing the situation.

Vincent growled as he rushed forward, healing himself along the way. She slashed as he charged, using the light weapon effectively. He pulled back when blood gushed from the wound on his neck. He fell to his knees, grasping his neck, trying hard to hold in his blood. Anthony was yelling for her blood, demanding the fight be stopped. Vincent closed his wound, wondering if Anthony was right. He was starting to feel rather hungry. He had lost more blood than he thought he would. He had to take her down. He looked up at the beautiful woman wondering how to do it and saw the look in her eyes. She hid it quickly, but not quickly enough. Vincent’s eyes roamed to her right arm: the bandage was soaked with blood.