Author: catstark

From Inside the Grey House:

She left then, not letting Natalia say a word. It took a moment for Natalia to comprehend what just happened. Thrown off by the declaration, she ate the rest of the sandwich and drank the orange juice without tasting either. Mierka said ‘us’. Natalia took that to mean she had Joseph and Mierka’s protection, should something happen to Vincent. She didn’t know why Mierka told her this now but understood that despite her actions of last night or perhaps because of them, she held a high place with the three main vampires in the house. She stood with pride, held her head high and readied herself for her conversation with Edwin.

As she stood flexing and stretching, she thought about what to wear and wondered what would be appropriate. Vincent’s words about her to Edwin last night came back to her and she smirked. She knew exactly what to wear. Natalia grabbed the silk robe off the bed, swung it on and walked out of the bedroom while tying the robe. Before leaving the room, Natalia turned to her nightstand and grabbed her cell phone. If she were about to confront Edwin, she wanted to know who would be in the security room. She dialed the number for the room and Joseph picked up.

From Inside the Grey House:

Grinding his teeth and hoping not to have any more interruptions, Vincent hurried to his office to check on Natalia. She was sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch. Lilly sat beside her, looking just as haggard. The wolves were in the same spot. Vincent went to Natalia, kneeling in front of her. He placed one hand on her knee. The other went to her cheek.

“Natalia?” He was trying to hide his emotions but failed. There was worry there.

She rubbed her cheek against his hand, sighing as his touch woke her up a bit.

“Vincent.” It was more sigh than speech. She looked very tired, but also relieved.

Vincent looked back at Charlie, who was still protecting the sword. He wanted to know more about it, needed to know how a metal sword could kill a vampire and do nothing to a werewolf. When she closed her eyes and leaned into his hand, he decided. He picked her up in her arms and turned to the wolves.

From Inside the Grey House:

“It arrived today.”

Vincent stared at the invitation, trying not to show any emotion. “He hasn’t had a Red Tie Affair since before Christopher left. This is dangerous.”

“You don’t think it means Christopher is coming back?”

The agitated vampire shook his head. “No.” He paused in thought. “Edwin enjoys pretending to be Captain because it means no one can touch him, but he’s been Acting Captain for almost five years. I have to wonder how long a vampire like him can stand only being the Acting Captain. There are limits to what he can do. There are still too many in the Bay Area who won’t listen to him. It may be that he wants to show his power, show that he has power. We need to be there.”

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:

She held her head up high and walked right past him. He grabbed at her, his anger about to boil over. She dodged him and continued to where Julia was standing. Natalia reached out her hand and placed a glittering chain into Julia’s hand. Julia looked hard at the object, almost shaking, looked up at Natalia, gave a small nod and closed her fist. Anthony barged over, grabbing his woman’s fist. Natalia prudently backed away as Anthony addressed Julia loudly.

“What did she give you?” His voice was not kind, despite Julia’s sad smile.

“The necklace I gave Tina at her birth.”

From Inside the Grey House:

Vincent was not happy. Anthony was sitting opposite him, looking rather unnerved. Vincent had been berating the younger vampire for over two hours. Justin died while attempting to capture Judith and no one thought to inform their leader. All the people involved were currently being run through various training exercises. When Joseph was done with them, he would take the group down to the dungeon where they would be kept for 48 hours without blood. Vincent was pissed off. Justin worked for Anthony but had lived with and reported directly to Vincent. He knew the human longer than Anthony had.

“I still don’t understand why.”

From Inside the Grey House:

A dark shape came into her field of vision and helped her to sit up a bit. A dark hand held a glass of water out to her, as she sipped the cool, refreshing liquid. She protested when the glass was taken away from her before she was ready. She opened her eyes to look at the person teasing her with the beverage, not understanding why she couldn’t see the person kneeling in front of her. She tried again, failing as dizziness took over and she flopped onto the bed.

Ben placed the glass back on the nightstand, taking a small towel and mopping her brow. She was sweating buckets. Before moving her back to a better position, he checked her wound. It was healing well. There was no sign of infection. There was a knock on the door as Charlie entered. Ben continued to dress the wound, dousing the area with peroxide.

From Inside the Grey House:

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.

In retaliation to her questions, he asked why she didn’t release Anthony, and she just smiled. His laughter almost tempted her to come around the desk and straddle him. A little too shy, she let Anthony go and left the room.

From Inside the Grey House:

“Would endless death be such a terrible thing?” His hand was caressing her jaw line, then traveled down to her neck.

She looked into his frank blue eyes, thinking about what she thought as she lay bleeding on the floor of his club. “What happens wh-if you change me?”

Vincent tensed. She had almost uttered the right word. He leaned in to breathe on her neck and caress the soft skin with his lips, wanting to feel her vein pulsing with life. “Say it correctly, Natalia. Say what you really mean. I won’t change you until you ask me, so use the words you wish to use.”

From Inside the Grey House:

“Men.” She placed the shoes in front of Natalia as she sat on the couch.

“You heard?” Natalia slipped her feet into the simple black flats. They were leather with square toes. They were cute, but nothing special. She wondered what shoes Vincent wanted her to wear.

“It doesn’t matter what species they are; they all want the same thing.”

“So do I.” Natalia stood, testing the shoes. “Don’t you?”

Lilly appeared to think about it, then shrugged her shoulders. “I suppose. Men are just more obvious about it.”

“Don’t say that until you’ve seen me around Vincent. Where is he anyway?” She was walking around, getting comfortable with the shoes.