Author: catstark

From Inside the Grey House:

“What happened?” Natalia’s voice was shaking with wonder and worry.

Mierka answered as Joseph and Vincent both drank from their blood donors. “Edwin knew we were coming and knew we would try and save some of the girls. It’s a game we play. He takes as many girls as he can, knowing we have a chance to free most of them. This time was no different. Except that once the girls were safe we ran into some demons. They attacked us and nearly killed us, leaving us for the Morning Star to finish. Anthony was able to contact one of his men to come get us. We were badly drained.”

From Inside The Grey House:

She immediately started to fight and tried to hit him with her heavily shackled hands. He let the chain hit his chest. It stung. He had clearly lost more blood than he realized. If he let the fight drag out, he might get hurt. His smile grew wider as a growl passed his lips. His hunger took over and he backed up to give her room to move. Lips quivering in a slight snarl, he let her pass. She was swinging the chain, thinking to gain her freedom by fighting, most probably. Although the girl had lived with the knowledge of vampires all her life, she evidently knew nothing about fighting them.

From Inside The Grey House:

“She’s in the master bedroom as you asked. Will you be using that room for a while?”

“Until I trust her, yes. Bring my clothing down from my room at the first opportunity.”

Joseph drained his glass, nodded and stood to leave. He reached the door before Vincent spoke again.

“Oh, and Joseph, if you ever touch her again without her permission, I’ll hang you by your toenails over the oubliette, slash your body with shallow cuts and feed your blood to the ghul.”

Joseph paused with his hand on the doorknob. “Yes, sir.”

From Inside the Grey House:

Natalia grabbed the silk robe off the end of the bed and went to the shower. She found a large towel waiting for her on the rack next to the stall. In the shower were various soaps, shampoos and conditioners. There were even some small bottles of cologne. Natalia smiled. She should have known Vincent was high maintenance with all the silk and suits he wore. She laughed and stepped into the stall. She made sure the water ran lukewarm before closing the door. She preferred hot showers but knew that it was safer to have a cool shower. Her usual ‘so hot steam forms in seconds’ shower might make her faint. Even though she felt fine, she was still recovering.

From Inside The Grey House:

At the moment, 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 microphones and cameras. 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:

Vincent moved the staff away from his throat and slowly stood, eyes still locked with Natalia’s. He had never seen the look in her eye before; never felt the heat that radiated from her very being. He growled low, a smile on his face. He had wanted this since he met her.

“Are you all right, sir?” Anthony sounded rather concerned.

His eyes never left Natalia’s. “Fine. Do you know what you’ve done, Natalia?”

The staff rested expertly in her hands. “Challenged you.”

“Do you know what happens now?” He started to circle her.

From Inside the Grey House:

“I’ll never do anything to you that you aren’t willing to have done.”

That was true. She occasionally told him no, and he always stopped. Natalia nodded her head vigorously, letting her desires flood her completely. “Do as you wish, vampire. Show them I belong to you.”

He growled his pleasure, giving her his hyena smile. It chilled her to the bone as his touch never seemed to do. Vincent grabbed her around the waist and slung her over his shoulder. She protested, but Vincent simply laughed.

From Inside the Grey House:

He was starting to show his feelings. His jaw was twitching and he was taking deep breaths. His hands were behind his back, forming fists. All she had said was true; he had been using her, but not quite consciously. He hadn’t been able to find out whom she was killing, but knew it wasn’t anyone under his protection. Since Edwin wasn’t calling him to find out if it was one of his people, Vincent let her do as she pleased. He was afraid of her dying but knew she could take on most of Edwin’s men.

From Inside the Grey House:

Natalia sat in her car, redressing her wound. She was in Vincent’s garage, deciding whether she should get out of the car or wait until noon, when there was a better change that he would be asleep. There would be trouble for what she’d done. Natalia’s hand went to her silver beaded necklace as she stared at a thin sliver chain hanging from the rearview mirror. Dangling from the chain was a blue stone pendant with a silver engraving of the infinity symbol. She’d found it hanging on Theodore’s trophy wall under the pictures of Tina. The wall was covered with trinkets and pictures of other young girls. Many she recognized from news stories of missing children. It disgusted Natalia, but Theodore was dust now.

From Inside the Grey House:

“Sorry, Charlie. We had to look like we had no idea what was going on with the world. Stargazing wouldn’t have worked, and it had to look to a casual observer that you weren’t wearing ripped clothing. By getting that close, the girl couldn’t tell if your clothing were ripped or whole. It was the only thing we could do to get away clean.”

“I don’t look forward to telling the boss. He gets pretty jealous.”

“Let me tell him then. Don’t worry about it, Charlie. You’ll be fine.”

He didn’t believe her, but what could he really say or do that would make her understand his trepidation? Charlie let it go and settled back into the seat for the long drive back home.