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From Protector of the Grey House:

As she gathered clean clothes and headed to the bathroom, the thought of where the pair might be slipped into her mind. If they weren’t in the bedroom, where were they? Natalia pushed the thought aside time and time again, but it returned. The thought overrode other desires and instead of showering as planned, she stripped and pulled on her clean clothes. She paused several times as the thought overpowered her, but she was able to breathe deeply and control her actions.

Once dressed, she allowed the thought to return carefully as she headed slowly to the security room. Due to the number of people in the training room last night, she guessed that all the bedrooms were occupied. The couple weren’t in the sitting room, library or ballroom. That left Vincent’s study, the large meeting room, or the dungeon. She could look in the remaining rooms and would if the guard in the security room didn’t want to help her. At the door to the security room, she took a deep breath then opened the door. Charlie grinned at her as she entered.

“Hi! What’s up?”

As it was Charlie, she tossed aside her carefully thought-out speech. “Where’s Vincent?”

From Protector of the Grey House:

Natalia’s eyes grew wide. She pulled back from her lover, balled her hands into fists and pounded him on the chest. “NO!”

The word reverberated in the high ceiling room. Several of Vincent’s men stepped away from the pair. Vincent grabbed her to him, and let her bellow into his shoulder and neck. She calmed, but only because she had no other choice. He was right. Had either of them decided to tell Anthony the truth about their first meeting, he might not mistrust her so completely. It was their fault he sent someone after her. She sagged into her lover, and felt the solid weight of him. To contain her anger at herself, she bit down on his neck, not aware she did it.

Vincent felt the bite and his body reacted. He crushed her to him, and curled his fingers into her back. His eyes closed, and hid the passion that swan there. To control himself, Vincent pulled away from her gently. The situation with Anthony had not reached its conclusion. He spoke softly to Natalia. “Go upstairs, shower, change, relax and forget the past three days.”

“I’m angry and riled up. I want release.” The fires of her furious passion burned beneath the surface of her calm exterior. Heat radiated from her skin and the scent of her blood invaded Vincent’s nostrils. He ground his teeth, closed his eyes, and dipped his head down to her neck. He growled softly near her jugular. His hunger grew as she whimpered and dug her fingernails into his arms.

From Protector of the Grey House:

Vincent’s eyes strayed to her hand. He knew there was a scar there, from a wound he inflicted the last time she disobeyed his rules. He did not bring attention to what she was doing. It intrigued him that she touched the scar while she thought to disobey him again. “Why would you want to?”

She thought for a moment. “Curiosity.”

“Natalia, love,” He stepped to her and caressed her cheek softly. “There is no reason for you to be in that room while you are human. If I find that you’ve been in it, the punishment I will bring upon your pretty head will only be stopped short by the fact that you are human and fragile. But remember, I know your limitations.”

From Protector of the Grey House:

“You were planning on killing him.”

He held her gaze. “Once a traitor, always a traitor.”

“What happens now?” She wanted to jump across the oubliette to fight Edwin, but She couldn’t jump that distance from a standing position. Though the werewolf looked exhausted, Natalia was sure he was acting, but was not sure why.

“Vincent likes you, doesn’t he?”

She stayed silent.

“I wonder how he would look at you if I changed you. Would he still love you if his greatest enemy changed you?”

She didn’t even try to hold back her laughter. “Don’t flatter yourself. You were nothing but an effortless distraction. A piece of lint on his fine suit, needing nothing more than a swipe to brush your existence out of his mind.”

From Protector of the Grey House:

Joseph let the comment pass, as there was more to puzzle out. “What about this morning Natalia? Were you tired when you woke up?”

“I suppose I was. What are you thinking?”

“I believe your will was susceptible to control due to the circumstances of this evening. You were tired after your three days as a captive. You lost blood to Wayne and then before you were completely healed, Vincent took more and most probably kept you up long after sunrise, correct?”

Natalia nodded. They had been up until past noon making love.

“Then when you woke, you had a battle of wills with Anthony. He must have been hard to control. I saw you when you entered the training room. You looked exhausted.”

She nodded again, as her hands went to her head to massage her temples.

Joseph stood and went to the bed he shared with Mierka. He sat behind Natalia to massage her shoulders, neck and temples. She sighed, and relaxed as his fingers loosened her muscles. “This is how I see the events of the evening. You were tired, your will was battered and the vampire you love, and trust fed you his blood. We have learned that a vampire’s blood can be used to control other vampires, but it seems to work better on humans. I believe that had he fed you his blood on any other night, you may not have been affected. It is also possible that he may be the only one who would be able to.”

Joseph leaned in to whisper in her ear. “You have been with him for seven years. When was the last time you denied him anything Natalia? You trust that he will keep you well and operate on the knowledge that he will not harm you unless you harm him. He is your love, Natalia. We all know this. He can control you because you allow it.”

From Protector of the Grey House:

Natalia sat at the desk in Vincent’s library, thinking. She saw Ashley at the café yesterday morning and had a hard time getting the young woman out of her mind. She wanted to help her, but didn’t know how. She tried to call her earlier, but the phone number was disconnected. For the moment, she had to let Ashley go. Natalia sighed and looked back down at the desk in front of her, where a large Slayer journal sat. In her hand was a scanner.

Most of the Slayer journals were too old to be rifled through on a regular basis. She wanted to scan each page and save the books to an external hard drive to preserve the books. Also, it was easier to skim through computer files with the “find” tool then skim the physical pages. She tried to scan one book a week, but often found herself entangled between Vincent’s sheets instead. With him gone, it was easier to get this sort of work done. Vincent had been gone two nights; she went through five large books in that short time. Lost in her work she didn’t hear Franklin come in until he set the tray of food on the desk. She looked up to see a grin on his face.

“Hi. Thought you might be hungry.”

From Protector of the Grey House:

Natalia sat in the large round tub, and faced the door. Behind her, washing her hair was Diana. There were candles for light instead of the overheads. Vincent closed the door and walked quietly to lean against the nearby counter. There was a touch of something in the air, which wove itself around and into his will. Diana was casting a spell of some sort. He wondered why. Natalia was not hurt and didn’t appear to need any help. He waited for his woman to acknowledge him. She made him wait as she and Diana finished their conversation.

Diana helped her rinse her hair then helped her out of the tub. Vincent watched with jealousy as the healer dried his woman off with a large towel, steps away. He crossed his arms, and balled his hands into fists. Though he wanted to reach out and grab her, there was business to take care of first. Vincent stared at his woman instead, and ground his teeth with impatience as he waited for her to acknowledge him. Diana left before Natalia said a word.

“Did you need something?” She looked at him sidelong, barley turning toward him.

“I have to speak with you.”

“About what?” She took the hair dryer and plugged it in. She turned it on low to continue talking undisturbed. She felt sleepy, and calm, and wanted nothing more than to lie on her bed and drift in her thoughts.

“I just finished a conversation with Lorraine.” His eyes traced Natalia’s body, as he wished he had time.

From Protector of the Grey House:

Natalia yelled a warning too late. The Blitzkrieg howled in the same instant as it landed on the deadly creature. The Blitzkrieg’s foot long claws broke in succession; ten dry twigs under the pressure of a heavy boot.  The bits of glass and metal sank deep into the pads of his feet and flesh of his hands. The wolf still flung its mouth open and tried to sink its teeth into the demon’s nonexistent flesh. The wolf gave a mangled howl as his snout, gums and tongue were ripped into ribbons. The demon brought its glass hands up almost leisurely as the wolf tried to pry his teeth off the demon. As the wolf continued to struggle, the demon wrapped its deadly hands around the Blitzkrieg’s throat and started to squeeze.

Natalia pulled herself out of Rebecca’s arms and stood, her anger at the creature and fear for the wolf’s life clashed in her head and clouded her mind. She watched helplessly as the wolf’s head was ripped off by the sharp, jagged edges of the demon’s hands. The Blitzkrieg’s neck nearly exploded as the glass and metal creature sliced through the wolf’s flesh and showered Rebecca and Natalia with blood. The human saw Rebecca start to change and, in that instant, saw the reality of the situation. The wolves gathered nearby, ready to try and take this monstrosity down. All of them would die if they did. Calm battle instinct gripped her mind and all thoughts stilled. She took two quick steps to Rebecca and knocked the woman to the floor.

I was rereading a chapter of a novel I finished some time ago, and came across something I feel is very true. Therefore, I am sharing something today that is not from The Grey House Trilogy, but from a series currently called Evelyn of Kaymbria:

He bowed, as did she. King Horace went on his way and Evelyn turned to Leisian.

“I still don’t understand how a dragon can fade into the background.”

Leisian nodded and started to lead Evelyn to the entrance of the courtyard. “A dragon can rarely fade into the background. A dragon hiding as a human is already hiding, which makes it easier to fade into the background.”

“Ah.” She slipped her arm through his then let go once they were in the courtyard. Leisian moved away and turned into a dragon. Evelyn climbed onto his back, settled herself and he took off. They were at Marsu Valley in what felt like moments. They landed in her fields, which looked to be plowed. Evelyn wondered at this, as she walked home. Leisian turned human and walked with her. Once out of the fields, they went to Mr. Crafter’s home, where everyone was enjoying dinner. Sarah was very happy to see her daughter.

From Protector of the Grey House:

Lorraine waited for her child to realize the decision had already been made. When he shook his head and backed away, she smiled impishly. Natalia stood off center and Lorraine charged, since she had the advantage.

Natalia saw Lorraine move before Vincent was completely out of the way, but it didn’t matter. When the smaller woman hit her, Natalia simply fell back and threw the vampire off her with her feet. She was up before Lorraine was, barely. Lorraine charged again but this time, Natalia grabbed her arm and used the woman’s momentum to swing her into the crowd. Lorraine crashed into Rowland and Maxine, who stopped her fall and helped her up. She turned back to Natalia, who simply waited.

Vincent watched as Lorraine walked to face off with Natalia. He gnashed his teeth, and thought about stopping the unfair fight, but Natalia was doing fine. Had she a sword, she would be winning. As it was, she held her own. When Lorraine started to circle Natalia, Vincent grew nervous. Lorraine didn’t fight much, but she was deadly up close.