Silent Cravings (6 page)

Chapter Seven

T
he stink of vampire was the first thing that penetrated Analie’s consciousness. Not realizing where she was immediately, her first reaction was to jerk upright, banging her head on top of the makeshift fort she’d made out of the box spring and mattress. Clutching at the top of her head, the teddy bear flew upward before tumbling to the floor beyond the sheet curtain she’d arranged for privacy.

“Finally awake?”

Analie groaned quietly to herself, last night’s events crashing back into her thoughts.

That Royce was invading her personal space raised her hackles. She bared her teeth as she crept out of hiding, but he wasn’t impressed by her display of aggression. He reached toward her, and she instinctively flinched back.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

She’d been so angry and on edge that she hadn’t looked at what he held—a plate of fish sticks, complete with a tiny bowl of tartar sauce, and a heaping side of still-steaming French fries.

She stared. That she hadn’t scented the food over the layers of vampire reek thoroughly disturbed her—but it was her favorite food. Ever. Being offered by one of the scariest things she’d ever seen. Or didn’t see. Well, she saw his shadowed outline. Whatever. She hesitated, her stomach giving an embarrassingly loud growl as she froze, locked in indecision.

“Jacques was a bit incensed at the request, but I’ve been told his skill in the kitchen is incomparable. I’d hate to see his efforts go to waste,” Royce said, withdrawing the plate and making as if to leave.

“Wait,” she said, the single word coming out high and strangled.

He paused, silently regarding her.

“I want it. Please.”

She was fortunate that she couldn’t see his smile, delightfully devious. He extended the plate to her once more, his voice deliberately low and soothing.

“As you wish. Tonight, Mouse will take you shopping for new clothes and anything you might like to make your room more comfortable. Jacques will start your lessons in another day or so.”

Analie inched forward, gingerly taking the plate and retreating as rapidly as she could without spilling half of it to the floor. Even under the overwhelming reek of leech, it smelled fabulous. Everything was perfectly cooked, fried to a crispy golden brown. As much as she wanted to tear into it, she felt too uncomfortable to eat in front of Royce, fidgeting uncomfortably as she stood there with the plate.

“Um, okay. What am I supposed to do in the meantime?” Aside from crawl up the walls until she could get this horrible, damned smell out of her room.

“Eat, for one thing. Don’t wait on my account.”

Damn him to hell. He must have realized how much it was triggering her defensive instincts to have him here, worst of all with food in her hands. She looked at him, down at the plate, back at him. Shuffling uneasily over to a nightstand, she set the plate down and crouched beside it, gingerly popping a French fry into her mouth.

God, this is good,
she thought, closing her eyes in bliss at the salty, tangy taste. These weren’t made in a microwave or bought from a drive-thru. They tasted too fresh for that, with some kind of spice on it she wasn’t familiar with.

“Jacques will be teaching you after hours at
La Petite Boisson
. The kitchen closes to new orders at midnight, which is when your lessons will begin. I haven’t finished arranging a teacher for your other subjects yet, but I imagine I will have them arrive sometime shortly after sunset so they can take you to Jacques afterwards. You will study six nights a week. On the seventh, you may spend your time as you wish, as long as one of my people is in attendance to supervise.”

Analie twitched, munching on the first fish stick as he laid out the rules. If it wasn’t so tasty, she would have leapt at him with fangs and claws extended. The food was far superior to anything she’d ever thrown together in her kitchen at home. Even the tartar sauce tasted better than the stuff she was used to. Mmm, and the fish sticks were
so
crunchy on the outside…

“While you’re with Mouse tonight, you can get anything you may need to fill your hours when you aren’t in class or doing homework. If you wish to use a phone line, I’ll have one installed. We’ve got wireless Internet set up for the building, so if you have a laptop, get with John and he’ll give you the passwords to connect to the network.”

Why was he offering all these things? “I don’t have a laptop.”

“No? Get one tonight if you want.”

Analie choked a little on the last bite.

“Are you all right?”

Oh, yes. I’m in the hands of a leech. Home is three thousand miles away. I won’t see my friends or family for five years. I’m just peachy,
Analie thought. Out loud, she said, “Yes, I’m fine.”

“Hmm.”

Analie fidgeted under his scrutiny. He didn’t say anything more, and she was too mortified to take another bite of food, tempting as the thought was. Why wasn’t he saying or doing anything? Why was he just sitting there?

She couldn’t take it anymore. She was hungry, damn it, and wanted him to go away. Her voice came out more like a wail than she’d meant, only grinding her embarrassment home further.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Doing what? Waiting? I need to give Mouse her instructions and the car keys. She’s still getting ready.”

“No. Why are you being so nice to me? You’re… you’re a vampire. You’re supposed to be this bad, evil thing. We’re enemies, aren’t we? You’re just—you’re not supposed to be like that,” she finished lamely, her tirade dying out at his soft chuckling.

“Oh, my dear,” he said, reaching up to rub away feigned tears of laughter. “You have been sadly misled by someone. I have no desire to be considered an enemy of your pack, but I could not let the damage you and your little friend did slip by without penalty. If I did, I’d lose the respect of the local packs and perhaps even my own people. My anger last night was not with you, but with Christoph. I don’t wish to see you suffer more than necessary to carry out what was supposed to be his sentence, and I would rather keep things friendly between us once you do go home. You understand, don’t you?”

Analie thought about it. He
sounded
sincere. There were no other telltales to go by, not scent or heartbeat or even a slight shift in breathing to indicate the truth of his words. It was unnerving. All she had to go by were his actions. Aside from the whole making her be a live-in servant for the next five years thing and the stern reminder to do as he said, he hadn’t done anything mean or evil. Even when he smacked her up against the wall, he was making a point, not really hurting her. Dominant werewolves usually did so more painfully than the vampire had. If he’d truly meant for Christoph to be the one in her place, then he might be telling the truth.

“I guess so,” she finally answered. If he insisted she spend all her time with another leech in attendance, Mouse seemed okay. Some of the tension filtered out of her shoulders, and she picked at the food on the plate again.

“Excellent. I’m glad to hear that. Now, there is one other small matter I would like to attend to later this evening.”

Analie eyed him warily, saying nothing. If it had anything to do with blood, she was so out of here.

“I don’t know anything about your pack structure or who to go to if I need to contact someone with any concerns while you’re here. Would you help me with that?”

She blinked, not having expected the request. It seemed reasonable enough. “Sure, I guess so.”

As Royce had hoped, she was too young and too guileless to realize what a tactical error she’d be committing in granting his request. His sly smile widened.

“Thank you very much.”

Analie shifted her weight awkwardly before hunkering down next to the end table and picking up another fish stick. Okay, he hadn’t done anything mean. He’d only asserted his dominance directly when she showed signs of being rebellious. Under the circumstances, his actions were caring and thoughtful—nicer than some of the Weres higher up in the pack structure had acted towards her. This went against everything she’d ever heard or been taught about leeches from the time she was a toddler.

He wasn’t a pack member, and he certainly wasn’t Gavin. But maybe he wasn’t as terrible as she’d assumed. Even Mouse had been unexpectedly kind, leaving her the teddy bear, knowing she’d be desperately lonely for her family and friends. This wasn’t home, not even close, but maybe she could live through this with her sanity intact.

Maybe if she acted contrite enough, he would even let her go home sooner.

Royce settled back in the chair as she started eating, not just picking at the food on the plate. He felt it was a good sign that she was now relaxed enough to eat in front of him. He’d refrain from any direct physical contact unless he needed to lead her somewhere in the future. The less threatened she felt, the better. It would make befriending and milking information out of her easier in the long run.

Mouse rapped lightly on the doorframe, announcing her presence. Analie was proud of herself for keeping her knee-jerk reaction contained enough not to send the plate and the little bit of food remaining on it flying in all directions.

Royce rose and passed her a list of things he wanted her to get done and purchase for Analie.

“Thank you for doing this. I need her back here by midnight so I can have a few minutes to discuss some things before the meeting with Gerald. Can you manage?”

The mute vampire nodded, her expression wry. Aside from clothes and a few things to keep her entertained when she wasn’t being schooled, the young wolf looked like she badly needed a haircut. Mouse would be sure to fit that into the schedule, too.

“Good. Text me if you run into any trouble.”

Mouse nodded again, stepping aside as Royce paused in the door, smiling wide enough to flash fangs at Analie. “Have a good time tonight. Don’t worry about the cost, just enjoy yourself. Consider that my first order.”

Analie paused with the last fish stick halfway to her mouth. She’d suddenly realized that nothing came for free with Royce and was starting to think that this might be his way of softening her up to ask something of her later.

He wouldn’t get what he was looking for. She had to remember that this was an enemy of her pack. Her alpha would want her to be brave and to follow the Code.

Like most Goliaths, she wasn’t good at subtlety or thinking things through, but if she waited and watched the vampires, maybe she could learn from them how to get back at Christoph for getting her stuck in this mess.

That in mind, she rose, rubbing some of the food grease on her jeans. Mouse ran a hand down her face in what even Analie could tell was exasperation.

“Sorry, but I don’t see any napkins around here and I’m not wiping my hands off on the sheets,” she huffed, newly embarrassed.

Mouse shook her head, gesturing for her to follow. They had a lot of work ahead of them.

Chapter Eight

A
nalie spent the day huddled under her sheet canopy texting Freddy, having the strangest conversation. It had started with, “OMG >:-B everywhere”, graduated to “I think chicken might be really hard to cook, but I don’t know” and, finally, “I’m going to go insane if I don’t get to run tonight”.

Freddy: Are you allowed to run around the streets fuzzy?

Analie: No, I get that they’d call the SWAT team. No joke.

Freddy: Lame. Maybe you can run pink.

Analie: I’m fine with running stark naked with a bowl of fruit on my head, I NEED TO RUN.

Freddy: Please don’t. Maybe you can go to Central Park?

Analie: And get eaten by the Moonwalkers.

Freddy: Oh. Amelia’s calling. Hang in there. TTYL.

Analie: K, bye.

Analie slid the phone under the mattress and sat back. She supposed it could be worse. She could be locked away. She could be dead. She could be lunch.

Her stomach rolled at that last thought.
Anyone tries that, I will gut them
. She picked up the stuffed bear and hugged it.

Meanwhile, Royce considered his options as he gunned the engine of his car, weaving through traffic with the absentminded expertise of one who has had nearly a hundred years of practice behind a wheel. He had deliberately put off contacting the Goliath alpha about Analie, giving the wolves time to stew. Now that he was done seeing to his businesses, he was ready to see just how much they were willing to sacrifice in return for the girl. The first step being to have Analie speak to the pack’s representative to see that Royce had not done her any harm. Yet. It didn’t take him long to get home at the breakneck pace he set.

Once he arrived, he made a beeline to Mouse’s apartment, pausing in the threshold. The door was ajar, and Mouse was going through sword forms with one of her donors. Mouse held up a hand for Brian, her sparring partner, to halt, then relaxed as he saluted with his rapier and withdrew. She let her own sword drop to her side as she returned Royce’s greeting, her brows furrowing as he hurried by the two, headed straight for Analie’s room. Realizing it wasn’t her place to question, and seeing as he hadn’t made any indication he needed her, she signed
on guard
to Brian and resumed her previous stance.

Royce scrolled through his contacts on his phone until he found the number Analie had given him for the Goliath second in command. He rapped lightly on Analie’s door, clamping down on his worries so the wolf wouldn’t be able to detect his agitation.

Analie crawled out of her den at the sound of the knocking. She was wearing a new blouse and pants, quite nice, but they felt weird and overly fancy on a frame used to shrugging on yesterday’s T-shirt. She still wore her corduroy jacket.

She opened the door and took a couple steps back from the outline there. A few surreptitious sniffs told her who she was sort of looking at.

“Hi?”

The shadows on Royce’s face shifted. Was he smiling? Maybe. She stepped aside reluctantly to let him in. He immediately held out a cell phone.

“I need you to call your pack’s deputy.”

Analie gingerly took the phone and looked at the screen. A number was waiting. She hit send, shifting her weight from foot to foot. It didn’t take long for Gregory to pick up.

“Hi, it’s, um, Analie,” she said, belatedly adding a respectful cough and mentally putting her tail between her legs.

“Analie! Are you all right? Is Royce there?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. And yeah, he is.”

“Are you sure you’re fine?”

“Yeah, I mean—I think I am. Are... are you coming to... um...”

“No.”

Analie felt the blood drain from her face. “What?”

“There is a situation in California that requires safety measures to be taken for all underaged Weres.”

Safety measures for underaged Weres? That sounded like a cub-hide. Gavin had told her about them.

Analie glanced at Royce before shifting into the secret River-Goliath dialect. “
A cub-hide
?”

Gregory sounded surprised. He hadn’t known Gavin had educated her in their secret tongue. “
Yes. You’re in the safest place possible—for now.
”

Analie felt a little dizzy, a little sick. “
I’m staying here?
”

“
Yes. Am I going to hear anything unfavorable, or are you a Goliath?
”

Analie snapped to attention, adding a respectful cough. “
I’m a Goliath.
”

“
Good. Keep your location secret. You will be contacted when the cub-hide is over.
”

“
Okay.
”

“
Stay strong.
” Gregory hung up.

Analie held the phone out for Royce. She was staying here. They weren’t coming to get her. Per cub-hide rules, she couldn’t even call Gavin and tell him where she was or how she was doing. Would he worry? Of course he would. Where was Jo-Jo going? Where was Freddy going?

She needed her bear.

Royce watched the exchange with narrowed eyes, particularly when she shifted into that strange dialect the alpha had been using. He noted her deliberate coughing and started piecing some things together.

By coughing, Analie had been paying some odd form of respect to someone. It was a key to pack structure. They used this other language to hide things from him. Judging by Analie’s expression, Gregory’s news couldn’t have been good.

He took the phone when she offered it, his tone concerned and expression as neutral as possible. “Is everything okay?”

Obviously it wasn’t. He hoped that by acting as a sympathetic ear, she might let something slip. It would save him the effort of having to call Clyde Seabreeze, the master vampire of Los Angeles, for more information about what the Goliath pack had been up to since he took Analie under his wing. He prayed she’d let something slip.

In times of agitation, Analie would normally leave the house and run around in the hills until she wore herself out or she’d knocked over enough trees. Right now she had no hills or trees, so she stood awkwardly in an unfamiliar room across the country and felt bad.

“The deputy called for a cub-hide,” she said quietly, staring at the floor.

Royce was silent, waiting for her to continue. Analie rubbed her arms. It couldn’t hurt to define what that meant. Besides, she couldn’t tell him where anyone was going and he already knew where she was. “It’s this thing we do during wars where they take all the kids and spread them out all over the country. For safety. No one likes them.”

She realized that in addition to not knowing where her best friend Freddy was, or any of her other friends, she might not hear from them for the duration of the cub-hide. It could last months or even years.

Don’t barf.
Analie closed her eyes and tried not to breathe so much. The reek of vampire was getting too overbearing.

Curse that miserable alpha to the deepest pit in Hades,
Royce thought, clamping down on the initial reaction to extend his fangs and let his eyes turn to pools of burning crimson.
Are the Goliaths planning to go to war with me? If that’s what this is about, I’ll hunt down every last one of those pups and slaughter them in their sleep.

Aloud, he said, “That is unfortunate. I’m sure it’s for the best. Whatever the trouble, you’ll be safe enough here.” He made an effort to modulate his intake of breath so he wasn’t hissing every other word. She didn’t seem to know the cause behind the cub-hide or think it was related to him, so he’d be forced to call Clyde anyway.
Fuck.
“Is there anything I can do for you?”

Royce was tempted to run with his anger and use her drained carcass as a warning to the Goliaths not to keep messing with him. He needed to wait and make sure that was what was really happening. Not too long. He’d have to hurry before it was too late for him to do anything to slow or stop the gears of war from turning in his direction.

Analie didn’t want to ask the vampire for any favors, but the more she thought about the cub-hide, the more anxious she got. She needed to call Freddy, and she didn’t want it widely known that she still had her own cell phone. It probably didn’t make a difference either way, but it felt like a handy knife in her boot to have it.

“Can I call a friend, please?” she asked. “If there’s a cub-hide, it might be because there’s a thing going on between Goliath and these absolute bastards—Amberguard—who are always at war with us…”
Deep breaths.
Freddy probably wasn’t lying dead in a gutter with his throat torn out and his limbs broken and— “Seriously, I need to make this call. If it’s a pack war, it’s because this pack did something horrible to start it. They are cub-killers.”

The piteous request snapped Royce out of his murderous thoughts. Perhaps she was right. The Goliath pack was full of ill-tempered Weres who thought with nothing but their teeth. The bastards must have plenty of enemies he hadn’t given thought to.

“Of course.” He held out the cell once more, taking and expelling a deep, unneeded breath to calm the rage that had briefly taken him. He needed to feed or do something to work off this tension. “Whatever you need, don’t hesitate to ask. If your friend needs shelter, let me know and I’ll see if there is anything I can do.”

“Thank you,” Analie said, and she really meant it, instead of spitting out the phrase as a formality. She dialed Freddy’s number.

“Hi, this is Fre—”

“You’re alive!” Analie gushed.

  “Wh-Analie! Aren’t you in the cub-hide?”

  “Yeah, what about you?”

  “Yeah, but they won’t say why. I think there was a fight. They won’t say who with, but everyone is seriously on edge.”

  “I’ll bet it
is
Amberguard,” Analie snarled, feeling a momentary rush of the prickling heat that always came right before a shift. “Those assholes. Goliath will slaughter them.”

  “Maybe it’s just a misunderstanding,” Freddy said hopefully. “Then we can all just go home and call off the war.”

  “When Amberguard repays us in blood for the cub-killing, then I’ll be happy with the war being called off,” Analie growled. “When I get—” She glanced at Royce, then hurriedly changed her tone. “Uh... when I get a bit higher up I’ll... do stuff. I’m really glad you’re not dead.”

  “Yeah, me too.” Analie could hear traffic in the background. Freddy was already being moved.

  Analie bit her lip. “Freddy, do you think you could tell me where you end up?”

  Freddy sounded guilty as he replied. “I dunno. We’re not really supposed to talk to each other about that during the hide.”

  Analie remembered she was making a long-distance call on someone else’s minutes. She felt bad hanging up so quickly on Freddy, but she didn’t want to wear the vampire’s patience thin. “Well, good luck. Keep your wits and teeth sharp. I gotta go.”

  “Yeah. Stay safe, Analie.” Freddy said.

  Analie felt a little dizzy. Everything had been turned upside down. Goliath was going into full battle-mode. LA was going to be a
crater
.

  Analie gave the phone back to Royce. “Thank you. He’s okay.”
As okay as you can be during a cub-hide. Damn it, I need to get my head back on straight
.
Damn it, I need to run.
“And thanks for offering to help him out.”

Really, the vampire didn’t seem that bad aside from drinking blood, being invisible, and generally being terrifying. Hell, he’d brought her the best fish sticks in the whole world. And offering to shelter Freddy? Offering shelter to cubs from someone else’s pack during something as dire as a cub-hide was an unheard of gesture of generosity.

Royce pocketed the phone and leaned casually against the door frame, not a thing about his demeanor giving away his concern or that he had been hanging on every word he could pick up from both ends of the conversation.

He knew of the Amberguard pack only by reputation. Like the Goliaths, they were ancient, but also from territories he had never been to. When he chose New York as his city to claim in the early 1700s, he’d driven out a number of Weres who had settled in the area, destroying any sign of competition. There had been a handful of Amberguard, but he’d driven them off, and they’d presumably settled somewhere in the west. He hadn’t given them much thought since.

As time passed, the city prospered and grew, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep all Others out. So he did what he could to control the population explosion instead of work against it. When other packs came to the city, he didn’t threaten them unless they damaged his people or properties first. Quietly smearing the offenders into a fine red paste on the walls for the rest of their brethren to find kept the newcomers in line quite nicely.

The girl before him could be invaluable in this time of unrest for the Goliaths, if only for the information she could provide to help him prepare to face the pack once this war of theirs was under control. Perhaps he could mop up the remains before they could rebuild and fortify themselves against him.

Royce accepted the phone back. “It sounds like something bad must be happening out there. Perhaps that explains Christoph’s inability to control his temper, hm?”

Analie shrugged, mind awhirl with the new information Freddy had provided.

“Guess so. We keep Amberguard in line most of the time, but they’re a bunch of assholes.” She tugged her jacket around herself a bit tighter. “I wish I was old enough to fight.”

Age, rank, and gender had little to do with whether you knew how to fight. She lacked coordination and balance—something Christoph loved to point out at every opportunity—and Gavin had been lax in teaching her the ways of combat.

Feeling awkward and uncertain, eager to change the subject, Analie gestured to the bags against the wall that contained her new clothes. “Thank you, by the way.”

She missed econo-packs of T-shirts and Kmart jeans, but she thought it would be ungrateful not to say
something.
Her eyes had bugged when she saw the receipt in one of the bags. That kind of money could have kept her dressed at Gavin’s for years.

“You’re welcome. And I wouldn’t be in too much of a rush for that sort of thing. Life can be fleeting. Take enjoyment in what you have, rather than seek new ways to lose it.”

That in mind, he figured he’d pressed enough for the time being. He had to make a few calls of his own. The idea of talking to Clyde made him grit his fangs, but there were things he needed to set in motion before it was too late.

“Now, before I go, is there anything else you need?”

A “Get Out of Jail Free” card,
Analie thought, though she managed not to say so out loud. This was a really weird cub-hide. “No, thanks.”

  Royce nodded, wondering if he’d erred in his earlier estimation. She was unhappy, but no longer terrified of him. She might become used to him and play into his hands far sooner than he’d thought if he kept up the “nice guy” act.

He didn’t mind treating his subordinates or “guests,” however unwilling, as well as he did. The satisfaction in knowing that he could accomplish his ends by using nothing more than charm or persuasion pleased him greatly. Force was a last resort.

“I’ll bid you good night, then. Sleep well.”

With that, he left for his own chamber, intending to call Clyde Seabreeze as soon as he got upstairs. Whatever was going on in Los Angeles, he intended to get to the bottom of it.

Royce didn’t know what to make of the situation. There weren’t enough vampires in Los Angeles to justify the sort of massacre he thought was being planned. The massive numbers of gathering Weres would attract media attention before long. Clyde had not been very helpful either.

“Hell if I know. They’re dogs, man. What do you care if they pack up?”

“I’m trying to find out if what’s happening poses a danger. I’d think you’d be interested in that.”