Dawn's Shadow

Dane shook his head and chuckled. "We don't. Well, we didn't. Janine is insisting on celebrating this year. She says we need something to brighten up the mood around here. And nobody, not even me, is brave enough to tell her no. So, a shopping I will go." He shrugged and snuggled his face against Chris's collarbone. "It's harmless. I guess. Crosses, sunlight, stakes through the heart, won't kill us. I don't suppose a few strands of garland and some sprigs of mistletoe will either."

"Dane," Chris said, tugging urgently on his sleeve in a panic. "I really don't do the whole Christmas or birthday thing. The other kids picked on me mercilessly...you know why," she said, shifting uncomfortably on the cot. "I never got a birthday present that wasn't wrapped in Christmas paper. No one ever sang Happy Birthday to me. I got Christmas cards instead of birthday cards. And everything was always red and green and fat little Santas. I've never had a birthday or a Christmas all to myself. And I don't want one now."

"You don't have to like it. Just pretend to act enthused enough to keep Janine off your back. Ok." He tucked his index finger under her chin and lifted her face for a quick peck on the tip of her nose. "I'll try to have Patrick reign her in a little bit. As if that'll do any good."

Chris exhaled and lifted her face for a kiss. " Ok, I can do that."

Dane sat up on the cot and noticed the notebook laying open on the pillow. "What's all this?" Chris might be a vampire, but she wasn't faster than him. He snatched the notebook and began flipping through the pages.

Chris smiled shyly and mumbled, "Our home." One by one she explained her ideas to Dane. Taking note of each time he nodded in agreement or frowned in disapproval. Thankfully, there were many smiles and nods than scowls. "You like?"

Dane closed the notebook and handed it back to her. She had really put a lot of thought into these plans and her ideas might be possible. "I love them. Which one of these little squares is our room?" He recalled the advice Kokumthena gave him. Now he saw the truth behind the goddess's words. She knew Chris was going to come into his life. Whether it was divine intervention or not, he wasn't sure. But, Kokumthena had seen her coming.

Dane worked Chris onto her back and leaned his weight heavily into her. "We should make good use of this cot while we still have it. It's so cozy what will we ever do with that big of a bed?" He kissed her slowly, taking his time to relish every inch of her warm, silky skin.

Chris slid the notebook underneath the pillow and ran her hands along Dane's back. She could always tell when he was in the mood, which was always. His erection, pressing into her pelvis, was a big hint. But, that hungry glint in his eyes was a dead give away. "I'm sure we'll think of something to do with all that extra space."



Chapter 40

Janine was a flurry of activity the next morning. She grinned at the thought of the little human girl ordering the big, bad vampires about. She pointed and nodded, and sometimes sighed in exasperation as they strung thousands of miniature lights down the expanse of the tunnels. "C'mon guys we have to hurry if we're going to celebrate the twelve days of Christmas. At the rate we're going it's going to end up being the ten days of Christmas. Now hurry up, Dane will be back with Chris soon. I want to surprise her." She just bet that Christmas was Chris's favorite holiday. With a name like that, how could it not be?

Ever since that run in with Anna, Chris had been a bit down in the mouth. Ok, so even Janine, the little human girl, could tell the woman was depressed and had more than just the usual case of the holiday blues. Chris had been through so much and Janine wanted it to be special, extra special, just for her.

"Geez, Patrick what did you let her talk us into? We're vampires, not Santa's elves," Toby grumbled as he teetered on a ladder, scrabbling for that extra fourth of an inch of cord so that he could get this disaster powered up. He stretched and the cord pulled tighter and tighter, almost...and then finally, he managed enough slack in the line to plug the last strand in. Hundreds of yards of tunnel flickered to life in a blaze of multicolored twinkle lights.

Patrick shrugged and handed Toby a wad of plastic greenery to string in between the lights. "Hey, what can I do? Besides, I think she's got ingenuity." Toby looked ridiculous, balanced on a ladder with fifty yards of plastic evergreen wrapped around his arm. The man could hack into the toughest databases and navigate them with ease and Janine had him hanging garland. Sure, he bitched. John Mark had bitched too when Janine handed him a stack of red velvet bows and gold ribbon. But, he hung the ribbon and then, when she wasn't satisfied, took it down and rehung it again. The most lethal bunch of vampires the world has ever seen and they all, each and every one of them, was terrified of a five-foot two-inch, one hundred ten pound, ball of female fury named Janine.

"No. Thanks to my genius, she's got ingenuity." Toby groaned thinking of how many times fuel was going to have to be added to the already taxed generators to keep this multicolored monstrosity powered up. The tunnels had more lights than the Vegas strip.

Alex stood with her arms crossed, looking up at the trail of blinking bulbs and shook her head. The tunnels usually so soothingly dark for her sensitive eyes were almost brighter than the sun at full supernova. The air was thick with Janine's scent, human scent. The smell teased at Alex's hunger, nudging the beast awake. She was struggling to keep control. Proving she could be trusted amongst humans was paramount to getting an unsupervised pardon on Christmas Day. Here was her chance to put her will to the test. And to prove to John Mark that she could do it. She took a deep breath, retracting her fangs before she opened her mouth to speak. "Hi, Janine."

"Oh, hey Alex." Janine's heart sputtered in her throat. She was used to her friend's clumsy, noisy, awkward footsteps, not her new silent, stealth, mode. She hadn't seen Alex since the night of the ceremony. Vampirism hadn't changed her much. She still had the same deep brown eyes and the same unruly crimson hair. She still looked like Alex, her best friend. Janine spun in a circle, holding out her arms at the spectacle of holiday lights twinkling overhead. "What do you think?"

Alex shrugged and winced against the light. "It's a little over the top don't you...Oh shit, I'm sorry," she said, lisping the last part of the apology through her extended fangs. She clamped a hand over her mouth and willed the points to retract. The stubborn things refused to budge.

Janine sucked in a breath as Alex scrabbled to hide her fangs. Trying to act nonchalant and unfettered by the presence of fangs she glanced down the tunnels. Naturally, when she needed a vampire there wasn't one around, except for the hungry one drooling at the scent of her blood. "Ah, Alex?" Instinctively, Janine took a wary step back. And Alex took a hungry step forward.

Alex closed her eyes and breathed through her mouth to block out the scent of Janine's blood. Fighting back against the reflex to bite her best friend. "Sorry. I guess it's a vamp thing." John Mark could speak just as clearly with his fangs extended as he could with them retracted. She slobbered on her palm and spit dribbled out of the corner of her mouth from trying to say one simple sentence. She sounded like she had a mouthful of gum and two of the dozen words came out distinctly enough to be understood.

"Yeah, Patrick does that when he's horny," Janine said, trying to make light of the danger she could be in. She knew better than to run. It would only make things worse and cause Alex to lose control that much faster. She tried to tamp down her fear. The scent would only make Alex hungrier than she already was.

Janine cocked her head sideways, measuring the distance between Alex and her. Before Alex had changed, there was no space, no distance, and there shouldn't be now. "Look, if you need to, um..." She didn't know how to phrase what she was trying to say. "If you need to, ah..." She blushed violently. Many of the brothers had taken from her before she became Patrick's exclusive dinner companion. It was her job. And Alex meant just as much and in many ways more to her than Patrick. He was her love, and hopefully someday, her lover. But, Alex was her best friend.

Alex sniffed the air. No wonder Patrick tried to keep her to himself. She smelled good. Janine had a different blood type than Alex's previous donor. Alex didn't question how she knew or what blood type Janine hid in those plump veins of hers. "You don't mind?" Before Janine could answer Alex had her pinned against the wall, head tilted and body restrained beneath her weight. She rationalized that it would be ok. Since Janine had offered, there would be no harm done. No rules broken.

Alex slid Janine's jacket low on her shoulder with greedy, fumbling fingers and lowered her mouth to the thin blue vessel beneath a pale layer of creamy white skin. The watery squeak of fear from Janine's throat didn't register in Alex's ears. All she could think about was the blood, sating her hunter, and ending the dull ache of hunger that never left her. Without John Mark hovering over her, her hunter was free to roam. Eagerly, she bit, piercing Janine's fragile skin with her fangs and drank on the blood, feasting on the fear.

Janine hissed between locked teeth at the pressure of Alex's fangs against her skin. No mental anesthesia? Now, that was just plain rude. What was John Mark teaching this girl? Janine's thoughts raced as Alex dug her fangs in and started sucking at the wound. God it hurt. Instinctively, she wiggled in Alex's arms, trying to break her hold. Alex only grabbed on tighter, savagely slamming her back against the cold, hard wall of the tunnel. Overhead the Christmas lights glittered merrily, like multicolored stars in a velvet sky. Janine began to wonder if these would be the last Christmas lights she'd ever see.

In the back of her mind Janine whispered a silent prayer. Don't let her take too much. Don't let us get caught. She was Patrick's donor and vamps didn't like to share. She felt her knees go wobbly and her weight eased to the ground. Alex was still firmly latched on to her shoulder, sucking hungrily at the wound and drinking her in.

Patrick dropped the shiny bright Christmas bulb he had in his hand. A wave of pain and dizziness surged through his mind. Janine's thoughts. Janine's pain. She was in trouble. He drew deep lungfuls of air in through his nose and locked on the scent of Janine's blood. Tracking the scent he knew so well, he ran through the multicolored haze of Christmas lights and skidded to a stop when he rounded the remote corner Janine had been decorating. He hissed at the sight of her pale, limp, and dazed in Alex's arms. And Alex's mouth clamped down on the curve of her shoulder. Seeing nothing but anger, he growled low in warning.

Roughly, Patrick grabbed Alex by the back of the neck and slung her across the narrow tunnel to land on the floor with a hard thud. He lifted her out of the soot and dirt on the floor and dragged her up the wall by the throat. Her feet dangled like a marionette's suspended off the ground. "What do you think you're doing!" With his free hand, he released the dagger hanging from a sheath on his belt and placed the blade under Alex's chin. The only thing that stopped him from killing Alex right here and now was her importance to Janine. He didn't want Janine to have to see him kill her best friend.

Alex's eyes were wide with fear. The taste of Janine's blood died on the tip of her tongue. She pulled fruitlessly at Patrick's fingers locked around her throat. Her feet swung wildly, failing to faze him as they connected with his shins. She mouthed words, useless words. But, her windpipe was all but flattened by the pressure of his fingers squeezed around her larynx. She saw the red haze of her death reflected in his eyes.

Toby nodded to Dane and Chris as they met up and ran through the tunnels. Will rounded a corner and fell into a steady run beside them. The sounds of angry shouts and the smell of human blood echoed through the black labyrinth. John Mark bolted from a neighboring passageway and darted ahead of Dane. Just as Patrick was Dane's, Alex was his responsibility to control.

"Patrick! Drop her!" Dane commanded. He couldn't risk a physical encounter with his brother. Not with the blade Patrick pressed so tightly beneath Alex's chin. There were some things a vampire couldn't heal. Decapitation happened to be at the top of the list. Toby and Will fanned out behind him, eager to do something, although not knowing what, to help.

Chris rushed to help Janine. Janine was a limp pile on the ground. Dazed and pale, but still breathing, with a nice steady, strong heartbeat. Chris gazed at the oozing wound on Janine's shoulder and sighed a longing breath. She bit her bottom lip and pierced her descended fangs through the tender flesh to distract herself from the sudden roar of hunger, surging through her body. Trying not to think about the blood, she clamped a hand over the wound and breathed through her mouth. "She's ok!"

"Patrick!" Dane's voice rumbled through the tunnels. He poised ready to fight his brother. Patrick had a short fuse and once it was lit, it was harder than hell to keep from going off. "Patrick. Put. Alex. Down. Now."

Patrick barely registered the voices and commotion going on around him. He was focused on Alex, ready to kill to defend what was his. And if anyone ever doubted it for a second, they were about to be converted to a true believer. Janine was his. A small voice found its way through the haze of his fury, finally getting through to him. "Janine."

"What are you doing?" Janine leaned heavily on Chris and let the woman drag her into a sitting position. She sat and blinked and then pulled on Chris's arm to help her stand. Alex had taken just a little too much. A simple accident. Her wobbly legs were evidence as to how much Alex had taken.

She was definitely going to have to talk to John Mark about Alex's techniques. Her shoulder throbbed. "Patrick! Cut it out! I let her." She took an unsteady step closer to Patrick, only to have Dane step into her path. "Patrick, it was my fault."

Janine's voice cut through the haze of his anger like a ray of sunshine through a storm cloud. "You let her?"

"Yeah you crazy boy. Now, quit cut that out and come on. We've got more lights to hang." Janine pressed a light hand to Dane's arm, guiding him out of the way to get to Patrick. She tugged on the sleeve of Patrick's tee shirt and coaxed his hand way from Alex's throat. "Let her go." She forced a smile, hiding the extent of her weakness and pain from his narrowed eyes. Slowly, he released Alex, setting her feet on the floor none too gently. Janine wrapped her fingers around his fist, opening his fingers and prying the dagger free from his hand. Awkwardly, she placed the dagger in the sheath at his hip. "Shh... let's go."

Patrick exhaled, releasing the remainder of his anger and tension. "I thought she'd hurt you. I thought she'd kill you," he whispered, Filling his arms with her body, he clutched her to his chest. Janine and her needs occupied every molecule of his brain. Without a backward glance, he lifted her into his arms and carried her back to their shared room.

Dane checked Alex over. She was startled and shaken up. But, there wasn't any harm done. He could hear John Mark's footsteps slide up behind him. "Alex, you almost got killed. What were you thinking?" Dane pulled Alex up onto her feet and dusted her off. He was thankful not to have to fight Patrick.

"Sorry," Alex said sheepishly. She heard Janine's thoughts echo in her mind. Janine was ok. Busy soothing Patrick. Alex sighed a relieved breath and lowered her head in shame. Her glance darted between John Mark and Dane. Waiting for her punishment and assuming that she was going to be in big trouble.

"Why don't we go hunt?" John Mark's warm smile reassured Alex. She wasn't in trouble after all. "Oh, by the way," he grinned widely. "From now on, you'd probably ought to leave Janine off the menu."

Alex smiled back, lifting her hands high in the air in a gesture of surrender. "I promise."

Chapter 41

Chris's expression formed a scowl as her eyes locked on the four-foot table top Christmas tree twinkling merrily in the corner of the makeshift bedroom she began sharing with Dane. There was no privacy around here. No need to keep up pretenses. With no doors and a one-way link into one another's minds, all the brothers knew what they were doing. Why try to hide it? But, this latest invasion of her privacy had gone too far.

"What is it with you vampires and Christmas?" she growled, fumbling with the cover to the battery pack. Ripping out the batteries and flinging them to the hard packed floor, she smiled in satisfaction at the black cloud of soot and dust from the impact.

Dane sat on the cot, confused by Chris's apparent hatred of the holiday. Christmas was a time of good cheer, yuletide greetings, and brotherly love. And she hated it. Wanted no part of the joy and laughter and obviously the decorations. "Janine is trying to make you feel at home. She has the impression that Christmas is very important to you. If you detest the decorations that badly, I can have her take them down."

Chris huffed at the tree in the corner. They didn't have enough space as it was. And now with the tree taking up one entire corner, they had even less. But, she didn't have the heart to demand that Janine scrap all her hard work and demolish the decorations. Chris hated Christmas, but she wasn't a Scrooge. She could endure. After all, she'd bit her tongue for this many years. What was one more?

She felt Dane's hands snake around her waist and pull her down to him. She let him plant her firmly on his lap. All thoughts of Christmas vanished as he nipped his way up her neck and nuzzled at that tender spot behind her ear. "I don't suppose you want to tell Santa what you want for Christmas?" His breath teased her skin. Slowly his hands slid across her shoulders, his fingers unbuttoning the buttons on her blouse. "You can tell Santa. Have you been a good girl this year? Are you naughty or nice?" He worked the blouse off her arms to reveal her nipples, straining and hard beneath the lacy fabric of her bra. He chuckled and said, "I'd say nice, very nice. But, I'm hoping you are a little naughty."

She shifted on Dane's lap, straddling him. She scooted in closer, rocking her hips along the hard bulge beneath the zipper of his jeans. Chris had never role played before and she had to stifle the urge to giggle. "I wouldn't do this to Santa," she said, sliding her body down his lap. Her fingers trailed over his firm abdomen to the button on his jeans and unfastening them deftly with deft fingers. She rested with her knees on the floor, pinned between his thighs. His erection sprang free from the open fly. He was always so hard and ready for her. Dane was no Santa that was for sure. But, he was a very, very good boy. Teasingly, she licked the tip of the swollen head and smiled at his hiss of pleasure.

"That's good," Dane moaned at the sensation of Chris's wet mouth sliding over the sensitive tip of his penis. Zings of desire shot down to his toes at the sight of her working him with her lips and fingertips. "I'd hate the thought of you with another man."

"Even if it were Santa?" Chris resisted the urge to rid herself of her clothing and take him deep inside of her. Exactly where she needed him. She prolonged the foreplay, nipping and lapping at his tender skin. Dane lifted his hips as she worked his jeans down his thighs and calves. Struggling with his bootlaces, she tugged at the knots. He slid a hand down her shoulder to help her untie the boots and kicked first one foot and then the other foot free. Leaving her to pull off his socks and his jeans the rest of the way off.