Something New Ch. 06

Thank you all for the amazing comments, I was very touched by them. Reading your feedback literally puts a smile on my face for days. :)

Sorry that this chapter was a bit delayed, I was out sick for a couple days, and my brain just does not work well in that state, so I didn't get much writing in. Unfortunately the next chapter will probably be delayed a bit longer than this one, because I will be out of town for a week. I usually post updates to my profile page, and I promise to start putting dates on them now, since I just realized that there weren't any.

Finally, while I hope I did a good enough job identifying the meanings of different text formats in the body of the story, I thought I would give a quick rundown, just in case:

"This is verbal speaking, the text is normal and there are quotes enclosing what the character is saying."

"This is speaking mind to mind. There are still quotes, but the text is italicized."

This is a character's personal thoughts. It is italicized and without quotes.

Enjoy, and as always, all constructive feedback is welcome!

This story is copyrighted, please do not use any part of it without permission. Thanks!

**********

Max woke as he realized he was both extremely content and very uncomfortable. It was an interesting mix of feelings, and not a combination he had experienced before. He was content because Lisa was sleeping in his arms, and was cuddling up against him. He was uncomfortable because sleeping on the edge of the couch was not exactly relaxing, though he had slept in worse places.

He focused on Lisa again, looking at her soft face, tendrils of her dark hair curling over her eyes. He brushed it away, liking the silky feel as it slid between his fingers.

He smiled as he realized that her height meant he didn't have to bend over so far to kiss her. He had always been unusually tall. In his time he had been considered something of a giant. It was a bit of a relief to him that average heights had changed over the centuries. He was still tall by current standards, but not abnormally so.

Lisa shifted against him and put a leg over him in her sleep. He froze as he had another realization. Her height meant that their bodies matched up quite well, and as he felt her warmth against him, he began to react.

Max clamped down on his reaction and decided that the couch was not the place to spend the rest of the night. Gently he moved her leg off of him, and quietly slid his legs to the floor. Lisa clung to him more tightly as she felt him shift away from her, and he smiled, warmed by her need for him.

He kept his upper body near hers as he slid his arms under her, and then proceeded to gently lift her up from the couch. He didn't display it often, but he had been stronger than he looked before the transformation. After he was changed, his strength had increased exponentially and Lisa was no burden at all.

Max carried her down the hall and saw that Lisa's bedroom door was closed. He thought about it briefly, noting that she seemed to always keep it shut. Like she said, she doesn't trust others easily. The bedroom is personal space, so she doesn't let everyone see it, he thought to himself.

Max took the option that was less likely to upset her, not to mention just plain easier, and went for the open door of his room, placing her gently on the bed. As he lay her down, he realized that she wasn't releasing her arms from around his neck. He chuckled softly as she continued to cling to him in her sleep, and rather than try to free himself, climbed over her to get onto the other side of the bed.

Her body gravitated right into him again as soon as she felt him lay down next to her. Max rubbed his hand up and down her back to soothe her, and frowned a bit as he realized she was still wearing her bra. He knew that those were not comfortable for a woman to sleep in, but after everything he had just gone through to keep her asleep, he had no intention of waking her up now.

Max decided to try to remove it himself, not that he needed much convincing. He even managed to do it without removing her shirt, though he was amazed he didn't wake her. She must be exhausted to sleep through all this, he thought to himself.

Max thought about it for a moment, and realized that he hadn't caught any signs of her being this tired. He decided that in the interest of his current role as her protector, he needed to use his ability to assess her physical condition.

Typically this was something he only used to find an opponent's strengths and weaknesses, or to figure out how close someone was to death. It was not an ability he tended to use outside of a combat situation, but he needed to know her true state.

As he looked into her, he was shocked by what he saw. She had appeared to be at full power and full capacity, and indeed, she had tremendous resources, but she was actually quite depleted. It amazed him that such a gentle woman had such iron will and strength inside her.

Her depletion concerned him though, and he chose to go deeper. It wasn't something he did often because he sometimes found out more about a person than he, or they were comfortable with him knowing, but he felt it was necessary.

As he looked deeper, he felt some relief as he saw that she wasn't in as bad a shape as he originally thought. Yes, she was depleted, but the energy was being replaced quickly as she slept, more quickly, in fact, than he had ever seen in anyone before. Curious he looked to see if he could figure out the source, and was almost physically rocked back as he was suddenly thrown out of her.

"Do not push your luck son of dragons. You are not the only protection she has." He heard a stern voice say. He looked around and saw a figure at the foot of the bed. As he watched, it became more solid and he was able to see what looked like someone of Native American descent dressed in formal regalia, though he was unable to make out any real details. The look he was getting from the spirit, though, made him feel like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"We allowed you to look into her, but you overstepped your bounds. Don't do it again." The man said, and then disappeared. Max felt a bit shell shocked but the spirits weren't done with him yet as another figure began to appear in the spot the man had stood.

"My but you are a handsome specimen of a man," an old, wizened, and definitely female voice cackled at him. As he looked, the figure began to solidify into an ancient white haired woman with piercing eyes. "Don't let old feather head scare you off," she said with an amused smile. "He actually likes you or you would be passed out right now receiving some of the worst dreams of your life. In fact, knowing him, if he disliked you that much, he'd make sure those dreams would prevent you from ever 'performing' again!" She cackled at the look on his face as her last statement registered with him, and it wasn't a comfortable sound.

The old woman looked him sharply in the eye, and he felt like he was being tested. Finally she said, "You're good for each other, don't doubt it. Now, forget us and sleep." she commanded and she too faded away.

Max was unable to resist, and drifted off.

**********

Lisa was slowly waking from the best night's sleep she'd had in months, and her mind was starting to sort what was dream and what was real. She felt herself pressed up against a warm body and her drifting mind decided it was an after image of a very pleasant dream. She clung to her dream state, feeling so content that she wanted it to last a bit longer before she woke in her very empty bedroom.

Of course, as usual, once she began to wake there was no holding onto her dreamy state, no matter how pleasant it was. As she slowly became more alert, she realized that the content feeling of snuggling up to another body was not dissipating. That realization brought her mind instantly to full wakefulness and she opened her eyes to see Max's sleeping form next to her.

All in a rush she remembered the previous night and smiled as she reveled in the warmth and happiness she felt waking up next to him. Then she registered that they were sleeping in his room rather than the couch, but she had no memory of coming here herself. She realized that he must have carried her, and the fact that he had managed to do it without waking her impressed her immensely.

She thought of the strength it would have taken, and a little shiver of desire ran down her body. After all, as tall as she was, it wasn't easy to carry her smoothly, and if he'd jostled her, she knew she would have woken instantly.

Lisa also realized that while she was wearing the same clothes as last night, her bra was gone. It was almost as if that one item had magically vanished, leaving everything else as it was.

She blushed a little, and lingered briefly over thoughts of the skill Max had displayed in doing all of this. She studied his sleeping form and blushed a little more as her mind inevitably wandered into less pure territory and gave her a couple of graphic visuals to go with it.

Lisa pulled her thoughts out of the gutter, and studied his face instead. It was angular with a wide brow, firm jaw and close cropped dark hair. She knew he kept his hair that short so it couldn't be grabbed in a fight. Max very much reflected the warrior she knew he was, from the simple and practical way he dressed, to the smooth way he moved.

Lisa relaxed, appreciating the moment of just being there with Max, and once again felt that flush of pleasure move through her body. She moved her face to the join between his neck and shoulder, and nuzzled into that sensitive spot, enjoying his spicy masculine scent.

Max woke with a smile. He looked at her for a moment, and then tilted his head to mimic her actions. Lisa shivered as he teasingly kissed her neck, clinging to him a little tighter in response.

He smiled at her obvious pleasure, and then pulled back again to look into her eyes. "Good morning," he smiled at her as he spoke.

"Good morning," she replied giving him a happy smile in return.

Max felt a sense of satisfaction drift over him as he held her and saw her smile light up her face. He didn't know what, but something seemed to have settled for him as he slept, and he felt at peace for the first time in a very long time.

As he basked in the relaxation that sense of peace brought him, he felt his passion rise, and once again had to push it down. This could get old very quickly, he thought to himself. Still, he had learned his patience and control over the course of centuries, and he was not going to be ruled by his anatomy.

Maybe by hers though, his mind countered, and he quickly shut down that line of thought before it got him into trouble. After all, he might have tremendous control, but there was no point in testing his limits unnecessarily. Max knew that as difficult as it was, it would be much more rewarding in the end if he didn't rush her. Of course, like any good General, he also planned to take advantage of every moment leading up to that point to fan her passion.

He caressed her cheek gently, "I love your smile," he said softly, "Your whole face lights up."

She looked away briefly in a moment of shyness at his compliment, but then met his eyes again. "Thank you," she said softly, and then paused for a moment as if considering something. "How did you get me in here, and ... uh, make me more comfortable without waking me?"

He chuckled softly at her indirect way of questioning him about her bra, and she felt the vibration through her chest, "Very carefully," he answered with a satisfied smile. "Don't worry, I did everything through your shirt, so I didn't look. I just know how ... restrictive it can be, so I thought you'd appreciate having things loosened up a bit."

Lisa shivered a little at the double entendre and ran her hands down Max's back, embracing him again. He returned her embrace, and then she gently pulled away. "As much as I'm enjoying this," she said with a smile, "I do need to go into work today. We've got a meeting scheduled that I have to attend. We're getting set to go through some updates and upgrades on our website as well as on some of our backend software, and they kind of need me so they know our requirements."

Lisa paused for a moment and continued with uncertainty in her voice. "I'm not certain what you want to do today. You can stay here, or you can come into the office with me, but that might prove to be boring for you..." she trailed off at the look on Max's face.

His expression had turned serious and taken on a harder edge. "The reason I came to your home in the first place was to protect you. I can hardly do that if I am here and you are somewhere else. I will come with you as your bodyguard," he said decisively.

Lisa could feel the tension in Max's body and realized she must have unwittingly struck a nerve, though she wasn't quite certain what it was. "I understand, I've just never needed a bodyguard before."

Lisa felt some of the tension leave his body, and wondered if maybe he thought she was going to fight him on the bodyguard thing. No way, I'm not stupid. If Tiernan's instincts say I need protection, I would have to be the biggest idiot on the face of the planet to ignore them.

Lisa also realized she should give Max a head's up about the makeup of their staff. "By the way, you should probably know that we employ a lot of nonhumans as well as humans. My business partner's a vampire, and we've got a few more of her people in various positions. We've also got a number of different weres, and some Talents, which is our catch all name for humans with extra abilities. All the humans we employ know about the others. We're not so big a company that it's become an issue."

"That's quite a mix, how do you keep the peace?" Max asked with surprise. He knew that politics between the various were groups could get sticky at best, not to mention the issues that arose between vamps and weres. He didn't know enough about what she called Talents, but even so, he could think of a number of issues that could arise there too.

Lisa chuckled as she answered his question, "Mostly because they know they'll be in deep kimchee if any of them break it. Since we know what we're employing, they don't have to work to hide things, and we'll make allowances for them within reason. After all, there's not a lot of employers that you can tell, 'I'm going to be out the next few days because my mate just went into heat' and expect to still have a job.

"There's also the aspect of neutral ground for weres to get to know each other and other nonhumans. Most of the major were leaders have decided that fostering more understanding between races to reduce fights would be to their advantage. As a result, enforcement issues for them are reported to whoever that individual reports to. After all, even in the least social animal forms, there's still some sort of hierarchy. It's easier on all of us to let that person sort it out.

"As for the vamps, my business partner Keisha, is very high ranked, so she takes care of any issues there. From what I've seen, she's powerful enough that nobody wants to annoy her, and she gets seriously annoyed when people waste her time because they can't get along.

"We don't usually have too many issues with the Talents, but when they arise I'm the one that handles them. With them, usually just the threat of losing their job is enough to take care of the problem.

"This is also a large part of the reason we have deliberately kept the company on the smaller scale rather than getting to the size of the big conglomerates. Not to mention it's a bit of a headache to have to manage something that size. We're big enough that we get what we need from it, without it taking over everything else. Keisha, quite frankly, doesn't need the income, but she likes keeping busy and she has a great appreciation for irony." Lisa said with a half smile.

"How so?" Max asked, intrigued.

Lisa laughed, "You're gonna love this. Our company makes high end, high quality animal food and supplements."

"Pet food? You have a vampire making pet food!?" Max said incredulously, laughing at the images that conjured up.

"In essence." Lisa smiled to take the sting out of her next words. "Remember, though, our entire product line is human grade, and some of our lines are even kosher, so calling it pet food is a bit of a misnomer."

"Point taken, still the idea of a vamp co-owning a company dedicated to food of any kind is pretty damned funny," Max said as he laughed again.

Lisa smiled back, enjoying the sound of his laughter for a moment before continuing. "It's also a reason that having weres in our employ works so well for us. They can give us a lot of direct feedback about the scent and taste of the mix and how to change it to make it more appetizing. A lot of them like it so much they even stock it at home and a lot of packs also tend to keep our stuff on hand. Remember, we're not making dog or cat food, we're making human food that's a match for animal nutritional needs and tastes.

"We've even made strides into wild animal supplements and have found a great market again with the weres, but also with zoos and large animal trainers. It helps that we add a little extra oomph by attaching a bit of general healing energy to everything. It makes our competitors crazy when they try to duplicate our formula and they can't get the same results." Lisa chuckled a bit at that particular image.

Max laughed again at all the pictures this new knowledge conjured, "How ever did you end up with a vamp partner in an industry like that?"

Lisa smiled, "Pure chance. I ran into Keisha when I was called in to assist with one of her underlings. It was a situation that required an extended stay, and during the course of it, we discovered we worked well together. At some point I started talking about how I was home cooking all of Sasha's food because I wasn't happy with what was commercially available.

"I think I said something to her along the lines of 'someone should start a company that makes human grade dog food.' Keisha decided she liked the idea and that 'someone' should be me. The rest is history. The two of us are not only compatible in business, we're good friends too. I think you'll like each other."

Max just gave her a small smile in reply. The truth was he hadn't really spoken with many vamps. It tended to put a damper on conversation when the other person was trying to kill you. Still, from the sounds of it, this Keisha was not like most of the vamps he had met.

Lisa glanced at the time and shifted into high gear when she saw how late it was, "Come on, we need to get moving or I won't have time review before the meeting."

**********

Lisa sighed and rubbed her temples briefly as she sat across from Keisha in their board room. It was Friday, the end of the week, and she couldn't recall having ever having had to put out so many fires during the entire history of the business. They had had all manner of equipment failures, and just today had to discard an entire run of one of their most expensive supplements when it was found that for some reason, the healing energy wasn't taking to the batch.

That particular point really concerned Lisa, and she had saved a portion of that batch to do further testing. There shouldn't be anything that would prevent attaching energy, and she was disturbed.

If that weren't enough, there even seemed to be some troubles brewing between two factions of weres, and while Lisa could and did notify the leaders in charge of the two groups, Alpha Smythson never seemed to tire of giving her headaches. If it weren't for the fact that he was one of the more powerful packs in the area, and that he truly did want peaceful relations between nonhuman groups, she'd have stopped employing his people a long time ago so she wouldn't have to deal with him.