Thorne Ch. 03

****

The three women that Thorne had chosen for Barb to choose from were waiting in the living room eying each other warily. This was an assignment of a lifetime. Two of the three women were overtly hostile to each other, but the third one was silent. Of the three of them, she knew that she would be the least likely to be chosen. People tended to look at her and disregard her because of her appearance. She wasn't ugly by any stretch of the imagination, but she was small and had an innocent look about her. What she didn't know was that was the main reason that Thorne had chosen her.

The other two women were built like amazon warriors compared to her and they disregarded her as a serious contender as soon as they saw her. The words between them were becoming more heated when they heard the car pull into the garage.

"Good, you're here." Thorne said when he and Barb walked in. "Please sit down and I'll make the introductions."

When the women were seated, Thorne introduced Barb. Each of them noticed that he didn't refer to her as his mate, but only by name and the mother of his child. All three of them found this odd, but they let it pass. They were all very much aware of the fact that one didn't question Thorne about anything.

"Barb, the woman to the left of you is Sydney Cross. She is proficient in the use of a variety of weapons including hand to hand combat. The woman in the middle is Jessica Lavuto. Her skills are similar to Sydney's. Last we have Adrianna Smith. She may be small, but she is as formidable as the other two women."

Barb looked at each woman and liked none of them. She didn't ask them any questions as she looked from one woman to the other. After several minutes, she decided on Adrianna. The other two women wouldn't take any crap from her and she wanted someone that she could boss around. Adrianna on the other hand, looked like a pushover. The other two women didn't hide their shock when Barb made her choice. Even Adrianna was surprised. Thorne was the only one who wasn't. He knew that Barb would choose someone that she thought that she could boss around.

But he knew better. He hoped to be around when the two women butted heads. He saw the other two women to the door where he paid them the agreed upon fee if they weren't accepted. He walked back into the living room just as Barb was asking Adrianna how she could be out and about during the day if she was a vampire.

"I am half human." Adrianna replied. "I can do all things that a full blooded vampire can do and still live as a full blooded human. Let's discuss security shall we?" Adrianna asked changing the subject.

Thorne watched Barb's back stiffen. It appeared that he was going to witness the first confrontation after all.

"Excuse me." Barb said her tone curt, "But you are being paid to do as I say. I want you here by nine so that we can go shopping..."

"Pardon me." Adrianna broke in her brown eyes flashing. "I don't know what you've been told or what you were expecting, but let's discuss my role. I am your security guard and not your servant. That means that you're not going to talk to me as if I am. My primary job is your safety which means that you do exactly as I say and when I say. Now, in regards to your shopping trip, I will be here by nine and I do believe that Mr. Blackwell has already assigned a driver to us. If we go to a store and I deem it unsafe for whatever reason, then we don't go in."

Barb stared at the small woman who was nothing like she had appeared.

"Do you know who I am?" she said her tone low and arrogant.

"Yes ma'am I do." Adrianna replied. "But that doesn't change what my job is."

"I could have you fired..."

"No you can't." Thorne said walking into the room. "She'll do very nicely. Adrianna, if Ms. Simpson doesn't do as you say when there is danger; you have my permission to do what you must to get her to safety."

"Yes sir." Adrianna said as she stood to leave.

A moment later, she was gone leaving a very angry Barb glaring at Thorne.

"I don't want her." She said staring at him.

"Too bad." Thorne said as he unbuttoned his shirt and walked away to their bedroom.

Barb chased after him calling his name, but he didn't answer her. He walked into their bedroom, stripped and lay on the bed. Barb stopped short when she saw him. For some reason, it surprised her that he was in bed naked and erect.

"Why are you surprised?" Thorne asked. "Just because we don't like or love each other doesn't mean that we can't enjoy each other's bodies. I've already explained to you that no matter what else happens there will always be a physical attraction and needs to be met."

Barb silently cursed as her body reacted to the man lying on the bed. Thorne watched as she tried to resist the pull, but said nothing. In time she would learn that there was no point in trying to resist it. She would learn to take the small pleasures in their for lack of a better term- relationship. The lack of the emotional feelings in their mating didn't bother him in the least as he waited for her to get into the bed.

Barb stood at the foot of the bed for several minutes before she took of clothes that suddenly seemed too tight. She got onto the bed, lay on her back and waited. She sure as hell wasn't going to make the first move. She jumped when Thorne moved so that his thighs straddled her head, his cock pointed at her mouth.

"I'm not going to do that." She said when he nudged her lips with his cock.

"No? You seemed to enjoy sucking Allen off." Thorne taunted as he tweaked a turgid nipple.

Barb closed her eyes as the sensation ran from her nipple to her clit. Almost involuntarily, she stuck her tongue out and licked the head of Thorne's cock tasting the clear drop of liquid that was on the head. She heard Thorne's sharp intake of breath when she took the large soft head into her mouth and began to nibble on it.

"That's very nice." Thorne said as he moved the head across her lips letting her tongue touch him in various spots on the underside of his cock. He pulled back so that his cock rested between her breasts. Pre-come dripped from the tip and onto her dark skin wetting it for what he planned to do. It had been a while since he had enjoyed a good tittie fuck and Barb's breast were the perfect size for it.

He reached down and squeezed her breast around his cock and began to slide back and forth as he thumbed her nipples. He liked seeing the paleness of his cock against her dark skin as it slid back and forth touching her chin when he slid forward

"Suck the head when I reach your mouth." He said his tone making it clear that it wasn't a request.

Barb thought to refuse, but if she did; he would leave her unsatisfied. She was already close and he hadn't done anything more than tweak and twirl her nipples between his fingers. When the head of his cock reached her mouth, she opened it and sucked on it hard half hoping that it would hurt. She was disappointed when Thorne moaned and left it in her mouth for several seconds before pulling back and sliding between her breasts several more times before placing the head in her mouth again.

Thorne's breathing became more ragged each time she took his cock into her mouth. She hoped that when he came, that it was on her as opposed to being in her mouth. She knew from her experience with Allen that she didn't like the taste of semen. It had almost made her gag.

After several more slides between her breasts, Thorne left his cock in Barb's mouth until he felt his balls tighten up against his ass. At the very last possible moment he pulled out of Barb's mouth, pushed her breasts tighter around his cock and slid back and forth as fast and as hard as he could.

"Oh Yessssssss!!!!" He screamed as his hot seed spilled onto Barb's chest. Even when he was empty, he kept thrusting, the come adding more lubricant as he came for the second time with a long drawn out moan.

Barb looked at the mess on her chest and began to reach for a tissue to clean herself off. Before she could move, Thorne's head was buried between her legs. Every nerve was on fire as he touched her clit with the tip of his tongue flicking it and then moving it side to side. The fact that there was no emotion associated with the act was lost on Barb as she screamed when Thorne took the nub into his mouth and sucked on it.

She grabbed her nipples and pulled on them as Thorne ate at her. Her entire body went rigid and then convulsed as the orgasm washed through and over her. Without missing a beat, Thorne was on his knees between her spread legs and buried deep inside of her bringing them both to orgasm one more time.

Afterwards, he rolled away from her and went to the bathroom shutting the door behind him. Barb lay on the bed her semen covered chest still heaving from the orgasm, her body still twitching from the aftershocks. In the back of her mind, she wondered if Nathan, Patrick, Hans or Leon got out of bed without speaking after making love to their wives.

She already knew the answer. It was no. In her mind's eye she envisioned Louise being held in Nathan's arms after they made love. The same would apply to any of the Sinclaires' and their women. The very thought of it made her burn with anger.

She lay on the bed waiting for Thorne to come out of the bathroom. Fifteen minutes later, she got up to hurry him along. When she opened the door to the bathroom, it was empty. Thorne had left without saying a word.

*******

Noel was working on his latest painting when Thorne appeared next to him.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he pulled up a stool and sat down.

"I'm much better. Thanks." Noel replied. "I'm sorry that I couldn't go with you... what did I miss?"

Thorne told Noel about the meeting.

"Make sure that you have your phone on and go nowhere alone." Thorne said. "We still don't know who or what is here."

Thorne looked over at the covered painting more curious than ever about it, but didn't say anything. He had more pressing concerns.

"Noel... why do you think that you were with mother the night of the fight with the Sinclaires?"

"Because that's where I was." Noel replied giving Thorne a curious look. "Why are you questioning my word? He asked.

"I'm not questioning your word." Thorne said gently. "I believe that you really think that you were with mother... But Noel, you weren't. You were with us that night..."

"Don't you think that I would remember something like that?" Noel asked heatedly his head beginning to pound again.

"Yes you would," Thorne conceded. "The question is why you don't remember..."

"Thorne there is nothing to remember! I wasn't there ask mother if you don't believe me!"

"Noel, I already talked to mother... you didn't stay with her. We tried to get father to leave you home, but he refused. He thought that making you go with us to the Sinclaires might toughen you up."

Noel's head throbbed as he tried to understand why he was remembering things differently than Thorne and his mother did. It just didn't make sense to him. He was with his mother that night... wasn't he? A stab of hot white pain shot through his head taking his breath and vision away.

He vaguely felt Thorne's arms go around him as he tumbled from the stool. When he came to, he was lying in bed with an icepack on his forehead. Thorne was sitting on the side of the bed anxiously watching him.

Noel's head still hurt, but it had quieted to a dull throb. Waves of nausea washed over him when he tried to sit up.

"Whoa there." Thorne said easing him back on the bed. "I think you'd better stay put for a while."

Noel nodded and closed his eyes.

"Thorne what's wrong with me? Why do we remember things so differently?" Noel asked as he placed the ice bag across his eyes.

"I don't know." Thorne replied, "But I think that we need to find out. Rest now and we'll talk later. Can I get you anything?"

"Th... the portrait... the one with the eyes." Noel said. "Can you bring it here?"

Once again Thorne's curiosity about the portrait was piqued. He wanted to ask about it again, but didn't. All he cared about now was that it would give Noel comfort. Ten minutes later, the unfinished portrait was in Noel's room placed where he had an unobstructed view of it. Thorne sat with Noel until he thought he was asleep. He vanished to his office to call his mother. Maybe there was something that she forgot to mention.

*******

Olivia Saunders was enjoying her vacation. It had been a long time in coming and god only knew that she deserved it. They had arrived in town a few days ago and all of them had stayed in. Now cabin fever was beginning to set in and she had to admit that an evening out was beginning to sound good. After talking with the others in the group, it was decided that an evening of shopping would precede a night at a nightclub. One of the men in the group volunteered to do the research.

"Just remember," Olivia told him, "That it has to be someplace where all of us can go to."

The man's eyes angrily flashed for a second and then went back to their normal shade of dark brown. He hated Olivia as much as she hated him, but he needed her as much as she needed him. In his mind he swore that when she had outlived her purpose, he would kill her and leave her body at the front door of her father's home. But for now, he would play nice. He would follow her lame assed rules and do whatever it was she required of him.

Olivia knew how they felt about her and she didn't care. She never let her guard down even with the women although she felt relatively safe with them. But she also knew if it came to a choice between her and the males of the group, she would lose. At best they would kill her; at the worst they would turn her. Her preference was death whether they did it or she killed herself.

She went to her suite, locked the door behind her and ran a bath. She wished that for once she could totally relax and not have her weapons at the ready, but the one time she did, she knew that she would regret it. While she waited for the tub to fill, she called her father.

"Yes we're here." She said when he answered the phone. "I'll keep in touch."

She hung up, stripped and climbed into the tub after checking the placement of her weapons. There were times that she wished that she wasn't what she was. There were times that she missed her old life and wished that she were normal. She had never wanted this. She wanted to be a wife, mother and kindergarten school teacher.

She sighed as she slid down in the tub so that the hot water covered her slender, pale shoulders. She slid further down until her head was under the water. When she came up for air, the wishes for the past and what she had wanted for her life were gone. She was the daughter and only surviving child of Rufus Saunders. That took precedence over anything that she wanted for herself.

She finished her bath, dried off and put on the oversized tee shirt that she always slept in. She double checked the locks on her bedroom door and windows before getting into bed to read the murder mystery that she had started on the plane. She was asleep before she turned the page.

*******

Barb took a shower, put on a pair of pajamas and began to plan her shopping trip. She took out her laptop, looked through the websites where she had shopped and deleted the items in her baskets. Next she went to the online sites of the stores where Thorne had set up a line of credit for her and realized that she would have to be careful or else she would run out of money even with the store credit. Finally, she shut off the laptop and settled in to sleep. She could hardly wait until nine am.