she was done, he scowled, then turned to Ashi. He gestured curtly, looking like he’d just stepped barefoot on a slug.
“You. Come with me.”
He waited in the doorway for Ashi to join him. If he failed to follow orders, no doubt Sebastian wouldn’t hesitate to pick him up and bodily carry him to wherever it was he intended to take him.
Ashi felt like low-rank again. On one hand, he dearly wanted to challenge the vampire and establish his place as a cut above him. On the other hand, he was squishy and pink now. On the first hand, this was a vampire who could potentially bite him. Ashi wanted to avoid that, and taking out Sebastian would certainly get that message across. On the second hand, he was squishy and pink now.
Ashi stood up and trudged over, keeping the blanket. He’d even managed to alienate the only nice vampire in this pit.
He really felt like a low-rank again.
After Sebastian and Ashi left, Mouse gathered up one of the cups of tea and walked over to Analie’s room, knocking. She hoped the girl wasn’t too upset by Ashi’s behavior.
Analie crawled out of her den-bed and opened the door. A Mouse-shaped shadow offered her a cup of tea and Analie smiled, despite a slight fluffing of the hair on the back of her head. She still wasn’t used to opening a door or rounding a corner to come face to face with a jigsaw silhouette.
“Thanks.” She took the cup, not having the heart to tell Mouse she didn’t drink tea. Gavin never bought it and Freddy’s caretaker Amelia was strictly a coffee-drinker.
Analie stood aside in case Mouse wanted to enter.
“What’s going to happen to Ashi and Christoph?” Analie asked, hoping the answer wasn’t going to curdle her blood.
Mouse gestured for Analie to follow her, since she hadn’t brought her pad and pen with her and Analie did not understand sign language. Mouse went to get a cup of tea for herself from the kitchen, and started scribbling away.
Sebastian is taking that ungrateful little prick upstairs to his new room. Told Seb what he said about you and Freddy and Christov (sp?). He’s not going to get a very warm welcome from the others. Seb might bite him, don’t know. Risky to do it this soon since John bit tonight, but he deserves whatever he gets. If he wants to live, you should tell him to find someone to claim him, or he’s going to have a very unpleasant stay here.
Pretty boy will stay with us for now. Told Seb he’s too hurt to be moved yet. And he’s mine, no one else will touch him.
Mouse seemed inordinately pleased with herself at that last. She gathered two cups after handing the pad to Analie, settling on the edge of the couch by Christoph’s stomach. She took a sip out of one, put the teacups down, then proceeded to tug the unconscious Were so his head was elevated, lightly patting his cheek to bring him around so she could get some tea in him.
* * *
Sebastian led Ashi up to the second floor. A small crowd had gathered to see what was going on. It was unusual for someone to be brought in without notice, particularly if it meant shuffling around the established donors, moreso given no one had been turned or sent to another of Royce’s holdings. Most of the onlookers were sleep-tousled and half-dressed, and Ashi couldn’t help but note that every one of them was eye-catching and attractive. Only one other vampire was in the crowd of humans, and he didn’t stay long, only taking note that Ashi was being escorted by Sebastian before disappearing into one of the apartments.
The expressions on their faces varied from intrigued, to welcoming, to outright pissed off. Sebastian didn’t stop to answer any of the questions some were calling out as he went to the end of the hall.
“Who is this guy?”
“Where’d he come from?”
“What’s with the collar?”
The whispered comments and speculations were left behind as Sebastian gestured for Ashi to enter an apartment that was laid out exactly as Mouse’s. The difference was in the decorating; there were movie posters and pin-ups from Playboys plastered on the walls, an entertainment center with a huge TV, and enough action movies and video game consoles to bring tears of joy to the eyes.
There was a guy in the kitchen pulling a beer out of the fridge and holding it to his sweat-plastered forehead. Aside from numerous