At the end of the night, she was queasy from the blood and her mind was dealing with the memories that weren’t hers. Blood magic was some of the oldest in the world, and it had not lost any of its power over the eons.
When dawn approached, Anthony offered their cellars to those who could not make it home or those who did not wish to use the services of the transporter. Vampires were distrustful of living magic.
“And so, dearest Apprentice, your Turning Night is over and you are now viceroy of the vampire guild. Shall we retire?”
She slipped her hand in his, and they passed the exhausted Anthony as they went.
“Good night, Anthony.”
“Good night, Viceroy.” He inclined his head and smiled. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you, Anthony.” So, Max now had a new name to go with Apprentice, Abomination and Max. Viceroy was on the list, and she had to admit, it sounded impressive.
Gregori had his arm around her, and she leaned against him. With a sweeping move, he lifted her in his arms, and he carried her up the stairs at a speed so rapid, it blew the pixie out of her hair.
Inside their bedroom, he slowly lowered her to the bed. The sweet scent of flowers spilled outward.
Rose petals and honeysuckle blossoms filled the room. Sprigs of mint were in vases with roses on every flat surface.
“Viceroy, will you be mine, gladly and freely?” Gregori had her pinned between his hands and was looming over her.
“Guild Master, I will be yours, gladly and freely. Will you be mine?”
“I have always been yours.” He kissed her and crushed her back into the rose petals.
She twined her limbs around him and held on as he proved his devotion over and over.
Around their third coupling, he unlaced her corset, and without the threat of blackout, the morning took on a very pleasurable note. By mid-morning, they were tangled in each other’s arms and sleeping as the sun climbed high.
Max felt a tapping on her nose, and when she flipped up the clock, it was five P.M.. “Hello, Melorabeth. I am guessing it is time to get up?”
The pixie nodded and pulled on Max’s hair.
The room was filled with flower petals, swaths of fabric and the brisk smell of mint. Vampires used it to mask the smell of blood.
Max touched her neck and stroked her hands down her body, every place that Gregori had nibbled and gnawed the morning before. The mint was a sound precaution.
A shower took care of the streaks of blood that Gregori had missed and refreshed her considerably.
Max got dressed in a fitted shirt, jeans and some more high-heeled wedges. Her pixie parked on her head and hung on while Max headed downstairs for something to eat.
Hellebore was waiting at the dining room table.
Max was surprised. “Good afternoon. How are you doing today?”
Hellebore scowled. “One of the trolls sat on my bike. It is in the shop, so I am stuck here.”
“A transporter could send you home.”
“Without my bike I am stuck. So, if you don’t mind, I am going to wait for it.”
“Of course. I am delighted to have you.” Max grinned.
“I feel like I am intruding on your honeymoon.”
Max snorted. “It is more like a blood moon.”
“Ew.”
“I guess you had to be there.”
Anthony arrived with his hair only slightly dishevelled. “Ladies, I apologize for my absence, but the party took it out of me.”
Max grinned, “It is fine, Anthony. I will take Hellebore for some takeout.”
Anthony looked scandalized.
Hellebore grinned, “That sounds wonderful. We can even eat out somewhere if you like.”
Max laughed. “Lovely. I just have to run up and dig out my wallet. I don’t use money much anymore.”
“I will wait here.”
Anthony looked befuddled by the goings on. “This is most unexpected.”
Max clapped him on the shoulder. “Unexpected is what keeps us getting up in the morning or afternoon or evening. We will be back in a few hours, oh, and Anthony?”
“Yes, Viceroy?”
“Can you keep an eye on my pixie for me? I don’t think she is up for public appearances.”
Melorabeth flittered over to Anthony’s shoulder, and Max zipped upstairs to get her wallet. Everything was getting back to as normal as it ever was.
Fries and gravy and a cheeseburger made Max grin. “Anthony would skin me for this. He has a decidedly healthy view of what I should be eating.”
“How have you adapted to living in a vampire household?” Hellebore asked quietly.
“It was pretty easy. Gregori and I have an understanding. He only commands my presence when protocol requires it, and aside from that, I am free to pursue my own interests. I have a transporter at my disposal and accounts for whatever I need. It is pretty sweet.”
“How did you deal with…I mean Gregori is a pretty big guy.” Hellebore was blushing.
Max blinked, and then, she answered seriously, because there was something in Hellebore’s manner that was desperate for understanding.
“He takes his time. No rush. By the time anything happens, I am as desperate for him as he is for me. Only at that point does anything dangerous occur.”
“So, he is the factor that makes it good.”
Max smiled. “Yes. He wasn’t my first, but he will be my last. Why all the questions?”
“There is someone that I have been flirting with at events, and he is a little off scale for me. I…” She ran her hands through her hair. “I don’t know. I think I need a vacation from all this paranormal stuff. Somewhere quiet and decidedly mundane.”
Max sipped at her soda and forked a fry. “I can’t help you there. I hate to say this, but Anthony might be able to help you. He knows everything and everyone. If there is a place to hide from magic, he knows it.”
“Would you mind me asking him when we get back?”
“Of course not. He is a dear soul. If he doesn’t know, he will certainly be aware of who does.”
Hellebore sighed in relief. “The band has taken the next six months off while our drummer finishes his PhD. I really want this sorted out by the holidays.”
“Do you like public singing?”
“It pays the bills.”
“It must be difficult.”
“Only when it comes to collecting the cheque. Despite the best performances of our lives, when it comes for those who hired us to pay out, they can come up with a thousand and one excuses why they didn’t get precisely what they asked for. That is when I have to persuade them, and then, I feel uncomfortable.”
“Sucks.”
“It does rather. If I didn’t love the music so, I would give it up in a heartbeat.”
Max nodded. “That, I understand.”
Hellebore rubbed the back of her neck. “I want to settle down and live happily ever after, but I don’t know which direction to lean in. Do I want security or do I want passion? It is doubtful that I will find both, but the scales are weighted in either direction.”
“You have a candidate in mind for security?”
“Oh, I do. He is strong, quiet and lives a life of the mind.” Hellebore got a wistful expression on her features.
“It seems he has physical attributes as well as mental ones.”
“He has some giant blood, shifter blood and a combination of other species in him. I would love to consider him, but he never makes a move.” She sighed in disgust.
Max laughed. “Have you considered making the first move?”
“It wouldn’t be suitable. My family has enough trouble with me without my breaking tradition to stalk a mate.”
Max nodded. “Families can be awkward. Mine doesn’t know what I do, what I am or how I have managed to snag a man, but they don’t bother asking. It means I have nothing to hide. If no one asks the question, there can never be an answer.”
Hellebore blinked and a slow smile crept across her face. “That is the best advice I have gotten to date.”
“Good. Eat your pie.”
It took them two hours to find their way back to the Guild Master’s home, and Anthony was nearly fuming when she described her meal to him in detail.
After she had been duly chastised, she sat in the living room with Hellebore. “You weren’t kidding. He really does watch what you eat.”
Max wrinkled her nose. “The actual reason for it is that Gregori can taste what I eat through my blood. He has certain preferences, and Anthony attempts to meet them, via my snacks.”
“That is—”
“Something you get used to.” Max shrugged as the Guild Master in question came in.
“I hear we have a guest.”
Max was sitting in a wingback chair, and he stood behind her, bending over and kissing her lower lip with both of his. His kiss extended her neck, and he caressed it slowly with both hands.
Hellebore’s heartbeat sped up, so Max broke the very erotic kiss. “Let’s not be rude. Yes, one of the trolls sat on her bike. Anthony says it will be ready tomorrow.”
Gregori sighed. “Rude is something else entirely, mate.”
She got a series of images that sent her own heart galloping. “Right, well, those would definitely be rude.”
He laughed and took one of the open wingback chairs.
The conversation turned into a discussion of the events of the previous day. For a vampire stronghold, it was decidedly normal.
At eleven, they wished Hellebore a good evening and Gregori let the visiting vampires out of the cellars. They were a little upset by their previous restriction, but the Guild Master didn’t explain and let those who wished to depart leave immediately.
The rest were given animal blood for a meal, and while they ate, Viceroy Max went to check the daily reports from her property.
Life went on in its own peculiar way, and once she was done with her paperwork, she spoke to Anthony about Hellebore’s desire for a holiday. Her pixie was enjoying riding on the elf’s head, so Max decided not to remind him that it was there. It was fun to watch her wave her little arms around, punctuating everything he said. Max wondered if it would ever get old.
At dawn, Gregori came to collect her, and he carried her up to bed once again. More flowers, more mint and more time to revel in their newly strengthened bond.
It was a day to remember, and Max was going to remember it for as long as she could.
This book follows
Chubby is the Night
, the first book of Max the Abomination. Max has more adventures for me to record, but it will be a while before I get them out.
Hellebore’s Holiday
is the next book in the Nexus Chronicles. Hellebore heads out to clear her mind, decide on what she truly wants in life and she runs afoul of the human holiday season. Will the season of giving allow her to take what she wants from a man she can’t have? Will I stop being so cryptic? Tune in for
Hellebore’s Holiday
and find out.
Viola Grace
Viola Grace was born in Manitoba, Canada where she still resides today. She really likes it there. She has no pets and can barely keep sea monkeys alive for a reasonable amount of time. Her line of day job tends to be analytical which leaves her mind hopping to weave stories. No co-worker is safe from her character analysis. In keeping with busy hands are happy hands, her hobbies have included cross-stitch, needlepoint, quilting, costuming, cake decorating, baking, cooking, metal work, beading, sculpting, painting, doll making, henna tattoos, chain mail, and a few others that have been forgotten. It is quite often that these hobbies make their way into her tales.
Viola’s fetishes include boots and corsetry, and her greatest weakness is her uncontrollable blush. Her writing actively pursues the Happily Ever After that so rarely occurs in nature. It is an admirable thing and something that we should all strive for. To find one that we truly like, as well as love.