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Siobhan’s alarm clock began to chime softly, and she sighed. “Time for work.” She looked at Nate with a smile on her lips as he switched back to his Human form. He was gorgeous in both forms!
“I’ll head back to my apartment, get freshened up and change my clothes. I want to make a good impression for Marisa and Camila,” Nate said as he began to dress.
Siobhan smiled and nodded. “What time should we expect you?”
Nate shook his head. “It shouldn’t take me long. No later than 10:30 AM?”
Siobhan pulled on her dressing gown and nodded. “I’ll set up a meeting with them for you when I get in.” She moved closer and tilted her face up for a kiss. Nate smiled and gave her one.
She patted his chest as she pulled back. “Thanks for a lovely night!”
“Thank you for being so patient and explaining so much about the Hidden Races,” he returned.
She held a finger up to her lips to indicate he should be silent about that and he nodded with a smile.
Siobhan walked Nate to the door and locked up behind him. With a happy smile, she headed for the bathroom to have her shower and thought about how she was going to explain her new hair. She envied Marisa now for her glamor. She might have to get one. Today she’d wear a bulky, long sweater over her hair.
She needed to talk to Marisa about many things.
-=-
Nate smiled to himself as he left Siobhan’s building and headed for the subway. He’d had a wonderful time with the beauty the night before but more than that, he’d found someone with answers who wasn’t trying to make him a slave. She’d answered his questions patiently, and now she was going to arrange for him to meet two Succubi, one of whom was Marisa.
He had to admit to himself that meeting her again was what was making him smile the most. When he’d laid eyes on her across the room at the club the night before, he’d felt a burst of electricity course through his body. Her beauty and poise drew him like a moth to a flame, and he’d actually had to work at maintaining his calm as he approached the two blondes. Siobhan was certainly a beautiful woman, but Marisa moved his heart in ways he couldn’t describe.
When he’d picked up her Succubus scent, his joy was complete! He’d wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms at that moment but he’d seen something in her eyes and her expression of shock derailed his plans. When she fled, he’d wanted to chase her, but his better judgment and Siobhan’s hand prevented him.
Now, he was grateful the petite blond (brunette he reminded himself with chagrin) had stopped him. He felt far more prepared this morning. He wouldn’t make a fool of himself and blather on about things the Hidden Races didn’t say out loud.
He grinned as he rounded the last corner and looked towards the stairs leading down to the trains.
Instead, his eyes landed on a face he didn’t expect to see.
“Hello, Nate.”
“NO! ACKthh-” Nate’s mind lit up as the tip of a stun baton was pressed against the back of his neck.
The two men who’d silently approached him from behind caught him before he collapsed and helped him into the back seat of the car parked at the curb. They climbed in as well and closed the door.
Oletha smiled as she slipped into the front passenger seat. The driver pulled away from the curb and drove off down the quiet morning street at a leisurely pace, merging into the regular Monday morning traffic, just another commuter.
***********
Henry stepped from the black SUV and looked back into Mahati’s eyes.
“Rest today. I’ll speak with you tomorrow at VRL,” she said, and he could only nod and close the door.
He watched the big vehicle pull away then headed for the front door. As he made his way to the elevator, he heard someone call out to him.
“Henry!”
He saw Sandy entering the lobby, so he waited for her. “Your shift just ended?” he asked.
She nodded and gave him a concerned look. “Shouldn’t you be heading off to work now? Are you feeling ok?”
Her genuine concern and compassion once more rattled his self-control in his exhausted state and he was only able to shake his head stiffly. He pressed the button to call the elevator.
“Henry? What happened?” she asked as she placed a hand on his arm. They stepped inside and pressed their floor buttons.
He looked back at her in her hospital scrubs. She was a nurse so she must have seen the aftermath of a lot of bad things. Suddenly he needed to talk to her about what he’d seen. “Can- can I talk to you about something? I mean, if you aren’t too tired.”
She smiled at him. “Of course you can!” She pressed the door close button when the elevator opened on her floor. “You’ll feel more comfortable talking in your own home.” He nodded at this as they ascended.
Henry led her into his condo and turned back to look at her. “Can I get you something to drink?”
She shook her head then reached back to pull the hair scrunchie from her locks. “Ah, that’s better,” she sighed as she ran her fingers through her mane of blonde hair. “It only feels comfortable when it’s free.”
“It’s lovely,” he said quietly, and her smile warmed him.
She sat on his couch and patted the cushion beside her. “Talk to me, Henry.”
He sat and tried to think of where to begin as she waited patiently.
“Uh, you… did you hear about the subway gas attack?”
She grinned. “Yes, everyone’s been talking about it at the hospital! The vids keep getting pulled off the social media sites. Not the worst kind of gas attack I suppose.”
He nodded and looked at his hands in his lap. “I was there.”
Sandy’s mouth dropped open as she stared at him. “In an adjacent car?”
Not looking at her, he shook his head.
“Oh my god! But we watched all the vids of the event before they got pulled offline and we didn’t- Oh! You’re the shopping bag man!” Sandy gasped as she recalled one clip which panned past someone hiding behind their purchases.
He nodded, still facing his lap. “I was taken off the train first, cuffed, and handed off to a police officer. She, uh, she must have been affected too as she didn’t take me to the station. She took me to her place.”
Sandy’s eyes were very wide now. “Oh! Were you affected too? You didn’t seem to be on the train.”
Henry nodded again. “Took longer for me.” Then he lifted his eyes and looked into hers. “Afterwards, it wore off, and we talked. Then we fell asleep.”
Sandy squirmed a little as she tried to hide her discomfort.
“The next part is hard to… I don’t like thinking about it… but I’ve been having nightmares… and I’m so tired,” he sighed wearily as his lower lip began to tremble. She began to look concerned.
“It’s ok, Henry. Take your time.”
He looked back down at his clasped hands. “The next morning, I woke up and saw a man, another cop, standing at the end of the bed pointing his gun at us.”
“OH MY GOD!” Sandy gasped and took his hand in hers.
“He was her ex. He said some nasty things to her. She said some things back. I thought- he was going to shoot us! I thought I was dead! He-” Henry’s chest felt tight, but he pushed onwards. “He put the gun to his temple- pulled the trigger.” The image flashed in his mind causing him to twitch badly then Sandy was holding him tight. He wrapped his arms around her, and the tears came. He wasn’t sure why he was crying. Anger, fear, despair, each crashed through his mind, jumbling his thoughts and his tears kept falling. He shook and held Sandy until, eventually, his tears ran dry.
Sandy sat back and looked into his eyes. “You’ve been carrying that around since it happened. You needed to release that tension and fear.”
Henry nodded, unable to speak.
“If ever you need someone to talk to, please know you can come to me,” she said gently.
Sandy had the strangest sensation of déjà vu as she recalled Stanley’s ordeal with the kidnapping. Henry’s reactions were so incredibly similar.
“Thank you.”
A loud knocking on the door made them both jump. They looked at each other then Henry stood and walked to the door with Sandy at his heels. He paused to wipe his eyes and looked through the peephole.
“Shit,” he said softly. It was Yuko and Jun!
“Who is it?”
Henry suddenly recalled he shouldn’t recognize the people outside his door. “Uh, I’m not sure, but it might be Yuko.”
Sandy pulled him back as she took a turn at the peephole. “It is!” She suddenly pulled the door open as Yuko made to knock again.
“Oh! It’s you. Again.” Yuko said flatly.Content © provided by NôvelDrama.Org.
“Have you come back to throw another stun grenade?” Sandy growled.
“I did not come to speak to you. I need to see for myself what my friends tell me,” she said stiffly. She looked past Sandy right at Henry. Her expression froze. “Oh! Stanley…” she sighed softly, hints of longing in her quiet voice.
Henry was raging inside but struggled to keep it from showing. Yuko was a loose cannon who could ruin everything. She was also devastatingly lovely with large dark eyes and lovely lips. Still petite at 5′ 4″, she’d lost a little weight on her already slim body, and her silky, black hair now reached down past her ass. He found his mind rattled once more. “Stanley’s gone. I’m Henry,” he said stiffly and a little harsher than intended. He watched her cautiously.
Yuko suddenly spun and pushed into the stairwell to disappear down the stairs. Her sister watched her go then turned to face them with a small smile. Henry noticed her hair was a little longer now too, but she still hid her lovely dark eyes behind the non-prescription, dark-framed glasses.
“I am Jun. I apologize for my sister’s behavior. We have moved into 708. We knew Stanley. I only met him once, but Yuko was… emotionally involved. In her way.”
“Welcome to the building,” Sandy said to her with a smile.
“Thank you! It was nice to meet you both.” She nodded to Sandy and held Henry’s eyes for just long enough to raise the hairs on the back of his neck. Then she pushed into the stairwell to follow her sister.
Sandy turned back to Henry. He sagged back against the wall and rubbed his face, yawning widely.
“I take it you aren’t going to work today.”
He shook his head wearily. He was worried about Yuko’s and Jun’s presence in the building and what that might mean. He was just too exhausted to deal with it now.
“Good. Get some rest. Call me later? Maybe you could come down to my place for dinner. We’ll order pizza?”
He smiled and nodded. “Thank you, Sandy! For everything!”
She smiled at him and nodded. “It’s what good neighbors do!”
He raised his eyebrow. “You haven’t lived in the city for very long have you,” he said with a smirk.
“Get some rest, funny boy,” she said and kissed him on the cheek before walking towards the elevators.