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CHAPTER 1
The banging echoed through her head as she stumbled down the hall. "All right already, give it a rest." The bolt stuck as she tried to throw it, causing her to have to struggle with the mechanism. "Do you mind?" She winced at the bright light that streamed in. "People are trying to die in here."
"Robby?" Hand's and arms. "Are you all right? Did they hurt you?" The scent of Old Spice was almost overwhelming.
She struggled to pull away. "Come on Adrian, back off, I'm fine." The light hurt her eyes, just another pain to add to the throbbing already tormenting her. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" Back away, move back into the room, away from the bright pain. "Don't just stand there, come on in, and close that damned door."
Relief battled with anger over her. He had been so worried when the call came in this morning. "Detective Charles," he began, as anger won out, she should have called him.
"I know what Chuckles told you. He carried on about it with me for an hour after the emergency room released me. Now I'm going to tell you the same thing I told him. Then I'm going back to bed till a decent hour of the night." She pulled herself up to the full length of her five foot nine inches, brushed back a lock of electric blue hair, and stared her brother down. "I am not going to hide. It's not my fight, and I won't live in fear, you piss off people, I get beat up. It's becoming a regular ritual in my life." She threw herself onto the couch, she knew that look her brother was giving her, and gave in. There would be no sleep for a while.
Adrian Carr, at 32 was the youngest District Attorney in the history of Chicago. Anti-crime, anti-drug, anti-prostitution, anti-damned near everything that didn't fit into his white picket fence, two point five kids, wife and a dog lifestyle. He even voted for a strong pro-gay and Lesbian rights bill. The, only, problem was unlike most idealistic fools, he was successful. The major crime syndicates in the entire city were beginning to feel the pressure of his raids, and crackdowns. Business began to suffer. So they got it into their heads to teach him a lesson.
Unfortunately they learned quickly, that not only was her brother serious about turning the fair city into the ideal place for children and little old ladies, but they couldn't scare him either. After six failed assassination attempts, they gave up on him, and turned their attention on the only thing of value he had that they could hurt.
His, sister.
Robyn Carr, twenty-three years old and the only living relative he had, and a bone in his side. He hated everything she stood for, from the top of her electric blue head, to the bottom of her dainty army boot clad feet. But he loved her, even admired her for her persistence and dedication to the way she wanted to live her life. Though if she put one more hole in her face he swore he'd throttle her.
"What the hell happened?" His rage was building. "I thought I told you not to go anywhere alone."
"Yeah, I know. I fucked up. I had a problem with my drums, so I sent them on ahead. It was stupid, and it won't happen again."
Adrian ran a hand through his short well-groomed hair. "You have to listen to me Robyn. It's not like it used to be. These guys are serious. You're the only thing they can use against me, and every time I pick you up from the hospital or find out about it, it hurts me."
She made a disgusted noise at him, shaking her head. "Oh, please Addy, I've only been to the hospital twice. The other three times I gave them what for and beat it the hell out of there." She touched her head, wincing. "They aren't going to kill me. That would take the only leverage they have over you away."
"Damnit Rob," he could strangle her. Why couldn't she get the message? "You could disappear tomorrow, and I'd not know if you were alive or dead. Then if they needed to get my attention, to get a point across, I'd start getting little boxes with pieces of you in them."
"Adrian Matthew Carr." She began to laugh. Coughing suddenly as her head almost exploded with pain. "Get real, this is the new millennium. They don't do that, you've been watching too many old bad mobster movies."
"I'm serious this time. I'm assigning you a police escort until this blows over."
"Like hell you 'are' ." Pain forgotten, she come off the coach with one fluid motion to face the older man. "You let me see a cop within a mile of me, just once, and I'll go so far underground you'll have to ask 'their' help to find me. I mean it Addy." She stood nose to nose with him, eyes daring him to take up the challenge. He hated her height, she use to be so easy to tell what to do, but a growth spurt late in puberty took her from five foot four inches, to five foot nine inches, in less than a year. "You sic the law on me, even for one night, and I'm gone." 'Cop's, G'damn, that's all I need. Bad enough that my brother is the DA., but if I went around sporting a police escort, there isn't a place in town that would let me in, much less play' .
Adrian grabbed her by the arm. "I'm trying to protect you." He dragged her down the hall to the bathroom. "Look at yourself. Look at what they are capable of doing. Don't be so damned stupid. Don't you think it could get worse?" He was almost yelling at her.
She had to admit as she looked at her face, that there just might be certain logic to his position. Her face was black and blue, it would be weeks before the stitches came out of her nose and lips, and she could have her piercing redone. As is, when she went to play, she was going to have a hard time convincing some of the patrons that she wasn't up to their sport. And she didn't need to get undressed to know her ribs and torso looked a lot like her face. Thank God they didn't know about any of her other piercing's. "Well?" He demanded.
Adrian rarely pressed anything when it came to her. She'd taught him a long time ago that it just wasn't worth it. But on the occasion that he did, she had come to learn that he was going to get his way. They were after all brother and sister, and when it all come down to it, very much alike. "All right," she sighed. "I'll hire a body guard, one of my own kind, but no cops. Damn blue suits would end up getting killed going into some of the places I play."
"I want." He began.
"Look," she pulled her arm away. "I'll play the game, okay, but I'm making the rules. I promise for what I can offer to pay a guy, I'll get the best. He'll be more than any four guys can handle, so between the two of us, I'll be cool. I'll try to stay with the band when I'm out, and keep the doors locked and Yin and Yang with me in the house. Cool with you?"
He wanted to say no, he wanted to insist that she allow him to protect her with everything he had. But he also knew his sister. The same criminals he arrested she knew, and in some cases were friends with. She had made a concession, and she was right, anything he assigned to her, would probably cause more trouble than it prevented. "All right, the guy you get would probably do a better job anyway. And I won't give you the lecture about strange men staying in the house."
"Why not? Every time I get a boyfriend, you run him off. But thanks for the kindness anyway. Who knows, if I play my cards right, I can get my body protected and laid." She chuckled at her brothers stricken face. "Get out of here Addy, it's late and I had a hard night. I'll put out the call; I'll be covered before nightfall. But right now, I need sleep."
He fought down his brotherly instincts and nodded. "All right, go get your rest. I'll leave it up to you. Just be very careful whom you let in. If he's good enough to keep you from getting hurt, it's a given he's good enough to hurt you."
"Chill, unlike regular suits, my kind don't knife each other in the back, I'll be fine. Now get the fuck out. You irritate me and your cologne is making me want to hurl."
* * *
The phone rang five times before the machine picked it up. "Yeah, yeah, I know you're asleep, I wish I were." She muttered, irritably. "Yeah Will, this is Robyn, sorry for calling you at this unholy hour, but I need a favor. I need a bodyguard. Free room and board plus a ten thousand a week under the table, and Will, I need him for night, nine p.m. to five a.m., full time. And I need him to be good. I got hit last night, and I look like an extra from a snuff film. So do your work my friend and save me from my brother." There, at, ten thou a week and the use of the house, he shouldn't have any problem finding just the person for her. She turned off the light and curled up to go back to sleep.
* * *
Will, listened, to the message for the third time. When Rob called him it was important, but to call before five p.m., and leave a message that wasn't obscene was disturbing enough. But the fact that she was tagged again last night and it scared her, 'the wicked bitch of the west' , scared her badly enough to want a bodyguard. And the sum of ten thousand a week, room and board, tax-free, it must mean that her brother had pissed off the wrong people.
William Andrew, better known was William the Good, was no fool. If Robyn had called him and left it there, he knew she was counting on him. "Nine p.m., Hmmm." It was a thought, did he dare. "Shit."
He had gotten his name William the Good from his knack for fixing problems. It was a gift, he just always knew the person for the job, and it didn't matter what it was. He could fix it. It wasn't a bad gift, matter of fact it had been very handy all through his life. It left him with a lot of folks owing him.
Except for Robyn Carr.
Of all the people in the world, she was the only one he owed anything to, and owed big. She had funded his security service interest free for the first two years he was working, till he had enough men and women and enough scared rich clients to pay the bills, himself, and he still hadn't paid her back fully. She was also his closest friend and confidant. So when she called, he'd best have the solution or he would end up very, very sorry.
Okay so it was a wild thought, but Rob was that kind of girl. If anyone else other than him could handle it, it was Robyn. Further more it would solve two problems at the same time. What to do to protect her, and how to get the guy out of his basement. There was only one catch in this a wrinkle in what would otherwise be the perfect solution.
The problem had a name. It was Zachary Forrest, Zak to all that called him friend. He was perfect, could only work nights, and no one, and William could attest to it, no one could beat him. Male through and through friendly, protective just what the doctor ordered. With one minor draw back.
Zak Forrest was a vampire.
It had been the only drawback in his illustrious career as a fixer. He'd inherited Zak from an old friend before she died. And promised before he fully understood what it meant, to help Zak to stay safe.
You would think that a vampire would be able to take care, of, himself amass a fortune or two or something. But Zak was fairly young for a vampire, just around two hundred and thirty years old, and had a bad habit of not understanding the way things were. It had something to do with all the technology and advances that had been made while he lived hiding in the woods, waiting for his master to return and teach him the ways of the night
Bad thing was his Master never came back. And when civilization reached the poor guy, he wasn't prepared.
Cindy's father had been the first. And William never got the full story on how old man Hall ended up benefactor instead of lunch, but apparently a deal was made.
Cindy got him when she was fourteen and her father was killed. To do Zak justice, he cared for the little sick girl as best he could. Her medical bills were paid, the house kept up, and the last six years of her life were ones of relative safety and comfort.
That's how he got into the picture. Cindy went to school with him way back when. They even dated until she began to really get sick and couldn't take it anymore.
He was her friend, her closest and most trusted friend, out side of Zak. So when she broke down on her deathbed and begged him to make sure that Zak was never left alone to fend for himself, that he'd always have a home. He had agreed. Shit, so what if the guy lived on a liquid diet. Cindy had sworn that in all the time she had known him, he'd never killed, had never hurt anyone. And in the last four years, William himself had seen that all in all, Zak was damn fine men with just one small hang up. And he had never really regretted his moving the vamp into his basement.
But could Robyn live with this? She was known for being friends with every strange psycho in town, but he had to admit, they were at least human. Could he convince her that Zachary Forrest was the best man for the job?
Well it came down to one thing and one thing only. Vampire or no, Zak could protect her better than anyone he knew. Would in fact become almost unbearable in his duty. And that was what was important, not that Robyn would have a fit, or that he would spend several hours convincing her that he didn't bite.
Okay he bit, but it wasn't bad, hell he'd been on the receiving end more times than he could count and other than the first pain, it was really cool.
His mind wandered back to the first time. It had been right after Cindy's funeral. Zak had not left her side at the end, other than to escape the light of day. Suffered terribly to be at the funeral, that had been conveniently planned in the evening, so that she would be buried as the sun set. Will had, known about the legend that vampires could not stand the sun, it burned them. But never fully understood why before then. But looking back on Zak standing there in the summer in a suit and tie, with a hat, a hat for the love of Christ, and a coating of sun Protestant so heavy on his skin he looked like he was sweating. But he had been there, and afterwards, as he lay on Will's couch he answered the one question no one had ever answered before.
'It was the ultra-violet rays of the sun; several of the wavelengths were deadly to his kind. Sort of like skin cancer gone berserk. UV protections helped some now, where fifty years ago he would have never been able to stand there, now with a UV Protection of thirty-five he was only severely sunburned'.
'He hadn't eaten in over a week. Had only the barest of essentials for over two months, slipping out when Cindy slept to pick someone up, and well, okay so he was known as a real fast fuck, he'd kept the beast down'.
'So he sat there on Will's couch, looking at him. It was Will's responsibility now, just like it had been Cindy's before she had gotten too sick to feed him. But that first night, Will wasn't too sure he wanted this'.
"'I can't go out'." He remembered the soft, painfully apologetic words . "'Not like this, not till I heal, I must feed'."
"'Yeah, Cindy warned me about this part of the deal' ." God, but he had never been so afraid in his life. This was a vampire, a real live, or at least not totally dead, vampire, and he was about to be lunch.
"'William'." Suddenly a soft voice in his ear as Zak moved with a blink to pin him to the chair he was in. "'It is never easy the first time. I know this. You are frightened. But I never hurt Cindy, in all the time I cared for her and lived off her life, I never hurt her. I never hurt any of those I have fed from once she was too weak to live for both of us. I will never hurt you. I am what I am, a creature of your nightmares, and the beast lives in me, but I will never hurt you. You must believe that or I am doomed. For from sun up to sunset I sleep. I am helpless, and not all the locks in the world will keep me safe if you choose to harm me' ." That voice so soft when he wanted it to be, so persuasive. Zak could sell living room furniture to the homeless. "'Do not be afraid, my friend. Let me take you. The pain at first is light, and afterwards'—" soft lips brushed his cheek . "'It is a lie, the myth that we can not have physical pleasure. We are sterile, but we are also sensual people'."
"'No'" Will, had, been surprised that he had, voice, or will at all. "'Please'."
"'Ssshh'," Zak touched his lips with a finger. "'I will take care of everything, my friend. There will be no pain. I would never hurt you. I can make it wonderful'."
Will tried to pull away from the soft mouth the brushed his lips struggled at the fingers that worked his belt. "'Look'." He gasped for breath as Zak's mouth left his and moved to nuzzle his throat. "'You don't have to do this. I swear here look, my throat. Go on, I won't fight you, I promise. Just keep your hands out of my pants, that's one place I don't want your teeth'."
"'Why William'." Zak chuckled . "'Do you mean to tell me you have a homophobic streak, you'?" He looked down at William slender build. "'I would have never guessed'."
"'I'm not gay, okay. I don't care, who, sleeps with, what it's not my business. But I'm not gay, so if all your looking for is lunch, well I won't fight you. But please, if you have any feelings at all, if you cared for Cindy half, as much as I did, don't do that to me. I was her friend, her'—" How cold he tell this man, no vampire, must never forget that, that he'd been her first.
"'Ah, so I have you to thank for that'." A warm smile, "'it had troubled me, I could not give her what I have offered you. I would not take a virgin to my bed. Some things I feel should be left to mortals. But afterwards, yes my friend, I cared for her dearly. And I will not harm you, close your eyes, trust her faith in me, if nothing else'."
The first time is the most memorable. William had been terrified; he almost fought as he felt the sharp pressure on his throat. Then, there really is no way to describe it. It's like music and light, inside of you pouring out. The feelings that flooded him were so intensely pleasurable, that he lost all control of himself, and as Zak pulled away, wanted to die of embarrassment. "'Ssshh," again that soft voices, "It happens, there is no shame. It has nothing to do with sexual preference. It just is. That was why I trying so hard to seduce my partners. It's less awkward." He pulled away slowly. "Are you all right, my friend? I took less than a pint, you are safe'."
He had wanted to melt into the floor, looking up at this creature that was smiling so concerned, his, hands slowly covering the wet spot on his denims. "'I'--" It was horrifying .
"'Yes I know, the act of feeding is a sensual one as well as a necessary one. I'm not sure why, I had meant to ask my Master when he returned, but alas I never had the chance. Are you mad at me'?"
To this day he still blushed after feedings, but no he had never, not even in the beginning, been mad at him. It was his way, and as long as William refused to actually go to bed with him, it remained part of the process that neither could control.
But he had to refuse every time. To this day, Zak still tried to seduce him. Though now William was beginning to believe it was out of some need for ritual, rather, than true desire.
"Okay, first things first." He muttered heading for the basement. It was June sunset was about eight thirty or so. But Zak had slept enough that it shouldn't be impossible to wake him.
Cindy had left Zak part of her inheritance that was left over after her death, and with it, they had fortified a room, so that no light would ever pass. The locks were strong, and almost unbreakable. The alarm system was his idea. A good one too, he congratulated himself as he turned it off. It had stopped two kids from walking in and snooping around once. He wasn't sure who was more scared at the time. Zak who was just rising when the alarm went off or the two boys who ran screaming from the house as Zak roared at them.
Chuckling he went down the stairs.
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