Heat

Kriss stared off in the same direction knowing the truth. “Maybe he has a good reason to fear us.” He started to mention the fact that it was a hybrid… not a true blood fallen, but Dean cut him off.

“Doesn’t matter because he doesn’t trust us,” Dean stepped back to the edge of the building and looked out over the city.

He knew Kriss thought he had it all figured out. So this fallen wasn’t a full blood… he was close enough and that counted. Dean had seen into his soul several times in the last couple days and the evil that labeled most hybrids as demons was missing. In Dean’s eye, that made him one of them. On second thought… maybe it was time to let Kriss in on that little fact.

“He’s more true-blood than hybrid you know. His soul is different from ours, but evil does not live there… right now it’s full of fear, mistrust, and longing. I hope you haven’t changed so much that you can’t see the good within him.”

He knew Kriss had never maliciously hunted hybrids down and destroyed them without a very good reason. Kriss had been one of the last fallen to be sent here, long after the demon wars had ended… banished to this world just to get rid of some of the male population. Kriss didn’t know it, but Dean was so much older than that.

Dean had been one of the leaders of the rebellion that ended the demon war… even sending some of the pure bloods into the underworld for their senseless massacre of hybrids that were not demonic. Some things were a sin… no matter how you looked at it.

Kriss had a flashback of wanting to kill Kane only to find a tattered but strangely pure soul staring back at him. He’d never encountered such an oddity. If Kane had been human or demon with that much damage done to his soul… he would have been pure evil. He should have been pure evil. It made him wonder if Dean was right… that maybe he’d lost his ability to play judge and jury.

Living among the humans for so long had taught him that even the best intentions always had a shady side of gray. He’d decided a long time ago that death was only for the truest form of evil and to let the rest work itself out.

“How long do you intend to stalk him?” Kriss asked curiously.

“Until he sees that I’m not a threat,” Dean answered cryptically.

Kriss tilted his head and looked at Dean, noticing several bullet holes in his clothing. “What in the hell have you been doing? You smell like smoke and those aren’t moth holes in your clothes.”

“Let me ask you something,” Dean didn’t look at Kriss, “Are you really here for me? Or do you just need a distraction because you’re avoiding your feelings for Tabatha?”

Kriss reached out, snagging Dean’s arm and spinning him around so that they were facing each other. “Why is it always a fight with you?” he demanded.

Dean jerked his arm out of Kriss’s grip, “Maybe it’s because I can see into your soul where you are blind.”

Kriss looked away and when he glanced back Dean was gone.

*****

Kane quietly opened Tabatha’s bedroom window and ducked inside. He’d been watching her through the windows but feeling her unrest hadn’t set well with him and the fact that he couldn’t read her thoughts was driving him crazy. All he could hear were almost silent whispers coming from her mind.

He glanced up at the ceiling wondering whose bright idea it was to make her the only one he couldn’t eavesdrop on when she was the only one he really wanted to hear. Kane kept the darkness pulled around him as he leaned against the frame of the open bedroom door and watched her move from the sofa to the entertainment center.

Tabatha turned the radio down. She’d thought the background noise would help to make the apartment not feel so empty but it was only annoying her. She missed her roommate.

Kriss had disappeared for weeks at a time in the past and she knew he could take care of himself, but it had never stopped her from worrying. That demon, her skin crawled at the memory, she’d been able to trap Dean even if it had only been for a couple hours. It was hard to wrap her mind around the fact that there were things out there that could hurt Kriss.

She again ran her fingers over her shoulder and down her chest where she’d been wounded, feeling nothing but soft unblemished skin. She thought she’d been so slick making Kane think she was under his thrall… the joke had been on her. Still, he’d told her not to remember seeing Misery… yet she did remember. Slowly raising the same fingers, she touched her lips wishing she could remember exactly what Kane had done to her.

Maybe she’d been under his thrall the whole time but for some reason only remembered part of it. He’d said that he’d been watching over her… following her. Tabatha felt the small hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and the room seemed to shrink.

Removing her fingers from her lips she whispered, “Kane, are you here?”

Kane gripped the door frame to keep from moving toward her but no power on earth could keep him from answering, “Yes.”

His voice was haunted, making Tabatha spin around searching for him. She was caught between disappointment and fear when she didn’t see him standing right behind her. “Am I so wicked that you have to hide from me?” her breathing was coming a little faster and she silently wondered if this was the equivalent of playing with fire.

Kane let the darkness disperse from around him and watched as her gaze landed on him. “Maybe I am the wicked one.”

Tabatha swallowed. He did look slightly wicked silhouetted in her bedroom doorway… she’d admit that. “Maybe you wouldn’t feel so wicked if you had knocked on the front door,” she offered, wondering just how long he’d been inside her apartment. Feeling a slight weakness in her knees, she turned and forced herself to calmly walk to the sofa and sit down.

“Would you have invited me in?” Kane asked curiously as he moved into the room. He noticed the way she turned around and pulled her feet up onto the sofa, tucking them close to her as she leaned back against the pillowed armrest.

“I’m not sure,” Tabatha answered. “Is this the first time you’ve been here?”

“No,” Kane didn’t bother lying to her. Why lie when he could just make her forget he’d even been here?

“Then I am inviting you in. Have a seat,” she pointed toward the other in of the sofa. If he was here to hurt her, then he’d already have done it… right? She watched the way he kept his movements slow as he did as she asked. It was a lie… she’d seen the speed at which he moved when he wanted to. He was being careful not to frighten her and that made her even more nervous.

Kane cocked an eyebrow, “Is this how you treat all of your stalkers?” he asked in all seriousness. “Invite them in for tea and crumpets?”

Tabatha shook her head, “I don’t drink tea and I hate crumpets. A cup of coffee and a bagel will do just fine.”

Kane smiled wanly at her. “How do you know I won’t hurt you?”

“If you were going to hurt me, you would have by now,” Tabatha answered, voicing the thought she’d had just moments before. On second thought she quickly added, “Despite the fact that I tend to get injured whenever you’re in the same vicinity.”

Kane inwardly winced at that and finally took the place she’d indicated at the other end of the sofa, turning to face her and leaning against the opposite armrest. He brought his right leg up, bending it at the knee and sat in a half Indian style with one arm folded over his stomach.

“So tell me love, why did you invite me in?” Kane asked.

“Why are you here?” Tabatha sidestepped the question.

Kane smirked, “You do know that it’s bad manners to answer a question with a question.”

Tabatha was momentarily taken aback by the way the smirk changed the contours of his face slightly, making him appear just as dangerous and seductive as she believed him to be.

“That may be true,” Tabatha said thoughtfully. “But I’m the one you’ve been following and I want to know why.”

Kane shrugged, “Because I want to.”

Tabatha glared at him, “Because you want to?”

Kane tilted his head to the side. “Why does a vampire do anything?”

Tabatha opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again not able to articulate an answer.

“Because they want to,” Kane answered for her.

Tabatha sighed, “Look, if you don’t want to tell me the truth then I can’t make you. But, if we’re going to be friends, we need to exchange at least one truth about each other.”

Kane’s eyebrows rose and he actually smiled, “Ah, so we’re going to play truth or dare now?”

Tabatha blushed remembering the few times she’d played the game while in high school… talk about embarrassing situations. “Without the dare and you will answer first.” she whispered.

Kane nodded, “All right. Since I’m the stalker, we will play by your rules.”

Tabatha felt a thrill run through her at his easy admittance that he was indeed stalking her. “Why does Kriss not like you? He won’t give me a reason why.”

“Because you don’t belong to him,” Kane answered a little too quickly.

“What kind of answer is that?” Tabatha demanded.

“Your turn,” Kane pointed out.

Tabatha grumbled, “Fine,” then she tensed not knowing what to expect.

“Do you like dogs?”

Tabatha blinked. That question was about the furthest thing from what she’d been expected. She relaxed then smiled fondly, “I love them. When I was little we had a little Yorkie puppy but he ran away. I never really got over it… I still miss him sometimes.”

Kane returned her smile with a slow smile of his own as their eyes locked, “You must meet my Yorkie sometime then… his name is Scrappy.”

Tabatha got cold chills through her body and literally jumped out of her seat when the phone rang. Getting up, she rushed to the phone to pick it up hoping it was Kriss calling in. Picking it up, she turned around to look at Kane but he was gone without a trace of him ever being there.

She did a quick search of her bedroom, only to find nothing. With a sigh, Tabatha pressed the phone against her ear, “hello?” she cringed when she heard Jason’s voice.

“What happened to you? You just disappear and don’t call me to let me know why?” Jason paced back and forth. “Damn it Tabby, You had me worried sick.”

Tabatha smiled into the receiver. Somehow being yelled at by Jason made her feel a little more normal. She quickly did the math in her head as she started explaining what happened without giving him a single detail about anything that had to do with the paranormal.

Kane moved the limbs of the bush over a fraction as he watched Tabatha relax for the first time since Trevor had dropped her off. His lips hinted at a smile as he listened to her tell the truth to whoever was on the phone and lie like crazy at the same time. His smile faded and his expression turned longing. What he would give to have her smile at him with such ease. Backing away from the window, he knew it was time to go… he could feel Kriss closing in on him.

“Hold on a minute Jason,” Tabatha frowned as she got the odd feeling of being watched. Turning her head toward the window, she froze seeing Kriss standing there watching her. “Jason, I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?” she turned and hung up the phone but when she looked back Kriss was gone.

Chapter 3

Mrs. Tully shook her head as she came out of Micah’s room and closed the door behind her before turning toward the crowd gathered in the hall. “He’s fine… still sleeping, but he is fine.”

“Then he’ll make a full recovery?” Quinn asked skeptically.

Mrs. Tully positioned herself between them and the door. “I mean it looks like he may have already made a full recovery. He doesn’t seem to have a single scratch on him.” She backed up a step and threw her arms out like a barrier when several of them tried to dart around her to go look for themselves.

“No,” she said firmly. “For now, I don’t want him disturbed. He’s in a deep sleep and that may be part of what’s speeding the healing. If you wake him up before he wakes up on his own, you may disturb whatever magic is being used on him.”

“Magic?” Jewel asked in confusion. She was starting to understand where the term ‘you learn something new every day’ had come from.

“Magic or miracle… they're both the same as far as I’m concerned,” Mrs. Tully smiled at the new edition to the cougar family.

“Already healed?” Steven said with disbelief then held the arm that was still in a sling up a couple inches and pointed at it, “This still hurts like hell and nowhere near healed yet.”

“This isn’t no time to be getting jealous over your brother's good fortune,” Mrs. Tully pointed toward Steven’s room, “Maybe if you listened to your doctor and stayed in bed, it would heal faster.”

Steven turned and looked down at Jewel. “Bed sounds really good.”

Jewel’s eyes widened and she blushed ten shades of red making Steven smirk.

Mrs. Tully just shook her head at the honeymooners knowing love was one of the best miracle healers available. He’d be fine within a couple days… exhausted but fine.

“I’ll make sure he isn’t disturbed,” Quinn added as he gazed longingly toward his own bedroom where he’d left Kat sleeping.

“Off with you too,” Mrs. Tully shooed him away.

Hopefully it would be several hours before either of the brothers would come up for air again. She silently wondered who Micah’s guardian angel was and where she could get one. Once the hallway was empty, she glanced back at Micah’s door one more time before making her way out of the club.

*****

Alicia felt his hand on her shoulder caressing her bare skin and she rolled toward him seeing the heated look in Damon’s amethyst eyes as he touched her. He was fully clothed … wearing all black. His hair was mussed and had never looked so sexy. She reached up and ran her fingers through the dark locks. His lips followed the action, kissing the vulnerable area of her wrist then smiling devilishly, letting her catch a glimpse of his fangs.

She inhaled deeply and rolled away from him… only to be caught in Michael's embrace. As she parted her lips in dazed surprise, Michael descended for a demanding kiss, stealing what little breath she had left. His hands were locked with hers as he pressed them into the soft mattress and hovered over her, making love to her with the deep kiss.

She felt a hot hand on her thigh… slowly drifting upwards under the long t-shirt. She knew it wasn’t Michael because his hands were on hers. When Michael released her from the kiss and whispered a path down to her neck, she turned her face to the side to find Damon still there… watching them with those unnerving eyes and touching her so intimately as if Michael didn’t matter.

As Damon’s fingers drew closer to her core, Michael’s passion also increased, making Alicia whither under him at the same time she strained toward Damon… wanting him to reach his goal. Just as the tips of Damon’s fingers swept their fleeting touch across her nether lips, Michael breathed his hot breath into her ear and Alicia felt the quick downward spiral of tingling spasms as she came hard.

Jerking up from the bed she blinked, at first seeing the silhouette of someone looking in her balcony doors. As her vision cleared, the image vanished. She sat there for a moment trying to catch her breath from the dream while staring out at the sun that was now pretty high in the sky.

Wrapping her arms around herself, Alicia noticed how hot her skin was and the way the cover felt against her as it flowed with her movements. It felt like a caress on her overly sensitive skin and she had a sudden flashback of the dream, making her quickly crawl out of the cover and stand beside the bed.

She looked down at the innocent blanket as if it had lost its mind then tried reasoning with herself.

Maybe she was wrong about going into heat and was just running a small fever from the injuries she’d suffered the other night behind Moon Dance and that had caused the erotic dream. She blew her bangs out of her eyes wishing it was easier to lie to herself. Either way, it didn’t matter right now because she didn’t have time to deal with it.

She glanced back out the glass door wondering how she could have slept this late when she hadn’t even seen Micah yet. Grabbing some clothes out of her suitcase, she snuck out of her room praying she didn’t run into anyone as she crossed the hall to the huge bathroom she’d found last night.

*****

Micah opened his eyes feeling like he’d been asleep for years. His first instinct was to not move knowing it would cause pain if he did but the memory of last night gave him a fight or flight reaction and before he could stop himself, he was sitting up. Looking around the room, his gaze stopped on his own image staring back at him in the mirror. The bandages were gone… so was the pain.

Sliding from the bed, Micah walked toward the mirror scrubbing at his eyes and wondering if he was hallucinating. As he lowered his hand to the dresser, it came down on a picture frame making it teeter and fall over. With quick reflexes, he caught it before it could hit the floor and brought it up to eye level.

He gazed at the girl staring back at him with bright blue eyes. She wasn’t smiling but it didn’t distract from her beauty. Her long blonde hair hung in abstract waves around her melancholy expression.

He could hear others in the rooms around him but he could only think of one person he wanted to see… Alicia. And she was at Michael’s. He wasn’t sure how he knew but he did. Michael was the reason no one remembered her being at the mansion last night.

Setting the picture back on the dresser, Micah silently got dressed then opened the window. Landing on the hard packed ground outside he felt his muscles take the impact with ease and paused, wondering how it was that he felt better now than he’d felt before he’d been thrown into Anthony’s little torture chamber. Figuring he’d find out soon enough, he headed toward Michael’s to make sure Alicia was okay.

*****

Michael opened his eyes seeing nothing but blue sky and blinked. He’d fallen asleep on the roof of the church again. Sitting up he gazed across the street just in time to see Micah approaching the front door. Michael froze. The cougar was walking with the stealthy grace most were-animals only wished they possessed. He closed his eyes and thanked whatever god was listening, then flinched when a voice came from directly behind him.

“The shows over there… why are we over here?” Kane said with a smirk.

*****

Damon shrugged on a black shirt not bothering to button it. Pushing his fingers through his hair, he opened his bedroom door and leaned against the frame to stare across the hall. He could hear every sound she was making from within the spraying water, but that didn’t intrigue him half as much as the sounds she’d been making in her sleep a little while ago. He wondered if she had any idea their beds were only separated by a thin layer of sheet rock.

He growled at the interruption of his thoughts when he heard the knock down stairs. Pushing away from the doorway, he made up his mind to get rid of the unwanted guest as quick as possible. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d scared someone into not sticking around.

Jerking the door open, Damon cocked an eyebrow at the stranger. “What?”

“You’re not Michael,” Micah frowned recognizing the man who had been with his sister last night. He thought Michael lived alone. Seeing the man standing there half-dressed and blocking the doorway made Micah want to make sure he hadn’t just left the same bed his sister was in.

“Okay, neither are you.” Damon said in a deadpan voice.

Micah felt the beast within him try to raise its head. “Where’s Alicia?”

The way the man said Alicia’s name made it dawn on Damon just who was darkening his doorstep. Last night the cougar’s face had been swollen, bruised and bloody… nothing like the rival he was now going to slam the door on.

Damon looked Micah up and down with a critical gaze deciding he didn’t need this kind of headache. “She’s indisposed. Come back tomorrow.” He tried to shut the door but the bigger man was quicker than he’d expected and was inside the room by the time the door closed.

“I can smell her.” Micah growled becoming annoyed. “Alicia!” he called out not liking this man more and more by the minute. He knew the guy had been part of the rescue last night, but that wasn’t going to get him very far if he didn’t tell him where Alicia was.

Micah started up the stairs but suddenly, Damon was standing on one of the higher steps staring down at him. Their eyes locked and Micah felt a moment of unwelcome fear… that is until the towel-clad girl come running down the stairs toward him.

Alicia had heard Micah yell her name and being so excited, she didn’t take time to dress but just grabbed the towel closest to her and took off toward his voice. As she rounded the corner, her eyes lit up when she saw him standing there looking like he always had… perfect.

“Micah,” she whispered feeling like she was going to cry. At first her steps were slow, but the closer she got, the faster she ran until she fearlessly threw herself on him, almost causing both of them to topple backwards down the steps.

Damon turned the moment he’d seen Micah’s eyes widen on something behind him. He’d been speechless seeing her standing there clutching the towel around her… her hair soaking wet with sparkles of water dripping to the hardwood floor. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall as his gaze followed her past him then toward the man she loved.

Damon lowered his head, letting his bangs fall down to shadow his eyes. His gaze turned into a glare when she wrapped her arms around Micah, giving a new meaning to jumping a guy’s bones. The gods must have had mercy on him when she didn’t wrap her legs around the man’s waist… though the image of that towel riding up would have been priceless.

Micah wrapped his arms around Alicia and lifted her up against him for a bear hug. He closed his eyes and just held her for a moment. The first thing he noticed was that her skin was hotter than his. He pressed his face into the crook of her neck wondering why her temperature was so high.

This was just another thing to blame Quinn for. He’d only been gone two weeks and they had let her get sick. Micah frowned, not remembering Alicia ever getting sick.

“Are you running a fever?” he asked as he let her slide back to her feet. He smiled seeing she was still shorter than him, even though she was now standing on a higher step, but then his eyes were drawn to the still healing bite mark on her neck. He brushed her hair to the side to get a better look but before he could say anything about it, she cut him off.

“Are you crazy,” Alicia wiped at the tears blurring her vision. “Last night I thought you were dying… and now?” she cupped his cheek with her hand wanting so much to kiss him. “How are you standing here bigger than life?”

The front door opened and Micah looked over his shoulder seeing Michael and a blond-haired man staring up at them.

Alicia wondered if the gods were making fun of her when she chose that moment to remember she was more naked than not. Shifters usually didn’t worry about things like that as much as humans did, but she could still feel the lingering effect of the dream she’d had only a few minutes ago.

Locking eyes with Michael, she could see the instant heat in his gaze then held her breath as his eyes lowered to her breast.

Micah moved his sister more in line with his body so she was hidden from the men below. That’s when he glanced up the stairs toward Damon. His view was now better than anyone else’s. To his surprise, Damon wasn’t staring at Alicia. Instead, his angry gaze was directed straight at Micah’s hands where he was still holding her.

Feeling the silent threat, gold flared within Micah’s pupils as they enlarged. He had a feeling he was looking at the owner of the bite mark Alicia was wearing.