Alexandra swayed lazily to the music, slowly wriggling out of her dress in front of an American in town for a fishing trip. American tourists usually had money to spend, and the ones on trips away from their wives could be enthusiastic about it. She could finish this, and by then she was sure to have met the four-hour minimum shift for freelancers, so she could lure Eric home.
Not until spotting him here during her second set onstage had she realized why he'd been increasingly edgy. He just might have enough charisma and charm to convince one or two of the dancers or waitresses to take a chance on him, despite how jaded they became about such offers, but she very much doubted that a one-night-stand with a human could satisfy someone accustomed to a kitsune.
Luckily for Eric, he was living with a lamia who could, and who was beginning to feel a certain amount of cautious affection for her new pet human. She could explain later; first, Eric needed to be thoroughly fucked.
She couldn’t safely hit him with the full force of lamia fascination, just bewitch him into absolute compliance and take him home to bed; that could have long-term effects that would complicate sharing a house, not something she’d ever had to take into account before now. But dropping Christian’s name, flirting, spending time with him, allowing passive lamia appeal to discourage overthinking, still seemed to be more than enough to keep his attention where she wanted it, on the immediate here-and-now without too many broader questions. She’d wondered whether he’d recognize her, the way Val had, but apparently he’d failed his perception check on that one.
Some ten songs and something over a hundred dollars later, she bid the American good luck with his fishing and excused herself to go backstage. She changed to leather pants and a tank top, pulled on her jacket, said goodbye to the DJ, and left to collect Eric, her bag slung on one shoulder.
Eric glanced up as she halted next to his table.
“Shall we?”
He nodded, finished the last swallow of his drink, and followed her outside. There, in the cool quiet, they paused.
“Your place?” Alexandra suggested.
“I’m not sure my housemates would be happy about that.”
She approved of the response: he had enough sense not to invite an unknown liminal into the house and through Christian’s shields, despite her claim to be on friendly terms with Chris.
“All right, my place.” She smiled as he took the bag from her, and slid a long-nailed hand around his free arm, matching step. She was acutely aware of the warm human scent of him, of his intense arousal, and it tantalized her own hunger, though she'd hunted recently and had fed to a limited degree tonight simply by being the focus of concentrated erotic attention. She wouldn't need to again right away, and there was no risk of losing control.
It was only at their own door that she saw him take a second look.
“Um...” he began.
“Hush.” She kissed him deeply and left him breathless before fishing her keys from her pocket to unlock the door. No lights. Christian must be upstairs.
Eric obediently came inside with her, and automatically locked the door behind them. In the streetlight glow trickling in the windows, he stopped to take another look at her.
“Who are you, really? Or maybe, what?”
“My name is Alexandra. Sometimes.” She turned away and started for the stairs, adding a bit more sway to her hips than strictly necessary.
Eric followed, of course, all the way to Alexandra's room, and into it.
“But...”
“I thought I told you to hush.” She snapped on the small lamp near the door, and turned to face him. “Is talking all that kitsune of yours taught you to do with a woman?”
He left her bag by the door along with his jacket, and came closer to her, gaze never leaving her. Alexandra purred to herself as he wrapped both arms around her and kissed her fiercely—it was going to be a pleasant change, having someone other than Chris who acted instead of reacting or turning aggressive, and after so long with a kitsune she expected him to be very good indeed at acting.
Carefully, he slid her jacket off her shoulders for her, dropped it on the nearby chair, and lowered his head to kiss and nuzzle and nibble at her throat and shoulders and upper chest. His hands wandered, exploring by feel, his touch sure and thorough and never moving too fast, finding sleek leather and soft fabric and smooth skin. Alexandra tugged his shirt out of his jeans, and slid her hands up under it to stroke his back with her fingertips and tease his skin awake with her nails. When she pulled his shirt off completely for him, he paused long enough to help.
Slowly, he knelt, nuzzling and nibbling his way down, at her breasts through her tight stretchy tank top, at her belly, down to her leather-covered groin, his arms around her hips to hold her close. Alexandra gasped, spread her feet and her wings for balance, and ran her fingers through that bright blond mane, aware of her heartbeat and breathing accelerating, of the rich inviting scent of his desire.
Eric slid both hands down her leg, to unlace her boot from around her ankle and gently draw it off, then he repeated it on the other side. Both hands ran back up her legs, over her hips, paused to free the bottom of her tank top, and ventured under it, up her back. He rose to his feet, looking not at all disconcerted by the clear view he had of her wings as she folded them out of the way; he simply, with infinite care, helped her take the tank top off. Both hands caressed her back again, slid forward around her ribs to caress her belly, then up to cup her breasts.
There was something reverential in his gaze on her, his hands on her body. That was novel, and she had to admit, she liked it. She stepped closer to kiss him again, passionately, wrapping her shadowy wings around them both, her hands roaming his back, but after a moment she let go and gave him a small shove towards the bed.
He went along with it, kicked his shoes off and waited for her; once she joined him, he guided her down gently on her back so he could resume his explorations. Light fingertips brushed over her nipples, circling them, made her shiver and moan, her nails digging into her blankets. His hands and his mouth felt so very good, they were maddening.
It took him longer than she expected to unfasten her pants, and even then he only slipped a hand inside, teasing and stroking through her more-than-slightly-damp panties. Alexandra whimpered, her hunger escalating. She'd considered not feeding, but oh, she wanted him, utterly and completely, hers...
“Aren't those jeans getting uncomfortable?”
“What? Oh.” Eric smiled, shifted away to strip himself with swift efficient motions, and resettled himself. “I had more important things in mind. Where was I?”
“About—anh—there.” She bit her lip hard. “God, you're good.”
He chuckled softly. “I was raised to respect women. And I was taught to honour a woman's body and treat it with all the care it deserves, and all the attention to every detail and every inch.”
“Mrr... I think I like the way you talk, too. Tell me more.”
Another quiet laugh, and a kiss in the centre of her chest, another at the base of her jaw, his fingers never still. “Any woman's sexuality is sacred, and it's a gift to be invited to share in it, and to do anything less than my absolute best to give her the most pleasure I can in return is sacrilege. Every woman, of any size and shape and colour, has all the power of life in her hands and in her belly, and that makes every woman a goddess come to earth. And of course the only proper way to treat a goddess is to kneel to her and worship her and serve her.”
“My kind can't get pregnant,” Alexandra pointed out breathlessly, in the interests of fairness.
“You protect Chris, don't you?”
He was surprisingly alert for being unaccustomed to lamias and in bed with one. “Yes.”
“The power of preserving life instead of the power of creating life. Different aspect of the same thing.”
His hand was tantalizing her mercilessly, his words only made it worse... Alexandra banished the last of her clothes with a thought by moving all the molecules to the side so they fell to the floor, then shoved him down onto his back. She swung a leg over him and pressed the full length of her body against his to kiss him briefly, her wings spreading again.
“It's safe...?” Eric began.
“Can't conceive, can't catch or carry human diseases, it's perfectly safe,” she assured him, between increasingly sharp nips at his neck and shoulders.
“Then I'm all yours.”
Alexandra agreed. He was all hers.
He moved so nicely, in time with her, and those sensitive skilful hands were never still... She decided he was worth all possible effort, and paid close attention, so she'd be ready when he began to climax.
His entire body twitched, once, when her teeth broke the skin of his throat; it must have been only surprise, because he made no effort to push her away. His energy was sweet, laced with passion and just that hint of witchblood...
Something grabbed hold of her energy and began to draw it out of her, draining her.
Alexandra jerked away completely, out of contact, before she'd entirely registered what was happening. She fed; no one got to feed from her!
“What...” Eric sat up, shook his head hard to clear it, and gave her a look of utter bewilderment. “What's wrong?”
Rage woke, overwhelming shock and confusion. She shifted to a crouch, hands curled into claws, wings fluttering in agitation, and snarled, “You tell me. How dare you!”
“How dare I what?”
The door slammed open, and Christian bolted across the room to fling himself on the bed between them; Sid yowled in distress from the hall, and fled. Alexandra pulled the blow that had been intended for Eric.
“Whoa, down girl! What in hell is going on in here?”
“I really wish I knew,” Eric said, in obvious distress.
“He attacked me,” Alexandra spat.
“I what?” “He what?” In perfect unison, with equal disbelief.
“Get out of my way, Chris!”
“Calm down, Lexa, please? There's obviously something up, here. It wouldn't be fair to kill him if it's unintentional, right?”
“Yeah, well, life isn't fair.” She flexed her hands, nails glinting, and gave Eric a murderous look. How long would it take her to clean his entrails off her bed? She might need a new mattress and blankets, but that seemed reasonable.
“Please, Lexa, for me?”
She hissed at Christian like an irate cat, but stalked over to slump in her chair. From there she glowered at Eric, arms crossed.
Christian released the breath he'd been holding. “Thank you. Now, let's see if we can piece this together. Eric, you left the house first, where did you go?”
“Stopped for fish'n'chips around the corner on King, then I went to Kitty Corner,” Eric said dutifully. He looked rather pale, Alexandra noted without sympathy.
“Where you met an incredibly seductive dancer called Lilith. Did she tell you that she's also the lamia Alexandra and at other times is Mark?”
“No. I did recognize her as a liminal, but that didn’t seem important.”
“Lexa, what's up with this? You could've invited him to bed without all the extra trouble. How long did you work?”
“Long enough. It was a decent night,” Alexandra said patiently. If Chris wanted answers before she killed Eric, she could wait a little and cooperate. “I happened to see Eric there and I finally figured out why he's been edging towards borderline rude lately, so I decided to be nice to him and fix the problem.”
“Which is...?”
“Kitsune have a higher sex drive than lamias, arguably. He grew up with one. One night stands with humans would be pretty bland in comparison.”
Christian looked at Eric, who nodded.
“Right. Throw him in bed first, answer questions later. Makes sense if you're a lamia, I s'pose. The two of you came back here and were messing around.”
“I'd pretty much figured it out by the time we got up here,” Eric said.
“Pretty much?”
“Who she is and what was going on. Not exactly what she is, although I doubt I would've changed my mind.”
“You two were messing around... everything was okay?”
“I thought it was.”
“It was then,” Alexandra said grudgingly. “Until I started feeding.”
“Eric, did she scare you when she bit you?”
“No,” Eric said promptly. “Startled me, but that's about it. I wasn't expecting her to do any damage.”
“Lexa, how far did you get?”
“Not very.” Her hands curved back into claws at the memory. “He started draining me!”
“I what?” Eric looked totally perplexed, eyes wide as he regarded her.
Christian glanced at Eric again. “You have no idea what she means?”
“None.” He stopped and his forehead furrowed. “At least, I don’t think so. That’s... probably not how it works?”
“How what works?”
“I can’t do much of anything actively witchy, but I do have my hunches. And Jade told me years ago that there was something else going on that she was pretty sure would help me stay healthy and as a side effect would protect me from predatory liminals if I encountered any. I honestly don’t remember most of what she said, it was a long time ago and it hasn’t mattered. Something about extra energy being put to use healing damage or something.”
“Hmm. Draining energy, Lexa? Through a second link, or backwards through the one that forms when you feed?”
“Sort of through mine, but buried in the middle of it, almost like a second link.”
Christian's forehead furrowed in thought. “Predators drain, but they generally make their own channels, and anyway, you just had a good taste of his blood. Human?”
“Human.”
“How on earth would that fit with a witchblood ability to heal?” Christian nibbled a thumbnail, considering that. “Sorry, Eric, don't mean to talk about you like you aren't here. Would you be willing to let me check you out?”
Alexandra sighed and shifted position. “Get on with it so I can kill him.”
“I don't want you to kill him, Lexa.”
“He attacked me!”
“That's what we're trying to figure out. It doesn't appear to have been deliberate, and Eric is what he seems, which means it isn't his fault. You enjoy having him live here, right?”
“I guess.”
“Wouldn't it be a little extreme to kill him over something that isn't his fault? That he didn’t even know about?”
“I guess.”
“No more talking about killing Eric. No killing Eric. No hurting Eric. Okay?”
Alexandra sighed again. “I suppose, for you. Unless I find out it was deliberate after all.”
“Fair enough, I guess. Eric?”
Eric shrugged. “Go ahead, I have nothing to hide.”
Christian settled himself more comfortably, legs crossed, spine straight, and closed his eyes. He reached out to lay his fingertips on Eric's forehead, moved them to his throat, his heart, his solar plexus.
“Unless you’ve had a charmed life so far, the healing is plausible. No broken bones, not even any scars.”
“I did break one of the bones in my lower left arm, and cracked a rib. I fell out of a tree one of my cousins dared me to climb.”
“You're sure it was broken, not sprained or something?”
“Believe me, it was broken. Gran and Jade healed it as much as they could, but it still took a couple of weeks.”
“There's absolutely no sign of it. You caught a cold your first week of classes, and you said then that it was the first one in years, right?”
“Yeah. I’m pretty sure I never had a cold, the flu, an upset stomach, or even a cavity the whole time I was living with Gran, but, y’know, she and Jade can both heal so I didn’t think about it much.”
“Lexa, you did say you were in the middle of feeding, right?”
“Just starting, really,” she said.
“So, very little blood lost, but there should be some sign of it. There's no trace of that, either.” He opened his eyes, and tilted Eric's head to the side gently. “And your bites don't heal that quickly. Hmm. I have a theory. No proof unless I see it in action, but...”
“So tell us,” Alexandra said impatiently.
“I think it's a feedback loop. Um, no pun intended. You tried to feed from him, it activated and drained enough in return to heal the trivial amount of damage you were doing. It wasn't a heavy drain, right?”
“Right.”
“Against any other predator, it would be a perfect defence. It made you stop feeding, and most predators wouldn't, um, react the same way. A lot wouldn’t even be aware of it happening. I'd bet anything left over from healing translates into physical energy. I’m not entirely sure how it accounts for being possibly more resistant to infections and damage while living with Margaret, there’d have to be some source of energy coming in, but for all I know that’s something that happens during prolonged close contact with kitsune or there’s something non-obvious going on with your gifts or... something. I don’t think that part is immediately relevant.”
Eric and Alexandra both thought about that.
“That seems consistent with what I remember of what Jade said,” Eric said slowly. “She wasn’t entirely sure about all of it herself, it was partly what she thought might happen as a result of the part she could see directly. I probably should have paid more attention. Or asked her to remind me before I moved.”
“Or she could have thought to bring it up,” Alexandra growled. “And she could have warned me. A bloody two-tailed kitsune couldn’t identify me as Mark but warned us that a stronger one could, and you said Jade is, what, four? She knows what I am and she could have prevented all this. Not saying anything means she just almost got you messily killed.”
“You won't now, right?” Christian asked.
“I won't,” she agreed.
“Seriously?” Eric said, more than a bit warily.
“Seriously. I have no intention of touching you. At all.” She stood up, grabbed the first thing that came to hand, a grey-and-black fleece throw from the back of the chair, and tossed it around herself like a cape. It changed, flowed into black leather shorts with fishnets under them and heeled sandals, a stretchy black T-shirt with a low neck. “Don't wait up.” She strode out the door, pausing only to scoop up her jacket. She needed to hurt something, kill something, wash away the adrenaline in hot blood. Somewhere out there, she could find prey.
Alexandra swayed lazily to the music, slowly wriggling out of her dress in front of an American in town for a fishing trip. American tourists usually had money to spend, and the ones on trips away from their wives could be enthusiastic about it. She could finish this, and by then she was sure to have met the four-hour minimum shift for freelancers, so she could lure Eric home.
Not until spotting him here during her second set onstage had she realized why he'd been increasingly edgy. He just might have enough charisma and charm to convince one or two of the dancers or waitresses to take a chance on him, despite how jaded they became about such offers, but she very much doubted that a one-night-stand with a human could satisfy someone accustomed to a kitsune.
Luckily for Eric, he was living with a lamia who could, and who was beginning to feel a certain amount of cautious affection for her new pet human. She could explain later; first, Eric needed to be thoroughly fucked.
She couldn’t safely hit him with the full force of lamia fascination, just bewitch him into absolute compliance and take him home to bed; that could have long-term effects that would complicate sharing a house, not something she’d ever had to take into account before now. But dropping Christian’s name, flirting, spending time with him, allowing passive lamia appeal to discourage overthinking, still seemed to be more than enough to keep his attention where she wanted it, on the immediate here-and-now without too many broader questions. She’d wondered whether he’d recognize her, the way Val had, but apparently he’d failed his perception check on that one.
Some ten songs and something over a hundred dollars later, she bid the American good luck with his fishing and excused herself to go backstage. She changed to leather pants and a tank top, pulled on her jacket, said goodbye to the DJ, and left to collect Eric, her bag slung on one shoulder.
Eric glanced up as she halted next to his table.
“Shall we?”
He nodded, finished the last swallow of his drink, and followed her outside. There, in the cool quiet, they paused.
“Your place?” Alexandra suggested.
“I’m not sure my housemates would be happy about that.”
She approved of the response: he had enough sense not to invite an unknown liminal into the house and through Christian’s shields, despite her claim to be on friendly terms with Chris.
“All right, my place.” She smiled as he took the bag from her, and slid a long-nailed hand around his free arm, matching step. She was acutely aware of the warm human scent of him, of his intense arousal, and it tantalized her own hunger, though she'd hunted recently and had fed to a limited degree tonight simply by being the focus of concentrated erotic attention. She wouldn't need to again right away, and there was no risk of losing control.
It was only at their own door that she saw him take a second look.
“Um...” he began.
“Hush.” She kissed him deeply and left him breathless before fishing her keys from her pocket to unlock the door. No lights. Christian must be upstairs.
Eric obediently came inside with her, and automatically locked the door behind them. In the streetlight glow trickling in the windows, he stopped to take another look at her.
“Who are you, really? Or maybe, what?”
“My name is Alexandra. Sometimes.” She turned away and started for the stairs, adding a bit more sway to her hips than strictly necessary.
Eric followed, of course, all the way to Alexandra's room, and into it.
“But...”
“I thought I told you to hush.” She snapped on the small lamp near the door, and turned to face him. “Is talking all that kitsune of yours taught you to do with a woman?”
He left her bag by the door along with his jacket, and came closer to her, gaze never leaving her. Alexandra purred to herself as he wrapped both arms around her and kissed her fiercely—it was going to be a pleasant change, having someone other than Chris who acted instead of reacting or turning aggressive, and after so long with a kitsune she expected him to be very good indeed at acting.
Carefully, he slid her jacket off her shoulders for her, dropped it on the nearby chair, and lowered his head to kiss and nuzzle and nibble at her throat and shoulders and upper chest. His hands wandered, exploring by feel, his touch sure and thorough and never moving too fast, finding sleek leather and soft fabric and smooth skin. Alexandra tugged his shirt out of his jeans, and slid her hands up under it to stroke his back with her fingertips and tease his skin awake with her nails. When she pulled his shirt off completely for him, he paused long enough to help.
Slowly, he knelt, nuzzling and nibbling his way down, at her breasts through her tight stretchy tank top, at her belly, down to her leather-covered groin, his arms around her hips to hold her close. Alexandra gasped, spread her feet and her wings for balance, and ran her fingers through that bright blond mane, aware of her heartbeat and breathing accelerating, of the rich inviting scent of his desire.
Eric slid both hands down her leg, to unlace her boot from around her ankle and gently draw it off, then he repeated it on the other side. Both hands ran back up her legs, over her hips, paused to free the bottom of her tank top, and ventured under it, up her back. He rose to his feet, looking not at all disconcerted by the clear view he had of her wings as she folded them out of the way; he simply, with infinite care, helped her take the tank top off. Both hands caressed her back again, slid forward around her ribs to caress her belly, then up to cup her breasts.
There was something reverential in his gaze on her, his hands on her body. That was novel, and she had to admit, she liked it. She stepped closer to kiss him again, passionately, wrapping her shadowy wings around them both, her hands roaming his back, but after a moment she let go and gave him a small shove towards the bed.
He went along with it, kicked his shoes off and waited for her; once she joined him, he guided her down gently on her back so he could resume his explorations. Light fingertips brushed over her nipples, circling them, made her shiver and moan, her nails digging into her blankets. His hands and his mouth felt so very good, they were maddening.
It took him longer than she expected to unfasten her pants, and even then he only slipped a hand inside, teasing and stroking through her more-than-slightly-damp panties. Alexandra whimpered, her hunger escalating. She'd considered not feeding, but oh, she wanted him, utterly and completely, hers...
“Aren't those jeans getting uncomfortable?”
“What? Oh.” Eric smiled, shifted away to strip himself with swift efficient motions, and resettled himself. “I had more important things in mind. Where was I?”
“About—anh—there.” She bit her lip hard. “God, you're good.”
He chuckled softly. “I was raised to respect women. And I was taught to honour a woman's body and treat it with all the care it deserves, and all the attention to every detail and every inch.”
“Mrr... I think I like the way you talk, too. Tell me more.”
Another quiet laugh, and a kiss in the centre of her chest, another at the base of her jaw, his fingers never still. “Any woman's sexuality is sacred, and it's a gift to be invited to share in it, and to do anything less than my absolute best to give her the most pleasure I can in return is sacrilege. Every woman, of any size and shape and colour, has all the power of life in her hands and in her belly, and that makes every woman a goddess come to earth. And of course the only proper way to treat a goddess is to kneel to her and worship her and serve her.”
“My kind can't get pregnant,” Alexandra pointed out breathlessly, in the interests of fairness.
“You protect Chris, don't you?”
He was surprisingly alert for being unaccustomed to lamias and in bed with one. “Yes.”
“The power of preserving life instead of the power of creating life. Different aspect of the same thing.”
His hand was tantalizing her mercilessly, his words only made it worse... Alexandra banished the last of her clothes with a thought by moving all the molecules to the side so they fell to the floor, then shoved him down onto his back. She swung a leg over him and pressed the full length of her body against his to kiss him briefly, her wings spreading again.
“It's safe...?” Eric began.
“Can't conceive, can't catch or carry human diseases, it's perfectly safe,” she assured him, between increasingly sharp nips at his neck and shoulders.
“Then I'm all yours.”
Alexandra agreed. He was all hers.
He moved so nicely, in time with her, and those sensitive skilful hands were never still... She decided he was worth all possible effort, and paid close attention, so she'd be ready when he began to climax.
His entire body twitched, once, when her teeth broke the skin of his throat; it must have been only surprise, because he made no effort to push her away. His energy was sweet, laced with passion and just that hint of witchblood...
Something grabbed hold of her energy and began to draw it out of her, draining her.
Alexandra jerked away completely, out of contact, before she'd entirely registered what was happening. She fed; no one got to feed from her!
“What...” Eric sat up, shook his head hard to clear it, and gave her a look of utter bewilderment. “What's wrong?”
Rage woke, overwhelming shock and confusion. She shifted to a crouch, hands curled into claws, wings fluttering in agitation, and snarled, “You tell me. How dare you!”
“How dare I what?”
The door slammed open, and Christian bolted across the room to fling himself on the bed between them; Sid yowled in distress from the hall, and fled. Alexandra pulled the blow that had been intended for Eric.
“Whoa, down girl! What in hell is going on in here?”
“I really wish I knew,” Eric said, in obvious distress.
“He attacked me,” Alexandra spat.
“I what?” “He what?” In perfect unison, with equal disbelief.
“Get out of my way, Chris!”
“Calm down, Lexa, please? There's obviously something up, here. It wouldn't be fair to kill him if it's unintentional, right?”
“Yeah, well, life isn't fair.” She flexed her hands, nails glinting, and gave Eric a murderous look. How long would it take her to clean his entrails off her bed? She might need a new mattress and blankets, but that seemed reasonable.
“Please, Lexa, for me?”
She hissed at Christian like an irate cat, but stalked over to slump in her chair. From there she glowered at Eric, arms crossed.
Christian released the breath he'd been holding. “Thank you. Now, let's see if we can piece this together. Eric, you left the house first, where did you go?”
“Stopped for fish'n'chips around the corner on King, then I went to Kitty Corner,” Eric said dutifully. He looked rather pale, Alexandra noted without sympathy.
“Where you met an incredibly seductive dancer called Lilith. Did she tell you that she's also the lamia Alexandra and at other times is Mark?”
“No. I did recognize her as a liminal, but that didn’t seem important.”
“Lexa, what's up with this? You could've invited him to bed without all the extra trouble. How long did you work?”
“Long enough. It was a decent night,” Alexandra said patiently. If Chris wanted answers before she killed Eric, she could wait a little and cooperate. “I happened to see Eric there and I finally figured out why he's been edging towards borderline rude lately, so I decided to be nice to him and fix the problem.”
“Which is...?”
“Kitsune have a higher sex drive than lamias, arguably. He grew up with one. One night stands with humans would be pretty bland in comparison.”
Christian looked at Eric, who nodded.
“Right. Throw him in bed first, answer questions later. Makes sense if you're a lamia, I s'pose. The two of you came back here and were messing around.”
“I'd pretty much figured it out by the time we got up here,” Eric said.
“Pretty much?”
“Who she is and what was going on. Not exactly what she is, although I doubt I would've changed my mind.”
“You two were messing around... everything was okay?”
“I thought it was.”
“It was then,” Alexandra said grudgingly. “Until I started feeding.”
“Eric, did she scare you when she bit you?”
“No,” Eric said promptly. “Startled me, but that's about it. I wasn't expecting her to do any damage.”
“Lexa, how far did you get?”
“Not very.” Her hands curved back into claws at the memory. “He started draining me!”
“I what?” Eric looked totally perplexed, eyes wide as he regarded her.
Christian glanced at Eric again. “You have no idea what she means?”
“None.” He stopped and his forehead furrowed. “At least, I don’t think so. That’s... probably not how it works?”
“How what works?”
“I can’t do much of anything actively witchy, but I do have my hunches. And Jade told me years ago that there was something else going on that she was pretty sure would help me stay healthy and as a side effect would protect me from predatory liminals if I encountered any. I honestly don’t remember most of what she said, it was a long time ago and it hasn’t mattered. Something about extra energy being put to use healing damage or something.”
“Hmm. Draining energy, Lexa? Through a second link, or backwards through the one that forms when you feed?”
“Sort of through mine, but buried in the middle of it, almost like a second link.”
Christian's forehead furrowed in thought. “Predators drain, but they generally make their own channels, and anyway, you just had a good taste of his blood. Human?”
“Human.”
“How on earth would that fit with a witchblood ability to heal?” Christian nibbled a thumbnail, considering that. “Sorry, Eric, don't mean to talk about you like you aren't here. Would you be willing to let me check you out?”
Alexandra sighed and shifted position. “Get on with it so I can kill him.”
“I don't want you to kill him, Lexa.”
“He attacked me!”
“That's what we're trying to figure out. It doesn't appear to have been deliberate, and Eric is what he seems, which means it isn't his fault. You enjoy having him live here, right?”
“I guess.”
“Wouldn't it be a little extreme to kill him over something that isn't his fault? That he didn’t even know about?”
“I guess.”
“No more talking about killing Eric. No killing Eric. No hurting Eric. Okay?”
Alexandra sighed again. “I suppose, for you. Unless I find out it was deliberate after all.”
“Fair enough, I guess. Eric?”
Eric shrugged. “Go ahead, I have nothing to hide.”
Christian settled himself more comfortably, legs crossed, spine straight, and closed his eyes. He reached out to lay his fingertips on Eric's forehead, moved them to his throat, his heart, his solar plexus.
“Unless you’ve had a charmed life so far, the healing is plausible. No broken bones, not even any scars.”
“I did break one of the bones in my lower left arm, and cracked a rib. I fell out of a tree one of my cousins dared me to climb.”
“You're sure it was broken, not sprained or something?”
“Believe me, it was broken. Gran and Jade healed it as much as they could, but it still took a couple of weeks.”
“There's absolutely no sign of it. You caught a cold your first week of classes, and you said then that it was the first one in years, right?”
“Yeah. I’m pretty sure I never had a cold, the flu, an upset stomach, or even a cavity the whole time I was living with Gran, but, y’know, she and Jade can both heal so I didn’t think about it much.”
“Lexa, you did say you were in the middle of feeding, right?”
“Just starting, really,” she said.
“So, very little blood lost, but there should be some sign of it. There's no trace of that, either.” He opened his eyes, and tilted Eric's head to the side gently. “And your bites don't heal that quickly. Hmm. I have a theory. No proof unless I see it in action, but...”
“So tell us,” Alexandra said impatiently.
“I think it's a feedback loop. Um, no pun intended. You tried to feed from him, it activated and drained enough in return to heal the trivial amount of damage you were doing. It wasn't a heavy drain, right?”
“Right.”
“Against any other predator, it would be a perfect defence. It made you stop feeding, and most predators wouldn't, um, react the same way. A lot wouldn’t even be aware of it happening. I'd bet anything left over from healing translates into physical energy. I’m not entirely sure how it accounts for being possibly more resistant to infections and damage while living with Margaret, there’d have to be some source of energy coming in, but for all I know that’s something that happens during prolonged close contact with kitsune or there’s something non-obvious going on with your gifts or... something. I don’t think that part is immediately relevant.”
Eric and Alexandra both thought about that.
“That seems consistent with what I remember of what Jade said,” Eric said slowly. “She wasn’t entirely sure about all of it herself, it was partly what she thought might happen as a result of the part she could see directly. I probably should have paid more attention. Or asked her to remind me before I moved.”
“Or she could have thought to bring it up,” Alexandra growled. “And she could have warned me. A bloody two-tailed kitsune couldn’t identify me as Mark but warned us that a stronger one could, and you said Jade is, what, four? She knows what I am and she could have prevented all this. Not saying anything means she just almost got you messily killed.”
“You won't now, right?” Christian asked.
“I won't,” she agreed.
“Seriously?” Eric said, more than a bit warily.
“Seriously. I have no intention of touching you. At all.” She stood up, grabbed the first thing that came to hand, a grey-and-black fleece throw from the back of the chair, and tossed it around herself like a cape. It changed, flowed into black leather shorts with fishnets under them and heeled sandals, a stretchy black T-shirt with a low neck. “Don't wait up.” She strode out the door, pausing only to scoop up her jacket. She needed to hurt something, kill something, wash away the adrenaline in hot blood. Somewhere out there, she could find prey.
