Come to Me

Come to Me

“Come to me”
© Jamie Brock (aka: uzu)
Characters © Laurell K. Hamilton

So far my day had sucked royally. It started out when I got to my job at animators inc. and found a pile of papers on my desk. I went to my boss, Burt, and asked him what was up with all the papers and he said it was from my “police friends”, oh joy. I sat down and started to read, and I concluded after about an hour of comparing, that there was a definite pattern. It seems we had a new vampire serial killer in St. Louis, great just fucking great. So I decided to call my “police friends”, lieutenant Dolph Storr and his trusty sidekick Zerbowski. Ok so he’s not a sidekick but he acts like one.
Dolph picked up on the second ring, “Dolph here.”
“Hey Dolph, this is Anita, just wanted to know if we have any descriptions of this guy, or are we still looking for a live witness?” I asked crossing my fingers.
“Well we do have one description, but we’re unsure of its authenticity.” Dolph explained.
“Why are we unsure, have you checked it out?” I asked impatiently, I did not feel like playing twenty questions with Dolph today. My day had already been disrupted and now I would have to cut into my date tonight with one of my sweethearts, Nathaniel. God he was going to be disappointed, but what could I do right? This was the price of being a legal vampire executioner, sometimes it cut into my personal life.
“ Well the statement was from a homeless man who is known for materializing outrageous stories, and well… this is pretty outrageous. If you’ll come down I’ll let you read it.” Dolph explained.
“Why the hell didn’t you send it with this other mountain of papers you sent me?” I asked irritated.
I heard Dolph sigh heavily on the other end but he remained quiet. Finally, he spoke after several moments of thinking. “Because I didn’t think you’d appreciate two mountains. The guy keeps changing his story, and we are required to write everyone of the statements down.”
“Great, just fucking great. Look if you get something solid call me. I’m going to finish reading these files and then I’ll be down.” And with that I hung up. I definitely would have to reschedule with Nathaniel.
I dreaded my next phone call, but I picked up the phone and dialed Nathaniel’s cell phone number from memory. I had recently gotten him one for his birthday, mainly because its hard to keep up with a stripper at night and sometimes I just wanted to know he was safe. Nathaniel picked up on the second ring too, I guess people were just fast today. “Hello cutie.” he said, obviously he had looked at the caller id.
“Hi Nathaniel, I’m sorry to tell you this but..” Almost instantly I heard him sigh with disappointment.
“Don’t tell me, police business? Or is it another one of your men. They need you more is that it?” He sounded almost angry.
“No its not one of my other men, Nathaniel, its police. We have another vampire serial killer. And we really need to find him before he kills again. If you saw the pictures you’d want him caught too.” I was sad that I hurt his feelings, but I didn’t like the new attitude he had developed from staying with me.
“Oh I see. I’m sorry I got upset Anita, its just we’ve been trying to have a date for two weeks and something keeps coming up. Either its pack business and you have to go see Richard, Vampire politics and you have to go see Jean-Claude and Asher, or Coalition problems and you have to go help Micah. Its never a problem that involves me, or seeing me for that matter.” I heard the pain in his voice and I wanted to promise him anything to chase it away. I loved Nathaniel, the same way I loved all the other men in my life, and I hated that he was right.
“Nathaniel, I promise, I will make this up to you. I know how patient you are with me and I really, really wish I could spend tonight with you rather than some crazy guy who thinks he saw the murderer. I love you Nathaniel, and I hate that I cant see you tonight, but believe me when I say, I will make it up to you, ok?” I made sure the pleading tone was clear even on the phone. I wanted him to know I was sincere.
“Ok Anita, I do believe you. I just wish you didn’t have to make it up to me. I wish we could just have our time. And I love you too. I’ll probably still be at work when you get home, Jean-Claude asked me to run a double shift since Jason is off tonight.” He explained.
“Alright…” I dreaded what I was about to ask but I knew it would make him happy, and I wanted that most of all. “would you like me to come see you at work?”
Almost immediately I felt him get excited. “Would you really do that, I mean, if you get off in time?” he was being careful, he didn’t want to scare me away.
“Yes Nathaniel, I will. If I get off before 2:00am, I will come see you dance.” And I meant it. I’ve learned not to make promises I really don’t want to keep, but part of me wanted to keep this promise. Part of me liked seeing him dance at Guilty Pleasures, having all the women watch him, and knowing that he’s mine. Not theirs, mine. So I was going to go watch him at the club.
“Great, I’ll have a seat reserved for you right next to the stage, just like last time ok?” he was almost ecstatic now.
“Alright then, I’ll see you later ok? I have to go down to the precinct and talk to the looney witness.” I was glad he was happy again. I valued his smiles and his laugh more than anything. Since he was so broken when I inherited the local were leopard pard, I was afraid he’d never smile. He proved me wrong and, for once, I was happy to be wrong.
“Alright Anita, I love you.”
“I love you too, bye.” We hung up on that note and I headed out with the mountain in tow to see Dolph and his crazy witness. Burt was none too happy with me leaving for the day but he’d get over it.
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It was 1:30am by the time we got done at the precinct and we sufficiently scared the shit out of the witness enough for him to give us a straight story. We basically said, “hey the guy probably knows you saw him so we can just let you go back on the street and watch you until he comes to shut you up. Or if you tell us who to look for, we can put you under protection until we find him and you can identify him from a safe distance.” it always amazes me how even crazy people become sane at the threat of loosing their own life.
I had thirty minutes to make it to Guilty Pleasures before Nathaniel took the stage for the last time tonight, and by God I was going to make it. I’m not usually the type to speed but I did go about 30mph over the speed limit to get to the parking lot of the club. When I got there I found a spot that seemed to be forever and a day’s walk in four inch heels. But when I reached the door I was escorted past the frowning people in line to my reserved seat. Nathaniel wasn’t on the stage and a small seed of panic started sprouting in my stomach. Had he gone on early? I quickly looked at my escort and demanded an answer with my eyes. “Don’t worry Ms. Blake, He’s about to come on. He just needed an extra break since he’s doin a double tonight. Can I get you anything while you wait?”
I was so relieved that I sank into the chair and actually accepted his offer. “yes thank you I’d like a coke please.” No sooner had I gotten my coke than Stephen, a local werewolf, my friend, and also a stripper at Guilty Pleasures appeared at my side. “Hey Stephen, how are you…” He didn’t even answer me he just grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the back. “What’s wrong Stephen, is Nathaniel ok? Answer me damn it!”
“ Anita, it’s ok, I’m just taking you back for some makeup.” He said as if that explained everything.
“Makeup? I’m wearing makeup thank you.”
“Not regular makeup, stage makeup. Nathaniel wants you to come on stage tonight with him and he doesn’t want a repeat of last time. He wants me to make you completely un-recognizable to the crowd.” We were backstage now and I couldn’t blame the music for not hearing him right.
“I am not going on that stage again.” I exclaimed sternly.
Stephen just looked at me and smiled. “Nathaniel said you would, to make it up to him.” And with that, he sat me down and started to put my hair up, put outrageous makeup on me and then, I saw the costume. If that’s what you want to call it. In actuality, it was just a couple of pieces of fabric with glitter on it. I just looked at him.
“I am not wearing that.” I was examining it and was wondering how I could wear that.
“ sure you will, its got sleeves to cover the scars so no one can recognize them, and then it covers the other vital areas.” Stephen explained holding it up. “come on, its for Nathaniel.”
Since I hadn’t put up boundaries earlier on the phone I couldn’t very well put them up now just minutes away from his show. “Alright, help me get into that thing will you?” Stephen just smiled, and politely turned his back while I disrobed.
Surprisingly, it covered more than I originally thought. Thank God for spandex. After I was fitted for some thigh-high black boots I was ready to go. Before I went back to the stage entrance I looked at myself in the full length mirror. I had on gold eye shadow accompanied by some black liner to make my eyes look like cat eyes. I had on deep black lipstick and glitter all over my face and in my hair. My hair being curly anyways, was twisted up into a bun on top of my head and the ends left falling over the bun itself to look like a waterfall of hair. The outfit crisscrossed over my breasts from the neck and went down to cover my lower extremities and ended by wrapping around my upper thighs. The sleeves were a separate piece all together. They were a strap that went over my breasts where the other piece met in the center and behind in the same manner. But, true to his word, I was un-recognizable even to myself. And the shiny black boots helped me look even more alluring. At least that’s what I assumed I was suppose to look like. I heard the screams even before Stephen opened the door and I knew it was Nathaniel they were screaming for. There was a moment of blinding light and then I saw him. Stalking around the stage using his otherworldly grace to amaze the masses of women who came to see him. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jean-Claude and he looked quite pleased at my appearance and began to announce me.
“Now ladies, may I present to you, Brandon’s keeper, Carmen! She will show you how to make a kitty obey and appreciate you.” And with that I was on. I thought to myself, this isn’t happening, but it was so I might as well make the best of it.
So I strutted over to Jean-Claude and quietly but earnestly pleaded with him. “What do I do?”
He took my hand and pulled me to him and whispered ever so slightly. “He will defy you for some time. Just keep telling him to come to you. Hold your hand out to him, smile, beckon him with your womanly wilds, and it will all work itself out. Hold this while you call to him.” He handed me a cat of nine tails and released me to my fate. Well, here’s to giving it the old college try I thought.
I looked at Nathaniel who looked right back with a defiant grin on his face and he hissed at me. “Come to me.” I said lightly, still unsure of myself. Then something happened that I hadn’t expected. He lunged himself at me and I barely dodged him. I looked at him with obvious anger on my face, and the crowd went wild. “Come to me!” I said more forcefully this time and I took a try at cracking the cat of nine tails. It had the affect I wanted. He cringed slightly but still stared at me defiantly and grinned mischievously. The kind of grin that says I’m thinking dirty things about you and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. Then a slight growl escaped his mouth and that brought even more cheering from the crowd. But it brought something totally different from me. My beast, my leopard that I had inherited from the leopards rose to his defiance. It poured out of my mouth in my own hair raising growl and the crowd was ecstatic. I tried again, “Come to me NOW…” I had to stop, I almost called him Nathaniel, “Brandon, come to me, and everything will be ok.” I looked at him with the same sinister look he had on his face when I said it and something changed in him. A spark lit his eyes up. And I recognized that spark from months of being with him in bed. He was excited, and a slight glance downward confirmed that thought. Slowly, oh so slowly he crept towards me. Inch by inch and the crowd roared some urging him on, others telling him to abandon me and come to them. I noticed for the first time, he had a collar on. A golden collar with a black leash. I smiled at him when he was within arms reach, and I struck. I used my own otherworldly power to reach out and grasp his leash and jerk him upward towards me. His eyes were wild now and our mouths were so close a deep breath would have made us kiss. And then I did something, very not human, I had long since forgotten the crowd. It was just Nathaniel and me. I reached out my tongue and traced his lips with it. His eyes fluttered shut and he lunged for me again, this time hitting me and sending both of us to the floor. He had me pinned but I still had his leash. I jerked it to the side and rolled over on top of him. I slid myself down low enough that it looked as though I were about to have sex with him. But instead, I did what he really wanted. I bent my head close to his heart and breathed in the vanilla scent of him. So warm, so delicious, so ripe with need. With this thought my ardeure rose to the surface. It was my version of feeding, like a succubus. I had received it from Jean-Claude since I was his human servant. Nathaniel noticed it rise and widened his eyes, his breathing coming quicker. I smiled at him and bit into his soft flesh right on his heart. At that moment his back arched and I fed, and I did something that I had only recently learned to do. I fed not only from Nathaniel but from the lusting women who were watching him as well. It was amazing and after we were done, I rolled off of him and took his head in my lap. It was around that time that Jean-Claude saw it fit to chime in again.
“Now as you can see. She is truly fit to control her cat. She has tamed the beast, and for now we must be content with her triumph.” To that the crown moaned and begged for more but we were already being helped off the stage.
In the back room I was wiping my makeup off as Nathaniel lay on the couch recovering. “You were wonderful Anita, better than I had ever dreamed, even being your first time!” he was ecstatic.
“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed yourself. But you could have told me before hand that I would be playing dress up. I would have brought something more comfortable.” I teased as I looked at his contented face. I couldn’t be mad at him. Not even just a little bit.
“Sorry about that. I was afraid if I told you my plan you’d make sure not to come.” he said smiling coyly.
“well, you’re right, I wouldn’t have come.” I said looking at him.
“Are you mad at me?”
I smiled, “a little bit,” I walked over to him, still in uniform, “but I wasn’t really thinking about that when we were doing it.”
“I’m glad. It would have really ruined the mood if you said no right when you were on stage.” he laughed then.
“What’s so funny? I asked.
“ I was just thinking, that if you had said no, I would have had to do the show with someone else, probably Stephen.” he was still giggling when I climbed up his chest and placed my finger on his lips. He looked up at me with a different shine in his eyes. The kind a man gets when he knows what’s coming next. I stood up then walked to a bed that was in that particular room for “emergencies” with the ardeure, turned around and smiled at him.
“Come to me.” I said and he very eagerly complied. We made love then, and it was different than it had been. We took turns teasing each other, telling each other to behave and knowing that neither of us was willing to do anything of the sort. I had known Nathaniel needed someone to top him for a very long time, but I hadn’t known what that would do to our relationship. I was so happy that it hadn’t ruined it, and quite surprised with how comfortable I was with it. So now I didn’t have to worry about him finding his pleasures elsewhere. He was mine, in every way now.