Page 19 of Rock Bottom
However, now things were in process because Aaron Drake and Nathan Pierce were pushing the issue, trying to get permission for Micca to tell Will and Davy she’s a bear shifter. I didn’t need Marco to tell me we just needed to wait and see how things played out with Micca’s situation. If she got permission, he’d ask on my behalf. If not, it meant things likely couldn’t go beyond what I had with Silver now.
Finding activities that don’t include eating isn’t easy, and I’m not sure how much longer the “I’m self-conscious eating and talking around others” thing was going to suffice. For now, doing things only at night worked because she understood my job responsibilities, but eventually, that would be a problem as well.
I really liked Silver, though, so I desperately hoped Marco could figure out how to make it so Micca could tell her men, and I could tell my Silver.
All vampires have a certain amount of magic, and how high up on the hierarchy they climb is a combination of how much power they have and how good they are at using it.
As a slave, I’m only allowed a few ways to use my magic, but the truth is, I don’t have much, and my confidence around using what I have isn’t great.
Marco has promised me a path to earn my freedom, the first time anyone has ever offered me something that sounded like hope instead of an order. However, it means I have to learn to use what little power I have.
I mean, someone has to be at the very bottom of the hierarchy, but it isn’t a healthy place to live, and would in all likelihood be worse than being a slave. I’d be everyone’s bitch, rather than just Marco’s slave.
Being the Master’s property keeps me safe because no one wants to fuck with him.
It’s possible I hadn’t been working terribly hard towards gaining my freedom before, but the only way I can hope to have a true relationship with Silver is to be my own man. My own vampire.
So I was trying harder at the exercises Marco, Etta, and Venom gave me. I was getting better at slipping into the heads of people with stronger shielding without them knowing, finessing my way in and being careful to place suggestions that wouldn’t alert them, but no way was I going to try it with Silver. I needed to be able to look her in the eye and honestly tell her I’d never fucked with her head or her memories.
Besides, she really does have some decent shielding for a human, and no way was I going to risk her figuring out I was fucking with her head. She’d survived too much already to be made to doubt her own mind.
I knew her well enough to know how important trust is to her.
Some things, I have no choice but to lie about, like the reason I don’t eat around her, but I was doing my best to keep the lies to an absolute minimum.
I am more than what I was made to be, and I was thankful I’d found a Master Vampire who understood integrity and allowed me to form my own ethics.
On this evening, though, it was all about being sociable, about letting her meet the people close to me, about watching her in social situations and falling even more in love with her when I saw her poise and grace, her humor, her kindness.
She already knew Kirsten, Cora, Cassie, Bethany, and Cam a little from the traveling parties, but it turned out, she knew Cam better since he’d danced in one of their videos. Someone pulled it up on their phone to show me, and it was Silver on the cello, Hailey on the violin, and Cam dancing ballet all around them on an otherwise empty stage. Will was the only person in the audience, singing, and it panned around to show him some during the extreme vocals, but mostly, it was just the three on stage. Cam had all of these leaps and spins, and he moved like he was floating on the air itself. I took another good sniff of him to verify his humanity, and there wasn’t a speck of supernatural blood in him that I could scent.
“I’m thinking it’s time for another Girls’ Night Out,” Cora said. “Anyone know of something coming up that’s different than all the things we usually do?”
“The outdoor concert series at Miller Plaza,” Silver said.
“Oh, and that’s only like, a block from the downtown TBC, right?” Kirsten asked.
“No way can the downtown one handle all of us,” Cora said.
“If the weather’s clear, I can open the roof and some of you can go up there,” Marco said.
A good part of the rest of the evening involved the women planning their next outing. Kirsten and Cora were sponsoring this one, and Kirsten had Nathan busy getting their security in place, reserving limos and drivers, and a few other things. Once, when she told him what she wanted, he just stared at her, and she rolled her eyes and said, “Please, kind Sir, please help me keep my friends safe while we have fun.”
He’d smirked at her and then stepped away to make a phone call. Watching these two navigate their relationship was interesting — Mother Nature and the King of the Lions. Toss an old god into the relationship as well, and I was certain there were a whole lot more fireworks than I got to see, living in the same house with them.
Mordecai had been pretty quiet tonight, observing and watching, rather than joining the conversation.
When I thought of him, I felt his attention on me, and I walked over and sat across from him. He was sitting in an area with four chairs facing each other, a small square coffee table between them.
“You’ve been quiet tonight,” I noted.
“Just watching everyone. Listening.”
“And what have you learned?”
“I like your Silver, and I think the two of you are good for each other. Have patience with her. Let it play out. Also, think in terms of adrenaline with your Silver.” He switched to telepathy.I know vampires aren’t big fans of fire, but I can show you how to be safe with a little fireplay. You should also invest in a violet wand, with your Master’s permission.
“Thank you for that.”
