CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

                “You don’t have to stay after supper if you don’t want to,” Jeremiah told me when we were nearly done eating.

                “I’ll be fine,” I told him back, sipping the last of my cream. Jeremiah looked past me to something and gave a grim smile.

                “I’ll be back in a little bit, luv, there’s some people I need to talk with,” as soon as he left, people started surrounding me.

                After awhile I got annoyed with people brushing up against my wings and petting them, so I just majiked them away. The people that were next to me jumped back, in shock, only to crowd in on me again.

                “What species are you?” one of them asked.

                “Where did you originate?” another asked.

                “How old are you?” yet another asked. I shook my head, rubbing my temples and deflecting all of their questions. I stood up and stepped away only to become completely ensnared and encircled by others.

                “Do you want to dance?” asked a smooth, dark voice from amidst the crowd. A hand reached out and I took it, getting easily pulled through the crowd.

                I fell into Steven’s strong, dark hold. I stayed, deciding that I owed him a dance since he saved me from the mob.

                “You know,” he said, wrapping his arms around my hips loosely. “My clan has decided that you giving blood to Chris isn’t enough. They want you to give blood to someone else.”

                I stayed as close as courtesy demanded, thinking as we swayed to the music.

                “I’m guessing that someone else is you?” I asked him, keeping my sharp nails unnoticeably close to his neck.

                “Of course, I’ve wanted you since the first time I saw you.” he pulled me close, leaving little room between us. He moved his hands to my shoulder blades.

                “You mean since the first time you saw my powers,” I growled back, trying to push away.

                “Since I first scented your blood,” he growled back, pinning me to him and coming closer to my neck.

                I screeched: “Get off!” making my wings explode from my back in full size, forcing him to let go of me.

                I shot up into the air, out of his long vampire jumping range. I landed on one of the support beams, jiffing into a pair of jeans and a skimpy cloth shirt that went over my chest and wrapped around the back of my neck. I glared down at the jumbling crowd as guards surrounded Steven.

                Jeremiah motioned for me to come down and I shook my head. I sat on the beam, one arm encircling the knee that was propped up, the other hand on the beam, and the other leg swinging freely. I let my hair swirl wild in the wind from my wings as I zoned out.

                When I came to and looked at the crowd again, I noticed that Jeremiah was no longer a part of it. There was a big cat whimper from in front of me and I looked to see a beautiful jet-black jaguar.

                “Jeremiah, you fat cat, are you afraid of heights,” I asked with a big grin on my face. His eyes narrowed and he spoke into my head.

                “Only when there’s a strong wind and there’s nothing to catch my fall,” he laid uneasily on the beam, still staring at me. “What happened?”

                “Steven tried to take my blood,” I told him, wrapping both arms around my knee. “That part doesn’t bother me – it’s that he tried doing it without my permission and in front of a huge crowd with a few dozen vampires. You know how addicting my scent is – can you imagine what would happen if many of the vampiric species got a whiff of my blood?”

                I shivered slightly, making the beam creak. Jeremiah dug his claws into the wood, holding on until the small tremor stopped. I sighed, letting both of my legs dangle off of the beam.

                “I’m guessing that you want a ride kitty-kat?” I asked mockingly. Jeremiah’s gaze was searing as he jiffed into a smaller house cat. He leapt into my arms, trembling slightly, as I situated myself for what I was going to do next.

                I grinned evilly at Jeremiah as I steeled my grip around him and fell backwards off of the support beam. He yowled and I laughed as I did a full backwards flip. Jeremiah dug his claws into me as I straightened out again.

                Gracefully I spread out my wings and landed lightly on the floor. The people who hadn’t left yet applauded and started surrounding me. I crouched down, letting an angry aura of energy surround me.

                Jeremiah un-dug his claws from me and leapt to the floor. As a small trail of blood soaked into my top, the people with vampiric blood in them let out a hungry growl. I let out my own warning growl, filling it with menace and anger enough to stop them.

                “Jeremiah, you’re going to have one very big handful when you get married.” Spoke a man from behind us. I twirled around to see a uniformed officer that looked like he wouldn’t be that far away from Jeremiah’s rank. Jeremiah himself turned human again, putting his arm around my shoulders.

                “Yes, I already know. Jess, this is Lt. Herald James,” he said in a dry tone. Herald extended his hand out to me and I shook it like I was just another man. He looked at me, surprised, and nodded his head slightly.

                “So you’re his life mate. Have you screwed yet?” people in the crowd gasped and Jeremiah looked like he was going to punch him out.

                “That’s for our knowledge and for your little mind to try and figure out,” I told him cunningly back. It now looked like he was going to slap me. Instead, I stepped close to him.

                “It’d be for your greatest interest not to do anything that would attract attention or piss me off,” I told him, letting my eyes slit, my ears point, and my fangs slide out. He paled and nodded slightly. I stepped back into Jeremiah’s arm and wrapped mine around his waist.

                “Can we go back to our rooms now?” I asked him. He nodded and started walking to the door.

                “We bid you all a good night, and see some of you tomorrow,” he told the crowd just before we went through the big, old, wooden entrance doors.