CHAPTER 7
Piper
ILEAD JACK TO a placeat the long dining table, one near the end and as far away from where Antoine and Wynn sat as possible. I didn't know how they were going to react, but if it was anything like the others so far, then it wasn't going to be good. Even Darren had expressed his displeasure without saying a word.
"Just have a seat here," I told him with a pleasant expression. "I need to go change and wash up. I'm sure the guys will keep you company, won't you?" I forced a smile on my face that wasn't at all happy.
"Sure," Drake cheered, pulling up a seat at the table next to Jack. "Rayne and I will be happy to keep Mr. Biggs company, won't we, Rayne?"
Rayne sat at the end of the table and the opposite side of Jack, a vicious grin on his lips. "Oh, yes. We want to hear all about the man our Piper worked for."
"Your Piper?" Jack's brows rose and then looked at me in question.
I pulled at my braided hair and hurried to say, "I'll try not to be too long." When Jack wasn't looking, I flicked Rayne on the back of the head, earning me a scowl. I returned his with one of my own and thought at him.Be nice.
Rayne rolled his eyes.
Huffing, I shook my head and stalked back into the kitchen, where Darren was pulling a dish out of the oven. "God hates me, doesn't he?" I said in a low voice, leaning my upper body against the island, so I practically laid on top of it. "What have I done to be punished so? Is it all the sex? Cause I could cut down, you know..." I trailed off with a pout and then sighed. "Who am I kidding? That's not going to happen. I'm so screwed."
Darren placed the dish on top of the stove and removed his oven mitts. Walking over to me, he rubbed his gloved hand up and down my back. Darren had, unfortunately, started wearing them again when we came back from hiding. Though he only wore them while working. After hours, all his bare fingers and the rest of him was for me.
"You are not being punished. I do not think God cares how much sex you are having as long as you're a good person."
I stared up at Darren in disbelief. "Do you really think we have any say in the matter? For all, we know we've already sold our souls to hell by being bonded to a vampire."
In a flat voice, Darren responded, "If we're already going to hell, what does it matter?"
Jerking back up, I nodded and then winced. "You're right. No use worrying about it now."
"Are you really okay?" Darren brushed a strand of my hair behind my ear, cupping my face with his hand. "You have quite a bit of blood on you."
I smiled at him, covering his hand with mine and leaning into his touch. "I'm good. Most of it’s not mine. Promise."
"Alright." Darren leaned forward and gave me a chaste kiss. "Then go clean up before our guest starts getting suspicious."
I glanced back at the dining room door. "You think? I'm just waiting for one of the guys to slip up and flash their fangs at him." I sighed heavily. Loud, rambunctious laughter came from the dining room, making me nervous. "I better hurry. Keep an eye on him? I don't want to have to hide a body today."
Darren smiled slightly. "Yes. Go on."
Casting one more worried look in the direction of the dining room, I headed for the servant stairs. Each step up the stairs reminded me of every punch and kick that had landed today. Even hunting during the day, vampires were still ten times stronger than me and they hit like it too. The trick was not to get hit. A lesson I was learning the hard way.
When I arrived in my room, I closed the door and sagged against it. For a moment, I didn't have to worry about anything. Not about the hunters. Not the vampires that I'd have to hunt and kill in the future. Not even the lawyer downstairs. For just a moment, I was only Piper. Ex-maid and lover to one human servant and five vampires, soon to be six if the way things with Marcus and I were going continued.
My face flushed once more in memory of how he had reacted to me in the kitchen. I unhooked the knife sheaths from my wrists and found the ones on my legs. I sat them on the nearby table and worked on undoing the leather belt of my pants. While most of the hunters used swords or poison-soaked arrows to kill their vamps, there were a few who used guns. A wooden tipped bullet would go through a vampire’s heart just as well as a wooden stake. Though, you needed to blow their head off just to be sure.
As I unlaced my boots, I wondered briefly why I hadn't broken down from all the blood and gore I'd seen in the last week or so. My life was so much different than it had been when I began this job. Not only because of the men in my life, but the job I was doing now. I'd never been the squeamish type, but I expected to at least feel something about killing people.
Maybe it was because I was thinking about it now and not focusing on my own pain, but the moment my feet both were on the ground again, they were rushing to the bathroom. I fell before the toilet and vomited. I emptied everything out of my stomach, and dry heaved until snot and tears trailed down my face, and my hands were shaky on the sides of the toilet seat.
Something cold touched the back of my neck, making me jerk away from it.
Wynn stood over me, his hand holding a wet cloth to my neck. "Hello, love." He used his other hand to pull my hair away from my face.
"Hi." I smiled weakly, shifting away from the toilet and taking the cloth from him. "Thanks."
Wynn flushed the toilet and turned on the shower for me before kneeling. "Of course." He didn't ask me why I was throwing up. He didn't try to reason it. He simply knelt before me, pulling one sock off and then the other. When he reached for the bottom of my tank top, I leaned forward so he could lift it up and over my head. I sank back against the outside of the tub, flinching at the cold surface, but I didn't move away from it. I needed that difference in temperature right now.
Getting my pants off was a bit trickier with me sitting on the ground, I lifted my hips as Wynn dragged them down my legs with my panties. One would think it would be a sexy action, but the only thing I was thinking about was not passing out. I couldn't leave Jack down there with the wolves about to descend.