Marcus
Marcus came out of the bathroom with Nastasia’s bag and immediately looked out the window. None of the team were chaste, but they usually kept their personal business behind closed doors. Nastasia and Leyla may have had all their clothes on, but they were not being any kind of celibate over there. And Karen was wrapped around Nastasia, not quite joining in but clearly a welcome presence.
With a smirk, Benj said, “I’m pretty sure she needs the bag where she can reach it.”
Marcus glared at Benj and walked back to the bed, placing the bag next to Nastasia’s feet. This close he could hear Leyla’s quiet whimpers and see Nastasia’s body quiver. He could feel his own body tighten in response, his heart rate speeding up as he flushed, bringing his blood closer to his skin where…
He cleared his throat and stepped back. Once again, looking anywhere else.
“You know,” Benj stopped to clear his own throat, “You know, w- she probably likes that you’re a dirty old man.” The younger man was focused on his own bag as he spoke. Marcus was pretty sure it was a convenient excuse to avoid looking at anyone.
The problem was that Marcus didn’t feel like a dirty old man. He felt young. Strong and loose — and horny — in a way he hadn’t been since he was in his twenties. Since he was the same age as Nastasia and Benj. But he was still twice their age. He could be Nastasia’s knight, but there was nothing sexual in the courtly love of a knight for his lady.
Marcus wanted something more and was trying to avoid admitting it.
“Alright,” he said to Benj and Victor, “let’s get everything packed in the van so that we’re ready to go where they’re… done. Nastasia can tell us where we are going once we are on the road.”
Victor
Victor wasn’t surprised when the strange vamps (he knew the woman wasn’t actually a vamp, but didn’t much care at the moment) pitched a pit over the change of plans.
He also didn’t give a damn, which was probably why Marcus had put him in charge of communicating with them. Still, he tried to be a diplomat. “I know, ma’am. Ms. Nastasia is worried about being followed and doesn’t want to put the rest of the clan at risk.”
He pretended to listen, making ‘mm-hm’ noises at the appropriate places. “I’m sorry to hear that ma’am. Ms. Nastasia is busy at the moment–” on another phone making arrangements for that short-term rental they’d talked about before leaving the hotel, “but I will pass that along.”
Leaning his head against the glass, Victor wondered how alcohol worked on vampires and ‘sotii’. “No, ma’am, you are not being cut off. I don’t have a new location to give you. When we know our plans we will be in touch.”
And the phone was handed over.
“Sir, I’mma say this one more time. Ms. Nastasia doesn’t intend any slight on you or the rest of the clan. She is worried because we don’t know how the attackers found us yesterday and doesn’t want to bring danger down on the clan. We will absolutely be in touch once we have a secure location Ms. Nastasia wants to work with you without putting the clan at risk.”
Deep breath.
“Buddy, I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that. We have your number, we’ll be in touch.”
With that, he hung up, flipped the phone over, and pulled the sim card.
Nastasia finished her call around the same time. “I take it that went well?” she asked.
“Bout as well as I expected, ma’am. I don’t think Tamara is bad, just stuck in her ways. Vasil… that man talks like a lackey, and I want to know who his boss is.”
Nastasia giggled. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone actually use the word ‘lackey’ before.”
Her giggles didn’t affect Victor the way they did Leyla and Marcus, but Victor could admit that it made him light up to see Nastasia smile. He leaned into his drawl a bit and winked. “I guess I’m just old-fashioned like that.”
She giggled again before turning to the front of the van. “Okay, Marcus, it’s set. I sent the directions to your phone. Emergency short-term rental for a group of roommates after a frat party gone bad.”
“Frat party?” Karen asked. “Aren’t we too old for that?”
Victor grinned. “Yup, but they won’t know that. Even Marcus can pass for mid-twenties now. That’s a smart cover, ma’am. A real smart cover.”
Nastasia blushed, the red contrasting with those gorgeous black tresses. “It’s one of the plans Mama left for me. I’m glad it worked.”
“I knew your mom was smart,” Karen said. “Not everyone keeps such good sharps.”
Victor’s smile softened and he found himself looking at Karen wistfully. That woman and her ‘sharps’ did things to him, and he had no idea what to do about that. How this whole sotii thing worked, really.
He glanced at Nastasia and saw her looking back at him. “I think… maybe we should talk later?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said, swallowing. “Okay.”
Leyla, eves dropping from the front seat chuckled. “Don’t worry, Victor. She doesn’t bite unless you ask.”
Nastasia bit her lip, but Victor noticed her hand was white-knuckled on the grab bar. “Everything else aside,” she murmured, “I could really use the distraction.”
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