Ansuya stepped away from the bar and gracefully moved into the foyer. Kenneth could do nothing but follow her. She gently touched the banister going up the stairs and gazed at the deep maroon colored carpet. Kenneth couldn’t help but hope that she was envious of his house, his taste, and the wealth that it represented.
“Tsk tsk tsk, Kenneth, I had expected so much more from you.” Kenneth’s eyes bulged out of his skull in disbelief. Ansuya turned back toward him and swept her arm aside taking in the whole of the house and the stairs behind her, “So gaudy, completely uninspired. A man of your heritage and status, I had expected rich hard woods, subtle plays of angles and light, simple elegance harkening back to your Italian heritage.” She stopped and looking down at the carpet scoffed loudly. “This is worthy only of the most vulgar gothic in shape and form. I would expect this from a German, Kenneth, not you.”
Kenneth knew that she was trying to distract him. Everything her eyes touched was fully examined and studied. She moved without hesitation and with purpose. Her grace and poise was unmatched by even the most talented of his dancers. She glanced at his French double doors and moved off into his study. He could do nothing but follow.
Ansuya moved off behind the massive desk and sat down, taking her place of authority in the room, Kenneth remained standing. He watched as she tried every desk drawer and found them all to be locked. She easily sat back in the tall office chair, her black hair disappearing into the leather. Her impossibly deep brown eyes lifted and locked onto his. “What are you trying to hide from me, Kenneth?”
“Dual record keeping…” Kenneth was able to regain control of himself enough to silence his traitorous lips. He remained glaring at the dark woman across from him and said nothing more.
She arched an eyebrow. “Dual record keeping…what? Books I’d imagine.” She put a single finger to her lips tapping it gently against the soft flesh. “Why would you need dual record keeping books?” She looked past Kenneth into some far-off place where he was not meant to follow. “You’re planning on betraying your House Head at some point.” It was not a question.
Her eyes refocused on him and once again that barely resistible urge to kneel in front of her took him. His knees bent but he was able to keep himself standing. She smiled warmly at his struggle. The smile faded quickly. “Is that why you keep wolves in your basement?” Her voice was pure ice and promised death.
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He stood there looking at her. She could kill him in a fair fight, of that there was no doubt. She had mentioned his wolves twice now. With huge effort he managed to say, “No.”
Faster than even his eyes could follow she had launched herself across the room and now had Kenneth’s throat in her hands, pinning him against the wall, hovering inches above the floor. “What are you planning, vampire? Why do you need wolves?”
She tried so hard to keep the desperation out of her voice but Kenneth had spent years in the tutelage of his masters and picking out voice inflections and emotions was a particular strength of his. He smiled down at her. “My end run will happen in its time. And not you, or anyone else, will see it coming till it’s already over.” Kenneth managed a weak smile as he felt his throat being crushed under the vise grip of the elder werewolf. He then felt air and the crushing impact as the floor rushed up to meet him.
He gingerly tested his limbs one by one in rapid succession. In seconds he was back on his feet. His body healed itself almost instantly and his pain faded quickly. His vampiric body had always healed quickly, but this was amazing. He guessed that it was a side effect of his drinking such large amounts of blood over the past few days, a useful bit of knowledge of have.
As he got up, he noticed Ansuya had already sat down again behind his desk. He couldn’t help but admire the beauty and grace she wore around her. She was so comfortable even here in his house. She had everything that he wanted his students to have.
She looked at him and gently slid her hands over the deep colored wood of the desk. “How is one as young as yourself able to get such a lovely collection of obviously expensive pieces of furniture and a house big enough to fit it all in?”
“My students.” Kenneth smiled proudly as a look of confusion passed across her features.
“Your stud…ent…sssss…” the words died on her lips as her eyes fluttered quickly and closed.
The room suddenly went completely dark. Kenneth thought for a moment that there had been a black out. But this darkness was too complete even for a total blackout which California had made itself famous for over the past few years.
He felt cold, instant and deadly, settle around his shoulders and then light exploded around him. He felt sensation return to his body and the light receded somewhat to normal levels around him.
He noticed two things, the first was that he was sitting in his leather chair that he distinctly remembered destroying in his rage, not even an hour ago. And second Natalia was standing beside him with an ice cold washcloth and ice water in a bucket next to said chair.
It took him a few moments to fully understand what had happened. He let a smile and a small laugh escape his lips.
“Clever girl,” He muttered quietly.
Natalia let the washcloth drop back into the bucket. “What happened?”
Kenneth looked at her and inhaled the club smell that still clung to her, that and the stench of human sex. She wore what looked like strips of latex that crossed over her torso and wrapped around her back to cross over her breasts, with plenty of skin in between.