100% Freshie Chapter 27 --PG-13

[librarian_7]

Disclaimer: The characters from Moonlight are copyrighted by CBS, and no infringement is intended.

Special note: This work takes place in the world of Moonlight, but your favorite vamps are not the main focus. Sorry about that; try to enjoy the story anyway. You might be surprised.

100% Freshie

Chapter 27


Waking gradually, Danni became slowly aware of several things. For one, she was sitting up, more-or-less, and had a dreadful crick in her neck. For another, she was curled up like a child within the cool embrace of a vampire, and felt no need to move. She was safe. And lastly, as she remembered the night, she realized that the being in whose arms she rested was entirely unclothed. A flush of embarrassment crept over her. She felt Will’s awareness of it as the low rumble of a chuckle deep in his chest.

“Good morning,” Will said, moving a hand up to stroke her hair.

“Morning.” Danni felt too shy to look up into his face, as some of the thoughts springing into her head were—outside the scope of their relationship. And from what she’d seen last night, the vampire idea of sex was far beyond anything she’d even be able to survive. Even so, the idea that her thin clothing was the only thing between his cool flesh and her body…staring across the flat plane of his chest wasn’t helping. Without thinking, she brushed a hand across his chest to remove some of the remaining flakes of dried blood there.

Beneath her, Will shifted slightly. “Danger, sweetheart,” he said, “you aren’t making this any easier.” He chuckled again, feeling the heat of her blushing cheek.

“I guess I should just stand up, huh?” she asked.

“Yeah, I guess you should.” He paused, not really wanting to relinquish her. As long as she was in his arms, she was safe, or at least he could think she was. “Maybe after you—freshen up, and give me a chance to slip into—“ he smiled sardonically, “—something a little less revealing, we should talk. About last night.”

She nodded in response, and slipped out of his lap to stand unsteadily, glad of his helping hand. Her legs were stiff from sleeping in such an unusual position, and she was trying really hard not to turn and look at him. It wasn’t that she thought he’d mind, so much, but somehow it just didn’t seem like the right thing to do.

When she returned, Will had disappeared, and Danni, uneasy in the big living room that showed too many evidences of Serena’s visit, took the opportunity to go to the kitchen for a glass of water. As she drank, she heard a voice behind her and jumped, startled.

“Sorry I don’t have any breakfast to offer you, babe.” Will had obviously caught a quick shower; his golden head was dark with water. Danni had to smile at how well he looked in the dark jeans and casual sapphire blue shirt he’d chosen. His face seemed a little haggard, however.

“I’m okay,” she said. “But don’t you need to feed?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, but you can’t do it. And it’s not urgent.” He paused. “I’ll, uh, take care of it later. After I grab some freezer time.”

“Ah.”

“I do appreciate you asking, however.”

It was Danni’s turn to shrug. “If you hadn’t noticed, Will, it’s what I do,” she said dryly.

He looked a little embarrassed. “I suppose it’s a little late to be asking, but—are you all right?”

Danni turned away to the sink to rinse out her glass. “Will,’ she said, “can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“That vamp last night—“

“Serena.”

“Whatever. Who is she? Or more to the point, what is she to you?”

“She’s my sire.”

Danni put down the glass and braced her hands against the edge of the sink. “So that means she’s likely to come back.”

Will folded his arms across his chest. “She almost certainly will. Eventually. Last time it took 23 years. But she’s in town, and it could just as easily be tomorrow—or tonight.”

“I’m guessing you saved my life last night.”

“Possibly.” He paused. “Serena has certain—tastes. And she’s not very careful of her freshies.”

“If you’ve been her lover—all these years—don’t you share her ‘tastes’--?”

Will stared at Danni’s back as though he could read her mind if he just looked hard enough. “I don’t think I ever really did, Danger. I was like you, in the beginning—every vamp understands the—the charm of the vampire. We get it, we’ve been there. But her glamour, to use the word in its old sense, wore off for me long ago.”

Danni swung around and leaned against the counter, folding her arms to mirror him unconsciously. “And yet you let me walk into here last night.”

“What can I say? She turned up unexpectedly. She caught me by surprise.”

“Well, pardon the hell out of me, but I’ve got to say you didn’t look surprised by the time I got here,” Danni replied. “So you were too busy ripping up the furniture to call and warn me off?” She frowned. “I’m not putting down what you did, Will—I can see it took a lot for you to stand up to her—but it really wouldn’t have taken much to have prevented it. Not much at all.”

She glared at him, eyes troubled. The vampire broke the contact first, and began pacing in the confines of the kitchen. “The whole situation could have been avoided if—“ he took a deep breath. “She wouldn’t have asked me to share an exclusive. And if she did, I’d have had grounds to refuse.”

“Give me a break.” Danni watched him pacing. “I can’t believe you’re trying to manipulate this. I’m not grass green anymore, Will. She’d just have said it was an emergency. Oddly enough, I do know the principles of exclusivity. I was screwed the minute I showed up, no matter what.”

Will stopped and looked over at her. “You’re right,” he said. “You’re not going to let me get away with anything here, are you?”

“Any reason I should?” Danni asked. “I know you feel bad, Will. But what it comes down to is that your pride got wounded last night. I’m the one who took a bite for the team.”

He shoved his hands in his pockets and scowled down at the floor. “It’s not just pride, Danger. I get so—damn—tired—of feeling powerless. And these days…I just came in last night from seeing Hunter. She’s not good—I can’t fix the harm I did there, and yeah, it’s killing me. So if you want to think it’s only my pride that’s wounded, then fine. Go ahead and think that. But contrary to popular opinion, I’m not made of stone. Then I get here and find Serena.”

“And you manage to take a bad circumstance and engineer it into where once again you’re powerless to prevent bad things from happening. So what am I supposed to do—be a good little freshie and pet you and say ‘Poor Will, it’s all right’? I can’t do that right now, Will, I really just can’t. I’m sorry.” Danni stopped, unsure what else to say, or how he would respond. He was looking at her, but she was unable to read his face. She was slightly appalled with herself. This was not the way she should be speaking to him; she owed him too much.

Will was silent because he simply was unable to argue with any of it. The silence grew, and finally, the vampire moved forward, surprising Danni with his speed as he closed the small distance between them. Danni braced a bit as she saw him blur toward her, but he only lifted a hand to caress her cheek with the back of his knuckles. “I love the feel of your skin without makeup,” he said, his eyes expressing a sadness at variance with his words.

Danni surprised him by slipping her arms around him and laying her head against his chest. “Dammit, Will,” she murmured. “I just—dammit.”

“I know,” he said, his arms moving to embrace her. “Me, too.” Somehow, the act of touching broke some of the tension between them. They could both feel it. Will tucked her in closer to his chest, resting his chin on the top of her head. “Danger, will you do something for me?”

Her voice was muffled in response. “Depends. What?”

“Can you never just say ‘yes’?” Will growled, his exasperation only half put on.

Danni giggled. “Tell me.”

“Take care of yourself for a few days. No vamps. And, Danger,” he said, “I don’t want to see you for awhile.”

She pushed back to look up at him. “What? Why?”

“As was pointed out, Serena’s in town. And while we’re both on her shit list, you could actually get hurt. I don’t want to take that chance.” He tilted his head to one side, looking down at her. “Do you understand?”

Danni leaned her head against his chest. “Yeah,” she said. “I just have one question. Who’s going to take care of you?”

[francis]

How awkward and delicious to wake up like this.
Danni has every right to be angry at him for not warning her. But he throws it back into her face, reminding him of her not being exclusive. She hurt him with her refusal, but that’s just not fair. And Danni knows it.
The exchange at the end just about killed me. They are so good to each other, despite what happened, and need each other. It’s such a natural attraction. How can they ever have something healthy and normal?