Dangerous liaison

With minimal traffic to slow them down, the trio managed to made it back to the apartment in less time than it had taken Dagaz to drive to the club originally. Contrary to popular belief, the city did in fact sleep, leaving the roads blissfully empty as most people were safely tucked away in their beds at this time of night.

Dagaz hated driving in silence, being cooped up in the car with nothing but the sound of his own thoughts wasn't healthy. If he'd have been on his own, as he used to be enjoying the simple pleasure of taking one of his many cars out for a late night drive to gather relax (he did some of his best thinking behind the wheel of a car) he would have had the window down and the radio on. Cars and music were the perfect accompaniment to each other, they went together like peanut butter and jelly, a timeless combination. He desperately wanted to reach for the dial, to find something to play that would cut through the silence, but his fingers kept a tight grip on the wheel, either through courtesy so as not to disturb his passengers, or fear at waking two possibly hungover women with loud music.

He chose to leave the music off, and by extension to live.

Even as the road stretched out before him to meet the horizon, Dagaz no longer feared the rising Sun that would soon crest over it. Well, he had learnt enough to fear then Sun itself, and the destruction it wrought, but no longer feared then coming dawn. On some instinctual level, he could sense how far off it was now, how long he had to find shelter, and knew he had the luxury of time in his side for before it arrived.

The road snaked its way though the outskirts of the city, never quite finding its way towards the hustle and bustle of the city proper. Dagaz had chosen to live away from the built up city centre through choice rather than necessity, where your money bought you a fraction of what it would if you decided to live further out, and a space infinitely less private. Whilst he could have afforded to dwell where he wanted, he chose space and privacy over prestige.

The apartment appeared before him, towering above. He may not have owned the entire building (yet), but he was comfortable sharing it with others for now. He knew the buildings few other residents in passing, they like he valued their privacy and kept mostly to themselves, tending to own either entire floors or suites of rooms to grant them such.

Steering the car down a concealed ramp that led to the underground parking lot, Dagaz pulled their car into an empty spot and killed the engine.

With the sound of the engine no longer filling his ears, all he could hear was the soft roar coming from inside the vehicle. The small trickle of dribble leaking from the corner of Ava's mouth into his shoulder, and the light imprint of the cars wall against Cayla's face did nothing to impede their beauty. Even dishevelled from falling asleep, they were still gorgeous. Gorgeous, but snoring heavily.

More intimately familiar with his own strength after his encounter in the lot earlier, he knew he didn't have to risk waking either women and facing their wrath. With the care of a bomb disposal technician, he carefully opened one of the passenger doors, taking great pain to make as little noise as possible, he snaked his hand beneath Ava and lifted her gently from her seat and into his arms.

Making his way towards the penthouse elevator, he noticed the flaw in his plan to carry the women up to the apartment, namely being that he needed his thumb-print to activate the mechanism. Said thumb that was currently pressed tightly against the woman sleeping in his arms thigh. With some considerable effort, he managed to shift her weight to lean on his shoulder and one of his arms, and was surprised to find that even then she still weighed next to nothing. He felt as if her could have lifted her with a finger. Taking care not to bang Ava's head as he did it, he stretched out, edging his now free thumb against the scanner, and watched as the panel lit up to display the word 'P'. The doors, and Dagaz both let out a soft hiss as they closed.

Taking Ava to the bedroom, he settled her in the bed before making his way back down to the car to retrieve Cayla. Trying to get that one out of the car proved to be more problematic than the first woman.

"Lemme alone. Comfy." Her eyes never opened, yet she protested against Dagaz's efforts to lift her from the backseat. He knew he could have just scooped her up regardless, but tactfulness was the name of the game and not brute ****. Not having any idea if it would actually work, he lent in close to whisper in her ear. This close, he could smell her perfume on her skin — and more than a hint of Ava's mixed in with it. I wonder just how close they danced? he wondered. Maybe he'd find out if he asked nicely. His lips pressed softly by her ear, Dagaz whispered into it.

"Trust me."

He tried lifting her from the seat again, and on this attempt he was successful. He couldn't say for sure if what he had suggested had worked, but he felt Cayla relax, sinking into his arms a little more, and heard a contented sigh from her as she nuzzled her face into his chest.

He still didn't know what he was going to do with her, the invitation to come back to his apartment had been less his idea and more Ava and hers. He'd simply been pulled along for the ride, and had been unable to resist the wants of one beautiful woman, let alone two. Two, he suspected, was just fate bitch-slapping him in order to balance the universe's karmic scales for him nearly killing Ava, and who was he to argue with karma.

That still didn't do much towards figuring out his dilemma though, he knew little of Ava, and even less about their new guest. By far the wisest course of action would be to simply wake Cayla, and send her in her way. He could say Ava had taken ill, perhaps changed her mind about wanting her company, any excuse to fob her off and simplify his situation. Yet despite himself, he found himself still carrying her towards the elevator, found himself once again scanning his thumb to take them to the penthouse.

As he laid Cayla down next to Ava on his bed, his mind was still telling himself that he could stop this situation, even as his body was showing him the opposite. For better or worse, there were now two sleeping beauties in his bed, and only one man available, and he was about as far from Prince Charming as can be. He also had no intention of waking them, with a kiss or otherwise. Far better to let them sleep of their individual hangovers and rouse of their own accord he thought. Cayla had shown enough sass when they'd spoken previously to make Dagaz rightfully cautious of getting on her bad side, and he dreaded to think what effect her attitude may have had in Ava already.

Retreating from his room, and feeling a little regretful that he hadn't actually had any sleep in his own bed for almost two weeks now, he left the ladies to slumber. Tomorrow, he promised himself, he would sleep in his bed, company be damned. They could either take the guest room, or share with him. Not the worst idea he'd ever entertained, but the fact that it had entered his head so quickly wasn't lost on him, if he was being honest with himself he'd been anticipating — no, predicting —the prospect of both women sharing his bed with him since he'd agreed to Cayla coming back with them.

The only question was how long the liaison lasted, and how frequently it would occur. He trusted Ava, she'd had at least one drop of his blood so far, and if he gave her another drink he'd almost be able to ensure her complicity, not that he was sure that was something he wanted yet. He kind of liked her spirit, and that wasn't something he wanted to stifle, even if by doing so he could secure her loyalty.

So he resolved to bring Cayla on side via the same way. He would feed her his blood, just the once for now; enough to illicit feelings towards him if none already existed, or to amplify any that were already there. As for the how, he'd figure that out later, although he did intend to try something slightly different with her than he had done with Ava — he intended to feed Cayla a greater volume of his blood than the single drop he'd mixed into Ava's coffee when he'd given her his blood.

Retreating to his study, Dagaz fixed himself a decent drink in order to banish the ghost of the truly abysmal whisky he'd consumed earlier. The first single malt helped the memory fade, but the second well and truly eradicated it. Hesitant as he was to check his computer, he knew that he'd been so swept up in recent events that he had seriously neglected his work, and that simply wouldn't do. Even creatures such as he needed a source of income it seemed, and wasn't about to compromise on the life style he was accustomed to just because he'd changed species.

Delving it to his unread emails with the reckless abandon of someone who wanted this over with as quickly as possible, he began to whittle the number of messages down gradually. Most were ones for work he had previously completed, alongside confirmation of payments made into his many bank accounts, but a few were requests for new endeavours. He checked the totals in the accounts, and was happy with the figures he saw waiting for him within them. A small fortune to most people — for him, enough to live comfortably on, for the next few months at least. Although that only accounted for a bachelors life style, it didn't take into account a bachelor now likely having to keep two women fed and clothed.

Speaking of keeping them, he still needed to remedy the fact of Ava only having a single dress here. In all likely hood, Cayla was now in the same situation, and neither women seemed eager to return to their own lodgings to collect any possessions. He'd promised Ava a shopping trip, maybe he would take her new friend along too. It made sense to get them both set up together, even if he had no idea where he would store their new wardrobes. His walk-in closet was full, and the guest room (who'd have thought) didn't have a walk in, the space having been given over to the en-suite. We'll, that was a problem for tomorrow. As soon as they woke, he'd take them both on a shopping spree, and let tomorrow him deal with the issue of where the hell they were going to store everything they bought.

Tonight him however, was smart enough to find a shopping mall relatively close that was open all night. He could have ordered everything online to be delivered, but he didn't want to break his word. He'd promised a shopping trip, not a shopping delivery, and he intended to see it through. Plus it was a chance to show off a little to both women, and that was something he was actually looking forward to. As chauvinistic as it may have been, he wanted to impress them, to make them like him — despite the blood bond.

So, let the ladies recover, then whisk them away on a shopping trip. A solid plan even if he did say so himself. He'd have to make a few detours whilst they were at the mall, aside from the two new wardrobes he was intending to help them select, he was a pragmatist, and knew full well that clothes alone wouldn't improve the situation of three people now sharing his apartment, however large it may be. He only owned certain things in single quantities, having led the life of a bachelor religiously until now. The few women that had been privy to being invited back to his home hadn't had the invitation extended past the first morning, and any longer term liaisons had tended to take place in foreign locales.

That meant purchasing some of the simpler things in life. He did debate having his maid purchase them for him, but he figured he may need a convenient excuse to take a break from the ladies whilst they tried on their clothes. Not that he wasn't exceeding looking forward to the prospect of watching the pair of them in various states of undress — he was — but he also knew that after seeing what was sure to be the hundredth variation of the same outfit without either of them making a decision that he would welcome the escape.

Across the apartment, his ears detected the first sounds of movement, although at this distance it was hard to tell who it was. Being as tangled on the bed as they were, it could have been either of the women, although he suspected Ava was still fast asleep. Good, he had been looking forward to having a chance to talk with Cayla separately, and this would afford him the perfect opportunity to slip her his blood also. Once he figured out how he was going to do so, he suspected she probably wasn't in the mood for coffee right now. Between the time she'd spent asleep on the ride back, and the time spent curled up against Ava in his bed since they'd been back she'd had a little over 3 hours recovery time. Not nearly long enough for her to have cleared the **** in her system unless she had the constitution of a concrete elephant.

He listened as she tried to make her way across the floor, attempting stealth but failing spectacularly as she tried to creep across the hardwood floors on what sounded like tip toes. He heard her find her way towards the kitchen, and the sound of the tap being run. Glass clinked against metal as she made herself a drink to quench her thirst, followed by said glass being dumped unceremoniously into the sink. His ears heard her discover the location of the bathroom, and he made a conscious choice to allow her to relieve herself without his eavesdropping. His gallant decision proved his undoing though, as he stopped listening for a little too long. He missed the sounds of her flushing the toilet, didn't hear the sounds of her beginning to explore his apartment. He was oblivious to the soft fall of her footsteps as they made their way towards the door of his office, and the sound of her hand testing the door, his ears only perking up once more as he heard the door swing open behind him.

Notes:

Sorry it took a while to get this one out, took a few days off of writing to celebrate my birthday :) I'm going to try and get a new chapter out every few days if I can, although you'll have to forgive me if I can't always keep up that pace.

I know character development hasn't been especial fantastic as yet, that along with dialogue aren't my strongest points when it comes to writing, but I'm trying to improve.

As always though, check the updates Chapter for any story wise changes you may have missed, and if you've enjoyed what you've read, please, please leave me comments and feedback. If I don't know what works for you guys, I can't adapt.