Nick parked his car a couple blocks from The Witch’s Brew. The truth was he needed a few minutes of brisk walking to wear off some of the adrenalin that had built up inside him. The word ‘overnighter’ was irritating the hell out of him and he wanted to find out if Gypsy’s definition of the word was the same as his. That… and this was as good excuse as any to get away from Devon and the mess he was in.

He knew Devon would do anything for Envy, but that temper tantrum of his was going a bit too far. Nick blew his breath out wondering if he would have handled it any better than his big brother… doubtful. It also had to suck to have your personal thoughts exposed like that… especially when your thoughts involved injuring someone. If thoughts were a sin then this world was in big trouble.

The funny thing was, between Devon and Trevor; Nick thought that Trevor was in the right mind frame. Trevor hadn't been in pain long enough to plan a whole murder… unlike Devon, who had probably already decided where to bury the body. While he had the feeling that Trevor was just being nice for show… at least the cop was making an effort to not let his personal feelings toward Devon get in the way.

Right now, the two of them needed to work together and make sure Envy was as comfortable and happy as possible. So far… that wasn’t happening. If this kept going the way it was, it could cause Envy to stress herself out and lose the baby.

“Idiots,” he muttered to himself.

Turning the last corner, Nick saw a man leaning against the front window of The Witch’s Brew and quickly stepped out of sight. The man was standing perfectly still with his palms flat against the glass… just staring in like a voyeur.

‘What do we have here, the overnighter… or a stalker?’ Nick cocked an eyebrow giving the guy the once-over. The man looked like a playboy in his Armani and gold jewelry, not counting his hundred dollar ‘I’m cooler than you’ haircut. He flipped his long bangs out of his face mentally denying the jealous streak he was feeling.

Nick bent down and picked up a rock, rolling it around in his hand before giving it a hard sling. It hit the lamppost behind the man with a loud ping, sounding almost too loud in the twilight evening.

When the man’s head jerked around to see what had made the sound, Nick caught the unnatural glow of his eyes when the light shimmered across them just right. He growled inwardly wondering if the city would ever be rid of all the damn vampires.

Silently slipping his pistol from its holster, Nick made sure to keep it hidden in the shadows while he double checked to make sure the chamber was loaded. The last thing he wanted to do was wound the dangerous creature instead of killing it. He tightened the silencer deciding he didn’t need an audience for this.

Why a vampire would be hanging out around The Witch’s Brew was beyond him… especially since the place sold things that killed them.

Peeking around the brick outcropping, Nick raised his left arm and put the vampire in the gun’s crosshairs. Pulling back on the trigger, he smirked when the vampire actually turned and looked at him just before the bullet hit him above the right eye.

Nick moved from his hiding spot fast enough to catch the blood sucker before he fell. He took note of some pedestrians looking his way and sighed in relief. To the onlookers, it just appeared to be two buddies out for a night of drinking who had to hold each other up. He swayed a little to make it look good before rounding the corner of the building and dumping the body behind the trash dumpster.

He stood there a moment before toeing the vampire to make sure he stayed dead. He felt something shift in the air and turned toward the mouth of the alley just in time to see another vampire coming at him.

These city vampires were cowards and hardly ever traveled alone. Couldn’t say he blamed them with all of the demons running around. He frowned at the discomforting change in the city’s food chain.

The vampire leapt toward him and Nick held his arms out, catching the vampire by the cloth of his shirt. He used the momentum to send him flying down the alley. He cursed when he felt the vampire grab hold of his gun and pull it from his hand. It was a good thing his finger wasn’t on the trigger or the bullet would have missed the critter entirely.

“You killed Bernard,” the vampire hissed.

Nick glanced down at the dead vamp, “Don’t worry, you’ll be joining your lover soon.”

“Shifter trash,” the vampire cursed and came at him.

Nick bent his legs at the knee and let his instincts take over. The vampire began tracing toward him and Nick was glad Michael had shown him how to counteract this trick. It wasn’t hard for a vampire to accomplish, but it was something that took a while for the newly born vampires to learn how to do flawlessly.

This blood sucker could do it, but he seemed to flicker as though he was moving through a strobe light rather than a smooth transition from one place to the other.

“Sloppy,” Nick muttered and reached for the sheath strapped to the back of his jeans. Just as the vampire was on top of him, Nick withdrew the wooden dagger and stabbed it deep into the vampire’s throat.

Thick, dark blood poured from the wound and all over Nick’s hand. He flexed his wrist and the dagger broke off, leaving the pine wood buried inside the vampire. His head cocked to the side in a feline fashion as the vamp staggered back a couple of steps before gurgling something unintelligible and falling over.

Nick decided to make sure the thing was dead and brought the bottom of his combat boot down on the vampire’s head, crushing it. Lifting his foot, he turned it up and made a face at the mess on the bottom of it before doing his own rendition of scraping his foot on the ground trying to get it off.

Finally satisfied, he went back down the alley to retrieve his pistol and glared at the broken dagger.

“Damn, now I have to make a new one,” Nick complained and took out his cell phone.

The phone rang three times before it was answered by a very familiar voice.

“Hey Nick,” the voice greeted.

Nick frowned, “My number’s unlisted.”

“I know, you’re number is the only one that shows up as a private number.”

Nick sighed, “I need a favor Harley. I’ve got a pick up for the cleaners. There’s a vampire down behind the dumpster of The Witches Brew and another one with a crushed in skull a few feet away in the same alley.”

“Be there in five,” Harley said wide eyed then sighed when Nick simply hung up.

They’d all been instructed not to take the vampires on because of how dangerous even one of them could be. Here Nick was clocking in two of them in the same night… and it wasn’t the first time.

“Damn vampires,” Nick muttered and quickly reloaded the retrieved pistol. Not wanting to press his luck, he came out of the dark alley keeping his attention focused on every movement around him. He discretely pocketed the dagger handle and stuffed his blood covered hand in his pocket… he’d wash the jeans later.

Nick frowned when he made his way back to the door and found the closed sign staring back at him at eye level. He glared at it. How the hell had he missed that thing? In his defense, he’d been a little busy with a couple of fangers. His gaze lowered to the notice… reading that the shop would be closed tomorrow.

“Damn it,” Nick cursed, suppressing the urge to kick the defenseless door.

The overnighter must have been rescheduled. The old saying ‘you snooze you lose’ came back to haunt him. He completely forgot his paranoia about vampires and marched right back into the alley where the side door of the shop was located. Holstering the gun, he tried the door and found it locked.

“Goody,” Nick whispered and kneeled down in front of the door. “This night is just full of freakin’ surprises,” He ranted to himself. “What did you expect? Her to call you and tell you she was leaving for her… overnighter? Dummy, it’s not like you’re her boyfriend or anything. Just because you haven’t asked her out on a date doesn’t mean others won't.”

Nick glared at the lock as if it was its fault. He’d already noticed that the store’s alarm system was simply for show and had been since the old man died. Either Gypsy hadn't paid the bill or she’d had it turned off not thinking she needed it.

He smirked, the deadbolts might be enough to keep the newbie’s out, but this was the city… even he was a pro. The girl undeniably needed someone watching out for her.

Taking out a small wallet-like item, he flipped it open and withdrew two tools that looked like tiny awls. Placing them both into the lock on the door, he proceeded to pick it open. When the lock turned, he grinned and quickly put the tools away.

Glancing around to make sure he was still alone, Nick smiled as he slipped inside and bolted the door behind him. He’d have to talk to Gypsy when she got home about her ‘security’ system. Maybe even offer his services… free of charge of course.

Nick stood still for a moment letting his night vision kick in before walking through the storage area and into the main room.

The store was beautiful at night, the streams of streetlight shining in the front reflected off all of the crystals that were scattered throughout the room. The bottles of potions and scents reflected different colors and the glint of polished silver weapons lined the walls. It was serene and hypnotic to his feline senses.

Making sure not to disturb anything, he moved through the shop on a mission… to find anything he could about where Gypsy had gone and just who she was meeting. If he had a rival, then he wanted a face and name to go with it.

“Jealous? Who me? Nooo,” Nick rolled his eyes at his little attempt of humor. He’d never really felt jealousy before and the fact that he was feeling it now had him curious as hell.

After combing through all of the paperwork near the front counter, he decided he was looking in the wrong place. Heading back the way he’d come, Nick passed up the storage area until he came to a set of steps leading down into the basement. He’d wanted to know what was hidden down there for a while now and it looked like he was finally going to get his chance to find out.

His grin faded and his eyes narrowed. The bottom of the stairs was barred by what looked like an old fashioned vault door that had been built into the brick and mortar. He cocked an eyebrow realizing the store must have been built over top of a bomb shelter. Now if that wasn’t just as neat as hell. The large wheel on the front of the metal door told Nick that it was a combination lock.

“Great,” Nick complained “This place is locked up tighter than Envy with Devon as her warden.”

Rubbing his hands together, he stepped up to the door and gave the wheel a spin. Then, pressing his ear against the door he concentrated, letting his feline senses pick up the tiniest click of vibration. He began to slowly and methodically move the wheel around until finally, he got the last click and heard the lever echo as it released its hold.

“Gotcha,” Nick whispered and pulled the thick steel door the rest of the way open. He felt excitement bubble up inside of him as he realized he was getting ready to possibly see Gypsy’s inner sanctum.

The first thing he noticed was that she’d left the lights on… just not your normal lights. Several crystal vases were scattered around, housing huge candles that would probably stay lit for a week if they were left alone. They added a mystical atmosphere to the room, showing off a lot of the same crystals The Witch’s Brew sold upstairs. From the looks of things, she probably picked her favorites from each shipment and kept them for herself.

Sliding the tips of his fingers over a crystal wizard and then a black crystal dragon, Nick's lips hinted at a smile knowing what to get her for Christmas. His Gypsy girl had a fetish for crystals… not that it wasn’t an awesome thing to collect. She had a renaissance type theme going on that fit her perfectly.

The furniture was well used but in a comfortable way. When it was originally bought, Nick was sure it would have cost a fortune. Now, the deep purple almost black upholstery was beginning to show signs of wear and he smiled when his finger brushed against a tiny rip that had been sewn closed with black thread.

His eyes lit up in appreciation at the display of medieval weapons on her wall. She didn’t strike him as the type that knew how to use them for anything other than décor, but he was alright with that. He’d never cared for girls that come across as bad asses… they made it hard for a guy to play the hero.

Walking over to the computer desk, he carefully moved the few items around trying to find some clue about where she’d gone. Turning on the computer, he cursed softly when he saw it was password protected.

“Well hell,” he griped and started to turn away when he saw something still sitting on the printer tray. Reaching for it, his eyes lit up when he saw it was a corrected flight itinerary… to New York. She’d canceled one flight and rescheduled another.

“So, you left a day earlier than expected,” Nick said and briefly played with the idea of hopping on the next plane to New York but quickly changed his mind. He didn’t even know where she’d gone once she’d arrived there.

Nick put the itinerary back where he’d found it and leaned against the sofa arm behind him. It still bothered him that those vampires had been stalking this place and wondered if he should stick around until she was due back. He toyed with the idea, trying to come up with a good reason for staying.

The store was pretty safe as long as it was daylight, but it wouldn’t hurt to keep it company at night. Gypsy’s return flight wasn’t until tomorrow evening and her security upstairs sucked as far as he was concerned… though downstairs was about as secure as she could get.

Nick cocked a dark eyebrow... that settled it, he was gonna stay the night and guard the place. His gaze slid toward the back room that was sectioned off from the rest of the huge bomb shelter. There were countless strands of crystalline beads hanging to form a wall. Nick sharpened his eyesight seeing through the slim lines into Gypsy’s bedroom and bath.

Moving purposely through the bead wall, he headed into the bathroom and took off his jacket and shirt. Dropping them into a neat pile on the floor, he washed the blood off of his hand and picked up the shirt to examine it. There wasn’t any blood on it but the jacket sleeve had some on the end of it.

Turning the cold water back on, he used the hand soap to wash out what he could before wringing it out and hanging it over the shower rod. He looked down at the bathtub and smirked at the size of it.

His Gypsy had a garden tub large enough for four people to sit in comfortably. Images of her taking a bath all by herself made him sigh and he conveniently put himself in the picture with her.

Shaking his head, he went into the bedroom to look around and arched an eyebrow at the California king bed. It was obvious that Gypsy liked some things big and he grinned as a wicked thought steamrolled through his mind. Walking to the foot of the bed, he spread his arms out and fell face first into the softness.

*****

Warren walked into the main half of the club and shook the drywall dust from his hair. It was a process getting the new extension done, but at the speed things were going it would be ready just in time for their Halloween Masquerade. He had just entered his bathroom to take a shower when his cell phone beeped at him.

Picking up the device, Warren frowned as he read the text message from Kat. Shaking his head with a heavy sigh, he turned off the water in the shower and headed down to Moon Dance’s main room. At least he hadn’t already been in the shower when the text came through… it wasn’t every day Kat texted him with a ‘911’.

When he emerged from the side door, Warren quirked an eyebrow at the state Devon was in. His brother was in his jaguar form with his eyes clenched tightly shut and appeared to be in a great deal of pain. Kat stood over him with her hands on her hips giving him what sounded like a lecture.

The serious expression on her face told Warren that this really was bad. He glanced toward Quinn who was obviously gaining a lot of enjoyment out of it… if the smirk the cougar wore was any indication.

“You need to pay attention to what Kriss told you,” Kat said. “If you don’t, you’re gonna be like this for a while and I’ll feel absolutely no sympathy for you.”

She crossed her arms over her chest exasperated with her brother. Trevor had been gone at least twenty minutes and her bone head of a brother still couldn’t stand up. She questioned Trevor’s ability to calmly walk away. She was sure Trevor felt the same way Devon did… but knew he wouldn’t be moving around if he was thinking bad thoughts about Devon.

She glared at Devon when he growled at her, “Don’t you growl at me. At least Trevor has the semblance of mind to stop thinking like that.”

“Why is Devon on the floor?” Warren asked as he walked across the room.

Quinn smirked from his seat at the bar, “It appears that Envy is pregnant with Trevor’s baby and Devon wants to kill Trevor for it.”

Warren made a face at Quinn since none of that explained why Devon was wallowing on the hardwood floor.

“She was already pregnant and didn’t know it when she mated with Devon,” Kat sent a glare at Quinn for being so vague. “None of them knew it until Envy passed out and Mrs. Tully ran tests to be sure. Now, because the baby belongs to Trevor, Devon wants to kill him.”

Warren squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose. While that explained a few things… it still didn’t answer his initial question. He sighed and decided to repeat himself, “Why is Devon on the floor?”

“He’s on the floor because Kane has Trevor and Devon under a… spell,” Kat shrugged for lack of what else to call it. “Now, when Trevor or Devon tries to hurt each other, or if they even think about hurting one another… they’re reduced to this.” She spread her hands out indicating the idiot on the floor.

Warren frowned, “Let me see if I caught all of that. Devon is angry because Envy got pregnant before she met him and he wants to kill the father of her baby… but he can’t because Kane was smart enough to put him under a compulsion spell?”

Quinn shrugged, “That’s it in a nutshell.”

“Smart man,” Warren muttered then shook his head wondering why he hadn't already gotten word of this from Michael instead of hearing it from Kat. He leaned against the bar and stared thoughtfully at his brother for a moment.

The situation was rather funny, but at the same time he couldn’t believe Devon’s train of thought on this. It was obvious his brother wasn’t thinking very clearly. If Devon did kill Trevor, then where would that leave Envy’s baby. Not counting the fact that Envy would always resent him for it… for denying her child the chance to know its real father. This above all else… angered Warren.

“Leave him, he’ll figure it out.” Warren’s voice was cold.

Kat winced, “Ouch, that’s pretty brutal.”

“You said they’re reduced to this state when they think about killing one another,” Warren repeated waving his hand at Devon. “The only logical thing would be to stop thinking along that line. We can’t force Devon to change the way he thinks. If he loves his mate however, then he’ll stop acting like an idiot.”

Warren watched Devon’s ears flatten against his head and a not so friendly growl rumbled across the room. An answering rumble from Warren silenced the growl and Devon lowered his eyes to the floor before squeezing them shut again.

There wasn’t anything Warren could do to save him this time. This was something Devon needed to learn for himself… or maybe he did need his big brother’s help in this. A slow devious smile pulled at the corners of Warren’s lips as it dawned on him just how to fix this problem.

“I know that look Warren,” Kat said quietly… already feeling sorry for Devon, “and don’t you dare think about it.”

Quinn’s smirk returned, “Should I start carrying a camera with me at all times?”

“Yes,” Warren said.

“NO!” Kat shouted at the same time.

Warren stepped closer to Devon, towering over his jaguar form. “So what if Trevor’s seed is growing deeeep inside of Envy,” he prolonged the word ‘deep’ on purpose just to cause Devon to react… it worked. “The way I understand it… they slept together for months before you ever laid eyes on her.”

Devon screamed and jerked trying to get away from the pain.

“Making love all the time,” Warren continued and tapped his fingers to his chin thoughtfully. “Yeah, I’ve heard that can cause a baby or two,” he smirked wondering how long it would take Devon to become immune to the taunts.

Devon’s temper had forced him into his jaguar form and because of that his animal instincts were pushing him to strike out at the male that was trying to steal his mate. Devon’s head whipped around toward the door and he fought the pain as he started pulling himself across the floor toward it.

“And just where do you think you’re going?” Warren asked. He grabbed Devon by his hind legs and started pulling him across the floor. “Trevor came to this club thinking you were a killer… are you trying to prove him right? And what do you think would happen if you did manage to kill Trevor? Do you think Envy will thank you and run into your arms?”

Devon actually growled up at Kat as he was drug by her. He dug his claws into the floor leaving long scratches in the new tile. Kat watched helplessly as Warren dragged Devon down the stairs into the dance pit, his body thumping on each step.

Quinn put his hand over his eyes and started laughing but abruptly stopped when Kat smacked the back of his head.

“What,” he said unable to hide his smile. “It’s brilliant. By the time Warren is finished with him, Devon will be completely numb to the topic.”

Kat glanced back toward the stairs Devon had been drug down. “Don’t underestimate Devon’s stubbornness,” She remarked. “How would you feel if I was pregnant by another male right now?”

Quinn sobered at the buzz killing thought, “I’d advise you to tell Kane to brush up on his spells… he would ne

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Sanctuary

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