table last Friday night?”
She smiled in the dark interior, the instrument lights reflecting off her teeth.
“Nika heard Vadim when he saw you in line. Something about you caught his attention,” she said. “ I checked you out myself when you came in with your friends. There was definitely something that caught my attention as well. So I took the table to keep an eye on you. Looks li ke I was right. You’ve really shaken things up.”
After a moment I pushed on.
“So Galina is ....threatened by me?”
“Tatiana Demidova is viewed like royalty throughout the vampire world. Born vampire. Abilities from birth that take centuries to develop. Galina's position has more to do with the status of being her mother th a n anything else. She's only about two hundred and seventy, or so.”
Lydia explained.
“Suddenly, her little girl is awake and learning again, making decisions, growing mentally, interested in business, life and chasing boys. Well, just one boy.” she teased. “And, the Elders are coming to see for themselves. She's panicking. Kinda stupid really. If she drives you away, Tanya will only follow you. She must be in denial. Hmm. Don't worry about it. Let me handle it. You just keep the demon things away from Tanya.”
Watching me, she continued.
“Now it's my turn to ask a question. How do you feel about Tanya?”
I couldn't answer, my emotions were too raw and unfamiliar. Elation, wonder, sun hot happiness mixed with fear of disappointment into a confusing jumble. Lydia was watching my face and she nodded. “Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought.”
“Okay, my original mission, before we got sidetracked, was to give you some Tanya pointers. First, she's extremely worried about you. Protective AND territorial. Her feelings are cement, but she is worried if you will feel the same way. I think you do. But just keep doing what you ’ r e doing. She came home floating this morning and hasn't taken that damn sweatshirt off since.”
She paused in thought and I threw in a question.
“When you say protective, is that why she got in Arkady's face? What if he had pushed it, she might have gotten hurt.”
Lydia snorted in amusement. “Please! Arkady would never attack her. He worships at the alter of Tatiana. But if for some reason he lost his mind and did? He wouldn't have lasted a nano second.”
“She's a good fighter?”
“Chris, I don’t think I have the vocabulary to describe just how good a fighter she is. For the last fifteen years, all she has done has been to study and to practice fighting. She’s a natural, and she’s faster and stronger than any other vampires except the Elders. Every day she fights as many fighters as Vadim can plead, bully and bribe into sparring with her. Whips all of them. And now that she’s got a boyfriend , she kicks all their asses in half the time. Like she’s been holding back, but now has places to go, a guy to see. Matter of fact, I think she’s been on hold for awhile and now is making up for lost time. She even cracked a joke yesterday; at least I think she did?”
“No way. What was the joke?” I asked.
“Well, when dusk hit, she shot straight outta bed and raced downstairs. She knew you had been in the house. When I caught up to her she had cornered Deckert and four of his guys, demanding to know who had hurt you. She smelled your blood and was ready to go to war. I got her calmed down, and Deckert reassured her that you only scraped your face fighting the demon thingy, but by then one of Deckert’s guys had pissed himself. Pretty understandable really, ‘cause she was scary as hell. Never seen her do that before.”
She grinned in the darkness.
“Anyway, Tanya apologized and then offered to buy the guy new pants, but they would be black or navy so the next time the piss wouldn’t show up so much. Then she smiled. Of course, they didn’t know if she was joking or
She smiled in the dark interior, the instrument lights reflecting off her teeth.
“Nika heard Vadim when he saw you in line. Something about you caught his attention,” she said. “ I checked you out myself when you came in with your friends. There was definitely something that caught my attention as well. So I took the table to keep an eye on you. Looks li ke I was right. You’ve really shaken things up.”
After a moment I pushed on.
“So Galina is ....threatened by me?”
“Tatiana Demidova is viewed like royalty throughout the vampire world. Born vampire. Abilities from birth that take centuries to develop. Galina's position has more to do with the status of being her mother th a n anything else. She's only about two hundred and seventy, or so.”
Lydia explained.
“Suddenly, her little girl is awake and learning again, making decisions, growing mentally, interested in business, life and chasing boys. Well, just one boy.” she teased. “And, the Elders are coming to see for themselves. She's panicking. Kinda stupid really. If she drives you away, Tanya will only follow you. She must be in denial. Hmm. Don't worry about it. Let me handle it. You just keep the demon things away from Tanya.”
Watching me, she continued.
“Now it's my turn to ask a question. How do you feel about Tanya?”
I couldn't answer, my emotions were too raw and unfamiliar. Elation, wonder, sun hot happiness mixed with fear of disappointment into a confusing jumble. Lydia was watching my face and she nodded. “Yeah, that's pretty much what I thought.”
“Okay, my original mission, before we got sidetracked, was to give you some Tanya pointers. First, she's extremely worried about you. Protective AND territorial. Her feelings are cement, but she is worried if you will feel the same way. I think you do. But just keep doing what you ’ r e doing. She came home floating this morning and hasn't taken that damn sweatshirt off since.”
She paused in thought and I threw in a question.
“When you say protective, is that why she got in Arkady's face? What if he had pushed it, she might have gotten hurt.”
Lydia snorted in amusement. “Please! Arkady would never attack her. He worships at the alter of Tatiana. But if for some reason he lost his mind and did? He wouldn't have lasted a nano second.”
“She's a good fighter?”
“Chris, I don’t think I have the vocabulary to describe just how good a fighter she is. For the last fifteen years, all she has done has been to study and to practice fighting. She’s a natural, and she’s faster and stronger than any other vampires except the Elders. Every day she fights as many fighters as Vadim can plead, bully and bribe into sparring with her. Whips all of them. And now that she’s got a boyfriend , she kicks all their asses in half the time. Like she’s been holding back, but now has places to go, a guy to see. Matter of fact, I think she’s been on hold for awhile and now is making up for lost time. She even cracked a joke yesterday; at least I think she did?”
“No way. What was the joke?” I asked.
“Well, when dusk hit, she shot straight outta bed and raced downstairs. She knew you had been in the house. When I caught up to her she had cornered Deckert and four of his guys, demanding to know who had hurt you. She smelled your blood and was ready to go to war. I got her calmed down, and Deckert reassured her that you only scraped your face fighting the demon thingy, but by then one of Deckert’s guys had pissed himself. Pretty understandable really, ‘cause she was scary as hell. Never seen her do that before.”
She grinned in the darkness.
“Anyway, Tanya apologized and then offered to buy the guy new pants, but they would be black or navy so the next time the piss wouldn’t show up so much. Then she smiled. Of course, they didn’t know if she was joking or
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