Finn the Devourer- Dominance

Finn the Devourer: Dominance By Loki Renard © 2011 by Blushing Books and Loki Renard

© 2011 Loki Renard & Blushing Books All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Published by Blushing Books, a subsidiary of ABCD Graphics and Design 977 Seminole Trail #233 Charlottesville, VA 22901 The trademark Blushing Books is registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office. Renard, Loki Finn the Devourer: Dominance eBook ISBN: 978-1-60968-528-7 Cover Design by ABCD Graphics

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Chapter One “Finn! Finn you damn brat! Come here this instant!” An infuriated roar reached me over traffic, street music and disjointed cursing, the general hubbub of a busy New York afternoon. It was hardly the way one would expect the most powerful apex predator in the world to be addressed Then again, if one did not know me well, one would hardly expect to find me pushing my way through busy crowds with all the enthusiasm of a fleeing pick pocket either. With a well placed elbow and expletive here and there I blended in neatly with many of the other disenfranchised alternative folk. Pink falls were attached to the shoulder length dreads I'd carefully cultivated over the past months and my black pleather skirt, boots and top had more buckles and straps on them than I'd had blood dinners. I bristled with studs and domes and other decorative hardware that added up to one heck of a tripping hazard. This was potentially something of a problem for hot on my trail was a rather large muscle bound fellow who drew appreciative glances as he apologized through the same crowds I pushed my way through. He was Lord Leonard Chevalier to most, Leo to friends and 2IC to me. I ran on and on, not at the super speed I was capable of, but at a slow, human lope. It amused me to do this through the crowds of people that thronged the busy streets because it forced Leo to do the same. At any moment either of us could have sped up to a speed that would have made it impossible to detect us with the human eye, but attracting attention by running though a crowd of people and then disappearing in front of them tends to cause the sort of consternation we devourers like to avoid. Leo and I were playing at being human. The reason for this was two parts killing time and one part keeping an eye on the vampire population. Vampires are sneaky little beggars. They also happen to be our sole food source. A food source that sometimes respects and venerates us and sometimes rises up and tries to kill us. If our relationship were condensed to a social network status, it would be 'it's complicated.' “Finn!” Leo sounded mad, just a hair away from furious. He was gaining on me too. I could tell by the way his panting breath was drawing closer. It was a nice touch. He didn't need to pant. Leo could run all day and all night at the speed we were going and not break a sweat. He'd told me to stay by his side, but I didn't like staying by his side, I liked exploring the streets and shopping in the stores, following my nose wherever it took me. “Leo!” I shouted over my shoulder, putting on just a hair more speed. I knew the thing that would really be annoying him was the fact that if we weren't pretending to be human, he'd have outrun me in a split second. That's my Leo, bigger, better, faster, stronger. “Slow down!”

There was a peculiar urgency in his voice that made me turn to look at him. It was a mistake. My feet kept going, right off the curb and into the side of a bus. I felt a slight tingle as I bounced off the metal exterior, leaving a Finn sized imprint in the side of the massive transit vehicle. “Ooops.” I was grabbed up in a vice like grip almost immediately. The bus had slowed me down enough to allow Leo to catch up without arousing suspicion. He looked around, panicked as human eyes stared at the pair of us and at the bus. “Its the aluminum,” I tried to explain to the dumbstruck crowd. “Cheap Chinese stuff not made in America. Also, miracles.” I flashed a careful smile, bright enough to be charming, not so wide as to show off my fangs. Leo had my collar very tightly in his fist and he lowered his head to speak into my ear with a low, stern growl. “When I tell you to run, you run as fast as you can, understand? We'll meet by the park.” I nodded. The crowd's surprise was starting to turn to awe and fear. Typical human reaction. First comes shock, then comes awe, then comes fear, then comes chasing with pointy sticks. We weren't in any real danger of course, we could have turned on them and ripped though them with our fangs, turning every witness in the area into shishkehuman in about as much time as it might have taken one of them to slice and dice a salad. But that wasn't the done thing, and we, as creatures of habit, were not about to do it. “Go!” Leo commanded. He let go of my collar and I took to my heels at my true speed. As I propelled myself into the far distance I heard a faint gasp in the background that was really the combined shouts and shrieks of a crowd of people seeing two strangers disappear into thin air before their very eyes. Leo would be worried, but I wasn't too concerned about the exposure. Officials would put it all down to mass hysteria, if they knew what was good for them. I didn't know what we'd do about the me sized shape in the bus. That was someone else's problem. I was Domina, not a panel beater. I reached the park first. Leo wasn't there. Thirty seconds later I was starting to get worried, but he showed up within a minute. “Where were you, slowpoke?” I asked the question from the branches of the tree where I'd secreted myself. “I flattened out the hole in the bus first,” Leo explained. He did not look pleased. His jaw was clenched in a way that couldn't have been good for his teeth and his gorgeous eyes were narrowed at me in irritation. He'd been given to irritation a lot more lately, and my repeated suggestions that perhaps he was on his period had not helped overly. “Good idea,” I smiled charmingly. “You always have the best ideas, Leo.” I tried buttering him up. It wasn't a completely successful attempt.

“Let's go back to the hotel,” Leo said curtly. “I will deal with you there.” I didn't like the way he said 'deal with'. Leo only had one way of 'dealing with' me, and I never enjoyed it. “Come on Leo, it was an accident. It could have happened to anyone.” “But it didn't happen to anyone, it was something you did,” he said, waggling his finger up towards me in a way that would have made it look very much as if he was lecturing a tree to the casual onlooker. “Something foolish and careless. Now come down out of that tree and we will see about your behavior.” He was quickly regaining his native sense of calm which was a good thing, but I knew that didn't mean I was off the hook. “Leo,” I whined, sliding down the tree. “It was an accident.” “It was no accident that you were running from me when you shouldn't have been,” he reminded me, as he took hold of my hand. It wasn't a romantic gesture, it was just his way of making sure I didn't run off again. “You could have gotten hurt. You could still get others hurt.” I shrugged. “Others have themselves to look out for.” He scowled as we started walking back to the hotel. “When did you get selfish, Finn?” “I am not selfish!” I stomped along beside Leo, my brows drawn down sharply as I frowned with all the force I could muster. Leo did not respond to my denial and we walked in silence. I tried tugging away from him once or twice, but there was no pulling away or refusing to go back to the hotel with him. Leo was usually several steps ahead of me when it came to heading me off at the pass. We had a penthouse suite at the top of an eminent hotel. I liked to travel in style and Leo usually indulged me. Days and nights spent cavorting on a super king sized bed decked with the finest silk sheets worms could spin was nothing to sneer at. Still pouting, I tossed myself onto the aforementioned bed and was forced to grab for the bedpost to prevent myself from sliding right off the other side. “Finn,” Leo was shaking his head as he spoke. In the past, the action would have caused a cascading of long dark hair, but he'd had it cut short and now it was the clean shaven hard line of his jaw that caught my eye. Leo was stunning. Human women would often stare at him when we were out and about, especially when he was dressed as he was now, in a dark polo shirt that left his biceps and muscular forearms exposed to the sun's rays. I'd told him he should grow a mustache again, but he'd demurred,

electing instead for a rakish, nigh perpetual five o'clock shadow. “Are you even listening to me?” I shook my head, then nodded it quickly. “Yes, listening of course. Yes.” “No you weren't,” he said, crossing the room and taking hold of my ankle. I squealed as he yanked me across the bed and flipped me face down. I'd made the supreme tactical error of wearing a relatively short skirt and it was swept up out of the way moments before his palm landed square across my lower cheeks. I bucked with the pain, but he had my ankle firmly in his grasp and he repeated the treatment with much more enthusiasm than I thought the situation really warranted. “Dammit Leo, let me go!” I hollered at the top of my lungs, kicking out with my spare foot. It's not usually considered to be the done thing to try and kick one's Deux Demain in the face, but if you ask me, once the spanking starts, all bets are off. Leo dodged the kick easily and leaned in, pinning both my legs as he continued to spank my ass raw. “Stop it! Stop it now!” I commanded, but he ignored my orders and continued slapping away as if his life depended on it, as if his heart could only beat when he was slapping my ass. “You're getting out of control Finn, and I don't like it,” he boomed over my commands for leniency. “You're turning into a right little shit.” I stopped squealing and turned my head to look at Leo. He didn't usually speak to me that way. He was usually very warm and kind, even when he was whipping my behind, but at that moment he seemed very irritated indeed. Was he getting sick of me? “I'm not any different than I ever was,” I asserted. “You are,” he said, dealing another smack that made me cry out. “You've always been a brat, but you used to care about people. Remember the boy you rescued from me?” I did remember, thinking back on it. A hazy memory of a skinny kid with no friends. I couldn't even remember his name now. Gray? Gary? “Yeah, I remember him,” I told Leo triumphantly, as if remembering proved anything at all. “You could have killed people today, but you were too busy thinking you were funny to care,” he growled at me. “The old Finn would never have done such a thing.” A little tendril of guilt sprouted in my belly. It must have shown on my face, because Leo nodded determinedly. “Exactly. You, Finn the protector of humans could have killed several today. You know people were hurt on that bus?”

I shook my head slowly. Leo wasn't spanking me anymore, but I wished he would. I wished he'd just shut up and hit me and take the guilt away, but the sprout was quickly growing into a small shrub of disgrace. “You're changing Finn,” he said heavily. “You've been indulged past the point of forbearance.” “What's that supposed to mean?” “It means that ever since your memory returned and you've taken your place as Domina you've been forgetting what makes you you.” I narrowed my eyes. “You preferred me weak and without memory. That's what you really mean.” “No,” he knelt on the bed above me, running a hand through his hair. “Though you did have your charms then,” a wolfish smile flashed across his face before fading into consternation. “But you're not the Domina you could be, Finn.” Ouch. That hurt. I pulled away from him, shoving my skirt down around my thighs. “What are you trying to say, Leo?” I had a fair idea of what he was saying, but I wanted him to say it. I wanted him to vocalize the terrible, traitorous thoughts that had been percolating in his mind for so long. He gave me a cautious look before spitting out the secret. “I think its time someone else lead the Devourers. Someone less consumed with their own amusement.” There it was. “Well I'm Domina and I don't agree.” Leo looked at me carefully and I could tell he was trying to work out how to get around me. “Listen Finn, I don't want to see you hurt. I don't want to see anyone else hurt either.” “What do you want Leo?” I snapped the question. There was little point in him pussy footing around the issue. Neither of us were getting out of this discussion unscathed. “I want you to step down gracefully.” Anger began to bubble up to the surface. “And who would lead then, Leo, you perhaps?”

He gave a curt nod. “If the others agreed.” My voice was dangerously quiet. Dangerously calm. “The others would agree, wouldn't they, Leo?” I knew Leo well enough to know that he would never do anything this ballsy if he didn't know he had support. Leo was never rash, he was always calculated. “This is one hell of a coup, Leo. I always knew betrayal was on the cards, but I didn't expect it from you.” He flinched as if I'd struck him. “It's not like that, Finn.” “Isn't it?” I glared at him. “Why not just leave me in the middle of fucking nowhere if you were just going to screw me over?” “I'm not screwing you over. I'm doing this for you.” “Oh, you're undermining me and stripping me of my powers for my own good, oh, okay.” Sarcasm oozed out of every pore of my body as I squirmed around to stare up at him from my back. Some people might have a problem looking angry when prone – not me. Leo leaned over me, one hand on either side of my head, dominating me with the sheer size and power of his body. “I am doing this for your own good,” he spoke slowly and with total certainty, each word falling with definite authority. Caught in his convincing gaze, I almost believed him. But I enjoyed the power that came with being Domina, and I was not ready to sacrifice it so easily. I shook my head curtly, making Leo sigh. “Do not make me do this by force, Finn.” “What will you do, tie me up and drag me back to Alaunus to be voted down by the council?” “If I have to.” Determination made his expression like solid granite. “Come on, Leo,” I tried appealing to the side of him that loved me and indulged me in almost all things. “I can be better, why don't you let me try?” “You've had several years, Finn, and with each passing trip around the sun you've become worse. More destructive, more self centered. The power is corrupting you.” “It is not,” I said lamely. Denial was not an argument that would stand up against Leo.

He looked at me, his handsome features weighted with sadness. “Finn, you need to step down for a time and rediscover what it was that made you Domina in the first place. You're not serving the devourers and you're not serving yourself.” It would have been less painful if he'd taken a knife and stabbed me with it. Leo was my mainstay, my port in the storm – but now he was the storm and I had no port. I scrambled backwards away from him, crossing my arms over my body in a motion of self protection. Trying to hide the emotions surging through me, I nodded blankly at him. “I know you're not going to like this, but it is necessary.” He was patronizing me even more than usual and it incensed me. “Don't fucking tell me what is and what is not necessary, you damn traitor,” I spat. “No.” Leo intoned the word heavily. At first I thought he was disagreeing with me, then I realized he was marking the end of his patience with that solemn and final word. He moved towards me slowly. Leo was capable of moving so fast that even to me, he was a blur. But he rarely used that speed. He slid towards me slowly, his eyes dark. It was far more intimidating than it would have been if he had merely grabbed me up as I knew he was capable of doing. “Don't touch me!” I hated the way my voice broke with a crackle of fear. Leo would never harm me, but he'd damn sure hurt me if I got too far out of line. “Turn over and present yourself,” he said softly. “Leo, no.” “Turn over.” He swirled a finger at me. With a sense of deep hopelessness and dread, I did as he bade me, switching over to my hands and knees. I closed my eyes tightly, waiting for the inevitable strike. It came swiftly, one brutally hard swat that sent me skidding forward towards the wall, my bottom flaring with pain. I shrieked and burst into tears of shame, crumbling into the bed. I'd known once what it was to be weak, but it had been a long time since I'd truly been subject to harsh discipline and the sharp reminder

shocked me. Bundled into Leo's arms, I curled up, hiding myself away from him. I didn't want his comfort, even though his warmth surrounded me and was already leeching away the pain. “Don't fight me, Finn,” Leo murmured against my hair. “Please don't fight me.” *** Leo tried his best to play down the tensions after the announcement of his intention to replace me as the leader of the devourers, but he had to have known that it was always going to be a fight. Even if parts of his argument made sense, I could not abide the idea of being stripped of my powers. I'd been Lidran's lowliest member for long enough to know how much better it was to have power than to have none. The idea of once more being at the mercy of a hierarchy terrified me. “I know the idea of stepping down scares you,” Leo tried to start the conversation I'd been avoiding yet again. Days had passed since he'd suggested I gracefully give up leadership. The same number of days that had passed since I'd spoken to him. “But I promise you it will not be as bad as you imagine.” I rolled my eyes silently and ignored him. He continued speaking regardless. “The vote is to take place at the next full moon. Perhaps sooner. If you step down before then, you can avoid the vote.” I had no intention of avoiding the vote. I wanted to look each and every one of the council in the eye as they betrayed me. My mind was already whirling with thoughts of the vengeance I would take if they dared strip me of my powers. If they thought I was bad now, just wait until they crossed me. A small giggle escaped my lips, but that was my only response. Leo's eyes narrowed. “You laugh at this?” “I do,” I replied, having already broken my silence. “This is not a joke, Finn.” There was tension in every line of his body. He was worried, and for good reason. I was not someone to be crossed lightly. “Says you, Leo. I find it very humorous.” I bared my fangs in a nasty grin. “Don't go getting wound up now Leo, this is nothing, imagine all the pressures you'll be under when you are the Domina.” “Dominant,” he corrected me. “When you are Domina,” I said, ignoring his correction, “I expect there will be many more trying things to deal with besides me.”

Shaking his head, Leo shrugged his blazer on with easy elegance. “I am going to feed,” he said, glaring at me vehemently. “I shall return presently.” “Toodles,” I said, feigning indifference. He left the room and I began pacing back and forth. Truth be told, I was doubting myself a great deal of late. Was Leo correct? Was I unfit to lead? I did not think so. I had not directly harmed anyone, indeed, the coven had been experiencing unprecedented calm of late. There had been no further attacks by the vampires, no unrest in the ranks. So what if I misbehaved occasionally? What was the point of having power if one didn't use it? Certainly I'd had no complaints from the council. No, Only Leo. I stalked out onto the balcony and looked out over the glittering lights of the city. The scent of burning oil and humanity rushed my senses. With every car, every breath, the city produced its own dirty, sweaty smell. Plenty of devourers would have avoided this place. As a rule our kind shuns humanity. We have about as much use for humans as a shark has use for plankton. They are simply too far down the food chain to matter in the slightest. I still enjoyed humanity, in spite of what Leo had said. They were so fragile, so easy to harm, but I'd never hurt a human intentionally. I inhaled deeply and for one wild moment, wondered what it would be like to simply leap out the window and take a place amongst the peoples of the world. I could conceivably walk among them hidden for years. I'd blended into civilization before, why not do so again? No. There would be time to run away, time to lose myself again later. For the moment, I had a battle on my hands. A slow smile spread over my face as I realized what it was I must do. Leo had been ahead of me up until this point, but I no longer needed to play by conventional rules of consideration. If he was going to try to depose me, I was going to do everything in my power to stop him. Without packing a single thing, I took myself downstairs, hailed a cab and had myself transported to the airport where our plane was, as always, ready for departure. It would be a pity that Leo would miss the flight and perhaps the vote, but that was hardly my concern. Two hours later, I was on my way back to France, leaving Leo stranded in New York. It wasn't exactly cricket, as the British saying goes, but cricket and other sporting pursuits must often take a back seat to necessity.

Chapter Two I had a good day or so on my side I figured. I was counting on the idea that Leo would be reluctant to leave New York without me – and that he wouldn't discover my absence for some time. I should have had at least twenty four hours to find out what had been going on without me. Twenty four hours to undo the damage Leo had done. Twenty for hours to rule them all. A car was waiting for me at the airport in Toulouse when I landed, just as I had ordered. My sway as Domina had not diminished yet. I was transported to the seat of the devourers, Alaunus, in the greatest of luxury, accompanied by a very nice young vampiress who provided a rather nourishing meal. I wanted to be well fed before dealing with the challenge Leo had laid down, it would not do to start craving burgers and french fries just as I was asserting my dominance over the coven. “Lovely,” I complimented the strawberry blonde with the pink hued eyes once I had finished feeding from her lily white wrist. “Thank you, Lady Finn.” She would have blushed had I not just drained her of much of her life blood, I was sure of it. She lowered her eyes, reluctant to look at me directly. I enjoyed that. One quickly becomes accustomed to being treated like a higher being, and once one is accustomed, the idea of being just another ordinary sap is incredibly unappealing. Wars have been fought over far less, and though I had no intention of starting a war, I was certainly girding my loins, as well as the rest of my body, for battle. I looked out the window, noting the gradual change from flat fields to hilly terrain that indicated we were drawing closer to Alaunus. Alaunus was a word that meant 'sanctuary'. Alaunus as a place had taken many forms throughout the history of the devourers. When you do not die, you start to realize just how transient even apparently solid things like fortresses are. Many incarnations of Alaunus had been lost beneath waves or underneath creeping sands. The current incarnation, the mountain fortress commandeered by the vampires during the most recent bit of vampire versus devourer unpleasantness, was still standing. I thought that a great pity. As the car wound up the mountainside towards the foreboding stone structure with its central tower and circular walls I was reminded unpleasantly of my escape from the place years before. I should really have picked a new place for the coven to call home, but it had slipped my mind. The car drew to a halt in the courtyard and wasting no time, I made my way directly to the central chambers located at the very center of Alaunus at the bottom of the great tower. Even though I'd not been inside the new chamber, I knew what it would look like before I got there, a large round room with a large round table at the center of it. When surrounded with a world constantly in flux, a little consistency goes a long way. There were ways that the coven did things for no reason other than they'd always been done that way. Tradition. Some despise tradition and tear it down wherever they find it, but although I certainly appreciated the freedoms modernity offered, I valued the traditions that offered our members comfort. I heard a few muffled voices coming from the chamber before I pushed the doors open. Good, I smiled to myself. I had an audience already. Pressing my hands to the doors, I gave them a dramatic shove, forcing them to swing open quickly. I thought it would seem impressive, and it probably would have been very impressive indeed if one of the doors hadn't bounced back off the wall as it struck and

rebounded into my nose, almost knocking me on my rear. Spluttering as quietly as possible, I clambered to my feet and prepared to pretend I'd done it on purpose. Little did I know that the door was the least of my worries in terms of unexpected meetings with solid, stubborn objects. “Well hello vampling.” Leo's voice washed across me like cold silk whilst I was still getting my balance and seeing if my nose was intact. Hands pressed to my face, I stared at him gormlessly. He was standing at the head of the table wearing a black silk shirt that hung open slightly, showing off his gorgeous physique. As my gaze traveled up his body, his mouth and eyes were the next features to hold my attention. His lips were thin with decision, his eyes glowing with triumph. Leo had always been on my side, but now I was seeing him from the perspective of an adversary and what I saw sent a cold shiver down my spine. Gone was his good humor, his almost perpetual smile. Without a smile, his granite features were far more foreboding. “Leo.” There was a tremor in my voice, but I could not control myself. How had he gotten here first? There was only one way. He must have left before I did. He must have lied to me. He hadn't gone to feed. He'd gone to catch a plane to Alaunus. I opened my mouth to accuse him of lying to me, but I shut it again when I realized nobody present would care. The dominant devourer didn't have to abide by human honor systems, they had to get the job done. That was what made me a natural Domina. I let my eyes run around the room and saw immediately that the thin lipped, but impeccably dressed Mr Jones was in residence. Most devourers were possessed of incredible vitality that made them look more alive than real live humans. Jones held his energies so close that he could quite easily be mistaken for an animated corpse. His skin had a gray pallor and his eyes looked too large in his narrow face. In the tailored dark suit, he looked very much like something that had recently emerged from the grave. His appearance was the least of his sins however. Jones had betrayed me. He had betrayed all of us, yet he had retained his council seat. Somebody should have done something about that. Actually I should have done something about that. I could have removed him by edict but I had been concerned with more amusing pursuits and the matter of Mr Jones has skipped my mind. As I glared at him, Jones met my eyes and smiled. The bastard. He was enjoying this immensely. If I'd had my way, I'd have run him through a meat grinder for what he'd done to me. He was a two faced traitor, a slimy snake of a creature and the fact that Leo had allied with him spoke to just how desperate my lover had become. I tore my eyes away from Jones before my anger got the better of me and looked for the next member of the council. Lady Beck, composed and quiet in gray, avoided my gaze. She had always been an unstoppable force for neutrality, a professional wall flower, if you will. Everything about her appearance was calculated to make the eye skip over her. She wore a plain drab robe and her hair fell limp around her shoulders, hiding her neat features. Astrid the warrior did not avoid my gaze and she certainly did not fade into the background. There was no way for the statuesque red head with the golden burnished breastplate to be ignored. She gave me a slight nod as we made eye contact and I wondered if she was perhaps on my side. We had not always

seen eye to eye, but Astrid preferred direct methods of handling things. I very much doubted she would have pledged her loyalty to Leo without me present. “We are missing several members,” I noted, rather pleased. Perhaps the absence of the rest of the council would buy me a little more time. “It does not matter,” Leo said flatly, crushing my hopes. “The meeting was announced yesterday, anyone not present forfeits their vote.” “All of twenty four hours notice. How generous Leo,” I observed dryly. He was playing a dirty game and he damn well knew it. “There has been enough generosity of late,” Leo replied somewhat cryptically. “Please Finn, if you would bring the council to vote.” I did not have a choice. If I refused there was probably a loophole he'd exploit to get me tossed out anyway. Best to play it as it lay, I thought. Best to find out what was going on sooner rather than later. “We have Jones, Beck, Astrid, you and myself,” I counted out, assuming the duties of Domina smoothly. “Five out of eight. Yours and my votes will cancel one another's out, Leo.” He nodded. I nodded too. “Very well, I suggest that we have an open vote. That way we will all be certain where loyalties lie.” I gave Leo a very significant look before turning my gaze to Jones. “Do you wish for Leonard Chevalier to assume the duties of the Dominant?” Jones' gaze welled with ill-humor. “I do.” No surprise there. “Let the record show that Lord Jones cast his vote in favor of Chevalier,” I said formally before turning to Lady Astrid. “Lady Astrid, what say you?” “I am content with our current command,” Lady Astrid replied, her voice compelling and clear in the chamber. I smiled gratefully for a moment, then composed myself. “Let the record show Lady Astrid cast her vote in favor of the incumbent.” “What say you, Lady Beck?” All eyes turned upon the quietest, but most steady council member. Unlike Jones and Astrid, who had both been quite definite about their decision, Lady Beck seemed to waver. She looked down at her clenched hands and shook her head. “I must side with Monsieur Chevalier,” she said softly. My stomach clenched, but I kept my cool. Leo had won. How quickly and easily the tables can be turned, how simply the mighty are fallen. I'd been brought to my knees in less time than it took to cook a packet of noodles.

“The vote must be final,” I said, turning to Leo, glad that there was the distance of the chamber between us. If we'd been standing closer I would have had a very difficult time not kicking him in his traitorous shin. “Lord Chevalier, you are the Dominant.” Astrid made a sound of disgust, a sound that pleased me greatly. I was not entirely without friends. “Best of luck to you, Lord Chevalier,” I bowed stiffly and turned to leave the chamber. “A moment, Lady Finn.” I turned back to see his solemn eyes on mine. “As my first act as Dominant, I am removing you from the council.” My skull was filled with the insults I wanted to scream at him, but I clenched my jaw and kept myself civil. “Why, may I ask?” “The council is already divided,” Leo glanced quickly, but significantly at Astrid. “Your continued presence on it could cause a schism.” “Very well.” This was not the moment to fight. This was not the moment to unleash the temper that was boiling beneath my skin. Let Leo have his victory. I promised myself then and there that it would be a hollow one. “Then I shall bid you good day.” I walked from the chambers angry as all hell, my fists balled at my sides, my jaw clenched tightly. I wanted to hit something, anything. For long minutes, perhaps hours, I stalked through the halls of Alaunus, trying to make my anger subside as I oriented myself with the place. On my last visit I'd been held captive in the dungeons and later jumped out a tall window and that was hardly the way to get a feel for the layout of a place. “Finn!” I heard the sound of running feet, and recognized the voice and the approach before I was almost knocked off my feet by an enthusiastic young red headed devourer. Teddy. Astrid's daughter, Teddy had always looked up to me, to say the least. I hugged her and saw that her eyes were shining with tears. “What's wrong, Teddy?” “I heard what Leo was going to do to you. Oh Finn, I am so sorry.” “Bad news travels fast,” I noted. “Don't worry about it, kid,” I patted her shoulder. Teddy wasn't really a kid, she was more than grown, but there weren't many young devourers about and it was hard to shake the youngster label amongst our kind. In her relatively long life Teddy had been condescended to and patronized more than anyone else on the planet I reckoned.

“Don't worry about it? He's ruined everything,” she wailed melodramatically. “He's made a mistake,” I said, impressed with my own calm state. “A mistake he will regret.” Teddy gazed into my eyes like a loyal puppy gazes at her mistress. “Yes,” she said, a smile breaking through the tears. “Of course! You won't go down without a fight, will you Finn?” “Not planning on it, Teddy.” “I knew it!” Teddy hugged me again and then dashed off down the hall once more, no doubt to spread the good news among what devourers were present, which wasn't many. I had noticed on my wanderings that the place had a decidedly empty feel to it. Leo had pushed through the change of leadership with almost nobody else around, the sneaky bastard. I wished I had the same confidence in myself that Teddy had in me. Now that my anger was fading I was starting to realize that I talked a good game, but Leo had displaced me smoothly as hell. I thought I was getting the drop on him, but he'd actually managed to manipulate me into turning up for an early vote, sealing my own removal from the council. As for having me removed from the council entirely, well that I'd definitely not seen coming. As I wandered down the halls, my hands stuck firmly in my pockets, I wondered what else Leo had in store for me – and if our relationship could survive it. My feet took me to Alaunus' Great Hall, a large voluminous space set aside for gatherings. When it was full I was sure it would be a jolly impressive place, but empty it seemed cavernous and soulless. There was a raised dais at the end of the hall with a throne in the center of it. It would have been my throne an hour earlier, but now it was Leo's. With a growing sense of loss, I crossed over to the impressively carved chair that was taller than I was and carved from stone. A thick velvet cushion made sitting on it more bearable and I slid onto it with a little sigh, looking out into the great space at the view I'd probably never have again unless Leo let me sit on his knee. Not a moment later, a door at the side of the hall creaked open and Leo stepped through it. Who else. I was like a homing beacon for him. I watched him cross over to me, a small smile on his handsome face. I kept my seat in the throne that had once been mine, my arm draped over the left armrest, my legs resting over the right. He smiled as he drew closer and stood at the foot of the dais. “Keeping my seat warm for me?” “No no Leo, it's you who will be keeping my seat warm for me,” I replied, gathering my last reserves of cockiness. My ego had taken quite a bruising of late. It was hard to be as plucky as I usually was. “We shall see, vampling, we shall see.” He was no longer talking about restoring me as Domina, I noticed. It didn't surprise me. Power is a heady thing. Not many are willing to give it up once it is

gained. “You pushed through a vote with less than half the council present and without a single vote from the rest of the devourers. Don't get too comfortable, Leo.” I smiled a sickly sweet smile, the sort of smile you smile when you'd much rather tear someone's throat out than make polite conversation. “It does not matter, the vote will hold,” he smirked at me. “And now you, vampling, will do well to mind your manners. I do not intend to go softly on you. If you cause me the slightest bit of trouble, if you do anything, anything at all that undermines me as Dominant – you will regret it.” I rolled my eyes. “Give it a rest Leo. You're not impressing anyone.” “Oh, I'm not impressing you?” He spoke in a low, dangerous purr as he approached me with a deliberate, slow step. “What can I do to remedy that?” I kept my composure even though I was squealing with fear on the inside. Vacating Leo's seat with as much dignity as I could muster, I sidled around him as he stood there watching me with a smirk on his face. We both knew he could take me to task if he wanted to, but he let me go as I beat a hasty retreat, seeking the only ally I had left. *** Astrid had set up a rather impressive training arena at Alaunus. She'd commandeered the entire north courtyard, which was well stocked with training dummies and sword racks. As I wandered through the anachronistic display of weaponry, I resisted the urge to point out that nobody used a sword anymore when a gun would do. Astrid still wore a breastplate everywhere and though nobody had ever expressly said it, I got the distinct impression that she was not a fan of modernity. “I'm sorry, Finn.” The first words out of her mouth were words of apology. The powerful woman looked thoroughly crestfallen, the corners of her mouth turned down and her shoulders drooped in a way that made her armor sit oddly on her body. “Don't worry about it,” I shrugged. “It's not your fault.” “I didn't see this coming from Leo,” she frowned as if that bothered her. “It turns out he's more than just a pretty face,” I forced a grin. I didn't want everyone miserable. Teddy and Astrid really did seem to be deeply affected by Leo's betrayal.

She smiled a small smile and shook her head at me. “You're taking this very well Finn, I'm surprised. Doesn't it bother you?” “Of course it bothers me. I'm madder than hell,” I said. “But Leo wants me to do something stupid. He wants a reason to demote me further, if there is any further to demote me, and I'm not going to give him one.” Astrid broke into a genuine smile. “That's the spirit.” “He's not the only one capable of scheming,” I continued. “And he's not capable of leading the Devourers.” “I disagree.” Jones eeked into existence from behind a pillar. I wondered briefly how long he'd been lurking there, and then decided I didn't care. The first opportunity I got, I was going to push him into an active volcano. Or pants him in front of everyone. I hadn't yet decided which would annoy him more. “Of course you disagree.” He smiled a sickly smile with no humor in it at all. “I also think it borders on treason to meet and discuss the overthrowing of our new Dominant.” “It wasn't treason when Leo was doing it to me, and I assure you he doesn't have what it takes, Jones. You've backed the wrong horse.” I flashed my fangs in a violent grin. “Which should concern you.” Jones cocked his head. “What makes you so certain he can't lead the Devourers?” “Leo is good. He's even tempered. He's smart. But he lacks a certain ruthlessness. He's no me,” I said arrogantly. He smiled a slow smile. “Do not be so certain that your Leo cannot be ruthless. Do not be certain that he cannot be cruel. Remember Finn, your memory still fails you. Others of us remember Leo as he was in the past, not merely as he has been nursemaiding you back to full strength.” He had a point there. A point I didn't like. I had seen Leo in limited roles, as my lover and as my protector. The new Leo that was emerging unsettled and scared me. What if Jones was correct? What if I never regained my position? What if Leo was the Dominant we needed? With some difficulty, I

pushed the doubt out of my mind. Jones was a snake. You couldn't listen to him and you certainly wouldn't be well served taking his advice. Unfortunately, even Astrid was looking uncertain by that stage, another very bad sign. “Don't you have anywhere else to be?” I growled at Jones. He folded his arms over his chest and regarded me with the stuffy stern demeanor of a school master. “You would do well to regulate your tone, Miss Finn.” “Would I?” I glanced over at the sword rack. It would be pleasant indeed to pop over to it, pick up something sharp and pointy and lop Jones' damn head off. “Yes, you are no longer a council member. You owe respect and fealty to those of us who are.” “Enough Jones,” Astrid interceded on my behalf. I felt that my face had gone quite hot and red with rage. My removal from the council was like an open wound and Jones' comments were like salt poured into it. “Leave us be.” “Very well, Lady Astrid,” Jones bowed, then looked at me expectantly. He was waiting for a curtsey or other sign of subservience. I flipped him off. His stupid pointy eyebrows rose almost all the way to his receding hairline as I chortled with glee. To add insult to injury, I saw him coming and neatly side-stepped his attempt to grab me. I took refuge behind Astrid where I was fairly certain I would be safe. “She must be punished!” Jones insisted, addressing Astrid. “Not here she won't be,” Astrid replied quite calmly. She was no more a fan of Jones than I was at that point. He had, after all, unleashed a horde of fairly silly vampires on all the devourers at our safe haven. If I'd have been paying more attention when I was Domina I would have thrown him off the council. He'd kept himself pretty damn scarce though, scarce enough that I'd not thought I'd see him again. “Finn, you will report to my chambers for a sound thrashing,” Jones addressed me through Astrid. “No I won't.” “You are not Domina anymore, Finn. You're nothing,” he taunted me. I responded before thinking, darting out from behind Astrid and kicking him in the shin with all the energy I had at my disposal, which turned out to be quite a lot. Jones almost crumpled on one leg, but managed to gain balance as he

hopped around, holding his shin and making strangled noises of pain. “Looks like you're pretty vulnerable to nothing,” I smirked. “Okay, that's enough,” Astrid reached for me and pulled me back behind her before Jones could get his hands on me. “If you'd be so kind as to leave me with my student, Jones.” She was pulling the 'student' card. I approved heartily. If I was Astrid's student, nobody was allowed to touch me. Or at least, I hoped nobody was allowed to. Leo would probably touch me anyway. Jones growled, a rare sound for a creature concerned with appearing reserved and in control. “You are not helping, Lady Astrid.” Astrid did not reply, she simply stared him down with a haughty expression that saw him backing out of the courtyard. “Thank you,” I said as I emerged from behind her. “That was close.” Her lips quirked with amusement. “You may wish to take it easy. I won't always be around to protect you from Jones.” “I don't need protection from Jones,” I said firmly. “Jones needs protection from me.” I meant every word. If he so much as laid a finger on me, I'd hack it off and make him eat it. I still remembered the pain he'd inflicted on us all very well indeed. He was a villain and deserved a villain’s end. Astrid shook her head at me. “He is powerful Finn.” “So am I,” I shrugged. “You think titles matter? They don't matter in the slightest.” “I hope you're right.” I was right, sort of. Titles didn't matter to me. So I'd been stripped of my rank and my place on the council. So what? It didn't change what I was. It didn't change what I was capable of. The only thing it really changed was my relationship with Leo. Whatever trust had been shared was entirely broken now. Part of me, the part of me that loved him unconditionally, told me that there had to be some reason for what he'd done. The rest of me was too angry to care. Eternal lovers are not supposed to betray you with your mortal enemy.

I shivered as I looked up at the tower of Alaunus, memories of past pains endured flooding back as I started to feel hurt and betrayal in ways I'd not allowed myself to feel them up until that point. Before that moment I'd been playing a game with Leo, maneuvering this way and that. The council meeting had been the end of the game. He'd won. Now I was left with the fact that he'd sided with a traitor in order to oust me, the one he supposedly loved more than anything. And he was telling me that it was for my own good. I didn't want to stay in Alaunus a moment longer. I did not like the place, it was overdone, too many pillars, too many carvings, too much ostentatious ornamentation. We might have reclaimed it from Jones and the vampires, but it was evil in spirit, insofar as any building could be evil. “Finn.” I'd forgotten that Astrid was still there. “Yeah?” “It's going to be okay,” she mouthed the platitude and I felt how hollow it was. “Really? Leo betrayed me. You think that can be fixed?” “You have to trust him, Finn.” I looked at her, my face contorted in ways I did not know it could contort. “Trust him! He just screwed me out of everything.” “Yes, he did,” she nodded. “And I have to trust him?” I looked at her askance. Her eyes held warmth and wisdom. The thing about wisdom however, is that it is not always pleasant. “The alternative does not bear thinking about.” I couldn't see her point. “Not trusting him? That's not inherently that bad. Surely not trusting him is my best bet now that he's screwed me out of everything? I don't think we'll be together much longer Astrid.” Her lips tightened as she took a more authoritative approach. “Oh you think not? You think a schism in the coven which will surely happen if you split from Leo, would be a good thing? Who would keep you in line?”

“I don't need to be kept in line.” “Oh yes you do. You know that.” I frowned furiously. Even my stanchest supporters doubted me. That was food for thought. Or crow to chew. Either way, I felt it was time I departed Astrid's company before I managed to bring her wrath down upon me.

Chapter Three I knew where Leo and I would be housed at Alaunus. The ruling suite was located at the top of the tallest tower. It boasted the finest furnishings and the best views. Anything thrown out of the windows had more than ample time to reach terminal velocity. I knew this from personal experience. There were a lot of stairs to scuff up, and I scuffed every single one of them with great vengeance and furious anger that was cut short when I accidentally tripped and almost fell flat on my face. I caught myself on the staircase, just as a chuckle emerged from the room above. “Oh vampling, you never cease to amuse.” “And you never cease to surprise,” I replied, taking the rest of the stairs with more dignity. Leo stood back to allow me to check out the suite, which was impressive in a gaudy, decorated by vampires sort of way. There was black velvet everywhere, and where there wasn't black velvet there was red. The saving grace of the room were large led-light windows that went from floor to ceiling all around the room, much like a lighthouse. “Ick,” I noted, picking at the décor. “It is a little bit over the top,” Leo admitted, placing his hands on my hips from behind. I tried to shake him off, but it only had the unfortunate effect of grinding my rear in a way he found inviting. “Stop it,” I slapped his hands away. “I am mad at you.” “Poor little vampling,” Leo mocked me gently, nuzzling my neck with his fangs in a way that drove me wild in spite of myself. “Do not be mad.” “Do not be mad? You do what you did and then you simply tell me not to be mad? As if that will fix it?” “Yes,” he said with arrogant command. I resisted the urge to stand on his toe. “You know this is not over, right?” “Of course not.” His hands gripped my hips more tightly. “And likewise you must know that anything you do Finn, anything at all will be met with swift justice.”

I sniggered. “Leo, you won't know until it's too late.” “You think so? I know what you did with Jones.” I stiffened in Leo's grasp. “Jones is fair game.” “Is he?” “Definitely,” I opined. “He's lucky he still breathes.” “But you cannot go around kicking council members in the shin.” “Leo, if you attempt to punish me for anything connected to Jones, I sweat to the great vacuum in the sky, I will do everything in my power to stop you. It will not be pleasant.” “Are you threatening me, vampling?” Something in Leo's voice was like melting ice trickling down my spine. He was certainly taking his dominant status seriously. “I'm just telling you how it is. I figured it was courteous not to surprise you,” I said mildly as he turned me to face him. “You know I love and adore you, Finn.” His face was like stone, not exactly belying his words, but hardly projecting them either. “I guess.” “I am serious,” his hands traveled up the sides of my body and he took my by the shoulders, shaking me a little. “Yeah, I know,” I admitted. “Then keep your head down and go with this,” he instructed me. “Nothing is forever.” His words bordered on the cryptic, but that was par for the course with Leo. He loved his secrets. He'd been keeping secrets from me since we'd reunited in the antipodes. For all I knew there really was a

valid reason for him to be stripping me of power. “Why can't you just tell me what's going on?” I sighed and flopped down onto the bed, making sure I was laying on the part of my anatomy Leo most liked to smack. “I have told you. I'm stepping you down. You're out of control, you need some time to come to your senses – or be brought to them.” “Ugh! I am not out of control!” I swiped at a pillow and caught it in my grasp. “I will not sleep in the same room as you.” “As you wish,” Leo shrugged. “I can always find you if I want you. Your anger is like a flame to me wherever you are, vampling.” That made me seethe all the more. Leo could feel me always. He could sense my presence and sometimes, if my emotions were strong enough, he could feel them too. My emotions were usually strong, which made it damn difficult to drop off the grid in any meaningful way. I'd tried it before and he'd tracked me to the ends of the earth not once, but twice. Taking the pillow was a symbolic gesture anyway. I didn't need to sleep. Devourers don't sleep unless we're very low on vampire blood. So I took the high road and threw the pillow at Leo and stormed out quickly, his laughter ringing in my ears as my face blazed with embarrassment. As I hurried down the stairs, I felt my bottom prickling. This was the second time I had fled from Leo, or rather it was the second time he had allowed me to flee. Sooner or later he was going to put his foot down, and I was not looking forward to that at all. *** I decided to get smart. I decided to avoid a beating and instead of going up against Leo directly, I waited to see what he was up to. For days, nothing seemed to change dramatically. In fact, nobody seemed to really notice or care that I had been deposed. That made me rather bitter against the devourers. I'd always assumed that they worshiped me unconditionally. Now I was realizing that even I was disposable. Leo spent a lot of time in the council chambers buried in papers and in meetings. Meetings I was certainly not allowed in, or anywhere near. I discovered my new limits whilst attempting to snoop on a budget meeting Leo had called with his advisers. In my time as Domina I'd not known that we had a budget, let alone held a meeting for it. I’d also been unaware that there were advisers. I didn't listen at the keyhole of course, that would have been frightfully amateurish. No. Instead I positioned myself next to one of the venting grates. Alaunus was an old fortress, but it had not been left

in a state of disrepair. Underneath the stone ran thick cables with wiring and all sorts of technological goodies that I didn't understand in the slightest, but appreciated none the less. Leaning nonchalantly against the wall, my arms folded across my chest, I nodded as a guard walked by. He was a young looking devourer in the black slacks and simple black jersey that Leo had decided befitted our security teams. Secret Service casual. “You can't be here, Finn,” the guard spoke in a gravelly voice that sounded a bit like a dump truck being emptied onto a riverbed. It was just a little too loud and a little to rough to be comfortable with. I noted with displeasure that the guards weren't calling me Lady Finn anymore. I had become just Finn. Plain Finn. The Finn you chase off like a stray dog. “What do you mean? Are the halls out of bounds now?” I drew myself up to my full height, which was not nearly full enough, and glared at the guard. It did not have much effect. He stared at me, his milk tea eyes bland with orders. “You're not allowed anywhere in the inner circle. Leo's orders.” I flashed my fangs at him. “There was a time when you followed my orders.” “Things change,” the fellow said stolidly. Coming from another devourer, it might have seemed snarky or designed to hurt. Coming from this function first automaton it was simply a statement of fact. “Well I don't feel like moving,” I informed the guard. “Then I'll move you on by force.” I thought there might be more to the argument, but there wasn't. The guard picked me up under my arms and lifted me off the ground. He carried me ten feet away from the council chambers and placed me down again. I thought about kicking him in the shin for good measure, but he was not acting out of spite and he didn't seem to take any real enjoyment in moving me about like an oversized pawn, so I allowed him to escape unharmed. As soon as he ambled off to see to some other matter of security, I returned to my spot, straining my ears in order to hear what was being said. “.... apply a two percent reduction over the next ten years,” Leo's voice wafted from the grill. I'd once thought that I could listen to Leo read the phone book and be interested, but after two minutes of discussion regarding fixed and floating interest rates, I decided that the Leo I'd known must have been possessed by a particularly boring daemon. So I did what any caring life partner would do. I burst into the chambers unannounced and hurled a cup of water at Leo, shouting, “BEGONE FOUL DEAMON,”

and crossing myself over the chest, the way I'd seen Catholics do. Unfortunately it wasn't Leo who received the benefit of the small deluge, it was one of the three accountant types who had been huddled eagerly around the new Dominant, desperate to make themselves stand out to him. Devourers love to jockey for position more than actual jockeys do. At my appearance all three brown suited males scattered to the corners of the room, one of them dripping about the facial area. As they stared at me in confusion, amazement, and I liked to think, awe, I realized that I had made a terrible mistake. “Finn!” Leo thundered after me as I ran away in what I quickly realized was going to be a repeat of the New York Finn vs Bus incident, except this time, we weren't surrounded by humans and Leo didn't have to keep himself restricted to human speeds. To have said that he was on me in an instant would have been to make a severe understatement. I wasn't sure I managed to blink my eyes, much less take a step before he grabbed me. “What the hell are you doing?” He shook me by the shoulders in the way you're not supposed to shake people. “Saving your from yourself, Leo. Saving you from yourself.” “What?” Torn between irritation and confusion, he started to growl like an animal. An angry animal. I flailed my arms about in a way designed to draw attention to all the papers scattered about the place. “Look at this. All these numbers. Bland uniforms. Boring things. You're a Devourer, Leo. Live like one.” He shook his head curtly. “This is precisely why you couldn't be Domina. It's a job, Finn. It requires work.” As he spoke he was dragging me over to the table where papers were laid out everywhere. He sat me down in a chair harder than I would have liked. “This is what you were supposed to be doing,” he said, shoving a pen at me. “How about you try doing it?” “Doing what, exactly?” I held the pen by the tip of the nib, as if the very concept of a pen was weird and strange to me. “Balance the books, Finn. Work out where our funds are going, where we're going to invest. You don't keep the power on for free you know.” I frowned. “You don't?” “No.”

I peered at the ledgers, frowning. There were a lot of numbers. A great lot of numbers. “Don't we have an accountant to do this sort of thing?” “We do, but it is important that the leader knows what is going on. If there's no involvement from you or I, then it is the book keepers that control the destiny of the devourers.” I dropped the pen and shrugged. “It's just money, Leo. It's not that important. You sound like a human.” “Just money? No Finn. Money is what clothes you, money is what provides you with shelter. Money is what allows you to go gallivanting across the world at a whim.” He was lecturing me, looming over me with his hands on his hips. “I did fine without money,” I pointed out. “I got all the way around the world without money.” “Because you stole, Finn. Is that what you want for the devourers? Do you wish to reduce us all to petty thieves?” His lip curled in a sneer which I took rather personally. “When did you get so damn moral, Leo?” “I have always been, you simply haven't been paying attention.” There was a gap between us, a distance of not of space, but of thought and suddenly I felt more removed from Leo than ever. I looked at the numbers again. It was a simple ledger. Income on the left, expenses on the right. I noted, to my concern, that the right column seemed to have a great deal more numbers in it than the left one did. I was no expert, but I was pretty sure it should have been the other way around. “Are we in trouble, Leo?” “Not yet, but we will be if we don't do something about the shortfall,” he said, sitting next to me with a heavy sigh. I'd tried to warn him that being Dominant would be difficult, but had he listened? No. Of course not. I racked my brain for a solution. Again, the brushy bush of guilt was wending its way through my intestines. “Well we can cut out the plane travel. Sell the planes even. We can fly coach, right?” “The unnecessary travel does need to be cut,” Leo agreed, “but the planes are necessary. It will not to do to depend on human carriers, especially if trouble ever arises.”

“Trouble?” “If they catch on to the very real existence of those that walk amongst them, those that feed from them and those,” he quirked a dark brow at me, “who slam into large vehicles without sustaining the slightest bit of damage.” “Oh.” I squirmed uncomfortably, feeling prickly and naughty. “Indeed,” Leo intoned. “Well never mind, that's all being fixed now, right?” I smiled around at the assembled devourers in a way I hoped was convincing. They looked back at me blandly, their expressions dour. Was this what dealing in money did to you? Did it make you boring and soulless? If so, I wanted no part of it. “It would be fixed if we got five minutes alone to fix it,” Leo growled in my ear. I'd sensed for some time that his patience was growing thin. Now it seemed that it was hanging by a tenuous thread. At any moment that last thread could give way and the full weight of Leo's considerable ire would come down on me. “Go upstairs and wait for me,” he said, sniffing as he spoke. “And have a shower, you smell like you've been rolling in dirt.” “I do not!” I denied the charge, very much offended. Then I sniffed at my sweater and realized that it did smell a bit off. Devourers don't sweat, but we do pick up environmental debris as we make our way through the world and that can result in a rather organic scent over time. Deciding it was best to appease Leo for the moment, I made my way upstairs and had a long, long shower. I had nothing else to do after all. Jones was a cruel idiot, but he had been right when he'd told me I was nothing anymore. I really wasn't anything, anything more than an inconvenient stumbling block anyway. When I finally emerged from the shower I found a surprise waiting for me. Leo. Naked Leo. Naked and very stiff Leo. Obviously numbers did not have the same stupefying effect on him that they had on the accountants. My jaw dropped as I looked at his gorgeous body and wondered what I had ever done to earn the attentions of such an devilishly attractive creature. “I wish for you to serve me,” he said, his eyes dark with lust, his erection proud. Leo’s physical charms were very difficult to resist indeed and under normal circumstances I would have given myself over to him in an instant. But something about the way he said ‘serve me’ touched a nerve. This wasn’t going to be just about pleasure. This was about power. This was another way for him to assert his dominion over me.

“Come here, Finn,” he beckoned, crooking his finger at me. I pulled the towel tighter about myself, wishing I was not so very vulnerable, so very wet. When I did not go to him, he came to me in two long strides, stripping me of my defense with a hard tug that left me naked before him. “If you cannot be Domina, you must serve as all devourers do.” “All devourers blow you?” I tried for humor. It fell flat. “No, vampling, but all devourers obey me.” He tweaked my nipple between strong, warm fingers. The simple touch sent desire arcing down between my thighs. “You will obey me, Finn.” His touch, his voice, his energy, they were all doing terrible things to me. I was weak at the knees and thoroughly breathless. He traced the contours of my body with his palms, spreading his energies over me. I was fast losing my sense of self, caught up in the wild desire he evoked. When his hand dipped between my thighs, I pressed my body against him, letting him take my weight as he cupped my sex. “It will be better now, between you and I,” he purred against my ear. “I have not done you a service acting as your second. You need to be commanded in all things. You need to be put in your place.” I did not agree, but I did not care either. He was appealing to deeper parts of me, primal, instinctive animal parts that made me spread my legs for him as he cupped my bottom in his hands and lifted me up, settling my soft pussy over his erection. “See how I can take you?” He murmured, lowering me onto his thick cock, spreading my wet, willing flesh and impaling me deeply. “See how I tame you, naughty Finn, see how I show you precisely what you were meant for.” He pumped me up and down over his turgid flesh and I was helpless, held and fucked, unable to touch the floor. I clung to him as he made use of my body, as he sated his lust. I felt his energies washing over mine, washing through mine as he claimed me in the most basic and intimate of ways. We had made love many times before, but this was different. He was not seducing me, he was not tempting me into his bed, he was taking me and he was fucking me, bouncing me against the hard planes of his torso as he sheathed himself inside me over and over again. He carried me to the bed and laid down, trapping my smaller frame under his as he continued to pound inside me. His eyes blazed down at me, the muscles in his face taut with concentrated lust. I was not Finn the Devourer, I was not Finn the Domina, I was Finn, the naughty little slut who needed her pussy fucked. “You will obey me,” he grunted, slamming his hips against me with every word. “You will obey me or I will lash your bottom and fuck you mercilessly.” He illustrated his point with hard, punishing thrusts that made me squeal. Leo was very well endowed indeed and when he wanted to, he could make sex hurt. In the heat of the moment I was too aroused to feel real pain, but if he came upon me without warning and fucked me instead of spanked me, there was no doubt I would be walking crooked for some time. “Do you understand me?” He growled, sheathing his cock deep inside my pussy.

“Yes,” I moaned, “I understand.” “You are too wet to understand yet,” he chuckled, a sexy dark noise.. “But you will.” He pulled out of me, leaving me bereft of his member and went across the room to pick up a small ivory phallic shaped object that tapered at the top and flared at the base. “This is going into your bottom.” “No!” I reached beneath myself and covered my backside. “Yes,” he said, returning with the little pillar. He knelt and began rubbing it over my swollen pussy lips, collecting the juices of arousal that flowed quite freely. “This is going inside your bottom, vampling, and it is going to stay there until I say otherwise. That should remind you who is in charge.” “Please Leo,” I pleaded weakly as he dipped the tip of the toy into my pussy and began gently fucking me with it. “You don’t need to do that.” “Oh yes I do. You have proved you’re not going to accept your place gracefully. Perhaps you’ll accept your place with your bottom plugged.” He slowly pulled the plug out of my pussy and trailed the tip down to press it against my rosebud. “Relax, or it will hurt.” He began pressing as I wailed with dismay. The tapered tip slipped into me in spite of my reluctance and slowly but surely the rest of the toy slipped in, propelled by Leo’s fingers and lubricated by my own juices. It was a strange and foreign feeling having my bottom filled, I did not like it, especially when he seated it with the flared base sitting outside my bottom and patted it gently. “This should keep you in line rather nicely,” he said, very much satisfied with himself. I made a low growling sound and he raised a brow at me as he took hold of the base of the anal plug and started pushing and pulling it with an insistent rhythm. “You’re going the right way to a sore, fucked bottom,” he said sternly. I could only whimper as he proved his point. The shifting of the toy inside me was a complete and undeniable reminder of who was in charge. I did not like it in the least, but I knew well enough that complaining now would only get me punished further. “Don’t pout, vampling. Turn over onto your hands and knees and present that pussy of yours.” He sounded like a drill sergeant, rapping out orders. He could have spoken more lovingly, he could have given his instructions in a way that was more erotic, but he was proving a point. If he wanted me to lift my bottom up and bare my pussy to him, he would get his way. On my hands and knees, I trembled slightly as he patted my bottom, then took hold of my hips and sheathed his cock back inside me with one long stroke. I was his. I was his to fuck, and I got fucked

very thoroughly indeed. He pushed inside me over and over again, sometimes slapping my bottom sharply to remind me to move in a pleasing manner, sometimes tapping the butt plug in a way that made me moan. “Turn around,” he commanded throatily. He pulled out and I obeyed. No sooner had I turned than he grasped me by the hair and fed his cock into my mouth. “You’re going to swallow my cum,” he growled, thrusting over my tongue. “You’re not going to cum, you haven’t earned it, but you’re going to swallow every drop of my seed.” I squirmed my hips, my pussy pulsing as he spoke. He was going to deny me my orgasm. He was going to leave me wet and plugged whilst he pumped his seed into my throat. He was thrusting roughly, and I could taste my own juices on his cock as he prepared to cum in my mouth. “Oh, yessssss,” he cried as he came, his cock leaping as semen began to pour forth, slightly bitter over my tongue. His cock was so deep in my mouth I had no choice but to swallow. He pulled back as his orgasm subsided, leaving a trail of cum over my tongue and kept holding my hair as he pulled his cock out of my mouth and painted my lips with the last strings of semen. “Let me see you lick that off,” he growled. He was entirely consumed with lust, with possessing me. His eyes never left me for a second as I darted my tongue out and lapped at my lips in a way that seemed to please him. Having ensured I obeyed all his commands he collapsed onto the bed, completely sated. His energies were calm, finally at peace. But mine, mine still bubbled with frustration. It was a recipe for disaster.

Chapter Four Unfortunately for Leo, I could not be fucked into submission. At least, not for long. Although I did stretch out by his side and doze pleasantly in the aftermath of what had passed for lovemaking, but was really more an exercise in orgasm denial, I had not been conquered entirely. It was cute actually, the way Leo hoped that I could be made to accept my place through sex. What a masculine way to think. After a time of pretending to be suitably disciplined I sat up, only to be pulled promptly back down and tucked into Leo's strong embrace. “Finn,” he purred against my ear. “Yes?” I kept my voice light and innocent. “One more little stunt. Just one more. I will cane you.” “Okay.” It was difficult to keep up the light and bubbly stuff. Caning did not sound like fun. “And not with any ordinary cane, vampling,” his voice rumbled as he threatened to beat me. “I'll use a synthetic cane designed not to break no matter how many times it meets your sweet cheeks.” He held me with one arm and used the other to trace his fingers gently over my naked body, the tenderness of his touch in marked contrast to the beating he was promising. “You will cry, you might even bleed,” he said, kissing my shoulder with butterfly kisses. I growled and pulled away. He was not teasing me, he was serious and I did not like it one little bit. It galled me all the more that I had to wait for him to release me from his iron bound grasp before I could successfully escape and pout on the corner of the bed. “You will not beat me Leo, not ever, if you know what is good for you,” I threatened him. He turned over and laid on his back, his hands laced behind his head. He looked perfectly relaxed, perfectly at ease. “I will not beat you if you don't go out of your way to deserve it.” My anger returned to the surface. “And what constitutes deserving it, Leo? Trying to get my leadership back? You stole it from me, you know that. You stole it out from under me in an underhand and ungentlemanly fashion.” His eyes were filled with condescending amusement. “You don't want to lead, Finn. You just want to be above the law. But nobody is above the law, not you or anyone else. It's time you learned that lesson once and for all.” He was either messing with my head or telling the truth as he saw it. I didn't know which. What I did know is that he was playing a dirty game. “They want me as their ruler Leo, not you. Don't forget that. Two council members voted for you. Two. That is hardly enough to claim support of the entire coven.” “Has anyone protested your loss?” The direct question hit me square between the eyes. “Not that I'm aware of,” I was forced to admit. “Well there you are then,” Leo said. “You have to be aware of the fact that you and I have always been considered to be a unit. As long as one of us is in power, it is much of a muchness to everyone else. Once you settle down a bit I will restore you to the council.”

“Oh will you,” I sneered. “How very generous of you, Lord Leo. By your leave and all that sort of thing.” I stood up and began rummaging through the nearby drawers for something to wear. It was difficult to be taken seriously when one was naked. After tossing half the drawer aside as being unsuitable, I settled on a tight pair of black jeans and a black woolen sweater. “You look like a cat burglar,” Leo noted as I sat on the floor and pulled on my preferred pair of casual black sneakers with the thin soles. “You'd know, you cat burgled my title,” I replied. He sighed deeply. “You are just not going to let this go, are you vampling?” “Hell no I'm not going to just let it go!” I stood and stretched. “Well, it's your ass.” “That's right. It is my ass. Mine.” Leo had unwittingly given me an idea. It was time the Devourers realized that Leo and I were not the same creature and that he was my lover, not my keeper. It was time I stopped messing around, blowing Leo. It was time I claimed my coven back. My first order of business was to rally my supporters. Actually, my first order of business was to remove the butt plug that felt so very strange seated inside me, a constant reminder of Leo's dominance. My second of order of business was to rally my supporters. Leo was leading me to believe that there were none, but I doubted that. Teddy had always been effusive in her support, so I went to find her first. “What do you think, Teddy? You think we have a shot at the title?” I couched the message in fun, exciting terms. I didn't want her thinking about the consequences of failure. Leo had promised to cane me, I didn't know what he'd to to anyone who helped me. Teddy grinned in a way that reminded me of me. She was more than old enough to make her own decisions, more than old enough to be partnered, but Astrid was a controlling mother to say the least and Teddy was her only child. To say that Teddy had a lot of rebellious energy looking for an outlet was to make an understatement. “What's the plan?” The plan was simple. I was going to remind people why they'd wanted me as Domina in the first place. Alaunus was boring. Most of the devourers had drifted off to do their own things. Alaunus itself was running on a skeleton staff and what few members of the council could be bothered hanging around. If I wanted to get Leo's coup overturned, I needed to get the devourers back to Alaunus. I needed a strong show of support. “Teddy my dear,” I smiled. “We are going to have a party.” Party planning might seem like a frivolous activity best left to people with pink hair and blue nails, but

I soon discovered that it was actually fairly serious business. We started with the guest list. I needed as many sympathetic and easily manipulated devourers as possible at the party. “This is where having memory would come in handy,” I muttered, staring at a mostly blank piece of paper. “It's okay,” Teddy grinned her perpetual grin. “We'll get the directory.” “There's a directory?” She nodded, pleased to know something I didn't. “Yep, it's a file with all the devourers and their contacts. You gotta keep your directory listing current.” “Well that's a good idea.” “It was your idea.” “Of course it was,” I preened myself. “And where did I decide to keep it?” Teddy giggled. “It's a computer file. But only the council has access to the server its on.” “You sound like you know a lot about that,” I noted. “I like computers,” Teddy blushed. “So you could probably get the directory?” The red head's enthusiasm for the plan faded noticeably once we started talking about the nitty gritty details. “Maybe,” she lowered her eyes and scuffed her toe along the ground. “Mom would be mad.” “What mommy doesn't know won't hurt her,” I tried the old adage. It didn't work. “But if she finds out, it will hurt me,” Teddy objected rather sensibly. She was right. Astrid would tear strips off her hide if she found out. But I needed the directory and I needed Teddy to get it. “Teddy you're a grown predator of the night. Time to throw off the maternal shackles and live a little yes? Besides,” I said craftily. “If you pull this off, she'll probably respect you all the more.” I had the directory, printed and inside a handy folder within half an hour. I felt slightly guilty at manipulating Teddy into taking advantage of Astrid's position in the council, but somebody had to do it and Teddy was the only one who wouldn't report me to Leo. We worked steadily for days, getting invitations printed and sending them out at the village at the foot of the mountain, not to mention calling in a bunch of catering in the form of vampires willing to offer themselves up as a feast for devourers. There were more than one or two close calls in the process, and poor Teddy almost had a breakdown with the amount of misbehavior and general rebellion she was hiding from her mother. On more than one occasion I was forced to take her out to the parapets for some fresh air and a pep talk. “She's getting suspicious,” Teddy whimpered. She was pale, more so than usual and the little ginger

freckles that speckled her cute nose stood out like sprinkled cinnamon. “I won't let her beat you, Teddy,” I promised. Her eyes went wide. “You can't stop her. Nobody can stop her.” “I won't stop her. I'll offer myself in your stead if it comes to that.” I was serious too. Teddy was far too sweet to be thrown under the bus and I'd already proven that buses were no match for me. “How do you do it Finn?” She asked wonderingly with the sort of expression on her face that seemed to indicate she was seeing something completely out of the realm of her experience. “How do I do what?” “How do you be so brave? Aren't you afraid of getting hurt?” I had to think about that. Why wasn't I more afraid? Why wasn't I just sitting back and letting Leo take charge of things? “I guess it's because I don't think about getting hurt. I think about getting what I want,” I said finally. She nodded slowly. “I guess that makes sense. I'm always scared I'll get hurt.” I wondered who Astrid had mated with to produce Teddy. Astrid was the sort of woman who charged into battle on foot, swinging a mace this way and that. Teddy was afraid to say boo to a ghost. Too much maternal influence perhaps. I resolved then and there to send Teddy off on an improving adventure as soon as I got my power back. “Practice makes perfect,” I smiled. I was a bad influence to be sure, but I was just the bad influence Teddy needed. Aside from Teddy's pre-party jitters, things went remarkably smoothly. The invitations got out and I managed to get in touch with the local vampire coven and impress upon them that the party was to be kept a secret until the night of the event. It had to be an evening affair, vampires tended to go to pieces during the day. On the night of the party I stood on one of the parapets in an impressive black silk gown, grinning with glee as the cars sent for the devourers came snaking up the mountain towards Alaunus. This was going to be the party of the decade. Leo had been so busy balancing books and penning budgets and putting toys in my bottom he'd completely failed to notice what I was up to. He'd notice now though, oh he'd notice for certain. “FINNN!” I heard his rage filled cry from inside the bedroom all the way out on the parapets and looked up to see him standing at the glass of our room, glowering at me. There was a good fifty feet or more of empty space between us and I was immensely glad for it at that moment, because he did not look pleased at all. He'd either caught on to what was happening by himself or someone had informed him – either way it was too late for him to do anything about it, things were already in full swing. I had the vampires, many of whom had been at Alaunus before, greeting the devourers at the front gates and ushering them through to the great hall. For the moment, he could go and boil his head. I knew I'd have to face Leo eventually, but I didn't intend on doing so until I was well and truly surrounded by supporters.

Chapter Five When I arrived at the Great Hall I was very pleased indeed. The party was in full swing and the excited chatter of devourer and vampire alike filled the cavernous space. Everybody had gone to great effort to look nice and the jewelery on the ladies would have been more than enough to finance our coven for many, many years to come. Leo was silly to worry about finances in a coven so rich in old goods. Somewhere near the back of the hall a string quartet played, courtesy of the vampires, a rather nice touch that added cohesion to the occasion. I moved through the crowd, greeting old friends with gracious nods and smiles. There were vampires everywhere, not just any old vampires, hand picked feeder vampires of the kind that would do anything, anything at all to be fed from. Masochism very much exists amongst vampires and is much prized by the devourers, many of whom clasped my hands and thanked me profusely for the generous spread. There was one devourer who was not quite so pleased however. “Finn, what have you done?” Jones appeared at my elbow. He'd simply materialized out of the crowd in the disconcerting way he had. I took a moment to enjoy his distracted and thoroughly confused expression before I replied. “I have thrown a party, a vote party,” I said pertly. “But there are vampires here. Vampires should not be party to our affairs,” Jones hissed. My brows rose in surprise. His memory was rather short it seemed. “It's not the first time vampires have been in residence here, is it Jones?” I said pointedly. He did not look the slightest bit ashamed. “Leo will have your hide,” he predicted with great satisfaction. “And if he does not,” I said, leaning in toward Jones with falsely sweet expression. “I will have yours.” That was enough to make the old devourer shake himself and beat a hasty retreat. He would no doubt have tasted the very real threat in my words. If I ever regained my position as Domina, he would pay doubly for his betrayal. “Friends!” Leo's voice rang out rather unexpectedly. He had made his way on to the dais and he looked very handsome indeed in a modern cut suit that made his broad shoulders look even broader than usual, his long legs all the more powerful. A small gasp of admiration went up from the crowd and I smiled in spite of myself as I made my way to the dais and took my place next to him. He was trying to take control of the situation, and that I could not allow. I swept up onto the podium with a broad grin that Leo did not return, then swung around to face the crowd. “Welcome friends!” I echoed his greeting, smiling brilliantly. “Welcome to the party. Have you met your new Dominant?” The crowd fell silent. Very silent. As I had suspected, Leo had not announced the change in leadership. I had managed to get the drop on him, and I grinned with glee as I looked at the blank faces and then at Leo's which was tense with frustration. “Unless of course, you prefer your Domina?” I winked archly as a smattering of cheers and applause rippled through the crowd and grew increasingly stronger. “What are you going to do now, Leo?” I leaned towards him and murmured the words rather smugly.

“Remember, vampling, you asked for this,” he replied softly with an icy tone that made my heart skip a beat. A terrible premonition told me that things were about to go horribly, horribly wrong. “So you have come here to see your Domina, have you? Well let me show her to you!” Leo took me by the arm, turned me to face away from the crowd, grabbed the silk of my gown and tore it with one powerful ripping motion that bared the back of me to everyone. Not wearing underwear had been an unfortunate oversight indeed. “She was once your Domina, but is now a would-be usurper who brought you here to be entertained. Well, let the entertainment commence!” Leo boomed, slapping my bare rump with full force. My shout of pain was lost in the roar of the crowd. For a brief moment I hoped it was a roar of anger. I hoped Leo would be forced to drop me and abandon his post as Dominant. My hopes were dashed when I realized that it was not a roar of anger, but the roar of a hundred devourers cheering for their new Dominant. “I told you I would cane you if you tried anything, didn't I?” He ground the words harshly into my ear, his fingers digging into my wrist as he held me tightly. “No, please Leo. No. Anything but that.” I looked around for help, but saw none. Teddy was nowhere to be seen and the dais was flanked with black suited devourer men who looked at us both with professional detachment. “Too late, Finn,” Leo growled as one of his aides procured a long, thick black cane. There I was, hoist by my own petard on a dais of my own making. It would be useless to plead for mercy from Leo. He would thrash me either way. He had to. He had promised me that he would and now he had promised the devourers too. I was to be made an example of. I had two choices, submit willingly and with a modicum of dignity – or fight it tooth and nail. I chose the latter. This day might be remembered as the day Lord Leonard Chevalier beat his consort publicly, but it would not be the day Finn sat there quietly and allowed herself to be caned. My fangs grew along with my intent. I would do anything to avoid the caning, anything at all. “No, Finn.” Arrogant Leo. He thought words would stop me now. I slashed at his hand, catching him by surprise. He let go and I ran, not towards the crowd, but for the doors at the side of the hall. Now the choice was Leo's. Show mercy and let me go, or chase me down and bring me to justice. He too, chose the latter. If he'd let me go, he would have lost face. I'd expected to feel his hand grasping me, what I didn't expect was being tackled to the ground quite heavily not by Leo, but by two of his aides. I was dragged up like a common criminal and marched back to him as he stood there, smirking darkly. He'd shrugged off his suit jacket and was rolling his sleeves up to the elbow. He looked perfectly at ease up there on the dais, surrounded by loyal and increasingly adoring subjects. I might have been impressed myself if I weren't about to bear the brunt of his need to assert himself. “You don't even do your own dirty work anymore?” I sneered as I was pulled up next to him. “Oh I'll do the honors, don't you worry, vampling,” he purred with a cruel smile. This was the Leo Jones had warned me about, the ruthless Leo. The Leo who was capable of things I couldn't imagine. “Hold her down,” he ordered his men. No longer able to escape, I was held in place and though I struggled and slashed at both of Leo's loyal devourers, they were savvy enough to keep themselves

away from my dangerous fangs. The crowd fell silent as Leo tapped the cane against my behind, measuring his swing. He brought it back, then swiftly cracked it across my bottom. With my shriek of pain, the crowed erupted into a roar of approval. Another stroke landed, then another, almost too painful to describe. With every cut of the cane, my bottom seemed to explode into a new realm of blistering discomfort. Leo was keeping true to his word as he laid stroke after stroke under one another. The very first lash of the cane had landed high on my buttocks, and each successive stroke was laid beneath it. I discovered later that no two overlapped, although it felt very much to me as if they did. He covered my bottom with thin strokes of the cane, somehow making it feel as if he had laid the stroke along the same lines each time. I wondered how he had gotten so good with the cane, so very precise. This was not the work of an amateur, what he was doing to me was the work of a master. Some part of my mind appreciated that fact, albeit not the part that was swearing vengeance, or the part that wanted nothing more than to crawl away and hide until the memory of this occasion had faded into ancient history. Hot tears coursed down my cheeks, tears of frustration, tears of pain. Held down by Leo's two aides, I could not buck and writhe the way I so desperately needed to. I was captive to the pain, just the way he wanted me. He'd tried appealing to my better nature, he'd tried sex and now he was left with the final option, thrashing me until I obeyed him as a crowd cheered him on. Finally, after more strokes than I could count, something inside of me cracked and I stopped fighting. I stopped pressing against the arms of the aides, I stopped squirming the little bit that I could and I stopped crying. I went entirely limp. He stopped then. He stopped and picked me up, cradling me in his arms as he carried me through the crowd and up to the chamber we shared. I did not look at him, I did not say a word as his steps rocked me. Nor did he. I thought he hated me. I thought we were over, that this was the final bit of cruelty that would sever all emotional connection between us. I felt dead inside, too hurt to care. It wasn't until something hot and wet fell on my cheek that I looked up and saw that he was crying. Leo. Crying. Leo didn't cry. My pain temporarily forgotten, I frowned up at him with pure concern. “What's wrong? Are you hurt?” He sniffed and blinked his eyes, his thick dark lashes still wet. “Why did you make me do that, Finn?” Shaking my head, my lower lip trembled. “I didn't make you do that.” “You did. I warned you and I warned you and you still pushed. Why can you not simply accept your place?” We had reached our chambers and he laid me gently down on the bed on my stomach and sat beside me. My bottom was a glowing mass that seemed separate from myself. Throughout the caning I'd disassociated to the point that I hadn't been sure I would ever care for Leo again. But seeing his pain brought me back to myself. “I'm sorry,” I breathed softly. His tears had already dried as his expression returned to its usual determined configuration. “I do not like caning you Finn. I do not like punishing you, but if you cannot behave, it is inevitable.” “You took my place,” I repeated the charge that had been on my lips so often it barely seemed to mean

anything anymore. “It's not your place. It's mine.” He spoke with such utter certainty that for just a moment, I believed him. “Dominant is something that needs to be earned and defended and worked at. Do you know what would have happened if I had not taken the position?” “No.” His gaze was intense, as if he wanted to give me understanding by sheer force of will. “Someone else would have challenged you, Finn. Someone who wouldn't have let you off with a caning.” “So how the hell did I become Domina in the first place?” My lack of memory was still a significant issue, though I had nobody to blame for that but myself. “You went after it and you defended it,” Leo said guardedly. “And what made you think I couldn't defend it this time?” “You've changed Finn. You're not like you used to be.” There he went again. Telling me how terrible I was, what a disappointment I was to everyone. The pain in my bottom flared into life with the emotional pain his judgment brought. “Yeah, I know, I'm terrible, I'm selfish, yadda yadda.” I looked down at the ugly bedspread, hopelessness sinking through me. But Leo wouldn't allow that. He wouldn't allow me to hide and wallow in my pain. He reached for my chin and made me face him once more. “No. Well, yes. You are a brat, but that's not the main difference. You're softer. More playful. You feel guilty if you hurt a human. Word was beginning to spread, vampling. Word that the Domina had gone soft. Sooner or later, you would have been forced to defend the post.” “Wait.” I frowned because he wasn't making sense. “In New York you said you wanted me to step down because I was getting selfish, because I was getting too hard. Now you're telling me you took over because I'm too soft. You can't have it both ways, Leo.” He had the good grace to look shamefaced. “I don't want you to have to become that hard, Finn. It's not easy. Times are good now, but there will be times when challenges arise, within the coven and outside it. I don't want you to have to do what you'll need to do to face them. I thought I wanted you back to your old self. But I like the new Finn, I don't want to lose her. So he was hard because he wanted me soft. There was something wrong with that I was sure. “And you? You don't think you'll have to defend being Dominant?” He smiled a dark smile. “Perception is reality. That entire crowd just watched me lay into you like a dog. They know I love you. There's not a single one of them that doubts that. But if that is what I'll do to you, what will I do to someone who I do not care for? That alone should go a long way towards convincing the coven that we have not softened.” Not softened. That meant we had always been hard. That meant we had defended out positions before.“What have you done in the past? What have I done?” I whispered the question, rather fearing

the answer. “Questions probably best left unmentioned, don't you think?” Leo suggested softly, drawing me into a tender embrace. I felt very uncomfortable, a deep, spiritual discomfort that had nothing to do with my blazing behind. “Leo, are we the bad guys?” “Bad guys?” He chuckled. “I suppose that depends on your perspective.” Perhaps fortunately, my existential crisis was interrupted rather abruptly. Rushing footsteps approached our chamber and we both sprung off the bed, ready to defend ourselves. The place was filled with well fed devourers who had just caught glimpses of my most intimate places. It was not out of the question that they might get silly ideas. “Finn!” The plaintive cry was not that of a bad guy, but of a friend in trouble. I opened the door and Teddy came rushing in, her face flushed. “She's coming for me Finn. She's coming for me and I don't know what she's going to do!” I heard Astrid's breastplate clanking up the stairs and in another moment or two, she arrived in our chamber. “I apologize for the intrusion,” she said, glaring at Teddy, who clutched at my arm pitifully. “I have been made aware that Teddy played a part in tonight's disgrace.” “She's fine,” I said. “She's fine? No she is in trouble.” I took a deep breath and prepared to talk Astrid out of her tree. It wouldn't be easy, but it had to be done for Teddy's sake. “She's with me, Astrid. I promised her she wouldn't get in trouble if she helped me.” Astrid's eyes blazed at me. “That was not a promise you could make.” “But it was,” I said. “Because I'm prepared to take her punishment if you insist on it. But really, maybe you should just lay off her. She's more than grown. She doesn't need her mommy smacking her when she's naughty.” Astrid's gaze slid over to Leo. “Your consort has lead my daughter astray.” “So it would seem,” Leo agreed. “Hey, I did wrong, I admit that,” I said. “But Astrid. Teddy has to cut the apron strings at some point. Or the armor strings. Whichever you prefer. You can't keep her a child forever.” That spawned another thought in my brain and I spun on my heel and pointed at Leo. “That goes for you too. So you liked me when I was helpless and you don't want me getting hard again. Well tough luck. It's going to happen. I'm not a pet you can beat into submission.” I looked back at Astrid. “And neither is Teddy.” My bottom throbbed, reminding me of the very public beating I'd just taken. In my excitement I'd almost forgotten about it. “Ow,” I muttered, rubbing my bare rear. “What did you to do her?” Astrid addressed the question to Leo. I answered it by turning around. It was

quite the magic trick. From the front I looked quite the lady, from the back I looked like a well caned wretch. Teddy gasped and even Astrid took a sharp intake of breath. “That's what he did,” I said over my shoulder. “That's what he did to keep me in line. And that's what you're eventually going to have to do to Teddy, because she's going to be her own devourer sooner or later.” “Teddy will not be Domina,” Astrid said firmly. I leaped on that point, seeing an opportunity. “How do you know that? It's entirely possible that I will not be around forever. You may not be either. Immortality is not guaranteed even for us. If you are gone do you want her helpless, afraid to act for fear of being punished?” I was rather proud of myself. I'd managed to finally make sense of what was going on and to come to the root of the problems between not only Leo and I, but Astrid and Teddy too. I'd solved everybody's problems. Finally, everyone could be happy. A feeling of contentment and satisfaction began to tentatively creep out of hiding, only to withdraw like a frightened mouse when Astrid opened her mouth again. “I'd like to change my vote, Leo,” Astrid said rather dryly. “Finn has a lot to learn about the value of obedience.” “Oh come on!” I exclaimed loudly, flailing my arms about. “It made total sense what I just said!” “It made sense in a world where nobody has to listen to anyone and where getting your own way is the primary goal,” Astrid replied. “What's impressive is that you're saying all this with a bottom like that.” “She is tenacious, isn't she?” Leo spoke rather proudly, wrapping his arms around me from behind. “You people make no damn sense,” I grumbled. “A good leader knows how to follow, Finn,” Astrid lectured me rather maternally. “Now if you don't mind, I must attend to my daughter. Come here Teddy.” Teddy actually took a step forward, ready to give herself over to Astrid's discipline. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. “No!” I grabbed Teddy by the arm and pulled her back. “I promised her she wouldn't get in trouble for helping me. She was serving me. Don't you dare make a liar out of me.” I spoke in a fierce growl and pulled away from Leo, getting close enough to Astrid to see up her nose. She looked down at me, mild surprise on her face. “Are you threatening me, Finn?” “No, I'm making good on my promise.” Astrid looked at me for a very, very long moment. I felt the full weight of her gaze all too deeply. The eyes that met mine were eyes that had seen many terrible things indeed. “Little Domina,” she said finally, speaking very softly. “I will grant your wish that I not punish Teddy for this. But you I shall take to task when you are healed.” Her eyes flickered up to Leo. “By your leave,” she respectfully qualified her statement. Leo nodded. “I agree to the terms,” he intoned seriously.

“Then we will go. Come Teddy.” Astrid put her hand out for Teddy, the old habit dying very hard indeed. Teddy flashed me a grateful look as they left and I winked at her. I'd done something right in all this. I'd saved Teddy some pain and shown her that sometimes it was possible to get out of punishments if you worked hard enough. “Now you're in trouble,” Leo said, chuckling as he drew me gently back down onto the bed next to him. “You think so?” I grinned as he rubbed my bottom, easing some of the pain. I was already healing, and very glad of it. “Astrid doesn't mess around.” “Nor do you, and that doesn't stop me.” “This is true. You are far too stubborn for your own good.” “Leo,” I purred, nipping at his neck. “I am Domina, and nothing you do is going to change that. I am Domina whether you and the council acknowledge me or not.” “Spoken like a true leader. A truly delusional leader,” Leo teased me with a broad smile. “You can spank me, you can cane me, you can hang me up by my toes, it won't change me,” I promised him, slithering atop his body. He looked up at me with an indulgent smile. “I only want to change you a very little, and to protect you. Mostly from yourself.” “Well you have won this battle,” I admitted, laying my head on his chest. “You are Dominant. On paper at least.” “On paper and on your behind,” he amended my statement. I nibbled at his nose affectionately. “You've always been the Dominant of my behind, silly Leo, you didn't need to stage a coup for that.” Laying on his chest, I closed my eyes, pleased to feel close to him. The most painful thing of all hadn't been losing my rank, it had been fearing that the connection we shared had been lost. But Astrid had been correct. I had to trust him and he had to trust me. Whether we were vying for power or not the bond between us had to stay strong, not just for ourselves, but for all those who depended on us. “It ain't easy being a super dominant super predator,” I confided. “You're telling me,” he chuckled, claiming me in a deep, loving and somewhat egalitarian kiss.