Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Boris watched from the office window as his bouncers tossed another group of guys out of the bar. The club goers had steadily gotten worse as the week went by. Unlike the story books and movies, a full moon does not make werewolves change but it did make them a little harder to control and the same could be said for the humans. At least it was keeping the wolves busy for a while.

He glanced over at his nephew watching the boy smile as a pretty girl put in a request for a song she wanted to hear. Hiring Brando as the DJ had been a good idea and although the boy still wasn’t completely healed, the fact that he seemed happy for the first time in a long time made it worth it.

The door to his office door opened interrupting his musing. Boris turned his head seeing two of the bouncers looking a bit rattled. “What is it?”

“Titus is working the parking lot and he’s telling us he smells vampires… and that it’s not the dweebs playing dress up.”

Boris picked up the phone, calling in the wolves that had the night off.

*****

Angelica had been avoiding sleep as much as possible all week, but she could only do that so long before it caught up to her. The couple times she’d gotten a nap in had been dream free which was amazing considering all the horrors she’d seen while tracking Misery. That demon would give anyone nightmares. She thought back on the dream and decided that it had seemed so real only because she’d never had one.

She hugged her pillow wishing her mind would shut up. Zachary had warned her if she didn’t go to sleep that he was going to happily knock her out. She smirked. Lack of sleep had always made her cranky, and since Zachary had been her shadow all week… he’d wound up being her punching bag more than once.

Angelica stared out the window of the bedroom remembering the second female shifter they’d found a couple of days after the first one at the hotel. This time it had been a werecougar... the same MO was present and Angelica wondered why it was only the female shifters that seemed to be showing up dead.

The shifters hadn’t done anything to warrant their presence on PIT’s shifter radar and had led pretty normal lives. The first one at the hotel had been from the upper end of town… while the second lived in the suburbs and was killed inside her home.

The demon obviously had no preferences on what kind of shifter it killed, only that it needed one to keep its hold on the host body. PIT had been working double time to keep the murders hush-hush so the city wouldn’t be overrun with panic. News of a serial killer on the loose wouldn’t go over too well with the populace of Los Angeles. It would end up like the Zodiac murders all over again as far as media coverage went… something PIT did not need.

Knowing it was a demon committing the murders and not Misery worried her. The more demons there were in the city meant the dream she had just might come true. She felt herself getting heavier… sinking into the mattress and this time she didn’t fight it. She should have fought it.

Angelica felt the darkness pulling away from her and wondered what she’d been doing. She raised her hand to shield her eyes when car lights flashed across her face making her blink. The light kept moving, spotlighting a street sign before entering the midnight traffic.

“Center Street,” Angelica read the sign then looked around knowing this was one of the shadiest areas of the city. Her attention turned to a father and daughter as they stepped from a dark alley down the street and joined in with the other night owl pedestrians who were heading toward her.

Angelica tilted her head as she watched them. This wasn’t a place to bring a little girl. What was her daddy thinking?

As they got closer to her, Angelica started noticing the little girl’s hair was moving as if the wind was running its fingers through it, but… the wind wasn’t blowing. She backed up against the brick of the storefront next to the sidewalk as they got closer. The girl pointed at a man walking toward them and her father reached out and touched him as they passed. Angelica watched in horror when the pedestrian turned off the sidewalk and right into traffic.

The little girl giggled as the man was hit by a car and thrown into the air. Spinning back around to look at the laughing child she felt anger wash through her. As if the child had sensed her anger it turned its head and locked blood red eyes with Angelica before pulling on the man's hand to speed him up as she started skipping past her.

Angelica felt power surge through her and she reached for the demon child but just before she touched it, the little girl’s body stretched and rotted, turning on her with an eerie hiss, “They come!”

Angelica blinked and the little girl giggled as she continued by as if nothing had happened, pointing out another pedestrian before vanishing from sight completely. Angelica closed her eyes, laying her palm over her chest trying to get her heart to slow down.

Syn had been asleep for several days waiting on another sign from his elusive soul mate. When his heart started racing he reached for her.

Angelica felt fingers wrap around her wrist. Fearing the rotting corpse was back, she jerked from the nightmare, opening her eyes just in time to see the man from the cave before reality slammed back into her. Screaming, she sat up in bed holding her wrist up in front of her to make sure he didn’t still have a hold of it.

Syn roared as his fist closed around thin air. He tried to keep a lid on his temper but knew he hadn’t succeeded when the rain came down on him in waves followed by the crack of thunder. He could still hear the frightened echo of her scream. She feared him. He thought back to their first meeting within their home world… she had feared him then and with a very good reason. She had run from him many times but it had never been far enough.

He sat up, raising his face to the cold rain letting it cool his temper. He had fought to claim her before and he would do it again. She had unknowingly called to him within her dreams twice and it would help him to find her before this fickle world snatched her away again.

*****

Lucca Romano walked into the warehouse where they kept some of the exotic animals they sold on the black market… including the girls they kidnapped and sold into slavery. He nodded as three of the wolves rolled a cage forward for inspection. Within the bars, a large cougar stared back at him with angry eyes before lunging against the bars resenting its captivity. It would fetch a nice price on the market but sadly, this cougar was going to die just like the others. It was a shame really.

*****

Hearing a scream from outside, Micah slammed through the doors with Quinn and Nick not far behind him to find a small crowd of people who’d been waiting on the doors to open now standing around something in the parking lot. Making his way through the crowd, most of them scattered when they saw the rage on Micah’s face.

“The club is closed tonight,” Quinn yelled at the rest of them. Bending down beside the beautiful cougar, he ran his hand across the soft fur. “This has got to stop. This is the second one this week.”

“I’m going to get rid of the people already showing up then rope off the entrance.” Micah said past the knot in his throat. “Night Light is closed for renovations.”

*****

Alicia loved this house and all of its rooms that she had slowly explored over the last week. Some of the rooms reminded her of a museum with all the history it held and she secretly wondered just how old the vampires were… not that she’d ever get up the nerve to ask.

Now that the kitchen had been put back to use, they had all taken turns cooking for each other. They’d even watched movies together a couple times before the guys took off for the nightly patrol. As far as the movies went, Kane insisted on them being horror or action… no romance stuff. She was thankful for that. But it was becoming harder to keep things simple.

Every day her symptoms of heat were worsening and getting even closer to her roommates wasn’t helping. Michael seemed to be giving her the space she needed where Damon was the exact opposite, always too close while seemingly distant. She could feel him watching her like a forbidden caress. It was that sensation that made her fear him.

Kane was a different type of attraction though. He was always making her laugh or entertaining her in some way when he was around and he’d quickly become her favorite to hang out with. Oddly enough, her symptoms didn’t flare around him. He made her feel safe and happy.

Most of the time, Alicia tried to stay out of their way, not wanting to wear her welcome out. Like today, she’d spent most of the daylight hours in the library. Almost all Victorian houses had at least one round room with lots of high windows and she was happy to find her favorite room in the house was that one. It was lined with books on shelves that reached so high she would never be able to reach them without a ladder.

She’d been surprised to find romance books tucked away among them and couldn’t resist grabbing one since Kane had cut her off from her girly supply of movies. She closed her eyes envisioning the rouge pirate who had not only taken the cargo from a rival pirate ship, but also taken the captain’s daughter that he’d found hiding away among the goods.

When they hadn’t been fighting tooth and nail waiting on the ransom to be paid, they’d been making mad passionate love to each other. She fidgeted in the chair knowing it hadn’t been very smart of her to read that kind of book but it had been too good to truly regret it. Opening her eyes she was startled to find Damon leaning in the doorway watching her… always watching her.

“Hello Damon,” Alicia said knowing they had been playing a ‘let's be very polite to each other’ type of game for days now.

“Alicia,” Damon nodded seeing the picture of two lovers entangled together on the cover of the book she was holding. He strolled into the room pretending to mind his own business. He gazed at the shelves aware of every breath she was taking.

“What are you doing in here?” she asked not believing he was really the type to read.

“What else… lurking,” Damon’s lips hinted at a smile as he ran his fingers across a row of books.

Getting out of the soft high back chair, Alicia decided she wasn’t going to let him bait her. She strolled toward the shelf she’d taken the book from and, reaching up on her tiptoes, slid it back into its correct place. When she turned around, Damon was standing so close to her she had to take a step back and wound up flush against the book shelf to keep her breast from touching him.

She could feel his warm breath stirring the stray tendrils of her bangs and see the heat in his eyes as he gazed down at her. He was making the blood in her veins heat up and it was hard to keep her gaze from moving to those perfect lips.

“Why do you keep doing this?” she asked softly as her heart skipped a beat. She had promised Micah that she wouldn't be with any of the vampires and Damon was trying his best to make a liar out of her.

“Doing what?” Damon said just as softly as he reached behind her and pulled a book off the shelf, slowly bringing it up so she could see it.

“You know what,” her gaze dropped to his lips then shot back up to his startling amethyst eyes.

“Does it bother you to be so close to me?” Damon could smell her arousal as it spiked and wondered why she was being so stubborn about it.

“No more than it bothers you,” Alicia held her ground waiting on him to move. When he didn’t, she ducked under his arm and walked as slow as she could toward the door trying not to feel like such a coward.

“You know this is never going to work, don’t you?” Damon asked slamming the book back into place.

Hearing the sound made Alicia flinch and she paused. “What won't work?”

“You,” in an instant, Damon was standing behind her and lowered his lips to the shell of her sensitive ear, “Always pretending not to see me. But I know the truth. You’re watching me watch you.”

Alicia turned around only to find him towering over her again… dominating her. She started shaking her head but knew it was a lie.

“You want me,” Damon insisted.

Maybe she’d been wrong and the vampires were somehow drawn to her while she was in heat. She’d stabbed Damon in the heart and caused him to be shot over and over… he shouldn’t feel anything for her except anger unless it was the heat drawing him in. Was that why Michael watched her so intently sometimes? That kiss Michael had given her?

She took a step back reminding herself that she had promised Micah she wouldn’t be with any of them. If she did, then not only would Micah resent her, if everyone else found out she’d be more of an outcast to them than she was now.

‘Not you, I promised.’ She repeated those words over and over within her mind until she saw the muscles jump in Damon’s jaw and realized that the last time she’d repeated it… she’d said it out loud.

“You don’t understand,” Alicia whispered wishing he would make this easier on her. “He made me promise because something’s wrong with me.” Oh god, she was making it worse. “I can’t want you!” Giving up she turned and fled the room just as someone knocked on the front door.

Fearing Damon was right behind her she rushed to the door and flung it open not wanting to be alone with him.

“Hey Alicia,” Nick nodded and gave her a small smile, “is Michael home?”

“He’s in the shower,” Damon said in a very unwelcome voice.

Alicia shot him a glare over her shoulder then grabbed Nick’s hand and pulled him inside. “Let’s go in the living room while we wait on Michael and you can catch me up on anything I’ve been missing.”

Nick wrapped his fingers around Alicia’s hand instantly drawn to the warmth of her skin. He inhaled slowly as she led him into the living room. She smelled delicious. Nick felt an erection starting and had to force himself to let go of her hand when she pulled it away so she could sit down on the sofa.

He watched her as she turned sideways on the cushion, curling her legs up Indian style and grabbing one of the small pillows to hug in her lap. He slowly sat down beside her as his hearing came back through the blood rushing in his eardrums.

Alicia frowned wondering if he’d heard a single word she’d just said. She tried to relax since Damon wasn’t darkening the doorway yet.

“I’m sorry,” Nick tried again, “what did you say?”

Hugging the pillow, Alicia leaned forward so that she wouldn’t have to talk so loud, “I asked about our family… yours and mine.” She smiled realizing she was speaking the truth about that. Now that Kat and Quinn were officially together, it did make them one big family. “What have you guys been up to?”

Nick scrubbed a hand across his eyes trying to make himself stop watching her lips move and just listen to her words. It was hard… he was hard. Damn it, what the hell was wrong with him? This was Alicia for crying out loud. He tried to remember why he was here in the first place. Warren had told him if he ran into Alicia, not to say anything about the cougar kills or the fact that Night Light was temporarily closed. He glanced toward the door wishing Michael would hurry the hell up.

Wondering if he simply didn’t want to tell her about fighting vampires or something that would cause her to worry Alicia tried another topic. “Are Quinn and Kat still in their honeymoon phase?’

“They’re all over each other,” Nick said automatically as he got the image of Alicia sprawled out under him. He hadn’t felt this high in a long time. Wanting to feel her skin again, he reached out and ran his hand down her bare arm, stopping when his fingers wrapped around her wrist.

Alicia flinched leaning back up to create distance. “Nick? Why are you here to see Michael?” she reminded him hoping like hell he was family enough not to feel the full effects of the heat.

When she drew away from him, Nick felt his animal instinct surge forward so fast he almost shifted. He turned and leaned over her the further back she got. He’d never been around a feline this far into heat before and it was making it damn hard to think… though he was trying.

“Alicia,” it came out as a growled warning, “Stop backing away from me.”

She froze when his eyes shattered with dangerous golden flecks. This may be Nick above her right now, but he wasn’t the only one behind those eyes… she could see his beast within him. Something inside her died at her stupidity. If it had been Devon here with her then there would have been no danger… but Nick was single.

“Nick Santos, you get off me right this minute.” It wasn’t that he wasn’t attractive… hot as hell would have been a better description, but she’d always felt for him like she did Steven. Not an inkling of spark… not even in full blown heat.

“Stop fighting me and I’ll try,” Nick hissed hoping he wasn’t lying. “You should have warned me that you were in… need.” He crawled up and over her as he said it.

Now Alicia was pissed. If she was going to be with anyone, it would be her own idea and with her permission. “Don’t try to blame me for your lack of control Nick. Maybe you ‘need’ more than I do.” She shoved at him.

Nick grabbed at her other wrist but not before she left a long scratch down his cheek. Did she not know that to a jaguar this was foreplay? He surged forward with a hard kiss trying to force her lips apart. Just one taste… that was all he wanted.

Damon had gone upstairs thinking if he rushed Michael then the quicker Nick and Michael would leave him alone with Alicia. He knew he was missing something from the conversation in the library and this time he vowed to get to the bottom of it.

They heard the struggle from the main hall. Before Damon knew he’d done it, Nick was crashing into the wall across the room and Alicia was pushed against the opposite wall with Damon standing in front of her.

Seeing Damon had Alicia out of harm’s way, Michael shimmered and appeared in front of Nick, sliding him back up the wall by his neck. “What did you think you were doing to Alicia?” Michael’s voice would have made icicles jealous it was so cold. “I know you Nick… this is not you.”

Nick tried to pry Michael’s hand from around his throat so he could respond but the vampire had obviously forgotten the fact that he would need breath to answer.

Seeing Nick’s face turning blue, Alicia panicked and tried to dart around Damon to stop Michael but Damon caught her around the waist. Struggling against Damon she yelled, “Michael don’t, it wasn’t his fault.”

“Is that why you drew blood?” Damon asked calmly, liking the fact that the jaguar was paying for his crime, “Because he wasn’t attacking you?”

Alicia quit fighting against Damon as she confessed, “Michael… I’m in heat. It’s not his fault. Take Nick outside and talk to him.”

Michael’s eyes widened and he let go of Nick’s neck, letting the jaguar slide back down the indented wall as he coughed and tried to catch his breath.

“She said take him outside,” Damon reminded Michael knowing if the jaguar didn’t leave his sight soon, then he’d finish what Michael had started and he didn’t give a damn about reasons.

Nick pushed himself up off the floor without grabbing the hand Michael had turned and offered, “Not your fault either. I’m sorry Alicia.” He massaged his throat as he left the room with hurried steps.

Once outside, Nick leaned back against his car rubbing his hands over his face as if trying to scrub off the effects of the heat. “You should have warned me. I swear Michael, had I known she was in heat I wouldn’t have come anywhere near this place. Damn it, she’s like a little sister to me.”

Michael could see the guilt and shame in Nick’s eyes and knew the jaguar was telling the truth. “She has kept it a secret from us all or I would have told you.”

Nick jerked his head up, “That’s right. You wouldn’t feel it. You’re not a shifter.” He glanced toward the house then quickly shook his head and opened his car door. “I really need to get out of here.” Nick touched his hand to the back of his head and withdrew looking at the blood stain.

“Get in the other side. I’ll drive.” Michael said not wanting Nick to black out behind the wheel. He already felt guilt creeping across his soul for harboring the need to kill him a few minutes ago. Besides… before letting Nick out of his sight, he wanted to erase the jaguar’s memory of ever touching Alicia.

Damon was surprised when Nick’s apology had caused Alicia to turn and hide her face against his chest. Wrapping his arms around her, he rubbed her back in soft caresses as he held her.

Through the window he could see Michael get in the jaguar’s car and drive off. He looked down at the top of her head feeling her shaking. It didn’t bother him because as long as she was in his arms, he would never let anyone hurt her. The possessive feeling both surprised and disturbed him.

“It’s okay Alicia. I’ve got you. You don’t have to be scared anymore. Michael’s taking Nick home,” he soothed.

Shaking her head, Alicia stepped out of Damon’s arms thankful when he instantly dropped them instead of fighting her. “I’m not scared of Nick, I’m ashamed of myself. I invited him in! That,” she pointed toward Nick’s imprint in the drywall, “was more my fault than it will ever be his. I hurt him, then you hurt him, then Michael almost killed him.”

Alicia could feel her emotions going into overdrive without her at the controls. “If Nick hates me forever then I wouldn’t blame him.”

“After what he tried to do, I’d say Nick got off pretty easy,” Damon corrected her.

“Not true,” Alicia took another step back. “I’m in heat Damon, and I’ve known it for a while now. I’m a danger to everyone and still I didn’t try to fix it. I naively hoped it would go away on its own but it’s only getting worse.”

“Fix it?” Damon took a threatening step toward her not liking the sound of that. Now he knew what she’d meant when she’d said she couldn’t be with him because something was wrong with her. “And just how do you intend to fix it?”

“I thought it only affected shifters. That’s what I’ve always been told.” She rambled thinking out loud, “but you and Michael are feeling it, and I can’t do that to either one of you… I promised Micah I wouldn’t.”

“Your heat doesn’t affect us Alicia,” Damon stalked her as she tried to put the sofa between them. “And you didn’t answer my question. How do you plan on making the heat go away?” He already knew what was on her mind but some sadistic part of him wanted to hear it from her lips.

“I’ll find someone who can keep a secret. A one night stand,” Alicia tilted her chin up in defiance.

“Just one?” Damon asked knowing it was a bold faced lie. He didn’t know much about shifters in heat, but he was aware of what their animal counterparts were capable of doing.

Seeing that he was deliberately making this harder, Alicia stood her ground and glared. “As many times as it takes to make it go away.”

“Stop acting all noble,” Damon growled and jumped over the sofa intending to shake some sense into her but Alicia’s adrenalin was high enough that she made it to the other side before he could grab her.

“What would you know about being noble?’ Alicia yelled not wanting him to touch her again. She hadn’t felt anything with Nick, but with Damon it was the polar opposite.

“I’ve shown you if you’ll just open your eyes and see it,” he yelled back. He lowered his voice to a dark dangerous pitch, “Let’s talk about the secrets I’ve already kept for you.” He reached across the sofa and grabbed her hand so fast that she hadn’t even seen it coming.

Damon balled her hand into a fist as if she were holding something in it, and then slammed it against his chest directly over his heart pretending she’d just stabbed him. “Oh god Alicia, I was just trying to save you from the swarm of soulless and the big bad demon that would have gobbled you up.”

Alicia jerked her hand away, stumbling backwards when he released it so quickly. Her eyes widened knowing he was talking about the night she’d tried to kill him.

“Oh now she gets it,” Damon held his hand over his heart.

“Shut up Damon,” Alicia fumed.

“Oh no, I’m just getting started. There’s more.” They circled the sofa again mainly because Damon couldn’t stand still right now. “I saved you at the graveyard the night the church blew its top,” his voice was dead serious. “Or I saved the sweet little blonde playing with her magic tricks. Everyone else was too busy saving their own skin to notice the monster sneaking up on you. But you noticed… when blood sprayed across your face and its head rolled across the ground minus a body.”

Alicia’s lips parted. There was no way he could have known about that unless he was there. “You’ve saved me three times?”

Damon nodded now ready to make his point, “And if I’m correct, the only time anybody knows about is the one where we were seen. I’ve already kept your secrets, so why not trust me now?”

“I want to,” Alicia searched his eyes trying to remember why she couldn’t. Her gaze lowered to his lips wanting him. She watched as Damon calmly walked around the sofa and stood in front of her.

That’s what he’d wanted… her to finally admit it to herself. Damon gently took her hand in his. Turning it over, he kissed the center of her palm and whispered, “At least with me it’s safe. Since I won't be affected by your heat, if you ask me to stop… then I will.” When Alicia slowly nodded he stepped closer, lowering his head to capture her lips… it only lasted a second.

Michael stood stunned in the doorway. He’s never seen such a tender look on Damon's face before and the thought of that look being directed at Alicia frightened him and brought back a lot of memories he’d been trying to keep buried. He slammed into Damon catching him off guard and making Alicia scream in fright.

“What the hell do you think you're doing, Damon?” Michael roared as he planted his fist in Damon's face.

Damon flipped around Michael, grabbing him in an arm lock and growling in his ear, “What I do is none of your damn business, big brother.”

Alicia could see the anger on both their faces and their fangs. Both of them had turned vicious and it was her fault. She remembered why it couldn’t be Damon… or Michael.

“Damon, stop.” Their eyes locked and she waited to see if he would keep his word.

Knowing he was being tested, Damon let Michael go and held his hands up in surrender as he took a step back.

Michael shook the tension from his arms and turned to face Damon but Alicia’s words gave him pause.

“I asked Damon to kiss me… not the other way around.” Her voice was as calm as a cool summer’s breeze. She had to put a stop to this even if she made a fool out of herself by doing it. Honestly, she didn’t care anymore. It was probably best if they both just hated her instead of each other. At least that way she could keep her promise to Micah.

“He was just showing me that my condition doesn’t affect a vampire like it does the shifters. I was going to pack my stuff and leave because I thought maybe it would be all males… not just shifters. He didn’t really want to and I felt no passion in the kiss. A chaste kiss was enough to prove that I’m safe here.”

“You’re sure that’s all it was?” Michael asked still keeping himself between her and Damon.

“Is that all it was when you kissed me not that long ago?” Oh goody, now she had both of their attention.

“You’re protecting the wrong person, Michael,” Alicia was so calm it was actually starting to scare her. “You’re supposed to love your brother,” she laughed feeling that calm getting ready to slip. “I loved mine so much that he had to go away… did you know that?” she held her hand up when one of them started to interrupt her.

She wasn’t looking so she didn’t know which. It was probably Damon anyway. She whispered the same chant she’d used on Damon the night she’d stabbed him. She didn’t bother looking to make sure the spell worked… it had.

“This is what happens when you let the enemy live under your roof,” she continued. “I bet you didn’t know that I tried to kill Damon only moments before you saved me from those two vampires behind Moon Dance. No, he’s too secretive to tell you who stabbed him in the heart… or you’re a fool not to have asked him.”

“I left him to die within reach of a couple dozen soulless monsters and Misery. His only sin had been trying to save me. That wasn’t even the first time he’d saved my life… nor has it been the last.” She glanced up at Michael from under her eyelashes as she paced back and forth, the sofa the only thing between them.

“Maybe you don’t love your brother enough. Of course, if he keeps hiding his heart from you then it’s not only your fault… it’s also his. Brothers shouldn’t be so quick to mistrust each other.” This time she gave Damon a pointed glance. “It’s me you should hate.”

She shrugged, “And if that’s not enough, then this should clinch it. Kane, who my father betrayed and buried for thirty years, who could blame him for being a little pissed once he found a way out of the ground? I’d have done more than just bite one person if I had been in his shoes.”

She tilted her head a little bit thinking about it. “I’d probably fall in love with Kane if he let me. But… there is that little thing about me almost getting him and Dean killed. I guess that would put a little damper on about anything. He’d never have found that cave if I hadn’t been sitting in front of it with his stolen spell book.”

“Telling secrets are we?” Kane said from the still open doorway.

He’d heard all of her confession but hadn’t stopped her because he knew she would never heal unless she let it out. Besides, the only thing Damon showed Michael was his bad side… Michael had needed to hear the truth about his brother. Without seeming to move, he was suddenly in front of Alicia and her necklace was off her neck and clenched in his hand so the other two vampires couldn’t see that he’d removed it.

Putting his finger under her chin, Kane tilted her head up seeing the rivers of tears she hadn’t known she’d been crying. His pupils enlarged as he put her under his thrall. “Love, you’ve spilled quite enough of your heart for tonight. Any more and you’ll drown in it. No one blames you and you should not blame yourself any longer. We love you and all is forgotten. Understand?”

He waited on her to nod before he continued. “Now, I have two favors to ask in return.” He smiled as he glanced toward Michael and Damon, “That’s a nifty trick, freezing Michael and Damon like that. You can keep the spell as long as you never use it on the three of us. It’s only to be used on the real monsters, okay?” he leaned in to whisper the other favor into her mind where no one else could hear him.

Once he was satisfied, he kissed her on the forehead then gave her a gentle push toward the living room door. “Go take a nice long shower… you deserve it.” As she turned to go, Kane pretended to pick the necklace up off the floor and dangled it in front of her, “I think you dropped this.”

Kane turned on the other two once she was safely out of the room. “What I’d give for a camera right now.” He laughed as he sat down on the sofa and propped his feet up on the ottoman.

Damon shrugged out of the spell’s hold wondering how the hell Kane had compelled her when he couldn’t. “You can quit laughing now, Dr. Phil.”

Michael rubbed his face still trying to digest everything that Alicia had just said. Glaring toward Damon he wanted the rest of the story. “What did you do to make her stab you in the heart?”

Damon whirled on him, “I was standing between her and the vampires she mistakenly thought would tell her where Micah was.”

“Why did you try to save her?” Kane prodded already knowing the answer.

“Why not,” Damon gave an irritated shrug. “I’d already wasted my time saving her at the church the night you were hurt and I didn’t see the sense in letting her get herself killed again.”

“You were at the church?” Michael asked feeling even more betrayed. “How long had you been in town?”

Damon didn’t answer the question. He hated being put on the spot like this. Instead, he just headed toward the door. “Look, just expect the worst from me because that’s all you’re going to get. You might want to thank her for stabbing me. If she hadn’t, you still wouldn’t know I was here.”

When Damon walked out the door, Michael started to follow him but Kane was suddenly blocking the doorway. Michael glared at the blond vampire, “Damon’s right. Stay out of this, Dr. Phil.”

“Confessions are good for the soul. Let him go. He’ll be back,” Kane said but all humor had left his face. He didn’t want to fight Michael on this, but Damon leaving had been the right thing to do. Damon obviously didn’t want to fight right now, but if Michael didn’t give him some space that would change.

“How do you know he’ll even come back?” Michael walked toward the fireplace. Feeling a little more than bent, he raised his hand and knocked all of the crystal and candles off the mantel. He felt a moment’s satisfaction hearing them shatter as they hit the brick encasing.

“Have you not noticed the difference in him? Damon’s been helping you before you knew he was even in the city, and he’s doing it for more than one reason.” Kane watched Michael curiously as his friend gripped the mantel and stared down into the empty fireplace.

“I wouldn’t put it past him to be using his compulsion on Alicia to make her kiss him like that,” Michael said distractedly.

“Speaking of secrets,” Kane smiled, “that necklace of hers has kept her from falling for anything you two can do to her. She had Syn’s spell book long enough to make herself a charm against compulsion. I handed it back to her a moment ago only because I’d taken it from her so fast Damon couldn’t detect it. Some things are better off being kept a secret… wouldn’t you think?”

The image of Damon kissing Alicia flashed in Michael’s mind again but this time he saw Alicia’s lips meeting Damon's willingly. She hadn’t been fighting him like she’d done with Nick. Keeping his grip on the mantel, he turned his head and looked at Kane, “But you trust me enough to tell me about the necklace?” Michael asked not so sure that had been such a good idea.

“You are not Damon,” Kane kept his distance knowing Michael was still sorting it all out in his head, “and you don’t want her bad enough to fight your brother for her.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Michael confessed then let go of the fireplace and rubbed his hands across his face. He paused for a moment realizing something. When he had kissed Alicia, she had been wearing that same necklace.

“Do you love Alicia?” Kane asked point blank.

“Yes,” Michael answered easily.

Kane nodded, “But, are you in love with her?”

Michael ran his hands through his hair not knowing the answer.

“That’s what I thought,” Kane smiled gently.

“What does that mean?” Michael asked feeling frustrated.

“It means you don’t want her enough,” Kane replied. “But if I’m reading your brother right, he’s been fighting for her since before she stabbed him in the heart. He’s in love with Alicia, and for Damon… that’s a hard pill to swallow.”

Michael sighed. “Are you saying to stay out of his way?”

“Hell no, where would the fun be in that?”

“Kane,”

“Yeah?”

“It’s good to have you back.”

Kane smiled, “Come on, we might want to go find out what brought Nick over here in the first place.”