Bitten (Book 1 - Book 4)

Thursday morning, Natalia was looking forward to work, or more specifically to hear from Francie how her dinner date had gone. When she had told Sherri that Francie wasn't attending on Wednesday night and why, Sherri seemed to already know this and there was no more talk about it.

“You're antsy this morning,” Uri said when he took her hand and headed for the limo.

“Work is much more interesting and fun working with Francie.” she said.

“Do you still have reading to do?”

“Yes. Tia said I would see my schedule this week for classes.”

“Good. I'll see if she can take you home after work while I go to the club.”

“Sounds good. I need to get this book done before you find any more for me.”

“Oh, T have lots more I could give you,” he said with a smile.

“Let me see what Tia has for me first.”

He leaned in and brushed her cheek with his.

She noted he had more of a musky smell to him. His breath still carried the scent of breakfast and tea.

It was raining when the limo pulled up to the bank.

“We're going to get wet,” she said.

“Bonnie's coming with umbrellas,” he said.

The limo door opened. Uri nudged her and she stepped out. Bonnie covered her with an umbrella, then handed it to her. She had a second one for Uri

“Just make sure we bring them back tonight so she can put them back in their place in the limo,” he said when they paused at the door.

They shook the rain from umbrellas along with everyone else.

The ride up the elevator was slow. Natalia noted the gentleman next to her had the smell of bacon on his breath. It smelled good.

They were the only ones on the elevator when it reached the top floor. Bailey was waiting. She immediately started with Uri’s schedule, following him into his office.

Natalia turned toward the conference room, noting the scent of coffee on Bailey's breath.

Francie was in the conference room. She smiled at Natalia.

“Have a good night?” Natalia said.

Francie rolled her eyes.

“Oh, it was wonderful.”

Natalia noted the sarcasm in her voice.

Francie moved to the back of the room to grab a box.

“A once a day kinda guy.” she said in a whispered voice. “Hardly a Romeo. I know he’s not entertaining any of his wives in the bedroom.”

“Maybe a little vend to up things?” Natalia said.

“I’m not supposed to,” she said with a grimaced. “And I would rather not.”

They emptied three boxes to sort onto the table, rearranging boxes that were full.

Uri passed the conference room, heading toward Ravi’s office. A few minutes later, he returned, but with Ravi close behind him. Ravi glanced in and smiled. Francie smiled big back at him.

“Meetings,” Francie said, focusing on the work.

“How things going?” Tia said, appearing at the door.

“Files are getting sorted,” Natalia said.

Francie just smiled

“I'm stealing Nattie from you for some of the day, Francie. You're on your own,” Tia said.

“No problem, things are under control.” she said with a wink.

Natalia grabbed her satchel and followed Tia. They rode the elevator down to the tenth floor. However, after getting off, they had to wait. Their path was blocked by Sophie and three other people.

“I need access to your systems. An office. A laptop. A cup of coffee would be nice,” one man said.

He was wearing a suit that didn’t fit him very well. His attempt to puff himself up and make himself look important made him look ridiculous.

“Of course, Mr. Sturt. We're getting those things right away,” Sophie said with a smile at the man.

The other two people, another man and a woman, obviously employees of the bank because of their ID badges, looked perturbed.

“I'll need to have some time with your Controller... what's his name?” Mr. Sturt said.

“Uri Osrisca,” Sophie said. “Janet. Bob. I'll catch up with you later.”

She waved her hand to tell them to go. The two people left looking relieved.

“Which conference room or office are you grabbing,” Tia said. “I have Nattie.”

Natalia watched Sophie do a slow look around. The four of them were now the only ones in the hall. When Sophie turned, she slightly brushed against Mr. Sturt. Natalia could have sworn Sophie blew in his ear when she did so. Mr. Sturt was staring fully at Sophie’s breasts.

“Mr. Sturt is doing an audit. He came a day early,” Sophie said.

“Not a good audit if you expect me and cook the books,” he said.

Natalia felt the slight vibration of communication between Tia and Sophie.

“I won't need my office for a bit,” Tia said.

Sophie turned, almost ramming her breasts into Mr. Sturt.

“This way, Mr. Sturt.”

He ogled her, looking hungry while he followed her with no hesitation.

Tia stayed near the elevators until Sophie disappeared into an office.

“I have some tests for you to take,” she said, finally heading in the same direction as Sophie. “I'll get your school schedule put together and your books. The online classes start next Monday.”

“I hope I'm ready. Uri said the standards are tougher.”

“You'll do fine,” Tia said.

The door to the office that Sophie had gone into was only partially shut. Tia paused. There was a name plate with Tia’s name. Natalia could just see Sophie breathing into Mr. Sturt’s ear. He was fondling her breasts. She unfastened three buttons, and he almost shoved his face into her cleavage. Then, she slowly leaned down to his shoulder, moved his collar away and bit him. She looked like she had tasted something bad and wanted to spit when she was finished. There was a delayed reaction before Mr. Sturt stopped fondling Sophie and slid, drooling, down the front of her, to the ground. Sophie propped him up against the wall behind the desk. He was no longer visible.

Sophie rebuttoned her blouse, then took a tissue from Tia’s desk and wiped off the drool.

“I think that’s the last time he shows up unannounced,” Sophie said, stepping out of the office.

She fully closed the door.

“I'll keep watch on him,” Tia said.

“Don’t bother. I'll have security move him in a few hours. We're going to let him wake up in Hell.”

Sophie wiped her blouse again, looking disgusted.

“This way, Nattie,” Tia said, continuing down the hall toward a conference room.

“Hi, is this Natalia?”

“Hi, Shiela. Yes, this is Natalia or Nattie. Shiela is a proctor for the University. There are some placement tests you need to take before we put your schedule together.”

“Have a seat,” Shiela said, indicating the end of the table where there were three pencils and a calculator.

Natalia could see she was Viperian.

“My office is being used by an auditor, so I'll be all over. Just give me a call on my cell when she’s done,” Tia said. “Will do.”

Natalia took a seat. Shiela handed her a sheaf of papers.

“Before we start, what's the name of your High School?"

“Central Reeds.”

“You graduated this year?”

“Yes.”

“And the name under which you graduated?”

“Natalia VosPass.”

“Good. Now read through the front page. Follow the directions. This is timed. You have two hours.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

Natalia read the whole of the first page before she did anything. The instructions were simple. Write her name on the first page of the test and answer all the questions. The test was multiple choice, but the instructions noted that some calculations were required.

Natalia almost needed the full two hours. The thirty pages tested her reading and math skills. Some of the math included logic, however, she didn’t really find any of it to be related to the finance area.

“I'm done,” she said, handing in the papers.

“Good. Go take a break. Get a drink. Use the restroom and then I'll get you started on the next set of tests.” “Okay.”

Natalia went down the hall to the restrooms. Tia’s door was still shut. On her way back, however, two security men were carrying out Mr. Sturt. They each held one of his legs and had one of his arms around their neck. They headed toward the back stairs.

“I need to fuck something,” Mr. Sturt said, sounding very groggy.

“We’ll find you something.” one security man said.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Natalia waited until they were gone before she returned to the conference room. She took a long drink of sanguine tea before she resumed her seat.

“I'm ready.”

Shiela handed her another large sheaf of papers.

“This isn’t timed. Answer as much as you can.”

Natalia noted this was the financial test. It covered formulas, theories, and just about everything she had read. There were even questions on current laws which was the book she hadn't finished.

She was on the sixth page when Bailey arrived to drop off a sack lunch.

“Take a break, then get back to it,” Shiela said.

Natalia chose to eat and continue with the test. Every book that Uri had given her pertained to this test.

Tia stopped in.

“I'm back in my office,” she said.

“Looks like she has a couple more pages to go,” Shiela said.

“Five to be exact,” Natalia said.

“Good.”

Tia left.

It was two-thirty by the time Natalia was done.

“That was intense,” she said, handing Shiela the papers.

“Take a break. I'll get these graded.”

Natalia headed for the restroom. Tia was in her office. On her way back, however Tia was gone, but Natalia saw she was in the conference room with Shiela

“We're almost done,” Shiela said.

“Shes about where I expected her to be,” Tia said

“She tested up where most of our grads test,” Shiela said, looking impressed.

“Uri had her read all the books.”

“still...”

“She's Ryan Crockland’s sister.” Tia said.

“Oh, that explains it.”

“You did well,” Tia said, looking up with a smile.

“I have your transcripts from your High School. I'm waiting for the system to run through the schedules based on how you tested and your grades from High School.”

Shiela picked up an electronic tablet.

“Looks like it’s finished.”

Tia and Shiela sat on either side of her.

“This is yours.” Shiela said, indicating the tablet.

“You'll take all your classes on this,” Tia said.

“Here are the online books you need. These are the classes. The exams. You're able to access what you need as you progress. The instructions are pretty self-explanatory. Based on what you just went through here, you'll have no problems,” Shiela said.

“So these are the classes I take for this semester?”

“No, you get these done as fast as you can and then we'll give you more. Your classes are not defined by semester,” Shiela said.

“You'll complete this four-year degree in two years or less.” Tia said.

“Wow.”

“No more club nights with Uri,” Tia said.

“Agreed.”

“Okay, let’s get you back upstairs. We left poor Francie long enough.” Tia said.

Natalia slid the tablet into her satchel with a charger that Shiela handed her. Tia accompanied her back upstairs

As soon as the elevator opened, Natalia could hear Francie. She was singing, but she wasn’t in the conference room. Tia rolled her eyes, staring down the hall. Francie was in Ravi’s office.

“The things we do,” Tia whispered when she turned and left.

Natalia set her satchel down and dove into sorting the files. It looked like Francie had managed to sort ten boxes. She had been busy.

A few minutes later, she realized it was quiet. She stepped out into the hall. Only the faint sound of heavy breathing reached her ears. This was soon followed by a grunt and a heavy sigh. It was a repeat of the noises Ravi made while he was having sex with Francie the day before.

Natalia stepped back into the conference room. She finished her sanguine tea and went back to work. A short time later, Francie appeared and started working as if she had never been gone. She remained silent. Natalia didn’t ask any questions

At five, they bade their farewells. Natalia remembered the umbrella.

“Uri. Umbrella,” she said, reminding him.

“Thanks. Always forget. In fact, I think I have another here,” he said, grabbing the second umbrella.

While they waited by the elevator, Sophie passed.

“Where did that auditor g0?” Uri said, using the quiet voice.

“To Hell,” Sophie said. “He was annoying.”

“Do I need to do anything?” he said.

The elevator dinged its arrival.

“Just act confused about his disappearance.”

“Easy to do that,” he said, pulling Natalia into the elevator.

Natalia waited until they were in the limo.

“Where's Hell?”

Uri cracked a smile.

“The official Hollow city.”

“Why send him there?”

“We like to gather up drug users who have no hope of recovery to fill the Hollow city. It's a very unpleasant place to be. I'm assuming someone bit him?”

“Sophie.”

“He'll wake up and probably want sex. He'll have some wicked options.”

She grimaced

“I don’t need to hear any more.”

“It’s not a good idea to piss off Sophie.”

She glanced out the window. It was raining again. She was thinking it was dangerous to piss off any Viperian.

It was still raining heavily when the limo pulled into the laneway, but it didn’t stop at the door.

“She's going to pull into the garage,” he said. “In fact, we're going to start the practice of getting out in the garage.” She nodded, thinking that was nice. They weren't going to get wet at all. When the limo pulled around, she noticed a car waiting outside

Uri huffed, not looking pleased.

He slid out first and held a hand out for her. Natalia handed the umbrellas to Bonnie once she was out.

A woman was coming in through the open garage door. Natalia could see she was Viperian. Uri shook his head and headed to the house, pulling her along. The woman looked disappointed and left to go back to her car.

“Another breeding?” Natalia said, once they were in the house.

“Yes. But I refused. I was asked special to breed with Mina. I'm not going to accept anyone else.”

Natalia tossed her satchel into her room before changing. Dinner was a simple pork chop with apple sauce and salad. “You don’t eat pork raw do you?”

“Only red meat.” he said. “Let's go out and do some knife throwing tonight.”

“You going to show me what you can do?”

“You're the one who needs the practice,” he said. “I don’t. Besides, you were at the Church. You saw what I can do.”

She nodded and had to agree.

“I don’t think T have to move the car,” he said when they went out to the garage. “You're good enough to always throw forward.”

Natalia completed four throws. She could always hit the target, but slowly, she thought she was dialing it in. “While Grazie is a good teacher, he won't teach you what I want you to know,” Uri said, stopping her after the fourth throw.

“What is that?”

“In real life, you're not aiming for the center of a target. You're aiming for an arm or an eye.”

“Triple twenty...” she said, wanting to get off the subject of body parts.

She had the picture of the knife in the priest's forehead.

“Exactly. When you practice throwing a knife, I want you to aim for something. Not necessarily the bullseye. And T want you to change where you aim. You don’t want to create a muscle memory for the same spot. You want to create a muscle memory connected to where the eye is looking and where you want the knife to go.”

“I see.”

“You also need to know somethings about the human body.”

“Like what?”

“Where the arteries are. Where to strike for a fast bleed out. Where to strike for a slow bleed.”

“Yuck. Let's just keep with the knife throwing for now at a dart board.”

However, she did try to do as he said, but it was easier said than done.

“I'm kinda hitting where I'm looking, but my accuracy sucks,” she said.

“Takes practice.”

“Cookies,” Mag said, interrupting.

Natalia sheathed her knife.

“Oh, I forgot. I have my school schedule,” she said when they went into the house

She snatched a cookie.

“It’s upstairs. Let me grab it.”

She took a bite of cookie while she trotted up the stairs to her room, but she didn’t turn on the light, knowing right where her satchel was. Her hand paused in midair. In the dark of the room, she could see her cookie glowing. She stared at it hard before spinning on her heels and going back downstairs.

“You forgot your schedule,” Uri said.

“Why is this cookie glowing?” she said with a demanding voice.

She was surprised to find herself disturbed by it.

“Is it?”

“Mag,” Natalia said in an extra loud voice.

Mag hurried in.

“Yes, ma'am?”

“Why is this cookie glowing?”

“Is it?”

“Yes,” she said, almost shouted. “What is in the cookie?”

“It's just a cookie,” Mag said.

“Beetle larvae,” Uri said, taking a bite out of a cookie.

“What?” Natalia said, swinging toward him

Mag swirled around and smacked him hard on the arm.

“She needs to eat these cookies,” Mag said with irritation.

He shrugged, grinned, and finished his cookie

“She needs to find out eventually,” he said.

“Is this what I'm eating that makes me glow?”