Bitten (Book 1 - Book 4)

A man stood behind her. Despite he had tattoos on his cheek, it didn't lesson her apprehension. She didn’t know him.

“Come with me, please. Uri would like you to be near,” the man said without any introduction.

His nostrils flared twice as if smelling the air. Natalia felt somewhat cautious, remembering the man in the restaurant. However, this man remained a good six feet away from her. He stood there patiently, almost like a servant, while she made up her mind to follow or not. However, he wasn't dressed like a servant. He looked like another businessman in a suit.

Natalia rose from the bench, waving a hand to indicate that he was to lead on. He obliged and walked ahead of her. She followed him, keeping her distance. They only walked a block further to what she guessed was a main thoroughfare since the road was two lanes wide in both directions. The limo pulled up a moment later, and the back door opened.

"Get in,” Uri said, reaching out a hand for her.

She noted a nodded exchange between him and the man she followed. She also noted that Uri's tattoos were back. When she settled on the seat, Uri pulled her over, so they were touching. He again held her hand.

"You look nice,” he said, but he seemed to have hardly looked at her.

“Thank you.”

As soon as the door shut and the limo moved, she asked the question.

“How do you hide those?”

She touched her cheek.

"Special cover-up.”

His response was terse, and she felt he didn't want to engage in any conversation, especially since he gazed out the window away from her. She turned away from him and did the same, catching the limo going through the gates and back into the main city.

The smog and traffic swelled around the limo. She found she didn't miss it and was already missing the cleaner air of the Hollow City.

Hollow City...

That thought caused her to pause.

Viperia. The city of Viperia.

She still thought of them as Hollows but recalled that Uri said it was a derogatory name. She mentally repeated Viperia and Viperian so as to become more familiar with the terms. While she did so, she realized how sheltered she had been from the city around her. There was so much already that she didn't know about. There was so much that was unfamiliar.

The limo pulled up in front of the main bank. Thomas was waiting. The doors to the limo unlocked. Thomas got in. The door locks clicked.

Natalia had the feeling the driver was both locking them in and the city out. The glass between them and the driver was dark, making her feel as if she was in a vehicle driven by no one.

“Evening, Uri.” Thomas said with a nod.

He sounded chipper.

“Thomas.” Uri nodded back sounding less happy.

Thomas's smile widened when he moved his gaze to her. He ogled her before he reached up to his face. He picked at his skin until he seemed to have a piece, then peeled it off to reveal his tattoos. Natalia winced. Whatever he was pulling off pulled at the layer below. It looked painful.

The moment his tattoos were revealed, he changed from a pleasant looking old man to one who had a menacing look. His tattoos almost looked swollen and red, consisting of two swirling half- moons. Natalia felt as if they would soon be oozing blood. He suddenly seemed frightening to her. "I see you've caused a bit of trouble with this one,” he said with a chuckled

Natalia glanced up at Uri. He didn't look happy and seemed to be ignoring Thomas.

“I know you hate it when you have to let A'ppollo officials into our city,” Thomas continued.

Natalia almost thought he was gloating.

“Everyone is looking for this one. Perhaps it's best to better pick your woman for the night. Or best just to keep her only for the one night.”

He chuckled again as if he was being humorous.

Uri remained silent as if he was absorbed with watching the view out the window.

“I would be happy to take her off your hands.”

Natalia had the feeling that Thomas was intentionally trying to get Uri to react, but Uri appeared unaffected. She didn't even feel any tension in his hand.

"I take it she will be accompanying us to the club. You know they hate that.”

Thomas did some tsking noises while he gazed out the window.

“Risking our operation because of a girl.”

He smiled and his nostrils flared.

“And you knocked her up, too. I don’t remember you getting a permit from the city to breed.” Natalia was beginning to hate him.

Thomas chuckled and tsked more. Uri continued to gaze out the window and ignore him.

After a long drive, the limo slowed, then drove between two high metal gates. These were different gates, but she knew they were heading back into Viperia. Two men, dressed like construction workers, were quick to close the gates behind them. Twenty minutes later, the limo stopped in front of a building. It almost looked like one of the stately library type buildings near the older sections of town.

Uri pulled her out of the limo with him. She wasn't ready for it and had to scramble to find her feet. He paused on the sidewalk as if he was letting her recover, but she could see he was just letting Thomas walk ahead of them. She managed to steady herself before he pulled her along and into the building.

“Thomas. Uri."

The door attendant said their names in a clear voice, but ignored her. She felt as if he was announcing their arrival, however, his voice was very quiet.

There were a lot of whispers and nods around the table.

“I second,” someone said.

“Third.”

“Teddy bear, it is,” Uri said.

Everyone, except Uri and she, stood and left.

“Teddy bear?” Natalia said.

"A girl.”

“What?”

"A teddy bear is a girl, pretty, nicely dressed. Non-Viperian. We use them for escorting people around. People aren't scared of them. Give a big trucker a pretty girl, and he'll do whatever she says.”

“I'm a teddy bear?”

“No, you're not. There's more to it, but not for discussion right now.”

People were returning to sit back at their table. Some had been there before, while others were new. “What do we have?” Uri asked the one woman who sat across from him.

“New class to add to the high school graduation requirements.”

Natalia realized these were meetings, organized meetings, not chance discussions.

"What's the class,” Uri said.

“Financial management,” she said.

"We ready to implement?”

"Yes, all the books and instruction material are here.”

“Do we have enough for a vote?”

The woman rose and counted.

"Yes, as long as it's unanimous.”

"Aye?" said Uri.

There was a murmur of people saying “Aye.”

“Nays?”

There was silence.

“We have unanimous agreement to add the class to the curriculum.”

"Good. We'll start immediately,” the woman said.

“Let it be,” Uri said.

Everyone stood and left.

“Are these town meetings?” Natalia said.

The waiter came and refilled their glasses with iced tea.

“You can say that. Just for the small daily issues.”

"Everyone seems agreeable about stuff.”

“The teddy bear discussion has been up before and rejected, but a few things have changed. The class has been discussed before and was not to be brought up again unless we could implement right away.”

Uri sipped his tea, then rose, leaving her. She found herself feeling a little unsettled when he left the room. She could tell he headed toward the restrooms. There was an immediate change to the room as if it had been zapped by static. A man separated himself from the bar. His tattoos seemed familiar to her, then she remembered. This was the man who had stood with flared nostrils that first day with Uri when they had gone to the restaurant. She felt immediate apprehension.

“She's marked you idiot,” the only other woman said in a low voice of warning.

"Just looking,” the man said.

Natalia thought he was creepy. He smiled at her which only added to that illusion. She wished she could do the low vibration call for help.

The tension in the room escalated when Uri walked back into the room. He seemed calm and unperturbed, but she could see his fingers touching the hilt of the knife up his sleeve. His eyes were focused on the man.

The man backed off to return to his seat at the bar. There were no words exchanged that Natalia heard. She felt no vibration. In that moment, the tension was gone, and the room returned to how it had been before Uri left.

Uri sat, taking hold of her hand. As soon as he was settled, people came to sit at the table. There was no audible talking. Natalia could feel the subtle vibrations through her hand. When she put her hand on her glass, she could feel the vibration there as well.

Then, everyone looked at her, except for Uri.

She knew she was part of the discussion and felt self-conscious. It was short-lived. Everyone focused back on Uri.

This meeting was the longest, lasting over an hour and a half. Natalia had finished her iced tea and needed to go to the restroom again by the time the meeting broke up.

“Restroom,” she said in a murmur.

He released her hand. She caught sight of the other man watching her go.

Once in the restroom, she realized how much tension was still in the room. The restroom felt refreshing on her nerves. She almost wanted to stay there, but knew that if she didn't return, Uri would come looking for her.

On her return to the room, she found herself paying more attention to the people and what they were doing. The man at the bar was positioned where he could keep watch on her. In the corner, was a group of seven men, which included Thomas. They seemed to be drinking quite a bit. The tones of their voices and their body language made her think this group wasn't happy.

Uri was sitting alone, but as soon as she sat, Thomas separated himself from his group and swaggered up to sit across from Uri. Natalia could smell the alcohol on him.

Uri took immediate command of the meeting.

“Thomas, you are very important to us.”

His voice was low as if he didn’t want anyone to hear him, but she realized, if everyone could hear a low vibration, then they certainly could hear every word he said.

“I damn am.”

Thomas chuckled, showing his bravado.

“Everything you do is important. I know you know this,” Uri said.

Thomas nodded.

“I understand the repercussions of my own actions. You should understand yours. I won't tell you to stop, but you need to cut back on the girls you bloody. It's garnering some attention.”

“They're rats. No one of concern.”

"And yet, look at the rat I picked up.”

Thomas smiled, swinging his gaze to her.

“Bloodied girls are getting attributed to us. To the Viperians. This is a rather important time not to get that type of attention,” Uri said.

“What are you going to do with her?” Thomas said.

“I didn't bloody her. She's being labeled a runaway. I can always make her reappear, if needed. You can't make your bloodied girls reappear.”

Thomas shrugged.

“I'm just asking that you cut back.”

“You're always reasonable, Uri.”

Natalia had the feeling that Thomas didn't care and that he was going to do what he wanted.

“I'm just asking on behalf of the others. Just cut back. That's all.”

"Good advice, as always,” Thomas rose.

He returned to his group in the back.

When Thomas settled back at his table, Grazie separated himself from the bar.

"Hey, Moralis. Darts.”

Uri rose, dragging her with him while he moved to the other side of the table. He pulled her around him where she was again in the chair by the wall. They now faced the dart board. Everyone else in the room, except for Thomas’ group, pulled up chairs to watch.

Moralis stepped up while Grazie pulled out a box of darts.

"What are we playing?”

“Five 0 one.”

Grazie handed him three darts.

"You lost last time. You go first.”

“Reaha, you have your glasses with you this time?” Morals said.

“I don't need my glasses to see who wins.”

Reaha was the woman in the room.

Moralis stood at the line.

“Triple twenty.”

Natalia hardly saw him flick his wrist, but there was a small thud and the dart was on the board in the area he called.

“Two more times,” Moralis said, and in quick succession, he tossed the darts into the same area. Grazie stepped up and did the same, fitting his darts around Moralis's darts. He also could send the darts flying with hardly a flick of the wrist. They called each shot, and never missed

Natalia found herself awed with their skill. She knew enough about darts and was quick to figure out the game, except they both reached the score of five hundred and one with ease.

“Last three,” Grazie said as if teasing.