She lingered kissing Raiden goodbye for the day on the street before the academy and had to hurry through halls to her first class. She slipped in just before start and sighed heavily when she saw Cael talking to the teacher. Just great, she thought as she put on her shoes and began warming up at the bar.
“He is cute,” Naomi leaned over to bar to whisper. “New student? Student teacher? My future husband?”
“Straight or gay do you think?” Josh wondered.
“Straight,” Lia was sure of that. “He is on some sort of transfer from a little company… Um,” she tried to remember the company name. “Something Light, I think. Looking for corps dancers.”
“Really?” They both looked at her in interested surprise. Lia was normally the last person with information, mostly because Paris spilled any news before Lia got a chance to.
She shrugged. “He has taken a room at my house.”
“Oh.”
“Alright, we will partner up for Pas de Deux,” the teacher called the class to order. He began to call out names, positioning the dancers onto the floor. “Cecelia and Cael,” he made the come-hither finger gesture at Lia, and positioned her with Cael stepping back to run his eye over them and nodding his approval before moving on.
Cael placed his hands on her waist. “Your dog stayed again last night. You should get him a kennel.” The teacher commanded them to jumps, and Cael lifted her easily before setting her back to the floor. “Maybe a bowl with his name on it. I hope he doesn’t chew my shoes.”
“What do you have against his type?” She jumped again.
She could smell Cael’s aftershave, sandalwood and bergamot, she thought absently. It was a pleasant scent, although it did not make her stomach curl with lust like the scent of citrus and lavender.
“Does he sit on command?” He smirked. “Beg? Stay. Fetch.”
“You think you are being funny,” she murmured. “But you are just being rude.”
At the teacher’s direction, she went into attitude en pointe and felt Cael’s hand support her. As they moved through the steps, she could feel the heat of his palms through her leotard, the brush of his breath over her skin, and she was reminded of his body against her in the kitchen.
“We will buy him a crate,” Cael breathed into her ear. “And lock him up whilst we f-”
“Good,” the teacher said passing them, interrupting Cael.
“Cael,” she said sharply. “You will find yourself living out of a kennel soon if you don’t watch your mouth.”
Cael smirked at her, his eyes smouldering, and she felt the heat rise in her. “Holding you like this reminds me of the other night,” he murmured near her ear as they moved into the next pose. “You tasted nice, Cecelia, I wouldn’t mind another bite.”
“Stop it,” she hissed.
“You say stop it, but your scent says go on,” he replied, his body tighter to her than the move required as she went into attitude en pointe again, and he turned his head so that his lips almost brushed hers.
“Lovely,” the teacher approved. “Take a break.”
Cael’s hands lingered, and for a moment she thought he would not release her, and then he did, with an almost inaudible chuckle.
She flushed as she went to fetch her water from her bag.
They resumed dancing, and Cael took every opportunity presented to him to touch, his lips almost brushing her skin, his holds closer than other male dancers would hold her, lowering her in such a way that their bodies dragged against each other.
“This is the difference between a professional partner and a student,” the teacher called the class to attention. “Cael and Cecelia, begin again.
“Now watch how Cael is not afraid of contact with Cecelia. This is a romance, a dance between lovers. They are not going to be maintaining a polite distance between them. Dancing is not just about the movement. It is about selling the story. Watching Cael handle Cecelia, you believe that they are lovers.”
As the class concluded, Cael put his lips near her ear. “Your dog isn’t satisfying you, Cecelia. Let me know if you need a hand… or anything else, for that matter.”
She pulled away from him, embarrassed by how her pulse raced.
As she waited in the queue for lunch, Cael’s laughter rang out across the cafeteria. He had already filled his tray and sat at a table amongst a group of other dancers, talking animatedly. He caught her eye across the room and winked.
“Well, he hasn’t wasted time settling in,” Paris observed as Lia joined her at their favourite table.
“He was in my first class,” Lia said picking through her salad. She felt heat crawl up her neck and cheeks at the memory.
“Can he dance?” Paris watched him gesturing as he told a story that had the table he was at in stitches. “He is cute. You are blushing,” she added on an accusing note. “Don’t tell me you fancy him. What about Raiden?”
“I don’t fancy him. He was just very handsy, in class.” And in the kitchen.
“You should have told the teacher.”
“Donovan loved it. Said it was the difference between professional and a student.”
“Can’t have been too bad then,” Paris decided. “You are just a bit reserved about that sort of thing. Talking about, how is it going with Raiden?”
“Good,” Lia found a tomato amongst the lettuce. “Really good, actually.”
“Aww,” Paris pouted and nudge her with her hip. “So cute, Lia’s in love. About bloody time, though.”
“I don’t know,” Lia felt a panicky uncertainty rise in her. “It is very quick. I feel like it is a bit quick, really. That I should slow it down?”
“Why? If you are enjoying him, and he is enjoying you, why would you slow it down?”
“I don’t know,” Lia stabbed the tomato with her fork. “I mean, aren’t we supposed to date for a while before hopping into bed together? And then, you know, is it right to spend every night together? Isn’t it a bit much, too quick?”
Paris giggled. “Oh, Lia. Get with the times. Sometimes I think you have lived so long in the dated decor of your house you have absorbed the attitudes of the era. I f-ked Brock the first night, and haven’t stopped,” she winked. “The man is a beast in bed, by the way. I am actually amazed you haven’t commented on the floorboards creaking. The point being, do you want to Raiden to sleep over?”
“Yes,” Lia said under her breath, her eyes skimming the other dancers eating around them, to see if anyone was eavesdropping. “Paris, for f-k sake, keep your voice down.”
“Why? Anyway, if you want him to stay over, and he wants to stay over, what is the problem?”
“Nothing I guess.”
“Exactly. It is in your head, hon.” Paris leaned over and kissed her cheek with a smack. “Just chill a bit, eh?”
She made it through the final two classes, before hurrying out to meet Raiden.
His Ute was already parked, waiting for her two spots up from where he had dropped her off and he leaned against its side, his face lighting in a smile as he saw her approach. She saw several women do a double take of him as they walked by and did not blame them – he was gorgeous. And hers. She felt her heart jump and was so focused on him that she almost missed the man and woman in dark coats that crossed the pavement towards her.
She was not exactly sure what alerted her to them, some Other sense triggering warning, but she managed to pull back as the man grabbed for her. The man’s fingers passed close enough to her arm that she felt the heat from his skin.
She heard Raiden shout her name and a squeal of tires as a van mounted the sidewalk, coming to a stop between her and Raiden’s Ute.
She whirled away from the van as the side door opened and another man jumped out, trying to flee, knowing that she did not want to end up on the inside of that door.
The woman seized her around the waist, lifting her from her feet.
“Incendimus,” Lia gasped out, and the woman shrieked, releasing her as her clothing caught alight.
“Permadesco,” the man from the van yelled, startling Lia. The fire went out.
“F-k it is a f-king wolf,” the woman looked up from her smoking sleeve and exclaimed as Raiden ran around the van and seized the first man by his jacket, throwing him easily. The van dented beneath the impact.
Raiden grabbed Lia by the waist, pulling her behind him, and faced the van snarling, the Other fluorescing his eyes.
“Retreat!” The man grabbed the woman by the arm.
The man Raiden had thrown was just regaining his feet, and they pulled him with them into the van, which immediately took off, causing a series of minor crashes as it peeled out into traffic.
“Lia,’ Raiden turned to her, catching her face between his hands, and scrutinizing her. “Are you hurt?”
“Oh my god,” Lisa, one of the other dancers from the academy, ran towards them, her phone to her ear. “I saw the whole thing Lia and am on the phone to the police.”
“I am fine,” Lia assured Raiden.
“Did you recognize them?” He looked over his shoulder.
There was chaos on the road as drivers tried to sort out their damaged cars, and the traffic was banking up around the accidents. In the distance, she could hear the sound of sirens, and, caught in the banked traffic, the whirl of red and blue lights.
“No,” she paused. “Well, maybe. There was a guy this morning, after you dropped me off. He knocked me off my feet. I thought he was a bit creepy, but it was nothing, really, so I just went to class like normal…”
“Lucian,” Raiden muttered under his breath.
“Surely not,” she was shocked.
“It is just the sort of thing a vamp… ah,” Raiden caught himself. “Anyway. Let me handle the police.”
“Okay.” She realized he did not want her to tell them about Lucian. She did not think it was a good idea to point the finger at a vampire either, the police were simply not equipped to handle Others.
She also did not think Raiden was right. The people who had grabbed her were not vampire, they were warlocks. “Shit,” she whispered. Why were warlocks trying to abduct her?
She saw Cael amongst the dancers and teachers spilling out of the academy to see what the drama was about, and he met her eyes, frowning. From his expression, he did not have anything to do with it, she decided.
In all her life, she had never encountered another witch or warlock, nor werewolf or vampire, and now in one week, she was working for a vampire, dating a werewolf, sharing house with a warlock, and had witches and warlocks trying to steal her from the street.
What had changed?