Swimming to the Light (Southern Vampire Mystery)

Chapter 9 - Confluence

NOTE: A confluence is the coming together of separate streams. Our story will progress with several of our actors meeting. New directions will start to change the course of their lives.

Las Vegas:

Felipe leaned back, his eyes fixed on the line where the far side of the wall met the ceiling. His hand absently stroked the hair of the woman whose mouth was busy sucking his cock. Her tongue tip provided just the right pressure along the dorsal vein. Up. Down. Tickle just under the edge of tip. She moaned and he tightened his hold on her hair. She stilled and their eyes met. He shook his head, cautioning her with his eyes.

Felipe had found that his planning was best done when his mind was totally relaxed. It was during these moments that his thoughts were freed to make connections and see possibilities. The sensation of having his cock massaged by a warm mouth put him in that half dream state. The key was finding just the right degree of stimulation without going too far. Once the need for release was triggered, his ability to free form thought ended. Sometimes he needed hours to work through everything. When that happened, he would just switch out the girls. Humans just didn't have the stamina needed for him to work through complex concerns, but the warmth of their mouths and tongues was just not replaceable. Weres ran too hot. Vampires were too cold. Felipe let his eyes drift back to the angle on the far wall as the woman settled back into the soothing rhythm. 'Yes," Felipe thought. "Humans are just right."

The session with the shifter had proven somewhat enlightening. Of course, there had been the usual screaming and cursing. Blood had been drawn and wounds inflicted. Felipe had always found Merlotte to be fairly dependable even if lacking in imagination.

Felipe had known when he found Merlotte's marker that the shifter would be resentful of having the debt transferred. But then the idiot had made his feelings so apparent. The shifter's anger and disappointment had been like a book; written all over his face. Felipe hadn't been able to restrain himself and had impetuously added a year to the debt as a condition of sparing Merlotte's life.

Still, the reports had been regular and checked out as fairly accurate. That is until Victor.

On reflection, sending Victor so far away with no clear checks and balances may have been a miscalculation. Profits had plummeted. There was trouble. Victor assured him the issue was Northman feeding discontent and undermining everything Victor tried to do. Turned out the worm in the apple was Madden which wasn't really a surprise. Felipe had hoped that Victor's ambition would manifest in pragmatic solutions. Instead the absolute power had corrupted absolutely. Victor had become small and grasping; paranoid and self-destructive. When it came right down to it, Northman and his followers had done Felipe a service.

But during all this unrest, there had been nothing in Merlotte's reports to alert Nevada to the situation. Had Victor not been ended when he was Felipe may have found himself facing a reverse takeover. After listening to the whining and whimpering yesterday, Felipe was confident that the shifter's hatred for the Viking either caused him to not see conditions that were adverse to Northman, or caused him to deliberately ignore them. Either was an issue. If the King were to continue to use Merlotte's services, it could not be in close connection with Northman.

Eric Northman. What to do?

Both Victor and Merlotte had painted a picture of Northman and his attachment to Louisiana. Felipe could understand the attraction of sitting in a small, backwater province where you were virtual King without having to deal with the myriad of distractions that came with actually holding the position. Felipe found himself wondering if Northman's only hold back to making the try for the role had been his maker's continued existence.

Appius Livius Ocella. Felipe found his lip curling. It was difficult not to be impressed with the old Roman. To stand in his presence was to feel his power; his age. Appius may not have held the title of king, but he had been a giant among them nonetheless. A flawed giant.