Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 30

Dinner was a tense affair. Mac couldn't keep herself from blaming Kristoff and Maria for their part in Jon's confinement. Richie sat next to her at the table keeping a careful eye on her. He was more concerned about her than he was showing the others gathered around the table. He wasn't just concerned about her health and the pain that would soon hit her; he was also concerned about her stubborn pride and that she would try to sneak in to see Jon. Richie had joked and teased Jon over the years about the 'infamous' Council, but he was very aware of the power they wielded.

Kristoff had introduced the two of them to the other two members of the Council before they had sat down at the table. Richie had watched as Mac nodded her head to acknowledge the introduction, but had otherwise been very cold to them. Not that he blamed her, but he at least was polite and showed them the deference that their position required. They would, after all, be deciding the fate of his best friend.

Richie noticed that Mac didn't eat much, only pushing her food around on the plate. He watched her absently rub her chest. Knowing what that meant, he cut his eyes to Maria. The woman nodded that she had noticed.

A few moments later, Maria stood and asked Mac if she would join her in the library. Reluctantly, Mac agreed, and Richie watched silently as the two women left the room. Once the women were out of hearing range, Richie turned questioning eyes to Kristoff.

"She will be fine," the vampire tried to assure Richie. "Drinking Giovanni's blood will lessen the pain and allow her to go longer without a sedative."

"If she'll drink it from a bag," Richie mumbled, forgetting for the moment he was sitting with three vampires who could hear his every breath.

The black haired, thin vampire with the British accent that had been introduced to Richie as just Sebastian turned piercing blue eyes on the guitarist. "Are you saying that she's having trouble adapting to her new life?"

"No, not at all," Richie answered, silently cursing his own forgetfulness. "But, she's only fed from Jon directly, never from a bag." He emphasized the last word to draw attention to the fact that even he found the thought of it disgusting.

The Council member that Richie had silently dubbed the 'surfer dude' when the introductions were made laughed then, drawing all the men's eyes. His name was Constantine, but had quickly told Richie and Mac to call him Connie. The vampire had a deep tan and hair obviously bleached blonde by the sun and sounded like he'd just walked in from the nearest beach. "Oh come on, dudes, even you two old farts have to admit that we all prefer to eat 'off the hoof'." That's when Richie decided he liked 'surfer dude'. He just hoped he wouldn't have to end up hating him before this was all over.

Richie turned to Connie then. "I was meaning to ask you how you could possibly spend so much time in the sun to have that great a tan."

"Sunglasses, dude, sunglasses," Connie admitted, giving Richie a boyish grin, "I ask all the gods to bless the inventor of shades everyday. Well, him and the inventor of the bikini."

The three vampires laughed, and Richie couldn't help but join in. Lord knew, he thanked the inventor of the bikini every day that he was at a beach or by a pool too.

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In the library, Maria invited Mac to take a seat. Maria noticed how uncomfortable Mac seemed. "Mac, I know that we don't know each other very well, but I'm hoping we can become friends," the woman's ever-so-slight French accent was slightly heavier than normal.

Mac looked at the woman for a long moment before she finally answered her. "Maria, no offense, but I can't separate yours and your husband's involvement from what's going on here long enough to even try to act friendly."