Chapitre 50: 9. The Lady In Red.
Let's just say that the night went okay because I slept. I felt the injection that Damon kindly gave me, but I wasn't quite sure about the Master's own sleep. I woke up in the morning on my own in bed. There was a note on the bedside table with a phone on it.
" Sorry baby, crises beckon; I'm leaving the phone here because here's an app to track you, and I don't want to endanger you; you know how easy it is to clone a phone, no matter how protected it is. So I would love to keep a way to talk to you and tease you; I'll still pay for that shower, missy. And remember to eat; you better be at a better weight when I get back, or else I'll force-feed you for a week with a nasogastric tube, though. Damon."
His handwriting was decorative and old-fashioned, and it said so much about his age, even though it was pretty damn hard to believe he was really that old. I wondered to myself if I would be the same someday, being old and still looking the same. Only how does time change us? I hadn't even begun to think about that side of it.
I went to breakfast; Adam was already reading his paper and just grunted something. I wasn't surprised at all. I had already learned that Mr Hauptmann wasn't available until the paper was read. I went to the fridge to see what was for breakfast, and there was a massive plate with my name on it and several smoothies, too—Damon's handwriting.
Fine, I put the plate in the microwave and started sipping the smoothie. I put some more coffee on and had a Coca-Cola to drink. I tried to be a good girl, drinking and eating like I should. I took the plate out of the microwave and started eating meat mostly and fatty stuff like that, various crispy fried bacon; I don't know if it was all pork or what, a few thick steaks, and some lovely meatballs. And not much pasta or any carbohydrate.
This was another example meal, and when I finished it, Adam delivered another similar meal in front of me. So I ate as much as I could.
As I was still eating, Adam said, " Bran will be back here in a week and will bring Samuel with him so we can start preparing for the gig. But now, missy, we have some free time on our hands again as Damon had to go away again."
I said, " Yep, that seems to be the case, and you're not going to tell me what gig we're doing yet, are you?"
Adam said," Yeah, I won't tell you the details yet, but we'll be doing all new things this week. I'll teach you a something or two; now that I know you're a pretender, I know how to get you to learn, and soon, that side of you will wake up a little better as you find yourself learning new things. That side will be curious and want to learn."
He looked at me as he explained on.
"I knew a man once, centuries ago, who was a pretender. All he had to do was observe his target; after a time, he could imitate any profession or person well. He made that role his own, not just imitated, but studied and then played the role very skilfully; well, let's say he was watching a doctor; he didn't become the same doctor but just another doctor. He read and studied a lot about everything, which helped him stay in the role, even in his old age. But he was human, and he died at the age of 89, in his own bed surrounded by his family."
The week went well because even though Damon had to go away once again, I had plenty to do as Adam saw me as a student, and it was nice to teach me new skills, like dancing. Well, there's nothing strange about that. We watched a lot of dancing with the stars and once I liked some of the teachers and students, Adam took the opportunity to teach me to dance quite a few different dances.
It is good to have photographic memory and my body was meant to move. That I had already learned.
So, not seduction ala Salvatore but learning ala Hauptmann, we also learned etiquette, eating habits, all the fancy and social stuff. It took time, and then we always ate. I don't know what Damon had said to Adam, but oh my god, he fed me too. I always had time to read medicine or anatomy, whatever, when Adam had to be on the phone with Bran and whoever when some deal didn't go right, some security thing.
And he made sure I slept in the bedroom downstairs, and he came every night to keep me safe, and there was no room for argument in that equation. So I was a good girl, and I slept, I ate, and I learned to dance the Cha Cha up to the Quickstep.
It was hard work, but my body likes to move, and dance was just one form of exercise, among others. Yes, we practiced fighting, and Adam taught me how to fight in wolf form; he didn't let Mimosa be in charge, but I was also learning and evolving.
I was so busy with my studies that I didn't have time to think about Damon. So after he'd been with me less than a week, if I count the days he was actually interacting with me, so I was awake, and yet, I'd done the shower for his trick.
He had been very close to losing control of himself with me, and I didn't really know yet or even know how to deal with this spark and, frankly, animalistic passion between us. He had made us a shared bedroom where we would sleep, and somewhere in between, we would consecrate it and have sex there. But when and how, I didn't even think about it as I wasn't ready to go that far.
In fact, I realized that Damon is a hot-blooded man, and he can't always wait if he needs sex, so it was actually pointless for me to assume that he would only be with me.
We had a relationship going on, but what was it? Was I just a conquest for Damon, an object, or was it something deeper? Could the soul mate be seen as just lust for another, or was there just a physical relationship between us?
I mean, I didn't even know about Damon other than what he had revealed at the time and then again that use in Montana. It made me a bit wary about whether Damon was the ideal partner or if someone more stable would be better. Then, just the thought popped into my head, and I couldn't help but think about it a bit.
Would Adam be the ideal partner for me? He protected me, was there, had fun with me, had saved me in the first place, and had some sort of connection back there on the ship. But would Adam ever see me as a woman or just a Mimi, to be rescued, protected, cared for, but would he ever see me as a lover, maybe a girlfriend?
Where Damon had made his feelings for me clear, Adam hadn't shown any so that I could dream, but reality would be different, and I would have to keep myself in reality, not in my own little dreams.
And my reflection didn't help. On the contrary, it just made me more confused and pondering, turning things and facts over in my head, thinking about my future even now in the longer term, and I didn't know if I wanted to live on my own yet.
Adam brought security and companionship and made me feel that I was safe and everything would be fine; I didn't have to be independent and make all the decisions, but someone was looking after me. But then again, something in me knew that I would have to learn to look after myself sooner or later. To become independent and stand on my own two feet.
It was good to be safe and all, but when you didn't know anything about the future, it might be better to gear up and get yourself in shape. Learning to be independent rather than hanging on to Adam's care and hoping it would last forever.
We also went out in wolf form, with Mimosa getting to spend time with Adam while I was in the background. It was also essential to let Mimosa experience and enjoy. I didn't tell her what happened in Montana, and Mimosa didn't ask questions. Somehow, I wanted to protect my wolf's innocence and not tell her everything I had already been through; she didn't need to experience everything.
Let her enjoy her hunting and eating, too. However, it was very difficult for Mimosa when we killed another big buck, and Adam came and ate the liver, heart, pancreas, and spleen. Mimosa's treats, but the pack order, and Mimosa adored Adam more than I ever did, so she let Alpha enjoy the prey.
It was a big deer, so there was plenty of meat and edible for both of them and the rest, well, Adam dragged it to the house and put it in a huge chest freezer after he'd chopped it up with an axe a little smaller, head and all.
Then, somewhere in between, those pieces could be eaten again in wolf form, and even the head was edible when you crushed it a little first. So we got some goodies in the freezer. And then a food coma when my stomach was so damn full after all that overeating, almost.
Samuel and Bran arrived a week later after we had studied all week and done God knows what, and Samuel first gave me a thorough health check with tests.
He said, "Missy, downstairs medbay, and straight away, I'm going to give you a proper check-up, and then we'll get on with it. "
I obeyed and was a good girl. First, he took 54 tubes of blood and then went through me to start with the internal examination. There was no place that wasn't examined and poked and prodded. And the scans, too.
He looked at the results and was relatively happy with them. I had gained a bit more weight again. I weighed 53 kilos, and there was nothing to worry about in any of the tests. There was no sign of heat yet, so I didn't have to worry about that either.
He asked a surprising number of questions about what I did to Damon in the shower and how it had made me feel and all sorts of questions like that. He was obviously trying to see if I had grown any closer to sexual maturity. I tried to answer as best I could, but yes, I did blush occasionally when he asked me to describe a particular scene in a little more detail.
Next, he asked me if I had been traumatized by the wolf thing and then when I told him how I had been lying drugged for a week, Samuel's eyes flashed yellow, but only for a moment. He was clearly unhappy with his father, and I suspected that Bran had even lied about what I had done there.
After the tests, we went to eat and Bran was at lunch, but Samuel didn't say a word about my results when Bran was present. He was still angry with his father about the whole drugging thing.
Then he and Adam took me to one of the rooms upstairs and explained the gig. It would be an undercover job, and it would help that I was a pretender. Also, some things Adam had taught me would be useful.
The job was simple. We would go to a big party with lots of people, and the idea was to see if another wizard would be a good ally. Dresden had told us about this guy, and whether he was good or bad was a bit in and out. It was a strong wizard called John Constantine.
Yeah, again, the TV series and movies flashed in my mind, and I was already starting to learn how much real supernaturals have influenced the media for quite some time now. We would go under cover of a false identity.
Me and Adam would go to the party alone and no one would recognize us. Adam would use the magic of the pack to disguise himself in case anyone happened to know him now, and I was pretty unknown in these circles, so all I had to worry about was makeup and my role.
I would be a top-talented botany student, and Adam would be my big boss. We would go together. We'd be in a relationship. I would be younger than Adam, and he would just have taken me and would make me the perfect girlfriend or lover.
But Adam said we didn't have to do anything physical there, but he's in a slightly different mood, so I should keep my role and wasn't bothered at all. We'd go to the ball, and I'd get an intensive botany education at night.
So I would be put in a dark, soundproof room, put to sleep with a specific drug, and have headphones in my ears that would feed information to my subconscious.
Samuel said, "This method is said to work well, especially with pretenders and the supernatural. A week of this and then a couple of days to see if it works."
I said, "I'll be ready if only Adam will put me to sleep every night."
Adam said, "Yeah, we go to sleep just like normal, and then when you are asleep, Samuel switches you on to learn. "
I thought that was a good one. After that, the party would be on. Adam would get me a dress and shoes. That's very interesting. I'd have to do my own makeup, and Adam would do my hair.
Bran just said in passing as we came downstairs that he had to leave again and the last information was that Salvatore was in Eastern Europe and busy. Chasing vampiresses. Whatever that means. But I didn't let it bother me. I was gearing up for my first undecover gig and studying. I was excited.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone