Breathe Under Water - Shadows of the Night 1

Chapter 7

Hi!

I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please also check out the songs I added for each chapter. It's worth it! As always, thanks for reading. Let me know what you think about this one - particularly about the undead bros ;)

Lara

_____________________________________________________

Chapter 7

"How many days will you be staying there?"

I shrugged and watched Laura do some more push-ups. "I have no idea."

The small of her back and her steeled arm muscles were glistening with small drops of sweat. I watched in awed silence. Her every movement seemed graceful. I knew that this grace was partly due to her being a shape shifter – though I had to admit that there weren't many shape shifters who could move like she did – but there were a lot of men who'd courted my flat-mate simply out of fascination for the way she could walk down a street.

I bent down to my toes and continued my stretching. "Brown said that we'll have to go there one day ahead of the conference, so I reckon that I won't have to mix with that bunch of undead misfits for more than three days."

Laura stopped her movement and looked up at me. The stair cut made some of her hair strands sprawling over her face in a wild manner, emerald green eyes peeking through yellowish blond. It was all over her face: She disapproved.

"You know, it even surprised me that you were charged with this mission. You're not really an inspiring example of inter-racial cooperation. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Brown was pretty desperate."

"Thanks, I appreciate your faith in me," I retorted dryly.

She resumed her push-ups. "You know what I mean."

Yeah, I knew what she meant. But it didn't change anything. I was no friend of the walking dead, and she knew that. Hell, everybody and his uncle knew that! The next few days in Pennsylvania would call for a conjuring performance in which I would have to stretch my acting abilities extremely... and beyond that. I rotated my arms and stretched them. That at least I could do.

"I read the file Brown handed me." I looked around and dropped my voice. Attracting attention was the last thing I wanted to do. "You know... the lapdog files."

It was the nickname I created after my first glimpse of the document. I didn't have time to go through the whole thing thoroughly, but I read enough to get its major point: subservience. Every paragraph I skimmed was about subservience and throwing yourself at the feet of your master.

As if I couldn't have guessed that myself. I didn't need Brown's file to tell me that vampires regarded humans as inferior to them. In their eyes might was right.

"What, the one on human servants?"

"Shh! Are you crazy? Lower your voice," I hissed, looking to the left and right, rubbernecking the place. No need to air bloody laundry in public.

A middle aged man passed us and went to one of the weight trainers in the back. African-American and extremely good-looking. His body was a sculptured mass of trained muscles you only got through regular, long and thorough workout.

Must be one of the regulars.

I tore my eyes away from him. "Where was I?"

"You wanted to tell me about the lapdog files," Laura said, feigning disinterest.