20. It's a heartache.

I started to get myself together when I woke up in Kansas Castle in Charles' arms. How he always knew I wanted intimacy, and he had taught me there was nothing wrong with that. This was a wonderful wake-up call instead of either waking up in a medbay in chains or alone in a bedroom alone somewhere.

I really had someone. So I couldn't always even believe it. Even though Charles and I had been together for years, I still kept wondering about this feeling and how he could bother with me. It was almost a scary feeling at the time, that someone needed to be with me. He needed to keep me in his arms and love me no matter what. Why was that? I wondered sometimes if was I worth it. When he wanted to.

Charles murmured into my ear softly as he noticed me waking up, "Good morning, you're in much better shape now. Salvatore operated on you, but we started treating you when we got our nesting under control. Perhaps you'd like a bath to sleep? There are only heated tubs here. "

I said, "I don't want to go anywhere else yet, but just be here. This is perfect. You, my beloved, the light of my life, my savior, are perfect."

I just pressed myself better against him. No need to go anywhere. I fell back asleep when I was so damn safe.

Then I woke up the next time by myself. There was a note on the bedside table. "Food is in the fridge. Come, eat when you're hungry."

I got showered, dressed, and went to the kitchen. My blonde hair, now long and spiky straight, was loose on my back, reaching to my ass. Well, the fridge was full of food and I got myself a good portion. Adam came into the kitchen in nothing but jeans, smelling of sex and looking a bit remorseful.

I said, "Good morning, you must have been horny."

Adam said, "Yeah, we're having a group session if you want to come along."

I didn't feel like it. I had my mind set on anything else than sex. For me, sex was not something I wanted to do, besides three men, three females were already in action, so no use for me to even to try to fit in there. 

I said, "I don't fancy that job. This little chaos is going to go out and do some work."

Adam smiled, finished his drink, and went back. That was just a check-up. I'd told Adam I was going out, but I was going to do some Flea stuff. It was always such a wonderful distraction if only to not be fucking up my future all the time. I needed to get my mind occupied and be the leader, control even something. Anything. 

I found myself a good studio again and got to work, sending the killing sprees on, getting in touch with Reddington, organizing rescue missions, finding medical facilities, consulting on planning, and helping with planning. The flea stuff was a bit like that. Once you start doing it, you get stuck in. I was needed and there was a lot to do, thank God. Over the years, I had gotten pretty good at multitasking too. 

I had no gastro implants now because there was a problem in making them, so eating was not so good at times. Somewhere in between, I always found that someone was actually supplying me with a food tray and it was Adam or Charles, or so I assumed, because I had paid little attention to the job. I did not even notice who brought the tray to me. The smell of food usually made me eat, at least something but then again, If I was middle of something, eating could be a little slower side. 

Damon and Mariella were lying in bed and Damon said, " Do you want to see a flea? I mean at Mimi's work. We could go make some food so I can teach you how to cook. Because she's at a flea and she's not eating, she's just caught up in the business. Adam and Charles did take food now and then, but come on, it's an impressive sight. She is working from the house. She has her office. Did you know we had our last wedding here in Kansas castle, and then when we left for the honeymoon, Sark captured us, took Damien out, and made him torture Mimi for five weeks but Mimi made a substance, she called me forth with that substance and I got us out there and into Chicago, Colin came by to help. It was me who wrapped up with her and kept her asleep. Not normal, Damon, but me. "

Mariella was curious. She said, "I mean, wow, she could take you out. And she took you out, and you kept her safe. You see, you are starting to find your feelings for Mimi. They are coming from that Damon. He was your emotional side but part of you, but answer me this. How can a working person be an impressive sight? Isn't it mostly a boring sight? "

Damon just chuckled. They showered, though Damon took Mariella really hard by choking her hard in the shower, and then they got dressed and went to eat something. He had not yet been with her as rough as with Mimi, and he was not sure if that would be too much. 

When they were halfway through eating, Adam and Charles came into the kitchen, grabbed a tray, and started piling Mimi's dishes. They had their expressions a little annoyed but loving. It had been good to them to get care of Mimi, and Mariella could see the annoyance on Damon's face. His telepathy told him pretty clearly those thoughts.

Damon stood up and said, "Let me feed the lady. I am her protector. You two go and eat. Mariella will feed you in a minute. You look a little thin side. "

Mariella watched as Damon concentrated on putting Mimi's meal together. Damon focused and Mariella could see that he went with his instincts as he had not tasted her blood. Mariella sank her fangs into both of the men and tasted them so she had an idea of what to feed to them.

Several fruit smoothies, made with great precision. Lots of citrus, not grape, but orange lemon, lime, finger lime, and satsumas. A prescribed amount of certain wagyu meat, not really carbs from any pasta or potatoes. The fattest Wagyu pieces. Mimi had acquired other pieces and calf too, but Damon was very particular about what parts were part of Mimi's diet, especially when she was not eating regularly. A large thermos of coffee and three liters of Coca-Cola. Mariella had finished her meal and started piling up meat from the smoke box in front of the men.

Mimi had almost smoking cabinets in every house, and they were often full after the lady. It was interesting for Mariella to empty them and then watch Damon's expression, ranging from disbelief to rage. There were very rare and exotic meats in there, sometimes even whole carcasses too.

Mariella had not been in so many houses yet but here, in Kansas it had been a smoking room with bear and wild duck, partridge, and game birds too, a lot of very lovely meats and boys get a good selection of a variety of meats too. Mimi had also a cheese cellar here and Mariella had gone there with Mimosa. She had found Fae cheese; it had been perfect, and it was rare to find Fae cheese. She had brought a selection of cheeses and she saw now Damon taking several mold cheeses and put them in Mimi's tray. 

The big question was, where the fuck did Mimi get all this meat from? And then there was a pit like this outside every house, an open fireplace where you could cook a whole beef carcass at once. Sometimes, Mimi would have a carcass cooked there, too.

Mariella felt Damon's irritation about all of these things and Mimi had gotten the freedom to do what she liked for a long time when Charles had been alpha and had not told her not to. He had just been proud of her, and not kept her under control. In a way, Charles treated Mimi the same way Damon treated Mariella. 

Adam and Charles had always chopped and cleaned them up. They didn't care where Mimi got the meat. They were good meats, delicious, and they didn't always get angry with Mimi about some meat. Although Charles knew that at some point he could take the little bitch by the throat again and teach her in bed.

Mariella was finally satisfied with the amount of meat and cheese too in front of the men and said to Damon. "I'm ready. Let's go talk to Mimi while she eats."

Damon laughed and said, " Darling, Mimi won't even notice when we take these. I can guarantee you that. Unless I want her to take a break. But at least I, the protector, had taken her some food for her. "

They went up to the seventh floor, and there were big double doors at the end of one of the corridors. This was a grand castle and Mariella had openly admired so many things on it: moldings, floors, ceilings, lamps. Everything had been very pretty and perfect, almost. 

Damon walked in with a tray and said, " Go ahead and open them."

Mariella opened the doors, and the room that was revealed was huge. Windows were huge, and rugs on the floor were plush and soft, pastel. There was the biggest bed she had ever seen. Damon walked to the other end of the room, where there was another oak door.

Mariella marveled and wondered at the room. This was not a consecrated room, and so it was magnificent. This was supposed to be a wedding night bed. It had not been at that wedding, but this could be. She went and opened the door. It was quite heavy and Mariella could see padding inside of it, soundproofing it fully. There was an extensive study, and Mimi was at work. 

The floors were white parquet, there were rugs on the floor, a huge desk dominated the room, and there were laptops, phones, computer screens on the table, and piles of paper. Mimi's chair was impressive, tall, sturdy, and leather, and Mariella could see that it was very nice to work with. Mimi had her blonde hair loose, she had a tee shirt, jeans, and a focused expression on her face that Mariella had not seen. 

Damon went into the room and put the tray on the desk next to Mimi. She was watching some satellite feed and at the same time listening to some phone call while now and then she would grumble something into the hands-free device that was in her ear. She sounded irritated at whoever was on the other end of that phone call. 

Mariella watched as Damon put a plate in front of Mimi and held out a fork to her. Mimi casually took a couple of bites and continued her call. Then she hung up that call, tapped the next one on her phone, and started chatting with someone about some blasting gig. This was called Henry, and this gig was not easy. Mimi offered six different types of explosives, then one type was something that they agreed on and Mimi told him where to find them, what warehouse, and what shelf. 

Mariella paced the room. On one wall, there were satellite pictures and some survey results of some terrain. Then there were maps—and magazine articles. In the printer, several papers were coming out, and they were some kind of lists. Kill lists. Mariella took one list. There were names, occupations to whom this was connected, and where to find this. 

Mimi had now moved at the same time to research something on her computer while talking to another person on the phone. This guy was on these kill jobs, and Mimi told him about jobs in France and Germany. Damon had gotten Mimi to eat a little, but not properly. She again dropped her fork as she took out another list and recited about 16 names to this guy onto the phone while marking those names on that list. 

Damon came over to Mariella and said, " As you can see. A world of her own. We can go, or Adam and Charles will come by sometime and pick up that tray then."

He looked at those lists too and shook his head slightly. 

Mariella sighed and said, "Doesn't she have any help? I mean, who could she direct things to? Delegate. She has so many things going on same time. "

Damon smiled and said, "Mimi doesn't delegate unless she has to. Right now she's trying to get everything back as well as she can so that if there comes a time when she's sick or in heat and she's not available, things will be taken care of. She knows her responsibility as a leader and founder and whenever she is available, there are always things for her to be decided. Magnum was one who told her that, taught her that Fleas weren't toys but her responsibility and Magnum was her physiotherapist, occasional bed fellow quite a few times and one guy who knew how to get her to unload her rage. Even Adam or Charles, nor I have no idea what Magnum did to her, but it worked."

They listened for a while when someone called and told Mimi about the drug shipment. Mimi just grunted and instructed where to deliver and Mariella realized that some of those drugs were delivered into houses with wings, delivered in wings. There was a lift and an area where the shipment could be delivered. Mimi wrote up where those drugs are coming from. She asked about antibiotics and fever meds, and Mariella realized she was trying to ensure drugs for herself in case of a medical problem. 

Mariella said, " Those drugs should be directed at you, not for her. God knows what there can be. She is trying to get help for herself for the future, but it won't be any good if she poisons herself in the process. Why don't you help? There's no Damien in you now. Mimi is chaos, and this is a pretty chaotic situation. This could use someone methodical and precise. I know, honey, that you have always wanted to help, and you have your network. Let's get to work. Take charge of this situation and I would suggest that at first, you need to calm the lady down."

Damon grinned and said, "Really, darling, a flank?"

Mariella nodded.

She felt Damon should get involved because he's an alpha male, a pack leader, a strong old vampire, and Mimi's husband. Damon wanted to do this. She could feel it.

Someone had brought food again, and I ate it when I remembered. I had just gotten information about yet another drug shipment. Good; I ordered it to be delivered to the wing of one house. I had consulted on the blasting gig and we had found the best explosive, and we had those in our main warehouses. I had a couple of fantastic leads on the underground medical facilities. I had given out kill lists and god knows I had those a lot. This lead was about Sark's facility and I was about to set up a reconnaissance when I felt a needle sink into my lung and Damon's hands supporting me. I almost blacked out fully. 

He lifted me into his arms and carried me to the couch to sit next to Mariella. Mariella helped me lean a little better. I just have gotten my eyes a little better open. 

Mariella said, " Now begins Mimi's new time at the fleas. Now they'll get Damon to help. Now you too will learn to delegate and let's see what Damon can do so it won't be so desperate for you all the time. Now you get Mimi some help. Those drugs will come to Damon. He knows them best. You are not poisoning yourself with them. Damon will get things into order and you see that you have a lot of time to do something else than sit and do everything yourself. "

I thought, yeah. But Damon doesn't even know what I'm doing at the moment. I heard beeping, someone was calling, and I was just about to press the button to answer when I felt someone take my phone off my head. Damon crouched in front of me for a moment as he put it on himself.

He looked at me and said, "Fucking powerful telepath. Mimi, don't worry. You sit there in peace or else sedated, but let me pass this stuff on a bit and then see what's going on. Mimi, try slowly to get used to the idea that one day you won't be in charge of the fleas anymore because that's what I'm going to do. I'm not destroying the fleas, but it's time for you to move on and hand this organization over to others. To qualified people. You have done brilliantly, but you are now an alpha female. Breeding will happen for some time, so you need to move on and let your organization pass on to the next generation. "

Oh, just get it all out. Of course. This has always bugged Damon that I'm working. Always. Fine, let's see if the Lord ever finds anyone because that's not an easy job, and I don't know if any human being can do it. I focused on getting this second flank out of my mind that he jabbed into me as he took information out of my mind while putting my hands-free on himself.

Mariella looked at me and said, "You do look like you were in love while you are all flanked up. Just relax, flanks help you relax a bit."

Oh really, they usually piss me off. And quite hard too.

Damon got up and started to examine and organize my desk. Oh, that I can be put off when someone interferes with my space. Whether it's a car seat or my desk, he put the papers in neat stacks after going through everything. Some he furrowed his brow, and some he didn't. He saw one folder that he opened, all of my little plans for attacking Sark and Damien. He looked it through very carefully.

Then he would sit in my chair and adjust it a little better, too. He started going through my work phone and then took his phone and cloned my contact details for himself. Fuck. And then he started looking through my laptop.

I finally got my mind clear enough so I could do something. I sat on the sofa and ate as Mariella brought a tray in front of me and heated the food with energy. Damon was calling and texting whoever and whenever, sending out entire kill lists.

Fine. Go ahead. I'll clean up after him one day since he has no idea about distributing kill lists. That one list might have names all over Europe. I therefore have guys in every country I call, and I don't just give them the entire list because it's not easy to do.

Not everyone wanted to talk to Damon, and well, I knew that, but he had to experience it for themselves. I was not gonna tell him everyone right off the bat. If he wants to be the leader of my not-so-little organization, go ahead. When I actually know what I am doing, it might look like chaos, but I am on top of it. I had almost a century experience in that work too. It was not so easy as it seemed, but fine, let him find out himself about that.

I finished my meal and thought, fine, I still have work to do, even though Damon is now working at my desk. I had now already eaten a huge meal and Damon's expression was quite irritated as someone seemed to ask him did he really knew anything about explosives that they were gonna use on the next gig, I could feel him burrowing in my mind and looking up stuff there before answering. 

I walked over to the printer, grabbed my tablet from the shelf, and thought I'd go and get these sniping jobs in order. God knows I had quite a list of these, too. I went and sat down in one armchair and started looking at who I could send what to. Murdock was free that I could do, and he was fast, so I could first make him a good list. He was in America, so it had to be an American job.

Mariella asked, " What are you doing now, Mimi? Damon told you to take it easy? Damon will get on with things."

I looked at Mariella steadily and said, " I ate already. I'm organizing the sniping now. I need to get those naughty bastards in the medical establishment killed. I just have to see who's taking care of who. Who's on the free? Murdock is first on my list and I have got to him an excellent selection, so he can get on with the job already."

Damon looked at me for a moment and said, "Mimi, can you hand me the tablet and the lists, and I'll take care of them here? I will get to Murdock's targets and I have people of my own who can snipe. "

I sighed and said. " No offense, really, but you're going to have to dig into my head for all these snipers and start figuring out who's right for what job. And that might take some time. As no one is officially hired in my organization so it is volunteer basis and not everyone is always available. If you could find out about those bunkers better than I can, see if there's anything in them. I was thinking of putting a group out there to find out, but if there are, what precautions to take, and who will do the job? "

Damon stood up, took the tablet and the lists from my hands, put them on the table, and was quiet. He went on with his work. Occasionally, he'd call from his phone, sometimes to someone else.

Mariella said, "Isn't he gorgeous? Look when everything is in order and place in a minute. Damon has his contacts, and you can imagine how many he's accumulated in over a thousand years. Soon, all the work will be completely done. Then you can come and show me what a naughty little bitch you are."

I thought, fine. Time to do my little thing next. Let's see, then. I got up and went to sit next to Mariella. Very close. I looked at her hotly and raised an eyebrow. She looked back and relaxed.

I reached out and took her head and kissed her. She hesitated for a moment and then returned my kiss greedily. I let go and kissed her even harder. Then I released my grip, leaned back a little to sit, and let my hand stroke her arm. She was wearing a tee shirt and skirt, Damon's tee shirt, but it didn't even bother me. Sometimes, it might have, but not now. That was all past now.

I slipped my hand inside the hem of her shirt and started pinching her nipples, squeezing and rubbing her firm breasts. Her skin was silky and hot, and she looked at me with her eyes, darkening with lust. There were little sparks in her eyes, too.

After my time of pinching and teasing, her nipples were on full display and tight, hard. I let my hand start to go under the waistband of her skirt and stroked her soft, satiny, smooth skin. I started teasing her clit when I found her hot, wet cunt, and she gasped.

I leaned in to kiss her at the same time and dipped two fingers into her tight wetness, and started to fuck her with my fingers, making sure I always hit her g-spot. We looked at Damon, who was now really concentrating on work, and when Mariella came, I sank my teeth into her neck and drank really naughtily.

At the same time, I put my hand over her mouth so that she was quiet. I pulled my fingers away and licked the peach nectar off them.

Then I just got up and went back to sit in the armchair. Mariella's expression. Oh, that she was once again confused.

I watched as Mariella thought for ten minutes and then went and started eating Damon's ear and nibbling on his neck. Damon responded with equal fervor and buff! They teleported away, and I was left to get on with my work.

Damon hadn't actually done too much damage yet, and I happily got on with my work. It was just maybe a little 1-0 again for Damon—a brief lesson to see which of us can concentrate on the job.

Adam and Charles did deliver quite a lot of food. Those bunkers were so fucking difficult, though, and I thought that, at some point, I'd have to go and do those jobs myself. Charles had nothing to say about it, and neither did Adam; they had the wolves, and Mariella was on her mind again.

I thought I'd have a word with Reddington and see if he had any opinion. If they are a medical establishment, I will send nobody there to be killed.

Mariella sighed. Another good plan and Mimi won again. Damon had already gotten the hang of it, and then she couldn't help herself after that Mimi stunt and another two weeks had passed.

Damon said, "Yeah, she's 1-0, that girl, that's all I can say. I don't know what I'm supposed to do now, darling, except keep fucking you. How on earth does she always get us to fuck, get the entire pack to fuck?"

Mariella said, " Because we are lust creatures, that is our driving force. The lady is running on solar energy again even though she is doing fucking powerful lust. There's nothing we can do about it. We just are what we are. "

Damon said, " Fuck it. Now you and I are going to go to the Azores for a few months, and then we'll look at it again. I'll let the lady know she can fucking do jobs for me."

Mariella sighed with happiness. She would be back in their paradise.