Bitten (Book 1 - Book 4) novel Chapter 13

“Club tonight,” Uri said.

“Isn’t there a dart tournament?”

He shrugged.

“Yes. Still like club night, but we’ll go to the convention hall.”

“Are you taking part in the tournament?”

“I usually don’t.”

“Why not?”

“Grazie is the champion that’s being promoted.”

“What does that mean?”

“They don’t want me to beat him.”

Natalia laughed, not believing him.

“Maybe I’ll show you one night,” he said when they left the limo and headed into the bank.

Natalia left him to walk up the one flight to HR where she was still working while he took the elevator.

“Good morning, Nattie,” Ursula said.

“Morning, Ursula.”

Ursula paused, which Natalia noticed since she usually didn’t linger. She wondered if her mark was showing.

“You… you wouldn’t happen to know if Uri is in the dart tournament, would you?” Ursula said.

“He said he wasn’t.”

“Good. Good. I like the odds that Grazie will take the title again.”

“Did Uri use to compete?”

“Yes. He was champion three years in a row. Then he bowed out to let others take the title.”

“He wouldn’t tell me. I think he’s too modest,” Natalia said, fishing for more information.

“It’s not befitting a man of his position,” Ursula said, not offering any more as she walked away.

Throughout the rest of the day, Natalia heard bets being placed and that Grazie was the favorite. Despite the fact that Ursula was doing the same, she chided the girls to focus on their work.

Bailey again delivered a sack lunch. Natalia was relieved her appetite was more normal. She wasn’t able to finish all of the sandwich, but the sanguine tea she drank down, still feeling a craving for it.

At five, Uri stopped down to get her. Sophie was already waiting in the limo.

“Evening, Nattie. How are you doing?”

“Good, thank you. And you?”

“Excellent. You haven’t seen a dart tournament yet, have you?”

“No, not yet.”

“Will be exciting.”

Uri remained silent, but Natalia could feel the excitement in the limo. There seemed to be extra heavy traffic heading toward Viperia. The gates to Viperia were already open, and both lanes of the street were being used to allow traffic to enter the city. There were people stationed on both sides of the street who looked to be verifying IDs and waving cars in.

She felt a vibration and their limo was waved in without any checks.

The drive was slow. For once, the road was full of traffic, and the sidewalks were crowded with people. There was a festive spirit in the air.

“A big event,” she said in almost a whisper.

“Other than for an election year, the biggest,” Uri said.

The limo stopped. A long time passed, and it still hadn’t moved.

“Looks like we might as well get out and walk,” Uri said.

The door near Sophie opened. Natalia could see their driver. She had been so busy watching out the window, she hadn’t realized the driver had left her seat or unlocked the doors. Their driver walked around the limo to open the door by Natalia.

The crowd swelled around them and the excitement was more apparent. Everyone was heading in the same direction. Sophie was soon lost in the crowd.

Uri held her hand, which for once she was glad of, feeling she could easily get separated and lost.

The building they entered was large with two stories. Inside, there were screens everywhere and the focus was on the five dart boards positioned in the middle of the building. Behind the area were the dart throwers stood and to the right and left of the dart area were rows and rows of seats and narrow tables. They were already filling up quickly. Uri pulled her along toward one of the sides where there looked to be large private viewing rooms.

“Join us, Uri. Nattie,” Sherri said, stepping out.

“Thank you,” Uri said, pulling Natalia into the room.

Natalia knew in a heart beat that this was the upper crust of Viperian Society. All the women she had met from the Council were there and they acknowledged her with a nod.

She noted that she wasn’t introduced to the men Council members. There was only one that she was able to pick out, and that was because he stood with authority among a group of men. She guessed he was Uri’s father, Mirren. His stature was almost identical to Uri’s. He also seemed to have the same facial expressions and hand gestures as Uri. Neither Uri nor his father acknowledged each other.

A waiter immediately served them sanguine tea as soon as they sat in front of a split screen. One side showed a man tossing his dart. She guessed he was warming up. The other side showed a closeup of the dart board. All the screens had the same view, changing according to someone’s preference to another dartboard and player area.

“Contestants. At your posts.”

It was now six-thirty. All the screens panned out to show all the dart boards. There were introductions and announcements made. The first competitors stepped up to their particular dart board.

Natalia didn’t know what to watch. The screen or the people around her. Where they sat, she couldn’t see out the window to the actual field of play, but the screen showed her what she really needed to see. It changed as games were played, tending to focus on the popular players. However, the people around her were interesting to watch and listen to. She was also surprised at the number of children around, noting Tia was with her daughter and her son. Natalia wondered if her son was old enough to realize his father was competing. The whole event seemed to be a family affair. The room was very crowded.

“How many are playing?” she said barely above a whisper.

The introduction of players was so quick that she hadn’t caught it all.

“About thirty players. It can take awhile, but the good players go very fast,” Uri said. “Every game knocks someone out.”

“When’s Grazie playing?”

“He’s coming up.”

The screen changed to focus on a particular game. She noted it was Grazie. The whole room seemed to freeze and become quiet as they watched.

Natalia thought Grazie was throwing his darts too fast without much thought or focus, but he stepped away winning his match.

“He’ll probably win this tourney,” Uri said, looking pleased.

“Don’t be so confident,” a man said, sitting by them. “Uston is really coming up.”

“He needs a couple more years of practice,” Uri said with a shake of his head.

“Nonsense. He’s been really concentrating on his game.”

“I hope he gives Grazie a run for it then,” Uri said, but Natalia thought he was just patronizing the man.

The waiter came through with iced tea and trays of food.

Natalia decided to not even ask what the food was, but tried a few. Everything tasted quite good.

There was a groan from the man. He rose and left.

“Uston’s out,” Uri said. “No chance.”

There was again keen interest when Grazie played another match. Half way through the game, Natalia began to note some of the intricacies, including how darts were positioned. There was more to the game than just throwing the dart.

“How is this scored?” she said.

“You noticed,” Uri said with a smile. “It’s more than just hitting the dartboard.”

“They all can hit the same place. No one misses,” she said.

“Points are also gained by how the dart is thrown. The position of the dart when it hits. Is the dart embedded or barely on. And how fast they go through and throw the darts.”

“Grazie can throw them as fast as he puts a finger on them.”

“Yeah,” he said. “If you can’t do that then you really shouldn’t be in the tourney.”

By eight o’clock, there seemed to be only ten contestants. Games were going so fast that Natalia couldn’t even keep up. Everyone’s focus in the room was intense on the screens because they wanted to see the closeup details of every shot. No one was looking out over the competition area through the window.

“Petey and Grazie,” Uri said in a whisper. “The last game for the title. Petey’s really come up this year. Grazie might have a match here.”

Petey stepped up, and in a fast sequence, tossed his darts. Grazie stepped up and hardly seemed serious, throwing his darts as fast as he could. Finally, the last darts were thrown. There was a long pause while everyone waited. Natalia found herself holding her breath.

Four women walked out to the dart board to confer.

“Judges,” Uri murmured. “It has to be close if the judges have to go out and look.”

A dart was touched. A roar swept through the room. Grazie had won.

The room came alive with people calling for drinks. It wasn’t long before Grazie entered the room and was congratulated and handed a drink.

“I won a tidy sum on that outcome,” Uri said.

Natalia glimpsed Grazie and Sherri brushing shoulders and cheeks.

“What does that mean?” she said.

“What?”

She realized Uri hadn’t been looking that way and missed the Grazie and Sherri touch.

“When a man and a woman brush shoulders and cheeks.”

“Who did that?”

“Sherri and Grazie.”

“Hum. Wondered who she picked.”

“Explain, please.”

“That’s probably Grazie’s baby she’s carrying. At the moment, Grazie is in demand for breedings. Knife or dart throwing can be titillating for some women. Grazie’s the best.”

“There does seem to be a few ladies watching him.”

She noted that Tia and Grazie did the same brushing of shoulders and cheeks. However, Grazie totally ignored his son.

“He won this tournament. He’ll be getting offers.”

“Offers? Ladies throwing themselves at him?”

“Have you done breedings like this?”

“I’ve tried. A few times now. Not violent enough, apparently.”

“I’ve seen you fight.”

“Oh, I can fight pretty viciously, but I can’t seem to fight a woman. I’ll just have to settle with you.”

He made it sound as if he was making a big concession, but he smiled and brushed her cheek with his.

“You’re all I want,” he said in a whisper.

He took her hand and led her out. There weren’t many people left downstairs. No one was even playing darts. They went out the front exit and waited. It was a few minutes later that their limo appeared to drive them home.

Friday at work seemed to be a repeat of the day before since she was still working the HR office. After work, they headed to the club. While there were dart games being played, most of the conversations were about the tournament. Grazie was the center of attention and no one challenged him to a game.

As usual, there were meetings held, but they dealt with mundane business issues within Viperia. However, Natalia had already noted a pattern, and tonight was no exception. There was only one Viperian woman in attendance. Natalia made a mental note to ask at the next Wednesday meeting if this woman was like a referee or a babysitter of the men. If there were squabbles, the woman just had to step toward the men and the spats ended.

Uri rose, pulling her up.

“Early night,” he said.

“Not even waiting for pastries?”

“I’m sure Mag has cookies at home.”

He led her out. The limo was waiting.

Natalia enjoyed the quiet ride home, not minding at all ending the evening early. The club wasn’t as social for her as Wednesday had been. She decided she would try to stay home next week.

“You have reading tonight?” Uri said when the limo pulled up to the house.

“Yes. I’m running out of time. Perhaps next week I can stay home while you go to the club.”

“Possibility. You do have a lot to do,” he said.

Mag opened the door for them.

“I’ll leave you to your reading,” he said, letting go her hand.

Natalia watched him head to the garage. She started to go up the stairs, but after Mag disappeared into the kitchen, she stopped. Coming home early did seemed odd.

“You’re up to something Uri.”

Curiosity caused her to retreat down the stairs. She listened hard toward the kitchen and the garage, but heard nothing while she made her way to the garage door.

Every door in the house opened silently and the door to the garage was no exception. She was able to crack it open just enough to see. The middle garage door was open. Within view was Uri and another woman. She couldn’t remember the woman’s name, but she had met her on Wednesday. The woman was dressed in high black boots and a short red dress.

“You really want to try this again?” Uri said with some disgust in his voice.

He had taken his suit coat off and had rolled up his sleeves.

“I think I have what it takes,” she said.

“I don’t fight girls. This isn’t going to work.”

“But you’ll protect them. Girls. Your girl.”

The woman grinned with a sly smile. She swiveled her hips.

Even from this distance, Natalia felt the vibration from the woman.

Uri’s mood changed. He didn’t look happy but rather angry.

“That’s not very nice,” he said, positioning himself between her and the house.

The woman moved to go around him but he pushed her back.

“So you do care for her,” the woman said with an evil smile,

She pushed Uri back, then slapped him hard.

Uri grabbed her and forced her back, but the woman spun away from him and almost got around him. Uri almost ripped her dress off when he grabbed her and slammed her against the limo.

“One bite is all it takes,” she said, countering his move and getting away.

Uri was now in full focus. He caught her by the arm and twisted her around. It was a violent dance. Each move he made, she countered. However, they continued to take blows or slaps from each other as if they were mere taps or brushes.

Natalia could tell that Uri was getting angrier. He was now slamming the woman full force against the limo. Then the woman managed to grab his arm and bite him. It was almost a gentle bite. Then, she stood ready to take his next blow, but he didn’t deliver it.

Natalia wondered what venom had been in the bite. It seemed to freeze and fizzle Uri’s anger.

A moment later, the woman wrapped her arms around him and kissed him, gyrating against him.

What had been a full out fight, turned into a passionate embrace. It was the woman who undid Uri’s pants and hiked up her own skirt. And Uri obliged by thrusting into her. Just as it had been with Grazie, Uri did short hard thrusts, causing the limo to shift back and forth with each move. Finally, the woman groaned and went limp. Uri speed up his thrusts then froze with his orgasm.

A few minutes later, the woman pushed him away. She looked happy when she pulled down her skirt and walked out of the garage.

Natalia closed the door and headed up stairs. She was already sitting and reading a book when she heard Uri come up the stairs and go into their room. The shower turned on.

“I guess that was a successful breeding,” she muttered under her breath, not sure how she felt about it.

An hour later, she got ready for bed and joined him. He wasn’t sleeping and immediately cuddled up to her. He seemed to want to gently touch her and breath into her hair. She fell asleep before him for once.