Broken
AUTHOR: Trace

*Disclaimer and all the other nifties in the Prologue.

Chapter Eleven:

    I was sitting against the headboard,sipping my third cup of coffee when
the sun sank below the horizon.
    Funny how I knew when the sun set, since I was undergound with no windows.
    I felt something brush past me, and a moment later, Asher took a shuddery
breath.
    I had chills already, and when I felt it again, I jumped
slightly,sloshing hot coffee onto my hand.
    "Shit!" I was waving my hand back and forth,hoping the coffee would dry
and stop burning me. I probably looked silly as all hell.
    A soft chuckle made me turn to glare at Jean-Claude.
    "Laugh it up,Fang-Face," I scowled at him.
    "Oh,ma petite, you are too precious," Jean-Claude said.
    "Oh,bite me," I grumbled, which only made him laugh harder.
    I turned and looked at Asher. "Got anything to add?"
    He just smiled. "I do not have a death wish."
    I had to smile back. "Smart man."
    Asher nodded.
    When I looked back at Jean-Claude, he was quiet and blank-faced.
    "Oh,lighten up," I said. "I didn't kick your puppy."
    Jean-Claude frowned. "Puppy?"
    Asher coughed to hide a laugh. Which was sort of pointless, since the
three of us knew that vampires don't cough.
    "Nevermind,Jean-Claude.I should know better than to make pop-culture
references around you," I said.
    He looked even more confused than before. I seemed to have that effect on
him a lot.
    Jason came back a moment later. "Anita,dinner's ready. If you're going to
eat, now is the time, before all us wolves gobble it up."
    I laughed and started to inch down the bed, trying to keep from spilling
hot coffee on myself again.
    Jason grinned. "Need help?"
    I growled at him, surprisingly convincingly for someone who didn't have
the fur and teeth to go with it.
    Jason immediately went to his knees and crawled to the bed to lick my
bare foot, making me feel like a complete shit.
    "Get up,Jason.I'm not angry with you," I sighed. Why did everything I did
or said have to have fifty billion other meanings? Okay, so I growled.Big
deal. Apparently.
    Jason stood. "I didn't mean anything by it,Lupa," he said,utterly serious.
    I preferred the cocky flirt to this. "I said I wasn't angry,Jason. It's
alright."
    "You sure?" He asked, sounding uncertain.
    I nodded. "We're cool,Jason."
    He smiled, and I instantly felt better.
    I downed the rest of the coffee, wincing slightly at the heat. But, it
solved the problem of having to creep off the bed at a snail's pace.
    I scooted off the end of the bed and turned to Jean-Claude. "Not that the
robe isn't comfy, but where are my clothes?"
    "I had them burned," Jean-Claude said.
    "You *what*?" I gaped.
    "They were a lost cause,ma petite. I have clothing waiting in your room,"
he said.
    "Why do I get scared when you pick my clothes," I asked,then held up a
hand to stop him from answering. "Nevermind."
    Jason grinned and held out a hand to me. I took it.
    When we started down the hallway, Jean-Claude's fully sank in. My room. I
had a room at the Circus of the Damned. Since when did I have a room at the
Circus? Yikes.

Broken: Part XII

Trace's Diary