Chapter 12

The night before, Rob had let the Caddy go after they'd returned from dinner, with the hope Dawn might stay the night. In the event she didn't stay, he knew he could always call for a town car. After the events of that evening, it was understood that Dawn would be staying the night. When Dawn started making noises like she should leave, Rob had put his foot down and forbade it. It was then that he'd caught the look Elaina had been giving him and he realized that he'd been played. Dawn had deliberately provoked him into forbidding her from leaving for the express purpose of getting him to forbid it, relieving her of the responsibility of making the decision to stay. She had to stay now because he'd ordered it. He understood then Elaina's point about a sub leading from behind and decided to punish Dawn for that, but that would have to wait for another time.

Now, the sun was up and shining weakly through the bedroom window. Elaina was the first to rise. Standing at the window, she looked back to her lovers, knowing that her time with Dawn was coming. She stretched and flexed in the warm morning sunlight, reveling in the fact that she could do that. She looked at them again. Dawn was lying cuddled against Rob's side, her arm curled on his chest, her leg thrown over his. The reason her arm wasn't stretched across his chest was that Elaina had been in the mirror position and her arm had been on the other side.

Elaina watched as Dawn's arm moved fitfully, her hand patting about as if looking for something that was missing. Dawn lifted her head and peered blearily out through her hair. When she didn't find what she was looking for, she began scanning the room, finally spotting Elaina by the window.

"There you are," she croaked happily. She patted the open side of the mattress. "Come back to bed, you. It's way too early to be up."

"It's ten o'clock," Elaina remarked.

"Really?" Dawn rasped sleepily.

"Yes, really." Elaina relented. "Go back to sleep, I'm going to make a breakfast casserole. It'll keep until you two get up."

"Thank you, sweetie," Dawn mumbled as she laid her head back on Rob's shoulder. Elaina smiled to see them together like that. Dawn breathed out, saying one more thing: "Love you, Ellie."

Elaina gasped. She watched intently as Dawn snuggled in, and continued to watch until Dawn was gently snoring.

In consideration of their guest, Elaina dug out one of Rob's old pajama tops and threw it on before leaving the room. In the kitchen, she gripped the edge of the counter and took a deep breath. In her mind, she was exulting. She only hoped Dawn would remember this when she woke and not regret it.

She got busy making breakfast to keep from dwelling on Dawn's sleepy confession. She whipped up some impossible concoction involving crispy bacon, slices of Canadian ham, diced peppers and onions, chopped mushrooms, shredded Swiss cheese, eggs, and Bisquick of all things. It took an hour to make and would keep in a warming oven for hours.

Elaina suddenly realized that she'd painted herself into a corner. There was no way for her to hide the fact that she was not eating breakfast. It would be silly to leave it on the counter, so the quiche would be sitting on a trivet on the table; there would be no reason to leave the table to pretend she was serving the others. What she made was somewhat solid, but it was soft enough she couldn't simply dump it into a napkin. She sighed and shrugged. She knew she'd think of something when the time came.

It was, in fact, just over an hour when Dawn stumbled sleepily into the room – naked. Elaina poured her a coffee and settled her at the table. She took a sip of her coffee and sighed. Rob hadn't bothered taking the leaf out of the table, so there was plenty of room for the three of them.

Elaina had considered simply cutting a portion of the quiche out of the pan and pretending she'd already eaten, but Dawn scotched that plan by showing up just as it came out of the oven. It was cooling on the stove top, nearly ready to serve.

The sound of running water let her know that Rob was also up, so she prepped his coffee and put it at his seat. Rob came in moments later, wearing the bottoms to match her top and looking a lot less sleepy than Dawn had. Dawn blew a raspberry at Rob for his cheerful good-morning. All the same, she rose from her seat to give him a kiss. The coffee must have been doing its job, because Dawn seemed much more alert than she had earlier. Elaina thought she might even be nervous.

Elaina brought the quiche to the table and set it up with a knife and a pie server. Next she set out plates for the three of them, following with knives and forks. She brought the napkins over from the counter and placed them on the table. Last of all, she served out the quiche, giving each of them a healthy slice and a much smaller slice for herself.

Throughout all this, Dawn was watching her like a hawk and becoming more agitated. It was when Elaina sat down and lifted her fork that Dawn finally spoke out.

"So," she said, clearly upset about something, "When were you two planning on telling me about Elaina?"

The silence was deafening.

Elaina stared at the fork she had in her hand. She set the fork aside and folded her hands. She knew they were busted, but she waited for Rob to play it out.

Rob was staring at Dawn. He realized he still had a mouthful of hot quiche, and he swallowed, taking a sip of coffee to clear his throat.

"What do you mean, Dawn?" he asked carefully. Elaina saw by his eyes that he knew it was over, but there was something else there – something primal.

"You know what I mean," she snapped back, going from upset to angry. "I'm not stupid, you know."

"Dawn," Elaina said soothingly, "We never thought you..." Rob cut her off with a chopping motion. She glared at him, but he wasn't paying attention. His gaze was on Dawn and his eyes had hardened.

"No, Dawn," he said menacingly. "That's not what I said. I asked you a question and I expect an answer. What do you mean?" Even as he said that, he detected a familiar scent wafting on the air: Elaina was pumping out pheromones. He nodded slightly when she caught his eyes and she smiled faintly.

Dawn swallowed hard and glanced at Elaina. Elaina had figured out the game and gave her no slack. Last night she had played her little sub game and pulled a fast one. Now she was facing her dom, and he'd made a demand. It was time to pay for her little game.

"Um," she began, hesitating in the face of his commanding presence. "I, uh, I wanted to know when you were going to tell me, um, that Elaina's a vampire." She stammered to a halt and looked at him fearfully.

He softened his look. "Was that so hard, Dawn?" he asked less harshly.

"N-n-no," she replied haltingly. "But, Rob, uh, sir, she-she's a vampire."

"Okay, Dawn," Rob said, speaking softly now, "I can understand your concern, but you need to think about something then give me your answer."

"Okay," she replied in a little-girl voice. Her submissive side had the bit firmly in its teeth.

"You've known Elaina for months now," he said. "Have you ever seen her harm anyone or anything? Ever?"

Dawn opened her mouth to answer, then closed it again. It was obvious she was experiencing a knee-jerk reaction, remembering every vampire movie she had ever seen, and Rob gave her the time she needed to work it through. She finally shook her head. Rob's temper flared for a moment, his dominant side finding her answer unacceptable, but he ruthlessly stomped on that side, knowing it was not what was needed now.

"Did you not make love with me and Elaina last night?" She looked confused for a moment then nodded her head.

"We love you, Dawn. She loves you, and she would never hurt you," he with finality, and he sat back with his arms crossed. Now it was up to her. He tried hard not to think about what would have to happen if she didn't accept Elaina. He could see from her eyes that Elaina was thinking the same thing. Neither wanted that.

Dawn stared at the table, her brows creased in thought. Several times she opened her mouth to speak, only to remain silent, twisting her fingers beneath the table. She finally looked up at Elaina.

"Can I see them?" she asked. "I mean, really see them?"

Elaina knew from that that Dawn had accepted her. She found it easy to show her fangs because she broke into a radiant smile. Her relief was palpable, and she laughed for the joy of it. Dawn peered closely at her fangs and smiled shyly back.

"They're not as big as I had expected," Dawn commented. Rob laughed and they both gave him puzzled looks.

"I would think," he said, chuckling, "That telling a vampire she has small fangs would be like telling a man he has a small dick," he finished, laughing some more. Elaina gave him a wry grin, and Dawn offered a raspberry.

"Actually," Rob said when he stopped laughing, "I think they're cute and sexy and they suit her perfectly. Hugh had huge fangs, for all the good they did him." Relief had made him incautious, and he knew as soon as he said it that he'd blundered.

"Who's Hugh?" Dawn asked. Rob blushed.

"Hugh," Elaina said archly, glaring at Rob, "Is a tale for another time. What I'd like to know is how you figured me out. It could be important."

"Well," said Dawn, warming to the topic, "It wasn't actually any one thing. Last night gave me the last bit of proof, but I didn't really put it all together until I saw you with that little bit of food on your plate. Before that, I had nothing but silly suspicions."

"Like what?" Rob prompted.

"Well, the first thing was that I never seemed to see you when the sun was out," she started, speaking to Elaina. "It was always cloudy or at night." She frowned. "Except for that day at the mall. That threw me for a while. But even then, you were wrapped up like a mummy.