Homecoming is a Bitch, Kita/Maalik

[Kikyo Takara]

Kita hadn't made the calls to William. Her master's personal assistant had done that. Zachariah, however, had left the contact of the local pard to Kita. So, after spending an hour pacing the front parlor of the manor house her master had purchased, Kita had picked up the phone and called the pard house. She had left a message on the answering machine, telling the Nimir-Raj that if he wished to, he could meet with her at the park. A perfect place, neutral ground.

After leaving the message, Kita packed up Shiori, whom Zachariah had told Kita to bring along, and took her toddler daugher to the park. Of course, she had done her usual ritual of spraying Shiori down with a special perfume that blocked her natural scent and replaced it, instead, with the simple smell of baby powder. Her clever master had made it specially for Shiori to mask her scent.

The leopardess was sitting on a bench in the children's area of the park, smiling as she watched Shiori play on the playground. The little girl had become Kita's world, and she'd do anything to keep her daughter out of danger. Even if that meant hiding her.

[Maalik]

Maalik's curiosity was peaked when he was delivered the message that Kita was back on town. It had seemed like a lifetime had gone by since he had seen her and Maalik was feeling a tad sentimental. Leaving the pard house he arrived at the park at a few minutes past the allocated time.

It was not hard to spot the leopard girl in the mass of other people. Wearing his signature look of leather pants and black silk, he crossed the grass and came tyo sit beside her. "And to what do I owe this honor?" Maalik said, his head turned to her as he slipped the sunglasses from his face and put them in his hair. "Should I be concerned?" he teased her, running finger tips along her jaw

[Kikyo Takara]

Kita felt Maalik approaching before she even heard his steps in the grass. The leopardess just knew when he was around. She stayed perfectly still, however, looking towards Shiori as the little girl played in the sand. She hadn't expected a warm greeting from her former Raj. She hadn't left the pard on very good terms, after all.

But she couldn't stop the shiver that came when his fingers brushed her jaw and she turned her face to look at his handsome one. He was like a drug to her. But she had to resist. Kita was an animal servant now, and she owed Zachariah the life of her child.

"No honor, Maalik," she said, "It's just a formality. My vampire master is seeking entrance into Moorebank and, as you know, I had to make it aware to you that a leopard would be entering your territory." The woman smiled with a slight shrug. "So...here I am, letting you know. Well...that and I wanted to see you again. Y'know, that whole 'I missed you' thing most sappy movies go into."

[Maalik]

"A vampire master..." he repeated back to her with a smirk leaning in and pulling her hair to the side as his lips flickered over her now exposed throat, as he spoke. "How cute." he kissed her pulse, resisting the urge to bleed her. Although it was always there. "How much did you miss me?" he asked, not seeming to care they were in a crowded park with kids and families running all around them. He caught her ear lobe in his teeth and draw his fangs over it, tasting her blood. He moaned at the flavor, the taste of her on his tongue. "Tell me all the pretty white lies you tell your master about your feelings for him, and then tell me the truth." he smirked, his nose drawing a line down her throat as he nuzzled into her throat.

[Kikyo Takara]

Kita shivered again when Maalik drew up close to her. It was intoxicating, the feel of his warm form next to hers. His hands pushed her hair aside and she could feel his lips brushing against her neck. A soft gasp came when he kissed her pulse point, but she resisted the urge to close her eyes and tilt her head to the side to expose more of herself to him. She had to be stronger.

"Yes, my vampire master," she said, keeping herself distracted by watching Shiori play, "His name is Zachariah Bishop and he's a Beastmaster." Her eyes did close when his teeth scraped over her earlobe. He always had a way of bringing out her arousal whether she wanted him to or not. "I feel respect for him. I owe him a great debt. He is my master and I am his servant."

[Maalik]

"And so what brings you to Moorebank? You master has business here?" he asked, his tone mocking her slightly as he continued to tease and taunt her a little, ignoring the growing number of outraged parents.

[Kikyo Takara]

"My master's business is his own," Kita answered, trying to keep her voice calm, though it was wavering as Maalik continued to tease her, "He simply asked me to come ahead and settle the manor and gain William's permission for him to enter the city. Why he wants to be here, I don't know." Kita's breath hitched and her eyes closed again, trying to will down the arousal he was drawing from her.

"Okasaa!" came a squealing voice as Shiori bound up to where Kita was sitting. The small Asian girl stopped short when she saw the strange man sitting so close to her mother. Shiori stepped up slowly and laid her small hand on her mother's, looking up at her with a curious gaze. "Okasaa?"

"It's okay, Shiori," Kita spoke softly, glad to keep her attention on her daughter rather than the urge to just mount Maalik right here in the middle of the park, "This is a friend of mine from a long time ago." She turned her dark eyes to Maalik. "Shiori, dear, this is Maalik. Maalik, this is Shiori, my daughter."

[Maalik]

Now Maalik was intrigued as he regarded the little girl. "Well you have been busy." he said with a smirk and took the little girls hand in a kind of shake. "A please to meet you Little Miss Shiori." He said, breathing in deep her scent qand frowning when all he got was the smell of powder. "How stange." he muttered, looking at Kita. "You have masked her scent. I can not even claim you on her skin." he said curious. "Who is her father?"

[Kikyo Takara]

Kita watched the interaction between Maalik and Shiori with careful eyes. She didn't know how far Maalik's fetishes went. But he was very polite with the child around and it helped relax the leopardess some. Well, until Maalik noticed that he couldn't even smell Kita on the girl and asked about her father. That made Kita stiffen some.

"I don't know," she answered him as Shiroi held onto Kita's shirt, looking shyly at Maalik, "You know I slept with a lot of guys. Any one of them could be her father. As for her scent, it's the spray she likes."

[Maalik]

"if you insist." He said slowly, now looking at the girl intently with his curious leopard green eyes. "I do not believe you, and I must feel that part of this is to protect me. Why else would you do it? No one else would care much to the childs paternity. If she is mine, I will be upset, and if she is not then I shall also be upset. Either outcome will be dangerous to your health and perhaps yours" He questioned her almost casually, not really looking for answers. "But as you wish it. She is yours to own and protect. Do as you must." he waved it off with a flick of his hand.

[Kikyo Takara]

"Maybe I do it to protect her," Kita answered, raising a hand and running it over Shiori's dark hair, "She has everything she needs with Zachariah and me. She has a home, anything her little heart desires, she has all she needs." After all, what kind of life could Shiori lead knowing she was the daughter of a Nimir-Raj? Always looking and waiting for the day when her father wouldn't return, killed in a challenge from another alpha leopard? At least Kita and Zachariah weren't so high in the vampire Courts that there was a constant threat to their lives.

"If she is yours, then what would you do?" she asked, not looking at the man, "Fight for her? Brush her off as some mistake? I wouldn't let you have her, you'd have to kill me before that happened." Kita then turned her eyes to Maalik, a fierce desire to protect her cub visible in the dark depths.

[Maalik]

Maalik chuckled and leaned in close to Kita. "I have never needed an excuse to rip you limb from limb." Maalik chuckled softly, modestly looking away before he met her gaze again. "I have always wanted to kill you." And that was just his form of dirty talk.

[Kikyo Takara]

"Shiori, darling," Kita looked down at her little girl, "Go and wash your hands for your snack." The girl looked up at her mother, but with a stern nod from Kita, Shiori turned and went to the near-by water fountain, still within eyesight of her mother, to wash her hands.

"Maalik," the woman returned her gaze to the leopard, "I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't talk to me like that. I'm not your leopard anymore. I'm not pard and I'm not your playtoy. And I'd rather you not scare my daughter."

[Maalik]

"What are you going to do Kita?" Maalik urged her. "There is hours until your vampire rises for the evening, and with a single phone call I can get him detained. Not that I need that extra time. I could have you dead before he rises without a single trace of who the monster is who fucked your body so hard, you finally gave up and died in orgasm." Maalik smirked, laughing gently to himself. "I think time has made you forget everything I am Kita. I am dangerous. I am a killer. But I have never forgotten you my dear, or never have I forgotten all the delicious things I could do, things that would make you beg for the pain." Maalik's eyes told the story that didn't pass his lips.

"I make a much better friend then an enemy Kita, and now you have this child running around at your heels, all you have done is presented a target. You never were a wise girl." He mocked her, still sitting impossibly close to her, his face so close his breath bounced off her skin as he breathed. "But then again, I have always found that rather charming."

[Kikyo Takara]

"I don't know if I should feel honored or disgusted," Kita answered, trying hard not to show the fear Maalik had spiked in her. Just as he could easily bring her to arousal, he could also make her turn cold with fright. She knew fear just turned Maalik on, and she didn't want to give him that. Instead, she blanked her face and stared at him. "You've gotten foolish, too, in the protection the Court gives you for being Rebecca's pet. My master was made well aware of the fact I was meeting you today. You can hide behind William and his Court, but it'll bring bad press when a master level vampire accuses the Nimir-Raj of killing his servant. That's a bad offense in the vampire world."

Kita's eyes turned from Maalik when Shiori returned and she couldn't stop the laugh that came from her. Poor girl had turned the water on too much and she was soaking wet and grinning from ear to ear. Oh, her darling little girl. "Come here, Shiori...I think you washed up enough." Kita smiled and took a child-sized fleece blanket ouf of her bag and wrapped it around Shiori. She hoped Maalik had been too distracted taunting her to worry about the girl.