Five to Love Him (Phoenix Immortal: Hive #1)

18. HIVE

eighteen

W e liked that Leo’s friends were attached to him. Friends were good. We also liked that he’d accepted we were three with him, not two or even just one.

While the class had been going on, after we were done copying the entry from Tate’s binder, we flipped through Leo’s booklet and all the class notes he had taken. We liked Leo’s handwriting, neat and curly, bigger than our own.

That, too, we liked, that his handwriting was grand. It was like the other hive had said back at the Moonlight Diner, one being small wanting to appear as if they were not by making some things about themself bigger. Then again, Leo wasn’t a hive, and we couldn’t think of him as one. That would be as wrong of us as if he considered us as several singulars.

We thought about all of this as we were walking with him and the vampire principal, carrying Leo’s things and his cake while also holding his hand.

“Hive, I don’t suppose you’ve seen much of St. Auguste?” the principal asked.

“No. We live in the underground and work there, though we are hoping to start working above ground soon.”

Back at the Dazzle, while slicing oranges for garnish, our hand almost slipped. As it was, we sliced off a piece of skin, not so much so that it would bleed, but enough that it unsettled us. We knew we’d have to get over this, would have to learn to be above ground. For our gleaming one.

“What a wonderful opportunity! Leopold can show you around. He got the tour and everything, though there is more detailed information about the school in the folder in your office, Leopold. I’m afraid you’ll have to study up on what our youngsters need to know about St. Auguste, mostly so you have leverage when lecturing them.

“And speaking about lecturings—”

We were in a hallway that looked older, more traditional, just like a school from old British movies into which the vampire principal would have fit quite well. He opened a door on the left that had a fancy metal sign on it: Leopold Hill, Headmaster’s Secretary .

The room behind the door was spacious. It had nice big windows, and we spotted a gift basket on a cabinet in the back. We also spotted teenagers in sportswear sitting in front of the desk and looking guilty. They were shifters, and when one glanced up at us and flinched, we recognized them.

“You nearly ran into Leo.”

The vampire’s smile stretched. “Oh yes. Yes, they did, didn’t you, my darlings?”

Leo cleared his throat. “That’s inappropriate.”

Farrow rocked back and forth on his feet. “Is it? Why, Leopold, you are so strict. Do you see, students ? My new secretary is strict. There is nothing I could get past him, and you two thought fit to run him over before he could even take office.”

“But we didn’t!” one of the wolves said. “We didn’t mean to,” they added in a much quieter voice, then, “We’re sorry.”

“Yes. We’re really sorry.”

They both hung their heads. We rounded the desk and put Leo’s cake there, ours too, while we took several orders. The Dazzle was filling up quickly today, and although our shift hadn’t started that long ago, we were already looking forward to it being over, to when we could go back to Leo’s house and maybe get him to talk about his grandmother’s business and what could be done with that.

“Right, uhm.”

Leo looked at the principal, clearly uncertain about how to proceed while the two wolves showed they were repentant with their eyes downcast, their shoulders curled in.

The principal crossed his arms. “There must be disciplinary action, obviously. Everyone knows there is no running in the corridors unless it’s an emergency. There is room for that sort of thing outside or in the gymnasium, all so incidents like this—or worse—can be avoided. Isn’t that right, Secretary Hill?”

“Yeah, right.”

The principal nodded. “Yes. These two pups must be punished.”

One or both of them whined. It was a small sound. We felt a bit sorry for these little wolves. Then again, they could have hurt our gleaming one, and badly. If we hadn’t been there, Leo might have fallen, or he might have accidentally collided with their fangs or claws.

“And by punishing, you mean…?” Leo asked, still looking at the principal.

“You press me, Secretary Hill, but very well. It upset your hive, this incident, and any werewolf would understand the tragedy of an upset mate, don’t you, little wolves?”

“Yes,” one of them mumbled while the other nodded.

“Yes.” The principal stepped close and put a hand on each of their shoulders. “You two will be assisting the Secretary for the next month. You will do whatever he asks of you—run errands, make coffee, polish his shoes against your belly fur—anything.”

“No belly fur,” Leo said. We grinned.

The principal waved his hand. “As you say, Secretary Hill. We have more regular shoe-shining equipment, so they may use that. Feel free to have them shine your shoes too, hive.”

“We just might. We have several pairs that could do with a cleaning.”

The principal exhaled. “Well, that’s the punishment taken care of. Alan, Joyce, you are to report for duty as soon as study hall ends for you, no afternoon activities for the duration.” He put his hand on his chest as if it were hurting. “As much as this pains me, but your punishment must come first. Isn’t that right, Secretary Hill?”

“Uhm, well.”

“Exactly so, Secretary Hill, exactly so. Now then, you two, leave us.”

At the principal’s words, the two werewolves hurried out of the room, barely meeting our eyes, though one of them looked at Leo as if they didn’t really know who he was. They closed the door on their way out.

We looked out the window, which faced a courtyard where we could see students lounging in the darkness, some shifters, some not the kind that could easily pass outside. St. Auguste was safe, we told ourselves, and if Leo wanted to work here, he too would be safe. That human wouldn’t be able to get to him.

“I’m not sure I can put a bunch of werewolf kids to work,” Leo said, drawing our attention to him.

The principal dropped into one of the chairs the two wolves had occupied.

“Well, they must learn their lesson. It’s essential for shifters to know their strength, especially if they wish to live among humans unnoticed. Imagine they had done this on, say, a jogging path. Though I personally do not understand jogging. It is as if people were training for when someone chased them, but let me tell you, once you go off the pilgrim’s path, you cannot outrun whatever might be there to chase you. Jogging, in that sense, is a useless way to spend your time.” He waved. “I got you a welcome gift basket. It has the socks and corresponding sock warmers to ward off those cold feet that have been bothering you.”

“Cold feet?” we asked, and Leo looked back and forth between us because we had spoken with two.

“It’s not… I’ll tell you later.”

We nodded while catching the vampire looking very pleased with himself.

“And by all means, Leopold, make good use of the radiators. I wouldn’t want my new secretary to catch a cold. About the way this test drive of your secretarial power went, I do believe there is room for improvement.”

“My secretarial power? Is that supposed to be an oxymoron?”

“Secretaries are vital,” we said, and the principal nodded.

“Just so, hive, just so. I meant what we discussed, Leopold, about you and the power of your resting bitch face aiding me in enforcing our school rules and keeping the student body in line, especially our full boarders. Those darling young are here all alone, no parents at all, and they need a strong hand.”

“Leo’s face is beautiful,” we told the principal, putting an arm around Leo’s shoulders while we put down a beer at a table full of werewolves with a touch too much force, making it spill slightly. We apologized.

The vampire looked at us evenly. “I don’t mean to suggest your chosen is unattractive, hive. It’s not an insult but a compliment. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it is my belief most students will have a hard time reading his face.”

“Forget about the RBF for a hot second. Can we please agree that this is about admin tasks? Can we put that in the contract even?”

Leo rounded the desk, pulled his office chair back, and looked at the folder next to his cake. We leaned over his shoulder. It was a daily schedule and the school rules, fully bound. We didn’t see a contract.

The principal leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. “I thought you could take care of the contract. There is a template”—he waved at the desktop computer—“on there, and you should be able to handle that type of dry language, what with your qualifications. But your help in wrangling the student body is essential. I can guarantee it will come to be the most rewarding part of this station you find yourself in.”

“Sure.”

Leo sounded unconvinced. At the same time, while we didn’t think it should be a necessity for him to work, we once more considered how safe working here would be for him. We didn’t think it would be wise to send him to work alone, not when his boss was a vampire, but we could always be here with one, maybe two if our work allowed. Leo could get used to being around supernaturals and he would be protected.

That very thought lifted our mood so much that Coral gave us a sideways smile and told us to spread our good mood to reel in plentiful tips. We took it to heart and added a dash of extra rum to a rum and coke.

“It will be convenient to get to class from here, and the Dazzle is close. You can always visit us there for a special cocktail.”

We patted Leo’s office chair to get him to sit, and after a moment’s hesitation, he did.

“I should chastise you for making such plans without checking with Instructor Arick first, but with a hive watching over you, Leopold, I’m sure you will be fine.”

“We’ll keep Leo safe,” we said, all of us, even if we spoke in whispers at the Dazzle.

The principal spread his arms and stood. “I believe that settles the most immediate affair of welcoming you to the faculty. We shall be doing a proper introductory round once you get in tomorrow—not too early, never fear. It would be good for you to have a look at the school rules until then, especially requirements about the school dress code. Can you believe there was a student walking these halls in flip-flops the other day?” The principal looked crestfallen. “Our youth is our future. A future shod thusly can only be bleak. You cannot tolerate it, Leopold, and I trust you won’t. If you see something, say detention.”

“Detention?”

The principal beamed. “You can most certainly give them detention. Instructor Arick often oversees it, and there is no dallying, no slacking off in his detention hall. He hardly misses anything, you see.”

“Detention. Sure,” Leo said once more, his voice thickly laced with uncertainty.

“Wonderful. Do get settled in then, and if you should find yourself needing anything, my office is just across the hall.”

The principal left us, and once the door closed behind him, Leo sagged back in his chair with a long sigh.

“Wow. What a long day.”

We sat in the chair opposite him so we could look at him across the desk.

“Can we try something?”

“Huh? I guess?”

With the one standing behind Leo, we started massaging his shoulders. He shifted, briefly surprised, then relaxed into the touch.

“Do you want more of your cake?”

“Yeah. It’s good cake, isn’t it? In a moment. This feels nice.”

With the third, we adjusted Leo’s office chair, pulling it back so there was enough room. We picked up the plate while we continued to work the tightness out of his shoulders.

“Open wide.”

Leo looked at us with wide eyes. “This is…such a harem situation. Are you seriously going to feed me?”

“We want you to be comfortable. But if you don’t like this, then—”

He shook his head, tensed against our hands before relaxing again.

“No. I mean, I never expected…it’s me applying human thinking and expectations to you all over again, that’s all. You’re being very…considerate? No. Caring to the extreme. I don’t want to be taking advantage of you, like how some people are just emotional vampires who don’t care about their friends or those around them. I don’t want to be like that.”

We gasped, overfilling a beer glass while the even movements of our hands over Leo’s shoulders stalled for a second. He was concerned for us! The gleaming had given us this person who cared for us, cared that we were not taken advantage of. In this moment, we were the luckiest hive in existence.

“You’re blushing,” Coral said as we handed him an order.

“Thank you,” we told him, then repeated the same to Leo.

“What for?” our gleaming one asked, looking confused.

“You care for us. You’re concerned for us. You don’t have to be though. We want to do this.”

“Are you sure?” He looked at us. We had a piece of cake on our fork, hovering close to his lips. “I’m not the kind of person who needs to be fed.”

“We’re sure. And this way, you can relax, and we can help you relax. We want that.” We moved the fork closer, and Leo opened his mouth. We smiled when he ate the piece of cake we’d offered him. “You are a singular. We may be a small hive, but we are still bigger than you are. That means we should be taking care of you, should be doing more for you than you do for us.

“We can’t even imagine how difficult it must be for you, having to sleep and work and clean, do laundry, then cook, all with one. Oh, and shopping as well as taking care of your garden. You are one, and you have been doing all of that. We are impressed, but we don’t expect you to do any of it for us, especially since we are a hive, however small. We wouldn’t want to use you like that.”

Leo took a second piece of cake while looking from one of us to the other. We liked when he tilted his head back all the way to look at us where we were giving him the massage.

“You know, people—humans—don’t know anything else. A lot of other supernaturals are singulars too, right? Like Ezra.” He cackled. “I can see why Tate would be so oblivious, but those two really need to have an honest conversation. Anyway, I’ve always been like this. With one, as you say. I’ve always just been me. I know I’m not supposed to resist your mating instinct, but I’d like to do nice things for you too.”

Our heart swooped. We longed to run out of the Dazzle, run all the way here so we could give Leo a proper hive hug, but work was important. Especially now.

“Leo,” we said, then failed saying anything else, anything other than our gleaming one’s name. Perhaps it was enough.

“You look like you’re about to cry or something. I just mean, I can give you a backrub too. At least some of you. And I can cook for you sometimes. Or we could cook together. That could be fun, right?”

“Tonight? We picked those vegetables from the garden earlier.” We fidgeted with our apron while managing to keep the next piece of cake steady. “Maybe…we could spend the night?”

Leo’s eyes widened. “Uhm. You mean like have sex?”

“No. We mean, yes, we do want that with you. But not when you don’t feel ready. We just want to be close, like earlier during the movie.”

He snorted. “I don’t normally fall asleep during movies, you know.” He ate the piece of cake we offered. “I only have one bed, and it’s tiny.” He gestured at the gift basket. “That’s the reason for those socks. Head-princi-master Farrow just called so early—it’s a silly story. But there is just one bed.”

“We don’t mind the floor.” We considered but decided to be open with Leo. “We would feel a lot better if we could be close to you. We understand that you have to get used to us but after spending the day with you…”

Our voice broke. Leo reached up, placing a hand over ours. We had stopped massaging him, we realized.

“Okay. I get it. No, I don’t get it, not really. But we talked about this in class, at length.” He took a deep breath. “And according to the principal, Instructor Arick has expectations. Anyway, if you don’t mind the cushions and the floor, then fine. You can stay.”

We twirled behind the bar, drawing a curious look from a kludde who had affected an interesting shift, the left side of them human, the right black-furred and winged, their red eyes shimmering.

“We don’t mind at all.”