Daughter of Anat (9 page)

“Yes.  Cord is fine.”

Stupid ass brother.

Minutes.  Finally I heard commotion.  Cord emerged through the door and walked right up to Cas.  Why does he get to?

Cas
’ arms were still tied to the chair.

“What do you want me to do
, man?  Untie you or open the bag?”

“The bag.  I don
’t trust myself with Stace in the room.”

If I doubted any of them before in loyalty, I didn
’t now. 

Turn around
, Kissa.

“NO!” I said aloud. 

Please.
  He pleaded. 
I can’t do this.

With every bone in my body protesting, I did as he asked.  Cas
’ face was stony, sunken in like.  His hair hid most of his face, but I’d seen it before I turned.

Szar disappeared from my peripheral. 

“Szar.  Tell me what you’re doing?”  I would burst if the energy flowing through me didn’t release soon.

“He will be fine
, Stace,” a warm voice sounded beside my ear.  I struck my knife in the direction only because all my instincts were off with Cas in pain. 

Calum
’s arm caught it and held on.  He planted his body across the back of mine and wrapped both hands around my forearms.  Electricity jolted higher with the second hand touching me.  We both startled upward like we’d lift off making the current grow.  The buzz of it was painful, yet it made me strong.  Weird.  The last time we’d held each other this close involved kissing.  No, we never kissed long for the pain grew unbearable.  Now I wondered if the pain shifted into something else. 

When I looked down at where his hands held me, I flopped back against the better part of Calum freaked out at what I saw.  The rings.

They glowed.  Mine on my arm dangling down, his on his hand.  Bright enough to glow in the dark.

“I
’ll take her,” Cas’ voice was closer pulling us both out of the shock.

I pulled out of Calum
’s grasp and jumped fiercely into Cas’ arms.  His face was above me.  Still covered in blood, his fangs were there, his eyes were bright with something unlike I’ve seen before. 

You
’re okay?
I asked him.

Not completely. 
But enough.  If I told you to not do this again you would just defy me, right?

I nodded into him
.  Damn straight. 
I folded up in his arms shuddering from the release of knowing he was safe.

I can handle this. 

Maybe later.  For now, it will take time.  Your safety is all that matters.

My safety means nothing if you are gone.

He pulled me closer crushing me
.  I’m sorry.

I don’
t know how long we stood there holding each other, but the room was empty when I peeked over his shoulder and saw the crumbles of broken desk and chairs across the room and no live bodies.

“They are in the next room waiting.”

Oh!

A shot of embarrassment at my rash need for Cas broadcasting to the people who could read me the most made me blush as I walked over broken glass to get to the front room.  The shack was small and stunk like death.  I wanted to burn it to the ground, but right smack in the middle of the city made it not a wise thing to do. 

We all walked out the front door expecting to get in cars and head somewhere to clean up and “talk” about what happened.  No, it was never decided, but it was all in our eyes and gestures.  We’d developed some kind of sixth sense for each other and as odd as it was, it gave me strength.  So when we all neglected to sense the bodies lurking outside the door, I freaked like a crazed monkey.

“Watch out for the knife from the left,” I yelped at Szar as he dodged it and
ended the shorter rather weak Elf attacker. From the alley’s corner another one behind it shifted telling me they were pure Elves by the look of them.  Long faces and deadly poised.

All of us went straight into action like a second wave of a tsunami had come at us.  I checked on Cas to my left and saw him attacking without any tiresome reflexes.  I guess human blood was also his Vitamin C.

I couldn’t resist a comment, “You sure you can do this without bifocals or something, bro?”  I didn’t hide the grin.

“
I make do.  It’s just the daggers, arrows, and other miscellaneous sharp objects I can’t predict.  Besides, I have you to save my sorry ass, sis.”

“You better believe it.  You just better hope I decide to do just that,” I shoved
a knife in the shoulder of the Elf hopping in front of me and far from dangerous looking.  I wasn’t aiming to kill, just maim and injure. 

I was back in action.  Cas was safe.  And Borgon or Granite or someone who orchestrated this wouldn
’t be far.  It was time to go after the source.

I wanted to kill them all for taking Cas.  Was this how he felt about me and that
’s why he went bat crazy sometimes at the possibility of me getting hurt? 

Yes
!

I saw the current l
eader of the pack. Just an Elf. He was holding back behind his supposed front line warriors waiting for them to take care of business.  When his face surveyed our party and noted who we had in our possession, he drew up with anger and started backing away.

“Sorry for the disappointment,” I muttered aloud to myself.

For the smallest inkling I regarded to tear down the freaking center of all of them and jump on the evil eyed Elf leader’s back like a crazed, loony psycho just to get my frustrations out, yet that wouldn’t take back what happened to Cas.  But I’d feel a whole lot better.

They were all dead in less time it took to rescue Cas. 

All finished and no bad guys left, we moved all the bodies inside the shack and started for the vehicles.  Borgon could clean up his own mess.

I still hadn
’t said one word about the rings and neither did Calum, but he watched me like he was waiting for me to mention it. I am still surprised enough at choosing to where it knowing I needed to hear Cas all the time now.  It rarely touched my skin because of the weight.

“You will not win this if you keep on the same path,” a suave male voice spoke clearly and with precision from just outside the door.  I, with the others, turned hesitantly know
ing before that it would be an Elf.

He was...different. 
Regal and taller than the others, educated and wise.  He gave off all this just by the one spoken message and for the way he carried himself.  Dressed in regular clothes, meaning jeans and a t-shirt, he didn’t mimic the others of his kind with the usual bum-like appearance they preferred.

“Do you wish to enlighten us?” I offered since all else were speechless.

He dropped a slow smile.  “The shadows don’t lie.  You really are every bit the feisty female they say.”

I didn
’t rightly know what to say to that.

“However, you are young.  I am E
lf, but you knew this.  Borgon intends to take all of my people from me.  I can’t let them sit by and just die.  They think he has their best interest.  To destroy you means to gain control again.  But they are misguided and weak without a real leader.  Ruthless and merciless, Borgon will end my people.  I will help you Anastacia Hathown.  You will need me in the end.”

He bowed to me and walked away in the sunlight like a cowboy movie.  What in the freaking world just happened?  

“Anyone know him?” I asked.

“Know of him, but I thought he was dead if that
’s who I think it is,” Cord offered.

“And?” I waited.

“Lord Jetten.  Exiled and run out by his people long ago because they didn’t—

“Think they need
a leader.  Yeah, I know the stories.  Huh!”  How about that.  He has returned.

We drove talking ninety to nothing.  When most of the details were out in the open including me going to a Vampire bar, Cas
’ head brandished a hard stare into the back of Szar’s total avoidance. 

I didn
’t want a fight in the car now, so I thought fast and said, “I’m anxious to get Cas somewhere and clean him up.  Or...I mean him clean up.  I wouldn’t do the cleaning.  Uh...the bathing part.”  God, I needed to shut up.

I was so lucky I was one less male in the car, but Cord snorted laughter that assured me he was very alert and listening.  Calum had brought his car and Szar with it.  So now, we were taking Cord to the warehouse where his car was since we took the Hummer.  Szar rode with us.

“Well, by all means.  Punch the peddle to the meddle, Szar.  Our girl here has shower plans with our friend here.”

I glared at him not at all embarrassed by the fact that I wanted to knock him silly.

“Enough craphead.  She’s been through hell today.”  That’s my brother.  The Three Stooges one minute, loving kind brother the next.

Cord returned his gaze to the front
window pane.  Cas let me lay my head on his shoulder.  I didn’t even care that Pat B was blaring through the speaker on CD with Hit Me With Your Best Shot.  I felt like I’d been shot at enough. 

Chapter Nine

The power we hold lies in the how we portray it, not how it actually sounds in our head.

“What do you mean he
’s gone?” 

I heard, but not clearly through the phone.  It was an unknown number. 
My guess, Lee.  Who else, from the sound of the voices, would know my number?

A voice I knew well muffled and then sharpened.  She complained about Granite calling him a Vampire traitor, foolish, and
in her opinion, stupid to think Borgon would ever let him rule anything.  Her goal was clear—end that female slut who stole him away.  She meant that as
ME! 
And then she mumbled something that sounded like, “The god girl showed up earlier than we thought.  They found him faster than they should have.”

A timbre I knew to be Borgon screamed like a wailing beacon, “Not good enough.  It
’s time we step up the game.  I’m going after Hathown.”

Borgon spit or something, then cursed nastily.

“Do you not think we should just raid the Vampire house and take her that way?” she said like it was easy. 

“Can
’t.  Too guarded.  I can’t beat them anyway.  If taking him didn’t work, I’ll have to go after her father.  He needs to go anyway.”

The Vamp boy laughed manically standing close to her though they had just insulted him.  It was
fake though.  I don’t think Granite has the balls to kill any of these people.

“What do you want me to do with the
Were camp?  The other one.”

“Hold on to it.  Just watch and know how to take it out.”

Nara walked away from the nasty man vowing to take my father out right after she ripped "god girl’s" heart out.  Or, that's what she verbally promised before the phone went dead.

ℓℓℓℓℓ

The Elf Lord dude was a mystery.  Not even my father knew who he was.  Everyone thought the previous one, Lord Jetten, was dead long ago.  Maybe they were wrong, but why did he abandon his people.

I refused to let Cas out of my sight so after three days of holed up in the house, he disappeared to get food and was gone more than five minutes.  I freaked and ran to the kitchen.  He was drinking from the fridge and looked stark raving mad at my frantic face.

“That’s it, Stace.  Operation Fear Removal is officially in tow.”

What the heck does that mean? 

“You think it’s going to happen again.  I told you it wasn’t a mistake on my part, Liam’s, or any of my other guards.  Granite was sold out for a price.  He did this.  You heard it yourself from his own lips.  It was on the inside.”  He wrapped me in a hug, shaking me.  “I’m not going to disappear.”

“How do you know?”

“If you must know, I submitted my guys to several tests that I will leave unnamed but they volunteered.  They are all clean.”

It helped.  A little.

“What is Operation Fear Removal?”

This.

He led me to the Sun room and sat me on the sofa.  “Stay there and watch a movie till I come back in five minutes to join you.”

“This is your intervention?”

“Ah, you see it from my perspective.  At least I know you’re seeing reason.  Yes.  This will all make sense in a little while.”

He kissed my forehead and took his cell phone into the office across the hall.  I watched him pad his bare feet all the way to the thick-glassed windows on the opposite wall to keep me from hearing.   I pouted.  Those eyes had a power all their own.  He knew just the right look to get him out of anything and get me unfocused on being angry or perturbed at him.  He mimicked my mouth formed into a pout where he stood and continued his conversation.  His pout seemed sexy on him and for a second I let myself relax.

He returned like he promised.  The previews ended and my favorite movie graced the screen.   I believe in something too, Neo.  I believe I can’t live without this man beside me.  I shuddered feeling the emotion welling up inside me.  I didn’t want to lose him.

He pulled me into his lap and held me while Neo dodged bullets and conquered the world.  If only he
’d share his luck with me.

The front door chimed through the walls and Claire was swishing down the stairwell towards it.  Cas sat me up on his lap making my face next to his.

“Kissa.  I love you.  Do you know this?”

He was saying it out loud and so...so...like it was a norm.  I waited to see what would happen next.  He was never like this.

Like a bomb going off, a shrill bubbly one, I jumped right off Cas’ lap into a standing position to see Maze standing beside me with her arms out like an erratic grasshopper.  It was the domino effect of being near her I guessed.

“Um, he said I could,” she pointed to Cas who had that forgive me look in his eyes that couldn
’t be denied.  “Thank you again, Lord Cross.  I am forever grateful.”  Maze was always the charming, bubbly one.

Cas stood up beside me, kissed the top of my head, and laughed that sexy laugh like no other, “Enjoy your intervention.  She will be here for the remainder of the week.”

I didn’t know what to say.
Thank you.  But I still want you close. 

I won
’t leave the house without you knowing.  I assure you Kissa, you are in my thoughts every second of every day.  We are safe.

I turned the door he took up all the space in, “And guards?”

He lovingly scrutinized me from his leaning position on the doorframe folding his arms as if amused.  Gods, he was so sexy.

Not helping me leaving you with your friend, but it
’s good to have you back. 

I pulled my lips in trying to hide my inner thoughts that might be showcased to my friend.

He gave first. 
Liam is by your side at all times until further notice.  Hugo will keep an eye on me for your sanity’s sake.
 

I smiled loving this man. 
Thank you
, I beamed.  He nodded and left us alone.

Oops.  Forgot she was there already.  Bet she wondered what just went down.

“So, you two have a really happy little love connection going on.  I can see it definitely doesn’t lack any lustful looks or sexy eye—

“Stop.  Whatever you were about to say was probably not clean.  I know your mind and he has really good hearing.”

I heard a soft laugh in the back of my mind.  He’d heard her.

I shrieked through
the hallway, “You better turn your Vampire butt hearing off till she’s gone mister if you know what’s good for you.”

Never,
rang though my ears.

Cas.
  I dragged out his name in my mind.

I want to hear every single word of what you might say about my sexiness.

You might not.

Oh, but I do. 

Grr!  “He will hear everything you say, so you better be good.”

Maze held up three fingers and saluted me with the other hand, then pretended to tie a bow on her lips.  Yeah.  Like that
’s gonna keep her quiet.  I was so in for it.

Maze and I stayed up all night in the
Sun room watching movie after movie and eating popcorn and takeout pizza.

We woke in the morning light both crooked from sleeping upright on the sofa.  I knew Cas checked on me several times and once kissed me in my sleep.  I woke sleepily and kissed him back for the brief few seconds seeing he was there all dressed and leaving the room again. 

The day lagged on in much the same way but with bathing suits and tanning oil on the back lawn.  I’d not been in the sun just for the fun of it in over a year.  It felt so good.

We both showered in the late afternoon and hunkered down in my room on the bed with a bag of gummy worms and potato chips.  We laughed, cried, and swooned at the list of what Cas had done in the romance depa
rtment.  I made her whisper the entire conversation.  Since we’d watched our favorite humanized Vampire movie twice already, Maze felt the need to compare the main character “hottie” as she called him to my real live Vampire who was, I might say, nothing like him.

Cas was powerful, not meek.  And Cas would never leave me because it was good for me.  I wouldn
’t survive without him.  I knew that now.

I let Maze go on and on because it made her happy.  She equated every single scene from movie one, two, and three to mine.

At dusk, we sat happily on my bed chatting.

I felt the pull as he came closer.  Maze stopped midsentence forcing me to turn to the balcony
. Maze slipped out quietly saying she was going to get some cold pizza.  Not seeing him for over twenty-four hours was doing things to me.  He took a step closer to the bed making me freeze in the position I held.  Cross-legged with a gummy worm half in-half out I just stared at his still figure. 

Suddenly, I swallowed the bit of candy left and broke the tension in the air with the loudest gulp ever. 

Then...an explosion. 

Lips.  Hands. 

“I’m sorry I interrupted,” he said into my mouth.

“
No talking,” I pulled him down to me.  Before long it was too much.   We had to stop.

Cas yanked back breathing hard.  “Maybe I can make another day now.”

I didn’t try to talk. 

We stayed still just like that when the door jiggled.

“Incoming friend in fifteen seconds.” The door closed.

"I'm coming in."

“I will see you,” he whispered in my ear.

“No, I will come see you later.  When Maze falls asleep.”

His smile was priceless. And somewhat...filled with something else.

“
Just sleep,” I assured him.

Oh
, Kissa.  The places your mind goes.

Cas kissed me again, deep and fast.  The door opened and the whistles began. 

Ah, heck.

He lingered for a second too long.  I knew he was making a show of it based on the musings of Maze and her Vampire craze.  She was relentless in the way she always steered the conversation back to Cas.

Maze started to back out of the room, but Cas stopped her.  “I’m leaving.” 
Very reluctantly.

See you soon. 

Cas pecked my cheek and went through the door rather than the balcony.

I heard him say something to Liam and they both laughed all manly like.  Then Liam told him, “Her friend is sweet and sugary scented, but nothing compared to Anastacia.”

And then effectively, Cas growled at his friend.  I couldn’t see what happened next, but I could guess a few scenarios that weren’t good for their friendship.

  I ignored the thought of greeting anymore of them in the way they might “sniff”
me as Liam does.  I’d swear I saw Granite do it once, but I’d been looking for it and might have created the idea in my brain.  Either way, Vampire’s have a super sensory to smell.  Noted.

12.  super sensitive sense of smell 

I did go see him for a long while in the night enjoying a long kissing session that got way too heated and had to stop to keep ourselves from going too far.  Sometimes I wondered about that.  I mean, he’s a Vampire lord.  How many strong-willed able men abstained like that for one woman?  Certainly not Calum and certainly not Cord.  I didn’t want to think about my brother in that way, but something told me he was way too full of secrets I didn’t ever,
ever
want to know. 

I made myself wonder down paths I shouldn
’t and had to ask.  “Why did you wait for me?  I mean wait for me physically?”

Cas read me well.  “I almost didn
’t several times.”

What?  My heart panged.  He felt the emotional pull.

“I’m being honest with you, Stace.  I told you I wasn’t innocent and for you to not think me worthy in any way of you.”

Ignoring the raging thump of my heart I told him to go on.

“I wanted to erase your memory more than once.  I’d convince myself that you’d hate me anyway or that you’d chose someone else and I’d have to watch it.”

“So you frolicked to forget about me?”

“Frolicked isn’t what I’d have called it.  Proving to myself I wasn’t pinning away for a girl I would never have was sometimes mind numbing.”

It did sound ridiculous.  He wasn
’t to blame or unlike any normal teenager.

“
I don’t blame you.  You couldn’t know the for sure future.  What’s important is now.”

“And you don
’t hate me for it?”

“Why would I?”  I thought of Calum. 

“Thinking of him doesn’t make me calmer.”

“Sorry.”  Guess I
’m the horrid one.