Into Death's Arms (30 page)

    She nodded but wisely didn’t say anything.  He laughed and I
couldn’t help myself
I started laughing too. Her face was so serious. I didn’t like that she was dating a
Vamp
ire
but I really wasn’t one to throw stones and I very nearly… oh I wasn’t even thinking about it.
Except I closed my eyes and could smell his cedar scent, I licked my lips and could taste his mouth, still. I was in serious trouble.

    Laith’s head snapped up his nose twitched, “You gotta quit that Macyn, if you don’t I’m gonna have to go kill that
Vamp
ire
for you. I don’t think we can liv
e in the same house with you that
worked up all the time.”

    Laurna grinned
like an idiot. “You worked up Mace? What
Vamp
ire
? Ohhh, Tameron,
” her eyes lit up to match that smile.
For a moment I hated her I mean really hated her, “Really Macyn?” S
he giggled I looked around for something to throw at her.
I settled for a throw pillow.

    “I don’t like him. I really don’t like him.” I stuttered. “I just have a really unhealthy attraction to his… well e
verything, but I don’t like him,
” I protested.
I didn’t like
him;
he was a huge ass, as well as a
Vamp
ire
. Uh, hello can anybody say unhealthy relationship.

     She ran into the kitchen before shouting. “I don’t know Laith I think the lady doth protest too much!”

    “How’d you l
ike to see just how strong I am,
” I yelled back.

    More laughter, “you can’t kill me Macy I brought food and coffee.” She pointed out. Oh yeah, if I killed her who’d bring my coffee?

     Laith followed her into the kitchen. I heard them whispering. “I know you’re her best friend and women like to give each other a hard time about men and such but this is really hard on her. She was raised in a world where we are the monsters now she’s got a brother who’s a
Shifter
and a mate who’s a
Vamp
ire
. She’s not adjusting well.” Mate?
UH uhh,
He was just sexy. He was not my AoLi
!
I knew that. I was sure of
it;
at least
,
I thought I was. Maybe, I wasn’t.

      “He’s not my mate,
”
I growled at them
and myself,
they weren’t listen
ing. I took my coffee and one of the bags of the food
and went into the living room. Okay so I huffed out of there like a little kid who’d been told to go to bed and didn’t want to
but
I didn’t want to hear them discussing me anymore. I didn’t want to talk about sexy
half-breeds
I just wanted quiet. I flicked on the TV and vegged to the horrors regular humans dealt to each other.
It always helped me calm myself. Today it didn’t seem to be working.

    I went to hunt that night. I took down two
Dream-walkers
both were in the middle of using their fear power on helpless humans. A
Vamp
ire
I caught actually finishing off
some poor girl. Then I chased
a lone
Shifter
but she ran like hell from me. I didn’t chase her too hard though I hadn’t caught her in the act of anything and I was having issues with killing those who I hadn’t caught doing anything
wrong
.

  
I kept telling myself they were demons but I just wasn’t buying it
so much
anymore
. If they
were
demons
,
how were they able to breed with humans? I fell to my knees in the middle of some dark alley and prayed for guidance. Something cool and wet soaked into the knees of my pants while I was kneeling, I didn’t care.

  
The stone was hard beneath me, bruising. My lips moved fervently and found that I was weeping. 

 
Weeping? I was supposed to be the tough AoD, what the hell was wrong with me? 

   
Please, please, help me, I am trying but I
don’t think I am doing it right, I thought.
Where is the hardness? How can I just let
the
Shadow-born
go? How can I be so attracted to a
Vamp
ire
that I can’t even think in his presence? 

  
Nothing… Not that I really expected it I’d listened to my dad pray often enough to know God doesn’t really give direct answers but I was hoping for something anything. I rode home in a funk, tired, bloody, wet kneed, and miserable.

     When I got home, Laith was cooking again. I was really liking the whole having a brother thing. He took one look at me and pointed towards the stairs. “You smell like blood and s
ewage. What have you been up to,
” he asked. I noticed he was wearing the blue shirt Laurna had sworn would look so good on him. She was right my brother was a handsome
man;
of
course,
I think I’ve pointed that out before. He also wore a brand new pair of jeans. He wore socks but no shoes.
His hair, however was a mess, the blond mass was growing out and looked like it could seriously use a trim.

      I put up my hands in submission. “Yeah, you have room to talk are y
ou aware of how your hair looks,” I announced. He grinned amiably at me as if the last thing on earth he was concerned about was his appearance, which struck me as odd. He always looked so perfect. Like Laurna I’d assumed he’d put in at least half the effort she had but apparently not.

After I
showered,
I spent some time looking in the mirror. The bruises had faded to bare shadows. I had some new bruises but they weren’t so bad.
I went back into my
bedroom;
I dragged my feet along the plush carpet. It was something I’d done a lot as a child but hadn’t done in quite some time. The smell of tomato paste and meat rose up the stairs, my stomach growled and I had learned my lesson when it came to ignoring the hunger. I wasn’t going to be doing that again anytime soon. I dressed and rushed down the stairs.

    Laith had set the table
. I
t was weird to me. I spent my whole life thinking of
Shifters
as more animal than people but he had better manners than most people I knew.  My relationsh
ip with him was affecting my purpose
I knew it was
, but after
today,
I had to
let that girl go.
I couldn’t help but
wonder had mom felt this way to
? I knew she’d been conflicted she had been meeting with Laith in secret. Why hadn’t she told my father? I didn’t remember her too well but I knew she’d loved him and he’d worshiped her. Had she been afraid he’d reject her? I didn’t know. I wished to God I did.

   I fell asleep still wondering what it would have been like.  When I
dreamt,
I dreamt I was the
Dream-walker
again. He, no we, stood behind Kinsley who sat in an enormous wood chair. Wolves were carved carefully into the thing. At the arms they came off snarling at
whoever
the chair was facing it was the kind of chair old kings used to use to intimidate their enemies.
So, who was Kinsley trying to intimidate.
I studied the other man.

   
He was gigantic
. H
is black hair was
longer than Dayton’s even
and he had blue
eyes
very pretty in color but they were lifeless,
the eyes of a killer. I shuddered a
little;
I never wanted to meet up with that
guy
in a dark
alley. “So we are in agreement,
” Kinsley asked the giant. I watched Kinsley it was strange to look on him now knowing he was my brother’s father.  Laith had mom’s hair blond and soft but those eyes, those near ebony eyes he’d gotten from his father. His massive form and chiseled features he’d gotten from Kinsley as well
. T
he man was attractive in a
,
after we have sex I’m going to go cannibal and eat you literally kind of way.

 
It was funny to me how quickly Laith had stopped being that
Shifter
and become my brother but hey, I’d always hated being an only child.

      “Yes,
” The big guy answered barring fangs. Oh, boy a
Vamp
ire
, I thought
Shifters
and
Vamp
ires
didn’t really get along. “I will bring you the Reece girl and you will kill Tameron for me.” Uh oh, I didn’t want to hear that. Gigantor there was coming for me. Shit, I could have done without this bit of precog.  “I still don’t understand why you want the girl alive. It would be easier to just kill the bitch.” The giant suggested.

     “That is my problem
,
not yours
,
bring the girl alive. I will send my men for Tameron.” Kinsley gro
wled at the
Vamp
ire
. “And Sumner
, I don’t take failure well,” h
e threatened. Wow, Laith’s daddy had some steel ones because the
Vamp
ire
was a good foot taller than
he was
and built like well, Mr. Universe comes to mind. I wondered if
Vamp
ires
could use steroids and if a
Vamp
ire
who was slim could put me t
hrough concrete,
what
could a
Vamp
ire
that looked like that do?  I was pretty sure I didn’t want to find out.

    Sumner
the
Vamp
ire
shrugged. “I don’t either.” He stood and lumbered from the room. Nothing that big could walk it was lumbering.

    “Nikissos,” Kinsley growled.

    “Yes master,” came from my mouth. Eww
,
I so didn’t want to call him master.

    “Have you heard from my son,
” he looked up at me.
Anger seethed from his very being.

      Yep sure have lots and lots bu
t I wasn’t tell him that. “Nope,
” I answered.

      “Nope,
” he asked incredulously
his dark brows climbing into his hairline
.
“Nope,
” he repeated,
“What
the
hell has come over you Nikissos,
” he growled.

       Oops! “I meant, no master, nothing.” Okay I didn’t like the
Dream-walker
but I so didn’t want Kinsley to beat him to death while I was still walking him. I mean shit like that leave some psychological scars. I had enough scaring to deal with.

       Kinsley clawed the table in front of him leaving long gouges in the wood. There were other similar marks
apparently;
this was something he did when he was agitated. “Do you think he
will bring me the girl,
” he almost sounded hopeful.

      Bring him the girl, I wondered.
Was Laith going to betray me?
Aw,
fuck I so didn’t need this. Before I could respond the
Dream-walker
whose skin I was riding
answered. “He said he would not,
” Yay, Laith. I thought, but doubt had been planted and I was never very good at hiding my anxiety.

       “Go,” Kinsley grumbled
as he raked his claws along the wood again
, “and tell me the moment you hear from my son.”

     I nodded, “Yes, master.”

     I woke. Well hell Nikissos the
Dream-walker
had helped me out again, why
? What was he getting out of it?
Laith knew him t
hey were friends weren’t they? I threw off the covers and padded down the hall to the room he was sleeping in.

    Laith lay in the guest bed like an overgrown octopus. Limbs sprawled
everywhere
his blond hair slashed across the pillow
he snored softly.

   
I wondered if our mother had tucked him into bed when he was little. He’d said that
Shifters
told each other Ao tales to frighten each other did they have fairy tales with
Shifter
heroes as well. Had my mother told him
those
bedtime stories when he was little? Suddenly I was
jealous;
he’d gotten to know Iris. I
had a few pictures and cloudy memories
he had a
lifetime.  “Hey sleeping beauty,
”
Somehow I managed to keep that bitterness I was feeling from my voice as I spoke to him
from across the room. I knew better than to sneak up on a sleeping
Shifter
. He opened his eyes, abruptly.