Redemption (2 page)

He'd been ready for over nine hundred years for his life to change, but he never could have expected the amount of change that David and his family would bring to his life.

The chair he had been leaning against the wall in crashed down with a loud thud that jarred the teeth in his head. Jack had to grab hold of the table to keep from toppling out of it. "What the..."

Torn from the memory of that distant time and place, he was briefly confused as he looked around the barroom he was sitting in now. William shot him a sly grin as he placed a tankard of dark ale before him, plopped into the chair on the other side of the table, and leaned forward so he could rest his arms on the table top. Jack blinked as he strained to clear his mind of the haunting past and focus on the man now sitting across from him.

"What were you thinking about?" William inquired. "You looked like you were in a completely different world."

"Nothing," he muttered as he drew his mug closer.

It had been almost a year since the war that had cost David his life and ended the brutality of his father's vampire domain. David was still a touchy subject with William, one that he didn't like to discuss as he still grappled to come to terms with his grief over losing his father. Truth be told, Jack didn't like to discuss it either.

Neither William nor Jack really had any interest in returning to the palace anytime soon. William's twin sister Aria lived within the palace with her husband Braith, who was now the new king. Jack's younger sister Melinda and her husband Ashby also resided within the palace. Though he knew that things were far different under Braith and Aria's regime than they had been under his father's, he was still in no rush to return to the place that held so many bad memories for him.

There had been a time, before the war when he'd returned to the palace in search of Aria, when he'd told his father he'd first met David in the woods. The lie had been uttered with an ease that his father actually would have been proud of if it had benefited him. Instead, Jack had told the lie because he hadn't wanted his father to know that the rebels actually moved in and out of some of the border towns with ease.

Jack glanced around the smoky tavern, so similar to the one he'd been in when he'd met David five years ago. It was easy to see how he had been drawn into the memories of that long ago day, and the man that had changed his life for the better. In David, Jack had discovered a man that though he was mortal, was far stronger than the powerful vampire king who had created him.

David was gone though, and now he was traveling with David's youngest son. The two of them had left the palace with the objective of bringing the outer villages into the fold, of bringing peace to the lawless lands that had tried to skirt around his father's rule for nearly a century, and so far, they had succeeded in many ways.

The outer lands they'd encountered had all given up the practice of blood slaves and were trying the donation centers, but there were more problems than just blood slaves amongst them. There were far more vampires and humans out here that preferred to fly under the radar and mainly live by their own rules. Jack found that he could lose himself amongst these towns, no one cared that he was the youngest prince, and no one cared that William was a son of the fallen rebel leader.

Though they both worked diligently with the leaders of the outer towns to establish a friendlier environment for humans and vampires to co-exist, for the most part they had engrossed themselves in the society of these distant lands. William often sent word back to the palace with a passing traveler, or one of Braith's soldiers, but he never gave a time when they might return and often avoided the topic if Jack brought it up.

William tilted back in his chair to survey the room. They'd entered this calm town in the lower part of what used to be Maine just last week. Tomorrow they would be moving farther north in search of other areas where they might be needed more. Outside the sliding doors at the end of the building, the ocean ceaselessly rolled in and out in a soothing rhythm that helped lull the lingering ache his memories had created. During the years he'd spent away from the sea, hiding out in the forest and caves, he'd forgotten what a calming effect the waves could have on his spirit.

"I like this place," William commented as his gaze moved over the hazy tavern.

"It's like any of the other countless taverns we've been in over the years."

William shrugged and took another sip of his ale. "I'm nowhere near as old as you my friend, or anywhere near as cynical."

Jack scowled at him as William smirked and lifted his pint in a salute. There had been a time in his life when he hadn't been cynical, when even the routine beatings from his father hadn't been enough to break him, but lately...

Lately he found little pleasure in anything outside of these taverns, some of their dealings with the people amongst these outer towns, and women. Those moments of pleasure were becoming fewer and farther between though.

Jack grabbed his tankard and downed the contents in one long swallow. He signaled to the waitress for another. Her portly figure reminded him of Kelly and had probably helped to trigger that distant memory of the first time he'd ever encountered David and Daniel. The woman grinned enough to reveal a mouth full of teeth as she placed a fresh drink in front of him. He returned her smile and admired her swaying hips as she walked to another table.

Though she was pretty enough and inviting enough, he wasn't as tempted by her as he would have been last year or even six months ago. Leaning back in his chair, he listened to the ocean as he sipped at his ale again. There would be plenty of other women in the next town, at the next tavern. For now he simply wanted to be left alone with his drink and his friend.

***

The commotion outside brought Hannah's head up as someone shouted again. She dropped a full mug of beer in front of old man Turner as she hurried toward the door. Her skin crawled as the distinct ringing of bells drifted through the air. Even though she wanted nothing to do with those bells, she opened the front door and stuck her head outside. The torches that had been lit to light the night flickered over the man riding down the street. Calvin sat straight and tall on the back of his horse, the bells attached to the saddle jingled as the bay horse trotted down the street.

Hannah's hand clenched on the door as she spotted the rope twisted around Calvin's hand. The rope dragged behind the horse and was tied around the hands of a boy about the age of ten. She didn't recognize the boy that stumbled and ran to keep up with the horse. Hannah took a step forward but stopped when someone grabbed hold of her hand.

"Hannah don't," Uncle Abe warned in a low voice.

She stared at her uncle's weathered face; his brown eyes were troubled as they took in the scene outside. His salt and pepper hair had been recently cut short, but it still curled around his ears. Her gaze drifted back to the young boy as Calvin arrived at the stage where the stocks were set up.

"He's just a boy Uncle Abe," she whispered.

"You're already on Calvin's radar Hannah; don't put yourself into the bulls-eye."

She knew that he was right but she couldn't stand the thought of the young boy being beaten and locked into those stocks for hours, if not days. Calvin may have been in charge here for the past four hundred years, his brutality may have even changed after the war last year, but she couldn't stand by and watch this happen. Even if it meant that she had to speak with him, even if it meant that he started to pay
more
attention to her.

She shuddered at the thought. The young boy released a frightened cry; he tripped over the step and fell to the ground as he was pulled up the steps of the stage. Even beneath the layer of dirt coating him, she could count every one of his ribs as they stood out beneath his skin. She couldn't simply stand here and watch the boy get beaten, nor could she close the door and pretend that nothing was wrong with this picture. She'd forced herself to turn a blind eye to this sort of thing when it involved adult men and women, but she couldn't do that to a child.

"It will be ok Uncle Abe; I'm just going to talk to him."

"Hannah..."

She squeezed the soft, wrinkled hand on her shoulder before stepping out the door. A small crowd had already gathered, but most of them were Calvin's men, eager for blood and despair. The disapproving mutters of a few of the people drifted over her but she knew they were all too terrified of incurring Calvin's wrath to say anything. Though she was apprehensive of drawing more of Calvin's attention to her, it wasn't his wrath she was worried about. He'd begun to make his romantic intentions toward her abundantly clear when she'd reached maturity last year at the age of twenty-two.

From the wooden stores and houses lining the road, she saw curtains parting as vampires and humans peered out. Hannah could feel her courage waning as she moved through the mass of Calvin's men gathered around the stocks.
What am I doing
? She pondered as she anxiously twisted her hands within the skirt of her faded blue dress. She was about to turn around and retreat to the relatively peaceful world of her family's tavern when the boy began to cry.

She'd never considered herself overly brave, she'd never been one for confrontation or one who tried to get noticed, but she'd never been a coward either. No matter how badly she would like to slink back into her world of relative obscurity, she knew she simply couldn't leave that child behind. Straightening her shoulders, she stopped at the edge of the stage.

She had no idea how Calvin was going to react to what she was about to say or do. He might just kill the boy. It may be an illegal action now, but aside from a few of the king's soldiers that had passed through town over the past year, there was no one to really enforce the new laws. She didn't know why Calvin had chosen to obey the new king's laws after the war, but she suspected it was because he feared he might be turned in if he continued his old ways. Hannah had witnessed far too many men and women put to death over the years for crimes that hadn't warranted such an action. Calvin wouldn't have been able to keep up that kind of punishment without the risk of someone finally taking a stand against him now that they had a fairer king ruling the land.

"Calvin." She was ashamed her voice barely carried past the men pressing against her.

Kane, Calvin's second in command, turned to scowl down at her. His nose was twisted to the side from breaks so numerous that even though he was a vampire, his nose had started to heal crooked. A jagged scar ran from his close cropped brown hairline, down to his right ear before reaching his chin and curling toward his thin lips.

He turned away from her to speak to his boss. "Calvin, there's a lady here that would like to speak with you!"

Hannah forced herself not to jump at Kane's bellow but she did move aside when he stepped closer to her. She had to fight the urge to rub at the place on her arm that Kane had brushed against. Calvin glowered at his friend over being interrupted; then his eyes slid to her and his handsome face split into a large grin that made her feel like turning around and running as fast as she could in the other direction.

Calvin's boots resounded on the wooden stage as he strode toward her. His hand was still wrapped in the collar of the boy's shirt as he hauled the child across the stage with him. The boy's rolling blue eyes met hers as his nostrils flared and tears streamed down his face. His straggly hair appeared to be brown but she suspected that a good bath would reveal it to be blonder. She'd suspected the boy was human before she'd reached the stage, but the scent of the blood coming from a cut on his forehead confirmed her suspicions. She may be dead center on Calvin's radar now but looking at the terrified boy she knew that she'd made the right choice.

"Hannah, what are you doing here?" Calvin asked jovially as he knelt before her.

She had to force her gaze away from the boy to meet Calvin's strange golden eyes. "I uh..." she had to ponder her words for a minute before continuing. "I came to talk to you about the child."

"This?" Calvin said and thrust the boy toward her.

This
let out a muffled cry as his shirt cut into his throat and his eyes bulged from his head. "You're hurting him!" Hannah cried before she could stop herself. She reached toward the child but Calvin was already jerking him away again.

"You have such a tender heart Hannah, that's one of the things I like best about you."

She would have thought it was what he disliked
most
about her. The fact that he'd said those words made her as distrustful as a mouse standing before a snake. It took all she had not to take a step away from him but the last thing she wanted was for him to know that she was scared of him. "He's just a child Calvin."

"He was caught stealing bread from the bakery."

Looking at him Hannah could understand why as the child pleadingly stared at her with eyes made larger by his thin face. "He's starving; he just needs a good meal."

"And you'd be willing to give him one?"

"Of course I would."

"And what of me Hannah?" he said in a tone of voice that made her realize the snake had just cornered the mouse. "If I was to say..." he thoughtfully tapped his finger against his chin but she suspected he already knew what he was going to say. "Lower his sentence to only a night in the stocks, instead of two, would you be willing to spend some time with me?"

She'd rather run naked through the center of town but she wasn't about to voice that little detail. "Yes," she managed to choke out though her body and mind protested the simple word.