Revelation of Blood (20 page)

I smiled brightly at him as he lowered his
head to mine and kissed me softly. “
Have I told you lately how
much I adore you, Archer
?”

“I hear it in your thoughts every day, baby,”
he whispered aloud with a satisfied smile.

Archer had meetings all the next day, so we
caught the jet back to Austin later that evening. I knew my dad,
Lucian, and Atticus Frost were waiting for my decision on whether
or not I was going to join them, but I couldn’t bring myself to
call them yet. I didn’t give a damn what the leader of the Dark
Ones thought, but I was worried about disappointing my father.

There was no way I could join with them. No
matter what they thought was in me, I was a Day Walker through and
through. Plus, I was madly in love with Archer and couldn’t see my
life without him in it. The Dark Ones would undoubtedly want me to
move to the underground colony in New York and that was across the
country from Austin and my mate. As much as I wanted to spend time
with and get to know my father, he wasn’t as important to me as
Archer was…as my new family was.

“Aces and eights,” I smiled widely as I laid
my cards out in front of me. “Read ‘em and weep boys.”

Donovan, our flight attendant threw his cards
down on the table and huffed. “That’s nine hands in a row you’ve
won.”

“Are you hiding cards up your sleeve, little
sister?” Jameson winked at me as he laid down his own full house of
twos and fives.

I held up my bare wrists and cocked a sassy
eyebrow at him. “And how would you suppose I’d manage that with
short sleeves, my dear brother?”

“Card shark,” Archer grinned proudly as he
laid down his pair of kings.

We were all sitting around the conference
table at the back of the plane, passing time, when Archer’s cell
began to ring. Pushing the speaker button and setting the phone on
the table, he resumed gathering and shuffling the cards as he
spoke.

“Yes?”

“Hey, boss man,” Quinn’s disembodied voice
greeted. “How’s the flight?”

“Did you know that your new sister here is a
card shark?” Archer asked, winking at me.

“Loch had his suspicions,” he chuckled. “She
took six grand from him during last Tuesday’s game.”

“Ah,” Archer sighed, “she’s up seven
here.”

“Take my advice, sir, and bow out when you
can.” Quinn laughed.

“Advice I could have used an hour ago, son,”
Archer chuckled as he doled out the next hand of cards. “What can I
do for you, Quinn?”

“What time do you arrive, sir?” he asked,
significantly lowering his voice as it became more serious.
Jameson, Archer, and I took notice and we all glanced at each
other.

“We land within the hour,” he answered Quinn.
“Why? What’s going on?”

“Trouble is afoot at the Circle K,
athair
,” he said and I felt my eyes widen in disbelief at
his pop culture reference. Who would have guessed he’d seen, and
liked, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure? Quinn was hard and no
nonsense and the quote left me dumbfounded.

“Explain,” Archer barked, abandoning the
cards as he looked up at Jameson.

“We’ve got Dark Ones at the club and lots of
them. They started arriving last night and by their accents, most
of them aren’t from around Texas. The guys and I didn’t think too
much of it until tonight. VIP is at capacity and 99% of them are
Dark. They’re all over the first floor, too, sir. I don’t know
what’s going on, but I thought I should warn you. Something doesn’t
feel right.”

I frowned and looked from the phone to
Archer. He was staring at me and by the look on his face I could
tell he was deep in thought. “Have Hagan man VIP until we get
there. Tell him not to pick us up. We’ll catch a cab to the
club.”

“Already on it, sir,” Quinn answered. “I
figured that’s where you’d want him.”

“I want everyone on high alert. Keep your
ears open. I want to know what they’re up to.”

“Do you think this has anything to do with
Skye’s kidnapping the other night?” Jameson asked in a whisper and
I felt Donovan’s shocked eyes slide to me.

“Most certainly,” Archer nodded as he reached
over and took my hand before addressing Quinn again. “We’ll be
there in about seventy minutes,
dheartháir
. Call me if
anything happens before then.”

“Aye,
athair
,” Quinn agreed and ended
the call.

Archer sighed as he put the phone back in his
pocket. “Well, it looks like we have to wrap the game up a bit
early, guys. Skye was embarrassing us anyway,” he said with a smile
that failed to reach his eyes.

Donovan gathered the cards and set about
putting them away for us as Archer called Jameson and me into the
bedroom upstairs.

“What do you think they want?” Jameson asked
as soon as Archer closed the door behind us.

“Skye most likely,” Archer sighed as he ran
his fingers through his hair. “Their arrival isn’t a coincidence.
It can’t be. Atticus made it very clear that he wants Skye to join
their race. Maybe this is a show of force to scare her into
submission.”

“He must not know me very well, then,” I
scoffed as I crossed my arms under my chest. “Atticus Frost doesn’t
scare me and no amount of Dark Ones he sends is going to persuade
me to join them. All it’s going to do is piss me off.”

“You’re right,” Archer said with a smirk, “he
doesn’t know you very well if he genuinely believes his tactics
will work.”

“Isn’t Austin considered your city?” I asked,
sitting down on the bed beside Jameson. “Can’t you just make them
leave?”

“Not if they have no intentions of leaving.
I’m not looking to start a war, remember the promise you made me
agree to? No retaliation? If I order them to go and they refuse,
violence is our only option, thus breaking my promise to you.”

I frowned and rested my forearms on my knees.
“There’s got to be another way to get them to leave.”

“Have you called Atticus to tell him you’ve
decided not to join the Dark Ones?” Jameson asked.

“No,” I shook my head as I held out my hand
to Archer, “but I will right now. Maybe if I politely decline he’ll
call them off.”

Archer placed his cell in my hand and I dug
Atticus’ business card out of the back pocket of my jeans. After
dialing the number, it was answered on the first ring.

“Corvus Frost,” a man said and I realized it
was him.

Taking a deep breath, I put on a fake,
friendly tone and spoke. “Corvus, it’s Skye Morrison. How are
you?”

“I am well, kitten,” he purred sexily. “So
good of you to call. Have you news for Father or is this a social
call?”

“I have made a decision,” I smiled tightly as
I glanced up at Archer. His nostrils were flaring and I knew he
hated the tone in which Corvus was talking to me. “While the offer
from your father was very flattering, I fear I must politely
decline at this time.”

There was a long moment of silence. “Father
will not be pleased, Skye Morrison,” Corvus said in a low growl,
his tone completely changing.

“Tell your father I very much appreciated his
hospitality during my visit and that I’d like to remain in contact
with him and Lucian. Just because I declined his offer doesn’t mean
we can’t be friendly.”

“I will relay your message to our master,
Miss Morrison,” he said with a sigh. “I am disappointed with your
choice but do hope to see you again soon. I enjoyed meeting and
dancing with you. You were a vision.”

“Yes,” I rolled my eyes and smeared the fake
pleasantries on thick, “I enjoyed meeting you as well, Corvus. I’m
sure we’ll run into each other in the future.”

“You can count on it. Until then, beautiful
girl,” he said and ended the call.

“Fucking Corvus!” Jameson growled from beside
me as I handed the phone back to Archer.

I frowned and glanced over at him. “What’s
with you and Corvus anyway? Why do you hate him so much?”

Jameson looked at me and then Archer. “I
don’t want to talk about it. It’s not important.”

“Oh, now I really want to know,” I raised my
eyebrows as I crossed my arms. “What is it? Tell me.”

“No,” Jameson said as he got up and walked to
one of the windows. Changing the subject, he addressed Archer. “So
what do we do now? Do you think Skye’s phone call to Corvus will
work?”

“If it doesn’t, I fear our only other option
is direct force. I’m not having a city full of Dark Ones pressuring
my mate.”

“We don’t even know for sure if that’s why
they’re at The Mausoleum,” I said, shaking my head. “Maybe there’s
a Dark convention in town.”

Archer gave me a look and shook his head.
“No. It has to do with you. There’s no other explanation. Why would
so many of them come to MY club when there are more suitable Dark
clubs in San Antonio?”

“Aye,” Jameson sighed, turning to Archer.
“They don’t like your house rules and that’s why most Dark Ones go
to Bloody Kisses. It may be an hour away, but biting is allowed
there.”

“So, back to the issue at hand,” I sighed.
“We need to have a contingency plan in place in case they really
are in town for me. What are our options?”

“Fight,” Archer answered.

“Fight,” Jameson agreed.

“You’re not starting a fucking war over me,”
I frowned. “There has to be another way.” My mind raced as Archer
and Jameson continued to talk. I didn’t want us fighting with
Atticus’ people and would only agree to it if it was our very last
option. I wasn’t going to allow them to hang around my life
pressuring me or making things difficult for my family. I wasn’t
positive they’d do that but Archer and Jameson were, so I believed
it. They knew Dark Ones a lot better than I did. My few hours with
them made me no expert.

Suddenly, a thought entered my mind and I
stood. “What about the wolves?” I asked. “They aren’t going to like
the sudden increase in vampire visitors to the city. What if we
talk to Dean? If it looks like the Dark Ones aren’t going anywhere,
maybe a visit from him would work. After all, isn’t a bite from a
werewolf fatal to us? That would scare sense into anyone.”

Archer rubbed his bottom lip and gazed
thoughtfully over at Jameson. “That might work. What do you think,
Youngblood?”

“Do you think Dean would agree? I mean,
you’re a vampire now. Does he even still talk to you?”

“Of course he does,” I frowned. “It took a
little convincing at first, but we’re still close. He, Zephyr, and
Primo even helped
An Dilis
and I track Amun. Dean said he’d
always be there for me and I know he means that. If I need him,
he’ll come.”

“Well it’s settled then. If the Dark Ones
don’t leave in the next few days, we call in the wolves,” Jameson
smirked. “Hopefully that will fix the problem.”

“Hopefully,” Archer agreed with a sigh.

**********

It was close to midnight when Archer’s jet
landed. We grabbed our bags and headed across the terminal to the
pick-up area to hail a cab. The ride to The Mausoleum was pretty
silent, at least out loud. We were all in our own heads, wondering
what the Dark Ones were up to, so it was pretty loud in my
head.

After we got to the club, we entered through
the back door and stored our luggage in one of the storage rooms.
As we made our way down the hall and toward the sounds of the club,
I took a quick look down at what I was wearing. My jeans, chucks,
and Black Sabbath t-shirt weren’t exactly appropriate for the club,
but it would have to do. I didn’t want to bother with changing in
the stock room. Besides, Jameson was wearing pretty much the same
thing as I was so I felt marginally more comfortable. Archer, of
course, was in a charcoal grey suit and white dress shirt. He
always looked professional.

Our arrival immediately drew the attention of
half the first floor as soon as we walked onto it, and I realized
why; a good third of it was occupied by Dark Ones and when they
stopped to look, so did the humans that were dancing with them.

“
This doesn’t look good
,” I commented
silently to Archer and grabbed Jameson’s proffered hand as he cut a
path for us through the crowd. “
There’s so many here
.”

“
Don’t let go of his hand, cion,”
Archer thought. “
Find Quinn and let him know we’ve arrived. I
need to stop by the bar and talk to Hunter for a moment
.”

I nodded my head and leaned into Jameson,
giving him Archer’s instructions as Archer broke from us and headed
to the bar. We found Quinn at his post at the stairs and his eyes
looked relieved when he saw us.

“About damn time,” he smiled as he hugged
Jameson. “I’ve missed you, brother.”

“And I you,” Jameson replied, slapping his
back. “Anything happen between the time you called Archer and
now?”

“They’re getting rowdy,” Quinn growled as he
surveyed the first floor. “Pádraig’s already removed a handful of
Dark Ones for being too aggressive with the humans. One tried to
feed on a human who hadn’t yet learned of our existence and that
didn’t go well. I had to mesmerize her into thinking his fangs
weren’t real while Pádraig threw him out. I’m glad Archer is here.
If they have any sense, they’ll calm down now that he’s here. Where
is he by the way?”

“He’s talking to Hunter,” I answered. “He’ll
be here in a second.”

I saw Hagan at the top of the stairs and he
motioned with his head for me to join him. “I’m going to go talk to
Hagan for a minute.”

“I’ll keep Quinn company,” Jameson smiled
over at his brother as he punched him playfully in the arm. “Lad
looks a little lonely.”

“Welcome back, Morrison,” Hagan said quietly
as I approached. His face was tight and I could tell he wasn’t
happy. “I heard about your adventures while you were away. Funny
thing, so has our VIP guests. Seems you are all they can talk
about.”