Shadows of the Past (14 page)

“You had both of your parents?”

“I did. I understand Gabriel Sharpclaw has been with your mother since before you were born.”

“As far as I’m concerned
, he’s my dad. My blood father died when he went back to Faerie. Mom says he wanted to convince our Queen to remove our exile. Apparently Saressa sees my family as a threat, and all because of something to do with my grandmother." She half laughed. “She’s been dead for over five hundred years. According to Mom, I took more after Sapphire than she ever did, but she won’t tell me more than that.”

Hayden squinted as his head tipped to the side. “I know that name. I don’t recall Paavo ever mentioning her though. What did your mother tell you?”

“I don’t know. It had something to do with old ghost stories or some such nonsense. It was kind of hard to believe.”

“
You don’t believe in the old tales?” Hayden smiled but she could swear there was concern in his molten chocolate eyes.

Amethyst shook her head. “Look at it from my point of view. I grew up in a city full of humans. I even went to public school. So when my Awakening happened, it was like watching a thousand movies at once, all on
super-fast forward. I usually only remember what I need to know.”

“Who was it?” He asked gruffly, and then jerked his head to the side with a grimace.
“Sorry, stupid question.”

She laughed.
“Scotty, an old friend of Paavo and Mathis. He was very sweet, but that was the only time. It was just that Paavo knew I had a crush on a changeling and he wanted my awakening out of the way just in case I got too frisky with him.” She winced herself as the dark look crossed his features. “Sorry, I’m a nymph, remember. If you think teenage hormones are bad, toss that little bit of DNA in and well, mine were worse. At least I have a very open minded family who brought me lots of toys to keep myself… entertained.” If she blushed any harder her face was going to go up in flames. “After my first time with a human, I was too scared of what I can do to have any naked fun time with anyone for a long time.”

“Why? Did he hurt you?” He asked and the words vibrated through her. Every glass in the place seemed to shake.

Her eyes widened, not in fear, but the way he looked at her made her ache for him. “Oh no, it wasn’t that. I just enthralled him, and like a stupid teenager who thought she was in love, compelled him to spend every second with me. Let’s just say the way we dealt with that was beyond embarrassing and leave it at that.”

“Well,
” Hayden gave her semblance of a smile, “my first time was with a friend of my family. She hadn’t been through the Awakening, and it was a mess. Neither of us knew what to do, and we weren’t very good at figuring it out, at least until I… um got off. Then at least I saw enough from the memories to take care of her.” He pushed a hand through his hair, and she noticed his blush when he said, “Yeah, let’s talk about
anything
else.”

“Yes, please.
” A nervous giggle bubbled out of Amethyst. She couldn’t ever imagine Hayden nervous and fumbling with any woman. He always seemed so confident and driven, which put incredible images in her head.

She picked up her burger, but before she took a bite she asked, “How long have you been in Edenton?”

His eyes snapped to hers. “One hundred and fifty two years.” He watched her carefully, probably gauging her reaction.

Amethyst managed not to panic. She knew he was older, and that he had been a general for a century and that math alone put him at three hundred at the very least. “And that makes you how old?”

His expression saddened, and she managed a smile. Hayden wet his lips and said, “Five hundred and twenty.”

And for some reason, the fact that he was over a hundred
years younger than her brother made her feel better. Her brow arched and her lips twisted into a grin. “I would have imagined you were older.”

Hayden let out the breath he
’d been holding and smiled. “After dinner, are you going to get back to kicking my ass?”

“Only if you promise to be
as good of a sport as you have been.”

“
Of course, but you have to promise me at least one dance,” he murmured.

She wanted to feel his arms around her, and his body pressed close.
“Only one?”

Hayden found himself outside Inktastic the very next day. He lost game after game to the little nymph and spent hours of just getting to know Amethyst better. Then they danced, and he could only manage to get through two songs before he had to take her home or he wouldn’t be able to keep her hands to himself. Now it was his day off and he couldn’t get her out of his head.

She sat
with her knees drawn to her chest, her head back as she spun herself in the chair with her hands. Fallon perched on the opposite table watching Amethyst with an amused expression.

Fallon
looked up and her brow arched. “Told you.” She hopped up and headed out the door.

Amethyst stopped the chair by slapping her hands on the
desk with a radiant smile. “Hi. What are you doing here?”

Hayden shrugged, a little grin
lifting the corners of his mouth. “Had a couple of errands to run. HoneyLove had these new tarts and I wanted to try them with someone.”

Her whole face lit up as she shifted in the seat to sit on her legs
, and scoot up to the desk. She was a fascinating combination of adorable and sexy in her ripped up jeans, leggings and snuggly little lavender sweater that hugged all of her curves. Her hair was tied up in a loose knot, with shorter strands framing her face. Hayden just wanted to wrap his arms around her and pull her close.

“
You brought me one?” She practically purred.

“Yup, I didn’t have time to stop for lunch or anything, but these looked awfully good
.” He winked and she giggled in delight as he slid one her way. Besides, he knew Tomahawk had taken her to lunch already. The prick had called him to rub it in his face.

“Ooh, cherry.” She licked her lips as she looked into his eyes. His heart stuttered when she added, “You really are sweet. I think I’ll have to buy you a beer if you show up at In 2 Deep
tonight.”

He rolled his eyes playfully
. “You know that isn’t necessary.”

“About as necessary as you bringing me treats. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to get into my pant
s.” She batted her lashes at him.

Tomahawk
entered the room and dropped into the chair beside her. “You’re one good tug from that with all those holes.”

Pursing her lips, she glanced sideways at him
. “These are my favorite jeans. I can’t get rid of them, and I really don’t want to cut them off.” She pouted. “Besides, they’d be like daisy dukes and my butt is too big for that.”

“Oh
, no it’s not, you have a perfect ass,” Hayden rebuked automatically.

“Tight, juicy, just perfect,” Tomahawk added.
Hayden’s jaw clenched as he flexed his hands. Tom smirked. “But don’t tell Darla I said that. She might hurt me.”

“Please
. She knows you are a total letch, but we all know you would never betray her.” Amethyst shot him a pointed look. That brought Hayden’s temper down a few notches. Her gaze swung back to Hayden. “So what brings you down? Besides tarts.” she took a bite and groaned as she fell back in her seat with a seductive smile that sucker punched him. “Oh, so yummy.”

His anger faded away, only to be
replaced by a roaring lust that left him hard as steel. Thankfully, he had the bag in his lap. “I was just on my way to pick up my Harley. Do you ever ride?”

Amethyst laughed,
“I’ve ridden with Fallon. You’ve probably noticed that I’m short. I don’t know that they make a motorcycle in my size.” But then her grin fell off her face and her eyes darted to the front windows.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Hayden asked, instantly concerned.

She shook her head. “That creep Zack keeps showing up. I just have a bad feeling about him. He hasn’t come in, but… I don’t know. I just don’t trust him.”

“No one does, but I will keep an eye out for him. I need to get going. I’ll
see you later.” What he needed was to see if he could find that little punk and make sure he wouldn’t go near Amethyst again.

“Sure.” She licked her lips and smiled up at him. “
I’m looking forward to tonight.”

“I’ll be there.” Hayden glanced back as he stepped outside
. Amethyst was already talking to Tomahawk but she waved goodbye.

* * * *

Amethyst fought off her grin as Hayden walked out of her line of vision. She still felt like she was being watched, but Zack had just disappeared.

That punk was so creepy. There was something so very wrong with him. She wasn
’t looking forward to running into him by herself. Every time he was near, her instincts screamed at her not to touch him.

“Hey,
are you listening?” Tom nudged her shoulder.

“Sorry
.” She shook her head and sighed. “I was distracted.

“That kid really does freak you out, doesn’t he?”

Amethyst nodded as Fallon came back in with a few coffees and a cherry orange smoothie. She said, “I warded the shop against Zack. He can’t get in here, your apartment, or the house. Just thought I should let you know.”

“Thanks
.” Amethyst grinned at Tomahawk. “So, what were you saying?”

He smirked
. “Just that Hayden sure likes to visit you. Two days in a row he’s brought you some little goodie, and yesterday he brought you Sushi. He’s not even gruff around you.”

She folded her arms over her chest
. “You took me to lunch today.”

“Because you were going to try to pass off a donut as
a meal,” he squawked.

“Your point?”
One brow arched.

Fallon laughed because Tomahawk clammed up
. “He’s leaving out the part that he thinks of you as a kid sister already. Hayden sure as hell doesn’t.”

“Tom just told me
how juicy my ass was.” Amethyst shot him a playful glare before looking back at Fallon.

“
Like a
kid sister, not
my
kid sister.” Tomahawk pointed out. “I still have eyeballs and you are not related, so I can look all I want, even flirt a tiny bit, but I’m not going to go there because I love Darla. Hayden, on the other hand, would go there in a heartbeat.”

F
allon shook her head at Tom before asking Amethyst, “What did he bring you this time?”

“Cherry tart.
It was really yummy too,” she licked her lips, thinking about the sheriff and that delicious smile of his.

“You are such a whore for sweets.” Fallon teased.

“Fine,” she grumbled, “When is your man going to be here? I thought you convinced him to have a nipple done.”

Fallon
shook her head, her eyes sparkling. “Both actually. You don’t mind, do you?”

“Of course not.
Just don’t get all snarly with me. I’m only doing this at your request.”

“Please, I know you well enough to know you don’t want Brody
.” Fallon winked. “Besides, you just want a great big taste of Sheriff Eyeball.” Fallon leaped out of the way when Amethyst swatted at her. “You know it’s true.

Amethyst could feel the heat in her face, and she knew it was no use denying it.
“Uh, yeah. You’ve seen him, right?”

Both Tomahawk
and Fallon burst out laughing.

* * * *

Zack hid among the shadows without a form. He floated in the alley across from Inktastic. Impressive wards were woven around the building. The magic was foreign to him, but it prevented his advance regardless.

Her apartment was the same way, and it all had started that morning. He was beginning to think he should have gone after her sooner
but he still wasn’t at full power. He needed more strength that could only be gained from the chaos he stirred.

Amethyst would be such a sweet feast if he could just get close enough to her. First he needed to find out what was blocking
him from influencing so many people. He could feed from the residual energy of emotions, but it wasn’t as sweet as when he amplified their darker instincts. He’d never met such resistance.

He watched as Amethyst smiled and laughed with the sheriff who was so much like
one of his greatest enemies. Zack was willing to bet this man was kin to Xenu, who had helped Sapphire destroy his people and lock the last few away in the soul prison. He would still take pleasure in destroying the proud Earth fae.

He reached out with his essence to push at the prickly sheriff but was met with a wall of resistance. When he pushed harder, he was flung back and almost took shape.

He hissed as he floated through one wall and then another.

Zack flew back out to see a pissed off sheriff searching the alley for a sign with a snarl.
He moved closer but saw a shimmering shield surrounding him unlike anything he had ever seen, but it had the feel of Sapphire’s water magic.

* * * *

There was no one there, and Hayden had searched everywhere, but he didn’t find Zack. He did find more of those eerie smudges of shadow in the alley across from Inktastic. All week long, people were falling prey to darker behavior than what was normal, and always when Zack showed up.

Hayden hadn’t even considered Zack a
true threat until he saw the fear in Amethyst’s eyes just seconds after laughing and smiling. Why was Zack following her? He’d shown up a couple of days before Amethyst.

It was time to do a background
check on Zack and find out where he came from. He hoped he hadn’t made a huge mistake when he threw the punk out of Inktastic instead of dragging him down for questioning. Technically, he hadn’t done enough to lock him up, but in Edenton, the normal rules didn’t always apply.

The more he thought about it though, the more he thought it was likely he had something to do with the
Shadow Fae. Maybe he would have some information back about Carl Umbra and he could find a connection. Right now, he didn’t have shit and it was enough to drive him crazy.