The Faerie Master (Aaron's Kiss Series) (12 page)

“Who the hell hit...why do I smell blood?
Are you hurt again?
Christ, you need to be put into a padded room.
Are you going to tell me who hit you or am I going to have to beat your ass to get it out of you?”

“Do you always resort to violence to get what you want?
And I bet you wonder why you’re as old as you are and still single.
It’s none of your business why I’m bleeding or who hit me.
And the minute you think you can lay a hand on me in punishment I will hurt you in ways you can only imagine.
Now, if you’re done with the caveman bullshit, I have things to do.”

Cade moved away from Shawn and pulled the biscuits from the oven just as the kids came into the kitchen.
She ignored the adults and focused on the kids.
It was difficult, but she thought she was doing very well.

“Okay, guys, here’s your money.
I hope you spend it well.
You should both be proud of yourself.”

“I didn’t win.
I tried really hard, but I didn’t win.
I’m not a nice person, am I, Cade?
That’s why you gave me that test to do, because you know I’m not a nice person.”

Before Cade could answer Lizzy, her mother leapt to her daughter’s defense.
It might have been humorous if not for the fact that Cade didn’t do anything wrong and that Shawn was trying to come between Cade and Sara.
Even Cade knew one never stepped between two women fighting.

“What have you been telling my daughter?
What do you mean telling her she’s not a good person?
She most certainly is.”

Cade had had enough.
It was Friday and she had been bitten, left to die, beat up, shit on, fucked senseless, punched, and yelled at enough for one week.
She tossed the towel on the counter, slammed the money for the kids on the table, picked up her bag, and headed toward the door.

“I’m sorry, Duncan, but I can’t finish up the two weeks.
I hope you can forgive me.
I just can’t take all the issues this family has.
I’ll see you around.”

Cade never made it out the door.
Of course that didn’t surprise her.
She never even made it to the end of the long counter before she was pressed tightly against the cabinets, her body hanging there without a single person touching her.
Now that surprised her.

“Mom, let her go.
She didn’t tell me that I’m a mean person.
Please let her go and I’ll tell you why I’m mean.
Please, Mom?”

Cade didn’t struggle.
She hung there with the pressure of the magic, thinking that she couldn’t fight it, was forbidden to fight it for some reason.
When she was lowered to the floor, Cade picked up her things and went for the door again.
Lizzy stopped her.

“Please don’t go, Cade.
I want you to hear what happened when I did what you asked
,
me to be nice.
They were mean to me.
Not really mean, but they made fun of me and kept asking me if I was sick.
And the girl I was trying to be nice to, she kept running away from me. She thought I was trying to hurt her or make fun of her.”

“What happened, baby?
Why did Cade ask you to be nice to someone?
Tell us from the beginning,”
Aaron asked his daughter as he pulled her into his lap.

“Lizzy, I really would like to leave.
I’ve had a really sh...crappy week. You can tell your parents.
I don’t want to be here anymore.”

“But you need to know.
See, Mom, Cade told Mac if he got a B on his math test, she’d give him five dollars, then if he got an A, she’d give him ten.
He got an A.
I wanted to play too, but I do well on my tests anyway so she told me I had to be nice to three people.”

“Lizzy, I’m sure you’re nice to everyone.
Why do you suppose Cade asked you to be nice to someone in the first place?”

When Duncan snorted everyone turned to look at him. “Miss Lizzy, you know the answer to that.
You have not been nice to Miss Cade or Miss Penny for some time now.
I would also need to point out that you have grown quiet fond of yourself as well.
Why Miss Penny told you just the other day that you need to have your mouth cleaned with a soapy product when you gave her the mouth.”

“Huh?
Ah.
Duncan, it’s ‘mouth washed out with soap,’ and ‘give her lip.’ You really should get out more.”
Cade noticed that Duncan had issues with colloquialisms when she’d first met him.
She thought it was funny most of the time, and hilarious the other times.

“Precisely.
Miss Lizzy’s mouth is dirty.
And what happened when this other young miss found out you were trying to be nice to her?
Did she not tell you that you were a ‘snotty bitch?’
I think Miss Cade had a brilliant idea.
If her ladyship approves, I believe you should be put into a place where you must learn to curb your mouth.”

Cade could see the temper rising on the little girl.
Her cheeks getting red notwithstanding, she looked at Duncan like he was going to be her last meal.
Just when Cade thought the room would explode Shawn threw back his head and laughed.

“Bloody hell, Aaron, she’s your daughter!
Remember the time you told me that you were going to make sure...maybe a tale for later.
But by all that’s holy, she’s as stubborn and pigheaded as you are.”

Cade felt his laughter curl around her body and tighten.
She looked over at him when she felt his eyes touch her.
Everything within her wanted to grab him up and press him against the nearest hard surface.
Or better yet, for him to press against her.
When his laughter stopped and he stood she backed up two steps then more as he advanced. “Stop!
You need to back up.
We are never going there again, you understand?
Now move back right now.”

“Your mouth says one thing, your body another.
I can smell you, your need.
You want me as much as I want you.
Let me touch you, let me take you to the lair, Cade, and make love to you all day.”

Cade closed her eyes and reached for him.
“You have no idea what I want.
If you had a clue you’d leave me alone.
If you’re not hungry, then go away.” Turning to the others in the room she said, “I’ll be back in an hour.
I have to go to the Post Office.”
With that, she left.

The Post Office was busy.
Cade didn’t keep up with the holidays so had no idea if one was coming up or just ending.
When the person in front of her moved out of the way Cade wanted to scream when the worker put up a “station closed” sign and left.
But within a minute the next person, one she knew, came to the counter.
Linda waved at Cade as she approached her.

“I heard you got a job at Paul’s place. You like working for him?
He has the best homemade apple pie I ever ate.”

Cade had had Paul’s apple pie, had even taken it out of the box and baked it for him, following the instructions on the box.
She thought it was by and far the nastiest thing she’d ever eaten. But that was just her.
She actually preferred cherry, but not out of a box.

“Yeah.
He’s a good guy.
I like working in the kitchen. I think it keeps me out of trouble.
I have a package to pick up.
Is it in yet?”

“Yes.
It was dropped off about an hour ago.
You know, if you got yourself a P.O. Box you wouldn’t have to wait in line to get your mail.
I could set you up with one in no time.”

Cade knew that.
Linda told her that every time she came in to get her mail.
She didn’t want one in case someone asked questions she couldn’t answer.
Plus, filling out the application to have one required something she didn’t have.
A real address, that was.

“I don’t get all that much mail anyway.
My meds are the only thing I get delivered so it would just be silly to have something to worry about.”

Cade had set up the insurance company sending her some sort of maintenance drug every so often as a reason to get the packages.
When Linda handed Cade her package, she went out in the cool spring afternoon and sat on her bike.
Pulling her metal detector out from under saddle bags she was happy to find that nothing metallic was inside and then opened the large white bag.

“Mother fuck.”
Gabriel had sent her money all right, but in the form of a check.
What the hell was she supposed to do with an eighteen hundred dollar check that was made out to cash? That was going to be hard to explain.
Stuffing it in the pocket of her jacket, Cade pulled out the file.
She had less than five hours to find a laptop with Internet service.
Starting her bike and pulling out onto the main roadway she decided that she really needed to get moving.
When Gabriel started to threaten people she knew then it was time to move on.
As she made her way back to the MacManus estate she read little pieces of the bio on her target at each stop light.
By the time she reached the drive she knew as much as she could.

~CHAPTER 9~

Shawn was pacing his lair when he felt Cade return to the mansion.
He could probably have gone up to her, but for some reason he knew that he might live longer if he stayed where he was.
He thought about her fiery temper and grinned.
She was a sight to behold when she was pissed off.

Shawn remembered more about why he’d come here.
There was something between him and the other master.
Shawn hadn’t figured out what that was, but there was something really wrong there.
He could also remember Aaron completely now.
Even when they had met and how.

Shawn had been wandering through the streets of a little town in Ireland when he happened upon Duncan.
Shawn could smell another vamp on the little man and was bored enough and curious enough to follow him back to a deep cave of sorts.
He’d found Aaron, nearly starved and weak.
It took several weeks, weeks of them talking and getting to know one another, for Shawn to show the ropes to both men.
Duncan on how to be a servant of a vampire and Aaron on how to use his limited powers as a newly turned vampire.
Even then Aaron had been a strong vampire.
It didn’t surprise Shawn in the least that he was now a powerful master.

When the need to sleep became too much to bear Shawn la
y
down on his bed.
It still smelled of Cade and sex.
He nearly went up to get her and bring her back to his bed, but again resisted.
He needed to figure out how to handle a woman like her.