To Woo A Warrior (Southern Sanctuary) (14 page)

Vaughn was about to pursue the
conversation further when there came the sound of a door banging open and heavy
footsteps approaching at a run. 

“Goddess, I didn’t get time to warn
you about my brothers.”  Before Hadleigh could elaborate further the
living room door popped open, a head appeared and then disappeared just as
fast, leaving Vaughn with only the vague impression of navy blue eyes and a mop
of auburn hair. 

“Mom’s right.”  The male voice
sounded loudly from behind the closed door.  “
Gigantore’s
here and she did bring a date.”

“Goddess
help
us.”  Sounded a second male voice.  “You warn the villagers, I’ll
round up the men and the pitchforks.”

“Boys.”  Lucy Valhalla’s voice
drifted from behind the closed door, reprimanding them in a light chiding tone.

Hadleigh rolled her eyes.  “My
brothers.”  She confirmed for him.

Vaughn frowned for a split second
then grinned, an evil glint in his golden eyes.  “I can’t wait to meet
them.”

*                  
*                     
*

Could this day get any worse? 
Goddess what was she thinking, of course it could.  First Vaughn pops into
the kitchen looking ten kinds of delicious in worn jeans, boots and a simple
khaki t-shirt stretched tight across his massive frame.  Then her mother
proceeds to interrogate the man about his feelings on settling down and
children.  For the past two years her mother had been rabid crazy on the
subject of grandchildren.  But did she plague her three older brothers
with her hopes and dreams?  Set them up on blind dates with all too
inappropriate partners?
Of course not.
 

For Goddess sake one man she’d tried
to hook Hadleigh up with was the very fugitive she was seeking in her job as an
enforcer.  Their date had consisted of her detaining and transporting him
back to his clan of dream sucking vampires. 

Her brothers were no help what so
ever, at times even egging their mother on.  Her father bless his heart
was the model of disinterest on the
topic,
all he
wanted for her was her health and happiness. 

When it came time to bow her head
and give thanks before eating she prayed fervently for this day to be over
soon.

*                  
*                     
*

Vaughn was having a hoot and
half.  He hoped this day would never end.  He had Hadleigh sitting
directly across the table for eye candy and her mother at the end of the table
regaling him with stories from her early years.  There were only two
potential flies in his ointment. 

The first was Hadleigh’s
father.  Gunther Valhalla was an intimidating man size wise.  Not
quite as tall as Vaughn but at least three times the width.  He had
muscles on his muscles and fists the size of hams.  Seated at the end of
the table Gunther said very little, just ate and scowled.  Except when he
occasionally looked either at Hadleigh or his wife, then there was a definite
if very slight softening to the man’s granite like features. 

In the filtered sunlight through the
rose covered arbour where they were seated for lunch his long hair glinted red,
a few shades lighter than his daughters.  And it was obvious whom Hadleigh
had inherited her clear grey eyes from, though Gunther’s were a little more
disconcerting in that occasionally tiny streaks of lightning flashed across the
pupils.  They had done just that very thing when he’d been introduced and
the man had squeezed his hand in greeting just a smidgeon shy of bone
crushing. 

Vaughn might have taken the
appearance of lightning as a deterrent but he quickly noticed that the
lightning streaks also appeared anytime one of the three Valhalla boys opened
their mouths to make a teasing jab Hadleigh’s way.

Which bought him to the brothers, or
the teasing hounds from
hell
as he’d come to nickname
them in his head.  Locke the oldest was a lawyer, next came Erik the
sculptor and finally the closest in age to Hadleigh, Fen, the fireman. 
At  just
over six foot all three had to varying degrees
their mother’s dark blue eyes and dark chocolate brown hair with a dash of
auburn tints thrown in from their father’s side.  All three had broad
shoulders but none carried themselves or moved like a warrior, like their
father did … like Hadleigh.   

They’d only been seated a minute or
two when the first jab came from Erik, regarding the size of Hadleigh’s
butt.  It stunned Vaughn into silence when Hadleigh gave no response,
other than to tighten her grip on her cutlery.  Gunther’s eyes flashed
lightning whilst Lucy only shook her head, smiling, saying Erik’s name in a
manner that held more fondness than reprimand. 

Vaughn decided then and there he
didn’t want to hear another crack like it at Hadleigh’s expense so he proceeded
to become the clumsiest man on earth.  Erik and Fen on either side of him
suffered the most.  He accidently elbowed Fen hard in the ribs after he
made a comment regarding Hadleigh’s weight.  Fen shot him a hard
suspicious look despite Vaughn’s profuse apology.  As the lunch proceeded
he trod on Erik’s foot twice, spilt his drink on Fen and somehow managed to
elbow the man in the exact same spot three more times. 

Only Locke sitting across the table
next to Hadleigh was getting away unharmed, that was until he oh so clumsily
shot a pea off his plate right into the man’s eye. 

He felt a little guilty as silence
descended on the brothers for the remainder of the lunch whilst they tended
their various injuries, eyeing him with wary sullen looks.   Only
Gunther’s mood seemed to have improved, even going so far as to bestow a small
half smile in Vaughn’s direction at one point. 

All the time Lucy Valhalla remained
oblivious to her too quiet daughter and her injured sons.  When she
managed to bring the now stilted conversation yet again back to the topic of
grandchildren Vaughn decided to intervene one last time, anything to get the
hunted expression off Hadleigh’s face.

 “I would have thought
Hadleigh’s brothers being older might have provided you with a grandchild or
two of your own by now.”

Lucy laughed.  “Not a one of
them settled down, being single is like an epidemic around these parts.”

“Is there something wrong with
them?”  He whispered the question, even though the whole table was privy
to his words, Gunther covering up a snort of laughter with a cough.

“My boys? 
Of
course not.
  It’s just with a daughter.”  She smiled
Hadleigh’s way.  “It’s different when your daughter has a child.”

“Is it?”  Vaughn acted
surprised.  “I would have thought you would be much more involved … needed
when it came to helping any daughter-in-law you might have with raising a
child.  Ensuring they understood and participated in Valhalla family
traditions, guiding them, advising them.”

A big smile adorned Lucy’s face as
she began to look at her sons in a new light.  “I’d never thought about it
like that.”

“You vicious bastard.”  Fen
muttered under his breath. 

Locke shot him a death look from
across the table. 

Whilst Erik sought to bring the
situation under control, offering his sister up yet again.   “But
look at those hips.”  He pointed towards his sister.  “They’re so
wide, they scream child bearing.”

Hadleigh’s fork snapped in two but she
did no more than glare Erik’s way.  Lucy sucked in her breath and for the
first time pinned one of her sons with a hard look.  “You apologise to
your sister right this minute Erik Jorgen Valhalla.”

With the entire table’s focus on
Erik Vaughn couldn’t afford to do any obvious damage to the man, but he didn’t
have to as a massive wide hand swung out and cuffed the back of Erik’s head so
hard he slammed forward banging his forehead onto the table. 

“You heard your mother.” 
Gunther growled, and the smell of ozone filled the air.  “Apologise to
your sister.”

Rubbing both the front and back of
his head Erik sat up muttering an apology Hadleigh’s way.

“Well I guess it’s time for
desert.”  Lucy smiled down the table.

“My thoughts exactly.”  Gunther
stood up so abruptly his chair shot back and fell over.  Striding around
the table he grabbed his wife by the arm pulling her up, a flustered yet
pleased look on her face. 

“Really Gun, we have a guest.”

Gunther just grunted. 
“Something tells me he’ll be back.  Come on woman I want my desert.” 
With that he pulled his wife up into his arms and strode out, with Lucy waving
her hand in Vaughn’s direction, calling out that she loved Hadleigh and in a
surprisingly stern tone told her sons to clean up. 

Staring after them Vaughn looked
across at Hadleigh slightly puzzled, even as the sound of stomping footsteps
and giggles drifted back their way.

“What just happened?”

Hadleigh stood up like someone had
thrown a
fire cracker
under her.  “Come on we
need to get going before the...
” 
Then the
moaning joined the giggling sound and Vaughn suddenly got a clue ... oh. 
Hadleigh raced around the table and grabbed his hand.  “Come on, we’re out
of here.” 

Dragging him back into the house
towards the kitchen and the promise of a distant place where she wouldn’t have
to try and block out the sound of her parents enjoying a noisy
nooner
. 

“What about your brothers?” 
Vaughn let her set the fast pace.

“Let ‘
em
suffer.”

They slammed into the bedroom of
Hadleigh’s apartment back in Atlanta gasping for breath. 

“How does that thing work?” 
Vaughn eyed the now closed closet door.

“I told you about the family grid
right?”  Hadleigh eyed the door warily for a moment and then relaxed, no
sound travelled through the barrier.  “I need a drink.”  She
swivelled abruptly striding out to the living room.

“You were saying about the
grid?”  Vaughn went to stand by the living room windows, noting the
thunder and lightning storm lashing the Atlanta night sky.

Hadleigh rummaged in the bar fridge
and pulled out a bottle of wine, holding it up in a silent query towards
Vaughn, who nodded. 
Whilst she found some glassware
Hadleigh explained about the grid.
  “Think of it like an actual
grid, only invisible, the family, everyone who uses magic in the Sanctuary both
feed and pull from the grid.  We use it to power the portal system. 
The only limitation to it is that you can only travel to a place previously
seen and mapped by a sanctuary member.”

Vaughn accepted the glass of wine
she handed over taking a seat on the sofa whilst Hadleigh absently toed off her
sandals and curled up in the big armchair opposite.

“So magic powers the grid?” 
Vaughn mused.

“Not exactly … sort of.” 
Hadleigh issued a small groan and took a large gulp of wine.  “If you must
know, sex fuels the grid.”

“Say again?”

“You’ve seen it for yourself, my
parents just now.  They are like that twenty-four seven.  It’s why my
brothers and I moved out of home as soon as we were able.”

“So your
parents
having sex fuels
the grid?”

Hadleigh blew out a shaky
laugh.  “Not just them, all the meld match couples.  To be honest I’m
single and I try not to think about it too closely.  All I know is that my
parents and all the other couples go at it like rabbits and the resulting
friction, um, energy, I don’t know feeds the grid.”

“Wow.”  Vaughn thought through
the implications.  “How do I get in on this action?”

Hadleigh laughed.  “Find a nice
sanctuary girl and meld with her.  The stronger the meld between you the
more energy the grid supplies but the more it needs in return.  My parents
have a gold meld match, that’s the highest ranking so you can imagine, never a
dull moment in my house growing up.”

“Wow … so how does a melding work?”

Hadleigh shook her head taking
another sip of her wine.  “Family secret.”

“Maybe I’ll ask your mother next
time I see her, I’m pretty sure she likes me.”

“Suck up.”

“I wasn’t trying to be honest. 
I’m pretty sure your mother would have been nice to any friend you bought
home.”

“You mean any potential baby daddy I
bought home.”

“I think you do her an
injustice.  She’s worried about you.  One way for her to channel her
fears is into the whole grandchild mission.”

“My mother?  Worried about me?”

“You’re a family enforcer.  You
have a dangerous job, much more so than your brothers.  There’s real fear
for you in her eyes when she looks your way.”

“All she fears is that I’ll end up
single and barren.”

“Now that I’ve met your brothers I
can see why you’d be so defensive but trust me your mother worries about you.
 Maybe she thinks if you have a meld match and children you’ll settle
down.”

Hadleigh snorted softly.  “My
father is a warrior it never stopped or slowed him down.”