Birth of a Vixen (Shadow Faith Book 1)

by Colleen Tews

  He stroked my bare back as I nestled into him. I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want him to leave. For as much as I enjoyed being with Raphe I belonged here, in Lucian’s arms. It wasn’t about how he saved me anymore. It was about how he made me feel about myself. It was okay to be me. It wasn’t that I could do no wrong in his eyes because we were all capable of that, as he had taught me. It was about being true to us and not feeling pressured to be anyone else.

  Chapter 19

  Downtown Kent bustled with the exuberant life and love that the holiday season brought out in people. Silver sparkling bells and white stars hung from light posts in an alternating fashion with red garland wrapping the tall black poles. A string of people waited to get out of the cold and into the Kent Theater to enjoy a holiday show while reminiscing over childhood delights. Rosy-cheeked patrons spilled out of loud bars, which played a mixture of rock and holiday classics onto Main Street. Walking arm in arm through the cluster with Raphe I basked in the warm fuzzy glow of it all.

  “Is it like this every year?” I snuggled into him.

  “This is nothing. You should this place around Halloween.”

  “How crazy is it then?”

  “It’s a party across the whole city, not just downtown. Every street is packed with people in crazy costumes and partying like there’s no tomorrow.”

  “Sounds like fun.”

  “It is.” He smiled down at me. “After we take care of Lucian I’ll show you things you’ve never dreamed of before. Kent is a small town that knows how to live it up. But I’m gonna take you to all kinds of places that would bury them.”

  “My, my, aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves? We see each other regularly for a couple of nights and you’re already promising to show me the world.”

  “Fine then. I won’t.” He poked me in the side. To my surprise he tickled me through the suede coat. I yipped, giggled and tried to wiggle free. “Well, well, well, aren’t we a little jumpy tonight.”

  Raphe reached out to poke me again. This time I broke free and started running. He chased me over the bridge that crested over the Cuyahoga Falls River into the snowy banks of a public park.

  “I’m gonna get you.” He tackled me into the snowy field. We fell laughing like school children rolling around the cold crystalline white powder.

  Raphe straddled my legs. He started on the outside and worked his way under my coat. His nimble fingers tickled across my red dress till he found skin. The youthful foreplay crossed that thin line of a childish game into a full-blown public display of affection.

  I laughed and purposefully failed to push him off of me. Who said you couldn’t mix business with pleasure? I seemed to be doing it quite well.

  “This is how you plan on keeping the town safe. You are just going to start having sex outside rather than taking her back to one of your places?” Meisha interrupted from above us bundled in a wool trench coat.

  Raphe smirked up at her with a devilish sparkle in his eyes. “Why not? It saves time this way.”

  At this angle I saw that she was not alone. Grump was with her in matching attire.

  I grinned from ear to ear with embarrassment. “Hello.”

  “Hi. Having fun down there?”

  “Loads.” I chuckled, then pushed Raphe off as I sat up. In front of the Primus and his Lieutenant I tried my best to be as professional as possible in order to keep me off their radar. I wished I could wave my hand in front of their faces and say something like ‘This is not the spy you are looking for’. Since I didn’t have that kind of power I behaved like any other mild mannered Vadimasian.

  Raphe groaned reluctant to stop, but he stood and helped me up, too. He was happy to touch me some more while he brushed snow off my back.

  “What’s up?” Raphe asked Grump.

  “We finished writing up the contract. When I couldn’t reach you at home Stacey said you would be down here.” Grump raised his eyebrows when he mentioned Stacey.

  “She told you where I would be?” Raphe’s fun loving spirit diminished a bit.

  “Yes and she didn’t seem too happy about it.” Meisha chimed in.

  “Did she now?”

  “Yes. I think you may finally have one too many hens in your roost. No offense.”

  “None taken.” Which was true. I didn’t care what she thought. As long as she didn’t think I was a spy life was good. “What contract are they talking about?”

  “It’s a piece of paper that I read and sign and then someone else reads and signs after we’ve come to an agreement.”

  “I know what a contract is, you silly butt. What it is for?” I poked him in the side.

  He grabbed my hand as it swung back to my side. He raised it to his lips and kissed the back of it. “We have a contact that will help us with Lucian. At the meeting we had on Saturday we decided we wanted to try and take him out without risking anyone’s life. Although this wouldn’t be necessary if you hadn’t ordered the last group of people that came to help to be hunted.”

  “We work with what we can. This new ally will serve a far greater purpose than a group of assassins. Plus this way we don’t have to get Brutus involved. Though I would prefer not having Vinchenzo finance this ordeal, but what can we do? Aside from his arrogance it should be quick and painless.” Grump defended himself while he shrugged off the decisions he was forced to make.

  “With less paperwork.” She said. It amazed me to discover Meisha had a sense of humor.

  Raphe carried on the running joke. “Paperwork? Since when do we bother with that?” The other two shrugged and blew off the trailing end of the conversation.

  “Do you have to leave now?” I hugged his arm and gave him my best doe eyes expression.

  “I’m afraid so, beautiful. I won’t be gone long. I should be back in time for the Christmas Eve party.”

  “Can’t I come with you?” I played up the clingy girlfriend façade.

  “I would love a mini-vacation with you to California, but I can’t take you where I am going sweetie. It’s too dangerous.”

  “Oh, alright. Then you be careful.”

  “Always.” He kissed me. It was deep and inviting with a touch of longing. “I’ll see you as soon as I get back.”

  Raphe headed off with Grump and Meisha. I heard them discussing perimeter checks and patrols before they walked too far away for me to hear. Brutus would take Raphe’s appointed deputies on hourly checks and report to Grump if anything happened.

  I headed back up the hill towards the crowded downtown streets when my cell phone went off. “Hello?”

  To my surprise Lucian answered. “Hello Veronica. How is your evening going?”

  “Much better now. Are you spying on me?”

  “No, why? What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing is wrong. But if you would have called about a minute ago I would have been with Raphe.” I said with a small laugh, trying to lighten the tension. “I actually have some news to give you. It seems the city’s hierarchy has put a contract out on you. Raphe is flying out to California tonight to make contact with the person.”

  “Really?”

  “Grump supposedly figured out a way to stop you without putting any of the population at risk. I’ll try to find out more when I can. Also Brutus is in charge of the deputies while Raphe is away. They’ll be on hourly rotations.”

  “Interesting.”

  His one-word answers had me more than a little worried. “I’ve showed you mine now you show me yours.”

  “What?”

  “Stop with the one-word answers. I know there is something wrong otherwise you wouldn’t have a called. Spill it.”

  After a brief pause Lucian asked. “Has he given you anymore blood?”

  “No. Why? Did you get the results back from that scientist friend of yours?”

  “I did get the test results back, and yes, it is Raphe’s blood.”

  “Why did that take you so long to get out? I assumed it was his blood the second he handed
me the cup.” There shouldn’t be this much tension over this issue. Unless there was something more to it that he wasn’t saying, but what?

  “I had my friend test Raphe’s blood against other strains from most of the others Houses. He was able to determine his House.”

  “Is he Cemalian like I thought?”

  “Raphe is a Lakshman.”

  I hadn’t heard of that House before. There were a few Houses that were rare enough that they weren’t spoken of often. There were a number of reasons for them to be kept secret. One possibility was the House had gone into seclusion. Over the centuries wars had been waged between Houses, sects, and individuals in the same Houses causing many issues still to this day that kept vampires in hiding even from one another. Another reason could be that they just didn’t make them like they used to and there weren’t as many of them anymore.

  “What kind of House is that?”

  “Lakshman House is full of tricksters. You can manipulate emotions and see things in people that others cannot. This House can change the way your senses perceive reality. When I was plotting all this it never occurred to me to factor in this particular House into the equation.” The worried tone in his voice was unmistakable.

  “What are you thinking now?” I stopped walking.

  “I am thinking of pulling you out and leveling the city to the ground. This is too risky for your first assignment, especially with you being as close to him as you are. When we were under the assumption of him being Cemalian the thought of you being discovered wasn’t as frightening. You had a fighting chance to escape. Now, I am not as certain.”

  “Shit.” I let my back fall against a brick building as the full weight of Lucian’s new plan sank in.

  I watched the merry mortals of Kent as they celebrated the holiday season inebriated and jolly. Rounding the corner of a building was a young happy family. They strolled past me with two small children, one boy and one adorable little girl. The little boy ran circles around his parents while they held his sister’s hands and swung her between them. My heart dropped at the sight of their blissful life. “I’m not backing out.”

  “I beg your pardon?” There was no way for him to hide how shocked he was by my statement.

  “I said I’m not backing out. I’m here. I’ll stick it out.” I gave my back to the pedestrians and whispered. “There are more things at stake here than my safety. I’m here and I’ll see it through to the end.”

  Lucian got quiet. I imagined him rubbing his forehead or pinching the bridge of his nose while he worked out the kinks in his new plan.

  “Fine. Under one condition.”

  “Name it.”

  “Meet me at your place in half an hour. I have something to give you.”

  “Wait a second I tell you I’m not going to do what you say and I get a present?” My mood lifted. I liked gifts. I especially liked surprise gifts.

  “This has nothing to with you not going along with my plan. It has everything to do with keeping you safe.”

  “Your concern for my well-being is endearing.”

  “I’ll remember you said that the next time you irritate me.”

  “Oh, you love this and you know it.”

  “Yes, I do but don’t rub it in.”

  Chapter 20

  Albert waited for me outside in front of the garage without a coat. He fidgeted in place and rubbed his arms. The warmer air escaped his mouth into the cool night in small puffs.

  I climbed out the car. “What are you doing out here?”

  “Lucian asked me to park the car so you could go in as quick as possible.” He barely got the words out through his chattering teeth and blue quivering lips.

  “How long have you been out here?” I took off my coat and wrapped it around his shoulders.

  He clutched the coat around him. The wrinkles in his strong hands made me take a step back. They weren’t shriveled from the cold. Crap, I neglected my duties to him as my ghoul. He would have had a better tolerance to the cold if I had kept him well nourished.

  “He sent me out about twenty minutes ago.”

  “This is ridiculous. It’s less than ten degrees out here. Come on, let’s get you inside.”

  “But the car?”

  “Forget about the car. It can wait. You are coming inside. You’re going to take a warm bath. I’ll let you feed after I talk with Lucian. It just occurred to me I haven’t given you anything since we moved in together. I’m sorry. I’m not used to taking care of a ghoul.”

  “Apology accepted.” He sounded like a stuttering snake.

  We walked around the front of the house. Our shoes made interesting crunch sounds with each step across the snow-impacted pathway. We inched our way up the stairs and inside the front door.

  “Lucian.” I called out as we crossed the threshold. “Albert head upstairs. As soon as I finish with Lucian I will come up to check on you.”

  He nodded his head. With my coat wrapped around him he clung to the banister and trudged up to the bathroom.

  “Lucian!”

  “No need to shout I’m here.” Lucian leaned against the archway that led into the living room. Hands in his black suit pants, collar open, and golden hair lay across his shoulders.

  “Did you know it’s freakin’ freezing out there?”

  “I hadn’t realized it was that chilly out.”

  “You wouldn’t think about that now would you? Since you don’t travel the way normal people do, say in a vehicle. All you need is a dark corner and poof you’re where you want to be. He looked like a smurf when I pulled up.”

  “You make it sound astronomically easier than it really is.”

  “That’s because you make it look that easy.”

  One eyebrow jerked skyward. “Are you done?”

  “Maybe? It depends on what you brought for me?”

  He studied my expression. I puckered my face and squinted at him. He laughed. “Come see.”

  I followed him into the living room. On the coffee table was a mason jar full of blood. “You brought me dessert. How sweet.”

  He chuckled. “This is part one of Plan B. Because you are being stubborn I am giving you my blood.”

  “How will your blood help me?”

  “There are other side effects to drinking a vampire’s blood. Aside from binding, depending on the potency of the blood, you can get a rush of that vampire’s power. Do you remember how you felt after you killed Thais?”

  “There were a lot of voices in my head. It was like every person in the world was talking to me at once.” That was one memory I longed to forget, no matter how hard I tried it wouldn’t fade. “I heard their hopes, their dreams, their fear, and their pain.”

  “There are two Houses that can instinctively speak to each other telepathically, the Apep House and yours. Like all other vampiric powers they grow stronger with time. When you drank her blood you heard what she naturally was able to pick up from other House members, without proper training you weren’t able to block them out. That jar contains my blood. Should you need me and I can’t immediately show up, -for a short time, you will inherit my greatest strengths.”

  “I’ll be able to manipulate the shadows and have ubber strength.”

  “That’s the idea.”

  I didn’t want to be bound by anyone, but there were worse things than being tied forever to Lucian. I loved him, so, no change there. I already did almost everything he said and vice versa. “If I drink it will you drink mine too?”

  The thought process behind this decision filtered through his eyes. After a crook of his square jaw he said, “Gladly.”

  I held out my hand. “Deal?”

  “Deal.” We shook on it.

  Then the phrase ‘part one’ sank in. “What’s the other part?”

  “I was wondering when you would catch on. That is in the basement.” He draped his arm around my shoulders and led me to the door under the stairs.

  I followed behind him. Lucian flicked on the light. A
bare bulb lit the steep stone stairs over our heads. The slow hum of florescent lights flickered farther down.

  The white washed basement was huge. A blue plastic floor mat covered three-fourths of the area. An exercise gym was setup in the far corner, fully equipped with weight machines, dumbbells, and a stereo system to rock out to while I worked out. To the right of the stairs was a laundry room, and to the left was a room with a stainless steel door. Beside the door was a small electronic numbered keypad. He punched in the combination, the door unlatched from within, swung open a touch as the lights kicked on inside.

  “What numbers did you punch in?”

  “One, two, three, four.”

  “How original.”

  “You can change it later.”

  Inside high on the wall were white built-in metal cupboards with thick glass doors. Behind the glass were several packs of ammunition. A stainless steel countertop made for a great place to clean weapons. White drawers lined the bottom of the counter. The only oddity to the room was a pale wooden closet with double doors.

  “Part two: your weapons locker. Inside are a multitude of weapons, ammunition for all the guns, and anything else you might need.” He opened the closet. Hung inside were a katana, a broad sword and a bazooka.

  I stared at the big boom machine. “Why the hell do I need a bazooka?”

  “You never know when it will come in handy.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “I never joke about heavy artillery.”

  “The only reason I could foresee needing that would be if someone barrels through the front of the house with a tank or a bus.” The only people I anticipated using a vehicle to crash in on me were hunters. I doubted being able to get to the bazooka in time were that the case.

  “That’s as good a reason as any. Stranger things have happened.”

  “You’re serious?”

  “Yes, I am and if you want to stick it out till the end then you need to be, too. There are too many variables, too many ways for people to hurt you, whether they are vampires or mortals. Then there are werewolves, fey and witches to worry about. Until you find out who Grump contracted to kill me, we aren’t taking any chances. It’s better to be prepared and never have to use this stuff then need it and not have it.”