The Vampire Awakenings Bundle: Books 1-5

by Davies, Brenda K.

  Chapter Six

  “How is that possible?” Emma breathed.

  “I don’t know.” Stefan turned to Ian. “How did you know?”

  Ian didn’t know the answer to that question. “I just knew.”

  He couldn’t take his eyes away from the fiery turquoise ones across from him. There was no denying Stefan hadn’t been able to pierce the veil of her mind. “Shit,” Ethan muttered.

  “You’re human,” Ian said to Paige. She kept her mouth closed as she stared straight ahead. “I’m certain of it.”

  “Are you sure she’s not one of the not entirely human, no one seems to know what they are, hunters?” Emma inquired.

  “No,” Stefan answered. “I’ve come across them before, I’ve killed one of them before.” Paige inhaled sharply as her gaze shot nervously toward Stefan. Ian suspected Stefan was trying to bait her into losing her composure and possibly revealing why he couldn’t change her memories. “They’re different than she is.”

  “How?” Mandy asked.

  “For one thing, they’re stronger. A vampire never would have gotten one of them so easily. They’re abnormally fast, one of the things that has led to many of the rumors about them, but her reflexes are one hundred percent human. She is working with them though.”

  “She’s human, she’s all but confirmed it, even if she didn’t mean to,” Ian said.

  Stefan leaned closer to her. Paige instinctively shrank away from the breath she felt rippling over her skin. “I’m not entirely sure what is going on here, but I will tell you we’ll do what we must to survive, and to make sure our loved ones stay safe.”

  The color faded from Paige’s face. Ian knew what Stefan was trying to do, knew it had to be done, but a ripple of annoyance slid over his skin at his intimidation tactics. Without meaning to, he stepped closer to the bed. Stefan was a killer, but he wasn’t a cruel man. However, he’d been telling the truth, Stefan would do what he must to keep everyone in this house safe. Just as Ethan would.

  Ian’s gaze traveled to his brother, Ethan already didn’t like or trust Paige. Ethan had killed before, and no matter how much he struggled to keep it hidden from all of them, Ian knew a darkness resided within his brother. Emma had helped to ease it, but Ethan wouldn’t hesitate to kill Paige, and walk out of here with barely a twinge of conscience.

  Normally Ian would agree, his family had always been the most important part of his life, but something about this woman made him determined to keep her safe. He didn’t have any idea how to go about doing that if they couldn’t change her memories. She may not know where they were now, or where they lived normally, but she had far more information than any human should have about them. Especially any human who harbored as much dislike for their kind as she did.

  Her refusal to look at him began to try his already fraying patience. Stepping closer to her, he took hold of her chin and turned her head toward him. “Why can’t we change your memories?”

  Paige folded her arms over her chest. The anger and resentment notched up a level within the room, she could almost see them debating over what they were going to do with her. Part of her training had been how to stand up to vampires and the things they could do to her. She’d withstood torture, been put through the wringer by Nabel and her father, and she was still here. Her fingernails had grown back, her bruises and broken bones had healed; even her shattered heart had a partial scab on it. She could take whatever these creatures threw at her.

  “I’m not saying anything,” she replied.

  “Son of a bitch,” Ethan growled. “Emma, take Jill and Mandy into the other room.”

  “She’s a human Ethan; she’s not a major threat,” Emma protested.

  “I’m not taking any chances, not with you.”

  Emma shook her head. “No, we’re staying here.”

  Ethan looked like he was tempted to throw her over his shoulder and carry her from the room. Emma folded her arms over her chest and gave him a look that suggested she would consider castration if he tried it. Ethan shook his head and stepped further in front of her. Ian’s attention was drawn back to Paige as she rose to her knees on the bed and tilted her chin defiantly.

  “So now you plan to kill me?” she inquired. Ian found her unexpectedly fiery for someone facing four vampires with nothing more than her humanity to protect her.

  “No one is going to kill anyone,” Mandy assured her.

  “Not yet,” Stefan grumbled.

  “Stefan!” Jill hissed.

  The hostility surged within the room, it pulsated against his skin, pricking his appetite and arousing his murderous impulses. He stepped protectively closer to the bed. Stefan and Ethan were two of the strongest vampires he knew, but he wouldn’t let them touch her. There was a shuffling within the hall as Mike and David stepped forward. “I think we all just need to relax and take some time to think about this,” David said in a calming voice.

  “David’s right,” Mike said.

  Turning to face them, Ian nodded toward the door. “Leave. Let me talk to her.”

  Ethan glanced at him before focusing on Paige again. His eyes had taken on that strange hue they’d become when he and Emma had first gotten together. They weren’t quite emerald, but they weren’t a fiery red color either. Paige’s gaze locked on Ethan’s as that color danced through his eyes. If she saw Ethan Hulk out, she may lose her mind. Thankfully, Ethan kept that side of himself suppressed right now.

  “Ethan go,” he grated through his teeth.

  Emma wrapped her hand around Ethan’s arm, drawing him further away from the bed. Mike and David stepped back to let them leave the room. Ian followed them to the door and held onto the edge of it with his hand. “Stefan.” His brother-in-law turned to face him. “How much experience do you have with these hunters?”

  “Not much, and none of it pleasant.”

  “I know my parents and The Stooges don’t have any. Do you know someone who does?”

  A muscle twitched in Stefan’s cheek. “I do.”

  Ian realized immediately who Stefan knew. “Brian?”

  “He’s one of them.”

  “Them?”

  “I know of some others, but I haven’t had much contact with them over the past ten years or so. They would know the most.”

  “But…?” Ian prodded, catching something hesitant in Stefan’s tone.

  “But they tend to keep more to their own group.”

  “Don’t we all?”

  “These are some of the most powerful vampires on earth, Ian. All they care about is keeping our race safe and secret.”

  “And she could stand in the way of that,” Ian realized.

  “Yes.”

  The last thing he needed were more vampires looking at Paige as nothing more than a threat. He glanced back at Paige, still kneeling on the bed and looking like a warrior despite the fact her neck could be snapped and her life ended before she blinked again. “Start with Brian.”

  He closed the door before Paige could hear Stefan or Ethan’s violent curses, even though he could still hear them loud and clear. Turning, he leaned against the door to stare at the woman across from him. “Will you be the one to kill me?” she demanded.

  “No one is going to kill you.”

  “You say that, but you can’t guarantee it. I saw the look on their faces.”

  “You have to understand they have wives to protect, and I have my family to protect.”

  “If you have a wife I feel sorry for her,” she snorted and folded her arms over her chest. “Hopefully those men treat their wives with more respect than you treat women.”

  “I don’t have a wife, and believe me neither one of them would ever think twice about looking at another woman.”

  “If you do get married your wife probably won’t be able to say the same.”

  “You know as much about me as you know about vampires, which is nothing.”

  She rose up further on her knees. In the set of scrubs Mandy had brought to the
cabin and lent to her, she looked like an avenging angel. Her brown hair tumbled over her shoulders in curls, her eyes were abnormally bright. The loose scrubs hid her thin, athletic body and the apple-sized breasts he’d felt pressed against his chest when he’d carried her.

  He’d never been overly picky with his women, never had a “type,” but his gaze raked admiringly over the figure concealed beneath the baggy clothes. Images of her lithe body pressed against his, beneath his, filled his mind as his eyes came back to hers. Blood rushed into his dick, he adjusted his stance as he berated himself for thinking about sex right now. It was often the only thing that kept him sane, but it also had its place in his life, and now was not it.

  Her mouth pursed when his gaze raked over her. The hungry gleam in his eyes made her heart accelerate. She didn’t know if he was contemplating draining her or climbing on top of her. Given everything that had transpired between them, she guessed it was the first one.

  “I know all I need to know about your kind, and I don’t care what else there is to know,” she retorted.

  “Spoken like a true fool.”

  If she’d had a stake, he had no doubt she’d be trying to drive it through his heart right now. “Monster.”

  “You’ll never know the truth.”

  “Just kill me and get it over with.”

  “I’m not sure what we’re going to do with you, but we don’t murder innocents. We will do everything we can to keep our family and friends safe, which may include locking you up for the rest of your life.”

  She sat back on her heels. Her shoulders slouched as some of her feistiness finally left her. He felt bad frightening her, but at this point it had become necessary. He didn’t know what else to do with her, and no matter how much he felt the urge to protect her, she was a threat to everyone he cared about.

  “I’d rather die,” she retorted.

  “If others had their way that would be a good possibility.”

  She rose back to her knees and threw her shoulders back. “Then grow a set of balls and get it over with.”

  He smiled at her as he tapped his fingers against the door knob his hand rested on. “Honey, I’ve got a bigger set than you’d know what to do with. I could show you if you’d like.”

  Paige had never been so tempted to hit someone in her life. He was the most infuriating man she’d ever met in her entire lifetime. Her jaw ached from grinding her teeth. “Fuck you!”

  “That can be arranged too.”

  If it was possible, he truly believed her head might explode. There were stop signs that weren’t as red as she was right now. Her chest heaved as she inhaled rapidly through her teeth. “Asshole.”

  “Ah, dirty talk already.”

  With an incensed shout, she lunged to the side, grabbed the plate Emma had left behind and threw it at him. Ian laughed as he took a casual step to the side to avoid the plate aimed at his head. It smashed against the door with a bang before shattering into a dozen smaller pieces. Glass exploded around him, bits of it got caught up in his shirt and scattered around the room. One shard sliced across his forearm, drawing blood. He leisurely wiped away the broken pieces, and the blood from the already healing scratch, before returning to his position.

  “Temper, temper,” he chided.

  He had to admit it was kind of fun to watch the fury playing over her features and the heaving of her chest. His eyes were drawn to her breasts as they pushed against the baggy shirt. “You haven’t seen anything yet,” she grated.

  “I believe that.”

  Before he knew what she intended, she lurched to the side and seized hold of the rickety table beside the bed. Ian leapt forward; his feet thudded on the bed as she swung the table upward toward him. He grabbed hold of the leg of the table before she could smash him with it. Her chest heaved; she tried to jerk it away from him, but he refused to release it.

  Her eyes narrowed, her nostrils flared. He loomed over her, resisting the urge to tear the table away from her. “Let go,” he said calmly.

  A muscle in her cheek twitched; her hand tightened on the leg. All she wanted was to jerk it away from him, but even though his grip on it appeared loose, she knew she’d never be able to take it from him. “No.”

  She’d half expected him to tear it away from her, or tear out her throat. Maybe she hoped he would, just so there would be some sort of resolution to all of this. Instead, he quirked an eyebrow at her as a smile curved his full mouth. He shifted his weight on the bed, causing the mattress on both sides of her to sink from his weight. How could he appear so casual and carefree while standing hunched over on a bed in order to not hit his head on the ceiling?

  He’d moved so fast across the room she’d never seen him leave the door, before he was looming over her. Why hadn’t he killed her?

  Ian leaned closer to her; his hand wrapped around hers. Ever so gently, he pried her fingers from the leg of table. He felt the brush of the rough callouses on her palm before he succeeded in freeing her grasp from it. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

  She glowered at him as she folded her arms over her chest. His gaze darted down to where the IV had been in her arm. Mandy had bandaged it, but her sudden movement had knocked the bandage free and caused the small wound to start bleeding again. His mouth watered when his eyes settled on the bead of blood glistening on her pale skin. The scent of it drifted up to fill his nostrils.

  Paige’s breath froze in her lungs when she saw what had caught his attention. This was how she was going to die. He wouldn’t be able to deny the scent of her blood. No vampire could deny fresh blood.

  Taking a deep breath, Ian climbed off of the bed and placed the table back beside it. He would give anything to taste just that trickle of her blood, but he wouldn’t be the monster she believed him to be. Bending down, he scooped up some of the bandages that had fallen off the table when she’d grabbed it.

  Opening one of the bandages, he pulled out the gauze inside and placed it on the crook of her elbow. “Here,” he said with far more composure than he felt.

  Paige frowned at him as she pressed the gauze into her arm. He could have killed her so easily. She had nothing to defend herself and he knew it. Her blood had excited him, she’d seen that in his eyes, and yet he placed the bandages calmly on the stand and turned away from her. He returned to the door and crossed his legs before him as he watched her.

  Ian studied her as she watched him with a furrowed brow. She had no idea what to make of him, and it made him feel good to know he wasn’t the only confused one in this room. A knock on the door drew his attention away from her. “What?”

  “Everything ok in there?” Ethan demanded.

  “Fine,” he replied.

  He could feel his brother hovering on the other side for a few seconds before turning and walking away. Paige had regained control of her temper when he focused on her again. “How long have you been tangled up with the hunters?” he inquired. “And why are you involved with them in the first place?”

  “My life and what it involves, is none of your business.”

  “It is when you’re risking mine.”

  Another knock on the door sent a spurt of annoyance through him. “What now?”

  “Open the door.” Ian stepped back and opened the door. Stefan thrust a phone out to him. “Here.”

  Ian stared at the satellite phone before stepping aside to let Stefan into the room. “Hello?”

  “You know for a family that repeatedly tells me they want nothing to do with me, you keep calling me every time one of you steps into a pile of shit,” Brian drawled over the air waves.

  “It’s nice to talk to you too,” Ian muttered.

  “Don’t lie. What did you get yourself caught up in now?”

  Ian informed him about the events of last night and what had occurred today. “Have you ever encountered something like this before?”

  The lack of a response on the other end wasn’t what he’d been expecting. One thing Brian liked to do was tal
k. “No, but I know someone who most likely has.”

  It had to be the same vampires Stefan had been talking about. “Will they kill her?”

  “Not unless it becomes necessary.”

  The same answer everyone had, including himself, but they needed to know more. He couldn’t keep her locked away for the rest of her life; death would be less cruel. Besides, he would be able to keep her safe. “Can you get a hold of them?”

  Silence again and then a sigh. “Put Stefan on the phone again.”

  Ian handed the phone back to Stefan. “What is it?” Stefan inquired.

  His brother-in-law walked to the other side of the room as he listened to whatever Brian said to him. Stefan glanced at him and then Paige. “I don’t think we have a choice. Get a hold of them.”

  Stefan hung the phone up. “He’s going to contact them.”

  Ian didn’t like the look on Stefan’s face or the terseness of his tone. “Who exactly are these vampires?”

  “They have better knowledge of the hunters, and far more experience with them than any of us. They’re not to be messed with, Ian.”

  Ian glanced at Paige. Her lips were compressed into a flat line as she stared back at them. “You could always tell us how you became immune to our ability,” Ian told her. “So we don’t have to involve these other vampires.”

  She sat on the bed and folded her arms over her chest before resolutely focusing on the wall behind him. He knew there would be no more getting her to talk, and that was fine by him; he had little left to say to her too right now.

  Chapter Seven

  “So what do we do now?” Pulling his cigarette from his mouth, Mike leaned back in the rocking chair on the porch. Propping his feet up on the banister, he stared out at the twilight. The cigarette contradicted Mike’s casual position as Ian knew he only smoked when troubled by something.

  “You’re all going back. I doubt the hunters or that vamp know who I am, or would be able to track me if they did, but I’d feel better if everyone was back at home to help protect everyone there. I’d feel a lot better, if everyone left Oregon and found somewhere safer to stay until we know for sure no one is tracking or hunting us,” Ian replied. “They’re too vulnerable there with the young and Isabelle being pregnant.”