Civil Sons

by C. M. Cevis

  He tore into her with such force that she squealed against him. He wrapped his arms around her torso and lifted her up into the air, pressing her almost painfully against his body. His lips drank down her life as his nose drank down her scent and even when he had the thought that maybe he should stop, she didn’t push him away. She let him drink of her until he was sated enough to stop on his own, and the moment that he was, he let her go and took a step back. She immediately stumbled into the wall, he legs almost giving way under her.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, feeling considerably better.

  “Somewhat,” she said softly, grabbing his arm and pulling herself vertical with it. Owen could see her eyes rolling around in her head visibly, there was no way that she could travel like this. Though, to be honest, the fact that she was conscious was a puzzle to him. He was well aware of how much blood he’d taken.

  “I can carry you,” he sighed. He didn’t really want to, but he couldn’t just leave her there. She’d come there for him, after all. Her hand tightened ever so slightly on his arm.

  “Wait. Someone’s coming. Don’t kill him,” she hissed. He frowned and pushed his presence out, noting that there was indeed a lone shifter moving towards them slowly. How in the world had she known that before he had, especially considering that she could barely hold herself upright?

  “I thought you killed them all,” he said, taking on a bit more of her weight since she seemed to be concentrating on the one coming closer.

  “I killed all of them that were here. He must have just gotten back.” Then she hushed him and pulled him back into the corner of the room.

  The shifter that came through the door was crouched, ready to defend himself as he almost silently moved. The woman beside Owen stayed rock still, waiting patiently until the shifter was all the way in the room. When she did choose to move towards him, it was faster than it should have been. The shifter turned just in time for her to land on him and knock him on his back. Owen watched her inhale his scent from the skin on his neck as she held him down, yet another thing she shouldn’t have been able to do. She shouldn’t have been strong enough to keep him there.

  Then, she spoke quietly, her lips a breath away from the shifter’s ear.

  “Tell me your secrets, I won’t tell a soul.”

  Owen felt his eyes widen. What in the fresh hell? The witch’s eyes flashed a shimmering white as she threw back her head and the shifter beneath her seemed to stiffen, unable to move. There was… something, moving from the shifter to the witch, like a fog between the two of them. But she inhaled it, kind of, and the more of it she took in, the better she looked and the worse Mr. Fuzzy looked. Owen was a hair shy of fear on this one, he had no idea what the hell was going on. Who in the world had his father sent to get him?

  He heard the shifter gasp and take in a massive and painful-sounding breath as whatever the witch was doing seemed to stop. Then, she pressed her knee against his throat and frowned.

  “Who the hell are you?” she growled. Hot damn, now that was a tone that could really get a vampire going, Owen thought to himself.

  “I’m…” And then coughing. To her credit, she didn’t let up, even though it was obvious that she was the one causing the choking.

  “Your name,” She said, leaning down closer to his face.

  “Noah,” he squeaked out. She frowned slightly, then moved her knee and stood, offering her hand.

  “I heard some of the others saying that you were the only one advocating to feed Owen.” She said it as if she was explaining to him why she wasn’t killing him.

  “He also never drank from me. I remember that much,” Owen added, nodding his thanks. Noah nodded in return and rubbed his neck nervously.

  “I assume that you’re the woman who forced this location out of Everette?” Noah asked.

  Chloe chuckled. “Older guy, smokes like chimney? Yeah, sorry about that. He wouldn’t tell me at first,” she said as if that was the most natural answer in the world. “I’m Chloe by the way. The Org and Owen’s father sent me.”

  “Are you the alpha for your pack?” Owen asked. Noah shook his head and sighed.

  “No, that would be Leo, who you, unfortunately, missed in the slaughter you caused downstairs.”

  “You want your alpha dead?” Chloe chuckled, which made Noah smile.

  “I wouldn’t be too hurt about it, I’ll be honest.”

  Footsteps at a dead run brought everyone’s attention to the doorway of the room, where a disheveled man with a panicked look on his face came into view. Owen smiled and knew that it was an evil one.

  “What in the hell happened here?” Justin squeaked. Or at least Owen was pretty sure that was his name. All he knew for sure was that he was the one who was always shooting him full of drugs.

  “I happened here,” Chloe said. Justin didn’t even seem to care that Owen was standing there, free to rip his fucking head off.

  “Noah, do something!” He bellowed it. It was a command and he expected the shifter to hop to. Except he didn’t. Instead, he slipped his hands in his pockets and sat down on the edge of the bed that Owen had been shackled to.

  “Pass,” was his response.

  “Who is this?” Chloe asked to whoever felt like answering.

  “This is Justin. He was responsible for the silplacid,” Noah said casually. That was the moment that Justin seemed to realize that his life was in danger.

  “Good, because I’ve got some questions for you,” Chloe said. She twisted her wrist, and Justin seemed to be held immobile. “For example, who gave you the silplacid idea?”

  “What… do you mean who gave us the idea?” He was clearly trying to imply that it hadn’t been an idea handed to them, but his twitchy eyes said that he was lying terribly.

  “There’s no way in hell that you knew that charmed silplacid would keep Owen manageable without some help. Tell me who your help was, and I might let you live,” she said. Owen hissed at Justin over her shoulder. Partially for the intimidation and partially because he was appalled at the idea of leaving that little shit alive. Noah, alright fine, but that one had to go.

  “No one told us about it, I swear. We just knew,” His voice was a bit higher pitched now. Chloe sighed and a sickening crunch filled the room. Justin’s nose was suddenly pointing in a different direction than the rest of his face, and he screamed as blood began to drip down his face.

  “Tell me, or I’ll find more inventive things to break,” Chloe sang.

  “There wasn’t someone else” He almost screamed it. Chloe apparently didn’t believe him, and the crunch this time was his jaw. Owen almost winced in sympathy on that one, jaw breaks were painful as hell.

  “Last chance, before I snap something in your nether region.”

  Owen smirked, Noah grinned, and they shared a look of common enjoyment at what she was putting Justin through. Owen wasn’t sure what Justin had done to Noah to warrant his not caring about this in the least, but part of him wanted to ask. Later, when they weren’t in that stupid room anymore.

  “Alright, alright… It was some vampire that Leo met with. Short, blonde, glasses…” Owen’s breath stopped in his chest.

  “Was it the guy that was with me the night that you took me?” he asked, inwardly cringing at the idea that the description sounded a bit like Roger. But then again, it was a vague description. It might not be him.

  “Yes! Yes, that’s him,” Justin said, his eyes nervously twitching between Chloe and Owen.

  “I knew I didn’t like that asshole,” Chloe said under her breath. Then, to Owen, “We’ll deal with him later, after I get you back to your father.”

  “Hell yes we will,” Owen replied. His oldest friend had some serious explaining to do before he skinned him and flayed him alive. Because that was going to happen, come hell or high water after what he’d been through.

  “Now, what should we do with this one?” Chloe asked, popping her hip out to the side.

  “You said you’d let me
live.” Justin squealed.

  “I said I might. Pay attention,” she said, putting her finger in the middle of his forehead for emphasis. “Guys, any preferences?” she asked over her shoulder.

  “I don’t really care, to be honest. Do what you want,” Noah replied, a bored tone in his voice.

  “Owen, dear, are you full?” Chloe purred. Owen smirked. He loved this woman already.

  “Not at all.”

  “Noah and I will wait here,” she said, releasing her spell holding Justin still. “You should probably run, hun.” The shifter in question took off running like a bat out of hell. Owen wouldn’t even have to work hard to track him, he was thundering through everything he could find.

  “Oh, how I do love a good chase,” Owen growled, stepping out into the hallway and starting after Justin. He hit the top of the stairs just in time to hear Noah say what he’d been thinking.

  “You are an interesting woman, Chloe.”

  ~*~

  “SO WHEN EXACTLY DO I get to find out what you did to me when I came into this room?” Noah asked, absently looking at his fingers as if they were the most interesting things in the world.

  “Whatever do you mean?” she asked softly. Noah would admit, the wide-eyed, innocent look that she was giving him was a good one, but it wasn’t working.

  “You knocked me down, something that you shouldn’t have been able to do, and then you… inhaled something from me and made me feel drained. What did you take?” he asked, frowning.

  Chloe sighed. “Maybe later,” she responded softly.

  “Why later? Why not now, while we wait for Owen to finish psychologically scarring Justin before drinking him?”

  “Because,” she said it as if that was a perfectly good reason for someone not to explain.

  “Try again, love. You took something from me. I deserve an answer.” Noah had never been one for screaming and yelling at someone, especially a female someone, but he was damn sure going to be persistent.

  Chloe looked up at him, a pained and fearful look in her eyes. That wasn’t something that he expected to see there, and he wasn’t sure how to react to it. It cooled some of his anger at being put off and partially made him want to protect her from whatever it was.

  “Come to the office in a few days, okay? Give me some time to figure out how to… explain.”

  Owen hesitated but nodded. He could wait. “Alright.”

  “I’ll make sure that you can get in.”

  A scream rang out, echoing through the building. Noah used that jump off to change the subject. “Sounds like that’s our cue.”

  Chloe smiled and nodded, but the fear never left her eyes. Part of Noah was sorry that he’d asked.

  31

  CHLOE WALKED IN FRONT OF Owen as they approached the door to his father’s office. She’d offered to take him home to shower and change first, but he’d declined. After all this time, what he wanted to do most was see his father, even if that meant that he was in the same clothes that he’d been taken in and probably didn’t smell stellar. She stopped just short of the door and waited, though Owen wasn’t sure for what.

  “It’s me, Samson,” she said. The door opened with a chuckle from the hulking figured on the other side of it.

  “You felt me come to the door,” he said, and Chloe nodded.

  “I found your crowned prince.” She motioned over her shoulder at Owen, and Samson’s attention immediately went from her to him.

  “It’s good to see you again, Owen. Your father has been worried, though he doesn’t seem to want anyone to know.” Owen grinned. Samson had picked up on a few things about him early one. One of them was that he wasn’t really a fan of being fussed over unless it was for something positive he’d achieved. Being kidnapped wasn’t positive. Another was that his father wasn’t always the most forthcoming with his emotions. But then again, what man was? Especially a vampire man.

  Max stood as Chloe stepped to the side, Owen assumed so that he could get to his father. “Hey Dad,” he said, crossing the room and hugging his father warmly. He had never been more thankful to smell that cologne that his father wore every day.

  “I’m so glad that you’re alright,” Max said, hugging his son tight enough for Owen to feel his father trembling. That wasn’t something that he’d seen in his father since the night that his mother passed, and it had been something that he’d hoped to never see again. He closed his eyes, and let his father hold him as long as he wanted.

  “We are in your debt, Ms. Chloe,” Max said, turning and giving her a slight bow. Chloe smiled and returned it.

  “I’ll remember that,” she said with a wink.

  “Not to change the subject, but you smell like you bathed in shifter innards,” Samson said, coming up behind her and giving the air around her a sniff. Owen was slightly confused at the familiarity, but who the hell knew what had happened while he’d been gone. Maybe Samson and Chloe were getting down on the regular. Lucky bastard.

  “As much fun as it sounds to bathe in a vat of shifter, I just happened to kill a bunch of them, that's all”

  “She killed everyone who was out there except for a few. And she left the fun one for me,” Owen said with a laugh.

  “Is that why you look so well taken care of? I thought we’d have you returned almost starved after all this time,” Max asked.

  “Part of that was her,” Owen said, turning to face Chloe. “Which reminds me, I have a few questions: What was that thing you did to Noah, and why do you taste funny?”

  “Taste funny?” Samson repeated.

  Owen tried to gather his thoughts and explain what he meant. “Yeah, she tastes kind of like a human, but kind of not. But she doesn't really taste like a witch either.” That hadn’t been even remotely clear.

  “Are you sure it's not just the witch your tasting? Some witches taste different than others.” Max asked.

  “Can we all stop discussing me like I'm a cut of steak?” Chloe asked, an annoyed look on her face.

  “No, she doesn't taste like any witch that I've tasted,” Owen said, ignoring Chloe's plea. He turned back to Chloe with a frown on his face. “Explain what you did to Noah.”

  “Who's Noah?” Samson asked.

  It was Chloe that responded. “Noah is the shifter who refused to drink him and tried to talk those in charge into feeding him.” She said to Sampson before turning to Owen. “And I didn't do anything to him, I don't know what you're talking about.”

  “Bullshit,” Owen snapped. “You know exactly what I'm talking about.”

  Chloe took a few steps closer to Owen and met his gaze with hers, a calm and calculating smirk on her face. “I don't know what you're talking about and if you're smart, you don't know what you're talking about either.”

  “Oh, I like her,” Max said with a chuckle.

  Chloe winked at Owen before turning to face Max. “Let me know when you're ready to deal with Roger. I want to be there for that one.”

  “What about Roger?” Max asked. Right, they hadn’t known about that little reveal. Owen was going to have to fill them in. Alone, apparently, because that was Chloe’s cue to leave.

  “Just call the office,” she said, tossing a wave over her shoulder before turning to leave the office with all three men staring after her.

  32

  ROGER WAS HAVING AN IRRITATING day all around. People were leaving him all of a sudden, and he had no idea why. He still wasn’t sure what he was going to do about losing Remi, and while he had a few other people that he was eyeing to let into the inner circle, so to speak, he hadn’t actually pulled the trigger on any of them. Suddenly he felt the need to be overly cautious.

  Then today, he realized that he hadn’t actually heard from Seth in a few days. He’d canceled their last meeting over some paranoid concerns that he was having that day, but that had been at least three days ago, and Seth normally checked in to make sure that they were on for meetings in advance. There was a meeting scheduled for that night, but Roger ha
dn’t heard a peep. So, against his better judgment, he’d decided to take a trip to Seth’s neck of the woods.

  Seth had rented an apartment in a large old townhome that had been renovated into several apartments. He’d picked one of the smaller units, a one bedroom with a den on the ground floor because he hadn’t minded being that close to the door. He’d also said that there were several single women in his building who had avoided that unit out of safety concerns and having him there had made them all feel better. Add to that the landlord giving him a break on the rent in return for handling a lot of the on-site stuff, and Seth had settled in for the long haul.

  Or that’s what he’d told Roger and the others when they’d all first started meeting and had been getting to know each other. The women in the group had thought that Seth’s reasoning for taking that unit had been endearing. Roger had simply thought that it made good fiscal sense with the rent breaks and all. But he’d realized years ago that he saw things differently.

  Tonight, the knock on the door went unanswered, and after three separate tries, Roger had given up and gone back outside. He’d sighed and looked around, throwing his presence around as far as he could to try and sense if he was being followed. After getting nothing out of the ordinary back, he’d rounded the side of the building, and took a look into one of the large windows, hoping that the curtains were open.

  They were more than open, they weren’t there anymore. Nothing was. The apartment was empty and from the looks of it, had been long enough for it the be completely cleaned out and ready for a new tenant. Had Seth bailed without telling anyone?

  Roger pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Seth up.

  The number you are trying to reach has been disconnected…

  Roger looked down at the phone in his hand, confused. What in the hell was going on?

  “Excuse me, can I help you?” a young woman with a very large dog asked as she approached. She probably wondered who the hell Roger was and why he was peeping in windows.