Skye Morrison Vampire 2 Sins of the Father

by J. L. McCoy

  Archer raised one eyebrow at me and beckoned me forward with his finger as Jameson resumed his one man sword fighting. I watched Jameson’s body gracefully ebb and flow, slice and jab. He was absolutely beautiful to watch…and most definitely lethal with his weapon. My lower abdomen tightened in desire and I had to look away. I walked up to Archer’s desk and roughly dropped the bag of blood on it.

  “Thank you, Skye,” Archer said leaning back in his chair and ripping a corner off the bag with his teeth.

  I crossed my arms over my chest and huffed. “Don’t thank me. Thank Trey. I didn’t do anything for you.”

  Archer’s brow furrowed as he glared at me, his mouth taking deep pulls from the bag. I pursed my lips and cocked an eyebrow. I’d wait him out if I had to, but I wasn’t going to be the first one to speak. I was angry at him and the last thing I wanted was to be stuck in a room with him right now.

  Jameson suddenly cleared his throat and put the sword back in the case. “Well, I’ve got to get to band practice. I guess I’ll be taking the Porsche tonight since I no longer have my car.” He stood there for a few seconds and then sighed. “Okay. I’ll see you both tonight after the show.” He walked up to me and briefly touched my arm while he leaned over to whisper in my ear. “Try and be nice, okay love? I’ll miss you.”

  I wanted to wrap my arms around him and give him a proper goodbye kiss, but I knew he wouldn’t have wanted me to in front of Archer. Jameson was doing his damnedest not to touch me more than he needed to, that much was obvious. Part of me understood that he wisely didn’t want to rock the boat right now, but the other part wanted to shove it in Archer’s face and say ‘Ha! There! How do you like that, asshole?’ So immature, I know. I reluctantly watched Jameson walk out of the door and close it softly behind him.

  “Are you going to stay mad at me all day?” Archer asked after he finished the bag of blood and threw it away in the trashcan under his desk.

  I bit the inside of my cheek and momentarily looked away.

  “You have to talk to me sometime, Skye,” he said with a sigh, leaning back in his chair.

  “I do?” I asked, looking back at him. “Why? So we can rub salt in each other’s wounds? I’d rather not, if it’s all the same to you.”

  Archer got up from his desk and flashed to stand in front of me. I jumped at the unexpectedness of it, eyes wide, and stumbled backward. Archer easily caught me and helped steady me. My skin tingled where he touched it and I gasped, taking a step away from him.

  “I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said softly, looking down at me. “I just want you to talk to me.”

  I rubbed my arms where his hands had been and tried to calm the blush I felt spreading across my cheeks. “Well, fine. Talk. Let’s get this over with already since you seem hell bent on doing it,” I said as I walked around him and sat down in the chair in front of his desk.

  I heard him sigh as he turned and sat on the edge of the desk in front of me. I uncomfortably crossed my legs and arms and waited for the yelling to begin.

  “I’m not going to yell at you,” Archer said reading my mind.

  “Oh, yes you are,” I said, narrowing my eyes up at him. “You may not be planning on it, but you’re going to end up doing it. Mark my words.”

  “And why do you say that?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He was wearing a tight, dark grey t-shirt and his impressive biceps bulged underneath the thin fabric.

  I swallowed hard and focused on his face. “I say that because we are both really upset at each other right now. I’m probably going to end up yelling at you. As a matter of fact, I can almost guarantee it. You’ll get frustrated with me and, in turn, yell back. It is a simple case of cause and effect,” I said with a smart-assed smirk.

  “Why didn’t you tell me Aoife was bothering you?” he asked suddenly, throwing me off my game.

  My brow furrowed and I looked away toward his glass gun case as I bit my bottom lip. “Who said she was?” I knew that Jameson had told him earlier today, but I didn’t want to exacerbate the situation by tattle-telling to Archer. He would probably say something to Aoife and she would in turn make my life here a living hell. No thank you!

  “Don’t play dumb with me, Skye.”

  “I’m not playing dumb, Archer. I’m playing indifferent.”

  He growled lowly in frustration and glared down at me. “Fine, don’t answer. It doesn’t matter because I know now and I’ll put a stop to it.”

  I rolled my eyes and uncrossed and re-crossed my legs uncomfortably. “Jesus. What is it with you guys always interfering in my shit? You know, if something is bothering me, I’m perfectly capable of taking care of it myself. I’m not some damsel in distress, Archer. I don’t need to be rescued, damn it.”

  Archer chuckled rudely. “Oh, yes you do. You just don’t know it yet. If Aoife is as pissed as I think she is, you’re on her list. And, you really don’t want to be on her list. She can be an absolute nightmare, trust me on this one.”

  “Why the hell did you even have to bring her here?” I asked angrily, my emotions showing more than I had intended. I shook my head in frustration and sighed. Damn it! I needed to play this cooler than I was.

  “I need to protect my children, Skye,” he said simply, elaborating no further.

  “Whatever,” I said with a huff. “Next question.” I wanted to get this over with before I had to go to work this evening.

  Archer briefly growled a warning, but I paid him no mind. I was in a dangerous mood myself right now and didn’t care the least bit if I ruffled his delicate feathers.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you saw Aoife kiss me?” he asked next. “And, why didn’t you give me a chance to explain?”

  I bit the inside of my cheek hard and looked away. I couldn’t meet his eyes. I refused to let him see the hurt still deep in mine. Answering this question was not something I wanted to do, but I knew it had to be done. The dirty laundry needed to be aired out.

  “I didn’t tell you because it absolutely crushed me, Archer,” I said, looking at the swords on the wall. “And I didn’t need to hear an explanation. Your tongue down someone else’s throat is pretty self-explanatory to me. I’ve been through that before, remember?”

  Archer got up off his desk and flashed to his office window. He stared out the window for a minute before he spoke. “You should have told me.”

  “Oh, to hell with that!” I yelled, no longer able to keep my cool. I bolted upright, enraged, fists clenched tight down at my sides. “You should have told me before you kissed me that you were MARRIED, Archer! How could you do that to me?! How could you make me fall for you then stab me in the freakin’ heart?!” I immediately clamped my right hand over my mouth and squeezed my eyes closed. Damn it! Damn it! Son of a… Damn it! I had said WAY more than I intended to. I never wanted him to know that I had fallen for him. Never.

  Archer slowly turned around to face me and I instantly turned my back on him. My face was crimson red from rage and embarrassment and I didn’t want him to see that.

  “Well,” he said, after a moment, with a bitter, mean laugh, “you must not have fallen that hard for me if you jumped into bed with my brother two days later. I think that’s got to be some sort of a record or something.”

  Did he just call me a slut?! I whirled around so fast that I almost didn’t stop. My eyes were murderous and my teeth clenched so tight it hurt. “Go to hell! You just go straight to hell, you son of a bitch!” I yelled before turning and stalking to the door.

  Archer flashed to stand against the door right as I reached for the knob.

  “Get the hell out of my way, Archer!”

  “We’re not done talking,” he said plainly, as he crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Yes. We. Are,” I said staccato between clenched teeth, my eyes narrowed in what may very well be the most extreme case of anger I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. I was beyond mad at him. I was beyond livid. I was a walking Chernobyl.

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nbsp; “Why did you fuck my brother, Skye?” he asked, looking down at me, his ice blue eyes no longer blue. They were washed out and starting to fade rapidly. He was extremely angry but I didn’t care. I wanted to hurt him as bad as he had just hurt me. I was about to take this fight to a whole other level. It was going to get nasty.

  I smiled devilishly, looked up into his eyes, and bit the corner of my bottom lip before I answered. “Because once I had my hands wrapped around his huge cock, I totally forgot your name.”

  Archer’s top lip twitched a couple of times and the next thing I knew, I was on my back on top of Archer’s desk and his hand was wrapped around my throat. My breath caught as I realized what had just happened. I’d pushed him way too far. His eyes were completely white, aside from his pitch black pupils, and his lips were pulled back in a snarl. His long, lethal fangs were down and there was only a mere five inches of space between our faces.

  I swallowed painfully and gathered every ounce of courage I had left in my body. “Get the fuck off me,” I said a little unsteadily.

  Archer roughly grabbed my face, turned my head to the side, and ran his nose up the length of my neck as he took a deep breath in. “You let him feed from you,” he growled inhumanly. He turned my neck to the other side and slid his tongue from the hollow to behind my ear, tasting me.

  I gasped at its unexpectedness and tried to push him off of me. “What does it matter to you if Jameson fed from me? We aren’t together, Archer! We never will be! You’re with Aoife and have been for six hundred years, or so I’ve heard.”

  Archer turned my face to his and looked me deep in the eyes. “I should take you right here on this desk and be done with it,” he growled lowly, anger burning red hot in his pale eyes. “Then I wouldn’t have to daydream anymore about your tight little ass, or how good you’d feel on top of me, your warmth wrapped around my cock.”

  I struggled harder to free my body from under his but it only excited him more. I growled in angry frustration as I yelled at him, “Well, you’d better get used to it, because a daydream is as close as you’re ever getting to me again, asshole! Now, GET OFF ME!”

  Suddenly, I was no longer on the desk, but backed up against the door. Archer had both of my hands above my head and we were both breathing hard.

  “Tell me or I’ll steal it from your mind,” he whispered, his face dangerously close to mine again, his eyes a mixture of anger and sadness. “Why did you fuck my brother, Skye?”

  I swallowed hard and looked up at him. I felt tears immediately spring to my eyes and I tried to blink them away, but it was no use. They spilled over and Archer silently watched them slide down my cheeks and onto my white tank top. “Because,” I answered unsteadily. “You hurt me and I needed him. He lessened the pain in my heart and I desperately needed that. He kissed away my tears and showed me that love doesn’t have to hurt, Archer. I made love to your brother because I wanted to. I made a mistake choosing you over him and I wanted to make it right, before I lost him forever.”

  Archer leaned closer to my face, his lips barely an inch from mine. “Have you chosen him, Skye?” he asked softly as he stared deeply into my eyes. “I read in your mind just last week that you weren’t going to be with either one of us because it was too complicated. Did you change your mind? Are you his?”

  I licked my lips as I looked down at his. “I…I,” I started to say when a loud knock sounded at the door, interrupting us.

  Archer growled, quickly flashed me to the chair, and flashed back to open the door. “You just don’t know when to leave well enough alone, do you Aoife?” he rumbled, reaching for her. There was a quick blur of movement and a slam of the door. When they finally stopped flashing around the room a full minute later, Archer had Aoife up against the glass gun case by the neck and they were both breathing hard. I think they had been fighting, but I couldn’t tell for sure. They had been just one big blur.

  “I heard she was staying here and came to see for myself. Why is she here? Why is she ALONE with you?” Aoife asked angrily.

  Archer looked down at her with absolute disgust on his face. “It is not your concern, Aoife. What I do and with whom is never your concern. I’ve heard that you’ve been causing problems for me this week and you’re going to set the record straight…right here and now.”

  Aoife shot me an angry glare and shouted something at me in a language I didn’t understand.

  Archer said something back to her in a low, menacing snarl and she immediately lost her fight. He let go of her neck and she moved to fix the yellow string bikini top and black sarong that she was wearing. I noticed that she had the body of a Victoria’s Secret runway model and a chest to match. I took a quick glance down at my grungy jeans and tank top and felt completely inadequate next to her.

  She moved to sit in the chair beside me and refused to look my direction. Her face was a blank mask.

  Archer slowly walked over to his desk, perched on the edge in front of us, and looked at both Aoife and me.

  “This ends here, Aoife,” he said in a calm, controlled voice. “You will tell her the truth and then you will get out of my office. You will not come to my private quarters or my office again unless I personally summon you, is that clear?”

  Aoife clenched her jaw and nodded. “Yes, Athair,” she said, her voice calm and compliant. She turned to me and stared at me for a few seconds. A sudden growl emanating from Archer encouraged her to speak.

  “I may not have been entirely truthful when I said that Archer and I were married,” she began as her eyes bored into mine. “We were together for a time, but Archer chose to end our relationship in 1899. Even though we took the sacred blood oath for life, he has denied me ever since that rainy day in March. It’s been 113 years now. I thought that 100 years away from each other would have given him a chance to cool off and change his mind, but it seems as though that’s not the case.” She looked up at Archer for a moment before she turned back to me. Her eyes were murderous. “It seems as though he loves another.”

  I flinched at the look in her eyes, quickly stood up and took a few steps away from her. “Don’t look at me,” I said, holding my hands up in surrender and shaking my head. “He doesn’t love me. He doesn’t even know me. He’s only known me for two weeks. He can’t possibly love me, Aoife.”

  She growled at me and I took another step back.

  “Enough, Aoife!” Archer rumbled. “Now, if you have any ideas about retaliation, you’d better drop them. Skye never told me anything. She never once came to me or told me how you were treating her. I found out on my own. I tried ignoring the little things I saw, tried giving you time to adjust, but you were obviously behaving far worse than I thought.” He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I will always care about you Aoife, but you know why we can’t be together romantically. Nothing has changed since we’ve been apart and you know it. I brought you and the rest of the family into my home because I want to protect you and keep you safe. Do not make me turn you away, Aoife. You are my child, my blood, and it will kill me to do it, but I will for the greater good of the others.”

  “She is not your family!” Aoife yelled, gesturing wildly to me with her left arm. “I am your family! Why have you even brought her here? She does not belong with us!”

  Archer stood in a flash and glared down at her while she sat in the chair, his fists clenched dangerously tight at his sides. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I had a feeling the color was draining. “You do not dictate who belongs, páistí. You have no say in anything anymore and you will do good to remember that. You are no longer my mate and I will not tell you so again, Aoife. This is the last time we will have this conversation. Do you understand me, páistí?”

  Aoife dropped her head in submission and I could have sworn I heard a small sob emanate from her, but I wasn’t sure. Seconds turned to minutes as no one moved or said anything. I wanted to turn and run for the door, but I knew Archer wasn’t done with me yet and would only block my escape again.
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  Finally, Aoife lifted her head and her face was back to being blank of all expression. “Yes, Father. I understand you completely.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief as Archer motioned for me to sit back down next to her. I quickly shook my head and remained where I was. I wasn’t fooled by Aoife’s miraculous Zen transformation. I knew that under that kitten of a mask she now wore, a true lioness prowled back and forth past the cage in her eyes that she had only constructed for Archer’s sake. I had been the thorn in her paw for almost a week now. The first chance she got, she’d pluck me out and throw me away, guaranteed.

  I gathered up my courage and asked the question that had been bothering me for days. “Why did I see you kiss him, Aoife, if you two aren’t together?”

  She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at me. I could tell that she didn’t want to answer me, but would because Archer would make her. “I kissed him because I wanted us to be together again. I thought if I reminded him of what he was missing, he’d come back to me. He only responded for a few seconds before he pushed me away.”

  I looked over at Archer for confirmation and he nodded his head. So, he didn’t make out with her? He pushed her away? Now I understood what he meant about giving him a chance to explain. But, did this change anything? I slept with Jameson last night. I made my choice…hadn’t I?

  Archer sat back down on the edge of his desk and crossed his arms over his chest again. “I’m sure someone told you what happened at Skye’s house today, Aoife, so you know why she is staying here. I’m not willing to risk an employee’s safety just to make you happy. Now, she will be staying downstairs and you’ll be upstairs.” Aoife quickly turned her head to glare at me. She obviously wasn’t happy to hear I would be feet from Archer’s private bedroom. “I fully expect you to be civil to her in this house. You will stay away from the hallway leading to my room, my office, and her room, is that clear? You need to realize that Skye is part of this family now and she’s going to be around for a while.”

  Archer’s brow furrowed slightly and he took a deep breath before continuing. “Jameson and Skye are…dating each other, so get used to seeing her around here. Jameson’s home is her home and we will do our best to make her comfortable in it.”