by Kimbra Swain
“Lydia and I will never be together again,” I affirmed for him.
“I know.” He paused to sip his drink. “Are you with them?”
“I am as I have always been. I am on my side.”
“Yet, you are here with me.”
“I’d rather be here than there with them. I think it’s time you tell me everything and allow me to make an educated decision about my future.”
He finished his drink, and I fully expected him to throw the glass. Instead, he sat it down on the glass coffee table. He ran his hands through his hair, and for the first time in my life, my father looked old.
Mind fuck. Complete and utter mind fuck. If I didn’t want my father’s realm, I certainly didn’t want it now, but I did understand the pressure he was under. If he was telling me the truth, and I felt like he was, then Trey, Tierney, and Dick had it all wrong.
“Why are you going along with the change of power in the West?” I asked my father.
“I do not dabble in their family feuds. I have my own family to worry about.” He meant me. I doubted that he considered anyone else in this building family.
“Tell me what you want.”
He huffed, then shook his head. “I want you to decide on your own, Malik. That is all I have ever wanted. I gave Richard, Lorcan, and Armand their realms. I kept this one for you. My dream is to turn this over to you that I may finally rest, but if you do not take it, one of them will.”
He felt like he was dead either way. I wanted to walk out the door and never look back, but something kept me in my seat. It certainly wasn’t a loyalty to family. More like a decision I made a long time before I became a vampire. That decision was to do what was right. I had to feed, and so I punished myself with my hunger, except for occasionally when I couldn’t stand it any longer. Unfortunately, the right thing to do would be to stand with my father.
If one of them took my father’s life, thus taking over his realm, they couldn’t allow me to live either. Other than Tierney’s interest in me, I wasn’t sure why they didn’t kill me. Perhaps it was Trey that vouched for me. Either way, I wanted nothing to do with the young rebels either.
“When is the next event?” I asked as I watched the sun rise over the Cumberland River.
“The transition tonight at midnight,” he said.
“I’m going to rest. Think all of this over.”
“You don’t have a choice, Son.”
“There is always a choice. I just gotta find it.”
“I wish I had your optimism.”
I wished he did, too. I nudged Stanley as I left the room. The brute had fallen asleep. He jumped up, following me out of the room. We remained silent until we got to my room.
“I have an opinion,” he said once we were safely in my chambers.
“What is it?” I asked. At this point, I’d take any advice. Stanley had somewhat reluctantly stood by me.
“Take your father’s place. As his direct heir, you can control the others.”
“He can control them,” I growled in frustration. The last thing I needed was someone else championing my claim to the throne.
“He doesn’t want to lead anymore. He’s giving up, and if you don’t step into his place, every single vampire in this building and in the south is doomed to wretchedness. The West will run through us with a cleaver. I don’t want to go down like that, but I won’t leave your father. And if he so orders it, I won’t leave your side,” he said.
I sat down on the bed and for time he took to pour his heart out, I saw the desperation in his face. Quickly, it returned to the stoic guard I knew him to be.
“I’m a terrible vampire,” I said as an excuse.
“A terrible vampire leader is better than no leader at all,” he said, leaving me alone in the bedroom.
I tossed my body back on the bed, staring up at the twisted blown glass light fixture. It swirled around like a thousand earthworms writhing together in a heaped mass only they were a milky white.
Stanley quietly left the room. I didn’t realize she was here, but he did.
The door to the bathroom opened, and a red-headed goddess stepped out in a pale pink satin gown that brushed the floor as she walked to me. Pressing a button on the remote beside my bed, the automatic shades darkened the room. The persistent sun peeked around the corners of the fabric, illuminating her sleek form.
“Are you here to join Team Malik?” I asked, knowing she’d heard our conversation.
Her lips were painted deep red, but her flawless skin had no other adornments. Her long fingers reached up and caressed my cheek. I leaned into the soft touch of her hand. Despite our conflict about the world around us, her touch dared to wash it away into memory. We shared a pain. If she was here to kill me, I’d welcome it. If she wasn’t, I welcomed that, too.
“No,” she replied, then pressed her lips to mine. I drank her in because I shouldn’t. When she removed my tie and unbuttoned my shirt, I didn’t stop her.
She dropped to her knees to remove my belt.
“After everything yesterday, I’m surprised that you are here. Why are you here, Tierney?” I asked.
“Because I want to be,” she replied.
With a million alarms sounding in my head, I ignored them, focusing on her. She didn’t ask why I didn’t stop her, but if she had I would have told her it was because I didn’t want her stop.
I hadn’t had sex for pleasure since Lydia. Watching Tierney kneel at my feet and remove my shoes, I relaxed letting the weight of my father’s realm slip away with every silky touch of a beautiful woman. I stood up, pulling her to her feet. My lips met hers with a fire and hunger that I hadn’t satiated in years. She met me with the same ferocity.
My hands explored her body, clawing at the gown that kept our skin from touching. I saw the devil dancing in her eyes as she watched my frustration. Then in one smooth move, she slipped the garment down over her shoulders to the floor. For a second, I froze taking in the delicate curves of her body.
“Don’t stop now,” she whispered, as she loosened my pants.
I took her face in my hands and started with her lips working my way down her cheek to her jawline. Placing kisses on her heated skin, I dipped further down to the tip of her right breast. She sighed as I sucked it while brushing the other with my thumb. I didn’t realize how much I missed worshiping a woman’s body. Tierney’s was worthy of that kind of attention. She returned every favor in kind. My heart couldn’t love, but this was as close as I’d come in a long time of making it.
She slept silently in my arms. Even the rush of sex hadn’t completely blocked my fears. She felt good pressed against my body. I’d slept with her because it wasn’t a feed. Because the frustrations of the previous days had broken my resolve. I saw the look in her eyes. She needed it, too. I wondered if she had initiated it to take my blood as she had suggested in the elevator, but she never showed her fangs. It was as close to human as I had felt in a while.
Her hand moved across my chest, and she sucked in a deep breath.
“Do you ever sleep?” she muttered.
“Not lately,” I said.
“How long did you let all of it go?”
“As long as I was buried inside of you.”
She moaned and snuggled closer to me. “I have no right to ask, but what are you going to do?”
“I have no idea.”
“Me either.”
We fell silent, and she drifted off to sleep again. I listened to her quiet breaths while feeling the rise and fall of her chest next to me. Stanley must have known she was here, because he didn’t stick around last night. I assumed he was in the other room.
Moving from Tierney’s side, I slipped out of the bed to the bathroom. I caught my reflection in the mirror and stopped in my tracks. I looked refreshed like I had fed even though I hadn’t. Granted, I’d had more blood since coming home than I’d probably had in a year, but I looked more alive than dead. Maybe what I was missing in my life was a little pleas
ure.
My life had become a mundane repetition of sleeping during the day and driving the wrecker at night. My thoughts drifted to Beau. He knew about our kind even though he was human. I needed an outside opinion. He had always treated me fairly. I’d seen him handle situations with a firm hand. But he also had a softer side. Relatives of dead drivers who would come back for their loved one’s vehicle would receive the utmost respect. I needed Beauregard Jackson’s opinion.
I brushed my teeth and attempted to tame my hair. Slipping into jeans and a t-shirt, I stopped once more to see myself in the mirror. I was no Lord. Reject fit my desires more than any other title. No one wanted a reject on the throne.
Tierney’s body curled around the sheets exposing her long legs to my thankful eyes. I sat down on the edge of the bed and kissed her temple.
“You are leaving?” she asked.
“I need to talk to a friend. See you tonight.”
“Malik?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks. I needed that.”
I kissed her lips. “No, thank you.”
When I slipped into the living area of the apartment, Stanley sat with a cup of coffee and a newspaper.
“Who reads newspapers anymore? It’s the digital age, you caveman.”
“I was using it as an additional wall to drown out your activities,” he smirked.
“Yeah, no activities this morning,” I said. “Can you get the SUV? I need to pay a friend a visit.” I grabbed a hooded jacket from the coat closet, waiting for him to respond. He folded the paper and grunted.
“You look refreshed,” he commented.
“Can you get the car or not?”
“Yeah, asshole.” He stood, and I followed him out of the room, taking one last look over my shoulder to the room where a naked woman laid in my bed. I was an idiot for walking away. Idiot reject. I was getting closer and closer to defining my existence.
Stanley drove out of the city on the bright day. The deeply tinted windows protected us from the sun’s rays. I couldn’t get Tierney out of my mind. After everything, she came to me for a lay. Was it just sex or something more? I certainly hadn’t made that kind of connection since Lydia, and now I wondered that if in my youth, I missed the true nature of my relationship with Lydia. I wanted to be accepted by someone that wasn’t my father or his trusted advisors.
Tierney hadn’t tried to kill me. I kept expecting it. Never giving myself to her completely. I couldn’t let my guard down. I don’t know that I ever would be able to do that. I’d never experience that complete and utter trust in a partner. At least, what I could get was worth it with her.
“She didn’t kill me.”
“You are thinking out loud.”
“Does that bother you?”
“As long as it doesn’t get too graphic like you do when you are sleeping, I’m fine.”
“I do not talk in my sleep.”
“Yes, you do.”
“What?”
“Always about sex and how big your wang is.”
“Wang? Who says wang? Stella, do you want to see my penis?”
“Fuck no.”
“I’ll show you. I’m equal opportunity.”
“I’m not.”
I enjoyed bantering with him. I think he did it on purpose to ease my tension. It worked. “Is that why you won’t give Stella a chance?” I asked.
“Who says I haven’t?”
I choked, then coughed. “You devil”
“She’s a she now.”
“How much a she?”
“All she.”
I slapped my leg like a fool and hooted loudly. “Get it, Stanley!”
“I have needs just like you, Wanger. Get it? Wanger. Fanger.”
“It’s not a good pun if you have to explain it.”
“Did I have to explain it?”
I grunted. “No. I got it.”
He smiled proudly, even though he’d ruined it.
My mood sobered, thinking of a naked Tierney in my bed.
“I’d never been with a vampire. I’d only had sex to feed, but I feel like I have fed,” I said, changing the subject. Stanley contemplated his response. I was just about to tell him not to break anything thinking too hard when he spoke.
“You’re not only the worst vampire, you’re the dumbest, too. We have a few things in common with our incubi cousins. Sex can be satisfying. That’s why there are so many long vampire marriages. Granted it isn’t enough to sustain our hunger. It’s like it has an effect on our longevity.” Well, that was a perk of keeping a wife. I’d never noticed it before, and never had the need to ask. Lydia had been my first, but once she turned, I’d never touched her. Every other woman I’d fucked was for the purpose of feeding.
After being with Tierney, I had pep in my step, and I fucking loved it. We drove North into Hendersonville to the headquarters of Tri-Star Wrecker Service.
“You stay here. I won’t be long,” I said.
“I’d rather go with you,” he said.
“Just keep an eye on things out here. I’m not completely helpless.”
He handed me the 9mm that he had strapped under his jacket. I looked at the small piece and raised an eyebrow at him.
“It’s a Hellcat. New model from Springfield,” he explained.
“Rounds?”
“Thirteen.” I wasn’t a huge gun enthusiast. My father always had enough protectors carrying guns that I didn’t bother. But for such a small weapon, I was impressed. A little proud, too. Springfield Armory was just north of Nashville. Tennessee made. I stuck the weapon at my back, then flipped the hood over my head.
I hadn’t fully stepped out of the vehicle when I heard the booming, country voice of my boss.
“Well, I didn’t think you remembered that you worked here,” he said with a goofy grin on his face. “Is it over?”
I shook my head, and his smile fell. “Alright, then. Come into my office and let’s discuss your absence and how you are going to make it up to me.”
My co-workers eyed me as we entered his office. The windows had cheap plastic blinds which he pulled closed. I removed the hood and leaned back in the wooden chair next to his metal desk. The small office held a desk, two chairs, a CB radio, and filing cabinet.
“How are ya, Beau?” I asked.
“Good. A little worried about my life,” he said.
“Nah. I just gotta make it through midnight, then you are off the hook,” I said.
“But are you? Off the hook?”
“That’s the problem. How much do you know about our politics?”
“Four realms. Well, three now. Your father is the father of them all. You are his heir.”
“Did you hire me at his request?” He took a deep breath. “I don’t fault you if you did. Dear old Dad can be persuasive.”
“He asked me to do it, and I volunteered.”
“What?”
“I had a son once. I, we had differences and he left. I wish a friend would have taken him in, but he died last year on the streets.”
“Did you shut him out?”
“Hell, no. He could have come home at any time, but the drugs were more important than his family,” he said. “We buried him in Memorial Hill Cemetery. When you came here looking for a job, I saw my son in you.”
“I’m not on drugs,” I said.
“No, you aren’t. You seek freedom from your father. There is no such thing as being free. Not for us, humans. Not for you, either. If you have to be shackled, where do you want to be?”
“I hate the thought of taking my father’s place.” His eyes widened, indicating that he didn’t know that part. “He says he’s ready to step down.”
“I see.”
“So, it’s more than just coming home.”
“Yeah, it is. I’m gonna lose my night driver.” I threw my head back and laughed. “You know the cops came here looking for you?”
“I figured they would.”
“What happened at your apart
ment?” He must have seen the news. Or more likely, the cops came here looking for me.
“I’m not sure. I found her like that. I could smell the other one. I swear to you that I didn’t do that,” I said.
“I didn’t figure you did. You wouldn’t be working here if you were feeding like that. The cops didn’t come back. I assumed your father took care of it.”
“He did, but we don’t know who actually did it or why.” I stood up and ran my hands through my hair. “I’ve been shot at and kidnapped. I just really need to come back to my work here.”
“You and I both know that is never going to happen.”
Reality crashed in on me. My chest tightened, and I snarled. My fangs extended. I hissed as I couldn’t hold them back. Beau hadn’t flinched. He trusted me. I just hoped that he didn’t extend that courtesy to any other vamps.
“Thanks for everything, Beau.”
“You betcha,” he said, as I flipped the hood over my head. I darted out of the office, heading straight for the SUV. I forced myself to slow down, because vampires could move slightly faster than humans. I was already hiding my teeth.
“Where to, Boss?” Stanley asked.
“Anywhere but here,” I replied, leaning back in the oversized bucket seat. I covered my face with my arm, closing my eyes. “I don’t have any choice.”
“At least you see that now.”
“Thanks for the encouragement, Stella.”
“I’m a regular Dr. Phil.” I huffed at him. We rode in silence for a bit, then he sighed, long and hard. “If you and your father make a deal with them, you can stave off the bloodshed.”
“What kind of deal?”
“Whatever it would take to keep you alive,” Stanley replied.
A brilliant idea dawned in my brain. I had the answer. If I could convince Father to take out Tierney’s father, then I would agree to take over the east if they would agree to leave my father the head of his realm. The balance of power would be more evenly distributed. I hated the idea, but it might work. Hell, I knew I had no desire to leave Nashville, but maybe I needed a change of pace.
“Take me to Father,” I said, as a car crossed the median and struck us head on. I hadn’t buckled my seatbelt, and my body flew against the dash. I felt things crack as glass splashed around me like a waterfall. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Stanley reaching for the Hellfire in my waistband.
