Maciah sensed the stiffness in my body and slowly lifted his head, stroking my cheek as he searched my face for answers. “What’s wrong?”
I sighed. I wanted to be cruel. It was what I should do so that he would leave me the hell alone, but instead, I gently pushed him away from me and took a step back.
“It’s been a long couple of days. I have a lot to think about, and I’d like to do that alone,” I said.
Hurt crossed his face as a crease formed between his brows. “Okay. We have rooms—”
“No, Maciah. I have a home of my own with rooms. I’m going there.” I took several steps toward the door, needing more space between us before I lost my resolve.
His face hardened, and gone was the gentle man I’d just been pressed against. “My number is in your phone. Call me when you have more questions. And take this.” He reached for the book and handed it to me.
I once again hesitated to take it, but Maciah had already been more forthcoming than I could have ever expected. I didn’t want to insult him further. That thought also made me want to punch myself in the throat. I wasn’t supposed to care what vampires thought.
Regardless, I took the book and turned for the door. As my fingers gripped the handle, I sensed Maciah come closer.
“Please, be safe,” he murmured.
I nodded, wanting desperately to look back at him, but my pride wouldn’t allow it. The door opened, and I put one foot in front of the other, ignoring the eyes of other vampires around me as I headed toward the front door.
9
My knuckles were white as I drove my car without knowing where I was going. I couldn’t breathe. I was losing control. Nothing in my world was what I thought.
I didn’t want to believe Maciah, but my gut was rarely wrong. The book he’d given me sat in my passenger’s seat, mocking me. I was what I hated most in the world.
How could fate be so cruel?
As I sat at a red light, I closed my eyes and took several deep inhales and exhales. I was still Amersyn Holt. Maciah had said I was mortal, which meant I wasn’t technically a vampire. I needed to know when that change was supposed to come.
Someone honked behind me, and I flipped them off as I sped ahead, turning randomly left and right until I was at the edge of Portland. I parked and side-eyed the book.
Mother-effing vampire.
The time on my dashboard said it was almost midnight, which meant I’d been driving aimlessly for close to two hours. I reached for the leather cover. I could do this. I’d been through worse. I wasn’t a vampire yet. Maybe there was a way to prevent that from happening.
My fingers had barely brushed over the faded text when my phone dinged. I didn’t believe in coincidences, so I tossed the book into the back seat and looked at my phone.
Dave: We should chat sooner rather than later. Don’t come inside. Text me when you arrive.
Me: Be there in ten.
This was a distraction I could work with. The book I was happily going to ignore a little while longer might have answers, but as Maciah kindly pointed out, maybe I wasn’t ready for them.
I loved who I was. I loved what I stood for. I loved ridding the world of monsters. I didn’t want anything to change. This was in my blood. It was what I was meant to do—kill vampires.
As my foot pressed down on the accelerator, I decided right then that nothing was going to change. My DNA might not be what I thought, but I was still me. Whatever Maciah thought he was protecting me from wasn’t necessary.
I’d fought and killed supernatural murderers for five years, and I’d do that for another fifty if fate allowed it to be.
The later the night got, the lighter traffic became, and I was at Crossroads within seven minutes. I texted Dave that I’d parked in the alley a block away. The same one where I’d been ambushed by the five vampires and where I’d first seen Maciah and Zeke.
My eyes scanned the shadows, remembering how the two of them had jumped in to help me without a second thought. Maciah said he was bound to protect me, that my blood called to him, but what did that mean? As far as I knew, vampires didn’t have mates like shifters did.
Was there another reason I was attracted to Maciah? Shit. Maybe I needed to take a look at the book sooner rather than later.
I reached for it, but Dave opened the passenger door before I could grasp the aged cover. He was glancing around, and his hands had a slight shake to them.
“What’s going on, Dave?” I asked. Very little rattled this human. He worked in a damn supernatural bar. Sure, he had a slight immunity with the protection of Chester Dean behind him, but Dave had been fearless since the first day I met him.
“There were vampires in the bar asking about a hunter.” His voice was low, even though we were enclosed in the car.
“Me specifically?” I asked.
He shook his head. “They wanted the best, which I normally would have said was you, but something about this crew wasn’t right. Their eyes had black rings around a dark crimson color, and their skin was like stone. These were old and powerful vampires, Am.”
“Are they still there?” Maybe I could sneak in through the back and get a look at them myself.
“No, they left before I texted you. They said they had a problem that needed to be dealt with. I panicked and gave them Simon’s phone number. Shit, Amersyn. I don’t know if that was the right thing to do or not, but something about them isn’t right. They asked a lot of questions.”
Simon was a solid hunter, but he was only ever out for himself, which was why I never worked with him, not even on the easiest of jobs. He’d take the contract from these vampires, whatever it was.
“What kind of questions?” I asked.
Dave scanned the alley and then behind us again. His breathing was picking up, and I rested a hand on his shoulder. “Dave, you reached out to me for a reason. You’re okay. Do you want me to take you to Steve?”
“No. No, I’m fine. I don’t know why I’m acting like this.” Dave’s hands rubbed over his face as he tried to regain control of his emotions.
“What about earlier when I was there? How about we back up a few hours?” I suggested.
“Yeah, I mostly just wanted to make sure you were okay. You were pretty messed up last night, Amersyn. Where did you go?”
That singular question made me tense up. Dave never asked where I went. I took into consideration he was having a shit night, but still, suddenly I was a little less trusting of the bartender.
“I went somewhere, and as you can see, I’m fine now,” I answered curtly.
He muttered to himself before apologizing. “Sorry. I know your rules. It’s just these vampires. Maybe they did something to me.”
I grabbed his wrist. “Tell me what happened.”
He took a steadying breath and met my gaze. “One of them wouldn’t leave the bar. He wanted my constant attention. He asked the most questions, too, like how many hunters came to the bar? How often? How many of them were women and how many men? What type of weapons your kind carried and average group size of a hunter party? At first, I’d thought they were trying to hire someone. By then, I’d already given them Simon’s number, but this one kept on, repeating questions in different ways, almost as if he was trying to trip me up. Each one only made me think more of you, and I didn’t know what else to do.”
“What do you mean by that, Dave?” I asked calmly, even though I wanted to scream.
“I told them if Simon wasn’t what they were looking for, then maybe I could find them another hunter, but I didn’t say your name. I just wanted the creep to leave me alone. I swear, Amersyn. I’d never do anything to put you in danger on purpose.” Dave was near tears.
Damn it. What was happening to my world?
I released my hold on him, not trusting myself to keep from hurting him on accident. “It’s okay. I appreciate you telling me. Did any of them tell you their names?”
“I didn’t get any of their names, but one of them mentioned a guy
named Viktor a couple of times. Though, he wasn’t present. He sounded more like a boss they were following orders from. Does that help?”
My blood ran cold. I’d killed Viktor already. Maybe it wasn’t the same one. Yeah, it had to be someone else. He was one of my first kills, the first in the group of five I’d been able to track down just south of Portland in Salem. These vampires weren’t after me. I was safe.
Then, realization hit me like a freight train.
Mother-effing effer.
I never saw Viktor turn to dust.
I stabbed him through the chest. I used the right stake. He should have died, but was I absolutely certain? Not anymore.
One of his vampires had tackled me off Viktor right after I’d staked him. I’d thought he’d turned to dust before I had the chance to kill the other one, but maybe he hadn’t. Maybe he’d run off and I’d made the biggest of rookie mistakes that was now back to bite me in the ass.
“Does that help, Am?” Dave repeated his earlier question.
I nodded stiffly. “You need to stay away from these vampires, Dave. I don’t know anything about them, but I’m going to figure it out. If they come back, you text me right away. Don’t wait until after they’ve left. Do you understand?”
“What if I’m right and they’re looking for you?” he asked.
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll find them first,” I replied, and Dave nodded, but he didn’t seem sure about that. Whoever this group was, they’d shaken Dave in the worst way.
“Why don’t you go home?” I suggested to him. He would be worthless behind the bar as he was.
“What are you going to do? I know it’s none of my business, but I care about you, Amersyn. I don’t want to see you get hurt. You’re the only one that comes to that shithole of a bar that I think even has a soul anymore. The world needs you to stay alive.”
I didn’t want to think of Dave as my friend, because that made him a vulnerability, but damn if he wasn’t one of the kindest people I’d ever met.
I grabbed his hand, giving it a firm and hopefully reassuring squeeze. “I’m going to be fine, Dave. Just watch your back and let me know what you hear. I’ll probably keep away from Crossroads for a few days.”
He nodded, seeming to take my absence from the bar as a sign I’d be more careful. “What about the brunette vamp from earlier? Did you kill her?”
The answer to that should have been yes. I killed nearly all vampires I came into contact with outside of the bar, but killing Rachel hadn’t been something I’d done nor planned to do.
“She isn’t going to be a problem,” I said to Dave, letting him take that however he wanted.
He moved to open the door, then turned back to me. “Please, be safe.”
I felt like people had been telling me to “be safe” a lot lately. With all the bombs being dropped in my lap, maybe it was time I took them seriously.
Dave was out of the car and hurrying back toward the bar before I could reply. I reversed far enough out of the alley to watch that he got safely back inside. Hopefully, Steve was coming to pick him up and I wouldn’t need to worry about the shaken bartender.
I decided since my night had basically gone to shit that it was time to go back to my condo. Soon, I’d need to figure out what to do about my safehouse. Maciah knew where I was staying, and that made it no longer safe. Even if he didn’t have intentions of hurting me, I still wanted somewhere I could go where no one would find me.
That was a protection I needed.
As I drove the roads on autopilot, I tried not to allow myself to lose sight of what needed to be done. My night hadn’t gone how I could have ever predicted, but I was a skilled hunter. I knew what I had to do.
First, I needed to read over the book currently lying in my back seat. Second, I needed to remember who I was, no matter what the book said. Third, I had to figure out which problems were my biggest, so I’d know where to start.
I was going to keep a list, so that I stayed on track and focused on the things I was capable of doing. Everything would be fine.
Ha! Famous last words, I thought as I turned into the condo parking garage.
I watched the city grow smaller while the elevator took me up to my condo. My mental list was already started and growing as I considered outside influences. Nothing was unrealistic, just time consuming—and time was something I wasn’t sure I had a lot of.
With the book in hand and my hunting bag on my other shoulder, I strode into my apartment, eager to start making progress, but I was stopped in my tracks.
Rachel lounged across my loveseat, still dressed in her one-piece suit, and had her stilettos crossed over one another.
“You didn’t say goodbye,” she grumbled, unmoving.
“You weren’t invited in,” I retorted.
She shushed me. “We’re friends, Amersyn. That means the invite is always open.”
“We. Are. Not. Friends,” I said slowly and clearly, hoping she’d get the point. I might not want to kill her, but there also weren’t any slumber parties in our future.
She nodded to the book finally, getting up. “So, you believe Maciah?”
“That’s none of your business.” I moved around her and toward my bedroom. Moving had officially been pushed to the top of my list.
Rachel laughed. “You’re hilarious. Seriously, though. Let me help you. I’ve read that thing ten times since Maciah found out you existed.”
Nope. Not happening. I wasn’t working with a vampire to figure out how I might turn into one. No way in hell. I narrowed my eyes and whirled around to face Rachel and tell her just what I thought.
She was standing just a foot behind me, eyes wide and full of care. There was nothing sinister about her, and she was making things really effing hard for me.
Damn it. I was going to regret this.
I pointed to the couch she’d just been on. “Sit or lay there. Don’t say a word unless I ask you a question. Don’t touch my stuff. If you can do all three of those things, then you can stay. For a very short period of time.”
Rachel jumped up and down as she opened her mouth and let out a tiny squeal of excitement. I sneered at her, and she quickly shut her lips together, holding her hands up and backing away.
Smart vampire.
10
My eyes burned as the hours passed, and I began skimming the book instead of reading every word. I’d learned a lot about vampires, but not a ton that I hadn’t already assumed or heard from Maciah. What I was searching for most hadn’t appeared on the pages yet, and I was growing frustrated.
I paced the open space between the dining table and living room while reading. Rachel was still laying on the couch. Her eyes were closed, but I didn’t for one moment think she was asleep.
Hope was thinning as the pages lessened. I’d thought there would be something to help solidify things for me. Like a bright light that made everything make sense.
Nothing of the sort happened.
Not until I turned another page and saw the final chapter heading: Original Heirs.
My chest eased when I would have expected the opposite. This was supposedly what I was. An heir to one of the original monsters let loose on our earth. This was where I would find my answers.
The ten original vampire heirs, all male, were born to be immortal, but that doesn't mean they are immune to death. No one being is meant to live forever, but our legacy can. Each of the ten sons will create their own heirs with a bonded human. This human will be strong of mind and body. She will breed the strongest legacies for our kind and be cherished above all else for the lives she creates.
I paused, taking a breath. This book was written by vampires that didn’t kill humans. Whoever wrote this saw their kind as Gods, which was hard to accept. A vampire cherishing a human was hard to picture.
The children born will be human like their mother until such a time that their mortal life ends. Then, they will return to their strongest form and live the immortal life gifted to th
em by their father.
So, I could grow old, and it still didn’t matter. I’d somehow magically revert to a younger age where I was strong and capable to begin life as a vampire. Great. Super effing great.
Heirs will acquire abilities as they grow in their human body, but their true potential won’t be unlocked until they’ve died and drank their first glass of blood.
Glass of blood? Not drink from a human? Where were these vampires, and why did they start massacring humans when this book made the originals sound like saints?
Then I snorted, remembering the original vampires’ last name was Saint. Fitting.
Rachel turned her head toward me, watching, but still not saying anything. I really wanted to hate her. Really freaking badly.
I continued reading, and it was exactly as Maciah had said. I was the heir of an original. The witch hadn’t given me enhanced abilities. She probably only lessened them so that I didn’t stand out. I wanted to search for her and demand more answers, but I decided she’d done me a favor. I wouldn’t have been ready to know who I was then.
I wasn’t even sure I was ready now, but I could handle it. The only thing I didn’t know was how the original vampires died. The book had conveniently left that part out. As I kept reading, my hope was that I’d live a long life just as I saw fit, and when I died, I could have a plan to end my immortal life, never having to stay a vampire for long.
The last section of the Original Heirs chapter was called Bonded Protectors, and I wanted to throw the book down and be done. I didn’t want to know this part. Maciah had already expressed how he felt, but I wanted no part of it…even if I’d kissed him as if my life depended on it.
“Read it, Amersyn. You need to know,” Rachel said softly, still sitting on the couch.
I snarled at her for being right, then continued.
Should an heir be in danger, a protector will be assigned to them. A vampire worthy of our most precious children will be bound to protect the heir with their own life. A bond will form between the two, strengthening a relationship that will last a lifetime.
Vampire Heir (Scorned by Blood Book 1) Page 7
