Sassy Ever After: Sassy Desires (Kindle Worlds Novella)

by Taylor Dawn

  “It’s about time you got back. I was thinking you changed your mind,” A woman with salt and pepper hair approached Zach.

  “Nah, I’m not going anywhere.” He gave the woman a quick hug. “I’d like you to meet my sister, Gia. Gia this is Dahlia.” Zach made the introductions.

  Gia stepped forward and extended her hand. The older woman studied her from head to toe. “Zach has told us so much about you. It’s nice to finally meet.” Dahlia was in her sixties and by the looks of it, she loved turquoise jewelry.

  “Are you hungry?” she asked.

  “I’m fine,” Gia glanced around the living room, taking in the Native American motif.

  “Could I use your ladies room?” Gia asked.

  “Sure. Down the hall, second door on the right.” Dahlia instructed.

  “Thanks.” Gia made her way to the bathroom and shut herself in. When the lock was in place, she braced her spine against the wood and let out a sigh. Even though she’d trusted her brother, something didn’t feel right about Dahlia. She was nice enough—maybe too nice in fact. People like her were notorious for hiding things and Gia would wager that the woman had more than her fair share of secrets. Closing her eyes, Gia calmed herself. She couldn’t go back out and demand the woman open her closet and show all her skeletons. No, she would have to play it cool. After checking her phone for missed calls and texts, Gia took a steadying breath and found her brother once more.

  “So, now that you know what you are, what do you plan to do?” Dahlia tossed a kernel of popcorn in her mouth and chewed.

  “I’m not sure. Probably nothing.” Gia shrugged. With the way Dahlia acted, Gia would have thought she slapped her across the face with a side of beef.

  “You weren’t put in your position to do nothing, child. We have an opportunity to make this world free of conflict.”

  “I’m not sure what you’re getting at.” Gia tilted her head to the side.

  “I don’t think you realize how many violent crimes are committed by vampires that go unreported. Humans are dying and we have the chance to remedy that.”

  “By doing what, killing vampires?” Gia’s voice raised.

  “Exactly. Zach told me how smart you are, he didn’t lie did he?”

  “I don’t think I want to be part of this.” Gia shook her head and went for the door.

  “G, wait.” Zach followed her outside. “You didn’t even stay to hear what all she had to say.”

  “I don’t have to. It’s all bullshit. Vamps aren’t out killing humans for the hell of it.” She defended the undead.

  “How would you know that? You’ve never even been around one,” Zach placed his hands on his hips.

  “That’s not true,” Gia whispered.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “When you went missing, I went to that vampire sex club and talked to the owner. He was helping me try to find you.” She refused to make eye contact with her brother.

  “Please don’t tell me you’re a fang fucker, G.”

  “We have some sort of strange connection. Not to mention, our mom was the one who turned him and his sister. You can’t possibly want to kill someone who did that, could you?”

  “I hate the mother fuckers. I hope they all burn.”

  “This isn’t you. The Zach I know doesn’t join some crazy ass cult and vow to make vamps extinct.”

  “You don’t know me very well then do you?”

  “Take me home, please.” Gia got back into the truck. After a few moments of waiting, her brother finally got in and drove away from the house. He didn’t say a word the entire drive and Gia felt hurt. She would never understand why he hated vampires if he did, but she hoped someday he would come around.

  “Thanks,” she smiled at Zach as he dropped her off at her house. He said nothing in reply which was probably for the best. With screeching tires, he sped away in a puff of white smoke. She would have to table the issue with her brother until she had a few more hours of sleep. It was too damn late to convince him that he was wrong. Taking a cleansing breath, she extended her hand that held a house key and aimed it for the door knob. Gia startled when the door unlatched and swung open with a creak. She poked her head in and said, “Hello.” There was no answer. She thought back to when she was home last and had realized that in her sleep deprived state, she must not have pulled it closed. Shrugging it off, she walked in, dropped the key in the bowl by the door and tossed her purse on a nearby chair. She then went to the kitchen and flipped on the light. Her eyes went wide and chills covered her entire body, causing her to feel paralyzed.

  “Gia, this isn’t what it looks like,” Layton stood.

  “No,” tears welled in her eyes as she saw the massive amounts of blood on his hands and around the body on the floor. She stepped closer to the corpse, then threw her hand over her mouth. “Dad,” she cried. “Why would you do this to me?” she fell to her knees—the slick blood painting her legs.

  “I didn’t do this,” Layton said above her.

  “His throat is ripped open,” she said while reaching toward her father, only to jerk her hand back.

  “The police are on their way,” Layton said. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t think. She could only look at the man standing above her. The man that she had fallen for. The man that murdered her father in cold blood. She would never forgive him.

  Thirteen

  THE EMOTIONS ON GIA’S face gutted Layton. He didn’t like seeing her in such pain, but he wasn’t lying when he told her he hadn’t killed her father. He knew it made him look guilty just by being there before her, but there was an explanation for his presence. He had entered her house looking for her and had stumbled upon the body of her father. When he’d first arrived, the man was bleeding out. Layton’s hands became soaked in blood only because he was trying to stop the bleeding. It wasn’t long before her father was taking his last breath. When he knew the man was dead, he immediately called the police and had intended on waiting for them to arrive. He never expected for Gia to show up before the police got there. She refused to believe that he had nothing to do with the crime and if the tables turned, he could see why she would think that way. He was a consumer of blood.

  “Gia, talk to me,” he crouched down next to her, hoping she would say something.

  “I fucking hate you!” she gave him a shove, not moving him in the slightest. Before he could say anything else, he heard the police entering the home. Two officers walked into the kitchen with their eyes darting from the body to Layton.

  “Who found the body?” One officer asked.

  “I did,” Layton stepped closer to the men.

  “It’s not just a body. It’s my dad.” Gia whispered.

  “I came in and found him like this, I tried to help but the bleeding wouldn’t cease,” Layton explained. The men looked at each other.

  “I think you need to come down to the station with us.” They both had their hands on their service weapons. Layton knew to cooperate because as of late, the police had loaded their guns with wooden bullets. One shot from them and he would be no more.

  “Of course, anyway I can help.” Layton let them escort him from the house. He hated leaving Gia behind, but the choice wasn’t his at that moment. Hopefully, he could sort things out at the station and be back with her before dawn came.

  ***

  “Why would he do something like that?” Gia sat on her front steps with Zach by her side. She’d called him as they loaded her father into a van, headed for the morgue.

  “They’re unpredictable.”

  “I feel so stupid for trusting him.” Gia leaned her head on Zach’s shoulder.

  “It’s not too late to change your mind.”

  “About what?” she lifted her head and wiped her eyes.

  “Joining us. Dahlia told you about vamps going crazy and killing humans. You saw that first-hand tonight.” Zach stood. “That fucker will rot in hell for what he did to dad.”

  “I don’t know if
I want to join anything. I want to stay away from vampires all together.”

  “That’s not possible, G. You’re half of one. You can either go on believing they wear a halo, or you can help us keep humans safe.”

  “What if it wasn’t him, though?” she looked up at Zach.

  “Come on, be realistic here. You walked in, the fuckface’s hands had dad’s blood all over them and his throat torn out. Does that sound like anything other than the work of a vamp?”

  “I guess not,” she answered.

  “I know you try to see the best in people, but there are no good vamps.” She was thinking that her brother was right. Everything led her to believe that Layton killed her father. The evidence was ironclad and if a judge found him guilty, he would be executed immediately. There weren’t any lengthy stints on death row for vamps, just a quick trip to a room with a stake to the heart. If he murdered her father, he deserved what was coming. Gia couldn’t make herself feel sorry for him either. The moment she saw the blood on his hands was the moment her opinion of him changed. He had taken something precious from her and there wasn’t a way to get it back. So many questions swirled around in her head but Gia couldn’t find the strength to ask any of them. She knew Zach wanted her on board with his plans, but deep down, she didn’t think she could be so cruel as to kill vampires in cold blood.

  ***

  Layton sat in a cell at the local police station. Due process for his kind was swift and there was a good chance he would be dead by the next evening. The humans didn’t want to believe that a vampire didn’t commit a crime, so they dispensed justice in the most unjust way possible. There was no point in trying to escape either. The bars of his cell were solid silver. Just like Superman with Kryptonite, Silver was an Achilles heel for vampires. When it touched the skin, it seared into the flesh and gave the odor of rancid meat.

  “Hey vamp, you’ve got a visitor,” a uniformed man tapped on his cell door with a set of keys. Layton figured it was Astrid coming to see what had happened. She would more than likely be in a tizzy, wondering how she would survive without her brother to help her. But Layton couldn’t bring himself to feel bad for her. She would have to make due once they shoved that piece of wood into his heart. With his head down, he let the officer lead him to a room with only two chairs and a table in the middle of it. He sat in one and waited for his sister to come in. When the door swung open, he looked up and surprise painted his face.

  “Gia,” he whispered, the sound carrying in the hollow room. She sat down across the table and folded her arms over her chest. Even with the dark circles and puffy eyes, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

  “Layton,” she said.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I need the truth,” she plopped down in the chair across from him.

  “I didn’t kill your dad, Gia.”

  “How am I supposed to believe you? I found you at my house with my father’s blood all over you.”

  “Trust me. I would never tell you something that was untrue. At this point, all I have is my word.” He defended.

  Layton watched her eyes dart around the small room, then connect with his. “They want me to testify against you,” she whispered. Her hand reached across the cool table.

  “You have every right to do so,” he reached forward and entwined his fingers with hers.

  “I can’t,” she said softly as tears began running down her cheeks.

  He leaned forward, using his thumb to wipe away the liquid from her face. “You are a human and I am a vampire. In what world did we think this would work out?” Saying those words were like getting a stake in his heart.

  “Please don’t say things like that.”

  “Why?”

  She pulled her hand back and sat it in her lap with her other one. “Because you know as well as I do, I can’t just walk away from you.”

  “I’m afraid you will have to.”

  “No. I’m not doing it.” She stood, facing the door.

  “You will be ridiculed for defending me.” He knew how it was. If a human took the side of a vamp, they were shunned and sometimes forced to leave town.

  “Then let them do what they want. I can’t explain what I’m feeling when I’m with you, Layton. I know what you are and I know what you’re capable of. Even so, I don’t care. I won’t testify and chance losing you.”

  Silence stretched in the room while a question kept coming to the forefront in Layton’s mind. It was a question he never thought he would ask anyone, but he needed to know the answer from Gia.

  “I want you to do something for me if I get out of here,” his hands began to tremble.

  Gia turned toward him and asked, “What’s that?”

  “I want you to marry me.”

  TO BE CONTINUED…

  Taylor Dawn

  International Bestselling Author Taylor Dawn began writing as an item to check off her bucket list. She resides in the southernmost part of Illinois, right on the mighty Mississippi river. She enjoys the quiet country life with her husband, son and the many farm animals that make up the rest of the family. Deciding that farm life was just a little too mundane, Taylor began writing romance and fantasy to liven things up, so far so good. Before starting her writing career, Taylor entered the field of cosmetology. When she isn't writing, she can usually be found sitting around a table making people laugh. She has always wanted to be a standup comic. She loves pulling practical jokes, dresses up in a costume every Halloween and believes that dancing is the key to a happy life (even if you aren't a good dancer). She believes that life shouldn't be taken too seriously, we will never get out alive anyway. More than anything, she is a kid at heart, she doesn't believe in bedtimes, eating everything on her plate, or having ice cream only for dessert. Her favorite quote is by Dr. Seuss..."Why fit in, when you were born to stand out." You can find Taylor at taylordawnauthor.com

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