Bait

by Kasi Blake

  Nick’s nerves were on red alert the next day. When the doorbell finally rang, he raced to answer it. Bay-Lee stood on the other side of the door in a light baby blue jacket. The temperature had cooled slightly. Rain was starting to fall, big drops pelting the ground in a steady downpour. Her hair hung in damp tendrils. She smiled at him, and his heart beat harder. He wanted to kiss her, but he held the urge in check. Welcoming her with a smile, he pulled her inside the brightly lit foyer and helped her remove her jacket before tossing it to a nearby chair.

  She spoke. “Van wants to see me in his office, but since I’d already promised you a visit, I sent him a message instead. I’ll see him later.”

  A chill of apprehension caught him off guard. So Van had decided to tell her the truth after all. Nick could beat him to it, tell her now, but he had other things on his mind. Taking her hand, he led her to the parlor where a roaring fire shimmered in the hearth. “Warm yourself,” he said.

  He stood in the center of the room while she went to the gray stone fireplace. She held her hands out to the flames, rubbing them together before looking at him, uncertain. Could she sense his dark mood? Her movements were graceful, a testament to her childhood ballet lessons. No way was he going to lose her. Somehow he would find a way to salvage the situation.

  “Van is just worried about you,” he said. “I was planning to visit him after talking to you anyway, so I’ll let him know you’re doing fine. You don’t have to meet with him today. I’m sure you have other things to do.”

  Her soft brown eyes studied his face, and curiosity sparked to life in them. “Why do I get the feeling you want to talk about something specific.”

  “You have good instincts. Sit with me.”

  Nick took a seat on the rug in front of the fireplace while Bay-Lee stared at him in wonder. Her gaze flickered to a chair before she followed his lead and dropped to her knees on the floor. “This is kind of romantic.”

  “You were right when you told me we can’t make it work if we don’t trust each other. I’m ready to tell you about my past. We can start with my family and the prophecy.”

  Bay-Lee didn’t say a word, but her eyes spoke to him. This is what she’d so desperately wanted, complete disclosure. Maybe she was afraid to speak in case she somehow messed things up.

  He watched the dancing flames lick at the roof of the hearth as his mind traveled back in time. In seconds he was there, lost in the past. “I was ten when everything changed. Up until then I had a family, a mother and father and a brother. We were the kind of family that did things together. It’s kind of funny when you think about it. Our togetherness destroyed us.

  “Mike was already my best friend. He lived down the block from us so my parents invited him along that day. There were five of us in the car, and the ride there was fun with singing silly songs and playing License Plate Bingo. I remember us splitting up for a while at the carnival. My dad wanted to win my mom a stuffed bear. Alec, Mike, and I wanted to enjoy the rides. We were walking around, laughing and talking when all of a sudden a fortune teller pointed her finger at me and shouted the prophecy for everyone to hear. She looked crazy, and for a second I thought it was some sort of show she was putting on for everyone. Then I saw the color drain from my mother’s face and the way my dad’s fists clenched.”

  Bay-Lee shivered. “What exactly did she say? Do you remember?”

  “I’ll never forget.” He swallowed his emotions and spoke in monotone without a shred of feeling. “She pointed at me and screamed, ‘You! You are the one who will destroy the world, the dark one who will open the doorway and unleash hell upon us all. It is your love for Van Helsing’s daughter that will be the catalyst of your fall. I know when you first meet her, you will have the best of intentions, but she will make a mistake that turns you into a monster.’”

  Bay-Lee went pale. “Me? She blamed me for it?”

  “There’s more. Her voice softened as she said, ‘But there is a second potential future that I see. If Van Helsing’s daughter is clever, she will kill you before it begins. Let us pray for that. Yes, let us pray.’”

  “Kill you?” Bay-Lee looked appalled. “I would never…”

  He nodded in agreement. “I know.”

  “Nothing is going to happen anyway. I am not Van’s daughter so the fortune teller was wrong. You aren’t going to turn evil, because you fell in love with me instead of Avery.”

  The truth rested on the tip of his tongue, and he wanted to tell her but couldn’t. If he didn’t tell her soon, there was a chance Van would. In an act of desperation he leaned in and kissed her on the mouth. A soft gasp parted her lips. He kissed her again, slower this time. Her hands grasped his shoulders. She kissed him back with a sweet intensity that shot him over the moon. Her fingers delved beneath the hair at the back of his neck, and her sweet touch sent a shiver through him.

  She broke the kiss off and said, “Finish your story.”

  After clearing his throat he continued. “I was only ten so the significance of what had happened was lost on me. The prophecy would have died that same night if my parents hadn’t been standing there, memorizing every word. It was all over for me. They dragged us home and told us to go to bed. My father called Van and gave him the news. Days went by without anything odd happening, and I totally forgot about the incident. Then my parents brought me here to Van’s school, to the boardroom, and they argued over what to do about me.

  “A few people were outspoken about wanting to kill me. It took a while for me to understand they were serious. My parents folded to the majority and voted to have my life terminated, as they put it. Van was the only hold out. He stood up and they stopped arguing. I owe my life to the fact everyone is in awe of him. He insisted that killing me for something I might do was ridiculous. Then he compared them to the monsters from the Realm, saying only monsters kill children.”

  “Did you move in with Van after the board meeting?”

  “Yeah.” He took a second to swallow the overwhelming emotions threatening to break through his calm surface. “I never saw my home again. Van walked me here to the castle, hand on my shoulder, and gave me a room. My parents packed my belongings at home and sent them to me. I never saw them again.”

  “That’s horrible.” Bay-Lee bounced to her feet, clearly agitated. Using her arms to emphasize how angry she was about the way he’d been treated, she flung them around as she spoke. “How could anybody just leave their child like that? I think Van called it when he compared them to monsters. I’d love to meet them long enough to give them a piece of my mind. Those cowards! How could they possibly not know you well enough to know you’re incapable of being evil. I don’t care what happens. I know you, and you’d never do anything to hurt one single person, let alone the entire world.”

  His eyes misted over. Feeling humbled by her strong defense of him, he slowly rose to his feet and locked gazes with her. His hands cupped her face, gentle. “Thank you,” he said. “I was afraid to tell you before because I wasn’t sure how you’d react to the news. I should have known you’d understand. You have a big heart, and I don’t deserve you.”

  She blushed, and her gaze drifted to the side. He’d embarrassed her. His hands slid down her arms. He placed a quick kiss on her cheek before reaching a hand into his pocket. “I have something for you,” he said. “It’s not a big deal, just something I made.”

  He opened his hand. Resting on his palm was a leather bracelet. He’d made her a twisted leather band to match the one on his wrist. There were seven strips of leather braided together at various points. She held out her arm, and he tied it around her wrist.

  “I love it,” she said, smiling up at him. “Thank you.”

  He shoved his hands deep into his pockets for a second time. It was his turn to experience the burn of embarrassment. The bracelet was only half of her surprise. He was going to make leaving him
as impossible for her as he could. “I wrote you a song,” he said. “Follow me.”

  He led her down the magnificent hallway to the room she’d caught him playing the piano in following Tessa’s death. After he made sure she was comfortable on the end of the cream colored sectional, he went to the piano. During his life as a rock singer he’d performed for millions of people without an ounce of nerves. This was different. Doing the song he’d written for her had his hands sweaty and clammy. He wiped them on his jeans before sitting on the provided bench.

  Something hard lodged in his throat. He cleared it several times while cracking his knuckles. His gaze drifted to the wet bar, wishing he’d had a shot of whiskey earlier. Too bad he hadn’t thought of that before her arrival. He didn’t want Bay-Lee to see him drink. He cleared his throat again. “Uh, I wrote this for you last night. Hope you like it.”

  His fingers caressed the keys. This was a soft song, a slow melody to carry them from boyfriend-girlfriend status to where he wanted them to be, a mutually exclusive committed relationship. He wanted to lock her in as the greatest love of his life. Using a lower register than usual, he sang.

  When you walk away,

  I don’t know what to say.

  Feels like an illusion. He dragged the last word out nice and slow.

  Then he half-sang, half-spoke the next line in a low, sexy voice.

  Baby, are you real?

  The music started over at square one.

  I’m not a good man.

  You got to understand,

  I have a bad rep-u-ta-tion.

  Baby, do you care?