“He looks even hotter now doesn’t he?” Onyx yelled at Sienna over the Techno music. I cringed slightly. Onyx was her own island and you had to know her to understand where she was coming from. She was blunt, crass and honest. I loved her.
I peaked over at Sienna to gauge her reaction. I think I slipped down the love slope when she smiled. Wide.
“I think so too.” She held her hand out. “Sienna. Pleasure to meet you.”
Onyx looked down at her hand and I hesitated. She didn’t do the touchy feely thing. With anyone.
“I’m not into hand shaking, no offense. Cool to see Mr. Sparky here with a date. It’s a very rare occasion, isn’t it Cade?”
I rolled my eyes. Cade’s snarky comments weren’t what I needed right now. He must have seen the warning in my scowl because he shut that big trap of his but the twinkle in his eyes promised future torment.
“I think I’ll pass on making any comment at this time. Onyx, can you keep Sienna here company while I speak with my bro?”
“Sure deal.”
I kissed Sienna at the temple then followed Cade over to an alcove where she was still visible.
“Stop freaking. She’s being watched from every direction.”
“Where the fuck is he?”
Cade looked past my shoulder. “Right next to her.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Don’t even fuck with me like that right now…” The bitching session came to a screeching halt when Cade didn’t bust out laughing at the absurdity of his comment. My gut clenched and my vision blurred with anger.
“Chill the fuck out, Jax. This is what we wanted, to draw the bastard out. If he so much as raises his pinky we have five darts aimed at him. He will go down like a stone. Trust me.”
It took everything in me to regulate my breathing and allow the Sonofabitch to take up space next to Sienna. Thankfully she was facing the other way.
“Tell me Onyx knows. At least that female can rip his balls out before he decides to get close and personal”
Cade laughed low. “Oh believe me. She has him in her sights. Now, we are going to sit here like good little boys and pretend we don’t know jack shit. In the next few minutes, our pal is going to get a visit and take a joy ride out to the side of the building for a Q & A session with yours truly.”
I gaped at him. “You are seriously losing your mind if you think I am going to just sit here like a pussy while you rough this guy up.”
“It’s better this way…”
“Fuck that. End of story.” I was done with the Cade show. This guy was sitting next to my female yacking it up while we argued over who was going to start the beat down.
“Fine.” Cade conceded moodily. He spoke into his cellular and within seconds there was a loose circle around our crank caller. Cade and I exited one of the side doors and waited for our guest.
What I saw coming toward me was a ghost from my past. His smile was sardonic; his blue eyes ice cold with a Clairvoyant’s self-assurance. He already knew this would go down and precisely how.
“I can’t say it’s a pleasure to see you again, Brother.”
His tone was seriously irking the shit out of me. I scanned the area. Nothing.
“Dagen. Last time I checked my family tree there was one brother and he’s nothing like your sorry ass.”
“You two know each other?” Cade asked.
Dagen smirked. “I am wounded. Don’t tell me your family was unaware of your pending mating to my sister?”
“Jax, you honestly need to catch me up here.” Cade admonished.
Dagen stepped forward and so did the five vampires behind him. I held up my hand, allowing him to move unhindered
“Let me do the honors.” He bypassed me and spoke directly to Cade. “Your brother took my sister’s virtue then refused to marry her. She committed suicide a week later. I brought the matter up to the Counsel and they refused to punish him.”
I looked down for a moment, regret still heavy in my heart. Julia was mentally unstable when she took her life. While the deed was not my fault, I still felt responsible.
“Dagen, I wasn’t your sister’s first lover, nor were we ever going to be mated. You know damn well she wasn’t right.”
His eyes narrowed. “You fucking bastard. My sister is dead because of you!”
“Okay now that we have it all out in the open, do you seriously want to take us on?” Cade asked, looking around at Dagen’s odds.
The way he smiled had me thinking there was much more to this story. He wouldn’t present himself on my turf alone. Someone was backing him and by the tension buzzing in the air, it wasn’t good.
Within seconds Insurgents filled the tight space. At least a dozen came at us with one posted at the mouth of the alley, compelling nosey bystanders to keep walking.
Thankfully, they weren’t all seasoned warriors. Cade was dealing with three, swinging them around like rag dolls. There wasn’t much an Elemental could do in a confined space but a Shifter could do some serious damage. Cade got with the program and took his wolf form, tearing into one Insurgents neck before tossing the other into a brick wall. I kept my form and went head to head with two of the black eyed fiends.
Eye color was one of their identifiers. It faded with time once they joined the other side, turning as dark as their souls. The downside, you didn’t know their special power until it hit you square in the face, literally.
These two had a little more experience under their belt. I had a few belts of my own, of the black variety. I spun out in a roundhouse kick that sent blondie flying while nailing his partner in the jewels. He squealed like a pig and hit the ground in the fetal position, giving me time to rip a couple heads off and toss them like bowling balls.
Dagen was nowhere to be seen. Fucking coward. The others were holding their own, finishing up what was a hands down win for the Legion. This was a classic Insurgent ambush which meant small areas, large numbers. Bastards knew they would get a beat down one to one. Most fighters on both sides were Shifters or Elementals. The Clairvoyants weren’t typically placed in battle, used instead for their crystal ball services.
Headless bodies lay scattered. Milo, the mental Elemental, as I lovingly named him, was clearing the mess by incinerating the remains.
“Jax?”
That voice stopped me in my tracks. I turned to see Sienna huddled by the door, her eyes wide with shock, Ronnie was right behind her. With the unexpected chaos, the bouncer watching that fucking door had been forced to jump into action. I wanted her to learn the truth tonight, but not this way. Shit.
I took a step toward her. She stopped me with her hand, and then crumpled to the floor.
Sienna
Something warned me to keep my eyes shut because what waited on the other side was incomprehensible. Stupid curiosity won and I pushed my heavy lids open. Jax’s blurry face was the first thing in my line of vision, his beautiful amber eyes full of worry. I sat up holding my head in both hands. The headache felt like a hundred shards of glass where poking at me. I reached for him when really, I should be running in the other direction. He took my hands and remained silent, his eyes willing me to speak. I was in a plush office with leather furnishings. A huge desk dominated the corner. Beyond the richly wallpapered walls, the sound of music was muted. Were we still at the club?
“Where am I?”
He squeezed my hands. “We’re still at the club.” He made a circular motion with his index finger. “Sound proof,” he answered, sitting next to me on the couch.
I nodded in understanding and wiped at the smudge of blood at his temple. He looked down at my hands, held securely in his.
“Sienna…”
“Whatever it is, just tell me. I think I saw enough to know.” A bunch of fiends tearing each other apart, bodies shifting into animals and some humans sporting fangs. Jax struggled to begin. I had to give him credit for plunging in with the hard facts.
“We are a species known to you as Vampires, Vampri
to us, born with special abilities, not made. At the age of fifteen we develop our true power which is given to us by one of our parents. There are three powers; Shifter, Clairvoyant and Elemental, each have a specific power. Take the shifter, for example, they are denoted by an amber eye color and have the ability to shift into wolf or raptor.”
My expression stopped him. I remembered the beautiful black wolf with the amber eyes back at his place. Holy shit….
“I saw you in your wolf form. That was you.” I touched his eyes, the same brilliant shade the wolf had gazed at me with.
“Yes.” He confirmed. “We crave the Run. That’s why I live close to the woods verses the city. You’ll find most Clairvoyants prefer it here.”
I crinkled my eyes in confusion. “Clairvoyant?”
“They have the ability to see glimpses of the future and have very strong premonition. Their eye color is a very light blue.”
I paled even further. “Oh my God, the man at my apartment building.” Jax got right in my face, his features harsh.
“What man? Did someone follow you?”
I nodded. “The other night, there was a man, his eyes were just as you described, almost eerie. They caught my attention. I pretended to look for something in my purse so he’d pass me, which he did. He continued down the hall and disappeared. I never saw him again.”
“Damn it.”
I discerned this wasn’t even the half of it. I was sitting here with a real live vampire who I had slept with. A thought popped into my head and it was all so clear now.
“That night we met and you brought me to your place, we kissed and you pulled away from me. Was it because...”
He looked ashamed, his gaze falling to the tiled floor. I reached out and grasped him by the chin. “Hey, don’t. You had the strength to pull away. Keeping me safe was more important than your basic instincts.” I heard myself speak and couldn’t believe I was actually having this conversation. I was thanking a vampire for not sucking me dry. Wonderful.
His touched my hair, pulling me back from my thoughts. This was Jax. The man who had seduced me with his eyes and made feel more alive than ever before. Okay maybe he had some extra gifts at his disposal but I felt this before the sex. Remembering his voice at my ear that first night made me shiver. Was this reaction real? Had I been compelled to feel this way?
He nodded rigorously. “No, Sienna. What is between us is real. I promise you.”
“Are you in my head?”
“No. Shifters have an uncanny ability to scent your emotions.” His hand fisted in my hair, bringing me closer.
“I would never hurt you. You have to know that.”
And I believed him. It was crazy how much I trusted this man…vampire. It didn’t matter that he was another species or…
“How old are you?” I had the urge to know everything about him, where he was born, did he have any other siblings?
“Are you sure you really want to know?” He smiled.
I persisted. “Yes and then some.”
“Five hundred and twenty-four.”
I gaped at him. He closed my mouth with a forefinger to the chin.
“You’re like a walking talking history book!”
He laughed. “Should I be flattered?”
“I think I should be committed. I seem to be taking this pretty well.”
He stood and his body tensed. Oh no. This didn’t give me a fuzzy warm feeling inside.
“Sienna. There’s more and I’m not sure this part is going to be easy for you.”
I stood too because my nerves demanded it. “What?”
He turned to face me. “You said you never met your father?”
Okay, now I was really confused. Why this question?
“Wouldn’t know him if he crossed me on the street tomorrow.” I threw my hands up. Saying that still hurt. A part of me remained bitter when I contemplated how a father could abandon his own child.
“Did you notice any changes after you turned fifteen? Any sudden illnesses, changes in your senses or appetite?”
Yes! I screamed in my head. My mother had attributed everything to hormones. His eyes narrowed at my silent debate and determination took over. Something inside of me didn’t want him to continue with this line of questions. But he did.
“Do you know what color of eyes represent an Elemental and what their special power entails?”
I nodded, my denial vividly apparent. He squeezed my shoulder gently, keeping me grounded.
“Steel grey. Elementals control the elements. If they’re young or new to their power, it can cause some havoc. Lightening storms, fires and sometimes earthquakes. An Elemental holds the greatest responsibility of our kind for this reason alone. These disasters can be brought on by anger and even passion.”
My mind pulled a rewind on the movie of my life for the past fifteen years. The events playing back astounded me.
Closing arguments are suspended until further notice. A freak tornado ravished the north wing of the courthouse. Judge Thornton was taken to the hospital with a severe concussion…
I remembered the case. Opposing counsel had gotten away with several incidents all pushed under the rug by the judge. I knew he was in cahoots with them. Thornton had been suspected of crooked dealings for several months but no one had been able to pin anything on him. I had been thrown off the case and assigned to another. My only consolation…he had been nailed with enough evidence to keep him in jail for several years a month later.
There had been several other incidents; Johnny Sullivan flying out of his Nikes when he got too close and personal my freshman year of college. How about when Merna Jakes, the dorm bitch, had her term paper catch on fire when she had been bullying my best friend? Things like this had happened around me all the time and it was only when I was extremely angry or frightened. The day my mother had confessed she was leaving the country with jerko it had hailed on a bright sunny day in the middle of July.
“I see the chips are falling into place?” He asked.
I blinked, bringing my eyes to his.
“Our…ah…activities almost ripped the state in half the other day.” He whispered.
I gaped again. The mini earthquake! It happened while we were…Oh my God! I sat down. Hard.
“Let me get you some water.”
I watched in numb silence as Jax walked into another room, coming back seconds later with a tall glass. The minute he placed it in my trembling hand, the liquid stared to boil. I glanced up at him quickly; fear and anxiety causing steam to rise. He made to take it from me but I stopped him. Centering my thoughts, I took a deep breath and willed my jumpy nerves to calm.
The water settled in the glass, cooling back to its original temperature. When I opened my eyes Jax was in awe. He squatted in front of me, his gaze darting from the glass to my face.
“You’re extremely strong for a hybrid.”
I pulled back. “What the hell is that?”
“It’s what you are, a mix between human and vampire. It explains why some of your powers are more developed than others and why you can survive without consuming blood.”
I guess that explains the wicked flu I got when I turned fifteen. All the weird stuff had started after. I was able to get rid of my glasses, vision was more than perfect. My appetite changed completely. I barely ate and my extra charcoal well done steak fetish went to barely dead meat oozing blood. It had all been blamed on hormones.
“What other powers are we talking about here?” I cringed as I asked.
“The usual vampire stuff you’ve heard about; strength, speed, keen senses, compulsion. We can consume regular food but it’s not necessary. The whole sunlight restriction starts to fade after about two centuries.”
I gaped at him. “That’s right. You were in my apartment in the middle of the day.”
He smiled. “Being old isn’t so bad.”
A part of me was actually relieved. At least now I knew the purpose, far-fetched as it was. The pain of n
ot knowing my father was more poignant. Now more than ever, I needed him. I wanted answers.
“I need to call my mother. She has to know something. She….”
He clasped my face in both of his strong hands. “Sienna, you aren’t alone in this. I am right here.”
The warmth in his touch comforted me but I was so lost and confused. How could this be happening? I swore I was going to wake up and get a good laugh any time now. Then Cade and Onyx walked in and the enormity of the situation grew. I looked at Onyx’s steely grey gaze so like my own and I knew. She was just like me.
Her permanent grimace fell and the side of her mouth quirked up. “Welcome to the club, Sienna.”
I watched her walk over to the bar and take a swig of bourbon. Her Goth style suited her personality as much as the black leather pants molding her tight body. I liked her. Onyx was honest and no nonsense. I could respect that. It was better than the fake bullshit I was constantly surrounded with. Even my life was one big lie.
How could my mother keep something like this from me? I never considered her much of a parent anyway. Reserved to the point of selfishness, growing up had happened without her help. Her best friends were a pack of Marlboro lights and a glass of wine. I remember her sitting out by the pool for hours while I did homework, zapped my dinner in the microwave and then put myself to bed without so much as a good night kiss from her. I looked nothing like her except for my hair color, which at times I detested.
Digging myself out of my lonely pity party, I managed a tight smile.
“I can’t say I’m glad to be here. You understand?”
Jax stood and strode toward his brother, giving us some space. Onyx handed me a shot and sat down next to me. “It is what it is. Just a matter of learning and adapting. We’re all given shit to deal with in this fucked up life. It’s how you deal that will determine whether you survive. Questions?”
I threw the shot back. How was I supposed to respond to that?
CHAPTER NINE
Three shots later, I loosened up and was ready to talk. Onyx sat by me, patiently waiting for me to get a grip. I glanced at Jax who was pacing and running his hands through his hair. Another bouncer entered, his eyes the same color as Jax and Cade’s. Jax spoke to him quietly but by the facial expressions, it wasn’t a pleasant conversation.
A Vampire's Touch (The Red Velvet Trilogy) Page 6
