by Fall, Carly
Truly. He was a true cocksucking bastard. A scared cocksucking bastard.
At the dinner table, he remained silent and tracked the conversation between Holly and anyone else who spoke more than "pass the salt" to her. The boys told her they wanted to show her their new fort/tree house. Holly was very enthusiastic about the outing, which made Aiden nervous. A lot could happen out in the woods. Bears. Snakes. Dormant volcanoes coming to life. After the meal, he pulled Hugo aside and asked the male to go with the kids and Holly. Mark, that fucking angel, had been the one to help the boys build the tree house, but he was nowhere to be found. Aiden wanted his boy and Holly protected, and if he wasn’t around to do it, then Hugo would be sufficient. Aiden told himself that Holly had been through a lot, and she didn't need any more danger in her life. She needed safety, and if he couldn't do it, he would make sure someone else did. Aiden brought out a Glock and slipped it to Hugo telling him that if anything seemed off, to shoot first and ask questions later. Hugo nodded, and promised that everyone would come home without so much as a scratch.
Satisfied that his son and Holly were going to be safe on their expedition, Aiden got armed for the evening, hoping like hell that they saw some action. The killer in him was dying to do a dance of death with someone. It was almost like a drug, he mused. Every now and then he needed a really good hit of the shit. Besides, a good battle would take his mind off the pain in his chest that he was beginning to consider was because of Holly. He so didn't need to go there. He didn't need to think about her soft skin, her smile, her laugh, the way her hands smoothed over his back . . .
He pulled on his camouflage jacket over his black t-shirt. He checked the weapons in his underarm holsters again, and then placed a knife at his back and one in the strap on his leg. He cracked his knuckles and circled his neck. Yeah, he was ready to throw down tonight.
Chapter 26
Brandon and Robert insisted on taking Holly to their new fort they had built. As they trudged through the forest, Brandon and Robert leading the way, Holly in the middle, and Hugo bringing up the rear, Holly’s thoughts turned to Aiden, of course. She replayed what Emily had told her about Natalie's death. It helped her understand Aiden a bit better, why he was the way he was. She had a feeling that he had always been cold, but losing Natalie had turned him into a block of ice. Or his heart at least. But for him to say that what they shared was just sex was an outright lie. She had seen the way he cared for her in his eyes. His eyes had been warm, almost glowing with reverence as he looked at her while they made love. She felt sick to her stomach thinking that she had actually fallen in love with a male, one who couldn't love her back. Couldn't or wouldn't? Either way, she definitely got the short end of the stick.
Once they reached the fort, the boys bounded up the ladder, and then into the interior. They both looked out one of the windows and smiled and waved down at her. Then they yelled at her to come up.
She looked up at Hugo. “Do you think that can hold me?”
He smiled and nodded once. “I, however, will stay down here as not to test the theory of gravity.”
She grinned, and went over to the ladder. She climbed in easily, and sat down on the floor with the boys. Since they weren’t much smaller than her, they all fit quite comfortably.
They showed her their special box that contained rocks and pinecones they had collected, as well as what they called their service bucket. The bucket was attached to a rope and was able to be lowered down to the ground. “See, we wouldn’t even have to leave here!” Robert exclaimed. “We could live up here and you guys could bring us food and put it in the bucket and we could just bring it up!”
She reminded him about the sun. Yes, the roof looked pretty sturdy, but those windows would invite in a lot of rays. They weighed their options of blackout curtains, or just boarding up the windows, and decided they would continue to spend their days at Thaddeus’s mountain home.
“Hey, Holly?” Robert asked.
“Yes?”
Robert paused and looked at Brandon. Brandon nodded his head, obviously encouraging his friend to say what he had to say.
Robert looked down that the floor that was covered in carpet. Holly idly wondered where they had gotten the carpet. It wasn’t like anything in the house. With Mark though, or that angel fucker as Aiden called him, from what she understood, it was important to always expect the unexpected.
“So, me and Brandon were talking, and well, I was wondering if you could be my mom. If it's okay with dad.”
She met the wide brown eyes staring back at her, and she was speechless. That didn’t happen often, but this kid had just accomplished it. His mom? How did she explain to him that his dad didn’t want anything to do with her, besides sex? She didn’t.
“Honey,” she said quietly, “I don’t think that will ever happen. Your dad doesn’t like me in the way that could … make me your mom.”
Robert looked down at the floor again.
“My dad likes you tons,” he said, his voice sure. “If he said it was okay, would you be my mom? I've never had one, and Brandon says having a mom is really cool.”
"Most of the time," Brandon said.
"Yeah, most of the time," Robert said, meeting her gaze.
Holly smiled and moved to sit next to him. She put her arm around his shoulder and gave him a squeeze. “I would love to be your mom,” she said quietly, and kissed the top of his head. “But don’t get your hopes up, kid. Your dad doesn’t like me like that.”
The talk turned to the adventures the boys had had in their tree house. They spoke of the creatures of the night they had seen while in there—bats, owls, and raccoons. They were also certain they had seen a Bigfoot. They told Holly that the creature had been far away, but they were sure it had been Bigfoot. Holly asked if perhaps it had been a bear. They acquiesced that perhaps, maybe, it had been a bear standing up on its hind legs. But she did have to admit that a Bigfoot sighting made a much better story than a bear sighting, and she agreed to back them up on it.
An hour later, they climbed down the ladder and headed back to the house. The boys had homework to do, and Holly needed to figure out her next step, how she was going to get away from Aiden. She also needed to feed. She had packed a couple of bags of blood, so she would hook herself up later tonight, just before dawn.
Once they reached the house, Emily herded the boys in for the nightly studies. Hugo went into the kitchen, and Holly went to her room.
Her cell phone rang. It was a number she didn't recognize, and she almost didn't answer. Curiosity got the best of her, and she did.
"Hello, Holly," a deep male voice said, making her blood freeze and goose bumps raise on her skin.
"Who's this?" she said in a low tone. She could hear the fear in her voice.
"Holly, I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to meet the other day. My name is Victor. I was at your house earlier, and I must say, it looks as though there was quite a fight there, with my man on the losing end."
Holly closed her eyes, still unable to speak.
"Your roommate was under the impression the house had been broken into, that there was some type of robbery, not a vampire fight. She got home after the sun destroyed the body and the blood. She's dead, by the way. She was delicious."
Oh my God. Sara dead. No. Tears began to stream down Holly's face. She had caused Sara's death. She should have told the female to leave the house and never return.
"I didn't think you could take out my man. From what your friend Myla tells me, you're a little thing. It doesn't matter who did it, though. I could care less."
The tears continued. He had Myla. Oh Christ, no. Please, no.
"You aren't too chatty tonight, are you Holly? No? Well, let me say this. You are responsible for one death tonight, and it's up to you if you're going to be responsible for two."
He told her to meet him at Walmart in one hour and stand in front of the basketballs in the Sports section. If she wasn't there, by herself, Myla was as good as
dead. If she did show, Myla lived.
"I have associates who will be watching you, little Holly. I will also have associates who will be with Myla and won't think twice about putting a bullet in her head if you aren't there alone. Do you understand me?"
"Yes," she said, barely able to make the word leave her throat.
"Good. See you soon."
Holly hung up the phone and sat on the bed shaking. He had Myla. Whoever this Victor guy was had killed Sara. He was the one who had sent that male to get her for breeding. If she went to Walmart, she would become a baby maker. The thought made her skin crawl and her stomach heave.
But she couldn't be responsible for Myla's death. Myla had been her friend for too long, they had been through too much together.
Holly's mind traveled back to the orphanage where she had met Myla.
Myla had been just a couple years older than her. Holly's first recollection of Myla was in the cafeteria when Holly was around seven. Some of the other kids were teasing her about being so tall, and Holly had felt bad for her. Holly inserted herself between Myla and the other kids and had given them a piece of her mind. The kids eventually backed down, and Myla and Holly became fast friends.
For some reason, perhaps because she was so smart, or tall for a female, or maybe because she wore glasses, Myla had become the go-to girl for kids to pick on. Holly had always been there to defend her friend and to put herself in between Myla and everyone else. Looking back, it had been almost comical as Holly had been, and still was so small. But, she did have a big mouth that ran efficiently, and that was her weapon. Myla referred to Holly as her pit bull.
They had remained friends for many, many years. When word had come down from The Council years ago that they were considering rounding up the females for a breeding program and offering up a reward to those outside of the Dark Forces that could bring them a female, it became clear that Myla and Holly would be better off separated. Together, they were too big of a target.
They had discussed how they would feed, what would downgrade their special scents as female vampires. They wouldn't tell each other where they were going, but came up with a code if there was a time that they could get back in touch with each other.
Holly took a deep breath and steeled her spine. She needed to consider all of her options. She needed to look at this from every angle. She checked her watch and knew that she would have to do it quickly.
Her first thought was to call Aiden. That whole “it's just sex” thing still burned bad, but she knew he would also come running if she were in distress. He had killed for her once, and she had no doubt that he would do it again. But what about Victor saying that he would kill Myla if he realized she wasn't alone? She stood up and began to pace the length of the room, her thoughts swirling.
She considered her situation for a few minutes, and realized that Victor claiming he would have associates watching her was a chance that she would have to take. She was certain that Aiden was a master at disappearing into the shadows.
She took a deep breath, and hit SEND. It went straight to voice mail.
She thought about approaching Cyril, but he seemed more content behind his computer than out in the night with a gun. She knew he would go with her, but he wasn't as lethal as Aiden. She already had Sara's death on her shoulders, and maybe Myla's as well, and she wasn't about to put Cy's up there too. She tried to call Aiden again, and was sent right to voice mail. She wished she had Thaddeus's phone number, but she couldn't come up with an excuse to get it from Emily. The fewer people that knew about her predicament, the better off they all were. She wouldn't risk any more lives. She knew in her heart that it was only Aiden who could get her out of this. And if she didn't leave soon, there was the possibility that she would have Myla's blood on her hands as well. That, she simply couldn't deal with.
She had to try to save them both, and she put her head in her hands, defeated.
Years ago, she knew in her heart that when the members of The Council wanted to gather up the females of the race and make them produce babies that she would eventually be in this position. She noted the irony—she was now in a completely safe place, among her own kind, and she had been caught. She had lived out in the open for decades and had hidden in plain sight. She had been smart and done all the things she needed to—got her blood from an IV so that her scent wasn't as strong, kept to herself so she didn't develop any close relationships, took a human job as a nurse. She moved around every five to ten years so no one would question why she didn't age. She kept her eyes open and always looked over her shoulder. But she knew that luck had been on her side as well.
Apparently, Lady Luck had just jumped ship.
Chapter 27
Aiden and Thaddeus arrived back at the house about an hour before dawn. Aiden felt his whole body humming from doing a whole lot of nothing. The streets were annoyingly quiet tonight, which got Aiden’s fur in a dander because he had looked forward to bringing some pain to someone.
He closed his eyes as the garage door went up and Thaddeus pulled the car in. After a night of big fat zeroes, he wanted to spend time with Robert, and if he was honest with himself, he couldn't wait to see Holly either. However, he knew that he had blown his relationship with his "it's just sex" line. He had been replaying the scene like a bad movie in his head all night. God, he was such an ass.
He extracted himself from the car and stepped into the elevator, taking a deep breath and a long exhale. Yeah, he hated an unproductive night, but he was looking forward to seeing his son and Holly. Maybe he could patch things up with her. Find a set nuts and tell her how he really felt about her, and how she scared the living hell out of him. Maybe he would be able to tell her about Natalie.
No, probably not.
That story usually required great amounts of whiskey, and he doubted Holly would want to see him in that condition.
The elevator doors opened and Emily, Hugo, the boys, and Cy all were there to greet them. Aiden looked around as he held Robert close, but he didn’t see Holly. He wasn't surprised. He didn't want to be around himself right now either.
He spent a few minutes listening to the rest of them talk, answering any questions directed at him. Hugo announced he had a wonderful meal ready to consume—a lovely roast beef with broccoli florets, homemade sourdough buns, and a green salad with a homemade garlic and herb dressing. Oh, yes, and of course, a chocolate cake. There was a collective groan of appreciation as everyone moved down the hallway to the dining room. Aiden told Robert he would be down in a minute. He watched as Robert and Brandon trailed behind Emily and Thaddeus, who walked arm in arm. They were led by Hugo and Cy, who chatted about the best websites for chocolate cake recipes.
Aiden went to Holly's room and tentatively knocked on the door. He would apologize to her. At a minimum he had to say he was sorry for bailing out on her. He didn't know if he could go into his feelings about her that wouldn't go away, but maybe one day he would be able to. Tonight, he just needed to apologize for being such a . . . hell . . . just insert your favorite description.
There wasn't an answer, so he went to search for her throughout the rest of the house. He checked the Great Room, the kitchen, the Game Room, as it was now called, the Sitting Room, Central Control, and he ended his search in the Dining Room. Panic flooded his body when he didn't see her in the Dining Room. He ran back to her room and flung the door open. Nothing. When he didn’t see her, he was certain that his heart had stopped. He ran back to the Dining Room and stood in the doorway, rechecking the faces around the table in case his fear had made him blind to her or something stupid like that. He was hoping that it was like when you lost your keys, but they were in your hand or on the counter right in front of you, but you were completely sightless to them.
She simply wasn’t there. As he stood there, he noticed the room got quiet, and all eyes were on him. He cleared his throat.
“Where’s Holly?” he asked weakly. He braced himself to hear that she had left. She had left
him, and his raw soul and his bastard personality and headed for the hills. Which was what he wanted for her anyway. She deserved more than what he could give.
His eyes landed on Emily, who looked like she just saw a ghost. Before answering, Emily looked at the old clock in the corner, and saw that dawn was minutes away. She gasped and looked back at Aiden. “She isn’t back? Are you sure?”
Aiden shut his eyes. He didn’t have the voice to ask exactly where she should have been back from. Apparently Cy did, and voiced the question.
Emily explained that Holly had come to her a couple of hours ago and asked to borrow a car to head to Walmart for some personal items. Holly had insisted on going alone, and Emily didn’t think much of the trip at the time. Walmart was about three miles away, and really, what could happen in three miles?
It was silent for a moment, and Thaddeus stood up and took charge. “Cy, check the police records. See if there has been an accident anywhere between here and Walmart. Hopefully she isn’t in a hospital somewhere.”
“On it,” he said as he walked out of the dining room and headed for Central Control.
“Now go over everything again, Emily,” Thaddeus said gently, sitting down next to her and taking her hand.
Aiden couldn’t move. The thought of something happening to Holly wouldn’t process. If she left on her own volition, that was one thing, but for her to go to the store and not come home? He felt the past rolling up on him like a steam engine that had no breaks. It was the same thing that had happened to Natalie. She had left the house and ended up dead.
Thankfully, Cy interrupted his train of thought. “Aiden, come in here,” Cy called.
Aiden forced the forward motion, deliberately placing one foot in front of the other. As he entered Central Control, he felt the rest of the house trailing behind him. He dropped his ass into the chair next to Cy, pretty sure he wouldn't be able to get up again.
Cy was scrolling through the police records at top speed. “Did a quick search of all police activity for the last four hours. There’s nothing.” He turned to another computer. “Also thought it would be good to hack into the surveillance system at Walmart and see if we can find out anything that way.”
