“Lock your safeties and holster your guns. You have never seen this man. The man that killed your brothers-in-arms has long since been dead. You cannot kill something twice. All right, maybe you can. Semantics. Your work here is done. Return to your precinct and tell of your bravery and triumph,” Donovan instructed the officers.
Ethan watched each man robotically lower his piece. The guns’ safeties clicked, they were holstered and the cops swayed in the light breeze while Donovan knelt beside André.
“Time’s up, my prince. Your destiny has yet to be decided. I can’t believe I’m the one doing this dirty deed,” Donovan whispered as he closed his mouth over André’s neck and drank his life away one devastating drop at a time. Dirty deed or not, Donovan’s groin became rock-hard.
“You’re fucking sick, Donovan. You got hard killing him.”
“Forgive me, Ethan. Did you forget I’m a vampire?”
Finished, Donovan placed André’s lifeless body in the back of the SUV. He walked off to the side of the vehicle and vomited almost every last drop of blood he’d just taken. “No blood bonds, Jules,” he professed before wiping his mouth on his sleeve.
Julian approached him. “You did what you had to do.”
“Is Ethan right? Did I just damn the man?”
“Donovan, do you honestly believe he wanted to die tonight? He just found out he’s having twins. You saved his family from an eternal hell. Thank you for saving my brother-in-law and my best friend.”
“Let us go.” Donovan got into the back seat of the car with André’s body. “What are we doing with Ethan? He can help you now that Xanti has shown his true colors. He’d be insane to go back there and stay with them.”
“He’s tied to Xier. He said it himself. He’s dog food. He’s on his own.”
“Oh—no I’m not. I’m coming with.” Ethan jumped in the front seat of the truck and locked the doors.
“Ethan, locking doors won’t keep the boogie man outside. They come in all shapes and sizes. Get out.”
“Nope. I am as good as dead if I go back to that house.”
“Then you risk all of our lives. Get out. Now!” Julian growled and showed a full set of canines. His grip pierced the steering wheel. Reddish brown fur rippled down the length of what used to be his arm and at the same time his nose elongated into a muzzle. His ears became perky—elf-like in shape and covered with fur.
Donovan suggested, “Ethan, if you have an ounce of self-preservation in your hide, get out of the car now. Julian will finish shifting in ’bout one minute and then you’ll be lying next to André. Allow the family time.” Donovan tapped Julian’s shoulder. “Julian, timing is everything and now sucks. Let’s just get away from here first? Then you can kill him if you must.”
Ethan exploded, “Thanks, Vonnie. Fine! I’m out. You’re on your own, all of you. Good luck warding off the Maestro.”
Ethan jumped from the car and before his feet hit the ground he’d shifted into his wolf. He disappeared between a row of arborvitaes that separated two homes. Looking around he knew he had to return to the Union Avenue home. His future lay beyond the walls. Just what his future held he had no clue, but he had no more control of his life than the planets did rotating around the sun. The woman hidden within the fortress ruled his very stars. The Maestro’s power paled in comparison to this strange tugging at his heart.
Sitting on the back gate of the Alabama training track, he called, “Savanah!” as a hawk soared above him. “What is it you’ve done to me?” Ethan found the track tranquil now, no horses running circles, no trainers snapping whips, just a quiet loneliness he couldn’t shake. Eyes closed he saw those long legs, thick black curls and huge bluish-black eyes and a smile he recognized as trouble when she looked at him. Oh, yes, he thought, we will get into some trouble together.
****
A chain reaction of events began the moment André’s heart stopped. Jovan’s heart followed the same path as her husband’s as did her unborn babies. Olivia was swift to shed her soul and energy and enter Jovan’s body. She set the pace for all three hearts. She’d come to weather the storm, and by the Gods, what a tempest.
Serina coached Savanah, telling her to follow her lead while she cared for Lucian. Savanah, continue to monitor your parents. You can do it.
Auntie, I can’t feel either of my parents. Are they lost to me? Savanah teetered on the hysterical precipice. Not only did she feel orphaned, but betrayed by a man she’d only just met. Despite undeniable feeling for the man, she no longer cared if Ethan lived to see another sunrise, nor would he if her parents didn’t survive. She would personally snuff his last breath.
No, Peanut. You will not lose either of them. My mother has no use for the word defeat.
As if everything that just happened to her wasn’t bad enough, Savanah heard Ethan call her just as clearly as if he’d stood beside her. And she thought she was shaken up a second ago. Savanah walked to the corner of the room, and rested her head on the cold brick wall. She contemplated the idea of banging her head against it to knock out Ethan’s soft, soothing voice. “Ethan, how can I hear you? What is it you’ve done to me?”
Running laps around the track, Ethan’s footing became four left paws, all going in opposite directions, taking him in one direction, down.
Savanah, you and I have no blood ties and yet we can hear each other? This can’t be good. Are you all right?
No, I’m not all right, you moron. My father’s been shot and ravaged by a vamp and my mother’s collapsed.
I’m sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen. If I could’ve helped you I would have.
You just so happen to be the very reason all this has happened. If you didn’t show up here with some asinine excuse none of this would have happened.
You’re right…
No shit, Sherlock. Please…just go away. Savanah sighed.
I can’t.
Don’t stick around on my account. Whatever this thing between us is will fade out in time. It has to because I’m not having anything to do with you no matter… Savanah clammed up. She found no need to inflate his ego and tell him how gorgeous he was or that he made her blood boil or that he made her feel things she’d never experienced just being in the same room with him. From everything she’d just witnessed, his ego had his own personal helium tank to pump him up whenever.
Savanah, you may not have said it, but you thought it. Thank you.
Go to hell, Ethan. Go find another child to kidnap.
Savanah, it’s not like that. I don’t know how to explain it to you to make you understand.
Ethan, I don’t want to understand anything you could possibly say or do. My parents are dying in front of me.
Savanah cut herself off from him, or at least she thought she did. She ignored the voice in her head telling her he was sorry. She ignored her own voice telling her this man had so much more to offer if she’d only give him the chance. Finally, she told herself to shut up.
****
In the tunnels far beneath the home, soft cries crept through the layers of earth and stone. Savanah’s heart fragmented as her uncle carried her father’s limp body into the cool, dimly lit room. This, the pain, consumed her. She’d never felt anything as horrific as seeing the one man she idolized, loved with every ounce of her soul, cherished his smiles, his laughter, his simple silliness, laid out before her, lifeless. No! Not lifeless. She almost bit her tongue for such a negative thought. Transposing, that worked. Three days. She had to keep it together three days. For her mother and her siblings, yet to be born. And deep in the back of her heart for the moron that created all this ruin. Fuck you, Ethan.
Day one was about to turn into three days of ugliness Savanah wasn’t certain any of them could survive and come back whole.
****
After he placed André next to Jovan, Julian’s claws protracted. He pointed to a stranger amongst them. “Who are you? And what are you doing to my sister?” Julian looked to his brother, veng
eance on the tip of his tongue. “Jonah?”
Jonah got between Olivia and Julian. “Jules—before you do or say another word, listen to me. This is Serina’s mother…”
Introduction over. Julian bent and plowed his shoulder into his brother and shoved him across the room to get within inches of the woman.
“I’d hoped I killed you the night Serina hung from the cross. Get away from Jovan and her babies, wicked hag.” Julian ripped Olivia from her chair and slammed her against the brick wall. Following her down to the ground, he found a resting spot on the hollow of Olivia’s throat, and he squeezed until his knuckles burned. Olivia lay there blue, listless.
Jonah and Donovan each grabbed a shoulder in a feeble attempt to pry Julian from her, but Julian heaved both of them aside.
“Uncle, no! Mum will die without her.” Savanah touched Julian’s shoulder.
Julian jerked and lost his footing. He stumbled backwards, and landed squarely on his butt.
Angry words bellowed across the room. “You won’t harm my sister, cowardly crone. I’m going to end your life here and now. I know you killed our mother.”
“No, Uncle! Think of the babies, and Mum, please? You’re like a madman right now.” In her uncle’s eyes, Savanah saw fear for the very first time. She’d never expected that, because he was the man villains always ran from in her nightmares. She knelt, cupped his cheeks and told him in a guarded tone, “I read her. She means no harm.”
Julian stared as Savanah helped him stand. “Are you certain?” He could barely speak. His eyes held moisture he refused to let go.
Savanah nodded. “I wouldn’t have allowed her in otherwise.”
Jonah lifted Olivia from the floor, and gave Julian a wide berth when he brought her back to Jovan’s side.
Olivia looked to Julian. “Am I going to meet yet another hard, immobile surface if I begin?”
Julian ushered out one last thing to her. “Your heart for hers!”
“Julian, you’re bleeding again,” Donovan motioned to Julian’s side.
“What’s a little blood-shed between friends?” he asked, mockery trampling his words.
“This is going to be the most tumultuous three days the lot of us have ever spent together,” Payton mumbled to no one in particular. “We’re going down like flies high on bug juice.”
“It’s my fault, Jonah.” Julian confessed, his voice sounded strange even to him. “If he didn’t come after me, if the stupid bastard had just listened and stay put, none of this would be happening right now.” Julian covered his face from everyone’s curious stare. “I’m so sorry.”
“Jules, if that little shifter Ethan hadn’t shown up here trying to kidnap a spawn of Sinclair, none of this would’ve happened. You take no responsibility for this.” Payton rested his arm around Julian’s shoulders. He looked directly at Olivia, and added, “We don’t call him Grimmy for nothing. You’ll be wise to remember that.
****
Refusing rest until her father rose, Savanah watched over her family. Somehow in the midst of all this, she found a smile, a small lopsided curl of her lips as she watched Molly, Jonah and Payton rest. The sight of them brought back memories of when she was a child. Her toy chest overflowing with dolls and stuffed animals melded into one large clump of tangled arms and legs and body parts just as these three were, oblivious to their surroundings.
Julian had made certain they were armed to the hilts with spear guns that launched wooden stakes at ten per second, crossbows that shot silver-tipped arrows, and Smith and Wessons loaded with both silver and lead, ready for anyone—shifter or not. Savanah eyed her uncle. His bloodshot eyes read better than any book. He too had sat a vigil vowing to protect everyone. His fingers caressed his favorite gun, his own version of a stun gun he’d amplified to the point of ridiculously illegal. He’d dipped two of his four darts in Sodium Pentothal and the remaining two in Versed. Both were anesthetics with different uses. The Pentothal worked as a truth serum. The Versed worked by giving the sucker a mild case of amnesia afterwards, no recollection whatsoever of having been tased, thus getting his ass out of knee-deep trouble. Savanah watched her stealthy uncle slide Donovan’s paintball gun from his grasp as he slept. It took talent to one-up a vamp. The fully automatic Dye DM7 gun was loaded with tiny baubles of concentrated garlic juice and holy water. The gun worked like a charm every time. It reduced snarling vampires to harmless, squashable mosquitoes. Julian aimed the sights of the gun on Olivia’s face, his finger trigger-happy.
“Jules!” Savanah whispered her demeanor fed up.
He just smirked at her then winked. “I got your back, Peanut.”
Chapter Seven
With the subtlest twinge, André stretched his fingers, one at a time. They were stiff, rigor mortis had set in. He attempted to lift his arm, but it was dead weight. His gut clenched and for a brief moment he thought he would vomit, but then a hunger pang like nothing he’d ever experienced or wanted to again, rode him like a cowboy on a bull, gripping him for dear life. His hand snaked across the bed, and with a crushing force, latched on to the first thing he found.
Jovan.
****
“Three hours tops, my saucy little tomato.” Duncan told Molly, “One quick stop at the morgue to pick up blood products for André’s replacement when he comes out of his slumber, and we’re good to go. Serina says a transfusion will hopefully ward off the initial shock of being bloodless. The one thing I’ve learned living with vamps is that they aren’t a fussy bunch. Blood is blood, no matter where it comes from. I mean look at me! Who in their right mind would want a piece of this?” Duncan grinned to his reflection in the rear view mirror. Serina and Lucian burst out laughing. He stuck his tongue out at them. “Other than you, of course, my red-hot momma.” Duncan laughed into his cell phone.
Savanah grabbed the cell from Molly and begged, “Duncan, just this once, drive like me and get home fast?”
“Molly? Savanah? Did one of you get another speeding ticket?” Dial tone!
****
By the time they reached Saratoga, André was wide-awake, and busy battling his own demons as well as everyone in the house. He gnawed Jovan’s wrist open the way a starved animal would ravage his prey, ruthlessly. Feeling a heavy blow in the back of the head, André turned to see Julian wielding the base of a tall, iron floor lamp. As he lifted his arm to defend himself, talons burst out from beneath his fingers and replaced nicely manicured nails.
“What the hell is happening to me,” he screamed in agony and disbelief.
Julian dropped the lamp and took one step toward him. “Ands?”
André unleashed one powerful blow in the center of Julian’s chest. Not a second passed before Julian’s shirt turned a wet crimson color. André watched with a newfound enthusiasm. He rolled his eyes the length of his brother-in-law. His nose twitched like a rabbit, scenting a sweet, coppery aroma.
“Oh shit,” was all Julian said.
“Papa?” Savanah took a step toward him.
André heard the word Papa and started to laugh and like the clutch on his car, he switched gears and began to cry. He stared into his family’s faces and screamed, “Who in hell are you people?”
Savanah clasped her hand over her mouth, shocked at her father’s apparent amnesia. She expected the bloodlust, but not knowing her or her mother was incomprehensible.
“André? It’s me—your wife.” Jovan pointed to Savanah. “This is your daughter.” She pleaded, “Please remember us.”
With André distracted, Jonah and Payton jumped in and tried to wrangle him to the ground, but André spun on them. He grabbed Jonah by the forearms and dropped backwards, bringing Jonah down with him. As he hit the floor, André jammed his foot into Jonah’s groin and pushed up sending Jonah sailing over his head and into the wall. “One down.” André brushed off his hands. With his next breath of air, Andre did a scissor kick and took Payton’s legs out from under him. Payton tumbled to the floor and slammed his head on the edg
e of the coffee table. “Who’s next?” André stood and struck a boxing pose.
“You, Ands.” Julian aimed his taser gun at his brother-in-law.
Jonah protested as he stood, “No, Jules, that thing is inhumane,” and stumbled into the line of fire, intercepting the four darts into his own hide.
For a minute no one moved, spoke or bit anyone.
Jonah turned to Julian, a mixture of pain and disbelief plastered all over his face. He lunged awkwardly to the left and landed on a small winged-back chair in front of the window. His hand automatically went to the darts, trying to pry them from his skin, but his entire body writhed with supercharged volts of electricity. Before he passed out his last words were, “Could someone find my balls?”
Donovan rushed Andre, but André used his forward momentum to his vantage and hoisted Donovan up over his head, across the room, into and then over Julian, ending at the foot of a dresser, breaking a large antique mirror atop it.
****
“Hello, hello!” Duncan shouted, as he shoved open the front door with a foot. “Molly?”
From the second floor landing, Raven stuck her head over the railing and screamed, “Get up here, now. Duncan, Luce—André woke up with a vengeance.” Raven ducked as a chair went sailing past her and over the balcony. The chair shattered only feet from where Duncan stood.
With their next breaths, Serina took the stairs, Elyza cradled to her chest while Lucian and Duncan passed her taking five and six steps at a time. At the end of the hallway they were greeted by an anxious mob of family members.
“Papa’s gone bonkers, Uncle Luce,” Savanah cried. “Auntie, get Elyza out of here. He doesn’t recognize any of us.”
“Lucian, go to your brother now.” Serina started to follow, but hands from every direction grabbed her. “Let go of me,” she protested. “I know what I’m do—” Seeing her mother, her words caught in her throat like insects in a web.
“You are not going in there with that baby?” Olivia’s question to her daughter sounded more like a direct order.
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