Family is Forever

by Stephens, S. C.

  I looked down at Olivia. “It’s rude to interrupt people when they’re talking, Liv.”

  She cringed. “Sorry. Dad gets after me all the time for that. I was just wondering if I needed to cover my eyes or something. You know, if you guys were going to roll around without your clothes on again.”

  Olivia wasn’t being nearly as quiet as I’d been, and I saw Dad’s head snap my way as he heard her. I swallowed. Great. So much for keeping that little piece of information from him. Looking around, I saw that Julian had heard too. His eyes were much too wide and much too amused.

  Before I could answer Liv’s question, or drain her dry for squealing on me, she asked another string of questions—all centered around Jake, Rory, and Cleo. “Who are those three? Do they live here with your Grandpa? Why are they always touching? Are they all married? Can you marry more than one person? I didn’t think so, but my friend Mary says a lot of people around here have more than one spouse. Is that true?”

  I had a headache just listening to her. Julian was laughing at this point, and Ben finally caught on to the fact that his daughter was intruding on personal boundaries again. With my hands raised, I stepped away from her. And into Jake. He’d stood from the bench, and I’d backed right into him. Rory and Cleo immediately jerked him away from me as I spun around in surprise. Jake gave me a disarming smile. “Didn’t mean to spook you, just stretching my legs.”

  Hunter was in front of me in a flash. “Not a problem,” he evenly said.

  Jake narrowed his eyes at Hunter. I had a feeling that even though this entire idea had been Dad’s to begin with, Hunter was number one on Jake’s hit list. Jake glanced at me, his face twisted in disgust. “Isn’t she a little young for you? For the life you’ve given her? She’s just a child…might as well turn the chatty one next.”

  Sensing that inappropriate things were going to be mentioned, Ben hurried Olivia into the house. Before she vanished, I heard her ask, “What does he mean by turn? Do you think I’m chatty?”

  Hunter glanced at Trey, but he wasn’t paying attention to us. A swarm of gnats around one of the torches had him mesmerized. Ashley was distracting Christian by showing him a flower garden along the side of the house. Nobody not in the loop was listening. “I did it to save her life,” Hunter said. “My only other choice was to let her die.”

  Jake snorted. “In case you hadn’t noticed, vampire, she is dead.”

  I lifted my chin. “My body, not my soul.”

  Jake narrowed his eyes. “That’s debatable. You are keeping me prisoner after all.”

  Dad stepped up to our group. “You’re a guest, not a prisoner.”

  Jake snapped his eyes to Dad’s. “Guests get to leave, and they aren’t manhandled every second of every day.” He lifted his arms for emphasis. I could see the bruises beginning to form from where Rory and Cleo had been clutching him all night. Dad saw it too. To them, he said, “Let him go.” The pair were reluctant, but they eventually dropped Jake. He rubbed his arms. “Thanks. I guess I’ll be on my way then.”

  Hunter put a hand on his shoulder. “You can’t leave yet. I’m sorry, but this is the only way.”

  Jake clenched his jaw. “I can’t stay. I have…” he snapped his mouth shut, and bit back whatever he’d been going to say. Instead, he locked eyes with Hunter and murmured, “Like I said, prisoner. And if it’s all right with my warden, I’d like to go back to my room.”

  Hunter glanced at Dad, who nodded once. To Rory, Hunter said, “Take him back.”

  While Rory led him away, Jake smirked and told Hunter, “Better give her what she wants, demon…since you made her.”

  I ground my teeth to stop the angry retort from escaping my lips. The only comeback I had was shut up, and that really wasn’t impressive enough to say. While I fumed, Trey came up and slung a hand over my shoulder. “What’s going on, Little A? And who’s the grumpy dude the blockhead’s taking away? He drunk or something?”

  Looking over my shoulder, I shrugged away from Trey’s affection. “Yeah…or something.”

  Trey nodded. Clearly not liking Trey being so friendly with me, Hunter pulled me into his side. He had a sneer on his face, and I almost thought a possessive growl was going to escape his lips. That confrontation with Jake had put him on edge. Really, the entire evening had. Trey frowned at Hunter. He still didn’t much care for my boyfriend, since Hunter had broken my heart not too long ago. There had been good reason for the pain, and we were past it now, but I would never be able to convince Trey to forgive Hunter unless I compelled him to do it, and I didn’t want to use my powers that way.

  Ignoring Hunter, Trey said, “So, Nika…what is it you want that only demon-boy here can give you?”

  I cringed that he’d heard that, and was positive Hunter had a new nickname now. My dad crossed his arms over his chest. “I think this party is just about over.”

  Alanna and Imogen insisted we open our presents before we left, so Dad wasn’t able to get us out of there as quickly as he would have liked. Forty-five minutes later though, we were all packed up and ready to go. Hunter held the rear passenger’s side door open for me. “Well, that could have gone worse,” he said, his deep voice completely serious.

  “My dad called the party quits early, pretty much because of you and me.” I glanced to the front door, where Dad was saying goodbye to his mom. “And I’m pretty sure I’m going to get a lecture about how I’m too young for a relationship as intense as ours, and I need to learn to control the bond better.”

  Hunter leaned on the door, resting his chin on his arms. “Jake could have tried to escape, or he could have attempted to fight his way out of the house, or he could have taken a hostage. All things considered, I think the party went well.”

  I smiled at him. At least he seemed to be in a better mood than before. Of course, that could be because I was finally leaving and he didn’t have to worry about my safety. I struggled to keep my grin. “I suppose.”

  Hunter sighed as he watched me. Reaching out, he brushed a finger down my cheek. “I’m sorry your party wasn’t what you wanted it to be.” He looked around the parking lot. My parents were still in the house, and Julian and Trey were walking across the cobblestone toward us. In a low voice that would have been inaudible to a human, he told me, “I’ll consider giving you what you asked for your present.”

  I was so surprised by that, my fangs almost released. “You will?”

  He nodded, then leaned over the open door to kiss me. “Yeah.” Pulling back, he frowned. “It seems unfair though. It would be a gift for me too.”

  My giddiness nearly overwhelmed me. I wanted to share that intimacy with him again so badly. While I struggled to control my excitement, I noticed the hollowness of his features. I ran my hand along his stubbled jaw. “You’re tired. You should rest.”

  The seductiveness of his smile inflamed my dead heart. “I will…later.” I knew he wouldn’t. I knew he’d stay up all night and probably all day doing his “duty,” and I also knew there was nothing I could do or say to stop him. Hunter just needed to do this. For me. For our nest, because family was just as important to him as it was to my dad…as it was to me. It was a pity Hunter couldn’t have children anymore. He would have been an excellent father.

  As Hunter and I were sappily staring into each other’s eyes, Mom and Ashley walked out to the car arm in arm. “Are you sure you won’t reconsider staying at the house? We could have breakfast together? And it’s not like we don’t have animals too. Spike may not move much anymore, but still…”

  Ashley laughed at my mom’s attempt to persuade her. “No, we’re going to stay here, Em.”

  I looked over to see Mom glance back at the house with a frown on her lips. “I don’t like it, Ash. Not with…not with our guest here.” I looked up at Hunter, and I knew he agreed with my mom’s concern. Ashley didn’t. “He’s fine. He’s being watched around the clock. He won’t do anything to me or Christian. And besides, maybe I can talk to him? Give him an
inside scoop on what vampires are really like.”

  Mom stopped in her tracks. “No, you stay away from him.”

  While I watched Mom and Ashley, Julian shoved Trey into the middle of the car. I wasn’t sure if Julian was paying attention to the conversation or not, but Dad was. He came up to them and put a hand on Mom’s shoulder. “Em, it’s important that we’re as normal with him as we can be. He needs to see us as people. Avoiding him won’t help anything, and Ashley’s right, he’s being watched. She’ll be as safe as can be.”

  Mom lifted an eyebrow at him. “And that’s why we’re running back home with the children?”

  Dad looked my way, a frown on his face. “No, that has nothing to do with Jake.”

  I hastily dropped my eyes, but continued listening. Dad was telling Mom, “Tonight was a good start, but I think he needs to see more of us being a family. I thought we’d come back up this weekend? We could all hang out together? Do some work around the ranch? I know Dad could use the help.”

  Julian snapped his head toward our parents. “No, I don’t want to do that.”

  I blinked and looked at my brother. I guess he was paying attention. For a moment, I thought he just didn’t want to help out around the ranch, but then I remembered the secret party. He must still want it to happen, so he could have one more chance with Arianna.

  Trey also looked over at Julian. “Don’t wanna do what? Sit by the window? Cause I already called the hump. Sorry.” Trey smiled and looked back at me still standing in the open door. I knew exactly why Trey had called the middle seat. So did Hunter. The scowl on his face would have given Trey goose bumps…if he’d noticed.

  Dad glanced at Julian, then back to Mom and Ashley. “We can talk about it later. I think there are a few other things we need to discuss first.”

  I sighed, gave Hunter one last kiss, and then slunk into the car beside Trey. I knew that most of the things Dad wanted to discuss involved me. If he only knew about Julian’s school-wide party on Saturday, maybe he would share the scolding. I wasn’t about to tell on my brother though.

  Trey scooted toward me when I sat down. Hunter opened the door wider and leaned into the car. “If you want to live to see tomorrow, you’ll keep your distance from my girlfriend.” I immediately frowned at Hunter. Threatening Trey wasn’t necessary. Hunter glanced my way, but he didn’t appear apologetic in the slightest.

  Trey inched toward Julian. “Whatever, dude. I was just settling my butt cheeks.” Hunter grudgingly closed the door on us. As my parents got into the front seat, Trey looked around for Starla. “So, your mom just up and left you at the party? On your birthday?” Mom and Dad exchanged a glance as they sat down. Sometimes Starla wasn’t the most maternal person. Or reliable. If there was something she’d rather be doing than pretending to be our mom, more often than not, she’d do it.

  Julian scratched the side of his neck. “Uh, well, I don’t…I’m sure she had a reason.”

  Shaking his head, Trey let out an annoyed grunt. “Yeah, I’m sure. And I thought my parents were dicks.” He nodded up at my actual parents. “Cool of you guys to stick around. How are you related again?”

  Dad cocked his head as he started the car. “It’s…complicated.”

  Trey nodded, already tuning him out. “Yeah…” He raised his fingers at Hunter as we started to pull away. Hunter clenched his jaw, and an annoyed growl vibrated through the car. Being human, Trey didn’t hear it.

  “Knock it off, Trey,” I muttered. Dad started down the driveway and I watched Hunter getting smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror. As his shape receded, the ache in my chest grew. I knew it would be a thousand times worse by the time we got home.

  Trey scoffed and laid his head back on the seat. “Dude needs to chill. It’s not like we’re anything but friends anyway.” Lifting his head, he asked, “Speaking of friendship, want to tell me—the best friend of your twin brother and therefore vicariously the best friend of you—why you left school?” He leaned into my side with his eyebrows raised. When my bare arm touched his, he added, “And why are you so freaking cold?” To my parents, he said, “Can you guys turn the heat up? She’s a popsicle back here.”

  With an amused smile on his face, Dad did as Trey asked. As the car filled with warmth, I sighed and wondered what to tell Trey that wouldn’t hurt his feelings. All I could come up with was, “I missed my family, so I wanted to go back to homeschooling.” Locking gazes with my dad in the rearview mirror, I added, for his benefit, “The ranch is where I belong.”

  Dad averted his eyes, and his hands tightened on the steering wheel. I knew I was pushing it, so I clamped my mouth shut and didn’t say anything else.

  IT WAS SATURDAY. Tonight was the party. And I’d done nothing to ensure that my parents would be out of the house before the entire school showed up. I. was. screwed.

  Even worse, my dad was still gung-ho about all of us heading out to the ranch to bond with our captive. Or “guest,” as my family was calling Jake. Dad wanted him to see just how normal and unthreatening we all were. In that case, maybe Jake should come to the party too. Then when my parents inevitably broke it up and skinned me alive, he’d see just how normal a family we were. Crap, what the hell was I going to do?

  To top it all off, I wasn’t even sure when people were going to start arriving. High schoolers could start showing up as early as this afternoon, and I had no idea how I would deal with that if we were all still at home. Mom and Dad were having a debate about that very topic though. Mom wanted to head out to see her sister, Dad wanted to wait until the sun went down, so Nika could come with us.

  Dad sipped on his blood while I slurped down a bowl of sugary cereal. I also had a cinnamon roll, glass of juice, and a bowl of fruit waiting for me. Mom hadn’t eased up much on the meal making.

  “We should have left last night,” Dad was saying between sips.

  Mom sighed. “I know. But Ashley and Christian wanted a night out on the town, and by the time we all got back, it was too late to wake Julian up and drag him out there. You know how he gets when he’s woken up.”

  I flicked my gaze between the two of them. They realized I was right here, didn’t they?

  Dad smirked and nodded. He even went so far as to laugh a little. Feeling the need to defend myself, I muttered, “Hey, I’m a lot cheerier than Nika.” That wasn’t true, but it felt good to say it, and since Nika was sound asleep in her lightproof room, so she couldn’t even defend herself. Double bonus.

  Dad’s amused eyes watched me from over his glass as he took a long drink. Stirring my bowl of strawberry colored milk, I tossed out, “Why don’t you guys go up now? I’ll stay behind with Nika, and we’ll head up after sunset.” I crossed my toes, since crossing my fingers would be too obvious.

  Mom pursed her lips, considering. Dad looked like he was considering it too, but not coming to the conclusion that Mom was. “I don’t know, Julian…”

  Setting my spoon down, I tore off a chunk of my cinnamon roll. “You don’t want to leave Nika alone here because of Hunter, right? Because you’re worried about what will happen when their bond kicks in…if no one is around to stop it, right? Well, I can stop it.” I shrugged. I really didn’t want to physically pry my sister and Hunter apart when the two of them were acting like out of control maniacs, but I knew that was my dad’s main hang up. If I could solve that problem, I’d at least have a few hours to solve the party problem.

  Mom seemed sold. “We could head up now, and spend a little more time with everyone than we have been. Maybe we could even spend the night tonight, so we have all day on Sunday?” She leaned into Dad’s side. “It’s been a while since we’ve checked out the hot tub.”

  An intrigued expression crossed Dad’s face and I shoved the cinnamon roll into my mouth in a vain attempt to distract myself with the sweetness of it. My parents were so embarrassing. Dad cleared his throat, then said, “I don’t know, that’s a large responsibility, Julian.” Mom gave him a pointed glance and Dad tapp
ed his finger against his lip like he was deep in thought; his extended fangs amplified his expression. “Well, I suppose you are on the panel now, and you did help determine a man’s fate, so I guess it’s time for me to let you be a little more responsible.”

  He sighed, like admitting that was hard for him. Knowing what was going down behind my parents’ backs today, I immediately felt guilty and irresponsible. I still didn’t entirely want to stop it though, if I even could at this point. Right or wrong, if all went well, I’d get to see Arianna tonight and I wanted that to happen…even if she had moved on.

  I felt like complete crap, but I smiled at Dad anyway. “Thanks, Dad. And don’t worry, I won’t let you down.” I felt like I’d just taken a knife and stuck myself in the stomach with it. I won’t let him down? If he knew about the party, he’d definitely feel let down. Oh well, I felt certain I could get the party broken up before Dad was clued in. Or die trying anyway.

  Dad looked over at Mom. “I guess we’re leaving. Grab your stuff.”

  Mom giggled she was so excited. Under her breath, she murmured, “I’ll grab that little red bikini you like too.”

  Dad studied his glass of blood, but I saw the huge smile on his face. Gah! They couldn’t leave quickly enough. As Mom left the room to go get ready, I set to work on my food. In between bites, I told Dad, “I’m gonna go hang out with Trey for a bit, but I’ll be back long before the sun sets.”

  Dad acknowledged my comment, then told me, “Call if you need anything. And I mean anything. I’m only a few minutes away.”

  For the briefest second, I wondered if running out of ice for drinks was something I could call him about. I dismissed the errant thought as I popped a piece of watermelon into my mouth. “Sure thing.”

  Finishing his breakfast, Dad rinsed out his cup and then Mom’s. Over his shoulder, he said, “I’ll call Starla and Jacen, have them come over later and give you a hand.”