by Livell James
“Earth to Austin!” Jonah says, clapping his hands in front of me. “You were so zoned out; you didn’t hear anything I just said.”
I shake my head and look around, realizing Haley had left the room. I guess I zoned out longer than I thought I did. “Where did she go?” I ask him.
“Your grandmother is back and my parents just got home. She’s in the living room with them. The brothers were gone by the time they got here.”
I push myself up off the bed and make my way into the room where everyone else was standing. Haley’s parents, my grandmother, the Elders, and Haley were there. They looked as if they were having some kind of ritual. Athena is chanting words I don’t understand, and the Elders were backing her with more words that make no sense to me.
I stand and watch as they all pass around a silver goblet and drink from it.
Once they’ve all taken their turns and it seems that whatever they were doing has finished, Haley walks over to me with a smirk on her face.
“What was that all about?” I ask.
“Athena and the Elders have magical powers. They were doing a ritual to protect us from those assholes,” she tells replies, leaving it at that.
Jareth walks over to me and places his hand on my back. “Austin. Drake, Angelus, and myself are going to find the brothers and deal with them once and for all. I advise you not to leave this lair until you’ve heard back from us. Understood?”
I’m still dazed out a bit, but I understand what’s going and agree to stay put until they come back with news.
Celina walks up to stand between Haley and I. “Your father and I have something to show you two once this Thompson problem has been taken care of. I promise this will all be over soon and you two will no longer be in danger. Austin, you are destined for great things.” She just leaves it at that as she turns and walks away.
Well, that definitely got my mind racing. What great things? What do they have to show us?
I try to turn my thoughts to something normal because there is too much to speculate on at the moment.
Clothes.
I need more clothes. Yeah, I know that has nothing to do with what’s going on at the moment, but it’s an issue. I wonder if I’m still able to be in the daylight, or will I only be able to go out at night? I watch as Haley walks over to talk to her dad, and then I make my way over to my grandmother.
“Athena?”
“No Austin, you shouldn’t call me by my first name. It’s Grandmother to you, son.”
I nod in agreement, knowing arguing with her on the point would do me no good. I frown as I notice everything looks a little different—either the light in here is getting better or my sight is just fucking with me.
“Did it just become brighter in here to you?” I ask her.
Laughing, she replies, “No that’s just your sight being enhanced. You’ll be able to see even on the darkest of nights, with no light at all. It’s part of your gifts as a vampire.”
“Well, I’m sure that will come in handy when walking the streets at night.” I laugh.
She shakes her head and starts to walk away before I stop her.
“I wanted to talk to you more about the daywalker thing, if you don’t mind. How will I know if I can go into the sun or not? Once I’ve sealed my bond with Haley, of course.” I smirk.
“You shouldn’t even think about going anywhere near the light of day until after you’ve mated. You need to be one hundred percent and have all of your strength. Then and only then, you can go somewhere the light shines from a crack above. You must only place no more than a hand into the light. If it burns you, you’ll heal, but you’ll know that you can no longer walk about the streets in the day time hours. All of these things will come to you. I know it’s very confusing for you to take this all in at once, Austin. Just be patient and learn as you go. Like I said before, I’ll be here for you and Haley when you need me,” she finishes, excusing herself.
The Elders and Mr. Devile have already left, and Grandmother is saying her goodbyes. I find myself standing beside Haley.
“Haley, we need to contact Rob and Stacy to let them know what’s going on. I’m sure they’re wondering what the hell happened to us,” I tell her as we walk away from the door where her mom and Athena are standing.
The smell of Austin walking up behind me is almost overwhelming. It smells like blood, chocolate, and lust. My skin tingles with excitement, but it’s short lived when nothing sexy comes from his mouth.
He tells me we need contact Rob and Stacy as we move to stand behind the bar, and I agree with him.
“You’ve fed. Remember, I’m still human—well, kind of, but still, I need real food. I don’t see myself living off of blood and raw meat anytime soon. It seems that my brother has nothing here to eat other than mac and cheese and some ramen noodles. So, we have to go into the city. It’ll be dark soon, and safe for you to be out and about. The spell should keep the brothers away from us until the Elders can find them,” I tell him.
It’s so hard for me to keep my hands off of this man. His shirt is slightly ripped from when he fell earlier, his abs peeping through just enough to tease me, and it make heat rise between my legs. This isn’t normal for me, maybe it’s my vampire side lusting for this fine ass vampire man before me. Whatever it is, I’m liking it and can’t wait to get my hands and mouth all over that body.
“Damn Haley, close your mouth, you’re drooling,” Austin says with a laugh.
“Fuck you Austin, I’m not drooling. Staring and daydreaming maybe, but drooling, I doubt very seriously. I’ll save that for when I’m licking those fine ass abs of yours.” Holy shit! Did I really just say that out loud?
“Ha-ha, really now,” he replies.
“Shit, I can’t believe I just said that to you Austin, I sounded so slutty.”
“Oh, we’ll both be slutty when I get to have you as my mate. Don’t you worry, I’ll have my mouth all over you, too. I can’t wait to taste you.”
“Damn Austin, you make me sound like your next meal.” I reply with a giggle.
“Trust me Haley, you’ll be more than just my meal,” he says with an evil grin.
“I think we should end this while we can. Let’s go tell mom what’s going on and head out to contact Rob and Stacy.”
I can tell he was getting a little happy in his manhood, and damn it looks huge, poking out of his pants while he tries to hide it behind the bar. I play it off like I’m not looking, but you know as well as I do, I was damn sure looking. Whew, breathe. Just breathe. I have my work cut out for me, being his mate—but I’m sure, from the looks of it, it’s going to be a long, hard ride.
“Okay, just give me a minute to gather myself and I’ll be ready to go. Why don’t you go ahead and let Celina know what’s going on, maybe have her contact your dad so he knows we’re out in the city. Just in case we have any trouble with the douchebags,” Austin informs me.
I remind him that I still need to eat, I’ve had nothing all day. “Maybe we can meet them for dinner someplace. I’m sure at this point in your change, human food isn’t going to be something you want, though, so we can just grab me something on the fly. It’s up to you,” I say.
Once he’s calmed his pants, we tell Mom and Jonah we’re leaving and to make sure the locks are sealed behind us. Dad had given me a key while I was talking to him earlier.
The moment we step foot out the door and into the passageway, the sounds of feeding begin—I mean, it is what vampires do at night. Well, sex may not always be a part of it, but it’s damn sure the loudest part of it. By the sounds of it, you would think these women have never had sex a day in their lives. Although, I’m sure fangs sinking into my neck would make me scream, too. Which makes me wonder what it’s going to be like when Austin bites me during our mating. Will it be painful, or painfully erotic?
I’m having a lot of thoughts about this mating thing tonight, so I must be overly horny. But if you were me in the moment, as Austin looked into my eyes
this morning and could have felt the wave of energy that filled my body… And let’s not forgot those damn abs, eyes, and all that was in his pants a while ago. It’s enough to drive any woman crazy. Can you really blame me?
“We should be coming up on a door soon that will take us back into the city. I must warn that once we open the door at the end of the hallway, we’ll be in a lounge, and it’s in the back of an adult book store. It’s the quickest way from my parents’ place to get back into the city,” I tell him.
I never remembered it being an adult book store growing up. But now that I think of it, my mom always covered my eyes until we were in the hallway. Maybe that’s why I only remembered when she said, “Where the triangle meets the road, then there we must go.” She was trying to distract me from seeing all those things.
“You must think I’ve never been in an adult store before, or maybe I’ve never watched porn.” He starts laughing.
“Oh my God, Austin, you’ve watched porn?” I joke, covering my mouth with my right hand to try to hold back my laughter.
“Me? Never, I would do no such thing. I would rather be making my own porn with you,” he says. Damn his voice gets deeper every time he speaks.
“The door should be just past this bar up here on the left. The other day when we came out of the door, there were people fucking against the wall outside the bar. Is this all still weird to you? It is just a normal day here in the underground world.” Knowing it has to be weird, I still had to ask.
“It is for sure a lot to take in, and speaking of watching porn. It is like you’re living in a porno down here. I am sure the more you’re around, it the more accustomed you become to it. Will I have to live down here now, Haley? I mean, will we? Once you are my mate,” He said, stopping to run his hand through his hair.
“We haven’t gotten to that point yet, Austin. I don’t quite know how to answer you on that one.” What I really wanted to say was I would live in a cardboard box as long as he lived in it with me. Why am I so head over heels for this guy? Again, just a few days ago, he was a smart ass who didn’t want to hear anything I had to say. Now he has me a googly eyed and acting like I’m in heat or some shit. Oh, let me add that once he did finally listen to me—well, he hasn’t been able to keep his eyes off me since then.
“I guess we’ll just figure it out together, huh?” He smiles and winks at me.
“There’s the door, and yes we will,” I tell him as he opens the door, letting me enter first, then closing it behind him. The hallway into the store looks darker now than it did when I was here before. Maybe a light had blown.
I stop to let Austin catch up.
“Something doesn’t feel right,” I tell him as he moves closer. “I just have this feeling.”
“Are there any voices, I mean people from the other side, speaking to you?”
I assure him that’s not the case.
We continue on to the end of the hallway, coming upon the door that opens into the store. Once again, I can hear Tainted Love playing loudly on the speakers. Everywhere I’ve been with music, the song has played without fail. Maybe the shop plays it on a loop.
“Well, at least there are signs that your parents are still with us,” I said, laughing as I let him again open the door for me. But this time, I hold it and insist that he go in before me. He pulls the lever on the wall, letting the door swing open.
“I agree. I guess it will now be our song, huh?” He laughs and walks into the room ahead of me.
I knew something wasn’t right, and the person on the other side of the door just confirmed it. Hunter Thompson, the cousin of the trio of assholes. How did I not think about this one? I should have remembered he was always with them growing up, and did anything he could to just hang out with them.
He was pretty much their little bitch growing up. Standing with a smartass grin on his face, he’s at least six feet tall, with brown bushy hair, a full beard, and tattoos on his biceps. He’s much more muscular than his any of his asshole cousins, and his brown eyes have a look of despair in them. He could kick his cousins’ asses with no problems, but once you’re bonded to a vampire, you pretty much have to do as they say—and if you refused or tried to go against them, it could lead to your death. Unlike his cousins, he isn’t a vampire. That’s how they always had him in their control. Always promising him they would change him, because he wasn’t born a vampire, not even a dhampir.
The way he has his arms crossed made me think he was waiting for a fight, but thankfully that wasn’t the case when I ask him why he’s there and what he wants. “I’ve been bonded to my cousins my whole life. I’m tired of it, and I don’t want to be under their control any longer. I’ll help you guys find them, if you help me find someone who can break my bond to them.”
“How do we know you’re not leading us into a trap? I don’t really trust anyone with Thompson as their last name. Besides, how did you know we were coming this way?” I ask as the door closes behind us.
“I knew that you two would have to come back at some point when Brock told me he’d chased you guys away from your apartment. And remember the girl you threatened the other day when you came through here? Well, she’s my sister.” He grins.
“What? I do not remember you having a sister,” I said, feeling surprise wash over me.
“I’m sure you don’t remember a lot of things Haley, plus, you’ve never seen her with us. When we all hung out together, she lived with her dad in Mississippi. She came to live with us after he passed away a few years ago. The times she did come to visit, Mom wouldn’t let her hang out with us. I mean, would you let your daughter hang out with a bunch of bloodthirsty vampires?”
Now that I think of it, I never went to his house. We were always at my place or at Brocks, Brandon, and Bristol’s place. But still, I don’t remember him ever saying anything about a sister growing up, and he’s right. If I were human, no way would I let my child hang out with these assholes.
“How did you know we would come back this way?” Austin chimes in.
“Well, actually, I didn’t know for sure, but I figured if I came here enough that eventually you’d use this pathway again. After I got word that your vampire was taking control, I knew it would have to be at night. Seems I was spot on. Here we stand in the strip club worthy lounge in the back room of an adult sex shop.” He smirks. Seems he was a smartass, just like his cousins.
“We have someplace to be so just give us your number… um, what’s your name, anyway? We’ll call you later,” Austin tells him.
“Why don’t you ask your girlfriend, she knows my name.”
I chime in because I know this isn’t going to end well otherwise, stepping between them. “His name is Hunter. Now Hunter, if you’ll just give us a way to contact you and let us go, I promise we’ll call you after we’ve taken care of everything we need to do in the city,” I tell him as I move to push my way around him.
I can feel darkness in his soul when my arm brushes against him. I can also feel his sorrow, and the pain that he feels being bonded to his cousins. He grabs me by the arm, his grip is a little tighter then I would like it to be, but I can’t let Austin see that it’s hurting me. I’m still not sure how he’ll react or how much strength he has at this point in his change. Hunter’s not evil, I can tell by looking into his eyes. All I can see is hurt, and how much he wants to be rid of the pain.
“I’ll tell you now where they’re hiding if you promise you’ll call me, Haley. I can’t be bonded to those assholes anymore. If they’re killed, it will kill a part of me unless the bond is broken,” he says.
I tell him about my friend the witch over at the bookstore, and tell him to let her know I sent him there. She can help him break his bond. I know Austin’s grandmother could help, but I don’t want to bring all of that upon his family.
Austin comes up, taking Hunter by the wrist to remove his hand from my arm. “Let her go, she’s told you where to go for help. Now tell us where your asshole cousins are, so w
e can end all of this before anyone else gets hurt. You can give us your number, like I said before, and we’ll contact you later to be sure everything goes well.”
Finally, Hunter let go and we walked to the front of the store where his sister Jess was standing behind the counter, still looking like a teenage school girl in her uniform and pigtails. He asks her for a pen and paper so he can give us his number.
“Doing it the old school way, brother? Why don’t you just save his number in your phone, like everyone else does these days?” Jess asks, trying to crack jokes.
I act as if I didn’t hear anything she said and took the number from her brother. “Thank you, Hunter, now where can I tell my father and the Elders to find them?”
“They’re staying in a warehouse on Lake street by the train tracks.”
He gives us the address and we leave, promising we’ll be in touch with him later. Once we are out of the store and onto the street, the familiar smell of burnt grease fills the cold night air. As weird as it may be, it makes me even more hungry. I should have worn a jacket, but at least I put on long sleeves over my tank top. We find a bench nearby, where we sit to call my father first to let him know the address we were given.
“We’ll head there now, and I’ll let you and Austin know if we find them,” he says, hanging up faster than he answered. I’m sure I have a look of what the hell just happened on my face.
“What was that all about? You weren’t on the phone for even a minute.”
“I guess he was in a hurry to find the assholes. I didn’t even have a chance to talk to him about Hunter telling me where they were,” I reply.
Again, I had to make sure I don’t touch him. This shit’s getting really old. It’s hard to keep myself from touching him. Our legs are only inches apart and I can feel the energy from him. I forgot that it was freezing cold outside the moment I sat down beside him.
“Maybe, you know how parents are,” he replies.
