“We’ve spent so much time and effort trying to protect them from the monsters outside we ignored the one that grew up behind us,” he mused. “How do we fight this battle?”
“We don’t,” I whispered, taking off my top as I headed to the master bedroom.
“We don’t fight?”
“We trust our son and see what happens.”
“In other words, the hunters have become the prey, and must avoid being captured?”
“Exactly—”
“That I can’t do.” I stopped and turned to face him as he stood in the middle of the living room. His jaw was hard as he stared into my eyes. “Live in hiding with you, I can do. I have been doing so. I do so because I love you and I thought wherever you go, I go too.”
“You thought?”
“I also now realize I joined you in hiding because I love my children and my family. I will always fight to protect them.”
“When did our son stop being your family?” I tried to keep my voice calm and cool.
“Never. He will be always be my son and family. If you ask me to sit quietly and do nothing as he jeopardizes everything we built, what my father died for, what my mother has suffered for, simply to tell us we were bad parents, you’re mistaken, love. If he lays a hand on anyone else in the family again, my mother, Wyatt, my grandchild, my brother, Declan….”
“You’ll what?” I snapped. “Touch Ethan, and I swear to God, Liam, you will suffer.”
“Whether you make me suffer or not, I will suffer anyway. You aren’t the only one who loves him. But he doesn’t rank higher than everyone else combined.” He took his jacket and walked towards the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To pray that we are wrong, and we are giving him too much damn credit.” He slammed the door behind him.
This was the danger of abdicating the throne. Once a king always a king; once the Ceann Na Conairte always the Ceann Na Conairte, whether the crown was on his head or not.
This was going to be complicated.
I glanced back at the image of this Calliope on the screen. She was laughing and smiling, She looked innocent…too fucking innocent. But I knew without a doubt she was anything but. Women like her…women like us…knew how to play the people around us a little too well.
Chapter 22
“Knowing your own darkness
is the best method for dealing with the darknesses
of other people.”
~Carl Gustav Jung
CALLIOPE - AGE 13
“Are you tired?” he asked as me as I tried to climb out of the hole. Every time I clung to the rope and pulled my body up, my legs…I think they were broken. I think they broke when I was thrown down here.
“I can’t hear you, Calliope.” At the sound of that voice I shivered and held on tighter, much tighter, pulling myself up more. I could see the circle of light above me where the sky was, where my freedom was. I was almost there, and then I could sleep.
“Ahh—” I screamed as this time ice water, not the scalding water they poured earlier, rained down on me and at the shock of it I let go. I fell back down on the dirt and the rats scattered as my body landed with thud.
“How long is it going to take you to pass this test, Calliope?” His voice called from above, from the place where there was light.
“It hurts.” I whispered. My throat was so dry. I wanted water. Just a little bit of water. “Please.”
“Still begging? I’m disappointed in you, Calliope.” Her voice sounded above me too as they pushed the cover over and I watched the blue sky disappear bit by bit until there was no sky. No light. Just darkness.
“Get away.” I waved my arms to make sure the rats didn’t come close…not again. If I was still, if I didn’t move, they’d bite again. Panicked, I rolled on to my side, but my legs wouldn’t turn with me. Reaching down to my thigh I pulled it over, screaming as I did.
I can’t stay still. I can’t stay here.
On my stomach I crawled just a little bit reaching out blindly, my hands trying to feel for the rope.
“Come on. Come on, where are you?” I was trying not to lose it but I did. I was so tired and angry even though I wasn’t sure who to be mad at.
“I’m not staying here,” I said, pulling myself up. The rope dug and burned my hands and I was sure they were bleeding, as I pulled myself up. I didn’t have any feeling below my stomach and it made everything else heavy. But still I didn’t stop, not until there was no rope left. I reached up and almost slipped back down. I didn’t have the strength to hold on with just one hand. But I had to get the lid open.
I wanted to kick it. The thought of figuring out how the hell I’d do that was funny. Who was I, Lara Croft? I couldn’t flip like that.
They’ll check on me, I’ll just wait. No. I didn’t want to wait…I couldn’t wait. Clutching the rope tighter I pulled myself up and used the only other part of my body that worked…my head. I rammed my head up into the bottom of the lid moving it bit by bit over and over again until I saw a small crack of orange light. I felt a warm liquid drip down my head but I didn’t stop. I kept going until the crack widened and I would have kept going until I could free myself, but the cover lifted. Everything was orange and pink for a second before I could see their faces.
My grandmother…my grandfather. They stood.
My grandmother smiled widely, her wrinkled face filled with joy as both of them reached out their hands for me to take.
“I knew you wouldn’t disappoint us. Come on, we’ll help you,” my grandfather said, a small grin on his scruffy hard face.
I looked between them both before shaking my head no and grabbing on to the edge of the well. The stone was smooth and slippery under my fingertips but I wouldn’t let myself fall now. And I didn’t know if I really passed yet. If I took their hands, they could drop me back. I needed to get out myself.
“Good,” my grandmother said when I fell on to the grass beside the well with a thud. She knelt beside me and I could feel her long silver-blonde hair on my face as she poured water on my head, I really wished she’d poured it in my mouth. “You can’t trust anyone, Calliope, not even us. We are going to push you as hard as we can. I will not stop, hate me if you must but you will be strong enough. You have to be, do you know why?”
I nodded reaching up and grabbing the water from her. “I have to protect our family.”
“No.” My grandfather knelt beside me stopping me before I could drink, and his eyes stared directly into my mine. “So you can avenge our family. You will be our weapon, and together, we will destroy the Callahan family for what they have done to us.”
“And then my mom and dad won’t hate me?” I asked him to make sure.
My grandmother kissed the side of my head. “Then you will be loved by millions, Calliope. You will deliver hope and justice. You’ll be our greatest hero. Drink. We have so much work to do to make sure you are strong enough.”
I nodded, drinking the water.
“They will never see you coming,” my grandfather muttered to himself before I fell asleep.
CALLIOPE - NOW
When my eyes snapped open, the first thing I saw were fingers, little tiny fingers. Shifting my head, her hand fell to the side of my face. Gigi slept on the pillows right between…between Ethan and me. His arm was over her and his hand was on my waist. Gigi slept as if she were queen of the whole bed. Her arms outstretched, her legs too. Slowly I peeled myself away towards the edge of the bed. Rising from the bed I went to the bathroom, taking my phone with me.
Shutting the door silently behind me, I walked to the mirror, turning on the water before dialing. She answered on the first ring but didn’t speak.
I glanced at my reflection, my brown hair a mess of waves, noting the coldness in my own grey eyes.
“I’m in,” I whispered softly.
“How long will it take you win over the rest of them?”
“With Ethan at my side…soon.”
&n
bsp; “You’re in love with him.”
It wasn’t a question. It wasn’t false either. I didn’t answer.
“Good.” She went on anyway. “It will make them believe you more. But don’t forget who your true family is. Do not disappoint me, Calliope.”
She ended the call just like that and I tossed the phone on the counter, looking back at my reflection. So many people had tried and failed to destroy the Callahans. My grandmother knew that the only way to win was to use the only weapon the Callahans always surrendered to. Love.
Win the heart of the Ethan Callahan.
Then destroy everything. That was their plan. This family had destroyed ours. They killed my uncles. It was one of Melody’s men who assaulted my mother. The reason my life was hell growing up was because of the Callahans. I glanced down to the red diamond on my finger. I was officially one of them. Everything was supposed to be an act within an act, but I loved him.
I remembered Gigi’s cries. She was really excited to be here with her father. I had a child so early because my grandmother thought it would be to my benefit and now it made things…complicated. Rinsing my face, I heard the door open behind me. When I glanced in the mirror I saw his green eyes staring intently. He wore no shirt. His perfectly sculpted abs were on full display, he wore only the black boxer briefs I’d stripped him down to when I returned to his rooms.
“You look ill,” I said him, wiping my face with a towel.
“You made me ill.”
I smirked at that, nodding as I turned to face him. “I did. But I must have gone soft on you and gave you lesser dose.”
“Or I could be much stronger than you expected,” he added as stepped inside further, pinning me against the sink.
“I think I have a full assessment of your strength already.” I smiled. He always made me smile even when I didn’t want to.
“Is that so?” He lifted me up and placed me on the sink.
“It’s so,” I whispered, kissing him. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and tilted my head to the side, kissing where my shoulder met my neck and cupping my breast through my tank top. I could feel myself melting to him.
“Do you trust me, Ethan?” I asked him gently.
His kissed up to my ear before replying softly, “It is a little too late to be asking, isn’t it?”
I didn’t reply, and he broke away, standing tall between my legs. He cupped my face in his hands, his eyes peering down into mine.
“Do you trust me, Calliope?”
I didn’t answer either because I remembered once again how alike we both really were. Why I loved him. I didn’t have to say or ask certain things. Placing my hands on his face, I brought his head down slightly so I could put my foreheads on his.
“It’s going to get very bloody from here on out.” I whispered to him.
His hands settled on my waist and the corner of his lips turned up into a small smile; “Of course it is...that is the only way kingdoms are made.”
Just like that I grinned too. “What if I need your blood for that kingdom?”
He searched my eyes before speak. “Then take it, without hesitation.”
“And if you need mine?”
“I will do the same.”
“Without hesitation?”
“Without hesitation.” He repeated and kissed my check. It reminded me of how Judas did Jesus. He kissed until his lips met my ear again. “I know who you are Calliope, I know how dark, distorted and broken your soul is, I know who made it that way. You and I are beyond the point of trust.”
I couldn’t help but lean into him, wrap my arms around his neck. “Kiss me.”
He did, his hand gripping on to my ass tightly.
All hell was going to break loose later, but right now I just wanted to forget everything and feel him in me.
To Be Continued in VICIOUS MINDS: PART 2
Also by J.J. McAvoy
Ruthless People Series
RUTHLESS PEOPLE
THE UNTOUCHABLES
AMERICAN SAVAGES
A BLOODY KINGDOM
DECLAN + CORALINE
Children of Vice Series
CHILDREN OF VICE
CHILDREN OF AMBITION
CHILDREN OF REDEMPTION
VICIOUS MINDS: PART 1
VICIOUS MINDS: PART 2 - out in late 2019
Single Title Romance
MALACHI AND I
BLACK RAINBOW
RAINBOWS EVER AFTER
THAT THING BETWEEN ELI AND GWEN
SUGAR BABY BEAUTIFUL
CHILD STAR
About the Author
J.J. McAvoy is an emerging author of crime travel guides. This is J.J.’s first book.
Vicious Minds: Part 1: Children of Vice #4 Page 30
