Taking a deep breath, Isaac headed for the house.
Chapter Ten
The house was quiet. Isaac hadn’t expected that. Even though he knew that Dane might not be home, he expected that he would be. Watching TV or listening to music while he put together a puzzle or something like that. He hadn’t thought that he’d find it so utterly still. Dane had always been an early riser, so for him not to be doing something…
Isaac sighed. He had hoped to be able to speak with him. But apparently, he was just going to have to leave a message. Either hand over his own number or leave a sticky note telling Dane to answer his damn phone. He couldn’t help but grin at that thought—it’d be awesome to see Dane’s face when he read that.
Of course, Dane was going to be able to smell that Isaac was here the moment he entered the house. Probably a note on the front door, then. So that Dane didn’t immediately tear off to kill him. Not that he wouldn’t anyway…
He strode through the living room, looking for something he could write a message on. When he went through a desk that was set up in the corner, he froze. Silver stakes galore. Books on vampire anatomy. Newspaper clippings of everything that Isaac had been linked to. When he shifted that aside he found, yes, there was a map with all his sightings marked on it.
Apparently, Dane was very serious about finding him. Isaac closed that desk drawer, trying to battle the feelings of anger and betrayal that washed over him.
He had no reason to think that Dane would not take such steps to protect himself and his brothers. As far as he was concerned, Isaac was just a dangerous criminal who had attacked his brother once already. He had no reason to show Isaac any sort of mercy.
Isaac had to hold onto the hope. Hope that Rune got through to him. That when he stopped in the middle of the street, he hadn’t been looking to get hit by a truck.
That they might be able to talk this thing through after all.
Shaking his head, he found a piece of blank paper and a pen. Then he hesitated. What was he meant to say? Call me? Just put his number down? I want to talk, and you haven’t been answering my calls, so please answer your phone? Should he put down a time and date, with the understanding that they’d meet each other there? These things might be better to say face to face. On the other hand, that was more dangerous, too.
Isaac hesitated only a moment longer before he scribbled down his phone number. That would put the ball in Dane’s court and maybe he wouldn’t feel as cornered. Dane would know he was there, and if he was as smart as he had been when they were teens, he’d know what it meant.
Now, to find tape to put it on Dane’s front door.
He went to the kitchen and started looking through the drawers when he heard a door open somewhere in the house. He froze, his instincts telling him to bolt out the back door before he was discovered.
“I’ll just be a minute,” Dane said to someone, chuckling. “You are insatiable, aren’t you?”
Isaac’s throat went dry. Any minute now, Dane was going to smell his presence. Then he was going to come charging in here, flames blazing. Why had he thought this was a good idea again? Dane hated him. He’d never forgive him and even if he did, what had he ever done to earn Isaac’s forgiveness? He hadn’t even let him have a chance to explain! He had decided what he had seen and didn’t care about the truth.
The sound of a toilet flushing, footsteps, and then the door closed again. Isaac kept standing there, the paper in his hand, the other on the handle of the backdoor.
Was it a trap? Did Dane want him to think that he was back in his bedroom when he was creeping toward the kitchen? Isaac breathed in deeply, tasting the air. The scent of the dragon brothers was heavy, but not so heavy to have one of them nearby.
Frowning, Isaac inched toward the doorway and peeked around. The hallway was empty. Voices came from the bedroom and Isaac couldn’t stop himself from snorting. Whoever was in there with him must have a powerful scent, to keep Dane from noticing the intruder in his home. Curiosity came over him, and Isaac crept down the hallway, careful not to make any noise.
When he got to the doorway, he held his breath and listened.
“What can I say?” That was Dane. “After three months, I’m glad to finally have you.”
“Oh, but I’m the insatiable one?” A high laugh answered.
Isaac’s stomach dropped. Rune? They’d been dating for three months? She had mentioned that she had a sort-of boyfriend, and he knew that Dane wasn’t the kind that stuck with any one woman, and he didn’t expect those women to be exclusive to him, either. And he had known there was something between Dane and Rune, that was obvious. But somehow, he hadn’t expected that they had known each other for quite that long!
“I just wish…” Dane’s voice turned musing. “I wish that you had told me the truth. Rather than avoiding the question.”
“I didn’t want you to think less of me.”
Didn’t want him to think less of her because of what? What had she told him? Isaac’s hands curled. Was it because of when they slept together? Had she told Dane that she hadn’t been fully willing? Was that why he was wishing she had told him the truth? Had she told him that it was willing, only for him to refuse to believe that and so she decided to just tell him that she’d been raped?
Isaac’s stomach cramped. What happened been between them was so pure. He hadn’t felt that way while making love for… well, his whole life. And for her to treat it so casually, to lie about what happened just to get back in good with Dane…
That angered him more than anything else. How dare she? How dare she tell him that he had a chance at a better life and then turn around and treat him like this? And how could he be so stupid as to expect anything else? He was a monster, unlovable. That much had been drilled into him from the time he was a child; it was one thing the agency that raised him had certainly gotten right.
He crumpled the paper in his hand.
“Should we marry?” That was Rune. “Or is it way too early to start talking about that? Three months, and this is the first time we’ve slept together…”
Only days after she had slept with him. Isaac pressed a fist to his forehead. Of course, it hadn’t meant anything! Why should he have thought anything else?
“Marriage,” Dane mused. “I’ve never thought myself the marrying kind. But it’s something to think about, at least. Kind of early in the relationship to start really talking about getting married, though, don’t you think?”
Isaac turned away. He went back to the living room, unable to stop the well of rage in him. Part of him wanted to light the desk that held all of Dane’s evidence against him on fire. That would be some sort of poetic justice, right? That Dane was so busy fucking his girlfriend that he didn’t even notice that danger was lurking right in his own home?
Thinking about Rune made his heart twist. He had been a fool to develop any sort of feelings for her. Why had he done it? Was he so pathetic, so desperate for company?
Because one thing was clear. Rune must have known him when he first told her his name. No way did someone date Dane Hemmerick for three months and not know about the feud between them. Had she been looking for ways to help Dane bring him down from the start? When Dane was in the house across from Isaac’s place and Rune showed up, and then Dane did that walk and stopped in the street.
It looked so much like a setup now Isaac couldn’t think it was anything but. They had made it look like Rune hadn’t known Isaac was there. Dane had made his approach slowly and then stopped as soon as it looked like Isaac was going to run. He’d been playing the situation, trying to get close enough that he could strike before Isaac knew what he was doing. It was just bad luck that the truck had chosen that moment to come down the road.
A glint of silver from the desk caught Isaac’s eye. He strode over to it and snatched up the silver stakes. They were finely crafted, tapering into a perfect point, with a star of sharpened edges rising up along the sides, in order to slice open skin if a clean t
hrust wasn’t available. The handle was molded for Dane’s hand. They would have cost a pretty penny and weren’t the regular, everyday sort of weapon used against vampires.
They were overkill. A stake to the heart would kill a vampire. It didn’t have to be silver.
These looked remarkably like the stakes Isaac himself had designed almost a decade ago now. Rage welled in him once more. He snatched two stakes off the desk and wheeled, striding back toward the bedroom. Rune was laughing now. About what, he didn’t care as he planted a kick on the door right at the handle. It sprang open with a loud crack.
Rune screamed, but it cut off when he stepped through the door. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. She lay on the bed, belly down with her round, moon-like ass in the air. Her face flared red as she twisted, grabbing a blanket to cover her chest with.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
But Isaac wasn’t looking at her. Dane was half out of the bed, naked as a jaybird, frozen. His gaze flickered to the stakes and he reached to grasp Rune’s arm. Ready to protect her. Isaac bared his fangs, snarling. Dane growled in his throat but stilled.
“How long have you been planning on killing me, Dane?” Isaac snarled. Rune made a noise, but he continued before she could speak. He was far too easily taken in by her lies, by the stories she liked to tell. No more. “I have to admit, you’ve done a good job setting the trap. Better than I expected out of you. But then again, I expected you to have more honor than to send your girlfriend to sweeten the bait.”
Rune’s jaw dropped. “I didn’t—”
Dane growled this time, cutting her off. “After everything you’ve done, you can’t be surprised that I’d consider killing you.”
“After everything I’ve done, yes.” Isaac laughed bitterly. “I suppose the real question, then, is why has it taken you so bloody long? Some protector you turned out to be. You couldn’t even protect her. Or did you know that my king sent me after her? Did you know she was the psychic that could give him answers?”
“What?” Rune gasped. She straightened on the bed, letting the blanket drop. Trying to distract him with her creamy breasts? “What are you talking about? You wanted my answers… You said you didn’t want to live this life anymore. You said… Did you lie to me?”
The hurt in her tone was unmistakable. Isaac stared at her, trying his damnedest not to believe what she was saying. That she had been party to the lies and traps. It couldn’t all be a coincidence, right? But when he looked in her eyes, he found he couldn’t believe that she had been stringing him along. He swallowed hard uncertain what to say now.
“How long have you known where I live?” Dane asked him. His brow furrowed, as though he was thinking hard about something he had never considered before.
“Long enough,” Isaac spat at him. Maybe he hadn’t sent Rune in to entrap him, but it was clear that Keith was wrong. If Dane didn’t want to kill him, he wouldn’t have so many weapons made for that express purpose.
Dane, moving slowly but with a fire in his eyes, grabbed a pair of boxers and pulled them on. “From where I’m standing, it doesn’t look like I’m the only one who has been thinking about killing.”
Isaac bared his teeth in a snarl, but he couldn’t very well deny it. He was the one holding the weapons, after all, while Dane stood there naked. Rune had covered herself again and was looking between the two of them with wide, frightened eyes.
The future is in flux.
And now was the time for him to make a choice. He understood it now. The future wasn’t in flux because he had to choose between continuing his life the way he had been or breaking free of Gregory. No. His choice was to kill or be killed. He was facing Dane now, today. It was all going to end, one way or another. No more taking two steps forward and two steps back. This had to end.
“I’m here because I was ordered by my king,” he snarled. He rose his weapons and Dane flinched. Actually flinched! Had he gotten so weak? “I’ve been ordered to kill you, Dane Hemmerick.”
Rune gasped and pressed her hands to her mouth. She shook her head, but Isaac continued to ignore her.
Some emotion flashed over Dane’s face, but it was gone before Isaac could decipher what it was. He faced Isaac, shoulders thrown back, head raised, pride and dignity in his eyes. No smoke curled from his nose, no fear showed on his face. He stared Isaac down and let out a single snarl.
“What are you waiting for, then?”
Isaac didn’t move. Of course he didn’t, because it was a trap. Dane was probably building his fires and would toast him the moment he stepped forward. Rune still sat there, her face as white as snow with both her hands pressed to her mouth. She trembled and rocked like she wanted to throw herself between them again.
Isaac remembered her putting herself between them at the hotel room. Her insisting to Dane that she could explain. And just a few minutes ago, hadn’t she looked hurt and betrayed when he revealed that he had lied about why he had kidnapped her in the first place? She didn’t deserve to see this…
“Do you really think I’m that dishonorable?” Isaac spat, turning his attention back to Dane. “Do you really think that I’d come at you when you’re naked, in bed with your lover?”
Dane snorted. “That’s exactly what you did do.”
In response, Isaac tossed him one of the stakes. “You’re going to need this.”
“Isaac—” Rune flinched when he turned a glower on her. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Yes, I do.”
Dane growled.
Rune reached over the bed and grasped his arm. “Dane, please.”
“If this is what you want, then let’s do it.” Dane continued to glare at Isaac as he pulled his arm away from Rune.
“Stop it, both of you!”
“Get dressed,” Isaac told Dane. “And then we can do this properly.”
Isaac turned on his heel and strode away. Half expecting to feel the stake in his back, but Dane did not strike. Rune continued to protest. She pled with Dane, and Isaac heard no responses from him. He practiced a few moves with the silver stake. Not his favorite weapon, but in this case, it’d keep the scores even.
Footsteps pattered, and he turned to see Rune racing down the hallway. She was wrapped in a sheet and nothing else. Her eyes were wide as she latched onto Isaac’s arm. Surprised, he tried to shake her off, but she clung too tightly too him. She shook her head. Despite the fear radiating off her, she was also very clearly angry.
“What are you doing?” she demanded. “I told you, you don’t have to do this. You came to me hoping I could give you a chance at a different future. And you have that chance, all you have to do is—”
“I didn’t.” He finally managed to free himself. “I didn’t come to you hoping I could have a chance at a different future. I kidnapped you because I was ordered to do so by my king. And all you saw was confirmation that he is going to win. He is always going to win. I came back because he wanted a more definite answer. Not for you and not for me.”
At that moment, Dane raced down the hallway. When he saw how close they were, he slowed. His eyes glittered and fear shone in them as his gaze flickered to the stake, then to Rune. He approached warily, his knuckles tightening on the stake in his own hands. Isaac stepped away from the human; even if he didn’t care what Dane thought of him, he was going to make it clear that he wasn’t going to use her against him.
The dragon’s shoulders relaxed a smidgen and the fear was replaced by anger. “So, you want to do this here, or would you rather have a more open space in case you decide to run away like a coward again?”
“Don’t,” Rune cried sharply. She darted between them, stretching a hand to each of them. The sheet slipped but didn’t fall off.
Isaac refused to look at her. He only had eyes for Dane. Eyes filled with a decade of anger, of frustration, of hopelessness. It all boiled in his chest, heating him to a point where he could have been a dragon, too. He jerked his head to one side.
“No!” she shouted.
“Get out of the way,” Dane agreed.
“NO!”
Isaac snarled under his breath. “Well, if she’s going to insist on getting between us, then I say we take this outside. She won’t be able to keep up out there.”
“Stop it,” Rune begged. She reached for Dane’s arm now, but he shook her off. “Both of you! Please, just stop. You can’t do this. Please. Can’t you see? This isn’t how it’s meant to be. It’s not right. It’s not right for you to be fighting. Please. Please, put those down and talk to each other! Please!”
Her pleas tugged at his heart, but Isaac didn’t allow himself to soften. It was too late. The stones were already tumbling together and if he didn’t continue on his path, he’d be crushed.
Dane strode out of the house, this time exposing his back to Isaac. Isaac considered taking the opportunity offered to him but dismissed it at once. Dane hadn’t struck before, and he would not strike now. They left the house, with Rune running after them. Dane broke into a light trot, and Isaac soon joined pace. Rune was left far behind as they found a nice abandoned lot. Plenty of room to fight.
Neither of them wasted more time talking.
Dane leapt at Isaac, swinging, while Isaac spun out of his reach and thrust his stake forward. One of the blades caught Dane’s shirt, tearing it. He snarled as he twisted, avoiding the blade digging into his skin. Isaac followed up on the strike with a fist at Dane’s face. He blocked it, then struck his stake at Isaac’s open chest.
Isaac threw himself backward. He stumbled on the uneven footing and ducked when Dane came at him again.
He remembered when they were training. How Dane would always throw everything into an attack, bludgeoning his opponent until they couldn’t get up again. The instructors had liked his style of fighting and worked to give him a little more finesse, to protect himself as well as others. Isaac moved like a cat, sneaking around the attacks until his opponent left himself wide open.
Between Good and Evil Page 12
