Blood Tree: Silver Edition

by Scarlett Dawn

  My daughter loved chaos. Even if she didn’t notice it. “It may be funny, but it’s still not nice to do.”

  She strolled along beside me, her head no taller than the middle of our shopping cart. “My teacher said it isn’t nice to hit policemen.”

  “And your teacher’s an idiot,” I mumbled under my breath, too quiet for her to hear. Dark Elves loved to take jobs as policemen. There was evil prime for the taking with that profession. I cleared my throat and stated primly, “I’m your mother. Who do you think is right?”

  Her eyes widened. She held my gaze as if I were a superhero, and my heart ached with utter love for my child. “You are. Of course!”

  “That’s right.” I pulled her in close to my side, and silently wondered how long I had before she realized moms weren’t always right. That we didn’t have all the answers. That a parent can make a mistake. But, dammit, I would protect her until the end of time. “I love you, darling.”

  “I love you too, Mommy.”

  Age 34

  Bang.

  The screen door slammed behind my daughter as she stormed out into the backyard. But the pounding on the front door was even more jarring. I kept my bracing hands on the vibrating wooden frame and breathed a sigh of relief.

  Good God. Kenna had actually mentioned calling the cops. The police coming were the exact reason I had ordered her to leave in the first place. Our nosy neighbor across the street would have made sure of that. The two human idiots ramming their fists against my front door were nothing compared to the Dark Elves who would be here soon—and these fools lived a street over.

  Had I not impressed upon her enough cops were no good?

  Apparently, we would need to have another talk.

  I removed my hands from the front door, adjusted my pink wig, and jerked the door open wide. The scent of sour beer wafted inside off the two dumbass humans standing on my front porch, the ominous clouds overhead an unneeded warning that a storm was brewing. I waved a hand in front of my face to clear away the stench. “Are you the morons who fucked up my car?”

  “I’m sorry, lady,” Dumbass One slurred. He scratched at his receding brown hairline. “I can pay for it.”

  I was sure he could. Their house was three times the size of mine. “Just your insurance information will do.”

  Dumbass Two cocked her head, her smile sloppy-stupid, a pretty Belle used to getting what she wanted. She waved a pointed finger in the air. “About that. We would prefer not to have our insurance company know about this little…incident.” She hefted her purse up from her hip and swayed side-to-side, bumping Dumbass One. “We’ll write you a check instead.”

  My brows lifted. Too many DUIs, I would bet. “Look, I know where you live.” I hooked a thumb over my shoulder in the direction of their place. “Why don’t we take care of this another day—” I shut my mouth and groaned quietly. The unmistakable blare of sirens flittered in the air. “Shit.”

  Dumbass One and Dumbass Two glanced at each other, their eyelids fluttering. If I had the ability to smell fear, they would reek of it.

  I glanced at the clock. I didn’t have much time before sunset. The full moon would be here soon. The police would be mine to handle, not the two drunks on my porch. I would give them my statement as fast as I could, and then lock myself down in the basement—far away from any male Elf’s sensitive nose. With my plan firmly in place, I grabbed my purse off the floor where I had dropped it and charged straight between the two morons. I closed my door behind me and made my way to the sidewalk edge.

  I waited for the police to stop their cruiser in front of my wrecked car that was now my own personal debris mound.

  Two men stepped out.

  One was a blond human.

  One was a black-haired Dark Elf.

  My upper lip curled seeing his power signature hovering taller than mine in the air. He was more powerful than I was, but that wasn’t saying much. During my Blood Tree, I had literally been blocked from passing the first Light Elf. I had been the lowest in ranking. My power kept me immortal but didn’t do much else. “Gentlemen.”

  Both tipped their heads to me in greeting.

  The Dark Elf eyed my slight cleavage showing at the neckline of my tank top. “Ma’am.”

  I realized right then he wasn’t using his power. He was using his regular vision—no different than a human. The Dark Elf must be young. He didn’t know I wasn’t human. I blinked and quickly altered my expression, plastering on a fake as hell smile. “I’m so happy you two made it here. Those two drunks hit my car.” I lifted my eyes to the sky and sighed noisily in feigned exasperation. “And I have a teleconference I’m scheduled for in a few minutes inside my home. Will you take my statement real quick? I have all my information in my purse.”

  The human cop nodded and began taking my statement.

  The Dark Elf immediately veered to the two idiots still standing on my porch. It didn’t surprise me. The Dark were always drawn to chaos.

  I kept an eye on him and watched his every action.

  Chaos chases trouble and often escalates it.

  I really didn’t want a fight breaking out on my front lawn.

  Done giving my recount of my car being totaled, I placed my insurance card and license back into my purse and glanced at the human policeman. “Is that all you need from me?”

  “That would be all, Miss. We’ll get those two out of your hair quickly.”

  “Much appreciated.” I turned and walked across my yard, but I stopped solid. Another cruiser was pulling up in front of my house. I peered back to the cop I had been speaking to. “Why are there more of you here?”

  The Dark Elf answered for him. “These two have felony warrants out. We’re taking extra precautions with them.”

  I held back my laugh. Bullshit that was his plan. I eyed the two handcuffed and sitting on my pristine green grass. Dumbass One and Dumbass Two must have enough dark energy in them to feed plenty of Dark Elves. I rubbed at my forehead as the human policeman conveniently decided to take a walk down the street. He flashed five fingers to his partner and a warning glance, indicating he would be back in five minutes—a damn dirty cop. My attention turned to the two policemen exiting their vehicle and the plain-clothed man they generously opened the door for in the backseat.

  The oxygen in my lungs disappeared. My feet wouldn’t move. I stared, unblinking, at the man in expensive dark jeans and a simple white T-shirt that stretched over his honed muscles. My gaze ran over each of his features in rapid succession, like a speeding train derailing. Each symmetrical curve of his face I remembered as if it were yesterday, not almost fourteen years ago.

  It was him. The man with no name.

  Kenna’s father.

  All three men stopped in their tracks, halting at the edge of my property. Their eyes were honed on mine. They were seeing me, my power, as I was theirs. All of them were Dark Elves. And the plain clothed man, his power shot so far into the sky, it had to touch the heavens.

  My mouth bobbed. “Fucking perfect.” Kenna’s dad was a high-ranking Dark Elf.

  Her father’s black brows snapped together as he scanned my face, but he quickly peered to the right to the setting sun, eyeing its quickening descent. The sun cast a succulent glow on the side of his tan face as his attention drifted back to mine. His words were a quiet drawl. “It’s a little late for you to be out, don’t you think?”

  Perfect opportunity. I flicked a finger at my house and regulated my breathing. Hyperventilating wouldn’t be wise right now, not when he didn’t recognize me. “I was getting ready to go inside.” I turned and stepped quickly around the handcuffed morons. “Have fun with those two. Make sure to drop them somewhere away from here.”

  The first Dark Elf on the scene was bewildered, his eyes snapping back and forth between us, clearly lost on the byplay. He was young. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, ma’am.”

  I snorted. “Open your damn eyes and see.” I climbed the steps on my p
orch and safely entered my home. Breathing wasn’t easy, but I concentrated on it, placing my back against the front door. I should have moved from this town a long time ago and not stayed where Kenna had been conceived. I tossed my purse onto the couch and banged my head back against the door three times. “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”

  Tap. Tap. Tap.

  My eyes widened and my head slowly turned to the side.

  Tap. Tap. Tap.

  I grimaced and opened my front door.

  He stood there. Silent.

  My lips thinned. A breathless word escaped. “Yes?”

  His head tipped to the side, and a loose lock of black hair fell across his forehead. He ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it back…while he stared quietly at me, his dark eyes running over my features. My fists clenched when he lifted his left hand and ran his thumb over my right shoulder. “That’s an interesting tattoo. I think I saw it once before.”

  Dammit it all to the Dark side. “I’m sure you’re mistaken.”

  His lips curved into the smallest crooked grin. “I think not.”

  I stood mute…until I shook my head. This couldn’t be happening. Not right now. “The sun’s setting. You shouldn’t be here.”

  He shrugged a shoulder and stepped past me into my home. “We still have a few minutes.” He pulled the door out of my hold and shut it behind him, trapping us inside my house. His dark eyes instantly filled with fire and held me immobile. His rage hadn’t abated in all the years since our encounter. “Let’s chat before I need to leave.”

  I scanned my living room for any evidence of another person living here. I kept no pictures of us visible in the main room. Kenna’s blue blanket was in the corner, but he wouldn’t know it belonged to a thirteen-year-old. Though her luggage was still on the couch from our ruined trip to the cabin, it was plain red. Nothing screamed ‘a teenager lives here.’

  I snapped my gaze back to my intruder. “This is not smart.” The power of the full moon would be rising in me soon. He wouldn’t be able to say no. He wouldn’t want to say no. And with one touch from him, I wouldn’t be able to either. “You really need to leave.”

  He leaned toward me and delicately sniffed near the top of my head. His light cologne smelled of soap and leather, all male. The darkness of the room where we had met hadn’t done him justice. He was deceptively unremarkable. It was as if magic hid his perfect features from first glance, but when you stopped to actually look at him…he was stunning. This man was the perfect predator hidden amongst the humans. His nostrils flared, and he closed his eyes.

  He took a step back from me before lifting his eyelids. “It’s nothing I can’t handle right now. A few minutes won’t hurt.” He pivoted and stalked my living room in a slow glide, eyeing each piece of art hanging on my wall before moving on to every trinket sitting on the mantel. In the quiet surrounding us, his dark eyes flicked toward me. “This is your home?”

  I crossed my arms. “It is.”

  A black brow lifted. “You’re an Outsider?”

  “I am.” I lifted my chin. “What of it?”

  His gaze skimmed over my features before he shrugged. He continued his perusal into my personal life, touching everything with a soft brush of his fingers. His words were offhand. “You’re young to be an Outsider.”

  I snorted. “You have no clue how old I am.”

  His lips twitched and dark eyes found mine again. “The more powerful the Elf, the more obvious it is on another. It’s in your power signature.” He lifted a small stress ball from my bookshelf and flexed his fingers, fisting the small blue ball. “Didn’t anyone teach you that? Or is Julius slacking in his duties?”

  “Julius taught me fine.” It was a small fib. I hadn’t been in contact with the Light ruler since I had left the Light realm. All I had learned was from my time before when I lived there and being self-taught afterward. A few Light Elves had offered after I had left, sent by Julius’s head of security, but I had turned them down. I had almost been showing my pregnancy at the time and didn’t want any Elf around to know the truth. I wiggled my nose at him and pointed at the stress ball he continued to repeatedly squeeze. “This is enough chatting. You’re going to blow soon.”

  He rubbed his lips together, his eyes not missing anything. He ignored my comment and continued with his questioning. “Did you ever tell anyone about us?”

  My blink was slow. “Hell no.”

  He nodded. “As I guessed. I would have heard about it if you had.” He stopped clutching the stress ball and tossed it from one hand to the other, playing catch with himself and standing clear across the room from me now. “Just so you know, I thought you were one of my normal women coming into the room that night. After you kissed me—”

  “You kissed me first.”

  “—I realized you were inexperienced, not one of my regulars. But I still believed you to be Dark.”

  I stared. “Thanks.” Asshole.

  He shrugged. “It was your first time. You weren’t completely terrible.”

  My brows lifted to my hairline. “It’s time for you to go.” I uncrossed my arms and gestured to my front door, lying to get the jerk out of my home. “The sun has set. I can see it in your face.”

  He tossed the ball from side-to-side. His tone was a calculating nuance, barely above a whisper. “Tell me. What do you see?”

  A handsome as fuck asshole. I pointed to my lips. “Your mouth is turning white with tension.”

  His eyes danced between mine before he tilted his head back and laughed. And it was special. His hilarity was a site to behold. I doubted he laughed much. He shook his head at me, his dark eyes crinkled at the sides. “Would you like to tell me a different lie? You’ve been on a roll since I walked in here.”

  I snorted. “I hardly ever lie.”

  “So I’m just special?”

  “You’re special, all right.”

  His eyes crinkled further. “I detect sarcasm in your tone.”

  “Oh no. You’re a special Elf I just love having in my private residence. You can come by anytime.”

  His crooked smile returned, so deceptively innocent. Predator. “I was already in your private residence once before. And I believe you came before me.”

  “Yes. I remember.” I rolled my eyes and stared. He placed the stress ball back in its place perfectly, his movements concise, and then stuffed his hands into his pockets. He rocked back on his heels and popped his neck. “You really are showing signs now.”

  “I know.” He shrugged a shoulder. “You’re weak, though.”

  My words were dry. “For an intruder in my home, you just keep hitting me with the flattery. I don’t know how much more I can stand. Really, you shouldn’t be so sweet.”

  His lips twitched, his words simply asked. “Do you know how close you came that night to being buried alive?”

  “I’m taking it, it was a close call?”

  “About the same as now.”

  I crossed my arms again. “What’s holding you back?”

  “You’re friends with Susan, and from what I understand, she’s had the eye of Randor for some time now. She is under his protection. And by association, so are you.”

  The head of security for the Light. “I’m sure she would find that interesting.” It was probably best not to tell him that I hadn’t been friends with her since I left the Light realm.

  “Will you tell her?”

  I teetered my head back and forth in thought. “I don’t think so. She can figure that out on her own.” And when she did, Randor would have some explaining to do. Susan has had a crush on him since she was old enough to sit up straight. “It could be fun to watch play out.”

  “That it could.” He cleared his throat and shook his head, running his fingers through his hair again. He stared at the ground and shoved his hands in his pockets once more. “It’s time for me to leave.”

  “I’ve been saying that for a while now.”

  When he tipped his head up, peering a
t me from under his dark lashes, I held perfectly still. The heat that now burned in his eyes wasn’t simmering hatred. It was something else entirely. A burn of desire aimed directly at me, his nostrils flaring as he scented the air. “The sun has completely set.”

  I didn’t comment as I pressed my back against the wall. I merely tilted my head to the front door, indicating he should take a hike—in a fucking hurry.

  “The others are out there.” He ground his teeth together, his muscles strained tight. “They’re waiting just outside your door right now.”

  Okay, I had to speak up. Loudly. In the direction of my front door. “I’m not into group sex! Please go away.” I jerked my head toward the door. “You too, tough man.”

  “I am tough.” His tone was a low growl, his cheeks flushing with adrenaline as he stared. His nostrils flared and he closed his eyes slowly. When he spoke, his demand was as soft as a rose petal. “Go lock yourself up somewhere.”

  I didn’t need to be told twice.

  With his statue still form standing in my living room, I raced down the hallway, shouting over my shoulder, “Lock my damn door when you leave!” I slammed the basement door shut behind me, jumped down the stairs as fast as my feet would take me, and barricaded myself in the ancient wine cellar in the corner of the room. It was tiny, standing space only and reeked of mothballs. Ignoring the claustrophobia that immediately settled in the pit of my stomach, I pressed my ear against the door and breathed a small sigh of relief when I heard my front door hammer closed.

  I still didn’t exit. I would be here all night.

  This was not the cabin retreat I’d had planned.

  With my head resting back on an empty shelf, I groaned a half hour later when my cell rang in my pocket. Maneuvering wasn’t easy, but I managed to pull it out. I didn’t know the number on the screen, but I had known a phone call would be imminent. It was just a guess as to which Light Elf it would be. “Hello?”

  “Still mad at me?”

  My eyes closed. Speak of the devil. “Susan. What a surprise. How are you?”

  “Oh, you know, dancing in the moonlight.”