by K. Grey
“Oh! Jilly…”
“It looks like a freaking watermelon shoved into my ankle sideways and it is four different shades of green and purple… it hurts, Ava… I have popped three pills so far this morning.”
“Why haven’t you called David? He should be there with you.” David was Jill’s on and off again boyfriend.
“He is in Seattle on business for a few more days.” Jill sniffed. “I can’t maneuver on those damn crutches they gave me and I can’t even get up to go pee by myself…” Jill began to cry. “Ava… can you come over for a little while. I need your help. You know I don’t like asking.”
“I know…” Ava sighed and looked at the window. It was almost lunch time and the sun was high in the sky. She was safe in the day time. The half breeds couldn’t go out in the sun. Alfred said they would burn up like toast. She wouldn’t have to worry about them. “I’ll be there in a few minutes, jilly.” She told her.
Alfred listened to Ava and knew she was concerned about her friend, but he didn’t like this. Her safety was top priority. Lucien had told them all Ava was to be kept safe no matter what.
“It should be safe enough, Alfred.”
“I’m not sure about this. I don’t think Lucien would like you going without one of the brothers.”
“But it’s day light. Half breeds would burn up like toast wouldn’t they?”
“Yes they would.” He nodded.
“So none of them would be around. I wouldn’t have to worry about them. It should be fine to go then.”
“Go where?”
Ava swirled around when another gruff male voice spoke behind her. She had thought of just going, but she realized she had no way of going without asking Alfred to take her. She didn’t have her crappy car here. She saw Rhage standing there. He looked pissed off. Hell! He always looked pissed off.
“Her friend Jill is hurt and asked Ava to come help her.” Alfred told him.
“You aren’t supposed to leave the house.” Rhage told her. He hadn’t been able to sleep and suddenly he felt her concern. She was upset. He couldn’t ignore it. He
Had to know if she was alright. He had laid there fighting the urge to get up, but then he couldn’t ignore it. Sloane had told him she had felt him. The knife wound and others things so he was trying to make sure he kept up a mental block so she wouldn’t feel anything else from him, but he couldn’t block or turn it off from her.
“Yes... I know THAT, but Jill is my dear friend and she needs me.”
“And you are supposed to stay safe and that means staying here. No leaving.” He grunted.
Ava rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. “It’s daylight. I should be perfectly safe…. And let me rephrase it a different way... I’m going. I need to go help Jill. So either Alfred can take me or I will walk… end of story.”
“Don’t be stubborn with me. I will win.” He crossed his arms over his chest meaning that was the end of it as far as he was concerned.
Ava arched an eyebrow at him. “Really? Do I look scared to you?” she already had her cell phone in her back pocket and her shoes were on. He wanted to play bossy with her. OH! She never took orders well! Ask her fine, but don’t order her around like she was a child. She huffed and walked straight toward the French doors that led out to the porch. Rhage grabbed for her arm, but she darted away from him and outside. She didn’t stop until she stood in the sunlight facing him with her hands on her hips. Her foot tapped the wood planks on the porch.
“Dammit!” he growled. He felt her determination and he knew she wasn’t going to give in.
“What would it hurt?” Alfred asked him. “She is worried about her friend.”
“She isn’t safe out there.”
“She would be if you go with her…you could drive one of the SUVs and it shouldn’t take long. Right there and right back…” Alfred then raised his voice so Ava could hear him outside. “Isn’t that right, ava? Straight there and straight back?”
“Yes… it shouldn’t even take an hour.” She said crossing her arms over her chest and tilting her head to the side. Her foot was still tapping on the wood.
“Fine!” Rhage knew she would indeed go on her own. She was too damn stubborn for her own good. “Let’s go to the garage.”
“You can pick me up around front... I’ll be waiting there.” She turned on her heel and stormed off mumbling something along the lines of. “Pissy dumbass.”
“I can hear you!” Rhage called out after her.
“GOOD! Because you ARE a pissy dumbass!” she called back.
Rhage looked at Alfred when he cleared his throat covering his chuckle.
“Sorry…I’ll get the thicker leather jacket from the closet for you, Rhage.”
Rhage drove the SUV from the garage and around the corner of the house. He clenched the steering wheel tightly. She was standing on the porch steps. He should’ve woken Lucien or Talon or someone else to take her. He should stay the hell away from her. It was the best thing for her and yet he didn’t wake anyone up. He took the thicker leather jacket from Alfred and donned on a baseball cap to protect his head. He had on leather gloves as well. The less he was exposed to the sun the better. Alfred also reminded him there was bagged blood in the cooler if he needed it.
When he pulled up to the porch she hurried and opened the door. She slammed the door, snatched on her seat belt before crossing her arms over her chest to stare out the windshield.
“What the hell are you pissed off about? You are getting your way...”
“Because you are a bossy pissy dumbass and I’d rather Alfred took me because he is better company. You are so pissy... …” she then snapped her head around and glared at him. “AND I know you don’t like me which is just fine, but I won’t put up with a pissy attitude! So just drive!”
Rhage just stared at her for a minute stunned. She thought he didn’t like her. He knew Sloane said she was already feeling his emotions. She thought the
Feelings she had felt from him was because he didn’t like her! Hell! He wondered what she would think if she knew he’d like nothing more than to strip her naked and fuck her for days. Hell! He would risk burning up in the sun fucking her on the hood of the SUV. Being this close to her that’s all he could think about. His rock hard cock agreed. He was just staring at her. He couldn’t help it.
“WELL! Drive!” she snapped.
“It’s not that I don’t like you…” he managed to say.
“What?” she asked barely hearing him? He had begun driving down the driveway.
“I just don’t do good moods… I’m not a cheery flowery up beat person.” He grunted.
“So you are just in a foul mood all the time?” she asked arching an eyebrow at him.
“Yep….” He cut his eyes at her. “And for the record this is a stupid idea. You should be in the house where you are safe.”
“Its daylight and half breeds burn up like toast in the sun…AND I’m sure you’re armed for something.”
“Yes, I am…” he never left the house without being armed to the teeth and even in his room he had weapons within reach. He didn’t believe in not being ready for a fight.
“There… see… there’s nothing to worry about.” She waved her hand in the air. “Everything will be fine.”
Rhage shook his head. “Doesn’t your friend have someone else she could call?”
“No…Jill doesn’t like to ask for help so for her to ask me to come is a big thing for her. She has always helped me when I needed her. I can’t tell her no…”
“I can... call her and I will.”
“NO!” Ava snapped. She gave him the directions. “I promised I wouldn’t be there long.”
“I know we won’t. We will be back in an hour.” Rhage knew she was concerned for her friend. She was worried and he could feel it. He had a feeling if he wasn’t taking her she would have tried to go on her own. She was loyal to her friends and he adm
ired that about her. They drove in silence. Rhage had no idea what to say. He wasn’t an outgoing person like Talon. Talon would know the right thing to say or how to talk to her. He didn’t have a clue! Hell the only thing he knew about women was how to fuck em… that’s it… he had learned all he needed to know and he never thought about anything else. And NOW he couldn’t even have a decent conversation with one.
He noticed she was fidgeting in her seat. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“What if you get burned when you get out? I know Alfred said immortals can stand a little sun, but I don’t want you getting crispy on me.”
Rhage actually chuckled. He couldn’t help it. He liked the way she put things. And she was CONCERNED about him. “The older an immortal is the more he can handle. We just don’t expose ourselves to the sun because it starts damaging at the first ray of the sun. The longer we are exposed the more blood it takes to repair the damage. So we just try to avoid it all together.”
“Oh! Alright… I understand that… better safe than sorry.”
“Yep... Now if you could just remember that…”
Ava rolled her eyes. “Really? We have had this conversation, Rhage…Jill is important to me. I don’t have any family just her.”
He nodded. He just didn’t like it. He wanted her safe! That was all he cared about. He noticed she kept glancing at him. He had already made sure he kept his emotions under tight reign so she wouldn’t feel anything else from him. He didn’t want the connection to grow. It wouldn’t be right since he didn’t have any intention of claiming her.
“What?” he finally asked. He couldn’t stand it.
“How old are you?”
“What?”
“How old are you? I know Lucien is as old as dirt. I want to know how old you are.”
“I was born in 1581.”
“Oh!” she turned to look out of the windshield again. “Who is the youngest?”
“Holden. He was born in 1843 I think.”
“That is still old….” She murmured.
“We live a long time…”
“I see that. What’s the day?”
“Of what?”
“Your birthday.”
“October 21st I think.”
“You think?” her eyes shot back to him. “You don’t know?”
“Birthdays kind of aren’t a big deal after a while.”
“Oh! That makes sense… I guess... after a couple of hundred it probably gets boring.” she sighed sadly. It was sad to her though.
When they reached the apartment building Rhage looked at it and then at her. It wasn’t in the safest neighborhood nor was it a nice looking building. Ava shrugged.
“It’s what I can afford after paying for school. School is more important than where I sleep.” She told him. Rhage didn’t like it. She deserved the best. It was a two story walk up. An old reconverted brownstone which had seen better days. Rhage didn’t say anything, but nodded his head. Ava watched him walk around the SUV to open her door. She worried about him in the sun. Rhage didn’t know what to think when she grabbed his hand hurrying toward the front door---- then he chuckled realizing she wanted to get him out of the sun as soon as she could. Once they entered the building she looked up at him.
“What?” she asked.
“I’m good… you don’t have to worry about me getting crispy...”
“Better safe than sorry…” she rolled her eyes. When she moved away from him Rhage quickly pulled her back to his side. He liked her being next to him and he rationalized it by telling himself it was for her protection. Ava didn’t argue. She slipped her arm around his like it was a natural thing to do. Rhage wanted to groan because despite wearing a leather jacket which hung around his legs to hide his weapons he could still feel her body heat… and damn it felt good. He wanted her naked… he wanted her naked now! He even felt his incisors lengthen and his cock was pressing against his zipper painfully. His body was demanding.
“Where to?” he managed to grunt.
“There are only four apartments…I’m upstairs across from Jill.” Rhage noticed she was looking toward a door that was closed.
“What is it?”
“Mrs. Vaughn, she is the old lady that lives in that apartment. She must be out. She usually is always peeking through her door. I was going to say hello.” She shrugged. “Come on… Jill must be going crazy by now.”
Rhage kept her between him and the wall as they headed upstairs. When they reached the second floor Rhage realized he only heard a TV. There weren’t any other sounds. He knew he should be hearing other sounds like Ava’s friend in her apartment or people in general. He paused and tuned his hearing even more. He couldn’t even hear Jill’s heart beating or breathing. Something wasn’t right. There weren’t any sounds except for the TV.
Ava felt him tense up. She knew something was wrong. She slipped her hand into his drawing his attention down to her. She knew not to make a sound so she raised her eyebrows silently questioning him. She saw it in his eyes. He slowly shook his head. Rhage reacted without thinking and answered her in his head.
‘I don’t hear your friend at all. It’s too quiet. Something isn’t right.’
Ava’s eyes widened in shock. She could hear him! His mouth hadn’t moved and yet his voice was in her head. ‘I didn’t just hear you…’ she didn’t say anything out loud.
‘Ava…..’
‘SHIT! I do hear you! How the hell is that possible?’
‘We can discuss that later….’ Rhage knew he was digging himself a hole he was never gonna get out of, but DAMMIT! He pulled her to the corner near a window. ‘I don’t sense your friend Jill at all…. ‘
‘What? She has to be there. She called me. She is on crutches.’ Ava told him.
‘I need you to do anything I tell you to. No questions. I think this is a trap.’
‘How the hell could anyone know about Jill or where I live?’
Just then Rhage heard slight shuffling and his instincts told him it wasn’t a good thing. He heard someone suddenly moving. Just as the door knob moved he pressed Ava deeper into the corner and focused his attention on Ava and protecting her. He would kill anyone who tried to hurt her.
‘Whoever it is won’t see us…just stay still.’
Ava clutched his jacket in her hands to keep them from shaking. His back was pressing her into the corner and he was shielding her from everything with his body. She could see around one of his arms.
‘What do you mean they won’t see us…?’
‘I can camouflage us... No one will see us.’ He never used his defensive gift. He always liked to fight, but he had no idea who or what he was up against. He was the only one to protect Ava.
‘That’s your defense--- Lucien said every immortal had one.’
‘Yes…..I need to see what we are up against first…they won’t see us. They will only see the wall not us.’
‘That’s cool as hell, Rhage….’
He wanted to chuckle, but didn’t. Ava heard the door squeak. It was Jill’s door. She never wanted it sprayed with WD 40. She said it was a part of her security. Ava watched as a tall blonde man step outside at the far end of the hall. His face had a long thick scar across one side as if he had been seared with a metal poker. It started at his hairline traveling across his right eye which was white void of an iris all together and stopped half way down his cheek. He made Ava shiver. He looked evil. She didn’t want to know him.
‘Do you know him?’ Rhage asked silently.
‘No. I’ve never seen him before. Do you think he has hurt Jill?’
Rhage didn’t want to lie to her. He didn’t want to hurt her either, but he had a feeling her friend was dead already. He wasn’t sure how to tell her when she spoke before he did.
‘You think she’s dead, I know…he used Jill to lure us here…oh! I’m so stupid.’ she whispered in such a low voice he almost didn’t hear her.
‘Y
ou aren’t stupid…u cared about your friend.’ Rhage kept his eyes on the stranger. Rhage had a feeling this bastard was an immortal. It was confirmed when he spoke.
“You might as well give up the woman. You’re outnumbered and you aren’t getting out of here. Give me the woman and I won’t kill you.” The bastard said out loud. “I know you are in here somewhere and I will find you.”
Rhage felt Ava shake against him. He covered her hand with his and squeezed. She was scared. It pissed him off that someone was scaring her. No one scared his mate. He would kill this bastard long before he ever got close to Ava. No one would ever lay a hand on her. ‘He will have to go through me first, Ava. I’m not going to let him touch you. I’ll kill him.’ he reassured her. ‘I trust you, Rhage….I’m sorry I got us trapped.’
‘Don’t be sorry, baby. I will get us out of here and everything will be fine.’ they watched as four more immortals stepped out of Jill’s apartment and Ava’s old one. ‘My camouflage will keep you hidden.’
‘How long can you keep it in place?’
‘As long as I have to.’ Rhage really had no idea. He hadn’t used it in so long he almost forgot he possessed the ability.
“Find them!” scar face ordered the other four immortals. “We know they entered the building and haven’t left so they are hiding somewhere. Find them! I want that woman. Kill the immortal with her!” Rhage watched the others spread out to search, but he kept a close eye on scar face. Rhage wondered if this was the “Dante” from the house he and Talon had watched. They had plans to raid it tonight, but apparently the bastard was one step ahead of them trying to draw Ava to them which worked. Rhage felt Ava lay her head against his back and her hands clutched his sides tightly. ‘You’re safe, baby… I promise. I got you.’
‘I know, but HE scares me.” She whispered silently.
Ava stood there clutching Rhage’s leather jacket listening the bastards roam around tearing things up. She wanted to scream and cry because she knew Jill was probably dead. And it was all her fault. Because of her even Mrs. Vaughn was dead. This was ALL HER FAULT! Then she heard a growling in her head just before Rhage’s hand closed around hers and he turned around to face her.