Enemy Within (Vampire Born Trilogy, #2)

by Kace, Angeline

  Zladislov’s forehead creases. It’s the most expression I’ve seen on his face. “Find her,” he tells Emerik, and Emerik nods. “I assure you, I do not want to harm my daughter. However, I would like to speak with her.”

  It is more of a statement than a request, but I’m still not ready to oblige. “How about we have you do that somewhere . . . less deserted? Garwin Johnson’s house.” I raise my eyebrow to let him know there is more than just a house there. We have a small army waiting for him.

  He nods once. “It’s only Emerik and me. We shall follow behind you.”

  I’m almost certain he knows where Garwin lives. His offer to follow us indicates the courtesy for us to keep an eye on him. That eases some of my tension, but I still won’t relax until I’m positive he’s no longer a threat to Brooke. “That will work. Let us gather our things.”

  I address Hawk. “Kaitlynn and Jaren.” He’ll grab them along with Brooke and Holly Anne.

  Bruce will stay with me and we’ll go with Zladislov and Emerik.

  The enemy is following us home.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Brooke

  Rorik and five other Zao Duhs meet us at Garwin’s gates. When Emerik pulls up behind us and rolls down his window, Rorik and his men bow to my father.

  Geez, even when the Zao Duhs might possibly fight him to the death, they still bow.

  Creepy.

  My pulse pounds in my ears as Hawk drives slowly past the fountain and formal gardens toward the house. Emerik follows behind, and the Zao Duhs jog beside their car.

  Four more Zao Duhs stand sentry on the porch with Garwin.

  This is what we’ve been waiting for.

  We get out of the cars and walk up the steps. My legs tremble the whole way.

  The Zao Duhs swarm my father and Emerik like bees protecting their hive.

  “Zladislov,” Garwin says while he bows.

  My father stops at the top of the stairs, and the Zao Duhs mirror him. Mirko, Ace, and the rest of the crew lead Kaitlynn, Jaren, and me around the group to continue on inside, but before we are all in and the door shuts, Garwin’s voice trails behind us, “I expect for you to come into my home on peaceful terms, and to remain peaceful until you are far from my property.”

  My father replies, “I would offer you nothing less.” The door closes, so I don’t see his face to find out if he’s lying, but I stare at the door regardless.

  My mom rushes out between more Zao Duhs in the hallway and wraps me in her arms. She pulls back and turns toward Mirko. “Does he really only want to talk?”

  “That’s what he says. I think if he wants to harm Brooke, he would’ve done it already. So either he really does want to talk, or he’s here for something else.”

  The door opens and we scramble back. Except Mirko. My throat constricts, but I can’t pull my gaze away from my father. Not only because I’m scared but also because he’s my dad.

  I know what he looks like from seeing him at the hotel in Utah—dark, sleek hair, chiseled cheekbones, brilliant blue eyes—but it still isn’t enough. I’ve imagined his face a million different ways while growing up. Sometimes it was ugly and scarred, and others it was beautiful and strong. Although he might’ve followed us here to kill me, I’m strangely comforted by his beauty.

  “Let’s convene in the den,” Garwin says and points for us to go.

  I drop my eyes, and we spread out into the den. Garwin leads my father to the sitting area and indicates for him to sit in Garwin’s regular spot.

  Is that a sign of consideration for my father, or is this a strategic move pertaining to where my father is positioned in relation to the Zao Duhs?

  Emerik stands to the right of my father, and six Zao Duhs line up behind and to their sides. I hope that’s adequate; I’m too star-struck and shaky to run if someone lunges at me.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” Garwin asks, strolling over to the liquor cabinet. “Scotch or brandy, perhaps?”

  “Cognac,” my mom says, drawing my father’s attention to her. She blushes when their eyes meet and something passes between them.

  His expression is blank as he stares at her, but hers twists with deep emotion—love, maybe?—and then it quickly darkens to raw anger.

  She tears her eyes away and we sit across from him. She and I sit in the middle with Mirko next to me and Ace next to her. Kaitlynn and Jaren and the remaining Zao Duhs file in behind the couch.

  Garwin pours the dark liquid into a bowl-shaped glass and hands it to my father.

  My father sniffs the drink and smiles. We have the same smile.

  “Anything for you?” Garwin asks Emerik.

  “I’m fine, thank you.” Emerik’s words are kind but each accented word exudes virile strength, his moss-green eyes sparkling with intelligence. His nose is sharp and his jaw is wide and masculine. He’s as beautiful as my father but his beauty offers me no such comfort.

  It terrifies me.

  Garwin walks back to his cabinet and makes his signature drink—two cubes of ice and brandy. I have to give it to him for acting so nonchalant. He sits on the couch closest to my father. “All right, Zladislov, what brings you to my home?”

  “I have come to see my daughter.”

  “Yes,” Mirko says, his back rigid, “but what do you want with her?”

  “I assure you, I do not wish to harm her. I am her father, and I simply want to claim her as mine.”

  Butterflies soar from my gut and flutter in my chest.

  He wants me.

  I shouldn’t believe him, though. I told myself if I ever met him, I’d tell him how much I hate him for abandoning my mom and me. I’d tell him how much we don’t need him.

  But … the icy wall those promises push against within me melt. And it is more than the lost little girl inside me who needs him. Through the anger, the fear of rejection, the uncertainty, all of it, I ache for my father to want me as his daughter.

  My mom snorts. “If you wanted to be a father, you would’ve found us.”

  “Did you offer me a choice, Annette? You ran. You changed your name. You made it clear you did not want me to find you. You knew I would only be able to expend so many resources before I had to give up on you if I wanted to keep our relationship hidden. How was I supposed to know you were with child?”

  I whirl on my mom. “Annette? You changed your name?” The lies grow deeper and deeper. I shake my head. He looked for us, and it was because of her I didn’t have a father. “Is my name even really Brooke? Or did you change that too? Maybe more than once even? Huh?”

  My mom grabs my hand to calm me down, but I jerk away. I can’t handle her touching me. All my life, she blamed my father for his absence. He could’ve been here all along if it wasn’t for her. And I’m going to flip if I don’t have the stability of my own name to define me.

  Mirko puts his hand on the small of my back, a silent reminder to behave, but I ignore it and turn to him. “Were you aware of this? Did you know she was going by a fake name?”

  “No,” he says calmly. “You only referred to her as your mom and I’ve only heard of her as Annette.”

  I look at Garwin and glare. How could I have been so blind? He and Mirko have had numerous conversations about my mom, but I’ve never heard her referred to as Annette.

  “Brooke is your name,” my mom says, trying to ease my tension. “They didn’t know your name, and with mine changed, I saw no reason to change yours.”

  Oh, well, thank baby Jesus for that. At least I have something that really belongs to me. “What about Keller?”

  Garwin answers, “There are a lot of Kellers outside of the Društvo lines, so we thought it safer than Bauer, which is mostly tied with the Društvos.”

  Brooke Bauer. I chew on that for a second. Too foreign to be mine. “What’s on my birth certificate?” I’ve never needed to see it before. I’ve never had a reason to believe my name isn’t my own.

  It makes me feel detached from everything. I hate it.r />
  “Your birth certificate says Brooke Keller,” my mom says.

  I relax some. It is my name. It’s legal from birth. Lots of people have different last names from their moms. I certainly don’t care how much it’s attached to the Društvos. “So, does this mean I don’t have to provide for Mrs. Tomic, then?” I hope that’s what it means.

  “What?” my father growls. “Absolutely not. No daughter of mine is going to serve with the Društvos.” He gives my mom a sharp look.

  I smile. If he doesn’t want me dead, I might like him.

  “What choice did we have?” my mom asks. “We thought you wanted to kill her, remember? And the only bargaining chip we found was to offer something we thought your people could identify with.”

  “The paperwork has been finalized,” Garwin adds.

  “It will have to be unfinalized. Richard is simply going to have to find someone else.” My father surveys my mom. “I am beside myself that you ran and hid her away from me.”

  He appears genuinely hurt, his eyes narrowed, forehead crinkled.

  My mom shakes her head and closes her eyes, as if she wishes it could’ve been different too. “If I would’ve stayed, she wouldn’t have stood a chance. None of us would have,” she trails off in a whisper.

  My father’s eye twitches, revealing a shadow of the pain, real pain even a man trained in holding his emotions cannot hide. “I would have kept her safe. I would have kept both of you safe. You simply did not trust me to give us the chance.”

  The air thickens and something deep transfers between my mom and father.

  I hold my breath, not wanting to remind them I’m an intruder in their intimate moment. These are my parents. And they clearly still love each other, after all this time.

  My heart swells almost to the point of boiling over. My father wants me. I believe it and don’t want to deny it. It hurt him that he didn’t know about me, and above everything else I’ve learned since the moment my life turned upside down, him wanting me as his daughter means the most.

  My father shatters the moment when he turns his gaze to Garwin. “Emerik will find out who attacked Brooke, and we shall deal with it. It did not come down from me. Whoever it was acted without my knowledge and will be punished accordingly.” His face tightens with menace.

  Lijepa was right; he can be swift in his justice.

  “I’m still not sure I believe that,” my mom says, unmoved even after the moment they shared.

  Any reply from my father is interrupted when the buzzer in the den chimes, announcing someone at the front gate.

  “Were you expecting someone?” Garwin asks my father.

  “No,” my father says, looking to Emerik.

  Emerik shakes his head.

  “Rorik,” Garwin says.

  “I got it.” Rorik takes two Zao Duhs with him and leaves.

  “You’re not expecting anyone, either?” my mom asks, her forehead lined in worry.

  “No one.” Garwin sips on his brandy, something I’ve realized soothes him.

  It’s tense and silent for a few minutes. It bothers me, so I speak. “If you don’t want to kill me, what took you so long to come for me?”

  He offers me a soft smile. “As I told Mirko, I meant to come earlier, but Jelena left things in such a way I could not divert my attention until they were dealt with. I called but to no avail.”

  No one responds to that.

  My father glances between Mirko and me, studying us.

  It makes me feel awkward, and if I weren’t so squished on the couch, I would slide over an inch or two away from him. Not sure why. It isn’t like I’m trying to please my father or ashamed of Mirko, but the way my father surveys us gives me the feeling I shouldn’t be so close to Mirko.

  I don’t like it.

  Rorik comes back in. “A runner from the Commission is here asking for Brooke.”

  “What does he want?” Garwin asks.

  My father stands. “The Commission?”

  “Is there only the one?” Mirko asks. He stands as well. He, Garwin, my father, and Emerik move to leave the den.

  I get up.

  Mirko turns back to me. “Slatki,” he whispers, his face tight. He’s afraid.

  It scares me.

  “Stay here. Ace.” He jerks his head for Ace to follow them.

  I watch them leave and then take a few steps toward the door.

  “Brooke,” Hawk warns me.

  “I’m not going out to the foyer. I only want to hear what they say.”

  Hawk comes with me to the door. We stop and listen.

  “Calling her for what?” my father’s deep voice drifts down the hall.

  Whatever the reply is, it’s too soft for me to pick up.

  I step outside of the door and tiptoe to the other wall in the hallway.

  Hawk stays close beside me. Probably preparing to grab me.

  “I have a hard time believing you weren’t aware of this.” Garwin. And he’s pissed.

  “I am as surprised as you are. This was done underhandedly.”

  What was? I use my Nestati as quickly as I can and step out of Hawk’s reach to make it to the foyer before I release it, reappearing. “What was?”

  All of them turn to me with military precision.

  “You’re excused,” my father says to the unfamiliar face within the crowd.

  The kid bows, and Rorik escorts him out of the house.

  “What’s going on?” I ask again. I look to Garwin, who looks to my father.

  I stare at my father as he reads the paper in his hand.

  I turn my attention to Mirko. “Mirko? What is it?” Nausea flutters in my gut. I place my hand over it, thinking I might be sick. My heart beats so fast I can feel my pulse in my stomach.

  “The Commission has called you,” Mirko says. His face puckers as if those words physically hurt him to say.

  “What? Why?”

  My father tears his focus away from the paper. “The Commission has called you on Dikan’s behalf and without my knowledge to testify on Jelena’s ‘slaying.’ However, more is going on here than that.”

  “Like what?” Ace asks. This seems pretty serious on its own.

  My father’s lips thin into a tight line as he looks to Emerik. “I am not certain yet, but whatever it is …,” he looks over to me, “it is not good for you, or me.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Mirko

  I plead to a god I’ve never believed in to take everything back. Please let Brooke serve with the Društvos. Please let her father be our only enemy. Please don’t make me have to do this.

  But I have to. There is no way around it. Not now. Not after her father acknowledged her as his child. Everything’s changed. Brooke’s contract with the Društvos was really unfinalized because of who her father is. That’s unheard of in Društvo history.

  Emerik found them a place to rent farther up the mountain but within the same neighborhood. With the Commission acting behind Zladislov’s back and calling Brooke, he thinks it best to be close but not under the same roof until they know what the Commission is planning.

  Zladislov met with the Commission before he left for Virginia, and they mentioned nothing to him about calling Brooke. Nor did they mention they were calling him as well. Whatever they wanted from Brooke’s testimony couldn’t be given or resolved by anything Zladislov could offer them.

  And although Zladislov doesn’t say, I know it scares the shit out of him.

  It scares me too. Calling Brooke in for testimony and then a vote means a possible sentencing. The usual punishment for killing someone znaked—someone you have to get permission from the Commission to kill—is death if you didn’t have it, which Brooke didn’t before she killed Jelena. But they aren’t listening to Zladislov. He should be the one to say if Jelena’s killer should have to testify.

  Not Dikan.

  I find Brooke with Kaitlynn, David, and Jaren in the billiard room. They’re playing Monopoly to pass the time. I still c
an’t stand Jaren hanging around. Brooke said she feels better not leaving him on his own since she brought him into our mess, but it certainly doesn’t make me feel better.

  He still ogles her when he thinks I’m not looking.

  Like the punk’s doing right now.

  I walk around the pool table—on the side leading me directly into Jaren’s sight—and stroll over to Brooke. I bend down and kiss her cheek. Nothing will prove my point to Jaren that she isn’t his like me kissing her and her smiling because of it.

  Plus, I can’t be near her and not place my lips on her skin.

  She glances up at me with a bright grin on her face. “Hey, you wanna play?”

  “No,” David growls. “We are not starting over. He can join in next round.”

  Kaitlynn laughs and elbows him. “You only say that because you have Boardwalk and Park Place.”

  David nips her shoulder. “You would too if you owned ’em. But you don’t. I do.” He smiles as Kaitlynn laughs at him.

  They’re good together.

  I chuckle. “Don’t worry, David. I won’t take your properties away from you. But …,” I lock eyes with Jaren, “I will take Brooke.”

  When Jaren’s glowing face dims and turns back to the game, I ask Brooke, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

  “Sure.” She moves her Monopoly money to the side and stands. “Watch him,” she tells Kaitlynn, pointing at David like he might steal her money from her neat little pile. She hops away from her game, smiling and laughing.

  I loathe myself for what I’m about to do, but I can’t avoid it, and the longer I let it go, the more we risk.

  “What’s up?” she asks when we clear the room.

  “Let’s go out back.” I grab her hand and weave my fingers between hers, bringing her knuckles up and kissing the largest two. I hold her hand for a moment as I sniff her skin.

  Lemon drops and rain. So slight and sweet. I pucker again before I drop our hands.

  My stomach knots tighter with every step we take closer to the back terrace. I meant it when I told Brooke nothing would hurt me like losing her, and I can already feel that pain slicing into my heart.