Protector (Daray Hall #2)
Page 11
Is that what he wants from me? If it was, he wouldn’t be so gentle and caring with me, would he? He did try to have sex with you because of a bet. Don’t forget that, I tell myself. Even though I don’t think Kaven’s planning to just use me for sex, I can’t be sure until we sit down and talk about everything.
“Well, let’s have that talk right now. It’s not like we’ve got anything better to do, right?”
Kaven follows me into my designated room, and I can’t help the nervous fluttering as I close the door behind him. This is the first time we’ve been alone with any kind of time on our hands, and I remember the night of the dance, where I was stupid enough to almost sleep with him.
I know him better now, don’t I? I mean, I know what kind of man he is…the kind that doesn’t take sex or love very seriously. What does he want from a girl like me? I’m inexperienced–he knows that. I’m not soft or feminine.
“Kylie?”
I look at him, unsure of what I want. Earlier, I thought I was absolutely positive that Kaven was what I wanted, and what was good for me, but now I’m not entirely sure. I like it when he holds me, and I like it when he kisses me, but is that all I like about him?
I think about all of the encouragement he gave me during my training and the fact that he decided to keep training me and not pass me off to someone else. And I remember the haunted look in his eyes during my funeral service. He obviously cares about me in some way.
He puts his arms around my waist and pulls me against his chest. “Kylie, what are you thinking about right now?”
I sigh. “I’m just thinking about what kind of man you are, and if I actually mean anything to you. I know you care about me, and you thought I should have had a fair chance like the other Protectors, but I’m not sure how serious you are. I would never have casual sex with someone just for the hell of it, and I don’t know if I should be with someone who would.”
His hand moves up to cup my cheek. “Kylie, I regret treating Tricia the way I did, and I regret taking that stupid bet to try and convert you. I’m just not that good at showing it. I’ve never been really great at showing my emotions. Protectors are supposed to be strong, silent, and emotionless; it’s how we keep our people safe.”
“I understand that, Kaven. It’s just that you don’t really say how you feel. You just touch, and kiss, and give me these looks that make me think you might care more about me than you let on. I’m confused right now. Because I remember when you told me that you wouldn’t date anyone less than an eight on the hotness scale, and I’m still not an eight.”
“Alright, let me make things simple.” He puts his fingers under my chin and forces me to look at him. “Kylie, I think you are the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, hands down. You’re wonderful, caring, and what everyone out there said to you was the truth. You’re amazing, and even if I’m not the best at saying it, you do mean a lot to me.”
Kaven bends his head and kisses me fiercely. For a few seconds, I just stand there with his rough, calloused hands cupping my face. His mouth moves against mine, trying to force me into some kind of action, and I finally remember that I’m supposed to be doing something.
I slide my hands down his thick arms until my nails are digging into his back through his shirt. He groans into his kiss, and I feel myself starting to melt against his hard body. How could I ever have doubted him? This kiss is smoldering, perfect, and absolutely amazing.
His hands slide down my back, and he lifts me up. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I weave my fingers through his dark blonde hair as he kisses the side of my neck. Suddenly, the wall is at my back, and Kaven’s mouth is pressed against my collarbone. Even though we’re still fully clothed, our hips are joined, and I can feel the pressure building as the ache inside of me spreads and grows.
I want Kaven, more than I’ve ever wanted anyone before, but I’m still not sure if I’m ready for something so serious. In the time it takes me to get that thought across, my mood goes from passionate lovemaking straight to terrified uncertainty, and Kaven notices the change.
He pulls away from my neck to look me in the eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure I’m ready for this,” I say. I feel bad that I’ve probably just gotten him geared up and ready to go, and now I’m backing out. “I’m sorry. I just don’t–”
“It’s ok, Kylie. It’s your first time, and it should definitely be more special than just random groping against a bedroom wall. You deserve better than that. I don’t blame you for wanting to wait.”
His hands move from my waist and he carefully drops me to my feet. One of his hands is still flat against my back, and the area is incredibly warm, causing butterflies to soar in my stomach. Every nerve in my body feels alive, and for a second, I reconsider my decision to stop him. I don’t question it for long though, because there’s a knock on the door, and Kaven smiles at me.
“I guess it’s a good thing we stopped, huh?”
As I watch Kaven walk over to the door, open it, and talk to someone I can’t see, I do more thinking. I’m not sure which version of Kaven I started to fall in love with–the cocky, arrogant one, or the sensitive one that mourned me so openly. With a shock, I realize it might have been the arrogant one.
The Kaven that always has a smartass remark, the Kaven that yelled at me and forced me to keep going when I wanted to give up, and the Kaven that was so sure of himself that his arrogance seeped out of every movement he made. That’s the Kaven I first started falling for, and that’s the Kaven I want.
The door closes, and Kaven comes back into the bedroom. “That was one of the attendants. Dinner is being prepared for us as we speak, and we’re expected to meet in the dining room in five minutes. It’s just gonna be our group. Selene and Pandia are off doing some talking with the other gods and goddesses.”
Kaven takes my hand and leads me from my room and out into the hall. Chloe and Tara are already there, and they look quickly at our joined hands, before smiling. They don’t say anything, but they definitely don’t look surprised. Not that I really expected them to, I remind myself. Kaven and I have touched and kissed in front of them before.
The dining room is lit with beautiful crystal chandeliers and dark purple candles resting along the walls. There’s a long table in the center of the room with ten mahogany chairs and a silvery lace tablecloth. Attendants are stationed around the entrances to the room, and they quickly pull chairs out for all of us, before stepping back out of sight.
More attendants come in carrying trays and trays of food, moving so gracefully I know without even asking that they’re not human or even vampires. They’re not gods, but they’re certainly some type of immortal beings, maybe nymphs or demi-gods of some kind.
The food is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. On one side of the plate is a pile of reddish green berries that are hard like a nut, but taste sweeter than I would have thought possible. Next to the pile of berries is some kind of meat that resembles chicken, and a golden paste that tastes more incredible than anything I’ve had before.
The wine glass of blood that Kaven and I both have is calling to me, but I force myself to wait until I’m done eating before draining it. It’s not the first time I’ve had blood since becoming a full-grown vampire–the memory of drinking from Kaven at the lake causes my cheeks to burn–and the still warm liquid burns its way down my throat, spreading warmth and desire. The first time I drank blood felt kind of like this, just on a much smaller scale.
I understand why drinking blood can be such a sensual thing.
When dinner is over, the attendants sneak back in and take away our empty trays, leaving the six of us alone at the dining room table. Austin and Chloe are trading discreet glances, and I swear his cheeks start to get red. Kaven touches my hand under the table. “Come on. We’ve got some time to kill before it gets dark. I can show you a thing or two if you want.”
Chapter Thirteen
The two of us get up from the table, and I fol
low him through our little guest building, back to our room. We grab my bow, arrows, and sword, and then we find what looks like a training yard. There are several people already here, and I recognize Apollo. He’s busy talking heatedly with a woman only an inch shorter than him. Her hair is long and black, her eyes are steely gray, and her build is incredibly athletic. She can only be Athena, another of the warrior gods.
From my Greek Mythology class in school, I remember that she’s the opposite of her brother Ares. While he’s bloodthirsty and loves slaughter, she embodies the calculating, intelligent side of war, and dislikes fighting without a cause. She can’t be happy with Artemis and what the other goddesses have done to both Pandia and Daray Hall.
She sees the two of us standing at the entrance to the training field, and she smiles. “Welcome, children of Selene. Have you come to test your abilities?”
Apollo glares at me with such open hatred that I actually take a step back. Kaven immediately steps in front of me, guarding me against anything Apollo might be stupid enough to try. Thankfully Athena is not willing to put up with him, and shoves him. “Leave Apollo, before you do something to bring Zeus’ anger down yourself.”
He throws the shield in his hands, knocking over a rack of spears, and stomps away from the yard, looking more like a sullen child than an all-powerful god. Athena watches him leave with an amused smirk on her face. “Sometimes he acts much younger than he really is. It can be a pain.”
“Even though he knows that his sister is in the wrong, he still defends her,” Kaven says, stepping into the training field. All around me I see archery targets, dummies for spear throwing, a wrestling ring, and racks upon racks of swords, knives, maces, and other weaponry I don’t have names for. Athena watches me with a fond smile on her face.
“I’ve always found Selene’s children to be quite fascinating.” She turns to Kaven. “Yes, Apollo sides with his sister. They have little but one another; their mother died giving birth to them, and Hera has never hidden her dislike of them. Very few of the gods are sympathetic to them. Now so more than ever.”
“You said ‘Selene’s children’, do all the gods have children of their own like she does?” Athena raises a perfectly sculpted eyebrow, and I feel slightly stupid “I mean, Selene has vampires, do the other gods have something else? Do you have warrior teenagers that are, I don’t know, taught in the art of war or something?”
She smiles. “Some of us do have children like Selene. Poseidon has his mermaids, Aphrodite has her many lovely nymphs, and Apollo has his prophets. There are many others that are not so well known, but Selene and Poseidon have the most “children” by far. Anyways, I will leave you to your training.”
Athena exits the training yard, but I get the feeling that she’s hanging around, waiting to see what the two of us can do. To be honest, I’m pretty curious too, since I haven’t really touched any of these weapons before. When I used the sword against the dragon, I was going off of pure instinct and what I’ve seen in movies.
It’s the same with the bow. I haven’t had much experience, and what few good shots I did make were all from pure luck. I definitely need practice in case we’re unable to stop a war from taking place. But now that Zeus knows the truth, the odds of war ever taking place are hopefully slim to none. But, these skills will still be useful to have, because there are more than moon goddesses to watch out for.
Not all vampires stay so nice and friendly once they leave Daray Hall. Some of them think it’s their goddess-given right to prey on humans. Selene told me about them when I first arrived in her Gardens, and at first I didn’t believe her.
The idea that a vampire could kill and feed on people is a sickening one, and other vampires don’t take kindly to something like that. These killer vamps are hunted down and executed for crimes against humans, so if those people were to find out about Tara and her amazing ability to weed the killers out, she could be in serious danger. Even if this war ends peacefully, Tara will still need a Protector for a very long time.
I draw my bowstring back to my ear and take aim at the nearest target. It’s about fifteen yards away, and the bulls-eye is about the size of the palm of my hand. I take a deep, steadying breath as the exact center of the bulls-eye is in my sight, and I release. The arrow thuds to a stop, missing the bulls-eye by almost ten inches.
“Not bad.” Kaven’s trying not to laugh, and I elbow him.
“Don’t laugh at me,” I say, though I’m trying not to smile back at him. “I just need a bit of practice, and I’ll be alright.”
Kaven snorts.
“I’ll be better than you!” I smile at him. “Just you wait and see.”
He puts his hands up, chuckling. “I believe in you. I just wanted to make sure you did too.”
It takes me almost an hour to get to the point where I can even hit the bulls-eye, but I can’t hit it with any kind of certainty. I’ll hit it three times in a row, and then not hit the middle six or seven times in a row. Kaven promises that I’ll get better with more time and practice, and I believe him. He’s the one that’s experienced with all kinds of weapons, and he’s helped train people before.
Kaven takes a bow from one of the nearby racks, fits an arrow to the string, and draws it all the way back. The muscles in his arms flex, and he takes a deep breath, before releasing. The arrow thuds directly into the center of the farthest target, but I’m too busy watching the hard contours of his arms and shoulders to notice.
When he looks at me, he gives me one of the sexy, confident smirks that I’ve come to love. “Like what you see?” This isn’t the first time he’s asked me this and, like the other times, I smile sweetly.
“Yeah, as a matter of fact, I still do.”
He chuckles, grabs another arrow, fits it to the string, and shoots. It thuds directly into the center of the target, right beside the first one, and he smiles. “Oh yeah, I’m awesome.” He looks at me again. “Come here. I’ll show you a better way to shoot. You’ll be an expert in no time.”
I step up beside him and grab my bow from the small bench beside us.
“Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart with an even amount of weight on both foot and an even amount of weight between the ball and heel of both feet. This’ll keep you balanced and keep your body steady.”
I spread my feet apart, trying to put equal amounts of weight on each one.
“Nock the arrow. Place your index finger above the arrow and the second and third fingers below the arrow. Curl your fingers around the bowstring so the first joint of all three fingers are aligned on the bowstring. Relax your hand; keep the back as flat as possible.”
I do as he tells me, and try to focus on the bow in my hands instead of the fact that Kaven’s hard, muscular chest is pressed up against my back. He’s breathing warm air onto the back of my neck, and it sends a pleasant shiver down my spine.
“Alright, make sure when you draw the string back, your index finger is firmly placed against your jaw, the thumb is tucked into the palm of your hand so it can be placed firmly against the neck, and the bowstring is firmly touching your chin. Take aim at your target.”
I do as he tells me.
“And release.”
I let my fingers slip off the bowstring, and the arrow speeds away, thudding to a stop no more than two inches from the red bulls-eye. I let my bow fall to my side, and I look at Kaven. “Not bad, huh?”
“With a little practice, you’ll be great. Not as good as me, but still, great.”
I snort. “You know, I’ve really missed the cocky, arrogant guy you are deep down inside. I mean, the nice, sensitive, caring guy is awesome too; I just like the jerk more. I think that’s the first side of you I started to have feelings for.”
“Why?” he asks, picking up a curved sword. “I thought girls always picked the sensitive, caring guy that was a great listener. I mean, I’m glad you like me and everything, I’m just surprised. When we first met, I was kind of cold and hostile towards you.”
He smiles at me. “I knew from the moment your fight with Carlos ended that you had what it took. I just didn’t wanna admit it to myself, and I think nobody else did either. You’re talented, Kylie. Where did you learn everything you knew? Most Protectors start out with the barest of training.”
“Oh, before my dad died, he forced me to take self-defense classes. He said that every girl should know how to defend herself. He was killed during a mugging attempt by a stupid sixteen year old punk. After he was gone, I just decided that protecting myself wasn’t good enough; I wanted to protect others as well. So I started training harder and longer, until I was sure I could do it.”
He uses a rag to clean the sword in his hands. “So, how long have you and Tara been friends? I’ve had a lot of friends over the course of my life, but never anyone I was willing to die for.”
“I’ve known Tara forever. When we met, we just clicked. We’ve both always been those girls that are just kind of there. We didn’t do sports, we didn’t hang out with the popular crowd, we weren’t on student council, and we weren’t homecoming court. We just went to school, disappeared into the background, and waited for graduation so we could start our lives.”
“I’ve never had a friend like that,” Kaven says. “And certainly nobody willing to die for me. You’re very lucky to have a friend that cares about you as much as she does. Do you think she’d be willing to do for you what you did for her?”
Would Tara sacrifice herself for me?
It doesn’t matter, because even if she wanted to, I would never let her do it. “I’m not sure, Kaven, but we’re never going to find out. If anyone is going to be doing the sacrificing, it’s gonna be me; it’s my job, remember?”