Reluctant Storm

by P. A. Warren

  Chapter 28

  Riley

  Pushing a chair out, I sit down at the scarred table, a bit disgruntled at having been interrupted from what I really wanted, Claire. I grab a bag of blood, tearing it open and handing it to Claire. I listen as she inhales the blood greedily. Shifting my weight, my body hums thinking about her taking blood from me earlier today. I glance around at the faces of those surrounding me, my brother, who abandoned his family, Mikail, the hard-nosed contract killer, who’s currently looking at me like he wants to kill me, and Claire’s pain in the ass little sister, Anya. Finally, I stop on Claire who has no idea the roles she’s played in my salvation, and the role she will play in the future. She has no idea that she is next in line for the throne. Leaning back in my chair, I bang my fist against the table, making everyone around the table jump.

  “Okay, so let’s see if I have this straight.” I start ticking things off my fingers. “One, Jason, you were there to protect Claire, which you failed at.”

  He jumps up from his chair and goes to leap over the table at me and Mikail catches his neck in mid-air, pulling him crashing down on the table.

  He growls and removes Mikail’s arm from his neck. “I couldn’t help it, but at least I didn’t help torture her like some people I know,” Jason says, looking down his nose at me in disgust.

  “For the record, I didn’t hurt her, only scared her. That was daddy dearest that hurt her, and don’t forget that I can still break your arm in two seconds flat if you talk to me like that again. Remember who trained you.”

  Snorting at me, he leans forward and looks me straight in the eye with anger radiating off him. “You don’t get to talk to me like that anymore, brother.” Clenching his jaw he looks away, the anger radiating off his body.

  This is not the way I planned on the meeting going. Rubbing my hands over my face I sigh and look over at Jason, contemplating what I can say to make this work. I rub the back of my neck and look over at my stupid idiot of a brother who never listens. Nothing comes to mind that won’t start a brawl, so I dismiss him for now. Glancing down at the scarred table, I slowly utter the one thing I never thought I would never say, “We need to kill Griffin.”

  “You’re crazy!” Jason bursts out, slamming his fist down on the table. “For one thing, he’s so heavily guarded that will almost be impossible, and for another, how the hell do you plan on getting back in there? He has to know you’ve gone against him by now. The irony of this whole mess is this was supposed to be a simple job of protecting Claire, and now it’s turned into this huge deal. Have you even told Claire who she is?” He nods toward Claire.

  “First of all, you’re not listening, because I’m about to kick your ass if you mention your ‘protection job’ one more time,” I say through gritted teeth. “Second, no I haven’t had a chance, because I’ve been more worried about keeping her alive, and she’s been dealing with other issues, life changing issues. We both have.” The feeling of strangling Jason is getting stronger by the minute.

  “Who am I?” Claire asks, looking around at us with her wide green eyes, staring us down.

  Opening my mouth to respond, I’m saved by Mikail.

  “You’re a vampire, doll, a vampire.” Mikail interrupts.

  “I’m not stupid; I know I’m a vampire. You all aren’t telling me something, something important.” She crosses her arms, staring at me with her green eyes narrowed. I slide down my chair, not looking her in the eye. I know what she’s trying to do, and it would totally work if the others weren’t in the room right now. I finally glance over at her and find her still staring at me, and can’t help but inwardly laugh. I put my arm around her back and rub her shoulders as I lean toward her ear and whisper, “That’s not going to work on me, honey. I invented the look.”

  I lean back in my chair, still grasping Claire’s hand, and look over at Anya as she sits there playing with her hair, not paying attention to any of us.

  “Okay,” I let go of Claire’s hand and sit up straight, “so what I want to know is, how did Anya get here and what you plan on doing with her?”

  The room is quiet until Anya finally answers, filling in the silence that previously filled the room.

  “They kidnapped me, broke my neck, and threw me; well I assume they threw me in the trunk since that’s where I woke up. Although I did get a few good hits in on that big asshole over there,” she taunted, pointing over at Jason.

  I smirk and watch as Jason’s face reddens to a bright cherry color and know that I can’t let him get away without saying something about this.

  “You, Mister MMA fighter, let a tiny girl take you down?” Holding in my laugh, I try and keep a straight face.

  “Go to hell, Riley, go to hell,” he snarls at me.

  “Oh, I’ve been there for most of my life, brother, most of my life.” My mind travels back to the vile things my dad did to me once Jason left.

  “You have no frigging clue.”

  Pushing out my chair, I inhale deeply, shuddering with memories, and walk out the front door in search of the space I need to clear my head. I lean against the railing and stare out at the woods that surround this house. My mind is transported back to when I was seventeen and just coming into my vampire years. Normal vampires come of age between fifteen and seventeen and start breaking their fangs and need blood if we are born to two vampire parents. Yet another thing the movies get wrong, we stop aging in our early twenties. It’s when you are bitten that you automatically stop aging and those that are bitten are on the slave level of vampires and will never prosper.

  Claire is a whole different ball game since she was part and needed the bite to become a full-fledged vampire. In fact I’ve never even heard of something like her. She has absolutely no idea that once we get Griffin taken care of and take her to the King’s Lair, also known as Vampire Headquarters, that she will, in fact, become the ruler of all. The entire issue has been that Antony and Griffin divided the vampires into two clans…they were never supposed to be this way, and they both went power hungry, which in turn messed everything up.

  Running my hands through my hair, I have absolutely no idea how this is going to work. There are so many factors that could take place. She could be denied her birthright if they find out she was once half human. The elders and their vampire politics there may already have a plan in place for the throne and not want the true Queen on it. Which would mean killing them all and overtaking them. Just the thought of them possibly hurting Claire pisses me off to the point where I don’t remember slamming my fist into the railing, but at some point I did as I lift my fist up and a decent size chunk of wood is sticking through it along with a mangled porch railing laying at my feet. Letting the blood drip from my fist, I let out a loud, pissed off cry.

  Chapter 29

  Claire

  A loud banging noise coming from Riley’s direction startles me, causing me to jump in my chair. I grip the arms of the chair tightly, so as not to run out after him. I can’t help but wonder what he’s doing out there, but I know that we also have bigger fish to fry. Like why I’m suddenly seeing Mikail in a mirror with me. Turning to Anya, I grimace, shaking my head at her. Something about her just puts me off. I’m not sure if it’s the attitude, or the fact that she looks like she wants to kill me.

  “So this has been a great family reunion. Let’s not do this again, okay?” I watch as she glares at me with her arms folded across her chest.

  Noticing her mouth pull into a line at those words, I know we will never have that family bond, and I’m okay with that. I’m going to have to watch my back with her.

  “We may be blood related,” she continues, “but the difference is I’m pure and well, you’re not. Your mother was nothing but a whore,” she says, staring me down, her hands clenched in fists.

  “You keep saying that!” I say flippantly, “My mother was an evil woman, but you’re so much like her that I bet you two would have gotten along wonderfully.”

  She tosses her hai
r at me and rolls her eyes but stays silent.

  I glance over at Mikail and can’t believe how I thought he was so innocent in all this, and here he is embroiled up to the eyeballs in this mess. It was only a week ago that I was just a college student, and now this. It’s pretty unbelievable how everything has changed. I mean hell, I survived being kidnapped and tortured, ironically, thanks to Riley. I think I can handle the truth. Remembering that old phrase you draw more flies to honey than vinegar gives me an idea.

  Sidling up to Mikail, I gently place my hand on his arm, pulling it back as I suddenly feel an electrical current the minute I touch him. He looks down at me with a strange expression on his face as he rubs where I placed my hand, but says nothing about it.

  “Mikail, do you think you can tell me everything that’s going on and what’s going to happen to us? I’ve been in the dark for so long, and it’s time my eyes were opened.”

  He shakes his head. “Not here, let’s walk around back so we can have privacy.”

  I raise my eyebrows up at him but nod and push my chair back, waiting for him to follow me. Pushing his chair back, he rests his forearms on the table and looks up at the ceiling as if praying for forgiveness. I lean against the door and wait for him, watching him curiously when he finally stands and smiles at me.

  “Just praying I won’t get my ass kicked for telling you all this.”

  We step outside and walk side by side toward the woods, the leaves and branches crunching under our feet.

  “Okay, remember this is just from what I’ve heard,” he says, stepping over a log and reaching his hand over to help me up and over it. “Once upon a time—”

  “Really?”

  “Every good story starts with ’once upon a time’ and stop interrupting,” he chides. “Once upon a time there was a man named Antony who apparently went to a club and met a human woman named Erika, your mother. Well, apparently they had a few drinks and a few things led to another and well, nine months later you entered the world. I mean he had to have been pretty shocked,” he says, looking over at me while biting his nail. “We vampires shouldn’t be able to get humans pregnant, but apparently he was able to get her pregnant. Vampires can get other vampires pregnant, but not humans,” he says, stepping over another log and holding his hand out to me, helping me over. “Come to find out though, she was obsessed with your father and wanted to marry him and have that life that goes with being a vampire. When you were born, he wouldn’t take the chance of being seen with a half vampire so he left. Your grandmother is a very important person in the vampire world. She had no idea you existed until you were about fourteen or fifteen. She was a vampire witch, one of the last few that existed.” The next thing he says shocks me: “Everyone thinks your grandmother is dead, but she is alive and kicking.”

  I’m not really sure how I feel about finding out all this new information. I need to figure out how to just turn my emotions off, the more I learn, the worse I feel about the situation. Enjoying the view as his sinewy body paces back and forth as he talks, I take in all his tattoos and mentally take pictures of them. The feeling of familiarity is strong and my heart calls to him. Walking towards him, my feet get within a foot of him and can no longer move. It’s almost as if an invisible force is holding me back. I can’t explain what’s going on even if a gun was held to my head. I still haven’t had a chance to ask him about the mirror incident.

  “It’s really a screwed up situation,” he says as he stops and looks over at me, shrugging, “Once your dad found out she was pregnant, he had you watched closely to see if you would become a vampire. Once you hit fifteen you never showed any signs, but he still kept watch of you. I really think he had good intentions until he was elected the Vampire King. It was then that he kidnapped Jason—”

  “Wait, he kidnapped Jason? When?”

  Drumming his fingers against the wall, he stares at it, leaning against it carelessly, as he thinks. “I think it was three or four months before you started college this year. He wanted you protected at all times, because he knew Griffin wanted to rule both East and West as one.” Clearing his throat, he continues, “So he made it in Jason’s best interest if he protected you from Griffin, who hired me to kidnap you.”

  Jason bursts into the woods, making me jump, and gets into Mikails face; I didn’t realize he had followed us.

  “Did you tell her that her dad used her as bait so that Anya wouldn’t be taken and she could be the next Queen? Did you tell her that her ’dad’,” Jason motions using air quotations, “only used the façade of caring for her to get Griffin interested in her? Don’t make Antony out to be the good guy that he isn’t.”

  The feeling of betrayal from my own blood doesn’t sit well with me, but at the same time I never knew my dad, so it’s hard to feel any type of familial connection. Not to mention, processing the fact that my dad would betray his own child so another one could have the throne and live is beyond what I can deal with and handle right now. Staring past them both with my mouth open, I watch as Riley walks up to us nonchalantly with his hand dripping blood, a piece of wood pierced through it. The one time I really need to have a private talk with Mikail and everyone and his brother shows up. Frustrated, I walk over to the log and sit down, ignoring them.

  “Have either of you told her that you killed him?” Riley asks, looking at both Jason and Mikail, who won’t look at me.

  Stunned, I sit there silently, looking at my lap. This is just too much to take in, and I can’t think about it. If I let myself think about it, I’ll cry, and I’m not sure why, but it seems like something normal people do when their dad’s been murdered. I haven’t cried since I was captured. I don’t have time right now for a breakdown.

  “Did you kill my dad?” I ask point blank.

  Mikail is the first to speak. “I had to or he would have killed us.”

  I nod. I can accept that. I want to feel sad that he’s gone, but he was never in my life so I don’t have a connection with him. He only came into my life to benefit him. The sorrow I feel is that we never had the father-daughter connection that he obviously had with Anya. Riley walks over to me and pulls me into his arms so my head is resting on his chest.

  “There’s something else,” Mikail haltingly says. “Since Anya is younger, and that would mean that you, Claire, will be the rightful Queen of the Vampires. This is great, except that you know nothing about vampire politics or anything vampire. That’s not even the main issue, which we are going to have to deal with. Griffin still wants that throne and obviously will do anything to get it, including killing you.”

  Looking Mikail right into his serious blue eyes, I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind, “Teach me, train me, and help me be the queen I need to be.”

  The crickets are the only noise in the forest. The guys stare silently at me after my proclamation. I watch as Mikail’s mouth widens into a smile and shiver as Riley’s face scowls over at me. Mikail reaches out his hand to me, and I grip it, shaking it tightly.

  “It’s on,” he says, pulling me into a hug. “Training begins at 5:00 AM. Be there and be ready to work your ass off.”

  I nod as I lag behind while the others walk toward the house. I lean over, whispering in his ear, “You and I have a lot to talk about. You have things that you need to tell me, and I have things I need to tell you. Got it?”

  Pulling away, I watch him nod with a serious look on his face before his face shutters again and he is once again the smiling guy he was before. I let him know I was on to him. He’s a good actor, I’ll give him that.

  Watching him catch up to the others, I listen as they talk before I make my way toward the house. I need to be alone now, and the bedroom seems like the best place for it. No sooner do I walk past the guys, when someone grabs my shoulder. I don’t even think, I just react. Shrinking down into as small a ball as I can, I start whimpering and whispering for Griffin not to hurt me. I’m transported back into that cell, back to when I had no way of knowing if I wou
ld make it out alive, and all I see is darkness. Suddenly, I feel water hitting my face, which is probably the worst thing they could do to bring me out of it, because that brings back the horrifying memories of the water torture that Griffin dealt me.

  “Not the water, not the water!” I vaguely hear Riley yell at them right before it hits my face.

  Sputtering, I open my eyes to see Riley going after Jason with his fists.

  I sit up, soaking wet, and look around at the chaos that is Riley and Jason fighting. The look in their eyes tells me this has been building for a long time.

  “Stop!” I yell at them to no avail, and try to stand up. My face is burning, embarrassed to have reacted like that. A hand reaches out to help pull me up, and I gratefully accept it and realize its Mikail that’s supporting me. I don’t know if I should pull away or let him help me. He grips my hand and gives me no choice but to let him assist me. He puts his arm around me, shielding me from the two of them and walks me to the house and into my room.

  “Will you be okay here if I leave, so I can break up the fight before they destroy each other?”

  Nodding at Mikail unsteadily, I cross my arms over my chest and wait for him to leave so I can break down, alone.

  Chapter 30

  Claire

  I shut the door behind me and walk straight to the bed and plop down on it. Laying there with my face smashed into the pillow, I let the tears fall freely, my sobs muffled into my pillow. I’m not sure how long I’ve been crying, but it’s like once I start, I can’t stop. I cry for my dreams, my lack of family, and most of all, my loss of innocence. Drifting off, I let my dreams take flight as I fall into a deep sleep.

  Feeling the bed rock, I turn my head and find Mikail of all people sitting next to me, staring at me with an unreadable expression on his face.

  “What are you doing in here?” I look at him, rubbing my eyes trying to rid them of tears. Sitting up and backing up towards the headboard, I grab a pillow and hug it tight.