Ambrose didn’t join the group for dinner. In fact, an hour after the sparring, he left the house, saying only that he would be back in a few days.
Julian tried like hell to keep his eyes off of Carissa. It was a task he found impossible to do. She had both Paris and Isaiah on her lap, explaining to them the different foods and how to eat them. Each time she looked up at him, however, Julian felt electricity run through him. There was no denying how much he wanted her. Julian made damn sure she saw it each and every time she looked up at him.
“Papa, we should eat like this all the time,” Paris told him with a big, bright smile.
Julian looked at the little girl; then, his eyes grabbed Carissa’s. “Great meals like this are for special occasions. Wouldn’t want you to get too bored with them.”
“I don’t know,” Alina put in with a mouth full. “If you like something, I don’t see why you can’t have it more often.”
Carissa kept looking at Julian. “True, but some meals are not that good for you. You need control.”
Right off, Tempest picked up the sudden tension change in the room. She stood up, clearing her throat. “I think it is time for you three to get ready for bed.”
“I don’t feel so good,” Isaiah suddenly said.
“I bet it is because of you suddenly eating all this rich and spicy food.” Tempest smiled.
Carissa broke the heated eye contact she had with Julian to place Paris down. She took hold of Isaiah by the chin and forced the boy to look at her. She felt his forehead, running her hand down the side of his face to look hard in his eyes.
“How long has he been like this?” she asked with a frown, picking the boy up.
Tempest felt her heart drop. “I…I, um.” She looked at Lucian. “A few weeks I think.”
“What’s wrong?” Lucian asked.
Carissa cradled the boy just as he suddenly passed out. “He needs blood.” She pushed past Lucian to rush downstairs. “Corbin, bring three bags of blood.”
Tempest rushed behind Carissa. “Why would he need blood? I don’t understand,” she cried.
Carissa put Isaiah down in her own bed and rushed into the bathroom. She came out with a small black bag and sat down on the other side of him. “He’s a vampire. The change in his system is starting.”
“But he is only five!” Lucian exclaimed, watching helplessly as Corbin began to set up an IV line. “I was always under the impression that it wouldn’t start until he reached ten.”
Carissa took the line from Corbin, and with grace, she pushed the needle deep into the boy’s arm. “You are thinking about when his fangs come in and the hunger to hunt begins. This is different.” She smiled when she saw a tiny grin form on his lips after a few pints of blood entered his system. “He is starting to change inside. Just give him a morning glass of milk with some blood. Nothing too big.” She looked at Tempest. “He is just going to need extra from now on.”
Carissa stood up and smiled gently at Tempest. She walked out of the room and stopped in front of Julian.
“You always seem to take care of others better than yourself,” he remarked, leaning against the wall. “But then again, we both know one person you refuse to take care of.”
Carissa crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her head to one side. She made sure to keep her expression to nothing. “Why, Julian, you are starting to sound like a man scorned.”
Julian chuckled softly. “I’m not scorned, baby. Only disappointed.” He pushed off the wall, touching her face gently. “Never pictured you as a user before.”
Carissa said nothing as he turned his back on her and walked away. She waited until he closed the door upstairs before she turned and went back in to check on Isaiah. After an hour, Lucian moved the boy into his own room, and Carissa stood in front of the mirror looking at herself.
For the first time in years, Carissa looked at a woman she didn’t know. Who was this person now? Who did this girl want to be years ago? What had she become now? Those were the questions she asked herself.
Carissa dressed in her leather pants, leather tank top that tied up the center, her knee high boots, and long leather coat. Watching herself in the mirror, she buttoned the coat high up her throat then slowly put the hood over her head.
With her head hanging low, Carissa walked out of the room. She knew Lucian was watching her from his son’s room, but she didn’t say a word. Up the stairs she went, two at a time. With a heavy heart, she walked out to the front room and straight to the front door.
For some unknown reason, she stopped when her hand touched the knob and looked down with a slight cock to her head. She knew in her soul that Julian was watching her from the kitchen. It was a strange feeling for her to know he was always there, even when she didn’t want him to be.
Julian crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the frame watching her. That was all he did. Not one word slipped from his mouth as he waited for her to either go or stay. With a heavy heart, Julian said nothing as she walked out into the night.
“Have I told you lately how much of an ass you are?” Corbin asked, picking up dishes from the table.
Julian turned around but still leaned against the frame. “And what have I done lately to deserve that title?”
“You should go out and be with her,” Corbin told him with a stern voice. “She is hurting something deep.”
“She doesn’t want me.”
Corbin shook his head. “The hell she doesn’t. I see how much she wants you. She wants to be a part of this family so bad that it is sickening.”
Julian grinned. “When did you get the family insight?”
Corbin tossed a spoon into the sink hard. “I have taken care of you, him, and the girls. I see more than you two think, just like those kids do. The tension between you and that girl is so thick my knife wouldn’t cut it. Swallow your damn pride and go out there after her!”
“Corbin, you may think you know a lot of what’s going on in this house, but when it comes to her and me, you don’t know shit!” Julian informed him. He turned and took a step out of the kitchen only to be hit in the back of the head by a large wooden spoon. “What was that for?” Julian cried out, rubbing his head.
“That was for you being an ass!” Corbin snapped back. “Now, get your ass out there. She needs you.”
* * * *
Carissa managed to find a small group of breeds in an alley on a hunt. She was watching them from on top of a roof. Only one out of the five stood out from the others. He seemed to look more human than the rest, and to be the one in charge.
Carissa waited until they were all the way to the end of the alley before she stood up and took aim with her gold tipped arrow. She let it loose, and it hit the side of the building with a big explosion. The ones she intended to kill died, and the one that looked human was still alive.
She jumped down from the roof and landed with a soft thud to the ground. With a quick jerk of her wrist, her bow closed up enough for her to tuck it in her coat as she walked up to the human-looking breed.
Carissa only let him get up on his hands and knees before she took hold of him by his throat and slammed him up against a wall. The thing hissed at her and tried to kick out, but with her slowly closing his air off, he quickly got the hint.
“I want the lair,” Carissa informed him with a dead voice.
The human breed looked down at Carissa with pitch black eyes. At one time, he would have been a good-looking man. Brown hair, a nice built frame, but now he was nothing but an animal—greasy hair, skin and bones, and dried blood on his chin and mouth.
The creature laughed at her. “The master will rip your throat out.”
Carissa cocked her head to the side and pulled out the small knife the breed had on his hip. She noticed how it had dried blood on it. An odd thing about most of these breeds was the fact that they never had the fangs. In order for them to feed from their victims, they had to slit their throats.
“Carissa!”
<
br /> Carissa turned her head to see Julian standing at the far end of the ally. She also saw how the sun was starting to rise off in the distance. She dropped the breed and slowly walked down the alley toward Julian. With each step she took, her heart started to pound.
Stopping in front of him with mere inches between their bodies, Carissa looked up at him. “This is what I am.”
Julian pushed the hood from her head, touching her face. “I know.”
Carissa turned around quickly and threw the knife at the breed. It landed in the middle of his head. He looked at her with shock then dropped to the ground dead.
Julian didn’t say another word to her as she walked past him, pulling her hood back over her head.
Chapter 8
“No way, no how,” Carissa informed Ambrose with her hands on hips standing in the kitchen. “I’m not going to do it.”
Julian and Lucian both looked from Carissa to Ambrose, who didn’t look too happy at the moment. “This is not a request. This is an order,” he snapped.
“You do it. I’m not going to be part of it,” she snapped back. “They have too much to lose.”
“And you don’t?” Ambrose was starting to get red in the face as he argued with her.
“She has a point, Ambrose,” Lucian butted in. “What about our family, our kids?”
“Since when did he ever care about them?” Julian said, leaning back in his chair.
“If we don’t take care of this problem, then there will be no family for either of you to take care of,” Ambrose informed them.
“It is too dangerous,” Carissa remarked. “You want me to not only have to worry and watch out for you, but them, too.”
Ambrose was about to say something, but Julian stood up and walked up to Carissa. He pressed up close to her, boxing her in between the counter and his body. “Don’t flatter yourself there, baby.” He leaned in closer, lips almost touching. “You’re not that good.”
Carissa never got a chance to respond to him. Julian pushed away from her and walked out of the kitchen.
“Ouch,” Lucian mumbled. “That was cold.”
“This is not going to work,” Carissa told Ambrose as she also pushed off the counter. She glared at the old man. “He is weak. Too wrapped up in his own shit.”
She started for the back door but was stopped by Ambrose’s voice. “His only weakness is for you, my dear.”
Carissa stopped and looked at Ambrose hard. “And that is the reason why he has no business out there fighting.”
Carissa slammed the door before Ambrose had a chance for rebuttal. Lucian could only look at Ambrose, waiting to see what the man was going to do next.
“Has it been like this since I have been gone?” Ambrose asked Lucian with a frown.
“Pretty much, yes.” Lucian answered with a slight grin on his face.
Carissa walked out, but quickly her walk turned into a run. She ran up the mountain that was behind the house, feeling her anger boil by the time she reached the top. Out of nowhere she fisted her hands, tossed her head back, and screamed. All of the built up frustration she had was let loose until all that remained was the anger at being told what to do and also the thought that where ever she was, there was Julian.
“As if that is going to solve the problem.” Julian came walking up the hill with two staffs in his hand.
Carissa turned around and glared at him. “You are on my ass all the fucking time,” she hissed. “I am going to kick the shit out of you once and for all.”
Julian tossed a staff to her then pulled his shirt over his head. “Bring it on, little girl.”
Carissa went after Julian hard and fast. She twirled the staff fast, swinging it hard to hit him on the left shoulder. Julian managed to block it and counter the blow with one of his own. The power he used knocked Carissa back a few steps.
She frowned at him with anger in her eyes, and Julian only smiled at her with a shrug of his shoulders. “Guess I’ve been practicing.”
The nostrils on Carissa flared, showing Julian just how pissed she really was at him. She took her staff and broke the thick wood on her knee. She came at him harder, swinging first left then right. Julian managed to block each and every one of her hits. He took steps back as she went after him, and when she moved to hit him from the right, he swung out and nailed her hard on the back with his staff.
Julian didn’t move or do a thing but wait as Carissa caught her breath down on one knee. He knew that he got her, but also knew that he hadn’t hit her that hard. Hell, the last time he trained with her, he had hit her even harder than that.
“Done yet?” he asked her in a calm voice.
“Why can’t you leave me alone?” She breathed out.
“You know the answer to that.”
Carissa stood up and looked hard at Julian. “I’m not what you need. The sooner you accept that the sooner you can go out there and find the one for you.”
Julian dropped his staff and walked up to her. His face told her how pissed her words were making him. Carissa expected him to do something, but what he did do was so unlike him.
Julian took hold of the front of her shirt and quickly picked her up, swung her over his shoulder and slammed her down on the ground. The blow knocked the wind from her, but that was it.
When Carissa opened her eyes and took a deep breath, she found that Julian was sitting on top of her, resting his elbow on his knee.
“There won’t be another one for me,” he told her with a rough voice. “I won’t be going out hunting for someone when the one I want is right in front of me. I stayed away from you for five years. Five years I gave you to get your shit together and come to your senses. If you wasted that time on other bullshit then tough. I’m done waiting. I’m done being the sweet guy everyone in this fucking house is used to. From now on, if I have to, I will take what I want.” He shifted and moved his face mere inches from hers. “And, baby, I want you.”
Carissa opened her mouth, and for a split second, she thought she was going to let him kiss her. Yet, her better half screamed out for her to stop all of this. Using her hips and her legs, Carissa managed to flip him off of her. Quickly(,) she got to her feet, breathing hard and wondering what the hell almost happened.
“Fuck!” Julian cried out in frustration. “You can’t give one inch, can you?”
“I gave you two inches. You threw them back in my face.” She turned around to look at him with pain filled eyes. “I can’t let you break what is left of my heart.”
Julian ran his hands into his hair as he breathed deeply. He tried to get rid of the anger that was suddenly raging in his system. “You are unbelievable!” he screamed.
“Oh, give up the self-pity bullshit!” Carissa yelled back. “I am so tired of hearing what Julian wants. I know what you want! You have made it very clear to me. I get it!”
Julian turned on her suddenly. He rushed up and grabbed her roughly by the throat. His eyes were silver, and his fangs were long as he looked at her. “You don’t get shit!” he hissed.
Julian released her with a shove. He said nothing else, only turned his back on her and walked away.
* * * *
For two days Julian avoided any contact with Carissa. His mood became dark, almost dangerous. The only people he had a smile for were the children. He helped Lucian explain to Isaiah what was going on and what he was going to need to do in order to not get sick.
Isaiah seemed to take it a lot better than Tempest did. After a few more large infusions, he was as good as new. Tempest found Julian sitting out in the backyard with the children, deep in thought.
His legs were up on another chair, chin resting on his hands, and his eyes were staring out at nothing. It was a sight that had Tempest feeling deeply for him.
She walked up, tapping his legs and taking the seat across from him. She smiled in a manner that told him something was on her mind.
“What’s got you troubled now?” Julian asked.
“You,” s
he informed him in a matter-of-fact way. “It isn’t going to get better. You both are too damn stubborn for your own good.”
“And you weren’t stubborn at all when it was time for Lucian to bring you home?”
Tempest grinned at him. “That was different.”
“No, it isn’t.” Julian sighed as he stretched back out, resting his legs on the arm of her chair. “You were just as much a pain in the ass as she is now.”
Tempest leaned forward with a smile on her face. “Did it ever occur to you two dipshits, that you might get more respect if you weren’t such a bully? It took Lucian a hell of a long time to understand that one himself.”
“Is there a point here?” he asked with a deep sigh.
“Yeah, there is.” She stood back up, kicking his legs off the chair. “Stop being such a prick. It isn’t becoming of you, and it is getting you nowhere.”
Julian grinned slightly while he watched her round the children up. “You are still a pain in the ass.”
Tempest smiled over her shoulder at him. “But I’m not your pain in the ass.”
Chapter 9
Ambrose stood at the kitchen table with Lucian and Julian, talking over the latest information he had found about the lair. Ambrose noticed right off that Carissa was gone, and Julian acted funny. Lucian was the one to inform Ambrose that Carissa would be gone for a few days at a time. She was also trying to find the lair, but things between her and Julian were not that great. It seemed finding the lair was her excuse to leave for long periods of time.
“How good is this information?” Julian asked with a tone that didn’t have much respect.
“It is the best lead I have had in months,” Ambrose informed him. “They have been popping up around here…”
“So that would mean,” Lucian put in, looking at the map they were using to keep track of sightings. “That the lair would have to be in the center.”
“That is a big spot to be finding what’s in the middle,” Julian remarked.
Bloodmate IV Page 4