Lycos straightened and muttered, “May we stand?”
The short-haired woman looked for permission from the man who appeared to be her leader. Once he nodded, she lifted Lycos to his feet, never losing hold of his neck or moving the knife from his skin. The redhead stood beside them, settling her hand on his wrist. Lycos frowned at her but didn’t wrench away.
The white-haired man leveled his stare at Lycos and asked, “Who sired you?”
Lycos sneered back. “God himself.”
The redhead’s eyes were unfocused. After a few moments, she snapped up and looked at her leader. “Eldon, it’s him—Bane.”
“Just as we feared.” The white-haired man nodded grimly. “Where is he?”
A strange thing happened. All color drained from Lycos’s face, and he looked at Eldon very differently. “I wouldn’t know,” he sputtered.
Beside him, the redhead nodded. “He’s telling the truth.”
“Where was the last location you saw him?” Eldon narrowed his eyes.
Lycos stared at him in stunned silence.
The redhead’s brow wrinkled as she stared into the ether. “I see a place very unlike what we have seen. Dirty, primitive, of a different time.”
Deane couldn’t have been more relieved when Verity started moving and sat up, touching her neck with a frown. Riley descended the remaining stairs and went to her side.
A few strides away, Dolan stared at his father’s profile and scowled. “Lycos, what are they talking about?”
The vampire patriarch scrutinized the redhead holding his wrist and frowned. “You are one of them, aren’t you?”
She simply blinked back at him without answering.
Lycos turned his strained expression toward Dolan, then muttered at Eldon, “I don’t want any part of this.”
The white-haired man turned his green eyes on the vampire and asked, “Why did you part ways?”
Lycos’s lips contorted into a grimace. As he spoke, spittle flew from his mouth. “He made it clear how he felt about me. If he ever cast his eyes on me again, it would be the last time.”
“I see.” The redhead nodded absently, speaking to herself. Then she looked at Eldon. “He is a mutated half-blood. Cast out.”
“Stop!” Lycos screamed. His eyes were wild, and he’d lost even more composure. “I will hear no more! I only wish to take my family away from here. I want no part of this. Let me go.”
Eldon gazed down at him dispassionately. “But we must know—why did he come here?”
A wild glimmer consumed Lycos’s eyes. “Domination.”
Eldon waited. The redhead slowly faced her leader and let go of Lycos’s wrist. “It is as bad as we thought.”
Deane had been watching, unsure what was happening. As if broken from a daze, he scanned the room, noticing the numbers of vampires at the top landing and base of the stairs had nearly halved. Just as he’d realized this, Lycos’s hand gripped around his captor’s arm hard and fast. She winced.
When he took his hand away from her, Deane noticed the spiked ring that was turned inward toward Lycos’s palm. A lopsided expression took hold of the white-haired woman’s face, and her arms loosened around the vampire’s neck. He elbowed her in the gut, freeing himself.
The woman stumbled to the nearest step, and the redhead hurried to her side as Lycos fled down the stairs and across the tiled floor. Deane watched as all of the vampires disappeared in a matter of seconds, all running out the front door and from view upstairs.
Eldon observed the scene without appearing distressed. After gazing at the unconscious Piers beside him, he descended the stairs toward the women. Tovin remained by Emery’s side, and Deane thought he heard him mutter, “She’s alive.”
Deane didn’t care the vampires were fleeing. These mysterious people, whoever they were, didn’t seem to be interested in harming them, so his focus was on the two people huddled on the stairwell who’d watched everything in rapt silence, like him. He shifted back to his human form, scooping up his clothing from the steps as he went.
He ran to Verity, lifting her to her feet, never more relieved in his life, and embraced her. She bathed his shoulder in tears and muttered, “How are we alive?”
“I don’t know.” He pulled back to give her a kiss. “And I don’t care.”
Deane let go of her to wrench his arm around Riley. “Come here, ye bugger.”
The teen jerked away. “You may be a shifter, and you may be my dad, but seriously—cover yourself.”
Riley and Verity had a good laugh over it, but as Deane pulled on his trousers, he was entirely focused on something else. A boy he’d grown to love had just called him dad.
Twenty-Two
Verity pulled a blanket over Emery’s furry body as Deane watched from the stairs. He glanced at the clock in the foyer. It was just past ten in the morning, and she still hadn’t woken from her paralytic sleep.
It had taken all able bodies to carry her safely downstairs to the ground level. Verity had found some couch cushions to lay her on so she could rest comfortably. Based off what Verity told them, the vampire venom would soon metabolize and dilute, allowing her to wake, and he hoped so, because there was a lot for them to discuss.
Last night, he’d found Marisol hiding beside the truck, wide-eyed and anxious. She’d seen the moving trucks barreling past from Lycos’s and hadn’t known what to do. When Deane brought her back to the mansion, Riley’s mood improved considerably. It had proven to be challenging separating them from each other, but a number of them needed food, and Deane wasn’t about to let Riley out of his sight so soon after escaping the fingers of death once more.
The bear’s nose began to twitch and move.
“Deane,” Verity said and kneeled beside Emery.
“No.” He stood up and waved her away, regretting the movement as it caused his ribs more pain. “Don’t get too close, now. If she wakes in confusion, she could hurt ye.”
Verity nodded and backed from the rousing beast.
The bear’s eyes blinked, and a groan escaped its maw. Its muzzle turned from side to side, clearly disoriented.
“Hey, Emery—” He craned his neck and waved, trying to catch her attention.
The animal, though wobbly and not fully in control of itself, tried to look at him. He raised his brows at her and tilted his head sideways, so she could see him level. “Ye’re safe, all right? But ye’re still in bear form. It might take ye a bit to get control of yerself to shift back, and that’s okay.”
Another rumble came from Emery’s chest while she moved again, slowing when she blinked at Verity, then getting desperate, tilting her muzzle behind her.
Deane moved closer to her with his hands out. “It’s all right, ye hear? Riley’s safe and sound, too.”
The bear groaned and relaxed in place. Its nose started sniffing wildly again.
Verity and Deane looked at each other. He had a thought. “She probably smells them.”
The large double doors at the entrance of the home swung open, and Marisol walked in with bags hanging over her arms. “Food’s here. All gourmet stuff too—that’s all I could find.” Her footsteps echoed through the space as she came closer and stared down at Emery. “You’re awake.”
The bear’s fur virtually dissolved away and within seconds, Emery was lying naked under the blanket. Her half-lidded eyes blinked up at the girl. “Did someone say something about food? I’m starved.”
Marisol glanced at Deane, who waved her on. “It’s okay. Take the food back to the kitchen. The others are waiting. Emery isn’t ready to eat yet.”
“Ta hell I’m not,” Emery mumbled with clear annoyance, watching the girl walk away from her cushions.
“Listen.” Deane kneeled carefully beside his partner. “There’s a lot we need to discuss.”
The tone in his voice was enough to affix Emery’s attention to him. She frowned. “Why are we still here? Did you get them—the vampires?”
Deane shared a look with Verity. “They�
�re gone. We have reason to believe they won’t be coming back.”
“Wait, what do you mean?”
“How much do you remember from last night?” he asked.
Emery tried lifting onto her elbows to look at him but gave up and lay back down. “Why?”
Verity caught his eye. “Maybe you should wait for her to fully recover. She’s still woozy. She may not retain everything.”
Movement drew Emery’s attention down the hall. Her words came out slurred. “What have you got there?”
Deane looked at Riley carrying a piece of bread. The lad came to squat beside him. Emery’s eyes remained fixed to the food.
“I was kind of hoping she hadn’t shifted.” Riley said. “I’ve never fed a bear before.”
Verity kneeled at Emery’s side and used the flashlight on her phone to examine the dazed enforcer’s pupils. “Food might just make her sick. She should start with fluids.”
Emery snorted and ripped the bread from Riley’s hand. “It’s a dangerous thing getting a bear mad.”
Verity backed away with her hands up as Emery started eating. Deane went to sit on the bottom step of the stairs and listened to his foster son carry out a conversation with the woozy Emery about what Marisol had brought back from the store. Verity settled beside him, and he put his arm around her. She took a deep breath and leaned her head on his shoulder.
A strange feeling came over him. One he wasn’t used to. Warmth spread throughout his chest. Somehow, he’d cobbled together an odd sort of family, a circus of sorts. In order to keep Riley safe, he’d risked his good standing with the Society and with his oldest friend. New dangers were among them that could threaten their future, but Deane was sure of one thing.
He’d fight to protect the ones he loved.
The End
Half-Blood Origins
Follow Emery and Tovin in book 3
Coming spring 2019
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Natasha Brown's imagination has always been a distraction. The books she read in the dark past bedtime fed her excitement for fantasy worlds. Once she started writing, there was no stopping her. By day, Natasha's an assistant teacher at an elementary school, and by night she's a book cover designer. Her weekends are spent writing and spending time with family.
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Half-Blood Secrets: A Paranormal Series (Half-Bloods Book 2) Page 27