A low rumble escaped him in surprise. The figure was of a female. She wasn’t very tall and had curves that made him want to run his hands over them. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a high pony tail that swung as she twirled on the sidewalk to laugh up at the tall male next to her.
Even from this distance he could see the excitement on her face as she replied to the man. Her arms flung outward, pushing the heavy mounds of her breasts upward. He could feel the beast inside him respond to the unintended invitation.
The female was the exact opposite of what he was normally attracted to, yet he couldn’t pull his eyes away from her. His hand tightened on the papers in his hand, crumpling them, when the male suddenly pulled the female into his arms and hugged her close before releasing her.
“What is it?” Youssef asked, walking over to stand next to Simon so he could look out of the window. “Do you sense a threat?”
“Yes,” Simon muttered under his breath. “But, this one is from the beast inside me. He wants that female.”
Youssef stared down at the two figures. The male was still talking to the female. Whatever he was saying, she was enthusiastically nodding her head up and down as she listened to him intently. She was a short, slightly plump, curvy woman who might have been mistaken as rather ordinary if not for the glow in her face.
“Do you want me to find out who she is?” Youssef asked, turning to look at Simon. A slight curse escaped his lips when he realized that his friend had disappeared. “Damn it, I hate it when you do that!” He muttered, turning and heading for the door that was still in motion.
Chapter Two
Tory released a short scream of frustration and twisted away from the tall, stately man stubbornly standing in front of her. It was the same argument over and over again. This time he was giving her all the reasons she shouldn’t be going to a Graphic Design and Computer Animation convention in Phoenix with some of her online friends. If he had his way, she would be kept in a gilded cage for the next century.
Knowing she needed to leave before she said something she would regret, Tory shifted. One second, the figure of a young woman with shiny shoulder-length dark brown hair and matching chocolate-colored eyes was standing in front of the pale green house, the next a small, plump bat flapped upward toward the second floor roof. It landed on the peak and angrily glared down at the exasperated male watching her.
“Charlie,” a soft voice reproached.
“Sophie,” Charles Alexandru Carson grimaced at the look of disapproval on his wife’s face. “She is just a baby!”
“She is twenty-four years old,” Sophie pointed out.
“That’s just a baby,” Charlie insisted before he released a loud sigh as Sophie raised her eyebrow at him. “Well, it is,” he grumbled.
“She is a beautiful young woman,” Sophie said, reaching up and cupping her husband’s stubborn face between her hands before she tenderly smiled up at him. “If you remember, I was only twenty-three when we met.”
Charlie’s face relaxed as he stared down at his beautiful wife of over a hundred years. They had been gifted with three gorgeous children, two boys and a girl over the years. Tory was the youngest and had been a surprise to them both. She was also the most beautiful thing Charlie had ever seen next to her mother.
“Why do you think I want to protect her?” He asked in a husky voice as he slid his arms around Sophie’s waist. “She is as beautiful as you at that age.”
Sophie laughed and shook her head. “You sound just like my father,” she said with a sad smile. “There must be something about Vampires and their daughters.”
“Well, if you ask me, I think she is in as much danger here as she would be anywhere else,” Nonny said from behind them. “It looks like she has a couple of admirers who are willing to console her.”
Charlie glanced over his shoulder at his mother with a confused frown before he turned his gaze to the roof where Tory was sitting with her knees drawn up to her chin. Two males sat on either side of her, one had his arm around her shoulders while the other was tilting her chin toward him. It looked like he was about to….
“Charles!” Sophie called out in exasperation when her husband suddenly disappeared in a puff of dark gray smoke. “Nonny!”
“What?!” Nonny Carson said, grinning up at the roof. “I just said Tory looked like she had someone to help distract her.”
“You are no help,” Sophie told her mother-in-law.
She turned back to stare up at where her husband had re-materialized next to Maverick, the handsome young Werewolf, who had been leaning in to give Tory a kiss. She shook her head when the young pup yelped in surprise. Ever since Tory had been born, Charles had been overly protective of his only daughter.
“He’ll let her go,” Nonny said, looking up at her middle son.
“How do you know?” Sophie asked, biting her lip when Charles tossed the boy off the roof before turning on Tory’s other admirer who was scrambling down the drainpipe. “He is so protective of her. I’m afraid he’ll never let her spread her wings.”
“Oh, he’ll let her go,” Nonny promised with a grin. “Topper asked the Fates.”
Sophie turned in surprise to look at Nonny. “The Fates! I thought they were on vacation. When did they get back?”
“Oh, they’re not back. Topper and I went to see them last night in Vegas. They were on a winning streak, imagine that,” Nonny replied with a sigh. “I swear Vegas has the best shows in the world.”
“What are you two up to? And what did the Fates have to say?” Sophie asked, watching as Charles sat down next to Tory. “Is she going to be alright?”
Nonny rolled her eyes. “Of course Tory is going to be alright! She has the Fates as her Godmothers and they love her to bits. They did happen to mention that Alexandru is coming by for a visit.”
“Alexandru!” Sophie exclaimed in delight. “When?”
“Tonight,” Nonny said, nodding up at where her son and granddaughter were quietly talking. “He is going to take Tory with him on the business trip he has to make to Charleston. You know as well as I do that he is just as protective of Tory as Charlie.”
“What else are you not telling me?” Sophie asked quietly, turning to stare at Nonny with a suspicious look. “What are you and Topper up to?”
“Me? What makes you think any of this is my idea?” Nonny asked innocently.
“Okay, what is your older sister up to?” Sophie asked in resignation.
Nonny laughed. It was true. Topper, her older sister by only a few years was the wild one of the bunch. Topper’s personality was as colorful as her hair, which had a habit of changing colors several times a day.
She and Topper were descendants of the famous Warehausen witch family. Topper had yet to marry, whereas, Nonny had fallen in love with a handsome vampire almost two hundred and fifty years before. They had three handsome sons, though only Charlie had married and had kids so far.
Alexandru, their middle son, was an established entrepreneur who dealt in custom made furnishings and restorations of historic buildings all over the world. The fact that he had lived through some of the different time periods was a bonus. Unfortunately, he was a very busy man and they only got to see him once every few months, usually when he was traveling from one side of the world to the other.
“Tory might have mentioned that she’d like to take a little vacation to someplace other than Magic,” Nonny admitted. “Topper just happened to run into Alexandru on one of her trips and mentioned that Tory would like to see a bit of the world.”
“Just happened?” Sophie asked with a shake of her head. “You know Charlie won’t like it.”
“I know my son very well,” Nonny replied with an amused smile. “Why do you think I asked Topper and the Fates for help?”
Sophie chuckled as she looked up in time to see Tory rest her head on her father’s shoulder. She shook her head. Poor Charlie. He didn’t stand a chance against so many women.
“You are a
n evil woman, Nonny,” Sophie laughed. “Does Charlie have any idea how manipulative you are?”
Nonny reached over and grasped Sophie’s hand in her own. She threaded her fingers through her beautiful daughter-in-law’s and squeezed them. She, Topper, and the Fates had picked the perfect mate for her son. They were still working on her other two sons. But for now, it was Tory’s time.
“He thanks me every day,” Nonny softly replied. “After all, I found you for him.”
***
Tory angrily wiped her eyes. She glared down at her father in frustration. She wasn’t a little girl any more! She was a mature Vampire!
“Hey, Tory,” Maverick said, jumping over the edge of the roof to sit next to her. “What’s wrong?”
“Yeah, Tory-nator, what’s the matter?” Kevin asked as he crawled over the side behind Maverick.
“What are you two guys doing here?” Tory asked grumpily. “You know my dad is going to bite you again if you don’t stop popping up all the time, don’t you?”
Maverick grinned. “It’s worth it just to see him get riled,” he said, glancing mischievously down at the ground where Charles Carson was talking to his wife. “Dad asked me to stop by anyway, so I have a reason. He wants to let him know that the Pre-season football game party is being moved to the Ampitheather due to the possibility of a fight breaking out. He doesn’t want the bar trashed this year.”
“Yeah, my mom sent me to warn your dad that if anyone tramples her flowers around it, she was going to be doing some bashing herself,” Kevin said with a roll of his eyes. “Why I had to be born to Garden Trolls I’ll never know. I don’t even like dirt!”
Tory released a short, bitter laugh. “Yeah, well, you should try being a Vampire who is allergic to most blood types!” She mumbled.
“Is that why your dad is so protective of you?” Kevin asked, curiously.
“Yeah, I think so. You know, except for a peck on my cheek from my cousins and brothers, I haven’t even been kissed yet!” Tory grumbled. “I swear he cast a spell on me through all of my Middle and High School years! The one time Edgar Tinberry tried to kiss me, he broke out with Blisterwarts and couldn’t run in the State Track finals. Everyone was mad at me, like I was the one who did it! After that, you two were the only ones who would hang with me.”
“Hey, what are best buds for? Besides, from what I hear from some of his former girlfriends, you didn’t miss much. They said sandpaper wasn’t any fun to kiss. Anyway, I think the only reason Edgar was popular was because he was so fast on the track. Duh, the guy is a Jaguar shifter! Of course, he’d be fast. None of the girls cared about that fact, though. The only thing they cared about was the way he strutted around the field in his tight, little shorts. I think he should have been disqualified from the team for that alone! That wasn’t much fun to have to look at for four straight years. Besides, why would you want to be kissed by old sourpuss Edger when you can be kissed by me? Hey, do you think you might still be enchanted?” Maverick suddenly asked with a grin as he pulled her chin around to him. “I wouldn’t mind bragging to everyone that I was the first one to kiss you.”
“Maverick,” Tory warned with a roll of her eyes at her best friend’s teasing. “You know…” Her breath caught as Maverick was suddenly lifted by the back of his shirt.
“Hi, Mr. Carson,” Maverick yelped as he suddenly found himself hanging in the air.
“Say goodbye, Maverick,” Charles growled.
“Goodbye, Maverick,” Maverick repeated, laughing as Charles suddenly tossed him off the roof of the house. “Bye, Tory!”
“Daddy!” Tory cried out in dismay as she watched Maverick disappear out of sight. “You could have hurt him.”
“He’s a Werewolf,” Charles said, turning to Kevin, who gave Tory a crooked grin as he scrambled for the drain pipe. “He’ll heal.”
“Hey, Mr. Carson!” Maverick called up from the ground where he was brushing the grass from the back of his pants. “Dad said to tell you the Pre-game is at the Amphitheater this year instead of the bar.”
Kevin’s head popped up just enough to see his eyes and nose over the side of the roof. “Oh yeah. My mom said not to step on any of her flowers, or else,” he added before he scampered down the drain pipe. “Bye, Tory!”
***
Charles glared at the back of the two boys running across the rocky field behind the house. Well, the huge gray wolf with a Garden Troll on his back. He shook his head before he turned to look down at his daughter. A deep sigh of regret escaped him as he sank down onto the roof next to her.
They sat in silence for several long moments before he reached over and picked up her slender hand. He sighed again. It was so hard to let her grow up.
“Do you remember when you turned six?” Charles suddenly asked in a gruff voice.
A reluctant smile tugged at the corner of Tory’s mouth. “You mean when you told me I couldn’t have any more birthdays and I would have to remain six the rest of my life?” She asked, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.
Charles smiled and looked out over the long drive that led to the main road. The red dirt of the New Mexico soil called to him as much now as it did when he first came to Magic over a hundred years ago with his small family. The cool air of the evening and the twilight sky cast the desert flora into silhouettes.
“Yes, that’s the one,” Charles replied in a soft voice, glancing at Tory. “You were growing up so fast. I wanted you to remain little forever.”
“I’ll always be your little girl, daddy,” Tory reminded him in a quiet voice. “But, I need to grow up. I want to see the world. I want to know what’s out there. Alexandru and Benjamin are always talking about the places they’ve been. The only place I’ve ever seen is Magic.”
Charles released her hand and folded his together. His eyes followed Sophie and his mother as they walked toward the house. He knew they were giving him and Tory some privacy. A deep sigh escaped him before he tried to explain why he was so protective.
“I met your mother in Romania,” he began.
Tory sighed. “I know,” she muttered. “Nonny and Gramps sent you there on a quest. You were traveling through the village mom lived in when she saw you. She invited you to her and Grandpa Vuia’s home for the night when it started to rain.”
“Yes,” Charles said heavily. “I fell in love with your mom the moment I saw her. Her father was just as protective of her, if that helps. Lucky for me, your mom loved me as much as I loved her and her father accepted me even though I was half Vampire, half warlock.”
Tory pushed a stray strand of dark brown hair back from her face and frowned in frustration. She knew the story by heart. Her parents had been married on a crystal clear night and eight months later her elder brother, Benjamin, had been born.
Her Grandma Vuia had died years before in a tragic fire and her grandfather had died a few nights after Benjamin’s birth. She had always assumed he had died of natural causes since no one had ever mentioned anything different. It was very unusual, but not totally unheard of as far as she knew. After all, she had almost died when she was baby from drinking the wrong blood type.
“How did Grandpa Vuia die?” Tory suddenly asked. “I mean, was he like me? Did he have an allergic reaction to the blood he drank?”
“No,” Charles responded in a distant voice. He pulled up his sleeve and showed the light scarring on his left forearm. “No, he and your grandmother were murdered by the villagers three days after Benjamin’s birth.”
“They were… I thought grandma Vuia died in a fire years before you met mom? What happened? Why didn’t you, mom or Nonny ever tell me? Why would the villagers kill them?” Tory asked in confusion.
Charles’ eyes softened as he looked at the shocked expression on Tory’s face. He often forgot just how innocent she was in the way of the world outside of Magic. While he would love to keep her protected from the cruelty of the outside world, that could be deadly. No, if she was going to be happy and safe,
he needed to find a happy medium where he could let her spread her wings while being protected as she did it.
“Times were different back then,” Charles replied with a sad smile. “People were very superstitious. They still are, but today most people are more curious than threatened by those that are different from them. Well, for the most part, anyway.”
“What happened?” Tory asked in a hesitant voice.
“It was a time of great unrest. Romania had just become a country a couple years before. Some still resisted the change. Your Grandfather Vuia had been very vocal in supporting the new government. A local wealthy merchant disagreed with the influence and power your grandfather had with many of the new leaders. Christoff had heard the villagers talk of some of the strange ways of your Grandma and Grandpa Vuia. He used their superstitions to enrage them.”
“But, I thought that Grandma and Grandpa helped the villagers,” Tory said in confusion. “Why would they listen to someone else?”
“Christoff brought in others to say your grandparents had done hideous crimes against their families,” Charles replied quietly, staring off into the distance. “Those claims, along with the differences between us and the humans, inflamed the villagers and they attacked early one morning. They killed your Grandmother while she was inside the barn. Your Grandfather tried to save her while I took your mom and brother to safety. I returned, but not in time. They had already set fire to all the outbuildings.”
“What did you do?” Tory asked in a soft voice as she placed a trembling hand on her father’s arm.
“I returned to help him, but it was too late. He had already… disposed of those that had attacked us. He was gravely wounded, though, and died as the first light came over the horizon. I laid him to rest in the fires beside your Grandma so they could be together once again,” Charles said in a quiet voice.
“That’s so horrible. Is that why books and movies say we can’t go out into the light? Why they think we’ll burn up?” She asked curiously.
“It helped fuel the legend, I think,” Charles said with a sad smile.
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