She stilled. And then she was looking at him almost pleadingly, her hand on the dagger she still held tightening.
“You’re allowed—in,” she said through gritted teeth. Eva coughed and spit blood, then pushed herself up with effort and swayed on her feet. She pointed the dagger in his direction. “Kill them, and I’ll kill…”
She was fainting back on the ground before she could finish her threat, and Raz reached down to catch her and break her fall. He laid her on the floor, checking for a pulse and finding a faint one. He was then headed upstairs, using his speed to get to the other sounds he was hearing—more crashes and a bloodcurdling scream. The man from the bakery was there, and Raz didn’t waste any time in going for him just as he turned around at Raz’s first footstep inside the bedroom.
The vampire may have been strong, but he didn’t stand a chance as Raz used his full strength to jump on him and hold him down. They crashed on the floor as Ana shielded Peter, both of them standing on the bed.
“Go back down and check on your aunt,” Raz instructed. “Don’t touch her unless necessary.”
Ana nodded frantically. Then she was dragging Peter with her, and they were sprinting off.
When the kids were gone, Raz turned his full attention to the vampire, whose neck he had a chokehold on. The vampire hissed at him, baring fangs and trying to look intimidating. Raz smiled. Then he opened his mouth and showed the other his teeth, which slowly grew into fangs, too.
“What do you need from the kids?” Raz hissed, keeping his tone calm and clipped.
“Go to hell,” the vampire growled, then choked on his words when Raz pressed tighter.
“If Lucinda found out—”
“I don’t follow that bitch!” the vampire spat out, eyes flaring. “Those kids will help me get my glory and Michael made a mistake hiding them.”
“How?”
“Over my dead bo—”
“If you say so,” Raz interrupted. He pressed with all his might, then used his other hand and punched the vampire in the chest. His hand went through, cracking the ribs before he got hold of the vampire’s heart, which he crushed. The vampire made a screamed protest, but it lasted only about two seconds before he lost his life completely. Raz knelt back, wiping the blood on the vampire’s clothes before he took out his phone and took a picture of the man. He then sent it to Vladimir directly, requesting for the first-in-line to do a background check on the face and see if the man was part of their clan.
He then went back downstairs, where he found the kids gathered around their aunt and trying to clean her up. They looked up at his arrival, tensing, but he nodded his head and tried not to look intimidating.
“Do you have a spare bedroom here?” he asked.
The girl eyed him warily. “We have a third bedroom that’s unused.”
“Good,” Raz replied. “Then you should use it for tonight. I’ll clean up the mess in your old bedroom and take care of your aunt.”
Eva was obviously still breathing, just unconscious. The kids didn’t move, and he knew they still didn’t trust him enough to follow what he said. He tried to scan his mind for something he knew about Michael, something that no stranger could possibly know.
“Your father was a decent man who liked coffee as much as I did,” he said, never breaking gazes from the two. “He especially liked apples and often said the scent reminded him of someone.”
Ana’s bright green eyes visibly softened. “I sliced apples for him when he was home.”
Raz waited. Finally, the girl stood up and pulled her brother with her, who glanced down at Eva.
“Will Aunt Eva be alright?” he asked worriedly.
Raz nodded. “She will be.”
“Please take care of her,” Ana requested almost politely.
Raz nodded again. “I will.”
They left. He watched them go before kneeling down and checking the unconscious woman more thoroughly this time, noting the torn dress she was wearing and the cuts that had stopped bleeding. He unbuttoned the stomach area where the blood had mostly been flowing earlier and was surprised to find that there was no deep wound—or maybe there was, but all that was left now were long marks that indicated a wound a few days older. He was watching her for a while now, and he was absolutely sure she didn’t get injured at any other time.
Eva wasn’t fully human after all.
She didn’t have the feel of a vampire, and he was pretty sure she wasn’t a witch because she’d have already defended herself with spells from the vampire earlier. That only left one option: a shifter.
But then why didn’t she shift, earlier?
These questions would not be answered tonight, and Raz was just wasting time thinking about them. With a shake of his head, he did his best to clean her blood up using a towel. Then he carried her unconscious form upstairs, noting that she was light, but not as light as he would have thought. There were so many things about her that he still didn’t know, and now that he had one foot in her door—or two feet, if he was to get technical—he wasn’t going to go away until he had answers.
Until he had all the answers he needed.
When Eva was cleaned up, he then proceeded to get rid of the vampire and clean the kids’ bedroom. He did the same to the areas downstairs where the fight occurred, eliminating any traces that anything violent even happened there. It was unfortunate about the vase and the flowers, and an idea popped in his head that he didn’t think over as Raz found himself suddenly walking out of the house and towards the nearest flower shop. Belatedly, he realized the dead dog was still on the porch, so he cleaned that up first before he went to purchase a new, fancier vase and some fresh red and white roses, which he arranged on the foyer table. Then he took the blood bags in and heated them up, calling the kids’ names and waiting for them to come down in quiet, measured footsteps.
They never forgot that he was dangerous, which said a lot about their survival instincts. Raz tossed the bags at them, then kept one for himself.
“Drink up. Then you should get some rest.”
They all ate in silence, the scent of blood filling the air and the taste filling their stomachs. It left an aftertaste that Raz didn’t really like in his throat, which was why he found himself brewing coffee. By the time the kids went back up to sleep, he was already drinking his second cup and reading the email Vladimir sent him.
The vampire Raz just killed was apparently part of their community and in missions together with Michael, up until he just disappeared on their last mission and defected. That was months ago. He hadn’t been seen since, which only placed more questions than answers in Raz’s head. The glory he’d been ranting on about had been the real puzzle piece, and Raz was now more convinced than ever that there was more to these kids that the vampire knew—and one that Michael must have shared by chance.
He stayed up until three in the morning, turning it over in his head. Then, feeling the first stirrings of sleep closing in on him, Raz settled himself on the couch and let it take him.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Eva woke up with a blank mind and the feeling that she’d just been brutally beaten. It didn’t take long for all her memories to come rushing back, bombarding her with image after image of the vampire who attacked her—then, the vampire who asked to be let in to save the children. She didn’t remember much after that, which was why Eva found herself sitting straight up in bed and practically flying out of it as she rushed towards the children’s bedroom.
It was empty…and clean. Almost by instinct, she rushed to the third bedroom, breathing a sigh of relief when she found Peter there. He was buried under the blankets and sleeping soundly, and he stirred and blinked his eyes at her when he saw her standing in the doorway.
Beside him, Ana was still fast asleep.
“We’re glad you’re okay,” he mumbled sleepily before he closed his eyes again.
Eva breathed a sigh of relief, putting her palm over her madly beating heart. Belatedly, she looked down at he
r torn clothes and found that there were bandages all over her—clean-cut ones that looked like they were placed there with care, and she was pretty sure neither of the kids could do that.
She prepared herself, bringing out her shotgun from the hidden closet. Then she was trudging down as quietly as she could, preparing herself for some kind of trap. But there was none, and the whole first floor was empty and just as clean as the second one. Eva went to the backyard and found it spotless. Then she went to the front, where she finally found the second vampire, the one named Raz, sitting on the porch swing and drinking what smelled like a strong cup of coffee. He was wearing a maroon sweater and black trousers that looked good on him and made him seem almost human.
Almost. Those eyes…
“Good morning,” he greeted once she was in sight, his eyes straying towards her weapon. “You can put that away.”
“Why?”
Raz shrugged. “Had I wanted you or the children dead, we wouldn’t be here talking.”
That made sense, and Eva found herself lowering her weapon before she could think about it. Then she sent him a grudging look.
“Thank you for patching me up.”
“Not a problem,” he responded.
His voice had a soothing quality to it, something that surprised her as most of her encounters with vampires had her feeling all cold and shaky. In fact, she still couldn’t detect his presence, and that was absurd because she was pretty sure this guy was more powerful than Sam and—
“What are you?”
The question interrupted her trail of thoughts, and Eva found those piercing blue eyes watching her in concentration.
“I’m human.”
“Really?” he asked softly.
She was still trying to figure out what he meant when things happened too fast for her to comprehend. One second, he was sitting on the swing—and the next, he was standing right in front of her, snatching her weapon from her hand and yanking the bandage patch off her stomach. She yelped and looked down at the smooth skin, riddled only with faint scars.
“Humans don’t heal this fast,” he intoned casually.
It was stupid of her to try to fool a vampire, but Eva glared at him, anyway. Then she shrugged. “I’m Michael’s half-sister. I’m half-shifter. Fox.”
“But you didn’t shift last night.”
“I can’t,” she almost snapped, then tried to calm herself. “Some shifters just can’t. I only have a shifter’s sharp sense.”
She thought he would ask more questions, but Raz surprised her when he nodded and went back to the swing.
She wanted to ask him to leave but was quite sure that she needed him at the moment. She wasn’t sure why. Possibly for safety. He wasn’t watching her anymore, instead watching the driveway and sipping his coffee again. Finally, Eva decided to hell with it and threw caution out the window.
“Want to come in for breakfast?”
“I don’t usually do breakfast,” he replied, “But thanks for the invitation.”
She tilted her head. Considered it. “Then do you want to leave?”
“Not really,” he replied again smoothly. “I want to discuss your brother’s kids.”
Almost immediately, her back stiffened. She took a few steps back, backing herself until she was plastered to the front door but still facing him.
“What about them?” she asked cautiously.
Raz turned his gaze in her direction and tilted his head. The way he did it was much more elegant than her, and she realized that he radiated grace in waves and had a feeling it would translate well into battle. She wasn’t sure why that entered her mind, though.
“They’re not what they seem, especially the girl.”
“What do you mean?”
“You already know they’re half-vampires. Do you know how rare they are in our world?”
“Do tell.”
She was stringing him along, but she realized she was actually interested in the answer.
“Vampire kids don’t know how to control their urge, and it’s a miracle in itself that those two can,” Raz explained. “But the girl…I assume she’s the one who killed the dog?”
Eva’s eyes widened as she remembered the dead dog all over again. How could she have forgotten? Reluctantly, she nodded.
“Yes.”
“Then you’d best watch over her. Better yet, I’d best watch over her. We can’t have her killing humans and exposing our kind to the clueless. They’re the most dangerous kind.”
It was uncanny how her witch friend warned her of the exact same thing, only worded differently. But Eva shook her head incredulously.
“Humans are dangerous? You have got to be kidding me,” she scoffed.
“Those who use their power to hurt what they don’t understand are dangerous,” he intoned softly. There was something in his tone that spoke of a very deep memory, but it was gone as soon as it came. “And I’m sure once people find out what Ana and Peter are, they’ll hurt first and think later.”
Despite the fact that Ana killed a dog, the thought of someone hurting her—and Peter—had Eva’s heart constricting. She opened her mouth to speak, but Raz was standing up again and indicating for her to follow him. She stared at his back for a few seconds before finally doing so, walking behind him as he led her to the backyard, then the forest beyond it.
She’d have thought it was some kind of trap, except she was pretty sure he didn’t intend to kill her. He was right—he could have done so already last night. So she kept following as they trudged along deeper into the woods, then stopped at a certain spot.
Raz pointed with his finger, and Eva had to squint in the dim light to see what he was referring to. When she finally did see it, her eyes widened as she realized that it was a boy, and that said boy had been dead for a long while.
Not only dead, but cannibalized.
The sight had bile rising up her throat, and Eva found herself walking out of the forest as fast as her feet could carry her. She felt lightheaded, and it was only when she reached her backyard and took in huge gulps of air that she felt any semblance of her old self. She watched as Raz followed her out of the corner of her eye, then turned to him and gave him an accusing stare.
“You could have warned me,” she muttered under her breath, knowing he could hear her perfectly well.
The vampire shrugged. “It’s best you see it with your own eyes.”
Eva remained silent for a while before finally speaking again. “How old was that body?”
“Almost a week now,” Raz replied.
Eva counted it in her head, recalling back the days and remembering that Ana and Peter had been in the forest on that particular day. Actually, they were in the forest every single night. Dread filled her stomach.
“Ana,” she whispered.
Raz nodded. “We have the same thought, then.”
She looked at him, watching no judgment in his eyes. There was only patience there, which puzzled her and had her back going up again. She’d always thought of vampires as selfish, bloodthirsty creatures and nothing more, but he was proving her wrong with every step he took. The kids did the same, retaining a certain innocence despite their nature.
“You don’t need to worry,” she told him as calmly as she could. “I’ll watch over them. They won’t hurt anyone, and no one will hurt them.”
She made a move to walk away but paused when a hand firmly held her wrist. She looked down at his hand, noting that it was large, with the longest fingers she’d ever seen on a guy. But what was surprising was how warm it felt, almost like he was human.
How many times was this vampire going to surprise her?
“We are watching over them,” he said. This time, a hint of stubbornness entered his tone. “I’m not leaving, Eva, until I’m sure they’re well-adjusted. You’re just going to have to get used to that.”
She frowned. Then she realized that she had no say in the matter because she had a feeling he was just as stubborn as she was.
And there was something larger at play here.
CHAPTER NINE
It was the biggest shock in the world when Eva didn’t argue and fight him over his staying when the looks of her indicated that she would have fought him tooth and nail if given the chance. But he knew she was smart, and even while he couldn’t read her mind with her unpredictability, he knew enough to know that she loved those kids with all her heart despite all signs signaling that they wouldn’t be as normal as she would have liked in the long run.
Maybe she knows she was going to need all the help she could get. Maybe she was tired of arguing and just wanted to take a break.
Or maybe she was just really clever and decided that having him was better than having no one protect Ana and Peter while she was at work.
She returned to work exactly the next day, only giving him a warning that he’d better stay with the kids and protect them with his life. No threat came on that day—or the next, or the next, until his plan to stay a week with them turned into two, and he found himself blending in with their lives as seamlessly as rain fell and moistened the grass.
Eva often came back with bags of blood, but Raz told her it was better if he accompanied the kids to their hunt and got them used to animal blood rather than giving them a taste of the human. It had been difficult at first, with Peter complaining that he missed the blood bags, and Ana looking at Raz with pure accusation in her eyes. But Peter complied with his invitations to the forest, while Ana didn’t openly defy him. It was enough for Raz to use as leverage as he helped them find more creatures other than the regular squirrels, until Peter eventually took a liking to rabbit blood and Ana to bird blood.
Like clockwork, Eva called them back before midnight fell, then made them soup and a glass of milk before they went to sleep. Then it was just Raz and Eva alone as the kids went to bed, which somehow had him feeling more alert.
He didn’t know why, but Eva made him feel that way. She was almost always tiptoeing around him, almost like she was half-afraid he would go back on his word and attack her. He knew he should feel insulted, but instead he found himself amused, especially when she went mama bear mode whenever the kids were around—almost like she didn’t leave them alone with him whenever she was at work. Then the mama bear mode turned into nervous mode whenever it was just the two of them, and he had to go to the swing and get out of her sight just to calm her down.
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