by Eve Newton
Ten men he’s brought with him. What? Did they hire a fucking mini-bus or something to get here?
“That won’t hold him for long,” I say to Edric, gesturing towards Cahl. He is steadily watching me as I slide my hand into Draven’s. Draven looks down at me, his mask of surprise quickly disappearing. This isn’t a romantic gesture, not by a long shot. In spite of what we have just shared, I am not a PDA kind of girl. Rather, this is to show my father that I am not alone, that he can’t pick on me all by myself. Also, the solid feel of Draven’s hand clutching mine is reassuring and since my spine had turned to jelly as soon as Edric fixed his eyes on me, I find that comforting. “Let her go, you don’t want her,” I add, sticking my chin in Aria’s direction. She has her hands up and her eyes are flashing with anger, but she is outmatched for the moment.
“No,” Edric says, his ice-cold blue eyes shifting from Aria back to me. “I don’t want this little whorish wolf. I want you, you little bitch.”
Cahl and Draven both growl at the insults, but I put my hand up to prevent anything from happening.
I regard him with a cold look of my own. He is six-two, dressed in a black suit, with short dark hair and a beard trimmed nice and neat.
“Sorry, I’m not going anywhere with you,” I say with as much scorn as I can.
“Oh, yes, you are,” he says. “You have had your freedom for long enough, my girl. It is time to end this and come home.”
“Not going to happen,” I say. I feel the fizzle of Draven’s magic and squeeze his hand.
“You heard her,” Draven says. “Get off my property before I make you.”
Edric’s eyes zero straight in on Draven then and our joined hands, taking in a deep breath. His look of contempt surpasses that of anyone else I have ever come across, including myself. He spits at Draven’s feet. “I taught you to have better taste than to associate yourself with warlocks.”
I slam my other hand against Draven’s chest to stop whatever he was about to do. “He is a thousand times better than the pieces of shit you associate with,” I snarl at him.
Aria snickers loudly at the backhanded compliment I just gave Draven, but then shuts it when a spear nearly gouges out her eye.
That’s when Cahl has had enough. All eyes go to him as he lets out a roar so vicious it hurts my sensitive vampire ears. He clenches his fists at his sides and flexes the huge muscles in his arms and then he is free of the magic. He grabs hold of two of the mages by their necks and squeezes his enormous hands until their heads pop right off their bodies, like corks out of bottles of champagne. They turn to dust and the other three lose their shit. They throw up wards around themselves like the bunch of cowards they are.
“Oh, so fucking brave,” I say, rolling my eyes as Aria drops to the floor so suddenly the five vampires guarding her don’t even notice it. She rolls out, in between their legs as Cahl throws a bolt of magic that hits one and ricochets off another one, like chain lightning, killing them both instantly.
“Nice,” I hear Draven drawl under his breath. “Just what I had in mind.” He coils his magic and aims it directly at Edric.
“No!” I say, using my vampire reflexes to shove Draven’s hand out of the way. His magic beams off his hand and hits two of the remaining unsuspecting vampires. “This is my fight,” I growl at Draven, pissed that he thought he could get away with such a bold move. No one has the right to kill this prick except me, and I will, when I am ready.
“Ember,” Draven exclaims in utter shock. His eyes are blazing with a fierce intensity and I know that pushing his hand away was reckless. He could have hit me or Aria or Cahl.
The one remaining vampire then congregates behind their leader with the mages, their wary eyes on Cahl, weapons aimed at him and Aria. Cahl pulls Aria to his side and wraps his arm around his woman protectively.
She is definitely his woman now, that much is obvious. She has a just-fucked glow and she is making doe-eyes up at him in the middle of this tense situation. Not that she would ever admit to making doe-eyes, of course.
Cahl is about to make his move on Edric, but, again, I put my hand up. “Don’t,” I say, shaking my head. “The honor of killing this bastard is mine.”
Cahl nods, accepting my statement, but he doesn’t lose his menacing air, and neither does Draven. When Edric smirks between the four of us, he moves closer to me.
“You will stop acting like a spoiled brat and come with me now,” he says to me. He reaches out and clamps his hand around my wrist, ready to pull me away from Draven.
Draven is having none of it, though, and he grabs hold of Edric’s wrist. The blue sparks that fly hurt my eyes and that had to fucking hurt, but on someone as old as Edric, who knows? He was created around the same time as Jesus Christ, for fuck’s sake. I see him grimace at the burn on his wrist, but he doesn’t let go of me.
“She is my chattel,” Edric tells Draven. “You would be wise to let her go, or pay the consequences. Something tells me her dowry will be sufficient enough for you to turn your back on her.”
I hiss at his archaic reference, knowing full well that it’s not money he is after, but power.
“Wrong,” Draven says, just as menacingly, but having no idea that what my father would want in return is his power. “She belongs to me now. She isn’t going anywhere.”
“Draven,” I say quietly, but I get ignored.
Edric sneers his disgust, but doesn’t let go of me. “I should have known I would find you whoring yourself out for shelter,” he says to me. “You are a worthless, loathsome, pathetic little bitch whose only purpose for being are the abilities your foolish whore of a mother gave you. Oh, how I enjoyed hearing her scream when I killed her. You stand together with these so-called allies when you should be standing with me!” he roars at me.
“You are the fool,” I spit out at him, which I know is more than lame, but he has shocked me by so brazenly admitting to murdering my mother. “You have no idea what you have walked into here.”
I gasp in surprise as he backhands me across the face so hard it makes my teeth rattle.
With his next breath, Draven sends out a bolt of lightning from his outstretched hand that, this time, hits my father square in the chest, the close quarters making him stumble back a few feet, the large burn on his torso that Draven created already healing rapidly. Fuck. “Lay a hand on her again and I will hold you down while she rips you apart,” he snarls.
“Please, dawn is coming and she grows weak, I can see the weariness in her eyes,” Edric taunts him, brushing off his burnt jacket. “She won’t lay a hand on me and neither will you.”
“I hold no such regard,” Cahl suddenly booms. “You dare to strike your own daughter?”
“No!” Aria cries, seeing Cahl is about to lunge forward. The remaining vampire and the three mages surge forward to protect their master, covering him in a shield and jamming their weapons closer to the pair.
“Getting this guard dog to do your dirty work is most unbecoming, Ember. I taught you better than that. You face your enemies yourself,” Edric says.
“And I will,” I say. “And I am glad that you finally realize you are my enemy, father. Next time we meet it will be me and you, just the two of us.” The sun is starting to rise and it is pulling on me, trying to drag me under. But I know the same could be said for him. I fail to understand why he chose such a perilous time to attack. But I have never understood a single thing that my father does. Perhaps it was his hope to scare me into submission with the threat of the sun. Only he didn’t count on me having such solid back up.
“I look forward to beating the defiance out of you, Ember,” he says darkly. “You will begin to wish for death after what I have planned for you.”
“Get out of here,” I say to him. “Unless you want your asses fried, leave now. You are not welcome to seek shelter here.”
“I should have kept you chained up in that dungeon when you were a child, instead of setting you free to try to teach you how to hon
e your skills. Your betrayal to me is a disgrace to this family and once I have drained every last drop of knowledge out of that brain of yours, you will burn for this, Ember. Mark my words. I will light the match myself and watch you as you scream!” he yells at me.
I just stand stock still, completely frozen under his hateful threats. But, Draven lunges forward, cursing fiercely, ready to kill, but it’s too late. The mages have cast a spell and they have disappeared from sight.
“Holy hell,” Aria breathes, huffing out a breath after one damn awkward pause. “That’s your dad? No wonder you hate him so much. What a fucking dick.”
“You should have allowed me to kill him,” Cahl says. “I have no tolerance for such disrespect.”
“Don’t worry, baby,” Draven says to me, bundling me to him, pinning my arms to my sides. “He will never get this close to you again. Next time, I take him out before he can take a breath.”
I still don’t say anything. Everything my father said to me is still ringing in my ears and it is making me feel sick.
Worthless and pathetic. Loathsome.
“We’d better get you inside,” Draven says, taking my hand and steering me forward.
I let him lead me away, wondering how Edric found me so quickly. Aria and Cahl follow somberly. Even Aria’s smart mouth has quit yapping as she realizes how affected I am.
I stop at the bottom of the stairs and look up at them all staring awkwardly at me.
“No one touches him,” I say flatly. “I will take him out.”
“Got it,” Aria says with a supportive nod of her head, but I can see the doubt flooding her eyes. She doesn’t think I am capable and to be honest, my performance out there was less than impressive. I turned right back into the scared little girl he used to torment, sending his hounds after me as I ran for my life through the woods near his estate.
“I dislike that vampire,” Cahl says to me. “He has no honor.”
“You got that right,” I say quietly and Draven gives my hand a squeeze.
“Do you think he will come back?” Aria asks as tentatively as an aggressive, dominant, Alpha wolf can.
“Yes,” I say. “For sure he will. And then I will kill him. I wasn’t prepared for him to come so quickly.” My frown is so fierce, I can feel it crumpling my face up.
“Ahem,” Draven clears his throat softly.
My eyes find his and he looks guilty.
“What did you do?” I whisper to him.
“I can only imagine that the supernatural Google check, as you so profoundly put it, must have alerted him. I took all the necessary precautions, but…”
I close my eyes and breathe in deeply, trying to push my anger at him aside. This isn’t his fault. Any leader worth their salt would check up on the creatures he lets into his Coven, his safe haven, his home. He did what he knew he had to do.
“It’s okay,” I say calmly, opening my eyes again and giving him a small, weak smile.
He squeezes my hand, relieved that I am not about to kill him.
“Does he know about the prophecy, err, failsafe thingy?” Aria asks.
“Yes, I was forced to tell him long ago. I don’t know if he knows how close we are, but I would be willing to bet that he does. He wants this power for himself.”
“Impossible,” Draven says shortly. “This is our fight. We will be the ones to take down the Jurisdiction. It is our legacy. Our mothers died for it,” he adds vehemently.
“Totally fucking agreed,” Aria says with a smile at Cahl.
“Good,” I say. “Good.”
“You need to get to bed, sweetheart,” Draven then says to me, curling my hair behind my ear.
“Ugh, sweetheart?” I chide him. “And you are forgetting we all need to get to bed. I am not missing out on anything else.”
Aria and Cahl exchange a look that just screams how excited they are to hit the sack. Gross, gross, gross!
“Ember,” Cahl says as I turn to head upstairs.
I look at him in surprise as it is the first time he has used my name.
“Your father is a cruel man. He has hurt you in the past. I am ashamed for you that we all had to hear of his cruelty,” he says with such a guileless look that I can’t actually tell if he is screwing with me or not.
Aria elbows him gently, just enough to get his attention. He looks down at her with a puzzled look. “Something is wrong?” he asks her, absolutely clueless.
“Uhm,” I say, stumped for words.
“I think what he means is you were dealt a pretty shitty hand and it’s messed up that we all had to hear about it like that,” Aria interjects quickly, before he can dig an even deeper hole for himself.
“Yes,” Cahl confirms. “If you are truly going to kill him yourself, then you need to push that aside. It will not aid you in your quest for vengeance.”
“Got it,” I mutter with cheeks as red as tomatoes. I wish that we were still standing outside so that the sun could set me aflame and release me from this humiliating conversation.
“And if you are not strong enough, I will assist you,” Cahl continues, totally not getting that he is making this whole damn situation worse.
“Shut him the fuck up, will you?” I growl at Aria and she takes his hand.
“He means well,” she explains, biting her lip to stop herself from howling with laughter, no doubt at my expense.
“Stand down, big boy,” Draven interjects, his own shoulders shaking as he struggles not to laugh. “I’ve got my woman’s back. You’ve more than enough to handle of your own.”
“Big boy?” Cahl repeats with a frown at Aria. “I am a man. I have been for many years.”
“Yes, you are,” she says salaciously, and that’s it. I am OUT.
“Bed,” I say and stalk up the stairs with my shredded dignity flapping about me.
“That was brutal,” I hear Aria say softly, but not softly enough.
“Yeah,” Draven says worriedly.
“Stay with her for a bit,” she says.
“If she will let me,” he says with a sigh.
“Hey, give her some time. Christ knows I think we all just got a big, fat, motherfucking lesson in where her issues stem from.”
“Motherfucking?” Cahl asks, horrified and it makes me smile, even though they are talking about me behind my back. He’s such a weirdo. But a sweet one. At least I know now whose side he really is on. He didn’t have to threaten my father like that. Trust though? I’m still not sure about that one.
I reach my bedroom door and hear the rest of them disperse and I am happy to hear them all heading towards their bedrooms. I close the door behind me and breathe out the breath I have been holding for some time now.
There is a light tap on the door and Draven opens it before I have a chance to call out.
I smile at him and he approaches me cautiously. “I won’t pretend that was fun,” he says. “And I really wish that I had heard all of that from you at some point in the future. But what’s done is done,” he adds briskly, pacing in front of me as I sit on the bed.
“Cahl is right,” he continues. “You need to get over your past and look towards the future. You will not defeat Edric as you are right now.”
Wow, so much for the gentle approach. Jesus. I am not a sympathy seeker, even in my darkest moments, but I didn’t expect this. Not from him.
“Thanks,” I say, coldly. “You can go now.”
“Oh no, you are not pushing me away, Ems. Not now. Not tonight. Err…today,” he says and then with a shocked look up he rushes towards the heavy brocade curtains that I had opened earlier and pulls them closed.
“They stay closed at all times from now on. I am not risking your life with something so trivial,” he barks at me.
“Draven, I have survived two hundred years on my own without you. I have more tricks up my sleeve, than you have sleeves,” I say with a shake of my head.
“Regardless, to lose you now would be the death of me,” he says dramatically.
“No,” he says, shaking his head. “You are dead wrong. When I first saw you at the bottom of the stairs, I knew I wanted you more than anything else. When I learned that you and Jacob had engaged in certain activities, it caught me off guard how pissed off I was that he got to you first. I took it out on you, when I should have just let it go. After I discovered who you were, it all made sense to me, why I felt this connection with you. I know you feel it, Ember.”
“Yes,” I say taking his hand. “I do, Draven. But I’m not good at this. It’s new and confusing.”
“It is to me as well,” he says, cupping my face. “But I think we have both waited long enough to be happy.”
Well, I can’t argue with that. I smile at him as I stifle a yawn and he pushes me back to the bed. “Sleep now, my sweet vampire.”
I nod wearily, my eyes drooping rapidly now that I am in a prone state. “Stay with me,” I mumble.
“Without question,” he says, stroking my hand. “Let it go, Ember, and we will fight him together.”
“Together,” I murmur.
***
I wake up with a start. I glance at the clock and it is late afternoon. I stretch and wiggle on the silk sheets and then I pause. Firstly, I am alone. Then, I lift my arms out from underneath the heavy feather duvet with a groan. I fell asleep on top of the covers, fully dressed. I gingerly lift the covers and peer down at myself and then fling it back with a loud curse.
I am dressed in a slinky, black satin camisole top with matching shorts.
Draven must have undressed me while I was comatose. The fucking pervert. I bet he had a right old look while I was out of it. But after a moment, it makes me smile. I don’t mind if he took in every inch of me while I was asleep. I want him to know my body as well as I do.
I swing my legs around and climb off the sumptuous bed. I find a robe and drag it on as I make my way towards the door to find Draven. I follow my senses and they lead me downstairs. I am curious, as he is supposed to be sleeping, like me. I keep to the shadows, dodging around the sunlight that is still streaming through the many windows in this place. I pause at the bottom of the stairs and then follow the trail of overbearing warlock to the right. I move silently across the thick carpet and come to a stop outside the dining hall.