Waiting

by Kiahana

  “Oh, and you're fine?” Francis spoke to me and it took only a few more seconds for me to get it.

  “Oh! Yes. I know Parker accidently killed my real parents. Am I fine? No. I never knew the people and I've only ever heard bad things about them. I'm sorry that they died, but it wasn't Parker's fault. I want to find him and tell him that so he doesn't keep punishing himself over it.”

  I clung to Francis again and this time he took off, surprising me. I thought he'd ask more questions, waste more time, but he didn't.

  We flew faster than ever. This time I didn't feel the cold and my eyes didn't sting. My whole body had improved and I wanted to take advantage of every second. What if I depleted my power faster because my adrenaline was so high? My nerve endings were on fire, too anxious to get to Parker.

  “You keep on surprising me.” Francis gave a low chuckle.

  He spoke at a normal level but I could hear him just fine while we soared through the air.

  “How so?”

  I was so relieved to see him smiling and laughing again, where minutes ago he'd been a crumpled mess of bone and tattered clothes.

  “You're so calm and level headed. Your scent only minutely changed before turning back to determination. You really have forgiven Parker, haven't you?”

  “Yes.” There was nothing to forgive, really, especially since it was an accident. “Was he running across the road or something when they drove by?”

  “He was chasing me, was on my heels really, so I stopped in the middle of the road and waited for him since I heard the car coming. He didn't hear it until it was too late, and then I escaped. The car nicked him then careened into a tree. I'm sorry to say that I could smell the alcohol on them from a mile away, so if we'd been there or not, they were sure tempting fate.”

  “It's not your fault either.” He didn't look at me. “Men.” I blew out an exasperated sigh then stilled in his arms when I felt a rush of energy pass by us. “Did you feel that?”

  “Yes. It was Lyle. If you weren't with me I'd turn back and go get him since he did most of my torturing.”

  Oh, hell no! He is NOT getting away.

  I rotated in his arms, awkwardly, until I was now flush against his back, my boobs squished as I held on tight.

  “Go get him! He tricked Sam and he's responsible for most of everything bad that's happened recently.”

  No questions asked, he changed directions. I stayed silent, hardly breathing as we closed in on the now almost visible figure flying a quarter mile ahead of us. With the vampire blood running through my veins I could see the black aura surrounding his form, whereas humans would see nothing. Francis turned his head and held a finger to his lips. I rolled my eyes. Like I didn't know we were trying to be stealth here.

  The man was slowing, getting more relaxed, which was just fine with me. The better to take him off guard. We were low enough to the ground now, I'm pretty sure he was planning on landing.

  We swooshed under tree limbs and darted around bushes before we were finally close enough to him.

  Blame it on a woman's wraith, I don't care, maybe I acted irrationally but like I said, I was past caring. I lunged for him. Jumping off Francis' back I grasped onto the very surprised back of Lyle, who then went tumbling to the ground, with me.

  A tangle of fists and teeth and legs landed in a mess as we finally stopped rolling when his back hit a tree hard enough to break it.

  TWENTY THREE

  I'm not sure how old this vampire was but he was strong enough to fly, which meant I was fighting with a very strong vampire.

  Yeah me!

  I had a split second's thought of regret after lunging for him, but after finding our strength to be almost equal, I fought even harder to prove he couldn't best me.

  When he was finally pinned underneath me, my shirt was ripped to pieces and his right ear was slowly regenerating after I’d ripped it from his head.

  Take that!

  “Well done, Piper!” Francis clapped his hands together on a bark of laughter before addressing Lyle. I'm glad he let me do this. He’d been surprised, no doubt, but he obviously thought I'd win. “Lyle. It's a pleasure to see you again.”

  “You filthy Fang!” Was that supposed to be an insult? “How you escaped is beyond me, but I do know they were closing in on your brother. If you leave now, you might be able to free him in time, if not...”

  The asshole let it dangle. Was he bluffing? I couldn't tell, though I sure as shit wanted him to be.

  My wraith, again, got the best of me. I released my grip from one of his arms and ripped his healing ear off again. He howled in pain for a second before I had him back in my death grip and he was glaring at me with hatred.

  “I like it rough, sweetie, do it again.” He rotated his hips to collide with mine, infuriating me more.

  Francis had him up by the throat before his hips finished the full rotation. I yelled out, not wanting him to kill him yet, like he was about to do.

  “Wait!” Francis stilled. “Sam! Sam gets to kill him. She only did all this because of him. You were tortured by him so I say you get to share the killing, but still, wait for Sam.”

  He knew I was right, though time was of the essence here.

  “Let me drink from you once more, then I can hold him here and you can send someone back. Go get Parker.” That seemed the only logical way to do things.

  “I'm not leaving you here with him!” He'll rape and kill you before you can even blink.

  Whoa! What was that? Did I just hear his thoughts?

  His head turned to give me a questioning glance.

  “Can you hear me?” I directed my thoughts to him, watched him nod then took a step back to gain my bearings. That is so cool! “He won't rape me if I still have my strength. You can have someone here in five minutes. Your blood should last a few hours, right?”

  “Doesn't mean I feel right about leaving you here with him. And the answer is no. It's not happening!”

  Stubborn fool.

  Someone was coming. I braced in attack form. Francis' lips twitched as he took me in. Apparently he knew who it was since he didn't seem tense.

  Sam landed a few feet from me with an evil smirk as she eyed our captive.

  “Thanks for going after him. I was following him until I saw you change direction, then went and made sure Parker was fine.” She looked at me with an excited, friendly smile. “He is. Everyone is fine and he should be here any minute if he senses you. If not he'll go home for you. You might want to be there so he doesn't go insane.” Her evil smile came back when she stepped around me. “You, Lyle, are going to have a lot of fun with Francis and I for the next few years. Months if you're lucky.”

  “Let's drag him back. You carry Piper.”

  “Thanks for talking Francis into waiting. And I'm sorry. About everything.”

  So not the time for apologies.

  “You're forgiven. As long as you don't do anything like this again.” She looked on the verge of tears. Did my forgiveness really mean that much to her? “I'm sorry for calling you all those nasty names a few nights ago.”

  She scoffed and rolled her eyes.

  “It's the least that I deserved. I want you to know, if they would've tried to do anything to you, I would've stopped them. I was on a mission and all, but I wouldn't have let them hurt you, or touch you.”

  “Good to know.” I offered her my most sincere smile, then looked back at Francis and spoke into his head. “No, this is not going to turn into a porn.”

  He laughed and shook his head, clearly amused.

  “Did you just have one of those mind talks with him?” Sam looked confused.

  “Yeah. I think his blood makes it work.”

  It would be a blast if it worked with Parker's. The naughty things we could say to each other, describe to each other. I wonder if it'll work when I see him now? I could...

  “Enough!”

  Oops. Had I been talking in Francis' head? I smiled innocently and turned to Sa
m.

  She took me in her arms and started off. I could feel Francis close behind.

  Everyone was alive. Parker and Francis would be reunited and Koopa…well, let’s hope he stays away. Who else was involved and would they leave us alone now?

  Hopefully.

  **********

  We landed in Parker's 'front yard' to find Gunner and Brian playing cards on the front porch. They both jumped up, game forgotten, when they saw us.

  “What happened? Where's Parker?” It was Brian who asked, though it was Gunner who paled. Worried.

  “Go get some silver from below, Brian.”

  He didn't have to. Apparently he had some in his pockets, ready.

  I grabbed the chain, wrapping it around Lyle's throat so Francis didn’t have to hold him. He went down to his knees from the pain, then laid on his side with his eyes shut. Probably praying he'd die from that instead of what he knew was in store for him.

  “So, what happened?”

  Sam took over, slowly inching everyone back from me, I noticed. Francis did the same. Did I smell?

  “Parker will be here in a minute. Everyone on our side is alive and well. Lyle here is the reason for all the recent chaos and he's going to be my prisoner for a while, until I tire of him.” She craned her neck to look at Francis. “Our prisoner, if you'd like.”

  “Oh, I'd like. My current prisoner is more than likely dead now that I haven't been home to feed him, so I have plenty of space if you need a storage bin. I promise to leave him in there unless you're there.”

  “Don't promise that! I want him tortured while I'm off having fun somewhere! It'll make me feel better.”

  Lyle groaned on the ground while keeping his eyes closed.

  “If you...” Now Sam very visibly took a step back from me, pulling Brian with her. Gunner took a few and Francis was practically in the tree line. “What the hell?”

  Sam's lips twitched and was about to explain before my eyes narrowed in on an enclosing figure in the sky. It crashed into me with a gentle force. We rolled on the ground a few times, his arms protectively making a cage around me so I was barely jostled before his lips were on mine.

  It was a welcomed kiss, his arms still wrapped around me when he floated us to a standing position.

  “Get a room.”

  Francis' voice floated into my mind. Parker pulled back and responded, not knowing I heard it too.

  “She's too beautiful to keep my hands to myself. It only bothers you because you're jealous. Don't worry, brother. We'll find yours one day, then I can say annoying things to you that you won't listen to or care about. I doubt she'll be as thoughtful, caring, loving, brave and amazing as my Piper, but she'll do.”

  I'd been staring at him, him staring back into my eyes when he silently spoke to Francis, and couldn't help the smile that met my lips hearing all these lovely, teasing words.

  “Yeah, mine will probably be a hunchback with no teeth, right?”

  I burst out laughing the same time Parker did, confusing him.

  “Is this what you two usually talk about?” I willed all my strength into getting them to hear my thoughts, and the strain probably showed on my face because they chuckled once more.

  “Enough!” Sam's voice was loud and clear as she threw her hands up. “It's been hell having the two of them do the whole secret talking thing, but you too? Please don't leave me by myself, Piper.”

  “I'm not going anywhere.”

  “Yeah, but when you become a vampire I'll be left out since you can clearly hear their thoughts too. Maybe it's because you’re mated to one, I don't care, but you three will just sit there talking in your heads, probably shit about me, and I'll be left out!”

  “Did I ever tell you about the time Sam thought she was in love and almost got us all killed?”

  Francis made us both laugh out loud again before I smiled at Sam.

  “Don't worry Sam, it's not that exciting. I'm just happy to finally not be the weakest link.” I looked pointedly at Brian. “Sorry.” He shrugged when I continued. “And it'll wear out of my system shortly and I'll be just as lame as you.” Sam’s lips cracked into a smile.

  I'm glad she's acting like her old self again. Now we wouldn't have to be on suicide watch. Thankfully. I had a lot of other plans for the near future and none of them entailed babysitting.

  “About you making her a vampire...” Brian spoke so softly I wouldn't have been able to hear him if I didn't have vampire blood in me.

  We all slowly walked until we were forming a circle again. This time no one backed away from me. I was glad to learn it was because Parker was flying at me with enough force to demolish a building on impact, instead of because I smelled.

  “That'll happen when she's ready. As for you, which is what you're really interested in, not until you're ready and you've thought everything through. You won't be able to see your family and either Francis or I will be your maker, so you'll have to answer to us. You won't be a slave but if we command something, you'll have to do it. We'll have to teach you how to live and how to live with no one knowing. Gunner here is the last person I changed so you can talk to him about it, if he's willing.”

  “I talked to him about it a bit while you were gone.”

  “I'm talking no one in your family. Not your nieces, not your mum, not even your grandmother that you visit every weekend. They have very few men in their lives and I'm not going to let you make a rash decision.”

  Parker was clearly warning the both of us, though he only looked at Brian. If he thought he was going to talk me out of wanting to be with him, he was surely mistaken.

  “Like they need men in their lives.” Sam decided to impart her wisdom now. “You know we can always watch over them, or he can, if he keeps his distance enough. It's not like we'll let your family be hurt after you're turned, but yes, that is something you'll have to think about.”

  Brian shuffled his feet and scattered a few pebbles. Was he embarrassed? Was that the smell coming from him? Weird that feelings had a smell.

  “He doesn't need to turn into one anytime soon. But he should be brought home since he was probably taken and hasn't contacted anyone.”

  Brian eyed me graciously.

  “Actually I contacted them when you were gone. I told them I was taking an impromptu vacation this week. All is well for a while.”

  “Right. Well, then in that case. Leave. I want to talk to Francis and Parker alone. Sorry, but it's really important.”

  Sam looked ready to argue before I added that.

  “What did you do?” I heard Parker ask Francis before he remembered I could hear it too, looking down at me with a grin that told me he knew he was caught.

  “Nothing. And neither did you.”

  Sam blew out an exasperated sigh, especially since she didn't need to breathe at all.

  “Alright. I'll take Brian home and then drop Gunner off with some friends, but then I'm coming back! We still have a lot to talk about, and I'd like to get the torture started today.”

  “Meet back at my place then. I'm sure Piper will have no use of me in about five minutes.”

  I nodded to confirm.

  Sam grabbed onto Brian and Gunner. Then with one last kick to Lyle's face she disappeared into the growing light sky.

  I guess Gunner still couldn't fly.

  I wonder how old you have to be to fly.

  “Around a hundred usually. Seventy is the least that I've ever heard of. Strong minded one, that one. But Gunner's only around ten in undead years, so he's got awhile.” I guess I spoke out loud, or broadcasted my thoughts. Oops. Francis kicked Lyle's back as if an afterthought before turning back to face us. “Now, let's get this over with.”

  I rolled my eyes. Don't try and take control of my intervention.

  “I know about the accident.” I spoke slowly and clearly as I stared into Parker's eyes. They turned cold black the second the words left my mouth. “You don't have to say anything, and please don't apologize. It was an
accident. Accidents happen and once I heard the details it was definitely that. But it was their fault. Not yours and not yours.” They both stared at me, not saying a word. “They were drug dealers and let's just say I'm lucky I came out without any birth defects. Long story short, they weren't cut out to be good parents, or parents at all. Not that that justifies them being dead, but that wasn't your fault either. They were drinking and driving. Who knows if they even saw you before they hit that tree.”

  I looked into both their eyes but saw nothing. No emotion, no response.

  “Say something!”

  Parker blinked and looked at Francis. Were they having a private conversation? I couldn't hear anything.

  “You're a lucky man, Parker. I love your mate and will be here whenever you need me, but for now, I'm taking off. You two love birds have fun. Love you brother.”

  With that he was gone, taking Lyle with him.

  “I...you...I mean, you're alright? And who told you?”

  “No one. I figured it out on my own and then had it verified.” I pulled him close to me, craning my neck to look up at him. His thick arms encircled me, holding me tight against his solid body. I never wanted to part from him. “No more moping around about a night that was bound to happen anyways. I had a great childhood because you were there, always there. It's kind of chilling finding out just how long you were watching over me, and I'm done thinking that you're with me because you feel bad about that night. But we're here. Us. Together. Forever.”

  Something to the effect of a growl escaped him before we were swirling in a circle, me locked tight against him.

  “I love you, Piper. Never for a second doubt that, or think I'm with you because I feel bad. Because that's far from the truth. I feel bad that your parents were killed that night, whether it was my fault or not, but I'm also thankful for that night. It brought me to you. As soon as I knew they were dead I looked through their wallets to find their address so I could learn the extent of the loss I'd just...the loss that occurred. And when I opened your mum's purse there were a handful of pictures of you. A swaddled little baby, innocent, and without parents. I tracked you down that very night and found you with their friends. Only friends if I'm not mistaken. I watched you sleep and made up my mind that I'd make sure you'd have a good life.