Courage Runs Red

by W. J. May

  “Your thoughts are on the right path Kallie, but it’s not that easy.” He stood and moved toward her, his fingers brushing along her forearm as he slowed her fidgeting. Weariness tugged at her, the night growing late and the week still offering residual stress.

  “Figures. Nothing is clear-cut anymore.” She sighed. “Tell me what you’re thinking.” She absently reached out, her hand softly placed on his chest as she looked up at him. Her ability to finally share with someone the horror her life had become was drawing her closer to him. The brilliant blue of his eyes and strong set of his jaw left her breathless. To remain cognizant in the moment was the greatest struggle, and yet she dug her fingers into the side of her leg to do so. She quickly stopped when she thought she might draw blood. What if he turned into a vicious monster at the sight of it? Or the smell of it? Her father sometimes acted like an animal when he drank from the blood bags, never able to get them emptied fast enough.

  “The Red Bloods won’t let him leave.” His eyes moved from hers toward her neck and then down her chest. He took her hand from his chest and moved it toward his mouth, kissing the inside of her wrist softly before depositing it on the side of his neck.

  Her breath caught as she moved closer, the sensuality of his touch stilling her heart. He was a monster, prone to kill and take life just as the vicious creatures that violated her father, right?

  Her fingers moved with a mind of their own and found their way to the nape of his neck. Her free hand moved to the other side of his neck. Tentatively, she traced the edge of his hair, the soft shortness of it tickling her fingers. The feeling entirely pleasant.

  His stare was heavy and filled with carnality, but she pushed the conversation, knowing that now wasn’t the time to fall in love or give herself to the handsome boy before her.

  She wished like hell for that time to eventually come, but right now her family was in need and Liam seemed to be the only one who could move up beside her and help her save them. A strange sound, like a click and sliding at the same time came from inside Liam’s mouth, her eyes diverting to take notice of his pale pink tongue rolling over sharp pointed incisors.

  She should be petrified. Her mind screamed at her to run out of the house and never come back, but terror ran hard and fast, her need and desire took control. She wanted to press up on the top of her toes and lean in, the desire to have his tongue brush against her own almost consuming her.

  Had she ever felt so out of control with anyone else? She took a quick breath, moving back a smidgen at the same time and letting her hand slide down the side of his muscular neck and onto the strong contours of his chest. She focused her gaze back to his, those ocean blue pools pulling and tugging at her emotions. She could easily become lost in them forever.

  His head moved and suddenly she was sure he was going to kiss her.

  Kallie shifted her weight and tried to focus on her father, suddenly nervous about their lips touching. “I know it won’t be easy. For my dad, I mean. We’ll have to hide him for six months.” She rushed her words as ideas began to push past her vision. “Maybe he could go somewhere, out of town or something.”

  “The Red Bloods are beasts.”

  She continued on, ignoring Liam’s words. “If he’s gone and we’re here the Red Bloods might come after me and my mom. And how would he feed? That wouldn’t work.” She shook her head. “We’d have to go with him. Then he—we—could come back and he… he… can take care of business! Go in and bam! Kick their arses!”

  Liam reached down and took her hands into his, pulling her flush against him. “Slow down. The Red Bloods will hunt him down. Hiding in some city isn’t going to protect him. You don’t know these people, Kallie, but think for a moment of how heinous they are when your father is being compliant. We need to think through this and be smart about it. He just visited them, so we have another month to work something out.”

  She liked how he said ‘we’. He said Red Bloods and Blue Bloods were enemies and he was going to help her. “How do you know moving him to another city wouldn’t work? Can they track him?” She didn’t want Liam to take the wind from her sails, even if he had valid points. Her hope began to diminish, the soft touch of his cool skin on her fingers not registering for the race her mind had begun. He was supposed to get stronger with more time, so that’s what they were in search of – more time.

  “They have people everywhere. They’ll trace your bank money, or a visa or your car. Whatever they need, they have it at their disposal. If nothing else, they can smell one of their own. Your father’s virginic blood must be like a beacon to them. We are animals, creatures who utilize all of the extra senses given us to feed, mate and continue growing as a race. We lust after everything.”

  Her breath caught in her chest as she pulled her hands from him and let them hang by her side. What would it feel like to be wrapped up with the perfectly masculine man before her? Letting him take life from her while…

  Liam’s eyes flared as he swallowed, a smile playing at the edge of his perfect mouth.

  “Oh, hell. Can you hear my thoughts?”

  “No, but I sure wish I could. Something tells me I’d enjoy them quite a bit.”

  She laughed, the sound shaking as it exited her lips. “I’d die of embarrassment, which I just might.”

  He moved back, breaking the touch between them. “No dying. I won’t let that happen.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Look, I’m not sure of my involvement in this. I want to help you. However, I’m a Blue Blood. Helping a Red is insane for me to even consider. If I were even in the presence of your father I’m not sure what my reaction would be. Or what his would be. That violent switch of his, combined with his strength, could destroy me.”

  Kallie didn’t like what he said. One moment he spouted lust and mating and the next he was trying to protect his ass. “Then don’t come near him.” She almost growled her response, her emotions all over the board from the weirdness that hung heavy around her. She wanted to see what might happen with Liam, but her first responsibility was to her family – her father.

  Liam tugged a hand through his dark hair. “Kallie, it isn’t a choice I’m making to attack your father if I see him. It’s something he, nor I, can control. Much like werewolves can’t help but change when the moon is high when the gods of heaven call for their pets to come out and play.” He shrugged, his finger brushing over his jaw, scratching along his cheek.

  “You’re a cop. I thought it’s your job to protect people.”

  “It is—”

  “Only when it’s safe for you.”

  “That’s not true. I risk my life every day trying to stop the madness taking over our city.”

  “So you’re an anti-vigil now?” she mocked.

  “I’m not.” He looked ready to snap a comment back at her but held his tongue. Inhaling a long deep breath, he let it out slowly. “I’ll see what I can do.” He paused a moment. “What made you think I was a werewolf, by the way?”

  “You’re hairy enough to be one.” She let the words roll off her tongue, still mad he wasn’t stepping in to help when she had thought he would. It was something her family would need to figure out. Liam had already taught her more than she bet her father knew. If Liam was able to help in any way possible, she would take it. It wasn’t like she would be having the ‘my dad’s a vampire’ talk with anyone else.

  He chuckled, reminding her of the comment she had snapped back in his direction. “Be glad I’m not a wolf. I can see the increase in your heartbeat when something arouses you, or embarrasses you, but a wolf can smell it as well.” He chuckled at the shock that rolled across her features. “Now they are the true beasts of this world.”

  She couldn’t take any more mind-blowing information tonight. That conversation could be saved for another day. She shook her head, closing her eyes. “What should I do, Liam?” she whispered, hating herself for the way his name sounded so sexy on her lips. Too distracting.

  He hesitated a long
moment, which made Kallie open her eyes to see what had happened. His face had grown serious, his blue eyes more intense with some inner decision he had made. “We. What should we do? I don’t know how I’m tied to you, but I can’t deny I want to protect you no matter what the cost. I’m going to need to meet with your father to see how we respond to each other. I need to know if I’ll be able to help you intimately or from the sidelines. It might be a big mistake, but it’s something I’m willing to risk.”

  His use of sensual phrases and words, along with the smell of his musky cologne and half-naked body had just about done her in. She needed to get home to save herself from a mistake that was going to eventually happen. She just couldn’t let it happen tonight. “Okay. So we’ll have you meet him. When?”

  “Not tomorrow night, maybe the next. I’m working from nine to four that night, but I’ll just meet you at your place around eight before I go in. Your dad has a closed-off room, right? He and I can talk in there.” He moved closer, his fingers reaching up to brush a long strand of blonde hair from her shoulder.

  She wanted to hug him for agreeing. “I’m worried. I love him so much. You should have seen him when he came back out this last time.” Her voice cracked slightly as her teeth pulled at her lip. “I just don’t think I can survive watching him take much more. I’d rather it be me.”

  “No! It won’t be you. It’ll never be you.” His hands curled into fists and slowly relaxed. “We’ll figure this out.”

  A thought crossed her mind. “Why can’t you meet him tomorrow night?”

  A smile brushed across Liam’s mouth as his finger pressed softly under her chin, lifting her face toward him. He leaned down and brushed a soft kiss across her lips, feather light and perfect. “Because I’m taking this girl I just met dancing.” He winked and walked her to the door.

  Kallie’s stomach clenched tight and her heart beat its way out of her chest. She should be arguing for him to meet with her father, but suddenly she wanted one night for herself. To feel somewhat human and normal. She nearly laughed out loud. Human and normal were not words in her vocabulary anymore. She waved goodbye and slipped out into the night, Liam watching her until she made it to the end of his road. She was pretty sure he was going to follow her to make sure she got home safe. It didn’t bother her. She hoped he would. “It’s a good thing he isn’t a werewolf,” she murmured, shaking her head. “How freakin’ embarrassing.”

  Chapter 8

  The noonday sun streamed in her window, Kallie languidly turning over and stretching, the groan she let out feeling better than it should. The stress of everything over the last few weeks had resurrected nightmares from the night of the accident and sleep ran from her most nights. Last night had not been the exception, it was now mingled with tantalizing dreams of Liam. Delicious thoughts of the things he could do to her. She’d read way too many vampire and werewolf books in high school.

  It was now a little past lunch, her mom singing something softly just beyond her bedroom door.

  She climbed out of bed and pulled on a pair of jeans and her favorite AC/DC t-shirt. It smelled like her father, the shirt having been his favorite when he was younger. He’d worn the roughness out of it, the cloth comforting and a reminder of better days. She tugged her long golden locks into a high ponytail and padded into the kitchen, her mother cutting up tomatoes near the sink.

  “Oh!” Her mom dropped her knife and it clattered to the floor. “Kallie, you scared me!”

  It made her laugh. “You’re married to a vampire, and I scared you in the middle of the day?” She laughed again as her mother turned and popped a towel at her, the older woman a replica of Kallie with only a few more lines of worry around her mouth and deep blue eyes. She’d been put through far too much, but if her mom was anything, she was tough.

  Her mom picked the knife up off the floor and rinsed it off. “I was making a quick salad before heading out to the store. Did you want one?”

  Kallie moved over behind her mom, wrapping her in a hug and laying her cheek against the older woman’s shoulder blade as she nodded.

  “Yeah, that sounds good. Just no ham in mine. I’d rather have turkey.”

  “Who puts meat in a salad? Just gross.”

  “Everyone but you, Mom. I’m surprised you haven’t shriveled up from becoming a vegetarian. Now that’s just gross.” Kallie repeated her mother’s favorite line as she squeezed her one more time and then moved to pour herself a glass of orange juice from the fridge.

  “Your father was working on becoming one too, before the… Well, he was working on it.” She shrugged and continued to chop, the methodical clicking of her knife as it hit the cutting board almost calming. “Grab me the turkey from the cooling drawer and get whatever dressing you think you might want.”

  She wanted to tell her that Dad was still a vegetarian of sorts. That not feeding on humans made him special. Now isn’t the time to tell her. “Did you get croutons last time you were at the store?” Kallie pulled out the small packet of luncheon meat and left it by her mom, moving toward the small pantry and digging through it as if in search for gold.

  “I did. They’re somewhere in there.”

  “I don’t see them.”

  “You have to move things around, baby. It’s probably right in front of you.”

  Kallie pulled the small golden bag from the darkness and held it to her chest, wrapping her arms around them as the small bag popped loudly, the air pressure blowing from her squeeze. Her mom yelped and turned around as Kallie laughed. She began picking crouton crumbles from her hair as her mother rolled her eyes and joined her, wiping her hands on a white dish towel before assisting.

  “Dad asleep?” she asked, eating at the small bits of crusty bread she pulled from her hair.

  “He’s downstairs, sleeping or waiting for the sun to set.” She lightly slapped Kallie’s hand and scowled. “Gross. Were you raised in a barn?”

  “I don’t think so.” She looked around and smirked at her mom. “This place wouldn’t be big enough to fit a horse. Just saying.”

  They wrapped up their hair-picking activities and Kallie moved to sit at the small bar top that overlooked the kitchen, her mother washing her hands before returning to her chopping. Pain laced Kallie’s chest as she let her thoughts dive into the horror of what her father was enduring for them and that her mother was completely ignorant to it all. Would she want to know?

  No.

  Kallie would fight to her last breath to make things change for her dad. Her mom being involved in it would only make matters more convoluted than they already were. Sadness sat on her like a thick cloak, the edges of it only pulling back slightly as her mother turned and smiled, the gesture lighting up the room.

  “What’s on your mind, little one?”

  “I’m not so little anymore, Mom. I’m in college now.” Kallie huffed as if a small child, her smile returning as her mother turned and gave her a look her grandmother would be proud of.

  “You’ll always be my little one.”

  “Why didn’t you and Dad have more kids? I have no one to beat up, or boss around. I could have used that.”

  Her mother laughed before reaching up into the cabinet above her and pulling down two large crimson bowls. She filled them with lettuce and various cut veggies and then turned to Kallie as her hand hung suspended in the air above one of the bowls, chopped turkey in her grasp. “Still time to change your mind.”

  “Um, no.” Kallie motioned with her hand. “Drop the turkey and step away from the salad, lady. It’s all mine. I know you want it.”

  Her mom laughed again and deposited the bowl in front of her, the bag of croutons beside it and Kallie’s favorite dressing out like an offering. Kallie ignored her mom as the older woman went on and on about how important it was to move away from eating meat, how unhealthy it was for digestion. She looked up as her phone buzzed, her Ranch dressing coating the top of the salad and making the ingredients disappear beneath it.

  �
��Kallie. You just took something incredibly healthy and made it horrible for you.” Her mom moved to sit beside her, her own bowl looking like the contents of a flower garden.

  Kallie took a large bite and looked over at her mom with her mouth full. “Delicious, Mom. Thank you for letting me eat meat. Even white meat.” She couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

  Her mom swatted at her and she covered her mouth with her hand to ensure she didn’t let anything fall out. Manners be damned, it was far too delicious to let that happen. Picking up her phone, she quickly took note that two of her friends were meeting at the mall later that afternoon to start looking at swimsuits. The spring had already made itself known, the heat of living in the south causing the weather to push from winter to summer with efficiency.

  She finished chewing before looking toward her mother. “Jeanna and Lisa are going to the mall this afternoon. Can I have the car?” Should she mention her date? She was almost twenty. She didn’t need to tell her mom all of her comings and goings.

  “I have to work at two, so you’ll be on your own until late tonight. I should be home just after midnight.”

  “I’ll be out tonight too. I have a date.”

  Her mom shook her head. “The world has gone to hell in a handbasket.”

  “Um, Dad’s a vampire and you’re a vegetarian. That happened a long time ago.”

  Her mom laughed and dug into her salad. “Just be careful, baby. Not sure what I’d do without you.”

  She nodded, understanding perfectly how close her family had become. After the transition with her father, there wasn’t much they didn’t do together. Everyone else had become an outsider and a potential threat. They weren’t welcomed in because safety wouldn’t allow for it. She finished her salad, thanking her mom and walking quickly to her room to put on some sandals, change her shirt and brush her teeth. It would be good to see her friends.