Seducing Death

by Cassandra Lawson

  “Why is it I can see you and they can’t?” Ian asked.

  “Probably has to do with you being Kyleigh’s mate,” Seth said, sounding unsure. “Might even be because you took her blood. I’m not really sure of everything yet,” he admitted. “Well, I’m not sure of most things. Training for this job sucks.”

  Ian put a hand on Seth’s shoulder. “You’re doing fine. Today was bad?”

  Seth nodded. “There was a big Moon virus outbreak. Lots of souls were confused and needed help moving on. It doesn’t always bother me, but I hate seeing dead kids. Watching their souls leave feels wrong, even though I know it’s just how life works.”

  Ian worked hard to keep his reaction hidden from Seth. The kid was too fragile, and for some reason, Ian wanted to help him. Part of it was because Seth was so young, but the other part was more complex. Seth was important to Kyleigh, which made him important to Ian.

  “You didn’t really take them,” Ian said. “You just helped them move on. Don’t feel like any of this is your fault.”

  Seth nodded. “I know all that, but it’s still hard to live with myself some days.” Then Seth gave a weak smile. “Although, I guess I’m technically dead, so I’m not really living with myself.”

  Ian chuckled. “You’re a smart ass.”

  Seth grinned at him. “I like you,” he said. “Kyleigh’s been on her own for a long time. She doesn’t talk about it, but the Fae have said things about her shutting everyone out.”

  “It’s smart to shut the Fae out,” Ian said sternly. The idea of Seth being chummy with the Fae didn’t sit well with him.

  “Don’t I know it,” Seth said. “They were exciting at first, but now I know better than to trust them.” There was a haunted look in Seth’s eyes that made Ian hate the Fae even more. “I should go,” Seth finally said. “I’m not really supposed to linger too long in the area where I’ve helped souls.”

  “Can you tell me where the outbreak was?” Ian asked.

  Seth nodded and gave him directions before disappearing.

  Ian turned to find Danny and Simon leaning against trees, watching him.

  “Are you done talking to your tree friend?” Simon asked.

  “Fuck you,” Ian said. “We don’t have time for you to doubt my sanity. There’s a sizable Moon virus outbreak not far from here. There’s still time to deal with the bodies before they rise, and there may still be uninfected humans there.”

  Danny and Simon were instantly on alert.

  “Not sure how you got this information from a tree, but I’ll call for backup while you drive us there,” Simon said.

  “This settlement isn’t close to any drivable roads. We’ll only be able to get to within half a mile in the jeep. After that, we’ll have to carry our supplies in.”

  “Damn,” Danny muttered. “That’s a lot of supplies to lug around. Luckily, you big strong vampires can carry the bulk of it.”

  Ian snorted. “Don’t be a pain in the ass, Danny.” Then he thought for a moment and shook his head. “Actually, go ahead and be a pain in the ass. As much as I hate to admit it, I’ve kind of missed being annoyed by you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  After six hours of trying to summon Oriel, Kyleigh was about to give up when he finally appeared in Ian’s living room. As always, he was a vision of golden beauty. While she’d always admired his looks, she’d never been dazzled by them like so many others. That seemed to endear Oriel to her in some way. Maybe he got tired of having people worship him and stutter like fools in his presence. Kyleigh definitely feared Oriel, as any smart person would, but she’d never acted like a simpering lovesick fool.

  Today, Oriel was clearly annoyed. “What is so urgent that you felt the need to continue to summon me after I refused to come?”

  Kyleigh took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice from shaking. Oriel wasn’t just annoyed— he was angry. “As you can see, I’ve taken my mate out of my realm.”

  Oriel nodded. “That much is obvious. Did you bring me here just for this update?”

  “Am I being set up?” she asked. Why not just get to the real concern she had? No point in beating around the bush with niceties.

  “Set up?” Oriel’s eyebrows scrunched together in confusion as he tried to grasp her meaning.

  “Was I left in this territory to try to get me in trouble? Should I expect to be summoned for bringing Ian back here and letting him have this much contact with his old life?”

  Oriel gave her a patient smile. “I can certainly see why you would be worried about that. There is no rule against you being here with your mate. We never thought to make a rule regarding mates having contact with their old lives because the issue comes up so rarely.”

  “Does this mean I won’t have to worry about consequences?”

  Oriel laughed. “You can’t be serious.”

  “I am,” she said with confidence. “I feel like you left us here just so this would happen. Then you tell me it’s not against the rules, which should mean I don’t have to worry about consequences, but I know the dangers of assuming anything.”

  “Yes,” he said in a more serious tone, “you do know, and that’s why I was laughing. Do you really think I can guarantee your safety?”

  “You could offer me the protection of your word,” she said defiantly.

  “And why should I do that?” Oriel asked, sounding genuinely curious about her reasons. “While I’m fond of you, I’ve already made Arawn angry over this situation with your mate. I’ve already protected you.”

  “Was it to protect me, or just to make Arawn angry?” she asked.

  He gave her a warm smile. “Does it matter?”

  Kyleigh let out a frustrated sigh, wondering why the Fae always had to be so cryptic with their answers. The question was simple, but Oriel still refused to answer; though it wasn’t that he refused to answer so much as he avoided answering the question.

  When she didn’t say anything, Oriel moved toward her and placed a delicate hand on her shoulder. She felt it strange that he was so muscular, yet his hands were almost feminine.

  “Kyleigh, I am fond of you, as fond as I can be of anyone. That is why I’m trying to be as open with you as I possibly can. Arawn is very angry, and he will seek revenge. Now, I don’t know what form that revenge will come in, but you and your mate are at your weakest here. Arawn may not attack you directly. He may try to claim you violated rules, and may even find one that proves this. There is no way to guarantee your safety if you stay here.”

  Kyleigh looked down and nodded. Things could be worse. At least Oriel wasn’t plotting against her, and she wasn’t technically breaking any rules.

  “You’d be wise to return to your realm and keep your mate there as much as possible,” Oriel said.

  “Not yet!” Kyleigh said quickly. “He’s missed his son so much. I can’t just tear them apart.”

  Oriel sighed. “Foolish emotions always seem to be the downfall of your mother’s kind.”

  “Can I ask you one more question?” she asked softly.

  Oriel nodded.

  “Is there a way for Ian to stay here without me?” she asked in a small voice.

  “The only one who could make that happen is Arawn,” Oriel replied, “and you would not like making a deal with him. It would cost you dearly to help your mate, and Arawn would very likely try to find a way to destroy you both.” Without waiting for her response or more questions, Oriel flashed out of the room.

  Kyleigh sat on the sofa and hugged her legs to her chest. Despite their physical closeness that morning, she’d sensed the distance between her and Ian. The longer they stayed together, the more likely it was that her heart would be broken. Even though she could keep him bound to her forever, while her feelings would continue to grow, his heart would always belong to Kate. She could never blame him for that. Still, she hated that Ian was trapped with her, and hated that her heart leapt at the idea of him being hers forever. She’d be a fool to believe that
lie. In the end, Ian wasn’t really hers, and he never would be.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  After the cleanup they’d had to deal with, Ian wanted nothing more than to head home, wash the filth off of his body, and burn his clothes. Decapitating corpses before they rose was ugly work. When some of those corpses happened to be children, it was ugly and heartbreaking.

  Unfortunately, Connor met them as soon as they stepped out of the jeep, and Con looked seriously pissed off.

  Connor glared at Simon first. “Go get Mitchell and meet me at my house.”

  “Con, it’s been a shitty day. Whatever you have up your ass can wait until tomorrow,” Simon said.

  “No,” Connor ground out. “It can’t wait.”

  Simon nodded and slid back into the driver’s seat of the jeep. “I’ll go get him now.”

  “Ah hell,” Danny muttered. “This is about Faith, isn’t it?”

  Connor spun on Danny. “Yes, it is, and that is why I want you at my house in ten minutes too.”

  “Calm down,” Danny said.

  “Calm down?” Connor asked. “You want me to calm down after I just got blindsided by a human couple that is none too happy about their daughter being held in some unknown location. Funny how no one mentioned this to me.”

  “Unknown location?” Danny snapped. “Those fuckers know where she is.”

  “Again, why am I out of the loop?” Connor asked.

  Danny sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. “In my defense, there was a lot of other stuff going on when you got back from the wood nymph territory. Shelby had planned to talk to you after you dealt with the messengers from the main council, but then things went from bad to worse. We kind of had our hands full. Faith and Mitchell’s situation was at the back of my mind.”

  “Wait!” Ian said. “What does this Faith girl have to do with Mitchell?”

  “It seems Mitchell got her pregnant,” Connor said. “It gets even better than that. Her parents hate vampires. If they could have moved to Treasure Island instead of here, they would have.”

  Danny turned to Ian. “It’s not Mitchell’s baby. He’s just friends with the girl and the baby’s father. This whole situation has been really messed up.”

  “I know Mitchell isn’t the father,” Ian said. “Mitchell can’t father children. That was one of the things Dr. Moon tested. So, why don’t you finish telling me how he got involved with a pregnant girl from a vampire-hating family?”

  Connor looked around and then motioned toward the jeep. “We’ll do this at my house.”

  The drive was quiet and tense. Connor was pretty pissed, but Ian was beginning to suspect he was more pissed at the human parents. Once they got to Connor’s house, he got Ian a much appreciated bag of blood and directed them to sit at the kitchen table. Before Raven, Connor hadn’t had any need for a kitchen table. Now, Ian suspected he was glad he didn’t have to let Ian and Danny get blood all over his living room furniture.

  “Explain to me what happened,” Connor said to Danny.

  Danny took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Mitchell showed up at my house with Faith, asking for help. They wanted me to get medicine so she wouldn’t lose the baby. I guess she was pretty sure her parents were going to give her something to terminate the pregnancy.”

  “Because they think Mitchell’s the father?” Ian asked.

  “I’m not sure if they thought he was the father then or not,” Danny said.

  “Who is the father?” Connor asked.

  “Another vampire from the school,” Danny said. “Mitchell is friends with him and Faith.”

  “Is the kid hiding Faith somewhere?” Ian asked.

  “No, she’s staying at Shelby and Carla’s,” Danny said.

  “Why the fuck is she staying at Shelby and Carla’s house?” Connor asked. “The family already hates vampires, so I hardly think they are going to react well to their daughter living with two of them.”

  Danny snorted. “Yeah, well that’s the least of what they have to be upset about. The girl sprouted fangs.”

  Connor hissed out a curse, and Ian fully understood why he was upset. Vampire-haters with a newly-turned vampire daughter were not likely to handle the situation well.

  “I’m surprised her parents didn’t have her vaccinated,” Ian said thoughtfully. While the Moon virus vaccine wasn’t readily available at most human settlements, that wasn’t a problem at the vampire settlement.

  “They tried,” Danny said. “According to Faith, she switched with some other girl and never got it. I’m not sure how she ended up infected, but I’m assuming she let her boyfriend take a little blood.”

  Connor shook his head. “You already know the Moon virus can’t be transmitted that way from a born vampire.”

  “It could if she was already pregnant,” Ian pointed out. “That sort of thing is like a million to one shot but not impossible. I’ve heard of it happening only handful of times, and the virus usually takes a week or so to take effect.”

  Connor nodded. “Okay, so we need to talk to Faith, Mitchell, and the baby’s father. Do you know his name?” he asked Danny. “Maybe I can have Simon swing by to pick him up on the way over here.”

  Danny shook his head. “Last I heard, the kid’s parents have him locked up. Apparently, they aren’t any fonder of humans than Faith’s parents are of vampires.”

  Connor let out a humorless laugh. “This just keeps getting better and better.”

  “Yeah, I was really wishing you were here to deal with this,” Danny said.

  “Why’d they go to you?” Ian asked, not really sure Danny would know the answer to that question.

  “Mitchell was afraid to talk to Si because he thought Layla might start problems with the parents,” Danny explained.

  “By start problems, you mean beat the hell out of them?” Ian asked with a smile.

  “Yeah, that,” Danny said. “I had to agree with him, even though I wasn’t happy about being involved. I’m pretty sure Mitchell would have gone to you had you been here at the time,” he said to Connor.

  “Okay, I’ll call Shelby and get her to bring Faith over,” Connor said before pulling his phone out of his pocket and hitting the button to call her.

  “Yeah,” Shelby answered on the first ring.

  Connor kept the phone on speaker. “I need you to bring Faith over to my house.”

  “Not gonna happen,” Shelby said in a distracted voice.

  “Shelby,” Connor said, “that wasn’t a request. I just had to listen to her parents bitch at me about this situation. I want to point out that I knew nothing about this before they showed up at my door, so I am in a piss poor mood right now.”

  “Listen, Con,” Shelby said patiently, “I should have told you, but there was too much shit going on when you got back. Now, I have no problem bringing Faith to meet you another day, but she’s sleeping. The girl is having a really hard time with all of this, and she’s flat out exhausted today. There is no way in hell am I waking her up.”

  Connor was usually pretty reasonable, so Ian wasn’t surprised when he relented. “You’re right. There’s no reason I need to talk to Faith this instant. Can you bring her by here tomorrow morning? We need to figure out what we’re going to do.”

  “Yeah,” Shelby said, “but get someone to cover Carla’s spot on patrol. She’ll want to come with to make sure Faith is okay.”

  “Fine,” Connor said reluctantly.

  “And I’m sorry I didn’t mention the situation with Faith earlier,” Shelby said. “While I could try telling you it was only because there was so much going on, that’s not all of it.”

  “Did you think I’d pull Faith out of your home?” Connor asked, sounding frustrated. He and Shelby had been friends for years. Actually, they’d grown up together and had a sibling-like bond.

  “That wasn’t it,” Shelby said. “I was hoping we’d come up with a solution to this mess without involving you. Honestly, I thought Faith’s parents would go
to Raven instead of you.”

  That was the moment Raven picked to walk in the back door.

  “So, you’re telling me Raven knew about Faith, and I didn’t?” Connor asked, glaring at Raven.

  “Raven just walked into the room, didn’t she?” Shelby asked after letting out a big sigh.

  “Just got back from visiting Muriel,” Raven said.

  “Sorry,” Shelby said.

  “No worries,” Raven said. “Connor will get over it.”

  “Okay, I’ll be by there around nine so you have time to get the patrols out,” Shelby said and hung up without waiting for a response.

  “I’ll deal with you later, little nymph,” Connor said as he grabbed the back of Raven’s neck and kissed her roughly.

  “Watching you with the nymph is still something I’d like to avoid,” Ian said dryly.

  “Fuck you,” Connor said, keeping Raven at his side with one arm curled possessively around her waist.

  “Care to fill me in on what happened?” Raven asked the room in general.

  “Faith’s parents came over and demanded Connor find out where she is and send her home. They also accused Mitchell of getting her pregnant.”

  “Damn,” Raven said. “What did you tell them?”

  “I said I’d look into it,” Connor said. “Since nobody confided in me, I had very little to tell them.”

  Simon entered with a nervous looking Mitchell. He sat in the chair next to Ian’s, and Simon took his place behind Mitchell’s chair, putting a supportive hand on Mitchell’s shoulder. Ian was grateful for Simon’s presence in Mitchell’s life even more at that moment.

  Connor’s face softened when he saw Mitchell’s nervousness. “You’re not in any trouble, Mitchell,” he assured him. “I just need to know everything that’s going on so I can do some damage control with Faith’s parents.”

  “I hate to say it, but I think you’re going to need to include the girl’s parents in this meeting,” Ian said, obviously shocking everyone.

  Everyone stared at him. “What? I can be the voice of reason.”

  Simon laughed. “Not really your thing, my friend.”