Protected (Book 1 in the Ariya Adams trilogy)

by Anna Applegate

  “James, we can get through this. I can help you. We’ll figure it out.”

  “I don’t need help. I need revenge. Emma, what else did you see? Was anyone there besides Devon? I know he stabbed you in the theater, but what else can you remember?”

  “Nothing, James. I don’t remember anything. I was sneaking around the house trying to find information. I heard Devon saying something, and then I heard someone grunt like they were being hit. I assumed it was Ariya and ran back.”

  “You didn’t think to attack?”

  “What? No, I mean how would I know if Devon was alone or if others were just standing by while he spoke.”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry.” I couldn’t see what was going on in there and I was glad.

  I could listen, but I didn’t want to see James with Emma right now. It would make me want to kill her myself for what she had done to me, and the threats she made to everyone in my life here.

  “It’s okay, I know you’re hurt, but we can move past this. Revenge won’t solve anything, James.” I heard her take a deep breath. “James, why am I still being kept here?”

  “I don’t know, Emma. I have to talk to my father. Clearly, you helped us find Ariya. Thank you for finding her, by the way. I just wish I hadn’t been too late.”

  “I know. We can leave though. We can go far away – you don’t have to be a Protector anymore. There isn’t anything left here.”

  “You might be right,” he sighed. “Going away would be better. I just … I need revenge, Emma. My whole life I’ve been doing this and now it’s over. I won’t leave here until I have answers. Then we can go.”

  Emma wasn’t saying anything. In fact, it was silent for a couple moments. I heard a chair slam into the wall and gasped, bringing my hands to my mouth. I shouldn’t have done that. James specifically said to not make a noise, and there I go, reacting to things.

  “You must really think I’m an idiot, James. You wouldn’t come away with me so quickly after Ariya died. I thought maybe after some time of grieving, I would come back to find you healing and then you’d come. It has been one day since she died! I know you. And, if that hadn’t enough of a reason for me to not believe this little act you’re putting on – my suspicions have been confirmed by that gasp I just heard when I threw the chair.”

  There was a rustling noise and I heard Emma say, “Hello, Ariya.”

  I stood up from where I was sitting and a group of Protectors rushed past me into the room. I peeked around the corner and saw the chair that had been thrown was broken, but another one had been carried in apparently because the teams of Protectors were strapping Emma down to it. She was struggling, but even she was not stronger than the vampires as a collective unit.

  They finished and stepped back. I looked over at James to see him leaning against the wall with his arms casually folded across his chest. He seemed amused at Emma’s fight. Her eyes met mine and she growled. I didn’t back away, instead, I narrowed my eyes at her. I wouldn’t be fearful of her. She couldn’t get to me any more. I came around the corner and stood by the door, watching her.

  “I guess Devon couldn’t finish the job. You ruined everything, and when I get out of here, I will personally turn you, and then drive a stake through your heart just to watch you die.”

  James was in front of her quickly and slammed her chair from its position in the middle of the room, back against the wall.

  “If you threaten her again, it will be the last sound to ever come out of you, Emma. Do you understand?” I could see his fangs.

  I had only seen them once before and it had been when I thought I was imagining things in the cage, back with Devon. He looked positively dangerous. His eyes had darkened and his fangs were out. His voice was gruff and unforgiving. I noticed her eyes were darkening and as she scowled at him, her fangs grew, too.

  As much as they had told me about vampires, they hadn’t ever gotten like this in front of me. I could see how all of the folklore had described them as monsters. They looked insanely scary, and I wouldn’t want to run into one of them by myself in the night. Emma shrugged James off and he stood back. She took a deep breath and her fangs began receding.

  “I guess you want to know why? And who I’m working with and information like that?” She batted her eyes at him, but he ignored her sarcastic attitude.

  “So, go on,” he said.

  “Why would I tell you anything that would help her?”

  “Because I said so. You aren’t going to be released unless you cooperate, and you sure as hell won’t escape. So, I suggest you do as I say.” James was serious. He made a pretty good bad cop.

  “What do I get if I tell you? A kiss?” She was eyeing him, but when she said that, she looked at me.

  “In your dreams, Emma. Now, start talking. My patience is running thin.” James was stalking around her chair just as Emma had done to me before when she had me prisoner.

  I shook my head at the memory, not wanting to think about that night. I was going to have enough nightmares as it was. I didn’t need to think about it during the day, too. James stood staring at me with a frown on his face. I tried to smile to reassure him that I wasn’t going crazy, and that I was okay. He needed to focus, so I started backing up like I was going to leave the room. I stood towards the door.

  “Emma?” he pushed again. She just smiled.

  “You don’t scare me, James. Even if you do hate me, I’m part of the bloodline you have protected. Your sense of duty would never allow you to actually hurt me.”

  James reached behind his jacket he had been wearing and brought out a wooden stake. My eyes got big. Emma just smiled again.

  James started grinning wide. “Ariya, would you give us a moment?”

  “James?” I asked.

  “Ariya, please leave.” There was no emotion in his voice, just an order.

  I obeyed. I had no idea what he was going to do. I closed the door and heard a scream. It seemed louder than it should have when I realized that my earpiece was still in. James still had the microphone on. I ripped it out of my ear and threw it to the ground. I could still hear them speaking through the door.

  “I love it when you’re rough.” Whatever James had done to her, it hadn’t been to kill her. She was still egging him on.

  “Emma, I have been through a tough forty-eight hours, and the last thing that I want to do with my time is spend it with you. Now start talking or instead of your stomach, it will be your heart. Who is behind this? Who wants Ariya?”

  “I don’t think so.” I heard rustling again.

  “Oh, James, if only you did know the great plans that they have for Ariya. She is going to be so useful before they kill her. I can’t wait to see the look on your face when you do find out what’s going on. You might lose your mind, but it would be wonderful for you to know who was really behind this. Sadly, I want to live, and giving that person up would ensure my death. There will come a time when you’ll turn back to me. When your precious Ariya is dead. Trust me, I’ll make sure it’s quite painful.” Almost as soon as the last word was out of her mouth, she gasped loudly.

  I heard James, “One more time, Emma, who is behind this?”

  My eyes watered up. As much as I didn’t want to be upset, I was. I had no doubt what was about to happen in there. James had lost his temper. He warned her not to threaten me again, and that’s what she had just done. There was silence on the other side of the door. A couple tears slid down my cheek.

  I headed out the front door where we had come in. Outside it was daylight. I If I stood on the porch, the sounds of what was going on in the room were gone. James would kill Emma or he would still be talking and torturing her while she taunted him. Either way, he wasn’t coming out of the room, so I didn’t have to stay and listen if I didn’t want to.

  I sniffled, thinking that she didn’t deserve my tears. Twenty-two couldn’t come soon enough so these overly sensitive reactions would stop. It was so cold outside and my thoughts had t
emporarily interrupted my noticing that my body was shaking hard. Dead winter had hit Mineral Point.

  I wanted to go home. I smiled at the thought of all my vampires with me for Christmas. It would be a full house, and I knew my mom would love that. She enjoyed entertaining as much as possible. I think I had picked that up from her.

  Collecting myself a little bit outside in the fresh air had helped calm me. I heard a commotion in the house behind me and thought that maybe I should go back in. The point of me being there had been to try and pick up anything useful, and I had just walked out. I didn’t want to be so weak, but my mind was still struggling to come to terms with almost dying. Being around more death seemed difficult at the moment. I needed to go back for James. I had to do what he wanted me to do.

  I took one more deep breath and headed back through to door into the old house. The door that led to the room Emma had been in was open. I peeked around the corner and saw that James was on the floor with his back against the wall with his head in his hands. Emma was across the room with a stake in her chest. I shuddered.

  It was over. Emma was no longer a threat to me or my friends and family. That fiend was now out of my life. I walked over to James and squatted in front of him.

  “James?” I asked quietly. He looked up at me and his face was distraught. “Should I…” I trailed off and pointed over at Emma.

  “No, Ariya. We aren’t going to learn anything from her.” He wasn’t happy about the situation and it was obvious. The other Protectors seemed to be watching us, so I didn’t want to push him in front of them.

  Emma had believed he wouldn’t kill her because he had protected her. I wasn’t sure if he had broken some Protector law by killing her, but I knew his sense of duty was probably eating at him right now.

  “Can we go home now?” He stood up and wrapped his arms around me, bringing me close to him before leading me out of the room.

  We left Emma behind. Part of me was glad she was dead because it meant she couldn’t hurt my friends or me ever again. The other part felt sad. When we were outside the room, I asked James if he was okay.

  “No.” I dropped it.

  Before we made it out the door, we were a taller, well-built man, approached us with what looked like a permanent scowl on his face. He had a strict face, one that reminded me of a military officer. He seemed a bit older than James, but not by much. He looked young, but his face gave away a much older age. He had to be a vampire. Why was he storming towards us in such a flippant way?

  “What have you done?” the man asked, looking at James as if I wasn’t there.

  “I did what I had to do. She wasn’t giving us anything.”

  This must be someone important because James had taken his arm from around me and straightened up. Maybe he was a military vampire leader of sorts.

  “You just weren’t using the right tactics. I don’t think bringing her for one was the best idea. She shouldn’t be involved in any of the planning for these sorts of things. She is just a human. She needs to go save her.” He grabbed my arm like I wasn’t even worth giving an option to.

  “Hey! Let go of me,” I said angrily. Who in the world did this guy think he was?

  James reached up and grabbed the man. “No, we’re done. We don’t need Emma and I don’t trust everyone here not to let her out again and cause us more strife.”

  “What you want doesn’t matter. If you had done your job in the first place, this wouldn’t be an issue.”

  Something about the way this man was speaking to James pushed me over some invisible line I had been standing behind. I had been toyed with all semester, come to learn vampires and creatures of the night existed, been beaten, bullied, threatened, and almost killed. I then had to deal with people treating me like I was a child even though clearly this whole mess revolved around me. Why shouldn’t I get a say in anything? I was stronger than they realized. I had stayed alive when I should have died in that cage.

  This man, standing proudly and arrogantly in front of James after what we had all been through, was too much for me to handle at the moment. And if James hadn’t made me save Emma when I was in the room, I sure as hell wasn’t going back now to do it just because some stranger thought it was for the best.

  “Excuse me, sir. I’m not sure who you are, but I’m standing right here and my name is Ariya. You don’t need to speak about me like I can’t hear or understand you. I’m a human, not an idiot, and I have had a long couple of days. I would like to go home, and seeing as James is protecting me, he needs to escort me there. I’m sure whatever this plan critique breakdown is can wait. It’s not like Emma is going anywhere now.” I pushed by him, which was a bit difficult since when I touched him, he didn’t move.

  Man, he was solid as a rock. I wasn’t about to look back, though. If I started walking, James would have to follow. Ha! I thought smiling to myself. Let that sink in, you big bully.

  In an instant, there was a blur, and then he was next to me. It still amazed me how quickly he could move.

  “Well, well. Standing up to my father is certainly not something I get to see someone do every day.”

  I stopped walking. “That was your dad?” My eyes got wide and suddenly I felt horrible.

  James was beaming. “Even though I’m going to be in a load of trouble, that just made everything worth it. Nicely done, Ariya. At least he won’t push you around, if it comes down to it. I’m proud of you!”

  His smile of approval made me feel a little bit better. “Thanks. I’m sorry. I just didn’t like being talked about like that when I’m right there. I feel like you all say human like it’s some horrible thing to be.”

  “You’re right. You have been through a lot. You are strong. He wasn’t trying to offend you, though. I think you’re brave and you can be involved in all the plans you want.” He was appeasing me and, even though it might not be sincere, I didn’t care. It was good enough for me, for now.

  “Plus, I think you just gained his respect, which is also something I know does not happen often. And being human, that’s not something horrible to be. You’re perfect.”

  He kissed my head and we kept walking. He took out his cell phone. He was brief.

  “Clean-up is needed.” He paused. “No, the apartment for now.”

  I looked at him questioningly.

  “I’ll explain at the house.” It was the only answer I got.

  We walked back to the apartment together, but James had locked up on me and was lost in his own thoughts. He seemed to get anxious, checking over at me the closer we got to the apartment. I had no idea what was going on. By the time we got home, he hadn’t said much of anything else.

  Was he mad at himself for killing Emma? When we got back inside the apartment, I thought Caroline and Nick would rush us, but they didn’t even come out to the living room right away.

  “Guys?” I said.

  James put his arm around me, pulling me close, which seemed strange in the moment. Caroline and Nick finally emerged from one of the spare bedrooms. Something wasn’t right.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Come here, Ariya.” James pulled me towards the couch and motioned for me to sit down.

  I sat looking expectantly around the room, wondering what in the world I was missing.

  “Ariya, when I was talking to Emma she said someone’s name that … well I don’t even know how to explain what it did to me. I need more information, but it was critical that no one in that building heard anything else that Emma would say if she was telling the truth.”

  I looked at James, listening, but still wondering what this had to do with me. He took my hand.

  “I would never put you in danger, Ariya. I need you to trust me that this will only be until I get some answers, and then she’ll be gone.”

  “You want me to bring Emma back?” I asked, surprised.

  “I need to finish getting answers so we can find out who is really behind this.”

  “Ariya, it’ll be three
of us against her. It’s going to be fine.” Caroline said smiling at me.

  Hesitantly, I stood up. They kept telling me to trust them and I knew I had to. They were professionals, and if they were on to something, I wasn’t about to stand in the way. I had to admit, the thought of Emma being back after I just felt so good that she was gone, was unsettling.

  “If you need me to do it, I will,” I said, standing.

  We headed into the spare bedroom that Caroline and Nick had emerged from earlier, and I saw Emma tied up, cold, and lifeless in a chair. My stomach twisted. James had his hand in the small of my back. He bit my wrist like he had before and stood close as I leaned over Emma to give her my blood.

  After a few moments, Emma flinched. Before I could even look for another movement, James had me behind him, completely covering me from anything Emma might pull. She was tied up to a chair, so I didn’t think she would get far.

  Emma searched for my eyes first and growled at me. Her fangs elongated immediately. I tried not to let my fear show, but I clutched James’ shirt involuntarily.

  “I can’t believe you staked me,” she purred, finally looking at James. She didn’t even seem upset.

  “I knew Audrey’s name would really mess with your head.”

  My head snapped towards James. His own face had hardened. Who was Audrey?

  “Emma, start talking,” he replied in a no-nonsense way.

  “Why would I do anything to help you and that pathetic waste of space?”

  I had thought that James was the one who had the biggest temper in this situation. I hadn’t expected Caroline to be just as pissed.

  I watched in horror as my best friend stabbed Emma in the side with a wooden stake moments after the insult towards me came out of Emma’s mouth.

  “Caroline!” I exclaimed.

  “Caroline,” James angrily turned to her at the same time. “I won’t make Ariya bring her back a second time. Try to show some control.”

  “She isn’t worth the fight anyway.” Emma continued to taunt them.