“What about me?” I take a seat on the couch, suddenly exhausted.
“How are you, Ariella? We haven’t really got to talk about what happened while you were with Marco. I can tell that it bothers you…a lot.”
Do we have to do this now? “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. You’re pretending you’re fine but I know you’re not. You killed people, you’re far from fine,” he encourages me to talk about it. I don’t think I’m ready yet. “You’re not the same girl who I met in Denver. You’re not as innocent but you’re softer. Tell me, how does going what you went through, make you softer, Ariella?”
That’s easy. “I’d never had to feel any emotion before because my father always taught me to hold it all in. Jacob was right when he told me that keeping it in only makes things worse. I choose to feel now, instead of push everything away. At least when it’s appropriate to do so,” I explain. Obviously there are times, like when in immediate danger, where I would follow what my father taught me.
D nods slowly. “I’ve always agreed with Jacob on that much, Theenis is a hardass.”
Chapter 5
“Daymon? Ariella? Is that you? Where the hell are we?” I recognize the voice immediately and almost scream with excitement.
“Dad!” I cry and rush across the room and into his arms. Jacob stands beside him, looking as if he’s ready to attack someone at any moment.
“I’m so glad to see you’re okay, Ariella,” my father mumbles into my cheek and then releases me from the hug. “There is so much explaining that needs done right now that I don’t even know where to god damn start.”
“You’re telling me! How did you get here?” I jump excitedly and run into Jacob’s arms.
“Well…a lady named Corra showed up and said she would take us to you. She said you were fine and then suddenly we are here in this house.” Dad looks around the home and his eyes seem to land on D who is seemingly trying not to make eye contact with him. That’s when I remember the other drama that’s going on.
Before I have the chance to begin explaining anything, my father is across the room in an instant, slamming D up against a wall, knocking artwork to the floor. Glass breaks as a yellow vase falls from a huge mahogany shelf and hits the floor. My father’s hands wrap around D’s neck and I wince as D makes a pained grunt.
“You have some explaining to do!” he shouts into D’s face.
D seems to wince and although I know that D could easily break away from my father’s grasp using his power, he doesn’t. Is he showing him that he doesn’t want to fight? I sure hope so because I don’t know what I would do if my father and my boyfriend-is it okay to call him that?-got in a fight.
“Dad, stop!” I cry angrily. “Let him down!”
Jacob grabs my wrist and holds me back from running towards them. “Stay out of it, Ariella.”
“No!” I yell at him and try pulling away. “Just hear him out, dad! Please!”
My father’s fist collides with D’s face and blood runs from D’s nose. I feel a tear run down my cheek. Why isn’t he defending himself? Another fist into his face, and then another.
“You piece of shit!” my father cries out again and sends another fist into D’s face.
Finally, after what seems like ever, D uses his power to block my father’s punches from hitting him. D heals himself and removes himself from my father’s grip. I’ve never seen my father so angry in my life. I’ve never seen him act solely on an emotion like that before. He’s always told me that doing so made us weak.
“I deserved that,” D admits and runs his hand through his hair like he always does when he’s nervous.
“I should kill you!” my father threatens. “What’s keeping me from doing it I’m not even sure!”
“I am in the wrong. I know that. Even after I explain everything to you, I’ll still be in the wrong. Your daughter has found it in her heart to forgive me only knowing me for months, I just ask that you hear me out before you make your decision,” D begs and wipes blood from his face with his hands and then wipes his hands on his pants. Ew, can’t he just magically make it go away?
After a few minutes of glaring at each other, D begins explaining everything to my dad, from the very beginning to where we are now.
Chapter 6
When D finishes speaking, he removes whatever spell he’s cast on Jacob and my father to make them not interrupt and my father surprisingly doesn’t start asking questions or punching him in the face. I am thankful for this. My father sighs deeply and Jacob seems to follow my father’s lead. Jacob stays quiet and keeps his eyes on me. I wonder why but don’t say anything, it’s not the time.
In D’s very long speech, I notice that he’s left out the parts where he is a little more than my body guard and trainer. I’m thankful for this because I really don’t think that my dad would handle that well at all-his best friend dating his daughter? No. That just sounds wrong on so many levels.
“Daymon, I want to thank you for taking care of Ariella and not hurting her, but I want you to leave us alone from now on. I can’t have a monster around my daughter. I’m not going to try to kill you because at one time you were my friend but I’m also not going to pretend this is okay when it’s so clearly not,” my father answers finally and my heart falls to my stomach.
D gives me an apologetic look and a smile that I’m sure is supposed to be reassuring but it only causes my heart to ache. He won’t really leave will he? My father won’t really make him leave, will he? What would I do without my best friend? Without my boyfriend? It seems strange calling him that but is that really what it is? We haven’t really had the talk yet.
“As for everything else, I guess we will take it as it comes. I’m interested to hear your mother’s share of this story and I am very interested in meeting my son,” my father says while deep in thought.
“You can’t make him go!” I cry to my father and look to Jacob to see if he has something to say about this but he only keeps a look of pure blankness.
“Ariella, he’s leaving. That is that. He is a vampire, honey. You can’t possibly trust him or be safe around him. Even if he can’t kill you he can hurt you and I’m not about to let that happen. I know you don’t understand, you can’t because you haven’t seen their kind like I have,” my father insists and I want scream. I feel a bit like a bratty child but I mean, I know that D is a good person vampire or not.
“He hasn’t hurt me yet!” I lie, remembering last night in the motel.
“Which is just a coincidence! They have no control! You’re lucky he hasn’t hurt you!” my father argues.
D looks to me and I know exactly what he’s thinking without having to be a mind reader. Guilt. He too is thinking about last night. He is thinking about how he’s kissed his best friend’s daughter. He is thinking about every decision he’s made the last year and wondering whether he made that decision out of the best interest of others or himself. He is contemplating whether my father is right and he is a monster. I know he is doing this because I know his that well. I see it in his eyes.
“If he’s leaving, I’m going with him!” I decide. D looks surprised by this but stays quiet.
“Absolutely not, Ariella. Say your goodbyes, he’s leaving, you’re staying, there’s no debating this. It is what it is,” my father says sternly and pounds his clenched fist into the table, causing it to shake violently.
“I am an adult, dad! I can make my own decisions! I’m going with him!”
“You would choose a monster who you only just met a year ago over your own family?” he scolds, meaning to hurt me.
“He’s been around a lot more than you two have in the last year. In fact, I’ve hardly seen you guys! He is family to me!” I rebuttal.
This seems to only set my father off more and he glares at D. D nods to me in goodbye and smiles slightly. “Thank you for letting me go, Theenis, Jacob. Don’t worry about me, Ariella, I’ll be fine, you stay out of trouble. See you around.” Then
he’s gone, and I burst out in tears knowing that ever if I left this place there is no way I’d ever be able to find him. He could literally be anywhere in the world right now and I have no way of contacting him.
Rage fills every part of me and I feel the familiar creeping of the darkness within me drawing to the surface. I try pushing it down but it just comes back up. I feel my fingers prickle with the power I haven’t felt since leaving Marco’s headquarters. I’ve missed it. I’ve missed my strength. The lights in the house flicker and Jacob looks to my father probably thinking that he’s the one who’s about to cause a scene.
“Ariella?” my father asks skeptically. “Calm down before you wreck something in your mother’s beautiful home.”
“You didn’t seem to mind when you knocked those painting off the wall. Also, the drywall is imprinted with D’s body, oh, and you destroyed that vase!” I cry loudly. Jacob’s eyes widen, and he takes a few steps away from me.
“Ariella, calm down. The darkness is winning. You’re letting it win,” Jacob warns but I barely hear him.
This power which is usually untouchable to me begins to seep out of me as it overwhelms me and I accidentally send a blast of power into the room. The walls shake and I scream in complete anger. Talk about needing anger management.
“Ariella!” a light voice chimes and I look to my side to see Corra. “Enough.”
I don’t know what it is in her voice but I automatically come back to myself. The anger is still there, but it’s not overwhelming any longer.
“Theenis, this daughter of yours needs more control. She is going to end up hurting someone,” Corra continues. “I wish we had a way to suck the darkness out of the halflings without making them go crazy. Even if it didn’t though it turns those who have the procedure done into zombies of sorts. How long has she been having these tantrums for?”
“First one I’ve seen,” Jacob notes.
Corra walks up to me and places her hand to my cheek. “You are much like Tyler. You struggle to remain light. I think it would do you good to speak to him, he seems to have nearly mastered his control now. You must learn to master yours before your Tario power kicks in, child. That or you will end up like my Marco, only stronger. What is your trigger?” she asks me and removes her hand from my face.
“My what?” I ask and feel the anger beginning to swell again seemingly for no reason.
“You must have a trigger that brings you back. Something you focus on. What brought you back last time? Clearly not either of these two as you’re about to go at their throats. So what is it, child, that you value more than family?” she whispers in my ear as if she wishes my brother and father not hear.
“I don’t know,” I lie. I know it’s D. It has to be.
“Your aura betrays you. I see that you are in love. Is it the vampire boy? Is that why you are reluctant to tell me? Tell me, girl, your father and your brother do not have to know all the details.”
“Y-yes,” I whisper back. Am I really in love? Am I in love with D? I remember what Layli told us in Tarot. She told us that we were soulmates, but do I believe in soulmates? I’m not sure.
“Theenis, you have banished the only thing on this planet that can keep the darkness away in your daughter. It’s usually someone trusted, a family member or someone very important to them, maybe a best friend or someone they look up to. In your daughter’s case it is the vampire boy who she needs. You will lose your daughter to the darkness if you do not fetch him. I can only suppress the darkness so long. Hurry now,” she instructs my father. She looks him up and down and then nods to him as if to tell him to get looking for D.
“Daymon is the one she trusts the most? He is her trigger? Are you sure?” my father demands of Corra. She looks at him as if he’s slow and then nods.
“I did say hurry,” Corra says sternly.
My father makes a grunting sound. “I guess I haven’t been around much these days,” he mutters seeming almost hurt before he disappears with Jacob in tow.
The darkness swells in me again and I clench my teeth. Corra hums a tune and I immediately recognize it. It’s the tune that my mother used to hum to me when I was little.
“What is that?” I ask her curiously.
“Just a tune that I picked up from my mother. An ancient rhythm we sing to our young to help them suppress their darkness. It is magical,” she explains.
The tingling feeling in my hands begins to worsen again I feel the effect of whatever it was that Corra did to me to make me calm down begin to disappear. I begin getting angry again. Rage filling every part of me as the tendrils of what I fear most creep back into my mind. My adrenalin pumps through my veins as if I’m in some sort of danger and my head throbs as I try my hardest to hold in the power which desperately wants to escape.
Without even thinking, I kick Corra in the shin and she glares at me. Then I lunge at her. Why is she trying to take away my power? I feel the last lick of light within me become extinguished just as my father and Jacob return with D.
D looks exhausted as if he’s been running. His eyes are worn and tired and I wonder where he’s been. My father pushes him towards me.
“If this doesn’t work, she could kill you, are you sure you want to do this?” Corra asks D.
He doesn’t answer her, he pushes past her and comes straight at me. Now he wants to take away my power? I instantly attack and send a wave of power towards him. This knocks him back into a wall but he springs back up as if it doesn’t even hurt.
“Ariella, would you please calm down?” he says raising his hands as if in surrender. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“She’s going to kill him. He has no idea what he’s doing. The idiot is going to get himself killed,” my dad whispers to Jacob.
D takes another step closer to me and I send a heap of power straight into his chest.
Ariella, it’s me. Come back, sweetheart. I’m back. D’s voice fills my mind and I shake it off. Him and his stupid magic tricks.
I bring fireballs to my hands and begin hurling them at him. He stops each of them and then laughs.
I lunge at him while I wait to gain enough strength to send a huge wave of power at him. One that will hopefully kill him.
You’re kind of hot when you’re angry. D says in my mind and I scream.
“What the hell is he doing? He needs to get out of here, it’s not working,” Jacob says and I wonder if that’s worry in his voice. “Apparently you shouldn’t have made him leave. You set off world war three, father.”
“She’s not normally one to have such a finicky temper,” dad answers.
I collide with D and send him back a couple feet.
“You know you’re no match for me this way,” D snickers and throws me to the ground.
Just can’t keep your hands off of me, can you? He’s in my head again. He removes his shirt and throws it to the side. Is that better?
His smile falters when I come at him again showing no signs of recovery. Instead of tossing me to the ground this time he uses his vampire speed and strength and pulls me around a corner, slamming me into a wall, shattering the drywall. His lips catch my ear and he sucks on it lightly and then boldly, in a rough, sexy voice whispers, “You have no idea how hot you are when you’re all badass like this, Ariella. I want to take you right here, right now.”
I hear my father calling angrily at D from the other room, something about D hurting me and how he’s going to kill him.
Something inside of me flickers, a very small piece of light. He sees this and acts on it by then almost too quietly whispering, “I love you, Ariella, come back to me.”
Another flicker, this time bigger.
I see my father come into this room, Jacob and Corra behind him. My father’s face full of anger.
“I don’t want to have to kiss you in front of your father. I’m not ready to lose my life so please come back,” he whispers tensely and I suddenly remember what is going on. I’m not supposed to be fighting D. I’m n
ot supposed to be fighting for my power. I’m supposed to be fighting for my light.
He pulls away from me, releasing me from his grip and stares me right in the eyes. He winks at me playfully and I can’t help laughing.
“Ariella?” my father says while approaching us from across the large room.
“Looks like I’ll be staying,” D says to my father, not meaning to sound rude but my father looks like he’s about to kill him. D takes in his anger and adds, “Well, someone needs to control her and that person is obviously not you or him.” He says it jokingly while nodding to Jacob, but I see the anger build in my father and he clenches his fists. D’s smile fades completely, and he looks to me almost alarmed. “Ariella, you’re bleeding.”
I see the familiar red tinge enter his eyes. I look down to where I feel the most pain. My shin, it’s bleeding. A lot.
“Get away from her!” my father shouts at D when he sees the blood and comes at him.
D uses his power to hold my father and Jacob back. Corra stands watching from afar. D closes his eyes for a mere moment as if he’s trying to focus, and when he opens them there’s no trace of the crimson color in them. Suddenly his t-shirt is in his hand and he’s ripping it into shreds. He pulls up my pant leg and uses the strips to wrap around it.
My father and Jacob seem to stare at him with fear, curiosity, and surprise. Corra looks unsurprised and maybe even bored.
Then D places his hands over the large slice in my leg and a heat enters my leg. After a few seconds the pain is gone. Then after a few more seconds he removes the make-shift bandage to reveal my leg good as new. That was far better than the blood drinking I had to endure last go around.
I wonder why he wrapped it in a bandage first if he was just going to heal it anyway. Maybe so he didn’t have to look at or touch my blood?
Then my dad is released from his position and rushes towards me.
“Theenis, I would never hurt your daughter. I will protect her with my life whether I’m part vampire. Not just because she is my best friend’s daughter but because I have grown to care about her these last few months. We’ve spent a lot of time together and I feel that it’s my responsibility to keep her safe. I could never hurt her,” D explains and then moves out of my father’s way so he can speak to me.
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