Scion's Freedom (Siren Publishing Classic)

by J. Annas Walker

  “Someone ransacked the place. It was weird. Your room was untouched, like they didn’t expect you to have whatever they were looking for. Erica’s room was almost empty. Any idea what they were hunting?”

  “No,” she lied. She reminding herself of Erica’s other instruction not to go to the police. She couldn’t bring herself to make the call Erica wanted, but she could heed the warning until she knew more.

  “Well, just so you know, the upstairs doesn’t have UV-protected windows. My grandparents didn’t have vampires in mind when they restored this place before The Fall. It would be best if you stayed down here until full sunset. The black-out paint on the glass should do the trick,” David warned.

  “Thanks for the tip. I’ll do that.” Cassy smiled. “Mind helping me with the bed? I don’t know how one of these works.” She hitched her thumb to the pullout sofa. They shifted the coffee table out of the way. He tossed the cushions into the floor.

  “Sure. It’s really easy. You just have to give a good…hard…tug,” he grunted. The bed came out in a smooth gliding motion. The mattress was already made up. He reached behind the sofa and pulled out a clear plastic bag protecting a handmade quilt and pillow. “Just don’t eat in bed. This quilt is older than I am.”

  “No problem.” She yawned. “Excuse me! It has been a long night. Are you sure there won’t be any sunlight down here?”

  He gave the windows an appraising look. “No. I think you will be safe enough. I don’t want our star witness bursting into flames and taking out my man-cave at the same time.” He smirked.

  “Will you sit with me until full sunrise? I don’t want to be alone right now.”

  “You’re supposed to be a big, bad vampire. Do you really need a human to sit with you?” The look on his face told her he hoped the answer was no. She could not interpret the reason. Was it anger making him want to turn her away or an inability to deal with her neediness?

  “I’m still a person. Until last night, I had never spent a night alone in my life. Erica was more than my best friend. She was my constant companion and protector. There was never a time I wasn’t looked after.” The words were getting harder to say. “I’m alone in a strange place. I’ve lost the one person I counted on and am being hunted. I’ve hurt you. I understand your ire, but I need someone just to sit by me. I want to feel safe. Just be here until I fall asleep. Please? You don’t have to talk if you don’t want or even look at me. It won’t take long and then you can leave.” Cassy felt like a small child asking for a nightlight. Only the monsters this time were real and lurking in more than the shadows.

  “All right, I’ll do it. But just this once, okay?”

  He went to the switch panel and turned off all the lights except the neon signs. Cassy slid out of her jeans and crawled into bed. She turned facing the wall. David sat down behind her, leaning against the sofa. The length of his legs ran along her back. There was some comfort to be had in his presence. She inhaled deep and closed her eyes.

  “Cassy?”

  “Hmmm?” She did not move.

  “Why have you never been alone but you don’t live with a group? I thought vampires tended to be solitary hunters or members of a kiss.” Curiosity filled his voice.

  “It’s complicated,” she mumbled, “For now, let’s just say the old adage ‘It is better to reign in hell than serve in heaven’ is still true.”

  “Oh. What are you running from? The Fall was thirty years ago. Supers have been public knowledge for the last twenty-five.”

  “That’s complicated, too. Can we talk this evening?”

  “Sure. Good night or day or whatever it is you say.”

  “Happy dreams. She used to always tell me to have happy dreams,” Cassy sighed.

  He did not say anything else. The neon lights made a slight humming. It was so quiet here, not like the city. Exhaustion overtook her, and she drifted off to sleep just as dawn broke.

  When sunset came, she was still lying in the same position but alone. She lay in bed listening. There was no noise from upstairs. No water ran or pan sizzled. No one was talking on the phone. She turned on one of the lamps.

  Sitting up, she reached for her overnight bag. There was no telling what he had thrown in there. The jeans she had on could be reused. Unzipping the bag revealed another pair of jeans, a couple of T-shirts, a button-down long-sleeve shirt, socks, and the hot pink wig. The unspoken reminder glowed. Like the memory, Cassy shoved it to the bottom of the bag.

  A T-shirt came out first. Holding it in her hand, she gave it more consideration. Even though the weather would not bother her, it was cold outside. Humans and supers not able to withstand cold weather liked to see things they think are normal. It had become habit to change with the seasons, even if unnecessary. David was still a human. She pulled out the button-down.

  It was a few hours before she heard the back door open and slam shut. Only one set of familiar footsteps moved to the basement door. Cassy sat on the sofa watching the news. She tried to appear casual, relaxed. He sat down beside her, took the remote, and turned off the TV.

  “It’s time we had a talk,” he said.

  “About which part?” He gave her a look that said he was all business, for the time being.

  “About your roommate. I need you to tell me everything. Was she working on a new story or something old? Do you know who she was meeting? Did she have a lover or an ex? Who were her enemies? Tell me anything and everything.” He sat a miniature digital recorder down on the coffee table she had pulled back into place.

  Cassy recounted everything from waking up to an unplugged alarm clock to the previous night’s events. Those things were not secret. She left out finding the thumb drive in her makeup bag and Erica’s note. He shook his head.

  “There has to be more to it than that. What about earlier events?”

  “I don’t know if I can,” she replied.

  “Try to remember any other details,” he soothed.

  “You don’t understand. I don’t know who to trust.”

  “What do you mean? You don’t think you can trust me? That’s rich, coming from you!” Anger colored his tone. A furrow creased his brow as his face tightened with stress. “I brought you, a vampire, into my home, and you don’t trust me.”

  “It’s not just you. I want to, really. But she left me this note,” Cassy said, pulling it out of her pocket. She handed it to David. His eyes scanned it twice.

  “Who is your father?” His tone was flat. It was clear he had some experience with nepotism and cronyism. Corruption was rampant when the economy collapsed. With money not having any real value, survival became about who one was related to or knew. Few had the skills or resources necessary to survive alone. During the early years post-Fall, even the supernatural perished when they were found out or died along with so many from need.

  “I’m not going to talk about him. I want to know why she didn’t think I could trust the police,” Cassy demanded. “You said it yourself. Only you and your captain know I’m here. Why? What’s the big secret? Cops are a tight-knit group as thick as thieves, unless they have good reason not to be.”

  He sat staring at her. Stubborn silence filled the room. It was clear. He was not going to answer her. Her response was to sit back, crossing her legs. She folded her arms over her chest and worked on keeping her face smooth and expressionless. He stayed stonewalled.

  “Fine,” Cassy said in her best even tone, “don’t tell me. I have an eternity to wait. Do you?”

  Chapter 6

  After a solid half hour passed, they were still staring at each other. Cassy had not moved. David had begun to shift slightly in his seat. Humans could not be as stock-still as vampires. The statuesque pose was wearing on his nerves.

  He broke. “I am a part of a new unit. We specialize in the supernatural. There isn’t a real hierarchy yet as to whom we answer, but so far, we work independently out of local precincts, usually in big cities. Over the last year, a number of supers have gone mi
ssing or been found dead. They were all over the country. There seemed to be randomness to it. Different ages, genders, and species were targets. There were even different MOs. It was hard to link together, at first. They were all politicians, economists, bankers, or journalists. The only thing they had in common was The Fall. Some were outspoken prior to its occurrence. Others predicted it but were hushed up in some way. They were all passing as humans at the time. Crime wasn’t limited to the individuals. Whole families have disappeared or been murdered. Then, six months ago, humans with ties to these victims started being targeted. You have been the sole survivor. That makes you very valuable real estate.” He stopped and waited.

  “Why can’t I trust the police?”

  “Most of the details aren’t on the news, and the links have been hidden. It means we have insiders, moles. The information doesn’t just get leaked. It flows like a river. No one person is responsible for this much. It takes a team or group. Maybe even an organization. Whoever this is stays ahead of us and has a lot of resources. Now, I need you to help me. Tell me what you know,” he demanded. After a moment, he changed his tone. “I can’t help you, or Erica, if you don’t.”

  Cassy gave him an appraising eye. His reactions were right. There was no sudden adrenaline rush she could pick up on and no unusual muscle movements. He didn’t even blink more than he should have. She was sure he was telling her the truth. Instinct told her to trust him. She held eye contact and started talking.

  “Halloween Eve Erica came home with a package containing a disk and a thumb drive. She said IT scanned the disk but not the drive for viruses. The disk held documents and photos. She didn’t tell me what they were. A sticky note attached to the disk cover told her to go to an abandoned burned-out shell. She took her camera guy and found a box of documents in the doorway. She brought them home, too. For nearly three weeks, she pored over them every waking minute. The night before she…” Cassy could not bring herself to say the word.

  “It’s okay. Take your time,” David reassured. He patted her hand. She found it comforting.

  “The night before…you know…she must have found something big. She told me the documents were related to a story she did prior to The Fall her then-editor didn’t want published. She told me The Fall had been orchestrated by both humans and supers. Someone wanted to reorder society.”

  “Did she say who?”

  “No. It was almost sunrise. She wished me happy dreams and went to bed. I woke up late. She had unplugged my clock. The rest you know or were there.” Cassy looked down at her lap.

  “None of the other victims were vampires. Erica was the first. We assumed it was because most vampires live in a kiss or coven of some form. They’re not as easy to make into targets. Can you tell me why you two were alone?” David was mining for information. Cassy could not tell if it was for work or personal.

  “I’m not going to talk about that now,” she snapped. There was no need to tack on “And that’s final!” The firm deliverance said it all.

  “Okay. It’s personal. I get it.” He put his hands up in front of him palms out. It reminded Cassy of the night they met. He did the same thing in Trysts. She let a small giggle and let a smile escape.

  “What is so funny?” He dropped his hands.

  “You seem to do that thing with your hands when you’re trying to back off.” She laughed.

  “Sorry. I didn’t know it was that humorous.” He sulked. She had bruised his ego.

  “Yes…I mean…No…I mean it is the first thing I’ve seen you do that’s unique to you. You don’t talk with your hands like some. But you have a hand signal for backing off. It’s cute.”

  “You mean the bar. You remember me doing this in the bar.” He shook his head and grimaced. He reached over and turned off the recorder. “Can I ask you about that night?”

  She thought for a minute before giving him an answer. “I suppose so. Can I ask you what you were doing there? You don’t seem the type to be a bite junkie.” David Ashe seemed like the sort of guy every dad in the country hoped his daughter would meet. Being in a vampire bar on Halloween night would be out of character.

  “I’m not. I was working surveillance. My shift ended at eleven. I thought, since I was already there and in costume, I would see what all the hype was about. It was my first time.” He shrugged.

  Cassy was speechless. She had not fed from a healthy, living person in many years, much less tapped a vein virgin. Maybe he meant more. The horror at what she had done subsided enough to speak. “Your first time doing what? You didn’t come on like it was your first time.”

  “Oh, no! I’ve been with women before, just not a vampire. I wasn’t sure you were one at first. Your eyes aren’t quite the right color, but I wanted to try,” he admitted. Cassy gave a sigh of relief. “I thought maybe it was the lights making them seem more silver than gray. Those orange parking deck lights didn’t help. And I was disoriented by then anyway.”

  Cassy exclaimed, “Thank the stars! You had me worried for a minute. I thought…Don’t get me wrong. It’s still bad. Why didn’t you say? I could have been much gentler. I feel like a real heel.”

  “You thought I was a real virgin? No, sorry. I wanted a real experience, not one of those manufactured moments you buy. I wanted you to be you, and you were. I didn’t know you would take it from me,” he stated without inflection.

  “I didn’t know I was taking something special. I lost control. Sex and bloodlust are so close together, it can be hard to separate one from another. I meant to seduce you but not feed on you. I wasn’t raised that way. I took the memory, and I’m sorry. What I really took was your free-willed choice. That was inexcusable,” she apologized.

  “You said you could give it back. How? I was taught that once a memory was gone, it was gone forever.” He seemed sad. Cassy’s heart gave a little squeeze. She wasn’t ready for him to know everything about her, but maybe she could give him just enough to ease his pain.

  “I wasn’t created a vampire. I was born one. The eyes are the giveaway. We have silvery gray instead of the darker steel. I’m not surprised you haven’t seen one of us. It’s rare, but it does happen. There are very few families left. Most are created and belong to one of the magical lineages. Made vampires have everything we have with a few exceptions,” she explained.

  “Like what?” David’s professional curiosity was piqued. His eyes brightened at the prospect of new information. It made him over eager.

  “Like I can command and compel a made vampire, but they can’t do those things to me. I can dream. They start burning in the sun immediately. I have more time. I can suppress your memory instead of taking it away. It gives me the option of letting you have it back. Once one of them takes it, it really is gone.”

  A look of resolve filled his eyes. “Would you give it back to me? It drives me crazy to think I have been with you and don’t remember it.” He took her hands in his. “Please?”

  “If I do, you will relive the experience as if it were happening for the first time. You may do things, say things you regret. There is nothing I can say to prepare you and nothing I can do to make it easier. Do you understand?” There were consequences for what he had asked.

  “What do you mean do things?” Unease filled his face. Unknown factors unsettled him in her opinion.

  “We had sex, raw lustful sex. You may need an outlet for that much energy. Are you willing to risk needing to have sex again? Or suffering with the need because you don’t want me now?” It was a lot for him to think about. She wanted to give him all the time he needed. He looked lost in thought for a few minutes, nodded, and was ready to answer.

  “Yes. I don’t know what it is, but something about you speaks to me. It pulled me in the first time I saw you. Will we have time tonight?” He looked at a neon clock beer sign over the pool table. It was a few minutes after midnight.

  “I believe so. Find a comfortable position and relax.” David lay back on the sofa and closed his eyes. Cassy sa
t astride him, leaning in until their noses almost touched. “No, I need to look into your eyes. Don’t close them until the memory starts.” He opened them wide with nervous anticipation. “This shouldn’t hurt. You may find it easier to concentrate if you close them in a minute.”

  “Okay,” he whispered, “I’m ready.”

  She stared into his dark liquid-brown eyes. For a moment the rest of his face melted away, leaving her alone in those deep pools. She felt the block she had used and tugged at it with her will. It recognized her and spooled loose, freeing the memory it held captive.

  He gasped, squeezing his eyes shut. The deep inhale turned into heavy panting. She knew he was getting a flood of information and sat up. Between her legs, she could feel his dick growing, straining the denim. His hands fumbled at the button. Cassy moved the flexing fingers away and undid his jeans. He was remembering fingering her. Her pussy contracted as she watched him. She, too, remembered being finger-fucked. With almost no effort, she freed him. The throaty, deep humming noises mimicked the ones he had made against her breasts. He was lost in his own mind. He reached down, gripping the base of his shaft, offering it up for a second time. Her nipples reacted to the sounds. They ached to be sucked. Heat began rising in her groin. She wanted to accept his offering. A quick image of sliding down his hard cock and riding him came to mind. Lapping the clear, dripping pre-cum would have been satisfying. In control of herself, as she was now, she wanted to swirl her tongue around the smooth head, to feel the veins against her lips when she slid her mouth over his thick shaft, and nuzzle her nose into the soft curly hair at the base as she took his cock down her throat. There would be little danger of nicking him with her fangs. The thought of sucking both of his soft balls into her mouth one at a time made her pussy flood with heat. She took a deep breath and held it. She could not, would not, not like this.