Havenfall Harbor: Book One

by Albany Walker

  I make my way over to a little fridge that has premade sandwiches and subs and make a selection. Evan grabs something for himself and we find a table near the wall. Honestly, I’m not that hungry, but I need to eat, so I pull back the cellophane and pick a chunk of bread off the sandwich.

  “Tell me what happened with Griff.” Evan slides a bottle of water across the table to me.

  “Nothing, I just don’t want to be a bother.” I’m not going to talk behind his back. The reality is I was emotional, and his words hurt me way more than I should have let them.

  “Seems like it was more than nothing.” Evan keeps his eyes on me, and I have the urge to squirm under his gaze.

  “No, really, I appreciate what he did for me last night, but I need a long-term solution. Plus, he’s already been assigned to watch me. It’s not like he needs to babysit me twenty-four seven.”

  “Watch you? What do you mean?” Evan is already halfway done with one of his subs. Man, he can eat.

  I give Evan a look that says, come on, I know you know what I’m talking about, to which Evan just continues to stare at me. “The stopping by my office all the time to check up on me, my room?” I tilt my head. “I figured you or the director assigned him to keep an eye on me. Which is fine, I’m new. I get it,” I admit casually. I’m truly only bothered by it when it impedes me doing my job.

  “The director…Griff?” Evan’s brows are pinched low over his eyes. “You think he assigned himself to watch you? Wait, and just so you know, I didn’t assign anyone to watch you. Much less Griffin.”

  I lick my lips, thinking of the way he phrased it. “Assigned himself?” I get a strange feeling in my belly, like the few bites I’ve eaten of turkey and bread are turning to lead in my stomach.

  “Yeah, if he wanted someone to watch you, he would have asked me to take care of it, and he didn’t.”

  “You said assigned himself.” I lean over the table, my voice just above a whisper.

  “Well, yeah, you said the director assigned him, but Griff is the director.” Evan searches my face. “You didn’t know?”

  “Oh that…” I stop myself from calling him an asshole by rolling my lips together.

  “You really didn’t know? But…how could you not?” Evan is peering at me sideways.

  Through clenched teeth, I grit out, “Because he never told me. He introduced himself as Griffin. Not the director or Mr. Stone.” I think back to the times I mentioned speaking with the director and how he always implied that the director knew exactly what was going on. “Son of a biscuit.”

  “You had a meeting with him your first day.” Evan sounds like he’s trying to convince me that I actually knew this and somehow forgot.

  I cross my arms over my chest. “A meeting that he canceled, well, he had his secretary cancel. Every time I tried to reschedule, she told me, ‘Headmaster Stone is not accepting appointments with you.’” I shake my head and close my eyes slowly.

  “He probably didn’t realize you didn’t know.” Evan sounds like he’s full of crap.

  “Believe me, he knew exactly what he was doing,” I deadpan. Evan falls quiet. “I knew he was moody, but I didn’t realize he was a child too.” I snap my mouth closed, determined not to say another word, especially to his friend. I’m the newcomer here. I’m not going to ruin any chance I have at friendship with anyone else because Griffin likes to play games.

  “Sorry, it’s been a long day already. Can you help me get another room, maybe on another floor?” I really don’t relish the thought of running into Griffin every time I go in or out of my room.

  Evan gives me a small wince. “I’ll see what we have, but I don’t think it’s much. That room was only available because a couple moved in together.”

  Perfect, of course there isn’t another room. “Well, I need to do something about the door. Griffin…” I grind my teeth. “Director Stone broke the knob last night.”

  “I’ll take care of the door, Quinn, get a better lock put on too,” Evan offers quickly.

  “Thanks,” I mutter solemnly.

  “Absolutely, Quinn, anything you need.” I hear his words, but I don’t take them to heart, not after what I just learned.

  “Thanks for taking time out of your day for this. I better get back.” I push out my chair and grab my mostly uneaten breakfast, lunch, to toss. I feel slightly guilty that I wasted it, but I can’t stomach it, not now.

  Evan rises like he might come with me, but I wave him away and hustle from the room. I need some time to think.

  Sitting at my desk hours later, I’m still thinking about Griffin and his purposeful omissions. One memory brings a smile to my lips, the one when I kneed the moody jerk in the balls.

  Evan

  “Absolutely, Quinn, anything you need.” I can tell she’s not really listening to me. The usual pink flush to her cheeks is washed away, while darkness lingers under her eyes. She’s tired, and it’s not just the lack of sleep weighing on her.

  I can’t believe Griff didn’t tell her who he was—well, I can actually. Being one of the most powerful vampires in the world comes with a lot of responsibilities and expectations. I think Quinn herself has more to do with him not telling her than any of that though.

  With quick movements she crumples up her food and excuses herself. I want to follow her, to offer an explanation for my friend, if only to make her feel better, but I don’t. The moment she’s out the door, I have my phone at my ear. “Where are you?”

  “Room, what now?” Griff’s words are terse.

  “Let’s just say your little secret is out of the bag, Director.” I nod my head at the security officer seated at the desk to the staff wing, telling him to open the door.

  I’m faster than the lock though, so I end up waiting for a brief second. I glare over my shoulder, and the guy’s shoulders come up near his ears at my glare.

  “Fuck, you told her?” Griff accuses.

  “Not intentionally, you shithead. Why didn’t you? Just forget it, I’ll be up there in a minute. I have to replace her lock anyway.” I hit the end button before Griff has a chance to respond. I’m only so pissed because I know Quinn is pissed. Sure, it was wrong of Griff, but if she was anyone else, I wouldn’t give a shit.

  “What did she say?” Griff is waiting for me at the top of the stairs.

  “I don’t know, man, she was upset.” I cross my arms over my chest. “She seemed kind of pissed at you before that came out. What’d you do?”

  Griff looks away. It’s not like him, so I know immediately that I’m right. He did do something.

  “Griff, man, seriously. What the fuck is going on with you?” I toss my hands up, but keep my voice low.

  My best friend looks at me and wets his lips. “She’s making me crazy. She’s all I can think about, but then…then I think about before and—”

  I cut him off before he can continue. “That was a long time ago, Griff.”

  His light eyes slash toward me. “You think I don’t know that?”

  “She made you feed on only her blood to have control over you.” I say the words I’ve thought about saying for over a lifetime. Griffin’s nostrils flare and he lowers his head.

  “That bullshit she filled your head with about humans is just that, bullshit. Have you ever even come close to killing someone unintentionally?” My tone is harsher than I want it to be, but I’m still pissed at him for Quinn’s sake. Griff looks down, his brow furrowed as his eyes glaze over.

  “Eva killing Iris wasn’t an accident. She wanted you for herself, not because she was lost to bloodlust.” His head lifts slowly and his eyes are two pinpricks of light lasered on me.

  “Fuck you! You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Griffin snaps.

  “But I do, and you know it. Don’t try to lie to me the way you lie to yourself. You knew what Eva was for a long time. I know you hate yourself for allowing it to happen, but it wasn’t your fault.”

  “Shut up!” Griff is right in front of me
before I can blink, his fist curled around my shirt, pulling me closer to his face.

  I don’t fight the hold, he’s my best friend. I would wade through a mountain of wolfsbane for him, and I know he would do anything for me in return. I also know my words make him face a truth he doesn’t want to acknowledge.

  “Quinn isn’t Eva or Iris,” I breathe.

  Griff releases me with a slight shove as he scrambles to get away from me. That’s how I know I’m speaking the truth.

  “I don’t know what’s happening between the three of us, but don’t…” I stop when I hear the elevator door chime with its arrival. Most of the staff is still in classes or training. Quinn’s natural scent hits me like a wave, she smells like fresh peaches, but the sour smell of her unease soon follows.

  Her steps falter when she sees me. “Hey,” she murmurs, her voice soft.

  “Hey, I was just going to check out the door locks.” I turn to wave at her door, finding the hallway empty. Not surprisingly, Griffin has vanished.

  “Oh, okay. Anything I can help with? All my appointments were canceled for the day apparently.”

  “How about we check it out together? See what we can do about upping the security around here,” I offer.

  Quinn ducks her head a little and nods. “That sounds good. Thanks, Evan.”

  Griffin

  The door snaps closed with a barely audible snick. I’m a coward. I can’t face her, not yet. But I don’t move away from the door either. I’m a glutton for punishment. I can hear Evan talking with Quinn in the hall. Any of the aggravation he felt toward me has vanished with her arrival.

  I admire him for that. I know by his reaction at the pack that he’s dealing with his own demons, but he doesn’t lash out the way I do. I drop my forehead to the door with a thud. I’m tempted to bang it a few more times, but I don’t because I don’t want to draw their attention.

  Evan is good for her, will be good to her. I’m not even sure if I’m capable of not being an asshole. There are moments, moments when I’m with Quinn, where I feel almost normal. When the unnatural feeling of a smile curling my lips happens without thought or pretense. It’s been so long since I’ve even allowed myself to think I could be or have more than the way I’ve been surviving.

  Evan’s right, I do blame myself for what happened to Iris. I’m not sure I ever fully dealt with what Eva did to her and what happened after. I wanted so badly to believe it was an accident. I believed what Eva told me because I wanted to believe it.

  Blaming myself has always been the easy part. No matter if it was Eva who drained Iris or not, it was my fault for having her there, for allowing a human into my life.

  I close my eyes and think back. It’s hard to even remember Iris’s face. Over the years the details have faded, leaving me with nothing but the memory of what I thought we had.

  I do remember the day I realized she’d changed from the scrawny girl I played with as a child into a beautiful young woman. I was young myself, not yet a blooded vampire. Everything about Iris was different and appealing to me back then. Her long, dark hair was wild, as was the trust in her dark eyes. Her gaze spoke of an innocence I couldn’t find in my life.

  Iris didn’t look at me the same way others of my species did, her gaze was for me, not who I was and what I could do for her. She knew my family was powerful, but because she was human, she didn’t understand what that meant in my world.

  Her mother and father worked for my family. Back then it was just as hard to trust humans, but there was always a chosen few who knew about us, helped us obtain blood. There weren’t the storage options available back then like there is now. Hell, a vampire could go an eternity now without ever drinking from the vein if they so choose. It doesn’t happen though, drinking and fucking go hand and hand for most of us, but it could. I would know.

  I can’t even remember the last time I drank from the vein. Eva’s amber eyes are all that comes to mind with that particular thought. Her gazing down at me, lips parted as she gave freely from her vein to help me through the blooding.

  It’s not an easy time for a vampire, but we know when the transition is close and make arrangements to have another powerful vampire there to ease the new thirst. It can be dangerous, deadly, even if precautions are taken.

  Thankfully, we now have ways to help with the blooding that allows me to just donate blood much the same way a human or shifter would to assist easing the newly transitioning.

  My family called on Eva as my time drew near. Her family, like mine, was powerful. I think they hoped Eva’s beauty and the blood bond would make me forget about Iris, but they were wrong. I still wanted my human lover, and that was what drove Eva to kill her. Quinn’s soft voice pulls me from the thoughts of my past. “The knob is still broken.”

  “That’s an easy fix, but we don’t want you coming home to any more surprises, so we need to find something better, something you can lock from the inside and outside.” Evan’s deep tone carries easily.

  She could, should, stay here with me. Then she wouldn’t have to worry about it, but I fucked that up. I want to know why someone is trying to scare her, and what else they’re willing to do. Thoughts of Iris fill my head again. Could this somehow be my fault? I shake away the guilt, this isn’t the same. No one other than Evan even knows I’m interested in Quinn. But that’s not true, is it? Noah knows because I was foolish. These issues started before I staked my claim on Quinn though.

  This is about her being human, it has to be. Someone is trying to scare her with the more brutal aspects of the supernatural lifestyle, but their methods are almost childish.

  Quinn

  Evan twists the doorknob freely in his hand. “Tech isn’t really my specialty, but we might be able to get the keyless entry up here.”

  “I really don’t want you to go to any trouble. I was thinking a deadbolt with a fresh set of keys.”

  “That won’t help if someone is picking the lock.” Evan meets my eyes. “The keycard has a digital record, logs when the door is opened and the card that opened it.”

  I bite the corner of my lip, thinking it over. I hate to be a bother, but that does seem more secure, and might help me feel safer since I can’t get into another room. “It’s not too much trouble?” I half wince.

  “No, might take a day or two though. Like I said, tech isn’t my thing. I need to make sure we have the right equipment and find the right person to do the installation.” My face falls at Evan’s words, not that I really expected there to be an immediate solution, but a couple of days?

  “What should I do until then?” I rub my hands on my jeans.

  “You can use my place. I can—I can stay with Evan.” Griffin’s voice startles me and I spin. I didn’t even hear him approach. He’s leaning against the wall near his room. My eyes eat him up, even as I get a sour taste in the back of my throat.

  “No, thank you, Director Stone.” My tone is chilly. If he wasn’t my boss and I didn’t want this job so badly, I would lay into him for purposefully misleading me. But his games aren’t worth losing my position over. I might be able to do some real good here.

  “You really don’t have a lot of options, Quinn,” Griffin challenges.

  “I’ll talk with Alice, it’s not your concern.” I turn my back to him, unable to see his stupidly handsome face and not want to holler at him. I feel so obtuse that I didn’t know, but how could I have?

  “It is my concern. I am the director, after all. This is my facility.” I purse my lips and close my eyes. It only takes me a moment to regain my control. I’m used to dealing with people who like to get their way. I learned early on all you have to do is let them believe they got what they wanted. My mother rarely made a fuss if I yielded to her, seldom even checked to make sure I was following her edict. If I just let her have the satisfaction of thinking I bent to her will, she would move on and find some other cause to champion.

  “Thank you for your kind offer, sir.” My voice is hollow. I’ve been her
e before. These kids are worth it, just like my dream was worth it. That thought plays over and over in my head like a broken record.

  Evan places his hand on my shoulder and leaves it there. It’s not the first time he’s touched me, but it’s the first time he hasn’t pulled away immediately. “We’ll get to work on it right away. In the meantime, you’ll be safe.” His dark eyes meet mine. “I forgot to tell you, Jacob was hoping to see you today, Riley too.” Some of the ice chilling my veins melts away with the mention of the young boy. “I could take you over to their room, they should be done with class, we might catch them before dinner.”

  I nod and a grateful smile curls my lips for just a moment. “Yeah, that would be great.” I appreciate Evan and the effort he’s making by changing the subject and offering me an escape.

  “Do you need anything before we go?” Evan’s eyes scan me quickly.

  I pat my back pocket out of habit to make sure I have my phone and fist the lanyard around my neck. “No, I don’t think so.”

  “Let me just close this up.” Evan pulls my door closed. “Are you sure you don’t want to take anything out of there before we leave?”

  My eyes are drawn to the slight gap in the door with the broken knob, there’s nothing to keep it closed. I catch a glimpse of Griffin still leaning against the wall. I was hoping I could find a way to run into Alice and ask her if I could crash with her, but if I take my stuff now, I’m not sure I’ll be able to get it back from Griffin’s room without it turning into an ordeal. But I do have a few things I don’t want messed with. “I guess I could grab my stuff first.” I sound defeated to my own ears.

  “I’ll wait, take your time.” Evan pushes the door back open and motions for me to enter. I tuck my hair behind my ears and swallow. I’m leery of going in, but I lift my foot to take the first step.

  Griffin pulls himself off the wall, drawing my attention, and before I know it, he slides past me and enters my room. My steps falter, not expecting how quickly he moves, or the fact that he just cut me off to get inside.