22. TWENTY TWO

twenty-twoAweek later I pushed through the doors of the Blue Pepper to find Dahlia tending bar.

“The repairs are coming along nicely,” I observed, walking over to her.

You could barely tell a person had been murdered in here and the ceiling set on fire. At least, as long as you ignored the smell of ash and death. And the singe marks on the ceiling.

Maybe that was why the bar was empty even on a Friday night, when usually you’d have to fight your way through a press of bodies to order a drink.

Dahlia finished drying the glass she was working on and set it down before picking up the next one.

I leaned an elbow against the bar. “Remember that favor you asked me for?”

Her eyes met mine.

I nodded toward the doorway where Ahrun had just walked into the bar. He scanned the place, spotting me and then Dahlia a second later. Realization showed on his face as he moved toward us. “It’s been a thousand years since someone dared lure me into a trap.”

A normal person might have felt worry over the warning in his words. The one that said to walk very carefully if I didn’t want to court death. Ahrun was a vampire feared and respected by the council. Some of the most powerful members of our society.

Little old me had no chance against him if he wanted to discipline me for my hubris.

The thing was, I knew what Ahrun wanted more than anything.

“Consider it part of the amends you need to make to those closest to you,” I said.

“I was right. You would make quite the politician. You hone in on a person’s desires very easily.”

I straightened from the bar. “I’ll pass.”

One encounter with the council was more than enough for a lifetime. I liked my simple life too much to ever wade in those waters.

Ahrun threw his head back on a laugh, exposing the smooth column of his throat. “You should reconsider, my dear. How long do you think Liam will be content on such a small stage?” His expression sobered. “My son will soon crave the challenges that come with working for the council.”

“Liam is welcome to return to their employ at any time,” I said, not pointing out that the reason he’d left in the first place had more to do with Thomas than myself.

“He will not leave you behind.”

I shrugged. “His problem; not mine.”

Ahrun watched me carefully. “You feel no fear for me at all.”

“I’m terrified. Don’t you worry.” I turned to Dahlia and lifted my eyebrows. “Does this count as fulfilling our bargain?”

Ahrun drew closer. “You made a deal with a djinn?”

I ignored him, waiting for Dahlia’s answer.

Dahlia flicked a glance at him before nodding. “It does.”

“That’s a relief.” I hadn’t liked owing a favor. As payment went this was rather easy. “I’ll leave you two to discuss recompense.”

Dahlia set aside the glass she was holding as I moved toward the door, but not before Ahrun’s last words followed me outside. “Avoid it as long as you can, but fate has a way of drawing you in. And my son will be at your side when it does.”

I parked on the street in front of my parents’ house, glancing at the front door before reaching into the back seat to grab the bottle of sparkling juice I’d brought as a peace offering.

Mom had made good on her promise of inviting me to dinner. Since Dominick was dead and no longer a threat to my family, I’d agreed. I was even early for once as I climbed out of my car and headed up the driveway.

I slowed halfway up, a sense of wrongness intruding. The porch light was off. Mom never left that thing off if guests were expected.

Once I’d noticed one thing, it was easy to spot others. Like the darkened windows that made the house look empty, despite Jenna’s car in the driveway indicating her arrival.

I started walking again, skirting the side of the house and heading to the back where I hopped the fence. Discarding the bottle, I drew the Sig from its holster in my belly band and found the back door already unlocked for easy entrance.

I moved silently through the house, noting the pot roast in the oven as I headed for the front living room where I detected three heartbeats.

Reaching the end of the hallway, I paused to listen.

“We know you’re there,” someone called. “You might as well come out.”

I cursed silently in my head, holding still in case they were bluffing.

A pained cry came.

“The longer you delay; the more your sister suffers.”

I left my hiding spot, edging into the room with my gun raised. Jenna was tied to a chair. Her face bloody from a cut on her temple and her eyes wide and frantic. Duct tape had been placed over her mouth.

My mom lay between the coffee table and the settee, her still body making fear rise in my throat until I caught the steady beat of her heart.

She was still alive.

The hunter stood behind Jenna, his gun pointed at her head. The tape muffled her voice as she screamed at me.

“It’s going to be okay, Jenna. I promise.”

“You shouldn’t lie to your sister,” the hunter drawled, his eyes moving over my shoulder.

I had only enough time to think this was going to hurt before a heavy blow on the back of my head knocked me out.

Everything north of my shoulders throbbed in time with my pulse when I finally came to. The rest of my body wasn’t feeling so great either. From the pain radiating from my ribs, I was guessing whoever had rendered me unconscious had also taken the time to send a couple kicks there. My skin prickled from being in close contact with silver, leaving me weak and unable to heal from my injuries.

A foot nudged me in the ribs, sending a fresh jolt of pain throughout. “We know you’re awake, vampire. Stop pretending.”

The sound of quiet sobs brought me the rest of the way to awareness, reminding me of the situation.

I looked up at my captors, unsurprised to find a pair of hunters standing over me. My eyes lingered on the amulet of the hunter who’d attacked me from behind.

He lifted it for me to see better. “Like it? The witch who made it promised it would work on your kind.”

“Looks like she was right,” I said as Mom opened her eyes and glanced at me with an alertness that made me think she’d been awake for a while and was just biding her time.

I forced myself to sit up, moving gingerly against the pain in my ribs and the restriction of the chains.

The hunter dropped the amulet against his chest. “It’s a pity I killed her. I should have had her make me a hundred more beforehand.”

A rusty laugh escaped me as I leaned against mom’s antique sideboard. “I’d say I’m surprised at how stupid and short sided you are, but I’m really not.”

Mom shot me a warning look to stop antagonizing them.

Sorry, Mom. No can do,I told her silently. I needed their attention on me as much as possible. Otherwise, they might realize hurting her or Jenna would be far more torturous than any harm done to me.

“Remember our mission, Kurt,” the first hunter said, catching the other’s arm when he would have taken his anger out on me.

The second hunter threw off the first’s hand. “Fuck our mission, Miles. Everyone else is dead.”

Mom moved again, reaching for the serving tray that must have fallen on the ground when she was attacked. Miles looked her way at the same time Jenna made a high-pitched squeal, almost hyperventilating as she blubbered. Miles sent Jenna a disgusted look that only made her cry harder.

It wasn’t until he looked away again that Jenna’s hysteria faded and she nodded at Mom, signaling the coast was clear.

Holy shit, my family were bad-asses. I hadn’t been giving them near enough credit all these years.

“All the more reason for us to take our time. You heard what the elder said. They’ll feel her pain. This is the only way to make them suffer as much as we have,” Miles pointed out in far too calm a voice. As if he wasn’t discussing my torture and eventual death.

Jenna and my mom’s movements froze. Luckily too, since Miles turned back to them. “How does that sound?”

Jenna shook her head, her wide eyes conveying her horror as he leaned down to her.

“We’re not the monsters,” he told Jenna. “She is.”

Kurt walked over to me, reaching down to haul me to my knees in a movement that made my head swim.

“Look,” Miles instructed.

Kurt cut a finger and waved it in front of my face to force my fangs to drop from their hiding spot in my gums. He grabbed my chin with rough hands, using his sausage fingers to peel back my lips.

He made sure Jenna got a good look at my fangs, before retreating. I hissed and snapped at him.

“See?” Miles asked. “Like I said. A monster.”

My fangs rescinded as I strangled my growls, staring at the ground through a veil of tears. This wasn’t how I wanted my sister or mom to find out what I was. Truthfully, I hadn’t wanted them to find out at all.

Miles ripped the duct tape off Jenna’s mouth.

“Aileen.”

I resisted the quavering note in her voice, not wanting my sister’s hatred and disgust to be the last thing I saw on this Earth.

“Aileen, look at me.”

I lifted my head to meet her sad eyes and the understanding in them that absolutely gutted me.

“This is what you meant when you said you were sick,” she said.

I was silent, letting her guess the truth from my face. There was no point lying anymore.

“Enough of this,” Kurt snarled, moving behind me and grabbing my hair to force my head back.

“Love you,” I whispered as he placed a knife against my neck.

Jenna shook her head frantically. “No, please.”

Tears trembled on her eyelashes as her voice broke. I tried to smile to let her know it was going to be okay.

Miles licked his lips, forgetting himself and drifting toward me and Kurt as the excitement in the room reached a frenzy. No one saw Mom creep around the coffee table. Or notice when she rose, holding her serving tray like a bat.

She brought it down hard over Kurt’s head. “No one fucking touches my daughter.”

He crumpled to the ground, his knife nicking the side of my throat in a trail of fire.

“You crazy, bitch,” Miles snarled, lifting his gun.

I threw myself at him, burying my fangs in his leg. I missed the first time, getting a mouthful of jeans before I adjusted my aim. I bit down hard, blood filling my mouth.

He hammered the butt of his gun against the back of my head. Pain splintered my focus. I slipped before I adjusted my grip. Only for him to hit me again.

This time he knocked me loose, kicking me away the second he could.

I fell back with a pained grunt.

“Fuck this shit!” he screamed, pointing his gun at my head. “You can all fucking die.”

Mom stepped in front of me, not even flinching at the loud bang. A scream ripped from me, an agonized sound that came from my soul.

Miles gurgled. We all froze. The surprise in his eyes no less than ours as red spread from the tiny hole over his heart. He folded to the ground.

“Whew, I thought I was going to be late, but it seems I’m just in time,” Drake drawled from the hallway.

No one moved as he entered the room, still trying to recover from Miles’s death—and our survival. Jenna and Mom looked like they were in shock. Truthfully, I didn’t think I was faring much better.

“Nice job improvising, Mrs. Travers,” Drake said, crossing the room to slit Kurt’s throat. “I see where your daughter gets her skills.”

Jenna moaned at the sight of blood.

The sound catapulted me out of my stupor. I thrashed in my chains. “Get away from us.”

Drake winked at my sister, not listening as he lifted the hand that held the still bloody knife and waved at her. “Hey ya, cuz. I’ve been wanting to meet you for a long time.”

The method of address went over my head as I toppled onto my side from the force of my struggles.

“You should save your energy, Aileen,” Drake said, not looking at me. “Those chains are hunter issue. You’re not breaking out of them. At least not without some help.”

Whatever I was about to say was interrupted as a creak from the hallway warned of another’s presence.

I looked up to find Dad on the threshold of the room, taking in the bodies on the floor and the state of Jenna, Mom and I.

Drake’s manner was carefree as he pushed to his feet. “Uncle Patrick, so good of you to join us. I was hoping I’d get the chance to meet you.”

“Uncle?” I whispered softly to myself, a rising dread threatening to choke me.

Dad didn’t respond, his face hard and scary looking as he stared Drake down. “What’s the meaning of this?”

Drake twisted to take in the carnage. “Aw, this. My apologies. I’d hoped to take care of the last of the rogue hunters before they reached this far, but they slipped through my net.”

“What is he talking about? Why is he acting like he knows you?” I asked.

Drake went silent as Dad’s gaze met my accusing one.

I shook my head slightly. Dad wasn’t a hunter. He wasn’t. I would have known. And if he was, there was no way he wouldn’t have known I was a vampire. He would never have let me come around if that was the case.

An apology showed on his face. “Aileen.”

“It’s not true. You don’t have the tattoo,” I said.

“You mean this tattoo?” Drake raised his hand for me to see. A tattoo faded into view. “Sorry, cuz. These things come and go on our own whim. Magic, you know?”

The resignation on Dad’s face was all the proof I needed that Drake was telling the truth.

“How? Why?”

“That’s what Grandpa and Dad want to know too,” Drake quipped, fixing Dad with a probing stare. “Your dad held the record for every physical and weapons training test our clan gives to determine a hunter’s skill level. At least he did.” Drake winked. “I beat most of them a few years back.”

“I’m sure your dad is very proud,” Dad said dryly.

“He was,” Drake agreed. To me— “Your dad was considered something of a legend. At least until his first mission ended his career.” He nodded at the limp my dad had had as long as I had known him. “He disappeared after that.”

“I retired for medical reasons.”

Drake nodded. “I’m sure the rumors that you were a pacifist who didn’t agree with our calling had something to do with that too.”

Dad’s stare was flinty, giving nothing away.

Drake chuckled before shaking his head. “Your injury is why Dad and Grandpa never came looking for you. They figured you’d earned whatever peace you could find.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I told you—to clean up their mess.” Drake indicated the two hunters. “Meeting my cousins was just a perk.”

“You’ve done what you came here to do. I want you to leave,” Dad ordered.

Drake sent him a sunny smile. “No problem, Uncle. I’m sure you have a lot to talk about with everything that’s happened tonight.”

Drake started for the door, having to shift to the side when Dad didn’t move to make room. His voice issued from the hallway behind Dad a second later. “Oh, Aileen, I’d appreciate if you didn’t mention this to your lover or sire. Though if you do, no worries. I’m here with official approval from the council. See you around, cuz.”

The front door opened and closed as Drake left.

“Elise, release Aileen. Silver isn’t good for vampires. I’ve got Jenna.” Dad removed a pocketknife from his pants on his way to Jenna.

I didn’t move, still in a state of shock about Dad’s identity as a hunter as Mom tugged at my chains with a look of concentration. She fiddled with the padlock on them for a second before turning to rifle through the pockets of the two hunters for a key.

“Vampire, huh? That might have been a good thing to know,” she said, finding what she was looking for and holding it up in front of her for inspection.

“I wasn’t sure how to tell you.”

Mom paused in unlocking the padlock. “You’re my daughter. I don’t care if you have fangs or horns. Ultimately, I just want you to be happy and well.”

I sent her an arch look as she helped me lift the chains over my head, her movements gentle. “Are you sure about that? Because sometimes it feels more like you want me to fit your version of who I should be.”

“I know I’m pushy. Especially with you. But it’s because I know what you’re capable of and how easily you fall into a rut. That said, I’m trying to work on that. I’m even seeing a counselor. Had my first session the night of Linda’s recital.”

I blinked in shock, finding a similar level of surprise on Jenna’s face. Dad was the only one who greeted the news as if he’d heard it before.

“I don’t want you to hide yourself from me or put up barriers because you think you’re protecting us,” Mom said with a pointed look. “You just worry us when you do that.”

Feeling a little uncomfortable with how accurately my mom read me, I glanced up at my dad. “Why didn’t you ever say anything? You had to know.”

He nodded. “It was kind of hard not to after the hospital and Linda’s miraculous recovery. Even if I wanted to, it would have been impossible to miss a clue that big or your sudden unwillingness to donate blood. I assume her recovery had a lot to do with either you or your friend from that night.”

Jenna jerked to alertness, her head twisting toward me. “What are you talking about?”

Dad didn’t look at her as he regarded me with a steady gaze. “Vampire blood is a panacea for most human ailments. Linda didn’t get better because of anything the doctors did. She got better because of Aileen or one of her friends.”

There was shock on Jenna and Mom’s faces as they looked from Dad to me.

“Aileen?” Jenna whispered.

“You let me struggle with what I was,” I burst out, more focused on that then Jenna’s questions.

A sympathy that made my chest hurt filled Dad’s gaze. “Baby girl, you were so lost, and you hated yourself for what you had become. I didn’t think revealing I was born to a family that hunted your kind would help your mental wellbeing.”

I fought the stinging in my eyes as I looked away in shame. My self-loathing felt like a weakness. More because he was right.

I wasn’t sure I would have been able to handle learning my dad was part of a group that hated my kind back then.

“Right about the time I thought I would need to push you toward one of the vampire clans your friend Liam involved himself in our lives. I figured things would sort themselves out eventually.” Dad’s smile was small. “I didn’t count on you being so stubborn or it taking so long.”

Jenna’s scoff made it clear she thought he should have.

“We’re going to have a discussion about all this and how you let me arrange an intervention for her later,” my mom hissed through gritted teeth, looking like she dearly wanted to do violence to her husband.

“You didn’t know about this?” I asked her.

“About vampires and hunters and other supernaturals? No. I thought you had PTSD and were trying to bury yourself in your apartment. I may not be the best mother, but I wouldn’t have handled things the way I did had I known.”

Dad’s face was calm as he met her gaze. “As Aileen knows, there are consequences for revealing the supernatural world to humans. For hunters, the penalty is worse considering our history of inciting bloodthirsty mobs. And after Brin, you were very determined not to acknowledge even the possibility of the supernatural.”

Mom’s anger collapsed as her face fell.

“You know about my biological dad and what he is?” I asked.

“In a way, you could say he’s the reason your mom and I met.” The warmth in Dad’s eyes as he looked at my mom held love. “My nephew wasn’t entirely correct. After the accident that hurt my leg, the elders moved me to a support role. Gathering intelligence. Taking care of logistics. I was supposed to be tracking a centuries old target on their list, a Fae, when I chanced upon a woman and her toddler. Those two stole my heart at first sight. I knew I couldn’t return after that so I staged my death. I guess some of my family saw through that ruse, though.”

Confusion was the only thing in my mind as I struggled to process all the revelations. The fact my dad was hunter born was almost as difficult to understand as the fact he’d been in search of my bio dad when he happened across Mom and me.

I guess Jenna’s resistance to Connor’s compulsion last week made more sense now. She was hunter born too. At least half of her was anyway.

“That’s all very important, but let’s discuss this later when my pot roast isn’t in danger of burning.” Mom gave me a questioning look. “Before that, do you need blood?”

I pulled away from her. “Ew. No.”

“I’m just trying to be supportive, Aileen. You said that’s what you wanted.”

“Oh my God. I’d like you to please be less supportive.” I shot Jenna a glance that asked if she could believe this woman. Jenna shook her head in resignation. “Just so we’re all clear, none of you will ever serve as a food source for me. Ever.”

“What if we’re in a plane crash on a mountain top with no other human around for hundreds of miles?” Jenna asked.

“Ever.”

Sensing that we were about to descend into a never-ending game of what ifs, Dad helped Mom up. She let him, not slapping his hand away as I half expected.

“Someone would have heard the gun shot earlier, and I left Linda in the car when I saw the open front door. The police are probably on their way.” Dad glanced at me. “How are you with compulsion?”