Thirteen

THE EMOTIONS ON GIA’S face gutted Layton. He didn’t like seeing her in such pain, but he wasn’t lying when he told her he hadn’t killed her father. He knew it made him look guilty just by being there before her, but there was an explanation for his presence. He had entered her house looking for her and had stumbled upon the body of her father. When he’d first arrived, the man was bleeding out. Layton’s hands became soaked in blood only because he was trying to stop the bleeding. It wasn’t long before her father was taking his last breath. When he knew the man was dead, he immediately called the police and had intended on waiting for them to arrive. He never expected for Gia to show up before the police got there. She refused to believe that he had nothing to do with the crime and if the tables turned, he could see why she would think that way. He was a consumer of blood.

“Gia, talk to me,” he crouched down next to her, hoping she would say something.

 “I fucking hate you!” she gave him a shove, not moving him in the slightest. Before he could say anything else, he heard the police entering the home. Two officers walked into the kitchen with their eyes darting from the body to Layton.

“Who found the body?” One officer asked.

“I did,” Layton stepped closer to the men.

“It’s not just a body. It’s my dad.” Gia whispered.

“I came in and found him like this, I tried to help but the bleeding wouldn’t cease,” Layton explained. The men looked at each other.

“I think you need to come down to the station with us.” They both had their hands on their service weapons. Layton knew to cooperate because as of late, the police had loaded their guns with wooden bullets. One shot from them and he would be no more.

“Of course, anyway I can help.” Layton let them escort him from the house. He hated leaving Gia behind, but the choice wasn’t his at that moment. Hopefully, he could sort things out at the station and be back with her before dawn came.

***

“Why would he do something like that?” Gia sat on her front steps with Zach by her side. She’d called him as they loaded her father into a van, headed for the morgue.

“They’re unpredictable.”

“I feel so stupid for trusting him.” Gia leaned her head on Zach’s shoulder.

 “It’s not too late to change your mind.”

“About what?” she lifted her head and wiped her eyes.

 “Joining us. Dahlia told you about vamps going crazy and killing humans. You saw that first-hand tonight.” Zach stood. “That fucker will rot in hell for what he did to dad.”

“I don’t know if I want to join anything. I want to stay away from vampires all together.”

“That’s not possible, G. You’re half of one. You can either go on believing they wear a halo, or you can help us keep humans safe.”

“What if it wasn’t him, though?” she looked up at Zach.

“Come on, be realistic here. You walked in, the fuckface’s hands had dad’s blood all over them and his throat torn out. Does that sound like anything other than the work of a vamp?”

“I guess not,” she answered.

“I know you try to see the best in people, but there are no good vamps.” She was thinking that her brother was right. Everything led her to believe that Layton killed her father. The evidence was ironclad and if a judge found him guilty, he would be executed immediately. There weren’t any lengthy stints on death row for vamps, just a quick trip to a room with a stake to the heart. If he murdered her father, he deserved what was coming. Gia couldn’t make herself feel sorry for him either. The moment she saw the blood on his hands was the moment her opinion of him changed. He had taken something precious from her and there wasn’t a way to get it back. So many questions swirled around in her head but Gia couldn’t find the strength to ask any of them. She knew Zach wanted her on board with his plans, but deep down, she didn’t think she could be so cruel as to kill vampires in cold blood.

***

Layton sat in a cell at the local police station. Due process for his kind was swift and there was a good chance he would be dead by the next evening. The humans didn’t want to believe that a vampire didn’t commit a crime, so they dispensed justice in the most unjust way possible. There was no point in trying to escape either. The bars of his cell were solid silver. Just like Superman with Kryptonite, Silver was an Achilles heel for vampires. When it touched the skin, it seared into the flesh and gave the odor of rancid meat.

 “Hey vamp, you’ve got a visitor,” a uniformed man tapped on his cell door with a set of keys. Layton figured it was Astrid coming to see what had happened. She would more than likely be in a tizzy, wondering how she would survive without her brother to help her. But Layton couldn’t bring himself to feel bad for her. She would have to make due once they shoved that piece of wood into his heart. With his head down, he let the officer lead him to a room with only two chairs and a table in the middle of it. He sat in one and waited for his sister to come in. When the door swung open, he looked up and surprise painted his face.

“Gia,” he whispered, the sound carrying in the hollow room. She sat down across the table and folded her arms over her chest. Even with the dark circles and puffy eyes, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

“Layton,” she said.

“What are you doing here?”

“I need the truth,” she plopped down in the chair across from him.

“I didn’t kill your dad, Gia.”

“How am I supposed to believe you? I found you at my house with my father’s blood all over you.”

“Trust me. I would never tell you something that was untrue. At this point, all I have is my word.” He defended.

Layton watched her eyes dart around the small room, then connect with his. “They want me to testify against you,” she whispered. Her hand reached across the cool table.

“You have every right to do so,” he reached forward and entwined his fingers with hers.

“I can’t,” she said softly as tears began running down her cheeks.

He leaned forward, using his thumb to wipe away the liquid from her face. “You are a human and I am a vampire. In what world did we think this would work out?” Saying those words were like getting a stake in his heart.

“Please don’t say things like that.”

“Why?”

She pulled her hand back and sat it in her lap with her other one. “Because you know as well as I do, I can’t just walk away from you.”

“I’m afraid you will have to.”

“No. I’m not doing it.” She stood, facing the door.

“You will be ridiculed for defending me.” He knew how it was. If a human took the side of a vamp, they were shunned and sometimes forced to leave town.

“Then let them do what they want. I can’t explain what I’m feeling when I’m with you, Layton. I know what you are and I know what you’re capable of. Even so, I don’t care. I won’t testify and chance losing you.”

Silence stretched in the room while a question kept coming to the forefront in Layton’s mind. It was a question he never thought he would ask anyone, but he needed to know the answer from Gia.

“I want you to do something for me if I get out of here,” his hands began to tremble.

Gia turned toward him and asked, “What’s that?”

“I want you to marry me.”

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED…