Chapter 18
As I blinked open heavy eyelids, my eyes struggled to focus on the group of people around me. Aden, my mom, Ryder, and Sanja.
I then attempted to sit up, remembering why I had been incapacitated.
“Shhh,” Mom said, gently pushing me back down onto my sofa. “You need rest.”
“No, Mom,” I heard Aden say, “she needs to get up and move around. We can heal faster if we get our blood pumping. But you should know this, since you raised three werewolves.” His tone was bitter and unforgiving, and it made me sad.
I also didn’t blame him.
“But she’s already lost so much,” Mom replied, tears standing in her eyes.
Trying to sit up again, I chanced a glance at our mother. She shot a look at Aden, and then looked down, and I could tell she was hurt by his wounding comments. Sadly, they weren’t anything I wouldn’t have said myself.
“He’s right,” Ryder chimed in, moving to sit next to me on the sofa. He gently pulled back a makeshift bandage someone must have put on my neck, and winced as he looked at it.
“Go get me a warm washcloth, please,” Ryder said to no one in particular.
“On it,” Sanja said, disappearing into the bathroom.
“I could do a healing spell,” Mom said, wringing her hands together.
We all looked at her, and for some reason her comment surprised me. I was so not comfortable with the fact that she was a witch yet. Not even close.
“Also, already on it,” Sanja said, appearing from my bathroom with a washcloth in her hand.
She walked over to my mom and held the cloth out. “Repeat after me.”
With wide, excited eyes, my mother simply nodded and placed her hand on the washcloth.
“Celeriter sanandum,” Sanja said in perfect Latin.
“Celeriter sanandum,” Mom said.
They chanted it in unison over and over until I swear I saw small stars float up from the washcloth. But as quickly as I saw it, it was gone. Judging by the gasps from Aden and Ryder, they had seen it, too.
Sanja then walked over to me and said, “Hold still,” before wiping the blood from my neck. Then she held the warm, wet washcloth firmly against the side of my neck that hurt the most. She closed her eyes and chanted in whispered Latin again.
I could feel that I had had started to heal from the time I woke up, but what I felt when she placed the magical warmth on my neck was like nothing else. It was a tingly, itchy, warm, but comforting feel. I closed my eyes, trusting my best friend and mother that they knew what they were doing.
She pulled the washcloth away and I opened my eyes. I had zero pain on that side.
“Better?” Mom asked, brushing some hair from my forehead like she had done so many times in my life.
I nodded. “That side, yes.”
Sanja gently used my jaw to push my head to the other side. “Filthy vampire,” she muttered as she looked at the puncture wounds in my neck. She then flipped the washcloth over and placed it on that wound, repeating the protocol as I closed my eyes.
I was healed in no time. I opened my eyes, and feeling emotional, I looked at them and said, “Thank you. All of you.”
“Of course, sweetheart,” Mom said. “I would die for you.” She looked at Aden. “I would die for all of my children.” Then a tear fell from her eyes. “I would have died for Austyn, too.”
I sat up slowly, then stood. The boys hovered, making sure I could stand, but all I wanted to do was put my arms around my mom. My real mom, the one who had raised me. The one who had healed my hurts and held me while I cried over skinned knees and boys. I wrapped my arms around her small frame and she hugged me back, sobbing against me.
“I love you, Mom. I’m sorry for being angry.”
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said, sniffling, her anguish clearly displayed on her face. “I can’t lose another child. I just can’t.”
I pulled back and kissed her on the cheek. “You won’t. I’m stronger than that. No vampire is gonna take me out.”
“No, he’s not,” Aden chimed in. “I got his scent from your injuries, and I’m gonna fucking kill him when I find him.”
I turned from my embrace with Mom and looked him square in the eye. “Get in line.”
* * *
My life had turned into a sad, lonely routine. Every day I would go to work at that shitty homebuilder’s company, answering phones, and every night I would eat some sort of quick meal, and then I was off, prowling into the night to find the vampire who not only attacked my brother, but me, too.
Vengeance… it was a powerful thing, but no way was I letting go of my anger. I would find the closure I needed to avenge my brother, and then I would be able to sleep at night, knowing I had rid the world of some kind of evil.
I didn’t think tonight would be that night, though.
It had been a week since my attack, and I was fully healed. I didn’t even miss a day of work… unfortunately.
Prowling through yet another nightclub, the scent of vampires assaulting my nostrils, I made my way to the bar. I ordered something fruity and strong and sipped from my little straw as I surveyed the club. People danced and drank, and a lot of humans were being fed upon. My stomach roiled in disgust.
I looked around for the piece of shit who had bit me a few weeks prior, and of course, for the asshole who had killed Austyn. I did not see either, but I was patient. I didn’t care if it took years, I was going to find them both.
I knew Aden was actively looking for them both, too. He had told me a few days ago that he had begun to spend more time with our biological uncle in Denver, and he had promised Aden to help find this guy.
“Hi, blondie,” a silky voice said in my ear.
I turned to see a very handsome vampire standing in my space. I wanted to pull back, to be at least an arm’s length from him, as he was in my comfort zone, but I resisted the urge.
He wasn’t either of the vampires I was looking for, but from everything I had learned, the vampire community was pretty tight-knit. Sort of like the wolves. I was thankful for the perfume and pheromones I always sprayed on me to hide my scent, as this guy—this bloodsucker—was definitely into me.
“Hi,” I said, sipping the little black straw and batting eyelashes at him.
“What’s your name?” he asked, his gaze flicking down to my lips, then back to my eyes.
“Amy,” I said immediately, using my birthmother’s name. I didn’t want to give out my real one, and I had been using this one. It had kind of stuck, and was a great fake name.
“I’m Beckett,” he replied, smiling down at me.
I could see, if I were human, how his charms might win out on me. How I might be lured into a corner of this dark club, and fed upon. But tonight was Beckett’s unlucky night, as being bit once by a damn vampire would be the first and last time that was going to happen to me.
“Nice to meet you,” I said, still smiling.
“What are you drinking?” he asked, using his still very-full beer to indicate my glass.
“It’s a Long Island,” I said, smiling.
“Would you like another?” he asked, his shiny light-colored hair gleaming under the pulsing red lights.
“Nah, I’m good,” I replied, having to shout over the loud rock music blasting through the speakers.
“I can barely hear you,” he lied, as I knew they had as keen of hearing as we did. “Wanna go someplace quieter so we can get to know each other?”
I smiled inside at his tactic, but played along. I emptied my drink and said, “Sure.”
He grabbed my hand with his cold one and led me to the back of the bar where it was dark. Admittedly, my stress level went up. I wouldn’t be bitten again, but knew I would have to fight this vampire so he wouldn’t. I could handle him, but I was hoping it wouldn’t go that far. I just wanted to talk to him long enough to get some information out of him. I wasn’t giving up any blood for it, though.
To my surprise, in the back of the bar, through a door, was a set of stairs that led upward. With his hand still gripping mine, he led me up them, and I began to grow more anxious.
“Where we going, Beckett?” I asked.
With him leading, he looked down from the stair above me, and said, “You’ll see.”
I couldn’t put my finger on it, but for some reason, this vampire didn’t seem sleazy and evil. Maybe that was part of their charm?
We reached a black-painted door at the top of the stairs, and he pressed the push-bar, and soon, we were outside—on the roof. Up here, there were multiple lawn chairs set up on the gravelly rooftop. Cool night air immediately hit me, and it admittedly felt good on my clammy skin. That club had been pretty hot and stifling.
There were other people on the roof. They looked like they were talking, and some appeared to be making out… but I knew better.
“What are we doing up here?” I asked innocently, still gripping this leech’s hand.
He found an empty space near the edge of the roof, and with a flourish, indicated for me to sit in one of the lawn chairs. I obeyed reluctantly, but only because he sat in the one next to it.
“So, how old are you, Amy?” he asked after we sat, his light-colored eyes that matched his hair drilling into mine. I looked at the skin on his face and hands and noticed that they glowed like plaster in the moonlight. He also had a very neat, pressed appearance about him.
“I’m twenty-one,” I lied, as I had a fake ID in my wallet. I was barely twenty, but being underage had been a problem for me when I had moved to Denver, so I had saved up my money and bought a fake one. “How old are you, Beckett?”
“I’m twenty-two,” he replied with a charming smile.
Bullshit. He’s probably one-hundred-and-twenty-two. Immortal asshole.
I smiled again. “Do you work or go to school?”
“A little of both,” he replied, reaching over and running a cold finger up my bare arm.
Resisting the urge to shudder, I smiled again at him. “I also do both.”
He asked me what I was going to school for, where I worked, and other mundane questions.
Then I asked him, “Are you from here, from Denver?”
He shrugged. “I move around a lot. I find a place I like, stick around, then leave when I get bored.”
“I see,” I said, not surprised by his answer. “Have many friends here?”
“Just a few,” he replied, now looking down at my lips, and then my neck.
Gross.
“Any good parties?” I asked, hoping he’d invite me to one.
“All the time,” he replied, his gaze moving up from my neck to my eyes once again.
We continued with some more very boring small talk, then he got up grabbed my hand and helped me stand. “I want to kiss you, Amy,” he said.
Oh shit.
With his arms now wrapped around me, he moved his face to the crook of my neck and I waited for him to press his lips there. I know he had to feel me stiffen. Hearing him inhale deeply as he smelled me, I hoped he did not sense what I was. I shivered as his tongue licked my carotid artery. I began to pull away. No way was this fucker biting me.
“What’s wrong, baby? Don’t like neck kisses?”
“I… I need to go.” I would find him later and follow him, see if I could catch him going to some secret vampire party.
I detangled myself from him and went to head toward the roof door, but he grabbed my arm. “Where are you going? We aren’t done here. I like you, Amy. Please come sit.”
His tone was not friendly, more commanding to the point of being scary.
My gaze drifted down to where his hand had hold of my wrist, and then I followed my arm up to his eyes and said, “Let go of me.”
Beckett lifted his chin. “No. Come sit down.”
This guy was pissing me off. “I’m leaving.”
He yanked my arm so hard that I was now very close to the edge of the roof as I skidded across the gravel. I craned my head behind me to look down the two stories below. Cars whizzed by on the street, and people walked around, looking for the nearest bar.
He came toward me and said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”
“I really need to go,” I said, trying a softer approach, hoping he’d just let me leave. I didn’t want to have to get violent with him in front of all the humans up here—plus I knew all the damn leeches here would back him up.
He took a step toward me, and I backed up. “I really am sorry, Amy—“
I didn’t hear the rest of his apology, because I was now falling off the roof and plummeting toward the concrete sidewalk.