Shackled to the Night, page 10
That wasn’t going to happen.
Thaddeus hissed at the boy, revealing his huge fangs, and then let out a slow growl. He figured it would be best to do a little mine-are-bigger-than-yours to get the kid to back off on his own. Thaddeus didn’t want to have to get physical with him.
Brandon’s eyes widened, and he dropped Thaddeus’s hand. He then scooted away so quickly he fell off the side of the bed with a thud. Thaddeus heard the boy breathing hard and it sounded like he was scurrying around the bed to make a break for the door. Thaddeus stepped in his way.
Brandon stopped and looked up Thaddeus in fear. He cringed back, and pulled himself into a fetal position and began to shake. Thaddeus got down on his haunches, his knees cracking, and put his hand on the boy’s back. “Brandon,” he said softly. “Don’t be afraid, my man. Your mom sent me. My name is Thaddeus and I’m going to take you to your mom. She told me to tell you that angels fly at night.”
The boy slowly looked up at Thaddeus. “What did you say?” he whispered, a flicker of hope crossing his face.
“Your mom told me to tell you that angels fly at night.”
Brandon sat up and stared hard at Thaddeus, his fear ebbing a little. Thaddeus could see that he was decided whether to trust him or not.
“But you’re like them,” he said, touching his own fangs. “You’re like the people who did this to me, who took me.”
Thaddeus stared at the boy for a beat, then said, “Yes, I am like them. But the biggest difference is that I’m not going to hurt you. I’m only here to take you back to your mom.”
The boy nodded and looked over as the man on the ground tried to roll over.
“Let me guess,” Thaddeus said, also looking at the man. “You were in here, hoping your mom would show up. That fu …” yeah, mental note to watch the language around the kid. Brief visions of the tongue-lashing, and not the good kind, Emily would give him if she heard him swearing in front of her son went through his mind.
Let’s try that again. “That guy made an appearance. You heard him outside or at the door and you ran in here. You hid somewhere, maybe under the bed, the closet, behind the door, whatever.” Thaddeus paused. It wouldn’t be difficult for a young vampire to take down a full-grown man, especially with the element of surprise on his side.
“The guy came in, found you, and let’s call it your ‘other side’ showed up. Your fangs came out, and before you knew what you were doing, you had him on the floor and you realized you were a bit thirsty. So you drank.”
Thaddeus watched as Brandon’s brow wrinkled.
“Except,” Thaddeus continued, “drinking makes you tired. I know. It makes all vampires tired. When you were full, you went to bed, then I entered, and here we are.” He paused a beat. “How am I doing, my man?”
Brandon stared at him, his eyes wide. “Yeah, pretty much,” he said quietly, lowering his eyes, glancing to the man on the floor.
“Look, Brandon,” Thaddeus said, the same gentle tone. “We got to get you out of here, dude. Your mom is about to go ape shit.” Okay, so the whole “do not swear in front of the kid” wasn’t going so well, but fuck it. “She is out of her mind worrying about you, and there are some bad people involved in this situation, which I think you know. You got me?”
Brandon grinned, nodded and then stood up. “My fangs are gone,” he said quietly.
“Perfectly normal,” Thaddeus said, also standing.
“How long have I been away from my mom?” Brandon asked.
“From what your mom has told me, about six weeks,” Thaddeus answered.
“Why didn’t my mom come to get me?”
Thaddeus thought a moment, and decided a half-truth would be best. Brandon didn’t need to know about pedophiles or police, or the fact that Thaddeus had just about had to tie Emily to a chair and lock her in a closet to keep her away from here.
“She wanted to make sure that you would be one-hundred percent safe. I’m a big guy. I know how to take care of myself, and others.” He shrugged, hoping that would end that line of questioning.
Brandon then pointed to the man on the floor. “What should we do with him?” he asked.
“You let me take care of him,” Thaddeus said. “Stand outside in the hall, and don’t move.”
“You’re going to kill him,” Brandon said still staring at the man who moaned again.
Thaddeus smirked, and shook his head slowly. “I won’t kill him. That’s rule number two of being a vampire, which is what you are now. How that happened, I don’t know. But the rule is that you never kill humans,” Thaddeus said.
Brandon’s head whirled over to Thaddeus. “That was not what we were told,” he said. “We were told that humans are nothing more than a food source, that I had vampire blood in me. That one day vampires would rule the earth and humans would be nothing more than breeding machines for our food, like cows or chickens are for humans.”
Thaddeus arched an eyebrow at the boy, realizing that the problem was probably a little larger than he had originally believed. And it started with the “we” Brandon had used.
“Not the way it is, and not the way it’s going to be if I have anything to say about it,” Thaddeus growled. He motioned to the door. “C’mon, out. Let me talk to the guy while you wait in the hall. Don’t turn on the lights. Just stand by the door and holler if anyone else decides to visit.”
The boy nodded once, and Thaddeus heard the door click shut behind him. He kneeled down to the human on the floor and slapped him once, hard, and the guy opened his eyes slowly.
“Who are you working for?” Thaddeus demanded, his voice deadly serious.
The guy gazed around the room for a minute, as if unsure of the how and why he was sprawled out on the floor of a kid’s room with a picture of Batman staring down at him. He then turned back to Thaddeus. “Who are you?”
“Let’s just say that I’m the one asking the questions, and you are the one who is answering. Got it?”
The man’s eyes flared, as if the cork had just popped off the memory bottle of his brain, and he tried to sit up. “That kid bit me!” he said incredulously, bringing his hand to his neck.
Thaddeus tilted his head and saw two little puncture marks. He pushed the man back down to the ground. “Yes, he did.” Thaddeus flashed his fangs with a slow smile. “And, if you don’t start answering my questions, I’m going to rip your throat out. So, it’s your choice. You want to keep talking about a little bite, or do you want to talk about who you are working for and keep your throat intact?” Not that Thaddeus would ever follow up on the threat unless he absolutely needed to, but flashing some fangs combined with the warning usually produced magnificent results.
Thaddeus smelled and felt the fear roll off the man in waves, and the man became very cooperative, answering Thaddeus’s questions in-depth, and adding details Thaddeus wasn’t interested in. Four minutes later, Thaddeus had all the information the guy could give him, he was sure of it.
“Okay, dude. You get to keep your throat.” Thaddeus put his hand on the guy’s forehead and he passed out like someone had flipped the switch in his brain to the off position. Thaddeus then licked his fingers and placed them on the puncture marks Brandon had left. He watched them heal before his eyes. When he opened the door, Brandon was holding onto the doorknob so tightly he flew into the room.
Before Brandon could ask any questions, Thaddeus said, “You have five minutes to pack a bag, and don’t worry about him,” he said, pointing at the guy doing a coma routine on the floor. “He’ll be out for a while.”
He walked out of the room and down the hall to the master bedroom. The unmade bed sat in the middle of the room, a stack of books on the nightstand. One wall was covered with pictures of Brandon in different stages of his life. He flinched as he saw the large sliding glass door leading out to the patio. Not good for safety at all.
There weren’t any signs of a boyfriend, or lovers. No condoms in the dresser drawers, no men’s clothing anywhere. The possessive bastard in him did a little happy jig, although he felt like an ass going through her stuff. And if Brandon were to walk in while he was doing his little seek and find, he would be busted. Best to just get what he came for and get out.
He shook his head, surprised again by the reaction Emily brought out of him. And all that talking after sex stuff they had pulled? He had never done that before, but found himself hoping that they would be doing it again. Emily. In such a short time, she had tilted his world off its axis.
He opened the closet and found a suitcase. He opened the dresser drawers and began tossing underwear, pajamas, t-shirts, a couple of pairs of jeans, sweatpants and socks into the suitcase. Emily would probably want some of her own toiletries, such as her shampoo and conditioner, maybe a little bit of special shower goop that women seemed to like.
He strode into the bathroom and opened the shower door. He counted eight bottles, and wondered why in the hell a person needed eight bottles of anything in the shower. Shaking his head, he gathered up all the bottles, not bothering to look at what they were. He zipped up the bag, hauled it off the bed and went down the hall to Brandon’s room and grabbed the boy’s suitcase. Brandon then followed Thaddeus down the small hall, through the living room and to the slider leading into the kitchen.
Thaddeus put a finger to his lips, indicating Brandon was to be silent. He stepped out the door and did a quick scan around the yard. He then went to the front window and did a quick look-see. Asshole on the floor had been telling the truth; he had come alone.
“Let’s go,” he whispered to Brandon, then grabbed the boy’s hand and led him over to the deck and out the side gate where he had come in. They walked in silence as Thaddeus scanned the neighborhood for other potential threats and nosey neighbors. They got into the car, and Thaddeus took off, obeying the speed limit on the street.
Once they were on the freeway Thaddeus broke their silence. “So Brandon,” he began quietly, “you and I have a lot to talk about. I want to hear everything about your time away, and you’re also going to have to learn a few things about your new life with fangs.”
Brandon remained silent, staring out the window.
“In the meantime, here’s what you and I need to do. You need to keep your little secret away from your mom. No fang flashing, and for God sakes, no hissing or biting.”
Silence.
“When we get to my house, let your mom love you and hold you and do all the mom stuff she’s going to do, but keep your secret to yourself. I’ll talk to her later tonight and get everything out in the open with her, and help her understand all of this. Okay?” He wasn’t really sure he understood what happened to Brandon, but the kid was now a vampire. That he was sure about. Thaddeus needed to tell Emily about it, and in the process, lay his own cards out on the table. The thought gave him a headache.
Thaddeus looked over and Brandon nodded. As they got on Highway 395, Brandon asked, “How do you know my mom?”
Thaddeus almost flinched at the question. How should he put the answer to this one? I met your mother while she had some pedophile piece of shit at gunpoint trying to get information on finding you. She is the most amazing woman I have ever laid eyes on. She is smart, determined and loves you terribly. I feel like her eyes can see into my very being, and her smile makes my heart beat a little faster. Her laugh is totally contagious, and frankly, being with your mother the past day or so has made me happier than I have ever been in my life. She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and just thinking about running my hands through her long, blonde hair and the sweet taste of her makes the front of my camos a little too snug. And I need to figure out a way to keep both of you safe because the human race is not supposed to know about vampires. Yeah, probably best to go with generic version.
“I guess you could say that your mom and I had a mutual interest in finding you, and we met that way.” Wow. Was that a whole lot of non-answer or what? “So, let’s hear where you have been and what happened.”
Brandon turned to Thaddeus and let out a big sigh.
A man named Victor had walked up to him as he was coming home from a neighbor’s house just after sunset and told Brandon he was his father. Brandon had always wanted to meet his dad, and it seemed too good to be true. Victor had said that he just wanted to take him out for some ice cream, get to know him a little bit. Brandon had looked down the block at his own house, and Victor had smiled and said it had all been cleared with his mom. It had been a really stupid move on Brandon’s part, and he knew it. But in the end, wanting to know his dad won out.
He had trusted the guy, and look where that had gotten him. He had been held down by some guys in white doctor’s coats and given four shots. Brandon said that really sucked because he hated needles. Really, really hated them. Then he fell asleep for a few days. When he woke up, he was in a big warehouse with a bunch of other boys. Some of them were his age, some of them were a little older. He had been so thirsty, but not for a Sprite or Coke or Lemonade. Not that his mom ever let him drink soda—he did that when she wasn’t around—but he had been really thirsty.
He had wanted blood.
And then his fangs had come out of his gums, and he was suddenly really strong. Like he felt like he could bench-press a truck. All the other boys in the warehouse were too. Being that strong was pretty cool, but the blood stuff was pretty gross.
The boy talked non-stop until they reached the dirt road that led to Thaddeus’s house. Thaddeus could sense the panic in the boy.
“Relax. This is where I live. I’m sure you can understand that being what I am I do like my privacy.”
The boy nodded and touched his mouth. “My fangs came out again.”
“Natural. They will come out when you are getting ready to feed, or when you feel threatened or angry. I’ll teach you how to make them come out when you want. Right now, just concentrate on retracting them.”
Brandon closed his eyes for a minute, and then opened them and smiled. “I did it.”
Thaddeus smiled back, and then pulled into the small dirt driveway and hit the button for the garage door to open. As the side of the mountain lifted, Brandon’s eyes grew wide and a smile lit up his face. “Pretty cool, huh?” Thaddeus said. “Remember, not a word to your mom about this change in you. Let me handle it.”
Brandon nodded, and they got out of the car.
“Thaddeus?” Brandon said quietly as they walked into the elevator.
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
Thaddeus rested his hand on the boy’s shoulder as the elevator groaned upward.
“My pleasure, my man.”
“Thaddeus?”
“Hmmm?”
“I’m going to be in trouble.”
Thaddeus smiled. “I don’t think so. I think you may be smothered with mom love, but I don’t think she’ll be mad. She’s been too worried and upset to get made at you.”
The boy nodded. “Thaddeus?”
“Yes?”
“I’m scared.”
Thaddeus looked into the frightened green eyes staring up at him.
“You don’t need to be afraid any longer,” he said quietly. “You’re safe here with me. I’ll never let anyone near you, or your mom. I’m going to help you with the whole vampire thing. We’re in this together, you and me, okay?”
Brandon ran his tongue along his teeth and smiled.
Chapter 15
When Thaddeus and Brandon stepped out of the elevator, Emily was waiting. She broke into sobs and wrapped herself around her son. She touched his hair, his face, and ran her hands up and down his arms. Her pretty face was a mixture of relief and happiness.
She looked to Thaddeus as she crushed Brandon to her. Thank you, she mouthed.
Thaddeus nodded and headed out of the room and down the hall to his bedroom. He figured he would give them some privacy, but he also had some stuff to work out. Man, things just kept spiraling from bad to worse.
He hung his trench coat in the closet and put his weapons in the safe. He thought of the gun in his bedside table and frowned. With Brandon in the house, he better lock that one up as well. He crossed the room to get it, and stopped at the bed.
Visions of Emily on his sheets bounced around his brain, and he felt an ache in his chest. He rubbed his sternum, deciding he would like her in his bed every day. He would love to wake up with his head buried in her hair, his arms around her, protecting her. He would make them breakfast every morning, and after she was well fed, he would love her body slowly and deeply.
Wow. Where had that thought come from? It would be impossible, and he knew it on so many different levels. He would have to let her go. Most likely, she wouldn’t want to stay anyway, and would probably want to get far away from here. Staying in the area was nothing but trouble for her.
After locking the safe, Thaddeus returned to his bed and stretched out, throwing his arm over his eyes. He inhaled deeply, the scent of Emily permeating his senses, calming him.
So, where did things stand? He had a boy, who was born human. According to Brandon, he had been given four shots, gone to sleep, and then woke up craving blood. So apparently those four shots had slightly changed his DNA bringing out his vampire instincts and traits.
Moving right along, the boy’s mother was human and had no idea about the vampire race. And he was going to break rule number one of the Behavior Doctrine he was sworn to uphold: Do not let humans know about vampires. But he had to tell Emily because of Brandon. The kid couldn’t keep it hidden from her forever. At some point, something would slip, they would get into an argument and his fangs would punch out, or he would absently show his strength in some way. And then there was the fact that he may not be able to go out in the daylight, which wasn’t really known. The children who were born to human women with vampire traits died during childbirth or shortly after from lack of blood. Brandon was a mystery, something that his race had not come across. He had been born with more human DNA, and then had his vampire DNA was activated through those shots he had mentioned. Thaddeus could only guess that Brandon, like him, couldn’t go out in daylight.
