Shackled to the Night, page 12
“What about the sun?” she asked.
His face became hard. “I hate that mother fucking lava lamp. If I go out in it, I go up in smoke.”
She laughed a little. “What about Brandon?” she asked, distressed. “Will he be able to go outside?”
Thaddeus shrugged, and almost moved closer to her, but his instincts said she needed space. His heart ached for her and he wanted to wrap his arms around her, comfort her, to hold her. “Like I said, Emily, Brandon is an anomaly. We don’t know. But it’s probably best not to test that theory. A vampire in the sun isn’t a pretty thing to see.”
“How old are you?” she asked.
“Four hundred give or take a couple of years.”
She gasped. “Seriously?”
“As a heart attack. We usually buy the farm at around one thousand, give or take a few centuries,” he said.
“How many are there? vampires, I mean. Is your kind living all over, totally integrated with humans? Are there vampires who are married to humans?”
“I don’t know how many of us there are anymore,” he said, looking away from her. He explained about the genetic defect that made female vampires obsolete and how the race had been dying out for some time.
“I used to know vampires in almost every field. I knew one who was an Emergency Room doctor at a hospital, one who worked in the hotel industry. Anywhere there was need for night work, there was most likely a vampire. Now, there are a few here and there. Eventually, I think we’ll become extinct.”
It saddened him to think of his race being wiped out, especially when there was a chance that it could all be rectified, except for the Behavior Doctrine of The Council. He was a soldier to his core, and the Doctrine must be obeyed. And if he were following the rules of the Doctrine at that very moment in time, he would have slit his own throat, and possibly Emily’s, or at least erased her memories for the past eleven years.
The thought made his stomach turn. He was such the opposite of her. She breathed kindness. She possessed goodness at her core. He knew that in a few short hours she would accept Brandon for what he was and not think twice about it. He knew she wouldn’t run from the house simply because of her devotion and love to Brandon.
She abruptly stood up from the couch. “This has been a lot for me,” she said quietly. “I…I need some space.”
With that she walked toward the door. Without turning around she said, “Brandon is asleep in my room. Would it be okay if I took the room next door?”
Thaddeus remained on the couch by sheer will. He longed to walk over to her, to take her in his arms and assure her that everything would be okay and that he would be the one to help her see that. But he knew he was a big part of the problem. He had taken her from her world, and dropped her into his and Brandon’s world. She would need time to adjust.
Not that the thought made it any easier to pin himself to the couch. He cursed himself for his selfishness when he drove her back here. He should have woken her and let her go on her way. Instead, he did what he always did—he pleased himself. He had wanted her under his roof so badly that he hadn’t considered anything beyond that.
“Absolutely. Whatever you want, Emily.”
She blinked back tears, opened the door, and screamed.
Chapter 17
The ear-piercing shrill of terror from the only woman he had ever cared about had Thaddeus flying off the couch ready to disembowel whatever was on the other side of that door. He was at her side in a flash.
He lunged in front of her, his fighting training taking full control. His mind flickered with thoughts and questions of why there was an intruder, and how the intruder had entered his impenetrable fortress. He briefly wondered if he had forgotten to set the alarm on the keypad leading to this side of the house, but remembered doing so with clarity. His mind conjured up ten ways to disarm and kill the attacker within seconds.
His urge to kill kicked down a few notches when he came face-to-face with his older brother. He understood why Emily screamed. Aiden was scary looking. He was built like Thaddeus; his frame was huge. While Thaddeus’s skin was fair and his hair blonde, Aiden’s skin was the color of light chocolate, his hair a rich black curtain that hung to his shoulders. His eyes were a deep, whiskey colored brown, which should have been beautiful. Instead, they were the scariest part of him. They were cold, lacking any emotion, and they always had been. Except now, if it was possible, they were harder and colder, deader. Thaddeus thought that if he were to Google what a dead man walking looks like, Aiden’s picture just might pop up.
Aiden had added a few more piercings since the last time Thaddeus had seen him. He had always worn the diamond in his bottom lip, but the small diamond on the left side of his nose was new, as were the three silver hoops in his left ear. A tattoo snaked out from under his black t-shirt and up his neck to his ear. And look at that… a snakehead was inked on his neck. Thaddeus wondered what the rest of the snake was doing down below the t-shirt. Aiden dropped his bag on the floor and crossed his arms.
Thaddeus relaxed his stance, crossing his arms, mimicking Aiden. “Don’t you knock, asshole?” Thaddeus asked.
“I did knock, you cocksucker, but no one answered. And don’t swear in front of my kid.”
At Aiden’s side stood a beautiful boy. He looked a little like Aiden with similar skin coloring and dark hair, but his eye coloring was the exact same shade of whiskey brown as Aiden’s. The child smiled at Thaddeus, reminding him of Aiden when they were younger. It was a true smile, filled with happiness and light. He had only seen that smile on Aiden a few times, and his memory was as vivid as it had happened yesterday.
They were in the jungles of Africa. Thaddeus remembered he had been about seven, and Aiden had been around twelve. Their mother had dropped them off in the middle of the jungle to give them a lesson on survival while she looked for the next sire of her children. They were to find their way back to the cave they were staying in. Thaddeus remembered he had been scared, but he never would admit it. Aiden had turned the whole thing into a game. At the end of the two days, when they had finally reached the cave, they had raced jaguars, and lost. They had swung from vines high in the trees with the monkeys. They had ridden an elephant. They had witnessed the birth of a giraffe, and accidentally came face-to-face with a really pissed-off gorilla. That part had been a little scary, but those two days Aiden showed Thaddeus that smile of happiness a few times. Seeing Aiden now, Thaddeus knew that he would never see that sort of smile again. And where the hell had his brother been? He just disappeared one day without a word. Thaddeus had spent the past ten years wondering if they guy was dead or alive. But back to the kid.
“Your kid?” Thaddeus asked, surprised. Okay, not surprised. Totally dumbfounded.
“Yep. Guess I’ve been slow on getting the announcements out in the mail.”
Thaddeus felt Emily come up behind him and peek around him at the boy.
“What do you have there? Aiden asked. “Did you have dinner delivered?”
With a gasp, Emily recoiled behind Thaddeus just as his fangs punched through his gums and a low growl rolled through him.
Aiden’s eyebrows lifted in surprise.
“Well, well, well,” he said softly, his hard eyes narrowing on Thaddeus. “I can’t wait to meet the woman who put a leash on your dog.” He leaned around to get a look at Emily. “Very nice, Thaddeus. Very nice. Does she have a name?”
Thaddeus stepped up to Aiden, getting in his face. “I’ll tell you her name as long as you agree to play nice around her. No bullshit, you get me?”
Aiden nodded. “Got you,” he said softly, pushing him in the chest gently. “But back off, man.”
Thaddeus stepped back, keeping his eyes on Aiden. He reached for Emily behind his back, and he felt her hand slide into his. He pulled her forward. “Emily, this is my brother, Aiden, who as you can see, can sometimes be an asshole. And this is his son that I didn’t know about until just now.” Thaddeus looked down at the boy. “What’s your name?”
“Robert,” the boy said. Thaddeus watched as Aiden looked down at his son. The hardness in his features had softened as he took the boy in. He no longer looked like a dead man walking, but someone who had a little life left in him.
“Brother?” Emily said softly. If Thaddeus were a betting man, he would guess their stark difference in looks had her a bit confused.
“Long story,” Aiden and Thaddeus said in unison.
“Mom, what’s going on?”
Brandon stood in the hallway behind Aiden and his son, rubbing his sleepy eyes, obviously awakened by the commotion. He looked at Aiden, and suddenly he jerked wide-awake. He took a step back.
Emily brushed past Aiden and Robert to go to Brandon. “It’s okay, honey,” she said. Thaddeus could still smell her fear, and he hoped Aiden did as well and had a little decency left in him to play nice.
She placed her hands on Brandon’s shoulders and moved behind him, “This is Aiden,” she said, “Thaddeus’s brother, and his son Robert.”
No one said anything, and Thaddeus wondered if it had occurred to Emily that she was the only human in the house.
“Robert, how old are you?” Emily broke the silence.
“Ten,” the boy said.
“So is Brandon!” she exclaimed. The excitement in her voice sounded faked and forced to Thaddeus.
Thaddeus looked at Aiden, and saw the raw, hard façade disappear as he took in Brandon. His features were kind and gentle, until he looked back at Emily. Maybe Aiden wasn’t all bad. He loved his son terribly, and the way he looked at Brandon made Thaddeus realize that he truly loved kids. His hard demeanor was some type of armor he encased himself in, something to protect himself. Kids possessed honesty and purity, something that couldn’t hurt him. Adults, on the other hand, had all sorts of weapons in their arsenal. Thaddeus guessed that Aiden had been terribly hurt by someone, or something had happened in the recent past, and that was why he regarded anyone over the age of ten with contempt, hostility, and wariness.
He looked again over to Emily, the darkness returning, but this time with a hint of curiosity and surprise. “He’s one of us,” Aiden murmured, almost to himself. He turned to Thaddeus and gave him a “what’s up with this situation” look.
“Later,” Thaddeus said.
“I think it’s time for us to get to bed,” Emily said, trying to steer Robert back into his bedroom.
“I’m not tired mom,” Brandon said, and he approached Robert. “Thaddeus says he has Wii here. You want to play?”
A huge smile flashed across Robert’s face, and Thaddeus noticed his fangs. The boys pushed their way through the doorway where Thaddeus and Aiden stood, and their voices carried to the hallway as they decided on what game to play.
“Let me walk you to your room, Emily,” Thaddeus said, and then turned to his brother. “Make yourself at home, Aiden. I’ll be right back.” Thaddeus put his hand on the small of Emily’s back and walked her down the hall.
When they entered the room next to where Brandon had been sleeping, Thaddeus closed the door.
“I don’t think I’m okay with this,” she said, walking over to the bed, sitting down and crossing her arms over her chest. “I want him with me. I don’t trust anything about this situation.” She paused and looked at the floor. “I’m so confused right now.”
Thaddeus remained by the door and put his hand over his heart. He sensed her pushing him out the door, her desire to be alone. He didn’t blame her. She had just been dealt the Fuck Me card in the game of life, and she need time to figure out how to play it. He thought about telling her he would take care of everything, but then reminded himself that he was a big part of the problem.
Instead, he did the best he could with the situation, and gave her an oath. He looked into her bewitching green eyes and proclaimed, “I promise you, on my heart that keeps me alive, that nothing will happen to Brandon. I’ll watch him.” He then gave her a small bow and shut the door softly.
Chapter 18
As Ruskala gently drifted through the sky, her thoughts once again returned to her sons. Being that she was psychically linked to them, anytime she wanted to know where they were, all she had to do was concentrate. They, however, could not reciprocate being that they were half human. No, those humans didn’t have half the intelligence of the vampire race, and it showed in the offspring of the two races. She enjoyed her little power over her sons, and had made unannounced visits to each of them throughout their lives. She loved that she could pinpoint them in seconds, and that they never knew she was coming. It fed her vampire trait of domination very well.
Except that Aiden. That boy had been difficult from the second he was conceived. That little bastard had almost killed her during delivery, and it was by sheer will that she got him out of her and lived to tell about it. His father had been a tribal leader in the jungles of Africa, and she should have known that his untamed nature would be passed down to her son. She also should have done more research on Aiden’s father and realized that the man possessed a sixth sense, one that warned of danger. She never understood why that little internal alarm system of his never notified him that she was after him, but it hadn’t. Perhaps it was just the way of all males—once they began thinking with the head below the waist, the one up top pretty much coughed and sputtered to a dead stop.
That sixth sense had been passed down to Aiden. He was aware he had the gift, but he didn’t know it could affect her psychic link to him. In fact, it had made him impossible to find the past few years. Well, eleven years, to be exact. Somehow, that sixth sense had put a shield up between them. Perhaps heightened emotions could trigger the protective screen so that she could not link to him. She wasn’t sure of the why’s or how’s, nor did she particularly care. It was just another irritant in her dull-drum life. She would have loved to pop in on Aiden and see what he had been up to. Knowing him, it most certainly would have been no good. He had been a rule breaker his whole life. He didn’t care about the sacrifices The Council had made, nor did he care about the Behavior Doctrine. He was such a shit.
Now Thaddeus…yes, Thaddeus had always been the one to toe the line. Actually, the rest of her sons were pretty good with doing her bidding. How could they not? They knew that if they didn’t, she would simply kill them. She had no qualms with that. She had eight sons now, but at one point there were nine. She had made an example out of that one because he fell in love with a human woman. Stupid, weak boy. Xavier had been his name. She had forced him to watch her execute that insipid human woman. He had launched himself at her, and actually tried to kill her. Unfortunately for him, he was no match for a pure vampire, even in her spirit form. There was no room for weakness in this life.
She couldn’t wait to drop in on Thaddeus. He hated when she did. Well, scratch that. He had made it pretty clear that he hated her, and therefore hated her unannounced visits. Not that she cared. For her it was a game, a way to indulge herself in a little fun.
There wasn’t any affection between her and any of her sons, and that was fine with her. Emotions were for the weak.
Chapter 19
After Aiden situated the kids in a game of bowling on the Wii, he walked the long hallway to the large room with a view. He heard voices as he passed what he assumed to be Emily’s room, and knew that Thaddeus was in there with her. She seemed nice, and Thaddeus definitely had the hots for her. Aiden had never seen a woman give Thaddeus this type of reaction. Dude looked like he would have ripped out Aiden’s heart and have it as a snack if he even looked at the woman wrong.
He reached the large room and sunk into the cozy leather couch. It had been ten years, well, hell, probably eleven years since he had seen his brother, and there was a certain comfort in knowing that not a damn thing had changed in this room. The wooden beams, beaten leather couch, and worn, yet shiny hardwood made the room feel like a cocoon. And then there was the view. He loved the view of the valley below and the mountain on the other side. Before he had disappeared, he had spent many nights here with Thaddeus drinking whiskey and shooting the shit.
Aiden had always been drawn to Thaddeus, perhaps because they were the first two offspring Rusulka had created. Thaddeus had always been the one brother Aiden had wanted to spend time with. He mostly liked his other six brothers, but despite their physical, as well as psychological differences, Aiden had always wanted to hang with Thaddeus. It was almost as if they were two halves, the dark and the light, that made a whole.
Where Thaddeus was always about The Council and their Doctrine, Aiden had always been about giving the one-finger salute to any rules, whether they be vampire or human. Sure, the sole purpose of his existence was to maintain the anonymity of the vampire race, and he had done his job, if only to save his own life, not because he gave a shit about any rules. He had killed quite a few vampires, and when mind scrubbing wasn’t enough, he had brought the hammer down on a few humans. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t good, it was just what was required of him to keep breathing.
And now, here he was again in Thaddeus’s house after eleven years. Thaddeus would make an appearance in a few minutes and demand to know where his brother had been, and why he had pulled a magician behind the curtain and disappeared.
Aiden allowed himself to go back almost eleven years, to a happier time.
He had met Natalie, Nat for short, at a bar in Texas. He had just come from sending a vampire six feet under who thought feeding off of little girls was an okay thing to do, and decided to stop in the bar off the highway for a nightcap while making his way home to New Mexico. When he opened the door, he was hit with a wall of cigarette smoke, country music blasting on an old jukebox, the clashes of pool balls dueling on the pool table, and the sound of laughter and loud talking of the tipsy patrons. As he looked around for a place to park himself and fill up his gas tank, he saw her.
