Hanging On By A Thread (Clearnight Haven Book 2), page 3
“Why?” Silas asked, and Fabian could hear the protectiveness in Silas’s voice
“She makes Joan Crawford look like a happy homemaker Mama from the fifties,” B.B. commented.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand,” Fabian said.
“Joan Crawford the movie star, adopted two kids and was batshit crazy as they come and those poor kids had to deal with it and suffer her horrible abuse,” Silas replied.
Was his brother kidding him? How in the hell did he know about all of this? Fabian looked at Silas, giving him a questioning look, and at least his little brother had the good grace to look a little embarrassed. “I don’t even want to know how you know that. And even though I have no clue what you two are talking about, I am intelligent enough to get the message. Atticus’s mother is not someone to take lightly.” Fabian turned his attention back to B.B. “But we really do want to help to find Atticus, and if you could give us any information to make that happen, we would be grateful.”
“Patrice Lovering is not someone you want to turn your back on or make an enemy of, trust me. But if she does know I am standing here talking to you, and I’m sure she does, then she’s gonna come knocking on my door insisting I tell her every word that was said. And let me tell you, I am not too proud to say that woman scares the shit out of me. I think you two should go back the way you came and make it look like I didn’t tell you shit. I’ll go back inside and go about my life. There’s an abandoned boathouse down on pier 8. I’ll meet you there in an hour. There is no one out there and we will be able to talk in private.”
“Or you could come to the mansion over on Cliffside Drive where we live and talk. We promise you will be safe there,” Fabian replied.
“Yeah, but I would have to leave and come back here eventually, and if Patrice has any of her cronies follow me and they find out I went to the head Vamp, I might as well just jump off those damn cliffs and end my life,” B.B. argued.
“Okay, seeing as we’re new here, we’ll take your lead on this. We’ll meet you there in one hour,” Fabian conceded.
“Oh, and as you leave, be careful what you say to each other. Patrice has great hearing and I swear that dump of hers has ears,” B.B. stated, then spun on his heels and climbed the few steps into his home and closed the door behind him.
Silas and Fabian looked to one another, neither saying a word for a moment. A smile crossed Silas’s lips. “I like him,” he said with a chuckle.
“I agree. Okay, let’s get out of here,” Fabian replied. They turned and headed back to the way they came.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
They stood in the dark inside the old boathouse, Fabian by the bay door that at one time was used to allow boats to come and go, as he looked out the small window. Silas stood at the front peering out a small slit in the wall that looked out over the deserted parking lot.
“Where the hell is he?” Silas hissed.
“I’m starting to get the feeling we’ve been had.” Fabian sighed and turned to face his brother. “He’s a half hour late and we’re wasting time. I’ll call Atax and River and have them go sit on little B.B.’s house, while also keeping an eye on Patrice Lovering,” Fabian said as he pulled his cell from his jacket pocket. “Then we can get out of here and hit the next name on the list.”
“What about the rest of the town? Is it wise to pull two guys off patrol?”
“I doubt anything will happen in the next few weeks. These disappearances are once a week, but throughout the region, like whoever this is, is trying to fool the authorities. The last hit here, before Atticus, was four months ago. The one before that five months. So, I think we have some time. But you’re right, we should still keep the town under observation. I’ll have Saber join up with JuJu.”
“Wait. I just saw something move out there,” Silas exclaimed as he turned fully toward the hole. “I think it’s B.B., but he looks like he’s moving funny.”
Fabian went to stand beside Silas and peered out the opening too. A flash of violet in a shadow to the left caught his eye. The figure seemed to be stumbling, or limping. The hairs on the back of Fabian’s neck raised as a feeling of dread filled him. Something wasn’t right. He knew it was B.B., he could smell the human, but he also caught a whiff of blood, and lots of it. As much as he wanted to stay in hiding so no one would see them meeting with the human, he knew they needed to act fast or something life changing would happen. Fabian had no idea how he knew this or why, he just did. If he didn’t get to B.B. and help him, something horrible was going to happen.
“Shit!” Silas hissed beside him, and before Fabian could say a word, Silas ripped the front door from its hinges and bolted through the opening, crossing the distance between them and B.B. in a mere second.
Fabian followed his brother’s lead and took off out of the door. When he joined them in the shadows by an old broken street lamp, Fabian was surprised to see Silas on the ground on his knees, and B.B.’s cute head on his lap as his brother tenderly stroked B.B.’s cheek.
“Why didn’t I know it before? He was standing right in front of me and I had no clue. Why? Don’t die, little one. Please stay with me.”
Fabian heard Silas’s heart wrenching plea and moved his gaze from B.B.’s blood covered face, down his body. B.B.’s clothes were torn and Fabian could see claw marks marring his flesh throughout his body. His right arm was a dark purple and Fabian was sure it was broken. But the worst of it was the bone that he could actually see poking out a small hole in B.B.’s left thigh, his leg oozing blood.
“Silas, we need to get him out of here. He needs medical attention, now. Silas? Silas!” Fabian yelled as he placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder and gave him a small shake.
His brothers head snapped up and when their gazes met all the air in Fabian’s lungs escaped. There was so much anguish and confusion in Silas’s eyes. It was so deep that Fabian could literally feel it in his own heart. “Silas, we have to get him to a doctor. Come on brother, I’ll help you,” Fabian offered and stooped low, reaching out to help with B.B.
“No! Don’t touch him! He’s mine! My mate!”
CHAPTER 3
It was so cold and the filthy, thin blanket didn’t help keep the chills away. Atticus shifted his weight from his left leg which felt numb from sitting on it for so long, to his right hip. The bars of the cage beneath him biting into his bone. He moved around until he had one cheek resting on the concrete floor between the bars, and pulled the disgusting blanket up tighter around his chin. You would think he was used to living in such squalor, seeing as his mother was a hoarder, but Atticus hated it. He always had.
He could remember a time when things were normal and his life had been happy. The days before his father was killed by that evil man Malcolm Dean. Atticus had only been four then and didn’t understand, but he found out the truth as he got older. Atticus’ father had owned the Clearnight Haven Marina. He was a good man, a fair man, who treated everyone respectfully, whether they be human, vampire, or any other paranormal. Atticus remembered going there with his dad and fishing off the docks at night, taking the boat out sailing around the Straight, and just having fun.
Then Malcolm Dean came along and wanted to buy his father out, but Dad said no. He loved his Marina and wanted to give it to Atticus someday. Malcolm tried forcing his Dad to sell, including bribing the town council and bringing in his own man to be Mayor. Atticus still had no clue how Dean was able to pull that off.
They tried everything from law enforcement making weekly visits disturbing the business with fake drug searches, to multiple town fines for code violations. He remembered how angry his father was over all the corruption Dean had brought to Clearnight Haven and how his parents even talked about leaving. But his dad had refused to give up. He loved this town and worked hard to help build it up into the wonderful place it had become. Then the day came where his dad was left beaten on one of the docks just before sunup.
Atticus’s mom had been really worried about his dad not being home when the sun came up and called his manager, Milton, a human who knew what they were, and asked him to check on his dad. Milton had been really upset when he spoke to his mom, and told her that he had found his dad beaten almost to death, but he had gotten there too late. Just as he approached Atticus’ dad, the sun had risen and he was burning to death.
After that everything just got worse. Malcolm Dean and his cronies, including the Mayor, said that dad owed thousands in back taxes and fines. They took everything from he and his mom. The marina, their beautiful house, his dad’s boat, and most of their possessions. He and his mom were left with the clothes on their backs, a suitcase each, and nothing more.
Then Dean said, out of the kindness of his heart, as the coven leader, he would make sure they weren’t homeless, and gave them that shitty trailer they still lived in. The damn thing had no heat, was like an oven in the summer, and the roof leaked. But Dean told them they should be grateful they hadn’t been chased out of town and that they had somewhere to live.
After that is when the hoarding started. Patrice wouldn’t let go of anything and it just kept piling up. She also started drinking that paranormal liquor, Morte Cremisi, that showed up in their coven one day. So many of the vampires from Clearnight had fallen victim to the crap and ended up dead. Not only did Morte Cremisi get them drunk like the humans’ alcohol, but it also was addictive, like the humans’ drugs, and once someone drank it, they became hooked.
After about six months on that crap and his mom wasn’t his loving mother anymore. She became a cold, hard, selfish bitch that was very cruel to him. Atticus had tried everything to help her, but nothing worked. All it did was make her worse. Then one day he had told a friend that he couldn’t take it anymore and he was going to leave Clearnight, and suddenly Malcolm Dean showed up at the docks where he had been working and told him he would personally do everything he could to help Patrice, but only if Atticus stayed and gave his support, too.
So he stayed and for a few months everything was getting better, but then Dean came back and said Patrice was caught stealing from the coven and seeing as she couldn’t pay off the debt herself because she couldn’t work with her addiction, that as her son, it was up to him to pay off her debt.
Then Dean disappeared and Raven Stone, their king, had come to town and found out about all the corruption that was going on and he got rid of the Mayor and other town officials and things had been getting better. His mother was still an evil bitch, but he no longer had to work his ass off to pay off her debt, so he and his best friend B.B. started working to save their money so they could leave Clearnight.
Even though things in the coven were slowly improving, his mother was getting worse and some of the men who worked for Malcolm were still around and giving him and B.B. trouble. B.B. was so afraid that those guys were going to do something really bad someday, like rape them, or torture them, so he wanted to get away, and Atticus couldn’t agree more.
But while he was waiting for that day to come, Atty didn’t want to be alone. Sure, he had B.B., but they were just friends. Best friends; but Atty wanted someone to love him. Yes, B.B. loved him, but he wanted a man of his own. Someone who would want just him and treat him right. Someone who would make him happy and feel loved. Atty wanted his Prince Charming, or his Bruce Wayne. Someone who would make him feel safe and who he could give his love to. Someone he could love with all his heart.
That’s why he went on that stupid dating site to begin with. He didn’t like any of the men that he knew in Clearnight Haven. Most of them treated him like a weakling, or a piece of garbage. But Diego was different, or so Atty thought. At first, he had been so nice and sweet. They spoke once a week for the first month, then slowly they talked more and more, until after three months they practically talked on the dating site every day. By month four Atty, felt so comfortable with Diego that he had given him his cell phone number.
He found that he could tell Diego anything and Diego had never judged him. He even told Atty that he wanted to help him get away from Patrice, but Atty couldn’t take his money. As they got to know one another, Atty had shared his whole life story with Diego and Diego always made him feel good. He listened to Atty when he talked. He didn’t interrupt or not let Atty get a word in edgewise. Diego wasn’t rude and didn’t take over a conversation. He had always been patient and understanding, and Atty had thought that he finally found a nice guy that he wanted to get to know better. Boy, had he been wrong.
Now here he sat trapped in some cage somewhere and Atticus was afraid that B.B. was also being held. Tears began to build in Atty’s eyes as he thought about his best friend. B.B. had warned him about meeting strangers online and about meeting those strangers in person but Atty hadn’t listened. Why? Why had he been so stupid and not listened to B.B.? B.B. was his best friend, his only friend. Even though B.B. was a human, he knew all about vampires and shifters. He had found out about them the hard way.
A loud creaking noise rung out and Atticus flinched back into the corner of the cage. He knew what that sound was. The son of a bitch that had taken him was back and things weren’t going to be good for Atticus. Every time he showed up, Atticus was either beaten or starved. Then the man would tell him that his training would begin soon.
Sir is what he demanded Atty call him, and if Atty didn’t, then he was dragged from his cage and torture with the hose. They would tie him down naked to a wooden table, then turn on the high-pressure hose and let it rip his skin until he was a bloody mess. Atty would scream and cry, begging for them to stop. The pain was so bad that all he wanted to do was die, but they would never listen to him. They would just tell him that this was his life now, doing what others told him to do, when they told him to do it, and to keep his mouth shut.
After they were done and he lay there soaked, covered from head to toe in blood, and just a mass of excruciating agony, they would leave him there to heal. Which took forever seeing as they wouldn’t let him feed. Once he healed enough where he stopped bleeding, then Wally, his guard, would come in and hose him off with a regular hose and throw him back in his cage.
Atty was so cold and tired. He was so weak that he could hardly keep his eyes open most of the time, but the worst is when Wally would come in and tell him what they planned on doing to him once he was bought and if his new master wanted him trained properly before they sent Atty to him.
Wally told him that he was looking forward to having the pleasure of training Atty himself. First, he would break Atty by fucking him to the point he begged for mercy, then the real training would begin.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Fabian stood at the window, staring out over the straight...again. It seemed like he was spending a lot of time in this position since coming to Clearnight. He found a sort of peace wash over him as he stood staring at the water, and found that it was a great place to just think and try to figure things out. Like what they were going to do about the small human now lying unconscious upstairs in Silas’s bed? Why hadn’t Silas been able to scent that B.B. was his mate when they spoke to him earlier that evening? And most importantly, what happened to B.B., and who was responsible? Even though Clearnight Haven had many humans living in it and most didn’t know about their kind, like Raven, Fabian saw them as part of the coven, and therefore his responsibility to protect.
And this Atticus Lovering was a part of this coven as well as the best friend of his brother’s mate, so now he had even more reason to find him. Fabian had a feeling that the answers of where to start looking were trapped inside B.B.’s head, and they needed to be patient. Right now, they needed to give B.B. time to heal, but did Atticus have that kind of time? Even with Silas giving B.B. some of his blood to help the healing process speed up, the cute little human would still need some time to recover.
“I think we figured out how Silas didn’t know the human was his compagno,” Kalen said as he, Jasper, and Saber walked in. Fabian turned, his hands stuffed into his front pockets, and raised a questioning brow.
“That...house of Atticus’ is so disgusting and full of so many smells―”
“Rotting and moldy smells,” Saber grumbled, cutting Kalen off.
“Yes. There is so much garbage and other stuff around there, as you already know, that just spending five minutes surrounded by that filth and I couldn’t really smell anything else until we were away from it for about a half hour,” Kalen continued.
“And that stench carried over into B.B.’s backyard. It wasn’t until we entered his home that his scent started mingling in. We packed some of his things that he may need and when we went back outside, our senses were hit with that garbage again, and that’s when it dawned on us,” Jasper added as he placed a duffle bag on the couch and sat beside it.
“That makes sense. At least one of our questions have been answered. Thanks, brothers,” Fabian replied, then turned back to the window.
“We’ll figure it all out, Fabian. It may take some time, but we will,” Kalen said.
“I know, but does this Atticus have that kind of time? We don’t even know if he’s still alive. Something is telling me that he is. That something is also telling me that B.B. has most of the answers we need,” Fabian said, his gaze still on the rippling waves rolling in.
“The sun will be up soon. Maybe he’ll come around by the time we awaken this evening,” Jasper said in a hopeful voice.
“I hope so. But again, I worry if Atticus has any time at all. Depending on who took him, he may be in danger just from the sun. If a human took him and they don’t know to keep him away from sunlight…” Fabian stopped and shook his head slightly as he sighed.
“Well, your gut is usually pretty good. So, tell us what your gut is saying to you, brother,” Saber said.
