Fatal Retribution (Raina Kirkland Book 1) Page 6

  “Thanks—who are you?” I asked.

  “Sheriff Mato,” he said, flashing me his badge.

  I bit my lip to try and hold back my stomach from growling, but it was no use. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast at camp nearly fourteen hours ago. I was more than hungry. I was famished, starved—ravenous even.

  “Have you eaten much?” he asked. I shook my head. “That explains much of your pain. Your body is changing and you are starving.” He shook his head, “How could they forget to feed you?”

  I knew my face was red with embarrassment. I could feel the heat from it.

  “I don’t suppose there is a cafeteria or something around here.”

  “No, but I will have some food brought down to the VCC. That is where you are heading, correct?”

  I was shocked by his kindness, and not because he was a vampire, or a stranger. He was a police officer after all. His chosen career was to serve and protect people and I’m people. I guess I was shocked simply because it was the first kindness I was shown in a while.

  “Yes, I am. Thank you.” My words were soft.

  “Think nothing of it. You are a guest in our town—while you remain here with us.” His eyes lingered on mine for a moment or two too long, long enough for me to feel awkward about it.

  “Do you need anything from me?” I asked. He was after all the sheriff of this town. I already gave my statement to Officer Ranger, but I couldn’t pretend to know anything about law enforcement.

  “From you?—No,” he said quietly. His eyes darted behind me and suddenly he seemed more guarded. I’d never been able to read vampires but it was his posture and face that told me that he was suddenly less comfortable.

  I looked behind me to see my uncle Seth standing beside my mom. They matched too well. Both had long black and gold hair, thin long bodies and sharp features like Tristan. Mom’s hair was down and flowing around her feet. Seth’s identical hair was braided tightly all the way to the floor and then looped back up so the tail of the braid was connected to the top of the braid. It’s funny how some men can pull off something that should have looked too feminine. Seth had been infected with vampirism at sixteen, but he didn’t look like a boy. He looked like a very young twenty-something.

  In my weakened condition I did something close to a run down the hall and wrapped my arms around my mom. She was wearing a beautiful brown witch’s robe that brought out the gold in her hair. There were numerous necklaces hanging around her long neck, all made up of the same dark metals and wood beads.

  “It’s okay,” she whispered into my hair. She was never a very affectionate woman, but I held onto her thin frame and felt my throat tighten when Seth wrapped his long arms around us both. He was wearing his usual, black dress slacks and shirt with a gold tie. He always dressed well. It was as though he tried to make up for how vampires are perceived by dressing very respectful.

  I hadn’t even noticed the other people standing around us. My dad, Dan, and his ex-wife, Rachael, were standing several feet apart from one another. Dan’s red hair peeked out from his usual patriotic ball cap. The cap’s bill nearly hid his big brown eyes completely. I hadn’t expected him to comfort me so it was no surprise that he didn’t.

  Jed, Rachael’s boyfriend, had his hand tightly wrapped around hers. From under the warm arms of my mom I could see them staring at us, their chins held high with disgust. Jed’s dense blond curls clung to his head like a small afro. Katie was the spitting image of Rachael, minus the smoker’s wrinkles and a few inches in height. Rachael’s hair was cut short. It left her long slender neck looking cold and vulnerable. She and Jed matched in their blue polo shirts, faded blue jeans, and too much gold jewelry.

  “Should I hold the elevator?” Mato asked.

  “No thank you,” said Jed, and it wasn’t a friendly tone, but Mato didn’t react to it. I suspected it was their presence that made him look so ill at ease.

  He patted my shoulder lightly. “I will have food waiting for you when you arrive, enough for everyone,” he said kindly.

  “Thank you,” Seth said. Mato nodded and headed for the elevator.

  “Why are you guys still here?” I asked Rachael. “I figured you would have grabbed Katie and left by now.”

  A flare of anger shot out from Rachael like a wave of heat through my mind. I didn’t mean to open my empathy to her. Had I done it on accident again? Usually it wasn’t something I could just do. I always had to try very hard at it. Damn it.

  “She and Jed only just arrived,” Mom said.

  I gave them a curious look. “But, the doctor said you guys have been here all day.”

  “Just your father and I,” Mom said. I wanted to argue when she called Dan my father. Dan was as much my father as any stranger off the street. I had no father.

  “I just heard about all of this a few hours ago or I would have been here sooner,” Rachael said.

  “You didn’t need to be disturbed at work,” Jed said. “Not about this. Katie said Michael was already dead and she was fine. A few hours wasn’t going to change that.”

  “Oh God, my son!” Rachael sobbed and Jed brought her in to hide her face in his chest. He looked tired and irritated with her, like he’d been suffering from her grief for far too long already. Was three hours the maximum length of time to grieve for your son’s death in Jed’s eyes? Bastard.

  Dan bent down, as though he saw something on the floor and wanted to take a closer look, but I knew he was also crying for his son. Too manly to cry for his son in public, I guess. Whatever.

  “He’s not dead-dead. He’s a vampire,” I said.

  Rachael and Jed shot me a dirty look. “Same difference,” Jed spat. His feminine hands grabbed Rachael by her shoulders and he led her to the elevator behind Dan, who made a b-line for it the moment the doors opened and a half dozen people walked out.

  “See you down there,” Dan said.

  Seth, Mom and I were left alone in the hall as the elevator doors closed. Mom and Seth looked down at me and the similarities between them were almost too great. Tristan also looked nearly identical to them; the hair, the eyes, the thinness, the long faces and the serious attitude to which they approach life. Looking at them, it seemed almost impossible that a short, curvy, auburn haired, red eyed woman could come from this family. Nick at least looked like Dan. Suddenly, like Tasha, I began to doubt my parentage. But, I let that thought go. There was nothing I could do about it, so why worry.

  “How is everyone doing?” Mom asked with a deep frown and large black eyes full of pity.

  “Nicholas is fine. The doctor said he should wake in a day or two.”

  “You and Tristan?” she asked without acknowledging my first statement. I shook my head. She didn’t even care about Nick.

  “I don’t know where Tristan is or how he’s doing. They’ve had me isolated since nearly seven this morning,” I said.

  “He called me when he knew I’d be awake. That’s why I’m here, Anna,” Seth said. He looked to Mom and she met his eyes. “He is suffering from survivors’ guilt, I think. I talked to him a bit over the phone, but I think he will need professional help. I know a very talented therapist. I’ll set something up.”

  “Thank you,” Mom said.

  “Seth?” I asked. “I think you should talk to Nick also. He’s an elf like you and I’m worried for him.” Seth nodded sullenly and we made our way to the elevator.

  ALL IN THE FAMILY

  SETH’S JAW TIGHTENED when he saw Nicholas behind the glass wall. Mom glanced toward Nicholas, but quickly diverted her eyes. Ruy and Tristan were standing near the sitting area talking with Nenet. A female vampire was shaking Dan’s hand. She was my height but her thinness made her look taller. Her skin was a pale tan, and most of her jet-black hair was loosely braided while the rest seemed to flow in a breeze I didn’t feel. She wore a sheer white gown that hid nothing. It was held up by only two strings of wooden beads lying between her naked breasts and wrapped around her neck. Most men’s eyes f
ound their way to her every few seconds, and I couldn’t blame them. She was one of the most exotic, beautiful and publicly nude women I’d ever seen…and I’m a witch.

  Mato was helping set platters of food down on the glass table in the sitting area. Flat crispy bread in circular shapes and strips of some kind of dark pink meat lie on one platter, fruit and cream were on another plate. The final platter held a bowl of red dip and paper plates. Many people were already digging into the food before Mato, and those helping him, even had a chance to set it down. Tristan was one of them, and so was Katie. I wondered if they had eaten anything today, or were they neglected too?

  “What the fuck is this?” Jed yelled at Katie. He grabbed her plate out of her hands. Bits of strawberries fell to the floor and the cream on the plate slid onto Jed’s thin thumb. Katie said nothing and her mom didn’t move to defend her either.

  “It’s food, genius!” I yelled from near the elevator, where I had been standing, silently observing the room and trying not to faint. I found new strength in anger. Jed turned his baby blues on me. It felt good to be angry, real good.

  “Shut it witch!” he spat. He shoved the plate back into Katie’s hands and turned to the doctor, Tasha. “So what the hell are we supposed to do with a fucking vampire?” he asked her.

  “Umm—,” Tasha stammered. She had been explaining the process of releasing custody of a vampire over to parents when Jed exploded, first turning to Katie out of the blue, and then redirecting his anger at the doctor. She backed away from him and started looking through her papers for something helpful maybe. Jed moved forward, advancing for every step Tasha took back.

  “Jed, you ass!” I moved toward him, but Mom grabbed my shoulder to stop me. She looked over at Seth for help. He was standing next to the glass, staring at the boys.

  “The food is for you. It’s called hospitality. And, you love Michael, that’s what you do with him.” Seth was calm and Mato looked up at him. In fact everyone was looking at him. He rubbed his hand down the glass lovingly. The vampire that was shaking Dan’s hand began to stalk toward Seth, mouth opened in a wide hungry smile.

  “And, just how am I supposed to take him, this—thing to church? He can’t even come in the building, let alone pick up a bible!” this from Rachael. Her face was red and I could tell it took a lot of effort for her to speak up in a room full of vampires—well at least more than seven as I could tell. The Native Vampires laughed abruptly. I didn’t get the joke.

  The woman vampire in the sheer dress hung onto Seth’s arm. She smiled up at his narrow face and he wasn’t fazed in the least by her straight forward actions. I would have been shaken by her approach at the very least, but Seth wasn’t. In fact, I think he liked her attention.

  “You have some nerve little lady!” Ruy pointed a firm finger at Rachael. “This boy has been through hell and all you can think of is yourself! You think he’s damned, don’t you? You see him as a spawn of Satan, like one of those damned fools out there spouting human supremacy!”

  “Talken bout damn fools. You use to be one of us, Ruy, vampire hunter extraordinaire.” Jed stepped up to Ruy. He looked fatter and more frail and boy-like standing next to the muscular bulk of Ruy.

  “Yeah, well I’ve learned that not all vampires are monsters, just like not all humans are saints. Michael is no monster, and he’s still your son, right now, as you’re standing here damning him!”

  “He’s not Rachael’s son any more. Michael’s dead! We just came for Kate,” Jed said, his angry stare moved from Ruy to Katie. She was kneeling on the floor picking up the fruit Jed spilled when he grabbed her plate. I felt something come from him, something that made my skin crawl. An unexpected emotion, but it was so out of place that I simply didn’t recognize or understand it. Then my thoughts were interrupted by a booming voice.

  “Excuse me,” said a deep and masculine voice.

  A man was standing just outside the elevator as the doors closed behind him. “Excuse me,” he said again once he got everyone’s attention. His head was shaven and his face was just as open and beautiful as Mato’s, but his eyes were dark and cold. Besides the soft leather pants, he wore nothing at all, traditional Native Vampire attire.

  “You intend to harm this girl,” the vampire said to Jed. He gestured to Katie with a wave of his hand. He had long nails that curled slightly at the tips. His skin was tan but it also had a hint of blue in it. As he moved closer to us, his muscles moved under his skin like a beast on the prowl.

  “What the fuck?” Jed asked belligerently, though his tone had noticeably lost some of its vigor.

  “This is Melvern, co-master of Darkness,” Mato announced.

  Melvern greeted everyone in the room with his eyes and a nod. A smile curled his lips when he saw Seth and the woman vampire, now intertwined on one of the chairs. She had her fingers in his black and gold hair and he had one of his hands cupping her firm breasts. She was whispering things into his ear as they watched the room. It felt as if we were their personal entertainment. All life is a stage, right?

  Jed shuffled his feet and looked at Rachael for agreement.

  “We should get going. It’s late. Come on Kate!” he shouted after himself as he and Rachael made their way toward the elevator.

  “Stop!” Melvern called to them in his booming voice. He pointed at Katie. “This girl will not go home with you. Your mind tells me that you plan to beat the fair haired child when you get to your home, and I know that you,” he pointed to Rachael, “will not intervene to save your own daughter from this brutal beating.” Melvern’s face was stern and condemning.

  “You can read my thoughts? Well, that doesn’t matter. You have no authority. Now, we got to get home,” he moved his shoulders restlessly.

  “Now you are thinking, ‘She will get it twice as rough?’ What is it, sir, what is—it?” Melvern asked, tilting his head. It was a rhetorical question, but someone had something to say about it.

  “He’s hurting my baby girl?” Dan yelled.

  “So this was why you came camping with us? To get away from Jed because he hurts you?” I asked Katie in a quiet voice.

  Dan moved in to attack Jed and I saw Melvern smile wide. I had to wonder if he did that to save Katie from another night of pain or for his own entertainment.

  Katie interrupted Dan in mid-punch. “Dad!” she yelled while she grabbed him around the waist. He couldn’t get at Jed well enough with her there. He let his shoulders fall heavily and looked at her for an explanation.

  “Dad, I’ll just come home with you. Let’s not fight about this. Michael’s more important right now.” Dan frowned at her but nodded slowly.

  Jed and Rachael ran for the elevator with all our glaring faces following them. “You are going to be sorry about this little missy!” Jed yelled out before the doors shut.

  “Good show,” the vampire on Seth’s lap laughed. Melvern bowed and she alone clapped. I shook my head, mumbling my discontent under my breath. I shouldn’t have, because doing so gained me the attention of the vampire on Seth’s lap.

  “Hello young one. Raina, is it? I am Olathia, the other master of Darkness,” the vampire said. She had unbuttoned Seth’s shirt and was playing with his juvenile chest hairs.

  “Nice to meet you,” I said purely as a nicety and not genuine feeling. She was beautiful but she was a weirdo.

  Katie looked as weak as I felt. She sat down in one of the chairs, and brought her knees to her chest. She looked so much younger, so fragile and so much a victim.

  “I’m sorry, Katie,” I said.

  She didn’t look up at me, or anybody. I could read her emotions loud and clear: a strong mixture of relief, embarrassment, and fear.

  “It's better this way,” Katie said to the floor.

  “It is,” I agreed quietly.

  “I knew that look. He was going to use the iron again. He always gets that crazy look on his face when he’s going to use the iron.” And just like that, without meaning to, I had an image in
my head of Katie crying, trying to get away from Jed as he chased her with a heated iron. I could see him forcing it down on her skin. Smoke rising up as it burned her, straight through her cloths. I’d never seen a mark on Katie, which meant the places he was hurting her where places that shorts and a tank top covered. I’d never gotten images with emotions before, and that one left me breathless with her terror. I had to hide my face in my hands and catch my breath.

  “Iron?” Tristan asked. He had left Nenet’s side and only just came in on the tail end of her sentence.

  Her big brown eyes watered up and she looked up at me. Her face was red and splotchy. “He likes to burn me sometimes. My mom will never let me go home again. She and Jed are getting married in November.” She shoved her face into her arms and before I could comfort her Dan was there, hugging her tightly. Somehow, I could never picture him holding me like that. I hated him for making me wish that I was just as human as his precious Katie and Michael. Well, maybe not Michael, not anymore.

  Now that I knew Melvern could read thoughts, I found myself looking back to him again and again. I could never tell the emotions of vampires, so I tried to read his expression to gauge whether or not he heard a thought, and approved or disapproved of it.

  “Raina?” he said, inching toward me through the crowd around the table. Even with all the sadness and whatnot, I wanted to stuff myself silly, but I didn’t. I restrained myself, and only took a single plate of food to quiet my hunger for the moment.

  Tasha and Mato were talking to Mom, Dan and Seth. Olathia was still clinging to my uncle. I wondered if Olathia was using her master vampire wiles on him. If so, I was sure Seth could handle himself. He was fairly powerful as far as vampires go, as I understood it.

  Melvern glided more than walked my way. He took me by the elbow and guided me away from everyone else. His hand was like ice.

  “You’re freezing,” I said.