Daughter of Anat (8 page)

“You know much Stace, but there are things you will never know about men no matter what kind of warrior you become.”

He was barely a man himself, but like Cas, he sounded so much older.  I feared the things the two of them have seen.  Lived through.

I had a sudden other fear. “Is this what Cas deems as what he calls worse?  The worst he
’s done.”

“Killing my parents?” 
Cord laughed.  “He didn’t actually do the deed.  He was just there.  Watched.  But yes, he’s done worse.  It’s why he feels unworthy of you.”

I assumed he registered himself the same.  “It doesn
’t make you who you are now.”  I was speaking to him as well as referring to Cas.

“It doesn
’t make a man feel any better about holding a woman that surpasses the punishment he deserves.  Forgive me Stace for saying so, but you are a chink in our armor.  We can never live up to what you want of us.  We are loyal, yes.  Worthy, no.”

I knew Cas felt this way.  He
’d said as much.  Hearing someone else put it into perspective gave reality to it. 

“Okay.  Suppose I agree with the conclusions you both have made up in your heads.  Can
’t we just moved past them and find a way to accept each other for the misshapen choices in our lives and see that innocent or not, we can get through this only if we do it together.”

Tough call.

He turned his head to me as he pulled into a dark parking space I didn’t recognize.  Obsidian orbs of sadness drilled into me.  “Yeah.  For now. ”

Why do men always think they have it all figured out?

“I went to see my father first.  He confirmed that Lee called him and told him Cas was here.” 

Cord parked a block away.

We walked the length of the sidewalk to place where Lee told me the old decrepit shack would be.  They didn’t meet us this time.  Why, oh why Elves were holding anyone captive in a rundown old house in the middle of a huge city was beyond me.

It
’s now or never.  It felt like I’d been crouched in the dark corner of the alley letting my imagination create disturbing images of what could be happening to Cas for more than an hour, but really was only ten minutes.  In the back of my mind the amount of danger was ever present, but I just didn’t want to think about it.  I’d let my normal careless attitude drift me from Szar’s ornery bliss, to Lee’s bizarre hidden messages, and now Cords revealing nature.  I just wanted Cas safe and something called FRANTICALLY NUTS was about to settle in. 

Shaking my limbs and closing the
back door to the car cautiously after grabbing an extra blade for comfort, I checked the inventory of my weapons.  Cord nodded as he headed for the back.  I headed for the front feeling the prickle of awareness to Cas crawling its way up my torso and resting all over my body like a hummingbird.  Right then I was so thankful for it, but there were times that I questioned its purpose.  Calum’s electric connection also.

But the real question was why I hadn
’t caught it when we were here earlier.  I usually only need to be a few feet away to feel him which only means that coming to the sidewalk before didn’t put me close enough.  I knew now he was right in the next room, but I still should have known.  It had been hidden somehow before.  I wanted to know how, but that could come later.

I didn
’t knock.

They sat at a round table. 
Me on one side, them on the other.  I could tell their weapons were drawn under the table like my own at the ready.  I could also tell they left themselves a wide birth from the distance of the table for standing quick enough to land a dagger between an intruder’s eyes.

Course, staring at Vampire Elf zombies that spewed
ill-content in my direction didn’t improve my staying power for just taking them out now.  I was also relying on the fact that they also didn’t know a Werewolf stood a mere six feet from the room and could hold me back.  Boy was he wrong.

If they had Cas, they were as good as dead by my knife or not.

I watched each of them subtly reminding myself that this situation needed caution and intellect.  A gimmick.  Take them by surprise and they’d never know what hit them.

Their blood lust.
  That was it.

On the side of my belt I sliced my finger just enough their necks stiffened, their bodies yanked into erect positions.  Their noses were on alert.  They were definitely new Vampires.  Just then, the only
inside door opened and another Elf-made-Vamp came through sending the others into a crouched animal-like position ready for attack.  Now would be a good entrance for Cord.

Anastacia.  Go.  You can
’t be here.

I heard him.

Not an option.

I had a feeling negotiations weren
’t an option here either.  I saw the way the taller Elf dude looked actually frightened when my first knife rose.  His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat going to town with his fangy hisses.  I was still wagering the best first move, confirming and changing.  That is until the one on the uneven legged chairs lifted and his nose went to the air...
and smelled me
.

That was it.  I
’d had it with them.

I tossed it through
the air aiming for the neck and missed.  That was a shock for me.  The dude had ducked.  He actually had time to duck.  With that surprise, I didn’t hear the approach from behind or feel the arrow whiz by me nailing it between the eyes.   I recognized the arrow even with its dynamic speed in the air. 

Szar hunched back and faced the opposition aimed and ready for another go at it. 
He dared to speak holding a one-eyed concentrated stare and came out with, “It’s just my highly educated guess, but I don’t think they are happy to see you.”

I glared and ignored his attempted jab at me leaving without him.  I just know my brother.

“Just a hunch you say?” Calum huffed and aimed his sword from beside him. 

“How did you know?” I circled the room to allow us all to attack at the same time.

Cord bungled up beside the other two spitting out words too inappropriate to repeat.  Szar motioned an elbow in his direction indicating Cord informed him.  He texted us.  “We live to serve you oh goddess of our world.”

My control with the wolf boy snapped.  I growled at him and went for the door where I knew Cas was.  “Take care of them.  I
’m getting Cas.”

Don
’t.

Why not? 
I stopped in the doorway now.
 
I could see him tied to a chair, his head hung low.  His face was hidden and blood was everywhere. 

Snap!  Like a helium balloon, I let out every ounce of
ill-will I possessed.

Gathering
my knives into my palm for cutting the rope I head Cas call for my brother rather oddly. “SZAR!  I.Need.You.NOW!” I screamed mentally stringing a song of curse words in my head vowing to end each with little mercy.

Szar was there without a second in passing seeing
Cas.

“Take her out of here,” Cas hissed to Szar.

“NO! I’m not leaving.”

“Stace.  He
’s hungry.  You can’t stay.”

Cord stepped into the room and threw a knowing look at Szar that I couldn
’t interpret but knew they were mind reading the guy clues or well-known histories of each other.

“I
’m not leaving,” I screeched out mad as anything and poorly making my point as they kept on their silent decision making without my input.  So much for them beating each other up all the time.  The friendships these boys held were well rooted and strangely demented.

And Cas was in constant awareness of my own whereabouts and what circumstances I
might
be in to be rescued from so I knew he had no ground for being rescued himself.  His manhandling controlling nature that wanted to fix everything for me and kill anyone who went against me in our path was instinctual to all things male.  But I felt just the same.

“He will not be able to control it.  By the looks of it, he has fed and he
’s well, in a bit of a spot when it comes to being a Vampire.”

“Tell me what to do then, but I
’m not leaving.”

Calum screamed from somewhere behi
nd me and one of the remaining Elf-vamps went down.  The walls waved and moaned like a rubber band about to snap.  Calum slammed what I guess was a fist into the wall next which didn’t help preserve my likelihood of the stud beams still standing when he was over the adrenaline rush.  This was just how he got his energy out.  The enemy just got in his way. 

The last E
lf-vamp screamed a death cry of agony shaking the walls but not falling. That is until...the wall actually cracked like bacon and as if we were all frozen in time, we watched it fall down where it stood in a heap.  Unluckily though, the last undead Elf stood before me aiming his sword edged teeth straight at me.  I backed away a step, but the visual caught me off guard.  Calum barely budged when the demon Elf pushed past him and practically flew over the rubble attacking me with its clawed fingers.  I backed away another step uncharacteristically and put both my hands to block its teeth but not missing the nasty scrap he made across my forearm.

I felt myself falling and expected the floor to bang into my head soon.  I closed my eyes, another uncharacteristic-like maneuver I typically avoided.  The floor never came.  Cord had my head cradled in his hand while Calum caught my body with one hand and held a long edged sw
ord in the center of the demon Elf’s chest where his heart would have began to stop beating by now.  Suspended in air, I still didn’t come to grips with the fact that I’d just lost my cool.  Guess we really needed each other. 

Righted to standing, I was forced to face my saviors.  Cord was eye length, so I half hugged him and was then expected to do the same with Calum.  He still incensed with a throbbing heat like he might snap the neck of anyone else who came near.   And since all of this took less than a minute and a half to take place, I had no choice but to appreciate them quietly and move back to what was more important.  After all said I left both their faces and returned to the raging growls of the man being held back by a twin brother I knew well. 

Cas lost his balance and seemingly fell over more than he was before.

“
I need... blood,” Cas rasped from looking down.

"Hair of the dog remedies shouldn't solve this one," I countered frantic to help him faster.

"I need human blood."

I wagered now he wasn
’t as weak as I thought.  He was hiding his face.  I tried to bring up all the courage I had to accept whatever I saw and not judge.  He never once judged me.

“
Cassius Cross.  I don’t care what you look like right now.  I doesn’t scare me.  Where do we get the blood?”  I asked anyone who would answer.

Calum then shot an arm out, snaking it around my waist and pulled me from him.  Like a shot in the arm, Calum
’s hands dug into my hip.  I feared for the briefest second that miscellaneous blood might be exposed and clawed to remove his hands.  Cas must have misinterpreted my actions, because his reaction was to come after my distress call though it wasn’t as he thought. 

Joy!  Boys were so...

“I’m fine, both of you.  I am just tired of the group of you telling me what to do.  I thought you were cutting me or something Calum. Now let me help.  I am not scared of you Cas.”

“Tell that to the emotions flowing off you like a siren,” he hissed through his teeth.  The hiss I knew now meant his fangs were out. 

“Just because I have fear doesn’t mean it’s toward you.  I’m scared for you.  I don’t want you hurt.”

“SZAR!” he screamed. 

“On it.”  Szar disappeared.  A second later, he was back.

He addressed us both.  “All the recently turned have be vanquished.  Cord is quicker with blood banks.  It will take him ten minutes tops. He is already in route.”

Kissa.  Please
.

“No.  I
’ll stand right here and wait if that’s what it takes, but I’m not taking my eyes off you.  Don’t do this to me.”

“Don
’t do this to me,” he growled.  All figured out.

“What is it you think I
’m doing?”

“Don
’t tempt me?” Cas begged me.

Szar was a silent wallflower until now.
 
              “Stace.   He bit the three Elves.  That’s how he kept them away.  That’s why they went mad.  And that’s why he’s stuck in the position he’s in.  After he’s had the human blood, he’ll be stabilized.  Right now, he’s liable to bite either one of us.  A little creepy on the biting me part, but still.”

Only Szar adds his wisecracks in the worst situations.

“How long now,” I didn’t take my eyes away from Cas.  He was so still.

“It
’s been two minutes.”

We stayed where we were in silence.  I wondered briefly where Cord was and if he was safe.  “Everyone is okay?” I asked Szar through my teeth.