Flowers and Fangs (Stake and Dust series, Book II) (18 page)

Derek pounded a hammer, securing the last
target to the side of the shed. He turned around and caught her
eye. Her keen hearing picked up his heartbeat and how it sped up as
his gaze slid over her from head to toe and back up again. She
wondered if it was because he was glad to see her, or if it was the
way she looked in the
painted on
outfit she sported.

Tremayne glanced at Cassandra and shook his
head. He obviously didn't approve of her new attire. Wade met her
eyes briefly then he looked way, clearing his throat.

She crossed her arms over her chest, feeling
a bit naked. "I'm going back inside to change." She took a step,
but Cassandra gripped her arm and held her steady.

"Oh, no you don't. You look fine. They're big
boys. If you have to maintain control, by God so do they." She gave
her a nudge to move her forward.

Derek didn't suffer any ill effects from her
love bite
and for that she was grateful, but it was torture
not to be able to be with him—alone that is. He was ever present;
it was his house. He was near, but not close enough to touch, and
she wanted to do more than touch, but she promised Tremayne to keep
her distance. She had a hunch Derek had been forced to make a
similar promise since he didn't seek her out, but she caught his
hesitant glances when he thought she wasn't looking.

However tonight, Derek was hers. "I'm here
for my lesson." Her voice had taken a life of its own, sounding
sensual and husky as if she were trying out for the lead part of a
sex-phone operator.

Derek's brow glistened with beads of sweat
and his heart thudded loud in her ears. Was he nervous? Excited?
Heck, she was both.

Derek reached for a quiver and handed it to
her. This one wasn't so high-tech as the crossbow he favored. She
supposed she needed to start small before moving up to the big
guns, or rather handheld crossbows with built in scopes like the
one Derek possessed.

"I'll teach you a surefire technique to aim
and shoot with precision," he told her. "With your vampire senses,
you'll pick that up quickly, but I'll help you fine tune your
skill. It's one thing to shoot at a target that stands still, but
quite another to shoot one that is coming at you with the intent to
maim or kill. Your aim has to be spot on or you're a goner."

"What if they're too close for me to shoot
off arrows?"

"You might have hand to hand battles where
you'll require a dagger, and we'll get to that, too. One weapon at
a time. And an arrow is quite handy to jab into the neck for close
up and personal."

"Jesus." She already had the ability to be a
killer, but they were training her to be what exactly?"

"Why the frown?" Derek stared at her with
concern.

Her gaze took in the dark stubbles on his
chin and jaw line. He hadn't shaved. His five o'clock shadow was
more pronounced. She never dated a guy who could grow a full out
beard, but she would bet Derek could if he put his mind to it.

She shook her head and forced herself to
concentrate. "Why are you going to so much trouble to teach me to
use this weapon? I know you want me to be ready if Tim calls, but I
have a difficult time believing bows and arrows are going to be
what I need when I face him."

"No, you're right, but this training will
teach you patience and accuracy to overpower an opponent no matter
what you hold in your hand."

She realized he didn't say Tim, but they both
knew it was what he had meant by overpowering her opponent. If she
were to survive, she would have to be willing to take down the guy
she'd known more than half her life. She swallowed hard. "What do I
need to do?"

Over an hour she worked on shooting arrows at
a target that resembled a scarecrow dressed in a flannel shirt and
stuffed with hay.

"She's not doing too bad," Wade said, then
added, "What the hell, is that my shirt on the scarecrow?" Wade
took a step toward the target. By the time she was finished
riddling it with arrows, the target looked more like a life-size
voodoo doll.

She glanced at Derek who winked at her.

"Do you really think you should piss him
off?" she asked and chuckled behind a closed fist.

"He'll get over it."

"That was my favorite shirt, dammit." Wade
stared at the scarecrow on the hook. "Now look at it." He turned
and glared at Derek.

"You didn't expect me to use my own shirt,
did you?"

"Why you—"

Cassandra stepped in and took Wade by the
arm, leading him toward the house.

"He did that on purpose," Wade complained to
her.

"Of course he did, dimwad." Cassandra smacked
him on the back of the head. "Duh."

"Do they always fight like that?" Sloane
asked Derek pointing a thumb in their direction.

"Trust me that's nothing. Let's see what you
can do with a target charging you." Derek jogged over to the pulley
hooked to the roof of the garage. The other end was attached to a
pole that looked like it once had been used as a clothesline. Her
nana still had one in her backyard and refused to use the dryer her
parents had bought her.

"Are you ready?" Derek shouted to her.

"Ready as I'll ever be. She held the quiver
like Derek had taught her to hold it and readied the arrow.

Eeek, eek, eek eeeeeek
, the squeaking
sound came faster and faster until a large monstrosity came
barreling down from the roof. For a split second, she forgot she
needed to aim and stumbled back. Her arrow went wide and a second
later a bellow and a stream of curses filled the night air.
Tremayne came stalking around the corner of the garage. He yanked
the offensive arrow out of his thigh with a resounding hiss.
Cassandra jogged over to him from the back step, but he waved her
off that he was okay.

"Good shot," Wade yelled from the step with a
chuckle, which won him dagger-like stares from both Tremayne and
Cassandra.

Derek stood on the wall with his hands on his
hips. "Let's try that again, but aim for the scarecrow this
time."

Yeah, easier said than done. After an hour of
wild shots and not hitting the damn scarecrow, she was fed up. When
Derek released the scarecrow again, she threw down the bow and ran
toward it. She leapt in the air and slammed the arrow into its
hay-packed neck. She stabbed it over and over again.

"Well that works, too," Wade called to her,
his humor irritating her further. "I think you killed it dead for
sure," he added with a chortle.

She glared at him, her chest heaving as she
tried to catch her breath from her stabbing spree.

Derek jumped down from the roof and strode
over to her. He glanced at the scarecrow's tattered flannel shirt
and the straw scattered all over the yard. He met her eyes. "Maybe
we should work on something else for a while." He carefully took
the arrow from her clutches.

Derek and Wade showed her some defensive
moves. She'd been knocked on her backside so many times, she was
glad her vampy powers—for lack of a better word—allowed her to heal
fast.

Cassandra also joined in on the fun. She had
brought weapons with her from home, making Sloane wonder how she
managed to sneak past security with so much metal. She showed her
some nifty tricks of palming a dagger and how Chinese hairpins were
not only great for keeping buns in place, but they were great in a
pinch if you needed a weapon and none were available.

Tremayne showed her a few vampire tricks that
would help her if Tim got the jump on her. She was still becoming
accustomed to the way her body moved with such ease. She was
stronger and more agile, but her moves were also awkward as if she
just put on her first six-inch heels and decided to jog.

"Again," Tremayne demanded. "Leap over
me."

She made the jump, but Tremayne brought her
down before she could make her landing. She hit hard, knocking the
wind out of her. She thought as a vampire she wouldn't have to
worry about such things as drawing air into her lungs. Guess
Bram Stoker
wasn't privy to the information when he wrote
his well-known novel about vampires. Vampire, yes. Un-dead, not
really. She was…different, but still alive.

Derek appeared antsy like he wanted to step
in and put a stop to Tremayne's training, but Wade's hand snaked
out and held him back. For once she was in agreement with Wade.
Derek needed to stand down.

She jumped to her feet. "Let's do that
again."

Tremayne's lips curved. He taunted her with a
come hither wave.

She ran forward, but at the last moment she
swerved to the right, jumped then jabbed with a left kick as
Tremayne sailed through the air to intercept her. He received a
boot in his face for his effort.

She landed in a crouched position and glanced
over her shoulder. Tremayne wiped his bloody nose with the back of
his hand. She was about to apologize for hurting him, but his face
broke into a grin.

"That, my lass, was perfect."

Her gaze found Derek's who was smiling, too.
Even Wade appeared impressed. Cassandra smirked and gave her two
thumbs up.

Vampires and Hunters—who would have figured
she would be mixed up with such a group? For one moment in time,
they all were in sync and not wary of each other.

She rose to her full height. "Who's
next?"

Her cell phone vibrated in the leg pocket of
her workout clothes and her smile slipped.

"Are you okay?" Tremayne asked.

In the next second, Derek had moved
closer.

Her phone vibrated again and her senses
reeled. This is what they'd been waiting for. She glanced at Derek.
"It's Tim." She was sure of it. "My phone." She leaned down and
fished it out. She stared at the number in disbelief. Her heart
that slowed considerably since her change started beating rapidly
as if she'd somehow managed to become human again.

"Sloane?" Derek's voiced hinted of his
concern, but she couldn't worry about what he'd think, or what
anyone thought for that matter. She had to take this call.

Her thumb smoothed over the icon. "Mom?" She
whirled away, ignoring Tremayne's advancement toward her. Bless
Derek's kind heart. He headed Tremayne off, allowing her the time
with her family.

"Hey honey," her mom said, her voice cheery
and warm. "Just checking in with you. We hadn't heard from you in a
few days."

"Yeah, you know work…keeps me busy." Tears
sprang to her eyes. This would be the last time she'd be able to
talk to her mother like this. "Is everyone having a good time?" she
asked her mother.

"The weather's been great." Last time they
vacationed in Florida it had been in the middle of August. The
humidity was the worse part of it and her mother didn't like
sunbathing. She was self-conscious of her Irish complexion. It
freckled with very little exposure, but bless her father, he would
just kiss the tip of her nose and claim he loved
sun-kissed
skin.

She heard her father's voice in the
background as he raised his voice to be heard. "We wish you were
here, Jellybean," he said.

She laughed and sobbed at the same time. "Me,
too."

"Here, I'll let you say hi to your father
since he's hovering over my shoulder and shouting in my ear."

"Mom," she said with desperation.

"What is it, Sloane?" Her mom's jovial banter
turned to worry as if her motherly instincts picked up on her
distress.

"Nothing. I'll see you when you get
home."

"Wait until you get a load of what your
brother's picked out for you."

"She's going to love it," she heard Seth
shout.

She smiled. Her brother had a sense of humor.
She could only imagine what he picked out for her, but she knew she
would have
loved it no matter what it was.

"Hey, Jellybean." Her father had the phone
now.

She told her dad over and over again she was
too old to be called by the nickname Jellybean. She had picked up
the name one Easter day. She had stuffed a whole jar of jellybeans
in her pockets. She was only four at the time but the darn nickname
stuck. She knew in the years to come, she would long to hear her
father call her by that name. "Hey, Dad."

"How's the car running?" he asked.

Her car had overheated the day before they
left on vacation. Thank goodness it hadn't been anything expensive.
Her father had opened the hood and found the problem immediately.
One of the radiator hoses had cracked. Her father didn't just fix
the car for her. No, he instructed her on how it could be fixed. He
wanted her to be self-sufficient.
"I won't always be there,"
he told her.
"I want to know your safe and can take care of
yourself."

"No problems with the car, Dad."

She glanced over her shoulder at Tremayne. He
stood still, his features unreadable, but she had a hunch he would
talk to her later about taking this call.

"Fantastic. I'm glad the problem was solved,"
her father said. They talked for a few moments longer. He told her
about the food. Her father wasn't overweight, maybe just a little
pouch around the middle. He loved to eat and he loved to cook, too.
He had his specialties. The smoker in the backyard was his baby.
"Well, Jellybean. We'll let you go."

"Dad, wait." She squeezed the phone tighter.
She didn't want him to end the call. Ending the call meant her last
link to her human existence would be severed. "I love you and mom.
Seth, too."

He paused, and for a moment she wondered if
he picked up on her sorrow, her need to feel connected with her
normal life. His voice lowered an octave. "We love you too,
Jellybean. We'll see you on Sunday."

"See you." It wasn't until Derek eased the
phone from her hand that she realized she still held it to her
ear.

He folded his arms around her and she melted
into his embrace. "I got you," he kept saying. "It's all right. I
got you."