Heavy Metal Heartbeat (5 page)

He loved to see his father smile almost as much as he loved to see his mother and Paige smile.

“Aye, lad, I am happy for you. I am sure things will work out. I am feeling better about the situation, but I will not save you from your mother. You have until tomorrow afternoon to tell her about the engagement. I can't save you from her.”

Laughing
, he said, “Fair enough.” He hugged his father one last time and opened the car door. He stood as the man climbed into the car, slamming the door shut behind him. Ozzie tapped the hood of the car, and then he saluted his father.

“
I will see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow.”

With his hands in his pockets, he watched as the tail lights faded in the distance. He became lost in thought. Once the blurred haze of red was gone, he turned to his friends and yelled.

“
Hey, what time is it?”

“Why
? You have a date?” Abrams asked.

“
No, but I have another problem that needs to be addressed right away if it’s not too late time wise.”

Paige was right by his side, her sweet words in his ear.

“Ozzie, what's wrong?”

She wore a worried look on her face. He pulled her into his arms, kissed her head and answered her.

“It's nothing like that. I just need to call my mother.”

His buddies erupted in loud sarcastic laughter.

“Oh, Ozzie Wozzie gotta call his mommy? Do you need her to powder your bottom?”

The laughter got louder and he smiled with them at the joke.

“
No, I need to tell her I'm getting married. If she has to find out from my father, I am a dead man.”

The laughter ceased.

“Dude, wait. Married?” Cuervo asked.

His friends walked over
one by one and slapped him on the back in congratulations and as they passed Paige, they hugged her.

“
We need to celebrate,” Jaxson suggested.

“
I have beer and whiskey,” Anna offered. “I didn't bring it out earlier because I was afraid of how your father would react. We are already on his 'maybe I need to hunt them' list”

“
It's probably a good thing you kept them put up.”

“
Oh, would he have been offended?” Paige asked.

“
No, were you not paying attention? We are Irish! Alcohol is like water to us. It's in our blood. Good lord, they have a whole holiday dedicated to it.” Smiling, he shrugged. “He would have challenged you to a drinking match and drank all of you under the table like the lightweights you are compared to him.”

“Damn
, dude. That could have been one helluva story, though!” Cuervo pointed out.

Laughter roared again. He laughed with his friends and noticed Abrams passing out beer from a cooler he had hidden in the shadows behind Ozzie's car.

“We need to celebrate. Let's toast the happy couple.”

Everyone raised
their beers and clinked their opened bottles.

“To Ozzie and Paige!
” They said in unison.

Ozzie sat with Paige draped over his lap and looked around at everyone. Anna , Jaxson and Sebastian had returned to the kitchen table, facing the living room. The doctor, who sat in the lounge chair
, had come back to apologize for his rash actions.

His father, taking center stage in the living room, was in the middle of proving he ‘just knew’ what each and every one of them were. The gray
in his hair outshined the blazing red as the light from the windows played across his head. He had broad shoulders attached to strong arms. A small pot belly bounced with every laugh. The strong Zane legs carried him from one spot to another. Ozzie always loved to see his father in action.

With a
wide smile upon his face, he watched the man who raised him to be who he was point at each face in the room and explain their supernatural talents.

“
You, Sebastian, I know from the old country. I chased you many times through woods and over hills. I know you are a vampire and you prey on the young and beautiful.  I have heard tell that you, unlike the originals, don’t feed on blood, but on lust and sex.”

“
You are correct. Lust and sex are what I technically feed on, but it can’t be just anyone. Like everyone else, I have a preference. I can only feed on someone whom I’ve had sex with that I lusted for. Not just ‘wow she’s pretty,’ but lusted in a coveted kind of way.”

He seems to be enjoying himself at least. Now it’s Jaxson’s turn
. This should be interesting.

“You
, Sir, are a shifter, an original shifter, one that can take the shape of anything, but…” He took a deep breath. “From the smell of you, I’d wager you prefer cat. Let’s see…Bengal tiger?”

“
Yes, that is correct. My journey is quite different than anyone here. It’s a tale I shall save for another day.”

“
Fair enough. Next?”

Paige squealed and jumped when his father pointed to her. He leaned down and whispered in her ear.

“It’s alright, Paige. My father is not going to hurt you. This is his favorite game to play. He prides himself on knowing what he’s up against. Just play along. Besides, he’s almost always right.”

She burrowed
farther into his lap. He stroked her shoulder as he waited for his father to continue.

“
My dear Paige, you are so pretty in person, I bet you are just as beautiful when you transform into a big albino tiger.”

Her tiny frame jostled in his lap as her head popped up, surprised by the accurate guess.

“
How do you know these things? I mean, how can you tell I turn into a white cat?”

“Talent and experience, my dear, and of course...other things.”

This I can’t wait to see. Anna is the wildcard. Even I had never heard of her kind of vampire. Special breed, indeed.

His father slowly turned in Anna’s direction and his smile grew wide and wicked.

“Anna, you are a bit tricky. I can’t quite put my finger on you. Part of you gives off human, but part of you reeks of Sebastian. Tell me, did he change you?”

“
Yes, he did. It was a while back.” Anna mimicked his wicked smile. “So, old man, can you guess what I feed off of?”

“Dad, I will warn you, Anna is very unique. We are still figuring her out. She truly is a one of a kind.”

“Are you saying, Son, that she is the only vampire of her kind? A different breed of vampire?”

“
That is exactly what I am saying. She is nothing you have ever come across before.”

“
Son, would you be willing to put money on it? You know how I love a good bet, especially if it’s one I’ll win.”

“
I’ll put up whatever you want to wager, but you won’t guess what she feeds on.”

“
Fair enough. I wager my mint condition 1969 Dodge Charger against your 2012 Dodge Challenger.”

He sat up, almost dropping Paige in the floor. Gripping her waist and shoulders
, he saved her from the embarrassment of being tossed off the couch. He looked down at her and whispered, “Are you alright? I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize how fast I moved.”

“
Yes, I’m fine. Now back to your father, I’m anxious to see if he guesses correctly.” He gave her his special wink and looked back to his father.

“No,
Dad. I can’t let you wager that car. You love that car.”

“Who says I’m going to lose?”

“
Fine!” Seeing the stubborn look upon his father’s face, he threw his hands up. “Go ahead. What is Anna?”

“
She is of Sebastian’s bloodline, which makes her vampire, but she
is
different.  She looks human, yet she is not. She smells of strong coffee…”

“
I don’t feed off coffee,” Anna blurted out.

She is going to screw this up for me.

He couldn’t contain his excitement.

“Anna! Why are you helping him? He’s about to blow his record and he is about to do it in front of me. I will have some major bragging rights.”

“
Hush, Oliver. I don’t want to see him lose that car. It’s a classic.”

He rolled his eyes at Anna and waited to see if his father could indeed figure out the mystery that was Anna Skott. His father’s voice carried through the room.

“
Oh my dear, I like you already. You harass my son, you love coffee and I’m getting the feeling you love muscle cars as much as most men.”

Anna returned the wide and wicked smile once again. 

“You should see my 1971 cherry red 351 Mustang. It’s in the garage.”

“
Can I take it for a drive?”

“
I’ll let you drive mine if you let me drive yours.”

The suspense was suffocating and he had to know.

“
OK, already. We get it, you two love classic cars! Dad, you’re stalling. Do you know what she is? I think you don’t.” He returned his father’s smart-ass smirk.

Man
, he has a lot of expressions when he is working something out. I never noticed before. Ha! He doesn't know.

Finally, the answer came, following shrugged shoulders and a glance at Anna.

“
Hmm, I’m going to wager you feed off music, rock music by the sound of what’s coming from those speakers.”

“
Damn! How did you know?” Ozzie belted out.

His father gave him a wicked grin every bit as mischievous as Anna’s.

“I never tell my secrets.”

He must really like her to let her that close. One can hope…

He watched as Anna leaned in and feigned whispering in his father’s ear.

“
That’s amazing!  Really though, how did you know?  You can whisper it in my ear. I would just use it to torture him.”

“
I’ll say this: All of you gave it away.  Explain to me how this works, Anna, and then I shall explain how I knew.”

“
It's pretty simple. I feed off music, all music in one way or another. Rock feeds me the best. It gives me energy and vitality along with the, I guess you could call them, nutrients that I need to survive. As I said, all music feeds me, but it may take longer for some genres than others. For example, I'm not a huge fan of country music, but in a pinch, it will work. Spiritual music, I prefer Christian music if I am hurt. It helps me to heal much faster and calms my nerves. It gives me an overall feeling of love.”

“
Wow, you were right, the supernatural has changed. I am glad that I listened to you. I still have my reservations, but I’m feeling much better about the situation. As for how I knew…well, you need to work on working together as a team better.  Every one of you looked at the stereo at one time or another while we were talking. Nothing too obvious, but all of you cut your eyes toward it. The only person in this room who didn’t look at it was the doctor over here, who is hiding a secret of his own.”

Ozzie noted he wasn’t the only one staring
wide-eyed at the good doctor.  Dr. Phillip’s face flushed and he stuttered just a bit before he got his voice to work.

“
I assure you, I am not vampire, or werewolf, or any of that.”

“
You’re right, you’re not, but you
are
a hunter. I guess due to the all the craziness going on no one picked up on the fact that Sebastian didn’t compel you. Well, I noticed he picked up on it, but none of the others did.”

“
A hunter! Did you hear that Sebastian? Mr. ‘don't let the unknowing become the knowing,' he already knew,” Anna sarcastically pointed out.

“
Well, we are not here to talk about me. Besides, I have to go anyway. I came by to say what I had to say.”

The
doctor shuffled to the door.

“
I will see you later. Anna, always the perfect host, thank you.”

“Anytime, Doc.”

The door shut and they looked around in a daze at each other, taking in the new information.

“
Huh, I never would have expected...”

He lay quietly in the darkened room watching the blooming autumn colors of sunrise spread through the curtains, coating the bed in hues of red, orange and violet. Egyptian cotton covered the lower half of his frame and she covered the rest. Her golden hair fanned across his chest
, slightly covering the side of her sleeping face. He absent-mindedly ran his fingers up and down the arm draped over his stomach as he thought about the events of the past few days.

So much had happened in just a short time
, but it all seemed to be working in his favor. He had survived his dance with death, his father had decided to stay and see for himself his 'other' family was not a threat, plus he’d kept his relationship with his father from being ruined, and Paige... he still had her. She was all his and she had agreed to marry him.