Into Death's Arms (8 page)

      “Caden,” he drawled.
Something very frightening crawled through his expression. He definitely didn’t like my dad.
“You cannot kill me here my old f
r
iend
,” he waved a hand towads the milling crowd,
“
there are many witnesses.” I could see the glow of my father’s sword over the
Vamp
ire
’s shoulder.
I resisted the urge to yell
,
Daddy!
How’s that for tough?
A
short sob of relief escaped me.

    
When my father spoke, I could hear the contempt in his voice. They definitely had some kind of a history together.
“I’m thinkin
g no jury is gonna convict me, e
ven if you are legal and all now
,
as
you have my daughter by her throat. All I need is a jury of mom’s and dad’s,” he gave a bark of a laugh, “hell, even aunts and uncles will do.” His voice didn’t rise above that gravelly quiet he’d started out in.
I’d seen my dad in hunter mode before, but it never failed to amaze me just how frightening he could be. His own eyes glowed with that pure white light that is exclusively Ao. Anger marred his loving features making him seem hard and forbearing. Rage was relected in his very stance. I took a deep breath.

    The glow under Tameron’s skin pulsed blinding me for a moment.
Glee
seemed to chase that murderous look from his eyes.
“Daughter? Ahh, AoD,” he laughed, the sound made me shiver like someone had put ice down my back.
It wasn’t a pleasant sound.
It was a hateful kind of joy.
“You’ve
condemned
yourself for a child.”
He rubbed his face against me again. Taking a deep breath through his
nose,
he
smelled
me. I heard my father growl
,
it almost sounded like the noise the
Vamp
ire
had made earlier
,
full of menace.
“What Iris and I did or didn’t do is none of your business, bloodsucker.” My father growled at him.

    
The
Vamp
ire
caught my eyes and held them for a moment
,
desire thwarted was easy to read there. My breath caught again and for a
moment,
I thought he would try to take my blood despite the f
act that my father
was
ready to behead him.
“But I want to know, Caden.” He said my father’s name like he was one of his friends not an enemy. “Why do you have possession of this child, why wasn’t she given to the council?” he smiled at my father maliciously. “Does she know the price you paid to keep her?”

     “Enough,” my father shouted making me wince. I had never heard that tone come from him.

      The Vampire smiled evily, “Did they forgive you when you lost your pretty little AoLi, Cade, or did you go crawling back to them on your hands and knees like the good fucking AoD?”

     My father physically flinched.

    For a moment the hate in the Vampires features softened, as if seeing my fathers pain was too much for him.  He shook it off quickly. “How fortuitous for you that you could go back? Must be nice.” He snarled, “of course they’d take you back. Caden Reece, golden boy.” He spat.
Then abruptly he
let go of me
,
and I fell on my butt
into the dirt. I had spent
too much time on my toes, but I was very happy to be able to breathe again.

      My father stepped around Tameron
,
blade still held high. What did he mean
, condemned
?
I was so confused.
I got up and stood behind
my dad, feeling a little safer.
  
Dayton Tameron put his ha
nds up in a submissive gesture. W
ell as submissive as so
mething with claws and fangs could
get.
He didn’t look at my father
. H
is eyes were all for me.
He mouthed ‘later’ at me.
Then he
s
tepped into the shadows behind him and disappeared.
Fuck
I didn’t know he
could do that eit
her. I was so out of
my league and scared shitless
.

    
The crowed watched us all open-mouthed. Excite
d whispers reached my ears as
dad hustled me to the jeep so quickly I nearly fell
,
twice. We rode home in silence.
Which was good
;
because I didn’t really know what to s
ay. My dad radiated anger
,
and I was full of questions.

 
My dad knew Dayton Tameron?
Why hadn’t he hunted the
Vamp
ire
down and killed him
yet? Why did he go after all other
Vamp
ires
with a singular purpose but failed to swing at Tameron tonight? My head hurt
.
I put it down to
way
too much time without oxygen.

      He pulled into the g
arage.  “How bad is your throat?
”
T
he bright fluorescent garage lights came on.
He was studying my throat from where he sat.
The garage smelled like laundry detergent and fabric softener.

    
I was feeling pretty good considering
I’d been picked up by the
throat
.
I should
at the very least
be
having some difficulty swallow
ing but I felt fine. “It’s okay,
” I said
genuinely surprised
.
I touched my thro
at with my hand
to
try to
feel some external sign of the assault.

    Dad raise
d an eyebrow. “Let me see,
” he demanded
,
tilting my chin and glaring at my throat
. I leaned my head back
and moved my hand away
so he could get a good look at it.
He leaned over me his hair tickled me.
“No bruising,
” h
e
made a confused expression
.

     “Yeah
I think I’m alright,
”
I certainly didn’t expect to be alright
.
What else did you say when your father was towering over you looking for evidence of your run in with the city’s
most dangerous
Vamp
ire
?

     He touched my throat carefully. “You shouldn’t be,” he whispered
roughly
. “You should be de
ad.” H
e ran his hand though his
hair, which was
a sure sign he was aggravated. “He’s almost killed me twice
,
and I’m a full Ao
D.”
If I hadn’t known better
, I would have thought my dad
was pissed at me for being okay
.
I hadn’t known
Tameron had nearly killed him
. When had that happene
d?
I had lots of questions
,
but he
pulled me to him and held me tight. All the air left me in a big whoosh
. I
t seemed to be my
night for asphyxiation. “You are
so vulnerable now. Two more months
,
and I won’t have to worry
like this
.”
He wasn’t talking to me,
and
I knew it
,
so I just held him back, you know one of those moments where you know you are truly loved. Oh
,
and I took shallow breaths
because
those mammoth arms
didn’t allow
for much else
. After several moments of gasping like a guppy, he let me go.
I sucked in air. I was getting a little dizzy wi
th all the strangling
that had been going on tonight.

     “So,” I tried to sound light
,
but I was terrified and confu
sed
,
and this man knew me better
than anyone else did.
“Why do you think I’m still abov
e ground
?
”

     He sighed heavily and went to the door. It was cold in the garage
, and
I was grateful to be going in.
“I don’t know. T
hey exposed themselves
,
and they are
trying real hard to
make themselves look innocent
.
I
t wouldn’t do to start out by choking the life out
of
young women in front of twenty or so witnesses, right
?” H
e
said, unlocking
the door. “Maybe they’ll be good for a little while,” he paused
and gave me a dire look
, “at least in public.”

      
I nodded
. T
hat had to be
it. W
hy else would the
Vamp
ire
have spared me?
“One of the
Vamp
s has his eye on Laurna.
We have to take him out,
”
I said into the silence of our
home.

   He nod
ded.
“We’ll take care of it
.”
He
walked
like the air around him had suddenly gotten
too
heavy for him to carry. I went to the freezer.
We always have ice cream after a fight.
This was different because it was the first time I’d actually fought as well.
I didn’t want to think about how badly I’d sucked at it.
I’d watched my dad a couple of times in the last two years but I’d never been allowed to participate. Now I knew why.
I sucked at it.

     “I broke his knee
,
h
e
was a big bastard
.
” I tippy toed up and held my hand way above my head to demonstrate the giant
Vamp
ire’s size. “
I didn’t have time to finish him. I was trying to get out of there before Tameron showed,” I said regretfully.

      He smiled. “Yeah?
”
His tone conveying pride. T
hat’s my dadd
y
. H
e was proud I’d broken someones
knees
. I nodded
then ladled
massive amounts of cookies and cream
ice cream
into my bowl, then his.

      “Snapped backward made a messy sounding crunch
,
but I knew Tameron was coming
,
so I didn’t have time to finish him. I
concentrated on escape.
You saw how
well that worked out for me,
” I shrugged
, why did I keep repeating that line about Tameron? He’s got it already Macy
. G
ive it a rest, I told myself
.

      He chewed his mouthful
and
then
said, “That was smart running from Tameron. If you took out the other one
once,
you can almost assuredly do it again. But Tameron, he is
in
a league of his own.” H
e shook his head again. “I don’t understand why he didn’t hurt you. I’m thankful, be
lieve me, but I don’t get it.
” He admitted
candidly
.
“I’ve never seen anyone just walk away from him without a scratch like that.”

   
I didn’t get it
either. I was thankful too.
I had thought I was going to die tonight. I could still feel Tameron’s cool hand wrapped around my throat.
He was so strong, but more than that I could feel the was his touch cooled my skin. I could feel how his thumb had caressed my jawline.

    
Even more disturbing
,
I could still feel his hot mouth descending on my throat.
Before bed I checked myself in the mirror twice and though I could still feel his hands on me there was no physical evidence of his touch on my skin. I said my prayers and went to bed. I dreamt of Vampires who were hotter than they had any right to be. It was all mind control, right?