Reluctant Storm (12 page)

“What exactly do you mean; she’s not in her cell?” I ask, turning slowly from the windows I had been staring out of to look at the nervous guard.

“She’s not there, Sir. I’ve looked everywhere and she’s nowhere to be found.”

How did this happen? I have the highest security here. Once people are brought in they don’t leave. Slamming the knife into the desk, I look the guard up and down menacingly.

“Girls just don’t disappear. How does a girl just disappear? How was this allowed to happen?” I yell, slamming my fists down on the desk, my knife clattering on its top. Grabbing it, I trace its edges, sliding my fingers down the knife’s sharp cold blade.

“Bring me my son,” I order the spineless guard.

The guard looks down at the floor. “I can’t do that, Sir. He’s gone missing as well.”

“What do you mean missing?”

Shakily the guard replies, “He’s nowhere to be found and was seen leaving with the prisoner.”

With that, the knife forcibly flies out of my hand and lands straight into the guard’s heart. He looks down at the knife in surprise, gripping his chest as he falls forward with a gurgle. Walking towards him, I pull the knife out and stick my hand in the guard’s chest, pulling out his warm heart. I suck the blood out of the valves and walk out the door, setting the heart in the hand of another guard.

“This is what happens when I find out over twenty-four hours later that my son and the girl are both missing,” I hiss at the shaking guard. “This girl, who can change the course of our world as we know it, is out there alive. I want her brought back to me alive. If you find Riley, kill him! Create a detail and bring her back to me. One person will be killed every hour until they are returned.”

The guard stands there in shock with the warm heart as I walk away.

I would know if I had a sister, right? Shaking my head, no, no I wouldn’t, since my dad had nothing to do with me. The true irony is that my dad did have a kid with someone else. She looks almost exactly like me, and I still wasn’t good enough for him. Looking at her now, I feel something in me die a small death. I’m not even sure what to make of all this. I was never given the chance to be his daughter. It’s too much to consider right now. In the past week I’ve met Jason and Mikail, who’ve popped up in my life so randomly that I still don’t know who they truly are. I’ve been kidnapped, tortured, and managed to bond myself to Riley, escape, and now I have a sister. It’s a lot to take in right now.

Ignoring Riley and my ’sister’, I pick the first room and walk in, shutting the door. I move straight to the bathroom where I turn the faucet on. Starring at my haggard face in the mirror, I lean down, cupping the cool water and splashing it on it. I grab a towel and dry my face off and look in the mirror. It suddenly ripples, causing me to stop mid towel rub and stare.

Inhaling quickly, I turn and see that the door is closed, and there is absolutely no one in the room. Turning back, I lean closer and stare in disbelief as the mirror focuses in on a bedroom. I squint, leaning in closer, as I watch myself walk into the white room, laughing with someone. Leaning in so close that my nose touches the mirror, I stare at the reflection and continue concentrating on the images. Watching open mouthed as the second person comes up behind me, putting their arms around my waist. I gasp as the reflection shows the person turning me around and kissing me on the lips. When they lift their head, I gasp, expecting to see myself and Riley, only it’s the last thing I expect to see. In the mirror staring back at me is Mikail and myself. There’s something about Mikail that tugs at the back of my mind, and if I was truly listening to my soul I would know what it was. Closing my eyes and then reopening them, the image has faded. I swipe at the mirror but nothing happens. I high-tail it out of the room, slamming the door in the process and running directly into Riley and my so-called sister.

“Whoa, Claire! You okay?” he asks, grabbing me as I slam into him. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I stare up at him and wonder what the hell is going on. I decide against telling him the truth. Nodding shakily, I pull my hair into a pony tail and try to act nonchalant. I fail miserably as I drop the rubber band twice. Riley bends down to pick it up, handing it to me all the while looking at me questioningly.

I look up at Riley and shake my head. “I’m sorry, it’s a lot to take in,” I softly say, playing off this sister thing and shoving the mirror thing to the side. “I was never told I had a sister, but I’ve never met her…or our dad before, so I guess anything’s possible.” Shrugging, I look over at the girl. It’s like looking in a mirror only she’s a bit shorter than me, and her hair is a different color. I can tell she doesn’t like me from the way she is glaring at me, with her arms crossed in front of her.

She continues to stare me down. “You know my dad didn’t like you very much. You’re just the daughter of a whore. I am the true daughter of the King.” Her glare becomes haughty.

Well, this is going well
, I think sarcastically before she starts talking again.

“You know he sold you out right? He’s the reason you were kidnapped. You were and are expendable, I am not. He even set Jason up.” Leaning towards me, she puts her fingernail on my shoulder and trails it down my arm. “You couldn’t even die like you were supposed to. You had to go and bond yourself to the enemy.”

“How did you know about that? I haven’t told anyone,” I exclaim in shock.

She glances over at Riley, smiling and practically purrs, “Don’t you worry about that. I have my ways.”

Watching her practically throw herself at Riley, is the only thing that pushes me over the edge. Nothing she said about me dying or our ’dad’ bothered me, this does. I don’t think, I just react. Placing my hand to her chest, I shove her with as much force as I can and she goes flying across the living room, only stopping because she hit a wall.

“Well. That was awkward. Remind me not to go to that family reunion,” Mikail says, walking into the room and breaking the tension.

“Where have you been?” Riley looks over at Mikail sharply.

“That would be none of your business,” he calmly replies.

I shrug and walk over toward Riley and lean against him. I know my dad never loved me, but to be told that point blank was like being punched in the gut. Luckily, I have plenty of experience with parental hate, so I’m almost to the point where I’m immune to it. Throwing the girl against the wall did feel good.

Anya dusts herself off and comes toward me, growling, “You. Got. My. Hair. Dirty!” she cries out as she runs toward me to attack me.

Riley puts me behind him and grabs Anya. “Look, you termite, I’m doing this for your own good.”

I watch her stare up at him in shock, “What’s for my own good?”

“This,” he says as he snaps her neck. “She should be quiet for a few hours so we can figure some stuff out.”

Riley drops her, and I stare down at her lying on the floor. I guess I should be shocked but I’m not. My eyes are wide open now. With everything that’s happened
, nothing really shocks me anymore.

“What I’d like to know is, why she hates me so much?” I ask, brushing my brown hair out of my face.

“Don’t take it personally, Claire,” Mikail says, walking up and looking down at her body, leaning toward me. “She hates Jason too; she practically mauled him when we let her out of the trunk.”

“The trunk, really?” I ask him, raising my eyebrows.

“It’s a very long story.”

“Don’t ever put me in a trunk. Ever.”

I glance around the dark dilapidated house and peer over at Riley who’s deep in thought. He’s sitting at the kitchen table, and must have left me while I was talking to Mikail. I can’t help but let what happened in the bathroom come rushing back to me and stare over at Mikail who’s pensively looking out the window. I have to figure out what is going on with that. Staring at Mikail intently, my body shivers, and I suddenly have the urge to go over to Riley, for no reason. Like I have to go now and nothing will deter me from getting to him. I no longer feel as though my body is my own. Sauntering over to him, I lean down, putting my arms around his neck and inhale the scent that can only be described as delectably Riley. Feeling my fangs tingle, I stare at his neck before running my tongue over it. He leans his head back to look directly into my eyes and smiles at me.

“Is it about that time?”

I nod and bite my lip with my new fangs, tasting the metallicness of blood dripping from my lip. He looks at me with hooded eyes and pulls my head down, licking the droplets of blood from my lower lip. I blush and follow him as he grabs my hand, pushing open a door and pulling me into what appears to be a bedroom.

My fangs throb so I rub my tongue over them, still getting used to the feeling of having them there. My breath picks up as I notice the way Riley’s watching me and how his shirt fits his chest to perfection. Feeling hot, I pull my shirt away from my chest in a fanning motion and pull my gaze away from him, staring at the pattern on the wall. Think about anything but sex; think about kittens and balloons…puppies holding balloons. Sighing, I run my hands through my hair. It’s not working, not at all.

Oh my gosh
, I think, slapping my forehead. This is exactly what Riley was talking about. Startled, I look over at him. I’m a sex fiend now. I want him, against the wall, on the bed, the floor, anywhere.

I put a smile on my face and sexy walk towards him, in hopes of seducing him only to almost trip face first on the rug. Before falling, he catches me in his arms. His reflexes really are great.

“I thought being a vampire meant I’d have really good balance?” I ask, rubbing his broad arm as he sets me upright.

“Another myth, Claire, another myth.”

I feel myself getting hotter by the minute, as he continues talking about stupid myths and how Twilight ruined vampires everywhere. Deciding once more to try and get his attention, I do the only thing I can think of and rip my shirt over my head, leaving me in my lacy white bra. I smile at him with what I hope is a come hither smile. He looks over his shoulder at me and stops talking. He raises his eyebrows at me and walks toward me. “I recall you saying that I’d have needs and that you would take care of them for me,” I remind him coyly.

“So I did.”

He walks over to me until his forehead is pressed against mine and continues to force me to walk backwards, finally pressing me into the wall with his hands above my head.

“So you’re having issues are you?” he smirks down on me.

“Mmmhmmm.”

“Really bad issues?”

“Very bad issues,” I whisper softly.

Tilting his head down as he brings his hand up and traces my neck, leaving his fingers right on the edge of my neck. His tongue follows his finger and he gently kisses my neck.

“Riley, I’m dying here.”

He laughs into my hair. “Too late, you’re already dead.”

He lets me switch him around so I’m the one pressing him against the wall. I know he lets me, since he is so much stronger than I am. Tilting his neck, he awaits my bite, only I don’t bite him right away, I make him suffer as he made me suffer. I lick my lips and pull his head to mine and trace his lips with my tongue, trailing my tongue down his neck to the spot I want to bite. Letting my fangs down, I open my mouth wide, brushing my fangs against the sweetness of his skin, just as the door bangs behind us. I groan and pull back and feel all my emotions swiftly turning into anger at the person who interrupted us. Riley breaks away from me and pressing his mouth against mine, giving me a soft kiss and walks over to where my shirt landed. He hands it to me before throwing open the door, and I see Jason standing there with a triumphant grin on his face.

“Riley, you wanted to have a meeting. It’s time.” Slamming the door shut on Jason, he pulls me into a heart stopping kiss, inciting small moans from me.

“Um, you guys know I’m still here on the other side of the door, right?” Jason’s muffled voice comes through the door as we pull apart.

“Come on,” I moan, pulling him with me as I open the door. “Let’s get this meeting you called over with.”

Pushing a chair out, I sit down at the scarred table, a bit disgruntled at having been interrupted from what I really wanted, Claire. I grab a bag of blood, tearing it open and handing it to Claire. I listen as she inhales the blood greedily. Shifting my weight, my body hums thinking about her taking blood from me earlier today. I glance around at the faces of those surrounding me, my brother, who abandoned his family, Mikail, the hard-nosed contract killer, who’s currently looking at me like he wants to kill me, and Claire’s pain in the ass little sister, Anya. Finally, I stop on Claire who has no idea the roles she’s played in my salvation, and the role she will play in the future. She has no idea that she is next in line for the throne. Leaning back in my chair, I bang my fist against the table, making everyone around the table jump.

“Okay, so let’s see if I have this straight.” I start ticking things off my fingers. “One, Jason, you were there to protect Claire, which you failed at.”

He jumps up from his chair and goes to leap over the table at me and Mikail catches his neck in mid-air, pulling him crashing down on the table.

He growls and removes Mikail’s arm from his neck. “I couldn’t help it, but at least I didn’t help torture her like some people I know,” Jason says, looking down his nose at me in disgust.

“For the record, I didn’t hurt her, only scared her. That was daddy dearest that hurt her, and don’t forget that I can still break your arm in two seconds flat if you talk to me like that again. Remember who trained you.”

Snorting at me, he leans forward and looks me straight in the eye with anger radiating off him. “You don’t get to talk to me like that anymore, brother.” Clenching his jaw he looks away, the anger radiating off his body.

This is not the way I planned on the meeting going. Rubbing my hands over my face I sigh and look over at Jason, contemplating what I can say to make this work. I rub the back of my neck and look over at my stupid idiot of a brother who never listens. Nothing comes to mind that won’t start a brawl, so I dismiss him for now. Glancing down at the scarred table, I slowly utter the one thing I never thought I would never say, “We need to kill Griffin.”

“You’re crazy!” Jason bursts out, slamming his fist down on the table. “For one thing, he’s so heavily guarded that will almost be impossible, and for another, how the hell do you plan on getting back in there? He has to know you’ve gone against him by now. The irony of this whole mess is this was supposed to be a simple job of protecting Claire, and now it’s turned into this huge deal. Have you even told Claire who she is?” He nods toward Claire.

“First of all, you’re not listening, because I’m about to kick your ass if you mention your ‘protection job’ one more time,” I say through gritted teeth. “Second, no I haven’t had a chance, because I’ve been more worried about keeping her alive, and she’s been dealing with other issues, life changing issues. We both have.” The feeling of strangling Jason is getting stronger by the minute.

“Who am I?” Claire asks, looking around at us with her wide green eyes, staring us down.

Opening my mouth to respond, I’m saved by Mikail.

“You’re a vampire, doll, a vampire.” Mikail interrupts.

“I’m not stupid; I know I’m a vampire. You all aren’t telling me something, something important.” She crosses her arms, staring at me with her green eyes narrowed. I slide down my chair, not looking her in the eye. I know what she’s trying to do, and it would totally work if the others weren’t in the room right now. I finally glance over at her and find her still staring at me, and can’t help but inwardly laugh. I put my arm around her back and rub her shoulders as I lean toward her ear and whisper, “That’s not going to work on me, honey. I invented the look.”

I lean back in my chair, still grasping Claire’s hand, and look over at Anya as she sits there playing with her hair, not paying attention to any of us.

“Okay,” I let go of Claire’s hand and sit up straight, “so what I want to know is, how
did Anya get here and what you plan on doing with her?”

The room is quiet until Anya finally answers, filling in the silence that previously filled the room.

“They kidnapped me, broke my neck, and threw me; well I assume they threw me in the trunk since that’s where I woke up. Although I did get a few good hits in on that big asshole over there,” she taunted, pointing over at Jason.

I smirk and watch as Jason’s face reddens to a bright cherry color and know that I can’t let him get away without saying something about this.

“You, Mister MMA fighter, let a tiny girl take you down?” Holding in my laugh, I try and keep a straight face.

“Go to hell, Riley, go to hell,” he snarls at me.

“Oh, I’ve been there for most of my life, brother, most of my life.” My mind travels back to the vile things my dad did to me once Jason left.

“You have no frigging clue.”

Pushing out my chair, I inhale deeply, shuddering with memories, and walk out the front door in search of the space I need to clear my head. I lean against the railing and stare out at the woods that surround this house. My mind is transported back to when I was seventeen and just coming into my vampire years. Normal vampires come of age between fifteen and seventeen and start breaking their fangs and need blood if we are born to two vampire parents. Yet another thing the movies get wrong, we stop aging in our early twenties. It’s when you are bitten that you automatically stop aging and those that are bitten are on the slave level of vampires and will never prosper.

Claire is a whole different ball game since she was part and needed the bite to become a full-fledged vampire. In fact I’ve never even heard of something like her. She has absolutely no idea that once we get Griffin taken care of and take her to the King’s Lair, also known as Vampire
Headquarters, that she will, in fact, become the ruler of all. The entire issue has been that Antony and Griffin divided the vampires into two clans…they were never supposed to be this way, and they both went power hungry, which in turn messed everything up.

Running my hands through my hair, I have absolutely no idea how this is going to work. There are so many factors that could take place. She could be denied her birthright if they find out she was once half human. The elders and their vampire politics there may already have a plan in place for the throne and not want the true Queen on it. Which would mean killing them all and overtaking them. Just the thought of them possibly hurting Claire pisses me off to the point where I don’t remember slamming my fist into the railing, but at some point I did as I lift my fist up and a decent size chunk of wood is sticking through it along with a mangled porch railing laying at my feet. Letting the blood drip from my fist, I let out a loud, pissed off cry.