Stephen (11 page)

“‘
Tis shock, my lady. I would imagine one such as her would be shocked by the events of the day.” Kennedy wasn’t sure what she’d meant by “such as her” but nodded. It had been a shock for her to see the woman when Samuel had brought her there.

“
He drank from her. And if my nose is right, they mated as well.” Brigitte sat a glass of juice in front of Clar and then left the room. Kennedy sat near the girl and wondered what else had happened to her that would make her look this way.

Her hair was hanging in a long knot. Not a messy one that indicated that she’d not brushed it, but it looked as if she’d tied it into a knot at the back of her head. Her face was pale, but she thought it was due more to her heritage than anything else. And her eyes, when she’d looked at her, had seemed haunted, vacant too. Kennedy wanted to find Stephen and murder him in his sleep.

“
I don’t want you to do that.” Kennedy sat back in her chair when Clar continued. “First of all, it will do you no good to murder him. What’s done is done. And secondly…well, secondly, he’s your friend and you’d regret it.”

“
I doubt it.” Clar got up to walk to the fireplace and stood over it looking into the flames. Kennedy wanted to go to her and hold her, but was slightly afraid of her and what she could do.

“
I won’t hurt you. None of you. I would, however, like it if you would give me until sunrise before you kick me out.” Kennedy snorted. As far as she was concerned, Clar was going nowhere. “You know as well as I do that he’ll figure out where I am. There is no reason for you to harbor me in your home for any longer than necessary.”

“‘
Tis my house and I will say who stays or goes.” Clar looked at her, and Kennedy flushed. “I’m not ordering you about. I’m pissed at Stephen, if you need the truth of it.”

“
Me too.” Kennedy might have laughed had the woman not looked so sad. “He only did what is in his nature. Feeding from me was what he does. Animals do what is in their nature.”

Kennedy hurt for both of them. Stephen was a wonderful man, but whatever he’d done to Clar that had her thinking of him as an animal must have been very bad indeed. The marks on her throat were enough to tell her that he’d bitten her hard, and taken without any thought to what pain he might have caused her. She wondered briefly if he had raped her.

“
It’s none of your business. I know that you’ve given me shelter, and I appreciate it, but what happened at that house is no one’s business but mine and his.” Clar looked up from the fire at her. “Someone is coming. She is very upset.”

Summer rolled into the room and stopped just short of them. She stared at Clar for a long time before she looked at Kennedy. The pain in her eyes was enough to make Kennedy go to her and see what hurt her. Summer Payne meant more to her than her own mother ever had.

“
Stephen just called here. I won’t tell you what he said to me, but suffice it to say, he is pissed off.” Kennedy started to tell Summer it was all right when Clar took a step toward Summer.

“
You hurt her and I will kill you.” She had no idea why she’d suddenly got the feeling that Clar was going to do something to Summer, but she stood in front of her all the same. Summer touched her arm and asked her to move. Clar moved around her and knelt down to her level.

“
Your spine was severed.” Summer nodded. They stared at each other for long moments before Clar put her hand out and gently ran her finger down her arm, then back up. “I’ve all sorts of freaky skills right now. I can read minds and block assholes from mine. And he’s trying very hard to get in. Then there is the added advantage that I can toss him back out with a little pain too.”

“
You should know that he will come here sooner rather than later.” Summer touched Clar’s face as she nodded. “He hurt you.”

“
As most people I know do. They learn what I have and take and take. And those that don’t know just simply take.” Kennedy watched the exchange between the two women and felt slightly jealous from it. When Clar looked at her, she thought she knew how she was feeling. Standing after a few seconds, Clar moved toward the door but stopped just short of going out. “He’s on his way, so I’ll take my leave. Mrs. Payne, I thank you for your hospitality. And Summer, you should really think about getting out of that chair.”

Kennedy looked at her mother-in-law and could see the shock on her face. Turning to tell Clar that it was a cruel thing to say, she wasn’t really surprised to find she was gone. Going to Summer, she knelt down much like Clar had.

“
I’m so sorry she hurt ye.” Summer shook her head. “She knew ye was hurt, and she said that to piss us off. I would imagine that she wants us to not follow—”

“
I can feel my feet.” Kennedy waited for her to say that she was kidding, but she nodded. “I can wiggle my toes too.”

Kennedy tore off her mother-in-law’s slippers, and they both watched as her toes did indeed wiggle. It was the most amazing sight she’d ever seen. When her foot suddenly stretched out in front of her, Kennedy stood up and helped her out of the chair. Summer staggered a little, but she eventually stood up on her own. Kennedy brushed at the tears that were streaming down her face.

“
We must tell Samuel.” Kennedy nodded and rushed out of the room, only to turn and help Summer back into her chair. “I’ll just sit here and stand up when he comes in. Oh my, to stand again. Go and find the girl, too. I must…well I was going to say…go get Samuel.”

Babbling. They were both babbling, and when she entered Samuel’s office, she was sobbing so hard she could barely tell him what had happened. He came around his desk and to her just as the front door opened. There stood Stephen, and he did not look happy.

“
Where is she?” Kennedy didn’t care where the girl was and if she knew, she’d never tell him. She’d done this to Summer, she knew it, and as far as she was concerned, he could fuck off. “Clarice, where is she? I want her here right now.”

“
You want, you want…have you ever thought of what she might want?” He stretched his neck and glared. “Oh, ye think ye have a bit of temper, do you? Well, I’m an Irish woman who can turn into a lion and eat your temper for lunch. Sit down.”

She was surprised when he sat. And she had to fight her laughter when he sat down on the floor. Moving past him, holding Samuel’s hand, she took him to the study where his mom was.

“
You just made him sit like a puppy. He’s not going to be very happy with you when he realizes what you’ve done.” She waved him off. “Mom, how are you?”

Samuel sat on the couch and looked at them both. She wasn’t sure what to do and looked at Summer just as Stephen walked in. Pointing to the couch, she watched as he tried to stare her down. Eventually he sat down, but he didn’t look happy about it.

“
Clar was here, but she left when she…after she…” Kennedy smiled at Summer. “I think you should just show them.”

They had moved the foot rests of the chair when she’d stood the first time, so they were out of the way. Summer gripped the handles as she shifted on the seat, and Samuel started to rise to no doubt help her. But Kennedy stopped him with a hand to his chest. It took Summer two tries, but she was standing on her own and looking at her son.

“
Christ.” Samuel did stand this time, and walked around his mom. She knew how he felt. It was just too much. “Clar did this?”

“
Yes. Can you believe it? She just touched me.” Summer sat back down, but not in the chair. She sat in one of the wingbacks near the fire as she continued. “She knew that my spine had been severed, and then she talked about how everyone uses her. And how she can block out assholes when necessary. Would that be you, Stephen?”

“
She shouldn’t be able to do that.” Kennedy knew she shouldn’t, but with the miracle that had happened just today, she wouldn’t be surprised if the girl could do whatever the fuck she wanted. Summer looked at her before looking back at Stephen.

“
I’m not going to help you find her. I have a connection to her because she healed me. I don’t know where she is, but I can feel her.” She lifted her arm and looked at it, and Kennedy did as well. The small mark there was where Clar had touched her. “It’s fading. When I first saw it, the markings were dark; now they’re just…they’re fading. I would guess my connection to her will as well.”

“
She’s turning you against me.” Kennedy started to tell him to grow up, but Samuel hit him in the back of the head instead. “What the fuck was that for?”

“
You’re doing that all on your own, if you ask me. When I went to get her this morning, it was all I could do not to go up and stake you. What the fuck did you do to her anyway? And the blood. Christ, it looked like you tore at her throat.”

Stephen got up to pace. Kennedy had never seen him this way, so upset and yet so broken looking. Samuel watched him as well, and she reached for her mate.

Did he rape her?
He told her no.
But he did hurt her. Why, do you know? Why would a man, a mate, hurt his other half?

Because I think it’s more to do with the fact that he doesn’t want her to get hurt more than he doesn’t want her. He may not even realize how much he wants her in his life right now.

Kennedy was sure Samuel was right. When Stephen sat down again, he looked as if he’d come to a great decision. And whatever it was, he wasn’t all that happy about it.

“
She entered my mind when I was sleeping. I’m not sure why, but I doubt it was what I first thought. I think I might have accused her of spying on me.” He stood up to pace. “She found something I’ve hidden so deep that I rarely think of it anymore…no, that’s not true. I think of it all the time, but her knowing tore me up. I hurt her. I…I didn’t mean to, but I did all the same.”

“
You bit her badly, Stephen. Her throat looked as if she’d been torn at. Did you do that to her?” He nodded at Summer. “And you took any trust, the very little that might have been there, away. She mentioned that she’d been used before. Do you think you did that to her?”

“
I did.” Summer nodded again as Stephen continued. “But now…Christ, now I have to have her. Not just because I want to keep her safe from everything else in my life, but because we’ve bonded and mated. She’s mine. I’ll never…what the hell am I supposed to do with her?”

“
I would imagine that she can care for herself if you were to simply leave her alone as she’s told you to do. As she has the rest of us as well.” Stephen shook his head at Samuel. “I didn’t say you should, I’m just telling you she looks to me like she can pretty much save her own ass if she needs to.”

“
A vampire is out for my ass. Her name is Velvet December. Or that’s what she goes by now. We were lovers once, and she decided to throw me under the bus when she got caught at something. I turned her in, and she was sentenced to die. But they were more humane then and she wasn’t killed. She’s found out that I do business with Edward Barron, who just happens to be Clar’s stepfather. I’m sure that neither of them know the connection yet, but they will sooner or later.” Stephen sat down. “I’ve got a call into Barron now. I’m going to quit him as soon as possible, but I doubt it will do me much good. She’s figured it out, and soon she’ll find out about my mate.”

“
This Barron person, does he know that you are with Clar?” Stephen shrugged, then shook his head at her. Kennedy knew what he meant. He wasn’t sure. “We’ll have to find her, Clar I mean, before these people do.”

“
Yeah? You make it sound as if you might just pick up the phone and call her. I don’t believe she’d answer even if she had a cell phone.” They all looked up when Butler walked in the room. He looked confused.

“
My lord, there is an officer at the door. He says that you are needed downtown. That he believes that your offices have been destroyed.” Samuel stood up, but Butler shook his head. “I’m sorry, my lord, I meant Lord Silva.”

~~~

Destroyed didn’t even begin to cover the damage done to his offices. Stephen thought he’d be better off simply moving rather than trying to get someone to come in and repair this place. He picked up what was left of his computer and dropped it on the growing pile of things the police had asked him to go through. Why they needed to know if anything was missing was beyond him. Wasn’t the damage here enough for them to go out and find out who did it?

“
This December person, did she do this?” Stephen nodded at Samuel, who had come with him. “She’s really pissed off at you.”