The Lie (The Skyy Huntington Series) (19 page)

Jesus, what was this guy, some version of the vampire KKK clan or something? I gripped Aiden’s hand even tighter after he said that. He moved his thumb gently caressing my hand to try to comfort me.

Aiden spoke again, “We don’t want any trouble, from you or Bathory. What I speak is the truth, we don’t have the book here, and we don’t know where it is.”

The vampire nodded, “Very well then. You better keep her close Romeo,
really
close. We’ll be in touch soon,” and with that he was gone. I didn’t see him move, he was just there one minute, gone the next.

Aiden turned around and shuffled me back to the SUV. “Is he gone?” I asked him. He nodded, opening the door for me. I climbed in and before I even could reach for my seat belt Aiden was already seated in the driver’s seat. This whole ‘moving so fast I can’t even see it’ thing was getting old.

We pulled out and drove a few blocks, I could tell Aiden was upset and stewing on something because he hadn’t said a word. Finally he spoke, “Your grandpa was right, we’re going to have to kill them.”

I laughed. “By 'we' you mean you right? I mean, how am I supposed to kill something that moves so fast I can’t even see it?”

“There are ways. This vampire is cocky, he wouldn’t expect you to even fight back, or try to kill him. The other one was much more reserved and for what it’s worth I liked him much better than Mr. Skinhead. He may be harder for you to attempt to kill. That is if it came down to that. I will take care of them both, but I will need to teach you some tactics to defend yourself and kill them in the off chance I am not by your side.

We’re also going to need some outside help I think. At least it wouldn’t be a bad idea. I was only aware of one vampire being here, but now we have two and who knows how many others might be here or on the way. I’m going to call my mother, and my maker Lucius, to town,” Aiden said.

I felt so terrible for bringing all this down on him. I was stressed out and scared out of my mind. When I think back to wanting to find adventure or see something supernatural, I sure didn’t bargain for this. Once again I started crying. I think I had cried more in the last few days than my entire life combined. Aiden reached over and took my hand again. “Don’t be upset Skyy. This is going to work out in the end. You’ll be safe,” he reassured me.

I sniffed and replied, “I really don’t care what happens to me, it’s you and Christian I am worried about. I dragged both of you into a situation that could get you killed. You should have left me in that cemetery to fend for myself.” Man, I really was wallowing in self-pity.

Aiden wasn’t usually a cocky or showy person so his next comment came as a surprise. “Skyy, not to toot my own horn, but short of Bathory showing up herself, nobody is going to kill me. I will also protect you with every fiber of my being.” He was caressing my hand again with his thumb as he held it. I had to admit, I really liked it, and again briefly felt guilty for liking it so much.

“I don’t want to scare you, but I had seen you in the cemetery months before the night I saved you. I was visiting an old friend who was buried there, and saw you. You intrigued me, and you were so beautiful and peaceful looking, sitting there by your grandpa’s grave. I’d go by there hoping to see you more often, I kept my distance. I might have been brave enough to introduce myself to you one day in a different way, but circumstances played out the way they did, and I don’t regret it at all. I’m shy, I don’t know how I would have ever broken the ice to be honest.” Aiden glanced over at me sideways and gave me a shy little adorable smile.

“Speaking of which, remind me to ask my grandpa how he managed to pull off his death anyway. I was there at the funeral, saw him lying in that coffin, saw them put him in the ground. What an asshole I was, sitting there mourning him all those nights,” I said, wondering just how he managed it, and trying to get my mind off my growing feelings for this vampire sitting next to me, and then wondering about something Aiden had said to the KKK vampire.

“What did you mean when you told Mr. Skinhead that I was your partner in every sense of the word? He was asking if you had claimed me too,” I looked over at him.

“Well, normal vampires, meaning even the bad ones, usually know to back off when someone has claimed a human as their partner. This can be as simple as that human sharing their blood exclusively with that one vampire, or them becoming true partners, romantically, as in married. I was trying to give the impression to Mr. Skinhead that we were the latter to drive the point home. But apparently the Bathory's think they can make their own rules.”

“I see, so now I get the whole Romeo comment then,” I replied, not sure what to say. I think I was pretty certain at this point that Aiden liked me as more than just friends. I was also beginning to have those feelings for him in return.

Luckily we pulled up to Home Depot at just the right time. We were in and out of there in less than twenty minutes and on the way back to my house to patch up the floor. On the way to my house Aiden made a phone call to his mom. He spoke in his vampire language to her, and apologized in advance before he called her, saying it’d be faster and easier to explain it to her that way. The call lasted about ten minutes, and he was hanging up as we pulled into my driveway.

“Well, I explained it to Mother. She was shocked to say the least, but she’ll be coming over to America straightaway. I’ll give Lucius a call once we get back to my place tonight. You’ll like my mother, and she’ll love having you to fuss over and primp and pamper,” he said.

I wasn’t sure what that meant. To primp and pamper? But I had no choice other than to roll with it. Aiden got the floor boarded up in record time, and placed the boxes back over the top of it. With the naked eye, well with my lame human eyes anyway, I could never tell that there was a hatch there, it looked like a solid wooden floor. We cleaned up the evidence of the work we had done and took it with us in a garbage bag, because Aiden was sure the vampires would dig through my trash cans and if they saw home improvement items they would be even more suspicious if they broke in the house.

By now it was closing in on 7:30 p.m. and I was happy to be on the way back to the safety of Aiden’s house, and even happier to see Cupcake running down the steps to greet me when I walked in the door. I picked her up and gave her a hug while she licked my face all over.

Aiden came in behind me carrying the garbage bag, and the breadbox mail system. I was starving, that hamburger I had earlier in the day was long gone. I made my way into the kitchen, and Aiden followed me, placing the breadbox on the counter, then opened the back sliding door to let Cupcake out.

“I need to give Lucius a call. I’ll be back down in a few minutes,” he said, and with that he disappeared up the stairs. I made myself a bagel again and sat at his kitchen table eating it while looking out the glass door at Cupcake who was sniffing around for a place to do her business.

Aiden came back downstairs fifteen minutes later and sat down across from me at the table. “Lucius will also be coming here immediately. Both of them should be here by late tomorrow night. I’ll have to go by the blood bank and get stocked up for them. Now about the Christian situation…” he said, his voice trailing off.

Cupcake had jumped up into my lap after I let her back inside, and was grooming herself. I absently pet her head, not sure if Aiden expected me to come up with a solution or not. Before I could think of anything he began to talk uneasily.

“I know you won’t like this idea, but it’s the only one I can think of to keep him safe enough. I can alter his mind, kind of like hypnotism in a way, he’ll be fully functional but he’ll think he has a reason to be here in my house. He’ll go to work every day and do his normal everyday routines but instead of being at his house, he’ll come here every night,” he offered.

I opened my mouth to protest, then shut it again, because honestly…I could not think of anything to tell Christian that he’d believe. I just needed to get him safe, and Aiden’s house was the safest place to be. “Well what about when he has to go to work? Who’s going to watch him then?” I asked.

“Well, once Lucius gets here, he can stand watch while he is at work. He can borrow my car, it has dark tinted windows on it, as long as he’s in the vicinity of Christian’s office, like in the parking lot, the Bathory vamps won’t touch him. We’ll just have Christian skip work tomorrow, its Friday anyway.”

I thought it over for a few moments. I certainly didn’t want to mess with Christian’s mind but I figured this was the best immediate solution. “Are there any side effects of this mind whammy? And more importantly, have you used this on me?”

He shook his head no, “I’m not even able to use it on you, for some reason you’re mentally blocked to me in every way. But, no there won’t be any side effects to my 'mind whammy' on Christian. He’ll behave normally and won’t realize anything different than what I tell him is happening.”

“Ok then, how do we go about doing this? Can you call him over the phone?” I asked.

“We’ll have to go by his place, I need to see him in person in order to do it. It’ll only take a split second, I’m sure you noticed how fast it works when you and he were leaving the restaurant,” Aiden said while looking guilty for doing that to Christian the other night.

“Alright, then let's get to it, I don’t want him to be alone over there any longer than he has to be. Let me call him and tell him I’m coming over. You can whammy him to think that he’s your friend and that he’s cool with you?” I asked while taking my cell out of my pocket.

He nodded again, “Yes, don’t worry about anything Skyy. Just tell him you’re coming by, and as soon as he opens the door it’ll be done.”

I took in a deep breath and dialed Christian’s number. It rang a few times before he finally answered. “Hey Skyy, what’s up?” came his voice on the other end. He seemed like he was in a good mood.

“Umm not too much, are you busy tonight?” I asked, hoping I didn't sound too guilty.

“No, just watching some TV. Why?” was his reply.

“I was wondering if you might want some company?” Ugh I hated lying to him, even if he wouldn’t remember it.

I could tell he was smiling, even over the phone. “Of course, come on over. Want me to order anything for dinner?”

“No, that’s ok I already ate, but thanks. I’ll see ya soon,” I said.

“Ok, see ya,” he replied and hung up.

Aiden stood up from the kitchen table. “Let's get moving then.”

Thirty minutes later I was walking up to Christian’s door, nervous and feeling guilty. Aiden gave my back a quick rub up and down to reassure me. I looked over at him and he winked at me, “It’ll be alright, promise,” he said.

I rang Christian’s bell. I did have a key but decided against using it. I saw his foyer light flick on and a moment later he opened the door. The second he saw Aiden his face dropped. Then, Aiden took over. Christian’s eyes glazed over like they had the night at the restaurant, and Aiden was speaking in his vampire language.

After a few moments, Christian opened his front door wide for us to enter. “Hey guys, come on in. I was just getting ready to pack up my overnight bag,” he gestured for us to sit on the couch, “you guys want a beer or anything while you wait?”

We both shook our heads no as we sat down on his couch. Christian went into his bedroom and emerged a few moments later with his overnight duffle bag. “Ok, let's ride!” he said very enthusiastically. I glanced over at Aiden, a bit miffed wondering what the heck he whammied Christian with to make him this excited to be going for a sleepover at someone's house.

On the road again, Christian leaned up in between the two front seats from the back. “Hey Skyy, some dude came by my house today looking for you. Really weird looking guy, bald head. You know him?”

My face turned white as a sheet. Aiden gave me a sideways look. I was thanking my lucky stars we had gotten Christian out of there tonight, before anything terrible had happened. Before I could answer him, Aiden began speaking in his vampire language again, and Christian just sat back in the seat, apparently forgetting he had even mentioned it.

We pulled up into Aiden’s driveway and Christian had the same reaction I did the first time I saw his house. “Wow, your house is amazing. Skyy said it was a mansion but this is impressive”.

“Thank you,” Aiden replied. “I have a guest room made up for you already, it’s not as extravagant as Skyy’s is but I think it should do.”

We entered the house and Cupcake greeted us all. Christian bent down to pat her head, and then we both followed Aiden up the staircase that lead to my guest room. He opened the first door at the top of the stairs. “Here we are,” he said as he turned the light switch on and gestured for him to enter.

Yeah, the room wasn’t as big as mine was but it was just as decked out. It didn’t have the extra seating area with the mini bar and fridge but had a huge TV on the wall that was across from the foot of the bed, and a fireplace with a little seating area like my room. It also had its own bathroom, though much smaller than mine was and minus the Jacuzzi tub. The colors in here were black and silver, I am assuming more fitting for a male guest.

Christian threw his bag down on the bed and whistled, “Nice room man, thank you again for inviting me to stay over with you.”

After that he gave Christian the tour, as I liked to call it. He showed him the rec room, computer room, kitchen, and apparently he had a gym in the house too which I didn’t know about. “Make yourself at home Christian, anything you want to do feel free,” Aiden told him. He may be mind whammying him, but at least he was being nice about it, and I feel like if Christian was able to handle the situation without the whammying, his offer would be just as sincere.

We all had a couple of beers in the rec room while watching a movie, and although Christian was oblivious to the situation, it felt forced to me. He thought he was here to hang out with his buddies but my mind was elsewhere during the whole movie. Once it was over I excused myself saying I was tired. Christian followed suit saying he was going to crash as well.