The Lie (The Skyy Huntington Series) (25 page)

I told Christian I wasn’t feeling well and was going to lay down, and Aiden told him that they needed to discuss some family business downstairs and would appreciate it if he stayed up in either the rec room or his room. It was better than mind whammying him, but I hoped he followed the orders.

The plan was to invite the vampire who was currently outside, which happened to be Mr. Skinhead, onto the property but not invite him into the house. I’d be out there but back by the door in case I needed to retreat, as bait, telling him that we had information on the book. Once we killed him, rinse and repeat with the other one. I made a call to Grandpa’s friend at the funeral home, and once we had both of the baddies bagged, we’d drop them off there to be cremated.

Lucius went over a few moves with me again just to refresh my memory. He was still dressed in the workout pants and black t-shirt from earlier, but had a large sword strapped to his back now. Fiona had dressed down as well, in all black, she had on what looked like black riding pants, soft flat soled black leather boots that came up to just under her knee, and a black short sleeved baby doll t-shirt. She smiled at me as she put a piece of my stray hair behind my ear. “You’re going to do just fine sweetie, it’ll all be over faster than you think,” she said.

Aiden, who was dressed in dark gray pants and a button down navy and white bowling shirt, came over and hugged me. “No matter what happens, don’t leave the doorstep. I don’t care what happens. You get back inside that house if they come near you.” I nodded and then he kissed the top of my head before stepping away from me. Aww our first kiss…sort of.

It was just past 8 p.m. when we headed outside. Mr. Skinhead was still out there. Aiden, Lucius and Fi went down the driveway to Aiden’s security gate. I stood by the front door, as instructed. The driveway was long, but I could still see them in the distance. I was curious to know how the whole vampire can’t enter another vampire’s home thing worked, and made a mental note to ask Aiden later.

The next two to three minutes of my life zoomed by so fast I still don’t know what happened when I look back on it. My three vampires came walking back up the driveway with Mr. Skinhead in tow. He seemed to be coming along peacefully, not putting up a fight. I noticed that Fi and Aiden were at his sides, but Lucius was following behind him. I could see all four of their eyes glowing in the dark as they walked up, two sets of green, one set of ice blue, and one set of violet. It was at that moment I realized that I had forgotten to put the ring on before I came outside. It was sitting nice and snug on my dresser in its box right now.

Mr. Skinhead stopped in the circular driveway. He had that evil grin on his face again, like everything was a joke to him. “So, we meet again human. I see you called in some back up this time though.” My pulse went up and my heart started beating really fast in my chest. I was so nervous. I reached into my jacket pocket while he talked and opened the stopper on the vial of glitter my grandpa had given me. I tried to talk but my voice came out cracked and squeaky. I cleared my throat and tried again.

“I have some information on the book for you.” His grin got bigger.

“Oh I bet you do sweet cheeks. I knew you were full of shit when you said you didn’t know anything about it,” he replied.

Then, just like the night on my balcony when I first met Aiden in person, I saw another shadow zoom in from behind them, and at that moment Mr. Skinhead zoomed with his super speed towards me and was standing right in front of me. I saw Aiden, Lucius and Fi battling Matrix, fast blurs of shadow moving all around the circular driveway.

I briefly remember Aiden screaming at me to get inside the doorway, but all I saw was Aiden being grabbed from behind by Matrix. I screamed bloody murder at the top of my lungs
“Aiden!”
and then I was also grabbed by Mr. Skinhead, who was breathing heavily into my ear. Matrix had a knife to Aiden’s throat, which Lucius and Fiona recognized and stood down while they could assess the situation.

I screamed out again, “Let him go asshole! He doesn’t know where the book is, if you kill him you’ll never find out.” Mr. Skinhead was forcing me to walk away from the door frame towards the others.

“You got it all wrong honey,” he said. “I’m going to kill him if you don’t tell me where the book is. I’ll kill him either way, just because.”

Just then, my biggest fear came true. Christian appeared in the foyer and saw the fight, saw me being held in a choke hold. Fiona screamed out, “Christian, no! Don’t leave the house, stay inside and you’ll be safe!” to no avail.

“What in the mother fuc---“ Christian was cut off as Mr. Skinhead let me go and zoomed over to him, digging into his throat with his fangs brutally and then tossing him way up into the air and onto the pavement. In that split second Lucius took off Matrix’s head with his sword which made the other vampire scream out in anger.

He zoomed back over to try to grab me but I had tossed the glitter I had in the vial of my coat pocket right into his face. It was amazing to watch, it suspended in the air, bright tiny little lights glittering in the night. It looked like fireworks in slow motion. But apparently to a vampire it was something entirely different. He growled out in agony and rubbed his eyes. Aiden was at my side in a flash, almost throwing me through the front door. Fiona flew over to Christian who was lying totally still on the pavement, I feared the worst had happened.

Lucius acted faster than ever, taking off Mr. Skinhead’s bald tattooed head as well. And all of this happened in a matter of a couple of minutes. Aiden was shaking me out of my daze “Skyy! Skyy!” he said over and over. I looked at him, he had panic in his glowing green eyes. His fangs were out in full display. “Are you alright? Did he bite you?” he was looking all over my neck and pulling my sleeves up to check my arms.

“No, I’m fine,” I said. Then he grabbed me into a hug. Fiona came rushing inside just then, tiny little Fi who I didn’t think was even five feet tall, and probably weighed ninety pounds, was carrying Christian like he weighed nothing. She flew past us into Aiden’s living room and lay Christian onto the couch. We followed her into the room.

“Aiden, towels! Grab me some, and first aid supplies, do you have any here?” She was hysterical.

“I’ve got some gauze and hydrogen peroxide in my room, I’ll go grab it!” I said equally hysterical. I had kept some first aid stuff in my backpack from when I hurt my hand on my keys that night. I flew up to my room, grabbed it and some towels from my bathroom, and ran it back down to Fi.

Christian lay on the couch, unconscious, looking like a broken doll. His legs were crunched at a funny angle. And his throat was gashed open but Fiona had already placed a towel over it to try to stop the bleeding. I assumed Lucius was still outside cleaning up the mess.

Aiden was handing his mother the medical supplies, but honestly I really doubted some gauze and peroxide were going to fix this mess. He looked at Fiona and she nodded, then Aiden looked at me.

“Skyy, there is no good way to put this. Christian’s back is broken, badly. And his legs as well. And we won’t be able to stop the bleeding here traditionally. He needs to go to a hospital, and I don’t even know that they can help him at this point,” he said.

I burst into tears. I had gotten Christian into this mess, and now he was going to die because of it. My body started to tremor I was so hysterical. Aiden took me into another embrace and I cried harder than I ever had in my life. At some point Lucius walked into the room as well.

Fiona looked up at me from Christian’s side. Her eyes glowing green, and her arms and clothing covered in his blood. “Sweetheart, we can save him, but we’d have to turn him. And you’re the one who needs to make that decision for him, and you need to make it soon.”

I glanced over at Lucius, his eyes glowing that beautiful amethyst color as well, and he just nodded to me without saying a word. Was that his form of approval or what was it?

Still sobbing, I asked for a moment alone with Aiden, so we stepped back out into the foyer, not like it granted us any privacy but I felt better at least. “I have to make this awful choice for him, he doesn’t even have a choice!” I sobbed.

Aiden nodded his head, understanding in his eyes. “Skyy, if you remember my story of when I was turned, I didn’t have a choice either. It was life or death for me as well. I didn’t know what vampires were, or any of the things you know. And I wouldn’t trade it in for anything, I don’t regret being turned. I know it’s a hard choice to make for someone else, but I don’t think Christian would want to go out like this. He’s a pretty tough guy, he loves life. My mother really cares for him, this could be the best thing that could ever happen to both of them.”

Just then Fiona screamed out for us to come back in. Christian was semi-conscious. I rushed to his side. I knew I’d never be able to live with myself if he died. I knew no matter what, that I had made the choice to have them turn him, just looking into his deep brown eyes knowing this could be the last time I would ever see them.

I grabbed his hand in mine. “Christian. It’s me, Skyy. Can you hear me?” He was confused I could tell but he was still conscious. I’d try to get him to understand while I had him with me. “Sweetie, I know this is going to be a lot to take in, but I need you to focus. You’re hurt, badly. Your back is broken, your legs are broken, and you’re losing a ton of blood. Fiona doesn’t think you’ll make it to the hospital.” I stroked his hair while I talked to him. Fiona was actually crying while she stood just behind me.

“You remember when we were younger, all those times we watched horror movies about vampires and how we wondered if they existed? Honey I need you to listen to me, please. They
do
exist, Aiden, Fiona, and Lucius are all vampires. You got attacked by a vampire tonight, he’s what did this to you. But Lucius, Fi, and Aiden are good guys. They can help you, they can turn you into a vampire and save your life, fix your back and legs, and you’ll be good as new. Christian please say yes, I can’t lose you, we can’t lose you,” I begged him.

His eyes began to roll into the back of his head, then he snapped back to me again. “Christian, please I need you to just say yes, I don’t want to have to make this decision for you!” I cried, squeezing his hand. “What do you say?” I asked again.

Christian rolled his head to the side to look at me. He gave a half smile, even while he was on his deathbed he still had that smile. Then he shocked us all. “Fuck yes,” was his answer, no questions asked.

I let out a deep breath of relief. Fiona began to kneel beside me and I moved out of her way so she could do whatever it was that vampires need to do to turn a human. She thanked him more than once for his decision and promised him he wouldn’t regret it.

“Christian, I know you’re already in pain, but I need to bite you and it’ll hurt a little. Then I’m going to feed you my blood and I need you to drink it. I can alter your mind to take the pain away if you wish?” she asked him. He mumbled a soft “no” in reply. His eyes were closing again.

Aiden gently touched my arm, “Are you sure you want to stay and watch this?”

“If you guys don’t mind, I want to stay with him. I know he’ll be ok now, but I just want to stay by his side with Fi,” I replied.

He took my hand in his and stood in silence with me as we watched Fiona. She informed Christian she was biting him on his wrist, she only had his wrist to her mouth for a few moments, I don’t even think a minute had passed. She lifted her head up, and her beautiful lips were smeared with crimson. Her eyes were glowing brighter than I had ever seen any of their eyes glow, they looked like fluorescent neon lights at this point. She rubbed his forehead, comforting him for a couple minutes.

Then she bit into her own wrist with her fangs. I saw the blood rise to the surface, and she quickly put her wrist to his mouth, lifting his head slightly so he could drink it down. “Come on sweetie, drink just a little, it’s all I need you to do, then it’s over,” she said softly. Christian’s throat started moving, and I could see he was drinking it. I squeezed Aiden’s hand, happy. He squeezed it back and looked over at me, smiling.

Lucius, who had been sitting in his brooding silence as usual, cleared his throat then. “You both made the right choice. I’m happy to have a new addition to our little family,” he said. Then he added, “I need to get these bodies over to the guy at the funeral home. Skyy, can you please give him a call and tell him to expect me?”

“Sure thing.” I went into the kitchen and wrote down the address for him and made the phone call for him. He left quickly. I was glad I didn’t have to ride in the SUV with headless dead bodies in the trunk.

When I walked back into the living room, Fiona and Aiden were cleaning up the bloody towels. “The worst is over now sweetie. He’ll sleep for quite some time, his body will heal and he’ll make the change. It could take hours, or maybe even a day or two for him to make the full transition because his body was badly hurt. But he’ll be just fine now. You are very brave Skyy, thank you for everything you did.”

“Thank you, for being here, and for agreeing to change him. I’d have lost him if it weren’t for you!” I said back to her in return. “Guess we gave him the crash course talk on the whole vampires-do-exist subject,” I said and we both laughed.

Aiden told me that they would take care of cleaning up the blood and the living room, and said I should go take a shower. I did have Christian’s blood over my shirt and arms, and apparently on the side of my face and neck from hugging him.

I did as I was told, and took a long hot shower. I replayed the events in my head over and over. Yeah I was a dumb shit for not listening to what they told me, I should have gone back into the house. But even though I was grabbed, I lived through it and even found that I was brave enough to act by throwing the glitter fireworks at Mr. Skinhead.

After I finished drying my hair and getting dressed for the second time that day, Aiden gently knocked on my bedroom door. I let him in and he closed it behind him. He immediately grabbed me into his arms, hugging me tighter than I liked, then releasing the tension a little.