We Shall Rise (21 page)

“
Where have you been, boy?” Daughton shouted.

“
Out. I had a great time. Thanks for asking.” Kaden started to walk away.

“
You think this is funny? I’ll tell you what’s really funny. You should see your mother’s face right now. I was just taking a break. Now that you’re back, things will get even funnier in a few minutes.”

Kaden stiffened. “Leave her alone, you sick bastard. If you’re mad at me, take it out on me. She has nothing to do with this.”

Kaden could see the damaged skin on Daughton’s hands. Usually Daughton used his mind control power compelling Olivia to hurt herself as he watched in delight, but this time it looks like he used his fists as well.

“
You’re mistaken, Kaden. She has everything to do with this. You see, she’s the only way I can teach you a lesson in obedience. It’s your constant defiance that has caused her pain. You have no one to blame but yourself. How she must regret having you. You’ve cost her so much more than you know
.”

Kaden pulled Reysa even closer to him so that they were practically one. She couldn’t be close enough to him. He never wanted to let her go. “I didn’t know what he meant that night, but I learned recently how much happiness I truly cost her in this life. It was my conception that cost her Lucian. She stayed with my father because of me and she suffered at his hands because of me. She nearly died from that damned drug because of me. I’ve brought nothing but misery to her life and every time she looks at me with love, a part of me dies inside.”

Reysa clutched him tightly to her trying to share this burden of pain that was eating him up inside. “She loves you because you’re her child. There is no deeper love than a mother’s love for her child. I can see that she doesn’t blame you for anything. She blames herself. It’s time that all of you stop assigning blame and help each other heal.”

Kaden brushed off her words of compassion. He didn’t deserve them. “There’s more to the story that you need to know. He left me downstairs as he headed towards his bedroom to torment Olivia some more. I just stood there waiting for those agonized sounds, but there were none this time. It was the silence that frightened me to act. I marched up to their bedroom and listened at the door. I could hear my mother’s labored breathing, but no screams this time. I forced open the door and saw her bruised and battered body collapsed at the side of the bed. Daughton standing over her looking amused at her anguish. I erupted. The fear of my father was gone. Fear had turned to rage and rage had turned to fire.”

Daughton faced his impudent son. “How dare you enter my quarters without permission? Get out now boy before I punish your mother.”

“
Kaden, please go,” she moaned from the ground. That desperation in her voice was too much for Kaden. This time, he wouldn’t go and pretend that nothing happened. He was going to save her or die trying.

“
No Mother. I won’t go. I won’t leave you with him. This ends tonight.”

Daughton glared at him. “What do you think you’re going to do, boy? You going to defend your mommy? You weak, worthless piece of trash. Get out now before I kill you both.”

Kaden would not move, not this time. He stood his ground surprising Daughton with his brazen refusal to leave.

Daughton stared down his son daring him to act. For years, Kaden had backed down, but not this day.

Daughton turned on Olivia, causing her to throw herself so forcefully on the ground that her arm snapped. The sound pierced Kaden’s ears and that’s when he unleashed it
.

“All those years of rage came out in a massive stream of white fire that incinerated my father before he could escape. I stood there watching him burn and the only thing I felt at that moment was free.” That was the first and only time Kaden was able to summon the white fire.

“My mother helped me clean up the remains and we buried this secret in the backyard. We told everyone that Daughton had been staked by another competing vampire involved in the drug trafficking business. It was a credible story. Many vampires had died in a similar manner. Everyone was shocked but we were relieved. Julian was not so pleased though. He came home from a trip abroad to give our father a proper burial. My mother urged me to play along for Julian’s sake. She didn’t want anyone to suspect that I was the one to kill my father. Daughton may have been a soulless lunatic, but the vampire elite believed deeply in family ties, especially the ties between fathers and sons. The crime of patricide would not be so easily forgiven.

“Julian mourned his death as if the world had lost a hero. He never understood the monster that was Daughton Gaspard. The bastard had successfully convinced Julian that he was an honorable man deserving of love and respect. I was the thankless, wayward son and Olivia the faithless, cold wife. I resented Julian for believing those lies.” His resentment grew as he watched his younger brother cry over the loss of their maniacal father.

“I was consumed with so much anger. I needed a release. I wanted to hurt Julian. I had been hurting him in small ways for years. Little things here and there to get under his skin, but they weren’t enough. I wanted to hurt him more. Hurt him the way I had hurt for so long. It was crazy. I should have been glad that he hadn’t suffered. I shouldn’t have wanted him to suffer, but I did.”

Kaden recalled the day of the funeral. He drank in celebration that Daughton Gaspard was finally dead. “When Julian voiced his displeasure at my behavior, I poured whiskey on the grave and lit it on fire. Julian quickly doused the blaze with a sheet of ice and then he launched himself at me. We fought until both of us were too depleted to continue. That night Julian made the decision to move to San Diego. He craved a fresh start, but I couldn’t let him go.”

“You followed him there,” Reysa acknowledged. She already knew what happened next, but she needed Kaden to admit it. He needed to tell her what he had done.

“I swear I did not go there to fight with him. I went with the intention of making peace with him. I missed my brother. Now that Daughton was gone, I thought he and I could go back to being the brothers we were before Daughton corrupted our relationship. I wanted us to start over. For a little while there, it worked. We were doing well. We hung out. Went to games together and did normal stuff that brothers do. We never talked about the past and that was our mistake. We tried to pretend like it didn’t happen, but it was always their bubbling beneath the surface. Then it happened again. The jealousy happened. Julian fell in love. He was happy with Helena. He found a woman to love him or at least pretend to love him. He deserved to be happy. I wanted him to be happy. I don’t know why I couldn’t just allow him to be happy. I had to ruin it. I can blame it on Helena’s succubus powers, but in the end if she hadn’t manipulated me I probably would have tried to seduce her regardless. Julian knows that. That’s why he can’t forgive me. I can’t forgive myself. There’s something evil in me. I hurt the ones I love. I don’t want to hurt you, Reysa.”

Reysa ran her fingers through his silken black strands of his hair. Her emotions were raw after all he revealed. She was glad for his honesty. It explained so much about this confusing man who she loved so deeply. There were so many scars in his heart. She feared her love would not be enough to help him overcome it.

She so lightly kissed his right cheek, then left. He pressed her lips to his forehead, the tip of his nose and then to his lips.

He returned the kissed intensifying the passion as his body glowed a fiery amber. He needed her. He needed the peace from being inside her again. He flipped her on her back and buried himself deeply inside her. At least for now, the darkness subsided.

Reysa had finally forced herself to leave the sanctuary of her bed with her new favorite vampire and get back to work. It had been a week since they first gave into their passions and every morning, afternoon and night after they sought pleasure in each other’s bodies.

Kaden would allow her to escape briefly to tend to Tatiana, but she had ignored everything and everyone else, especially The Lore. Fortunately, her friends and family understood about her absence, but she felt guilty forcing them to do her work while she languished in bed with Kaden. Everyone was taught to take responsibility for their actions and to perform their duties. She had neglected hers for too long.

The logical side of her mind understood this, but the emotional side was begging her to go back to him. They had shared so much with each other after that first night. She was still amazed that he opened up to her so willingly, allowing him to see the depth of his pain. Her heart broke for him. She was used to fixing problems, yet there was little she could do for him but provide him comfort. That just didn’t feel like enough when he brought so much happiness to her life. She wanted to make him happy in return, but there was so much hurt inside him that she wondered if he would ever be able to be happy. During the brief moments outside of the bedroom, he seemed distant again. They could not build a life together just on great sex. He would have to open his heart as well. Part of her feared that Kaden would never be able.

Reysa had been back to work for two hours and all she managed to do was think about Kaden. She really needed to concentrate. The situation had not improved in the last week. Although there were no more deaths at her doorstep, Lucian noted a sharp increase in the number of mescah deaths. He was concerned that soon there would be a variant of mescah making its way into the vampire and lycan communities. The information on the computers they found at the demon lair supported that theory. There was another drug in the works. Lucian’s people were working on deciphering the potential effects, but so far, they had no answers. They were still no closer to finding a cure for mescah. To have to deal with another potentially lethal drug cocktail would further drain their limited resources.

Lucian’s people were already stretched thin and it was almost impossible to recruit more help. They had reached the point of not knowing who they could trust. The best scientists were sages with skills in alchemy, yet they were also the same creatures who would be involved with creating these drugs. Everyone suspected that sages with the help of witches had developed mescah. If that was true, then they were also responsible for this coming war.

Reysa pressed her fingers against her throbbing temples. There was so much to deal with and not enough time. Yasmine was still missing and they had no leads. She had people everywhere looking and there had not been one phone call or one hint of hope that someone had seen her. As more time went by, the likelihood of finding her alive became even more remote.

The pressure was weighing her down, but a temporary reprieve was outside her office door. Reysa smiled as she felt the welcomed distraction knock on her door. “I thought you might need a break,” Kaden drawled as he entered her office.

He leaned up against the door dressed in those sexy black jeans and black snug t-shirt that emphasized his sculpted chest. When Reysa first met him, he only wore tight black leather, but those jeans were even more appetizing. With his disheveled black hair that barely reached his shoulders, he looked like a sexy, devilishly scrumptious pirate. Reysa wanted desperately to be his captured maiden.

Kaden flipped the switch, locking the door and interrupting Reysa’s fantasy.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I've been breaking for weeks now. As much as I would love another, I really need to get some work done.”

“I’ll let you work, after I have my treat.” Kaden sped to her side and whisked her from the chair. He planted her on the desk. He sat in her chair and spread her legs so that each rested on the arm of her chair. “Sorry babe, but I have a painful craving for caramel.”

“Have a Snickers bar,” Reysa taunted him.

“Nothing and no one quite satisfies my hunger for you.”

“You better not sample another,” Reysa threatened feeling territorial.

Kaden smiled as he removed her underwear. “Jealous?”

“Completely,” she responded.

“Good.” Kaden licked his way from her inner thighs to her deliciously wet mound. “I don’t share either.”

Before Reysa could respond, Kaden bent down using his tongue like a magic wand as he ravished her. Reysa’s claws grated against her desk and her body trembled from the rapture of Kaden’s tongue. Moments later, she was coming apart in his mouth. He pulled away briefly to her disappointment, but her frustration eased when she saw him ditch his clothes. He was so beautifully erect and ready that she couldn’t wait to feel him inside of her, but first she wanted her dessert.

She tried to sit up, but Kaden stilled her with his right hand. “Hey, I want my snack to,” she whined as she licked her lips.

Kaden was so tempted to give in, but he knew he wouldn’t last long with that hot mouth on him. “Not this time, babe.”

“No fair. You had yours.”

“I warned you I was a selfish bastard.” He stretched her legs apart and plunged inside of her before she could complain. The last thing Reysa wanted to do was protest with the feel of him moving so forcefully and pleasurably inside of her.

His body was glowing so brightly, searing her skin from the flames he emitted. The combination of pain and pleasure intensified Reysa’s orgasm. Kaden came as sparks emanated from his body in a mini-fireworks display.