"Did you see where I just came from Heath?" He nodded as he crammed another bite of bread into his mouth. "Tomorrow, when you get out of the stocks, go to that building. If you're willing to work we'll give you some food and a place to stay."
"Oh yes ma'am, I'll work very hard for you ma'am," he said eagerly.
Hannah smiled at him and squeezed his upper arm. Sadness crept through her as her hand completely enveloped his bicep. She'd seen stray dogs with more meat on their bones than this boy. The boy stopped chewing, his mouth parted on a breath as his gaze fell to her hand. She quickly removed her hand when Calvin approached them.
"Tomorrow then," she said.
"Time is up." Calvin jerked the boy back by his shirt. Hannah snagged the bowl out of the air as Heath's startled fingers released it. "You're lucky that didn't break," Calvin barked at the boy before focusing on her. A smug smile spread over his face. "I look forward to tomorrow Hannah."
She dreaded it more than she would dread going without blood for a week, but she still forced a smile to her face that felt false even to her. "Tomorrow," she said and retreated to the safety of the tavern.
CHAPTER 2
Jack stomped his feet on the wooden porch before opening the screen door and then the heavy wooden door. He was really hoping this tavern had rooms for the night, his ass was sore from being in the saddle for hours on end and he could use a good night of sleep. They'd traveled longer than he had planned today, but the few towns in between this mountain area, and the coast they had left, had already had his brother's men in them and were well under control.
They'd come across the last occupied town a little before noon today. He hadn't expected it to take hours before they would find another town, but the farther they had gone the more mountainous and less populated the rocky terrain had become. The sun had set over an hour ago, he'd been about to call an end to their ride and camp outside for the night, when they'd finally come across this remote town. They'd dropped the horses off at a stable down the road and walked to the tavern. He could hear William's stomach rumbling, and all he really craved were a few drinks and a chance to relax for awhile before retreating to a bed.
Servers rushed about the room, patrons were engrossed in their drinks and games of chance. The comforting sounds of laughter, teasing and groans washed over him, along with the pulse of blood through human veins, and the familiar hushed stillness that accompanied those he recognized as vampire. At least this town is mingling well together, he thought as he searched for somewhere to sit. He spotted a couple of chairs at a table near the back of the large, open room. He began to weave his way through the crowd toward them with William on his heels.
From somewhere near the wooden stairs that led to the second story, an enticing song being played on a flute began to drift through the smoky room. He shrugged out of the bow and quiver on his back and placed them on the floor before settling on the empty seat. Jack cocked his head to the side as he closed his eyes and savored in the enchanting melody filling the room. It had been almost a year since he'd heard the haunting notes of a flute; he hadn't realized how much he'd missed it. William's dark auburn hair gleamed in the flickering candlelight as his sky colored eyes searched for the source of the sound. Jack picked up on the subtle slowing of heartbeats as the song calmed those gathered around him.
The sweet music drifted away, the spell it had woven over the crowd broke as everyone seemed to shake themselves before returning to their activities. A pretty blond woman came by to take their order. Jack leaned back in his chair; he stretched his long legs before him. He rubbed at his thighs as he tried to loosen up his muscles. It felt good to be out of the saddle and even if things did appear relatively calm in this town, he thought they might spend a few days here just to take a break.
He nodded a thank you to the woman when she returned with their drinks. A loud shout from his right drew his attention to the large fireplace with a fire smoldering low in the hearth. Six men had been playing a game of cards; there was a fair sized pot gathered within the center of the table. One of the men slammed his hand onto the table and rose up out of his chair. Spittle flew from his mouth as his face turned beet red.
A smile slid across Jack's lips; maybe he wasn't as tired as he'd thought. He pushed his drink away and cracked his knuckles. This was another one of the things he loved about these outer lands, the common brawls that allowed him to get out some of the pent up frustration and anger that had been festering within him ever since the war had ended. William broke into a big grin; he leapt to his feet as the fight broke out.
***
Hannah lifted her head as the first shout resonated through the tavern. Her hand clenched around the knife she held as she fought the urge to stab someone with it. Couldn't they go just one damn night without a fight, especially tonight when Calvin was supposed to be arriving?
She forced herself to drop the knife as she wiped her hands on her apron and walked to the doorway of the kitchen. Heath was already standing there; even he seemed to have forgotten what tonight was as he threw first a right hook at an imaginary fiend and then a left. It was about as close as the spindly looking boy was going to get to an actual fight for awhile.
Resting her hand on his shoulder, she gently pulled him back a step to look out the doorway. She rolled her eyes as she spotted the group of men rolling around on the floor. Chairs and tables skittered across the floor as they were kicked out of the way, legs and arms flailed about in the tangled mess. She spotted Lucas amongst the chaos, kicking and punching with the same ruthless intensity as everyone else.
They all knew the rules, fighting wasn't to be tolerated anywhere. They also knew it was a law Calvin strictly enforced. They may not all know what was happening tonight, but Lucas certainly did. Her acute anxiety over her "date night" began to turn toward rage when the crack of a breaking chair pierced the air. She was going to strangle her cousin when she got her hands on him.
"Just one night, is that so much to ask?" she muttered as she left the kitchen behind.
"Careful Hannah!" Ellen called to her from the stairs where she stood trying to stay out of the way.
"Those men are going to have to be the ones that are careful by the time she gets done with them!" Uncle Abe retorted from beside Ellen.
Hannah agreed wholeheartedly with her uncle as she honed in on the rotating pile of vampire and human testosterone. She planted her hands on her hips as she stared down at the rolling ball. She spotted a human with auburn hair happily swinging away at another blond human.
"Lucas!" she shouted but her cousin ignored her as he swung at a vampire that she knew wasn't from their town. Even better, there were outsiders involved in the fray, she thought angrily. Hannah's hands clenched on her hips as she stared at Lucas, she'd already put them in danger, and now he was adding to her mistake by taking the risk of being caught fighting. "Lucas!"
He continued to ignore her though as he punched at Marvin, a local vampire with sandy brown hair that was standing straight up on his head. A trickle of blood was trailing down from the corner of one of Marvin's hazel eyes. She was almost tempted to jump in and pull Lucas out of there, but she had enough problems without having her fangs knocked out too.
A table crashed against the wall as a chair toppled over. She was already adding up the cost of the losses as another table hit the back wall and bits of wood exploded across the room. She didn't have time to move out of the way before a flying splinter of wood hit her in the cheek. That was it, she'd had enough.
She pushed past a grinning Heath and grabbed a pot filled with water from the unlit iron stove. The fighters were still scrambling over top of each other when she arrived back at the pile and threw the water over them. Some of them came up sputtering, but three others were so determined to kill each other that they didn't even notice.
Lucas finally separated himself from the chaos. Pushing back strands of wet hair, he rose to his feet. Hannah shoved the pot into his hands and glowered at him. He
at least had the decency to look ashamed as he clutched the pot against his chest. "What were you thinking?" she demanded.
He shrugged as his gaze slid back to the group of men. "Just blowing off some steam."
"Break this up," she told him.
"I will."
She was turning away from him when the familiar sound of bells approaching drifted through the building. The hair on her arms stood on end as she exchanged a look with Lucas. "Calvin!" she hissed. "Calvin is coming!"
Where the pot of water had failed to completely end the brawl, those four words succeeded. She grabbed hold of a table and quickly settled it back into place. Humans and vampires alike scrambled around her to right the broken furniture the best that they could. She didn't look back as she fled toward Heath and shoved him into the kitchen. Though Calvin most likely knew Heath was here, she didn't want him to see the boy right now.
CHAPTER 3
Jack wasn't entirely sure what had happened. One minute he was cheerfully beating a smaller vamp and the next minute the guy had launched to his feet and was trying to repair all the damage that had been done. He gazed around in astonishment as tables and chairs were righted, the ruined furniture was hastily thrown behind the swinging kitchen door, and people that had just been pummeling each other were now scrambling to find seats at the same table like some sort of demented game of musical chairs.
He spotted a man with wavy brown hair and brown eyes rapidly throwing debris into an empty pot before dashing toward the kitchen area. William straightened his shirt and ran his fingers through his disordered hair. A purple bruise was beginning to form on his cheek but he appeared otherwise unharmed from the melee.
"What's going on?" William muttered.
"I don't know," Jack answered.
"Sit stranger, if you know what's best for you, you'll sit," a man with a blossoming black eye said out of the corner of his mouth. The man kept his head bowed but Jack knew his attention wasn't on the cards he clenched in his hands.
Jack exchanged a look with William. Jack had faced his father down, a man that had managed to survive a stake through the heart, he wasn't about to sit because of this Calvin guy that had caused everyone to scatter. "Stranger, you don't know what you're asking for," the man continued.
Jack folded his arms over his chest. No, he didn't know what he was asking for and it was rare that the prince within him reared to life, but nearly a millennium of breeding and pride surged to the forefront to keep him standing. He didn't fear anyone, well maybe Braith when Aria was threatened, but certainly not anyone else.
"Sit," he said to William.
William snorted and shook his head. "That's not going to happen."
Jack stepped a little closer to his friend as the front door opened. He detected the distant sound of a lake lapping against the shore as a vampire stepped through the doorway. The vampire's shoulders took up almost the entire doorframe as eyes the color of gold surveyed the room with open disdain. His hair, the same color as his eyes, was brushed back from the well-defined planes of his angular face as it fell to his shoulders.
Jack knew power; he was a member of the most powerful vampire line in existence, he'd been around it his entire life, and this man oozed it in waves. This was one well fed, extremely old vampire standing across from him. If he hadn't known better, he would have assumed the man was a member of the aristocratic vampire line, but he knew all the members that were left of the ruling families and this man wasn't one of them. Jack had never seen the man across from him around the palace, not even before, during, or after either of the last two major wars.
Calvin remained unmoving as he raked Jack from head to toe with a look that would have intimidated all humans, and probably most vampires, but Jack only smiled in return. Calvin was built more like Braith than Jack's own leaner form, with broad shoulders and a thicker chest. He was a good two inches taller than Jack and at least twenty pounds heavier.
Calvin pulled his gloves off as he entered the building and dropped them on a table that was, due to its missing leg, now being propped up by the knees of the men sitting around it. The men at the table winced as Calvin's shrewd eyes narrowed upon them. One of them stuck his hand beneath the table to keep it from shaking.
Jack moved William back a step with his shoulder as Calvin began to walk through the room. William didn't push against him but he kept his feet planted as he resisted Jack's attempt to move him. Jack kept his body firmly in front of him though. William may be one of the toughest humans Jack knew, but he was no match for this vampire, and Aria would kick his ass if something were to happen to William.
"Was there a fight in here?" Calvin inquired as he stopped next to a chair that had a fissure running down the back of it. The man sitting in the chair lifted his head to look at him but didn't respond.
The occupants within the room remained mute; most kept their gazes focused on the scarred table tops. Jack held Calvin's gaze as he turned back to him and tilted his head to the side. A strand of golden hair fell past the corner of his right eye and down to his chin. "Stranger, was there a fight here?"
"Of course there wasn't a fight, Calvin."
Jack turned as a woman emerged from the kitchen. He'd spotted her amongst the melee and was fairly certain she was the one who had dumped the pot of water on them all. He'd only caught sight of her briefly before, but now he found his eyes riveted to her as she stood in the doorway of the kitchen with her shoulders thrust back, and her round chin jutting out. Her hands were folded before her, but though she was trying to appear demure, there was fire in her jade green eyes.
"Ah Hannah," Calvin purred as he hurried toward her.
Jack bristled as something flickered across her face; he sensed her intense dislike of the man approaching her. He was astounded to find his upper lip curling into a snarl as Calvin grasped hold of her hands. The woman's round face remained impassive but her full lips compressed into a flat line. The man lifted her hand and pressed a kiss against the back of it. The action caused unexpected anger to slither hotly through Jack's gut.
She remained unmoving as Calvin lowered her hand. "You must let me know if these ruffians are causing you any trouble, I will take care of it at once."
"Thank you Calvin, but there hasn't been any trouble that we couldn't handle." It was the subtle tic in her cheek that alerted Jack to the fact that she was trying to pull her hand free. She finally succeeded in freeing herself and shoved both hands into the pockets of her apron as she briefly met Jack's gaze. There was a hint of surprise in her eyes as they flickered swiftly over him before turning back to Calvin. "Uncle Abe and Lucas..."
"Abe is too feeble to be of any help and Lucas... Well we both know your cousin is vulnerable too."
She blinked as a muscle in her jaw jumped. "So am I Calvin."
"Now now, I meant nothing by it Hannah," Calvin said as he pat her hand. "So many are unique here." William shot him a questioning look but Jack had no idea what that statement had meant either. He had a feeling he would find out before their time in this town was over. "Come, let us sit and enjoy ourselves for a bit. It is our night together after all."
Jack watched as Hannah's gaze darted over the tables, most of which were probably broken by now. She looked like she was going to bolt but she remained unmoving before Calvin. Jack was tempted to intervene but he was uncertain as to what was going on. She looked uncomfortable in her own skin and yet Calvin was talking as if it was their date night. The door opened again and three more vamps slid inside. Judging by the cloaks they wore, in the matching royal blue color of the one Calvin was wearing, they were Calvin's men, or at least they were his associates. Most of the other men in the tavern hunched further forward at the introduction of these new vampires.
Calvin slid his arm through Hannah's and moved her toward one of the tables. She walked beside him awkwardly but didn't try to extricate herself from his grasp as he pulled a chair out for her. Those jade green eyes met and held Jack's as she sat stiffly in
the chair. Her chocolate colored hair tumbled to the middle of her back in subtle waves that accentuated her understated beauty and emphasized the startling color of her eye and the fairness of her skin.
Another vampire woman made her way over to them. Her wheat blond hair hung in a braid to her waist; her brown eyes were troubled as she twisted a flute within her fingers. Hannah finally broke eye contact with him to speak with the woman. "Why don't you play some more Ellen, I'm sure everyone would like to hear another song," Hannah suggested.
Ellen nervously glanced around the tavern before nodding briskly and heading over to the small stage set up on the other side of the room by the stairs. An elderly, frail looking man hovered in the doorway of the kitchen before he turned and retreated into the kitchen. The young man that had been fighting with them earlier also disappeared into the kitchen right behind him.
Jack nodded to William to sit before grabbing the chair he had vacated and sliding into it. His bow and quiver had been shoved under the table with William's, but they appeared otherwise untouched. He found his gaze drawn back to Hannah as Calvin took hold of her hand again and leaned toward her. Her spine was as straight as an arrow, her shoulders remained rigid. She had to keep tugging the collar up of the lightweight, faded green dress that was baggy on her slender frame.
"What is going on here?" William hissed in his ear.
Jack shook his head as he glanced around the tavern again. He'd been in hundreds of these kinds of establishments over the years, but he'd never been in one that remained as hushed as this one. He could hear the clatter of pots and dishes in the back, and if it hadn't been for the flute, the only other sound from the patrons would have been the occasional shifting of someone in one of the wobbly chairs. Though Jack got the distinct impression that most of the occupants were fighting the impulse to flee, they all remained seated. His gaze was drawn back to Hannah and Calvin seated just three tables away and talking discreetly amongst themselves.