She was shaking like a leaf, her face drained of color, and her deep brown eyes locked onto mine. They were wide, but they were fixated on the otherworldly glow emanating from my eyes in the dark section of the hallway. I quickly shifted positions with her, so my face was fully in the light streaming through the open door of the room beneath the closet. With my eyes no longer holding her entranced, Ashley blinked, and then shook her head. When she was herself again, she clutched a hand to her chest and exclaimed, “Nika! You scared the bejesus out of me!”
I gave her a wry expression. “You’re not the only one. I had no idea it was you clunking around up there.”
Ashley wrinkled her nose in apology. “Sorry, I wanted to surprise you.”
“You definitely did that,” I muttered. “You didn’t have to come down here. I know it’s uncomfortable for you.” The fire that Ashley had been caught in when she was just a girl, had left her badly scarred. She’d been through several surgeries to repair the damage, but there were still obvious lines over her face and her body, and her joints were sometimes stiff and sore as a result. Coming down here had to have been a challenge for her.
Ashley only shrugged and said, “It’s your birthday.”
Sniffing the air, I smelled the wondrous aroma of blood, followed by the sickly sweet aroma of…cake? Looking down, I saw that Ash had been bringing me a treat when I’d jumped out and surprised her. A miniature cake was laying on its side, broken into large chunks, the plate holding it was shattered into bits. Sparkling candles highlighted the words Happy Birthday, Nika! Beside it was a travel mug; the top had popped off, and deep, dark blood was staining the cement. Feeling really guilty for spoiling her surprise, I picked up the mug and tried to put the cake back onto the larger remnants of the broken plate.
Ashley stiffly knelt beside me, picking up shards of ceramic surrounding the ruined cake. I blurred back to my room to get a towel for the blood, a flat binder for the cake pieces, and a small garbage bag for the rest of the plate. “Sorry, Aunt Ash, I didn’t mean to ruin your surprise.” I lifted the half-full travel mug of blood. “This is very sweet, thank you.”
Her lips twisted into a smile. “No, it’s my fault. I should have known better than to break in on a sleeping vampire.”
I shook my head. “You didn’t. I was up.” I frowned. And feeling very lonely, and now I’m feeling very foolish.
Ashley managed to get most of the cake onto the binder; the candles were even still intact, throwing small sparks into the air that faded with a faint orange glow. “At least we can still have a little cake,” she brightly said.
I gave her a soft smile. “Aunt Ash…I can’t eat cake anymore, remember?”
Her smile faded as my words triggered a memory. “Oh…right. I knew that…how stupid of me to forget. It’s just…we always do black and white cakes for your birthday.”
She sighed and I felt guilty again. Ashley always purchased a chocolate on chocolate cake for me and a white on white cake for Julian from this amazing bakery in San Francisco. It was our birthday tradition, but it was one I couldn’t partake in anymore. “It’s okay. This is new…for all of us.” I took a sip of what was left of the bloody treat she’d brought down for me. As much as I used to love those San Francisco cakes, the blood tasted better than any cake in the history of the world. I purred with the pleasure of it. “This is incredible though, thank you.”
Her face brightened back up. “At least I did something right.”
After we’d cleaned up as much of the mess as we could, I helped her to her feet. “Where’s Uncle Christian?” I asked. No one else was banging around upstairs, so I knew she was alone.
Ashley wrapped her arm around me as I led her to my room. “He’s out at the ranch with Mom and the others. We flew in this morning so we could be at the party tonight, but I wanted to come surprise you and Julian with your cakes before then. You guys always used to look forward to them…” Sighing, she shook her head. “Julian was gone when I got here, but Emma told me where she kept the spare key.” She laughed and tucked a strand of hair behind her good ear. “Em wanted to rush over here and let me in, but I told her to finish out the work day. No need to become a slacker on my account. Plus, I wouldn’t want to get her fired.” She winked and I cracked a smile. Dad was Mom’s boss, so the odds of her being fired—for any reason—were pretty slim.
Aunt Ashley looked around my room with a frown on her face. “I can’t believe you’re still sleeping down here,” she said, her voice incredulous. “I thought you would have been moved to a nicer place by now.”
I cringed as I eyed my dungeon-like bedroom. “Yeah, well, it’s the only light-proof room in the house.”
Ashley turned to me. A scar down the middle of her forehead puckered as she pressed her brows together. “Why aren’t you staying at the ranch with the others then? The underground rooms there put the finest hotels in California to shame.”
I gave her a tight smile. Because my father is afraid to let me grow up. “Funny you should ask—”
She cut me off with a strange expression. “Is it because of that man staying there? The one with constant bodyguards? The one Hunter was watching like a hawk when I left this afternoon?”
Irritation swam through me at her innocent comment. So, Hunter really was staying up all day to play with Jake. I knew he would. He was going to burn the candle at both ends, just like my father was doing with me. Only, Hunter wasn’t trying to protect my virtue like Dad was. Hunter was trying to convert a man who couldn’t be converted. In my opinion anyway.
“In part,” I muttered, not really wanting to talk about it. I sat on the bed with a wide, distracting smile on my face. “Tell me about work,” I exclaimed, changing the subject.
Ashley gave me a curious expression as she sat down, but then she started telling me about some of the burn victims she was helping at the hospital, and our conversation about why I was here at home and not there at the ranch was forgotten.
Mom rushed downstairs to be with her sister the second she got home. Even Dad came down to visit, and suddenly my dour room was the happening place to be. Ashley gave my dad crap for keeping me locked up down here—one of the many reasons why I loved her. “This is no place for a seventeen-year-old girl, Teren. She should be staying at the ranch with the other purebloods.”
Dad glared at me, like I’d coached Ashley on what to say. “It’s…complicated,” he answered.
Ashley laughed. “Everything about the Adams is.” She sobered, and her tone grew serious again. “But the ranch is where she should be, as I’m sure you know.”
Dad gave me a look that almost broke my heart. I stayed firm in my expression though. The change would be difficult on all of us, but Ash was right…I belonged with the others now.
Julian came home a bit later, and joined us in my room. Ashley told him where his cake was and he blurred back upstairs to get it. He had a faint pot smell about him that I could tell irritated my parents, but he was sober so they didn’t say anything about it. When he came back downstairs with his white on white cake, Dad lit his candles and we all sang Happy Birthday to each other. While Julian ate his cake, Mom bugged Ashley about staying here at the house instead of the ranch.
“We’ve got plenty of room, and then I’ll be able to see more of you,” she begged.
Julian cast a quick glance in my direction. As far as I knew, the school-wide party was still happening on Saturday. Hunter had some plan to get my parents out of the house, but Ashley and Christian staying here would complicate matters. Of course, I wasn’t sure if Hunter even remembered that he’d offered to lure Mom and Dad away. He sort of had more important things on his mind now, thanks to Jake. Saturday night could blow up in our faces. Julian should have put a stop to it ages ago. Maybe he still could.
Ashley sighed as she ate a clean section of my broken cake. “I know, Em, but Christian loves the ranch, and he asked to stay there.” She smirked. “He’s got a thing for animals. He can’t get ove
r the fact that there aren’t any horses though. He says it’s unnatural.” She shared a look with Mom and Dad and they all started laughing.
I knew the purebloods were partly to blame for that, so I joined in with them. Horses were naturally skittish around vampires, even mixed blood vampires, but it was more that Halina had a taste for them. We’d tried having ponies when Julian and I were younger, but, they didn’t last too long. Halina still apologized to us for eating them.
When Starla burst through the front doors with Jacen, everyone headed back upstairs. Dad carried Ashley like she was a child, making her giggle. The pesky sun was still up, so I had to wait downstairs and listen to everyone greet our “mother”.
Trey showed up not too much later, and I listened to everyone greeting him. Trey was thrilled that the party had been moved to the ranch, and was eager to get going. I heard him tell Julian that he’d been dying to see it for forever. Funny thing was, he’d seen it several months ago and just didn’t remember, thanks to Halina.
It was just last night that Dad had decided to move the party to the ranch; we’d always had it at the house in the city before now. But Dad wanted to start exposing Jake to friendly vampire behavior, so he could begin to see that we weren’t evil, and it was easier and safer for all of us to go over there, then to risk removing Jake from the ranch to bring him here. I was eager for Jake to not hate us, so my boyfriend had more free time, so I wasn’t complaining about the change of location.
While Trey joked around that our mom (meaning Starla) looked smoking hot tonight, I thought back to the ill-fated prom we’d all gone to. Trey had seemed kind of into me that night. I wasn’t sure if it was just circumstantial on his part, or if there was something brewing there. I hoped not. I didn’t want to hurt him, and my heart definitely belonged to Hunter.
Trey asked where I was and Julian told him I was still getting ready. Looking down at my worn jeans and frayed t-shirt, I decided I might as well spend the time I had making myself presentable. I found a cute, all-black party dress to wear, and paired it with some electric blue heels. Two inchers, since that was all my dad would allow me to wear. I curled my dark brown locks and expertly applied mascara, blush and lipstick. Maybe I’d look alive for once.
When I was done, mere minutes of daylight were left. Trey was starving, Starla was bored, but my family was waiting for me, so we could all go to the ranch together. It bothered me that we were getting such a late start thanks to me, but since I was one of the guests of honor, it wouldn’t be much of a party until I arrived.
I went to my foyer, the room below the closet, when only a minute of daylight remained. After I instinctually knew the sun was down, I pushed the door in the ceiling aside, replaced the chair, and hopped up into the closet. I listened at the closet door to make sure no unsuspecting humans, i.e., Trey, noticed my arrival. From the way his voice echoed back to me, I knew he wasn’t facing the closet door. Julian probably had something to do with that. Opening the closet, I slipped into the room. Mom saw me, and smiled a greeting. Then she cocked an eyebrow at my dress and gave me a subtle thumbs up.
Encouraged, I stepped into the center of the room. “Ready?” I asked no one in particular.
None of the vampires were surprised to see me, but I caught Trey unawares. He jumped a bit as he turned around, then he did a double take. “Damn, Little A, you do clean up nice.” Extending his arms wide, he walked over to me. “Give us a hug, it’s been way too long.”
Familiar with his playful form of flirting, and glad that things between us weren’t weird, I held up my hand to stop him from putting his arms around me. “Who exactly is this ‘us’ you’re referring to? Have you finally gone crazy, Trey?”
He put his hands over his heart like I’d ripped it out of his chest. “Only with my undying love for you, sweet thing.”
As I rolled my eyes and shook my head, a stab of pain went through me. If this were any other night, I’d share a look and a laugh with Arianna, and we would have bonded over how imbecilic Trey was. But Arianna was gone, lost to Julian and me forever. I suddenly felt like crying, but I pasted a smile on my face instead. “I have a sudden desire to stuff myself with cake. Let’s hit the road.”
Trey clapped his hands together. “Mmmm, cake. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.”
“Me too,” I joked. I flicked a glance at Ashley and she snorted.
Trey pointed to me as he headed for the door. “You’re sitting by me, Little A. You need to tell me the real reason why you ditched me and my awesomeness for homeschooling.”
With a laugh, I shook my head at him. His awesomeness was hardly the reason I’d “ditched”. As people started grabbing jackets and purses, a disturbing thought settled over me. Walking up to Julian, I placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered, “I can’t ride in the car with Trey.”
Julian half-turned toward me while keeping an eye on his friend. “Because of the homeschooling thing? Just tell him you got tired of going to class, he’ll understand that.”
I turned him all the way toward me. “No, because the minute I start heading toward Hunter…” My voice trailed off as embarrassment surged into me. If my cheeks could still turn red, I was sure they would have. Hunter usually sped to me before we went anywhere, even if we were going to the ranch, but my family was already late, so I’d be meeting him there tonight. Flying to him was going to be…interesting.
Julian’s cheeks did turn red. “Oh…right. Don’t worry about it. I’ll tell him you’re annoyed with Starla and don’t want to ride with her. He’ll understand.” Starla looked up from digging in her purse and frowned. Julian shrugged. Like it or not, sometimes we needed a scapegoat, and she was the best one we had. She shook her head like she really didn’t care…her perfectly styled coif didn’t move an inch.
I ended up riding to the ranch with Dad in his car. Mom and Ashley followed behind us in Alanna’s sedan; Ashley had borrowed it this afternoon to come over and surprise us with our cakes. Starla, Jacen, Trey, and Julian made up the final car in our procession. Trey seemed a little bummed that I wasn’t riding with them, until he got into the car with my brother. Then he was all playful laughs and gentle teasing.
My bond with Hunter kicked in the moment we set off down the street. It always started out mildly, so I gripped my chair and breathed in and out as deeply as I could. Dad glanced my way every five seconds. “You all right?” he asked.
I nodded, slowly and calmly. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I could do this. I could control the bond and not let the bond control me. I was going to win this time.
Unfortunately for me, the bond amplified the closer I got to Hunter, and it didn’t take too long for the sensation to become unbearable. When we were halfway to the ranch, I was panting, squirming in the seat, and repeatedly running my fingers through my hair. I’d kicked off my shoes and was running the edge of my feet up and down my bare calves. I couldn’t control anything I was doing, and it was only getting worse as the pull became stronger. The slow pace of Dad’s car was only adding to the torture. If I were on my own two feet, I would have been with him by now.
“You still all right?” Dad asked, concern in his voice.
I unintentionally groaned. God, this was so embarrassing. “No,” I finally bit out. “I can’t do this. Stop the car.”
“Nika, you have to learn to control—”
“Stop the car and let me run!” I snapped. The battle was lost. I had no control left to me, and if Dad didn’t stop the car, I’d jump out of a moving vehicle.
Sighing, Dad turned on his blinker and pulled over. I was antsy watching the car change lanes. Starla’s car was behind us, with Alanna’s car making up the rear. Everyone in our caravan changed lanes too, like they were all going to pull over, but I didn’t care. I needed out. My hands were clawing the door handle when the tires crunched along the pebbles beside the highway. I had the door open and one foot out before the car completely stopped moving.
“Wait, Nika…” Dad grabbed my arm as
I leaned out the door. I twisted back around to him and hissed in his face with fangs extended. My violent reaction startled him enough that he let me go. I was gone a split-second later, flying over small sharp stones that pricked the soles of my bare feet. In the breeze, I heard someone say, “Fix Trey before you go…” but I didn’t care about Trey anymore. I didn’t care if he’d seen my fangs or if he’d seen me streak from the car. All I cared about was the fact that Hunter’s blood was calling to me, and I needed to answer him.
Now that I was unimpeded by my father’s slow-moving vehicle, it took me no time at all to reach the ranch. I was tearing my feet to pieces on the rough terrain, but the tiny cuts healed with each step I took, leaving only a raw, aching sensation. I flew up the long gravel driveway to the main house, only stopping when I reached the ornate gate with the family name in giant letters above it. My hand reached out to smash the gate open, but it swung inward before I could. The hinges squealed in protest at the swiftness of the opening, but my heart soared because of the person who’d opened them—Hunter.
I leapt into his arms once the crack in the gate was wide enough. He staggered back with the force of me, then dropped us to the ground in the patchy, dry grass beside the gate. He was on top of me an instant later as our mouths ferociously attacked the others. His hands caressed my body, sliding up under my dress. My fingers raked down his chest, ripping the buttons holding his shirt closed. When it fluttered open in the breeze, Hunter ripped it off his body with a growl.
The lights above the looming gate next to us were facing the other direction, and Hunter and I were bathed in darkness. Our eyes glowed to their fullest, highlighting our bodies. Hunter’s face was a mixture of pain and desire. My slow journey to him had been difficult on us both. We were equally out of control, and weren’t going to be able to stop this. I worked on his jeans while his fingers tore down the straps of my dress, exposing my bra-covered chest to the air. He reached around the back and unzipped the dress while I shoved his jeans down his hips. Neither one of us spoke besides groans and grunts. That was all the use for words we had right now.