Sins of the Father

Faxan slipped through the back door on shaking legs. His lower lip was numb and swollen and he tasted blood. His right eye was nearly swollen shut and he hurt in more places than he wanted to count.

All he wanted to do was crawl into his room and heal. This time had been worse than usual. He’d been jumped by a half dozen young males and they had beaten him until he couldn’t stand. Only the threat of dawn and burning alive had finally been enough to get him on his feet.

“Faxan?” his father bellowed from the front of the house. “Get in here.”

Shit. So much for making it upstairs unscathed. Shaking, he trudged down the hall to the living room. His father stood before the window, still dressed in the hated blue Wolf Guard uniform. His father was the reason he had no friends, the reason he was routinely beaten up, the reason everyone in the neighborhood hated him.

His father’s gaze swept him with open contempt. “Look at you,” his voice held disgust and loathing. “What kind of a worthless piece of shit are you that you can’t even defend yourself?”

It didn’t matter how he answered, it would be the wrong thing. His legs shook harder.

“I asked you a question.” His father’s gaze drilled into him.

Faxan looked at the floor. “There were too many of them.”

“Fucking pussy. Christ, why did your mother have to curse me with you? Seventeen years ago today. Didn’t think I remembered your birthday? How could I forget when you killed my mate? Why couldn’t you have died instead?”

Faxan couldn’t meet his father’s eyes. He didn’t need the frequent reminders that his mother had died because of his birth. His father never let him forget it and his father punished him, in one form or another, every day of his life for it.

“May I go? Please.” His voice waivered. He just wanted to escape to his room and lick his wounds.

“No. You may not. I’m not finished with you.” He stalked across the floor and Faxan backed away. His throat clogged shut and his stomach twisted into a tight knot. His father closed the distance fast and his hand lashed out, catching Faxan’s jacket and yanking him up on his toes. “God, I hate you,” his father said. Spittle flew from his lips and sprayed Faxan. His father flung him away.

He crashed into the wall then collapsed to the floor. He landed badly and pain shot through his ankle. For a moment, he thought it was broken. He moaned quietly and hoped his father was finished. He knew better than to fight back. He’d tried it once and his father had beaten him unconscious. All he could do was take whatever his father decided to dish out.

His father tromped toward him and Faxan tried to pull himself into the corner.

“You worthless piece of shit. Why do you stay here? I don’t want you. Can’t you get that through your stupid, thick skull?”

If he had one place he could go he would gladly pack his meager belongings and leave his father’s house.

“I asked you a question, you moron?”

He looked up and brushed his shaggy hair aside so he could meet his father’s eyes. “I know you hate me and don’t want me.”

“You just stay here to remind me of what I lost,” his father bellowed.

Faxan lowered his head, letting his hair hide his face. God, how he wished he had someplace he could go.

His father drew back his booted foot and kicked him in the stomach so hard that he vomited. He tried to crawl away from the mess on the polished hardwood.

“You dirty little fucker,” his father said in a deceptively calm voice. “Clean that shit up. When I come back in, I had better not see or smell anything on this floor. You got me?” Faxan nodded. His father kicked him in the thigh then spun on his heel and left the room.

Faxan curled over and let the tears fall. He couldn’t take any more. He just couldn’t. His father had beaten and degraded him for as long as he could remember. Vampires usually remained with their parents until their mid-twenties. He had no opportunities to leave. On the streets, he would have no choice but to work as a whore—there were no jobs for their kind—and he would rather die than be used like that. He couldn’t stay there any longer and he had nowhere to go.

There was no riding off into the moonlight for a happily ever after in the future for him. There were beatings, and injuries, and rejection, and humiliation, and pain, and suffering. That was his life. He’d never had a friend. He had no relatives that he knew of and no human would help him.

He lay on the floor and watched a bug scurry under the refrigerator. To his father, and everyone else for that matter, he didn’t have as much worth as that insect.

The front door banged closed. His father must be going to the corner store. He didn’t have time to go much further before dawn would break.

After a few minutes, Faxan struggled onto his shaky legs. His injured ankle gave out and he fell in a heap. He tried again and stood carefully. His ankle sent spikes of pain up his leg when he took a step but he didn’t care.

It was never going to stop. Maybe if he survived his father’s beatings and the neighborhood bullies, maybe he could get past the government’s locked down borders and make a life for himself in some other city where no one knew him. But what were the odds of that happening?

Slowly, he climbed the stairs and went into his barren bedroom. A threadbare denim jacket hung from a peg on the wall. He rooted through the pockets until he found three small capsules. He stood and held them in his hand.

He’d bought them two weeks ago. Some days, the days he was beaten extra hard, they were more tempting than others. He’d bought them to fix things, but he’d been afraid of going through with it. He slipped them into his pocket and hobbled back downstairs.

He limped to the kitchen and took a large glass from the cabinet and filled it with water. Then he measured out a generous helping of lemonade powder from the cheery yellow can. He added a bit more to cover any nasty taste. Then he took out the capsules and lined them up on the counter.

He stared at them for a moment, then twisted one open and dumped the contents into the glass, then the second one and then the third. He slowly stirred the powder into the lemonade. He gathered up the casings and tossed them in the garbage can.

The front door opened, closed.

Faxan’s gut tightened.

His father stomped through the house then he came into the kitchen.

Faxan’s gaze locked on the huge blade in his father’s hand. It was the hunting knife he carried at all times when he was on the government clock. Faxan knew exactly how it was used. The blade was serrated and slightly curved, ensuring maximum damage when it was thrust upward and then withdrawn.

He backed away from the counter.

Eyes gleaming, his father stalked forward. Light glinted off the blade. “You should have left when you had the chance you stupid little bastard.”

Faxan’s back touched cool wallboard.

His father lunged and agony tore through Faxan’s mid-section. His father jerked the blade free and stabbed him again and then a third time. His legs turned to numb rubber and he slid to the floor.

He glanced down at his t-shirt. Three patches of crimson were spreading rapidly. He tasted blood.

His father stood over him and smirked. “Fixed you, didn’t I? If there’s a hell, I hope you burn there forever.” He bent and wiped the bloody knife on Faxan’s ragged jeans. Then he turned and casually walked to the counter and picked up the glass of lemonade.

Faxan’s vision clouded as he watched his father lift the glass and drain the contents.

“Did it taste good?” he croaked.

“Son, that was the best damn glass of lemonade I ever had.” His father made a show of licking his lips in appreciation.

“That’s good,” Faxan said. His voice, like the rest of him was growing weaker. “Because that’s the last lemonade you’ll ever taste.”

His father choked, his face turned red and he strained to breathe.

“You little son of a bitch,” he gasped. “What was in that?”

“It was for me, you know?”

“What. . .was in it?”his father gasped.

“Poison.” He gave his father a lax smile and closed his eyes.

~ Nickie Asher ~

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Copyright © 2011 Nickie Asher

All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No portion of this work may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.

Finders Keepers: Tempted - Chapter Eight

Content Advisory: sexual intercourse, coarse language

Recap: In Chapter Seven, disaster strikes for Demonica’s lingerie line and she’s called out of town. Her relationship with Adam is tested when she learns he’s a demon hunter.

Adam stood outside the door of Monica’s house. He’d half expected her hounds to knock him over as he entered the yard but they were nowhere to be found. All of her windows were dark and when he’d stopped at the pub on his way over Danny had reported not seeing her once in the last week.

“Where are you, Monica?”

He cursed himself for not calling her or at least sending a quick text to let her know why he hadn’t returned as promised. The bastards at Command had sent him right back out into the field after his check-in.

A rock crunched on the concrete walkway behind him and Adam pulled his guns free as he turned quickly to confront whoever dared approach her door. Blake smiled at the barrel pointed in his face and Adam lowered it slightly.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Adam growled.

“So,” Blake’s grin widened. “This is what all the fuss is about. Who’s Monica?”

“No one and nothing. You’ll forget all about this.”

Blake waved his hand in the air. “These aren’t the droids I’m looking for… Drop the bullshit. No one knows you better than me and something’s definitely off.”

He watched Blake sniff the air and knew the instant his friend picked up the scent clearly broadcasting his reason for being on Monica’s doorstep. Blake glanced knowingly at the door.

“Nice. Who is she? She know what you do?”

“She thinks I’m a travelling salesman,” Adam announced. “As for the other, she’s a kickass demon.”

Blake stumbled back a step and Adam remembered the unfortunate run-in his partner had with a female demon three years before.

“Listen Blake,” he chuckled. “She’s the good sort or I wouldn’t be here. How about you run home and tell them everything is hunky dory?”

“Or…”

Adam growled, all pretence gone from his friendly demeanor. “I’ll skin you for being within twelve feet of her door.”

Blake held his hand up. “Alright, alright. Anyone asks, the natives know nothing and you’ve found a nice local to show you around.”

Adam waited until Blake disappeared before deciding the safest thing to do involved heading home and waiting to see what happened. He ran a hand down the door, wishing he could apologize, before he turned and took the long way home.

Two more days passed and he had yet to hear from her. Adam worked out, bumped over every trail outside of town on his motorcycle and cleaned out the hangar, twice, to keep from staking out Monica’s house.

He’d checked the secret cell he carried for any message from her but none came. She’s a big girl, he reminded himself. I’m sure wherever she is, Monica’s fine.

Telling himself the trip by her house was just a surveillance drive by, he slowed his motorcycle as he drew near. Sheoul and Tartarus bounded and barked at him from behind the fence. Their presence in the yard meant the woman who cared for them had come home, finally.

Adam parked his motorcycle in the driveway and hopped the fence. He’d barely lifted his hand to knock on the door when it opened and Monica stood before him in nothing but a lacy pink bra and panties.

“Holy hell....”

She grinned and pulled him in by the shirtfront. “I’ll take that as a sign that you like it. Get in here and kiss me.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. Adam dropped his helmet and jacket on the floor, kicked the door shut and hauled her against him as their mouths met in a hot tangle of teeth, lips and tongues. Before he knew it, her hands worked their way up his shirt, the material bunched under his arms as she attempted to remove the garment.

Demonica let out a small frustrated growl, the material tearing as she ripped the shirt apart and flung the shreds aside. The heat of her mouth enveloped his left nipple and he sucked in a breath.

“Monica,” he moaned. “Slow down, baby.”

“Demonica,” she murmured against his skin. “My real name is Demonica, or Demo. Now, shush. I’ve missed you.”

Adam cocked an eyebrow at the top of her blonde head as she nipped and kissed her way down his torso.

“Demo,” he groaned. “Not in the entryway. Please, baby. At least, let me get you to your room before you short circuit my brain with that amazing mouth of yours.”

Her mouth continued its delectable path toward his waist band. The soft, wet brush of her tongue over his skin threatening to wipe away any chance he had to ask her where in hell she’d been all week.

Nimble fingers undid the button of his jeans and Adam sprang into motion. He hauled her up, belly to belly and pressed Demonica against the wall.

“Stop,” he growled menacingly. “I’ve been out of my mind worrying about you all week. You didn’t call, leave a note, text… nothing. Then, when I discover you’re home, you jump me the second I walk in the door. What the hell is up with you?”

She rested her head against the wall and gave him a slow, sexy smile to match the smoldering lust in her gaze. Her hips shifted against him, clearly aware of the raging erection barely contained inside of his jeans.

“An emergency came up at the office,” she admitted. “I also got an interesting email and needed some time to think.”

“About?” he bit the word out. The hot and cold attitude changes were giving him whiplash.

Demonica stared at him for a moment; long enough to make him squirm and wonder what thought processes were taking place behind her beautiful blue eyes.

“You know I’m a demon, right?”

He nodded and waited to see where she went with it.

“The rest of your team is cool with you dating the very thing you guys hunt and kill?”

Shit. Adam took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a second and reopened them to focus on her. Somehow she’d found out and denying it wouldn’t do them any good in the long run. They had agreed to give whatever they felt for each other a shot. Lying to her didn’t figure into the equation.

“Yes, they know. Well, Blake and Danny do. Anyway,” he waved a hand to clear the subject. “I know you’re not the same as the demons we hunt and kill. I’ve explained it to them and they’re cool with us being together.” He took a deep breath and dove in with the explanations. “The Council is in charge of my team. They would prefer I kill whoever they tell me to, but I don't kill innocent people – demon or not. I and all my teammates were born different, advanced. They've never fully explained it. We were stronger, faster, healed better. The scientists approached us and said we'd be making our country proud. They promised to make us super soldiers. Played God is what they did. They mixed our DNA with animal genes. I can't explain the science behind it, I was just a paratrooper. We don't know exactly everything they did, just what we could figure out. A group of us are rogue. We work for them but within our own rules. That's why I'm so careful with you.”

“Most of that I’d already figured out,” she continued with the blank stare. “My source was thorough with their research. Go on…”

“I've got some Tiger, wolf and who knows what else inside me.” He gathered her to him and moved them to sit in the living room. The process gave him time to put his thoughts in order. “The Council isn't good and there are members of my team that aren’t either. I'll explain more about that later.” He took her hands in his and continued, “Them messing around with us did something to our chemistry.  Do you notice an alluring smell when I'm close?”

She smiled and leaned in, her lips brushing the edge of his jaw. “Is that what it is? I just chalked it up to fabulous cologne. So, what does it mean?”

“It's for you. Only people like me know what it is and it indicates something very serious. It means you're the only one I'll ever want. If you can't deal with or live with that, you'll have to tell me. We get dangerous without our,” he paused, searching for the right word. “Mate – I guess you'd call it. I don't want to rush things here. I just want you to know what you're getting into. As for the guys you can trust, they'll call me by one name – Alpha. Anybody doesn't know that, don't trust them and shoot to kill.”

Demo nodded as she digested the last bit of information. She’d spent all of her free time, and some not so free, thinking of him and the implications of what Kaleth had uncovered about Adam.

“I can deal and live with it,” she grinned and leaned in to kiss him. “I did a lot of thinking in New York and, I don’t want anyone else either.  You’re it for me, Adam.”

“Good,” he murmured against her lips. “If you change your mind, they’ll shoot me.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” she brushed her fingers over his jaw, the light stubble prickling her fingertips. “I’m yours for as long as you want me. Now, about what I was trying to start when you came in.”

He grinned and spread his arms wide. “Go for it.”

She laughed, hands sliding over his chest as she brushed her lips against his. Adam pulled her close, his mouth devouring hers and rolled her slowly beneath him.

“I thought,” she panted between kisses. “You wanted me to.” Demo groaned as his mouth moved lower. “Bedroom?”

A small meep of surprise escaped her when he scooped her up into his arms and surged up from the couch. She wrapped herself around him, the opened fly of his jeans bumping her core with each step.

Adam traversed the twenty feet between her couch and bed in record time. He sat her on the end of the mattress and she scooted back to enjoy the show as he stripped bare.

The thick length of his erection bobbed with each step he took closer to her. She smiled as a thought ran through her mind. His cock seemed to nod at her, silently saying Yes, I’m coming for you and you will enjoy me immensely as he approached. She didn’t doubt it for a second.

He stalked her on hands and knees across the bed, the primal tiger blue of his eyes daring her to run. She stayed put, chest heaving with anticipation, body primed and ready for him to capture it, claim her.

Adam pressed his body to hers. His touched fleetingly between her thighs, hard fingers against damp lace and eager flesh. Need, fierce and hungry blazed through her. His eyes burned a path over her skin, searing down to her soul and branding her his forever.

Demo gave herself up to the dizzying need burning through her. The way he touched her, more amazing than anything she could ever have imagined – until he hesitated.

“Adam,” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

He growled, low and primal as he shook his head and took a deep breath.  Every inhale filled his senses with her until he couldn’t deny the urge any longer. He dove in, kissing her hard as his instincts drove him. There would be no going slow for this claiming. The DNA took over and left him helpless to resist.

The flimsy fabric of her panties ripped easily away beneath his questing fingers. Blessedly wet, hot and silky flesh parted as he sank two digits inside. She instantly clamped down around him and Adam lost it.

His cock replaced his fingers and pushed deep inside until be bumped the end of her. Buried to his balls, Adam froze, realization of what he’d just done settling in to his lust fogged brain.

“Oh, God,” he stared at her, wide eyed. “Baby, I’m sorry.” He kissed her gently, suckling at the pulse on her neck as he waited for her to respond, moan, anything. “You okay?”

“Perfect,” she purred. Her hips rose up, grinding against him and she smiled. “Don’t be sorry. I’m okay and there’s nowhere else I want to be but right here.” Demo gently caressed the back of his neck and pulled him down for another kiss. Just before their lips touched, she whispered, “I love you. I trust you.”

Adam kissed her gently at first, then harder. He willed the heat back into her eyes with each sweep of his tongue over hers, each caress of her perfectly shaped breasts. Listening to her heartbeat, her breathing, he stopped thinking and let his senses and instincts take over.

“Delicious,” he murmured. His tongue ran across her collarbone as his hips moved slowly between the smooth pillars of her thighs. Pushing himself up, his tongue trailed to her breast and around a nipple. His cock slipped deep as she arched into his mouth and moaned.

The husky sound kicked his lust into high gear, his hips pumping faster with each sexy whimper. He kissed her again and buried his face in the crook of her shoulder, hips grinding with each and every thrust. Eyes closed, he could hear the racing of her heart, the catch of her breath.

Reaching down, he hooked her legs under the knees and sank deeper as he moaned her name.

“Demonica,” he growled and nipped at the sensitive skin of her shoulder. She was his now, always.

“Adam,” she pleaded. Her voice held a keening edge and the telltale skip of her heartbeat told him she was close.

He thrust harder, grinding against her, his own body aching for release. She clamped down, the spasms rocking her wildly against him as she cried out. His orgasm followed on the heels of hers.

Adam arched up onto his elbows, planted himself deep inside and roared as the tingle in his spine spread out to take him over.

“Demo,” her name slid out on a breathless whisper. He rolled slowly to stretch her out over him and folded his arms over her while catching his breath.

Everything in the room seemed clearer, like his DNA was given an extra vitamin book. Even stroking her back he could almost feel the blood moving under her skin.

“Wow, that wasn’t in the tour.” He reached down, pulling the blanket up to cover them.

“Hmm, what tour?” she asked and he kissed her softly. “Can we stay like this forever?”

“Anything you want, baby.” He felt his heart skip but ignored it. “I meant the tour about the changes the DNA did to us.” His heart skipped again, darkness encroached on his vision. Suddenly, he realized what it meant but time had run out to explain. “Shit, Demo… I’m sorry.”

“So much for cuddling after,” Demonica laughed softly as she slid to the mattress beside Adam. His chest rose and fell with each breath confirming he’d fallen asleep and not died on her.

Flopping onto her back, she lay beside him with a silly, satisfied grin on her face. He’d claimed her. Sure, it hadn’t gone one hundred percent as she’d expected but, he had done it and now she belonged to him forever. Beelzebub and all the other demons in line behind him could go find another heiress to harass – Lucifer’s daughter was officially off the market, boys.

A loud bark drew her attention to the bank of windows behind her bed and Demo laughed when she looked over. Sheoul’s muzzle pressed to the glass, tongue lolling out the side as he whined for attention.

“Oh, alright,” she huffed and rolled out of bed. “I’ll take you two for a run before you destroy the yard.”

The hound barked again and scrambled away to find his companion. Demonica laughed and pulled out the small notebook she kept in the bedside table. She penned a short note for Adam with her whereabouts in case he woke up before she returned.

 ~*~

Copyright © 2011 Danielle Gavan and Jennifer Feuerstein

If you missed any of our previous posts and would like to catch up, you can purchase the Digital Digest Volume II anthology as an ebook for only $.99.

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Danielle Gavan
Urban Fantasy and Erotic Romance Author

Ardeur ~ Tarnishes Tiaras ~ Cursed ~ Unwrapped

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All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No portion of this work may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.

The Choice

After twenty-seven hours of labor, Gabrielle Anderson delivered a tiny baby boy and then collapsed from exhaustion.

Moments later, the nurse returned with the infant. “He’s beautiful,” she said as she handed him over.

Gabrielle cuddled the infant close for a few brief minutes before the nurse came back for him. He was perfect, a replica of his father. “I want to keep him with me.” God, she didn’t want to let them take him.

“He’ll be fine. He needs to be checked out and you need to be taken care of,” the nurse scolded. “You’ll have him back in no time at all.”

Because she had no choice, she relinquished the little bundle.

Her parents waited somewhere outside the delivery room. She had refused to let them in while she gave birth. The idea of her parents watching her deliver a baby went beyond creeping her out. Strangers seeing her splayed wide and vulnerable were bad enough. Family was intolerable. The only one she wanted with her, Kieran, the baby’s father, wasn’t there.

Kieran had failed to show after she’d called his cell and left six frightened messages. She hadn’t planned to give birth at the hospital. Kieran was supposed to take her to a doctor he knew who would deliver the baby, but Kieran hadn’t shown up. Had he abandoned her at the eleventh hour? Or had something even more sinister taken place?

What was going to happen when the hospital staff found out? It didn’t take a genius to know her family would go off the deep end when they learned the truth. But that wasn’t important at the moment.

“Okay, honey,” a young intern said. “We need to finish up here.”

***

By the time the doctor left, Gabrielle was close to panic.

How long did it take the tests to come back? An hour? A day? She had no idea. And then what? What would they do then? She swallowed hard. She couldn’t just lay there and let things play out.

A light knock interrupted her worries but didn’t push them away.

“Baby,” her mother gushed as she and Gabrielle’s father came into the room. Both wore big smiles despite the way they had treated her during her pregnancy. But then, she had refused to divulge the name of the father. That had resulted in her parents accusing her of being a whore and sleeping with so many boys she didn’t know which of them had sired her bastard child.

“He’s so beautiful. Tiny, but perfect,” her mother said. “Have you decided on a name? He needs a name, darling.”

“I’m naming him Fale.”

“What kind of crazy name is that?” her father asked.

“It’s his grandfather’s name.”

“Ah, so you do know the father. He glanced at her mother. “When is he coming to see his child?”

“I don’t know.” She wished her parents would go home. God, how she wished it.

“That figures,” her mother said. “He has no intention of taking care of his obligations. Does he?”

“Something must have happened. He would have come.” She tried hard to keep her lip from quivering. She was sure he would have come for the birth of his child, though he would have been forced to leave before she delivered.

“Please. Do you think your father and I were born yesterday? That bastard has abandoned you and the baby.”

“No. He wouldn’t do that.” She didn’t know that for an absolute fact but she had to defend him until she knew there was a reason not to. He’d always been good to her. He’d never lied or sugarcoated anything. Why would he do something like that now? He wouldn’t.

“You’re a damn fool if you believe that,” her father said.

“No. I know him better than that.”

Something had almost surely happened to him. With the way things were, his life was in constant danger, even from his own kind. He was young, only twenty years old. Any number of horrible things could have happened.

Oh God. Please let him be okay.

“Sure you do,” he said.

Please go away. “I know him.”

She’d had no idea of the suffering and hardship the vampire community lived under until she’d fallen in love with one. Everything she’d been taught was wrong. Kieran was handsome, kind, and thoughtful. And he loved her.

He tricked you once. A little voice whispered. He had sex with you so many times you lost count when he knew you were fertile.

True. But it had come from the male vampire’s instinctive drive to mate when a female was ready. And she had been ready. Could she blame him for doing what was nothing more than inborn response?

Regardless of how it had happened, he had impregnated her with a half-vampire. And once Fale’s genetics were uncovered, he would be subject to being taken by the government. They had started pressuring mothers to give up newborn halfbreeds three months into her pregnancy with no outcry whatsoever from the human population.

What happened to those babies? She shuddered under the blankets. What happened when an infant was taken away? As if there could be any doubt of the outcome. They sure as hell weren’t taking babies because they had nothing better to do.

They were taking them and killing them. She was sure of it. And once they knew what Fale was, they would kill him, too, because she was exactly one week from her eighteenth birthday. Her parents would be given the choice. Not her. And her parents would not want a half-vampire grandchild.

The door burst open and a flustered looking woman in a suit bustled in. She didn’t even look at Gabrielle. She addressed Gabrielle’s parents instead. “Are you her parents?” she asked with distain in her tone.

“We are,” he father said. To his credit, he at least looked concerned.

Gabrielle’s stomach clenched. Oh, God.

“Are you aware that your daughter has given birth to a half-vampire?”

For a moment, her parents were stunned into silence. Then her mother actually swayed on her feet before her father’s arm shot around her. Their eyes drilled into Gabrielle.

The woman cleared her throat, then ignoring Gabrielle, spoke directly to her father, “As you may be aware, because your daughter is not yet eighteen, you have the legal right to make the decision of whether or not to turn the baby over to the state. It’s highly recommended that halfbreeds not be taken home by human families.”

“We weren’t aware of this,” her father said, he glanced at Gabrielle with steel in his eyes.

“I’m sure you can imagine the trouble this is inviting if you take the child home,” she said. “Do you want the father becoming part of your lives? I feel it’s only right to make you understand how this can hurt you within your community.” She looked down her nose at Gabrielle. “After all, your daughter has been having relations with a vampire. It won’t go unnoticed.”

Her parents looked at each other.

“No!” Gabrielle said. “You’re not taking my baby. He’s mine.”

“Gabby,” her mother said soothingly. “This is for the best. For everyone. You can get on with your life instead of having it ruined.”

“I’m not giving up my baby.”

“Dear,” the social worker said. “This isn’t your decision. You are only seventeen years old. Your parents are your legal guardians and it’s their decision.” She looked expectantly at Gabrielle’s father.

“We don’t want him. Take him and do whatever you do with the little bastards.”

***

Gabrielle awoke several hours later. After becoming hysterical, two male nurses had come and forcibly sedated her. Now her parents were gone and the room was quiet. Her baby. Her precious little baby. What had they done with him?

Tears leaked from her eyes. God, she needed Kieran. Where was he?

A soft knock at the door preceded a gray head poking in. “Miss, are you hungry? You didn’t fill out a menu for dinner.” An older woman stepped into the room.

“I don’t want anything,” Gabrielle said in a tear filled voice.

“Child, are you the one who gave birth to the halfbreed?” She didn’t look judgmental, only concerned.

Gabrielle nodded.

“Didn’t you want to give up your baby?”

“No. God no. I want my baby more than anything.”

“It’s not too late,” the old woman said. “At least it wasn’t when I came by the holding room.”

“What are you talking about?” Ice formed in Gabrielle’s stomach.

“Turn left out of here. Go to the elevator and get off in the sub-basement. Your baby is down there. Turn right off the elevator. There’s a little room at the end of the hall. Surrendered halfbreeds and kept there until someone comes for them. You need to hurry.”

Heart thudding, she asked, “What happens to them?” She had to know.

“They’re picked up by Wolf Guards.”

Gabrielle moaned and thought she might faint.

“The hospital won’t kill them. So they turn them over to someone who will. Your baby won’t make it out of the building. He’ll be killed and incinerated like a piece of garbage.”

Gabrielle struggled from her bed and reached for her clothes. Lightheadedness settled over her, threatening to take her down. She fought to steady herself. Now was not the time for weakness. She had to save her baby.

The woman closed the door and left Gabrielle alone.

She managed to dress and peeked out into the hall. Would anyone try to stop her? She looked up and down the corridor. A few visitors strolled from a room and went on their way. A doctor studied a chart and an orderly pushed a wheelchair, transporting a woman holding a baby. No nurses were in sight. She found that reassuring. Wouldn’t a nurse be the most likely to question her? Yeah, she was pretty sure of it.

She slipped from the room and hurried as fast as she was able toward the elevators. She made it down the hall without incident and poked the button. The sliver doors slid open silently and she escaped inside.

Please dear, God, let me be in time. They prayer ran through her head in a continuous litany as the car slid to a stop in the subbasement. She homed in on the room where her baby had been taken.

What if someone was in there with him?

She stopped, totally at a loss.

Then with a mother’s determination, she began searching for a weapon. Anything. Three large trash bins sat along the wall. She looked into the first one. Nothing but discarded bedding. The second bin contained more promising contents. After a few moments of fishing, she pulled out a broken mop handle. It wasn’t much of a weapon but she was fairly strong. Perhaps she could use it like a baseball bat and clean someone’s clock with it if necessary. She would do anything she had to. It might not work but she would try.

As she neared the room, her heart almost stopped in her chest. A deep male voice spoke in a one sided, heated conversation. Someone on a phone? As she neared on silent feet, the unseen male bellowed, “As soon as I take care of this brat, I’m coming home for you.”

Oh, Jesus, did he mean her baby? Of course he did.

Mop handle raised, she charged forward and burst through the door.

A huge male vampire stood over a little plastic bassinet. Inside, her son waved tiny arms, his little hands curled into tight fists.

The vampire still had the phone stuck to his ear. He wore the uniform of a Wolf Guard. A government vampire toady, traitor to their own kind, they were despised within the vampire community.

The vampire shoved the phone in his pocket, raked over her with a head to toe stare, then burst out laughing. “You must be momma to this half-bred mongrel. Where’s its father? Leave you high and dry?”

“Get the hell away from my baby,” she hissed and raised the weapon in a threatening manner.

“You don’t really expect me to be afraid of you?” He took two steps, closing the distance between them before she even registered that he had moved. He grasped her pitiful weapon and wrenched it from her grasp.

She lurched around him, dodging as he reached for her, and put herself between him and Fale. “Stay away from him.”

“You had best remove yourself before you get hurt. I’m not into hurting human females, they’re too fragile, but if you don’t cooperate, you may become collateral damage of your own doing.”

She gaped at him, not quite sure she’d heard him correctly. “You don’t want to hurt a female but you’re more than willing to murder an innocent baby?”

“Only the males.”

As if that was supposed to make some kind of difference.

“Females of your species serve a purpose a male vampire can appreciate.” He gave her a big smirk. “I’ve had dozens of human women and found most of them to my liking.”

She shuddered.

“Don’t worry. I’m not interested in a woman in a post-delivery condition. But that brings us back to the job at hand. You want to step aside because I’m taking him.”

“You’re not touching my baby.” She crouched slightly.

“He isn’t wanted in the vampire community. His father doesn’t even want him because of his diluted blood. And he sure as fuck isn’t welcome in the human community. I’ll kill him quickly and I’ll be doing him a favor.”

She screeched and charged the mountain sized killer. A second later she found herself sailing through the air. Her flight came to an abrupt halt when she hit the wall and dropped to the cold tile. Pain shot through her forearm and hip but she didn’t think either was broken. Didn’t matter if they were. She had to get up.

The vampire stood, legs braced, apparently waiting to see if she managed to get on her feet to try again.

She struggled to get her legs under her. Pain sent bright dots winking off and on before her eyes.

The door slammed inward, banging off the wall and ricocheting only to be shoved out of the way as Kieran launched into the room, bellowing with rage.

The Wolf was taken by surprise but only for a second. He leapt forward and plowed into Kieran. They crashed to the floor in a tangled sprawl.

Gabrielle scooped Fale from the tiny bassinet and turned to flee but she couldn’t leave Kieran. With the baby clutched to her chest, instinct urged her to run. She stood poised, ready to take flight as the combatants struggled.

Kieran was years younger, pounds lighter, and much less experienced, but amazingly, he was holding his own against the Wolf. But for how long? Anger had given him an edge but it wasn’t enough to sustain him for long. She knew this without a doubt. Already Kieran’s shirt was soaked with his blood and he was slowing.

The Wolf would kill him and take her baby and maybe kill her, too. Not that it would matter if she lost the baby and Kieran. Not if she saw them murdered right in front of her.

No. She wasn’t going to let it happen. Almost in slow motion she scanned the room, missing nothing. And salvation was right there waiting for her to see it. A heavy doctor’s lamp. She laid Fale back in the bassinet. He sputtered but didn’t burst into wails for which she was thankful.

She grabbed the heavy lamp with both hands and lifted its surprising weight. She turned it over, and with the base, the business end, held upright, she charged the grappling vampires. The Wolf had Kieran pinned down and as she made her move, the Wolf sank his fangs into Kieran’s throat and ripped.

Kieran let out a yelp of pain and struggled furiously under the bigger vampire. Blood gushed from the wound in his throat.

Now! Now. She had to strike or Kieran was done.

Or was he?

Despite the injury, he tore at the Wolf, ripping a great wound in his chest.

The Wolf bellowed.

She lifted the lamp as high as she could. Then brought it down. The sick thud of the base striking the Wolf’s head was loud. He froze. His eyes lifted to hers then rolled up in his head. Then Kieran’s hands locked on him and with a grunt, he flipped the Wolf off him. The big vampire crashed to the floor and lay motionless.

Kieran and Gabrielle stared at the big body. He wasn’t dead, just knocked senseless. Then they looked at each other. Kieran was covered with blood and bruises. He held a hand to the wound at his throat.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.

“Yes. You?”

“Yeah. I’m okay,” she said.

“Come on. Get the baby. We have to get out of here.”

“I can’t go home,” she said even as she scooped up Fale.

“You aren’t going with them. You’re coming with me,” he said. Then he looked uncertain. “I mean, I want you to. Will you come with me? Be my mate? I know I can’t offer you the life a human would, but I love you and I want us to be a family. And I can give you something no human can. I can’t turn you, but I know how to keep you young.”

“Where were you?” She wailed. “I needed you and you weren’t here?”

“I went to see about a place for us to live. I couldn’t make it back before dawn. I’m so sorry. I got here as soon as I could.”

“You were almost too late,” she said.

“I would have been if some old lady hadn’t told me where to find you. I’m so sorry.”

He was here now though. He’d come for her and he wanted them to be a family. She wanted that, too.

“Come on, Kieran. Take me and your son home.”

~ Nickie Asher ~

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Copyright © 2011 Nickie Asher

All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No portion of this work may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.