Blood of the Son (Book #1 in the Skye Morrison Vampire Series) (Skye Morrison Series) (14 page)

I slowly reached out and took the napkin, too hurt by his anger towards me to say anything, and held it to my mouth.  I fought against the tears that were stinging my eyes and dabbed at my lip. 

He saw the hurt on my face and his features softened.  He reached over, gently cupping my left cheek, and looked sorrowfully into my eyes.  “Skye…” he whispered.  He suddenly looked up, over my head and quickly dropped his hand while he stood up straight. 

I turned around and saw Jameson walking towards us. 
Oh, shit
, I thought.  I pulled the bloody napkin from my lip and turned back around to face Archer. 

“Archer, may I have a drink please?” I said, swallowing thickly, trying to calm my sudden racing heart.  “Sooner rather than later?”  He quickly poured me a double shot of scotch and slid it towards me, leaving the bottle on the bar in front of me and taking a step back. 
God love him for that
, I thought.

Jameson came up behind me, put his hand on my back, and slid into the stool to my right.  He looked from Archer’s shirtless body to me and dropped his hand.  I looked at his face and he looked confused.  He glanced at my mouth and then down to the bloody napkin on the bar.  His face quickly flashed to Archers and he stared intently at him, a range of emotions playing across his face.  None of them were good. 

Fuuuuck… 
I quickly chugged my drink and poured myself another one with a shaky hand. 

Jameson suddenly stood up.  “No,” he growled, looking from Archer to me.  I slammed back the drink as Archer spoke.

“Jameson, it is time,”  Archer took a step closer and set two empty glasses on the bar.  He grabbed a bottle of Irish whiskey and poured some in each awaiting glass. He held out one glass to Jameson.  “
Tóg go bog é, a dheartháir, seo dhuit
.”

I glanced back and forth between them, Archer’s face apologetic and Jameson’s furious.  I knew that Jameson could tell that something had happened between his brother and me in his absence and he was furious about it.  I was honestly sorry that I had hurt Jameson, but I didn’t regret what happened between Archer and me.  I was a single woman and although Jameson and I had fooled around once, we weren’t really together.

Jameson slammed his fist into the bar, badly cracking it’s surface. I flinched and looked down at my tightly clasped hands. 

“
Damnú air!  Dúirt mé go ndéanfainn é
!” he shouted. 

“And, I said no,” Archer said calmly.  He looked down at the bar and sighed.  “That top cost me $60,000.  I‘ll have to order another one now.”

Jameson sat back down and grabbed the drink from Archer.  “
Is cuma sa tsioc liom
,” he growled, chugging his glass and grabbing the bottle of scotch from in front of me.  He poured himself another glass and downed that one, too. 

No one said anything for a minute. Finally, Jameson spoke up. “Well, you had your evening, like you wanted.  I hope you found what you were looking for,” he said tartly and then sighed, suddenly looking tired and defeated.  “I don’t have all night,
máistir
, so get to it.” 

Archer looked at me and said nothing. 

“Okay, somebody needs to tell me what the hell is going on,” I said, glancing back and forth between the two of them and then throwing my hands up in annoyance.  “And, what’s up with talking in languages that I don’t understand?  Hello! English!”

Jameson looked from me to Archer.  “Is she drunk?” he asked, surprised.

“Aye,” Archer said, nodding his head.

“Well, this should be fun,” Jameson said, turning to me and smirking.

I wrinkled my nose at him and snorted. “I’m not drunk. I’m annoyed!” I said, standing up.  I immediately started to fall and Archer caught me from behind.

“Easy there,” he said, sitting me back down on the barstool.

I looked at him with wide eyes, shocked at what I just witnessed.  I swallowed and looked to the empty place behind the bar where Archer had just been standing, and back at his current position beside me.  “No way…” I whispered. “How the hell did you do that?” 

“Yes way,” Jameson said, and laughed bitterly.  He stood up from the barstool and flashed to stand behind the counter.  He smirked at me, picked up the bottle of Irish whiskey, and flashed back to his barstool beside me.

“Whoa…” I said, crossing my arms on top of the bar, and putting my head down on them.  I was suddenly feeling kind of dizzy. 
I think I had way too much to drink tonight. 
Well, I know I did.  I was seeing things that were impossible. 

“Skye, you wanted to know about my fangs earlier, didn’t you?” Archer asked.

I raised my head and looked at Jameson.  He was still angry.  “So that’s where the blood came from!  You bit her, didn’t you!” he angrily accused.  “I fucking knew it!”

I looked at Archer as he answered.“Not intentionally,
a dheartháir
,” Archer said, growing slightly impatient with him.  “I never would have done that.  Not with her.”

Jameson laughed and I turned to face him.  “Honestly, Jameson.  He didn’t do it on purpose.  It was my fault,” I said quietly. 

“No, it wasn’t,” Archer defended.

Jameson stood up.  “I don’t care whose fault it was.  What’s done is done.  Stop delaying and tell her!  Or I will do what you have forbidden me to!” he said, hotly.

Archer took a deep breath. “Skye,” he called to me.  I turned to face him and he smiled cautiously at me.  “We are not human. We are vampire,” he said, plainly.

I stared at him for a few seconds, and then I looked at Jameson.  He was standing with his arms folded across his chest, smirking, and waiting for my reply. 

I threw my head back and laughed hysterically.
Yeah, right
, I thought. 
And I’m a freakin’ mermaid
.  I looked back at Jameson to see if he was laughing and he wasn’t.  I stopped laughing abruptly as he smiled at me. I watched his fangs slide down slowly.

“No way…uh-uh,” I said, shaking my head in disbelief.  “Vampires don’t exist.  I don’t believe you.”

“No, babe, mermaids don’t exist.  But, vampires do.  We’ve lived amongst you for millennia,” Archer said

I flung my head around and stared at him. 
How the hell did he know that I was just thinking about mermaids?

Archer smiled a weak smile.  “Because I can read your mind,” he said gently. 

“Fuck me…” I whispered, unladylike, and entirely astounded. 

Jameson walked around me to stand beside Archer.  I looked back and forth between them for several seconds. 
Was this possible?  Could vampires really exist?  Could Archer really read my mind? 

There’s only one way to know for certain.
  I was going to test him.

“
Archer, I want you to hum the song that was playing when you first kissed me, while touching your nose
,” I thought silently in my head.

Archer looked at Jameson and then turned back to me.  He slowly raised his right hand up, placing his index finger on the tip of his nose and started humming the song.

I felt my mouth drop wide open in surprise.  Jameson looked back and forth between us.  I quickly recovered and stood up.  “You have got to be kidding me!” I said indignantly.  “You’ve been able to read my mind the whole time I’ve known you?”

Archer slowly nodded his head and Jameson laughed, unkindly.

I had had just about enough of Jameson’s attitude at this point.  “Shut up, Jameson!” I shouted.  It was Archer’s turn to chuckle. 

I thought about all the times I had been around Archer and I blushed a furious and very embarrassed shade of red.  “This whole time, Archer?” I asked, upset, my voice rising with each word. “This whole fucking time?!”  He slowly nodded his head in affirmation, looking a little worried.

I sat back down and put my elbows on the bar, resting my forehead in my hands.  I recalled some of the things I had thought about Archer when I saw him shirtless.  I was beyond embarrassed. 
What about all the thoughts I had about Jameson.  He knew how I felt about Jameson?  He knew every intimate detail about everything I thought?
  I looked back up at Archer, desperately wishing it wasn’t true. 

“Sorry,” Archer said, gently.

I rubbed my temples with my fingers.  “Right…”  I sighed. 

I had a sudden thought and looked up at Jameson.  He was quietly standing beside Archer, watching everything take place, a look of uncertainness on his face.  I looked over at Archer.  “
Can he read minds, too
?” I thought, slightly scared to hear the answer.

Archer shook his head.  “No, Skye.  Jameson cannot read minds like me.”

“Why not?” I asked, curious.

Archer looked from me to Jameson.  Jameson slowly nodded his head at Archer and looked back at me.  Archer stood up and put his hand on his brother’s shoulder.  “Come.  Let’s take this discussion to my office.  I’ll be up in a moment, brother.  I’m going to release Gunnar for the night and have him lock up.”

“Aye,” Jameson said soberly as he walked over to my right side and held out his hand to me.  I took it and allowed him to pull me up off of the bar stool.  He grabbed my bag and jacket and escorted me toward the grand metal staircase.  I looked behind me for Archer, but he was nowhere in sight. 
Wow
, I thought. 
That’s going to take some getting used to
.  

We silently made our way up to the third floor office.  Jameson set my bag and jacket down on one of the chairs in front of Archer’s desk and motioned for me to have a seat on the couch.  I sat down and crossed my legs, watching him as he walked over to the mini-fridge. 

“Want something to drink, Skye?” he asked, plainly, not looking at me.

“A water, please,” I said, watching him retrieve a bottle of water and the crystal decanter of red wine.  “So, what?  Are you going to give me the cold shoulder all night?” I asked.

He handed me the water, walked over to the bar and selected two tall glasses.  He filled each full of the wine and then put the decanter back in the fridge.  He picked up his glass and walked over to the lazy boy in front of me and sat down, looking tired.  He stared at me for a few seconds before he spoke.  “Why him?” he asked, bluntly. 

I swallowed thickly and looked down at the water bottle in my hands.  “I didn’t mean to hurt you, Jameson…honestly,” I said softly.

He scoffed and chugged down half of the liquid in the glass.  “Not as good as from the tap,” he said to himself, holding up his glass and examining the liquid.

“Huh?” I asked, confused.  Jameson stayed silent, just staring at me.  “So, you’re really a vampire?” I asked, tentatively, playing with my fingernails.

Jameson stared at me hard.   “Aye,” he said.

“Were you ever going to tell me?” I asked, cautiously.

He ran his hand through his long hair in frustration, and sighed.  “I wanted to tell you earlier today,” he finally said, calming down.

My eyes widened in surprise.  “And why didn’t you?”

“Because, there are rules.  One must get permission from the leader of their
sliocht
before doing so,” he said calmly.  He looked up into my eyes and I saw that they were pained.  “I did not have permission.”

“And you have permission now?” I asked, confused.

“Aye.  You heard him say yourself that it was time,” he said, sounding bitter.

I looked at him, surprised.  “You mean your brother?  Archer is your leader?”

Jameson drank the rest of his wine and sighed.  “Aye.”

Wow
.  I didn’t know what to think. 
Archer was the leader of their…whatever they called it?
 

I processed this news as I took a long draw from my water bottle.  “When, today, did you want to tell me?” I asked calmly, replacing the cap on the bottle.

Jameson stood up and walked over to the bar, setting his empty glass down.  He stood facing the blank TV for a long moment before he turned around and looked at the floor between us.

“When I could not enter your house.  When I wanted to drink your blood when we were in the car together.”  He looked up into my eyes and continued. “When you opened the door and took my breath away.  Take your pick.”

I was astonished. 
Where do I even start?  I have so many questions for him.  I want to understand everything.

Just then Archer opened the office door.  “You’ll have your chance to ask them, Skye,” he said, replying to my thought.  He walked to the bar, retrieved the drink Jameson had fixed him, and came to sit beside me on the couch.   Jameson resumed his place on the lazy boy.

I sighed, looking over at Archer.  “Can’t you turn that off or something?” I asked, annoyed.  “It’s really unnerving.” 

“It’s not that easy, Skye, or I would,” he said, turning toward me.  “Humans transmit their thoughts louder than vampires.  Your brainwaves are more active than ours.  I can pretty much tune it out in a room full of vampires, but not when there is a human around.” 

I looked at him and crossed my arms over my chest.  “Not fair…” I quietly complained.