Bound by Revenge (Guardian Series) (7 page)

With so much at stake, Sam knew she needed to remember the details. Then, hopefully, she’d be able to find this place and make sure they were all where they needed to be when the battle began. If a single thing changed, the outcome would be different and she wasn’t about to let that happen.

Sam’s mind flashed back to the present. Bradley looked at her knowingly and nodded as she finally heard the door click behind her. He reached in front of her and turned the deadbolt. Good move. The last thing she wanted was to be interrupted by those creatures while Bradley was bringing about some major turmoil of his own inside the Andrean compound.

“Come into the sitting room. The boys are already in there waiting for us to begin.” Bradley directed the girls.

“OK, daddy. But what’s going on. This is weird even for you. I mean, I know you take the business seriously, but you’re acting like someone’s after us.” Abby turned to face her father, blocking the way to the sitting room so Sam could only observe the scene within from afar.
The strength of will it took to stand up to her father was astounding
, Sam thought as she watched the show unfold. Then if you add in his role as a guardian, such a move would be tantamount to prodding a bear. Still, there was no anger in Bradley’s face as he faced his only daughter.

Waiting for the exchange to end, Sam craned to look into the living room where they were headed. All she could see over Abby’s shoulder was a couch and loveseat pushed back against the far wall. They were off the rug where Sam assumed they normally resided. In their place was a large oval oak table surrounded by black leather office chairs. At the end of the table, there was an empty chair in front of a stack of papers and books. To the right of the head, there were two chairs already occupied and across from them two more.

Sam caught her first glimpse of the man called Alex sitting in the chair closest to the far wall and the head of the table. He was a sharp looking man, who sitting next to anyone else, would be seen as an extremely attractive man. Alex wore a black dress shirt and a teal tie, no jacket. A black leather portfolio sat on the table in front of him, similar to the one that Sam brought with her; she took a moment to relish the idea that she came properly prepared. He was the man that Sam saw in her vision. There was no doubt about that.

To Alex’s left sat the man who Sam had come to know better than almost anyone else in this world. This time was different though. If her vision was any indication, it seemed as if she was working with Vance instead of against him. They would be working for the same cause for the first time ever. Standing there, Sam took the time to study the features of the man that she had stood against so many times. The man who was the darkness to Sam’s own light.

The face staring back at her was stunning in its masculinity. His beautiful chestnut hair fell in waves just below his ears and he had ocean blue eyes that seemed to glimmer as the light reflected off the crystal chandelier above the table. The sharp angles of Vance’s face were softened by the waves cascading down the sides, but were reinforced by the dark stubble that was just a shadow on his otherwise ethereal face.

He sat back casually in the chair with one arm draped over the back as he chatted with Alex, never breaking his gaze from Sam’s eyes. He was all but challenging her to be the first to look away. While Alex looked formal in his shirt and tie, a similar outfit on Vance just seemed natural as it glided across what was a noticeably fit frame.

As Vance spoke, he picked up an iPad from on top of the table and proceeded to show something to Alex. Each of them made motions to the screen. They appeared to be trying to resolve some issue. Vance continued the show. Sam could tell he was making a display of his familiarity with the Andreans for her benefit.

“I think we should just go in.” Sam spoke quietly, directing her comment only at Abby. “Maybe we can get on with it when we get in there.” Sam kept her stare locked on Abby to avoid catching Bradley’s eye.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Abby stepped aside. They all entered the sitting room in a row and the girls sat in their seats on the opposite side of the table. Abby sat across from Alex and Sam sat across from Vance. Bradley took a moment to make introductions before settling at the head of the table to get down to business.

“Vance, Sam, I’ve summoned you here to Ruthers because you are the best at what you do.” Bradley began the conversation that was going to change everything.

Vance glanced over at Sam, stunned as he realized what was happening, and curious as to why Sam didn’t seem surprised. He assumed that the guardians had called him in but he hadn’t even imagined that Sam would be brought in, too. It couldn’t have been better if he had planned it himself.

Abby’s nervous laughter caught all of their attention. “What are you talking about, daddy? Sam just got here. This had nothing to do with your project. Unless you killed her parents to get her to move back.” Her face blanched pale white as soon as the words escaped her lips.

“And what about Vance? Alex hired him. Not you.” She wrung her hands together as she finished her thought.

“I need you both to listen to me. And trust what I’m about to tell you. You know that I would do anything for my children. It’s finally time for the two of you to go into the family business. And I don’t mean consulting.”

Alex sat straight in his chair, clearly intrigued by what he was hearing, while Abby squirmed in her seat.

“We need to start by clearing the air. Vance, Sam, you need to explain who you are before I can get into what’s about to happen.”

Bradley swiveled his chair in Vance’s direction and motioned for him to begin. Vance hesitated so Bradley began for him.

“Neither Vance nor Sam are human beings. In fact, over your lifetimes,” Bradley stated calmly making eye contact with both of his children at the table, “you have met and lived among many similar being, and not so similar ones.”

Sam could hear Abby’s heart race as she sat silently listening to her Bradley’s voice. Sam wanted to reach out and comfort her friend but she was worried that the revelation that Sam had been lying since she got there would leave Abby unreceptive to the gesture. It was never easy to accept that those closest to you frequently kept things from you, even though it usually was for your own good.

Feeling the tension was too much, and with Vance frozen speechless, Sam decided to jump in.

“We’re immortal. Basically, anyway. We can’t die of old age, like humans, in fact we don’t age at all. We
can
die by the hands of another immortal, using the weapons they create, or by a human in league with immortals, if they use immortal weaponry.”

Taking Sam’s hint, Vance continued as Sam paused to reach out to Abby, whose expression was frozen like stone as she tried to process the information being poured out in front of her. Abby jumped almost imperceptibly at the contact but calmed quickly and accepted the kindness.

“There’s a war out there that no one knows about. Good versus evil, led by angels and demons. That’s the way the world works. Everything has to be equal. Our role is to fight for our own side and keep the balance no matter what the humans have planned.”

It was a fair explanation. Sam was a little worried that Vance would claim demon superiority since he was given the opportunity to speak first, but his words were simple and straightforward and completely nonjudgmental.

“So you’re telling me that I can’t hurt you.” Alex smirked at Vance as he pulled a small red Swiss army knife out of his pants pocket. Alex flipped out the blade and started running his finger along the sharpened side while his eyes sparkled in challenge to Vance’s tale. Instead of recanting, Vance grabbed the blade in one swift motion. It wasn’t until the handle of the knife stuck straight out of Vance’s chest that Alex looked down at his hand and opened them palm up to see that he no longer held the object.

A thick blue liquid oozed out of the Vance’s wound and he made a point of slowly pulling the knife out, wiping it off, and handing it back to Alex, handle first.

“Shit, what the hell did you do?” Alex shrieked, sounding like a five year old kid, and examining the blade that had been used to inflict the wound. He pushed down on the tip of the blade to see if someone had switched out his trusty all-purpose tool with a trick knife that disappeared into the handle at contact. When the metal blade stayed rigid in his hand, the panic spread from his voice to his eyes.

Abby ran around the table, with hopes of stopping the blood. She placed both hands on top of the wound to put pressure on his heart and looked frantically towards her father. She expected him to take control of the situation, but when he remained seated calmly at the head of the table, Abby took the reins.

“Go pull the car up; we need to get him to the hospital.” Tears spilled out of Abby’s eyes as she ripped Vance’s shirt open to see how bad the wound really was, exposing a perfectly sculpted chest, faintly speckled with dark hair that led down the tight muscles of his abdomen. Abby used the shirt to wipe away the excess blood only to find a small scratch, where a gaping hole should have been.

“What the hell? Is this some kind of a sick joke? What the fuck was that blue shit?” Abby spit. She pushed Vance back against his chair and she stormed around the table to her own seat. “Whatever kind of practical joke you guys think you’re pulling, you need to stop. This is wasting a lot of time, we need to be working.” Abby’s voice wavered as she finished her speech. She needed someone to tell her she was right, this was a joke, and none of this was real. The desperate nature of her voice revealed that she knew better. This was her new reality.

“Listen to me, Abigail.” Abby wiped the tears off her face, realizing that her father hadn’t called her Abigail since she was a child. He had never liked the name. He said it didn’t fit a young girl like her, but her mother was a modern woman and she said she was the only one who had the right to select the child’s name, since she was the mother. Abby knew that whenever her father decided to use the name, she needed to pay attention.

“This is just the beginning. I need you to be strong for me because if what you just saw was too much, I need to get you out of the country, someplace safe, where no one knows who you are.”

The threat of being sent away was enough to sober Abby.

Sam reached back over from her own chair, grabbing Abby’s hand and squeezing it. Abby was shocked that she still found comfort in the simple action, even now that she knew what Sam was. Honestly, Abby liked Sam. Did that really have to change just because she was something different?

“OK. Keep going.” Abby said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“C & R Enterprises is not one of our clients. The business itself is a cover organization, much like our own. I’ve stationed my business here to keep an eye on them for the past hundred and fifty years. I’ve watched as they’ve built their empire, trained their soldiers, and gained the confidence to make a move against humanity.

The corporation owns businesses across the United States. They’ve been able to accumulate everything they may need to sustain their army, from real estate holdings, to weapons, and manufacturing. They’ve become a self-sustaining system in order to prevent humans from noticing their presence.” Bradley explained.

“So if they’re not human, what are they? Are they the same as these guys?” Alex asked making a quick motion, pointing his thumb at Vance.

Vance snorted in response, “If they were like us, we’d be able to sense them. They’re definitely not demons or angels.”

Sam pursed her lips and nodded in agreement as Abby looked at her for confirmation.

“They’re a mutation of the demonic species. Some of the oldest demons created were not quite as stable as the demons that are around today. Not until about a thousand years ago, did the creators perfect the species.” Bradley began the story that very few immortals had ever heard.

“All those that were created before that time began to degenerate after about two hundred years. Since they lived among humans, they began to take on some of the human’s characteristics which allowed them to begin interbreeding the species. With each generation, the mutations spread. It created a whole new species, many of whom have the sole desire to find a way to live freely on the earth, so they no longer have to hide who they really are.”

“That seems fair. I wouldn’t want to have to hide away, either.” Alex piped in.