Davis: Blood Brotherhood (4 page)

“A job doing what?” He told her as his nurse. “I’ll have to think about it. My mom and I will talk it over and we’ll get back to you. I don’t…there is a lot going on right now, and I’m still trying to sort it out. And I need a job and money. We can’t live here forever, and we’ll need…we’ll need a start.”

“Which brings me to the next point.” Remy took a deep breath. “You and Davis are a couple now. And I’m not sure why you’ve not been marked accordingly or even if you will be, but you will live as long as you’d—”

“Marked? As in the way you two are? The way Davis is marked?” Remy nodded. “No thanks. I don’t want to be inked. I’ve seen a lot of infections come in to the hospital because some idiots thought it would be cool to have their girlfriends or boyfriends tatted on their skins. Not for me.”

“You might not have any say in it.” When she stood up, he crossed his arms over his chest. He wasn’t afraid of the young woman, but she was Davis’s mate. “There are things, as I have said many times now, that you might not be aware of.”

“Like the wings? Or is it the fact that those things, those blue things, hurt with a touch?” She mimicked him in stance and he had to hide a smile. “I’m not afraid of you, buddy. You might be bigger than me and a little older, but I don’t fight fair.”

“I’m nearly nineteen hundred years old.” She stared at him open mouthed. “And the ink, as you call it, was put on me when I was turned into what I am. I have no idea what that is, but we call ourselves warriors. I can eat food, though I prefer blood…Davis can eat as well, but he can live off either. Skylar is my partner, my bed mate, as well as my equal. In all things. And as you are mated to Davis, we’ll have to wait and see what powers you have now and what you will gain as this goes on.”

“Goes on? I have no idea what that means, but I get the feeling you have no clue either. As for Davis? That’s not…we’re working on that. To be honest, I have no idea why I’m so attached to him, but….” She looked at her mom when she cleared her throat. “You and I are going to be fine, Mom. We’ll find us a place to stay, and Randy won’t bother us again. We’ll have to work better at keeping him out of the house, but we’ll be—”

“I’m not your mom. Not in the truest sense of the word. I raised you from an infant, but I never gave birth to you. And your father, the man that I was married to after you came to me, he wasn’t your dad either. He never knew about where you came from, which was a good thing, I suppose, once I figured out that he was as bad as his son. But I’m not your mom.” Margarita held out an envelope. “This came with you when they brought you to me. I was told to save it for you, that you’d need it someday.”

Vicki stared at it but didn’t take it. When her mom moved toward her, Vicki stood up and backed from her when she tried to hand it to her. Remy had read it. He didn’t understand the words on the sheets of very heavy paper, but he did know that she would. He had no idea how he knew this, but knew that Vicki would understand every word written in the strange language.

“They were my neighbors. Not really very friendly, but they seldom bothered me or I them, only to say hi when one or the other was in the yard. I knew that they were expecting a baby. I had seen the woman in the yard. The man was a nice enough man and would come over to help me when he was home. I was alone back then, and he was kind to me. They both were, I guess.” Margarita moved closer as she continued. “Then one night I was in bed when there was this horrible scream. I went down the stairs, and really quietly like I opened the door and saw them. I heard voices in their yard, loud and mean sounding, and closed the door when I got scared. When they knocked, pounded really, I was almost not going to answer it. Then I saw her, your mother, and opened the door all the way. She held you up to me, and I could see that she was covered in blood. I brought you into the house, and the woman gave me the letter and left you with me. She said that you’d need it someday.”

“No. You said I was yours.” Vicki backed from her again, but this time Davis stopped her. Vicki looked up at him. “You knew about this? You knew they were going to lie to me and you brought me here to hear them?”

“It’s no lie.” She turned on him so quickly that Remy had to hold her back with his hands. “Listen to us. This is no lie. We’re trying to tell you that you’re not human, but a faerie.”

Vicki stilled, the look on her face a study in fear and disbelief. When he nodded, she shook her head and started to laugh. Not a humorous sounding one, but one he’d heard before…when men were at their end.

“A faerie? You expect me to believe that my entire life has been a lie, and that I’m not only not her child but that of a couple of fictional creatures that you know aren’t real?” Weston stood up. He had said that he’d shift to convince her, and when he did she stared at him for several seconds before looking back at Remy. The big wolf didn’t move when she started to reach out to him, but she turned to him at the last second. “You’re next, right? You’ve gotten some sort of movie thing going on that makes me think that’s what he did. And now you’re going to turn into what…a large bird of prey that will swoop over my head and make a believer of me?”

Weston came to her and nipped gently at her hand. The way she jerked from him made Remy think that she’d been hurt, but there was no mark on her. Still, she stared at him. He told her to read the letter.

Vicki snatched the letter from her mom and sat down. She opened it with her fingers across the broken seal. He had no idea who would have done that first reading, but he was sure that it was her mother, Margarita. Vicki looked as if she was reading it when she looked at him again.

“It says that I’m a child of life faeries. That my parents were outcasts for their entire life because they wanted things to be different for their children. It says that if I’m reading this….” She settled back in the chair. “‘Our dearest daughter, we are so very sorry. It was our hope that we could keep you safe from the harshness of our world, but it looks as if we were unable to protect you as we had hoped if you are reading this letter. The woman that we hope will raise you will do a good job of keeping you in a fashion that we could not…safe and without harm.’”

“They were very nice people, despite being a little shy. But it was later that I figured out why they were keeping their distance.” Margarita sat down as she continued. “A group of people came to the house a few days after you were brought to me. They asked if I had seen the couple next door and what had happened to them. I told them that I didn’t know them well, but knew there had been a fire. They asked me about the child that was rumored to have been born to them. I had already decided that if anyone asked, I would never mention you weren’t mine. So I told them that while I knew that the woman was with child, I had no idea if she’d given birth before that night.”

Nodding, Vicki continued with the letter. “‘We are life faeries. What that means for you is that you are a child of the earth. You can and will someday control it and the elements that come from it. Once you are able to say the words written here, you will become what you need to be. All knowledge of your life and your future will be yours for the taking.

“‘We feel great sorrow that we cannot see you grow up into a fully-blossomed faerie. But it is our hope that you will not be a victim of the same trials as we have gone through to bring you into this world. We loved you, no matter the little time that we had with you. Go on with your life, love everything and everyone, and forgive us for leaving you to a stranger.’”

She put the letter down on her lap and stared around the room. Remy felt sorry for her. She’d had no idea that any of this, all of this, had happened without her knowledge.

“The malefactors have entered your home now that there is no one there to stop them. I believe that they have also taken your brother. Since the night that you came here, there has been no sighting of him, nor has he made any appearances at the usual places that your mother told us—”

“She’s not my mother.” Vicki flushed and looked at Margarita before speaking again. “You should have told me. Long before now, someone should have told me. I’m not an imbecile. I could have done something to protect myself.”

“I was afraid that your father or brother would try to get you to do something that you would be hurt from. Worse than they do to me. You know how they were with me being a telepath.” Vicki looked away from her. “I only meant to protect you from them.”

“And this? What do you have to say about all of this?” Vicki looked back at her mom, then at Remy. “I want to leave here. Now. I don’t want to stay here with you people any longer.”

“It’s not safe for you out there alone. They’ll come for you now that you have my scent. Vicki, be—”

She cut Davis off. “If you tell me to be reasonable, I will hurt you.” She stood up then and started pacing back and forth. Remy supposed it was more of a march than a pace, and she was doing it as she spoke in low tones, more than likely having a conversation with herself. When she left the room, just turning at the last minute and heading out of the room, no one moved to follow her. Not even Davis.

“I’ll go.” Skylar stood up and went to the door when Davis finally stood up. “You should give me a minute. I think talking girl to girl will be what she needs more than you telling her that you love her.”

“I do. Love her I mean. I never thought that I’d find a woman to like me, much less love me. I don’t want her to leave, but if she does, so will I.” Skylar looked at Remy, then back at Davis as he continued. “I’m not going to follow you, but if you’re not back in an hour, I’m coming to find you.”

“All right.” Skylar went out the door then, and Remy looked around the room. Margarita was crying softly, and Weston had disappeared…more than likely to shift back. Davis was looking like someone had hurt him, and Remy supposed in a large way Vicki had. Remy then wondered if she’d read all of the letter, including the words that may or may not have been at the bottom. And he wondered if Vicki even realized that what she’d read had not even been in English. Remy sat back in his chair.

“I have to go with her if she leaves here.” Remy had already figured that out, but only nodded at his friend. “I don’t want her to go. It’s not safe out there for us, much less her. And with her being pissed off, I’m not sure she wouldn’t just go out and take one on just to burn off some anger at us all.”

“Maybe Skylar can help her with this. She’s really good at talking to people.” He hoped so anyway. “She might not think it’s so bad once they have a little girl talk.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure I’d like to know what either of them consider girl talk. They might just be trying to figure out which of us to murder first.” Remy started to laugh and realized that Davis was serious.

“I think we should simply wait to see what happens before we go about thinking those kinds of thoughts.” Davis said he’d wait, but he didn’t sound all that convinced. Remy was afraid for all of them. Not just for the girl but for what was going on outside of this compound. The malefactors were getting stronger all the time.

Chapter 4

Vicki walked out into the yard and looked around. There were so many people, faded and blue men and women, standing around the property that it looked like a barrier had been set up that only they could see. She turned when someone said her name. Vicki turned back to the crowd as she spoke to Skylar.

“If you’ve come out here to see about changing my mind, you can forget it. I’m leaving.” Skylar only snorted. “I have every right to leave here. And I plan to use those rights in getting back to my home. I know that I don’t have a lot of say in it, but I can’t stay here, not with her.”

“By her, I’m assuming you mean the woman who gave up a lot to keep you safe all these years. The house you’re talking about isn’t going to happen anyway. It’s locked up. Someone put a chain on the doors this morning. I could take you there if you don’t believe me, but the landlord is suing you and your mother for back rent. Apparently there hasn’t been a payment made in several months.” Vicki started to deny that was possible, but she remembered the bruising on her mom—no, she wasn’t her mom, but her face had been bruised a lot in the last few months. “It’s not her fault she was trying to protect you. You have to know what it cost her to lie to you all this time.”

“I never said it was her fault. But she did it all the same.” Vicki turned to eye Skylar. “Are you reading my mind? And if so, I want you to stop right fucking now.”

“I can, and I wouldn’t have to if you’d just talk to us. I’m sure you have a lot of questions that you’d like answered. I can answer a few, but not all of them. Your mother will have to do that.” Vicki stared at a couple of men who were trying to push another man into the circle. “They can’t cross over into this land. It’s warded with magic.”

“And you’re okay with thinking that?” Vicki turned to look at Skylar when she didn’t answer. “Do you have any idea how off the wall you all sound? How out of touch with reality you are? And me too, I guess. I’m standing here, aren’t I, listening to you?”

“Are we? Off the wall? Do you see my face? My arms? What do you see?” She told her that she was inked up. “What would you say if I told you that no human can see them? If asked to tell you what they see, they’d say that I was a woman. And that they don’t see the monsters out there until they’re bitten.”

Vicki stared at the circle of malefactors and wondered what it was they were. “What are they? I mean, I can see them, and I’m not saying I believe you that no one can see them but us, but I would like to know what they are. And why are they here.”

Skylar looked out over the vast field too. Vicki could see that there were hundreds of them. What were they doing here?

“They’re called malefactors by us. Soldiers by their makers. And the blue ones are called adherents. I’m not sure what they are now, but at one time recently, they were people. And until a few months ago, like you, I had no idea what they were or why I could see them. But as to why they’re here; it’s something about stones and selling them to the highest bidder. Hector—you’ve met him—he said that they were created, the original ones anyway, to help fight wars on his realm. They were mindless killing machines that didn’t know the word quit. And the reason they were brought here was to help us with our own. Or so we were told.” Vicki waited for Skylar to go on while watching her face for any sign of insanity. It had to be that, no one could believe in other planets or realms or whatever they were. “Once they were here, they became mindless killing machines as they’d been on their own planet, but it was worse. They killed the good people as well as the bad. And they were no longer satisfied with just killing, but they started to turn them as well. Into what you see there. It wasn’t until recently that we found out that they weren’t sent here to help us, but to kill us all. All humans for a stone.”

“A stone.” Skylar nodded and bent and picked up one. “That is a worthless piece of agate. You can’t expect me to believe that they came here for that.”

“Watch.” As she held it tightly in her hands, Vicki heard the monsters start to scream. As the stone turned to crumbles in Skylar’s hand, the sound from the malefactors grew louder and louder. Then as she dropped the broken, almost completely dust stone, the people surrounding them began to try harder to get to them, killing several of their own in the process. But they never got any more than a foot over this invisible line at any time, and then it was only to die. From the sounds of it, it was a horrific and painful death too. “They’re unable to come on to the property, as I’ve said. It keeps us safe. The house and all the people who live here are only able to enter because they are not associated with those things or the people who created them. And you have magic in you or you’d not know any of this.”

“I don’t have magic in me.” She stared at the people, not wanting to believe a word Skylar was saying. “There’s been a mistake. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be a faerie.”

“I think it’s too late for that, don’t you?” Vicki nodded. “Davis is like us. Less than us, but like us. He has fangs, marks on him that he can and has pulled from his body to use as weapons. The sword at his back has saved many humans many times. I have wings, which you have seen on several occasions. Flown with me, as a matter of fact, twice now. To say that you don’t believe us when we tell you we are magical is like saying that you don’t believe your own eyes. And you do believe them, don’t you, Vicki?”

“Why wasn’t I told what I was long ago?” Skylar only shrugged. Vicki turned to the house when a door opened. Davis stood there on the patio watching them. “He said that I’m his mate. He’s bitten me on several occasions. I’ve even…I’ve even bitten him. Does that make me a vampire?”

“It makes you his mate. Look at me, Vicki.” Reluctantly, she looked at Skylar. “Do you think that I was born this way? That I came to this world looking like this, with wings and tats? I was just like you. A woman who had no past that was much of anything. No future at all because of something that was done to me without my knowledge. I am now a killing machine that works more hours than I should to try and keep the humans—as many as we can anyway—keep them from becoming what those things are.”

Davis started toward them, and she felt her heart rate pick up. The man was gorgeous, big, and safe. Safe. It was a word she’d never used for another person in her life before. As he got closer, she glanced at Skylar when she stepped away and made her way back to the house. Vicki suddenly wanted everyone gone. Except for Davis.

An alarm went off somewhere within the house. She turned when he did, reaching for a weapon that she’d never carried before. Davis was tense, looking around as if he expected something to come at them at any moment. Then she saw it, high in the sky above them. Vicki was suddenly very glad for the magic that was surrounding them.

~~~

Davis pushed Vicki behind him when Benton landed a few feet from the border of their property. His monster was as big as he remembered him to be, but there was something very different about him. It took Davis a few seconds to figure out what it was. He was blue.

“What have we here? Fresh meat? Come here, little morsel, let me have a taste of you.” Davis heard the others come out of the house but never took his eyes off Benton. He didn’t think he could cross the line, but with him, who knew? “Come to me, girl. I’d like to add you to my harem.”

“Well, well, if it’s not Benton.” The monster roared at Remy and made the big man smile. “Have you been away licking your wounds? Have you healed yourself enough that you wish another try at me? Come on now, come and get me.”

“You think you’re so funny, don’t you, Rembrandt the Warrior?” Davis saw Remy stiffen, but he said nothing. “Have you figured it out yet? Do you know where it is we know each other from?”

He was taunting Remy, and so far as he could see, Remy wasn’t taking the bait. Instead he stared at the beast like he had all the time in the world to deal with him. The wings of Benton spread out, and he killed several of his men by beheading them with the sharp edges of his wings. Their bodies fell to the ground, their heads lolling around on the ground, blood spraying all over the big monster.

“Yes.” Remy was very good at waiting. Davis had noticed that from the very beginning of their relationship. And his waiting this time obviously had the desired effect. Benton was pissed at him.

“I killed them, you know. All of them. I killed your entire family and had relations with your wife before I let the others have her. The house was burned to the ground on my orders. Your wife, the precious little woman, was raped by my say. Did you know that burning that barn of yours was the best thing I’ve witnessed in all my life? Watching those animals burn and scream for someone to save them? Your wife did much the same.” Remy didn’t move. He didn’t even look as if he cared about what the big monster spewed at him. But as he continued, Davis noticed something happening to the monster. He was getting bigger. And meaner. “I had my way with her first, cutting the child from her as she lay there screaming for you to save her.”

“She was dead long before you touched her. Took her own life rather than let any of you harm her. My children were not harmed by you either. They were hidden well below the house before you entered my home.” The monster screamed as his wings spread out and waved great billows of air at them. “As for your order? I think not. You might believe that you did what you did, but those men you hired were not working for you but for another. They only took your coin when you offered it to them. My family died because I did not wish to fight for the wrong side.”

“You lie.” The spittle that spewed across the field burned in the dirt, bubbling up like acid. “You did not know me. You knew not that I was once your friend.”

“You were never my friend, Augustus. But only a man that I felt sorry for when he had no one else.”

He flew at them then, the big monster. Davis drew his sword but got no further than that. When Vicki stepped in front of him and raised her hands up, Benton flew back, his body on fire as something white and powerful spread from her fingers and toward him.

Vicki took a step toward the fallen beast, then another as power seemed to come from all around her. The ground shook, the trees bowed over, and the grass seemed to reach up for her. As she stood at the edge of the property, her fingers still burning into Benton’s skin, he screamed, his voice echoing around the large area as if they were in a canyon and it bounced from there. As he took to the skies, his flesh still hot with the magic and burning debris dropping off him as his wings smoked behind him, Davis could see that he was sorely hurt. He might not even recover from it.

Davis looked at Vicki. Her hair was standing on end, swaying in the blowing air around her. Her body was a foot or more off the ground. The grasses that had reached for her just moments ago held her to them in a coil of their leaves. Davis thought perhaps they held her not to keep her from harm, but to keep her from going after the great monster that she’d hurt.

“Enough.” Remy stepped in front of Vicki and pulled her hands down. “He’s gone. Please, that’s enough.”

When he let her go, her hands dropped to her side, but she said nothing as she stared at Remy. Davis walked up behind her, his sword still in his hand, and put his free hand around her waist to pull her to his body. Remy still stared at her, saying nothing but holding her eyes with his own. When he finally turned away, his body shielding her seemingly, Vicki dropped. Had he not been there to catch her, scoop her up into his arms, Davis was sure she would have been hurt.

“Take her to your room. She’ll need to rest for several hours, if not days.” Davis started to ask Skylar how she knew that, but she spoke first. “This is the first time she’s used these powers of hers, and I’m sure she’s drained. We’ll have the cook make her juices, lots of them. She’s going to need them when she wakes.”

“Will she be all right?” She shrugged, and he had an idea from her smile that she was going to be all right physically, but mentally she was going to be pissed off. “I’ll call you if I need you.”

“You won’t.” Skylar turned to Remy before speaking to them both. “We’re going to have to explain what happened here today. Questions are going to need to be answered. Much of them from us. But whatever she did, it was powerful and dangerous. Hopefully she’ll have more control over it than we did when we first began this.”

Davis started for the house. Vicki was limp in his arms, but she was breathing and her heart was doing well. He was amazed that she’d done what she had. He had no clue what it was she’d done, but she’d done it. Simply stepping up to help them when she could have been hurt or even killed. As soon as he entered the house, he looked at Margarita.

“I won’t hurt her.” She nodded and smiled at him. “I won’t. She’s my life, my love. I didn’t think I’d ever say those words, but there you have it.”

“She’s all I ever wanted in a daughter and then some. She could have gone off and left me alone to deal with her half-brother, but she never did. Even with him being mean to us all the time, she never left me.” Davis pulled Vicki closer to his body. “Please care for her in ways that I could never do.”

“I will.” She nodded and opened the door to the lower levels for him. As he moved down the stairs toward his room, he looked down at her face. He was still amazed as her beauty. Her eyes opened just as he entered his room.

“You’re going to be fine.” Nodding, she just stared at him. Then she bowed up in his arms and screamed. It was all he could do to hold onto her without dropping her. But even as he laid her down on his bed, he could see the markings on her body begin to appear. She slipped away just as the marks started.