Into Death's Arms (11 page)

      When we finally stopped laughing she asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Yeah, I thought that wasn’t really an option before. Hell
,
it wasn’t supp
osed to be an option now, but I
was tired of lying to the person I cared for most.

    “It’s against the rules. I was afraid, lots of reasons. You could have thoug
ht I was nutso.” I pointed out, biting my bottom lip. She probably thought I was nuts anyway.

     
She shoved me.
“You are nutso,
” she exclaimed, “and not just for this. Remember when you took apart Mr. Klepsons car because he failed you for,” she shook her finger and imitated the man’s annoying tenor, “completely failing to understand the love story behind Bram Stoker’s Dracula.”
Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open finally getting the joke.

    I laughed too. I had left pieces of the man’s car all over the city. “Well now at least you understand why I can’t get behind the whole necrophilia
movement.” She threw her head back and laughed
harder
. It was fun
ny once you understand the motive
behind the things I did.

    The stopped abruptly, “A
re they really the walking dead,
” she asked in a conspiratorial tone.
Her
blue
eyes were so wide.

     I waved my free hand at her “No,
” I sighed,
“
their demons.”
That makes a difference right?

   She gasped, “Like from hell,” her
hands
shook
she whispered “and would t
hat mean you are? Well, I
know
you’re not
from heaven?”
She winked at me.

        “God n
o,
” I exclaimed. “Not your common
,
sense of demon just creatur
es. You know of the evil
Shadow-born
variety. They are o
lder than the Christian
concept of heaven and hell, s
ome of them literally.
I don’t know I think Dayton Tameron might be that old, he’s one scary
Vamp
.” I shuddered and reached for my red bull.
He
was
really scary
and yet I couldn’t help thinking about the way his breath fe
lt on my neck. Okay I had lost
it I mean really.
Vamp
ire
breath is bad.

      She laughed, “Good because the thought of you as some kind of angel would really shake my faith.”
I made a face at her
back;
s
he got up off the floor
,
and brushed herself off. I needed to
vacuum but
I’d been kind of busy lately.
“So ceremonial garb,
” she picked up the white gown and held it to herself. “I like it
,” she did a kind of twirly thing in front of the mirror,
“
much better than my communion dress.”
I remembered the dress all lace and ruffles she had looked like an overdone wedding cake in that thing.
She had hated it.
I chuckled at the memory.
She raised an eyebrow
, “
Somehow I don’t think my mother
would approve,” s
he ran her hand along the cut out belly
suggestively. I bit back a laugh her mother would have had a heart attack she hated blue jeans
.
I took it from her. “Wait till you see the ritua
l, y
our mother would hate it.
”
Her eyes widened as I threw the damned thing into the closet.

     Deanna was supermodel beautiful. Every man in the airport turned to look at her as she walked by. She linked arms with my father and sashayed her way to the car. Googly eyed men followed in their path offering to carry her luggage, opening the car door for her, whatever
,
it was enough to make a proper feminist sick, and maybe a little jealous. 

    
Okay so I didn’t want men drooling all over me but a date to prom would have been nice.
Hell,
any date would have been fabulous. 
It wasn’t like I wasn’t attractive, I was alright looking
, I guess
. I was just a little too blunt for most people.
If a guy were interested he wouldn’t be after I told him in my most abrupt manner that I wasn’t the best conversationalist but I was pretty sure my breasts weren’t going to be responding to questions any time soon.

    
I had been kissed, once. Oh, how I wished I hadn’t broken that poor boy
’
s nose.  You’d be amazed how punching the only boy who ever dared to kiss you can damage your social life.  Still he should have asked or at least hinted he was about to try to get all lippy then I could have ducked or something. Then he wouldn’t have had to have all that plastic surgery and I might have dated some. What I paid for the plastic? The judge said I had to.

    
Anyway, back to Deanna. The AoLi was gorgeous. Her blond hair looked like spun gold. Father
Mike
was beaming under her gaze. He babbled about preparations and the meal they would be having tonight. We all piled into my dad’s jeep. She sat next to my dad and I was stuck in the back with
Mike
. I wondered for the fiftieth something time why I had to come with to pick her up.
Oh yeah, because dad had said I had to.

      “This is an interesting vehicle, Caden.” Her tone was soft as she slid a hand along the dashboard. She turned those blue perfectly outlined eyes on him
. What
the hell
was going on
? Was she flirting with my dad?
Ha, I choked on a laugh.  Little did she know my dad hadn’t even looked at another woman since my mom.  He shrugged but said nothing.

      She was undaunted. “After the ritual, will you continue to live here Caden or will you take the assignment you have been offered?”  She slid that manicured hand over to his arm. 
Huh, what assignment
, no really
,
I needed to know what assignment
?
Had my dad been turning down assignments to stay with me? For Christ’s
sake,
I wasn’t a baby. Then I thought about last night and found I had to thank God he hadn’t taken an assignment somewhere else
.
I’d be
Vamp
chow right
now,
if he had.

  
He took her
delicate
hand
gently
with his and carefully laid it back on her own thigh. “I will stay
here as long as Macyn needs me,
”
h
e said evenly
maybe even a little tersely
. 
I resisted the urge to thumb my nose at her. I wasn’t in a very companionate mood right now.

      She sighed and for a minute, I felt bad for her. I knew that sigh. That was the sigh you made when you wanted something you really didn’t understand and couldn’t have.  Maybe being perfect wasn’t all it was jacked up to being. I could see how it could be lonely.
Now I felt bad for wanting to be mean to her and thankful I hadn’t given into the urge. 

   
My dad drove like a
racecar
driver, which
wasn’t normal I had to wonder if he was in a hurry to get this over with or just get out of being trapped in a small space with a man hungry super model.

      We pulled up to the house and there was Laurna’s black car. My father grow
led, o
h boy! “Macyn,” he paused visibly trying to pull himself together.
His face was all red. I thought something might burst in his head.
“Why is Laurna’s car here,” he ground out as he killed the engine.

    I hopped out of the jeep
through the top
and shrugged
all the while making a completely unrepentant face
. “Probably because Laurna’s
here,” I
said in a reasonable tone. Why else would her car be here?

    My dad grabbed my arm before I could get
too
far.
Damn
had
to learn to move a little faster when pissing off the AoD.
“Didn’t you tell her you would b
e indisposed all day today,
” he whispered harshly.
The red had gone and was replaced with a kind of sickly white. There, I felt that guilty feeling again.

    
I frowned at him.
“Nope,” I said softly
struggling gently I knew I wasn’t going to get free if he didn’t want me to but I just wasn’t the kind of girl to hold still when being held on to
. “I told her I was going to go through a ritual that could possibly kill me. N
aturally she couldn’t stay away,
” I jerked my arm away
and shrugged helplessly at him
.
He looked down at his hand
in
surprise then back up at me
.
I don’t know that I have ever seen that look on my father’s face before but I tell you what
,
lesser men than me would have fled.

  
I knew he
loved me more than anything but
for a moment I wondered if he would kill me on the lawn or wait until we got inside.  He turned stiffly and went to open the jeep door for Deanna. Laurna got out of her car. She was wearing a white dress suit. She looked perfect. She wiggled her eyebrows at me and reached back into her car to pull out a long box wrapped in bright paper.

   I went to her and wrappe
d my arms around her, “He’s mad,
” I warned.
When we had discussed
this,
I told her he would be so I guess she had time to come to grips with it. I think she was doing better than
I was
. Then again she’d never seen him kill anyone, I had.

  
  She smiled at me.
“So k,
” she drawled
nothing daunted Laurna
Ericson
. We walked arm in arm to the house. Father
Mike
spluttered something at my dad but I didn’t care.
I wanted to care but
the
‘
carnivorous
butterflies
were
eating me alive from the inside out
’
feeling was back and I really didn’t have any time to think about the fact that I had upset the nice old priest.

    They
all followed us
in. The priest headed straight for me.
Anger was plastered on his face. He shook his forefinger at me so hard I was afraid he might start jabbing me with it.
“What were
you thinking? My God, this it just isn’t done.”

    I opened my mouth and Laurna’s voice came out. Wait no she was talking, “Yeah and
Vamp
ires
don’t
announce on national TV that they exist and are such nice guys either but
it has happened
so suck it up. Move on, take it as it comes.”  I blinked,
twice;
Laurna was never disrespectf
ul, never.  “Want your present,
” sh
e turned her back on the priest and smiled brightly at me.

 
    He sputtered and shook his fist and for a
moment,
I thought something
in his head might blow
.
Surprisingly
Deanna came to his rescue. She put one of those perfect hands on his
shoulder. “Really Father
Micheal
you don’
t think you are
overreacting
a little?
” She said in that same soft tone she had used earlier. “We are
all
breaking the rules to do this today. The
Shadow-born
broke the rules by coming out, Caden broke the rules raising his daughter on his own. It is a time of change
perhaps the young lady is right?
” She raised a blond brow. “Perhaps w
e should take it as it comes?
” I still didn’t like the way she look
ed
at my dad
, like she was a carnivorou
s plant and he was the only meat around,
but maybe she wasn’t so bad.

    The father shuddered bringing himself down from a righteous froth. “I would gladly do anything for Caden
.  F
acing
being ostracized and possibly killed
for him is one thing, but to f
ace it for his irreverent
daughter who seems to think very little of th
is sacred occasion, I am unsure,
” He frowned.