Skye Morrison Vampire 2 Sins of the Father (30 page)

Jameson pulled me tighter to him as he kissed
me deeply. He licked my bottom lip, signaling me to open my mouth,
but I pulled back. “Uh, babe? I haven’t brushed my teeth in days.
It feels like something died in there, so let’s hold off until I
shower, okay?”

He smiled, nodded his head in agreement, and
gently kissed my forehead before finishing his story.

“So, like I said, when we saw your hair and
smelled the fresh blood, we knew you were alive. We went ballistic
when we saw it though. My mind was filled with horrible thoughts of
how you were being tortured and I screamed at Archer, telling him
that we had to do something. Quinn found a note in the box but he
couldn’t read it and got Archer’s attention to show it to him.
Archer said it was written in ancient Latin and that he could
understand parts of it. It was a riddle to your location, Skye. We
figured out that you were somewhere in East Austin and Archer got
on the phone and called Dean before he alerted
An Dílis
.
An Dílis
were in Dallas and wouldn’t be back for at least a
few hours, so we went looking for you with what we had at our
disposal. That ended up being Archer, me, Hagan, Marcán, Aoife, and
Pádraig and Dean brought four of his wolves, Zephyr, Dylan, Primo,
and Sayer. The eleven of us scoured the east side for your scent
and Primo and Dean finally picked it up after an hour of running.
They called us and we converged about two blocks from the abandoned
house that monster was keeping you in. We quickly laid out a battle
plan and put it into motion. Primo and Zephyr broke down the door
and Marcán was the first in followed by Archer, Dean, and then the
rest of us.

“By the time I got through the door, I could
smell Marcán’s blood. I knew he was injured but wasn’t prepared for
what I saw. As I said before, he had been decapitated the moment he
flashed through the door. Everyone but Aoife and I took on the man
who kidnapped you. We were appointed to find you and get you out as
quickly as we could. I saw both of those monsters fighting, and
I’ll tell you, I’ve never seen anything like what the older one was
capable of…you said his name was Amun? He was incredibly strong and
fast, like no one I had ever seen before. He took all of them on
with ease. Anyway, when I got to the basement door, I could smell
you and we charged in after you. You know the rest I’m sure.”

“How did Amun get away?” I asked, confused.
“With nine of them fighting, how could he possibly get away?”

“From what I understand, Dean changed into
his wolf after Amun injured Sayer and went ballistic on him. It was
quite the battle, I hear. Dean managed to get the upper hand for a
moment and tore off a few of Amun’s fingers before Amun attacked
back. He slammed Dean so hard into the ground that it cracked a few
of his ribs. That put Dean out of the fight for a while. Archer,
Zephyr, Pádraig, and Dylan jumped in, but Amun easily took them
down. Archer was able to last the longest against him. He brought a
powerful weapon with him that night. It was a sword that had been
blessed by Saint Patrick himself. It was lost over the years, but
Archer heard whispers that a wealthy human collector had it and
Archer sent Gunnar out to acquire it The man in Germany who owned
it had no idea of it’s worth to us, so it made the sale a bit
easier. The sword is thought to annihilate Dark Ones and similar
unholy creatures with a mere cut of its blade. It’s a very powerful
weapon to have against someone like Amun.

“Anyway, Amun tried to feed on Archer, but
Archer wasn’t allowing him to get that close so Amun sliced
Archer’s gut open with something and that took Archer down. Amun
then flashed out the door after seeing the sword and everyone but
Archer went after him. They lost his scent about twenty blocks away
when they reached the dead end at the freeway.”

“Do you think he’ll come back?” I asked
fearfully.

“Not if he knows what’s good for him,”
Jameson growled. “But unfortunately we can’t rule out the
possibility.
An Dílis
are tracking him as we speak. It
appears that Amun has fled the city, but is still hiding out in
Texas. They called in over forty of their men to catch this sick
bastard. They still don’t know why he is after
Sliocht
Cináed.”

I swallowed thickly and sat up. “I do,” I
whispered and Jameson flashed to a sitting position as well.

“Tell me,” he demanded as his eyes started to
drain again of their light green color.

I gently cupped his cheek and shook my head.
“I only want to relive this once, hon. Do you think you can get
Archer in here so I can tell both of you at the same time?”

Jameson nodded as he leaned over and gently
kissed me on the lips before flashing out of bed and out the
door.

I took a few deep breaths and prepared myself
as best I could. No one can really be prepared to relive the
memories of torture and pain, though. A couple of minutes passed
before my bedroom door opened again and Archer stuck his head
in.

“Hey gorgeous,” he smiled a heart stopping
smile as he strode in. “It’s good to see you awake.”

“Archer,” I smiled as I got out of bed and
threw my arms around him. “I’m so glad you’re okay, honey,” I
whispered as tears filled my eyes.

He softly kissed the corner of my mouth and
scooped me up in his arms, putting me gently back in bed. “You need
to rest Skye,” he chuckled as he drank me in with his stunning
bright blue eyes. “There’s so much I want to say to you, but it can
wait. Right now, I just want to thank you for saving my life. I
believe it was your voice urging me to fight that brought me back.”
I wrapped my arms tightly around him and hugged him for all I was
worth.

After a long moment, I heard someone clear
their throat at the door and I looked up to find Jameson there. He
smiled tightly at Archer then turned to look at me.

Archer nodded to Jameson and faced me again.
He gently put his finger under my chin, lifting my face up higher
to meet his eyes. “I asked everyone to meet us here so they can
hear about what Amun told you as well. Do you mind?”

I swallowed hard and looked down. “I’m kind
of embarrassed by what happened to me, but I understand everyone
needs to hear why Amun is after your bloodline.”

“You have nothing to be embarrassed about,
Skye,” Archer said gently as he brought my head to his chest again,
hugging me close to him. “You had no control over what that monster
did to you.”

“I know,” I whispered weakly as tears filled
my eyes and threatened to spill over. “It’s just hard to think
about what he and Martin did to me.”

“Martin is the young Dark One from the club?”
Archer asked. I nodded my head and he chuckled. “I saw his body
once I was healed. You really did a number on his neck,” he
smiled.

I shrugged my shoulders and lifted my head.
“It was either him or me. He had already taken out Jameson and
Aoife. I did what I had to do to walk out of there.”

Archer kissed my forehead and patted my
thigh. “You did good, babe; very good, in fact. We are all
exceedingly proud of you.”

Archer turned to the door and nodded at
Jameson again. Jameson opened the door wider and allowed everyone
to enter. Pádraig, Trey, Aoife, Hunter, Seamus, Quinn, Lochlan,
Hagan, and Jameson all crowded into the room together.

I looked at each one of their faces and
smiled timidly before I began recounting my time in the dank
basement with Amun and Martin. I told them everything, even though
parts of it were incredibly difficult for me to relive, and left
nothing out.

When I was finished, I glanced over at Archer
and saw that his eyes were completely drained of their color. “I
don’t think Amun meant for you to walk out of that house, Skye,” he
growled lowly. “He wouldn’t have told you his entire history and
let you live. You said yourself that none of his children, the Dark
Ones, knew of his existence.”

I nodded my head and looked down at my hands.
“I know. I had that same feeling when he was telling me
everything.”

“I guess we know what the message carved into
Greyson’s body means now,” Archer steamed, grinding his teeth. “Our
blood will be shed for what Cináed did to Amun all those years
ago.”

Archer sighed, shook his head and walked over
to the bed and sat down beside me again. “I’m sorry we didn’t find
you sooner,” he said as he reached over and held my hand. “I’m so
sorry that you were dragged into our mess and that Amun and Martin
hurt you. I’d do anything to take all that back if I could.”

I shook my head and sighed, looking up at
him. “It’s not your fault, honey. It’s no one’s fault.”

Archer quietly growled his disagreement, but
dropped the subject. “I need to call
An Dílis
now and tell
them about Amun. They need to know what they are up against. Will
you be okay?”

I smiled weakly and nodded my head.
“Eventually.”

He leaned over and softly kissed my forehead.
“Thank you for everything,” he whispered quietly against my skin.
“After you’ve rested, I think you and I should talk. What happened
in that house…”

I reached up and gently placed my hand on his
chest, stopping him. I didn’t think I could bear to hear him say
aloud that the kiss we shared was a mistake. “It’s okay, Archer.
You don’t have to explain anything to me. I get it. Things happen
in the heat of the moment…things that we wouldn’t normally do. I
understand that.”

He looked at me, confused, and opened his
mouth to speak, but Trey cleared his throat, reminding him of our
audience. Archer sighed deeply and managed a small smile. He took
my hand from his chest, placed a soft, lingering kiss on the inside
of my wrist, and then got up and motioned for everyone to follow
him out the door.

I watched as most everyone filed out my door.
Aoife, Trey and Jameson stayed behind, though. As soon as Jameson
closed the door, Trey ran over to the bed and flung himself on me,
hugging me tightly.

“Oh, honey,” Trey sobbed as he held on to me.
“I’m so glad you are okay. I’ve never prayed so hard for someone in
my whole entire life. We were so worried about you! You can’t begin
to imagine how difficult your kidnapping has been on everyone, Skye
Morrison. We all just adore you, sweetie. Oh, God…what you went
through…it’s just so horrible!” he hugged me tighter as he cried
harder.

I held Trey as I soothingly rubbed circles on
his back.
My sweet, sensitive Trey.
“I’m fine, honey,
really. Feel my emotions. I’m a little tired, but I’m so glad to be
alive and back here with y’all. I’ll be okay, Trey, honest I
will.”

Aoife tapped his shoulder and he reluctantly
let go of me. “If you need anything, darling, you just let me
know,” he hiccupped as he wiped the tears from his eyes with his
slim fingers. “I’m here for you, Skye. Anytime, you know that
right?”

I nodded my head and smiled, thanking him. He
turned and stepped away as Aoife took his place standing in front
of me. “You know,” she said with pursed lips. “I never liked you.”
I cocked my eyebrow, preparing myself for a verbal fight, as she
continued. “I hated the fact that Archer hired a human to help him
run his club when the job so obviously should have gone to a
vampire. And, I’ll be honest, I hated the fact that you had the
attention of my husband…ex-husband,” she sighed and clarified
begrudgingly. “There hasn’t been a moment since the first time I
first met you that I didn’t want to rip your hair out along with
your throat.”

I swallowed hard as my hand went up to my
throat. Jameson flashed to stand behind Aoife and he growled loudly
in warning.

“Oh, stuff it, Jameson,” she said, annoyed,
as she flicked her wrist over her shoulder. “I’m not going to hurt
your little girlfriend, so back the hell off.”

I watched as Trey put his hand on Jameson’s
shoulder, stood on his tip-toes and whispered quietly in his ear.
Jameson looked confused for a moment before he glanced at me with
humored eyes and smiled, dropping his hand and taking a step
back.

“Like I was saying, before I was so rudely
interrupted,” Aoife said as she fluffed her platinum blonde locks,
“I hated your very existence. But…that all changed when we were in
that horrible basement. You kept me alive, Skye. You didn’t have to
give me your blood, but you did. I know how much you must hate me,
and yet you still saved my life.”

I shook my head, sighed and rolled my eyes.
“I don’t hate you Aoife. I never have. I’ll be honest…I didn’t
understand at first why you hated ME so badly; though, now I do.
I’m sorry if I stepped on your toes where Archer was concerned, but
I honestly had no idea that you had been married to each other. You
don’t have to worry about that, though. I’m with Jameson now.”

She dismissively flicked her wrist again and
shrugged. “It’s all water under the bridge. Let’s talk no more of
it. I’m glad you pulled through, Skye. I’d hate to be the only
female left in this horrid house of boys.”

Jameson rolled his eyes and crossed his arms
over his chest. “You’d love it, don’t lie.”

Trey chuckled as I smiled.

Aoife sighed again boredly. “Well, I’ll let
you get your beauty rest. I just wanted to convey my thanks in
person. After all, it’s only polite.” Much to my shock, she leaned
over and hesitantly hugged my neck. The movement was jerky and a
bit awkward. My body tensed up as she whispered quietly in my ear.
“He still cares very deeply for you. You know that, right Skye? I
just want Archer to be happy, that’s all. And if you’re it, then so
be it.”

I opened my mouth to speak as she pulled
away, but I was too shocked to speak. She had basically given me
her blessing to be with Archer if I wanted. I didn’t know what to
say to that. I was with Jameson now, but I couldn’t deny that I
still had strong feelings for Archer. I think that they would
always be there, no matter whom I was with.