Scion's Freedom (Siren Publishing Classic) (5 page)

If I go missing, do not go to the police first.

Call your father.

Cassy was horrified. The paper trembled in her hand. He was the last person she wanted to alert to the situation. Erica must have been very afraid to leave her this instruction. It was possible he already knew. He had ties to them both, Cassy by blood and Erica by magic. She folded the note and tucked it into her jeans pocket.

If anyone knew she was up, they had not acknowledged it. Her evening started in the usual way, minus her best friend. She showered and dressed. Last night’s leftover blood twirled in the microwave long enough to knock off the chill. A second mug sat on the counter unused. Getting it out had been automatic. She put away the now-useless mug and sipped her breakfast without turning on the TV.

She heard someone in the hall cough. There were male voices speaking in hushed tones but were still audible to Cassy.

Guy One asked, “Do you think she’s up?”

“Should be. Sunset was a while ago,” Guy Two replied. “Why? Wanna volunteer for breakfast duties? I hear she’s hot. Might be something more in it for you.”

“Hell, no! Do I look like a blood bank to you? I just wanna get out of here. This place gives me the creeps,” Guy One confessed. “I saw two werewolves and a ghoul just this afternoon. They said hi and waved at me like they were normal!” Heavy footfalls stopped their conversation.

“Sorry, sirs, we aren’t allowed to let anyone in without authorization. You’ll have….” Guy Two said. A choking sound cut him off.

There was a scuffle. Two bodies could be heard slamming into the wall with wet ripping sounds and something heavy sliding down to the floor. The doorknob tried to turn and shook. It was still locked. A shoulder slammed into the steel door but didn’t manage to break it in on the first try.

Cassy dropped her half-empty mug. She sprinted to the fire escape. Her bedroom window protested when she gave it a hard shove. Crawling out onto the steel balcony, she shut the window behind her as quietly as she could. A second slam at the front door broke the locks. The chain had caught. Cursing followed. It took a third slam to break the chain. Grateful she remembered to wear sneakers, she hurried down the stairs to the bottom ladder. Above her were sounds of a window breaking. Glass rained down on her. The lowest ladder was padlocked. She could not get to the sidewalk. In her panic, she jumped over the railing fifteen feet to the ground. She landed with a graceful crouch and sprinted down the street. Her father had never trained her to fight, but she had been trained to evade and run.

When she rounded the corner, she ran head long into Detective Ashe, knocking them both to the ground. She jumped up and pulled him to his feet in a single movement. He was surprised and confused. He started to brush himself off, babbling apologies. Cassy grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the car he had just exited.

“Get in! There’s no time to explain!” She opened the door and gave him a shove. He slid across the vinyl seat, hitting his head on the driver side window. Cassy dove in behind him, slammed the door, and locked it. Ashe fumbled getting the key into the ignition. Just as he gave it a twist, something hit the back of his car. He stepped on the gas and sped down the street.

“What the hell was that all about?” He was angry and perplexed. His brows could almost touch, he furrowed them so hard.

She was looking out the back window. No one seemed to be following them. There was blood on the trunk and a deep dent. “I don’t know. I was having breakfast and listening to the cops in the hall whispering. Someone came up to them. There were sounds of a fight. Whoever it was broke in, but I went down the fire escape. They smashed out the window and were chasing me. I ran into you, and the rest you know,” she explained.

“Damn it. I was afraid of this,” he said. He bit his lip and sucked hard. It was bleeding a little. Cassy fought the urge to drop her fangs. She had not finished her breakfast. The scent wafted in the close warm air. It made her think of their encounter Halloween night. The smell of it brought memories of his taste. If it were possible, she would have blushed.

They drove to the remnants of Olympic Centennial Park. The sign to the green parking area was barely visible under the years of grime. Every available resource had gone into making the city habitable and restarting the flow of trade. Nothing was left for keeping up what used to be called green spaces. The place was deserted. He pulled into a parking space out of sight.

“Do you have any idea why someone would want to harm you?”

Thinking about Erica’s warning Cassy shook her head. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It was a mistake. His lip was no longer bleeding, but the lingering scent required her to sit still.

“Could you please roll down a window? I think we need a little fresh air in here,” she requested.

“Why? It’s kind of cold outside.”

“You’ve been bleeding. Your lip. I didn’t get to finish eating this morning. Please?” She swallowed hard and squeezed her eyes tight. When she opened them, she looked at him with a pained expression. “Please?”

It took a moment for him to understand. His mouth made a little
O
and the window slid down. The cool night air helped clear her head.

“I need to call this in. Wait for me here. I’ll only be a moment.” He stepped out of the car and moved around to the back. “Miss Daniels, come look at this, please,” he called out.

Cassy got out and met him behind the car. Her eyes followed his gaze. The dented trunk lid was covered in blood. A scrap of dark, wet fabric clung to the bumper. The smell excited her more than his lip. It was human tainted with something else. Her fangs dropped. She had to run away. When she was far enough way, she stopped.

He caught up to her by the Fountain of Rings. “Wait up! You can’t go running off like that! There are people after you. Where did you think you were going to go?” He was even angrier.

“It was that or eat you. Your choice.” Her voice was strained with control. “I’m not going to apologize for being what I am, but I am sorry for taking off with no warning.”

“Miss Daniels…” She held up her hands to stop him. He just stood there with his jaw clinched shut. Anger still oozed from him. Adrenaline perfumed his skin. She dropped her hands. The combination was intoxicating.

“Stop calling me that, David. My name is Cassandra. You may call me Cassy,” she said and gave him a firm look.

“Cassy? You know my name. I don’t recall telling you my first name. You’re Cassy from Trysts! I thought there was something familiar about you.” His anger turned to something she could not cipher. A mixture of emotions played out on his face, surprise, recognition, embarrassment, and then resolve. “You fed on me,” he added flatly. “You fed on me and then dumped me.”

Of all the things she expected him to say, this was not it. Shouting and accusations would have been more fitting. Had her compulsion not held? Shock tinged with fear rolled through her. Her fangs retracted. There was no point in lying. She would have to see how much he remembered.

“Yes, but you were in a vampire bar with ample signs warning humans. Since you were there, you were a legal feed.” She did not think this would deter him but hoped it would defuse the situation a little. It helped. His facial expressions softened into hurt.

“Yes. Yes, I was there. I didn’t know what you were but knew it was possible. Afterward, I went to the urgent care. They noticed the punctures below the scratch and stitched them up. They checked me out, but I was fine otherwise. I don’t remember a thing. Which means you compelled me! Why did you do that? Why didn’t you let me remember? What did we do?” He looked away. Cassy was ashamed. She had taken something from him he may have wanted. She had taken his choice.

“We had sex in the parking deck against your car. I lost control and bit you. I haven’t fed from a living, viable person for over thirty years, not since before The Fall. I guess I didn’t want you to remember me as a monster that could use you so casually. I can undo the compulsion and bring up the memory, but now is not the time. It can be overwhelming. Sometimes people relive the experience as if it were the present,” she admitted with as much apologetic tone as she could muster.

“No. Now is not the time.” He was stern, hurt, betrayed. Cassy was not sure what to say.

“Forgive me, when you can. For now, we need to get out of here and find someplace safe.” She offered him her hand. “Truce?”

He left her with the offer hanging in midair for a moment. Then, with tightly pressed lips, he accepted it and shook. “Truce. This conversation is not over, but it can wait.” He dropped her hand as if it burned him.

“Fine. When we left my apartment building, you said something about being afraid this would happen. Why?”

“I think we better get someplace out of sight. Some places have big ears and equally big mouths.” He looked around as if to scan the area. “Let’s get back to the car.”

Minutes later, they were back out on the highway. Instead of going to the police station, he took the interstate north. He did not speak or look in her direction.

Cassy was confused. “Where are we going?”

“My house. I’ll call in from there. We can talk without being disturbed or having to worry about the place being bugged.”

“Bugged? By who?”

“I’m not sure. But the only other people who knew you were home alone and under guard were cops. My captain will understand. I’ll call him at home and let him patch things up on his end. You just became a very valuable item, Miss…ah…Cassy.”

She hung her head and quietly thought of Erica’s warning and instruction. “Call your father.” She would have to now but not until she was somewhere safe.

* * * *

The drive home was blessedly quiet, in David’s opinion. He had hoped she would not want to chat the entire time. Instead she stared at her lap for nearly half the trip. The other half, she sat unmoving and stared out the window. This suited David, too. He focused on the road, gripped the steering wheel a little too tight, and drove. The silence left him to think.

He thought back to her apology and truce offer, but he wasn’t ready to let go of the hurt. It was too new, too raw. His anger turned to a mixture of emotions. He was surprised to find her after thinking she was long gone from his life. The hazy part of his brain that wanted to remember the hidden elements pulled an earlier memory and, at last, there was full recognition. Her voice. Her face framed by hot pink curls. The odd phrasing and cadence of her words. He should have known her for what she was, a vampire. His cheeks felt hot with embarrassment and fury. She had used him and left him there. He should have known better than to treat her like another human. Resolve came with the anger. She was more than a one-night stand gone wrong. She was a target, the only survivor and witness they had. His hurt and feelings of betrayal needed to wait.

His first duty was to protect her. She was not just a victim. She was a witness, a clue. She was the first real break in a long line of dead end leads. He had to keep her safe. The lives of countless others depended on her ability to help him solve this.

Her waist-length chocolate hair with its waves and curls, very white complexion, bright silvery gray eyes, and delicate facial features gave her the appearance of a child’s plaything, as if she was a fragile doll. Something about her would have made him want to protect her, even if she were not relevant to the case.

It was like having a light switch controlling his feelings. On. Off. Duty. Anger. Duty. Betrayal. Duty. Hurt. The mixture was unsettling. No one had ever caused him this much distress.

But duty be damned, he was still a person with feelings. David clinched his jaw tight. He wanted to tell her what a fool she was. He wanted to scream at her. The blood on his trunk had to belong to someone he knew, a fellow officer, someone he worked side by side with everyday. Anger still rode him. No matter the reason. She could not run off without warning. Someone could have killed her with so much open exposure. She would have been dead, and the case would have gone back to being at a standstill. A pile of ashes was of no use to anyone.

Who cared about the case? He was not just taking work home with him. He was bringing a vampire into his house. Given what she had already done to him, it was no wonder he had misgivings. This beautiful creature practically screamed trouble was following not far behind. The question was going to be how much and whether she was worth it.

The city scene slipped past and was replaced by the dark countryside. Here, progress was slower to return. The night was not held back by the artificial street lights and illuminated high-rises. The inky black swallowed everything whole. Only his headlights showed him the way.

It was how he felt inside. The part of him that had wanted casual sexual gratification with a vampire slipped away and was swallowed by the experience. It was replaced by the darkness of knowing what else came with the fantasy. There was nothing casual about vampires. He was but a link in her food chain and a notch in her bedpost. He wanted to put her in the box labeled “Past Mistakes,” to file her away in his brain as a lesson learned, but she would not fit.

Those ideas would have required him to walk away. Without knowing why, he was certain that was something he was not going to be able to do. The pain of the past warred with his sense of duty. Both of these did battle with her gravity-like pull. The way she looked at him, her every move, and even her scent, called to him.