Finding Obscurity (13 page)

“If you ever change your mind, then Ashton and I could go with
you. I know you never want to see them again, but it may be the only way.”

“No. I just can’t go through that again.” I sighed and turned into
the police station parking lot. “Listen, I’m going into the police station to
get the pictures and then I will head home. I’ll call you when I get there.”

We said our goodbyes and I headed into the station to collect the
pictures. The bald man was behind the desk and grinned at me when I walked in.
He handed me the pictures before I made a hasty retreat back out the door after
mumbling my thanks.

When I was back in the car, I pulled out the picture of my mother
and father from the envelope. I wish could have seen him better in the photo,
but the fire had ruined any chances of that. I could see half of his face and
the black hair reflecting the sunlight so I knew I had to be a mixture of them
both. I had my mother’s hazel eyes and beauty, but my father’s dark locks. I
wondered if my life would have been any better growing up with them. Then I
thought back to Carlotta’s words that they may have killed vampires, and
instantly knew that I wouldn’t have given Ashton a second glance if I’d had.

There was no way I could see that smiling face, staring back at me
from the photo, being able to be so ruthless. It made me shiver. I just had
this eerie feeling that they could have possibly really done what I had been
told. People killed for prejudice, whether it was the color of their skin or
their choice in religion. So why would vampires or Conjurers be any different?

I tucked the photo gently back into the envelope, laying it in the
passenger seat before heading back to Indiana to face Ashton and the reality of
who I was.

Chapter Sixteen

When I pulled into my apartment complex it was dark and stormy
with the rain pelting the windshield relentlessly. Tucking the photos in my
purse to save them from the rain, I ran around and grabbed my duffle bag before
running into the building, soaked to the bone.

Jinx was madder than hell at me and hissed, hiding under the
couch. I dropped my bag and stripped out of my soaking wet clothing, tossing
them aside as I walked into the bedroom. A bright mottled red lily sat on my
white pillow and I stared at it in confusion, looking around the apartment to
be sure I was alone. I instantly grabbed my cell phone and dialed Sam because
he had to have either left this or let Ashton into my apartment.

“Lily! What’s
shakin
’ bacon?” Sam
cheerfully greeted when answering. “You make it back yet?”

“Yep,” I said as I threw on a T-shirt and sweatpants. “I just
walked in the door.”

“I was wondering if you were back. Jinx wasn’t very friendly when
I checked on him this morning. That little shit clawed me when I tried to pet
him!”

Laughing, I sat on the bed and picked up the lily, twisting the
stem in between my fingers. “Yeah, he was pretty mad at me, too. Sam, did you
give Ashton my key or let him in?”

“No way! I was already in trouble for giving him your phone number
and wouldn’t do that to you. Why you ask?”

“Did you leave a lily on my pillow?”

“No. The place was silent as a tomb and it wasn’t there when I
left earlier,” he said, and I could just picture his wide eyes on the other end.

Hmm. Maybe it was Blake who left it, but he hadn’t mentioned being
in my apartment earlier, and he was the only one I knew of that could unlock
doors without a key. I’m sure it had to be him, but maybe he didn’t want to say
anything with Ashton around.

I tucked the phone in between my shoulder and ear while I went to
get a vase. I filled it up with water before putting it on my nightstand.
“Maybe Blake or Ashton got a key from the apartment office or something. I
walked into my room and it was just there.”

“Maybe it was your magic abilities wanting flowers and they just
appeared out of thin air?”

I chuckled. “Sam, it doesn’t work that way. I can’t make stuff
appear out of thin air.”

“You can make sparks out of think air.”

 
“Touché.”

“So, have you talked to Ashton lately? He and Blake were hanging
around with each other an awful lot last night. There was a lot of arguing,
sure, but even Blake got into VIP. I never saw that one coming. I didn’t see
them the rest of the night.”

“I promised Ashton I would at least talk to him, but I don’t know
if I can forgive him.”

“Just let him in your panties and I bet you could forgive him.”

“Oh, I already did that. It didn’t help.”

“You lost your virginity and forgot to tell me?! Lily! You’re
supposed to let your best friend know these things. I think I’m hurt!” He gave
a fake sniffle.

“Sorry! With all that went down, I completely forgot to tell you.”

“Was it as amazing? I bet that man is great in the sack!”

“Yeah. Yeah it was. Too bad he lied.”

Sam let out a bark of laughter. “Make-up sex is the best kind.”

“You just don’t have a filter, do you?” I giggled.

“Nope. Well if you’re up for lunch tomorrow and a little shopping
trip you just let me know, okay? I think you need retail therapy.”

We hung up after making plans for later this week to hit the mall
and do some shopping. I was about to call Blake to see if he had left the
flower when there was a knock on my door.

I opened it to see Blake and Ashton standing in the hallway.
Ashton blew past him to wrap his arms around me. “I’ve missed you.”

My arms wrapped themselves around his neck like they had a mind of
their own. After I found out what he actually was, I didn’t want to miss him. I
didn’t want to hug him back, and I sure as hell didn’t want to love him. But
when life hands you lemons all you can do is smash them to a bloody pulp and
hope you know how to make lemonade, because if you don’t, all you’re left with
is one hell of a mess. I pulled back from him slowly, putting my arms on his
chest to distance us. “I do, too, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m
pissed at you.”

He let out a frustrated breath. “I will do anything to make it up
to you. I can’t lose you after I just found you.”

Blake walked past us and sat on the couch with a pained look.
“Enough of the lovers’ reunion.”

“What are you guys doing here?” I said while raising an eyebrow.

“I wanted to make sure you made it home safely.” Ashton said,
pulling me to the couch to sit in between the two handsome men.

“Well, you can see I’m in one piece. I also want to know which one
of you got into my apartment while I was gone.” I puckered a brow at their
confused expressions.

“What are you talking about?” Blake said, grabbing my hand.

Ashton growled and glared at our hands interlocked. “I haven’t
invaded your privacy, but I can’t say the same for Blake.”

“Lily, I didn’t come in here while you were gone. Why would you
think that?” Blake said, pulling me closer with an evil smirk at Ashton.

“Neither of you guys left a lily on my pillow?”

A sharp gust of wind blew my hair into my face and Ashton suddenly
was standing in front of us holding said lily. He leaned his face in and
inhaled with his nostrils flaring like a bloodhound picking up a scent. “I
can’t get anything off of it. Are you sure it wasn’t Sam?”

 
“No, I already asked him.”
I shivered that somebody I didn’t know was in my apartment.

“Lily, I don’t like this. I don’t think you should be alone until
we find out who was in here. Something doesn’t feel right,” Blake said. “Maybe
you should bring Jinx and stay with me until this thing blows over.”

“Like hell she is,” Ashton snarled. “Lily is staying with me.”

My eyes strayed to Ashton and his outburst.
Whoa!
“I’m fine! I can take care of myself you know.”

Blake ignored me. “She’ll be safer with me and I can show her how
to control what she is! Especially now that I know who her parents were, and
how powerful she really is.”

“You found out who your parents were?” Ashton furrowed his brows.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I wasn’t exactly on speaking terms with you at the moment.” I
glared at Blake sitting on the couch, smug that he knew something about me that
Ashton didn’t. “Besides, I figured he would have told you. My parents’ last
name was Stone.” Digging the photo out of the envelope, I handed it over to
him.

Blake stood over Ashton’s shoulder and the room was completely
silent for a few minutes as they looked over the picture. There was no denying
I resembled the woman, and I couldn’t name the emotions that ran over Ashton’s
face.

Blake pulled away and looked at me with worry blazing through his
gray eyes. “Shit just got real.”

“Do you know what this means, Lily?” Ashton ran his hand over his
face. When I shook my head, he sighed. “If people find out who you are, then whoever
killed your family will be after you next, and I can’t let that happen. There
are things that you don’t know about the man in the photo, which makes you so
much more than a Conjurer.”

I gaped at him. “You know who my father is?”

He glanced at Blake with a pained expression before locking those
blue eyes on mine. “I’m not sure how it was even feasible, but there is no
denying it as you have his dark hair and sharp cheekbones. He was a vampire,
Lily, but not just any vampire. He was the leader of us all before he
disappeared about twenty-eight years ago. He turned my brother, Alistair. He
was also the one who… turned me.”

“Are you saying my father is a vampire? How is THAT possible?”

Blake finally spoke up. “There is no way! You people can’t have
children because you’re dead!”

“Blake, we are not dead, and you know that. We’re just infected
with the virus that takes over our bodies and our cells replace each other so
fast it makes us basically immortal. We still need to breathe and have a
beating heart to live. But it’s true we cannot have children, so I’m just as
baffled as you.”

“Don’t forget you need drink
blood
to live,” Blake said
through gritted teeth.

“Blake, don’t let the prejudice of your youth blind you from who
we are. You’re a better man than this.”

“Wait a minute!” I interrupted their bickering. “So, if what you
said is true then what does that mean for me? Is that why I have problems
controlling my power?”

Blake exhaled noisily with a shrug. “It could be why, yes. But it
also means that once your powers fully develop, we have no clue what all you
will be able to do. That makes you very unpredictable and neither the vampires
nor Conjurers are going to be fond of that. You should have had full use of
your abilities by now.”

So being mixed blood could be the reason I have never been able to
control everything. The unknown of it all was overwhelming. I was half-vampire?
Did the people who adopted me know this? If anyone was to find out, it could
also put him or her in danger, and I shuddered at the notion. Just because I
may be even more of a freak of nature than I previously thought didn’t mean
that everyone around me, even the ones who hated me, had to suffer for
something that wasn’t their fault. They had taken me in and raised me the best
they could, and even though I swore I would never step foot into that stupid
town, I was going to do just that. “I think they knew.”

Ashton put a supportive hand on my shoulder. “Who?”

“The people who adopted me. I think they knew who I was and I want
to know how. If they knew what I was, then somebody out there does, too.”

“I was worried about that, Lily. It changes everything.” There was
some hidden emotion behind Ashton’s eyes that scared me. “Are you ready to get
the answers you seek and to go back into the past that you are desperately
trying to forget to get them?”

I looked at those aquamarine eyes. “Do I really have a choice?”

Ashton smiled. “You always have a choice.”

“Lily, I will be happy to go and protect you,” Blake announced,
breaking the moment between us.

“Not without me you won’t.” Ashton growled like a rabid animal.
“Just give me a few minutes to get Revive in order.”

When he stormed out to the balcony to make a call, Blake grinned.
“So much for trying to get you alone with me. I knew it would’ve been useless
anyway, but I was hoping he wouldn’t be able to get away from the club.”

“Blake, you’re awful!” I playfully smacked his arm. “Besides, I
think he would have gone whether Revive was involved or not.”

“Yep. I like that he feels threatened by me when it comes to you,
though.”

I huffed at him. There was sort of connection between us that I
couldn’t deny, but nothing compared to what I felt for Ashton, and he knew it.
If I didn’t have those deep feelings, then I know that Blake and I could’ve had
something great, which was confusing to some extent. They both were gorgeous in
their own right, and when Blake was grinning like a loon at me, my heart did a
little pitter-pat on its own accord. But I still couldn’t ignore those emotions
I felt with Ashton, and even though I tried my best to fight them off, he was
still on my shit list.

Ashton came back in, locking the sliding door. “I will stay here,
and we can leave whenever you’re ready, Lily.”

Blake puffed up. “I’m staying, too.”

“Whatever. I’m going to bed and will talk to you both in the
morning.” I opened the closet near the front door and tossed a couple of
pillows and blankets on the couch. “You two can fight over who gets the couch.”

I stomped into the bedroom, slamming the door, causing Jinx to
hiss and dart under my bed. I knew how he felt, because soon I would be trapped
in a car for several hours with two men who were competing for my attention. It
was exhausting! Wrapping myself up in the covers and closing my eyes, I drifted
off to sleep.

I sat up on the dingy floor of what looked to be a decrepit
basement with peeling bricks painted a sickly green color. A mouse scampered
across my foot and I stifled a scream. There was a dim light hanging from the
wooden slats in the ceiling swaying gently, barely lighting up the space around
me. I squinted to get a better view of everything. My hair was hanging over my
eyes, and when I tried to reach my hand up to move it back, I couldn’t because
my arms were strapped to a pipe behind me. I twisted around and started to pull
against the rope, only to cause my wrists to chafe. I started kicking the
attached pipe on the other side with my grimy bare feet, hoping to kick it
loose from the wall, but all I accomplished was to make one hell of a racket
and I grimaced. I groaned in frustration, tossing my hair out of my face before
I noticed somebody curled in the fetal position on the floor across from me.

“Hello?” I whispered. When they didn’t respond, I scooted
closer. I only could move about a foot across the dirt-covered floor towards
the body. When I saw the small pool of blood on the floor under the body, I
screamed.

Someone was shaking me and I was throwing punches like my life
depended on it.

“Lily!”

I shrieked again and started kicking my legs when my arms were
pinned down. I was going to die and wasn’t going down without a fight, so I
pushed the electrical pulses down my arms, letting them out full-force into the
assailant, causing them to grunt with pain.

“Lily!” Another shake and I opened my eyes to Ashton grimacing in
pain, holding my arms while Blake was positioning himself to hold down my
flailing feet.