Lost (9 page)

I would
die or kill to protect Kelly, and I knew I would give up everything
for her. Mostly for that exact reason; Marcus loved me like a
sibling, and protected me just like he did his mate.

“
Hey sis,” I plopped down beside her on the couch.

“
Hey,” she murmured motherly, “feeling better?”

“
Much, thanks.”

Marcus
ruffled my hair playfully, and then set his racing game on pause.
His arm came around my throat, and hugged me fiercely in that
big-brotherly way I had come to depend on.

“
This sucks you know,” he said lowly. His accent thickened
whenever he was troubled. “I hate being torn between my bests, but
here we are, and there he is.”

“
I’m sorry…”

“
I
told
you to stop saying that!” Loren called from
upstairs, and I laughed bitterly.

“
Yea okay,
dad
,” I called up to
him.

Kelly
burst out with laughter.

“
Humph.” The half-rude noise came down the stairs.

Marcus
laughed along with his mate, but it died on his lips just as fast.
His eyes flicked away, so I wouldn’t see the sudden flames
there.

“
Gene wanted me to give you something,” he said uncertainly.
He pulled out a creased envelope from his inner jacket pocket and
handed it to me, but didn’t let it go.

“
I don’t agree with him….”

“
It’s okay, just let me read it.”

“
I
am
going to kill him. Kelly wouldn’t let me burn
it…”

“
Marc, seriously. I want to know how much trouble I’m
in.”

“
You’re
not
in trouble.” Kelly’s eyes flashed red. “But he
is.”

I
snatched the letter from his fingers that came equipped with very
white knuckles, and danced away from the couch. Like come on, how
bad could it be?

“
Sara…” Kelly cautioned.

“
Shh, just let me read the damned thing, before you get your
panties in a twist,” I retorted.

“
She isn’t wearing any,” Marcus muttered proudly.

As
always, he made me laugh and her blush, which made me laugh harder.
At least until I ripped open the envelope.

I could
feel the malevolence in the letter even before I saw the malicious,
juvenile words I had to read it three times, to make sure I’d
interpreted them correctly.

I really
hadn’t known we were still in kindergarten.

Since you’re too much of a bitch to pick up the phone, and
actually talk

to me instead of your new piece of ass, we’re through. Get
the fuck out.

Your shit will be on the porch by daybreak. By the way, find
a new

Coven. I don’t want you in mine. And
I
never
want to
see you again.

Emotions
scored through me. There were so many, I couldn’t untangle them
all; rage, hate, dead love, sadness, depression, and all the
gratifying need for vengeance.

However comforting some of them were for me, they bled and
trickled away, fleeing me to only leave one, crushing
loneliness.

“
He called me?” I croaked past the frog in my
throat.

Marcus nodded sadly. “Every ten minutes, since Loren took you
from Brody’s. At least until he found the cell, and figured out you
didn’t have it.” Marcus paused. “His excuse was, he was trying to
make you jealous. He never thought you would actually get angry
enough to leave, and doesn’t understand why you did.”

“
Childish ass,” Kelly said, while she dug though her purse, to
come up with my cell phone.

It
beeped, telling me there indeed were missed calls.

“
I didn’t bring anything with me…”

“
We know. You left it at Brody’s along with your purse, which
was by the way, torn to shreds. I asked him what exactly he did to
it, and he told me to fuck off,” Kelly replied. Marcus growled at
the reminder. Obviously it hadn’t been a fond moment for them. “But
I fixed the phone, after he smashed it.”

“
Thanks.” I flipped it open.
“
Seventeen
messages?”

Marcus
shrugged, but I didn’t miss the look of ultimate disgust on his
face. I could’ve sworn I heard something like “useless human”, but
I couldn’t be sure. With him, it was more than likely.

I was
used to listening to gripes about humans by now, and had long ago
stopped defending a race I was no longer part of and hadn’t
accepted me when I had been one.

The
first message was aggravated yelling, like I’d anticipated. The
second was infuriated screaming. I marvelled at his vocabulary he’d
never used with me before. It was even better than what he’d said
to Loren the night before.

I didn’t really listen to the words from
then on, but I still played each one nonetheless. The gist was “you
better get your ass home
right
now
, or else” speech, said several
different ways. At about message number eight, he was telling me he
loved me, and needed me to come home.

Message eleven and onward became increasingly difficult to
listen to again. My integrity, intelligence and sexual orientation
all came into question, as he insulted just about everything,
running through a list I hadn’t known built this high. Anger rose
with every abuse. The need to smooth this over so I didn’t have
another enemy within my own Coven, became less and less important
every time he threw my past back at me on my voice mail.

Every
promise he’d ever made me, was broken in those messages. Anything
there left for him, no matter how pitiful, died right then. I was
used to people being unreliable, or untrustworthy, but this was an
entirely different level. But I didn’t get why this had come as a
surprise to me that I had allowed some jerk in far enough to hurt
me this badly. I fucking knew better!

My eyes burned, but there wouldn’t be any tears shed this
time. I pulled the phone from my ear about the same moment it
ignited into hot blueish-green flame, and my cell died for a second
time in one day.

Though,
this one had been all me.

“
Sara…”

“
Don’t.”

Kelly
moved to stand, but at my discreet cue, Marcus held her back. She
snarled at him, but it was no use. I wasn’t in proper command of
myself, nor my actions right now, and I refused to risk doing
something stupid.

I wanted
to go home and take pleasure in ripping the bastard’s face off. Not
even at my worst moment, would I’ve ever done what he had. Never.
Not to those I’d called friend, or loved even just a little bit. I
was above that.

The
things someone learned about another when they were angry to such
extremes.

“
Baby…”

“
Kelly, don’t. I’m nothing more than the
town-pump to him. So useless he would rather see me dead now,
wishes he’d never met me. That I’d left him
human
, and never brought you here to
meet Marcus. What did I do to inspire this in him?” I demanded. So
many empty promises floated around, my photographic memory, and
touching on each one only enflamed my rage more.

Was it so easy for him to lie so profoundly
to
me
of all
people? Or perhaps, it was because I’d been that willingly
blind.

How I'd ever seen this as the love I once mistook it for was
beyond me. It was time I realized this for what it was.

Marcus
was on his feet in half an instant, and pulled me into his arms,
despite my bid for them to stay away.

My fury bled into despair and rejection faster than I could
handle, Why couldn’t I just settle on an emotion long enough to get
adjusted, before the next one took its place? There was no way to
continue like this.

“
What is it about me…?” I cried silent tears that warped my
voice.

“
Shh, little one,” Marcus murmured over and over again. “He
doesn’t deserve you. He was drunk, and probably still is. You’re
the best thing to ever happen to him, and he messed up with you,
big time. You’ve just been hanging onto a dead horse.” He’d
mimicked Loren’s words and tone perfectly.

Kelly’s
arms closed around us both. “He’s an asshole.”

“
Maybe everything would’ve been different…”

“
Honey, you live in a world where
it’s
perfectly
acceptable to sleep around, under the right circumstances,
and you were well inside of those lines. It was Gene who sought
those parties, originally talking you into them, and it’s his
problem if he can’t handle his decisions. You go on hunts, do your
patrols and kick ass. There is no part of being a vampire you shy
away from. Gene was
never
right for this life. And it’s really no wonder
now, why Maximus didn’t have him changed before you came along,”
Marcus explained.

“
Then why did you let me? Why did Max?”

“
Max and I both knew you needed someone, and
we all thought Gene would be there for you. It was the only reason
I allowed it,” Marcus answered. “And we were
all
wrong.”

“
What am I going to do?” I cried into his shoulder.

“
You’re a strong woman, and will survive him. I brought my
bat.” Marcus nodded to a bright silver baseball bat, with Kelly’s
neat handwriting scrawled across it.

It was
always the people closest who could hurt us the worst, but they
also knew how to make us feel so much better.

With
Kelly, all it would take was a hug and a soft word. Me? Aggravated
bloodshed. It always came back to that. Marcus and Max were right;
I was far more vampire, than I was human.

I picked
up the infamous bat, to feel its solid weight in my hands. I smiled
to see it, calming me in a way nothing else would’ve. Bat. Gene.
Head. I could relate to this logic.

“
Tell me.” Kelly practically bounced.

“
What?”

But, I
already knew. I was Kelly’s Maker as well, and knew every innocent
and not so innocent thought inside of her. She had the most
interesting of minds, filled with everything good and right. She
was guileless, and it was no wonder Marcus cherished her so
much.

It was why the rest of us fought so hard to keep her safe
from both the Council, and hunting. We kept her hidden from the
authorities who were well known for demanding the impossible, just
for kicks.

Like sending a poor defenceless fledging out on a solo hunt,
just to see if she would come back. And that was without plausible
reason. Many in the Council hated Marcus and would take the chance
if they found it. Kelly would be too perfect for them.

“
About Loren, of course. Last time I checked, you guys were
just good drinking and fuck buddies,” Kelly said suspiciously, and
I turned a deep scarlet. She saw that little sign immediately.
“Blushing! Oh girl, you better start talking.”

I walked
back to the couch with bat in hand, to give myself a minute to
think. They both vigilantly followed me.

Marcus
was kind enough to stay entirely out of my thoughts. For this, I
was endlessly thankful. Provided I didn’t think too hard, he
wouldn’t see what had happened between me, and the man upstairs. I
wasn’t sure what he would think of that.

What were the odds Loren was listening? I expanded my
hearing, drowning out the noise in the living room, to catch Loren
talking on the phone in his study. Doubtful he was paying close
attention to me.

“
He wants me to be his mate,” I whispered to Kelly. “Or so I
think, anyways.”

Marcus
dropped the controller he’d just picked up, but caught it before it
hit the floor.

“
He wants what?” Marcus demanded. His eyes were wide, and
stared at me like he hadn’t seen me before.

“
He says he loves me,” I added much more quietly. Of course he
wouldn’t believe me.

You know better than that.

“
And how do you feel about him?” Kelly asked, unaware of the
fact that Marcus spoke to my mind. She hadn’t quite figured out the
deep connection the two of them shared, enabling her to know
absolutely everything about him, even though she was barely more
than a child next the his age. It defied so many of our
commonly-believed principles, but it was a long story to get much
into it.

“
It’s too soon to know how I feel about anything.”

“
This is the same Loren who owns this house,
and the man who belongs to the
Foxworth’s
?” Marcus asked again,
through more brooding this time. As if he saw something I didn’t. I
burned to ask, but also knew the answer I heard often from more
than just him.