Skye Morrison Vampire 2 Sins of the Father (11 page)

I nodded my head and set Styvi Nix down on
the ground. She looked up at me one last time before she trotted
into Nikki’s house. “Will you text me every now and again and tell
me how she is doing?” I asked, trying to hide the sadness in my
voice. I was really dreading being away from her for more than a
few days. We had never been apart for longer than that before.

“Of course I will,” she said as she pulled me
into a tight hug. “Have a safe flight and don’t work too hard.”

I had almost forgotten that the cover story
was a business trip. I nearly slipped up and asked her what she was
talking about. I gave her one last hug, called goodbye to Styvi
Nix, and walked down the driveway to the awaiting cars.

I noticed the impending dilemma as I trudged
down the long driveway. Quinn and Hunter were driving a single cab,
three-passenger pickup and Archer was driving his two-seater sports
car. I knew that either I would have to ride with Archer or Jameson
would. I took a deep breath as I walked up to the handsome
gathering.

“Well? Let’s get this show on the road,” I
said grumpily, crossing my arms over my chest.

Quinn chuckled and shook his shaved head as
he walked around the truck and got in the driver’s seat. Archer
glared at me, walked over to his car, opened the passenger door,
and motioned quickly with his head for me to get in.

I pursed my lips, narrowed my eyes, and
promptly turned my back on him to walk over to Quinn’s truck.
Hunter was surprised, but held the door open for me and I got in,
scooting myself to the middle of the bench. A few seconds later,
Hunter got in beside me and closed the door.

I watched through the windshield as Archer
glared at me, walked around to his driver’s side door and got in
his car, roughly slamming the door behind him. Jameson looked at me
briefly before he got in the open passenger door of Archer’s Audi
and closed it. I could see that Jameson wanted me to be nice to
Archer, but I just didn’t feel like it right now. I was still
really upset with him.

Archer pulled off the curb with an angry
screech of his tires and Quinn pulled out behind him.

The twenty minute drive out to the lake was a
quiet one. Hunter and Quinn pretty much kept to themselves. You
could tell that they were thinking heavily about Callum and Jesse’s
murder. My heart instantly sank at the sudden memory and I pushed
it away. I couldn’t think about that again right now. I was about
to step into a house where Aoife and the rest of Archer’s vampire
family temporarily called home. Everyone else I could handle, it
was Aoife I was worried about.

Before long, we had turned onto a small, one
lane paved road that was surrounded by woods and drove for another
five minutes. This road was full of twists, turns and hills.
Finally, the trees stopped and I saw beautiful Lake Travis 100
yards in the distance. I took a deep breath and smiled. It was
absolutely gorgeous out here on the lake.

The road made a final turn to the right and
dead-ended at an enormous house. I felt my jaw drop in shock. I had
never seen a house this big in person before, only on television.
Archer’s house was as big as a Hollywood mansion and just as nice.
There were several cars parked out in front of the six car
garage.

Quinn pulled his black pickup into an empty
space in the driveway and killed the engine. “Are you ready for
this?” he asked suddenly, seriously.

I looked over at him questioningly.
Does
he know something I don’t
? I took a deep breath in and blew it
out, shrugging one shoulder. “Like I have a choice in the matter,
Quinn? Archer made it pretty clear that I don’t.”

He nodded his head and agreed, almost
sympathetically. “Aye. Well, Hunter and I are here if you need
us.”

I looked over at Hunter and he nodded his
head. “Thanks, guys,” I said with a small smile. “I appreciate
it.”

“Well, come on then,” Quinn said getting out
of the truck and shutting the door. He walked around to the bed of
the truck as Hunter got out and gave me a hand. Quinn handed me my
messenger bag and he and Hunter carried my two suitcases.

As soon as Hunter opened the front door, I
was fully accosted by someone.

“Oh, you poor dear!” Trey said as he wrapped
his arms tightly around my neck. “I heard what happened. It’s just
so horrible! Are you okay?”

I relaxed when I realized it was him, wrapped
my arms his slim waist and hugged him back. “I’m doing better now,
hon. It was a little touch and go for me earlier, but I’m much
better.”

He leaned back and held me at arm’s length,
his hands on my shoulders. He looked deeply into my eyes for a
moment, searching, and then nodded his head. “I’m so sorry you had
to see that again, darlin’. No one should have to see it once, let
alone twice. But, I’m glad you’re doing better. I feel that you are
okay and that makes me happy. I was so worried about you when I
heard. I wanted to come…but…” he said as his face fell and tears
filled his hazel eyes.

“I know you couldn’t come, honey. It would
have been too overwhelming for you. But, I appreciate the
thought…really,” I said as I gently cupped his cheek and gave him a
small smile. “I’m glad you’re here now.”

He sniffed and hugged my neck again. “Me
too.”

I had found a true kindred spirit in
Nathaniel Herschel Thomas Hatfield, III. He and Jameson would make
my stay in this house worth all the trouble I knew would inevitably
find me.

“Alright you two break it up,” Quinn said
behind me and I turned to realize I was still standing in the door
blocking his way.

Trey grabbed my hand and pulled me into the
massive interior of the house. My jaw dropped as I looked around
the impressive foyer. The floors were dark wood, the furniture
expensive, and the grand chandelier breathtaking. There was a huge,
beautiful double staircase a few feet away and I found myself
gravitating toward it. The hand railing was polished black marble
held up by twisty, black wrought iron balusters.

Trey came up to me and laughed as he put his
slight arm around my shoulders and read my emotions. “If you think
that’s something, wait until you see the rest of the house.”

“We’ll leave your bags at the bottom of the
stairs until you’re assigned a room,” Hunter said as he and Quinn
dropped my bags by the right staircase.

“Thank you so much for your help today,
guys,” I said and they nodded their heads before walking through an
archway between the stairs and into the rest of the house.

“Shall we take the grand tour?” Trey asked
with a wag of his delicately arched eyebrows.

I smiled brightly. “Leave nothing out,” I
said with a twinge of excitement. I had never seen a home as nice
as this before; well except maybe on MTV Cribs. This was completely
new territory for me and I wanted to see and experience everything
this place had to offer.

We slowly wound our way up the stairs and
through the second floor. This was where seven of the nine bedrooms
were and five of the bathrooms. There was also a huge media room up
here, a separate game room that housed a veritable wet dream of
pinball machines, arcade games, and video game consoles, and a
snack area that had a refrigerator and a fully stocked wet bar.
Most of the rooms had a large window that overlooked the massive
lake and all were ridiculously spacious.

After oohing and aahing at the exquisite
second floor, we moved to the first floor. Trey led me through the
archway between the stairs and into the formal sitting room. It was
beautiful, open and furnished with class. The colors were
stunningly rich, warm, and very inviting.

I ran my hand over the back of the couch as I
looked around. “It’s so nice! Have you ever seen such a gorgeous
house before?”

He chuckled at my amazement. “Well yes honey.
I’ve been around a long time. Our Archer likes the finer things in
life. Stick around for thirteen hundred years and you will,
too.”

I stopped mid-step and looked over at Trey
with wide eyes. “Thirteen hundred years? Are you 1,300 years
old?”

Trey put one hand on his cheek and quickly
waved the other one in my direction, dismissing my question. “Oh
now, never mind that. Let’s go into the kitchen, shall we?” He
turned on his heel and disappeared through another archway without
a word.

But...who’s thirteen hundred years
old
?
And, why doesn’t he want to tell me
? I shook my
head and followed him into the kitchen. It was massive, to say the
least. There were two refrigerators, a large island, and black
marble covered countertops. The cabinets were the same dark colored
wood that was on the floors and everything was polished to a high
shine.

Trey opened the fridge and took out a bag of
blood. “Would you like a bottle of water, dear? Or, I could make
you something stronger, if you’d like?”

I shook my head. “No thank you, hon,” I said
as I watched him pop the bag of blood in the microwave and hit
start.

Thirty seconds later, he took it out and we
resumed the tour. He showed me the formal dining room and the wine
cellar before taking me into the family room. Quinn, Hunter,
Seamus, and Lochlan were playing a game of Texas Hold’em at a small
poker table in the corner. You could immediately tell that these
guys didn’t mess around when it came to their poker. Everyone had
on their ‘poker face’ and there was a huge stack of cash in the
middle of the table. Hunter saw us as we crossed the room and gave
us a polite, but quick nod of his head. Seamus and Lochlan briefly
said hello to me before returning to the game as well.

I looked around and the family room was as
impressive as the rest of the house. The ceilings were high, the
sectional couch was long and cushy, and the flat screen television
was at least 72 inches. I stared at the wide screen and grinned.
This would make one hell of a place to watch the Saturday night
UFC matches.
I pictured myself sitting on the couch, beer in
hand, watching Anderson Silva easily hand some dude his ass and I
smiled widely.
Oh yeah. I’m definitely making that happen! I
don’t care who I have to bribe…

Trey grabbed my hand and pulled me through
the right side of the family room and down a long hall. The first
door we came to was an empty guest bedroom.

“You’ll most likely be rooming here,
sweetness,” Trey said as he opened the door. “All of the other
rooms are
ocupado
at the moment.”

I peered inside the guest room and
immediately fell in love. The bed was a massive, king-size canopy
with romantic sheer white curtains around it and was covered in
white silk sheets and tons of large, fluffy pillows. I immediately
wanted to run, fling myself on the bed and roll around in it.

Trey chuckled and I looked over at him. “I
can tell someone likes this room very much,” he said with a grin.
“You are radiating some serious excitement over there.”

I blushed and bit my lip. “I can’t help it. I
LOVE silk sheets and big, fluffy pillows,” I said as I looked
around the rest of the room. There was a beautiful vanity against
the left wall, a dark wood armoire in the left corner, tall French
doors that led to a flower garden against the far back wall, a
white microfiber chaise lounge in the right corner by the bed, and
it had its own massive bathroom.

I turned to Trey again and smiled. “I am SO
rooming here.”

He laughed as he walked us out of the room
and further down the hall. The next room we came to had the door
shut. “This is Archer’s room here, so we won’t go in,” he said as
we started to pass it.

I stopped and stared at the door.
He’s
going to be sleeping less than fifty feet from me
? I really
didn’t know how I felt about that. After all, Archer was far from
my favorite person right now.
Mr. High-handed himself
. I was
still angry about being forced out of my home. I understood his
reasons, and maybe even agreed a tiny bit with them, but I didn’t
have to like it, did I?

I groaned under my breath and followed Trey
to the last door. Trey brought his hand up and knocked a couple of
times. After a few seconds, he handed me the bag of blood and told
me to go in. “Give this to our Archer, will you?” he asked quickly
before turning and flashing back down the hall.
What the hell is
he in such a hurry for
?
Throwing me to the wolves is what
he’s doing, dammit.
I wasn’t ready to have a conversation with
Archer yet, but it didn’t look like I had much of a choice. I took
a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and opened the door.

I peeked into the room and I instantly felt
my jaw drop in surprise. This was Archer’s office, but it was
obviously so much more than that. There were glass cases on the
walls that were filled with swords, knives, shields, medieval
maces, battle axes, armor, and every gun under the sun. I took a
deep breath and sighed in awe. My proverbial penis had just gotten
a serious chubby. I saw Archer and Jameson staring at me and I
shook my head and walked in, shutting the door behind me.

“Who ordered the blood?” I asked as I pursed
my lips and put my ‘mad mask’ back on.

Archer raised one eyebrow at me and beckoned
me forward with his finger as Jameson resumed his one man sword
fighting. I watched Jameson’s body gracefully ebb and flow, slice
and jab. He was absolutely beautiful to watch…and most definitely
lethal with his weapon. My lower abdomen tightened in desire and I
had to look away. I walked up to Archer’s desk and roughly dropped
the bag of blood on it.

“Thank you, Skye,” Archer said leaning back
in his chair and ripping a corner off the bag with his teeth.

I crossed my arms over my chest and huffed.
“Don’t thank me. Thank Trey. I didn’t do anything for you.”