Blood Descendants (Vengeance and Venom #1)

Chapter 6

W e park back in the garage of our new building. In the lobby, Billings is waiting with all my bags. I blush at the absurdity of it all. But Ares simply takes them from his driver and heads for the elevator.

“Since we’re supposed to know each other on a deep level, I’m just going to say it,” I announce as we step into the elevator, which feels crowded with all the bags. “I grew up pretty damn poor. We didn’t have money. I’ve never made much in my life. So, you just dropping all this money, it’s weird for me.”

I feel Ares’ eyes on me. As if he knows there’s more coming, he doesn’t say anything. “I’ve been financially independent since my dad died. The struggle has been real, but I’ve been making it work. But you just dropping serious money when it comes to me?” I shake my head. “I’ll admit, it makes me uncomfortable. I don’t want you thinking I’m just secretly thinking I hit the jackpot.”

The elevator opens, but neither of us steps out immediately .

“I’ve never had to want for anything in my life, Lana,” Ares says, and when the elevator doors start closing, he throws his hand out, bags and all, stopping it. “I know that’s an advantage of privilege. All of this in the last two days? It doesn’t mean much to me. I appreciate what you’re saying. But don’t for one second think I’m doing you a bigger favor than you’re doing me. The money means nothing. But bringing you into this hostile world? That’s the real ask.”

I swallow once, holding his intense gaze.

I think we see this in very different ways. But all that tells me is just how truly ignorant I am of what I’m about to walk into.

“Okay,” I say simply. “Just so long as you get that I’m really not a gold digger.”

“It never crossed my mind, Vengeance,” he says sincerely. And we both step out of the elevator.

“So, I know you grew up rich,” I say as I unlock the door and push it open for him. We walk through the entryway and into the living room. The drapes are drawn, leaving the room dim. “You have a sister. And your father is some kind of tycoon that borders on mafia status. I think it’s your turn to start spilling more details about your past, fiancé.”

Ares sets the bags on the kitchen island before he aims for the living room. He pulls his sunglasses off, letting out a relieved sigh. He sets them down on the coffee table and rubs his eyes before pressing his thumb and forefinger into the inner parts of his eyes.

Just how much pain has he been in all day? He never gave an indication today while we were out, but as he sinks down into a chair, he looks like he has a massive migraine .

“Can I get you something?” I ask without thinking, my brows furrowed. “Water? Some Aspirin?”

Ares looks up at me from beneath his dark eyelashes, a hint of a smile pulling on his mouth. “I’ll be alright, Vengeance. This will fade in a few minutes. But thank you.”

His tone makes me wonder if anyone has ever taken care of him. The way he’s looking at me makes me wonder if he’s wondering if anyone’s ever taken care of me.

I just nod and curl up on the couch I occupied last night.

“My mother, Annika Hunt, didn’t know what Augustus was when they started dating,” Ares begins. He slouches down in his chair, lacing his fingers together and resting them on his chest. “He told her when she let him know she was pregnant. She freaked, tried to break things off. Which Augustus kind of allowed.”

I don’t like the way that sounds. Controlling asshole.

“But he kept tabs on her, so he knew when she went to the hospital in labor,” Ares continues. “She found a little sympathy and let him in for my birth. The bastard was sneaky, though. Wrote down my name on the birth certificate before she even had the chance to wipe the sweat from her brow.”

“It suits you,” I say, raising one eyebrow.

A little smile in the corner of his mouth tells me Ares agrees, but he shrugs one shoulder. “She was angry enough about it all, she took me home and cut him out. And the bastard seemed okay with that, at least for the time being. I wouldn’t be useful to him for a few years.”

“That’s disgusting,” I say, the ick spreading through my entire body.

Ares nods. “My mother was the heiress to one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the country and was already managing everything on her own by that time. She wasn’t hurting for money and wanted nothing to do with Augustus’ fortune. She lived her life here in Manhattan. But she really wanted me to have a sibling. She went to a sperm bank, and when I was three, my sister Florence was born.”

The only person he’s ever loved besides his mother. That’s what he told me.

“Growing up, my mother never talked about my father. I didn’t even know his name. He didn’t come looking for me. Mom wanted to pretend he didn’t exist, wanted to pretend I’d be nothing but human forever. But when I was fourteen, I got curious. I started digging for who he was.”

“Was that a mistake?” I ask, curiosity making my words bold.

Ares shrugs again. “It wouldn’t have mattered. Augustus was keeping tabs on me, biding his time. He had no interest in being a traditional father. One way or another, when I was old enough, he would have come after me. Instead, I learned his name and went and found him.”

“Did you know what he was?” I ask, my brows furrowing.

“Not at first. Augustus was pleased to have contact now that I was older. He started teaching me about his business, about real estate. He gave me my first million to invest when I was fifteen and was pretty damn proud when I doubled it before I turned sixteen. But he didn’t tell me what he was until I was eighteen. And he advised me on what age I should end my life so I’d Resurrect and stop aging.”

“Shit,” I say, shaking my head. Most eighteen-year-olds are just starting to deal with the looming financial responsibility of striking out on their own. Ares had to contemplate when he should take his own life and trust he’d really come back as a vampire.

“Yeah,” Ares says, his tone a little dramatic. “I had years to think about my death. To wonder if Augustus was telling the truth that I’d really come back from the dead as something else. In the meantime, I went to college after graduating, got the degree in business he determined I should have. And I helped him grow his empire while starting my own.”

So much wealth. Augustus was wealthy. Annika was wealthy. And at such a young age, Ares became wealthy all on his own.

“Florence was always the brilliant one, though,” Ares says, changing directions. “She was always so damn smart. She graduated high school when she was just fifteen years old and immediately started college. She finished her doctorate by the time she was twenty-two.”

“Is that even possible?” I ask in amazement.

“It is when you have an eidetic memory, and you immediately understand everything you set your mind to,” Ares says. “She was our mother’s protégé and was already furthering the company by leaps and bounds after just a year working there. But then our mother went missing. The circumstances were… suspicious. She was found in Harlem four weeks later, dead.”

Anxiety pitches in my blood, and I can’t help but think of my own mother. “I’m so sorry.”

Ares nods in appreciation. “We found out she’d been taken by someone who thought they could get money out of her. Guess it went south. They never reached out for ransom money, which was stupid because Florence and I would have paid anything to get her back. ”

I can’t imagine how awful that must feel, knowing you would have cooperated with her captor but never got the opportunity. And then they lost their mother because of it.

“Three weeks later, I decided it was time to see if Augustus was telling the truth,” Ares continues. “I was afraid whoever had killed our mother was going to come after Florence, too. So, I ended it. Resurrected four days later, just like my father said I would. I could protect my sister far more effectively as a vampire.”

The morbid side of me is wildly curious how he did it, how Ares met the end of his mortal life. But that isn’t the kind of question you should ask.

“Within two months of Resurrecting, Augustus started pressuring me to start having my own children. He wanted to make our family line stronger. I’d known about my half-siblings for a while, but it hit different when he was asking me to go find some women to knock up to produce my own little heirs.”

My stomach turns.

“I let him know in no uncertain terms that I had no intention of trying to make him more heirs. Augustus doesn’t like being told no. So, as I told you, it eventually grew so bad that I left after three years of that bullshit. I knew Florence was safe. So, I took off. And I haven’t talked to Augustus since.”

“But that’s about to change,” I say, all the pieces finally starting to fall into place.

“With a ‘fiancée’ at my side, going along with the lie that I’m ready to have my own children, that’s about to change.” Ares’ dark eyes are fixed on me.

I let out a hard breath, my eyes falling to the floor. That was all a lot. And while our pasts, the way we grew up, were so different, we also have some crazy things in common, things that most people will never understand.

Both of our mothers were murdered.

And as I look back up at Ares, I feel like he carries around the same bitterness and general mistrust for the world that I do.

“We’ve never talked about dating history,” I say, shifting the direction of the conversation. “Did you never have any other girlfriends that gave Augustus hope?”

Ares shrugs. “I had one girlfriend in high school. We dated for most of my junior and senior years. If I’m being honest, I always knew she was with me for the money.”

“Ouch,” I say, cringing.

He just shrugs again. “We kept each other company. I was never in love with her. So, it ran its course. There was another woman a year before I Resurrected. Mila was… sweet. Good. She was an incredible person. But I…” He shakes his head, his eyes fixing on the floor.

“What?” I encourage. These are the kinds of details we need to know about each other.

“I always felt like I was tainting her,” Ares finally admits, his eyes rising to meet mine. “My world was dark and dangerous. There are always ulterior motives when it comes to my world. Mila, she wasn’t cut out for it, and I didn’t want to drag her into a life she didn’t belong in.”

I can’t tell. From the look in his eyes, I can’t tell if Ares was in love with Mila or not. I see conflict there, I don’t question that. But love? I can’t really tell.

“What about you, Vengeance?” he asks, clearly done talking about his own dating history.

I take a deep breath, my mind falling back into the past. “Nothing in high school. I was dealing with too much trauma for that. After I graduated, I started dating this boxer at the gym. And it was… nice. But it didn’t really go anywhere because he got transferred for work only two months later. Last year, I started dating this guy who used to live in my building. And, honestly, I don’t really know why, because he kind of always gave me the ick. I think I just wanted some experience, you know?”

Ares nods like he gets that.

“But that was doomed from the beginning. We were only together for about six weeks when I found out he was cheating on me with this woman who lived across the hall from me. And the craziest part is that I didn’t care that much. It was actually kind of nice to have a reason to end it.”

“We’re a couple of winners in the love department, aren’t we?” Ares says with a sad little smile.

I huff a laugh. “Glad to hear I’m not the only clueless one.”

Ares shakes his head at the ridiculousness.

“Now, how about our story?” I question.

“We should probably start from the beginning,” Ares says. He slides up in his seat, sitting straight once again. He already looks like he’s recovered from his headache. “How did we meet?”

“I’ve been thinking about it,” I answer. “I think we say we met online. We talked there for months before we ever met in person, which is why no one has ever seen us together until recently.”

“But we live in the same city,” Ares points out. “That would make more sense if this was a long-distance thing.”

I shake my head. “I have trust issues,” I say with a shrug. “I thought you sounded interesting, but I know the dangers of meeting up with strangers you meet online. So, I told you I was going to need some time. We talked online until I felt safe enough to meet up in person.”

“Fair enough,” Ares says with the nod of his head. “And, by the time we finally met in person, we’d spent months talking already, which put the in-person relationship at an accelerated timeframe.”

“I think it works,” I say, chewing on my lip as I think it through. “We only met in person a month ago. That’s only four weeks. I think we can get away with it if people question it. It’s not a very long amount of time.”

“People are going to call us crazy,” Ares says with an arched brow. “Getting engaged after a few months of online talking and one month of being around each other in person?”

“People do crazier shit all the time,” I iterate. “Look at Las Vegas, people get married after knowing each other one night. A few months of knowing each other isn’t completely unbelievable. Besides, we just play the madly in love card. I mean, Carissa sure seemed to buy it.”

Ares stares at me silently for a few moments, contemplating it all. He’s the one who’s the good actor. Maybe he doesn’t realize just how well he’s selling this.

“I think you’re right. It’s our best bet,” Ares concedes. “But we need the little details figured out. Where online did we meet?”

I contemplate it for a good long moment. A dating app would be the easy go-to. But I’ve never been on one of those, and depending on if anyone digs into our facts, it probably wouldn’t be hard to find that wasn’t the truth. Same for a “wrong number, right guy” kind of situation. There won’t be any kind of text history between us, or call logs.

“I think Snaptalk is our safest bet,” I finally conclude. “We found each other through some tangential connection and started talking more and more regularly.”

“I don’t have Snaptalk,” Ares pokes at the plan.

“We both deleted it when we decided to commit to a relationship,” I say with a shrug. “That app is nothing but trouble, so it wouldn’t be that weird of a thing to do once you get really serious. There are other ways to talk to people.”

Ares taps his thumb on the arm rest, thinking. I watch him closely, knowing I have to learn his mannerisms. He looks away while he’s thinking, and I can practically see the gears turning in his head as he considers. “It’s not as strong as I’d like, but I think it’s our best bet. But maybe we need to say we talked online for six months before meeting in person. The longer the time, the more believable.”

I nod. “That sounds good to me. What was our first date? It seems likely someone will ask that.”

Ares taps his thumb again. “If you weren’t sure you could trust me, it was somewhere public. And four weeks ago, that would have been the beginning of May.”

“And a big one here,” I nearly cut him off as the thought occurs to me. “Did I know you’re a vampire before we met in person?”

“I’d say yes,” Ares surprises me when he answers quickly. “I’d told you, but you didn’t necessarily believe me.”

I consider that. I try to imagine it for real, if some guy I was interested in and had been talking to for months had told me he was actually a vampire. In real life, I probably would have thought he was nuts and ghosted him. But for the sake of our story, I let the thought marinate until I can find an outcome that sounds plausible. “I’d told you I’d never been to the top of the Rockefeller Center, so you took me there for our first date. And then we got dinner.”

Ares looks up at me. “You ever actually been?”

I shake my head.

“Good thing you’re already dressed up,” Ares says as a smile starts pulling on his lips. “We’ll go as soon as the sun’s down.”