Chapter 7
Confrontation
FLASHBACK
LANIAS
Lanias sat at the bar staring into her crystal glass of scotch. She enjoyed her red wines but today was a scotch day. She had known this day would come but hadn’t expected it to arrive so early.
“I’m leaving.”
“Is that so,” she said, looking up so that she could see the reflection of her sister in the mirror of the bar. “When?”
“Tomorrow, I’ve packed everything, and I’ll be departing in the morning.” Sabina said sounding hesitant. Lanias wondered what her little sister thought she would say. “I wanted to say goodbye before I left.”
“You talk like never see each other.” She lifted her drink and took a long sip. “You aren’t running away from me. You’re getting married.”’
“To a human,” Sabina said, eyeing her. “You’ve told me on several occasions what you thought about that.”
“I think you’re wasting your time on a man who doesn’t love you the way you think he does.”
Lanias wished she could tell her sister that David didn’t deserve her. That there were better men out there, but she knew her sister’s true desire. Sabina wanted a normal life, one away from death and the shadows of the past.
She placed her glass down and turned, offering her a smile. “I hate humans, but that doesn’t mean I won’t talk to you just because you’re foolish enough to marry one.”
“Lanias,” Her sister groaned.
“Well, what did you expect? I’m not a leopard; I don’t have spots to change.
” She smiled and held back her cruelly honest words.
Only because she wanted to see Sabina happy.
The sin of their being gathered like chattel rested on her shoulders.
“I expect frequent phone calls and don’t let that bastard walk all over you. ”
Sabina laughed, as she leaned forward and wrapped her arm around her shoulder. “With a big sister like you, who could even think to take a step toward me.”
“Everyone.” Lanias mentally answered.
No one could be fully trusted in this world. Fathers abandoned daughters, mothers sold their children and secrets were kept not for people’s safety but for reasons of power and greed.
Pulling back Sabina added. “You know it wouldn’t hurt if you dated someone. You know, really dated not played your games with them.”
Looking away from her sister, Lanias covered her reaction by bringing her glass to her lips. “I prefer my life the way it is. Normal doesn’t suit me.”
And I don’t deserve love, a mental note left unsaid.
The minute Lanias opened her eyes she was overwhelmed by how heavy she felt. A numb sensation ran through her body as she stared blankly at the ceiling overhead.
She was alive.
Apart of her was surprised the fall hadn’t killed her.
The pain in her arms slowly grew with rising intensity as her awareness increased and the more awake she became. She looked right, quickly realizing she didn’t know where she was.
The sunlight from the large windows only filled up a quarter of the room.
From what she could see the furniture had a classic feel.
The vanity in the corner was masculine and there was a thick carpet with designs of gold and brown underneath it.
She could smell money in everything. She turned her attention to the other side of the room and saw the two-door entrance.
Her thoughts were too many. She should get up, but the energy she needed to do so was gone. Her mind kept replaying the image of her father disappearing above the dark clouds. And the image of the hand that pierced his torso was seared into her mind.
She had hated him.
He was the source of everything including her pain. He was the reason she had no one aside from Sabina in this world.
Tears slid from the corner of her eyes and her throat felt painfully tight.
Why was she crying for someone she hated?
Here she was, having abandoned everything to confront the man who had the answers to her existence and once again she had nothing.
He was gone and her past along with him.
She closed her eyes and let the tears fall.
What was the point of everything she’d done?
Lanias suddenly felt more exhausted than she’d ever had in her thirty years of life.
She turned on her side and curled her body into a fetal position as she released a short moan while her arms stung. She just wanted to sleep and never wake up. Her life had been one long, aimless chase.
Survival, power, justice and then her father.
And now?
There was nothing.
The door behind her opened, but she was too mentally exhausted to see who it was. If this was where she was going to die, she couldn’t complain.
At least the bed was comfortable.
The person walked around the bed to stand at the side of it. “You’re crying.”
“It happens.” She hated that she now had an audience to her pain.
Lanias rarely showed her tears.
Hell, she rarely revealed her real face. She considered the value in experiencing the pain to brush her tears away when she felt the other person move.
Once their face came into view she gasped.
“You!” she exclaimed.
Alek leaned forward as he dropped to one knee by the bed. His cool thumb pressed against her cheek and brushed away the tears that sparkled there.
“Me,” he said with a teasing tone.
“Thought you’d be happier about being alive,” he added.
Her brows creased. “How did you find me?”
He quietly observed her with his moon-colored gaze. “I was lucky.”
She rolled her eyes at this and went to sit up completely forgetting about her arms. “Ouch.”
“You’re hurt,” he whispered as he stood to take a seat beside her. He swiftly removed her jacket and tossed it to the floor. Taking her right hand in his, he lifted them up so he could get a closer look.
“Stop, you don’t have to...” Lanias attempted to protest.
He didn’t let her finish her sentence as he gently turned her arm right and left. After inspecting her, he let go of her wrist and grabbed the edge of her shirt’s sleeve and pulled. The sound of tearing cloth filled the room as her bruised arm was exposed.
Lanias winced at the sight of the blue and black coloring that peppered her brown skin. “Well, that looks daunting,” she muttered.
“Your bones are broken,” Alek said, meeting her pained gaze.
He grabbed the left sleeve and did the same, clicking his tongue. “This must hurt a lot.”
“Not much, just a pinch,” she joked, only to see he wasn’t amused. “I can’t say I disagree with that assessment.”
He frowned at her. “You need a healer. I know one who can help—”
“No,” She cut him off, glaring at him. “I’m already annoyed that it’s you who saved me, of all people. Having any others aware that I’m alive would be a problem.”
“Personally, I couldn’t think of anyone better,” he said, offering her a small smile before he dropped it. “I am not asking you, Lanias. I will be calling a healer here. If I don’t, you won’t be able to lift a cup, much less fight with these arms,” he said, setting her left arm down.
“I hope you don’t think I’m a helpless little girl because of my injuries.
Nothing has changed, Vampire,” she threatened, fighting back her guilty conscience.
She should have thanked him, but instead she didn’t want to owe Alek anything.
The bed creaked as black roots crawled from underneath it. “I have not changed.”
Reaching up he pressed the palm of his hand against her cheek, leaning in he peered into her eyes.
Lanias felt her heart skip a beat. Like all the other times he’d broken the invisible wall around her and invaded her space. Lanias felt a sudden crazy panic that he could see into her thoughts.
“Don’t you think you’re a bit too close?” Her question was swiftly followed by the sound of metal clanging against metal as the blade she’d aimed for his back was blocked. An unknown man stepped forward.
Lanias glanced at him. “Now that’s just cheating.”
“That’s not what people like us call it.” Alek stood, holding out his hand.
The unknown male picked up the blade and laid it there before retreating. He inspected it, pressing his pale finger against the edge. Drawing it back he watched his blood slide from the wound.
“For us, it’s just foreplay.” Alek lifted his finger, the wound healing as if it never was.
She pursed her lips in annoyance.
“Foreplay? I guess you’re desperate to get me in your bed.” She smirked. “I’m a bit higher maintenance than the average Witch, plus they call this kidnapping. That’s a crime, even in the Veil.”
“You can’t kidnap someone who is already dead.”
Lanias kept her cool at his words. “Oh, is that your game then?”
Alek danced the blade atop his fingers before he tossed it up and grabbed it out of the air and aimed at the wall. It hit the center of a painting, sinking deep up to the hilt. Those silver eyes looked back at her with both a warning and a promise.
A promise she wasn’t sure she wanted any part in.
“Games are played by children; you and I are not children.” His gaze dared her to deny it. “As I told your friend a year ago. When a Vampire takes an interest in someone. It’s far more than a simple crush.”
She looked away from him, “What do you think? I’ll just passively stay here because you have me healed? If I wanted to leave, I could do so at this very moment.”
“Then why haven’t you?” he asked, crossing his arms as he quirked a brow.
She averted her eyes. “I’m tired, plus you’ve offered me a healer. I’d be stupid to decline that. We both know I’m not that good of a person.”
He scoffed. “I have a better answer,” he said, leaning down he picked up the covers and drew them closer to her. “You don’t want to leave. I know you better than you think Witch, you’re happy I found you.”
She glared at him, only to lean her head back in surprise.
He was too close.
She’d always thought his eyes were like chips of ice; sharp, glacial; but now she saw the storm beneath them: darker greys shifting like smoke, like something waiting to break. Her gaze dipped to his mouth.
The top lip was a cruel line; the bottom, full and soft enough to be dangerous. He smirked with a look of knowing. “Do you see something you like?”
“And if I do?” she challenged, getting impatient with him.
Alek smiled, seeing her impatience in her bristling shoulders. “Everything will come in time.” He patted the blanket as he stood. “Get some rest, you’re going to need it.”
He left the room followed by the other male she’d completely forgotten was there.
The minute he walked out the door, she gave the covers a frustrated kick.
Cursing she fell back on the pillows. He knew just what to say to piss her off.
She wanted to kick and scream some more, but as soon as the thought came, it left.
Lanias was still too drained to do anything more than mentally rant.
She grudgingly concluded that some rest was preferred.
After all, this Vampire threat was greatly annoying, less threatening but more sexually frustrating for the most part.
Unfortunately, she was used to that. So best to regain some energy then she would decide what her next move would be.
While she’d loved to wallow in self-pity, she hadn’t forgotten what her father said before he tossed her off the building.
There were others like her out there. Children of both Surrem and human blood, though she wasn’t sure if her mother had really been human.
Her uncle had written more about her father than her mother.
So, whether Stanthos was alive or dead, she’d go to his house and search for clues to find the others.
Along with the last words her father had spoken. “The true one’s have returned, and they are intent on wiping the earth of this damned blood.”
The vision of the emotionless orange eyes that looked at her as if she was nothing returned in her memory. She grappled with whether she was doing this for herself, or because it was the last words of her father.
Deciding to think about it more later, she drifted off into a fitful sleep.
She would solve the Alek problem once she got more sleep.