Chapter Six

The drive to Montgomery proved to be a long one as the three of us rode in awkward silence. I wore my darkest aviators to hide the puffiness around my eyes. I couldn't think about it. I couldn't think about him, or the tears would come again.

I scrutinized the small airports lack of security as I walked Wendy and Chase through one metal detector, to the scanner, and then to their terminal. Seated in one of the many chairs that lined the windows sat Jaxon.

Jaxon Claiborne was a tall man of slim build and every inch of his body, spare his face, was covered in black tribal tattoos. He was a handsome man if that's what you could call him. Being a full vampire, he could rip you apart in the blink of an eye. He made a formidable opponent to those who dared oppose him and I was grateful to be on his good side. I've known him long enough that I wasn't afraid to throw lip at him when he stepped out of line. He had pale skin, dark mahogany brown hair, and eyes so dark that they almost looked black. He stood to greet us as we approached.

"Hey Jax," Wendy greeted, "I want you to meet Chase."

I watched as Chase shook hands with my favorite vampire.

"Good to see you girls again. I wish it was for a better occasion though. It's nice to meet you, Chase. I have heard a lot about you."

"All good I hope."

Jax clapped Chase on the shoulder and laughed, "She can be feisty, but she is not one to talk bad. We leave that to our foul-mouthed little witch over here."

When Jaxson turned his gaze to me his black eyes widened, and he wore a look that could slay a full-grown man.

"My God Saraid. You look like shit. Maybe I should stay here to take care of the asshole responsible."

How did he know someone was responsible? I shrugged my shoulders and leaned in to hug my dear friend, "I'm ok Jax. Oddly enough, I'm pretty sure whoever Wendy meets in Ireland will be somehow responsible for my looking like shit."

He hugged me tight for a brief second and then let me go. "Well then, guess I should raise some hell in Ireland."

I couldn't really tell if what he said was a joke or if he was serious. Their flight was announced over the loudspeaker before I could ask so I took a second to hug each of them before they boarded.

"Please, please be careful. You guys are the only family I have."

Jaxon shook his head and had an expression that told me that he thought I was being ridiculous. "Don't be a drama queen candy britches. I never die."

They all waved as they boarded the airplane. I stood there staring out of the windows of the airport. I wouldn't move until their airplane was completely out of sight.

"This is the part that I was dreading," I thought to myself.

Driving alone allowed me too much time with my own thoughts. I didn't want to be angry anymore, but I also couldn't look at Liam right now without thinking about how he had been lying to me. A part of me told me that I was being stupid. That we had only been in this relationship for a week, so I expected too much from him.

This wasn't a small secret that he kept from me. This was a secret that affected my whole life and the lives of my friends. Images of him on the floor crying and pleading with me to let him explain kept haunting me. I may have been angry, but it still hurt to see him cry. "What about my feelings? What about my tears?" I kept saying to myself whenever I thought about how I may have been too hard on him.

I glanced in my side mirrors, checking my blind spots to see if I could get over in the right lane when I noticed that a black car had followed me all the way from the airport.

"Maybe it's just someone traveling this way," I told myself.

I was coming up on the exit for Selma. It's not the exit I need but I was going to just pretend to take it to see if the car followed. I turned my right turn signal on about a half of a mile from the exit. Sure enough, the car behind me had clicked theirs on too.

Trying to not let on that I knew I was being followed, I kept my turn signal on as if I was still intending to take that exit. When I got to the lane to merge on to the exit ramp, I cut the wheel at the last second leading me back into the traffic on the highway, where I almost side swiped a Chevy Silverado. The car behind me tried to follow but couldn't without causing an accident.

Score one for me! I floored the accelerator because I knew that as soon as the person could they would be back. I needed a good head start. I refused to let off the accelerator. If a cop wanted to chase me then I would happily accept that ticket or go to jail if I was alive.

Glancing at my mirrors one at a time and then back at the road ahead, I tried to determine if I should go home and risk leading them there or stay somewhere else. I thought of going to Liam's, but I couldn't bring myself to knock on his door and ask to stay after I had very literally thrown him out of my house. I didn't know what to do. My heart felt like it was going to burst through my chest. Liam wasn't with me in the car, but I could feel his presence vibrating through me and around me when his voice sounded in my head.

"Keep driving straight to my house."

"What's happening Liam

"Everything is fine now, just meet me at my house, please." I could argue with him that I was still too mad to go to his house, but he was probably risking his life trying to save me.

Liam's place was in Grove Hill and I only knew one way to get there so I had to take the scenic route. I had to get off on my exit for Thomasville and ride the back way up highway 43 into Grove Hill. I finally reached the black gate at the end of his driveway and rolled down my window enough to punch in the four-digit pin that Liam had given me to open the gate. I drove up the gated driveway and parked in front of Liam's stone front mansion and debated whether I should get out of the car or stay put with the doors locked until Liam returned. Of course, if the person after me was of the same world as me then glass wasn't going to stop them. Out of pure stubborn indignation I chose to sit in the car and wait until he arrived.

The stones that made up Liam's mansion were a natural stone gray. He had two white balconies on each side of the second floor. The one on the right led to the master bedroom and the other I was unsure of. Two pillars made of the same stone as the house sat on either side of the front door, holding the roof to the small covering above the entrance to shelter visitors from the weather. His property was impeccable and large and very well taken care of. I had fantasized about living here with him just yesterday. Not anymore. I was going home to my house today come hell or high water.

I could feel his aura before he arrived, signaling me that he was almost here. My heart began to race because I didn't know if I was strong enough to resist him if he started to plead with me again. It's easy to tell yourself that you will be strong but not so easy to follow through. In the sky I could see what appeared to be an eagle circling the property, getting lower with every pass. The eagle flew down and came to a stop on the hood of my car. He blinked two familiar gray eyes at me and then flew to the walkway that led up to the front door where he then returned to his original form.

I unlocked the doors, so I could climb out of the car.

"Who was that?"

He didn't say anything, he just spun on his heels and walked towards the front door.

"Excuse me! I asked who that was?"

Still saying nothing he held the front door open, so I could pass by him and enter the house.

"Make yourself at home. You're not going anywhere for a while."

Now he had just royally pissed me off.

"In case you didn't get the memo, we may be coupled or bound or whatever the hell you wanna call it but the last time I checked you were not actually married to me and you are not my damn father, so you don't get to tell me what I can or cannot do!"

Just like that he rounded on me with a face full of fury.

"I said you are not leaving this house. If I have to, I will tie you up and throw you in the cellar!"

Wow he could be scary when he was mad, but I can be downright scary if I wanted to be too.

"I am not staying in this house with you, Liam. If someone wants to try to take me then so be it but I will not stay here with you."

He was furious, and it showed as he paced back and forth in the foyer. The big mirror that once hung on the wall of the foyer now lay in a heap of broken glass on the floor. I stood there watching him with my hands placed solidly on my waist. I knew he would never hurt me, no matter how angry he was so I just watched and waited for his anger to dim. Finally concluding that his pacing was not going to further his cause he leaned against the far wall and slid down until his butt hit the floor.

"I almost didn't get to you in time. I could tell you were in trouble and I almost didn't make it," he admitted.

I tried to take in what he was saying but I couldn't. He just saved my ass so why is he acting like I died?

"But you did make it there. Did you get the guy?"

Liam sat there quietly shaking his head. "You need to stay here Saraid. Even if you choose to stay in a separate room from me. I can't risk not getting to you in time."

Now that he wasn't barking it at me like I had no choice in the matter I was open to the idea of staying, if I had my own room while I was here. The fact that there was still a man-sized hole in the side of my house helped my decision. You can't sleep knowing someone is after you when you don't even have a full four walls to block people from just coming in.

"Now that you are asking me and not telling me I will stay as long as I have my own room to go to. I'm not ready to make nice with you yet. I appreciate you coming to help me, but you are not forgiven. Do you understand?"

He squared his jaw and looked at me. "Thank you. I understand."

Liam made good on his promise and had a room set up for me separate from his. He didn't put me directly beside his room but one over from it so one room sat between us. I guess he wanted to keep me close either for my safety or in hopes that I would come knocking on his bedroom door.

"I had some clothes ordered for you before the fight, so I put them in the closet, so you have clothes to wear while you are here. You will find everything you need in the bathroom as well."

He was acting too formal and sullen. "You didn't have to go through all this trouble Liam but thank you."

He said nothing in return. He just started towards the door of the room.

"Oh, and Liam. Thank you for coming to help me. You could have just let it be and you didn't so I wanted you to know that I appreciate it."

He nodded his head. It was a short and brief gesture. Then he proceeded to walk out of the bedroom door. I tried to pick up on what he was thinking, but he managed to block our telepathy again.

This room was a little less formal than Liam's, but it was still beautiful. The walls were a deep lavender with white trim work and the plush carpet was a stark, white color. The furniture in here seemed to be antique but remained in great condition which told me that he had never used it or he just took really good care of it. I had a feeling that it was the ladder of the two.

About ninety-nine percent of the clothes that Liam had ordered for me were of my own design. He must have ordered them off my webpage. The other one percent consisted of sleep wear and daily lingerie. I finally removed my aviators and stood staring back at myself in the mirror above the antique dresser. The puffiness had diminished but I still looked like someone had rode me hard and put me away wet. My eyes were the same gray as Liam's again and on my face, they just looked out of place. Only one person should have those eyes and it wasn't me, but I kept them, so I could have a part of him with me. I started to a light tap on the bedroom door. I crossed the room and opened the door to find Liam with his fist up, prepared to knock a second time.

"Yes." I greeted him, not angry just annoyed more with myself than anything. I watched as a mixture of emotions washed over his face. Impatience, anger and then helplessness.

He was oddly interested in his feet. "Um, I was wondering. Did you feed today?"

Okay, that wasn't a question I was expecting. I half expected him to want to talk about our display earlier or even our display last night but not something so impersonal. Come to think of it. I hadn't fed. I ate a quick bowl of cereal with Wendy before we left the house but that was it. Ashamed to tell him the truth I just stood there quietly.

"I didn't think so. Here, drink this." He offered me an amber glass filled with that familiar dark red liquid.

I accepted the glass and he immediately walked away not giving me a chance to say thank you. Even though we are not speaking he's still trying to take care of me. I devoured the coppery liquid faster than usual. Normally, I had to chug it slow, but I must have really been depleted. Now that my fangs were out, I was having a hard time getting them to recede. They normally go back into hiding as soon as I finish feeding. Giving up on willing them back into my gums, I sat the glass on the dresser and mounted the welcoming full-sized bed. I just laid there curled into a fetal position, staring at the empty walls.

I hadn't realized I had drifted off to sleep until I woke up to a now pitch-black room. I could hear a faint tapping noise coming from downstairs like someone rapping hard on the keys of a keyboard. I reached for my cellphone in my back pocket, so I could use it to illuminate the room enough to find the light switch, but it was dead.

"Shit!"

I needed to charge it because I could have missed a call from Wendy. She had promised to check in with me every day that she was away. I inched my way around the dark room feeling up and down every wall as I moved along. Once I got passed the door, I felt it. The light cut through the darkness so sharply that I had to squint. My new vampire eyes were super sensitive to everything. I found my purse on the top of the dresser and proceeded to dig through it, hoping to locate the spare phone charger I usually kept in there. I had forgotten that I had used it in my design room, so I could play music while I was working.

Sending a stream of foul words to myself, I concluded that I was going to have to face Liam to either ask if he had heard from Chase or to see if he at the very least had a charger that I could borrow. I looked up at my reflection. I really did look like shit today. I smoothed my hands over my face and made quick work of finger combing my hair before I crossed the room to the door.

I could still hear the quick pace of fingers on a keyboard as I descended the staircase. He was in the gaming room. When I entered the room, my jaw went slack. It wasn't a gaming room at all. It was one big ass surveillance room. The various television sets mounted on the walls displayed numerous angles of different properties. One of which I recognized as my own.

"Here."

Liam had his hand stretched toward me with his back to me. In his hand was a white phone charger. "How in the hell did he know what I needed?" I asked myself. He quietly laughed to himself just loud enough that I could hear it and I could see his head shaking.

"Joint telepathy, remember?"

I guess he decided to let me back in.

"Sorry. I keep forgetting my thoughts aren't my own anymore."

He could sense my annoyance with it. "I try to block it out as much as I can to honor your privacy but sometimes I can't. Your thoughts can be pretty loud sometimes."

I'm sure my thoughts are loud. There was no use in denying it. He was able to feel everything I felt emotionally and physically. When I hurt, he hurts and vice versa. What I didn't know is why and when he put surveillance cameras on my property.

"I installed the cameras this evening. I went upstairs to see if you wanted to go so you could grab anything that you might want but you were sleeping, and I didn't want to wake you."

"Why?"

This time he turned to look at me as he answered. "Because whoever was following you got away. Chances are they know where you live and probably followed you from there to the airport."

What he said made sense.

"But how do you know that they didn't follow you from my house and back home today?"

"Because a brilliant witch inspired me to try to cloak myself and it worked. I flew there and back cloaked."

Well, there was no arguing with that logic. He now shared my powers as well which meant if he knew how to, he could cast.

"So, who else are you monitoring?"

He pointed to a screen on the left that displayed a house similar in size to his own and informed me that it was Chase's house. The one on the right was his property in Ireland and my house was shown on the various smaller screens directly in front of him. That was a total of three properties. So, what are the other televisions for, that weren't powered on?

"Have you seen anything?"

He shook his head in response. "Chances are he won't come back tonight because he knows that you know you were being followed. So he will probably lay low for tonight."

The reality of my situation sent chills down my spine and made me think of my friends who were out searching for answers on my behalf.

"Have you heard from Chase at all?"

He nodded, "Yea, they arrived safely at their hotel. They aren't going to get into anything until tomorrow," the next part was said with a half snort and half laugh, "Your friend Jaxon doesn't seem to care for me. Ripped me a new asshole before even saying hello."

How did Jax know that anything had gone down between me and Liam? Maybe Wendy and Chase filled him in during the flight.

"Jax is just very protective and he knows how much I value honesty. I didn't tell him anything because I knew how he would react so I'm guessing our friendly faerie filled him in."

He seemed to shrug his shoulders in a way that said he was unbothered by Jaxon's display. "If he is as protective over your life as he seems to be than he and I will get along fine, as long as he understands his boundaries and doesn't cross them."

I rolled my eyes into the back of my head and sighed. Men and their animalistic pissing contests. He must have picked up on my thoughts because he chuckled.

"You can be mad at me all you want. You have every right to be, but make no mistake princess, you are mine and if he tries to take you away from me, I will kill him."

He meant it and that scared me. We all say that vampires don't die but there are ways to kill them. Jax was like a brother to me, and I didn't take threats on his life very kindly.

"You will not! Jax is like a brother to me and if you try to hurt him then you best believe you will never see me again unless it's to throw you into another tree." I didn't yell. I just stated the facts as I knew them.

He seemed to be measuring the truth in my claim. "You may see him as a brother, but no man is that passionate about a woman that he just looks at like a little sister."

"Did you forget that I told you he is a fifteen-hundred vampire? They are territorial by nature jackass."

Not appreciating my colorful language, he walked towards me until we stood toe to toe, neither of us willing to budge on the subject. "Vampire or not, he will mind his boundaries princess."

I couldn't think of anything else to say so I just said, "Quit calling me that," and walked away from him. I wasn't going to let him win. I could have just stormed out and went back to my borrowed room but screw it.

I could feel his fear. He was afraid that he had just pushed me to the point that I would never forgive him. I couldn't say for sure if I could or couldn't forgive him for lying to me about being sent here by my biological mother. I didn't really know her, so I wasn't as emotionally invested in her as I was with my friends. If he ever hurt or God forbid killed Jax over some jealous nonsense, then I knew I would never forgive him.

"I'm sorry for threatening your friend. I was basing my reaction on his feelings towards you. I didn't take into consideration that you didn't reciprocate those feelings."

He seemed sincere but for how long. Jax tended to be crude in his jokes towards me or call me names like candy britches. I couldn't accept Liam pummeling him for something so menial.

"Jax and I have a very peculiar relationship. I do see him as a brother. He has asked me out before. A couple of times, but he has always respected me when I turned him down. Now we have a very strong kinship. He calls me little pet names and I ignore them. He tells me when I'm being an unreasonable bitch and I tell him when he is being a misogynistic asshole. That's just who we are. But Jax has been there for me just like Wendy. When I need someone to talk to, he is there. When I need someone to give me unbiased advice, he is there. If I just need to get away, Jax is there. If I call him out of the blue and ask him to put his life on the line to accompany our other friends to Ireland, he is there. I don't take threats against the people I call family lightly and I will forgive it this time but, if it ever happens again, I will make your life miserable."

He seemed to just stare at me like I had just sprouted horns and a pitchfork. Finally, he spoke, "How long have your fangs been exposed?"

I had completely forgotten. "Huh? Oh, since I drank the blood you gave me earlier. I kept trying to get them to recede, but they wouldn't budge."

He disappeared and reappeared in a matter of seconds, carrying another glass of the thick liquid. "You must have needed more than usual. Drink as much as you need." He must have had more than the bottle from yesterday because we finished that one off.

"Thanks."

Once I started drinking it felt like I couldn't get enough. "Why is it taking so much this time?"

He shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Emotions and physical exertion take a lot out of humans and supernatural creatures alike. My guess is you lost more energy than you had to spare. You spent a lot of magic on me last night."

Images of him flying through my living room wall and into a tree stump plagued my vision. "Yea sorry about that. I guess my power likes to go a little overboard when I'm pissed off."

"It's ok. I deserved it. I just wish you would have remembered our connection beforehand. I was more upset with the idea of you hurting yourself."

In the moment I hadn't thought about our connection. That much was true, but also my power had complete control over my actions. It didn't care if it killed me in the process and there lies my problem. If I was going to be of any use to my friends, I was going to have to learn how to control it.

Believing I had softened toward him, he chanced walking over and squatting in front of where I sat and placed one hand on each of my thighs. "I'm just glad you are ok. I was scared you severed your spine or something. That's why I shifted. I was hoping that if I kept our connection open that you would heal as well."

I looked down at his hands on my legs and then back up to his face. "I did heal. I'm not dead. All is right with the world," I replied sarcastically.

Realizing that he misread my emotions he removed his hands from my legs and stared at the floor. "Will you ever forgive me Saraid?"

I sighed because I didn't really know the answer to his question. "I don't know Liam, probably. But I'm not ready to forgive you yet. Our relationship happened so fast. One minute we are set up on a blind date then we are magically married and then I find out you were actually sent here by my piece of shit mother to spy on me. Oh yea, let's not forget that someone is following me to most likely to kill me."

"He won't get a chance to kill you because I'm going to kill him first. I did hide my knowledge of your mother from you, but I was not sent here to spy on you. I was sent here to protect you because she was afraid that what is happening now would happen. Actually, if she finds out that you and I were coupled she would probably have me slaughtered like livestock." I shook my head, this was just too much for me.

"Why would she kill you?"

There he went focusing on the floor again. I used my hand to pick his face up to force him to look at me.

"Why Liam?"

"She hired me because I was cast aside for being part vampire, so no one would suspect anything when I just vanished. She knew I took my oath seriously and I would protect whomever my charge was at all costs, so she charged me with looking after you. But even guardians of full blood are not allowed to be with the witches, whether you love them or not. They consider it impure. Take in to consideration that I am half vampire and it is considered an abominable act. Even though divine coupling occurs without effort or choice from either party involved it has never occurred between a guardian and a witch before. The women in your bloodline aren't widely known for keeping an open mind."

"Well as you know from experience, I don't take kindly to people telling me what I can or can't do."

He fully laughed at my admission. A full, deep guttural laugh. "Yes. I figured that out. I was so frustrated and scared because the asshole got away from me and I took it out on you. I'm sorry."

I shrugged. "You were right anyway. It made no sense to go home after he followed me. Especially with my house missing half of a wall."

I stood up and walked over to the monitors that displayed my property with Liam following close behind. We were just watching for anything. When you're scared and really concentrating too hard, even the slightest movement from an insect will look like a person lurking in the woods. Liam rested his hands on my shoulder and it caught me off guard and made me jump.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's ok. I just wasn't expecting it. Caught me off guard," I explained.

He kept his hands where they were on my shoulders and probably would unless I told him to move them. I didn't want him to. It felt nice to have him there, but I still needed time to work through everything in my head.

"I know I am not forgiven but can I just hold you for a minute, please?"

I didn't take the time to answer. I just turned my body around to face and him and wrapped my arms around his middle. He wrapped his arms around me tightly in response. We just stood there in each other's arms not speaking, just holding each other. It was me who broke the silence. Standing there with my head buried just above his sternum I said, "I'm not really mad at you anymore. I just need time to process all of this. If you can just give me the time, I need to get used to all of this than I am sure we can eventually get back to the way things were."

"I can do that. Is there anything you need to help the process?"

I thought about work. Working was how I usually handled dealing with the difficulties in my life, but it's not like I could go home to work.