XXXI. Collateral damage

Ivan

She stood at my side, my hand gripping her wrist. I ensured that my hold on her was not too tight. I had a problem controlling my own strength especially around her. Cara was my greatest reason to remain in control, yet she was the only reason I had trouble keeping myself calm.

My greatest weakness and my greatest strength.

Her eyes rested on her father who had not moved an inch from behind the long beige couch. His gaze was sharply fixed on me as I held his daughter's arm possessively. He was very protective of her, as was I. I was thus able to know exactly what was going through his mind. Who was this man near his daughter? Why did he speak as he did? What was his interest with her?

Their resemblance was uncanny. Their relation was undoubtable. Their eyes were so much alike. They were bright and jade, unlike anything I had ever seen.

"Can we focus? Liza is not ok. Now is not the time to stare at each other." Cara spoke so commandingly. I felt myself smile for a moment. When the situation calls for it, my beloved could be quite fiery. There was a fire inside of her, one that I planned to bring out and show the world.

"Right. Get her upstairs. I'll clean her wounds," said Daniel, still leering at me.

Cara bent down and helped her friend up, asking her softly," can you stand?"

Liza nodded weakly. She sluggishly lifted herself up, leaning against Cara who supported her.

The world slowed down before my eyes as the girl's body frailly began descending to the floor. Briskly moving through the air, my body propelled itself in her direction and I caught her before she touched down.

The girl was light as a feather in my arms. I lifted her up and hooked my arm under her knee. What was it that had made me care so much about this human that I knew next to nothing about? Was it that she was important to Cara? Or was it my guilt?

An ache pierced my centre.

This was my doing , I thought to myself. And the girl in my arms was like this because of me. Zoladie was making it clear to me that she was coming for Cara and that she could reach her at will. This was a threat and the poor girl was collateral damage.

What else would get hurt because of me?

Nothing. I wouldn't let that happen.

***

Liza was upstairs. She was currently resting and had been cleaned and fed. And comforted. Thanks to Cara, the girl was calm and relaxed. I had seen many nurses and many mothers in my time but none of the were as comforting and hospitable as Cara had been.

As I stood in living room alone, I took in all there was to see. Usually the small details would have passed me by but now I was at full attention, studying, analysing all my surroundings.

The place was spacious but cosy. It had the touch of life that only my beloved could give. She infused wonder and joy into any atmosphere she was in.

I waited anxiously in the living room, standing beside a simple wooden and cushioned lounge chair . Everyone else was upstairs. My hearing reached beyond the walls, allowing me to hear the conversation between Cara and Daniel Matthews.

Matthews' voice was rough and throaty as he spoke, " she'll be alright." A door shut quietly. I pictured them stepping into the grey carpeted hall outside Cara's room.

I could still remember the upstairs clearly. It too was cosy and well designed. Actually the entire house was like that. Neutral shades with attractive furniture and photo frames everywhere, many of which contained pictures of Cara spending time with her father doing mundane things such as eating ice cream.

It was good to know that despite her mother abandoning her, she had had a good childhood. It stung knowing that I would take her away from that. I questioned whether I would be able to give what she had had before. Could I really make her as happy as she was here?

Cara released a breath. I could easily hear her fast heartbeat. She was greatly affected. But she still managed the situation with a level head. I had noted her togetherness and intelligence. Even under such heartbreaking circumstances, she was able to keep her calm and work towards fixing things.

With each passing day, she changed. I knew what she would become.

Time will tell... wait.

"The man downstairs," began Daniel. There was a noticeable hitch in her breath before she responded.

"He saved me. He is the one who saved me when I was lost...I have told you this before, dad."

"As much as I am grateful to him for that, for bringing you back to me, I also wonder. It has been months. Almost one year, what is he doing here?"

She was silent. Then she answered," I wanted to tell you..."

"Don't tell me he is the friend you have been seeing all along. " There was a silence again," oh for godsakes, Cara Elizabeth Matthews, be honest with me!"

My fingers curled into a fist but I calmed myself. It was my instinct to protect her, to kill any man who touched her, maim anyone who dared raise their voice at her. Even her own father.

"Ok...The chance to tell you never came up but here it goes...I have been seeing him. He has been coming here. He keeps me company and I really like him...I have fallen for him," she rushed out bluntly.

A warmth spread through my chest, hotter than the summer's heat.

He said nothing.

"Don't be angry with me... Please," she pleaded, her voice cracking a bit.

Not being able to bare this, I turned my attention towards something else.

Past the white drapes, the sun was sinking into the horizon. It was a few minutes to seven o'clock. Outside, two black Bentleys were parked on the curb of the house.

The sound of light, hesitant footsteps alerted me. I turned my attention to the other side of the room where Matthews entered. He was alone. But I could here Cara's breathing on the other side of the wall.

The man approached me. He was statuesque, falling only a few inches shorter than myself. He was lean too. His hair was jet black, contrasting with his daughter's caramel locks. The few grey hairs he had were easy to miss.

His gaze narrowed on me. My attention was drawn to his jade eyes. They were scarily like Cara's, right down to the dark centre of the pupils.

"Whatever you want with my daugh–"

"I mean no harm to your daughter," I cut him off. His expression changed immediately I spoke, darkening further.

"Am I supposed to just believe you? To believe that you have not come to take advantage of her?"

Would a man sink his own ship right in the middle of a merciless storm?

How I wanted to grab Cara and be on my way. But he was her father. He raised her, protected her when I did not. And for that, I would forever be in his debt. I owed him this.

"Would a man harm the only thing that sustained him?" I shot back.

"If it his nature. I assume you know the tale of the scorpion and the frog," he said.

The scorpion climbs on the frog's back in order to cross the river with the promise he will not sting him. Half way through, the scorpion stings the frog. The frog asks him why he has done so, effectively dooming them both and the scorpion answers, " it is my nature."

What the man did not understand was that the need to protect his daughter was embedded in my DNA, sown into my soul.

"What makes you so sure of my nature?"

"This."

I was caught unawares. He reached into his pocket, took something out of it, his arm flying towards me and a dust appeared in front of me. It had happened in nanoseconds. His actions were fast. I had no time to respond.

The powder was on me in microseconds. It was like an acid on my skin.

Wiping my face with my thumb, I saw what it really was.

Silver...

The grey substance burned through my skin in painful stings. The substance was one only true hunters could make. A devilish mix of silver and lowly concentrated promethium. The sickening scent also indicated the presence of Aconitum lycoctonum grown under the moonlight, commonly known as monkshood, the devil's helmet or Wolf's bane.

Daniel Matthews' eyes were glued on me as the skin affected by the poison healed.

I should have known that he knew. The way he had looked at me before. His eyes had held only one thing, disgust.

The ashy substance disappeared under my skin, sinking into my body, weakening it. I recovered quickly, listening to the fast beats of my mate's heart. Every beat was a command to my lungs, charging them to take another breath.

"I know your kind," he spat, his tone more venomous than the aconitum that my system was currently working to expel.

I stepped towards him but he did not flinch or falter.

"Then you know what I can do. And if you know enough," - which he probably did, considering he was in possession of the poison- ," then you must know what your daughter means to me. You must know what she is to me."

"I do not care for that. You will not take her away from me. I will not let your world take what is mine ever again!"

"I will not take her away. But someone else could, forever. A forever where you will not be miles apart but worlds apart," I said to him.

He was silent. A clear darkness falling over him. He knew what I meant.

"And only I can protect her."