Family Is Forever by S. C. Stephens
“Open it,” I told him.
Without hesitation, Rory unlocked a padlock on the outside of the door, and lifted the iron bar. It was excessive to use that kind of a lock on a human and normally we didn’t, but after today, everyone was on high alert. Especially me. After Rory unlocked the door and opened it, I stormed through. Rory’s eyes took in the condition of my bloody shirt, but neither he nor Cleo said anything. Fearing failure, they might have been too afraid to know the answer.
With a death grip on Nika’s hand, I walked over to where Jake was lying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He didn’t bother looking at me as I approached. He knew we wouldn’t hurt him. He had nothing to fear from us, but we had something to fear from him. That was what his message today had been about.
“Who is Simon?” I asked, my voice calmer than I felt.
His head snapped to the side, his eyes instantly glued to mine. “What?” His voice was casual, but in a strained sort of way.
“Simon,” I repeated. “Roughly sixteen. Blonde hair, blue eyes. About this big.” I indicated his size with my hand. “Good with knives,” I added, a small twist to my lips.
Like he couldn’t care less in the world, Jake returned his eyes to the ceiling. “Doesn’t sound familiar,” he grumbled.
Tightening my grip on Nika’s hand, I said, “Good. So when he comes down on this ranch, guns blazing, you don’t mind if we fight back? You don’t care if he dies? Because the odds are really good he won’t survive.” Odds were good some of us wouldn’t survive either, not that I was going to mention that fact.
Jake’s eyes returned to mine and he sat up. “What? He’s coming here? Why? What did you tell him?” His eyes were blazing with genuine concern now, as I’d known they would be. No one wanted to see a family member in trouble. And there was no doubt in my mind that Jake and Simon were related.
“Who is he?” I repeated.
Jake rubbed his lip as he looked at Teren, Ben, and me—the three he saw as threats in the room. Little did he know Halina could probably decapitate him with one hand. Eyes washing over all of us, Jake pleaded, “Please, let me go. I have to stop him.”
Teren frowned as he stepped forward. “So he is coming here? To bust you out?”
Jake shot up off the bed and ran both hands through his hair. Face frantic, he shook his head. “No, he wouldn’t come here, not alone. He’d get help, and the only person he knows who can help him is…”
His sentence trailed away. Reaching out a hand, he grabbed Teren’s arm. “I’ll do anything you want. I’ll say anything you want. I’ll believe whatever you want me to believe. I’ll protect your nest and your family as if it were my own, and I’ll take your location and the knowledge of what you’re doing with hunters to my grave. Just please…I need to get to him, I need to stop him. If I don’t, he’s going to die. And he’s just a kid…please don’t let him die. Help me save him, before it’s too late.”
My eyes were wide as I listened to his impassioned speech. I’d expected him to say several things, most of them derogatory and unhelpful, but I’d never expected him to say anything like that. The fear on his face and the concern in his voice made an electric zing of anxiety zip up my spine.
Who—or what—could frighten a seasoned hunter who was surrounded by vampires?
THE AIR WAS thick with tension. My vampire eyes could almost see it hanging in the room, like a light fog shrouding everything in mystery. Hunter was staring at Jake with a dumbfounded expression. He had no idea what he was talking about. I didn’t either. The vampire hunter had done a complete one-eighty in a matter of seconds, and all because of the kid we’d just met tonight...Simon.
While my father gently removed Jake from his arm, I asked a question that had already been asked several times. Maybe we’d finally get an answer though. “Who is Simon?”
Jake’s tired eyes turned to mine. “A kid. Orphaned, but I’ve raised him since he was in diapers. I showed him how to protect himself, but he’s never…” His eyes flicked back to Dad’s then Hunter’s. “He’s never been alone this long. And now that he knows I’m in danger he’ll do whatever it takes to get me out of it.”
“You’re not in danger,” Dad quietly told him. “No one here is going to hurt you.”
Jake shook his head. “Simon won’t know that. I’ve raised him to think the worst of your kind. Right now, he probably believes I’m being shackled and drained. Just a little at a time, until my body finally gives out. He’ll be in a state of panic, and he’ll do something stupid.” He clenched his hand into a fist. “Because of me.”
Dad met eyes with Mom. No words passed between them, but I knew what they were saying regardless. We have to help him, Teren. I know, Em. Help the helpless, defend the weak. It was just the way my parents were. But family trumped all, and they wouldn’t do anything if it would put us in too much danger.
Mom shifted her eyes to Jake. “What trouble is Simon in? What do you think he’s going to do?”
Jake fell onto the bed, his body suddenly as exhausted as his eyes. “Normally, he’d call up a hunter friend of mine and ask for help, but…hunters have been acting weird lately, almost preaching against hunting. I wasn’t sure why until I went to that stupid meeting…” He glanced up at Hunter, guilt, knowledge and irritation in his eyes. With a sigh, he looked at his hands resting on his knees. “Anyway, before I disappeared, the last thing I told him was to stay away from hunters, so there’s only one place he’d go for help now. My grandfather…Henry.”
Jake’s eyes hardened in a way that was nearly as vicious as when he spoke about vampires. Feeling nothing but love and adoration for my own grandfather, I didn’t understand Jake’s expression. “Why is that a bad thing?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound young and naïve.
Turning to me, Jake studied my face, then my hand clenched in Hunter’s. “Henry is a brilliant man. Too smart for his own good actually. He came upon a…vaccine of sort. Telling us it was necessary to protect the family, he gave us each a dose. We weren’t even sure what it did at the time, but we trusted him.”
Jake sighed, his eyes taking on a faraway look. “When the first of us showed to be immune to vampire compulsion, he admitted what he’d done. The vaccine infused vampire blood into our blood. He’d injected us with a little bit of the demon…to keep us safe. To keep us protected.” Clearly not happy with that fact, Jake’s face momentarily hardened. When he spoke again, fear softened the heat in his eyes. “When that proved successful, he got greedy. He thought, if a little bit of blood would protect us from compulsion, then maybe more would give us some of the vampire attributes. If we had vampire strength and speed, we’d be better soldiers, better fighters. He started introducing vampire blood into people, little by little, hooking up volunteers to IVs that would drip vampire juice into them for hours at a time. When that did nothing…he had the idea to balance the blood. Remove half of the human blood, and replace it with a vampire’s, to create a being that was the ‘best of both worlds’ as he called it.” Jake smirked on the end, like he didn’t really believe that.
My mom gasped while my dad muttered, “He was trying to make mixed vampires? With transfusions?”
Jake calmly met his gaze. “Yes. We didn’t know about you at the time, but that’s essentially what he was trying to do. Make living vampires.”
Dad shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that. Mixed can hardly ever make more mixed. And full vampire blood…it wouldn’t make a mixed vampire. It would make another pureblood, or it would…”
Dad let his thought trail off while Jake nodded. “Or it would kill them. I know.” He stared at his feet. “My father was one of the volunteers. He didn’t survive the process. None of them did.”
Hunter squeezed my hand while Jake lifted his chin and returned his eyes to Dad’s. “I told Henry he needed to stop with the experiments, that it couldn’t be done, and his own son was dead because of it. Maybe it was his grief talking…maybe it was just pure stubbornness, but he ref
“Is he still doing the experiment?” Hunter asked with a furrowed brow.
Jake ran a hand down his face. “Yeah. A buddy of mine told me a few months ago that he was.”
“You think he’ll force Simon to go through with it if he shows up?” I asked, hating the sudden mad scientist vision in my head.
Jake pressed his lips together as he shook his head. “Honestly, I have no idea. Simon is family, not some easily missed transient that Henry found on the street. But…my fear is that…if Simon thinks I’m locked up in an impenetrable fortress full of bloodthirsty vampires…”
“He’ll volunteer,” Hunter finished, glancing down at me.
Jake’s eyes were watery when he looked up at Hunter. “Yeah. He’ll volunteer so that he’ll be strong enough to bust me out, and he’ll die before he even has a chance. Or worse…Henry will accidently change him into a pureblood. If that happens, he’ll stake him the second he wakes up…just like he does with all the others he accidentally converts. Just like he did to my father, his own son.”
The sudden pain in Jake’s face tore my heart. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my cell phone. “Call him. Tell him you’re fine and you’re safe. Invite him out here, so he can see for himself.” I shrugged and looked at my parents. They didn’t seem opposed to the idea, and surprisingly, neither did Halina. She pursed her lips, but nodded in approval.
But with a grieved expression, Jake told me, “That won’t work. Simon will just assume it’s a trap. I taught him too well,” he murmured, his voice drifting off.
I didn’t know what other suggestion to make, other than, “Let’s go get him then.” All eyes in the room shifted to me. I met every pair with stoic resolve. “Jake’s family is in trouble. Family is everything, so…we need to help him.”
Julian had wandered into the room at this point, holding hands with Arianna. He looked unsure about what we should do, but after a moment of consideration, he nodded in agreement. Even though Simon wasn’t his favorite person—or mine, he had tried to kill Hunter, after all—right was right, and Julian knew that.
Mom and Dad shared a prideful look, then Dad nodded. “We’ll take you to him, Jake. Show him you’re fine.” Dad clapped Jake’s shoulder. “Everything will be okay. You’ll see.”
Jake looked hopeful for the first time. “We have to hurry. Henry doesn’t live far from here, a couple hours north, in Blackfoot. If Simon found a ride or was able to get a bus at this hour, he could be close. But knowing him, he probably hotwired a car and is already there.” Obviously impressed, Hunter smiled at that comment. Even Julian looked amused. I rolled my eyes. Men.
My father looked around the room, examining the members of his family and choosing which ones would stay, and which ones would go. Releasing Hunter’s hand, I took a step forward. “I want to go, Dad.”
Both Dad and Hunter turned to me, and almost unanimously said, “No.”
I frowned at both of them. “It’s one teenage human and one old man. I won’t be in danger.”
Jake gave me a parental once-over. “Henry won’t be alone. He’ll be surrounded by hunters who are immune to compulsion. Hunters who routinely trap vampires, so Henry can drain them dry and use their blood for his pointless experiments. They’ll attack any vampire they encounter, provoked or not, just for their blood. Trust me girl, it will be dangerous.”
Hunter furrowed his brows in an expression of I’m-your-sire-listen-to-what-I-say. “Stay here with your brother and the humans.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’m not afraid. I’m strong, I’m fast, and I can help.”
Hunter seemed unimpressed with my argument. He was about to provide his rebuttal, when my father put a hand on each of our shoulders. “You are strong, and you are fast, and we can’t leave the nest unprotected. It could be that we’re wrong. It could be that Simon went to hunters, found some we have yet to compel, and has formed a hunting party to retrieve Jake. If so…here will be the most dangerous place of all.” True concern washed over his eyes, and I knew a part of him really believed that.
He had a point. We couldn’t be certain where Simon had run off to. If we made the wrong assumption, and all of our strongest fighters left, the rest of the family would be in danger. I couldn’t let that happen. I nodded at my father. “I’ll stay. I’ll protect the home.”
A smile full of pride touched Dad’s lips. “I know you will.” Looking around again, Dad said, “Hunter, Ben, Jake and I will go get Simon. The rest of you stay here.” Halina cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest. Dad flicked a glance at her, then lifted the corner of his lip. “You can come too, of course.”
Halina rolled her eyes. “Like I need your permission to leave, child.”
Dad grinned, then turned to Jake. “Let’s go get your son.”
A ghost of a smile brightened Jake’s face. “He’s not my son. Not really.”
Dad clapped him on the shoulder. “Close enough.”
Julian swallowed so loudly, we all turned to look at him. “I’m coming with you.”
Arianna’s face went a ghostly shade of white. She clutched at his arm and whispered, “No…he said it was dangerous. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.”
Julian gave her a sad smile. “I’m sorry, Arianna, but I have to do this. It’s my fault Simon found out about my family. I screwed up by throwing that party, by telling everyone in that room what I was, and I need to make things right.” He kissed her cheek, and she suddenly flushed with color. Her eyes sparkled with multiple emotions—fear, confusion, desire. I knew she wouldn’t be allowed to remember this night, but if she somehow could…I knew she’d choose to be with Julian. She’d always chosen Julian. She just didn’t remember.
Arianna still seemed worried, but she didn’t comment further. My dad had the same argument ready for Julian that he’d had for me though. “It’s too risky. You’re staying here with the others.”
Julian lifted his chin. “It’s not your call to make, Dad.” He shifted his gaze to Halina, the true authority in the room. “I created this problem, and I want to be a part of the solution. I need to fix my mistake…not let others do it for me.”
Dad immediately objected. “No, you’re staying here and that’s final.”
Halina appraised Julian for a few moments, and then turned to Dad. “If he wants to come, he may.”
Dad’s eyes flared in warning. “No offense, Great-Gran, but you’re not his parent. No matter what he said, it isn’t your call.”
Halina didn’t look intimidated or ruffled by Dad’s words. “He wants to make amends, and he’s old enough to do so. And I happen to agree with him…he should fix his own mistakes.” She shrugged. “Besides, it’s not as if we’re sending him into battle alone. He’ll be perfectly safe tucked between you and me.”
Dad seemed at a loss. He looked at Ben, me, then Mom. None of us had any helpful advice, so we stayed quiet. Finally, Dad tossed his hands into the air. “Fine. He comes.” Dad pushed his finger into Julian’s chest. “But you listen to everything we tell you, and you obey what we say without hesitation. Understand?”
Julian nodded, and I could see the fierce determination on his face. And the guilt. He truly did want to fix this.
Dad indicated the door to Jake. Jake glanced at it tentatively, like he was nervous to walk through it. He did though, and Rory and Cleo immediately grabbed him. Tired or not, they weren’t about to let him walk past their defenses. And unlike the rest of us, their human ears hadn’t heard the conversation. They had no idea what was going on.
Hunter stepped forward to intercept the vampire hunters,
Even standing behind him, I could tell that Gabriel made Jake uneasy. Hunter had told me that Jake had attacked someone, someone who had healed. By Jake’s reaction to Gabriel, I was pretty sure I knew who Jake had targeted.
Rory and Cleo immediately let Jake go. He shrugged away from them, then nodded a thank you to Gabriel. Gabriel raised his arm, showcasing the hallway, and Jake moved past him, his eyes still wary. Halina walked through the door next. She stopped beside Gabriel. She didn’t touch him, but her tone was soft when she spoke. “We’re taking him. Are you coming with?”
Gabriel tilted his head as he studied her face. “I wish to go with you, to help keep you safe, but I realize that you may not want me around, so I will do whatever you want, my love.”
Halina was stone still for a moment, while Mom, Dad, Ben and Tracey brushed by her as they exited the room. When Hunter and I squeezed through the doorframe, Halina glanced over at Hunter, perhaps remembering what Gabriel had momentarily taken from her.
“My apologies are eternal,” Gabriel whispered.
Halina’s eyes returned to his, and her fingers reached up to lovingly stroke his neck. “Are you all right?”
Gabriel nodded once. “Physically, I am fine.”
Her fingers shifted to cup his neck. “And emotionally?” she murmured.
Gabriel closed his eyes and pain clearly flashed over his features. It felt intrusive to be watching them, so I averted my eyes and followed my parents down the hallway. I heard Gabriel’s answer though. “I miss you,” he told her. There was so much raw emotion in his voice that I couldn’t stop myself from peeking a glance at him. Emotion of any kind was rare from Gabriel, and therefore, so much more powerful when it surfaced.
I saw Gabriel lower his head in apparent agony, then I saw my grandmother wrap her arms around his neck. “I miss you too,” she whispered in his ear. She started nibbling on his earlobe and I turned back around. Some things I didn’t need to see.