Blood Ties

7. Cut Off Your Nose to Spite Your Face

“I can’t believe you, Adam! What the f**k were you thinking?”

All was not well in the Payne home in the hills of Beverly. Cassie had been wearing a pattern in the floor of her son’s current residence for almost twenty minutes. This was her third time singing the new hit single, what the hell is wrong with you, in B flat minor, and he had about as much as he could take.

He rolled his eyes, running a hand down his face before repeating the same old song and dance. “I couldn’t wait any longer, Mom. I warned you I was getting restless.” He glanced over at Quinn, who was volleying her head back and forth between the two arguing adults like an interested spectator. “I saw her, and I tried to wait for as long as I could before approaching. After a while, I just snapped. I climbed in through the back window the other night and made a move. What else could I do after that except to bring her to the cabin?”

Cabin was a bit rich for a description. It was much more luxurious than a traditional cabin and was stocked to the rafters with food and clothing, as well as many other essentials. As far as Adam was concerned, he wished he was still back there.

“I am furious with you, you know.” Cassie finally sat down heavily on the couch she was closest to, her husband and mate, Eli, quickly giving her a little space before coming closer again. She’d almost sat down on his right knee because she wasn’t paying close enough attention.

“I know, I know,” Adam muttered. “I’m kinda pissed off now too, but what can you do? Quinn is here, and she’s not going anywhere. Not…not while I have breath in my body.” It was an odd statement for a vampire to make.

Charlotte, who had been in the corner with her arms crossed and watching the scene, piped up. “Maybe you all should tell her precisely why she’s here before she starts freaking out. She’s looking a little pale to me.”

Quinn was already quite wan since she was redhaired and freckled, and the latter stood out on her face like unwanted acne scars. “What is happening here exactly? I get kidnapped, fed, drugged, and now I’m on the West Coast of the country and wondering what the hell you people are talking about.” Her voice shook with nervous energy. “What is going on?”

“Love.” Adam turned in her direction as he lovingly addressed her. She was curled up in a soft afghan with her feet tucked under her calves, but turned her head to him. “I think my mother is too upset to let me explain without interrupting, and…well she is the writer. Mom’s always been better with words than I.”

He leaned in and pecked her on the cheek before she could scoot away, standing up and nodding to his father. Eli stood as well, jerking his head toward the hallway. The two men left quietly, a soft mumble accompanying them before the quiet closure of a door in the distance. Then, silence.

Cassie pulled her lips into a smile and looked over at Quinn, who was still gazing at the entrance to the hall like the two men would come waltzing back into the room any second now.

“It’s Quinn, right love?” The younger woman nodded back at the older, though she had to admit Cassie looked almost the same age as her son. She chalked it up to living in L.A. where Botox and facelifts were as common as waves at the beach. “I truly apologize for my son’s horrible manners ad the fact he didn’t approach you first before resorting to this. It’s… What we are here in this household is a little different, and I need to tell you some straight facts.”

Charlie came over to sit beside Quinn, and Cassie leaned forward with her hands pressed to her knees. At first, she seemed reluctant to explain, and Quinn found herself a little befuddled before blinking and looking over to Charlie. Of all the people in the home, she was the person she trusted most.

“What is your mom talking about?” Her voice was quiet, tremulous until even the butterflies in her stomach morphed into wicked, venomous vipers.

Charlotte sighed and looked over at her mother, who nodded her head gently at the question in her eyes. After that, she took a deep breath and let it out.

“There’s no way of easing into a conversation like this, so I’m just going to put it out there and let you decide how long it takes to believe us.” She took another deep breath. “We—everyone you’ve met today are vampires.”

For a moment, Quinn thought she’d misheard the woman. She stared, fixated on her face, her mouth quirking up after a moment to show her amusement.

“Very funny,” she quipped nervously in a low tone. She almost wanted to laugh, even in this very serious situation. “What’s the joke? Are you a cult that bathes in the blood of virgins or something? Too bad, because I’m not a virgin. Haven’t been for years. Is this one of those prank shows where after I start believing you only to have you bring out a cameraman before I get paid off not to sue the pants off you? If so, please, I’d love to hear more.”

Cassie and Charlie exchanged looks before they both shook their head. It was Cassie that spoke up first, though.

“No, sweetheart. We’re vampires, but we’re not here to drain you or anything like that. This…this is different. Once Adam comes back out from talking with my ma—my husband, he’ll explain the rest. It should be him to tell you what you are to him.”

***

“The flight was okay? Any complications?” It was Eli’s way of asking his son if everything had gone to plan getting Quinn to them. It was tricky when you had to deal with the authorities, and even private plane services had their detriments.

Mainly, the people working for the airport in question.

“It was alright,” Adam claimed. “Just one lady who was a little suspicious, but once I explained Quinn was just a little tipsy, I think she understood.”

Eli nodded sharply. “Good. I don’t want to have to switch airports because of your f**k-up. Contract agreements, and such. I don’t have time to be flying back and forth to sign on the dotted line. It’s bad enough your mother convinced me to come back to California at short notice. Do you know how much s**t we had to go through? It’s not like Hollywood has forgotten my face, and I’m supposed to be dead, you know.”

“What happened?” Adam sat down and watched as his father ran a hand through his hair.

“Nothing did, because I got paranoid and refused to fly commercial. We chartered a plane from a reputable private company and paid extra to have them sign NDAs. They let anything slip, and I’ll own that motherfucking company and raze it to the ground.”

If Eli was a little irritated, it was understandable. He had wanted to stay home and enjoy the rest of the cold North Dakota winter, but was forced to do otherwise. When Cassie had a hair up her ass about something, it was usually easier to acquiesce if it was reasonable enough. Knowing her, she’d leave in the dark of night and charter a flight just for herself.

Plus, he was annoyed that Adam had apparently lost his mind and kidnapped his mate.

Sighing tiredly, he continued. “Fix this, Adam. Fix it soon. That poor girl is probably terrified, being kidnapped from her own home in a big city like New York. Then you take her to a cabin? Albeit it’s all very romantic and picturesque, but she must be thinking we’re going to sell her into the s*x trade.”

“But I’m not!” Adam blurted out. “I told her I would never harm her. I—”

“You spooked the poor girl, is what you did, son.” Eli’s voice was seconds from becoming an irate snarl. “She is probably out there right now being told what we are and scared have to death.”

“If she even believes.” Adam muttered, sitting back in his seat. “I know how Mom took that when you told her what you are. I’ve heard the story often enough. I expect it to go down much the same.”

The story had been retold so often that Adam could probably cite it better than either of his parents. It was Payne Family legend at this point, and that was only partially due to the long wait Eli’d had to endure before finding his one true love, his soulmate.

Waiting four hundred years was no small feat, even for a vampire. It was no wonder that Eli had had to work so hard at redeeming his tattered reputation as a consummate lady’s man.

“She will eventually be made to understand, Adam. If not today, then soon. I have it all worked out.”

This was news to Adam, who sat up straight, his body nearly vibrating with tension. “What do you mean?”

“We can prove our existence easily, as you know.”

Adam protested. “I’ve already scared Quinn enough without biting her! I won’t allow anyone to take a sip of her blood unless it’s me, and I refuse to do that unless she’s completely comfortable with it!”

Eli rubbed his temples with the heels of his palms. “There are other ways to drill the point home, you know. No one will taste even a drop of her blood without her or your permission. That’s a promise.”

Adam sat back in his chair and started to fiddle with the armrests nervously. “Then how?”

“You’ll see if it gets to that point,” Eli vowed. “But first, I need you to tell me what I need to know about Quinn and where she lives—where she’s from. People are going to start wondering why she’s not attending class, and her parents will be worried. What can you tell me?”

Adam started to run down the known facts he had about her. “Orphaned, attending NYU for theater. She lives with an old lady who is deaf on the Upper East Side. Rents out the upper floor in a walk-up there. I know what classes she takes and when, and which state her parents are from, but other than that, not much else. I was hoping to get the information from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.”

Eli mulled that over before tilted his head back and forth as if thinking. When he closed his eyes briefly and breathed out, he came to a sudden decision.

“You will have to explain the mate thing to her so she doesn’t think we’re all twisted psychos. Since you’ve only been with her for a short time, she won’t be feeling the pull to be with you yet, but—”

“I think she does, though,” Adam interjected with a tight voice. “She said something when we were on the flight here. Something about having a dream about green eyes. My green eyes, I would imagine. She was drowsy at the time, but I believe I remember her waking up to pee and looking at me, asking me why she was dreaming about me. That’s good, right? Mom had dreams about you after meeting you.”

Eli confirmed that. “Yes. It took her awhile to admit it, but she did start suffering from intimate dreams about me soon after first becoming acquainted. She also got pregnant with you and Charlie straight off, so I think of her as having a bit of a head start because of the long wait I had to go through to find her.”

“I also gave her a few drops of my blood. You said that helped solidify the bond between you and Mom, and I didn’t like having to drug her before getting on the plane. Even after kidnapping her from her apartment, it didn’t sit well with me. I had to make it right.”

“Did it help?” Eli looked at his son interestedly.

“Yes, quite a bit, in fact. She was more alert once I put a few drops in her tea, and she even sat up and drank every last drop before she fell asleep. I guess she was exhausted from the long drives and all that was happening.”

“Undoubtedly, son.” Eli paused for a moment before continuing. “I hope you know that even once she knows what we are—which she probably does by now—and what you are to her, she may still not want anything to do with you. This should have been dealt with differently. You’ve made it very hard on yourself and her, and she may not find it in herself to forgive you. You’ve gone and shot yourself in the foot.”

Raking his hands through his hair with an exasperated sigh, there was only one thing Adam could say.

“I know, Dad. I know.”