A VOW TO KILL

Chapter 6

The i***t was wearing another suit. Dalinda let her eyes move up and down his body with a look of disgust even though she knew if she wasn’t biased she would have appreciated the view.

“I won’t fight you,” Cain said and raised his hands in a sign of surrender.

“Fight?” She chuckled, lifting her eyes back to his face. She stared into his golden brown eyes. “Fight would suggest equals battling it out to see who is the best.” She stepped towards him menacingly. “I am not your equal. I will reduce you to a pile of nothing if you keep coming after me.”

Cain was shocked. The woman was not even being subtle about it. “Lady, you are paranoid!” he shouted. “I know nothing about you and I am definitely not coming after you.”

“Ha!” She snorted. She did not believe him for a second. She turned on her heel and pointed at the paintings packaged against the wall. “Pick up your purchases and leave.”

Cain looked at the paintings he had come to collect and back at the frustrating woman. Going for a tone of sane reasoning he spoke again. “Dalinda, I think we can talk about whatever it is you have against me and iron out our differences.”

“I think not!” She looked at him with more hate than he had ever witnessed in his hundred and fifty years of life. She glared at him. “Your kind and my kind have nothing to discuss…much less, iron out.”

Cain made a mental note to visit the ancient achieves that held all the history of vampires and see if he could finally get some clarity on the matter. Clearly there was a lot history to this matter, a little bit of digging and reading may finally give him some answers the frustrating hostile woman was not willing to divulge.

Before Cain could think of anything else to say, the door opened and the lady he had seen with Dalinda at the art show entered.

Unlike Dalinda, her friend was pleasantly startled to find a handsome man standing in their studio and it showed. She immediately smiled and stood taller, pushing out her boobs exaggeratedly. Dalinda watched her quietly and sent her a warning look which Deborah promptly ignored.

“Hi, you are the man from the museum…yes?” she sounded almost flirtatious.

Cain extended his hand in greeting and walked towards her. “Yes, I’m sorry…I didn’t catch your name…”

Dalinda snorted and walked out of the studio open space and headed for the back. The presence of the man irritated every cell of her body. She wanted him out of her studio. And even though he denied it, she was sure the man was coming after her, but she was not going to let him catch her off guard like his kind had ambushed her village years ago.

Almost five minutes later, Deborah walked into the back room that served as a storage. “What are you doing here? The man bought your works, shouldn’t you be chatting him up and coercing a few commissioned works out of him?”

“I would rather starve to death.” She did not need the man’s money and even if she had been a starving artist, she still would have preferred the slow death to any dealings with a vampire.

Deborah looked puzzled and Dalinda could almost see the wheels turning in the woman’s head. She did not want to involve her friend in her matters, but she felt obligated to at least warn her.

“He is a dangerous man, Debs. Trust me, he just needs to pick his purchase and leave.”

“Cain doesn’t look dangerous at all.” She defended heatedly as though she had known the man for years. How such loyalty could be built in five minutes of conversation was a mystery.

Dalinda narrowed her eyes. “Cain? Two seconds with the man and you are on first name basis?” She shook her head. “Keep away from him.”

Dalinda walked back into the studio and saw Cain lifting a canvas and slowly carrying it out of the studio. She looked over her shoulder to make sure Deborah hadn’t followed. “We both know you can lift all of them in one trip,” she said in a voice dripping with ice and accusation.

Cain momentarily closed his eyes. The woman was working his last nerve. He looked up with a tight fake smile. “I don’t know what you are or how you do your things…but I prefer to keep a relatively low profile life with no unnecessary attention.”

He had just finished talking when Deborah entered the space. “Oh gosh! Dalinda? Couldn’t you give the poor man a hand?” she said in outrage and moved to help Cain lift one of the other canvases still leaning against the wall.

Dalinda shrugged in feigned innocence. “He said he could handle it…macho man, what can I say?”

Cain narrowed his eyes and stared at her intently and she just raised an eyebrow that dared him to contradict her.

Once Deborah started fussing over the man like an overbearing grandmother, Dalinda decided she had enough of the scene. She left the studio and headed for her apartment upstairs.

She easily kept an ear open towards their conversation even from the apartment, but she learned nothing interesting that she didn’t already know or had assumed. Cain kept his information close to his chest and she understood why. They lived in a world with humans who had little to no idea that the paranormal existed and she was glad he kept Deborah in the dark.

When she finally heard the car door close and Deborah say ‘bye’ in a longing voice, she finally released the breath she had been holding. Good riddance.

***

Nathan watched his brother step out of the car and slam the door shut with enough force to rock the entire car before storming towards the house with speed only a vampire could achieve.

He waited in the living room with a glass of whisky in his hands. The air shifted in the room and he knew his brother was in the room without even looking up.

“What did the poor car do?” he asked with a smile and sipped his drink.

Cain frowned. “I am not in the mood, Nathan,” he warned and moved to the mini bar to pour himself a drink.

Nathan raised an eyebrow. “He is going for a drink? This must be serious…” He murmured in a tone that suggested he was more amused than curious.

Cain would have thrown the decanter to Nathan’s head but he needed the man to hear him out. Nathan was is only brother. The only family he had and basically the only friend. A hundred and forty eight years they have been together. They knew each other’s s**t inside and out. There was no one else better to discuss his current frustration.

“I collected the art pieces we bought from the show,” he narrated as he poured a generous amount of alcohol in his glass causing his brother to stare at him suspiciously.

“Did they con you and give you the wrong works? Or you suddenly don’t like them?” Nathan asked cautiously.

Cain shook his head and threw back half the glass’ contents to the back of his throat. After grimacing from the slight burn, he answered. “She was there.”

“She, who?”

“You know who,” he answered through his teeth, his jaw now clenched so hard it was a wonder teeth did not c***k under the pressure.

Nathan did know who. There was only one woman who had gotten under his brother’s skin lately. “I take it the feisty woman did not give you a good welcome.”

“As usual… She is the artist by the way,” he confirmed and emptied his glass.

Nathan sipped his drink and mused over the information. “Still no idea what she is?”

“Not a clue,” Cain responded in irritation. “I am thinking of checking the archives for clues.”

“Hmm…you seem very interested in the topic of this woman…anything you want to tell me?”

Cain knew exactly what his brother was asking and was in no mood for the discussion to take that direction. “Get the art works out of the car, I’m going for a walk.” And he quickly left the house.

Nathan smiled at his brother’s departure. He sipped his drink and contemplated things. Suddenly he emptied his glass in one swallow and stood up. He grabbed his car keys and headed for the door. “Maybe it’s about time I paid this woman a personal visit.”