Dawn Redeemed

Fallon nodded eagerly. "I do. Mom, I hated going to school. The kids there were so mean to me. I love going to school with Marianne and the other kids. They don't make me feel like I'm stupid. I wish I didn't have to go back to public school ever again."

"And you work really hard there?"

Fallon's curls bobbed up and down in agreement. "Oh yeah, I work harder than I ever did in my other school. I used to get bored, just sitting in class. Now I don't."

"So you ARE learning?"

"Absolutely," Fallon was nodding her head so much that she was beginning to feel like one of those bobble head dolls people put in the rear windows of their cars. She'd say or do almost anything to get her mom to agree to let her keep going to school with Marianne.

Erica studied her daughter's animated face. Her blue eyes had never twinkled with such enthusiasm when she talked about school, before now. "Ok, now this might be temporary. If I think you're slacking off or that you're not learning, I'll put you back in public school. Nash offered me a job today. I wasn't really sure if I was going to take it or not, till now. He says you can keep going to school there as part of my benefits package and since I'll be around to keep an eye on you, I was thinking..."

Fallon wiggled from under the covers and threw her arms around her mom's neck. "You mean I can keep going to school with Marianne?"

"For as long as I have the job and as long as you're doing good in your classes, yes." Erica pried Fallon's skinny arms from their strangle hold around her neck. Fallon was practically vibrating with excitement. "Fallon, you have to do good in your classes. That's the deal."

"I will, mom. I promise."

"And you have to put up with me looking over your shoulder from time to time." Erica watched Fallon cock her head to the side in that cute little girl way that only she could muster. She hid her smile and tried to keep a serious look on her face. She was supposed to be laying down the law to her daughter. Enforcing the idea that this wasn't playtime, but work. Her kid was just too adorable and she rarely got this excited over anything besides Christmas and her birthday.

"Mom, you do that anyway." Fallon raised up on her knees and gave her mom a quick peck on the cheek. Today had been full of surprises. Each and every one more exciting and happy than the one before. She had a dad. Her mom had a job. And she was going to get to go to school with Marianne. She flopped back on the pillows and wondered how the day could get any better. Only one thing would make her any happier than she already was. And that would be a visit from her wolf.

"Its my job. And now, its your job to get under these covers and go to sleep." Erica pulled the quilt over Fallon's shoulders and tucked them in tightly around her. She pressed her lips to her cool cheek and gave her springy curls a playful tug. "Nightlight on or off?"

Fallon thought for a minute. She was getting too old to believe in the monster in the closet or the thing with the tentacles under the bed, but it didn't pay to take unnecessary chances, on occasion just to let them know she was still on her toes. "On."

"Ok." Erica turned on the nightlight and flicked the switch to the over head light off. "Good night, Fallon." The room was bathed in a pale yellow glow, just bright enough to illuminate the dark corners and chase away a little girl's nightmares.

"Mom, I'm glad you let me meet my dad," Fallon said through a yawn. So many good things had happened. Maybe her dad was the reason. Somehow, maybe he had some kind of magic to make more good things happen than bad.

"I am too. Now go to sleep." Erica pulled the door, leaving it open just a crack. She stood outside Fallon's room for a while. Thinking. Listening. After a bit, Fallon stopped her nervous fidgeting and her breathing slowed into a nice and even rhythmic pattern. "Sweet dreams, little one," she whispered softly.

Erica heard the endless prattle of the TV drifting down the hallway. She wasn't in the mood for a mindless diversion. She needed time alone to think and sort through all the ramblings of her mind. Slowly, but surely, her life was finally beginning to come together again. She hadn't even bothered to ask Nash how much the job was going to pay, if it was permanent, or just temporary. It really didn't matter at this point. At least she had a job.

The dry sound of plastic hangars scraping over the well used, worn wooden closet rod grated her teeth. Erica took her time selecting the right thing to wear. There were a lot of unanswered questions about the position she would accept in the morning. She'd need to dress in something decent, but probably not the dull, colorless, heavy woolen skirts and jackets, or the obligatory dress shoes that made her look like every other nine to fiver in the corporate world. Something simple would do.

Erica knew she was using her search for clothing and taking her time doing so to keep her mind off the bigger and deeper thoughts that snuck in. Torr was an inexorable part of her life now. Nothing she could ever say or do would change his presence their world. She didn't want to think about what it would do to him or to Fallon if she tried to back out now. She was drawn to him, just as much now as she had been then. She'd tried to delude herself into thinking that she was trying to hold on to her fading youth. She knew it was so much more than that. Admitting it and what to do after she admitted it was the bigger problem.

She was getting back on track, but, it seemed that the track traveled in one big circle, leading her back here and back to him. She didn't know what to make of that and she was running out of excuses to keep him at arms length.

Sighing, Erica flopped on to the full sized bed. The springs groaned in protest to her weight. The bed was about as old as she was. The bedroom suit was the same one that Alex had used since she was Fallon's age. White with gold trim, and a ruffly pink canopy towering over the bed. When Alex had first gotten it, Erica had been a little jealous. As time went on and Alex was still sleeping under the fru-fru pink canopy on her visits home from college. Erica felt a little sorry for her, thinking the old furniture was cheesy and outdated. Now, the furniture, she would have thrown out years ago, had aged into a classic and she'd love to have it to put in Fallon's room, assuming they ever got their own place.

Erica stared up at that pink canopy. The fringe was a little worn and faded with age. The light from the ceiling light shone through, casting a pink glow over her. Her life might be starting to come together, but it was just as confusing as it ever was. She didn't have any easy answers, only more questions.

Rolling over, she gripped a pillow and rested her chin on the soft, down surface. Looking back, things were easier the first time she'd bumped into Torr. Getting Fallon through the first round of teething and potty training hadn't been that difficult. Opening the coffee shop had been fun. Instead of the work it had seemed to be at the time. Or maybe, it was and her perspective had changed, looking back was always easier than looking ahead into the unknown.

This time things seemed more complicated with Torr. Every word and gesture weighed by the scale of experience instead of the willingness of adventuresome youth. His kiss ignited a fire in her skin. A dangerous fire that should be trampled out with the sole of her shoe instead of fanning the flames with her thoughts. She wasn't a kid anymore. Sometimes, she wished she was.

She had a kid of her own now and she knew that Torr had to fit into the equation with Fallon. But, exactly where did her fit in to all the plans she'd made for herself? She hadn't factored him in. Hadn't thought about it, until now. No matter how many times she did the math. The answer was never the same. Torr had been the unknown variable from the moment he'd come into her life. When it came to the way she felt about him, there was no simple logic or formula to follow. The feelings, unlike the numbers, never balanced out as she expected.

She loved him. She didn't love him. She wanted him. She wanted him gone. Such a mix of emotions, both hot and cold. She didn't know what to do about them or the man who caused them. Why couldn't something in her life be simple and uncomplicated? They'd only been together once. At the time it had been so easy, so fun and so simple. How could he have worked his way in to her life so deeply in just one night?

Not this time. She wasn't gambling with her heart or with Fallon's. He said so many things. She saw the desire written all over his face. Torr really did want to be a part of Fallon's life, and of hers, but did he have the strength to stick around for the long haul or was he fooling himself and them? She couldn't afford to let him get any closer, not until she knew for sure.



Chapter 44

Carter snuggled in closer to Shayla, stealing her warmth. He'd vowed to try. Given his word of honor and as a man. A dark thought kept gnawing at the back of his brain. This was no place for her and the baby. She needed the heat of the sun spilling over her cheeks. Trapped day after day in the dim, chill of the compound was no way for her or the baby to live.

Hunger grumbled as loudly in his body as the thoughts did in his head. Shayla couldn't feed her son and him too. Her body could barely keep up with the demands of the perpetually nursing infant. He couldn't sap out any more of her strength by suckling a vein at her neck or her wrist. He needed to find another source for his sustenance.

Shayla stroked Carter's hair, so soft, like silky strands of pure spun gold beneath her fingers. She felt safe from her sister, locked away so deep in the ground. And she felt safe, in his embrace. As if as long as they were together nothing would ever harm her or her son. She missed the fresh night air blowing across her face from her bedroom window while she slept, but for her son's safety, missing a stray breeze or two was a small price to pay. "Carter, you promised, no more secrets. I can practically hear the wheels turning up here," she said, lightly tapping his temple with her index finger. "What's on your mind?"

Carter lifted his head out of her lap and stretched out across the pillows. "A dozen lifetimes worth of thoughts. Some I barely comprehend. Nothing really worth sharing," he answered dismissively. Knowing that she wouldn't be satisfied with his answer and she'd never let it go. "You can't hide down here forever. You have to go out, you and R.J. This isn't anyplace for a new mother and her son. I can keep you safe, you know that don't you?"

"Are you saying we should go above ground and live? I thought you couldn't tolerate the sunlight?"

"No more than you can tolerate being trapped so far beneath the earth. I have fought against armies of hundreds and thousands. I can protect you from one demented woman. You should go back home, Shayla."

"Only if you come with me," Shayla answered his plea, digging her heels in stubbornly. "I'm not worried about protecting myself from Ruby. I worry for my son. He's defenseless, and if she gets through me... and through you, what then? I'm all he's got. I won't leave you behind and I won't have you suffer the daylight. This compound is the safest place for all of us.

"Ruby is probably in Texas, for the moment, until she comes up with a plan to take my son away from me. I'm worried that I might be dragging you into something that you don't belong in. No matter what the Pack Master or Eloise say, I won't let him go. If that means running for the rest of my life to protect him, that's what I'll do. She won't get her hands on him. If it comes to that, I can't ask you to come with me. I won't pit you against your people in order to help my son."

"Shayla, you don't have to. I would run with you. I have the same worry. That I'm dragging you into something that you don't belong in." Sitting up on the bed he drug the long sleeved shirt up over his head and tossed it onto the floor. "See these marks?" he asked fingering the tattoo that twined along his right bicep. "You never asked what they meant or where I got them."

Shayla ran her fingers over the smooth flesh, feeling the firmness of the cords of muscle beneath, "Tell me."

"The man who gave me these marks is dead, but his cause has not been forgotten. These marks, I received them willingly, long, long ago. Every one etched into my skin by blood and pain. They mark me as his. One day, someone will pick up his cause and start slaughtering humans again. Rogues. I murdered many innocents and their blood will always be on my hands. For eternity, I'll carry the stain of innocent blood. I can only hope that when the time comes for me to atone for my sins. I take a few of those worse then me to hell with me.

"I've seen a Rogue on a blood rampage wipe out an entire village in under an hour. There are the deadliest plague you could ever imagine. I was able to save but two lives that night, two out of dozens. The boys were mere children at the time. Almost two centuries later that I realized the boys grew up to become a men, and the men, legends."

"Who were they?"

"The Great Father and his brother, your Great White Wolf." Carter shook his head to silence her. "Let me finish. That act covered one sin, one of thousands. I owe far, far more than I could ever repay with just the saving of those two fragile human lives that night so long ago." Carter turned his left forearm toward the ceiling for her to view.

Shayla's touch feathered over the deep indigo interlocking swirls running in a figure eight along the length of his forearm, "Infinity?"

"The mark of a Guardian. There's little that I can do to earn back my salvation after centuries of sin. This mark is all that I have to show for what little redemption I can hope to gain. I may have saved the Great Father, but I could never be one of his true followers. My appetites run too diverse. My soul is too dark for even the goddess to penetrate. Others like myself, we do our part. Protect the lives that we can and keep the city safe. Don't you see Shayla, either one of these tattoos could spell death for me at any given time. I don't fear my own death, only that you might get caught in the crossfire and I'd take you down with me. That I couldn't bear."

Shayla's brows pulled low into a frown. "But, you said you'd try." Was he telling her this as a warning or was he trying to scare her off? She didn't scare easily and as for any warning, she already knew the danger. Had known it since the moment she first laid eyes on him.

"I will. That you can be certain of. I'm just not sure if trying is the best thing for you and R.J. Trying could get you both killed. I will protect you with the last beat of my heart, but if I should fail..."

"I don't need your protection. However sweet the sentiment is, I can do without it. I can take care of myself and my son."

"Then why have you barricaded yourself in amongst the vampires? In the morning, we leave. You're going back home where you belong."

"And you will be there with me," Shayla finished the thought. She snuggled down onto the hard planes of his chest and kissed the smooth skin over his heart. "If we go down in a ball of flames, we do it together."

Carter rested his cheek against the top of Shayla's head, rubbing it back and forth across the silky strands, dark as midnight. Intelligence had little to do with affairs of the heart, as he was finding out. A smart man would get out now. Before either Shayla or her son got hurt. A smart man wouldn't have gotten involved in the first place. Over the centuries, people had accused him of many, many things, but being smart wasn't one of them. "Together."





Chapter 45

"Well. Well. Well." A voice echoed from the darkness. O'Sullivan slid from the shadows and into the orange halogen glow of a street light. "Out doing the grocery shopping, I see," he said, eying Bianca's captive with a bemused expression on his face.

"Fuck off," Bianca hissed angrily. Everyone had their little secrets to hide. And she hid hers quite well, or so she thought. "Sleep," she whispered to the bundle struggling fruitlessly in her iron grip. The man fell limp in her arms and as if he weighed no more than a sheet of paper she carried him over to a darkened corner of the alley and dropped him onto the litter strewn on the pavement. He wasn't dead. He wouldn't be dead, not by her hand, at least. Most likely the drugs circulating in his system would do the job soon enough on their own.

"Oh please, enjoy him. You certainly worked hard enough to catch him," O'Sullivan stalked across the alley gracefully as a cat and crouched beside the sleeping man, tisking at Bianca as he went through the man's pockets. "You always did have the worst taste in men."

"I know. I was with you, wasn't I." Bianca cinched the belt on her long black leather trench coat as tightly as it would go. Crossing her arms over her chest, she glowered down at O'Sullivan. How she could have ever found him attractive, once upon a time, was beyond her. "He was willing," she rationalized.

O'Sullivan yanked the wad of bills free from the young man's jeans pocket, "Oh, I can see that," he said as he counted the money, palmed a few larger bills for himself and stuffed the rest back into the empty pocket. Slowly, he rose to his feet, "Bianca, we are what we are, predators. No amount of civility will ever change that.

"Humanity blossoms around us, invading every corner of the globe, even the desolate places where no human dared to live even a generation ago are teeming with life. They're like weeds, Bianca. Before long, they'll take over the whole garden. We were created for a greater purpose," he said, nudging the man with the toe of his boot.

"And what purpose is that? Please enlighten me, I can't wait to hear your theory," Bianca scoffed.

"To thin the herd." O'Sullivan stepped around the man's sleeping form and crossed the narrow strip of pavement separating him from Bianca. "Do you know what happens when you put too many rats in the same cage?"

"No."

"They eat one another. We provide a service, Bianca, a necessary, invaluable service. Back in the day, one could wait them out. Eventually a plague or a famine, or a nice long bloody war would take care of the excess. Not anymore. They need us now more than they ever have. Without us, they'd simply multiply until every last resource was depleted and there was nothing left. Then they'd starve, and us, right along with them. Think about it, Bianca...," he said in a slow, drawling voice, "Us or them. Whose side are you on?"

"I think its time you left." Bianca shook with rage. She was embarrassed at getting caught, practicing the very thing she preached against. Technically, she hadn't broken any rules. The man had acquiesced. He just didn't realize exactly what he was giving her permission to do.

"I suppose so. Please finish your dinner. Such a sin to waste a perfectly good meal." O' Sullivan clucked his tongue. "Bon appitit," he said with a wave of his hand, chuckling as he melted into the dark shadows of the city's underbelly.

"Son of a bitch!" Bianca growled murderously between her clinched jaws. Screw it. She wasn't hungry, not any more. She left the man lying asleep in the shadows and stormed off into the night. Cursing Carter under her breath, as her heels made tap tapping sounds against the concrete. He had to get his ass back here. She didn't give a damn if he was over his nervous breakdown or not. O'Sullivan was getting bolder and more out of hand. The Guardians were skating on thin ice and running out of time.

Chapter 46

Hanning paced the confines of his bedroom, angrily muttering under his breath. He'd been trying to call Ruby all evening. Every call went straight to voice mail. She didn't even have the courtesy to hang up on him. At least, if she had, he would have known that she was alive and well enough to answer the phone. What did her well being matter to him anyway? She had been a lousy wife and an even worse mother. "Pick up. Pick up. Pick up." He skidded to a stop and stood in the middle of his bedroom when he heard the sound of her breathing on the other end of the line. "Its about damn, fucking time!" he shouted into the phone. "Why haven't you answered my calls?"