Dawn's Promise

"No, but I need to get things ready. There isn't a scrap of food in the house and I've gotten behind on my cleaning," Anna answered absently. She had a hundred reasons why she needed to go home. Stuff she needed to get done before Monday.

"Ah, the quest for food." Toby nodded sympathetically, remembering his recent trip to the grocery store. "Did you like the Count Chocula?" he asked coyly. He'd gotten the cereal to poke fun of Anna and maybe a bit at himself.

"Well, I didn't at first. But, it seems to have grown on me," Anna replied, coyly returning his smile. His boyish sense of humor was one of the things that appealed to her the most about him. His general happy demeanor was a breath of fresh air to her serious and critical nature. And his good looks, the carefree 'skater dude' exterior that hid the warrior and technical genius, didn't hurt either.

She still had a little trouble buying into the fact that he was nineteen years her senior when he didn't look a day over twenty-one or twenty-two. The outside world didn't know, wouldn't ever know. They'd see her as a cougar with her claws out, toying with a much younger man. And they'd judge her for what they didn't understand. Not that she cared. She did have fun playing with Toby and flexing her claws once in a while.

"I wouldn't mind tooling around the city. I could go with you." Toby didn't relish the thought of wandering through aisle after aisle of decaying vegetable and animal matter, preferring his food somewhat fresher. But, if he could be with Anna just a little while longer, he'd do it. Every minute they spent together was another minute he could use to work his way under that cold exterior of hers. Besides, deep down beneath that icy external layer, she was hot, smoking hot. Hot enough to burn him alive.

"You don't need to do that," Anna said, turning him down in that hard tone of hers she saved for board meetings and negotiations with clients. She needed to buy things, private things. There was no way she was purchasing Tampax with Toby hovering over her shoulder.

"I could clean your house for you while you shop. You know, save time. I'm pretty fast." Not fast enough obviously. He'd only just begun to warm her up and the drive was almost over. His excuse for hanging around was almost gone.

How well she knew how fast he was. She had seen him in action a time or two. Darting through the woods for the sheer pleasure of it at a blinding pace. "That's awfully generous of you. But, no matter how fast you are, the washing machine and vacuum cleaner only work so quickly."

Toby sighed in defeat. She had him on that one. The slow pace of mechanical equipment sometimes drove him to the point of madness. Often, he made minor adjustments tweaking things, here and there, to increase their speed to keep up with his. "So ready to be rid of me?"

"Of course not!" Anna chastised. Actually, quite the opposite, she'd be happy if he'd stay. But if he did, she had no doubt her laundry would never get done. She had gotten used to having Toby hovering over her the past week. But, she had her life and he had his. And she wasn't ready for anything more. She was just getting used to his...uniqueness.

The bond that had been spun between them when they exchanged blood out of necessity was difficult enough to bear. And in part, she blamed the bond for her reluctance to send him packing. He was always with her, in her mind. Unfortunately, she had grown accustomed to it, almost fond of feeling the buzz of his presence skittering around her brain. She just didn't trust her feelings, the single mindedness she shared with him, as genuine.

Toby sensed the wall she had thrown up between them to keep him out. Anna was an expert at building walls. No wonder she had chosen to be an architect, and she could certainly build a wall, thick enough, high enough, and impenetrable enough to keep everyone out. He was determined to find a way to break through her walls. He had seen her with her guard down. She was as beautiful on the inside as she was on the outside, but fragile and very afraid. "So you'll miss me?" he asked, playfully, pulling to a stop in front of her house.

"Well naturally, you've become a good friend, over the past week." Anna tugged on her coat and gathered her purse. Feigning distraction, she dug in her purse for her keys.

"A friend," Toby muttered, frowning at the distaste of the causal way she discounted what was budding between them. Friend. He'd show her how good of a "friend" he'd like to be. He sent mental images their bodies locked together through the one-way turnpike of his thoughts straight into her head. He imagined them bumping and grinding against one another in a sexual frenzy of lust. And then he daydreamed of the completion, his climax shooting deep within her soft walls, sending her spiraling out of control beneath him. Grinning at the blush spreading across her cheeks and the uncomfortable way she squeezed her thighs shut, he hopped out of the car to grab her bag out of the trunk. Yeah, take that, 'friend'.

Anna shifted uncomfortably in her seat as an aching need spread though out the deepest part of her being. What was wrong with her? She could almost feel his bare skin as it brushed along hers. She could taste him as their tongues tangled, stroking and teasing. She could hear her cries of passion as he drove himself hard into her core stretching her. Anna shook her head, this was nuts. She felt like a lust struck teenager again. Which, she definitely wasn't. She didn't have sexy dreams period. Let alone sexy daydreams that hit her out of nowhere. "Are you doing that?" she asked, rounding to the rear of the car to collect her bag from Toby, prepared for an out and out war with him if he was the cause of these...images.

Toby pretended to be preoccupied with rearranging the trunk. "What's that Anna?" he asked, acting as if he'd just noticed her standing there. He could have heard her heart pounding from a block away. Smelled the desire radiating from her pale skin from a mile away. And the prickles of awareness he'd planted in her mind, he could have sensed them any distance. He loved chipping away at her icy exterior and watching the cold veneer melt to reveal the woman beneath.

"Nothing," she murmured. She sucked in a breath fresh cool evening air fighting to regain control of her rampant lust before she acted on the impulses flooding her mind. Thank God, she was home.

Toby grinned triumphantly when she wasn't looking. "Do you mind if I come in? I want to check things out. Make sure you're safe." He'd been inside of her house twice before. Once when he'd gone in to erase all traces of her best friend, Chris. And again when he'd picked her up for the party Christmas night.

"No not at all," Anna replied in her usual well-controlled, cool tone. She could handle having him invading her space for a few minutes. What the hell, she had him in her head which was much more private. She walked up the sidewalk and onto the porch, sliding the key into the lock on the front door and opened it wide, letting him in.

Chapter 6

"Go ahead and take off Robbie. I've got it," Will said, approaching the newest and certainly smallest warrior in their group. He'd had to stop before rounding the corner to Candace's room to gather his composure. The woman was terrified enough without him yelling and accusing her of things when he didn't know the whole story. He couldn't deny his outrage at being denied access to his son. His son was a grown man. He'd missed Chance's entire childhood. Which led him to the question, what had Candace told him about his father? Why had she decided to take raising him upon herself when he gladly would have helped to bear the burden?

"Are you sure? There hasn't been so much as a peep out of her." Robbie was bored, eager to be relieved from her post. Guarding the closed door was tedious. The worst. But, part of her job nonetheless. Not every task she was going to be asked to do would be action packed and full of glory. She grinned eagerly at Will's casual nod. Great! Now she'd have time to hit the gym before she met up with Alex for a quick hunt later on this evening.

Will watched Robbie trot down the hall, headed for the gym. Convincing her to abandon her post in favor of the gym was the easy part. Now came the hard part. Confronting Candace. He had so many questions. He took a minute to rest his hand on the brass doorknob, unsure of which one to ask first. Which question was the most important when they were all so important? The only question that kept reverberating in his mind was why. Why had she done it? Why had she taken his son away from him without him even knowing it?

Candace wrapped her arms around the satin encased throw and brought the smell of new up to her nose. The sound of a key turning in the lock had her sitting up on the bed unsure as to if she should scrabble for some sort of a weapon to defend herself or keep her ass planted on the bed to look as meek and harmless as possible. Her eyes grew wide with shock as they surveyed the man letting himself into her room. "Will?"

She couldn't believe it. He hadn't changed at all. Standing in the doorway, his frame blocked the light from the hall. He ran a hand through his jet- black hair, sending the ends sticking up into a fury of disarray. His brown eyes locked with hers. And Candace had no trouble reading the accusations in his weighted stare. Chance! He'd figured it out! He knew the secret she'd been so careful to hide.

"Yes, Candy," he said, using his nickname for her. "It's me." Will closed the door with a gentle shove of his heel on the heavy oak surface. He advanced to the side of the bed and stood at the foot. Cool and calm, any increase of emotion would alert the brothers and frighten her into not telling him a damned thing. He winced at the sound of his voice. His voice sounded tense and sharp, hinging on bitter sarcasm at the infliction he put on her once familiar name. He took a deep breath and forced his shoulders to relax.

"Please don't call me that," Candace said in a whisper. No one ever called her that, not before Will and not after. He was the only one. 'His sweet Candy' he used to whisper in her ear. The sound of his voice, the deep bass softness in which he said her name sent her heart racing. She clutched the throw pillow to her chest and wrapped her arms around it, curling her legs tightly into the pillow. What was he doing here with these people? Will and she were the same age, give or take a few months. Why did she look like she was forty when he had barely aged a day since the last time she'd seen him?

No, that wasn't entirely true. He had aged. Lived every one of his forty years hardly a mark on his body or his face to show their passing. But, his eyes hinted at the years that had passed, telling his true age beneath the deceptive façade of his youth. He was taller and broader than she remembered. Hard muscle gave his body an angular, lean look, almost that of a predator. "What happened to you?" she gasped.

He ignored Candace's question. His mind was too full of his own. "I need to know," Will said in a low soft voice, hedging on a growl. "Is the boy my son?"

Candace nipped at her bottom lip with her front teeth the way she did when she was nervous or pondering something deeply. In this instance, she was both, nervous and pondering her answer. Of course, Will had found Chance. Her act of despair had condemned not only herself, Marcus and Neil, but now her son. She could deny it, or deny she'd even had a son. Or perhaps if he knew the truth, he'd keep her son...their son... safe. Will owed her for all the years she'd struggled to raise Chance on her own. He owed his son at least this small courtesy. Closing her eyes, not willing to meet the condemnation in their dark stare, she nodded and whispered, "Yes."

Will drew a sharp breath. His mind was numb with shock. He sank to the edge of the bed and buried his face in his hands, gripping at the strands of his hair with his fingers. As if pulling painfully on the strands could somehow yank him out of this nightmare. He was so sorry for all that she had suffered alone. Regretted all the years he'd missed out on being a father. If only he'd known that she was pregnant, he would have chosen differently. He would have chosen her and their unborn child over the life the Sons had offered him. He would have willingly chosen to grow old and die an old man with her at his side, surrounded by his sons and daughters, his grandchildren and great grandchildren, maybe even great-great grandchildren, rather than being deprived of the son he knew nothing about. "Why?" he rasped.

"Please, keep him safe." Candace whispered. She winced at the anguish in his voice. "I don't care about myself. But, you owe him. No matter what you do to me or to the others, promise me my son will be safe."

Will lifted his head from his palms and pinned Candace with a hard stare. "Do you really think I'd hurt you?" He got up from the bed and began pacing the room. "Why didn't you tell me about him?" He pulled her up off the bed and onto her feet, locking his hands around her biceps and giving her a hard shake. As if he could rattle the truth out of her. "Why Candy. Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?"

Candace winced against the pressure of Will's fingers digging into her arms. "I tried," she rasped. "I tried. You didn't come back to class after Thanksgiving break. You didn't call me. You didn't come back to your apartment. I called your phone and left dozens of messages with your roommates. They told me you left your part of December's rent on the kitchen table, packed your stuff, and left without an explanation. It was like you disappeared. And by the time I figured out I was pregnant, I'd already given up on finding you.

"A part of me didn't want to find you. When you didn't return any of my calls, when you walked away without a word, I thought you'd lied to me, about everything. I felt like a fool. I was hurt. Angry. And so ashamed that I'd let you use me like that. I was so young and stupid back then. I know I should have told you I wasn't on the pill. I was still a virgin. And I wanted you to be the one. I thought I was in love. I thought at the time, that we were in love. Looking back, I guess it was short sided of me. But, then again hindsight is always 20-20."

Will reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind Candace's ear. The gentleness in his touch surprised him. He hadn't thought after so long all the old feelings he'd battled so hard to control would come back so easily. "Candy, we were in love. That night, I could have taken precautions. And I should have. I shouldn't have left you like that. I should have called to explain things to you. I don't know what I would have told you. But, I shouldn't have left you hanging like that. If I'd known, I would have done things so differently."

He slid his thumbs down the sides of her cheeks, tracing the pattern of tears across their porcelain surface. Gently, he cupped her chin in his palms and lifted her face. There was his girl, hiding behind a mask of time, smiling, through the wash of regrets rolling down her cheeks, up at him. "I don't consider Chance a mistake. I'll never, ever think that. He's a blessing. A gift. The most precious gift you ever could have given me." He pressed his lips against her forehead and rested them there for a minute. "Thank you, Candy. Thank you for taking care of our son."

Candace leaned into Will's body, letting his strength carry the burden of her weight. His gentle 'thank you' was the last thing she expected to hear. The softness of his mouth, brushing across her forehead was the last thing she expected to feel. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into the warm shelter of his embrace. And she let him. Softly, she sighed, "You're welcome," against his chest.

Things were hardly right between them. But, at least now he had the chance to tell her everything. Things he could have never have told her for fear of risking her life, if she hadn't already experienced them for herself first hand. She was a vampire. She knew his darkest secrets, because they were hers as well. "Would you like the explanation I should have given you twenty years ago?" he asked.

Candace slid free of his embrace and ambled over to the loveseat. Did she want to hear? Yes, she did. She wanted to know what happened to the boy she'd fallen in love with. And she wanted to get to know them man he'd grown up to be. And hopefully, in the process, she'd learn a little more about herself, the origins of this thing, this rogue, as he called her, she'd been forced to become.

Candace listened to Will's explanation. He was honest, holding nothing back. If she hadn't experienced it first hand, she would have never believed him. The story was too fantastic. Classic good versus evil. The Sons, the good guys, faithful to their Goddess and the Great Father, were protectors of human life. The Rogues, the bad guys, were self-serving killers without a conscience. The Thanksgiving he'd disappeared from her life, he'd been asked to make a choice. It hadn't been easy for him to give up his human life, leave his friends and family behind. But, it was the only way he could do what needed to be done and keep the secret safe.

His story was so different from hers. He had chosen this path, proving himself worthy in a series of trials and tests. Earning the right to be called a Son. She on the other hand, had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Snatched up and drug off into the darkness. This life forced upon her, branded a rogue.

In a way, it was a relief, to finally know. For years her emotions for him ran hot and then cold, bouncing between hatred, to love, and everywhere in between. So many of the things she believed or forced herself to believe, weren't true. "You didn't abandon us."

"No. I didn't know," Will answered. He was still human at the time of Chance's birth. He would have still had a chance to turn back and pick up his human life right where he'd left off. And he would have, if he'd known. In his ignorance, once he'd trained and passed the trials, he left the human world and Candace behind, for good.

"Would you like to hear about your son?" Candace asked. Talking about Chance was her favorite pastime. She never grew tired of flashing pictures, telling tales, recanting every moment of everyday of her son's life. Half of the women in the office ran the other direction when they saw her coming. Neil wouldn't even discuss her son with her. And Marcus only listened because it served to remind her of what she had to live for. Everyone had him pinned for a Mama's Boy. And that wasn't true. Chance was everything she said and so much more.

Will smiled broadly, still getting used to the idea of having a son. "Our son," he corrected. The name Chance still sounded unfamiliar on the tip of his tongue. "Yes, tell me everything."

Will listened as Candace told him every last detail about his son. He heard her love and pride for him, echoing in her voice and dancing across the expressions on her face. As a boy, he'd caused his fair share of mischief, a trait, she blamed solely on his father. He'd grown up happy, healthy, protected, and loved. Although, he regretted the years he'd lost with his son, he didn't begrudge Candace for the years she'd had. He doubted that at twenty, Chance would curl up on his lap and let dear old dad read him a bedtime story. Those years were lost. But, there were plenty more good ones still ahead.

Will toyed with the idea that his Goddess, Kokumthena, was behind this some how. Locking their destinies. And making sure that Candace, Chance's, and his paths crossed. His son, fit, strong, and already highly disciplined, was a perfect candidate for the trials. He kept his ideas to himself. There was no need to tell Candace, not yet. He should probably at least meet his son first. "Chance sounds like an amazing kid. You've done a wonderful job of raising him. I'm sorry, I wasn't there for you."