Page 20 of House of Pawns
“Evening,” he says with the tip of his hat. He still looks angry about what I told him earlier. “I have something I think you’d like to see, Ian.”
I usher us all into the library and instead of sitting, Ian chooses to stand.
“Everyone knew your parents died in that ‘attack,’” Luke air quotes. “They all knew your parents weren’t vamps, but here you are, walking around with the living again. So, I dug into the archives. Didn’t really know if I would find anything. But I did.”
He sets the folder down on the coffee table.
“You want to read the report or you just want me to tell you?” Luke asks.
“Just tell me,” Ian says. His arms are folded across his chest and he keeps nervously shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
Luke nods and swallows hard. And I realize: Ian is making Luke nervous.
“The report was a call-in about a domestic dispute,” Luke begins. He opens the folder and inside is a few sheets of paper with sloppy handwriting and two pictures clipped to them. “The people who lived next to your old house heard fighting, said it kept escalating. When the police arrived, theyfound your father fighting with another man. Your dad was pretty beat up, but still swinging.”
The room has grown deadly still and quiet. I hear myself take a long, slow breath in.
“The report said your father was holding a weapon,” Luke continues, his voice growing quieter. “A stake.”
“So, the night they were killed wasn’t the first time my parents were attacked by a vampire,” Ian says. A tiny spark of red flares in his eyes.
Luke shakes his head. “The report also says your mother’s neck had two obvious puncture wounds, but she kept trying to hide them.” Luke unclips one of the pictures and hands it to Ian. I catch a look at it before Ian takes it. It’s obviously a woman’s neck, and there are two small pricks in her skin with small trails of blood coming from them. But I see nothing of Ian and Elle’s mother’s face.
“The report calls this a ‘lovers quarrel.’” Luke says, and from his tone, it’s obvious he’s the last person who wants to be delivering this news to Ian. “And the date on the report is February eleventh.”
The pieces slide into place for me a few seconds before I think they do for Ian.
Ian’s birthday is November third. Nine months after this scene took place.
“A lover’s quarrel,” Ian finally hisses. His hand crushes around the photo. “There was a vampire in our house. Mom was bitten, and Dad walked in on…what? What the hell are you saying took place?”
There’s hesitance in Luke’s eyes. He should be afraid. He’s staring an angry vampire in the eye. But the Sheriff isn’t a cowardly man. He can’t be when he’s the sheriff of a town infested with vampires.
“I’m saying I think your mother was having an affair with a Born vampire,” Luke says. “I think she was letting him feed on her. And I think your father walked in on them doing two unspeakable deeds.”
Both Ian and Luke are gone in a second and suddenly reappear across the room. Luke’s head smacks hard against a bookshelf, Ian’s hand wrapped around his throat. Luke’s feet dangle two inches off the ground.
“Cora Ward would never,” Ian hisses.
“Ian!” I scream as I scramble from my seat and dart across the room. I grab the hand that is holding Luke hostage and try to claw it away. It doesn’t budge one millimeter. “He’s just trying to help! Don’t hurt him!”
Lillian is suddenly a blur across the room and Ian goes crashing to the floor. Luke collapses and starts coughing violently.
A feral growl rips from Ian’s throat as he leaps back to his feet. His eyes glow red-hot.
Not intimidated one bit, Lillian drops into a slight crouch and her own eyes flash.
“Stop it!” I bellow as I place myself between them. “Ian, get a grip on yourself. Luke is just trying to help.”
Ian’s glowing eyes snap from Lillian to me. For a second, I’m afraid. How in control is he right now? How much are his feelings for me going to outweigh his vampire instincts?
But slowly, one deep breath at a time, he stands a little straighter. His eyes dim.
Seeing him stand down, Lillian once again stands ramrod straight and her own eyes fade to their nearly black color.
For the first time, I feel like I’m starting to understand what it will actually mean, living in a House full of vampires.
“Don’t touch me again,” Luke manages to cough out as he climbs to his feet. “I swear, you touch me again and I’ll stake you myself.”
