Like the night I was attacked. I stood then, unable to remain sitting, and took a step into his personal space. He didn't move back; his eyes tracked across my face, as if memorizing me.
"Thank you for saving me from those ash," I said, needing him to know that I remembered. "I have no idea what would have happened if you weren't there."
I could see sprinkles of tears in my mom's eyes, and the sight hurt my heart. I cleared my throat, blinking a few times to get myself under control.
Carter nodded, placing a hand on my arm. In that moment no words were needed.
"One more question," I managed to mumble out. "How the hell am I a female ash? And what do you know about my blood?"
I was more than ready for these answers, and I damn well hoped Carter had them.
Chapter 11
Ryder, Kyle, and Sam were lingering closer now. No one wanted to miss his answer. Carter hesitated at first, and then more than one emotion crossed his face. The strongest was sadness and confusion.
Dammit! He didn't know.
He held both hands up to me, as if trying to appease the resting bitch face I was rocking. "I'm sorry, Charlie, I wish I knew how this happened to you. I have never fathered any other children, and know of no living direct offspring from Originals." His eyes narrowed and I was under a shrewd sort of surveillance. "What's special about your blood?"
He had obviously picked up on that little slip. My eyes flicked to Ryder, and he gave a slight shake of his head. Okay, we were still on the "trust no one" road. As I turned back to Carter, my mind already trying to figure out what to say to cover my tracks, my eyes brushed over Sam.
His features were more pinched than usual, and he was fidgeting, which was so unlike his normal behavior. What the hell was he hiding?
I was totally going to jump on his ass soon, and not in any sort of fun way. I would literally hold him down until he spilled. More and more I was trusting the silent and deadly enforcer, but until he fessed up to whatever secret held him so tightly, there would always be some suspicion in my mind.
Giving him squinty eyes, I let out a huff of air before turning back to Carter. He was still waiting for my special blood explanation. "Uh, I was really just hoping you'd know why the Quorum keeps ordering tests on my blood. They said I'm not showing the blood of an ash. They're probably trying to figure out why my blood is indicative of an Original still being alive."
I leaned closer to him, my gaze locked on. "How are you still alive?"
He let loose with that deep laughter again, the sort of laughter which makes you want to join in. "A story for another time, unfortunately. There are spies all over the city and we have already lingered for too long." He held his hand out to my mom and she didn't hesitate for a moment. "I'm going to keep her safe, Charlie, I promise you that. I will figure out a way to get in contact with you, no matter where you end up. Stay with your enforcers. They're a solid team and I trust them to have your back."
Oh yeah, I had no doubts he'd been spying on me even after I made it into the Hive.
The tears which were lingering on my mother's thick lashes finally fell. She stepped closer, wrapping her arms tightly around me. "I love you, Charlene Anne Bennett, never forget that. Please keep yourself safe." Her voice broke, and I found myself losing control. I literally buried my head into my mom's shoulder and bawled my eyes out. I just kept thinking that this might be the last time her arms were around me.
While I had no doubts that Carter would do everything in his power to keep her safe, I wasn't so sure of my own ability to survive this coming unease. Every vamp was going to be gunning for me soon. I could just feel it. Even with the sexy six at my back, it would be a miracle if we all survived.
Shit! I was not thinking like that. We would figure it out, or at least go down fighting.
When I managed to compose myself, I pulled back, brushing one hand across my mom's bangs, pushing them off her face. "I love you too, Mom, so much. I will see you again … very soon."
I made a mental promise to do everything I could to see her again. This was a promise I had no idea if I could keep, but I was going to try my very best.
Carter reached out and brushed a fingertip along my cheek. It was gentle, and the gesture had me fighting hard not to lose it again. I'd never had a father-figure in my life. Joanna Bennett had never been on a single date that I knew of, which was something I'd always attributed to her unwavering love for army dude. Now I knew better. It was all about this vampire and I totally understood why. A few moments with him and I could already tell I'd really missed something by not knowing Carter Atwater, Original of the fourth house.
All of the anger I held toward my father, for his abandonment of us, melted away. I could see the bigger picture now, and it was enough to know that he cared, that he had been watching out for us over the years. On impulse, I stood on tiptoes and just managed to reach his cheek to kiss it. He was a mammoth of a man, something straight out of the history books.
"Take care of her. She's everything to me,"
His eyes were molten silver as he nodded. "I'll contact you, Charlie."
Then he stepped back, gathered Joanna into his arms, and started moving. He was fast, and within seconds they were gone. I swallowed a few times, trying to sort myself out. There was no time for falling apart now, we had shit to do. I needed to cure the little girl and then all of us were getting the hell out of the Hive. I was hoping all of us included Tessa, but my gut told me different.
Life recently was all about kicking Charlie in the teeth. Tessa was a vampire, Mom was in hiding with my Viking father, and the Hive was going to try to kill me soon. Pretty sure I needed to find someone to trade destinies with. Mine was faulty.
Ryder's arms closed around me and all of sudden I was a mess of tears again. What was with all the waterworks tonight?
"I'm not tough," I wailed, as I gripped his shirt in both of my hands. "I don't want to handle this shit. I want to go home, build a nice fort out of blankets, and crawl into it with a good book."
"Charlie can read?" I heard Kyle mutter. "Swear to God, when I asked her to flick through the enforcer handbook she threw it in my face."
Ryder's arms tightened around me and I could feel his chest shaking with laughter. Holy shit. Here I was pouring out my worries and fears and the assholes were laughing at me. I leaned back and punched him clean into his hard chest. Ouch. Okay, that was not supposed to hurt me so much.
The silver in Ryder's eyes was dancing as he cupped my face with both hands. "Charlie, sweetheart, you are tougher than you think. And you're not alone … never alone. We can do this together, all of us. Whatever the Hive throws at us, we'll deal with."
I wrinkled my nose at him. "You've changed your tune. Usually you're all doom and gloom."
He cracked a broad smile and white teeth dazzled me. "You bring out the worst of my protective instincts, but I'm working on that. I'm going to focus on you as an equal member of my team. The reason my core enforcers work so well is that we are a single unit, we have each other's backs. Complete trust. You can't handle this shit alone, but together we can handle anything."
Complete Trust. Hah! Except for our little Sam. Keeping his secrets.
The dark, mysterious enforcer met my squinty eyes and gave me a nod. "Soon," he mouthed at me, and blinking a few times in shock I returned that nod. Seems he was going to finally let us in.
Turning around, I let my gaze linger on the path that Carter and my mom had just taken through the park. I let out an exaggerated sigh. "At least I know she's going to be out of Portland, no longer available for any of the Charlie haters to use as a weapon against me."
There were nods all around. It was one of the few positive pieces of information we had received in the past few weeks. Kyle started ushering us out of the area then, no more time to linger. There were only a few hours till dawn and we had shit to do. Plus, I still had to try and find my brainwashed, pod-person bestie tonight.
As soon as we exited the Humvee in the garage back at the Hive, my stomach dropped. The Quorum was standing inside, clearly waiting for us. I scanned across their group but Lucas was not there. Shit! My hand automatically went to my gun, but Ryder nudged me.
"Is there a problem?" he asked them, sounding completely unconcerned.
Allistair, aka fugly, sneered, holding out a hand, palm open. "You're all under investigation. Please hand in your badges. You're suspended from leaving the Hive until further notice."
Sam's eyes were blazing with rage. Kyle was keeping a poker face. And Ryder's jaw was just slightly clenched as he pulled his card from his pocket.
The lead enforcer's tone was low and deadly. "Over thirty years of service and this is how you treat me?"
A few of the Quorum members' faces fell at Ryder's remark, but Allistair shrugged. "If you could take simple orders this wouldn't be happening, but ever since you started fucking Charlie you've changed."