Bad Decisions

Bloodlines

Kassie



I returned downstairs after changing into a pair of black ripped jeans and a green tube top. Heath was already waiting, sitting on the couch, now in jeans and a nice pullover wool sweater. His leg was propped on his knee and he had a wine glass of blood. He looked like a fancy, rich as.shole.

“Ready?” He asked.

“I guess.” How ready could I be when I didn’t even know where we were going or what I was seeing?

He smiled and stood up, setting his glass down on the center table. “Then let’s get going before the others wake up.”

I figured “others” referred more to Micah than anyone. My curiosity piqued. What could he possibly want to show me that he would prefer Micah not being around for? Was it something that he wouldn’t approve of?

He led me down the hall and down to the basement where I originally found Heath and Micah before, but led me in the opposite direction of the room they were in.

At the end, he stopped. He moved aside a rug, revealing one of those secret doors hiding underneath. He pulled it up, the hinges squelching a terrible groan. He led me down the rickety, unstable steps into the pitch black of the darkness. I cursed when I stepped into a spider web.

“You people must really like your damn hidden rooms,” I said, disgruntledly. I wasn’t scared of spiders, but I wasn’t a fan of their butt thread, either.

“No,” he chuckled. “Just your father. This was all his, once upon a time.”

“Of course it was,” I said, trying to avoid more spiderwebs.

“These are all old tunnels built under all this land. A prepared escape route, if necessary.”

“Escape routes? Why would that be necessary?”

“Your father mostly kept to himself, but that doesn’t mean he hadn’t made any enemies along the way. He knew that. I’m not saying he had any, but he was always prepared for the worst.” With a chuckle, he added, “senile old man.”

Something told me my father wasn’t just a ‘senile old man’. My father didn’t really do things for no reason. If he had so many important things hidden, it was for a reason. He was hiding them from something. From someone.

I continued to follow him through the tight tunnel. We went about ten minutes down one way and then another few minutes a different way, making small talk here and there along the way.

It was impossible to have a sense of direction down here. It was dark and musty and I was very certain a rat scurried past my feet. I kicked out my leg, instinctually, and made contact. My heart sped up just a bit. The last thing I wanted was to be jumped by a posse of rats when I couldn’t see.

Heath stopped abruptly and turned. The lantern he was holding illuminated his face to show a raised eyebrow. With that look, I knew I hadn't kicked a rat.

Oops.

“I thought you were a rat,” I shrugged.

He laughed. “There are rats. Lots of them. But I assure you, I am not one of them.”

“Are you sure? I can kick you again to find out for sure.”

He chuckled and turned to continue on, but something caused me to stop him.

“Wait.” I reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him from continuing forward.

He started turning before he came to a complete stop and ended up going face first into a giant spider web.

“Son of a--” he muttered as he was brushing off the web from his face and hair.

“Sh.it. My bad,” I said, awkwardly. I was glad it was hard to see, even with the lantern in his hand, because I felt my face heat up. For once, I felt a tad embarrassed.

There was no reason to stop him like I had. I just wanted to ask him questions about my father. I wanted to know more. I had to know more. I was so young when my parents were killed that I didn’t know what was true or not, if their image was just falsified by my young, ignorant mind.

“What’s wrong?” He asked after getting the last of the web out of his hair.

As soon as I had the opportunity, it’s like I didn’t know what to ask anymore. I opened my mouth to speak and then closed it. I think I was more afraid of what the answers might be. The last thing I wanted was the perfect image in my head of my parents to be ruined.

“Nevermind. It’s nothing.”

But, of course, I couldn’t sneak anything past this man. He read my mind just like an open book.

“You make me turn into a spiderweb and then decide it's nothing?” He laughed. “It’s okay to be curious about your parents, kid. They were great people, you have nothing to worry about with that.” He paused. “But they weren’t perfect. Even the best people can do the worst things.”

He proceeded to tell me more about my parents, mostly about my father, as we walked. He deemed himself the expert in what he called Jaz-ology, which obviously was not a real thing, but he seemed proud of himself regardless. But he did know a lot about my father, I’d give him that much.

“I met your father probably about a hundred years ago…maybe a bit more--the years kind of blur together after a while. He was badly injured, practically dying. I didn’t ask questions. It wasn’t my business, and I honestly didn’t think I wanted to know. My job was to heal. I was a doctor and that’s all I cared about. Helping and then moving on to the next person in need.

So I did just that. I patched him up and watched over him for the course of the next few days to ensure he was healing up nicely. Well, it turns out, whoever did that to him came looking for him.”

I could already guess this story ended in bloodshed.

“I stupidly intervened. I could tell your father was a good man just trying to escape some bad people. Well, I wasn’t so lucky. I was only a human at the time, so it wasn’t hard for them to injure me. I was bleeding out quickly and at death’s door when I saw what Jazper was really capable of.

As I’m sure you’re aware, he had the ability to control a person’s mind. He commanded all of them--five or six of them--to kill each other. He didn’t even have to lift a finger. Just looked them in their eyes as he spoke and they did his bidding. While they died one by one, he turned to me. I was terrified that he was going to do something to me, but he didn’t. He took pity on me, even if I didn’t realize it at the time. He turned me into a vampire, saved my life. And do you know how I repaid him?”

I looked at him, confused. “How?”

“I lashed out. I was angry and confused and definitely scared shitless by the powerful being in front of me. All I knew is that he bit me and that pain coursed through me, so I grabbed the knife I had on me and slashed at him. Left a nasty scar.”

“Wait…the one on his face?”

He chuckled. “That’s the one. But he never held it against me, though. He used to make a joke out of it, saying it gave him more character and that women always loved a man with scars.”

I snorted. I had no doubt that my father would say something like that. He always had a sense of humor, even at the worst times.

“After that, we stayed together. We became inseparable. Like brothers. We went on adventures and traveled together. I had to constantly bail him out of trouble. The rest was history. Together until I met Crystal and he met your mother, of course.

And your mother….she was such a fierce woman. She could have the entire world against her and she still wouldn’t have backed down. She was so unapologetically herself. And Jaz loved her all the more for it. She grounded him.” He stopped moving. “You’re a lot like her, ya know. You speak your mind and don’t let anyone tell you what to do.”

“I learned from the best.” I smiled. “She used to say to me ‘in a man’s world, be a woman.’”

He laughed. “She actually used to say ‘in a man’s world, have a pair of t**s’ but I guess she didn’t want to say that to her young child.”

I couldn't help but laugh too. It was nice to talk about them. I hadn’t talked about them much over the years and if I did it was only to Micah. Heath had such a rich history with my father that he could tell me so much more than anyone else could.

“But you are undeniably your father’s daughter.” He ducked into an opening to the right, avoiding another spiderweb in the corner. I followed suit, though I was short enough to avoid the web myself.

“But what I’m going to show you isn’t about your father.”

He hung up the lantern on a hook on the far wall, illuminating what was a small room full of swords and old guns and other various weapons. A room I could truly appreciate. I did my best not to compare it to my parents' old armory.

“This is your father’s old antique collection of weapons he acquired over the years, given to me for safekeeping.”

Taking a closer look, they all did look very old, even if kept in pristine condition. One, however, didn’t look anything like the others.

It was a long, slim sword, matte black from hilt to tip. There were no markings on it to indicate any uniqueness, but yet something drew me to it. I stepped forward, ignoring Heath, and picked up the sword. It was lightweight and smooth to the touch. I couldn’t help but run my finger down its blade, careful to avoid the sharp edge. At closer inspection, it almost looked like there were swirls of a darker black moving against the blade.

“Wow,” I muttered.

“You like that one?”

“Yeah,” I replied, absentmindedly, as I swung the sword gracefully in front of me, testing the feel of it. “It’s beautiful.”

Perhaps beautiful wasn’t a word to describe a sword, a plain one at that, but that is what it was to me; glorious in its own right. It was strange, I could almost feel power radiating off of it, tingling my skin where it touched.

“It was your mother’s.”

I paused. “Really?”

Was that why I felt so drawn to it?

“I know your birthday is next week…I figured it would be a perfect gift. Your mother would want you to have it.”

I scrunched my brows together and frowned, a thought forming. “If it was my mother’s…why do you have it?”

“They wanted to keep it hidden,” he said simply, and I couldn’t shake the feeling he was hiding something from me.

“Why, Heath?”

He stared at me, as if deciding if he should tell me or how to say it.

“It’s a powerful sword. A demon sword.”

I froze. “What did you just say?”

“You heard me correctly. A demon sword. The enchanted swords made specifically for demons. They’re only able to be wielded by a demon. Anyone else, it would suck their lifeforce out of them.”

I gaped, looking down at the sword in my hands, and turned my vision back up to him.

“But…” I swallowed. “I’m holding it and I’m only half…vampire…” I trailed off, my mind spinning. “Why can I hold this, Heath?”

“Kassie, your mom…she was a demon.”

My mind was spinning in circles, trying desperately to process what Heath had just told me.

It can’t be true…can it?

If it was, why didn’t I know this? Why did I think I was half human?…human from my mother’s side!

This is so fuc.ked up.

If it was true…it means my parents had lied to me. They weren’t who I thought they were—or at least my mother wasn’t.

I couldn’t seem to anchor my thoughts and I was certain I saw Heath flinch.

“You're projecting your thoughts again.” He rubbed his temples.

“I’m sorry. I just…I can’t…” I took a deep breath, closing my eyes until I felt the overwhelming sense of panic subside. It wasn’t gone, just under control.

“I know it’s a lot to process and I don’t have all the answers for you. I just know what you are: half vampire, half demon. Your parents decided to hide your demon side, as well as your mother’s, making you appear human. I don’t know how they did it, or why, before you even ask.”

“And this is why you didn’t want Micah to know about this?”

He gave me a soft smirk. “I didn’t know how he would handle it. He would demand answers that I can’t give.”

Suddenly, one thing was clear. I needed to be next to Micah, needed to be in his presence. He had a way to calm me, with or without his ability. Perhaps it was his familiarity grounding me. My panic was rising again and it felt as if the walls were closing in around me. I swallowed it down.

I put the sword back on the stand and backed away.

“It’s yours, Kassie. You can come for it whenever you like…just do me a favor and not show it to anyone, as of yet. Your demon friend is one thing…but others wouldn’t understand.”

I nodded, emotionless. I needed to get away before my composure crumbled.

“I…uhm…I’m going to go.”

“Alright…I can show you the way.”

“No…I’ll manage.” I choked out before turning away and leaving quickly, leaving Heath alone in the dark underground room.

I numbly went through the tunnels, taking turns without a thought, and when I found myself back inside the house, I was surprised at my ability to find my way in my current state.

Before I knew it, I was standing beside Micah’s bed, looking down at him. He was lying on his stomach, his bare back exposed as he slept soundly.

He was a light sleeper. He would normally bolt awake at any little sound, instantly alert. I wasn’t surprised that he didn’t even stir at my intrusion after everything he went through.

I was on autopilot when I lifted the covers and slipped in next to him, led by the need to be in his calming aura.

I didn’t know if it was because he felt me or sensed my need, but he moved onto his side, his eyes still closed. He shifted closer, his arm wrapping around my middle as he buried his face into my neck. He breathed in deeply.

“Kass…” his deep voice was gruff, sleepy. Tingles erupted where his lips gently brushed as he talked. “What’s wrong?”

I should tell him. I needed to tell him. He was the one person who could understand, being a demon himself, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell him at that moment. Instead, I snuggled in deeper, relishing in his warm, muscular frame. I craved that warmth against my own cold skin.

“Nothing,” I mumbled in his bare chest.

“Liar…” he said it so softly that I knew he wasn’t fully awake. I had to wonder if Heath had given him something to help him sleep. Regardless, the chances he would remember any of this in the morning were slim.

Good. I’ll just lie here for just a few more minutes…and sneak out before he can question why I was in bed with him.

I let my eyes flutter closed as I snuggled ever deeper into him.

Just ten more minutes, I thought to myself sleepily, just as I was starting to drift off.