Page 13 of The Blood Shadows

“Okay, time to get this over with.” He headed inside and up to room 248. He stood outside the door and held his breath as he knocked. The door opened and a woman stood there it was his mother, but she looked older and harder. Her blonde hair was graying, and her skin had darkened and wrinkled. It was her but it was a sad version of her.

“Oh Ian, my darling boy come inside.” She reached for him, but Ian stepped back not ready to get all touchy feely with this veritable stranger. She eyed him speculatively and then gave a little fake smile and stepped back to let him enter. Ian walked by her into the room and she closed the door.

“What is it that you want to tell me?” Ian was feeling off ever since entering the room and wanted to end the encounter as soon as possible. He looked around the small room and noticed the bathroom door was closed. He casually moved closer to the door while asking her several questions which she avoided answering. “Why are you back? Why now?”

"I'd offer you a drink, but I have nothing, having just arrived." She moved over toward the bathroom, and Ian moved closer to the door. "I'm sorry for abandoning you, Ian, but it was for the best." She wasn't explaining anything; she was just reiterating her usual lines.

“Okay, sure, well I think I’ll be going. It was good seeing you Trinda, but I don’t want to keep in touch.” When he turned to the main door intending to leave he heard the bathroom door open and Trinda call out to him.

“You’re not leaving.” Trinda’s voice turned sharp and forceful. Ian turned around and saw her standing with man next to her. He was a thug that was easy to see, and he was the men Ian had noticed outside. The man raised a gun and pointed it at Ian and then Trinda dropped the lies and began to explain why she was in town, and she wasn’t there to get to know him better.

"I'm sorry it has come to this, but life happens, doesn't it, honey." She smiled and moved away from the man with the gun.

"You want to kill me?" Ian was confused and scared. He was very scared.

"It's not that I want to. It's just the easiest way to reach our goals."

“Who else is in on this? Is it Ron?”

"Of course, it's Ron. He hired the hit men who failed so spectacularly." She was taking this so lightly as if he werenothing and meant nothing. "It's an insurance policy silly. You die and I get rich." Ian kept his eyes on the man with the gun but tried to keep his mother talking the longer she talked the longer he had time to figure this out.

In his heart he reached out to Nox calling to him and begging for help. It couldn’t all end here like this he had a life a beautiful life ahead of him and he didn’t want to lose Nox. He needed him so badly. “Please Nox please hear me and come to me.”

Nox found Ron at a bar downtown he was in the bathroom. Nox appeared in front of the door standing in the shadow and stepped out as soon as Ron turned away from the sinks and headed for the door. He stopped abruptly when he saw Nox blocking the way.

“What do you want?” He said fearfully. “What are you?” He said and Nox reached out and placed the palm of his hand on Ron’s forehead rendering him still and motionless. He couldn’t talk and he couldn’t breathe.

Nox searched his mind, shredding it as he pulled everything from the dark reaches of his consciousness. The facts hit Nox like a sledgehammer: the plan, the hits, and the fact that Ian's mother had organized it all. The final shred of information had Nox reaching out to Ian as he incinerated Uncle Ron, leaving nothing but gray ash on the bathroom floor.

Then, he was suddenly bombarded by a hysterical call from his beloved. Ian was with that woman. Their plan was playing out, and Nox's heart exploded with the fear of losing him. He hadn't stayed in the apartment he went to her, and she planned to kill him. Nox turned into the shadows and traveled on the wind, desperate and in a frenzy to reach him in time.

"I'm going to kill you." She said, and then she amended that statement with a sickening smile. "Well, actually, he's going to kill you." She pointed at the man next to her. "It will look like a basic robbery-murder. Really unfortunate, sad even." She smiled. "But before he kills you, I got to ask who is the man that keeps saving you."

"That would be me." Ian saw Nox standing behind the man with the gun, and in the next second, the man was dead on the floor with a gaping hole in his chest. Nox had punched his fist through the man, actually completely through him, and he did it with ease. Trinda saw this and started for the door, but in a breath, Nox was standing in front of her.

Ian could see the panic in her actions as she saw her plans falling apart. “Turn around Ian.” Nox stated and Ian turned around and when he turned back Trinda was gone and also the gunman.

“Where did they go?”

Nox took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his hands before responding. “I sent their remains to the underworld to join your Uncle Ron, and they will bother you no more. The plot to kill you has been eradicated, and everyone involved has been destroyed. You are safe, my love." Ian ran to him, wrapping his arms around him and burying his face in his chest. Nox responded by holding him close and kissing the top of his head.

“I’m sorry I left the apartment. Trinda said she wanted to see me. I knew it was a bad idea, but I wanted some answers but as soon as I got here I realized it was all a trap a stupid trap that I walked right into. I’m sorry.” Ian was shaking with the pent up trauma and relief.

"I should have told you about Ron and explained the danger you were in. I hoped to deal with it and tell you later to keep you from the sadness I knew it would bring. Although I did not know Trinda was involved until I invaded Ron's mind and saw the plan they had devised. I'm so sorry they let you down, but you're safe now, and I will always keep you safe." Nox squeezed him tight and then in a blink they were standing in Nox's living room.

"I will never get tired of that," Ian whispered against Nox's shirt. He was still pressed to his chest and wasn't interested in moving just yet. "I love you, Nox. Since the moment we first met, you have been there for me. I've never allowed myself to ever lean on anyone. I've never trusted anyone, but I trust you, and I know without a doubt you will always be there for me."

Nox stood silently for a few minutes; just holding and being held and having his beloved in his arms was all he needed to feel the fear of losing Ian slowly drain from his mind. "You scared me Ian and that's an emotion I don't feel often and where you're concerned, I hope to never feel it again."

"I'm sorry I didn't listen, and I'm sorry I believed her." Ian took a slow, ragged breath, and Nox felt his body tremble slightly. "She was going to stand there and watch that guy kill me. She was going to do it for money, and Ron was part of it. I never expected anything from either of them but did expect simply human decency and maybe a few basic morals.”

"Some beings are incapable of seeing beyond themselves. It has nothing to do with you and everything to do with the fact they have no conscience." Nox tried to soothe his lover.

“I’m not so sad as I am disappointed. I wasn’t stupid; I knew she never liked me, and I knew for a fact that Ron detested my presence. I was there to pay the bills and nothing more. But would never have thought them capable of something like this, the mugger that was going to slit my throat and the drive-by that was going to fill me full of holes that were them; they arranged all of that." Ian drew in another ragged breath, and his despair was palatable. "If it weren't for you, they would be sitting together, laughing about me and counting their insurance money."

"Fate brings a couple together when they need each other the most. I needed to be there to save your life, and you needed to be there to save my soul. I was slowly disappearing into the darkness. Nothing mattered to me anymore except my duty to Master Rose. I had nothing else, and then there was you." Nox lifted Ian's face up to his and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "You changed everything for me. You filled my heart and healed my soul. I love you, Ian. I'm not perfect and never will be, but I am perfect for you." He bent and kissed him again.

The despair lifted and the tension disappeared. Ian started to pull at Nox’s clothing and his need was clear. Their bond was fresh, and their connection needed to be fed. Nox felt his own needs burning through him his vampire was on edge and his demon in him wanted more. It was all about security and assurances and building a love that would stand through the ages.

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