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Chapter Forty Six
Anna and Jack were finally reunited with the boys and she basked in the suffocating hugs she received from them both.
"It's good to be home," she quipped making them all laugh considering they were in a shabby hotel room. Jack had been really quiet while they were traveling and Anna though he was most likely regretting the things that had taken place between them. It did make their relationship a bit awkward. Especially since she was a bit infatuated with the man. She glanced at him and took in his appearance feeling a peculiar melting in her belly.
"So," Will spoke up, "I've been talking to Richard and Isaac and they tell me they've found another group like the bankers who are less cautious when they're out on the town. They think we could take them out fairly easily if we team up, so I'm thinking we should head out to Colorado. These fucks in Vegas are too well guarded right now, we can't get to 'em. And we can keep tabs on them from anywhere."
Josh was nodding his agreement and Anna said, "I'm game."
Jack looked at her and drew in a breath. "Actually Anna...." he trailed off.
"Oh come on dad," Josh jumped in, "she can handle herself in the field. She's stronger, faster, and way more difficult to kill than all of us put together."
Jack shook his head, "That's not it."
Anna shrank back, her heart filling with pain. "It's because of us and what we did?"
"No. Shit. Just let me explain, stop jumping to conclusions all of you." He braced himself and said, "Anna needs to be with her own kind, at least for awhile."
That was met by violent protests from all three.
"Let me finish!" Jack commanded. He waited until they were quiet and his tone softened. "I know of some vampires who are still on our side, that still perform the duty they were created for."
Utter silence.
"Years ago in Europe I met up with a trio of hunters, Faerians, who were helping me with some research and they had some friends. Vampire friends they traded information with and sometimes went to for help with possessed individuals that were proving themselves difficult to deal with. From what I was told they were the real deal. Demon hunters who were bound to the cause by faith and duty."
"Wait a fucking minute," Will cut in angrily, "are you telling us that you have non-human friends? After all these years of adamantly stating that none of them can be trusted?"
Josh had grown very still and looked like he might explode.
Jack snorted, "I'm not saying that at all. They’re friends of friends, not friends of mine."
Josh bolted to his feet. "How can you nonchalantly fucking suggest we send Anna to some vamps just because a few people you know in Europe say they're okay? You don't trust them or we would have heard about them by now!"
Jack stood up, "Look, I have serious prejudice against all manner of things, which is not necessarily right. At the time I regarded them with one eye shut, didn't matter what they appeared to be, they were bloodsuckers therefore I didn't like them. But my attitude has gone through a bit of readjustment over the past several days." He looked at Anna and his boys did too.
She met his eyes. "I guess that should be flattering," she said quietly. "But it doesn't change the fact that there is no possible way I will go to England, in fact that happens to be the very last place on the face of this world that I want to go."
She was sitting on the bed, feet crossed with her legs pulled up against her chin. All three guys were struck by how young and vulnerable she looked, particularly since her eyes were shining with tears that wanted to fall.
Jack crossed the room and sat down beside her draping a large arm across her shoulders. He brushed her hair from her face and said, "I know you don't sweetheart. I know you're afraid, but it’s the safest thing for you right now."
She peered up into his bright green eyes. "Why?" she asked in a small voice.
"I told you the remaining female vampires are evil. They have a deep seated hatred towards any of their kind who have chosen to remain on our side, but they are outmatched in strength by males so they target females, and especially healers. The last of the females who still fought for us was of the black-haired, violet eyed, more aggressive variety. Fair haired healers like you were eliminated much earlier on. When they get wind of your existence, which is inevitable, you will be in danger. And my boys and I are not equipped to protect you. And that's only part of the problem. You're not just a female vampire, you are a breeding female which the race has not seen in well over a century. Every male of your species will want you in some way."
She frowned up at him. "But why do they have to find out about me? No one knows I exist. When I go into heat I can just go to Montana, it worked this time, and like you said it's only three times a year."
"Even if it were possible to hide your identity, we aren't going to live forever," Jack swept his hand indicating himself and his boys who were currently seated and staring down at their laps.
"But there are more vampires in Europe than there are here, wouldn't that put me in greater danger?"
"Not if you had protection."
Anna's lips were trembling now. It didn't matter if his reasoning made sense, she didn't want to go. She didn't want to leave everyone again.
"No," she said firmly.
"Anna..."
"NO! I don't want to go! I don't want to leave everything and everyone I know and love to live with vampires who may or may not be trustworthy! Even if they fight demons and don't prey on humans, I don't want to leave here!" The tears started sliding down her face and her voice shook. "I don't want to leave you."
Jack moved away from her and his tone was firm, "That isn't something you have a say in. I will be leaving to meet up with men in Los Angeles next week."
Anna felt a sharp pain of rejection in the cold set of his face and words. She jumped to her feet and ran into the bathroom slamming the door.
Josh stared daggers at his father. "You callous son of a bitch,” he growled.
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me. You just spent the last three days doing God knows what with her, and even if intercourse didn't come into it she was completely innocent before this. And now you tell her that not only do you not want her, you want to ship her off to a place that's tied to horror in her mind?" Josh's voice was beginning to rise and he got to his feet. "You are a heartless, selfish fucking asshole!"
Jack stood up and leaned in towards his son, his tone menacing. "Is that how you see me?"
Josh stood his ground, "How else can I see you? You can spout all the bullshit you want about her best interests, but in the end she's just a problem in need of a solution, instead of a girl in need of help. She doesn't fit into your life so you put her out of it, well go a-fucking-head, in fact why wait until next week, leave now! I happen to love Anna, and I won't let you bully her into doing something you deem as right the way you bully everyone else!"
Will sat silently through the exchange waiting for an explosion that would bring him in as peacekeeper. He understood his father's motivations but he also agreed that Anna deserved to be treated more gently.
Jack surprised both of them with his next words. "You're right, I am being selfish."
"You admit it?"
"Yeah. Even though I think my reasons are valid, they’re as much for me as they are for her." He stood up and went to the bathroom door, knocking softly.
The lock disengaged and he went in. She had been listening to the exchange and her face was wet with tears. She was sitting on the closed lid of the toilet and he sat down across from her on the edge of the tub.
"Tell me what you're thinking, how you're feeling," he asked gently.
"I don't know," her voice hitched, "Confused. Scared. Hurt. I don't want you to leave me." She felt her chest tighten and she bit back a sob.
"Why?" he asked softly.
She tried to convey her feelings with her eyes, but the question hung in the air. She looked at his handsome face and felt like she was being pulled apart.
"I want to be with you," she said, tensing for rejection.
"I want that to."
She blinked in surprise, then furrowed her brows and waited for the “but”.
"In fact I haven't wanted anything as much in a long, long time. Yet it isn't right. I don't want to tell you all the things you already know or expect me to say. I know how much a being despises being told what they feel, after all how can anyone possibly know better than we do what's inside our own hearts?" He reached over and ran a finger down her hairline and across her lips making her shiver. "You are so beautiful."
He withdrew his hand and looked at her sadly. "I could tell you how my heart belongs to Elena and how there will never be another for me. I could tell you that my life belongs to the cause and there's no room for anything else. But no matter how much truth there is to these things, they are not precisely what is stopping me. When I was with you for these past three days there were times that I wanted to claim you as mine so strongly it took every ounce of my will not to." He paused, looking at her, wanting her to see the sincerity of his words.
She waited and he continued. "A long time ago, when I was younger than my boys are now, I traveled through Europe on a quest for knowledge. There were so many things about our world that I wanted to learn, things that my ancestors could only allude to. It's been years since I thought about this, but because of you and all that's happened I remembered this book I came across."
He paused and looked into space, drawing the memory in closer. “It was in a museum of sorts, not the version we have here in America, but a rundown old house owned by a woman who collected unusual artifacts. It was a book of prophecies, though none that the world would ever accept as anything but the rantings of a crazy person. Even to me some of what was said seemed far-fetched. But there was one prophecy concerning a female vampire that sticks out in my mind. It said she would come forth to unite the allies of old and breathe new life into the race, and that her mate would be a warrior from another time who had lost his way but would rise up and lead. It mentioned a battle between good and evil of potentially epic proportions and it dated the fulfillment to be in the beginning of the second millennium. I don't recall anything more, but....I believe that you might be that female.” He paused again and took a breath. “And I am not that male."
Anna chewed on her lip and spoke in a small voice. "But you don't know if that was really a prophecy, you don't know if it's true."
"No. But what I do know is there is a reason this happened to you. That God has a plan for you, a higher purpose that does not include an aging hunter. You will likely live for a very, very long time, long after I'm gone. I know it's a hard thing for you to hear, that you don't want to think of losing everyone that you love, but it's something you need to face. If you continue to ignore your own kind in favor of humans, even faerians, you will end up alone. And that is unacceptable to me because I care for you deeply, and I want to make sure you're safe and have a chance at a life filled with more joy than pain."
Anna nodded miserably. She knew the truth of what he said, and that he was right. After all she had left Austin for those very reasons. In her heart of hearts she believed that the Creator must have a reason for this. And she'd always believed in a soul mate. But it was still hard for her to let everything go, to let her humanity go in a sense.
She looked at Jack and saw that his face was pained and etched with worry. She got up and knelt between his legs lying her head down on his thigh, "I know you're right. But it's really hard."
He stroked her hair. "Yes. It is."
She looked up at him and managed a weak smile.
He put his hand under her chin and leaned down to kiss her lightly on the mouth then pulled her to her feet. "If you're not ready right now it can wait. Since no one knows about you yet you would probably be safe going on to Colorado with the boys."
But not with him, she thought, he was leaving her no matter what. She stared at him and made her decision. "If you can get them to come here then I'm willing to meet them. But I'm not going there."
He nodded. "Fair enough. I'll make some calls."
Generously created for me by @son-of-satire