Redemption (Page 13)
"What is the meaning of this Calvin?" she asked quietly. "You cannot just barge in here whenever you feel like it, there are rules…"
"Rules that I established," he interrupted brusquely. He moved in on her, coming so close that she had to take a step back as he pressed against her. She’d been forced to touch him far too much over the past couple of days for her liking, she wasn’t going to do it anymore than she had to if she could avoid it. "Rules that Turner has informed me have been broken. He has confirmed that there was indeed a fight here last night."
Had he been waiting outside for everyone to leave? She wondered frantically as her gaze shot back to Calvin’s men crowded within the door of the tavern. She quickly realized that was exactly what he had been doing. Her heel hit the wall as she backed up against it.
Turner released a low moan. "I’m sorry Hannah," he said in a voice choked by the blood that trickled out of the corners of his mouth.
"It’s ok Turner," she assured him as a round of coughing shook Turner’s slender frame. William moved to help the older man but Lucas grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him away with a shake of his head. Knowing that there had been a fight, Calvin now had all the info he needed to imprison the young human.
"There was no need to hurt him," she said to Calvin.
"You lied to me when I was here last night," Calvin chided with a wave of his finger.
"Nothing happened that we couldn’t take care of." She was impressed she was able to keep the irritation and anxiety from her voice. "No one was injured and everything is fine."
"This may be your family’s place Hannah, but it is still subject to the laws and when those laws are broken I am to be told."
Her teeth ground together as she strained to maintain her composure. A part of her wanted to scream at him while the rest of her wanted to grab the others and bolt out of this room as quickly as possible. She couldn’t lose her cousin and she couldn’t stand the thought of the human being tortured when he’d had no way of knowing what he’d be walking into when he’d entered this town.
"There were no laws broken; it was simply a small scuffle that was immediately handled," she said in a choked voice.
Calvin’s gaze drifted from her to Lucas. Hannah froze as she got the distinct feeling that Calvin was a wolf circling his prey. Look away, don’t hold his gaze, she pleaded silently, but her cousin wasn’t one to back down, not even from Calvin. Not even if it meant imprisonment or death.
"I was informed you were part of the scuffle," Calvin stated.
"I was involved, yes," Lucas confirmed.
Her non-beating heart sank into her toes as a cold sweat broke out on her skin. "You’ll be coming with us, as will the human," Calvin commanded.
"Wait!" Hannah cried as she instinctively stepped between Lucas and the vampire grabbing for him.
Calvin’s guard stared at her as if she had just started blubbering gibberish when she smacked his hand away. "Hannah!" Lucas grated as he grabbed for her arm. "Hannah get out of the way."
She shook Lucas off though and pushed the guard’s hand away when he made a grab for Lucas again. William was standing in front of Kane with his bow on his back and a stake in his hand. He had a look on his face that clearly dared Kane to even try and touch him. She didn’t know where the stake had come from, but she wasn’t overly thrilled that the human was so well armed against her kind.
Her shoulders began to ache from holding Lucas back. Her head spun as the situation began to spiral out of control. If the gleam in Calvin’s eyes was any indication, this was exactly what he had been aiming for, and they were all going to find themselves in the stocks, jail, or dead before the day was over.
"What is going on here!?" her Uncle Abe demanded as he emerged from the kitchen.
"Stay back Dad!" Lucas warned.
"No!" Hannah gasped when Calvin’s hand encircled almost all of her forearm and he pulled her against his chest. It felt as if a thousand bugs were crawling over her as her flesh revolted from the touch of him. "Let go of me!"
She jerked on her arm but his grip became bruising upon her as he refused to relinquish her. "Easy Hannah, I simply would like to speak with Lucas, this human, and the other vampire that was with him last night," Calvin said. "No one has to get hurt."
It was a lie, she knew that, but there was little she could do to stop him right now. "Stop this!" Uncle Abe shouted.
"You better put that away boy," Kane growled at William.
To her utter astonishment a smile merely curved William’s mouth as he twirled the stake in his hand. Jesus, he was insane, she realized.
"I’ve taken down bigger than you," William returned.
Kane lunged toward William; somehow he managed to duck Kane as he spun away. Hannah jerked on her arm and bit back a cry of pain as Calvin’s grip began to squeeze her bone. She was tempted to lash out at him but it would only send him over the edge and sign Lucas’s death certificate if she did. If she played her cards right she might be able to get Calvin to spare him. If she didn’t, he would destroy Lucas right here and now. She kept her body in between Calvin and her cousin, but that wasn’t going to be enough to stop Calvin from taking Lucas if that’s what he decided to do.
A table scraped on the floor as William managed to get it in between him and Kane. Kane released a disgruntled sound and flipped the table into the air. Wood splintered as the table crashed against the dark wooden beams that framed the building. Throwing her hand up, Hannah ducked as splinters of wood rained down on all of them.
"Enough!" A booming voice reverberated through the room with enough force and authority to freeze everyone in place, including Calvin. Hannah glanced around rapidly as she sought the source of the voice, but it wasn’t until she spotted movement at the top of the stairs that her gaze was drawn to the man striding down the steps. Despite the awfulness of this whole situation, she couldn’t stop her mouth from dropping as the vampire William had been with last night stepped off the last step and purposefully strode toward them.