Andrew: Lanning’s Leap: Erotica Shapeshifter Romance (Lanning's Leap Book 5) (7 page)

“You’re harmless for the most part.” Cyrus said nothing. “Andrew lives here. He’s gone to get dressed with his mate. I’m sorry, but I can’t invite you in.”

“No harm. I was entertained. The young human…your father did right by what he did for her. In the coming weeks, days I would think, things are going to come to a head for her, and she will need the boost he has given her.” Nic asked him what he meant. “I cannot tell you, my friend. You know that as well as I. My soul is no longer mine, and I must do the bidding of one that holds me.”

“I can still talk to my family for you. You know that they’d do anything for you.” Cyrus shook his head, and Nic felt his pain. “You’re here for him then? He has a letter for Laci.”

“I do and he does. I am sorry about this. I have no say over what he commands me to do.” Nic nodded and turned when Andrew came into the hall with Laci. “When I have gone, will you please explain to them? I should like to, someday if it is possible, come back to talk to them. When there are no ill feelings between us.”

“I will.”

Cyrus nodded and smiled at Laci. Nic looked at her too and wondered if she had any idea what or even how much magic his dad had given her. He was sure that Cyrus did as well as the rest of them, but Laci was going to have to learn. Then Nic had a thought. Did his dad know what was coming?

“My lady.” Cyrus bowed before Laci, and she took a step back from the door. The vampire nodded as if he understood and had expected the shun, but only smiled at her. “I have a letter for you. It is from my sire.”

“Your father? I don’t know who that is. Why would he—?” Andrew must have told her because she became embarrassed and told Cyrus she was sorry. “I’m new to this whole magic stuff. And shifters and things like that in general. Please forgive me. But I still have no idea who your maker is. Nor why he would be writing to me.”

“I am but the messenger my lady, please remember that when you read this.” Cyrus looked at Andrew as he continued. “Might I suggest that you do not invite me in? I should like to be within the warmth of your family if only for a moment, but I think it best that you do not. My intentions are not worthy today. I have been set on a task that is not of my making, and I don’t know what will happen once she has touched this letter. The magic on it is connected to me somehow, I think.”

“He wants you to hurt her. Or something else.” Cyrus held out the envelope and said nothing. Andrew nodded and spoke again. “I will kill you if this causes any harm to her. I’m a mite on edge today, what with all that has been going on lately. So as you said, you aren’t worthy today and you try anything, I will kill you.”

“And I would not fight you. Life since I have been awakened has not been what I had expected. My past is...gone for me.” Nic watched the two men, and when Laci took the envelope, he was almost afraid for her. Cyrus spoke again, quietly this time. “Careful, my lady. Once opened it cannot be closed again.”

“I’m not going to open it at all. You delivered it under duress, right?” Cyrus nodded. “Well, you did your part. Now I’m going to do mine.”

When she asked for a lighter, his dad came forward and put out his hand. There was a flame in his palm and Laci only stared at it for several seconds before she started to put the letter in it. But she looked at Cyrus again.

“You should go now. I don’t want him to ask you if I read it or something and you have to lie.” Cyrus told her that he couldn’t lie to his master. “Oh. Well, you should go anyway. What you don’t see for sure, you won’t have to tell him, correct?”

Cyrus smiled. “You are much more brilliant than he believes you to be. Nay, I cannot tell him what I do not know.” He bowed before her again. “I am in your debt, my lady. So long as I live.”

“And I yours.” He started to fade out, but she called him back. “Cyrus, if you need me or anyone in this family for any reason, call to us. We will help you as you have me today. Because even though I only just met you, I don’t think you’re as bad as the man that holds you right now.”

After he was gone, Nic looked at Laci with new eyes. He was sure that she had no idea what she’d just done. Or what gift had been given to her from Cyrus. The trust of a vampire and a promise. She too had given Cyrus more in these last few minutes than he’d had in all of his dark existence.

“This envelope? What kind of shit might be in it?” Nic told Laci that he had no idea. “But you’re sure, like I am, that whatever is in it, it’s going to be bad. And that, like he said, if I open it, it’s a done deal?”

“Yes.” She looked at the envelope and Nic spoke softly to her. “Cyrus works for and is commanded by a powerful and old vampire. He is...let’s just say that he is on the verge of his peers doing something about him. His name is Martin, and he is known for his cruelty as well as his sadistic ways. When Cyrus returns to him, and he has no choice in the matter, he will pay for not coming into the house and doing to you whatever he was told. At great risk to himself, he has saved you.”

“I’m going to help him. I don’t know how, but I’m going to. He didn’t just save me, but he also saved this family if I’m not mistaken. Being invited into this home would have given him access to them all, wouldn’t it?” Nic nodded, impressed more so by her thinking. Laci looked at his dad again. “I’m still not very happy with you, but if I burn this in your hand, will you be hurt? I don’t want anyone to be injured because of this.”

“Nay, I will not be harmed. His magic, whatever it might be, cannot do anything to me.” Laci asked his dad if she would be hurt. “I will not allow that either. My flame, and the magic with it, is stronger than anything he could make. Even should it be something from Sonya, it will have no effect on anyone here.”

The envelope touched the flame and it burned red. The magic in it, unstable because it had not been used properly, burned hotly then was gone. The ash, red like blood, lay on his dad’s palm for several seconds before it too disappeared as the envelope had.

“Dad?” Kendra looked at him when his dad was so still. “Dad, what is it? What did it say?”

It wasn’t until his mom walked over and touched his arm that his dad came out of the trance-like state he’d been in. His face was unreadable, but his stiff body wasn’t. Whatever had been in the envelope had not been anything good. And when he took Mom into his arms and held her tightly, Nic found himself stiffen, readying for whatever happened next.

“You were right not to read it.” Laci nodded while his dad explained. “Had you done so, even with the bit of magic that I gave you, you would have suffered horribly. And one who touched you to render aid would have suffered as well. Sonya has hired Martin to keep you from breeding...having a child. She thought that a union between you and Andrew would be stronger than anything we have seen so far, and that a child between the two of you would be stronger still.”

“She wanted me dead so I’d not have a baby? How fucking sick is this bitch? And where is she?” His dad explained that she was dead. “And yet she still pisses me off. What kind of things did that man have to do to me? He said that the magic was attached to him. What would me reading this or even opening the envelope have done to him?”

His dad looked around. Nic thought perhaps he wasn’t going to answer her. Or maybe he didn’t want to. But when he held Mom in his arms again, Nic wasn’t even sure he wanted to know. And he’d been around a very long time and had seen things that would have killed a lesser man.

“Cyrus was to rape you, here in this house while Andrew watched. Not only unable to come to your aid, but none of us could have. Then when he was finished, he was to dismember you, in small enough pieces, mind you, that he could then feed you to your mate and there would have been nothing he could have done about it.” Laci leaned into Andrew as his dad continued. “The magic that was there would have allowed the vampire to not only do as he was told, but it would have commanded him to do these things to you without his consent. When he returns to his master, he will be most displeased with him.”

“Can I save him?” Nic started to tell her that was a bad idea when Dad said that she could. “How? How can I save this man from the monster that created him?”

“Martin did not create young Cyrus. That is important for you to know. But as for Martin, you must kill him.” Laci stared at him, waiting like the rest of them for Dad to tell her how to do that. “The magic that you have now, it’s very powerful. Much stronger than the monster that owns Cyrus. Call to him. Once he is here, kill him.”

Before Nic could tell her again what a bad idea this was, Misha appeared in the room. The man looked frantic, his dress sloppy. Nic drew his swords, as did his father and mother.

“It’s time. The baby. It’s coming. Hurry.” He stood there for several seconds and looked ready to fall apart when Misha spoke again. “Christ. I’m going to be a dad soon.”

Chapter 6

Andrew paced. And when he sat down, one of his brothers began the short trip up and down the small room. It felt as if they’d been here for hours, but he knew, after consulting his watch for the tenth time in as many minutes, it had only been less than one. But that made it no less scary for the time.

“She’s going to be just fine.” He nodded at his mom. “Do sit down, Andrew. You’re wearing a hole in the floor. And please tell your brothers to do the same.”

Max was the only one that was sitting quietly. The women, including Laci, had gone down to the cafeteria, as well as a quick stop at the gift shop. Thomas was looking like a man who was going to a firing squad. Rider had long since left them to pace the hallway and to bother the nurses at the desk every two minutes. Carter was sitting on the edge of his seat like at any moment he was going to get up and resume the path he’d been taking. And Phillip was turning the pages of a magazine. He knew that he hadn’t seen a single thing in the stupid book because he’d been dividing his glaring between the clock and the door. Andrew went to sit with Max.

“You nervous?” He said that he was not. “You know something that we should know? I mean, like the baby is going to be born soon?”

“He’ll be here soon. I don’t think there is very much choice in the matter, do you?” Andrew laughed when he did. “The baby and mother are fine. Hannah is moving along nicely and the little boy will be born when he comes into the world. I can’t tell the time because I’ve had little contact with him.”

“You can talk to the babies?” Max told him that they all could if they listened. “I’m not sure what I’d even say to a baby. Can they even understand us?”

“They understand love, hate. Even when they are not wanted. The little boy, he knows that he’s going to be loved and taken care of. And he’s just as nervous as the rest of you about coming into the world.” Andrew wasn’t sure about that. He wasn’t so much nervous as he was terrified as to what the baby would be like.

Instead of getting up to pace again, he leaned back on the seat and tried to get his mind to relax. He thought of the store that his brother Carter and he were going to open in a few weeks. Bits and Pieces was set to open on the first of April. Yes, he’d not been thrilled about the date and what it implied, but Carter thought that with it being the first, they’d get more people coming in that were curious than anyone who wanted to make fun of them. Sounded like a plan.

Inventory had started coming in yesterday. Boxes and boxes of leather straps, buttons as well as hinges and pieces of glass for glass work. Then there had been the scavenger’s hunts that the two of them had been on. He thought perhaps that had been the most fun.

Going to garage sales, auctions, and even tag sales, they’d picked up broken furniture, parts to things they had no idea what it had been used for. Chandeliers and stained glass items. All for the parts, even some boxes and crates of odds and ends that had specialty pieces in them, like keys and drawer pulls. They’d even begun to collect doors with handles on them that were nearly as beautiful as the wood they were in.

Just an hour ago he’d been notified that someone had a house full of furniture that they wanted to sell. Most of it, he’d been told, was out of shape. Some of it only had the legs to a sofa or the drawers all gone from a cabinet. They would take Max with them when they went to see if there were things he could sell in his own antique shop.

“Mom is going to talk to Laci today about working for me.” Andrew said he’d mentioned it a couple of times too. “She will be great. Aunt Laci can sell anything, I think. I’ve heard about her sales commissions.”

“I’m getting it all returned to her. I can’t take it from those that benefited from it, but I’m getting all of hers returned to her. It amounted to several thousand dollars.” Max nodded. “Why Laci, Max? Why do you want her to come and work for you? Murph said you had it in your head she was going to even before she became a part of our family.”

“I don’t know.” Andrew said he didn’t believe that. “There are things that I can see that are as clear as day. Not a lot of things, but things that are coming or going to happen to someone. But then there are things that I can only see parts of. Segments of something coming, but not necessarily who or what. And when it’s about me or my mom, it’s murky and unclear. Frustrating actually. Grandma thinks it’s because I can change it if I need to. But I’m not sure how that would work either.”

“This thing with the vampire, do you know how it ends?” Max said that he didn’t, but he knew that Cyrus wasn’t going to hurt anyone. “But this other guy, Martin, his master, he will?”

“I believe that he will try. Other than that, I’m not really sure. I do know that he and Aunt Laci have a sort of showdown. But the outcome? I don’t know. And as Grandpa Nildale said, he is not his maker. I don’t know why yet, but that is important. Grandma told me that since you’ve bonded with Aunt Laci that she can’t be killed like other humans would be, which will be good.” Max sat there for several seconds. “Do you think she can summon him here? Aunt Laci. I mean, to where she is? I think I’d like to see that. Maybe when she does it she can make sure that I’m not in bed.”

Andrew started to tell him that he’d wake him for that, but he saw Misha coming down the hall. He wasn’t so much walking as he was sort of dancing. Andrew smiled. Misha’s son was here. And when they all stood up, he picked up their mom and swung her around the room, laughing. Sitting her down, he held her close to him and looked at them.

“It’s a boy and he’s perfect.” He handed him his cell phone, and Andrew saw the little face before the others started crowding around him. “Nine pounds four ounces and nineteen inches long. All his fingers and toes too.” He kissed Mom again. “Hannah is doing great. The doctor told us he’d never had such a wonderful delivery and said he’d bring all our children into the world.”

He looked pretty good. Even the shots of Hannah holding her son were good, if not a little blurry. Andrew supposed that he’d not be any better. It was a very emotional time for all of them. The phone was passed along to the others, and he hugged Misha when his turn came and felt the love of family stronger in that moment than he had his whole life. Then the others showed up, and it was a Lanning free for all.

Laci stayed back at first. When the hugs started to include wives of his brothers, she even tried to hide behind him. But Misha wasn’t having it. They were family, he told her, and she was now a part of it. Andrew’s cat didn’t even get pissy when Misha kissed her on the cheek. Andrew was glad that they were all there for this, and was thankful that everything had turned out well for his brother and sister-in-law.

Crowding into the room later, when Hannah had been put in her own room, they all hugged her as well. Andrew noticed that his mom kept touching the new baby but not picking him up. He went to stand by her when she put her hands behind her back.

“Just pick him up.” She shook her head. “Well if you don’t, I’m going to. I want to feel him in my arms, and I know that you do.”

“I do but...well, it’s been a really long time, Andrew. I’m not sure of all the rules just yet.” He asked her what rules. “Oh my goodness, there are so many now days. Did you know that they don’t use powder on babies anymore? Not even when you take them out of the bath. And soap? There are special soaps that you use on babies now that I’ve never heard of. What if they have a special way of holding them now? What if I mess up?”

Misha stepped to the little cradle and picked up the baby before he could tell his mom what a crock of shit that was. He wasn’t sure, but thought that Mom had used powder on them as well as any soap that had been on the market. None of them had any kind of reaction that he knew of.

Misha held out his son to Mom. “Mom, I’d like for you to meet your second of many grandchildren. His name is Kelly James Lanning, my son.” When she seemed hesitant about taking him, Andrew gave her a little push. “You don’t want to hold him?”

“I do. I really do.” When she took him in her arms, Kelly opened his eyes and looked right at her. Andrew noticed that he had the most startling blue eyes that he’d ever seen. Even more brilliant than Misha’s. “Oh Misha, he looks so much like you did. Maybe even prettier.”

“He’s handsome, not pretty, Mom. Boys are handsome.” Mom nodded at Misha as she pulled the blue bonnet off Kelly’s head. “Hannah was surprised by how much hair he has. And Daniel too. He said that he’d never seen a newborn that might need a haircut in a couple of days.”

It was long and thick. Andrew touched his own fingers to the top of his little head and thought it was at least three to four inches long, and as curly as he’d seen Hannah’s be when she let it down. The little guy was going to be a big hit with the women when he got older, Andrew was almost afraid to see him grow up.

“I’m so glad you named him for his grandmother. The poor dear missed so much. I’ll have to do double duty now, I suppose.” Misha laughed when Andrew did at his mom’s proclamation. “When is Carole going to get here, do you know?”

“She’s on her way now. I guess there were a couple of things she wanted to finish up before coming back. The house is sold now, and she’s got the business running the way she wants again as well.” Andrew asked if she was going to stay here on a permanent basis. “Yes. Other than traveling back and forth to her company, I think she’s done with the other stuff. Not having Howard keeping her locked away, Carole has been blooming I guess. Her husband should have died a long time ago.”

Andrew couldn’t have agreed more. Kelly Little, Hannah’s mom, had been killed when Hannah had been born. Then Hannah had been kidnapped by the murderer and had spent her life being abused. After it was discovered who her grandparents were, arrangements were made for them to meet, but her grandfather, Howard, had other plans in mind when he came to see his only granddaughter. Andrew was glad that things had worked out.

He found Laci sitting with Max and Murph and wondered what sort of trouble they were up to now. When Laci looked up at him, Andrew thought that he could gladly leave all of this, find a nice dark room, and make her scream out his name over and over. He was just going to suggest that when she stood up and moved toward him. Andrew followed her when she took his hand and led him out of the room.

~~~

Martin was pissed. But he thought, for now anyway, that he was holding onto his rage pretty well. The worthless piece of shit in front of him hadn’t given him what he wanted. And Martin thought by now, everyone would know that he always got what he wanted.

“You gave it to her, the envelope that I gave you, you handed it to Laci?” He said that he had. Several times now, but he wasn’t getting the answers that he wanted and he was pretty sure that Cyrus knew it. “Then why am I not happy with the results? She was to die. By your hand. The spell in that envelope was there so that you’d be responsible for her murder and no one would connect it to me. Tell me what you did. What happened?”

“I do not know, my lord. I handed it to her as you said for me to, then I left.” Martin lashed out at Cyrus and was pissed when he didn’t whimper or cry out when his magic tore into his flesh. “My lord, you are aware, are you not, that Lady Sonya is dead?”

Martin knew that. It had been all over the magical world that the great and powerful Sonya had been murdered for no reason. Well, Martin thought there might have been one or two reasons that the queen had killed her, but he didn’t think she should have died like she had. To have been burned to death by her own magic.... Well, Martin was going to have a care from now on who he pushed his magic at. There was no point in getting himself hurt. And now with Sonya out of the way, he could move into her territory and take over where she had failed and make it his own.

“Sonya was a great lost to us all.” He looked around the room at his servants, daring any of them to gainsay him. “She was a great lost to us all, was she not?”

Every one of them nodded, like puppets with strings. Martin looked at the bleeding body before him and was disgusted. No one was going to think they were more magical than him, and no one more powerful when it came to ruling his people. Martin ruled not with an iron fist but one made of diamonds and stone. He knew those things were much stronger than a simple metal, like iron.

Now what to do about Cyrus. He couldn’t kill him. He wanted to, almost on a daily basis, but it wasn’t within his power. Cyrus didn’t belong to him. He worked for him, even did his bidding, but Martin hadn’t made him. Cyrus only thought he had. And Martin was never going to tell him. If he killed the man before him, then his own master, more powerful and greater than anyone Martin had ever met, would come to him. He’d know where he was and kill him without Martin ever being able to explain himself.

“You’re to go to your room and you are not to feed for a week.” Cyrus said nothing. Not that he was allowed, but Martin wanted to hear him beg. Or at the very least look up at him with that questioning look he had. “And then, maybe then, I will allow you to come and work for me again. Be gone.”

When he simply disappeared, Martin started to stand and see what had happened. There was no way that he’d developed that power. Martin couldn’t even do that as yet, and he’d been around for centuries. The art of transportation was something that he’d never been able to conquer. But he would. Martin looked at his harem and decided that he’d treat himself for not murdering Cyrus.

“Come here.” Two of the women that he’d changed recently started to back away from him. “I said to come here.”