Dark Signs

19

W e had all reconvened down stairs a short time later, myself hand in hand with Vaylen. Brayden had indeed come prepared with every type, size, colour and shape of sanitary items he could find in a convenience store. He handed the plastic bag to me with an outstretched hand and a nod, never raising his eyes from the toes of his shoes.

A band of others joined him as he crossed the floor and up the stairs. All of them were dressed in white hazmat looking suits with plastic face shields and gloves.

Blue booties covered their shoes. It was all very clinical as they moved methodically through the place with buckets and bottles filled with chemicals and cleaners, mops and sponges.

Of course a vampire would have a crime scene clean-up crew on speed dial.

“Come, mon amour, let's get you cleaned up, there is a bathroom through here.” Vaylen said as he led me with a hand on my lower back through a darkened hallway into a pokey half bath with a tiny shower. I was still coated in the werewolves thick, sticky blood. A shower would be heavenly.

He turned the taps on, the water coming out brown and thick at the start, proof that this place rarely gets used.

After a minute or so, the water started running clear and steam grew thick in the room.

I stripped off Cairns duffle jacket and handed it to Vaylen who draped it over his arm.

He closed the lid on the toilet and sat down upon it, continuing to watch me intently as I stripped.

“Brayden should have bought soap.” Vaylen said in thought as I searched the tiny shower for something to clean myself off with. “Killian, mon coeur, ” Vaylen called through the door of the bathroom.

“Mmm?” Killian asked promptly, cracking the door open slightly.

“Find something for the little one to wash with. See if Brayden has something she can use.”

“On it.” He answered.

He returned quickly with a bottle of some type of cleaning soap, which Brayden had ensured would be safe for me to use. Handing it to Vaylen through the crack in the door.

“We can shower properly later, mon amour.” Vaylen promised as I stepped into the shower spray.

The pressure was less than ideal. More like a dribble than anything else, but it would do. The water cascaded over my head and body turning the shower entirely scarlet and brown.

The sight was macabre as it swirled down the drain in thick ribbons.

I stayed there scrubbing until the water ran clear.

I turned off the faucet and turned to face Vaylen who had not moved from his seat, his eyes were once again luminous and hungry as he took in my glistening body from head to toe, which was now, thankfully, completely clean.

Killian was back at the bathroom door a moment later passing through a clean towel for me to use.

I'd have to thank Brayden, that man had everything.

I held out my hand to take the towel from Vaylen but he just shook his head and stood tall.

He motioned for me to turn around. I did as directed with a roll of my eyes.

“Don't let Killian see you do that, mon petit diable,” Vaylen warned .

I huffed out a laugh. “Oh, I'm aware of what that does to Mr Bossy.” I replied curtly.

“Oh, you are nothing but trouble.” He replied darkly as he started drying my hair.

“We will have fun punishing you.”

The promise of a punishment by both he and Killian sent liquid straight between my thighs.

My breath hitched.

The towel was soft as he dried across my shoulders and down my arms.

He spun me on the spot and dried over my breasts and chest. Never stopping to play, this man, vampire, was all business.

He paid special attention to the soft curve of my stomach and swell of my hips.

Vaylen was on his knees before me as he knelt to dry my legs and feet. The sight of him on his knees made me feel strong and powerful.

“Do you like the sight of me kneeling for you, mon amour?” He asked softly as his tongue languidly traced the swell of his bottom lip.

I nodded breathlessly.

“Of course you do.” He said with a shake of his head before he rose to his full height once again.

He grabbed Cairns coat and held it open for me to shimmy myself into. He did the buttons up and tied the sash around my middle before turning and opening the door letting all the delicious, warm steam escape.

Standing just outside like boys caught eavesdropping were both Navien and Cairn. Killian was leaning against the opposite wall, his eyes trained on me.

Above us was a cacophony of scraping, scrubbing and cleaning. The stench of bleach and other chemicals stained the air.

Brayden descended the stairs, leaving his crew to do their job.

“Ready?” Killian asked as he kicked off the wall and walked toward us.

“Brayden?” Vaylen asked the man walking toward us .

I noticed now his head was no longer covered by a tightly drawn hood.

Brayden had a head full of tight blonde curls and a massive scar down the left side of his face. Four gnarly lines from his hairline down to his chin, one eye, the eye covered with the scar, was milky white, the other a deep brown.

I gasped as he finally looked at me, then to Vaylen as I got my first look at him.

He quickly lowered his face once more as if in shame.

“I'm so sorry.” I said quickly. I didn't mean to make him feel ashamed.

Brayden just looked at his boots.

“Brayden is fine, darling girl.” Nav said from beside me. “Poor kid was on the wrong side of a rogue, just like you.” Nav continued.

Brayden lifted his head, his eyes filled with hatred, a snarl lifted the side of his mouth that wasn't disfigured.

“He hasn't spoken a word since we found him.” Caz tacked on. “He's been with us for, what? A good fifty years now.”

I gasped again.

“What…?” I began to ask what he was, because he looked so young, he didn't look a day over sixteen.

“I saved him,” Vaylen replied matter-of-factly. “Found him after the cunt left him for dead.”

“Oh.” I breathed.

“I've tried to get him to go off on his own, many times. But I think he thinks he owes me.” Vaylen huffed a laugh.

Brayden nodded enthusiastically.

“See?” Vaylen gestured defeatedly with a smirk.

Brayden just lowered himself into a mockery of a bow before jingling the car keys in his hand.

“Yes, right.” Vaylen replied and motioned for him to lead the way.

Brayden crossed in front of me, I reached out for him, but pulled up short before I actually touched him.

His head swung to mine, his gaze dropping to my hand.

I curled my fingers back into my hand, feeling not quite accepted by him just yet.

“Thank you,” I breathed .

His head cocked to the side.

“F-for everything you, you brought me.” I continued, unsteadily.

Brayden just nodded, turned and continued out the door.

“He appreciated that, dove.” Killian said as he walked past me with a pat on the ass and followed Brayden down the stairs into the darkness.

Cool. Cool, cool cool. I sucked in a breath and released it noisily.

“Come.” Vaylen said and pulled me down into the dark staircase with Navien and Cairn hot on our heels.

We all piled into the large black SUV with Brayden in the driver's seat and took off into the night.

∞∞∞

The drive back from Jericho had felt a lot quicker than it had the first time we made the journey.

The boys had joked, jested and chatted between themselves while I kept mostly quiet. Every now and then nodding to a question I hadn't heard being asked, or smiling politely when prompted with a ‘love?’ or ‘darling?’.

My mind was still in that dilapidated building in Jericho.

So much had been said, so much had been uncovered, so much exposed.

Death.

Blood.

Violence.

The unnerving knowledge that I felt absolutely no guilt for the part I played in ending someone's life so brutally.

‘ Sometimes the worst kind of monsters are men’.

And wasn't that the truth.

But there wasn't just the threat of that monster.

I was currently surrounded by a different type.

Were they more deadly than the werewolf? I had absolutely no doubt .

But they were not deadly to me.

Killian was right, my entire view of the world had been altered, shattered and pieced back together again, slightly askew and warped.

From the moment these men got their hands on me the pull to them was so strong, they were under my skin. Inside of me so deeply there was no chance of escape.

I didn't want to.

All the dark signs kept leading me back to them.

I was theirs.

“And we are yours, mon petit diable,” Vaylen whispered against the shell of my ear.

His voice, his closeness sent shivers across my skin and heat to pool between my thighs.

The whole car rumbled with a deep growl which emanated from four distinct points around me. Navien, Cairn, Killian and Vaylen.

“The scent of your desire for us is utterly delicious, dove.” Killian whispered against my other ear. His hand found my naked leg beneath Cairn's coat, his fingers gently tracing lines down and back along the inside length of my thigh.

“Would you two leave the poor little poppet alone?” Cairn called from the squishy back seat behind us.

If looks could kill, Cairn would be dead twice, three times, over with the scathing look that both Killian and Vaylen shot him over their shoulders.

Cairn raised his hands in surrender and sunk back into his seat with a shit-eating grin plastered across his face.

I wasn't alone in my bratty, chaotic outbursts it seemed.

But nonetheless, Killian indeed lifted his hands from my thigh and settled for twining his fingers through my own and looked out into the dark night sky.

Vaylen had one of his long arms draped across the back of the seat, his hand resting along Killian's shoulder. His fingers lazily played with the short stubble of hair at the base of Killian's head. Killian shivered every now and then and melted into Vaylen's touch.

The other hand rested between my knees, squeezing gently, his thumb drawing slow circles across my flesh.

It had stopped raining now, but that rain had turned to black ice upon the road. Brayden took the slick turns and icy stretches of road like a pro, with absolutely no slips or skids.

We had passed my apartment and carried on into the heart of the city, the nightclub district until Brayden pulled us slowly into a narrow thoroughfare which put us at the back entrance to Dark Signs.

Navien was the first to exit, pulling open the car door for Vaylen.

Vaylen stepped out and then held his hand out for me. I took it, he placed a hand gingerly on my lower back and led me and the rest of the boys into the employee access of the bar.