Son of Ra Read online

  Cas impassively stated, “Your father had me keeping an eye on you. I was to make sure you left alive and in one piece.”

  “My father and you know each other?”

  “Yes!”

  “And does he know that I’m here—with you—alone,” I insisted he tell me some little secrets I knew I’d get the answers for. He held out my phone and showed my father's text that he knew I was with Thorn and safe. But he didn't give me back my phone.

  “Yes! Now let’s get you some rest. Tomorrow will be busy.”

  The relentless Vampire who wouldn’t stop was shutting me down. “Busy with what?” I asked.

  “Training.”

  “Training for what?”

  “Tomorrow.” He held his hand out for me to take. I left it and walked off trotting a bit fast for effect and stopped in the doorway looking left and right. Never once did I let go of my dagger. I turned right around and ran into him. My hands flew up instantly and landed on his chest, releasing my weapon. I would normally have moved back to a dagger, but never had I let it go either. By now, if in battle mode, I would have one in his neck, but something had a hold on me with this guy. He is warm to the touch. Mistake number one. Instead of moving my hands I ask, “Why are you warm?”

  I looked up. Mistake number two. His eyes sparkled and darkened in the light. Most of the candles have blown out on their own and very little light was left in the room. And anyway this was the hallway, yet I can see his eyes with perfect clarity.

  I moved back now reeling my overly observant eyes away from the eye candy he was to me. I knew if he could hear my thoughts and could surely hear how loud my heart was racing. He pointed left. I walked. He stopped me with a hand on my shoulder in front of the second room down the long corridor. He opened the door with his other hand.

  I’m only warm to you.

  “Why?”

  Tomorrow.

  I sighed and huffed all at the same time as I slammed my body into the door as it closed on him.

  What a—

  Whoa! This room. Candles lined the walls. The same picture of the sun hung above the four-poster bed. A lit bathroom was visible from the door with a walk in bath and shower. Even my room at home wasn’t this laid out.

  I only had my clothes on me. I screamed in my head, What am I supposed to wear? I can't stay in this. I found the dresser full of my own clothes after he didn't answer. My favorite t-shirt and jeans were lying in the top drawer. And help me now, the second drawer had my unmentionables. Did Cas put them here? His name alone sent shivers up my spine. Thorn. I wondered what his real name is. I know Thorn and Cassius and Cas, but nothing else. That will be my first question tomorrow. If I hadn’t been so busy looking at his hot bod maybe I could remember his name.

  In the third drawer I found my yoga pants and tanks. He had everything. It was strangely eerie, but comforting. My father trusted him.

  And I hated that it was exciting. This guy knew everything about me from the start and he wasn’t afraid of me or running away. But he’s a Vampire. What does that really mean if I’m trying to get the world to stop fighting and come together? Didn’t I contemplate being with Calum? CALUM! I haven’t thought of him hardly at all. Because this tall dark and really amazing guy just swooped me up and landed me straight into his lair. And I didn’t protest much.

  I know I should feel horrible, but there is something about him I want to know more about. I’ve never really known but two other guys really and now I feel I’m making headway on how they tick a little more. I think.

  I had a sudden feeling of being really full. I felt like I’d drank an entire gallon of water. I felt satisfied...or I thought it. It went away just as fast.

  I thought about what all my friends might be doing to find me. Where my father might be and why he sent a Vampire, the evils of our factions, to “save” me.

  I did save you.

  Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! I dropped my shoes. STOP IT RIGHT NOW!

  He let me hear him laugh and then was gone just as fast. I had to master this closing off he seemed about to do. I know it’s called telepathy. But with only one other?

  It is really hard to stop thinking.

  I worried about Szar at the school and if anyone was hurt. That’s another thing I want to ask him in the morning. I couldn’t really sleep here.

  I cautiously laid my knives on the sink beside me and took a fast as lightning shower with both doors locked and my clothes at arms length. I spread myself out on the top of the bed with yoga pants, a tank, and my knives positioned at the ready. I intended to not sleep, but fell out around four o'clockish only to be woken at five o'clock a.m. by a knock on the door.

  I sat up alert with knives in both hands and two others turned ready.

  He opened the dang door. I could have been naked.

  I knew you weren’t.

  How?

  “Sarah, the night maid, checked on you a half hour ago.”

  “Oh!” How did I miss her?

  “She’s more stealth than help sometimes.”

  He was standing over the bed now watching only my eyes. I looked down at my ruffled tank and realized my marks were on display. I hastily pulled it down as if he hadn’t seen it. If he had, he wasn’t giving that information out.

  “Rathorth.”

  What?

  “My real name.”

  “So Thorn is a nickname so to speak. Rathorth. Did I say it right?” His cheeks actually blushed. Can they do that?

  “I’m not hungry right now, therefore my cheeks could theoretically flush.”

  Oh! I thought you said your name was Cassius? The Vampire. Vampire diets will also make the top of my ask list.

  “Cassius Rathorth.”

  “Last name?” Who are you?

  “Later.”

  Harrumph!

  “Your friends are fine. They all made it back to their living quarters without any serious injuries. They think you are safely hidden. Your brother too.”

  I doubt Calum thinks I’m safe.

  He scrunched up his face.

  “You listened to me all night?”

  “I can’t help it. I can block you out some, but your thoughts come to me as easily as my own.”

  “Then why didn’t I hear you all night?”

  “Actually, you did. I slipped twice. Once, when I was thirsty. And second when you were questioning my motives for taking you last night.”

  This is going to be freaking great. I can’t even shower without you invading my brain.

  Nor I.

  Really? My breathing picked up I noticed. I told myself to knock it down. Control my thoughts. He can even hear me talking to myself. I'm going to check myself into the looney bin if I make it through all this. I dared a look to confirm it. So smug!

  “Um, I can block it for about fifteen to twenty minutes before I’m too weak.”

  “How? Teach me?” He seemed reluctant. “You have an unfair advantage. Besides, I’m still here and don’t think for one minute that I couldn’t have gotten out of here last night.”

  “I know!” he smiled like the devil. He has dimples.

  He closed his mouth too quickly. “Teach me.”

  Get dressed and I’ll teach you in the Sun Room as you call it. You know which one that is?

  I guessed easily. I pulled on my jeans and a green princess sequenced t-shirt. My heaven! My knives were tucked neatly in their places. If he really knew me, he knew where they were.

  I half ran to the Sun Room and slid in the door where he stood on the balcony again. It wasn’t light out yet, so his dark navy blue shirt was black to me until I was up close enough to see that he really had changed his clothes from the night before.

  He didn’t turn. “Close your eyes.”

  “No.”

  “Close them.” He walked up closer than I wanted him to be, insistent. I am not good with orders. But if he knew me, he knew that too. For some ungodly reason, I complied with his directive.

  �
��Now, find a quiet place in your life where you chose religiously to just think.”

  “Place?” He didn’t answer so I just imaged what I could. “Got it!” I thought of the garden back home I’d hide in and lay listening to the brook water swirl by. It was peaceful, quiet, and away from everything in the palace. I’d—

  “Anastacia.” My shoulder rocked back.

  I opened my eyes feeling dizzy. I grabbed hold of his warmth.

  “You did it. You blocked out my screaming at the top of my subconscious mind.”

  “I did. How?” I was really drained. And a bit not sure if I wanted to block him out.

  “You put yourself in a quiet place where no one could find you,” Cas said low and too sweet. His voice was always deep and sultry sounding.

  “What about the ring? Doesn’t it do the same?” I have a feeling it does more than block. He has it for a reason. Does he know that Calum has one also?

  He frowned. “Yes to both your thoughts. I can’t find you when you’re in danger and that I can’t handle.”

  “Then why did Dr. Green want me to have it?”

  “Dr. Green doesn’t always know what’s best. They want to make sure you still have your free will. I won’t take that from you.”

  Okay! “Do I get it back?”

  “When you know exactly how and when to use it.”

  “When is that?”

  “We’ll see. Time for training.”

  He held his hand out for me to lead. “I don’t know where we’re going.”

  Turn right, down the stairs, and in the only door to your right that leads down.

  Is this the dungeon where you sleep?

  No, my bed was on the opposite wall of where you laid your head last night.

  Maddening!

  What is?

  Oh nothing. Uh! Blocking, blocking, blocking!

  “That’s another way of doing it!” he chuckled under his breath.

  He opened the door letting me step into the hallway.

  Chapter Five

  A woman is the only thing that I am afraid of…

  I am completely and madly in love with this room. Heaven on earth!

  “Self inflicted or the giver?”

  “Huh?”

  “You enjoy the pain or dishing it out?”

  “Neither, Thorn. I enjoy my thrills in other ways.” That didn’t come out like I planned. My cheeks warmed. “I mean, I simply enjoy the sound that the wind makes when the blade sizzles through the air towards my target that I assure you, I never miss.” I wasn’t done. I walked towards him angry. “I get a thrill when the whistle of my arrow makes a split opening my opponent’s body. I tremble at the thought of pegging my target with the sharpest pebble in the sack gouging out marks of the targets predecessors. Like knives to shoulder blades.” My finger was up and targeted into his chest and I had him backed up to the wall. What was with this boy? He gets me so mad. Pushes all my buttons.

  “Well,” he watched down at my finger, “I can see perhaps I’ve met my match.”

  “Not hardly.” I didn’t know what he’d considered himself referencing, but I sure wasn’t going to ask. His lip moved upward to one side. His eyes blinked once and the yellow in his eyes danced brilliantly. I looked up at the ceiling to distract myself from picturing how close he might get in a sparring ring.

  There are lights in here, right?

  “Only block the sunlight.” He was bent over picking something up. I was freaking staring at the every part of the back of him. When he stood slowly and grinned it was a signal that he freaking knew.

  Try blocking!

  Blocking! Blocking! Blocking!

  He walked across the arena like room out of my direct view and back on the tools at hand. I could get lost in here and never leave. My thoughts turned back to where I was and what all I could do in a place like this.

  “You’d get hungry.”

  “But I’d die happy,” I clipped my words.

  “Would you?” he challenged my happiness. Or the death part?

  “What would you know about my happiness in life? I don’t know any other life.”

  “Maybe I know more than you give me credit. However, I don’t see me convincing you of much, Kissa. Your tough exterior doesn’t match the inside. You should let others see your light more. It shines brighter than most would guess.” Cas stood still and watched my face for reactions. His mind opened for the slightest second trying to compare my facial expressions to my thoughts.

  “And I suppose you’ve seen a lot of lights in your time. Conquered many?” What was I asking and why did I care?

  He answered anyway stopping to hold the knives he’d picked up, “Nope, no lights in my eternal darkness. You’re the first and only sun in my sky.” He mumbled more under his breath and without super Hunter ears, I couldn’t hear them. Darn! I wanted to make him repeat it, but I was chicken.

  It would be nice to combine powers. I once thought I could hear better than any, but Calum challenged that.

  As if backing up his know-all about me attitude he surprised me with, “You have chocolate!”

  He walked to a drawer by a sink and cabinet with glass goblets shimmering through it. He pulled out the drawer and tossed a golden wrapped bar of chocolate I couldn’t identify the brand of.

  How did you know?

  He shrugged indifferently.

  This was way out of control. And he wasn’t telling. How would he now I needed chocolate before a fight? It was my drug when it came to sugar highs and an adrenaline rush. Sure, I could live without it, but I wouldn’t want too.

  I walked to the knives target area keeping check with the familiar buzz that moved through my chest and raced through my arms. I had to choke back the excitement of the coming slice my knives made in the wood. I had a slight panic when I realized how easily I was letting my guard down for the thrill of beating someone else but not on my turf. Didn’t I do some of the same at the Hunter school? Is it necessarily weakness or the realization that I’m not alone?

  I pulled #1 and #2 from its place even though he had other knives for me, and readied. I “cat stanced” as Calum called it and found my targets dead on.

  “What’s next?”

  “Again!” Cas called out.

  “Why?”

  “All of them.” He looked at my stomach. He freaking knew everything.

  I stepped to retrieve my knives and he moved quicker than I could take one step landing my knives into my hand. Vampire fast.

  Dizzied by the quickness I told him, “Whoa, Superman!”

  “It comes in handy with opening the doors of higher ups and getting chocolate for certain individuals who require it for their heightened adrenaline rushes.” He was so sarcastic. I couldn’t say I wasn’t intrigued by the quick-witted comebacks. Most were that forthcoming with me and he seem to be full of it. I ignored the chocolate he tried to hand to me.

  Higher ups. Harrumph! “Whose house is this?”

  He ignored me. Was I just a “higher up” in his eyes?

  “Hardly, Kissa. You happen to have been born into a life you didn’t choose, but everything at this point is completely your choice.”

  “And you chose your path?” I rolled my eyes at the continued aversion to comparing me to a cat. He wasn’t the first.

  “No! It was chosen for me.”

  “And you have no choice in what’s to come?”

  “No, you make that choice for me.” He whispered it with a hint of fear wafting off him. Hmm! I didn’t want to know yet.

  I kept his gaze and let it linger there while I took the knives from his open hands. I never left his gaze as I bent back slightly to retrieve #3 and #4. I removed #5 and placed it beside #6. He already knew it was there.

  Stepping even closer to him with a mere three inches between us, I keep my eyes steady on him and arched my back slightly. The amber flecks in his eyes didn’t move whispering dangerous things. The gold and black whispered dangerous things. I know my thrill was
the scream that made my enemy flinch enough for the kill time, but he was not my enemy. I think.

  Without the scream, I was unforeseen. I counted in my head. Hmmm, if he were my enemy, he’d have heard me. My time at the Hunter school helped. Interesting thought to ponder later. Could others hear me? He says no, but…

  My inner scream belted out, while my body barely moved with a quiet prowess. All six, dead on! My enemy would not have seen my #5 and #6. They’d already be dead.

  He didn’t react. Nor did I. He stood scarily still making me want to fidget. Nope! Your move first, Romeo.

  He blinked a couple of times jumped like a praying mantis in retreat and retrieved my knives not handing them back. Then he ignored my reach to manhandle my personal possessions. He reached back with MY knives only to fixate to mine. The count off in his head began in his head still laying those black orbed suns on mine. Release.

  I left his gaze for only seconds to see his mark. Perfect as mine.

  Impressed, but what else can you do? Not that I care. There was something I didn’t know sitting on the edge of my thoughts and it somehow was very important. I’d never seen anyone do what I could do. Calum came close.

  He walked to the bow range, picked a bow and handed it to me. He picked another remaining as a stationary distraction just to my left, handing me two arrows and keeping two for himself.

  Do you know what to do?

  Do you? I laughed inside.

  He arched. I followed. Inside I heard him count and he heard mine. One. Two. Three. Release.

  Dead center, like twin trees falling in the forest for no one to hear but the other trees.

  Impossible.

  Is it?

  Again?

  He arched back. I felt my devil rise up in my chest and pull out its inner coy can’t wait to make you sweat side that likes to watch others squirm in my grasp. I’d use my advantages when I could, right? It worked on the Hunter.

  He began to count. I waIked a little closer still. I waited for the TWO to softly end and…

  Are you going to kiss me?

  He slammed the bow backward sending the arrow straight into the target and the bow fell to the ground.

  Impressive. I doubted you.

  He flipped around and faced me, breathing scarily fast. I couldn’t read his face but I was slightly scared of what he might do. I really didn’t know this girl talking. I wasn’t like this. Well, before a few weeks ago. I caught my tell-tale heart rising fast to catch up to his breathing. He just stared with no inner or verbal voices sounding off.