Taking on Tory Read online

  Nonny reached over and grasped Sophie’s hand in her own. She threaded her fingers through her beautiful daughter-in-law’s and squeezed them. She, Topper, and the Fates had picked the perfect mate for her son. They were still working on her other two sons. But for now, it was Tory’s time.

  “He thanks me every day,” Nonny softly replied. “After all, I found you for him.”

  ***

  Tory angrily wiped her eyes. She glared down at her father in frustration. She wasn’t a little girl any more! She was a mature Vampire!

  “Hey, Tory,” Maverick said, jumping over the edge of the roof to sit next to her. “What’s wrong?”

  “Yeah, Tory-nator, what’s the matter?” Kevin asked as he crawled over the side behind Maverick.

  “What are you two guys doing here?” Tory asked grumpily. “You know my dad is going to bite you again if you don’t stop popping up all the time, don’t you?”

  Maverick grinned. “It’s worth it just to see him get riled,” he said, glancing mischievously down at the ground where Charles Carson was talking to his wife. “Dad asked me to stop by anyway, so I have a reason. He wants to let him know that the Pre-season football game party is being moved to the Ampitheather due to the possibility of a fight breaking out. He doesn’t want the bar trashed this year.”

  “Yeah, my mom sent me to warn your dad that if anyone tramples her flowers around it, she was going to be doing some bashing herself,” Kevin said with a roll of his eyes. “Why I had to be born to Garden Trolls I’ll never know. I don’t even like dirt!”

  Tory released a short, bitter laugh. “Yeah, well, you should try being a Vampire who is allergic to most blood types!” She mumbled.

  “Is that why your dad is so protective of you?” Kevin asked, curiously.

  “Yeah, I think so. You know, except for a peck on my cheek from my cousins and brothers, I haven’t even been kissed yet!” Tory grumbled. “I swear he cast a spell on me through all of my Middle and High School years! The one time Edgar Tinberry tried to kiss me, he broke out with Blisterwarts and couldn’t run in the State Track finals. Everyone was mad at me, like I was the one who did it! After that, you two were the only ones who would hang with me.”

  “Hey, what are best buds for? Besides, from what I hear from some of his former girlfriends, you didn’t miss much. They said sandpaper wasn’t any fun to kiss. Anyway, I think the only reason Edgar was popular was because he was so fast on the track. Duh, the guy is a Jaguar shifter! Of course, he’d be fast. None of the girls cared about that fact, though. The only thing they cared about was the way he strutted around the field in his tight, little shorts. I think he should have been disqualified from the team for that alone! That wasn’t much fun to have to look at for four straight years. Besides, why would you want to be kissed by old sourpuss Edger when you can be kissed by me? Hey, do you think you might still be enchanted?” Maverick suddenly asked with a grin as he pulled her chin around to him. “I wouldn’t mind bragging to everyone that I was the first one to kiss you.”

  “Maverick,” Tory warned with a roll of her eyes at her best friend’s teasing. “You know…” Her breath caught as Maverick was suddenly lifted by the back of his shirt.

  “Hi, Mr. Carson,” Maverick yelped as he suddenly found himself hanging in the air.

  “Say goodbye, Maverick,” Charles growled.

  “Goodbye, Maverick,” Maverick repeated, laughing as Charles suddenly tossed him off the roof of the house. “Bye, Tory!”

  “Daddy!” Tory cried out in dismay as she watched Maverick disappear out of sight. “You could have hurt him.”

  “He’s a Werewolf,” Charles said, turning to Kevin, who gave Tory a crooked grin as he scrambled for the drain pipe. “He’ll heal.”

  “Hey, Mr. Carson!” Maverick called up from the ground where he was brushing the grass from the back of his pants. “Dad said to tell you the Pre-game is at the Amphitheater this year instead of the bar.”

  Kevin’s head popped up just enough to see his eyes and nose over the side of the roof. “Oh yeah. My mom said not to step on any of her flowers, or else,” he added before he scampered down the drain pipe. “Bye, Tory!”

  ***

  Charles glared at the back of the two boys running across the rocky field behind the house. Well, the huge gray wolf with a Garden Troll on his back. He shook his head before he turned to look down at his daughter. A deep sigh of regret escaped him as he sank down onto the roof next to her.

  They sat in silence for several long moments before he reached over and picked up her slender hand. He sighed again. It was so hard to let her grow up.

  “Do you remember when you turned six?” Charles suddenly asked in a gruff voice.

  A reluctant smile tugged at the corner of Tory’s mouth. “You mean when you told me I couldn’t have any more birthdays and I would have to remain six the rest of my life?” She asked, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.

  Charles smiled and looked out over the long drive that led to the main road. The red dirt of the New Mexico soil called to him as much now as it did when he first came to Magic over a hundred years ago with his small family. The cool air of the evening and the twilight sky cast the desert flora into silhouettes.

  “Yes, that’s the one,” Charles replied in a soft voice, glancing at Tory. “You were growing up so fast. I wanted you to remain little forever.”

  “I’ll always be your little girl, daddy,” Tory reminded him in a quiet voice. “But, I need to grow up. I want to see the world. I want to know what’s out there. Alexandru and Benjamin are always talking about the places they’ve been. The only place I’ve ever seen is Magic.”

  Charles released her hand and folded his together. His eyes followed Sophie and his mother as they walked toward the house. He knew they were giving him and Tory some privacy. A deep sigh escaped him before he tried to explain why he was so protective.

  “I met your mother in Romania,” he began.

  Tory sighed. “I know,” she muttered. “Nonny and Gramps sent you there on a quest. You were traveling through the village mom lived in when she saw you. She invited you to her and Grandpa Vuia’s home for the night when it started to rain.”

  “Yes,” Charles said heavily. “I fell in love with your mom the moment I saw her. Her father was just as protective of her, if that helps. Lucky for me, your mom loved me as much as I loved her and her father accepted me even though I was half Vampire, half warlock.”

  Tory pushed a stray strand of dark brown hair back from her face and frowned in frustration. She knew the story by heart. Her parents had been married on a crystal clear night and eight months later her elder brother, Benjamin, had been born.

  Her Grandma Vuia had died years before in a tragic fire and her grandfather had died a few nights after Benjamin’s birth. She had always assumed he had died of natural causes since no one had ever mentioned anything different. It was very unusual, but not totally unheard of as far as she knew. After all, she had almost died when she was baby from drinking the wrong blood type.

  “How did Grandpa Vuia die?” Tory suddenly asked. “I mean, was he like me? Did he have an allergic reaction to the blood he drank?”

  “No,” Charles responded in a distant voice. He pulled up his sleeve and showed the light scarring on his left forearm. “No, he and your grandmother were murdered by the villagers three days after Benjamin’s birth.”

  “They were… I thought grandma Vuia died in a fire years before you met mom? What happened? Why didn’t you, mom or Nonny ever tell me? Why would the villagers kill them?” Tory asked in confusion.

  Charles’ eyes softened as he looked at the shocked expression on Tory’s face. He often forgot just how innocent she was in the way of the world outside of Magic. While he would love to keep her protected from the cruelty of the outside world, that could be deadly. No, if she was going to be happy and safe, he needed to find a happy medium where he could let her spr
ead her wings while being protected as she did it.

  “Times were different back then,” Charles replied with a sad smile. “People were very superstitious. They still are, but today most people are more curious than threatened by those that are different from them. Well, for the most part, anyway.”

  “What happened?” Tory asked in a hesitant voice.

  “It was a time of great unrest. Romania had just become a country a couple years before. Some still resisted the change. Your Grandfather Vuia had been very vocal in supporting the new government. A local wealthy merchant disagreed with the influence and power your grandfather had with many of the new leaders. Christoff had heard the villagers talk of some of the strange ways of your Grandma and Grandpa Vuia. He used their superstitions to enrage them.”

  “But, I thought that Grandma and Grandpa helped the villagers,” Tory said in confusion. “Why would they listen to someone else?”

  “Christoff brought in others to say your grandparents had done hideous crimes against their families,” Charles replied quietly, staring off into the distance. “Those claims, along with the differences between us and the humans, inflamed the villagers and they attacked early one morning. They killed your Grandmother while she was inside the barn. Your Grandfather tried to save her while I took your mom and brother to safety. I returned, but not in time. They had already set fire to all the outbuildings.”

  “What did you do?” Tory asked in a soft voice as she placed a trembling hand on her father’s arm.

  “I returned to help him, but it was too late. He had already… disposed of those that had attacked us. He was gravely wounded, though, and died as the first light came over the horizon. I laid him to rest in the fires beside your Grandma so they could be together once again,” Charles said in a quiet voice.

  “That’s so horrible. Is that why books and movies say we can’t go out into the light? Why they think we’ll burn up?” She asked curiously.

  “It helped fuel the legend, I think,” Charles said with a sad smile.

  “What did you do afterwards?” She asked in a quiet voice.

  “I brought your mother and Benjamin back to America. We stayed in Boston at first which is where your brother, Alexandru, was born. As it became more crowded and old superstitions rose up again, we traveled west. Eventually, we made our way to Magic where Nonny and Gramps had already settled.”

  Tory was silent for several minutes as she absorbed the new information about her ancestors that she hadn’t known. A shiver went through her as she thought of what her grandparents must have gone through. It must have been devastating for them when the people they knew and trusted suddenly turned against them based on the words of strangers.

  She couldn’t imagine that ever happening in Magic. She thought of all the things she had learned during her High School years and even during the four years she did her studies online at New Mexico State College in Graphic Design. It was one thing to hear about such things on the news or read about it, it was another to know that it had touched her own family.

  “I always thought you were overprotective because of my disorder,” she whispered. “It isn’t that at all. You’re afraid that someone will try to hurt me like they did Grandma and Grandpa.”

  “Yes,” he replied in a quiet voice. “When you almost died as a baby, I swore I would do whatever I could to protect you. You’re my little girl, my princess, my little Vampiress and I love you very much.”

  Charles reached his arm around her and pulled her close. He sighed when she rested her head on his shoulder. She was right. She would always be his little girl, but it was time to let her grow up and spread her wings.

  ***

  “Do you mean it? Really?” Tory asked in excitement. “Oh Daddy! You are the best!”

  “Alexandru,” Charles said, wrapping his arms around Tory as she threw hers around his neck. “I expect you to protect her.”

  Alexandru Vuia Carson grinned at his father’s stern face. He had arrived a couple hours before just as everyone was sitting down to dinner. He didn’t know why he thought he could surprise his parents and grandparents. Nonny had met him at the door just as he was about to knock.

  “You’re late,” she said with a frown. “You should have been here fifteen minutes ago.”

  “I stopped in town to talk to Theo,” Alexandru explained with a raised eyebrow. “Are the Fates here?”

  “No, they’re in Vegas,” Nonny had grinned. “But, they said you’d be here by eight.”

  After a long, leisurely dinner of an assortment of dishes including Polish Czarnina, Blodplattar, and Black Pudding, Tory had been so stuffed by the time it was over she had almost missed the turn in conversation. Alexandru was discussing his latest commission in Charleston, South Carolina for a gentleman who had just moved to the States.

  “I haven’t met him yet, but he has excellent taste in furnishings. I have most of what he wants,” Alexandru was saying. “I still need to acquire a few pieces. He wants everything set up as soon as possible.”

  “What is Charleston like?” Tory asked, leaning forward in excitement. “I heard it is filled with history. They have a market there where you can get the coolest sweet grass baskets. I heard you can even watch as they are being made. Can you get me one for my collection?”

  “Why don’t you come back with me and pick out your own?” Alexandru suggested. “I have no idea what to get you. You must have every basket known to mankind, plus witch, elf, dwarf, and fairy.”

  “Don’t forget Genie!” Grandpa Carson added with a twinkle in his eye as he wiped his mouth. “She found one online last month.”

  “A Genie!” Alexandru exclaimed in surprise. “How on Earth did that happen?”

  “It was an old wine basket. I got it off of ebay for twenty bucks. When it arrived, I was cleaning it up and the next thing I knew, Dev popped out,” Tory grinned.

  “What did you wish for?” Alexandru asked in curiosity. “Or was he not that kind of Genie?”

  “What other kind of Genie is there?” Tory asked, puzzled by the choked laughter that followed her older brother’s question. “Nevermind, I don’t think I want to know. I gave him his bottle, kept the basket, and told him that he should go talk to Susanna down at the Krazy Kettles.”

  “Why?” Alexandru asked, confused. “What would she need a Genie for?”

  “Well, he said he had to do something to repay me for rescuing him,” Tory replied with a grin. “Susanna is short-handed right now down at the diner. I was helping out as much as I could, but I had a big project I was trying to finish. Now, she has help, and I was able to finish the project so I can go to Charleston without feeling guilty.”

  “Totally brilliant,” Alexandru laughed. “Good move, sis.”

  “So, when do we leave?” Tory asked excitedly.

  Chapter Three

  Simon stood on the sidewalk across from his office building and turned in a frustrated circle. The male and female were gone. He didn’t understand how they had disappeared so quickly.

  He drew in a deep breath, but all he could smell was the salt breeze and automotive exhaust. Frustrated, he rumbled a low growl of warning at Youssef when he jogged across the road. The beast inside him was pushing dangerously against his restraint.

  There were many legends about Werewolves in the world, practically all of them were wrong. There was only one that was correct that he knew of and that was the effect of the full moon on him. His need to mate became insatiable. In previous years, he would find a willing female and fuck her to take the edge off. The beast inside had never reacted this strongly to a female, especially at just a glance.

  He glanced up at the sky. The faint outline of the moon could be seen in the twilight. He had four days until the next full moon. He turned when Youssef stepped closer.

  “They were gone?” He asked in concern, looking up and down the street.

  “Yes,” Simon replied in a deep voice. “See if
they were on the surveillance cameras you set up. I want you to find her.”

  “What happens when I do?” Youssef replied in surprise. “You have never asked me to kidnap a female before. I usually have to beat them off you.”

  Simon turned and glared at Youssef. “Find her,” he repeated. “You have two days.”

  Youssef paled as he glanced up at the sky before looking back and nodding. “I will find her,” he replied gravely.

  Simon turned and gripped the railing along the sidewalk. “Call the car. I will stay at the estate tonight,” he ordered in a low voice. “I need to run.”

  “At once,” Youssef said, pulling his cell phone out. “Meet us out front now.”

  ***

  “Today was the most wonderful day ever!” Tory said, laughing as she twirled around in a circle so she was walking backwards. “I found at least a dozen baskets and Maureen said she would let me sit and watch her tomorrow and I found some gifts for mom and dad and Nonny and Gramps and Sue and…”

  “And you’ll need a truck to get everything home,” Alexandru chuckled at Tory’s flushed face. Whoever said Vampires were supposed to be pale had never met his little sister. She glowed with happiness. “So, what did you get me?”

  “I got you, my dear brother, a new website!” Tory grinned. “Yours was so outdated, it belonged with all the antiques you are always looking for. I’ve polished it until it shines and you’ve already had an increase of twenty-five percent thanks to the little spell I wove in it.”

  Alexandru shook his head. “You know I’ll have to hire you to keep it up to date. Also, since when did you create a spell that actually works for any length of time?” He teased, jumping back when she tried to swat him with one of her shopping bags.

  “I’m getting better! I just don’t quite have it down yet. Nonny is working with me. I’m better when I weave it in my designs,” Tory admitted with a tired sigh. “I’m hungry. What’s for dinner?”