Lover Tamed

 

 

Chapter 6

Dina Malone listened as her daughter’s voice echoed through the phone. The voicemail had kicked in again. She had been trying to reach her for the past few days but Eve was not answering any of her calls. She was no doubt still angry with her for making her go out with Megan and Gina.  She knew that Eve didn’t really like that sort of scene but she was hoping that maybe spending time with her stepsisters would help her become more social.

“Hi, honey. It’s me…again. I know you’re probably still upset. But this is important. I heard what happened and would like you to call me back as soon as you get this so we can discuss it. Bye.” She closed her cell phone and sighed, leaning back in the plush couch in her living room.

After coming home early and irate, the girls had told her that Eve had flipped out while they were trying to have a good time. That a boy had flirted with her and her daughter had wanted no part of it. The guy had been trying to loosen her up a bit and Eve had rejected him by starting a fight. They had all ended up getting kicked out of the club and were asked to never come back. Megan and Gina both had been so humiliated that they vowed to never let Eve tag along with them again.

Dina never could understand her daughter. Since she was just a child, their personalities were vastly different from one another. This was the basis for most of their falling outs. Dina hand never met anyone more infuriating than Eve. They never agreed on anything. Eve would openly defy her at every turn. And what she didn’t know was that she just wanted what was best for her daughter. Eve needed someone to take care of her and show her how to be happy, someone to tame that defiant personality and make her see the good in life.

Since she was little, Eve had always been a bit of a recluse, but recently she had been becoming more distant to those around her except that one girl. Her name was Rosalyn and she was some street punk that had leeched onto her daughter a few years back. Ever since, Eve had spent more time with her than her own mother. Dina wasn’t quite sure how they had met, nor did she care. The only thing that she was concerned about was splitting the two of them up.

Rosalyn – or Roz as Eve called her – had a reputation of being a slut. She slept with anything and everything that showed a little interest. Her fashion taste was something Dina thought of as typical goth fashion: pale foundation, dark lipstick and eye shadow, and wildly colored hair. The handful of times Dina had seen her she had dressed in all black or grey. Sometimes the clothing was more than provocative. The piercings didn’t help much either. She wanted Eve to get away from that girl as soon as possible. She knew there was a close bond between Roz and her daughter, something beyond friendship. Hopefully this was all just some sort of phase that Eve was going through.

Dina hated to think that Eve was a lesbian – not that she would stop loving her if that was the case. She just didn’t understand how a woman could be happy with another woman. Dina didn’t think it was at all possible. She still hung on to the belief that there would be one man that could get into Eve’s heart.

Then there was what it could possibly do to Fredrick’s political career. He would be running for mayor of Caldwell after all. Any kind of rumors or scandal could ruin his campaign. His wife’s daughter travelling around with that delinquent as her girlfriend could wreck his shot at becoming an elected bureaucrat. Dina didn’t want Eve to turn into some Lindsay Lohan knock off. It would trash Fredrick’s reputation and break Dina’s heart.

Her thoughts were disrupted with the opening and closing of the front door. “There you are, my beautiful wife,” Fredrick said, coming in from the foyer.

“Hello, love,” she said, getting up from the couch and going over to wrap her arms around him.

He gave her a kiss on the forehead then looked down at her. “Did you get a hold of that daughter of yours?”

“No,” she answered, slipping from the embrace. “She is being her typical angry self. Eve hasn’t returned any of my calls. I must have left fifteen messages. I want to know what the hell her problem is. I was only trying to help her. And then for her to go on the attack like that; she called her sisters nasty names and then threatened to harm them. I do not know where that girl’s head is at lately.”

“Maybe she just wants to be left alone right now. Give her some time. I’m sure she’ll come around.” Fredrick shed his suit coat and tossed it on the back of the couch then sat down. He loosened his tie and patted the spot next to him for his wife to join him.

Dina took him up on the offer and curled up beside him. “It’s because of that miserable girl that she always hangs around. She is brainwashing my daughter.”

“Are you talking about Rosalyn?”

“Mm-Hmm.”

Fredrick pulled Dina in the crook of his arm and rested his head on top of hers. “I think Evelyn is her own person. If she doesn’t want to do something, she’s not going to do it whether Roz is a part of it or not. I’m sure peer pressure doesn’t work on her. She is a pretty levelheaded girl when she needs to be, which is why I think there is more to the story about what happened at that club. Megan and Gina played a bigger part in what happened then they are letting on.”

Dina shook her head. “Megan and Gina are nice girls. I wish Eve would be more like them.”

“And Megan and Gina are not the innocent little souls you make them out to be either. To be honest, Eve was a kind of fresh breath of air when I met her. She is self-reliant and dependable. She is smart and funny. I didn’t have to hear about boys and clothes and shopping twenty-four/seven from her. And she always appreciated everything that was given to her. I actually wished that her personality would rub off on my daughters instead of the other way around,” Fredrick said.

“You actually think that highly of her?” She had never thought that he cared much for Eve. From what she knew they had rarely been in the same room, much less spend any time together.

“Yes, and I think you should start, too. Your daughter is a terrific girl despite her proclivities. And she loves you even though it isn’t always so blatantly clear. You shouldn’t try to change her. Eve is who she is and I don’t think she is going to change for anyone.”

“What makes you think that way about her?” Dina asked.

“We have stayed up and chatted a few nights before she moved out. She threatened me, you know. She said that if I were to ever do anything to hurt you that she would personally hunt me down and skin me alive.” Fredrick laughed softly.

Dina pulled away from her husband, horrified. “I-I didn’t know! I’m so sorry she did that.”

“Hey, relax,” Fredrick murmured, his hand going to her lower back to massage gently. “Eve meant well, and I know exactly where she is coming from. If anyone tried to harm you or my daughters, Eve included, then I would defend you all with my life.”

“How did I get so lucky to find a man like you?” Dina said, leaning up and kissing him on the lips.

“Why don’t you call Roz and see if she’s heard from Eve. If she is angry, Roz would be the first person she’d go to. Maybe if you keep at it, you’ll get her to talk to you.”

Dina sighed heavily, not wanting to have anything to do with Rosalyn. “I’ll call her in a few days if I still haven’t heard from Eve. She can’t stay mad forever.”

 

~*~

The file that Butch had brought in the other day was currently open, and Wrath was pouring through all the contents. He had to hand it to V. The clever bastard certainly knew how to do a background check that National Security probably couldn’t even get, and then some. The amount of information he had on Miss Evelyn Chambers was simply astounding. He was surprised that it didn’t include a complete rundown of what she ate everyday for breakfast.

The file was thicker than he expected it to be for a girl of only twenty-three. There was more to the story than just the little artist that she appeared to be. But what he found was not what he expected. The girl’s history was anything but roses and sunshine. She wasn’t a stranger to abuse and violence.

Apparently, Eve and her mother had lived a nomadic lifestyle when she was a child. The mother had a laundry list of shitty jobs and even shittier places to live. Her mother had finally moved them in a better – though not by much – part of town when she had gotten knocked up again. Eve had been eight at the time.

Her mother’s love life had been a wreck. Her boyfriends had been as common as colds; there had been a new one on her arm just about every month. Each one had been worse than the former. Before Dina Malone’s current marriage she had dated Michael Zimmerman, a lowlife that had a criminal record as long as the transcontinental railway. He had been booked for everything from outstanding tickets, to possession, to assault. Evidently Prince Charming had beaten her mother on an almost daily basis. But that soon wasn’t enough and he set his sights on Eve.

The chair creaked as Wrath leaned back in the worn wood. Reading for so long had given him a splitting headache. He really needed a break from all this being king shit. Scrubbing a hand over his face, Wrath sighed audibly. At least he was almost done going over the sheaf of papers. There was nothing in it to suggest that she was a psychopath, which was somewhat a relief. Not that he was afraid she would harm him in anyway, but he did have his shellan and all the rest of the brothers’ shellans to worry about as well as Z’s little girl. He would not take the chance and put them in harm’s way.

Eve had been through living hell, and now he was putting her through more. He wasn’t that cold of a bastard where he didn’t feel sorry for her. If there hadn’t been so many complications in simply letting her go, he would have done so. The entire vampire race was his number one priority. He couldn’t let an untrustworthy stranger go back into the human world with the knowledge that vampires were among them. Wrath couldn’t take any such risk. It was best to keep a close eye on her for awhile. Maybe one day they could cut her loose. But for right now, it was in everyone’s best interest to keep her locked away from the world.

What she was now was something unpredictable. Evelyn had been transformed into a new creature. No one knew how strong the divine blood flowing through her veins was and what she was capable of. She could become unstable and be a danger to herself and those around her. Worse case scenario, they would be forced to take her out. Wrath hoped it wouldn’t come down to that.

The knock on the door was subtle, soft and unsure of itself. Just by the knock, Wrath knew it wasn’t one of the brothers or the boys. It was female, most likely a certain female he didn’t have the patience to deal with at the moment.

He straightened in his chair then sighed as he closed the folder on Eve and set it aside. “Come in,” he called out. His office door swung open to reveal one of the million problems collecting on his plate. She took one hesitant step into the large office, and then peered around with wide eyes looking for possible danger. He could hear her heart flutter nervously.

“Are you going to stand there gawking all day? I do have other pressing matters that need to be dealt with,” Wrath rumbled, trying to hurry the deer-in-headlights routine along.

“Uh, sorry to bother you but I need to talk to you for a few minutes,” Eve said, closing the door and approaching the dainty little desk.

“I take it you’ve made a decision,” Wrath stated, already knowing what she had come to talk to him about. There was no other reason for her to be coming to him.

“Yeah, I have. I, uh, I’m gonna take you up on the offer to stay here with you band of merry vampires. But that’s not all I want to talk to you about though.” She began twisting her hands together nervously. She didn’t meet his stare, choosing to look down at her toes instead. The king knew just by her behavior that he wasn’t going to like what tumbled out of her mouth next. Not. One. Little. Bit.

And he was right.

“I need to go back to my apartment. There are things there that I have to have,” Eve blurted out.

Wrath would have laughed if she wasn’t completely serious. “You can forget it. There is nothing there that we can’t supply here if it is a necessity. There is nothing there that you have to have.”

“This is all I ask of you. I don’t care about my clothes, or my furniture, or any of that other bullshit. What I want is irreplaceable. Please…just let me get it,” she begged.

“I don’t care how irreplaceable it is. I can’t risk you getting out. You might be tempted to run. Sorry. That’s just the way it is,” Wrath said.

She looked at him then, he could tell her face was set in determination. He could even here it strengthening her voice. “Then send someone to get it for me. I don’t really care. Just as long as I get what I need.”

Wrath’s dark brows shot up over his wraparounds. “You are in no position to demand anything of me.”

“That may be, but I never asked for any of this. I never asked to be spirited away from my life. I’ve been abducted to somewhere completely foreign with absolutely nothing. I’m in a freefall, and all I want something familiar to ground me. Please. Please let me have that,” Eve finished in a voice barely above a whisper.

“So tell me,” he began, leaning back in his chair causing it to squeak softly, “what is so damned important that I risk someone going to your apartment to retrieve whatever the hell it is that you want?”

Eve sighed then paced back and forth a few times as if debating to tell him or not. “It’s,” – she took a deep breath before continuing on, steeling her resolve – “pictures of my family and stuff. If I can never see them again I at least want to keep them in my memory. It’s all in a black box in a closet so you wouldn’t have to dig through all my stuff to find it. It’s the most valuable thing I own. My brother died when he was just a boy and the only things I have of his are in there.”

Wrath was quiet for a long period of time, having an internal debate. He could sense that she was being completely honest with him, that there was no hidden agenda. He didn’t see the harm in sending someone to get one little box full of sentimental things. It seemed something that meant a lot to her. The pity that he felt for her was pulling at his heartstrings and he nearly cursed at the softening he felt toward her.

She suddenly stopped pacing and turned to him then. “You know, don’t you?” Her tone wasn’t angry, just matter-of-fact.

“Yeah, I know. I had a file drawn up on you. I wanted to know who I was dealing with.” It was nothing personal. When Butch had first come to the mansion as a human, V had done the same with him. Butch had to earn the Brothers’ trust, and in time, he had. It was a complete shock when the cop had turned out to be Wrath’s blooded cousin.

“Does it include…everything?” Eve asked, fear showing in her wide violet eyes.

Wrath nodded. “Pretty much.”

“Shit,” she said under her breath. She resumed the pacing. Wrath followed her blurry movements. It sort of reminded him of a tiger at the zoo waiting for the one opportunity to pounce on one of the onlookers and tear them to shreds.

“V and Butch are the only other two that know besides me; Butch for obvious reasons and V because he’s the one that had to get all the information about you together. If I have any questions, I’ll just go to those two,” he disclosed, trying to put her at ease.

Eve stopped moving and stopped to face him. “Or you can just come ask me. It is about me after all. It’s not like I have a reason to lie to you. I’m stuck here and you and I both fucking know that you are never letting me out. I have no hopes of ever existing in the real world again. Now that I know what I am, I don’t think it would be a wise idea to be around people either. I could be a ticking time bomb. The last thing I want to do is hurt someone innocent. Just please keep my past to yourself. I don’t need to become that girl all over again where I’m a spectacle. It was not fun the first time around, and I have no desire to skip along that path again.”

Wrath had to hand it to her. She was smarter and tougher than she looked. He would have thought that she would have put up more of a fight, nagging endlessly until she got her way. It would have gotten her nowhere except tied to a chair with tape over her trap to shut her up.

“What he did to you…”Wrath began.

“No, don’t you dare!” Eve cut him off, fire lighting up her eyes. “Don’t feel sorry for me. I never needed anyone’s pity. It was a long time ago. I’m over it.”

He nodded his head. His respect for her rose considerably. She wasn’t going to use the sympathy card for personal gain, nor was she looking for it. “I just want you to know that when I’m done reading it I’ll hand it over to you, then you can decided what you want to do with it. And if you ever need to talk to someone…”

Eve leaned against the desk. “Don’t worry. Like I said, it’s done…it’s over. I’m tight.”

“I was just going to say that we have someone you can talk to if you ever need to. Now, there is something else that you are not telling me. I can smell the anxiety and that you’re hiding something. What is it?”

She was quiet for a long while, standing still and hugging her arms to herself. He could practically hear the gears turning in her head, debating on if it was wise to tell him or not. Finally she decided that it didn’t matter if he knew or not.

“He was the one that stabbed me in that alley. He is one of those…things. Tiny fucking rock we live on, isn’t it?” She laughed, but it was full of sorrow.

He didn’t have to even ask who ‘he’ was. “Too fucking true.” There was another pause before Wrath carried on. “I’ll have Fritz get you a room ready so you don’t have to stay in Lassiter’s. And tell you what, I’ll have someone go and get your shit, but you have to do something for me in return.”

“Name it,” she said with no hesitation.

Wrath leaned forward, resting his head on steepled fingers. He wanted to get this over with so he could pass the hell out. He hadn’t gotten much sleep last night and the lancing pain in his head was becoming a real bitch. Mix that with six hours of reading with his shitty eyesight. “I want no arguments from you about going back to your human life. That is over and done with. Also, if there is anything strange that happens with you, you come and tell me. And I mean anything. If you have a fucking hangnail, I want to know about it. You feel me?”

“Yeah, I get you. I’d so give you a hug right now, but you don’t look like the hugging type. Plus the vampire death squad you have would charge right in here and rip my head off,” Eve said, happiness crawling into her tone.

Wrath flashed a quick upturn of the lips. “It would probably work in your best interest not to. I’ll send someone to get your box. I’ll have Fritz bring it up to you. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get some work done,” Wrath said, dismissing her.

“Really, thank you, Wrath.” And with that, Eve went over to the door and left.