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  TAUNT

  Ava Delaney #2

  By Claire Farrell

  Edited by Lynn O’Dell

  All Ava wants to do is forget about the vampires, but they won’t leave her alone. Between her failing business, angry landlord, disloyal friends, and vampire stalkers, life is starting to feel pretty stressful. When Ava finally deals with her biggest problem, she is caught up in the chain of events it triggers and taken along a path she can’t escape from.

  Ava has to figure out what exactly is her biggest threat: the humans, the vampires, the Council—or her true heritage.

  Smashwords Edition

  Copyright © Claire Farrell 2011

  [email protected]

  Book cover image provided by Konradbak @ Dreamstime.com

  Licence Notes

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Chapter One

  I knew my grandmother was speaking to me, but all I could focus on was my old bedroom, the carpet still stained with the blood and tears of a child. Bad memories had rushed to the surface as soon as I stepped into the room; so overwhelming, my breath caught in my throat.

  “Ava?”

  I snapped back to the present. “Sorry, what?”

  My grandmother frowned, familiar impatience fleeting across her face. “I was saying we could get a new bed, but the old one would do for now. You could move in straight away. What do you think?”

  She stared at me with expectant eyes, apparently waiting for me to jump at the chance to move back in with her. Every cell in my body screamed, “No way, not ever.” We had come a long way in a short space of time, mostly out of necessity, but that didn’t mean I wanted to live with her again.

  “I don’t know. I’m not sure that’s the best idea right now.” Holding my breath, I waited for her protests.

  “Of course it’s a good idea! No point in renting all by yourself when I’ve an empty room here. You don’t even have a real job, Ava.” She shook her head, feigning disappointment, as if that was our biggest worry.

  “Besides,” her voice softened a little as she took a step toward me. “You were almost tortured to death, Ava. You need to be taken care of.” She smiled, and I could see she wasn’t worried, certain I’d cave. She carefully avoided the fact that I did have a job, just not a paying one. Being in the employ of the most powerful vampire in Ireland against my will didn’t have that kind of perk.

  “Look, Nancy,” I began, trying to remind her of the serious distance between us.

  “Stop calling me Nancy!”

  “Being back in touch has been nice and all, but I’m not ready to live here again. Not after… everything. It’s way too soon for me. I mean, we were meeting up for tea, then suddenly you’re moving on to me living here again?”

  Her eyes narrowed, sending me back to my childhood for the briefest instant. She’d never been a patient woman; a lot of her actions had been questionable, to say the least. My grandmother did her best at the time, but even now, it took a lot to look the woman in the eye. After seven years of freedom, I wasn’t ready for her methods of curing me.

  “Oh, here we go.” Her mouth tightened into a thin line that made her look as cruel as I remembered. “Pity me. Poor Ava wasn’t loved. How about you think of someone else for a change, and stop bringing up the past? I had to live with a monster! What was I supposed to do?”

  She might as well have slapped my face. Her apologies meant nothing, after all. Feeling my chin tremble, I shook my head. “I’m not bringing up the past, being in this room is. The fact that you think of me as a monster is a pretty good reason for me not to stay.”

  “Wait a second, let’s just talk about it.” The anger in her eyes turned to worry. “I thought we were over all of this. I protected you; I kept quiet when those vampires took me. I thought that would change things, prove to you that everything’s different now. I’m your only family, so why can’t you let us have a fresh start? I took care of you when you needed me, why can’t you give me this?”

  “I’m sorry I made you think we could skip past it like nothing happened. But look at you, even now, after everything, you still think I’m bad. You still think I’m wrong. I don’t understand you. Why would you even want me to live with you?”

  “Can’t you see what it was like for me?” She clung to my arm. “How scared I was?”

  “How scared you were?” All of the emotions I’d pushed down flooded upward as I shrugged her off. I half-turned and lifted my shirt as a reminder. “Try and remember how scared I was, for a change.” She turned her head, unwilling to look at the scars she’d allowed a faux-religious conman to inflict before I reached my tenth birthday.

  “There’s obviously nothing to talk about then. You’ve made it pretty clear nothing’s changed.” Ignoring the lump in my throat, I left the room. I’d given her another chance because deep down I was desperate for family, desperate to belong. I should have known it wouldn’t work out, it never did.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”

  “It’s fine,” I said without looking back. “I get it, I do.” I didn’t enjoy being reminded of the past either. Our secrets weighed heavily on both of us. My mother giving birth to a child that was more vampire than human hadn’t been easy for anyone, but I was almost certain it didn’t automatically make me a monster. Almost.

  As I left her house, I realised I had expected too much from my grandmother. After a seven-year separation, the couple of weeks we’d spent together had me thinking she’d mellowed with age, that she could be there for me and provide unconditional love. Some things would never be true, no matter how much I wished for them. She still relished the martyr role; I would always be her burden.

  Determined to get the woman out of my head, I trudged through an unexpected rainstorm and arrived home dripping wet and shivering. My slutty next-door neighbour stared from her doorway as I opened the door to my flat. I ignored her and her freakishly strong perfume, and raised the volume on my television when I heard her male companion arrive. She went through men like I went through cartons of milk, and she wasn’t quiet about it.

  I couldn’t afford to heat the flat, so I curled up under my duvet and eventually dozed off. Nightmares plagued my sleep. Over and over again, I saw Maximus rise up and strike against me. I woke up shaking, my cheeks wet with tears. He was dead. I killed him, but I couldn’t let the whole thing go. The idea that he would somehow come back for me remained a constant torment.

  Agitated, I counted and multiplied until my heart stopped racing. Once the blood Eddie Brogan fed me while I had been injured wore off, my anxiety returned. Although I’d feared feeding an addiction to blood, my thirst hadn’t overwhelmed me in a while. My nervous habits had been the problem instead.

  The sky darkened, and I sensed the vampires awakening. I went to my window and sighed; already they were hanging around outside my home. I had first noticed them three days before standing in front of my building in pairs. Every night, they came and stood where I could see them, watching, waiting, keeping me on edge.

  I reached out with my extra sense and observed the world on another level. A world full of red pulsing, dotted with something . . . other. Even in my own apartment building, I saw a shimmering presence I couldn’t explain.

  Right outside my building were some conspicuously empty pockets. They had no spark of life, no flash of energy, no light of soul; they were nothing. That’s how I knew they were vampires.

  Frowning, I leaned on my windowsill and watched. The pair stood outside, silent and idle for hours, conspicuous enough to convince me I was supposed to see them. But why? If they belonged to Daimhín, this could be her way of reminding me I worked for her. I still hadn’t come up with a way of getting
out of that one. I shivered, unable to dispel a sudden chill. Next time I saw her, I had to ask, just in case they didn’t belong to her.

  I made a cup of coffee and, returning to the window, I noticed the vampires had been replaced with a different pair. I sipped my drink and stared freely at them, knowing they couldn’t see me—and knowing that if they couldn’t see me, they meant me harm. The magical safeguards around my building guaranteed that kind of protection from the uninvited who harboured ill intent.

  I thought one looked familiar, but I couldn’t be sure. Like all vampires, they had mottled, wrinkled skin that looked as though the blood had been completely drained. To me, most of them looked alike.

  The vampires shifted uncomfortably, as if they could sense me watching. I knew I was safe from them for now; there were even more magical forms of protection on my building than before. Eddie had reassured my grandmother that he had tightened my defences, but a niggling doubt made me wonder what else he did. As far as I was concerned, he sold me out to the vampires in the end, so I could never trust him. I still didn’t know what kind of supernatural being he was, or even what he was capable of. In some ways, I feared him more than Daimhín.

  Shortly before dawn, the vampires sprinted away. I blinked, and they were gone. I couldn’t begin to figure out what was going on, and I was too exhausted to try. Sleep claimed me as soon as I lay down.

  Yet again, my dreams brought to the surface everything I had felt while being tortured. Lack of control was the one thing that overwhelmed me the most over the last seven years. Being left helpless by a vampire’s torture methods went a step beyond my coping limits.

  Alone and afraid, I trembled in the dark. Clutching the cross that had once magically numbed my thirst, I whispered pointless prayers to whatever entity was out there messing with me.

  A gentle breeze caressed my cheek, each puff a cold, soothing hand against my skin. The presence had followed me around for a while and comforted me every night. I trusted it only because I had to trust something or I’d go completely insane. What I really needed was for life to go back to normal, back to me avoiding humans and vampires as much as possible. Back to me staying out of trouble.

  That was too much to ask for.

  When a call on my mobile showed the name Daimhín, I was tempted to ignore it. I didn’t dare, even though it was daylight, so it couldn’t possibly be the vampire equivalent of a queen.

  “Miss Delaney?” said an unfamiliar female voice.

  “Yep.”

  “This is… the day assistant of Daimhín. I’ve been asked to inform you that your presence is required on Friday evening. I’ll text you the location.”

  “Day assistant. Right. And if I’m busy?”

  Her hesitation vanished, and her voice turned ice-cold. “Then someone will come and get you. It wouldn’t be pleasant, so I advise you to turn up, Miss Delaney. Of your own accord.”

  “Fine. I’ll be there. Hey, wait. Know anything about the vampires hanging around outside my place?”

  She paused; I held my breath, half-hoping she would say yes. At least then I would know.

  “I haven’t heard anything about it.” She hung up and sent me the text straight away. The assistant bothered me as much as Daimhín. I couldn’t tell if she was lying about the vampires. I was pretty sure the woman was in a relationship of some kind with Peter, and he was the one who had told Daimhín I had agreed to work for her. More betrayal I didn’t want to think about.

  One of the non-life-threatening downsides to working for Daimhín was that it meant less time spent on my own business. Rule one of earning a reasonable income by buying and selling esoteric relics online involved maintaining a solid, reliable presence. The supernatural world had been a major factor in the deterioration of my business relationships. Feeling weary, I turned on my old laptop with a plan to make up time for whatever errands Daimhín had planned for Friday.

  A loud knock at the door soon interrupted a grovelling email. I regretted opening the door the instant I saw the look on my landlord’s face.

  “Hello, Mr. McGreavy. How are you?” I gave him my cheeriest smile despite my expectance of a bad attitude in return.

  He glared and lifted his shoulders, trying to tower over me. When I first came to view my home, he’d interviewed me in his flat where I’d seen plenty of old photos of him. He had once been a handsome man but had apparently eaten his weight in fast food until grease began to seep out of his pores.

  “Where’s the rent, Delaney?” His squinty eyes almost disappeared under the enormous frowning brow.

  “I told you already, you’ll get it in a few weeks. I’m still waiting to get paid.” Total lie. My business had pretty much gone to hell while I’d dealt with accidentally enthralling a human and trying to avoid being picked up by two warring vampire clans. Recovering from Maximus’s torture, I’d not only lost days, but also money, sales, and a couple of regulars to boot. Catching up proved a struggle. I had no chance of making the rent anytime soon.

  “I’m still waiting, too. You have until tomorrow.” McGreavy sounded really happy about that, the greasy sod. My slutty next-door neighbour could always charm her way into an extra couple of week’s leeway. Wait. Maybe I could too.

  I’d been thinking about what I did to Carl, spent some time concentrating on where the power came from to stop me from doing it again accidentally. Instead of shutting off any supernatural ability I might have, I had begun to explore the possibilities. It was time to find out if I could use my persuasive side on purpose.

  McGreavy turned to leave, satisfied with his intimidation of me. I grabbed his coat sleeve, forcing him to stop. He tried to pull away and frowned at my hand, perhaps wondering why I was so much stronger than him. I stared right into his eyes and let that other part of me show, not the fangs or the aggression, but the seductive willpower that had worked so well on Carl, whether I wanted it to or not.

  “I need more time,” I said, my voice soft and slow. Different. Something pulsed on the surface of my skin, but I ignored the sensation and concentrated, kept thinking about how he should feel and tried to force the feeling toward him.

  McGreavy’s face contorted with anger then, all of a sudden, let it go. I could hear his heartbeat slowing down; the rhythm calmed me. His loose jowls slack, he stared back at me and nodded.

  “Can you give me an extra month to pay?” I thought about pleasing me and pushed the notion toward him, willing him to accept it.

  “Yes,” he said with a fervent nod. “Of course.” He leaned toward me as if to steal a kiss; I backed off, alarmed.

  “Um, cool, thanks!” I closed the door on his surprised face. Risking a look through the peephole, I watched his features screwing up with confusion. Pleased with the results, I stifled a giggle as he stumbled away.

  Cold air blasted the back of my neck. Apparently, the spirit wanted to show its displeasure.

  “I had no choice, I can’t pay him,” I protested, but the words sounded dead, as if even I didn’t believe them. The presence blew directly in my face, making me blink.

  “I’m sorry,” I amended, hoping it sounded sincere. I hated myself for forcing Carl to do my bidding by accident. What made my landlord any different?

  I sat, humbled, and the guilt kicked in, sucking the exhilaration away. I decided to give Carl a call and check up on him. My reasons were selfish; I wanted to know he was doing okay, that I had done right by him after all.

  “Ava? Is that you?” Carl’s familiar voice was completely absent of the dull, brainless tone he’d taken on while entranced.

  I opened my mouth to answer when a hysterical-sounding woman screamed at him in the background.

  “Shut up, Maria. I’m on the phone!”

  “Um, sounds like a bad time, I’ll call you back sometime.” I hurriedly hung up just as his fiancée, Maria, screamed at him again.

  I hoped they weren’t still fighting because he had gone missing for a couple of days. The relief she felt when he return
ed home had quickly turned to anger, particularly when he continued to visit me. His visits had dropped off, and I assumed he had gone back to his own life and taken my advice to forget about my world.

  Not for the first time, I wished I had the luxury of returning to a normal life.

  Chapter Two

  I spent Friday afternoon working, but my appointment with Daimhín never left my mind, pushing everything else out of my head. By the time I got ready to leave, I was running on nervous energy.

  Getting ready mostly consisted of putting on silver bracelets and the cross-shaped talisman Eddie had given me. I still had possession of the special dagger he had pressed on me before a fight. I had no intention of returning it. I had adjusted my favourite coat so I could carry the dagger in a number of different ways; I wasn’t letting it out of my sight if I could help it.

  Daimhín’s home was much more discreet than Maximus’s had been. Her guards were scattered around the building and well-hidden except for the obvious emptiness in my other sight. Her tastes were muted, designed to be forgettable, just like her. I wished I could forget all about Daimhín, but she wasn’t about to let me.

  One of her followers led me into a cosy living room where Daimhín sat surrounded by vampires, and even a human or two. Daimhín signalled for the others to leave. As they all trooped out, I couldn’t help noting her vampires weren’t exactly starving. Most of Maximus’s vampires had been gaunt and hungry looking, not to mention less than loyal.

  “Sit down, Ms. Delaney.” Daimhín’s low voice was still commanding enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

  I sat on the chair furthest from her and waited. She smoothed her linen trousers, her outfit as understated as her slow yet precise movements. The leader of Irish vampires, Daimhín was pretty ordinary looking, apart from her burgundy eyes; even her skin wasn’t as sickeningly parched as the other vampires.