Braced to Bite (Book 1: Half-blood vampire series)

Chapter Fourteen

“I thought we were meeting later tonight?” I asked, looking around for some sort of weapon or kidnapping tool that would enable me to truss him up and take him to court with me. I was completely unprepared to take action in that moment.

     “Tell me, Colby, don’t you like to feed? Where is your passion for the hunt? The thrill of the chase? The delicious satisfaction of taking lifeblood from another?” he questioned.

     My stomach rolled at the picture he painted. “Dude, it’s just lunch. Chill.”

     “You must think you are better than the rest of them, don’t you? You don’t fight the same ancient cravings, the wanton lust for destruction and darkness. Oh, how we could conquer the world together.”

     “You’re beginning to sound like a broken record, Chuck.”

     Not that I’d ever seen a real record, but my father always said this to me when I harped on wanting the same thing over and over again.

     “Come away with me,” he commanded in a whisper, looking deep into my eyes using all his vampire powers of persuasion to bend me to his will.

     I was surprised that part of me wanted to please him, make him happy.

     “I’m just not sure,” I hedged, trying to fight off the compulsion.

“It is time for us to settle this, Colby.”

     I suddenly realized that he was right. It was now or never but not the way he meant it. Chuck was right in the sense that we were the same. We were victims. He hadn’t asked for what happened to him any more than I’d asked for it. This life of loneliness had driven him crazy and at that moment I realized I couldn’t lead him like a lamb to the slaughter.

     Despite what he’d done to me, I felt sorry for him. Taking him back to the Tribunal would be like signing his death warrant. At one time that would have thrilled me but after all the research I’d done about vampires, half-bloods and the history of our people, I couldn’t really blame him for wanting to have a family and not be alone anymore.

     But my newfound understanding didn’t mean I was going to hang with him either.

     “Good-bye, Chuck. And good luck,” I said to him. Then I surprised him by turning away from his intense gaze with little effort and opening my car door. By the time I turned over the engine, he was nowhere in sight and I couldn’t help wonder if I hadn’t just made the biggest mistake of my life by letting him go, or by not going with him.

     It was too late. I’d made my decision. It had stopped being all about me when Jill Schneider was killed. It wasn’t all about just me anymore. I was fighting for all of us now. Even Chuck. How was that for irony?

     I went home and reviewed my defense again. Like it or not, it was all I had now. Satisfied that I was as prepared as I was going to get, I went to bed. I dreamed of Thomas and woke up depressed.

     I spent the rest of the evening with my family, basking in the glow of their acceptance and love. None of us was saying aloud what we were really thinking, that this evening was perhaps our last one together.

     I thought about calling Piper, but decided it wasn’t the best idea under the circumstances. I didn’t want her doing something crazy in a last-ditch effort to help me.

     Thomas and Carl escorted me to the hearing. Actually, they picked me up and drove me there to assure I wouldn’t get lost on my way to the Tribunal offices, which were located in downtown Seattle. It was a very nice space, requiring a card key to access the floor from inside the elevator. I was impressed with the view from the lobby area and pointed it out to Carl, who just looked at me like I was crazy. As did the receptionist. Obviously, I was in a bit of denial for the reason I was there in the first place.