A Slave to Love

Chapter 47: Provoked

Blade POV

"My God your sister got around," Ace remarked when he walked into the bar, surveying the damage with an impressed whistle.

"Yeah and there's another one behind the bar," I grunted as I stood, hunched over in pain from my ribs. He watched me with amusement and made zero attempt to lend me a hand.

"Got your ass kicked by your little sister?" he asked, looking pleased.

"If I had gotten my ass kicked it would be me lying on the floor there." I pointed to Lexi who was passed out in the floor. I hadn't taken the stake out yet as she would recover too fast, so I'd take it out when we were ready to go. If he was going to make jokes, he could at least be helpful while he did it. "Look can we just clean up? I really want to go home."

"To Kiana," he sang cheerily as he went up to the men lying on the floor.

"Well no shit," I retorted. I was in no mood to be teased. My ribs were aching like hell and the longer we stayed here the more likely it was we were going to get caught, and that was the last thing any of us needed.

"You should really hurry, I don't think Father Dearest likes her at all. They were arguing in the hall before," Ace said, examining the body behind the bar.

I froze for a second as all the possibilities of what that meant hit me at once. Kiana would be physically safe with my parents, but that didn't mean my dad wouldn't take cheap shots at her or try to get under her skin. And after the night she'd had, she didn't deserve to put up with that kind of treatment.

"Shit," I cursed, trying to go faster as I wiped up all the black blood that humans could absolutely not find. If they did they'd test it with all their new identity and research labs. Things were so much easier a hundred years ago; now there's all those fancy microscopes and science gadgets to worry about. If they got a hold of our blood we'd be royally screwed.

Ace came over and finally started helping me mop up the blood. "Why does your dad hate her so much anyways?"

"Like I fucking know. He's an asshole. Does he need another reason?" I scrubbed at the floor with one hand while my other hand pressed to my side, hoping to keep the bones in place as I slowly healed, plus the added pressure eased the pain and kept them from moving as much. It really fucking hurt to move and if I didn't get to a doctor soon they might heal all fucked up. Then they'd have to be broken again so they could heal right.

"Well that's always a good reason I guess," Ace said with a chuckle before we got down to business. It took a while, long enough that it made me nervous, but we finally got it all done. Once we were finished we went back to the bodies and Ace produced a sharp switchblade. He cut open their necks and immediately blood started flowing again.

"You go with Lexi, I'll clean up after her--" he gestured to the pool of blood still around her where I'd staked her to the floor "--then call the authorities about an armed robbery gone wrong," he said with a wink. Hopefully our clean up and Ace using his mojo would get us out of here scott-free.

"Thanks," I said as I yanked the stake out of her. Her body jerked, but she didn't wake up. Thank fuck. Grinding my teeth together to keep from making any noise, I scooped her limp body into my arms, despite the way my ribs screamed in protest.

I loved my sister, but there was no way in hell I was going to ruin my car, so I grabbed the tarp from my trunk I kept for occasions like this and spread it across the backseat before dumping her there. Maybe I should have had better priorities, but after all the shit she put me through I really didn't want her blood to stain my seats. I did not need a reminder of this every time I drove.