The Original Sin

Chapter Eleven





Jameson’s eyes grew wide with shock as I launched myself at him. Someone suddenly seized my arms and pulled me back right as the tips of my fingers touched his silky hair.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Archer shouted as I bucked and writhed to free my arms. Jameson took a step back as Quinn and Hunter flashed from their drinks upstairs to assist Archer.

“It’s all just a f*cking game to you, isn’t it?!” I exploded at Jameson as Archer, Hunter, and Quinn pulled me out from behind the bar, still kicking and screaming. “Let’s see if we can completely decimate this pathetic human’s little heart, huh?! You cold-blooded, vampi…”

A hand firmly clamped itself over my mouth as I was dragged up the stairs, but that didn’t keep me from trying to shout at Jameson.

“Jesus, Skye!” Quinn swore as he lost his grip on one of my struggling legs and caught a swift kick to the stomach. “What the hell has gotten into you?!”

“Stop fighting us!” Archer growled roughly as they maneuvered me over to his private stairwell.

His harsh words seemed to cool some of my anger and for the first time, I briefly caught a look at the faces of my shocked vampire co-workers before the stairwell door was shut behind us.

I stopped struggling and allowed the men to carry me the rest of the way to Archer’s office. My body suddenly felt tired and I was struggling for a deep breath under Archer’s hand. My lungs heaved rapidly as my heart thundered ninety to nothing. I was roughly set down on one of the chairs in front of Archer’s desk as the hand was removed from my mouth and my arms and feet secured.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” Archer yelled down at me as he stood off to the side, his ice blue eyes starting to fade to white as a side effect to his anger. “Are you on DRUGS?!”

I struggled to catch my breath and looked down to notice my crop top was lifted above my bra, fully exposing it and my generous cleavage. “Be a lamb and fix my shirt, will you Archer?” I asked nonchalantly as I silently tried to come to grips with what just happened.

“Fix your shirt?” he asked incredulously as he ran both hands through his hair in frustration. “Fix your shirt?! You just tried to attack my brother and you are worried about your f*cking shirt?”

“Okay fine,” I exhaled heavily, rolling my eyes. “Leave it where it is. Would you mind letting go of my arms, please? You’re hurting me.”

“Yes,” Hunter scoffed, “I would mind. I don’t trust you not to jump up and act like a damn ass again!”

I sighed as I looked down at Quinn. “Sorry I kicked you,” I mumbled begrudgingly.

“What do you want us to do with her, athair?” Quinn asked Archer, ignoring my apology.

Archer shook his head, completely at a loss, and addressed me again. “Answer me, Skye. Are you on drugs? Is that what’s wrong with you? Are you high on something right now?”

“No!” I shook my head, annoyed. “I’m not on drugs, Archer. I’m just pissed off!”

“Pray tell, then!” Archer threw his hands up, frustration painting his handsome features. “What in God’s name has you so pissed off? I can’t believe how you’ve been acting lately! First you attack me, and now Jameson?!?! What’s going on with you?” I swallowed hard and looked down at my lap, suddenly ashamed and filled with deep regret. I chewed on my bottom lip as I lost myself in thought.

I had never hit anyone before Archer, outside of sparring and stupid high school girl fights, and now I was attacking his brother? What the hell IS going on with me? I had never experienced rage and anger like I had in the past few days. Was it residual effects from my kidnapping? Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? Was it remnants of the anger from Archer and Hunter almost killing me? Was I about to start my period and consequentially having the worst PMS of my entire life?

“Tell me!” Archer shouted, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“I…” I started to say and then took a frustrated deep breath. How was I going to explain to Archer that I was burning with jealousy over something as stupid and petty as Jameson flirting with Courtney? I was beyond embarrassed and I hung my head again with renewed feelings of shame.

I was better than this, better than these stupid emotions. I had never been a jealous type of person before and didn’t understand why I was suddenly acting like it now. The first time I had ever felt jealousy over a guy was when Archer brought his feeder Vanessa to the club right after I was hired. Him flirting with her sent me fleeing The Mausoleum in a fit of anger. Does it have something to do with vampires and their insane pheromones maybe?

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, dejectedly. “I don’t know what came over me. I’ve never acted like this before in my entire life. When I hit you the other day…that was the first time I had ever hit a guy outside of sparring. I don’t act like this. I…I feel like I don’t know who I am anymore.”

“Damn it, Skye.” Archer sighed loudly and growled again in frustration. “What am I going to do with you? You can’t keep acting like this. Whatever is going on with you, you need to fix it. If you feel you need to see a therapist, then by all means, please do. I’ll even pay for it. Something is very wrong. If I caused this by what I did to you, I’m so, so sorry. I’d take it all back if I could.” He sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Release her, please. The bout of anger seems to have passed. I don’t think she’s going to cause any more trouble.”

Hunter and Quinn let go of my arms and legs and I brought my wrists around to rub the blood back into them. He had held onto me so tight that it had cut off circulation to my hands.

“You didn’t have to hold me so tightly, Hunter,” I frowned as I rubbed.

“You’re damn right I did,” he scoffed in his southern accent. “You bucked harder than a bronco at a rodeo. I ain’t never seen the likes from such a small girl. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a human female as strong as you. What the hell is Hagan teaching you down in that basement? He got you lifting weights or something?”

My frown deepened and my brow creased as I shook my head. “Not specifically.”

Quinn reached over and politely fixed my shirt for me. “You’re insane, you know that?” he pursed his lips as he stood and crossed his arms. “You remind me of one of those yappy little six pound dogs who think they’re a damn Rottweiler; always biting and barking when they don’t like someone or don’t get their way. You’re biting off more than you can chew by picking fights with vampires sweetheart, let me tell you. We’ve been taking it easy on you, but the next time you might not be so lucky.” He frowned angrily and pointed a finger at my chest. “And if you kick me like that again, so help me God, I’ll turn you over my knee and straighten you out myself!”

I swallowed hard and nodded my head. “Yes, sir,” I said with wide, alert eyes. I had never seen Quinn so mad before. “I’m sorry, Quinn…really I am.”

“I know,” he growled as he turned and left the office. Thankfully, he couldn’t have been too mad; his eyes never lost their color.

“Simmer down now, wild child,” Hunter drawled and gave me a rough pat on the shoulder before following Quinn out.

I sighed and hung my head in my hands. What the hell am I doing?

“Infuriating me,” Archer mumbled as he took a seat behind his desk, “that’s what you’re doing. But I do understand where some of your anger is coming from. You were kidnapped and tortured by Amun, I go and damn near do the same thing thinking you were some kind of spy or secret weapon of his, and then you almost dying…by my orders. Granted, it was unintentional, but still…” Archer let out a deep breath and I heard his chair squeak a second before I felt his hand on mine, pulling it away from my face.

“Look at me, Skye.”

I bit my bottom lips to keep from crying as I slowly tilted my head up. The look in Archer’s eyes broke my heart. He looked so sad, regretful, beseeching, and helpless. “I can’t stand to see you like this,” he whispered as he kneeled down in front of me. “This isn’t the girl I fell in love with. My sweet, giving, patient, loving, caring, fun-loving Skye disappeared when you were kidnapped. I’m so scared I’ll never get her back.”

I swallowed hard as I felt silent tears slide hot down my cheeks. “I just don’t know how to cope with what has been done to me, Archer. How do I forgive and forget? It’s always been so simple before. But now I’m dealing with things I never imagined would ever happen to me. My ex-boyfriend was beheaded by sick, sadistic vampires, I was chained to a pipe in a basement and tortured for days, I was almost drained to the point of death, I’m having nightmares controlled by my deranged abductor who, by the way, is hellbent on killing off your bloodline, you of all people get this idea in your head that I’m some kind of secret monster and you literally mind-rape me. Hunter gives me seizures and a heart attack while seemingly ripping my brain in two, I dump someone I care about and possibly love because he is a vampire and I feel like I can never trust any of you again, and to top it all off…I’m in love with one of the men who caused me pain…who betrayed my trust and further broke my damaged spirit by holding me against my will and who participated in the infliction of the worst pain of my entire life. How do I deal, Archer? How do I EVEN BEGIN to deal with this?”

He slowly lifted his hand and wiped the tears from my cheeks, devastation, sympathy and pain painted on his chiseled face.

“I feel broken,” I finally sobbed as I hung my head. “My spirit is…utterly crushed. And I’m angry, Archer…so angry. I have so much hate in my heart,…so much that it makes me think I never fully understood what hate was until now.”

“Oh, baby,” he choked as he quickly pulled me up and into his arms. “God I’m so sorry, Skye,” he whispered into my hair as he held me tightly. “I want to help you baby but I don’t know how.”

“Yes you do,” I whispered against his strong, cool chest. “You have to let me go.”

“What?” he asked, startled as he pushed me back a little to look at my face.

“You have to make sure Amun is dead so I can return to my normal life; the life I knew before I ever met you.” I swallowed my tears and bravely met his eyes. “When this is all over, I-I want you to have Quinn mesmerize me into forgetting all about you…all about vampires and what I’ve been through since the day I met you. I want to forget everything. I-I NEED to forget everything. I don’t want to have to live the rest of my life feeling like this or reliving all those horrible memories. I just can’t.”

“Skye,” he pleaded, his voice full of pain and panic. “No. No, you can’t. I won’t allow it!”

I reached up and cupped his cheeks as I stared deeply into his eyes. “If you care about me…at all…you’ll do this for me. Don’t make me live the rest of my life loving you and hating you in the same breath. It’s excruciating, Archer.”

“A luaidh, no,” Archer said, releasing me. “You can’t ask me to do this. I won’t do it. I won’t lose you.”

I cringed and my head jerked back as if I’d been slapped across the face. Jameson used to call me a luaidh and the words further tore at my already shattered heart. “Please,” I breathed as I gripped my chest, my face contorted with pain and fresh tears, “don’t call me that. Don’t ever, ever call me that.”

Archer reached out to touch my face and I shrank back from him. “I can’t… I-I think I’m going to go home for the night. I don’t need to be here. I-I can’t work like this. I’m sorry, Archer,” I said as I backed up and turned for the door.

I felt his hand on my shoulder, trying to keep me from leaving and I stopped, took his hand in mine without turning, and softly placed a kiss on the back of his knuckles. “Let me go home,” I pleaded in a barely audible whisper. “I can’t face everyone right now. Please don’t ask me to.”

Archer was silent as I closed the office door behind me and I was grateful for the respect he had just given me. I couldn’t bear to work tonight alongside my vampire colleagues and I definitely couldn’t bear to look Jameson in the eyes again.

As I exited the private stairwell, I noticed the club in full swing.

“How ya’ doin’, kitten?” Lochlan called out from behind the VIP/PVIP bar.

I glanced to my left and saw him a few feet away mixing a drink using his unique flourish. “Honestly, I’ve been better, Loch. Have you seen any of the guards by chance? I need a lift.”

Lochlan nodded his head to a table a few feet away. “Killian’s set up post over there.”

I gave him a weak smile and thanked him as I walked over to Killian.

“Um, I hate to bother you, but I need an escort home,” I said timidly. “Would you mind taking me?”

“Sure,” he said as he immediately stood. “Did Archer approve your absence? I am not allowed to transport you anywhere without his explicit permission.”

“Go see for yourself if you don’t believe me,” I nodded toward the stairwell door. “I’m going to grab my bag and I’ll meet you by the back door.”

I ran into Quinn at the bottom of the stairs. I apologized again and quickly leaned in to deliver a brief hug. Quinn’s body instantly tensed up from the unfamiliar gesture before he relaxed somewhat and returned my hug with an awkward pat on the back. “Women are confusing as hell,” he shook his head when I disengaged.

“You think?” I scoffed in an awkward attempt at light-hearted playfulness. “Try being one for a day.”

He gave me a light swat on the backside as I turned and began to fight my way through the crowd of customers. I refused to look over at the bar where Jameson was working and hoped like hell that he was too busy mixing drinks and serving customers to notice me.

I had to shrug off a rowdy customer or two looking for a dance partner before I finally made my way down the hall to the employee lounge. Thankfully, all of our dancers were in their cages so I grabbed my messenger bag from my locker, slung it over my shoulder and quickly exited the back door.

I stood in the dark employee parking lot and only had to wait a few seconds before Emrick appeared.

“Where’s Killian?” I asked, confused.

“Mr. Rhys requested I take you,” he explained simply as he put a hand on my back and hurriedly led me to the black 911. He politely held the door open for me and I got in as he flashed to the driver’s door.

The drive to Archer’s lakeside mansion was a quiet one, but that wasn’t surprising. Emrick was famously a man of few words and today I was overly grateful for it. When we arrived, he did a quick sweep of the house and then left me in peace for his nightly patrol of the grounds.

I greeted an excited Styvi Nix and tried to put on a smile for her sake, but it was useless. I was completely exhausted, emotionally and physically, and decided that sleep was my best option at this point. I silently undressed, mechanically washed my face, brushed my teeth and crawled into bed with her. Slumber quickly descended upon me and for the first time in weeks, I didn’t have a nightmare.