NEVER FALL FOR THE FORBIDDEN (NEVER FALL SERIES) (19 page)

             
“What’s bothering you?” Annasara took his hand.

             
“I don’t want I to end.” He said flatly.

             
“You’re cured, everything is so perfect.” She reassured him.

             
He looked at her, so hopeful, “It may not last, so let’s not call it perfect.”

             
Triton knew she would not get the true meaning of what he was trying to convey. He only had two choices, tell her of his secret or let them live out the rest of her mortal life together. He loved her too much to do either. Whatever choice he made he would lose her, if he told her he was a vampire she would take his child and flee, and the other option, she would grow old and die as he stayed forever as he was. How would he explain this to his child has he aged into a man himself. Why did I ever do this? He thought and looked at her, holding the boy by the hands his tiny toes splashing in the water and giggling loudly. That was why; he loved them more than his endless life. The woman who held his heart and the life they created together, the innocent child who was the impossible result of their union. Lifting the boy over is head, Brenden laughed as Triton threw him up in the air caught him and brought him into one arm and held him close to his chest while the boy put his arms around his neck and rested his head sleepily on Triton’s shoulder.

             
“Daddy.” He boy said. Triton’s head snapped towards Annasara whose eyes were filling with tears at hearing the boy’s first word.

             
“Did you say Daddy?” Triton and the boy repeated it while yawning.

At that very moment,
Triton knew he made the right choice, leaving the immortal world behind to be with them. Nevertheless, it still did not stop the worry; it would always would be there. He was not wrong in that.

Chapter Thirty-Two

              “Your phone is ringing?” Annasara said surprised, picked it up, and handed to Triton who was busy monitoring his accounts on his laptop out on the open veranda. Trepidation seeped into his nerves, wondering who would be calling him and why. Recognizing Umbriel’s cell number Triton relaxed a bit and pressed number two for the speed dial. To his surprise, Umbriel answered just as the first ring sounded.

             
“What is it!” Umbriel barked.

             
“Is that any way to speak to your best mate?” Triton asked.

             
“Brother, it is really you? It’s been too long.” He said softening his harsh tone.

             
“Much too long. I take you are well?”

             
“Surviving, the war has drained me, but we are claiming victory.”

             
“Still fighting after all this time?” Triton waited for his response, curious to no end.

             
“Rohian was captured, we presume he is dead. We lost nearly twenty-five, they nearly a hundred so far.”

             
“What about Nala?”

             
“I knew you would ask. She is quite angry with you for leaving; she still however thinks you are in slumber. She has no idea that you had a…?”

             
Triton said as he stood against the terrace railing watching Annasara disappear into the house. “A son.”

             
“Yes, I knew it would be a boy and he is?” Umbriel said.

             
“Perfect, human as far as I can tell. No reaction to sunlight. Eats like a horse, sleeps through the night, he’s a set of lungs on him that rival yours.” Triton beaming as any new father would.

             
“And Annasara does she had any idea?”

             
“No, I have not told her. I have had extreme luck here. Only ran into one like us. A little snitch, a sickly vampire, said he drank tainted blood.”

             
“Tainted? How?”

             
“Said he drank dead blood. He was very low scale; I could read his mind as easily as I breathe. He provided me with some very valuable information before I parted him with his head.”

             
“Did he know of the war? Of you?”

             
“He claimed he knew where Januar may be.”

             
“Where, tell me brother and I will end this conflict now.”

             
“There is some one who knows someone very close to you. So, brother please watch your back. But my question is why would anyone give such valuable information to low grade solider?”

             
“To draw you out. Triton.” Umbriel said, Triton knew this was serious, Umbriel calling him by name. “There is a bounty on your head. Januar, knows how strong you are, what you are capable of.”

             
“Capable of what?”

             
“Defeating Januar and leading a new era.”

             
“I would think he would fear Nala more than me.”

             
“He should, but he is too cocky. Thinks he's the shit.”

             
“Why don’t you forget all that come here? I have something incredible I want to show you.”

             
“You want me to leave? Abandon Nala… I could do that I lo- I am needed here.”

Triton
raised an eyebrow as he heard Umbriel’s words, and making a mental note of it for later contemplation, Triton tucked the information away.

             
“Then be very careful, watch your back al times. Do not trust anyone.”

             
“Even you?” Umbriel said sarcastically.

             
“Brother, I am the only one you can trust. Please know that I do love you and my home is always open. You should come meet your god child, Brenden Umbriel, he quite good looking if I do say so myself.”

Triton
listened to a long pausing silence and nearly hung up when he heard, “Was it worth it? Leaving here for the life with your woman and child?”

             
“My only regret is being away from my best friend.” Triton responded.

             
“I could put you in danger if I came to visit. Nala has tried several time and several methods to get me to reveal your location.”

             
“That’s why I did not let you know where I was going. She’s too powerful for you to keep it from her.” Triton said.

             
“Our powers are equal now. I have been granted full elder status replacing Rohian in the clan. A place that should have been yours.”

             
“I never wanted that, you know I did not. But something amazing has happened, you have to see for your self, come here. I will make all the arrangements, just show up at the airport a week from tomorrow. Spend a day or two and then return. You’re an elder now you can afford the time away.”

             
“Come back here, the war is nearly over.”

             
“I could not leave or risky bring my family back, not with this new development.”

Umbriel’s ears perked up,
“Development?”

             
“A week from Tuesday.” Triton demanded.

             
“Alright brother.” Umbriel said and hung up. Triton press the phone off and stood daydreaming, maybe he could go back and end the conflict.
No, my place is here with my wife and child.
In this new life of sunlight, he suddenly regretted inviting Umbriel. Someone could find out.
Damn,
he thought,
what do I do now?

Chapter Thirty-Three

             
A week slowly passed by, Triton found Annasara outside on the patio attending to the small rose bush she had planted. Sneaking up behind her Triton through his arms around her waist and nuzzled her neck and ear. “Let’s go out for dinner tonight.”

             
“We haven’t been out for ever. What brought this on? You never like to go out. You barely eat anything; I don’t know how you stay so fit.”

             
“I live on love.” He said kissing her into forgetting about him eating, “You can wear that dress I like so much.”

             
“I could.” Annasara said playfully.

              In the early evening, the family set out on foot. Triton carried the squirming boy in one arm while his other arm fell loosely around Annasara’s neck. Walking along the little village pathways, they agreed to dine at a small restaurant with a patio in the front. Crisp white linens lined the cozy tables, small white tea lights on each table gave the air of romantic ambience, and they quickly found themselves seated and welcomed to the table. Looking across the table, he noticed Annasara had adorned herself with the red heart shaped diamond he gave her before the war. Candle light danced across the gem spilling out red dots across the white tablecloth like tiny droplets of blood. Triton outstretched his hand across the table take her hand. The joined hands speckled with red light. Annasara smiled so sweetly as she had the night he gave her the gem, before being torn apart by his departure. He looked to her, to his son, the picture of a perfect family; no one would ever suspect one of the members was an undead killer, who preyed upon humans to sustain his immortality.

             
Their tender moment ended as waiters set dishes down; forcing them to break the tender hold. Brenden reached for the food and pounded on the table with his chubby hands. Triton apologized to the waiter in Italian for the mess the one year old had made squeezing and swishing spaghetti all over the tablecloth, and floor. Most of the discarded meal was Triton’s dinner he spit into his napkin and shook out on the ground. He would make up to the servers having clean such a mess in the tip. Annasara took the babe to the washroom to clean him up and Triton took a sip of her wine. It went down with no adverse reaction, which surprised him. He finished the glass waiting for Annasara and Brenden’s return. The waiters swarmed around cleaning their table in a quick well-rehearsed fashion. Something did not set right with his gut. Unsure if it was the wine or instinct. He paid the check and stood trying to detect her. Triton’s senses started to worry him,
she should have been back by now. One more minute.
The minute came and went. Panic set in. Triton stood and rushed back to the washrooms. Pushing open the door, he found it empty. He spun around trying to sense her and their boy.  Deeply he breathed in, they were close, less than fifty feet. On his heel, he turned and raced back into the kitchen and found Annasara, Brenden in arms smiling and talking to an elderly short woman who looked about eighty years old. The old woman patted the boy on the cheeks and Brenden giggled. Annasara looked up at Triton and smiled, “Sorry, I took a wrong turn and ended up in here. This is the cook and she said Brenden is the most special baby she ever seen.”

             
Relief washed over his skin, Triton let down his guard. In Italian, he spoke to the elderly woman, thanking her for the meal and the compliment. The woman’s tiny eyes looked over him, and grew large. As he spoke the woman, she started spewing at him, crossing her self and praying, holding her tiny gold crucifix that hung from her neck and ordering them out of her kitchen. “Diavolo! Sete di sangue.” She shouted at him. Triton was taken aback by her ranting, calling him the devil and drinker of blood.

             
“We better go.” Triton said and rushed his wife and child out. The woman was still shaking her fist and yelling as they walked out of the restaurant and back down the street. Annasara turned her head back to look at the woman, unsure why she was so kind in one minute and screaming at them in the next breath and held the head of the boy to her should as she tried to keep pace with Triton was hurrying them through the village.

             
“What was that all about?” she asked. “She acted like you were Satan.”

             
“I must have mistranslated something.” He said leading them into a small alley to cut through to the road that would take them back to their home. Annasara let out a small laugh, “What did you say?”

Before
Triton could answer her, the vibrations came across so strong he stopped on a dime, stuck out his arm to hold her back.

             
“You nearly tripped me.” Annasara said then shut her mouth tightly as Triton grabbed her and pushed her behind him. Out of the shadows stepped two very large seedy looking thugs. One towered over Triton’s six-four frame. The wall stepped closer.

             
“Just where do you think your going?” One man asked Triton in Italian.

             
“Let us pass.” Triton replied.

             
“That’s a very pretty woman you have there.” The other said.

             
“Triton just give him you wallet.” Annasara said.

             
“Your woman thinks it’s money were after, she must not know who you are. I mean what you are.”

             
“What is he saying?” she asked.

             
“Keep quiet!” Triton yelled at her causing the baby to start to cry.

             
As the child’s voice wailed, the two men looked at each other in startled surprise, and then looked back to Triton. Annasara put her hand over Brenden’s mouth to try to quiet him.

             
“Let them pass and I will spare your life.” Triton sternly told the bounty hunters. Either they were too new to understand how powerful Triton was or too stupid to care.

             
“We can’t let that happen, there’s too much of a bounty on your head.”

             
“I have given you fair warning.” He said, and then spoke in English, “Annasara take Brenden, get back to the villa.”

             
Unquestioning him Annasara held the boy close to her bosom and ran past the trio. Triton watched as she made her way out of the alley and turned the corner.

             
“She’s human!” One thug shouted. Triton morphed into the superior vampire he was. The bounty hunter vampires watched with mouths agape, never once seeing such a powerful and quick transformation. One vampire turned around ready to run but Triton pulled a dagger from his boot, sliced his head off before he took one-step. The other vampire stood in fear; he had never seen one this powerful, not even the one who created him held this immense supremacy. Breaking in a sprint, he tried to run, but Triton’s speed had him on the ground before he got to the end of the alley. Pulling him back from behind, Triton choked him with one arm.

             
“Who sent you?” Triton growled.

             
“I don’t know.” The vampire whispered.

             
“If you will not tell me, I will have to seek it another way.” Triton said, ripping the shirt back and sinking his razor sharp teeth into the tissue of the shrieking vamps shoulder. Blood spewed out all over the wall in a speckled pattern, ran over the thugs back, over Triton’s mouth and down the front of his white shirt. Memories, thoughts, and truths filtered into Triton’s mind as he gulped down the last of the vampire’s blood. Fury raged through his veins, the knowledge he obtained made the blood he just drank curdle in his stomach. Dropping the body, Triton wiped his mouth on his sleeve, still in full status. He took a deep breath and turned back slowly. Offered to any vampire who brought Triton in, any treasure they desired, wealth, power, and the ultimate prize, full elder status, the vampire who accomplished this task would become the forth most powerful of all the blood drinkers. Triton’s location was compromised, they would have to run, they were not safe here.

             
“Annasara.” He said aloud and rushed out of the alley to find her and their son.

             
Entering the house, a strange and eerie quiet filled his sonic hearing. Looking from room to room, Triton used his senses to hone in on her, feeling her heat emulating strongly through the walls from the basement. Creaking loudly the door groaned as he pushed it open to find her cradling the sleeping boy, her body crouched down in a corner. She jumped up as he opened the door, the dark shadow outlined in light from the upstairs giving no indication who was there.

             
“Sara, it’s me.”

             
“Triton!” she said stumbling over to him. “Oh my god, are you hurt?”

“No, I am fine, fine.”
He said taking the boy in to his arms, holding her tightly as well. Vampire blood still wet soaked his shirt, transferring to Annasara’s clothes and skin. 

             
“Let me put Brenden to bed. Okay?” he said taking the boy from her arms. Triton climbed the stairs two at a time taking Brenden his room and resting him in his crib. As Triton kissed his son’s cheek and put him into the crib covering him up with a soft blanket. Triton heart ached for his son, he never wanted to put him or Annasara in any danger. A life on the run. Constantly looking over their shoulder. Triton knew this day would come and regretted every moment. Now he would have to explain to his wife, a task he had dreaded from the moment  he knew he was in love. Water running filled his ears. A steady hot stream poured up from the sink as Annasara scrubbed the stains from her skin. Jolting as he saw him in the mirror, she looked upon Triton her thoughts racing to fast for him to read. Spinning around to meet his gaze, Annasara spoke harshly.

             
“Who, no what were those men after?”

             
“They will not bother us again; just forget about the whole thing.” He said peeling off the shirt that stuck to his chest like red glue on tissue paper, the blood of the vampire he killed marring his perfect white skin.

             
“I will not forget about it, Triton, those men wanted to hurt you.” she paused, “What happen to them?”

             
“Sara, please let us not speak of it anymore.”

             
“I deserve to know what is going on!” she said, a flare in her eyes he had never seen before. It excited him to see her so relied up but silence was his only answer, which infuriated her even more, sending her storming away in an angry huff. Triton reached out grabbed her arm and gently tugged her back to him.

             
“They were just street thugs.” He said but Annasara stared unconvinced.

             
“Does this have anything to do with the organization?”

Triton
looked up surprised at her words. He could not conceal this from her much longer.

             
“Yes.” He dryly said. Triton reached over to turn on the shower and finished undressing. Without saying a word, he reached over slid the straps from her shoulders, let the dress fall to the floor. Putting his hands over her hips, he slid down her panties and she stepped out of them. Only the necklace, left they entered into the spray of water together. Triton watched hands and fingers soaping up his chest cleaning off the stains letting the water run red to pink to clear. Her fingers mixed with the blood excited him. Turning around, her hands smoothed over every muscle of his shoulders, down his back, to his butt and down each leg. Pivoting around, she stayed on her knees and worked her way up his shins, over his knees, washing the tight strong thighs, stopping as she reached his now hard erect sex. Taking him into her mouth, she pleased him. Triton bent his head back into the spray from the showerhead and braced himself on the towel bar. Bring his gaze down, he watched her for a few minutes. Water streamed out of her hair and down her back.  Bringing her up, he pinned her against the wall and entering into her. The water ran cold on their bodies as they made love slowly. Triton shut off the water and carried her soaking into the bed room laid her down, the two wet bodies entwined for hours.

             
After the lovemaking was finished, they held onto each other tightly, “Are we in danger?” she asked. Triton could bear to lie to her again.

             
“Yes.”

             
“What did they mean about the bounty?” she asked. Triton hesitated, she understood more Italian than he thought. Carefully selecting the perfect explanation as not to lie but not tell the whole truth he told her, “There is an organization out there that has an issue with who I am. If they found out what I possess they would stop at nothing to have it. The organization I am affiliated with is warring with them now and I left in the midst of the conflict.”

             
“You left because of me, because I was pregnant.”

             
“Partly, I did not want to be involved or have you harmed in any way. I could not take the chance I had already risked enough.”