Recessive Gifts Read online

  *********

  Liam and Zena continue being lost in each other’s gazes. It wasn’t till Zena’s phone buzzed they realized their minds had shut off as they danced. Zena pulled away from Liam and excused herself. She slid her way outside to the backyard to call back her caller.

  As she held her phone to her ear, Zena explored alone around the backyard, listening to her voicemail. She swore under her breath as she called back the tow truck driver. Waiting for him to answer, she noticed how amazing the backyard was. It was like walking in the woods.

  Finally, the tow truck driver picked up, and he didn’t have good news. He told Zena after a certain number of miles, she would be charged a fee per mile, which was way more than she could afford.

  “It will be what!?” Zena nearly shouted. “Fuck!!! Is there a way to just leave it at the nearest auto shop and I can find my way there? Ok. How much will it cost me... Fuck... I guess I have no other choice. Yeah. Just whatever shop you come across, drop it off there. If you could give me a number so I can call them tomorrow to make them aware of my situation. Thank you. Yeah, tell them to go ahead and charge it to my card. Ok, you have a good day as well. Bye.”

  Once Zena hung up the phone, she ran her fingers through her hair, as she breathed in and out roughly. Her vehicle going out and having it towed had taken a toll on her bank account. Her face went hot as she couldn’t help but feel like crying. What Yuri said to her started to make some sense, but she didn’t want to admit it. She had no job and no proper source of income. When everything was done, she probably won’t be able to afford food or to keep her phone on. There was no way in hell she would ask someone who she barely knows to borrow money so she could get her stuff settled. She wouldn’t even know where to begin to pay them back. No way in hell she will go crawling back to her family, asking and crying for help either. The young woman feared this was probably it for her adventure. Zena is now totally broke and homeless. Even if she could make money, it might not be enough to get a nice room at a safe hotel or get whatever she wanted from a menu at a restaurant. She probably wouldn’t afford food at a fast-food restaurant. It would take her a while to get back to where she was before her vehicle broke down. Just when she thought things were looking good for her, things started to go downhill fast. This was probably the last time she will get to have fun like this at a beautiful and fancy place.

  While Zena was worked up and worried about her situation to pay attention to her surroundings, someone grabbed her from the shadows and covered her mouth. She couldn’t breathe nor call out for someone to help her. Why did she not stay in the light and insight for someone to see her? She could have gone down a hall somewhere to make a call. She could have asked Liam to stand outside with her while she made her call. Que warned her not to leave the bar, and she did it anyway without thinking. For some reason, Yuri popped into her head. He was so right. She should have done what he said to her. She doesn't know what was going to happen to her now. Was she going to get raped? Or was she going to be kidnapped and sold off to human trafficking? Either way, she was in a hazardous situation and wasn’t strong enough to fight her way out of it. She had too many drinks to get the strength she needed to fight back. Tears started to rush down her face. This time no one knows where she was and wouldn’t be able to find her. It could be easy for her attacker to drag her off into the woods and make her disappear.

  Zena’s attacker started to sniff her on the neck. He moaned as Zena could feel sharp teeth grazing down her throat. “You know you are a hard lady to get off guard, and you’re one hell of a fighter. Who would have thought you would get through being stranded and nearly killed. You must be some witch to be able to get away from the events that happened to you with barely a scratch from us. I must know who you are.” The man sniffed Zena again. “Ohh, you smell so good like candy. I must have a little taste of you. You made me chase after you long enough.”

  Zena's eyes went wide. She was wondering what the hell the man was talking about. How the hell did he know about what happened to her earlier in the day? Did he say witch or wrench? Whatever was wrong with this sick bastard, he was about to do something that wasn’t going to look pretty. She struggled as hard as she could to try to flip the man off of her. He was bigger and stronger than her.

  The attacker began to shred Zena’s clothes. She wouldn’t need it anyway. With one hand, he grabbed both of Zena’s hands and forced her to the ground. It was dark, but she could see a figure and red eyes looking right at her. She could envision him looking at her with his dirty expression, as he untied her corset. He told her that he would kill her if she screamed. Tears continued to rush down her face as she looked away. She could overhear the man say something that she couldn’t comprehend.

  *******

  Suddenly, the man was off Zena. More like thrown off her. She heard snarling, and someone yelling, “Get away from her!”

  Zena didn’t hesitate to stay and see the fight that was going on. The only thing on her mind was that she needed to get back to tell someone that she was attacked and almost raped. That way, someone could call the police and arrest the twisted man. A disturbing yell stopped Zena frozen in her track. She dared not to look back.

  “You may have gotten me off guard, but you won’t get me like that again,” yelled a fleeing voice in the distance.

  “Zena,” A voice yelled after her.

  Zena screamed and swung her arms at whoever called her name. She wasn’t going to stand there and let what happened to her happen again. “Let go of me!” Her fist went flying, as she felt that she sucker-punched someone in the face, making her yip in pain because his face felt like she hit a brick wall.

  “Fucking hell Zena, calm down! It’s me, Yuri!” Yuri irritatingly shouted, gently gripping onto Zena. “You’re ok now.”

  Zena looked up and saw Yuri. He must have been the one who stopped her attacker. For some reason, she was happy to see him. So many emotions ran through her as she cried uncontrollably. She felt everything was now safe with him being there. Without a second thought, she clung on to Yuri, as she sobbed in his chest.

  Yuri pulled Zena back and examined her body. He sighed in relief that nothing major happened to her or that she was bitten. As he looked at Zena’s sobbing face, he felt like he was going to lose himself and melt. Just like Liam, Yuri wanted to hold her in his arms and never let her go. So, held her he did. Yuri held on to Zena and patted her on the head. He told her everything would be fine in his native tongue, and then again so she could understand what he said. Without any other word, Yuri took off the jacket and wrapped it around Zena. With one swoop, he picked her up and carried her back to the mansion backdoor to meet up with Liam and told him of Zena's close call.

  “Take her back to the limo, Liam,” Yuri demanded. “I have some stuff to finish up here and alert the authorities.”

  Liam grabbed on to Zena. It was like she was a baby being exchanged by its parents as Liam held Zena close and made sure she was comfortable.

  “Wait, I can’t just leave. I came here with someone.” Zena protested. “I have to let her know what happened and meet back up with her.”

  “I don’t think that would be a safe thing to do,” Yuri suggested coldly.

  “And why not?” Zena said with a little attitude, ready to jump off Liam and give him a piece of her mind.

  Yuri sighed in annoyance. “Look, Zena, the guy might have other people watching from a distance. They could have been planning to follow both of you back from wherever you two left. Give me the person’s name, and I’ll let her know of the situation and have her sent home with someone safely.”

  Zena couldn’t argue with Yuri’s logic, so she told them Que’s name. Both Liam and Yuri were taken aback when she spoke the name. Liam appeared like he wanted to laugh.

  “Liam and I are acquaintances of Que.” Yuri’s facial expression changed, as he slightly smirked to an inside joke. “We’ve known each other for a while. I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t mind us takin
g you away from this place. I’ll go find her and make sure she is taken home safely.”

  When everything was settled, Liam went off with Zena in his arms. He walked all the way around to the front of the mansion, not even bothering to go back inside. Once Zena was out of sight, Yuri pulled out his cell phone. His eyes shined red as he waited for the caller to pick up.

  “It’s me. It was just as we thought. The party is to get unexpected victims for feeding and human food trafficking. Shut this party down, detain everyone involved, and question them of their motives. Wipe any human’s minds that were there. We are fortunate to stop this kill feast and ring of underground trafficking. Report back to me when everything is finished.”

  Shadows from outside crashed into the mansion like a swat team. Unpleasant sounds, snarls, and growling could be heard from the outside. Something got smashed and broken as people screamed in panic.

  “Yuri,” Que said with a confused tone in her voice. “What are you doing here?” She ran outside in time from the sudden raid inside of the mansion.

  Yuri looked back at Que with an unpleasant look on his face. “I can ask you the same thing, Que. How can you work for someone like that? I know your kind doesn’t take sides, but to help organize this is…”

  Que cut off Yuri. “Yuri, wait a minute before you decide to rip me to shreds on the information you don’t even know yet. I have no idea I was planning that type of party. I was out of the loop and clueless about the real intention. To be honest, I was tricked, even though I was cautious. That’s why I wanted to crash it to know what all the secrecy was about. When I figured out what it was about, I was just about to call you to tell you about it. I swear I didn’t know.”

  “Ignorance will only get you so far, Que. Next time make sure you know who you are dealing with when you accept clients.” Yuri paused for a second. “Matter of fact, I suggest you accept what I send to you for your good, and if anyone asks for you personally, have them run it through Alexandra or me. Do you understand me?”

  “I understand. And I swear to be more careful next time.” Que looked in the windows of the mansion. “Yuri, I came with a human here, and I don’t know where she went. I’m worried because I didn’t know I was bringing her into something like this.”

  “Just a normal human?” Yuri looked puzzled.

  “Yeah, she has no idea who these people are here. I thought this would be just a normal party, but I was wrong.” Que noticed a concerning look on Yuri's face. “Yuri, why do you look like that?”

  Yuri was silent for a second before he spoke. “It’s nothing. And don’t worry about the girl that came with you.”

  “What the hell do you mean by that?!”

  “I said, don’t worry about it. You get out of here.” Yuri smirked slightly, as he walked off. He could hear Que yelling his name and asking many questions.

  Chapter 5

  “I need a fucking drink,” Zena said bluntly, without blinking. “After all the shit I have been through, I need a fucking hard drink.”

  Liam chuckled as he swung his arm off Zena. “A hard drink to erase the bad memories, coming right up.” He reached over the seat and pressed a switch that opened a secret bar to make them both a whiskey sour. “Bottoms-up lov’.”

  Zena grabbed the glass and chugged it. She wanted to forget what happened. When she was nearly at the end of her drink, she asked for another. Liam happily gave her more. Zena looked down at Yuri’s jacket and held it tightly with her free hand. She was grateful that he was in the right place at the right time. In the back of Zena’s mind, she was still traumatized, but for some reason, she realized she was dealing with her situation better than she would have expected. She was scared shitless that she was going to die, disappear, and get raped. Hell, up until leaving home and coming to Vegas, she had been scared shitless of almost everything, not knowing what was going to happen. Zena had to give it to herself; she was tougher than she thought. Not a lot of people would be so casual after what happened. Then again, she wasn’t the type of person who would let that affect her life. That day would haunt her for the rest of her life, but everything in her body screeched to keep moving and show how much of a strong fighter she was, to just keep moving. Admittedly, being around Liam and Yuri had a bonus of feeling that it was like everything was fine as if nothing happened. They seemed to have a strong presence around her that she knew she was ok. Everything for now, at least, will be fine.

  Zena laid her head on Liam's shoulder, closing her eyes. “Hey, Liam...…”

  “Yeah,” Liam sat back, starting on his second glass.

  “Don’t tell Yuri this but after what almost happened to me…Well, he was right. If he weren’t there, I would have vanished, and no one would ever know what had happened to me.”

  Liam laughed, with a looked that scream he knew firsthand Yuri was always right. He didn’t like it either. “Aye, trust me, I know the feeling. I hate it when Yuri is right.”

  Zena snickered along with Liam. Finally, the impact of all the liquor she drank crashed into her. She had a couple of drinks before her sudden event, but those two extra drinks made her drunk and light-headed. She probably shouldn’t have drunk so fast like that. At least she didn’t feel like shit anymore.

  “I know you might not want to reminisce, but can you remember what happened?” Liam asked with caution. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

  Zena wrapped her arm around Liam's arm. She noticed his arms were massive. She could feel that it was hard as a rock yet, at the same time, soft and cuddly.

  “Everything happened so fast that I couldn’t register everything. I could have sworn I felt something like a fang.” She put her hand on her chin. “He said I smelled like candy. Then he said something about how I was lucky I got away twice from them.” She waved her hand around, laughing uncomfortably. “Maybe I imagined things. I did have too many drinks to think clearly in a situation like that. He was probably just a crazy person who was too much into cosplay and vampire stuff. I like fantasy and supernatural things, but not enough to live like it’s real and go after people. I hate people like that. They make people who are hardcore anime and nerd fans look bad. We know the difference between fantasy and reality. At least I do.”

  Liam had a straight look on his face. Zena had no clue she was possibly attacked by a vampire or something else. It was a good thing that she just thought it was someone that was too much into cosplay. From what she told him, he wondered why those people were following her. They must have been the people who attacked her in the cave. Hell, they could have done something to her vehicle. Who was Zena exactly, and why were people after her? She smelled like an average human being somewhat, although her scent seemed more alluring than others. It felt like a drug, and he couldn’t get enough of it.

  “Yeah, some people need to know the difference. I am a fan of the supernatural genre. I also like watching anime, reading comics, and science fiction. I have been to a couple of different kinds of conventions. I may be a fan, but I like my stuff in moderation. I have interests in other things as well.”

  Zena's eyes glittered as Liam sparked her undying attention. It didn’t take long for her to nerd out with him. After a couple more drinks, both of them became drunker, talking about nerd stuff. Liam even talked about funny stories of himself and Yuri.

  *****

  Once Yuri finished clearing out the mansion, he walked back to the limo. He could hear Liam and Zena cackling loudly. He didn’t have to think about it. Liam got Zena drunk, which meant that he was drunk as well. Yuri hated dealing with Liam when drunk, and since Zena was a human, he could drunkenly say things he shouldn’t or worse.

  “What the hell are you doing, Liam!?” Yuri threw open the limo door as he looked furious.

  “Cò ris a tha an ifrinn coltach,” Liam snapped back at Yuri sarcastically in his native tongue. He continued speaking in English. “I’m having a fun chat with a beautiful woman. Don’t be such a buzz kill!”

 
“I can fucking hear you from a mile away! I know what the fuck you’re doing. What the hell is wrong with you with getting her drunk?” Yuri pushed his way into the limo.

  “Well, she said she needed a drink to ease what happened to her, so I helped her. Is that so wrong?”

  Yuri wanted to growl at Liam, but he couldn’t because Zena was there, which made him even more frustrated. He glared at Zena with a look that screamed she shouldn’t be getting drunk with a man she just met. He noticed that she could feel the message he was sending because her body became tense as she started to feel uncomfortable. Yuri rolled down the window and told his driver to take them back to the hotel. As the limo went on its way, Yuri handed Zena a water bottle so she could sober up a little.

  “Drink it.” He didn’t care about Liam being drunk, but he wasn’t about to have a woman head to his hotel with men she just met, drunk. He wanted to be sure she was able to make clear choices and say no if something happened that she didn’t like. Yuri sure as hell will be damned if he or Liam got in a situation where someone claims they took advantage of her.

  Zena took the water and drank half of it. It was a silent ride back to the hotel, so quiet that she fell asleep. Once they got to the hotel, Yuri was the one to carry Zena back to the room that he and Liam shared. Cautiously, he changed her clothes, being careful not to touch her in the wrong places. Once Zena was in more suitable clothing, Yuri walked out of the room and closed the door. He looked over at Liam, who had a big smirk on his face. In a flash, Yuri was on the other side of the room and smacked him. He glared his teeth as he released his frustration at him.