Dawn Redeemed

Hanning hoisted Evan off his shoulders, grateful for the reprieve from Evan's bony butt. He frowned at the wooden sign at the end of the line. "It says you have to be this tall to ride the ride." He pushed Evan against the sign and shook his head. The top of Evan's head was just shy of the line. Another attendant might have let him pass on through. But, the stern expression on the burly guy at the gate gave no exception.

"Awwww, it's not fair dad!," Evan whined. He wobbled on his tiptoes and stretched himself as tall as he could.

"Maybe next year kid," the attendant said.

"Dad..."

"You heard the man, Evan. Rules are rules."

"Hanning, we've already bought the tickets," Ruby stammered. The tickets were extremely overpriced and they'd waited so long to get up to the front of the line.

"Go ahead and go, you guys. We'll watch Evan," Shayla said. It would be a shame to waste the tickets, and Ferris Wheels were so romantic. Maybe a little magic was exactly what her sister and Hanning needed to put them back together again.

"Are you sure?" Ruby asked.

"You're holding up the line," the attendant said gruffly.

Hanning took the tickets from Ruby's fingers and hastily stuffed them into the attendant's beefy hand. "Looks like we're going on a ride." He slid into the car and scooted over to make room for Ruby. The attendant secured the bar, locking them into the seat. Gears whirred as the ride took them up higher and higher.

"Look Evan, see your mom waving at you from way up there?," Shayla said. Evan kicked the ground with his toe and nodded. "You've got one ticket left, I bet if we look around we find something you can ride."

"Yeah, I guess so," Evan was disappointed as ever a kid at the fair could be. The rides he was big enough to ride were for babies. What fun was riding a big plastic duck as it went slowly in a circle? He was too little to ride the big kid rides and too big to ride the little kid rides. So far, being seven years old sucked.

O'Sullivan darted in and out of the crowd, cutting through shadows like a knife through butter. So far, he'd not seen a trace of the people he wanted to avoid. But, he knew they were there. The threat of their swords tingled on his skin and made the hunt all the more exciting. A tall form towering a head over the crowd peaked his curiosity. Could his search really be this easy? There was no mistaking the waves of pale blond hair or the liquid grace in which the man moved through the sea of bodies. Carter.

O'Sullivan inched as close as he dared. The stench of humanity, cheap carnival faire, and grimy livestock covered his scent. Carter walked yards ahead of him, hand in hand with a female and...O'Sullivan had to blink twice...pushing a stroller loaded with a baby. The thought was too rich...too inconceivable. Carter the notorious, heartless, cold vampire who could murder with careless ease a family man? Oh, this was going to be so very sweet. For once, he had leverage and Carter much to lose.

The shadows hid O'Sullivan from plain view of the crowd. With the stealth of a hawk on the wing, he slid closer. A little boy, perhaps six or seven years old, stared up at Carter with loving eyes, and Carter met those round, innocent eyes, with affection. Carter's fingers were tightly interlaced with the boy's in a gesture of doting. The boy wasn't an ordinary child. There was something special about him hidden behind his youth. And it piqued Eric's curiosity all the more.

Evan slid his fingers from his uncle's hand and cocked his head. Over the din of the crowd, his name, whispered like the gentle sound of music or tinkling of bells. He stared through the crowd of meandering fair goers and tried to find the source of the sensation that made the hairs on the back of his neck and his arms stand at attention. There it was again, a soft whisper, not spoken aloud, but in his head "Evan," the voice taunted. "Evan," the voice beckoned. "Evan come play with me."

Mack Brown rested a hand on the butt of his holstered gun and watched the crowd warily. As sheriff of this town he knew that the mix of people and the relentless summer heat was a crucible waiting to boil over. By the time the fireworks announced the end of the evening. There would be a handful of people sobering up in the drunk tank, at least a dozen reports to write up on stolen purses and wallets, a few minor fender benders, a couple of fist fights to break up, and at least one visit to the ER in handcuffs. He just had to wait for the lucky contestants to begin the games. This was his last county fair as a sheriff. Thank GOD. By this time next year, he'd be retired and on some beach drinking cheap beer and watching bikini clad beauties prance in the sand.

Mack returned a nod to Dane and watched as the black leather clad warrior melted into the darkness. Thankfully, the only thing he had to worry about were the human brawlers. The Sons, were there for anything else that might creep, crawl, slither, or fly out of the woodwork tonight. Preternatural shit was not his problem. And he was glad for it.

Erica let out a relieved sigh as she kicked another empty box out of the way. She was almost finished unpacking. "Thanks." she took the glass of iced tea from Torr's fingers and gulped it down. "It didn't look like that much when we loaded it into the truck. I guess I should be glad that we found a place for everything."

"I knew you would," Torr broke down the box and tossed it into the stack of others ready to go to the recycling center in the morning. Erica didn't have that much stuff. Their co-joined belongings sat harmoniously on the shelves and filled the empty nooks and crannies. Torr took it as a good omen, since their stuff got along so well, they would too.

"I think Fallon has given up on us," he motioned with a nod of his head to Fallon who was curled into a ball on the couch with her nose in a book.

"Fallon, is your room unpacked?"

"Yeah, mom." Curious to know the ending, Fallon flipped to the last page in the book. She started to read the final paragraph when her mom interrupted her.

"I guess you're probably too tired to stop by the fair for a while, huh?"

Fallon hopped up in excitement, "No I'm not!"

"Well, as soon as we get these boxes out of the living room, I'm okay with going. That is, if your dad is."

"Sounds like fun," Torr said, gathering up an armload of collapsed boxes.

Fallon dropped the forgotten book on the table. "Yes!"

Chapter 132

So hungry. Hunger was all Theresa could think about. All day long she'd hidden under the grandstand's stage listening to the echoing boom of the announcer proudly prattle on and on about prize winning pies and cakes. It seemed that, Leigh Grey had the competition firmly under wraps and had cleaned up in the women's division. Theresa wondered if the woman was as tasty as her pies. After agonizing hours of waiting, the grandstand had finally cleared out and all the action had migrated to the midway. Cautiously, she emerged from her hiding place and disappeared into the crowd.

There was such a myriad of cuisine to choose from. Mexican. Italian. Chinese. Her choices were endless. She knew exactly what she was looking for. Somebody who couldn't put up a fight. A nameless face in the crowd that she could snatch and snack on before anybody missed them. She'd have to be quick about it. Drain and ditch. With the table being loaded to overflowing, should be easy.

David darted from one shadow to the other. His sister was here somewhere. He just knew it. They could still get away unscathed, go somewhere far from here, and live a halfway decent life. If he could get to her before the Sons did. If he could get them out of here alive. As surely as he knew his sister was in the crowd, he knew the Sons were watching. Waiting for her. Waiting for him. A decent life, it really seemed like something out of a fairy tale and he doubted if it would really ever be his for the taking. He caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye and spun to see where it had gone. Theresa. She was moving fast and on the hunt.

The Ferris Wheel shuttered as it stopped, leaving Ruby and Hanning trapped, suspended some thirty feet in the air, as it picked up a giggling teenage girl and her BFF for a ride. The feeling of the earth pulling at the pit of her stomach made Ruby quite nauseous. She squeezed her eyes shut and pretended that her feet, dangling in mid air, were on terra firma again.

"Ruby, you can open your eyes. We're not that far off the ground," Hanning said, amused at her pallor. The car gently rocked back and forth in the warm caress of night air. People rushed about below them in a endless throng of colors.

Ruby gripped the arm of their tiny red car with her fingers. "My feet have never been off the ground before," she gasped in terror. The Ferris Wheel began moving with a loud groan of gears. The ride ascended higher in the air slowed to a stop. She peeked out from beneath her lashes and saw that they were hanging high above the crowd at the very top of the wheel. "I think I'm going to puke." The last of the passengers loaded in for their turn and the wheel began to move, slowly, and then faster, and faster, gaining a leisurely speed. Ruby's stomach leapt into her throat as the wheel turned.

Hanning chuckled and casually draped his arm over the back of the seat. "If you do, aim that way," he said, pointed over the edge of the car. Her hair caught in the breeze created by the motion of the Ferris Wheel and toyed with his fingers. "Look, Evan is waving at us."

Bravely, Ruby opened her eyes and released her fingers from their death grip on the arm of the car. She waggled her fingers at her son. The Ferris Wheel made a full rotation and began to lift them into the air again. From her high vantage point, she saw the outline of pine trees on the distant hills.

Hanning seemed to be enjoying himself. The flashing carnival lights cast shades of red, green, and deep hues of blue over his cheeks. He smiled casually, as he looked over the horizon. She found herself losing her apprehension. Timidly, she let go of the arm of the seat and stretched forward to get a better look at the dazzling skyline. "Everything looks so tiny." A squeak of surprise left her lips when he began rocking the car. She scooted back in the seat and nuzzled into the crook of his arm. Amazed when he didn't pull away. "Why'd you do that?"

"Maybe I like having you this close to me." Hanning rested his fingers on Ruby's narrow shoulder and guided her head to his shoulder.

"This is nice," Ruby sighed in contentment.

"Yes, it is." Hanning slid his fingers up the soft skin of her arm, trailed them across her collarbone, tilting her chin up. Sailing among the stars high above life's many troubles made them seem as distant as the cars and the people below them. Softly, he clamed her mouth in a slow, gentle, kiss, filled with unanswerable questions. The attendant cleared his throat as he threw back the bar on their seat. The ride was over.

Blushing, Ruby took the hand Hanning offered her and climbed out of the car. "Exactly how tall is the Ferris Wheel?," she asked the impatient attendant.

" Twenty-five feet," the attendant answered in a huff, shooing them toward the exit and hurrying another couple in love into the car in their place.

Shayla beamed in excitement for her sister. The kiss had not been without its witnesses. In a flurry of hope, she squeezed Carter's hand. "Maybe we should take a spin."

Ruby gathered her composure and smoothed the wrinkles in her shorts. "Where's Evan?" She glanced behind Carter, thinking her son was hiding behind him. He wasn't there.

"He's...he was here a minute ago!" Shayla gasped in horror. There were many, many attractions, hundreds of people, and an endless number of places for a little boy to wander off to investigate. "He couldn't have gotten that far."

"Shit," Hanning drew his hand through his hair and stared into the ever increasing crowd. He couldn't track Evan without betraying his wolf. In his human form, he was almost as limited as anybody else. His wolf could find Evan in a matter of seconds. "Evan!"

"We'll find him," Carter placed a hand of reassurance on Ruby's trembling shoulder. He drew a deep breath into his nostrils and held it. Mentally, he sifted through the scents, discarding them one by one. There was something hidden beneath the sweet sickly smell of cotton candy and dripping sno-cones. Something wilder and more pungent than the smell of sweat and a hot summer night. Something, nauseatingly sweet, almost sickeningly acrid that insulted his sensitive sense of smell. Vampires. Rogues. He plucked the familiar scent of Evan out of the mix and followed where it led. The vampires, or at least one of them was very close, on the same path as the gentle scent of little boy. "We need to move quickly."

Evan followed the voice's teasing, cloying lilt into a dark, dimly lit space between two towering, billowing white tents. "Hello?," he called out into the darkness timidly. His heart thundered like a drum in his chest. Nervously, he bit his bottom lip as he stepped into the alleyway between the tents. His tiny fingers clutched into anxious fists as his eyes widened, staring up at the man who slid from the dark recesses.

"Hello, Evan."

"Who are you?" Evan asked. He was still close enough to the exit to make a run for it. Warily, he hedged closer to the stranger. The man was scary. Hard, shrewd eyes glimmered in the darkness from beneath dense eyebrows. There was no hint of kindness or affection reflected in those eyes, and Evan doubted that there ever had been. The man dipped to one knee, giving Evan the distinct impression that the man was inspecting him, and beckoned him closer. From his new vantage point of the man, he saw the man had a long hair, slicked back into a tight tail of dark hair gathered at the nape of his neck. The man's highly polished shoes were dulled with dust. Evan thought that the man must be getting the knee of his expensive gray suit filthy in the dirt.

O'Sullivan smiled what he hoped was a reassuring smile at the little boy. The boy's curiosity was almost tangible. His sneaker clad feet shuffled in the loose, dry, dirt. The boy was afraid of him, like prey instinctively feared the hunter. "I'm a friend of your Uncle Carter's. My name is Eric."

The man's smile did little to reassure Evan. Nervously, he wiped his palms on the front of his shorts and took timid steps closer. This man didn't look like any man that Uncle Carter would call a friend. Evan doubted the man's sincerity. "Why hasn't Uncle Carter ever mentioned you before?" he asked.

"Perhaps your uncle doesn't see fit to include a little boy in all his dealings?" The boy was special, the closer he got, the more O'Sullivan could sense it. The boy had a gift, a very valuable gift, he was a Listener. He could hear the thoughts of others and catch whispers of the future. "Tell me Evan, how would you like to be like Peter Pan and stay a little boy forever?"

"Mister..."

"Call me Eric." The little boy's scent was tantalizing. His fangs tingled with the need to taste the source of the appetizing aroma. He stretched out his hand toward the boy and rested his hand on the top of Evan's little head.

Evan recoiled and jerked away. This man was a bad, bad, man. Every bone in his body knew it. He was in danger. He wished he'd never wandered away from his mom and dad. "Peter Pan is just a story. I don't think I want to be a little boy forever."

"Pity." O'Sullivan lowered his hand. Ah...he caught the whisper of footsteps and the scent of his old friend on the air.

Evan blew out a breath of absolute relief. "Uncle Carter! Dad!" Evan ran past Carter and jumped into his dad's arms. "Momma." He had never been so relieved to see his parents. Instantly he felt safer being held in his mom's arms as she backed out of the dark space between the tents. But, at the same time, he had such an overwhelming sense of dread...of bad things...coming. "I guess I'm in trouble again."

"Carter, how good to see you. And, how unexpected, you've brought friends with you." O'Sullivan bowed low to the company flanking Carter. This game had to be played out. The rules of engagement were simple. To the victor went the spoils. The time for check and mate however was not quite ripe. "How kind of you to introduce a stranger to these foreign lands to such a harbor of goodwill and safety." O'Sullivan clapped his hands in feigned cheer. The aroma in the confines of the weathered mildewed canvas was almost maddening.

Carter stepped protectively in front of the group. "You've got no business being here. I suggest you take your leave of us before the trouble you've been looking for lands in your lap."

O'Sullivan stiffened and stood to his full height. His palm rested on the hilt of a well disguised dagger. "It appears it already has." He nodded to the black clad warriors filtering into the narrow space between the tents. The brothers surrounded him. "Gentlemen."

Hanning slid Evan onto his shoulders and grabbed Ruby's hand. "We should be going." He nudged Shayla out of the aisle along with him. "There's nothing you can do for him here," he said, motioning to Carter.

Reluctantly, Shayla followed Hanning and Ruby out of the space between the tents. R.J. whimpered nervously from his stroller. She looked over her shoulder at Carter. The gaze he returned was troubled and filled with the fury of outrage at the invasion of the man on his territory. Hanning was right. The best thing she could do for Carter at this point was reassure him that she and R.J. were safe.

"A pleasure to meet all of you. Evan," O'Sullivan said with a wide smile, "I hope our paths cross again...soon."

At Carter's back, Dane and John Mark withdrew their swords. "I've committed no offence here. Tasted no fruit of the vine nor bounty from the earth. What have I done to merit such aggressive greetings from the Great Sons?" O'Sullivan asked.

"We've seen your handiwork," John Mark answered roughly. The horror of the fire and the two bodies scorched beyond recognition was forever burned in his memory.

"State your business here," Dane was not in the mood to play. The elderly couple were pillars of the community under their protection and someone was about to pay for the grievous sin committed against them. After days of careful tracking, they'd found their rogue.

O'Sullivan chuckled. "I have been on this earth long before your forefathers stepped foot on this great land. Do you really think I would be so careless? A sloppy job, really. An infant could have done better. I believe we seek the same objective. A son and a daughter, utterly untameable, have slipped from my watchful eye and have been reaping havoc on your fair territory. A tragedy really, I had such high hopes for them. Ah well, in life, and in death, all have their part to play, do they not?

"I'm surprised that they've slipped past you unnoticed." O'Sullivan bowed. "I come to give you my aid and see the two brought to justice."

"Since when have you been interested in justice? I'm surprised you didn't turn them loose yourself," Carter hissed. His body shook with the urge to throttle O'Sullivan right then and there and rid the world of the cancer bearing his name.

"And you, to abandon your children in the hour of their greatest need. Bianca has come to me for guidance in these difficult times of your absence." O'Sullivan needled Carter, "All the while here you were feathering your love nest. And oh, not that I blame you in the least. She does smell oh so delicious. No wonder you left your children as orphans. Prey tell, does she taste as good as she smells?"

Carter shook with rage, "Bastard!" He gripped the handle of the dagger hidden in his loose button down shirt. In a movement so fast only another of his kind could see it and guess his lethal intention, he withdrew the blade.