Bump in the night.

Chapter Eight: Truth's Out

Cindy, Molly and I waited at the international Arrivals gate, we'd managed to convince the front desk to let us bring her in, Cindy had dressed her in a knitted pink sweater and put a pink flower clip on her collar. Pinned to her coat was a piece of card with
'Welcome Home Grayson & Ben!' in multicoloured glitter Cindy had made last night.
I felt a little silly squealing when I saw Grayson come out of the tunnel, but he heard it and found me instantly in the crowd, smiling.
He saw Cindy and Molly, laughing and picked me up in a squeezing hug, making me giggle.
He gave me a deep kiss when he'd put me on the ground, patting Molly and smiling at Cindy who had her arm around Ben.
We stopped by a take away restaurant to grab dinner on our way back, Cindy and Ben eating half of it and falling asleep in the back seat before we got home.
Grayson helped me wake them enough to get them in the house, he checked the house and met me in the kitchen where I had set out filled plates for us.
He sat down with me and we ate, chatting about London.
"Honestly, it should have been a two day job. Juliette, one of the Slayers, had booked extra days for no reason." He grumbled after everything. I shuffled uncomfortably in my seat, he noticed. "Out with it."
I avoided his eye, dropping my fork and putting my hands in my lap.
"I remembered my birthday." I looked up at him through my lashes, he stayed quiet, considering.
"Are you angry with me?" He finally asked, his jaw tight.
I looked up at him in surprise.
"What? No! Why would I be?" I shook my head quickly, confused.
Grayson laughed, rolling his eyes.
"Well, I did lie to you, that's enough to be mad." He shrugged.
"I know why you lied though, plus I've apparently been lying to you as well." I gave him a guilty smile that made him curious.
He got out of his seat and stepped in front of me, opening my legs to let him get close and tower over me.
"I know what my lie was. What was yours?" He asked, leaning down slightly with challenging eyes.
I took a shakey breath, resisting the urge to kiss him.
I bit my lip, his eyes flashed to them warningly making me stop and lean down between us to the corner shelf.
I pulled out the family Slayer book and put it on the table in front of us.
"My Grams' last name is Everlight." I said quietly, his eyes widened and he turned to the book.
He flipped it onto its cover and opened to the last pages written.
It was the family tree.
Mine and Cindy's names were the last entries.
He closed the book, taking a moment and sitting down.
"I know her,"
"She told me," I interjected, seeing his surprise as he processed the information. I gave him as best a run down as I could, leading him upstairs to the attic to show him the training room.
I watched him nervously as his hands passed over some of the Slayer weapons and guns.
"Are you okay with all of this?" He asked finally, turning to look at me with a serious expression.
I shuffled my weight and nodded.
"I can't explain why, but I accept this to the point I think I've always known somehow." I spoke as I stepped to the wall, grabbing one of the short swords, it glowed instantly with my touch, making me smile as I felt the flow of strength.
Grayson ran his hand across my skin, making me shiver.
Suddenly he gripped it tight, ducked and threw me over his shoulder so I landed on the ground on my back.
Air left my lungs from the impact. I moved quickly, swinging my legs around,  locking his knee and bringing him down to the floor.
I brought the blade up to his throat, it clanged against another blade he'd grabbed, stopping short of my aim.
He threw his arm wide, pushing me back so we were sword length apart.
Our swords illuminated the room with a warm glow as we circled each other.
His eyes were deadly and serious.
"You want to be a Slayer? Fight me." He challenged.
I smiled.
"The thought of Juliette trying to get with you all week, that should help." I nodded and lunged, surprising him.

I never landed a strike, but I'd evaded and disarmed him at one point, once he lost his weapon, he went to hand to hand and I instantly lost but found a new fun.
We ended up in bed, I giggled against his chest, catching my breath.
He gave a swift slap to my ass when I let my guard down, looking for the remote.
I looked back at him with a teasing look. He mimicked it and pulled me back into him, I chuckled and laid on his chest, changing the movie that had been playing to something else.
He stroked my hair and held me close, kissing my cheek.
"You sure you're-"
"I'm fine, please. I've spent this entire week processing this, all of it." I sat up next to him, pulling the blanket to cover my chest.
He leaned against the headboard, watching me with a gentle expression.
"Grams is trying to find any sign of my father, she'll update me the moment she has something. Until then, I can't do anything but live my life and train for the day he decides to fuck around and find out." I said finally, my mind set to my plan.
He was coming for me, I knew it.
But I wasn't going to go quietly or without a hell of a fight.
"I have some friends looking into it as well,"
"No! You can't! My mother never told the Council about me!" I squeaked at him. He pulled me close, kissing my hair.
"I didn't mention you. Just that I was looking for any recently sighted fallens within Callaway or Carson City." He soothed, I fell against him calming down.
"The Council won't know about you, as far as they're concerned, your last name is Wayland and you're just a human whose scent caught the interest of a vampire leader. They had to let me deal with it because you work for the museum, which works for the Council." He said, I had to trust that.
"So, they don't care you're dating a human who lured a vampire?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and looking up at him.
He chuckled at that and kissed my lips.
"Weirder things have happened." He laughed when I elbowed him at the backhanded compliment.
"I'm also not ignoring the Juliette-jealousy." He noted after we'd settled.
I sat up then, looking at him.
"I had a right!" I snapped.
He sat up next to me, holding his hands up in surrender.
"I'm not saying you don't. We never dated, she's always had a thing for me and I never stopped her, I won't deny that." I hated how mature and rational he sounded. "The night I met you, I stopped all romantic involvements I had."
"All of them?" I asked, a little in disbelief.
"Yeah. I won't lie, I was seeing Juliette while she was in town and Valerie had asked me out a few times, but when I met you." He shook his head, seeing my slightly hurt expression knowing Valerie's advances had at one point worked on him.
"What changed?" I whispered, not looking at him.
He turned in the bed, crossing his legs and looking at me, he grabbed my chin and made me meet his eye.
The honey in them glowed and melted with an emotion I couldn't decipher, but I knew I sometimes had the same look when I looked at him.
"I couldn't get you out of my head, after I kissed you that first night. I dreamt about you every night, I almost thought I'd imagined you." He shook his head, his dimples showing with his smile. "Then I saw you in the elevator and again in Dr. Hyde's office. It drove me crazy, I stayed in my office all day after that, trying to avoid you because I couldn't stop the need to be around you and I couldn't explain why." He gave me a maddening look when he remembered. "Then you called me, screaming for help. I don't even remember how I got downstairs or anything really until you'd said my name. From that moment, I knew I wasn't going to let you go easily." He sighed finally, letting me sit there and absorb his words.
There was only one thing I wanted to say to him, but I had to fight myself to keep quiet.
I smiled, turning to face him and kissed him, pulling him on top of me on the bed.
"Good," I whispered against his lips. "I'm not going anywhere without a fight." He captured my lips, silencing me from there and pulling the covers off me, taking my body again and showing me just how much he'd missed me.