To Freeze Fire Ch. 08

"Does he now?" Jareth's grip instantly tightened about her arm, passing the point of bruising, making her jaw clench rather than cry out, taking every measure to prevent from appear weak.

The young man seemed completely unfazed, "Those are his terms. If you wish to have any hopes of collecting the bounty placed on her, I would do as he asks."

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the seemingly frail man beside her, turn his head towards his men, and give a short nod. It was barely enough time to pass, for her to realize he was telling them to stand down, before they began moving again. Every step took her closer to the man who had forced her to leave home. It was this, and the fact she was never going to see the only man she had felt something for ever again, that made her shut her eyes as they drew the distance to the entrance to a close. Part of her felt like once she passed the front door of her old home, she would never make it back out.

Within a breath, the lightening changed, along with the scent of fresh cedar. It was one of her more fonder memories of this place, how the floors forever bare the common traits of the light colored wood. The scent had followed her everywhere, reminding her of the home she had lost every time she came across it.

She and Jareth were lead past the Foyer, and down the hall that she knew would eventually lead to every other room in the house. Halfway through the house, her eyes roamed as the hallway opened up into a large room, a staircase pressed against either wall, and joining up to where the second story was revealed.

The young man lead them up the right side staircase, and down the hall on the second floor. At last, the came to stop at a door, where the young man knocked twice.

"Send in the Bounty hunter," A booming voice inside answered, "I will speak with my daughter after we've finished."

Beside her, she could sense the reluctance to leave her with this stranger, surge through her captor's body. Like she was at the center of force of two magnets fighting to maintain distance. Finally, his grip on her arm loosened.

The young man opened the door accordingly, keeping her eyes from every seeing the room as Jareth went inside. And he did not waste a moment to address his concerns, "All due respect sir, but your daughter should not be left unattended."

"I completely agree." Her father replied without hesitation, "Trust me when I say, she is in more than capable hands with the man you showed the both of you in. He may not look like it, but probably older than the both of us put together. Maybe you make up for what I'm lacking and find courage to ask him on your way out."

Mia eyes found the man who had showed them in, and swallowed. What her father had just said shouted only one thing to her. Vampire. Besides his good looks and seemingly perfect complexion, he looked so normal. A little pale but certainly no one she would peg as a vampire. Granted he was the first full blooded one she had come across, but still.

Inside, her enemies began to discuss business. Jareth eventually trying to increase the payout for bringing her here, making a point to mention the lives it had cost. As she knew he would, her father remained firm, "The bounty was placed years ago. And since by the sounds of it, the one bounty hunter that I personally sent after her did most of the work, the lives you spent to procure my daughter were wasted. Dare I ask, if they were even our kind?" there was a pause, "As I thought. You sent in Zael's men to do your dirty work. Take the money on the desk and leave before I pass along how your recklessness cost the lives of two of his men. The lack of capturing my daughter in a timely manner has already cost you reputation as a bounty hunter, keep pushing your luck and it might cost your life."

Inside the room, there was a long pause of silence, during which, she barely dared to breath in fear she would miss something. The moment which held the air passed, giving way to the sound of footsteps, coming towards the door. With a forceful twist of the handle, the door came flying inward, displaying a most displeased expression. Mia's brown eyes looked right into his obviously disgusted demnionor that shined through his eyes, probably seeing more that he would have liked into how much she had cost him.

It was no wonder he treated her the way he did. After everything he had done to her, by escaping his trapping attempts, she had cost him what appeared to be most important to him. His reputation. In her mind, it still didn't seem good enough. Part of her relished this moment, making her forget her surroundings, if only for a moment. A dark part inside was happy to see him suffer. See the light of having control, leave those glassy eyes of his, making his pale skin go impossibly white.

One side of her lip turned as her eyes ventured down to what he held in his free hand. A small, but thick manila envelope which bulged and strained outward from the contents. Part of her hoped it was filled with ones, and he had failed to check before he opened the door.

"Have you acquired your bounty?" the man in the suit inquired, shaking them both into the present with his low timber of a voice. The smile she had attempted, failed, iced over where it stood. And not just her attempt. Within her palms, sweat turned into ice as her fear began to resurface.

Jareth's eyes shifted to the vampire as he tucked the envelope into the inner fold of his jacket. "Yes," he grumbled, trotting past them, and almost knocking her down as he went when his shoulder brushed roughly against her arm, "I'm finished here. I'll see myself out."

Mia watched her captor walk onward down the hall, and eventually out of her sight as he rounded the corner where the stairs would take him to the first floor, her only chance of escape or changing her mind, disappearing with him.

"You can send her in now." her father bellowed from the room, which door had still remained cracked from the bounty hunters exit. Upon hearing his voice, her head had whipped towards it, but now, feeling eyes on her, she looked up to the face of the help. He was watching her. Probably thinking the same thing she was. Was she going to go quietly, or was he going to have to force her into the room?

When he nudged his head in that direction, she quickly made a decision. Just so it would be hers. Putting one foot in front of the other, she entered the room.

With every step she took, she was acutely aware of the proximity of the two creatures she stood before. Her father, who she now knew to be an Ice mage, and the caretaker behind her, a full-fledged vampire. Just inside her father stood next to the fireplace which was roaring, flooding the room with much desired warmth. Without turning his head, his jaw clenched, making her stop a good two yards away from him.

Even at this distance, her father seemed to have aged drastically. It was as if during the past three years, he had aged another decade.

"That will be all, Barry" her father said, "Thank you."

Her head turned slightly, seeing the vampire retrace his foftsteps to outside of the room, where he closed the door. When he head turned, her face flashed with pain as it was knocked back to that same side, sending her body lunging to the left. Barely able to catch herself, her hand went to the side of her face, which was cold as Ice to the touch, a drop of blood trailing out of the corner of her mouth.

She looked up to the man she had once called father, seeing anger burning in his eyes, the hand that had slapped her with the weight of his body behind it, covered in ice. Pain raced along her jaw, increasing when she faked a smile that broke in half. "Missed you too, dad."

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" he asked harshly, "The things you had almost destroyed, countless lives you would have had on your h—"

"I know a lot more now," she told him swiftly, "That I did ever living with you. Did it ever occur to you that maybe if you explained things to me, this all could have been avoided?"

His eyes glazed. "As usual, you have no idea what you're talking about. You claim to know more now? tell me what you think you know, I might actually find it entertaining, and who knows, you may get me to admit that I was wrong."

'Fat chance.'

"I know why you didn't tell me about all of this. At least, I suspect the reason now. It's the same reason you wouldn't let me talk about mom after she died. It's because she was human, right? And the best way to protect people from finding out about your half breed daughter, is to pretend you didn't marry a human." Tears stung at the back of her eyes, but she fought them back, "To make people forget her."

When her father said nothing, she went on, "You couldn't tell me you were an Ice mage, because you thought I had no abilities. For all you knew, I was more human than anything, a pawn to trade. To marry off."

"It was better not to tell you until the ceremony had been completed, and you had sealed the contract." He told her sternly, "Better for all parties involved that this marriage goes through. Yes, you're a half breed. But your also my daughter. My only heir, and that makes you valuable nonetheless."

"Why me?" the tears slid down the sides of her face. She meant the question to be strong, but it just came out a weak whisper, a ghost of what it should have been. "Why marry off me? Why does it have to be your daughter?"

"I'm more than your average ice mage, little girl." He told her, his eyes lightening an almost sky blue as from his hand, ice appeared, and with one wave, the fireplace which had been roaring, was snuffed out, "I'm what human's would so commonly call a King. Which makes you, my only daughter, a most valuable barraging chip."

'King?!' But it couldn't be! 'But that would make me a...'

"A bargaining chip for peace...." She breathed out, recalling what Michael had told her about the clans being at war. "You made the arranged marriage between the Vampire clan, and the Ice Mages for peace."

She understood now. if she thought the weight of the world had been on her shoulders the moment before, she hadn't known anything. She hadn't just been running away to save herself, she was running away from putting two clans of people to peace.

Her father must had seen the change in her face, as her thoughts transpired, because he began to nod, "That bounty hunter that had you before Jareth seems to have told you a thing or two. Well, at the very least, for the amount I paid him to find you, that's the least he could do. Spares me the trouble of having to go into a long winded explanation now, doesn't it?"

There was a long pause of silence, during which she hadn't a clue as to what to say. It was as though all the oxygen in the room had been sucked out, taking both the fire, and her breath with it. The knowledge of what being his daughter now meant, weighed heavily on her mind. And though she understood why he didn't, she found herself uttering those words, "You should have told me who and what I was."

"Perhaps," he said, not agreeing one way or another, "What's done is done. Now that everything is back in order, we shall proceed with our plans. I'll make the arrangements." Her father paused, "Barry?"

The vampire returned, opening the door, "Yes sir?"

"I have a message for your King," her father told him, "Tell him his bride to be, has been found, and that a celebration is in order. Before you deliver this message, would you mind escorting Mia to her room?"

The vampire bowed, "As you wish, sir."

She clenched her teeth, making them rub against the tender and raw flesh inside her mouth, her whole jaw aching. Her head turned away from her father as he spoke, "And Mia, don't even think of trying to run away again. I'll make you regret it."

There was a chill in her father's voice that was far crueler that she had remembered it to be. It sank into her bones, so deep, she doubted the fires of hell itself, could warm her back up.

It was late. Probably right around 11 o'clock. She had gotten off a very busy shift about twenty minutes ago, and was finally on her way back to her place.

'My place,' she thought grinning. 'Who would have thought I would ever have a place to call my own?'

Since it was payday, she had made a quick jot to the supermarket to pick up some dinner. Tomorrow would mark the 2 month anniversary of her meeting Anne and Sal. They had been so good to her, that she had spent more than she probably should have on steak she would use to make dinner for them. She figured Anne's husband would probably appreciate it the most, since he was usually the one cooking the food for people.

Key at hand, she made to let herself in the back of the diner so she could head upstairs, take a shower, and hopefully catch some zzz's before her shift in the morning. She had almost reached the handle when she heard it. A loud thud coming from inside.

When she backed up, her first instinct was to call the police. Without a cellphone, she would have to sneak away pretty quickly. The next noise she heard, was a female cry out, a light switch flicking on into the dinner, shining light to the opposite side of the parking lot she had just used to walk back to this spot. The scream surely could have belonged to Anne, but there was no window in the back for her to know for sure. She quickly sat down the groceries she had been carrying, and dropped down to her hands and knees, carefully and quietly crawling over to the window where the light shinned from. When she finally peered into the window, she caught a glimpse of a man with an ill look on his face, white hair, and exceptionally pale skin in contrast to the crimson drops on splattered across it.

"Now I'll ask you one more time," the pale one said, pulling out a knife which blade was covered in the same crimson liquid he had on his face. "Where is the girl you have living upstairs?"

"I already told you!" Anne cried, "Please. I don't know where she is! She only said she was going out."

"Your trying my patience Mrs. Locke," the man nodded to someone in the room, and for the first time she realized they were not alone. Two other men came from the back of the restaurant, and lifted Anne out of the floor. "Tell me where she went, or when you expect her to be back. Or else this," he held up the knife, raking it softly against her cheek, "Will be going into your gut the same way it went into your husbands."

Anne's eyes flicked down, her lips trembling as new tears coated the older woman's face. Following her gaze, she found Sal laying in a pool of his own blood, face down on the floor. Covering her mouth, she stifled a cry of horror as tears stung at the back of her eyes. She watched as Anne slowly shook her head, and cried, her head lolling to one side. The blood on the knife, having been spread across her face from the blade, was her husbands. The agony of loss, and fear exuded from the room as the man who was in charge, took the blade, and stuck into Anne's stomach.

'NO!'

All the blood from the older woman's face drained, her lips parted into an O, her eyes wide. Then, the men released her to join her husband on the floor. Mia looked away from the window, tucking her back against the wall, trying to look for a reasonable explanation for what she had seen.

When they spoke a moment later, she got one, "Was it really necessary to kill them? I really do get tired of having to clean up the mess."

"They irritated me," the pale one said, "Kept wasting our time, even if they were telling the truth. We have to find her quickly before word spreads about the bounty on her. It would give me no greater satisfaction than to rub his, face in it. there will be no doubt in anyone mind who the superior bounty hunter is when I bring Mr. McLennan his daughter home."

Mia's blood turned into ice in her veins. The whole world had turned red, as the instinct to survive sluggishly returned. 'Move,' she told herself, 'You have to get out of here. MOVE!'

Looking back to where she had almost walked in on a bad scene, she eyed the alley, and slowly, rose to her feet. As quietly as she could manage she walked along the wall of the restaurant, and once past back door, with nothing more than the clothes on her back, she ran.

Coming back from the memory only made the knot in her chest tighten ever tighter. Like a vice winding its way around her heart, with each passing second, the threat of the force to crush her growing.

As a distraction, she began to look around. Along the walls were posters of her favorite bands, and on her dresser, pieces of jewelry she had abandoned at a moment's notice, lay where she had left it. Except for one thing. Her paintings she had placed among the posters, were missing. Along with her mother's easel. Looking down at its empty space, a blanket still lay on the floor where paint had dripped. this place, once a great comfort to her, now felt like a prison. It was like a vacuum tight room, sucking out all the oxygen. It gave her time to think of how all her decisions, eventually with her reaching here. All of it, everyone she had hurt, was for nothing.

She felt tears slide down her cheeks. Her eyes lifted to the new door to her old room, hearing the residual sounds of her father's shouts, to let him in. she curled into a ball, sitting up against the wall on her bed, wondering how she was going to survive this.

Taking a deep breath, she kept thinking of how this room hadn't changed. Everything had stayed exactly the same aside from the door, which now had a lock and dead bolt on the outside, and most treasured paintings. Like her father hadn't set foot inside her room since that day...after doing got knows what with her artwork.

Wiping the tears away, she pulled herself together. Having been so upset and caught up in the moment, she had for, if only for the time being, forgotten something important. Coming to her feet, she went over to her dresser. Picking it up by the lip that overhung the top, she lifted it about a foot away from the wall, and sunk to her knees.

Her hand reached forward, her fingertips grazing the floorboards until she came across one that one that didn't appear quite level. With a little pressure the board popped up at one end, giving her something to lift on. Lifting the wooden plank out of the way, she found the small tin she had kept hidden.

Still feeling like it was too early to hope, she was hesitant about opening it. Taking her time, she finally brought herself to, and when the lid came off, a sigh of relief was released. It was still there.

Taking the photograph, she ran her fingers across the smiling face locked away in that moment. A child, no more than four years old sitting on the lap of a woman whom she had a striking resemblance to, as they pushed on a swing set.

'Mom,' she thought, in a sad anger, wondering why she had to die when she needed her still, 'What would you do, if you were in my shoes...'

Looking away from the picture, and down to the tin, she gazed at the last few things she had left of her mother. A exquisitely cut sterling silver necklace with glass like setting around the edge, and a diamond engagement ring that her grandmother had passed down to her mother to wear before the wedding. Both of which she had stolen of her mother's dresser when she overheard her father speaking to someone, telling he wanted everything burned. Photographs, clothes, everything that belonged to her.

'She would want me to be strong,' she told herself, putting the necklace on, feeling the pendant rest just below where her collarbone's almost met. Part of her even thought that her mother would be proud of her. Because she had done something out of love.

Placing the photo and engagement ring back into the small tin, she tucked it into her back pocket. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself and tried to think.