To Tell a Tale (Season One)

Nash looked at the papers in front of him and shook his head. He still couldn’t believe the couple who’d killed his mother were dead—by his and his partner’s hands. And thanks to one sweet, beautiful seer, who he owes everything to.

Memories of when he’d accused her of killing his best friend flashed through his mind. Pinning her against the cell wall has haunted him since that day. He has never behaved like that before. Never hurt a single witness or suspect in his entire career. He hadn’t meant to hurt her; he hadn’t laid a hand on her, just…

Nash closed his eyes. The memory of the feel of her body against his made him shiver. He shook his head. It wasn’t the thought of hurting her that had done those things to his body. It was the thought of pleasuring her, of making her his. Those feelings were what had led him to kiss her.

He wished things had gone differently, that he hadn’t been such a dick to her. Thankfully, she’s a forgiving person and cares enough for him to accept his apology. It took him a month to ask for her forgiveness, but he still hasn’t forgiven himself.

The pull he feels toward her hasn’t lightened since they started dating. Well, if you call making out every time they’re near each other—dating.

“Earth to Detective Jackman, come in, Nash.”

Nash blinked and looked up at his partner.

Smitty smirked. “Ground control to Major Tom.”

Nash snorted and looked back at the papers in his hands.

“Got a seer on the brain?” Smitty asked as he moved to his desk.

“Yeah,” Nash grunted, setting the papers on his desk.

“What has you frowning? I thought things were going well between you two.”

“They are.” Nash signed the top paper, then pushed them across his desk to his partner.

“Then?” Smitty asked, picking up the papers and reviewing them before signing them.

“I was thinking of the day in the cell when I attacked her.”

Smitty stopped signing the paper and looked up at his partner. “Why the fuck would you think about that day?”

Nash shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe because I have regretted that day every day and wish it had never happened.”

Smitty sighed. “Yeah, I’m sure Airianna thinks the same thing. But she has forgiven you, man. Get over it.”

Nash snorted. “Wish I could. I don’t know why I pinned her to the wall like that or why I kissed her.”

Smitty chuckled. “We both know why you kissed her. You’d had the hots for her since she saved us.”

Nash sighed. “Yeah, but that doesn’t excuse what I did.”

“You were scared for Daemen’s life….”

“That is no excuse, and you know it. You have been saying so for weeks now.”

“Yeah, well…”

“Why are you defending what I did?” Nash asked, eyeing his partner.

Smitty shrugged. “I’m not. Not really. But if the woman has forgiven you, then I say, forgive yourself.”

“She may have forgiven me, but I doubt she has forgotten.”

“Probably not. Not a very good first impression.”

Nash shook his head. “I wish I could do that day over.”

“This isn’t Supernatural. You can’t have an angel take you back in time to redo your mistakes.”

Nash smirked at his partner. The man was hooked on that kind of stuff. That was probably why it was so easy for him to believe in Airianna.

“Yeah, well, sometimes I wish I could.”

Smitty grinned. “Don’t we all.”

“Did you get those papers signed?”

They looked up at the sound of their captain’s voice. The man had stayed in the other country for a couple of days after they’d returned home—to make sure everything was good. But they knew it was to make sure Veronica was okay.

“Yeah.” Smitty handed Dish the papers.

Captain Dish looked at Nash. “Are things okay with you?”

Nash nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Dish nodded and turned to head back to his office. He stopped and turned to them, looked at each of them, then shook his head and headed to his office.

“What was that about?” Smitty asked, looking from their captain’s door to Nash.

Nash shrugged. “Beats the hell out of me.”

“So, do you have plans for this weekend with your pretty little seer?”

Nash smiled. “I’m going to take her to the theater. She has never seen a real Broadway show.”

“How in the world is she going to watch a play without hearing it?”

“There’s a woman who signs everything from the stage.”

“What does she sign? Autographs?”

Nash shook his head. “No, stupid. Sign language. I found a theater that’s for the deaf. You should have seen her face light up when I showed her the site online.”

“I doubt Airianna has seen anything like that with how her father kept her caged up.”

Nash looked at the black planner on his desk. Smitty was right. Airianna hasn’t done much in her life, but he couldn’t blame her father for wanting to protect his daughter from his mother and the rest of the family. The way she could have grown up would be worse…

“So, what are you going to see?”

“Romeo and Juliet.”

“Shit. Do you have to take her to see the worst play ever written?”

Nash snorted. “She picked it.”

Smitty rolled his eyes. “Of course she did.”

~🔮~

Airianna looked at her painting, a frown forming on her face. What is she to make of this? This is the most ridiculous thing she has ever painted. She dreams of real things, not fiction. A tap on her shoulder had her turning to her father.

“Are you okay?” he asked, studying her face.

Airianna shook her head and pointed to her newest painting.

“Papa, I don’t dream about ghosts and goblins. And I definitely don’t dream about vampires!”

Jeremy Williams looked at the painting his daughter had just completed. Vampires? He remembered asking his mother about them when he was a child. There are no such things… yet the victim in her painting has two puncture marks on her neck, and the man standing over the body had blood dripping to the ground. The man’s back may be turned to them, but he could see the droplets of blood between the man and the dead woman. What the holy hell?

“Did you fall asleep watching Supernatural again?” he asked, looking at his daughter.

Airianna placed her arms over her chest and glared at her father.

“When have I ever painted or drawn something I have seen on TV?”

Her father shrugged and looked back at the painting.

She hasn’t; she knows she hasn’t. If TV messed with her dreams, she would have stopped watching it ages ago. What is wrong with her? Why is she painting vampires?

“I think I need to call my mother in on this one,” her father said, looking at her again.

Airianna saw the worry in her father’s eyes and frowned.

“I’m not going insane, Papa.”

“Of course not.” He picked up the painting and headed out the door.

“Where are you going with that?” Airianna asked, following her father out of her art room.

“To my mother’s. This calls for hands-on.”

Airianna paused and watched her father walk out the door. He turned back to her, a fake smile on his face.

“Keep your appointment with the detective. Let him take you to the theater. I will talk to you when you get home.” He turned and left the house, her painting clutched in his hands.

Airianna sighed and went to her room to get ready for her date with Nash.

~🔮~

“Is something wrong?” Nash asked Airianna after tapping her shoulder to get her attention.

He’d watched her look at her watch for the fifth time since they entered the theater. She shook her head and smiled. He could tell it was a forced smile; her eyes didn’t glow like they usually did when she smiled at him.

“Nothing that can’t wait until after the play,” she assured him, then turned back to watch as Juliet came back onto the stage.

Nash didn’t see most of the play as he watched Airianna. She seemed to have a lot on her mind, and their date wasn’t going as he had planned. When the play concluded, she stood and exited their aisle so fast he had to grab her and pull her to him before she walked into a couple walking up the aisle.

“Excuse us,” Nash said, nodding to the couple.

The couple nodded to them and continued up the aisle.

Nash pulled Airianna into the aisle once it was clear and led her to his car. Once inside the car, he turned to her and waited for her to look at him. When she did, he started questioning her.

“What is going on?”

Airianna took a deep breath. How did she tell him that she was going insane? Only insane people paint or dream about vampires. Right?

“Airie, what is going on? I thought you were excited about the play.”

“I was,” she said, panicking that she’d upset him. “I was thrilled, and I loved it so much….”

“Then why did you keep looking at your watch like you couldn’t wait to get out of there?”

Airianna turned from him and looked out the window.

‘Should I tell him?’

She felt his fingers on her chin as he turned her head to face him. A tear slid down her cheek, and he captured it with the pad of his thumb.

“What is going on?” he asked, watching another tear slide down her cheek.

“I’m going insane,” she whispered.

Nash’s eyebrows drew together as he studied Airianna’s face to see if she was serious. She was deadly serious.

“How are you going insane?”

Airianna swallowed, looked down at his fingers still touching her chin, and then back up into his eyes.

“I had a dream today.”

“Okay.” He nodded.

She licked her lips and watched his eyes follow her tongue; her body trembled at the look on his face. She took in a deep breath and told him. What could she lose? Only the one man who was made for her.

“I painted a vampire killing a woman by drinking her blood.”

His hand fell from her chin as he moved back from her. Here it comes. He’s going to kick her out of the car, call her a lunatic, and tell her he wants nothing to do with her…

“Okay, what does your father say it means?”

Airianna blinked. Did she read his lips right? Is he going with it? Why wasn’t he tossing her out of his car?

“You… you don’t think I’m crazy?”

He laughed. She could actually hear his laughter. Wow, she liked his laugh. It was musical and comical at the same time. Whatever that meant.

“Airianna, sweet seer. I don’t think you’re crazy. I could never think that of you. Not after all you have opened my eyes to. If you painted a vampire, that means something is going on in the world that needs to be stopped, and fate has asked us to put an end to it. Now, tell me more about this painting.”

Airianna’s eyes opened wide, then she threw herself into his arms. He held her close as she cried against his shoulder.

“I-I thought you were going to toss me to the wolves, so to speak.”

He chuckled as he moved her back far enough so he could talk to her. “Don’t tell me there are werewolves out there, too.”

She laughed, reading his lips. “No, I don’t think so. But I have been watching a lot of Supernatural.”

He shook his head. “You and Smitty need to get together and discuss that one.”

Her eyebrows furrowed. “You’ve never seen it?”

He shook his head. “Nope. Never interested me.”

She shook her head. “We’re going to have to have an all-nighter of Supernatural….”

“Not going to happen,” he said, his hand moving behind her head. “The only thing we’ll ever have an all-nighter of is you, me, and a bed.”

She sucked in a sharp breath as his lips captured hers. She had caught every word and not from reading his lips.

~🔮~

“Mother, are you sure this doesn’t mean something has gone wrong?” Jeremy Williams asked his mother as he watched her examine Airianna’s newest painting.

“No, dear boy. Your daughter is fine. It’s the world that is corrupted.”

Jeremy shook his head. “Then what does it mean?”

“It means there is something the fates want your daughter and her detective to solve, and it has to do with blood-sucking crazies.”

“Seriously?” Jeremy looked at the painting, his eyebrows furrowing.

“Son, if you’d let me….”

“No, Mother. We’re not going through this every time we see or talk to each other. My daughter is off limits to you and the rest of the clan.”

His mother huffed and picked up the painting, handing it to him.

“Take this home and tell Airianna to look closely at it. Find the clues and follow them.”

Jeremy nodded. “Thanks, Mom.”

“I will meet my granddaughter one day; you can count on that happening.”

Jeremy frowned. “You promised…”

“Go home, help your daughter and her detective.”

Jeremy watched his mother turn and walk away from him. Frowning, he left his mother’s house and headed to his car. His mother knows something he doesn’t, and he fears she will do something he won’t like. He just needs to keep his daughter closer… and do what? She’s an adult now; she can do whatever she wants.

Then he must warn the detective to keep a close eye on her.

He got home just as his daughter and the detective pulled into the driveway. Airianna jumped out and ran to him, asking what his mother had to say about her painting. He pulled out the painting and held it out to her.

“It’s all in your hands. There is no special meaning, except another case for you and your detectives to solve,” he said the last part as he looked at Detective Jackman.

The detective nodded to him and then looked at the painting in Airianna’s hands. She must have told him about it because the man wasn’t surprised as he looked at it for the first time.

“Looks like we have another case to solve,” Detective Nash Jackman said, looking at the woman before him.

Jeremy took in a calming breath. After all they’ve been through, he knows he can trust his daughter to this man. He watched the two walk into the house together and slowly let the air out of his lungs.

“You better protect her, Detective,” he mumbled as he headed into the house.