Bloodstone Heart (24 page)

"I suppose you are right. I should be bitter, resentful, and angry, but I've seen what real love can be like and I choose to hope it might happen to me someday. It may not. Hell, it probably won't, but if there is the slightest chance I can have that, I'm all in."

The Dark Angel stood for a long time in silence. Anton could only presume it was pondering what had been said. All the while the gloved hand fidgeted with the object just under its shirt.
 

I wish you luck in your quest for love. As for the Order, I can only tell you that it is being assembled again and you should stay clear of this place and all that are associated with it. Lastly, the archives, as you call them, are in a safe place, close to one's heart. You should leave now, Anton Larsen. I've enjoyed our conversation and I hope I won't have to kill you in the future. I would find that unpleasant
.

Anton was stunned and not knowing what to do, he stumbled over his words.
 

"Thank you - Dark Angel - I hope you won't have to kill me, either." He turned on his heel and shot down the dark tunnel like a lightning bolt, then out of the cask door, and out into the salty sea air that cleansed his palate of the damp smell of decay and rotten grapes, then he bent over and heaved his breakfast as if cleansing his body of the scene in the chamber of the Order of Black Orchids.

Chapter 19

Anton was rattled to his very bones.
 
His drive back to Connecticut was a blur.
 
He'd never been so terrified and enthralled at the same time.
 
He thought of himself as lucky to be alive to tell about meeting the Dark Angel, as so few had lived to tell of the privilege. In some ways it was nothing like what he envisioned such a meeting to be. He almost felt sorry for the Dark Angel and its lonely existence - no family, no love. It had been a long time since he had appreciated his family, but right now in the car, he was very happy to have Dominic, Blake, Bernard, Darby, and Devon. He felt the same about the friends he had recently met in Mark, Dean, and Rowan and he looked forward to meeting Sally one day. It would be a cruel and insufferable world without friends and family to lean on when needed. He thought about the bitterness and resentment he sensed from the Dark Angel and he could sympathize with how easily one could fall onto a horrific path when there was no one to tell them someone cared what path they took.

When he got back to Westport, he and Dominic talked for hours over dinner and well into the night - something they hadn't done in a very long time. He told his father of his finding the room where the altar was and how simple and lovely the room really was. He described the mosaic, the hearth, the natural lighting, and the legendary altar stone with the heart-shaped indentation. It was all there, just as described.
 

He went on to tell Dominic about his encounter with the Dark Angel. They talked about the amazing power that the Dark Angel possessed and how easily it had been called upon. Like an excited boy telling of his adventures, Anton relayed all that had happened to him that afternoon under the castle on Heart Island. He did, however, leave out the part about sensing loneliness from the Dark Angel.
 
Somehow, that seemed private - something the two of them had shared - a secret to which only he and the Dark Angel were privy.

Dominic soaked it all in like a thirsty sponge. He was particularly interested in hearing about the reference to Larsen, one of the ancients, and the question if there was any relation between Anton and Owen. This would intrigue him through most of the following sleepless night. Of course the information about the Ancient Artifacts was exciting. The words relayed seemed more like a puzzle, though, than an answer.

After he and Anton talked, Dominic went to the library and wrote notes on their conversation.
 
He also thought that through the night, little things that had been said would be remembered and re-examined. This is how Dominic did his best thinking - in notes. Oh sure, to someone who happened on the notebook it might look like gobbledygook, but it made sense to Dominic and helped him remember the tiniest of details.

Since he was much too excited by their newfound information to sleep, Dominic took his notes and wrote an email to Blake explaining some of the new things that had been brought to light from Anton's encounter. He hoped the details would help the young man and woman who were being followed by Dimitri. Dominic knew their safety wore deeply on Blake.
 
He also knew that this was new territory for Blake, when Devon usually took up these details.
 
If nothing else, perhaps it would give Blake a new appreciation for Devon. Dominic figured that Blake was battling guilt, as were they all, at abandoning Darby on her quest to find Devon, but this too would make the siblings stronger. He hoped in all of this that Blake and Devon would become closer to Anton. Having never known his mother and not having a sibling, Anton would never have what Devon and Blake had, but maybe it could be close.

Blake woke to a typical morning - stomach growling and cell phone blinking. He grabbed his cell phone and shuffled off to the kitchen quietly so as not to wake Rowan. His eyes weren’t focused yet so he carried the phone with him to get coffee, finding a scruffy Josh sitting at the table writing in his notebook. Blake greeted Josh with what sounded like a grunt but was actually a 'Hey' with a head nod. Josh reciprocated with a head nod of his own. Blake set his phone on the table and headed for the fridge. He grabbed a couple plates of leftover something, and started shoveling it in.
 

Josh looked at him, chuckled, and nodded his head to which Blake replied with his mouth full, "What? I'm hungry."
 

Josh continued to shake his head. Blake ignored him and wiped the fingers of one hand on his flannel pajama bottoms and looked at his phone. He saw a large email from Dominic with several attachments.
 
Licking the fingers of his other hand as he started to read he said, "Hmmm.
 
Looks like we got an email from Dominic that he hopes can help.
 
I'm going to go get my computer. It's too big to read it on the phone." He took a chicken leg with him as he headed for the room he and his brother had established as the 'office' and grabbed his laptop. After printing everything out, he put the sheets of paper on the table and handed the email to Josh. As Josh began to read, Blake said, "Sounds like Anton had quite an adventurous day yesterday."

Josh said, "So he went to the Order of Black Orchids. How did he know where to find it? Isn't it a secret place?"

Blake started eating another piece of chicken and answered, "Yes, it’s very secret.
 
Dominic is really into history and archives; he probably had some secret ancient map. My guess is Dominic sent Anton to see if he could find it. I guess he did and then some."

"Yeah, I guess so.
 
Who is this 'Dark Angel' person? And what is the connection to the Order?"

"No one knows who the Dark Angel is. All that's known is that the Dark Angel is an old and powerful vampire and it’s very rare that anyone lives to speak of meeting it. The Dark Angel is not known for its compassionate soul, that's for sure. The Dark Angel tends to be a 'gun for hire', so to speak - a deadly assassin. No one knows how many souls it has sent to their graves; you just don't mess with the Dark Angel if you can help it because you probably won't live to see another day."

"Great. And what does this Dark Angel have to do with the Order?" said Josh.

"Not sure yet. Maybe it was hired by Dimitri to be his body guard while the stone was missing or maybe it was just a coincidence that they ran into each other."

"I hope it’s the latter. I sure don't want anything like that coming after me or Lanie."

"You're right there!"

"So where does this put us?"

"I don't know. Let's see. The attachments Dominic sent are background stuff on the Dark Angel, something about Heart Island, and an old map. I'm guessing the old map is what Anton used to find the Order's meeting place and the Heart Island stuff is probably where that place is.
 
I'll read through this stuff and see if there isn't anything in the details.”

"So there really isn't much," Josh said.

"On the contrary...we now know where the order meets, how the altar and stone work and who knows what else.
 
This is big. We have the 'where.' I find that's usually the last thing you find out. I know it seems like we are not making much progress, but this is a big step forward. We will find a weakness or flaw in all this, and then we'll know how to proceed. Besides, I'm guessing with all the excitement of meeting the Dark Angel, maybe Anton left something out."

"You consider meeting this Dark Angel as exciting?"

"Well, yeah. In a scary, I-could-be-dead-any-second kind of way."

"You're weird," Josh said.

"No really, think about it.
 
If you could meet Dirty Harry wouldn't you be kind of in awe of the situation? Sure you might be terrified, but everybody knows him."

"Dirty Harry is a cop - he's a good guy in a bad-ass kind of way, and he’s not real. How does that compare with the Dark Angel?"

"Okay, well maybe not Dirty Harry, how about... umm... Lex Luthor, or um... Darth Vader, oh, um, Professor Moriarty, uh, Sauron or Snidely Whiplash."

"You do realize all those are fictitious characters?"

"Okay then how about Jesse James, or Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp. They were real."

"Okay then, I guess I can see if you were going to be killed it would be a tad bit more exciting to be killed by someone famous, but it's a little disturbing."

"Maybe, but if you didn't get killed and you actually had a conversation with one of them wouldn't it be interesting to hear about what they've seen? I think it would be pretty cool."

"Okay, if no one gets killed, I guess I can see the coolness."

"Anyway, my point was that Anton might remember something over the next couple of days that may be important; you never know."

"Hmmm.
 
I haven't seen Dean or Sally in a couple of days. What's up with them?"

"Sally got some permits and releases from the insurance company, so she's doing paperwork and clean up while Dean starts some of the repairs on the bookstore."

"At least things are moving forward there. Insurance companies can sure drag their feet."

"Yeah, but Sally seems to have things in hand. It's the fastest I've ever seen an insurance investigation finish up."

Melanie got an early start in the morning.
 
According to the stars and rectangles on her map, she would be heading up Highway 81 and cut over to Highway 86 until she reached Erie, Pennsylvania.
 
She decided to check out Dubbins Landing at least to see the Bicentennial Tower. While she was walking, taking in the views of boats and people, she noticed a young boy who had obviously wandered off from his parents.
 
He was squatting down between some pylons and leaning over way too far.
 
Melanie looked around to see if she could spot a parent looking for a child, but she didn't see anyone, so she started walking towards the boy in a rather rushed manner and just as she got about an arm’s length away, he teetered forward a bit, then, overcompensating, he lost his balance and headed for the water as Melanie's gloved hand barely caught hold of his wrist.