Bloodstone Heart (41 page)

"Wait, the Dark Angel didn't speak verbally?"

"No."

"The Dark Angel spoke telepathically to me too," Anton interjected.

"Hmm," Dominic said. "You were saying, Josh?"

"From what I could tell from the conversation,” Josh continued, “the angel employed Dimitri to put an army together for some purpose. The Dark Angel also knew that I was here. I'm not sure but the Dark Angel said…”

"They know you're here? How?" Dominic asked.

"It said 'the person you seek is here on the east coast - Connecticut to be exact'. Then went on to say that it was very displeased that the Larsen family was now involved."

"But...how....?" Dominic stuttered.

Blake ran his hand through his hair and Anton sat back in the chair contemplating this.

"That CAN'T be good. The Dark Angel is involved? And knows we are too? AND where we are?" Devon said.

Blake said, "But I don't understand. If the Dark Angel knows Josh is here, why hasn't the stone been taken already?"

Everyone pondered that for a moment when Dominic said, "There must be more going on than just acquiring the stone and making an army.
 
Otherwise, the Dark Angel would have just done the job himself or herself…well, you know what I mean."

"So does that mean that Dimitri does not have any followers yet?" asked Devon.

Blake answered, "I guess."

"Yes, he does,” Josh blurted. “He told the Dark Angel that he had 'eight loyal followers' and as soon as he got the stone he would invoke the power of the stone on them, or something like that."

Devon said, "Eight followers - so probably eight vampires AND the Dark Angel against four vampires, two werewolves, and two witches."

"Don't forget,” Blake added, “Darby said that Alyssa has gypsy blood, she could be used to help any spell they cast, so three witches and a Private Investigator."

Devon looked at his brother like he was an idiot.

"What?” Blake said defensive now. “He's a damn good shot with a bow. He missed Libby by like a half inch and that was because Anton couldn't hold her."

"Hey, don't blame it on me. She scratched the hell out of me," Anton said.

Blake laughed, "I'm teasing you, Anton. No one could have held her still, she was like a wildcat, but that doesn't detract from Mark's abilities."

Devon retorted, "But we don't want wooden arrows being shot around a room with us in it. Plus, he's human. We won't be able to protect him and Josh from the vampires AND the Dark Angel."

"I didn't get the impression the Dark Angel was going to be involved at all with the trade.
 
It was just stated that Dimitri better get the stone by tomorrow night or he would be replaced," Josh said.

"Whew! That helps!” Anton replied. "Well, there is one good thing...when I went to the castle last time, I saw that they had posted a notice that they were closing off the island to tourists for some maintenance.
 
Dimitri obviously is taking advantage of the lack of people coming to the island to deploy his plan."

"At least no innocent bystanders will be hurt in this," Devon said.

"We need to come up with a way to infiltrate the castle tunnels without being detected," Blake said.

"That's certainly easier said than done," Anton said.

"Dominic, is there any way we can mask our scent and the others?" Devon asked.

"Maybe, but won't they sense you even if your scent is masked?” Dominic answered.

“Sensing is usually done by the mind - sensing someone thinking about arbitrary things. Linking with Josh will bypass that," Blake explained.

Devon said, "How?"

"Usually one is sensed when they accidentally drop their mind blocking in order to communicate with someone but we can concentrate all our power on blocking and fighting because Josh will be taking care of all the communicating by linking us."
 

"You really think that can work?" Devon said, doubtful.

"I do. And I think it will be our biggest asset."

Dean finally said something. "Well then, if you just need to mask your scent, do it like the animals do.
 
Cover your smell up with something smellier."

"Brilliant, Dean," Dominic said. "Josh told Blake that the tunnels where Melanie is being held had the distinct smell of ocean and mustiness. If we were to rub seaweed on ourselves, it might be enough to mask our scent along with the werewolves.
 

"Also I have a map of the castle and its tunnels. That is how Anton found the altar room in the first place.
 
We can hide in different locations in the tunnels, maybe even take out a vampire or two, and Josh will give us our cue, then we pounce."

"It seems a little too simple," Anton said.

"Sometimes the simplest way is the best way," Dean retorted.

"So I guess all we need to do is try this linking thing," Blake said.

Dominic stood up and said, " I think I will take my leave."

Blake said, "But don't you want to be in the link? You're the oldest and strongest vampire here."

"No. I think I will leave this one to the younger Larsens. I'll just stay with someone who is linked so I know when we are to move. Besides, didn't you say that it would be strongest with five - something about the pentagram or crystals or something like that? Besides, we're going to need to head out early to get our plan in place so I think I will turn in."
 

"Um yeah, it would be stronger with five, but...okay. Goodnight, Dominic," Blake said slightly befuddled by his uncle's non-participation. Dominic eyed Devon as he left the room. Devon nodded.

Blake was confused by what he saw between Devon and Dominic, but continued, "Okay then...shall we try it?"

Everyone nodded.

"All right then.
 
Let me explain some fundamentals of what we are about to do before we begin.

"Telepathic abilities are all about frequencies and connecting to them.
 
Think of it like turning on a radio and finding the station you want, that's kind of what we will be doing here. This can be done several ways, but I think for our purpose, we will have you think of a specific thing and then Josh will search for that thing, tuning into your frequency. When he has found all four he will visualize them being linked together like five pieces of rope tied in one knot. As Dominic had said, five is a significant number in linking. It is thought that like the five points of the pentagram, it symbolizes strength."

"How do we unlink?" Josh said.

"Each of us visualizes the ropes tied together being untied or cut."

"Sounds simple enough," Anton said.

"Ready then?" Blake asked.

Everyone nodded.

“Okay, Devon, Dean, and Anton, I want you to visualize...um...a bright red Ferrari. Close your eyes and see it in your mind. Try to think only on the red Ferrari. I'll do the same. Josh, you need to go from person to person and find the red Ferrari in each of our minds.
 
That is our frequency, so to speak. Hold on to it and move on to the next person until you have all four, then visualize your own and tie them together. When you can visualize that, open your eyes and tell us you are done and we will see if it has worked.”

It was silent in the room as they concentrated. Josh started with Devon, found his car, and then moved on to Dean, finding his car, then Anton and Blake.
 
He did as Blake had suggested and visualized all the cars now on a table, with a silver cord connecting all of them, including his, and tied them all into a knot.
 

He opened his eyes and said, "Okay! I think I did it."

Everyone looked around, but no one felt any different until the image of a giant string bean with fangs and bat wings popped into their minds.
 

Knock that off, Dean! I told you, vampires can't turn into bats, you big dweeb.
Blake hadn’t needed to actually yell this; it was conveyed to all telepathically.
 

"I'd say our test worked, but once we are linked, we need to stay focused on what we are doing, or it could be a mad house of five voices yelling all at once all the time," Anton warned.

Blake laughed but agreed. "Okay, I guess that was a successful experiment, but we should probably break the link before we go to bed, I don't want to share EVERYTHING with you guys."

"Good point," Devon agreed.

“So to break the link, everyone close your eyes and focus on the cord being cut and falling away from the others. Josh, your visualization of this cutting/breaking of the link is the most significant since you are the one linking us. Okay. Now close your eyes and focus on the rope.”

They all visualized the cords and of the knot holding the cord together being cut, and a few seconds later the link was broken and their thoughts were their own.
 

Blake said, "Thanks, Josh, that was very cool. Was it much of an effort for you?"

"No, just as you said."

"Good, then before we leave tomorrow we will link again.”

"Okay," Josh said.

"The rest of you, I guess we should call it a night. Like Dominic said, we are going to have to get up early tomorrow to get set, plus we still have to fill in the girls, Mark, and Dominic."

They all said their goodnights, patting Josh on the shoulder as they each passed him. Josh wasn't sure if this was out of sympathy for him or if it was a congratulatory pat for the linking, but either way he was appreciative. Then Josh, too, left the room and headed up to bed, leaving Devon and Blake turning off the lights.

As they finished up and started to leave the room, Devon said, "You know, Blake, I'm proud of you.”

“Of me? Why?"

“You've really taken the lead and you've done a really good job with helping Josh.”

“You think?

“I do. I might just have to let YOU take the lead more often.”

“Oh, no you don't. I may be able to do it when pushed into a corner, but it doesn't mean I'm good at it.
 
That's still your specialty. I have learned a lot though.”
 

“Really? Like what?”

“That you make your job as head of the Bloomingtons look awful damn easy, when it really isn't.”

“Is that a compliment, Blake?”

“Yes it is! I have a new appreciation for your people skills and your leadership skills. I guess I always took that for granted. It isn’t so easy having everyone depend on you to come up with a plan or to fix all the problems.”
 

“Wow, Blake! I should take off more often," Devon chuckled as they went up the stairs together.

"I hope you don't. I kind of...missed you."

"Did you now?"

"Oh, shut up and go to bed," Blake teased.

"Kind of bossy, aren't you? Give a guy the reins for a while and he starts getting all cocky!" Devon said as he smiled at his brother and closed the front door behind him.

"Pain in the butt, dweeb..." Blake muttered. He was quite sure that Devon heard him, but he didn't care. He had missed his brother, more than he would ever like to admit, and he was sure glad Devon was here now even if he was another person to tease Blake incessantly.

Chapter 32

      
Josh never did sleep that night.
 
Even if he could, he wasn't sure he wanted to see Lanie so beat up and not be of any use to her. He thought about the plan they had come up with and about a hundred ways that it could all fall apart.
 
Aside from this stupid communication thing Blake was so psyched about, and handing over the stone, Josh was of no use.
 
He wasn't a vampire. He couldn't possibly fight one! He wasn't a werewolf, either, and he certainly had no magical powers to add to the fight.
 

It pained Josh that he couldn't be more help and to some extent he wished he could be the one to swoop in and save Lanie like some gallant knight, but he would have to let the others do the fighting - his fighting.

The morning sun started to peer over the horizon when Josh heard stirring downstairs. He was awake anyway, so he felt he might as well go downstairs and see if he could be of some help to Bernard. He made his way through the quiet hall and down the grand stairs. One hand felt through the bandages that the swelling had gone down some but the stitches were still store and a bit itchy. He peeked into the study just to see if Dominic was up, but no one was there. He made his way to the kitchen to find Bernard scurrying around in a blur of activity.

"Can I help?" Josh asked quietly.

"Yes. Thank you. Could you cut the oranges in that bowl into halves and then run them through the juicer?"

"Sure," Josh said gratefully. Maybe Bernard sensed his need to be useful in some way. They quietly worked together and Josh found it nice. Bernard had a way about him that eased a person’s anxiousness.
 
He seemed to know if you wanted to talk, or didn't. He could see why he and Dominic had enjoyed such a long and lasting friendship. After about fifteen minutes, Dominic shuffled into the kitchen surprised to see Josh up and helping Bernard.