Bloodstone Heart (43 page)

Once they were in the building it dawned on Melanie what the building was - it was a very old, very big boathouse.
 
It could have housed several huge yachts and a couple of smaller sailboats along with dozens of other boats.
 
The ceiling had to be at least seventy feet high or more, to accommodate the large mast of the sailboat she saw.
 

They meandered on a maze of docks until finally they slowed and he shoved her into some ancient looking dinghy. The wood was rough and grey from age with next to no sign of its once shiny lacquer coat.
 
There was a hint of white paint in places and maybe a little trimming in red, but she wasn't quite sure.
 
She landed hard in the middle of the boat between the two horizontal boards that were used as seats. The boat wiggled in the water back and forth after she landed and just as it was settling down, Dimitri, jumped like a panther into the boat near her, hardly rocking the boat at all.
 

Dimitri had his familiar bag at the bow of the boat and he grabbed it, tearing into it like a ferocious beast.
 
He pulled out more rope.
Not more rope!
she thought to herself.
 
He tied her already tied wrists, looping a long piece of rope into a knot around them, and then tied the end to the bow of the boat through an eye bolt, probably used for towing the dinghy on occasion.
 
Next he grabbed more rope and tied up her feet, securing them to the stern somehow, looping through what the anchor must have been tied to.
 

Lastly, he took out a cordless drill with a quarter inch bit.
What the heck? Is he going to drill me to death with a bunch of holes? Why take me to a boat if he was going to do that?
He moved towards her smiling as he pulled the trigger of the cordless drill making it rev. WHIR! WHIR! WHIR! It reminded Melanie of a scene from the
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
. Her eyes widened and she screamed as loud as she could, but behind the duct tape it was just a muffled cry no one but Dimitri would ever hear. Then he leaned down casually and drilled a small hole in the bottom of the boat not far from her shin. Within a few seconds she felt the trickle of water making its way towards her leg.
 

Pleased with himself, Dimitri grabbed his bag, shoved the drill into it, and leaped out of the boat onto the dock. He turned towards her and saluted her, saying, "Bon Voyage,
ma chérie
." He turned in a flash and was gone. A second later she thought she heard a door shut and some kind of metal noise, maybe a lock, but she wasn't sure and it was quite a ways away.
 

Now what am I going to do
? she thought. She struggled against the ropes, but in her position, she could barely raise her head but a few inches and all the while more water trickled into the boat, filling the area where she laid ever so slowly.
 

The building looked like it wasn't visited much, especially in this far corner of it, where the boats weren't very pretty anymore from sitting in the water for years and years.
 
The walls seemed pretty sound. She couldn't see any sunlight through them, but everywhere she looked there were cobwebs the size of elephants. No, she was sure that no one had been in this vicinity of the boathouse in quite a while; one day someone might venture over to look at some amazing spider web and find a skeleton of a young woman tied to the bottom of a dinghy that had been sunk.
What a pitiful end to a life
, she thought.
 
She'd barely even lived her life, so afraid of going out of her apartment, or touching something that may cause visions or a premonition of some disaster.
 
Maybe if she had ventured out sooner, she would have met Josh under better circumstances and maybe even had some kind of relationship with him, but now that was a pipe dream - a world that seemed about a trillion light years away from where she was right now in this old boat house, slowly sinking.
 

Tears started to trickle down her face once again and into her ears, tickling them.
 
She wiggled her shoulders against her ears, making the tickle go away, but not the tears, which were coming now in torrents. She was scared, hurt, and tired and no one knew where she was and even if they did, they'd never get to her in time. She laid her head back down on the boat floor, where water had made its way up her spine and sloshed around as she wiggled and yanked her aching hands and feet, fighting with all her might to loosen the ropes even just a bit. She knew she was sunk - in more ways than one.

Chapter 33

      
Sitting on the jet with all the others, Blake leaned over to Josh and said, "Maybe now would be a good time for you to link us again."

"Oh right. Sure," Josh answered.

Blake had Devon and Darby trade seats and Anton traded seats with Dominic so that the five of them were close together. Then he said, "Okay, Josh is going to link us again. I want you all to visualize um...I know, Josh, can you hand me the bloodstone heart?"

Josh handed it to Blake. It was warm as he’d been clutching it ever since they’d left the house.
 
He was sure now that Josh held onto it like a worry-stone that people carry in their pockets to ease their fears. He handed it to each of the three men around the circle, and each of them got a good look at the dark green stone with flecks of red in the shape of an unmistakable heart. When the stone made its way all the way around and back to Blake, he set it on a table in front of them and said, "Okay, I want you all to concentrate on the stone, the way it looks, the way it felt and all that you've learned about it. When you think you can see it in your mind’s eye, close your eyes and keep your focus on it. Josh will tune into each of your frequencies and then link us together. Okay, ready?" Everyone nodded and the others watched the process. Blake said, "Josh? Ready?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then, everyone concentrate."

Like walking through a room of smoke Josh could see a tiny red light illuminated in each of their minds. He went from mind to mind and once he had all four of their frequencies, he gathered them together like dainty red ribbons and tied them to his own in a loose knot around his hand and pulled it tight. When he was done he opened his eyes and all the others opened their eyes at the same time.

Blake asked, "Are we good?"

The four nodded and though the others weren't officially linked in the process, the air in the plane seemed to crackle with electricity they all shared. To some extent, Blake and Josh felt they were ALL connected. Josh put the stone back in his pocket, and Blake was quite sure he was rubbing it furiously.

The flight was uneventful, which was just fine with Josh.
 
He sat staring out the window most of the time, putting up a wall between his personal thoughts and the other four linked to him. He hoped that he wouldn't disappoint Blake. Blake seemed to have such faith in his abilities, but Josh didn't share that faith and worried something fierce about putting them all in danger.

In his pocket he held the stone in his fist. He had become quite attached to the stone the last week or two. Somehow having it near brought him hope when all seemed to be bleak. Or maybe it was courage it brought him, he wasn't sure. He just knew that in a few hours, it would be gone forever and he dreaded handing it over to Dimitri. He knew Dominic was right in his thinking, but it saddened Josh to think of it not being around anymore.
 
It had saved his life and he hoped it would save Lanie's, because he didn't think life would matter much if he had to spend it without her.

The stone in his hand felt smooth and warm and as he thought about Lanie it seemed to tingle in his palm and assure him that all would be okay very soon. He hoped this feeling was true, but he wasn't sure he believed it.

When they got off the plane, there were a couple of cars waiting.
 
It was still early for the meeting with Dimitri, but much needed to be done before that happened.
 
Dominic had gotten them a hotel not far from the dock where Josh could wait and the others could get ready.
 
First the girls hit some stores looking for a picnic basket big enough for food and Mark's new smaller version of a crossbow that could shoot five small arrows quickly before having to reload, along with a blanket for the charade.
 

Mark had also used the recipe for lacing the arrow with yew seed oil as they had done when dealing with Libby.
 
That way if the arrows went through the vampires or didn't hit the heart, the poison would at least incapacitate them. Also, he wanted to make sure he had a way to defend himself and the girls if the vampires decided it was mealtime.

Dominic spent time on the phone making arrangements for the boat rental and cabs for them and later for Josh. When the girls got back from shopping they put their heads together to come up with several spells; one for destroying the stone, one for the veil, and one for protection.

The guys were getting a kick out of being able to read each other’s minds and speak without speaking. Just as Blake had said, it was no effort whatsoever, but still Josh was unsure.
 
How could they know if it would still work with some real distance between them? Or if once they were in the thick of it, that the stress of everything wouldn't unravel the link’s knot? Blake, however, seemed to have enough confidence for the both of them, but he could sense from the others that they may not be as confident.

Time flew by for all in the room that were busy, but for Josh, the clock seemed to slow so much that he swore the clock’s hands actually moved backwards a couple of times.
 
Josh knew it wasn't true, but he took a double take at least two or three times over the hour and a half that he watched everyone scrambling around.

Now everyone was ready and about to leave.
 

Blake sat down next to Josh and said, "Okay, Josh. It's time for us to part ways for a while, but we will be here," and he tapped Josh's forehead and smiled. "We'll keep you apprised of what is going on at our end and you do the same. You probably won't see any of us until things get crazy, but we are a thought away.
 
You are not alone.
 
Just remember, if you sense one of those attacks where you project to Lanie, try to control it and don't let on to anyone that you can do such a thing.
 
While Dimitri is with you, I doubt that anything bad will be happening to Melanie.
 
The times you've projected were when Dimitri was hurting her, so if he is with you, that shouldn't happen.

“Dominic has arranged another cab that will take you to the meeting place. Hang in there, Josh, it's almost over." He patted Josh's shoulder as he said this.
 

"Thanks, Blake," Josh said, then looked around the room and said, "Thank you, everyone." He wasn't a man of many words, and all in the room knew this about him by now, but they knew the words were heartfelt. Everyone smiled and nodded at him as he said this, then made their way out of the room, with Blake and Dominic being the last ones to leave.
 

Blake waved as he exited and Dominic turned to Josh and said, "Be safe, son - I'll see you in an hour or so." He smiled at Josh and Josh nodded.
 
Dominic turned and closed the door behind him.
 

The wheels had started turning and there was no way back now. If Josh wasn't nervous before, he was most definitely nervous now.
 
He tried to keep his personal thoughts to himself, but by the comments he was getting in his head from Blake, Devon, and Anton, he wasn't shielding them well. It was kind of annoying having them talking to him and telling him all was going as planned, but it was comforting too.
 

Another hour went by when the telephone in the hotel room rang.
 
Josh picked it up and said, "Yes?"