Darkened Days (10 page)

Crystal sat near, gasping.

“I think we’re far enough away.  God, I hope he believed me.  If he didn’t, I’m fucked.”

You’re fucked anyway
, Jacob thought. 
You won’t hold me forever.  And when I get free, you are going to have a very fucking bad night.

“This isn’t what I intended, Jacob.  But I can’t let you go now.  Thought you were an asshole and I wa
s expecting to eliminate you on Xavier’s order.  I thought you deserved the fate.  And even though I know now you were honest with me, it’s too late.  If I let Xavier know I kept Eillia’s friend prisoner against his will, I’ll lose my life.  Or at the very least this job.  Which is my life.  I don’t know what to do.  I don’t know how to fix this.  Fuck!”

“Roll me over, for fuck’s sake,” Jacob huffed in frustration.  He might be frozen, but he could still feel the pain in his twisted arm.

She got up and came slowly to him, sat him up gently, and rearranged his limbs.

“I’m sorry.  I have to think about what to do with you now.”

“Just let me go.  I’ll leave.  I won’t tell anyone you’ve kept me.  The secret will die and we’ll all just get back to our lives.

She stared into his eyes for several minutes.  Then sighed.

“No.  You would need to seek revenge.   You’re not the type of man to let something like this go.”  She paused.  Then repeated, “No. I made this mess.  I have to clean it up.”

“Does that include letting me go
at any point
?”

She grimaced.  “I don’t know.  We’ll see.  Right now, I’m taking you to my cabin
, we’ll be safe there.”

And they were off again.  Moments later, he was dumped again in a damp basement.  She did take the time to positi
on him.

“How are you going to contain me?  I don’t see any cells
.”

“This is just temporary.  Again, I’m sorry.”

Suddenly, gleaming in the low light, a needle appeared in her hand which she plunged quickly into his throat.  Jacob saw the world tilt and blur.  Unconsciousness hit him like a bolt of lightning.

An empty cell.  A blanket straddled across a concrete floor, an abandoned half torn bag of blood strewn and spilled across the same space.  Someone had left in a hurry.  Or been taken.  Eillia caught Koen’s eye.  They were in agreement.  Jacob had been here.  The crazy female who swore oath to Xavier had taken him to cover her ass.

Daniel wandered around, looking at the other cells.  He turned to Koen and Eillia.

“Yeah, you’re right.  The other cells are clean.  Whoever was in them is long gone and the spaces completely sanitized.  This is the only one in this condition.”

Xavier had been silent.  He wandered down the halls of his own security building and knew his guests were right.  Crystal could not be trusted.

“All right.  She has your man.  I’ll find her and bring him to you.”

“May we help?”  Koen asked, and knew the answer before he did.

“No.  This is my house.  One of my own has betrayed me.  You know I will deal with her.  And your man will be back by tomorrow.  If he is still alive.  Where do you stay?”

“In my loft.  I’ll leave th
e address and cell numbers with your staff.”

“Thank you.  I’m sorry.  This should never have happened.”

Eillia smiled.  “I bet Jacob is truly pissed.  You better move her far from him.  If you want anything left to discipline.”

“Won’t be much when I’m through.  Of everything in my life, betrayal is the one
thing I most abhor.  I do not forgive it.  Ever.  My trusted lieutenants must be one hundred percent trustworthy. Or it all falls to hell.  You two know that.”

He excluded Daniel.  He was too new, but Xavier knew he would learn over time what trust truly meant to those who lived so long hidden in this world.

Koen gave his hand to Xavier and covered their handshake with his other hand, locking them together.

“It’s been too long, brother.   I want you to come meet my daughter and granddaughter.  First bloods, born
of our race against the odds.  It’s time to repair the family tree.”

Xavier was quiet, but moments later he brought his other hand up to clasp Koen’s.  He smiled, his eyes warm.

“I’d say it is, brother.  Yes, I will absolutely do so.  Once we clear up this mess, we will talk.”

Koen nodded as they released their double handshake.    Eillia and Daniel nodded, and they all headed back to Xavier’s to their SUV to head back downtown.

When they arrived at Eillia’s loft, Daniel suggested they eat out.

“I’ve never been to Paris.   What is the best restaurant?”

Koen and Eillia consulted and wholeheartedly agreed on a single favorite.  It was a Saturday night, the streets full of tourists and locals out to party away the weekend. 

As usual, they were seated right away and settled in to enjoy an excellent meal, all their cell phones on the table awaiting Xavier’s call.

Jacob’s head felt like someone parted his hair with an ax.  He could finally open his eyes and while it hurt to do so, he forced himself so he could assess where the hell he was
now. 
It was a dirt basement, unfinished, damp and musty.  Thin air.  Little light from a hatch over his head near the other side.  He knew he couldn’t have been there too long.  Sedatives ran through a vampire’s quick metabolism faster than alcohol.  He held his hands up.  He wasn’t bound. 
Damn!
  With a burst of speed he was upstairs and halfway through a rustic room when he froze. 
Fuck.
  So close again.

Only this time, when he looked to the side, it wasn’t Crystal.  It was the huge vampire he’d seen in the basement of the warehouse the night they’d been taken.

The first blood walked up to him and looked him over.

“Jacob, right?”  Deep voice. A little frightening.  No wonder Crystal was concerned.

“Yeah,” Jacob answered, hoping like hell he hadn’t jumped out of the frying pan into the fucking flames.

“I’m Xavier.  Do you know where Crystal is?”

“Doesn’t tell me her schedule.  Being as I have been her prisoner for weeks.”

“It was not the intention.  It was not sanctioned.  Your people were here for you.  I’m going to unfreeze you, but don’t blow out of here.  I’ll drive you to Paris myself as soon as I find my fucking lieutenant.”

Xavier waved a hand and Jacob could actually move again.  Xavier disappeared.

Rolling his head around to loosen tight muscles, Jacob
looked through the room.  He was still naked and wanted to find something to slip on to recover some sense of control and dignity.  Something told him he didn’t want to compare his manhood to the giant first blood.

An adjacent bedroom was his best bet, but his choices were pretty limited.  He slipped on a pair of lightweight knit sweatpants with a drawstring.  In lavender.  It would have to do.  They fit tightly around the hips, the length ending high on his calves.  At this point, he was grateful.

He was back in the front room when Xavier returned in a flash.

“She isn’t nearby.  Checked the perimeter.  She’s gone.  It’s okay
, I assure you I will find her.”

“Are you going to kill her?”

“Close to.  She’ll never be near any of us again, I promise that.  Come on.  I’ll get you to the city.”

On his way out the door, Jacob grabbed a family size bag of chocolate chip cookies off a counter.

Eillia and Koen were showing some of the charm of Paris to Daniel.  They walked through a popular avenue open only to pedestrian traffic as it was filled with nightclubs, open air cafes, street artists, and artisans selling their wares to tourists and late-night partiers.  It had been a long time since either Koen or Eillia had been to this city they loved.

K
oen’s eyes kept moving as he watched the crazy mix of revelers from all over the world.   And he was smiling.

Eillia caught up to him and took his hand.

“Koen, you’re like a kid watching everything and everyone with such interest.  You’re a different man than you have been for the past fifty years.”

“I am.  I have a renewed interest in the world.  I love watching people again, where they’re going, what they’re doing in their brief little lives.  I’m grateful to have this moment and for all the years th
at have led me here.  I love having you back in my life.  I missed you.  And the first blood community is strong, making history, making children.  Making the future.  It’s exhilarating.”

Eillia laughed and curled her arm in his.

“It takes so little to make us happy if we just let ourselves be.  It’s beautiful to see one of the most powerful men I’ve ever known humbled by the beauty of a child.  Koen, I’m glad you’ll be there for our son.  It’s spectacular that we have two first blood babies after millennia with none.  No, three, with Park.  It almost seems prophetic.”

“I agree.  You know just before I found Park, I was ready to finish my life.  It had just been so long, and I
couldn’t see any joy trudging through day after day.  She was the greatest moment of my life and I’d lost her.  I was ready to go.”

“I’m so glad you didn’t.  This world needs you,
my friend.”

A chime interrupted their conversation and Koen reached for his cell phone.  He listened, smiled and closed it.

“He has him.  Jacob’s fine.  He’s bringing him into the city tonight.”

Eillia released a long held breath.  Thank god.  Now if they could just find Starla and bring them a
ll home.  One miracle at a time.

Koen slipped his arm away from Eillia’s.

“Speaking of celebrating.  There’s a lovely little redhead over in that corner that needs my attention.  Just my type. I think I’ll go celebrate myself on her right now.”

“Celebrate away.  I think I’ll take my husband on our first proper date.  I’ll meet you back at the loft when you’re
‘finished.’”

“Ha!  That might take a while.  I’ve got a lot of
‘finishing’ to do.  It’s been a while.”

Daniel grunted, happy to get his wife back, and slipped his arm around her as Koen pulled out his charm for a pretty titian-haired girl just ahead of them.

Flashing his sexiest smile, Koen walked up to the brilliantly dressed redhead who caught his eye from the street.  It was obvious he’d caught hers, too, as she tilted her head and gave him the prettiest smile.  He recognized the tone of the look.  He’d give it twenty minutes before she would willingly follow him to a nearby artist’s loft that belonged to a vampire he knew was out of town.

But as he reached her, he hesitated.  She was a
gorgeous girl, no doubt.  But for some reason he really couldn’t put his finger on, he knew she wasn’t someone he wanted.  He was really horny, he wasn’t lying when he told Eillia it had been a while.  He just knew, suddenly, he didn’t want to be with this girl.  Maybe it was because her hair was a similar shade to his daughters.  That was probably it, but for whatever reason, she wasn’t what he wanted.  So he smiled and turned away.  As he turned he saw her lose her smile.  Well, she wasn’t the only one disappointed.

He turned so quickly, he crashed into someone else passing at that moment.  Smaller than him by a lot.  Female, and now crumpled up on the brick street at his feet.  God, he could really have hurt her.  

Koen squatted down to help her up, a curtain of shiny streaked hair covered her face, then she flipped it back and he saw her face fully.

He froze, his hands out to help her, poised to ask if she was okay.  But words didn’t come.  Blue eyes that lit
the world smiled up at him and touched his soul instantly.  In the same way he knew the other girl had nothing for him, he seemed to know this was the one that would bring fire to his life.

She smiled and took his outstretched hands to pull herself up.

“Talk about sweeping a girl off her feet.  You could have avoided the literal.”

Koen snapped out of it.  Shook his head and focused on her.

“I’m sorry.  My fault entirely.  Are you all right?”

Nodding, she looked down at her hands still trapped in his.  Yet she didn’t pull away.

“Yeah.  Yeah, I’m fine.  I wasn’t really paying attention either.  Trying to decide where I wanted to eat.  So many choices.  So, let’s just say we have equal culpability for the collision.”

He couldn’t stop staring. 
Koen had lived long enough to understand that sometimes things have no explanation.  He soaked her in.  Curved cheeks, brilliant blue eyes that had already captured him, slim figure with full breasts wrapped in a sleek tee that didn’t meet the top of her tight jeans.   A huge hobo bag that threatened to topple her on its own.  Lips that…well, he already knew what he wanted to do with those.  Her smile…aw, he was trapped.  This was why he couldn’t be with the other woman.  Somehow his spirit knew he was waiting for her.