Darkened Days (15 page)

He fished his cell phone out of his pocket and played Starla’s message on speakerphone.

Her voice was clear, low, worried.  “If you get this soon, I may be in trouble.”

Expressionless, Jacob listened carefully to every word.  His heartbeat quickened at the sound of her voice
and his body tightened as he entered a protective state.  His woman was in danger and he was ready to fight.

Yet Henri heard a calm cool voice when
Jacob responded.

“Alright.  The message, how long ago?  What else do you know?”

Henri hesitated only a moment before he pushed away from the wall to assert himself.

“I got the message maybe ten minutes after she left.  It took about five for me to get back here but they were already gone.  So, about half an hour now.  A local boy witnessed the abduction, but he spoke in local folklore, so the information is useless.”

“Tell me.”

“It’s just urban legend.”

“Tell. Me.”

“Okay.  He said she was taken by the ‘big’ men into the ‘big’ trees.  He called them night walkers.  But we already knew they were vampires by her message.  And he said they took her into the forest and that there was no reason to look for her,
that no one ever comes back.  It’s folklore.  Like Nessie.”

“You haven’t been around long enough to know that folklore is always based in truth.  So I think we know she was taken by a group of vam
pires who live in the forest.  We need to recon the area.  With three of us, it should be possible to cover a fair amount of territory.  Don’t ignore anything.  Sometimes the clue you need is obvious.  Sometimes it isn’t.”

Koen ret
urned.

“Get anything out of the kid?”

Henri didn’t like Jacob much, but he decided he really hated the larger, more arrogant one with him.

“Possible locati
on.  Large area.  Up to a run?”

“Shit!  No cars, huh?”

“Nope.  Trees.  Forest.  Acres of it.  We think they live near the falls.”

“Shit!  Hate being wet.  Kid,
you’re coming too.”

“It’s Henri.  And I am hardly a kid.”

Koen laughed and threw a bottle to him, then to Jacob.

“Let’s go.  I have other concerns I’d like to get back to, so we need to find this lady as soon as possible.

With his jaw clenched, Henri followed the bigger men toward Victoria Falls.

After an exhausting two hours, the three vampires met back at a predetermined spot. 

“Sorry, nothing,” Koen said immediately. 

Jacob glanced at Henri, who shook his head
, paced and exploded.

“Fuck!  This is a huge fucking place.  It’s nothing
but
trees!  How are we going to find the ‘big tree’ people?”

Like Jacob, Henri’s frustration hit maximum.

“You’re the big ass special vampires.  It’s your interference that drove us here, so you better fucking find her!”

Koen grinned.

“Big teeth for such a little dog. You notice we were
all
out there searching?”

“Yeah, but you guys must have some special abilities, right?  Like the one who grabbed us in Paris.”

“Yeah.  But even we can’t trace a vampire across distances.”

“How the hell did you find us here, then?”

“A woman with skills neither of us have,” Koen told him.  “We hoped Jacob might be able to track her since she has his blood in her, but he hasn’t been able to.  So it’s going to take legwork, information, and tenacity.  We’ll find her.  Don’t worry, little dog.”

“Stop that.  I’m not little and I’m not a dog.”

Koen looked down at him from above.  “Both seem right to me.  We have to find shelter.  We’ll resume tomorrow night.  Pup, you have a protected room?”

Henri glared at him and turned away, heading back toward their “borrowed” four wheel drive jeep.

Koen nodded.  “I take that as a yes
and
an invitation.  Jacob, we’ll find her.  I promise.  Let’s go get some food and sleep.”

With a set jaw, Jacob followed Koen, glancing back at the tall trees once before he got behind the wheel.

CHAPTER TEN

             
As she woke, Starla saw the full moon through a hole in the ceiling.  She opened her eyes slowly, looking up since she lay on her back.  Just a big opening in the high ceiling of a large room with curved walls.  Every wall surface was covered with lovely pastel fabric.  Long scarves suspended from the ceiling to cascade to the floor.  This was the prettiest room she’d ever seen in her life.  It smelled heavenly, like fresh roses and vanilla. 

On immediate defense, she looked around quickly to assess the situation, but there was little to assess.  She was alone, still dressed in her
short dress now wound around her hips. So she assumed she hadn’t been sexually assaulted.

With a deep breath, she pushed off the bed, pulling her skirt down
to as decent a level as it would go.  She looked around for her shoes, but didn’t see them anywhere.  Leaning down to check under the bed, she barely heard the door open and someone come in.

A pretty young girl, barefoot, with a glowing smile, brought a plate filled with local foods and a carafe of some
red beverage.  She was not vampire.

“Hi, I am pleased to bring you something to keep you full while you take your daysleep.  I am Miwsher and I have been asked to serve you while you are here in this dwelling.  I will take very good care of your needs.”

With a slight nod and smile, Starla acknowledged her.

The girl smiled widely and put the tray on an ornate stand beside the bed.  Then she began to lay out the
different items in a row, none of which looked familiar to Starla.

“To
night, you will go with Ahmose, but until then we keep you from his sight. He is not to see you before the joining ceremonies.  Are you excited?”

Starla blinked a few times and tried to think of the best response.  There was no reason to involve this young girl in this charade who obviously thought Starla was a very lucky girl.

“Thrilled,” she said with a brilliant smile.

Miwsher gave her a stemmed glass with the
beverage.  Starla looked suspiciously at the dark color and did not drink it right away.

Carefully, she inquired, “So what does this joining ceremony involve?”

“It’s wondrous, mistress.  They are preparing all day for the celebration.  Food, drink, flowers, dancing.  You and our master will promise your futures to each other and the people under the full moon tonight with the blessings of mother earth.  I have seen your dress.  Mistress, you will look so beautiful in it.  Four seamstresses have worked around the clock since our master found you at the waterfalls.”

Really?

The falls.  If she and Henri had decided not to hit the zipline, she might not be in this situation.  Well, it seemed like ever since she left Alaska she’d stepped in shit.  It didn’t seem like geography made a difference.  Since she’d been changed and forced into the darkened part of the day, it felt like karma had a thing for her.  Bad karma.  She wondered about this as she selected a gorgeous sweet that looked like a braided donut with a sticky glaze the girl said was called
koeksisters.
  It was really delicious.

Between bites, Starla considered what she knew.  Thes
e were not ordinary vampires.  They were like the ones that detained them in Paris.  She really didn’t think she could escape them.  They had abilities vampires didn’t have.  So what kind of creature were they?  That was her next question and it was a pretty fucking important one since it looked like she might be breeding with one tomorrow night.

“You enjoy the food?” the busy girl asked.

“Oh, yes, it’s very good.  Thank you.”

Miwsher bowed and left, happy to have pleased her new mistress.

Starla got up quickly, bringing one of the donuts with her, and looked around the room.  Or…tent.  It wasn’t exactly a typical room.  The contours were strange and it had an organic movement that didn’t seem natural for a building.  Then there was the hole in the ceiling.

Yurt.  That’s what this was.  She’d seen them in magazines.  It gave her a sense of impermanence about these vampires.  Were they nomadic?  She didn’t know.  But what she did know was that there were no communication devices anywhere.  Her cell
phone was, of course, gone, like her shoes.

She walked over and gently tugged at the handle on the door.  Locked. 
Like the cell doors, this one would not respond to her normal ability to manipulate locks.  Yes, exactly like Paris.

Dropping onto a long couch, she grabbed one of the tall glasses and sipped the burgundy drink.  It was really good and she was very thirsty.  And worried.  Because once again her life was out of her hands and someone else was in control.  Which she’d vowed would not happen again.  She just needed to learn what she was up against.

A snap announced someone else coming through the door and she turned, hoping it was the gorgeous man who’d kidnapped her.  She was planning to demand answers.  Then she remembered the girl said he would not be able to see her until the “joining.”  
Which was not
going to happen!

The woman
who came through the door reminded her of Lia.  Exotically beautiful, dressed as she once pictured Lia would be, in a flowered sari with a single flower in her black hair.  A mixed heritage was apparent.
Definitely vampire.

She walked forward with a small basket, bowed deeply, and sat the basket on a small table in front of the long couch.

“Hello, mistress.  I am Chione.  It is my duty to prepare you for the joining ceremony.”

Like everyone here so far, her soft accent was lyrical and lovely.   She was older than the little servant and vampire,
so Starla decided to interrogate her.

Sliding back to rest against
the arm of the couch with her feet up, she motioned to the other side.

“Have a seat. We’re going to chat, girl to girl.”

Chione hesitated, and sat stiffly on the end.

“No, get comfortable.  It’s going to be a
long
talk.”

Again, Chione hesitated, then pulled herself up onto the couch to bookend Starla’s position. 

“Now, let’s pretend I’m new in town.  Oh, look, I actually am.  Before this goes any further, since I was kidnapped against my will and am now imprisoned, you are going to answer my questions.  Understand me right now.  I will fight every step of the way.   They will have to kill me before I become his sex slave.”

“I am sorry.  I didn’t realize.  It is an hon
or to be with the master of our race.  To be gifted with the chance to bear children who will be one with the earth.  You are not joyous to become the mother of the children of the moon?”

Starla shook her head emphatically.

“No, hell, no!  I don’t even know the guy.”

Chione’s eyes softened.  “He is the biggest and strongest warrior of all.  Any woman would be lucky to mate with him.”

“He’s all yours then.”

Dropping her eyes, Chione spoke quietly.  “He would not have me. I am not Shoazan.”

Starla released a deep sigh.  “I don’t know what that is.  I don’t know what
he
is. 
Any of you
.  How you can
do
the things you do.  Would you fill me in?  Please?”

“I will tell you.  But I need to get you prepared for the ceremony.  May I do that first?”

“No.  I won’t comply with anything until I understand what you are.  Start telling me now.”

Chione’s eyes were serious as she captured Starla’s, then moved slightly closer.  Her scent was almost as sexy as Ahmose’s.

“We are first blood.  You are right.  We are not like you.  We are born vampire.  You were completely human once.  We never were.  You have felt the sun on your face.  We can tolerate it for moments, then it burns as it does any vampire.  All vampires who have been made since the beginning…you, the one who made you, all that come before…you all come from our blood.  You are also right that we are different from vampires who are ‘made.’  We can manipulate the world, people, other vampires, almost anything.  If we want it to be so, it usually is.  And we can birth vampire children.  But
so
rarely.  There are only a very few vampires, and even some humans, who can create a vampire child with a first blood.  They are called Shoazan.  Capable of life.  You are Shoazan.  Star, you are more special than you understand.   He has been searching and waiting centuries for a Shoazan to come to him.  He must continue our race.  Even amongst first blood vampires, one who can impregnate, or carry a child, are rare.   It is such an honor, my lovely girl, to be able to make a baby.  You would never find a more handsome man or a better lover than our master.  Please do not refuse your destiny.  Your life will be glorious here with us.”

Leaning
in close, Chione took Starla’s hand.  A light current of power moved between them.

“Your joining will be magical.  He has waited so long for you.”

“But I haven’t waited for him.  I don’t know him.  I have a life and he has no right to take me from it.  So, will you tell him I’m sorry, but I won’t join with him?  Better yet, tell him to come and face me and I’ll explain it to him.  I won’t be forced.  This is not negotiable.”

“He cannot see you…”

“Bullshit!  I’m not joining with him, so we won’t break any bridal or ‘joining’ taboos.  Get him. 
Now.
  Or I am leaving even if I have to take a few of you with me!”

“They will not let you go.”

“Then it’s going to be a bloody fight.”  Starla took Chione’s other hand and looked into her onyx eyes.

“Get him,” she said quietly.

Dark eyes searched black eyes for several seconds before Chione released Starla’s hands, stood, bowed, and walked out.

“Huh,” Starla huffed, hoping missi
on accomplished and the master would be summoned.  Until then, no reason to waste good food, so she moved back to the little table to fill a plate.

After several bites of different types of seasoned meats, she whispered aloud, “Henri, I hope you got that message.”

Minutes passed and many more, as a pacing Starla grew impatient and began to search the yurt for possible exits.  The door was controlled by these first bloods so that wouldn’t work.  But as her eyes moved around the room, she reminded herself this was a yurt, and the outside walls were probably canvas.  She could tear or break through the back of the yurt.

Just as she considered doing it, the door opened and Ahmose entered.  He took her breath away for a moment as his body and power filled the room.
  Chione was right.  This man
was
magnificent.

He looked at her and sighed.

“I hear we have a problem.”

“We do.  I told you I would fight you if you took me.”

“I told you this was our destiny and neither of us have other choices.  Chione told me she explained what we are.  I don’t understand why you are resistant to our joining.”

“I don’t know you!  I’m not moving here and having your mythological babies just because you tell me I have to.”

“This must happen.  We must breed.”

“Well, I am not going through with your marriage or joining ceremony.  I’m pretty sure that even if you can freeze me, you can’t make me say yes.”

Ahmose paced and then moved, hyper speed, grabbed Starla and brought her down on the bed beneath him. His large body and scent covered her, his hands lifted her breasts in a gentle caress.

“I can make the ceremony a moot point.  We can breed now and solve the question permanently.”  He lowered his head to her
lips, his lips nearly touched hers, then nuzzled into her neck, his tongue carving a place to bite with sensual licks.

She could barely breathe.  Starla was worried, angry, and overwhelmed by his intense presence and sexuality.  She took a few deep breaths before she could stop thinking about what his lips were doing against her throat and speak.

“You would force me?”

He stopped and pulled back, his eyes met hers.  Then he pushed away and stood up.

“No.  I am not a man who would do that.  I promise you, though, you will be a very satisfied woman.  The mother of my children would be a goddess here.  You would regret nothing.”

Starla rolled off the bed and came to within a few feet of him.   Suddenly, she knew there was nothing to fear from this man.  As big and powerful as he was, an instinct promised he would never hurt her.

“I’m sorry, Ahmose.  I understand how important this is for you.  But I do not love you. I do not
know
you.  I cannot be your mate.”

He stood stone still for several moments, almost as if someone had frozen
him
.