Deliverance (11 page)

24 BC

Another contraction ripped through her.
Iliana squatted with her legs out to the sides to try and relieve some of the pressure she felt, but nothing helped. Sweat dripped from the tip of her nose and fell to the floor. Her hair stuck to her face and neck. The baby was coming. At least she was in a safe place, for now. She’d entered a small fishing village four days ago and the healer was kind enough to offer her shelter.

She had been having contractions sporadically for the last day and a half, but they were regular now and very close together.

Petite hands brushed over her back and Iliana looked up to see the healer, Sadra. “You must come to the bed I’ve prepared for you,” she coaxed. “Your baby will be arriving shortly.”

Despite the immense pain, Iliana smiled. Sadra was kind and gentle. More importantly, the healer did not judge her when Iliana told her she’d left her husband.

Unable to stand straight, Iliana stayed slumped as she followed Sadra to a back room. It was the room the healer used to treat her patients. Another contraction hit hard and she had to hunch over before she could make it to the bed.

Sadra placed a hand under her elbow and guided her the rest of the way. Pillows were piled behind her so Iliana was propped up, her legs hanging off the edge of the bed.

“Put your feet on the bed as well,” Sadra instructed. It took effort for Iliana to comply and she had to hook her arms under her knees to get into the position the healer instructed. It was at that point that Iliana had to push or her body would push the baby out for her.

Screaming, she bore down, feeling tender skin tearing.

“That’s it,” Sadra encouraged. “It’s almost out.”

Pushing again, Iliana was startled when a wail suddenly pierced the room.

“There’s more to come,” Sadra stated. “The babe’s only halfway out.”

Bearing down one last time, she pushed as hard as she could. Suddenly, the pressure was gone. The contractions were still present, but not nearly as intense. Iliana sighed in relief and glanced at Sadra, holding a screaming, slimy baby.

Sadra smiled brightly at Iliana. “You have a beautiful little girl,” she announced. “I’ll just clean her and then you can suckle her.”

Relaxing into the pillows, Iliana felt tears spring into her eyes.
I have a daughter.
It was a wondrous thing to experience, to know that she had just given life.

After Sadra had cleaned up the baby, she handed the squalling girl to Iliana. She focused on nursing her child while Sadra sewed up the skin that had been torn during delivery. It pulled and ached, but Iliana simply felt at peace.

She began to hum a lullaby her mother had sung to her as a child. Her daughter paused in her suckling and opened her eyes.

Emerald green irises met her gaze and Iliana swallowed down a feeling of revulsion. She knew babies were all born with blue eyes and then developed their true color as they grew, but since Turney was a god, who knew what to expect. The stark reminder of who fathered this girl was staring up at her. The hair on the back of her neck stood at attention and she had to suppress the desire to abandon the child.

As soon as the trepidation came over her, Iliana fought it back. Kissing the fuzzy head of her newborn, she whispered, “I’ll love you and keep you safe all the days of my life.” As soon as she’d made the vow, Iliana once again felt at peace. She would love her daughter and raise the girl to be happy. The child would never have to know the evils of her father.

Chapter 13

“W
e’ll have to leave soon,” Rinwa stated as she clacked on the keyboard of her computer. “Even if we don’t have a trail to follow, we have to go. Samantha has probably told them everything by now.”

They were back in the safe house that Tafari had taken Leisha to. After her husband had called Rinwa, their daughter said it would take a while for her to track them down. There was a brief discussion, and Leisha agreed that they may as well drive back up to Rinwa so that the immortal could work without having to worry about traveling. The three hour drive had gone by quickly as Liam and Tafari talked the entire time.

“Samantha does not know our location,” Tafari protested as he walked in from the kitchen with a rag in hand. Though they’d eaten an hour ago, the entire cottage was infused with the scent of their meal of leftover lamb.

Brushing blond locks behind her shoulder, Rinwa swiveled around in her chair and fixed her father with a look. “She knows we’re somewhere in southern Scotland. That’s close enough for the vampires to find us.”

From her perch on the couch, Leisha nodded. “She’s right, Tafari. It would be ideal to stick around here until we’ve figured out where Samantha and Nikita are being held, but they might find us first.” Liam was sitting next to her and she stroked his hair. “We all know they can’t be the ones with the advantage.”

Her husband’s gaze landed on their son and his face softened. “Yes, you are right. We will make plans to depart at first light.”

Rinwa nodded and turned back to her computer. “I’ve been trying to hack into the traffic cameras near the wreckage where Samantha was taken. It shouldn’t be much longer before I’m in. Maybe I’ll have a direction for us by morning.”

Yawning loudly, Liam stood. The boy walked over to Rinwa and hugged her from behind. “Goodnight, sister. I’m glad to have finally met you.”

The blonde stiffened for a second before she tentatively patted the boy’s hand on her shoulder. “You, too,” she said quietly.

Leisha stood and leaned down to give Liam a hug herself. “Would you like me to tuck you in?”

Smiling, he kissed her cheek and shook his head. He walked a few steps down the hall, then turned back. “I would love to hear some more stories of your life, Tafari—Father. Would you sit on my bed and tell me some of them?”

Tafari’s chest expanded with pride. Without saying a word, he followed his son to the bedroom.

“Cute kid,” Rinwa said as she continued her work on the computer.

Pride flushed through Leisha as she sat in the chair next to Rinwa. “Yes, he’s amazing.” She looked at her daughter. “I have two incredible children, but I’m afraid I can’t take credit for their being so wonderful.”

Her daughter’s tan cheeks filled with color. “I wouldn’t say that. After all, it was my hatred for you that kept me so motivated all these years.”

Instead of taking offense, Leisha laughed. “I love you, too.” Leaning over, she pulled her daughter in for a hug. It was the first loving contact they shared since she was a toddler.

Rinwa froze, her face tight and unreadable. Slowly, her arm came around Leisha and she squeezed back.

Leisha didn’t want the moment to end, but when her daughter leaned away, she let go.

Silence filled the room and Rinwa didn’t look at Leisha as she typed on her computer.

“Is there anything I can do to help find them?” Leisha wasn’t as proficient with computers as Rinwa, but she knew enough to be of some use.

“Yeah,” Rinwa said. “Stop distracting me.”

Chuckling to herself, the vampire rose and headed in the direction of the bedrooms. She went into the one she and Tafari shared, but could still easily hear her husband talking to their son.

“I could not understand how the others did not see her beauty. She was like a goddess to me, and I felt incredibly fortunate that she returned my affection.”

A smile played across her face as warmth filled her. She remembered how wonderful it had felt to have someone love her. Her whole life in that little African village, people had thought she looked odd. And no one respected her; they thought she was a bad omen and would bring destruction upon them.

A thought occurred to Leisha then. Would they have still created vampires if she hadn’t been there? After all, she wasn’t the cause for the chaos demon being released, and she certainly had nothing to do with her father using voodoo to pull that demon into Ptah’s body, but tremors prickled along her back nonetheless. She couldn’t explain it, but it felt that, for some reason, her presence influenced the disaster. And even after two thousand years, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was somehow responsible.

“You look like you are brooding,” Tafari observed as he stood in the doorway.

Shaking off the strange emotion, Leisha smiled. “Just lost in thought. I’m fine.”

He closed the door and sat next to her on the bed. “Do you need to feed again?”

“I won’t need to for a while. Your blood sustains me much longer than mortal blood.” Glancing from the corner of her eyes, she threw him a sly look. “Unless you want to use that as foreplay again.”

Tafari’s silvery blue eyes smoldered as he leaned his face into her neck. “I would not complain.”

“Mm.” She turned her body toward his as he kissed along her jaw line. Her heart beat faster and she could feel his pounding harder as her hands roamed over his chest. “Well, it’s definitely a great way to keep up my strength.”

He pulled her over so she was straddling him. “It would be wise to keep you strong.”

Their lips met in a familiar, sensual kiss. Tafari took his time in undressing her, kissing every bit of skin he exposed.

After they were finished, holding each other in the afterglow, Leisha was surprised to realize that she was content. She was still concerned for Samantha and Nikita, not to mention the anxiety of keeping Liam safe. But with everything going on, she was somehow able to feel complete when she was secure in Tafari’s arms.

Leisha woke when their bedroom
door opened a few hours later. Their daughter stood in the doorway, her sunglasses perched on the bridge of her nose, regardless of the dark.

“I’ve got a pretty good idea where they might be,” Rinwa said, showing no guilt for barging in on them.

Tafari sat up, making the sage-colored sheet fall to reveal his broad shoulders and sculpted chest. “Where?”

“Helsinki.”

“You think they’re in Finland?” Leisha leaned up on her elbows. “How on earth could you have figured that out?”

Her daughter wasn’t able to suppress her smug smile as she explained. “I spotted them on the traffic cameras going back to the airport in Liverpool. From there, I had to tap into every security camera at the airport. I figured they’d take a private plane, so it was easy to find them in one of the private hangars. Once I knew which plane they departed on, it was simple to find out the flight plan.”

“They could have uploaded a false one,” Tafari pointed out.

Rinwa slid her glasses down to give her father a look. “Yes, I’m totally aware of that.” She pushed her sunglasses back in to place. “That’s why I hacked into the system at the airport in Helsinki and spotted them leaving that airport after the sun set. I even tracked their car to a parking garage that sits between a theater and a hotel.”

“Good work,” Leisha said as she got out of bed. Not bothering to hide her nudity, she pulled out some clothes. “Can you get us a flight to Helsinki as soon as possible? If we’re lucky, we can arrive during the day and surprise them while they’re stuck inside.”

Rinwa raised an eyebrow. “I just did all the work and now you want me to play secretary? You can book the flight while I go pack up my stuff.” Turning on the ball of her foot, her daughter left and went across the hall to her own bedroom.

Leisha chuckled. “I should have known better than to ask her to do that for me.”

Tafari’s hands slid around her waist from behind. “I think you two are getting along fairly well, considering.”

“Yes, I think so, too.” Turning in his arms, Leisha kissed her husband. It was supposed to be a simple peck, but turned into a scorching, opened mouth kiss. They reluctantly pulled away, and Leisha walked into the main room to see what flight she could find.

It turned out that no flights were available until the next day. Leisha was tempted to drive further to a different airport with flights open that same day, but once she calculated everything, she realized it would take the same amount of time.

She hoped that Annette and Victor hadn’t damaged them too badly. Leisha knew Nikita could handle it, but Samantha . . . The young woman certainly didn’t need to add any more trauma to her life.

I failed her
.
After all her efforts, Leisha still admitted to defeat. Guilt washed over her until it settled painfully in her chest.

Small, warm hands tenderly stroked her hair. “You didn’t fail her,” Liam soothed. “Samantha knows this was out of your control. She’d never even think to blame you for this.”

Reaching behind her, Leisha pulled her son into her side and rested her head on his shoulder. “I know that, Liam. But I just can’t help feeling that all these bad things are because of me somehow.”

Looking up, she noted that the boy had his lips pursed to the side in thought. Without saying anything, he went into the kitchen.