Eden's Charms (33 page)

“Eth, where are we? Kinda spooky in here.”

“You afraid of the dark, my beauty?”

“No. It’s just eerie. Isn’t there a dungeon down here somewhere?”

“A what?”

“A dungeon, Mr. Kitt. Miss St. James, I suggest you pull your panties back up and then your pants. The same for you Mr. Kitt. The owner of this establishment isn’t very fond of people having conjugal visits in his office unless he’s the one being visited.”

Savanah’s heart, she was certain beyond a reasonable doubt, stopped. She fumbled to get dressed. Ethan helped her, then dressed himself. Neither one said a word, both mortified.

“Descent yet?” The tapping of a pencil or pen on a desk could be heard.

Savanah,” Ethan whispered, “Run, baby, and don’t turn back.”

Savanah shouted, “Like hell! Not without you.”

“Neither of you are going anywhere so if you’re both dressed there are few people dying to see you.”

When the door to the room reopened Ethan shoved Savanah through it so hard she fell on her hands and knees. Not by any means what he’d intended, but with adrenaline flowing and werewolf strength, he wanted her safe.

Standing on the other side of the door a man waited. Well, not exactly one hundred percent man, more like ninety-nine percent mutant… Savanah strained to focus as the giant’s tentacle-like hands gripped her and brought her to her feet. She opened her mouth to scream yet nothing came out. Oh, how she hated when shit like this happened.

The ogre resembled a Redwood tree, solid. And yes, she decided, if he fell alone in a forest, someone would hear him. The earth would shake. Savanah’s first thought was the baseball leagues were spending way too much time worrying over their players using steroids. This thing was probably bottle-fed the life-altering drugs.

Savanah looked into his red snake eyes and could not look away. She’d never encountered anything like
it.
He appeared part reptilian. Taking in the spiked gray teeth, yeah they fit right in here. Probably venomous, as well. And getting a whiff of his breath, she gagged. The fumes, she swore smelled like a neglected cat’s litter box. Ethan yanked her back to him. Mr. Redwood followed, his hands suctioned on her.

“You’re like a fucking leach.”

“Savage? Get your filthy paws off her,” Ethan yelled over the loud music.

From behind them the strange voice ordered, “Release her, Angus. She is to be untouched…for now.”

“She’s to be untouched, period,” Ethan interjected.

“Mr. Kitt, please silence your lips or I’ll have them sewn shut. Thank you.”

“Who are you?” Savanah yelled.

“Miss St. James, follow me please. I believe your aunt would welcome your company right about now.”

Savanah turned in Ethan’s arms. “Eth?” Her eyes filled with tears.

“Come on, Jeanie, don’t do that. Blink your fears away.” Ethan kissed her forehead hard, his lips glued to her praying she could read his mind now.

Behind Ethan stood the man who found them in the office. He too had snake eyes, red. Reddish-brown dreadlocks with purple highlights fell from under a skull and cross-bone’s bandana. No shirt to speak of revealed six pack abs, biceps that put every gym junkie to shame. His jeans clung low on his hips showing off a tattoo or birthmark on his left hip.

Savanah tried getting a better peek at the tattoo, but the man saw her and with a subtle change in his stance made the tattoo disappear.

“Done devouring your eye candy, Miss St. James?”

“I am so on a diet! Besides, I’ve got my breakfast, lunch and dinner right in front of me.” Savanah ran her hands purposefully down Ethan’s body.

“Well then, he’s going to be busy, because I do believe he’s already on someone else’s menu. You’ll get left-overs, although I doubt there will be any other than gristle.”

Done with this line of BS, Savanah called her powers and unleashed them on the man with a vengeance. A brilliant white heat pulsated from her eyes and slammed the half-naked man in the face.

He stumbled back off balance. After a deep breath he snarled. “You pack a rather good wallop. You’re good, but it won’t work on me. Or Angus. That’s what the contacts are all about. Save it for someone else.”

Instincts taking over and years’ worth of self-defense classes, Savanah kicked her leg back behind her, the heel of her spiked shoe sinking through his pants into his flesh and popping Angus’ private jewels. The sound twisted her stomach into a nasty knot.

Having become all-too familiar with the look on his fiancé’s face before she vomited, Ethan stepped back.

Gone was her lunch as it covered the Red Oak. She didn’t apologize. Savanah tugged to get her heel out of Angus’ loins. “Embedded, Eth!
EWH
!!!” After two tries her foot came out of her shoe. Ethan reached around Savanah and ripped the shoe from the man’s crotch, and handed it back to her. Shaking her head frantically, she prattled, “This is why I wear freakin’ flip-flops.”

It was as if having a three-inch spike driven into his genitals never phased him. Angus’ wide grin displayed his gray, pointy, cusps.

The man calling all the shots casually explained, “Mutant.”

“Oh, no kidding!” Savanah answered, tone dripping sarcasm.

“As I was saying before I was interrupted yet again, Miss St. James, these men were designed without the need for extra baggage for just the reason you tried. He neither needs nor wants sex nor does he need to defecate or urinate in the same fashion humans do.”

Although she thought she had a pretty damned good idea she knew the answer—Angus’ breath being a direct giveaway, she said “Do tell.”

“He eats like humans. Everything moves through his digestive tract and then it’s rerouted back up the same way it went down.”

“He pukes shit?” Ethan’s grimace gave away his disgust.

The man gave a nod yes and then hastily nudged both Savanah and Ethan toward the stairs, but instead of going up, they headed down two flights. “He isn’t a vampire. His bite is designed like a cobras. He injects a poison into his victims.”

André, get out to Sinsations on the lake. Now. Bring help.

Papa? We’re in trouble. Help!

I’m on my way, baby. Talk to me. Let me know what’s happening
.

*
***

André was up and moving to find Duncan and Kyle. He’d known in the back of his mind this would happen. He knew—hands down—this day would come. Ethan was his catch twenty-two. His daughter’s destiny came with baggage. Bad baggage.

Jovan followed on her husband’s heels. “André, have you tried to contact Lucian? Tell him to abandon their ridiculous notions of splitting the two little spawns from hell apart.” Jovan gave André a vehement glare, mad at the world for her daughter being placed in danger. Just as she went to reach for his shoulder an unwelcome pain penetrated her abdomen like a knife only sharper. Jovan grabbed her belly and doubled over.

André had her in his arms and on the couch before she knew what happened to her.

“What is it?” he asked, worry mapped across his face.

“I don’t know, but it hurts like a mother f… Please get Savanah safely home to me.”

André ran and grabbed a glass of cool water for her.

Lucian? You out there? Serina? Jonah? Grimmy? Come on guys. We need help. Now!
André waited for a reply from Lucian and as he did, the sinking feeling he had in his heart smashed on the rock bottom abyss. For the first time in one hundred plus years he couldn’t reach his brother through their mental channels.

Savanah? Raven? Ethan? Anyone?

Papa, What’s going on? Some people are taking Ethan and I to what appears to be the dungeon in this place. Ya know what? It’s looking pretty damn authentic from my point of view.

Savvy, for whatever reason, I can’t reach your uncles or Serina. I’m beginning to fear the worst. You need to keep your temper intact. I know if you get upset, trouble follows.

Papa—already in trouble. Can’t use the flash of light. Angus has contacts and so does bandana man.

What? Who?

Just get here before anything really bad happens.

Baby, I think the really bad thing all ready did. Your mother’s getting sharp abdominal pains. I think she’s experiencing premature labor.

Forget me and Ethan. Get her to the hospital. Now, Papa! You two have waited an eternity for these babies.

And, my sweet child, I’ve spent the best years of my life loving you. I’ll not abandon you. Not now. Not ever.

André’s heart fragmented. Torn between helping his daughter and his pregnant wife, if he helped his wife did he condemn his daughter and possibly risk her life? If he left Jovan was he putting her and their babies’ health at risk? Praying for the first time since his change of life, he asked for guidance and strength.

Savanah, I love you. I will make it to the restaurant.

Savanah’s head throbbed. Nothing he said made sense. He sounded like a radio that’s tuner dial got stuck between stations.
Papa?
Panic welled. “Papa!”

Ethan shoved Savanah behind him and threw one punch into the giant’s nose and crushed his fist upwards. The mutant’s ethmoid bone crumbled easier than breadcrumbs. Angus staggered. The mutant went face first down like a ton of bricks. Triumphant, Ethan turned toward Savanah only to see bandana man with a knife to her throat.

“Impressive paws, Mr. Kitty. Guess that’s one design flaw we overlooked. Thank you for pointing it out. Now as I said, proceed down the stairs or this will be your last good-bye. Miss St. James, screaming will do you no good. Your mind-to-mind channels have been disconnected. Granted it takes a few minutes to figure out the frequencies your family uses, but your signal has been dropped.”

Mum? Are you all right? Please answer me!
Savanah tried one last time to reach out to her family with no luck. Emotional overload, she passed out.

Ethan lunged after Savanah before she hit the ground. “Do you have a name?” Ethan yelled.

“Devon.”

“Devon, before my fiancé and I leave this unholy place you won’t be breathing.”

“Pick up your wench and move.”

With Savanah limp in his arms, anger blurred his vision. All of this happened due to his poor judgment. Had he not shown up on her doorstep attempting the unthinkable, kidnapping a child, she’d be safely at home with loving parents and family. Never mind mentioning Xier and his involvement in Ethan’s life.

“Devon, who wants us?”

“Take care of your wench.” Devon walked into a room not much bigger than a pantry and showed Ethan a cot. With the snap of his fingers, a teenage girl in very snug jeans sauntered in.

“Dylan, get some water and rags for Miss St. James.”

“Why? He’s only gonna kill her. I don’t get what the big fuss is all about. And she’s not as pretty as everyone keeps saying.” Dylan twirled her lilac/lavender hair around her finger, and smacked her lips together on a wad of raw beef.

Devon gave a fallacious grin to the girl with cotton-candy hair. With a crooked finger he called the girl to him.

Ethan cringed.
Seen that look a thousand times on the Maestro, and it’s never good.

Ethan stepped back.

Dylan smiled as Devon approached her. He gently brushed the hairs from her neck and inhaled sharply.

Before Ethan’s eyes, Devon’s jaw elongated into something Ethan couldn’t take his eyes off. Quentin Tarantino would’ve killed for the special effects for his movie,
From Dusk Till Dawn
. Devon’s skin became a transparent-blue road map of veins. His fangs lengthened a good two inches before they stopped sprouting and with no warning and unfathomable speed, those fangs disappeared into Dylan’s neck. Ethan watched his reptilian eyes shrink to slits as he sucked her dry. Her body convulsed in his arms until it didn’t. When he finished he dropped her to the floor and kicked her aside.

“Get Miss St. James up and ready, Mr. Kitt.” Devon exited the room, the door behind him locked.

“Pippy? Wake up. Baby, we got us a dead girl in the room. We need to find an escape hatch to get us outta here. Maybe we, all right you, can torch the place, set off the alarms and get the fire department here. Sweet cheeks, wake up.” Ethan shook her limp body.

“And just maybe we’ll all die down here, Ethan.”

Ethan looked around the room. No one. He looked at the dead girl. “Did you say that? Please say no!”

“No, Ethan. I’m one cell over.”

“Aunt Raven?” Ethan’s voice squeaked.

“Yes.
Aunt?
Kid you got brass kahunas
.”

“What happened?”

“It’s a long story with a bad ending, Ethan. I am a giant ass. I’ve lost the two men in my life and now I’ve placed my family in jeopardy as well. How is Savanah? He hasn’t touched her has he?”

“She’s out cold. Raven, have you been able to reach any of your family?”

“No.”

“Who’s behind this madness?”

“I made it this far when I came to see Donovan this morning. My big plan backfired.”

“What big plan?”

“I wanted him out of my life so I tried to stake him mid orgasm.”

“Whoa! Where is he?”

“Below, in the freezer, healing.”

Ethan closed his eyes trying to shake the thought when Savanah’s hand flailed through the air into his cheek. The pain was instant.

Savanah looked up dazed. “Eth? You okay? What happened? Who hit you?”

“I’m fine,” he said as he rubbed his face. “Babe, Raven’s in the next cell.”

“Cell?” Savanah spun around taking in the tiny, windowless room they were locked in. “Do I want to know?” she asked pointing at the dead girl on the floor.

Ethan shook his head no.

“Auntie Ray?”

Raven whispered through the metal bars in her door, “Peanut, listen, in a few minutes this guy’s going to be back. When he does between the three of us we should be able to take him.”

“One can only pray,” Savanah answered.

****

With a body-curling screech, the doors opened and barrels of guns protruded into the cells. “Out,” one deep raspy voice ordered. Three men pushed and prodded Ethan, Savanah and Raven down two more sets of stairs. Coming off the bottom step, the first guard jammed Ethan hard in his flanks with the butt of his rifle, forcing him off balance and into yet another room.