Immortal Heat (The Guardians of Dacia Book 1) (25 page)

"What is it you wish me to do?" Perhaps she could soothe his anger by placating his wishes.

"Send one of your wolves to fetch Marilyn Reddlin from Aiden's domicile before it's too late for her."

"As you wish, my lord." She bowed her old head. He may not have the power of the gods, but Rick Delvante had more power than she did right now. She didn't want him to use it on her. Now would not be good…too much to do and so little time.

Chapter Sixteen

Draylon wasn't letting Kurren go into Vamier's compound alone. Marilyn was his responsibility and already he'd let Rick down by losing her—twice. He met Ren on the outskirts of the Hoia Forest, ready to take on Aiden to get to Marilyn.

"How did Rick sound?" Draylon asked the wolf pup as they made their way to the border of Vamier's property.

"I don't know. He went to Nonni for help. She only told me that this was a 'do not fail' order."

"Rick went to Nonni?"

Shit. That didn't sound good at all. Rick and Nonni had an understanding. Centuries ago Rick had wanted the woman killed for what she did to the Dacians. But Zamolxis was merciful. Nonni was spared along with her unborn child, but she was banished from Dacia. Rick still thought to this day that it was she who led the Roman Empire into Dacia as her way of getting even for being forced out of her homeland. Why Nonni had come back, no one knew. All she'd say was, "it is the will of the gods."

Just one more reason Marilyn Reddlin might be more than Rick let on. He wouldn't go to all this trouble, especially calling on Nonni, for anyone—not even him.

"Yep." Ren held up his hands. "Hey, don't look at me. I wasn't there. Though it would have been interesting to see. You think those two were lovers at one time?"

"No. They definitely were not lovers."

"What do you know about her? You were around back then."

"I was unconscious from my injuries during the Zmei massacre. All I was told was she'd been a young pregnant woman seeking shelter from an abusive relationship."

"And?"

"There's more to it, I'm sure, but all I know is Rick banished her from Dacia for doing something evil."

"Well, she is a witch. But I can't see Rick having an issue with witchcraft—unless she tried to usurp power from him and the gods."

Draylon shrugged. "I don't know. And Rick isn't saying. I can tell you this, never ask. You'll regret it."

"Good to know."

They made their way to a good starting point, checking out their game plan. "I've never had to infiltrate Vamier's actual home. This may be tricky," Draylon whispered.

"Where do we start?"

"Damned if I know." He thought about his situation for a few minutes. Could he get a mental picture of where Marilyn might be? Trying to connect with her, he came up empty. She wasn't receptive right now. Double damn.

"I want you to go in through the side entrance. I'm heading around back. If you get to Marilyn before me, get her the hell out of there. I don't care how, just do it."

"What about you? Where do you want to meet?"

"We'll meet back here in say an hour and a half. Wait for me no more than ten minutes if you can. If not just book it back to Dacia, to Rick's place."

"You want me to take her there? But…"

"I don't care. I'll deal with the legality of the issues later. Right now, that will be the safest place for her, away from Vamier."

#

Three days later Marilyn still hadn't heard anything about her mother's whereabouts. It was disheartening to say the least. Each night she'd ask Aiden, as she was told to call him, and he'd sadly tell her he still hadn't received any word from his connections.

In the meantime, he'd been nothing but kind to her. It was difficult to believe that this man could be the enemy Draylon had warned her about. They'd spent their nights discussing ancient Dacian lore and history but instead of the Zmei being benevolent beings helping them in battle, they'd been deceiving, hideous beasts bent on stealing the Dacians' women, destroying their lands and only seeking more power to take over Dacia. He painted quite the ugly picture of them, and Marilyn had doubts about what she'd been taught in the past. History, unfortunately was based on varying perceptions.

Taking tea with Aiden as they discussed, he'd given her free reign to question everything. "No offense, but I'd been under the impression that you were the one to overthrow the Zmei by destroying them because you were in love with the maiden who'd been promised to them."

Aiden snorted. "We were to have been married and the damn beast turned into flame, snuck into her bedchambers, seduced her and carried her away with him to his lair. If that is being promised then I had other ideas of what that meant." He put down his delicate china cup. "No, it had been a hideous plan of attack. Sariana was kidnapped and raped by those bastards. I gathered my closest allies, and we attacked the Zmei cavern to rescue her. We were met with opposition, but we fought gallantly, slaughtering every one of them. We made sure that no other woman would be used for their purpose, ever again."

"All except the one…right?"

"I beg your pardon? What do you mean, 'all except one'?"

Had she let an unknown secret out of the bag? She swallowed her tea and tried to play it off. "I'd heard rumors that one survived, nursed back to health by Zamolxis and a young prophet."

Aiden's blue eyes narrowed into slits, his angular jaw forming more ridges. "And where did you read this?"

"I…um…I'm not sure where I read it. Perhaps in one of the books I picked up on-line on the religions of Eastern Europe or something."

He templed his fingers under his chin. "Fascinating. I thought I'd read every book there was on our history. Or written them," he teased. "You'll have to find this book. I'd love to read more on this theory."

The studious curiosity in his eyes and face had Marilyn sweating and edgy. Had she revealed too much? Had he not known? Was the last Zmeu a secret from his world?

"So tell me, Marilyn, what was it about our history that intrigued you enough to want to make it your major thesis?"

"I suppose my father. He immigrated to the United States from Romania when he was in his early twenties. He was an archeologist and collector of rare Dacian antiquities. His love for the history and pre-history of his country seeped into the fascinating papers he wrote. I started reading them when I was sixteen."

"Hmmm. What was your father's name, I may have worked with him on some projects."

"Richard Reddlin." Marilyn took a sip of her tea. "He died before I was born. Or at least that is what the reports said. The last report was he went on an expedition into the Hoia Forest. So truthfully, I don't know."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Aiden paused. "Richard Reddlin…Richard Reddlin…no, the name doesn't sound familiar, and I thought I knew every scholar on our history. After all, I am the Director of Romanian History."

Marilyn smiled uneasily. She felt like an idiot. He didn't know her father? But her father had been such a well-known Dacian historian. That is what he'd done on his trips to Romania—work on sites and lecture about the past…surely Aiden would've heard of him?

Gerlich came in, silently motioning to Aiden.

"Excuse me, Marilyn, but something has just come up. Would you give me a moment?" He rose from his chair and followed Gerlich out of the study, leaving her alone to her own thoughts. Nothing made sense anymore. Self-consciously she touched the medallion she wore just under her blouse. That was real. It had to be. It was the only
real
thing she had of her father's memory, if it was from him. She questioned that now, too.

The side door burst open and she gave a startled gasp. A dark-haired, six foot something man stood there. He looked familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on where they'd met.

"Thank God you are okay." He gasped. "Come on, I need to get you out of here, now!"

"Who are you? What are you talking about?"

"I'm Kurren. We met at Nonni's a few weeks ago…we don't have much time, come on."

She shook her head. "I'm not going anywhere with you…"

"We have your mother. She's safe with my brother Therron," he explained. "Draylon and I were sent to rescue you. This is a dangerous place for you." He glanced around. "I don't have all day to discuss this. Just come on."

"You have my mother? She's safe?"

Kurren nodded briskly.

"Where's Draylon?"

He looked at his watch. "We are to meet him at a rendezvous point in ten minutes. But we need to hurry before Aiden comes back."

Unsure what to do, Marilyn nibbled her lip. Okay, she'd go, but only because she was to meet up with Draylon. She didn't know this guy, even though he seemed familiar.

She followed Kurren out through a side hallway made of rock that appeared to meander through the ancient mansion like a labyrinth maze. As they moved they came upon various dead end walls.

"Did you not leave a trail of bread crumbs or a spool of thread behind you on your way in?"

"Didn't think about it at the time. It took me long enough to find you as it was."

They finally made their way into a larger more modern hallway. "This way." He pulled her along.

Their escape route was cut short as a pack of blond, anorexic looking groupies stepped into their path.

"Shit," Kurren said under his breath as he flipped his arm and shot a nasty looking blade out of the sleeve of his jacket. "Stay behind me."

The first attacked in a flying leap with fangs bared and razor sharp claws emerging from the fingers. Kurren managed to slice its head off.

Marilyn placed a hand to her mouth to keep from gagging at the site and smell before the decapitated head and body turned to ash before their eyes.

One down, a dozen more to go. They were definitely out numbered, and she had nothing on her. Two more went at Kurren and one came at her. With nothing to fight with, she held out her hand. When her assailant's chest came in contact with her palm, the creature turned to dust within seconds.

Shocked, Marilyn wasn't sure what happened. So when another pounced to take its buddy's place and the same thing happened, she knew it had to be something she did. Kurren noticed her ability and gave her an odd stare as another attacked him. He casually sliced its throat, too.

When they had a clear path littered with piles of ashy remains, he pulled her onward. Still coming to terms with what she could do, she tried to speak, but her conversation was interrupted by another band of the blond brotherhood. Again, they managed to defeat them within moments and moved on.

"What the hell is with you?" Kurren gasped as they headed for the main entry foyer.

"I don't know. I was going to ask you."

"And you think I would know anything? I'm like a mushroom, kept in the dark and fed shit."

Another group of Vamier's friends met them at the door, blocking their path. Looking at each other they nodded. They had this down now.

"I've got this," Marilyn said with a cocky nod of her head.

As each one came at her they disintegrated on cue. All except one. He towered over her, an equal to Kurren in height, but scrawnier in build. He laughed, baring those hideous snaggle toothed fangs. She tried touching him again, and he only pushed her backwards as her hand remained in the center of his chest.

"Kurren…I don't think it's going to work on Giganto here."

Kurren was a step ahead of her and removed the giant vampire's head with one swift motion.

"You could have done that to start with," Marilyn grouched.

He shrugged. "You said you had this. You were doing fine."

"Come on. Let's get out of here and go meet up with Draylon."

Luckily, they didn't encounter anymore of Aiden's friends and family as they made their way to the wooded outskirts of Vamier's fortress.

Crouching down out of sight of possible cameras or sensors, they waited for Draylon to meet up with them.

"What time did he say he'd be here?"

"Five minutes ago. We gave ourselves an extra ten minutes just in case we encountered difficulties."

They waited in silence as the minute hand ticked by. There was no sound, no movement in the rustling of the shrubs and scrub trees around them.

"How many minutes now?" Marilyn asked.

Kurren sighed. "He should've been here by now." He looked around. "We need to go."

"No." She seethed. "We'll wait a few more minutes."

"Draylon said…"

"I don't care. I say we stay just a few more." She narrowed her eyes on Kurren and tried to relax. "Please…just a few more minutes."

Kurren studied her for a moment. "Okay. But only a few. It's not going to take long for Aiden to figure out you're missing and have every one of his fiends out here combing these woods."

They waited, and waited. Where the hell was Draylon? Was he okay? Had he gotten captured? Was he still looking for her?

The sound of alarms and commands being yelled into the night broke out.