Midnight's Jewel (Siren Publishing Classic) (15 page)

It came back to her. Brandon and Hadrian were gone. Gone? No, taken. Panic flooded her system. The adrenaline pushed back all the pain. When she tried to get up from the floor, she fell, crashing into the coffee table. That was not right. She had been on the floor. How did she end up on the half-destroyed sofa?

“Whoa, there, missy! You’re going to hurt yourself. It’s a good thing you heal quickly. You might have needed to go to the hospital for a few days otherwise,” Farrell chided.

“Farrell? What are you doing here? Where is everyone? What time is it?” She shook her head. The remainder of the fuzzy confusion was shifting away.

“I’m not supposed to tell you anything. Eleanor said to keep you here and keep you safe. That is one scary woman. I don’t want to be crossing her any time soon,” he said. There was a broom and dust pan in his hands. He had been cleaning up Brandon’s ransacked apartment.

“Who are you more afraid of, Farrell? Eleanor or Hadrian?” It felt wrong to play the ‘guess who my daddy is’ card, but she wanted answers.

“Hadrian. Eleanor would just kill me. He would make me wish I were permanently dead. Why?” He started taking on the nervous appearance he had around Brandon. Emphasizing this, he took a step back toward the kitchen door.

“Hadrian is my father. Brandon is my lover. My grandmother is Diana, Queen of the Night. You will tell me what I want to know,” she said lowering her voice to a deadly rasp, implying there was an unspoken “or else.” She played it up by dropping her stance into a more offensive posture. The little man gasped and dropped his work utensils.

“Okay, okay! Eleanor went to the bathroom mirror, said some words in a freaky voice in a language I’ve never heard, and the whole thing turned black with swirling mist. She talked to somebody on the other side. She said something about reforming somebody and meeting them at a park in town. I don’t know what getting someone out of prison has got to do with anything. Then she called Camilla to say Brandon had been taken. Camilla came over, Eleanor promised to do something for her or take something from her, and they left. She made me promise to keep you here. That’s all I know. I swear!” Farrell was nearly in a twitch by the time he finished. He backed into the wall behind him and stood as if waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“How do you know this? You don’t live here.” Sabrina had to make a serious effort to keep up the persona.

“I was in the closet. After Hadrian and Brandon started settling down for the day, I came back to hide in the closet. No one in their right mind would ever attack those two, right? We’ve got some of the best security around. It was weird. When I woke up, everyone was gone. No house cleaning staff, no guards, no valet, no nothing. The whole building seems to be empty, except the sleeping vamps, and they didn’t all wake up at sunset like usual. I felt compelled to leave myself, but I was afraid to go out the door,” he replied. He sat staring at her, his fangs showing as he spoke. “I don’t know how Eleanor knew where Camilla was. Eleanor just closed her eyes and called her name. I still can’t believe Camilla agreed to go with her.”

“Eleanor has an affinity with wolves. It seems to work on werewolves, as well. She wouldn’t call Camilla with promising her a reward. It’s a balance thing. What did Eleanor say to you? How did she leave?”

“She said you were in danger as long as you lived and muttered something about this having to end tonight. She took your necklace and went to the circle of crystals on the balcony. Camilla went with her. They started to glow when she started chanting. Then they were just gone. Poof! Both of them!” He did a flourish with his hands like a magician doing a trick. Dropping his hands to the table, he asked, “You think somebody put some magic on this place to make everybody leave? Is that why we’re alone?”

“It is possible. It wasn’t warded when we arrived, and no one knew we were coming. That would mean a witch helped them get to Brandon and Hadrian. What time is it?”

“It’s eleven thirty. Please don’t tell me you’re going to go sticking your neck out. If Eleanor doesn’t kill me, Brandon or Hadrian will,” Farrell pleaded.

“Somebody here had to have helped kidnap them. They could come back or tattle that I’m not with Eleanor. Without the necklace, I’m vulnerable to being summoned. I’m not about to let you or anyone else keep me away. This is my life, damn it! And I’m tired of everyone else living it for me!” Frustration bubbled to the forefront. It boiled into anger and threatened to overflow. The replacement lightbulbs on the patio began popping; shattered glass flew in every direction. At least this time she was not out there to be cut.

Farrell watched as the bulbs blew. His edgy twitch turned to real fear. The lights inside the apartment began to flicker. She was getting angrier. She was not some china doll to be kept on a shelf.

“All right, I’ll go with you to Stone Mountain Park. That’s where the trade is supposed to go down, Brandon and Hadrian for Midnight’s Jewel. There is a theme park on one side. The back side of the park is just wilderness. That’s where they’ll be.” He sighed. Resignation to his fate was written all over his face. Someone was going to be mad at him no matter what. The only question seemed to be who was going to be the lesser of the evils. She guessed that, even though he was most afraid of Hadrian, his emperor was in need of rescue and had given up resisting her. She felt pity for him. He really was in a no-win situation.“Is there somewhere nearby we can go? Somewhere out of sight?” Without knowing Eleanor’s plan, Sabrina did not want to materialize in the middle of a fight in progress.

“Yeah, there’s a Ranger Station not far from where I heard Eleanor telling Camilla to be hidden. Nobody will be picnicking this time of night. The noise from the theme park covers up most other sounds. There’s not enough time to drive. You planning on some hocus pocus?”

“Give me your hands, Farrell,” Sabrina requested in what she hoped was a soothing manner. She offered him both of her hands. He took them cautiously. “Close your eyes and think about where we need to go.” She was amazed at how calm she was. This was a first for her. She was not sure how it would work or if it would.

“Is it going to hurt?” There was a tiny tremble to his voice. She felt sorry for him. He was like a dog that had been beaten often and must have suffered greatly at someone’s hand in the past. She had a hard time believing Brandon did this. He had a frightening side, yes, but there was a sense of honor and fairness about him.

“I don’t think so. You might feel dizzy when we move from one place to another, but don’t let go. Take a deep breath. Try to relax. Now, think of where we should be,” she whispered. She closed her eyes once she was sure he had.

Instead of picturing a place in her mind, she wished to follow Farrell’s thought. Warmth spread down her hands and into the vampire. He must have noticed. He gasped and released the tension on her hands. Sabrina gripped him tighter to prevent him from letting go. The world began to spin in a dizzying spiral. Farrell said something Sabrina could not make out. She was focusing her energy on the place she wanted to go, a ranger station outside the picnic area on the wilderness side of Stone Mountain Park. The ground gave way for a brief moment before returning.

Once the spinning stopped, she opened her eyes to a dark wooden shack. It took a minute or so to adjust to the dimly lit room. A security light in the deserted parking area outside was all the light the little shack had. She could make out Farrell’s face. His eyes were wide open and as round as saucers. He was biting his lower lip. There were puncture wounds where his fangs had dug into the meaty flesh. He was genuinely scared. It made Sabrina snigger. Who had ever heard of a fraidy-cat vampire? She stifled the snigger before it could turn into a braying laugh.

A black SUV with heavily tinted windows pulled into the parking area beside the shack. Sabrina tugged on Farrell’s sleeve to signal he should get down. The headlights flooded the room. Had they remained standing, they would have been seen.

They heard the truck doors open. Three men were talking, giving orders to one another. Two large thumps hit the ground. Scuffling ensued. Sabrina assumed this was Brandon and Hadrian being delivered. The urge to rush out and save them was strong. Knowing Eleanor was already at work was the only thing that prevented her from acting on the urge.

Confident, efficient Eleanor did things her own way. She could always be counted on to have a plan. Seldom did she do things for no reason. She may not have explained the reason, but it was there. Deep down, Sabrina knew Eleanor was somewhere out there in the dark, waiting to spring her plan. She also knew Eleanor had planned for her to be safely stowed away in a high-rise apartment somewhere in uptown Atlanta.

“Get up, you fucking blood sucker,” a nasally voice ordered. “We ain’t got all night.” The sound of a body being kicked was followed by a man screaming. “He’s biting me! He’s got teeth in me!” A deep, primal growl was interrupted by intermittent body blows. Sabrina knew they were making an effort to dislodge the hungry vampire from his meal.

A haunting howl rented the air. Sabrina dared to lift up just enough to glance out of the window. On the edge of the circle of light was a large gray-and-white wolf. It lifted its head and gave another ear-piercing howl. The men helping to remove Brandon from the third man’s leg stopped. They cut Hadrian free from Brandon’s back. He was still bound, as was Brandon. They lifted him by the ropes and dragged him in the opposite direction.

Instead of chasing Hadrian’s captures, the wolf charged the downed man. It rolled him away from Brandon, taking a large chunk out of his calf below his shorts leg. With no hands to hold on to his meal, Brandon had clamped down with all his might. He was left with a mouthful of bloody flesh. The wolf was about to tear the man’s throat out when Brandon emerged from his hunger induced bloodlust.

“Camilla! No! We need to question him!” he shouted at her. He was struggling helplessly against the silver bindings.

The wolf removed her snarling jaw from the man’s neck, sat down on his chest, and started to change. The air around her became a haze of energy. All the fur receded and the bones moved effortlessly back into the shape of a naked human woman. Where a wolf had once been now sat Camilla. She reared back and head butted the stunned man.

“Camilla! I need him to be able to answer me. He can’t do that if you knock him out cold,” Brandon reprimanded. “I could use some help here.”

“If I get up, he will try to run,” she said in a cold voice and kept staring down at the man with her head cocked sideways. It reminded Sabrina of a puppy looking at something curious. Only this puppy was vicious and very dangerous.

“Well, damn. How the hell is this going to work?” Brandon asked.

Sabrina stood up. Wordlessly, she lifted a finger toward Brandon through the window and concentrated on removing the silver bindings. They unraveled and fell away. The cuffs made a clicking sound as they opened. Brandon pulled his hands free, rubbing his wrists. He looked around for the source of his freedom. She knew the moment he found her. Their eyes met and heat flashed across her skin. Nothing else in the world mattered for a brief few seconds.

Camilla’s growl intruded on the moment. She was glancing back and forth between Brandon and Sabrina. “I should have let you rot! I’ve loved you and you never loved me back, you bastard!” she screeched at Brandon. She took a pawed swipe at the man on the ground, removing half his face. The air around her rippled with heat and energy as she shifted back into the gray and white wolf. She took two loping strides and bounded over Brandon’s head. Another few strides and she disappeared back into the pitch of night.

Sabrina rushed out of the shack and into Brandon’s arms. He squeezed her tight against him, kissing her deeply. A throat cleared from the direction of the shack.

“Is is safe to come out now?” Farrell asked.

“Yes, Farrell, you can come out now,” Brandon answered. He did not let Sabrina go. She laid her head against his chest, but there was no heartbeat to be heard.

“So, boss, what do we do now? That guy can’t tell us anything. She took out most of his jaw. He’ll bleed out in no time. We have to do something. They’ve got Hadrian,” the timid man said with more confidence. Sabrina noticed his faith in Brandon was similar to hers in Eleanor.

“Eleanor already has a plan in motion. She won’t be expecting us. We could seriously screw up whatever she has going,” Sabrina warned.

“Camilla was stationed here for a reason. It would have been nice if she had shared the plan. We’ll just have to watch and wait for the right time to strike,” Brandon said. Brandon looked in the direction of the two fleeing men and the kidnapped Hadrian. “We save the emperor. No matter what happens, they plan to kill him.”

Brandon inhaled deeply and pointed. “They went that way,” he said, following their scent. “In the old cemetery there were three men and a woman. The mold was so bad, I couldn’t figure out who she was. Her voice was high and squeaky. She wasn’t in the van. So, we have an unaccounted-for problem.”

The laid trail was wide and flat. It was easy to follow. The two men left drag marks where they had pulled a silver-bound Hadrian between them. The marks and their scent left the trail before reaching the first covered picnic area. Brandon led Sabrina and Farrell into the thick underbrush. Nearly a quarter mile in, the trio found the edge of a clearing. Brandon held his hand up, stopping the other two.

“Stay quiet,” he whispered. “Eleanor is on the other side, but I don’t think she has seen us. If we are lucky, no one else knows we are here.” His words were so soft, Sabrina was not sure she actually heard them. Farrell nodded. She was positive he had had no trouble understanding.