Passion For Hire (Passion #5) (22 page)

I was finally aware that I wasn’t moving any more and I fought to open my eyes. I was still on the beach as there was sand under me but there were patches of some kind of long grass around me. Vaguely it registered that Nadine had found an area where I probably wouldn’t be noticed too quickly. That knowledge scared the hell out of me but before I could even consider trying to move from where I lay, the darkness rushed up and pulled me under and everything went black. Before I could cry out, beg her to reconsider, anything, I was sucked down into nothing.

Adrian

Adrian was getting restless. The discussions with Lucas and Katherine had gone on for what felt like ages. She was delighted with Fabian’s proposal and that he’d found her a perfect place to spend the rest of her days. Katherine was suffering from stage four lung cancer, a cruel irony given she’d never smoked. She’d ignored the symptoms when it first began, due to work commitments, all at the time when she might have been able to receive treatment. She’d raised Lucas alone since his father had run out on them years ago and no one knew where he was.

After listening to the conversation for a while, he was finally allowing himself to accept what everyone had been trying to tell him. That if he hadn’t come into their lives, they would still be struggling in their tiny apartment. It had been dank, mouldy and cold. Because he had turned Lucas and brought them both to live in the house he’d purchased, it had improved both their lives. They were in a warm, comfortable home, no concerns or pressures, no mould and with all the medication provided to keep Katherine as healthy as possible. She had a few other health issues as well as the lung cancer, and had made it clear she had no desire for surgery or any attempts made to save her. She just wanted to live out the rest of her time as comfortably as possible and the lifestyle Adrian had given her had already given her longer than the doctor’s original prognosis.

It eased his guilt a little, but he still felt responsible for having kept her and Lucas like prisoners in his home for two years. Now his father was going to give her the lifestyle she deserved, to see out the rest of her life.

Adrian wondered how much the villa had cost him and he knew he would have to pay his father back. He couldn’t allow him to finance the clean-up of his mistake. From what Fabian had told Katherine, it couldn’t be cheap. The villa was two bedrooms, set up for people in wheelchairs and fully furnished. Medical assistance was merely the push of a button away. There were fifty other residents in the surrounding villas which made up a kind of isolated community of men and women. Not everyone there was terminal, but they were generally people who required full time medical care or regular care. The complex had its own medical staff and a small private hospital within it too. From what his father had said Katherine would have everything her heart desired to keep her happy and comfortable for however much longer she lived.

It seemed a little extreme to have bought the villa but they weren’t available for rent, and given they were exclusive; there was already a waiting list of people wanting in. Fabian had jumped the queue with a mix of mind control and money. Money talked after all and he had offered enough apparently to get the villa for Katherine. The speed with which his father had achieved all this amazed Adrian but then Fabian was authoritative, commanding and when he wanted to be, incredibly charming. He would have used his power, charm, mind control and the natural attraction humans had to vampires to get what he wanted. Of course people didn’t know they were vampire, but with the exaggerated good looks, the appealing scent, and ability to mind control, it was easy for them to get what they wanted, and to make humans do their bidding.

Of course the mind control didn’t work on anyone who wasn’t human. If they were part human or humans with special skills, they couldn’t be controlled. His mother Sirene was a witch and Adrian wondered if his father would have fallen in love with her had he been able to control her. He used to treat women badly from what he’d heard. He’d mind control them, fuck them and then leave. He had women on tap who had no memory of him ever been there. Mind control hadn’t worked on Sirene and she’d slowly not only driven him crazy, but she’d worked her way into his cold, dark heart. Everyone said she’d been the best thing to happen to Fabian because it had softened him, made him kinder, a little gentler.

Of course Flame hadn’t been able to be controlled either with her telekinesis and Faith was another one who had an ability that was a control blocker for vampires.

At the thought of her Adrian frowned. Where was Faith? He’d been back inside a while and he’d thought she’d have joined them again by now. Quietly excusing himself, he walked outside and down into the garden to look for her. He half expected to find her sulking on the park bench still, because he hadn’t fallen into her arms declaring his undying love, as he felt she constantly hoped he would. He didn’t love her; she was wasting her time waiting for him to tell her he did. Nadine’s face flashed into his mind, when she’d told him he did love Faith. She’d been so adamant about it, so shocked and after confessing her feelings to him too, she’d been so hurt when he had reacted by panicking.

Nadine was wrong, he didn’t love Faith. He didn’t love anyone other than his parents. He didn’t want others to love him. He didn’t consider himself worthy of owning anyone’s heart.

He dragged his thoughts back to the present and resumed his search for Faith, but he couldn’t see her anywhere. Despite having no real reason to be concerned at this point, he wondered where the hell she could be. She hadn’t come inside again, he was sure of that. He would have known if she had. Could she have left the property? He felt a stab of guilt for how he’d treated her earlier. Much as he fought it, she turned him on. That fact was proven when he’d immediately become hard when near her; a fact that both angered and disconcerted him.

He’d had Nadine naked by his side, a woman who had always interested him sexually, and yet he’d been unable to get hard around her, whereas it had been almost instantaneous when he’d seen Faith. The sex had been explosive and intensely arousing with her as it always was. What was it about her that turned him on so much? Was it the fact he’d taken her virginity? Did he feel he owned her sexually somehow?

He had no idea, and he also had no idea where the hell she was. She couldn’t have gone too far, she had no car. As he thought it, he buried a hand in his pocket where he usually kept his car keys and felt his stomach drop when he felt nothing. There were no keys.

Frantically he patted himself down in case he’d put them somewhere different but only found the torn remains of Faith’s panties and still no keys. He swore under his breath and looked down, as if thinking they might magically appear at his feet.

Faith couldn’t have taken them. He’d have noticed her in his pocket, but they could have fallen out when he’d fucked her. He walked over to where they’d been, trying to push the images from his mind of her up against the fence as he’d driven hard into her.

He hunted around for a few minutes but saw no sign of the keys. Then it hit him, maybe Faith had found them? With a growing sense of unease he walked over to the gate that led to the roadside and stepped through, his eyes automatically going to where he’d parked the Trans Am. It was gone.

“Dammit, dammit, fuck it, fuck her, damn her, I’m going to kill her.” He cursed. Why hadn’t he heard the car? It had a loud rumbling engine. He should have heard it, but then he realised, it was only loud if he put his foot down. If Faith had wanted to avoid detection all she’d have to do was accelerate gently, and it would have been relatively easy to leave without him or any of them hearing the distinctive engine.

Damn her, how long had she been gone? Where the hell would she have gone? Home perhaps, would she have gone home?

He pulled out his mobile phone and called Flame but she never answered and he was reluctant to leave a message for her in case she panicked. He wasn’t exactly topping her ‘Most Popular’ list so he didn’t want to have her concerned for her sister.

There was no point calling Damien as he’d be wherever Flame was, so he tried Francesca and breathed a sigh of relief when she answered.

“Where are you Fran?” He asked.

“Oh Adrian, I’m wounded; no hello at least?”

“Hello and where are you? Are you at home?”

“Yes I am as a matter of fact brother dear, and I’m home alone. You know it’s never wise to leave me alone.”

“Is Faith there? She was with us all at my house but she’s taken off in the Trans Am. Did she come home?”

Francesca gave some loud exaggerated sigh down the line. “No your little ex virgin is not here. Why? Did you fuck her and tell her to go away again? You know the tortured soul routine is getting very old Adrian. Why can’t you just face it that everyone loves you? You are the loved son, and for some crazy reason Faith loves you, although there’s no accounting for taste.” She mocked.

“I don’t have time for this now Fran. Just call me if she shows up there please.” He asked, remembering to tack on a quick goodbye before hanging up on her.

He was out of options for now except for calling Faith herself. Would she answer when she saw it was him as the caller though? He’d hurt her again, he knew he had. He seemed to do that all the time to her lately.

He pulled up her number and called her but it rang and rang before finally going to voice mail. Reluctantly he left a message, but he wasn’t so sure she’d call him back, given she was probably still upset with him, and might be now nervous about what he’d do to her for taking his car.

With his frustration mounting, he raked a hand through his hair, dislodging the tie that held it up and impatiently he pulled it out, letting the blonde and black strands fall freely to his shoulders.

What the hell did he do now? He had no idea where Faith was and if she didn’t show up again soon, it was going to be a long night. He wasn’t sure why but he was starting to feel uneasy. It wasn’t concern for his car, although he hoped it would be returned to him in one piece, it was concern for Faith. Like it or not, she was getting under his skin. With their blood exchange, the sex but more importantly, the connection because he’d sired her, all these things made their bond stronger. It was like an invisible thread that made them aware of one another when they were close, and if strong enough could also make them feel some of what the other was feeling.

The trouble was no matter how hard Adrian tried, he felt nothing at all when he thought of Faith. He couldn’t get even a hint of a clue as to where she was or what was going on with her, what she was feeling, and for some reason that scared the crap out of him.

Adrian stood staring up at the night sky which wasn’t really so much of a night sky now. It was starting to lighten with the first trace of daylight breaking. That meant the discussions had gone on for much longer than he’d expected between Katherine, Fabian and Lucas. It had been hours and yet it hadn’t seemed that long when they’d all been inside his home.

Of course the fact that it wouldn’t be much longer until the sun was up and no one knew where Faith was, worried him. As if on cue he felt his phone vibrate and he pulled it from his pocket relieved to see there was a text message from the absent vampire herself. That was until he read what she’d sent him.

‘I’ve gone away. I will not be back. I don’t love you. I made a mistake.’

Adrian stared at the message, a frown forming across his brow. She was gone? What the hell did she mean she was gone? She’d never given him any indication that she would simply take off and leave. Somehow it was her saying that she didn’t love him and that she’d made a mistake that seemed to bother him the most.

‘Where are you?’

He quickly texted back and there was a pause for a while; so long he thought she might not answer him.

‘
I’m gone, that’s all you need to know. Don’t worry darling, I will be ok.’

He read her response which told him nothing. Once, twice more he read it over again and slowly it registered, something about her response was all wrong. She never called him darling, not one single time had she ever used that endearment on him. He only knew one woman who called him that, but he’d wiped her mind of having ever known him. She didn’t seem to recognise him at all afterwards and she had reacted strongly against him being there. ‘Yeah, maybe too strongly,’ that little voice inside said.

No, no it couldn’t be anything to do with Nadine. He was over reacting and letting his imagination run away with him. She couldn’t have pretended to be mind controlled surely? If that was the case, she knew what he was, she’d always known. Maybe if he sent a text message and addressed it to Nadine she would reveal herself? If it wasn’t her, then he’d more than likely just have one pissed off baby hybrid vampire. He managed to piss off Faith quite a bit so that wouldn’t be any great surprise anyway.

While he wondered what the hell he was going to do, he didn’t notice that the others had joined him until Sirene touched his arm. “What is wrong my son? You look worried.”

“It’s Faith, she’s taken off somewhere in the Trans Am. I must have dropped my keys, she found them and now I don’t know where she is. I just have a bad feeling about it all and then I received this.” He held his phone out and everyone, including Lucas read the text messages.

Fabian frowned. “Well, that is most unusual. I would not have expected your Faith to run away. She seemed quite determined to fight for her man, that being you son.”

“That’s just it father, I don’t believe this is Faith. I recently stopped seeing one of my clients. She was more than a client, she was my friend. I went to see her after what happened with Flame the other night. Nadine gave me somewhere to sleep for a little while. We got talking and she confessed she had feelings for me, she wanted something more than just our ‘business’ arrangement. She became quite upset with me because of Faith and the fact that I was unable to give her what she wanted from me that evening.” Adrian raked a hand through his hair. “I had a problem…performing.” He finally, reluctantly said.

“Oh my God my son, you would have dented this woman’s pride I’m sure.” Sirene said. “Do you suspect she’s done something to Faith? I can perform a spell if you wish so we can try and find out.”

“How will you do that?”

Sirene held out her hand. “Give me your phone Adrian. I’m hoping I can cast a spell on it that will make it reveal the identity of the person who sent you those texts.”

He handed it to her and she cupped it in both hands, closing her eyes. “With this phone use the screen to reveal the name of the last person whose text it’s seen.” She grimaced slightly as she held the phone and Fabian’s lips curved up in a small smile. Adrian knew they both joked about her attempt, and often fail to chant spells that rhymed. For some reason she thought it was better to be poetic about it all, but he figured as long as the spell worked, did it matter if it rhymed?

When his phone began to glow in his mother’s hands it wiped the smile off his face and brought him back to the potential seriousness of the situation. He watched the glow die down again and she glanced at the name on the phone, her expression unreadable. It was only when she then turned it for them all, to read the name that a sick feeling of dread settled in the pit of his stomach. It was just as he’d feared; the name on the screen was Nadine. The fact that she had Faith’s phone couldn’t be good. There were so many unanswered questions now. Where was Faith? Did Nadine have her? How did she get her? Had she followed her? Where were they now, and the fact that Nadine had texted on Faith’s phone, surely meant she’d hoped to throw him off the scent, by making him think she’d run away.

Of course he wondered what Nadine was. He hadn’t been able to mind control her which meant she’d only pretended to be controlled. That’s why her reaction when he’d thought he was making her forget all about him, had seemed extreme. She’d been acting and she was a fucking terrible actor.

He suddenly remembered that he’d told her they’d had sex so he could cover the fact he couldn’t get it up for her. He winced when he relived that moment in his head. What had Nadine thought of his behaviour? No wonder she’d seemed so hurt at his rejection of her, but although they’d had a lot of good times together, he didn’t want her. He had no interest in getting involved with her. She wanted forever and that thought scared the crap out of him.

Adrian strongly suspected she’d been angry and bitter enough to go after Faith. She’d been so sure he loved Faith that it was quite possible she felt threatened by her, and would want her out of the picture. He didn’t love the woman he’d made a hybrid vampire though. Of course he cared for her but it wasn’t love, it couldn’t be love. It couldn’t, because he had no right to love someone as sweet and beautiful as her, and he sure as hell had no right to take her love, no right at all.

“Is there any way you can work out where Faith is mother?” He asked. “I hope Nadine hasn’t done anything to her, but she has her phone. Nadine is such an elegant, classy woman; it’s hard to imagine she would do anything to harm anyone.”

“Never underestimate what a person will do when it comes to love son. Your mother turned back time, to bring me back to her after I died.” Fabian said, his eyes warming with his love when he looked down at the tiny woman. “Can you do some sort of spell to locate Faith, my beauty?”

“I can of course but it might not give us an exact location. It will be a bit like it was when we were trying to find Arissa that time. My main concern is, where Nadine is right now.”

“Should I send her a message to Faith’s phone, let her know we know it’s her?”

Sirene shook her head. “No, not yet my son; we don’t want to alert her that we are on to her, although it’s possible she may know that already. She obviously has some sort of ability that made it impossible for you to mind control her. She has obviously also been stalking you and Faith. We must tread carefully. My gut instinct tells me this woman is very dangerous.”

“What do you need to perform a spell mother?”

Sirene sighed. “It would have been nice to have something of hers. A location spell works better when I have an item from the person we are trying to find, but we aren’t home to get something.”

Adrian suddenly felt slightly embarrassed as he dug around in the back pocket of his jeans. “I...umm…I have these.” He said somewhat sheepishly as he held up the destroyed panties he’d pulled off Faith earlier.

Lucas looked slightly uncomfortable at the sight of the tiny panties being waved about. Fabian tried not to smile and Sirene merely quirked an eyebrow at him. It was blatantly obvious how he’d come to have Faith’s panties in his pocket.

“So this is one time when impatience may very well pay off.” She told him, taking them from his fingers.

“Come, we need to find somewhere more suitable for performing this spell. Let us all go out to the car.”

Everyone hurried out to where Fabian’s car was parked and on the back seat, Sirene spread out the torn panties. Adrian stared at them, trying to keep the images of her naked and impaled on him as he’d fucked her, from filling his mind as he watched his mother.

“Reveal the location of the one who owns these, draw the map on these panties.” Sirene shrugged her shoulders at the wording of her spell again, but then everyone stared when a glow started to come off the scrap of black lace lying on the car seat.

It grew and grew until it began to form lines which turned into what looked like ripples. Ripples? What the hell were the ripples?

“What on earth are those?” Lucas asked and Adrian looked at him in surprise. With all that was happening, he’d forgotten momentarily that his son was with them.

“The lines are moving, like ripples. Ripples? Water, could it be water?” Fabian asked.

“Dammit, why can’t it be more specific?” Adrian cursed.

“I warned you it’s not that accurate. I don’t know how to do a spell that gives a more detailed description or even an address. We have to use process of elimination. It’s obviously water so what’s the nearest water to here? My guess would be the beach. I’ll try to narrow the search a little.”

“We’re going to be searching in the daylight unfortunately. The sun is rising fast.” He cast his eyes to the sky, noting it was already considerably lighter than it had been not that long ago.

They’d just all moved around the car ready to climb in when they heard a loud rumbling engine drawing nearer. Adrian would know that engine note anywhere. It was his Trans Am.

“That’s your car my son. Maybe this means Faith is ok?” Sirene said, her eyes watchful as the car approached and pulled up a couple of doors down from where they were parked.

Adrian made some non-committal sound in his throat. He would have liked to think it was his car thieving baby vampire returning from a joyride, but his instinct told him this was not the case. He kept his eyes trained on his car waiting to see who would emerge. When the door finally opened and an elegant looking dark haired woman climbed gracefully from the driver’s seat tension settled in his stomach. It was the woman he’d never expected to see again.

Nadine walked towards them, a smile lighting up her face. It was only as she drew closer that Adrian saw that it didn’t reach her eyes. Those eyes would stay with him in his memory for some time. They were cold and hard, cruel and bitter. They were not the eyes of the woman he thought he’d known well after two years of spending time with her.

“Well, well, darling my darling Adrian.” She smiled again, her eyes moving around the others who still stood by the car. “Ah, so the rest of your vampire clan; this is your father I presume? You have his eyes.” She studied Fabian for a moment before turning back to him.

“Where is Faith Nadine and why are you driving my car? I hope you haven’t done anything silly.”

“Oh darling, how could you think such a thing? Why would I hurt that blonde piece of fluff? I know she’s nothing more than your tart; the whore who spreads her thighs for you, so you can use her and abuse her. That is not how you treat me though is it darling? You wanted to protect me. Isn’t that why you tried to use your silly mind control on me?”

Adrian eyed off Nadine warily. Was she nuts? He wasn’t sure why she was saying what she was saying. He wasn’t trying to protect her. He’d never wanted to hurt her, but he might have done things differently if he’d known she was unstable.

“Why are you driving my son’s car?” Sirene asked.

Nadine turned to his mother. “Well I did run into the little half vampire, and we had a nice chat. You know she doesn’t want you Adrian. She told me so.” Her gaze swung to him. “She said she knew you don’t want her, and she doesn’t want a man who doesn’t want her.” Her gaze hardened. “You know it would have sounded more convincing if the little whore didn’t have your essence dribbling out of her while she’s telling me that. She dared to say that to me, when she positively reeked of you.”

“Where is she?” Adrian asked, stepping towards her. “What have you done to her? Answer me.”

“Don’t try and get all commanding and masterful around me now darling. I only want that when we play or I’m paying you to be like that.”

He ground his teeth together, trying not to lose his patience with her. She was clearly unstable and he was starting to fear for Faith’s safety. “Please Nadine, where is Faith? She’s right, I don’t care about her, but she has an older sister who will care if she doesn’t come back, and Flame’s already tried to kill me once. You said you loved me, yet you’re prepared to let me be hurt?”

“Do you take me for a fool Adrian darling? I know you are going to try and find her. If I knew anything and revealed it to you, you would abandon me and run straight to her.” Her face hardened, her brown eyes flashing furiously. “You…will…never…see…Faith…again.” She ground out, her tone deadly quiet and ominously final in her conviction.

“What have you done to her? Please, just tell us. Where is she?”