Rafael (11 page)

Vincent was
restless. He hated sleeping in the woods, but he would wait as long as it took.
He had given that reporter the address two days ago.  He felt sure she would
pass it along to the police immediately. If someone didn’t show soon, he would
send another anonymous tip. Wanting a change of scenery, he stood and slung the
rifle over his shoulder. He was just about to reach the clearing when he heard
an automobile approaching. He pulled the rifle off his shoulder and looked
through the scope.
Hello, detective.

Vincent let out
a loud whistle.  Once the detective turned his direction, he fired one shot.
Bullseye. 

Vincent walked
to where the body had dropped and picked it up, taking it into the warehouse to
join Magnus.

Flying overseas
was boring and tedious. Even with a private jet and his own personal staff,
Rafael loathed any flight that lasted more than a couple of hours. The Elder
Council made their home in Italy, and he had no desire to return for an
extended period. He was glad the meeting was scheduled for early morning. He
could get this over with and head back to the states.

He stood outside
the Elder chambers and took a deep, cleansing breath. These conversations were
always the same. Now that it was possible he had found his mate, there was no
way under the heavens he was leaving New Atlanta.

As he entered
the chamber, all conversations ceased. “Rafael, so glad you could join us.” The
once warm voice was now laced with ice and fatigue.

“Mother, good to
see you as always.” He placed a kiss on her cheek. Was she shorter than the
last time he’d seen her? Female Goyles didn’t die when their mate did, but they
often stopped living. Since Rafael wouldn’t take his place on the council, his
mother was required to serve instead. This did not sit well with her, so she
had distanced herself from her son.

He greeted the other
members with a nod and took the vacant seat at the end of the table. Xavier,
one of the original Elders, spoke to the room. “Now that we are all here, we
can get started. Rafael, as you know, it is your duty to serve on the Council since
you are King. Your mother, as you can see, is not well.”

Rafael’s mother
held her head high even with being spoken about in such a way. He should feel
guilty about leaving her with his responsibility, but he didn’t. The Elders
rarely met. New laws hadn’t been put in place since before his father was
killed. His participation was not warranted at this juncture in time.

“Xavier, please
let me interrupt here and save us all valuable time. While I understand my
mother’s health is not as it once was, from what I can tell, the only time you
meet is when you bid me to come to you. If you understood that I am not going
to join the Council, you would stop having these meetings. Now, more than ever,
I am determined to continue in my role as King, living in New Atlanta.”

“Why now, has
something happened?” his mother asked him with concern on her face.

“Yes, it has. I
believe I have found my mate.” Rafael knew he shouldn’t bring up the subject of
Kaya until he had more information, but he wanted to gauge the reaction of
those in the room.

His mother was
the one to ask the question, “How is that possible? All the females alive have
been spoken for.”

“I didn’t say
she was one of ours, Mother. I have met a human who has brought on the changes
in me that a mate would. This is why I am here, not to discuss the Council. I
need to know if any of you have heard of humans being mates.”

Rafael watched
each face closely. Most were looking confused and talking among themselves.
Only one was looking at him. He spoke directly to Xavier. “We have searched the
archives and there is no mention of mating with humans. In fact, there is
little mention of mating at all. Why is that?”

“This
information was to be passed down between the families. We didn’t put it in
writing because we didn’t want the information to fall into the wrong hands.”
Xavier, being an original, should know.

“I see. Let me
ask you this: is it possible that Jonas Montague, the scientist, is a shifter
and alive but in hiding?” He watched Xavier for any sign of recognition. He hid
it well, but the fluctuation in his breathing for just a couple of seconds let
Rafe know he hit the target.

“Why would you
ask that?” His mother seemed more shocked than inquisitive. Was she hiding
something from him as well?

Rafe responded
to his mother while looking at Xavier. “Because he has written books on the
subject of shifters.”

“Yes, but those
are purely fiction. I’ve read them myself.” Xavier obviously knew more than he
was telling. He was not controlling his breathing nor his heart rate.

“Then have you
read his journal? The one talking about mating with a human?”

This brought
about more rumbling in the chamber. Rafe’s eyes were locked with Xavier. “I’m
sure it’s more fiction from a man with a vivid imagination. Rafael, if you have
no intention of joining us, I will declare this meeting adjourned.”

Could the other
Elders not see what Rafael saw? Xavier was standing, whisking everyone out of
the room. All except for Rafe and his mother. “Athena, if you would stay, I’d
like to talk to you and Rafael.”

Xavier waited
until the room was cleared. “I apologize for acting so skittish. There are
those of the Council who do not believe as I do, as your mother does. Rafael,
we do feel it is possible that we can mate with humans, but the original
Gargouille are quite prejudice against humans.”

“You are an Original,
Xavier. Are you not prejudice against humans as well?”

“No, I am not.
If I were, I wouldn’t have spent my whole life protecting them.”

“Mother, you’re
being very quiet. How do you feel about this?”

His mother had
tears in her eyes. “My son, my King, I have waited hundreds of years for you to
tell me you have found your mate and that you are going to be able to continue
the Di Pietro lineage. If your mate is human, then the fates have deemed her
worthy.”

“What about
Montague, is it possible he is a shifter and fooled everyone?”

Xavier paused a
little too long. “Yes, I guess it could be possible. He created a clone, so the
man was a genius.”

“Do you know
anything about mating with humans? Or are you speculating? If you are
withholding information, I will not be happy Xavier.”

Xavier’s eyes
flashed. “Do not threaten me boy.”

“It’s not a
threat, X, it’s a promise. Mother? What about you? Are you withholding
information I require for my Clan?” Xavier flinched at his disrespect, but Rafe
ignored him.

“Of course not,
Son.” She wiped a tear from her cheek then patted his. “I only want your
happiness, Rafael.” He gauged her sincerity and honestly didn’t know if it was
real.  He had never seen her shed a tear, not even when his father was killed. 
Why would her heart have softened now?

“I will not stop
until I have unburied any information I need, nor until I have found Jonas
Montague.” Rafe left them standing in the chamber. They were both hiding
something, and he was going to find out what.

Frey, Lorenzo,
and Jasper were recounting the events of Tamian’s so-called attack. It would
take a few days for the judge to hear the case since this was Friday, but that
allowed Tam to sit in regular lock-up before being sent away. Jasper was
laughing. “If we weren’t shifters I’d have a black eye. That man has a helluva
left hook.”

As he did every
night before taking flight, Frey stood on the heli-pad enjoying the fresh air. Being
the pilot, he kept the family helicopter at his estate. Lorenzo and Jasper had
enjoyed their time with their cousin: working out, learning about the family on
the east coast, getting to know one another. Now they were going to fly
together. He was relieved to hear Jasper laughing. 

The sun was no
longer visible and in its place was the full moon. Frey closed his eyes,
drinking in the power from the heavenly orb. Now, he needed to fly. He removed
his shirt and phased. The others did the same and soon they were headed toward
downtown. First, they would patrol the more heavily populated areas before
going to check out the warehouses the family owned.

There was no
trouble from the Unholy, which was unusual for a Friday night. Not begging for
trouble where there wasn’t any, they turned toward the outskirts of town. As
they approached the warehouse that was farthest from the city, they noticed a
vehicle parked haphazardly. Geoffrey gave the signal to spread out, and they
each took a corner of the property.

Once on the
ground, the men phased and slowly made their way to the building. Frey whistled
giving the signal to stay put. He would go in and check out the interior. What
he found made his skin crawl. He had seen some fucked up shit in his many
years, but this was beyond comprehension. He whistled again letting the others
know they could enter the building.

“What in the
holy hell happened in here?” Lorenzo held his forearm against his nose.

“I do believe we
have found Magnus Flanagan. Or what’s left of him. Jasper, go see if you can
identify whose car is outside. I doubt it belongs to him.” Frey was pointing at
the mutilated carcass at his feet.

Jasper left to
do his cousin’s bidding as the others looked around. “I have another body over
here,” Lorenzo said from the other end of the building. “Gunshot wound to the
forehead, through and through.”

“Fuck!”  Frey
was clenching his fists. He pulled out his phone and dialed Rafael. Hopefully
he would still be in Italy and not headed back to the States.

“Good morning
Geoffrey. I guess I should say good evening to you since it’s still night. What
is it?”

“Lor, Jasper and
I took a patrol tonight. We were checking out the warehouses when we found two
more bodies at Forest Grove. One sort of looks like Magnus Flanagan. I’m
waiting on Jasper to get the identification of the other victim out of his car.
Hang on, here he comes.”

Jasper was
holding a wallet in his hand when he returned. “Detective Kyle Jorgenson, New
Atlanta P.D.”

“I guess you
heard that. Rafe, why the fuck are they using our warehouses?”

“Because they’re
empty, secluded, and they implicate me. Fucking Flanagan. We have to find him.
Right fucking now.” The Society had half-heartedly searched for Gordon over the
last thirty years. Now it seemed they were going to have to put more effort
into it.

“I know I just
asked this, but again, why you? Neither you nor the family has ever had any
dealings with the man, not directly anyway. We had nothing to do with his wife
and child going into seclusion. Do you think there’s some way he has found out
about us, that we’re the ones who take down the Unholy?”

“Anything’s
possible, Frey. Until we know without a doubt it isn’t him, I am going to go
with the assumption it is.”

“Son of a
fucking bitch. You know you can’t tell the chief. She’ll have this pinned on you
faster than you can phase.”

“I will have to
think on this. I have a few things to see to, but right now I am headed to the
family archives to do a little research on my own. If that doesn’t take too
long, I should be home Sunday. Now, there’s nothing you can do for those two so
get out of there. We will discuss our options when I’m home.”

“Safe travels my
brother.” Frey hung up and told the other two, “Let’s get out of here.”

Rafael leaned
back in the soft leather seat of the convertible he had rented. Frey wasn’t
wrong about telling Kaya what they found, but he also wanted to start a
relationship with Kaya on a positive note and that included honesty. He called
Julian to fill him in on Frey’s findings and to give him his orders. Once that
was accomplished, he steered the car out of the courtyard of the Council
Building and headed toward his family’s old country estate. Xavier and his
mother probably wouldn’t like him snooping around but at this point, he didn’t
care. Unless his mother had certain books destroyed, it was possible he could
find the answers he was looking for in just a few hours.

The albino sat
in his shithole of an apartment, viewing the video feed coming from the
warehouse. “Gotcha you bastards,” he thought to himself. He rewound the feed,
spliced, diced, and then saved. He didn’t want the chief to see too much of the
video, not yet. Opening a secure browser, he typed in Kaya Kane’s personal
email address. “A little present for you” was typed into the subject line. He
attached the video file and hit send. Leaning back in his chair, he lit a
cigarette. He took a long drag and sent a text:  “It’s done”.