Revisited (Redemption Series) (8 page)

Becca knew Lily would need to wait. “Will you let me see him at Manchester?” Becca knew he would be difficult to face in light of everything that had happened, but she couldn’t deny she was anxious to see him.

“I think that can be arranged.” Sam smiled and gave his daughter’s hand a light squeeze.

Nathaniel gave Lily a hug before launching into what he needed to say. “I’m afraid this isn’t a social call. I’m going into the field on this one.”

Lily turned to Nathaniel as his arm dropped from around her. “What did you see?” Lily had been present the last time Gideon had stepped in to destroy their lives, and she knew only a vision would bring Nathaniel back to the world that haunted his nightmares.

“Gideon with a young man I have learned is Liam. Then I saw Gideon transfer into a new vessel.”

Becca gulped and tightened her hold on her father’s hand. Terror shot through her with the new information.

“I didn’t get a clear picture, but the visions are coming back. That is a good sign.” Nathaniel held Becca’s gaze. “I’m not hiding anymore. He won’t get away this time.”

Nightmarish memories flooded Becca’s mind. She tried to shake them as the crescent shaped scar in the middle of her back began to burn. She opened her eyes to see Abe walking through the doorway. 

He came to kneel before her, a soft smile on his face. “I’ll help. We will stop him . . . together.”

“Thank you,” Becca whispered as guilt filtered through her.

Abe had always been there, and she had no doubt he would be there for her in the next trial of her life. She couldn’t forget she would be visiting Ian, and wondered how her friends would handle him as he walked back into their lives.

“All right, let’s change things up a bit.” Nathaniel straightened up in his seat as Abe moved to sit on the edge of the coffee table in front of Becca. “While we are moving forward with finding Gideon, we still need to concentrate on Liam. I don’t think his motivation to become a vampire was to stay alone for the remainder of his existence. Plus, we’ve also found out some unique aspects to his lineage.”

“Lineage?” Lily wondered how many more skeletons were yet to be revealed.

“It’s not as you might have believed.” Nathaniel looked for a confirmation from Sam. “It appears his great-grandfather emigrated from Italy. Anthony Caldwell became a very successful restaurateur. He had one son, who married and had one son, who also married and had one son—Liam.”

“And?” Becca wasn’t following the line Nathaniel seemed to be drawing.

“We believe that Anthony Caldwell was actually Anton Cadreanu.”

Lily began to tremble. She knew that name. She knew what history the man brought with him. She looked into Nathaniel’s eyes and knew in that instant he believed Anton had achieved what her sire had attempted decades later.

“Lil, calm down.” Becca wrapped her arms around her. “Who is this Anton guy?”

“He was one of the four Romanian bothers who discovered the Ahbmonites. It was rumored he was killed in the late 1800’s, but there was never any proof.” Lily looked at Nathaniel and knew what he thought might be possible. “I think what Nathaniel is saying is that Anton found a cure, like my sire had tried to.”

“A cure? They all died, Lily. You’re lucky you survived.” Becca held Lily tighter.

Sam cleared his throat and placed his hand on Becca’s shoulder to pull her from Lily’s embrace. “We need you to go over Martin’s research. I know we all thought it was his formula, in some mutated form, but Nathaniel seems to believe that’s not the case. I think our best path is to test the collected samples from the day of The Blood Feast with the newest technology. I believe it was a form of Anton’s formula being used, since it was ingested. Martin’s formula was meant to be injected, correct?”

Lily nodded. “The rate of absorption was faster than the oral formulas. Even with the mice, the absorption rate was ten times slower when ingested.”

“I think we can attempt to recreate both formulas and see which is the best cure for Liam. Killing him is not an option,” Sam warned. “We don’t deal in that business.”

“We have to find him first.” Becca scoffed.

“Yes. I think Lily can help with the finding part.” Sam smiled in attempt to calm Lily down.

“Looks like we have a lot to do,” Ryan said from the archway. Jefferson and Renee were both at his side.

“This isn’t going to be easy.” Lily surveyed each face in the room before settling on Sam’s. “I’ll need my own lab.” She lifted her eyebrow in challenge to him.

“I know just the place. It will take a day or two to get things together, but I think it will do.”

“Count me in.” Becca grasped Lily’s hand once again. “You’re not getting rid of me this time.”

“I’m with you.” Abe smiled.

“I’m up for it.” Nathaniel winked and pulled Lily against his chest.

Ryan stepped forward and looked at Lily, showing her the smile he reserved only for her. “I’m ready to see just how brilliant that mind of yours is.”

“We’re going, too,” Renee said, threading her arm through Jefferson’s. “Just because we’re human doesn’t mean we get left out of the fight.”

Lily felt a soft warmth sweep throughout her body as they all banded together to begin their next adventure. She turned to Sam to ask what she believed they all wanted to know. “So, where would this dream lab of mine be, since any of the known branches of Manchester are out of the question.”

“How would you feel about a little village in Italy?” Sam asked.

Lily looked at Becca with worry, but was reassured with her nod and a smile. She turned to Nathaniel to find his dimples out in full force. “I’d say, give me a pen. I’ll make a list of everything I need.”

Jefferson found the needed items and Lily set to work writing her list as Sam grabbed his phone.

“Sam Fleming. I need the jet fueled and ready.”

Becca stood behind him, curious as to what arrangements were being made.

“Genoa. Make arrangements for three, but there might be more.”

Becca raised her eyebrows at his mention of Genoa. She assumed they would travel somewhere near the Manchester offices in Rome. She had never heard of any connection to the city of Genoa.

“We will need several vehicles once we arrive. No hotel. I will personally see to the accommodations.” He ended the call and slipped his phone into his pocket with a soft sigh.

“What are you not telling me?” Becca asked, placing her hand on his shoulder.

“This will not be easy, but I believe Lily can do it.” Sam took her hand and kissed it before turning to her. “Martin was a brilliant man. I know, despite her fears, Lily can figure this out.”

“What about Debir and Filipp? Don’t we need them, too?” Becca asked.

“No.” Sam squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before continuing. “We have them right where they need to be at the moment.”

Becca gave him her most intimidating look, the one she used when she wouldn’t back down until she had the information she wanted.

“We’ve had suspicions they are up to something. They were sent to Romania to investigate a coven of witches, but their reports are sketchy at best. We have also just received information that one or both of them is involved with a woman named Valentina Pavel.”

The name sparked something in Becca’s memory. “Pavel? That was the name of one of the witches in Martin’s journals.”

“How did you. . .”

“I lived in that subterranean library with Lily when she was investigating a rash of werewolf deaths years ago. While doing research, I helped Lily read her sire’s journals. There was so much I learned . . . things you would never believe.”

Sam pulled her into his arms and kissed his daughter’s forehead. “Remind me never to underestimate you.”

The hours blurred together as Gideon slipped in and out of consciousness. While he slept, something unprecedented happened. He dreamed. He dreamed of long talks with Ian in faraway places. They talked about his plans and how Gideon wanted to become Becca’s perfect mate. Ian was the angel sitting on his shoulder, reminding him how everything could go so terribly wrong. Gideon wouldn’t have it. He had fooled everyone, including Ian’s parents, into believing he was the one and only Ian Holt.

    As his eyes opened after a dream where he and Ian had a physical fight, Gideon focused on the person sitting beside his bed.

“Hey.” Becca pushed the sweat-drenched hair from his forehead. “Were you having a nightmare?”

He nodded, reveling in the feel of her touch.

“Do you want something to drink? You’re still a bit dehydrated.”

“In a minute. Right now . . . I just want you beside me.” Gideon’s voice was hoarse from lack of use. He scooted into the middle of the king-sized bed, leaving plenty of room for her.

Becca slid onto the bed and wrapped her arms around his torso.

“I’ve missed you so much. You can’t imagine . . .” Gideon had longed for that very moment for years and in that instant, it was even better than he had hoped.

“A lot has happened in such a short time. My mind is such a mess. I have so much to tell you.” Becca tried not to show her nervousness when she let out a soft laugh.

Gideon carefully turned onto his side, cupped her face, and traced his thumb across the apple of her cheek.

Kiss her!
Ian chanted in frustration.

Gideon obeyed without hesitation. He leaned forward to find her lips eager and waiting for his. He pulled her bottom lip between his teeth and gave it a soft nip before caressing it with his tongue. Becca’s low moans let him know he was doing everything right. He tensed and pulled back when her embrace became too tight.

“Sorry,” Becca said with a smile on her swollen lips.

“It was worth it.” He kissed the corner of her mouth, then nuzzled her neck, and sighed contentedly. He had never felt so at peace in his entire existence.

“I would love to lay here in your arms all day, but there are things we need to talk about.” Her fingers ran through his hair in an attempt to coax his lips away from her neck.

“I know.” He squeezed his good eye shut before pulling back to concentrate on what she needed to say.

“I need to know if you have any idea about where Liam is?”

Gideon remembered the plan and began to recount what he and Liam had concocted months before. “It was strange. I tried to get out of the room, but that fucking lock basically melted my skin off.”

“I’m so sorry.” Becca kissed from his swollen eye down to his bruised cheek. “I should have explained what would happen.”

“It doesn’t matter now, baby. I’m here with you; that’s all that matters.” 

She smiled at his term of endearment. 

“I was sure Liam was going to drain me dry, but he just ended up using me as a punching bag while he tested out his new strength. I’m surprised he didn’t do more damage.”

“You are very lucky.”

“You’re why I’m here. You gave me the strength to do what I needed to do.” Gideon gave her another chaste kiss. “Liam didn’t talk much, but he seemed to have a plan. I did hear him on the phone once when he thought I was out. He was making arrangements for a car, which I thought was strange since he could just take whatever he wanted. Not like anyone could stop him.”

She laughed. “Must have picked that up from Lily. She was never one for wanting to bring attention to herself. She always went for conventional modes of transportation over what she called flights of fancy.”

Lily. Oh, God. She’s gone.
Ian gave a soft sob at the thought of his lost love.

“I can’t even begin to know what you’re going through, losing her like this. Liam made sure to let me know every detail of what happened.”

“What?” Becca pulled back. “She’s not gone. We brought her back.”

“You what?” Gideon was shocked and slightly panicked. This was not something he had figured into his plan.

“Another thing you missed. She was, for all intents and purposes, dead, but we found a way to bring her back.”

“How? How is that even possible?” Gideon was dumbstruck. He wasn’t sure he would ever be able to pull things off with Lily around.

“She needed the right type of blood: that of a being who was part angel, part human. Turns out, I fit the bill.”

“You? But your mother and father . . .” In all the time he had spent in Anne’s mind, he never delved into much of her memories, only the ones he needed at the moments he needed them. He always assumed Maxwell Swift, Anne’s late husband, was Becca’s father.

“Turns out right after my father . . . umm . . . after Maxwell died, my mom and Sam were together. I’m assuming she was worried what people would think about her getting pregnant right after he died. So she passed me off as Maxwell’s. I guess it didn’t hurt when I was born a month early.”

He let it sink in. Sam was her father. The angel he had fought for centuries. His archenemy. How could he fall in love and devote his every move to the child of his most hated foe?

In Gideon’s case, fate was a cruel mistress.

Ian laughed at Gideon’s sudden misfortune. He wondered if Gideon had ever taken the “love thine enemy” approach. He very much doubted it.

“You gave Lily your blood and it brought her back?”