Unbound (50 page)

“How will I find you again?” he asked anxiously. He couldn’t imagine watching her walk away. If this was a dream, he didn’t want to wake up, ever.

“Our child knows how to find me. After she’s freed, she will call me. I’m taking her away from these people you would allow to kill her in cold blood, the same way your family would have when she was no more than a day old. If you allow them to harm her, I swear, there will not be a place in your world or mine that you will be able to hide. ” Tessa slammed her car door and pulled off the parking lot. Mason came to help Griffin up off his knees and brush him off. Tears still streaming down his face, Griffin watched Tessa’s car disappear down the road.

“Did I just dream that, Mason? This can’t be real. I must be asleep, or crazy.”

“You’re not dreaming, my friend. Now you need to pull yourself together so we can go take care of your daughter. She needs her dad right now.” Mason soothed his oldest friend and pushed him back toward the council chamber.

“You knew they were alive!” Griffin grabbed Mason by his lapels. It was clear that Tessa’s appearance had not been a surprise for him. Mason grabbed Griffin’s huge wrists to stay his attack long enough for a short explanation.

“I did.” Mason calmly looked into the angry eyes of his friend and he hoped he could make him understand the reasons for keeping this secret without losing his friend.

“I tried to hide them until your family found the false medical records I planted, but you did
n’t call me right away, as I
expected
you would
. You were engaged to Sarah before I heard from you. I wanted to take you to Tessa so we could figure out how to get you out of the engagement. When I told her, she lost it and tore the house up. Then she wanted to run away. She was afraid of what they would do to the baby. She made me promise to protect her secret in order to keep her and the baby safe. I made her promise to contact me if she needed help. She never called. Not until early September. I’m sorry, Griffin, but I didn’t know what else to do.” 

* * *

Almost everyone had already returned to their seats and Danielle was being led back into the chamber by Gage. Lloyd wouldn’t allow Darren to go with Danielle. He didn’t want his experiment ruined by her cheating with her warrior. He wanted to see the extent of her powers while he had an excuse to force her cooperation and she knew it. Everyone there would get to witness the things that others kept private rather than be made vulnerable to exploitation.

A guy she’
d never seen before was at the large front table looking over the photos she had submitted. She watched him with interest, wondering who he was and why he was so interested. He was a stunning man that looked to be a little older than Cayden. Of course, that meant nothing. He could be very old and she would have no way of knowing. He was statuesque, lean and not overly muscular. He wore a tailored suit that reminded her of Griffin’s polished style. He had wavy jet-black hair the color of raven wings, and eyes so dark she couldn’t tell the pupils from the irises. His skin tone was
that of a well-tanned Italian g
od. Damn. If she didn’t already have enough trouble, this guy could surely inspire some more.

Chase caught her staring and followed her gaze.  He walked swiftly past her to snatch the pictures from the guy’s grasp. Danielle was wearing nothing but a bra and panties in the pictures. She was so battered it broke his heart all over when his father showed them to him.

“Get your jollies off one of your pets, Van. Danielle is way out of your league,” Chase snapped at the guy. The guy smiled widely at Chase and reached for another pile of pictures on the table. Completely indifferent, he continued to look over the photos. Chase tried to take those, also. Without even looking up, the guy put his fist in Chase’s chest and he stumbled back. Danielle could only imagine he was from one of the ruling houses because everyone else had a healthy fear of Chase. His family was powerful and he would one day serve on the
Council
. Tall, dark and mysterious just swatted him away like an annoying bug. Chase’s eyes went dark in a way she had never seen before. He was truly pissed and went all black-eyed freak in the space of two seconds. Dani jumped up and went to put herself between the men. Shackled and cuffed, she put her hands on Chase’s chest.

“Please don’t do this now. I can’t handle any more drama. It’s not worth it.” She tried to sooth him with circular stokes of her fingers on his tight abs. He looked down at her and the black bled from his eyes. Telepathically she said to him, “Please, baby.” His features softened at her endearment.

“I’m sorry, Lovely. I just don’t like him looking at your body in those pictures.” Chase pulled her into an embrace and buried his face in her hair. Of course, that was when Cayden entered from the rear of the chamber with Griffin and Mason. Extracting herself from Chase’s arms in order to avoid a war, she turned to look at the stranger. He was watching her intently with one eyebrow cocked and a half smile on his full lips. She stepped forward and Chase stepped with her, putting his chest against her back and a hand on her waist in a possessive movement. Dani could see Cayden on the move toward them and Mason rushing to catch him. She pushed Chase back away from her but his hand remained on her waist.

“I apologize if I have offended
you, Ms. Scott. My name is Dono
van Stafford.” He reached out, took her cuffed hand, and bent to place a kiss on her knuckle. “Christopher Stafford is my little brother and I am forever in your debt for saving his life. I will assist in any way possible. I’m a lawyer. I was only trying to find an angle of defense. Please, forgive me.” He lowered his head in respect.

The Council
began to filter in and Cayden was watching on in frustration from the fr
ont row where Gage and Mason
pinned him.

“If you come up with anything let me know. They didn’t exactly offer a public defender and I couldn’t tell which ones were the vampire lawyers in the phone book.”
Donovan
laughed at her sense of humor at such a critical time. She was led away by Chase while he glared at
Donovan
, who went back to looking at the pictures. Cayden pushed in her chair for her when she sat at the defendant’s table and went back to his seat. Griffin stopped by her table and looked at her meaningfully before Mason pushed him on to the council table. Danielle thought he looked sick and his eyes were red. Was he angry with her? Great. She couldn’t afford to lose an ally on the
Council
.

“Alright everyone, l
et’s get this over with one way or the other. Ms. Scott, are you ready to proceed?” Lloyd spoke up over the crowd. Danielle nodded nervously in response. It became quiet in the chamber quickly.

“I want you to write down a sentence and give the page to Gage. Then send the message to everyone the paper was given to so we can evaluate your ability to send a distress call to multiple people,” he instructed.

Danielle immediately complied and handed the paper over to Gage. Then she watched as Chase, Gage, Griffin, Mason and Lloyd all wrote. All at once, they held up their papers to show the rest of the
Council
and the crowd in attendance. They had all written the same thing. “I am innocent.” The crowd buzzed.

“Impressive,” commented Ayden Stafford. He was a tall man with
the same jet-black hair as Dono
van, pulled back in a ponytail at the back of his neck. “I’m interested to see you use mind control on one of us. Can we get a volunteer?”

“I don’t see how that would serve to prove Ms. Scott’s guilt or innocence,” a voice from behind Danielle spoke up.
Donovan
stepped up to the table next to her. “No disrespect, Councilor Stafford, but I don’t believe show and tell is going to resolve this issue.”

He looked at Danielle, “Did you use mind control on the day of your attack?”

“No, I did not. I used telepathy to call for help and telekinesis to fight off the attack.” Danielle liked the fact that he said ‘your attack’ instead of ‘the murder’.

“I see,” he replied, and walked toward the table to pick up a few pictures. There was an audible hiss from Chase and Cayden as he looked over her nearly bare body.

“You are correct,
Donovan
. I don’t think we need her to demonstrate her abilities for our entertainment. This is a trial not a circus.” Griffin glared at Ayden.

“Tel
l us about the attack, Danielle,
”
Donovan
asked. Danielle gave the room a blow-by-blow description of the fight.

“Are we to believe that at your young age you have the power to lift yourself along with a large male warrior across the room? That would be impossible for a healthy youth, much less
one
who was in a weakened state of injury,” Adele scoffed in disbelief.

“May I demonstrate?” she asked with a cocky grin. “I will need a ‘large’ volunteer.”

“I will volunteer.” Cayden stepped up to the table and placed his hand on Danielle’s. Then he smiled at Dani and teased, “Take it easy on me.” She gave him a weak smile in return. They walked hand and hand to the floor between the council table and the rows of observers. He turned to her and she placed his hands on her shoulders. Looking deeply into his eyes she levitated the two of them up off the floor and the room buzzed.

“Hold on,
” she whispered, and then suddenly they flew across the room together and stopped in a sudden jolt just before they hit the wall. Cayden’s breath caught in his throat. She giggled and gently spun the two of them in circles a few inches off the floor as if they were dancing all the way back to the center of the floor.

“You are very strong indeed.” Griffin beamed in pride as his heart swelled, watching his daughter. His daughter was strong, healthy and alive.

“You are not injured anymore, child. You are very impressive but you are no longer injured,” Adele pointed out.

Cayden’s arms tightened on her. He was well aware that she still had painful injuries that she felt intensely. Danielle walked up to Adele, her chains clanking, she pointed to the pictures on the table. “These were taken yesterday morning. I still have broken ribs and extensive bruising.” She pulled up her sweatshirt to just below her bra, showing Adele her black and blue torso. Then she pulled down the turtleneck she wore under her shirt to expose the hand print shaped bruises around her neck. That got the
Council
’s attention and she regretted showing them her still injured body. Shit! Vampires heal more quickly than she did. They were going to ask questions.

“Why aren’t you healed, child?” Kane asked, stunned.

“I don’t heal as quickly as others,” she didn’t know what else to say.

Donovan
came to her rescue then, “I have been reviewing the photos of you and the ones of Lance’s body. Why do you think it is that you are so battered and the only real injury to Lance was the laceration to his heart and lung? The doctor’s report states a large piece of glass was stuck in his back, causing him to bleed out.”

Danielle walked back to her seat while she tried to think of a reasonable answer. She was scared to death. Even if they acquitted her of this murder, they could still kill her for being a half-human abomination. At least that was what her mother feared. Then, the only explanation she could think of popped into her head and she hoped they would buy it. The whole room was waiting for her answer and her heart was pounding in her throat.

“I have only been able to come up with one explanation. I don’t heal as quickly as others and I am also lacking in speed and strength.” Danielle paused and looked around the room. She was publicly admitting her weaknesses and the differences between herself and the full-blooded vampires she faced. It could be a huge mistake but it was the only way to plead her case.

“On the other hand, I am far more psychically capable than others of our kind. I believe that my telepathic and telekinetic strength caused a deficit in my physical ability.” she speculated.

“So during your altercation with Lance, the only weapon you had was telekinesis?”
Donovan
asked.

“Yes. There was no way I could fight him off physically for very long and there was no way to control his mind. All I could do was hit him with things from the around the room and try to toss him across the room and evade his grip. I was just trying to hold him off until help came. That is, until he said he had had enough foreplay and it was time to take what he wanted before he gave me to his master. When he tried getting my underwear off, I decided that I’d rather die than be raped or let anyone use my power to hurt others. I was so afraid of dying. I put everything I had in me into pushing him off of me. I put my hands around his neck to choke him the way he was choking me and we both hit the opposite wall. He landed on top of me when we hit the floor and I passed out.” Danielle hung her head in shame as the tears she fought won their battle and overflowed in her eyes.

“I didn’t mean to hurt him. I didn’t think I was physically able to do him any harm. I was hoping he would kill me rather than take me away,” Danielle sniffed.

“Mr. Deidrick, what did you find when you and Mr. Vaughn reached the hotel room?”
Donovan
inquired.