“I tell you, I saw her go in here. She’s like trying to catch a fart in the wind.” The man speaking looked around, then back at the person who’d not come through the open door yet. “She’s not in here. I don’t know why you’re so worried about her. We don’t have any way of keeping her from finding out she’s been tagged to be killed by you.”
Don didn’t move when the man’s companion came into the room. Not a person as he’d thought, but Cody, CJ’s faerie. CJ looked up at him when Cody went to sit on the shoulder of the first man.
“I have to tell you, I’ve enjoyed giving her false hope that no one will find her. Also, you do know that if she goes to the queen, it’s going to be all over for us. She’ll get the magic she has coming to her, and we’ll be out of luck in doing much more than just taking her.” The man asked Cody what he meant as he opened and closed the drawers the bodies were cooled in. “She’ll get all this special power. I thought for sure we had the wrong person when she never seemed to use anything but just mundane magic. But then she met her mate, and it was like she’d been pulled from darkness, and there it was for me to see. I cannot wait for her to be gone from my life. I like her, don’t get me wrong, but she’s nothing compared to the queen.”
“You’re sure you have the right woman, right?” Cody said he was ninety-nine percent sure of it. “Yeah, well, it’s the one percent that worries me. What if, by that small margin, she’s the wrong chick? Do you think the queen will give us what we want because we have this person she’s related to? Then she finds out it really isn’t? That worries me more than anything. Then there is what my boss will say.”
“I’ve yet to meet him. Is he as badass as everyone says?” The man said it was a woman he worked for. “A woman? Well, I guess they are as smart as men when it comes to planning things. I just want to get this over with and move on. I’ve found me a person I can live with, and she and I are going to go all the way across these states and never return. Not that I could, but you never know what sort of fun I can get into elsewhere.”
“She’s not so bad, I guess. I mean, I’ve worked for a— Here he is.”
The drawer was opened all the way, and Don could smell the vampire on the body. Asking CJ if it was the man from the jail, she didn’t take her eyes off the two in the room with them. Shaking her a little, she turned to him, and he could see the tears in her eyes.
To be betrayed was one thing. But to be deceived by someone you thought of as your friend was something else altogether. Cody and CJ had been together for a long time, he thought, and to find out now it had been a setup from the beginning would have hurt him as well. He held her tighter when the man picked up the body and put it over his shoulder to leave.
“I’ll just have to dispose of this body, then I can work on the things I’ve been assigned for CJ. Why do you think taking her mate is going to do anything to her? I mean, from what I’ve heard all her life, she’s nothing but a hardass that needs to be put down.” When she started to move toward to the two men, he had to hold her tightly. Telling her they’d plan something for them had her calming down. “I think she has a nice body, but nothing more than that. I’d have to make sure to tape her mouth up when I fucked her so she’d not be bitching the entire time.”
Taping up your mouth would take away the greatest pleasure I’ve ever known. She was hurt, and he knew it. Cuddling her into his arms, he explained to her what he was going to do to the other man as soon as he caught up with him. So you see, it’s a good thing you came here to ask me a question. We might not have known to what extent things are for the two of them.
Cody is going to die. The other man as well, but Cody is mine to kill. Don said he would allow her to face him if she promised to wait for him to take care of the other things first. I need you to be caught by them.
Why? She explained to him the plan that was working in her head. I see. I get kidnapped so you can show them what a real bad person you are. She told him she was a badass. Yes. Well, pardon me for that. But I know your ass intimately, and there is not a thing wrong with it as far as I can see.
The two of them watched the men, following them out of the hospital and to a van he took down the license plate for. He didn’t care that they stole the body he’d been there to look at, but it did bother him that CJ was so hurt. Don reached out to Bancroft to let him know what was going on. He, too, was hurt that Cody was in on this scam.
Are you with them now? Don told him they were following them to see where this led. You let me know, and I’ll be there to help. I know CJ has her army, but this is personal now. I want them to suffer, and I’m sure she won’t do that. To think that— We’ll have to tell Melisandre too. She’s not going to be very happy.
Not yet. Bancroft asked him why not. I don’t know yet, but I did just have a thought that she might be the big boss ordering things around. While I’m not sure that is possible—she did give us the magic that would make us immortal, but I don’t know for sure that she even did that. It bears a little thought. Don’t you think?
Christ, I hope you’re wrong. He said he did as well. All right. Then who do you think we should notify? I’m not going to be in hot water over not informing someone of what we think is happening. Anyone.
Aurora. She is the queen of just about everything to do with the earth, correct? That seemed to satisfy both of them. She’s been around for a long time, so far as we know. Not to mention there doesn’t seem to be any connection between her and CJ. I don’t know that I trust anyone at this moment, but like you said, we have to do something.
In the end, Bancroft was going to contact Aurora. Neither of them knew the woman—just who she was really. She’d been around, they knew, for a very long time. But since they’d never had a reason to contact her, he supposed they’d not gotten on her radar. Yet, anyway.
Don and CJ followed the men to a place in the middle of a great field. Once there, the body was removed, then put into the house. CJ stayed with the two of them while Don made his way to the large open area that smelled of death.
Bancroft. I need you to come to me now. And if you have contacted Aurora, it might be a great idea to have her come along with you. He asked him what he’d found. It might be better if you were to just come to me. This is bad. Really bad.
Aurora appeared first. Then Bancroft. They all stood there, looking into a manmade cavern filled with bodies. Not just of humans, though there were a lot of those, but faeries as well. Don wasn’t sure what was going on, but he had a feeling the shit was just about to hit the fan, and he was thrilled to death that he wasn’t going to be on the receiving end of the wrath that was coming off the two super-beings standing beside him.
Don, they’re on their way out of the house with the body. They’ve cut out his heart for some reason. He might not have known before this meeting, but he had a feeling he could guess now. It would be proof that not only was the man dead but also that they’d killed him. I’m not sure what is going on.
Come out here, love. I’m thinking we’re about to get a lesson in superpower between a king of vampires and the queen of the earth. She asked him if he was drunk. No. But for the first time in my entire life, I surely wish I was.
Chapter 6
Melisandre moved through her world to the one where her queen was living. It was nice to be there. No pressure for her to be working all the time. Also, since she’d first been promoted to being the queen of faeries, she’d been enjoying herself with the perks that came with her job. Like being able to go to different parts of the world without any trouble from other beings that would beg her for help. They didn’t know her and therefore knew nothing about her position to the queen.
Being summoned this late in the day was concerning, but whatever the queen wanted, she got. Smiling to herself, she sat down on the sofa when she was shown to the room in which she was going to talk to her. A cup of tea appeared in front of her, as well as some lavender c
ookies, her favorite. Queen Aurora appeared a few seconds after she’d drank her first cup of tea.
“I hope you’re well, Melisandre.” She said she was and was glad to be invited to her home. “You’re very welcome. I have a great many things I want to talk to you about. The tea that you’ve drank had a potion in it that will require you to tell me the truth. Now. What are you doing with Cody and a man named Benson?”
Melisandre nearly swallowed the bite of cookie she had in her mouth whole. Choking a little, she watched her boss as she sat there without any qualms about letting her cough her head off. She was terrified at that moment, more than she’d ever been.
“While I know Cody and that he belongs to CJ, I’m afraid I don’t know who Benson is.” Aurora said for her to think hard. She did, too, trying to remember anyone she might have contact with that would go by that name. “I’m very sorry, my queen, but I don’t know anyone by that name. If you could let me see his face, that might help.”
The man appeared in front of her. The shape his body was in startled her somewhat. He’d been torn up. She’d bet anything that he’d suffered greatly and that his death hadn’t been quick. Studying his face hard, she knew whatever her answer was for this question would be a matter of life and death. More importantly, her life and death.
“I’ve seen him before. With Cody. Now that I think on it, I’ve only seen him a handful of times, but never with anyone but Cody.” She looked at Aurora when the body disappeared. “I’m assuming he’s done something with Cody or to CJ. I want you to know I had nothing to do with whatever it was.”
“I know that now. However, I will tell you there are many clues out there that led right to your doorstep.” Melisandre thought about the body she’d seen and the reason she’d been brought here. She asked Aurora if she thought she’d done something wrong. “Not now, no. But I was going to kill you if what I’d been led to believe was true.”
Melisandre didn’t know what to say to that. Aurora was the only one that could kill her. She didn’t even have to justify it to anyone, as she was the only being that everyone answered to. When offered another cup of tea, she declined it. Not because she thought it might be poisoned, but because she’d lost her appetite for anything right now.
“I’m not going to do it.” Melisandre thanked her. “No. I must thank you for being honest. I didn’t put anything into your drink. You had to know that as well.”
“I never thought about it. Honestly, I wasn’t even thinking I could be in trouble like this until you mentioned Cody. I have been having some issues with him. Not bad things, but he’d not come to me when it was— I just had a thought. Does CJ know he’s been caught at whatever is going on?”
“She killed him.”
Nodding, Melisandre shivered. The look of the body came back to her, and she knew that whatever CJ had done to Cody was going to be a thousand times worse. Looking at the queen when she said her name, Melisandre was suddenly sick. It only took a touch from Aurora to make her illness disappear.
“She made his death something that all will think about when they think to go against what I have decreed a law. Keeping the kiss of Bancroft safe is something that has been in place for many decades. Longer, I think, than even you’ve been alive.”
“Thank you.” Aurora moved back to her seat across from her. “May I ask who you might think has made this my fault? I’m assuming I wasn’t the only one that was supposed to be guilty.”
“I haven’t any idea at the moment. CJ, she’s working on it. I don’t think whoever she catches at this will live long. And if they do, they will wish for death with every breath they take.” Melisandre had seen CJ at work once. She’d taken on a troll that had— “You’ve thought of something.”
“The troll overlord. I think his name is River.” Aurora said she knew of him. “Several months ago—I don’t think it’s been quite a year now—he came to me with news about someone polluting his waterways. I did go and see to it but found nothing that hadn’t been left behind by his people. But he insisted someone was making sure they could no longer live near the water. I sent CJ there. She…to be honest with you, I believe she only told me it had been taken care of. Nothing more was spoken about it, as I had been working on the fields for the spring. Yes, that’s it. Springtime. I was so busy, but I did make sure he had someone looking around.”
“Did you ask CJ about it more than her telling you it was taken care of?” She said she’d only just remembered. But she had trusted her judgment on it. “I would have too, to be honest with you. She’s never let us down before. All right. I will call her here. I would like you to remain so you can work out with her what happened. But I must ask, what made that thought pop into your head?”
“I don’t know. At the time he came to me, he was very angry. He was telling me all kinds of stories about how his mate had been murdered. That the person who had done it had been harassing his people for a long time. Since I know nothing about the trolls, and he told me that none of my faeries did it, I told him he’d have to take care that it was looked into himself.” Aurora again agreed with what she’d done. “I never thought to go back and get information from either him or CJ. Do you think that’s important?”
“We’ll see.” CJ appeared in the room with them, and she knew immediately that there was something different about her. Not magic—she would have a great deal of it now that she was mated—but there was something different about her that she couldn’t put her finger on. “Come here, child. I have some questions that need to be put before you. I’m hoping with your help, we can narrow this down a little more.”
“I hope I’ve not offended you, Melisandre. I meant no harm to you or yours but was only following the clues we had.” She told the younger woman that she would have done the same if she had all the information leading to her as well. “Thank you for that.”
After reminding CJ about the troll and what had happened, CJ stood and stretched out her wings. Melisandre was suddenly jealous of her. Whatever had happened to CJ in the last few days, it had made her far superior even to her. It was then that she saw her sigil. It moved all over her body. It wasn’t until she turned back to them that she could pull her eyes away from the movement.
“It’s like a filing cabinet for my past deeds. I only need to think of what I might have done, and my body finds it for me.” She smiled at her, but again, it was the difference that startled her. CJ now had fangs. Long thin ones that Melisandre was sure she didn’t get from her mate. “I’m evolving, I was told. Into what? No one seems to know. But I feel stronger daily. The troll. I went to see him and his mate’s body. She was no more dead than I am. However, I said nothing to him at the time, and he seemed to think I wasn’t believing him.”
“He said she’d been killed by the pollution of his waterway.” CJ said that was what she’d been told as well. “Then I don’t understand. I believe you told me it had been taken care of. What happened?”
“He confessed to me—not that he wanted to—but he said he’d killed his own mate, and this was her sister. He liked her better anyway. Since I know for a fact that he broke about fifty laws, even for his kind, I put him in prison.” Aurora asked if that had been the end of it. “I thought so at the time. The sister was also imprisoned, but since I could find no clues that told me she had anything to do with her sister’s death, she was released a few days later. Could she be the one making all these threats to my family?”
“I’ll figure this out.” The troll was suddenly in the room they were in. The guards around her were holding onto chains made of the purest diamonds. The only way to hold a troll’s magic was this way. Her mouth had been covered with a mask made of ground diamonds as well, so she couldn’t cast a spell if she knew one. “Beatrice Troll, what do you have to say for yourself concerning the threats put on the life of Circe Jane Montgomery Steele?”
Melisandre nearly asked who Steele was when she realize
d it was the name Donald had adopted when he needed a last name. She didn’t think she’d ever heard it before. The troll snarled at the three of them before she was allowed to speak.
“I know not a thing which you are talking about.” Beatrice looked at her. “She should be in prison for all she’s done to our family. Then this one,” nodding at CJ, “this magical beast should be given to us so we might extract payment for how we’ve been treated.”
“Payment for what? Don’t lie to me.” CJ’s wings didn’t just spread out behind her, but she moved in a way that lifted her off the floor, a foot or two about the head of the troll, which was quite a feat. The troll was twelve feet at least. “Tell me the truth, and I’ll make your death quick.”
“My death? You have no right to kill me. Not a smidgen of information that will lead back to me. You’re the one that should be dead. Not my mate.” CJ looked at Melisandre as she raised her hands above her head. Melisandre had the information before Beatrice spoke again. Standing, she told them what she knew.
“River was killed three days ago when Bea tried to get him out of prison. The wall that she’d been pushing against gave way under her weight, and it fell upon him. However, it should be noted that he was never her mate and that he wasn’t the only one that killed Sal, Bea’s sister. Bea led her to her death as surely as I’m standing here.” CJ asked Bea if that was true. Since no one could lie to CJ, Bea gleefully said she’d helped River drown her. “She murdered two people. Plus, there was a babe that Sal was carrying when she met her death. Three deaths are now upon her shoulders.”
“You can’t count Sal’s death against me. You have already declared that River did it.” The laughter was much like nails down a chalkboard. CJ was the only one in the room that didn’t seem bothered by it. “And since I’m stating now that River’s death was wholly an accident, then you must believe me. I didn’t love him, but he was good to me. Not like you are.”
Donald: Dalton’s Kiss: Vampire Paranormal Romance (Dalton's Kiss Book 3) Page 9