He did, and within ten minutes he was utterly enthralled. Theo was strong and skilled, yet Ellie matched him in both skill and strength, she was exceptionally strong inhumanly strong.
"How is she that….." He couldn’t take his eyes off of her, he was now following every step, every kick and jab. He wasn’t the only one; a few people had stopped their workout and were actively watching them.
"We are not sure; Lucky has some strong talents one of which is her strength. Ellie has inherited this, although Ellie has surpassed even Luckys abilities. Ellie isn’t finished yet; see the guy over there the one with the dark hair and pale skin." Luke nodded. "That's Darius, he is a vampire and Ellie will fight him next."
"You are kidding, so she takes on a wolf and then a vampire, why?"
Leaning against the wall with his hands folded in front of him, Ben displayed a proud smile directed at Ellie. "At ten years old, I started training her. At twelve, she was pushing me to introduce both weapons and martial arts training. Then at fourteen, I caught Ellie fighting four pups for fun although they didn’t like it when she floored them. By sixteen, she was a key member of my security and was fighting wolves one after the other. When she returned from the Forces her skills had increased, so now if she doesn’t want you to know where she is you won't, but she can take on any man or animal. When she is tense and agitated this is how she winds down, she lets her frustrations out in the ring."
True to Ben's words, she was able to fight the vampire with a strength that was unreal, as with the wolves, there were no injuries yet at the end Ellie looked sated and more relaxed.
Discreetly Ben ushered him out into the dark of night. "That is my girl, she is strong and vibrant, and her mind is extraordinary. Take that from her and I will destroy you."
Ben walked off leaving the warning ringing in Luke's ears. His Jaguar though didn’t feel the need to challenge Ben, but rather he challenged Luke. The years Luke had spent repressing his animal had resulted in an uneasy relationship between them, so now his animal was in agreement with Ben in that, he too didn’t trust Luke not to hurt her.
Chapter 22
The key turning signalled the opening of the door, Tom opened his eyes. "Stevens your bail has been posted."
He sat up in surprise, he hadn’t made his phone call and had no-one that would post bail, well there was one person, but he didn’t want him to know what had happened, he couldn’t know. With a sense of trepidation, he stood leaving with a longing look at the bed and four walls that had provided him with a temporary sense of safety.
The need for a plan consumed his thoughts as he signed his papers, he considered asking the police officers for protection, yet knew it would be futile, he would find him eventually.
"I don’t suppose there is a back door out of here, is there?" That might buy him a little time to think.
"No." The officer was handing him his papers without even looking at him, he was just another person to come in and out of these doors tonight. He didn’t see Mark which was a relief; maybe Mark had been fortunate enough to remain here.
As the door opened, he was slow to make his way down the steps. The cold wind hit his face with a force that made him wish for a thicker coat. Looking left and right, he saw a few parked cars and the odd person walking a dog. With a longing he hadn’t felt in years he made a decision, he wanted a normal life, a house, wife and kids. To get that he needed to go straight and to do that he needed to get out of New York before the boss got wind of his failure.
With his head down he rushed away from the police station, hoping to have enough time to grab his things and leave, for the first time since this debacle had started, he felt a little blossom of hope. It was short lived.
As he passed the black town car, the door swung open. "Get in Tom."
Damn he knew that voice; there was no point in running he could see the driver's sick grin just waiting for him to run. Bending to climb in, he was dismayed to see Mark there already sporting a gigantic smile.
"Tom you fool, sitting in there for hours when all you had to do was call the boss."
Why hadn’t he thought of that, oh yes that's why, he actually wanted to live through the rest of the night. With a sigh, he settled into the seat.
"Yes Tom why didn’t you call me." He didn’t need to answer, the boss carried on talking. "Clearly you two need to lay low for a while so I am going to take you somewhere discreet. You can return when this is over."
Again Tom didn’t answer or make comment; he did see Mark nodding in happy agreement. When the car stopped he was slightly shocked to find the them outside what appeared to be an abandoned church, he didn’t even know what part of the city they were in, wherever it was it was old, run down and seemed eerily deserted. Looking around, he tried to identify the location instead all he saw were old buildings made of crumbling brick and boarded windows.
The driver opened the door whereby the scent of the man hit Mark, a sweet yet sickly smell emanated from a big, ugly brute of a guy. With a beanie hat pulled low, the man didn’t speak though Mark noted that his eyes were green, only it was not just the iris but the whole eye ball. Just being in this man's presence made Mark feel nauseous.
"Tom my friend, do not worry I am taking you to a haven of sorts." Mark didn’t believe him and looked at how he could escape; the gun in his back took all options away.
"Boss, why do you need a gun?" Mark was truly a dumbass, he had no idea of the danger they were in.
"Mark, it seems that Tom does not trust me which means that I need to ensure he does not jeopardise our plan."
As they entered the old building through a side door, the ominous feeling magnified. Made of dark stone the structure in the deep night seemed tall and foreboding, the stain glass windows depicted scenes of anguish rather than light and joy. An alter was set in the middle of the room with chairs circled round the outside. In front of the alter sat stone slabs with a pentagram marked in chalk, at two of the points of the pentagram sat hand sized precious stones, one red, and one green.
They walked through the church where they were ushered down some steep steps into a dark, damp basement with only a candle for light. Turning to the boss he was relieved when the door shut behind them. Left alone to survey their surroundings they found some bread and water and a couple of sheets on the floor. Moving up the steps he tried the heavy metal door only to find it locked which he had expected.
Though Mark was agitated Tom was relieved, this was better than he expected although he was not sure what he had expected. After exploring the small room and finding a bucket was the only other thing of note he extinguished the candle to Marks annoyance. The lighter in his pocket would allow them to light it later.
Chapter 23
The following weeks could only be described by Ellie as bizarre and at times down right uncomfortable. She disliked the constant photographers trying to capture her image, she hated the way people jumped at Luke's words, and she detested his manager who proceeded to ogle her regardless of her rude looks at him. She did however, love listening to Luke singing in the recording studio, watching the tireless way he strived for perfection, she enjoyed the company of Adam his producer and she loved how hard Luke worked. It reduced her perception that he was spoilt and annoying; she also enjoyed talking with Luke and spending time with him regardless of what they were doing.
Over these weeks, Luke had made a show of her to the public by pushing her to attend a ridiculous number of functions arranged by his manager. The constant socialising was to Ellie, more exhausting than running her business and her daily training. Luke though took it all in his stride and at times she wondered whether his smile had been surgically enhanced for her own mouth ached from the constant grinning.
Now her time as his public image girlfriend was coming to an end, they were set to fly to his mother's after Claire was discharged in the morning and Ellie was more than a little nervous. The chemistry between the two of them was increasing, Luke still riled Ellie and she still responded tho
ugh they both accepted that something would happen between them eventually. There had been nothing sexual between them, but it was coming and the waiting was sending Ellie into a spin. She hoped that Claire's presence would settle things and prevent anything more from developing.
Now she stood in her childhood bedroom as she packed the belonging she would need for the next few weeks, Ethan wandered into her room watching intently.
"Hey El, how long will you be gone for?" His face was pensive; his movements slow telling Ellie that he had something on his mind.
"Not long, a couple of months I think, why?" She stopped her packing and sat on the floor so she was staring up at him as he sat on the bed.
"I just wondered. Urr will Luke return with you?"
Now she knew where he was heading, over these last few weeks she and Luke had spent a lot of time here. Luke had in turn spent a lot of time with Ethan, though she was unsure of what they did together she was aware that they went for long walks. From that, Ethan had finally told Ben about his wolf already being with him. Initially Ben was astounded, even more so when Ethan wanted to keep it quiet rather than debating the potential strength he would develop, but he had respected Ethan's wish and only a few close pack members knew what was happening to her baby brother. Since then, Ben had spent more time with the boys, Theo had started Ethan's training and Leyland, Ben's dad, had spent more time conferring with Zachariah the pack elder.
Ellie had spent several hours in deep conversation with them while each tried to fathom why the boy's strengths were so prominent at an early age. Although the main focus was Ethan, it was obvious that Oli's brute strength was developing at a phenomenal rate, and Logan's ability to see what shouldn’t be seen was becoming more prominent making everyone a little uneasy. Though no-one was freaking out, they didn’t just assume it was a positive thing, they only they hoped it was a good thing. Ellie had found her mom watching the boys closely searching for any signs that something was seriously wrong. Their aunt Morgan was a strong witch whose gran could see the future, however in this case she saw nothing that would help them so now it was a waiting game.
There was an order in life, and the wolf one was clear, pups developed their wolves at different stages though always during adolescence. None had been able to recall an instance where the wolf was there from birth, all agreed that the wolf must be damn strong so all feared that it would consume Ethan at some point. This also raised fears in relation to when the shift would start for Ethan, the first one was agony and to suffer this at an early age was incomprehensible, the trauma could be immense.
With all of that going on, Luke had become something of a mentor to Ethan which he knew made Ellie uncomfortable.
"I imagine he will, but I will no longer be working with him. Oh before I forget, he asked me to give you this." She pulled the box from her bag and handed it to him, and while she didn’t know what it contained, Ben did. Ethan didn’t open it instead he kept staring at the box.
"I like you working with him; he makes you smile a lot." Did he, Ellie hadn’t noticed that.
"While Silver's will still be providing him with security, but I will need to step back and deal with the rest of the clients."
Ethan was so deep in thought that he didn’t speak when he left the room. Ellie's heart went out to him, he must be so confused. Her mom and Ben were a little concerned about her going off with Luke on her own, though Ben was reassured about her safety when she confirmed that she had arranged the travel plans and the security rather than allowing Luke to do this.
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Luke's emotions were all over the place, one minute he was excited at the prospect of returning home and seeing his mom even though he was uncomfortable with Ellie making the travel arrangements, then he was nervous about meeting Claire and then he was horny as hell.
Luke was unsure which of his conditions affected him the most, seeing Ellie every day was frustrating, but not seeing her was worse. He trusted Ellie to keep his mother's address a secret so that was a mild one, it was meeting Claire that was undoing him. What if she didn’t like him, what if she pushed Ellie away from him? With his mind racing, and his emotions swirling around his stomach, he paced the room.
The only dependable thing right now was his Jaguar; since he had started to allow him freedom at Silver's he was more settled and less domineering. May had a friend teach him some relaxation techniques that had helped settle him at night, she had also concocted some herbal tea that allowed his Jaguar to relax and retreat when Luke needed him to.
As the door opened, and Eric joined him in the lounge room Luke made a show of relaxation. Eric had been somewhat agitated by Luke's continued involvement with Ellie. Luke saw no problem, he attended all of his arranged engagements, business had continued as usual only now he had Ellie as company.
"Well, it seems that I have finally found you alone. Where's Ellie, her men are outside?"
"Collecting her things."
Eric's face brightened interpreting Luke's words wrongly. "Wow man that must be galling, but you know what they say 'plenty more fish in the sea'."
Luke was about to rip into him, when the door opened to admit Ellie who appeared to be both pissed off and worried until she saw Eric, at which point she smiled seductively at Luke and came to him to give him a hug.
As her arms wrapped around him, his nostrils were taken over by the scent of Jasmine which strengthened as he leaned towards her neck.
"We leave in an hour." The words whispered in his ear tickled yet he squeezed her butt using Eric as an excuse to touch her a little more intimately. She in turn swiped at him a little too hard almost causing him to wince.
"Eric mate, can you give us some privacy please?" Not taking the hint, Eric started towards the doors to the pool until Ellie coughed.
"I think Luke meant full privacy, he likes adventure so it's safer to have the suite free." With a shrug, she made to remove her sweater encouraging Eric to leave. By the time he left, Eric was somewhat put out and Luke was confused with her overplay of intimacy.
With her finger to his lip in a playful suggestion of seduction for Eric's benefit, Luke opened his mouth letting her finger be drawn into it. When the door closed on Eric, she whipped her finger away as though she had been burnt. Staring at each other, the tension mounted and the atmosphere built.
"Ellie."
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she stopped him. "Don’t Luke; don’t make things change between us. I like being friends; I like your company so don’t push for more. I need to get changed and collect Claire, they are releasing her now."
As she marched to her bedroom with her heart pounding through her chest, Luke's next words stopped her this time. "Ellie you're running away, you don’t have to be scared."
She leaned her head against the door frame. "I know exactly what I am doing, and yes I do have to be scared." As she faced him with her eyes open wide, she told him what was running through her head.
"Do you realise that you can have almost any woman in the world, you want me because I am unobtainable. What happens when I am not, and at the end because there will be an end, you will continue with your lifestyle that gets you whomever and whatever you want. And me, well I won't even be able to ignore you because you are every bloody where. So I have the right to be scared."
Luke's words were quiet. "Why are you so sure it would end?"
"This isn’t a fairy tale where the handsome prince gets the poor girl, and they live happily ever after. Luke you talk about me running away, but you do the same. This fame is something alien to me; it makes me uncomfortable and probably always will so how would that work, it wouldn’t? I am fiercely independent and would not take kindly to having people tell me what to do, and while I know you wouldn’t, the people around you would. I would constantly hear, dress in this, go to this place, smile this way etcetera, etcetera. It just wouldn’t work."
She walked away from him, leaving him wishin
g that he hadn’t pushed the matter. Muttering, "You might be wrong Ellie." He contemplated her words. Could he leave it, he genuinely wasn’t so sure she was under his skin, and he no longer knew how he to function without her in his life. Maybe he just had to prove to her that it could work.
With tears on her face as she changed, Ellie felt somewhat bereft even though she didn’t understand why. She had made her point, Luke would back off which is what she wanted, but now the words were out she felt as though she had lost something she had never had.
Cleaning her face and giving herself a pep talk, she grabbed her bag as her stomach gave a quiver of excitement at the thought of collecting Claire. Luke was waiting when she left the bedroom.
"I am going to collect Claire, apparently someone needs to sign her out, are you sure this is okay with you?" She wasn’t too adept at allowing someone else into her family.
"Of course it is, and I will sign Claire out Ellie. Considering you have been sneaking in under the guise of being a therapist, how do think you will be able to sign her out."
That stopped Ellie; she hadn’t thought of that and mentally kicked herself for it.
"Well you can't, everyone will know who you are and then know about Claire."
Luke laughed. "You aren’t the only one who can sneak around, I have been doing this job long enough to have learned some things. Wait there."
He left the room and Ellie flounced on the sofa, she could call Vlad, but he didn’t like deceiving Beth as it was. There was Ice who worked for the master vampire and had been teleported in by Vlad to soothe Claire, yet she dismissed this, the man might have the voice of an angel but the interpersonal skills of a grumpy bear which meant that although Ellie liked him, the clinic may not. Waiting for Luke, she made the decision to call Ice, until Luke stepped out of the room.
Dressed in a suit, he looked handsome and hairy with a beard, a convincing one. His eyes were now a deep blue and the glasses gave the air of an older male but not Luke. She was staring open mouthed.
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