None of them stepped in to retrieve their man; in fact, the men had no interest in doing this. "Now I suggest you leave, unless there is anything else you wish to say."
She saw no fear not that she expected any; instead she saw excitement. This man, Luke's father was excited by the kill.
"I see I have underestimated you, we will be back at which time I will take what is mine and maybe something else. Assandra have anything you wish to keep ready, for I will return for you." The insinuation that the something else would be Ellie was obvious.
Sandy stood tall and proud next to Ellie. "Elias, I was never yours by choice and never will be. I have no intention of leaving with you."
"I didn’t say you had a choice, only this time when I take you there will be no leaving."
Both of the men left and Luke grabbed Sandy when she almost fell with the relief of their retreat. Although everyone was in good spirits at the way the scene had played out she could see the anger bubbling inside of Luke, and knew that she wouldn’t be able to contain him for long.
Waiting until Sandy and Claire were asleep she thought her plan through. Making the most of the animals that were plaguing them, she listened for their distress. Keeping her voice down Ellie sat with Luke.
"Here's the thing, we are in their territory with limited information. Your brother is in there somewhere so we need to decide how to play this. If we wait for them, we are giving them an even bigger advantage. Taru, do you know where their home is?"
He nodded. "Of course, it is maybe two hours from here they live in the caves surrounding a gully."
Tell me about the terrain. As Ellie listened Luke watched his woman plot, he had been angry at her for refusing to let him show his identity, but he saw how she had underplayed their advantage.
"Tomorrow we make our way to them, we stake out the layout and prepare to attack. We need the element of surprise here."
Vlad cleared his throat. "I believe you have a good plan as always, however may I make another suggestion?" She nodded so he continued. "Wait for nightfall; we can join you and even the odds."
Shaun punched the air. "Well for sure I had a date, but for you Ellie I would consider cancelling."
Ice pushed him. "You utter fool you have no date, I think that you go to the library when you profess to be going on dates. We are in Ellie, whether you let us or not. Hell I will stay if there's somewhere to sleep during the day."
Vlads offer made Ellie feel somewhat better, as a group they were strong, with the vampires they were a damn sight stronger. "I accept your offer, as long as Ice sleeps at home during the day."
"Agreed, now will you allow me to teleport and do some reconnoitring for you, now that I have seen one of them, I can teleport there."
"As long as you take me with you." Taking his hand Ellie felt slightly nauseous as they materialised near the gully. Looking from above she considered the stupidity, of Luke's father when she saw that they had neatly left themselves open to attack from above, until she realised that there was only one path in and out, the rest was covered in trees and bush making it a thick inhospitable forest. An enemy would be heard trying to fight their way through it.
"Lucky for us, we have an ace up our sleeves."
Vlad appeared momentarily confused. "Ah, I am assuming that would be me."
"You assume correctly, now let’s see where we can launch from." Her voice quietened as they saw maybe a dozen men and women come to meet in the middle where Luke's father waited.
"Get us closer."
"No, this is close enough."
The night was in full force, visibility around them was poor even though she could hear Elias' voice travel, an opportunity had presented itself and she had no intention of passing it up. Moving quietly with her knife ready she slipped in front of Vlad towards the only path.
"For god's sake, Ellie do you have no sense of self-preservation? Come here, we will arrive behind that hut and no closer."
Before she could answer, Vlad teleported them so now they stood behind a hut listening to Luke's father.
"Tonight my mate has returned to our lands, tomorrow night she will return to us. For those of you who remember my eldest and dearest son, I regret to say that Assandra took away his life; she drowned him to cause me pain. My heir is lost, and as punishment she will bear me another. One who is not a disgrace or traitor? Assandra will return, however it will take time for her to leave behind her Western ways, until she has done so, she will not be permitted to speak to anyone. Remember she betrayed us all."
A male bravely stepped forward to face Elias. "The girl betrayed no-one, and I do not believe that her son died to hurt you, that boy had a lucky escape, and one day you will suffer the same fate."
As the hand came up to swipe at him, the man stood eye to eye with his leader and did not move. When he was struck, he refused to look away and bow down even when a second blow landed on him.
"Take him away."
Two burly men stepped forward, and took the man towards the hut where they stood in the shadows. As the door opened, Ellie held her breath terrified that they would be discovered and later thankful when nothing happened.
Pointing at the hut Vlad shook his head. She frowned with her hands on her hips, when Vlad saw her looking around he must have known she planned to get inside the hut with or without his help. As she heard the door lock the men departed, Vlad took her hand and immediately they were inside the hut.
Her eyes widened in bewilderment, although not as much as the two men who were being held in what looked to be tall and thin cages. There would be no room to move, lacking even the room to sit so the men would be here standing continuously. It was its own form of torture, one with the additional bonus of preventing them from shifting as there would be no room for their animals.
The younger man whispered quickly. "I don’t know who you are or how got in here, but you need to leave before they see you."
"Who are you?" Ellie was taking in the room, the sticks stained with blood, the table and chairs that contained spears.
"I am Assaud and you have to go."
"You're Lukes brother."
She should have known, they had the same dark hair and facial structure.
"Luke, how do you know Luke?" Initially confusion flitted across his face before it turned hard.
"Let's get you out of here." Ellie wanted to rescue them now.
Luke's brother spoke. "No leave us here and get my brother away from here, only bad will come to him if he stays."
Her heart was pounding; with Vlad here they could get them both out now. "Vlad take them and come back for me."
The older man disagreed. "If you are here to help and you take us now, you will ruin any chance of ending his reign." The man bleeding from his head was firm in his words, but Assad had a different plan.
"No, this is not your fight you need to leave the forest and take my brother."
Vlad moved to touch the bars until a noise outside startled them, before she had a chance to think they were back in the midst of thick trees and the eerie sounds of the forest.
"What are you doing, take me back?" She was hissing at Vlad, an act of intimidation lost on the man in front of her who had no intention of being told off by a young woman.
"Ellie I will not jeopardise your wellbeing so let me give you some advice. Stop thinking with your heart; start using your head if you want to live through this."
She was furious with Vlad something that was evident in her face; unfortunately, Vlad also had the ability to disappear which he did now leaving her alone in the forest to brood, until she realised that she was in a big and slightly scary forest that had animals she did not want to meet on her own. Trying to get her bearings, Ellie felt a moments panic before a voice reached out to her.
"I believe my strong warrior needs escorting back to camp." Luke was sat against a tree waiting for her with a lazy smile on his face. "Although warrior let us walk."
Ellie looked at her surroundi
ngs apprehensively causing Luke to chuckle. "Come on warrior woman, I will protect you."
He held his hand out to her, a gesture with over a thousand meanings; did she trust him to protect her, would she yield to him, could she allow him to lead her? Her head said no to all, yet her heart said yes so she took his hand. In silence he guided her through the forest and surprisingly she liked the feeling that he was protecting her. For so long she had protected others something she would always do, but maybe she should let someone protect her occasionally.
They rambled through the hanging leaves, and the fallen twigs whilst listening to the sounds around them before they reached a tunnel that wasn’t a tunnel, but a small cave and inside was complete blackness. No light penetrated the vast space until they stepped in further, where there was a small sliver of light slipping in from the roof.
Stepping closer she saw a break in the ceiling where a shaft of light from the moon slithered in to join them, allowing Ellie to see hear surroundings. She looked in awe at a small rock pool of water where the slip of moonlight reflected, giving it an ethereal and inviting glow.
"How?" Though she might have been speaking to Luke she was staring open mouthed at the pool in front of her.
"When I roamed earlier I found this, I looked and saw how beautiful it was and then found myself doing something odd."
Now she turned to him knowing that something profound was going to come from his lips.
"What?"
He took her hands and kissed her softly. "I turned to tell you only to find myself alone."
It had to be one of the sweetest things anyone had ever said to her. "Really."
Her question made him smile. "Really, here's how it is, you are my bodyguard and always will be. From now on where I am you are, and where you are I am, any battles are our battles and any plans are our plans."
For the first time in her life, Ellie felt mushy inside as she listened to this incredible man who was hers. "Is that some sort of proposal?"
He laughed at her before kissing her again. "I am starting to think that you want me to propose. No warrior when and if I propose, you will know, the whole world will know."
Feigning indifference she slipped off her boots under his watchful eye, followed by her top and combats, stood in just her bra and panties she saw the lust in his eyes when she slipped them off. "Maybe I will say no to you, you seem terribly sure Mr Drakos."
Walking away from him with a little wiggle, she stepped into the pool listening to Luke rapidly shedding his clothes. The water was cool in contrast to the humidity of the forest. With the water reaching her waist, she looked up into the moonlight unable to picture a more beautiful place to be.
Luke watched her body glimmer under the natural glow of the moon with her back shimmering from the waters reflection. He joined her, wrapping his arms around her with his chest to her back, nuzzling her neck.
"Well maybe I will have to convince you of how much fun it would be if you were with me forever.
Forever no longer sounded so ridiculous to Ellie.
Chapter 33
They returned to camp only to find Ben and Theo on guard, and while Theo grinned at them with a 'I know what you've been doing' grin, Ben growled and walked off. As she neared Claire's hut, she was stopped in her tracks by the cat from earlier who was not one of the friendly house types. Pulling the knife from her arm, Ellie stepped forward as she prepared to defend herself.
"Here kitty, kitty."
"I don’t think an Ocelot will respond to being called kitty." May's voice came from behind her.
"Ha ha May, hopefully it will respond to my knife." This forest was a pain in the ass; she had no idea what animals were friends or foe.
"Come over here and sit with me, the cat has been there since Claire went to bed. It’s a nocturnal animal that won't hurt you; they tend to eat rodents and lizards. You don’t see them often so it has been pretty amazing to watch."
Rather than turn her back on the cat; she stepped backwards until she reached May and sat next to her on the ground.
"I thought you went home."
May smiled and leaned over to nudge her twin. "I went as far as Beth's where I waited for Vlad to return and made him bring me back."
"Why?" Ellie asked with a sigh knowing why, the draw of the animals, as well as the opportunities the forest could provide would be too much for Ellie.
"Well I have spent my life in awe of this woman who has loved and protected me, someone who has accepted my quirks and pushed me to develop them, someone who has never been jealous or unkind to me and I kind of think that right now, it is time for me to repay some of that. Right now Ellie, you need me which means that I will be here for you."
That was not the response Ellie expected. "May sweetie, as usual I don’t understand what you are saying."
As her twin kissed her on the cheek May continued. "What I am saying is that I have been so lucky to have a sister like you and so proud of everything you have done, but you have always worried me particularly when you keep your distance from people, except for me of course. Anyway, now I see you letting someone in and its lovely to see, except I also know you and know that this must be so scary for you."
Ellie thought about what May was saying. "Actually being with Luke's not that scary it’s the thought of losing him that terrifies me. I don’t like the feeling; it was hard enough protecting you guys. When dad died it was awful, I knew it was my job to protect you and then Connor died, and that loss is something I never wanted to feel that again."
"Protecting us started earlier than that Ellie, I remember when we were in pre-school and the girl with the red hair pulled my hair."
That memory made them both laugh, startling the Ocelot. "That Suzie Stewart, she deserved what she got she's a waitress now."
As May hugged her close, Ellie felt comfort from her twin. "Ellie, I think cutting her pigtail off was maybe more than she deserved, but that was the first time I remembered you protecting me. Do you know what I like about Luke?"
Ellie didn’t have to wait long for May to enlighten her. "He is relaxed where you are intense, he not only makes you smile but he makes you laugh, he adores you and the love I see him offer you fills my heart, but most importantly he protects you."
"That still doesn’t explain why you are here."
"In my head it does. Let me try again, I am going to look after my sister for a change. When you get scared I am going to hug you, when you push Luke away because you are scared I will push you back to him and if anything happens here, I am going to hold you up and keep you safe, and if anyone pulls your hair I will chop off their hair."
She couldn’t help but laugh, although as twins they were so remarkably different they were still best friends, and when her voice quietened to a whisper, May listened.
"What if he gets hurt?"
"Then I will fix him, remember I am a doctor." May was so matter of fact, but so reassuring and confident that it brought tears of relief to Ellie, relief she hadn’t known she needed.
"I love him, May." It was a statement she found hard to verbalise.
"I know you do sweetie and because he has given you that special feeling, I love him too."
Ellie stood, this was too maudlin and she needed to focus again. "May if you are protecting me, who will protect you?"
As May stood she kissed Ellie on the cheek. "Danny of course who else would put up with me? Speaking of whom I believe I am about to be told to go to bed?"
Ellie saw Danny frowning at her sister who waved and started packing her things away; Ellie wandered off needing some time with her thoughts. If she had remained close by she would have heard Ben address May.
"May you are a diamond, your mom would have been proud of you and just so you know I will be protecting both of you."
She would also have heard when Luke came out of his hut and pulled May close. "Thank you; I know how important you are to Ellie."
"And so are you, but please don’t hurt her. If yo
u do, I will send Danny to kill you."
"I won't hurt Ellie, I love her so much and I have no intention of losing her."
Instead, Ellie prowled the perimeter of the camp with Vlad's words rolling round her head. It took her some serious self-reflection before she understood the meaning and promptly started mentally kicking herself. Damn the vampire had to be right, if she stepped back and considered this from a strategic perspective, taking Assad and the old man tonight would have taken away their advantage.
Thanks to her brother in law she could plan, which is how she spent her patrol until the sun broke through the gaps in the trees. Resting as dawn broke, it was only for a few hours before she was roused by the noise of those pesky monkeys, she found Luke sharing a breakfast of fish and berries with Claire and more bloody monkeys.
"Can I just say that I am not a fan of those monkeys, they are loud and annoying and can move quicker than me?"
Lifting her attention from the monkey cradled in her lap, Claire frowned at her. "Ellie they are sweet and cuddly and so cute, this one slept with me last night."
"Better the monkey than the cat I suppose."
Confusion adorned both Claire and Luke's face. "According to May it is an Occie thing."
"Sweet sister, there is no such thing as an Occie thing; however there was an Ocelot guarding your door Claire." May came to join them enlightening Luke and Claire.
Whilst May spent the day grinding up leaves and taking samples, Claire was surrounded by damn animals, it was turning into a zoo. Tau taught Ellie how to make spears and was amazed at her accuracy; she didn’t tell him that she had tried to train with every weapon she could find. Luke it seemed had no aim and was actually a risk to himself which became evident when he nearly poked himself in the eye with a spear.
As afternoon moved in, Ellie braced herself for a fight with Luke. Ben wandered over as she watched Luke climbing trees in his animal form.
Taming the Warrior Page 22