by Ciana Stone
“I’m fine. God! Chelsey! Come on!”
Michael followed her to the far side of the attic. “Help me move these crates!”
He pushed the crates aside and Lyra jerked open the small door to the service elevator. Inside Chelsey was huddled with her knees to her chest. She squeaked in fear as the door opened then uttered a cry of relief when she saw them.
“Oh, thank god! I thought I was going to die in there!”
They helped her out and she rubbed her stiff legs. Michael looked at Lyra. “What happened?”
“I was going into the kitchen and I saw the door handle to the garage door turn so we ran up here and hid.”
“Did you see or hear anything?”
“I heard two men talking,” she said quietly, turning away.
“What did they say?” He grabbed her and turned her to face him.
“They said…” Lyra cut a look at Chelsey and stopped. “I don’t remember.”
Michael noticed the way she wouldn’t look at him and knew she was hiding something. He was about to demand that she tell him but she took Chelsey’s arm and started pulling her toward the door to the stairs. “Come on. Let’s get you into a hot bath.”
Michael followed silently, waiting in the hall as Lyra took Chelsey into one of the bathrooms and helped her into the tub. A few minutes later, she walked out of the bathroom and started down the hall to her room.
Lyra stayed one step ahead of Michael as she went into the bathroom and started picking straw out of her hair. She knew he was waiting for an answer but she wasn’t ready to talk about it. All the time she had laid in the crate thinking that at any moment those men were going to come back for her, one single thought kept running through her mind. If she wasn’t a virgin, she wouldn’t have to be dealing with any of this.
Finally, Michael’s patience ran out. Stalking into the bathroom, he took her arm and pulled her to the bedroom, making her sit on the bed. “Okay, let’s have it. You heard something.”
Lyra looked at him blankly for a moment then sagged and looked down. “Yes. One of them said that if they found the blonde to make sure she wasn’t hurt—that he wanted her unharmed and intact. Then they said they were going to kill the other one and dispose of the body.”
Michael’s face hardened and his eyes blazed. “Is that all?”
She shook her head, still looking down. “When they couldn’t find us they said something about thinking we had sneaked out and they were going to get someone named Carl to check it out because we had to be somewhere on the island, and if they didn’t find us soon they were going to be looking at the sky from the bottom of the marsh.”
Michael sat down and ran his hands through his hair. “Anything else?”
“No.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“No.”
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
“No.”
“Lyra, I can’t help you if you hide things from me,” he said in a gentle tone.
“I’m not hiding anything.” She looked up at him and he could see the fear in her eyes as tears ran down her face. “Michael, what I read—the things Lucius wrote—they’re true. And that monster—that vampire or whatever it is, is here! And insane as it sounds it’s decided it needs me as its sacrificial lamb so it can steal another body. I feel like I’m in a nightmare and I can’t wake up and to tell you the truth I’m so scared I feel like I can hardly breathe.”
Michael put his arms around her and pulled her up next to him. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Lyra. I promise you.”
She looked up at him and dried her face. “Michael, we don’t know how to fight this thing and I can’t let you take the risk of getting hurt, or worse. I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you. You’re too…I mean, I…what I meant is…”
“You have feelings for me?”
Lyra’s eyes popped open wide and her face paled. She had no idea it was so obvious and she had no idea what Michael thought about her feeling that way.
As she stared at him in silence, Michael began to think he had read things all wrong. Feeling a little foolish, he smiled half-heartedly. “Well, are you just going to leave me hanging here by my thumbnails or are you going to answer? Is that it, do you have feelings for me, Lyra?”
Lyra dropped her eyes and took a deep breath then looked up at him. “Yes, I do.”
“You do what?”
“I do—I do care about you,” she said softly. “More than you can imagine.”
“God am I glad to hear you say that.”
“You are?”
“Yes. Haven’t you figured out by now that I’m crazy about you, Lyra? I never thought I’d ever feel this way about anyone again, but you’re like a wish come true. I think I fell in love with you the first time I looked in those big golden eyes.”
“You love me?” she asked incredulously.
“I know that sounds crazy. I mean you’re involved with—oh shit, Nick.”
“And Chelsey. Oh god, you’re sleeping with my best—”
“No, I’m not.”
“You’re not?”
“No. I haven’t had sex with Chelsey.”
“Why?”
“My interest has been elsewhere.”
Lyra could hardly believe her own ears. “Oh, Michael. I don’t know…what I mean is…is…” She sucked in a big breath. “I’ve been trying so hard not to care about you. To not hurt Chelsey or Nick and to be who everyone wanted me to be. But the truth is, the first time I saw you I felt…something.”
“So did I.”
“What do we do, Michael?”
“Well, we start with honesty.”
Abruptly she stood and walked to the window. “This isn’t the time, Michael. We have to find a way to beat this…thing. There has to be a way to destroy it!”
“Much as I’d like to disagree, I can’t. Besides, for the moment it’s enough to know you care. Now, where’s the diary?”
Lyra flew over to the bed and tapped on an ivory panel in the headboard. It swung open and she grabbed the diary, holding it against her heart. “Thank god it’s still here!”
“Pretty cute!” Michael inspected the hiding place. “When did you discover this?”
“When I woke up and knocked my head against it. I had another dream about Lucius.”
“Then I guess we better find out more about what’s in that diary.”
Lyra nodded then remembered Chelsey. “Damn! I have to check on Chels. She’s really shaken up by all this. If you don’t mind could we not say anything about what I overheard today? I think that’d only make her more afraid. In fact, I was thinking that maybe it would be safer for her if we just got her out of here.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Whoever these people are they know you and Chelsey are friends and they could try to use her to get to you. And they won’t think twice about killing her once they get the information they want. I think she’s safer where we can keep an eye on her.”
“But you can’t just stay here twenty-four hours a day guarding us! What about your job?”
“Whose job?” Nick’s voice came from the door.
“Mine,” Michael said and stood. “I’m glad you’re here, Nick. We’ve had more trouble and I need to get to the station and check some things out but I don’t want Lyra and Chelsey to be here alone.”
“What kind of trouble?”
Michael cut his eyes at Lyra just as she slid the diary beneath her robe that was lying on the bed. .
“Lyra will fill you in,” he turned his attention back to Nick.” I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
Nick nodded and Michael cut a look at Lyra. “Nick’ll protect you. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
She nodded and watched him go. Nick walked over to stand in front of her. “Tell me.”
Lyra quickly explained what had happened, finishing with, “And I still think I should just take Chelsey somewhere far away from here. You and Michae
l can’t guard us night and day. You both have jobs and—”
Nick took her hand and pulled her closer. “Listen. Those jobs are nothing. They don’t mean anything compared to you. Besides, thanks to our government I don’t really have to worry about money.”
Lyra’s eyebrows drew together in a frown and she studied his face for a few moments. “You still haven’t told me who you really are, have you, Nick?”
Nick didn’t turn away but his expression changed for a split second. “What makes you say that?”
“I’m not stupid and I know enough to recognize when someone is skirting around the truth. I heard what you and Michael said. I think maybe you’ve been involved in some things that most people would find shocking, even hard to believe, and I think that something happened that hurt you. It must have been something bad and I’m not asking you to tell me anything you don’t want to. But I do think honesty is important.”
Nick looked into her eyes and smiled. “For someone so young and innocent, sometimes you seem as old as time. I do want you to know everything, Lyra. But right now, our plates are kind of full. So, give me a little time and I’ll tell you.”
“Okay, I can live with that. Now, I’m going to check on Chelsey. Would you mind going downstairs and fixing her a drink or something. I think I’m going to put her to bed.”
When Nick arrived with the drink, Lyra was sitting on the bed, beside Chelsey.. . Chelsey’s face was unusually pale and her dark eyes were rimmed in red, giving testimony to the fact she had been crying.
He handed her the drink. “Here, just sip this and try to relax. You’re safe now.”
“How can you say that? We were supposed to be safe all along and look what happened? Those men might have killed us if Lyra hadn’t found safe places for us to hide. And all that fancy security shit didn’t do a thing to stop them!”
Nick’s eyes narrowed at her words and he excused himself to go downstairs. When Lyra finally got Chelsey calmed down and comfortable, she went in search of him. She found him in the storage room off the kitchen going over the alarm system.
“What are you doing?”
“Chelsey was right. Those men should have been stopped at the gate, and if they’d tried to go over the fence, they should’ve been knocked for a loop by the current. But they made it to the house without any trouble. Not only that, they managed to deactivate the alarm so that it wouldn’t alert you or show on the boards at the security office.”
“So you think they knew about the security system and how to circumvent it?”
Nick turned to her with a shake of his head. “No, I think they deactivated it from the security office.”
“But that’s impossible! Isn’t it? I mean, in order to do that they’d either have to break into the office or…”
Her eyes widened and she gasped. “Or they’d have to work there!”
“Bingo!”
“So what do we do?”
“I think maybe there are some clues in Lucius’ diary. I need to read more of it and see what I can find. Then when Michael gets back we’ll come up with some plan for getting into the security office and seeing if we can find out who it was.”
“Nick, I…I’d prefer to read the diary alone.”
“Why?”
“Because Lucius was important to me and he left it to me and I feel uncomfortable letting anyone else read it.”
“He’s dead, Lyra. And if there’s something in what he wrote that can help us put a stop to what’s happening…”
“I promise to let you know anything important I read, but I need to do this alone.”
She thought he was going to argue but surprised her by nodding. “Fine, I’ll go through the security system more thoroughly, and make sure there’s not a problem.”
“Thanks.” She went to her room and climbed on the bed, tossing aside her robe and thumbing through the dairy until she reached where she’d left off.
She followed the body stealer from Romania to Yugoslavia, where he arrived in the early 1400s. He settled in Slovenia, which at the time was under the control of Austria. But he stayed there only a dozen years or so, then moved on to the coastal region of Dalmatia, which is now part of Croatia. At the time, that region was under the control of the Venetians. There he set himself up as Constantine De Gama, thanks to a newly arrived Venetian young man who had been called to Dalmatia to assist in the family business that was flourishing.
Before ten years had passed the de Gama family were all dead and buried, all but Constantine. And he was a very wealthy man. His new following contained wealthy and powerful members of both Venetian and Austrian families and they grew even more powerful in the next three generations under his leadership.
In the year 1519, King Charles of Spain became emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. They controlled a vast amount of Europe, including Italy. Constantine saw new opportunities on the horizon and so set about preparing to leave Yugoslavia. He chose an Austrian count to lead his following in his absence and arranged to have his finances transferred to Italy.
In 1530, Constantine traveled to Italy in the company of a young Count by the name of Christopher Hapsburg. As was customary, by the time the journey was complete, Constantine had taken control of Hapsburg’s body. He sent word to his people in Yugoslavia, giving them the name to have his vast holdings titled under and began insinuating himself with the lords and leaders of the ruling class.
In 1556, Ferdinand I succeeded Charles as emperor and thus the title passed from the Spanish Habsburgs to the Austrian Hapsburgs. This put Christopher in a unique position, for due to his relation to the royal family, his power and influence grew rapidly.
Christopher enjoyed his position for many years. But he cut that particular identity short in 1588 when Philip II launched the Spanish Armada against England. Christopher was too well informed by his network of spies with whom he kept in constant touch to believe that Spain could conquer England at sea. But he did see an opportunity to gain a considerable amount of wealth from the Spanish.
Introducing himself to a wealthy Spanish family, he invited their eldest son to take a holiday in Italy before committing himself to the war against the English. Christopher promised considerable financial support and the family had no intention on losing it. They sent their son, Luis de Balbuena to Italy. Eight months later, he returned to them, informing them that Christopher had died during his visit.
The family was naturally disappointed over the loss of financial support, but continued to stand behind the king. Luis was commissioned command of a ship and, unbeknownst to anyone save a select few followers he had chosen, ladened the ship with gold and jewels. His ship set sail, but did not join up with the Armada. Instead, it sailed to a safe haven where the treasure was hidden in a secure place. Then they joined the Armada in the battle.
The body stealer stayed in Spain for a long time. His name changed from Luis de Balbuena to Lazaro de Valdés in 1680, to Diego Quevedo in 1732. In 1742, he was part of the invasion that met in battle with General Oglethorpe in what was to become known as the Battle of Bloody Marsh. The Spanish were defeated, but this didn’t bother the body stealer for he was in a new and virgin land and there were many opportunities there.
Lyra stopped reading, surprise racing through her. He was here before! She quickly turned her attention back to the diary and turned the page.But instead of another account of the body stealer’s many identities, there was a personal note from Lucius to Lyra.
My dearest Lyra,
I interject this note as a warning and an impetus. From this point on you must pay ever so close attention. Our Adversary’s path has been a long and bloody one and unless you can use this information, he may continue to plague mankind for many generations to come.
I am sure you have asked yourself how I came by this information. In time that will be explained. But for now, you must learn all you can about our common foe. I have no idea what his original name was, my first glimpse of him was that which I related to you i
n the year 1094. He has, however, been alive far longer than that. From what I have been able to gather his origins are the desert lands of the Middle East—in the area of Egypt, I suspect. While I have not, in all my studies, run into any kind of account or mention of his particular abilities, there are historical references to beings such as he. But I stray from my point.
Having no birth name to call him, I myself gave him a name that seems appropriate. I called him Adoul, which in the Arabic tongue means the Adversary.
Now, pay attention, my dear. The year was 1742. General Oglethorpe and his valiant troops had defeated the Spanish in the Battle of Bloody Marsh. What remained of the Spanish troops fled, hiding in the marshlands, trying to make their way out of English-controlled territory and into areas populated by their own.
One Spanish officer did not flee. Instead, he followed the General and his troops back to Fort Frederica. In those days, there was a town around the fort, also named Frederica. Oglethorpe and the colonists he had brought with him in 1736 had established the town, and by 1742 it was thriving nicely.
Adoul, the Adversary, hid himself for several weeks, watching the comings and goings of the townspeople. In doing so, he discovered the existence of the large plantations on the island.
Once a week, several of the plantation foremen would come into town, escorting the ladies of the family to do their shopping. One such family, the Hamilton Baxters, owned a very large cotton plantation on the island. It was midmorning on a Wednesday when the wife of Mr. Baxter, her eldest son, Hamilton, Jr., and her fifteen-year-old daughter Suzanna were driven into town in their luxurious carriage.
Adoul took one look at the strapping young lad and knew he had found his next identity. He followed the road out of town and waited for the carriage to pass on its return trip home. As it rounded the bend, Adoul hid behind the cover of trees and using the last of his ammunition, killed the two men on horseback accompanying the Baxters. Then he jumped out and pointed his empty gun. He ordered the young man and the girl to tie their mother to the wheel of the carriage and hobble the horse. Then he took them into the forest. Two hours later the young Baxter son ran from the woods. He fell down before his mother, babbling so hysterically she could not make out what he was saying.