Unfortunately, the child had the blood of the vampire running through her, and Anna determined not to lose Agnes’ child to the undead. Conjuring a powerful enchantment, Anna Kinnell had gambled it all, summoning the Fates to bargain for the child’s second Fate. The risk had played out in her favor all these years, until Cael Maccinnis began the Awakening that brought the house of cards crashing down around them all. Now her niece would become one of the undead, and her daughters might end up as changelings. All her planning and sacrifice had come to naught. Anna didn’t care what happened to her. She deserved everything these blood sucking fiends would do to her. Her children did not. Defeated, Anna accepted her failure, ready to face what the Fates would deal in her final hand.
“Girls,” Anna said sorrowfully, “I am sorry.”
She disappeared with the female vampire before Brooke or Lara could reply. The girls looked at one another, solidarity exchanged in their brief connection. Brooke smiled, ever defiant in the face of danger, disappearing in the arms of the male. Lara closed her eyes, awaiting the moment she’d see her mother and sister again.
*
Rapidly, words tumbled out, fear urging her explain quickly.
“You thought of us, of this room, and materialized?” Eagen asked with incredulity. “We have protection spells to prevent just that, Rowan. Are you telling me that you managed to override the power of ancient magic?”
“I…I don’t know how it happened,” she stammered. “But it’s the truth. I did it with no help from anyone.”
A bit of pride could be discerned in her voice.
Eagen scoffed, pacing the floor in anger.
“Rowan is a friend of Cael Maccinnis, brother,” Ewan made intercession on her behalf. “Perhaps she…”
“Do not, brother,” Eagen put up his hand in protest of the tempering speech his twin was sure to set upon him.
Rowan shook, her trembling visible. She was afraid, but she was angry too.
“Cael needs your help!” Rowan exclaimed. “I’m here because you are the only people I trust to get him a message safely. And I don’t have time to wait. Every minute that ticks by, Cael and the half-born vampire are closer to danger.”
Eagen raked a hand over his military style buzz cut. The tan button down shirt hung open over his white t-shirt and dark denim as he paced the floor, indecision showing in his demeanor. Ewan behaved in opposite fashion, sitting with relaxed posture on the white leather sofa, smiling.
“Cael Maccinnis is an ancient, Rowan of Clan Maceoghan. He can take care of himself. Why is our involvement necessary? Maybe he already knows of the plot against him.”
“That was my first thought, Eagen. But I don’t think Rowan would be here if she did not believe Cael was in real danger.”
The brothers traded thoughts and ideas back and forth, ignoring Rowan. Finally, Eagen turned to her.
“Give us the message. I will get it to him. But you stay with us until this whole mess is sorted out. Got it?”
Rowan smiled more than she wanted to. Her friend would get the message she was desperate to get into his hands.
“Gladly,” she answered, confident now that things would work out fine.
She had nothing to hide and everything to gain. The Garrow brothers would deliver, of that she had no doubt.
*
Two days, as best as Brooke could tell, had passed since they’d been taken from their mother’s home. She remained in the dark room, the crack under the door letting in the only light she’d seen. Twice, the lights outside the door had gone off and the door had been opened, a tray of food and water pushed inside. Chained to a metal pipe of some sort, Brooke was able to move a short distance, enough to reach the half bath with its glow in the dark night-light.
With no idea of what these vampires intended to do with her or her family, and having had no contact with her mother or sister, Brooke Kinnell broke, letting silent tears fall unhindered. She’d hoped at least to have gone out fighting. This was the worst case scenario. Nothing. She’d done nothing. Alone in the dark, she cried. This isolation, not knowing, was worse than torture for Brooke.
Vampires.
She’d kill every last one of them if freedom was ever hers again. Except Paige. And the man – well – the vampire who’d saved them all from being a part of the tragedy at the airport. Cael. Paige loved him. Damn. This was more complicated than Brooke wanted it to be.
Footsteps outside the room brought Brooke back to the present, to her situation. She returned to the corner, afraid to be near the door when it opened. She lifted her chain from the floor quietly, concealing her position within the room. Luckily, the blanket spread on the floor muffled the chain’s scrape as she moved across the wooden planks. The lights went out, as usual, a minute before the door’s creak alerted Brooke that it was opening.
She couldn’t see in the pitch black. The only illumination came from the bathroom night-light’s glow, and that did not help her. The clank of a chain, not her own, sounded against the metal radiator pipe that held her chain’s end, and Brooke made out the muffled cries of another woman, maybe her sister or mother. A minute later the door closed, leaving her in the room with the new prisoner.
Her eyes adjusted slowly as the now familiar light seeped under the door crack, and when she could discern the other woman’s place in the room, she spoke in a hushed whisper.
“Are you there?”
A ripping sound mingled with pained cries delayed the reply.
“Brooke? Is that you?”
“Oh my God! Lara?”
The two women found one another, clinging together as tears fell quietly.
“Where have they been keeping you?” Brooke asked her sister. “Have you seen or heard Sissy?”
Her sister shook her head.
“No. I haven’t seen or heard anything but the vampires since we got here. I was in a room just like this one, alone.”
“Me too,” Brooke agreed. “I haven’t heard or seen anything. I was beginning to lose all hope!”
“Maybe we should tell them all we know,” Lara said softly amongst her sobs. “I just want to get out of here.”
“I know you do,” Brooke soothed her twin, “but telling is impossible!”
Lara didn’t answer right away sitting in the quiet darkness. Brooke wondered at her twin’s reaction.
“Lara,” she prodded, “you would actually tell if you could?”
Brooke doubted her sister would ever do such a thing.
“I don’t know anymore, Brooke,” she said regretfully. “We are going to die here if we don’t. I’m not ready to die.”
“Don’t think that way. You heard the woman vampire. We’re going to be bait, whatever that means, so they can get Paige. We’re not going to die just yet.”
“And then?” Lara asked.
“We’ll think of something before that happens,” Brooke assured her.
Piling the blankets and snuggling together the sisters slept, Brooke’s dreams filled with images of escape and revenge.
*
Conrad swept his hand across the entryways, masking the presence of vampire to any who may be interested in finding them. He would not underestimate Maccinnis, no matter Gwendolyn’s confident boast that he remained unaware of their plans. Gwendolyn was too confident, and that made her a liability. He smiled, recalling the fucking they’d engaged in before she transformed herself into the likeness that would ensure Maccinnis’ demise.
Gwendolyn excelled at a few things, he admitted to himself. Too bad she wouldn’t live on to continue pleasuring him. She would have made a nice addition to his collection. Shaking aside carnal thoughts, Conrad concentrated on the plan. Without drawing the Cael out from his hiding place, all their work could come to naught. He had to capture the half-born and hand her over to the Fates before her transformation was complete. An unsettled feeling crept up his spine over the length of time this was taking. The sooner he found the sacrificial lamb, so to speak, the better.
Of course he’d have to get rid of Kaiden, and the lovely Gwendolyn, whose expert mouth he’d miss. There would be none left to accuse him once his goals were achieved, no skeletons such as his involvement in using Gwendolyn all those years ago to divert Cael from his maneuverings to gain the Council seat.
Rose MacAllister.
What a brilliant idea that had been. And Gwendolyn hadn’t minded sharing Cael’s bed to distract him one bit. Once the game was won, they simply tricked Maccinnis into believing that Rose had been left out to the dawn. It hadn’t been difficult. Cael had been distraught over little Rose’s disappearance, spent so much time and energy looking for her abductors. Things had turned out better than Conrad ever dared hope. Maccinnis had become more and more recluse. He hadn’t involved himself in matters of vampire law in centuries. As a matter of fact, Cael Maccinnis hadn’t even been on Conrad’s radar.
Until he’d come in contact with the half-born. No. He’d leave no skeletons to haunt him at a later date. He was too smart for that; they all had to die. Perhaps he’d even kill Cael himself. Eyes agleam, Conrad settled back and motioned for one of his concubines to come near. The night was yet young.
Chapter Fourteen
Stirring for the first time since she’d entered the realm of the Netherworld, Paige’s eyelids fluttered, a frightened sound catching in her throat as she tossed to the side.
Cael exhaled loudly, the release of air signifying the out rush of emotion he’d kept pent up over the last days. In constant vigil, he never left her side for fear she’d be accosted by another apparition in his absence and think herself abandoned. When he’d felt her falter, he gashed open his wrist and forced the life-giving elixir between her lips until she drew on his vein hungrily. Afterward, he’d heard her clearly again.
Leaning close to her ear as he stroked her blond hair, Cael whispered, “Welcome back.”
A protest spilled weakly from her lips, the Awakening having taken its toll on her body. Strength would flow through her after feeding, especially taking his ancient blood. As Paige’s eyes opened, she groaned pitifully.
“It’s like a hangover at first, lass,” he chuckled softly. “Or so I’ve been told.”
“I feel…I feel like I was run down by a truck,” she murmured sleepily. Her hand reached for him and finding his, held to it tightly. “Don’t let go of me,” she uttered, closing her eyes again.
“Doona worry about that,” he said softly. “I wouldna do such a thing.”
“Will I go back there if I fall asleep,” she asked, worry plain in her voice.
“No, lass. Ye have come out the other side. Ye willna go back again. Sleep.”
She succumbed to sleep, a more contented sound humming in her chest after his comforting assurance.
A knock at the door diverted his attention from watching her.
“Yes?”
“Cael, someone quite interesting has come calling,” Raven told him through the door.
He was surprised she awaited invitation to enter.
“Come in, Raven,” he welcomed the vampire.
“Aren’t you curious?” she inquired.
The look on his face revealed the ordeal of the last nights.
“Who could know that I was here?” he asked, his intrigue sparked.
“None other than Eagen Garrow,” she smirked. “An unexpected surprise, is it not, Maccinnis?”
“Garrow…,” he pondered aloud. “What would the co-emperor of the vampire black-market want with me?”
“He says he carries a message for you from a vampire named Rowan.”
“Rowan?” Cael snapped his full attention to the matter. “I’ll see him at once.”
“Is it safe, Cael?” Raven said aloud, pausing in the doorway. “The Garrows are not known for their honest and upright ways.”
“It’s a chance I have to take, Raven,” Cael said solemnly. “Rowan is one of the few I trust with my life. Sendin’ Garrow tells me she’s worried someone else would find me through her.”
“I’ll show Eagen to your rooms,” Raven answered. “Be careful, ancient. The crime world is a dangerous business.”
Cael laughed, truly laughed, for the first time since Paige had begun the walk of the undead.
“As are ye, Raven. As are ye.”
She smiled over her shoulder.
“Touché, ancient.”
Cael splashed water on his face, changed into fresh clothes and checked again on Paige, who slept contentedly in the bedroom of the suite. Weaving charms to guard the door on top of those that surrounded the bed, Cael sat in the parlor awaiting the entrance of Eagen Garrow.
Instead of knocking, Eagen appeared in the room and took a seat adjacent to Cael with the ease of an old friend.
Which he wasn’t.
“Ye take liberties, young one,” Cael warned.
“Pardon my indiscretion, then, ancient. I mean you no disrespect.”
Cael took a liking to the vampire, his apology uncontrived, genuine. They’d met before. But his brother, Ewan, who Cael remembered well from younger, wilder days, had done all the talking. Eagen was assertive, but respectful when circumstance demanded it of him.
Smart.
Cael respected smarts. Whether street wise or book learned, knowing how to play a situation was more important than anything else. Eagen had the gift in spades, it seemed.
“Verra well,” Cael replied, never taking his eyes from the younger vampire. “What is this message ye have for me? I trust Rowan is well?”
“She is. There is a matter of grave danger to you and your half-born she insisted I speak with you about. Is this a good place?”
“Of course,” Cael replied. “Relay yer message.”
Eagen retold the story of Rowan’s accidental enlightenment in the library of Fife House, Cael absorbing it all with a confident expression and occasional nod.
“Rowan was most disturbed by the mention of the vampire named Gwendolyn,” Eagen explained to Cael. “She wanted me to warn you. From what she could make out, Gwendolyn seeks your half-born’s family.”
“Gwendolyn,” Cael uttered, a jaded expression crossing his face at the she-vampire’s mention. “If she is involved there’s trouble to be made. The woman is a black-widow if ever there was one.”
“There’s something else,” Eagen added, a grave inflection to his voice. “The family has been missing for two days now.”
Ice ran through Cael’s veins at the revelation. Immediately he determined to bury the thought until Paige had recovered fully from her ordeal. Her voice from the other room confirmed what he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge. Fully bonded to him, having his blood in her veins along with the powerful blood of her grandmother, Catrionia, Paige would be a powerful vampire, indeed.
“Cael!” the frightened voice barely reached his ears.
Casting a glance at Eagen Garrow, Cael communicated much with the vampire.
“Wait here, Eagen. I may have further need of ye.”
“At your service, Maccinnis.”
Cael strode into the bedroom, hurrying to Paige who was sitting in the bed, her green eyes not yet back to their normal luminosity. Dark circles ringed them.
“Ye canna push yerself, Paige. Ye are weak yet.”
“My sisters. My aunt. They are in the hands of vampires.” The acknowledgment left her in little more than a whisper. “I see it, Cael.”
“What do ye mean, lass?” Cael wondered.
Had she heard him at all, or was she dreaming it?
“Both,” she murmured. “I was dreaming. Then when I heard you and the other vampire, I woke up to tell you that it was real.”
“Ye may have a gift, or gifts, that we doona not yet kn
ow about. But ye must be careful. It could be a trick used by another vampire.”
“Why would they do that?”
She lay back against the pillows, sitting up having taken all her energy.
“To get ye to reveal yerself while ye are still weak, lass. I have cloaked ye well, but other ancients may be able to unravel my enchantments with enough time.”
“What are we going to do?” she asked.
“We aren’t going to do anything. Ye will rest. I will look into what’s goin’ on. Promise me ye will abide my wishes until ye are recovered.”
“Whatever you say,” Paige replied dreamily, unable to keep her eyes open any longer.
Fatigue had won out with a little help from Cael’s thrall. Soon, it would have no effect on her other than as a mutual heightening of shared experience, but for now, with her so weak, he employed it wisely. Paige needed to regain her strength before they were forced into an encounter with hostile vampires.
Cael cursed.
He’d assumed once she was changed, they’d be left alone. He’d thought wrong. Returning to the sitting room, Cael found Eagen waiting patiently.
“Thank you for waiting,” Cael offered his gratitude.
“Gladly, Maccinnis. Is there aught I can carry back to Rowan?”
“Tell her where I am. Tell her to jump at least twice before coming so as not to leave a trail for other vampires to follow. Tell her I need help. These are verra old vampires we’re dealing with, one a Council member.”
“I have one question for you, Maccinnis.”
“What is it, Eagen Garrow?”
“How far are you willing to take this? This could shake the foundations of vampire leadership, Maccinnis.”
“Aye, Garrow. It could. To keep Paige safe, I will take this as far as I need to.”
The Third Fate Page 14