Once Lost Lords (Royal Scales, Book 1)

by Stephan Morse

  “She should be awake in a few hours. Normally she looks at the day’s reports first, sorts out business matters then takes part of the night for herself. Though since you’re here she’ll probably try and cut the business short.” The man had his head tilted like he was going through a mental checklist.

  “Alright.”

  “You’re welcome to stay and watch. We typically wrap up a half hour before nightfall so everyone has a chance to take a break before the second shift.”

  “Sure.” As long as there were no demands being made. I didn’t mind watching.

  He opened the door back to the dojo and stepped out to take over his class. I followed but stayed off the mat. Setting foot back on there was like asking for someone else to try and spar against me.

  A few hours later I found myself alone with Kahina in a well-decorated office. I had been ushered into the room by a random servant, meanwhile Kahina had said a grand total of nothing. It had a large window that peeked out to the west. Kahina looked like she needed sleep. Which was an amusing thought since she was completely comatose the entire day. If that wasn’t rest, then what was it?

  She was staring out of the window that had thick curtains on either side that were pulled back right after nightfall. The barest hint of red could be seen in the distance as the sun curled around the horizon. It was the closest she could get to daylight outside of a movie for the rest of her existence.

  “Do you have any idea what it’s like for me, Jay?” She finally spoke and it was a weird question.

  It? If she was talking about the vampire thing then I had no clue. Well, nothing beyond a school educational that preached racial acceptance next to sexual health.

  “There’s normal blood, and then there’s yours. It’s a million times worse and part of my brain has to focus on not running over and trying to crack you open.” Kahina said.

  She knew how to make a man feel safe, but step one was acceptance in any addiction program, right? Should I even be here? My focus now should be finding Evan and Julianne. We were already a night behind them.

  “Then you were giving it to that elf.”

  To provoke her, to prove that Kahina had been the one that scared the life out of me that night. I fidgeted with the cross I had put in my pocket. As long as she didn’t pin my arm I could survive this. Pull the cross as my trump card, hold her in place, leave immediately through the nearest exit. My mind was already plotting out an escape route just in case.

  “I can take temptation, Jay, I can put up with it and think of the bigger picture. I don’t want to hurt you.” Though using me like a blood bank once in a while was okay? “But I do not deal well with jealousy.” She made it sound like a threat and a statement of fact.

  “So?” I said.

  She turned around and had that confusing look on her face. I would be willing to bet that this time it was anger though and not excitement.

  “You are mine, Jay. I will allow no obstacles. I endured your sabbatical, allowed you your fun and freedom as I had other things to get in line and ready.” Which means she had me followed as I traveled around. Her reach was further than I thought.

  “Ready for what?” I asked.

  “Ready for the final step. That’s one of the reasons I needed you back.” Kahina walked towards the desk and looked at me. The last sliver of sunlight had dipped below the horizon’s edge.

  “Oh.” She hadn’t brought up our contrary stories back at Julianne’s house. Maybe she was still mulling them over like I was.

  “We need to clear Daniel and his cronies from the table so I can focus.” Trust her to figure out what the real problem was. She could concentrate like no woman I had ever met. “His goal isn’t the elf, but this missing child?”

  “Arnold Regious.”

  “No child then. I’ve met him before.” She twisted the words as they came out. A suggestive emphasis underlined each word. I was irritated with the blond face that had only presented in photographs.

  “Well, he’s dead,” I told her.

  “How do you know?” She asked.

  “Can’t track the truly dead.”

  “You realize that last night wasn’t Sector sanctioned?” Kahina was looking at a small touch screen device that had words scrawled across it. They were impossible to make out from this angle.

  “No, I hadn’t.” I responded.

  “I got some answers back, they said this was something completely separate. They didn’t say what.”

  “Sounds typical.” For Daniel. What was it he had said? There was a cult that didn’t exist on paper somewhere in Arnold’s file. Maybe they did exist, maybe it was more than a cult.

  “What do you want to do, Jay?” She left the question open-ended enough that it could refer to anything. To us, to Evan, to Daniel. I had no clue about anything beyond being left alone in my apartment, and doing my job when it came up.

  “Such a wimp. Such an indecisive little boy!” She stomped over to me and I could see how tired her eyes were. They drug at the edges, barely kept open, and while it was difficult to tell with her skin color, there were bags under the eyelids.

  “Did you turn into a coward?!”

  “Only because of what you did!” Now I was mad, shaking, yelling back, but I kept a hand in my pocket over the cross if I needed it.

  “What I did?” She was quiet again and had moved a few steps away. I hadn’t felt her move. She shook her head. “What do you want, Jay? What do you want to do? Tell me and I can help.”

  “Why would you help me?” I closed my eyes.

  “Because you’re mine and I will remove any obstacle in your path to bring you back to me.” Mine, the same word that rolled around in my head every time I tracked something. “What about me, Jay?” Her voice was different. Tender compared to when she was yelling at other people.

  “What about you?” I was still mad.

  “Am I yours?”

  The question completely bypassed my defenses. It was a good way to get to the heart of the issue between me and Kahina. The answer to that would tell me if we could work past this or not. It was easy to answer about how things had been between us. Once I would have fought an army for her. I had, in my way, accepted everything that she was, that we were together. Then she had broken it all. Yet here I was still working with her. Standing in a room with no one else watching, no bar patrons, no close friends, no bodyguards.

  Because I couldn’t help it.

  Even after so long. Even with me, a completely different man from years ago, and she, she had never been the woman I thought she was. Kahina was a rich heiress to some high-powered company. Not just some woman who used to sneak away with me on my jobs. Not just a person I had spent nights watching cheesy movies with.

  I remembered briefly the conversation between myself and instructor a few hours ago. No one had any clue how I fit into this. No clue, because I didn’t know. I didn’t know because I couldn’t commit.

  “I…” The words didn’t come. She paused for a moment to see if I would continue, but nothing came.

  “If you can’t answer a simple question then get out.” It was quiet, but her voice had taken on a professional demeanor. A presence that masked any real emotions.

  “Get. Out.” This time, it was louder and forced.

  I backed up towards the door and kept one eye on Kahina. She was bent over a desk with both hands slammed down. Slight trembles were visible in her arms. The desk creaked under the pressure.

  My hand fumbled behind me for the doorknob. The other stayed clenched tightly over the cross in my pocket. This was my only safety net if she flipped. She looked up as the door opened. Her eyes dripped streaks of crimson. I barely had time to consider what that meant in my hurry to escape.

  “Get out,” Kahina said. No part of me wanted her angry, not towards me, not while crying blood, and not again. Closing my eyes for a moment brought back the image of her with fangs bared chasing me around the room.

  It was time to leave.

/>   I shuffled through the halls to my guest room. Inside was the pouch Daniel had given me. This was the only distraction available at the moment. My hands shook slightly as I opened it. Anything to distract from Kahina’s face, either one. The one from now, full of crimson tears, or the one from the past, where her mouth had been nearly as bloody.

  Inside was a folded up piece of paper printed with tiny letters. Along with that was the picture of Evan and Arnold, the cut-off bit of hair, and the lipstick tube that made no sense. My eyes closed and I tried to focus enough to check on the direction. Managing a link while being mentally unstable was difficult. I gave up and read through the note.

  Jay,

  Don’t shoot the messenger.

  I can not stress in words how important this is for me, but someone else has forced a little insurance to be taken out. This is not my choice, I warned you others would step over me to get this case.

  As a friend, I would suggest that you do not go home. It’s being watched. While your treasure trove is safe, my current companions have wired your home to blow up in case of emergency.

  I dislike such tactics, but I have to issue a threat to get you moving. Were it solely me I would not do this, but I am no longer alone in this endeavor. My life quite literally depends on finding what’s left of Arnold and returning him home. It is sink or swim time, and you are the only life preserver I have.

  Beyond this warning and a day’s worth of time, there’s nothing I can do until you find him. My associates have insisted that you be left to your own means while they prepare. I have confidence that you have sufficient resources.

  I will do what I can. Be ready.

  Your friend, Daniel Crumfield

  Things had promptly turned sour. Being kicked out by Kahina was outright secondary to Daniel messing with my stuff. By his own admission, someone was holding hostage everything I owned. My home was under siege by someone I thought was a friend. My items that I had gathered over a lifetime were in danger of being blown up if I didn’t achieve results. The word pounded over and over, mine, mine, mine.

  Vision blurred while the world seemed to grow and contract at the same time. Blackness sent my eyesight into snapshot mode again. The next noise I registered was the door being slammed so hard it shattered. Not by someone else breaking in, but by me going out.

  “Quite the little brute aren’t you.” The voice of Kahina’s second in command oozed from nearby.

  One second my hand was in my pocket, the next it was out displaying a cross. It felt like I blinked and slid across the distance between us with a red glow leading the way. It was odd, a brief moment of predatory movement accompanied angry growling. If I didn’t know that Kahina’s attempt at turning me had failed, I say it was almost vampiric in nature.

  The Second moved with that startling speed that even partially turned vampires have. A second later I was after him. I felt his hiss of anger as spittle hit the air. He fled down the hallway in zips then practically flew down the spiral stairs to the main lobby.

  Somehow I managed to horrify a vampire, probably the cross’ doing.

  I didn’t take the stairs, instead leaping from above after him, cross bared. He turned around and I saw panic in his eyes. Panic that I had kept up with him though I wasn’t sure how.

  The world around me felt like silence after a loud explosion, the lack of noise made the world seem peaceful amid chaos. I felt wonder at what was happening, joy at having something close by to vent my frustrations on. Then more feelings, a concoction of emotions that made no sense. There was a clear emotion centered among all of it, though, rage.

  Shouts were bouncing off the pavement. Things I could feel but not hear. They were drowned out by my other sense going wild. Wild because what was mine was perceived to be in danger.

  A blackout later and I was on the sidewalk. There was someone in my hands and yelling came from all around. My fingers were squeezing the throat of a man who had been in my way. Something about a person’s neck made for an easy target to drag people by.

  My senses were on overdrive as they outlined exactly what was around. There were footsteps pounding the dirt and pavement. Sound pelted the walls, pavement, doors, and windows. Each splash like a bucket of water being tossed in my direction. Each cry was felt. People’s fingers kept clenching over cool steel and leather.

  It wasn’t something I immediately realized, but Kahina’s second was outside with me. I had dragged him from inside the building to the sidewalk. His face looked brutalized, and parts of his skin felt crisp. Crisp for fuck’s sake. Had I done that? What was going on?

  I felt a breath of fright and excitement hundreds of feet away. Chilled hands pressed against an even colder window. Clothing brushing around a pair of legs. Purple fabric shudders differently than any other color.

  A minute later and I dropped the Second. His own people would have to take care of him. I had more pressing concerns. Finding Evan to find Arnold. Returning Arnold to get Daniel and his group to go away. Protecting what was mine.

  Gradually my body turned to the figure in the window.

  Kahina looked down at me. I couldn’t entirely make her out. My senses felt more than eyes ever saw. Sensations swam in from all around me. Those extra mental limbs kept expanding and contracting. It was like my own hands brushing against the uneven brick wall. My own skin rolling across the rough cement.

  Then Kahina smiled. I could trace the curve of her lips with my senses as if there wasn’t even an inch between us. Her scent of peppermint lined the air about her. A slide of heavy liquid fell down her cheek. It felt alarmingly real that I brushed at my own face in reflex. For a moment, I could swear the bloodily tears smeared in response on her face. Why did Kahina feel happy?

  It didn’t matter. I had to find Evan. Evan had the answers to what I was and to where Arnold’s remains might be. I ran off down the street. The feeling of my own feet hitting the pavement never quite matched up with the sound.

  Chapter 15 – A Dangerous Topic

  I didn’t know where to go. Julianne wasn’t answering her cell phone. She was probably out in the woods with zero reception. Daniel had basically told me I was on my own as far as he was concerned. Asking Kahina for anything was completely out after my stunt.

  Evan was back in the depths of his forest. I could feel the familiar pull towards the north. My problem was getting there. Time was not one of the items Daniel implied was available in his note.

  My pockets were still filled with the money from a few days ago. That wasn’t enough to get up to the pack woods. A half hour south on the freeway would get me home. From there it would be easier to find someone for a ride. Or, heaven help me, pay for it with money squirreled away in my basement. The thought of doing so made me physically ill.

  I caught a cab south to the bar and my apartment building. If it wasn’t for my massive irritation with cars I might drive myself, but I also needed to know how to drive.

  My apartment across the parking lot had quite a number of people stationed outside. Most were in cars. A people few wandered the hallways that were certainly not my neighbors. Probably Daniel’s partners in crime watching out for me. The bar wasn’t off limits, but home definitely was. That…that was frustrating. My mind couldn’t even think of a good curse for it.

  By the time I walked in the bar my irritation level was riding high. It must have shown on my face. The entire place was closing for the morning. A few moments passed and one of the waitresses decided to see what I needed. The same one whose name I could never remember. Black hair that looked like it was chewed on one end. She wasn’t wearing a name tag.

  “Need something, Jay?” She asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Only got drinks for you, no work tonight. Julianne’s out of the area.” The woman plucked at a thread of hair and studied it for a moment before looking back to me.

  “Don’t need drinks.” Hell, I wanted one desperately.

  “Really?” Her tone was tainted b
y a sarcastic drawl.

  “Really. I need a ride.”

  “Don’t have that either,” She said.

  I nodded and looked around the bar for anyone who seemed familiar. There had to be someone with a set of wheels and time. Not that I had a lot of money to pay them with. All sources of extra cash were firmly locked away in the apartment I couldn’t get into. Back outside I sat on the curb with both hands pressed against the sides of my head. Fingers traced through short hair trying to find purchase.

  “Fuck!” I exclaimed.

  The street was sparse and yet someone was close enough to laugh at me. Feminine and dainty amusement echoed around. I rubbed my face with a hand to try press away any sense of exhaustion. My thoughts weren’t clear. I had fought with Daniel’s people, twice, been tossed around by a little girl, and done who knows what on the way out of Kahina’s mansion. I should be sleeping it off. Resting, but home wasn’t an option since it might blow up.

  “Horseshit,” I muttered

  “Not as good as the word before it.” The voice standing above me was Candy. She was staring down. Her glasses were gone which allowed all the world to see those tattoos that spiraled around her eyes and down behind the nape of her neck.

  Not that I officially knew how far they went. It was easier to see them with the shirt she was wearing. It hung off to one side revealing a shoulder. The rest of the fabric was a white that looked extremely thin. The view was interesting from this angle but not what I was wanted right now. I didn’t even have a bed to take a woman back to anyway. Not to mention Kahina’s stake of claim.

  “You wouldn’t happen to be available for a few hours would you?” Here I was asking for help from an elf that explained how everyone like me was killed by her kind. But I needed transportation to the woods.

  “Oh for you, I’m sure I could spare at least three hours.” Her mind was obviously in a different place than mine. Now wasn’t a good time for games with words.

  “I need a ride north,” I muttered.