“Enter!” he called out, staying in the same position, not so much as opening his eyes.
“We have her, Lord Alasdair,” Michael said, leading a blindfolded woman into the room.
“Sit her down and leave us. Have the others returned yet?”
“No sir, should I report when they do?”
“Do not disturb me again. I’ll find you when I need you… now go!” he demanded, throwing his hand into the air.
“As you wish,” Michael replied bowing as he backed out of the room.
Alasdair sat his feet down hard, causing the woman to jump but not make a sound. He looked over and leaned back at the shock of how much the two favored one another. He stood as quietly as a mouse, lifted off the ground so she couldn’t hear him, and eased himself down behind her. Her hair was dark brown and hung well past her waist. Her skin was a bit worn, and the gray streaks that ran through her hair showed her age, but little else. Time had been extremely kind to the creature that he examined with every sense that he had. She smelled of lilac and roses, and deeper down the sweet scent of her blood dusted his senses with lust so gripping that he could barely maintain himself.
“I know you’re there. I can see you in my mind. You’re tall, with red hair. You have a very old soul that has carried a great deal of torture that you have placed on yourself,” she whispered in a low voice, not from fear, but caution.
“You fool, you have no idea why I carry my pain,” he whispered harshly in her ear, painfully gripping her shoulders.
“His death cannot bring back your brother, or the woman you loved,” she said with a tremble.
“How did you know that?” he asked, standing back so fast that he knocked her in the floor.
“The more you touch me the more I see.”
“Then you see me killing your child?” he snorted, pacing back and forth, losing his composure because of the words coming from a woman he had never met.
“No, I can’t see the future, only the close present and past. My gifts are limited. I’m a reader of people.”
“I am no ’person’ and you do not have my permission to read me,” he growled, leaning down, as if she could see him.
“Then keep your damn hands off of me,” she replied in a completely calm tone.
“What did ye say to me?”
“I thought I heard an accent. You want Danny, don’t you? I knew he was alive. I dreamed about him.”
“Now, did you tell me to keep my hands off of you?” he asked yanking her to her feet. “No one gives me orders.” Then he pulled the blindfold off of her eyes.
She blinked a few times, as her eyes had been bound for hours and the light of the fireplace was like several light bulbs being turned on at once. He held her up by the front of her shirt, her arms still bound behind her back. She pushed up on her toes to show she had no fear and looked him right back in the eyes. He lowered her and stepped back. The deep brown of her eyes was more than he had bargained for, and the truth coming from her knowledge of his past was confusing him even more.
“You are right about me wanting Danny, and yes, I am from Scotland. I have learned to speak as those around me. I also know that revenge will not bring back my brother or the woman that I once loved, but I will not let those words stop me now.” Then he rushed her, sinking in his fangs like a wild beast.
* * *
The four had driven seventy or so miles when the scent of blood hit each of them. Danny slowed the truck and all the windows went down. Grady was halfway out, sniffing the air, causing Tabitha to shake her head before joining him out her own window. D`nae was up on her knees doing pretty much the same thing, using her new eyes to scope the dark. It was part farmland, part impenetrable mesquite and undergrowth surrounding the fields, but no signs of any house, abandoned or otherwise, were to be seen.
“I can smell a strong scent, but I can’t see anything,” D`nae said sitting back down in the seat.
“Ah’ll be needin fur ye tae tak the wheel.”
“Going up?” she asked scooting over in the seat.
“Tis ane way tae keek round,” he smiled kissing her on the cheek, and pulling the truck to a stop.
“You watch your ass up there, and as soon as you see anything, you come back down,” she ordered.
“Yes, luv,” he replied then disappeared into the night sky.
“God, I wish I could do that,” she said. “Why can’t I fly?”
“Maybe your butt’s too heavy,” Grady snickered, getting popped in the head as soon as D`nae could reach around. “Hey, I was just joking.”
“Jokes like that can get a man killed, ya know? I wonder where that smell’s coming from. Think it could be a dead animal, Tabitha?”
“Too fresh and too much blood,” she replied, still looking out the window.
“Look, a cemetery,” Grady said, pointing out of his window.
About that time, Danny landed on the hood of the truck, causing D`nae to scream and slam on the brakes. “Oh sh’it!” Danny yelled, rolling over the top of the truck, disappearing somewhere behind them.
“Danny!” D`nae yelled, jumping out of the truck. “Danny… oh, my God!”
Danny was lying on his back behind the truck, motionless. She ran to his side, dropped down and placed her hand under his neck, kissing his face, saying over and over how sorry she was. He grabbed her around the waist and rolled her over, tickling her. “Ye cannae hurt me wi’ a wee truck, luv,” he said, fighting her arms down as he ran his fingers over her ribs, causing her to ball up and laugh like a child. Tabitha was watching them through her window as Grady walked toward the cemetery gate.
“Ah see we’ll aw be findin the same place,” Danny said, kissing her then helping her to her feet.
“Yeah, this will be the place they’re wanting us to find,” Grady said, coming around the truck.
“Hoots! Fit are we waiting fur?” Danny asked.
“It’s pretty bad. I just looked in and saw several bodies.”
“I wonder why they would bring people out here and do it this way?” D`nae asked looking over at the eerie darkness.
“He wants us to see something, or he wouldn’t have placed the bodies in a place such as this,” Tabitha replied getting out of the truck. “He once placed a man’s wife on a grave with the same last name to send a message that if the man were to keep doing what he was, the rest of his family would die the same way.”
“What was he doing?” Grady asked.
“He was failing to pay Alasdair for the protection to live,” she claimed, then headed for the cemetery.
“She’s get right to the point, doesn’t she?” he stated, following her.
“That she does,” D`nae said and fell into step behind him with Danny on her heels.
The scent of blood was strong in the air, but the overpowering smell of human waste became extremely apparent the closer they got to what D`nae was thinking of as ‘ground zero’. Right in the center of the graveyard was the worst of the mutilation of what seemed to be at least six, maybe seven people. Entrails hung from the lower hanging branches that led the way to the spread out bodies. It looked as if they had all been piled up together, then blown apart, landing bits and pieces of their insides in a hundred foot radius around the core of the blast.
“What does that say? Right there, where that woman’s body is pressed next to that big stone?” D`nae asked walking closer. “No, no way!”
“Luv, fit is it?” Danny asked, leaning down and moving the body over. “Creel?”
“He has my mother,” she said, falling to the ground.
“D`nae,” all three called out at the same time.
Danny held her, looking back at the blood soaked name of her family, and knew her words were true. His teeth clenched as he held her tighter, closing his eyes to the thought of what might happen to the only living soul that she had left. Anger grew deep down as he looked around at the rest of the carnage that this so-called man had caused, all to get to him for something that
he had nothing to do with. Three innocent woman and four innocent men, dead, and deep inside, Danny was feeling like it was all of his fault. He was remembering the four hearts that he had taken off the ceiling fan, counting the other bodies that they had found, when movement caught all of their attention. Within seconds, three of the dead men flew up into the air.
Danny pushed D`nae behind him and pulled the long blade from his side, hissing, baring his fangs. Grady pulled out his gun, while Tabitha shifted. A dark shadow dashed down and rolled out of sight, taking Grady with it. Tabitha took another one by the throat as he came down, smashing his body to the ground several times before he became limp like a rag-doll. Danny leaped into the air to meet the third, ramming his blade into the abdomen of his opponent. It had little effect in stopping the gnashing fangs that were coming at his neck, connecting with his shoulder each time Danny pulled back to swing another punch. The man blocked the last blow and sank his fangs into Danny’s neck, trying to wrap his arms around Danny’s body so that he couldn’t get away. Danny pushed with all of his might, but had little luck in getting away from the powerful arms that were pulling at him. The teeth that were locked onto his neck were like iron jaws of death. His vision began to swirl as his life fluid was being drained away. He felt the handle of his blade sticking out of the man’s stomach. He gripped it’s slippery handle and pulled back, ramming it in higher, twisting it with all the strength he had left.
The man’s grip slowly loosened and Danny’s body plummeted back to the earth at a tremendous speed. D`nae screamed when she saw his lifeless form falling, and with everything she had in her being, ran and leapt into the air, catching him not ten feet from the top of an angled headstone that would have severed his body and taken him from her forever. She lifted him back into the air, then slowly brought him down to the ground.
“Talk to me, baby. Please, don’t be dead,” she cried, rivers of crimson tears streaming down her face.
“Ye flew, luv,” he replied in a weak voice.
“I know,” she sobbed. “You’re so pale, you’ve lost so much blood.”
“Tis a wee thin, luv,” he smiled, then coughed.
“Tabitha!” she yelled.
She looked around and didn’t see Tabitha or Grady anywhere. She called out to them again, as loud as she could. She looked around and saw one of the men that had pretended to be dead lying a few feet away. There was no pretending now, because his brains were leaking all over the ground, but as for the other one and her two companions, they were nowhere in sight. She called out one last time, and heard a faint call coming from somewhere south of her and Danny.
“We’re here! Danny’s hurt, we need help!” D`nae yelled as Tabitha broke back through the undergrowth, and stumbled into the cemetery, holding Grady in one arm and the man he had gone after in the other. She dropped both at their feet and shifted back into her human form, dropping to one knee. It was obvious that she was becoming more and more exhausted with every change.
“He’s lost a lot of blood,” D`nae cried, holding Danny in her lap. “What do I do, the bleeding won’t stop?”
“It’s the bite of a vampire. It will not stop until he regains the strength to fight it.”
“How, how can he regain it?” she pleaded. “Can he feed off that piece of shit?” she asked, pointing at the man that Tabitha had dropped in front of her.
“He has already lost too much, and we need him to talk, not to die. I will feed Danny the strength he needs,” she said, getting to her feet.
Grady stood, taking in several deep breaths trying to call on the change, but nothing happened. He stayed in his wolf form, but still reached out and took her by the arm and grunted out his concerns. She snapped at him, snarling up her nose and he released her. Grady knew she was too tired to give more of herself, and he could smell the blood running down the back of her leg. She had somehow managed to get herself cut when stepping into the battle that he was having with the man that had jumped him. He understood that she wanted the man alive, but wished there was a way around getting her involved. He grabbed his head and put all of his thoughts toward becoming the man that he once was, using her as his main focal point. He could feel the pull coming from the inside, the same way the creature had made it’s way out, and he readied himself for the quake that was about to strike.
Tabitha turned around to the scream that finalized Grady’s change. He knelt down on one knee, holding himself up with both hands, breathing heavily. He pushed off the ground as the last of the muscles in his stomach rippled back into place.
“I’ll take care of Danny. You make sure he doesn’t go anywhere,” he said, walking past her just as she had him. Grady knelt down by Danny, not seeming to acknowledge his nudity in front of D`nae, and lifted Danny’s head.
“Hey, you better enjoy this, my Scottish brother, because I won’t be offering it again.” Grady lowered his neck to Danny’s mouth but Danny just laid there.
“Danny, come on, you have to feed to get better,” D`nae said, shaking his shoulder. “I think he’s out.”
Grady bit into his own wrist. “Open his mouth.”
D`nae slapped Danny’s cheeks as Grady’s blood filled his mouth. Once the blood started moving down his throat, he began coming around. He began swallowing on his own, and soon had his hand on Grady’s arm, pushing it more securely to his mouth. The bleeding from the wound on Danny’s neck began to slow, and within a few minutes, it had stopped altogether. Grady held his arm when Danny finished, and D`nae helped Danny sit up. Tabitha stayed squatted down by the unconscious man that she didn’t know. At this point, D`nae noticed that she was acting different than normal, and went to sit at her side. D’nae put her hand to Tabitha’s head the same way that her mother would have done to her to check for a fever. Tabitha looked up at her and smiled.
“Even if I were not feeling ill, I would be hot to your touch. Your skin is much cooler than it once was.”
“So, you are feeling ill then?” D`nae asked, kneeling down beside her.
“I’m just a little tired from changing from my human form too often in such a short time.”
“Then you rest, we’ll take care of this… do you know this one?”
“No,” she replied shaking her head. “Alasdair has many that I know nothing about.”
“This guy will talk, or I will own his tongue on a chain around my neck. Alasdair has my mother or he plans on doing something to her,” D`nae said getting up and walking over to the other man, whose brains were still seeping into the dirt. “I’ve had it with this shit already.”
“Check his pockets,” Grady said, walking up wearing a pair of jeans, with a large sweatshirt and pants tucked under his arm. “It’s the best I could do in a hurry,” he said, handing them to Tabitha.
“Thank you, this will do nicely,” she blushed.
D`nae went through his pockets, getting angrier by the moment, because she wasn’t finding anything. When she was at the pinnacle of her frustration, she reached into his last back pocket, where she pulled out a single white piece of paper with the name ‘Cortez’ written on it. She handed it up to Grady, who stared at it for a hard second before sliding it into his front pocket. He moved to the man’s feet and removed his shoes, and sure enough, a key fell to the ground. He picked it up and placed it with the piece of paper, then walked back over to the unconscious one. He bent down and started slapping the man in the face, ordering him to wake up. After a few hard slaps from a werewolf that had more strength than even he knew, the man began moaning, clenching his eyes and turning his head away from the oncoming pain of the next blow.
“Nap’s over, fangface,” Grady said, instantly looking over at D`nae, then raising his shoulders.
“Go for it,” she said, motioning to their new prisoner with her eyes, not paying any mind to the phrase that he had just used.
“Snap out of it, or you’ll feel a hell of a lot worse,” Grady claimed, bringing his hand back for another blow.
“Wait, I
heard you,” the man said, holding up one hand.
“What’s your name, fangface?” D`nae asked, smiling big enough to show that she too was a ‘fangface’.
“Arnaud.”
“Well, Arnaud, it looks like you just fell into a world of shit,” D`nae said standing up, crossing her arms.
“I have been living in a world of shit since he placed me here. There’s nothing that you can do that could be worse.”
“We could kill you,” Grady interjected.
“How could that be worse? Death would be a release, not a punishment. The one that seeks you out holds some of our loved ones. It is why we fight with all we have.”
“Are you saying that you’ve done all this, because he’s holding something over your head?”
“Alasdair knows where my people live and has told me that they will all die if I do not bring you back to him, all of you.”
Dark Knight of the Skye Page 18