“You should stay with your team,” Dante said stepping in front of her.
“I’m sure they can find their way home without me,” she responded as she crossed her arms, waiting for Dante to move aside.
“Look Cami; with everything that went down earlier, I just think it would be better if you rode back in the same car you came in, you know?”
“Really? So I guess you think it will be awkward riding with me and Jared, whom you snuck out here without the High Commander’s permission?” Cami retorted before speeding to the other side and climbing in beside a rather amused Jared.
Dante stood there, shaking his head for a moment, then walked around and climbed into the driver’s seat.
“I assume we can trust that you won’t say anything about this,” Dante said to Cami as he reached over and shook Martinez, who was still concentrating on maintaining the camouflage around the property. She responded with a nod he could see in the rearview mirror.
“We rolling out, man,” he said as Martinez groggily pulled an ear bud out. To maintain his mist on a large scale for extended periods of time, he had to completely zone out; going into a trancelike state, which meant he was often a little out of it for a few seconds after lifting the veil.
Martinez looked over to Dante, and then turned to the backseat. “Well, shit,” he said at seeing Cami. “You know what? I don’t even want to know,” he said turning back around and relaxing into the seat.
“Fair enough. Since you insisted on riding back with us, Cami, I’m sure I speak for both myself and Martinez when I say we’d appreciate it if you two could keep your hands off each other for the duration.”
“I don’t think you’re in any position to make requests, but I’ll take it under advisement. Can’t make any promises, though,” Cami responded jokingly as she moved closer to Jared and laid her head on his shoulder.
Dante looked back at them in the mirror and couldn’t help but smile. Cami had never been much for joking around, but he’d said before that something was different about her lately; that was part of what he had found so irresistible. Seeing her with Jared that way, he knew what the change was. She was in love, and it looked good on her.
He watched her for just a moment too long as she stared up at Jared with eyes full of love and adoration and felt a knot forming in his throat, realizing he’d seen that look before; many, many times. It was in Layla’s eyes every time she saw him, yet he had pushed her aside again and again, forcing her to watch as he warmed his bed with woman after woman. Dante gripped the steering wheel tightly as he silently berated himself for being such a fool.
He had to get her back; no matter what it took. Layla was his to save.
✧
“I’m locked on to the signal from the device you planted. If that car moves more than a few feet, we’ll know about it,” Jester spun around in his chair and smiled. “While you were gone, I tapped into the NSA’s system and got this footage rolling back over the last few days.” He looked up at Dante and Commander Claesson expectantly. “You know, the National Security Agency; like, the human’s most sophisticated intelligence organization?”
“What, Jester, are you waiting for a cookie or something?” Dante responded sarcastically. He knew it was an impressive feat, but he was so damn irritated knowing Layla was out there somewhere at the mercy of his enemies.
Dante’s foul mood suddenly seemed to be fogging up the room, so Jester wisely decided to drop the issue. “I can go back further, but it’s going to take some time to sift through all of it.” He continued to scroll through the various satellite images of Sean Taylor’s property.
“It just so happens that the eye in the sky was pointed in the right direction. This is from earlier tonight, right before sundown. A second vehicle pulls into the garage and a few minutes later the vehicle in question pulls out. Unfortunately, the sunlight runs out before they return.”
“Is there any way to see inside the cars?” Commander Claesson inquired.
“Unfortunately, no; the closest satellite is nearly two hundred miles away, so we’re stuck with a straight view; think line of sight, but assuming those infected vamps were inside is a pretty safe bet. I also found some interesting shots from a couple of days ago. Two other vehicles show up, but the occupants don’t go up to the house. See this over here?” Jester said pointing to a small area of the screen, “They take off into the field on what seems to be a hidden trail.”
“Where the hell does it go?” Dante asked, leaning in toward the screen of one of the large monitors.
“Not sure yet; the area is off the grid of images captured during that time, but I’m working on getting into the system to shift the view. We can’t go back, but once I get in we’ll be able to see whatever goes down going forward. I’ll have to keep the shift subtle to be sure the humans don’t realize they’ve been hacked, but I shouldn’t have to move it very far since they went on foot. It’s probably safe to assume the visitors are human, since the sun was still out.”
“We should get a team back out there now to check it out,” Dante said already moving toward the door.
“No; that is too great a risk,” Commander Claesson said stopping Dante before he reached the door.
“But one of ours is out there; every minute that goes by the chances of finding her intact get slimmer. You just want us to stay here and wait to find her body dumped somewhere?” Dante responded, his agitation beyond apparent as he stood with his mouth tight and his hands clenched into tight fists. He had to hold on to his anger; it was the only thing keeping him from falling apart as he thought of the horrible fate which Layla could be enduring at any moment.
“If we go storming out there completely blind, we could be signing her death warrant,” Claesson responded in a surprisingly calm tone.
He wasn’t usually one to stand for any kind of disrespect or insubordination, but he was giving Dante a wide berth in light of the current circumstances. They’d never had one of their own taken like this, and he’d always suspected there was something between him and Layla.
“Think about it, Dante; if Lucias wanted her dead, she would be already. His men would have done the deed right there in Blood Runners because it’s clear that, after all these years, he’s done with hiding. Killing a couple of Elite soldiers while surrounded by civilian witnesses would have been a good way to start scaring people into falling in line, but he obviously has other plans.” Claesson walked over to Dante and laid a hand on his shoulder. “For now, Lucias doesn’t know we’ve found this place and you know as well as I do that he is not keeping her there, but it’s our only lead. We can’t risk tipping our hand because our emotions got the best of us. His men returned that car for a reason and they just might come back. We find them; we use them to find Layla.”
Dante merely nodded in response as the tension in his body relaxed ever so slightly.
“Great work, Jester. Keep at it; but make sure you keep yourself fed, especially if you’re not going to sleep. I know how you get,” Commander Claesson said, turning away from Dante to look at the young vampire who nodded and started typing away.
Even though they kept the refrigerator in Jester’s cave stocked with food and blood, when he got zoned in on a project, he barely left the chair in front of his keyboard for anything if someone didn’t remind him.
“First thing tomorrow, the High Commander and I will need your help getting a message to the civilian leaders. Have you heard anything back from the other compounds?”
“Yeah; we’ve received confirmation from each base,” Jester replied without looking up. “They’ve all agreed to run on skeleton crews and send every soldier they can spare. The first wave should be arriving tomorrow, but it will be close to a week before they’re all here.”
“Good; I think it will be best to send a team from another base to check out the property as soon as you figure out where that trail leads,” Claesson responded, raising his hand to silence Dante who was preparing to protest.
/> “Don’t go getting all worked up; you can still lead the team but, other than that, as the guards have already been informed, none of the soldiers who call this compound home are to leave the grounds without my permission. Lucias is growing bolder and we can’t risk having any more men captured or worse. The visiting Elite are going to be on very tight leashes as well.”
Satisfied that he would still be leading the investigation to find Layla, Dante remained silent.
“You want me to get everything set up in the pit to meet with the High Commander tomorrow then?” Jester asked swiveling around.
“Dante, go get some rest; I need a minute with Jester,” Claesson said, waiting for Dante to exit before responding.
“No, stay here for tonight. In the morning take whatever you need to my office. I want to avoid using the pit for the time being. With it being in the center of the compound, it gives too much visibility to our guests when something is going on. One other thing; before you set up, I want you to sweep the room for transmitters.”
“I don’t understand; you think someone bugged your office?” Jester asked as his eyebrows pinched together.
“This must remain between us, but as you know, Lucias not only learned the location of the High Commander’s daughter and her new husband, but also knew enough to intercept their flight home. That information was only shared with a select few people and almost all of them are on this compound as we speak. I hope that I am wrong, but there is too much at risk to ignore the possibility of a traitor amongs us.”
“Shit,” was all Jester could manage.
“If possible, I want you to do the same in the pit, but only if you can be certain no one will discover what you are doing there. If the spy is here, I don’t want him or her to know of our continued suspicion. The High Commander himself admits that someone must have betrayed us to our enemy. Though it is difficult to believe, considering his ability, whoever it is must have found some way to deceive him.”
“I understand; I’ll get to work on it within the hour. Most of the compound is still asleep and this is probably the last chance I’ll have to do it what with sifting through satellite feed and dealing with all the soldiers pouring in over the next few days.”
CHAPTER 23 - What the Mirror Reveals
Chloe stepped out of the shower; not bothering to grab a towel as she slowly approached the mirror. Her eyes slid over her new body, taking in each dip and swell of the womanly curves which had literally appeared overnight. Though she was slightly thinner than her mother, she was definitely just a voluptuous. Her cheeks heated slightly when her eyes landed on one dusty pink nipple which began to pucker against the cool air as she continued to move away from the heat of the shower.
Her eyes traveled lower and she felt a strange new sensation beginning in the pit of her stomach as she took in her own naked beauty for the very first time. Having gotten glimpses of lust and sexuality in the thoughts of the adults around her, Chloe knew that what had happened to her body the night before changed much more than her appearance, and the realization both excited and scared her.
“Chloe, are you all right in there?” Alexa asked from just beyond the door.
Chloe moved in a flash, grabbing her robe from the hook, and securing it around her damp body before she opened the door.
Alexa smiled warmly as she passed Chloe a bag of blood. She turned and walked slowly towards the trash, tossing in the empty bag she had finished while Chloe was in the shower.
“You know, if you have questions, about anything, you know boys, or sex, or whatever—”
“Mom, please don’t; I already know, at least as much as I need to know,” Chloe interrupted, her voice somewhat sad as she considered how unlikely it would ever be for her to have a true mate. While Lucias intended to complete the blood bond with her, she knew that even if that happened, she could never love him; just like he could never love her. He wanted her power, not her.
“You never know, someday you could meet a nice young man, or maybe not so young,” Alexa said cringing at the thought, but with their kind living for centuries, extremely large age differences were common.
What wasn’t common was a fully-mature and extremely beautiful female vampire who was less than a year old. That particular fact was what was going to be incredibly difficult for Alexa, and everyone, else to adjust to.
Chloe felt sick as she picked up on the concerns running through her mother’s mind, and her thoughts again turned to Lucias and what was to come. While she hoped with everything she had that Lucias would never get what he wanted, a part of her knew that she may not have a choice in the matter. As much as she had tried, she still could not see beyond the vision of Ethan’s return.
Chloe was grateful for the buzz of the intercom which pulled her from the dark thoughts. Focusing for a moment, she smiled and sped across the room, pulling a set of her mother’s clothes from the closet and throwing them on.
“Uncle Jared and Cami,” she said as Alexa moved towards the door.
“How do you know?” Alexa asked, looking at the digital screen which indicated that the soundproofing, about which Chloe had explained to her the night before, was still engaged.
Curious about the technology’s impact on her telepathy, she had tested it while Chloe was in the shower, lowering her shields to listen for the thoughts of the other residents. She was met with complete silence; even from Chloe, who it seemed had been being very guarded with her thoughts since Alexa’s arrival.
“If I focus, I can still read thoughts through the soundproofing,” Chloe responded, approaching the door.
“Is there anything you can’t do?” Alexa asked proudly, as she glanced at Chloe. Her hand shot to her mouth to cover her smile as she took in her daughter’s appearance. “Well, I guess you haven’t figured out the importance of a bra just yet; but I suppose that’s to be expected, since you only started needing one a few hours ago.”
Chloe looked down and felt her cheeks heat as she realized her mistake. Like her mother, she was well-endowed and the shirt she had picked out was rather tight, revealing far more of her new body than she was prepared to show her waiting relatives; or anyone else, for that matter.
Alexa breezed across the room to the dresser and pulled out a pretty pink bra with an adjustable clasp. “Here,” she said tossing the light material to Chloe. “I’m bigger than you, but you should be able to tighten this one enough to do the job.”
Chloe plucked the bra from the air and rushed in to the closet to change; this time taking a moment to check her appearance before she emerged to greet her aunt and uncle.
Unaware of the change Chloe had undergone during the night, both Cami and Jared looked at the young woman who stepped into the room with complete confusion. The couple looked at each other, then at Alexa, then back at Chloe.
Oh, come on, Uncle Jared. I know I look different, but not so much that my own family wouldn’t recognize me, she sent to her uncle before she erased the distance between them and pulled him and Cami into a hug.
“Chloe? How, when, why didn’t, um…?” Jared stammered as he pulled back to take another look at his niece.
“It happened in the middle of the night; practically right before our eyes,” Alexa began. “I woke up to find her unresponsive with the hottest fever I’ve ever felt. Elijah rushed her to the lab for tests, but she was awake and like this,” she said gesturing to Chloe with a smile, “before he could even view the samples.”
“Wow; we always knew she would grow up too fast, but this is, well, crazy,” Jared said hugging Chloe again.
“Perhaps this is a good thing,” Cami added from behind him.
Alexa looked at her curiously, waiting for her to explain. Cami looked at Jared, then at Chloe who nodded, with eyes full of understanding.
“Jared and I were coming to talk to you, Alexa. You probably haven’t heard, but one of our soldiers was abducted by some of Lucias’s men last night. His moves are getting bolder and, after talking to your fath
er and Commander Claesson, we’ve all agreed you should both be trained to fight. As much as I hope it never comes to it, we must prepare for the possibility of open war and—”
Redemption of Fate (Fate Series Book 2) Page 24