"No, that's why we sent you a picture."
"It is the 'Heart of the Crone,' others call it the 'Bloodstone Heart.' It's very, very old. Legend has it that there were two witch sisters. Margarite who had a heart as black as obsidian and Diedre whose heart was as pure as light. Margarite hated her sister and all that made her happy. When Diedre fell in love with a human, Margarite vowed to hunt him down and kill him. To protect her love, Diedre enchanted a bloodstone with her sweat, blood, and tears. As long as he wore the heart-shaped stone, nothing could kill him."
"Well, that explains why Josh didn't die in the explosion."
"Explosion?” Dominic said.
"Yes, the Cauldron, Book and Candle exploded today with Josh inside. We are sure that this vampire I just sent you information on was the culprit. This Dimitri, has been following Darby's friend Melanie and her friend Josh for days now. We think that this is the item Josh found in the Alley and the reason this vampire is after them."
"I am sure you are right, Blake. I got some information on him today. Dimitri Strotsky is the head of the newly formed Black Orchids. I told you that the 'Preservers of All Life' would go in every so often when the Black Orchids would get too powerful and kill them. Somehow, though, there was always someone who survived. It was thought that the Black Orchids had obtained some magical item that ensured this, but it was never proven. It was also suspected but never confirmed that the said item was the Heart of the Crone.
"If your friend stumbled upon this item, Dimitri would stop at nothing to get it back. My guess is that the explosion was not necessarily to kill Josh as much as prove that he had the Heart of the Crone. If he walked away from the explosion, he was sure to have it, if not, well then Dimitri could start looking elsewhere because Josh would be dead.”
"So this guy is bad news."
"Very bad news and very smart. The only good thing is he hasn't really assembled many followers yet and I suppose without the 'Heart' he may not be able to, so he is going to want that stone very badly."
"So what can we do to keep Josh safe?"
"I don't know. The 'heart' will keep him safe, but those around him will be in danger. Throwing Dimitri off Josh’s tracks somehow is the only thing I can think of until we can come up with something better."
"Well, we may need your help if things get bad."
"I'll do whatever I can to help. Anton could come out if need be. He's feeling much better, but he's awful worried about Darby so I don't know if he will want to leave. You and I have plenty of allies if we need to call in the cavalry, so to speak."
"Thanks, Dominic. If you come up with any more info, let us know, will you?"
"Of course. Take care, Blake."
"So what do we do, Blake?" Rowan asked.
He shook his head. "I don't know, but we'll come up with something."
"I already have," Melanie said matter-of-factly.
"You have? What's that?"
"You said Devon's car is still here, right?"
"Yes. It's in the garage."
"Well, the only way to throw him off of Josh's tracks is to make him think we've taken off again, which would be understandable after the scare of the explosion. Only WE won't have left. I will leave. I'll take Josh's iPhone with me, and a couple of his credit cards, and use them here and there on my way to nowhere. That should give you some time to come up with some kind of plan. Josh will have the heart to keep him safe and the vampire will be off on a wild goose chase with me."
"I don't like that plan," Blake said.
"It's not your decision to make. This is the only way to give you and Josh a little breathing room to come up with a better plan. In the meantime, I'll check my phone for messages from you as to when you have something we can work with. If I don't hear anything for more than two weeks, I will go to the nearest airport, buy four sets of two tickets to random places and one set to Connecticut. I’ll meet up with Darby, Dominic, and Anton in CT. You can give Dominic a heads up that I'm headed that direction and if I get into a tight spot, I'll cut the two weeks short and head to Dominic's right away."
"You have no way to fight a vampire, Melanie. If he catches up with you, he'll use you to get to Josh or worse, kill you."
"He won't catch me!"
"How do you know he won't follow you straight from here?”
"I'm guessing he's pretty concerned about you being a vampire on Josh's side. He may or may not know about Dean and Rowan being werewolves. If you go out in the SUV, he's pretty likely to follow you to see what you are up to. He knows Josh won't be out and about today after the explosion. After you leave, I’ll take off in Devon's car. Once I'm several hours away, I’ll turn on Josh's cell phone for a minute or two at some diner or motel. He'll track it and think you diverted him so that Josh and I could leave."
"That's actually a pretty good plan," Rowan said.
"Yes. It is, but Josh is not going to like that we let you do this."
"You didn't let me do it, I insisted. He knows I can get my way when I want it."
"But he wouldn't want you out on your own luring the bad guy towards you. I know if it were Rowan, I'd be nuts worrying about that.”
"Well then put a plan together fast so I don't have to be gone that long."
"Nice comeback, but I think you know as well as I do that's easier said than done."
"I have faith in all of you. You won't let me down. But we need to move fast, Josh isn't going to sleep for a whole lot longer."
"You want to do it now?"
"Yes. The sooner the better. It was the bookstore today. I'm sure he knows where you live by now. Tomorrow, who knows? But if he doesn't think Josh and I are here, he'll leave you all alone."
"Just let it be known, I'm not happy with this and you should explain yourself to Josh in a note or something," said Blake.
"Right. Good idea."
"I have an old pager,” Blake said. “I want you to keep it on you. If you get a 411, it means we have information for you, if it is 911, call here immediately, if you get an 811 call Dominic immediately, but don't answer any other calls.”
He pulled a small blue pager out of the desk drawer and put a new battery into it, while Melanie started to write a letter to Josh. She sealed the envelope after inserting the letter and wrote 'Josh' on the front. She then went into the bedroom and grabbed Josh's wallet off the dresser and his iPhone out of the duffle bag. She wanted to kiss him but she knew she'd wake him and she needed to get away to start the plan in motion. With his iPod blaring, he never heard her enter or leave the room. Her eyes welled up as she left the room and closed the door. Dean was on the couch now and Blake handed her the keys to Devon's car.
"A Mercedes? Geez, don't you have anything less conspicuous?"
Rowan looked at Blake and Blake looked at Dean and they all laughed heartily.
Blake said, "Well, you could take my car but I think you will find the Mercedes to be less conspicuous." Melanie furrowed her eyebrows in puzzlement, but let it go quickly. Blake hugged her and wished her luck. He gave her a piece of paper with the pager codes and their meanings along with Dominic's number and address, Darby's number, and the number for him and Rowan. Melanie took out Josh’s wallet, stashing two credit cards in her pocket and giving the wallet to Blake to give back to Josh.
"Okay, Sally, ready for a ride to San Francisco?" Blake said.
"Sure." She grabbed her purse, kissed Dean, and hugged Melanie goodbye.
Blake said, "I'll send a code of 111 on the pager if I think he's taken the bait and is following us."
"Thanks again, guys," Melanie said as Blake and Sally headed out to the SUV.
Rowan handed Melanie the new small duffle bag that Melanie had bought that day at the department store. "I put some clothes in there along with some personal items you might need. You're a brave one. I will give you that. Please be careful and call if you need anything. You're absolutely sure you want to do this?"
"I'm absolutely sure that it's the only thing that w
ill save Josh and that's all I'm concerned about, along with keeping you all out of danger."
The pager buzzed 111. “That's me," Melanie said. "I'm good to go. Dean, hope to see you again real soon."
"Me too, Melanie, be safe."
Melanie went out the back door and into the garage where there were two gorgeous cars parked. One was a silver Mercedes, and the other a black Audi. She now knew what Blake had meant when he said the Mercedes would be less conspicuous. The Audi was a very sexy, sleek, and tiny sports car, and bound to turn heads everywhere. She threw her bag in the car, pushed the garage door opener button clipped to the visor, backed out of the garage and onto the street. In minutes she was headed for the freeway to commence her plan.
Chapter 11
Josh woke up around 6:00 P.M. He must have been more tired than he had thought – just as Lanie had suggested. He was a little sore, like you would be the day after a hard workout, but other than the slight sting of what Lanie was calling a sunburn, he felt good. He went to the bathroom and splashed his face with some water and headed for the living room. The television was on and Dean was watching a baseball game while Rowan sat reading a book. They both looked up as he came in the room running his hands through his hair and yawning.
"Where is everybody?" he asked.
Rowan and Dean looked at each other and then back to the game. Rowan knew she was on her own. "Well, um, Blake and Sally took a little trip to San Francisco and Melanie left this for you." She handed him an envelope. "After you've read that, I'll explain more."
Josh didn't like the sound of that and his heart started pounding like crazy. He slowly opened the letter and sat down at the end of the couch.
My Dearest Josh,
You said to me the night we met when you insisted on walking me home, that you felt responsible for me in some way. I feel the same way about you and that is why I have decided to lure Dimitri away from you. I’ve taken two of your credit cards, your iPhone and Devon’s car and I plan on using the cards to make Dimitri think you and I have taken off running again after the explosion. My hope is that it will give you, Blake, Rowan, Dean, and Sally some time to figure out a plan to keep you safe permanently.
Keep the stone we found in your jacket lining close to you. It will keep you from harm, as it is what saved you from the explosion. Blake will explain the details of the stone and Dimitri.
Please don’t be angry with me or anyone else for letting me go. No matter what happens, know that I have cherished every moment we’ve shared, despite being chased by a vampire. I will miss you terribly and will be hoping I see you very soon.
All my love,
Lanie
"Oh no! Please tell me she didn't do this. She's out there on her own with a killer following her? How could you guys let her go?"
"I'm sorry, Josh. She was insistent and very determined,” Rowan said.
"Besides, man, he isn't after her yet. Right now he's tailing Blake and Sally. She's going to call Blake on your cell phone when she gets a couple of hours away," Dean added.
"Right. When Dimitri sees that your phone is out of state via the GPS, he'll realize he was duped and think that you and Melanie have taken off again," Rowan said.
Josh put his head in his hands. "This is so stupid. Why would she put herself in that kind of danger?"
Dean said, "Well, I think the 'why' is pretty obvious." Josh looked up at Dean bewildered, so Dean continued, "She's in love with you, man. Duh!"
Josh put his hand to his mouth and then rubbed his chin hard as he thought. Ignoring Dean's comment, Josh said, "Well, then we'll call Blake and tell him to make her come back when she calls."
"Josh, that would put her in more danger than she's already in. Her plan is actually very good and I think it can work. We just have to work fast on finding a more permanent solution."
"So you think she did the right thing?"
"I don't know if it is the right thing or not,” said Rowan. “But I do know that if it was Blake in this situation and I thought I could buy him some time to come up with a plan, I'd do it in a heartbeat. She's giving us some time so we shouldn't be wasting it arguing whether or not she did the right thing. We should be using the time to find a way to fix this and bring her back safe and sound. After all, it's a done deal. We can't do anything about it now, the wheels of the plan have been set in motion whether we like it or not."
Josh put his head back in his hands for a moment and then ran his hands through his hair and said, "Right. You're right. What's done is done. But we are going to do everything we can to get her back, right?"
"Absolutely," Dean said.
"Okay. The letter said you found out about that heart-shaped stone that was in my jacket. Can you explain that to me and anything else I missed while I was sleeping?"
"Sure. We believe the stone is called 'The Heart of the Crone'," Rowan said.
"What is a crone? Isn't that some old lady?" Josh asked.
"Yes, but in witch lore the crone is the oldest and wisest witch alive. Anyway, the heart was carved from bloodstone and enchanted by a good and kind witch in order to save her beloved from being killed by the hand of evil. As long as he wore the heart around his neck he was protected by her love from death. Sally and I think that because the heart was not around your neck but in the lining of your jacket, you survived the explosion but you were slightly burned."
"So anyone who wears it is protected?"
"Yes."
"Then it is the item Dimitri is looking for?"
"Yes."
"So what does the ‘black orchid’ have to do with anything?"
"The Black Orchid is an organization bent on enslaving humans and taking over the world."
"Oh swell. And Dimitri?"
"He's their present leader."
"Even better. So he wants the stone so he can be invincible?"
"Pretty much."
"But he's already a vampire. Aren't they immortal? Self-healing? All that stuff?"
"Yes, but they can be killed."
"I see. So why didn't Lanie take the stone to protect herself?"
"Well, first off, it's you she wants protected and secondly we really should keep the stone as far away from Dimitri as possible."
"But if the stone protects its wearer from death, why try to kill me in the explosion?"
"Dominic thinks it was a test."
"A test?"
"Yes. If you survived, then he would know for sure that you did indeed have the stone."
"How long have Blake and Sally been gone?"
"About two hours."
"So Lanie's only to Sacramento or so if she hasn't hit traffic."
"If she hits any traffic it will be IN Sacramento; that is if she's headed to highway 80 and out of the state. Being Sunday, most of the traffic will be coming back to Bay Area from those who went away for the weekend, but we don't know if she went that way. Maybe she's heading south and cutting over to Highway 40 or 10. She didn't say."
"I guess that's good. With her being two hours away and Blake leading Dimitri another two hours in the opposite direction she's got, at the very least, four hours on him."
"Right. And if she stops at a motel, uses the iPhone from there, and pays for a room, but continues to drive through the night, she could be quite a ways from him by morning. I'm sure that is what Blake will suggest to her when she calls."
"Just for the record, I really hate this," Josh announced.
"I know, Josh. If it were Blake I'd be going nuts myself."
"Yeah, but Blake is a vampire. He can at least defend himself if he gets caught. Lanie can't."
"But she's very smart, Josh. She said if she felt he was getting too close that she'd hop on a plane and get to Dominic as fast as she could."
"So she's headed east?"
"I think so. I think she's going to try and meet up with Darby."
"So how do we know that Dimitri doesn't have thugs to help him run all over the US looking for Lanie?"
"We
don't," Rowan said.
"Great."
"I'm not so sure that we don't know that," Dean interjected.
"Why?" Rowan asked.
"Well, think about it. Dominic said that the heart may have been in the hands of the Black Orchids for a long while, that's why it keeps popping up and never dies out even though the order has been destroyed many times over the centuries. If Dimitri is trying to scrounge up followers and doesn't have the all powerful stone, why would anyone bother following him? I know I wouldn't. I'm guessing he's desperate to get it because without it no one will follow him."
"That's interesting. I think you might be on to something there, Dean. That would make sense as to why the first vampire I ran into was looking for it. I got the sense that it wasn't his, as if he had stolen it. Maybe the stone is the symbol of the leadership, like a crown or a ring. The first vampire could have just as easily been the leader. I don't think he was smart enough to get very far. Dimitri is much smarter, that I definitely sensed. And very much in control of his thoughts. Oh man. I haven't worked with Blake long enough to cloak my thoughts. If Dimitri heads back this way, he'll know I'm here."
"I thought of that while you were sleeping,” said Rowan. “That's what I've been reading up on. Darby was really the potion and charm expert, but I think I can make a temporary charm to cloak your thoughts until Sally can come up with something better or you can learn to block them yourself."
"Great."
"So what do we do now?"
"We wait," Dean said turning his attention back to the ball game.
"We wait? But we are wasting time."
"We aren't exactly wasting time, Josh. You can do some research on the Internet for anything on the 'heart of the crone', bloodstone attributes, its uses, 'black orchid', or whatever. Any tiny bit of new information is helpful. I will go and make up the charm and check Sally's wards around the houses."
"What are wards?"
"Protection spells. They warn us about intruders or keep intruders out. They can do all sorts of things. We will do what we can until we can put our heads together with Sally and Blake. We'll come up with something, Josh. Dominic is the one who told us about the stone and the Black Orchids and he is still researching so he may come up with something more too."
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