by Vivi Anna
After saluting him with the bottle, she finished the rest. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. You looked like you needed it.”
“I didn’t realize I was so easy to read.”
“Oh, you’re not. Trust me.” He came around behind her chair and set his hands on her shoulders. She was about to protest when he started to massage her aching muscles. She hadn’t realized how truly tense she was until Cale worked those twisted knots.
“Oh, that feels good,” she moaned, letting her head fall forward.
He stroked her neck up and down, kneading the tension out with strong manipulations. She didn’t think she’d ever had as good a massage as the one he was giving her. It might’ve been purely because she needed it or because it was Cale doing the massaging.
She accepted that it was probably a little of both.
“I didn’t tell Interpol about Ivy.”
She lifted her head but didn’t respond.
“Although I think her gifts would be useful, I’m not going to be the one who uses her. I just wanted you to know that.”
She lifted her hands and rested them over his.
“I’m sorry if I accused you of anything. I know you’d never do that.”
He spun her around in her chair and cradled her head in his hands. “You’re important to me, Olena.
I don’t want our jobs to put us at odds with each other.”
“I don’t, either.” She wasn’t sure what else to say.
There were words in her head, but she wasn’t sure if now was the right time to let them out.
He tilted her head up and bent down to press his lips to hers.
“Uh, am I interrupting?”
Breaking apart, they both looked toward the door where Gabriel stood in the threshold, one eyebrow raised in question.
Cale straightened and let his hands fall to his sides. Olena stood, trying hard not to show that she was very close to succumbing to Cale’s attentions.
Gabriel raised his hand. In it, he had a piece of paper. “We have our warrant.”
Chapter 23
They decided it would be best to hit the club before it opened. That way they wouldn’t have any problems with crowd control, especially if Valentino decided to run. Which Cale figured would be most likely.
He, Olena, Gabriel and three constables took their positions outside the club preparing to execute the warrant. Carrying it out took more than just getting a piece of paper. They needed to prepare for any eventual magic issues, as well as lycan problems, so François had given them all protection amulets to wear. Olena didn’t think Otto would stand in their way. On the contrary, he would probably be very interested to know that Valentino had something to do with his lover’s demise.
Gabriel knocked twice on the red door.
At first, he thought no one was going to answer, then came a series of clanks and clicks, an indication of locks being opened, and a big burly lycan bouncer pulled the door open.
“The place is closed. Come back later.”
Gabriel showed him the paper. “We have a warrant to search the place.”
“For what?”
“For Valentino DeCosta.”
“He’s not here.”
“We’d still like to look around.” Gabriel nodded to the constable, who then stepped up and grabbed the lycan’s arm.
“Can you step outside please, sir?”
At first, Cale thought the lycan was going to put up a struggle, but he surveyed all of them and likely decided he wasn’t going to win. Gabriel could no doubt kick the big guy’s butt. The inspector had that feral way about him.
Once the lycan was removed from the doorway, Gabriel moved into the club, followed by Olena and Cale. Cale didn’t want to be too far from her. He knew things could go wrong real fast and he wanted to protect her. Although in this situation, with all kinds of Otherworld beings around him, it was likely he who needed protection. He was just too much of a man, human in all ways, to accept that fact.
The place was empty except for a few people milling about around the bar and the DJ booth. With the lights on and the music off, Cale didn’t think the place looked all that enchanting.
As they crossed the floor, there were plenty of curious gazes, but no one made a move to stop them.
Before they could reach the red door, though, it opened and Otto came out, obviously warned by one of his employees. Or possibly he sensed that they’d arrived. Vampires had all kinds of powers that Cale was just beginning to fully understand.
“What’s going on?” He asked the question of Olena, as she was the only vampire among them.
“We’re here for Valentino.”
Otto’s face darkened. “Are you saying he had something to do with Luc’s death?”
“It’s likely.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“He’s been tracking Ivy, and we have some evidence that suggests he’s been after whatever was in Luc’s safety-deposit box and it is the reason that Luc was murdered.”
He shook his head in disbelief, but Cale figured the vampire had to have suspected at least some of it. He seemed like a smart man. Valentino couldn’t be operating under this guy’s radar without at least some suspicion.
“Is Valentino here?” Gabriel asked. He lifted the paper. “We have a warrant for his arrest.”
The vampire shook his head. “I haven’t seen him since you were here before.”
Cale thought he was lying. Otto’s eyes shifted to the side, avoiding Olena’s intense gaze.
“We will get justice for Luc, Otto,” Olena said, obviously sensing what Cale had. “Let us do our job. Please don’t take it into your own hands.”
He turned back to her. “I said he wasn’t here.”
“We’re going to look around, anyway,” Gabriel said. “Could you please step out of the way?”
He did so, albeit reluctantly. He glared at each of them as they passed him and stepped through the door leading to the back offices.
The moment they were all through, Gabriel, Olena, Cale and the two constables, the door slammed shut behind them and the lights went out. They were plunged into total darkness.
Cale reached out for Olena. His hands filled with air and nothing else. “Olena!”
There was no response. How could that be? Where had she gone? Surely someone would’ve responded to him—Gabriel or one of the constables.
Groping blindly, Cale felt for the wall, another person, anything to gain his bearings. He put one foot in front of the other, counting off steps. By the tenth one he realized he should’ve hit something. The corridor hadn’t been that wide or long.
This had to have been some sort of spell. Valentino had set something up in the event that they showed up. And Otto had allowed them to walk right into it. Maybe he was even in on it from the beginning and killed his longtime lover out of greed. Regardless of species, males were driven to action by money, power or sex. Take your pick.
And like a guileless fool, Cale had forgotten to put his amulet around his neck. It was in his coat pocket, not realizing it needed to touch his skin to work. Desperate and confused, Cale kept moving through the absolute dark. The only thing that was solid was the floor beneath his feet. But he was afraid that if he crouched to feel it with his fingers it, too, would disappear into oblivion. If that happened, would he fall into a void?
He wondered if the others were experiencing the same thing he was. Was Olena lost in her own dark world? He imagined she was faring better, though. She at least could see in the dark with her vampire eyes.
He’d experienced a lot in his life and in his career with Interpol, but nothing had prepared him for this. No amount of torture training or investigation into the minds of Otherworlders could have prepared him to be trapped in darkness with no frame of reference to draw on, nothing to lean against and draw strength from. He was wandering around deaf, dumb and blind.
“You’re not afraid of the dark, are you, Agent Braxton?”
>
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere all at once. Cale spun around in circles trying to pinpoint its location.
“Round and round you go, where you stop, nobody knows.” The voice cackled. It was then he realized it belonged to one Valentino DeCosta.
“I’ll find you, you son of a bitch.”
There came another cackle. “No, you won’t. You can’t even find yourself.”
The last two words were whispered as if Valentino had spoken them right into his ear. Cale spun around, his heart racing. Panic was starting to settle in. What if he couldn’t ever get out of this black hole? What if he was stuck here forever, damned to walk aimlessly in the dark?
Olena was out there, either wondering where he’d gone or in her own hell. He couldn’t fathom not seeing her again. It had never crossed his mind that he wouldn’t get another chance to hold her, to kiss her, to make love to her. He’d thought he had all the time in the world to tell her how he felt about her. That maybe, just maybe, he was going against everything he thought possible and was falling in love with her.
But now he might’ve missed his opportunity.
Swinging around, anger swirling in his gut, Cale waved his hands back and forth trying desperately to touch something. Something to cushion the blow that came to his heart and to his soul with the notion that Olena was lost to him forever.
“Come out and fight me, you coward.”
Again, came the manic chuckle. “What’s the matter, Braxton, feeling lonely? Don’t worry. I’ve taken care of the lovely Olena. She won’t miss you, I promise you that.”
“I’m going to kill you, DeCosta.”
“Please, what can you do to me, human? Absolutely nothing. You are powerless here.”
“Say that to my face.”
The chuckle again, but this time it wasn’t so hearty. Maybe he was wearing the witch down.
“Olena was just playing with you, Agent. You know you couldn’t possibly fulfill a woman who has lived so long and so well. In a few weeks’ time, she’ll have moved on and you’ll be just a small piece of her long repertoire.”
Cale tried not to listen, tried not to let the words sink in. But he’d pondered the same things.
“You’re a coward, Valentino. You can’t even track down one little girl. And it just pissed you off that she’s a far better witch than you’ll ever be.”
“You know, I tire of your banter.” There was a heavy sigh. Cale could feel the puff of air on the back of his neck. Maybe he wasn’t as alone as he thought he was.
He swung around, his fist raised. But it was too late.
“Sleep.”
With that one word, Cale collapsed into unconsciousness.
Chapter 24
“Where the hell is he?” Olena ran up and down the corridor searching in every room, every corner, every nook, looking for Cale.
“Calm down, Olena. We’ll find him.” Gabriel tried to grab her arm as she whizzed past him to search the office again.
“You don’t know that,” she said.
“He’s not dead. If he was, we would’ve found a body. So if he’s not dead, we can find him.”
She was in a panic. She could feel it bubbling inside her. She’d been in this state ever since the lights had gone out briefly, then flashed back on, revealing that Cale was gone. He’d just vanished.
“Valentino set this trap.”
“Yes, that much is obvious.” Gabriel grabbed the knob on the door and tried to turn it. It was locked. “It seems we’re locked in.”
With an angry sigh, Olena stomped over to the door, wrapped her hand around the doorknob and cranked it. Instantly the handle came off in her hand along with the locking mechanism. She tossed it to the side and kicked open the door. The frame cracked from the force of the blow.
They marched out into the club. Two bartenders were milling about the bar, setting up shop. Olena stomped over to them, fury making her eyes glow. “Where’s Otto?”
They both looked at her wearily. Then one nodded toward the DJ booth. Smart man. She swirled around and marched toward the booth. Otto saw her coming through the bulletproof window.
He met her at the door. “Is there a prob—”
That was all he could get out before Olena had him pressed against the wall by his throat with his feet dangling in midair.
“Where is he?”
He clawed at her hand, but it was to no avail. “I don’t know.”
“Where did he take Cale?”
He frowned then. “Who?”
“Agent Braxton. Where did Valentino take him?”
He shook his head, still clawing at her arm. Fueled by righteous anger, she had no intention of letting go. She didn’t even feel his nails furrowing her flesh. She could see the blood dripping down her arm, but she didn’t care one bit. It was nothing compared to the pain ripping her apart inside.
Gabriel grabbed her by the shoulder. “Let him go, Olena. You’re not helping matters.”
She released her hold on Otto’s throat and let him drop to the floor. He didn’t fall, though. He was much too agile for that.
Rubbing his throat, he said, “I’m sure you’re going to explain to me why I’m not going to press charges against you for assault.”
“A spell was triggered when we went through the door, and Agent Braxton was kidnapped,” Olena growled, her hands still shaking. “You can’t tell me you didn’t know about it.”
“I assure you I did not.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Well, that is a shame.”
Gabriel stepped up. “We are taking you in for questioning, Otto.”
One constable came along the vampire’s side and gestured for him to go ahead.
Otto nodded once to him, then to Olena. “I hope you find your agent. I can see that he means a lot to you.”
Olena didn’t watch as he was escorted out of the building. She didn’t want to believe that he hadn’t had anything to do with Cale’s disappearance. She wanted someone to pay. If it couldn’t be Valentino right now, she’d take anyone.
Gabriel patted her shoulder. “Let’s go look at the scene. Maybe we can find something that will help us.”
Together they walked back to the broken door and corridor to the back offices. She peered down the hallway. “How did he do it?”
Gabriel joined her. “A trap of some sort.”
“A spell.” She stepped over the fallen door and back into the hallway. She examined the floor. “It had to be triggered somehow. It had to be tuned into Cale.”
“Maybe it was random.”
She shook her head. “I think it was deliberate.”
“But why Cale?”
“Because he has more at stake then we do and fewer defenses.” She spied something on the floor.
Crouching, she picked it up between her fingers. It was a gold cuff link. One of Cale’s cuff links. She’d seen it on him a couple of days ago. She showed it to Gabriel.
“Now the question is, did he drop it when he vanished or was it used for a spell?”
“He wasn’t wearing cuff links today.”
“How did Valentino get it off Cale to use it?”
She took out a plastic evidence bag from her jacket pocket, then dropped the link in, sealing it shut tightly. She deposited it back into her pocket and started to pace the corridor.
“When we were here last time, Valentino shook our hands right before we left. He could’ve taken it then. He’s an expert at sleight of hand. Just like he planted that tracking spell on me, he could’ve easily taken Cale’s cuff link.”
“But what does it gain him?”
“Leverage.” Olena said. She hated to say it, but she knew it to be true. Cale had been taken because he was human. Because he would’ve been the easiest to take. And he’d be the easiest to get information out of.
Gabriel looked at her. And she knew he understood what she was thinking. He nodded to her. “He’s tough. He’s had extensive training in all types o
f interrogation techniques, both human and Otherworlder.”
“I know, but magic, Gabriel. That is one thing he couldn’t possibly be immune to. Valentino will use everything at his disposal, including black magic. I’ve seen what that kind of torture can do to a person. Most don’t come back from it.”
He rested his hand on her shoulder again. “He will. You’ll see. He’s one tough SOB. I know people, Olena. And Cale Braxton will come back in one piece. He will for you.”
She nodded, pressing her lips together. Though she really wanted to cry, she instead squared her shoulders up and swiveled around to the crime scene to get to work. She couldn’t help Cale by standing around feeling sorry for herself. She had to dig deep and find something that could help him. Find the clue that would lead her to him.
Because once she found it, hell itself wouldn’t be able to stop her from getting to him. She would knock down everything and everyone in her way. Especially Valentino DeCosta.
Chapter 25
Cale blinked open his eyes to darkness. But it wasn’t the complete, oppressive black like before. This time when his eyes adjusted he could make out a few things around him.
He was in a small room lying on the floor. Cool, hard cement by the feel of it on his back.
Stripped of his watch, also his jacket and tie, he didn’t know how long he’d been lying on the floor unconscious. He didn’t think it had been that long, as his muscles hadn’t quite stiffened up yet.
He tried to sit up but his head pounded at the intrusive movement. It felt like he’d been knocked in the back of the head, but when his fingers inspected his skull he found no blood or bump. Then he remembered Valentino’s eerily detached voice. When he’d spoken the word sleep, Cale had dropped. Maybe it was magic making his head throb as if he’d been out on a bender with his mates for a week straight.
He got to his feet, albeit shakily, and searched for a door. The darkness was thick, so he had to use his hands to feel along the walls. Eventually, along the far wall he found the outline of a door and a doorknob. But when he touched the handle with his right hand he experienced a jolt to his system like electricity. It shot him back a few feet.