The Vampyre Legal Chronicles - Daniel: Book: 3

by MacKenzie, CC

  Gia wiggled her fingers. "Worry not. We'll go with our vampy instincts. And since Charlotte's a witch. When we find her, we'll let her use a little magic."

  "Er... her magic's pretty new."

  Gia stopped dead. "How new?"

  "A few weeks."

  At the dropped jaw of disbelief, Anais merely shrugged.

  Gia gave her a gentle nudge.

  "Lead on, MacDuff."

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  "Can you fucking believe this?" said Marcus as he stared daggers at Daniel's cell in his hand. "She cut me off."

  Saira stood before the mirror, one hand on her hip as her fingertips drummed her bottom lip. "They're on an adventure," she said.

  Daniel simply stared at her as if she'd lost her tiny mind.

  "I'll give them an adventure. If the Order get their hands on them..." he couldn't continue with the thought.

  "They're going to do what to them?" Saira wanted to know. "They are newborn vampyres bonded to the sons of a vampyre prince. Neither of them have magic. Anais is an empath. But being an empath is not a capital offence even for the Order. They'll have to send them back."

  "Aye, but after they've done what to them?" barked a Marcus who was losing patience very fast.

  Saira moved closer to the mirror and reached out a finger.

  "Do not touch the bluidy thing, woman," growled Ezekiel as he stalked into the room and the power of his magic entered with him. He had half a dozen of his Legion at his heels, closely followed by Ian Macpherson and a contingent of Centuri warriors.

  Magic might make his skin prickle uncomfortably, but Daniel felt easier.

  If there was anyone who'd know what to do it was the witch.

  Ezekiel turned to them, beaned them with a hard and ruthless stare.

  "You've all lost your women?"

  All three Gillespie brothers stood tall, their faces flushed with a mix of embarrassment and fury. As one, they nodded.

  "Charlotte was taken from here while she slept," explained a James eyes glittering like blue fire with anxiety and fear.

  "Anais and Gia went after her," said Marcus. He held up the cell phone. "They've talked to us. Anais reckons they're in Dyunik Monastery. By the description and the weather, we think they're right. The point is, how do we get them back?"

  "And what is that thing?" this from Daniel who gestured at the mirror.

  Ezekiel moved to stand before it. He held up his palm. Part of the surface seemed to become liquid and reach out towards his hand.

  "An Entrée built by the Elves. I haven't seen one for one hundred and eighty years. As far as I'm aware, only four remain intact in this world."

  "Elves?" said Daniel in a tone of sheer disbelief.

  Ezekiel turned to him, read the look on his face and nodded.

  "Dark Elves to be precise. It's enough to make one wonder what Vassili and Voltaire have been doing holed up in their monastery, isn't it?"

  "How do we get them back?" repeated a Marcus whose vampyre was clawing for release.

  "We wait and we listen."

  Face like thunder, Marcus folded his arms, spread his long legs.

  "That's it?"

  Ezekiel nodded. "For now. When we hear activity on the other side, I'll retrieve them."

  James moved towards the mirror. "Why can't we just go in and get them?"

  "If I enter, Vassili and Voltaire will feel my magic instantly and raise the alarm. Let's wait and see what Anais and Gia can do. If the Order had been alerted, the Entrée would be closed to us and the mirror would just be a mirror. The pathway remains open. If you and your Centuri go barging in there, all of you might be trapped unable to return to the United States. Remember, at the moment there are no international flights."

  "And I'd have three of my sons and their women under the control of The Order. We do as the witch says and we wait," said Prince Duncan Gillespie as he strode into the room. He stood before the Entrée, his face hard as stone. "Those bastards are going to pay for this, never fear."

  "All I'm hearing is a lot of talk and no action," said James from his seat at the edge of the bed. His head dropped to his hands.

  His father moved to place a firm hand on his shoulder.

  "Cristophe warned them what would happen if they made a move on my family. Attack one and they attack all. I've spoken to him and he's already rounding up every single member of the Order in Rome. Samuel and his sons have taken control of the Order in Canterbury. Damasio is doing the same in Shanghai. And Constantine is moving against them in Paris, plus he's put a halt on their supply of hemoglobin. The entire vampyre nation is behind us. Trust me, they'll release Charlotte unharmed."

  James stared up at his father with bleak eyes and a heart that felt bloody and broken.

  "And if they don't?"

  "Then the Order will be no more. But let us cross that bridge if and when we come to it. New York is no longer safe. When the women return, we will move to Scotland. No one can touch us there."

  "How are we going to move our family and our Centuri and our legal teams to Scotland?" asked Daniel.

  His father sent him a sly smile.

  "Who do you think has the other two Entrées in this world?"

  ***

  The room spun sickly as Charlotte lifted a head that felt like lead.

  Bile roiled like acid in her empty belly.

  It had been hours since she fed.

  Now anxiety and terror bloomed in her lungs making her throat close and her eyes sting.

  Her eyes darted over the space. She was alone in what appeared to be some sort of circular room made of stone and she was tied by her wrists and ankles to a heavy wooden chair. The place smelled of damp and mold and was lit by a single torch placed in a black metal sconce on the stone wall. Pretty basic.

  The place was so cold she had to clench her jaw to stop her teeth chattering.

  Fear rose to dry her throat, her mouth.

  She tried to flex her fingers, but they, too, were taped to the chair arms making her magic useless.

  And she knew, deep in her heart, that The Order had her.

  How she knew, she'd absolutely no idea, but her instincts were screaming that she was in the clutches of a ruthless enemy, whose single goal was to destroy all magic on Earth.

  She tried to stretch the horrible ache in her neck, her shoulders, when the door opened.

  And her heart stopped.

  The creature who floated half an inch from the floor was something no horror movie could possibly conjure. The paper white flesh on his face was stretched too tight across high cheekbones, his mouth a lipless slash while his eyes were a pitiless black with a tiny red dot in the centre. By his scent he was corrupt and malevolent. She guessed he was an ancient vampyre. Under his black hooded robe he was strikingly thin. As he approached, his slim hands and bony fingers now stretched out, as if to touch her. The scent of him, unclean clothes draped over an unwashed body made her sensitive nostrils flare and her delicate stomach do a deeply unpleasant roll.

  "Have you ever heard a child scream, Charlotte?" his whispery voice was tenuous, without inflection. "The sound of an innocent in pain? It will cut through you, witch. And when the sound comes from your own child it will break you."

  Sickness again might try to rise to her throat, her palms might sweat, but Charlotte refused to blink into those horrific eyes filled to the brim with evil.

  For an unending moment of silence, their eyes clashed.

  He broke contact first and shifted towards the door.

  Then he turned back to look at her.

  "So brave. You'd do better to simply show us your many gifts. However, I sense a stubbornness in you, witch. It will be death of you. And of your child."

  When she was certain she was alone, Charlotte dropped her chin to her chest and in her mind spoke to her vampyre.

  'Where are you?'

  'Drugged,' came the faint and seriously annoyed response. 'Rest until I can gather my strength and set us fre
e.'

  Since there was nothing else she could do, Charlotte closed her eyes and hoped and prayed help might arrive. At the thought of what James might be going through, she squeezed her eyes tight and forced herself not to think about it.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Meanwhile, Gia and Anais were retracing their steps.

  It took a shorter time to go down than it did to go up.

  Anais grabbed Gia's arm to halt her progress.

  "I didn't see that door on the way up. Did you?" she whispered.

  Gia studied the arched wooden door hidden on the left behind a deep alcove.

  "Nope. But then we wouldn't have on the way up. It's on the opposite side."

  Both girls pressed their ears to the door and let their vampyre senses expand.

  Anais lifted her head and whispered, "I thought I heard a tiny sound, but I might be imagining it."

  "I heard something, too. Let's have a look."

  Anais placed her hand on the black metal ring. "What if it's one of the bad guys?" she mouthed the words.

  Gia blinked. "Then we kick ass," she mouthed back.

  Anais held up three fingers, two, one.

  They opened the door and found a paper-white and wide-eyed Charlotte tied to a heavy wooden chair.

  The girls didn't say a single word and made quick work of releasing her.

  Gia wrapped her blanket around a shivering Charlotte.

  None of them heard two creatures enter.

  "Well, well, well. And who have we here?" said a silky voice.

  In a split second Anais let her vampyre loose.

  And the beast didn't hesitate.

  She went for the creature dressed in black and a single kick knocked the syringe from its hand. Immediately it dived for the vial, but Anais was too fast for him. She was on his back, hands either side of his skull and she twisted, the sound of a neck breaking snapped too loud in her mind. He dropped dead at her feet. Something deep inside her acknowledged she'd killed a living creature, but she was too pumped with adrenaline to worry about it. Then she dived for the syringe and snapped the needle, placed the rest of it in her small leather pouch attached to her belt and hoped to hell it survived intact.

  Now she spun.

  A tall vampyre had Gia pinned by the throat to the wall, her feet drumming against the stone wall.

  But Charlotte got to her feet.

  As one her vampyre and magic rose.

  She blasted the creature with a ball of white flame, setting fire to his black robes.

  But the force of the strike had re-bounded into her and Charlotte cried out as she fell back into the chair.

  The vampyre's shriek made her ears ring as he released Gia. And then he used his own power to douse the flames.

  Shit, thought Anais, he has dark magic. And right on the heels of that thought, the building began to tremble as a roaring sound was heard. She knew what the sound meant. Attracted by the use of magic, a portal was opening into this reality.

  The vampyre hissed and he spun and flashed out of the door with Anais right on its heels.

  "Where the hell does she think she's going?" gasped Gia from the floor.

  The only response she received was a tormented moan from Charlotte who was slumped on the chair and clutching her left shoulder.

  A shoulder that appeared out of alignment, the bone sticking out at a horrible angle.

  Right away, Gia was at her side, her own injuries forgotten.

  Her hands reached out to touch the girl, but then she snatched them away.

  What if she made a bad situation worse?

  What the hell did a person do about a dislocated shoulder?

  "Need you to help me," whispered Charlotte, her eyes tightly shut as she breathed through what was must be agony.

  "Tell me what to do."

  "Help me to lie on my back on the table."

  The great thing about being pure vampyre was strength.

  Gia picked her up and very gently laid her on the wooden table.

  Perspiration beaded on Charlotte's face which had gone a horrible grey color.

  It took her a couple of minutes to breathe deep in through her nose and out her mouth.

  "Okay," said Charlotte. "Thank you for that. My vampyre is rising and she'll help me get through this. I'm trying to use my magic to relax the muscles around the socket. Hold my arm above the wrist at a forty degree angle and very gently pull while I unwind the joint and the muscles. Then we'll hear a pop. I hope."

  Gia spread her legs, took the arm that was hanging loose over the edge of the table and did exactly as she was told. Her vampyre worked with Charlotte's as she very carefully pulled without jerking and then the pop was clearly felt as the shoulder returned to its socket.

  Poor Charlotte had passed right out on the table.

  Probably just as well, a very shaky Gia told her vampyre, it must have hurt like hell.

  Then the building began to shake again and this time masonry fell from the ceiling.

  Gia didn't hesitate, she scooped up Charlotte and dashed out the door and down the corridor for the room that held the mirror. The chalk marks were still there, thank God for the quick thinking of Anais.

  She entered and saw with relief that the mirror was still there and appeared to be in one piece, but all around her the building shuddered and shook.

  "Now what?" she muttered. Then she raised her voice. "Hey! Anybody there? We need a little help here!"

  She squeezed her eyes tight when she heard the voice of her man.

  "GIA! Hang on, baby. We're coming."

  "I think we're having an earthquake!" she yelled back the warning and found herself wrapped in the strong and loving arms of one Daniel Stewart Gillespie.

  Ezekiel arrived with Marcus and an ashen James.

  James didn't make a sound as he lifted his wife in his strong arms.

  But he took a couple of precious seconds to stare into Gia's eyes.

  His blue eyes burned into hers.

  "I can never repay you for saving her."

  Gia didn't have time to respond as Ezekiel raised both palms to the mirror, chanted in a language she couldn't comprehend, but whatever it was it sounded from a time long past. Now he turned to look at them.

  "Only two at a time, the pathway is weak."

  James stepped through.

  "Where's Anais?" barked Marcus.

  Gia shook her head.

  "She went after a tall and creepy vampyre who looked as if he was a thousand years old. He wore a black hooded robe and I think he used dark magic."

  "Vassili! Which way did she go?"

  "To the right and down the corridor."

  Marcus and Ezekiel were gone before she'd finished the sentence.

  Suddenly she felt stunningly shy as she studied a Daniel she'd never seen before from beneath her lashes. He was dressed in black. Combat pants, muscle shirt, Kevlar vest and soft leather boots. Plus, he was armed to the teeth.

  Whoa.

  When had Daniel Gillespie become not a lover but a fighter?

  For some reason she just could not imagine it.

  "Why on earth are you dressed like a member of the special forces?"

  Daniel bent his head until his mouth touched the soft flesh of her ear as he inhaled the heady scent of his woman. He sent up a thank you to the Universe for sparing her life and keeping her safe.

  "I am a warrior, Gia. I do not run from a fight."

  He could almost taste her on his tongue, could clearly read her thoughts - worry for him and for Charlotte and her baby - in her mind.

  She was his.

  Always.

  She tipped her dark head back to stare up into his eyes, flinching as the ground again shook and the wind seemed to shriek and wail through the walls. The sound reminiscent of a woman wailing in agony.

  "Have you killed before?" He heard the incredulity in her voice, along with a clear demand for an explanation. He wondered how much to tell her. "Do not lie to me."
/>   "Aye. I have killed vampyre and human. They deserved it."

  "Please." She grabbed his arm to hold him to her. "Vassili is too powerful. I saw what he could do. Three of you will never defeat him. Let me fight with you."

  Daniel nearly smiled.

  His woman never failed to amaze him.

  She was worried?

  About him?

  But then she had no idea of what he was capable.

  "Thank you. But I would not be able to focus on the task at hand if I was distracted because I was worrying about you." His voice was soft even as his vampyre rose. Daniel knew he needed to ensure that this time Gia followed his instructions to the letter.

  His hand slid up her back to grip her neck and squeeze gently. "You will stay right here. You will not move. Do you understand me?"

  Gia found herself trembling at the look in his eye. There was something deep inside him that she'd never seen before, something wild and savage. She tightened her grip on him, terrified that if she let him go he would be lost to her forever.

  "I can fight. I'm good at it."

  "Not this time. Vassili is ours." Daniel gently removed her hand stepped back. He clearly read her worry for him and her need to protect.

  She'd no idea what he was capable of, he realized; no concept of the battles he and his brothers had fought for their very survival.

  Now she moved into him, winding her arms around his waist.

  "Don't go." Her voice broke. "Stay with me until help arrives."

  He dipped his dark head to take her trembling mouth with his. Again, the power of their bond swept through him, the flame and the ecstasy that was more than a promise of the ultimate pleasure.

  "Dinnae worry, my wee darling," he spoke the words against her mouth. "We are one, forever joined. I don't have a choice but to avenge my family. Honor demands it."

  She read the grim purpose in him, the intensity of an ethic, of his belief in himself, in her. And she knew there was nothing she could do, could say that would prevent him from doing his duty.