The Vampyre Legal Chronicles - Daniel: Book: 3

by MacKenzie, CC

  Gia dropped her head on his vast vampyre chest and released a heavy sigh.

  "I understand. Sometimes we all have to do things we don't want to, but honor demands we do them."

  She raised her head to let him see her tears. Tears only for him, not for herself. She pressed closer, stood on tip-toe and slipped her arms around his neck. And she wished they'd had more time together; wished she'd shown him how much she loved him.

  "Take care of you for me. And I will take care of me for you."

  Daniel held her close, his arms and body absorbing the thoughts racing through her mind.

  His eyes were tightly shut as his heart filled with a joy so pure it made his eyes sting. She loved him, even though she stubbornly refused to say the words, he felt the truth and he was content.

  And then he was gone.

  Gia stood absolutely still, her mind flowing out to find his.

  'Daniel?'

  'Stop worrying, darlin’. I'll be back before you know it.'

  And then there was nothing.

  Gia sank to her knees in the bleak and dim light, wrapped the blanket that had warmed Charlotte around herself. And as she did so, she prayed for him to return to her safely and in one piece. But deep in her heart, she had a bad feeling about what was happening to them and the events that were unfolding this night.

  A very bad feeling.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Anais clung to the cloistered ceiling, her vampyre in control of her every move.

  She'd followed the dark-robed vampyre who'd attacked Charlotte.

  Even travelling as fast as she could he'd sped away, a dark blur, lost to her.

  Now she watched events unfold below as a portal opened in the vast central space and line after line of humans and vampyres entered, as if of their own free will, to leave this world for another.

  Where were they going?

  And then her eyes went wide as Eleanor Pattullo stepped through the portal into this world. The dark witch wore black leather. Her skull protected by a helmet of metal the color of silver and a matching breast plate.

  Anais watched as the witch moved to converse with another dark-robed vampyre of the Order. Now Eleanor's eyes searched the space. Abruptly her head lifted to the cavernous ceiling.

  Anais's heart leapt to her mouth, but she kept absolutely still hardly daring to breathe, tucked behind a beam in a dark corner.

  She watched proceedings through her lashes.

  And then something happened that she'd never have believed possible if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes. When the space was clear of people, the portal began to dissipate and the building shuddered and rumbled, Eleanor was handed first one naked toddler and then another. She placed them on the floor right in the centre of the building. Boys. Little boys. They simply sat utterly still with heads bent, as if their eyes were on the floor.

  Then Eleanor did another quick scan of the space, turned and stepped through the portal.

  It vanished with a strange pop that resonated in her ears.

  And now the building stood still and silent.

  Even the storm outside seemed to subside.

  Heart pounding in her chest, Anais made a rapid descent and raced across the stone floor to the children. One was pale skinned with blonde curls that badly needed a wash. The other was his polar opposite; dark skinned with black spiky hair that was matted. They stank to high heaven.

  Neither of them looked at her and she wondered for a heart-stopping moment if they were dead. But no, they were breathing. Their little chests rising and falling in a perfect synchronicity, which was chilling to see.

  Her hand reached out to touch the dark one.

  His soft skin was icy.

  He lifted his head.

  Her hand flew to her mouth to stop her cry of utter dismay.

  Dear God.

  He had no eyes.

  A wave of pity, utter fury and a need for revenge filled her heart, her head.

  'Why?' she asked her vampyre. 'Why would anyone do such a thing to an innocent?'

  Her stunned vampyre had no answer.

  "Anais?"

  She whirled around to find an armed to the teeth Ezekiel and Marcus racing to her side.

  Caught in his arms, she whimpered as the very breath was squeezed from her lungs, feeling safe for the first time in what felt like weeks instead of hours. But she pulled away from him and dropped to the floor to kneel in front of the little children.

  "Look what's been done to them, Marcus." Her voice broke and at last the tears came. "Look what's been done."

  Ezekiel now lifted both boys, his dark eyes going like icy slits as he studied them.

  "Traumatized. We need to get them out of here."

  "Are Charlotte and Gia safe?" she asked a stony faced Marcus.

  He turned to her and those vivid blue eyes went soft. "Aye. James and Charlotte have returned home and Gia is waiting for us."

  Abruptly the storm again rose outside as hail battered the stony ground.

  She closed her eyes and swayed on her feet.

  Then she was in his arms and he was striding through the dark and dank hell that was Dyunik Monastery.

  "Take me home, Marcus."

  ***

  Daniel moved with speed, stealth and caution through the monastery, using the sound of the wind and hail to conceal his approach. He used every dark shadow on wall and ceiling to hide his presence. He began to examine the construction, the tubes of wires, noticing a technology glaringly out of place on such an ancient structure.

  There was, so far, no trace of his target, but his disquiet began to grow.

  Vassili had tried to hurt Charlotte. He no longer had her in his clutches.

  And yet...

  He came upon the body of a young girl dressed in black robes of the Order. She was sprawled on her back. Human. Dead. Her grey eyes had a look of utter confusion as they stared unseeing up at the arched ceiling. Blood still warm pooled beneath her. He didn't touch her, but noted blood and flesh under the fingernails of her right hand.

  He bent his head to sniff her fingers.

  His heightened olfactory senses gave him the answer.

  Vampyre.

  Ancient.

  Abruptly, a flash of power was all around him.

  Dark magic he realized as a creature rose from the dark and dank floor. He wasted precious seconds as he leapt away and spun around to avoid an attack from behind. The girl had been a distraction. A trap. And he'd fallen for it like a fool.

  Vassili's claw missed his skull, but raked down his shoulder, dug three deep ruts into his chest through kevlar, through flesh and bone, missing his heart by a whisper. The pain was agonizing, so wrenching it caught his breath. It nearly brought him to his knees. Then the breath of corruption detonated in his face. Instinctually Daniel aimed his clawed fist for Vassili's black heart as his vampyre took full control.

  The strength of his beast rocked him. Now an amber mist of fury hazed before his eyes, revenge dominating his mind. The building rumbled around them. He felt the prickling sensation upon his skin as gooseflesh rose. The scent of sorcery crackled and burned in the air. The creature that was Vassili now used black magic to attract a portal to the spot.

  Fuck.

  Heavy blocks of stone and masonry crashed to the floor with the sound booming in the cloistered hallway.

  Again Daniel moved with preternatural speed aiming his fist again for Vassili's heart but the creature had disappeared as if into thin air.

  Now he flew fast to search the monastery and found no one.

  How was it possible everyone had vanished? Dyunik monastery was situated on top of a mountain range, for Christ's sake. Where had they gone?

  He moved through the vast structure with his vampyre on the highest state of alert. Vassili would not attack him again. Daniel had been tested in hand-to-hand combat and the high priest of The Order had lost the benefit of surprise. The Order would go underground fully aware, the Censure of three
vampyre princes and seven Precedential Elders would show them no mercy.

  Then magic again rose to scrape across his flesh as a roar thundered in his ears as the whole building and the earth upon which it stood shook again. The smell of spent fireworks was heavy in the air. A scent he knew meant dark magic had left the building.

  The pain in his shoulder, his chest, now bloomed in his mind as adrenaline leaked way.

  He wanted to drop to his knees, but knew if he did, he'd never get up again.

  'Daniel!' Gia's desperate cry for him rang loud in his mind. 'You are wounded?'

  'I am coming for you,' he responded, ignoring her question.

  Her annoyed huff of frustration in his mind made him bare his teeth in a rictus grin through the agony.

  He knew the pain spreading through his flesh, his bones, was unnatural. It appeared Vassili's claws contained a venom.

  His strength was failing fast.

  Shit.

  Fuck.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Strong arms lifted Daniel.

  "You're hurt, son."

  "I think Vassili poisoned me," he gasped to Ian Macpherson and three Centuri. Then his eyes dropped to the technology snaking around the building. "We need to follow the wiring, find out where it leads, what it means."

  Ian and a Centuri warrior supported him as they trailed down stone steps, worn by the feet of thousands over the years, into what had once been the dungeons of the monastery.

  As they entered a clean and white space with its own filtration system, the back-up generator still humming, they stopped dead. There were at least ten computer stations. And by the way they were still alive, showing a variety of building and people around the world, it appeared their technicians had left in a hurry.

  Ian blew out a long whistle.

  "State-of-the-art flat screens, virtual technology, I've never seen the like."

  "Grab everything you can," he whispered through the hurt. "We don't know how long the Entrée will remain open."

  Ian placed him in a chair and Daniel again hissed through an excruciating agony.

  Fuck it.

  Sweat now slicked his palms, ran down his back.

  He told his vampyre to take control before he passed out.

  Ian moved fast around the room as he approached a huge table carved of oak. The piece looked totally out of place among the glass and metal. Daniel watched him place the palm of his hand, almost reverently, on what lay upon the table.

  "Daniel," said Ian as he turned a pale face to look at him. "It's the ancient texts. What the hell are they doing here?"

  Daniel sucked in a breath, tried to breathe through yet another wave of pain.

  He was stupid enough to attempt a smile.

  "You've just made my father's day."

  "Sir," spoke a Centuri as his hands flew over a virtual keyboard. "I have a message here to Vassili from Enricho Donatti."

  "Download everything you can to our servers in Scotland," cried Ian as he dumped the ancient texts into the arms of a Centuri before stalking towards a Daniel who was having trouble sitting upright. "Hurry man."

  Gia was waiting exactly where he'd left her.

  'Good girl,' Daniel whispered in her mind. Ian was holding him upright. She cried out as she reached for him with impatient arms. Her brown eyes searched his before going wide as she spotted his wounds. The look on her face was a mix of terror and love. Dear heaven, her face swam before his eyes, she was so very beautiful. Her dark hair tumbling about her pale face streaked with dirt and tears, her brown eyes enormous.

  "We just need to wait for Ezekiel and Marcus and Anais to get back and we can go home," he said, praying to God that home was still there.

  Now he sank to the floor and felt Gia holding him tight.

  She was hurting him, a lot, but he didn't have the heart to tell her.

  Then he heard a voice that made him close his eyes in relief.

  "Is that you, Gia?" asked an Anais with tears in her voice. And then he heard her gasp. "Omigod, what happened to Daniel?"

  Pain finally, thankfully, carried him away.

  The world went dark.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  "You will marry me."

  Gia rolled her eyes to heaven as she tucked the sheet more firmly around Daniel.

  They were in the hospital wing of a modern version of a Scottish castle built in a glen set between snow-capped mountains in the Grampians in Scotland.

  She'd thought she might miss the busy buzz of New York City, but after only two weeks the stunning beauty of the place already felt like home to her. She loved their tower apartment with views over hundreds of Munros for as far as they eye could see (a Munro was a mountain that measured over three thousand feet above sea level). Most of all the she loved the people who lived within the vast structure. Marcus and Anais, James and Charlotte, Prince Duncan Gillespie, who was always willing to listen whenever she'd feared for Daniel's life. She'd even stopped jumping out of her skin whenever she met one of the Centuri warriors who manned a ring of a steel around the family.

  Family.

  Now she was part of the beating heart of a family she'd always dreamed of being a part of, and never had.

  "We'll talk about it when you get back on your feet," she said in the soft voice she always used around Daniel these days.

  "We'll talk about it now."

  "I see our patient is still giving you plenty of trouble," said Saira as she entered. In her hands she held a white metal dish which contained a vial of cloudy liquid and a hypodermic needle.

  Daniel scowled.

  He was still terribly pale.

  He'd also lost an incredible amount of weight and his cheekbones looked as if they'd been carved from solid marble.

  "I already had my shot," he said in a whiney voice, sounding as if he was six years old.

  "This is a special medicine, brewed by Ezekiel." Saira grinned into his glowering face and sang, "'It's a kind of magic.' Roll over, make my day and let me see that tight ass of yours."

  The filthy look he threw the medic made Gia bite down very hard on her bottom lip.

  He pulled down soft cotton pyjama bottoms and rolled over.

  And what a very fine and tight ass it was.

  Gia gave a happy sigh.

  And it was all hers, every delectable inch of it.

  Saira caught her eyes, sent her a salacious wink, mouthed. "Nice butt."

  "I can read your dirty mind, Gia. And that thought was not very professional of you, Ms. Pattullo... Ow!"

  "Should've relaxed your buttock muscle," said Saira.

  "You fucking enjoyed that," he growled.

  He hitched up his pants, then flinched as his face went white.

  His shoulder was letting him know it still wasn't fully healed and didn't appreciate the manoeuvre.

  As if he was a little boy, Saira ruffled his hair making it stick on end.

  "I did, too. You need to take it easy, boyo. Your vampyre is winning the war with the poison in your system, but it's going to take time for real healing to begin. Why don't you just lie back and enjoy letting Gia pamper you to death?"

  "I'd enjoy it more if she'd stop being so damned stubborn," he said through clenched teeth.

  Saira eyed his face. "You in pain?"

  "You're not giving me more pain meds. I can't think straight and sleep all the damned time."

  Saira ignored him, nodded to a Centuri medic who prepped a syringe.

  "Aww, gimme a break here," whined Daniel.

  "It's just a little prick," said Gia.

  The dark look she received in response told her she'd pay for the little dig later, when he was well. Her tally of what she owed already was rising on a daily basis quite nicely.

  But deep within her heart, she felt terribly sorry for him. He was missing out on the global re-organization of Gillespie, Pattullo and Hindmarch. The frustration of his situation was nibbling away at his usually stable mood. These days her man was like
a big bad-tempered bear.

  He hadn't taken the indignity of the sick-room in his stride, but now he accepted the pain meds with as much good grace as he could muster, which wasn't a lot.

  After Saira and the medic left, he let his dark head fall back on his pillows.

  His eyes closed, jaw clenched and his wonderful face white.

  Eyes still closed, he patted the bed in invitation.

  "Stop worrying, woman. Come and lie here beside me."

  Gia simply raised a brow, folded her arms.

  "Uh uh. Nope. Last time you tried to ravish me."

  Now he smiled, vivid blue eyes watching her from beneath narrowed lids.

  "Come here, my wee darlin’." His deep voice was soft, and had he slurred the words a little? The meds must have kicked in fast.

  Grinning and feeling safe from any amorous advances, she kicked off her shoes, moved to the bed and lay on her side, leaning on her elbow to watch the tension ease from his amazing face.

  He placed his good arm around her, held her close as he tugged her to lay her head on his shoulder.

  He let out a big sigh of complete contentment.

  "That's better," he muttered into her hair.

  The time had come for her to be nothing but honest with him.

  "I love you," she spoke from the heart and felt him go still.

  She'd surprised him.

  He cleared his throat, and pulled her close.

  "I love you so much, Gia. You are my life. My heart beats only for you. I promise to keep you safe. Marry me."

  Could she do it?

  Could she take the risk?

  "I'm not Liam," he growled the words. "Do not measure me against him. I will not tolerate it, my love."

  Anger rose that he should think such a thing of her.

  They were nothing alike, how could he even mention Liam and himself in the same sentence?

  She tipped her head back to look up into his face.

  "How could you think that?"

  His blue eyes held hers. She read the love.

  "I can read your thoughts. Every time the possibility of marriage is mentioned you freeze, and your mind immediately returns to your past relationship experience. It kills me when you re-live what that bastard did to you. It kill me."