Forever Love (Circle of Ghadan Book 1)

by Kimberly Cummons

  “Oops, sorry, but Cass did ask. So then you think someone on the Circle knows something?”

  “I’ve no idea, but I don’t want to overlook any possibilities and Cassie said she trusts you, so I’m counting on you not to betray us to Dewhurst.”

  “My father? Oh, not to worry, good Celt. That won’t happen. I love my father, but only so far. I don’t share my life or my beliefs with him.”

  He wasn’t sure exactly what she meant, and he was equally sure he didn’t want to know. Trying to decipher one young Daughter in the form of his assistant was more than enough for him. That reminded him. “Has Jasmine shown up, yet? I forgot all about her when Nilos wasn’t with her.”

  “Yup, she came in with me. Hannah’s started putting the Daughters in the entertainment room since they have to be here, but as usual, not considered necessary unless one of the Circle members decides he forgot his brains in his car and needs to ask her to look something up for him.”

  She looked at Cass and smiled. “You’re lucky you’re not a Daughter assigned to one of these guys. We have to run their finances and their businesses and keep their records. Overall be the office manager of their lives, but when push comes to shove, we’re still just women to them.”

  “Although I have to agree that’s true of some of the older members, we’re not all like that. Some of us actually appreciate what our assistants do for us.” Keegan felt the need to defend himself as well as other more open minded members of the Circle.

  “Keegan said no one knew how old Derian is, but what about the others?”

  Sidney laughed. “Ancient, that’s all I know. I’ve often suspected that Derian and Andreas could be the fathers of all Aeterni.”

  “Now that’s a thought not even worth considerin’. I bloody well do not want to think I’m somehow the result of either of them being with a woman.”

  “Yikes, that’s a seriously scary thought, but really, Keegan, could it be any worse than being Bartholomew’s daughter?” She smiled, but Keegan suspected there was more to that than the lighthearted spin she’d put on it.

  A noise downstairs caught his attention. “We’ve gotten off track. Again. Come on, Sidney, show us the way, quietly, and I’ll get you two set up before I go into the room with drinks.”

  “Hey good thinking.” She opened the door and looked. “Okay coast is clear. Bastien said there’s a door at the end of this hall that will take us to another wing, from there we can swing down a set of stairs that’ll lead us right into the kitchen.” Sidney pulled the backpack off her shoulder, cradling it in her arms.

  “This house doesn’t look old enough to have a servant’s quarters,” Cassie said as they followed the younger woman down the hall.

  “Don’t let these guys’ houses fool you. A lot of them cling to the old way. I suspect the wing is Hannah and Caiden’s. I do know Hannah’s housekeeper as well as office manager for Bastien.” Sidney looked back over her shoulder and smiled. “That’s the other hat a lot of them wear. I have my own wing of my father’s house, but outside of having to act as hostess at his very rare business dinners, I’m pretty much left alone once I leave the office.”

  Cassie regarded Keegan as they walked. “Why don’t you have a big house like this? You mentioned you have a bodyguard, but he can’t possibly live with you, or your assistant either, for that matter.”

  Keegan smiled, he liked her curiosity, it showed an interest in the world she’d wanted no part of the day before. Perhaps she’d learn to accept what she’d become eventually. The thought made him happy and that was a fact he refused to analyze.

  They entered the hallway to the empty wing and he stopped long enough to answer her question. “Tomas lives in a house on my property a little farther into the woods. We both agreed we didn’t have to see each other’s comings and goings. We do let each other know where we are at all times, and we can monitor each other’s place. As for Jasmine, she has a house in town. I like my privacy, I don’t need to be mothered, and I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I don’t have to make polite conversation when I’d prefer to be left alone. They’re both close enough when I need them, and yes, she does handle some, not all, of my business affairs. Mostly, I use her when I travel because she keeps mortals from asking the wrong kinds of questions.”

  Sidney was at the end of the hall holding the door open which led to a landing and staircase. He held his hand out to Cassie. “Come on, luv. The longer I take, the less likely they’re going to believe I was in the kitchen getting drinks.”

  ***

  “Are you sure she’s an Aeterni?” Bartholomew Dewhurst asked, for the one hundredth time it seemed to Keegan. The old Brit’s watery eyes glared at him across the table. His smooth, aristocratic accent belying the harsh intent behind the words.

  Keegan tuned out Derian’s answer. They’d only been in the meeting fifteen minutes and already they’d had to explain twice that Cassie had, indeed, come back from the dead and that Doc Bell had stated she was very much Aeterni. Yes, it would’ve been better if Bell could’ve attended the meeting, but it was more important for him to get her blood sample to his lab and start working on it. He could have had someone else examine it, but the doctor hadn’t wanted to trust the work with anyone else. He’d wanted no question as to the results. He needed to know, first hand, exactly what they were dealing with.

  During the earlier meeting before he’d gone to get Cassie, it’d been decided Keegan would watch over her, while his Drakōn duties would temporarily be handled by Circle security as Bastien, the other Drakōn, was needed for other commitments.

  They needed to start searching for clues trying to figure out who could have possibly taken her. To that end, some men would be traveling to Missouri the next day. Starting at the old, now burnt-out cabin, they’d be backtracking through the woods to see what they could find in clues. These men were better than the best trained forensic scientists because they’d been at it longer. No one could track better then Micah Windwalker who’d been around for a thousand years.

  Keeping the Circle from making rash judgments needed his complete attention, but he was distracted by the women in the kitchen and what the Circle needed to accomplish to pay much attention to the volley of complaints and arguments. Until these men saw Cassie come back from the dead, he very highly doubted they were going to believe anything he and Derian had to say. He’d be damned if he’d stop her heart her just so they could see she was immortal. The poor women had died once, she didn’t need to do it again. He shook his head. Christ, now he was thinking like her.

  “I say we should just behead her. She’s dead anyway, now she’s an abomination.”

  Dewhurst’s outburst managed to engage Keegan’s attention. The man didn’t look a thing like Sidney, his daughter, and she was lucky. Most Aeterni took care of themselves, but Dewhurst ate and drank to excess and even his tailor-made suits couldn’t hide the results of his debauched life.

  Keegan balled his hands to keep from jumping over the table and smashing the British prig in the face. He must have made a move, because he felt Tomas’ hand come down on his shoulder. As was tradition, the bodyguards were standing behind their charge’s chair. “You’re a bloody arse, Dewhurst, and if I’ve ever doubted it, you’ve just damn well proved it.”

  “I quite agree. She’s a disgusting zombie. No Aeterni has ever had the lack of grace to die. That’s not only unheard of, but beyond the pale of unnatural,” Erastos, one of the older Greek members, said softly.

  Appalled by the old Greek’s outrageous comment, Keegan said through clenched teeth, “I’m sorry, I’m not sure I heard you correctly, Erastos. Would you care to be repeatin’ that?”

  “You heard what he said, Keegan.” Li Zhao said. His long black braid moved with his head. “I do not believe there was anything about it that could be misunderstood.” He turned toward Erastos sitting on his left. “I believe you and Bartholomew are suggesting we commit genocide.”

  Dewhurst answere
d before Erastos could. “No, I’m suggesting we get rid of Frankenstein’s monster.” He turned his attention back to Keegan. “You said Dr. Bell said she died, completely. As Erastos said, no Aeterni has ever died. We don’t have to die to become what we are born to be. She, however, did and therefore has to be put down before she pollutes our race.”

  Keegan sat straighter. Realizing he’d brought Cassie down here to hear this shite made him furious, but not half as mad as their talk of murder did.

  He reached for the dagger in his belt when Derian laid a hand over Keegan’s forearm. He turned to look at his friend, but Derian wasn’t looking at him, he was focused on the men sitting across from them.

  Derian’s brown eyes burned with hatred and disgust, but his voice was calm, “That’s not going to happen, gentlemen. Not now, not later. We have no idea what’s going on here. We don’t know for certain how long the young lady will live. It might be that no one can live through being changed. Dr. Bell has suggested this possibility as well.”

  It took every ounce of his strength not to look at the kitchen door. Didn’t mean a fucking thing, though. Keegan knew she’d heard. At that moment he’d never hated himself more. Bringing her down here was the stupidest idea he’d ever had. He knew these men, knew their archaic beliefs. How could he have forgotten them?

  He stayed seated, struggling not to get up and rush to her. His two friends’ touch did much to keep him where he was. There was no way in hell she could hear anything worse, and he needed to stay to deflect any more ignorant statements. He ground his teeth to keep from saying what his warrior side wanted to. Knowing Derian had more to say, he sat back, putting what he hoped was a nonchalant look on his face, and stayed quiet. Even if it bloody-well killed him

  “She’s a human being,” Derian continued “An intelligent, sentient, caring person just like everyone else in this room. She’s not a rabid dog. And if you’re trying to suggest she’s a zombie or some other such asinine foolishness, then you can just walk away from this table now. No one will follow, no one will stop you. But mind this, your days as a member of this Circle are now over. You, your bodyguard and your assistant will be removed from any further discussions once we finish today. Unless, you decide to retract your statements now. This offer is open for a limited time.”

  Erastos looked around the room. “Are you going to let him talk that way? Andreas, why are you sitting there like an ass? You all know we are right. She does not belong in this world. We cannot leave her to have children and destroy our world. Our race has existed since the beginning of time. We have always controlled it. We have kept it pure. Men have ruled this race as it was deemed by the gods to be.”

  Keegan was finished. His civilized veneer fell away as he stood and slammed his hands on the tabletop. “Enough! She’s a beautiful young woman. She thinks, she breathes, she is. I’ve no idea how this has come about, but we’ll learn. In the meantime, you’ll not be killin’ her. We’re not animals. We’ve evolved beyond barbarians, or at least I hope we have.”

  “Besides, we need to study it. Whoever has done this, most certainly can and will do it again.” Maximus interjected before Erastos could comment. The Roman was one of the youngest Circle members. “We must know much more about this. Destroying it is not the answer.”

  “She is not an ‘it’,” Derian said between his teeth, no longer suppressing his anger. He, too, had seen the unbending ignorance of these men.

  The Circle of Ghadan was made up of fourteen Aeterni all born before Christ. Micah was the fifteenth member and the exception as he was only a thousand years old, give or take a decade. Keegan looked around the room. Behind each Circle member was another Aeterni from any century who acted as bodyguard.

  “She has as much right to live as anyone. As I said, this was not her choice.” Keegan gritted his teeth in an effort not to reach for his dagger. He wanted to say so much more, but he was too old to allow himself to vent any more than he had. Or he prayed he was, because he was rapidly losing what little control he had at his command.

  Li Zhao sneered at him, his almond eyes dark with hate. “If you feel so strongly about the girl, then I would propose you keep her on a leash. She will become your responsibility, Fitzgerald.”

  “Fine, I’ve no problem with that. I’ll keep her with me at all times and safe until the answer is found and this problem is resolved.”

  “No, you misunderstand, you will keep her with you for the rest of her life. We cannot have her wandering free to procreate.”

  “Non! No damn way are we keeping that woman prisoner!” Bastien answered before Keegan could open his mouth. He looked at the other man who’d also risen. Something needed to happen soon, or the Circle would become irretrievably divided after centuries of existence.

  Keegan shook his head. Never had he thought this would’ve been the outcome of the meeting. If he had, he would’ve done everything in his power to dissuade Derian from calling it before they had all the answers. He snorted, even then the outcome would have most likely been the same. These Aeterni were just too old and too set in their ways. How had he missed that until now?

  Li Zhao turned his attention to Bastien. “Either you keep her contained, or we will.”

  Not letting anyone else answer for him this time, Keegan said, “She has every right to live her life as she sees fit once we find the one who did this to her.”

  “Fine, then we will put her somewhere safe. Where she cannot destroy our race.” Erastos said with finality.

  “No!” Derian slammed his fist on the table as he stood. “This has gone on long enough, your time is up. Erastos, Dewhurst, Li Zhao, are you with us or not? Maximus?”

  “I am not. I will see that she’s killed, sooner or later. You can guard her for now, but eventually I’ll find a way to end her life. I give you fair warning.” Dewhurst rose and stalked out. Looking uncertain, his bodyguard followed.

  Erastos rose with a grace long dead. “I agree with Bartholomew.” He turned away and said, “Come Jeremiah, we shall depart.” When he reached the door, he turned back and said, “If she is still alive in one month’s time, I will seek her out myself.” He was gone with a swish of his royal blue velvet robes. The man had never left the Middle Ages.

  Without a word, Li Zhao and Maximus stood and walked quietly from the room, their bodyguards following without question.

  Just damn great. Keegan opened his mouth to speak, but Derian interrupted him. “No, I will speak, you are not helping matters here at all, my friend.” He turned to what remained of the Circle of Ghadan and said, “I’m not asking for arguments. What I am telling you, however, is that anyone who cannot abide by my decision, follow them out now.”

  “And that decision is?” Seth asked looking like he knew already and had one foot out the door. Even after all these years, Keegan didn’t know the Egyptian well, but he’d always believed him to be a fair man. He hoped he’d give Cassie a chance.

  “Cassandra Marston will be protected by Keegan and Tomas until such time as we know what we’re dealing with. At that time, a further decision will be made, but most likely it will be to allow her to live her life as she sees fit. I see no way she can endanger our entire race. However, while Keegan is taking care of Cassandra and Dr. Bell is working on the medical reasons for her condition, the rest of the Circle and other trusted Aeterni will be searching for her kidnapper. He and his drug must be stopped. Regardless of what we accomplish, I’m afraid we are entering a new era and our world will never be the same again.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Cass stared at the crack in the door. The sound of chairs scraping back indicated the meeting was breaking up and the members were leaving. Terror ripped through her. What could she do? Where could she go? The man who’d taken and changed her not only knew she was alive, but had just stormed out declaring he wanted her dead.

  She jumped when Sidney put an arm around her shoulders. “Come on, Cass, don’t worry. I have no idea what the hell my father’s about
or Erastos for that matter, but I do know the rest of the guys will fight to the death to keep you alive.”

  Cass looked at her. Her father. She’d forgotten Bartholomew Dewhurst was the woman’s father. Could she have been that wrong about Sidney? Her father had been the man who’d kidnapped her, changed her into something she had no desire to be and now wanted to freaking kill her.

  Sidney’s eyes took on a hazy blank look for a moment before she said, “I have to go. Althea just sent a message through the airwaves that the Daughters are being herded out. Without Erastos’ assistant, May Zhao, and Maximus’ assistant. They snatched them before they left. Thea wants me to be with them when they reach the hall in front of the dining room. Good thing my father forgot I was here, huh?”

  Sidney gave her a tight squeeze, but Cass was too terrified to react. “Don’t worry, everything will be okay,” Sidney said with a small smile.

  Cass nodded. What could she say? She sat in a chair and tried to think, really she did, but the only thing going through her head was a stupid song. She’d held onto it so hard, now nothing else would come through. Okay, a song and mind-numbing fear.

  She couldn’t sit there waiting to be discovered by the wrong person. Listening, she made sure the dining room was empty before she opened the door and quietly walked to the one leading out. Pulling it open a crack, she saw the Circle members had stopped. To wait for their assistants? Made sense. Standing close to Cass’ position was a man as tall as Nilos easily, his thick black braid hung to the middle of his back. He stood still as a statue, his tanned long-fingered hands clasped behind his back and his long, jeans clad legs spread to brace his weight.

  He must have sensed her presence, because his head turned slowly, and Cass had to catch her breath. He was Native American, that was obvious by his sharp high cheekbones and his exotic black eyes. And he was, as was to be expected, beautiful in a masculine way. The man not only stood like a statue, he was physically carved like one. His black eyes widened just a little when he saw her, but that was his only reaction as he turned back to look at something that caught his attention to his left.