Derian shook his head as they followed Bastien down the stairs to the lower level where he kept the vault that held his weapons. “No, Sidney went with them, despite my protests. However, Micah was right, she had a better idea than any of the rest of us if something was missing. Although she wasn’t familiar with many parts of Dewhurst’s house and therefore couldn’t be as much of a help as we would have liked, she still helped. She’s been moved here, in the same wing as Hannah and Caiden. Bastien thinks leaving her where Dewhurst can find her will endanger her, and I agree. If he’s bent on turning Daughters into Aeterni, there’s nothing to stop him from changing his own daughter. Sidney’s telepathic skills combined with being an Aeterni could make her valuable enough to him that he wouldn’t think twice.”
Keegan nodded. “‘Tis a good idea to keep her here. Now that Dewhurst’s on the run, she has nowhere else to go. I agree, livin’ where he can get to her would be unwise.”
They entered Bastien’s armory, there was no other way to describe it. He had weapons of every kind from just about every century. The man might profess to be a scholar, but his love of weapons was greater than any warrior Keegan had ever met.
“The daggers are here, mon ami, pick out what you wish. Same with you, Derian,” Bastien said as he reached for a broadsword and strap.
Keegan found exactly what he was looking for and put it in a holster he strapped to his belt, pulling his black sweater down to cover it. Derian grabbed a couple of semi-automatic guns. “I’ll grab my sword on the way out.”
Keegan looked at the weapons. “Don’t you think those will attract just a little attention? The house didn’t appear to be far away from others.”
“I don’t want to use them, but I don’t want to get caught without the proper protection, either. I know you have a Glock strapped to you somewhere, I do as well, as does everyone else. We can’t lose this battle. Cassandra must be returned to us and Dewhurst must be stopped. But first we have to get answers out of him, and bullets can slow him down without killing him.”
“Dammit, Derian, I want Dewhurst dead. You’ve declared him Mortuus and I want to be the one to carry out the sentence.” The other man glared at him and Keegan sighed. “All right, I agree we need him to answer questions before the sentence is carried out, but he’s mine the instant you get what you need.”
Derian nodded, satisfied with his answer. “Today, we only need to stop him and anyone he may have with him. We have no idea how many men he’s amassed. We know we’re missing two of Micah’s men, how many more do you think he has with him?”
“Precisely,” Bastien said. “We must prepare. I do not believe he has done this himself and killing him will not stop other Daughters from becoming Aeterni. We must take him alive, but we must not sacrifice ourselves or Cassandra.”
Keegan couldn’t argue with that. “Agreed. But if you didn’t want him killed, you shouldna made him Mortuus.”
Derian shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea at the time. I still intend for the sentence to be carried out, just not immediately.”
“Fair enough,” Keegan said, looking at the men in the room. Derian, Bastien, Tomas, Nilos and Bastien’s bodyguard, Caiden, as well as himself. Fighters all, but would they be enough to stop Dewhurst before he did something Keegan couldn’t live with?
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Cass felt the silk cord around her hands give a little more as she worked the blade against it. She’d nicked herself more times than she could count. Trying to cut a taught cord over her head with the hand it bound wasn’t as easy to do in reality as it sounded. She’d dropped the knife twice and was glad she had the ability to mentally direct it to her hand, even if she couldn’t see it. An ability that surprised her. She always thought she had to see an object to move it.
A noise alerted her to Dewhurst’s return as he moved around just beyond the closed door. Where he’d gone, she had no idea. Presumably outside to take his call, because she’d known for sure he hadn’t been anywhere in the house. She didn’t think it was a superpower for her, but she could tell when the man was near. Rather than a new superpower, she preferred to call it the “ick factor,” and he carried it like a second skin.
She could feel the blood on her hands and she had no idea what she could possibly do to prevent him knowing she’d somehow gotten the switchblade into her hand. Especially since she wanted to use it as a weapon if possible.
But how to explain the blood? She’d hoped to be free long before he returned, thereby negating any need to explain how she got away. And, frankly, she hadn’t planned to nick herself with the knife enough to bleed. She didn’t think there was much blood because she was pretty sure the cuts healed relatively fast. There was only one thing she could think of to do to explain the state of the cord and her hands. Dropping the blade behind her, she began pulling hard enough on the cord to cause the headboard to bang against the wall. She’d heard it slightly before, not much, she’d been trying to be quiet, but now she hoped to make Dewhurst believe the cord had cut into her hand and had caused the bleeding.
The door burst open and he rushed in followed closely by his Aeterni bodyguard. At least she thought he was probably his bodyguard. She supposed it was possible the brick of a man behind the more refined overweight Dewhurst could have just been one of his men, Aeterni or mortal. She had no way of knowing. The man was big enough to be an Aeterni, but he reminded her more of a cartoon bully, someone Batman would have gone up against, than one of the more elegant Aeterni.
“What the hell is that racket?” Dewhurst asked as he approached the bed. Cass fervently hoped she’d managed to drop the knife out of sight. When he reached her, Dewhurst grabbed her hand to stop her from twisting it. Silk didn’t do as much damage as hemp, but the cord was thin and she felt it cut into her skin causing it to burn as well as bleed. Or she hoped it had bled because she hadn’t had time to look. The pain stopped almost as soon as he gripped her wrist, and she knew the skin was already healing.
“How did you get this frayed this much already? Marc, apparently silk isn’t enough to hold our guest, would you please bring me the handcuffs I left in the front room. I thought I’d need them sooner or later.”
As Marc left the room, Dewhurst let go of her. When he grew quiet, she looked up at him. He was frowning down at the bed and she knew he’d found the knife. “Well, well, my dear, I thought silk was too strong to fray so easily. Seems I was right. Interesting, I know all Daughters have a paranormal ability, but I’d forgotten about the kitchen utensils flying at me. A mistake I won’t make again.”
Crap, his forgetting about the ability would have been very helpful. Cass turned away not bothering to comment. There was nothing she could say even if she wanted to, which she didn’t. She refused to acknowledge his presence in any way as he cut her hand free. A sharp, blinding pain burst from her left hand as he ran the switchblade down her palm to wrist. This wasn’t a superficial cut like she’d gotten when she was trying to free herself, or even when he’d cut her leg. The slice was deep and went through tendons and muscle as she felt it scrape the bone. There was nothing she could do to stop the cry of pain as blood streamed down her arm inside the cuffed sleeve of her dress. This wound wasn’t going to heal quickly. The pain was as excruciating as it would have been had she still been mortal.
His stale breath blew against her ear as he whispered, “Behave yourself, my love. It excites me greatly that I can’t kill you and I can watch you bleed. I know how to cause pain, be my pet Aeterni or mortal. Matters not to me. I get the same high regardless.”
Sickening horror threatened to overwhelm her when he lowered her throbbing hand to rub against his erection. She’d thought earlier his watery eyes had filled with lust when he’d cut her, now she knew the truth. The man got off on pain, and she’d bet it would be the same to him whether it was his or someone else’s. Since he’d mentioned Aeterni, gender must not have mattered either. Panic burst through her like an electric current as he moved to he
r left leg and ran the blade along her calf before cutting the rope loose. This time, the cut was shallower, but just as painful. Fortunately, it healed quickly, unlike the throbbing in her useless left hand she held against her chest, praying for it to heal and the pain to stop.
She watched horrified as he went to free her other leg, cutting her along the way. Her breathing became erratic and fear clawed up her throat almost choking her as he held the switchblade against her little toe. Putting pressure on it, she felt the knife cut through the first layer of skin. “Should I cut this off?” He looked at it and then at her. He said the words the same way someone would wonder if they should cut the crust off a piece of bread. “You could still walk, my love. It would mar your perfect beauty, but I believe it would serve as a reminder to not argue with me. You do know anything I remove will not come back, do you not?”
Marc walked in with the handcuffs and Dewhurst removed his knife. “No, you didn’t know better, you were just doing what you thought was right, you just wanted to get away. It’s not allowed, of course, but you’ll learn that sooner rather than later. No, Armand wants to see you, and I don’t think I should take you to him less than perfect. Perhaps later.” He tilted his head and looked at her. His expression made her think of a sinister, questioning snake. “If I remove a couple of your toes, will you be too imperfect for Fitzgerald, I wonder?”
He moved to release her right hand as Marc came over and wrapped the handcuff around the wrist of her still throbbing hand. It was healing, she could tell that much, but the damage had been great and she couldn’t bend her fingers, let alone fight the hand that manacled hers with his strength before he snapped the handcuff shut.
Dewhurst shook his head, again lost in thought. “But Armand can’t have you, either. Maybe I should make you less than perfect.” This time he held the blade against the little finger of her right hand. She’d been told enough times by Keegan and Derian that when something was cut off, it would not grow back. She healed, she didn’t regenerate.
Panic took over. Before she could stop herself, she cried, “No!”
She didn’t know where she found her voice, but apparently saying nothing wasn’t the answer. “I mean, if you cut off any of my fingers I won’t be able to caress you. And when…” What had he said the name was? Crap, she didn’t remember, she’d have to fake it. “And when he doesn’t want me, or I convince him I’d rather have you,” wow, she didn’t even gag on those words, score one for team Cass. “I’ll be able to love you the way you deserve and need to be loved.”
Dewhurst narrowed his eyes, his expression angry disbelief. Apparently he was nuts, but he wasn’t that nuts. “And would you caress me here, my love?” Helping her to sit on the edge of the bed, he put the palm of her undamaged hand on his crotch and rubbed it up and down. She almost gagged on the sensation of the thing growing under her fingers.
Taking a deep breath she had to remember she could do this. It wasn’t like he was trying to put the thing in her, yet, and at this point she still had all her parts. Gritting her teeth, she curled her fingers around him, his death grip on her wrist easing a bit in response to her caress. “Oh, yes, willingly.” She tried for her sexiest voice, but somehow she thought she’d failed miserably. She just didn’t feel sexy around the pervert.
“Oh, my love, that feels so incredible. I must touch.”
He reached down to grab her breast when Marc said, “Not now, sir, Armand is waiting at the airport, and he won’t be happy if we keep him waiting.”
Mere inches from her, Dewhurst snatched his hand back. “Yes, yes, you’re right.”
Cass fought to slowly release the breath she’d been holding in anticipation of the pain he would have inflicted had he touched her.
Dewhurst walked over to the closet and returned with a red wool coat and pumps with what must have had a good five inch heel. Great, now he was trying to make her break her neck, or ankles, with his hooker shoes.
Marc held onto her until Dewhurst slipped the shoes on. He then released her so Dewhurst could pull her off the bed and help her into the coat. Banging her left hand around didn’t seem to bother the jerk in the least. She had to grit her teeth to keep from crying out as the handcuff dug into the palm of her hand.
Once he had her buttoned into the coat, he shoved her right hand at Marc. “Here cuff this hand too, and we’ll take off.”
Marc secured her hands in front of her. Surprise. Taking her right arm, he pulled her along beside him. Dewhurst led the way down a hall to a back door. As he opened the door to a backyard, she had just enough time to lift her bloody left hand to the conveniently white wall where she drew a sloppy universal airport symbol. She prayed Keegan followed the blood trail from her dripping hand she purposely left and find her directions. She had time for nothing more before she was yanked out the door. She tripped in the too high shoes as Marc tossed into the back of a black Jeep Grand Cherokee. Dewhurst followed, practically climbing in on top of her.
***
Keegan yanked off his headset as Tomas landed the LongRanger in a field just a few blocks to the east of where Dewhurst was suspected of holding Cassie. He took a deep breath and shoved aside his personal feelings. He knew what he had to do to save her, and thinking about her as anything more than a hostage he needed to extract would be dangerous for both of them. He waited impatiently until the helicopter came to a full stop and everyone else removed their headsets before reaching for the door.
“Hold on, Celt,” Derian said, putting a restraining hand on Keegan’s wrist. “Charging in hell bent for leather isn’t going to do Cassandra any good. You need to rein in your anger and come at this the same way you would any mission that requires your particular expertise.”
Keegan glared at the man. “Bugger off, Derian. I know how to run an operation like this. It’s not the first time I’ve removed a hostage from a dangerous situation, it won’t be the last. I know what needs to be done.”
“Do you, Keegan? Never before have you had this much of a stake in the outcome of the extraction. It’s only happened a few times and generally the hostage was an Aeterni, the chances of death weren’t great.”
“Cassie’s Aeterni.”
“Yes, I realize that, but Dewhurst’s as unstable as they come. No matter how fast we work, he can still get a sword to her throat before we make it past the door. Besides, we have no idea how many men he has in there. We need to meet with Micah before we enter that house.”
Keegan ground his teeth, fighting the urge to growl. Derian was right, he knew what he had to do, and how to do it, but with Cassie’s life in the balance, rational thought was beyond him. Apparently he hadn’t been as successful as he thought at burying his emotions. “Take your hand off me, Greek. I said I know what to do. I’ll do my job the same way I’ve always done it. Without riskin’ Cassie’s life in the process.”
Stepping out of the helicopter before Derian could answer, he waited for the rest to join him. The north wind hit him and despite the near forty degree temperatures and the bright sun in the cloudless sky, the cold cut through his leather coat and jeans.
Keegan pulled out the Bluetooth headset they all had and put it in place as Derian said, “Good, keep that in mind and we’ll all get out of this alive.” Turning away and heading for the street, Derian spoke into the headset he’d also set in place, “Micah, what do you have for me?”
Everyone was keyed in so they could hear the conversation and join in if need be.
The group hurried down the street as Micah answered, “We’re just down the road from his house. He and Marc were standing outside until about fifteen minutes ago when they went back in. We haven’t seen anything since.”
“Have you seen any indication that Cassie’s in there?” Keegan asked.
“Not officially sighted.”
Keegan, Bastien, Derian, Tomas, Nilos and Caiden approached the black Honda Odyssey with its blackout windows just as Micah finished answering Keegan’s question.
Derian opened the driver’s door and asked, “Where’s everyone else?”
“Checking out the neighborhood, except for Will who’s guarding a back door we found. Sidney called in with another possibility shortly after you took off. I thought it was viable enough to send a couple of men to. If this doesn’t pan out, we’ll at least have them in place. I know Dewhurst’s here, but there’s always the possibility Cassandra’s not.”
“Sounds good,” Derian said not letting Keegan speak.
Knowing what the Greek was doing, Keegan ground his teeth and let the man deal with the security people. He shifted from foot to foot, impatient to get this show on the road, especially since no one had seen Cassie yet. Tomas put a hand on his shoulder. Keegan looked at him, not sure if it was a hand of support or a hand to keep him in place. Tomas smiled and Keegan pretty much decided it was both.
“I take it you two stayed here because you think this is the right place?” Derian asked.
Gideon nodded. “My gut’s saying stay. So we stayed.”
Micah and Gideon got out of the van and quietly closed their doors. “Now that you’re here, I’m hoping Dewhurst will play nice if we just walk in on him,” Micah said.
Keegan highly doubted Dewhurst knew how to play nice as he followed the other men down the block to Herbert Ryan’s home. A movement to his left caught his eye and he looked toward a house they were passing. The old man watched them walk by and his eyes grew wide. Keegan didn’t want him calling the cops, so he smiled and pulled out his badge, flashing it in the man’s direction. Yeah, it was a private investigator’s license, but he doubted the man saw anything but the leather holder and something that looked official. He also hoped eight six foot plus men all dressed in either black or dark blue jeans looked official, or scary, enough to keep him away from the phone.
Bastien looked at Keegan. “I do not think he will call anyone. He is too afraid we are gang members and he knows we saw him. He is afraid if he reports us we will come back and kill him.”
Forever Love (Circle of Ghadan Book 1) Page 22