Keegan snorted. “Not taking into account our collective ages, aren’t we a little old to be gang members?” How the man knew these things was a mystery. He was probably making them up since there was no way in hell he could actually know what the old man was thinking without one of the women telling him.
Bastien smiled and shrugged. “I have not looked or felt like a teenager for longer than I can remember. Besides, how many gang members do you think this sleepy town has?”
Keegan shook his head. “I doubt there’s more than one wannabe.”
Everyone stopped as they reached Ryan’s door, blocking the view from anywhere in the neighborhood as Micah picked the lock and let them in.
Just inside, Micah held up a hand and listened. A moment later, he cursed. “There’s no one here.”
Keegan’s frustration soared. “I thought you had a man guardin’ the back door.”
“We did.” Micah turned to Gideon, but he and Bastien were already heading back out the front door.
The rest of them fanned out and started looking through the rooms. The house wasn’t overly large, a moderate sized two-story Victorian. Keegan was the first to see the blood on the doorframe. Gun in his right hand, his left trembled as he shoved the door open into a bedroom. The bedclothes were torn apart and cut silken cords dangled from the head and foot boards. The pillow and white carpet were soaked with blood.
He felt a hand on his arm and turned to look at Tomas standing next to him. “She’s alive, Keegan, and as you can see, there’s a bloody trail leading out of here.”
Relief flooded him, followed immediately by a rage that burned through him at the sight of Cassie’s blood. He was going to kill Dewhurst. He no longer wanted him alive, he’d gone too far. She had to have been severely cut to have bled that much and long enough to leave a trail.
“She’s still alive,” Tomas repeated, dragging him back from the black place he’d gone. “And she walked out of here, Keegan. That footprint can’t belong to anyone but your woman.”
Keegan saw it, she’d stepped in the blood-soaked carpet when she’d gotten up from the bed and started walking. The print was a spiky heel and toe. She’d been wearing sneakers when taken. Shaking his head to clear it, he turned and followed the bloody trail, Tomas directly behind him.
“He’s not here, but Cassandra was. We found her clothes in a trashcan in the kitchen.” Derian said as Keegan left the bedroom.
He nodded, Dewhurst must have given her new clothes along with new shoes. He was already trying to change her. He’d kill the bastard for sure. Not stopping, he followed the trail, listening to the other men talking.
“We’ve got another problem,” Gideon said. It was evident he was extremely pissed as he and Bastien joined them. “Will’s not where he belongs. How the hell many of our men has Dewhurst turned?” Keegan didn’t think he’d ever heard the Aeterni get angry. Frustrated, irritated, yes, but never angry.
Keegan reached the end of the hall and the back door, when he saw the drawing on the wall. He felt a small amount of relief for the first time since she’d been taken. She was still with him, and she knew how to tell him where to go. “The airport, he’s taken her to the airport.”
“How the hell do you know that?” Nilos asked.
Keegan smiled. “She told me.” He pointed to the international highway sign for airport. That was his Cassie lass.
“He’d no’ take her to a public airport,” Caiden said.
“No, he wouldn’t,” Micah answered. “There’s an Aeterni private airport just south of town. He probably took her there.”
“How long do you think they’ve been gone?” Derian asked Micah.
“I don’t think long. As we said, we saw Dewhurst outside no more than fifteen minutes ago, and Will checked in about five minutes after that, so he was still in the area then. These headsets don’t reach more than a few hundred feet.”
Keegan swung on his heel and headed for the front door, knowing the others were following. “Doesn’t matter what door they went out, we know where she is, that’s what matters. We’ll catch them.”
He ignored Derian when he said, “I hope so, or there’ll be no living with you. We’d probably have to have a Drakōn go after you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Heading back to the van, the cold wind picked up and blew against their backs. Keegan hoped to hell Cassie was dressed for it, but didn’t hold out much hope considering she was wearing flimsy shoes.
“How far is that airport? Should we take the chopper?” Nilos asked.
“It’s not far and the helicopter can’t hold all eight of us. It won’t take us long to get there with the van. The way’s fairly empty of cars if I take the back roads, and they’ll get us there faster than the highway,” Gideon said.
Taking long strides, they moved quickly down the street. Keegan looked around, catching sight of the old man still in the window. “We should’ve brought a Daughter.”
Not breaking his stride, Derian frowned and pulled his phone from his pocket. “Call Althea.” As he put it to his ear, he continued, “I’m sending Nilos back for you, I need you here to clean the neighborhood.”
Nilos groaned and swore in French. He sprinted on down the road past the van on his way back to the helicopter they’d left in the field.
“Don’t have time for that, Althea. Be ready when he gets there. No we only need you, the others can stay and continue what they’re doing.” He ended the call and put it back in his pocket.
Keegan shook his head. “Nilos isn’t happy, they bicker like a pair of old birds.”
“Unfortunately they like each other more than I’m comfortable with, but there’s nothing I can do about it.” Derian pulled open the back door of the van with more force than necessary and Keegan decided it might be a good idea to keep his mouth shut. Derian was divorced from Althea’s mother and free to live life as a single man, but he was still a dragon of a father, and Keegan knew he had reservations about Nilos. He had to agree, the Cajun wasn’t the type of man a father wanted for his daughter.
The trip to the airport was silent, broken only when either Micah or Gideon spoke on their phone to one of their men. Keegan knew Gideon was going as fast as he could, and his shortcut would get them there quicker, but he still ground his teeth to keep from cursing and to keep sane.
The field to the private airport came into view as Micah finished a conversation on his phone. Looking back over the passenger seat he said, “That was one of the men I’ve got checking out Sidney’s other possible location. No surprise, they found nothing, I’ve sent them back to Bastien’s to wait for us there.”
Derian nodded. “That’s fine, we’re here, and I see what could very well be a Jeep belonging to Dewhurst sitting in front of the office. Marc has a pilot’s license, it’d be helpful if they didn’t call ahead to have a plane made ready. Any delay will buy us time.”
Keegan ran his hand through his hair. He hoped that was the case. Once Dewhurst had Cassie in the air, finding her again would be almost impossible unless she found some way to get in touch with one of them. No matter where she went, he’d hunt to the ends of the earth to find her. He had centuries if he needed it, but he didn’t want to wait centuries to have her back in his arms. He wanted her now.
Gideon slid the van to a halt just behind Dewhurst’s Jeep. Keegan threw the door open before he finished braking and hit the ground running. Approaching the building, he heard voices and readjusted his path to head for the hanger. Slowing to a walk, he hugged the side of the building and quietly approached the open hanger doors.
Cautiously looking around the edge of the door, he stopped just short of cursing at the sight. He didn’t need to get caught before he could form a plan. Marc had his sword pointed at the airport owner, apparently keeping him from making a sound, but it was Dewhurst who caught his full attention. He had Cassie plastered against his chest with a sword rammed against her throat.
“Ah, Fitzgerald, please join us
. I heard you arrive. Too bad. I do wonder how you found us so quickly.”
Keegan walked into the hanger as he heard the others quietly come up behind him. He glanced around, there only appeared to be Dewhurst and Marc, but with Cassie in immediate danger, Keegan moved his hands away from his sides. Hopefully, Dewhurst would think him no threat and ease up on her neck. Besides, Micah’s turncoat, Will, had to be somewhere nearby.
“Stop Fitzgerald. The rest of you as well. Don’t come any closer or I will kill her. She’ll die before any of you can have her. I made her, she’s mine.” There was an unholy light shining in his eyes. Keegan had seen that look before in other Aeterni who’d lived too long, seen too much.
The others stopped behind him, but he wasn’t about to take his eyes off of Cassie standing so brave and strong. The expression in her emerald eyes as she looked at him told him all he ever needed to know. She loved him and she had faith in him to get them both out in one piece.
Taking a deep breath, Keegan nodded ever so slightly, just enough to let her know they would, indeed, get out of this alive. For the first time in his life he felt no fear of failure. He knew he would save the one person in the world who needed him and who he needed above all others. Her trust in him was not misplaced, he would succeed.
Forcing his voice to come out naturally, he said, “Why’d you do this to Cassandra, Dewhurst? Why her?”
“I love her,” the man said with a shrug.
He’d suspected as much. It made the man dangerous and unpredictable. The obvious signs of insanity in his voice and eyes combined with love made him extremely volatile. They were going to have to be very careful or this situation was going to go pear-shaped faster than a bullet. “Is she your daughter, then?”
“No, no. I love her. She’s so much like her mother. My Lucy. I loved her so much.” Dewhurst kissed Cassie’s wind-blown hair and the move drove Keegan wild with combined fear and rage.
He must have moved, because he felt a hand touch the back of his arm and Tomas whispered in his ear, “No, mi amigo, don’t move, he’s crazy enough to do anything. Just look at what he’s done to her and he loves her.”
Tomas was right. Keegan pulled his eyes from hers and looked at her. Dewhurst had given her a red wool dress coat and bright red shoes that put her head at his chin height. Her hands were cuffed in front of her, but the coat was unbuttoned and he could see enough of the bright red silk dress to know it was covered in blood. There were streaks of dried blood on her legs and ankles. He’d been using his knife on her just as Keegan knew he would.
Keegan vibrated with rage. If he’d done anything else to her, no one, not even Derian would be able to stop him from killing the man.
He fisted his hands, clamped his teeth together and fought the burning desire to rush the man, to hell with caution. He looked in Cassie’s eyes and saw fear there. Not all of it for herself, some of it was for him. He took a deep breath. Rushing Dewhurst would only get her killed.
Before Keegan could get himself pulled together enough to continue, Derian moved beside him. Also putting a cautionary hand on Keegan’s arm, he said, “Where’s Cassandra’s mother, Bartholomew?”
“Dead, she’s dead. Along with her lover.”
“Was her lover Cassandra’s father?” Derian asked
Keegan realized what Derian was doing. He was pulling Dewhurst’s attention away from him giving him a chance to clear his head. Reluctantly looking away from Cassie, he noticed a movement behind Marc and the owner. Micah was moving silently behind Dewhurst’s bodyguard, his sword ready. He’d take the man’s head just as soon as everything was in place. Before Keegan looked away, Micah caught his eye, looked toward Dewhurst and nodded. They were waiting for him to take the man out.
“Yes, of course he was. But he’s dead, too.” Dewhurst’s voice was becoming agitated as he answered Derian’s question.
“It’s not easy to kill an Aeterni, Bartholomew, how was that possible?” Derian asked, taking one small step forward, just enough to make sure Dewhurst paid attention to him.
Keegan caught Cassie’s eye. Her smile was small and full of trust. Christ, he loved her, and he would get her out of this in one piece. Keegan moved his hand very slowly, pointing slightly to Cassie’s right and then held a finger up to show she needed to wait for his signal. She blinked her eyes in understanding.
“I caught Lucy with him after she’d taken Cassandra to her grandparents. She’d promised me she was done with him, but she wasn’t. She wasn’t. She ran away. By the time I found her, she was almost dead from drugs and disease. Served her right.”
“So you killed them?” Derian continued to ask him questions, keeping the man’s attention away from Keegan.
“No, no. Didn’t kill Lucy, she did that to herself. Just him. I set his house on fire. I stayed, I watched, he didn’t get away.”
“Who was her father, Bartholomew?”
“Josef Grande. You remember Josef don’t you, Derian? He was your friend.”
Derian frowned. “I’ve always wondered why he disappeared. Why did you change Cassandra, what do you want from her?”
“She looks just like her mother, but unlike that bitch, Cassandra’s going to love me forever.”
“Let her go, Dewhurst.” Keegan growled at him, nodding slightly to let Cassie know it was time. “Killin’ her won’t save your life. In fact, if you kill her I’ll be removin’ your head with my bare hands and smile while doin’ it.”
“No, I won’t let you have her. I made her for me. She’s mine just like her mother was supposed to be mine.”
Cassie moved, falling against Dewhurst’s right arm that was holding the sword. Keegan saw the blood flow down her neck where the blade cut her as she slid against it. Steeling himself, he refused to let her pain distract him as he pulled the dagger from behind his back and let it fly straight and true into Dewhurst’s heart.
Keegan was moving before the man hit the ground, and grabbed Cassie just as her knees gave out.
Keegan picked her up in his arms and hugged her close. He’d never been so afraid in his life as when he’d seen the blood running down her neck and there was nothing he could do to either stop it or prevent it.
She threw her cuffed arms around his neck, kissing him with abandon. Unable to resist the taste of her, even though he needed to get her away from here and back to the safety of the van, he kissed her with the same hunger.
Finally coming up for air, she rested her head against his neck and whispered, “I’ve never been so scared in my life. He really wanted to kill me, his words held nothing but truth. If he couldn’t have me, you wouldn’t either. Thank God you got here when you did. If he’d gotten me on that plane, I hate to think what would have happened.”
Keegan did too, so rather than think about it, he asked, “Why the delay?”
She pulled away. “He was waiting for someone, an Aeterni, I think.”
“Do you remember the name, a stóirín?”
She shook her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember. I was trying to find a way to get away from him.”
He kissed her forehead. “Don’t worry about it, luv. The name doesn’t matter.” He turned to Micah who was cuffing an unconscious Dewhurst. Keegan made sure to keep Cassie pointed away from the beheaded Marc. “We’ve got company comin’. With luck, it’ll be the creator of the formula, or someone who’s closer to him than Dewhurst is.”
Micah nodded fishing a key out of Dewhurst’s pants pocket and tossing it to him. “We’ll be ready. Get her to the van and keep her there, let us take care of the rest.”
Keegan carefully moved her arms over his head, and set her on her feet to unlock her cuffs. Rubbing her chaffed wrists as he said to Micah, “My thoughts exactly.”
Keegan wrapped his arm around her waist and helped her walk out of the hanger. He had no desire to let her go any more than he had to. Walking as quickly as she could in the ridiculous and, he couldn’t help but notice, sexy as hell, shoes toward the van, he gl
anced down at her. Her head closer than he was used to. “Why’re you so bloody, Cassie luv?” Not that he didn’t know, but he was hoping talking about it now would start the healing process and help her past the horrors of the last few hours. Horrors he was all too familiar with. He’d do everything he could to keep her from carrying them around with her for the rest of her life like he had.
She looked back over her shoulder to where they had Dewhurst bound. They were going to take him prisoner, they needed answers and he was the only one who could provide them. Although now with company on the way, maybe they could get their answers from someone a little less insane.
A shudder went through Cassie and she answered in a small voice. “He cut me. He’s one of those people who like to inflict pain, he got off on it. Sexually off on it. I think watching me heal before he cut me again was an even greater turn-on than just cutting me. They’re all healed now, not even a scar.”
Keegan wanted to swear, wanted to go back and rip the man apart. Instead, he forced himself to stay calm. He remembered the unholy light that entered his tormentors’ eyes as they watched the pain they inflicted heal. He knew how excited it had made them every time they took a knife or fist to him. He’d seen the same look of sexual thrill she’d described from some of the men who’d abused him as a child. “He won’t get near you again, I swear on my life, a stóirín. Never again.”
He felt her nod against his shoulder, but she didn’t say anything and fear spiked through him. How long was it going to take to get his love back to her usual, brave self?
The day had become cloudy and the wind kicked up and blew across the open airstrip, bringing a freezing rain with it. The temperatures were dropping as the day wore on. Keegan pulled her closer as she shivered and stepped up the pace. He’d carry her, but he instinctively knew this was a trip she had to make on her own two feet.
As they approached the open door of the van, he noticed a black limousine that hadn’t been there when they arrived. Shite, company was already here and the others were still in the hanger. The man standing by the front passenger door turned and gave Keegan a nod of recognition. “Mr. Fitzgerald.”
Forever Love (Circle of Ghadan Book 1) Page 23