by C. L. Quinn
“Koen,” she said softly, and hugged him, tightly and for what was longer than was considered normal. He knew it was because she understood his pain. They had always had a connection, even through many relationships with other people over centuries.
“Are you okay?” Katerine asked when she pulled away.
“You know I’m not. But if you four extraordinarily talented women can find my mate, I will be the happiest man that ever existed.”
“You know we will give it everything we have.”
Koen nodded. “I do. In this room, for the first time, I have the collected women who have meant the most to me in my life. To help me find the one who will mean the most to me for the rest of it, if I am in favor with the universe.”
“You always have been. But you are so hard on yourself. We love you and always will. It is so good to see you again, old friend. Although I would have wished for better circumstances. I cannot wait to meet the woman who finally stole your heart to make sure she is worthy.”
“She is worthy.”
“I know she must be. We will find her, Koen.”
He hugged her again and turned to Cherise, who finally made it through the other women.
“Hello, little empath. Thank you for coming.”
“I will do what I can, Koen, but you know my skills can be unpredictable. I wish I could assure you of success.”
“I wish you could as well. But I will take any hope at this moment.”
“Good. Then we will begin. Let’s move this furniture back away from the center of the room.”
Pushing back the sofa and moving the end-table between it and the recliner made enough room for all four of the women to sit in a circle.
Cherise took over as she usually did for one of these spiritual journeys. It was her skill as a born empath and she was very good at it. Combining the power of all four women would give her a boost that would allow her to send her gift out into the air to search for Alisa. It would be an assured success if they had a blood trace…anyone who she had exchanged blood with. But that wasn’t the case.
Koen dropped onto the sofa that now sat askew near the wall and picked up the begging puppy at his feet. He felt entirely responsible for Alisa’s abduction and their inability to find her so far.
While he promised Windari he would not search for her, he had promised nothing about searching for Alisa. So, while they were preparing to use first blood magic to find her, he also had Tim doing the usual surveillance and city-by-city camera searches for any sight of her. He knew she wasn’t with Windari, so she had to be with blood-bonds who would follow Windari’s orders without question. It terrified him that they might really be under orders to feed her only if they received a daily message from their mistress to do so. He believed Windari when she said Alisa was out of the country. That made perfect sense if Windari expected to survive this for very long.
Cherise took Park and Eillia’s hands as they took Katerine’s. Now, the four women were physically linked and they closed their eyes to link psychically. All four had done this before so they slipped easily into the place beyond this corporeal realm where they would connect on the spiritual plane.
Koen watched them as they moaned and then did not move or make another sound for a good fifteen minutes. But Samson did, squirming and whining until Koen finally got him to sit down and lay his head on his paws. Koen wanted to do the same thing, but he couldn’t take his eyes off these incredible, powerful women who had traveled halfway around the world to help him find Alisa. They reminded him how fortunate this past year of how his life had been. If he could find Alisa, bring her over safely, then take her home with him to France, his life would be as good as it could ever possibly be. He glanced upward to seek forbearance from the universe and remind it he was a good man. He hoped it would be enough to let him finally be completely happy.
Suddenly, simultaneously, all four women jerked backwards, their falls slowed by their linked hands, which released to let them gently drop back against the carpeted floor. He set the pup aside and hurried over to check on each of them. As they roused, he helped them upright to murmured “thank yous.”
He stared at Cherise as she opened her eyes and looked into his.
She shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Koen.” Her heightened emotions were evident in her French accent, which was heavier than usual. “We could not connect with her. She has no magic and there is nothing to trace. We searched all avenues we could. Any possible shadow. But human lifeforces are just too weak to read on the spiritual plane. She’s hidden in commonality. Too many human patterns too weak to link to anyone. I’m truly sorry, but I cannot find her.”
Park had moved to her father’s side. His face was hard as stone and she knew it was because he was trying not to explode in fury or break down in tears.
“I understand. I knew it was unlikely. You know how much I appreciate what you tried to do for me. For her. If you will excuse me…”
He smiled, his mouth curled up in the motion, but it did not reach his eyes. He touched each woman gently on the shoulder as he passed by and left the apartment.
Park noticed she was not the only one in the room with moist eyes.
“Can we try again?”
Cherise nodded, and Park took her place once more.
Down on the edge of the Chicago River, Koen stood watching reflections of the city’s lights in the smooth water. All right. This wasn’t a surprise. They’d tried, it just wasn’t doable.
He would find her, just not tonight. Every drop of blood moving through his body told him to go find Windari and make her take him to Alisa. But he believed her when she said she wasn’t afraid to die, and he believed her when she said that she would happily make sure Alisa died too. That was an outcome Koen could not allow.
Flipping open his cell phone, he called Daniel, Eillia’s husband and mate.
“Daniel, listen, I need you to put me in touch with some of your old friends. Call me as soon as you get this message.”
Mercenaries. Men who would do whatever it took to accomplish their mission. Men with skills Koen needed. Daniel had been a mercenary himself before an awful event that led to tragedy, soul-searching pain, and ultimately, to Eillia. He would know who Koen needed to hire.
And when he had Alisa safe in his arms again, he’d hunt Windari down.
TWENTY ONE
Alisa lay on the soft pallet of blankets Martin provided to make a bed for her shortly after she was brought here to this miserable rat-hole in the armpit of the world. It was the extent of what she could do with her long days, the chains that had been attached by cuffs to her wrists not long enough to move more than ten feet in any direction from the post she was tethered to.
The highlight of each day was when he brought her food and stayed to spend some time with her. She actually enjoyed his company and was so grateful that he took the time to tell her a little bit about what was happening in the world and to sometimes bring her a newspaper or magazine. Often they were in Portuguese, but she could read some of it. Just to have something, anything, to occupy her mind.
Martin also built her a little privy and had given her a plastic bucket to use for her elimination needs. He’d helped her cut off the sweater dress which was too warm and smelled now, and gave her a lightweight shirt and pants. No shoes, but she didn’t need those.
She was lucky he was such a kind man. Although she’d long ago stopped trying to convince him to help her, or let her go, or give her a cell phone. For whatever reasons, he maintained the crazy idea that he didn’t want to keep her prisoner, that he desperately wanted to get her back home, but that he had no ability to refuse the orders of the woman that Alisa now knew he called Mistress Mercury.
She’d pleaded with him, tried to use reason, empathy, seduction…but nothing worked. It was really odd. Alisa could see in his face, in his eyes, he was a good man. He took excellent care of her and brought her the best food he could find.
Martin even protected her from t
he other man here with him, a handsome, but hard man named Brian, who had decided that Alisa was really pretty and needed some company. Brian had decided one day that he needed to “get him some of that,” tore off Alisa’s shirt, and would have raped her if Martin hadn’t beaten the shit out of him and told him he’d kill him if he touched her.
Brian confronted Martin, told him that Mistress Mercury would not allow him to hurt her. Instantly, Brian’s expression changed and he walked away. Now, he rarely ever came into the building where Alisa was being held. Still, Martin stood sentry and kept her safe.
Yet he would not release her.
Her condition had continued to deteriorate. Without her medications, she was losing the ability to walk. Standing took concentration and effort, and even that didn’t help sometimes. She was trying to stay fit by doing simple calisthenics but it was getting harder and harder each day. And she was losing the fine motor skills of her hands. The condition was progressing quickly. If she remained here, she might not live out the year.
Her greatest sorrow now was the loss of her limited time left that she wanted to share with Koen. Nothing gave her greater pleasure than closing her eyes and conjuring up his smiling face. He was so beautiful, not a detail had left her sharp memory through any of the two months she knew she’d been in her prison.
During the first few weeks here, at night, when her abductors were gone, she would slide off her panties and touch herself as if it were Koen. Just the thought of him down there, his lips and tongue tugging at her, would bring her to orgasm so powerfully, she would cry out. God, she needed to get back to him before it was too late.
Now, though, she couldn’t manage to massage the area well enough to make herself come. She was sorry, too, because that was when she felt him most.
In her despondency, she admitted he likely would never find her now. He would have been looking the entire time, she knew that. But since he hadn’t found her, it was reasonable to assume she was un-findable.
She still had nights when she would think of what they were missing, and then cry herself to sleep for all the lost moments. She missed her life. She missed the puppy that was even now growing up without her. And she would always miss the man who brought her love when she never thought to ever find it at all.
Two months of hell. He hadn’t found her yet. Percy had shown up several times and he compelled him with memories of a good visit with Alisa and sent him away.
He wasn’t sleeping much and had little interest in food. It was just him and Samson in Alisa’s apartment. Everyone had lives to return to. His was stopped here, now.
He’d converted Alisa’s apartment for vampire lifestyle since he wasn’t planning to leave until he had her back in his arms.
One night the doorbell rang and when he opened it, Lauren stood on the other side.
“Is she all right?” Lauren asked.
He hesitated. Lauren had been a godsend after David’s release from decades of torture. She knew all of his family too well, one of the few uncontrolled humans who had full knowledge of the first blood world.
“She’s my friend, Koen. I haven’t heard from her in two months. I know how volatile your world can be. Is she all right, that’s all I want to know.”
After a moment, Koen shook his head. “No. I don’t know where she is. She was taken by a murderous first blood and I can’t find her.”
Lauren could see how much pain he was in. With a deep breath, she walked into the room.
“Well. Another vampire kidnapping. It must be Tuesday.”
TWENTY TWO
Five months later
April. Flowers were in bloom again. At least the early arrivals that often peeked out while little snowfalls still came. Spring. A lovely time of year.
Koen had adjusted, though, to winter and the colder temperatures. He liked the frosty bite of Chicago’s lake-borne winds. And although he didn’t mind the milder weather sneaking in now that spring had arrived, he would miss the invigorating winter air.
Samson liked the warmer nights. He was prancing anxiously for their first walk along the river they took most nights when Koen rose after sunset.
Grabbing a bag of chips, since vampires were always ravenous upon rising, Koen opened the apartment door and Samson bolted out. It wasn’t necessary to restrain the dog anymore. He and Koen had bonded on a level so deep, Koen could communicate with him at a rudimentary level. Samson stayed by Koen’s side wherever they went, and that was most of the time. They had become inseparable.
Samson waited at the door to the stairwell while Koen paused to check his messages from the teams he’d had in active searches for over six months now. Nothing new.
And even though that was precisely what he usually found when he checked for any information, each time he opened up his phone and found no new information on Alisa, his heart clinched. Hope might spring eternal, but it was killing him, one day at a time. He wasn’t a healthy man right now. For all of the seven months she’d been gone, he’d eaten well under the required calories for a vampire of his size and power. And slept less than he needed.
Hope was beginning to flounder. Just a little bit. He would never give up, but it was getting harder to expect he would find her.
It was as if she fell off the earth. Koen knew first blood magic was responsible. Windari had masked Alisa and her location, the same way the village at Victoria Falls was masked from the world. Between that and the fact that they had no leads, his teams were really just watching every camera feed and physically watching streets in many cities for any sign of her or Windari. Because Windari had disappeared too.
Four months ago, Windari had fallen off the grid, too, obviously aware her time was running out. Because just before she had disappeared, Koen had been ready to try to force her to reveal Alisa’s whereabouts.
A bark brought him back to the impatient dog.
“Sorry, buddy. All right, go on. I’ll be right behind you.”
Koen opened the door and the dog flew down the first flight. Koen leaned against the brick wall for a moment, his eyes closed, and did what he always did as soon as he rose…summoned Alisa’s image and told her he loved her.
“I’m still looking, baby,” he whispered, and then raced down the stairs to take Samson on a long walk. Out of everything in his life now, he enjoyed these quiet walks the most. Little else brought him joy, except for when Park and Bas brought Cairine to visit.
His granddaughter was now nearly two years old, advanced beyond that of a human child, and just as precocious and beautiful. Park always pulled the little girl’s pale ginger hair up into a cap of cascading curls, the softest thing Koen had ever felt. This child was third generation first blood, and already showing her abilities. She exhibited some of her innate powers and they were impressive.
Samson hurried out the door at the main level of the apartment building when Koen opened it onto the street. But he stayed right at Koen’s side as they crossed and headed down to the riverwalk. The air smelled different tonight, although he barely noticed. He remembered Park telling him he was like a zombie at times, and he couldn’t dispute it.
Without Alisa, his life had returned to the days before he found Park, when it felt like it just wasn’t worth going through all the pain it took to make it through a day. And it wasn’t that his family didn’t make him happy, they did, but he just couldn’t stand being here without her. Being in this apartment, in Chicago, in this world, knowing he may never hold her again. He missed her!
And he had failed her.
Although seven months weren’t much time to an immortal, it was the world when you spent it missing someone. All he’d done was assault poor Tim, who was as good as it got with computers, and yet hadn’t found any leads in all these months.
He’d kept in touch with Ahmose. The baby had been born. Ahmose’s child with the lovely little vampire Starla had been born healthy after all the trauma. A first blood child who arrived on the edge of magic and science, Starla, newly made va
mpire, inseminated with the seed of a first blood. It was the first time for such a procedure, aided by his daughter, who had been a genetic researcher before she discovered she was a first blood vampire.
Koen watched as Samson carefully checked out the scent of something in a hollowed out fallen tree, then looked across the mirror shiny water. He was ashamed of himself for not going to see the new first blood child. But he hadn’t been able to let himself leave Chicago since Alisa’s abduction. In case someone found a lead. In case she showed up. He nodded to the night. Soon, he would fly back to South Africa to meet the boy. The first blood community had recently been gifted with children, something so rare, they had almost thought it impossible.
But in the past two years, there had been Park, a lost child who had been found as an adult. His own daughter thought deceased before she could ever be born. Then she had borne his granddaughter, his friend Eillia became pregnant by a human male, and had a son with him. Now Ahmose, leader of a very powerful community of first bloods who called themselves children of the moon, was a new father, with two more children destined to arrive within a few years.
The world was changing. Koen sensed it, and so did many of the first bloods. What had seemed a constant for the first thousand years of his life, was no more. That was why he had to get Alisa back.
If she was still alive. The words burned his soul. He hated to ever think them, but the truth glimmered along with the hope…it was very possible…she was no longer alive and he was missing a ghost. He couldn’t, wouldn’t, accept that possibility.
Samson showed up at his feet, whining.
“I’m sorry, boy. I’m a morbid mess tonight. Let’s go for a run and then we’ll get breakfast.”
The dog reared up, excited and took off down the path with Koen jogging behind him. He went faster and faster, the dog struggling to keep up. So he had to make himself slow his pace, both mentally and physically. It was going to be fine. It had to be.