“The cop?” Marty gasped.
“Was a distraction. Someone was obviously waiting and popped it on the car while he was talking to us.”
He was about to drop it to the ground and smash it when I stopped him. Nick looked at me like I was crazy when I took it from him with a mighty grin. I had a plan, all thanks to the grinding metal and hissing sounds from the other side of the concrete wall.
William had followed me as far as he could, the sun was slowly setting but the light was in the wrong place for him to follow. He wasn't impressed at letting me walk away but loved the plan. The workers were loading the industrial bins into position when I rushed up, tossing my empty cup into the bin. Well, almost empty. With glee I watched the garbage truck lift the bin and tipped the contents in. I wished I could stay and watch, checking if there were any followers of the tracking device but William was insistent that we were ready for the fall of the sun. It was late night trade and there was no issue of the car park shutting early but William wanted to go as soon as possible. He had a plan and a place where he wanted to go and it was going to take the majority of the night to get there. But of course, there was a little issue on the back seat of his car, that had to be dealt with too.
We had to drive a fair distance before the night was dark enough to dump the body. There was a lot of cloud cover tonight and it darkened the land superbly. It was cold and creepy, darkness shrouded the land just the way William liked it. William and Nick had taken it somewhere further along the riverbank to where it was more secluded, leaving Marty and I in the car. It wasn't what William wanted to do, but he had little choice. Under his grumbled insistence, the doors were locked and the windows were up. When he was out of sight, we dropped them a fraction to let in the fresh air, the smell was unbearable.
“Can I ask you something and you promise not to tell William?”
“Sure.” Marty grinned.
“It's not like I want to keep secrets or anything, I just know he will completely freak out and I kind of want to avoid it if possible.”
Marty chuckled as she turned on her side, leaning back against the seat. “Cross my heart and hope to die.”
I grinned as she drew a cross over her heart with a sweet smile. “When I was in the van and the guys took their balaclavas off, all I could think about was how good looking they were. It was crazy but even the gun man had an older guy thing going on and when I crawled out of the van and someone came up to me to offer help, my mind was at it again. Am I just a pervert or is this normal?”
Marty chuckled again and stopped offering an embarrassed apology. “You are not a pervert. For starters, you are nineteen. It's normal for your mind and body to begin preparing you for what it thinks is your ultimate goal, motherhood. Then we can move onto the fact that you are fae, they aren't exactly what I would call an oversexed species but we could say that they do like to love. The elven side of you, well it's kind of the same really. The fae and elves are like the yin and yang. They fit together perfectly and are almost the same. Their world could be peaceful if they would stop with the bickering and hatred. I guess it's like the vampires and lycans, different yet the same. So you've got two races in you that are lovers and fighters, you are young and your emotions are heightened because you are in a physical relationship with someone. You notice other men because you have moved past the darkness of yesterday and stepped into the light of tomorrow. Did you notice other men before William?”
“Sort of.” I shrugged. “I would see them and wonder what it would be like to have someone to go home to but it was all just me dreaming about something I didn't think was possible.”
There was a tap at the window that made me jump, Marty leaned through the gap and unlocked the door for Nick. I could see a shadow moving across the land as Nick got into the car.
“All good.” He grinned as he leaned over to unlock the door for William.
Marty settled back down against the seat, our conversation about my dirty mind was over. I wasn't sure about it, I still felt uneasy about the thoughts but at least I knew it was normal. The car pulled away and Nick drove into the darkened night in the car that smelled of lavender, roses, new car smell and urine.
“Tell me about the elves.”
“Now that I can do.” She grinned. “They are not so secretive, they are well documented.”
“But not the changeling’s.” William muttered from the front of the car.
Marty winced as she turned back to me. As she tugged her hair behind her ear she hummed, thinking about it. “Okay, so changeling’s are not documented because they, well, they aren't such a big species. In the elven native tongue they are called Nornaya. They are feared because there haven't been many of them or at least, they don't know how many there are. Because they can assimilate into any community and become whatever species they are around, no one really knows who they truly are. Take you for instance. We all believed you were human until you came into our world and showed your true nature. They are a species that can adapt to any environment and thrive. Just like you.” She grinned. “Poster girl for the species.”
“Yeah, lucky me.”
Even though William was facing the front, I could see the smirk on his face. I looked back to Marty who was leaning on the door so that she could face me. She was like the older sister that I didn't think I would ever have, she was a strong woman who I knew had faced a lot of adversity and had not let it get to her. I could see that below the mask of the pretty face and the giggles was one intelligent woman who soaked in information and could remember every single day of her life like it had just happened.
“So both the fae and the elves have different races. The elves have three, the Nornaya, Liola and Falst in their native tongue again. The Liola are blood suckers like us vampires, they can feed on anything but crave fae blood which I can assure you does not go down well at all. Falst are like witches, magical and it is likely that if you come across a witch then you would be looking at a Falst elf.”
“Is Eliandra a falst elf?”
William shook his head, grumbling his lovely words about the woman as he turned to the window beside him.
“Eliandra is a true witch, falst are similar to a witch but not a true witch. Falst are a good-natured species and it is rare to find one that would turn against the light side of magic. Witches can go either way depending on their upbringing. Darkness had consumed that particular thing if you were wondering.”
I shrugged not really caring, it was just curiosity and nothing more. I'd be happy if I never saw the woman again.
“Onto the fae I think.” She whispered warily. She gave me a look that made me wonder what she was trying to say. Maybe don't mention that name around him, maybe I'll tell you the history later, maybe it was a case of I didn't want to know.
“They don't really have different types, they just grow up and are given jobs based on their lineage. The only time that someone can change roles is if they break out of the body shape.” She shrugged. “It can happen. There has been a few warriors that have come out of the civilians. They generally don't breed outside of their own type so that they can ensure that the warriors are of good stock but there are a few that like to break the rules.”
She grinned, it was one that said my mother was a perfect example of someone that liked to break the rules. Breeding so far outside of her own group she managed to breed with an elf.
“What we know of the super secretive fae is that there is a class structure, civilian, army and officials. Civilians are the workers, varying in different levels of social status and wealth. Then there is the army class which are the warriors, mercenaries, guards and police. The officials are the government workers but not the kind of government you would know. This is royalty. There is nobility, gentry and aristocracy. There is no sexism nor any gender specific roles in their world, if you are of age and are fit to work then that is what you do.”
“Do you think that it might be possible that my father pretended to be a fae warrior
?”
Marty raised an eyebrow at me with curiosity stretching across her.
“Well I suppose it is possible. Fae usually can tell if they are in the presence of an elf. Maybe it's the romantic side of me, but I like believe that they were in love, hiding the truth from those that they feared would take it away from them.”
“Star crossed lovers.” William mumbled.
“Tragic love.” She grinned at me. “That resulted in an innocent life they had to hide to protect.”
I said nothing as Marty twirled her hair with a dreamy look on her face.
“Do you really think they thought they needed to protect me?”
Marty shrugged as she snapped out of her gaze. “Who would know? Until Alvarie speaks about it then no one will know the reason.”
“What do you mean, speaks about it?”
The leather of his seat creaked as William turned and looked at Marty, she crinkled under his penetrating gaze. Oops, I guess somebody said too much.
“Alright, out with it.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
William huffed as he squinted at Marty.
“Hezekiah has confirmed that Alvarie is your mother and she clammed up, refusing to say anything. For two days he tried to contact her but got no response. Further investigation had found that she had fled, leaving him a note to stop all investigations into the past. That it was best to leave things as they were and that it was imperative that he leave with haste. Hezekiah heeded her warning because he could feel a presence that was watching him, someone or something was haunting his every step. It's normal for the fae to watch a visitor in their world, they rarely allow anyone to pass the gates. Being that he was an elder and offered a stay of limited time, they granted him access. But to actually have the feeling of being watched is rare, the fae never make their presence known. It adds to the illusion and secrecy of their race. So Hezekiah knew he was treading on thin ice and did as Alvarie told him.”
“So she doesn't want to know me then.”
William shook his head with mild anger. “I never said that Mary, I said that she asked him to leave it alone. He said that there was a sense of fear in the air, he felt scared and I can assure you that for an elder to feel scared, then something is seriously wrong. For the air around him to be dripping in it so heavily that it invades his pores and entrenches deep within him, it meant that Alvarie was scared.”
“Scared of what though?”
He shrugged and turned back.
“Imagine what Hezekiah must have thought.” Marty said wide eyed. “To realise that a mighty fae warrior was scared of something or someone, he must have been filling his pants.”
Nick sniggered as William turned back around, giving her another look. She shrugged with little care.
“So he doesn't know where she is then?”
Marty shook her head and then leaned to the window, looking out as the car slowed. We had pulled into a long driveway, in the distance was a small shack that glowed with light. Electricity, how I missed you. Something dawned on me as I looked at the little cottage. The lights were on, someone was here.
“Hey, uh where are we going?”
No one said anything as we drove with speed through the spindly trees, long and lanky in dozens of rows that seemed to stretch for miles in both directions. The moon was out and shining down on the gravel track ahead of us, the green of the trees. Smoke billowed out of the chimney, puffing into the inky night sky.
“I asked a question, would one of you please answer me?”
William turned and looked at me, a dark grin crossed his face as his head lifted slightly. Oh, I see. Back to the menacing vampire, are we?
“Just to stay with a friend.”
Chapter Forty-one
Nick followed the driveway around the house, pulling into a sloping driveway that plunged under the house. He hadn't slowed much, it was almost like he feared something that might have been following us. The night was still dark so it couldn't have been the sun, it made me worry that something was following us. Below the house was an area that was an underground car park, filled with cars. The little shack was nothing but a ruse, this place was enormous. Nick found a park about half way along the second row he had been searching, once he had stopped I saw a door beyond the rows of cars. It was almost directly opposite us and it was open with an old man standing on the threshold. Marty looked at me with a slight smile, her gaze falling away rather quickly. Nick and William got out of the car, as soon as the doors were shut I grabbed Marty's arm.
“What is this place?”
“It's the meeting place for this area. William called the elders for an urgent meeting. They chose this place because it was the quickest to get to. You will be safe here, there isn't a being alive or dead that can get in without the keepers approval.”
Her eyes cast over to the hunched man at the doorway, his decrepit body leaned on the walking stick for stability.
“That's the keeper. He looks after this place and offers sanctuary for a vampire that might be in trouble, he offers a place to relax and revitalise the body. All without worry about anything that might try to find us and kill us.”
“Lycans?”
She nodded and opened the door, leaving me in the stink of the car. William tapped on the window, looking at me with amusement. I opened the car door, noticing that Nick and Marty had already started toward the door with many bags.
“How long are we going to be here?”
“I don't know. There is much to discuss. Recent events have altered things in our world. All elder meetings are on hold until this nonsense is sorted out and they all agree that coming here to discuss a path forward is the wisest thing to do.”
He took my hand and pulled me through the cars, beyond the door I could hear the thump of music. It sounded like we were about to walk into a club.
“What's going on?”
“Well, the vampires in the area come here on occasions to relax, however they are still celebrating the new year. Of course the elders have a few helpers with them and when the meeting is going on they are not required so they are permitted to join in the festivities. That's why those two are so eager to find their rooms, they are eager for the day ahead.”
We approached the elderly fellow who had a warm smile below the white wiry beard.
“Good evening Master Lancaster, welcome back.”
“Thank you Dimitri.”
His eyes turned to me, watery blue searched over me. Before William could continue, the old man spoke again.
“And Miss Arnold, welcome to the keep. I am Dimitri and I am the keeper of this place. You are always welcome, regardless of your nature.”
He grinned as he stroked his beard, the long lengths slipping through his worn fingers.
“To see the product of a union between two species that have spent an eternity at each other's throats is quite a treat.”
“Uh, thanks.” I muttered unsure of what to say.
Dimitri chuckled and hobbled his way into the darkness beyond the door. The hall ran both ways but Dimitri turned to the right. After spending so long turning to the left, changing directions seemed wrong. There was an odd glow of red as we made our way along the corridor, moving behind the slow shuffle of the man leading us.
“We are waiting for Master Valerii to arrive, in the meantime maybe you would like to rest?”
“Certainly, that would be most appreciated.”
Dimitri left us to find our own way, which by the way William moved, he wasn't bothered by it. Clearly he had stayed here before. We were in the depths of the building that was buried under the ground. There was no natural light here, only electricity. I was grateful for it, even if it was a little creepy here. The corridors were dark, the hue of red light was guiding us through the maze of this place. By the time we had reached our destination, we had taken two sets of rather ornate stairs and weaved our way through several corridors. William opened the door to what I guessed was an apartment, it was spacious and grand.<
br />
“This is our own personal accommodation Mary, it would be wise to remember that guests are not welcomed in the masters quarters.”
“I don't know anyone William, who do you think I'll be inviting here?”
His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at me, Nick stumbled out of a nearby doorway, catching my gaze.
“I take it that they're allowed here?”
“They are not guests, they are my followers. Beyond that door is their accommodations.”
Nick cautiously walked over, it looked like he was trying to gauge William's mood.
“Your things are in your room.”
“Thank you Nick, you and Marty are excused for the rest of the day.”
He nodded and quickly walked back to the door, closing it behind him.
“The lounge, obviously.” His hand waved through the air as it gestured to the lavish lounges that were facing each other in a large circle formation. They were a creamy coloured leather and looked incredibly plush. His gaze turned to the wall behind us, gesturing to the door.
“Guest powder room and study.”
“Thought you said that guests weren't welcomed here.”
He grinned smugly as he turned back to me. “The master may invite guests if he so chooses, his followers may not.”
“Who would you invite here anyway?”
“Guests.” He grinned.
I could feel a burning in my mind, an unknown feeling was hissing at me as my heart began to kick up its beat.
“Oh I see how it is. Mister high and mighty morals sets his virgin detector on the poor victim of the lycan attack but he can screw anything he likes. You're a hypocrite.”
“I don't remember saying that I brought people here to screw them, I said they were guests.”
Slowly he began to walk towards me, his eyes fixed on me as I stepped backwards.
“You had that devious look.” I snapped back. “I'm not an idiot William. If you don't screw them then you wanted me to think that you did.”
Deadly Beasts (The Curse of the Rose Book 1) Page 27