The front door opened as an excited Daniel barreled into the house. The stack of papers he carried in his arms told me he had found something. Weakly, I stood to my feet.
“Did you find anything?” I already knew the answer as he made his way to the kitchen.
“Yes!” he called back excitedly.
I was glad he was not within eye"s view, I stumbled a couple of times before I managed to get a grip on my mobility. Moving slowly, I made it to the kitchen where Daniel had laid out several small stacks of papers.
“What did you find?” I asked moving closer to the table.
“It turns out, Dr. Miller had quite a research theory. I found a couple of files in the deleted section of his computer. These files are the blueprints to how he created the vaccine he was planning to sell to the Department of Defense. The Interior Office called CalCom was the DOD"s code. It seems that Brendan was a volunteer.”
“But I thought that Dr. Miller saved his life and…”
“No. Just saving Brendan"s life was not all there was to it. I guess Brendan did not have much of a choice. Dr. Miller introduced him to the project. He set up a series of injections. It turns out that somehow with these injections, he kept Brendan from turning into a werewolf. Apparently Dr. Miller"s research was not complete, because he could not figure out how to change back the men he already turned into werewolves.”
“What do you mean Daniel? You"re babbling.”
“Julie, what I am trying to tell you is, once Dr. Miller turned someone into a werewolf, he could not figure out how to reverse the process. Even with the Lycan venom, he could not reverse it. What Miller did find out was that the Lycan venom could prevent the human from turning into a werewolf with the added bonus of regeneration.
This is why he was so amped to sell it to the D.O.D.
“According to what I have found, Brendan was in a group of ten volunteers. All of the volunteers successfully made the DNA modification change. My concern is, since Miller is gone, how are they obtaining the injections?”
I shifted slightly and braced myself against the doorframe. “Who manufactured the vaccine?” I added, frowning to myself as I tried to gain more control.
Daniel looked up from the papers to see my troubled look. “Julie? Are you okay?”
I nodded. It didn"t do any good to lie to him. Instantly I could feel his thoughts as they swept over me. He was searching mine, looking for some explanation as to my wooziness. With every ounce of strength I had in me, I blocked my thoughts. Daniel frowned slightly.
“Well,” his attention went back to his papers. “CalCom is the manufacturer, and it seems that it is still in the experimental stage. From the looks of it, CalCom is privately owned, but somehow connected with the D.O.D.”
“So what now? I mean, are you going to contact them? How do we find out if they"ve mass marketed this vaccine?”
“They have not, at least not yet. I already called Dad, and gave him the details. He has his contacts. Right now the only thing we have to do is find CalCom, or worse yet, Brendan, and see if we can"t put a stop to all this before it"s too late. If these guys find out exactly what will happen when they stop taking this vaccine, who knows what the DOD
will do.”
“Daniel, they are always looking for ways to make better soldiers. Have you ever considered the possibility that they already know what they are dealing with? I mean, think about it, a team of super soldiers. They would be something new in warfare,” I added as I moved toward the table.
Daniel raised his head and eyed me carefully. He sniffed the air as I came closer.
Suddenly his eyes narrowed. This was it. I needed to prepare myself for the worst. His thoughts gave him away. He could smell Richard. Apparently, I was still carrying Richard"s scent. The scent of a vampire, lilies and carnations.
“Richard was here?” Daniel threw out sharply.
There was no sense in lying. I nodded.
“Damn it, Julie! What did he do? What in the hell did he want? Did he harm you?”
His voice was tense and filled with concern.
“NO! He didn"t harm me. He told me he was in the woods last night and saw us.
He said the werewolves were hunting for something. Richard said they caught our scent and came after us. Richard followed the two that attacked us. He said they were hunting us.”
I watched Daniel"s eyes narrow into tight slits. “What?”
“Richard said…”
“I heard you the first time. This is just great! Now we have a pack of werewolves on our ass. I need to get a sample from one of them. Find out if this is a strand of Miller"s work. We need to find out what they are up to.”
“Daniel, Richard said they were searching for something.” I tried to distract him from his own thoughts of anger.
“Searching for what?”
“He didn"t say. He was going to find out.”
Daniel released sigh. He pushed back from the table. The sound of the chair sliding against the wood floor sent shivers up my spine. The dark eyebrows knitted into a frown as he crossed the room and took me in his arms. Deeply the hazel gems peered into mine. There was no need in me wondering if he was upset.
Daniel pressed my body against his. The slow rhythm of his heart beat steadily against my chest. Fear gripped my heart as I heard him inhale a deep breath.
“Julie,” his voice was soft, yet firm. “When are you going to learn to trust me?
When are you going to learn to talk to me?”
A tremor ran through my body, shivering against his. Daniel pulled more out of me than I was willing to give at this point. The shards of pain stabbed at my heart, deeply penetrating the core of my emotions. The tears threatened my eyes. How could I tell him the truth? What could I say?
“I…” I began as he pulled back and looked into my eyes.
“Julie, what did Richard do to you? I need to know.” His voice was firm and controlled.
My teary eyes searched his, carefully taking note of any changes in his eye color.
The beautiful eyes were still a soft hazel. Why was it so hard for me to be honest with him?
“He…Daniel…” I turned my head. There was no way I could penetrate the fear inside of me to tell him Richard seduced me. Or the worse part, that I enjoyed the kiss.
“Jewels, what is it that you fear so badly? Are you afraid I will become angry? Tell me, please. Do you realize how crazy this makes me feel?”
Daniel"s eyes clearly were the windows to his soul. As I stared into those beautiful gems, the hot tears fell, streaming down my cheeks.
“Sweetheart,” his voice softened. “No matter what you tell me, I will never leave you. I do not care how ugly it might be, I will never let you go. I love you too damn much.” He let out a painful sigh. “I just wish you would trust me enough to talk to me.”
“He…” My gaze drifted as I turned my head to the side. Daniel gingerly took my face in his hands. Softly his lips pressed to my cheek and kissed the tear that trailed from my eye.
“If I have to stand here all day and kiss each tear from your eyes I will,” he softly whispered in my ear.
More tears fell as my arms tightly wrapped around him. My body trembled as his arms pulled me closer to him, providing the assurance and protection I needed.
“I love you so much,” I cried into his chest. “I don"t know what happened. Richard began…then he… I couldn"t stop him. The kiss…Daniel?” I stammered as the painful fear flowed through my words.
“He kissed you?” Daniel softly asked against my ear.
I nodded. “I couldn"t move. There is something about him. He made me want him, like some type of drug.”
“Did he do anything else?” His voice was still soft and assuring.
“No. I fainted,” I finally told him.
Daniel shifted his weight and pulled me up in his arms. My heart raced as he carried me toward the sofa and sat down with me in his lap.
“There is no way I am going
to leave you alone again, at least not until he"s gone and out of your life for good. I will make sure this never happens again.” He pressed a soft kiss on the top of my head. “Do you still want to go to Mom"s tonight?”
“Yes, we need to be there.”
“Are you going to be all right?”
I nodded again.
“We need to leave in a couple of hours for the gathering. Then afterwards, I want to make another run to the mountain. I want to take a closer look at our werewolves.
Maybe I will get lucky and get a blood sample.”
“Exactly how are you going to do that as a wolf? Where do you think you are going to put the syringe?”
“I have some ideas.” He raised his eyebrow.
For some reason, I really didn"t want to know. This was going to be one long night.
It may do well for us to have a couple of vampires with us when we go to the mountain tonight. At least they could keep the werewolves busy while Daniel and I attempted to find out more about their interest in the mountain.
There was also the possibility of Daniel drawing a blood sample. I suppose we were going to walk up to one of the stinky beasts, and ask them to be perfectly still while we took a sample. To accomplish this feat, someone had to be human. I hope he didn"t think I was going to volunteer. When it comes to dealing with a werewolf, I would rather keep my wolf form. Anyway, my human form would probably scream and run away. That was another drawback to being a Lycan; the women appeared to have bad nerves.
Deadly killers as wolves, but they made for very nervous humans.
Tonight"s adventures waited. The gathering at Charlotte"s to celebrate the upcoming wedding, followed by a lovely romantic evening with werewolves. What more could a woman want? For some reason, I just knew this evening would be entertaining to say the least.
CHAPTER FIVE
Six o"clock, and I was already past the point of having a nervous breakdown.
Daniel was dressed and patiently waiting on me. Despite his attempts to help me dress, tossing my panty hose at me, choosing the wrong shoes and his very subtle sighs, I still wasn"t dressed. Two pair of hose, both of which had horrible runs and then I managed to break a fingernail putting on the expensive pair of shoes Daniel purchased made for the start of a lovely evening. All was not lost as I adorned myself with the new jewelry.
Daniel, rushing as usual, attempted to place the diamond necklace around my neck at the same time I was tried to put on the earrings. The diamond earring slid from my fingers and fell down the top of my dress. It would have been easier to catch if I had worn a bra.
My hand went to my stomach, catching the little jewel as Daniel"s hand went down the top of my dress. For a moment, we both froze and stared at each other in the mirror. I couldn"t let go of the earring and he suddenly realized he couldn"t let go of my boob! The cuff of his shirt was caught on my new fifteen thousand dollar diamond necklace. If there was any evening to top this one, I would like to know.
Finally, we managed to make the trip to his parent"s house. Our delay, as Daniel would soon tell it, was of course my fault. We sped down the long wooded driveway, and I don"t think Daniel missed any midsized rocks as the car bumped one too many times for my taste. As expected, when we pulled the car in front of the house, a valet waited for us. Two men dressed in black suits walked out to the car. One went to the driver"s side to greet Daniel, while the other one stepped to my side and opened the door for me. He greeted me in a cordial tone, and offered his hand to assist me out of the car. I stepped out and waited as I watched Daniel move around the back of the car to join me.
Words couldn"t describe how handsome he looked in his black suit. The dark black hair, tossed slightly enhanced his sexy appearance. I suddenly realized I wasn"t breathing as I watched this handsome man walk toward me. Those beautiful hazel gems lifted through the lush black feathering of black eyelashes to focus on me. A smile formed on my lips as he lifted his arm to accompany me inside.
“What?” He broadly smiled; his eyes glazed a soft twinkle.
Admiringly, I lifted my eyes to his. Fate only knew how much I loved him. “You are so handsome.”
Daniel lifted his fingers to my chin, tilting it upward as his lips pressed down on mine. “And you are the most beautiful woman I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.
You are the softness of a candle, illuminating the very depth of my soul. The warmth of the sun as it warms my heart with your kiss.” he charmed.
Was there any question why I was so in love with this man? Never. Oh Daniel!
Thomas had spared no expense for this shindig. The night"s event came complete with a butler. Daniel and I were greeted promptly, our jackets taken and we were served immediately with champagne. We moved through the foyer into the grand room. The smell of money filled the air, along with the scents of new Lycans.
The grand room was just that- grand. It was the largest room in their entire home, meticulously decorated with Grecian artifacts. The white room was trimmed with a Greek looking crown molding, one which really set the mood for the room. Overhead, in the center of the room, hung a large gold and crystal chandelier. Marble columns were set approximately fifteen feet from each other all the way around the room. In between the columns, a soft light inset in the ceiling shown down on beautiful Grecian statues.
The cracked marble on the floor added to the ancient appeal. Money to say the least, something Thomas had and enjoyed spending.
Nervously, I glanced around. I knew my worst fears were not over. Yes, there she was, I followed the scent. Dear Fate! The old buzzard"s eyes caught me! I turned to flee and slammed into Daniel"s solid frame.
“Where are you going?” He shot out as his hand to steady me.
“The old buzzard is here!” I hissed without turning around.
Daniel"s eyes peered past me. The twinkle in his eyes, followed by the twitch of his lips let me know she was headed our way. I buried my head against his chest. For the love of Fate, could I at least have a break today?
“Julie!” the old crow screeched.
“Nevermore! Nevermore!” I cried into his chest. This seemed like the appropriate thing to say at this damned gathering.
Daniel chuckled softly, leaning his head closer to my ear. “Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!' Quote the raven, `Nevermore„.”
Tears formed in my eyes as my body trembled with laughter. It would take Daniel to come up with a quote from Edgar Allen Poe to make the night complete. I turned around, watery eyes and all to face the raven rapping at my door.
“Hello Aunt Doris.” I lifted a finger to my watery eyes, taking note of the confused look on my Aunt"s face.
“Doris!” Daniel spoke out in delight. “How are you, my lovely dear?” He reached past me to hug the old bat.
Aunt Doris staggered a bit before she reached her clawed feet toward Daniel for a hug. Uncle Dave reached around to give me a warm embrace when we noticed Aunt Doris wavering as Daniel stood her back on her feet. Daniel"s eyes twinkled brightly.
The humor in it all had given new hope for the night.
“Oh Julie! I"m so excited for you. I …” She immediately reached down to my hand to look at the ring again. “Now you two must work on having children. Julie, it is better to have them while you"re young, you know.” She croaked, patting my hand.
“We haven"t discussed children Aunt Doris.” I managed to strain out.
“You know, I was wondering,” Daniel"s lips twitched. “Aunt Doris, what would you suggest would be the quickest way possible to impregnate Julie?”
I watched the woman as her eyebrows rose, her eyes widened and her mouth opened.
“Well…” She was not going to lose this battle.
“See I was thinking, if I put Julie on top and then grabbed her hips at the right moment…” Daniel rambled out.
The words were not nearly as funny as Daniel giving a visual of his idea.
Somewhere in the back of my sick and t
ormented mind I did find it a bit funny. The humor in his eyes was more than what I thought the old gargoyle could stand. I think she had a pretty good idea Daniel was not going to stand for her insolence any more than I did. She needed a taste of her own brew, and Daniel was the one to give it to her.
“I think there"s a book or something you might want to read…Dave? DAVE!” She briskly turned around as a red glow danced on her checks.
Uncle Dave covered his mouth with his hand, his eyes danced with humor. He gave a gentlemanly cough, and then cleared his throat. Turning quietly, Uncle Dave gave me a quizzical grin as he was abruptly drug away by my embarrassed Aunt.
“Excuse me.” A deep voice announced behind us. Daniel and I turned around and noticed Thomas.
“The Council has sent over The Assembly to help you out with these Dark Wolves.”
Thomas turned the glass to his lips. “Any idea of who these rebels are?”
Daniel shook his head. “No. I hope we will find out soon.”
Thomas continued. “I heard from a neighboring clan that they"ve already moved into this area. Daniel, I am afraid they are closer to home than I like. They have converted a few more clans, turning them against the Council with their lies. They are saying the Council is not the true Order of the Lycans. Also, there are rumors building that the Lycans have turned away from the old ways and have concealed the truth of the old ways.”
“Old ways? We have always lived by a strict code. Who are these wolves to challenge our beliefs? If they had the true hearts of the Lycans, they would not commit murders against their brethren.” Daniel took a sip from his glass.
“Daniel, be careful. There is much talk of warmongering among the clans.” His eyes darted around the room, as if searching for someone.
Daniel„s eyes narrowed. “What are you saying? Are you implying the Council is wrong?”
“What I am saying is that you should be careful. These Dark Wolves are very strong and dangerous.”
“Do you think they would actually attack us?” It appeared Thomas knew a bit more about these rebels than Daniel and I expected.
Fall of kNight Page 7