by C. L. Quinn
“Shit! Did Jacob send you looking for me?”
He looked upset at that.
“Jacob? Who is Jacob?”
Uh, oh. Not sent by Jacob. Maybe she really was in trouble.
“None of your damn business is who he is. I want to know what you want. I have the rest of my entourage on their way here.”
Ahmose relaxed again.
“Little Star. I know you are here with one young vampire. He is no threat. Even if you had ten of him, they would still be no threat. We are first blood and you have no power over us.” He paused, his eyes gliding over her face.
“I am here to honor you. To make you a child of the moon. You are Shoazan.”
“I don’t understand what that means.” She also didn’t know what he meant by first blood.
“It is simple. It means you are to be my mate and carry my children into the future of our ancient race.”
On instinct, Starla pushed the chair back as far as she could and stood up.
“Whoa. Crossed wires here, buddy. I am nobody’s mate. And I’m vampire like you. Vampires can’t have children, you should know that. So you and your merry little men can run along now. See ya.”
She started to move past his men and froze again.
What the fuck was this freezing thing?
Ahmose walked up to her and took her face in his hands. She could do nothing about it. His scent overwhelmed her, his thumbs caressing her cheek felt more sensual than predatory.
“You do not know. Little Star, you are extraordinarily unique. And you are destined to be with me and bring my children into our world. Neither of us have a choice. I am grateful, however, that you are so lovely. Making our children will be pleasurable. We will begin after rising tomorrow night.” He put his hand over her eyes and said, “Sleep.”
Starla lost consciousness. Ahmose lifted her into his arms as she collapsed. He leaned in to kiss her brow and breathed in her scent, which shot straight to his groin. The celebration could not come soon enough. Filling her with his seed was only slightly more important to him at this moment than his desire to be inside her. He nodded to his men and they were gone.
Henri heard the buzzing of his cell but since he was busy with an explosive orgasm, he wasn’t paying any attention. Now, minutes later, he swatted the girl strewn across his chest lightly on a buttock and asked her to hand him his phone. She exacted a toll, a kiss to that spot on her buttock he swatted, and handed it to him. After listening to the message, he flew up, dressed, and shot out of the room.
It didn’t take him long to reach the club where he’d last seen Starla. No one was around except a young dark skinned boy who had been there earlier.
“Do you remember the beautiful brunette I was with earlier?”
The boy nodded.
“I saw her,” he said in heavily accented English. “I saw big men take her. You will not see her again.”
“What? Why do you say that? What do you know about them?”
“They are night walkers. No one ever comes back. You may say goodbye and go home.”
Night walkers. Vampires. The boy did not know Henri was one too. He could not know Henri was far more than the college student on holiday he and Starla had been presenting themselves as on this journey. Not that anything in this world would stop him from finding her.
“You wouldn’t have any idea where these night walkers stay, would you?”
The boy pointed toward the forest.
“Big men stay in big trees. No one knows where. No one comes back to tell.”
“Yeah, I get that. Here. Thanks.”
He pitched him some money and continued into the club to ask around. Nothing would stop him from finding his companion, but he wasn’t exactly sure where to start.
“Eillia traced her here to Victoria Falls. If she’s here, I hope I am able to get us closer.”
A vampire could track their blood-bonds as long as they had exchanged blood from one to the other. Both ways. But vampires generally had little ability to track other vampires. Eillia’s first blood skill was the only thing that could have gotten them this far. Now, it was going to have to be some good, old-fashioned detective work.
Finding a restaurant as soon as they arrived in the city of Victoria Falls, they started with dinner since they had been traveling for some hours. They needed the calories to keep strong and efficient for the search that Jacob felt would not go easily. Nothing had from the beginning. And Koen had been so distracted since he’d joined him, he almost told the man to go home and deal with whatever was on his mind. But he wanted the first blood’s superior power in case it was needed. His priority was finding Starla and getting her back to Koen’s villa. For Starla and Eillia’s sake, of course. He refused to acknowledge his own stake in this. He would deal with his own feelings and repercussions once she was safe.
Shoving a huge bite of some unusual meat into his mouth, Koen looked at Jacob.
“Any sense of her yet?”
“No. I’ve tried the method Eillia recommended. It didn’t work. We should start with restaurants and nightclubs. From what I saw in Paris, that’s what the kids did for entertainment. If she is with any of that crew, that’s our best bet. If they’ve been around here, someone is going to remember her.”
“Really?” Koen asked. “I mean she was pretty, yeah, but there are a lot of pretty girls.”
“She’s much more than pretty. She’s a knockout. With attitude. I think she’ll stand out.”
Koen watched Jacob’s face. He wasn’t nearly as empathic as Eillia, but he was a man. Jacob had a thing for her. And it was more than casual. Strange. Koen knew he’d had very little contact with her, so when did he have the chance to fall for her?
Then he laughed out loud. No, a man can’t fall in love in an instant, right?
Jacob looked at Koen, who washed down the huge bite with half of a bottle of beer.
“What’s so amusing?”
“That an old vampire can still learn a few things after a thousand years. So, kill that plate and we’ll get started looking for your woman.”
The beer bottle at his lips, Jacob started to protest that she wasn’t his woman, but it didn’t come. Somewhere in his mind, unacknowledged until now, he admitted that is exactly how he thought of Starla.
No one knew anything. Most of the patrons had gone home, but those that remained had been in here dancing and drinking all night. Henri felt a moment of pure panic. What could he do now? He knew it was six larger, probably older, and as such, stronger, vampires that took her. Even if he found her, how would he get her back? All he knew was that he had to find a way.
With no notice, he felt the strange sensation that let him know a vampire was near. It got stronger and he began to search the room. His eyes stopped on two large men who had just entered. He recognized one. The vampire who took Starla away to talk that night from Incognito. And started her strange behavior. Suddenly he was furious. That motherfucker! He had no right to abduct her! Henri surged forward through the other people, shoving them aside, eyes locked on Jacob.
Jacob felt him coming. And recognized him as the vampire with Starla that night. Thank god!
“She has to be here with him,” Jacob told Koen. “Maybe we’re not going to have to fight for every scrap of information now to find her.”
Although the kid advancing toward him was violently angry and looked like he was looking for a fight.
“Where the fuck is she?” the young vamp yelled so loud it actually cleared the level of the music.
Jacob shook his head. “Who? Starla?”
“Star! Get it right old man! Where is she? You’re not taking her! She has the right to do whatever she wants and she isn’t going anywhere with you!”
Jacob grabbed the irate young man and yanked him out the door into the street. Koen showed up a second later with a bottle of something dark and what looked like a cookie.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Jacob asked quietly.
> Henri pulled his shirt free from where it was balled up in powerful hands.
“Star! Let her go! I don’t care if there are six of you, I won’t let you take her.”
“Six?” Jacob looked at Koen.
Koen killed the bottle and tossed it into a rubbish bin.
“Looks like there’s going to be a fight after all,” Koen said and went back into the club.
With a shove, Jacob put Henri against the side of the building.
“I don’t have her. Koen and I just got here. We are looking for her. So tell me what happened.”
Grimacing, he looked into Jacob’s eyes. He didn’t want to trust the older vampire, but he didn’t know how else to find and save Starla if Jacob was not the one who took her. Time wasn’t on his side.
He fished his cell phone out of his pocket and played Starla’s message on speakerphone.
Her voice was clear, low, worried. “If you get this soon, I may be in trouble.”
Expressionless, Jacob listened carefully to every word. His heartbeat quickened at the sound of her voice and his body tightened as he entered a protective state. His woman was in danger and he was ready to fight.
Yet Henri heard a calm cool voice when Jacob responded.
“Alright. The message, how long ago? What else do you know?”
Henri hesitated only a moment before he pushed away from the wall to assert himself.
“I got the message maybe ten minutes after she left. It took about five for me to get back here but they were already gone. So, about half an hour now. A local boy witnessed the abduction, but he spoke in local folklore, so the information is useless.”
“Tell me.”
“It’s just urban legend.”
“Tell. Me.”
“Okay. He said she was taken by the ‘big’ men into the ‘big’ trees. He called them night walkers. But we already knew they were vampires by her message. And he said they took her into the forest and that there was no reason to look for her, that no one ever comes back. It’s folklore. Like Nessie.”
“You haven’t been around long enough to know that folklore is always based in truth. So I think we know she was taken by a group of vampires who live in the forest. We need to recon the area. With three of us, it should be possible to cover a fair amount of territory. Don’t ignore anything. Sometimes the clue you need is obvious. Sometimes it isn’t.”
Koen returned.
“Get anything out of the kid?”
Henri didn’t like Jacob much, but he decided he really hated the larger, more arrogant one with him.
“Possible location. Large area. Up to a run?”
“Shit! No cars, huh?”
“Nope. Trees. Forest. Acres of it. We think they live near the falls.”
“Shit! Hate being wet. Kid, you’re coming too.”
“It’s Henri. And I am hardly a kid.”
Koen laughed and threw a bottle to him, then to Jacob.
“Let’s go. I have other concerns I’d like to get back to, so we need to find this lady as soon as possible.
With his jaw clenched, Henri followed the bigger men toward Victoria Falls.
After an exhausting two hours, the three vampires met back at a predetermined spot.
“Sorry, nothing,” Koen said immediately.
Jacob glanced at Henri, who shook his head, paced and exploded.
“Fuck! This is a huge fucking place. It’s nothing but trees! How are we going to find the ‘big tree’ people?”
Like Jacob, Henri’s frustration hit maximum.
“You’re the big ass special vampires. It’s your interference that drove us here, so you better fucking find her!”
Koen grinned.
“Big teeth for such a little dog. You notice we were all out there searching?”
“Yeah, but you guys must have some special abilities, right? Like the one who grabbed us in Paris.”
“Yeah. But even we can’t trace a vampire across distances.”
“How the hell did you find us here, then?”
“A woman with skills neither of us have,” Koen told him. “We hoped Jacob might be able to track her since she has his blood in her, but he hasn’t been able to. So it’s going to take legwork, information, and tenacity. We’ll find her. Don’t worry, little dog.”
“Stop that. I’m not little and I’m not a dog.”
Koen looked down at him from above. “Both seem right to me. We have to find shelter. We’ll resume tomorrow night. Pup, you have a protected room?”
Henri glared at him and turned away, heading back toward their “borrowed” four wheel drive jeep.
Koen nodded. “I take that as a yes and an invitation. Jacob, we’ll find her. I promise. Let’s go get some food and sleep.”
With a set jaw, Jacob followed Koen, glancing back at the tall trees once before he got behind the wheel.
CHAPTER TEN
As she woke, Starla saw the full moon through a hole in the ceiling. She opened her eyes slowly, looking up since she lay on her back. Just a big opening in the high ceiling of a large room with curved walls. Every wall surface was covered with lovely pastel fabric. Long scarves suspended from the ceiling to cascade to the floor. This was the prettiest room she’d ever seen in her life. It smelled heavenly, like fresh roses and vanilla.
On immediate defense, she looked around quickly to assess the situation, but there was little to assess. She was alone, still dressed in her short dress now wound around her hips. So she assumed she hadn’t been sexually assaulted.
With a deep breath, she pushed off the bed, pulling her skirt down to as decent a level as it would go. She looked around for her shoes, but didn’t see them anywhere. Leaning down to check under the bed, she barely heard the door open and someone come in.
A pretty young girl, barefoot, with a glowing smile, brought a plate filled with local foods and a carafe of some red beverage. She was not vampire.
“Hi, I am pleased to bring you something to keep you full while you take your daysleep. I am Miwsher and I have been asked to serve you while you are here in this dwelling. I will take very good care of your needs.”
With a slight nod and smile, Starla acknowledged her.
The girl smiled widely and put the tray on an ornate stand beside the bed. Then she began to lay out the different items in a row, none of which looked familiar to Starla.
“Tonight, you will go with Ahmose, but until then we keep you from his sight. He is not to see you before the joining ceremonies. Are you excited?”
Starla blinked a few times and tried to think of the best response. There was no reason to involve this young girl in this charade who obviously thought Starla was a very lucky girl.
“Thrilled,” she said with a brilliant smile.
Miwsher gave her a stemmed glass with the beverage. Starla looked suspiciously at the dark color and did not drink it right away.
Carefully, she inquired, “So what does this joining ceremony involve?”
“It’s wondrous, mistress. They are preparing all day for the celebration. Food, drink, flowers, dancing. You and our master will promise your futures to each other and the people under the full moon tonight with the blessings of mother earth. I have seen your dress. Mistress, you will look so beautiful in it. Four seamstresses have worked around the clock since our master found you at the waterfalls.”
Really?
The falls. If she and Henri had decided not to hit the zipline, she might not be in this situation. Well, it seemed like ever since she left Alaska she’d stepped in shit. It didn’t seem like geography made a difference. Since she’d been changed and forced into the darkened part of the day, it felt like karma had a thing for her. Bad karma. She wondered about this as she selected a gorgeous sweet that looked like a braided donut with a sticky glaze the girl said was called koeksisters. It was really delicious.
Between bites, Starla considered what she knew. These were not ordinary vampires. They were like the ones that detained them
in Paris. She really didn’t think she could escape them. They had abilities vampires didn’t have. So what kind of creature were they? That was her next question and it was a pretty fucking important one since it looked like she might be breeding with one tomorrow night.
“You enjoy the food?” the busy girl asked.
“Oh, yes, it’s very good. Thank you.”
Miwsher bowed and left, happy to have pleased her new mistress.
Starla got up quickly, bringing one of the donuts with her, and looked around the room. Or…tent. It wasn’t exactly a typical room. The contours were strange and it had an organic movement that didn’t seem natural for a building. Then there was the hole in the ceiling.
Yurt. That’s what this was. She’d seen them in magazines. It gave her a sense of impermanence about these vampires. Were they nomadic? She didn’t know. But what she did know was that there were no communication devices anywhere. Her cell phone was, of course, gone, like her shoes.
She walked over and gently tugged at the handle on the door. Locked. Like the cell doors, this one would not respond to her normal ability to manipulate locks. Yes, exactly like Paris.
Dropping onto a long couch, she grabbed one of the tall glasses and sipped the burgundy drink. It was really good and she was very thirsty. And worried. Because once again her life was out of her hands and someone else was in control. Which she’d vowed would not happen again. She just needed to learn what she was up against.
A snap announced someone else coming through the door and she turned, hoping it was the gorgeous man who’d kidnapped her. She was planning to demand answers. Then she remembered the girl said he would not be able to see her until the “joining.” Which was not going to happen!
The woman who came through the door reminded her of Lia. Exotically beautiful, dressed as she once pictured Lia would be, in a flowered sari with a single flower in her black hair. A mixed heritage was apparent. Definitely vampire.
She walked forward with a small basket, bowed deeply, and sat the basket on a small table in front of the long couch.