by Dawn Ibanez
“If you’ve changed your mind, I can take you up to your room.” He leaned against the door frame, fascinated by her. “Esmeralda will be looking for you.”
“We make our own rules, right?” Her dark eyes were focused on him. “Not Mel, not Dominic, or any of your other vampire minions.”
A low chuckle escaped him. Elijah was about to go to her when his phone rang. He frowned at the device, torn between ignoring it, or going to the woman in his bed. “That’s one of my vampire minions,” he said sourly.
Edmund’s name continued to blink as he accepted the call. “Yes?”
“I know you wanted to take care of my sister,” Esmeralda’s voice said. “But you really need to come to the south side of Lotus Hill. This isn’t good.”
Elijah sighed. “I’ll be there soon.” He looked at Augustina and caressed her face. “No, I’m going to let her rest. She’ll be fine. Yes. I’ll tell her.” He disconnected the call. “Your sister wanted me to tell you to rest up. And that the Lotus stash is safe.”
She nodded as she stood and faced him. “That’s good. There were some pretty dangerous munitions in there.”
He smiled. “How did you get your hands on so many weapons?”
Augustina shrugged and wrapped her arms around his neck. “De Leon knew a lot of arms dealers. They liked to gamble. I was a sure thing.”
He didn’t like the sound of that. “You sold yourself?”
She tugged on his hair. “Not the way you’re thinking,” she hissed. “I fought. I acted as an enforcer a couple of times. When things would get too hot, we’d leave.”
He tilted her face up to his and pressed a kiss to her lips. Her body was pliant against his as he devoured her mouth. When her tongue entered his mouth, he growled and took her down to the bed. One of her legs came up around his hip. Elijah moved his body against hers, knowing they didn’t have the time to follow through with what they really wanted to do. He broke the kiss and rested his head on her shoulder. “I would much rather stay here,” he said lowly.
Her fingers played in his hair. “I know.” She then pushed at his shoulder. “But you have a Sector to run. I would hate for your boss to get mad and try to replace you.”
He took her hand into his and kissed her palm. “Dominic would have too hard of a time trying to replace any of us.” He climbed off her and went to the dresser. “Get some rest. I will have some real food brought down.”
She went to his side and took his tie off the dresser. “I’ll be fine. Go and see what Mel wants. Be careful, and if you need me, send Edmund to get me, okay?” She pressed a kiss to his cheek and stepped back.
Elijah noted that she kept his tie as she moved away from him. He left the room and walked through his living quarters. After he dealt with whatever he needed to down in Lotus Hill, he would come back to her and hopefully pick up where they left off. Elijah picked up the pint of ice cream from the floor and threw it in the trash. He would make sure more was ordered and brought down.
As he left the apartment, he caught a glimpse of the girl, Rebecca. She was speaking with a woman that could only be Sabrina. Elijah cleared his throat and saw both women jump at his presence. “I need to take care of something. Lady Augustina is down in my chambers. Please make sure she has something to drink and eat.”
Rebecca nodded and bowed low at the waist. “Yes, Lord Elijah.”
He then looked at Sabrina. She was nearly a replica of her grandmother. “The last time I saw you, you were still in braces.”
She laughed. “Yes. It’s been a while.” Her smile slowly fell. “I’ll make sure we stay out of your way better, Lord Elijah.”
He shook his head. “No. This is as much your home as it is mine. Losing your grandmother hurt me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to watch her family flourish. If you have to convince your father, tell him it was a direct order from me. No human is to hide in my home.”
Sabrina smiled again. She nodded her approval. “I’ll make sure Lady Augustina is taken care of,” she said.
Elijah nodded and went to the front door. As he left his home, he saw Edmund leaning against his car. “Esmeralda sent you?”
He nodded. “She found a stash of weapons.” A frown crossed his face as he slid into the driver’s seat. “Did you know the sisters hid weapons across the sector?”
Elijah got into the car and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He had the feeling that Edmund was not going to like the news he was about to tell him. “Yes. This cult following whoever this Ripper is found a stash of weapons in the warehouse district.”
“You knew about this?”
“We were going to start retrieving the weapons tonight. But things happened.”
Edmund shook his head and pulled out of the parking space. “You have a Glaive. We need to trust our men and women enough for them to do it.”
Elijah slowly nodded. He did need to lean on his Glaive more. He would have to get the locations of the various stashes from Esmeralda and send his people out. Elijah frowned. “Where is Esmeralda? She was supposed to be with you.”
“She is with Master Dominic. They are currently on their way to her old apartment.”
Elijah leaned back and took a slow breath. “They would have had the most weapons there.”
“Why would they have so many weapons? Who are they waging a war against?”
Elijah ran his hands through his hair. Even though she acted as if she made peace with her past, Augustina still had demons at her heels. “Ghosts,” he answered.
Chapter 14
Edmund pulled up to the area of the crime scene. It had been taped off, but a crowd gathered along the edge. Elijah took note of the curious humans and some younger vampires trying to see what the fuss was about. “There was a stash of weapons out here?” he asked. The area was full of store fronts and apartment buildings. He would have thought the Vega sisters would have make their home here instead of outside of the warehouse district. It was trendy enough.
“According to Mel, this is where they rented their first apartment.”
Elijah turned to his second. “Mel?” he asked.
“She prefers it.” Edmund turned the car off and climbed out of it. He went to the rear passenger door and opened it for Elijah. When the Chevalier stepped out, the crowd quieted.
The captain of the Glaive leaned over to his ear. “Mel wanted you to see something from the roof of this building.”
Elijah nodded his head once before using his speed and making his way to the roof. He frowned as he looked around. From the streets, he could hear the gasps of excitement from the people below. His gaze scanned the area. There was nothing out of sorts. His frown deepened as he moved around the rooftop. Esmeralda didn’t seem like the type to cry wolf. Something was here for him to see.
A glint on the south side of the building caught his attention. Elijah went to the edge of the building and stopped when he saw it.
In one of the apartments across from where he stood, a young woman laid in a pool of her own blood. The glint of light was the rhythmic flashing of some sort of strobe light. Elijah was at the apartment door in seconds. His speed was one of the only powers he had that he let be known to the masses. He sniffed the air. The sickly scent of old blood reached his nose. Elijah opened the door. The woman he saw from the roof was exactly where he had seen her. Music played from a small speaker that lit up in time with the beat to the song playing.
Screams from below reached him. Elijah went to the window and saw Dominic land in front of Edmund with Esmeralda in his arms. She was stoic as he lowered her to the ground. As Dominic’s wings wrapped around him like a cloak, she stormed toward the building.
It took no effort to meet her at the door. “You saw the body?” he asked.
She nodded. “Her name was April Sands. She was a young vampire that was still trying to hold on to her humanity.”
“You knew her?”
Esmeralda nodded. “She was one of the girls De Leon used and tossed out. She r
emembered us, and you can imagine how well that went over with Gus.”
“What did your sister do?” He would be able to cover only so much for the woman that would become his lover.
“She didn’t do anything.” Esmeralda sighed as she leaned against the wall behind her. “Gus started looking for a new apartment as soon as April approached us. I was the one that told her if she breathed a word of who we were, I’d come for her.”
Elijah placed his hand on her shoulder. When she looked at him with pain-filled eyes, he sighed. “I don’t know what to do to make you and Augustina feel safe. But know there is nothing for you to fight anymore.”
She shook her head slightly. “There’s always something to fight. You should know that.” Esmeralda pushed off the wall and put her hands in her pockets. “April was a prostitute. An escort. I’m sure you can find out some stuff about her… customers in her apartment.”
“How would you know that?”
Esmeralda smiled. “Would you believe after I threatened to kill her, she became a pretty cool friend? Gus didn’t want to have anything to do with her, but she and I met for coffee regularly.”
Elijah nodded and gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Then, I am sorry for your loss.” He patted her shoulder and stepped back. “I need to let my people in here to figure out what happened. Edmund has brought it to my attention that I am not utilizing my Glaive the way I should be.”
“You want me to tell them where the other stashes are, don’t you?”
He should have known she would have guessed his request. Elijah nodded. “They can have them secured by nightfall. Augustina and I were going to start collecting them tonight, but now she is incapacitated and resting.”
Green eyes darkened. “Let’s not talk about that,” she said.
He didn’t want to talk about his relationship with her sister either. Not then. Elijah gestured for her to leave the building ahead of him. “I would like for you and Edmund to continue to work together. At least until we dig up this cult and remove them from my sector.”
She nodded. “Edmund and I are going to check out a few leads that he has when the night falls. I don’t know what Lord Dominic wants to do. He was debriefed and hasn’t left us since.”
Elijah looked at her. Once they were on the street, he saw the way Dominic watched her. If he didn’t know better, he would have said his liege had a look of longing in his eyes.
But the expression was gone in an instant. Dominic turned and looked at him with a hardened expression. Elijah walked to Dominic and Edmund. “There’s a body upstairs. April Sands.” He looked at Edmund. “Have someone come get her. Also have a team go through her belongings. Anything you find, bring it to me.”
“Or me,” Dominic said.
“Or Master Dominic.” Elijah watched as Esmeralda pulled her hair back away from her face and quickly braided it. “Esmeralda.” He stopped when her green eyes glared at him. He knew she hated when he called her sister by her full name, there was no doubt she would put up with him doing the same with her. Elijah nodded his head slightly to the young woman. “Edmund, you are to take Mel to the Tower and let her speak with some of the Glaive. Find out where the other stashes of weapons are and send out men to collect them.”
Dominic moved closer to her. “You have weapons littered about the sector?” he asked.
She looked into his eyes, completely fearless. “Wouldn’t you?”
He hissed through his fangs at her. “You and your sister seem to have more courage than brains. If you would have come to me…”
Esmeralda laughed. It was that hated self-deprecating laugh from before. It was the also the same laugh Augustina used. “We were children thrown into a gargoyle eat gargoyle world. Do you really think after everything we were put through, we would trust another gargoyle? It’s a miracle Gus hasn’t attacked Lord Elijah yet.”
The way Dominic’s lips curled made Edmund move between them. Elijah moved closer to his lord. “It’s getting late. Any other actions that need to be done will end up taking too much time. Your apartment is still ready for your use at the estate, or you can stay in your rooms in the Towers. Either way you will be protected.”
Dominic went to Esmeralda. “Once this killer is caught, you and I will have a long discussion about these tendencies you and your sister have.”
She shook her head and turned her attention to Edmund. “Let’s get going. The sooner the stashes are off the street, the better.” She looked at Elijah. “I’ll check on Gus later. If there are any problems, I’ll call you.”
Elijah nodded and tried to keep from laughing. Both sisters seemed to be forces of nature. He nodded at the raised eyebrow Edmund gave him. He then looked at Dominic. “She is as fierce as her sister.”
“Then they are both idiots.”
Elijah didn’t say anything as Dominic lifted off into the air. With ease, he took off towards the tower some of his people called home. The gargoyle would brood and take insult from Esmeralda’s… no. Mel’s attitude. But then he would get over it.
Elijah didn’t know what Dominic would do once he saw Augustina’s true nature.
The ambulance pulled up to the building in nearly record time. Elijah stayed back as the technicians jumped out of the van and went into the building. One of the pair was the woman that gave Augustina her coat. He went into the building after them and saw the larger man stop and bow his head. Elijah waved him off. “Collect the body and deliver it to Dr. Levy. She’ll have her instructions.” He looked at the small redheaded woman. “Tati, right?” he asked.
She looked at him and smiled. “Hi, Lord Elijah. Is Gus doing okay? Does she like the coat?”
“The coat is perfect. I wanted to ask you a few questions about your move here.”
Tati looked at her partner. For the first time, Elijah saw her smile slip. She stepped to the side and let her partner go into the apartment before her. “What would you like to know?” she asked.
He shook his head. “You and I will talk at nightfall. Come to Sector Central and we will discuss more there. It will also give you a chance to spend time with Augustina before we follow up on leads.”
She wrapped her arms around her midsection for a moment. “I’ll stop by. It’s my night off, so maybe I can even help? Maybe?” She shook her head and sighed. “I don’t want you to think I’m trying to overstep any bounds or anything.”
The way she carried herself made him want to question her motives. “I don’t believe we will be needing any medical advice, thank you for the offer.”
Tati smiled and nodded. “It’s not a problem. We’re all in this together, right? If I can’t help, I’ll stay out of the way.” She moved to go inside but stopped at the threshold. “If you don’t mind my asking, why me? People transfer in from other areas of the sector all the time.”
Elijah looked into the woman’s curious eyes. “Because if you’re going to be spending time with my consort, I need to know you aren’t trying to hurt her.”
The smile on her face saddened slightly. “I’m not. If anything, I’m trying to atone for hurting someone a long time ago. Paying it forward, as the saying goes.”
Elijah shook his head. “That isn’t how paying it forward usually works.”
She shrugged. “I’m trying, Lord Elijah. But I will gladly answer your questions tomorrow. I’ll see you then.”
Tati went into the apartment and started to speak with her partner. Elijah exited the building and scanned the area for his car. His eyes narrowed when he saw one of his Glaive standing by the rear door. Elijah walked over to the male and nodded to him. “Take me to my home.”
He climbed into the back seat and closed the door behind him. As the car drove off, he looked out of the window and looked at the skyline.
The passing skyline did have the illusion of running away from something.
The ghosts that haunted Augustina were one thing. Eventually, she would have to come face to face with the nightmare that was her childhood. Bu
t if he were being completely honest with himself, he was trying to focus on her past to avoid his own. He looked at the man driving him. This was one of the newer members. The last class of recruits left the academy two years ago. He blinked. It was nearly time for another graduation. “You’ll have to forgive me. I don’t seem to recall your name. Your face, yes, but not your name.”
The man nodded. “Wayne Grayson, Sire. Regent-Squire.”
Elijah nodded. “You should be due for a promotion soon. The ranks of Regent-Knight are thinning so you will be needed.”
Wayne glanced back at him and smiled. It was the smile of one being acknowledged by their idol. “Thank you, Sire.” He kept his focus on the road ahead of them. “If you don’t mind my asking, the captain didn’t have an answer for us, but by any chance is that woman going to be teaching any training classes? The one you tested. I saw her name down as Special Investigator Vega.”
If he had his say, she would be doing more than simply teaching people how to fight. Elijah rubbed lightly at his chin. He would also have to find a way to differentiate between Mel and Augustina if they were both to use the title of Special Investigator. “We are trying to make arrangements for her to come in more. Would you be interested in her class?”
John laughed. “I think everyone would. But to be honest, I don’t know how well I would do in a fight.” He then fell quiet as he continued to drive.
Elijah turned his attention back to the skyline. He would have to convince Augustina to become a more permanent fixture in the grand picture of the sector. It didn’t matter what stage their relationship was. At the moment, he was only certain on one thing.
She was his in every way that mattered. And he would do everything in his power to keep her.
Chapter 15
Elijah walked down into his apartment and looked at his watch. It was almost sunrise, but he didn’t feel the slightest bit tired. He removed his suit jacket and laid it across the back of the sofa. Someone had cleaned. He looked around the room and saw the small touches here and there. The handful of dishes were gone. The trash was empty and the furniture freshly dusted. He frowned as he made his way to his room. He hadn’t wanted the staff in his quarters taking liberties. And he didn’t want Augustina to feel as if she needed to clean if he was not around. He opened the bedroom door and stopped.