When I turned around I realized I never accounted for what I’d do if agents were wandering around inside. Two agents looked around the place like they were taking inventory. Neither looked at me and so long as I kept myself up to the task at hand, they wouldn’t. I would have to play it cool for a few more minutes, even though my blood was pumping so hard I thought surely if I got too close they’d be able to hear it. I found the table I was looking for. The Sai sat where I’d deposited them for cleaning after the first night I used them. I looked to the right and saw the new holster Red said she’d commission for me to conceal my weapons. On a shelf to the right and too close to one of the agents, were the daggers. Ravana’s usual was missing as well as two others. So, as far as I could tell she wasn’t unarmed.
It was time. Now or never. The agents would never allow even a fellow PCI jacket to grab onto those weapons and leave with them. I would have to run, and if I was going to get out of there with everything I needed I was going to have to run soon. When this was over, I’d have to talk to Ravana about her grand scheme about stairwell access to the top floors. A plan was brewing in my mind, but if it failed, I’d be stuck, and possibly in a world of hurt.
First, I listened. I walked around the room, waiting till one of the agents moved to another in the apartment. Then I tried to listen to the movements above me. Nothing was distinguishable. I couldn’t even hear footsteps moving around. So, I was going in blind. If nobody upstairs hit the damned button, I’d be ok. If they did, it was a fifty-fifty shot that it’d go upstairs first. In which case, I’d be screwed.
The shorter of the two agents walked into the back room of the apartment. The other looked up at me. His eyes were almost black when he spoke. “You see it anywhere?”
I came up short on the question. Were they looking for something? “Uh, no. What’s it look like again?”
“It’s small. A dagger that could fit in the palm of your hand. Look over there,” the man said and then moved to the back of the room. His back was facing me, and it was the best I was going to get. Once I blurred in and out of view he’d know a vampire was near.
I moved out of the apartment, through the bodies trampling the hall. The button was dark, so I got it just in time, but as I hit the down button the top lit up as well. It was now or never.
I took the run at my top speed, blurring through the floor to the armory. I grabbed the Sai, scabbard, dagger, and Red’s sword then hightailed it back to the elevator just as it opened. The agent who’d been tasered limped out as I blurred my way to the back of the box, hitting the button as I went. The problem with that was standing still while the doors finally decided to close.
The woman turned, her hand moved from her back to the front of her, her weapon pointed at me.
“Don’t move, Massimo. This is for the PCI to handle.”
The door dinged, and she placed her foot on the silver plate to keep it from moving. The other agents were going to move, so I did the only thing I could. I grabbed the woman by the wrists, her gun fell to the floor and held her to me. The doors started to slide.
“I’m sorry about this, ma’am, but you can’t stop me. I’m going to bring her back. I can’t promise that Emerick will still be living when I’m done.”
“We need him alive.” Her voice was rough.
“You can’t contain him. You don’t have the resources for it.” The elevator dinged, and the door opened. The lobby was empty except for a young man at the desk. “You can either stay here on your own, and let me do this, or you can try to stop me and risk losing an asset to the Order. Chances are, you’ll die if you follow me.”
“What do you care about the Order? Your only interest is saving your girlfriend. So, don’t make this sound like you’d be doing us a favor by bringing her back. As for the other, I signed up for this. If I thought for one moment that it wasn’t going to get me killed I’d never have walked in this building.” She shrugged her shoulders at me. “Occupational hazard.”
“Don’t mean shit to me. You’re not dying, and I’m going to get Ravana.” I hit the close door button and stepped out into the lobby. I hit the up button on the outside and ran as fast as could to get Red.
The one thing I had going for me, was there wasn’t a way for the agents to get to the main level without waiting for the elevator, which meant they wouldn’t be able to follow me.
I tracked my memories from the visit I had with Emerick a few years back when I landed in Seattle. He told me she was here. I knew it the minute he’d found me. He must have followed her, shadowing her as she moved from place to place. Something I would have done as well, had he not blocked her from my path at every turn. The last city we’d been in together was forty-two years ago. Emerick may not have had anything to do with it, but I was certain he did. Why else would she decide to uproot her life in New York and move to Seattle, of all places?
Word about the rogue vampire hunter who bore fangs and ate human food didn’t reach me until Chicago two years ago. Even then I had a hard time figuring out her exact location based on rumors and fear. Nunzio was my saving grace, having moved here while chasing a catholic cult. He’d devoured the entire congregation, and during the cleanup, he’d gotten a good look at the red-haired beauty and deigned to give me a call. He’d heard so much about her he was likely to kill me in my sleep if I’d mentioned her again. I thought it was one of the reasons he’d left.
I stood in front of the building I remembered from long ago. Though it wasn’t a building per say. It was more like an attraction, only it was one that had, in recent years, been off limits to the public. I realized then, it was for a very good reason.
Instead of using the elevator I decided to climb the side of the building. With each rung I moved up I could see more and more of the city. Once I made it to the platform in the center of the structure I stopped and listened. If they were there, I couldn’t tell from that distance. Although what I could tell was that Emerick had a nice view of Ravana’s apartment building.
I moved to the elevator in the middle of the structure and hit the button. Now I could hear movement above, but it was faint. When the elevator came to a screeching stop at the top of the Needle I sighed in relief when Red stood in front of me.
“What are you doing here?” she whispered, but both of us knew it didn’t matter. I could hear the singing in the other room stop and start again.
“Anabelle, is that our Liam come home at last?” Emerick cooed from the other room.
“Anabelle? Liam? What has he told you?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” She turned her back to me. “Yes, looks like it. Although, I’m thinking he’s looking for a fight. He’s armed.”
“Red?” I walked into the open space.
What was once used for public entertainment had been converted into a living space. Hardwood floors throughout the circular room. The windows all around were tinted, which kept the city lights dark from the inside. More than likely the effect kept others from seeing the dim lights on within. Restaurant tables, chairs, and booths had been replaced with sleek modern furniture; leather sofa, glass-top tables, and an antique floor model stereo complete with a record player. The center had a small platform in front of a circular wall.
“Come on,” Ravana snapped at me as she led the way around the wall.
My heart skipped a beat as I watched her walk barefoot through Emerick’s home. That meant she was comfortable in her surroundings. This was hardly the rescue I thought it would be.
When we reached the other side of the wall, he was there behind a low counter. The stainless cooktop was full of pots and pans, bubbling and frying. Emerick moved from the stainless fridge with a bottle of red wine, Ravana’s favorite, and took down a third glass, filling all three.
“It’s a fresh bottle. I’m not trying to poison anyone.” Emerick smirked then looked over at Ravana who had curled herself up in the one remaining booth big enough to seat six. The upholstery had been replaced with a dark orange that res
embled the colors of the wood floors. “Want to…?” he pointed to Red who was picking at her nails and held out a glass to me.
I took it and walked it over to her. She didn’t look up, nor did she reach out to grab it, so I placed it on the table in front of her. As soon as I turned my back I heard the glass move from the table and looked back to see her take a long sip from the glass.
I shook my head and sat on the barstool in front of the counter taking the glass of wine left for me. “What is all this?” The sound of meat sizzling on the range hit my ears at the same time the aroma came to me.
“This is dinner.” He smiled and held his arms out to showcase his cooking.
“You know that’s not what I mean. Why did you call me Liam?”
“It’s your name, isn’t it?”
“It was, before…”
I heard Ravana move from the table. Her bare feet slid across the floor as she moved to the window. Without turning I spoke to her. “Delia has the PCI in the building. They think you’ve been abducted.”
Her breath hitched in her throat, but she didn’t say anything. Another sip from her glass and she was back at the table.
“She’s upset. Clearly,” Emerick said with a smile.
“What did you do?”
“I did what she asked of me. In return, she gets what she wants. Wait…maybe that’s wrong.” He took a sip from his glass. “No matter, she got what she wanted and in return, I got what I wanted. Yes, that makes more sense.”
“How?”
“He gave me m-my memories,” she stammered, “and the formula.”
“The what?” My temper rose.
“You know, Mo. I assume you rather I use your current name?” It wasn’t really a question, so I didn’t respond. “The little vial I offered you so many years ago.” He took it out of his shirt pocket and placed it on the counter in front of me. “Go ahead. It’s all yours.”
I looked down at the small bottle of red liquid. It was no bigger than a perfume sample. I couldn’t help thinking it was a trick, but I didn’t care. I looked back to Red. “You ok?”
She had moved back to the booth and pulled the glass she was sipping on up to her chin like it was a security blanket, cupping it with both hands. Her knees brought up to her chest. It was unnerving. Someone as tough as my Red looking like a small child full of fear. I wanted nothing more than to scoop her up and hold her close, but didn’t dare without knowing what Emerick had up his sleeve. When she shook her head slowly and turned toward the window I allowed myself to look back at our host. There wasn’t much I could do for her in our position, so I let her work through her returning memories, and it killed me.
I reached out for the vial hesitantly until the cold glass was in my fingers. I contemplated what it would mean to Emerick if I downed it on the spot. Instead, I casually played with it in my hands as I watched him finish preparing his meal. The aroma attacked my senses, and for one minute I thought about what it would feel like to be able to taste food again.
“Something the matter?” Emerick turned back toward me with a bottle of wine in hand, noticing I hadn’t touched mine.
“Not really a wine drinker.” I didn’t know how else to say it other than, I don’t trust you not to drug me, but he seemed to buy it. After all, it was the truth. Only on rare occasions did I touch the stuff.
“Well, you must join us for dinner. I have a bottle of O negative I can warm up for you.” He set two plates in front of him and began filling them with steak, roasted potatoes, asparagus, and a healthy portion of sour cream with chives sprinkled on top.
“You’ve gone all out. Almost like you knew you’d have company.”
“Well, when we bumped into one another a few nights ago, I had a feeling she’d come to seek me out. Good thing I had the hindsight to prepare.” He looked over at Ravana as if she were next on his menu. A look that had my anger well above my boiling point. I took a slow deliberate breath and counted to five in my head before speaking again. Getting physical wouldn’t help Red, or me. We’d have to maneuver a way that would allow for us to walk out of his door.
Emerick moved to the table and placed a plate in front of Ravana. She put her feet down and sat up to the table. Her wine placed behind her plate she picked up her fork and began picking at her vegetables. “How about that bottle?”
“Um, no thanks. I ate before I arrived.” Which wasn’t a lie. I’d had two blood bags when I was being interrogated by the agents in my apartment. “So, what’s the deal here? She has people waiting on her.”
“After she eats. It’s been an informative day. I won’t let her leave till she gets some food in her system.”
Once he joined Ravana at the table, and the noise of cooking food wasn’t in the immediate foreground of my senses I heard the source of Emerick’s O negative bottles. A small girl lay in the far corner of the kitchen under the windows. Iron shackles were clamped over her ankles and her wrists keeping her in place on the cool floor. Her brown hair hung over her face, her head down so I couldn’t see her, but I could hear her moaning. She was stuck in a euphoric state and would allow Emerick to do just about anything with her. He must have fed off of her before collecting her blood. A single bite from a vampire made humans feel a pleasure I could have never explained when I was human. She would be dazed and uncomprehensive for hours, depending on when he’d fed.
“Let me guess, the buffet?”
“We all have our sources.”
I turned on the stool. Ravana was eating. If only to get free of Emerick. To be able to leave. I slipped the vial in my pocket and rested my elbows back on the counter. “So, when are you going to cut the bullshit and get to the point of all this?”
He looked up from his dinner and glared at me. “The point of what? You stormed in here. We were simply having a nice dinner before I brought Ravana home. Nothing more. You have such low expectations of me. After all I’ve done for you.”
“Oh, bullshit. Don’t act like you’ve done either one of us any favors. As a matter of fact, why are you offering that formula so easily? Will it even work, or will it kill me, maybe?”
“Again. Thinking so little of your sire. No, Massimo, it will not kill you. It will make you just as we are. However, you might be slightly less. After all, you’ve already been changed once. I give you my word. Have I ever lied to you before?”
“Fine, then I say it’s time to say good night. Red, get your things.”
She looked up at me as if she’d been waiting forever for me to utter those words. She stood from the booth, and just when I thought she was going to speak to Emerick, she moved around the center of the room, slipped a pair of black heels on and headed toward the elevator. I hung back while I listened to her hit the button on the wall to open the doors.
“Leave her alone.”
“Don’t worry so much. I won’t be bothering her. I can’t promise I won’t let her in when she comes back to me again.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
I stormed through the room and joined Red on the elevator. The doors closed without incident and we were on our way to the quiet of the city.
Had I really been so careless? I couldn’t believe I let him lead me back to his home. The Space Needle of all places. He’d gotten the city workers to believe the thing had crumbled. That it was a lost cause, and out of commission. My internal monolog was screaming. Yelling at me to turn around. Walk away. When my heels clapped against the floor of the elevator I sighed. No way out now.
I moved into his home. He’d redone the museum magnificently. Light colored hardwood. Lights everywhere. Tinted windows to keep the sun outside, and the interior lights didn’t show outside. Leather furniture, stainless steel appliances, and antique furnishings. It was just as I would have done it. Simple, bright, and cozy.
The first thing that hit me was a picture on the shelf in the center of the room. One of me, but it was a painting. In it, I had dull brown hair. I was thin as a rail and flat chested, like a c
hild. However, it was the weak me that I was when I woke to my new life. The southern bell dress on and matching hat told me it was from a different era. My hair was done in ringlets. The hat covered my head and was big enough to keep the sun off me as far as my shoulders, but still, I held a matching umbrella. The entire ensemble was butter yellow with a blue ribbon tied into a neat bow at the top of my bodice, and around the chin of my sun hat.
I starred at the picture for so long I didn’t realize Emerick was standing behind me until his hands moved to my arms. I was hugging myself, but let my arms drop at his touch, and turned to face him. “Who is that?”
“Don’t you recognize her?”
“No,” I lied.
“That is a girl I fell in love with a century ago. It is a sad story. I don’t think you’d be interested.”
“Try me,” I dared him as he moved to a sofa on the edge of the circular room.
“Her heart had been broken when we met. She’d been left at the altar.”
“Yet, you pursued her?”
“No, not at first. At first, we were friends. We had similar interests. Ridding the world of vampires and all creatures of the night. She was a hunter, and I was what I am now.”
“So, you appealed to the warrior in her.”
“Indeed.” He moved to a box on the platform in the center of the building. When he lifted the lid, a small light came on. He moved the arm over and let the needle rest on a record already in place. Classical music I couldn’t identify filled the room. “I helped her train. Earned her friendship and her trust, as well as that of her family. We had hunted together. One night while we fought a particularly bad breed of monster we ended up tossed into a heap as the thing exploded in front of us. I grabbed her and jumped away from the explosion.” A smile spread across his face with the image in his mind.
“What happened?”
The Darker Side of Me (Ravana Moon Book 1) Page 16