Nodding, I swallowed, “Maybe you’re right.”
“My grandmother used to say, ‘Bez otdykha i kon’ ne skachet.’ This means, ‘Without rest, the horse does not gallop.’ You have to rest in order to go on. You can’t keep going nonstop, it’ll take a toll.”
I rested my head back, watching out the windows across from me as we slowly taxied around the loop at the end of the runway.
A figure darted from a large hangar off to the side and into the trees.
Jerking up, I pointed. “Someone’s out there!” I raised my voice and stood. “Captain! Stop!! Someone’s out there! It’s her!”
The Captain heard me and the plane idled.
Rushing through the seats toward the door, I tried to open it. One of the flight crew took over the task.
The lowering of the stairs seemed to take forever as I scanned the afternoon heated jungle between us and the airplane hangar.
“Amy?” I called, “Amy, are you here?”
“Amy? We need you!” Karsten called.
Startled, the girl jumped up onto the ladder before it had even settled into place. Climbing quickly, her eyes took in guards, me and Karsten. I fought the urge to look behind me.
The guards would be ready. They’d have to be prepared.
As soon as she began rushing through the Falcon, two guards gripped her arms tightly behind her back.
Karsten neared her, seemingly in slow motion. Just before plunging a syringe into her neck, he whispered, “I’m sorry.”
The dark-haired girl went limp as soon as the liquid entered her body, her smooth cinnamon face slack.
Karsten hefted the little thing easily and carried her to the couch where I’d been sitting. Chains had been anchored in place, and when the soldiers used gloves to pull them up, I gasped. They were coated in silver. Unfortunately, this vampire myth was true. The metal burned our skin and made wounds not heal.
“That’s inhumane,” I told the soldiers as they shackled her and cuffed her to anchors in the floor and the frame of the furniture.
Karsten pulled her blue eyes open to check her pupils. “It’s okay, look, we’re using shields. But if she moves, she’ll burn.”
My lips formed a tight line as I watched them insert thin plastic covers between the cuffs and her skin.
I examined the child, and my heart sank. Her hair lay around her in snake-like braids. Amy’s rounded cherub cheeks were slightly flushed from the heat.
I felt like a monster. This was terrible to do to anyone, but I’d betrayed this ancient, horrible, misunderstood child.
“You did the right thing,” Alexei whispered, pulling me away from the rear of the plane and settling me into one of the chairs that faced a table.
Alexei pressed a cold bottle into my hand. Numbly, I brought the sparkling water to my lips and drank.
It had been shameful, thinking we hadn’t captured her, but now the reality of the situation tore at my soul.
“Why do I feel so horrible?” I questioned the bounty hunter. He took my hands in his from across the table.
“If not us, then someone else. Besides, it’s not up to us. She’s done awful things. Don’t fool yourself about that.”
Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I croaked, “Sarah won’t see it that way. She might never speak to me again.” I blinked my eyes. “This may have cost me my closest friend, but I was willing to do it for the greater good. I know all those things you’re telling me. But it’s hard when I look at that child to not feel ashamed or upset about my part in this ordeal.”
“Shhh…I know.” His hands rubbed my arms.
Chapter Ten
New York City, USA
Alone in my apartment, I unfolded another box and taped the bottom with packing tape before placing books inside. The smell of a book, the feel of a book, they were my comfort during lonely times, hard times and when boredom struck.
My old copy of Little Women looked beaten up and nearly ruined.
I’d had eight brothers and three sisters.
My family was all gone, dead. I alone lived on as my father’s legacy.
I’d thought that Alexei and I had something. Sure, I hadn’t been smitten, but we’d had a connection. However, after our business in the parliament building, we stood there staring at each other. Something changed after we’d spent the day meeting with the GC lawyers. Amy had been taken into custody, and the bounty money had been transferred into our accounts.
Alexei hadn’t held my hand or met my eyes except briefly. As we stood outside waiting for our rides in uncomfortable silence, I finally spoke. “So, you’re going home?”
He nodded, and we watched as a beeping sounded and the pillars blocking the road shifted to allow a car to exit the complex.
“My grandmother hasn’t been well for some time, so I’m going to help her out and try to get her to move in with my parents.”
Looking up into his steel gray eyes, I asked, “So, is this it? What happened in there? What’s changed since yesterday on the plane?”
Alexei walked away from me and leaned against the arch of the building pulling a cigarette from his jacket pocket.
His dark head crooked over in my direction. “You know why I can’t see you again.”
My car had arrived and idled a few feet from where we stood.
“Clearly I don’t,” I huffed and examined the stone cobbles lining the street before bringing my gaze back to him. “That’s fine. You’ve changed your mind. I get it.”
It was his turn to scoff, and prowl toward me. “No, I want you. You know that’s not it.”
Shaking my head, I walked to where the driver had opened the door for me and stood.
“I’m not going to play games with you,” I told the Russian as I stalked to the car, standing in the doorway.
He motioned to the driver to give us privacy with a nod. The human man frowned and got back in the driver’s seat.
Alexei’s jaw ticked, and he closed the space between us, taking the door of the SUV and carefully closing it. He bracketed me in his arms. “It’s Aurev.”
My boss’s name hung in the air for several moments.
“What does he have to do with anything?”
Alexei smiled his crooked smile before flicking his cigarette to the snowy ground. “Dalis told me about your relationship with him. I’m not getting mixed up between you two. I want nothing to do with his games.”
Before I could deny his accusation, Alexei’s mouth came down on mine, his kiss like that of a dying man. With his arms around me, his beard scraping against my face, I reveled in his touch.
Then as quickly as he’d kissed me, the Russian broke away, taking off in a sprint down the street. I stood there dumbfounded.
Between Aurev and me? His games?
Part of me wanted to go after the bounty hunter and explain that there was nothing between Aurev and me, but that wasn’t true. Aurev may not think of me in that way, but we were close. How could we not be? He was my dark angel, the God who rescued me and brought me back from the brink of death. He’d been my confidant, my friend and my guide in this new life.
Maybe Alexei was right, perhaps the relationship between Aurev and I was too complicated.
What had I done to deserve to be alone?
The knocking outside my apartment brought me out of my memory of the bounty hunter. Standing up, I walked to the entryway and pulled the door open a few inches.
There in the hallway between our apartments stood my dark savior, his face unshaven, t-shirt and running shorts sweaty from a run.
“Hey, stranger, I heard you were back!” Crinkles formed around his eyes with his soft genuine smile.
Tears threatened me as I took in his beautiful face. Aurev’s presence had always brought me comfort. Gripping him into a fierce hug, I breathed him in. My dark angel smelled like the rain during a storm, and spice similar to licorice.
His hands ran over my back as I leaned into his intimate embrace. Sure, my maker and I
were close, but why did that scare off Alexei?
“I thought everything worked out? Why the tears? Aren’t you excited to begin a new life?”
My sobs erupted, and he pulled back to look into my face, his gold-flecked eyes full of questions.
“I guess you were right,” I spoke through my tears, sniffling. “I need a break. I’m falling apart.”
His hand cupped my chin, “I hired someone to move your things into storage. You work too hard. You demand too much of yourself. I want you to be happy. Why live this long life if we don’t actually experience it?”
I laughed and wiped my eyes on a tissue. “You should talk. I haven’t seen you go out in a long time.”
Turning his back to me he examined the boxes and half packed items, “I thought you and the bounty hunter might get on together.” He swung back around at my sardonic laugh.
“No, it wasn’t meant to be. Besides, he’s a human.”
Pursing his lips, the ancient moroi folded his arms. “Have you figured out where you’re going?”
I wandered back to the box I’d been packing. “No.”
My cell phone began to chime on the end table.
“I should get going.” Aurev rapped his knuckles on the wall beside him. “Come say goodbye before you leave.”
His gaze was steady on me, his expression inscrutable. What secrets lay behind those chocolate eyes of his? What feelings lie masked underneath his calm exterior?
I checked caller ID—Emilie—the Colorado moroi who’d survived the vampire plague. I’d done some legal work for her about a year ago and helped track down her long-dead husband’s death certificate.
Poking my head around the corner, I watched the door to my apartment click closed.
“Hey Emilie, whats up?”
Her sweet voice came out a bit breathless, “I waited for Owen and the kids to go before phoning you. I know this is probably nothing, but someone sent me a strange letter. I’m not sure what to make of it.”
“Go to video chat, I want to see it.”
I pictured the small woman in my mind’s eye, crazy curly blond hair with large green eyes. Emilie was maybe ninety pounds soaking wet.
When I accepted the chat, the picture hovered over a plain white sheet of paper.
Dear Ms. Edwards,
Yes, we know who you are.
We know a lot of things.
Chronos has been watching you. They are responsible for turning you. They planned for you to be in Dr. Bennett’s life.
Did you ever stop to think if this was what you wanted?
You all are puppets, and he is making you dance.
Sincerely,
X
Alexei’s words came back to me about Aurev being the puppet master, pulling all the strings.
A sob escaped the other woman’s mouth as she must’ve read it along with me again.
“This was mailed to you?” I asked. “Show me the envelope.”
A plain letter size envelope with typed address, no return address.
“It was sent from here, Durango,” she cried out. “This crazy person is nearby.”
“Alright, calm down.” My mind raced. “You still have two guards patrolling your property and house, right?”
She sniffed a muffled, “yes.”
“Place the envelope and letter in a large paper envelope and overnight it to my home address. I’m getting ready to move, but I’ll be here for a few more days.”
“Okay, should I worry about Owen and the kids?”
Pressing my lips together, I reassured her. “I don’t think you’re in any danger. This is just someone stirring up trouble.”
“Okay. Thank you, Ms. Richards.”
“You can call me Hazel. And you’re welcome. It’ll be all right, I’ll let the head of the guard put an extra soldier out there if that would make you feel better.”
“Yes, thank you.”
In your life, there’s a moment when the seemingly random pieces begin to come together. This was that moment for me.
Aurev wasn’t sending me away as punishment or for my own good. There was nothing I’d done, nothing wrong with me. He was pushing me away from something shady going on.
After Emilie and I said our goodbyes, I dug out the keychain that strange woman gave me at the courthouse in Denmark. For all appearances, it looked like a regular Lego man dangling from a ring, but when I pulled on his legs, they came off, revealing a USB drive.
“All right, you’ve got my attention now,” I said to the room. “Let’s find out what you know.”
Plugging the Lego into my computer, a little icon popped up on my screen.
I snorted.
The label read: Chronos’ misdeeds.
Misdeeds, indeed.
I hesitated. Maybe I should virus check this? After all, I was connected to the Chronos server. What if this was a virus, or worm or trojan horse? I had no clue what the difference was between any of these things, so I ejected the disc and pulled the Lego thumb drive out of the slot.
I wasn’t sure what to do. Setting the Lego man aside, I pulled up the letter in my mind. Could a moroi from Chronos have made Emilie? She’d been turned outside one of the trenches in Belgium, not far from The Hague in the Netherlands where Aurev was during that time.
Shaking my head, I blew out a breath. No. No way. This was just a coincidence. Other Clans had been trying to take Aurev down for centuries.
What so-called evidence was on the drive? Were we getting framed for what? Fraud, murder?
I didn’t think for one moment that any of it could be accurate, however, the letter suggesting Chronos made Emilie into a vampire—that required some investigation. What did they mean by Chronos made her? Aurev or one of his offspring?
My grandmother always said things came in three:
1. A strange woman gives me a mysterious thumb drive.
2. Aurev sends me away under false pretenses.
3. Emilie receives another cryptic message about Chronos doing bad things.
Some entity or person was trying to frame Aurev and our clan, and I firmly believed he was sending me away to protect or distance me. However, it would be a cold day in hell before I thought Aurev capable of whatever nonsense these anonymous people were peddling.
I needed to look at the contents of that drive and to have that letter and envelope forensically examined. But I needed to tread carefully because I wouldn’t be able to help if Aurev thought I might be in danger. Or if he thought I might interfere.
Sitting there in my half packed living room, my thoughts took me back to what the woman had said.
“You should know what he’s done. Stop him.”
What ‘him’ was she talking about? There were several ‘him’s’ in upper-level positions at Chronos. Aurev and Freddie were top executives. Aurev was the CEO, and Freddie was our reclusive CFO. Then there were Aurev’s old moroi spawn—Ignatius Clement and Jonathan Peters. I’d known both Nate and Jon since my rebirth as a moroi. Jon had been changed about ten years before me, but Ignatius was an old vampire whom I’d had little contact or business with. He worked for Chronos as head of sales and could be found more readily abroad than in New York. Jon, Dr. Peters, was the head of R&D.
Touching the small lump in my hand, I sighed. My new microchip ensured that security and all three of the ‘hims’ could track me and find me anywhere in the world. This chip controlled my access in and around all Chronos buildings.
Sitting there, running my fingernail over what felt like a grain of rice under my skin, anger burned inside me. Men were running Chronos. Men.
Was there a bad apple in the bunch? I’d say a fox in the henhouse, but in this case, could there be a fox in the rooster’s house?
Shaking my head, I sucked in a breath. What the hell happened to work equality? And why had it taken this long to realize the inequity of the firm I’d worked long and hard for?
Now, I was mad.
Setting my jaw in determination, I laughed. So
lving problems? Figuring things out?
“Oh, Aurev, you may be one sexy angel, but you underestimated me this time.”
By killing me off and forcing me to leave New York, he might as well have waved a red flag in front of a bull. Because I don’t play nice like other girls. I’ll dig and dig until I find out what’s really going on.
Chapter Eleven
Waiting on the sidewalk, I sipped the warm coffee in my hand. It was early December, and the temperature was made worse by a constant breeze that funneled through the tall buildings.
Scanning for the human IT tech, I knew she’d pass me on her way to the subway. Clementine sported multicolored short cropped hair, along with colorful clothing.
Honestly, I envied her style. She reminded me of a goth pixie.
As soon as the girl rounded the corner from Chronos, I followed her into the subway station.
“Clem?” Reaching out, I lightly touched her sleeve.
Alert, she spun on me, her features softening with recognition. Hand on her chest, she sighed, her tongue ring flashing as she spoke, “You scared me. What’s wrong?”
I motioned for her to keep walking as we each scanned our cards and took the steps to the crowded platform.
A train whooshed by and I pulled my jacket closer around me. Most moroi were impervious to the cold, but I preferred warmer weather.
Leaning close to her, I spoke in tones that wouldn’t be overheard. “I need some help with a thumb drive, but I need it to be kept private—on the down low. Are you game? I’ll pay you.”
She scoffed, “Are you kidding, you don’t need to pay me. Come to my apartment, I’ll check it out there.”
Clementine lived in a clean but old building not far from the station. She unlocked her door and showed me into the small living room occupied by second-hand furniture.
A cat jumped up onto the counter next to me, and I startled.
In the corner sat a broad array of computer screens and various computer pieces in differing states of repair.
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