“How was he?”
“A mess. I helped Healer Asher clean him up and put him to bed. Once the alcohol leaves his system, I plan to tell him he’s moving into the castle.”
“If you had asked, I would have helped you.”
“I know.”
“He might fight you.”
Adrian sighed and said, “He might.” Turning on his side, Adrian nuzzled against him and asked, “How was your day?”
He looked exhausted and a bit sad. Xavier, however, had some news that would hopefully cheer him up. “Mmm, as you decided it would be best to go to Kaiden’s alone, I mostly trained with some of the guards and worried about you. It was a pretty boring day…however, I did hear some news about Kellin. And I also had a rather interesting discussion with Baylin.”
Adrian perked up at the mention of Kellin’s name. “And?”
“Both Kellin and the babies are going to be fine.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful! I’m so glad the bab—” Adrian stopped midsentence as he finally comprehended what Xavier had said. “Babies?” Adrian squealed in excitement, sitting up properly on the couch.
Xavier laughed at Adrian’s sudden mood change. “Yes, babies.”
Adrian leaned against him, linking his arm with Xavier’s. “We really need to have a party. Or maybe not…with Kaiden here, it wouldn’t be right.”
“Maybe just a private celebratory meal?”
“Probably for the best. So what else did you discuss with Baylin?”
He pulled Adrian into his lap. With Adrian’s back against his chest, he wrapped his arms around the man. “We discussed what my role would be now that the traitor has been eliminated.”
“Oh? What did you two decide?” Adrian asked, relaxing against him.
He rested his chin on the top of Adrian’s head. “How would you feel about having a permanent bodyguard?”
Xavier smiled at Adrian’s bark of laughter. “Permanent?”
“Mmm, permanent.” He turned Adrian around in his lap, cupping his ass. “You know, we’re going to be spending quite a bit of time with each other…”
Looking up at him, Adrian cocked his head. “And?”
Xavier licked his lips and grinned wickedly. “Well, I think as your bodyguard, it would definitely boost my morale to have a way to discipline you when you’re being a brat. Don’t you?”
Adrian growled. “Oh, do you now? And what would you suggest?”
He grinned, unfazed by Adrian’s growl, and tightened his grip, squeezing the man’s tight little butt. “How do you feel about spanking?” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Adrian let out a choked laugh. “Spanking? Kings do not get spanked.”
“Aw, pretty please?”
Chuckling, he leaned forward and gave him a peck on the mouth. “You’re silly, you know that?”
“But you love me, right?” Xavier asked, kissing Adrian’s nose.
“I do love you for some unknown reason. I’m starting to think maybe it’s only your body I love,” Adrian mused, a teasing twinkle in his eyes.
“Oh, you wound me so,” he lamented.
“I love you, Xavier.”
“Love you, too, Adrian. Now…” Xavier grinned. “About spanking…”
“Xavier!”
Epilogue
Another week, another council meeting. The council members were discussing district improvements and finances, which was a common topic for them. However, the arguments were less fierce than normal. Their hearts were just not in it—a thick cloud hung over all of them, as one member had been noticeably absent for weeks. Kaiden hadn’t attended since his son’s death, which was understandable—the man was struggling, and he most likely would be for a while.
They had all built a strong bond with each other—a bond built through blood and tears. One of their own hurting was not something they could ignore, and they mourned for his loss, but they also feared for his life. Adrian could only hope that some of their fears would dissipate when he informed them that he’d moved Kaiden into the castle—he was aware most were worried about what Kaiden would do if left alone.
Sighing, he held up his hand to quiet the room. “I will consider your suggestions and objections. I’ll tell you what I have decided at next week’s meeting. On a different note, I have an announcement regarding Councilman Voltair. I made the decision to move him into the castle, where he can be watched over. He should not be left alone right now, and I thought it best not to leave him in a house full of memories until he is stable enough to handle them.”
He was pleased when his words were followed by murmurs of agreement. “Now, I was informed earlier that Dante is now ready to give his report.”
He waved Dante to his side. “I’ll remind you all now: remember to hold your comments until the end. You may begin, Dante.”
Coming forward, Dante cleared his throat. “In the last five years, there have been seventeen unusual missing person cases. Six in my territory, five in the territory to the north of mine, and six to the east. The distance between each case is why it took us longer than it should have to connect them.”
When he didn’t continue, Adrian asked, “And how are they unusual?” He felt a headache coming on, a common occurrence when he dealt with Dante.
“Well, for one, the missing always turn up about a day later, screaming in pain but completely uninjured. The individual who took them, and where they had been taken, is always completely erased from their minds.”
“Have none been able to retrieve the information?”
“None of the methods we use to retrieve erased memories have worked. However, their missing memories is actually the most normal thing about these cases. The memories left behind are far more interesting than those missing.”
He sighed when he saw the excitement building in Dante’s eyes. The man was going to try to drag this out. “And what was left behind?”
“Torture!” Dante exclaimed dramatically.
His eyebrows rose. “Torture?” Adrian asked when apparently a raised eyebrow was not enough for Dante to continue.
“Yes, torture. Memories of the torture they experienced is all that remained. In fact, the memories of it continue to play over and over in their heads. It’s the reason they’re all found screaming. They are locked in the memories and perceive the pain as real. The memories block all else; no other thoughts or consciousness can break through. They will continue to persist unless permanently erased.”
Adrian was taken aback—to do what had been described was not a simple task, and something even he would struggle with. “Permanently? None of what you described can be done easily. The culprit is either extremely old or extremely powerful. I understand the cases are connected based on the memories taken and left behind. However, do you have any idea why these specific individuals were taken?”
Shock filled him when Dante laughed at his question.
“Dante! I don’t see how my question would give you any reason to laugh,” Adrian admonished coldly.
Dante just grinned at his words. “No disrespect toward you was intended, Your Highness. It was something I was waiting for you to ask, and I allowed my excitement to get the better of me. You are right. In most cases, laughing would not be appropriate. However, considering what connects these individuals, I find it hard to feel upset about the situation. In fact, many of my people have resigned from the case. None believed there was any reason to find the culprit.”
“And?” Adrian asked stiffly. He should have asked Dante’s second, Lily Wolfhart, to give the damn report. He may have been avoiding her because of what he had done with Asa, but fuck—pictures be damned, at least she would have gotten to the damn point quickly.
“Actually, the only ones working on the case right now are Sin, Lily, and myself. Everyone else refused.” Dante was practically vibrating with excitement as he waited for Adrian to ask why.
Adrian’s headache had come to fruition, and with it, his patience had disappeared. “D
ante, I understand you love building up excitement and suspense, but now is not the time!” he snapped. Adrian glared behind him at Xavier when the man snickered.
“I apologize, Your Highness. I had forgotten your hatred for such things,” Dante said, chuckling. “They were all criminals who somehow remained undetected. That was, of course, until they were kidnapped and returned. Whoever returned them also made sure that their crimes no longer went unnoticed. With each case, damning evidence always appears soon after their return.”
“What kind of criminals?”
At the question, Dante’s face darkened, his humor disappearing. “The vile kind. Rapists, murderers. Many of their crimes are against children. If I were to judge from those who were taken so far, child murderers and rapists are their preferred ‘victims,’ though I hesitate to even call them that.”
Adrian rested his head against the back of his chair. In his mind he was going over what he had just heard. “So, we have an individual going around kidnapping criminals whose crimes have gone undiscovered despite how horrendous they are. Which most would not necessarily see as a bad thing. However, it is never good to have a vigilante running around. Everyone makes mistakes. Considering the individual must be rather powerful to accomplish what they have, I do not want to find out what mistakes they will make. While I understand your opinion of the ‘victims,’ you do know you need to find whoever is responsible, right?”
“Yes, Your Highness. There is unfortunately more.”
“More…wait, before you continue, I have a question first. There’s something you said that’s bothering me. You talk as if the memories are real. Why? No matter how fast immortals heal, a day or two would not be enough time to rid them of all scars. Hell, if the wound is deep enough, a scar will remain for years before fading away. If these ‘victims’ were tortured, there would be signs. What evidence do you have that these memories are real instead of just implanted?”
“The answer to that question is actually the ‘more’ I had to tell you. It was also the reason I decided to put off giving my report. I say ‘memories’ because I believe that is what they are. I came to that conclusion when I took a second look into cases of the past that may have been connected, ones that dated back more than five years ago. The first time we did so, we found nothing. Then again, we never expected to. Such unusual cases would be hard to forget, and for months we abandoned the effort. However, something was nagging at the back of my mind. I felt I had missed something. And I had, it was staring me right in the face, and I finally realized what with the latest victim. The wounds in the memories, I had seen them before in the flesh instead of the mind. We had missed it because we were looking into the living; the previous victims hadn’t survived their kidnappings. I found six murders. The last man who died confirmed the connection—all the markings on the body match exactly to that of the memories of the survivors. The murders also helped me rule out the possibility of it being an older immortal.”
“How?”
“The first murder happened ten years ago. The man killed, unlike the others, was a known criminal. A pedophile who also sold children on the side, someone who would have been executed after a little torture if any of us had found him. The first murder was sloppy, but there were too many similar marks to discount it. It was more violent than all the others, more personal. I believe at the time the individual was a child.”
Adrian straightened at the revelation. “A child? I don’t doubt a child could kill if pushed, as it has happened before. But are you sure it’s the case here?”
Dante looked a bit disturbed at the possibility himself. “There were bloody handprints and footprints left behind. All too small to belong to an adult. It would explain their preferred victims. The killings, however, stopped five years ago.”
“And an odd pattern of kidnapping and returning began. If what you are saying is true, then the individual is no longer working alone. Vampires can hide, erase, and replace memories. However, we cannot heal someone completely. There are very few alive who could heal someone as if it never happened.” Adrian rubbed his temples. “So not only do we have a young, extremely powerful, not to mention slightly homicidal vampire on our hands, but we may also have an unregistered Lydus Blood Elf.” The minute the words left his mouth, every council member started yelling at once, getting louder as each tried to talk over one another.
Looking around at his council members, he felt anger and disappointment at their reactions. “Enough! I expect more than this from all of you. Prejudice and ignorance is something to be spurned. I will not accept it from any of you. Yes, they can kill with a touch, but they can also heal most any wound. An ability is not something to fear. Fear is what led to the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent Lydus Blood Elves! Being born is not a crime! Something I wish our ancestors had thought about before they decided to just sit back and watch as the other elves hunted them to almost extinction!” At his angry words, his council members looked thoroughly ashamed.
His focus returned to Dante when the man cleared his throat. “You are correct, King Adrian. However, if you all still fear the possibility of the unknown…I will say this. As of yet, I have found no reason to fear the Blood Elf involved. Whoever it is, I believe they have stopped the other from killing.” Dante’s voice was harsher than before, his displeasure at the council members’ reactions clear.
“Which is something to consider. It seems I have much to think about. I would like to keep this quiet. As of now, because no one innocent has been harmed, the information is not something the public needs to know. Let’s end here for today.”
* * * *
His boots clicked on the cracked concrete floor as he walked through the hallway of an abandoned warehouse. It looked like every other abandoned warehouse Stephan had ever seen—dilapidated, rusty, with trash everywhere.
He, however, wasn’t here to admire the scenery, he thought, as he entered a wide-open room near the back of the warehouse. He walked in and stopped short of its center. No, he was here tracking down a rather irritating and slightly homicidal individual—not that he considered Jayden a bad man, he was just…a bit broken. He was a bit broken himself, so he couldn’t really judge. Well, not too much anyway.
The faint smell of magic permeated the air around him. While it was true that magical energy was always present in the air, it was usually undetectable unless a spell was cast.
With how little was left, most would assume the residue was from an old spell. However, he knew better. If he opened up his senses, his very cells would vibrate with the magic charging the air.
Standing there, he called out, “Jayden.” When nothing happened, he sighed. “Jade, I know you’re here.”
When still he got nothing, he put his hands on his hips and glared at the empty room. “Jayden, you drop the damn spell, or I’m going to cast one of my own,” he threatened.
At his threat, the magic in the air shifted, and between one blink and the next, the magic hiding the room’s occupants disappeared.
In the center of the room were two men. One was covered in blood and passed out in a chair—truthfully, Stephan couldn’t care less about the man in the chair, a monster no doubt. No, he was here for the other man in the room.
The second man was also covered in blood. However, he was standing and holding a rather large bloody knife. He was also currently staring at him. His cold, dead black eyes were completely void of any emotion.
Jayden, voice a deep rumble, asked, “Here to interfere again, Stephan?”
THE END
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Adrian's Bodyguard [Vampires of Vadin 1] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) Page 13
