Bloodstone Heart

by T. Lynne Tolles

  He wanted so badly to hold her, but he'd tried that before in this state. It was frustrating and useless to see her in this condition and not be able to do anything. It was like watching a live feed of a room where you had no idea of its location. He did talk to her and try to comfort her. He was pretty sure she couldn't hear him, but somehow it made him feel better, and he hoped that in some way, telepathically, she'd know he was looking for her.

  There were no windows in the room and no references to where they were. The walls were thick stone and nothing could be heard, but there was a distinct smell of the sea in the moldy, dingy room.

  Well, that's great! There are hundreds of miles of coastline, Josh, can you try and get more specific, he argued with himself. He sat with her for a long time before a large gust of wind hit him and he was flying back to his bed in Westport to find Blake waking him up.

  Blake said, "Are you okay? You were talking in your sleep."

  "I was? Sorry! I was with Lanie. She's tied up to a chair in a damp, moldy room somewhere near the sea. I could smell the ocean, but I have no idea where."

  "Well, that's a start. When you travel there, can you see anything? I mean, is it just a dark space you travel through or is it like being in a plane above land? I ask, because maybe it can help us to distinguish where he has her. It would be nice to surprise Dimitri for once."

  "I never really paid attention to what was around me when I got there."

  "Also, have you ever tried to leave the room she was in? Maybe we could get some perspective that way, a clue or something as to where they are."

  "Huh. No. I never really tried; I'll have to do that." Josh paused for a moment and then continued cautiously, "I'm not sure I've thanked you for all you've done, Blake. You've taught me a lot of great stuff and you've had some good ideas despite my complaining. I just wanted to let you know it is appreciated."

  "Thanks, Josh. That means a lot. The reason I came up here was Bernard was worried that you needed to eat to keep your strength up. He noticed you didn't eat much at breakfast and thought you should at least have something for lunch."

  "Yeah. Okay."

  The two walked downstairs into the dining room to meet up with the rest.

  Dominic was coming down the hall when Blake and Josh came out of Josh's room. As he approached Josh's room, Blake and Josh were turning and heading down the stairs. Dominic hadn't intended on doing this, but he ducked into Josh's room trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. He looked around and headed for his bathroom, where he found that Josh had shaved and hadn’t rinsed out the sink. He grabbed several pieces of stubble and a couple of strands of hair from a comb lying nearby and headed for the back stairs to the kitchen where he quickly deposited the items into a Ziploc bag, sealing it tightly. He grabbed one more bag out of the drawer and then headed for the study while everyone was in the dining room having lunch.

  When he got to the study, he quietly closed the door and headed for his desk. He pulled out a Sharpie and wrote on the bag of hair samples 'J.B.' He then yanked out a couple of hairs from his own head and placed them in the other Ziploc bag and marked it 'Father?’

  He pulled a ballpoint pen out of his desk and a piece of stationery and began to write.

  Michael

  I need a favor. I told you at the party the young man staying with us, Josh, was adopted. After a little searching, I think we may have found his biological father and I was hoping that you could test the samples I've included in this package ASAP. Please keep this between you and me for the time being and as always, thank you for your help.

  I look forward to hearing from you soon.

  Dominic.

  He pulled out a large Tyvek envelope, inserted all the items and the letter into it and sealed it. He then wrote on the front of it.

  Dr. Michael Rowe

  He looked up in his Rolodex the number for the messenger service he often used and scheduled a pick up for the envelope. As he headed for the dining room, he set the envelope on the table in the foyer near the door.

  Chapter 30

  Melanie started to rouse and looked around the room remembering where she was and what was happening to her. Her hands felt numb and cold from lack of proper circulation. She had a horrible headache and she was frightfully thirsty. She had no idea what time it was or how long she had been out, since she had nothing to reference. She wiggled her toes and fingers to try to get some circulation to them only to bring an onset of painful tingling. The duct tape over her mouth was very uncomfortable and she had an itch on the tip of her nose that was making her crazy.

  While she was trying to find a way to scratch her nose with her shoulder, she heard footsteps and a large thump against the metal door followed by a sliding noise, and the door swung into the room to reveal Dimitri.

  "Oh, good. You're finally awake," he said as he sauntered into the room. He was quite handsome in a dark and mischievous way. He had dark olive skin, an angular face, and a cleft in his chin. His nearly black hair was a mess of large loose curls that brushed along his collar, but it was his dark, inky black eyes that frightened her. He walked a circle around her chair twice like a wild animal sizing up his prey, smiling cruelly at her when they met eyes. He wore black jeans, black boots, and a deep burgundy button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. She could see the black orchid burned onto his hand as Blake had described. He saw her looking at it and smiled even more wickedly, and then he reached forward and violently ripped the duct tape off her mouth.

  "So, Miss Harper, I'll ask again, where is my stone? And where is your darling Josh?"

  Melanie answered, "I don't know where either of them are."

  He slapped her hard across the face making her lip split and swell when it hit her tooth. "You're lying!" he yelled.

  "I'm not!" she said angrily back.

  He bent down where his eyes were level with hers, his hands on his knees, and he peered into her eyes as if he was searching through a file folder of information. He was obviously not getting what he wanted through her eyes, which angered him greatly. He kicked the other chair as he circled around her again. He stopped when he was behind her and he pulled her hair hard so that all she could do was look straight up at him peering over her. "Why is it I can't read you, Miss Harper?"

  She licked the blood from her lip and said, "I don't know, but it's not just you, no one seems to be able to."

  "How are you doing it?"

  "I don't know - I've never known. I didn't know until recently that I couldn't be read."

  "How interesting. Maybe I should turn you into a vampire and make you one of the Order so we all have this gift."

  She didn't say anything. She could barely swallow at this angle let alone think. He let go of her hair and pushed her head as he did so, making the chair tip forward and then backward with a thump. She was terrified. He seemed angrier with every question.

  "Was your boyfriend with you when you left California?"

  She was afraid to answer and her eyes started to well up because no matter what she said, he would be angry. He grabbed at her throat tightly, making her head throb horribly. It was impossible for anything to be said with the force in which he held her. Her eyes felt as if they were bulging out of her head. She tried to say no, but nothing would come out so she tried to shake her head. He released her again, shoving her almost to the tipping point in the chair, and then it popped back, lifting her feet off the ground and finally settled with another hard thump.

  "So I followed you for over two weeks all over the country and he and the stone weren't even with you?"

  Again she didn't want to answer, but the cat was out of the bag at this point, there was no going back. She looked into his face and quietly said, "No." He paced the room in a rage. This time he kicked the other chair, shattering it to pieces in the corner of the room, and then he punched the steel door, leaving a cannonball-sized dent in it. She jumped and flinched as he turned to her. His eyes were black as coal and his face was c
ontorted such that he looked as if he had just sucked on a lemon, then it eased and he smiled at her and that's when she was really afraid. He came at her and backhanded her so hard that she and the chair hit the far-side wall. Her shoulder and knee took the brunt of the hit against the stone, but her head whipped to one side hitting the stone wall and a wave of foggy gray enveloped her as her head fell forward and she lost consciousness.

  While she was unconscious, Dimitri untied her from the chair and retied her with some larger gauge rope - hands together, over her head and over the beam that ran the length of the room. She was lifted and hung from her wrists so that only the very tips of her toes could touch the floor, which meant she couldn't relieve her hands from the weight of her body hanging from them. A new piece of duct tape was applied to her mouth. When he was done, he removed both chairs and turned off the lights leaving her in pitch darkness.

  Josh was feeling tense after dinner and decided to take a walk around the pond with Sammy, so he headed up to his room to get his jacket when a sharp pain hit him in the mouth and on the side of the head. It caught him by such surprise that he dropped to his knees on the stairs.

  When he tried to get up, tightness in his throat grabbed him like an invisible hand choking the air out of him. His head jerked back and he couldn't move it for a moment. Just as he got the movement back in his neck, a blinding pain hit him on the side of the head and he dropped like a doll down the stairs, hitting his chin and cheek hard enough to split them both open.

  The fall was loud enough to be heard by most everyone and the first one to the stairs was Devon. He yelled for Blake and Dominic as the rest of them started to rush to the stairs.

  "Can you help me get him to his room, Blake? Dominic, can you get Bernard to bring a first aid kit, looks like he's bleeding pretty bad. We might have to send for Dr. Rowe for some stitches," he said. He had him in an almost standing position, when Blake was there to grab the other arm and help Devon haul Josh up the rest of the stairs. As they got close to the bed, Darby had already grabbed a towel from his bathroom and was racing to the bed just as Bernard showed up with his first aid kit.

  Darby said, "Who would have thought that a first aid kit would get used so much in a house full of vampires?" She smiled at Bernard as he opened it.

  Bernard said, "Indeed. I had to refill it after the last visit."

  Devon said, after inspecting the cuts, “I think these should be looked at by Dr. Rowe. I think he needs stitches on his chin, maybe not his cheek, though.”

  Blake said, “Too bad he isn't a vampire; those would heal right up.”

  Dominic came in the room and announced, "Dr. Rowe is on his way. How's he doing?"

  "He'll be okay, I think he is coming around," Devon said as Blake sat on the bed next to Darby.

  Josh's eyes slowly opened, at first not much more than slits, but with some blinking they opened more and his hand came up to his face when Darby said, "No, Josh. Don't touch it. Dr. Rowe is on his way. I think Devon's right. You're going to need some stitches on your chin. Your cheek has a gash too."

  Groggily, Josh said, "So much for the stone protecting me, huh!" He tried to laugh but it obviously hurt too much to do so.

  Blake said, "That is a good point though, Dominic. What's your take on it?"

  "I'm not sure."

  Blake said, "What happened, Josh? Do you know?"

  "Um...well...I was going upstairs to grab my jacket to go for a walk with Sammy.....and...I don't know...it was like an invisible hand slapped me across the face. It was hard enough for me to drop to my knees, because I remember smacking my knee hard on the edge of the riser...then...umm...I started to get up and it felt like someone was choking me, then something hit me hard. That’s all I remember."

  "So it wasn't Melanie this time?"

  "I'm not sure. I didn't see anything this time, no falling fast or anything like that, just the pain, but the pain was vivid. This morning it was not as pinpointed, I couldn't feel a hand or specifics, just her screaming and an all over pain, but this was very specific.”

  Blake looked puzzled for a moment then said, “I can't be sure, but this time wasn't a 'journey' as you've called them in the past. Maybe it is a link you have with Melanie. Maybe Dimitri was beating her up, maybe you were feeling it and that's why the stone wasn't working - because it was happening to her, not you."

  "So you're saying if Dimitri up and kills Lanie, I will die too?"

  "I'm not sure. This is all new to me. I've never read about, let alone seen, anything like this, but I do know after seeing you two together, there's definitely something between you - some kind of link. But it does bring up another subject I wanted to approach you with before we face Dimitri."

  "What's that?"

  "I think it might be useful to try and do a mind link between a few of us."

  Devon said, "A what?"

  "A mind link."

  "What exactly is a mind link?" Josh asked.

  "Well, Josh would serve as a transponder or battery per se, and link say, Devon, myself, Anton, and Dean. We would be able to see what Josh sees and communicate with each other.”

  "But we can communicate with each other as it is telepathically, we don't need Josh to do that."

  "You're right, Devon, but it is an effort on our part. If he is the link, then we can use the power we would be using to communicate, to block thoughts or fight. Do you see what I'm saying?"

  "I think so, so you think that this link would make it more of a natural thing like breathing; we don't have to think about it we just do it."

  "Exactly, but on top of that we'll see the visions he has, of course, we won't have the pain associated with it, because I think that is part of his personal link with Melanie. With Josh's help, we could be miles away and communicate without any effort, see what he sees, what she sees and WE might recognize something. Josh doesn't know the east coast like we do, and so something that doesn't mean anything to him might mean a lot to us - a sound, an object, a place, a smell."

  "Will it put him in any danger, Blake?" Dominic asked.

  "No, I don't think so. It seems to be coming so natural to him that it's next to no effort at all. Truly I've never seen anything like it."

  "But you don't know for sure?" Dominic pressed and ignored Devon’s look of caution. "It's just he's been through so much."

  "You're right, Dominic, he has and that's why I would have never suggested it if I thought it would hurt him. I've grown pretty fond of the Bashful Biker myself," he said and smiled at Josh.

  Dean said, "Bashful Biker? That's the best you could come up with, Bat Boy?"

  "Ah, geez, Dean...I told you vampires don't turn into bats...you bonehead...think you can do better?"

  "Oh definitely," Dean said as if accepting a great challenge.

  Josh looked at Blake and Devon with concern. "I'm not going to like what he comes up with, am I?"

  Blake and Devon both laughed and said, "I doubt it!"

  Dr. Rowe walked in and herded most everyone out of the room.

  "Well now, Josh. Looks like we took a good bump to the chin and cheek. Not to worry. Nothing we can't fix up. I think Bernard and I can take it from here, why don't you all head downstairs, while I stitch Josh up."

  Blake said, "Thanks, Dr. Rowe."

  "No problem, Son."

  After about forty-five minutes, Dr. Rowe and Bernard emerged from the room. Dr. Rowe informed everyone that as far as he could tell, Josh was fine, but just to make sure, someone should check on him throughout the night. No stitches were necessary on his cheek, but the doctor gave him six stitches on his chin, insisting that this would make Josh look rugged and dangerous to the young women.

  Chapter 31

  Josh drifted off to sleep after he had been stitched and bandaged up. He thought though, as he drifted, about what Blake had told him: to look around, see if there was anything that gave any indication as to where he was visiting Lanie. There was a familiar rush of air and he was soaring through spac
e. He thought to look around and found that there was nothing to see, just darkness and bright pinpoints of lights all coming at him like a subway or vortex. There was no land that he could see below him, like you might see in an airplane, just dark space between flashes of bright lights.

  As he descended, still he saw nothing but darkness. Usually there was a spotlight, illuminating his target, but not this time. He felt he had landed but still there was only darkness. He recognized the smell of the sea and the musty earth from his earlier visit. He was sure he was in the same place, but why couldn't he see anything? He was sure that he could sense Lanie close by - This must be the place. Footsteps sounded and a loud metal thump along with a click and a sliding sound resonated behind him. Light poured into the room; though it was not bright, it was like a beacon compared to the pitch darkness earlier. Two dark figures moved into the room and one turned on the lights.

  Josh gasped at what he saw. Lanie was indeed in the room and she was hanging from her wrists from a rope attached to a beam above her head. The hooded figure stopped suddenly and turned slowly as if it heard Josh's gasp. It stopped and stared in Josh’s direction, yet Josh's body was not there, so there was nothing to see. Dimitri laughed at the hooded figure. "See a ghost?" he said.

  The hooded figure turned its attention to Lanie. Without saying a word, the dark figure spoke to Dimitri and Josh could hear what it was saying. What is this? You were supposed to be getting the stone to recruit followers.

  Dimitri spoke out loud, "I am...she is my ticket to the stone."

  She doesn't have it?

  "No, my lord."

  And what have you been doing all these weeks?