A door opened quickly and she was rushed out into the darkness, feet pounding behind her on the runway as they all exited the car. A single spotlight illuminated their plane, but bright lights flashed all around them, guides to the aircraft as they came and went. It was chaotic and she couldn’t seem to come fully awake. Panic seized in her gut, telling her something was wrong. She pulled away, tried to step back. But the men pushed her forward, making her face the unknown evil that she sensed was near.
The same woman from the train station, followed by half a dozen men in black, stepped from inside the plane, easing herself down the boarding steps of the private jet. Black hair whipped around her, the heavy breeze off the sea making her hair look more like that of Medusa, full of flowing snakes.
Her face, as well as those of the men with her, began to twist into the demonic expression again, making bile rise in Kadence’s throat. The evil inside these beings warped the very air around them, making it hard for Kadence to breathe.
The Templars around Kadence stood stock-still, frozen, watching the descent. Nor did they move as the woman stepped closer to eye Michel.
“Templar, you’re as handsome as ever.”
“Paloma, you’re as vile as ever.”
The woman—demon—thing chuckled throatily and Kadence immediately despised her. Innately, she knew this was the woman who’d hurt Michel. This was the woman who’d broken him. She needed to pay for that sin.
Kadence felt the need to attack, to scratch the woman’s eyes out with her bare hands, but she couldn’t move. As if her feet had been glued to the concrete of the tarmac, she was stuck. Glancing around at the others, they seemed to have the same issue. They all looked down to their feet and seemed to pull against an invisible force.
Paloma pulled a sword from a sheath and aimed the tip at Michel’s throat. “Vile, am I? You didn’t think that way many years ago, and if I’m correct, you want me now just as much as you did then. Perhaps more?”
Michel did not answer her. Kadence waited for the denial, the refusal of such utter garbage, but none came. She watched as his shoulders deflated in shame, his head dropping before him.
Paloma struck with heartless accuracy, the blade sliding through Michel’s throat. Kadence and the others screamed in terror as they watched helplessly as his head fell to the ground, rolling to Paloma’s feet.
Kadence was still screaming as she awoke, Gabriel holding her tightly to him as they lay in bed. His hands rubbed her back, trying to calm her from her visions. Michel and Thierry rushed into the room, swords raised, ready to defend her from an unseen threat.
“What is it?” Michel bit out.
“A nightmare, it seems,” Gabriel said from her side, still holding her tightly. “Shh, querida, I am right here, you are fine.”
Michel and Thierry turned to leave.
“No! Wait. If I may be the seer, couldn’t my nightmares have weight?”
Both men turned back to her.
She gazed at Michel, scared to ask her question, but knowing it had to be asked.
“Who’s Paloma?”
****
Michel sat on the cliffside, looking out over the city. Kadence’s question still rung in his ears. Her nightmare had suddenly become his. How could she have known anything about Paloma? His gut had curled as she’d relived her terrifying dream just moments before. He’d had to escape the room after hearing her nightmare, escape the house, needing fresh air and open spaces that didn’t make him feel captured. Memories of Paloma always made him remember his incarceration, his torture.
The Monte Carlo sun struck him, reminding him that he was free. Free from the pain Paloma had made him suffer, free from her traitorous heart. Knowing that he’d once loved that shrew, that he’d seen a future with her, made him ill. He hadn’t seen the real face Paloma hid from him, he’d not sensed any treachery. Was he so blind? So easily ensorcelled by a woman that he’d followed behind her, the need to connect with another overriding his sense of self-preservation.
Looking back, he still couldn’t see the signs of her ultimate betrayal. He’d been so in love. And now, Kadence brought those feelings to life in him once more. Not only the lust, the love, but the fear and the anger. They were all one within him. He could not imagine love without anger sidling along with it. Would he never be able to trust with all of his heart?
Was Kadence indeed the seer? Was she prophesizing his death tonight? Would it truly be by Paloma’s hand? Or was this a ploy of some kind, to move them all into the hands of the enemy? Even after their encounter, he could not dispel his doubts. She had shown him tenderness, trust. But he wasn’t sure he had the same to ever offer her in return.
Plans were already set in motion, and they would not change, just strengthen. They did not truthfully know if Kadence had the gift of foresight, not yet. But if it were accurate, they walked into the night with the knowledge of Paloma potentially being there.
More reinforcements would arrive at the airport in time to secure the plane. Henri and Lucian would arrive with their jet, staying onboard to prevent the Illuminati from setting foot on the plane.
Pulling out his sword, he ran the blade along his stone, sharpening it to a fine edge. He would be ready for Paloma. No doubt. And if Kadence was playing both sides, she would face her fate as well.
****
Gabriel gathered the last of his meager belongings into a backpack, his whole body thrumming with the explosive dream Kadence had recalled. Even more incredible was the fact that Michel had opened up a little to her, answering a few questions about Paloma. Michel was still guarded, still wary, but he’d admitted to Kadence that Paloma had been the one to betray him.
It was a step in the right direction.
Michel had kept his pain bottled. True, they’d never pressed him to recall the events. In those times, men didn’t talk about their feelings or mull over inopportune moments of misfortune. Life in those times had been hard. They’d all experienced pain and torment to some degree. The weak were trampled and the strong survived. Michel had survived. They all had.
But times were different now. They’d had to change with it, learn to soften themselves, to a point, to fit in to the public mores around them. Many of them had struggled to adapt. Michel was among the worst. His complete lack of trust weighed him down. Made him aloof. He played a good game, turned on the charm when he wanted something, but it was all an act. One Gabriel had seen through when they’d first met Kadence.
Gabriel had been willing to come to blows over the potential harm Michel could have caused the woman. She was too special for Michel to sully with his darkened soul.
Yet, the fact that Kadence had been able to break a chink in Michel’s armor spoke volumes.
Michel had opened to her and told her the basics of Paloma’s betrayal, as well as, a little about his incarceration. Was it a deep, dark, skeletons-in-his-closet kind of awakening? No. Did he explain the depths of this torture? No. But it wasn’t a brash denial that it ever happened, which was usually the case. Michel showed a small measure of trust in her. That in and of itself was huge.
Game changing.
Kadence was a good influence on Michel. Perhaps she was the one to free him from the past he’d endured. As much as he didn’t want to see Kadence hurt, as much as he did not want to share her affections, if she could lift Michel’s spirit once again, then who was he to stop it? He wouldn’t push to see the two of them back together, but if—if—Michel could be healed, then he wouldn’t stand in the way.
He would protect her. Even from Michel, if it came to that. But if she were the one, the woman who could right those past wrongs, he would lay down his sword and back away.
Kadence stood off to the side of the room, adding her borrowed belongings into another bag. Thierry, in his infinite wisdom, had supplied her with a couple changes of clothing, running shoes, and basic toiletries. Hopefully it would be enough to get them to Germany. There, he could procure her the things she needed. He yearned
to see her dressed as she was the night they’d met.
Closing his eyes, he was back at Per Se, her warm body walking into the restaurant lobby. Her thick russet waves curled upon her head, the dress coasting over her ample curves. He’d known from the moment he’d laid eyes on her that she was special. Though, he hadn’t known exactly what made her so at that point. Now, once he’d gotten a sampling of what she had to offer him, he wanted to give her diamonds and amethyst stones to match her eyes. They would drip from her throat and ears. They would sparkle, but with only half the light and fire she had.
She deserved to be spoiled. Being alive for seven hundred years had its benefits. The Templars had created the first forms of banking in Europe over a thousand years before. They’d become enormously wealthy and powerful, loaning money to countries and monarchs. Eventually, it was also what had gotten most of his brethren slain. King Phillip of Spain had owed the Templars more gold than he could possibly repay. It was easier to have them called heretics and slain than to make good on his debt.
But the knowledge of the system, coupled with their intelligence and their ability to spirit away some of their treasures, had allowed them to start over. The remaining Templars had invested very well over the years and had wealth far greater than the top twenty billionaires—combined.
That vast fortune was broken down in small batches, hidden in homes, companies, banks, and even countries, where it could not be traced back to them. They enjoyed the finer things in life, and they went where they wanted, when they wanted. But they also attempted to not exploit it to a point that ultra-exclusive purchases would bring undue attention to them. No one needed to know of their existence, besides the Illuminati they already fought against.
No Bugatti Veyron for Michel, no matter how much he wanted the one-of-a-kind automobile. No trips to the moon, no matter how much Thierry had wanted to go. No private South Pacific island for Guillaume. No purchases that would turn the public eye on them and make the masses wonder how they could afford such expensive novelties.
But they did live a lavish lifestyle, enjoying their spoils. Gems would befit his woman.
His woman.
If she’d have him.
She’d not agreed to be his. She’d hesitated when questioning what he was asking of her. He’d told her exactly what he thought she wanted to hear, that he wasn’t asking for forever, when in fact, he was surely never letting her go. Her dreams were an insight into her future, him in her bed, every night.
In time, she would agree. He would slowly woo her onto his side. He would defend her and be her protector. He would push her sexual boundaries at night. And hopefully, she would trust him more each and every day…slowly dropping her shields lower and lower.
He loved the insights he’d already seen.
When she’d allowed him to bind her hands the night before, she’d shown she trusted him. He’d valued that trust and made sure not to make her regret it. She’d looked to him, expecting his support when Michel had demanded his due. She trusted him, and he was honored to have it. Then she’d given of herself without demanding anything in return to offer succor to Michel.
His friend was broken inside. And he needed the love of a good woman. A woman who could take away his pain. If Kadence wasn’t that woman, he hoped Michel would find her.
Gabriel just hoped it would be sooner than later.
“Gabriel, I need to ask a question.”
“Of course, querida.”
“Michel used a condom. You haven’t.”
Gabriel was caught off-guard by her comments. Where was this coming from? “I have no diseases, if that’s what you’re worried about, nor does Michel. We, as Immortals, are immune to those diseases.”
“Pregnancy?”
“In nearly seven hundred years none of the few we have left have fathered a child.”
“So you don’t know for certain?”
“No…not exactly, but none of us are celibate, but Phelippe. After that much time, we would have fathered many children.”
“Do you often have…relationships?”
“What do you mean?”
“How long do you typically spend with one woman?”
What was she asking? How long he planned to bed her? She had nothing to worry about. She wasn’t going anywhere. “I’m not kicking you out of my bed anytime soon, querida. I thought we discussed this last night.”
“I’m not talking about me. I’m talking about the other women you’ve been with. What? A week? A month? A year?”
“What does it matter?”
“Just answer the question.”
“I don’t know…a couple of weeks. Perhaps a month.”
“And would you stay around? Would she be able to find you again, later?”
Gabriel started to get an inkling of where she was going and he did not like it at all. “Probably not.”
“So, how would a woman ever have the chance to tell you she was with child?”
Gabriel’s mind swirled at her question. He had always assumed it impossible due to their longevity. But she raised a valid question. “The next time we speak to Gaia, we shall ask.”
“Gaia? Speak to her? She has a corporeal form?”
“If you can call it that, she is more mist than anything. She visits us on occasion when she has something important to impart. It could be weeks, it could be years.”
“Until then, you need to wrap it up.”
“Wrap?”
“A condom. This is not the time to test your theory.”
He nodded, wishing he didn’t have to. The touch of her against his naked skin was explosive. But he would respect her decision and protect her. Gabriel couldn’t get the vision of Kadence ripened with his child out of his head. His cock swelled slightly at the thought. He had only known her for such a short time, but already his mind drifted to a future with her.
He’d already loved her twice without protection. What if she were already pregnant now?
Hackles rising, he knew inwardly that he couldn’t father a child. He kicked the thoughts out of his mind, scolded himself for thinking of such madness. His lifestyle was not one to bring a child into. Constant fighting with the Illuminati, moving all over the world to protect precious treasures, it wasn’t a life for a child to be involved in. It was bad enough she was involved, but she appeared to be embroiled whether she was with him or not.
Profeta de mal. The seer.
Thierry’s words excited him. Finally, she was a woman who could know all his secrets, accept him for what he was, and stand at his side in their fight. And warm his bed at night, holding the darkness at bay.
It was hard not to yearn for a little normalcy in his life. A wife, a child, a future to look forward to, to make a million tomorrows easier to bear. Seven hundred years was a long time to go from encounter to meaningless encounter. Kadence was his chance for a little taste of what other men didn’t appreciate enough.
Of course, it all depended on her.
Grabbing her pack, they both exited the room and moved to the car. Another flight to Luxembourg and then a quick drive to Neuerburg awaited.
Chapter Sixteen
Kadence tried to calm herself once the car was in motion. Alain drove her and Gabriel in a sleek, black Humvee. Michel followed behind in Thierry’s gray Humvee. Two more Humvees with some of the security team of the villa drove at the very front and the very rear. She felt like she was in the army, a row of near tanks rolling down the hillside. She hoped the armor-plated vehicles would protect them from attack.
She couldn’t get the images from her dream out of her head. She saw Michel’s head rolling off his neck and shuddered at the vibrancy of the vision, her stomach knotting with disgust.
Winding down the streets of Monte Carlo, she realized that she’d spent a day in the most glamorous city in the world without seeing any of it. She’d been too tired as they wormed through the city the first time, so she gazed at everything she passed this time, getting as much of an eyef
ul as possible.
Anything to keep the hideous sight of Michel’s death out of her mind.
The queasiness ended in her gut. She cracked the window a bit and let the warm, sea air wrap around her. Everything was so lovely. The sun had just set, but the lights of Monte Carlo were ablaze, bright and festive.
It was so unlike the mood of the occupants of the car. They were all on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop, wondering if they were walking into a massacre. If the details came true, then she supposed it would lay credence to Thierry’s theory.
She wondered if that was why Michel had demanded they not change their plans. Was it to prove she had the gift of foresight? Was it yet another hoop he was forcing her through to determine that she was legit? Hell, she didn’t even know if she was legit. But she knew she wasn’t the evil incarnate he worried she was.
Michel had seemed to open to her a little. He’d conveyed that Paloma had been his lover. Five hundred years before. Once Kadence had recovered from that little shocker, she’d felt anger over Paloma’s treachery and fury over his incarceration. She innately knew that he held back a lot of the story from her. But she also knew that it had cost him a lot to tell her the little he had. The look of surprise on Gabriel’s face had spoken volumes.
It showed her a little of why Michel’s trust issues were so great. She had to say that she saw him in a new light. And if she ever heard all of it, which she wasn’t sure she could stomach, she knew that she would truly know him.
But then he’d refused to change the plans. Which of course, was his prerogative, but the fear she felt was immense. They all could be walking into a battle that they didn’t need to tread into.
What if the dream came true and she watched Michel’s death, when it all could be circumvented?
The dream version was bad enough. There was no way she’d watch it in real life. She hoped, for the first time, that Thierry was very, very wrong about her gifts as he called them. They seemed more a curse.
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