Nico had purchased Grace’s house across the alley and next door to Otto and Manon. In addition to her other duties, Hope was assisting Grace in the renovations since it was to be her home. She looked surprised at this change in conversational direction, but then her eyes lit up and she grinned.
“Close enough to move out of the apartment and into a guest room until it’s finished.” She squeezed Marta’s hand. “It’s a nice little place on the third floor, but you’d have free run of the rest of the house, and well, have you ever done any nursing? I have this sister, you see…”
Deter raised his rabbit nose and sniffed loudly. It was his signal that he had something to say. “As tempting as that offer sounds, my lord, I think it best if we remain where we are for as long as possible. These accounts are no longer under my prevue and we’ll need to move carefully. We don’t want to arouse suspicions. In the meantime, if there is anything else I can assist you with…”
Their House of Guardian’s would be changing again. Canaan’s new life with Grace had renewed a life for Otto and Manon and opened the door for Nico and Hope. Broadbent had found the courage to leave his pre-planned life to build a new one with the Guardians and now Deter and Marta’s lives would be changing, too. Nardo felt as if he was being left behind, which was a foolish notion.
He’d become a Guardian and been able to incorporate his skill with computers into that role. He had his own business concerns and was ready to expand. He had good friends who formed a close family group. Why then, did he feel as if everyone else was moving and he was standing still?
Chapter 10
They could smell the meat cooking on the grill as soon as they pulled into the alley and the headlights caught the twins huddled over the grill on the deck that now spanned the two houses joined to form one. Nardo rolled down the window while they waited for the doors to the underground garage to open.
“Steak?”
“Hot dogs and hamburgers. Nico and Broadbent are picking up salads on their way home. Grace has been kind of busy while you were gone. Oh, and we brought you a surprise.” The twins laughed uproariously and toasted him with their beer.
“Just what we need, another surprise,” Nardo mumbled as they pulled through into the garage.
Grace met them at the door with her finger to her lips. She stood on tiptoe to give Canaan a quick kiss and whispered, “We have a guest. I think she’s going to be all right, but I wanted to talk to you before we decide what to do next. She’s in the clinic. The boys found her and brought her home though I think they had help.” She looked significantly at Hope and winked. “They beat you to it, Nardo, and not a minute too soon. They found your mystery woman and just as we suspected, she’s one of us.”
Nardo wanted to push them aside and charge back to the clinic, but he listened patiently while Grace described Joy’s condition and waited impatiently while Grace assured Hope that her sister was fine, Otto and Manon had been here to help but had now gone home, they were grilling hot dogs because… Nardo chewed on his lip, sucked on his teeth and tried to keep his feet still. Canaan’s broad shoulders blocked him in from the right and Hope stood to his left. Grace stood directly in front of him. Since she was the smallest and therefore the most easily moved, he stepped forward, picked her up by the waist and set her aside. He heard Canaan’s growl and Hope’s smothered giggle.
“Leave him alone, big boy,” Grace said as he pushed through the heavy door, “Don’t get in the way of a man in love.”
Nardo stopped short on the other side of the door. Love? It couldn’t be. Love at first sight was a romantic notion women made up as a lead in to their sexual fantasies. It was easier for them to believe in instant love than admit they saw a guy across the room and immediately wanted to fuck his brains out. Men were much more straightforward than that.
The curtained barrier was up and he eased his head around it, not wanting to startle her if she was awake. He needn’t have bothered. She was sleeping peacefully, the covers tucked up snugly over her chest with her arms straight at her sides and he lowered his eyes in shame when he saw the cast on her wrist. He quietly took a seat in the folding chair beside the cot.
She looked different from the other night. Her face was washed clean of the heavy make-up and now, with her eyes closed, he could see how long her lashes were against the silky smoothness of her skin. Her almost white hair was freshly washed and combed flat. With her arched brows and large eyes, she looked like a pixie.
He smiled when he saw the nightgown they’d dressed her in. The high, tightly buttoned collar with the heavy cotton lace around the edges was a sharp contrast to the slinky and supple leather she’d worn the other night. In the leather, she’d looked hard and fast and sexy. This snow white gown emphasized the fragility of her features, the creamy richness of her skin and the delicateness of the slender body it covered. She looked different from the other night, more beautiful than he remembered and no less attractive.
He soaked the cloth lying beside the basin and squeezed out the excess water. Gently, so as not to awaken her, he wiped away the perspiration that had beaded on her forehead. Her fingers fluttered on the bedclothes and the corners of her lips turned up in a relaxed smile. She sighed and settled back to sleep.
He leaned down and whispered close to her ear, “That’s right, sweet Joy, dream your dreams. I’ll keep you safe and this time, I promise I’ll do it right.”
Love? It couldn’t be. How could you love someone you knew nothing about? And yet he did know some things about her, important things. He knew she was strong and she didn’t give up. She had courage. She should have run screaming, if not from him then from the demon, but she didn’t, even when she had the opportunity. She’d stayed and waited for her chance to do what she could when he’d given her no reason to. She knew what he was and she’d seen him at his worst and still, she’d stayed.
“Supper’s ready.” Grace put her hand on Nardo’s shoulder and gave it an encouraging squeeze. “I need to take her temperature again, maybe take care of some private things. You go get something to eat and when I’m through, you can take over.”
He met Canaan, stuffing the last of a hot dog into his mouth, as he came through the door. His Liege Lord grabbed his arm.
“How are you?” he asked, after he swallowed and wiped a smear of mustard from the corner of his mouth.
“She’s fine. She’s sleeping.”
Canaan chuckled. “Not what I asked. How are you?”
“Me? Fine.” Nardo looked back at the door. “Oh, I just wanted to make sure they brought home the right one.”
“They always manage to bring home the right one, son. Take it from me, I ought to know.” Canaan smirked and winked in camaraderie.
“No, no.” Nardo waved his hand in denial. “I’m not looking for that. I’m nowhere near ready for that.”
Nico barked out a rare laugh. “Ready has nothing to do with it, my friend. Once bitten, you have no choice but to succumb.”
Hope gave her mate a playful slap on his shoulder. “You make it sound like death.”
Nico put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to whisper, “Ah, precious, experiencing a little death with you is well worth it.”
Hope squealed and hid her head in his shoulder.
Dov rolled his eyes at his twin. “This is all your fault.”
“My fault! It was your idea.”
“You drove the car and since when did you start listening to my ideas.”
*****
“You assured me the experiment could be controlled.”
“And it was. You were the one who insisted I take it off premises.” The black clad man turned his back to his host and poured himself another drink from the crystal decanter. He smiled. The Director of Moonlight Sanctuary lived a very comfortable life. In the very near future, it would be his life.
“I assumed you would acquire secure facilities.”
“We had secure facilities until you reneged on our agreement. T
he result was this unfortunate accident.” Salvador shrugged.
“A member of Moonlight Sanctuary? A young woman of good family? That is not an accident. It’s a tragedy of the first magnitude.” Maximillian took a seat behind the massive desk. He pressed his manicured hands together and closed his eyes, collecting his patience. “The victims must be human. I thought I made that clear. And what if one of those Guardian brutes had captured him? Have you thought of the consequences? We could be ruined before we even begin.” He shook his head and said petulantly, “You said you would handle this. You said it would be foolproof.”
Salvador ad Primus, a Captain under the command of the High Lord himself, understood the need to deal with the Maximillians of this world. Their motivations were different from his. They saw the creation of a new world order only in terms of their own localized, self-important desires. The development of their replacements, true believers, would take time. Meanwhile, he was forced to deal with arrogant asses like Maximillian ad Doren. Salvador understood it. That didn’t mean he had to like it.
“I’m thinking about pulling out all together,” the fool continued to babble. “As I made clear in our initial negotiations, I cannot afford to risk all this…” He waved his hand to indicate the fine fabrics, plush carpeting and deep comfortable seating. “…without the assurance of complete success.”
“You have it.” Salvador was losing patience.
“No. I have a dead young woman and grieving parents clamoring for answers. I have a Chief Constable eager to launch an investigation and a Governing Board to answer to.”
“You risked nothing by joining us and gained everything,” the High Lord’s Captain hissed, slapping the top of the desk for emphasis. “Instead of whining about what’s gone wrong, you need to make it right.”
Affronted, Maximillian rose from his desk, shoulders straight, head held high. He was the Director of Moonlight Sanctuary, one of the wealthiest and most secure Paenitentia enclaves in the United States. He was soon to be appointed Advisor for this district. Maximillian ad Doren did not whine.
“Exactly. And I shall make it right by withdrawing my support from the project.”
“No, you won’t.”
Salvador Ad Primus moved so swiftly around the corner of the desk that ad Doren stumbled back into his swivel chair. The chair overbalanced and would have fallen if Ad Primus hadn’t caught the headrest. He snapped the chair upright and bared his fangs to the Director’s startled face, pleased to see surprise turn to fear.
“Did you think you were the only Director we approached?” he snarled. “Ad Nestor? Ad Llewellyn? Are these names familiar?” Ad Primus curled his lip in derision. “Such tragic and untimely deaths. Funny thing, before they died, they lost young women of good family, too. Several of them, in fact.”
Ad Primus stood back, relaxed and retracted his fangs. He straightened the Director’s tie and brushed down the front of his suit. And then he strolled to the front of the desk where he’d stood before.
“Your young woman of good family was supposed to be an example. Maybe you need another.” It was a lie, but an effective one.
“You said it was an accident.” Frightened as he was, Maximillian was outraged. Who were these people to so callously take the life of one so sweet and innocent? “How dare you?”
“How dare I? Quite easily, I assure you. And I will continue to dare until you meet the terms of our agreement.” Ad Primus kept his face neutral as he looked around the room. How had this pompous ass risen so high? It wasn’t a Captain’s place to question the High Lord’s choices, but once the Nonveniae’s goals were accomplished, Salvador would be in charge of this sector and this buffoon would be one of the first eliminated.
His pause gave the slow witted ad Doren time to process the message. As the fool’s eyes widened, Salvador went in for the final blow. “Maybe we shouldn’t sacrifice another young Paenitentia in the first bloom of womanhood.” The hopeful look on ad Doren’s face was priceless. “Maybe that ice bitch you’ve been fucking would make a better one. How much is her life worth? She’s the reason you joined us in the first place, isn’t it? You wanted to be powerful enough to attract her attention and we made that happen. Now you want to destroy that House of Guardians she’s so obsessed with. You promised her that as a betrothal gift. Don’t look so shocked. We do our homework.” He leaned across the desk and smiled. “I’ll tell you what. Since you no longer provide the facilities for our experiments, you’ll be in charge of providing the sacrifices as well as the subjects. So who will it be?”
Chapter 11
When consciousness finally returned, JJ thought she was feeling better until she opened her eyes to the strangest hallucination. She knew she wasn’t better at all and she felt a moment’s panic. Three women stood at the foot of her bed. The little yellow cat sat purring at her feet.
“It’s all right,” said the first who was wearing a blue bib apron with embroidered ruffles up the sides of the bib. “There’s nothing to be frightened of. We won’t hurt you.”
Frightened that she was hallucinating, sure. Of the three apparitions? Not hardly. How could she be afraid of…
“She thinks you’re Betty Crocker and Manon is Sophia Loren,” the tall one giggled. “Do I look like Julie Andrews?”
“She’s sicker than we thought if she thinks you look like Julie Andrews,” Betty Crocker laughed.
“Actually, she wasn’t thinking Julie Andrews so much as Mary Poppins. It’s the same thing though, isn’t it?”
Sophia Loren laughed at that one. “Now do you see why those outfits you wear are no good? They make you look like some nineteenth century governess.” Sophia spoke with a French accent instead of Italian and she had white hair.
JJ moved her eyes as much as she could without pain. She was lying in some sort of hospital room from the 1950s; white hospital bed, white metal cabinet, white framed screens with white fabric curtains gathered top and bottom. Two vaguely familiar blonde orderlies stood behind the women.
“Who the fuck are you?” JJ muttered angrily.
One of the orderlies’ eyes widened and he looked at Mary Poppins. “Aren’t you going to say something?” he asked indignantly.
Mary shook her head. “She’s sick.”
“What the fuck’s going on here?” JJ asked. Her words slurred. How stupid was that, anyway? Talking to hallucinations. Her eyes were getting heavy again.
“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” the indignant orderly answered. “Gender bias, sexual discrimination in the workplace, that’s what’s going on. She wouldn’t let me use that word.”
“Just ignore him. He’s been watching the women’s channel again.” The other orderly punched the first in the shoulder. The cat raised her paw and hissed at them.
“Boys!” Betty scolded. “She’s not fully awake. Her system’s still poisoned.” She moved to the side of the bed and looked into JJ’s half closed eyes. She stroked JJ’s forehead with gentle fingers that felt very real. “You go back to sleep now, sweetie. We’ll explain it all the next time you wake up.”
JJ struggled against the order, but it did no good. Her eyes closed.
When she opened her eyes again, the only person she saw was the guy from the rave, watching her silently from a folding chair pulled up next to her shoulder. She reached out and touched him, to assure herself he wasn’t another hallucination. She wasn’t startled to find him there. Her dreams had been so filled with him it seemed only natural that he should be here in the flesh and unlike the others, he was real. Her eyes shifted to her surroundings.
She was a little alarmed to find herself still on the narrow hospital bed rather than her sofa, yet her familiar and comforting afghan was tucked around her. The ceiling soared above, much higher than the one at her house and the area around the bed, a cot really, was curtained off from the rest of the room. The cast still immobilized her right wrist, though her left hand was free of bandages and the stitches were gone. Puffy pink skin around a darke
r pink scar proved the cut was real, not imagined, which led her to believe much of what she’d dreamed was actually real.
Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips and suddenly a straw was thrust between them and her eyes closed in relief as cool crisp water flowed into her mouth. She took several short sips before pushing the straw away with her tongue.
“Explain,” she whispered, her voice raspy with disuse.
“You remember me, Joy?”
Oh boy, do I, but she only nodded.
“My name is Bernardo ad Tormeo, but everyone calls me Nardo,” he explained, glad to see that this time, open eyes meant she was awake. “The twins who were with me at the rave brought you home. They found you collapsed on your living room floor. Infection, fever, slight concussion, dehydration, they knocked you for a loop. The women have been taking care of you. Grace cleared out the infection and your fever’s gone. I was keeping watch. I didn’t want you to wake up and be afraid.”
“Thank you,” she said after clearing her throat, “but I’m not afraid of anything and I could have taken care of myself.”
“Which is why you were passed out on the floor of your living room, I suppose.” He was smiling.
JJ closed her eyes, trying to remember and frowned when she couldn’t. “How long?” she asked.
“Three days here. Nine days from your injury,” he answered.
It was unsettling to have lost more days from her life, to know that she had been vulnerable to who knew what. Unnerved, she tried to sit up, fought the sudden dizziness and felt his arm around her, supporting her and lifting her slowly. His arms were strong and comforting and she wanted to rest her head against his shoulder, but she couldn’t. Weakness was something she couldn’t allow and dreams were far different than reality.
“Don’t,” she said and pushed against the shoulder she wanted so badly to lean on. “I don’t need help.”
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