“Have you written any songs?” I probed, wanting to know more about his affliction with the only world he seemed to truly understand as a whole just the way his mother had taught him to.
“Ah have,” he replied but didn’t elaborate.
“Can I hear one?”
He chuckled and picked at a string, stuffing the rest of the apple slice into his mouth. “They’re not ready.”
“They’re not ready, or you’re not ready?”
His smile widened, and he answered, “Aam not ready.”
“Ahh, well, why aren’t you ready?” I didn’t want to push him too far, but now I was extremely curious since he was being so shy about something he truly loved and something he was great at. Remarkable was more the word for it.
“They’re about ye, loove. Every single one oov them,” he sighed, turning to stare directly into my eyes, amber fire meeting water yet again.
“Oh,” I said, avoiding his eyes and smiling wide like a damn fool.
“No need tae be shy about this, hen. I’m not. I’ve looved ye since th’ first moment Ah laid eyes on ye. Aam not scared tae say it. Not anymoor.”
“Hmmm, you definitely know the right words to say,” I purred as I leaned over just enough to kiss his bare arm next to me, causing his smile to broaden the intimate contact. I rolled onto my back, pulling the sheet over my naked chest and raising my arms above my head in a long, satisfying stretch.
“Och, Ah loove it when ye arch yer back loch that,” he moaned as he stared, eyes hungrily watching my movements despite having had been intimate at least three times already in the same night.
“And I love it when you notice when I arch my back,” I countered.
He put his guitar down and leaned over me, pressing his lips to mine and emitting a growl of hunger and desire.
“Ah bet ye do.”
“And that accent is so hot,” I breathed into his slightly parted lips. His hand roamed over my body through the sheet, taking its time in all the important places. “You wanting a round four? Because I can oblige.”
“Ah’d be okay wit a round four.” He nibbled at my collarbone, and I yearned in response, the tightening in my gut and the heat rippled up from my center into my chest.
Just as we were getting into what we were doing, both of our phones went off, causing the both of us to sigh in frustration, knowing it could only be one place since we both had the same ringtone for the office.
“Fuck,” I cursed as I sat up and got off of the bed, wrapping the sheet tightly around my chilled body. I picked up McGrady’s phone and threw it to him while answering my own. “Van Helsing, here.”
“We need you at the office. Everyone within the Initiative is being put on high alert,” Jane’s nasally tone crossed over the line, making me cringe. I wasn’t happy about this turn of events, but if it was severe enough for them to call the both of us, then it had to have been something huge.
“Can you tell me what’s going on?” I asked just on the off chance that she could.
“I’m sorry, Isabelle, I can’t. I’m under strict orders to have you come in. That’s all I can say.”
“Damn,” I thought for a moment and dropped the sheet, picking up some clothes and starting to throw them on as I spoke to Jane. “Alright, McGrady and I will be in shortly.”
“Okay, I’ll let Governor Richards know.”
I rolled my eyes and said, “Thanks, Jane. See you soon.” I hung up the phone and threw it on the bed, pulling on a pair of underwear and jeans. “You get the same call?”
“High alert. Git our asses into th’ office. Yup. Sure did.” The words came out of him in a rush, and he began to put his clothes back on and turned around the room trying to find his shoes.
“If you’re looking for those ugly ass hiking boots they’re over there in the corner,” I said as I pointed to the corner of the room closest to the door.
“They’re not ugly. They’re down right dashin’.” He scrambled to the corner and slipped his feet into his shoes and, once both of us were dressed, we made our way down the stairs, meeting Addi and Jared at the bottom. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail and stuffed my phone into my pocket along with a wallet and the house key.
“You guys get the call?” Jared asked as he pulled a black t-shirt over his head.
I nodded and replied, “Sure did. You guys ready to go?”
“Yeah,” Addi responded, pulling her hair up into a messy bun, “let’s do this.”
“Ye troops want tae ride together? We can take mah car,” McGrady offered.
“Sounds good, brother,” Jared said as he walked past McGrady and to the door, giving him a clap on the back.
We all walked out to the car, me locking the door behind us even though we never did so. I got a host of weird looks from Jared, Addi, and McGrady and I couldn’t help but shrug.
“If it’s so bad they’re calling us in and putting us all on high alert I’m going to lock the damn door. Don’t give me that look,” I said as I pointed at each one them.
They knew I was right, and we would see what this was about soon enough. All I knew was that I was scared of what it could be, and a solid pit of terror had formed in my stomach as we all climbed into the Jeep.
Chapter 8
Jane met us at the main entrance and she asked us to meet her in the largest conference room we had toward the back of the building where Richards was waiting for all of us to arrive. There were around twenty of us in total in the Extermination team alone, each a Van Helsing from somewhere in the lineage except for Addison. She had been recruited the same way my mother had. They had called in the retrieval team as well, which consisted of McGrady and at least another fifteen individuals.
When I walked into the room with McGrady by my side, Richards’ eyes met mine and narrowed into slits as he took in the muscle bound Scot beside me. Jealousy flickered behind his eyes, and his nostrils flared in irritation. He knew McGrady and I were together and had been for some time now, but for some odd reason actually seeing us together ignited a rage in him that I could feel causing my skin to prickle from all the way across the room. We took a spot along the wall as far away from Richards as we could, and I averted my gaze to McGrady who was practically staring holes into Richards. I felt extremely uncomfortable in that moment, wishing I could turn into a tiny ball and roll into a hiding place never to be seen again.
I nudged him with an elbow and whispered, “Stop that.”
“Stop what, loove,” he said through gritted teeth, his jaw clenching and unclenching with the obvious anger he felt toward our governor. It didn’t help Richards had been trying to sleep with me since he met me, and McGrady knew all about that.
“Stop staring at him like that,” I looked to the floor, “you’re going to set him on fire looking at him like that.”
He chuckled next to me and I could feel his arm move against mine as he did so. “Mah stare can’ set him oan fire, loove. Not literally.” He paused for a moment and seemed to ponder the possibility. “Well, not that Ah knoo of. Mebbe Ah cood give it a try.”
I laughed louder than I had anticipated, Richards’ eyes shot back to me as I attempted to stifle it by covering my mouth. I put my other hand up and said, “Sorry.” That seemed to be enough for him to forgive me, but as soon as I was finished, his gaze turned back to McGrady, and I could sense that McGrady was doing his best to ignore him.
Everyone had filtered into the room, leaving very little space for anyone or anything else. Jane was the last one to enter after making sure everyone who was called in were all accounted for, locking the door behind her. My heart began to hammer in my chest, and anxiety pierced my mind. We never locked doors just in case anything were to happen inside the building. This was a display to show us how dangerous the situation was, and my palms began to sweat as I took McGrad
y’s hand in mine. The room went silent, all eyes turning to look at our governor, who was now standing at the front of the room with his hands behind his back and feet shoulder width apart, his gaze looking over every single person in the room. I noticed someone was missing almost right away, seeing only nineteen Van Helsings beside myself. It was a woman with beautiful blonde hair and brown eyes with a creamy complexion, but I couldn’t remember her name. I looked around the room, and she was nowhere to be seen.
“Something’s not right,” I whispered to McGrady.
“What do you mean?” Jared said from my other side, Addison and his attention turning to me with wide eyes.
“Look around the room. You notice someone missing?”
They looked around the room, trying not to look as if they were searching for a missing piece of the puzzle, which I had noticed fairly quickly once we were all packed into the room like sardines.
“Oh God.” Addi had put the pieces together rather quickly. Her back stiffened, and her body tensed as she took a deep, shaky breath in as she realized that one specific person was nowhere to be seen. “Selena’s not here.”
I would’ve recognized the mop of red hair anywhere, but, as I turned to search the room, the flaming red that usually occupied the space by the door was missing.
“If I could have all of your attention, I’d like to get this started so we can all get home quickly,” Richards explained from the front of the room, his calm and presentable demeanor not changing in the face of what some had noticed as a few looked around the room just like we had.
One woman from the retrieval team, Johnson, was already in tears, trying to stifle her sniffles and the sobs that wanted to rack her body, causing her shoulders to shake. I imagined the worst possible thing to happen within the Initiative, and I could feel the sting of tears as the realization hit me.
“There has been an incident,” Richards announced, his voice the epitome of calm as he spoke. “I want to try to break this news as gently as possible, but unfortunately, there is no easy way to say this.” He paused, looking at each of us in turn before continuing.
“Selena Van Helsing has been killed.”
Johnson let out a high-pitched sob and fell to her knees as shouts erupted in the room, the man from the retrieval team with a shock of red hair that had come to retrieve the Sanguinarian Blade with McGrady recently, knelt down at her side and placed comforting hands on her shoulders as she wept uncontrollably.
Richards raised his hands into the air and shouted over the crowd. “Please, everyone, if we could have silence I can explain further.”
As quiet overcame the room once more I could see each heart breaking like it were my own, the Van Helsing line having such a pure and profound connection to one another that we all seemed to be shocked that we hadn’t felt anything before now.
“We are not entirely sure how this has happened, but this has led us to believe that someone is targeting those in the Van Helsing line that live in the city of New Orleans,” Richard claimed as he gaze swept to me, freezing on my face for all of a second, and then back to the small crowd. The only sound in the room now were Johnson’s sobs as Jane came to lead her from the room, making comforting and soothing noises as they left us in silence.
“We are placing all Van Helsing descendants within the city on high alert. You may not go on any cases alone, and you must walk out of the building with at least one other person. This may not stop an attack altogether, but it may deter one just long enough for us to investigate. Also, I am aware that some of you have not received your government issued custom weaponry. This is now mandatory. If you have not done so, an appointment will be made for you and you must be there no matter what time it is. We are also issuing a handgun to protect yourself until your appointment, and you will keep them even after. We are unsure as of right now who or what has killed Selena, but we want you armed in any way possible to be safe.”
“And what do you suggest we do until you figure out who did this? Who’s investigating?” Addi said, asking the one question I was certain was on everyone’s mind.
All eyes turned back to Richards, who was staring at Addi like he hadn’t expected anyone to have questions. He cleared his throat.
“The FBI will be investigating this. I ask that all of you cooperate with this investigation.”
Silence greeted us again like old friends as everyone took in this information, nods being exchanged amongst the agents of the Initiative. If any of us were behind this, I couldn’t tell.
Richards clapped his hands together and continued. “Now, if everyone will form a line at the receptionist desk. Jane will give you an appointment card and issue your firearm. If you have any further questions, I will be in the office directly behind her.”
The room was still quiet when Richards left, followed closely by Jane. We stood there for a moment, trying to take in everything we had just been told. There had been those targeting the Van Helsing as long as we could remember, but we had never been put on high alert like this before. There was something they knew that they weren’t telling us, but there was no conceivable way they would let us be privy to that information unless they were sure. After a few moments, the four of us pushed through the crowd and toward Jane’s desk at the front of the building where we were the first group to get in line to get our appointments and firearms. I let McGrady lead, standing behind him and watching as a man I had never seen before handed him a gun with a hip holster after writing down the serial number and showing him how to use it, but McGrady was an expert marksman, and he had the marks on his record to prove it.
“There’s no need. Ah knoo how tae use it. Thank ye,” he said to the man as he began to tell him all about the safety and how it worked.
I hated to give the man a hard time, but McGrady had taught me how to use it too so there was no need for the lesson. As a Retriever, McGrady didn’t need the specialized weaponry like I did so they let him off with just the gun, but since I hadn’t made my appointment for my weapons yet, which I had been trying to avoid, I got a cute little card and a smile from Jane. I looked down at the card and saw that the fabricator was the same one Jared used, and I had the number sitting on my desk for and he was located in the French Quarter. Then I saw the time.
“Jane, this appointment is in fifteen minutes. How do you expect me to make it on time?” I asked, pointing at her with the card in between my fingers, my voice slightly shrill as I tried to think of a way to do this.
“That’s your appointment, Izzy. Sorry. As our best we need you to be armed appropriately,” she replied, checking my name off of her list on a clipboard.
“Does it not mean anything to you people that I got to number one without this stuff?”
“Git yer gun an’ I’ll take ye right now, Izzy. No need tae fret. We’ll git ye thur,” McGrady assured me, giving me a wink and a smile.
“Alright.” I smiled and put the card in my pocket. “As long as you know where you’re going.”
“I do.”
I was given my gun with the holster and went through the whole letting the man teach me how to use it thing, and then we were off to get my fabulous custom weapons fabricated. I hated feeling rushed and fifteen minutes wasn’t a lot of time to get there. It may have been late, but all the crazies came out in the French Quarter when it was late which made me cringe at the thought of having to head in that direction at all.
As McGrady drove, a thought came to mind. Yes, he was a part of Retrieval, but why didn’t he need special weaponry just in case? That was never clarified, and it was something I found to be odd. We were almost there when I felt I could ask him.
“Why don’t you guys have to have custom shit? You know, just in case,” I asked, staring at his profile as we drove. His elegant nose and high cheekbones stood out in the flashing lights of the streetlamps as we passed, his eyes sparkling
just slightly.
“Ah see it this way. Aam not as special as ye,” he said with a grin on his face. He was near laughing at my ridiculous question, and I didn’t appreciate it.
“Yeah, I don’t think so.”
“Think of it this way, then. Ye come from a unique bloodline which is why ye do whit ye do. Ah don’t, which is why Ah get tae clean up after ye.”
I looked at him with a starry-eyed gaze and said, “I don’t think they realize just how special you are.”
He laughed and beamed, only taking a second to look over at me and then back at the road where his eyes belonged. “Bein’ able tae git ye off so many times in a night doesn’ make me special.”
“Maybe not to them, but it does to me.”
We pulled up to the storefront of the fabricator and parked without a single word spoken before he turned to me and put his arm on the back of the seat, barely even an inch from my face. My breathing picked up, and my back arched toward him of its own accord.
“Well, as lang as ye think I’m special that’s whit matters.” He planted a quick kiss on my lips and turned to open his door and step out. “Noo, let’s goo make ye moor badass ‘en ye already arr.”
“Sounds good to me,” I squealed as I hopped out of the SUV, making a beeline to the front of the vehicle and waiting for McGrady.
I spotted the sign that read, ‘Leeland’s’ easily, taking McGrady’s hand in mine and leading the way until we got to the door when he thought it was a very good idea to open the door for me. I stepped inside, letting the cold air of the inside flow over my skin. I sighed, refreshed after the few seconds of suffocating humidity outside. A man came around a counter at the very back of the store past the displays of beautifully crafted weapons, his presence a looming but comforting one all the same. If Jared hadn’t told me he was a teddy bear, I would’ve been intimidated. According to Jared, he was the best and brightest when it came to crafting weapons, and I was about to see just how good he was. My brother’s pieces were beautiful and suited him well, so I was excited about getting something made. Plus, it was paid for by our government, so I was doubly excited.
Chasing Shadows (The Initiative Book 1) Page 8
