Mark looked at Josh like he was from Mars, but Dominic nodded and said, “Ah yes. She really does have a way of lighting up a room. I’d say most brides-to-be look that way - hopeful and excited about starting the journey of life with someone they love. It’s quite enchanting.”
Now Mark looked at Dominic like he was visiting Josh on Mars. He shook his head in disbelief as they entered the room and headed for the mosaic.
Mark reminded Dominic, “Now remember, no matter what happens…five minutes is what we agreed upon, no more.”
“I remember, Mark,” Dominic said as he took out the handkerchief-wrapped relic. He twisted it as Josh had suggested on the plane on the way to California and a click was heard by all as the relic now had the look of a sunflower with triangular petals all around its circumference. He looked at Josh then at Mark, who both nodded for him to proceed. Dominic inserted the relic into the perfect fit indentation in the center of the orchid, but nothing happened.
“Well, that was disappointing,” Dominic said.
“What now?” Mark said.
“Try pushing it like a button or turning it,” Josh suggested.
But try as he might, nothing happened. “Well, I have no doubt it goes here, but there must be more to the key in order to make the mechanism work.”
“Well, we tried, let’s go,” Mark said nervously.
“I agree,” Dominic said disappointedly. “Seems we need to do a little more research.”
“Don’t be to disappointed, Dominic. It definitely goes there; we’re just missing a piece to the puzzle. We’ll find it. I mean, come on, three months ago we didn’t even know this place existed. A month ago, we found this amazing key and the prophecy and now we know where it goes. That’s a lot more than we knew a few months ago. If the Bloodstone Heart fiasco taught me anything, it’s that these things take time, but with your brains and resources and Mark’s PI abilities at uncovering just about anything, we’ll figure this out in no time,” Josh encouraged.
Mark smiled, nodding his head rather comically in agreement. Dominic patted Josh on the shoulder, “You’re right, Josh. Together we’ll figure this out. Add the three charming ladies back at the house and we’re nearly impossible to defeat. Let’s head on home.”
One by one they exited the room following one another down the tunnel to the docks and their waiting boat. In no time at all they were back in the Mercedes, calling Katarina, Melanie, and Alyssa to meet them for a lovely dinner in town to update them on all they had learned on their fruitful road trip and the new treatment the doctors were working on for the boys.
*****
The following day found Sally and Dean back at the Larsen house in Connecticut. Dominic had become quite fond of the hazel-eyed, scruffy werewolf and his beautiful, green-eyed witch. He was eager to talk with Sally about this warning that his sister, Abby, and his wife of too few years, Sophia, were trying to verbalize, but right now was a time for rejoicing their safe return, and updating them on Blake, Devon, and Anton’s condition.
A phone call that morning from Dr. Donaldson reported the commencement of the treatment already started on Blake was to be administered to Devon. If all their vitals stayed on the plus side, they would start the treatment on Anton later that evening.
As what seemed to always happen, the group migrated to the study for an update on the treatment report from the doctor along with any new tidbits Dominic had come up with on the prophecy and the relic. It thrilled Dominic to be around so many that found his passion for history and this little piece of the past pertaining to his family so intriguing. So often in the past when he went on about things like these with strangers or guests, he could see their eyes glaze over and boredom take a front seat, but not this batch of kids. Of course, having a role in how the prophecy plays out, may have had a bit to do with it, Dominic chuckled to himself. Either way, it was a joy to have so many interested in it and he felt sure with all those minds together, they would come up with a solution to the relic puzzle in no time.
The relic was passed around the room as Dominic told about the indentation in the black orchid mosaic that they had placed it in previously.
“It seemed to fit perfectly. We’re quite sure that it belongs there, we just don’t know how it interfaces with the mechanism,” Dominic told them.
“So you feel sure there is another room or hidden tunnel to somewhere in the room?” Sally asked.
“Pretty sure,” Mark said as he unrolled a map with a vellum drawing he made of the room from the measurements he had taken when he visited there. When the sketch of the room was placed on top of the map, they could see both drawings and the empty space unaccounted for. “See…here and here,” he pointed to the vellum, showing Sally. It was apparent there was extra space on either side of the pentagon.
Katarina was looking at a book that had sketches of what the four gems of the Ancient Ones looked like when the relic came around for her turn to inspect it.
“What is this indentation on the back for?” Katarina asked.
“We’re not sure,” Dominic said. “Josh feels it might be significant, but it could just be from the casting process.
“I have to agree with Josh, Niky, It’s not a random mark, I mean, it’s large and serves no purpose structurally as far as I can see,” Katarina said.
“Hey, Dominic, since we are looking at stuff anyway, can we see that Blood Diamond you told us about yesterday in the car?” Mark asked.
“Of course,” Dominic said as he got up and went to a picture in the corner of the room, and pushed on it. With a click, the picture popped forward, revealing a safe. He spun the wheel to the right and to the left and then to the right again, then opened it. Rummaging around, he pulled out a handkerchief wrapped up in a ball and pulled the ring out of the center.
“Holy cow. That thing’s huge,” Mark said. “That’s a diamond?”
“Yes. The one and only Blood Diamond,” Dominic said.
Katarina spoke up, “You mean THIS Blood Diamond?” she pointed to the book she had been looking at.
“Yes. Of course, when that was drawn it had not turned black,” Dominic explained.
“It says here that it turned blood red first when the brothers began to fight, then as if dying, it slowly turned to black,” Katarina read.
“Yes, according to the legend,” Dominic confirmed.
The ring was passed around the room as was the map and vellum of the altar room. Dominic could almost feel the electricity in the room from the minds within thinking, wondering, and speculating about the past and all the secrets it held on to like a leaf struggling to cling to the livelihood of its branch, only to lose the battle and flutter to the ground.
“Niky, don’t you think its odd that all these gems are the same shape and size? I mean, why would you do that? Some gems look better with different cuts or shapes. According to these drawings, aside from the color and some of the faceting, they are the same,” Katarina pointed out.
“I don’t know. That is interesting, isn’t it? I never really thought about it, but it is odd indeed,” Dominic said.
That’s when Josh just about jumped out of his seat, running towards Dean who was inspecting the ring. “Can I see that for just a second, Dean?”
“Sure.” Dean held it out to Josh.
“And Dominic, can I see the relic?” Josh asked excitedly.
“Yes. What are you thinking, Josh?” Dominic asked.
“Well, it just dawned on me that the shape of the diamond may be part of the key. Think about it…the front emblem is made up of all brothers…W for Wallace, L for Larsen, D for Douglas, and M for Mathew, making this funny little king shape. We figured that out quite a while back, remember?” Josh reminded them.
“Yes, but…” Dominic said.
“So if each of the kings had a jewel, the same size and the same shape it would make sense to make it into a ring and use it as part of a key. A key that all four brothers would have access to because they all had one part
of the key,” Josh said as he put the ring into the groove on the back of the insignia. “See? Perfect fit. I would guess you put this into the orchid then insert the ring into the indentation while wearing it and turn it,” Josh suggested.
“But we couldn’t turn it when we tried it in the indentation yesterday,” Mark said.
“No, but that’s because we had the insignia pointing towards us. If we were to put the insignia relic in with the grove pointing towards us so we could insert the ring, the groove would make for leverage with the gem,” Josh explained.
“I think you may have something there, Josh,” Dominic said.
Chapter Twenty Three
The whole room was in a buzz about the new possibilities Josh had just opened up with his theory of how the key worked, when the doorbell rang. Dominic excused himself and headed to greet the guest at the door. He was taken aback at the stunning beauty standing there. Her sapphire blue eyes looked sad and stormy as she introduced herself with a slight British accent.
“Mr. Larsen?” she asked.
“Yes,” Dominic said.
“I’m Julianna D’Angelo.”
“Oh my,” Dominic said, rather unsure what to say.
“I’m assuming by your reaction that Anton told you who I am?” she said sadly.
“Yes. He did,” Dominic answered.
“I heard Anton was sick now too, like his cousins. Is that right?” she asked.
“I’m afraid that is true,” Dominic answered.
“Then I am here to help in anyway I can, to put an end to this mess,” she said as her blue eyes filled with tears. A stray spiral of hair slipped from behind her shoulder and shone a deep auburn in the setting sunlight to the west. He thought for a moment on what he should do, but it didn’t take long to realize the sincerity that emitted from her like a neon sign.
“Please, come in,” Dominic said. He led her to the salon, which he rarely used except for honored guests. “If you will excuse me for just a moment, I have to take care of something quickly. Can I get you anything?”
“No. Thank you,” she said as she sat at the edge of an uncomfortable looking but beautiful chair.
“I’ll be just a second,” Dominic said as he headed to the study.
Everyone turned when he re-entered the room and said, “I’m sorry everyone, I’m going to be awhile. I have a guest in the salon, so if you would go on without me, I’ll excuse myself.”
Many heads nodded in agreement and went back to their conversations, but he quietly asked Josh to join him.
Josh excused himself from Katarina and Lanie and followed Dominic out of the room. Once they were behind closed doors, he explained who was in the other room and asked him to join in the conversation. Josh agreed and they proceeded to the salon.
Josh could feel his temper rising as he thought back on all the things that the Dark Angel had been involved in, but when they entered the room and Josh saw the sadness and tear stains down her cheeks, just about every bad thought he had ever had towards her flew out the window.
“Julianna? I hope you don’t mind, I asked Josh, Anton’s brother, to join us,” Dominic said.
“Of course,” Julianna said as she rose and shook Josh’s hand with both of hers, “Oh, I’m so glad to meet you! Anton spoke very fondly of you.”
Josh nodded, but being a man of little words and rather shy, he didn’t know what to say, so he just sat. Julianna took his cue and sat as did Dominic.
“Josh, Julianna said at the door that she had heard that Anton was sick and she wants to help us,” Dominic said.
“Yes. I do, very much. I believe I know who the culprit is. I told Anton about my suspicions, but I’m afraid he didn’t believe me,” she said, looking down at her lap.
“Why should we believe you if he didn’t?” Josh asked suddenly.
“I’ve done some awful things, but you must believe me that I never intentionally hurt any of you. What Dimitri did to Ms. Harper was awful. You must know though, that I never ordered her to be murdered or hurt, I just told him to get the Bloodstone Heart back. I had no idea you were related to the Larsens. I’m not saying I’m not responsible for what I did, or what my employees did; I am, but if I had known, I would have tried to stop all of this before it landed the Bloomingtons and Anton in the hospital.”
“Then you admit you were involved with their sickness?” Josh interrogated.
“I did supply the Deadman’s Blood, but I didn’t poison any of them. I didn’t know who the Deadman’s Blood was intended for, I swear,” Julianna said as more tears ran down her face. It was quite apparent she was not comfortable showing this side of herself, but she also knew without showing her vulnerable underbelly, so to speak, they would never believe her.
“And my parents? Did you have anything to do with the plane blowing up or the attempt on my life?” Josh asked.
“NO. Absolutely not. Besides, it’s not my style. I was an assassin. I took out one person, two tops, but I would never take out hundreds. I’ve done horrible things for money, but I do have my principles. Taking out a whole plane to kill one or two is sloppy. I’d never agree to something like that.”
Josh’s eyes welled up.
“I’m sorry, Josh. I didn’t mean to be so callous. I’ve been doing this for so long, I guess, I just get numb to the morbidity of it all. I’m not condoning what I’ve done, but it’s how I survived all these years. It wasn’t until I met Anton that I had any sense of compassion again. When he told me I had been wrong about Owen and the rest of the Larsens for all these years, something snapped within me and with it all the anger, hate, and horridness I wrapped myself up in fell away too. I want to help. I want to do the right thing, not just for Anton, but for myself,” Julianna explained.
“How do you think you can help us?” Dominic asked.
“Well, like I said, I know the ‘who’, I just don’t the ‘why’?” she said.
“Who is it then?” Dominic asked.
“Your friend, Dr. Michael Rowe,” she said.
“But why?” Dominic asked.
“I don’t know,” Julianna admitted.
“Do you have any proof?” Josh asked.
“I did do some snooping. He has an office on the west side of the airport that I checked out. It is there that we most often met when he wanted a job done, but I didn’t take anything because I didn’t want him to get suspicious,” she explained.
“Like what?” Josh asked.
“Like a list of blood shipments here, the dates of May 29 and June 12 were marked in a different color,” she said.
“What does that prove? We know he sends shipments of blood. He’s been doing it for years,” Dominic asked.
“Nothing on its own, but May 29 is just two days before I delivered the Deadman’s Blood to him. If he contaminated those two shipments, it would be about the right time for Blake getting sick,” she said.
“But Blake was in California when he got sick and Devon was in Ireland,” Josh argued.
“He was….BUT he asked to bring some of our stash of blood home with him because they were out and Devon took some with him to Ireland,” Dominic said.
“Well then why haven’t you gotten sick?” Josh asked.
“Because he’s older and older vampires don’t need blood as much as younger vampires do,” Julianna explained. “That explains why Blake was the first; he’s the youngest and consumes the most blood.”
“Is that true, Dominic?” Josh asked.
“Yes. She’s right. I haven’t had any blood in months. Just don’t need it like I used to,” Dominic confirmed.
“Okay, well what about the plane? You’re saying the doctor blew up the plane?” Josh asked.
“No, but he could have hired someone or arranged it,” Julianna suggested.
“How?” Dominic asked.
“I’m not sure, but I did find a copy of a death certificate with a post-it note on it with a date and flight number. I assumed it was a patient being shipped back from Pen
nsylvania to Minnesota,” she said.
“So? I’m sure that kind of stuff gets done everyday,” Josh questioned.
“I’m sure it does, however, I also found a receipt for fifty thousand dollars from a guy named Kompton. All it said was ‘Services’ but when I researched Kompton I found a local guy with that name, that deals in bomb making paraphernalia. I also found a digital timer in a file cabinet that looked ready to be inserted into a bomb. Also, when I checked the flight number and date, it was the same as the plane that went down,” Julianna explained.
Josh swallowed hard and asked, “What about the attempts on my life?”
“I found a receipt for a car rental in Minnesota for a dark silver midsize car rented from June 25th-June 28th. Would that be in the right time frame for when you were run down?” Julianna asked.
Josh thought for a moment, “Yeah, I suppose, but none of this is concrete. It’s all circumstantial.”
“True, but it certainly makes one suspicious. Michael has been my closest friend for so many years I can’t even remember. Who better than someone so close to know all the workings of this family? Plus the prophecy said ‘the dark one guises himself as a friend’, ” Dominic said.
“But why me? Why my parents?” Josh asked.
“I don’t know, but he did know that you were my son,” Dominic said.
“How?” Josh asked.
“He is the one who ran the DNA test for me; of course, he didn’t know it was my hair in the baggie labeled ‘Father’ until after I told you and Anton,” Dominic replied.
“May I ask what you meant by a ‘prophecy’?” Julianna asked. “It wouldn’t happen to be about the Ancient Ones - the four brothers, would it?”
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