“What’s it to you, angel boy? Where’s Raven? I thought he was coming with you. It would have been a whole lot easier to hide within the folds of his grey wings than to try to conceal those golden feathers of yours.”
“I don’t disagree. I hope the damn coal soot Julian and I are covered in helped hide us." At that comment, a black dust-covered Julian appeared behind the sooty form of Alexander. “Raven couldn’t come. There was an accident.”
“Has Raven been hurt?” I asked immediately.
“He’ll be alright.”
By that time both Vincent and I were nearly in his face, trying to learn what had actually happened, “Calm down. He got shot when we were leaving the jail. It’s ok, he’ll be fine. Sebastian is with him. He sent me on without him so you wouldn’t worry. He sent Julian to keep the peace between us, since Vince will be unable to leave. Raven’s decided the phone lines aren’t safe anymore, so we won’t be communicating except by magical means.”
I ignored the business about the phone. I was more concerned about Raven as was Vincent. I asked as soon as he stopped speaking, “How bad is Raven? Where was he hit?”
“The bastards got him in the shoulder, so he can’t fly for a while. He sends his love. He wanted you to know that he’ll come see you as soon as he can, Emma. I’m supposed to kiss you for him.”
“Really, you think, Alexander,” I said before Vincent could freeze him. Based on the glare covering Vincent’s face, a freeze ray was inevitable.
“Remember you can call me Alex.”
“I prefer Alexander. I like it. It sounds like the name of a warrior.”
“I think I like it, too, when you say it, honey.”
His golden eyes sparkled with tiny flames as he looked at me. Before Vincent could grumble about his over long look at me, Victor appeared out of thin air.
“One of you needs to come with me at once. The other two need to escort Emma inside and stay with her. There’s no time to take you back right now, Vincent.” That told me Victor had been monitoring our conversation or Vincent’s thoughts.
“I’ll take care of Emma,” they all said in unison much to Victor’s displeasure.
“Alexander come with me. I need you to look at the computer. I think Dark Hearts has hacked us. Vincent and Julian take Emma to my basement sanctuary at once. Do not bring her upstairs for any reason, until you hear from me.”
When Alexander looked as if he would’ve argued, Victor said in his most commanding tone, “Follow me. I understand you are the computer mastermind. Vincent and Julian will take care of Emma.” This silenced any objections. Keeping Vincent and Alexander apart was a good idea based on the looks they were exchanging. I didn’t even have time to ponder how impossible this situation with the seven of them was going to become as Victor led us to the basement entrance and then went back to join Alexander in his library.
The basement in Victor’s home was like none I’d ever seen. Even gaining entry to it was very ingenious. Victor pulled a book from his library wall, then, just as in a horror film, the entire fireplace slid sideways to allow us entry into a secret passageway. That wasn’t the end of its secrets. Victor left us as we walked inside the dark passage. We were immediately greeted by a solid concrete wall a few feet in front of us. The fireplace had slid almost back into place. We stood in the dark cubicle just large enough for the three of us as we waited to see what would happen next.
The fireplace snapped back into place and an overhead light illuminated the small chamber. The room was old and dusty with what I hoped were only cobwebs hanging from the ceiling just above our heads. I held in a scream and snuggled closer to the guys as a large black spider began crawling down a web, which was too close for comfort. When the eerie little beast came to the end of its web, I heard the soft sound of a slow-moving panel opening behind us. There were two more cubicles after that, each with its own creepy crawly things that triggered, nearly silent, opening panels. Vincent led our little group with Julian following close behind me. We finally came to a dimly lit corridor, which led to a winding staircase that seemed to take us deep into the cold earth.
The stone stairwell smelled damp and musty, but was better lit than the passageway cubicles had been. Vincent seemed to trigger the lights to come on as he passed close to them. After Julian walked beneath the lights they went out, leaving the stairway behind us bathed in darkness. There were no more spiders or creepy critters, which was fine with me. There were only steps, which seemed to go on forever. I was glad that my ankle was no longer throbbing as we climbed deeper and deeper underground.
We finally reached a large steel door. Vincent did a few things with the exterior panel, causing the door to open.
He wasted no time ushering Julian and me inside and closing the door behind us. As we walked further into the room, the lights became brighter. Recessed lighting in the ceiling gave the room an ominous glow. I noticed that it was a lovely room completely decorated in lush Victorian furnishings. There was an oversized bed, in the far corner of the large room, with an ornate wooden box-style frame and a deep blue velvet covering and bed curtains. It reminded me of something that should have been in an Edgar Allen Poe novel. Well, at least it wasn’t a coffin, I thought. Upon hearing no comment in my mind from Victor, I decided he must be busy.
I thought about them being upstairs and hoped they’d be ok. Dark Hearts must be close if Victor had taken the precaution of sending me all the way down here.
There was a large desk in another corner of the room. There was an elegant electric fireplace on the far wall. I knew there could be no electricity this far below ground, so there must have been a gigantic generator somewhere to power all this.
There was a small table with two decorative chairs near the fireplace and a stocked wine rack stashed to the side of a settee. We checked the door near the wine rack and found another hidden passageway, which included an enormous storage closet for supplies. There was another hidden room beyond that one. It housed an impressive computer system that monitored the entire house, a couple of chairs, and a bed in the corner. Victor could have hidden in these rooms for years and no one would have been the wiser. From what I’d seen there was enough food to last for a long time.
We went back into the first room we entered to wait. The entire room was furnished and decorated in shades of blue, which blended well with the ivory walls. The deep shades of sapphire reminded me of Victor’s eyes. The scent of darkness and exotic spice that was Victor lingered in the room. I wondered if he often slept in the secure room.
“This is really something, isn’t it?” Vincent said.
“He could’ve hidden here in comfort for quite a long time.”
“Yeah, the supply closet had at least a year’s worth of food, blood bags and bottles of water. I guess he wanted to make sure he had somewhere to hide if the need arose.”
“I wonder what’s going on with Dark Hearts. Do you think they know I’m here?” I asked in what I hope was a strong voice. I didn’t feel strong at the moment. It was creepy knowing you were this far below ground.
“I don’t know, but Victor wasn’t going to take any chances with your safety.”
“There’s even a secret exit that he told me about, which comes out in the small cemetery on the edge of the property,” Julian said. He hadn’t said much since he’d arrived. He merely said hello and then we left for the basement.
“Emma, you’re shaking. I’m going to get us a couple cans of pop. We may be down here awhile. It wouldn’t hurt us to relax a little. I won’t let anything happen to you, neither will Julian. Hey, I even found a shower in one of the other rooms. I’m sure there’s a change of clothes somewhere, too. Although soot does make you look more like a fierce warrior.” Vincent snickered at this brother who stood looking completely comfortable covered in soot. In the dimness of the room, all I could see was Julian’s white smile.
“I wouldn’t want to get this stuff all over Victor’s nice furniture. I’m heading for the sh
ower. I’m expecting a hug, Emma, as soon as I get back. I’m so damn glad to see you, but I didn’t want to get this soot all over you, too.”
“I’m so sorry for what I did to you. We can talk about it after you shower, ok?”
“Later,” he said as he quickly left the room with a trail of dust following him. The poor guy was a mess, but the concealment seemed to have gotten them here safely. I just hoped we’d all stay safe. I missed the others. I hadn’t seen Raven or Sebastian for several weeks. I missed Miles’ reassuring presence, too.
I hoped Raven was ok. He didn’t even know about the letter yet. He was undoubtedly the leader of their little group and needed to know. More than likely, he’d be my lead Shield, too. I wonder how he’d take that information. It was so much to digest. Now, with Dark Hearts so close, I needed the comfort of my guys. I’d always been taught to take care of myself and wondered when I’d started to rely on the guys so much. Now that I was eighteen, everything was changing, even my thinking. I was learning that it was ok to accept help when you needed it, and when facing Dark Hearts, I needed assistance.
Chapter Eleven
We sat in Victor’s beautiful room for what seemed like a long time. I played with the goblet of wine that Vincent had poured for me. I sipped it quietly, wondering what effect it would have on me. Vincent reassured me it would just relax me. I’d only ever had alcohol a few times. Mom and I shared a glass of wine every year on New Year’s Eve. It was like a tradition. I hoped she was safe like the letter indicated.
The burgundy liquid seemed to be warming my insides. I was glad when Julian came back into the room. He immediately sat down on the couch and scooped me up from beside Vincent, placing me on his lap after giving me a quick kiss. Vincent abruptly left the room to go check out the other passage. I think he was having a rough time with any affection shown to me in front of him. I’d have to watch that around all of them.
“I need to make sure we have another working exit should we need it,” he called back into us.
“Be careful, Vincent.” I told him.
“Always am, moppet.”
“Do you want me to go with you, Vince?”
“No, I’ll be fine. I think Emma would like to talk to you, bro. Later.”
“Be safe.”
“You, too, take care of Emma while I’m wandering around. I want to have a look at the monitors, too. Maybe we can see what is going on up there.”
I wasn’t fond of us being separated, but I did need some alone time with Julian. We hadn’t had the letter discussion and I owed him an apology for tricking him into doing something for me and then sneaking off.
It was almost too warm now as I sat cuddled in Julian’s lap. I wondered if it was from his close proximity or my blood. I’d ended up finishing it and part of a second small goblet of the fiery, burgundy liquid.
“Hope I didn’t piss off big brother, but I couldn’t resist kissing you. I’m so damn glad you’re alright. I can’t believe I got to come see you tonight. I wasn’t supposed to come for a couple more days.”
“I take it you have a schedule. One of the guys mentioned that you did.”
“We drew straws to see who got to visit you after Miles. Raven thought it would be wise to let him visit first since Victor’s known to be a bit unreceptive at times.”
I smirked at his remark, but made no comment. Under the circumstances, I thought Victor was doing much better than he had been.
“I’m glad you’re here, Julian. I have something to show you. I need to apologize, too, for tricking you like I did.”
“It’s ok. I thought that maybe you decided you couldn’t stand looking at the gargoyles any longer. They can be a little off-putting at times.”
“How did you know I could see?”
“I’m a bit of an empath at times. I felt your apprehension when we first walked by the gargoyles and knew you could see them. I also knew you didn’t want any hot chocolate. I just never dreamed you planned to leave me and the others.”
I reached up and stroked his high cheekbones while I looked into his brilliant green eyes, “I’m so sorry for doing that to you, but you guys lied to me, too. I know what you are, Julian.”
“I’m sorry, too, Emma. I didn’t think you’d find out before I was finally able to tell you. Very few humans know what any of us are. I wasn’t sure you’d believe me when I did finally tell you. It goes against everything you were taught about monsters.”
“You are not a monster. Neither are the others. I realize why you can’t tell humans what you are. They’d try either to lock you up in a psychiatric ward or attempt to kill you. Humans have a way of trying to destroy anything they don’t understand. I’m over being upset with all the guys for wanting to share me, too.”
“How did you find out about that? Did Vince tell you?”
“No, I heard your telepathic communications. I didn’t mean to listen in, but when it started happening, I didn’t know how to stop it. The closer I got to turning eighteen, the more of your thoughts I could hear.”
He quirked his brow at me, “Don’t worry I’m not reading your mind now. I’ve learned to control it.”
“That’s probably a good thing or most of us would get slapped.”
I let that remark slide. It was time to get down to the business of the letter reading before I got sidetracked by the handsome guy, that was still holding me. He’d been stroking my lower back since we’d stopped, but when he heard my tone of voice he’d stopped. He probably expected something bad. I showed him the letter as I had the others. His reaction was much the same. Julian seemed to take it as an honor bestowed on him. I wondered if he fully understood the impact of this on his life.
Julian was so full of life, an ornery prankster from what I’d heard, that it was it was hard to believe he could be the fierce warrior my father had considered him. I hoped someday to see more of his fun, adventurous side, but it would hardly be today after everything that happened.
“Hey, boo, how would you like to check out that other passageway?”
“Boo, what does that mean?”
“Well, you’re my little boo, because you’re just full of surprises. It’s also slang for boyfriend or girlfriend where I live now.”
“Well, I don’t think I’d make a very good boyfriend.”
“No, but I could get used to you being my girlfriend.”
“After all of this you’d still want me as your girlfriend?”
He didn’t answer. He just moved me off his lap and stood. He helped me up and we walked hand-in-hand to the door that led to the unexplored tunnel. I just hoped we didn’t run into Vincent or Victor. I didn’t think they’d be too happy with our little exploration. We weren’t going anywhere really, just nosing around a little.
We walked down the more primitive dirt floor path until we came to a cubbyhole in the wall. Julian pulled me inside and answered my earlier question. His lips met mine in a kiss that was timid at first, but changed into something like a pleasant discovery.
Julian’s lips were soft against mine as his talented lips moved over mine. His tongue didn’t seek mine out at first. We just kissed in that way of a shy first kiss, full of discovery and the hope of something more. His arms went around me and mine hugged his neck playing with strands of his pure white hair. A bit breathless, he released me. We again walked the path without a specific destination.
The path split in front of us. We listened for sounds of anyone else being inside the tunnels. Upon hearing nothing, we continued going forward with Julian now leading the way as the path got narrower. As we walked, I could hear the sound of what could only have been a waterfall. From what I’d seen I realized that Victor’s house had been built on top of a system of underground caves.
I realized that there must be an unground stream or something as the sound of rushing water grew louder. Julian would look back, periodically, to make sure I was all right. We could barely walk single file so holding hands wasn’t an option anymore, but neith
er of us wanted to turn back.
I hoped that Vincent hadn’t gotten back and was angry or worried that we had wandered off. He knew Julian well enough that he knew we were just checking the place out. We trudged forward towards what sounded like a large, roaring waterfall.
It was surprisingly warm in the cave system. As we walked, I could feel the sweat running down my back. I was getting more uncomfortable the closer we got to the waterfall. What if the path dead-ended into the waterfall? I didn’t want to drown or to lead us back if we couldn’t switch places. I was getting nervous when Julian finally stopped.
“I can feel your fear, boo. There’s nothing to worry about in these caves. We have many caves like this back home. I hope to have something beautiful to show you soon. It doesn’t sound like it’s much further now. Are you going to be ok?”
How could I disappoint him when he looked at me like that with those amazing green eyes? I nodded and smiled, not wanting to yell above the roaring water as he had done.
We walked a short distance and rounded a corner. I stopped dead as the narrow path opened into a wide cavern that was brilliantly lit from the sunlight filtering in from openings above the waterfall. We must have been walking slowly upwards and I hadn’t noticed, or perhaps a hot spring warmed the room. It was toasted warm.
The place had colorful speleothems above the crystal clear subterranean lake. We walked near the small lake that was filled by the waterfall. It wasn’t as powerful a waterfall as I expected. It did look to be at least fifty feet high. The aquarium-blue falls were not pounding the rocks below. They were more of a wall of blue satin as they fell into the serene pool. The sound must have echoed through the cave system making it sound much louder than it actually was inside the large cavern.
“I love it. I’ve never seen anything like this. What are you doing, Julian?” I asked rather freaked as he stripped off his shirt and was unfastening his pants.
He immediately walked over to where I was standing just inside the mouth of the cavern. He took my hand as he spoke, “Come here. I want to show you something. He led me over to the pool where he stooped down pulling me with him. He dipped our joined hands into what could only be described as deliciously warm bath water.
Dark Secrets Page 13
