“Max Deeter of Eternal Island, you are accused of First Degree Battery and Assault with intent to kill a woman with child. How do you plead?”
The crowd went wild. Some were yelling at Max, some were yelling at Abe and some were just yelling, period. Abe slammed the gavel down on the desk three times again.
“Order!”
As the crowd quietened down, they focused their attention on the cage in the center of the room, some praying this was all just a big mistake.
“How do you plead?”
Max’s face was hard, and if looks could kill, Abe would be have been ashes by now.
“Not guilty!”
There were a few people that gave relieved sighs in the crowd, but they knew it wasn’t over yet, and so did Max.
“If he is found innocent, he is exiled to the mainland for as long as I am High Vampire of Eternal Island because other recent events have caused me to question where his loyalties lie and I no longer trust him at my side. If he is found guilty… he will watch the sun rise.”
“As you all know, Max is my second in command. If he is found innocent, he will no longer be my second because I have personally witnessed the crime he has committed. If he is found innocent, he is exiled to the mainland for as long as I am High Vampire of Eternal Island. If he is found guilty… he will watch the sun rise.”
There were gasps all around the room.
“The victim will likely make a full recovery due to the fact that the newest witch on the island is a psychic, mind reader, and an extremely talented healer, as well. She saved the victim’s life, and the baby’s, too. The accused has pleaded ‘not guilty’ to this crime and the court will not convene until the victim can testify. The accused will remain under supervised lock and key until that time. Court adjourned!” Abe hit the desk once with his gavel and stood up.
“You going to see if Ariana will testify, too?” Jonah asked as he walked beside Abe. “I’ll testify that Lidia told me about the baby and when Max saw the two of us talking, he got pissed off and started screaming at her.”
“You can’t testify if you’re going to judge. Decide which you’d rather do. I’m going to see if Lidia’s awake and if the Shaman has seen her yet. Then I’m going to check on Ariana. If she is asleep, I’ll leave talking to her about testifying until tomorrow. Either way, that piece of shit won’t set foot on this island again.”
Jonah yawned. “I think I’ll crash for the day. I really hope we don’t have any more excitement until after the sun sets.”
Abe smiled at Jonah. “You and me both, cuz.”
Jonah smiled a big cheesy smile and hit the elevator button to take him to the second floor.
§ § §
When Abe walked through the door-less doorway to Lidia’s chamber, he was surprised to see her sitting up in bed. There wasn’t a scratch on her and she was smiling.
“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes? I’m glad to see you’re awake. You look like you might be feeling a little better than you were a couple of hours ago,” Abe said as he sat down on the edge of Lidia’s king-sized bed.
“I want to meet her. Please,” Lidia said beaming. “I hear that she had a vision of me being in pain and, when you all found me, she started handing out orders like she was some kind of general, bossing you around. She saved me and my baby, Abe. I owe her at least a heartfelt thank you. And I hear that someone here is a little sweet on her. Is that true? Are you in love?”
“Yes. But… she doesn’t feel the same.” Abe lowered his gaze. “And on top of that, just to add to the fun, Julia brought back Ariana’s dead husband as a ghost. That really pisses me off. How can I have the slightest chance of winning her heart when the man she loves is there every minute of the day and night, a constant reminder? Even if he’s see-through? I was on my way to see her, anyway. If she is awake, I’ll tell her that you wanted to see her. If not, I’ll leave word with her roommate.” Abe turned and looked at the door. “I’ll have someone come put your door back on. Oh, and congratulations on the baby. I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks, Abe. I am, too. What will happen to Max?” Lidia asked as she played with the ruffle of her comforter.
“What do you want to happen to him?” Abe asked.
“Well, if it had just been me, I would have asked to keep him away from me. But he knew I was pregnant. I told him, and then he flipped. He called me a whore, and then… well, you saw…” Lidia’s eyes were slightly unfocused; she was staring into space. “He knew I was carrying his child and he could still do that to me?” Lidia met Abe’s eyes. “I want to be there when he burns.”
“I don’t think that will be a problem. You will have to testify in court when you feel up to it. I will ask Ariana to testify, too. Jonah said he wants to, but he can’t testify and judge at the same time, and I need him to judge, so I can be sure of a majority. Trent is the third one on the panel. I’ll make sure Max gets what he deserves.” Abe smiled and smoothed her hair softly. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay. Thank you.”
Abe dialed the maintenance crew as he headed to the second floor.
§ § §
Julia made her way down to the holding cells. There was a room beneath the courtroom that could hold up to eight prisoners in separate cells, sixteen if necessary. More often than not, all but one or two of the cells were empty, for the simple fact that Abe usually questioned, sentenced and carried out the punishment all in one day.
At least Max had been smart enough to plead not guilty and give her enough time to get him the hell out of there.
Lidia was the granddaughter of the previous High Vampire and everyone treated her like a princess because of it. Max had gone totally off schedule on Julia’s plans, and he didn’t even get the job done. He was supposed to make it look like an accident, not break her face. Now everyone would know he was guilty, because the little bitch hadn’t died, Julia thought.
Julia had half a mind to let him fry for screwing up, but Max was loyal to her, the poor misguided soul, and she might need him later. He was the only one who knew of her plans to get rid of Abe.
She had dipped into Michael’s mind earlier and found that plan had nearly backfired, as well. Abe didn’t like it much, but he was dealing with it. He was clever enough to have worked out by now that she was the one who’d brought Michael’s spirit here, and he would require a good excuse the next time they met up. She was still working on that excuse, so she’d avoided Abe at all costs.
Julia opened the door and walked into the holding cell room. There were two guards on duty, both of them vampires. Abe didn’t even have enough sense to place a psychic by the cell door so they would know if anything was going to happen. Then again, he didn’t have anything on his mind lately except Ariana, and right now Julia was thankful for it.
One of the guards stood and the other one quickly followed suit as Julia slammed the door. She meant to intimidate them; it would make her job easier.
“Good morning, Ma’am,” said one of the guards.
These idiots still thought, after a hundred and forty years, that she was their High Vampess. Still, it was working to her advantage, so why clue them in?
“Good morning, gentlemen.” She reached in her back pocket and pulled out a velvet bag. “Is the prisoner awake? I would like a meeting.”
Both vamps looked down and shuffled their feet. The taller guard was the one who finally got the nerve to speak up. “Uh, Ma’am, the High Vampire ordered that there be no one visit the prisoner. I will have to clear it through him, if you will just wait one…”
The guards were stunned as a light blue dust was suddenly thrown in their faces. Their eyes were open, but glazed over, as if they were in a trance. Julia smiled as she watched her spell take effect.
“I was not here. When you are asked where the prisoner is, you are to tell them that you let him go and that you didn’t approve of his sentencing. This is what you will believe to be true. You wanted Max to go free. Do you
understand?”
“Yes, Ma’am” the guards chorused.
Julia clapped her hands together. “Now. Let him out of his cell, let him go. That’s what you want, right?”
The guards nodded and the shorter of the two led her down to Max’s cell. He put the key in the lock and opened the door.
Max was standing just inside with a ‘what the hell?’ look on his face.
“These nice gentlemen are letting you go.” Julia handed Max a vial of black liquid. “Here, drink this. It will only keep you invisible for about thirty minutes, so get the hell out of here. There is a boat waiting for you a mile away, to the northwest. You’ll have to swim to get on board. The crew knows where to take you. Stay there until you hear from me. And you’d better hurry because dawn isn’t far off.”
Max looked at the guard and could clearly see he was in a daze.
“Drink that and go, you idiot. They will believe they were the ones who let you out, but they will only be in this trance for another ten minutes.”
Max turned the vial up and downed it. He disappeared before Julia’s eyes and she heard a low “thank you” before she shut the cell door and made her way back to her room as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
CHAPTER 26
Abe tapped gently on Ariana’s door. No answer. He told himself that he just wanted to make sure she at least made it to her bed alright, so he opened it enough so he could peek his head through and locate her.
Ariana was laying on her side, facing the him, with her eyes closed, and that damn ghost was laying on his back beside her, giving him a ‘you can’t do shit about it’ grin. Abe wanted to slam the steel and hit something, HARD, but he knew that would wake Ariana and then he would look like a total ass. So Abe settled for giving ghost boy the finger and pulling the doorknob back to him until the mechanism clicked back into place.
He walked to the elevator and turned around swiftly when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. He would have been nose to nose with Michael if he’d been about four inches shorter.
Abe leaned on the elevator button. “I’m not in the mood for you, ghost boy. I haven’t slept in almost a week and I’m going to bed, so go away.”
The elevator door opened and Abe stepped inside; so did Michael. Abe rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. His fist really wanted to make contact with Michael’s nose, but how do you punch a ghost, for God’s sake? And more importantly, how did you get rid of one? He couldn’t even ask Rainey to try because, if Ariana found out, she’d be mad at him; he was struggling to keep her on the island as it was. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place!
The elevator stopped on Abe’s floor and he got off; Michael followed. Abe sprung the lock free with his key and walked in.
“Come on in; you’re going to, anyway.”
Abe went to the bar, got the Jack bottle and a glass and, after briefly considering the night he’d had, he just opened his mouth and upturned the bottle into it, letting the fire shoot straight down to his gut. A minute or so later he lowered the bottle from his lips and poured half a glass. He returned the bottle to its rightful place and said, “I would offer you some – God knows you need it – but I assume there would be a problem there.”
Michael didn’t answer, so Abe glanced up to him. Michael was sitting on a stool with his arms crossed over his chest and his head down, staring at his intangible body. Suddenly Abe hated himself for being so hard on the guy. How would he feel if he was Ariana’s husband, but could never touch her again?
“Look, man, I’m sorry. I’ve just realized what an ass I’ve been. I mean it. I’m sorry you can’t be with her, for what it’s worth.”
Something happened then that took him by complete surprise. Michael looked up, and there seemed to be tears threatening to spill out of his ghostly eyes. “I hope you never have to find out what it’s like not to be able to touch her after she’s yours. I let her go, and it broke my heart to break hers. Treat her right or I’ll haunt your ass forever, and in your case that’s a long damn time. If she chooses to be with you, your intention is to make her like you, right?”
“It is,” Abe said with some difficulty. Did he just hear what he thought he did? This man was giving his one true love away? Giving him permission to be with Ariana?
Michael nodded. “That’s what hurts the most. She will be immortal and I will never get to see her again, ever.” Michael got up and headed toward the door. “If it’s all the same to you… I don’t know how long I’ll be here so, if you don’t mind… it hurts to see her in someone else’s arms… I may be letting you have your chance, but I don’t want to have to watch it. Believe me, if I told her I didn’t want her with you, she’d listen to me.” And with that Michael walked through the closed steel door.
Abe stared blankly at the door for a good minute or so. He didn’t know if he could be that good a person. There’d been more courage, more strength in that ephemeral ghost than he’d ever seen in the strongest vampire, and he’d seen some strong vampires in his time.
Abe was almost sure he wouldn’t be able to let Ariana go, actually give her to someone else, even if he were dead.
Gratitude washed over him as he realized Michael’s sacrifice. Michael couldn’t look after Ariana, but he could make it difficult for Abe, if he so wished. Instead, what Abe took as his attempts at being awkward were just a loving husband’s efforts to find his living wife a decent man, no matter how much it hurt to see her loving another. Abe was certain he would never be able to handle that.
Abe drained the rest of the whiskey in his glass and set it on the bar. He staggered to bed; it had been almost a week since he’d had any sleep and he was feeling it now. He dropped to the edge of the chair beside the bed and unlaced his black combat boots. Then he kicked them off and leaned back in the chair.
His eyes drooped shut. Pure adrenaline was what had kept him on his feet all week. He didn’t know if it was the booze or Michael’s little speech that had suddenly drained him of all his energy. He almost didn’t have the energy to think, but he managed to replay in his mind his favorite moment with Ariana.
She had been so shocked that fire had come out of her hands, and when she caught that tree on fire he could have died laughing and been a happy man. What stunned the hell out of him was when she made water come out of the air and put the fire out. That was his last thought before sleep took him where he was, sitting up in his chair.
CHAPTER 27
Rainey shot upright on the couch and fell to the floor. She had spent the night with Lidia, in case she needed anything. The Shaman had looked her over and said he couldn’t tell anything had happened at all but, to be on the safe side, she needed to stay in bed for at least twelve hours as that would help any healing still going on inside her from Ariana’s work.
The Shaman had also said that he wanted to meet the wonderful miracle worker and put her to work starting Monday if she was interested.
Rainey didn’t know how Abe was going to feel about Ariana working, especially if she wasn’t going to be working in the palace, but the decision was Ariana’s, not Abe’s. From the way things were looking, Ariana would do pretty much anything she wanted, no matter what Abe thought. He had some major work to do to win her affection, it seemed.
She grabbed her watch. 4:45 a.m. It was still dark outside, but the sun would be coming up in about an hour. She wasn’t sure if she’d just had a bad dream or a vision, so she put on her satin robe and slipped her feet in her fuzzy pink houseshoes.
Her mind started flickering; a vision was coming on. Rainey had a really bad feeling about it, so instead of watching the vision, she took off at a dead run for the courtroom. As she ran, she kept playing her dream over and over in her head, so she wouldn’t forget the details, careful not to let the vision take over. She would have to stop moving to watch the vision soon, and if her intuition was right, she didn’t have time to slow up none.
Rainey crashed through the door to the cou
rtroom and ran to the cell chamber door. When she opened it she sighed in relief; she could see the two guards sitting at a small table, playing cards.
They looked up from their game, startled at her entry – and perhaps her choice of clothing, too.
“Good morning, Daniel, Luke.” She nodded at each of the guards.
Rainey still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was amiss. She walked past the guards, down the hallway, looking in each cell carefully as she passed. When she got to the end of the hallway, she started hyperventilating and retraced her steps, eyes searching the cells again, this time mumbling Max’s name.
“Max. Max. Max!” She was frantic by the time she heard a voice behind her.
“Can I help you, Rainey?”
“Daniel, where is the prisoner?” she almost screamed.
“Oh, Max. We let him go,” Daniel said as if it were no big deal.
“You, what!?” Rainey’s nightmare vision had come true. “Why would you do that, Daniel?”
“I didn’t think the High Vampire’s sentencing was fair and Luke felt the same way. So we let him out.”
Rainey made herself breathe in and out really slow several times before she spoke again.
“Give me the cell keys. Luke!” Rainey yelled down the hall. “You, get in there.” She pushed Daniel into the cell Max had occupied and locked him in. She opened the cell across from it and pointed toward the cell as Luke walked up. He gave her a puzzled look, but did as he was told. Strange behavior, but Rainey was too disturbed to give it more than a split second’s thought. “Do you think what you did was right?” After making sure both cell doors were secure she asked, “Are these the only keys to these cell doors?”
Eternal Island (Book 1 in the Eternal Series) Page 15
