Obsidian Souls (Soul Series)

by Donna Augustine

  “Sure. Sounds good.” Amanda and Gilly both made faces behind Carl’s back. “I’ll talk to you guys later!” I said and they left still looking slightly surprised but not thinking anything of it. Carl was Mark’s friend. In their minds, he was harmless.

  “Don’t try a thing. My guys will wait to make sure you come peacefully.”

  I looked back at Mike’s once fierce face to it’s now panic stricken look. I knew it had very little to do with his own welfare and everything to do with the fact I was leaving with Carl. I mouthed, “I’m sorry,” as I walked out. I never should have gotten him into this spot, how could I take the chance of what could be in that syringe.

  Carl placed his hand under my elbow. It would look like a polite gesture to most passerby’s glancing quickly, but I knew it for what it was. We walked out and Gilly and Amanda were getting into Amanda’s car across the street, and we waved to them like nothing was amiss.

  “Over here.” He tugged me into the alleyway where he had parked his black Mercedes. Popping the trunk, he turned and looked at me.

  “Are you kidding me? Isn’t this a bit over kill? You really think I’m going to take you out?” I was starting to get a bit brazen now. I guess that came after being attacked so often in such a short period. Or maybe it was that I was guessing that they wanted me alive, and I had some insurance.

  “Get. In.”

  Great, it was going to be pitch black. I hated the dark, and the cherry on top of that I was completely claustrophobic. It was on the tip of my tongue to say this but I knew they might use it against me in the future. I decided to crawl in and act like it did not bother me. I couldn’t give them any ammo. I might get shut up in a dark closet for a week if I did.

  I watched the trunk lid come down, and my bravado disappeared with the sunlight as the panic set in. I can’t freak out. I had to stay calm. I closed my eyes and pretended it wasn’t really dark. Trying to do some yoga breathing to get myself relaxed enough so I could at least get a clear head. I must not panic!

  Feeling my way around, it seemed like the back of the trunk had a panel that possibly opened into the backseat, but that would get me nowhere. I couldn’t over power Carl, and there was nothing back here that I could use as a weapon. I wished I had worn spiked heels, which would have been something. What’s a wedge going to do? I can’t stab someone with a wedge.

  I just hoped that they would at least let Mike go and this wasn’t for nothing. If they let him go, it would have been worth it. If he got away, he would get Caden and they would be coming for me. I just had to wait it out. I knew Caden’s motives wouldn’t be completely pure for keeping me out of Carl’s hands, but I didn’t care. Just as long as he came.

  We were stopping and starting less and less, so we must be getting out of the city. I wonder if we were heading anywhere near the place they had the bonfire? Ugh, I wish I hadn‘t thought of that. The screams of the burning man came to mind before I could even conjure up another thought. I had to stop thinking of the dead man. Part of it wasn’t even about that burned man, it was more about fearing what they would do to me. It was selfish but true. It’s not even so much a fear of dying, as more a fear of pain. I knew they wouldn’t kill me, or believed they wouldn’t, but I didn’t know what they’d put me through to get what they wanted. What did I even have to give? There was nothing as far as I knew.

  I felt the bumps stronger back here. I guess the lack of padding in the trunk will do that. I could tell when we hit bad potholes, as I was jostled all around my little dark interior. I guess Mercedes aren’t so bad at off-roading because it kept going. We slowed to a stop, and I waited for the trunk to lift. I found myself all of a sudden longing to stay in the trunk. What an odd turn, but as long as I was in here, I was alone. Maybe they would forget about me for a while and I could crawl through the back seat and get out. That hope died as I heard him hit the trunk release button, and the light hit my eyes as I saw three men standing over the trunk.

  “This is her,” Carl said as they all stood there looking down upon me. It was hard to make out their faces against the afternoon sun behind them, but I didn’t think I recognized the other two. From what I could see, they weren’t the same guys from the luncheonette.

  “Why would you put her in the trunk?” The voice was elegant, even if it did come from what might be my kidnapper’s conspirator.

  “I couldn’t have her screaming or making a scene. We were in the heart of the city.”

  “You’re making excuses Carl,” the cultured voice lectured.

  The third man didn’t say anything, just stood there silently appraising me.

  “Alexandria, please my dear, let me help you out of there.” The eloquent voice offered a hand to me. I hadn’t been called by my full name in longer than I could remember, and he pronounced it with a slightly exotic accent. Russian maybe? It was hard to place. I took his offered hand and allowed him to help me out of my undignified position, lying prone in the trunk.

  I bit my tongue and refrained from calling them the horrible words I felt. I needed to be smart and take whatever help I could get. I couldn’t go shooting off arrows when it was bound to start a gunfight I’d lose.

  Standing, I self-consciously pulled down my dress. I saw no reason to wave red meat in front of a pack of rabid dogs. From my upright position, I could now see them better. The eloquent voice came from a slender framed man who looked like he would be in his fifties, if he was a human. I silently wondered what that made him in demon years. I’d have to find out if there was an equation for that. In dogs years it’s times seven, maybe for demon years if you look fifty it would be fifty times twenty-five to get a ball park accurate age or something.

  “I’m Rufus, that is Vincenzo, and you know Carl already.” The eloquent voice made introductions as if it were a dinner party.

  Looking around, I initially thought there was nothing out here but us and then I spotted it. A huge French chateau, that looked like it had been plucked right out of Europe, sat upon a large sloping hill. A massive wrought iron gate, that must have stood ten feet tall, surrounded it.

  “Please,” Rufus waved his hand toward a golf cart sitting at the base of a narrow drive that appeared only wide enough for a cart to pass. I headed toward the cart. “The gates are electrified so be careful not to touch them dear.”

  I understood the veiled warning, and resented him calling me dear in the same sentence. I had made no gesture or even the slightest inclination to touch the gates nor would I now.

  I took the passenger seat in front as Rufus got in to drive. Carl and Vincenzo jumped in the back.

  “I’m so glad you could join us. I’m sorry if Carl was a bit rough in his handling of you. He tends to be hard to control, and a touch rough around the edges, but his intentions are good.”

  The drive up to the front of the chateau only took a few minutes. The huge double doors opened wide for us as we climbed the half dozen stairs in front of the mansion. The foyer was massive with marble everywhere. A split staircase wrapped up to a center landing and then split again to climb another story. It looked to do this for three stories up with the largest chandelier I’d ever seen in my life hanging down the center from a ceiling mural with angels. It seemed a bit out of place, but demons, angels, I guess I could see a uniting theme.

  “Leroy will see you to your room. Dinner is served at eight thirty. I took the liberty of choosing a couple of items for you as we are hoping you will be staying for a while. We dress formally for dinner.”

  Leroy approached and I gathered I didn’t have much of a choice, so I went with him before he confirmed it by dragging me instead. We climbed to the second floor and then to the third. Reaching a large hallway, we walked down to the very end and he held the door open for me. I walked in, and I heard it click into place behind me. I knew it was locked even before I tried it. I examined the door, looking for some sort of vulnerability, but there was no visible hinges or hardware to dismantle.

  My prison, or bed
room if I wanted to be delusional, was stunning, done in blue toile fabrics with yellow accents. The bed was massive and the epitome of feminine. I would have died for a room like this most of my life. Not so much now. It had an attached bath, with a claw foot tub in the center, and a shower in the corner that could have held a couch. I opened the closet and found it filled with clothes, all new with tags, and all in my size. Shoes of every color lined the shelves. It didn’t look like Rufus messed around when he invited you to stay. Looking at the closet brimming with dresses and gowns, I’d have to be here a year to be able to wear it all. It gave me a good impression of how long they intended to try to keep me.

  The windows were antiqued lead glass and didn’t open. There was a fireplace as tall as me in the center of the wall. I climbed into it and looked up, wondering if I could somehow scale its walls. It narrowed at the top so that would never work. Maybe, I could break the glass on the window, and tie the bedding to get down that way. If it wasn’t alarmed that is, which I’m sure it was. Houses like this always were. I quickly realized that I was just going to have to play the game for now.

  “Hello.”

  I lifted my head from the mantel to see Rufus standing there looking at me. Good thing I wasn’t actually still standing in the chimney. That might be a hard explanation.

  “I was hoping we could have a word before dinner.”

  “Sure. Why not?” I tried to keep the sarcasm in my voice subdued, but it was difficult.

  He sat on the settee facing the fireplace, while I remained standing. That would normally give me the position of power, but who was I kidding? If this was a hand of poker, I was sitting on a pair of deuces about to get destroyed by a royal flush.

  “This doesn’t need to be difficult Alexandria. You could have a very nice life here.”

  “What do you want from me?”

  “You’re going to be a very strong woman. When you live in our world, you must choose sides. You’re either with us, or you are against us.” My mind thought back to a similar statement Caden had made to me recently. These guys didn’t mess around. No matter what I choose anymore, I was going to have more enemies than I ever have imagined I could.

  “Why? Why can’t I just go back to my apartment and be left alone?”

  “You’re going to be too strong. We can’t take the chance of you someday siding against us, or perhaps, even having children with them.” He sat crossed his legs and looked the epitome of a refined gentleman, not the snake I sensed just beneath the surface.

  “What does children have to do with anything? I thought a Drauth’s power diminished with each generation, so why would it matter that much?”

  “I’m not sure that would be the case with you. I have a feeling that it might be different, possibly the exact opposite. You are the first known female Drauth in existence. Nothing about this is simple.”

  “I won’t have children. Not now that I know what I am. I wouldn’t bring a child into something like this, ever.”

  “You might change your mind. We can’t take the risk.”

  “I’ll have my tubes tied. I want no part of this. That’s how sure I am.”

  “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m not sure you completely understand. I want you to have children, just not theirs.”

  “So there really isn’t anything I can do to be left alone, is there?” I wanted to sink to the floor in despair. There would be no negotiating.

  “No, but you do have a choice. You can accept that you are going to be one of us, or fight it. Fighting will only make you more miserable. We will still get what we want. If you accept your place with us, it has perks. You will want for nothing. You’re a young female, doesn’t some part of you long for children?”

  I hesitated to answer. I didn’t want to admit I had planned on children, and I already mourned the loss of what would never be.

  “Yes. But that was before I knew.”

  “Why does it have to change? You could have as many children as you want. They would grow up with everything they could ever need or desire.”

  “With Carl?” The revolt was clear in my tone. I had never been a good actor.

  “It wouldn’t have to be with Carl. There are many men with us. You could settle down with whomever you chose.”

  “What about actually loving the man?” I started to pace, no longer able to control my agitation and needed a physical release for the tension.

  “Do you think you are going to find a nice normal man to love you?”

  I didn’t want to let him know how his words were affecting me. How he was so clearly laying out what I was losing. Trying to hide my emotions, I looked up like I was admiring the painting above the mantle instead of looking at him.

  “I don’t know how well you know Caden, but he will never give you a child. If you were to stay with him, you would live out the rest of your life husbandless and childless. Is that really the future you envisioned for yourself? Is that really fair to you?”

  I couldn’t speak at first. He was right on so many points it was clouding my mind, tugging at my deepest emotions.

  “I can see you need time to think. I’ll leave you alone.”

  “I’m a bit tired.” I sounded despondent and I didn’t care.

  “Of course, I know you’ve had a rough day. Would you prefer me to have dinner sent up for you?”

  “Yes, that would be nice.”

  “Leroy will be within calling distance if you need anything. I hope you feel a bit better tomorrow.”

  Rufus walked out and left me there swimming in the midst of failed dreams. All my plans had been for nothing. Everything I had thought about my life was gone, and I kept thinking that this couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be my new realty, but it was.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The morning sunshine bled through the draperies filling the room with light too cheerful for a morning like this. I missed waking to the morning sun. In my prior life, I had been a morning person. All I had needed was the bright sunshine to drive me from bed thinking of all the things I knew waited for me. Now, I wished for the night. It was getting harder to face the days and this one looked like it was going to be especially difficult to face. I closed my eyes, hoping sleep would take me again, so I wouldn’t have to face the reality of my life yet, but a knock sounded at the door and reminded me of how I couldn’t even plan something as simple as sleeping in anymore without it getting ruined.

  “Yes?”

  The door opened to Leroy bringing me a breakfast tray. He placed it on the table next to the bed.

  “Rufus has asked me to tell you that he will be at the pool today if you care to join him.”

  “The pool? It’s a bit cold, isn’t it?”

  “It’s inside.”

  “Got it. Thank you.”

  He poured a coffee for me and left quietly. I looked at the tray and saw my favorite breakfast. Pancakes with hot apples, a side dish of home fries, and it looked like even an omelet with cheese and sour cream. Instead of pleasing me, it completely freaked me out. How could they know what I ate?

  It didn’t matter if they knew what I ate, I had to focus my energy on a way out of this. My conversation with Rufus had been stupid on my part. I can’t show my hand like that again. I needed to play a part. I needed to be buying time in the hopes that Mike and Caden would come for me before it went too far, as in incubator for their little monsters too far.

  But what if Caden and his guys never did show? Perhaps Mike had never made it out of the diner. No, I couldn’t rely on them. I needed to start being self-sufficient. I needed to learn how to navigate this world on my own. Until I did, I would be a perpetual victim.

  I went through my new wardrobe and found a pair of slacks and a silk blouse. I fixed my hair and even applied some of the makeup that was in the vanity drawer and decided to go play the game. It started with going down to the pool and pretending I was considering his offer.

  I tried the door and was surprised it o
pened. Of course, Leroy was standing at attention not five feet away. I guess that’s why they didn’t feel the need to lock it.

  “You’re ready miss? Did you want to go to the pool?”

  “Yes, I’m ready.” Or as ready as I could be.

  We walked down the massive staircase, and through the foyer, down a hallway that could have served as a track it was so long.

  The pool was in the center of a massive atrium. The walls and the ceiling constructed from glass. If it had been here on different terms, I would have loved this room. A few young, attractive women were playing pool volleyball and I envied them their apparent naiveté, or maybe they knew what these people were, and they just didn’t care.

  “Alexandria.” I turned to find Rufus tucked away, in an especially sunny corner, on a lounge chair. He was wearing Bermuda shorts and a golf shirt. He wasn’t quite as thin as he had initially appeared when I had seen him in his stark black suit. He looked to be in quite good health now as he reclined in his chair.

  “Come, have a seat near me.” He patted the lounge chair next to him.

  I walked over and took the seat he offered trying to keep my body in a relaxed state and my muscles languid as if I wasn’t completely opposed to sitting near him.

  “This would make a wonderful green house don’t you think?”

  “Yes, it would.” There was no denying it. With its southern exposure, it was perfect.

  “You could grow wonderful things here. We could set up a lab for you as well. You could travel to the depths of the Amazon jungles and bring back plants no one has ever seen to a lab here, setup just for you. Does Caden even know of your love of plants? How many times have you even left that hole your living in? You’ve been living there for weeks now, and has he done anything to make you feel at home? Alexandria, you are special, and yet he treats you as if you were a burden.”

  Rufus was trying to paint a pretty picture of what my life could be, except a very important part that he left out. I would be nothing more than a brood mare.