A Demon's Dark Embrace: An Elite Guards Novel (25 page)

Chapter Thirty-Six

The office they entered was immense. The entire wall directly across from where they entered the room was glass. It gave the occupants of the office a bird’s eye view of the nightclub below. Olivia figured it must have been made of two-way glass, or a mirror, which she must have missed as they’d entered the club earlier.

A man stood with his back to them, watching the revelers in the nightclub. He was similar in height to Ristan, and his black hair barely skimmed his broad shoulders. From where she stood, she could see the fine details in his suit and knew it was tailored and probably cost more than her yearly salary at the Guild. He didn’t turn in their direction immediately, so Olivia continued to look around the office.

It had a masculine design with dark mahogany and leather furniture, obviously belonging to the man who couldn’t be bothered to turn towards them. On one of the walls was a painting of a beautiful woman with caramel colored hair. She was wearing a dress from the early 17
th
century, and even though she didn’t smile in the portrait, her eyes seemed to look straight through the viewer, and Olivia could sense the woman was more than just beautiful, she was powerful.

Olivia couldn’t help but stare at the painting. Before she could stop herself, she was moving towards it with an itching in the back of her skull that gave her the notion that the subject in the painting resembled someone she knew.
Kendra?
No, this woman was more delicate than Kendra, and her eyes weren’t the same color. She did look as if they shared some sort of a familial bond, and this beautiful woman was dressed in an elaborate gown that probably would have been the height of fashion sometime around 1610.

“She’s beautiful, is she not?” a deep male’s voice said right next to her, causing her to gasp as her eyes moved to the man beside her. She hadn’t heard a single noise to alert her that he’d even moved. The man seemed to be oozing power, and had somehow masked that power when they’d first entered the room. She felt as if she was standing next to a transformer that was actively conducting power. Raw, physical power.

“She’s very pretty,” she agreed.

“And deadly,” he added.

“She looks as if she was looking beyond the painter, to something or someone in the background. Whatever it was, it made her uncomfortable,” Olivia said, sensing the woman’s mood from the way she held her body; it was tense, as if she wasn’t posing by choice. “Almost like she didn’t want to sit for this painting,” she amended.

“That’s an astute observation from only looking at it for a few moments,” Lucian said.

“Her hands are the giveaway. Her knuckles are white, as if she’s tense,” she pointed out, not daring to actually touch the painting in case it was actually real. It looked real, yet it also looked like it was painted with oil based paint. It also looked as if the red of her lips was a beautiful shade of ‘Dragon’s Blood’ which was a pigment made from Asian gum resin that women used long ago to color their lips. “Is this real?” she blurted.

“Very,” he said softly, his eyes locked on the woman’s as if he was lost in memory.

“Do you know how much this is worth?” she asked as she turned to fully look at him, and paused.

He was freaking gorgeous, but where her heart beat faster for Ristan, it sank to her stomach and the hair on her nape rose, so she took a giant step backwards. His eyes moved to hers, holding them captive as she paused.
Black?
What the hell kind of creature had black eyes? His irises were almost the color of midnight. He smiled; she almost expected him to have fangs, but instead he had perfect teeth.

“Olivia,” he said as he nodded his head. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Olivia turned to find Ristan and found she’d almost scooted right into him as she’d sought safety. He was less than an inch away and she welcomed the heat his body offered along with the protection.

“Olivia, meet Lucian,” Ristan said as he pulled her body against his.

She held out her hand for Lucian to shake, only to watch as he dismissed it and moved away. Her eyes moved down the length of him and didn’t mind the view as he moved to his desk.

“You have what I seek?” he asked when he was seated and looked in their direction again.

“I do,” Ristan replied as he swung the bag off his shoulder and moved to where Lucian was seated. He carefully placed the bag on the desk. Ristan opened the top of the black bag and slid it down around the box as Olivia watched. Ristan pulled out several file folders that had been on the top of the box and set them on the desk before pushing them closer to Lucian. Lucian’s eyes closed briefly, but whether it was in relief, or something else, she couldn’t be sure.

“The Guild had it, yes?” he asked, his eyes briefly moving to Olivia and back to Ristan.

“They had it,” Olivia answered, her body tensing as the box was handed to Lucian; something inside of her warned her to run. As if she could sense he wasn’t what he appeared on the outside, and all of her alarm bells were going off like crazy.

“It belongs to the Guild,” she said as she moved to take a seat in the chair beside Ristan.

“Is that what you think?” he asked softly, as his eyes moved with her as she lowered herself in the chair, following her with humor marked in their inky depths. “Just because they claim something doesn’t make it theirs. This box was stolen decades ago.”

Decades ago? He barely looked to be over thirty. His fingers gently caressed the box, which drew her eyes to it. She had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, and a sense of foreboding she couldn’t shake.

“Do you know what is inside the box?” he asked, his eyes never straying from her face.

“No; neither did the Guild, from what I was told. I have no idea where the Elders hid the key, or if they even had it.”

“It doesn’t need a key,” he said with his lips curling into a sardonic smile. “Hence why people who don’t know what something is shouldn’t fuck with it.”

“How does it open then, if not with a key?” she whispered, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“The world isn’t ready for it to be opened,” he said assertively. He opened the file folders that Ristan had placed on the desk and briefly skimmed through the pages. He pushed away from his desk and opened the top drawer, from which he pulled out what looked to be an old set of skeleton keys. He pushed them across the desk to Ristan and sat back in his chair. “These keys belong to a cabin just outside of Chelan; it’s heavily guarded by Seekers, and the runes have been placed by a powerful coven of Witches. No one can get out of it once they’ve entered unless the owner allows it. This is the deed,” Lucian said as he opened a lower drawer and pulled out a package. “Congratulations,” he said crisply. He used a dagger that had a bone handle to cut the package open, and the look of pure bliss on his features made her wonder just what type of bone it had been created from. He pulled out a piece of paper and placed it on the desk and slid it to Ristan. “Sign it and the house and ninety-two acres it sits on are yours. Of course, the Seekers will be a permeant fixture there since they died on the land. They’ll protect you and anyone who is inside the house.”

“Seekers?” Olivia asked, and her eyes narrowed as he turned those midnight eyes in her direction.

“Cursed souls,” he explained slowly. “They’ve been prevented from entering heaven or hell, and are much akin to Revenants. Only where the Revenants terrorize the living, the Seekers work in the opposite to protect them.”

“So, ghosts?” she questioned.

“Not quite.  More like cursed souls who have no place that their immortal essence can go to. They are outside of heaven or hell—purgatory or any of the ‘circles’ Dante described,” he explained as his eyes watched Ristan’s progress and narrowed on him. Olivia turned to Ristan and watched as he carefully read every minute detail of the Deed of Trust he’d been handed. “It is also important to keep in mind that Seekers prefer to protect only those who they deem worthy of it. If they find the occupants lacking in the moral department, they can make the stay on the property quite hellish.”

“Oh,” she replied easily and folded her hands in her lap as she turned away from the obsidian eyes that looked through her, rather than at her.

“Is that why you’re so eager to be rid of it?” Ristan asked as he lifted his head to smile at Lucian.

“Actually, they don’t tend to fuck with me,” he said absently as he looked over the paperwork. “It’s done,” Lucian said as he pushed a button on his desk and nodded at Ristan. “Our business is concluded, but you’re more than welcome to enjoy the club for as long as you wish. I had a room cleaned and furnished for your preferred taste of pleasure. I thought you’d prefer not to share your woman, since you were protective of her the last time we met, and you’ll not be disturbed for the duration of your stay. The doors to the club have been secured for the night and there’s no leaving until morning. Safety measures against my enemies. You understand, I hope.”

“We’ve become very selective of who we allow inside our own clubs as well,” Ristan admitted, even though he didn’t like the idea of Olivia being locked in a sex club with creatures that belonged in hell slinking around it.

Olivia turned a wide-eyed look at Ristan as the scene from earlier pushed into her mind. She was about to turn and ask Lucian if they could make an exception for them to leave, but he wasn’t in his chair, and she hadn’t heard him even move, again!

“I don’t make exceptions, little girl,” Lucian whispered against her ear before he pulled out her chair for her to stand. Ristan moved so quickly that she hadn’t even heard him until she was pulled close to him, and the room grew tense. The air was thick enough to cut with a knife. Her eyes moved from Lucian’s to Ristan, and back.

“Thanks,” she said uncomfortably as she stood and turned around to look at Lucian, who almost seemed to be taunting Ristan with a smug smile on his lips.

“I have business matters to attend to, but if you need anything or the accommodations are lacking, my men will remedy it. The doors open at six
AM
,” he told them smoothly.

He smiled and moved towards the door Olivia looked back at the desk where the box had been, and then at Lucian who had nothing in his hands. The box had vanished, and she could no longer feel it, or that foreboding sense of unease and evil. Then again, she could no longer feel the palpable power that had oozed from Lucian, either.

Lucian held the door open, indicating that their business was concluded.

“One more thing,” he said as they walked towards him. “The files you brought me are missing some pages,” he announced. “Vlad’s favor depends on them being found.”

“I have the missing pages,” Olivia said, unsure why she was volunteering the information. She pointed at her head. “Here.”

“Curious place to file things. I prefer them on paper; see that they are documented on parchment before you leave the club in the morning. You do understand that having something in your head is not the same having it in writing unless you are offering to lose that pretty little head of yours?”

Ristan growled, his eyes glowing with warning as surely as his brands that lit up with his ire. He stepped closer to Lucian and smiled, showing his teeth. “That pretty little head belongs to me.”

“So it does,” Lucian conceded. “Parchment was my first option; I will see that it is delivered to your suite.”

“Thank you for this,” Ristan said as he held the package of papers in his hand, and held Olivia’s hand in his other. “When I leave here, we are done. You’ll honor the agreement to owe Vlad his favor for the files as was promised.”

“Yes, and I will also help your brothers fiancé, as promised. Unfortunately, our paths will collide again soon enough, I assure you of that. Whether it is by choice or necessity has not been revealed to me yet. There are forces in play that neither of us have much knowledge about, and though it may be a riddle now, soon it will come to pass. I am aware of the state of Faery, and the war with the Mages, and he will ask me to help him. Your brother, that is. He’s a very powerful creature,” Lucian said as his eyes took on an unnatural gleam. “A very strong ally to have a favor owed to, no?”

“If you try to misuse…”

“Your brother is the mythical Horde King. He would never make that mistake, nor would I misuse his help, as it may come in handy in the future. Now, I have a matter that requires my attention. Enjoy the room, but be sure to spend time on the missing pages before you leave in the morning,” he warned. “Wouldn’t want that favor to be voided,” he finished, dismissing them.

*~*~*

Ristan and Olivia were escorted by one of Lucian’s men down several flights of stairs to a set of doors that opened for them automatically, as if by magic. Ristan paused and looked to the bulky guard who smiled with his eyes, rather than his mouth.

“The doors will lock once you’re inside, and will reopen at six
AM
sharp. Lucian said you’d need parchment and ink. They have been provided for you as well as a table. Look around the room and make sure it has everything else you require before I seal you in.”

Ristan eyed the man and then pulled Olivia inside with him. “We’re good as long as you supplied food for my woman.”

“There’s a fully stocked fridge and bar. There are cameras in the room, but Lucian has instructed us to disable them, since they have live feeds to his site. He said it would be best, since you’re territorial, that we not share what happens tonight.”

“Good idea; I’d hate to start a war over a porn video,” Ristan mumbled as he took in the Saint Andrews cross, a padded wall that held lengths of chain to secure a willing victim to, as well as boxes of adult toys that had yet to be open or used. “I think it’s time we bid you goodnight,” he muttered.

“As you wish, but remember, your time here ends at six
AM
, and not a minute past.”

“Understood,” Ristan said, as the nameless man stepped back and smiled wickedly at Olivia. “She belongs to me, and has fully submitted.”

Ristan wasn’t sure why that had come out of his mouth, but it had, and for the first time in his life his inner jealousy was rearing its ugly head. He wanted to shout that she was his to every male in this place. She was becoming more than just his prisoner, she was becoming his obsession. He couldn’t get enough of her, and the idea of setting her free was abhorrent.

He listened as the door closed and a lock clicked into place from the other side. He hadn’t wanted to stay here, but he’d known before he’d brought her through those doors that he might be stuck in here with her from dusk to dawn.

Ristan turned to look at Olivia, only to smile as he found her inspecting the wall of toys. Each had a small, rather elegant price tag on it, probably because Lucian charged his members for each item they used. He had to admit it; the man had a killer instinct for business.

He ran sex clubs, night clubs, and a porn site that brought in millions of dollars each year. Ristan himself had considered running a similar club once. Ristan had helped his brothers create Sidhe Darklands before Ryder had come to this world in the guise of the Dark Fae Prince.  They’d needed a reputable place they could use for gathering intelligence on the Mages while maintaining the cover they’d created for Ryder. Sidhe Darklands had become more than just a club; it had become an endless buffet for them, where they could openly feed. Those who wanted something darker had only to ask.

She was stuck on the beads, her head tilted to one direction and then the other and he had to stifle a laugh. She moved to one of the dildos that was larger and made of silicone, and her hand moved to the box before she pulled it away as if it had burned her.

“Pick a couple; I’m more than willing to show you exactly what each one can do,” he said as he moved closer to her. “We have twelve hours of nothing to do but fuck.”

“I’m starving,” she lied, her cheeks turning red as she turned around to face him. She moved past him and towards the fridge and minibar.

Inside the small fridge were a couple containers of whipped cream, strawberries, and other assorted fruits and foods that could be used in ways other than just nourishment. He shook his head and looked around the room at the cameras, and noticed one had yet to shut off.

He walked over to it and continued to watch as the red light blinked signaling it was on. He reached up and tore the camera from the wall. He tossed it in the small garbage can and turned in time to watch as Olivia licked her whipped cream-covered finger. He groaned inwardly as he moved towards her.

It was going to be a seriously long night.