Bound by Blood (Vampire Romance) (23 page)

She gave a dry chuckle. “Trust me, Dad. I know more about the night than I ever wanted to, but I need that book – or at least bits and pieces from it. Will you talk to Philip?”

“The man you’re involved with?”
“Not the way you mean! I told you Monsignor Philip is an archaeologist, and he’s older than you.” She shot Philip a quick glance and a shy smile. “Let me put him on; he can better tell you everything we need.”

“I don’t like this,” her father protested.

“I know,” she told him softly, then handed the phone to Philip.

Standing, she seemed unsure of where to go or what to do next. Alex couldn’t resist pulling her close to his side. “Thank you for calling,” he said, “but the offer remains, you can still back out at this point. I will arrange protection.”
If there was any.

She shook her head in denial. “I’m thinking, Alex. Couldn’t you possibly get the book tonight?”

He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“It is in England, Lisa.” He waved his hand indicating a great expanse. “You know across the Atlantic and all that.”

“I guess I was just thinking out loud. Of course that would be impossible.”

“Or not.” Louis came to join them and turned to Alex. “As always, Alex, my jet is at your disposal.”

“No offense, Louis, but I don’t think it will even be fast enough,” Lisa told him.

“For you it would not be quick enough,” Louis agreed. “For Alex.” He shrugged, “It should be plenty fast.”

She shook her head as if trying to clear it. “Am I missing something?”

“My problem is getting across the ocean,” Alex said. “Once on land, on either side I can use preternatural speed.”

“That’s faster?”

“Much,” both vampires said in unison.

No sooner was it said than both were making plans on how to best make the arrangements. Philip was still talking to her father.

“Should I let him know you are coming?” he asked.

Alex nodded once in the other man’s direction. “It might be best.”

Louis left to make further arrangements. Lisa looked up into Alex’s face. “You’ll be safe?”

“As much as I can be.” How could he promise anything else?

She grasped his hand. “Alex, it’s not that I don’t trust you, I do. But you won’t hurt him, will you?”

Alex cupped her face. “No, I won’t hurt him.” Not the way she meant, but he would like to tear the man limb from limb for the way he had treated his daughter. But he was willing to help them now, which had to count for something. “Come with me.”

He actually felt her breath catch. “I’d slow you down.”

“Not by much.”

“Alex, this is too important. You need to get this on time. And what about Sandy?”

“Cassandra will be fine.” He was surprised by how much he did want her with him. For his own benefit, he would get to spend more time with her, but this was also the perfect opportunity to get her to face her family and he would be there for her. He couldn’t offer her much, but his strength was hers, just as she, if she knew it, was his.

Seeing Louis was off the phone, he motioned him over. “I asked Lisa to come with me. Will you guard Cassandra?”

“You know it,” he said.

Lisa looked from one to the other, finally settling on Louis. “But won’t I be too slow?”

“Did Alex say that?”

She shook her head.

“You should trust him. Alex is strong enough and fast enough.”

“Then you don’t still need the information?”
“I didn’t say that. For now, he can protect you. If Janelle gets what she wants with the Cardinal’s Ruby, his strength will mean nothing. No one’s will.” He concentrated on Alex. “You will have to be back by tomorrow at sunset. Whatever is going to happen tonight would have already occurred, so it’s safe. For now.”

Alex nodded, still listening as he went about the room collecting his jacket and his gun. Philip had finished his conversation and came to learn the news.

“It will be for the best,” Alex assured the man. “Louis will care for Cassandra. If you have any difficulties, look on him in my stead.”

“Do you need any of the papers?” Philip started gathering them.

“I imagine you will need them more than I.”

Lisa grabbed her own jacket and joined him in the hall in enough time for Louis to tell him he would find all that he needed on the plane. “I shall leave word if we must move,” he told him.

Alex grasped Lisa’s hand and headed for the door.

“Go with God,” Philip called after them. Alex heard Louis scoff at this friend’s customary farewell.

~*~

Lisa didn’t know what to expect when they arrived at the airport and were shown to the private tarmac, then seated on the jet. This was way out of her realm and she said so.

“Louis has always liked to live richly,” was all Alex said as he settled back into his seat. She would have liked to have asked more questions on their journey to the airport, but if she had any bearing on Alex’s preternatural speed, it must have been minimal indeed. There was certainly no breath for her to think about a conversation.

She tried to settle in her seat, but the take off made her nervous. Instinctively she grasped Alex’s hand, then let go when she realized how tightly she was gripping it.

 “You should have said something.”

“Why? You weren’t hurting me.”

She gave him a tight smile. “I’m really nervous, Alex.”

“About seeing your family?” he hazarded a guess.

She nodded. “I mean, my dad sounded concerned over the phone, but Alex he threw me out of the house.”

“And you never went back,” he reminded her softly.

“How could I?”

“Then how could he contact you if he never knew where you were?”

She tried to snatch her hand from his, but he turned his palm so that he now grasped her fingers in his strong grip.

“Who’s side are you on?”

“Yours. Lisa. Always yours. But you have to be honest with yourself. Perhaps your father is helping you now as atonement for what happened earlier.”

She leaned back in her seat. That was entirely possible but not probable she admitted to herself. Then repeated it to Alex.

“You have to understand, Alex, even if my father hated the sight of me he would help with this. He has always believed in good versus evil; has dedicated his life to it.”

“I know,” he reassured her. “And he is going to prove an invaluable ally.”

“He is?”

“He has the book and he’s willing to share it.”

She nodded and settled back in her seat. In a remarkably short time they had touched down and gone through customs.

“Alex, the sun is going to be up soon. Don’t you need to… um… feed?” She was still uncomfortable with this whole vampire stuff.

“I’m fine. Louis had stuff ready on the plane.”

She didn’t remember seeing him take anything and was about to say so when he interrupted.

“You were asleep.” He squeezed her hand. “I’m fine.”

 Alex moved unerringly through the country side. “I told you I had been here many times,” he said in answer to her questions.

“I didn’t think you really meant right here.”

He chuckled at that then reminded her he always said what he meant, or he didn’t say it at all. Then she had no more breath for speech. She was quite content to tuck her head into his shoulder.

In an incredibly short amount of time they stood in front of her parents’ house. She wiped her hands down the side of her pants. She wasn’t sure she was ready for this.

Evidently Alex was. He pulled her from behind him; her hand firmly held in his and knocked on the door. In the moment it took for someone to answer, Lisa stepped behind Alex, not sure what she would say to her father or mother when she saw them. Perhaps she had been right all those years, but what if she had been wrong? Now she wouldn’t have her righteousness to carry her through. Now, she would know the truth.

She heard the door open, and pictured her father dressed as he always had, casual trousers and worn cardigan. “Yes?” He inquired, his voice floating in the air. “How may I help you?”

Lisa felt tears well up in her eyes. That was the same greeting her father had used since she was a tiny girl. There were no strangers for her father, except for herself, she thought. Everyone else was a friend.

Alex tugged on her hand before answering, dragging her around the front.

“Lisa!” Her father wrapped her in his arms and she promptly burst into tears. Never had she expected such a welcome.

She felt Alex push them further inside, and then she heard her mother come and throw herself into the fray, crying as hard as she was.

After a few moments of hugging and nodding, Alex interrupted and Lisa jumped back guiltily.

“This is Philip?” her father said wryly.

Lisa gave him a tired smile. “No, this is Detective Alex Aguilar,” she introduced Alex to her parents. “Before we talk, could I please have something to drink,” she asked, “and could we get comfortable.”

Nodding agreement to both, her father led them to his study. Lisa sat in the chair in front of the desk where her father always sat, but Alex chose to stand near her. She was grateful for his presence. It was reassuring. She wasn’t certain if her mother should be included or not, and asked her dad, referring to the issue they had discussed earlier. When her mother arrived with the drinks, she declined to stay anyway, saying she would prepare some food for them.

“
Now
are you going to tell me what you’re mixed up in?” Her father asked when her mother cleared the room.

Lisa looked at her father, then at Alex. “I don’t know where to start.” How could she explain her world had been turned upside down and she had been exposed to things she never credited existing?

“Tell me why you need this additional information so desperately. That might be good. We’ll work back from there.”

“Do you have it?” Alex asked.

Her father glowered at him, but nodded his head when Alex said nothing more. Alex wore that same implacable look she had seen before, she noticed, which meant he was willing to give her father a few minutes to digest the information but no more.

How should she start? She certainly couldn’t say there was a group of vampires…

As if sensing her indecision, Alex cleared his throat and rested his hand on her shoulder. The action did not go unnoticed by her father. She ignored his look but didn’t shrug it away. His touch helped steady her. It also meant he would take the lead, for which she appreciated.

“There is a group that has the Cardinal’s Ruby,” Alex stated.

Her father stared hard at him for a moment then settled back in his chair. “That cannot be. That ruby has not been seen in over three hundred years.”

Alex gave him a wry smile. “It’s true.” His tone brooked no argument.

And Lisa knew why the stone hadn’t been seen; Alex had been wearing it.

“You seem sure.”

“Positive. So now that we know the ruby exists, I need to know the alignment of those planets, and when it will be.”

Her father ran his hand over her face. “
You
need to know? I’m not sure how the police play a role in this.”

“They’re -- the people who have the ruby -- are after the child I watch,” Lisa interrupted before Alex had a chance to say anything more. “I’m nanny to a little girl, Sandy. I told you a bit about her on the phone. She was kidnapped and that’s how I got to know Detective Aguilar.”

“They wanted the child because of the ruby?”

“Yes.” Alex squeezed her shoulder indicating she should be silent.

“Why would they want this child? That doesn’t make sense. The only way the ruby could work…” He didn’t finish the sentence, but started another. “The reason it didn’t matter that the ruby was missing was because it was virtually harmless. Nothing can come of it.”

“Unless the planets are in alignment,” Lisa said.

Her father waved that away. “More than that. The tale is that the ruby holds tremendous power because it was given to a powerful alchemist centuries ago.”

“An alchemist?” She looked at her father, then Alex. He did not seem at all surprised. Were they talking about the same thing?

“He could have used his work for evil as many of his colleagues did. In fact, he did for a short while. Then he claimed he had a vision telling him if he corrected his ways, he would be granted long life, great riches, and so on. You know how these stories go. At any rate, he did as the vision requested, and indeed, all the promises came to pass.”

Lisa shrugged. “Sounds good, but I don’t understand the power of this ruby yet.”

“I haven’t finished. The ruby was a sign of his riches. The vision returned and asked him to give it up, and he did. As a result, he was blessed many times over. Years later, when he was a much older man, the ruby was returned to him. There was no vision, no explanation, just the ruby. What he had learned this time was when he had the ruby with him magical things happened.”

“I thought he was alchemist anyway.”

“I should say miraculous things happened,” her father said. “Suddenly, people were coming to him, those who were lame, or deaf or blind. He cured them all. As soon as he finished his treatment, they would kiss his ruby stone and they were cured.”

Lisa scoffed. “That’s ridiculous.”

“Perhaps,” her father said, “but I’m just relaying the tale to you. You did ask.”

“How did it become the Cardinal’s Ruby then? He wasn’t a cardinal, was he?”

“No, he wasn’t, however, once he realized the ruby held incredible powers, he had it set in a ring so it could be with him always. On his deathbed, he passed it down to his son. Although his son didn’t care much for jewels, he guarded it until his son was old enough to receive it. His son eventually became a cardinal. Even before then, he was able to perform many of the same miracles as his grandfather.”

“Ah, the Cardinal’s Ruby,” she stated.

Her father smiled at her. “Rather. But what happened, as the cardinal wore it, it became apparent that he could perform even greater miracles than his grandfather. Not always, but there were certain times of the year when the stone was said to positively glow with an inner fire. Aside from great things, terrible things also happened.”