Cain's Identity (Scanguards Vampires Book 9) (27 page)

He almost bumped into Marcus when he ripped the door open to rush outside.

“Excuse me, sir,” Marcus said, breathing heavily. “I thought you should know: the delegates of the Mississippi clan have been spotted about a half hour away. My scouts believe they’re armed and hostile.”

Cain cursed. “Fuck!” This was bad timing. He stared at the guard. “Make sure everybody is at their post. Reinforce the perimeter.”

He turned to his friends. “Gabriel, I need you to stall them when they arrive. Take Eddie with you. Marcus, you’ll take your orders from Gabriel. Haven, Wes, Blake, you’re coming with me.” He cast a look at Thomas then at Faye. “Thomas, protect Faye. And nobody utter a word about the two Mississippi clan members out in the kitchen.” Cain stared down Marcus. “Do you understand me?”

Marcus nodded quickly.

“Go!” Cain ordered him.

The moment the guard was hurrying down the corridor, Cain addressed Gabriel again, “Warn Maya to keep her patients out of sight. I don’t want any confrontations. Not right now.”

Gabriel nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”

Then Cain stormed into the corridor, his three friends following him.

39

The guards’ common room across the entrance hall, where the guards received their orders and hung out between their shifts, was humming with activity. Guards were suiting up, strapping on their weapons and getting ready for a confrontation with the Mississippians. Cain stopped at the open door and let his eyes wander over two dozen vampires in the room, until he spotted John.

“John!” he called out to him.

The leader of the king’s guard looked over his shoulder, his face tense. “Yes, Cain?”

“A word. My office.”

John frowned. “Can’t it wait? I’m getting the men ready. Haven’t you heard? The delegates of the Mississippi clan are on their way. And they don’t look friendly. I expect an altercation.”

Cain clenched his jaw. “My office. Now, John!”

Several heads snapped in Cain’s direction, staring at him in stunned silence. Waiting for John to comply with his orders, Cain glared back at the men. “What are you looking at? Get ready.”

The men hurried to continue with their preparations, while John marched out of the room and into the hallway.

“What is this about?”

Cain didn’t answer and simply walked across the foyer into his office. At the door he waited for John to catch up with him. He motioned him to enter, then followed him and closed the door. Haven, Wesley, and Blake were already waiting for them, and Blake now moved in front of the door, blocking it.

John cast a curious glance at the human before turning his head back to Cain.

“I have my memory back,” Cain announced without preamble, watching John’s facial expression intently.

To his surprise, his personal guard appeared pleased about that fact. His words only underscored that impression. “That’s wonderful! What happened?”

“That’s not important right now,” Cain cut him off.

Clearly taken aback by the brusque tone, John’s forehead pulled into a frown, but he didn’t comment any further.

“I know what you did, John. I remember every second of the night I was nearly assassinated.” Cain paused, waiting for John’s face to show that he was caught. But it appeared that John was a better poker player than anybody else Cain had ever met. “What have you got to say for yourself, John? Why did you do it?”

“Do what?”

Cain shook his head. “I never expected this from you. We were friends. I trusted you.” They’d always had each others’ backs when they’d both been guards. Cain had trusted this man more than he’d ever trusted his own brother. This betrayal felt like a stab in the gut.

“What the fuck are you talking about? If you have your memory back then you know what happened.”

Frustrated about John’s refusal to confess his crime, Cain lunged at him and slammed him against the wall, pinning him there. “You lured me into a trap, and then when the assassin couldn’t finish me, you aimed your gun at me and pulled the trigger. Damn it, you shot me!”

“I didn’t shoot you!”

Cain flashed his fangs at him. “Stop lying and stand by your actions like a man, and not like a sniveling weasel. You betrayed me!”

“Never!” John ground out.

“You lured me into that trap.”

“No!”

“Then you’re denying that you sent me a text message that night to inform me about a conspiracy?”

“What?” John’s forehead creased and his mouth twisted in disbelief. “I never sent you any text message that night.”

“I have proof!”

John pushed against him, causing Cain to release him. “You have no fucking proof, because there is no proof. Because I didn’t do anything!”

“Give it up, John. I found my old cell phone. I can prove it was you!”

“Then show it to me! Because you’ve got nothing. I’m innocent! I came to rescue you!”

Cain scoffed. “By fucking shooting me? That’s a funny way of rescuing me.”

John continued facing off with him stoically, his jaw tight, his shoulders stiff. “Show me your proof and I’ll show you that you’re wrong. I aimed at the assassin, not at you. I killed the assassin to save you. You have to believe me.”

Cain searched his former friend’s eyes. Was he lying? Or was there really something to his claim that he was innocent? Cain had thought that having his memory back would make things easier, but it didn’t. Knowing his history with John, how they’d fought side by side, how John had stood by him to defeat the old king and save the imprisoned vampires, Faye included, made it impossible to condemn John outright.

Cain sucked in a long breath. “Follow me.”

***

Faye looked over Thomas’s shoulder as he powered on the cell phone that was currently connected to a charger. Thomas sat at the little desk in his room and had already booted up his computer and was typing away on it until the screen of Cain’s old cell phone finally lit up.

“Well, let’s have a look then,” Thomas said calmly as he picked up the phone and swiped across it with his finger. He looked up at her. “No password. Interesting.”

“I’m sure he had a password on his phone previously,” Faye replied. She’d seen Cain enter it many times, though she didn’t know the combination.

She watched as Thomas swiftly opened the message app and navigated to the last message the phone had received. “Here, that must be it.” He pointed to it.

Faye read it. It was exactly like Cain had told them. He’d received a note that he should come to the old plantation kitchen to find out about a conspiracy. Her eyes drifted to the top of the small screen. “John,” she read aloud.

Thomas nodded, a disappointed look on his face. “I’d hoped Cain was wrong.”

Faye shook her head. “I always blamed John after Cain’s presumed death. I blamed him because he didn’t keep him safe for me. But that John is actually behind this is so hard to believe. They were such good friends.”

Thomas hummed to himself, as if contemplating something. “That’s odd.” He paused and scrolled through the messages. “The older messages make no sense. I wonder—”

A sound at the door had Faye whip her head around. Maya stood there, opening the door wider.

“I’m sorry, Faye, but I need you.”

“We’re just checking out Cain’s old cell phone,” Faye said, wanting to hear what was startling Thomas.

“My two patients are scared. They’re getting ready to run. We’ve gotta convince them to stay here, or they’ll run right into the arms of their clansmen. You need to help me.”

“Shit!” Faye cursed. She had already stepped toward Maya when Thomas gripped her arm.

“I’m supposed to protect you.”

She shook her head and motioned to Maya. “I’m a vampire, Thomas. I can protect myself. Besides, Maya is with me. I’ll be fine.”

Thomas stared at her, but seemed clearly distracted by the cell phone in his hand. “Fine. Maya, make sure Faye stays safe, or Cain will have our hides for breakfast.”

Involuntarily, Faye had to smile at Thomas’s words. Cain had always been overly protective of her, and she had the feeling that now that they were blood-bonded, his need to protect her would reach new heights. A blood-bonded vampire protected his mate with his life.

“I heard congratulations are in order,” Maya said as they hurried along the corridor.

“Yes, thank you. Finally, I have Cain back.”

“I’m very happy for you both. A blood-bond is a wonderful thing.”

Faye smiled at the young woman who was so beautiful she could have had any man she wanted. Yet she’d chosen Gabriel, whose scarred face had repulsed Faye when she’d seen him the first time. Well, it was none of her business. She pushed the thoughts out of her mind and concentrated on the task ahead: to keep David and Kathryn safe.

When Maya wanted to turn toward the stairs leading up into the main foyer, Faye took her by the arm and motioned in the other direction. “We’ll take the service stairs. They’re closer to the kitchen.”

Quickly she led Maya toward the service stairs which seemed deserted, just like she’d expected. The majority of the staff and the guards would be in the front of the house, preparing for the arrival of the Mississippians.

“How did the operation go?”

Maya tossed her a sideways glance and smiled. “I think it went well. Their fangs haven’t fully grown in yet, but from what I could see when I examined them just after sunset, the roots are there, and in David’s case I can see a little bit of a tooth already. I think it’s working. Maybe another two or three sleep cycles and plenty of blood, and they’ll be healed.”

Faye sighed with relief. “I’m so glad. I’m really grateful to you for doing this. We don’t have any doctors here. Well, none who’re vampires anyway. And I couldn’t really bring them to a human doctor. It would have been complicated.”

“That’s quite all right. I was happy to do it. I’m still learning so much about our race. I look at it as research.”

“Research?” Faye asked curiously.

“I was a doctor when I was human. Urology. I did a lot of research at a university hospital before my turning.”

“And now?”

“Oh, I still do a lot of research, but I’ve switched my field to female reproductive medicine.”

“Vampire females?” Faye shook her head. “But vampire females are infertile. Everybody knows that.”

Maya winked at her. “It’s not quite as simple as that.”

“What are you saying?”

“That not everything is black and white. I’m close to developing a treatment that will allow vampire females to conceive from their blood-bonded mates.”

Faye stopped at the top of the stairs they’d just reached. “What?” Was this woman really saying that one day it could be possible for a vampire female to birth a child? Her thoughts immediately went to Cain. Could she and Cain one day become parents?

“Well, to put it in lay terms, it’s not impossible for a vampire female to conceive, but the problem has always been that the fetus can’t grow in the womb, because the vampire body rejects the fertilized egg as an injury and heals it during the vampire’s restorative sleep.”

“And how are you going to prevent that from happening?”

“The same way human doctors prevent a human from rejecting an organ that was transplanted into them. By lowering the body’s natural instinct to heal itself.”

“But that’s impossible.”

Maya smiled. “I’m close to a solution. I can sense it.” Then she looked around. “Which way?”

Still thinking about Maya’s words, Faye pointed to a door. “Through there.”

Moments later, they were in the enclosed walkway that connected the main house with the plantation kitchen. Just in time, as it turned out: David and Kathryn were getting ready to leave.

Their eyes filled with fear, Maya’s patients looked at them.

“We’re so grateful,” David started, “really, we are. But we can’t stay any longer. They’ll find us and kill us. You have to let us go.”

Maya pointed toward the outside. “They’re already coming up the driveway. You can’t go out there now. You’ll run right into their arms.”

A sob tore from Kathryn’s chest and she wrapped her arms around David, holding onto him as if hiding her face in his chest would prevent her from being found. Faye’s heart went out to her. She’d been frightened like that too once. She knew what the girl was going through.

“I have another solution,” Faye said. She knew she should talk to Cain about it first and get his approval for what she was about to do, but the lives of these two vampires depended on her acting without delay.

She reached for Kathryn. “I’ll keep you both safe.”

40

Cain charged into Thomas’s room, John and the others behind him. Thomas looked up from his computer.

“Is the cell phone working?”

“Yeah, it’s juiced up.”

Cain looked around the room, suddenly alarmed. “Where’s Faye?”

“She’s with Maya.”

“I told you to watch her. With the Mississippians right at our doorstep—”

“Don’t go all apeshit on me. You’re not the first vampire who’s suddenly acquired a mate. She and Maya know what they’re doing. They’re just making sure the two escapees won’t run into our unwelcome visitors.”

Cain hesitated for a moment, but instinctively he knew Thomas was right. He couldn’t watch Faye twenty-four-seven just because he didn’t think he could continue living without her.

Faye, my love, are you all right?
He sent the thoughts to her via their telepathic bond.

It took only seconds before warmth spread inside him and he felt rather than heard her response.
Of course, I’m all right. Is anything the matter?

Satisfied that their mental connection was working, he sent her another thought.
Everything is fine.

Then he jerked his thumb back at John while addressing Thomas. “Show him the text message. Show him how he lured me into the trap.”

Thomas stood up from the desk and unplugged the charger from the phone. Then he swiped over the screen and navigated to the right spot. “By the way, there was no password on it. I’d call that a security risk.”

Cain felt his eyebrows snap together. “I always had a password on my phone.” He remembered it clearly.