Dangerous Lovers (189 page)

“You knew?”

He nodded and kept grinning.

“Well, thanks a lot Alaric.”

The room became shrouded in silence. Tak, Marik and Ludo stood up so fast their chairs went flying. Liasare thought something had happened so she flew to her feet too. But then the oddest thing happened. She found herself surrounded by the three men as they fell to one knee and bowed their heads.

“I give you my allegiance and protection, my lady,” they said in unison.

“Er...okay.” She looked quickly to Jurek, unsure of what was happening, but he only smiled and nodded.

Finally, Jurek said, “You may rise.” The men rose and sat back down. They all looked at Liasare in the same revering manner they usually reserved for Jurek.

“Why didn’t you tell me about the scene?” Liasare asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable and not understanding what had just happened.

“You just started kicking ass and by the time I reached you, you had already taken out two of the dumb asses. There was no point in telling you then. By the time you knocked out number three, Down’s group of thugs were headed your way to take
you
out, so I had to get you the hell out of there,” Jurek finished.

“My lady, you sure...”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What’s up with this ‘my lady’ crap?”

Marik, Ludo and Tak all looked at Jurek and they all started laughing.

Jurek rubbed his eyes and said, “Liasare, would you care for me to explain this all to you here, in front of the men, or would you rather hear it in private?”

“Here is fine,” she said curtly.

What Jurek failed to mention to Liasare is that if she called him Alaric, it would indicate to others that he had taken her as his mate, his queen, and now she would serve by his side as his lady.

“Well, it would have been nice if you had mentioned that to me earlier,” she huffed as she elbowed him in the ribs. She knew he felt that way; she just was a tad miffed he hadn’t informed her of it.

“So what happened after we left?” Jurek asked, wisely using the question as a diversionary tactic.

Tak, Marik and Ludo made it below deck and they, too, felt the presence of something horrific nearby. They never saw anything, other than all kinds of sexual activity, but knew there was something nearby. It was also disturbing that they all felt this evil presence recognized them as well. They had remained in their mass forms, which made Liasare cringe, because she knew what that meant, so she tried not to think of it. Jurek decided the four of them would return in a few days in their energy forms to seek out what they didn’t see last night.

“But I want to go too,” she protested.

“No! Absolutely not!”

“Why not?”

“My lady, we...”

“Stop calling me that! If you can call him Jurek, you can still call me Brownie!”

Tak’s lips twitched as he looked at her. “I think I quite like ‘my lady,’ now that I’m getting used to it.” He so enjoyed teasing her. She punched him in the shoulder as hard as she could. “Ouch! That really hurt!”

“Good,” she said with satisfaction. Turning to Jurek she begged, “Please let me go too.”

“Liasare, you can’t. We go in energy forms. I won’t risk you going back in there anyway. If they see you, they’ll chain you up and do all sorts of heinous things to you.”

“They won’t be able to touch me Jurek.”

“No! That’s my final decision and I’ll send you back to Lare-Stell if I must to keep you safe.”

***

Two nights later Jurek and his men went back to Club Down. Liasare pouted the entire day and had tried everything she could imagine to persuade Jurek to take her with him. He refused and things escalated to the point of a full blown fight between them. They were both so angry, they destroyed furniture, art, dishes and many other items that weren’t nailed down or permanently attached to the walls or floors. After the men left, Liasare decided she couldn’t sit around, so she headed out for the night. She wanted to get her mind off of Jurek and the fact she couldn’t be out there with him.

She went to Cosmos, feeling it was the safest of all the clubs she’d visited. Xanthians were there, but she didn’t fear them anymore. Not since her brush with the death creatures anyway. Those things brought a whole new level of fear into her mind.

Liasare’s eyes scanned the place, hunting anything that might appear unusual or out of the ordinary. She was excited when she saw Jaylen standing at the bar, so she headed that way.

“Boy am I glad to see you here!” Liasare yelled, over the blaring music.

“Liasare!” Jaylen threw her arms around her and hugged her. “What’s up? Where’s your body guard?” she asked with a wink.

“He’s occupied tonight so I thought I’d sneak out. Any news?”

“Nothing worth repeating.”

The two girls chatted for a while until two men approached them and asked them to dance. Jaylen grabbed Liasare’s arm and dragged her along and they all ended up on the dance floor.

They were having a grand time until the moron Liasare was dancing with decided to start groping her.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” she shouted over the thunder of the beat of the music.

“Oh, come on baby. You know you want it.”

“No, I don’t. Get your hands off of me. Now,” she seethed.

Instead of releasing her, he did the opposite and pressed himself into her. Liasare’s power flared into him, sending him flying across the floor on his ass. It was a good thing no one had been paying attention, for questions would have been raised.

Liasare headed straight for Jaylen and told her she needed to get out of there fast. Jaylen asked no questions, but was on her heels. When they were out the door, she wanted to know what happened and Liasare simply explained that her Romeo had gotten too frisky and she had taught him a tiny lesson.

“So, do you want to come over and hang out?”

“No, I’d better be getting back.”

“Is everything okay between you and Jurek?”

“Yeah,” she grinned. “We had a fight tonight, but we’re okay.”

“Have you ...?”

“Oh yeah. We’ve ... yeah, well, it’s, um, yeah, we’re great Jaylen.” She felt her cheeks growing hot at the mere thought of him.

Jaylen tilted her head and looked at her for a long minute before saying anything. “You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”

“That would be a big yeah,” she grinned like a schoolgirl.

“And what does Jurek think about all this? He’s not the type to fall for a girl Liasare.”

“Jaylen, he has this time.”

“Are you sure, because I would hate to see you get hurt?” Jaylen had grabbed her hands and was squeezing them. “He’s not the type to give his heart to anyone.”

“I know. But I own his heart Jaylen and if anyone tries to come between us or tries to hurt him, I swear I’ll kill them.”

Jaylen’s jaw dropped. “Wow! This is real, isn’t it?”

Liasare looked Jaylen in the eye and said, “Have you ever felt like half of you was missing? Like a part of you weren’t there?”

“Nope. I’ve never been lucky enough to care for someone that way.”

“Before I met Jurek, I never felt whole. I always felt there was a piece of me that hadn’t quite made it, like I had been born without a crucial part of my soul or something. I think it’s because he’s carried it with him all these years.”

“Okay, double wow. I’ve never known anyone that’s ever put it that way. And with Jurek of all people. Don’t take this the wrong way Liasare. I’ve known Jurek for a while now and he’s quite a player. I’ve seen dozens of women destroyed by men over the years, so I’ll reserve judgment until I see the two of you together. When I can see his reaction to you, I’ll know for sure whether his feelings for you are true.”

Liasare hugged Jaylen and said, “I swear you won’t be disappointed in him. You’re a true friend Jaylen. You may be surprised, but you’ll see what I’m telling you is the truth.”

The two women parted, promising to catch up with each other again soon. Liasare walked through the darkened streets, not nearly as frightened as she used to be. As she neared the headquarters, she began to feel a sense of unease. That icy feeling crawled across her skin again. Soon she recognized the evil that had surrounded her before.

She quickly scanned the area as her heart began to race. That sensation of a million ice needles pricking her skin intensified and began to get extremely painful, like fire ants stinging her body everywhere. Voices drifted into her mind, but at first they were indistinct.

Turning her head on either side, she saw first one, then two and then a half dozen pairs of eerie green eyes staring at her. The voices merged into one and reverberated in her brain.

“We want you. You cannot resist us for long. You can run, but you cannot stay away from us forever. He can’t protect you. You will be ours one day.”

The dark creatures surrounded her, cutting off any exit she may have. “Join us or die.”

“Never!” she spat. Liasare pulled her dagger from her right boot. With her left hand, she grabbed a throwing star and flung it at the dark creature in front of her, hitting him in the heart. He emitted an ear splitting screech before he collapsed and turned into dust. She repeated the same motion two more times, leaving three versus one. Now it was time to use her daggers.

The creatures behind her tried to move in, but she was fast, much faster than they had anticipated. Every time they tried to touch her, her power would erupt and send them flying. It didn’t kill them. Only her Praestani weapons would do that. On she fought until the last one finally turned to dust. When the final bits of it were blown away by the night breeze, that evil voice reverberated in her mind once again.

“We will be back, again and again. We will take all that you love and destroy it until we have you Sarah Liana St. Davis. You belong to us.”

“NOOOO!” she screamed into the empty sky.

Chapter Thirty

Jurek and his men returned in the early morning hours to find every light in the headquarters on. Liasare was sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, ashen faced, trembling and freezing cold.

Her lips were blue and when Jurek tried to get her to speak, her teeth were chattering so badly, he feared they would chip.

“Christ, Liasare, what the fuck happened?”

“I-I-I w-w-went t-t-to C-c-c-cos-s-sm-m-m-m...”

“Sshh. Never mind. Don’t try to speak.”

He gathered her frigid body in his arms and carried her to their room. Stripping her clothes off and then his, he took her into the bathroom and ran the shower on hot until it filled the room with steam, then he stepped into the shower with her in his arms. Standing beneath the spray, he let the heat warm her until he finally felt her shivering disappear.

“Now can you tell me what happened?”

Liasare went through the process of her vile episode with the dark creatures. She knew Jurek would be furious with her, but the voice in her mind had shaken her up so badly she didn’t care.

“He knew my name! Oh God, Jurek, he knows me, my background. He said he would take all that I love. That means you!” She started to tremble again.

Jurek’s mouth hardened and eyes grew dark. “Liasare, no one will touch me. It’s you I’m concerned about. Why do you leave and put yourself in vulnerable situations like this?”

“Are you not listening to me? Forget about that! That fucking voice was in my head, Jurek. He wasn’t there speaking to me. He was
in my fucking head.
This thing, whatever it is, is powerful! I have a feeling it sent those creatures to test my abilities. It doesn’t give a flying fuck about their existence; they’re there to serve him. He’s going to
hurt you,
or do his damnedest, just to get to me!” Tears streaked down her cheeks as she grabbed his face, trying to get him to understand.

“Okay, okay. I’ve got you love. He won’t get me; not tonight anyway. I’m here with you.” He held her tightly to him.

“I swear to God, Alaric, if anything happens to you, I’ll destroy the universe and anything that gets in my way. And hunt down whoever hurt you.”

The way she said his name and the intensity of her voice reached into to his soul and for the first time in his life, he felt true fear … fear because he was fighting an unknown enemy who had its sights on his one true love. “Hey, Liasare. No talk of that. We’ll find this thing, whatever it is, and destroy it, before it can get to any of us.”

They stood there, letting the hot water wash over them, as they held each other.

***

The evil presence in the hooded cloak was in their headquarters, beckoning for her to follow him. He promised Jurek would not be harmed if she would come peacefully. Liasare slipped out of bed and tiptoed on silent feet. Someone kept screaming her name, pulling her arm, but she was afraid the evil presence would kill Jurek so she shrugged her arm loose from whoever it was. When she neared the exit, a swirling wind and streaks of lightning infused the room, making it look like a summer storm was taking place indoors. Liasare’s hair stood on end from the static charge in the room. In the midst of the wind and electrical activity, she finally recognized Jurek’s mother.