Final Days (21 page)

“It’s going to be okay.  We have the most powerful women in the world converging here tonight.  That murderous vampire won’t be able to protect herself from us when we find her.”

“I’m counting on it.  The sun’s dropped.  I’m going out to get us some breakfast.  Why don’t you and Eillia get cleaned up while I’m out.”

“Good plan.  Okay. 
But before you go.  Why didn’t you tell me about Alisa?”

Koen paused, his eyes searching above her head, then back to hers, their green iris’s perfect matches.

“When I flew over here, I didn’t know what to expect.  We’d just had one night together in Paris, and that was months earlier.  It could have been nothing.  But when I saw her again, my heart knew.  Then, we had to get to know each other.  She had to find out she was in love with me.  And I needed to tell her what I am.  Which was going to be last night.   Then I was going to bring her home to meet you, my lovely daughter.  Just didn’t see
this
coming.”

“You couldn’t.”

“I could have been more careful.  I
should
have seen it.  Doesn’t change anything, though.  Alisa is still missing.”

“We’ll find her.  We’ll go home together.”

“Well, that’s what I intend to happen.  I’ll be back shortly.”

He went into the hall, ignoring the elevator, which was too slow, and used hyper-fast speed to
blow down the eight floors to street level.

Just as he exited the building, he noticed a woman standing across the street
near a bus stop and watched her suddenly stand up, staring at him.  She was clad in a black cape, with a hood pulled up so he couldn’t see her well.  But he knew who it was.

He was there in an instant, his hand on her throat, and yanked her into an alley be
tween the buildings.   The hood fell away showing her face as she smiled at him.

“Where the fuck is she?” he said, so quietly she knew it for the threat it was.

“Release me,” she choked out as his fingers tightened.  For several moments, he didn’t move.  He just wanted to break her neck.  Then slowly, he peeled each finger away and shoved her back against a brick wall.

A leather gloved hand came up to massage her throat as Windari pushed away from him.  He wasn’t worried about her getting away from him since he knew she was
here for a reason.

After a few moments, she laughed softly.  “
Boy, was I right. You are serious about this little human female.  That’s good.  Because if you want her to live, you better understand right now.  Yes, I have her.  No, you won’t find out where.   She isn’t in the country anymore.  But she can die just as quickly if you try to take me.  See, I’m not ready to leave Chicago yet.  I like it here.  And as long as you call off Ahmose and his dogs, your girl stays alive and I stay free.  This is not negotiable.  I have no problem with her, and no real desire to hurt her.  She’s quite nice, really.  She tastes good.”

Koen grabbed Windari again and threw her across the alley to slam into another brick wall.   Windari fell to the ground hard, the breath knocked out of her.   When she got back to her feet, she brushed off her stiletto-heeled suede boots and came up snickering.

“Yeah, sorry, I pushed that one.  Knew it would piss you off.  Look, I haven’t touched her.  Yet.  Just be a good little vampire and stay out of my way.  I’ll move on, and when I do, I’ll send her back to you, no worse off.  You understand?”

For a split second Koen almost hauled her upstairs to Alisa’s apartment by her hair.  Maybe Eillia and Park could find Alisa if they had Windari.  But he knew it was unlikely.

“You touch me again, I swear, I’ll call my blood-bonds and tell them to end her.  Even if I don’t call, she dies, because I have instructed them to feed her and give her water only when I tell them to do so.  If I don’t call, she starves to death.  Not a nice way to die.  I can see you trying to decide how to control this.  Maybe you will.  But not now.  Anything you do now results in her death.  So, say it, Koen.  Say, ‘I will help you out and get Ahmose to stop searching for you.’  That’s your only choice.”

Frozen, Koen’s mind raced.  She was right.  At this moment, he didn’t know what else to do.  The crazy bitch had the winning hand.   He couldn’t risk pissing her off enough to decide to kill Alisa out of spite. 

He shifted his eyes to hers and their gazes locked.

Eventually, she blinked. 
“If looks could kill, vampire.  But they can’t.  Do it.”  She held up a cell phone.  “Do it, now.  I’m hungry and I don’t want to fuck around with this anymore tonight.”

Koen grabbed the cell phone, still staring at her.

“You know he won’t do it.”

Windari laughed.  “Oh, I know he will.  He’s more of a bleeding heart than you are.  He’s become weak.  Hell, he might as well be human.  None of you remember that first bloods are superior on this earth.  The Mother made us Gods.”

Slowly dialing a number, Koen watched her self-satisfied grin.

“You’re wrong.  She made us protectors.  You’ve corrupted her mission.  You’re
sick, Windari, but we can help you.  We helped your twin.”

Suddenly,
Windari’s eyes went cold and the smile disappeared.  “My twin.  Huh.”

Ahmose answered the call.  Koen spoke clearly.

“I’m here in front of Alisa’s apartment with Windari.  She has Alisa.  She’s taken her out of the country and I don’t know where she is.  If you don’t stop the search, she’s going to kill her.”

Koen listened, glanced up at Windari,
then put the phone on speaker.

“Windari, it is Ahmose.  Please come home so we can deal with this situation.  We are aware something is terribly wrong, but we would like to help you.  You know
how powerful our people are.  Would you allow us to try to understand why you did this?”

Windari snorted as she laughed.

“You will understand me to my beheading.  I know what I’ve done is unforgiveable in your eyes.  I would be put to death immediately.  Probably before you even took me home.  No.  I hold all the cards, here.  I tell you what to do and all of you will fucking do it.  I already told this child of the sun that this was not negotiable.  There are two choices of which the end result is his woman living or dying.  So, it’s pretty simple.  What do you choose?”

Ahmose was silent.  Koen knew he was an honorable man, a man of his word, and he knew what it cost him to consider promising not to hunt Windari down.  But Koen also knew that
, as a first blood male, Ahmose understood the loss of a mate.  Mates were rare and it could take lifetimes to find one.  As it had for Koen.  After as many centuries on this earth as Koen had lived, Ahmose had yet to find his.  So Koen knew Ahmose would agree.  A few silent moments later, he did.

Ahmose’s
voice came through quiet and calm.  “I will not pursue you.  Unless you harm Alisa.  Or anyone else.  Then, Windari, there is no place you can hide I will not find you.   I want you to understand this deal is not unlimited.  You are right, though.  For now, you hold the better hand.  I concede.  Koen, it will be okay.  We will find her, brother.”

Koen removed the phone from the speaker and brought it to his lips.

“Ahmose, you are a wonderful leader for your people.  One of the most noble of men I have ever known.  I thank you for this sacrifice.  I will call you shortly.”

He dropped the phone
on the ground and walked up to Windari, then stopped only inches from her, and grabbed her shoulders.  She looked up into his face as he towered above her.

“Don’t hurt her. 
In any way.  You think Ahmose would kill you if he finds you.  If you hurt her, I won’t.  I will make you wish I had, but I will show no mercy.  Ahmose is a good man of great integrity and honor.  I’m not.”

Windari did not flinch.  She didn’t wish to end her life, but she wasn’t afraid to die.  And sh
e knew Koen was capable of brutality far greater than anything Ahmose would ever be comfortable with.

“I know.  You’re like me.  You do what has to be done.”

“I am nothing like you.  Never make that mistake.  All I want from you now is your intention.   When will you release her to me?”

“When I feel safe.
  I’ll let you know.”

Windari wrenched herself out of his hands and started to turn away, then turned back to him.

“Clever.  But it won’t work.  I can sense something like this near me.”  She flicked something small off her leather jacket.  “Don’t try that again.  If you give me one more reason to doubt your word, I’ll just kill her and get the hell out of here before her body hits the ground.”

She disappeared on a column of air.

Koen dropped to the ground, his head in his hands.  He didn’t trust anything that just happened.  He didn’t trust one word that
bitch uttered.  He didn’t know what he could do next to find Alisa.

Eillia and Park found him there minutes later, where he’d shoved himself up agains
t the brick staring into a pile of trash that had blown into the opposite wall.

“Koen, is everything all right?” Eillia
asked, her ability to read him corrupted by his tumultuous emotions.

Looking up suddenly, to her and then to Park, he smile
d bitterly.  “No.  She found the tracker, so Tim can retire for the night.  For the moment we have her promise not to hurt Alisa.  If her promises mean anything, which they probably don’t.  But it’s all I have.   Eillia, is there any chance you, Park, and Cherise can find her?”

Eillia glanced at Park,
then they both looked at Koen.

“We can only try.  Without blood to trace, I just don’t know.  If anyone can, it would be the three of us.  Well, four.  Katerine will help and she has her own skills.”

“Good.  When they get here, we’ll try right away.  Meantime, I promised you breakfast.  Shall we go out for it?”

Park nodded.  “I’d like that.  Come on,
father.  You’ve never admitted defeat before, you won’t this time either.”

He took her arm, and led them out of the alley, turning left toward the café where Koen had arranged the breakfast delivery to Alisa’s room
after their first night together here in Chicago.

“That isn’t entirely true.  There was a moment just before you came into my life, daughter. 
A moment when I admitted to myself that I had been alive too long and overstayed my welcome.  You saved me, Park.  You and Cairine.  I wanted to be here for you.  It was my darkest hour, but it’s all changed now.  I was finally given the chance to feel a father’s love.  And now that of a lover and mate.  I wouldn’t miss any second with either of you.”

“I believe in you.  God knows, I believe in your dedication to those you love.  And I believe it is going to be all right.  We will bring her home safely.  For now, though, let’s eat and plan our night.”

Alisa looked around the startlingly big space.  This was more than a warehouse.  It appeared to be a massive old factory, long abandoned and damp.  She looked up at ceiling joists that looked like rusty giants with their arms outstretched to hold up rotting wood.  Pools of water lay in several places around the room as testaments to the roof’s failure.  The smell was chemical, awful, acrid and odd, and nothing she had ever smelled before.

She couldn’t even begin to guess where they’d taken her. 
But she was awake now, and looking for a way out.

Getting free was going to pose a serious problem, though.   Both of her hands were chained to a heavy metal beam that, while it was as rusted as the others, it was still strong and solid enough that her slight strength wouldn’t budge it.  She was trapped here until someone let her free.  For the moment, no one was in sight.

A tray made of thin plastic lay on the floor beside her and held a plastic pitcher of water, a paper plate filled with corn tortilla chips, and some type of salsa.

Alisa had no idea how long she’d been out, but she was hungry and needed to pee.  Looking around, she saw a shallow metal bowl just out of reach.  It would have to do.  Removing the food and water from the plastic tray, she used the tray to painstakingly convince the bowl to move nearer so she could use it.  Eventually, she was able to grab it with her outstretched fingers, and sighed in relief as she pulled it to her.  Peeing on the floor would have been a last resort, because she felt certain she was going to be here a while, and that meant she didn’t want to begin this stay with a urine soaked floor.

Glancing around, as if it would have mattered in the end anyway, she assured herself she was alone, quickly dropped her tights and panties and relieved herself into the bowl. 
God, that felt good
.  Once she was finished, she gently set the bowl some distance away and looked down at the chips. 
Junk food
.  It would hit the spot anyway.

She sat with her legs crossed and munched on the chips, which were quite good. 

And wondered what the hell was going on.

Who kidnapped her?   She
assumed it was the beautiful woman with the dark spiked hair but that was all she knew about her.   She didn’t know why.  Or what she wanted.  Or if she was going to let her go.  It had to do with Koen, of course.  Jealous Ex, as she had wondered before?  Would she go this far?