Out of the Dark (Forbidden Love) (25 page)

     “Well, good evening,” Sebastian said to Angel with a smile.  “I take it you had a good day?”

     “Smart ass,” Angel growled back.  He fixed his attention on Brea.  “
Ma Cherie
, what are you doing?” he asked politely.

     “I was showing off my mark.  What does it look like?”

     “Parading around half naked?” Angel suggested.

     “We don’t mind,” Rebel said
, the rest of the men chuckled.

     “Well I do, please, go get dressed.”
     “You know, now that I’m bound to you, I’m surprised by just how free I feel.  I could run through the yard naked and I don’t think I would care, so long as the whole world saw my mark.”  Brea was eyeing the door as she talked.

     “Don’t even think about it,” Angel warned.

     “Is there an ‘or else’ in there?” she teased.

      “Yes,” Angel frowned.

     “Or else what?” she demanded.

     “Brea
..” he started, but it was again, too late.  She was headed out the door.  “Damn it,” Angel spat and chased after her.  He did manage to catch her just in time.  He tossed her over his shoulder and packed her up the stairs.  He thought he would get more protest out of her about it, but Brea just put her hand under her chin and waved at his family as Angel carried her away.

     “Well, I guess that’s one way to get you to take me upstairs,” Brea laughed.

     “You mean you planned this?” Angel said incredulously.

     Brea answered with a smile and set her hands to work on the button of his jeans.

     “I just have to call Detective Corbin with the list of vampires who will help him with his investigation.  Then I will be ready, I promise,” he soothed Brea.  He had promised to take her out to celebrate, but the night was growing late.

     “Hurry up,” she said, leaving him alone to make his call.  When that was done, Angel and the rest of the crew left for a local club.  Angel was exceedingly happy and was too busy looking at Brea in her tight fitting low cut dress and how it showed off her mark to notice the vampire who stood among the fans at his gate.

     Chase opened his cell phone and dialed.  “It is completed,” he said into the phone.  “Yes, I will follow.”  He snapped his phone shut and walked to the local vampire bar.

     Brea woke the next day with one hangover from hell.  Her head was pounding and she could scarcely open her eyes with the lights on.  “Ugh,” she complained to herself, “I know better.”

She had celebrated all right.  She drank herself silly.  Brea was even having trouble remembering parts of the previous evening.

     After dragging herself through the shower and dressing, she went downstairs to the dining hall where everyone was waiting for her.  Most of the guys were nice, but Gage felt the need to pick at Brea for her actions.

     “Knock it off,” Angel had warned him.

     Brea placed her hand over Angel’s and smiled.  “It’s ok, really.  It is my fault.  I can’t expect to be here all the time and not be treated like everyone else.”  Then she turned to Gage, “Just remember, all’s fair in love and war.”

     Gage looked unimpressed, but Angel laughed.  “I would heed her warning if I were you.”

    Frieda appeared with a steaming cup of coffee and two aspirins.  “Thanks,” Brea told her.
     “Brea and I are going shopping this afternoon,” Keelie chimed in.  “If she still feels like it,” she added.

     “Sure, I can’t wait.  Just let me get some caffeine in my system first.”

     The pair went out, Ricco as their escort, to shop at the mall.  Ricco was following along behind the women, grumbling something unintelligible from time to time.  He was head of security, not a babysitter.  But he had to admit, he enjoyed what little time with Keelie that Brea would allow.
  Not that he was jealous or anything.  He  had already learned that if he wanted in the conversation, he was going to have to do something drastic to get their attention.  He was to keep the girls safe while the others were bound inside by the sun.  He was to keep them in his sight at all times.  But damn if that wasn’t a job in and of itself!  The girls flittered from sales rack to sales rack, and store to store, like hummingbirds pollinating an entire park.  They had already left Ricco behind twice.  Not that they intended to, Ricco just couldn’t keep up.  It was when the women went to the restroom together that Ricco had a spare minute to call Angel and report that all was especially, mind numbingly, boringly well.

     “Do you like the sweater I got at Maurice’s?” Keelie asked, fluffing her hair in the mirror.

     “I told you that I do,” Brea answered.

     “Why aren’t you buying more stuff?  I mean, Angel gave you his bank card.  I would be tearing that bad boy up if I were you.”

     “I’m not you,” Brea answered.  “I don’t like spending his money.  I feel like I don’t have the right, you know?”

     “You are mated with him!  You might as well be married.  You know,
what’s yours is mine and all?”

     “But we aren’t married,” Brea pointed out.

     “Maybe you should get that way,” Keelie suggested.

     “He hasn’t brought it up
,” Brea pointed out with a twinge of disappointment.

     “He may not realize that it’s important to you.  You should bring it up.”

     “Gah,” Brea gasped.  “You mean I should propose to him?  No way!  I couldn’t do that.”

     “Ha, well, I could mention it,” Keelie suggested as she stepped into one of the stalls.
  Brea did the same.  After a minute, Brea noticed that the restroom was quiet.  Very quiet.  Too quiet. 

     “Keelie?” she called out.  There was no response.  “Come on, that’s not funny,” she said, opening the stall door.  Brea stepped out only to realize that the restroom was empty.  “Huh, I guess she left me,” Brea said aloud as she washed her hands in the sink.

     She was drying her hands when Brea thought she saw a flash of movement in the mirror.  When she looked up, a large hand covered her mouth, repressing the scream that built in her throat.  “Shhh,” someone said in her ear.  Brea looked in the mirror and saw a man behind her.  He was tall and built, and definitely stronger than she was.  He lifted a rag out of his pocket and replaced his hand over her mouth with it.

     Brea tried not to breathe.  But much too soon her body betrayed her and Brea sucked in a breath against the cloth.  It was soaked in something that smelled very tart. 
A sickly sweet smell that Brea recognized all too easily.  Ether.  Brea fought the fuzz that was quickly settling over her mind, but it proved to be too hard.  She struggled with the man’s iron grip on her and made too little progress.  The room started spinning and Brea knew she was in trouble.  The blackness took over her senses and Brea knew nothing more.  

******

     Angel was sitting in the library writing in his song journal when his cell phone rang.  It was Ricco.  Angel flipped the phone open and answered it.

     “Yeah,” he said.

     “Hey Angel.  Just checking in.  Everything’s good, the girls are in the restroom right now,” Ricco’s voice said.

     “Are they having a good time?” Angel asked.

     “Well, if you count the number of packages I was left to guard as proof of fun, then yes.”

     “You don’t sound like you are having much fun yourself,” Angel laughed.

     “Ha ha.   So funny.  Oh, here comes Keelie,” Ricco said.  “Where’s Brea?” he asked her.

    
“Still inside.  She’ll be out in a minute,” Angel heard Keelie reply from the background.

     Angel suddenly had a very bad feeling.  A stab of fear shot through him, making his heart race and his adrenaline pump.  He knew instantly that it was not his own fear he was feeling, but Brea’s.  “Go check on her,” he demanded.

     “Chill out, Angel.  Brea’s fine.  I can’t just go barging into the women’s facilities.”

     Angel sniffed the air.  It was clean, but in his mind, he could smell the distinct odor of ether.  “You can and you will. Something’s wrong.  I think Brea is in trouble.  Go now!”

     Ricco and Keelie both ran back into the restroom.  A woman squealed when Ricco entered, but he paid her no mind.  They opened every stall and checked every corner.  “She’s not here,” Keelie said. 

     Angel’s heart hit the floor.  Where was she?  “I’m following her scent now,” Keelie said, having taken control of the phone.  All Angel could do was stand there like an idiot and wait.  “The trail stops here,” she said.  “It’s Brea and a man.  I swear Angel, when I left the bathroom, Brea was alone in there.  I would have never left if I thought someone else was with her,”

     “Where are you?” Angel said.

     
“The mall parking lot.  Her scent stops at this space.  Whoever is with her must have put her in a car.  You don’t think there is any possibility that she went willingly do you?”

     “I am most certain not.”  Angel explained his feeling he got along with the scent of ether.

     “Oh, God, what do we do?” Keelie moaned.

     “I have to make a call,” Angel said.  “Keep looking.”  He disconnected and dialed another number.

     “Corbin,” the man on the other end answered.

     “It’s Angel.  Listen, I think I know why your killer has changed his MO.  I think he got his real target.”

     “I’m listening.”

     “Brea is gone.  Someone took her. 
Just a few minutes ago.”

     “How can you be sure?” the detective asked.

     “Because we are mated.  I felt her fear when it happened.  Now I don’t feel her at all.  I fear she is unconscious, or worse,” Angel admitted.  He told Samuel everything he knew.

     “I’ll put every available man on it,” Samuel promised.

     Angel paced in front of the front door.  A million scenarios played out in his mind.  Several times, he tried to call to Brea’s mind, but had no luck.  Either they did not share that kind of bond, or she was unconscious.  Every possible suspect and every possible motive raced through Angel’s head.  Who would take her? 
And why?  And who would have the balls to do it, knowing they would face Angel’s wrath?

     Finally, finally the sun set behind the trees, allowing the men out of the house.  It wasn’t fully dark outside, but it was close enough.  “It’s time,” Angel announced.  “Go in pairs, no one goes off alone.  Check every building, every street,
every alley.  Ricco and Keelie are already out there.  You find anything, anything at all, call me.  I don’t care how insignificant you think it might be.  Got it?”

     “Got it,” five vampires said in unison.
  They were armed to the teeth and ready to fight.

     “I called in a few favors and some of my acquaintances are assisting as well.  So is Detective Corbin.  He’s put out an APB on Brea and anyone she is with.  I got this whole city looking for her.  Let’s move,” he said, already headed out the door.

THIRTY ONE

     Brea woke up on a cold, damp floor.  She pushed herself to a sitting position, wishing her head felt as good as it had when she was hung over.  The smell of mold and mildew was overpowering.  She peeled her eyelids back only to see that she was in a cell of some sort.  She was surrounded by grey concrete walls on three sides, the fourth was iron bars.  It looked much like what she imagined a jail cell would be like.  Except in jail, she would be supplied with a cot and maybe a toilet.  Besides herself, the cell was devoid of anything at all.

     Brea tried to stand, but her legs were weak and wobbly, her head was swimming.  So she crawled to the iron bars.  All she could see was a folding metal chair adjacent to the bars, and a hallway of concrete.  There was no one around that she could see.  What happened?  She tried to recall the events, but all Brea could remember was being at the mall with Keelie and Ricco.  Oh!  Were they alright?  Had whatever happened to Brea happened to her friends as well?

      “Brea!  Breanna Hunt, damn it, answer me!” Brea heard the words as if they had been spoken right in front of her.  But there was no one there.  But she knew that voice.  It was Angel.  He called to her again.  Brea thought she must be going crazy.  But then the tattoo on her breast began to warm.  She looked down and saw that it was shining, almost glowing.  The mating!  Maybe she really was hearing Angel’s voice.

     Trying to clear the fog from her mind, Brea called back to him. 
Angel,
she thought with all she had,
Angel, I’m here
.

    
Thank God!  Are you hurt, Love
?

    
I don’t think so
, Brea answered in her head. 
What happened
?

    
I was hoping you could tell us
, Angel replied. 
You disappeared from the women’s restroom
. 
Someone took you, do you know where you are
?