Pulse of Heroes (54 page)

Haden put his arm around Michelle and smiled
back towards Rion.

“So Michelle, I see that you have met an old
friend of mine, Amirani. Oh sorry, I mean Rioni.” Michelle couldn’t
believe that Haden knew who Rion was, and when she looked up to
question him she was shocked to see that his eyes were glowing just
like Elliot’s. He looked back down at Michelle and assured her,
“Don’t worry. We’re all old friends.” He then dropped his voice to
almost a whisper and said something to Rion. Michelle didn’t
understand the words they exchanged but she could tell that there
was something strange going on because Rion’s eyes began to appear
brighter too. “Rioni here says that he is a friend of your
boyfriend, Elliot?” Haden bent his knees so he could look directly
at Michelle’s face. “Is that true Michelle? Do you have a
boyfriend? Because I could have sworn that you said you didn’t have
one.“ Haden over dramatized feeling hurt, and gently ran his finger
from the bridge of Michelle’s nose down to her open lips. She felt
mesmerized by his touch and tried her best not to bite him because
she was dying to taste him again.

“Michelle, he’s playing tricks on you. Elliot
is on his way,” Rion said in English. “Just let her go, Hadeno!”
Rion took a step forward with his hand already holding on to the
grip of his sword, but Haden didn’t seem concerned as Togor and the
other guy stepped forward to block Rion’s way. Togor spoke to Rion
in Ukrainian and questioned his loyalty to Elliot. Why would he put
himself on the line for him, let alone for a human? And besides, he
should consider joining them because they were on the verge of
something greater than anything he had ever seen in his entire
lifetime. Rion replied that that he liked his life as is.

Haden asked Michelle if she wanted to leave
with Rion because this so-called ex-boyfriend of hers was
supposedly coming for her, or if she wanted to stay with him. But
Michelle was no longer hearing anything that came out of Haden’s
mouth because she was losing herself in him. He was special, just
like Elliot, and he was beautiful, and unlike Elliot who only cared
about himself, had already tried to protect her when he thought
Rion was there to cause her harm. For all she knew, Elliot was
nowhere near and Rion was full of it. No, she wasn’t going to go
with him anywhere. She looked down at Rion who looked pained trying
to will her to come with him, then returned her eyes to Haden.

“Kiss me,” Haden whispered to her, and she
did. Haden took her in his arms only this time his eyes grew
brighter. A second later, Michelle was passed out and Hadeno threw
her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Rion drew his sword
without even noticing, and Hadeno’s men flashed their small knifes.
Rion heard someone clearing their throat behind him and when he
turned around he saw a third man patting a large blade tucked into
his belt. Naturally, Rion didn’t know if all the weapons were made
of
Nizabar
, but it probably wasn’t a good time to try and
find out. A man with a small child propped on his shoulders was
passing to the left. There were innocent people everywhere. Togor
spoke to Rion, this time in Russian, and told him that it was not a
good idea to start a fight in front of the babies.

“I’m sorry, Rioni, but the lady made her
choice.” Hadeno laughed and patted Michelle’s backside.

“You drugged her,” Rion called out in
anger.

”I think she just needs a nice long nap…
it’ll stay much quieter that way, for a while at least.” Hadeno
shook his head laughing.

Rion worried. “Don’t you dare hurt her. She’s
a good kid. Whatever you want with Elliot is your business, but
keep her out of it.”

“You tell Elliot I want to talk to him face
to face… I’ll give her back to him if he comes to me. You tell him
I said that.” Hadeno turned his back to Rion and began climbing
back up the small hill, turning around to face Rion one last time.
“Oh, and tell him he better come alone or else I can’t promise what
condition she’ll be in when he gets her.” Hadeno roared with
laughter and walked away. Rion watched Michelle’s limp head dangle
and sway back and forth; seeing her like that made him want to kill
Hadeno himself. “He will kill you!” Rion called out, but Hadeno
disappeared into the courtyard behind the trees and Rion knew that
there was nothing to be done right there and then.

Rion made his way back to his rental car with
Togor and his friend following him all the way to the parking lot.
Hadeno had not changed at all since the last time Rion had seen
him. As he watched the figures of Togor and his companion shrinking
in the rear view mirror, Rion wondered why Hadeno hadn’t mentioned
the clay tablet. Maybe he thought that Rion didn’t know about it?
Or maybe there was something else he wanted from Elliot altogether.
One thing he was sure of: Hadeno had something up his sleeve, and
knowing exactly what excited Hadeno meant that whatever it was, it
was pretty bad. Once Rion was several miles away from Alba Iulia,
he pulled the car over to the side of the road and got out to
search it. He found the small GPS tracker hidden behind the rear
license plate. They were playing high-tech games. They must also
have cameras all over the place, he thought as he crushed the gizmo
into the gravel under his boot.

“Where am I?” Michelle asked. Haden was
standing a few feet away from her, bent over a laptop. When he
heard her voice he closed the screen and walked over to the bed she
was lying in. It was dark in the room; the only light was from a
window that was shaded by a large tree on the outside. Once
Michelle’s eyes adjusted to the dark she noticed that Haden was not
wearing a shirt. She immediately wondered what had happened and
looked down in panic, relieved to see that she still had her
clothes on.

“Don’t worry. I have a little more class than
that. And besides, I already told you. I haven’t decided if you’re
worth the trouble,” Haden said. Michelle pretended not to hear him
because it hurt her feelings when he talked down to her like
that.

“What happened?” she asked, looking around
the room.

“What do you remember?” he asked back while
he looked for a fresh shirt.

“I remember that I drank a beer and I wasn’t
feeling good, and Vilna… where’s Vilna?”

“She’s not here,” he answered shortly.

“And the concert?” she asked. Haden told her
that it was over and that the whole area was a mess because of the
traffic. “What happened to your shirt?” she asked quietly. Haden
pulled two shirts out of a large wardrobe and held them both up for
Michelle to see. She pointed to the dark gray one that had some
sort of a firebird motif embroidered on it in deep red.

“Good choice,” he said as he put the other
one back. Despite Michelle still feeling queasy and having a royal
headache, she would have preferred that Haden remain topless. He
had a manly, muscular presence that filled up the entire room.
Haden caught Michelle looking at him through the mirror and smiled
to himself. He didn’t say anything, but she felt completely
embarrassed. “You had a heat stroke and you fainted, so here you
are in my room. You also managed to throw up all over my shirt, so
when you’re up to it I’d appreciate if you’d take a bath or a
shower so I can have some new sheets put on my bed,” Haden said,
irritated. Michelle was mortified. She sniffed her shirt, but Haden
told her that she had managed to keep herself pretty clean, besides
her face of course and her hair. Michelle had mostly forgotten what
had happened earlier and wondered if she dreamt the whole thing
up.

“Was Rion here?” she asked, mostly to
herself.

“He was. An old friend stopping by to say
hello,” Haden said as he fought to button his right sleeve with his
left hand. Michelle watched him struggle for a while, then climbed
out of bed to help him. He didn’t say anything, which Michelle
found rude, and she let him know that a slight thank you would help
improve his manners. Haden pretended not to hear her. “Are you
hungry?” he asked her. Michelle wasn’t sure because her stomach
felt unstable. She squeezed her forehead, hoping to relieve some of
the pressure behind her eyes. Haden said that he was leaving for a
while and that she should probably just lie back down because she
looked pretty bad.

“I can’t. It’s late. I need to get back to my
aunt’s or she’ll be worried sick,” Michelle said, concerned. Haden
told her that she would be spending the night, explaining before
Michelle could protest that there was no point in going out there
with the traffic being so bad.

“It will take many hours before the roads are
clear, and even after that you wouldn’t get back to Budapest until
morning. Vilna would agree with me.” Michelle suddenly remembered
Vilna leaving and asked Haden if he wasn’t worried about his sister
being gone for so many hours, or if he knew about what had happened
to Adi. Haden seemed genuinely surprised.

“If it’s true then I’m sure she’s off
drowning her sorrows somewhere. Personally, that idiot was never
worth it.” Michelle was put off by Haden’s callousness and asked if
he didn’t care about his sister’s feelings. “Of course I do. That’s
why I’m not shedding any tears over this.” Haden asked Michelle for
her aunt’s phone number and punched the numbers in to his cell
before handing it to her. “I wouldn’t tell her you left the
country. Why worry her, right?” Haden watched as Michelle told her
aunt that everything was ok and that she’d see her tomorrow. He
told Michelle that he’d have the housekeeper bring her some fresh
clothes for when she was ready. Michelle didn’t want to be left
alone in Haden’s room.

“Where are you going?” she asked him
nervously, and he told her in a neutral voice that he was going
‘out’. Michelle assumed that he was on his way to meet some woman.
“Haden,” she called him again just as he was about to close the
door behind him. “Did… um, did we, I mean did you…?” Haden stopped
dead in his tracks but didn’t look at her.

“You had no problem kissing me in front of
Rion as long as you thought it might get back to Elliot and make
him jealous,” he blurted out with venom. “I told you then and I’ll
tell you again; I don’t like being used by anyone. You’re lucky I
didn’t just throw you to the ground.” Haden’s version of events
conflicted with Michelle’s memory; she remembered him smiling and
taking her in his arms, and kissing her more than once. Michelle
curled her knees up to her chest. Is that what she did? Did she
kiss Haden only because of Elliot?

“I’m sorry,” she apologized quietly, still
confused about the whole situation. “I don’t remember.” What she
did know is that for two days straight she had been thinking about
Haden and what it would feel like to wrap her arms around him, and
now that she had done so she didn’t even remember it, and
supposedly she did it just to get back at Elliot?

“I don’t know what it is you see in this
Elliot? He must have lied his pretty little face straight into your
heart. Why else would he pick a young, vulnerable girl such as
yourself. Maybe we read different books about him, you and me? From
judging you, if you knew half the things he’s done you wouldn’t
love him, but rather hate him to the core.” Haden looked at
Michelle’s wide eyes. She had no idea he knew Elliot. “There’s
water over there if you want,” he pointed his chin towards a carafe
with a glass next to it, then shut the door behind him leaving
Michelle alone in his room.

The carafe perspired drops of condensation
which gathered to form a circle around its base. The ice was barely
melted so Michelle figured she must have only slept for thirty
minutes or so. She was thirsty. There was no clock in the room and
she had no idea when either Haden or Vilna would return. She
examined her surroundings, trying to get a sense of who Haden was.
Although the room was nicely put together, it was definitely
masculine, dominated by Haden’s large sleigh bedframe made out of
thick dark reddish wood with intricate cravings and decorations
along it’s four sides. Above the bed hung a very large oil painting
that depicted a forest scene with two strange figures that looked
like men with lion heads standing to either side of a large tree.
Michelle walked over to the matching desk to see if she could at
least use the laptop, but she needed a password to get in. The
wardrobe stood to one side of the room and was also made of dark
antique wood with two beautifully carved doors flanking a large
floor length etched beveled mirror. Michelle assumed that the dark
arched door led to a bathroom, and she was right.

Michelle feasted her eyes on the most amazing
washing room she had ever seen. It was like a palace. Her first
step was into a sort of parlor area featuring beautifully laid
diamond shaped tiles alternating between deep green and creamy
yellow. Along the wall was a narrow antique table with a marbled
top that had clean towels and dishes displaying various soaps and
bottles. On the opposite side of the room there was a sitting area
with two small armchairs and a marbled coffee table. Above them was
a refrigerated niche with a glass door displaying bottles of wine
and chilled glasses. Beyond that was another narrow room with
double vanities and marble sinks on either side of the wall with
what seemed to be gold faucets and matching towel racks. And then
the area widened into a large octagonally shaped room with an
eight-sided sunken bathtub in the middle. The floor here was made
out of huge golden marble slabs, and when Michelle looked into the
bottom of the tub she saw that it was beautifully decorated in a
colorful lotus flower design made of tiny mosaics. Up above on the
high ceiling there was a spectacular round stained glass window
with images of angels floating amongst a blue starry night.

Haden must spend all his time in here,
Michelle thought to herself as she ran her hand against the plush
white towels that hung on gold racks. Suddenly bath time didn’t
sound so bad.