Pulse of Heroes (61 page)

“Here. Drink this,” he said, placing a glass
of golden yellow liquid on the side table. Michelle’s body began
trembling uncontrollably. She curled herself inwards like a wounded
animal, protecting herself as much as she could. Haden’s cell phone
rang. He said one word, then ended the call and walked over to the
window. He looked down below to where he saw Elliot standing in
front of the black Range Rover, completely surrounded, while one of
the men was frisking him for weapons. Haden gave out a small laugh
as Togor took Elliot’s sword and then his dagger. When Michelle
heard Haden chuckle, she knew right away that something bad had
happened.

“Well, if it isn’t Prince Charming himself.
He showed up after all. Got to give him some credit, no? Wonder
what he would think if he saw you now,” Haden said sarcastically,
pulling the large sword out of the sack. When Michelle realized
that Elliot was so close to her she felt even more pain than she
thought she ever would. She didn’t want him to see her this way,
and she wasn’t even sure who he was to begin with. But at that
moment she wished she didn’t know anything about his past; she just
wished she were in his arms.

“I suggest you drink the wine. It’s sweet,
Tamaioasa-Romaneasca. It’s going to be a long night. You might just
need it. Move your hands from your face,” he commanded her.

“I don’t want to, and I don’t want to drink.
The stuff is making me sick,” Michelle said, hoping that Haden
would at least give her the right to keep her eyes hidden.

“Haven’t we been through this already? As I
recall, not too long ago you were begging me to…” Michelle felt his
breath on her hands. She just didn’t have the stamina to fight him
anymore. She slowly uncovered her face. “You know what’s funny
here? You act so much the way Vilna used to when she was ten or
eleven. I can’t remember anymore,” he chuckled.

“Did you try to rape her too?” Michelle
couldn’t believe the words that just blurted out of her mouth. The
slap she received left her ears ringing. She was so dizzy she
thought the bed was spinning. Haden then propped her up against the
headboard and grabbed her by her cheeks.

“You’ve got some mouth on you, and damn
stubborn too!” He pushed her head against the headboard. I should
have just left you in the field to die after I was done with you!!!
Who do you think you’re dealing with?” His voice got lower and his
face came close to hers, “I’ve been king of entire nations, a
leader of great militaries, a hero. I’ve had girls lined up for
months just to get a turn in my bed, and you, you jeer at me? You
should be begging on your knees in gratitude that I gave you a
chance at all!” he screamed, raising his hand to slap her again.
Michelle put up her arm defensively and turned her face away. When
she opened her eyes Haden was headed out the door.

“I hope Elliot kills you!!!” she yelled,
throwing the glass of wine across the room. It shattered against
the doorjamb, spilling the wine onto Haden’s shoes. His entire face
contorted in anger, and if he hadn’t killed her yet, he was surely
going to now. Michelle said a quick prayer for her soul. At least
she had said what was on her mind before she died. Her poor
parents. Haden had her by her throat and Michelle began choking.
Her hands went up and scratched at his fingers to let her loose,
but it was no use. Within a few seconds Michelle stopped fighting
and darkness approached her from either side. Then everything
turned to black. Nothing could hurt her anymore. She was free.

Before Elliot got to Hadeno’s property he
pulled off the road and opened a small icebox that he had stowed
beneath the passenger seat. He removed two packs of dry ice, then
lifted out a rectangular item that looked like a slab of yellowish
clay. He began molding it and shaping it into a flat elliptical
shape, then pulled off his boot and placed the clay underneath the
padding at the heel. He hid the icebox under the seat again, pulled
the boot back on, then got out of the car and walked towards the
front. Looking around instinctively, he pulled the spring spear out
of his belt and crouched down, tucking it into a small space under
the bumper that he had created especially for that purpose.
Satisfied, Elliot got back into the car and pulled it onto the main
road. When he reached the dirt road leading to the concert area, he
scanned the vicinity intently.

At first he didn’t see anything out of the
ordinary, but Elliot was no fool. He knew that at any moment he was
going to be attacked, one way or another. He remembered Rion
telling him that the entire area belonged to Hadeno, and that it
was once covered by many small dwellings housing the serfs who
worked inside the castle walls and the surrounding vineyards. It
seemed that Hadeno had eventually grown tired of the wine industry,
and sold several parcels to one of the most famous winemakers in
the country. He made millions off the established vines, and
afterwards decided that it would be a blast to promote summer
concerts instead. Hadeno had always been known for his eccentric
behavior, and the music scene provided him with the adulation he
always craved. But Rion was convinced that there was more to the
concerts than just mass entertainment. He had heard plenty of
Afghani spoken there, and Devin had heard that Haden had been
cultivating a vast opium market for years. It wouldn’t surprise
anyone who knew him to learn that he was using the concerts as a
front for more dirty business. He was the classic opportunistic
megalomaniac.

Elliot maneuvered his vehicle right below the
small hill that led up to Hadeno’s house, and within seconds a
truck pulled behind him with its bright lights shining and a second
one descended down the hill to block his path forward. Hadeno’s men
jumped out, each of them with a different weapon drawn. Elliot
raised his hands as he stepped out of the car and walked to the
front of it.

There were six of them in total and they had
him completely surrounded. A couple of them were human and held
guns, but Elliot was pretty sure that they were using regular
bullets; there was no way that they had the formula for the alloy
to use as a coating; that’s why he was there in the first place.
And although the bullets couldn’t fully kill him on their own, the
idea of getting shot up still wasn’t terribly appealing. The other
weapons such as knives and swords could have been made out of
anything, as he and his friends did not have complete knowledge as
to the whereabouts of every single weapon floating around out
there.

“You’re a little late for dinner,” Togor
said, smiling as he reached in to Elliot’s jacket to pull out the
sword that Rion had loaned him. “Not bad,” he said, taking it out
of its sheath to inspect the blade. “I bet this is not the only
little surprise you’ve got for us,” he added, signing for one of
the others to pat Elliot down. After a quick frisking the man
discovered the bone dagger in Elliot’s boot and happily removed it.
The guys laughed and Togor looked up at the direction of the house
in triumph. Elliot knew that Hadeno obviously had the best view of
the entire situation, and wondered if Michelle was somewhere up
there with him.

Another guy began waving a metal detector
around him, and as soon as he got close enough Elliot punched him
in the face. The guy tilted backwards out of sheer surprise, but
before he could even return the punch the rest of them jumped on
Elliot and had him down on his knees within seconds. In the
confusion, Elliot managed to grab the short spear from underneath
the car and stuff it into his boot. The whole thing took less than
three seconds. By the time they had him back off the ground with
two men holding each of his arms, Elliot was bleeding from a split
lower lip. They presented him face to face with Togor, who spit on
Elliot’s feet and punched him in the gut with all his might. If
Elliot felt any pain, he sure wasn’t going to show it.

Elliot was blindfolded and dragged somewhere
underground. He could tell that pretty easily, despite not being
able to see. There was cold moisture in the stagnant air, and the
smell of earth was all around. That and the fact that he could
practically hear the earthworms slithering. Elliot was shoved to
the ground and heard the sound of thick iron screeching. Since his
hands weren’t tied, he immediately removed his blindfold just in
time to see huge iron bars being inserted into carved grooves in
the floor. He was inside the castle ruins, just as all his friends
had predicted would happen. So far, so good. At least there was
enough light in there, even if it came from a flickering ceiling
lamp that looked like it belonged to the soviet era and was crudely
hanging haphazardly from an almost completely corroded wire.

While Elliot was surveying his new
surroundings, Rion was at the wheel of the other Range Rover. They
were about thirty minutes away and everyone was adrenalized. And
caffeinated. They talked about the friends who were killed in
China, and Ando phoned Xander to update him. “Just get him and
Michelle out of there safely. I am too old to deal with such
things, and remind Elliot that I am praying for him when you get a
chance. Xander’s voice sounded weak and worried. He had grown up
listening to some of Elliot’s great adventures, but he had never
actually witnessed any of the guys involved in anything even
remotely close to what was taking place now. And the fact that
Michelle was involved and in danger made him feel as if he was
somehow responsible. What’s more, the last thing he wanted at his
age was to end up all alone, as without Elliot he had no other
family member alive anywhere.

Elliot paced around the small confinement
space attempting to get his bearings. It was one thing to sense the
earth’s magnetic field in a wide ocean, but quite another to try
and figure out in which direction Hadeno’s house stood. Judging
from the ancient stone construction and architecture, he was pretty
much sure that he was somewhere under the castle ruins on top of
the hill. He then thought about Michelle being held captive
somewhere nearby, perhaps in another dark and dingy space, and he
shuddered to think how scared she must feel. He stood quietly and
listened. He heard the worms, and somewhere close by there were
drops of water hitting a hard surface, and beyond that he heard the
hum of the earth turning on its axis, and even his own blood as it
pumped through his body with every beat of his heart. And then,
just as he was about to give up, he heard the vibrations of a
vehicle drawing closer, and recognized it as the same engine as the
Range Rover he had driven. From underground, he was able to feel
the vibrations much stronger than anyone could up above. His
friends were still some ways away, but they were getting closer and
he had to be ready to execute the plan they had all agreed on.

Elliot heard the sound of a metal door
screeching and then the unmistakable footsteps of one of his kind
getting closer. A few seconds later, Hadeno appeared from one of
the dark hallways beyond. Elliot stood straight, and before Hadeno
could say anything he told him that he had him captured now, and to
let Michelle go. But Hadeno laughed and told him that in his
position he didn’t have much clout to make demands.

“And besides,” Hadeno added teasingly, “I
don’t think Michelle has any intention of leaving, with or without
you. She has gotten used to being treated the way she deserves, so
why would she want to be set free? That is what you’re calling it,
right? To set her free? Free the way you freed Kalina from my
clutches?”

“Ugh! You’re still belly-aching about that
after 600 years? I told you, I only helped her leave because she
was too scared to go on her own. She knew you wouldn’t go after her
if you thought she was with me. She had no desire to be a part of
your Harem. I never touched her! And besides, aren’t I here because
of the tablet? Isn’t this what you really want?” Elliot pulled at a
leather string he had tied around his neck to reveal a small pouch.
But Hadeno laughed again and told him that things were not going be
so easy. Hadeno walked towards the bars to get a closer look at the
supposed tablet when Elliot saw his own sword hanging on Hadeno’s
waist.

“You son of a bitch! You killed my friends
with my own freakin’ sword!”

Elliot spit out his words with rage and his
eyes began glowing intensely.

“You need to calm down, lad, or you’ll give
yourself a heart attack. Then how would little Michelle feel?”

“You better not have hurt a hair on her
head!” Elliot yelled with an amazing amount of anger. Hadeno didn’t
answer for a while, and stroked his chin to connote that he was
thinking.

“Hmm, I don’t think I concentrated on her
hair much, or her head,” Haden replied coldly, adding that the only
time he actually touched her hair was after she had gotten out of
his bath, “and it was wet then.” Elliot pushed the image of Hadeno
touching Michelle out of his head. Poor Michelle, he thought. She
was powerless against him; he could lower her inhibitions with the
slightest touch. After that, the only image that Elliot conjured in
his head was that of him crushing Hadeno’s windpipe with his bare
hands.

“I will crush this tablet with my own feet if
you can’t convince me that Michelle is here and that she’s
unharmed,” Elliot threatened, holding the pouch above the
floor.

“I’m forced to kill you anyway,” Hadeno
answered nonchalantly. But Elliot shook his head.

“You want this too bad. You won’t take the
chance of me destroying it.”

Haden laughed again and dialed his cell
phone. He spoke to someone in Romanian, and then in English.

“I hope I am not disturbing you, Michelle.
You looked so peaceful sleeping there. Yes, he is right here next
to me, but I’m afraid he doesn’t want to speak to you right now.
Maybe later. How’s your backside? Feeling any better?” Elliot
couldn’t take it anymore and yelled out to Michelle not to trust
him, but Hadeno hung up quickly, telling Michelle that he’d come
check on her later.