The Claimed (28 page)

T
he cell phone rang, displaying a number Alexander did not recognize. Normally he would ignore such a call, but Maya had not phoned recently, possibly because his idiot son had discovered they were communicating.

In truth he missed Maya. Her cunning mind was much like his and her body was scrumptious, offering up a potent combination that was hard for any man to ignore. Except possibly his piously stupid son.

“Hello,” he said cautiously when no one immediately spoke.

“Alexander?” a man asked, and there was no denying the hesitation in his voice.

“Speaking. Who is this?” he asked, trying to temper his annoyance that it wasn’t Maya.

“Maya asked me to call you,” the man replied.

For the first time in a long time Alexander experienced concern for someone other than himself. “Is she okay?”

“She’s fine, but being held in her room by your son.
Christopher is your son, right?” There was challenge in the man’s voice and pique filled Alexander. He would make the man pay for that insolence if they ever came face to face.

“Who are you?” Alexander wanted a name he could place to the man he intended to kill.

“Who I am does not matter. What I can tell you does,” he replied obtusely, wearing Alexander’s patience thin.

“Unless this is something earth-shattering—”

“Your son intends to bond with a Light Hunter Quinchu. He plans on uniting the Desert and Ocean clans with his people so that the Light Ones may gather energy again,” the man blurted out.

Alexander’s gut clenched with the news. A Light Hunter carrying the next City clan Añaru? And to make matters worse, the gift of hunting energy restored to her clan? That would destroy any advantage that the City clan, and all the Shadow Hunters, might have over the Light Ones, upsetting the existing balance of power in their world.

That he could not allow.

“Where is he now? Where is Christopher?”

“I will not tell you where until you promise not to harm the Light Hunter Quinchu Victoria. She is mine to have,” the man replied, steel in his tones along with a bit of dementia.

“On one condition: If my son has already bonded with the Quinchu, I want that baby when it is born.” No blood of his was going to be raised to become a pitiful Light Hunter. It was bad enough his son had turned into such an embarrassment, afraid to hunt lesser beings. Alexander blamed his dead wife for such idiot notions. The only
thing he regretted about her death was that it had not come soon enough to avoid poisoning their son with such ideas.

“Do you think I want such a bastard child?” the man rejoined, and there was no doubt about his lack of reason this time. Jealousy had wiped out any semblance of logic in the man’s brain.

“Where is he?” Alexander pressed once more.

“At his compound surrounded by his cadre. Maya is being held in a room at the back of the building. Her doors lead onto the gardens.”

Alexander remembered the layout of the compound fairly well. He had visited there on occasion before the growing tension between him and his son had cut down on visits between them. It would take him at least half an hour to round up enough warriors for an attack. And even traveling at Hunter speeds, it would take his cadre at least another half hour to get to the compound.

“You have one hour to make sure your Light Hunter Quinchu is not with my son. That is the best way to assure her safety when my people strike.”

“Done,” the man said and hung up.

Alexander snapped the cell phone shut and plopped down in his chair. He calmly laid the phone on his desk as he considered all that had to be set into motion, including the consideration that he had no choice but to kill his son to secure the safety of his Shadow Hunter clan.

He had not expected it to come to this. At least, not so quickly, since Christopher had shown himself to be reluctant to kill. Unlike himself.

Alexander had taken out his own father, Christopher’s grandfather, when the old man had hit seventy and it became apparent that he no longer had the strength to lead
the clan. Christopher had been young at the time, barely ten. Alexander had been thirty-five and full of vim and vigor. Cocky as only an Añaru of immense power could be.

As had happened for generations, he had challenged his father, and when the old man fell to the first bolt of energy Alexander had fired at him, Alexander had wasted no time draining his father of the life force that remained in his body.

It had been heady to take in so much energy. It had sung along every fiber in his body and yet in that victory there had been sadness. Guilt as it occurred to him later that his father had not even raised a hand to defend himself, sacrificing himself for his son and the continuation of his clan.

Sadly, that would not happen this time. Alexander could no more give himself up than he could allow Christopher’s warped vision to come to fruition. There was no way to end the contamination in their bodies and uniting with the Light Ones would only weaken their people.

His son had to die, and Alexander had to have the Light Hunter Quinchu. If she somehow carried Christopher’s child, that heir would ensure the City clan would continue. He would teach that child the true ways of the Dark Ones and maybe when the time was right, he would do as his father had done and sacrifice himself to his grandchild.

Maybe. It was only a thought, since that possibility was a long time away. Absent challenges to their life forces, Hunters could easily live for over a hundred years.

Summoning his cadre, he waited impatiently for them to arrive and when they did, he gave them the news.

“Tonight we wage war on a traitor,” he began.

V
ictoria braced her arms on the railing of her deck, lifting her face up to the crescent of moon present tonight. Its dim glow matched the minimal vitality she drew into her body.

No wonder those with a lunar affinity were so fickle with their power. The moon was too inconstant to provide consistency, unlike the marvelous ocean before her, no matter that the waters ebbed and flowed to the moon’s command.

A sound came from beneath her and she realized Christopher had finally arrived. He looked up at her, his face partially in shadow, but even without additional light she saw his fear and felt it through the connection between them.

“What’s wrong?” she called down, but he was already in motion, moving up the stairs to come to her side.

He grasped her arms gently. “We must talk.”

Her gut tightened, such was the apprehension she sensed in him.

A sad smile came to his face then and he splayed his big hand over hers. “Do you sense your Equinox?” he asked.

She did. There was no denying she felt different, but even though they had made love, she did not perceive the bonding that had to occur to truly boost her power and create an irrevocable connection to Christopher. Power that would also produce a child if the bonding occurred.

“I do, but I’m not sure the time is right for us to unite,” she confessed, and wondered at his sigh of disappointment.

“What’s wrong, Christopher?” she pressed, worry in every cell of her body.

“Come inside,” he said, and took hold of her hand, walking into her bedroom and locking the balcony doors behind him.

“You’re scaring me,” she admitted.

“Maybe because I am scared,
warmi
,” he acknowledged. He walked to her and took her into his arms. “Maya passed a message to someone tonight. Probably one of my father’s men.”

Which could only mean trouble, she realized. “What will he do?”

“If he knows what we plan, he will attack to kill since he cannot accept a union of our clans.”

Of all the things she had expected to happen, she had not counted on this possibility, maybe because her own Light Hunters would not react in this way. Clearly her clan’s concerns about the Dark Ones had not been so far off.

She pushed away from him, needing distance and clearly surprising him with her action.

“You still have hesitation? When I’ve possibly sacrificed myself and my people?” he challenged.

She could not deny her fears. If what Christopher said was true, it would mean outright war with his father. Light versus dark with a body count she could not even begin to imagine. But to not go through with their plan likewise brought the specter of death. Slow death for her people as their energies faded. Possible extinction for the Light Hunters and maybe even for the Dark Ones. Eventually they, too, would run out of people to drain so they could control the pox in their bodies.

And then another vision came to her, more powerful than all the others. One of Christopher dead and her alone, her heart empty. Somehow in the course of just several days, he had come to matter to her and she could not imagine being without him.

Taking a step toward him, she took hold of his hands and with conviction said, “I want to explore what is possible between us. I want to help our people have a better future. What do you need me to do now?”

He smiled at the strength in her tone and her avowal of faith in him. “I need you to stay safe so that in case I fall tonight—”

“I do not want to lose you, Christopher.” She wrapped her arms around him and urged him close.

“I hope you won’t,” he said, trapping her face in his hands and kissing her deeply. “I have to go. I wish I could stay with you, but I cannot leave those who followed me to fight my father alone,” he said, moving from her side.

Victoria grabbed his hand to keep him with her for just a moment longer, unwilling to let him fight by himself. “You will not be alone. My cadre and I will be there for you.”

“You cannot help me. You must stay safe. If anything happens to me, you are the future.” He hugged her hard and then, before she could protest, he was flying out the door, leaving a glimmering trail of light as a reminder that he’d been there. That and the pain in her heart at the thought that she might lose him before they really got to explore what was happening between them.

But no matter what Christopher wanted, she could not leave him alone in this fight.

Picking up her cell phone, she called Rafael to have him round up her cadre, but his phone just rang.

Worry spiked through her again at Rafael’s absence. It was unlike her cadre captain to be missing, and once again she wondered if maybe he was the one within her fold who was assisting Maya.

Reluctantly she left him a message and then dialed her second-in-command.

“Penn, I can’t reach Rafael. I need you to gather the cadre immediately. Have everyone meet me at the shop within the half hour.”

Penn confirmed her instructions and hung up. She considered her next steps, worried about the number of warriors that Christopher’s father would bring if he attacked. She needed every one of her cadre members and tried Rafael again, but the phone went unanswered for a second time. Frustrated, she dialed the only other person who could make a difference if a battle should occur.

“Adam. I need your help.”

C
hristopher didn’t hesitate to morph to his most elemental level since every second was precious. He literally walked across the water, leaping across the ions in the sea spray until he reached his compound miles away.

The trip took him less than a minute, and as he arrived, he noted that his cadre had already taken up their defensive positions along the outside of the house. As he neared, he noted Ryan walking the perimeter, making sure everything was in order.

With another burst of power, he sped until he was yards away, his people sensing the approach of Shadow power. Immediately they were there, energy orbs at the ready. As he materialized before them and was recognized, they relaxed their guard to let him pass.

He walked up to them, laying his hands on each of them along the edge of the lawn to offer the kiss of his energy to provide them greater strength. Murmuring his
thanks and a prayer for their well-being. Striding around the perimeter of the compound, he did the same for each of his cadre and their family members who had come to fight, a dozen men and woman in all.

As he made his rounds, he passed by the doors to Maya’s room and noted how Ryan had dealt with her. Thick bands of energy bound her to the bedpost while a much thinner grounding tether plunged into the earth beside her.

Ryan had been kind. A line that thin would take days to drain Maya of her life forces. He would not have been so generous, but then again, maybe such a slow, lingering death was greater punishment than a swift end.

He turned the corner and Ryan was there, offering a final command to another of his cadre members. Ryan looked toward him and offered up a weak smile, then came over, embraced Christopher in a hug.

“It has been an honor to serve you,” he said, a fatalistic tone in his voice.

“Have faith, Ry. We are stronger and will prevail,” he said, gifting his friend with an even greater part of his power.

Ryan started, surprised by the gift. “I am honored, Christopher.”