The Guilty Innocent (15 page)

I have never seen Xavier so callous before, could this be his “dangerous” side? The man on the bed said something else in Russian and John struck him hard on the face, causing the skin on his bottom lip to split and bleed.

“Why did you do that, what did he say!?” I asked in a jittery tone.

“He told us to go to hell and basically 'fuck Darian'. I don't understand a lot of Russian, but I understood that!” John said angrily.

Xavier looked back at Nikolai and said something else to him. Nikolai grimaced then he spat at Xavier. A tiny glob of blood and saliva splattered Xavier's shirt.

“Hey, that's my shirt asshole!” Sergio declared. Nikolai threw Sergio a look, but remained silent. No doubt, it was disgusting, but Xavier didn't budge, not even an inch. Xavier gestured for John to release Nikolai, he did. John climbed off the bed and walked out of the room.

“Let's go.” Xavier said and he took my hand, leading me out of the bedroom. Sergio and Devin followed, we walked out of his apartment. Elise climbed into the cab followed by Devin and Sergio. Their cab pulled up next to ours. Elise rolled down her window as John rolled down ours.

“I have made arrangements for hotel accommodations. Just follow us,” she said. Then she rolled up her window.

Our cab followed theirs for twenty minutes until we arrived at a huge twenty-five story grand hotel. I should have guessed Elise wouldn't pick a more down-to-earth room and board. We climbed out of the cabs and checked ourselves in. Elise had “arranged” for a penthouse suite. I thought the main room was glorious, it had a beautiful interior as well as an equally beautiful view of Russia's lovely landmarks. The furniture was extremely comfortable and luxurious. Everything looked so very elegant, even the floral patterns on the wallpaper looked delicately drawn or painted.

“There are two bedrooms,” Elise stated, then she pointed to a closed door. “This one is ours.”

She walked into the room. Devin sprawled on the bed followed by Sergio and Elise. Sergio had tossed the luggage in the corner of the room. I walked into the room...being nosey, I wanted to see what their room looked like. Xavier leaned against the door frame, John stepped into the room and leaned against the wall.

“This is a beautiful room.”
I
said as I looked at the huge king size bed covered with a thick black comforter and probably satin sheets underneath. There were two upholstered chairs, a desk and a mini bar.

“Thank you,” Elise responded.

After my short inspection of the room, I decided to get right down to business. “Why did we leave him there?” I asked Xavier, breaking the silence.

“Because, he can lead us to the truth, I read his mind, they did it for a reason. He doesn't know what the reason is, but they were looking for Darian's list of the politicians that he has in his pocket, so to speak.” Xavier said as he leaned on the door frame, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Why would they want a list of politicians? And why would Darian have politicians in his pocket?” I asked perplexed.

Xavier cocked his head slightly, he looked at me, an amused expression on his face. “You really are naive at times.” he said, and I frowned. “I don't mean it as an insult, quite the opposite. In many ways, you are an innocent. Darian has politicians on his payroll some owe him favors,” he uncrossed his arms and began to walk towards me. He stood before me, smiling as he gazed lovingly into my eyes.

“I love that about you, it's precious, don't ever lose it.” he whispered passionately.

I began to blush, I leaned forward and kissed him softly on his mouth. I enjoyed the soft flesh of his lips as we kissed. Devin chuckled and Xavier turned to look at him, he smiled.

“Getting a good eye-full over there!?” Xavier asked playfully.

“Not nearly as good as when we were on the plane,” Devin shot back. Xavier snorted then grinned.

“Well, I guess we'll be in the next room,” John stated.

“Too bad,” Devin flirted. John tossed him a wicked grin, and I decided to mind my own business.

Xavier, John and I left Elise's room and began to settle into our own. Xavier closed the thick heavy black and burgundy velvet drapes, double checking to make sure there were no openings between them. When he was done with that task, he walked back towards me.

“Natasha, why don't you sleep with Elise and the others. I think it would be best.”

I started to protest, I didn't really know Elise and the others all that well. But then the thought of sleeping in a room with two deathlike vampires convinced me to agree with him. “Ok, I will.” I said.

Xavier kissed me once more then he walked towards the bed. John had already claimed a spot and was now scooting over to give Xavier room. I looked at the two vampires laying side by side on the bed. Then I left and headed into Elise's room and looked at the cat people cuddled on the bed like kittens. I could not help it, I felt a bit left out, but I did not want to cuddle with either and I did not want to be alone. So I grabbed an extra blanket from the closet, dragged the two chairs together, stretched out on my makeshift bed and closed my eyes.

***

Nikolai was at a restaurant, he was waiting for a man to join him so that he could receive pay for his services. I looked up and saw through Nikolai's eyes, a tall man in a light grey shirt and pants suit approaching, his hair was in a long blonde ponytail and he wore a pair of sunglasses. He removed his sunglasses revealing aqua blue eyes as he sat down in the seat in front of Nikolai. The man that Nikolai recognized as Dmitri sat the briefcase he was carrying on the floor beside him, then he pushed it over slowly towards Nikolai. A waiter came over to the table and asked to take our order. Dmitri's eyes never left Nikolai's as he ordered a coffee.

“You look like shit, Nikolai...I suppose your exertions with the boss's woman were no doubt exhausting.” The man said in Russian. Nikolai was shocked, but he refused to let it show on his face.

“Is this all of the money, Dmitri?” Nikolai asked the man, purposely avoiding Dmitri's comment. Dmitri nodded his head slowly. He reached inside his coat and Nikolai panicked. I could feel Nikolai's hand cock the pistol he held under the table, the barrel aimed at Dmitri. The other man stopped reaching inside his pocket when he heard the clicking sound of metal.

“Easy Nikolai, easy. I'm only reaching for my cigarettes.” Dmitri said. “May I,” he asked as he revealed the inside of his coat to show Nikolai the box of cigarettes in his pocket. I could feel Nikolai relax as he nodded. I watched Dmitri remove the box of cigarettes, he pulled one out and lit it. After a few puffs, he began to speak.

“Who were the visitors you had last night, Nikolai?” Dmitri asked coolly, his eyes bore into Nikolai's, it made me nervous, it made Nikolai nervous.

“Just some friends from out of town.” Nikolai lied, he fought to keep his voice calm and smooth. Dmitri's eyes narrowed slightly as he drew another deep puff on the cigarette.

“Don't lie to me, Nikolai, don't lie to us. Do you have something on the side? The boss would hate for you to be working on an outside project,” Dmitri warned.

“I don't have anything on the side, Dmitri! Besides how do you know about them, are you watching me!?” Nikolai asked, concealing his mounting fear with anger.

Dmitri chuckled softly. “Of course we are. The boss knows you're sleeping with Lidiya, and he doesn't like it, he wants you to stop.” Dmitri finished his cigarette, then ground the remains into the glass ashtray. The moment had grown tense and Nikolai's hands began to sweat and shake.

“Sure...fine. I could do that. Tell the boss I meant no disrespect.” Nikolai said, his voice slightly shaky. I began to hear the soft distinctive sound of a telephone ringing, it drew me out of my sleep. I awoke and groggily realized that my cell phone was ringing.

Chapter Six

Day Four

The room was dim and my eyes didn't have time to adjust as I fumbled towards the table where I had set my cellular the night before to charge the battery. Immediately, I snatched up my cell phone and clicked it on to rid my ears of the annoying ringer. I made a mental note,
switch ringers for crying out loud!

“Hello?” I greeted in a hoarse voice. At the same time, I looked up to see Sergio, Devin and Elise watching me from across the room. They gazed at me for a few seconds then went back to their comfortable positions.

“Natasha, this is Warren, how is everything going?” he asked

“Oh, great things couldn't be better!” I said sarcastically. “Let me tell you what's been going on thus far.” I filled Warren in on the past twenty-four hours. He listened quietly on the telephone as I reiterated all of the details.

“Do you want me to tell Darian that they found his politician list?” Warren asked.

I then realized that he was offering himself as the middle man, the link between us and Darian, and I was extremely grateful to him for that.

“Yes, Warren. I would really appreciate that.”

“Okay. Give me the number to your hotel room just in case. I'll continue to call your cell phone when I want to get in contact with you.” Warren said. I could hear him ruffling through papers, I supposed he was looking for something to write on. “Okay, I'm ready, give it to me.” I told him our hotel information. “Great.”

“Warren, how is Darian?”

“He's doing fine, he's been drinking the synthetic blood...as you instructed,” Warren chuckled. Then he grew silent, I could tell that he had something on his mind. “I really hope you guys can get to the bottom of this. I'd really hate to see what kind of damage Darian can do in desperation.” I could tell he was dreading that possible outcome as much as I was.

“We're doing the best we possibly can. Make sure you tell Darian the news and keep in touch.”

“Will do.” Warren said, and then he hung up the telephone.

I clicked off my cell phone and looked at everyone asleep in the room, it was dim because of the closed curtains. Thankfully, my eyes had adjusted to the dimness while I was speaking with Warren and I could see everyone clearly. I wondered what time it was, I turned my cell phone back on. I looked at the clock on the blue lighted display. It was 8:42am, I had no idea what time Nikolai was going to meet with Dmitri, but I remembered seeing the sun shining brightly through the windows of the restaurant. So I figured, now would be a good time to scope out the restaurant and wait for Nikolai to arrive so that we could gather more information from him and this
Dmitri
person.

I turned on the table lamp and made my way closer to the bed were the others lay. Elise and Sergio awoke, their eyes alert and staring back at me.

“I had another vision, I know who Nikolai has to meet today but I don't know what time. It's early, I think we should scope out the restaurant, you know, see what we can gather.” I suggested.

I stood over the bed searching their expressions for confirmation. Elise slowly sat up on the bed, she ran her long, delicate, slender fingers through her waist length brown hair. She gazed at the furniture across the room...at least I think that is what she might have been looking at-anything but me. Sergio climbed over Devin's prone body, stepping out of the bed. He stretched his tall muscular form, every muscle in his body moving in a unified motion beneath his cafe au lait toned skin...I must say, I enjoyed the view. I looked at Elise, her gaze had shifted towards Sergio and I could tell that she
too, enjoyed the view. Devin began to stir on the sheets, he lifted his head up lazily and looked first at Sergio and then Elise and me.

“What's up?” he asked as he wiped his eyes with the back of his fingers, then he focused on me. “What time is it?” he asked, his eyebrows creased as he scanned over the room.

I checked my cell phone again, better to give them the most current time. “8:56 am, we really need to get a move on.
I
don't know what time they will meet.” I said urgently as I walked into the bathroom.

It was as beautiful as the rest of the huge penthouse. The deep white porcelain tub was big enough for two or three people! The frosted glass shower was built for two and the double marble sink with matching toilet and bidet was grand. I adored the peach and white marble floor, though, it was a bit cold. I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth all at the same time so that not one moment would be wasted. I opened the bathroom door and looked at Sergio, Elise and Devin sitting on the bed. Devin was leaning against Sergio as if he was his big brother. I don't know, maybe he is in a way. I thought it was wonderful to see that degree of closeness and loyalty. Loyalty is always important. It was high on my list of moral values and above all, respect and tenderness. I especially look for those qualities in the men that I'm interested in. My last boyfriend was the “great pretender”. He played the role of the loving and tender boyfriend, it was only an illusion. He broke my heart. However, his leaving me was one of the best things that could have happened. It took me a few months to get over my depression due to our breakup and other hardships. With Annette's help, I had begun to become myself again...only I was stronger than the old me. I knew what I wanted out of this life and what I would want from my lover. Respect, tenderness and patience. I learned in my short time that a lot of men can only play a role for so long and then they began to reveal their true selves...which turns out to be mostly disappointing.