The Guilty Innocent (38 page)

“What knowledge has Nagesa passed on to you, if you don't mind me asking?” I implored.

“I don't mind,” Adrian said as he tossed a glance to Nagesa, who nodded his head. After getting his silent permission, Adrian turned to me and continued. “Nagesa is extremely skilled in many forms of martial arts and weaponry. He's almost as old as my father, but I'll keep his age a secret.”

I looked at Nagesa once more. His mere presence spoke volumes. And from what I have seen, I did not doubt Adrian's words, only amazed by them. I decided to ask more questions, I was enjoying the conversation. “How do you feel about Warren being a cop on the S.U.I.T. division?” I asked, unable to contain my curiosity.

He took a deep breath, I could see his broad chest rise slightly, then he exhaled. “I have mixed feelings about his career choice. It is true that because he works for the government, we have been able to save some of our kind that had made innocent mistakes. However, we all know that the law is biased. It is hardly fair that a supernatural only receives a seven-day trial period-no...wait, I take that back. A supernatural has only seven days to come up with evidence to support their defense and the trial is only a few hours, if that much!” Adrian said heatedly.

I could not blame him for being upset with the laws that concerned the supernaturals. I myself even thought them to be unfair.

“Warren is doing this because he feels that he is honor bound lo help the helpless,” Adrian said with a hint of mockery.

“Well, do you feel that way?” I asked, I knew that
I
was prying but I was highly curious as to what kept Warren and Adrian together. To me, they appeared to be too much alike, yet very different, both had strong-willed personalities.

“I don't have Warren's sympathy for the human world. Humans are not as helpless as they would like you to believe. So I do not strive to use my
super-abilities
to defend their livelihood, not when they would kill me in an instant if it suited them to do so,” Adrian said coldly.

“Not all humans feel that way.”
I
said, trying to shed some light on Adrian's gloomy perception of the human races' opinion of the supernaturals.

“Ah, but enough of them do. Right now, your friend is waiting in a jail cell, only to be executed tomorrow night. Tell me Natasha, do you think the S.U.I.T. detectives that arrested him are putting their best foot forward to find the
real
killers?” he leaned forward in the chair to better read my expression.

I thought about what he said and knew he was right. They would execute Darian if we could not prove his innocence. And the detectives who arrested Darian did not care about finding the truth. They would kill Darian, not because he was believed to be guilty, but because he was a vampire. I looked at Adrian and shook my head. He leaned back into the chair comfortably, then continued.

“See what I mean? You know in your heart that shit like this...” he paused and gestured to the two mobsters chained together in the corner of the room. “...Has been a problem in the mortal world also, but it is handled in a different way. We are not so fortunate as to get human justice. We have to make are own justice. So no, I don't like it that Warren risks his life to save the same mortals who would kill him if they knew what he was, but I do understand why he does it.” Adrian stated, and then he closed his eyes as he relaxed his body, settling a little more into the recliner.

I thought about all that was said, Adrian was honest and honorable as well. His loyalty was to his Pack and I respected that. I really admired the degree of loyalty the shape-shifters had to their families. Even those ruthless ones that were dealt with on this night had loyalty to each other within their Pack. I let Adrian rest and I settled back against the cushions of the sofa and looked around the room once more. I noticed that a few more shifters had drifted off to sleep, I did not see Sergio, Devin or Elise and I assumed they were in the other bedroom together.

“You can get some rest, I'll keep watch.” Nagesa said to me as he noticed me looking around the room.

“Thank you.” I laid down on the sofa, a few moments later, I drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 9

Day Seven

I woke up and struggled to clear my vision, I looked around the room and saw that some of the others were awake and having breakfast. Some of them looked at me as I rose from the sofa, stretching, feeling my muscles loosen.

“Good morning everyone,” I said.

“Same to you, there is some breakfast in the kitchen, help yourself.” Devin informed me as he plopped down on the sofa with a plate full of eggs, ham, bacon, toast, hash brown, grits and sausage.

I looked at his plate then I turned to look at everyone else's and noticed that their plates were pretty much piled high as well. “Is it really necessary to have ham, bacon and sausage?” I asked Devin playfully.

Devin looked up from his plate, he continued to chew his food before swallowing then he smiled at me. “Well, I myself would prefer to have steak rather than bacon, but I have to make do with what is here. Besides, this is the best meal I have had in the past forty-eight hours!” he continued to stuff his mouth.

“Didn't they feed you!?” I asked concerned.

“Yeah, but not nearly enough to leave a sense of fulfillment. One sandwich, a glass of water, that was about it. I was starving!” Devin said as he finished off his plate.

“I'm so sorry that happened to you. But I'm so glad you are okay.” I was pleased to have Devin back with us safe, unharmed and protected. “You don't have to be sorry, we got the bad guys, now all we have to do is save Darian, right?” Devin rose and walked towards me, giving me a hug.

He took his now empty plate into the kitchen. I liked Devin a lot. I went into the bedroom where the vampires were resting. I noted that Xavier and John shared the bed, while the others slept on the floor. Two of the sleeping vampires looked like corpses which was eerie, but the rest looked to be sleeping and nothing else. I walked into the bathroom and used the necessities then showered and changed. When I returned to the living room, the shape-shifters were lounging. I looked at Lidiya and Eremei and frowned. They were watching all of the shifters in the room, I watched their eyes stare as the shape-shifters ate, and knew right away that no one had offered them food. I was not so sure if I wanted to feed them, but I didn't want Eremei or Lidiya to starve, especially since we needed their testimony. I walked into the kitchen and made three plates. And when I returned to the living room, I spoke to Adrian.

“Adrian, is it okay if they eat something to hold them over?” I asked. Adrian gave me a perplexed look, his head tilted sideways just like a canine's. Then he straightened his neck and nodded. He walked over to the two mobsters and undid their bindings. I stood before them, handing them each a plate. They looked up at me, confused, but soon they began to eat.

“Why do you care if they eat or not?” Adrian asked me curiously. “Just last night you were ready to tear this chick apart, now you want to make sure she doesn't have any hunger pains. I don't understand you.”

I thought about what he said and it was true. Last night I wanted to see her dead, I did not like wishing death on anyone. Her fate would be her fate and I refuse to let her fate hinder my spirit. “Because I would not be me if I did
not
show compassion, even though they are my enemy.”

Adrian looked to be even more confused, but he simply shook his head and walked away. I went back into the kitchen feeling better about myself. I took my plate off the table and sat on the sofa to eat. I watched as Carmen, Devin and Sergio loaded the trucks. When I finished my meal, I went into the bedroom to fetch my suitcase. Devin took my luggage from me and loaded it on the truck as well.

That was nice of him. I supposed I looked as though I was struggling with the suitcase, either way, I lucked up.

Sergio walked over to the windows and closed the drapes, blocking out the suns rays. Then he turned and looked at the coffins. “Okay, Devin, Miranda and Daniel, start packing these coffins and load-em'-up” Sergio turned, heading into the bedroom, the others followed him and soon reemerged carrying the vampires. Sergio held Tony in his arms and he placed him gently into the coffin, then he went back only to return with Miko in his arms. He laid Miko delicately on top of Tony, and closed the coffin's lid. His last trip into the bedroom, he returned with Xavier. The other shape-shifters had loaded, Annabelle, April, and John into the other coffins. Xavier was placed by himself in the last coffin.

“Okay, let's get the fuck out of here before something goes wrong.” Sergio announced before lifting Xavier's coffin onto his shoulders and walking out of the cabin.

Devin, Miranda and Daniel carried the other three coffins to the truck and loaded them in the back. Adrian grabbed hold of both Eremei and Lidiya, and dragged them to the SUV, pushing them inside roughly, forcing them to sit between Carmen and Miranda. They looked very uncomfortable as their eyes shifted from one shape-shifter to the other. I suppressed the urge to laugh at them, instead
I
walked away and climbed into the other truck. Adrian climbed into the driver side of the truck I was in and started the engine. Sergio drove the other SUV as we headed towards Elise's jet.

Once everything and everyone was safely on board we all got comfortable as the plane took off. I had to remain calm as the plane drove down the runway, gaining speed to lift up.
I
didn't like the way my body reacted to the change in altitudes, but
I
began to relax once we were safely in the air. The shape-shifters lounged on the floor of the plane, some taking cat naps, (no pun intended) others watched Japanese animation on the huge plasma screen TV. The two criminals remained silent as they sat chained together against the wall. I called Warren to let him know we were flying in. He answered the telephone on the fifth ring, I was beginning to think his cell phone wasn't on.

“Hello, who's calling?” he asked in a groggy voice.

“Hi Warren, this is Natasha. We have the evidence and the perpetrators, we are flying back this very instant.” I said triumphantly.

“Outstanding!” Warren said cheerfully. “I'm thrilled, is everyone alright?” he was so concerned.

“Yeah, everyone is doing just line.
I
would like to thank your Pack leader for sending Adrian and Nagesa, they were a huge help... actually, they were amazing!” I smiled as I thought about how grateful I was for
all
of the help we received.

Warren chuckled. “I bet, when you get back, you'll get that opportunity.” There was a pause. “How is Adrian?” Warren asked softly.

“Do you want to talk to him?” I offered.

“Well...sure,” I turned to call Adrian to the telephone, but he stood behind me, smiling. I gasped when I saw him standing there then caught myself.

“God, you scared the shit out of me!” I felt my heart rate returning to normal. I looked up at him and frowned. “Don't
do
that! I'm not like the rest of you, a heart attack
can
kill me!” I said then I handed him the telephone. “I suppose you already know who is on the line.”

“I'm sorry, I did not mean to sneak up on you like that, honestly.” Adrian apologized, a sly smile on his lips.

“Yeah, I can see how sincere you are,” I retorted.

His smile widened then he shrugged innocently. I chuckled as I walked away, leaving Warren and him to their private conversation. Well as private as it's gonna be considering. I sat down and watched the anime movie. Four more hours passed as we flew back to Chicago, the shape-shifters began to complain about being hungry.

“Well, there is not enough to feed everyone and I know how tortuous this is for all of you, but we can not afford to land the plane for a lunch break, I'm sorry,” Elise said. The shape-shifters groaned, but did not complain again.

Adrian stood glaring at Eremei. “I say we eat him,” he joked. A few of the others laughed. Eremei's eyes grew wider, he began to panic. “Calm down! I'm not going to eat you.” Adrian chuckled, then he walked towards my chair, sprawling on the floor in front of me. I looked down at him and was caught in the hypnotic view of his stunningly gorgeous silver eyes.

“If you don't mind me asking, what do you see in the vampires,” Adrian asked me. His silver eyes studying me as he waited for my response. I suppose it
was
his turn to pry.