Time Masters Book One; The Call (An Urban Fantasy, Time Travel Romance) (67 page)

She sat reluctantly, knowing she would be able to search for Dallan among the chattering throng much be
tter if standing.
But how to fi
nd him among so many?
Would he be in a tuxedo or kilt?

She suddenly smiled. Dallan MacDonald would be in a kilt.

“Happy you came, my dear?” Philip cooed as he handed her a program.

She took the program and forced a second smile as her parents took the seats behind them to silently sit and wait for whatever the evening was to bring. She had a feel
ing whatever it was would be fi
nal—no do-over, no second thoughts, nothing. A
clear cut
line was about to be drawn across all their lives, one none of them would be able to erase.

“Shona,” Maggie leaned forw
ard in her seat. “See anyone we
know?”

Shona knew what her mother meant. “No, not yet. You?”

“No.”

Shona took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I am sure we will run into someone. We have been doing so a lot lately, have we not?”

Maggie patted her shoulder. “That we have.”

Philip seemed to ignore the exchange and busied himself by reading his program. “Ah, Rachmaninoff
’s ‘Isle of the Dead’ is the fi
rst selection. Wonderful choice. Have you heard it, Shona?”

Shona scanned the audience below them, her eyes landing on the still empty box opposite theirs at the other side of the huge concert hall. “No, that is a work of his I am not
yet
familiar with.”

Philip smiled slowly and studied her from head to toe. “Well, I’ve
heard it. I trust you will fi
nd the piece most satisfying.”

The hint of mockery in his voice confused h
er. She stilled the warnings fl
ying through her head and continued to search the now-seated masses. Did Philip k
now about her music, how it aff
ected her? She had not had time to check on the orchestra’s selections until now. And what of the one piece she was unf
amiliar with on the program.
The fi
rst one.

Isle of the Dead.
Shona shivered.
Lovely title.

The lights suddenly dimmed twice, signaling for everyone to take their seats. Shona noticed how dark it was in their box and feared Dallan would be unable to see her.

After a few moments the lights again dimmed and stayed that way as the earlier sounds of individual instruments being tuned ceased. An ominous hush settled, wrapping the hall in heavy silence, the only sound that of the curtain rising from the wide stage.

Applause suddenly shattered the quiet without warning. Shona unexpectedly jumped and had to force herself to wait for her heart to settle before opening her eyes, realizing rather belatedly she’d closed them.

The conductor appeared on stage, which brought the applause up a notch in volume. He reached the podium and bowed to the audience with practiced grace before turning to the orchestra.

The music began.

Shona sa
t perfectly still during the fi
rst f
ew passages. Several cello play
ers plucked notes with practiced precision as the other orchestra members readied themselves for their own parts, the sounds pleasing. She took a steady, deep breath and for quite a few minutes reveled in what they played.

Suddenly the music began to build. As did her hunger.

She drew in another breath and leaned forward in her chair, straining toward the onslaught of
sound coming from the stage. Th
e music stroked
and teased her, building in texture and intensity, only to back off to a lighter, less encompassing tone. Then it started over again, but now the
music kept building, climbing higher and higher, taking her and any common sense she might have hidden away along with it.

Shona had begun to feed.

Philip watched her from the corner of an eye wi
th interest, a smile planted fi
rmly on his face. He knew what was happening and how to use it to his advantage. He’d heard this particular piece of music many times and knew exactly how the Maiden would react.

His plan was moving along perfectly.

Julia belatedly joined the four already seated and sat to watch Philip take control of Shona, her own job as guardian and trainer nearly done, her relationship with him along with it.
She stared coldly at the back of his head, waiting for the rest of the evening to unfold. 

Shona
, oblivious to Julia's presence
began to gulp air, her head moving forward and back in an odd rhythm as her entire body absorbed the music. She had not been to a symph
ony concert in years
, her parents refusing to take her after she reached her teens.

With what little control she had left
, she suddenly realized why. Th
ey knew. All this time, her parents knew what she was.

But, what was that?

She didn’t know. A
ll she did know was the
volumne
and vibration of the instruments had become euphoric, the music straining toward a climax, only to fall back to a teasing sensation. It lifted and dropped, ran circles through her mind and around her heart while the thing fed itself.

The music’s emotion built even higher.

“Listen to it, Shona,
listen
well.” Philip whispered in her ear, his voice a seductive timbre. “Let it take you…”

The music turned stormy, still building, and her breathing became ragged. She began to pull her lips away from her teeth, han
ds balling into fi
sts in response to a sudden need to express near-violence. She suddenly gasped, eyes wide at the unexpected emotion.

The music bridged to an even stormier passage. Shona threw her head back and moaned, a total prisoner now.

Philip leaned again to her ear. “Yes, my dear, listen, feed your self. You will do as I say, will you not? Yes, yes
, that’s it, feed off of it,
fi
ll
yourself!”

 
Shona
began to pant.

“You will serve me, girl, and serve me well. Listen to my voice. I am your only master. Y
ou will obey only me and the fi
rst thing I want you to do is
kill!”

His last word and the music hit her with tremendous force and she snarled like a huge cat. Her whole body tensed, readying itself as a stark, cold, bloodlust began to pulse through her veins.

Philip grabbed her leg. She instantly shuddered at his touch, her back arching with an evil chill. Her eyes widened and she again moaned helplessly, the sound drowned out by the music, music
which
suddenly settled, bridging down to
a diff
erent passage.
An even darker one.

Philip, ready for the change, coldly and seductively threw his next words at her. “Kill,
Shona. You will kill for me.
Th
e boy, Shona.
Kill the boy. He
will hurt you if you don’t. Hurt you and leave you broken, unwanted. As will the man he has become. Kill him for me before he kills you!”

His voice, now an evil lure, burned into her mind, gripping her senses as something inside her again turned violent in response. Her hands clawed at the chair in which she sat, her heart becoming prisoner and slave to th
e words. She was helpless to fi
ght him, her heart ready for joining, submission.

Philip smiled wickedly in satisfaction and turned to face Julia and the Whittards. “She is now mine, Evan.”

Evan merely sat, his hand gripping one of Maggie’s, eyes narrowed in warning.

Philip laughed at him as he leaned in their direction. “Julia, if either interferes,
shoot
them.”

Maggie turned to look at Julia, who held her purse in her lap, one hand placed just inside its opening. She pulled half the gun out to let her see it and then smiled almost as wickedly as Philip.

Maggie’s panic stricken face spun to Evan, who shook his head for her to do what Philip wanted. He squeezed her hand reassuringly and gave the barest of nods toward the audience.

Maggie discretely
scanned the crowds, her eyes fi
nally coming to rest where Evan’s had. She smiled slightly with relief and let loose the breath she’d been holding.

The music changed again.
Calmer, quieter.
Preparing for another passage.

Philip had turned his attention back to Shona. “You are mine, do you hear me? Mine to do with as I please. Mine to take and devour!” He purposely looked Evan right in the eye, then grabbed Shona with one arm and began to lick and kiss her neck.

Shona shuddered violently at his touch, her body now a series of twitches. He abruptly released her, and she froze as the music took on a new emotion, building again, soaring. Taking her right along with it.

A romantic passage began, breaking through Philip’s hold, searing her heart with memories and longing, reminding her of another even as Philip continued his words of vile, lustful destruction.

Then she saw him.

Dallan stood in the box opposite Phil
ip’s, his eyes burning with pos
sessiveness, passion, anger and need. She gripped him with her own and suddenly stood, her heart immediatel
y fusing with his. “Dallan?” Th
e name
was desperately sung at the height of the music’s passage, streaking across the hall to join with the man who held her by a mere look.

Sh
ona’s features instinctively fl
uxed.

Dallan’s intense stare held her even tighter and his mouth began to form words, words born not of passion, but of a
soul-searing
, desperate need to be spoken. “I love you.”

Her features froze and she threw her h
ead back then suddenly forward.
She looked to him again, and began to sing.

             
The Call shot across the concert hall, blending with the music already playing, the sound doubling in its volume and intensity, ramming into Dallan so hard h
e nearly fell over backward. Th
e Call bore into his soul to claim the words he had silently mouthed. It demanded, begged, strained for the real words sought.
The words of his heart.

Dallan braced
himself
and reached again across the massive hall to Shona, his eyes claiming her once more, his mouth again prepared to speak, his heart open and ready for her.

“
Th
a
gaol
agam
ort.”
I love you.

Shona’s breathing slowed and her head fell forward, her hair coming loose from its braid. She suddenly threw it back and captured him.
“
Ceannsaich
?”
Th
e word fl
ew to him on notes of need, surrounded by the music of not only her voice but the orchestra’s as well.

Ceannsaich
.
Master.

In that moment, Dallan knew he had won her.

Philip, suddenly aware he no longer held her attention, grabbed Shona brutally and pulled her back into the chair. His eyes searched the hall, scanning for any sign of his enemy. He had underestimated… a mistake he did not wish to repeat. He saw nothing but an empty box opposite his own.

The Maiden stared at it with despera
te longing. She had sung her fi
nal Call, and the boy, now grown to manhood had been the one to answer, not Philip.

He seethed in anger and abruptly turned to Julia. “We’re taking her out of here. Get Graves, Kent and the car. Now!”

Julia stood and headed straight for the curtained exit behind her. Kent she knew was just outside guarding the entrance to the box. Graves patrolled elsewhere.

Philip yanked Shona out of her seat and began to drag her along with him. Evan also stood, his eyes narrowed to slits.

“Don’t even think about it, Evan. I’ll kill you if you dare interfere.” Philip’s threat made Maggie shrink into her chair and managed to wipe the threatening look from Evan’s face.

It did not, however, keep Evan from speaking. “You’re a dog, Philip.”

“I haven’t the time for this. Out of my way!” Philip pushed Shona ahead of him toward the exit.

Evan stood, his face a mask of indecision.

His foot, however, had made up his mind for him. It shot out and caught one
of Philip’s own, landing him fl
at on his face.

“Run, Shona!” Maggie cried as she sprang from her chair and shoved her daughter through the curtained exit.

The music climaxed, its sound deafening. No one else heard the threatening exchange that followed.