Time Masters Book One; The Call (An Urban Fantasy, Time Travel Romance) (78 page)

Maggie screamed into the gag and began to
struggle. Kitty watched horrifi
ed, speech failing her.

“Gag this one.” Philip told Julia, pointing to Kitty. He bent again to Maggie, wiped a tear from her cheek and whispered, “Now, did I not promise that if you failed me in any way whatsoever, I would kill your husband? My dear Maggie, I can’t tell you how disappointed I am. You should never have helped them. You’ve failed me miserably. I really have no choice.” He stood. “After all, my honor’s at stake.”

Maggie began to sob into her gag as he left the room and after several seconds was forced to listen to the sound of water slowly being turned on.

As Julia roughly gagged Kitty, her eyes locked with Maggie’s. “I’m sorry, but Philip is more important to me. Be glad he’s at least letting you live.”

Philip reentered the room, plucked Shona's unconscious form up from the fl
oor and turned to Maggie. “The water is running slow, Maggie.
A mere trickle at a time.
But in about ten minutes he’ll be dead.” He turned, carried Shona into the kitchen and out of the house into the garage, then came back and bent over Kitty. “I’ll just take this one along for good measure. You don’t want her death on your conscience too. Because if you cross me again, she’s next.” He left her, Kitty slung over his shoulder, Julia following like an obedient servant. The kitchen door to the garage
closed with a deadly air of fi
nality.

The water in the bathroom continued to run.

* * *

John had fi
lled several boxes with Angus’s belongings, each item clearly marked and labeled as to which box they should go. “Is this e
verything?” 

Kwaku sat on the fl
oor next to him and played with an old deck of cards. “Little
brodar
takes only his precious dings, Lord Councilor. Most of dis is for his
modar
. She is…”

“Kawahnee!” Zara burst into the room, eyes frantic.

Kwaku jumped to his feet. “What is it?”

“The Maiden, Dallan. I have lost them. I cannot sense either one. It is like last night when the Maiden was drugged.” She shook her head. “Something is wrong.”

Kwaku’s face went grave as he pondered and eyed the now dead phone. Angus had shut the service off the day before. He gripped her arms. “You cannot sense de Maiden or de Boyeee? Quick, sear
ch for Mosgofi
an. Find de Councilor, speak wid him.”

“But, Kawahnee, he is not ready. He may reject my heart’s search.”

“Do it.”

“
As you wish.” She looked briefl
y at John, catching the worry in his eyes.

“Forgive me, Councilor. But there is no other way right now.”

John, still bent over a box, slowly stood. “What do you mean?”

Kwaku ushered him toward the kitchen. “
Mos
-go-fi -an is sensitive to a Muiraran’s heart, yes? What she does now may open his own heart, making him even more sensitive in de future.”

“What? More sensitive? What will that do to him? Nothing like yesterday, I hope!”

“No,” Kwaku began. “But he will be able to read Muirarans better. Do not worry, his hea
rt for his mate will not be aff
ected.”

John glanced nervously back to Zara, who knelt in the middle of the room, eyes close
d in concentration, features fl
uxing as she began to sing.
“As long as it doesn’t aff
ect that, what could it possibly hurt?”

Kwaku also looked at his wife, his eyes narrowed to two dark slits. “What indeed, Lord Councilor. What indeed.”

* * *

Kitty struggled to no avail. Philip had tied her too well and her
cramped position on the car fl
oor didn’t help. Between the bonds and her current painful posture, she was helpless.

Philip had laid Shona on the back seat o
f Maggie’s car, Kitty on the fl
oor. Julia had covered them with the car’s dust tarp. No one would hear or see either of them, and Kitty couldn’t see where they were being taken. All she could do was hear changes in the road, an occasional car passing, and of course, Philip and Julia’s twisted conversation.

“Why go back to where you came fro
m? Go to the future, Philip. Th
ere
is more for you there! You could rule!”

“And I suppose yo
u would rule alongside me?
A fi
t queen s
itting next to her dashing king?
C
harming.” Philip’s voice was fl
at, emotionless.

“You need me and you know it.”

“I need the Maiden, nothing more.”

“Is she enough to satisfy you?”

Th
at got his attention.  He briefly glanced at her,
silence his only answer.

“I don’t think she’ll be enough.
" Julia argued on.
"
You’ll still need me, Philip.”

He chuckled. “Reduced to selling yourself, are you? How precious.”

“I love you.” Julia’s voice was no more than a whisper. Kitty wondered if she’d heard her right.

“Enough to kill for me?”

“I’ve killed for you before. You know that. I’d kill for you again.”

“Ah, yes, the baby. I’d almost forgotten about him.
I see your memory is fully recovered.
Well done, by the way. He’d have been trouble.”

“Why
? W
hy did you have me do away with an innocent child then have your wife hide the memory from me
?”

“He was a future mate for the Shamaelon house, the same house the Maiden is from. If the Maiden couldn’t be found in time, Kawahnee would have had to serve another hundred years or until another Shamaelon child was old enough to be trained, joined and mated. By killing him, you alleviated more of the competition.
  And by covering that memory with false ones, you were none the wiser in the long run.
”

“I see.”
Julia looked out the window to hide her stricken face.  "I see that I've been a very useful puppet for you all this time."

“By the way, how did you do it?”
Philip asked casually, ignoring her remark.

She looked back to him slowly as the memory made
itself
known, almost wishing she could have it replaced with a false one again.
“Shot him. Made it look like an accident. I also made i
t look like someone else did it.
”

Julia’s words made Kitty squirm, her stomach suddenly sick. Dread began to creep into her bones, as if something inside her tried to surface, but she quickly batted it down, killing any further attempts.

Philip sighed. “You’ll kill again for me?”

Would she, could she?  If it meant keeping Philip then …
“I believe I told you so.”

“Good. After I’ve taken care of our friend in the trunk and joined with the Maiden, I want you to kill your so-called sister.”

 
Kitty screamed
into her gag, bringing a sadistic laugh from Philip.

Julia’s voice was calm. “Consider it done.”

Kitty’s lost memory suddenly broke free and rushed to the surface of her consciousness t
o join with Julia’s promise. Th
e impact of the two felled
her instantly in a dead faint.

* * *

“Quiet, Angus, we don’t want Julia to know we’re here.” Lany whispered as he crept onto the rear deck of the house and slowly peered around the corner.

Angus huffed and puff
ed along behind him. “Her folk should be in the house. Julia will have her hands full. And what of Dallan?”

 
Lany motioned for him to be quiet as he tried a door. Locked. He reached into his back pocket, pulled out his communicator and pointed i
t at the door lock. Angus stifl
ed a gasp when the laser struck the lock, opening the door. “Wow…”

Lany again silenced him as they entered the
house. Th
e family room
was deserted and neither
of them could hear anything. Th
ey exchanged a quick glance and slowly traversed the hall to about midway, stopped and listened. Nothing.

No, something
. Lany looked to Angus to confi
rm the sound. Angus nodded. He’d heard it too.
In fact they heard several diff
erent sounds—a muffled sob, a sloshing and the distinct sound of water running.

Lany quietly continued down t
he hall, Angus close behind. Th
e sounds
grew louder as they approached the front hall, a thumping joining the already existing noises. Lany listened again. Same sounds, one registering as human. He hurried down the short hall to the connecting front hall. The Whittards’ bedroom-bath was off this hall, which emptied into the living room. The room where the human cries came from.

He headed straight for them.

M
aggie lay on her side on the fl
oor in front of a sofa, her hands lashed behind her head to one of its wooden legs, her ankles tied at the opposite end. Her eyes were red from crying, her face swollen from screaming into a gag. She’d been beating her head against the sofa, probably in a desperate attempt to free herself. Lany rushed to her side and she became frantic. He quickly removed the gag.

“Bathroom! Hurry!” She screamed at him, her tears running again.

He sprang to his feet and ran to the bathroom where the water ran, the earlier sloshing sounds stilled. The sight that greeted him made him wail
as he dove for the bathtub.

Evan had been tied in a similar fashion, only face down, his head beneath the tub’s faucet, hands tied above him, ankles lashed together and pulled in the direction of the faucet by another length of rope. His face was underwater.

Lany pulled out his communicator, severed the ropes with the laser and pulled Evan from the water, slipping as he did. Both he and Evan’s li
mp form went crashing to the fl
oor.

“Oh no! Oh please, no!” Maggie screeched as she ran into the room and
dropped to the fl
oor. Her hands groped for Evan in an attempt to get him off of Lany.

Lany helped her get him onto his back. “How long has he been in here?”

Maggie checked his breathing then
began positioning him for resus
citation. “Too long! Call an ambulance! Hurry!”

Lany ran from the
room to fi
nd Angus with a knife in one hand, a phone already in his
other, the address being confi
rmed.

The Assistant Councilor was turning back to the bathroom again when it hit. He fel
l to his knees, his blood on fi
re, his vision blurred. For a second he couldn’t think or speak, utterly paralyzed.

Councilor?
Councilor, please.

Lany wondered for a moment where he was, still unable to see, before he recognized the
voice which
had melted into him, racing through his veins like lightening. “Zara?”

Councilor!
The Maiden, Dallan.
I cannot fi
nd them.

Lany fought to speak, his voice suddenly missing as he screamed in his mind.
Zara!

Yes, do not be afraid.
Dallan, the Maiden.
Are they with you?

No.

Please, Councilor, where are they? Something has happened!

Yes.

She did not answer a moment and Lany discovered he could see the wall in front of him and that Angus now knelt at his side.
Councilor, where
are they?

Lany climbed to his feet and headed for the front door, Angus close behind.

“What’s wrong, Master Lany? What is it?” Angus had stopped at the bedroom door, torn between following him and helping Maggie.

Lany turned, caught the look on his face and motioned him back to the Whittard’s bedroom, then ran out the front door to Julia’s car parked in the driveway. It was empty.

Councilor? Please, answer me! Do you know where they are?

He reached into the back seat and picked up a single sheet of paper.

Please, Councilor! I must know!

Zara,
he thought as he scanned the missive.
Come to the Whittards’. Get
here as soon as you can.

He heard nothing for a moment then it came again.
Th
ere is despair in
you, Councilor. I feel it. What is wrong?