Bloodstone Heart (40 page)

Josh drifted off to sleep after he had been stitched and bandaged up. He thought though, as he drifted, about what Blake had told him: to look around, see if there was anything that gave any indication as to where he was visiting Lanie.
 
There was a familiar rush of air and he was soaring through space.
 
He thought to look around and found that there was nothing to see, just darkness and bright pinpoints of lights all coming at him like a subway or vortex. There was no land that he could see below him, like you might see in an airplane, just dark space between flashes of bright lights.
 

As he descended, still he saw nothing but darkness. Usually there was a spotlight, illuminating his target, but not this time. He felt he had landed but still there was only darkness. He recognized the smell of the sea and the musty earth from his earlier visit. He was sure he was in the same place, but why couldn't he see anything? He was sure that he could sense Lanie close by -
This must be the place
. Footsteps sounded and a loud metal thump along with a click and a sliding sound resonated behind him. Light poured into the room; though it was not bright, it was like a beacon compared to the pitch darkness earlier. Two dark figures moved into the room and one turned on the lights.
 

Josh gasped at what he saw. Lanie was indeed in the room and she was hanging from her wrists from a rope attached to a beam above her head. The hooded figure stopped suddenly and turned slowly as if it heard Josh's gasp. It stopped and stared in Josh’s direction, yet Josh's body was not there, so there was nothing to see. Dimitri laughed at the hooded figure. "See a ghost?" he said.

The hooded figure turned its attention to Lanie. Without saying a word, the dark figure spoke to Dimitri and Josh could hear what it was saying.
What is this? You were supposed to be getting the stone to recruit followers.

Dimitri spoke out loud, "I am...she is my ticket to the stone."

She doesn't have it?

"No, my lord."

And what have you been doing all these weeks?

"Chasing her down."

But SHE doesn't have it. This was not a difficult task I asked of you. I gave you the stone, and then it was stolen from you. You told me you hunted it down weeks ago and yet, you still have no stone and no followers.

"I do have followers, my Lord. I've gathered eight loyal followers without even having the stone. Once I have it I will release its power on the followers and more will flock to me. All is going as planned; it's just taken longer than I had anticipated. I was just going to call to make an exchange - the stone for the girl, when you arrived."

You could at least cut her down. They're not going to want her if she's dead.

"Yes, my Lord." Dimitri immediately pulled out a pocketknife and cut the rope over Lanie's head and she fell to the hard floor, limp and unaware.
 

Dimitri, if you do not obtain the stone by tomorrow night, I will have to take measures into my own hands and find another to fill your shoes. Do you understand?

"Yes, my Lord."

And also, the person you seek is here on the east coast - Connecticut to be exact, and I am very displeased with your involving the Larsen family in this matter.

"He's here? Josh Brenner is here? Who are the Larsens?"

Yes, Josh is here. You need not know who the Larsens are; suffice it to say MY employer is very displeased with their involvement and you are treading on a very thin ice indeed.

Josh could see fear in Dimitri's face, who answered, "Yes, my Lord."

And Dimitri, don't call me that. I am not your lord, but your employer. Please refer to me by my name.

"Yes, Dark Angel."

They both turned and left the room, closing and locking the door behind them, but leaving the light on. He rushed to Lanie and looked her over. Though he couldn't move her, he could see deep purple finger marks on her neck, her mouth looked swollen under a piece of duct tape, and there was a dark matted area on the side of her head, he could only assume was drying blood. She was breathing though and that was something to hold on to.
 

He thought the best thing he could do for Lanie was to figure out where she was so he decided to try and leave the room.
 
He walked to the door and felt rather silly about being nervous about trying to go through it.
 
He tested it first with his hand to make sure.
 
No sense in going headfirst and knocking himself senseless.
 
He wasn't sure what would happen, but he knew he had to try.
 

First his hand and then his foot went through the door, then he leaned into it and he was instantly standing on the other side in a dark, long hallway.
 
There were crates here and there and at the far end of the hall he could see Dimitri and the Dark Angel walking away.
 
Then suddenly the hooded Dark Angel stopped, turned, and looked down the hallway.
 
Was the Dark Angel sensing him somehow? He wasn't sure, but he froze.
 
After a moment Dimitri started talking again and the Dark Angel turned and continued down the hall with him.

Right across from the door through which he’d passed were three wood crates stacked on top of each other. They were stamped with the vendor name Acme, which made Josh think of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
 

He looked for a packing slip or something with an address, but there was nothing.
 
He looked at crate after crate and there was nothing relating to location.
 
He was starting to panic when he saw a shard of paper between four stacked crates. He tried to pull at it but when his hand passed through it he remembered he had no substance for such a task.
 
Josh was ready to pull his hair out with frustration and started back to the room where Lanie was when he saw a white uniform shirt. In bright red letters was the name 'Juan' and above it was embroidered 'Boldt Castle.'

Dimitri called the California number he had gotten off of Josh's iPhone download. It rang once, made a clicking sound, and then rang again slightly differently as if it had been transferred.
 

Bernard answered the phone with, "Larsen Residence."

Dimitri faltered for a moment when he heard the name Larsen – the Dark Angel had been right about the Larsens’ involvement. He said, very agitated, "I need to speak with Josh Brenner."

Bernard answered, "Of course, Sir. May I say who is calling?"

"You can tell him if he wants to ever see Miss Harper again, he should get on the phone."

"Yes, Sir. Right away, Sir."

Bernard set the phone down and ran for the stairs. Slightly out of breath, he entered Josh's room as Blake was waking him up to check on him per Dr. Rowe’s orders.
 
Josh bolted upright in bed, startling both Blake and Bernard. Josh looked at Blake and said, "I know where she is. I did what you said; I think I know where she is."

Bernard interrupted, "Master Josh, HE is on the line and said if you ever wanted to see Miss Harper again, you should get on the phone."

Blake handed Josh the cordless phone next to the bed.

Josh tentatively took it from Blake's hands. Blake sprinted for the stairs to get to the other handset to listen in.

Josh said, "Hello?"

"Josh...I think you have something I want."

"Yes, and you have Lanie."

"I do. Meet me at the Alexandria Bay water taxi dock tomorrow at noon ALONE." Then Dimitri hung up.

Josh set the phone down in its cradle.
 
Bernard could see he was worried and said, "He wants to make a trade?"

"Yes," Josh said quietly.

"I'll go get Master Dominic and you can talk in the study, I'm sure he and the others will come up with a plan to get Miss Harper back safe."

"Thank you, Bernard. I'll be down in a minute," Josh answered.
 
Bernard slowly turned and headed out of the room. Shaken by the phone call, Josh raked both hands through his hair and brought both hands down with a slap on his thighs as he stood up and headed to the study.
 

Darby had been right; one minute things are as slow as a snail, and the next they’re speeding like a bullet. He walked slowly down the stairs seeing Dominic, Devon, Anton, and Blake gathered around the foyer table with the phone on it. Blake could see the worry in Josh's eyes. The group moved towards the study as Josh reached the last few steps.

They all sat closely on the leather couch and chairs in front of the fireplace, displacing a very annoyed and sleepy Mr. Chow, who now sat on the floor with his back turned towards Dominic who had moved him.
 
After a moment of ignoring everyone in the room, the cat sauntered off slowly rubbing his face and side on the edge of the open door and exited.

Josh sat down and Blake who was nearest him, started. "As we predicted, that was Dimitri with his demands.
 
He wants Josh to meet him at the Alexandria Bay water taxi dock at noon - alone."

Dominic said, "Well, he most certainly isn't going to go alone."

Blake said, "That hasn't been decided, but my gut tells me Dimitri won't play fair, so we need to make him think Josh is alone and when things go bad, that's when we swoop in."

"How can we 'swoop in' if we don't know where the trade will happen?" Anton asked.

"When I went up to check on Josh, he was talking in his sleep.
 
He had another visit with Melanie and although he didn't have time to tell me everything before the phone rang, he said he knows where she is."

"Great. Where?" Devon asked.

"Boldt Castle,” Josh said.

Anton said, "He must be doing the trade in the altar room deep under the castle in the tunnels. I've been there, even met the Dark Angel when I was there."

Devon stared at Anton. "You what? And you're here to talk about it?"

"I know! Amazing, huh?"

Josh interrupted, "Did you say Dark Angel?"

"Yes!” said an excited Anton. “The one and only, and we talked for a moment or two."

Devon looked at him with amazement. "You had an actual conversation with
the
Dark Angel?"

"Yep! That's right!" Anton said seemingly proud of himself.

Josh said, "The Dark Angel is there with Dimitri."

All the heads in the room snapped to attention and Dominic was the first to ask, "What? How do you know?"

"I saw him...her...it. Dimitri and the Dark Angel were talking over Lanie's body."

"Lanie's body?" Blake said. "Maybe you should start from the beginning and tell us what you saw and heard."

"Okay. I did what you had suggested, Blake, I tried to be aware of my surroundings to see if there was anything that could give me a clue as to where she was, but it was like a black tunnel with bright lights, no land below me or anything I could see.
 
When I landed, it was still dark, but I was sure I was in the same room because the feel and the smell were the same, and I could sense Lanie but I couldn't see her.
 

“A moment later the door opened and this hooded figure and Dimitri stepped in and turned on the light. I think I must have gasped or something because I swear the hooded figure turned towards me but apparently couldn't see me. Then they started talking while Lanie hung from the middle of the room by her wrists from a beam.
 

“It was then that I knew Blake was right about the episode on the stairs, it was related to Lanie. She had deep purple bruising around her neck, her lip was bloodied and swollen and her hair was all matted with blood on one side of her head."

"Hmm," Blake said.

"What did Dimitri and the Dark Angel talk about?" asked Dominic.

"The Dark Angel was pretty angry about Dimitri having so much trouble obtaining the stone.
 
Apparently the Dark Angel is the one who gave it to him in the first place and then it was stolen. I'm assuming by the vampire I killed in the alley. They both were pretty peeved about Lanie running Dimitri all around the country, when neither the stone nor I, was with her.
 
From what I could tell from what the Dark Angel was saying telepathically..."