Dangerous (Courting the Darkness Saga) (5 page)

Mica’s unexpected
laughter didn’t set well with Drake. “I don’t see what is so funny about the
possibility of Sherry running.”

“Do you hear yourself? You
won’t stand for it? Last time I checked, she didn’t have to answer to you. She
is not one of your subjects that has to jump at
your
every order and do what
you
say, when
you
say it. She—” The
laughter was directly cut off, and he drew his eyebrows together in a frown, swaying
in his seat. “What in the…?”

“You were saying?” Drake
remarked dryly.

Mica closed his eyes
and braced his hands to steady himself. “Something has happened to Desiree. I
can feel it.”

Drake’s irritation was
replaced with concern. “What do you mean? What do you feel?”

Mica opened his eyes,
staring into space; he was searching for his connection with Desiree. “It feels
so—strange. I felt her get dizzy all of a sudden…and then…nothing.” He shook
himself,
then
looked back at his friend. “She must be
unconscious, because I feel nothing.”

“Try harder,” Drake
demanded.

Mica closed his eyes
again and tried to seek Desiree out. He held his mouth in a tight, grim line in
concentration. He opened his eyes, shook his head, and then looked up at his
friend in alarm. “Nothing—I see nothing. When I try to see through her eyes,
all I see is a black void. She’s either in a dark place, or she’s unconscious.
Since I don’t feel any fear, I have to assume that she’s unconscious.”

Drake’s agitation
increased and he paced faster as he tried to think of a logical solution. “Does
your driver carry a cell phone?” Mica nodded. “Well, what are you waiting for?
Call him!”

Mica reached for the
phone and called his driver. He didn’t even give Charles a chance to say “hello”.
“Where is Desiree?” he demanded into the receiver.

“Huh? They’re at the
table—uh—they were at the table.”

Mica closed his eyes
and ground his teeth. His anger barely held in check. “What do you mean
were
?”

“Were!”
Drake barked,
then
grabbed
the phone from his friend. “There better be a good explanation for your
statement,” he growled coldly into the receiver.

“I don’t know,” Charles
said nervously. “I saw the waitress give them more coffee and hand them the
check. I—uh—assumed that they’d be right out once they finished their coffee.” He
swallowed hard. “I didn’t see them get up from the table.”

Drake clenched his
teeth and growled into the receiver. “If you value your life, you’ll go inside
and find them.”

***

Charles looked at the
phone in his hand and felt the blood drain from his face. His hands shook, and
he couldn’t hide the tremor of fear in his voice. “Uh—yes sir—uh—I mean—sire. I’ll
do that right now.” He scrambled out of the limo and hurried into the diner. His
eyes darted frantically around the room. His heart sank. They weren’t there. “I—uh….”
He cleared his throat. “I don’t see them, sire.”

“What?”

“Hang on a second,” Charles
said nervously. He palmed the phone in one hand to muffle the sound, rushed
over to the waitress, and grabbed her by the arm with his free hand. She
whipped her head around in alarm. She looked from his frightened eyes down to his
hand gripping her arm, and then back up into his eyes again. “Excuse me, miss.”
He pointed to the empty table. “Where did those ladies go?”

She shrugged. “They
left a few minutes ago. The brunette left the money and tip on the table.” She
shook her head in thought. “I didn’t see where they went. Is there a problem?”

He closed his eyes and
nodded frantically. “Yeah, there’s a problem. Please think hard. My life
depends on it.”

She chewed on her
thumbnail in thought, and then she shook her head again. “I’m sorry, but I
didn’t see anything. If you didn’t see them leave, then maybe they’re in the
lady’s room.”

“Could you please check
for me? That’s the one place I can’t go.”

She nodded. “Sure, I’ll
check, but you’re going to have to let go of my arm first.”

He let go. “Sorry.”

“No problem. I’ll be
right back.” She walked toward the lady’s room, and rubbed the red mark left
behind from his grip as she walked.

He put the phone back
up to his ear. “Uh, I have the waitress checking the lady’s room.”

“They better be there.”

He watched her walk
inside, and then come back out shaking her head. “The room is empty.”

“No, it can’t be,” he
said in a panic. He rushed past her, threw the door open wide, and charged
inside.

She was right on his
heels. “Sir, you can’t go in there,” she said urgently.

He spun around the room
in a circle, and his frightened eyes scanned every crevice looking for any sign
of the women. The room was empty, just like the waitress said. His heart sank,
and a feeling of dread washed over him. He walked back out of the room and left
the waitress standing at the open door. He leaned against the wall and brought
the phone back up to his ear. His hands were visibly shaking, and he hung his
head in defeat. “I’m sorry, sire, they’re gone.”

Charles heard the receiver
of the phone crack in Drake’s grip. “Don’t move.” His voice held a deadly edge.
“Mica and I will be there momentarily.”

Charles snapped the
cell phone shut, and it dropped from his numbed fingers to the carpeted floor.
His legs turned to rubber and would no longer support his weight. He slid down
the wall to a sitting position on the floor, and stared vacantly into the
crowded restaurant. He swallowed hard. “I’m a dead man,” he mumbled to himself.
“What was I thinking, going to work for a vampire? I’ll tell ya what you were
thinking, you dumb ass; you were thinking that this would be a cushy job and
easy money. All ya had to do was drive their ladies to get something to eat,
keep an eye on them, and make sure that they stayed safe. It should have been a
piece of cake, just a simple, easy job. Any moron off the street should have
been able to handle those orders, but you had to get bored and read a book
instead of doing your job. Now those vamps are going to rip your throat out and
drain you dry.” He propped his elbows on his knees and dropped his face into
his shaking hands in dejection.

The waitress knelt down
and placed her hand on his shoulder in concern. “Are you going to be okay? You
don’t look well at all.” She chewed on her bottom lip, unsure how to help him. “Do
I need to call someone for you?”

He looked up at her and
leaned his head back on the wall behind him. He shook his head and swallowed
hard to find his voice. “In a little while, I won’t have anything left to worry
about.” His voice held an ominous note. “Someone’s already coming for me.”

Chapter Seven

Drake slung the broken
phone down on the table in anger. He couldn’t stand incompetence, and now
Sherry’s life was in danger as a result. A deep rage consumed him, and he
stormed toward the front door. “What other transportation do you have other
than that limo?” he growled at Mica.

“Stop, you’re heading
the wrong way. The Rolls Phantom is in the garage, and the garage is around
back.” Mica headed for the garage with Drake hot on his heels. He took the keys
from the peg by the back door,
then
hit the button for
the garage door opener as he was climbing behind the wheel. Drake slid into the
passenger seat and slammed the door. Mica could feel his friend’s anger and
anxiety. He felt it himself. “We’ll find them.”

Drake’s jaw clenched
and his eyes held a steely glare. “We’d better find them. If we don’t, your
driver had better pray for a quick death.”

“You’ll have to stand
in line.” Mica put the key into the ignition and the engine roared to life. He
punched the gas pedal. The tires squealed and then caught, leaving a black
streak of rubber on the polished floor. He pulled out of the driveway on two
wheels.

***

The diner was just a
few blocks away, and he squealed the tires again as he took the corner into the
parking lot. Mica pulled in and parked next to his limo. They both jumped out
and stormed toward the diner.

Charles looked up when
he heard the front door open, and then he saw them storm through the door like
two avenging gods. He had never felt as much fear in his life. He swallowed
hard and struggled to his feet. He bowed his head. “Mica…Drake…I…I’m….”

Mica grabbed him by the
collar, suspended him in mid-air,
then
shoved him hard
up against the wall. “Save it!” he snarled, and most of the patrons stopped
eating to gawk their way.

Charles lifted his eyes
to meet Mica’s, and what he saw in those eyes petrified him. He saw a primal
hunger with a thirst for vengeance, and no leniency. That steely gaze held a
promise of a painful death. “Don’t move a muscle.” Mica put Charles back down
on his feet,
then
brushed past him, heading straight
for the women’s bathroom.

Drake took over where
Mica left off and gripped the frightened driver’s arm in his steely grasp. He
whispered viciously in his ear. “If your incompetence has resulted in harm
coming to
my woman
, you better pray
for a quick death, because I will enjoy making you suffer.”

Charles was sure that
the king had just sentenced him to death, and the remaining color drained from
his face. He kept his mouth shut, because he knew any apologies or excuses
would fall on deaf ears. He closed his eyes and hung his head.

***

The waitress was hot on
Mica’s heels.
“Sir!
You can’t go—” Her eyes grew wide
and the words froze on her lips when he turned his icy glare on her. “Uh—I mean….”
She backed away in a hurry.
“Never mind.”
She turned
away and ran into the kitchen.

He snatched the door
off its hinges in his haste. Desiree’s scent was stronger in this room than
anywhere else. His eyes darted around the room looking for clues, and that’s
when he caught another scent. It was vaguely familiar, but not quite the same. His
eyes narrowed when he identified the scent.
That’s
impossible, there is no way that spell could be broken.
“Hargrove…,” he
growled.

He stormed out of the women’s
bathroom and locked eyes with Drake. “We have to go back to the warehouse. I
don’t know how he’s managed it, but Hargrove is behind this.”

“He can’t be, unless
Desiree’s spell has been broken.”

“His scent is strong in
that bathroom, and mixed with Desiree’s. There’s something a little off about
the scent, and I can’t quite detect exactly what it is. Maybe her spell caused
it to alter a little, but I’d recognize that stench anywhere. We’ve got to
hurry. He wants Desiree dead, and since he’s a witch hunter I’m sure he’ll
target Sherry too.”

Drake yanked on
Charles’s arm. “We’ve got to get this one back to the warehouse and put under
guard, and then we’ll plan our next move.”

Mica nodded and grabbed
Charles’s other arm, and together they hauled him out of the restaurant. Mica
opened the back door to the Phantom and shoved Charles into the backseat. Both
Mica and Drake lifted their heads to the sounds of sirens heading their way. They
didn’t have time to deal with the police at the moment. They exchanged a quick glance,
then got in the car and sped out of the parking lot in the direction of the
warehouse.
 

Mica parked the Phantom
around back, and they hauled Charles into the building. Sean met them at the
door, and he couldn’t hide his surprise at finding Mica at the door with Drake.
His eyes darted between the two, then centered on the human dangling in their
grip. Sean opened his mouth to speak, but when Drake raised an eyebrow at him,
he shut his mouth again and waited.

“Has anyone called in
with any demands?” Drake barked.

“Demands?”
He shook his head. “No. No one has called. What’s
going on?”

“Desiree and Sherry
have been snatched.” He glared hard at Sean. “Tell me how it is that you let
Hargrove escape from here?” he growled.

His eyes grew wide at
the accusation. “Hargrove has escaped?” He frowned and shook his head. “That’s
impossible. He’s in a cage in your chambers, sire. He wouldn’t have been able
to leave without our notice.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Then
please explain to me how his scent is all over the place where Desiree was
nabbed.”

He shook his head
again. “I can’t, but can I assure you that he hasn’t left this building.”

Drake glanced over at
Mica. “Let’s go see for ourselves if Hargrove is or isn’t in my chambers.” He
turned his head and glared back at Sean. “For your sake, he’d better be there.”

A hint of anxiety
passed over Sean’s features, and then his confidence returned. “He’ll be there,
sire.”

“He had better be!” he
thundered, and then he yanked on Charles’s arm and headed for his chamber. When
he got there he threw open the door with a force that bounced the heavy door
off the wall. His eyes went immediately to the fireplace, and there, sitting on
the mantle, was the cage containing Jason Hargrove. He was still a rat, and
therefore not capable of kidnapping the women.