Brandon lay back with his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling. He shut his eyes and wondered if Eleanor had found Sabrina. The sun was pressing against the horizon. He could feel its weight pulling him down into the abyss he called sleep.
He was hardly aware when hands threw something heavy over his entire body and threw him over a broad shoulder. Something was wrong, but he was powerless to stop it.
Eleanor laid Clay’s body down beside her BMW. From the truck, she took out a thick blanket and cocooned him in it. When she had finished wrapping him, she pulled out a ball of twine and began tying his body into a neat bundle. All the while, she chanted softly under her breath in a language Sabrina had never heard. The last knot was tied around his neck, and Eleanor stood up. She quietly inspected her handiwork and ended the chant.
Sabrina was rooted to the spot. Unable to even flinch, she drew in a deep, shuddering breath and cried silently. He was gone. Never again would he hold her hand when she was frightened, bring her lunch in the shop, or walk her home. Home. He was a slice of home, a piece she had taken with her when they had fled. She thought of the little farm house on the meadow’s edge and wished she had never left. The world began to fade ever so slightly. A firm hand squeezed her upper arm until it hurt. The pain brought her out of her dream-like stupor. Had she been fainting? Was she trying to follow her heart back home?
“Oh, no you don’t! You’re staying here. Too much has been sacrificed already to protect you,” Eleanor stated bluntly. “We are going to put Clay in the trunk where he’ll have a safe place to turn to fairy dust for a proper burial later. Then we are going up to Brandon’s apartment and figuring out what to do next. Whatever you do, do
not
take off the necklace. Whoever was calling you must be negative or was using magic with ill intent. It will keep you from being forced to follow, as long as you resist.”
Numbness spread through Sabrina like Novocain. Grief and pain were replaced by nothingness. It was a welcome change to the turmoil. She followed Eleanor to the elevator, mindless of her surroundings. A dizzying wave of nausea hit her but dissipated as fast as it came. The numbness made ignoring it easy. Dark rainbows danced around her.
“I don’t think it is a good idea to just materialize upstairs unannounced, or I would have asked you to take the shortcut,” Eleanor thought aloud. She did not seem to notice Sabrina’s stumble or the necklace’s reaction to the magical summons.
Without saying a word, Sabrina stared ahead at the elevator door, seeing nothing. When they opened, she stepped into the blank walls. What greeted her when they opened again was a total upheaval. The entrance hall was a mess. Paintings were on the floor jumbled with overturned furniture. The apartment’s front door had been demolished. Splinters and large chunks of the frame were scattered in the hall and the living room. She could see the balcony doors were smashed. Glass was everywhere. The living room had been destroyed like the hall, right down to the fine antique cushions. Stuffing covered what the glass missed.
“Someone ransacked the place,” Eleanor said, stating the obvious. The gladius had returned to her hand, bow and arrows on her back.
Sabrina had an errant thought. “If you can call weapons at will, why not call up a gun? Why do you always go with a short sword and archery equipment?” she whispered.
“Because, you silly girl, a gun is noisy. These are silent.” There was a pause. “And I grew up with these and like them best. I’m old-fashioned that way,” Eleanor whispered back. “Now, tell me. Where is Brandon’s room? We need to check on him and Hadrian.”
Sudden panic washed away the numbness. “Brandon!” Sabrina shouted, not bothering to keep her voice low. She ran down the hall to her room. He was not there. The sheets were in a scattered pile on the floor. Pillow feathers covered the room. The bathroom door was open. She hurried through. With no bed, there was nothing to find but empty space. A few blankets were on the floor as if someone had been sleeping there.
She turned to go back to the living room but ran into Eleanor. “They’re gone! They’re both gone! Who would do such a thing? What are we supposed to do? It’s daylight. They have to be here. Brandon’s supposed to be here!” She frantically began searching the closets and kitchen. Eleanor grabbed her and gave her a sharp slap.
“Get a hold of yourself, Sabrina. It’s obvious. They are being held as hostages. Who took them isn’t the question. It’s where and how that is important. We’re on the top floor. During the day, every floor with vampires is heavily guarded. It’s why this place exists, to be a safe haven for supernatural creatures. Where were the guards? There were no bodies, no blood. It’s as if everyone has simply vanished,” Eleanor pointed out.
It occurred to Sabrina then to look out on the balcony. A circle of large golden-yellow crystals created a circle. In the center was a rolled up parchment with a shiny gold and silver-edged ribbon. Reaching for it palm up, she visualized the scroll in her hand. It rose off the ground and floated lazily to her, landing where she wanted on the first try. She untied the ribbon with her mind and watched the scroll hover in midair for her to read.
Bring Midnight’s Jewel to
Stone Mountain Park at midnight,
or we will kill the emperor and his second.
“Damn it,” Eleanor muttered under her breath. “That would start a war between the Children of Lilith and the Diana’s Earthbound Children. Lucifer took Brandon to get to you and Hadrian to force my hand. He knows keeping the peace between the two groups is hard enough on a good day.”
“Sundown is hours away! We have to help them now!” Sabrina was beside herself. Panic gave way to frustration. She paced the floor between the kitchen and the living room, stepping over or kicking the debris.
“Calm down. There is nothing we can do. They may not even be on the planet, and there is no way I’m going to let you go to the Hall of Eternal Light hunting them. The best thing to do is to rest for the day. We know where they will be at midnight. Lucifer will be looking for an exchange. He can’t come to Earth himself. He’ll have to work through a lackey,” Eleanor said. She gave her statement a casual tone, implying this was to be expected.
“Rest! How in the hell am I going to rest?” The father she never knew and her lover were being held for ransom, and the necklace protecting her was the price. Every doubt she had about Brandon flew out of her mind. Whether they were valid concerns or not was no longer the point. He meant something to her, to her magic, and she was not about to let him go without a fight. Determination and resolve calmed her jangled nerves. The tension in her face melted away. She could feel her shoulders relax with the hope of a plan. She would go and put her newfound magic to use.
Sabrina looked up at Eleanor to see her aunt eyeing her with shrewd scrutiny. Out of nowhere, a shockwave hit Sabrina, knocking her backward. Disoriented, she lay still on the floor a few seconds to regain her bearings. Before she had recovered, Eleanor straddled her with her fist drawn back for a punch.
“I’m sorry, my dear, but this is for your own good,” she said and swung. Sabrina had no time to react. The last thing she remembered was Eleanor’s fist making contact with her jaw.
* * * *
Brandon drifted in and out of sleep. He knew the sun was still up, but night was coming soon. There was a thick strip of fabric over his eyes. The knot dug into the back of his head. He tried to shift his arms into a more comfortable position, but they were cuffed behind him. More fabric buffered his wrists from the itching metal. The cuffs had to be made of silver. A burning thirst tore at his throat. The thrumming pulse of fresh, living blood echoed in his ears. The burn intensified with each heartbeat of his captors. He could make out four distinct potential meals, three males and one female, by the smell of them. There was also another vampire nearby. Brandon guessed this was Hadrian.
“God, I hate the stench of this place. Why the hell didn’t you pick someplace clean?” a nasally male voice complained. Brandon noted from the scuffling of feet on a dirt-encrusted floor that someone was shifting his weight.
“They’re vampires, you idiot. They got to have it dark during the day. The boss don’t give a shit what happens to them after he gets what he wants, but for now, they gotta stay safe. Get it?” Man #2 explained with a heavy dose of contempt.
“We could’ve at least picked a basement with more room to stretch out in,” a gravel-voiced third man added.
“This place is safest. Ain’t nobody gonna open a mausoleum in a historic cemetery. It ain’t got no windows, and it’s on consecrated ground. They cain’t do anything here.” Man #2 was confident in his response.
The female remained silent. Her scent was familiar, but Brandon could not immediately place it. The mold-filled, musty air and heavy odor of decay masked most of it. He could only glean basic information. The only things he was positive of were their numbers, their genders, and that Hadrian was waking.
The elder vampire inhaled deep. Brandon could feel the pressure of his chest rising with the intake against his back. The silver cuffs on his hands shifted enough to touch Brandon above the wrists. Brandon’s skin was immediately seared. He flinched away but could not go far. They had been bound together with heavy chains.
“Looks like our guests are waking up,” the nasally man observed. “A little early, ain’t it?”
“Nah, we were told that could happen. They’re old. They can get up before sunset and stay up after sunrise, so long as they don’t go out in the sun,” Man #2 explained. “Just stay away from those fangs. They’re gonna be hungry, and this ain’t no blood bank. That silver better do what the boss says it will do, or we’re done.”
A tinkling bell rang. It sounded like delicate crystal being tapped at a dinner party to get the guests attention. Brandon was sure this time there would be no toast to follow. The ringing continued.
“How the hell do you use this thing? For an all-powerful being, you’d think they’d just use a damn cell phone like everybody else on the planet,” Man #3 grumbled.
“He ain’t on the planet, now is he? Give me the mirror before you break it. We don’t have a witch handy to make another one if you break it,” Man #1 said. The ringing stopped. “Yes, sir?”
“Did you get them both?” A silky smooth, eloquent masculine voice filled the room.
“Oh yes, sir, we got ’em both. We tied ’em up like you said. The note was left in the crystal portal on the balcony just like you told us to do.” The man was very pleased with himself. There was a great deal of pride and confidence in his voice.
“Let me speak with our lady of the hour,” the disembodied voice crooned.
A high-pitched voice squeaked, “Yes, my lord?” Brandon was sure he had never heard her voice. There was nothing left to identify her without his sight.
“Your services have been invaluable. If you had not set up our operation, acquiring these two may not have been possible. Once we have Midnight’s Jewel in hand, you are to eliminate our two guests. We might as well let the earthbound creatures eliminate each other. It will save us time and resources. The result will be the same,” he ordered nonchalantly. There was no difference in his bored tone than if he were ordering coffee.
“As you wish. May I keep the man for my own and kill only the emperor?” Her request was timid, almost shy. How could someone this withdrawn have gotten through security? It had to be an inside job.
Brandon contemplated who had enough access and trusts to have fooled thirty armed guards, turned off the alarms, and not have been stopped or questioned by any other tenants. The list was very short. Who would have had motive? Camilla? The voice and lack of confidence was wrong. Carrie? She had only been there for a few hours. No one would have trusted a witch wandering alone. The mousy voice belonged to woman. Farrell was definitely out of the running.
“No. They must both be dispatched but only after they have outlived their usefulness. It will ensure chaos and fan the already burning flames. Collect Midnight’s Jewel. Use the second set of crystals I gave you to return it to me. You shall then have your reward,” he promised. A pinging chime signaled the end of the communication.
“Can you believe that shit? All this for a fucking necklace? I don’t buy it. He said the girl needed to come with it. I wonder what makes her so damn special,” the nasally voice said.
“I don’t know and don’t care. Them’s the orders, and that’s what we gotta do. You don’t wanna trip to the throne room, do ya? Last guy in there lost his head, and he wasn’t even the guilty party. It’s just a few more hours before we gotta be at the meeting place. Now, cut the crap and get some rest,” Man #1 chided. The mausoleum returned to being a silent grave.
Brandon’s thoughts whirled. They were talking about Sabrina. That much was plain. The man in her dream had lost his head. Eleanor called the throne room the Hall of Eternal Light and said it belonged to Lucifer. There had to more of a connection between the two than his desire for the necklace and her possession of it. Sabrina said Lucifer had mistaken her for Aradia. Hadrian had, too. He leaned back against Hadrian and tried to remember anything he could, hoping for more pieces to the puzzle.
Sabrina groaned and put both hands to her head. A throbbing headache radiated pain. One side of her face felt tender and swollen. She was sure there were some spectacular bruises. Fuzzy memories began to surface. Eleanor punching her was the first thing she remembered. But why?