Authors: DD Prince
D: *Naw, the 6 months of your share of the rent he paid more than covered me. As a matter of fact I got a possible lead on a new roommate already. I can send you a cheque. send me ur address.
K: *Keep it. Put it toward your own dream ecotour
D: *Srsly, Ky?
K: *Yes! Thanks for being my bff. I’ll be in touch, k?
D: *Soon, I hope. WANT to see wedding pics! Ooh I know!! I’ll leave that extra $ in the bank for now and if you want a maid of honour, lmk and I’ll fly to wherever you’re having your wedding!*
Kyla felt her chest get tight.
K: *Sounds great. You’re the best! TTYL. Xoxo
D: *XO. Luvya girlie! Ciao bella!”
She logged out and crawled into the bed to take time to decompress. That felt like work! Seconds passed like minutes and minutes seemed to take eons. She resisted the urge to chew her fingernails.
Ecotour? Well-digging in Kenya? Tristan sure knew how to set Daisy up to be accepting and excited for Kyla, rather than suspicious about her leaving. Those were two things Daisy would’ve done, for sure. Of course Kyla was sure Daisy wouldn’t have believed those things about her out of the blue like that, except for the fact that Tristan had hypnotized her to believe that they
were
true.
Suddenly, he rushed into the room and headed to the mantle. She sat up.
He twisted a bulb on the garlic bulb wreath and there was an audible click. Then he opened that part of the wall like a door. It revealed a safe. He twisted it to and fro a few times and then grabbed a duffle bag out of it and closed it.”
“What’s going on?” She clambered to her feet.
“This is our bug-out bag. I’m loading this in the car and I’ll be back for you in 3 minutes. You’ll hear an alarm. Don’t panic. After you hear it know I’m on my way to you. If anyone comes in before me just be stoic, okay? I’ll be back first, though, so no worries. Put your shoes on.” He shut the safe door, kissed her quickly, and then disappeared with the bag before she had a chance to ask questions.
She gave her head a shake, got into her running shoes, and then after a few minutes of standing there and feeling confused she heard the fire alarm go off.
Shit…what do I do?
Tristan was there an instant later. He closed the bedroom door and then closed the distance between them quickly, “Let’s go.” He touched the doorknob and then led her out onto the terrace. He reached for the pull down ladder but instead of opening it up he snapped a piece of iron off the corner and tossed it into the pool, leaving the ladder dangling by one side.
“Hold on tight, baby” He climbed over the rail and then reached for her while still standing on the ledge of the terrace. He picked her up in his arms and then hoisted her over and jumped down to the ground in a fluid motion before she even had a chance to react. She was surprised at how softly he’d landed on his feet with her in his arms. He set her down and then they quickly went inside the door that led to the kitchen and then when they got to the bottom of the staircase, they were met by Esther, Andre, and Rebecca who were hurrying toward the front door
“Everyone outside!” Tristan urged.
They all followed him out. The front area of the house was well lit. Too well-lit for Kyla’s liking being in front of these vampires.
“Is the fire in your room?” Rebecca asked him.
“It was in the hallway in my wing as well as the wing with my office. That’s why I got out through the courtyard. The fire escape was tampered with. Looks like someone didn’t want her making it out of there.” He motioned toward Kyla with his chin, then lifted his hand, showing his fingertips, which were mildly blistered from the hot door handle.
Kyla choked for a second with a bit of smoke in her lungs.
“It’s okay,” Tristan said to her, looking at her with a careful and deep stare. “You’re fine. Stay calm.”
All eyes were on her. She swallowed and nodded slowly not taking her eyes off his face.
Something smashed inside the house and within seconds could see flames licking the windows on one of the upstairs windows that faced the front of the house. Tristan hurried her to his SUV and put her inside in the passenger seat.
“Esther, take the Jeep and drive Mr. Tsakos and Rebecca to the Four Seasons. Call and book rooms for yourself and them as well as rooms for Sam and Joe. There’s a spare phone in the glove box. It should have some charge.”
“And yourself, Sir?” Esther asked.
His phone rang from his jeans pocket. He fished it out and glanced at the screen, “I’m heading to my apartment. This is my alarm company. Yes?” he answered it and spoke for a minute, walking away from the group, after shutting the door, separating Kyla from them, Then he ended the call and stood outside and talked with Esther, Rebecca, and Andre for a moment. Rebecca was waving her arms erratically, looking like she was defending herself. The conversation ended when she saw Tristan take keys off his keychain and hand some keys to Esther. Rebecca folded her arms across her chest and was pouting. Andre roughly pulled her toward the jeep. Then Tristan reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, handed Esther a credit card, then he got into the SUV with Kyla. The Jeep pulled away with the three in inside.
A dark car pulled up and two younger guys in suits jumped out and rushed toward Tristan. Kyla guessed they were the guys Joe said he was sending over. Tristan spoke to them for a minute and then they got back in the car and pulled away.
Tristan got in beside her, turned it in the ignition, and pulled it in reverse until they were a few hundred feet from the house. Then it occurred to her all of her worldly goods were up there, getting burnt into nothingness.
“The master suite wing has reinforced walls. Most of the house has been renovated and upgraded since I moved in to include passive fire protection. Any area that catches fire will typically contain the fire in that part of the house,” he said, “There’s fire in two hallways, the guestroom next to our room, and in my office. It should be contained fairly well to those areas.”
She looked at him, confused.
He gave her a weird look, then said, “I set the fire.”
“You set the fire? Why? And where are Joe and Sam?”
“They are out dealing with Julia. Then Sam is dealing with Joe.”
Kyla gulped.
“I set the fire so I could move the location for tomorrow’s party.”
“You what?” she was shocked.
His gaze was steely, his mouth twisted with a look of disgust, “Two reasons. One, it gets Andre and that little BITCH out of my face.” He took a deep breath and seemed to regain composure, “Two, it gets the party out of the house. After what’s happened today I’m not taking any chances. Today gave me a glimpse into what tomorrow night might be like for you. Not worth the risk. I’ll move the event to a hotel. Public is much safer for you than here. They’ll all be on their best behaviour there,” he reached over and took her hand into his.
They sat in silence, watching the fire roar bigger and bigger out that front window. The other windows at the front of the house were surprisingly dark, and looking normal. A few minutes later two fire engines and an ambulance pulled in.
He got out and spoke to a firefighter and then got back in and they watched the firefighters work on the fire for a moment and then a paramedic knocked on Tristan’s window. He stepped out and spoke to the man for a few minutes while Kyla watched the crew work on the fire. She huddled into the seat, feeling numb.
Tristan got into the car after a few minutes and then pulled in reverse and then they left the property.
Kyla stared into the side view mirror as they pulled away, watching the firefighters charge into the house.
“You set your house on fire for me,” she said softly. She couldn’t come to grips with how Tristan was turning his life upside down because of meeting her.
“It’s just bricks and mortar, baby. And stuff. It can be fixed or replaced. You can’t be,” he stared straight ahead at the road and rubbed his thumb rhythmically over the back of her hand.
She touched his cheek with her free hand, admiring his profile. He looked so intense, staring ahead. His jaw was tight. He was white-knuckled. But he was so beautiful.
“It feels so weird to be out, in a moving car,” she muttered, kind of caught up in wonder at her surroundings.
He flashed a smile at her, “Does it?” His smile faded fast and he gripped the steering wheel tighter, “I had to get you out of there. If we’d been downstairs at dinner I have no doubt it would’ve been you instead of Julia.”
“Me?”
“Absolutely.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re mine.”
Goosebumps and shivers.
“She hates you.”
“You could say that.”
Why?”
He didn’t answer. She could see a muscle twitching in his jaw.
After a few moments of Kyla waiting for him to answer, it was clear he wasn’t going to. It was confirmation for her that the comment in the courtyard had been about Tristan. What was the deal between Tristan and Rebecca? She was about to ask but the intensity emanating from him was almost palpable so she decided to wait.
“So, we’re going to your apartment?”
“Yeah, it’s just a thirty minute drive.”
“What about Joe? Is he…”
His jaw tightened, “He has bad intentions.”
“What do you mean? I mean, I’m not surprised --- he creeps me out --- but how do you know?”
“I think your blood is giving me telepathy,” he said.
She furrowed her brow.
“Not just with you. I’ve been picking things up from people. I wasn’t sure at first but then today it started becoming clearer. I don’t feel it as strongly with others as I feel it with you but I feel flashes of their mindset, their intentions. When I stood behind him in the hall tonight I felt it, what he wanted to do. He feels some warped sense of entitlement with you.”
“Entitlement because he said he spotted me,” she said. Tristan was bang on.
“Did he? Anyway, I’ve met vampires who are telepathic, mostly elders in high positions of power but your blood keeps making me stronger. I can feel that he can’t stop wondering about your blood, ever since the thorn prick. He’s obsessing about it. And I think he suspects it’s enchanted. I know it’s a question mark for him. I think he’s got something to do with the missing lab specimens, too. I think he’s working with someone; I just haven’t figured out who yet. Although I have my suspicions,” he shook his head, “Not taking that chance.”
“So Sam’s going to kill Joe?” her voice felt small. They pulled off the country road and were pulling onto the highway, heading toward downtown. It was strange being in traffic, seeing people, cars, streetlights. She’d felt so sheltered the past week or so that she’d been at Tristan’s house. Everything around her seemed like it was moving so fast.
Tristan shook his head, “No. He’s being detained. For now. I’ll be questioning him soon,” his jaw tightened.
“Burning your house down is a lot of trouble to go to in order to avoid having a party, Tristan.”
“It was the only way. This way, too, it’ll be expected that I’ll be suspicious and anyone without bad intentions will understand why my demeanour is off, why I’m on edge. Joe’s missing and someone set my house on fire and it looks very much like an attack on you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah. Obviously I can get out of there but you? The fire escape was broken. The only other accessible room to you upstairs room was on fire.”
Kyla nodded.
“It gives me an opportunity to move the party, keep you safe, and poke around for answers without arousing suspicion about me, my mindset. Everyone will think I’m reacting to the fire and it’ll come out that it was set just outside my suite and that another upstairs entrance was blocked because the hall outside the office was on fire, too. Going after someone’s pet is a direct attack, not something taken lightly. And if anyone is up to anything they’ll know that things are askew and maybe they’ll tip their hand.”
“Who do you think is after you?”
“I have a few ideas but I’m not 100% sure. Some voiced concerns it was too early for this promotion but the overwhelming majority said I’d more than demonstrated how ready I am.”
The silence stretched between them.
“If attacking a pet isn’t looked on lightly is Sam freaking out on Rebecca about Julia?”
“Julia isn’t Sam’s pet. There’s a difference. She’s just a hook-up. It matters, believe me, but Rebecca is an anomaly.”
She digested that for a minute, wishing Rebecca would be hauled in front of some vampire court. When he didn’t offer further explanation, she asked, “What’s the bug-out bag for?”
“If things go wrong tomorrow night then we’re taking off. That bag has money, passports, clothes, things we need to get out of the country.”
“For both of us?”
“Yep. You don’t think I’d leave without you?”
I’m already part of his bug out bag plan?
“How did you get a passport for me?”
“As soon as the blood went missing from the lab I took some precautions. Sent your ID off to my guy. I have connections.”