Sin and Sacrifice (26 page)

The words had an immediate
and profound impact on the girl. She stilled, staring at him
through narrowed eyes.

He wasn't sure how much to
tell her, or what else to say to put her at ease. His conversation
with Rhett had been short and to the point.

“
How do you know that?”
she asked.

Dracht could all but smell
her distrust.

“
Rhett, my brother, phoned
me just before we got you out of the house. He explained he was
with Evelyn and that she had confided in him.” He waited to see if
Alexandra would take him at his word, and whether she might confide
something of the situation on her own.

She closed the distance by
two wobbly steps and swung a small, blood covered fist for his
face.

Dracht, too well trained
for too long to be taken off guard by her action, caught her wrist
and bent her arm up behind her, bringing her right against his
chest. He made sure not to exert the kind of pressure that would
hurt her.

“
Rhett said you would not
trust me, so I will not take offense.” Dracht wondered just what
had happened in this girl's young life to make her look at him like
that. As if she couldn't loathe anyone more.

“
You're one of
them,
aren't you? You
only know because some of your hateful comrades tortured the
information out of her.” Furious, her blue eyes gleamed with
hate.

Dracht remained calm. He
wasn't sure what she meant by 'them', and offered nothing about
what he was or wasn't. She could be speaking about the Templars and
she could mean something else altogether.

“
She's in safe hands,
that's what I can tell you. If you'll collect yourself, perhaps I
can get him back on the phone again and we can straighten all this
out.”

Before she could spit out
another venomous reply, Dragar stalked into the room with the Asian
held by the elbow. Her hands were still tied.

Minna, tiny next to his
father, had the same look in her eyes that Alexandra had in hers.
In better light, she did not appear to have undergone any trauma,
at least in places Dracht could see.

“
Any more news?” Dragar
asked, the neutrality of his expression telling Dracht that the
woman had given him a hard time on the drive over. He arched a brow
to see Alexandra with her arm up behind her back.

“
No, but I think we should
get Evelyn and Rhett on the line as soon as possible. He said they
wouldn't believe or trust us,” Dracht said.

“
True enough,” Dragar
agreed, letting Minna go.

Dracht released Alexandra's
arm, slowly. She took a few hasty steps back. The women stood next
to each other, different as night and day, glaring at them with
open hostility and suspicion.

“
How can you expect us to
trust anyone with what's happened to us?” Minna demanded. She spoke
in dulcet tones and had less aggression in her stature than the
other. Alexandra was all spit and fire and rebellion.

Dragar stood on the other
side of the women, between them and the door in case either tried
to flee.

“
How can you expect us to
protect you if you won't at least listen to what
we
have to say?” Dragar
countered. “If we were like the others that have abused and
tortured you, we wouldn't be standing here trying to have a civil
conversation.”

Both women wore their
skepticism plainly. Alexandra licked her scabbed, puffy
lip.

“
What you fail to
understand is that two of us have died, you bastards, and we know
you're not above trying all these different tactics to find out
whatever it is you think we're supposed to know,” Alexandra said,
spitting a wad of blood and saliva straight onto the
floor.

Dracht suppressed a laugh
at the little black haired, blue eyed hellion, and held up a hand
to silence any further vehemence.

“
Let's get you in touch
with Evelyn and
then
we'll talk. We'll get it all straightened out.”

“
Here, I'll cut your
binds.” Dragar pulled a blade from his belt with slow precision,
letting the women see that he meant them no harm.

Minna hesitated, then
offered her wrists up to him.

“
Where are we, anyway?
This place reminds me of a museum.” Alexandra scowled, smearing her
knuckles across her mouth and looked around.

“
Don't worry about that
right now. You're safe here, that's all you need to know.” Dracht's
gut instinct told him that both girls would have a bad reaction to
'Templar Stronghold'.

Christian strode with
purpose into the room. Dracht caught the chin kick,
come here
gesture and
excused himself from the trio. He trusted his father, who wore a
deceptive mantle of calm, to be able to handle any trouble the
women might throw his way.

Instead of jet setting off
across the world, Rhett had instead sent Christian to speak with
their liaison, Father Valanzano. Peaceable, noble, honorable,
Father V, as they sometimes called him in lighter moments, would
not steer them wrong. Dracht was curious for the puzzle pieces to
start falling into place.

Knowing that voices carried
in the expansive room, he clapped Christian on the shoulder and
turned him so they could bend their heads together and walk back
into the hallway.

“
What did Father Valanzano
have to say?” he asked Christian.

“
We spoke at length and he
is certain that no one gave the other Knights orders to kidnap much
less torture any women. He was concerned and dismayed at the
thought they might be acting on their own will, using the resources
available to find and detain them. He was very distraught to learn
that two of them have already been killed, with a third possibly if
Rhett didn't--”

“
No, no, Rhett has the
other girl,” Dracht assured him.

Christian looked relieved.
“I'm glad he found her before they did, then.”

“
What else?”

“
Father Valanzano is
discreetly changing account passwords and ordering new bank cards
so that the funding and other resources will be impossible to
access. It should slow them down until we bring every one of them
in. For now, he said to have father use the safe here to draw what
money we need.” Christian glanced back a moment to the women and
Dragar.

“
We have three in custody
awaiting interrogation,” Dracht said. “I have no doubt that we'll
be able to pull the names of everyone else in their eclectic little
group from at least one of them.” The men might be Templars, and
tough beyond reason, but Dracht and Dragar knew all the ways to
break them. They knew weaknesses others did not.

“
And you have all the
girls—the sisters—now?” Christian asked.

“
All the ones that are not
dead. At least I think. Listen, head over to the mortuary and make
sure no one is tampering with the bodies,” Dracht said. “Have Paulo
there keep both bodies of the deceased under lock and key until
Rhett gets back and we can figure out what the hell is going
on.”

Christian nodded and Dracht
clapped him on the shoulder to send him off. They were keeping
their youngest brother hopping.

Dracht found Dragar
standing adjacent to one of the divans, where Alexandra and Minna
sat perched on the edge. Their posture remained stiff and their
expressions, uncertain. Whatever his father had said in the time
he'd consulted with Christian had at least taken some of the
viciousness from their eyes.

“
All right. Let's put you
in touch with Evelyn.” He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket
and pressed speed dial for Rhett.

A daughter of
Eve.

In the hotel room at the
Venetian, Rhett double checked the locks on the door while his mind
worked over the details Evelyn had confessed in the warehouse. It
was almost impossible to believe, and yet, he believed her. It made
him look at her differently during the ride back to the hotel and
again when he stalked into the small but well appointed room where
she stood by the window. There were a thousand questions he wanted
to ask. She'd been alive, apparently, for centuries. The things she
must have seen. Experienced.

When she glanced over, he
presented a small smile and came to stand opposite her so they
could look out over the beautiful waterways below. Replicating the
scene in Venice, the boatmen rowed couples through the turquoise
water. Lamps threw whimsical cones of light around the grounds,
giving the scene a romantic vibe as dusk settled in.

Bringing a hand up, he
rubbed at his shoulder. He needed new bandages and a new shirt. The
black one had a damp spot from blood seeping through the gauze. It
hurt like a bitch but he wasn't about to complain.

“
Feeling a little better
now?” he asked. They'd gotten food on their way to the room so they
wouldn't have to leave again or have room service come
up.

She glanced at him and he
studied her eyes. A color of hazel that reminded him of a clear
river. The smile that curved her mouth was pretty without being
luring and enticing. He was lured and enticed anyway.

“
A lot. And relieved,” she
replied. “We should take a look at your shoulder.”

Rhett thought there was
something beautifully vulnerable about her whether she was throwing
vases over banisters or bathed in late afternoon light through a
window.

“
Don't worry about it.
It's just a flesh wound.” It was his standard answer no matter who
asked. He set aside the pain to concentrate on the amazing
circumstance he currently found himself in. He chuckled at the dry
look she gave him. Already she was picking up on his
habits.

“
It's more than a flesh
wound. My aim wasn't
that
bad.”

“
Needs work,” he
countered. “Though I'd recommend shooting other people besides me
next time.”

His cell phone interrupted
the slew of questions he wanted to unleash on her. Fishing it out
of his pocket, he answered without looking at the caller
ID.

“
Nichols.”

“
Rhett, can Evelyn have a
word with her sisters? We all need to have the air cleared here so
we can move forward.”

“
Yeah, sure, she's right
here. They okay?” he asked.

“
Alexandra's a bit banged
up but otherwise they're both fine. We have three of the knights
involved ready to be interrogated.”

“
Good. I want to know what
those bastards were up to,” Rhett said.

“
You and everyone
else.”

Dracht passed off his phone
and Rhett did the same to Evelyn. “Your sisters want to speak to
you.”

He watched her eyes light
up from the solemnity they'd carried after the news of Genevieve.
Taking the phone, she leaned against the window and Rhett stepped
away to find an extra hand towel in the bathroom to press against
his shoulder. While she did that, he called downstairs and ordered
a shirt from one of the exclusive shops and had the front desk send
up someone with a first aid kit.

After, he listened to
Evelyn's one sided conversation to glean what information he
could.

One thing he did know. They
needed to get to Italy and have a face to face with Father
Valanzano. Rhett was sure the Church would be very interested in
the women and their incredible story.

“
Alex? It's so good to
hear your voice,” Evelyn said. She fought back another round of
tears, exhausted and overcome with emotion. The last week had been
one heck of a roller coaster ride.

“
Hey. You all right?” Alex
asked, sounding wary.

“
Yes. I confessed to one
of the men, Alex. His name's Rhett and he was the one who got me
away from the others. You need to tell Minna. I finally believe
they're telling the truth and that they only want to help us.
They're Knights, but not like the ones that have been hunting us
all this time.” It had taken an extraordinary amount of convincing
to change her mind.

“
That's asking a lot,
Ev.”

“
I know, but you're going
to have to trust me, too. Not just them.”

“
Where are
you?”

“
In Vegas.”

“
Vegas?
No, no, doc, you don't need to fuss over me,”
Alex said, apparently speaking to someone trying to tend her
wounds.

Evelyn wondered how badly
she was hurt. If she was talking and asserting herself like she
was, then she was doing well enough. Their innate ability to heal
would fix anything else that was wrong.

“
Yes. It's a long story
that I'll explain later. Where are
you
and how's Minna?” Evelyn
asked.

“
Min's right here and
she's fine. I'm fine, too, don't worry. Just a few scratches and a
busted lip.”

Alexandra's propensity to
downplay most situations gave Evelyn a clearer fix on how much or
how little her sister was actually injured.