Authors: Mary Abshire
“She is coming with me, and I dare one of you to stop me,” Anubis said, his tone deep and firm.
From the sound of his voice, I gathered the conversation was spiraling out of control. The vamp was making decisions without my input. Not good. As long as I stood on this Earth, I had a say in my life. I needed to stop him, needed to intervene, before tempers flared.
Lowering my shirt, I headed for the door. Each step felt heavy and alien. The squirrely feeling in my belly grew, but I held back the bile creeping up my throat. I opened the door and strode out into the hall. Although it was dark, light from the main room in the basement illuminated my way. The soft glow bothered my eyes. Strange. It had never irritated me before. With a few squints as I neared the main room, my eyes adjusted.
The men ceased their conversation as I ventured closer. Tom stood to my left, near the stairs, with his arms crossed. Lips pressed and brows scrunched, he looked concerned. Our eyes met, and he gave me a nod. Jackson sat on the edge of the recliner at the far end of the room. Seeing me, he rose. A man I didn’t recognize sat on the sofa. He dressed in a suit similar to the kind Boss wore, casual yet professional. The blank expression on his face gave me pause. Jonas sat two cushions down from the stranger, leaning forward with his elbows digging into his knees. Standing in the middle of the room, Boss and Anubis were a foot apart. Anubis was inches taller and wore dark, fitted jeans and t-shirt. Long, wavy black hair glided over his shoulders when he moved his head to face me. I gazed into his strong, yet gentle eyes, and instantly my skin warmed.
Anubis approached me with his arms extended. “You need rest, love. I can handle–”
I lifted my hands to stop him and took a step back. “I feel…fine.” Not really, but more pressing matters needed attention. “What are you arguing about?”
Anubis lowered his arms and stopped. He gazed deep into my eyes, tilted his head slightly and twitched his brows. An odd feeling stirred within my mind, like a buzz or sense of dislocation. Was he searching for something? Memories perhaps? Unlike the times when Boss and Jonas had pried into my thoughts, the annoying ring announcing their invasion was missing.
“I think you should rest,” he said. “The sun will rise within the hour.”
“I’m okay.” I directed my attention at Boss. “What’s going on?”
“She has a right to know everything,” Jackson said as he stepped around the coffee table.
Anubis veered in front of me in a protective manner. “She will know, after she is fully rested.”
The high level of testosterone in the room needed to lower a notch. “Okay, first of all I’m awake now, and I’m asking. Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?”
Anubis faced me with calm, dark eyes. “This can wait, love.”
“I don’t want to wait,” I said in a stronger tone. “I want to know everything that happened after Billy stabbed me and I passed out.”
“This is an argument you won’t win,” Boss said, staring at Anubis.
Anubis clamped his jaw tight. “I have known Shelley since she was sixteen. I’m more than aware of her stubbornness.”
I rolled my eyes. The ancient had saved me from the horror lab, and I appreciated that, but did he need to point out my weaknesses?
Jackson extended his arm toward the recliner. “I’ll explain if you want to have a seat.” He gave me a smile, not flirting or joyous, but gentle and kind.
Feeling under par and flat-out crampy, I decided to accept his suggestion. I passed between Anubis and Jackson, heading for the chair. As I sat, I looked at the stranger on the sofa and asked, “Who are you?”
“My name is Arturo.” He shifted his cold gaze from me to Anubis. “I am being held against my will.”
Anubis balled his fists. Power and strength emanated from him in a frightful, yet intriguing way. “I don’t care what your council says or commands. They have no power over me.”
Boss’s suspicions had been right. The councilman must have stumbled into Anubis somehow while he searched for someone to decipher my journal. Though I felt guilty for being the reason behind Arturo’s kidnapping, I also praised Anubis’s action. If he hadn’t forced Arturo to travel to Indianapolis, Anubis couldn’t have saved me from the two surgeons eager to rip me into pieces.
“I’m sorry,” I said to Arturo. “I’m sure once this is over you can return to your councilman spot.”
“
If
I agree,” Anubis said, heading toward me.
“Why wouldn’t you?” I asked.
“We can discuss the matter later,” Boss said. “We need to stay on the topic at hand since we’re limited on time.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, wondering what he meant. Limited on time because the sun would rise within the hour? The sun never bothered me and vampires could stay awake during the day. Why would sunrise have any bearing on our conversation?
Anubis stood next to the recliner and folded his arms. An outsider looking in would think he was my bodyguard.
Jackson came to stand a few feet in front of me.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I carried you from the warehouse. Tom came with me, and before we reached the elevator, capital police stopped us. They aimed their guns at us, forced us to take you to a room and then escorted us to the main floor.”
My jaw dropped, and I lifted my hand to cover my mouth. The horror room. They forced him to take me to the place where monsters had worked on me before.
“There were too many of them with guns, and we weren’t prepared to fight. We figured Galluzzi gave them orders to hold you, so we decided to reach out to the Governor, the only other person who could command the police. It took us over a half hour to get an emergency meeting with him. In the middle of our meeting, the alarm sounded. Everyone had to evacuate. As we stood outside, thick, black smoke seeped out from several windows to the basement. Capital police guarded all the doors until the fire department showed up. A half hour later they told us there had been a fire in the cage.”
“Oh my God,” I said, aghast.
“We had no idea what had become of you. After we confirmed our pack brothers had made it out safely, we rushed here. Jonas let us in and said Anubis had found you.”
“The warehouse was on fire? Was the damage bad?”
“We don’t know yet. We haven’t checked back in with the station.”
I lowered my eyes and shook my head. “Now we’ll never find the petition.” I suddenly felt as if I’d failed everyone. The petition could’ve proved Galluzzi orchestrated the murder of everyone at the dump. Sure, we had other documents that could lead one to believe she planned everything, but without the petition, our case wasn’t strong enough.
“It’s okay,” Tom said, and I lifted my gaze. He stepped closer. “Andy found the petition and an executive order.”
“What? Who?”
“Andy was one of our pack brothers helping search through the records. Before we left to meet with the Governor, he sent me a text stating he found the petition and an executive order signed by Senator Galluzzi.”
I stood so fast my vision spun and vibrant beat pounded in my head. Worse, my gorge sprung up. I heard everyone yelling my name as I swallowed the disgusting fluid and fell sideways back into the chair.
Anubis stood in front of me, holding my face in his hands. “Look at me.”
Staring into his eyes, I strained to focus. What was wrong with me? Maybe I’d lost too much blood. Sensing my lips were dry, I licked them. My tongue bumped into my fangs.
“Focus on me,” Anubis said, and I obeyed.
The room stopped spinning and the throb in my head lessened as time ticked by. I started to believe I would be fine until I realized every muscle in my body felt tight, and I had a growing hunger for blood. Something was wrong within me, but I didn’t want to alarm anyone.
“I’m all right.” I gripped his wrists and gently nudged his hands away.
“You’re not all right. You should be resting.” His thick Egyptian accent sent a tingle of excitement through me. Damn, the vampire had one of the sexiest voices I’d ever heard.
“I can rest later.”
“Don’t be a fool. You’re hurting yourself.”
Ignoring him, I shifted my attention to Tom and Jackson who stood off to the side. “You said Andy found the petition and an order signed by Galluzzi.”
“He took it to the station. We can now put everything together and present it to the council, the courts and the media.”
The news sounded too good. I had difficulty believing we really had enough evidence to convict her of murder.
“And you’re sure–”
Jackson and Tom both nodded vigorously.
“Absolutely,” Tom said. “Andy scanned the documents into the database and sent me a copy. Everyone here has read it.”
“The investigation is complete. You can return home now,” Anubis said.
Return home? I had no clue where home was, other than the one I stayed at with Boss, Jonas, and Tabby. Could I honestly leave Indianapolis? With him? The few memories I had of Anubis were not enough to convince me I should leave with him. Yes, I believed he loved me. I just didn’t know if I felt the same for him.
I pushed the questions aside and returned to the topic of the investigation. Now that we had proof, I should’ve been happy. I should’ve felt ready to dance and party, or at least jump up and down with joy. I didn’t, and I couldn’t understand why.
I moved my gaze to Jonas. He stood next to Boss with his hands shoved in his pockets. He had a grim look on his face, and his silence troubled me. Did he think I would leave him and Boss so easily now that Anubis had shown up and the investigation was over?
“We will stay here until tomorrow night,” Anubis said.
“Why are we here?” I asked Boss. “We packed up our belongings to move to the new site.”
“We didn’t have the time to make it to the other house. Anubis needed to take you somewhere safe, fast.”
“I don’t understand. How did you two run into each other anyway? I thought you had to meet with Martin.”
“The warlock councilman?” Arturo asked. “He’s in town?”
Boss raked his hand through his hair, brushing his wavy bangs aside. “I never made it to Zander’s house to meet with Martin. Shortly after you left for work, Arturo contacted me. I instructed him to come here and after the three of us talked for a bit, we headed downtown to see you.”
The three of them must have had a quite a conversation. I’d ask later for details.
Anubis moved closer to Boss. “You should have told me the warlock councilman was here.”
“Relax.” Boss lifted his hand. “Neither Zander nor Martin know where my houses are located. The only people who know about this place are demons and werewolves.” His eyes jumped to Jackson.
“Then we’re safe here?” I asked for the sake of confirmation. Sure, the question seemed silly considering the vampires and werewolves in the house. I doubted a small army could stop them, especially the vampires.
“Yes, but we should leave by tomorrow night,” Boss replied.
I nodded in agreement, then returned to our prior topic. “So, you were on your way downtown to see me. Then what?”
Anubis gave me a smile. “I planned to talk you into leaving your job. Shortly after I entered the building, I heard you call me.”
Pictures of the bright room and the two surgeons emerged in my head. If Anubis had arrived a minute later, he would’ve found me dead with my chest wide open. I shuddered, thinking what those two beasts were doing to me. “And you killed those butchers.”
“I could not let them live.”
In truth, his response didn’t disappoint me. The butchers could rot in Hell.
“You found me, brought me back here and cleaned me up.”
He hesitated. “Yes. Now, will you lie down and rest?”
“No.”
“No?” He lifted his brows.
“That’s right.”
He crossed his arms as he towered in front of me. “Give me one good reason why you refuse.”
“Because there is something missing, something you’re not telling me. I can feel it in my bones.”
“Tell her the truth. She deserves to know,” Jonas said.
Boss stepped forward. “If you don’t, I will.”
Anubis closed his eyes and pressed his lips tight together. He knew something. They all did.
“Tell me.”
He opened his eyes. “I told you years ago I would never lose you. Do you remember?”
“I’m not sure if you are aware of this, but the majority of my memories are gone. A few have popped up. When I was in the lab I had a flashback and you said you’d find me if I said your name while I thought about you, which is what I did.”
“I’m not referring to being able to find you.” His arms loosened and returned to his sides. “I asked you to join me, and you agreed.”
Join him in what? Living with him? “What are you talking about? I don’t remember such an agreement.”
Confused, I gazed at each man in the room. All of them had a gloomy expression on their face as if someone had…
Oh no.
I stared deep into Anubis’s eyes.
“You died, love, and I brought you back.”
Chapter 23
I wanted to cry, but the nausea in my gut churned, causing me to focus on holding the bile down where it belonged. I died? No, I couldn’t have. Placing my hand over my heart, I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds in the room. Electricity gave off a soft buzz while wind knocked against the window. Three heartbeats pumped, all with a different rhythm. I opened my eyes and looked at Jonas, Jackson and then Tom. Within my chest, I heard and felt nothing. There could only be one explanation for my current state. The human part of me no longer existed and I was a vampire.
“How? When?” I asked.
Anubis squatted in front of me. He placed his hands on my kneecaps. “You were too far gone when I arrived. I gave you some of my blood before I moved you. After we arrived here, I replenished your blood with mine.”
I focused on my breathing as I thought about my new condition. As a vampire, I would have to survive solely on blood. Gone were the days of eating human food and walking in the daylight. Unless the angel part of me still existed. Did it? And what about the demon part? I was a mixture of different breeds. Surely, a transfusion of vampire blood couldn’t change everything about me. After all, I was the same person. While the news of my vampire state came as a surprise, my goals hadn’t changed. I’d learn to adapt and survive, regardless of what I was. Hadn’t I been doing that my entire life?