Time Masters Book One; The Call (An Urban Fantasy, Time Travel Romance) (51 page)

Julia took another step back. “All these years, you had me guarding this
thin
g
for you? Why didn’t you tell me? Don’t you trust me?”

 
He never took his eyes off Shona, her features now fully Muiraran. “Beautiful perfection, Julia. Could I have trusted you with such a treasure? If you knew you had been given gold instead of copper, could I have trusted you all this time? Would you be able to part with it now that I’ve come to claim what is mine?”

Julia continued to stare over Philip’s shoulder, shivering. “I would never betray you.”

He stood slowly, his
lust building. “No? Why do I fi
nd that hard to believe, my dear?”

She swallowed back her fear. “What is she?”

“Power. More power than you could possibly imagine. Power controlled by who ever is able to win and claim her.” He turned to face Julia, his breathing heavy,
lust
evident in his features. “Barbaric concept, isn’t it? Claiming, winning, conquering?”

His arms shot out and grabbed Julia, roughly pulling her to him. He kissed her savagely, broke the kiss and shook her to emphasize his next words. “Mastering, Julia. Master her and you master the power she possesses. A blissful arrangement.” He gripped her harder, and brutally kissed her again.
This time drawing blood.

Julia struggled briefl
y before she realized what it would do for him and stopped, letting him instead hurt her at will. When he lifted his face from hers and glanced back at the bed, her eyes turned into poison. “And what will you do
if she refuses you? When she fi
nds she despises you?”

 
He turn
ed back to her abruptly, his fi
ngers digging painfully into her arms. “Oh, sweet Julia, you’ve taken care of all that for me haven’t you? You just said you would never betray me. I trust you’ve been faithful in preparing my feast. Seen to it that she has been well taught, readied for me, trained in a
ll I’ve asked.” He grabbed a fi
st full of Julia’s hair as his other arm wrapped itself around her waist and pinned her body to his. “Do you know how hungry I am, Julia? How long it’s been since I’ve eaten? Really eaten? I could devour you right here and now, just like yesterday and most likely would were I not in the Maiden’s company. But she is what I want at this point, what I truly hunger for. You, you’re nothing but a cheap imitation of the real thing.” He threw her to
the fl
oor.

Julia
lay
there, her previous look of poison replaced now by pure fear. Philip was clearly insane, consumed by a lust she couldn’t comprehend or even begin to describe. And Shona, she was much more valuable than she had
imagined. Nearly everything fi
t now, all the missing pieces
of her memory
she’d searched for falling neatly into place.
All but one.

She glared up at him, watching as he again bent over a helpless Shona, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand. She remembered how once he had touched her that way, but then recalled how that same hand had recently left her bruised and bleeding
.
She touched her face. No trace of his brutal lust now evident. She still did not know how he never left a mark on her. Her eyes became as ice as she looked at him. “And what if you fail? What if another were to win and claim her before you do?”

Philip slowly turned. “So that
was
him
. I thought as much. Tell me, how long has he been here? Did he get a chance to stake a preliminary claim? I don’t think so. And if your clever little mind is thinking of using him to best me, forget it. I’v
e already eliminated that
bit of competition.”

Julia’s face fell. “What do you mean?”

“What I mean is that Graves and Kent should be back anytime now to report on the unfortunate luck of a certain young man. Probably struck by some stray bullet, no doubt, or carelessly drowned in
the river. Th
ese
young bucks haven’t any sense at all you know. Always courting danger.”

 
She began to rise. “You had him killed?”

Philip chuckled lightly in feigned astonishment. “But of course, my dear. You’d have don
e the same thing if you were
me
.
Seeing as you’ve killed almost as many people to get what you want as I have.”

 
Julia hugged herself and stared wid
e-eyed at Shona, the obvious fi
nally making itself known.

“Yes, Julia, look at her, long and hard. Do you like what you see? All your hard work at the Anon
tist Center was not in vain. Th
ey really do exist. There really is such a thing.
Tell me, my dear.  Are you starting to remember who you really are?  Is it all coming back to you now?  Transferring and planting memories into a human's mind wa
s one of
Lissa's
favorite parlor tricks.  Such a
handy
talent to have.
"
 

Julia gasped, almost choking.

“
Now that she's no
longer here to keep up the ones
she instilled in you th
ey were bound to start fading. Which reminds me, I suppose I'll have to do something about the Morgan family as well.  Hmmm …"

Julia blanched as full comprehension dawned.

"Yes Julia, the Morgan's are not your family, distant or otherwise.  You're a fake,
a tool put here to serve me."

Julia's voice was barely a whisper when she spoke.  "I was a scientist at the Anontist Center … I'm … I'm from the future then … I remember …"

  "Yes, that's it, Julia. Remember."  Phillip chuckled then continued on, "
Isn’t it so wonderfully ironic? All those people, specimens if you will, murdered, dissected, studied. They were all human. You never once
captured a real one. And to think, all these years in my employ, you were playing with one on an almost daily basis, and never once suspected a thing.” He let that sink in
and watched her face pale. “Th
e Muirarans
hid themselves so well that not even the best
of your time period's
hunters could fi
nd them. And this is why.” He turned back to Shona.

“How?” Julia’s voice had gone weak. She took a cautious step forward, no longer caring about Philip, and sat on the bed next to Shona, shaking her head. What a fool she’d been.

“Instinct, Julia.
Pure,
raw instinct.
It camoufl
ages them, makes them look like one of us.”

“Oh.” She turned quickly to him, her mind hungry for answers. “Where did they come from? How much do you know?”

He laughed at her. “Where did we come from might be a better question. As far as anyone knows they were always
here with us, Julia. Always. Th
ey have probably occupied the planet for as long as we. But who’s to say?
  There have been all kinds of theories.  Most conclude they are extraterrestrials who somehow got either stranded here or decided they would like to stay for awhile.
”

“And if one of us mates with one of them?”

He laughed again. “I was wondering when you’d ask that. Unfortunately for you, it’s the females that hold the highest level of abilities and the male is master of that power. You always thought it to be the other way around, didn’t you?
All those men, Julia.
Tell me, how many times
did
you mate with them before they were killed? Were you trying to breed a Muiraran prodigy?”

“Muiraran? Is that what they’re called? Who discovered them? Who named them?”

Philip didn’t even try to stifl
e his
amusement. “Ah, suspicion confi
rmed. I always knew some of your research was not exactly… empirical.” He chuckled again. “No one discovered them. They
allowed
us to find them. The rest is history.” He took a t
hreatening step toward her. “Th
e history you’d hoped to create.”

“I still don’t understand. How did you bring me here? How did…”

“Enough!” He roughly pulled her off the bed. “Maggie and Evan should be fully sedated by now. They drank the tea I gave you?”

“Yes.”

“Good. I wouldn’t want either of them to have heard this little conversation. Nor do I want them to see the Maiden in Flux, a state she’ll be in nearly every time she sleeps. That is, until she becomes properly joined
to me. And you’re going to help convince her of how badly she needs me, aren’t you?” He gripped her arm in warning.

She swallowed. “Of course.”

“Excellent
. There still may be a slight problem to take care of and I don’t want anything to happen between now and my…” He gave her a sadistic smile, his brow raised in mock happiness, “… wedding.” He put his mouth next to her ear. “You’ll take care of all the arrangements for me, won’t you Julia? I want you to continue to convince her that I am the only one who cares, who will protect her, who will truly love her.”

 
Julia’s jaw became tight, her teeth clenched. “Can’t court her yourself, Philip? Must I do all the work for you?”

He wrenched her arm behind her back and pulled, causing her to whimper in pain. “Don’t mock me, you little witch!” He breathed into her other ear. “She must willingly want to join with me.
Her heart free of doubt.
I’ll have all of her, do you hear me?” He twisted her arm painfully.

Julia had to force her answer through fresh tears and gritted teeth. “Yes.”

“Good.” He released her arm and she almost collapsed in relief. “Now, I want you to go home and get some rest. The Whittards will be no problem
tonight, nor will the Maiden. I’ll return to my hotel and await Graves. I’m sure whatever he has to report will be most entertaining. I want you back here tomorrow. Guard her well, Julia. Anything happens to her, and I promise you won’t like what will happen to you. And we both know I don’t make idle promises, don’t we?”

All she could do was nod.

“Excellent. Now go.”

Julia looked at him, her face expressionless. “You said there might be a problem. Anything I should know?”

“Good girl, I’d
almost forgotten.
Perhaps not so much a problem,
merely an annoyance.
An old friend of mine m
ight try to postpone my wedding
and I really don’t want to bother with him. Unfortunately, I’m the only one suited for the job. I dare not entrust him to Graves. He’s far too clever, and Graves is too good a man to lose right now.”

“I don’t understand.”

“As I said, he’s an old friend of mine.”

“How will I know him?”

“Well you can’t miss him. Just keep your eyes open for a tall, obnoxious, loud, black pain in the…” Philip winced. “I’d almost forgotten how much I hated him. You haven’t by any chance seen…”

Julia raised an inquisitive brow, pleased with his obvious discomfort. “No.”

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Most encouraging
.”

She glanced once more to Shona. “I’ll be back in the morning, then.”

“Excellent. After Graves checks in, I’ll send him here to keep an eye on things, just in case.” He took her arm and ushered her out the door.

They left the house at the same time. Philip, f
or one, was feeling quite confi
dent that all was now going as planned. Julia, meanwhile, had been given the answers to questions she’d searched for, even killed for, for years in her own time. She’d also been handed the undeniable truth on a matter she’d wondered about for a very long time.

Philip Brennan was not only a time traveler, but also quite insane. And Julia, through it all, was still hopelessly in love with him.

* * *

  
“Kawahnee, they have gone. Please, let me go to
her! Th
ey have harmed her!”

 
Kwaku slipped from the tree’s higher branches to join his wife in the lower. He gracefully swung to where she sat. “You cannot sense her heart?”

“No! Please, I must go to her.”

Kwaku cupped Zara’s face in a large hand, concern in his eyes. “You are overly upset, pretty one. De Maiden has been drugged, no-ding more. Brennan, he would not harm her.” His eyes narrowed and he growled low. “He will wait until after he has her for dat.”

He slipped to the bottom of the tree, Zara close behind, and scanned the area quickly before motioning his wife to follow him to the Whittard’s house across the street. He wen
t
to some side stairs,
slipped inside the house and went directly to the Maiden.

She lay as if lifeless on the bed, her breathing slow,
her
Muiraran skin pale—a direct result of the drug Brennan had used. He picked up one of her hands to hold in his, but like Zara, he could feel nothing. She had indeed been heavily sedated, and possibly harmed.