Divine Savior (9 page)

“Aaron, what have you done? What have you promised to have him brought here? It couldn’t have been cheap. I’ll pay. Whatever the price, I’ll pay.” Aaron looked at his best friend. He had hoped that Colin would be too worried to think about trades of help and prices, but apparently not.

“I was owed a debt and it is now paid. As for the payment that Dominic wants, it’s to become a subject of mine. I can grant this, provided he does as he is asked and causes me no grief.” Aaron looked at Dominic again and thought he would cause grief; the question was how much.

At the interview, Aaron hadn’t liked the younger vamp, but after talking with the man’s master, Aaron could understand Dominic’s arrogance. Aaron had made a deal with Dominic. Aaron would ask for his freedom, but only after the job was complete.

The previous master to Aaron’s realm had been the same sort of monster that Dominic was subject to. Aaron decided to do everything within his power to free Dominic of such horrific conditions if he could.

There were realms, masters that impoverished their subjects so that they would be required to go to them for anything, including sustenance. Also, they wouldn’t let their subjects feed fully, only enough to sustain themselves for a while, and even then they were never to engage in sex with their donors—vampire or human.

Blood and sex went hand in hand with the vampires. They needed the essences of both, the nutrients that blood offered and the release that sex, a good or great orgasm, gave them. This type of release kept them from going mad. The master that Dominic was under was one of these sovereigns. Sadly, in the world of vampires, he was norm rather than the exception, more was the pity. The only difference between this master and the one that Aaron had beheaded to become the master of his realm was that Carlos was dead and this one was not. Yet.

Dominic, being an old vampire, didn’t need to feed as much as one who had recently turned, but he did need the release that an orgasm gave him—the power it gave. He was not looking for true love; in fact, didn’t even believe it existed. He just wanted to be able to be fully what he was meant to be—vampire.

Dominic had told Aaron this in the second interview they had conducted about a job. Aaron had hired him because of what he thought Dominic could be, not so much what he could offer them right now.

Aaron had already given Dominic the particulars about why he had been asked to come to help in the search. Dominic told Aaron he couldn’t understand how vampires as strong as Colin would let something like a mate bring him to extreme measures, especially a human mate. Dominic had nothing against humans, he had said; he just didn’t think tying yourself to one person for all of the life times that his kind had to offer was smart.

Ah
, Aaron thought at the time,
spoken like a man who has not yet met his mate.

“Tell me what you know of her. Anything at all. I’ll decide if it’s worthless or not.”

Aaron glanced at Colin when Dominic made this bold and arrogant statement. If these two didn’t come to blows before this was over, he thought, it would be a miracle. Aaron grinned then. It would be something to watch. It would be fun, but dangerous as well.

“Arrogant bastard, aren’t you?” Mel shimmered into the room as she commented on Dominic’s last statement.

It bothered Aaron for a few moments that her appearance didn’t faze him. But then, he let it pass. If that was all it took to mess up his day, then Aaron would be better off facing the sun, he thought with a wary grin. Mel would come and go as she pleased anyway so he saw no reason to get his boxers in a bunch.

“I don’t work with fairies,” Dominic snapped. “They tend to get all emotional and mess up my concentration. She’ll need to go.”

Wide-eyed, Aaron looked at Dominic. Oh shit! He was too late to reprimand the man. But his mate was not.

As suddenly as that, Dominic was pinned to the wall a foot off the floor with a blade at his dick and one at his heart. Sara had moved quickly; Aaron had to give her that. Sara had gone from sitting primly on the couch to a warrior with teeth in seconds. He dearly loved that about her and it was the main reason he still called her his “little warrior.”

“I don’t care what you think, but you will behave in my house, or I will incinerate you, do you understand? You don’t want to fuck with what is mine,” Sara continued to hiss at him.

Dominic looked to Aaron for help. Aaron simply shrugged and just sat back to watch. He knew better than to even offer to help Sara, knowing that if he did, he could very well find himself just where Dominic was right now, mate or not.

Colin stood right behind Sara with arms crossed over his chest watching, maybe waiting to see if Dominic would challenge her. Aaron thought perhaps Colin was hoping Dominic would, simply for the chance to knock him down a peg or two.

Aaron and Colin had both found themselves at the end of Sara’s blades once too often in the past. If provoked, Aaron knew that Sara would cut off Dominic’s dick, but if he hurt her, Aaron would...well, he didn’t know what he would do to a dead vamp because at this distance, Colin would beat him to the man. All Aaron could think was, Dominic had just better not hurt their Sara.

“I meant no disrespect, my lady,” Dominic stammered; barely a whisper of voice sounded from his mouth.

“Oh, but you did, Donny boy, didn’t you? You will apologize to our queen, or you might just as well stay with your other master because we do not tolerate disrespect in our master’s home.”

For emphasis, she jabbed the blade into his groin a little harder, careful not to break the skin, Aaron saw, but with enough to show that she did mean business. He heard Dominic groan in pain. Sara knew just how much pressure to apply before she cut into a person, and she was taking full advantage of her skill.

“Queen?” Wide-eyed, he looked at the woman across the room. Aaron laughed as Mel gave Dominic a little wave with just the tips of her fingers and a sardonic smile. When Sara glared at him, Aaron quickly turned it into a cough. He was not a stupid man. Aaron loved his mate dearly, and he had a healthy respect for her knowledge and skill as a lethal weapon, even if it did scare him a little. Not that he would ever tell her that.

“Sara, honey, put the nice vampire down, please.” Aaron’s voice sounded bored, as if his mate pinned large, vampire men to the walls on a daily basis. “If you kill this one, I’ll never get anyone to come and help us again. Besides, you know what happens to your belly if you get too upset—you throw up. And Penny has made you your favorite, the ‘World’s Best Chocolate Sheet Cake,’ that confection with all the decadent chocolate and pecans.”

“I want him to be respectful of the people in our home, love. He didn’t sound that way to me, did he to you, Colin?”

Aaron looked from Colin to Sara. She was putting the ball in Colin’s court, so to speak. Sara was giving Colin the opportunity to be the man’s savior, a debt to be owed. Smart woman, his mate.

“Colin, I really meant no disrespect to the queen, honestly. I have been with a tyrant for many centuries. I believe I may have…” Aaron watched as Dominic winced as her blade dug a little deeper. “No, no I was...I definitely was disrespectful to Her Majesty. I will rectify that as soon as I’m able. I will be able to, won’t I, Lady MacManus?” he pleaded.

Sara dropped Dominic to the floor to stand on his own two feet, and before he could take one step, she had him flipped to his back, both feet suddenly flying out from under him. It was the same move Sara had used on Colin just a few months ago. This time, however, it was Colin who straddled the chest and not with a blade, but with a bejeweled dagger held to Dominic’s throat.

“You would do well to watch and respect the women of this house, boy-yo. They are not your average beings. The queen there is the Mistress of Light, Keeper of Magic. I’m sure you’ve heard of her. The little one there, Little Warrior, is exactly that, a warrior. Sara is also the master’s mate, and one of my dearest friends. If you piss either of them off, our master won’t have a chance to execute you. One or both of them will...how did you put that once, my lady? Oh yeah, fry your ass.” Colin slowly rose from Dominic’s chest, not taking advantage of the situation by jabbing Dominic with his knee as Colin had been known to do before. Aaron knew this, but watched as Colin simply stood and offered a hand to the inert man.

Dominic took it, and was hefted to his feet quickly. He didn’t stay standing long, but dropped to his knees before Mel.

“My lady, I do wish to extend my deepest apologies to you. I cannot promise that I won’t slip up again, but I will try very hard not to piss you off, or you, Lady Sara.”

Aaron turned and gave both women a courtly bow. Yes, this was promising to be quite an adventure. He just hoped no one would end up dead before this was all over.

~
CHAPTER EIGHT~

“
What happened to the boy, the one at the hospital?” Dominic hadn’t left the house once in two days, just sat around reading and rereading notes, or asking endless questions. Colin wanted some action; he wanted Dominic to go and find Shade now, but Colin also knew when to stand down and let someone of more experience take charge.

“
Brent? He’s out of the coma. The doctors are giving him a good prognosis. They are awaiting some blood work to come back, but it looks good so far. Why?”

Colin had only told Aaron what he had done for the boy in the hospital. Sara would make too much of it and Dominic would...he didn’t know what the big vamp would do now. Since his close encounter with Sara, Dominic had been a different man. Colin wanted to dislike him, but found that he couldn’t.

“
This woman, you said she was close to this kid? Has she gone to visit him, you think? If she knows what we are, she’s probably going during the sun’s highest part of the day so she won’t chance running into you or any of the rest of us.”

Dominic had been told the story about Colin and the woman he was to search for; they also knew that she was using her magic.

The queen’s grandfather, Phillip, had been popping in and out every time she had used the littlest bit of it. They had hung a large map of the area in Aaron’s study to mark where she had been and the time she had used it. The amount was so small at times that Phillip had said she was probably unaware she was even using it.

“
No, she’s not been to see him. I’d know, and she hasn’t been there.” Colin himself had been to see Brent several times and had never scented that the woman had been there. He never talked to the human male either, just stayed in the shadow that Colin had pulled around himself while he watched him. The kid was starting to get to Colin, under his skin and into his heart. Brent was getting healthier every day.

“
Well, I’m going to the hospital to see what I can find out. It’s not that I don’t believe you, Colin, but I believe she’s close. By all accounts, she cared for the little boy and provided substance when the mother wouldn’t. She would want to make sure he was taken care of, I’m sure of it. Where is the bitch, by the way, the mother? Could she have had something to do with this woman’s disappearance?”

These were questions that Colin had asked himself as well, and it was nice to know that he wasn’t the only one thinking it.

“
Brenda Shell? Not bloody likely. You’ve tangled with Sara; this woman, my mate, is of the same breed, magically born. She’d be able to defend herself as well as Sara can.” At least Colin hoped that she was defending herself.

Colin kept going back over the time in the warehouse when he had gotten his first good look at her; she had had a black eye and a couple of fresh bruises on her face. He wondered about them and who had dared hit is mate. She had a great deal of explaining to do, but he would be careful how he worded his questions. Colin, like Aaron, was not a stupid man.

Colin and Dominic left the mansion as soon as they could decide on a car. Being as old as Aaron was, he had amassed quite a fortune in fourteen hundred years—a very substantial fortune. Like most men, Aaron loved fast cars. Add in that he was a vampire, and immortal to boot, meant he like them very fast and dangerous as well. Come to think of it, just like Aaron liked his mate, Colin thought with a grin.

The little black Bugatti Veyron 16.4 was not practical nor was it really big enough for the two large vampires, but it was beautiful. It is powered by a quadruple-turbo 8.0 liter W16 engine, and pumped an incredible nine hundred-eighty six horsepower out and nine hundred twenty-two pounds per feet of torque to the car’s Haldex all-wheel drive system through a seven speed dual clutch automatic manual transmission. This particular model had a targa-style top so that if it was daylight and the driver was human, with the top down, he or she could race down the highway at two hundred miles per hour and get a nice tan too. The gas mileage was an atrocity, but with a price tag of over two million dollars, neither man cared.

They arrived at their destination in one piece, barely. Colin drove, as he had won the coin toss back at the mansion. His experience with fast cars was limited, very limited. Dominic demanded the keys as soon as they “landed” in the parking lot, or he was going to call Aaron and tell on him.
Christ
, Colin thought with a shaky grin. They were arguing like children again.

“
Tell him what? I got us here, didn’t I?” Actually, Colin was glad to give over the keys; that trip had scared him a little. He liked speed as well as the next man, but when he came around that last turn, he could have sworn they where only on two wheels.