Aaron's Kiss Series Boxed Set (Books 1 - 7) (10 page)

~CHAPTER NINE~

“Well, I think you are about ready to be discharged, young lady. How does that sound?” It had been a long week and she was feeling tremendously better. And Thomas Reilly was finally letting her go home.

“Perfect, sir.” She needed to get this over with now. “I’d like to know if I can make arrangements to pay you. I don’t have much money. I’ll be able to pay you when I have a more steady income.” She felt herself flush.

“Miss, you don’t owe me anything. I’m...Aaron is my master, yes, but he’s also my friend. I came here to take care of you, of course, but the opportunity to aggravate him is a bonus all by itself. So don’t worry your pretty little head about it. However, if you find the chance when I’m around to give it to him good, then I’ll consider that a gift.” He grinned at her as he stood to leave. “Now that that unpleasant business is taken care of, Aaron said you are to be taken home as soon as you’re ready. I don’t think he’s all that happy about you leaving, and I wouldn’t be too surprised if he were to pop up now and again if I were you. Just to check on you, so to speak. You are just to let Duncan know and he will be happy to take you there.”

There was more to it than what he was actually telling her, or trying not to tell her, she was sure, but she was just too excited to care about it right then.

Sara had not seen Aaron all week. She did not know where he was, or what he was up to, and she had never asked. Duncan or one of the others came to see her every day, more so now that she could get out of the bed and even more since she could move around. But she had never left the room, not wanting to confront the master of the house.

She gathered up her meager belongings and was ready to leave some thirty minutes later. She found Duncan in the kitchen again and asked if he was ready to go.

“Yes, miss, all ready when you are. I’m sorry the master could not be here to see you off, but he has been…well, he has been…what I mean to say is that....” he started to say. She didn’t need him to make excuses for his boss.

“It’s all right, Duncan. I’m more than ready to get out of here. I have lots of stuff to do, as I’m sure you do. You’ve been great, but I really need to get away from him. I do have a thank you note for him, if you could see that he gets it.” She handed him one of her envelopes of a pretty shade of blue.

“Oh no, miss, it isn’t like that at all. He’s new to this realm, and there are so many details to see to. The area and household was left in such horrible shape for so many years. The previous master was such a tyrant and a sadist. His lordship is trying to get the other vampires to come to him with their needs. He so wants to help them, you see.”

Sara nodded at him in way of an answer as she turned away. She had not known Aaron long, but what Duncan had told her sounded like something he would do.

Sara had Duncan take her to the Carlovetti Airlines hangar. The private airstrip was just outside of Zanesville about fifty miles from Columbus and the Columbus Airport. Carlovetti Airlines did an amazing amount of business, taking commuters to and from larger cities like New York and Chicago.

Sara’s van was just where she had parked it nine days ago when she had first met Aaron and saved his life. She was grateful it was late and everyone had already gone home. It gave her a few minutes to resettle herself and to clean up in the hangar before she left. She did not think it wise to bathe in the little creek nearby to where she parked tonight. Her wounds were still healing, and she did not think the dirty water would be very wise for her health.

It was not as though she didn’t want Duncan to know where she lived. It was how she lived that she was keeping secret from him and everyone else. She was sure that she would never have been able to leave the big house had they known that she lived in her van, and had been for several years now. When it got cold enough that blankets did not keep her warm at night, she moved into the local YWCA for a few months. When spring broke, however, she moved back. After she had taken a quick shower, she drove to her usual place in the middle of the wildlife preserve near the airstrip.

When she was sure that it was safe, she pulled out the rest of her savings. With the money left over from her recent payment out to Sunny Side Up, in Nevada, she had nine hundred and forty dollars left until her first check again. If she were careful and ate sparingly, she had just enough for another payment. That was, barring any unforeseen accidents, and lately that was becoming too much of a habit.

Sara had been very grateful that the Carlovettis were going to use her as a “daywalker.” She was going to be answering the phones and making flight plans for the other pilots until she was released to fly by Dr. Thomas. She was okay with the forced confinement. The everyday movement on the tender wound could cause her problems at fifty thousand feet that she did not want to chance.

Sara put everything away and sat down to focus. She had to be careful when contacting her friend Mel by telepathic means. Mel was an extremely important part of the magic Sara and everyone else used in the world. Mel was magic; actually, her full title was Queen, Mistress of Light, Keeper of All Magic. She was responsible for all the good and bad magic in the world. Her goal was keeping the world safe from ones who would abuse the power and thus destroy the earth as humans knew it.

Sara had met Melody about fifteen years before. The queen had been looking for guards to beef up her security, as she was to take a mate soon. Marcus, her personal guard, had suggested she come to a training facility to watch the young girl fight.

The training facility had been the Molavonta Kingdom guard’s idea. They had suggested that Mel look into the human sphere and see if there were any there who could be trained. The facility had been charged with a magical beacon to attract those humans who may have special abilities that went beyond sword and gunplay. There was a watcher, or guard, at each place to keep track of all who entered.

Sara had been young, very young by any standards, but she fought like the warrior that Aaron continued to call her. Her magic was strong, even untouched and without much training. She bested man after man with the strength and style that was unique to her. Her ability to memorize each stance, each move immediately gave her a step up in the learning curve, and made her stand out as someone to be reckoned with.

The swords used to train with were much too heavy for her at eleven years old, being too long and cumbersome. Mel had some blades, the ones Sara still used today, fashioned for her by her own blacksmith. The steel was stronger than anything made in this world, and had anyone taken a closer look, they would have seen the markings, charms for safety and wellbeing crafted right into the silver. Those alone made the weapons stand out from anything human-made. Several weeks after their first meeting, at the age of twelve, Sara Temple became the youngest guard of the queen ever taken into service

“
Hello, Little Warrior, how goes it? It has been a while
,” Mel said as soon as the pathway was open.

“
Yes, I have been detained. And I’d appreciate it if you’d stay out of my memories
.” The pathway between the two women had always been strong. Sara had never tried to block Mel from her mind, but some things, like her memories, were off-limits.

“
Yes, so I’ve seen. How is your vamp, love? Is he getting you all hot and bothered still
?”

“
Stop that. He’s not my anything. You are well, my queen
?” She was not going to think about the fact that he had almost kissed her.

“
He still searches for me, Sara. And it is only a matter of time before I must face him again
.” Sara knew she was right.

Sherman, Mel’s mate, had found Sara recently and had nearly killed her, demanding information about where she had taken Mel. She could not fight him back, nor could she defend herself against him. It was a part of his magic as an immortal and Mel’s mate.

“
Yes, he does, but he won’t find you. I promise you this. You are hidden away from everyone, especially him
.” That was the one thing she had done right, not letting anyone know where she had taken Mel.

“
I wish to see you. Come to me soon. I miss you very much. And, Sara, it has come time for us to talk. We have a great deal to talk about
.”

Sara could probably simply fly out in one of the little Cessnas, but she would have to file a flight plan and that would leave a paper trail that neither she nor Mel could afford. And why all of the sudden did everyone seemed to want to talk? She liked things the way they were before, when she would go days on end without having to have a conversation with anyone with the exception of the controller on the ground.

“
I need some money first. I’ve had to spend nearly all I have in order to pay the monthly accommodation costs where you are. I will need at least a month to recoup my funds. Can you wait that long
?”

“
I wish you would go to the repository and get what you need. There is plenty there for you to use as you see fit—jewels, cash, and gold. You should be getting paid for what you are doing for me, what you are doing for all mankind. Soon, Sara, all will be well and I will remember all that you have done for me
.” Sara could feel herself blush at her praise. They were not even in the same state and she could embarrass her.

“
You know that I can’t do that
,” Sara told her. “
How would I explain the need for funding to keep the queen hidden and not have several hundred of your subjects hounding me for details on where you were, why you were there, and why weren’t you home with them? Besides, you know as well as I do there’s still a warrant out for my immediate death. Even if I could get the funding, dear Shermie would use that as a means to find me, then, through me, you
.”

“
You’re right, damn it
.”

~~~

Sara had never let Mel know to what extent she had gone to keep her safe. But Mel knew, like she knew everything that Sara had gone through.

Sara had been on patrol when Melody had been injured four years ago during the blast that rocked the castle in the kingdom of Molavonta. Sherman had somehow gotten Mel to go to the lower levels where he had drugged her. He had then put her into cell that had been warded and charmed with black magic. In her weakened state, she could not fight against him and his magic. The explosion was set to go off in the early hours of the evening when everyone was having dinner in the main hall. Mel had reached telepathically for anyone to help her. Luckily, Sara had been the one to hear her. Ten minutes before the bomb went off, Sara reached the cell and began to remove the wards to get her out. The bomb went off, killing six guards and twenty members of the royal staff. Sara had just managed to drag Mel out of the building and into an open field where she delivered Mel’s stillborn child. Moving Mel through a maze of ports into the human world, she settled her in Reno. By then, Mel was so weak and close to the fade of her life that Sara put her into a coma-like state until she could recuperate. Royalty like Melody were true immortals, never dying. When they tired of life or needed an extended rest, they changed themselves into something magical. Mel’s mother, Savannah, was a fairy ring somewhere in a little town outside of Dunbar, Ireland.

A warrant was issued for Sara’s immediate death, as well as a separate warrant against the six guards that had died in the explosion. The council had thought the six men, though dead, had been helping Sara remove the queen from the castle, and a slight miscalculation in timing had caught them unawares. The warrant, when served against Sara, would then be issued to the guards’ families and they would be held accountable in lieu of men’s lives. Until Mel, her mother, or grandmother could be found, Sherman was running Molavonta. He could not control the magic, but the castle had become his playground.

The staff at the nursing home, Sunny Side Up, had no idea who or what their charge was. Sara had been able to cast her into the shape of a very old man who would require constant care. The staff, with the help of a small mental push from Sara, gave the nice old man the best possible care, above and beyond anyone else that was there. She made sure that all of the other residents at the home received good care as well. That way no one was the wiser about the care being given to one special needs patient.

“
You will reign again soon, and then things will be better for us all
,” Sara vowed.

The old friends talked for a few more minutes and closed the gap. They could not use their magic for long, or it could be traced to its source and destroyed.

~~~

Mel lay in her bed thinking about Sara long after she felt the girl fall asleep. Mel had begun working her magic throughout the world in little increments so as not to cause a trail back to the nursing home since she woke two years ago. She was getting much stronger every day and would very soon need to face her mate. Sara had given up so much to protect her when everyone else had given up the search for her.

Mel was sending more and more power to the young guard whenever she could manage it, siphoning off some of hers to strengthen Sara’s power base. This was part of what she needed to talk to Sara about as soon as possible, as she needed to find someone to take her place soon. Sara knew nothing about the added powers, and would be magically stronger than any living human very shortly.