Fated (24 page)

“Nice to meet you,” I whispered, pressing myself closer to Stefan.  I sent a mental thought to him, the tone cutting.  “
Now would be a great time to tell me what the hell is going on, Stefan.”

Stefan's mental voice laughed sardonically. “
He is here on Council business.  We are going to need to go with him.  Josephine, I need you to remain calm so he doesn't know we're communicating.”

He needed me to remain calm?!  This strange vampire was here to take us to parts unknown and I'm supposed to stand here and act like he's here for a cup of coffee?  I took a deep breath and made the decision to let Stefan do the talking.  He could easily pick through Adolfo's future to gauge his intentions.

“Stefan, you know why I'm here so let's cut the pleasantries.  I need you both to pack and come with me.  There's a private plane waiting for us,” Adolfo said in his heavily accented voice, clasping his hands across his lap.  His dark eyes roamed around the room before fixing his stare back at Stefan.

Watching as Stefan began to anxiously pace the room at a much faster pace than human speed, I uneasily sat down on the edge on a chair and chewed on my bottom lip.  Lukas had warned us both this was going to happen.  Even Stefan said they knew of me prior to us meeting.  I wasn't expecting it to happen like this, especially from someone that Stefan said he could trust.

His mental voice was a warning in my head.  “
Vackra, we have no choice in the matter. We cannot refuse.  We have to go with him.”

He stopped pacing to stand beside of me, his large hand caressing the strands of my hair.  I glanced up at him, our eyes meeting again.  His sea blue eyes were resigned and his mouth was tight and grim.  He addressed Adolfo without bothering to look at him, his eyes still focused on mine as he spoke.

“How long until we leave, Adolfo?”

Adolfo stood and walked to the far wall of windows.  He pulled back the arm of his suit jacket, glancing at his watch.  “We need to leave here within the hour.  I'll be your escort until the Council convenes.”

“Fine,” Stefan answered.  He grabbed my elbow and led me up the steps into the bedroom.  He closed the door behind us and his face finally relaxed.

As I started to open my mouth to speak, Stefan placed his index finger over his own lips and shook his head.  He moved to tap his temple, reminding me to use mental speak.  I rolled my eyes, remembering him telling me this would come in handy.

Damn it if he wasn't right again!

“Can you see what's going to happen? You know I can't see our futures, Stefan.”

He was a blur as he moved back and forth from the bed to the closet, opening a large suitcase and placing jeans, shirts and shoes in the bag.

“
They are curious about you.  It is not typical of a vampire to choose to be in a romantic
relationship with a human and they want to evaluate the strength of it.  Of course, they knew of you from my own mind as we discussed and I'm assuming Adolfo's questions piqued their interest.  Start packing, vackra.”

His hand pointed to the closet and motioned for me to start moving.  My feet felt as if they were encased in cement as I walked towards the closet, my hands clenching until I felt my fingernails cut into my palms.

“How long are we going to be there?  And what they hell do they want to know, Stefan?”

Turning away and not waiting for an answer, I focused on the closet and searched through the clothes Lukas had picked out for me.  I mentally gave Lukas a thank you for his obsessive shopping behavior.

“Two days at the most, Josephine.  They want to assess your ability and make sure you are not a threat.  If it puts your mind at ease, I see us returning back to Bali.  There are things that are variables.  However, I see us returning together.”

“
Variables?  What kind of variables?”

Stefan shrugged his shoulders as he began getting dressed.  “
That I do not know.  Our gifts are not exact sciences.”

Throwing up my hands in exasperation, I angrily pulled clothes from the closet and added it to Stefan's suitcase.  I hurried into the bathroom and grabbed my cosmetic bag and toiletries from the sink, rushing back into the bedroom.  Stepping back into the closet, I grabbed jeans and yanked a white smocked henley blouse from the hanger.  Dressing quickly, I shoved my feet into a pair of ballet flats and ran my fingers through my hair to attempt to smooth the wild waves.  I walked to the edge of the bed to stand beside Stefan, my hands trembling as I reached for the zipper of the suitcase to close the suitcase.

“You look beautiful.”
His thought was a whisper as he turned to encircle me in his arms, pulling me against the hardness of his body.  His blond head lowered to brush his lips against mine gently and I let myself relax into the comfort of his embrace.  I reminded myself that he said we'd be returning together.  The thought of losing him or coming home without him tore apart my insides.

His mental voice was a whisper as it entered my mind.  “
Remember that I love you and I promise to keep you safe.  For now, you need to follow my lead.  If I tell you to answer in a certain way, it is imperative you do so.”

Squaring my shoulders, I pulled away from him and my mouth was set in a grim line. “
I'm so going to kick your ass when we get home, Stefan.  This is the vampire bullshit you were referring to I assume?”

He chuckled aloud, breaking the silence of the room.  He nodded and picked the suitcase off the bed with one hand.  He hesitantly offered me his other hand, waiting for me to join him.  I reluctantly put my hand in his and squeezed it affectionately.

Are you ready for this, vackra?

Releasing a resigned sigh, my shoulders drooped slightly.  That was the million dollar question.  I knew I'd never be ready to fly off to meet a council of vampires and rely on Stefan's mental queues to make it out alive but I didn't have a choice in the matter.

“I'm as ready as I'll ever be.  Let's go so we can come home.”

***

The drive to Denpasar
International Airport
was silent and filled with tension.  I clung to Stefan's arm during most of the car ride and Adolfo made no attempt to make any conversation as we drove along.  I found myself looking out the tinted backseat window, the beautiful scenery a blur as my mind tried to make sense of what happened.  Just this morning I was considering becoming one and now I was on my way to go before a Council of vampires that wanted to assess my abilities, most likely ridicule our relationship and all Stefan could tell me is that we'd be coming home together.  On a scale of 1-10 on having a bad day this had to be a 40.  Resting my head against the car seat, I turned my head slightly to look at Stefan sitting next to me.

He was staring straight ahead and his posture was rigid.  The chiseled lines of his face were hard, his jaw set rigidly.  One of his hands rested on my thigh and the other absently tapped on the seat.  He was nervous and I was trying to figure out why since he'd assured me we'd be coming home together.

Closing my eyes, I mentally reached out to read his thoughts.  The recurring theme in his mind was seeing us on a flight home together.  The remainder of his vision was a jumble of black spots and blurs as his mind calculated the situation we were walking into, flashes of faces and conversation flying through his mind.  His thoughts would change direction to focus on Adolfo and his mind became dark and sinister.  I was almost dizzy from the speed of his mind working.

“Stefan? Will you talk to me?”

 He didn't acknowledge my mental questions.  His eyes sunglass covered eyes were fixed on the back of Adolfo's head.  He was as still as a statue.  A deadly, beautiful statue that had a case of nervous fingers.

I tried again. “
Stefan.”

“Josephine.”

“
You need to talk to me.  I have no idea what's going on.  Your vision has black spots and blurs.  What does that mean?”

 Watching as he swallowed heavily, the thick muscles in his neck tightened.  “
You need to stay out of my mind, vackra.”

“
Really, Stefan? Hello, pot and kettle.  Have you met?  You're inside my mind constantly.  Explain the 'variables', please.”

An arched eyebrow indicated his humorous surprise at my mental gibe.  “
There are things that I cannot see.  If a person involved changes their mind, it changes the vision.  You know this, Josephine.”

Sighing heavily, I turned my head back to stare straight ahead.  I noticed Adolfo's sunglass covered eyes glancing at me in the rear view mirror.  For a brief moment I was tempted to have a 'Lukas moment' and stick my tongue out at him.  He was a pompous jerk and he'd betrayed Stefan's trust. I could feel my temper flaring and the heat spreading across my face.  Stefan's hand tightened on my thigh in response to my thoughts, his responding mental chuckle breaking the tension of the moment.

“You really need to stay out of my mind, Romeo.  What is Adolfo's talent besides being a gigantic asshole?”

Stefan cleared his throat to hide his laugh. “
His talent is useful in finding vampires.  He is particularly adept at locating vampires that do not want to be found.”

The magnitude of his words hit me like a sledgehammer.  For over 900 years, he'd been a vampire that didn't want to be found.  He'd traveled and been able to fade into obscurity even though he worked for the Administrative Board.  Prior to meeting me, he would be called to complete an assigned task and when he was finished, his life of anonymity could resume.  Did he regret finding and choosing to be with me since he'd previously lived so privately?  I was putting him squarely in the spotlight of a life he didn't really like or want.

“Josephine, I have no regrets being with you.  I love you eternally.  I have spent 200 years searching for you.  This is one of those minor details that we deal with and move on from.  Do not worry about this.”

He'd obviously been listening to my internal dialogue again since he'd answered my mental thoughts.  I was getting ready to answer when I looked up to see us pulling up to a private airport hangar.  Stefan finally turned to look at me, a tentative smile on his face.  He intertwined our fingers, opening the car door and pulled me out behind him.  We walked quickly to the unmarked jet, climbing the steps to enter the plane.  Quickly scanning the interior, I noticed it was equipped with six leather seats, a small seating area with a kitchenette and a room I assumed was the bathroom.

“What about our luggage?” I asked, my voice sounding loud after the quietness of our non-verbal mental conversation.

Stefan led me to the two seats in the back of the plane, his thumb rubbing against the top of my hand. His mouth spread into a thin-lipped smile as he removed his sunglasses with his free hand, placing them on his lap carelessly.

“Adolfo can take care of it. It is the least he can do.” Stefan's voice was severe and cold as he spoke of the vampire that had not yet entered the small plane.

I considered the tone of Stefan's voice for a moment.  Something wasn't right with this whole situation.  Stefan could see the futures of vampires, so why hadn't he foreseen Adolfo betraying him?  Was this one of the black spots in his vision?

“Possibly.  It is something I am unaccustomed to encountering.  There is another party involved that I cannot see or that continues to change their mind, vackra.”

Adolfo entered the plane, removing his own sunglasses and walking slowly down the aisle to sit in the seat across the aisle from us.   His arrogance from earlier in the morning was gone.  He seemed almost regretful as he began to speak to us, his eyes downcast.

“Stefan, I understand why you're angry with me.  I didn't mean for this to happen when I was doing my research.  One of the members of the Administrative Board found out and demanded you both appear.  I had no choice in the matter,” he said, his heavily accented voice broke off in apology.  “I'd rather not fly twenty plus hours to come here, then another twenty hours back to serve as your escort.”

“It is irrelevant at this point.  I specifically asked you to be discreet, Adolfo.  How is a member of the Administrative Board finding out about your inquiries being discreet?”  Stefan seethed, anger flashing across his face.  His other hand was gripping the arm rest of the chair so tightly I could hear the metal groan in displeasure under the pressure of his grasp.

“I have known you for three centuries, Stefan.  The last thing I wanted to do is jeopardize our friendship,” Adolfo replied, adjusting his suit jacket nervously and flashing me an apologetic smile.

Shaking my head, I snorted in response.  It was a little too late to try to make friends with me, considering we were sitting on a plane because of his little slip-up
and
he was the cause of Stefan's highly agitated state.  I was hoping we'd make it to appear before the Council without Stefan ripping Adolfo apart.

“Consider it jeopardized, Adolfo. We will have plenty of time for you to atone for your mistake.  Our friendship has met its end.” Stefan's responding voice was severe and had an ominous quality to it.  I instinctively knew that Adolfo's days were numbered from the double meaning of his words.

Their terse conversation was interrupted by the pilot's voice coming through the overhead speakers, advising us that we were cleared for take-off and to expect a brief stop in Tokyo to refuel.