Microsoft Word - LadyPendragon (3 page)

“To Camelot,” they all cried.

She was off to fight by her father’s side, and for the first time, she was on the hunt with her fellow Light Bearers. She would not fail Merlin, for if she did, there would be no worse fate.

LADY PENDRAGON MARLEY MATHEWS 11

New York City, 2010

Molly Pendleton slumped farther into her chair, pulling the brim of her hat down to conceal her eyes. She studied every person that entered the Chinese style restaurant, and was nearly at her wits’ end when the man she had been waiting for finally sauntered in. It wasn’t unexpected. He always took his sweet ass time.

Looking around the dining area, he put out his cigarette at the insistence of the hostess.

Molly narrowed her eyes. Her gaze followed him as he moved over to a nearby table.

She could feel the pent up energy inside of her, just battling to be released. But she had to wait.

Now was not the time, she had to wait for the opportune moment.

The man was none other than Royal St. Ives. She’d been trailing Royal for nearly two weeks. She was tired, impatient, and almost at the end of her already short rope. She wanted to be at home in front of a roaring fire, but that was not to be her fate on this gloomy cold night.

Reaching for her purse, she slung it across her chest. She slipped to the edge of the booth seat, and waited for the precise moment when she would close in on her quarry.

Standing up, she breathed in deeply, and straightened her clothes. In a feat of wondrous agility, she maneuvered her way through the crowded dining area, and stared sourly down at Royal.

He glanced up over his open menu, and his mouth gaped when he realized she wasn’t his waitress.

She deftly slipped into the chair opposite him, and had her fingers locked around his wrist, before he could yank it out of her reach.

“What’s up Moll? Long time no see,” he muttered. His face contorted with pain, and his eyes flickered with fear.

Smiling, she increased her already solid grip on his wrist.

“Did you actually think you’d be able to give me the slip?” she whispered, even as she laced her faint murmuring with something that resembled vocalized arsenic.

He shrugged his shoulders, and she caught herself before she smacked him soundly across the face. He reached for a cigarette, with his free hand, and she scrunched her face up in disgust.

“Don’t you know those things are killers?” she asked angrily. He smirked, and continued to reach for his lighter.

She tore it out of his hand, and he gave her a dirty look before she reconsidered.

“Actually, maybe you should smoke three packs of fags a day. Getting rid of you for good would be a Godsend,” she rushed out, tossing him his lighter. Her raised voice had caught the attention of the other patrons. Several pairs of eyes suddenly rested on them. Molly grimaced. She hated attracting unnecessary attention. Usually, discretion was her middle name.

“Why can’t you just leave me in peace?” he whined.

LADY PENDRAGON MARLEY MATHEWS 12

She darted her gaze toward the entrance of Chung Lee’s. Her heartbeat quickened, as she noticed the striking silhouette of one of the hottest men she had ever laid her greedy eyes upon, from the 21st century that is.

She pulled roughly on Royal’s wrist, which yanked him straight off his chair. She had him so close to her face that she could smell what he had eaten for lunch. His breath stank like dead fish.

“Listen up good, Roy,” she muttered, as his face became mottled. “I want to know where you stashed those trinkets you stole from me. Spill it, or I’m going to take you with me, when I leave this establishment,” she threatened. Sweat began to bead across Royal’s forehead and his eyes bugged out. She didn’t have much time. She had to leave before the gorgeous hunk reached their table.

Luckily, he was having a hell of a time getting past the hostess drooling all over him.

“I didn’t steal anything,” Royal hedged stupidly. She let out a long drawn out snort.

“Yes, and I’m the Queen of England,” she shot back, trying to control her volatile temper.

She watched the handsome man out of the corner of her eye and wished she knew his name.

She had one way of finding out, but she had sworn off those mystical practices long ago.

Right now, she really wished she hadn’t. Royal followed her hungry gaze and smirked, just as she stood up, then pulled him toward the back exit.

He tried to resist, but stopped obediently when she pulled out her gun and rammed it into his gut.

“I don’t want to do anything I might later regret,” she murmured.

Royal’s face flushed, and if she were a good reader of expressions, the one he wore signaled that he was very close to wetting his pants.

“Fine,” he rushed out, “I sold them to Wisteria Enterprises. They matched my price, so I handed them over. “

“You’re a son of a bitch, and when I recover the items you sold so easily, I’m going to come back for you. And this time, I’m not going to be so damn nice,” she drawled out.

Royal lost all of his color, and his lower lip began to tremble. “Aww, come on Moll, I’m sure we could reach some kind of agreement. “

She let out another loud snort and wrenched open the exit door.

“You are getting on my last tattered nerve, Royal,” she muttered, plastering him up against the wall. “Don’t you even want to know what you stole from me?” she demanded, watching with intense frustration as he shook his head.

“They were a bunch of dirty old leather bound books, what do I care what they were?

It’s not like I read them or anything,” he muttered, causing her to nearly throttle him.

“They weren’t just dirty old books, you asinine fool!” she muttered, between clenched teeth. Her heart plummeted in her chest.

She was going to have to go through hell and back if she wanted to get those books back from Wisteria Enterprises. They had people working for them that were more than a potential match for her. She loosened her hold on Royal, and glanced back at the man that was now striding purposefully toward her. She quickly read the insignia on his suit jacket and let out a loud gasp.

LADY PENDRAGON MARLEY MATHEWS 13

“Shit,” she cursed, letting go of Royal completely. She ducked out into the alleyway.

Blending in with the wall, she listened attentively to the exchange between Royal and Mr. He Means Business.

“Hello, Royal,” the man drawled out.

Molly stiffened with apprehension and fought back the desire to use her magic.

“Uh, hello,” Royal said.

She strained to envision what the two of them looked like. Skinny Royal, up against the buff man, probably seemed quite ludicrous.

“Mr. Remington wants to see you again. He requires some more information concerning the person that you acquired your books from. “ The hot Wisteria Enterprises agent spoke in a no-nonsense tone that sent a shiver rippling up and back down Molly’s spine.

She swallowed past the dry lump in her throat, and fought her feet, which now seemed to have a mind of their own. Her feet said go, while her mind said stay.

She chose her mind, even though she knew she might be screwing herself. She had heard about this Mr. Remington, and none of the reports had been all that good.

Crossing her fingers, she waited on baited breath as Royal continued. Surely he wouldn’t be foolish enough to betray her twice.

“I took them from a Ms. Molly Pendleton, and if you’re super fast, you’ll be able to catch her and take her to Mr. Remington,” Royal blabbed.

Groaning, she nearly slapped her forehead. She bolted down the alleyway, not even waiting for the man’s response.

When she met up with Royal again, she’d forget the fact that they used to be friends. She was going to treat him just as she had treated all of her other sworn enemies over the years.

She released the security alarm on her car and dove into the driver’s seat. Speeding out into the congested traffic, she checked to see if Remington’s men were following her. When she noticed that they were, she grimaced, and floored the gas.

“Royal, you are so dead!” she muttered. Lifting one hand off of the steering wheel, she quickly snapped her fingers.

Out of seemingly nowhere, a garbage truck appeared, blocking the cars that followed her.

If Wisteria Enterprises were after her, she’d have to run through unimaginable gauntlets to get away from them. That meant she’d have to cheat a little.

She stopped at the red light, and glanced in her rearview mirror. They were gone. Thank God.

She threw her vintage 1940’s fedora onto the seat beside her, and reached for a Celtic CD

to shove into the CD player. She stared out into the falling darkness and groaned, as she understood something….

Eventually, Wisteria Enterprises would catch up with her; her only choice was to face the music.

She tensed when her cell phone rang. She reached hesitantly into her purse and glanced at the display pad. Biting her lip, she flipped the titanium phone open.

“Hello,” she barked.

The light turned green and she put her foot on the gas pedal. She was driving very fast, and she knew she was exceeding the speed limit. All she needed to top off her already spectacular day was to be pulled over by a cop.

“Hello, Ms. Pendleton. “ A warm baritone voice, with a thick Scottish accent caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end. She did have a weakness for Scottish accents.

LADY PENDRAGON MARLEY MATHEWS 14

“Well, what do you know, it is the exalted Mr. Remington, calling little old me.

Whatever did I do to deserve such royal treatment?” Thankfully, the bravado in her voice hid the nervousness she felt rolling through her.

Rain began pelting against her car and she turned on her windshield wipers. Heaving a great sigh, she trained her vision on the road ahead of her.

“I have a business proposition for you,” Mr. Remington continued, as she quickly switched lanes.

“I’ll only consider it if it involves oodles of money, which at the moment is the least of your concerns, Mr. Remington. I’m coming after you, and I’m going to get back what is rightfully mine. “

“And what is that?” he asked, with mocking innocence that riled her to no end.

“The Avalon Diaries. And I will get them, make no mistake,” she whispered.

Her heart lodged in her throat and she gripped the steering wheel so tightly, she feared the imprint of her fingers would be left behind.

“Ah, but from what I gleaned from your diary, Ms. Pendleton, I thought you had sworn off magic, except in combat situations. The passage was marked, the 25th of June, 1888, to my recollection,” he murmured in his damnably sexy voice. Why did he have to sound like such a hottie when all she wanted to do was throttle the life out of him?

She let out a muffled curse and slammed her balled up fist against the steering wheel.

“How the hell did you figure all of that out?” she demanded, feeling her blood run cold.

If he had read the diaries already, that meant he knew everything about her and her kind.

She could rest easy in knowing that he didn’t know their true identities. When they began writing The Avalon Diaries, they had all by then changed their names.

Anything linking her to the golden age of Camelot didn’t exist in those diaries, except for her age. She may have mentioned that.

There was so much that she had experienced in her long lifetime, and sometimes she had a hard time recalling every little facet and nuance. But she remembered the important, life-hanging-in-the-balance moments. Oh, aye, she remembered those.

“I’m a fast reader,” he said nonchalantly. She imagined him shrugging his shoulders in her mind’s eye.

She wanted to pummel him black and blue or turn him into a frog with a million warts, but that was unthinkable. The first option was much more viable.

“I’ve seen a recent photograph of you,” he continued.

She snorted and turned onto the street of her B&B.

“Really,” she was trying to sound disinterested, but doubted that she was pulling it off.

“Yes, and I could hardly believe that you were over fifteen hundred years old. Why, you don’t have a grey or white hair amongst your copper-gold tresses. And if you don’t mind me saying so, you are by far the most beautiful woman that I have ever laid my eyes upon,” he said seductively.

She was beginning to feel affected by the genuine emotion conveyed in his voice. Lord, if she ever met him in person she’d be a goner for sure.

She hadn’t ever been truly in love and the thought of finding such a miracle, would have brought her to her knees had she not been sitting down. As it was, she merely snagged her bottom lip with her teeth and turned into the driveway of the old Victorian-style mansion.

LADY PENDRAGON MARLEY MATHEWS 15

Taking a few moments to gather her wits, before she opened her car door, she breathed deeply. Realizing she could stall no longer, she stepped out into the rain. She pulled her hood up over her head and began breathing heavily into the phone.

“Ms. Pendleton, are you still there?”

She walked up the steps to the mansion. Standing under the canopy of the magnificent white verandah, she opened her senses to the world around her.

“Yes, I am,” she said shortly, finally managing to control her breathing.

She yearned for a hot-blooded sensually charismatic man to fall in love with her, but all of the men that she had ever come across had instantly been turned away by her independence.

That said something, since she was fifteen hundred years old, and counting.

“Listen to me, and listen well, Remington,” she started, purposefully dropping the respectful Mister from his name. “If you ever reveal any of the secrets locked within those diaries, I will make sure that you rue the day you were born. There I things I could do to you…that would make you cringe. “