The Last Guardian Rises (The Last Keeper's Daughter) (17 page)

“Are you the dragon of my dreams?” Lily was afraid, he could see it in her eyes and feel her breathing hard against him, but she held his gaze.

This infernal woman would be the death of him. Why had she asked him that question?  He held her tight, paralyzed with the sudden realization that Lily was not only seducing him, but also the dragon.
This cannot be.

“We have a job to do tonight.” Lucien retracted his fangs. “Are you up for it?”

Her eyes still wide, she nodded and backed away from him. The door swooshed open and they walked down the hotel corridor to Hunter and Meirta’s room.

Hunter

Meirta and Hunter had survived the long air trek from Australia and their meeting with Dr. Toolley and now were finally in their suite at the Savoy in London. Hunter was looking forward to a hot shower, room service, and sliding between the sheets for some much needed rest.

“Lucien left me a message,” Meirta called from the bathroom. “He and Lily are coming here.”

Hunter groaned. “Did he say why?”

Meirta walked in wearing a cushy robe and her hair in wet tangles down her back. “No, just that.” She held up her phone and played the message on speaker for him.

It was Lucien’s voice. “Wait for Lily and me. We’ve landed and will meet you in your suite at eight. Do not relay any information to Merlin.”

“That’s odd.” Hunter fell back onto the bed wishing he could roll over and go to sleep instead of waiting for them. “What do you make of it?”

“The fact that they’re coming here or what he said about Merlin?”

“Both.” He didn’t say, ‘I told you so,’ about Merlin. He liked Merlin, but something was definitely off with his behavior lately. “Does that mean the council meeting is over?”

She shrugged and rummaged through her suitcase.

Absently, he studied the ceiling, wondering if the barely visible beige spot which kind of looked like a miniscule candy cane was a water stain, a play of the light, or something more nefarious. He’d thought being in London again wouldn’t affect him, but memories of his time as a detective kept interrupting his thoughts. He’d been in this hotel many times before, but never as a guest, and always on police business.

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

He lifted up to rest on his elbows. She’d slipped on jeans and a shirt and had curled up in the chair with her tabloids spread out on the table in front of her.

“The last time I was here.”

“And…” she said.

Before he’d been recruited by the Elder, he’d been an ordinary detective working in London. In the States it was easy to let that part of his life fade into the background, but now, here in London, his past felt fresh and a little too present.

“I was investigating a suicide. We’d have at least two or three a month in some hotel in the city. The luxury hotels were the place of choice. Put it on your credit card and leave this world in style.”

Her pupils appeared to change as she stared at him. He was never sure if their shape truly altered or if something about her eyes caused him to think they had.

“That’s messed up.”

“It’s one of the hotel industry’s dirty little secrets.”

“The Elder used to bring me here. Every Wednesday for tea.”

“I didn’t think he went out much.” He left off ‘among the humans’.

She propped her feet on the table and selected a magazine. “He said it was to get me out more, but I think he liked the tradition of it. We’d talk and sometimes he’d tell me about the past and future.”

He sat up. “Future?”

“It’s how I knew about you.”

“I don’t understand.”

Her right foot started to wiggle. It was one of her tells when she was nervous. “He told me a detective would be joining us. That he, you, would be special to me, to all Others.”

“How long ago did he say this?”

She grabbed a tabloid, fanning through the pages. “I don’t know.” She discarded it and picked up The Daily Telegraph. “Hunter.”

The way she said his name put him instantly on edge. She tossed it his way. “Read that.”

“The Jakarta Police report finding ten male brokers (pimps) dead in Club LaLa. This club caters to the local populace of Jakarta and not the large influx of tourists who travel to Jakarta for its sex workers. Usually this area of the city is quiet and the police are baffled by the murders. All the men suffered broken necks. A source who wishes not to be named reported that their heads had been twisted almost completely around. At least thirty prostitutes were working in the club at the time of the murders, but none were injured and they have not been able to give a description of the lone man who allegedly committed the crime.”

There was more about travel warnings for the area and such, but nothing further about the crime.

“I think that’s our rogue.” Meirta’s foot was moving double time.

“I could catch a flight to Indonesia.” He hated the thought of leaving her.

“He would have moved on by now.”

“No mention of bite marks. Having your neck completely twisted around could hide that. The Jakarta police aren’t known for their great forensic work. The women…”

“I noticed that too. He never hurts women, only men.” Meirta looked out the hotel windows. Street lights were automatically turning on as the daylight diminished. “He’s moving west.”

“Could Harvey pay Audrey Moon a visit?”

Meirta nodded. “She is the only witness we have.” Midway to her phone, she let her hand drop back to her side and slumped back in the chair.

“What?”

“I can’t order a vampire to track and trance a woman, much less a Hollywood actress, without contacting Merlin.”

Hunter understood the importance of having a chain of command. Whatever the hell was happening right now at Stoke, the timing couldn’t be worse for them. “I’ll talk to Lucien when he gets here.”

On cue there was a knock at the door and Lucien and Lily stepped inside. Lucien looked like he could use a stiff drink and Lily, well; it was always hard for him to read her. They both seemed preoccupied and tense, but weren’t they all. And anyway, to him there’d always been a palpable tension between the two. He’d wondered if it was sexual, or jealousy, maybe both. Who knew with vampires?

As his mother’s mother would have said, he was not partial to Lucien. Hunter did not doubt that the vampire was capable. The trouble was what he was capable of, that’s what set Hunter’s teeth on edge. And the answer to Hunter’s question was always the same. Lucien was capable of anything. Also, Meirta’s reaction to the vampire didn’t help matters. It was all Mr. Black this and Mr. Black that. Hunter mentally rolled his eyes every time she said Mister.

“We got your message about Merlin. What’s happening at Stoke?” Hunter asked. Would he tell him the truth?

The vampire walked over to stand next to him as Lily and Meirta went to look at the photos he’d taken of Dr. Toolley’s fragments. “The king is not sure. The Ancient has contacted him with disturbing news about Merlin.” Lucien looked towards Lily and Meirta. He leaned in, too close, Hunter thought. “He’s been acting strangely, ignoring his duties, and…” He dipped his head and whispered. “He choked Cherie.”

“Why?” Who would want to hurt her? And then Hunter leaned back from Lucien. “Wait, did you say the Ancient called the king?” That was almost as much of a shocker as Merlin choking Cherie.

“He’s perfectly capable. He just prefers a quiet life.”

“Right,” he said. “So why would Merlin hurt Cherie?”

“Liam said he cast a spell over one of the ouleds to make her enraptured with Mathers. Why he would do such a thing is…”

He waited for Lucien to complete the sentence and noticed the vampire staring at his ring. It was glowing again and this time it pulsed with an ebb and flow almost like a heartbeat. He immediately shoved the hand in his pocket and set his shoulders back defiantly.
I will not talk about this now
.

“Lily is distressed about the texts she heard when leaving the archives,” Lucien said. He interpreted Hunter’s questioning glare and continued. “Lily said the books spoke to her, or tried to, and that they weren’t in the archive. Have you learned anything?”

“Oh, right, those books.” Hunter inwardly thanked Lucien for not inquiring about the ring, the bothersome damned ring which refused to come off. “I spoke to Mathers, he told me to mind my own business. Something about how he’d been watching after his babies for centuries and would not be questioned by a human monkey.”

“Human monkey,” Lucien grunted with amusement.

Whatever. “Before we left, I spoke to Merlin about it. He said he would get to the bottom of the matter.”

“Ah, well,” Lucien said, now concentrating on Lily. “She’s adamant that Mathers is hiding something from her.”

“I need to see more,” Lily proclaimed, intently studying each of the images Hunter had taken of the fragments. “Are these all the pictures you took?” She turned to face Hunter.

He’d spent almost an hour photographing all the fragments from multiple angles. “Yes.”

Meirta went to her suitcase and pulled out the jeans she’d been wearing. “Here.” She held up a business card. “He gave me his card in case I had more questions about the fragments. I could call him.”

“Do it,” Lucien said.

She slipped into the bathroom and wasn’t gone but a few minutes when she reappeared with a smile on her face. “He’d be happy to meet us again. Seems we interrupted a dinner with some relatives he isn’t keen on. Gives him an excuse to bug out early. I said we’d meet him by the side entrance of the museum at eight.”

Hunter looked at his watch. They had thirty minutes.

Lily grabbed her purse and moved to the door.

“You,” Lucien ordered Lily, “will stay here.”

Hunter could feel the temperature drop in the room as they competed for the iciest stare.

Lily lifted her chin defiantly. “Why?”

“Orders.”

“Let me talk to him.” Lily’s eyes narrowed like she was summoning up the power to strike the slayer dead with a laser beam.

Hunter knew she’d meant Krieger. Lucien didn’t move. It was like when a couple fought in public, airing intimate moments that made you cringe.

“Fine.” Lily huffed. “How far away is the museum?”

“A few blocks.” Hunter had picked the Savoy because of its proximity. “Ten minute walk at the most.”

“I might be able to connect with the artifacts from here, since my jailer- Oh.” Lily curtsied. “My
bodyguard
has put me under house arrest.”

The tension in the room was unbearable. He noticed Meirta was standing with her arms crossed, looking at the floor while her foot tapped. He cut his eyes over to see Lucien glaring at Lily.

“It’s not exact.” Lily threw back the curtains and opened the french doors. “But it can’t hurt to try.” She walked out onto the balcony and turned her head back. “What direction?”

“That way.” Meirta pointed north. “You can’t see it from here, but it’s just past that tall building with the white lights on top.”

Was there even a remote possibility that Lily could do this? Hunter knew she was gifted and unique, but to communicate with objects from a distance was too unbelievable for him to comprehend. But who was he to question, and so he waited for what felt like five minutes, but was probably only half that.

At first, he thought his eyes were blurry from lack of sleep. When he looked at Lucien and saw the expression of disbelief on his face he realized she truly was vibrating. It brought back the memory of the first time he’d met Lily inside Krieger’s castle, when she and the Elder had levitated inside the sky room. Like then, Lily’s hair blew about her face like she was caught in a vortex which affected no one but her. Maybe she’d been levitating the whole time – he wasn’t sure but he was worried she was rising too high; now two or three meters above the balcony floor. Would the king have him beheaded if Lily was killed trying to communicate with tablets? The slayer was conveniently located in the room. No muss, no fuss. 

He saw rather than felt the whoosh of air which blew past her, causing her clothes and hair to tear at her like angry lovers. The wind so violent he feared she couldn’t breathe. Then abruptly, stillness, and none too gently she crashed to the balcony floor, unmoving.

“Lily!” Lucien rushed to her side and knelt beside her.

“Are you hurt?” Meirta went to her other side and froze, then ever so slowly, like she was being stalked by a feral animal and didn’t want it to charge, she turned toward Hunter. “Get a towel,” she whispered. When he didn’t move, she urged him with her eyes, and mouthed, “Now.”

“I’m fine, really.” Lily went to get up.

“Don’t,” Lucien ordered, his words clipped and pained, “move.”

Hunter almost ran into the wall as he tried to keep watch on the balcony scene and navigate his way to the bathroom. The towel snagged and he ripped a side of the rack from the wall, freeing it. That was going on their tab. When he made it back to the balcony, Meirta didn’t look at him, but held her hand out, fingers opening and closing greedily in her impatience. He couldn’t understand why no one was moving. Why Lucien was not helping and instead standing there like a man made out of stone. Then he saw it. The blood, Lily’s blood, on the balcony floor, and when he stepped around, he could see blood covering the front of her shirt.

“Just a nose bleed, nothing to be worried about.” Meirta was still whispering. “Lily, stay still, please.”

Lucien’s muscles twitched violently. Meirta had explained Lily’s blood was the property of the king, how it was supposedly something a vampire dreamed about, but never thought to taste, and anyone other than the king who sampled her would die at the king’s hand. How ironic that the king’s slayer was the one so tempted by it at the moment. 

“Sweetie, I need you to pick Lily up and take her back inside.” Meirta said it slow and calm and her eyes never wavered from Lucien.

There was no way for Hunter to lift Lily without stepping between her and Lucien. Right now he’d rather get between a mother bear and her cub, and everyone knew how well that scenario usually ended. He forced his wooden legs to move and knelt down to put his arms underneath her. It was a bad bleeder. Her face was now smeared with blood, the towel stained, and even he could smell the unmistakable coppery scent. Lily, who had taunted Lucien just moments before, now silently cried as she saw the effect her blood, her being, was having on him.