Enslaved in Shadows (9 page)

“She knows where Theresa is animal,” Oliver shoved Gabe out of the way and again stood in front of her. She flinched at his closeness. He paid
her no attention and kept coming
.

“If you know where my daughter is you have to tell me right now.” He got right in her face bearing his teeth. She took a deep breath and said the only thing she could, the truth.

“Oliver, sir. I don’t know where Theresa is,” Jes held up her hand so she could continue speaking. “I did see her, but Marcus moves the vampires every other month to a new location
,
and the only reason I stumbled upon this particular apartment was due to Vince. His bodyguard messed up and gave me the wrong directions.”

Jesminda took a deep steadying breath and looked Oliver in the eye
s
. His shoulders shrank and he deflated. All the fight died righ
t out of his sparkling blue orbs
. She owed it to Theresa and the others to get them help and that’s exactly what she was going to do.

The men in the conference room settled back in their seats and Gabe led her over to a chair while Oliver put his head in his hands and plopped down in a chair to his right. She couldn’t tell if he was exhausted or not, he looked perfect. A man at the very end of the
table stood and approached her;
his long strides ate up the distance until he stood inches in front of her. He was taller than even Gabe. A giant. Long mahogany dreads fell to the middle of his back. He wasn’t dressed like the others.
He wore a Valentino suit without the jacket and a white
linen button-up shirt rolled at the sleeves. S
trong
,
masculine arms were roped in thickly veined muscles.
He had a silver torque around his neck. It gleamed bright against his bronze skin, and his face was aristocratic.
Hard edges and a straight nose,
b
ut it was his eyes that were the most alarming
. A
shade of violet
like
she’
d
never seen. D
ark amethyst, fathomless
and arrogant.
Immortals always had that extra flare humans didn’t, and this immortal had an extra help
ing.

He grinned
a knowing grin. O
ne that said he knew he was every woman's fantasy come to life. If she hadn’t sworn men off, he would
surely
be the object of her desire. Hot, dirty sex was pouring off this man in waves. If she
weren’t
careful,
she’d get sucked under.

“I’m Captain Dravaggio,” his hand warm and strong gripped hers. “Thank you for agreeing to meet with me and my team.”

He quickly introduced
her to the men in
the room.
There were a set of
twins that sat across from her;
one was smiling, as he lit a red cigarette, blowing the smoke in her direction and the other glared. She didn’t
actually
take in their looks because stupid her was still eye fucking the captain. What was it about him? It made her want to jump out of her seat and onto him. There were some other names tossed about some guy she think she heard him called Adam and another guy he referred to as Hawke. Then there was Gabe and Oliver. Dravaggio was saying someth
ing about missing team members and apologizing for their absence when t
he guy with the red smoke w
as sitting directly next to her now.
How the hell did he get so close
without her noticing?

“And, because you are so enamored with our captain,” he held out his hand and grabbed hers, breaking her out of the trance. “I’m Royce
.
R
esident
badass
, all around swell motherfucker, and every woman's dream come true. Very nice to meet you.”

He held eye contact with her, gently kissing the back of her hand.
Until finally she was fully aware
that
all
of
the men in the room were smiling.
Captain Sex God
bowed and retreated to the chair at the end of the table and gestured with his hands.

“The floor is yours, please tell us everything you know about Marcus.” he purred. The man actually purred. Goodness, no human was safe from the
likes of him. Jes’s mind conjured
an entire porn scene in her head when he spoke. And she was the feature of all his sexual ministrations.

She cleared her throat and clasped her hands, resting her elbows on the table. Her palms were sweaty and her heart was running a marathon. Now, she was nerv
ous. All these men were waiting
on her.
Should she have stayed longer and gathered more information?
Or was she doing the right thing?
You’re doing the right thing. Just tell them what you know.

“This is the right thing.” A slow voice said next to her ear. Was he answering her question or insinuating something else?

It was the guy sitting next to her. Royce.

“No, I’m just very good with minds.” He gave her a wide Cheshire cat grin and she could see his fangs. Great she was in the company of a vampire who could read minds. Just what she needed
,
someone intruding on her most private thoughts.

“Well that all depends on what you have in your head. The only thing I’m interested in, is finding the rest of the missing vampires. Everything else is circumstantial, and none of my concern.”

He leaned closer and tugged on her hair.

“Don’t worry sweet, I won’t tell the captain he was the star attraction in your porn slide.”

The men in the room all chuckled under their breaths.
They’d heard what he said regardless that it was whispered to her.
She was sitting in a room full of immortals.

“Whatever.” Jesminda shot back. “It’s
not my fault, I’m sure of it.”

“You are correct in that assumption and I apologize that I had any effect on you at all. I will remember to maintain composure when in your presence. I don’t get out much.” Dra
vaggio said with a slight nod
.
A gesture she knew meant he wanted her to continue.

Royce
chuckled again and Jes promised herself to avoid him at all cost, she didn’t need him playing
around in her head, and
Dravaggio messing with her libido. This was serious and she needed their hel
p.

Seven sets of eyes waited for her story.
Jesminda cleared her throat and began a very detailed explanation of what she knew and what her assumptions were when it came to her ex Marcus.
The men all sat and
listened;
even Oliver seemed more receptive to her explanation as to why she was unable
to tell him the next location.
She explained
that
when she’d first met Marcus, after a couple of months of dating he’d told her of the existence of immortals. She didn’t believe him. But then her best friend was an immortal. She couldn’t tell them about Bells, wouldn’t. When her people were ready to come out to the governm
ents of the world, they would.
Problems would arrive once they did, but it wasn’t her secret to share.

“Who’s Bells?” This came from the resident bad ass as he called himself,
Royce. Dark brown hair and amber
eyes. In the
light,
she could see flecks of green and gold. He seemed smoother, more casual t
han the others.
His twin Ronin
was shaved bald. Silver eyes stared
back at her from a harsh face.
Ronin was the animal and Royce was the man.

On
cue,
Ronin growled and Royce laughed.

Shit!
She’d forgotten about them.

“Bells is my best friend. She’s the one who is watching my daughter for me. That’s the other thing.”
She looked over at Captain Dravaggio. “I need to pick her up. She needs to be safe.
And the only way it’s going to happen is if she’s with me.”

“Bells is an immortal?” Royce asked.

“It’s not my story to tell. When her people are ready to come forward they will.” Jes pleaded with her eyes and in her head for him to not ask her for something she couldn’t reveal. Faith needed to be with her.
End of story.

The captain looked from her to his men and they all nodded in unison. There were some audible grunts and a bit of chair moving, but they’d decided. A
Unit
ed front. She let out a deep breath and relaxed her body.
She just needed to get through this with her sanity intact
.
She gave them all the details she could pull from her memory. The late night flights and the men he surrounded himself with.
She told them how Vince plugged in the wrong GPS coordinates that were supposed to lead her to a romantic dinner. And how she ended up at one of his apartments where he was holding the vampires prisoner instead.

She explained how she’d met a barely lucid Theresa
,
who’d told her to search Shadow
Unit
on the web and the name of her father.
Theresa also told her how they were moved every other month, and kept weak. She talked about the blood sport some were forced to participate in, and the eating of vampire flesh allowed to those who paid top dollar. Marcus would even let them cut the part of the skin they wanted to eat most.
One woman had even opted for a vampire’s genitals, balls and all.
She thought if she ingested his
flesh,
she would become impregnated and immortal.
It would never work and that poor vampire would never be the same. The blood he was allowed to drink would not replenish
his pride or his manhood, i
f
he even survived that. Vampires didn’t rejuvenate from severe injuries
didn’t matter what caste they were from or
how much blood they consumed.
It wouldn’t be enough to heal them. The only way to heal from a huge injury of that nature was to drink from
a pure
Vampiri.
The purer the blood line
,
the better chance to recover.

Jesminda watched Oliver as she related the entire ordeal. She wasn’t able to escape with his daughter, and she knew he was angry. At least she was opting to get them help.
But also help for you and Faith. Stay focused.

She told them everything and no one interrupted her once. Not even when she finished talking. The silence in the room was telling as the air seemed to chill. The men around the conference room began strategizing on how they could locate Marcus’s place before
he moved the vampires again.
Captain Dravaggio approached her and sat down in the seat next to her. He scooted his chair forward and placed his elbows on t
he desk. Head bent towards her,
he looked right into her eyes. The man was dangerous with sexy. Jus
tin Timberlake had it all wrong.
H
e was not bringing sexy back,
Dravaggio was. And he was doing it
times ten
and then some
.
There was no way some woman hadn’t snagged him.

“Jesminda? Can I call you that or would you prefer me to use your maiden name?” His voice did funny things to her skin.
It c
aressed her arms and face. She blinked and cleared her throat.

“Jesminda is fine
,
thank you Captain Dravaggio.”

“Please call me Stephan,” he gently took her hands into his and leaned closer. Did he not understand the boundaries of personal space?
The sultry scent of him had her leaning forward as well. It was a mixture of spice and anise.
He’d obviously forgotten to turn off his pheromones.
She was still effected, more so, now as he sat closer to her.
Jesminda cleared her throat, and Dravaggio seemed to understand her meaning. Suddenly the heat on her skin evaporated and
was
replaced with calm.
Much better.

“Agent Stone
wasn’t here for
the meeting this evening. He should have been but he’s just a little upset about hav
ing to take on this assignment.
” The captain said softly. She knew he wa
sn’t hitting on her, but damn
all her woman parts were on board with offering her body up as a sexual sacrifice
.

Through the
semi-
sexual induced haze Dravaggio supplied
, she realized he’d told her that
her
protector wasn’t on board with his job. She let her disdain show. She didn’t want someone who wasn’t in this fully. She needed real protection. If the captain couldn’t provi
de her with the proper
security,
Faith would be taken from her and she would be killed. Jes removed her hands from Stephan’s a
nd absently rubbed her stomach.