Cherishing Destiny (A Dangerous Destiny) (34 page)

“So, if she doesn’t need mother’s milk, I could feed her,”
Sara announced. “Then we can all go home together instead of splitting up
again.”

Ryan hadn’t thought of that, but he was still unsure of the
suggestion. “Sara, you can’t feed every Vampire without it taking a toll.  We
need to think of something else.”

“Tyler has been bringing Lily blood supplies. Why can’t he
get some for us too and then Sara can feed Destiny.” Aurora suggested.

“What about Sara’s Life Force?” Ryan countered.

“We will be careful, and I will never feed her when I’m
alone,” Sara insisted.

Alex spoke up for the first time all night “I say we test
the theory here before we make any decisions that might put Sara at risk.”

Ryan could swear that Alex was looking a little scared for
Sara, but he shrugged it off and said, “I agree.”

On the following day, the Alpha and the L.T. came to Lily’s
to speak with the Vampires.

Elvis cleared his throat and started. “The last few weeks
have been a learning experience for me,” he said. “I think maybe a lot of
people have learned a thing or two lately.  Ahem.  So, what I’m trying to say
is that, now that everyone knows Aurora, and she saved the life of one of my
scouts, by the way; no one is in a hurry to see you all stuck out there in the
sticks again.  There are empty houses around here from the ones we lost in the
cities that day.   You all are welcome to stay and be part of our little community
here.”

Alex looked at each of them in turn, and when they all
nodded, he answered for everyone.  “We would be grateful and happy to accept
your offer of hospitality, and we will do everything we can to help out.”

Elvis grinned as he pumped Alex’s hand. 

Thirty
-five

Gates picked up the suit that was laid out for him and
tossed it at the old Vampire, who caught the clothing before it could fall to
the floor. “Reginald, can’t you find something I haven’t worn in the last week?
People will think I don’t have a decent wardrobe.”

“Certainly, sir. Let me find you something befitting your
station.” Reginald spoke quietly and didn’t look at the Vampire elder. 

Gates snorted contemptuously at the beaten man. He was
originally planning to execute the Vampire, but Mother’s potion had worked so
well that he decided it would be unnecessary, and he could easily control
Reginald as he had the council.  If Alexander Lake could have a valet, then
Gates could too.  He actually liked having a valet, a personal manservant, to
dress him, shave him, and take care of a multitude of personal needs.  He,
certainly, did not give Reginald the responsibilities that Alex had.  It
pleased him to treat Reginald like a servant.

“I hope this will be more pleasing,” Reginald said,
returning with another suit.

“I guess it will have to do,” Gates said, “I don’t have
time to be screwing around here all morning.  Go down to the council chamber
and make sure that refreshment is brought in before the council arrives.  I
will be there presently.”

“Yes, sir.” Reginald left to obey, feeling a little
perplexed as to why he was willingly working for Gates but, he didn’t let his confusion
show.  He just did what he was told. The routine was the same every day. 
Reginald brought the blood to the council chamber and Gates would check to see
that it was suitable and then would return it to Reginald to serve to the
council members as they arrived.  When his task was complete, Gates would dismiss
him.

“Take the rest of the blood away and make sure you have a cup
for yourself, Reginald.  You are required to keep your strength up for your
duties, do you understand?”

“Of course, sir, as you wish.”  Reginald left with the
tray.  On this day, as he rounded the corner toward the kitchen area, two
Vampire guards blocked his path.  He already knew the drill.  One of the two
guards, a burly young Vamp, had discovered him partaking of the remaining blood
four days ago and decided that an old servant, such as Reginald, did not need
the extra sustenance, but that a young guard with essential duties was more
deserving of the surplus.  He took Reginald’s ration and the remainder for
himself and apparently his friend because the friend was with him every day now
that they knew the routine.

“Hand it over, old man,” the burly one said.

Reginald complied without any resistance.  He cared little
about what happened to him now, and he certainly didn’t care enough to tell
Gates about the appropriation by the guards.  But, the last day or so had
become confusing for him.  He began to wonder why he had been blindly obeying
Gates, but it was more than that, he remembered feeling the desire to please
the elder, and that was the inexplicable part.  He hated Gates.  Gates had
nearly cost the life of Reginald’s master, Charles Devereux and then when
Devereux did die, he admitted to removing Devereux’s remains, leaving Reginald
to grieve at an empty vault every day for years, never knowing Devereux was
long gone. It was Gates who plotted against Alex, accusing him of assassinating
the council members that Alex himself had appointed and creating a false
conspiracy theory involving McPherson, the
Were
, and Reginald too. 
McPherson!
He must still be locked in the cells that had been installed in the basement. 
Mac
might know how to find Alex, and Reginald could escape.  He rubbed his
forehead, befuddled. 
Why didn’t I think of escaping before?
  He didn’t
understand, but it felt as if a fog was lifting from his mind.

Reginald found McPherson exactly where he thought that he’d
be.  The guard watching the area didn’t even blink when Reginald told him that
he had been assigned to clean up the cells as a punishment.  He took a mop
directly to Mac’s cell as there were no other occupants.  Reginald was released
nearly six months earlier and Mac looked bedraggled after all the time he’d
been locked up.  Reginald knew that, in the beginning, Mac had been beaten
regularly.  He knew because he heard it when he was still being held in a
nearby cell.  Reginald had taken several beatings himself.  Gates usually came
to watch or pretend to ask questions as if the purpose of the torture was to
obtain information.  Reginald knew very well that Gates made up the conspiracy,
so he never seriously expected to get any information about Alex’s whereabouts
from Reginald or Mac. 

Eventually, Gates lost interest or got too busy, and the
beatings stopped. Reginald was released and Mac was kept alive with a vague thought
of being some sort of hostage, a tool against the
Weres
.  Reginald found
Mac to be in remarkably good condition under the circumstances.  He was thin
but relatively healthy.  He was filthy and smelled terrible but was otherwise
healed and unharmed.  He was suspicious of Reginald, knowing that Reginald had
been released some months ago, but he listened without talking as Reginald
hatched a plan while cleaning his filthy cell.

“It’s still early in the morning, and the council won’t break
until around noon.  Gates won’t look for me before then.  If I leave your cell open,
do you think you can sneak up behind the guard if I distract him?” Reginald
asked.

“I’m sure I could, but why should I trust you?” Mac was
wary.

“You have no reason to trust me, but you also have nothing
to lose.  They won’t leave you alive down here forever,” he said. “I want to
find Alex, and I think you could help me.”

Mac wasn’t convinced, but he agreed to go anyway. “I don’t
know what you’ve been doing the last few months, but you’re right that I don’t
have anything to lose.  Just know that we will have this conversation again on
the other side of the bars before I take you anywhere.  If that’s not acceptable
to you, then you might want to reconsider busting me out.”

Reginald didn’t know how he would explain that, for a
while, he just wanted to obey Gates for some unknown reason, and that somehow
the feeling went away, and he remembered how much he hated the Vampire.  It
didn’t make sense to him, and he knew Mac wasn’t going to like it as an
explanation. 
Deal with it later,
he thought. “Fine. Let’s just get
moving before we lose the whole morning’s head start.”  He pretended to lock
the cell with the keys the guard had provided and, when he returned them, he
struck up a conversation while facing the cells so that the guard had to turn
his back to look at Reginald.   He made sure not to look or react when he saw a
gigantic brown and white wolf, stalk out of the cell and walk on silent paws
behind the guard.  But, then he saw the guard wrinkling his nose as if to try
and identify a foul odor.
Oh, Hell! The beast stinks worse than the man did.
We are caught!
  The wolf leaped the last fifteen feet and snatched the
Vampire by the back of the neck, biting through the spine and severing the cord
with a vicious splintering of bone that Reginald knew he would never be able to
forget the sound of.  With his head virtually severed, the Vampire knew the true
death and Mac shifted back to human form. He stood naked and dirty, and even
though he was still a big man, his ribs were showing under his skin. 

“Quickly, help me strip this guy before his clothes are
ruined by the blood.  You can’t wear the rags you had on,” Reginald said,
already tugging on the Guard’s boots.

There was no saving the shirt, but the guard had a jacket
hanging on the back of his chair and Mac was able to zip it to his throat, so
no one would be able to tell he had no shirt.  The pants were a little too big
around the waist with his weight loss, but the belt cinched tight enough to
keep it from being too obvious. 

“You still smell, I don’t know what we can do about that
right now, but you’d better keep your distance from anyone we see or they will
smell you for sure.”  Reginald said.

As it turned out, they were lucky and saw no one except at
a distance on the grounds outside.  Mac knew every alley and short cut through
the entire city, and they were at the edge of town within the hour.  Over the
next couple of days, they never detected any pursuit.  The few hours head start
they had apparently been adequate considering Gates had lost his only real
tracker when Mother took the Chief back.  The Vampires he had working for him
were mostly young.  They had no experience hunting, tracking or killing.  They had
been pampered and privileged in the years after humans and Vampires agreed to
coexist. 

Mac led them steadily west and Reginald, who had little
experience himself, couldn’t help but realize it after a while. 

It finally occurred to him that they should be headed
somewhere to the North where the mountains were. “You’re not taking me to Alex,
are you?” He wondered if the
Were
was planning to kill him, but didn’t
understand why he wouldn’t have done it already if that was his intent.

“I’m sorry, Reg. I can’t take you to any
Were
settlements and I wouldn’t know how else to find him. Besides that, I don’t
know what to make of your story about being brainwashed into serving Gates and
then having it go away. You gotta understand.”

“I suppose it was too much to hope for,” Reginald said.
“So, where are you taking me?”

“No matter what happened in the last few months, you did save
my life, and I’m taking you someplace where I think you will be welcome and
safe. However, I’m not going to talk about it until we’re there, so if you
don’t trust me and want to strike out on your own, then you should go now.”

“I don’t think there is any chance that I will find Alex
alone, so I guess I’m going to choose to trust you.” Reginald was
disappointed.  He had been becoming close to Alex, and it was nice, but he
believed the
Were
when he said he would be safe and so, they headed
West.

Thirty
-six

Mother Zhukov sat cross-legged in her usual place on the
low ledge around the fountain pool.  She had turned her whole body to the side
so that she could sit facing the child, who sat next to her.  They were playing
patty-cake, and the two-year old was squealing his delight every time their
hands came together. He was so fair that she could see the flush in his cheeks rise
with the excitement of the game, turning his chubby features a robust, rosy
shade.  His fine, pale hair was the color of corn silk, and his eyes were a light
shade of blue that reminded Mother of the sky before the clouds had taken over
for the protracted winter.  “Adam, can you say clap?” she asked the happy
toddler as she smacked her palms together, demonstrating. 

Adam tried reproducing the sound from his own pudgy baby
hands without much success, but that didn’t dampen his mood at all.  He
continued to giggle, and he shouted, “CAP!”

Mother smiled proudly at the boy. “Very good, Adam. You are
so bright.”  Very bright, indeed, she thought as she observed the brilliant sparkle
of his Life Spark.  At least three times as bright as any other she had ever
seen.  Adam was the first of the special children she was gathering to her, and
he was her favorite.  To date, there were fifteen others in her compound at the
rehab center.  None of their mothers had lived through the birthing. It was as
if the babies absorbed all of their Life Spark as they entered the world,
leaving nothing for the mothers, who passed quietly. The women in the compound
tried to make it up to the babies by lavishing attention on them.  Mother  liked
to spend time with Adam every day as well as her other uniquely gifted little
babe.  She looked over at the little girl playing quietly with her blocks on
the flagstones surrounding the fountain pool.  As if she felt Mother’s gaze,
she looked up with her brilliant, amber eyes and gave Mother a gentle smile
before turning back to her toys.  Like Adam and most of the other children,
Lana had been born in the compound, but unlike the other children Lana was not
human.  Her mother was a Vampire that Mother Zhukov had sent the Chief after on
the day that Adam was born.