Echoes in Eternity (The Pella Series Book 1) (20 page)

“9-1-1 operator, what’s the exact location of your emergency?” I hear the voice over the phone.
With the shooting pain ringing in my head, it barely registers that Sarah’s calling the 911 operator. This briefly surprises me. Why would she call 911?

“Please, help us! My daughter and I are at the Duncan Estate. This is Sarah Duncan! We’re in danger!” Sarah shrieks. What the hell is she trying to do? Kill me and blame it on someone else?
My mother or not, the bitch has lost her mind and I’m about to lose mine! I struggle again and this time she tries to stab me. I twist in time, but she still manages to graze my arm with the knife in her hand.

“What kind of danger ma’am?” the operator responds.

“Help! Please! It’s her! My mo...” I shout, but I can’t say the rest of my words as Sarah hangs up the phone and moves the glaive up my neck and digs it into my throat forceful enough to exert a sharp pain. If she were pressing the glaive at a steeper angle, she’d be slicing my jugular like a ribbon and she knows it.

“Thank you for that!” she says, and I feel her grin behind me. “That will give the scent of your blood to the sharks... Now, we wait!” she says, and as if on cue the door to my bedroom bursts open. Alex Pella stands by the door like a Greek god! My eyes are wide at first, and I blink several times to see if he’s really here, or if I’m dreaming again. My breath catches, my lips quiver and I swallow hard. I open my eyes wide afraid that he’d disappear if I closed them. The glaive pushes in further into my jugular with just enough pressure that if she presses only a millimeter more, she’ll draw blood. Alex’s eyes quickly assess the situation. He’s surprised to find Sarah with a blade to my throat, but like a man in charge, he quickly collects himself; his eyes give me a
 once-over rapidly within less than three seconds, and he focuses the intensity of his sharp blue gaze on Sarah. If he feels any relief to see me alive and in one piece, he gives no indication of his thoughts. He looks like he’s in complete control of his movements, emotions, and words.

“Don’t. Come. Any. Closer! I will thrust this into her throat and it will kill her easily
like Abraham’s sacrificial boy!” Sarah says without any emotion.

“You would do that to your daughter?” asks Alex with an impassive face taking a step further.

“She was just a biological child, not my daughter! I never wanted to have her! She took everything...” Sarah continues but her words are lost to me. Her lack of love, the declaration of her repulsion of me before this one man I’m exhaustively attracted to, liked even, hurts the most as if she’s giving a testimonial to show him that I’m not worth loving. Whether Sarah cuts me open right now or the ground swallows me whole wouldn't make a difference. Why was the love and acceptance of my own mother important to me? My throat swells again as I try to swallow all the pain she’s caused during my lifetime, it’s bundled and shaped like a crown knot, choking me. Alex’s response to Sarah brings me back to my senses.

“The flaw in that argument is that Abraham was serving his God. Who are you serving, Sarah?” he asks and takes another step forward. How does he know her name? Do they know each other? He doesn’t look at me. His gaze is only fixed on Sarah as if I’m not even in the room. This is worse. Does he agree with her?

“Myself! I will reclaim my youth, my former beauty, and immortality. They promised!” Sarah says so sure of herself. “Once she’s out of the way, I can have everything that was rightfully mine that she took from me with interest and penalty!”

“
I told you! I don’t want anything... You can have it all,” I whisper. Somehow the declaration of the absence of care or love before a witness changes something in me. It shows the permanence of her feelings. I am finally washed with the resolve that I don’t want to be a victim again. But I can’t escape the searing pain of the poison of her words, killing me a little inside. She never gave me anything to begin with, how could she claim that I took it all from her? Right now, I just want to go someplace where I can lick my wounds.

“Don’t speak at all!” Sarah shrieks and with the intensity of her hatred she pushes the last millimeter into my throat and draws blood. I feel the bead of warm blood collecting at the tip of her glaive. Alex’s gaze widens for a fraction of a second, and he looks at me, then he immediately looks up at Sarah again, holding his hands up to show her that he’s not dangerous. Two more steps, and Sarah exerts a little more pressure onto the glaive, and my blood starts streaming down lazily over my throat in a warm streak.

“Don’t come any closer; otherwise you’ll force me to make a mess on my parents’ priceless Persian rug,” she chimes caressing the carpet with the toe of her shoe.“ I don’t think six pints of blood stain spraying in a projectile would come out and this rug is simply irreplaceable.” Sarah speaks in such a sweet tone, you’d think that she was talking about her favorite socialite gathering in Beverly Hills.

“If you kill her, Sarah, they will kill you. They need her alive,” Alex says
in a gentle, but a decisive tone. I just realize that he’s negotiating with Sarah for my life. He wants to save me! What does everyone else know that I don’t?

“No! They still need me. I’m the one who can touch her and kill her while they can’t even touch her like she’s the holy water to
the devil!” she says laughing in a shrill. “They can’t even touch her! Yes, sir, they need me!” Sarah says as the tone of her voice takes a strange cadence. “They said she’s an abomination... I knew that all along! She is! I was right!” Sarah hisses. What the hell is this? A testimonial? Hearing the abhorrence from the woman who gave birth to me in front of the only man I truly liked and desired, the man who is going to be my future boss crushes my soul further and I shake like a leaf. A few things happen simultaneously in that moment. I see a blur dart into my room with blinding speed creating a flurry of wind and within less than two seconds of time Alex closes the gap between us and captures the glaive out of Sarah hand while pulling me out of her grasp and hiding me behind him, shielding me with his body.

I hold onto to Alex with all my strength, and as adrenaline wears off my body, my legs weaken. Everything feels to be rattling and shaking. I finally realize that it’s my body that’s doing the shaking. My breathing speeds up with anxiety; I can’t get enough air into my lungs and I feel sick for being in the same room with Sarah. Alex’s arm wraps around me firmly, holding me tight, shielding my body: his stance is defensive, vigilant, and ready to strike. I vaguely realize that Stella is holding Sarah down. I hold onto Alex as if my life depends on it and sag into his embrace. Stella’s voice brings me to the here and now.

“Take Ellie away, and protect my girl, Alex,” she says and my gaze finally locates Stella. I’m astounded, my breathing’s shallow, I look at the only woman who cared for me. Her gentle tone is my undoing; I feel the tears welling up behind my eyes. Can Sarah harm Stella? I need to know. I’m worried about her, but I can’t form a single sentence without breaking down. I
 didn't expect my last night in the house I grew up in to be like this.

“Go on dear! Go out into the world and live your life! I’ll be there when you need me!” Stella whispers in a soft voice. I vaguely notice the pitch darkness through my open balcony door behind her as the sheer curtain billows with the soft wind. I imperceptibly notice that it’s a starless night. My arms hold Alex tighter. At this moment he’s my life raft. Where do I go from here? Where do I belong? Sarah looks at me with a malicious grin, taking pleasure in my sorrow. Alex pulls me out of the room gently but insistently, and the first coherent words I manage to get out of my mouth are, “my bags,” in between my sobs. My body shakes uncontrollably, and a dam is broken behind my eyes. I’ve no place to call home now. I’m officially homeless.

“Anthony will get them,” Alex says softly. His gentle words give me comfort. When I look up into his eyes to thank him, he has more than worry and care in them. He looks at me with desire and some unspoken feelings. “Thank you, Mr. Pella...” I stutter and rub the tears away wildly with my knuckles.

“
Shhhh...” he coos, and holds my hands gently. He kisses my knuckles one by one tenderly, softly and sensually. Then he turns my palms over and kisses them while his gaze is fixed on my eyes. When he finally puts them down slowly to my sides, he takes over the task of drying my tears gently, making me completely forget what just happened in my bedroom.

“It’s okay, you’re okay. I’m here, now,” he says in a gentle whisper, his voice full of some tender emotion. His commanding frame radiates incandescence, ardor, yearning and love. Is it because we’re the same kind? But at this moment, I don’t care, I’m captivated and protected within the corporeal force field he’s just created between us. I only see his chiseled face and his piercing blue eyes looking at me assessing, laced with some deep emotion. I inhale his intoxicating masculine musk, a concoction of outdoors, a mix of clove, moss, spice and patchouli which is heady, manly, dominating and yet so urbane. The attraction I feel for him is immeasurable, uncontrollable and intense even in the face of danger that lies only fifteen feet away. But it can’t be helped because the feeling I have for Alex has no off switch. I’m helpless against his magnetism; I find myself putting my head on his chest, and somehow I feel at home as I wrap my arms around his firm torso feeling his tight muscles beneath my arms. The sense of
 Déjà vu, the feeling of belonging within the captivity of his embrace washes over me.

“You saved me, Mr. Pella...again...” I murmur to thank him. But finally, the realization dawns on me that the man I’m holding in a light-tight embrace like a lover is my future boss. I feel
such vexation of spirit. I turn crimson like the communist manifesto and slowly start withdrawing my arms, and murmur an apology under my breath as I try to gather the courage to look at his face. Alex cocks his eyebrows at me as he places my arms back on his waist firmly. He doesn’t like me calling him Mr. Pella and he wants me to hold him. My insides melt.

“Alex,” I correct myself softly as my heart picks up speed, my throat dries up, and all I want to do is to kiss him like there’s no tomorrow. I’m drawn to him with such an intensity that Daedalus and Icarus had nothing over me; I want to merge myself with him. Everything around me ceases to exist, except for him. I look at him with my lips slightly parted, my heart at my throat trying
to burst out of my body, my blood sings for this man and at this moment I wouldn't care if he took me here and now. I see my ardor reflected in his eyes. His gaze is connected with mine searching the confirmation of my passion, feelings and of my desire for him.

“I’m going to do something I wanted to do since I’ve first laid eyes on you!” he murmurs in a husky, licentious voice as his finger
s splay on the small of my back urging me forward against his front where I feel his arousal thick against my waist. The knowledge that he wants me as much as I want him is intoxicating, life affirming!

“What?” I ask swallowing, trying to disguise my panting, begging him with my eyes to kiss me. He groans as he lowers himself, picking me up, and press
ing me firmly into his body making me feel every inch of his hard erection, letting me know just how much he wants me, too. 

“This...” he says as he leans his head to close the last two inches of distance between us wrapping me with him as my entire body strains into him. His arms lift me up further as I wrap my legs around his torso, pushing myself into his erection and his lips find mine sealing over
them. Damn! I want him!

CHAPTER VI

SUNRISE

Alexander Aurelius Pella