Eternal Island (Book 1 in the Eternal Series) (20 page)

“Can I help you, Rainey?”

“Daniel, where is the prisoner?” she almost screamed.

“Oh, Max. We let him go,” Daniel said as if it were no big deal.

“You, what!?” Rainey’s nightmare vision had come true. “Why would you do that, Daniel?”

“I didn’t think the High Vampire’s sentencing was fair and Luke felt the same way. So we let him out.”

Rainey made herself breathe in and out really slow several times before she spoke again.

“Give me the cell keys. Luke!” Rainey yelled down the hall. “You, get in there.” She pushed Daniel into the cell Max had occupied and locked him in. She opened the cell across from it and pointed toward the cell as Luke walked up. He gave her a puzzled look, but did as he was told. Strange behavior, but Rainey was too disturbed to give it more than a split second’s thought. “Do you think what you did was right?” After making sure both cell doors were secure she asked, “Are these the only keys to these cell doors?”

“The High Vampire has the only other set,” Daniel said.

“Good, that means you two won’t be able to get out unless me or Abe let you out. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to put the whole island on lock down.”

Rainey walked to the front of the room, past the table with playing cards scattered all over its surface, and hit a red button on the wall. Sirens blared from everywhere and Rainey knew that the whole island would be able to hear the infernal noise.

She dialed Abe’s number, but it went straight to voice mail. Then she tried Trent’s and he picked up on the first ring.

“What the hell’s going on Rainey? Why are the sirens blaring?” Trent’s sleepy voice mumbled.

“I had a dream that someone let Max out and I came down here to check, and guess what? These two idiot guards did let him out. He’s gone, Trent. And Abe’s phone went straight to voicemail; what the hell is he doing? Get the Force together and see if you can pluck Abe out of bed on your way.”

“Alright, alright. Got it. I’ll have everyone report to the courtroom. You just sit tight and don’t let the guards out of your sight. I’m on my way.”

“I’ve locked them up already.”

“Good girl. There is a place on the Force for you, if you want it.”

“No, thanks, I’ve just about had all the excitement I can stand, and that’s just this week. I’ll leave it to you to deal with the dirty work. See you in a few.”

Rainey ended the call, went back to the courtroom and sat down in one of the overstuffed chairs. So not suitable for a normal courtroom, but then what exactly was normal about this place, anyway? She sent a quick text to Becky to let her know what was going on, and that they might need Ariana to work her magic yet again, but not to wake her up if she was still asleep. Ariana needed her rest if she was going to function properly; she hadn’t had much sleep since she arrived on the island and if she couldn’t think straight because of sleep deprivation, well, honestly, she wouldn’t be much help.

Trent and Lyndon walked in and Rainey led them to the cell room.

“Anyone find Abe?” Rainey asked.

“Jonah went to check his room, but I haven’t heard back from him yet. Why would the guards let Max go? That doesn’t make any sense. A few hours ago they were ranting about how he should fry to a crisp for what he did to Lidia. And how did you manage to wrestle them into the cells?”

“I didn’t wrestle anyone, Trent. I just told them to get in and they did.”

“I don’t get it,” Trent said, puzzled.

“Now that you said that, it does seem odd.” Rainey was baffled. “And they just told me the exact opposite. They thought Abe’s sentencing was too cruel, apparently. Nah. Something’s going on here. I smell a rat. And I think we need to figure it all out before we blame these guys based on their confessions.”

Rainey’s cell went off. She briefly glanced at the caller ID before answering. “Talk to me, Jonah. Where’s Abe?”

“I don’t know. I’m standing outside his door hammering a dent in it, again – long story, I’ll tell you one day. Anyway, I think he’s in there. I heard a grunt a couple of times, but nothing since. He told me he hasn’t slept in a week, so maybe he’s passed out. If I break his door down like I did Lidia’s, he will probably kill me, so do you think we could find another way to wake the grizzly bear?”

“I’ll see if Ariana can work her magic again. I’m on my way.” Rainey turned to Trent. “I’ll be back later, Trent. Jonah can’t get Abe to wake up.”

She ran out the door dialing Becky’s number.

Becky picked up on the first ring, but she was not pleased. “Really, Rainey? Are you screwing with me? The poor girl hasn’t had any rest since she got here, and I can’t remember how many times she fainted. She can’t go out looking for that son-of-a-bitch. I won’t let her. You’re gonna end up putting her back in a coma.”

“Chill out, Becky. It’s not that. Well, not yet. It’s Abe. He’s locked in his room and we can’t get him to wake up. By any chance, has Ariana said anything more about dream walking?”

“Oh, yeah! With all that has happened, we forgot to tell you. She managed to talk to her friend, Janie.”

“Good. I’m glad she did. Now, I need her to do the same thing with Abe. Wake her up and tell her we need her to go into his dream and kick his ass out of bed. I’m on my way to his room. Tell her to hurry. Jonah is redesigning the shape of his door right now.”

“What’s going on?” Michael asked as Becky hit the end button on her cell.

“We’ve gotta wake the super witch. She’s gotta save the world again.” Becky got out of her bed and went to Ariana’s. “Wake up, girl.”

“Huh?” Ariana muttered in a daze. “Is something wrong with Lidia or the baby?”

“No, no, no. I’m sorry, this will sound weird, but Rainey needs you to do something right away, and then you can go back to sleep again.”

Ariana sat up rubbing her eyes and smiled when she saw Michael.

“What does she want me to do?” she yawned.

“The guards let Max go. He’s gone, Ariana. They’ve sounded the alarm and the Force is assembled, but they can’t get Abe to wake up. He’s passed out in his room, with the door locked. You’ve gotta go into his dream and tell him to wake the hell up.”

“What? Max is gone? I’ve got to help them find him!” Ariana started to get out of bed but Becky stopped her.

“You’ve gotta get some rest or you’re gonna fall on your face. Just get Abe up and let the Force find Max. That’s what they’re there for. Go on. Rainey said to hurry.”

“Fine.” Ariana laid back on her pillow and closed her eyes. “Take me to Abe’s dream.”

The sudden blackness overwhelmed her again and this time she didn’t hear a heartbeat as her surroundings got brighter. It must have been the other person’s heartbeat she was hearing, not her own, she reasoned.

When Ariana realized what she was seeing, she blushed a bright crimson. Abe wasn’t going to thank her for pulling him out of this dream. Hell, Ariana wasn’t sure she wanted it to end, either. What was she thinking, her dead husband was back there with her body and she wanted to stay here in a dream… with Abe?

Ariana was watching herself make out with Abe, and the dream Ariana wasn’t having any problems, what-so-ever, kissing him back. When she felt a tingling sensation in her groin, she realized she needed to get him to wake up and get the hell out of there.

“Abe!”

His head shot around and looked at her, and then looked back at the Ariana in his arms. “Two of you! Damn, this is a good dream.”

“Abe, I’m really here, in your dream. Quit playing around with… um… me, and wake up. Something bad has happened. Max is gone and no one can get you to wake up. So that’s why I’m here. Wake up, Abe! Wake up!”

Any other time Abe would have argued about leaving a dream with her in it, especially when there was good potential to double the fun, but this was one of the reasons he was High Vampire. He had to protect the island and catch the bad guys.

Before Abe willed himself to wake up, he put his hand gently on her cheek and smiled. “You know, you might wanna knock the next time you walk in my dream. I would have had you naked in another five minutes.”

Then he disappeared before Ariana could argue that she wasn’t that easy to get into bed. She wasn’t entirely sure that was the truth when it came to Abe, anyway. There was something about him that kept reeling her in; it was scary and exciting in equal measure, but it also made her very cautious.

Ariana willed herself to go back to her own mind and wake up.

Abe had to cover his midsection with a pillow before opening the door. Not that anyone would have been surprised to see him that way, if he’d told them about his dream, but they didn’t need to know every detail of his sex life, real or imaginary.

“Come in.” Abe turned and went straight for the bathroom, where he turned on the cold shower.

A couple minutes later, when everything was back to normal – except for his chattering teeth – he towel dried, threw on his blue jeans and a black tank, and returned to the living part of his chambers where Rainey and Jonah were waiting.

“Sleep well?” Jonah snickered.

Abe shot him a ‘go to hell’ look and sat down in a chair to put his socks and boots on. “Someone talk to me. What do we know so far?”

“Really nothing,” Jonah said.

“I had a vision that woke me up, but all I saw was Daniel opening the cell door. I didn’t see Max come out and I didn’t see anyone else. I went to the cell room to check and I found Daniel and Luke playing cards like nothing had happened. But I still felt like something was wrong, so I went to check the cells, more to prove the vision untrue, and when I did… Max wasn’t in there. Daniel said that he and Luke felt your punishment was too extreme, so they decided to let Max go. That was a huge change from what Trent heard at the pre-trial, when they were both saying how Max needed to burn for what he’d done to Lidia. I just think something’s not quite adding up, Abe. They never said or did anything when I just asked them to get in the cells and locked the doors behind them. They had no reason to listen to me ordering them about, but there was no resistance, like their minds were addled.”

Abe ran his fingers through his black hair, blew his cheeks out and then let the air out slowly through his lips as he thought about the possibilities. He checked his watch.

“Shit! The sun’s almost up. No one leaves the palace. If we send just the witches on the Force out and they find him in a hole somewhere on the island, he could quite easily kill every one of them before they could get him under any restraining spell. Search the palace, every single inch. We’ll go outside the minute the sun goes down. I hate to give him such a head start, but what choice do I have?

“Jonah, you stay with Lidia today. I don’t trust that bastard not to return and attempt to finish her off.”

“Got it!” Jonah said as he ran out the door.

“He has to be in the palace, or in a cave on the island, somewhere. He can’t have risked swimming to the mainland; he wouldn’t have made it before sunrise. Unless… Unless this was planned by someone else and he had a boat waiting just outside the perimeter of the island. It doesn’t make sense that Luke and Daniel just unlocked the cell door and let him go; I know them both, and I don’t think they would do that. They would say something to me first, question my decision; they’re not afraid to talk. But I do have an educated guess as to who is likely to be behind all of this. Come on, Rainey,” Abe said as he headed for the door. “We need to pay Julia a little visit.”

C
HAPTER 28

“For the last time, Janie, it was just a dream. Witches and vampires aren’t real, so that should prove to you, right there, that your subconscious made it up,” Lance said.

“Fine, don’t believe me. I knew you wouldn’t. Ariana said she would try and visit you in your dream tonight, and when she does and you realize what a moron you are, I want a full apology with dinner and flowers and…”

Lance smiled and wrapped her in his arms. He kissed her lips briefly. “If Ariana” kiss “comes into” kiss “my dreams” kiss “I’m just gonna” kiss “have to tell her to leave, because you’re the only girl allowed in my dreams now.” He picked Janie up while he deepened the kiss, and carried her to the kitchen counter.

“We can’t.” Janie pulled away as Lance tried to score second base with his left hand.

“Why can’t we? We’re both adults, that happen to be dating now, by the way, so I don’t see any problem. I want you so bad, Janie.” Lance started a trail of kisses from her jaw line going down her neck.

“Oh my God,” Janie sighed. “I want you too, Lance, but we have to find Ariana.”

Lance didn’t break contact with her neck as he whispered. “I thought you said she was on an invisible island with vampires and leprechauns.”

That really did sound crazy, Janie thought. “Well, we have to find the island, Lance!”

Lance let her go, defeated, and grabbed his lunch for the day. “Right, when you find the island, you be sure to let me know. I’m going to work.” He picked up his ball cap off the hat hook, blew her a kiss and walked out the door.

“Maybe I am crazy.” Janie crossed her arms and hugged herself.

§ § §

Abe pounded on Julia’s door three times. “If you don’t open it, I’ll knock it off the hinges,” he warned.

Julia opened the door looking like Abe had just woken her up out of a deep sleep. “What do you want? I need my beauty sleep, my love. Well, not really, but you know what I mean. You aren’t mad about Michael being here, are you? Because I was just trying to do something nice for Ariana. I thought maybe she would get over losing him faster if she at least got the chance to say a proper good bye. You know, closure? I figured it would help you both in the long run.”

“You know damn well why I’m here. Where’s Max?” Abe growled.

“I heard you had him locked up for beating the hell out of Lidia. Serves him right for hitting a woman. I hope you give him the worst sentence imaginable.”

“You’re not fooling me, Julia. I’ve been around you for way too long. I know your tricks. I will ask you one more time, and then I’m gonna stop being nice. Where. Is. Max?”

“Seriously, Abe, you need to get laid or something. If you don’t know where Max is, then neither do I. Now, if you will excuse me, I was having such a good dream.”