The Guilty Innocent (31 page)

“They've chained me completely with silver bindings and I can not move, this shit fucking hurts too. A few of the wolves are pretty strong. So make sure you take that into consideration when devising your plan,” Sergio said.

“Tell me about it! I tried to fight them off, but couldn't.” Devin said.

“Don't worry, Devin, it's ok. You four better hurry up and save us....I miss my woman.” Sergio said with a chuckle.

“Wait, hold up, did you and Elise finally mate?!” Devin asked enthusiastically.

“Oh yeah!” Sergio exclaimed.

“About time!” Devin began to congratulate him. I looked at Elise and saw that her face had turned bright red and she began to chuckle.

“Damn men!” Elise chuckled. She relaxed in the chair. Sergio and Devin began conversing, Sergio was bringing Devin up to speed on all that had happened in the past twenty-four hours. Devin was amazed by the past events.

“They tried to kill Darian?” he asked, astounded.

I could tell the thought that someone tried to assassinate Darian had shocked him.

“From what I have heard about Darian, he could probably single handily tear this place apart with ease!”

“Eh! Enough about him,” Sergio grunted. “I'm laying here in pain and the last thing I want to hear is how powerful
he
is.”

“Still bitter?” Devin teased.

“Maybe, but I'll get over it. I just don't want to talk about him right now. I'm still pissed we are all in this situation.” “I understand.”

There was another moment of silence, then they began to talk about their Pride and other things such as sports or the type of car Sergio was going to buy for his son's sixteenth birthday. I suppose they wanted to talk about anything entertaining to get their minds off their current predicament. Xavier turned down the receiver, but he did not turn it off. He looked up at the rest of us and inhaled deeply then released his breath slowly. He ran his fingers through his luxuriously thick, brown shoulder length locks.

“Alright, we now know that they have K-13 bullets and that
is
a problem,” Xavier began.

“What are K-13 bullets? What do they do?” I asked curiously.

“K-13's are exploding bullets. When a K-I3 enters the body or whatever it hits, it explodes on impact. So for example, if John or I were to get shot in the head with one of those bullets, we could kiss our immortality goodbye,” Xavier explained.

This was getting more and more dangerous. I was beginning to wonder who posed the biggest threat, the supernaturals or the humans!?

“So they have this kind of ammunition, they have hostages locked in the basement and they are utilizing silver bullets and bindings. That means one of us will have to free them. When the others get here, make sure that you inform them about everything.”

My stomach began to growl, everyone turned to look at me, Xavier chuckled.

“I'm hungry.” I said with a goofy grin.

“So am I, come on...let's prepare ourselves something to eat.” Elise said with a smile as she headed into the kitchen.

Elise and I prepared our meals, then returned to the living room where we sat side by side on the sofa next to Xavier. I was absolutely starving, considering I hadn't eaten anything since earlier. Elise and I discussed other lighter issues, attempting to keep our minds focused. Xavier and John were discussing Darian's situation. Xavier was hopeful that we would be able to save Darian, but I could tell he was still worried about the possible outcome if we couldn't.

A few hours passed when Xavier rose from the sofa. “The sun will soon be rising and I'm beginning to feel the effects, we have to rest.” Xavier said as he gestured for John to follow.

I was sad to see them walk from the room. I missed Xavier when he was resting. This would be something I would have to get used to, the fact that Xavier and I would never spend an afternoon on the beach, or an afternoon anywhere for that matter. I rose and followed them into the bedroom. Both he and John had climbed into the bed. Xavier laying on his side on one side of the bed, and John laying on his stomach on the other side.

I walked over to Xavier and looked at him, he looked up at me, his beautiful grey eyes locked on mine.

“I love you,” I said then I leaned over and kissed him on his lips. When I pulled away he was smiling, but his eyes were closed, he was resting. I straightened myself and gazed at him a little longer, then I turned and left the room. I looked at Elise, she was still listening to Sergio and Devin talk and chuckling when they brought up something funny.

I walked over to her. “Elise, we need to rest, we have a big day tomorrow.” She looked up at me, smiled and nodded.

“It is just so difficult to leave them right now, but I know you are right.” She said then she lay down on the sofa next to the receiver. “You can take the bed,” she offered.

I didn't bother her about her choice to sleep on the sofa, I believed I understood her reason...she wanted to be close to them, even still. I walked into the bedroom and took one of the blankets and a pillow off the bed and walked back into the living room. Elise lay on the sofa in a fetal position, I put the blanket over her and gave her the pillow.

She looked up at me and smiled. “Thank you, Natasha,” she mumbled sleepily.

“You're welcomed.” I walked back into the bedroom, climbing under the warm comforters, laying my head on the soft pillow. I looked out of the window and I could see the sky through a crack in the curtains. Soon the sun would rise, the sky was lightening up, I could hear the birds beginning to chirp. I began to feel exhaustion sweep over me and I closed my eyes to let the sleep take me. Visions began to circulate through my mind and I decided to concentrate on Warren.

Chapter Eight

Day Six

Warren was talking to Matthew, they were sharing a box of
Crunchy Creme
donuts. Warren's desk was messier than my closet, he had paper everywhere. Through Warren's eyes, I saw that Matthew's desk was neat and organized. They were discussing a case they were working on. Apparently, there was a shape-shifter loose that killed some livestock on a farm in Dekalb, IL. and the S.U.I.T. wanted him brought in to stand trial.

“Are you going to tell Xander about the shifter?” Matthew asked as he took another bite of his donut.

“I've already called him, he is sending some people to gather the shifter now. This shifter is probably new, most likely a bitten one. See, this is what I fucking hate about this government!” Warren cursed vehemently, he caught himself, not wanting to be overheard, he leaned closer to Matthew, who in turn leaned forward. “This shifter is probably scared, might have been his first change and he tried to kill livestock instead of humans, but his fate will be the same as if he had killed humans if we bring him in. Why? Because he was not hunting on sanctioned grounds!” Warren said disgustedly.

Matthew had sat back in his chair. “Well, that is why they have you to look out for them,” he chuckled.

“Exactly!” Warren said proudly as he eyed his watch, noting the time. “We should probably check on Darian.”

“This shit has been hard! Watching him, making sure he is safe, it's not a walk in the park. I hope no one else tries to assassinate him before his trial.” Matthew said, Warren nodded his head in agreement.

Then Warren rose from his chair, heading towards the holding cells. The officer on duty let him in and he walked to Darian's cell. Through Warren's eyes, I saw Darian resting on the bed, one leg bent and both hands resting on his stomach. He looked to be dozing; he looked human from what I could see. Warren was satisfied with what he saw and he walked away heading back to Matthew. I closed off the vision connection I had with Warren and focused on Devin, I noticed that he was falling asleep, that relaxed me. After that, I decided to block off all visions and rest my mind as I rested my body.

I began to hear a voice drawing me out of my deep sleep. “Natasha, wake up, Natasha wake up.” Elise was saying to me softly as she shook my shoulders.

“I'm up, I'm up.” I groaned. Elise backed away and watched me as I sat up on the bed, wiping my eyes. I looked around the room trying to gather my senses. Then I looked at Elise. “What time is it?” My eyes squinting from the light in the room.

“It's late, 2:30 in the afternoon, I just received a telephone call from my Pride, they are here and we have to pick them up. So come on, get ready, I've cooked brunch just so you know.” Elise walked out of the room.

I sat on the bed a moment longer, lighting the urge to lay back down, then I decided to just stand up. I walked into the bathroom to handle my necessities then turned on the shower and climbed in. I then realized that I had forgotten my soap in the other bathroom, I saw a bottle of Elise's expensive looking bath gel and reached for it. I looked at the label and saw that it was
Anisi's
new
Shimmering Shower Cream.
I smiled when I realized that we had something else in common, I too loved
Anisi's
body and bath products. I used only a little to finish bathing then dressed quickly in a pair of loose fitting black jeans and a black turtle neck sweater. I was happy I brought my black hiking boots with me, sure I never went hiking, but that was not the point. I wore them to trudge though Chicago winters.

I walked into the kitchen and sure enough! Elise had prepared a feast as if she was cooking for five people! I looked at all of the food spread out on the table, there were platters of pancakes, eggs, bacon, ham, raisin toast, and cajun-chicken hash browns. I looked at Elise who was standing over the table gazing at all of the food, she then looked up at me, smiling sheepishly.

“You don't think I cooked too much do you?” She asked apprehensively.

I chuckled. “Oh no, don't be ridiculous. You said an army was waiting for us to pick them up, this should be just enough to hold down the fort,” I joked, Elise chuckled.

We sat down to eat our brunch. I noted that Elise was wearing an all black ensemble as well, she had on a black t-shirt and black stretch pants, but she was never without her black three-inch heel boots.

“Do your feet ever hurt?” I asked as I stuffed more eggs into my mouth.

Elise swallowed her mouthful of food before she answered. “No, I find these to be more comfortable than flat-soled shoes. Sergio asks me the same thing.” She said, staring forward, she smiled. Then she looked at me and chuckled. After we finished our meal, we put the food up and left the cabin. Elise and I climbed into the stolen car and drove to the airport to pick up the others. As I sat in the car, I begin to realize that Sergio, The Roughneck That he is, stole another car to take to the mansion. The man truly has skills.

“Is this car going to be big enough to pack everyone in?” I asked. Elise glanced at the interior of the car and shook her head.

“No, I had decided to rent two Sidewinder trucks, they should be big enough to carry the cargo in.” Elise said as she pulled into the parking lot of the airport.

“What cargo?” I asked curiously.

“The vampire's coffins, Xavier and I made arrangements for my Pride to bring in four of the vampires from his coven, so they are all waiting for us. Let's wipe down this car.” Elise said as she removed two white handkerchiefs from her purse.

She handed one to me then she began to wipe off the steering wheel, buttons, everything that we touched while riding in the car. I did the same. Lastly, we wiped off the doors before calmly walking away from the car, heading towards the airport. The double automatic doors slid open as we walked through and Elise led the way to the arrival area of the airport.

There they are,” she said, as she gestured to three people standing against a wall. I looked at them closely, there was one male and two females. Elise walked over to them and I followed her.

“Is everyone doing well?” Elise asked when she approached them. The three members smiled and nodded. “Good. Where are the coffins?”

The male spoke. “We have just gotten them past customs, Miranda is waiting with them now.”

I looked at him, he was tall, at least six-feet-three-inches, he was built like Sergio, broad shoulders, strong muscular limbs and a tapered waist. His short sandy brown hair was combed back, his deep brown eyes focused on me as if he were wondering why I was there. I looked at the females, I noticed that one was as tall as Elise, both females had strong arms and legs as well, but slender at the same time, their tanned skin looked smooth and soft. Everyone was completely dressed in black.