Underworld Queen (12 page)

“You are not done, Professor. Sit down. I insist. I don’t want anybody else. I want
you.”

J
onas wondered if
they would follow him to the human world for his scheduled rendezvous with Audray. He circled down back streets and visited a couple of watering holes, pretending to be settling in for the night. But his insides were burning to see Audray, and tell her about the danger they were in. He didn’t dare trust the phones to relay this information. He needed to tell her in person. That meant he had to make it to the transport to the human world without being detected.

He thought about the black-haired woman who was his many times great granddaughter, and what she told him this afternoon.

“I am the direct descendent of your son, the Earl of Devonshire.” She produced a locket with a hand-painted bust of a man Jonas did not recognize. But then he didn’t want to get too physically close to her.

“I don’t believe you. How can you know this?” Jonas returned. He stepped aside to allow a patron of Helena’s house weave past him in the lobby and begin the staircase, with his chosen woman doing all the heavy lifting.
Staircase to Heaven, Josh had called it.
Jonas wondered why, of all times, he would think about that.

“Search your soul, grandfather…”

“I am not your grandfather!”

“True enough.” She nodded, slipping her arm around Rupert’s waist as he came to stand beside her. “But look deep inside and see if you don’t recognize, don’t smell the blood of the queen you pleasured, impregnated.”

Jonas didn’t want to look at her, but finally he did, and he saw it there. Catherine’s face looked back at him with the same evil smile just as it looked three hundred years ago.

“So what is it I’ve been summoned for? You want something, that’s obvious,” he said.

“I want the throne that was mine, that was taken from my family.”

“I cannot give that to you. You say I have fathered a son that should have been king, but that has nothing whatsoever to do with the Underworld or how succession is handled here. I have no standing. You know this. I’ve lived here for 300 years.”

“Jonas, many generations of our family have heard of you and how you somehow survived your ordeals in the Caribbean. We have searched for you for over two hundred years. You led us to this place, Jonas. To the Underworld.”

Jonas’ stomach lurched as he sucked in a quick breath. He cursed his lack of care that caused his former safe haven in the Underworld to now become anything but safe. And now he’d exposed Audray to this danger through their very public relationship.

“You are the escort of the new Director. I believe you refer to her as your queen.”

“But I have no authority. I am her paramour, surely you understand that.”

“It’s the same problem, Jonas. Back then, you delivered a child. You did not deliver the kingdom.”

“But how could I have done this?

“By fighting for the monarchy in the uprising. Instead, you fled.”

“After my family had been slaughtered. I had nothing to live for.”

“But look at you, for having nothing to live for you manage quite well as a dark angel.”

“It was the only option available to me.”

“Yes! An now you are facing the same choice again, Jonas. Deliver the kingdom of the Underworld and earn your freedom.”

“I am not sure even I can do this. It is not within my power to do so.”

“Try,” she had said coyly. “Or do you think you can live out your days peacefully in the human world and just run away? I have alliances up there too who will make your life a living hell on earth. Perhaps you need a little demonstration to convince you.”

He worried for Audray’s safety without him by her side. It also confirmed his suspicion that Catarina’s plans went beyond a takeover of the Underworld.

In the end, she dismissed him, which was a surprise until she mentioned she wanted a face to face sit-down with Audray. He didn’t swear an oath he’d help her achieve her goal, but the suggestion was laid thick: Audray might come to an untimely end if he didn’t cooperate. They expected he’d help them convince Audray to give up the Directorship, just like he’d agreed to comply with the family’s demand he deliver an heir to the king. And the fate of the woman he loved was once again in his hands.

Jonas shook his head to be rid of the memory of the meeting this afternoon. The smelly alley of Undertown at last broke through the fog of his thoughts. Standing alone under the dull light of a streetlamp, he ran sweaty fingers through his hair, retying his ponytail. His forehead was damp, and he wiped it down with his palm. He was grateful they let him go, but knew it was only to deliver their message. He felt like a dog on a leash. And someone was following him.

Jonas moved further down the steamy wet street with the awful odor gurgling through the cracks as it had for centuries.
How did I survive down here for all that time?
Coming to a more populated area, he searched around him yet did not see anyone who took special notice of him, except for the walkers. He could smell the layers of perfume and sex all over them, permeating their clothes, their hair, and their skin. Jonas could tell how old they were and who they had been with just by standing within ten feet of them.

“Hey there, angel. You look mighty lonesome,” she said as she stepped out of the shadows and linked arms with Jonas, her short red hair blazing in the light of the streetlamp. She was beautiful, but overly made up and young. Probably not even twenty. Jonas felt sorry for her. He pushed her away and walked on but she persisted in following behind him, her little feet encased in stilettos, tapping on the stones like a bird as she tried to catch up.

“Come on. I know how to put a smile on that handsome face.”

He kept walking.

“You got a hole in your soul? I can fill it, you know.”

Jonas continued down the soggy street without turning.

“Hey, something wrong with you, big guy? You like boys? You don’t like me?”

That made Jonas stop and look back at her, hands on his hips. His eyes swept up and down her body. She ran to him with little clawing steps, making all her luscious parts jiggle. He held her at arm’s length and studied her innocent face.

“You could have another life, you know. Why do you do this?”

She leaned back and started to laugh.

He saw movement in the shadows to his left.
Good, let them think I’m interested.

He squeezed the face of this dark angel, with one large hand, puckering her cheeks and red lips. She seemed drugged, oblivious to any danger. He saw the flawless face of a young girl who had given up on life, her human life. But then, she wasn’t human any longer.

Audray, forgive me.

He tenderly lowered his mouth and claimed a kiss. He felt a jolt run through her body and she started to pull away. “Who are you?” Her eyes were large and round.

“That’s a good sign, my dear,” he whispered as he refused to loosen the grip on her arm, keeping her close, but not touching the length of her body. “You still notice the difference, don’t you?” He leaned into the side of her face and added, “That means you are not completely evil. There is a kernel of hope they didn’t rob you of when you turned.”

“Hope? I hope you can fuck me silly, that’s what I hope.” She recovered and became the walker again. “You look like the kind of guy who can make a woman forget herself. I like to lose control…”

“Then let’s go.” He motioned down the street and dragged her behind him. Her little footsteps faltered, her four inch steel-tipped heels had no traction. She was no problem to hold up with one arm.

And in the old days, exactly his type.

He stopped a few times as if looking for a doorway, but took the advantage to search behind him. Not detecting his tail, he abruptly ran back down the road in the direction they had just come from, and took her into an unlit doorway.

“This is fine,” she said as she began to hike up her short skirt.

“No. I have another place in mind.” He blew on her face and saw her eyes flutter.

“Oh, God, you’re one of those?”

“You will tell me the truth.”

“Of course I will. Do it again, and I’ll tell you anything you want to hear.” She looked up at him with eyes of need.

He blew on her face again as she tipped her head back to inhale all of it. “You know how to get a girl primed and ready, my big new love.” She gripped his package and he removed her hand quickly.

“Who do you work for?”

“No one. I’m an independent.”

“Nobody down here is independent. Who is your maker?”

“Well, that is why I’m independent. My fucking sponsor went and got himself humanized, and now all of his girls have to fend for themselves.”

“Say his name.”

“Joshua Brandon.”

Jonas was thrilled his former boss and friend was her sponsor. That also meant he might be able to trust her, just a little bit.

“I’m going to take you out of Undertown, up top. How would you like to conclude our business in the human world?”

Her eyes surveyed him carefully as she leaned in, and pressed her lithe body against his chest. She wound both arms around his neck, pressing her sex against his thigh, and whispered, “You can take me anywhere, dark lover. I am yours for whatever you want to do with me, for as long as you want. I got all of eternity, and so do you.”

Works for me.

He grabbed her upper arm firmly and almost carried her down the street and up the stairs, out of Undertown. The night bustle was getting underway. Neon lights lit the eccentric array of showy dress, people parading in bright silks and feathers, some with just feathers, and some with nothing at all. Excesses of every sort assaulted his eyes. He mounted the steps of the transport station and took the next driverless black limo.

The girl snuggled next to his body in the back seat. He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. He had just met his twenty times great granddaughter. This one could have been one as well. Damaged and hopelessly flawed, he would protect her nonetheless. He sighed.

Fuck, I miss Audray so much. Thank God they let me leave.

The girl looked out the windows of the limo when they arrived at the human transport side. “A warehouse? You live in a warehouse?”

“No. It’s a run-down area humans wouldn’t find interesting. It’s easy to defend.”

“Defend? Defend from what?”

“It’s a very long story.” He took her hand and helped her step from the limo. The instant her second stiletto hit the concrete pavement, the limo took off in a streak.

“Jeez. Remind me to be more careful. That one didn’t even have a driver.”

“Do you think they really care about you? You think they’d care if they ran over one of your legs? No, they’d send someone to come clean you up. It would be a minor problem. Only that.”

The girl shuddered.

“Now, see that street over there?” She looked.

“See the bench right there?”

She nodded her head, eyeing the bus stop bench.

“I’m going to call you a taxi, have him take you to a store to get some decent clothes.” He peeled off a wad of hundred dollar bills. He looked her straight in the eyes. “They don’t do trades for sex up here, or if they do, it’s definitely not a place you should be. They do money. So you have to have some. If you don’t, you’ll get into trouble.”

She took the money, tucking it in her bra. Her face fell; her eyes swept down to his lips.

She can clean up. She’d be a pretty little thing.
He wrote Joshua’s address on the back of a note sheet and tore it off, extending it to her. Before she could grip it, he held it up in the air, out of reach. “You don’t tell anybody about this, okay?”

She nodded.

“You sure? This is a one time offer, Missy.”

“It’s Judy.”

“Okay, Judy. This is the address to Joshua Brandon’s house here. But I’m going to warn you, he has a jealous woman.” Jonas smiled. “You want to talk to Joshua first so he can break it to her. I don’t want you dropping in and ruining something good he has made of his life. You understand?”

“Yes,” she said softly. She studied him as Jonas pulled out his sat phone and called a cab.

“You have close to two thousand dollars there. That won’t get you far, but it will get you properly dressed and to Joshua’s. And you don’t tell anybody until you find him, hear?”

“Why are you doing this?”

Jonas had to think about that. “Because I made a lot of mistakes in my life and now I’ve begun to see how I can change it. I didn’t save my own child. So, I’m going to help save someone else’s.”

He watched as she sat her little body tentatively on the bench, swinging her legs, her tiny ankles crossed, like the young girl she was, as if she were waiting on a playground bench at school.