Chapter 42
Anita’s P.O.V
As I felt the marks click into place, I pulled along the triumvirate marks, too. I tried to call Richard, why I don’t know, but he wasn’t there. Jean-Claude’s energy answered mine, as it had always done, but Richards wasn’t there. I called and called, but nothing was there. Was he blocking me?
I didn't know why Richard not answering my call bothered me so much, because he hadn’t been there in months, but for some reason, this didn’t feel right. It felt as thought, he wasn't there at all, like we weren’t bound to him.
Jean-Claude looked down at my face, a worried _expression playing over his face. I didn’t know if he was worried about me, or if he felt that Richard wasn’t there any more, too. I didn’t want to ruin this moment, But I was worried, and so was Jean-Claude.
“Jean-Claude, can you feel Richard?” I asked him.
He frowned and opened the marks, all of them. I felt him search for where Richard should have been, but come up blank. Jean-Claude narrowed his eyes and he pushed harder against the marks, but he was only pushing against my marks. It was only me and him.
“This is very strange” Strange wasn’t the word.
I had an idea.
“I’ll phone him at home”
“And if he isn’t there, ma petite?” Jean-Claude asked, his head cocked to the side.
“Then I’ll phone his mobile” I said smiling.
Jean-Claude laughed an got off me and off the desk. I sat up and looked at the floor. My God, what a mess! I laughed as I jumped off the desk and started to look for the phone. Jean-Claude was milling round the papers, trying to put things back in order, I think.
I finally found the phone, under a folder. Luckily, it wasn’t broken. I put it back on the desk and Jean-Claude stopped tidying up, placed the papers in his hand on the desk and settled his hands on my waist as I dialled Richards home number from memory. Even after all of this time, I still knew his home and mobile phone number by heart.
I was beginning to think he wasn’t home, after about the 7th or 8th ring, but he picked up, sounding rather breathless, as though he’d ran to get the phone.
“Hello”
“Hi Richard, It’s Anita” I said, in a stupidly small voice. I straightened up, which was difficult with a vampire behind me, kissing as much of my neck as he could find.
“Hi Anita, what’s going on?”
It wasn’t a general question.
“What do you mean?” I asked. Jean-Claude had stopped kissing my neck and stood with his ear to the other side of the phone.
“About 5minutes ago, I nearly passed out from a release of power. I mean, the marks have been really weak since....... what happened. But now, its like the marks aren't there at all”
I think I stopped breathing.
“Neither Jean-Claude or I can feel your marks either, Richard. I think there gone” and as soon as I said it, I knew it was true. When Casspian had ripped Jean-Claude’s marks off me, he must have ripped Richards off, too. Then when Jean-Claude replaced his marks and I didn’t replace Richards, they must have just gone.
“Anita.......Anita?” Richard was calling my name. Jean-Claude was leaning round my shoulder to look in my face.
“I’m hear Richard”
“What are we going to do about the marks?” Richard asked what we were all thinking.
“I don’t know. Do you want them placed back on?”
I expected Richard to give a straight answer of “No”, but he actually went quiet on the other end of the phone, long enough for me to call out his name and Jean-Claude to look rather apprehensive.
“ I’m never going to get you fully to my self, am I?”
Now that, I wasn’t expecting. Jean-Claude frowned. I wasn’t sure what to say.
If Richard and I did run off together, get married and start a family, we would end up killing each other. Hell, I didn’t even need to run off and get married to him to know that. Opposites attract, but not us two. We were to opposite for each other.
He hated my being able to kill so easily and with out remorse, and I couldn’t stand the fact he put people I loved, and my friends in danger because of his ideals and morals, that, put quite simply, weren't going to work in mine and Richard’s worlds.
“No, Richard, your not ” Was my answer and my final one where Richard was concerned.
Jean-Claude let out a breath he’d been holding and closed his eyes. A tension I hadn’t felt in him until now, eased. He’d finally realised, he’d won.
“You and Jean-Claude dont need me, Anita”
At least he was the one to say it.
“O.K, Richard. What about the pack?”
“I’m not going to stop you from seeing the pack. I could try, but I doubt weather any of them would listen to me. I’ll see you, Anita”
And he hung up the phone. Jean-Claude had been listening to the whole conversation. He just sat and looked at me with a look of utter shock on his face. I dont think either of us expected things to go that easy.
Just then I remembered my Beeper. I hadn’t even looked at who had beeped me, I’d just turned it off and threw it. Shit, where was it. I started to rummaged through all of the stuff that used to be on Jean-Claude’s desk. I expected him to be confused or ask me what I was doing, but he didn’t.
I was crawling on the floor moving the paper round. I was just making more mess and getting angrier. After about 2 minutes of looking and Jean-Claude not saying anything, i sat up on my knees and looked him.
“Why aren't you helping me find-”
The bastard had it in his hand.
“If you had of said something ma petite, I would of told you I had found it as soon as you started looking” He was smirking.
I stood up and walked to him. I snatched the beeper out of his hand and turned my back on him. He put his hands on my waist and I turned the beeper on. He started to tickle my sides. I laughed and pulled away. I checked who had last rung. Shit.
It was the police.
I rummaged on the floor for the phone and found it. I dialled Zerbrowski’s number by heart and didn’t have to wait long to hear his angry voice and sirens on the back ground.
“Anita, if this isn’t you, I swear I will kill you when I see you again”
“Its me Zerbrowski, what's wrong”
“You had better gat that ass of yours to the end of the district now, where it starts to turn it to woods, you know, by the docks?”
“Yeah, but what's going on?”
“Just get hear and bring your boyfriend with you”
And he put the phone down. He hadn’t teased me. Zerbrowski hadn’t teased me. I ran out of the door and Jean-Claude followed. I just shouted for him to follow me. We couldn’t take the car, we’d have to run.
Chapter 43
Jean-Claude’s P.O.V
Ma petite and I were running side by side through the district. Ma petite had told me of the phone call to her police friend. It worried me slightly that they wanted me there. He friends had never liked me. Especially the police ones.
I was surprised by how much energy ma petite had after what had happened. Even though she had the marks, which had given her some extra ability and stamina, she still hadn’t stopped running. She didn’t even know what was going on, yet she ran. She was so loyal. She felt she had to protect everyone and stop the bad guys, as she likes to call them.
As we got closer to the edge of the district, police cars were sitting with their lights flashing and doors open, but without the police men in them. Ma petite put on a burst of speed. I could have been there by now, just by flying, but I doubted they would have let me any where near the scene with out her being with me.
As we rounded the corner of the last club, we could see nothing but police cars, an ambulance and unmarked cars. We had both stopped to take into account what was going on around us. The radios were silent, but the lights on the police cars were still flashing and a helicopter was flying over head with a light attached to it, shinning it on one spot. I couldn’t see that far, not even with my eyes.
Anita had started to move again. She was running through the cars, shouting for Zerbrowski. I followed her, and was surprised no one came to try and stop us running through the cars. The public was being held back, but they were right up in front of the police cars. They had a front row seat.
“Anita!” A male voice shouted over everything, gesturing ma petite towards him.
She ran and I followed her.
“What the fuck is going on, Zerbrowski?” She was out of breath and looked in pain.
I opened the marks and found she had a stitch in her side. I soothed her pain and calmed her down. She was very worked up and was tired from running. I placed my hands on her shoulder.
“Why did you want Jean-Claude here, too, Zerbrowski. What is going on?”
“Neither of you are going to like this, but I didn't’ know what else to do. Why didn’t you answer your beeper 15 minutes ago, when I first called? Why did you turn it off !?”
This man was very angry. I’d met him once or twice before. I knew that he didn’t mind what Anita did, he was the calm and understanding one. It was the other police man who had the problem with me and what Anita did.
“We were busy. Now what's going on?”
“I think you should look before I say anything. I’m not even sure what’s going on myself”
Just then I felt distress. This was a very familiar distress and a person I knew well.
Asher.
I stepped out from behind Anita and looked over to where the light was being shined. I could make out three people. I knew that golden hair was Asher’s. But who were the other two and why was he being held?
“Asher” I said out loud, more to myself than anyone else.
“What about him?” Ma petite asked, rounding to look at me.
“He’s in trouble. He‘s up there” I said simply, pointing where the three people were on the hill.
Anita caught on then and looked over to where I was pointing. She rounded back on Zerbrowski and nearly shouted;
“Tell me now, what is going on?!”
Anita’s P.O.V
“There are two people holding another person hostage. There's a female and a male who have taken this person hostage and they are asking for you two. I‘m guessing they aren't human ”
Zerbrowski said simply, in a lower voice than I had used.
Oh shit. I knew that the vamp who was being held hostage was Asher. Jean-Claude was holding me immobile. He had his hands glued to my shoulders, frightened, I think, of what I would do. He fucking should be.
“Who the hell is up there and what is going on?” Zerbrowski asked me. He seemed a little stressed. I couldn’t blame him.
“Asher is a vampire and he is the one being held, but I don’t know who the other two are yet, but I do know this; the things holding him aren't human. Asher is a Master Vampire. Its got be either vampire’s or lycanthropes holding him, and very powerful ones at that”
Jean-Claude went tense. He was so worried about Asher. He feared for him. I did, too. I couldn’t think of anyone in this city, other than the alpha lycanthropes or Jean-Claude who could keep Asher immobile. There weren’t that many Master Vampire’s in Jean-Claude’s territory.
“I want to see my vampire” Jean-Claude said.
He was reading himself for a fight, and me, the twat, hadn’t brought my guns with me. I only had my wrist sheaths and knives.
“Zerbrowski, I need two guns loaded with silver bullets and one loaded with steal” I told him.
He nodded and walked off in a bit of a hurry. He was worried. Dolph had gone and left Zerbrowski in charge of everything and now this happened. I pulled away from Jean-Claude, he seemed reluctant to let me go, but didn't fight me.
Zerbrowski walked back over to me with three guns in his hand. I checked the content of each gun. I had two 9mm Berettas, loaded with silver bullets, and one Beretta loaded with a steal clip. He also handed me two extra clips. One with silver and the other with steal. I put everything where I needed it. Silver loaded in my front and at my back and the steal one in my pocket, as well as the ammo in another pocket. I put my hand on Zerbrowski’s shoulder and then started to walk through the cars.
I knew Jean-Claude was behind me, I could feel his angry presence there. The anger was rolling off him in bitter waves, like fire. He stalked through the cars, and Zerbrowski started to shout “Let them through!”
Some cops looked round to see who and nodded at me. I knew almost the whole team by name, most of them considered me part of the team any way, I‘d spent that much time with them and hunted that much with them.
When Jean-Claude and I got in front of the crowed, I could finally see what was going on and who had Asher.
Gretchen and the daemon who brought Casspian the towel for my back.
The daemon was holding Asher, and I knew instantly thy had done something two him. He was leaning forward heavily supported by the daemon. Silver chains were wrapped round him, holding him immobile and stealing his strength.
Gretchen was standing in front of them with her arms folded. She had a grim smile on her face, which I couldn’t wait to knock off. Anger like never before rose up inside of me. I would have closed my eyes and counted to ten, If Jean-Claude hadn’t tried to push past me to get to them.
“Jean-Claude no! Please! we need to think this through!”
I was pushing against him, trying to hold him back alone, but he wouldn’t relent. Zerbrowski noticed me struggling and cam over with other plain clothes to help. I didn’t know how I’d managed to hold him for as long as I did one my own. Marks or no marks, Jean-Claude was pissed off and strong. Not a good combo.
“Jean-Claude, look at me, look at me!” I screamed in to his face, tears of anger for what had, and was being done to us, and tears of fear for Asher, were filling my already tired eyes.
Jean-Claude looked at me and I could see the struggle in his eyes. Obey his new lover and human servant, or run and help his old lover, renewed and second. Maybe it was the tears, but he gave in and stopped struggling. I knew he could have thrown Zerbrowski and the other officers off at anytime, especially when he was like this, but he had self control, where as I didn’t.
I made Jean-Claude look in to my eyes and I placed my hands on his face. His eyes filled slightly.
“I’ll sort this out, Mark my words!” I said through tears and grinding teeth.