Dragan's Redemption Book One of the Manor at Echo Lake Trilogy (11 page)

“Dr.
Reynolds
, Code Blue.  Dr. Reynolds
,
C
ode Blue
Room 625!”

Pushing all thoughts of Amira aside, Dragan leaped off the elevator
, tossing his coffee in the garbage before
running through the hallway to reach the room he was paged to.  Throwing open the door,
he stopped abruptly
.
 
There was no one in the room, except for a body, lying motionless covered by a sheet.

Stepping towards the bed, he was caught unawares by a figure
flying through the air,
grabbing
him
tossing
him hard against the wall.  Immediately in defense, his fangs came out, as he rushed the person, both bodies rolling on the ground until he finally had the upper hand ready to rip their jugular out
of their neck
.

Dragan felt
the body shaking
uncontrollably
be
neath him
and
his features relaxed
while
a smile spread across his face.

“You are such an ass.”

Standing to his feet, he stared at the figure below him
grinning as
a thi
ck
British accent reached his ears.

“And you
,
brother
,
are as gullible today as you were 3
30
years ago.”

Jumping to his feet the two brothers embraced enthusiastically before stepping apart.  Matching eyes checked the other out.

“Man you are looking old!”

Dragan burst out laughing at the old joke just as a nurse walked into the room.

“Oh, I am sorry, I didn’t realize anyone was……” 
Jennifer
stared at the two men in front of her.  They were identical in eve
ry way. 
Holy shit
,
she thought to herself
,
could life get any better.

“
Jennifer
, I would like you to meet my brother
,
Aaron.   Aaron, this is
Jennifer
, one of the best nurses we have here at Brigham.”

Jennifer
stood frozen in place as the identical match to her crush walked over, picking up her hand gent
ly
leaning
over t
o
kiss
it.
  Dragan thought that she was going to pass out right in front of him.

“Absolutely delighted to meet you
,
Jennifer
.”

Jennifer
’s hand fluttered to her throat.  “Oh my.”

“Indeed.”
  Aaron
’
s eyes looked sideways at his brother.

Laughing
,
Dragan chided his twin. 
“Enough
,
Aaron, before you give her a heart attack.”

“Oh, really
,
Dr. Reynolds, it is more than ok
ay
.”

“Well, it was really nice to meet you
,
Jennifer
, but I must catch up with my brother.  Maybe
we
will run into each other soon?”

“I certainly hope so.” 
Jennifer
stammered as she watched the brothers walk out of the room before collapsing on the bed.

Aaron and Dragan pretended not to notice the stunned looks of people as the
y
walked to
Dragan’s
office.  The
y
did not speak
aloud
, choosing telepathy
instead,
until they were alone.

“Strange people you work with.  Have they never seen twins
before?
”

“I have never discussed my personal life, so they are a bit shocked.
  Many of these people have
known
me for years
Aaron
.  Having my twin show up will be the talk of the hospital for many days to come.
”
Dragan grinned.

“
Identical
twin
s
no less
,
and w
hat
the hell
are you smiling about
now
?
”

“
It’s n
ice to have the woman’s attention diverted from me for a
change
.”

Aaron smiled broadly, as they passed the nurses station.

“Well I am the better looking of the two of us.”

“Dream on.”

Stepping into the waiting
room of his office,
he turned to his secretary.

“Carla, I will be in a meeting for the next hour. 
Please use your discretion in putting through any of m
y calls.”

Realizing she was staring with her mouth open at the two brothers
,
her face reddened.

“Yes, of course
,
Dr. Reynolds.”

“Carla, I would like to introduce my brother
,
Aaron
;
Aaron
meet Carla.”

Stepping through the office door, Aaron watched as his older brother, by one minute, drop
ped
into his chair.  Taking a seat on the couch he preceded to put his feet up on the coffee table, ignoring Dragan’s raised eyebrows.
  Both brothers shut off their
telepathy
closing their minds off from each other.

“Wow, haven’t done that in a long time.  Forgot how draining it was on the system.”

Aaron nodded his head in agreement.  There were many perks to being a vampire, mind reading being one of them, but using the powers too much or too often drained a vampire
,
causing a need to feed.

“You look good
,
Dragan.  Something is different about you though.  I can’t quite put my finger on it.”

Remembering Daphne’s comment, Dragan shrugged his shoulders.  
“
I am no different than
I was the last time you saw me
, you
either
,
for that matter
.  We
have not
aged
,
Aaron,
n
o new wrinkles
, no cancer or failing system
s
. 
Being 3
34
years old, w
e are perfect in almost every way.”

Aaron watched the anguish cross his
brother’s
face.
  Knowing it was a sore spot between the two of them, Aaron softened his tone.

“Still praying
,
brother?”

“Let’s not start that again.”

Dragan’s voice was clipped and icy.  Aaron got the point.  Dragan was not only his brother but also his best friend.  He could not believe that they
had not
seen each other since 1985.  As the years passed, the days seemed to go by faster and faster with time.
  He never meant to stay away this long, especially since it was his fault to begin with that they separated.  Their fight in ’85 almost severed their brotherhood completely
at the time
.  He wasn’t even sure what Dragan’s reaction would be to him returning.  He was very relieved at seeing the true joy on his brother’s face at his return.

Hearing Carla speak from the other room, he grinned.

“A call is coming through.”

Dragan made a face as
s
econd
s later
his phone indeed did ring.

Aaron watched his brother pick up the line while speaking gently to the person on the other end.  Admiring his people skills, he thought to the disagreement they had. 
Aaron was so tired
of
watching his brother spend hours in the chapel begging for mercy.  His intention
back then
was to have his brother accept his fate. 
Neither
one of them wanted to be vampires.  Both would have been happy living their lives, marrying, having children
, growing old and then dying
. 
Nevertheless,
that was not good enough for her.  His face hardened as he thought of his mother.  It was her spiteful nature and need to cast retribution on their father for taking up with another woman that caused her to turn over her sons to be sacrificed.
  She felt that she had given up everything, including her own family and ways to be with the man who she thought loved her as deeply as she loved him.  His father was a loser.  The drinking
,
gambling and womanizing eventually
caught
up to him. 
Nevertheless,
the sons did not
deserve
to pay for his sins
or hers for that matter.  Unfortunately
, her
family
came from a long
line of gypsies and witches. 
Retribution was the only thing that they wanted.
  That and release from an old debt to the ancient order.  The twin
’
s
souls
would erase that centuries old debt.  Win/win for everyone except for Dragan and Aaron.  The night they were taken was the most terrifying of their lives.  Three hundred years later, that memory still caused his stomach
to turn.  They were
34 to
the day.  Both
he
and Dragan were at the
ir
favorite pub in
Piccadilly
S
quare when
a stranger
approached them
, stating that their mother was seriously injured in a carriage accident
.  The two brothers ran to the address that was given to them where they were ambushed, beaten close to death
,
then bound and gagged.  Aaron remembered waking up first to find himself on
a slab of rock with trees all around them. 
His brother
,
still
unconscious
,
was lying
next to him. 
Both brothers were
no longer bound and gagged but
Aaron
knew
they were
drugged
as he felt
the world spinning around him.
  There was a ring of fire encircling the slab that he and his brother
were
on
and t
he heat
was
slowly making the stone
warm
.  Just as he heard Dragan moan
,
attempting to wake up from his drug induced state, Aaron heard a commotion and turning his head to the side saw a group of people dressed as demons dancing into a circle around him and his brother.  Two people where not dressed in
the hideous
costume
s
.  The man, who was obviously the leader
of the group
and his
mother,
strode to the center
.  At
first,
he wanted to call out her name, but upon seeing the look she gave
her sons
lying in front of her, he knew it would do him no good.
 

The beat of the drums grew.  Catching
Dragan’s
eyes, he saw fear there
,
and he knew his brother saw the same fear in his eyes. 

“What is to happen to us
,
Aaron?”

“I don’t know brother, but live or die, promise me we do it together.”

Aaron watched as a single tear slipped from Dragan’s eye before his face set, then nodded in agreement to the covenant.

With shocking
suddenness,
the crowd went completely quiet.  Both men
looked on
as the most beautiful wom
a
n
they had ever seen
entered the circle of fire
and approached
the
m
.  Walking in a
circle,
she reached out and ran her finger down first
Aaron’s
bare chest, then Dragan’s.  The touch felt intimate but made his skin crawl.
  Looking into
her
eyes all he saw was darkness
but even more terrifying was that he saw his own death.  Smiling
,
she
held
eye contact with him as she walked over to h
is
brother.  Waving his mother over to stand next to her son, the woman bent over and it was then that Aaron saw the fangs
,
and with horror he watched her drive them into his brothers neck.  She actually hummed as she slow
ly
fed from him
,
drinking deeply
of the blood
.  Aaron feared for his brother when he saw
Dragan’s
eyes slowly close and lose the connection with him.  After several more minutes, the woman pulled away from the now motionless body.  Shockingly
,
his own mother held out her arm to the lady
who was shaking her head
.  Taking the silver knife
that was handed to her by the Chief of the gypsies,
she made
a cut across her own wrist then held it up to Dragan’s mouth forcing him
to
drink.