Immortal Heat (The Guardians of Dacia Book 1) (17 page)

She'd never seen her friend so hysterical. Tina, the bright light on any rainy day, was a mess. Slipping over into her side of the booth, Marilyn took her friend in her arms to comfort her. The waitress came with the hot cocoa and nodded towards Tina in a gesture asking if she was all right. Marilyn nodded and gave a half smile. The waitress retreated.

She gently patted and stroked Tina's back, trying to get her to settle down. Her sobs stuttered into sighs and she used her napkin to wipe her face. Still, Marilyn waited. What had this Gerlich done to upset Tina so?

"You know how we always thought vampires were so sexy?" Tina asked, starting to laugh in a hysterical hiccup. "Well, they aren't." Tina looked straight at Marilyn. "I swear, I saw this man bite the neck of another man…and then he bit into his own wrist and made him swallow his blood."

Sitting back away from Tina, Marilyn's mind went into a whirl. Memories of fanged people approaching her and exploding…running away…

"You don't believe me?" Tina asked, her lip snarled. "You of all people?"

"No. It's not that." Marilyn shook her head. "Did he see you?"

"You believe me? You believe that I saw a vampire?"

"Yes, I believe you but that's not important. Did he see you?"

Tina sat back, thinking. "I don't know. I made a gasping sound and he turned in my direction, but he was too far away and it was kind of dark. I was in shadow."

"Vamiers don't have problems with vision," Marilyn said, her voice distant even to her own ears. Vamiers? She knew the name or term…Her head throbbed and her insides turned warm—more than fever it was a raging inferno. "We need to get out of here."

"Why?"

"I need air…" Fishing a twenty out of her purse she laid it down, and leaving her hot cocoa untouched, she pulled Tina behind her and out the door. The frosty air did nothing to cool her down. "Meet me back at the apartment."

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Yes. Go on. Go straight there and lock the door behind you. Don't let anyone in other than me."

#

Running through the woods of Gambrills, Marilyn's heart rate sped. She knew she needed to run but what was going on inside her body didn't feel like it did when she was a wolf. Fleet of foot, her body adapted to every tree, every root, every outcropping of rock. Naked she ran through the woods, waiting for her body to morph into her wolf. She'd accepted her new change over the past week, realizing that her crazy dreams weren't crazy after all and that somehow everything would fit back together.

She continued running and waiting. Concern swelled in her brain when she didn't feel the change. Usually an image or a canine tic of muscular motion drew her into the first signs of transition. This time there was no wolf. The edge of the cliff was only yards away. She knew the area. She'd come up here many times on hikes to look out over the valley. It was a helluva drop with sheer sides straight down. Her mind slammed into her, telling her to stop, but an involuntary force had her going at a dead run. Panic laced through her as her nervous system played havoc, fighting both her voluntary and involuntary nervous system.

Her legs didn't stop, her heart sped up and her brain screeched at her, but instead of a feminine scream the screech of a beast erupted and her body launched itself off of the cliff. Squealing, Marilyn hoped to God this was a dream and she'd wake up. The sound of her voice continued as she fell…and the screech turned back into a scream, throwing her into a semi-conscious state of waking.

She didn't stay asleep long enough to sense the unfurling of magnificent, blood red wings behind her, keeping her aloft.

#

Draylon woke with a start. He wasn't sure what roused him but the phone next to him shrilled like the shrieking call of a Zmeu. Lifting his head off of his desk blotter, he rubbed at his eyes and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Dray, we have a problem and I need you to see to it ASAP."

He looked at the caller ID. "Rick? What's going on?"

"Who would be the best contact to handle a Vamier situation in the United States?"

"Depends whereabouts."

"We have alerts of a massive blood bank take over in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area."

"Isn't Mike Linder on the case?"

"Yes. But I want you there also. There's a possibility we might be dealing with one of Aiden's top henchmen, Gerlich. You know of him?"

"Yeah, I know of him, former Nazi soldier that turned vamp back in 1940. What happened to Trevor? He's usually handling Aiden's deals."

"Reports have it that Trevor is no longer Aiden's number one. Seems there was a falling out when he couldn't capture Marilyn Reddlin and bring her in. Gerlich is now in charge of Aiden's United States operations."

"Sonofabitch. And I trusted Trevor more."

"Exactly what I thought." Rick sighed. "That's not all. There are human lives at stake. Remember me telling you about Christina Johnston? They moved her from the Towson branch to the Frederick branch of the blood bank. Gerlich is up in Frederick, working over the blood storage. She may be in danger if Gerlich gets to her. Not only that, if Gerlich finds out she's friends with Marilyn, both will be in danger."

"Fuck."

"Yeah…I knew sending Marilyn back prematurely was a bad idea. I still don't understand why you didn't wait for my instructions."

"Because I got tired of waiting, Rick. She was in danger here with me. I couldn't hold out without giving in…if you get my drift."

"Yeah, I got your drift and if I hear you talking about 'your drift' where Marilyn Reddlin is concerned, I will personally lop it off. I don't want to hear it…ever! You got that?"

Draylon removed the phone receiver from his ear and looked at it as if Rick had just jumped through it to grab him by the throat. "I've got it. Rick, what is up with you? Ever since this whole fiasco with Marilyn Reddlin came up you've not been yourself."

"What's up with me? Putting up with more shit than I can right now. Oh and to add the proverbial cherry on top, I just found out that my chief financial officer is MIA. She told her staff I asked her to join me for a business conference in Europe. Funny thing about that…no one informed me of any business conference. The last I knew she'd called me to see if I could find her daughter."

"And did you?" Draylon smirked, knowing damn well that Rick hadn't informed Diane Reddlin of anything.

Silence. "It wasn't the right time."

"Nothing is the right time with you anymore, Rick. And it's making some of us edgy. You need to come clean soon or all hell is going to break loose."

"Hell is breaking loose, my friend. Unfortunately it's not in my power to stop it."

#

Why was Rick involving him in all of this right now? Everything had been going well lately. He'd managed to get Marilyn back to the states and was on his way of trying to forget about her. Now, he was going back into the hell he'd just gotten himself out of.

Draylon managed to contact his friend, Mike Linder, a former Navy SEAL, circa Vietnam era. The man had been the leader of his SEAL Team and lost them all in a rescue mission gone bad. On top of that, he'd been turned by one of Aiden's vampires—without permission.

When they'd brought him in to the mobile medical facility he'd been in a bad way. But the post-traumatic stress disorder he suffered made his eternal life a living hell. The man never got over losing every member of his company only to remain alive.

"I'll get over there as soon as I can," Mike said as he relayed the message from Rick.

"Don't go in there all Rambo on me. Just keep things in check and report to me when I show up. As long as no humans are being harmed, we can deal with it low key."

"Gotcha. Any humans in the equation that I need to keep an eye out for?"

"We have a civilian who might be at risk. The blood bank accountant from Baltimore was recently relocated to the Frederick branch. Her name is Christina Johnston."

Mike snorted over the phone. "Any relation to Doc Johnston?"

"Matter of fact she is. She's Jon and Claire's daughter."

Mike swore. The 'f-bombs' heard around the world via satellite right now would have brought about World War III, if they were fatal.

"Just keep an eye out for her. I don't think she's in any danger right now, so relax." Draylon looked at his watch as his jet took a turbulence bounce, reminding him of flying with Marilyn from Timisoara to Cluj. "Watch out for her friend Marilyn Reddlin, too. You know how women are, if one goes to the ladies room…they all go."

"Marilyn Reddlin? God, don't tell me she's related to Diane 'the bitch' Reddlin."

"One and the same."

"Is there anyone who isn't related to half the humans we know?"

"Right now? No," Draylon said, yawning. "I'll be landing at Frederick's airport around five o'clock tonight your time. Keep me posted on surveillance and I'll meet you there."

"Will do. Catch some zzzs man. You sound like your bleeding from your eyeballs."

"You should see them from my side." He snorted. "Hey thanks man, I appreciate your help in this situation."

"No problem. I've got your six."

Draylon switched off his mobile and let the pilot know he was off cellular connection. He still didn't understand the military lingo Mike would throw at him from time to time. But he knew his 'six' meant he had his back. Good, because his back was getting pretty, damn sore.

Putting his reclining passenger seat back, he tried to relax. He hadn't had a chance to do so in weeks, not since before he'd sent Marilyn back home. He'd worked to erase her memory and those of her closest associates. Tina Johnston had been a bit of a challenge, much like Marilyn had been. But he'd managed to cause her a bit of a memory lapse, hopefully it was enough to convince Marilyn. He was thankful for Nonni having the foresight to instruct him to take Marilyn to his Austrian home, Eskardel. Very few places in the world provided the ability to stop time—the Bermuda Triangle, Easter Island, Stonehenge, Hoia Forest and Eskardel, his home in Austria that he named after his family mountain home.

Time, as mortals knew it, didn't exist in these places and he was able to keep Marilyn from losing time as she knew it and take her home within only days of her original travel schedule. One in which he and Rick took great care in deleting from her past.

#

Marilyn had that damn dream again, the one where she was soaring above the clouds. It wasn't as bad as it could be. She knew she was dreaming. It was the dragon dream. She'd managed to finally leap without screaming herself awake after the fifth time. Now she accepted the fact she was a blood red dragon with an emerald stone in her forehead. It was kind of sexy in a way. Like a piercing of the belly button only about seven feet higher.

She had a wingspan that could encompass the length of the Raven's football field. She found that kind of cool. Her tail had a mind of its own though—taking out trees and half of the ground she traversed. But it made for a great stabilizer. It had taken her a while to figure it out but once she did, flying had a whole new meaning for her.

Her nostrils flared as she picked up a familiar scent. She followed the aroma like a homing beacon, around another ridge that wasn't a familiar Maryland landscape. No, this one looked like steep Alpine slopes of snow and ice. Still, something kicked in her head that she knew where this was. A screech echoed off the rocky terrain. It wasn't her. She'd flown into a flight pattern of another dragon…a black one nearly two feet taller and broader than her own form.

The creature sported a glorious wingspan. A vibrant, electric blue gem settled between fiery red eyes. He stopped in flight, nearly upend on his spaded tale. His head cocked to the side and he screeched at her. She screeched back, not having a clue what either one said.

A chuckle erupted in her dream and a familiar voice in her head spoke.

No way.

I told you there was a dragon
, she responded.

The dragon took off but stopped to look back as if to lead them on a chase. Marilyn was game. Sure. This was her dream, she could chase dragons if she wanted to.

He led them to a forested alcove and landed gracefully as if a bird on foot. She hadn't quite mastered her landing skills yet but followed as well as she could. He waddled around, knocking over a few pines and breathing fire on them to break the trunks in half. She joined in the fun and soon had a good size pile of timber. Her flaming breath gave her a whole new meaning to heartburn.

Her raven colored friend set the pile to blaze and walked away a few feet. When he returned, there stood, the man she'd been looking for. He was naked, handsome and the smile on his face, something she'd never witnessed. It was as if he'd never been happy until this moment. Did seeing another dragon make him happy? Maybe in her dream there weren't many dragons.

She found herself shifting and standing before him au natural. She didn't have a care in the world as they stood smiling at each other across the fire.

Welcome to Eskardel, Marilyn.

What is Eskardel?

My home.

Marilyn awoke from her dream…crying with joy.