Infinitas 1 - Warriors of Faith (13 page)

She ran her fingertip along the cold metal and nodded. »It’s really beautiful.«

Eva looked around Shia’s room while Shia changed his clothes.
She picked a delicate little bottle up off the desk.
The glass had a beautiful pattern covered in several small flowers.
She sniffed expecting perfume, but the scent that emerged was totally different.

»Cloves?« She looked over at Shia inquisitively.

He laughed softly. »Yes, clove oil. The swords are treated with it so that they don’t rust.
What did you expect?«

»Well, maybe a little Shia?«

He took the sword out of Eva’s hand and slid it into the black carbon sheath on his back and then brushed his thumb over her lips.

»You still don’t have enough of me?«

Without waiting for an answer, he kissed her on the mouth.

»Come on, I want to introduce you to my brothers.«

Channing walked into the meeting room with Sara where all the other warriors were waiting.
They looked up curiously to see if Sara was better.
When Maroush saw the healthy color of Sara’s skin, he smiled, but said nothing.
He would leave that to Jôrek. »Well, did you have a nice meal?« he asked Sara with his slight Finnish accent, who in response slapped him on the back of his head.

Maroush had hung the map showing the basic layout of Seattle up on the wall and was standing in front of it with Aragón and Ruben getting a closer look at the location of the club.

»Geographically, the location of the Empire is excellent.
The main entrance is on the main street, but all emergency exits are in the back,« reported Aragón.

»It’s no coincidence that there were so many creatures in that area the night we got those three,« added Ruben,

»Just as strange is the fact that the club has no bouncers.«

»They had security!«

Shia’s deep voice interrupted the group as he walked into the room with Eva.
Everyone turned towards them and took in Eva’s scent.

»I’d like to introduce you all to Eva Butler.
She works for the S.P.D as a profiler and is working on the same case we are.
I think she can give us some useful information and as you all can surely smell, she’s a human so I hope you’ve all eaten.«

Ruben laughed out loud as Eva reached for her Glock. The others also began to chuckle as Shia took Eva into his arms.

»Don’t worry, my love. I can speak for everyone in this room.
My brothers would never touch you.
I admit, it was a bad joke.«

He leaned down and kissed her lips. »I’m sorry,« he whispered quietly.

»And your sister?«

Sara stepped up to Eva smiling and held out her hand.

»Hi Eva, I’m Sara, Shia’s sister.
His jokes aren’t funny, and unfortunately he never notices.
Nice to meet you.«

Eva held out her hand and smiled shyly, pushing out her chin to show that she wasn’t afraid.
She wasn’t exactly in a relaxed mood in the presence of six large vampires, as if this were some sort of cake walk or something, but one by one, they all extended their hands to welcome her.

»What did you mean, they had security?« Aragón’s thick Spanish accent broke the silence.

Eva broke loose from Shia’s arms and walked over to the map on the wall.

»We found their bodies this morning.
They were in a dumpster behind the club.
Like all the others, their bodies were drained of blood and covered in bites.
I assume that none of you are responsible for this, so there must be someone out there systematically hunting humans.«
She put her hands on her hips, revealing the police badge on her belt.

»All of the bodies over the last few months have been found within a two mile radius of the club.« She ran her hand over the map and encircling the area.

»The creatures must have murdered those men when we entered the club.«

»Who owns the Empire?« interrupted Sara.

»We are checking that out.
Do you think that the owner has something to do with all this?« Eva looked around the room inquiringly.

»It’s possible,« Maroush said shrugging his shoulders.

»Everything does seem to be concentrated around the club.
At the first sign of blood, the creatures were coming out of the woodwork.«

»It would be good to know which buildings are in the area and who owns the property,« Channing added to the conversation.

»Could you find that out for us?« Shia was looking at Eva from across the room.

She nodded.
»I’ll have my people start looking into it tomorrow.
We’ve already got the operator of the club in our sights, although we still haven’t found out exactly who it is.
The fact is that ever since the Empire opened up, murders in that area have drastically risen.
That can’t be a coincidence.« The warriors all nodded in agreement.

»The club is closed on Monday nights.
I think we should take a closer look tonight,» said Shia decidedly.

»You think they’ll keep the place open after the murders?«

Channing seemed skeptical.

»Hey, they need new bouncers.
That’s the job Jôrek and I have been waiting for,« shouted Ruben with a wide grin. Jôrek grimaced. »Yeah, right. That’s exactly what they’re waiting for,« he growled in a bad mood.

»But that’s a good idea.
At least you’d make contact with the people who make the decisions at the club.
You’d have your foot in the door,« said Eva looking pensively at the group.

The men were discussing Ruben’s idea when Shia noticed Eva leave the room with his sister.
He thought for a second that Sara probably wanted to show her the house and then went back to the discussion.
The men were crowding around the map on the wall when Shia noticed two small bites on Channing’s wrist, almost completely healed.

»Was that Sara?« He gestured towards the bites with his chin.
Channing looked down at this wrist and nodded silently.

»What’s wrong with you two?« Shia took him by the shoulders and pushed him out of hearing range from the others.

»What’s wrong? You can see for yourself how Sara treats me.
I guess we can conclude that your clever book is not all knowing because a relationship between Sara and I is not going to work.
She made the commitment because that’s what it says in that damn book.
How can a serious relationship come of that? I’m sorry, but that’s not enough for me.«

Shia grinned. »Sara has a strong personality.
It’s not easy for her to accept a man.
She was alone for a long time.«

Channing shook his head.

»But the fact that I’m here is just a coincidence.
That much is certain.«

»Chance is destiny’s little brother.
Remember that.
This situation is just as new for Sara as it is for you.
You need to assert yourself.
She’s always been alone, so give her time to adjust to the new situation.«

»Well, it doesn’t seem like she was alone too long in Paris.«

»What makes you think that?« Shia looked at him in surprise.

»A guy she met in Paris showed up today and she was only able to get rid of him with my help.
It didn’t appear to have been merely a brief encounter.«

»What are you trying to say?« Shia’s voice thundered across the room and got the attention of everyone else.

A loud hiss emerged from Channing’s throat.

»I’m not implying anything, except that this soulmate thing is total bullshit. Where is this sacred book you protect so hard anyway? You’re constantly talking about it, but I’ve never actually seen it!« Channing punched his fist into the wall directly next to Shia’s head and the plaster crumbled soundlessly to the floor.

Maroush leapt over the table and landed between the two.
»Hey friends, easy now.
We don’t want to scare the ladies, do we?« He glanced towards the door just as Sara and Eva were walking in.

Eva was wearing black fighting gear, her Glock was attached to a belt and on her other hip was a small sword.

»Oh no, that is definitely not a good idea.
You better go change,« Shia said to her sternly.

»Hey, what’s all this macho attitude?« Sara stood up to him and when she saw the hole in the wall, she looked over at Channing.

»What happened? Can’t we leave you alone for a minute?«

»Eva definitely isn’t coming with us,« shouted Shia.

»Why not?«

»Why not? Because she’s a mortal!«

»Sounds like you think that’s something repugnant.«

Eva’s pride got the upper hand and she confronted the other warriors.

»I’ve been trained in close combat, as well as in using firearms.
So what could happen to me that couldn’t also happen to you?« Her eyes were shining at them.

»You could die!« Shia shouted hysterically.

»I also think it’s too dangerous,« Channing said in support.

»Don’t you think you’re overreacting a little?« Sara slapped him on the back playfully.

»You aren’t immortal either and if this is man against woman, may I remind you who saved your cute little ass last night.«

Channing gave her a dirty look.

»You can’t even compare them.
Channing is a novice warrior and Eva is a cop,« Ruben interrupted, the warriors all nodding in response.

»So I guess that means that you are all for Eva coming with us?«

Positive murmurs filled the room.

»There’s nothing to discuss.
Either I come or you stay her with me.« Eva stepped in front of Shia with her arms folded in front of her.
 

»Great, what’s all this unnecessary fuss?« Giving up, he shook his head and left the room only to return a few seconds later.

»Okay, you can come but only if you wear this under your clothes.« He handed Eva a bulletproof vest.

»We’re going to pay a visit to the club, so leave your weapons in the car. But don’t you dare leave my side otherwise I will kill you myself.«

»I can hardly wait.«

Channing smirked at Shia. » Assert yourself, how?« Obviously he wasn’t the only one here fighting against stubborn women.

Eva looked at Jôrek and Ruben and said, »Maybe you two should put on some normal looking clothes.« Ruben looked down at himself and laughed.

»Yeah, not such a bad idea.«

He pulled Jôrek out of the room by his shoulders and returned a few minutes later.

They had put away their visible weapons and traded the black cargo pants and sweater for jeans and a t-shirt.

Eva smiled calmly, gazing at their muscular build.

»Ok, I guess no matter what you guys put on you’ll be noticed.« Ruben smiled back at her.

»Maybe you girls should also throw on something a little more comfortable if you want to get into the club.«

Eva held her hands up. »Sorry, but I don’t think I should be seen there.
Just in case the department is doing an official investigation. Someone might recognize me.«

Shia nodded in agreement. »Good, then Aragón, Sara and Channing should have a look around there.
I’ll wait in the car with Eva and watch the club from outside.«

Channing waited a half an hour in the living room for Sara and was about to go looking for her when she finally came down the stairs.
She was wearing a tight shift dress, high heels and a silver chiffon scarf.
He was wearing dark gray slacks with a white shirt.
He practically stopped breathing when Sara turned around to say »Are you coming?« and he saw that her dress had a slit all the way down her back.

»Breath!« she called out to him and stopped in front of a white Audi TT.

»We’re taking my car.« She threw him the keys and sat down in the passenger seat.

When Channing made no attempt to move, she looked at him puzzled.

»You can drive, can’t you?«

»Of course!« He finally took his eyes off Sara, sat down behind the wheel and drove the car out of the garage towards downtown Seattle.

Shia noticed his sister’s car pass them slowly.

»That’s Sara and Channing. They’re parking in front of the entrance.« He said it loudly into the headset so that Aragón, who was already waiting at the club, would be informed.

»I like your sister,« stated Eva into the silence.
»There’s something graceful about her, but without being vain about it.
She’s beautiful.
Is Channing her soulmate?«
He nodded.
»Yes, but they’ve only known each other for a couple of days now and I don’t think it’s been so easy for them.« Eva couldn’t really follow him so he explained how Channing had come into the picture.