Rafael (3 page)

Gordon Flanagan
disappeared into the building. With barely any light filtering through the
dingy windows, it took him a few seconds to adjust to the dark. Not seeing the
man, he stepped further into the dimly lit warehouse. Hanging from a rafter was
the twelfth missing delegate; his mouth covered with duct tape, hands bound
with thick rope. Both his body and head were hanging limp.

Looking around,
Gordon found the ladder the albino must have used when securing the man to the
beams. Carefully, he climbed far enough up to cut the rope. The lifeless body
dropped ten feet, landing hard on the concrete floor. A few broken bones
wouldn’t make a difference in the end.

For a few
moments, Flanagan just stared at the face that had haunted him for years. A
face he saw in the mirror every day. Nudging the body with his foot, he rolled
him over until he was flat on his back, hands that were still bound by the rope
lying askew.

Gordon bent down
and grabbed his cheeks with one hand and shook. “Wake up, Magnus.” Getting no
response, he slapped him across the face, leaving a huge hand print on his left
cheek.

“I said wake up
Goddammit!”  After another slap to the face, the man’s eyelids fluttered,
focusing enough to tell who was yelling at him.

Gordon ripped
the tape off his mouth, knowing the man wouldn’t scream, but even if he could,
nobody would hear him. “Hello, Magnus. It’s been a long time,
Brother.
”

 “Now, tell me
where she is…”

Rafe’s brothers
Dante and Gregor, along with their cousins Julian, Geoffrey, Nikolas, and
Mason, were standing around the conference room. Dante was the only one using
the family surname of Di Pietro. The others adopted more common, modernized
names when they left Europe. There were many more of their kind scattered
throughout the city and surrounding states. Rafael was their King, and he and
his circle ruled all of the Society in the Americas. His brother Sinclair ruled
over the west coast. Each led a team that took turns patrolling the city for
Unholy.

“Sorry I’m late.
I’m sure by now you’ve all heard about the killings at the warehouse. Dante,
what did you find out?” The men took their seats, and Dante confirmed what he
suspected earlier.

“I was right
about them being poisoned. It was a super strain of wolfsbane. It was injected
through the scalp making a puncture wound virtually undetectable.”

“Wolfsbane?
Isn’t that harvested in the Alps?” Julian was practically a walking encyclopedia.

“Yes, Jules. 
Someone would need resources overseas.” Dante confirmed his cousin’s question.
“I put in a call to the chief to relay this information, but I have yet to hear
from her.”

Still standing,
Rafe crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s because she was here.” There was
a rumble throughout the room that included a medley of
What?
Excuse me?
Here?
And, you’re fucking kidding me. Rafe waited for the surprised men to quiet
down. “Yes, I allowed an outsider in, but there’s a reason. A very good reason
and we’ll get to that in a minute. First, back to the murders. If Magnus
Flanagan is alive, we need to help find him. Gordon is going to cause chaos
until he finds his wife and daughter. If he has his twin, the turmoil will be
unlike anything we’ve seen in a long time. I just don’t understand why Magnus
would choose to surface now after hiding for so long.

“Julian, I want
your team to install security systems on all the warehouses. Have them monitor
the feed around the clock. If someone used our property as a dumping ground
once, there’s a chance they’ll do it again. Then I want you to personally
inspect the hotel. I want DNA samples from Magnus Flanagan’s room. Something
about him showing up in public after all this time doesn’t make sense. Even if
he were trying to draw his brother out, he could have done it in a more subtle
way.

“I will take
your patrol tonight. Mason, you’re with me. Dante, you and your crew take the
south, west, and east. Mason and I will take north.  Gregor, any rumors from inside
the Pen?”

“Some, but not
any we can verify as of yet. We should probably put someone undercover on the
inside. If Flanagan does have Magnus, we need to find his base camp and
quickly.”

“I think that’s
a good idea. We have been too lax in looking for him over the years.  I will
leave the details of that up to you and Geoffrey. Does anyone have anything
else?”

Nikolas spoke
up, “Yeah, why was the sexy chief of police visiting you?”

Rafe arched an
eyebrow at his cousin, “Sexy?”

Nik just
shrugged while grinning at him.

“Since you
asked, I require your help with the archives. I want you to look up anything
and everything that has to do with bonding to a human.” That brought on more
rumblings through the room, everyone asking questions at the same time.

He held up his
hands. When the men calmed down he continued, “Gregor and Dante, you two have
been around Chief Kane. Have you ever felt anything out of the ordinary from
being in her presence?”

Both men shook
their heads no.

“Frey, what
about when you trained her at the gym, anything?”

Geoffrey also
confirmed that he did not.

 “Earlier when I
returned her phone call, her voice alone caused the same type of stirrings that
are brought on by the nearness of one’s mate.”

Julian
clarified, “You mean you got wood?” This was not meant as a joke, and the other
circle members were equally as intrigued. Finding a mate as a Goyle was a rare
occurrence, and if there were any possibility of mating with a human, it would
be a blessing. It just wasn’t heard of.

“Yes, Jules. If
she could cause that type of reaction over the phone, I wanted to find out what
would happen in her presence. So I invited her to come to my office for her
interrogation. I just left my meeting with her before I walked in here.”

Gregor asked,
“How did that go? Were you able to control yourself?”

“It was very
difficult. Her scent alone is intoxicating, and when I brushed against her, I
thought I would pass out.  Nik, please go to the family library immediately and
search every book, every journal. I prefer to keep this between us for now. I
do not want to get hopes up where there are none.”

“You have my
word, my King; I will find an answer for you.” Nik bowed his head in respect.
Rafe did not rule with an iron fist nor did he expect to be put on a pedestal.
He treated his Clan as brothers, family. When one of them did bow to him, he
felt it in his heart. They loved him and would do anything for him. He was a
good and just ruler.

“Thank you my
brother. If there is nothing further, I am ready to hit the air.”

On their way out the door, Rafael stopped Julian. “I want you to get
me everything you can find on Chief Kane.”

Julian nodded, “Will do.”

Kaya could not
concentrate on anything other than Rafael Stone. Driving to the hotel, she
missed more than one turn. She finally pulled into the circular drive at the
Westwood Plaza, formerly the Westin. It was one of the few larger hotels that
had not been leveled in 2014. The area was slowly seeing a renewed growth, but
New Atlanta was not the international hub it had once been. She pulled her
cruiser to the front door and flashed her badge at the valet. 

Walking through
the sliding-glass doors into the lobby, she surveyed the surroundings. She had
sent another detective, Kyle Jorgenson, on ahead to lock down the hotel and
begin the initial investigation. Either he had all the news people tied up in a
room or the hotel staff had done an excellent job in concealing the
kidnapping.  She was certainly surprised to not see Katherine Fox nosing
around. 

Dane and
Jorgenson stepped out of the elevator together. As she approached them she
asked, “Kyle, what do we have?”

“The delegates
were to begin the day together with breakfast at 8:00. The Vice President, his
aide, and four others were the only ones in attendance. After waiting on the
other delegates for thirty minutes, Vice President Reed sent several of his
security detail to look for them. When there was no answer at any of the doors,
they alerted the hotel manager who gave them access to the rooms. All of them
were found empty. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary; all beds looked like
they had been slept in. The Vice President has gone back to his own hotel.”

Kyle had gone
over the security footage. Somewhere around one a.m. the video feed had been set
on a loop and then was reset around four a.m. That meant they needed to find
out what had transpired in the three missing hours. Whoever pulled this off
must have had inside help.

Kaya held a
printout listing the delegates in attendance. “I have already sent the list of
names of the deceased to the Governor’s office. I’m going to let him notify the
families. You two interview the staff and go back over the rooms when CSU is
finished.”

Dane took the
list and asked, “How did the meeting with Rafael Stone go?”

She pulled
another list out of her pocket and handed it to him. “He has several alibis for
the time of the murders. Call them tomorrow and set up interviews to get their
statements. Also, we need to find Elizabeth Flanagan and figure out why her
brother-in-law decided to surface now.”

“I will call the
people on the list but finding Elizabeth Flanagan is going to take time. I have
a lead to check out too, but I’ll wait to see if it pans out before I give you
the details.”

“Okay, call me
when you two are finished here.” She left them to their work and headed out.

Driving home,
her thoughts once again drifted to Rafael. Sitting in close proximity to the
man caused her pussy to throb with a need like she had never felt before. Being
a police officer was not a good occupation for a healthy relationship, and she
wasn’t the one night stand type. Many years had passed since she’d been with a
man. Being the chief of police was like a dating death sentence. She didn’t
have time to date, but even if she took time her choices were almost nil as she
refused to go out with anyone she worked with. The list of available bachelors
in New Atlanta was a short one.

Rafael was on
that list, as were his brothers, but dating a suspect went against all
protocol. Until he was cleared, he was off-limits. Besides, a man like Rafael
Stone probably preferred petite, frilly women over athletic tomboys. Her closet
was lacking in the fancy dress section. The policeman’s ball was the only time
she ever dressed up.

Kaya counted
herself lucky to have seen the man in person. He was an enigma, and rumors ran
amok from him being disfigured to hideously ugly to gay. Rafael was definitely
no monster. It was possible he was agoraphobic, but she didn’t think so. The
family built beautiful buildings including the state penitentiary that his
brother Gregor oversaw. One wouldn’t normally describe a prison as beautiful,
but the same ornate stonework was used on it as with the downtown office
buildings. If the newspaper reports were correct, Rafael and the Stone family
donated millions to local charities.

Kaya, having
arrived home, parked at the side of her two-bedroom house and shut the engine
off. She leaned her forearms against the steering wheel and clasped her hands
together.
Why him?
She was around men all the time, but never had one
affected her the way he did. She couldn’t wait to get inside, grab a glass of
wine, and strip down to her lace thong. She might not date, but she didn’t
deprive herself of artificial gratification.

Her modest home
was situated on the north side of town and sat back off the road. Tall oak
trees lined both side yards offering privacy from the prying eyes of neighbors.
If her neighbors could actually see, they might be nosy, but she lived in the
house she grew up in. The neighbors on either side were both getting on in age,
and the only things they worried about watching were The Golden Girls reruns or
the six o’clock news. Fifty years later and the four ladies of Old Florida were
still making people laugh.

Now inside, she
pulled off her boots and socks, scrunching her toes in the plush carpet of her
living room. She enjoyed the feeling of being barefoot because it meant she was
home. No boots meant she wasn’t in the office doing paperwork or at a crime
scene staring at the loss of humanity. Her father had been chief when she was a
little girl. He was outside Jonas Montague’s clinic trying to calm the rioters
when the first blast went off. Kaya was three at the time. She grew up knowing
she would follow in his footsteps. She had vowed at an early age to put away
every derelict in her city.

Opening the
refrigerator, she pulled out a bottle of Riesling and poured a tall glass. The
wine was sweet and tart at the same time. The cold hit her tongue and felt good
sliding down her throat. It quenched her thirst but did nothing to slake the
fire that was still smoldering between her legs. She double-checked the doors
and set the alarm.

Thinking of the
rugged architect and drinking wine was a dangerous mixture. Both caused her
body to heat from the inside out. Kaya sat her wine on the nightstand then
opened the window in her bedroom. The weather in October was a crap shoot. One
year it was cool with the next being humid. Luckily this year was pleasant. The
moon was almost full and was high in the sky, casting a soft glow through the
window into her room. The thin lace curtain was fluttering from the breeze.

Humming a tune,
she began removing her clothes, slowly, seductively, as if Rafael were
watching. Starting at the top of her blouse, she slid each button through its
hole. With a small shimmy of her shoulders, the top slid down her arms, falling
to the floor. Next she unbuttoned her pants and slid the zipper down. Slowly.
Hooking her thumbs under the waist band, she pushed them down her legs, letting
her hips sway. She stepped out of each pant leg and kicked them out of the way.
The clasp of her bra was between her breasts. Breasts that were now heavy with
need. Her nipples hardened as the silk material scraped across the sensitive
nubs. The bra landed on the floor with her shirt.

Kaya took a sip
of wine and touched the glass to one nipple, then the next. She watched as they
puckered even more. She downed the last of the fruit of the vine and let it
intoxicate her just a little more. Tossing the now empty goblet to her bed, she
allowed her body to sway in time to the sounds coming from her throat. She
released her long blonde locks from the band that held them captive. Shaking it
loose, her hair fell in silky waves down her back. Closing her eyes, she
continued to seduce her invisible lover, circling her hips just above his
ghostly lap.

She ran her
hands up her smooth stomach until she reached her aching breasts. Kneading,
rubbing, twisting, pulling, she could feel the wet between her legs at the
thought of Rafael’s mouth teasing each nipple while his hand found her core.
Her silky thong was soaked through with her juices. Kaya slipped her hand under
the material and cupped herself. Dipping two fingers between her folds, she
continued her slow lap dance for her absent tormentor. Thoughts of Rafael being
the one to pleasure her body stoked the fire in her belly, flames that were
ready to descend to where she was rubbing her clit. With a couple flicks of her
fingers, she moaned as she came.