Andrew: Lanning’s Leap: Erotica Shapeshifter Romance (Lanning's Leap Book 5) (12 page)

His body stiffened at her question. Yes, he wanted to scream at her, then demand that she tell him where he was. But he also knew that should he try anything so stupid as to do that, she’d close him down and hide his friend from him. But his excitement won out over his caution.

You know him? Where is he? Is he well? Where can I find him? Tell me now
. There was silence at the other end.
I’m sorry again. I have searched for him for many years, and I thought at one point him dead. Now I know someone that knows his whereabouts and I’m excited. You have no idea how hard I have searched. I miss him like I would my hand or my heart.

You’re not his maker. Or at least that’s what Cyrus told us. This other jerk is. And so you know, I’m going to kick his ass when I find him too. I’m going to summon him to me and kick the ever loving shit out of him.
He started to ask her how the hell she was going to do that when she spoke again.
He was hurting Cyrus, and I called him to me to save him. Cyrus was good to me when he wasn’t supposed to be, and I could feel his pain.

That’s not possible. You cannot summon a vampire to you unless he’s yours.
She told him that she had and that she would again.
Where are you now? I should like to see Cyrus and talk to him.

No. I don’t think so.
He started to tell her he damned well would when she spoke again.
For all I know you could be with that other shit, Martin whatever. Did you know that he’s trying to kill me? All because some chick told him to. Well, guess what? You and that guy can kiss my ass. You are not going to hurt me, and Cyrus is going to be safe. I’m going to make sure of it.

He loved this woman. Monroe had no idea why, but he had just fallen in love with her and her inability to be anything but respectful of him. She was feisty and full of indignation. Protective of things that were more than likely much stronger than her, and she was watching over his Cyrus. But he still was confused as to how she’d called Cyrus to her. He would find out, but now he only wanted to see his child.

My name is Monroe. I am his maker. If you would be so kind as to ask him about me, I know that he’d remember. Tell him...tell him that I miss him and his books. I have them still.
She was quiet again, and he wondered if Cyrus was there with her
. Please, I would very much be indebted to you should you do this.

I don’t know if he’ll remember you, Monroe. He’s had his mind fucked with by that bitch Sonya. And he has no memory prior to hooking up with Martin. But he’s my friend. And he’s saved me on more than one occasion now. So if you hurt him, or if you’re lying to me, you won’t find a hole deep enough nor will you ever be able to hurt anyone ever again. Do you understand me?
Monroe was humbled at her threat, and actually sort of frightened too.
I’ll tell him, but I’m not making any promises concerning him contacting you. Like I said, he’s had a rough time of it.

I understand. And when you summon Martin, I should very much enjoy being there with you. I have a few more things I’d like to speak to him about as well.
She said she’d think about it, and he felt the connection close.

That surprised him as well. He’d contacted her, not the other way around. Usually the caller was the only one that could disconnect a conversation. Monroe looked at the man on the floor and decided that whatever this female was, he was going to enjoy her taking on Martin. He only hoped that Cyrus was indeed safe.

He had been a vampire for a great many decades when he’d come upon the human. He’d been being hanged for a crime he had more than likely done. But there was a connection there, a great one, and Monroe had interceded on his part. Taken the man to his bosom as well as his bed, and they’d been together since. Monroe couldn’t remember a time when he’d not been in love with the other man. And converting him had been the only thing he could have done to save him.

When Martin came around, Monroe was waiting. It hadn’t been that long, ten minutes or so, but he’d done a lot of planning. One plan was to get the man healthy enough that he’d be around for a bit longer. At least long enough for the female to call him to her. And he’d taken his own precautions as well. He’d taken the vampire’s blood to keep track of him. When Martin shied away from him, Monroe laughed.

“You are in such trouble. You know this, correct?” Martin spit at him. He knew his mind now, and Martin had hoped that Monroe would end his life rather than keep at him the way he had been for the last two days. “You will not anger me now. I have talked with someone that knows you, and they are royally pissed. I think, if I were you, I’d find me a nice sunny place and have myself a sunbath. Until you are no more.”

“I’m going to be around for a long time, you son of a bitch.” Monroe snapped his fingers, and he watched as the man’s leg broke in several places. As he screamed out in pain, Monroe watched him. He also wondered of the woman Sonya and what issue she had with the female. There was much about her in the man’s head, and a great deal about a family called Lanning. As well as a queen. None of it meant anything to him, so he had no answers for the woman as to why Martin or Sonya was after her. “As soon as I come into my power, I’m going to fucking kill you with my bare hands.”

“You think so? I do not.” He snapped his fingers again and listened as the screams died down. “You see, I have made a decision about you. Not one that you’re going to like, but one that I think I shall enjoy a great deal. I am going to leave you to yourself. You’ll not be able to do a great many of the things you did before. I have taken the liberty, a small one as it turns out, and have removed your cock too. The raping of your children is done. You will no longer use that part of your body against them. And there will be no more feeding upon them either. That is, as you well know, strictly forbidden by our rulers.”

“I don’t give a fuck about rules that don’t apply to me and my needs. You will return me as I was before. You hear me? And stay the fuck out of my business. I will kill and fuck who I want.” Monroe said nothing, but Martin seemed to have plenty to say regardless. “I’m am not going to let someone like you destroy what I’ve worked centuries to achieve. Either end this shit now or you get the fuck away from me.”

Monroe was still laughing when he left the man there. His cock had been nothing to remove. It had been so small that he wondered how it had even functioned. No worries now. As he made his way to the outside, he was surprised at it being so close to the sunrise.

His home wasn’t close to here, so he made his way to an empty building to rest for the day. He could feel that there weren’t many people around, as early as it was, and he doubted the little burg got going much before six. There weren’t as many empty buildings as he’d hoped, but he did find one that was being renovated and moved to the sublevels there. He was just settling down, his body closing off to the world around him, when he felt a touch.

He will meet you. But I have to warn you, he doesn’t know who you are. Not really. He does have a fondness for books, that much he does know, and that he has received a couple of treasured ones from someone
. The female again. He asked her what she meant.
I told him who you were and that you had his books. He said that he has no books that he is aware of. Then as he stood here, he said that he had a bunch of first additions. Most of them had been given to him as gifts. But he doesn’t remember from whom
. That explained a great deal.
Are you sure you know who he is
?

He has a wide nasty scar on his neck. When I found him, he was being hanged. I know not what for, only that he was hungry and had more than likely been rightly accused, but I saved him from his death by converting him. It would be about an inch wide, no longer pink because of its age
. He felt her fear then.
Is someone there
?
Are you being hurt
?
I can come to you if you should need me to
.

No. I’m fine. I...he has a scar, but he said he doesn’t remember who did it to him. I have another friend that says she can help him. I don’t know if that will help or not, but she said she can have a look into his head to see if he’s been fucked with
. He said that he’d like that very much.
She won’t be here for a few hours. And Cyrus needs to go to bed, as I’m sure you’re aware of. I’ll let you know what I find out
.

Again, I am in your debt. Should you need me, for any reason, you have only to call my name. I can find you better with blood, but if you are in fear for your life, I will come to your aid
. She thanked him, and he lay back down.
I was wondering if you would tell me your name
.

I don’t think so. I have enough shit going on without you calling me too
. He had to smile.
I’ll let you know when I can. Like I said, he’s going to bed now
.

I understand. I am there myself
. She said nothing, but he could still feel her fear. If he knew her or where she might be, he’d have someone look over her. But for now he’d have to make sure she knew that he was there for her. Closing his eyes, he thought of Cyrus and how he’d found the man.

He’d been hanged, as he’d told her. His horse had been used for the deed. And the men who had strung him up had taken it upon themselves to rid Cyrus of his money, as well as his pocket watch. The watch even now hung in the house where they had lived for so many years. A treasure that reminded them daily of how lucky they were to have found each other. And Monroe had been able to save him.

Monroe had found it; the watch had been in the things that the men who had hurt his love had taken from him that day. They were long dead, of course, their lives shortened considerably when he’d found them in their beds.

Monroe was looking forward to showing it to his friend again once he was home. That was, if he could convince the female that he was indeed his friend and she allowed him to see Cyrus. Monroe rolled to his side, thinking about the woman once again as his body shut down.

Chapter 11

Laci held the small notebook in her hand and looked at the safe she’d just opened. There were...well, if she was honest with herself, she wasn’t sure what some of the things were. Even with the book to tell her what they were, she had no idea if the unknown item was a saveer or a dangel. Whatever the hell they were. There was an entire list of things she did know too. Others still that she had no idea how to pronounce. Money, however, she understood.

There were, so far as she could see, several stacks of one hundred dollar bills. She’d pulled one of them out and had counted a thousand of them in one bundle. She estimated that there were fifty of those bundles, as well as several bundles of twenties and even fifties. Laci looked up when Nildale came into the room with her.

“I found this.” He nodded and sat beside her. He’d come here earlier this morning, telling her that he had needed to get out and about. She wasn’t sure now that had been his only reason for being here, but she was really glad that he was here with her now. “You knew that I’d found this, didn’t you?”

“Nay, I knew that you found the combination. I had not realized that you knew about the safe until I felt the magic.” She asked him about the magic. “‘Tis full of it. Well not now, but it was. You have it now. I would imagine that it was meant for you to find, the way it surrounded you and not me too.”

“You gave it to me?” He shook his head at her and smiled. She wasn’t sure that she really trusted this man yet to ever touch her again, and if he gave her more magic she was going to use it on him to kick his ass. She looked at the safe again and decided to change the subject until she could wrap her mind around what she’d discovered. “I talked to a vampire today. I mean, I think he was one. He said that he knows Cyrus.”

“Monroe.” She nodded. “He is his maker. I wondered how he’d come to be with Martin, so I looked. Did you know that Sonya has messed with Cyrus’s mind as well? I will have Linyah look into getting his memories restored. It will do him a great deal of good to have them back. I cannot do it, as it will bind him to me. I don’t want that, and I would think neither does Monroe.”

“You didn’t say anything before when it came up that Martin claimed to be his maker. Why not?” She stared at the safe again. “There is a lot of money in that sucker too. Did you see it?”

“I did. I believe as the one who has opened it, the money and all contents now belong to you.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry child, but that is the way magic works. The finder keeps it. And in this case, you have hit the…motherlode, I think, is the term I need to use. But as for not saying anything about Monroe, I honestly had no idea who Cyrus had been created by. As I said, his mind had been tampered with, and I only thought to see who might have done it.”

She nodded. Laci knew that Cyrus was a friend of Nic’s, and more than likely he knew who had done the mind scrabble thing to him. Laci also knew that they were working on a timeline. Things happened, she was told, in an order. And to mess with that, even to help a man with his fruit salad mind, was to fuck a lot of things up. She looked at the safe again.

“You can have it. I gift it to you.” He smiled sadly at her this time. “I really don’t want it, Mr. Nildale. I really have enough of it right now that I can’t use.”

“Why can’t you use it? It’s there for you. All of it. I had wondered...you should use it, child. The money and the magic. It’s in abundance for you and should you need it, I think you will do well with the knowledge on how to make it work for you.” She felt her eyes fill with tears. “I do regret what I did to you that first day. I had only meant to help you...nay, that’s not right. I only meant to show off. To a human. It had been so long since I’d seen one, a wholly human being, that I was a smart ass and hurt you.”

“I thought you’d killed me.” Nildale nodded but said nothing. Reaching for his hand, she took it into hers. She needed contact with him for some reason. “When I was in the kitchen a bit ago, I thought about a chocolate chip cookie. You know the kind. Dunlap, Carter’s cook, makes them. I have never had such wonderful.... Anyway, I thought of one. Just one. Or a dozen.”

He laughed. “I often find that I cannot eat just one of them either. It is as if he had put some drug in them to make you crave more of them. I think I should like a tin of them now.”

It just appeared with them as she thought of the tin she’d found on the table when she’d thought of having one. Nildale looked at the tin for several seconds. Then keeping his hand wrapped around hers, he opened the box and handed her two of them. As if something like this happened every day.

“It does for me. Happens daily. I am not a man who does without.” He ate two while he spoke. “Once I tried to get this sandwich to me. I had no idea where it had come from. Kendra had been on this earth for a few days and had brought one of them with her to the castle. She, of course, shared, but I couldn’t get the thought of its flavor out of my head. So I did a search for any and all sandwich places around the Lanning compound. It was a large failure on my part.”

“I don’t suppose you thought to ask her about it.” He asked her what sort of fun that would have been. “I see. A man who likes to indulge himself, as well as a man who likes an adventure. So how many did you have before you broke down and asked her?”

“Seventeen. Some of them weren’t so bad. Others I couldn’t even take the first bite. There was one in particular that had cooked the tomato and lettuce right on the sandwich.” He ate four more cookies. Laci wondered if he ever put on weight. “I don’t. And neither do you. And you should also know that while I’m not looking in your head, since we are holding hands, I cannot help but see your thoughts on a less than personal level.”

She jerked her hand from his, and he laughed as he pulled it back to his. He asked her for more cookies, and she thought of the tin full to overflowing. Nildale said thanks and munched them down as they sat there. A glass of cold milk, too, appeared and she figured that he’d had something to do with that. Laci leaned back against the desk she was sitting in front of and looked down at the little notebook she’d found.

“It says here that there is over ten million in cash at last count. I think there is a little more.” He said there was. “Why on earth would someone put that much money in that thing and never use it? And the other things. I don’t understand what most of it is, but I’m sure that he could have used it as well.”

“I’m sure that he thought he’d live for a very long time. But, alas, things did not go as he had planned.” She asked him if he knew the person. “Nay, it’s there, in your head. You know of him. When you opened the safe, the contents not only held the things listed there but his story. Close your eyes and you can see it.”

She wasn’t ready for that and told him so. “I would like to know what you meant by the magic. You said it was there, it’s why you came here.”

“I knew of the safe and that you’d found it. Max had asked me to watch for it. I think he knows a great deal about it as well, but he told me that he didn’t know the contents. It was locked from him. I was only here in the event that it wasn’t what we had thought. It turns out that it wasn’t, but so much more. You are very gifted, child, because of this. As is Andrew.” She asked him what he meant. “The two of you are connected, in all things. You feel pain. He does as well. When there is magic given to one of you, both of you shall receive it. The knowledge on how to use it comes to both of you, and you will share that information as well. I can help you, and in turn, Andrew as well.”

“Help me how? And if you mean zap me again, no thanks. I might hurt you this time.” He nodded and ate two more cookies before the tin disappeared. “You shouldn’t be eating only sweets. You need real food.”

“I love sweets. All magical creatures do. Something about the drain on us that can be replaced by eating sugary things.” She asked him if he’d been drained. “No, I was just hungry for some cookies this time. But when you crave it, you should eat it. Your body will know when you are depleted.”

She stood up and looked deeper into the safe. It was a huge fucker. She thought it to be about six foot tall and about that wide. The doors, double ones that opened with a single combination, stood wide open now, and she turned on the flashlight that suddenly appeared in her hand. Laci didn’t even look at Nildale when he laughed.

“You are learning even now. Perhaps I was wrong to think that you needed my help. You might just be better at this than I first thought.” Laci told him she wasn’t so sure. “You are, my dear. Trust me, you are.”

There were vials of things, all of them marked and some in a language that she didn’t know. There were bars of what appeared to be soap and the label on two of them, bruyère it said, the French word for heather, was there as well. She wondered aloud what one would use a block of heather for.

“The seeds. Someone went to a great deal of trouble to dry them and then bundled them for the seeds. If you look at the bars, you can see that they’re wrapped tightly in some sort of mesh material and not something one would find in soap.” She nodded, seeing it now. Nildale got up and stood on the other side of her as they peered into the safe. “I see there are some other herbs too. Most of them gone from this realm but grown in fields on my own lands. I should think that you’d make a fortune on them should you start sprouts and sell them.”

“Do you think that is what the man was doing with them?” Nildale said that he doubted it. “Yeah, me either. If he had this much cash laying around to stuff in here, I’m pretty sure he could have afforded a double cheese burger and a large malt.”

“Yes, I would imagine that he could have afforded steak should he have wanted it as well. But heather is a big component in a great many spells. The things in the vials too are used in magic.” Laci looked at the stacks of other items, some of them wrapped in parchment paper, others in what looked like leather. Reaching for one of those now, she moved the knife on top of the pile.

She saw the man, the one putting the things in the safe, when she touched her finger to the long blade. He was sad, she knew as well. He knew that his betrayal, whatever it might be, was going to get him killed. She also knew in that moment what he was.

“He was a witch. A strong one it seems. And very sad.” Nildale asked her if she could see his face. “Yes. He’s older, gray hair and beard. But it’s well-trimmed, not like you see in the movies. His eyes are a brilliant shade of purple. He looks like he’s injured. I think he’s stolen the money and things here. Whatever he’s doing, it’s taken a great deal from him. I can feel his weakness that has little to do with his magical power.”

“He would be strong to have put his magic in here for safe keeping. And if he’s stolen the money, as you said, it more than likely is why he’d never gotten the chance to use what he has stored here.” Laci watched the man as he put more things in it. Then it occurred to her that she wasn’t watching him so much as she was doing it with him.

“I’m him. Before when I picked up the bracelet, I never realized that I was the one that was being hit. I just thought...I guess it’s silly to have thought that, but I thought that I was watching things from afar.” Nildale said nothing more as she saw the witch stacking money in the safe. “He’s talking. No, that’s not right. He’s putting a spell on things. I don’t know what he’s saying, but it feels like he’s putting the magic on each thing he puts in the safe.”

When he was finished and closed up the large doors, he walked to the far wall. She could see the rooms now; it had been a storage area of sorts. There were drying herbs hanging from the long wooden boards above her head even now. A bed was only a sheet lying over what appeared to be straw on the floor. There was even a fire ring, its flame small and smokeless as it burned. When he came to a mirror, an oval shaped one that she’d seen in one of the rooms on the upper floors, she looked at the man staring back at them.

“He’s older than I thought. I can see him now. He has lines beside his eyes, as well as his skin looks tired. He has been around for a very long time, and the years haven’t been good to him.” She wasn’t surprised when he reached up and touched his finger to his cheek that she could feel it too. “Nildale, I can feel him.”

“You have a connection to him now. Not just with the blade but with the things you found in his hiding place.” When the man began to speak, it took her several seconds to realize he was speaking in Latin. She translated it for Nildale.

“‘I shall be dead soon. Much sooner than I had hoped. But I have left you something. It’s there in the safe for you to use should you...you will need it. There is a man that will come to you. He will offer you so much but ask for nothing in return. Take his knowledge. You will need it.’” Laci felt something move over her and stopped talking to Nildale. The man continued as if he were speaking directly to her. “‘You are the soul of my magic. And when you are able to understand all, you will also understand the reasons behind the things that have been set in motion for you. Laci Lanning, you are going to save a great many people. And Nildale, the king, he will help you understand.’”

Laci felt the darkness simply swallow her up.

~~~

Andrew wanted to murder Nildale. Not that he’d hurt Laci, but because he’d been with her instead of him when she’d fallen ill. More than that, he wanted the man to suffer as he was. Laci wasn’t waking up and no matter what he did, she continued to lay there. Andrew picked her hand up into his and held it to his cheek.