Blood Lust (20 page)

The fire felt so good as she sat there in the comfy chair, and the slightest smell of Devon from his coat she still wore was comforting. Hearing Anton’s voice in the background was the icing on the cake and she melted into the chair, closed her eyes, and fell fast asleep.

Chapter 17

Darby woke with Mr. Chow next to her on the comfy chair in front of the fire. The sun was now low in the sky and Dominic and Anton had left the room. She jumped up, scaring the heck out of Mr. Chow, and was on her feet in an instant hunting the two men down in the house. As she searched the house she looked at her cell phone to see if she had missed any messages and to see what time it was. It was six P.M. She started panicking. “Anton. Anton, where are you? Anton.” He appeared at the top of the stairs.

“It’s all right, Darby. I’m right here. Are you okay? We thought we’d let you sleep,” he said as he descended the stairs.

“Please don’t. I don’t want to be alone. It was comforting hearing your voice.” He put his arms around her and held her.
Oh God
she thought,
how long had it been since someone had held her like this?
It seemed like forever. She stood still and relished the comfort of his arms and the sound of his heart.

He said as she didn’t move, “Are you all right, Darby, really?”

“What? I’m sorry, I…it’s just been so long since anyone has held me. I forgot…never mind. So what did Blake say?”

“He’s coming.”

“To help or to be a butt?”

“Probably a bit of both.”

“And Rowan?”

He shook his head. Her heart sank. “Dean?”

“Yes, he’s coming too.”

“When?”

“Red eye. They’ll be here in the morning.”

“Blake didn’t believe you, did he?”

“No, but I’m hoping when he sees all the paperwork and research you did, he’ll change his mind.”

“So he’s really just coming here to get in my face.”

“Probably a bit.”

“Great. Just what I need! I’m so sick of trying to convince people. How easily all of you just assumed the worst about Devon! Especially Blake. I’m tired. I just want this to be over.” She held her head for a minute and then said, “Did you get anywhere with the list of pure bloods?”

“Yes, actually. Dad came up with two names not on your list. He’s having some staff at the office look into anything odd concerning the men. They are to report back if the men have been seen by others in the office in the last month or so. If not, we may have our other addresses.”

“Since Dominic knows most of these people, he could feasibly call these gentlemen too, without anyone feeling it was odd, right?”

“True. What are you getting at?”

“I’m thinking that if he calls all these gentlemen and is able to talk to them, number one, we’ll know they are all still alive; and number two, we’ll know where Devon isn’t.”

“Okay. I see what you are saying, but it doesn’t tell us where he is.”

“True. Unless we find another address that we can’t account a pure blood for, I’m guessing he is at Openheimer’s house in Fairfield. I’m going to call Mark.” She pulled out her cell phone and began to dial.

“Mark? How are you doing? You must be exhausted.”

“Getting there.”

“Anything new?”

“No, we’re back in Fairfield.”

“Dominic came up with two possibilities. Robert Ross in the Hamptons and Carter Peterson of New York. Do either of those ring any bells for you?”

“Hmmm . Not sure. Neither name seems to strike any chord but the Hamptons came up a couple of times in my searches. What about help? Any coming?”

“Dean’s coming.”

“Not the witch or your sister, huh?”

“No.”

“Anyone else?”

“Blake, but I think he’s just coming to put me in a loony bin, not to help.”

“Can we do this with just us and Dean?”

“Oh no. You are not going to get yourself into this mess. I’ve already gotten you too involved in our family problems. Once you’re done tracking her, you’re going home, Mister.

“Dean and I will manage. Maybe Dominic will help. I don’t think Anton has the stomach to kill his wife or be involved in doing so.”

“You’re going to need my help, Darby. You need all the capable bodies you can get.”

“I’m hoping to persuade Blake once he’s here and sees the evidence for himself. He might even listen to you, but probably not me.”

“When are they coming?”

“They’re taking the red eye in and will be here in the morning. You’re welcome to come here when you are done there.”

“I’ll call you if I find out anything else.”

“All right.” Darby hung up the phone and looked at Anton.

“Nothing new. They are back in Fairfield at Openheimer’s.” Just then Dominic walked in.

“I just found out from one of my sources that Robert Ross hasn’t been seen in the office for at least a month now.”

“Then that has to be the last one. I just got off the phone with Mark and he didn’t recognize the name, but said that the Hamptons had come up in his records a couple of times. What I’d like you to do, Dominic, is call these guys, all six. See if you can actually talk to them. That way we know that all of them are still alive. If we can get them all on the phone, then we know Devon has to be in Fairfield.”

“Okay, I’ll get right on it.” Dominic left the room again. Darby pulled out her phone and texted Mark.

Mark

No one has seen Robert Ross in a month. The Hamptons has to be our other address. Dominic is calling them now to see if he can talk to them.

Darby

Darby walked out of the library and found Anton, hands in his pockets, staring out the huge glass wall where Darby and Bernard had watched the snow fall a few months ago. “Anton? Are you okay?”

He turned and smiled. “Yeah, I was just thinking.”

“What about?”

“How lucky Devon is for one thing. You’ve stuck to your guns through all this for him, not knowing if he was alive or not, or even if he betrayed you. He’s very lucky to have someone who cares about him so much, enough to lose your own family, and everything you’ve worked so hard for. Not many people would do that for another.

“I, on the other hand, have someone who left me for dead, taking my cousin in my place. How many people has she hurt, killed, or committed? Forty years of my life with someone who never loved me; just wanted my name, my blood, my…someone who was so selfish that she wouldn’t even allow me to be happy with someone else. It’s all so overwhelming. How did you stay so strong, through this, Darby?”

“I don’t know, Anton. Guess I’m just stubborn…or crazy. I’m certainly not looking forward to another round of this with Blake. And who knows, Anton, another month of this, I might have been calling it quits myself. I can’t say. I know I’m tired of fighting. I’m tired of being so alone. I’m tired of defending myself and Devon. I’m tired of not having a home, a real home and a best friend to talk to. And I’m so tired of being sad. I miss my big fat cat, Harry. I’m not sure I would have survived much longer, Anton. If this doesn’t bring Devon home to me, I’m just not sure I will survive it.”

“Please don’t say that, Darby. Dominic and I will be your family, always. You’ve been the optimistic one for so long; don’t let that go just yet. I’ll deal with Blake. Just don’t give up yet. Despite the way people are acting, they do want to see Devon come home. They just don’t believe like you do. Whether Blake helps or not, I will do my best to help. I may not be able to kill her, Darby, but I can certainly keep her from killing you, Dean, or Devon. Okay? We’re in this together. You saved my life, not too long ago. I won’t ever forget that, and I won’t ever stop being grateful for the sacrifice you made in doing that for me and for my family.”

“Thank you, Anton, for believing in me.”

Chapter 18

Mark was able to have a buddy take over the stakeout and headed to Westport to take Darby up on her invitation. It was nice to finally put a face with a name. Anton and Dominic were very pleasant and hospitable to him. They all had dinner together and Mark filled them in on what he had found out from his buddy when he took over.

He too had confirmed that it was very likely that Robert Ross was the next address. The only unknowns were if there were any others they didn’t know about, and, of course, the exact whereabouts of Devon.

“Is there any way we can search the Openheimer house without her knowing we were there? My worry is if we go crashing in there and Devon isn’t there, then she knows we’re on her tail and she disappears again and we have nothing. Sure we will have saved the six vampires, but we won’t have saved the one we were trying to save,” Darby asked.

Mark said, “Well, that’s why we are still tailing her. This is what we know. Exactly every seven days, she goes to one of these houses. She never does more than one house at least not that we’ve caught her at yet. So it’s easy to assume there is a man to drain for every day. The only house she goes to in between is the one in Fairfield. That house makes the most sense for Devon to be at. All the others are residents who are more or less willing participants. Like Darby mentioned to me, If Devon isn’t a willing participant, she couldn’t leave him alone for seven days, without him healing himself and escaping, and she’d have to make her feedings more often on him.”

“So what would your plan be then?” Anton asked Mark.

“I say unless my man finds Libby going somewhere unexpected tonight, we go to Fairfield when she is not there. Grab Devon and get him to safety. Dean, Anton, and hopefully Blake can take care of Libby when she shows up.”

“What if she suspects and goes after Devon?”

“I don’t know, didn’t get that far in the plan. I’m up for any suggestions.”

Darby said, “We could take Devon to my house. Libby would have no idea that existed. She would assume we’d take him to Westport. I don’t think she knows Anton is alive and I don’t think she will be expecting a werewolf.”

Mark said, “You don’t know that, Darby. She may very well know you are there. If I were her, I’d sure as heck keep tabs on where you were.”

“He’s right, Darby. I too, would keep an eye on you if I was worried about Devon being found. I doubt she thinks you’re capable of what you’ve uncovered, but I’m sure she considers you a problem,” Anton said.

“Okay then, what if we don’t get him clear of the house, we just go in there and take her on and I keep a bubble around Devon and help where I can?”

Dominic said, “Keep a what around him?”

“Oh, I’m sorry; you’ve never seen any of my powers. Mentally, I can project a force field around someone or myself. I don’t know if I could keep her out of it, but Blake says it’s pretty strong. He helped me perfect it. At first, I could only use it like a wall to protect myself or in throwing someone back and away from me. When Mr. Paine, the guy that killed Mr. and Mrs. Bloomington, sent some men after Devon and Blake, I kind of accidentally threw one of his goons back into a tree, killing him. He had shot Devon, and well, I…I didn’t mean to kill him, but I had never used or even knew I had the power at that time.” All three men stared at the skinny, fragile Darby. She guessed they couldn’t picture her killing anyone or having such an amazing power.