Elixxir (The Brethren Series) (13 page)

Chapter Eleven

A distinctive aroma invaded Ariana’s swirling dreams, rousing her and teasing her to wake up and smell the coffee. Without opening her eyes, she reached up and grasped a hand holding a mug she knew was right under her nose. Sipping at the rim, she groaned her sweet pleasure and raised the curtains of her eyelids. Nathanael, crouched by her bedside, shook his head and laughed.

“Hey, you have your addiction. I have mine. Now release the mug, man.” She squirmed up to a semi-sitting position and raised her brow, waiting for him to relinquish his hold.

“I don’t know how you can like this stuff, but I figured you were probably a coffee kinda girl.” He let go and sat next to her on the bed.

“It’s the nectar of the gods. How can you, of all people, not like it?”

“I like beer. That’s my nectar.” He shrugged. “Spending centuries on the frontlines and covertly in black ops, I got accustomed to relaxing when I could with a beer. I don’t need caffeine to keep me awake, so it’s a waste.”

“Good point, I guess. So you’re military through and through, huh?”

“Yup, and this military man says it’s time to get up and uncover your father’s mysterious message. But first, about last night, Callie—Ariana…. Hey, what do you want me to call you?”

“I’m done with hiding behind a name. Call me by who I really am: Ariana. And Nate, your secret is safe with me. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you on the up side of this world. Okay?”

“Okay.” He cleared his throat. “I sure wouldn’t mind you doing whatever it takes if it’s anything like last night.”

She rolled her eyes and punched him in the arm. “It’s a hard job, but someone has to do it.” With her coffee in one hand, she managed to get out of bed without spilling it everywhere and headed for the bathroom. “Give me ten minutes and I’ll be ready.” In case he had any notion of following her, she locked the door.

Nathanael’s cell phone vibrated in his pants pocket. He had a text message. Gabriel. The new member of the Brethren had been chosen and he’d manifested earlier this morning. Gabriel had orders to bring the newbie to him for training.
Great. Not what I needed right now. A newbie underfoot
. His phone buzzed again.
Ah, his name is Yofi
. He texted Gabriel his location.
Then again, maybe another Brethren brain isn’t such a bad idea. He may be able to help us find the Elixxir that much sooner
.

***

Murati’s Curiosity Shop

Las Vegas

Eddie sat confidently in his chair in the back office. He hadn’t felt this great in years. Twenty, to be exact. He was a new man with a new agenda, and a new lease on life.
Screw the Marchese drug cartel and the rest of them douchebags, for that matter
! He would take each one of them down and have a monopoly without the fear of being killed in the process. He strode over to the wall safe and dialed the requisite numbers until a click told him it had unlocked. He carefully opened the door and took out a small, plain brass box. The patina spoke of centuries of weathering, beautiful all on its own. But the treasure it held inside spoke volumes more. He lifted the lid gingerly and gazed upon the most prized possession in the world. The Elixxir of Life.

A hard knock jolted him from his euphoria. He’d locked the door earlier so no one could disturb him, and chosen to keep it that way.

“Yes!” he barked. “What is it?”

“Mr. Murati,” Johnny’s deep timbre easily identified him. “The real clues have been destroyed and replaced with fakes just like you said to. I made sure they’ll send whoever finds them on a wild goose chase.”

“Excellent! You’ve done well, for a change. Go home.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Whoever sought out the Elixxir, and there were many greedy bastards out there like him still clamoring for it, would never find it now. It would remain secure with him forever. He closed the box’s lid and returned it to the safe, sensing youthfulness and vibrancy thrum through every cell and atom in his body. Finding the flask, using only the crumbs of clues Joseph had left behind, enraged him, but in the end, he had the last laugh—and a sip. He thought he could wait for Ariana to watch the ultimate insult, and he’d been so good for a while, but it proved to be too enticing and he’d taken a long swig of the bitter liquid a few hours ago.

Immortality is mine
!

Now, to tie up all the loose ends and find the bitch! And find her, he would. He blamed her for twenty years of fruitless searching for the damned thing. Dear old Watkins, the family lawyer, had been a surprising disappointment. Even to his dying breath, he wouldn’t divulge its whereabouts. Only that it remained safely with her.

He’d spent those twenty years paying off anyone and everyone who could give him the slightest clue where to find her. But the irony of it all? She’d put the nail in her own coffin! Just a few days ago she’d somehow revealed her whereabouts online. With her and anyone else who threatened his new existence out of the way, he saw his endgame clearly in sight.

World domination.

He looked at his reflection in the shiny blackness of the safe and grinned. Orbs of glowing red replaced his typical muddy brown eyes. His grin grew into a chuckle. And the chuckle erupted into a cackle of the most wicked kind.

***

“Well, now we know why my father gave us a specific time to come here,” Ariana complained as they stood off to the side of the entrance watching hordes of visitors walk under the Lion Habitat sign without a break in sight. “All these folks probably go eat at the
Dine With the Cats
lunch and show at that time. What are we gonna do?”

“No worries. I got it all under control.”

“Oh, really? And how do you think we’re gonna find that one loose wooden plank and get the clue while everyone is treading all over it?”

“Leave it to me. I’m an angel, remember? I have shields so no one can see me or detect me if I don’t want them to. An added benefit is that anything I touch is shielded as well.”

“Shields, huh?” She didn’t sound very impressed. “Okay, fine. Do your angel thing. I’ll just wait over here by the directory.”

She continued to surprise him with her nonchalant attitude. But then again, it made things a whole lot easier for him. He watched her plant herself on the ground to sit and wait by a huge sign telling folks where they were in the park. When traffic by the entrance slowed down enough, he shielded, made his way over to the area, and tapped each board under the marquee with his foot to find a loose one.

Under the L of “Lion Habitat”, he found it. Squatting, he touched all around the edges for some kind of handhold. There were none, so he opted for pounding a fist soundly on one side and up popped the other. He grabbed the plank, now at a peculiar angle to the ground, and held it steady with one hand as he dipped the other into the hole it had created. A few grasps at air and then he hit paydirt, a small metal box. He thrust it into his back pocket, replaced the wooden plank, and returned to Ariana.

He whispered in her ear, “Red, I’m right next to you. Only you can hear me. Walk to the casino exit. I’ll be right next to you the whole time. When we reach an alcove, duck in and I’ll unshield.”

“Gotta admit that’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, Nate. Or not seen, I guess. Do you have the clue?”

“I retrieved a small box. Don’t know if it’s the clue yet. Let’s move.”

She jumped up and started walking toward the exit. An alcove led to restrooms and telephones, so she turned in. After a few people strolled by, the area cleared, and he dropped his shields. He opened the box and a small, folded piece of paper rested inside.

“Let me scan this thing out before we read it, okay?”

“Sure, do what you gotta do.”

He unfolded the paper and closed his eyes, hoping the threads on this paper hadn’t degraded as badly as on the first one. Any residual threads of intent and motivation, anything that remained on the person’s mind when they wrote and handled the paper, would be sensed and understood by him. If he could, he would know immediately where the Elixxir lay stowed, saving them inordinate amounts of time searching for clue upon clue. He put a flat palm on its surface and rubbed.

“Shit and double shit,” he growled.

Ariana immediately grabbed the paper from his hands. “Let me see it.” She looked down and read the note. “What’s the problem? I know exactly where we need to go next.”

“It’s a fake. Meant to throw us off or lead us into a trap. Someone’s gotten to the clues and replaced them with their own. Damn it.”

“How the hell do you know that?”

“Can I have it back, please?” He held out his hand. “You took it from me before I could finish tracking the threads.”

She offered it back, silently cursing her impatience. He didn’t close his eyes this time but touched every millimeter of the paper.

“You see, the threads are too new and strong, and nothing like your father’s. On the last one, they’d been so eroded, but I could tell it was your father’s signature.” He turned silent for a few minutes, then continued. “Ah! Got it. I know where they all are, and there are four of them, but he’s changed them all. He went through his To Do List while planting this clue. The only thing of consequence is reporting back to his boss.” His eyes flew open and his hands dropped to his sides. “That son of a bitch.”

“What? What is it?” As if she hadn’t grown a hundred gray hairs already from the stress. His reaction wasn’t helping matters any.

“Come on. This bit of information is best told away from here. Trust me.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her back toward the exit.

“That bad?”

“Yes, that bad.”

“Shit,” she muttered as she let herself be led out of the animal park.
Now what
? What could he possibly have learned from the fake note? “Look. I think there’s an open bench over by that group of palm trees. Please, I can’t wait. Let’s go over there and you can tell me what you’ve found.”

“Fine,” he grumbled. “But remember, I wanted to do this privately.”

“Okay, okay.” She hurried them over to a partially isolated bench surrounded by shrubs and palm trees. The fronds gave them some relief from the strong rays of the sun, but when she sat down, the warmth of the baking bench seeped through her pants. “Well?”

He stared at her and took her hands in his own, caressing them gently, soothingly. “I know who’s after the Elixxir and who’s trying to kill you. In fact, I believe it to be the same person who killed both of your parents.”

“That’s great! I mean it’s not great that someone’s trying to kill me, but it’s great that you know.” Nervous as hell, her heart pounded through her chest. The hand massaging did nothing to allay her uneasiness. Butterflies still fought for freedom from her stomach.

“All right, out with it already!”

“I’m so sorry. It’s Eddie Murati.”

Stunned, all she could do was blink blindly for a couple of moments. Then, she came to her senses and decided to tell him her opinion of his conclusion. “That’s preposterous. You’re wrong.”

“No, I’m not. I sensed it clearly. The guy was headed back to Murati’s Curiosity Shop when he finished placing all the fake clues. And there’s another distinct sensory signature on the paper from the guy who wrote it. It’s laced with murderous intent, memories of a double murder, and images of a young girl. The paper itself contains threads of pure evil. I’m convinced it’s Eddie Murati and that he’s fallen under the hand of Satan.”

Sweat beaded above her lip. Although the heat of the day seared her skin, a cold chill fired through every nerve-ending, making her shiver involuntarily. Her stomach roiled and her mouth watered, not from the thought or smell of delectable treats, but from the nausea that threatened to conquer her reserve.

“You’re wrong. You’ve got to be wrong. Uncle Eddie wouldn’t kill my parents. He wouldn’t try to kill me.” With her head spinning out of control, she couldn’t fight the waves of sickness any longer. She jumped up, turning toward the bushes, and retched. On hands and knees, she continued until there was nothing left inside her. Physically or emotionally. Her gas tank read empty.

Strong yet tender hands grasped her arms, and she leaned into Nathanael as he guided her back to the bench. “Here, take a swig of water and rinse out your mouth.”

After pouring some onto a bandana, he handed her the bottle. Then, he took the wet rag and wiped down her face, just like her mother used to do when she was sick. She sipped a bit of water, swished it around her mouth, and spat. But it did little to clean away the vile taste of betrayal and utter disappointment in someone she regarded as family.

Nathanael didn’t speak. He didn’t try to comfort. He simply kept his distance. It was as if he knew exactly what she needed: space and time to absorb it all. How did one reconcile the duplicity of one who had been so near and dear? She rubbed absently at her heart. It literally ached. All these years she’d been pining away for a chance to reconnect with the only family she had left. And now, to know he had been the one to cause the cataclysmic change in her life shook her to her very core.

A strong breeze stirred, whipping her hair across her cheeks, temporarily cloaking her face from view. Underneath, her disposition changed. And when the wind blew the curtain of hair aside, she looked at Nathanael with a new resolve, a new sense of purpose and determination. She would turn the tables on dear Uncle Eddie and personally rip his life to shreds piece by piece. Until there was nothing left but to rot in jail forever.

Chapter Twelve

If mere intention alone could kill, Nathanael knew Ariana just handed Eddie Murati a death sentence. Her leg had brushed against his ever so briefly, and then she leaned against him, allowing him a glimpse into her state of mind. It was not a pretty place at the moment. He completely understood. He’d been there himself a time or two over the millennia. The hardest lesson to learn in life, no matter how long the life, was the idea that you couldn’t trust most people. Unfortunately, she’d been given that lesson more times than he cared to count, and he’d exposed the last link to her past as a fraud and a murderer. No soothing or comforting words would make the news any easier, so he sat there and watched her carefully.