One Thousand Years to Forever (8 page)

As soon as Katherine and the girls
drove away from the house, Colum was under Katherine’s SUV hood
fixing the problem quickly. Getting out he went around climbed in
and started it up. Standing up straight he pulled out his phone and
hit speed dial to Travis.

Hearing his butler come in, he
said, “Travis, bring up the surveillance screen up on my
Rover.”

“
I have it already,
Sir.”

Colum rounded the corner off of
Russell Avenue onto Bay View Street. “I’m almost home. I want her
watched the entire time.”

Colum pulled up to his gate, pushed
the button that moved the rock aside and a screen appeared. He
touched the screen to identify his fingerprint, then the screen did
a scan of his eyes. The gate opened and in he drove in. Glancing in
his rear view mirror he saw the gate closed fast.

Getting out, two men met him. “How
fast can you be on the road and following my Rover?”

The men, who were almost as big as
he was, both smiled, “Right now, Colum.”

As he walked towards the house,
they walked alongside him, all three, matching strides. “Follow
Katherine, keep a distance but keep her safe. I don’t want anything
happening to her, or anyone getting near her.”

The lighter colored of the two
brothers, Thor, glanced over at Colum. “Do you think there will be
others?”

“
Probably, not today, but one
never knows. Regardless, I don’t want her alone. She is to be
protected all of the time from now on. If I didn’t have that
Council meeting to go to I would protect her myself.”

The other one, who matched Colum in
size and girth, spoke. Odin normally was the quieter of the two
brothers and spoke very little. “She will be protected like she is
one of us.”

Colum got up in his face. “She will
be my wife again and someday your Queen, protect her as you would
any of my family.” The look he gave the men was not one they saw
often, but they knew he would easily take out anyone who didn’t
listen to his orders.

Odin was the darker of the two
brothers, and he knew Colum as well as he knew his own brother.
Colum had always been a fair and brave commander. He asked for
nothing that he wouldn’t do himself. He felt no malice towards
Colum for the threatening glance he gave both of them. On the
contrary, Odin only respected him more.

Both men stood straighter. “We are
on it. Sorry, Sir, bad choice of words.”

They both turned and went into the
garage door. A moment later a vehicle came out, a Humvee, one that
looked beyond menacing, stopping next to Colum.

“
I’ll have the screen up and
running at the meeting. You can communicate with me at any time,”
Colum told them.

“
Yes, Sir,” the brothers said in
unison.

They drove up the drive and out of
sight.

Colum turned and walked towards the
house. The door opened and Travis stood at attention.

“
Sir, coffee is to be served in
your study for the meeting. Your father will be down in twenty
minutes. The Council meeting is in less then one hour.”

Both men walked through the door.
Turning right, Colum walked the long hallway. On the wall that was
dimly lit were priceless paintings. Colum stopped, turning he spoke
to Travis, “Make sure we can keep a visual on her the entire time
she is driving. Have the 360 degree camera going on in the Rover. I
don’t want anyone near her. If there seems to be anything of a
threat, well, you know what to do.”

“
Yes, Sir.” Travis went straight
through a doorway, down to the cellar. Colum took a left down the
few stairs to the living area and kitchen.

He paused for a moment at the
kitchen counter, where he grabbed a mug. It had been Katherine’s
mug. Picking it up, he could still smell her from just her drinking
her tea from it. She had been happy and slightly aroused. He was
glad he wasn’t pushing it. He wanted her to become attracted to him
on her own, naturally. Though he found it extremely hard to hold
back.

“
Colum... ”

Colum turned to the sound of his
father’s voice.

“
We will be meeting in the Council
chambers in thirty minutes, instead. There are many things to
address today. I wanted to get an earlier start.”

Colum found he was holding the mug
so tight he could have broken it. “Has there been a positive ID on
the man who was parked at Katherine’s?”

“
Yes... ” Cormac dragged out his
answer. “We know he was from a Tunisian cell. They are probably
sending another since I am sure if he didn’t report in they would
have become suspicious.”

“
I have Travis’s nephews following
her today.”

Cormac went to the stove and turned
on the water in the kettle. He liked doing little things like this
rather than always waiting for a servant to do things for him. “Cup
of tea?”

Colum brought Katherine’s mug and
placed it on the counter. “Yes, I will pour out the tea for us. I
hope you don’t mind mugs. The day begs for a mug rather then dainty
china.”

Cormac laughed his deep rumbly
laugh. “It’s hard for warriors such as we to use anything dainty.
Though don’t suggest anything like this to your mother, she would
have your head if you were to make such a suggestion.”

Colum smiled. “I wouldn’t dream of
it. Mother is, well mother, and she will have her tea proper like,
though if you were to give that spiel around her about
warriors
such as we
, she will have your head. She is as battle hardened
as any of us.”

“
Yes and that’s why she deserves a
rest. Considering how old she is.”

“
Yes, and still so beautiful...
”

“
Well, I am glad you think so...
”

Both men turned to see Elsabet
standing there in her flowing, deep blue velvet dressing gown
on.

“
Darling, Mother,” both said in
unison.

She gave her cheek to both men and
smiled.

“
Remember Cormac, I am your
senior... I may be older but I know I could best you in any area
still... ”

Colum enjoyed seeing his parents
play like this. He heard a growl come from his father’s
throat.

“
Woman, you could surely slay me
and another hundred but you conquered my heart three millennium ago
my dear. No need for battles, though I will show you something
later in the privacy of our home that will surely surprise
you.”

Elsabet let her head go back and a
laugh the sound of tinkling bells. “What am I to do with
you?”

Cormac came up to his wife. He
wrapped his arm around her and nuzzled her face, not caring that
his son was there with them. Elsabet looked like she could easily
be fifty rather than almost four thousand years old. Her hair fell
in a wavy mass of silver lengths to her waist. He laced his fingers
in her hair and twisted the mane. Giving it a playful tug as he
kissed her and then taking her throat he felt her satin skin under
his lips. Gently nipping her neck brought a throaty
purr.

“
You shouldn’t start something you
can’t finish my King... ”

Cormac laughed. “Truer words were
spoken many a time just before a battle, my Queen. I will have my
dessert later, but early.”

Colum cleared his
throat.

Cormac and Elsabet turned, both,
holding the other, smiling.

“
We have a meeting to go to and I
have security to take care of for Katherine.”

“
She is still as beautiful as
always. I think the quicker you can change her, the better for you.
That way you can take the throne and not have to worry about
her.”

Colum nodded as he added water to
his mug. “Yes, Mother I have thought of that but she will also be a
hungry soul after and will need constant watching. I can’t take
that chance at the moment unless it’s an emergency and
needs
to be done.” Seeing the look on his mother’s face. “I know Mother,
she will be turned but in her and my own good time. She doesn’t
even know me, yet.”

Elsabet came up and hugged her son.
“I just don’t want to see you hurt again like the last time. That
would give me enough cause to turn her myself, if I knew something
of that magnitude were to happen again.”

“
Don’t worry mother, it will all
work out.”

“
I know, I know… I am just a
mother when it comes to things like this and I feel for you, my
son.”

“
Thank you Mother. I am glad you
are on my side.”

* * * * * * *

“
Mom…?”

Katherine was in Victoria’s Secret,
looking at bras, when her daughter tugged at her jacket.

“
Mooomm,” Sally said in
exasperation.

Katherine focused on her daughter’s
face. “Yes, honey what is it?”

“
While you’ve been looking at bras
we’ve been followed by those guys…”

Katherine whipped her head around
and tried to see what her daughter saw. “Where?”

“
Come on Mom, but don’t look
obvious. They’re out there pretending to read, but one of the dopes
has his magazine upside down... ”

Olivia came up. “They aren’t
speaking English either.”

Katherine could tell both men were
obviously not the typical mall goers. They were standing outside
Victoria’s Secret. With a quick look around the store she could
only see older women, so she knew they weren’t waiting for anyone.
The man who had the magazine upside down was another
giveaway.

“
Let’s go for a walk girls...
”

* * * * * * *

Colum was sitting at the meeting
when his alert button on his cell phone went off. Looking around
the room. “Excuse me for a moment.”

He got up and walked swiftly to the
next room in their bunker like setup.

“
Yes, what have you
got?”

“
Colum... we have two men who have
been following Katherine and the girls for the last forty minutes
or so. Now, the girls have told their Mom and Katherine is leading
them on a merry chase,” Thor said.

Colum had to smile in spite of the
situation and who they were obviously dealing with.

“
Keep a close eye on them, both
sets. Do whatever it takes to keep Katherine and the girls safe.
Use your judgment. Remember who she is and what she is to not only
me but to our kind... ”

“
We’ve got it, Sir. We will take
care of it.”

* * * * * * *

Travis’s nephews watched Katherine
go from one shop to another. Then they watched as she turned,
talked to her girls and sent them away. The girls were running in
the direction of a cop who happened to be in the mall.

“
I think we better take care of
this.”

Both moved in as Katherine
did.

Katherine had been going from store
to store and the men had followed. It reminded her of the book
The gang that couldn’t shoot straight.
She didn’t know why
that thought came to her but these guys were not the best at
whatever it was they were supposed to be.

She walked up and pulled the
magazine down from one of the guys. Shock met her eyes as she
hauled off and punched him in the nose. A stream of some kind of
curses met her ears.

“
That’s for scaring my girls.”
Then she quickly got in close and kneed the one she had just
punched. The man holding his nose doubled over, then dropped to the
floor. The second one tried to leave but a hand caught a hold of
him and pulled him off the floor. Then the girls, along with a
policeman and a crowd swarmed in on them.

One of the bystanders was more
vocal then others, “They have been following you for sometime
lady... ”

“
What’s going on here?” asked the
policeman.

“
Mom, are you OK?”

Katherine was looking over at the
man who held the other jerk that had been following them. He looked
a lot like Colum. Big, strong and menacing, given the
situation.

She watched as another came and
pulled the policeman aside. The policeman looked at the ID he was
given and then nodded.

The two men grabbed the two perps
and hauled them away.

Katherine stood there with her
mouth hanging open. Then she felt her phone vibrate.

She turned to her daughter and held
up her hand. The policeman smiled and started taking
names.

“
Hello?”

She listened to Colum’s smooth
voice over the phone.

“
Listen, something strange just
happened... I am not sure I even know what just happened but some
men that looked like they could work for you, if that’s even
possible, were here too... ”

She listened and her eyes grew
large. “You can’t be serious? This could have something to do with
what I said nine years ago? I had every right to say what I did and
I can’t believe they are hunting me down now... of all the nerve!
They attack my country, kill my husband and expect me to just lie
down and take it... well they have the wrong woman. Are those men
yours, Colum?” She listened to him talk. “They are?”