Revisited (Redemption Series) (11 page)

“This isn’t coming out right.” He plopped down next to her and slipped his arm around her shoulders. “Not much surprises me anymore. Things are fairly predictable in my line of work.” They both chuckled softly. “These past few days, running here and there after you and Lily, have been the liveliest I’ve experienced in a great while.”

“In that case, I’m thankful our misfortunes, or . . . well . . . fortunes have the pleasure of entertaining you during your dull existence.”

They both laughed before Peter took her hand. They rested their hands together in his lap for a moment as they took in the beauty of the night sky. “It is pretty late.” 

“Or fairly early, whichever way you look at it.” Becca played with his fingertips.

“You’ve had a long day. I’m sure everyone is worried.” Peter removed his arm from around her shoulder and pulled her up to stand with him.

“I suppose.”

Peter took a step toward the manor, but halted when Becca grasped his wrist.

“Thank you for today. For everything.”

He turned and brought her into a soft hug. “You, my child, are welcome.”

With each step, the view of the manor became clearer. With each breath, Peter wondered just what was walking beside him.

Hours had passed and Lily began to worry when there was still no sign of Becca. She waited in the kitchen while the others slept, wondering how difficult it would all be. The cure would work if she could recreate it perfectly, but she was worried that maybe Liam had already created more vampires.

Lily realized she didn’t know much about the man Liam was before he came to her and begged for eternal life. She grabbed Jefferson’s laptop and began to search on the Internet and found out Liam was the heir to a restaurant dynasty in New York City. He gained control at the age of nineteen when his parents passed away. According to the article, two of his father’s friends ran the day-to-day operations, but Liam was named CEO. She learned that when she turned him, Liam was just twenty-three years old. He was so young, about the same age when she was turned.

Lily closed the laptop, unable to look any further. The only thing she could think of to make him act so desperately was Gideon’s influence. Somehow, Gideon burrowed his way into Liam’s soul and took hold of the reins. For some reason, Lily just couldn’t believe Liam was a monster.

“What has you so twisted up this early in the morning?”

Lily looked up as Becca entered the kitchen with Peter close behind. She rushed with unnatural speed and gathered Becca in her arms.

“Whoa!” Becca gasped for breath. “I missed you, too. I wasn’t gone that long, was I?”

“All day and most of the night! Abe and I have been going stir crazy. I had to send him out on an errand . . . he was getting so jumpy.” Lily pulled back, but still held on, her fingers twirling the wet ends of Becca’s hair.

“Well, we had a lot to do. Then things didn’t go as planned.” Becca sighed and made her way over to the fresh pot of coffee.

Lily looked at Peter with confusion, and he shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m not sure what to tell you. She has much more powers than I anticipated. We had to try them all out; make sure she could control them.” He slumped down in a chair at the kitchen table before scrubbing his hands across his face.

“I thought she would inherit Sam’s power of healing. There’s more?”

“Much more,” Becca said, pouring a cup of coffee and settling at the table. She waved her arm for Lily to sit with them.

“Should we be worried?” Lily was a little nervous that Peter seemed so rattled. He was never rattled.

“No, not really,” Peter responded. “It was just . . . unexpected.”

“Unexpected?” Becca laughed before she took a sip of her coffee. “I’d say breathing underwater was not something I ever expected to do.”

“What?” Lily grasped Becca’s hand in shock.

“If we go down the list, it would seem I can breathe underwater, heal not only humans, but animals I’m guessing as well, have just as much or more strength as you do, and can do that whooshy teleport thing Abe can do.” Becca sipped her coffee as if she just read off a grocery list. “This is good. I wonder if Jefferson got it at that market I like.”

Stunned, Lily nodded. “Yes, he did.”

“I’m exhausted!” Peter exclaimed, resting his head on his folded hands on the table. “I don’t do tired very well.”

“Cranky, Peter?” Becca chuckled.

“Yes. Even us angel-types can get our halos bent.”

“You seem to be coping well with this change,” Lily stated, taking the cup from Becca and putting it aside.

“What else can I do? I’ll talk to Sam about it in the morning. I’m sure it’ll all be fine.” Becca yawned. “Oh, I guess this coffee didn’t wake me much after all.”

“You go ahead. I’ll clean up and see you in the morning.” Lily smiled before they both stood and hugged. “Love you.”

“Love you, too.” Becca tightened her hold, alerting Lily to her newfound strength.

“Good night,” Lily said as Becca let go and found her way to her bed. Lily sat back down at the table, a twisted knot forming in her gut. Becca might not be worried about her powers, but Lily was. Just one more thing to add to her ever-growing list of complications. “What was that?” 

Peter groaned in frustration. “I think it might be a very strange form of shock. She’s acting as if what she just went through isn’t life changing, when it is. When she’s faced with a real need for her powers, I hope she doesn’t come completely unglued.”

“What does
He
say?” Lily looked at him hopefully.

“Um . . .” Peter looked upward, as if
He
would give a sign toward some sort of direction. “This latest development hasn’t been discussed. You know
His
number one rule, though.”

“Yes.” Lily sighed before grasping the roots of her hair. “Everything happens for a reason.” She inwardly wondered what
His
reason was for all the things still left for them to do.

Ugh.” Gideon moaned. His injured torso throbbed as he attempted to sit up.

    “Oh, sweetheart. You’re awake,” a female voice simpered from beside him.

He turned to find Ian’s mother at his bedside.

“Are you in pain? They took out the IV, but I’m sure they can give you something.” She looked back at the door to see if anyone was there.

“No. I’m fine, just a bit sore.” He scooted toward her chair as she reached for his hand. A tight smile formed on his lips when his hand met hers.

“Your father has been in meetings off and on since you were found. I can’t imagine all the trouble this Lily woman has gotten you in. If I ever come face to face with that tramp, I’ll—”

“Stop!” Gideon shouted, unable to tolerate her grainy voice a second longer.

“Fine, but this is not over. When we are back in Boston, you need to take a serious look at your responsibilities.” She huffed as she settled back in her chair.

“I’m not going back to Boston. Well, not now anyway.”

Her face paled as her breath stuck in her throat. “You can’t possibly—”

“I can and I will. If I have learned anything from this experience it’s that you can’t take anything for granted.” Gideon had his Rebecca now, and he would do anything necessary to keep her at his side.

“Marian, leave the boy alone. Hasn’t he been through enough?” 

The man Gideon knew to be Bradford Holt entered the room, and Sam trailed behind him.

“If he had listened to me in the first place, none of this would have happened.” Marian was noticeably upset. Gideon wondered if the stick up her ass ever came out, or if it just had a place reserved there permanently.

“It’s neither here nor there, dear.” Bradford placed his hands on her shoulders. “Mr. Fleming and I need to have a chat with our son.”

“Well, all right.” She stood and squeezed her son’s hand once more before releasing it. “I’ll be in our room.” She kissed Bradford on the cheek and nodded to Sam before leaving.

Gideon sighed and sunk back into the pillow beneath his head.

She’s always like that. Better get used to it,
Ian quipped.

Gideon groaned while he rubbed the sleep from his good eye. “I take it you two aren’t here to discuss my travel arrangements.”

“No.” Sam took Marian’s vacated seat while Bradford pulled another chair to the bedside. “This is a formality we must get through. I’m sorry if it makes you uncomfortable, but we need to know what happened between the time you and Becca were separated, and when you were found in the storage unit.”

I’d like to hear this one.
Ian mentally snorted. 

“So, Becca has filled you in until the point we were separated. I take it we can skip that part?” Gideon raised his brow.

“Yes,” Sam said.

“Why is my father here?” Gideon asked Sam, then turned to Bradford. “What does any of this have to do with you?”

Bradford gave his son his famous fatherly glare.

You’re in for it now. There is no questioning the Senator when you get that look.
Ian began to enjoy the show. He almost wished he had some popcorn.

“Since your disappearance, The Manchester Group approached me to become an active member of their organization.” Bradford was in full senatorial regalia.

“Your father has so graciously offered his years of expertise to us, and we in turn have offered him a place with Manchester.”

“I see. On with the interrogation.” Gideon swept his arm in front of them in a sign for them to get on with it.

“Debriefing.” Sam clenched his jaw in irritation, but prepared to go ahead with his questions.

“Right,” Gideon responded, then scooted into a more comfortable position.

“We found where you and Becca were being held and discovered the lock blown off the door.”

Gideon rolled his eyes. That lock had been Filipp’s idea, and not his best. He hadn’t wanted Becca to go through what she had the last time she encountered it. The results did favor him this time around, as it subdued Ian for their needed travel time.

“After Becca had been gone awhile, I made the mistake of giving the doorknob a try. It opened, but then the boils began to form. They burst and pus came oozing out. The way it crusted on my skin . . . ” He shook his head as a show of remembering the pain. “I thought it was like some sort of acid. I was terrified, thinking I was producing a fatal substance, and all that would be left of me would be a disgusting pile of goo.”

Bradford looked horrified while Sam remained composed.

“I was somewhere between wondering if it would ever end and begging for death, when Liam came back. I could see he had succeeded in his plan.”

Sam spoke up. “Where did he take you from there?”

Gideon shook his head, as he had changed that part of the plan, therefore the cover story had to change as well. “I don’t know. I was in so much pain when my skin began to heal. I was completely out of it. I have no idea how much time had passed, but when I began to feel like myself again, I was tied to that chair in the storage unit.”

“And this Liam was the one who beat you senseless?” Bradford asked.

Gideon nodded and plastered a look of pain on his face for good measure. “I assume he wanted to try out his new abilities. Then a clerk showed up. They fought. Liam knocked him out then left.”

“Basically, either you were unconscious, or in too much pain to know what was going on?” Sam asked.

“That about sums it up. When can I get out of here, then?” Gideon clapped his hands and rubbed them together, eager to make his way back to Becca.

“Not so fast, son.” Bradford sat back and loosened his tie. “We have to come up with a statement for the press conference.”

“Hell, no,” Gideon said while Ian’s laugh echoed through his mind.

“Hell, yes. Do you know how many people they had out there looking for you? You had all the people from Manchester, as well as the Icelandic, British, and American governments. We need to give them something.” 

Gideon took note of Bradford’s sharp demeanor and thought it best not to cross the Senator. “All right, I can go in front of the cameras and make a statement, but I’m not ready to answer questions.” Then a thought came to mind. “Will Becca be with me?”