S.A. Price (20 page)

This was interesting. It would help to know the ones to keep away from them, and the ones to keep a close eye on in the future if Evelyn didn’t make it back. "Indeed well that’s both sides of the coin isn’t it? That decision made itself, I think." he smirked at Cristof and left the room quickly, and without another word, leaving the top floor and climbing into the elevator to bring him down to the pens. Knowing that seven were marked for possible vessels was a good thing, but they were also the seven most in danger. He was going to have to make sure they were protected, and thankfully he was there to do just that. He looked at his watch with a sideways glance noting the time. Evie had a little under twelve hours to ride to the rescue, after that, he was going to have to think of a new plan.

~81~

NINETEEN

Elise stood at the dining room table, sitting not an option. All the chairs had been taken out, the long table strewn with folders, papers and a map, all the intel the nests had accrued in the past several hours. Merrick stood on the other side of the table, all power and grace as he always was, but Elise kept her eyes averted. She knew the others could sense things had changed, if not scent him on her as they walked past her, but at this point it didn’t matter. She would deal with it later. Now however, the topic of the meeting wasn’t them, but the girls, as it should be.

She watched Ramona enter the room finally, her husband adding their intel to the table. She looked weary, and Elise didn’t take that as a good sign. Olivia turned to Geraldine and then Marcus, who looked at Elise. She nodded.

“Merrick? I believe you have the floor.” She said quietly, steeling herself for what was to come.

She knew once they heard what she already knew the extraction team would be mobilized and they would be gunning for blood, especially Olivia, as she was probably suspecting that Anya’s death wasn’t an accident or an overdose.

They would have to wait till Aiden and Myra returned from picking up Evelyn though, and that would chap their asses. Once they found out that Aiden and Myra had already left they weren’t going to be too happy about it, but Merrick had made the decision as it was one of his people, and whoever questioned his authority on that better watch out. That grim determination was there again, the one he used to have when they were younger when a task was laid before them that he knew was next to impossible. Evelyn knew where they were, but the odds of getting everyone out safely were slim to none, and Merrick knew it, she could see it in his eyes. With the council now present and accounted for, they could finally get underway.

Merrick took his time before addressing the gathering making sure that he had everyone’s attention before he spoke. "I've had a call from one of my girls. She's managed to escape and is, so far, in reasonably good health, considering. It is as we feared, a Lamia cult trying to resurrect the old, and I use the term god lightly, Delphyne." He paused taking the time to measure everyone’s reaction.

"Evelyn will be able to show us where their stronghold is but we must take action quickly if we are to be successful."

Olivia nodded. "We need a location so the teams, Marcus’s and my own, can go in. Where is she?

And how much time do we have."

"Till dawn at best. She's about an hour away and I've sent someone to pick her up so she should be here soon."

"Pick her up?" Geraldine looked at Merrick. "Is she ok? Will she need any sort of medical attention?"

Merrick shook his head. "She's well. It’s more for her continued safety and guidance that she requires an escort. They'll no doubt have people looking for her."

"Indeed." Marcus said. "My team is not twenty minutes from here as we speak. My nephew Baxter is with them, and he’s got the black hawk helicopter and will be watching from the skies, in case there’s an emergency. I’m not leaving any base uncovered."

~82~

Mer's lips twitched into a brief smile. "Impressive."

"I haven’t spent the past twenty years as an arms dealer for nothing."

"Indeed not. I always suspected that I was in the wrong profession and now it seems that I was right," He smiled lightly. "I could have had my own helicopter."

Marcus laughed. "No one says you can’t. Olivia?"

Olivia smiled. "I have the mobile command just on the outskirts of town. I have had a bit of a problem locating my nephew though. Let’s hope we can get a hold of Ryan before. This is his kind of job. Between both squads, I would say we have about twenty foot soldiers. More than enough." she said smugly. "And more than enough firepower to send those fuckers back to whatever hell Delphyne is occupying."

Merrick nodded sagely. "Good. Let’s just hope that your nephew hasn't fallen prey to the cult. All we have to do now then is wait for Evelyn's arrival. Well, that’s almost all we have to do..."

Marcus raised an eyebrow at him and then at Elise. She worked hard at keeping her face blank.

Knowing where Merrick was going with this, she kept quiet and waited, the situation that was about to present itself to the council was going to get fierce. Had Merrick chosen the right time to bring it up? Either way one of them was going to bite at his insinuation, and then it would all come to a head.

She didn’t expect who did rise to the occasion though.

"Almost?" Geraldine asked grabbing a glass of water and sipping almost regally.

He shrugged lifting the water jug from the table. "My people are still rogue, landless and without an official leader," He reminded them casually as he poured himself a glass. "It would be an awful pity to go to all the trouble of saving them only to have them declared as such and hunted down."

Marcus smirked. "And we get back to that. I’m not declaring anything, and I state that now, in front of the council, that I won’t cast a vote to hunt anyone, and that alone negates any votes or any motions to the contrary. I have already said that I think this council needs more dick about that has a backbone. Though this is all pointless anyway, as I see it your part of this regardless of whether you stay as an Archon or as Elise's mate. Unless anyone has objections?" he looked over to Ramona who had remained silent throughout the two past proceedings. Elise looked at him, still fighting to keep her emotions off her face, and wondered what Marcus was going to get out of his compliance. It was something that would be looked into; she had never known Marcus to do anything out of the goodness of his heart.

Ramona glared at him but looked away after a second or two. "I do not care either way but you will not share any of my land. Stay in Vegas."

"See, now I have a problem with that. You won’t have any of mine as well, aside from the places you already own, at least in the southwest territory." Olivia leaned into her husband, if for nothing else, but support. “I don’t have a problem with rogues living in my territory, just as Elise doesn’t. As long as they don’t make a spectacle of themselves, and obey the laws.”

"Fair enough, land isn't my primary concern." Merrick smiled clearly getting what he wanted. "As long as I have your word, all of you, that my people will not be harmed and will be left alone to live their lives, as is their right, things will go well."

Elise listened to everything that was going on and sighed. If Merrick wanted land she would gladly give up a piece of her territory, after all his nest was larger than most. She wasn’t sure if he wanted to be with her for always, but she would give up parts of her territory to keep him close. If nothing else, she could petition to give Ohio to him, Marcus would back her from his stand so far, of that she was sure. But that was something to talk to him about in private as things between them weren’t fixed and she didn’t want to open up that can of worms in front of the rest of the archons. "So what’s the plan?"

"We wait. They shouldn't take much longer and once we get the location from Evelyn, we'll go and get the girls. I wouldn't dream of planning the actual extraction as I'm somewhat of an amateur when it comes to military based procedures. I'm sure Olivia and Marcus would be better at coordinating the actual plan of attack. I would suggest blowing up the evidence though; it shouldn't be beyond me to cover the whole up as a gas leak at an old psychiatric hospital or something similar. The actual lie

~83~

depends on the shape of the buildings. The bodies will have to be explained somehow and that'll be my job."

"Then I hope you have a good demolitions expert." Marcus smirked and walked around the table to the sideboard and grabbed a decanter and poured some bourbon into a tumbler.

"The best," Mer smiled fondly.

Elise chuckled realizing that it was Aiden. The boy smelled like Merrick used to when they were young, only more, like it wasn’t just a hobby. She looked around; everyone was on edge, trying to figure out where to go next. She cleared her throat. "Should we break till we know what’s going on?"

she asked and looked at Merrick and then Marcus.

"Good idea, unless anyone has anything else they'd like to discuss?"

Marcus shook his head and Geraldine stood. "I have some of my people coming in within the hour, so I will be preparing. Please let me know when things are being mobilized." She smiled at Elise and left quickly and Elise looked over at Merrick questioningly. They had unfinished business and she was eager to speak with him again.

"That’s settled then. They should be here in about two hours, we'll reconvene then." He stood.

Elise nodded and left the room towards the foyer stairs, walking slowly. Merrick would catch up, if indeed he still wanted to talk. She hoped Myra was doing ok with Aiden. The painter was interested in the boy, she could tell, and she hoped he wouldn’t break her heart like Merrick did with her, though he was making a play to mend it.

It didn't take long for Merrick to find her, "Elise." His voice sounded from behind her.

She turned, her eyebrow raised in question.

"Things ok? You left in a hurry, I didn't do anything wrong did I?" His voice was uncertain and far from the cool confident way that he'd spoken in the meeting. "We have a few hours to kill. I thought you might like to go for a walk?"

"I’m fine, I’m just not sure as to how to deal with everything, with you, you know, with the politics. I’m sure it’s safer if I remain aloof for now, for both our sakes." She smiled. "I’m not mad at you. You did well in there though, and I’m proud of you. I think a walk would be nice."

"The gardens always were peaceful." He beamed happily. "Things will get easier, I promise. The hard part is over, it far exceeded my expectations."

They walked down the side corridor instead of up the stairs and were out the side door towards the serpentine gardens in moments. "I think so and you seem to have made quite an ally in Marcus."

"So it seems. I'll wait for the other shoe to drop on that one, though I have to tell you now I don’t think I can beat a helicopter. No matter how much my testosterone wants me to try."

She giggled and shook her head. "A low blow to be sure, though I think he was more bragging for Olivia's benefit then for yours."

The serpentine garden was a six-foot tall hedge maze, complete with a center of large thick-limbed trees that you could see from the beginning of the maze. The hedges wound and slithered much like their other halves did, making pathways and dead ends, all for the sake of Victorian amusement. The gardens had stood at the Orpheus since it opened. The original owner, an archon of Ramona's territory named Ildris, had a thing for folly and decadence, and thought a hedge maze, with a center with an Eden for any snake was the way to occupy the east lawn. She was grateful for it, as it would give them some much-needed privacy for their conversation.

"I know but it still smarts." He told her as he took her hand as they entered the maze. They walked for a while in a comfortable silence moving deeper into the maze. Then he stopped and turned to her still holding her hand. "I'm sorry we were interrupted earlier."

She shrugged, trying to make it look aloof. "That’s ok, I’m used to it," she smiled and squeezed his hand. "I’m sure things will get better."

"They will, I know they will. Once we get the girls safe."

She nodded, hating herself for wanting him all to herself. It was always something keeping them apart, always something that stopped her from being truly happy. She was being selfish, she knew, but

~84~

it didn’t stop her from wishing none of this had happened. Of course, if it hadn’t, she wouldn’t be with him. "I know."

"I was thinking that after everything’s secure we could maybe go away somewhere... just the two of us. I was thinking the Maldives."

"Oh?" she said, hoping he wasn’t going to promise and not deliver. The islands were a place she longed to visit.

"If you want to, I have a place there. At least I should, I've never been but I'm told it's beautiful. A perfect little private beach, just the sun, sand and us."

"Never been there? How do you know you have it then?" she asked and moved towards a bench close to where they stood. It was a lover’s bench, one for scandalous and clandestine encounters while in the maze. She didn’t think it would be used for such treats now, and odds are that it hadn’t been in a long time. The stone probably missed being used for its grand purpose.

"Oh I'm assured, it’s a long story but it boils down to me and a few others needing to keep some money safe. So we chose to store it in land and property, it’s not the only place I own it's just one of the few that isn't leased out."

"Ah." Merrick might not be as open about his business dealings as Marcus was, but he wasn’t stupid either. She knew damn well he could have a helicopter if he wanted just by his statement then.