The Life of Anna, Part 5: Emerged (56 page)

“Shh, Anna. It’s okay.” Aaron held her
tightly and stroked her hair. “It will be okay.”

There was a flash and Sebastian appeared,
immediately kneeling in front of them. He lifted Anna’s chin and
studied her eyes. “It will be okay, Anna,” he said in a soothing
voice and then stood and closed his eyes.

She felt the warmth surround her and she was
able to relax. She leaned her head on Aaron’s chest, knowing she
was safe. She felt Aaron relax, too.

Sebastian stood like a sentinel in the middle
of the room, not moving, but glowing. He would keep Devin from
finding her and then Alex would be home tomorrow night and
everything would be okay.

Suddenly, Sebastian’s eyes shot open and
there was another flash of light. Anna screamed as Kaveh appeared.
He was broader than Sebastian, and clearly angry. He snarled to
Sebastian in a language she didn’t understand. Sebastian replied in
the same language.

Aaron pulled her to his other side as a
flaming sword appeared in Kaveh’s hand.

Kaveh swung at Sebastian, who jumped out of
the way and a similar sword appeared in his hand as well. Sebastian
swung at Kaveh and Kaveh blocked it. The two Immortals moved so
quickly it became a blur of light and fire as they fought
furiously. The wall blasted open and they moved out into the
hallway.

Devin stood outside the building where Kaveh
had said Anna was hiding. It was a luxurious private building with
a doorman. He couldn’t feel Anna, but trusted that Kaveh wouldn’t
steer him wrong. Kaveh had missed Anna as much as he had.

Suddenly he could feel Anna fully and looked
back at Tom with a malicious grin. “She’s here. Get me in.”

“Devin, this is a private building with three
dozen apartments. How the—”

Devin grabbed his collar. “If you don’t get
me into this building, I will have to question your loyalty.”

Tom pressed his lips together and pulled away
from Devin. “My loyalty? After all we’ve gone through?”

Devin was losing his patience. “Then get me
inside.”

Anna winced at the sounds coming from the
hallway. Something shattered and she jumped. A sound like a wall
being blasted open made her jump and then it was quiet. After a
moment, there was still no sound and she looked at Aaron. His eyes
were wide as he looked at her.

They crept to the door and peeked out. The
hallway was a mess and the Immortals were gone.

“Where’d they go?” Aaron whispered. “And will
they be back?”

Anna shivered. “I don’t know.”

A chill ran through Anna and she stared at
the mess. “Devin...,” she whispered and looked at Aaron. “He’s
here.”

They stared at each other, unmoving, until
Aaron suddenly grabbed her hand and began pulling on her rings.

“What are you doing?”

“If he sees you wearing your wedding rings,
he’ll know Alex is alive. He can’t find out yet. Alex needs the
element of surprise.”

With tears in her eyes, she pulled her rings
off and handed them to Aaron. He was right. If she was going back
to Devin, he couldn’t find out that Alex was alive.

“C’mon. The less he sees of the apartment,
the better.” Aaron dragged her out to the living room.

Anna was shaking so badly she couldn’t move
herself. The darkness that surrounded her was suffocating. She
didn’t want to go back to Devin. She wanted to stay with Alex. They
had a plan. This wasn’t part of the plan.

“I’m scared,” she whispered as she sat,
curled up next to Aaron on the couch.

“Alex will get you back, Anna. Stay strong.”
He turned her to face him and she saw tears in his eyes. “You are
so strong, Anna. Don’t forget that. Don’t let him tell you
differently.”

Tears streamed down her face. “Tell Alex I
love him.”

Aaron nodded.

They heard a knock on the door, but neither
got up to answer it.

The knock became a pound and then it sounded
like someone was kicking the door. Anna jumped with each sound.
Finally, there was a crash, and Anna whimpered. Aaron grabbed her
face and kissed her passionately.

Devin kicked in the door after several
attempts and stalked into the luxurious apartment. He walked into
what had to be the living room and saw Anna on the couch.
Kissing...Aaron? He thought Aaron was gay.

“Anna.”

The couple froze and he saw Anna shaking.
Good. She should be terrified. He would torture her for leaving
him.

She turned and looked at him, terror filling
her eyes, and Devin smiled. “Stupid girl, Anna. Stupid, stupid,
stupid.” He walked towards her slowly, glaring at her and making
her shrink away. He grabbed her by her hair and she shrieked as he
pulled her over the back of the couch and onto the floor.

Aaron reached for her, but Devin pushed him
away. “You will pay for hiding her, you fucking twat.”

“No, Devin, please.” Anna whimpered. “He
wasn’t hiding me. Th-this is my place. I didn’t like Paris so I
came back. Aaron didn’t know anything about me running away.”

Devin twisted his hand in her hair and she
shrieked again. “Please don’t hurt him,” she begged.

She didn’t want him hurt? Oh, he would hurt
him. He released her hair and reached for Aaron.

“Aaron.”

Aaron groaned and rolled to his side,
coughing. He saw splatters of blood on the floor and realized he
was coughing up blood.
Fuck
. Devin had started punching
him as soon as Anna hit the floor. The last thing he remembered was
hearing Tom tell Devin that he would deal with him and to get Anna
out of there.

He opened his eyes and saw Tom crouching down
next to him.

“Anna?” Aaron whispered.

Tom pressed his lips together and shook his
head. “Devin took her. But he won’t kill her. He would have killed
you.”

“You let him take her?”

“I didn’t have a choice, Aaron. Devin’s
defeat depends on him not knowing about me or Alex.”

“He’ll hurt her.”

Tom sighed. “I know, and that thought kills
me. But he won’t do anything until the funerals are over. He
wouldn’t want her to look bad in front of the other Elders. He’ll
wait until he’s home.”

“You can’t let him take her home!”

“I won't be able to speak to Wilhelm or Vlad
until after the funerals are over. I don’t know if they’ll find out
about Anna before then.”

“I’ll call Alex and tell him.”

“No, Aaron. You can’t. We have to stick with
the plan. Alex has to kill Oscar in the morning. If you call and
tell him...he’ll lose it. I can’t let that happen.”

“Fuck the plan, Tom. You can't let him have
Anna for that long. He’ll get his powers back.”

Tom shook his head. “We’ll modify the
timeline, but we have to get rid of Tyler, or Tyler becomes Elder
when Devin is removed. Tyler’s no better than Devin.”

“So call Alex and tell him to take out
Tyler.”

“The jobs were given to Alex by myself, Vlad
and Wilhelm. One of us alone can’t modify it and as I said, I won’t
be able to speak to them until after Devin’s gone. Devin will be on
the lookout for anything suspicious.” He helped Aaron to his feet.
“Let me get you to a hospital. I told Devin I would deal with you.
I’ll check you in under a different name. Once you’re released, you
need to stay out of sight. You need to pretend you’re dead until
Devin’s back in San Francisco.”

Alex opened the door to the seedy motel room
he and his team were staying in. They could pay cash here, no
questions asked, and wandering in and out at odd times of the day
and night wasn’t questioned either.

He smiled to himself. Oscar was dead. One
more person to attend to in just a few more weeks and then Anna
would be safe. He sighed in relief as he put his bag down and
walked farther into the room.

“Where’s Sebastian?” he asked, looking
around. Sebastian was supposed to stay here with Greg. Seth and
Tony had returned from their secondary lookout points. Greg was
here, but no Sebastian.

Greg gave him a look that brought chills to
his body. “He left suddenly yesterday afternoon. Just
disappeared.”

Alex dug in his bag for his phone and
impatiently waited as it powered on. Damn smartphones took forever
to start up. There were no new messages so he called Anna. She
would be in rehearsal and likely wouldn’t pick up.

“Pack up, we’re leaving ASAP,” he said to his
men as Anna’s phone rang. It went to voicemail. “Anna,
Schatzi
. Please call me as soon as you get this. I will be
home in less than two hours. Please. Call me.” He couldn’t hide the
panic in his voice.

They were packed and on their way to the
airport within twenty minutes. Alex called every person he could
think of. Unfortunately, they were all in rehearsals.
Simon
!

He punched his phone a little harder than he
should have, but sighed in relief when Simon answered. “Simon! Have
you...have you heard anything about Anna?”

“No.... Should I have?”

“Sebastian left suddenly yesterday and hasn’t
returned. Everyone is in rehearsals and no one is picking up. I
don’t know if Anna is all right.”

“Do you want me to go over to the
theater?”

Alex thought for a moment. He wanted to see
for himself that Anna was all right. “Do you have time?”

“I can make time.”

“Call your father first. See if he has heard
anything. He’s in the country, right?”

“Yes. He arrived yesterday.”

“Call and let me know what you find out.”

“Will do.”

Alex laid his phone on his knee and closed
his eyes. Anna had to be all right. She just had to be.

Anna stared at Devin from across the room as
he talked and joked with Tom, Tommy and Tyler. Somehow knowing that
Tom and Tommy were on her side was comforting, even though they
couldn’t even give a hint that they were. Devin and Tyler both had
been merciless to her last night. If Devin had brought his syringe,
he would have used it on her, but thankfully he hadn’t.

As it was, she had bruises on her torso and
hips, but nothing that would be seen at the funeral or Gathering on
Sunday. She would not be participating as an Elder-Mistress at the
Gathering, which was fine with her. She had no desire to spend time
with those women. Especially Irina.

She had flown with the three men to Boston
this morning. Devin had looked a little shaken when the news was
sent out that Oscar had been killed. Anna carefully kept her
expression guarded. Devin couldn’t suspect she knew anything about
what was going on.

So far, she’d managed to keep her spirits up.
She constantly twisted the wedding ring on her right hand, thankful
for once that Devin made her wear it all these years. Now it didn’t
cause pain, but assured her that Alex wasn’t far away and that he
would rescue her. He was probably still in town and would be
busting through the door any minute.

He had to be. She didn’t know how long she
would survive with Devin once he got her back in San Francisco.

Alex ran through the back door of the
theater, not acknowledging the guard, but walking as quickly as he
could to the stage. Simon had called him back a little while ago,
telling him that his father hadn’t heard anything. The drive from
the airport had been torture and he’d gone straight to the
theater.

He burst onto the stage and looked around,
desperately searching the faces for his beloved wife. She wasn’t
there. The music had stopped and everyone turned and looked at him.
The sadness in their eyes did nothing for the knot in his
stomach.

His eyes met Hugo’s. “Anna?” he whispered,
walking towards the dancer.

Hugo swallowed and his eyes filled with
grief. “She’s...Aaron said that that man, Devin, was here.”

Alex’s jaw trembled and the rest of him
followed. He stared into the brown eyes of the man who loved Anna
almost as much as he did. “This isn’t some sick idea of a joke?” he
whispered in German. He couldn’t think straight.

Hugo’s brow twitched as he shook his
head.

Alex looked around. “Where’s Aaron?”

“I heard he was in the hospital. He got beat
up pretty bad.”

Alex’s grief doubled. “Where?”

Hugo gave him the name of the hospital and
Alex thanked him and shakily turned and walked off the stage.

Alex couldn’t call any of the Elders to find
out what was going on. Not with the possibility that Devin could be
near anyone he would call. He had to wait to be called. In the
meantime, he went to the hospital and visited Aaron.

Cameron was sitting next to Aaron’s bed,
holding his hand when Alex walked in. Cameron’s face was full of
worry.

“Alex!” he exclaimed. “Oh, thank God!” The
smaller man rushed over and hugged him around the waist.

Alex looked down at him for a moment before
hugging him back. It was obvious how much Cameron cared for Aaron.
He couldn’t begrudge the guy some affection.

“What happened?” Alex asked, walking over to
Aaron. His face was covered in bruises and he had a tube coming out
of his mouth. He looked to be sleeping.

“I don’t know exactly. He was conscious when
he arrived, but has been sleeping since. He’s got some pretty bad
internal injuries.” Cameron sat back down and took Aaron’s hand.
“Tom Pendleton brought him in.”

Alex sensed his men entering the room and
they stopped and stared at Aaron. Cameron looked up with wide eyes.
Alex realized they probably looked rather intimidating. They hadn’t
stopped to shower and were in their black outfits still. Shit. He
hoped he hadn’t tipped anyone off at the theater as to what he had
been doing.

“You have my number?” he asked Cameron.

Cameron shook his head. Alex grabbed a piece
of paper from the table next to Aaron and scribbled his number on
it. “Call me the moment he’s awake. I have to go find out what’s
going on.”