Excerpt from
Forever At Dawn
by Larissa Emerald
CHAPTER ONE
San Francisco, Present Day
The wind coming off the Pacific created a sad, hollow whistle as it whipped upward along the stone walls of the mansion and hit the eves. Connor Langley peered out the window to sea.
“I’m traveling through the porthole this evening,” he said.
He turned to look at Gavin. Connor’s personal assistant drew himself taller and angled his gray head. “Isn’t that dangerous with the impending storm?”
“Not really.” Best not to get him worked up.
Gavin pursed his lips as if withholding a comment. The vampire no doubt knew he couldn’t dissuade Connor.
“Don’t fret. I won’t be gone more than a day our time. I am simply going to bring back the mined cobine crystal our people need.” He clenched his hands into fists and held back the growl at his lips. “To replenish the stores that were stolen.”
“I take it the artificial manufacturing hasn’t produced results.”
Connor shook his head. “Unfortunately, no.”
Over the years, vampires had led the way producing artificial diamonds, and rubies, and other precious gemstones—things humans seemed to be ecstatic over—in an effort to reproduce a synthetic cobine. But the precious substance abundant on their home planet of Cest eluded their scientists. And it was a substance his race needed to survive, much as humans needed salt. An item extremely valuable to them, not just to wear and show off but to prevent them from feeding on humans.
He began to pace the room, fists tight by his sides. A cobine deficiency in vampires meant brain swelling, coma, and acute blood loss. Such a state would produce a feeding frenzy beyond reason to compensate for the deficit. It was up to each Czar to care for his region to ensure that didn’t happen. The cobine he had procured eleven months ago should have sufficed for years, and yet the supply was critically low once again. He needed to move fast.
“Take me with you,” Gavin suggested. “I’m good with horses.”
Connor hid his surprise but could easily guess where the comment was coming from. What vampire wouldn’t desire to go back in time to a simpler existence? “I will not remain there, Gavin, no matter how much I’d like to. Nor will you. I will not desert my people.”
“It’s become an obsession, this traveling back in time,” Gavin warned.
Connor looked down at his clothes as his fangs descended. He inhaled a calming breath. “The world was so different then. The blood purer.”
“Ah. I was wrong, you’re not just obsessed . . . You’re addicted, and―” his brows shot upward.
Waving a hand, Connor cut him off. “Like hell.”
“Then send someone else.”
Connor strode into the massive closet, making it clear the conversation was over. He dressed in jeans, a button-down shirt, and boots. It was time to find out who’d dared steal from him. And why.
In the past, he’d always known his enemy, and death occurred daily. But today, the battle was more mental and strategic. That’s not to say there wasn’t bloodshed. It just had to be with good reason.
When Connor walked back out of the closet, Gavin was staring at his watch, seemingly deep in thought. His old friend glanced up, and Connor tried to reassure him. “When I return, I’ll increase our efforts to find another source so we aren’t dependent on a past portal anymore. Perhaps it’s time for a visit to London. And you can accompany me then.” He slung on his period topcoat. “Except for the cobine, there is nothing in that time I can’t leave.”
Gavin gave a reluctant nod. “Something happens every time you go back. I can’t explain it . . . I . . . I just feel the disengagement. It’s like a fracture.”
Yes, Connor knew what the man meant. But leaders had to stand strong and endure. He needed to help his people by doing the very best with the talents given to him.
Gavin crossed his arms over his thin chest. “You need to find the right woman to make you settle down,” he blurted out.
“Where the hell did that come from?”
“Well, it’s true. If you were in love, perhaps you’d stay at home.”
His servant must truly be aging to bring up the subject of mating. “That’s absurd. Besides, women are too much trouble. In all these centuries, I haven’t found my destined mate.”
“Obviously.” Gavin cleared his throat and nodded with conviction. “Or else she’d be here to stop you now. Once you meet her, the mating thrall will take care of the rest.”
Connor had heard enough. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He spun on his heel and exited the room, taking the hall that led to the west end of the mansion.
In the den, he paused at the old mantle clock that rested on a pedestal table. He grabbed the small boy-with-horse figurine at its right, opened the clock case, and placed it inside, just out of range of the pendulum. Once the case was closed again, he pushed on a hidden panel door that led down into a tunnel. It opened with only the slightest creaking sound and he stepped inside.
The motion sensors noted his presence as he progressed, the lights coming on to guide him to the cavern he sought. The familiar wet, musty smell welcomed him.
At the base of a boulder, he knelt and removed the top of the largest stalagmite. The inside had been meticulously carved out to conceal the time rod. He removed the transporter piece, which resembled a long stained glass pen. He held it up to the light, pleased with the swirl of colors within, liquid energy beyond anything known to humans.
Warmth radiated through his body as he closed his fingers around it. Perhaps Gavin was right. He was addicted.
This was the connection to his past, the roots to his mother planet―the story of who his people were. Humans had named them “vampires” and the mysterious lore they’d created had not worked in his race’s favor. Oddly, now they’d become popular. Indeed, his people were immortal, but not because of being undead. Yes, they fed on blood, and traced, and avoided daylight, but humans could never know the real truth.
There were truly evil beings walking the shadows of the Earth. In comparison, vampires were the good guys.
Connor fit the tip of the rod into the appropriate hole in the stratum of the rock, the vein that was formed in 1876. He forced the end in a little harder until a light ignited within the rod, causing the energy inside to swirl faster and heat up. He braced his palm against the rock wall above his head and closed his eyes, leaning in.
Impressions of this world, bits of light and a sense of the waves crashing on the shore, streamed by in a dizzying blur, with a rumble of friction so enormous it knocked him off his feet, his consciousness fading.
~ ~ ~
He awoke to the dripping of water landing on his ear. He shivered, shook his head, pushed to his elbows, and regained his bearing. He’d had the mansion built in the early eighteen hundreds and lived in it ever since. Lifetime ownership. He snickered at the thought and smiled as he stood. It was his favorite of several homes he owned around the globe.
He took the steps two at a time as he exited the cavern. When he reached the ground floor, he checked the clock. No figurine whatsoever. Good deal.
He really didn’t want to engage the staff just yet, so he immediately traced to his office in the hotel he owned on Main Street. He deposited his coat on the coatrack. First order of business, he needed to track down the whereabouts of his mine foreman. It was a Friday, so he should be in town. Connor scribbled out a message, requesting the employee to meet with him, and went in search of an errand boy.
“It’s stuck,” a man yelled from outside, his voice wafting in through the window. Out of habit, Connor straightened his clothes. Not that anything was out of place. It was just what he did.
A few more people shouted, and Connor made his way out front to discover what the ruckus was about.
“Mornin’, Mr. Langley,” a housekeeper said as he passed. “I didn’t know you was back.”
Connor tipped the brim of his hat, shifting into the mannerisms of the day as easily as he traced.
Standing in the lobby, he looked outside. Even as people gathered on the steps in front of his hotel to take cover from the rain, he breathed in the freedom of the era. No hidden cameras, or paparazzi, or media pressure. A huge temptation.
No, he reminded himself. Get the cobine and go home.
A steady rain beat down on a hearse stuck in the mud. Perhaps he should lend a hand. He wouldn’t find this sort of action back in present time, that’s for sure. So he set aside his hat and coat, tucking the message inside the folds to keep it dry and handed it to one of the hotel staff to hold for safe keeping. He rolled up his sleeves, loosened his collar down to the second button, and stepped out into the rain.