CHAPTER SIX
Michael sat down at the table with a cup of coffee and stared at the sister he didn’t know. His gaze rose to see the tiger mural on the wall, as it looked ready to attack. This reflected how he’d felt his whole life. On the edge, ready to attack.
Cricket was trying to avoid him but Michael wouldn’t let her. He wanted answers and he was determined to get them. “Tell me more about my mother,” he demanded.
Cricket turned her head and stared at him for a moment. “Okay, what do you want to know?”
Michael shrugged. “What kind of a woman was she? What did she like or dislike? Why would she give up her child?”
Cricket took a drink of her coffee while her mind raced. “My mother was a beautiful, caring woman. She loved to laugh and she would get a look of wonder in her eyes at the sight of nature’s beauty. She loved to build birdhouses and take care of the garden. She loved life and she once told me every day was a new adventure. Or at least, it could be. She taught me how to love and give life everything I had. She told me she loved only one man and that was my father. She spoke of Bane only one time and that was the time she told Cordy and me about the night she and my father left him. She told us very little of how he treated her, other than to say there was a great need for her to leave him. I understood it as the fact Bane raped her after he beat Orrin to unconsciousness. That Bane was stifling to be around. He was so dark most of the time that she felt she couldn’t breathe around him. Then she met my father and for the first time, she fell in love. She told us she couldn’t believe the difference in the two brothers. Where Bane was dark, Orrin was light, where Bane was harsh, Orrin was not. Orrin showed her love and all she ever got from Bane was pain and coldness. She and my father found their happiness but it cost them dearly. She died too young but her memories will last me a life time.”
Michael sat there for a long time before he finally asked, “If she was so wonderful, why did she leave me behind? I was her child too.”
“She did tell us of a time of great sorrow for her. From what your father told me, when my mother told him she carried his child, he got angry with her. He told her he didn’t want the child and when he got back from his business trip he would take care of the problem. She knew then, if she wanted her child to be born, she would have to leave while he was away. She left him but when he came back, he hunted for her. He never loved her but she was his possession. He felt he owned her and he wasn’t going to allow her to leave him. He found her ten months later, only after he threatened her family. He took her home again, and she stayed there for three years before she met my father. Bane found them together and beat the hell out of both of them. After they escaped, they found their own life away from Bane….” Cricket looked away as if she was done talking.
“And later on?” he asked.
“My mother died a five years later from breast cancer. By then, they had my sister Cordelia and me. After Mom died, Orrin moved us to Maine and we stayed there until he died when I was fifteen. Then Cordy took care of me until she died a few months ago.”
“My father told me what happened to her.” Michael nodded. “But that doesn’t tell me what I want to know.”
“And what is that?”
“Why did my mother leave me behind? Was it because I was Bane’s child and not your fathers?”
Cricket carefully put her cup down and turned to observe him for a moment. “No, I don’t think it was that at all, you see Cordy was Bane’s child too. I think she left you behind, so you would have a chance to live. She ran away from Bane to allow you be born. He threatened to have you aborted. I told you this. You were still part of her, even if Bane was your father. Where he would have destroyed you in the womb, she wanted you to live. She carried you full term and gave you to someone she trusted…to give you the chance to live.”
“If Bane wanted me to die before I was born, why did he come looking for me after all this time? Why did he bring me here and allow us to meet?” Michael asked.
Cricket shrugged. “Who knows why Bane does anything? Maybe he finally realized that he’s human? That’s hard to believe but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he finally wanted to have something beyond his own life? Who the hell knows? You’ll have to ask him if you want to know.” Cricket got to her feet and began to walk away then she stopped and turned back to Michael. “Tell him something for me will you? Tell him he won’t get the daggers. I don’t have them nor do I know where they are but even if I did, I wouldn’t give them to him. They belonged to my father and now, they belong to me. End of story.”
Michael watched her walk away and thought about what she told him. Bane had told him most of it already. He knew the reason behind his birth. He also knew his father hadn’t wanted him at first but later, regretted that decision. Bane also told him he was elated when he found out about his son.
Michael got to his feet and went in search of his father. He still had so many questions and no answers.
~* * * *~
The Priest watched Sawyer’s progress from inside the shadows of the trees. He watched the compound with a small pair of binoculars. He’d arrived shortly after Leon Vincinti drove in and he had spent the night watching and waiting to see if his quarry was inside.
He’d waited all day, taking notes of where everyone was. He’d seen people in and out of the clubhouse but they held no interest to him. He knew who he was after. He’d seen her before. In a warehouse in Rochester. He had gotten there too late to save her from a beating and the two men responsible had almost gotten a taste of his wrath but then her brother had come in and rescued her.
He had stayed in the shadows and watched everything play out. Why he did that he couldn’t say. When he first saw her hanging there with her arms above her head something inside him took notice. There, he saw what Jack Fremore and John Paulson had done to her and for a moment, he felt a rage like no other. He stood there stunned. He’d never felt this emotion before and why he it happened at all surprised him. Then she had raised her head and for a brief moment, he locked gazes with her. He’d taken a step out of the shadows and almost came into the light but her brother chose that moment to break into the room she’d been held in. He quickly stepped back and watched as Jordan freed her.
Since then, he’d been there. Always watching, always hidden. He couldn’t explain this obsession he had with her. Max had hired him shortly before the warehouse incident to find the Black Hand Jolene had taken years ago. He hadn’t pushed for results until after his nephew beat the hell out of Jolene. But by then, it had been too late. Sawyer and Jordan had taken off after they thought Jolene died in the hospital. It had taken some time to catch up with them but he’d been there when Micah caused the accident that had injured Sawyer.
He’d also watched as her long lost father reunited with her. He watched when daddy took care of Micah and silently toasted the man and his method of vengeance. It had been beautiful to watch the light leave Micah’s battered body. Then again, he was glad to watch Max’s demise. Max had been a despicable creature and the world was better off without him.
For a week now, he had Sawyer in his sights again, and this time he was determined not to lose her again.
Now she’d come out alone and for a moment, he couldn’t believe his luck. He waited and watched. When no one came out after her, he thought he was safe. He waited then checked the spot where the guard watched over the compound and found the man’s back toward him.
He made his way to the checkpoint. Moving silently, he slipped behind the man who was supposed to be watching for intruders. Strong fingers hit the nerve along the side of his neck. Pressing down, the man staggered then fell to his knees. He hit the ground unconscious.
He then slipped back into the woods. Making his way parallel to the path Sawyer had walked. He found her. She was standing at a man-made pond. The place was hidden but someone knew its location as it seemed well used over time.
Sawyer was sitting on a bench staring at the waterfalls. The sounds of rushing water falling over the rocks hid his movements and allowed him to creep up behind her, unnoticed. While he stood behind her, he moved in and reached for her neck. Hitting the same nerve as he had the man on watch. He caught her in his arms before she could fall.
Lifting her up, he threw her over his shoulder and made his way away from the compound. He got to his car and placed her carefully in the backseat. Before he left, he slipped her hands behind her back and held them together with a zip tie. He slipped a bandana over her eyes and a gag into her mouth. He had a way to go before he could secure her in his lair. It was an obscure place, as he hated surprises.
Swiftly, he slipped behind the wheel and drove away. He glimpsed into the rear view mirror and found himself filled with a sense of the anticlimactic. While he was glad he found her alone, he felt let down somehow. The chase was often the most fun for him. That she had fallen in his grasp so easily almost made the whole trip a letdown. As he drove away, he couldn’t help but chuckle. He had the one person he was after but he knew he wouldn’t have her long. He’d done his homework when Max told him what he could be up against. Then he dug deeper on his own just recently. While Leon Vincinti had his own connections to worry about, he also knew Deke Tory had a whole other set of connections to call upon. Between the two of them, he was more worried about Deke’s connections than even Leon’s.
His main home and workshop were in Watertown, a three hour drive from Troy. Too long a distance from where they were presently. He was closer to his workshop in Utica. He got on highway 90 and made his way to Utica.
The man known as The Priest smiled. Looking in the rearview mirror, he found himself staring into his own pale blue eyes. His snow white hair was on the long side and brushed back away from his face resting on his shoulders. He was not a young man, but not old either. In his early thirties, he’d already built up the persona of The Priest and he took his work seriously. His kept his moustache and goatee trimmed close to his face and his skin was tanned, so his light colored facial hair stood out.
He was a tall man at six foot three but his body was trim and well defined. He knew he was as strong as he needed to be and could lift about five hundred pounds if called upon to do so. He liked to work out and his muscles were toned but not bulging as some men got to be.
His real name was Sebastian Castel but his friends and family called him Bastian. No one he did business with knew his real name and that’s the way he liked it. For his business, he called himself The Priest. He grinned at the name he’d chosen. Because sooner or later…you would confess everything to him.
An hour and a half later, he pulled into a private driveway. The lights of the city faded into the distance and that was the way Bastian wanted it. The driveway led to an old barn and a farmhouse that on the outside and even on the inside of the buildings, it appeared to be abandoned.
He didn’t live near any city too closely. When he worked, he liked the privacy required to do his job.
He pressed a key fob on his keyring and the barn door opened. Driving inside, he pressed another button and the floor began to sink below the ground. He closed the barn door remotely as he drove underground.
Parking his car, he moved to the backseat. Lifting Sawyer out, he carried her down the hall and entered one of the rooms. He laid her on the single bed and stepped back.
She groaned as she came to. With the blindfold still in place and her hands tied behind her back, Bastian removed the gag. He knew the moment she fully realized her surroundings.
“What the hell?” She struggled with her bindings. The more she struggled the tighter the bindings became.
“You’ll only hurt yourself if you struggle.” He sat down on the bed beside her.
Sawyer stilled and cocked her head. “Who are you and what do you want with me?”
“Who I am is unimportant but I will tell you this much, you may or may not have information I require to locate something that has been lost for a number of years. It’s my job to determine if you know where this item may be.” He watched her body language to determine his best route to get what he needed.
Sawyer stilled as she heard his voice. “You’re the one they call The Priest?”
Bastian smiled. “So, you’ve heard of me? From whom I wonder?”
~* * * *~
His voice was low and strangely comforting, yet Sawyer knew she had every reason to be afraid of this man. Be terrified, run for her life—afraid. She began to struggle as her fear rose. She didn’t want him near her. She didn’t want to know pain again—pain she’d felt in the warehouse by the hands of Jack and John. She didn’t think she would survive something like that again. “I don’t know anything. Leon explained what Max lost but I swear, I don’t know where it is.”
“Max said you wouldn’t say anything against your mother. She protected you all those years ago. It only stands to reason you would protect her now.”
“But I don’t know anything!” Sawyer cried out. Being bound and blind she didn’t know where he was or what he was going to do next and that fact was freaking her out.
~* * * *~
Bastian leaned closer and placed his hand along her jaw. “Easy sweetheart.” He tried to soothe her. He noted sweat beading on her forehead. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“But isn’t that what you do?” she whimpered as she tried to pull away from his reach. “You hurt people to give up their secrets.”
Bastian considered her words. Usually, this part of his job didn’t bother him so much. He knew his methods weren’t always pleasant for the people he needed information from but he seldom hurt the innocent, despite the rumors of his cruelty. Since the first time he’d seen her in that warehouse in Rochester, he felt an in explicable connection to her. He hadn’t understood it then and he didn’t understand it now, but he knew his normal methods of interrogation wasn’t going to work with her. “I don’t always hurt people. Sometimes, I just talk to them.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she whispered nervoulsy.
He leaned over her and reached for the knife on the table beside the bed. Slipping it around the band on her wrist, he released her but caught her wrists quickly. He raised them up and zip tied them to the headboard.
Sawyer stiffened when he sat back down next to her.
His fingers trailed down her cheek. “One thing I’ve always found fascinating.”
“What’s that?” she whispered as she leaned into his fingers.
Bastian smiled when he saw this, as he knew she felt some tender reaction to his touch, though she did not realize it. “When you lose one sense, even temporarily, your other senses fill in the gaps.” He leaned closer and whispered in her ear, “Do you feel it?”
~* * * *~
“Feel what?” Suddenly, her other senses did kick in. Sawyer took in his scent and found it quite to her liking. He smelled of the woods, earthy and like sunshine. Yet, there was more than just that. He also smelled of sweat and of all things cinnamon. She could feel her mouth water in anticipation. She had an unexpected urge to see if he tasted as well as he smelled.
His warm tongue touched her skin and Sawyer shivered.
“You’re blind, yet you tremble when I touch you.” His mouth closed in on a spot on her neck, just below her ear.
Sawyer quivered as his teeth nibbled on her skin.
“You’re using your other senses to make do, aren’t you? Can you smell my scent? Do you know how much I want you? I can smell you and it is making me hard.”
His words were a mere whisper but Sawyer heard them loud and clear as she moaned. “How is this even possible?”
“I’ve wanted you since that warehouse in Rochester,” he whispered in her ear.
Sawyer shivered as the memory washed over her. The fear, the pain and the absolute desperation she’d felt that day, then she remembered those pale blue eyes she’d seen in the shadows. She caught her breath. “You were there that day.”
“Yes, I was. I arrived and found you hanging from a ceiling hook all beat to shit. One look into your eyes to see the misery there and I wanted to rip those two men apart. But before I could stop them, your brother broke in and rescued you.” His fingers trailed a path along her chest, though he did not go any further. “Can you feel my gentle touch? It is not meant to cause you pain. I just want you to realize this. I will not hurt you. I only want…” His voice fell away.
She felt confused by all of this as her ears caught the sound of his ragged breaths.
“You don’t need to fear me. Please believe I would never hurt you,” he whispered in her ear. “I want to make you feel things you’ve never felt before.”
“Wait,” she called out. “I think you should know something.”
~* * * *~
Bastian hesitated briefly. “What is it?”
“I’ve never known—well, I have never had—umm, relations before,” she told him softly. “I-I am untouched.”
Her skin took on a rosy hue and Bastian halted. “You’re a virgin?”
Sawyers’ blush deepened. “What can I say? I never found a man I wanted to share my body with.”
“Do you feel this Sawyer?” Bastian whispered as his finger reached out to touch her neck. “Your heart is beating a mile a minute. Your body is heating from a place deep within itself. Your soul is getting ready for something incredible.”
“And what would that be?”
“Sexual fulfillment,” he whispered in her ear as his lips caressed the skin just below her ear lobe. He could taste the sweat on her skin and it was like ambrosia. His tongue traced the outline of her lips and she gasped. He then took her mouth with his.
He wanted her badly but he also knew he couldn’t, not yet. She wasn’t ready yet. He wanted her beyond all reason but he wanted her willing, not just caught up in the moment. Or…for her to comply out of fear. He forced himself to move away from her. He went and retrieved a sleeping pill. He didn’t wish to harm her and he would only use the syringe on her when it was time to retrieve her secrets. He would be very careful with this one.
She hadn’t said word when he left her and she seemed to know when he returned. “Why did you stop?”
Bastian smiled, even though he knew she couldn’t see it. Carefully laying his hand on her cheek, he leaned toward her and whispered, “Because little one…For now, I need you to rest. If you would swallow this, it will help you rest.” He tapped his finger on her lower lip.
“What is it?”
He sighed. “A sleeping pill. I need you to rest. Please try to trust me. I do not wish to harm you. If you simply do what I ask while you are here, you will be safe.”
Sawyer paused as if she were contemplating his words. Then she opened her mouth.
Bastian’s body grew rigid at the sight of her sweet pink tongue. He needed to keep control of himself. He gently laid the small pill onto her tongue. Then he raised a glass of water to her lips. “There now, you will sleep for a little while.”
She swallowed and then spoke, “Can you stay with me, till I go to sleep?” Her voice was steady and quiet.
He set the glass down and sat on the bed. “Yes, little one.” He caressed her arm as she let out a sigh. My god, I wish to protect her, comfort her…Have her. Not hurt and interrogate her.
Bastian watched her for at least twenty minutes. He wished he could see her eyes and see her gaze as she looked into his eyes. He wished for all sorts of things to be different than they were in fact. He waited a few minutes longer as she dozed off, then got to his feet and left the room.
He walked down the hall to another room set up as an office. Sitting behind a desk, he watched the camera feed in the small monitor on the desk as he reached for the phone on the desk and dialed a number.
~* * * *~
Sin’s Bastads Mc Compound
Leon felt his cell phone buzzing and when he reached for it, he found the caller id was unlisted. He thought about not answering it but he knew somehow, this call was important. One of Deke’s men had stumbled into the clubhouse over an hour ago and told them he’d seen Sawyer walking alone in the woods. Everyone had gone on alert since then and every man jack of them, were out scouring the area for her but so far, no one had found her.
“Hello,” Leon greeted the caller.
“Mr. Vincinti, I assume.”
“Yes, this is Leon Vincinti. Who is this?”
“Someone you don’t want to know.”
Leon’s fingers tightened on cell phone. “Are you known as The Priest?”
“Yes, that is one name I am known by.”
“Do you have the girl?”
“Yes, I have her,” Bastian admitted. “I was hired to find something for Max Bordeaux. I assume you still want the item?”
“Yes I do, but I’m not willing to trade the life of an innocent woman to get it back.”
“Are you willing to possibly lose the item in question for all time then? Or shall we make a deal?”
“What kind of deal?” Leon frowned.
“I want three days with her. Three days without her father or the Sin’s Bastards coming after us. They will not find us anyway, but I don’t want them to interfere with my work. If I have to worry about them coming after me, I might make a mistake and hurt her and I really don’t want to have to hurt her. Do you get what I’m saying?”
“Yes, I get what you’re saying.” Leon growled. “I don’t know if Calico will agree to the three days or not, but I will try.”
“I think you’ll do more than try, Mr. Vincinti. Convince him that if he ever wants to see her again, he’ll give me the three days. If they come after her before then, I’ll keep her and they will never find her.”
Leon’s lips pressed together in rage. “You don’t have to hurt her. She is innocent of the mess Max was into.”
“Then keep her father and the others away. Three days is more than enough time for me to get what we need from her.”
Leon waited as the line went dead. He wanted to throw the phone at the wall and watch it smash to pieces but he couldn’t do that. Instead, he slowly closed it and laid it on the table. Turning his head, he saw the members of Sawyer’s family.
Calico had his arms around Jolene who was crying and Jordan was sitting beside them looking like he’d lost his best friend. In a way, he had.
Leon knew Jordan and Sawyer were close. They were all the other had when they thought Jolene was gone. Now she was missing as well. Taken by a man that was more myth than real to them. Leon couldn’t be sure this Priest wouldn’t hurt her but he said he wouldn’t. He turned around and saw Deke watching him carefully. Leon got up and joined Deke at another table. “You need to call your men back. Stop the search.”
“Why?” Deke asked.
Sam and Gator came over. They stood behind Deke and listened the exchange carefully.
Leon stared at Deke and ignored the others. “The Priest just called me and told me he has Sawyer.”
They all heard Jolene gasp behind them. Then they heard a chair scrape the floor and footsteps approaching. Leon didn’t bother to turn and look as he felt Calico, Jolene and Jordan join them. He stared at Deke and gave them the Priest’s message, “He wants three days with her. He promised he wouldn’t hurt her if we gave him that much time. He also said if he found out he was being hunted by Calico or any of your men, he would take her and disappear and we would never find either of them again.”
“Do you think he’ll keep his word?” Jordan asked with clenched fists. “That if we give him the three days, he won’t hurt her?”
Leon slowly turned his head and stared at the young boy. “Yes, I believe his word. He has no reason to lie to the Family. After all, he holds all the cards and did not have to call us at all.”
Jordan studied the older man for a moment then turned to Sawyer’s father. “Give him the three days. If we want Sawyer back, give him the three days.”
“And if he doesn’t keep his word?” Calico growled.
Jordan shrugged as the fire in his eyes flashed. “Then we hunt the fucker down and kill him.”