CHAPTER FIVE
“I’m Margo Mahigan, and I’ll thank you to pull back your compulsion, sir.” She tried to sound both polite and firm, but her words drew a smile from the ancient vampire.
“I would if I could, pretty Margo, but alas, it’s been drawn in as far as it will go. There are certain things that expand with age.” He waved a negligent hand in some kind of old-world gesture of nonchalance that she found annoying.
What did he mean, he couldn’t control it? That sounded like a lame excuse to her, but she did notice that as her annoyance rose, the compulsion seemed to dissipate. Whether he was doing it or she was overcoming his vampire mojo on her own, she wasn’t sure.
Either way, she was glad to be free—at least for the moment—of the pressing need to get closer to him. That she’d been tempted by his aura at all was something that shocked her. She’d thought she was made of stronger stuff than that.
“So, if you’re Margo, that must make you…” Hiram’s powerful gaze settled on Gabe. “The lovely Barbara’s little brother. I see the acorn doesn’t fall far from the oak. I have known many of your ancestors, Gabriel, and you definitely have the Llewllyn flair for the dramatic.”
“Look who’s calling who dramatic,” Gabe replied, keeping his magic orbs aloft, lighting the scene, though he allowed the one remaining in his palm to fade away.
“Touché.” Hiram lowered his head slightly, acknowledging the verbal hit. “Forgive me my little quirks. When you have existed as long as I, there are few pleasures left in life. Making the younger generations squirm is a prerogative of the old, is it not?” The vampire didn’t seem to expect an answer to his question but went on speaking after a short pause. “I am, as you must have surmised by now, Hiram. I was surprised by your request for an audience enough to grant it. Tell me your tale, and let’s see if you can continue to entertain me.”
Margo wanted to growl at his impudence, but they were on his territory. They had to play by his rules. After feeling the power of his mojo, she certainly didn’t want to have to fight her way out of this one. The bloodletter was scarily strong.
“As you probably know by now, I work for Collin Hastings. He received information that you had interacted with a rogue mage known as Mathias Bolivar. We are hunting him on behalf of our families. He has caused great harm to the Stony Ridge Pack, and my Alpha has put a price on his head.”
“He’s also caused big problems for the Llewellyn Clan, and we want him, too,” Gabe put in. “Margo and I are working together to bring him to justice.”
The vampire seemed to think about their words for a long moment. He steepled his hands in front of his face then eyed them both carefully before finally lowering his fingers and speaking.
“I do, indeed, know of Mathias Bolivar. He is a nasty piece of work with formidable tricks up his sleeve. I regret to say that he is no longer in my domain. If he were, I would deal with him myself, but he has fled, and good riddance to him.”
Darn it. Margo was both elated to find out that this trail had led to an actual sighting of her prey and disappointed to learn he had gotten away. Still, it was something.
“Do you have any idea where he might have gone?” Gabe asked before she could.
The vampire paused and seemed to consider them before speaking again. Finally, he relented when her nerves were stretched about as taut as they could go.
“I believe there is a man you need to talk to in Grizzly Cove,” Hiram said, his tone mysterious and certain. “Many things have been happening since those crazy bears decided to set up their own town down the coast from here. One recent development has been the downfall of one of the most notorious shifter crime kingpins on the West Coast. A nasty piece of work named Jonathan who was responsible for the destruction of nearly an entire mer pod. He imprisoned the wife of its leader and subjected the daughter to virtual house arrest. She grew up in isolation from her people, but she got away a year or so ago and joined another pod. That group of merfolk now resides in the waters of Grizzly Cove.”
Margo couldn’t really believe the candor with which the Master vampire was speaking. He knew things about shifter activities that, in the normal course of business, he should not have been able to discover.
“I see I have shocked you, Miss Margo,” Hiram gave her the ghost of a smile. “I assure you that I do not share such information lightly, but there have been many signs and portents about your arrival here,” he surprised her by saying. “For several months now, I’ve been looking forward to this visit—yet another signal that dire times are ahead for all of us.”
The Master stood and began a slow circuit around the room, glancing at them from time to time. It made Margo uncomfortable, but she tried not to show it.
“You two were not alive the last time we who serve the Light faced the evil that is Elspeth. I was.” His words astounded her. Exactly how old was this guy? “I was there from the very beginning,” he went on. “I saw how it started. I remember the ramp up to a war that lasted the whole of what mortals now call the Dark Ages. I remember the final victory. And I remember the way the races of fey, shifter and even vampire came together.” He turned directly under one of the orbs of Gabe’s golden light to pin them with a blatant stare. “As they are doing again, for the first time in centuries.”
He stopped walking the perimeter of the room and, instead, came right up to them, where they stood in the center of the floor.
“Here you stand before me. Part-fey and werewolf. Working together. Sharing your resources and energies. It’s just like before.” He gave them a hard look then turned to walk back to his chair. “And you are not the only ones. I have been keeping track, as best I can, of the nontraditional unions that have been taking place over the past few years. Shifters and human mages. Shifters and fey. Shifters…and vampires.”
“I thought that was impossible,” Margo said before she thought better of it.
“It’s not, I assure you. Improbable, definitely. Dangerous, certainly. But it is happening. A werewolf woman and a colleague of mine recently discovered they were true mates. I think you can imagine what having daily access to shifter blood has done to my friend. He was already a power to be reckoned with. Now, he is a weapon fit to confront the evil I fear is coming for all of us. He, and many more like him, will be needed if we are to defeat Elspeth and her followers for a second time.”
Margo’s mind was reeling. She looked at Gabe but couldn’t really tell what he was thinking. His expression was flinty and gave nothing away.
When he noticed her gaze, he spared a moment to meet her eyes. The softening of his blue, blue eyes was enough to calm her racing heart just the tiniest bit. He was her anchor in this maelstrom of upsetting information. Then, he turned to look at Master Hiram.
“I have heard the same things,” Gabe said. “We Llewellyns have our own sources of information, and we try to keep track of magical happenings around the world. Some of us noticed when the lines between magical species began to blur several years ago. We take a special interest because our line was founded by such an encounter.”
“Ah, yes,” Hiram agreed. “The lovely Bettina. How is she? Still working for the Lords, from what I hear.”
“You speak as if you know her,” Margo said aloud. She was so surprised by the turn of this conversation she had lost a bit of control over her own words.
Hiram chuckled. “I do know her. I first met young Gabriel’s ancestress, oh…two millennia ago?” He tilted his head and seemed to consider, then let it go. “Something like that. She was a lovely young fey—a breath of fresh air. I have not seen her in several decades, but she was still lovely the last time we met, even if she has aged slightly. Yes,” Hiram pinned Margo with his gaze, “fey do age. It’s just that everyone else doesn’t live long enough to realize it. Except me…” Hiram turned his face away quickly, but not before Margo thought she saw a glimmer of sadness in his eyes.
She’d always heard vampires could be eccentric. Hiram was proving those words, but he also seemed like a decent sort of fellow. This meeting was not anything like what she had expected. That was for sure.
“But I digress,” Hiram said, snapping back toward them with a decisive motion. “I will set up a meeting for you with the man I mentioned. His name is Trevor, and he’s a former mercenary. He’s a bear shifter who has recently taken up residence in Grizzly Cove with his new mate, a mer named Beth. She is the heiress of the destroyed mer pod, and Trevor is helping her regain control over the business empire that had once funded her father’s people. Much of that empire was turned to criminal activity once Jonathan got his hands on the reigns, but Trevor and Beth are slowly putting things back to rights. I believe they may have information on the mage you seek. Trevor’s specialty as a military man was reconnaissance and information gathering. If he doesn’t have the data you need, he can probably point you in the right direction, at the very least. Also, I do not think it would be a bad thing for you two to establish lines of communication with the community in Grizzly Cove. If you need backup here on the West Coast, there is no finer group of warriors, and they all stand firmly on the side of Light.”
“How can you be so sure?” Margo wanted to know. Shifters were like any other group of people—some good, some bad.
“After all my centuries roaming this Earth, I know the imprint of evil intimately. The men and women of Grizzly Cove do not carry that taint. In fact, they have been attacked time and time again, and they have risen to the challenge each and every time. They are forces for good, else I would never have allied myself with them.”
“Then, it’s true,” Gabe said quietly. “You have formed an alliance outside your own species.”
“I have, and I will continue to do so when my path crosses with those who will stand with me against evil,” Hiram declared, his voice ringing through the room with power.
Gabe bowed his head slightly but kept his gaze on Hiram’s. “It has been an honor to speak with you, Master Hiram,” Gabe said in the most formal tone Margo had ever heard from him.
“The honor is mine, young Llewellyn. Perhaps, when the matter of this mage is settled, I could talk more with one of your elders. Let them know I look forward to further discussions between our factions. We must form alliances if the evil I fear is coming to pass. Time is growing short.”
“I will pass on the message, Master. Thank you,” Gabe said, bowing slightly lower this time.
Damn. It looked like Gabe had made up his mind about the bloodletter while Margo remained undecided.
“I’ll have my assistant text you the details for your meetings in Grizzly Cove. Do you think you can get there by tomorrow?” Hiram asked offhandedly.
“We can be on the road at dawn,” Gabe replied right away, as if he was eager to please the vampire Master.
“No need. Grizzly Cove isn’t that far, as the crow flies. I’ll have my assistant send you directions, as well. If you get there at a civilized time, stop by the bakery and give the ladies who own the shop my compliments.” A secretive smile passed over Hiram’s lips, and Margo wondered what that was all about. Had he fed from one of the bakery owners? The thought gave her the creeps.
Hiram caught her eye and winked, making her jump. Did he read minds? Shit. Margo didn’t know what to think anymore. She’d never interacted with a bloodletter this closely. There were all sorts of rumors about them. She didn’t know what was true and what was mere fantasy.
“I assure you, my dear, my relationship with the shifters of Grizzly Cove is a clean one. I have fed from only one person in the entire town, and that was by permission, and only in dire need. Without his essence, I would finally have ceased to exist.” Hiram’s eyes went unfocused for a moment as he looked off into the distance. “I thought I’d been prepared to end my long life, but when it came right down to it, I wasn’t yet ready to let go. I owe that shifter and the good folk of that town a blood debt. They do not know it, and would probably scoff to hear it, but I consider them under my protection.”
Hiram turned away after delivering that astonishing news and waved to one side where his assistant still stood, at the ready, in the shadows.
“Give your details to him. I wish you success in your search. May the Light of the Goddess guide your path.”
Hiram raised one hand and waved at the glowing orbs Gabe had left stationed around the room. They winked out of existence as if they had never been. Margo blinked, but her night vision allowed her to see Hiram walk away toward the right side of the room.
Hiram kept walking until he was indistinguishable from the darkness. Perhaps he’d simply vanished. The inky blackness was indiscernible, even to Margo’s strong night vision.
Gabe went over to the assistant after conjuring another light orb in his hand so he could see, and was busy giving out his cell number to the agreeable young man. Margo just stood there for a moment, stunned by what had just transpired. When Gabe and the assistant finished, he waited expectantly for her. She shook off the odd feeling that had come over her and joined Gabe. They left the vampire’s lair together, and Margo, for one, was glad to be out of that strange place.
Gabe drove them back to the cabin in the dark of night. He thought their meeting with Hiram had gone exceedingly well, even if the Master hadn’t been able to give them direct information on the current location of their prey. Still, they were one step closer and now had an introduction to some of the most magical shifters around. Gabe was looking forward to seeing the town the bears had built for themselves. He wondered if he’d be the first mage to set foot in the place.
“What did you think of Master Hiram?” Margo asked from across the darkness of the vehicle. She hadn’t said much since they’d left Hiram’s lair, and Gabe had been content to let her think things through. She’d seemed out of sorts, and he hadn’t wanted to poke the wolf, so to speak.
“I think he is an ancient and powerful being,” Gabe hedged.
“Do you think he can read minds?” She sounded oddly contemplative.
“Do you think he was reading your mind?” Gabe answered her question with one of his own.
She turned in her seat and shot him a glance he saw in his peripheral vision. “It felt like maybe he was at one point. Or he might have just been pushing my buttons for fun. Like he did when he extinguished your light orbs.”
“He didn’t strike me as a mischievous soul,” Gabe told her, wondering at what point in the conversation she had felt that way. “His negation of my magic was a show of power. Most vampires couldn’t have done that, and he was letting me know that he had even more power than I suspected. But I still think he wasn’t just tweaking us. I think he was sincere in his offer of alliance talks, but that’s above my pay grade. My folks and the elders in my Clan will have to deal with him on that level.”
“Who really knows what motivates someone that’s been around for at least two millennia?” Her voice rose in pitch as if the concept truly troubled her.
“I almost hate to say it, but I think he’s been around even longer than that,” Gabe told her in a quiet voice. It seemed safe to say such things in the darkened cabin of the four-wheel drive vehicle in the dark of the night on a nearly deserted road.
“What do you mean?”
Gabe could feel her gaze on him, but he kept staring at the road ahead, unsure of what he was about to say.
“It’s only a theory…” he began hesitantly. “I was just thinking back to some ancient documents I once read in the family archives. There was a claim that Hiram Abiff was not murdered by three ruffians, as so many believe, but that he had been turned. Killed and made immortal by an evil bloodletter that wanted the secrets he knew.”
“Who was Hiram Abiff?” Margo asked, sounding truly puzzled. Gabe realized he’d have to backtrack.
“Sorry. I thought everyone knew the story. Hiram Abiff was the chief architect of King Solomon’s temple. The story of his death is used in freemasonry to this very day. They reenact it as one of their rites.” Gabe knew from her silence that she was having trouble taking in his words.
“King Solomon, like from Biblical times? That would make Hiram—if he is the same Hiram from back then—like three thousand years old?” Again, her voice rose in pitch, as if she could hardly believe what she was saying.
“I told you. It’s only a theory,” Gabe replied weakly. But now, after meeting Hiram, he couldn’t help but wonder if his theory was correct.
“If he’s been alive that long, he must be one of the most powerful bloodletters still walking this Earth,” she marveled in a whisper.
“He could have learned many skills in all that time,” Gabe agreed. “He also has amassed a great deal of power. I consider it a blessing of massive proportions that he’s fighting on our side. If someone of his age, skill and power turned to evil…”
“It doesn’t bear thinking about,” Margo said quickly.
They completed the rest of the journey in silence, though they hadn’t that far left to go. When they arrived back at the cabin, Gabe led the way indoors.
“No one has disturbed my ward,” he told her. “We’re good.”
Her nose had told her the same. Nobody had been near the cabin in the time they’d been gone. All was secure, as they had left it.
They’d departed from the cabin just before dark and met with Hiram a little after dinner time. The ride back had taken about an hour, so it wasn’t too late, even though their bodies were still protesting from jet lag.
“We should eat something,” Gabe said as he headed for the kitchen. “Then sleep.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Margo agreed, moving to help him in the kitchen.
They worked easily together, preparing a quick snack that they enjoyed in front of the fire. Gabe had left the coals carefully banked before they had left the cabin, so it was a simple matter to revive the flames with a fresh log or two from the pile beside the hearth.
They sat on opposite ends of the wide sofa, using the long coffee table in front of it as a makeshift dining table. They didn’t talk much as they ate, but Gabe opened a bottle of wine for them to share. Once they’d eaten a bit and had a couple of glasses of wine between them, the mood started to mellow.
“I’m not ashamed to admit that Hiram guy scared me a bit,” Margo said, staring into the flames as she savored her wine.
“Anyone who met him would be a fool not to be at least a little apprehensive. That much concentrated power can be very intimidating,” Gabe agreed. “I’ll admit I was a little awed by the guy. I didn’t expect that. I mean, I know a lot of powerful beings. Most of them are members of my own family. But Hiram… He’s something in a class all its own. I’ve never encountered anything like him before.”
“Me either. And I’ve met some scary mofo’s in my line of work,” Margo said, chuckling softly.
Gabe was enchanted with this side of her. The relaxed, easy-speaking womanly side of her spoke to his soul. He didn’t think she let down her guard like this very often. He felt privileged, in a way, to see it now and hoped this was the beginning of many more mellow nights spent together. Just talking. Or doing…other things.
Gabe tried to suppress his lustful thoughts. He had no idea, but maybe werewolves could smell desire or something. He didn’t want to blow this game before it even got started. It wasn’t easy, though. Margo was spectacular. She attracted him in every way.
She stretched her feet out in front of her and rested her head back against the cushiony back of the sofa. Her wine was finished, so he took her glass from her hand and placed it on the table. She smiled lazily at him in thanks then closed her eyes.
He was feeling sleepy, too. The food and the wine had lulled his senses, and the warm fire was doing the rest. He decided to follow her example and relax a bit longer before seeking a proper place to sleep. He liked being with her too much to let this experience end too soon.
Gabe rested his head back on the sofa, stretched out his feet…and that was all he knew until morning.
*
Margo woke the next morning with a crick in her neck and disoriented feeling of fuzziness in her brain. The wine, she remembered. She also realized pretty quickly that she had fallen asleep on the couch. She looked to her right, and her eyes widened. Gabe had done the same thing, apparently.
Son of a gun. She’d slept through the night on a lumpy sofa with a relative stranger not two feet away, and her inner wolf hadn’t done diddly squat about it. The furry hussie hadn’t raised the slightest alarm. No, it liked being next to Gabe for some reason.
Dangerous. That was a dangerous thought to be having. Gabe was a mage. He was not for them. She tried to convince her inner wolf of that simple fact, but the furry critter just kept ignoring her human side. Darn it.
She rose from the couch as quietly as possible and headed for the bathroom. Her wolf whined in her head, but she refused to give in. She wasn’t going to be there, next to him, when Gabe woke up. No, sir. That way lay danger.