Chapter 20

As soon as we got back to the hotel Abe took the samples I had collected and shipped them off to the Alchemists for the testing to be run. He told me that Christian's samples will be collected by a courier tonight and as soon as the lab had all the samples they could start the testing process. The good news is that it wasn't a commercial lab so the project would be done immediately. We should know by tomorrow or the next day if either Victor or Eric was the biological father of Adrian.

I was beat after spending the day out on the ocean and just wanted to crawl into bed and snuggle with Dimitri. Abe didn't keep us and we went into our hotel room only to run into Tasha and Arthur in the shared living room.

Tasha was lying on the small couch with her legs draped over Arthurs lap. "How did tonight go?"

"I got the samples and Abe has already packaged them up and the courier is on the way to bring them to the lab." I sagged against Dimitri and he wrapped his arm around my waist and supported some of my weight.

"Good. You talked with Christian too?"

"Yeah and he promised to get the samples tonight. He and Lissa were over at Adrian's place so it should be a breeze for him to get something. Jill really got a lift talking with them too." Dimitri squeezed his arm around my waist and started turning to our room.

"I hate to cut this short, but Rose is exhausted and I am going to get her into bed."

"Okay you two, see you in the morning." Tasha started swinging her legs off onto the floor, but Arthur put a hand on her calf.

"Tasha and I were thinking of showering again before bed. We'll wait until you two are all ready for bed."

"Sounds good. We won't be long." I said wearily and turned to go into the bathroom to brush and wash before bed.

When I was done in the bathroom I stripped down and slid in between the clean sheets of the bed. It felt so wonderful to melt in and let the exhaustion take my body bit by bit.

Dimitri joined me and carefully molded his body to mine and put his head next to mine on the pillow.

"Goodnight Roza. I love you." I felt his gentle lips on the side of my head and then felt the weight of his head rest back down on the pillow.

"I love you too. I wish the hotel walls weren't so damn thin. I hope we can figure this whole thing out and go back home soon. Wait…we don't have a home. Or jobs-"

"Shhh. All that will work itself out. Don't you worry. Our jobs now are to clear your name and solve this Daniella mystery. Nothing else." His calm voice whispered in my ear and he was rubbing soothing circles on my arm with his fingers. "Don't get worked up or you will never fall asleep."

"You're right. I just want everything to be perfect for us." I let out a sigh.

"It already is perfect, because we are together. And together we can work out anything. Now I want you to dream about what kind of house we are going to live in and you can tell me about it in the morning." He kissed my cheek and I turned my head to kiss his lips. It was a steamy kiss, but not one that meant that there was more to come. This kiss was perfect it said I love you, I need you and I will be right here next to you when morning comes.

I woke up to calypso music playing out on the beach. I slid out of bed and out the sliding glass doors onto the large deck. There were palm trees everywhere and the sun was bright in the sky. I squinted and tried to focus on the source of the music. There were a quartet of well tanned gentleman down on the shore with steel drums, flute, bongos, and a guitar. Beyond the band was the most gorgeous turquoise water that I have ever seen.

I started to walk toward the stairs and nearly tripped on my high heel sandals. I looked down at my feet and on the way down was surprised to see the small patches of white material that were attached to my body with strings. - A bikini- a very tiny, string bikini.

High heels and a string bikini… "Adrian! Adrian where are you?"

I looked out at the beach and saw two lounge chairs set up side by side and in between a table of exotic drinks with umbrellas.

"Come down here Rose. Take a load off and have a drink."

"I just spoke to you a couple hours ago, what else has happened to warrant this dream walk?"

"What? I can't just want to spend time with you? I thought we were friends…but if that's how you feel then I will let you go."

"No Adrian! That isn't what I meant at all and you know it. You just had me worried that something bad happened." I walked down to the beach and took a seat on the lounge chair. Adrian handed me a red drink with fresh strawberries and pineapple on the rim.

"Nothing bad happened. I just wanted to let you know that I am feeling better and I got my head back in the game. I realized I was feeling bad for myself and really I should be worried about you clearing your name and I should be helping to protect Lissa."

"Adrian, thank you. We need all the help we can get. I am hoping that we can solve this and come home soon. If you help then we might be home even quicker."

He smiled at me and held his drink out to clink against my glass. "Cheers Rose."

"Cheers." I smiled back at him as we clinked our glasses together. I took a sip of the delicious tropical drink.

Suddenly the world that Adrian created blurred and he looked at me with a strange expression on his face. "Rose, what's wrong?"

"Adrian, can you hear me? I don't know what's happening." The tropical beach blurred until I was back in the hotel room. I tried to focus and get my bearings, but when I looked up I found I was staring into a face I did not recognize.

"Dimitri?" I tried to scream, but it came out in a whisper. I felt strange and my world was blurring and the edge of my vision was getting dark. Before it darkened all together I frantically looked around for Dimitri. It was dark, but I thought that I saw a limp form on the bed.

I tried to struggle away from my captor and let out a scream of warning to Abe and my mother on the other side of the wall, but I couldn't make my muscles listen to my brain. My world went dark.

When I awoke the first thing I did was try to struggle away from my captors, but there wasn't anyone holding me. A stabbing pain shot through my head and the bright light coming in through a high window made the back of my head throb. I closed my eyes until they were slits and I looked around to find I was alone in a room with a small window about ten feet up. The room was furnished with a cot, which I was laying on, a small table and a folding chair. I assessed the furniture to see if there was anything I could stand on to get a look out that window.

I decided that before I tried climbing anything I should see if I could move all my limbs. I lifted my arms and they moved just fine. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and slowly sat up. The room spun for a minute and then settled. My head was still throbbing, but I stood up anyway. I carefully walked around the room holding on to the wall to keep steady. I really needed to get my blood flowing back into my legs and getting my bearings at the same time.

The room was institutional in design. It was about ten feet by seven feet and only had the one window. The walls were white and the door was wood. The ceiling was white with fluorescent tube lighting and the floor was white and grey linoleum. A quick scan didn't reveal any type of camera or microphone.

Well no good information there. I had to get up to peek out that window. I slid the chair over and climbed onto it. I stood on my tiptoes and I wasn't quite tall enough to see out the window. I got off the chair and tested the durability of the small table. It felt pretty sturdy so I lifted it onto the folding chair and carefully climbed first onto the chair and then onto the table. It wobbled, but held.

I stood to the side of the window and then slowly peered out. Luckily they had put me in a room that looked out onto the street instead of into an alley. I could see cars driving by and I could see part of the street sign on the corner of the closest intersection. There was a tree blocking my view of the whole sign, but I could make out Guadal and the number 44 of the intersecting street. According to the license plates on most of the cars we were in Texas.

So they hadn't flown me anywhere, probably took a few hours to drive here from Louisiana. I looked out the window again trying to gauge the angle of the sun. If I was estimating correctly it was mid afternoon. "What kind of drugs did those thugs give me? I have been out for at least 12 hours. How am I getting out of here?" I mumbled to myself. Wow I'm losing it. Now I am talking to myself- out loud.

I wonder if they took everyone from the hotel or just me. I hope it was just me, so that at least someone knows that I am gone and they can start looking for me. Plus I wouldn't wish this headache that I have on anyone. It's worse than any hangover I ever had in my old partying days.

I climbed down and put the furniture back exactly where it was. I didn't want to be caught when my captors came back to check on me. Really I had learned everything I could from looking out the window…at least for now…and I feared someone walking in on me.

My head was really throbbing again. Maybe if I lay back down and rested for a while more my head would feel better. Where are the ibuprofen and a glass of water when a girl needs them?

I climbed back into the bed, well cot, and got as comfortable as I could. I snuggled into the pillow and closed my eyes. I thought with my pounding head I would drift off to sleep pretty quickly, but the calypso music was quite annoying. I opened my eyes again to tell whoever was playing the music so loud to shut it off, when I realized I was back in the lounge chair with Adrian.

"What the hell is going on?" I yelled at him. I started to wince at my own voice and realized that I wasn't in any pain.

Adrian looked at me a little stunned and frankly a little hurt by my outburst. "Why don't you tell me what is going on, Rose. Truthfully I am just as confused as you are."