Chapter 24
The world seemed to move in slow motion. Daniella was walking backwards toward the broken window dragging an unwilling Lissa along with her. I could see the knife pressing into the flesh of her throat. My stomach clenched at the sight of my best friend in the whole world trapped in the arms of that venomous witch.
No one knew what to do. I looked around to see the indecision and fear that I felt mirrored on my friend's faces. I looked to Christian and the pain and anguish I saw in his eyes made me want to scream. What had any of us done to deserve this?
"Daniella, no one is coming after you. Please think about what you are doing." Tasha's words were soothing, but I could see that they had absolutely no effect on the mad woman in front of us.
Terror filled Lissa's eyes as Daniella continued to walk methodically backwards. They were only a few feet from the safety of the building and Daniella's army of guards. She had hired them for kidnapping and torture. I could only hope that they would draw the line at murder.
Daniella was dragging her through the broken window, while in the hall the sounds of marching men got closer. They must have finished searching the basement and were coming back in search of their leader.
Rambo burst through the door and caught sight of Daniella entering the room through the glass. I could feel everyone around me tense with fear at what was going to happen now that the mercenaries' had joined the fight. I saw Rambo glance over Daniella's shoulder and catch my eye. He winked at me. Wait winked?
I glanced around, but I was pretty sure I was the only one who saw the signal. I didn't want to think about what that wink meant. Rambo held his fist in the air and all the men behind him stopped and waited for their next command.
"Okay men file out. Our job is finished here." Rambo ordered and then spun on his heel and walked back into the hallway.
"Where are you going?" Daniella screamed. "Get back here, you are not finished! This job is not finished."
None of the men slowed their exit from the room and the last one out actually closed the door. Daniella was distracted by the mass exodus and Adrian used the opportunity to move closer to his mother.
She looked back toward our group and was surprised to see Adrian standing before her. "Son, what are you doing here?"
"Well, mom, I came here to free my friends from their imprisonment." He spoke with such calmness and confidence that it surprised me. "Actually I guess you are the reason we found them. You used your credit card to rent this place and to charter your private jet. All I had to do was call the company and they gave me all the information I needed to find my friends."
"Good. Now that you are here you can help me." She actually had a smile on her face when she said that. What a loon. She was absolutely mad.
"No mom. That is not how this is going to work. Listen to me carefully. Drop the knife and let Lissa go. Then you and I will go back to the Royal Court together. Just you and me." He continued walking slowly toward her as he spoke.
She looked about wildly. "No Adrian, you don't understand. I can't let her live. She will destroy us and everything we know. She will destroy the Royal Court."
"Mom, what are you talking about?" Adrian asked incredulously.
"You don't know. Only I know - and I shared the information with my followers. It was prophesied that the Dragomirs would destroy us all. Trust me. I am doing us all a favor by ridding the world of this trash."
"Prophesied? By whom? When?" Adrian said each word methodically and paused after each question in emphasis.
"I went to get a reading from Rhonda when I was in my early twenties. She told me that the man I loved would one day betray me and it would mean my death. This man and his family would bring great change to the Royal Court."
"That's it? That reading spurred you into drastic action? Mom she's a tarot card reader, not God." Adrian was so worked up he was practically spitting at her.
"I was dating two men and very interested in both of them. I went to see Rhonda to help me decide who I should make my life with. What I found out that day changed everything about my life. Luckily I found out most of my reading before the fire alarm cleared the building." Daniella calmly told her story like it should justify every action she had taken in the last few months.
"You never finished your reading? All this is from a half of a reading?" Adrian's face was turning red as his voice got louder and higher in disbelief.
"That was enough. Betrayal leading to my death and the end of the Royal Court as we know it! I knew at that moment that I had to take care of Eric, but I didn't have the maturity and intelligence to lead a resistance group at that time. My only regret is that I didn't finish him off myself when we were younger. After I got the resistance group together he had a family that we needed to take of too. But that car accident was supposed to take care of our problem. Now I find that not only do I have to get rid of Princess Lissa here, but I also need to find and take care of the illegitimate child." Daniella spoke her evil diatribe like a grocery list. She was completely insane.
I was very glad at that moment that Adrian, Lissa, Christian, Eddie, Mia and Mikhail didn't know who we suspected that the illegitimate Dragomir was. They at least had a modicum of protection from that lack of knowledge.
"Mom your army has left and you are alone. I think you need to let Lissa go so that you and I can go back to the Royal Court together. I love you and I don't want you to get hurt. Please let her go so you and I can leave together." Adrian was convincing in his request. I could only hope that his begging would work.
"No son this ends here. I need to finish her off. It's for everyone's protection." She rationally explained.
"Mom I am afraid. If you harm Lissa then the rest of these people will harm you. You won't be able to find the last Dragomir and take care of them. Then I won't be protected. You'll let me down. If you just let her go then we can leave together, just you and me. Mom I love you. Please listen to me."
Daniella stared at her son with wide eyes. She was obviously torn by her son's words and pleadings. She has been driven by this mission for over twenty years and now he was asking her to stop. I could see the indecision in her face. I only hoped she would pick Adrian over revenge, for all of our sakes.
"Sorry Adrian. I do love you, but I must do my duty and take care of this problem myself. I trusted in my followers to take care of the whole family in that car accident and look what happened. Now I must make sure I end her life tonight."
"Okay I understand. Could you do me one favor though. I need a hug from my mother. Can you give me a hug before we go?" Adrian was great at compulsion, but I got the sense that he was doing it better than he had ever done it before. "Let me just come closer and have you hold me in your arms. Just let the knife down so that you can hug me."
Daniella's rigid arms started to go slack. She was staring right into Adrian's eyes and her face was filled with compassion. I couldn't believe it was working. She slowly lowered her arms while Adrian continued to compel her into letting Lissa go.
Gradually Lissa slipped out of her grasp. As soon as she was free Lissa ran into Christian's arms and started crying. I didn't move. I just watched the interaction between Daniella and Adrian.
Daniella was still had a death grip on the knife. Adrian was walking toward her with his arms out to his sides keeping up the appearance that he was coming to her for a hug from his mother. "Mommy I want a big hug from you. I am coming to you for comfort. I love you." Adrian whispered continuously to her as he moved ever closer.
Surprisingly Daniella was mesmerized by her son. He had completely enthralled this madwoman into releasing her prisoner and allowing him to move closer to her. One step more and he would be in her arms.
As Adrian wrapped his arms around his mother he tried to remove the knife from her hand. As soon as he touched the knife the compulsion was broken. The look of fierce determination returned to her face and she lifted the arm with the knife.
"Adrian watch out!" I screamed when it appeared Daniella was going to stab her own son.
He reacted immediately and jumped out of her embrace and grabbed for her hand with both of his. "No mom!" he screamed. "It's me Adrian. Let go of the knife."
"No one will stop this, not even my son." She growled at him.
The two wrestled for control of the knife. Sadly they were about evenly matched in strength. Adrian had lived such a privileged life that he had never built up any strength or fighting skills. Afraid of him getting hurt I started around the group to come at her from behind. I looked up to see that Dimitri had the same idea as me and he was walking the opposite direction. Maybe if we could knock her out, we could subdue her and bring her back to the Royal Court for prosecution.
Adrian kept up the struggle with his mother for control of the knife and the others in our group moved around nervously in Daniella's field of vision. All of this kept her distracted long enough that Dimitri was able to deliver a blow to the back of her head that rendered her immediately unconscious.
My mother and father came over and gave me a big hug. Dimitri put his arm around my side and the two of us went over to where Christian was calming Lissa. Adrian was crouched over his mother holding a silent vigil.
"Peter, Arthur can you find something to bind Daniella with please." Abe called out to where they stood watching us all hugging. Tasha had moved from their side to go comfort Christian.
We tied her arms and legs with rope that the guys found among the guards leftover supplies. We piled into the van and Adrian drove us to the airstrip. We were all subdued having come down from the adrenaline rush of our escape.
"Does anyone have a phone I can use? I need to make an important call." I asked of our rescuers.
"Yes and I need to make a few myself." Abe added "How about you Dimitri?"
"I can wait until Rose is done." Dimitri declined the offered phone from Mikhail and nodded to me.
"Thanks Mikhail." I took his phone and dialed my cell. I hoped that Jill still had it and that it still held a charge. When Jill answered I was so relieved.
"Hello?" Jill's voice was music to my ears.
"Hey! It's me. We are safe. We are in a van with Lissa, Christian, Mia, Adrian, Eddie and Mikhail. I just wanted to check on you guys. Nothing happened after we were taken did it?"
"No nothing bad it's just that Victor has made a decision. He said we need to go back to the Royal Court. He is sending the guardians with us to keep us safe. He said he cannot go back with us, but everything will be fine."
"Can you put him on the line please?"
"Yeah. I just have to go get him. Hold on." The phone was muffled, but I thought I heard footsteps and a conversation. Suddenly Victor's voice was on the line.
"Rosemarie. How are you all? Safe I hope." Victor asked with genuine concern. "Jill has told me that you are not alone, so I understand if you want to talk cryptically.
"I am not sure the girls will be truly protected there. Are you sure it is a good idea?"
"I understand your concerns they are the same as Emily's. That is why I am sending all the guardians back with them. The plane will leave in about an hour and they will fly directly into the Royal Court airstrip."
"It sounds safe enough. I guess. Unbelievably we are headed to Pennsylvania also. Though I don't think the plan is for our little group to go back to the Royal Court quite yet." I looked around the darkened van at my friends. Most had their eyes closed or were talking quietly to one another. Then I realized that Daniella was staring right at me.
"Okay. Sounds good. I need to pass the phone on now to others who need to use it. I will catch up with you later. Take care." I rushed off hoping that I didn't give too much away to the others, especially Lissa.
I passed the phone over to Dimitri who needed to call the Strigoi network to check in for updates. I put Mikhail's phone into Dimitri's palm. I started to pull back, but Dimitri closed his larger hand around mine in a gentle squeeze. I looked up into his smiling face which was illuminated for a split second from the headlights of an oncoming car. He was trying to convey that he understood the conversation I just had with Victor.
He let my hand slip from his grasp and he sat back with the cell phone. His conversation was quick and muted. He closed the phone and thanking Mikhail returned it to him.
I could hear my father in the front using Adrian's phone. His call was also quiet and I couldn't glean any details from his end of the conversation. When his call was over he returned the cell to Adrian and glanced back at the rest of us. Looking toward Abe in the front I could tell by the look on his face that he had found out something important, but now was not the time or the place share.
We arrived at the airstrip and the guys took Daniella out of the back of the van and we all started for the small plane on the runway. The pilot was standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for us to board. He did a double take when he saw the guys carrying Daniella with her hands and feet tied. To his credit he didn't say a word.
A few minutes later we were buckled in and rolling down the runway headed back to Pennsylvania. Abe had instructed Daniella to be buckled in the front row with Peter standing guard. He and my mother took the back row with Dimitri and I and the others were scattered in the many rows in between. I hoped that before long we could all share the information we had learned from our phone calls.
We settled back in our chairs for the take off. Dimitri reached over to take my hand in his. He lifted it to his soft lips to place a gentle kiss on my knuckles. I looked into his eyes as the plane left the runway. I felt a fire down low in my belly as I thought of some of my recent flights in Abe's private jet. My thoughts turned steamy and I leaned toward Dimitri to taste his sensuous lips.
He was obviously having some of the same thoughts I was as he leaned to meet me half way for that kiss. He moaned softly as our lips met and I explored his mouth with my tongue. Dimitri's tongue met mine and I melted. I couldn't get enough of Dimitri.
"Eh Hmm." My mother cleared her throat.
I opened my eyes and realized that I had my hands buried in Dimitri's hair and he had one of his hands sliding under my shirt and the other sliding down my back. We looked at each other and pulled back from the kiss giggling.
"Oops. Sorry mom." I said sheepishly.
"It won't happen again." Dimitri added.
We both sat back in our own seats. It was very difficult not touching each other and it was very easy to get carried away when we did touch. Dimitri settled with my head resting on his shoulder. I closed my eyes to enjoy being this close to Dimitri. I felt comforted by his masculine scent and the heat of his body radiating through my cheek.
"You are now free to move about the cabin. Please keep your seatbelts fastened when you are sitting in your seats. We should be landing in approximately one hour." The captain reported through the plane PA system.
My parents indicated for Dimitri and me to undo our seatbelts and follow them to the back of the plane where a storage closet and a bathroom were located.
"What did you find out?" my father asked me. "From your end of the conversation Victor and the girls are going to the Royal Court."
"No just the girls. Victor is staying behind, but he is sending all of the guardians. What did you find out Dimitri?"
"My network has seen more Moroi leaving the Royal Court than usual. I am not sure what that means, but they couldn't give me anything more."
"Well I found out some very interesting news about our illegitimate friends." Abe moved in closer to whisper. We all crowded together so that we could hear the news. "Well it turns out that Jill's father is-"
"What are you guys doing? Lissa interrupted.