Chapter Eleven

Isle of the Sun

Sarah raised the glass up to the light, swirling it around gently by the stem for several seconds. She then raised it to her lips and took a perfunctory sip, allowing the liquid to roll across her tongue and down her throat. She closed her eyes and savored the taste.

"This is the best one I've tasted today," she said, glancing across the table at Simone. "What's the name on the label?"

Simone looked down at the nearly full bottle beside her. "Uh … here it is. 'Île du Soleil.' Is that French?"

"'Isle of the Sun.' Perfect." Sarah set her glass down and began writing on a notepad. "I think this should be the centerpiece bottle for the party we're throwing tonight."

"The bank president, former owners, and at least fifty of your neighbors have been invited." Simone consulted a tablet in front of her. "I also invited my bosses from the firm. They'll be here in the morning."

The women sat at a small circular table underneath a covered gazebo. Torches surrounded the structure, brightly illuminating the structure as it overlooking a corner of the vineyard covering nearly two hundred acres. A walkway illuminated by overhanging lamps led from the gazebo to the pool area at the rear of a spacious two-story Victorian-style mansion.

Floodlights hanging from the long second floor balcony shone down over the pool and the surrounding lounge area where workers staged tables and chairs to be arranged for the party.

Sarah finished writing on the pad and walked it over to the cook, a short, balding man who stood several feet away at a small charcoal grill. "Zach, your menu looks good. Do me a favor and focus on dishes that goes best with the three bottles I have circled, okay? Especially the 'Isle of the Sun.'"

Zach gave the list a once over and nodded. "Not a problem, Miss Whitley. We already have thirty to forty bottles of each in the wine room. I'll make sure they're brought up tomorrow."

He pointed to the chicken he was seasoning on the grill. "Are you ladies ready for your salads?"

Sarah nodded enthusiastically. "Set it up."

She stood by for a minute watching the cook prepare the dinner with zeal before turning back to the table. As she sat down, she noted one of the workers leading a very familiar figure down the walkway to the gazebo.

"Josef's here," she said.

Simone looked up from her tablet as Josef strolled up the steps with a bottle of champagne in hand. "Good evening, ladies. I thought I'd find you up here."

Sarah began to speak, but instead turned to Zach at the grill. "Zach, we need to speak with Mr. Kostan in private. Once you're done here, why don't you get started prepping tomorrow's menu? I'm sure we can manage the grill without you if we want seconds."

Zach used a spatula and quickly scooped the meat onto two plates filled with Romaine lettuce resting inside a cooler on the small folding table behind him. A sprinkle of mozzarella cheese followed by a dash of salt and pepper, and ten seconds later, he set the plates on the table.

"I'll send someone along to clean up a little later," he said, taking off his apron and setting it and his cooking utensils into a small tub on the table. "Leave everything as is."

Josef gave the cook a short nod and watched as he made his way towards the house. "Already putting the staff to work, I see," he said as he sat down at the table.

Sarah took a bite of her salad, enjoying the taste of the chicken. "It seems they appreciate the change of ownership. Zach is an excellent cook." She wiped her lips with a cloth napkin as she looked over at Josef.

"So, what brings you out to Whitley Vineyards?"

Josef slid the bottle over to her. "A small present for you. My way of saying congratulations."

Sarah inspected the bottle. "Dom Périgon. I haven't had any since my father opened one of the bottles for my eighteenth birthday he had received as part of the company's centenary. 1935, I believed."

Simone washed a forkful of salad down with wine. "I don't know when I'm going to be used to you two talking about events that happened before I was born."

"Oh, come on, Simone. We're just three adults having a pleasant conversation," Josef said, glancing at Sarah. "I can't help if a bit of it slides into an era between Prohibition and the moon landing."

"Josef, please." Sarah placed the bottle over to the side. "It's a very nice gift. Thank you. I would like to save it for tomorrow, if that's okay, and I don't have any B positive on hand."

"Quite alright, my dear." Josef reached for a bottle of wine and poured a small amount in a spare glass. "I can stand a few sips of the human form of refreshment."

And that was what he did, tolerating the tart flavor of 'Isle of the Sun' while the ladies finished their salads. "Zach knows how to turn a simple salad into an adventure," said Simone, dabbing at the corners of her mouth with a napkin. "I can't wait to see what he whips up tomorrow."

Josef slid his glass away from him. It had a small amount of wine left. "Having a soirée here tomorrow? That's the reason for all the work going on around the house?"

"A way to meet the neighbors, that sort of thing." Sarah looked over the rim of her wine glass. "I would invite you, but the bank president will be here and I really don't think he deserves to be thrown off the Hollywood sign."

Josef smiled. "Oh, you think so little of me."

"Oh, I think a lot of you, Josef." Sarah rose from her seat and slowly walked over to stand behind his chair. Josef looked up over his shoulder at her, but she tilted his head back down to where his eyes fell on Simone, who was on her feet and walking over from the other side of the table.

Josef frowned. "Uh, what's going on?"

Sarah sat down on the edge of the table to Josef's left. "Simone and I had a long talk last night."

Josef glanced at Simone who mimicked Sarah and sat down on the table to his right. "And what was the conversation about, pray tell?"

Simone reached down and ran her hand down his arm. "About you."

"I … sort of spilled the beans about our night together to Simone," Sarah said meekly.

Josef slowly turned his head from Sarah to Simone and back again. He chuckled to himself and played with the arm of his chair. "I hope you didn't go off about me not being willing to perform," he said. "I was willing. I just felt -"

"Guilty?" Simone asked. Sarah grinned at her.

Josef slowly nodded. "Yes, I guess I felt guilty about everything."

Sarah rose and looked down at Josef for a moment before reaching down and giving Josef a peck on his cheek. "I think you two have some things to talk about, so I'll leave you to it while I put the bubbly in the Fridgidare for tomorrow."

She straightened and reached for the bottle of champagne. Giving Simone a quick wink, she then turned and walked up the stone pathway towards the house.

"Ah, another crack from the Hoover era. Frigidaire?" Simone rolled her eyes before looking down at Josef.

He looked back up at her as he pulled her over to sit on his lap. She complied and wrapped an arm over his shoulders.

"So. You know what happened the other night," he said.

"I know what didn't happened." Simone smiled. "And why. But what I couldn't figure out was why her dress had to practically be on the floor before you became so overridden with guilt."

Josef slid his arms around her waist. "In my four centuries of existence, I've been with countless women. Some purely for sex. Some for refreshment. Some for both."

"And I believe I fall under the last category." Simone's expression grew serious. "Your conquests since the first Thanksgiving are not in question tonight. What I want to know is why you would rather be with me than Sarah."

She slid off of Josef and stalked frustratingly around the table. "Sarah was the one human you attempted to turn, Josef. For you - you of all vampires to do that, you have to had love her. And when it didn't work, you provided care for her for sixty years. So you can't sit there and tell me that you all of a sudden, when that love of your life is once again standing before you, you chose me."

Josef pursed his lips as he leaned forward and steepled his fingers on the table. "You mind if I tell you a little secret?"

"Oh, I'm all ears." Simone slid a chair close to Josef and sat down, staring into his face expectantly as he continued to look down at his hands.

"You're right, Simone. I would be lying if I sat here and said after all these years, I don't have any feelings for Sarah. I do have feelings for her."

"Then why all of this, Josef? You do realize you're stringing two women along, right?"

When Josef did not reply, she reached for his hand and grasped it. "We have had a few months. You two were cheated out of sixty years. You owe it to yourself to reclaim that what you lost."

Josef slowly turned his head until his eyes locked with Simone's. He saw a mixture of sadness and absolution. She dabbed at the corner of her left eye with a finger, but smiled and gestured with her head towards the path Sarah had taken moments earlier.

Josef rose and took several hesitant steps before looking back over his shoulder at the young woman. Simone waved him along. "Go. I'll sit here and finish off this bottle of wine. Talk to her."

Josef nodded and turned back to the walkway. Simone watched him disappear at the top of the path before settling into his vacated chair and sliding her glass of wine close to where she could reach it.

She stared at the reflection of the torches' flames flickering off of the glass as thoughts of a disposition for a lawsuit she needed to finalize on came to mind. Work always served as a helpful distraction for her; pushing things that bother her in the rear view mirror in favor for hours and hours of having her nose buried in a law book.

Simone was in such deep thought that she failed to notice a dark shadow rustling through the vineyard below the small hill where the gazebo rested at breakneck speed. The shadow leapt from the rows of vines hanging from the wooden support stakes into the air, landing on the edge of the granite slab of the gazebo floor.

Simone jerked her head over her shoulder with a start, nearly knocking her chair over as she shot to her feet at the sight of the new arrival, dressed from head to foot in black. "What the hell?"

The shadow closed the six feet of distance between them in the blink of an eye, grabbing Simone by her forearm to prevent her from running, while clamping a gloved hand over her mouth. Her eyes bulged open as she struggled to free herself, but the effort quickly lessened as the seconds passed. Her eyes rolled back into her head as she collapsed into her masked attacker's arms.

The man easily placed Simone's unconscious body in the chair she vacated. Ensured that she could not slide out onto the floor, he tilted his head slightly to the ceiling as if inspecting the beams of the gazebo.

Gloved hands reached up to remove the mask from his head. Lance smoothed his hair and dusted the remains of the capsule that held Malcolm's sleeping agent from his glove.

A pair of footprints landed lightly behind him. Lance barely glanced over his shoulder. "What kept you?"

The vampire, a brunette, growled slightly as she stepped past him to look up the walkway at the house. "Sorry. I'm not use to this kind of work."

"The house staff should be unconscious by now. Still, Malcolm will not take kindly to such an aggressive action being taken without his authorization."

Lance held a cell phone out to her. "Call Lucas. Call one of Malcolm's people who were watching Sanders Securities."

The vampire sighed. "We tried that already."

"Exactly. They're not answering, and do you know why? They're dead, and if my sister had anything to do with it, our fearless leader's grand plan is starting to unravel." Lance slid his phone back into his jacket and glanced down at Simone's inert form. He used one long fingernail to move a lock of hair from her face.

"If I hadn't met that hitchhiker on the road, I'd be tempted to sample this beauty," he whispered, pulling out a small, sealed envelope and placed it on the table in front of her before straightening.

"I think it's time to meet the esteemed Josef Kostan."

#

Mick and Beth pulled away from each other and stared into each other eyes for a long moment as she sat on top of him. Mick started to speak but hesitated, unsure of what to say.

Beth smiled. "I'm very sure that you have seen a naked woman before, Mr. St. John."

A look of uneasiness grew on Mick's face. "It's not that, Beth." He dropped his hands from her waist to fall on the couch. "Are you sure you're ready?"

Beth reached for Mick's hands and placed them back in their original positions on her body. "As sure as I have ever been of anything."

A smile slowly replaced the worry on Mick's face as Beth slid off of him and onto the couch, pulling him on top of her. They began kissing her again as she reached for his belt.

She was about to pull it through the loops of his jeans when a knock at the door interrupted their session. Mick immediately looked at the door with senses beyond normal sight and frowned.

"We have guests," he said.

Beth ceased her moving, her hand still grasping his belt. "Who is it?"

Mick zoomed in on the wall monitor displaying an image of two familiar women outside of his door. He slid from the couch to his feet while his belt, still in Beth's hand, slid through the loops to fall on the floor.

"Allison Lindsey and Alexandra Sanders are at the door," he said, reaching for the shirts discarded on the floor.

A second series of knocks, more forceful, caused Beth to roll off of the couch onto the floor with a start. She recovered just in time to catch the shirt Mick tossed at her.

"Go," he whispered, gesturing to the stairs

Beth obeyed as Mick slipped his t-shirt over his head. Running his fingers through his hair, he opened the door.

Sanders had the butt of her pistol poised to rap on the outside of the door. "St. John," she said, lowering her weapon. "Welcome to the land of the living."

"Alexandra. Totally unexpected." Mick looked past her at Allison. "And Allison. It's nice to see you again. I understand I owe you one for helping Beth in finding me."

"You want to settle that debt?" Sanders took a step forward, sliding her pistol into the inside of her jacket. "I need to speak with Beth Turner. Can you help me find her? She wasn't at her apartment, so Allison thought she'd be here with you."

"Miss Sanders?" Beth stepped into view from behind Mick, dressed in the blouse and jeans she wore earlier. " I thought you were in the hospital."

Mick noted the brace around Sanders' right wrist and the discoloring around her right eye. She noticed the scrutiny and glanced away. "Duty called, Miss Turner. I answered."

Beth gave a small shrug. "Okay. Well, what can I do for you?"

Sanders gave her a thin smile before looking expectantly back at Mick, who stepped to the side and allowed the women to enter the apartment. Sanders unfolded a sheet of paper as she said, "I heard you visited my offices earlier today to meet with Dr. Ellis."

"That's right." Beth nodded as Mick closed the door. "Mick was being drugged by that man. I wanted to know what Ellis was doping him with."

"Understood." Sanders held the sheet close to her chest. "You were accompanied by St. John's ex-wife?"

Beth felt a sense of dread beginning to grow inside of her. "What is this about?"

Sanders finally held out the sheet of paper for Mick and Beth to see. It was an image of Coraline standing at the entrance to Sanders Securities' underground parking facilities. "It seems the tour she got the first time out didn't work for her, so she came back for a late night, in-depth, unauthorized one."

Allison stepped forward. "Beth, our building was attacked tonight. It was Malcolm Rehnquist."

The news Allison announced startled both Mick and Beth. "Was anyone hurt?" queried Mick.

"Fortunately, no." Sanders folded the paper and stuffed it into her pocket. "Allison, one of my department heads, and myself, we were knocked out with some sleeping agent introduced through the building's AC units. But Dr. Ellis was taken."

Sanders walked over to the bookcase along the far wall. "I don't think your ex-wife had anything to do with Ellis' kidnapping, St. John, but she was the only one my secondary video feeds picked up due to my primary video feeds getting hacked to death, and then demagnetized. I need to speak with her."

A beep issued from Sanders' phone which she carried in her hand. She looked down at it and swiped the screen several times, her brow creasing more with each hurried swipe. Beth shot a worried glance at Mick and received a equal look in return.

Finally Sanders lowered her phone and looked at Beth. "Correction. It seems that Ms. Duvall was involved in taking Dr. Ellis. We have pictures and video of several masked individuals along with her and the doctor in my parking garage. Judging from the tech they're using, we're dealing with pros on this one."

Allison reached for Sanders' phone. "What kind of tech are they using?"

With Allison holding the phone, Sanders swiped to one of of the pictures. "Their faces are concealed with some type of shielding. It's like a white, pixelated dot covering their heads."

Sanders looked over at Beth. "Obviously I can't make you do anything. We were holding him without due process, the whole nine. So, in the spirit of fairness, I think I am owed some sort of explanation."

Mick sighed and gestured for all the women to sit down. Sanders hesitated at first, but moved to sit in one of the love seats across from the couch. Allison took the other while Mick and Beth sat down on the couch.

"I don't want to hide anything from you, Alexandra. You're smart enough to where you would probably pick up on everything with little effort. Yes, my ex-wife there, but she had nothing to do with Ellis being kidnapped. At least not for the reason you're probably thinking."

"Okay. Then what was she doing there?"

Mick glanced at Beth. "She was thinking about kidnapping Ellis."

A faint grin formed on Sanders' face. She glanced briefly at Allison and chuckled to herself. "I'm sorry, everyone. I had my hearing tested a while back. Doc said I have a slight loss in the right ear. Possibly from all the shooting I've done over the years. It sounded like you said she was thinking about kidnapping the doctor."

"For your staff's protection, believe me. You have no idea who you're dealing with here. Rehnquist is dangerous. He would probably had killed you along with everyone in your building to get Ellis back. So Coraline was watching the building to ensure your safety."

"Chances are she saw something out of the ordinary and took matters in her own hands," added Beth.

Sanders crossed her arms again, considering their words. Mick rose and stepped close to her seat. "Trust me on this," he implored. "Forget about Rehnquist and the doctor. Let me handle this."

Sanders looked up at Mick for a long minute, finally shaking her head and sighing in defeat. "All right, St. John. You have twenty-four hours. Rehnquist had better be gone, Ellis … back on Ellis Island or whatever. I want this over with."

She started to turn for the door, but stopped and pointed at Mick. "I want him gone. Or this time tomorrow, I go to war."

She moved for the door and opened it. Sending a glance over her shoulder at Allison, she proceeded out to the hall. Allison squeezed Beth's hand briefly before following, closing the door behind her.

Beth watched Mick as he hurriedly pulled his cellphone from his pocket. "Who are you calling?"

He raised the phone to his ear. "Coraline. We need to talk to this doctor and find Rehnquist now."

While Mick moved into the kitchen, Beth's phone vibrated on the couch. She walked around and reached for it, grinning mischievously at the discarded belt on the floor.

Simone's name was displayed on the screen. "Hi, Simone. I thought you were with Sarah tonight."

"Beth, you and Mick needs to get to Sarah's winery right now! Sarah's been kidnapped and Josef's hurt!"

#

Mick parked the Mercedes a few feet from the front door of the mansion and hastily exited. Guillermo opened the passenger door and whistled as he took him the scenery. "Wow. Humans do know how to spend money, huh?"

Mick ignored him as the front doors opened and Simone stepped outside. "The staff is outside trying to ascertain what happened. That should give you time to get him out of here before someone decides to call the police."

Mick nodded and rushed past her and up the stairs at a speed no track star could ever match. He followed the scent of blood into a room with double doors close to the back far corner of the house and came to an abrupt halt at the scene before him.

Josef laid motionless in a pool of blood on a clear plastic tarp that was covering a settee against the far wall. His shirt was ripped opened, exposing nearly two dozen open wounds in his torso. Streaks of blood ran from a few of the wounds down the side of his body onto his shirt or the tarp. A mask of crimson covered his face from his temple to his chin while his right eyelid gaped open, an empty socket.

Mick stared at the form of his oldest friend in shock, taking one agonizing step after another towards him until he finally stood over his inert body. It took him several seconds before he could kneel down and grasp Josef's hand. It felt warm to the touch, an ill-fated sign for vampires. "Oh, Josef," he whispered. "What did they do?"

As if in response, Josef's body suddenly seized as he coughed a large geyser of blood into the air. He coughed several more times, turning over onto his side to allow more blood to flow from his mouth and open wounds on the tarp beneath him."

"I'll tell you what he did, buddy of mine." He said weakly as his left eye, almost a sickly clouded shade locked onto Mick. "He kicked my ass."

Mick quickly pushed back the joy of hearing his friend speak. "Who did this to you, Josef? Who did this?"

Josef struggled to prop himself on one elbow. He failed and fell back onto the tarp, his face withering in pain. His left hand reached for Mick's shoulder and he pulled him down close enough for him to whisper one word into Mick's ear.

"Lance."

#

Mick slammed the car door behind Guillermo, who had climbed into the backseat to begin administering to Josef. He almost ran over Simone, who was standing by the driver side door. "Simone, get out of the way!"

"Wait!" The woman held out an envelope to Mick. "The one who jumped me, he left this on the table outside for me when I woke up. It's for you."

Mick hurriedly shoved the envelope into his pocket as he slid into the car. Within seconds the Mercedes sped through the gates and back towards the city.

#