Chapter Twelve

Taken

Even a hastily sent phone call to Josef's assistants did not begin to prepare them for what to expect when Mick pulled his car into the expansive garage two hundred yards behind Kostan's mansion.

When Adrian peered into the backseat and saw his employer covered in blood halfway down his nearly still body, he took a step back, overcome with shock. Ryder England, Josef's computer specialist, had to push past Adrian to help Guillermo ease Josef out of the car. The motion was enough to make Adrian come to his senses, and he helped them carry Josef to the freezer unit set up in a nearby office.

Guillermo quickly inspected the inner lining of the freezer before closing the lid. "Good. There are hooks inside to hang the blood bags inside while he's sealed up."

Mick entered the office with Guillermo's cooler from the car. "Do you think you have enough?"

Guillermo opened the lid and glanced inside. "I doubt it," he said. "For his knife wounds, maybe. Barely. But we're talking about organ regeneration here. I checked his eye and the nerves aren't cauterized. It was simply snatched out. That's a plus. But it's still a lot of work to do."

Mick set the cooler down beside Josef's freezer. "Tell me what you need."

"I have this A positive with me now. It's best to stay under one type so not to slow the process. How many bags did I leave at your place?"

Mick struggled to think. "I don't know. A dozen, I believe. And I have about eight to ten in my stash."

Guillermo opened the cooler and pulled out three bags with needles and lines attached. "Call Beth and ask her to bring everything she can. I'll get started with what I have."

Mick nodded and stepped outside into the garage. Josef's Ferrari, two limousines, SUV, and four motorcycles rested throughout the spacious structure with room to spare for twice that number comfortably. A fully equipped maintenance bay sat empty in front of the open garage door closest to the office. Simone was standing just outside talking with Ryder when she saw him. "Mick, how is he?"

He rubbed his forehead as he glanced at the closed door behind him. "Time will tell, but he's … he's hanging on. Guillermo's with him now."

He sighed and looked down at her. "I'm sorry, Simone. I appreciate you calling me, but now I need you to tell me what happened up there."

Simone quickly recounted everything that occurred; from her dinner with Sarah and planning the dinner party for the following night, to Josef's unexpected arrival, to their conversation.

"I sat outside alone while Josef went inside to talk to Sarah, and that was when I was attacked. Whoever it was, he had something in his glove that knocked me out. When I came to, I ran up to the house and saw everyone else was unconscious. I began looking for Sarah, and ... I found Josef. That's when I called you."

Simone began to cry, but she wiped at her tears angrily. "I have had just about enough of Malcolm Rehnquist and his twisted horde of vampires, Mick," she said through gritted teeth. "You promise me that when you find Sarah, you make them pay. She's been through enough. We've all been through enough."

"I will," said Mick, reaching into his pocket for his phone. "First thing's first. I have to call Beth and ask her to bring all the A positive from my place. Josef might need it."

His hand closed not on his phone, but folded paper stuffed inside his pocket. He pulled it out and remembered it was the envelope Simone gave him at the winery earlier. "You said this was left with you?"

Simone nodded. "It was the first thing I noticed when I woke up."

Mick glanced down at his left hand holding the envelope, fighting to ignore the blood coating his skin. Terrible thoughts begin to creep into his consciousness. He quelled them down as he opened it and pulled out a small piece of paper.

Simone leaned in close. "Where's Sarah? What does it say?"

Mick raised his gaze up to her eyes.

"It seems Malcolm may have had enough as well."

#

Lance slammed against Malcolm's car from the vicious backhand strike he received. He slid down its side to one knee as he rubbed feeling back into his jaw. "I must say, Claudia, you're losing your touch. You were much better at this a hundred years ago."

"You better hope you don't lose your head over this." Claudia Oxford bared her fangs as she reached down and grabbed Lance by his collar. She slammed him back first into the stone stanchion of the parking garage they were staged in.

"Malcolm left explicit instructions that the Whitley woman was not to be involved in any way! And I find out that you kidnapped her?! He will take your head for this!"

Lance snarled. "If I hadn't made a move, this little soirée will last well into the next century. I have better things to do with my time."

Claudia glared at him, unsure of whether to grab him again or walk away in anger. She settled for turning her back to him, rubbing her head in frustration.

Lance took a tentative step forward. "Trust me, Claudia. When he sees what I have planned, even he will be appreciative of my efforts." He curled his right hand slightly into the sleeve of his coat as he spoke. "But while we're speaking of our beloved benefactor, where is he and your brother?"

"They're at the hotel trying to figure out where Dr. Ellis is being held." Claudia tapped the window of the car with a fingernail before turning back to Lance. "Now, I need a -"

His hand sliced across Claudia's throat so fast that it was already back at his side for a full two seconds before she realized he had even moved. She stared at him, perplexed, until she felt something wet down her blouse. She looked and saw it was blood.

She instinctively reached up to her neck with her hands, but it was a futile effort. Her blood gushed from the gash in her throat between her fingers onto the surface of the parking garage, forming a pool around her knees as she fell.

More blood frothed from her mouth as she looked up at Lance who wiped the blood off of his short sword with a handkerchief. He put a finger to his lips as he crouched in front of her. "Don't talk, my dear. Save your energy, for I want you to know as these last few seconds of your life tick away that I'm finally rid of you, and in a few hours, I'll finally be rid of St. John, and your precious Malcolm."

Claudia gasped as she stretched out to grab Lance, but he quickly back away with a laugh. Her miss caused her to fall prone to the floor. A low gurgle issued from her blood stained mouth for several seconds and stopped, almost at the same time as all motion ceased.

Lance rose to his feet and slid his blade into his jacket as he took several steps away. His phone was in his hand and he dialed a number. The recipient of the call answered. "Yes?"

"Catherine, were you able to stash our guest in her new suite?"

"As you requested."

"And as for the second guest?"

"I'm standing outside her door now."

The flickering of the lights in the garage reflected off of Lance's black eye orb. "Excellent. Call me when they're both together."

He disconnected the call and glanced down at Claudia's body. He bent down and closed her eyes while dialing another number. As he straightened, the call connected.

"David. I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but Claudia's dead."

A long pause. "We were separated at Sanders Securities when our associates were ambushed. I found her in a parking garage a few blocks away. Her throat … it was slashed. I found her lying in a pool of her own blood."

Another pause. "Of course. I'll bring her body, but there was something left with her that I think Malcolm will want to see."

He smiled as he turned a sealed envelope in his fingers, an envelope similar to the one he had left at the winery.

"Something very important."

#

Beth slid the secret panel aside in the kitchen and reached in for the bags of plasma Mick kept for his use. "And he didn't say where he was going?"

"No. He read the note I gave him, asked me to call you to bring the blood here, and took off." Even through the speakerphone of Beth's cellphone resting on the counter, Beth could hear the worry in Simone's voice. "Beth, I have seen vampires angry. This was totally different."

"I'll try calling him before I leave." Beth carefully placed the bags in a cooler packed with ice on the counter. "How's Josef doing?"

Simone hesitated to answer, causing Beth to fear the worst. "Your friend, Guillermo, he's been working nonstop on him. He said he had to do the same when you found Mick, but the wounds Josef suffered are much more severe. It may be weeks before he even begins to recover."

Beth closed and secured the cooler. "Okay, I'll wait to call Mick until I get this blood into Guillermo's hands. Sounds like time is of the essence."

"I'll be here."

Beth ended the call and dropped her phone into her purse. She slid a jacket on and slung her purse over her shoulder before grabbing the cooler.

She looked down to make sure the cooler was closed shut as she opened the door, nearly bumping into a towering female standing just outside. She had an athletic shape with short blonde hair styled in a bob. "Oh! I'm sorry, I wasn't watching -"

The woman bared her fangs in Beth's face. She instinctively shot a right cross across the woman's jaw which would have felled a normal opponent. The vampire smiled as she used her tongue to lick away a spot of blood from her lips before pushing Beth's head bodily into the wall. She fell to the floor still clutching the cooler, dazed.

The woman smiled down at her. "Miss Turner. It's a pleasure to meet you."

#

Simone nervously stepped off the elevator onto Mick's floor. She rounded the corner heading towards his loft, stopping when she spotted a phone and the cooler rested on the floor in front of the door.

She slowly walked up to the objects and knelt down. She placed her hand on top of the container and breathed a sigh of relief that it was still secure before turning her attention to the cell phone. The screen was unlocked, and she noted eight missed calls; three from her, and five from Mick.

Simone rose to her feet with the phone and noticed a small envelope that was resting underneath. She picked it up and opened it, noting it was similar to the one left with her at the winery.

A minute later, she was back on the elevator with the cooler under her arm, and phone to her ear. "I tell you, Mick, she was taken," she said, pressing the DOWN button. "Her phone and the blood was left outside of your door."

Simone thought she heard Mick swear under his breath. "Was there anything else left behind? Any clue that shows where she was taken?"

Simone held up the piece of paper she had taken out of the envelope. "Yeah. And you are not going to like it."

#

Magnus McClane watched as Mick tossed his phone in his car behind him and ran his fingers through his hair, clearly agitated. He descended the steps of his Gulfstream to the hangar floor. "You look like you just got some bad news, lad."

Mick turned to the Archivist. "Malcolm's taken Beth to Victorville. Back to the hotel where he had me holed up for three weeks."

McClane remained silent for several seconds. "I am sorry, St. John. I like that young woman. Lot of fire for a human. What are you going to do?"

Mick opened the trunk of his car and pulled out his weapons bag. "I'm going to find her, and end this once and for all."

McClane shook his head at the assortment of mini crossbows, stakes, and knives Mick had. He turned his head to yell over his shoulder, "Xavier! Bring me Armagh!"

Several seconds later, now dressed in a white polo shirt with a gold Marine Corps logo and jeans, Xavier King descended from the plane with a long, black case. He placed it on the hood of Mick's car. "I know it's serious if you're calling for your first sword."

"It's not for me." McClane undid the latches and opened the case to reveal a longsword with a crucifix-shaped hilt wrapped tightly in a worn strap of leather.

"Armagh was the only thing I escaped Belfast with in the 17th century," he said as he removed the sword from the case. "Many museums have offered me a fortune for it because of its authenticity, but they have no idea what it's used for."

McClane turned to Mick and held the weapon out by the hilt. "A bastard like Rehnquist, he may carry a sword around himself. If he does, you should be prepared."

Mick hefted the sword, admiring its edges and weight. "What are you going to do with the doctor?"

McClane looked up at the entrance to the plane. "I think he had an idea of what he was doing, but by the time it got serious, it was too late to get out. And dealing with a group of vampires, who could get out if they wanted to?"

"We're taking him back to Detroit tomorrow, but if you need BloodMeld for backup, I can get the group together in five minutes," said King.

Mick placed the sword back in the case and secured the latches before sliding it through the window into the backseat. As an afterthought, he grabbed his phone. "Thanks, but I have a better idea."

#

David Oxford looked down at the body of his sister lying on the bed of the hotel room in silent rage. He grasped her hand and squeezed it tightly as he whispered stories of their many years together.

He did not flinch when a solid hand grasped his right shoulder from behind. "I can't tell you how truly sorry I am, David," Malcolm said, giving the shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Claudia meant the world to me."

David released his sister's hand, continuing to gaze upon her still form. "I want his head, Malcolm," he whispered. He did not turn around. "I want his skull holding his ashes."

"He will get what is coming to him, David. In the meantime, I need you to make preparations to return to Paris."

David turned around to protest, but Malcolm cut him off with one finger in the air. "We are all that is left. It would take me at least a full day for our New York office to send more resources. The doctor is gone. I have no idea who is helping St. John, but we're outnumbered."

He placed both of his hands on David's shoulders. "Your sister deserves a proper funeral. And you deserve a moment to mourn."

David looked down at his feet for a minute, unsure of whether to protest his employer's command or concede. "I will be a much better aide to you than Lance," he said, glancing over to the side of the room where Lance stared out of the window in silence.

Malcolm released David and took a step back. "Lance will be going home with you as well," he said. "The final battle will be mine and mine alone."

Lance turned and walked over to Malcolm holding a folded piece of paper between his fingers. "This was left with her body," he said, holding it out to him.

Malcolm accepted the paper and unfolded it. He read it carefully for a full minute before nodding and slipped it into a pocket. "It seems our story will end where it all began in Victorville," he said.

He turned to David and grasped his shoulder a final time. "Make the preparations, David. Do it now."

Malcolm turned for the door to exit the room, pausing only to gesture for Lance to follow. They both stepped outside and walked down the hallway to the elevator.

Malcolm pressed the DOWN button and they waited in silence for several seconds until he said, "You are planning on killing David as well, aren't you?"

Lance nearly took a step away from Malcolm, utterly shocked at the question. Malcolm stared straight ahead at the doors as he said, "I know you have wanted me dead for quite some time, Lance. This plan you hatched? Quite brilliant. I have no idea what awaits me in Victorville. I may die. I may live. I have no idea."

He glanced over at Lance, smiling as the doors to the elevator opened. "The whole experience is oddly … refreshing."

Malcolm stepped through the doors and turned around to face Lance. He still wore a smile as his eyes fell upon him. "Whatever awaits me, you have better hope it kills me. You have better hope I do not return. Because if I do, there won't be a place in the world where you can hide from me."

The doors finally closed, and Lance finally took an uncertain step back from the elevator. He stared at it for a long moment, the last words Malcolm spoke still ringing in his ears as they were bellowed through a loudspeaker than recited in a normal conversation.

He sighed and turned back to the hotel room, pulling his short sword from its hidden sheath as he stepped through the door.

#

Brandishing her customary .22, the Cleaner slowly eased the door opened with a gloved hand. The stench of freshly spilled blood had hit her even before she even stepped off the elevator, so following it to its starting point was easy.

She spotted the female vampire on the bed almost immediately. A hurried examination determined that she had been dead for quite some time, with the five inch gash across her throat as the obvious cause of death.

But the blood from the vampire's wound was relatively dry. Not what her heightened vampire senses had detected. A more detailed search was in order.

Ten seconds later, she found the source.

#

"David and Claudia Oxford," Harper Ryan announced, straightening with her tablet balanced in her left hand as she sat on the closed toilet in the bathroom. "These two basically tore Paris a new one about two hundred years ago before they disappeared from the Archivist's radar. He had no clue what they were up to."

She glanced down into the tub where David Oxford's decapitated corpse was callously thrown on top of his sister's body and shuddered. "Did you … put them in the tub like this? Because I'm not liking where this is going."

"Yes, you're correct on both accounts. I put them there and you will not like where this is going." The Cleaner leaned against the doorframe of the bathroom with her arms crossed. "This reminds me of a clean up I did a while back. A scientist who I believe was working for St. John's ex-wife. His head was cleanly taken off. Had to be by a sword. I don't see many of those."

"Hmm. A sword. Let's see." Ryan's fingers danced across her tablet screen. "There aren't that many out there nowadays that employs the use of a sword. Well, besides my esteemed colleague from Detroit."

Her eyes scanned the contents displayed on the screen. "There are five vampires listed. One definitely confirmed in the form of Magnus McClane. Three haven't been active in three decades and no connection to the Oxfords, or Malcolm Rehnquist, and …"

She looked up at the Cleaner with a wide grin. "I think we have our murderer," she exclaimed, passing the tablet over.

The Cleaner looked down at the screen and gasped.

#

Beth felt the heat from a lamp shining beside her as she came to. She slowly turned her head to ease feeling into her stiff neck while rolling her left shoulder. The rope binding her wrists behind her back prevented her from doing more than a miniscule shrug. She noted her ankles were similarly bound.

The chair she sat in was hard and rickety, but the room's interior was what caught her eye. The wood paneling, the umkempt bed she sat beside, the dirty carpet, the hole in the bathroom door …

Oh no.

She heard a soft groan coming from the corner of the room, on the other side of the bed. She leaned forward as far as she could and gasped as Sarah Whitley raised her head from her chest, blinking wildly. She was bound and secured to the chair she was sitting in. "Sarah," she whispered. "Are you alright?"

Sarah struggled to focus her eyes in the direction where Beth's voice was coming from. "Beth? Ow. They used that damn sleep gas again. It messes with my eyes."

"Who? Who used sleep gas on you?"

The blinking slowed to a normal pace, and Sarah relaxed slightly. "It wasn't Rehnquist, but he used this same sleeping gas on me before we arrived here in Los Angeles."

Beth took another look around the room they were held in for positive confirmation. "We're not in L.A.," she breathed.

"What? We're not in Los Angeles? How do you know?"

"This is a hotel about forty minutes outside of L.A., heading towards Victorville. Mick had to hide out here from someone who was trying to kill a federal witness … a friend, actually, that he was protecting. In fact, they camped out in this very same room."

Sarah finally looked around the room herself. "How do you know you're in that particular room?"

Beth gestured with her head towards the bathroom door. The movement caused her to wince slightly. "Mick killed the assassin by punching through that door and breaking the guy's neck."

"Mick." Sarah chuckled to herself. "I bet he's moving heaven and Earth right now trying to find you. God only knows what Josef is doing."

Beth hesitated, wondering if she should divulge Kostan's dire condition. Before she could speak, the window beside Sarah brightened as car headlights shone through for ten seconds before they were extinguished. One car door opened and closed. The two women looked at each other and at the closed exit. They simultaneously struggled with their bonds, but their fight only served in the ropes cutting deep into their flesh.

Sarah stopped her battle, breathing heavily. "Beth?"

With a loud crash, the door tore away from its hinges, slamming into the wall and broken bathroom door just in front of Beth. She ducked her head as splinters of wood showered over her.

Both women looked up and watched Malcolm Rehnquist slowly walked into the room. The expression on his face was mixed with anger and surprise as he took note of the occupants in the room.

"Well, I think I finally know what Lance was up to. He has been a busy, little vampire."

The two women gave each other a puzzled look. Sarah spoke up first. "You mean to tell me you had nothing to do with us being kidnapped."

"It wasn't him who grabbed me." Beth forced herself to look up at Malcolm. "It was a female vampire. One I had never seen before. Very tall. Blonde. Short hair barely past her neck."

"Catherine Xavier," said Malcolm. He paced the room, angrily clenching and unclenching his fists. "Sounds like her. She sired Cynthia Xavier Davis nearly four centuries ago, and clearly is here for more than a leisurely tour of Los Angeles."

He looked at Beth and Sarah and sighed. "In any case, Lance orchestrated your kidnappings to eliminate either me, St. John, or both."

"Then it wasn't you who nearly killed Josef Kostan?" asked Beth.

Sarah gave Malcolm an angry look. "Josef's … hurt? What did you do to him, you bastard?!"

Malcolm gave the women a puzzled look. "I - I didn't harm Kostan in any way, shape, or form. I swear."

Beth suddenly felt a glimmer of hope. She looked up at Malcolm with pleading eyes. "Then it's not too late. You didn't do this. You didn't hurt Josef. Free us. Let us go. I - I can explain it to Mick. Let me help end this so that we can all get on with our lives."

Malcolm started to answer, but turned his head in the direction of the doorless exit. He remained still for three seconds before refocusing his attention on Beth.

"It appears that even if I wanted to, it will be too late, my dear."

He turned for the exit. Before he stepped through, he glanced over at Sarah. She stared back, clearly confused.

Malcolm did not say anything. He simply gave her a short nod before walking outside.

#

Mick turned off the highway into the hotel lot. He thought about parking close to the front, but decided it would be better to keep the vehicle close to him. He made his way to the room where he was incapacitated while waiting for Beth with Leni Hayes, the young woman he was charged with protecting what seemed like a lifetime ago.

Thoughts of the young woman and her infant son, Jack, immediately disappeared as he noticed a vehicle parked in front of that very same room. Mick could see the door was off of its hinges and the room had sufficient light. Light framing Malcolm Rehnquist as he stood just outside the door, wielding what appeared to be …

A sword? He really has a sword?!

Mick came to an halt several feet away from the other vehicle. He turned off the vehicle and stared through the windshield at Malcolm, who stared back with an impassive look.

Mick got out of the car, reached in the back seat and pulled out McClane's sword. He carefully grasped the weapon as he straightened and withdrew from the car.

"Well," he muttered to himself. "Let's do this."

#