Once Lost Lords (Royal Scales, Book 1) Read online

  “What the hell is so important about this elf?” I tried to stand up and shout but only managed to rattle the manacles around my limbs.

  “You have no idea what Arnold was involved in. What it means, and how many will crawl over me to get this case.” He said. “I can’t let anyone else near this situation.”

  “Why this case?” It couldn’t be the reward money. The amount was an enticing incentive, but it couldn’t be worth all this trouble. Maybe it was. I had seen stupid things done for a few thousand.

  Daniel was on the far side of the room rubbing the back of his neck with both hands. His head leaned back. The man’s eyes were unfocused and gazing upward. There was a knock on the door and Daniel almost tore it open. Another suit stood right outside.

  “The elf escaped, sir.” The guard seemed perturbed delivering the news.

  “What?!” Daniel had been mad before, this was just short of a nuclear explosion. The other chair was thrown against a wall. Papers scattered everywhere.

  “Did you have anything to do with this, Jay?” He turned back to me. His face was twitching with anger. I lifted both hands as much as possible and the bindings rattled.

  “What do you think, Crummy?” I was rolling my eyes. “You going to explain or go chase the elf?” Daniel pinched his fuming face at me and finally nodded.

  “This is a nightmare, man, and it’s entirely your fault,” He said. Daniel stepped outside then slammed the door. Once again I was left alone.

  What now? I certainly wasn’t going to sit my ass here in a cell. Daniel didn’t leave the door open with an ‘exit here, buddy’ sign posted to it. Then again I was probably on his shit list for a while.

  Where were the others? The last thing I recalled was ramming Daniel’s fellow Western Sector agents with a couch. My only source of relief was deliberately banging my head against the table. I exercised the option for the next few minutes with a slow, rhythmic thumping.

  An almost imagined whisper caught my attention. I looked around trying to find the source of the noise. It seemed to be from the hallway. The low murmur happened again but closer. What was it saying? Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me. It looked like the door Daniel had slammed was now fully open.

  I was still bound, so it didn’t matter. Double vision plagued me. This time, I saw a ragged looking elf standing in the doorway. He motioned desperately in my direction. The image faded out suddenly. Evan must be using his abilities. Messing with my vision somehow.

  My chains rattled in frustration. It was hard not to shout for him. Sure I wanted out, but I couldn’t do it like this. I wasn’t that strong. Soft, almost silent footsteps crept across the room. The real Evan appeared this time.

  “Break loose, I can befuddle them on our escape.” The elf said.

  “Can’t,” I responded. He made it sound as simple as breathing.

  “You can. You are one of them. A once lost Lord, even their young could break this.” There was a moment where I felt him grab at my bindings. He immediately hissed with pain.

  “I can not free you. I have no magic against iron.” He said.

  “How did you get free then?”

  “Who says I was ever truly captured?” He sounded smug about it.

  “Find Kahina,” I suggested.

  “I am sorry, which one was that?” He sounded winded. Almost gasping for breath.

  “The black woman, partial vampire.”

  “A Bloodletter? Are you sure that is wise?”

  “She can break this!” I restrained myself from yelling at him. Kahina was a vampire, the iron would crack easily with her strength. Then we could escape.

  “If you are sure, Lord.” With a slight uncertainty to his voice, he vanished from sight. His light footsteps crossed the room. Evan must be special to fool people trained to spot illusions.

  After a long pause, I went back to banging my head. It settled to resting on the table while staring at the door. They hadn’t bothered putting a guard back in this room.

  It was tempting to just sit here in custody. What was the worst Daniel could do? Hopefully, the agent would assist in my escape and let it slide.

  “She is here. It took some time to prevent her from breaking the security beams.” Evan had gotten near me without my noticing.

  “You managed to sneak her over?” I asked.

  “I did. Though…”

  “Did you know that they’ve got trip wires to catch speeding vampires? The elf can see them.” I heard her voice. Kahina was close by and all business.

  “What?” I said.

  “They set them up every twenty feet give or take, this place is rather run down, but they have some mobile ones. I stole a few.” She sounded proud of her pilfering from Western Sector’s finest.

  “We need to escape.” Evan piped in. “Things are not as they seem, and we are all in danger here.”

  “I’d love to,” I said.

  “Any idea what sort of game Daniel is playing here?” Kahina asked an excellent question. There was no solid answer. Me escaping would be fine. I didn’t exist on record, and Daniel would probably let it slide.

  “Maybe you should stay here until you can get a lawyer,” I said to Kahina.

  “Daniel has no intention of providing me a lawyer. I’ve already asked.” She said. “We would all be best served by fleeing to our homes.”

  “So break me out, and we’ll go.” I rattled the chain holding me.

  “I’m not sure I should let you go, Jay. You haven’t been kind to me.” She said.

  “Do you want to do this now?”

  “I’d love to. We’ve got things to settle.” She responded to my question.

  “After we’re out of here,” I said to her.

  “You’ll owe me, Jay, and I will collect. Agreed?” Kahina was too close. I could feel air passing from her lips over to my ear. It tickled and teased. The scent of peppermint overwhelmed the building's dry cedar.

  “Bloodletter, I can only maintain this illusion for a limited time. Then I will leave you.” Evan managed to sound a tad angry.

  “A pointless threat.” Years of being around her made the face easy to guess. There would be a slight tilt to her head. Lowered eyebrows. A half-opened mouth where she tickled a long tooth with her tongue. The same look one gave a steak.

  “It is no threat, only the truth,” Evan said.

  “Would one of you break the chain, please?” I rattled them again for emphasis.

  “Fine. But you and I, we’ll have our talk, Jay. One where you don’t run, don’t avoid, and talk to me.” I felt a frightening moment of wonder when Kahina’s fingers slid over my skin and zeroed in on the metal to crush it. “You need to explain why you persist with this cruel lie.”

  “Later.” My response was curt. Now was not the time to deal with this.

  “I still do not understand why you couldn't break the chains yourself,” Evan stated. His voice made me feel tired.

  “Done, let’s go,” She said.

  “The door? Is it open?” I asked.

  “It never closed,” Evan confirmed. I stepped over towards the door as quietly as possible and leaned outside. There was no one there watching over any of us. The hallway was short and looked like it belonged to a re-purposed house of some sort.

  “Don’t bother sneaking, they’re all gone.” She walked past me calmly and gestured around. Evan slumped against a wall with sweat dripping down his forehead. He huffed slowly.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I believe Daniel is using you as bait.” Kahina tilted her gaze towards Evan. “To follow us to your elf minion here.”

  “What?” I was thoroughly confused now. Why would Daniel trap me then be sloppy enough to let us all escape? Evan was right here. Not that Daniel even wanted Evan. He wanted Arnold.

  Oh. Oh, Hell. Daniel really was playing a game. Kahina was right. The woman was too smart for me to keep up with sometimes. First thing’s first, we had to escape past all the guards.

  “
You’re being used as bait by Daniel.” Kahina was calm about the whole thing. There was something in the way she walked that was quite possessive. The way her body leaned or how she kept looking in my direction anytime my eyes shifted elsewhere.

  “Anyone have a plan?” I asked.

  “I’ll be picking whatever exit you’re not leaving by.” Stacy showed up shortly after with Julianne. “Being as they’re after you two idiots, and not us.”

  “What about you, Kahina?” I turned towards the black woman.

  “What do you want me to do, Jay?” Kahina asked. She was suddenly standing a few feet away. Her pose seemed shy with both arms clasped behind her back.

  “I don’t know.” And now wasn’t a good time to think about it. There were more immediate problems to deal with.

  “Fine. I’ll decide for you.” Kahina snapped out of the pose and glared. “Pointy ears, go with those two and keep them unseen and get them out, I’ll bet anything Daniel has people on guard. I’ll go with big and dumb to keep him clear.”

  “And if they have additional grenades? They were fairly well geared. Surviving a second time will be hard, no matter how well Jay was at throwing agents around.” Julianne said. She had a hand on Stacy’s shoulder.

  “I did what?” I asked.

  “Don’t you remember, Jay?”

  “Not a bit.” There was nothing more than flashes in my head. The memories felt both familiar and foreign at the same time.

  “I don’t care,” Stacy said. “All I want to know is which way you’re leaving so we can go the other direction.” She reached up and placed her hand over Julianne’s.

  “Then does it matter which way we go?” I asked.

  “No.” The mousy girl said. “Not to me.”

  “Where are you going to take Evan?” I needed to know where Evan and Julianne were going. Otherwise, it would be difficult to meet up later. Worst case scenario my tracking abilities could be put to use.

  “I don’t know. Pack woods?” Julianne said. She was looking at Stacy. Then they both nodded.

  “Lord, we have to talk, without everyone else.”

  “Sure. Once we’re safe.” I said to Evan.

  There was a lot going on that didn’t make sense and my mind kept coming back to the inconsistencies. Daniel was my friend. He broke into the house, knocked me out, then drug us all off. We didn’t end up in a Sector holding cell, though. We ended up in some off the record house that no sane Western Sector agent would use.

  “Whatever we do, we’ll need to move fast. Elf, how good are your illusions?” Kahina focused far better than I did.

  “Good enough to escape humans trained to watch for it.” He puffed up proudly. Evan was well within rights to be smug.

  “Can you make it seem like we’re running with Jay while the rest of us head the other direction?” She asked. He looked at me, and I shrugged back. It would be a neat trick if he could.

  “For now.” Evan seemed hesitant to answer.

  “For now?” Kahina raised an eyebrow. Evan didn’t respond.

  “We should go shouldn’t we?” Julianne was vulnerable compared to the rest of us.

  “As I said, I go with Jay. Pointy ears here can do his illusions and cover you.” Kahina said. She looked bored with the situation. One hand was up as she inspected her nails.

  Evan looked at me again. Plans were not my strong suit. My job had always been simple. Find my stuff. Punch those in the way. Come home and eat.

  “Can you do that, Evan?” I asked.

  “Yes, but I may need an awakening afterward,” He said. What on earth was an awakening?

  “They’re headed back this way.” Stacy’s ears were turned towards the hallway. “We’ve got a plan, let’s go.”

  Evan was looking around, his eyes doing the brief flickers of starbursts before he closed them. Flares of color could be seen from under his eyelids. I had never actually witnesses an elf doing magic before. Then again no one was sure how many elves could actually do magic.

  “It’s done.” Then he fell sideways towards the floor. Stacy stepped in and caught him. She hefted the elf over a shoulder and turned away.

  “I’ll carry him. Jan, you stay behind me.” Stacy said.

  “We’d better go, who knows what kind of timer he’s got on his illusions.” Kahina waved the other girls off.

  “I’ll go first,” I said. My earlier question had grown unimportant as everyone zeroed in on the escape process.

  I turned and headed down the hallway, looking for a back door out of here to ‘escape’ through. A few turns of the hallway later and it was just me and Kahina. Thankfully she seemed to be focused on something other than draining me of blood. If anything she seemed wired. Almost angry.

  “Let’s try not to kill anyone.” Getting on Daniel’s bad side, even while we were escaping, seemed like a terrible idea.

  “You’re a few steps behind as usual, Jay,” She said.

  “Where should I be then?” My voice came out a little snide.

  “Put a good show on, pretend to talk to the others, and then run in front of us.” Once again Kahina sounded bored. Her gaze focused on a strand of hair between her fingers. Why she picked the middle of an escape to preen was beyond me.

  “Why?” I asked her.

  “Daniel thinks you’re the leader of this group, and he’s hoping you’ll lead him to the slant ear,” She said. It sounded like a joke to me. I was not a leader of any sort.

  My hand was on the doorknob. I turned and looked at Kahina. She smiled a strange mix between anger and excitement that I could never sort out. Her clothes were as ragged as I felt. Still, to me, she looked beautiful. Who knows what they had done to capture her. Probably held a cross to her face and terrified the vampirism. Thinking about it made me enraged.

  “You know they’ve probably been instructed to keep us alive,” I stated with unexpected composure.

  “Right,” She said.

  “And we don’t have to be gentle just because we’re trying not to kill anyone.” I continued.

  “I had no intention of being kind to them,” She said. For a moment, her eyes went red with blood before shifting back. The suddenness left me disturbed. How close was she to her transition? Months? Weeks? Days?

  I couldn’t defend her. Not the way she wanted. The man I was and the man I had become in the last four years were not the same. I was trying to recover. Getting Evan out, getting answers from him, both would help. Still. Maybe I had summed it up best when talking to Kahina, time doesn’t march backward.

  “If they’re any good, they’ll have a few watching us from higher vantage points. I’ll head for them, you and our friends-” she smirked at the illusions “-should stick to walls and between buildings. If we get clear then we can head to my home and plan from there.”

  My eyebrow raised at her statement. The last house of hers that I had officially been in was a condo downtown.

  “I’ve moved since you were last in town,” She said. “As I told you, I’ve been preparing.”

  I turned the doorknob then yanked the door open. There was only a fleeting glimpse of the outside before Kahina dashed away. If I hadn’t known where she was headed I might have missed her leaping upwards to the top of an opposing roof in the span of a few seconds. My eyes lingered on her backside as it leaped through the air. Beautiful. Not only did the angle look good, but she was going to beat someone into the ground. Aside from the blood thirst she was an amazing woman.

  The faded light made seeing difficult. At first glance, we were in a giant housing project. Many buildings were nothing more than the framework. Some were pretty close to done.

  I slipped out and headed left. This direction led toward home. That pull was the only useful guide available to me. The illusions Evan had put out were taking off out other doors and windows. They wore false expressions of worry and panic but kept close to where I was. It was time to add realism.

  “Come on, we’ve got to get out of here,” I said. A
second illusion ran by me. An illusion of Stacy and I hightailing it across the yard appeared. Gunshots rang out from nearby. The false copies and I kept to our path out of the construction zone.

  Coming around the corner, I found myself facing one of the armed men Daniel had brought. I knocked the gun wide and laid a fist into his face. The guard survived the first punch and let loose of the gun. His free hand went for a sidearm. My fist was faster. A second shot landed on his temple. The impact jarred us both, but I stayed upright. He slumped.

  There was a flicker of movement next to me. I saw Kahina pick up both guns, grin, then vanish in a whirl of speed. Moments later a second set of gunshots rang out. I hadn’t known Kahina was willing to fire a gun. Most other races tended to shy away from them. They were a tool of humans and the different races had their own abilities. Of course, she had always been a modern sort of girl.

  Another trio of images flickered past me. These looked like ghostly versions of Kahina, Julianne, and myself. That illusion was more believable than The Bitch and me together.

  Increasing in number, Daniel’s people kept on coming. This time, there were three men at the end of a corridor. I turned and fled through a doorway to one of the partially completed houses. Hopefully, there was a passageway out that wasn’t guarded. Another round of gunshots rang out nearby. Small lights were mounted on the end of rifles. Two Sector agents were inside the house searching for me. The fakes were being eliminated. At least my own personal phantasm escort was still traveling next to me. The elf had done quite a number on these illusions.

  Each house was roughly the same. Two stories, three or four bedrooms, and a garage. I took an exit out of the bottom floor’s partially constructed garage. The next building was fifteen feet away tops. At this one, I stopped inside the doorway and waited in a corner. My illusionary partner kept running through the house.

  Two of the Daniel’s men came inside. I used my advantage and dropped both of them using boards that had been left at the construction site. I yanked off their helmets to look at something then promptly moved on. Once those two were down I doubled back to the previous house and headed in a new direction. I could hear bullets from further away as Kahina rained chaos upon the battlefield.