Amelia & Andrew: The Diamond Legacy Ch. 09

Gloria thought it would be best if they all went back to the hotel and freshened up before planning their next move. On the way back to the hotel Amelia quickly sketched the image of the hotel she had seen in Andrew's mind hoping that she could get it close enough. One of her favorite ways to cope with the stress of the job when she was alive was to sketch and paint landscapes. Once she was finished, she showed the sketch to Andrew who suggested a couple changes. After she finished them Amelia, showed Gloria and Marsha the sketch and Marsha recognized the image as the front of the Hotel Del Grande.

Marsha contacted Walter she knew that he was friends with the manager and head concierge at the hotel and could most likely find out who they were dealing with and if he was still there without alerting the mysterious vampire if he was still there. Gloria told the driver to head towards Del Grande hoping they could capture the mysterious vampire. The driver told her they about ninety minutes away.

Little over an hour later Marsha received a call from Walter telling her that the vampire travels under the alias Carlos Arturo it was believed that his real name is Taharqa he was turned in eight-ninety BC. He is wanted in Europe by lead enforcer and three possibly four different covens. He seems to have a thing for young males especially those under the protection of powerful vampires. His last known location was in Crete where he kidnapped the youngest son of the leader of largest coven in Chania. Nikos remains were found in Paris two weeks later. He was just eighteen years old. Rumors say that Taharqa has the ability to control people like puppets even vampires that had gone feral. Taharqa is known to have several large estates that he will flee to when things get too hot since he is under the protection of Rodrigues and the members of the Rios Cartel. He also told her that it was believed that he was holed up in his suite, and that he had three visitors one of them matched the description of Amsu.

They had been decided after much debate that Andrew and Amelia would make contact with the manager while Gloria and Marsha would watch the main entrance while Richard would watch the entrance to the parking garage. Once Andrew and Amelia were done with the manager Gloria and Marsha would join them on the floor to act as back up incase Amelia and Andrew had trouble-subduing Taharqa. The reason that the two of them were chosen to make entry was because of their ability to mask that they were vampires from other vampires.

Frank Arondale the hotel manager meant Andrew and Amelia in the lobby telling them that Mr. Arturo was in the penthouse suite and as far as he knew, he was alone in the room right now. The manager handed them the passkey and pleaded with them to try to be subtle as possible. The last thing that He needed was for the two of them to cause a major incident in his hotel.

Andrew and Amelia took the elevator up to the penthouse level. The two of them carefully shielded themselves against detection wanting surprise on their side. Once they arrived on the floor, they went to the entrance of the penthouse trying to make sure he was alone. As soon as Amelia got close to the door, she was able to sense overwhelming fear coming from what she was sure was a young human and by the scent, it was a male.

Immediately Andrew had an image of Jake being at the mercy of that vampire he had seen in his visions. Before Amelia could stop him, his feral side came forward and he burst through the door causing it to shatter into a million pieces. He quickly zeroed in on his target the vampire was in the process of raping the young male as he drained him of blood. Andrew hit the older vampire before he could even react driving him from the lad and into the wall as he ripped into his left side. The older vampire hadn't sensed Andrew's approach so he was caught off guard and put on the defensive.

He tried to take control of Andrew's but found it shielded he could also feel that someone else was trying to take control of his mind and he noted that Amelia was gaining the upper hand in the battle. Normally he would be able to shield his mind against her attacks but Andrew's physical attacks were taking too much of his focus and energy. Amelia's constant mental attacks were preventing him from taking control of Andrew's mind. He had already sensed that he wouldn't be able to take control of Amelia's mind without his full concentration he realized that she was just too powerful even though she was so young. Taharqa had already received several painful and deep wounds thankfully none of them were life threating he had managed to block all of the attacks that could of lead to fatal wounds. He now realized he had become over dependent on his mental abilities. It had been centuries since he had to participate in a physical altercation.

Taharqa was starting to lose his temper it seemed that he couldn't even get a decent hit in on Andrew. He couldn't believe how fast Andrew it was almost as if he was reading his mind the way he was anticipating his moves. Andrew struck again; this time he used his lengthen fingernails to rip deeply into Taharqa chest muscle. Taharqa howled in pain as he launched another flurry of blows directed at Andrew with the same result as most of his other attacks just about every one of his blows missed and the few that hit him were ineffectual at best.

Taharqa decided to change tactics if he couldn't best Andrew by a straight forward attack maybe he could use his mate against him all he had to do was get his hands on her and place her between him and Andrew then he could use her to control him. He waited until after Andrew next attack then he feigned like he was going to charge Andrew and quickly reversed direction towards Amelia. Amelia saw him coming towards her and waited until he was just about to her. She all of a sudden dropped below his grasps and as he passed over her, she stood up using her shoulder to redirect his momentum. Taharqa crashed through the ceiling tile and crashing painfully into the bottom of the concrete floor above him. His head was spinning as he fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes. As Taharqa rose, Andrew tackled him driving his nails into the left side of Taharqa chest piecing his lung.

Taharqa manage to rake his nails down the side of Andrew's face. He quickly started to slash Andrew's stomach but Andrew used his speed to move out of his range before he could damage him too badly. The two vampires circled each other trying to find an opening. Andrew feigned to the left to draw Taharqa attack and once he took the bait Andrew quickly moved to the right and drove his fingernails into Taharqa back severing the spinal cord just below the shoulders causing him to lose control of his legs. The sudden intense pain caused Taharqa to lower his mental shield and gave Amelia her chance to take control of Taharqa's mind forcing him to surrender.

Andrew quickly went to check on the boy and saw that he had already bled out. Upon looking at his identification it turned out, he was twenty-three years old and just looked young for his age. Andrew covered the man up knowing that he was in the process of being turned now. Marsha and a very pissed off Gloria came bursting through the doorway. "That was goddam foolish thing to do he could of killed you both," Gloria reprimanded angrily.

"We don't need a second mother hen I thought that was Susan's job," Andrew responded with a chuckle. He didn't see what all of the fuss was about they had handled Taharqa without too much trouble.

"Andrew one of these days the two of you are going to get yourselves in over your head you need to slow down and wait for back up. Susan and Charles will kill me if I let anything happen to the two of you." Gloria argued.

I wasn't about to stand around and wait for the two of you when that could have been Jake in there with him. The only reason he gave me any trouble was that we wanted him alive if I could have killed him he would have never even had a chance to defend himself," Andrew angrily retorted.

" I would suggest we decide what to do about the young man that is on the bed he is in the process of being turned and will need a mentor once he wakes up." Amelia said trying to defuse the argument before it went on to much farther.

"It would be simpler to prevent him from turning," Marsha said drawing a long bladed knife.

Andrew stepped between her and the unconscious's Young man. His stance showed that if Marsha wanted to get to the young man she would have to go through him. Amelia quietly stepped to Andrew's side showing her support of Andrew. "There is no way we will allow you to kill him," Andrew stated in a commanding tone.

Marsha sheathed her blade then slowly raised her hands in capitulation." Ok I will make arraignments to have him looked after." Marsha quickly said.

Marsha quickly dialed Walter's number and while she waited for him to answer she surveyed the damage to the room it wasn't as bad as she thought it would have been a few broken chairs two holes in the wall and one in the ceiling. "Walter we need a team here we have captured Taharqa but he had started the process to turn a young man and Andrew is insistent that we provide for him." Marsha quickly explained. She listened to Walter's reply before continuing, "Yes there is some minor damage to the room but Amelia and Andrew did manage to capture him alive."

While Marsha was working out the details with Walter Andrew had Amelia give him a set of the handcuffs that were designed to be used on vampires and cuffed Taharqa he then blindfolded and gagged him to prevent him from using his powers. Amelia started searching the room looking for anything that may give them a clue as to where they had taken Andrew's son. Amelia found a bunch of papers written in a language she didn't know it sort of looked like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics but she wasn't sure. She found Taharqa's laptop but the computer was password protected and she would time to probe Taharqa's mind in order to get the password if she could even get a pass his defenses again. Amelia knew it was Andrew's attack had caused him to lower his mental defenses and she was sure it wouldn't be as easy a second time to slip into his mind.

Twenty minutes later Walter's security team arrived and took custody of Taharqa. They had guaranteed that Andrew and Amelia would be able to interrogate him once they had him in a secured location. Just as they were about to lead him form the room when all hell broke loose

"Look out," Amelia screamed as she tackled Andrew whom was directly behind Taharqa. The window exploded then Taharqa head vaporized leaving behind a fine spray of blood mixed with brain matter all over the wall that had been in front of him. Everyone dove for cover and those that were armed pulled their weapons.

Andrew quickly checked Amelia and found her unharmed. He then crawled over to the window and peeked out looking trying to figure out where the shot had come from. He spotted two likely locations; one was a parking garage but quickly discounted it because of the angle it would have been an extremely hard shot to make. The other was a roof of building over three hundred meters away.

Amelia had got an image of the sniper taking the shot only a brief couple of seconds before the window had exploded. She quickly realized that Andrew was in the line of fire and all of her thoughts were on saving him. Amelia was never able to reliable control this ability. She never knew how much of a warning it would give her if it gave her any at all.

The security team quickly packed up everything and with the help of Andrew, Amelia and Gloria managed to get everything into vans including the bodies before the police had arrived. Unfortunately there was no way they could clean up the crime scene which left the human authorities with a mystery to solve it was obvious that someone had been murdered in the room but the body had disappeared. The head of security had summoned the police after he found the room covered in blood. He had been called by the people staying in the adjacent room and called the front desk complaining about a possible fight in the room next to hers. She claimed hearing an argument and then to sound of glass breaking. He stated that it had taken him no more than five minutes to get to the room and upon finding, the condition it was in he did a cursory check to see if anyone needed assistance then secured the room until the police arrived.

*****

Andrew and Amelia went to investigate the top of the building to see if his hunch was right about where the sniper had been located. He was going to go alone but Amelia wouldn't hear of it but he had managed to convince Gloria the fewer the better. Much to his displeasure the shooter had been professional enough to police up their brass in fact the only visible sign of him being there was two marks from the bipod of the rifle. Andrew placed his hand on the spot that the shooter had laid and he saw a vague image of the woman lying under a dark colored cover. He watched the woman take the shot but unfortunately, he never saw her face. He saw that she was about five foot six and was well proportioned with light brown hair. He was sure from her tan complexion she either spent a lot of time in the sun or used tanning facilities regularly. Andrew was just about to remove his hand when one final flash of insight hit him he also was her target. Andrew stood and offered his hand to Amelia. The two of them casually walked towards the door making sure to stay invisible. As they reached the door, four officers exited on to the roof with their weapons at the ready. They were almost positive that the shooter was long gone but better safe than sorry. Amelia and Andrew quickly went through the door before it closed after the last officer cleared the way. The two of them quickly exited the building and headed towards the car where Gloria awaited them. Andrew knew it would be hours before the police would finish clearing the scene and he felt bad he couldn't tell them they were wasting their time. Once they were in the car and on their way Andrew relayed what he had found out leaving out the part about him being a target.

"Andrew what are you holding back and don't you dare lie to me! I can sense that you are hiding something from me," Amelia demanded.

"Hun it is nothing important..." He started to try to lie.

"Don't you fucking hun me when you are lying. Now tell me what the fuck you are hiding or I will probe your mind and find out myself! Last fucking chance," Amelia Angrily threatened.

"Amelia it is just that I was also her target we both know that Amsu wants us dead. So nothing like I said nothing important. Don't you ever threaten to probe my mind again," Andrew retorted his anger starting to show.

"Andrew that is not nothing, that bitch had you in her sights and if it wasn't for Amelia's abilities you could have died." Gloria softly chastised.

"Andrew you ever try to lie to me again and I will kick your ass. I am your mate and if anything happened to you it would destroy me.' Amelia softly whispered. The hurt and anger that he had caused her was clearly visible.

"I am sorry love. You are right I should have never tried to hide that from you by lying. I promise I will never lie to you again." Andrew softly promised as he drew her into a tight hug.

The rest of the ride to the hotel was quiet. Walter had reserved them the penthouse at his hotel. The room had already been converted into a command center of a sort. He had two computers in the room with all of the information they had already. There were two phones their one with a direct line to Charles and the other with a direct line to him. There were a couple of pegboards; one had a map with all of Amsu known properties marked on it. Every one of the properties had around the clock surveillance. The other board had the location of two possible rogue vampire attacks. The first one was less than a mile from Shannon's home it had happened about eighteen hours ago. The second one was in the skid row part of town and had happened less than three hours ago.

"Gloria how should we go about trying to track Tony?" Andrew asked. He knew that Gloria had more experience in tracking rogue/feral vampires and her experience would prove invaluable to them now. He knew that if it wasn't already too late to save his son it soon would be.

"Andrew, I would suggest we try to confirm that the last attack was done by a rogue vampire and if it was, we start there as long as the hunting is good I don't imagine he will move on too quickly. I suspect they forced him to go feral by not feeding him so he is little more than a predatory animal and the only reason he showed any restraint at the house was because he was being controlled by Taharqa." Gloria explained.

"Is there any chance of bringing him back?" Amelia asked.

Gloria and Marsha both shook their heads. "Unfortunately once he went feral there is little we can do except put him out of his misery. Charles is hoping that we can capture him alive and use Amelia's abilities to get a lead on Jake," Gloria sadly replied.

Andrew had everyone gather around the map somehow he had been selected to be the leader. He stared at the map of the city for a few minutes. He brought forth his baser side to help him to understand how his quarry would think. He quickly realized that Tony would seek out an area that would provide him shelter close to easily accessible prey and gave him a good vantage point with several avenues of escape. That is what he would do if it were him. He looked over the map and quickly realized that the area of the last attack was not an idea area and he was sure that if Tony had carried out the attack he quickly moved on. He started to question Marsha about different areas of the city so he could try to narrow their search to two or three areas.

Amelia picked up on his line of thinking from their bound and started using the internet to get a look at the areas. After about two hours, they finally had three areas that were very promising and out of the three, the dock area was the most promising it had several abandoned buildings and a large homeless population in the area.

Gloria, Marsha, Amelia, and Andrew were just about to head out to begin their search when Marsha's cellphone rang seeing it was Walter's office number she quickly answered it.

"Marsha we just received a report of a possible rogue vampire attack in Tijuana. We may have gotten lucky a young vampire that witnessed the attack and from her description, it sounds like it may be Tony. Walter is trying to secure permission for you all to investigate the incident," Elaine quickly explained.

"What does Walter want us to do?" Marsha asked. She knew if they entered Mexico without permission, it could start a war.

"He said for you all to head that way but call before you cross the border both him and Charles are working on securing permission for you to enter. I am sending the information to your email now. Please share it with the others." Elaine said before hanging up.

"Lester get on the eight o' five heading south." Marsha said as she hung up the phone. After she made sure that Lester did as she requested she continued with her explanation, " There was a rogue attack in the Tijuana and the description form a young vampire that witnessed the attack it sounds like the rogue was Tony."

"Do we have permission to enter from Rodrigues?" Gloria asked.

"Walter and Charles are working on obtaining permission as we speak. I am to call them before we cross the border." Marsha explained. Marsha phone chimed letting her know she had an email. "This is most interesting," She exclaimed almost under her breath. Marsha looked up to see everyone staring at her.