Maurice Ch. 05

Since we had the evening free Daniel decided that we should go out for the evening. I didn't want to go but I would anyway. Just as we were about to leave, Micah came back.

"You're going with me." he said.

I wondered about the sudden change in plans but didn't ask and just got ready to go. Daniel grumbled under his breath, he apparently had big plans with several young ladies. Did you ever have the feeling like something really bad was going to happen? When I was human, yes I have some memories of being human, I would get that feeling from time to time but tonight, the feeling is so strong that I had to bite my lip so that I wouldn't ask Micah not to go.

What would have happened if I had? He would have laughed at me and then asked me why we shouldn't go. After I told him that I had a feeling, he would laugh at me again and tell me to get my ass into gear. The thing is, when I looked over at Daniel, he looked spooked too and that meant something but like me he didn't say anything. He didn't want to be laughed at anymore than I did. Maybe if we had presented a united front things might have turned out differently but then who knows? Fate can be such a funny thing.

Daniel

Something was going to happen. When Micah told us that we could stay back I was relieved and I wanted to be gone before something happened to make him change his mind. I tried to hurry Eddie up but he was thinking again and I knew that he didn't want to go with me but he wanted to go with Micah even less.

My stomach dropped when Micah came back saying that there had been a change of plan. I saw the look of anxiety that crossed Eddie's face before he hid it. Whether he knew what I was thinking I didn't know and I wish that I had taken the time to find out.

*******

Micah

Delgado was already on his way. I know this because he was seen leaving the hotel and headed in the direction of my home. I thought about having Tremaine move her from place to place until tomorrow evening but I decided that this had to end. Neither Daniel nor Edward was pleased by the change in plans although they didn't question it but got ready to go. The one thing that concerned me was Daniel, he was uneasy and that was a new thing. I could have changed my mind and let things go meaning, Regina but it had become a matter of pride if you want to call it that. Yes I know that I could die but somehow that doesn't really matter but as I think I may have mentioned before, I'll kill Regina too. Delgado might win the fight but he will be mate less so really, who would be the winner?

******

Think! I told myself, there has to be a way out of this. Tremaine was watching me like a hawk but not speaking, he was waiting for my "intended to arrive."

"What's his name?" I asked.

"I am not free to divulge that information." he replied.

I looked at him closely, I knew him... I knew him but how? The memory was right there if I could only make it stand still enough that I could grasp it.

"How do I know you?" I finally asked not really expecting an answer.

"Our paths have crossed before." he replied.

I thought that I saw a little anxiety on his face and pressed for more information.

"Where?"

"You should rest now, your intended will be arriving soon." he replied ignoring my question.

He was nervous but why?

"Why are you so nervous?" I asked.

"I'm not, but your intended will be angry if you are too tired for his attentions." he replied.

I had a sudden flash, a memory and it involved him. He was hurting someone- two boys...

"He's here." Tremaine whispered to himself.

"Who's here?" I asked hoping that it wasn't whoever I was supposed to be marrying.

Without replying, he grabbed me and shoved me into a room that had no windows and locked me in. I pounded on the door and began to scream at the top of my lungs and then I stopped. What if it was someone else like him? I backed away from the door and looked around for something that I could use as a weapon. The only thing that I saw was a poker by the fireplace. I picked it up and looked for a place to hide, there were several doors but they were all locked which left one place and I know that this is going to sound like I watch too many horror movies but I stood against the wall beside the door. My plan was to crack whoever came through the door over the head and then make a run for it.

Yes there were problems with that plan but I couldn't think of anything else. "Idiot!" I muttered under my breath as I wondered about Annie. Was she safe or did she wake up to find me gone and left the safety of the room to look for me? Several other things crossed my mind as I waited to whack someone across the head, Maurice. Remember the night that I was on the tour and left to go back to the room? He followed me and tried to stop me from going down that ally. If he meant me harm, why would have done that? Annie liked him and she had good instincts when it came to people. Many a time she's saved me from making a mistake with a man and it was because she picked up on something about the man.

Maurice had ample time to kill me or to do whatever it was that he was planning and the one time that I saw him and Tremaine together, it was Tremaine that I was more afraid of. The more I thought about it, the more I was coming to realize just how big of a mistake that I had made when I left that room. I had allowed my fear and anger to cloud my thinking and I was going to pay dearly for that mistake, I already had on the flight over here. I felt a tear escape and wiped it away. I was not going to cry.

*******

"So this is where she is." I muttered to myself as I sat in a tree looking at the house. I sensed that there were guards around but they weren't very good ones. I never should have been able to get this close to the house without being challenged. I was wondering where the guards were when heard whispering just below me.

"Tremaine says he's out here somewhere." One of the voices said.

"Does he know how big this damned place is?" the other asked.

"He knows and reinforcements are on the way."

"And if we catch the bastard, then what?" the first man asked irritably.

"He says to kill him right away and then to bring him the head."

I floated down from the tree and walked around so that I would be in front of them.

"Are you looking for me?" I asked pleasantly.

They were so shocked that they just gave me a dumbfounded look.

"Well are you?" I asked.

The two vampires looked at each other in disbelief then back at me.

"You have got to be kidding!" One said to another, "This is what has Tremaine in such a panic?"

The other one looked at me long and hard, his eyes widening in recognition.

"I know you, you killed Baron."

"Him? The other asked and then started laughing. "You must be joking! Look at him; he couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag!"

"No! Listen, he killed Baron! I saw it and there's more, he's a direct descendant of Comte Saint Germaine!"

I stood still listening to the two vampires argue. I had no doubt that the one who knew me was going to run off and leave his partner alone with me. I could hear more vampires arriving, Tremaine was taking no chances. A few seconds later just as I predicted the one who knew me was gone. The remaining vampire lost a little of his cockiness but decided to face me, I guess he thought that he would rather die by my hand than that of Tremaine's or Micah's.

He ran at me and I moved feeling the wind as he rushed past me. He charged again and I moved out of his way but this time, when he rushed by me, I slashed his arm. It took him seconds to realize what happened and when he did, he screamed. I had to end this now or else I would soon be surrounded by Tremaine's guards. I held out my hand and closed my fist as I visualized his neck in my hands. Within second's he lay dead on the ground, his head rolling down a slight incline. By the time the other guards got there, I was gone.

I went up to the roof of the house and encountered another guard. This one didn't wait for conversation, he knew who I was and wanted to be the one to kill me. I waited for him to make his move and he didn't disappoint me, as soon as he started toward me, I pulled my arm back and made a fist then punched forward. The vampire gave me a look of surprise just as he flew backwards into the trunk of a tree. I heard the bones of his back crush from the impact. Was he dead? No but he wouldn't be getting up anytime too soon either.

********

My arms were getting tired from holding the fire poker up but I was too afraid to put it down. After a while, I had to, I just couldn't hold the thing up anymore. I wondered what the excitement was about and if they had forgotten about me-fat chance but it didn't hurt to dream. I thought about trying the doors again but decided against it, I had checked them all and they were locked and would still be locked.

Who was this intended supposed to be? I wondered as I tried to think of things to keep me occupied. And why hadn't I met him yet? A few minutes later, I could hear Tremaine on the other side of the door talking to someone who didn't sound particularly happy. I could tell that there were questions being asked and answered but I couldn't hear well enough to hear what they were.

******

Micah

Delgado was here somewhere, not in the house but somewhere on the property. Tremaine was full of himself because he thought that he ran the little vampire off but I knew better, he was biding his time.

"But he is gone!" Tremaine insisted.

"NO HE ISN'T!" I yelled at him, "He's still on the fucking property somewhere!"

Tremaine didn't believe me, I could tell by the way in which he looked at me.

"He is still here." I repeated but in a much calmer tone of voice. "He is not leaving unless one of us is dead and he's banking on it being me." I said.

Edward and Daniel stood behind Tremaine listening. I was beginning to wonder if I shouldn't have left them in New Orleans as I had originally planned. I was also wondering if I shouldn't send them back, but I didn't and would come to regret that decision. In the meantime, I wanted to hear about Regina.

"Where is she?" I asked a no longer so confident Tremaine.

"I put her in the secured room when I sensed Delgado." he replied.

At least he took Delgado seriously enough for that I thought to myself.

"Is she prepared?"

"She has bathed but she is not wearing the clothing that you selected for her." Tremaine said.

"And why is that? I asked.

"She refused and you didn't want her compelled into submission."

I looked at Tremaine, something was..... He had touched her after I gave specific orders that he not.

"You touched her." I said not as a question but as a statement of fact. He didn't even try to deny it but instead blamed Regina.

"She offered herself to me."

A half lie.

"Tell me." I urged.

He had no choice but to tell me the truth.

"I did not enter her."

I saw red but I let him continue.

"The second time she tried to get information by using her body, who was I to turn her away?"

"Did you give her the information?" I asked.

He hesitated.

"No, you instructed me not to tell her anything...."

I watched his face as he realized what he had just said.

"So you allowed her to believe that you were going to give her information that you knew that you couldn't give." I said dryly but my anger showed. "It is because of your initial fuck up that we are even here." I added.

His eyes widened, he was in deep shit and he knew it, he had disobeyed me not once but twice and then tried to lay the blame on Regina.

"Go find Delgado and kill him." I said knowing that it was a death sentence.

"How many can I take with me?" he asked.

"None-bring his head to me by morning or greet the sun." I replied and walked away.

*******

What was happening out there? I wondered as I tightened my hold on the fire poker. I couldn't hear them anymore and wondered if they had left the room. Don't get me wrong, I knew that I was still in very deep shit but maybe I had gained a little more time to get myself out of this mess that I had gotten myself into.

I heard someone on the other side of the door and got ready to hit and run. Whoever it was stopped and then said something.

"Regina, I know that you're on the other side of the door."

I knew that voice; it was a voice that I hadn't heard in over two years. What was Micah Lannister doing here?

"Come out, it's alright now."

I was about to run out of the room when something stopped me. This was wrong, something was very wrong here and it had to do with Micah. Why was he here? How did he know that I was here unless.....

"Fuck!" I whispered, it dawned on me then, he was my intended.

"Regina, it's safe, Tremaine is gone and will not touch you again."

Micah Lannister, tall, good looking and totally creepy. I've never really liked him although I knew that he was interested in me and here he was trying to get me out of this room.

********

I could have gone in after her but I wanted to give her a chance to come out on her own. Daniel and Edward were behind me anxiously waiting for her response as was I. I really didn't want to force her but I would if I had to.

"It will be so much easier if you came out on your own." I said.

********

What choice did I have? I could have held off but then what? It was then that another thought hit me, he was one of them! That's why I never saw them during the day! That's why I never saw them eat but drink red stuff that I had assumed to be wine! But why wasn't I having the headaches? It was because he wanted me to know, he wanted me to know what I was marrying!

********

Tremaine was here and looking for me-alone. That meant that he must have really fucked up and Micah wanted me to do his dirty work for him. I was curious as to what he could have done to warrant such a punishment/ death. I appeared in front of him not wanting to prolong his death but wanting to find out some answers.

"Greetings Tremaine." I said pleasantly with a slight bow.

He looked at me warily.

"Did you think that I would be so dishonorable that I would attack with no warning?" I asked.

"Why didn't you?" he asked.

"We need to chat first." I replied. "How is Regina?"

"She is unharmed."

"Good, do you know where her brothers are?" I asked. I figured that if they were still in New Orleans, I could let Gremlin know and he could find them.

"They are here with Micah."

"Why are you giving me this information so easily and what have you done that you were sent out here alone to kill me?" I asked.

I didn't think that he was going to answer me at first.

"It is because of my fuck up that Regina and Micah are not married. I wasn't told of the wedding plans and took the brothers instead of her. In fairness, had they told me I would have compelled all of them and taken her as I was supposed to but as you know the Lannisters care little about what is fair. At any rate, they have been watching and waiting for the moon and the stars and all of that shit that they follow to properly align and it is this birthday. In an attempt to ingratiate myself to them and in exchange for certain.... Favors, I offered to help Micah."

There was more, while the information was helpful; he had done something to displease Micah.

"Why were you sent out alone?" I asked.

He gave me a cocky grin that didn't sit well with me.

"I fucked her."

"You what?" I asked as anger rose.

"She has the most delightful pussy, I came twice and she came while burying her face....."

I didn't let him finish his sentence; he was now a pile of ashes blowing away through the trees. Afterwards, I realized that he baited me. Did he really fuck my Regina? I doubt it but he did assault her in some way of that I was sure. I suspect that Micah knew and this was Tremaine's punishment.

Now, what to do about her brothers. They were here which could be a good thing... or not. I heard voices and vanished to the house to see what I could see.

*******

I stood behind the door still holding on to the fire poker which would be of no use to me. I heard the underlying threat in his voice and knew that he would follow through on his unspoken threat. I moved from behind the door and stepped back before reaching for the door knob. I took a deep breath and opened the door coming face to face with Micah Lannister.

"Ah there you are and as lovely as ever." he said as he reached out and touched my cheek. I took a step back and saw anger flash in his eyes and then it was gone.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Something that should have happened twenty-two years ago." he replied and stepped toward me.

I frowned, twenty-two years ago was when I was last here. It was also the night before my birthday, the same night that my brothers disappeared. And Tremaine.....

"Regina?" Micah called. "Why are you not wearing the clothing that I left for you?"

"I.... I don't want to wear your clothes." I replied.

"But you will."

"No.... I won't" I replied fighting the urge to do as he wanted me to do. His eyes widened and this time when the anger flashed, it didn't go away and he stepped toward me.

"You will do as I say."

I swallowed hard and decided to make a run for it; I hadn't gotten very far when I stopped short. There standing by the door were my brothers. My first reaction was relief, they would help me, they would protect me as they used to when we were children. I started to run to Daniel and I stopped, something was wrong and then I knew. They were vampires.