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“I heard someone else was trying to locate you earlier this week.” I said into the phone.
“People are always looking for me; who was it this time?”
“Angelina Michaels.”
My father chuckled huskily through the phone, “Oh, really? Where was she asking?”
“One of my contacts in Lexington Kentucky called me the other day, told me she was sniffing around trying to find you.”
“You know she’s not the only one trying to locate me, Zander.”
“Yeah, I know.” I sighed, “Zues did mention my name to her though.”
“Why would he do a stupid thing like that?”
“I think he was trying to stay on her good side. Said she has a serious reputation for being scary.”
“If she’s anything like her father, she is.”
“Well, when he mentioned my name, she seemed surprised that you had a son. I guess that information never filtered back to them.”
“I’ve worked hard to keep your name quiet all these years, Zander. It was for your own protection. I had no doubt that any enemy of mine would have come after you had they known you existed. It’s why I wanted you to carry your mother’s sir name.”
“Yeah, well I’m a Portage, so I’m keeping my name.”
“If they know about you, Zander, they will be looking for you too.”
I smiled to myself, “Let them come. I’m not afraid of them, Dad.”
He was quiet for a moment, “Well, it might actually help us out in the long run.”
“Yeah, how?”
“I’m not sure yet. Let’s play it by ear and see how things go.”
“Sounds like a good idea.”
“So, tell me how things are going? Have we been able to pull more people over to our side?”
“Yeah, we’ve had a few more join us. Not as many as I would have hoped for, but a few more are getting antsy with the way things are going under the Mistress.”
“Good. I have a feeling that things are going to get even more tense in the next couple of weeks. Keep working on them,” he paused, “and since word has gotten out, maybe it might be time for you to come out in the open. The only problem with that I have no doubt that they will come after you to get to me.”
“I’m not worried about that, Dad. You know I can take care of myself.”
“Zander, I’m not worried about you. You know that I have a lot of enemies, but you are still very young to this world. You’ve only been transitioned a few years.”
“But you have been instructing me about our world since I was old enough to understand. Hell, even before I was old enough. You always told me that I was going to be instrumental in helping you gain the position that you deserve.”
“Yes, you will be, but I don’t trust the Mistress, or her sister. If they felt you were a threat, I have no doubt that they would try to take you out immediately, Zander.”
“I’m not sure they would. I have a feeling that if they could get to me, they’d bring me in and try to get all the information out of me that they could.”
“And then they would kill you.”
“Maybe, or I would kill them. It doesn’t matter. Eventually, I’m going to have to deal with the Mistress and her sister. Whether it’s to talk to them or kill them, most likely the second.”
“Don’t get cocky, Zander. You still have a long way to go before you can come up again the Mistress. Her and her sister are more powerful than most vampires.”
“Yeah, have you actually seen what they can do?”
“No,” he said softly, “But I have heard enough of the stories. Most people who do see what they are capable of, never live long enough to speak about it.”
I laughed, “You make it sound like they are untouchable.”
“I didn’t say that, Zander. I said they were dangerous, and you should remember that.”
“I will, Dad.” I sighed. I was damn tired of him telling me that people were dangerous. I had heard the stories since I was a child. My father being able to influence me with his mind to never speak of our world to humans. Even if I had wanted to, I physically hadn’t been able to.
That’s how he kept his location a secret from so many. His ability to implant in their minds that speaking the truth would instantly kill them. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if that would actually happen or not. I’d never seen anyone defy the order.
Anyone who came in contact with him or worked directly for him was given the same command: Never reveal his location to anyone, not even me.
You would think that I would at least know where he was, but nope. Even I was kept in the dark, which was another thing that pissed me off. I had seen him only a few times since I had transitioned two and a half years ago. I did however see my mother, but even she was unable to tell me where he was.
“Be patient, Zander, the plan is underway. I’ve been working on this for a very long time, but it is finally in motion.”
“If you say so.” I replied drolly.
I hung up from my father and turned to stare out the window of my condo. The surf below was angry tonight as a storm was brewing. There was a storm coming that was for sure. We all knew it, and it wasn’t just the weather.
The war that my father had been waging against the society was on the verge of finally happening. Yes, many, many years ago, he had made a play for the Master position of the race, and he had almost succeeded. Alexander Armstrong had been killed, and that’s when his mate had taken over. I was only a teenager then, but I remembered it well.
In fact, my father had allowed me to be there to watch. I’d stood back in the shadows, surrounded by men who worked for my father to protect me. As I stared at Alexander, something deep inside of me had screamed to come out of the shadows. Had it been my father’s hatred for the man that had been ingrained in me for so long? Was it only my wish to see my father succeed? I hadn’t known the answer then, and I still didn’t know it now.
I wanted my father to take over as the Master and yet part of me didn’t. Was that only because I knew that once he commanded our breed, that I would eventually have to take it over? I wasn’t sure that was what I wanted—at least not now. I was too young to even consider such things, but wasn’t the Mistress young by our standards?
That was part of the issue with her overseeing the breed. Many thought that she was too young, only seventy something, compared to many of our elders who were hundreds of years old. My father was almost six hundred, and I had a hard time imagining living that long. How much had changed in the world in his years? How much would change in my lifetime?
I closed my eyes, bringing back up the image of Alexander being held down by my father’s henchmen. I’d had this almost undeniable urge to rush forward, to do something. Maybe part of me wanted to drive the stake through his chest to please my father. Or maybe there was a part of me that had wanted to release him.
In the years since Alexander had been removed from the Earth, I’d dreamt of him. Odd dreams that didn’t always make sense. It was like part of me knew him, part of me understood him. I chalked it up to having spent many years learning about the man. Perhaps I had been taught so much about him, that I felt a part of me knew him. Maybe I was just making all this shit up.
“Zander, sweetie.” Laura called from behind me as she approached and put her arms around my waist, cooing in my ear, “We have to go; they are waiting for you, my love.”
I sighed as I put my hand over one of hers on my chest. “Yeah, I’m coming.”
I turned to Laura, staring down into her pretty face. This was a match that my father wanted, but for some reason I held back. My eyes tracked over her dark brown hair, her pouty lips, her caramel covered eyes and I inhaled her aromatic scent of ginger. She was a good woman, several years older than me, but I just didn’t feel it.
I wasn’t ready to settle down and mate to anyone. There was so much more that I wanted to do, to see, to find before I decided to take a mate.
The image of a woman came to mind, her features cloudy as if I were trying to pull her from a dream. The only thing that ever brightened with the image was the way her eyes shimmered in silver.
I didn’t know who she was, had never seen her before, but like Alexander, I felt that part of me knew her. Or perhaps should know her. Had someone schooled me on her when I was younger? Was she a famous elder? Was she my destiny—the one that I held out for?
“Hello?” Laura said as she cupped my cheek, “Where did you go, Zander?”
I laughed slightly, “Nowhere, just thinking about something my father said.” I kissed her lightly and stepped away. “Are you coming with me?”
“Of course, darling. I’m not going to let you run around town by yourself.”
Yeah, of course she wasn’t. I had a feeling that everything that I did, was reported back to my father by her. That’s how he knew every step I made, every person I spoke with.
I had confronted him once about it, but he had brushed it aside saying that he needed to keep me safe and had people watching out for me for that reason. I wanted to call bullshit on that, but kept my mouth shut. My time to speak would come.
Until then, I would deal with Laura and my father. I tucked her hand into my arm and led her out to the waiting transport.