Chapter 16 - Closer to the End
Michael:
I watch attentively as Valentina slides her beautiful hands across the spines of the books. Her long, dark hair flutters around her, and her silken skin calls out for my touch. Because it’s warm outside, Valentina slipped out of her flannel shirt. Her thin camisole and jean shorts show off her muscular thighs and firm stomach to perfection. As I follow behind her, I can’t stop thinking about our kiss earlier. The way she clung to me and rubbed her chest against my bare one was sinful.
When she mentioned us being on a date, I was delightfully surprised. Of course, I was not lying when I said that I had never been in one. But for Valentina, I am willing to do a great many things. I know that we’ve only known each other for a short time, but this attraction for her is beyond anything I have ever felt. Not even Lana had me feeling this desperate desire and intense want.
I snap out of my thoughts when she hands me a book. Her beautiful whiskey - colored eyes look innocently at me, and her luscious lips turn into a pout when she nudges the book beneath my nose. “This is the book we were looking for.”
I take the book from her hands, my eyes still on hers.
Valentina tilts her head and arches a brow, “Is something wrong?”
I snap out of my haze and shake my head, “Non, chérie, I was just lost in thought.”
For a moment, she opens her lips to ask me what I am thinking about, but then she closes them and rolls her eyes, “Well, we don’t have time for daydreaming, so get your head in the game, angel.”
My lip quirks at her husky command, “Oui, you are correct, chérie,” I lift the book and wave it in front of us, “let’s find our map.”
I stand to the side and observe as Valentina approaches the counter and purchases the book. Side - by - side, Valentina and I walk toward the seating area in the back of the store and peruse the book.
We sit close as we sort through the pages. Placing my arm on the back of her chair, I look over Valentina’s shoulder as she points out several things we should know.
The scent of honeysuckle and eucalyptus drifts into my nose as her hair brushes against my nose and chin. Inhaling deeply, I absently caress the tendrils of her hair and inhale, letting her sweet scent take over all of my senses.
It’s only when Valentina gasps that I realize what I’m doing. Her chest rises and falls heavily as she tilts her face to mine and whispers, “I can’t get anything done if you keep doing that.”
Giving her my best smolder, I kiss her shoulder and whisper, “You are so belle, chérie.”
Valentina raises her hand, caresses my jaw and kisses my bottom lip, “You’re not so bad yourself, Michael.”
I want to kiss her so badly, but as the sun begins to fade on the horizon and the clouds begin to darken, I know that we have to leave.
Leaning close, I look at the map on the page she was showing me. “This map should be useful for our purpose.” Then, I point to the darkening sky, “We should go back to my home and get ready for our search.”
With that said, Valentina gathers the book and follows me out the door. Once we reach my home, we change into fighting gear and load up with weapons. Valentina is wearing black leather pants, a black tank top and boots that make her look extremely sexy. As I usually do when I’m hunting, I wear my armor.
Using my senses, we walk toward the warehouse district outside of the city.
Valentina strides beside me and mutters, “How is it that the Naga keep attacking all these public places and humans don’t go crazy alerting the media or the military? It’s not like the Nagas look human either. Seriously, I’m surprised that no one freaked out when they saw those things. I know I freaked when I saw them.”
I look around us cautiously before I meet her gaze, “The humans do not report the attacks because the Nagas let off hallucinogens that make humans lose their ability to think clearly. As a result, most humans who survive assume that they saw things or forgot what they did the night before because they were heavily intoxicated. As for how the Nagas look, the simple answer is that humans usually think that the Nagas are humans who like to dress oddly. You are one of the few who strangely has retained the knowledge of their existence. I assume it’s because of how traumatic your friend’s attack was.”
“But how do they explain the missing humans?”
I shrug, “The humans assume the person ran away or had a drunken accident. You’d be surprised how easily humans explain away the strangest things.”
Valentina looks forward thoughtfully, “Damn, you’re right. We do tend to explain crazy stuff we see away. Still, that’s pretty messed up.”
“Oui, it is. This sort of situation is why we have a Supernatural Council. It has not been that long since the Naga settled in the city. As soon as the Council realized they were attacking and killing humans, they dispatched enforcers and asked me to help with hunting them down.”
Valentina snickers, “Holy cow, you have your own form of law enforcement?”
I nod, “We have to since humans are not powerful enough to control most supernatural creatures. Considering all of the supernatural beings that exist, we have to be proactive in our policing, which is why there have branches of the Council who handle situations such as these.”
“Wow, it’s crazy to think that there’s this whole supernatural society cohabiting with us without us becoming aware of it,” she mutters in astonishment.
As we pass several darkened structures, I focus on any Naga aberrations. “I wouldn’t say that humans are completely unaware of our world. If so, supernatural shows and stories wouldn’t exist. It also helps that nearly all of the supernatural world wants to live peacefully with humans. Most beings live mundane lives. It’s the ones who feel that humans are prey or that hurt other supernaturals that we have to look out for.”
She gives me a conceding nod, “I guess our worlds are not that different. I mean, not all humans are law - abiding citizens. But I never considered the possibility that my neighbor or my mailman might not be human.”
I chuckle at her astonished tone. It’s amusant to see her learning about our world through her eyes.
My senses ring at that moment, warning me that the Nagas are close.
As we round a corner, I hear music blaring nearby. Looking forward, I see humans coming out of a well-lit warehouse. Without a word, Valentina and I walk inside and find ourselves facing a sizeable room full of drunken, undulating bodies, strobe lights flashing everywhere, and a large DJ booth in front of the crowd.
Valentina rises to her toes and calls out over the reverberation of the music and the hum of the crowd, “Looks like we found a rave.”
I nod, “With so many humans in one place, we’ll have to be cautious that we do not get lost in the crowd. Perhaps we should go to higher ground?”
Valentina gestures to a set of metal stairs that lead to rafters above us. Gates block the crowd from going up the stairs, making it a perfect spot for us to settle in. “Take my hand,” I call out to Valentina.
Without question, she takes my hand, and I flash us to the top of the rafters. Valentina blinks her eyes and grips the railing tightly, “I’ll look to the right and back, and you look to the left and front.”
Keeping our eyes and ears open, we inspect the dancing crowd. As I watch the humans joyfully dance, I can’t help but feel that it’s unfortunate that we cannot go to the catacombs and wait for the Nagas to come out. The Nagas may be primitive, but they have a system where they guard their own as they leave the nest, and I’m not sure where their exit might be.
Just as the thought runs through my mind, I spot a gathering of Nagas approaching, and lagging several feet behind them is our drone. “There!” I point to the drone standing near the now sealed doors.
Valentina’s gaze follows my finger, and she releases an excited gasp. Eyes wide, she glances back at me and yells, “What do you want to do?”
I nudge my chin in the drone’s direction, “We have to lure it away from the soldiers.”
“Okay, how do you want to do that?” she asks.
I look down at the drone and observe as the Nagas spread out across the dance floor. It’s the perfect time to take the drone because there are only a handful of foot soldiers right now. The other soldiers will come after the soldiers block all of the exits. Reaching for my mobile, I text the Council enforcers and send them my location. They should be here within minutes, which should give us enough time to capture the drone.
“Go down there and pretend to stumble against the creature. Do everything you can to lure it into that area.” I point to an opening near one of the walls. “It shouldn’t be difficult to do while the soldiers disburse around the space. I will keep a lookout until he’s out of sight and flash myself to you.”
“Alright, flash me down,” she calls out.
Taking her hand, I flash her several feet behind the drone and observe as she stumbles toward the creature and feigns inebriation. The drone glares at Valentina but quickly loses his annoyance when he sees her. I grit my teeth and resist the urge to growl when Valentina rubs herself against him and flirts.
As predicted, the drone can’t resist the prospect of a good meal. His eyes glow as he watches Valentina totter toward the area I suggested. He looks around, ensuring that the soldiers are doing their duties before he follows behind her.
Once they disappear, I don’t waste a moment flashing myself to them then flashing us all to the Council’s holding cells. Since the Council’s invocation, they’ve built holding cells that enforcers can use when they have nowhere to take their prisoners. Once they capture their quarry, the Council member interrogates them and leaves them in the cell for their officers to pick up. It’s a useful method when apprehending prisoners.
The drone turns angrily to me, its thin lips stretching across his sharp fangs as he screeches with outrage. The sound is so grating that they make my sensitive ears ache. Before he can screech again, Valentina pulls her fist back and punches him in the throat. It’s quite impressive how she instantly disables him. “Bien joué, ma chérie,” Well done, sweetheart, I state evenly.
Groaning with pain, the drone falls to his knees, clutching his throat. It chokes and wheezes, trying to clear the painful ache.
While he’s disabled, I flash a pair of shackles and restrain him.
The creature glares but makes no other sound as it struggles against its bonds.
Valentina stops beside me and pushes the drone onto the floor with her boot. “Stay still, dipshit! You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t hunting humans.”
The drone croaks out a growl but remains where he is.
Stepping forward, I release my wings and let my power flow through me. The drone’s eyes widen with trepidation as I approach him and settle my palms against his temple. He tries to pull away from my touch, but he’s not strong enough to break my hold.
Jaw tight, I close my eyes and concentrate on entering the creature’s mind. Lights flash behind my eyes, followed by currents as I sort through the creature’s memories.
Scenes of carnage and blood rush through my mind, but I push them away until I find what I’m looking for. As the scene unfolds, I’m sucked further into the creature’s mind until I’m part of it. Though I know that I’m in the creature’s consciousness, I can’t help but flinch when I open my eyes and find myself deep in the Parisian catacombs.
There’s no light, but I don’t need a light to guide me to the queen. I traverse through the labyrinth for nearly an hour until I reach a large cavernous clearing with walls upon walls of skeletons decorating the stony surface.
The stench of blood and sewage is nauseating, but it doesn’t seem to bother the drone. I gaze around the cavern, committing to memory every twist and turn before I continue. The walls are soiled with a tar-like substance, and the floors have insects crawling all over the place. As I move forward, the sounds of growls and whines reach my ears. Looking toward the sound, I spot the queen sitting on a nest of bones as drones feed her human remains. The queen is just as horrific looking as the soldiers with her long limbs, haggard hair, hollow, black eyes and sharp teeth and claws.
Before I recede from the creature’s mind, I take one last look around and count how many creatures are around the queen.
It takes less time to withdraw my powers and rouse from my trance.
Blinking my eyes, I release the drone and let him fall lifelessly onto the ground.
Valentina kneels beside me and takes my head between her hands, “Oh, thank goodness, you’re awake. I’ve been freaking out for hours. If it wasn’t for the fact that you were still breathing, I don’t know what I would have done.”
At her worried tone, I lean close and wrap my arms around her. “Je vais bien mon petit,” I am well, little one, “I apologize. I should have told you that it takes me a while to find the information that I’m looking for when I mind walking.”
Valentina tightens her arms around me and stifles a cry, “Don’t ever do that again, alright? I was so scared.”
“Je suis désolé, ma chérie. Je promets que je ne ferai plus jamais ça.” I’m sorry, sweetheart. I promise I will never do that again, I reply warmly.
After a moment, Valentina pulls away from my hold and gazes up at me. My heart squeezes tightly when I notice tears drying on her face. Reaching up, I wipe her tears and rest my forehead against hers, “I found the queen. I know where she is.”
Her lip tilts up into a grimace, “Really?”
I stumble when I move to rise and have to lean on Valentina for purchase.
“What’s wrong?” she worriedly asks.
I crack my neck as I try to steady myself. “Sometimes, when I take long mind walks, I become drained of energy. Because of this, I cannot flash us home. We’ll have to walk. But I should be well by in a couple of hours.”
Valentina clings to my waist and helps me walk out of the holding cell.
“What do we do with the drone?”
I look back and push the holding cell closed, “Do not worry, it can’t get out of the cell, and a council member will pick him up eventually.”
Though it’s nearly morning, the sky is still overcast and gloomy. Unfortunately, it’s nearly morning, and the Nagas are back in their nests, so we cannot go and hunt until the next evening.
I look at Valentina, who is cursing the dawn, “Je suis désolé de ne pas pouvoir nous flasher, petit.” I’m sorry that I cannot flash us out, little one. “At least, we’re not far from my home,” I say as I lead her to the road that leads to the driveway near my courtyard.
We’re both drained by the time we get to the house. Valentina guides me to my room and helps me remove my clothing. As soon as I feel her hands on me, my weariness fades, and my desire awakens.
Leaning close, I crush my lips to hers and devour her. Valentina does not hesitate to respond as she straddles my lap and wraps her arms around my neck.
“I want to make love to you, chérie,” I whisper against her lips.
Valentina bites my lower lip and mutters, “I want that too, Michael.”
Without another word, I lift us both to our feet and prepare to make her mine. And there's no doubt that Valentina is mine.