And that was the cheerful car ride to the private docks. We were taken aboard a large yacht that resembled a cruise liner and guided to the bow. The car in which we traveled was taken below deck via a loading ramp. The ship weighed anchor and the shoreline receded behind us. Before us was the dark waves of the bay and the black silhouette of Avalon Island.
I clutched onto the railing and watched the island grow larger. In an hour the island loomed ahead of us. Two long white docks stood as sentries over the water and connected with the shoreline of the island. The yacht parked in the largest berth that sat closest to the island. The docks ended at the land where they met a paved road. The road wound its way up a steep, terraced hill littered with boulders, wild flowers, and tall softwood trees.
The top was topped with a large fortress-like abode that shattered the endless blue sky above the island. The walls were a gloomy gray and topped by a parapet. A single stone tower stood at attention at the front left corner. The tall, thin windows gazed out on the waters with haughty indifference. A large lawn surrounded the bottom of the walls like a green moat, and I glimpsed a few smaller buildings on the grounds.
The car was removed from the ship and we were driven up the road to the castle. The leader of the cloaked figures led us beneath the archway and into the foyer of the spacious stone structure. Above us soared the high ceiling with its open rafter layout. The back wall held a long reception desk and to the right were the stone stairs that led to the higher floors. A passageway to the right of the stairs led to other rooms on the ground floor. To our left and right were wooden archways. The left led to a large dining room while the right was a grand sitting room.
It was to that room that we were led. The long sitting room contained the living room furniture and a pair of pool tables at the back. The dark paneled walls flanked a large stone fireplace centered in the wall opposite the entrance. The thick curtains on either side the wide paned windows were open and let us look out on the yard and the open waters of the bay.
I jumped when the doors behind us were shut with a soft, ominous click. The lead intruder and his minions had left us.
But we weren't the first ones in the room. A man rose from one of the chairs and turned to us. He was about forty-five with gray streaks in his temples and a complexion that was a blood-brother to that of Simon.
The man smiled and bowed his head to us. "Good evening, my honored guests."
CHAPTER 2
Simon wrapped his arm around me and his eyebrows crashed down. "Why have you brought us here, Basileus?"
Basileus picked up a wine glass from the table beside his chair and held it up. "First, won't you have a drink with me?" My nostrils flared when I smelled the scent of blood in the glass.
Simon tightened his grip on me. "A prisoner has a right to know why they have been imprisoned."
Basileus sighed and put the glass down. "I see we are to be enemies here. It is all your fault, you know. You forced my hand in bringing you here."
"Do tell," Simon quipped.
Basileus stepped back and swept his hand over the furniture. "If you would have a seat, then I will be glad to discuss the matter with you."
Simon led our group to the furniture. He and I took our seats on a horse-hair couch, and Certus placed himself opposite us and to the right of Basileus's chair.
Our 'host' seated himself and studied us. "I am sure I don't need to list your recent exploits, particularly since she-" he nodded at me, "-came into your life."
Simon arched an eyebrow. "What has our entertainment to do with you?"
Basileus frowned. He sat at attention and the clip of his words quickened. "What you term 'entertainment' is a risk to the entire paranormal community. Your reckless behavior threatens to reveal us to the human world."
A crooked grin onto Simon's lips. "Has it?"
Basileus shifted in his seat. "No, but as I said, you have been most reckless and-"
"And I see no reason why we have been kidnapped and brought here," Simon interrupted. "We have broken no laws, written or otherwise. We have merely played the game, and in one of our games-" his gaze met that of Basileus, "-you lost."
Basileus's eyebrows crashed down. His lips curled back and revealed his long, sharp teeth. "Yes, I admit you humiliated me when you stole that shipment. However, I consider it a learning experience and hold no ill-will toward you."
I snorted. "So that's why your invitation was at the end of a bunch of fists."
Basileus coughed into his hand. "The manner in which I brought you was necessary. I believed you would refuse a less direct request."
Simon nodded. "You would be correct. We had no need to see you."
Basileus frowned. "I told you before you knowingly risked the exposure of every paranormal creature in the city with your recklessness. That is why I have brought you here to face punishment." His eyes fell on Certus and me. "I will, however, not hold vampire fledglings responsible for the actions of their masters, nor even their own while under his influence."
"And what is that punishment?" Simon inquired.
Basileus looked into Simon's eyes. "Destruction."
My heart skipped a beat. I jumped to my feet and balled my hands into fists at my sides. "You can't be serious! Who the hell made you God that you could just take anybody out and kill them?"
Basileus sighed. "I said-"
"I know what you said!" I snapped. "I don't care if it's destruction or digestion! It still means you're murdering people!"
Simon's heavy hand fell on my shoulder. I looked up to see his gaze fell on Basileus and eyes were narrowed. "You are a man, such as you are, of your worthless principles, but you have not waited this long to bring us here without reason."
Basileus frowned. "I told you-"
"That you wished to punish our past transgressions, but your timing is slightly late." A sly smile curled onto Simon's lips. "If I believed my senses, I would wonder if you hadn't brought us here for some purpose other than to destroy me."
Basileus' face darkened and he turned his face away from us. "We shall say your punishment is well-deserved." His eyes flickered back to us. "That is, unless you were to do something for me."
Simon arched an eyebrow. "And that would be what?"
Basileus swept his hand toward the entrance to the room. "If you would come with me."
Our kind host led us from the room and up the grand stairs. Simon and I walked shoulder-to-shoulder. Certus sidled up to walk behind and to Simon's right. I watched his lips move, but no sound came to my ears.
Simon smiled and shook his head. "I don't believe that will be necessary." Certus bowed his head and retreated a few steps.
I glanced at Simon. "What's that about?"
He chuckled. "Certus was curious to know if I wished to leave immediately and if he should prepare the boat for departure."
I blinked at him. "We can leave any time?"
Simon's eyes glistened with that dangerous glint. "Perhaps."
Basileus guided us deep into the second floor of his large home. He stopped at a door in the far right corner of the building. The entrance was decorated with painted diagrams and stick-figure symbols. The largest of the paintings was a hexagram made up of two interlocking triangles, each painted different colors. One was red, and the other black.
We entered and found ourselves in a small suite. The space wreaked of herbs and burnt food. Tables covered the space in front of us, and atop them were chicken feathers, bones from a wide assortment of small animals, and large glass vials filled with brackish-looking liquids.
Opposite the entrance were large windows and a sliding glass door that looked out on a balcony, and beyond that the rocks and the bay water that crashed into them. To our left lay a kitchen, and beyond that a short hallway to a closed door and a bathroom.
Basileus led us through to the closed door where he leaned toward the entrance and knocked. "Madam Bentley? May we enter?"
"Come in," croaked a voice that sounded a thousand years old.
Our host opened the portal and revealed a bedroom draped in black. Black curtains covered the windows to the bay, black rugs covered the floor, and black covers were draped over a small figure on the small bed.
It was a woman. She appeared to be just shy of Methuselah's age with her thin strands of white hair and so many wrinkles she would make a basset hound jealous. Her short stature barely reached the end of the five-foot long bed, and her gnarled hands with long, sharp fingernails clutched the top of the covers. Her attire, was little we could see, was a simple black dress, and atop her head was a small, round hot water bottle. The woman's face was a ghastly pale color, worse than Simon's, and her eyes were filmy.
She leaned forward and squinted her eyes at us. "What is it? What's wanted?"
Basileus walked over to her bedside and bowed to her. "I apologize for interrupting you, Madam Bentley, but I may have a solution to your problem."
The old woman scowled at him. "It's nothing my skills can't cure if I could just-" She was interrupted by a violent coughing fit. Her whole body trembled beneath the covers. She gathered herself and fell back against her pillows. "If I could just get out of this blasted bed."
Basileus bowed his head. "I understand that, Madam Bentley, but-"