Transfusion (Transfusion Saga #1)

Chapter 14

You were saying?

By the time Lucius indeed ‘fixed’ the floor, along with the rest of the room so that my boss wouldn’t freak out, the other problem was taken care of.

This was in the form of two of his men walking into the room and each of them removing the unconscious men.

The strangest thing about this happening wasn’t in the act itself but more because the second they both looked at me, Lucius snarled at them.

I had no clue why he did this but the second he issued the animalistic warning they lowered their head in submission, continuing on with their jobs without a single glance my way.

“I am starting to see now why your father allows you to get the bus,”

Lucius had commented dryly as he watched the two broken men being carried from the room.

I would have smiled at this comment if I hadn’t been too concerned with how odd two unconscious bodies may have looked to the near twenty thousand visitors we get a day at the museum.

“They won’t be seen,”

Lucius said as if he could hear my thoughts.

Most likely though he just saw me looking nervously at the door chewing on the end of one finger.

Lucius homed in on the sight and the second I saw his eyes flash a deep and warm amber tone, I let my finger slip from my lips.

He cleared his throat and for a second looked as though he was going to reach out and touch me.

However, he didn’t and instead fisted his hand by his side and commanded in what was a strained, stern tone,

“Now, show me the box.”

I walked past him towards my handbag muttering,

“Geez, bossy much.”

I knew that in all likelihood he had heard me, but I refused to turn my head to check.

Instead, I did as I was told and pulled the box from my bag, unwrapping it from the bubble wrap I had rolled around it.

“So, you were saying something about Fort Knox,”

I said reminding him of his comment last night, saying it would be safer to have left it in the museum.

Then I passed it to his waiting hand and couldn’t miss the spark of mirth that ignited in his steel grey eyes that I only just noticed had flecks of ice blue in them.

“Point taken, sweet”

Lucius said giving me a new nickname and it was one I would take over ‘Princess’ any day of the week.

“So, any ideas?”

I asked after giving him a minute to examine the box on the table he was now leaning over.

His eyes shot up to mine and he said,

“I thought you were the expert here.”

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at his comment.

“I’m not an expert at everything and besides, it’s not as straight forward as you first think it is,”

I told him before taking the box from his hands, unconsciously making contact with both his bare fingers and the ones he always had encased in leather.

The second we touched I felt that same bolt of sensations course through me as if I had tapped into something hidden deep within him.

I couldn’t understand it, as it was a feeling that only happened around Lucius.

Years ago, it had been only one of the reasons I believed him to be my Chosen One…seven foolish years ago.

He suddenly stood up straight, pulling his fingers from beneath mine and cutting the cord on the electricity we created.

It seemed, by his tense and strained look, that I wasn’t the only one who had been affected.

Or had it been because I had touched his gloved hand? I could tell that this was a big no-no with Lucius and I didn’t fully understand why? I knew that it had something to do with a sacrifice he made to save the world, but I was never told the full story.

I swallowed hard and tried to act as though nothing had happened, clearing my throat before I spoke.

“You see it looks from first glance to hold Egyptian hieroglyphs, and then entwined is Demotic script.

And then here is…”

“Ancient Greek… but then it is like the Rosetta Stone,”

Lucius quickly surmised, and I couldn’t help teasing him,

“Looks like someone was paying attention in class.”

At this, I received a playful grin in return and in this moment, you could have almost forgotten the fact we didn’t like each other.

“But there is more,”

I said, taking the box and showing him the only way I knew how.

Which meant I had to walk around the table and stand close by his side.

I tried to ignore the way he looked down at me as if curious by my behavior or the way my heart started beating erratically by being this close.

“Okay, so if you look at it head on, then you can clearly make out the three types of script in the raised squares, but then look what happens to the hieroglyphs when I turn it slightly this way.”

I angled the box so as to view it tilted and I watched as Lucius saw it for himself the moment he frowned.

“It’s Sumerian,”

he stated in surprise.

“It’s Cuneiform Sumerian, which means it is one of the earliest forms of writing, invented by the Sumerians, which begs the question as to why it has been hidden in Egyptian hieroglyphs?”

“Well, do they know which came first?”

Lucius asked surprising me that he didn’t know, but then again at only just over two thousand years old, then he was considered a baby next to my father’s unknown age.

Something I had tried to nag out of him since I had learned to say my own age.

Let’s just say the most I got was at least double the age of Lucius, if his account of historical events was anything to go by.

“Well, that’s an ongoing debate and unfortunately without evidence to support either side, it’s one that no one can agree on,”

I told him in answer to his question.

“But that is not the strangest part…do you see these hidden symbols here once it’s turned this way.”

I did the same again and this time pointed to the few glyphs I’d missed the first time.

“This looks like Cretan hieroglyphs, which was used in the Bronze Age in Crete.”

Lucius looked even more surprised and asked,

“What does it mean?”

“Well, Cretan hieroglyphs are generally considered undeciphered and only found on very few artefacts, so who knows.

But the more important question is what on earth is it doing on this box along with the others?”

I asked making him look down at me and it was in that moment that I realised just how close I still was to him.

So, I set down the box and took a step back, now giving him the space to examine it himself.

However, when he didn’t touch it, I decided to prompt him.

“Maybe we will know more once we get inside it,”

I added nodding for him to do just that.

However, he just gave me a quizzical look in return before saying,

“What?”

I frowned thinking it was obvious…wasn’t it?

“Err well, aren’t you going to open it?”

I asked, making him frown as if what he was about to say next he didn’t want to.

“I can’t,”

he said shocking me and making me realise this was what he hadn’t wanted to admit…failure.

“But you haven’t even tried yet…have you?”

I said, changing this statement to an unsure question.

“I have been trying to open it since you revealed it to me,”

he confessed with a slight edge of irritation to his tone.

“You have?”

I asked clearly shocked to hear this.

He didn’t answer me this time but instead gave me a pointed look that spoke volumes.

He wasn’t going to dignify himself with an answer that he felt he had already given me.

“But you haven’t even touched it yet,”

I argued, thinking that surely that should at least be a requirement.

This was when he must have decided to prove his point and seeing as this was Lucius we were talking about then he did it in his usual way…intimidation.

He took a step to the side just as I mistakenly turned to face him.

Then he stepped into me and I took one back until I felt the rim of the desk digging into my lower back.

Then he placed both hands either side of me, gripping on to the table and caging me in with his large frame.

I held my breath, too scared to let go of it for fear of my breasts pressing against his own chest and making contact.

For at that moment there was at least an inch between us and right now it could have been a set of steel bars and it still wouldn’t have felt safe enough against this man.

He stayed like this for long enough that I couldn’t help but start squirming as if I was the prey waiting for the final blow from the predator that had me dangling from the end of his claw.

Talk about cat and mouse! I swear I was three seconds away from begging him to either let me go or kiss me.

Finally, he leant down close enough to my ear that I froze, other than finding the table’s edge myself and holding on with a death grip next to his own hands.

Then I leant my body back as far as it would go.

But with his height it still wasn’t far enough for he reached my ear easily.

Then it was his time to prove a point…

“I find things bend to my will just fine without the need for my touch…now don’t you agree, my little puppet?”

he said purring yet another little pet name for me and making me want to growl back and then stamp on his foot as a way of throwing that point back in his face.

But, for once, I stopped myself before I could and decided to fight fire with fire.

So, trying to take back a shred of control, I first tried to steady my breathing before then applying some pressure to the desk, forcing my body up closer to his own.

This time he was the one who froze and the look in his eyes was one of shock.

I bravely maintained eye contact so that I could deliver my come back with more backbone than usual.

This was when I finally whispered back in a strong and steady voice,

“But where is the fun in that?”

The second I had said it I knew that I had made a mistake as his reaction said as much.

He jerked back as if he had been stung and the look he gave me spoke both of his displeasure and annoyance.

So, before my shame could triple, I pushed my body out of his arms to break his hold on the table and subsequently freeing myself.

I felt like an idiot and vowed that I wouldn’t do this to myself again.

I wouldn’t put myself or my confused heart in this situation again and that vow started right now.

I hated him for doing this to me.

For feeling as though he could sadistically play with my feelings and then act outraged when I allowed myself to be drawn in.

This was when I realised he must have been a sadist, for it was clear he must enjoy doing this to me far too much to be able to stop himself.

Well, if he didn’t have the strength to stop, then that only left me to take control and I would start by acting as if nothing was wrong.

So, placing that professional veil back over my head and more importantly that cage back around my heart, I spoke,

“Well, I thank you for trying but if you don’t mind, I have a lot of work to do, so if you will be so kind as to leave me to it, then I would be most grateful,”

I told him as I walked towards the door and held it open for him to take the hint.

Then I finally braved a look at him, seeing him now looking completely different than just moments ago.

No, now he looked as if he was trying to suppress a grin and what else was that in his eyes? Was it a hint of respect?

I watched as he took a step back and leant his weight back on the table behind him, doing so in a casual way that told me he wasn’t going anywhere.

So, this was when my professionalism went and took a flying leap out the window and I slammed the door and shouted,

“Oh, come on! Seriously Vampire, what are you still doing here?”

This snap of anger was just proving how worn my patience was.

“Isn’t it obvious… Professor?”

he asked in a cool, calm tone that only managed to make me snap further,

“No actually, it’s not… not even for a professor,”

I replied, nearly snarling his sarcastic comment.

Then I took a deep breath and tried once again for calm.

“Look, you came to see the box like my father asked and found that even you couldn’t open it, so job done, fini, fertig, terminado, you are therefore good to go,”

I said quoting the word for finished in French, German and Spanish, trying to make my point in an around the world kind of way and yeah, showing off a little whilst doing so.

I’d learned quite early on when growing up that if I wanted to know what was going on around me, then learning as many languages as I could was the key.

So, not only was my head mostly in a book, it also meant that whenever it wasn’t, it was framed by headphones as I listened to different professionals teaching me foreign languages.

My parents used to find it funny to see me muttering different phrases to myself and my mum would always comment to my father, saying ‘she is so your daughter.’

However, Lucius didn’t look as though he found this little show of intellect as endearing as my parents had.

“I am not here to do your father’s bidding, no matter what you have been led to believe.”

The second I heard this I swear my eyes started to bulge and I had to bite my bottom lip just to stop it from hanging open.

Not in nervousness as was my mother’s habit and something these days only my dad still managed to achieve.

But Lucius didn’t stop there, ignoring my reaction to this confusing and surprisingly honest sounding statement.

“Now this is what is going to happen.

I am first going to take you home, check just how safe I have been assured that building you live in really is, and then I am going to take that box back to Germany with me where I will have my own people look into it.”

Okay so if I thought the first part of his admission was shocking, then the second part was downright astounding and quite frankly, bloody cheeky! The noise of disbelief slipped out of my lips in a combination of a scoff and snort that granted wasn’t the most ladylike sound I had ever made.

“No, you’re most certainly not!”

I declared after grabbing the box off the table and clutching it to my chest.

Lucius didn’t look impressed and for a moment looked at the floor and shook his head.

Then, as if coming to a decision, he pushed off the table he had been leaning against.

“Give it to me, Sweet”

he ordered, now coming towards me and holding out his gloved hand.

“No,”

I stated firmly making him frown, fist his hand and then let it drop.

“You know I am just going to take it from you physically, so why fight when you know you cannot win?”

he asked me.

“I may not be able to fight you but you’re forgetting one thing.”

“And what’s that?”

he asked with a smirk as he looked highly entertained by all of this verbal sparring.

“My father gave the box to me, not you,”

I stated, straightening my back and holding my head high.

“Is that so? Well, let’s ask him then, shall we?”

Lucius said in a knowing tone that gave me a bad vibe.

He slipped his phone from his back pocket and called my father, now clouding my argument in doubt.

Surely my dad wouldn’t take it from me now?

“Dom, salaam old friend,”

Lucius said as a way of a Persian greeting.

“She is well, if not a little angry,”

he then said after it was obvious my father had asked after me.

“In this case I believe it is with me, but that is unsurprising considering I am about to take possession of the box she is currently clutching to her chest,”

he said in an outright admission.

One that was surprising enough for me to hold onto the box tighter as if any minute now he would pounce.

“He’s not having it!”

I shouted loud enough that I knew my father would hear it.

I waited as it was obvious my dad was now asking what had happened to make Lucius think taking it was for the best.

And this was when I knew that I was screwed.

“There has been a breach of her safety,”

Lucius told him making me gasp and knowing now exactly why he had called my father.

I could hear his roar of anger from where I was stood, and Lucius even held the phone away from his ear for a second.

Then I heard the one worded growl from my father after his initial outburst was over,

“Explain!”

he snapped.

“Three men were waiting for her when she got to work with intent to take the box.

I was detained by a decoy that caught my attention when I heard two others asking a member of staff which room she worked in.

I got to her moments later to find all but one dealt with,”

Lucius told him, relaying all that happened in a composed tone, perhaps knowing it was the best way of dealing with my father.

After all, once upon a time they used to be friends and worked side by side as Lucius had started demonic life as his right-hand man.

Lucius paused a second listening to my dad asking his next question and I only knew what it was when Lucius answered,

“Human.”

I could then imagine my father taking a large sigh of relief at this point as his greatest nightmare was me encountering something I couldn’t handle…like a Supernatural.

“She did well, Dom…”

Lucius told my father pausing to look at me and the look he gave me was this time most definitely one of respect.

Was he proud of me for fighting back? I couldn’t help but blush as I quickly looked down at my tan boots.

“However, I do not know how well she would have fared had I not got here in time and shielded her from the rain of bullets heading her way,”

Lucius added and when I glanced back he was still maintaining eye contact with me and making me wince at the memory.

Because Lucius had saved my life yet again and now he was using that fact against me, knowing now that my father would, without a shred of doubt, side with him on this one.

“Calm yourself, Dom,”

Lucius said to my dad’s obvious outrage that was being blasted down the phone.

“She is safe now and I intend it to stay that way and one way of doing this is by taking the object they desire out of her hands and therefore taking her out of harm’s way.”

Lucius listened to whatever my father had to say, which turned out to be the last thing I wanted to hear.

“I knew you would agree,”

Lucius replied before agreeing to something my father asked, something that I only understood when he held out the phone to me,

“But of course… Your father wishes to speak to you.”

I felt like groaning aloud but instead stuffed the box under one arm as I took the phone from him.

“Are you alright?”

This was my father’s first question and the tense worry in his tone was easy to pick up on.

“Dad, I am fine…nothing I couldn’t handle,”

I said making him growl back at me,

“And the gun? Handle that could you…?! By the Gods, Amelia, when I think of what could have happened!”

My father’s anger was mounting by the second and after closing my eyes a moment as the guilt washed over me, I then shot Lucius a dirty look.

He didn’t have to do this.

However, it was a glare that seemed to be ineffective.

“Dad please, I am fine and…”

“Well, thank the Gods Lucius was there! Now you will give him the box and that is that,”

he said sternly.

“But that’s not fair, you gave it to me to decipher and…”

My dad quickly cut me off.

“Fair? Amelia Faith Draven, do you think it’s fair knowing that I was the one who gave you a damn box to look at in the first place, one which ended up putting your life in danger!?”

My father asked me, and it was clear by the anger in his voice that he blamed himself.

“It wasn’t your fault, Dad, you weren’t to know,”

I told him, hating the idea of him feeling guilty.

“No, I wasn’t but that is no excuse.

At least now I may rectify that mistake…Give Lucius the box, Fae.”

My father told me in a tone that broke no argument and also using my family’s nickname for me.

Faith or Fae was what I usually went by and I was only ever called Amelia when I was in trouble.

Which told me that right now, my dad was trying to be stern without pissing me off enough to argue back and damn him it was working!

The second I had come to England I had wanted a total change, which included giving people my first name when they asked, which surprisingly got changed to Emmie by my friends.

No one here knew me as Faith or Fae and I had never even heard Lucius refer to me as anything but Princess or, on the very few and recent occasions, Amelia.

“Fine!”

I said in defeat.

Because I knew that deep down it was because I wasn’t like my father and had no supernatural gifts[sh8].

Well, other than being able to spot them, which was pretty useless in a fight.

So, it meant that without being like him or the other supernatural king that stood in front of me now, then I had no chance at getting them to trust that I was capable of keeping the box without getting hurt.

And to be honest they were right.

Because if Lucius hadn’t walked in when he had then I would currently be bleeding out on the floor and my death would have all been in vain because they would have simply taken the box anyway and literally it would have been…

Over my dead body.

“Good girl.”

My dad said making me sigh, thinking that yeah, that was always the case wasn’t it.

I was always the good girl.

Just that little teenager who did what she was told and secretly feeling lost in a room full of people she didn’t belong in.

When I didn’t reply my dad decided something else needed to be said,

“Fae?”

“Yeah Dad?”

“I am proud of you, kiddo,”

he told me, no doubt referring to the human ass kicking I had issued the bastards that had tried to attack me.

“Yeah.”

This was my only response back and it was one that was said in a deflated way that spoke volumes as to how I was feeling.

In the end I didn’t say goodbye to my father as instead I just handed Lucius back the phone and slumped down onto one of the stools feeling as though all the fight had been zapped out of me.

And Lucius never once took his eyes off me.

“The two I left alive are in my custody.”

Lucius answered my father’s obvious question, no doubt demanding to know what was to become of the three men that had attacked me.

“What do you think, Dom, I’m going to host them a fucking tea party? Of course I am going to question them!”

Lucius snapped, freeing a breath of that usual cool exterior momentarily.

Then he went on to say,

“And trust me when I say it will be my own personal brand of torture, have no fear of that,”

Lucius snapped back, once again losing a slice of that famous, deadly, calm composure of his.

“The shooter is dead, and my only regret was that it wasn’t by my hand,”

Lucius added again in response to another question asked by my dad.

“Someone cast a Hex upon him, for the second he started to speak his…”

Lucius paused and glanced my way as if what he was to say next was both difficult to comprehend and so disturbing that he didn’t want to say it in front of me.

But then my father must have been getting impatient because I could hear him snap,

“What? Speak Luc!”

Lucius released a sigh and then shocked us both when he finally told us the horrifying truth…

“…His soul began to rot.”