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  The sun crept up slowly over the horizon. Zayn and Adara paced back and forth in the foyer, waiting for Kevin to arrive. Minutes ticked by in what seemed to take forever. “Where is he?” Zayn questioned.

  “I am sure he will be here shortly, Zayn.”

  “If he doesn’t get here…” the doorbell rang, cutting Zayn off. They raced to open it. Kevin stood there, ready and willing to go hunt for Nikole.

  “Nasir, it’s time. Let’s roll out,” Zayn said, turning to Adara. “I want you to stay; I don’t want you getting hurt. I will keep you updated on anything that happens.”

  Adara thought to protest then bit her tongue; she was a guest and had no choice. Nodding, she said, “Be safe, you all. I’ll be waiting.” She turned and walked off, passing Nasir on his way in.

  Nasir watched her walk out of the room and looked to Zayn. Ignoring what he was seeing play out, he spoke up. “Okay, let’s go; we don’t have much time if this is going to work.” Loading in the cars, they headed back to the mountains.

  The trip to the facility was traveled in silence. Kevin couldn’t stop his mind from racing, all the different things he might see, or that might happen to Nikole. They had been friends going on almost 60 years and occasionally lovers. Kevin felt in his gut that something bad was going to happen. Lying back in the seat, he closed his eyes. He could see Nikole’s beautiful hair flowing over her shoulders, her smooth skin with the golden tan.

  “Hey there, what can I get you tonight?” Kevin asked the woman who just sat at the bar.

  “I will take a Martini, dry.”

  “Coming right up.” Kevin mixed her drink not taking his eyes off of her. “Are you new in town?” he asked, pushing the martini across the slick counter to her.

  “No, but this is the first time I’ve been here. I’m Nikole, what’s your name Mr.

  Bartender?”

  He smiled at her, liking the sound of her voice, its soothing nature. “It’s Kevin, and I’m more than a bartender; I own this place.”

  Blinking back the memories, Kevin turned and watched the mountains. So much time had passed since that night. He should have told her how he felt long ago. Now she might be gone forever and he may never have the chance to tell her the truth about his feelings. “We’re here,” he heard Zayn say. He thought to himself, it’s show time.

  Getting out of the car, they hiked up to the facility as Kevin focused on feeling for Nikole. He closed his eyes, breathing in the air, let his mind clear, and tried to follow his instinct. He could smell something, taste it in his mouth. With his eyes shut, he started walking, following a trail. He led Zayn and Nasir through the building, stopping in the room where Nasir found her strand of hair. “I can’t sense her past this point.” He let out a sigh. Zayn and Nasir looked to each other, frowning.

  “You sure you can’t feel her past this spot?” Nasir asked.

  “No, it is as if everything has been washed away, no trail or anything.” Zayn cursed and walked off punching a wall. “SHIT, Nasir!”

  Kevin felt like he had missed something but sat back quietly.

  “Okay Kevin, thank you for trying. The King and I appreciate your help. Let’s get you home.”

  As they headed back to the house, Zayn realized the chances of seeing his okht again were getting slimmer.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Dominic watched everything play out on the monitors. Who was that Zayn and his minion had brought up to the facility that morning? Dominic made note to figure out who and what he was and his role in all of this. He looked familiar. He would have to retrace his steps over the last week. His plans were coming together. There were a few hiccups in the beginning, but it looked like it would end better than his original plan.

  Killing his akh was the best decision he’d ever made. He should have taken him out a century ago. Now that he was out of the picture, he could focus on taking over his abb’s regime. It was a nice surprise to see the blonde had invaded the facility. Now he didn’t have to kill everyone himself. He wasn’t sure who he was but didn’t care; he got rid of Hamza for him. This situation felt good for Dominic. Haydar told him to sit back and not get involved so as far as abb was concerned; Derrik messed the whole operation up from the beginning.

  His cell phone rang just then. “Speak of the damn devil and he calls.” Flipping it open, he answered. “Abb, we have a problem.” Dominic smiled as his plan started to unfold.

  “What do you mean we have a problem? I thought they had the girl?”

  “They did have the girl; Derrik fucked it up.” He mumbled under his breath “as usual.”

  Taking a breath he said, “He grew a heart and placed a call to the King for help.” Dominic smiled, looking at himself in the mirror, his abb was a fool and so easily manipulated.

  Haydar let out a growl hearing his ebn’ refer to that lesser being as “King.” He ground his teeth as he said, “What happened to Hamza? He isn’t returning my phone calls either. What’s going on out there? Do I need to fly out and take care of things myself?”

  “Hamza was killed.” His tone was casual, indifferent.

  “WHAT?! How was he killed? He is my best fighter! Dominic, what are you NOT telling me?” he shouted, fierce and lethal.

  “Hamza let his security become lax, and someone broke in and rescued her.” Dominic took the knife out of his pocket. Twirling it around, the tip pressed against his palm, little droplets of blood leaking out from the penetration.

  “Dominic, you’re telling me that one of my ebn’s is dead, my lead general is dead, the girl is gone, and all I have to show for this operation is that you are still around?”

  Dominic didn’t like the question, implying that he wasn’t much of a consolation prize. “Yes, Abb, that’s what I am saying.”

  “You have 48 hours to fix this mess, or I am coming out there, and I will kill you myself for allowing this to get so fucked up.”

  Dominic heard nothing but a dial tone then. That did not go quite as he planned. He’d succeeded in getting his abb riled, but he had not anticipated him being that upset with him. For all Haydar knew, he was innocent in this mess. Dominic turned to re-check the monitors. He needed to figure out who this mystery man was. Rewinding the footage from yesterday, he watched as this man entered the room and methodically took out each guard. He watched him come up from behind each one, his knife slicing their throats, his hands cracking their necks with ease. The man moved stealth like from one room to the other. He had to have had military training. Dominic watched on the screen as the blonde broke into the torture room. He came up behind Hamza, getting the upper hand quickly with a blow to the neck. Dominic marveled at their skill. The way Hamza countered and fought back. It looked like the mystery man was cut across the cheek. That should leave a scar, might help in identifying him later.

  Watching the final blow, he saw the mystery man stab Hamza in the kidneys, or what looked to be that general area, taking him to the ground and leaving him for dead. Dominic looked closer at the monitor; he noticed how easy the metal snapped free. Zooming in he saw the cause; the metal was being heated by something. “I’ll be damned, he controls fire too. Well isn’t this just perfect?”

  Dominic was told the last people alive who controlled the fire element were within the family; clearly his abb’s information was wrong. He walked around his room thinking about this new development. Maybe he could capture them both. He needed to learn to control his powers. He could make the stranger teach him. Dominic’s mind started racing at the possibilities.

  He realized he had gotten farther this week in over turning his abb’s control than any other attempt. His last efforts were still being laughed at. He remembered how he fought with his abb about wasting efforts with the humans. It was supposed to be an easy operation, but no, the Americans had to fuck it up.

  “Abb, why do you even bother with the oil? We don’t need it. What good is it to have useless power? Just kill them all and do what we want,” Dominic told Haydar.


  “Dom, listen, you never know when these resources are going to be needed. We need to keep the foothold here. Saddam is easy to control, you just show him money and he thinks it’s the best idea. Trust me; if Zayn is in America, they are going to need the oil to do anything over there.”

  Dominic continued to disagree. “We are wasting time, men, and money. If we want the crown, we have to strike where it hurts them most.”

  Haydar smiled at his ebn’. “Trust me; this will hurt them.”

  Dominic was unhappy with his abb’s plan to use Iraq as the weapon of choice in his operation. Dominic searched for a way to prove his abb wrong; he headed to America to start laying his influence on that presidential administration.

  Dominic laughed remembering how easy it was to convince Bush that Saddam was the man to take down. Fall of 1989, Bush couldn’t have been more excited about discussing Saddam and his Kuwait issues. Humans are all idiots, easy to manipulate if money and power are involved. He did understand some of the fun his abb had playing with Saddam like a toy. He thought back to that summer on August 2, 1990.

  “Son of a bitch!” Haydar bellowed. Dominic and Derrik came in from the other room.

  “Abb, what’s wrong?” Derrik asked.

  “Those fucking Americans are invading! Who the hell do they think they are? King of the fucking world? Now this is going to set us back years!” Haydar stormed about the room looking for things to throw. “We have to kill them all, nuke the whole fucking country.”

  Dominic held in his laugh. “I told you, abb, the Iraqis are nothing but a headache. Look what we have to do now.”

  “DOMINIC IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO HELP LEAVE!” Haydar screamed.

  “It’s like taking candy from a baby some days,” Dominic said out loud to himself.

  No wonder in the last 200 years the world had turned into a shit hole; humans had lost their self-respect. At least in the 15th-19th century, men fought for a cause, now it was just money. Dominic stood up, put his suit on, and ran his hands through his hair as he looked in the mirror, making sure he looked presentable. He looked down at the monitors where he paused on the face of this new stranger. “Hm, Zayn, who did you bring into the facility?” Pouring himself a quick drink of scotch and taking a sip, he remembered where he knew that man from. The club. He left his room in search of this new player, someone new to manipulate.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  She hadn’t moved, not a finger, a toe, nothing. It’d been over twenty-four hours; she should have shown some signs of consciousness. Walking over to the bed, he ran his fingers down her arm, looking for any sign of response. Nothing. He picked up her wrist and checked for a pulse, the faintest of beats being detected. He set her arm back down and went back to the storage room. Opening the storage cooler, he pulled out two pints of blood --and brought them back into the house. Gathering up the IV drip supplies as well, he headed back to the bedroom.

  He looked over her arms for a vein large enough for the needle to safely stay in. Not seeing one on her left arm he moved to the right. On the inside of her bicep he felt a good vein, one that was large enough to handle the needle. Hanging the bag of blood on the headboard he hooked the line up to it. He then sterilized her skin. and put the tourniquet in place. Gently slapping the area a few times to get the vein to show, he carefully inserted the needle into her arm, The blood coming back into the syringe assured him it was a good vein. He took the IV line, attached it to the needle and the blood began flowing in. He taped the line down to her arm and put it back next to her side.

  Looking down at her he noticed tears had dried on her cheeks. Wetting a wash cloth with warm water, he applied it to her face, softy cleaning away her tears. He noticed her eyes had started to open slightly. He could see the light violet shade sparkling though. He thought to himself, “What are the odds that she also controls fire?” He reached his hand down and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. “Wake up my sleeping Algula; it’s time to join the rest of the world.”

  While Nikole was in her comatose state, she couldn’t communicate with anyone. All she was left with were her thoughts. She could hear a voice off in the distance, one she didn’t recognize. Why couldn’t she wake up? She opened her mouth to make a noise but nothing happened. This person didn’t act like he heard anything she was trying to say. She tried to concentrate on Zayn, seeing if she could establish a mental connection to him, calling out, “Zayn, please hear me. I don’t know where I am. Please come save me. I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. Zayn, please…” She knew it was useless; he wouldn’t hear her. She knew the chance he was within 10 miles of here, wherever here was, was one in a million. She hadn’t thought about her abb in a long time, after seeing him gutted when they fled their home, but right now, right now, all she wanted was her abb to hold her and tell her everything was going to be ok.

  She ran out of the castle and through the field, laughing and pretending to soar though the air. King Tamman watched from a distance. The sight of his little girl carefree and full of life brought a smile to his face. Nikole ran to the tree on the outskirts of the castle walls. She started circling around it. Tamman wasn’t sure what she was looking for. He slowly started walking in her direction to see if he could help her with whatever she was doing. He stopped when he saw her put her foot on the trunk of a tree.

  Her little hands gripped for something to grab onto. Her arms wrapping around the trunk as she pulled herself up, trying to climb up the tall tree. Tamman could hear her grunting and growling, forcing herself to move inch by inch up the large tree trunk. He laughed to himself, proud that she wormed her way up. She got about twenty feet off the ground when all of a sudden he saw a squirrel coming down the trunk, headed right for Nikole. Tamman heard her scream and watched her start to fall. Her little arms flailed as she fell flat on her back.

  Tamman’s heart shattered when her cry broke the tranquility of the day. He jogged over to her side and picked her up in his arms. Her little head tucked into his chest, her tears flowing down her cheeks. “It’s okay, Princess. Don’t worry, we all fall and hurt ourselves.”

  Her tiny little face looked up at him, the violet in her eyes sparkling. “Abb, I got scared. I should be strong and tough like you, but I fell.” Her little world was shattered. Tamman engulfed her in his big arms. Holding her tight, he cooed at her, calming her, soothing her worries.

  “Nikole, baby, everyone falls; everyone gets scared. Even I get scared. I’m scared that one day I won’t come home to you, Zayn, and your omm, scared that one day I will fall and not be able to stand, but you have to push through that. You are only eight; you will have many times in your life that you fall. You have to just believe in yourself. Promise me you will always believe in yourself. Never fall and lay there. Always fight. We are Kadins, fighters. We never give up. We never give in, Nikole.”

  She batted her eyes, wiping her tears, and looking up at her abb. “Do you understand baby girl? It doesn’t matter how many times you fall, as long as you stand back up and fight.”

  She nodded her head and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Yes Abb, I get it. I always stand up.” He set her back on the ground and pointed to the tree. “Let’s go climb that tree. You can ask for help, but never quit. Come, we will climb it together.”

  He saw more tears running down her cheeks. He checked to make sure the IV was still secure and no bruising had started. He took the washcloth and slowly cleaned her face again. He didn’t understand why she was crying. The pain should be better now that she was receiving blood. He looked at his watch; four hours had passed since he started the IV. “Come on, wake up. Please.” He brushed his thumb across her cheek and he noticed that she twitched. “That’s it, come on, respond. Wake up.”

  Slowly she started moving her eyelids. Blinking away the tears, she looked up into the stranger’s eyes. Turning her head, she looked around the room, trying to understand what and where she was. Nothing looked familiar. She tried to speak, but nothing came out. Her throat h
urt from the screaming she’d done. When she began to panic, the stranger placed his hands softly on her shoulders, making sure to touch the spots that did not have any skin damage.

  “Shh, calm down. You are safe. No one is going to get you here. No one knows where you are. My name is Alec and you are staying in my home.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Zayn woke up from his sleep. “Nikole,” he called out. Nothing, silence. “Nikole!!” He knew he heard her voice, maybe he had been dreaming. She sounded like she was in pain, calling out for help, his worst fear coming to life. Looking around the room, seeing the daylight breaking through the blinds, he realized he had finally slept. Sitting up he saw the time. He couldn’t believe how late he’d slept. Going to his closet and changing into a more suitable outfit, he left his room in search of news.

  On his way out of his room he stopped for a moment, looking at the door to the room Adara was using. He wondered if she was still in there, if she was able to sleep. It felt weird wondering about her when Nikole was missing. He should be focused on his okht, not his okht’s best friend. He moved closer to the door, running his hand over the wood. Should he knock? He should leave her alone. What was wrong with him? He needed to go searching for Nikole, yet he wanted to be here, with her. He slowly tapped his nails against the door, waiting for an answer.

  “Come in,” Adara called from the room. He slowly opened the door, peeking his head in, he saw Adara lying on the bed. Taking a deep breath he pushed the door all the way open and walked in. Basking in her beauty, Zayn became aroused and his need became wanting. He knew what he wanted to do with her, knew how good it would feel and how much he needed the comfort during this time. Gazing over her body, his eyes focused on her lips, soft full lips. He should leave, just turn around and walk out of the door. There wasn’t a logical reason why he was here. She was Nikole’s best friend, but he felt drawn to her, her body, and her smile. Looking at her, lying on the bed, relaxed and calm, he started to speak.