“You know what she wants,” Sara interrupted. “Have fun.”
“Come on, sweetheart, don’t be like that. Just ask Ramsey to take you home and be sure the apartment is secured. I don’t much like the guy, but you obviously do.”
“Don’t start,” Sara said. It irritated her that her feelings were so open. Dear Goddess, did Lucas know how attracted she was to him? Was that why he was acting like he was? A little male-dominant control?
“What I meant,” Michael said in a voice of an adult reasoning with a stubborn child, “was that his honor will win out over his pride. He’ll escort you home. You’re on your own from there. If I see his car, I won’t stop.”
“I’ll think about it,” Sara said and hung up.
There was no way she was going to beg Lucas Ramsey to help her. If he couldn’t be mature enough to at least listen to her explanation, then she could ignore him too.
****
An hour later, when Sara pulled up to her apartment, a wave of uneasiness washed over her. She didn’t want to admit it, but it had been comforting to find Michael waiting last night.
She looked around the parking lot. One of her neighbors was leaving and waved. She didn’t see anyone else. No one sitting in a car, either. A new Yukon SUV was parked several doors down in front of the apartment that had been empty. Maybe new people had moved in.
A sense of wariness came over her as she put the key in the lock. She pushed the apprehension aside. It was silly to be afraid to come home to a solidly locked apartment while it was still light outside. She turned the key, opened the door, and stepped inside.
She saw a fragile glimmer of light pulsating near the ficus by the window.Nim!Usually the faerie greeted her at the door with an impish grin. She hurried over to where the transparent figure clung to the bark of the tree. Her wings drooped and her essence seemed to be fading in and out. For her to have spent so much energy meant either some psychic force had drained her or that she had exhausted herself with the small fanged scorpion bites she could give.
“Nim, what happened?”
But before the faerie could complete a weak “Danger!” a burly arm wrapped around Sara’s throat, nearly choking her.
The last thing she saw, as a foul-smelling cloth was pressed over her nose, was the faerie attempting one last scorpion bite, to no avail.
Chapter Ten—The Abduction
Lucas cursed as he forced himself to focus on the computer’s screen in Smith’s study. It was after ten o’clock in the morning and Sara still hadn’t surfaced. Visions of her having a lazy morning in bed with the warlock blurred the website in front of him.
He had been a fool. And, he had to admit grudgingly, his pride hurt, too. No woman had rejected him in centuries. In any instance, he didn’t let himself get emotionally attached to one and made sure any woman he took to his bed understood that. It was too dangerous for the woman, since the beast became unleashed when Lucas wasn’t totally in control of his emotions. Besides which, watching a mortal woman age and die while he remained young was too painful. Memories of Gwenhwyfar growing old in the convent still plagued him.
But the fool in him had begun to care for Sara. He wanted to protect her and, strangely enough, even the wolf had responded without aggression toward her the night Balor had sent in the other animal.
Mr. Smith interrupted his wretched thinking and, for once, Lucas was glad.
“Any headway on where to search?” he asked as he sank into an overstuffed chair.
Lucas shuffled some papers. “Not sure.” He picked one up. “There are some interesting theories out there.”
“Oh?” Mr. Smith asked and folded his hands, a sure sign he was prepared to stay.
“Well, as you know from the Grail legends, the Spear is often referred to as the one which the Roman soldier, Longinus, used to pierce the side of Jesus at the crucifixion. According to this, that Spear was sighted not that long ago.”
Mr. Smith leaned forward happily. “Go on.”
“They’re calling it the Imperial Spear in this article,” Lucas said as he scanned it. “Just before World War II, Hitler found it in the Hofburg Museum in Vienna.”
Mr. Smith’s eyes grew round. “My God. Is that what made him so powerful?”
“It’s a chilling thought, isn’t it?” Lucas replied. “The Spear’s power can be used for good or evil, depending on who wields it.”If Balor gets hold of it, he will make the Holocaust look like a fraternity prank.
“But Hitler lost the war.”
Lucas nodded. “With all the bombing going on and moving from underground bunkers, there must have come a time when he lost the Spear and the war turned.” He glanced at his notes again. “Supposedly, American soldiers unearthed it digging through rubble at Nuremberg Castle. General Patton saw it.”
“That would explain the turning point in the war,” Mr. Smith said softly. “What happened to it?”
