“I think I may have something,” he said, pushing past him into the office.
Sighing, Elias replaced his coat on the rack and switched the light on.
Paris held the piece of paper out to him. “I was going through—”
“Snooping?” Elias interrupted.
“No. I was going through some of Leo’s things while I was down in his dungeon packing up…well, you know. You’re the one who told me to go and do it.”
Elias took a step forward and reached for the paper. He’d hated giving Paris the task of clearing out Leo’s office, but after two weeks of no phone calls and the police getting involved, it’d seemed time to box things up.
Leo’s handwritten scrawl was all over the paper. There were three dates, all fairly recent, starting towards the end of September.
9/25/15, 1:13 a.m. — Strange dream tonight. I was standing in a huge room at an altar or something, and there was a light. A bright, blinding light. And I was holding something in my hand. A scroll? A map, maybe? Usually I wouldn’t care about writing it down, but it felt so real that I want to keep a record. - Leo
10/02/15, 2:13 a.m. — Tonight I had the same dream. The light, the altar, the rolled-up paper in my hand. I still have no clue what it means. I need to look this stuff up online, see if I can find anything. Maybe I should’ve stayed at the pub longer tonight for my birthday. Then I might’ve dreamed something more exciting. Or sexy. I’m probably exhausted from the past few weeks finishing up this exhibit. Note to self: Tell Elias to pay me more. - Leo
Elias glanced at Paris, a wary look in his eye. “Okay. He was stressed and having dreams. I don’t think the police can do much with ‘huge room,’ and ‘a big, bright light.’”
Paris rolled his eyes and stepped beside him, turning so he too was facing the paper. Then he pointed to the final date. “Read that one, smartass.”
10/09/15, 3:13 a.m. — Okay, this is getting strange now. Same room, same light, but this time, I recognized the scroll in my hand. It’s the Scriptures of Delphi that I’ve been reading about. Vampires and gods... Hmm, sexy combination. Maybe I just need to get laid by a hot guy so I stop imagining strong, dominant males.
“Look at the date and the time, Elias,” Paris said, pointing to each.
As the pieces of the puzzle Paris was pointing to started to fit together, Elias’s chest tightened. Each date Leo had written down was a Friday. As was the day he had gone missing. Add to that the times he’d been having the dreams.
Elias remembered that the police had said that all the clocks in Leo’s house had been stopped on 4:13 a.m.
His mind raced with the possibilities, both feasible and not so feasible, and his lips moved, but no words came out.
Paris was right. He had found something.
It was time.
It was happening.
And the piece of paper in his hand might be the only link to finding their friend alive.
AS SOON AS he was alone, Leo pressed his hands to the wall surrounding him, frantically running his palms over the supple leather surface. Maybe I missed something, he thought as he searched for a lever or some kind of hidden panel. He needed to get out of there. Now.
Before Alasdair came back to “dispose” of him.
Why the hell is this happening to me? He still didn’t have that answer. One minute, he’d been at work, getting ready to launch the biggest project of his career, and now, there he was, trapped in a warped kind of nightmare, staring at all of his most sinful desires—
Ohno. No, no. He couldn’t, and wouldn’t, fantasize about someone who wanted him dead. No matter how sexy he was.
I need to get out of here. He’s messing with my head.
As he moved his fingers over the curved wall, he shoved the image of the two males aside and instead started to think about his friends. What would they be thinking right now? Elias and Paris?
God only knows.
They’d known him his entire adult life, and he’d never just…disappeared.
If I were in their position, what would I be thinking?
He had no idea. It wouldn’t be anything good though. That was for damn sure.
Resting his forehead against the surface, he cupped the back of his neck, frustrated at his hopeless situation.
It was all so strange. Surreal, even. And none of it made any sense. Then again, his world now involved vampires, so sense seemed to be a pretty big fucking leap of sanity in an otherwise insane reality.
And why is Alasdair hell-bent on thinking I’m hiding things from him?
There wasn’t anything exceptional about him, unless it was his expertise in his chosen occupation they were after.
That has to be it, right?
Both men had spoken Greek, a language he was fluent in due to his upbringing and his studies. And the coins on the wall… Leo assessed the one right in front of him again and ran his finger over it.
Yes, they are definitely from the Archaic period.
For the last two years, he, Elias, and Paris had been working around the clock on their exhibit. What would they want with him in correlation to that? It still didn’t make any sense.
When he came up with nothing, he let out an annoyed sigh. He wasn’t hiding shit, and no matter what he told Alasdair, he wouldn’t believe him.
Hell, at this point, he wished he could think of something convincing to get this over with. But then he’d be dead, and he wasn’t quite ready for that yet.
“See? I knew you’d be a fighter.”
Leo’s spine stiffened at Alasdair’s voice.
“Turn around.”
“Fuck off,” Leo retorted, sick and tired of being toyed with. Having expected harsh retaliation, he was dumbfounded when a deep laugh filled the room.
“Turn around, Leonidas,” Alasdair instructed again, and then, inside his mind, he added, Or would you like me to make you?
Clenching his fists by his sides, Leo reluctantly did as he was told. Alasdair stood before him, his hands behind his back. He was sexy as sin, and the smug expression on his face told Leo that he knew it.
“Have you come to get rid of me?” Leo asked, unable to stop himself. What did he think he was doing, provoking the guy? But there was an anger radiating inside him that hadn’t been there before. It was making him brave.
Stupid, but brave.
Alasdair brought his hands out from behind his back, and Leo immediately stepped away, unsure of his intentions.
“No need to run. I already told you I am not going to kill you…”
As his voice trailed off, Leo could practically hear the word yet begging to be tacked onto the end of that statement.
“Give me your left wrist.”
Leo dropped his gaze to the object Alasdair was holding and shook his head. “You’ve got to be kidding.”