N. Walters - Damek's Redemption

“This is all a little too pat for my liking.” Isaiah sat forward and put his elbows on the desk and steepled his fingers together. “I don’t like it. This is a problem that needs to be handled.”

Another shiver raced down her spine and Sonia ceased to breathe. She could almost feel the chill of the Grim Reaper brushing against her neck.

“It is not for you to decide.” Damek stepped behind her, putting his hands on her shoulders. He gave them a gentle squeeze and she looked up at him. As unbelievable as it seemed, he was protecting her from the werewolf.

And what was she to think about that? Did she even want to think about that?

A knock came on the door and a man entered. He was in his early twenties with a friendly face, sandy-brown hair and wire-rimmed glasses. His build was lean, not heavy and, whoever he was, he wasn’t a werewolf, at least not a full-blooded one or a half-breed.

“Hey, Damek.” The younger man greeted the vampire and then nodded at her before turning his attention to Isaiah and Meredith. “You needed me for something.”

“Yes.” It was Damek who answered. “Do you know who The Keepers are?”

“Sure,” he answered. “What do you want to know?”

Damek could feel the tension in Sonia’s shoulders and wanted to reassure her that everything would be fine. At the same time, he was filled with a consuming need to understand exactly how she’d discovered his identity and why. Betrayal still ate at his gut even though he knew the emotion had no bearing on the situation. They weren’t lovers, not really, as an erotic dream didn’t count. They were barely acquaintances, yet the need to keep Sonia with him was overwhelming.

But that couldn’t happen until he found out if she was really a friend or a foe and fixed whatever problems she might have brought with her. No matter, he would protect her from Isaiah’s wrath. She was his problem to deal with.

Craig’s casual assurance that he’d heard of The Keepers startled Damek. “Tell me about them,” he demanded.

“Ah, sure.” Craig sat on the edge of the desk and swung one leg back and forth. “The Keepers have been around for several hundred years. They’re friends to paranormal creatures of all kinds, helping them survive unseen in the modern world.”

Damek frowned. “What exactly do you mean by that and how did you find out about them? And why do you, a human, know about this group when I don’t?” The last annoyed him greatly. He glanced at Isaiah and knew the wolf felt the same way. Information was power and, wherever he lived, Damek had always gathered as much of it as he could.

Craig grinned and shook his head. “I’ve done a lot of research on werewolves in the past year and a half, and the name kept popping up occasionally on the chat sites of the bounty hunters.”

Damek felt Sonia stiffen beneath his hands and gave her a squeeze of reassurance. Tension hummed through her and he wondered what she was thinking. It would be so easy for him to find out. As tempting as it was to burrow into her mind and read it, he resisted. She would fight him and he might accidentally hurt her. He was reluctant to do anything that might harm her unless it was a matter of safety for him and his friends.

“Continue,” he prompted.

“Well,” Craig continued, “you know me, so you know I had to check this group out. They’ve got quite the worldwide setup.”

“How do you know?” Sonia asked, her voice getting sharper with each word. Her skin was pale and cool beneath his touch.

Craig shrugged. “I hacked The Keepers’ various sites.”

“But they’re encoded and password protected,” Sonia insisted.

“Very well too,” Craig continued.

“Obviously not well enough,” she muttered. Damek noted that her growing anger pushed some of her pallor aside.

Isaiah ignored her and turned to Craig. “What do you mean they help paranormal creatures survive?”

Craig removed his glasses and polished a lens before popping them back on. “It’s harder to hide yourself in the modern world. There are taxes and databases, especially when dealing with large sums of money and property.”

Damek knew all about that. “That’s why I have several holding companies and a fleet of lawyers on the payroll. It’s easy enough to circumvent the system once you study it.”

“For you, maybe,” Craig pointed out. “But not everyone adapts as easily or has the money for such things.” He jumped off the desk and walked around to the computer. Isaiah got up so Craig could sit. His fingers flew over the keyboard and within seconds he had a website open on the screen.

Sonia gasped. “This can’t be happening.” Damek noted her face was white and she was chewing on her bottom lip, a sure sign of agitation.

“See.” Craig pointed at the screen. “They offer financial management, lawyers, and even have gardeners, housekeepers and people who will run errands.”

“For a price,” Damek added cynically.

Sonia shot out of her chair, hands on her hips, her entire body quivering with rage. “How dare you judge us, or me? We’ve put ourselves in danger time and again with the vampire, werewolf and witch hunters. What we do isn’t always easy and it costs money. We can’t exactly go public and raise money like a charity. We don’t turn anyone away because they don’t have money.”

“Sit down, Ms. Agostino.” Isaiah stood, arms crossed over his chest, glaring at her, and Sonia took a step back before holding her ground. Pride filled Damek at her show of courage, no matter how misplaced it was.

“I’d rather stand.”

“Agostino?” Craig asked, excitement in his voice. “You’re one of the Agostinos?”

Sonia nodded, lips drawn tight together.

“What’s so important about that?” Damek resented the fact that Craig knew about a part of her life that he didn’t.

Craig pushed back the chair and motioned to Sonia. “Her family founded The Keepers back in the seventeen hundreds and has been helping paranormals of all sorts ever since.”

“Why?” That was the question Damek really needed answered.

She shook her head. “It’s not just my secret to tell.”

“Right now, you don’t have any choice in the matter.” The threat was evident in Isaiah’s voice as he prowled closer. Damek slid in front of Sonia.

“Out of my way, vampire,” Isaiah snapped.

“No. It is enough for us to know she is not working with the hunters.”

“I need answers.” Isaiah’s voice was low and steady, but Damek could easily sense the wolf’s underlying anger and tension.

Sonia stepped up beside Damek and met Isaiah face-on, even though he rose to well above her in height. “I need time. Time to talk to some others before I tell you. We don’t disclose ourselves any easier than you do. It’s only to people we know we can trust. Most of the hunters will kill anyone associated with any paranormal creature.”

Damek could tell that didn’t sit well with Isaiah. It didn’t sit well with him either, but for different reasons. He’d never thought much about the humans who’d worked with him over the centuries, at least not where the hunters were concerned. He could sense her sincerity and knew she was telling the truth. There was more to Sonia than met the eye, and he was determined to discover all her secrets.

“We will leave now.” Damek held out his hand to Sonia and deep satisfaction filled him when she took it.

“Not until I get some answers,” Isaiah insisted.

Damek shook his head. “I helped you when you needed it. Now I’m asking you to let me handle this situation as I see fit.”

Isaiah dragged his hand over the back of his neck. Meredith moved in beside her agitated mate and ran her fingers over his arm to help calm him. Damek hoped she succeeded. He’d hate to start a war with the werewolves if it could be avoided. He’d actually come to like them quite a bit over the past few years, although he would never openly admit it to them.