Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Washington, D.C.

She walked up to the door. Dressed in a long tan overcoat with her head hidden by a scarf and her face covered by sunglasses, she thought she was concealed. She knocked on the door then looked around. The movement itself was very suspicious. She was very lucky no one came by at that exact moment.

The door opened and she smiled. She received a loving welcoming smile in return and was ushered into the room very quickly. As she was taking off her protective outer layer, she heard him moving behind her. He was checking his security to make sure no one had breached it.

"Eric, we have to talk," she said.

"I know, Lizzy. I know. It's important that we do this when no one can hear us," Eric replied.

Elizabeth Parsons watched as Speaker of the House Eric Blakemore made sure his room was secure. He had always been a stickler for security but he needed it even more now because of what was going on in the world.

Eric and Elizabeth had met at Harvard. Eric was majoring in law and Elizabeth in accounting. He wasn't like her at all. He was a Normal but he knew what she was. She had showed him in grad school. He seemed to take it all in stride because she rarely used her powers, not that they were that great to begin with. They weren't like Matt's overwhelming power of sunlight. No, hers were mostly geared towards plant life.

When she had gotten asked to become part of the Golden Court she had jumped at the chance. Eric was already Speaker of the House and the youngest at that. He had been happy for her but he asked her to do things that made no sense. He wanted information on the Royals. So she had given it to him. Then he wanted information on the Court members. She had given it to him. There was nothing she wouldn't do for the man.

A few months ago she had heard that some of her people were being hunted. That wasn't unusual until she heard one name. Loren Phillips had been the worst criminal they had had since the King and Queen of both Courts had taken over. He had killed others for no reason at all. He seemed normal but the Healers said he had red eyes. She had put that in her report when she brought it up to her King. He said he'd look into it.

Loren was being hunted by both Courts. It was the Silver Court who had caught him but some innocents had gotten caught in the crossfire. One had been her brother. Matt had been a gentle soul, only using his power for self defense. He had been killed by the brother of the Silver Queen. She had lost her only brother and she wanted to avenge him.

"Eric!" she said forcefully.

He turned around and pulled her into his arms. "I know, sweetheart. I know. We need to go after the ones who killed your brother. But we also need to keep them from taking over the government."

Elizabeth didn't know how many were already in the government. That information was kept by the most powerful one of their kind and that was the Silver Queen. She only shared with the Golden King, her brother, and he kept that information on his person. Aiden and Mikey, though separate, always kept their confidences to each other and their families. Damned be the person who touched their families.

"Eric, they killed my brother. I have to do something about it!" she cried.

He rubbed her back and crooned softly in her ear. "Darling, I've already got people on it. You don't need to get your hands dirty on a small little thing such as this. You need to concentrate on taking over the Courts. Once you do that, you'll be the supreme ruler of them."

She leaned back and looked up at him. "You have no idea how these Courts were formed do you?"

He stepped away from her and went to his chair. "Enlighten me."

"Ten years ago there was one Empire that was rule by an Emperor and Empress. The Emperor was compassionate but the Empress wanted nothing but power. When her youngest grandchildren were born, she found out about a prophecy. Two from the Royal Family would rise up to take over the throne. She ordered her grandchildren to be killed. Seventeen years later, the youngest grandchild was the only one who could take on their grandmother and not get killed. They made a deal then they dueled. The grandchild defeated the Empress and the throne was turned over to what we see today. If I wanted to take over the throne, I'd have to fight the winner of the last duel. I would lose because there's no way I can match up to that kind of power."

Eric mulled this over. "So there's really nothing you could do to get at the throne?" She shook her head. "What if you killed them?"

Elizabeth looked appalled. "How can you say that? No one wants them to be killed. I just want my brother to be avenged."

"The only way to avenge your brother is to kill the ones who killed him. That means you have to chop off the head of the snake." He leaned forward and took her hands in his, running his thumb over the back of them. "Lizzy, this is the only way to protect you and our family. What would Destin say if he saw that his mother was too scared to stand up to the bad guys?"

The thought shook her to her core. Their son, Destin, would look down on her if she didn't stand up to the big, bad monsters. He was just four but he was at the age where he could remember things that happened to him. She didn't want him to see a bitter mother or hear about his father who couldn't help her.

"Elizabeth, you need to tell me who the King is." He said it simply but there was a hint of compulsion behind his voice. There was no way in hell he could be able to do that.

She looked up at him. "I can't tell you. It's ingrained in me to keep his identity secret unless he wants you to know it. You'll have to find someone else to give you that information." Glancing at the clock, she jumped up and donned her scarf and sunglasses again. "I have to go. Destin gets home shortly. I have to be there when he gets there."

Eric kissed her and watched her walk out his door. He waited for a few moments before knocking on the wood of his table. Seconds later Clausen Alexander walked around the corner and leaned against the doorframe. He was wearing an amused expression.

"Have you heard from your sister?" Eric asked.

"She said she'd contact me if she got into any trouble. I don't think she has but I think this guy is giving her the run around," Clausen replied.

"She better get this guy. I can't have anymore hysterical visits from Elizabeth."

"Doesn't she live in California?"

"Yes, but she's one of them. She can walk from here to there using the shadows. It's an interesting trick that I wish I could learn."

"It would be a good one." Clausen watched him move into the kitchen. "What are we going to do about the autopsy? It's going to show those people were strangled before they were burned. The man we framed is going to know it was me who did it. Then they'll come after me."

Eric poured himself a cup of coffee and one for Clausen. Handing it to the other man, he leaned against the counter. "Let them. We can always play self-defense because they were trying to kill you first."

Clausen nodded as he sipped the hot beverage. "Good plan. There's only one flaw. They didn't fight me because I snuck up behind them."

The Speaker was silent as he drank his coffee. "We'll figure it out. Do you by any chance know who this King is?"

"Not even I'm that great of a hacker. These people keep their secrets well hidden. The closest I can get to there being a King or Queen is the logs kept. There are no names, just titles."

"Then we have to act."

"If we do that, they'll go public in an instant."

"They're already public and not in a good way. Let's keep it that way." Eric shoved

off the counter and pointed at his friend. "Find your sister. If she botches this job, I'm sending Boris and Valentino in."

Clausen snorted. "My sister can take care of this guy no problem."

"Let's hope she can."

* * *

New Orleans

Aiden's and Mikey's eyes connected over the table. Mikey had come in because he wanted to be closer to his affiliates when the story hit the next morning. He was lucky he came when he did. They had been right. Elizabeth was tied to Eric Blakemore in more ways than one. She had his son, which meant the little boy had the potential to be one of them.

The only question was why was Blakemore hunting them? There had to be something that happened to him to make him hate their people so much. Something had to happen to Clausen to make him hunt them. It was finding out what had happened that was killing them. Once they found out they'd be in better shape but right now they were sitting ducks.

Tyler swiveled around after he broke the link to the camera in Blakemore's house. He looked at his two friends as they paced opposite ends of the office. They were plotting something together and weren't letting the others in the room in on what was going through their heads.

He watched them closely. Even if he hadn't known them most of his life, he would have been able to tell they were twins. They carried themselves the same way and had the same mannerisms. They both bit their lower lips when they were thinking deeply or nervous. Their hair was the same shade and almost the same length. Mikey's fell to his shoulders because he had just gotten it trimmed.

"I hate to interrupt," he said. They stopped and looked at him. "But what are we going to do about Klark. He's still out in God knows where waiting on us to call him."

Aiden looked at her brother then. "I think we should tell him that Elizabeth has gone to Blakemore and that she has his son. We also need to send him the video feed of Clausen talking to him. It's the only way to get his mate to understand."

Tyler frowned sadly. "It's going to kill her; much like it killed you to find out Brendan didn't want Dylan."

No one said a word as a heart wrenching look stole over the Queen's face. Brendan was Dylan's biological father. He had been a good boyfriend to Aiden but

during one drunken night, they had done something they swore they'd never do until they were married. The end result had been Aiden getting pregnant and Brendan walking away.

It had nearly killed Aiden. There were days when she didn't leave Tyler's studio apartment. Austin, Keldin and Tyler had taken turns watching over her at night so the others could work. Her mother had been the only one in the delivery room when Dylan was born and everyone had pitched in to help bring that boy up. It wasn't until Clint showed up that she started to open herself up more.

Clint got up and quietly made his way to his wife. He wrapped her in his muscular arms and pressed her face into his chest. She inhaled sharply and tried to move in deeper. A satisfied smile replaced the sad one.

"If Klark is falling as hard as you say, he'll be able to save her from herself," Clint said.

Tyler smiled at his friends. "I talked to Cole and Grant. They're ready when you are."

"I say we go a day ahead of schedule. It will throw off anything Blakemore has planned," Mikey said.

"It makes complete sense," Aiden agreed.

"Then let's get going."

Tyler looked at Austin and the younger friend smiled wickedly. Oh, these two were about to have some fun.