Chapter 6 - The Chase
Xavier was up early so he could make himself as desirable as possible to Luci. He showered, trimmed his facial hair, and wore black slacks with a dark red shirt. It was only six in the morning, so he was going to walk down to her condo from his hotel.
As he walked, he was smiling to himself. Xavier was determined he could convince Luci to give him a chance. On the way, he stopped at a bakery and bought different types of danishes to take to her.
He took a deep breath and went toward Luci's building, hoping he could get her to open the door. As he approached, a housekeeper was also entering; Xavier held the door open for her. He noticed she had pushed button four when they got on the elevator.
"Excuse me. Are you going to Luci's?" Xavier asked politely, thinking he might be able to surprise her when she opened the door for the housekeeper.
"Yes, sir. Lady Lucinda left town last night. She told me to clean and lock everything up because she wouldn't be back for a long time."
Xavier felt his excitement slowly dissipating. If she left, that meant she was running from him. There was no other reason for her to go so suddenly. He felt completely lost now that Luci had slipped through his fingers.
On the other hand, he thought that maybe he had started getting under her skin, so she had run rather than face him. Xavier became thoughtful as he let the housekeep off the elevator. He handed her the danishes, which she profusely thanked him for, and then he returned downstairs.
As he walked back to the hotel, he decided that she had just upped the stakes. Xavier wasn't giving up; it was just going to take a little longer than he had planned.
He pulled out his phone and group texted everyone he had used to find her the first time. Xavier told them he would pay whoever found her the quickest double their average price. He knew that would make them all work extremely fast.
Once inside the hotel, he packed his belongings, hopeful they would have something for him soon. Xavier didn't care how far he had to go. He was determined to find her. Even if she officially rejected him, he wanted to get her to at least give him a chance.
As much as Luci tried to act like she was happy with her lifestyle, Xavier believed something from her past was driving her actions. If he could get her to have an actual conversation with him, he knew they might be able to come to an understanding.
He wouldn't force her to do anything she didn't want. He planned to show her what it was like to have a mate. One that would actually care for her in a way none of those other men would.
He was startled when his phone suddenly buzzed. Xavier smiled when he saw the text. One of his contacts had found that she had bought a plane ticket to New York. They didn't have an address for her there yet, but they knew she went to New York.
Xavier sent the man the money he owed him, tripling the amount he requested. He then drove to the airport and returned his rental car. After boarding his private plane, Xavier went over what he would say to Luci when he found her in New York. He didn't want her to think he was coming on too strong, but he wasn't willing to let her go without a fight.
Luci walked into her Manhattan apartment and smiled. Now that there was some distance between her and Xavier, she felt like she could breathe a little easier. She ignored the weird ache she felt in the pit of her stomach.
She walked over to the large wall of windows and opened the drapes. Her apartment had a breathtaking view of the city. Luci decided the first thing to do would be to find what party she could attend that night. She sent out a text to some people she knew and waited for their response.
It had been a while since she'd been in New York, and she had no real friends there, but she had her ways of getting into places without an invite. Luci looked around her apartment, which was similar to the decor of her San Diego home.
It had a mix of white and pastel furniture. The floors were pale grey tile. As vibrant and over the top as Luci liked to dress, she preferred to be surrounded by light soothing colors. It was calming for her when everything else seemed a little crazy.
Luci got an alert that there was an exclusive party in a club nearby. She decided she would go to try to shake off the sadness that wouldn't go away. She took a shower to wash off the plane before lying down to nap. She wanted to be well-rested for the party.
When Luci woke up a few hours later, she went to the secret refrigerator she had her housekeeper stock before she came into town. It had been a couple of days since she had blood, so she felt a little weak.
Luci put on a dark green strapless cocktail dress with matching heels. She preferred strapless because it gave the men easy access to her breasts without removing her dress. She pulled her hair up into a French twist before giving herself one last look in the mirror.
There was a car waiting for her when she got downstairs. They pulled up to her destination, and she got out. Luci had a strange feeling when she was about to go inside. Something was telling her she should leave. She shook it off as jetlag.
Once inside, she looked around and saw humans, vampires, and shifters. Luci didn't care what they were as long as someone made her forget everything for a few minutes. She walked around cautiously as she still had a feeling she shouldn't be there.
All hell broke loose right when she finally decided to leave. There was gunfire all around her, which wouldn't hurt her but would hurt some of the others in the room. Luci looked around, trying to figure out what was happening when she heard yelling, and a bunch of men dressed all in black came from all sides.
She tried to see what species they were, but she couldn't pick up a scent or anything on them. That told her they weren't human because humans don't know how to hide their scent. One of the men walked to the middle of the room.
"If you're anything other than a human, follow my men outside. Humans stay here, and we'll be out of here in a few minutes." Fear ran down Luci's spine when she heard the voice of the man in charge. She knew him; he was a friend of her father's.
She decided the best way for her to survive would be to pretend to be human and hope they didn't see her. Luci crouched down and hid next to a couple of scared women. She closed her eyes, hoping no one would notice her.
She kept her face covered when she heard the men walking around. As she waited, Luci heard someone walking near the center of the room again.
"Burn the place to the ground and make sure there are no survivors." The man in charge said, just a few feet from her, but she didn't move even though she was terrified. She had to get out of there. She may be able to survive gunshots, but fire would kill her.
When she smelled the gasoline being poured, she took a chance and looked up. The humans in the room were all crying and begging for their lives. Luci wished she could save them all, but if she made too big of a scene, they would all die for sure. She was going to try and help the two women next to her, though.
Luci got the two women's attention and put her finger over her lips for them to be quiet. They looked at her in confusion but nodded. Only a few men were in the room as they continued dousing the place with gasoline. She saw a door a few feet behind her and pointed to it. Both women nodded excitedly.
The trio slowly crept to the door while staying low. Luci tried the handle when they reached the door, but it was locked. She tightened her grip around it and broke the handle off. With all the people crying and screaming, no one heard anything. Luci opened the door slightly and saw an alley. She pulled the two women out the door, and they all began running.
As they approached the main street, Luci looked around the corner and saw the men loading the shifters and vampires into trucks. She kept the women behind her as she watched. They heard an explosion from inside the building and people screaming. Luci knew it wouldn't be much longer before the police and fire department showed up. She decided it was time for her to get out of there.
"Ladies, you stay here and hide. The police should be here in a few minutes. Whatever you do, don't come out." Luci spoke firmly.
"What are you going to do?" One woman asked between her sobs.
"I'm going to disappear." The other woman grabbed her arm before she could take off.
"You saved our lives. Why are you leaving?"
"I don't want to speak to the police. Please just stay here, and you'll be alright." The women nodded. Luci started walking casually from the alley, going in the opposite direction of the men. She felt a sense of relief as she got to the next block until she heard someone yell.
"Who's that? Go get her now." Luci didn't need to look back to know they were talking about her. She took off running. With her vampire speed, she was as fast as lightning, even in heels. When she reached the next alley, she leaped onto the roof of the building and began jumping over the rooftops.
Luci usually didn't take advantage of being a vampire and preferred to live as much like a human as possible. However, right now, she would use every vampire benefit she had.
She didn't hear anyone behind her, and when she got close to her building, she looked around but didn't see anyone. Luci jumped down to her balcony and went inside her apartment, where she sat down and cried.
She thought she would have been better off staying in San Diego. At least Xavier didn't want to kill her. After she had calmed down a little, she stood up and started heading to her bedroom. She froze when she heard a knock on the door.
Luci debated whether to open it when the knocking became more persistent. She figured it would be better to open it than to let the person beat it down. She got in a position to flee if needed as she slowly opened the door. When she saw who was behind it, her eyes widened in surprise.
"Hello, Luci."