She shimmied out of the empty window, careful not to break the glass with her torso as she skimmed the sharp, spindly twigs and crouched beside the bushes. As far as she could see, there wasn’t a soul around. The faint glow of the sun in the overcast sky told her it was well past midday, which meant she had a good three hours of daylight to help her find her way out of here.
A thick branch lay broken in half across rows of muddy tractor marks leading out toward a far field. Lily licked her lips, looking across both her shoulders before darting out to grab one of the halves. It was the perfect weight and length to do some damage, not to mention it fit perfectly into the palm of her hand. “Just a little longer than a Japanese Short Stick,” she chuckled to herself, twirling it up and then down in a practiced motion.
“Hey! Hey you! What are you doing there?” A deep voice yelled from the corner edge of the barn.
Lily’s head jerked toward the sound, and she stood motionless for a moment, trying to gauge if the man was a civilian or one of Parr’s men.
He took a step toward Lily, his eyes bulging with fear. “Holy shit! Quinn, get Marcus or for sure we’ll be Parr’s newest lab rats! The girl got out!”
Lily took off running, but it was too late. Damn it. What was she thinking standing there like an idiot? The alarm had been sounded, and it would be only minutes before wolves would be snapping and growling behind her. A lot of good that stick would do her now. She couldn’t outrun the wolves, and she was too outnumbered to fight, but if she could make it to the road, she might stand a chance.
“I’ve got her scent. She’s headed toward the back pasture.” One voice growled.
“Good, keep her moving that way, and I’ll cut her off before she hits the milking shed and road east. If she hit’s that, she’ll be too close to the road and out of range.”
East. The road was east of here. She stopped and squatted beside a broken down tractor, squinting up at the sky to get her bearings. Finding her position, she crouched, running as best she could through a fallow field toward what looked to be a barren orchard. At least the trees would give her some cover. “Thank you, boys,” she muttered to herself.
Whoever they were, it was obvious they had phased to wolf form, but someone must have missed the memo that she could tap into the common Were path.
Jack would be monitoring the telepathic traffic for sure, but he couldn’t monitor everyone, the network was just too far-reaching to block. This time, she didn’t need to work the averages. He’d monitor only those he knew could help her—Sean, Mitch and the other hunters—Rissa, too. Lily smiled coldly. In his arrogance she knew he’d forget one very small, but very important detail. He’d never think to monitor Stephie.
Lily knew exactly how she would reach Sean. Now all she needed was to figure out where she was.
She hopped a low stone fence and headed into the orchard. The spread of trees wasn’t that deep, only ten rows, so her cover wasn’t going to last. She stayed low, running from tree to tree, and only stopping to check her bearings. When she reached the last row, she squatted down again to listen, using both her ears and her mind.
It was too quiet.
Cautious, she opened her senses to scan the area, but got nothing but static, just like she had two months ago, when Sean had first brought her to the Compound. Looks like Jack learned that trick as well from Volkmann’s notes.
Underhanded bastard.
She straightened, but the sound of leaves rustling pulled her attention and she glanced over her shoulder. A squirrel scurried along foraging in the leaves. She smiled at herself for being so jumpy and turned back, only to freeze in mid-motion.
Jack.
He wore his trademark half-smile as he leaned against one of the trees, his foot propped on a broken apple crate. She half expected him to tease her or break into a full on grin at her expense. He looked the same as ever, but the reality was the Jack she loved like a brother, was gone.
Quietly stunned, Lily’s grin faded.
“What, not happy to see me?” he asked, pushing himself away from the tree, but his shift in weight sent his foot crashing through the rotted crate. He lurched forward, swearing and landed on his hands.
The scene unfolded in slow motion, and from the corner of her eye she noticed a stamped logo on the jagged edge of the crate. Bradford Farms Dairy. She finally knew where she was, but she wasn’t going to stick around to verify it.
She took off running, heading out of the trees and down an embankment. One hundred feet ahead, she heard the sound of cars passing on the road. If she could just reach there before Jack caught up to her… He was shouting as he ran, and then there was nothing but the wind and the sound of his growls. He had phased.
Horns blared as Lily skidded into the street, breathless, with Jack on her heels. They swerved to avoid hitting her, but no one stopped, not with a large grey wolf menacing on the grassy shoulder. Jack lunged, sending a blue ford sliding across the wet pavement.
Tires screeched, filling the air with the scent of burning rubber and the sound of metal crashing against a utility pole. A man was thrown from the vehicle, and Lily ran towards the steaming wreck, but Jack’s teeth sunk into her leg and she screamed, hitting the pavement as he dragged her back toward the shoulder. People shouted from the other side of the road, some with cell phones in hand. Whether they were calling the police or filming the horrific seen, she didn’t know. Either way, this place would be crawling with cops or television crews soon enough.
A black SUV skidded to a stop in the middle of the mess. Two men got out and grabbed Lily by her arms, shoving her into the backseat. Pain shot through her leg along with the warm, wet feel of blood slick on her skin. Fast and furious, they climbed in after her and took off, tires squealing on the pavement behind.
Jack howled once, and Lily watched as he raced across the road toward the woods. She turned from the window as the man next to her uncapped a syringe. “For the pain,” he said, and stuck the needle in her thigh before she could protest. “Relax. It’s only Demerol. You’ll feel better in a moment.”
In seconds, she couldn’t focus, and her eyelids were weighted down. Dizziness hit, making the interior of the car swim, and then everything went black.
***
“Welcome back,” Edward’s smooth voice echoed in her ears before she could even open her eyes. Lily struggled to get her lids up, but they were so heavy.
“Give it a moment, my dear. I’m afraid you were given quite a large dose of Demerol. In fact, I had to take measures against my own men for causing you such distress.” He sighed. “However, your constitution reminds me of my own. Sturdy and hard hitting,” he said, with a prophetic undertone.
Lily swallowed, and tried to move. She was lying down on a bed, that much registered, and her leg throbbed as she shifted position, but the pain was dull. She forced her eyes open, blinking to clear her vision. She was in a hospital room of sorts, and Edward sat in a chair to the right of her bed.
“Where am I?”
“You’re in my lab,” he answered matter-of-factly.
“Your lab?”
He nodded, pushing himself up from his chair. “Yes. There is a lot you don’t know about me, but I’d like to share my story with you, if you’re not in too much of a hurry,” he said with a husky chuckle.
Parr walked toward the foot of her bed, then hesitated. “On second thought, why don’t you tell me what you know about yourself, first?”
“Excuse me?”
He gestured with his hand, circling it encouragingly. “I want to know all about you, Lily. This past month has been interesting, to say the least, but this past week has proved most enlightening. I want to know what you know about your family history, where you came from.”
Lily shook her head, perplexed. “Edward, I don’t understand what you’re driving at. I’m a twenty-six year old orphan. Both my parents died in a car crash when I was ten.”
He nodded. “Yes, yes. This I already know. What I’m looki
ng for is the extent of your knowledge regarding your parents.”
Lily looked at him again. What was he driving at? “Edward, my parents? Really? They were just regular people.”
His eyes hardened, and the thin line of his lips made the planes of his cheeks sharp and ugly. Annoyed, he pushed away from her bed, and she watched as he drew a deep breath before turning back around, his practiced veneer back in its place.
He smoothed the front of his navy double-breasted suit, his fingers following the lines of the tone on tone pin-striping. “I’m sorry, my dear. I didn’t mean to confuse or frighten you. Perhaps you don’t know more than what you’ve already told me. Pity, really.”
“Edward, I’m not afraid of you,” she said, fixing him with a cold stare. “I never have been, nor will I ever be. As to being confused, this whole business is what’s confusing.” She gestured toward him and the room.
He smiled at her bravado. “I’ve always admired your fire, and I’m glad to hear you’re not intimidated by me. It makes what I am about to reveal all the easier, and yes, this nasty business is confusing. However, all will be made clear.”
Edward walked to the desk against the far wall and picked up the phone. “Have someone bring in a fresh set of clothes and toiletries. Ms. Saburi is awake.”
“Edward…”
He held up his hand. “You have been severely inconvenienced and abused by my people, all for an end that could have been settled with a simple conversation. The least I can do is try to make you as comfortable as possible. You’re usually such a pretty, little thing,” he said, his eyes sweeping her filthy clothes and hair.
At the look Lily shot him, he chuckled. “That’s not to say, dangerous and clever. It’s just I hate seeing you there bedraggled and dirty. I’ve had my nurses see to your wounds. They have been thoroughly cleaned, and I hope you won’t mind, but I’ve taken the liberty of injecting you with an agent to prevent Jack’s bite from turning you. I do apologize for his rashness, but it was understandable given the circumstances.”
Lily’s eyes widened. She didn’t know which of his words to choke on first.
“Don’t look so shocked, my dear. I have the utmost respect for you. As to the agent in question, well, I’ve my own set of researchers working for me here. Dr. Volkmann is a brilliant man, but he’s not the only game in town—but I’ll stop there as I’m getting ahead of myself.”
There was a knock on the door.
“Ah. Come in,” he said with a magnanimous smile.
A nurse walked in carrying a clean set of clothing and a travel bag. She nodded once to Edward and then put the items on one of the chairs across from the bed.
Edward smiled warmly sweeping his arm toward the door on the adjacent wall. “There’s a full bathroom, complete with shower. It may be hospital grade, but it will do. Please…” he said, offering his hand to help her out of the bed.
Both irked and uneasy, Lily raised one hand. “I appreciate the chivalry Edward, but I’m capable of taking myself to the bathroom.”
He lifted an eyebrow, watching her carefully. “Very well, but I’ll send the nurse back in just in case you need help.”
Edward swept out of the room, and Lily swung her legs over the edge of the bed. “Help me. Yeah right. More likely to avoid my escape.”
She stepped her feet onto the cold linoleum and shivered. At least she wasn’t in one of those stupid hospital gowns. One of her pant legs was gone, and she could see the doctor’s handiwork. “I guess Jack’s bite is as bad as his bark, and he’s going to need one of those teeth when I cut his balls off,” she mumbled to herself, as she examined the wound. The stiches were tiny and precise, but there had to be one hundred of them holding her skin together.
The nurse came in and immediately hooked her arm under Lily’s shoulder to help her to the bathroom. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ll help you as much as I can. I used to work for Dr. V before Mr. Parr blackmailed me into working for him. My son was a vampire junkie, addicted to the rush that comes from them feeding on you. Edward threatened to expose the taboo and have us shunned, if I didn’t leave the Compound and come here.” Her voice barely rose above a whisper.
“Can you reach Sean or Mitch?” Lily asked, her eyes searching the woman’s face.”
She shook her head. “I’m watched too closely. But rest assured, you won’t be given any more drugs. I’ll see to that. I’ve been ordered to give you another dose of Demerol if you don’t cooperate.”
Lily sucked in a breath.
The nurse patted her arm. “Don’t worry. The only thing I’m going to give you is a shot of B12. It’ll help you get your energy back. You’re going to need your wits about you. Trust me.”
Lily threw her arms around the woman’s neck.
“Thank you.”
The nurse put her finger to her lips. “Just pretend to sleep and they’ll leave you alone.” She smiled. “Now let’s get you cleaned up.”
The hot water was delicious, and Lily scrubbed and sudsed, trying to wash away everything that had happened over the last twenty-four hours. She rinsed her hair and her body, stepping out onto the plain cotton mat the nurse had set out for her. The woman had left two white towels on the sink, and Lily quickly dried off, wrapping her body in one towel and her clean hair in the other.
She sat on the closed toilet seat and shut her eyes. Concentrating, she sifted through the familiar traces deep in her psyche, completely skipping the ones that led to Sean, Mitch and Rissa. She ignored Jack’s trace, squelching the urge to send him a mental bitch slap. She went further in, and beneath Rissa’s trace, a faint line glowed at the back of her mind.
She had only used it once or twice while testing Stephanie’s abilities. Her chest filled at the thought of how powerful a psychic the little girl truly was, and how easily she accepted it. She was unafraid, most of the time, anyway.
The day she and Jack had left for New York, Stephanie had tried to tell Sean that something bad was coming. She knew. She had seen it already, and Lily was just as guilty as Sean and Rissa for dismissing her fears out of hand, chalking it up to a bad dream. Certainly something none of them would ever do again.
Lily would bet odds that Stephanie already communicated with her little brother, though he wasn’t due to be born for another couple of months. The best thing Rissa did, though, was keep her daughter’s talent a family secret. Lord knows what Parr would do if he caught wind of it, and what Jack knew of her only scratched the surface. Thank God.
Lily reigned her thoughts back in, and picked up the thread, giving the little girl a little mental tug. “Stephie?”
She could feel the child’s sleep mottled answer. “Lily? Is that you? Are you home?”
Lily smiled. “It’s me, baby. But no, I’m not home…or at least I don’t think so. I’m a little lost, and I need your help to figure out how to get home. You’re the only one who can help me, but you cannot talk to mommy or Mitch about it with your mind. You can tell mommy and Mitch everything I say with your words, but I’m the only one you can talk to with your mind. Do you understand?”
Lily waited, feeling the little girl trying to wrap her head around what she’d just told her.
“Lily, are you in trouble?”
Lily took a deep breath, couching her words very carefully. The last thing she wanted was to scare a four year old. “Yes, sweetheart. I am. Uncle Sean can’t find me with his mind, and whenever I try to reach him, I get a bad pain in my head. You’re the only one I can talk to without feeling hurt. I need for you to wake up mommy and Mitch, and then we’re going to play telephone? Okay?”
“Okay. I like that game. We play it in school sometimes. I’ll be right back.”
Lily’s shoulders slumped in relief. Mitch knew Maine like the back of his hand. From the outskirts of Bradford Dairy they would be able to track her scent, and Rissa would make sure Stephie kept the trace open between them. Now all she had to do was wait and stay alive. She looked up at the ceiling, praying silen
tly Sean did the same.
Chapter Eighteen
Dressed, Lily brushed her hair out, letting it hang loose across her shoulders and back. After having it in a braid for so long, the idea of pulling it tight again made her head throb even more than her possible concussion. She opened the bathroom door, only to find Parr sitting in the chair near the bed opposite her.
“You look refreshed, and I’m glad to see the clothing suits you,” he said with an appreciative gaze.
“Jeans and a tee shirt, how can you go wrong with that?” Lily answered with a shrug. She still couldn’t get a handle on his generous benefactor bit. What was he after, besides Sean’s status?
“Please, have a seat. I would very much like to continue our conversation.” He got up and moved two chairs toward a window that overlooked the woods.
Outdoor flood lights illuminated the area, and Parr pulled up the blinds, giving Lily a full view of the barbed wire fence surrounding the perimeter of wherever they were. Passive aggressive. The man dripped with courtesy, yet showed her the fence in case she got any bright ideas.
Lily sat down, careful not to jar her leg. “So what is it you wanted to tell me, Edward?”
He cleared his throat at her direct stare. “Did you know I was originally from California?”
“No, really? That’s gnarly dude,” she said, mimicking a surfer’s accent.
He smirked. “Yes, I was born into a very secretive cougar community in the Sierra Nevada’s. My pride didn’t believe in mixing with the outside world. It was detrimental to our growth in many ways, I’m sure you can imagine, but mostly it hindered our gene pool.” He watched her closely.
“And?”
He chuckled. “Forgive me, if I watch you for signs of revulsion. It’s very important to me that I make you understand.”
Okay, Twilight Zone anyone? Flabbergasted, Lily just shrugged.
He cleared his throat again. “What I am about to say next is not something I’m proud of, it’s just what we did to survive.” He paused, watching her face again before continuing. “We had hunting parties, but we didn’t hunt for food. We hunted for mates.”
The Cursed by Blood Saga Page 44