“You always were a little bitch,” my brother snarled. “Which was why it was so easy to put the company up as collateral. I almost wish I’d stuck around to watch you scramble to save that worthless relic.”
“What happened to Dad?” I asked, sick to my stomach at what I was about to hear. But I had to know. I had to know what Brandon had done.
“Dad? Dad did what he always did: he came to talk some sense into me. I told him I didn’t need his bullshit motivational speeches. I needed cash. He didn’t get it.” Brandon went silent for a minute. “He never got it.”
“How did he die? Who was in that car with him?” My nerves were at the boiling point, but I swore I’d at least hear the truth before I died. Because there was no doubt that was where I was headed.
“He went quick, if that’s any consolation. The other body?” Brandon took a noisy slurp, the sound at total odds with our morbid discussion, not that Brandon would recognize that, the heartless bastard. “Just some druggie off the street. The Elder has a way… It’s fantastic. He pulled all the blood out, then put some of mine into the corpse. It worked—they ID’d the body as me, and of course Dad was in the car, which sealed the deal.”
My stomach was churning. Poor Dad.
“When did the Elder get involved?” I studiously kept myself from imagining Dad’s final moments, the disappointment he must have felt. How afraid he must have been. I’d hated my brother for years, but that hate was a pale imitation of what I felt for him now.
“Don’t know how he found me, but he did,” Brandon said, then took another loud drink. “He proposed a deal. I sink the company into enough debt to send you to that vampire who helped start the distillery.” Beside me, I felt the bastard shrug. “It was easy enough. A few weeks of steady gambling, and a loan shark who’d accept the company as collateral. Bada-bing, bada- boom, the company is sinking fast, and you’ll do anything to save it.”
His face got really close to mine. “Face it, Selena, you’re predictable as hell.”
Without thinking, I head-butted him, the crack as our skulls connected echoing through my head. “I hope you’re bleeding. I hope that hurt like a fucking bitch,” I snarled through the hood. “But most of all, I hope you get what’s undoubtedly coming to you.”
“If you mean the millions I’ll collect when I deliver you, then yes, I’ll get what I deserve.”
His words were muffled enough that I thought I might have broken his nose.
“One thing’s for sure, I don’t know what the Elder wants you for, but I’d sure rather be me than you right now.”
The rest of the interminable ride was spent in silence, thank God, since I thought I might throw myself from the car if my brother kept running his mouth. When the vehicle slowed, and gravel crunched beneath the tires, Brandon muttered, “Finally.”
From a safe distance.
I’d put my shield up the second the hood went over my head. It was safe to assume our driver wasn’t human, and now that we’d arrived, vampires would be waiting. Maybe even the Elder.
“I’d say good luck, but where you’re going, you’ll need more than that.” Brandon’s voice was venomous as the door opened and I was bathed in cold air. “See you around, sis. Or not.”
28
I’d been gone for less than an hour.
As I quickly scrolled through the camera footage, I kept reminding myself of that.
She couldn’t have gone far.
Except I reached out through our bond and didn’t feel a thing.
I switched to the line of cameras I’d installed on the main road, as a precaution should anyone decide to do something this stupid. I watched the Rover roll silently down the driveway, then the headlights come on as she turned over the engine. The angle was enough that I also saw Selena’s face light up in satisfaction as she drove toward the distillery. Probably thrilled she escaped unnoticed.
Within seconds, I materialized in the basement. Her office was empty, the lights off.
No sign of Holloway, either.
I flew from one location to the other—the aging barns, the malting building, back to the main building—before I started losing my shit. There was no sign of her at work, but there was a bakery we’d stopped at, and I remembered how she’d swooned over the donuts.
I materialized in the parking lot, my heart loosening as I saw the Range Rover parked out front. A steady stream of customers went in and out, and I stepped inside, scanning the small interior. No sign of her, not so much as a hair. Thoroughly frustrated, I stepped up to the counter.
“Where is the woman who drives that?” I impatiently hitched my thumb at the Rover.
The girl’s face brightened. “Oh, good, you finally came to get the truck. It’s been there since I opened.” She bent over and began digging beneath the register. “Here you go.”
The keys to the Rover landed on the glass-covered menu, and I stared at them blankly for a second before my brain caught up. “Why do you have the keys?”
“Like I said, they were on the ground when I got here, lying right in front of the truck. Thanks for coming to get them.” She tilted her head, then asked, “Would you like to place an order?”
I whirled away and drove toward home.
Someone had taken Selena. And I knew exactly who.
When they yanked the hood off, my brother was nowhere in sight.
The Elder was even uglier in the bright light of day, his skin so thin that I could see the blue veining beneath, even from here. His ubiquitous bodyguards loomed behind him like twin bookends, and there was nothing but farmland as far as I could see. Somewhere close to route seventy-six, since we’d been driving fast, until we’d gotten off the highway moments ago.
Somewhere Forge would never find me, I thought, my heart sinking.
I’d evidently hurt myself as badly as I’d hurt Brandon, because I felt the knot growing on my forehead, even as the Elder’s gaze strayed to it and he frowned. “Who injured the human? I gave strict orders—not a hair on her head was to be harmed.”
Well, that was good to know. At least he wasn’t planning on killing me outright.
“She did it to herself,” Brandon insisted as he oozed up to join us. “She’s always been a mean, stubborn little bitch.” I noted the look of distaste on the guards’ faces. As well as the Elder’s. Someone doesn’t like you very much, Brandon.
“So you say,” the Elder commented drily, motioning a guard closer. The huge vampire bent down as the Elder whispered something, then stepped back at attention. “Nevertheless, she will remain untouched.”
“Well, I was right, wasn’t I?” Brandon called out as the Elder did the weird gliding thing straight toward me. “I told you she’d do anything to save that company, and she did.”
The old vampire drew closer as Brandon watched on in fascination. Hands held me in position as he closed in, every inch of me shrinking away. Up close…well, I just wish I didn’t have to see what he looked like up close and personal. He was horrendous—I could see rot growing just below the surface of his face, the blue veins seemed to actually wiggle and his eyes were milky in the sunlight, one of them almost white.
“You eluded Dobson,” he said. “Where is he now?”
Not about to give this asshole anything, I clamped my mouth shut. Predictably, the squirmy sensation creeped through my skull as I put every ounce of effort into propping up my shields. After a minute, he gave up, leaving me nauseated and sweaty.
“He’s dead,” the Elder said, satisfaction in his voice. “I don’t need to read your thoughts to know.”
We engaged in a short, pointless staring contest until I decided I didn’t want to look into his gross eyes anymore.
“You will be taken back to Scotland, where you will perform the same task you did for Forge. Except”—his gaze turned keen—“this time, there will a high cost for failure, as well as for any small betrayals. You may believe yourself free, but that would be a mistake. You answer to me from now on, and me alo
ne. Consider me your…keeper.” A flash of pointed yellow teeth was the closest he got to humor.
“Why me?” I asked, genuinely curious. “How did you know to target me?”
“You are the first female born in the Langston family in centuries. Ambrose Langston had a touch of Fae, but as a female…” His veined hands clenched at his sides. “It was logical you’d possess the full ability, as it’s passed to descendants through the blood, and only to females.”
Well, at least I finally had an explanation for my gift. Such that it was.
“Did Forge happen to mention to you how he and your ancestor met?”
When I didn’t deign to answer, he went on, a hint of his strange accent creeping into the words.
“He killed one of us, to protect that human.” The Elder’s face tightened. “My predecessor, if it can be believed. A human killing an Elder. The clan could not believe it happened, and for that alone, we should have hunted him down and killed him. But instead…Mara became fascinated with the human. Once she’d turned him, he became one of us, and was expected to forget about his human life. And his human friends.” The Elder said the word friend as if it were poison on his tongue. Suddenly, I understood just how lonely Bastian had been all these years, surrounded by nothing but poisonous snakes.
Strangely enough, Mara’s name didn’t bring on the surge of jealousy it had before, as if somehow I’d made my peace with her and Forge’s past.
“What do you want from me?” I asked.
“You are going to make me the most powerful vampire in the world, not just of the Highland clans. You’ve only touched the surface of your ability—once you are properly motivated, I intend to use you as a weapon against my enemies.”
“Huh. Good luck with that.” I snorted, twisting my hands against the restraints. “I’ll never do anything for you, much less help you take over the world.” Seriously, why couldn’t people just be happy with what they had? Besides, this guy was a physical wreck—good luck ruling the world while you fell apart.
He went on as if I hadn’t spoken. “You will uncover any plots against me, ferret out my opponents’ weaknesses and determine whom I can trust. If you are correct in your predictions, you will continue to live. If you fail me…”
“Once again, I’ll never do anything for you, least of all help you get more power.”
“Brave words, human. Brave words.”
There was a scrambling sound, and one of the bookend bodyguards dragged Emerson Holloway in front of me, his hands bound, just like mine, his hair askew, his glasses gone. If there was one thing Emerson hated, it was when he lost his glasses.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
I nodded, looking him over for any apparent injuries. Aside from his rumpled appearance, he seemed unharmed. But I had to admit, the Elder certainly knew how to choose the right leverage, as the bodyguard’s fangs extended and he bent Emerson sideways to expose his throat.
I only lasted a second before I stopped this madness.
“Fine,” I spat. “I’ll do what you want. Just don’t hurt him.”
Gratitude shone in Emerson’s eyes as the bodyguard relaxed his grip and set him back on his feet effortlessly, as if he were a child. “I’m sorry, Selena,” Emerson said quietly, as if he had anything to apologize for. “I tried, but I couldn’t outrun them.”
If we weren’t facing down death, I would have laughed at the mental picture of Holloway trying to outrun vampires, but as it was, there was nothing funny about this. I was going to have to comply with this asshole Elder’s demands, at least until Forge found me, which was the hope I was hanging on to right now.
“Set him free, and I’ll go with you,” I said, keeping my eye on Emerson, who was looking paler by the minute. “It’s not like you don’t know where he’s going to be. If you’re going to use him as leverage, he’s no good to you dead.”
Not the best argument, but all I wanted right now was to keep my old friend alive. Maybe he could tell Forge what happened. What my asshole brother had done, yet again.
“Very well,” the Elder agreed. “Wipe his mind. I don’t want to leave a trail for Forge.”
I watched helplessly as the bodyguard did some voodoo bullshit and Emerson’s face smoothed out, his eyes going blank. So much for that plan.
29
I’d spent hours going over the footage frame by frame, looking for any small clue that would help me track Selena. While I knew who’d taken her, I didn’t know where, though my plane was already waiting on the tarmac, with a flight plan filed for Scotland.
Cursing my limited abilities—if only I could materialize directly to Scotland—I shut down the computer, grabbed a coat and re-emerged at the airport. With luck, the pilot could cut an hour off the travel time, but the Elder would have a head start.
As I boarded the plane, I reached out once more to Selena: Stay calm, remember your training and, for the love of God, don’t do anything stupid.
I was smiling when I boarded, only because if she had heard me, she’d be fuming over that last bit.
Finally, after my usual take-off panic attack, they’d untied my hands, though it took hours before I could hold a glass of water without dropping it. For some unfathomable reason, Brandon was accompanying us, but I had the feeling that it wasn’t for the reasons he thought. I figured the Elder viewed him more like a loose end than a valuable member of the team. But I couldn’t waste my time on Brandon, not when there were so many other things to worry about.
Like whether or not Emerson still had his faculties.
If Forge had figured out where I was.
How I’d get out of this mess.
All these problems intertwined in my head until I thought I’d go mad. The only bright side was that the Elder, and his henchmen, left me alone. I guessed there wasn’t anywhere for me to go at forty thousand feet. For the time being, I was stuck obsessing.
I spent some time poking around in the bodyguard’s heads, but as expected, they knew nothing. They operated under a do-as-I’m-told directive, and other than a few worthless tidbits—one of them was very, very hungry—I got nothing. As for the Elder, we went back and forth the entire flight, studiously ignoring each other, while trying to break through each other’s shields.
Good news: he wasn’t successful.
Bad news: neither was I.
We landed in Scotland in the middle of the night, and as we disembarked the Elder’s plane—a rattling, antiquated dinosaur compared to Forge’s—I wanted to kiss the ground.
I didn’t know where we were—some outpost of human civilization, from the looks of it—but at least I was back on terra firma, and alive.
“Scotland.” Brandon sidled up beside me as if we were now besties. “Can you believe it, Selena? I never thought I’d get here, even though Dad told us a thousand times he’d take us.” He’d been drinking steadily on the plane, and from his numerous disappearances to the bathroom, I assumed he’d been snorting, injecting or smoking as well.
I walked in silence toward the waiting car, the bodyguards an ominous wall behind me, herding me onward. Brandon didn’t shut up, and I prayed he wouldn’t be riding with me to wherever we were going.
Unfortunately, that was one prayer God didn’t answer.
Selena was in the wind by the time my plane landed in Edinburgh, but it was a small matter to get myself to the outskirts of Falkirk. The Elder wasn’t here, but someone else was.
“Awrite—you in there?” I called, while I rapped on the derelict cottage’s door. Little more than a potting shed, there was a tendril of peat smoke coming from the chimney, so I knew the bastard was here.
“Fuck off.”
At least he’d answered in English, so he knew it was me.
“Open the door, Cade. I need your help.”
I heard him coming, heavy, resentful footsteps before the door was thrown open and he filled up the opening. “I must not have heard you right. It sounded like you need my help.”
True, I’d arranged our blood match, knowing the Elder would choose Cade as his champion.
Also true: if he helped me, I’d sworn to never involve him in my bullshit again. Too bad I was here less than a week later, breaking that promise.
“Damn it, Cade, let me in.”
He leaned against the doorjamb, blocking my way. “Not too good at keeping promises, are you, mate?”
“The bastard took Selena. All I need is a location.” I knew the Elder holed up somewhere between Callander and Strathyre. But right now, I didn’t have time to search every bloody loch and valley in the Highlands.
Cade narrowed his eyes, deciding, I supposed, if that was a good enough reason to help me.
“You’re going after the Elder by yourself?”
“I can handle him.” Of that I was sure. Depending how many were with him…that might be another matter. “Just tell me where he is, and I’ll leave you be.”
Cade disappeared, then came back, slipping his coat on in the process. “Never hurts to have a bit of help,” he said coolly, locking the door behind him as if anyone would be interested in breaking in. “Ever heard of Castle Runacraig?” When I shook my head, he grinned. “Follow along, then, laddie, and learn from the best.”
His words hung on the air as we materialized, reappearing in a forest. Through the trees there were spotlights shining, and the faint scent of fire in the air.
We crept through the underbrush until the castle came into view. It jutted from the granite as if it were part of the mountain, one lone, scraggly tree on the east side, and a sheer drop-off on the north and west. The only approach was to the south, where a row of cars were parked haphazardly. A few guards milled around, one sitting on the car hood, smoking.
“They’ll let me pass,” Cade assured me softly. “Once I’m inside, I’ll see if your human is still alive.”
I hesitated. Cade and I were not friends. Instead, we used each other when we had to, in order to survive. I didn’t exactly trust the sullen bastard, but he’d never crossed me before. I hoped he wouldn’t this time.
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