Could her soul be growing darker? Was the evil inside her corroding her innocence like acid? How long could she survive like that—would she even be strong enough? It was a fear I’d been too afraid to voice for months, and now had no choice but to face head on.
Chapter Fifteen
Voices and the sounds of fighting came from the hallway, but I didn’t bother to open my eyes. It was either my mind or the vampires playing tricks on me. I’d learned weeks ago that psychological torture was a favorite of theirs.
“Lucy! Please, if you can hear me say something,” the muffled voice called. “I can feel you, I know you’re close.” I opened my eyes this time and looked toward the door. No light came through it, and though I could hear the sound of scuffling feet and a few grunts, I didn’t reply. My balloon of hope popped, and I had nothing left to fill it up. The door squeaked, and a beam of light spread across the floor toward me. I squinted, suddenly desperate to see who it was.
“Lucy? Is that you?” I looked up. Max was running toward me. “Oh thank Heaven.” He reached me, and yanked at my wrist restraints to no avail. “If you can hear me, I’ve got her!” he called into his bracelet. “Let’s get you down from there.”
“Max?” I moaned. “Is that really you?” I didn’t need to ask the question, I could feel within me that it was him. My soul practically buzzed with satisfaction of having him near me once more.
“Yes, it is. Relax. I’ve got you now. I’m going to have to cut these restraints, so it may hurt a bit.” He gently placed his fingers around my arm to hold it steady. At his touch my skin sizzled, like static electricity and we both audibly sighed. Nothing in the world could have made me feel better after weeks of torture than his simple touch. I could see it in his face too, and I wanted nothing more than to kiss him and hold him next to me. His other hand cupped my face, and I leaned into it, drowning in the waves of emotions riding through my body.
After a few seconds, he took his hand away and attempted to conjure up a tool to cut the restraints, but nothing came out. He tried again, but still nothing worked.
“They cut my bracelet, and I think they’re using it to block the signal. I couldn’t get through to you.” I was grateful to have him close to me once more, but feared this was a dream, so I leaned in and let my cheek rub against the rough surface of his shoulder as he worked on freeing me from the restraints.
“It’s okay, love. I’ll figure out a way.” He wiped my sweat-soaked hair away from my face and kissed my forehead. “The most important thing is getting you out of here. Then we’ll worry about the rest.”
Tears of pain and relief fell down my face. “I’m so sorry I ran off like that. It was so stupid of me. This is all my fault.”
“No, no. Shhh. It’ll be okay. Just as soon as I get us out of here.” Again Max pulled on the chains, but they were reinforced and even his extra strength couldn’t budge them. “What the hell are these made out of?” he wondered aloud.
“It’s not the material, it’s our powers. They are somehow blocking our ability to use our bracelets or communicate with anyone. I think it’s affecting our strength too. They’ve been taking my blood, and they took my bracelet. That’s why I haven’t been able to contact any of you.”
“How is that possible? How could they have learned how to remove the bracelet? It’s fused to our skin!”
“I’m pretty sure they’ve had help,” I replied morosely.
“The spy?” Max asked, already knowing the answer. His fists balled and the corner of his eye pulsed with seething anger. “Well, it doesn’t matter. James and the others know that I went searching for you tonight. We’d split up, but they know my location. If they don’t hear from me, they’ll—”
Max was cut off when a sudden noise caught our attention. Footsteps ran down the hallway. My breath caught in my throat, and I was sure that any moment they would burst in the door. Max tensed next to me, drawing the one weapon he physically kept on him and he didn’t have to conjure: a pure silver serrated hunting knife.
“That was close. Too close,” Max said, relaxing a bit. “I hid the bodies I’d already knocked out, but they’ll be discovered soon enough. We need to get you out of here. We may not be as lucky the next time around.”
“How are you going to free me? We can’t break the restraints.”
“Lucy, we’re going to have to take a different approach, and I’m sorry about that. But with our limited time, I don’t see another option. This is going to hurt, baby.” He kissed me gently on the lips, allowing his hand to move toward the restraint. I knew he was trying to distract me, and I tensed at the fear of what was about to happen. “I’m so sorry. I’m going to have to break your wrists. I wish there was another way, but we need to get out of here, fast.”
Max pulled himself closer to me and I rested my head on his chest, taking long, slow breaths in and out and prepared for the worst. I clenched my eyes shut as Max’s hand surrounded mine, knowing the pain was imminent.
“Do you want me to count? Would that make it better or worse?” he asked.
“I think—AHHH! Son of a bitch!!” Max immediately covered my mouth with his hand, so I lowered my voice and spoke through his fingers. “I thought you were going to wait for me to decide.” I clutched my now broken wrist to my chest as my vision refocused after seeing white. The pain was horrendous, but I knew it was necessary and that I would heal. I dreaded having to go through it a second time, certain I would pass out from the pain.
Max moved his mouth closer to my ear, whispering, “I know, I had to do it that way though. It would be worse if you anticipated it. It’s almost over; we’re almost home free.”
“I wouldn’t count on that if I were you,” a voice broke in behind us.
Max whirled around, growling threateningly while he backed into me and crouched in a protective stance. His knife was already in his hand. “Leave now if you don’t want to die.”
“It’s not going to be me who’s dying,” the man came closer, and I could see it was Alastair, the vampire who’d been bringing the newborn vamps to feed on me for the last few weeks. He was dressed now in a tailored tuxedo, complete with top hat, tails, and a cane.
“Max, please be careful,” I whispered in his ear. “He’s really dangerous.”
“Yes, Max. Listen to your girlfriend there. You don’t want to make this situation worse than it already is.” Alastair flicked on the lights, revealing dozens of vampires who’d come out of secret doors and surrounded us.
I whimpered, struggling with my last restraint. I knew Max wouldn’t leave me, so I needed to get free so we had a chance of escaping together. I’d happily break my own wrist if it meant protecting him from the same fate I’d endured as a prisoner here.
“Let him go. You still have me. You can kill me. It’s what you want, isn’t it?” I begged. I knew it wasn’t true, but I needed to stall for as long as possible. The longer we kept them at bay, the more hope we had of the others coming to find Max.
“No, deary. You were simply an appetizer. Max here will make a delicious main course, being that he’s been a Patronus for over two hundred years.” Alastair sucked in a breath though his teeth. “Oh, I can almost imagine how powerful that blood must be.”
Alastair turned and faced me, but didn’t take a step. Max grabbed my waist, silently letting me know he wouldn’t let that happen.
“You’re going to let her go, or I’m going to kill you slowly and painfully,” Max threatened. “I’m going to kill you either way, but you choose how much you want to suffer.”
Alastair laughed heartily, bending at the waist. “It amuses me so how you think you have any way out of this.” He threw up his hands and spun in a circle. “Look around! How exactly do you think you’re going to escape? There’s nothing you can do, and nowhere you can go that you won’t have dozens of vampires at the ready. And—struggle as you may, dear—you’re still incapacitated. It’s over. We’ve won.”
“Never!” Max yelled. “The
rest of the team is on their way, and it won’t matter how many you have. We will take you all down.”
Alastair tapped his cane on the ground three times in rapid succession, and a dozen more vampires showed up at the door. He turned to Max once more, a deadly look in his eyes. “See, friend. We’ve been planning for this for months. We knew you’d come for her, so we dangled her like bait. She was never our prize. You were. As a matter of fact, we’d already negotiated a price for her with the head of the werewolves. Apparently, they didn’t take kindly to your attacks in the recent months and have been looking to extract a little revenge for a few of their packmates.”
Max’s nostrils flared and he squeezed my leg. “You didn’t count on one thing.”
“Oh yeah, what’s that?” The smug fool stepped even closer to Max, twirling his cane like a baton.
“This.” Max thrust the knife into Alastair’s side, immediately turning his body and plunging it into the second closest vampire before either of them even saw him coming.
Chapter Sixteen
“Lucy, now. Break free now!” Max screamed, pulling a grenade out of his pocket.
I knew from experience it was full of shredded silver pieces and would not kill the vampires, but the impact would reach the entire room and allow us a few moments to run. I yanked on my arm, screaming out in pain. My shoulder dislocated, but my wrist wouldn’t break on its own. “I can’t do it, Max. I can’t break it myself. I need your help.”
Max pulled the pin and tossed it high into the air. It detonated immediately, sending a rainstorm silver dust and debris over every surface of the room, covering everything like a sparkling dust layered thick. I ducked as much as I could to avoid getting any in my eyes or up my nose. I could hear hissing and screaming all around me as the vampires wiped it away. Little did they know that it would only make it worse, smearing and burning more of their skin that way.
Max was next to me in a heartbeat. He didn’t even pause before reaching up to my restrained arm with both of his. He cupped my hand, squeezing it like a vice as he pulled down simultaneously. My screams were muffled as his pressed a hot kiss into me. The sultry feel of his lips against me mixed with the terrible pain pulled every emotion inside me in a different direction, and my knees went weak. It was exactly the distraction I needed, and I returned the kiss in earnest, but only for a moment. We didn’t have long before either the effects of the silver wore off or more vampires turned up to capture us.
Max scooped me up and we took off. I was too weak to walk from the weeks of torture. As much as I wanted to close my eyes and get lost in his embrace, I needed to stay vigilant for more threats.
“Do you know of any other exits?” he asked as he ran down an empty corridor.
“No, I never left that room. And I was passed out when they brought me in. Can’t we go out the way you came in?”
“No. It was too heavily guarded. I only got in because they were distracted watching True Blood. Now, there’s no chance of sneaking out that way.” He turned another corner and ran up a flight of stairs. Footsteps came toward us, and we ducked into a storage closet until they went by.
“Where exactly are we anyway? The last thing I remember is being near the water behind Café du Monde.” We searched the small room for an exit, or a window—some means of escape.
“We’re in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city. It was flooded during Katrina and no one rebuilt. James and I were patrolling, checking in with some psychic sources, when I spotted two vampires coming out of a bar. They each headed opposite directions, so James followed one and I followed the other. Mine led me directly here, but as soon as I entered the building and attempted to ping my location to the group, my bracelet went on the fritz.”
“All of our powers are useless here. It’s like they put up a giant firewall and our systems are blocked out entirely. We need to get out of this building. I think once we clear the radius we should be able to call for backup.”
We ducked back out of the closet and hooked a left. Every window and door we found was completely sealed shut with welded-on sheet metal. I started to worry that the only means of escape was that front door, and if that were true we would never get away.
“We’re going to have to try the front door. I don’t think there’s another way,” Max admitted. He squeezed me tight, and set me on my feet. “How are you? Do you think you’d be able to run if you had to? I might be able to fend them off until you can escape and call for backup.”
“I can barely walk, but if it means saving our lives I’ll run like hell.” I nodded my head confidently and stood up straight, trying to muster any energy I had left.
“That’s my girl,” Max exclaimed, scooping me up again. “But I don’t need to you use any extra energy until it’s absolutely necessary.”
As we turned the final corner, I could see light pouring out of the doorway. I was so happy that freedom was a mere ten feet away that I didn’t notice the footsteps behind me. My hair caught in something and my head yanked back. I screamed out in pain, knowing at least one large clump came out by the root. Max stopped immediately, looking around for any threat.
“Uh, uh, uh. Going somewhere? And without saying goodbye to your host? Tsk, tsk. So rude!” Alastair grasped my hair roughly, leaving Max no choice but to put me down so I wouldn’t be yanked to the floor. “Seize them!”
Before I could scream for Max, a group tackled him to the ground. I wanted run to his aid, but Alastair still had a hold of me. He grabbed my still healing broken wrist and twisted it behind my back, causing white hot pain to course through my body like fire, and I passed out.
Chapter Seventeen
I drifted back to consciousness but kept my eyes closed. I could feel that I was now restrained around my waist instead of my arms, which was a great relief to my broken wrists and dehydrated body that didn’t want to support its own weight. I could also feel that Max was still here with me, and I silently sighed in relief. Keeping vigilant for the sound of footsteps or voices, I only heard hard breathing coming from behind me.
“That was a very nasty trick,” Alastair hissed, though I had no idea who or what he was talking about.
“You let me out of these, and I’ll really show you how nasty I can be,” Max growled.
My eyes flew open and I swiveled my head to see what was going on behind me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Alastair hovering over Max, who was tied up to what looked like an operating table. He was restrained at his head, hands, waist, and feet—so I knew he wouldn’t be escaping this time. I stifled my whimper at the hopelessness of our situation.
“Here’s what we’re going to do, Mr. Kensington. First, we’re going to remove that bracelet and deposit it far outside the city, so your team won’t come anywhere near this place. Then, we’re going to make you watch as the werewolves come in and tear your little girlfriend here limb from limb. I want you to have that image seeped into your brain, so when we bleed you dry—slowly and painfully—you will remember who your betters are and who you need to respect around here.”
Max roared at Alastair’s threat, thrashing around until the table flipped over. Two of his restraints broke free, and it took six vampires to right him again. But he was determined, and I knew he wouldn’t give up that easily. I took the opportunity to try to wiggle out of mine, but it was suctioned on tighter than pleather skinny jeans after a night of clubbing. No amount of wiggling was getting them off.
Max broke one more of the restraints by holding down a vampire and using the vampire’s razor sharp teeth against him before smashing his head into the table. He was about to break the last restraint—one tied to his left ankle—when Alastair came up to me. He swiped his hand over the lock mechanism, allowing my waist restraint to pop open before dragged me next to him. His sharp, pointed fingers clawed at my throat, leaving five little gashes that trickled with blood.
“Enough!” Alastair cried, stilling Max and the vampire he was currently fighting. “
I’m going to make you an offer, Mr. Kensington. One I will only make once, so pay attention. This girl here is no longer of much use to us. We’ve drained her for our purposes already. But I can see that she means a great deal to you. So, I’ll tell you what. You stop fighting and come willingly, and I’ll set her free. I’ll tell the werewolves she escaped. My sources can snatch another Patronus to fill their needs if necessary. But you, oh we’ll be keeping you around. All that old, strong, rich Patronus blood is exactly what we need. Hers is much too weak anyway. So agree to come quietly, and the girl goes free.”
Max’s eyes met mine, and I knew he was going to take the deal. He would serve himself to the vampires if it meant keeping me away from them. He would sacrifice himself in a heartbeat if it meant keeping me safe.
“No! Don’t do it, Max. They’re bluffing.” I held perfectly still and willed him to see the truth of my words. “They’ll kill me anyway. You can’t do this.” My gaze found his. His eyes told me that his mind was made up. I could see the love and determination in them. Tears streamed down my face.
“You release her first, and then I’ll agree. But I have to see that she’s safely away from here before anything else.”
“No, please, don’t,” I whimpered. “It’s a trap. Please see that. I need you.”
“I will need a show of good faith first.” Alastair released the hold on my neck and replaced it with strong arms around my waist. “Let us remove your bracelet, and then we will let the girl go.”
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