“And how do you do that?” Max flexed and unflexed his fingers, a silent threat that he was not about to let his guard down yet.
“You’ll see.” An evil grin spread across Alastair’s face, but Max ignored it.
Max hesitated. I could see him calculating the odds in his head. He needed the benefits to outweigh the risks. I held my breath waiting for his response. “Agreed. But I swear, if you hurt her in any way, I will have no mercy.”
Alastair whistled, and two vampires from the back of the room stepped forward. Max kept his hands fisted as they neared, but didn’t flinch. “Take a seat, Max. This will only hurt for a minute.”
I wanted to plead with Max, to kick and scream until he realized this was all a trap—a game in which we were the prizes. But his love for me prevented him from seeing reason. He would do whatever he saw necessary to keep me safe. But what he failed to realize was that sacrificing himself was sacrificing me too, because there was no way I could survive without him. He meant everything to me, and without him my world was empty and flat.
Max turned to me, and in that one look I saw a lifetime of love. But it wouldn’t be enough. I couldn’t survive with only that, I needed more. I needed all of him. “Always and forever, Lucy,” Max whispered as the vampires flanked his sides.
“I will come back for you. I will not stop until I do,” I promised. “And they will all die for doing this to us. I swear it.”
“Ugh, I can’t take any more. Finish this already.” Alastair tightened his grip on my waist as one of the vampires held Max down by the shoulders and the other leaned in close to his head. The vampire closest to him took a deep breath, and then leaned into Max’s face. He suctioned his mouth to Max’s, like he was doing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and then blew, filling Max’s chest. A high-pitched hiss was emitted, like air releasing from the pinched end of a balloon.
I winced, covering my ears. Max’s chest arched up off the table, but his head remained down. His muscles went ridged as he inverted. His eyes bulged and his skin grew sallow.
“Max! Oh my God. Please, stop,” I begged. “What are you doing to him?” I pushed forward, trying desperately to get to reach Max. I needed to save him from whatever they were doing. My heart could feel him leaving me, becoming emptier by the second. It was like scooping out the insides of a pumpkin. Every second this lasted was another spoonful being scraped out.
“It will only last a minute, deary. Don’t worry. He’ll be fine…for now.”
I mustered any energy left in my weary body. If I could do anything to help him, now was when I needed my Patronus body to show me what it was capable of. My anger fueled and filled me until I tingled. My muscles coiled, ready to spring into action. Before Alastair could notice that my body language changed, I pounced.
I tossed my elbow directly into his nose, quickly followed up with a hard jab to the throat, causing him to choke and take a step backward. I dropped down, extending my leg to sweep his. He dropped to the floor, where I rammed my heel into his kidneys—repeatedly.
Finally freed, I rushed over to Max’s side, but the other vampires had already shrunk back into the shadows. His eyes were closed and his body slumped over. I placed two fingers on his neck to feel for a pulse, but didn’t find one. “Please, stay with me, Max. Don’t leave me. Do you hear me? I refuse to allow you to leave me.” I shook his shoulders vigorously, but stopped when his head bobbed around limply. I closed my eyes, refusing to believe what was in front of me.
“Don’t fret, dear Lucy,” Alastair’s voice teased behind me.
I could hear from his labored breathing that I’d hurt him, and it brought a sweet satisfaction. I wanted to hurt him again. I wanted to continue to kick his ribs and kidneys until he begged for mercy. I wanted to claw his eyes out and punch every one of his teeth and fangs out of his mouth. A longing rose deep in my gut as the object of my hate fueled my vicious thoughts. As he walked over to me I dropped my hips and my hands fisted, ready to attack.
“Though I should bleed you dry myself for that little stunt, I am nothing if not a man of my word. I will let you go, Lucy, as I said I would.” He took another step forward, but not toward me. Instead, he walked around to the other side of Max.
“You’re not a man. You’re an animal. A parasite. A soulless wretch sprung from the darkest depths of hell.” He leaned over to touch Max’s face, but I shoved his hand away so hard he stumbled backward. “Don’t you dare touch him.”
“You really are a naïve little twit, aren’t you? Do you really think that if I wanted to, I couldn’t tear that impassioned heart right out of your chest?”
“You wouldn’t be able to once I reach over and tear your arms off right from their sockets,” I growled, wiggling my fingers impatiently for him to make the first move.
He didn’t reply, instead he rolled his eyes. He stretched out his long hand, exposing his wrist from his long sleeved robe. He held it to his mouth and sliced a single, fine line across it. His eyes never left mine—I’m sure he thought I would do something to hurt him again. He nodded almost imperceptivity. Six vampires surrounded me, not attacking, but not allowing me to reach Max either. I could still see him, and when Alastair held his bleeding wrist to Max’s mouth, he allowed a single drop to touch Max’s lips and slide inside.
I held my breath, unsure what was happening and afraid of every possibility. For a few tense moments, no one moved. All eyes were on Max, who lay lifeless on that table. Alastair glanced at his watch. The ticks became louder and louder, filling my head until I could hear nothing else. Then, without a word, Alastair clenched his fist and pounded on Max’s chest once.
Max’s eyes shot open as he inhaled a deep breath and sat up. I choked out a cry of relief—until I took a close look at him. His eyes were pure black, and two pointed fangs elongated from his mouth.
Chapter Eighteen
I covered my mouth to try to stifle my cry, but couldn’t prevent the tears that flowed. “What have you done?” I whispered, too afraid to raise my voice any higher. I wanted to run to him, to have him tell me this was all some mistake, but the huge knot at the pit of my stomach told me otherwise.
I pivoted to stare directly at Alastair. “What did you do?” I repeated, shoving my finger in his face.
Alastair ignored me, instead reaching to Max’s left hand. He grabbed his bracelet and—much to my surprise—slid it easily off of his wrist. He spun the gold bracelet around his finger like a hula hoop, a smirk appearing on the side of his mouth. “The bracelets won’t come off while you’re a Patronus, no matter what we tried. So, we have to make sure you’re not a Patronus anymore. They deactivate and shut down instantly, and we can slide them right off.”
He stopped spinning the bracelet and handed it to another vampire. “Be sure that this is at least fifty miles away from here. Not that we’ll be using this place for much longer, but better to be safe.”
I blinked a few times, trying to wrap my head around what has happening. “But…how…I don’t have a bracelet anymore.”
“That’s correct.”
“But I’m not a vampire!”
Alastair winked at me and chuckled. “Not anymore.”
“Wh—what?” My mouth suddenly went dry, and my thick tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth. I looked between him and Max, who was now idly scraping his tongue across the pointed tip of his incisor and paying no attention to me whatsoever. “How?”
“This isn’t the end of an episode of Scooby Doo. I’m not giving away all my secrets yet.” He snapped his fingers twice. “Xavier, take the girl and get rid of her somewhere while we close down. Leo and Kent, you two escort our new friend here to the new headquarters.” Alastair turned back to me, folding his hands and smiling. “It was a true pleasure, dear. I look forward to seeing you again. I have no doubts when we do, it will be…memorable. Ciao, bella.”
Before I could argue or say another word, a gag was shoved in my mouth and a black hood was tossed on my head and tied tight, s
o I couldn’t see and could barely breathe. The sound of tape being stretched out was immediately followed by my hands and feet being bound, and then I was picked up—fireman style—and carried away.
I kicked repeatedly, trying to get the big brut to drop me, but he grunted and smacked my bottom. He placed me into the trunk of a car—it must have been, based on how cramped I was lying down—and we drove for what seemed like hours. I paid attention to turns and listened for something that would help me retrace my steps (water, trains, construction), but I couldn’t make out anything over the rap music they blasted through the speakers.
We rolled to a stop. I could hear the crunch of gravel below the tires and car doors slamming shut. The trunk opened and I was yanked out and shoved to the rough ground. I scrambled to my bare feet, ready to take on anything that came at me. Having not been drained in so long, my body healed from a lot of my previous injuries and I felt stronger. I used this to my advantage and fought, but being tied up, blindfolded, and gagged made it hard to even find a target.
I never got the chance. Before I could even lunge forward, squealing tires pelted me with small rocks and dust.
They were gone, and I was alone.
*****
I tilted my head toward the sky and felt the sun on my face. I needed to follow it, knowing that it would lead me in a straight direction. I prayed I was headed toward something and not straight into an alligator-filled swamp. I wasn’t sure if alligators could see me through the thick veil that separated Patronus from humans, but I didn’t want to risk the chance. I’d stumbled several times on rocks and divots in the ground, but didn’t stop. I’d tried unsuccessfully to feel around on my hands and knees for something to cut the ties on my hands so I could take off the hood, but nothing was sharp enough to cut the thick tape.
The sound of a car’s engine revved and squealing tires came closer to me. I knew the car couldn’t hit me, but it was hard not to jump out of the way when I heard it coming closer and closer. I stood rigid and braced for the car to rush through me, knowing I wouldn’t feel anything more than a gentle breeze. But the car stopped.
“Lucy? Is that you, sweetie?” Cassie’s syrupy Southern drawl was music to my ears. Her accent was usually very light, except for when she was nervous or stressed, so I knew she was upset.
The gag still in my mouth prevented me from yelling “Yes!”, so I jumped up and down frantically. Several sets of arms fell on me, hugging, pulling at my ties, and tearing the duct tape away. When the last bit of wrist bindings finally broke free, I wrapped my hands around Cassie, clinging to her. I buried my still hooded face into her hair and breathed in the familiar and safe scent. I held back tears. I couldn’t afford to sob, afraid I’d choke.
“Lucy, I need you to let go for one second so I can take this hood off. Can you do that?” Adam’s low voice whispered in my ear as he placed a protective hand on my back. I didn’t want to leave the safety of my best friend; I wanted to cry on her shoulder and tell her what happened to Max, but I knew I couldn’t do that with the gag still in. I nodded and pushed myself away from Cassie as Adam cut the binding and lifted the hood. I squinted against the brightness, but I could still make out the audible gasps that came from Cassie and the low rumble of “shit” from James. I knew I must look bad if James was cursing.
As my eyes adjusted, I could see the vein in Adam’s neck was bulging. His hands clenched and unclenched, but only for a second as he gently cut the leather from the gag.
I wiped my tongue around my mouth and swallowed a few times before speaking. “Thank you.”
Adam didn’t change his posture, but simply nodded once. Then, he turned around and heaved the gag several hundred yards while yelling expletives. Cassie hurried back to my side and checked me over for injuries.
The silence surrounded us for a few moments after that, but James finally broke it. “Max?” he asked. A lump formed in my throat and I couldn’t form words. I didn’t need any. James nodded, then ushered us back toward an awaiting SUV. “Let’s get you back and we can talk about everything later.”
I had so many questions, but was suddenly too exhausted to ask any of them. The driver of the SUV was the same woman that Sadie Ann stopped to talk to the night I’d been captured. She watched me from the rear view mirror, and when I caught her eye, she winked. “It will be a long road, dear. But you’re strong enough. I can see it.”
I didn’t respond. Instead I closed my eyes and leaned my head on Cassie’s shoulder. She scooped up my hand and intertwined our fingers, squeezing gently. I had no idea how I was going to begin to tell them what happened, but I knew I needed to. They were my only hope of getting Max back.
Chapter Nineteen
The trip back to our realm was quick, but then again, I was too numb to feel much of anything. James insisted I get checked out thoroughly by the medical team as soon as we got back, and I was poked, prodded, and swabbed from head to toe. They raked through my hair and scraped under my fingernails. I’m pretty sure they were looking for evidence rather than injuries, but I was okay with that. I hoped they found something that could lead us back to Max and Jessica’s souls.
When they were done, they told me I could head back to my room. Cassie was waiting right outside and walked with me. She informed me that I’d been missing for over a month, and after they physically forced Max to leave New Orleans and come back home to regroup, he had torn our Dwelling to shreds in frustration. He eventually had to be sedated, and then he hid in our dark room for days, refusing to see anyone. I bit my lip to keep from screaming when I found out what he’d gone through. Guilt poured through me, knowing it was my fault.
As soon as I entered the bedroom that Max and I shared, the clean, spicy scent of him invaded my nose. I saw the dried daisies that he’d picked for me on our first “real date.” I lost it. I couldn’t stay here. I couldn’t be here, knowing it was my fault that everything had happened. He’d been battling vampires and werewolves for almost 200 years, but as soon as he met me, I practically paved the path for the vampires to head straight for him. And his love and concern for me had caused him to be tricked. He never would have fallen for their plan if I hadn’t been in danger. Or around at all.
“C’mon, you’re staying with me. Adam can stay here or on our couch. It’s you and me tonight, girly.” I couldn’t talk, so I nodded and grabbed Max’s pillow and some pajamas before turning away. “You sure you want his pillow?” When I looked at her, she just nodded her head. I needed something of Max with me.
“Darlin’, you’ve got the best piece of him right there.” She pointed to my heart. “And that’s not going anywhere. Now let’s go paint our fingers and toes. Yours are a fright!”
I choked out a laugh and wrapped my arm around her waist. “How did I get so lucky with a best friend like you?”
Cassie winked at me. “I know, right?! The fates must’ve been smilin’ on you that day.”
“Can you go get Frenchie from Amelia too? I want her with me.”
“Absolutely.”
About an hour later, Cassie painted my toes and Lola painted my fingers while they chatted away about mundane stuff. I knew they were trying to keep me busy so I couldn’t dwell on what happened, and I was grateful. I knew if there was even a minute of silence, I would break down again. They talked about everything, just to keep talking. Everything except New Orleans and Max. Cassie told me about a time when Adam fell asleep on their “movie night” date, so she made him regret it. She took every alarm in the house and set them to go off at the same time, then turned their volume up to maximum and put them all right next to his head. When they all went off at the same time, he jumped four feet in the air, startled out of his wits. I chuckled at the story, but it was forced. I knew they were trying to help pass the time until I was debriefed, but all I wanted to do was curl in a ball and wrap up in Max’s pillow.
“So, uh, Lucy, while you were…gone, I was the next to have my new power manifest,” Cassie told me. I could see that
she was nervous about upsetting me, but I perked up.
“Cassie, that’s fantastic. What was it? I want to hear everything.” Anything to keep my mind off of the collection of rocks forming in the pit of my stomach.
“Well, it’s not as cool as yours, but I think it’s perfect.” Her eyes wouldn’t meet mine, and I shifted wondering what she was hiding from me.
“What’s your power?” I asked her again.
“I can sense when vampires are in close proximity to us. Within a few miles, give or take. When one gets close enough, my skin starts to tingle in a painful way, like pinpricks. I swear the first time it happened I thought I was going crazy. I kept swatting at my skin like mosquitoes were biting me.”
“Your power hurts you?” I lowered my gaze and shoved my hands inside my pockets. I got a power of protection and she got one that was painful.
“It did at first, but once I got used to it, I looked forward to feeling it because I knew that it meant finding you.”
“It’s her Spidey-sense!” Lola piped up. “Except for vamps. So it’s her Vampy-sense!”
We giggled at the picture of Cassie as Spiderman for a minute, but then Cassie became serious. She turned to face me and looked me in the eye. “I first felt it when we were walking in New Orleans. I didn’t know what it was, and that’s why Adam and I went off by ourselves to talk. We were trying to figure out why I was feeling all the pin pricks. I wish I realized what it was before you were taken. I feel really guilty about that. But, it helped me save you. I was able to lead James to where the vampires dropped you off. And I’d gladly feel a thousand more pin pricks if it means getting Max back too.”
There was a quick rapping at the door, and we all stopped and looked up. Frenchie sat up next to me, growling. She was such a good guard dog. “Hey, am I interrupting anything?” James peeked his head inside, and after getting the all clear from Cassie, he stepped through the doorway and leaned against the wall. “How are you doing, Luce? Are you up to talking about what happened yet?”
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