While she ordered sandwiches and fresh coffee, Andros thought hard, worked a few things out, concentrating on her. What did she want? To prove her superiority. To taunt him, no doubt.
So he’d take the high road. Submission or gentle, sensuous seduction wouldn’t work with her. Unless he tried the submissive, then switched before she realized what he was up to. He’d had orgasms, she hadn’t and that might take her by surprise. She’d try to fool him. And right now, he was a cripple, so he couldn’t move, couldn’t hold her down. But if he made her come, that would weaken her, maybe take all her Talent away and then he had a chance.
He felt sick. He so didn’t want to do this. He wanted Faye, didn’t want anyone else. He wasn’t even sure she’d understand.
But he began his campaign. “Do you have any sexual experience at all?”
“A little. I can stop. Most people can, they just have to put their minds to it, that’s all.” Her carefully lipsticked mouth quirked. Serena’s appearance was immaculate, her crisp cotton top just the right shade of light green to complement the darker color of her perfectly cut pants. She wore small, gold earrings, gleaming in the subdued light in the room when she turned her head. Nothing of the flyaway about Serena. He reflected on the glorious lights in Faye’s hair, even better when mussed than when she’d just brushed it and parts flew into the air, drawn by static electricity.
Perfect. She liked perfection. Another clue. “What don’t you like about sex?”
“The messiness. I can’t understand how people would voluntarily get into that state. Yes, I’ve seen porn films. I watched them to test myself.”
He was right. She was curious but arrogant about her ability to control her urges. “Do any of the kinks appeal to you?”
“No.” Something flickered across her mind. Score. She had to feel strongly to let even that touch escape her. He took care to hide the fact that he’d noticed.
Oh, but something interested her about the porn she’d watched. Maybe being the only female in a group of males, having them all worship her. Or sex in the bath, one of his personal favorites. Exhibitionism, maybe. She’d hate to be a sub to a Dom. Andros could perhaps simulate the relationship in some way. It wasn’t one of his things, but he understood that a sub was given permission by her Master to fly free, to own the relationship. He’d bet his last keyboard Serena didn’t understand that. So he began to talk to her. “I’m only talking now. When I touch you, the challenge will begin, but I need that food to keep up my strength. You want to give me a fair match, don’t you?”
She nodded. “The food will arrive in about twenty minutes. You can take your next dose of pills, then we can get down to business. You will not win, Andros. Understand that.”
He did. He doubted he could win, but he couldn’t see any other chance. He didn’t know how long he’d been unconscious or where he was. He could be on the other side of the country, in which case tracking him wouldn’t be a possibility, since GPS tracking devices wouldn’t work.
He leaned back against his pillows. “Even in my condition I’ve had some sexual experiences in the past. Some girls like a helpless male. I’ve been known to exaggerate a little if it gets me laid. Whatever you have, you use.”
“Charming.”
“I’ve never coerced a woman, never done anything except give her what she wanted.” Before Faye, he’d enjoyed variety. Sex seemed to make anything better. And since he had a reduced lifespan anyway, he’d taken some risks maybe he shouldn’t have. He wanted to give her a bit of flesh, but removing his clothes would declare the contest on. Then, he had no doubt, she’d destroy him. She meant only to play with him, and if he got close, she’d crush him, destroy parts of his mind as she’d said she would. Once, when he’d been testing a security camera in an iso room, he’d seen Chase Maynord dissect a man’s mind, slice through the layers. Chase knew he was watching, but continued with his ruthless examination of the man who had murdered teenagers because he thought them beneath his notice.
Andros tried not to shudder. Afterward, he’d heard Chase vomiting in the nearest men’s room. Serena would have loved it. “You’ve never experienced intimacy of any kind? No cuddling or caressing?”
“What’s the point? Isn’t the whole idea of recreational sex to have an orgasm?”
He gave a superior smile. “Not at all. It’s the intimacy too. For mortals who don’t know how to use their telepathy, it’s the closest they can get to merging with another person. For Talents, it’s a way to merge, blend minds and combine that with physical closeness. It’s also a lot of fun. Some people use it politically.”
She raised a brow. “Tell me more.”
Shit, she really had submerged everything about that part of her nature. A vulnerability for sure. Exhilaration filled him. “You can use it. Use the seductive side to get what you want.” From her appearance alone he’d guess she’d never tried that. Immaculate but soulless, almost sexless in a way. “Dress seductively, in low-cut gowns in sensuous fabric. Let a man touch, then move away. Tease. Can’t you sense when a man is hot for you?”
“I guess. I never used it. My psi is exceptionally strong in most areas so I’ve never needed to exploit it.” She leaned forward slightly. “But it could be useful.”
He felt it now, a slow burn deep inside her. He needed to stoke that. “You can use it right up to the point of orgasm if you’re careful. Let a man undress you, touch your breasts.” Oh yes, was that a peaked nipple he saw under the crisp cotton blouse? “Let him kiss them, kiss you. Open your mouth for the kiss. I can teach you that, if you like.”
“Why would you do such a thing?”
That answer was easy. “To stay alive. To alleviate boredom.” He was reading her as closely as he dared now, which wasn’t much. But enough to trace faint changes in mood. She coolly crossed one leg over the other, the rasp of her hosiery the only sound in the silence. A defensive gesture, which meant she felt the need to put up shields. He wouldn’t press the kissing, not yet. The longer he took, the better for him.
“Tell me about seduction.”
Where was all this going? Maybe she was bored, like him, or maybe she really wanted to know. Or maybe she had time to kill too. They were obviously waiting for something. A signal, a phone call. Something.
“You hold someone, then you move away. You let them touch you, then you move away. Kiss him, but don’t let him too close. Let him cop a feel. By then, you’ll have him.”
“Astute. I’ve done that, you know.”
“But not with your heart. Only your mind. Men can tell. You have to let a little of yourself out.”
She frowned, the small furrow between her brows somehow not sitting right on her face. He so rarely saw any expression on her. A sign that he was getting somewhere, at least he hoped so. “I don’t see why.”
“Come here and I’ll demonstrate.” When she glared at him, he laughed. “Or I’ll come to you. But you’ll have to give me my crutches back.”
“You think I’m insane?”
He spread his hands wide and shrugged. “What can I say? Of course you’re not and you can control me with a thought.”
“That’s why you haven’t tried to escape yet?” She still sounded reasonable.
He gave a harsh laugh. “I haven’t tried to escape because I can’t walk. Or rather, I couldn’t get very far. I don’t know where I am, and if I try to escape, you’ll kill me, or at the least knock me unconscious. I’ve been around Sorcerers long enough to know that.” He hoped she heard the undertones. That he knew when he was beaten. “All I can hope for right now is to be useful to you. As soon as you hand me over to the labs, I’m dead. Or worse.”
“They’re interested in you. You have a high tolerance for pain.”
He grimaced. “I’ve had to develop a few techniques, but I don’t know if my tolerance is higher than anyone else’s.”
“That’s what they want to find out.” She uncrossed and recrossed her legs, reminiscent of Sharon Stone’s gesture i
n Basic Instinct but without the aura of sexual power. But there was no doubt she was emulating Stone’s deliberate movement. Interesting. Because it was the first time he’d seen her fail at something, and the first time he’d sensed any vulnerability.
He gave the response he thought she wanted. “You look extremely sexy like that.”
She lifted her hand to her tight chignon and released the style. She must have taken out fifteen pins before it tumbled to her shoulders.
Andros opened his mouth a little and widened his eyes, adding a tinge of desire to his outer thoughts. Then he let it increase. He cleared his throat. “You don’t need much teaching.” And caught his breath, wondering if she’d take the bait.
Her slow blink told him he’d pleased her. She’d swallowed it all. Oookay. “You just need to loosen up a little. You’re incredibly attractive. Buy some silk instead of cotton, make the wool softer, draping around your figure.” Her figure was more or less perfect, but it didn’t even begin to stir him the way Faye’s soft curves did.
Ah, that did it. He felt desire stir in his mind, the thoughts of Faye’s body, balanced above his, then spread below his, did everything this woman’s didn’t. Because Faye was alive, didn’t hide behind a barrier of her own making.
“You should let me kiss you.” She wanted him to keep talking, so he would. “Lick your lips. Yes, really. That’s right.” He let approval warm his words when she did so, hesitantly. “That makes them look fuller, more luscious. More kissable.” He lingered on the last word. “But kisses are just the start. You can do everything except penetrative sex.”
“I can do anything except come,” she corrected him.
He widened his eyes. “So virgin doesn’t mean virgin?”
“It does if we wish to retain all our powers.”
His stomach rumbled audibly. “Sorry.”
She checked her watch. “The sandwiches should be here soon.”
“So full sex is out. That leaves kissing, caressing and a little oral, is that right?”
She swallowed, nodded. “I guess so.” Another touch of uncertainty. But Andros didn’t fool himself. She could still wipe him out with a thought. Fuck, who was he kidding? He could be anywhere, the chip in his body was experimental and he was in the power of a Sorcerer who could kill him with a thought. But still, he had to try. Had to.
Anything else was unthinkable.
He’d gotten her to undo the top two buttons on her blouse by the time the knock came on the door. He felt her extend her mind because she didn’t bother to hide it. “Stay right there,” she said with a smile that was more like a sneer. He’d fired her ego into overdrive, made her feel so superior she was ready to take chances. At least he had to hope so.
She opened the door to the waiter and Andros realized he couldn’t move.
Dear God, she’d trapped him inside his own body. His heart beat, he breathed, he could blink, but he couldn’t move anything apart from that. Not a fucking thing. Fear rose, morphed into terror and he gasped for breath, caught in the early stages of a panic attack. The slow decline from walking to crutches to wheelchair was nothing compared to this. Had she fed him more drugs, different drugs? No, but that she could restrain him like this, with a thought, terrified him.
Then he saw the waitress, her dark hair sleeked back into a ponytail, her nondescript black skirt and white blouse sliding over her curves. She didn’t look his way. She didn’t have to.
She glanced up, dark eyes glinting. “Do you want your coffee on the table?”
“No, leave everything on the cart.” Serena crossed the room and picked up her purse. She opened it, glanced down.
Daria straightened. “Stay.” She didn’t even raise her voice. Serena didn’t move.
Daria glanced at Andros. “Are you okay?”
No, he wanted to scream, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t use his telepathy. Nothing. Locked inside himself, completely, unable to communicate. This was unimaginable. He tried to break free, but nothing worked.
“I see.” Daria called out, “You can come in now. She can’t move.”
He hadn’t expected to see the vampire he’d met at the university, especially not in fairly ordinary clothes and his hair tucked behind his ears. “It’ll be dark in an hour. I’ll move him then.” Sergiu glanced at Andros. “You okay?”
He could get tired of that particular combination of words real quick. Not that he could do anything about it.
“I can drive her back,” Daria said, “except that we have a problem. She’s frozen Andros. I need to free her so she can release Andros, but I don’t want to do it here. I can’t take her by surprise twice.”
“Oh shit,” said Sergiu. “Can’t you do it?”
Daria shook her head. “I don’t know. Not here, anyway. It would take too much time.” She stared at Serena, still frozen in the act of getting a tip from her purse. Daria bit her lip. “I’ll get her in the car and drive her back.”
“Will you be okay?”
“Sure.” Daria’s assurance amazed Andros. He’d assumed this initiative on Serena would take hours if not days, and he’d begun to look at it as a delaying tactic, knowing he’d fail. Now a new terror gripped him. If Serena died, would he be stuck this way forever? He forced himself to breathe deeply, sucking in great drafts of air.
Daria sounded in control. “In an hour, at sundown, flash him back to STORM and make him as comfortable as you can. We won’t be long.”
She turned to face Andros, spoke to him very clearly. “Serena has locked you down. Everything. I can almost see the shield around you. I should be able to free you, but I can’t guarantee I can do everything right. It’s risky. She knows that. It’s like finding a computer password when you’re not sure about the possible booby traps waiting for you afterward.”
Oh great. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know that. A computer could be triggered to release a series of viruses if the wrong password was entered that would destroy everything inside before anyone could get to it, or recover it. So Serena could destroy him from the inside. “You’re in Paterson, New Jersey. It’ll take me a couple of hours to get back to STORM. I’m driving, you’re going with the vampire.” She smiled as if she could read the question that rose to his mind. “No, I can’t read you, she’s blocked everything, but I’d be asking that question if I were you. I’m driving because it makes me sick to flash. And because I prefer it. I’ll be perfectly safe with Serena. She can only move when I allow it. And she can’t get to you. Not until I allow that either.”
Well, that answered that.
Chapter Eleven
Faye sat by his bed, waiting, holding his hand. Serena had left him with only the motor, automatic reflexes. He could breathe, he could blink, he could swallow. He couldn’t move, walk, talk, chew or communicate. She sat next to the bed where they’d made such joyous love. That in itself hurt.
The vampire had flashed Andros in just after sundown. They hadn’t been too far away. Serena had got him out of the vicinity and was planning to move him on, probably meant to seal him off like this all along.
When Faye met Andros’ eyes, she saw nothing. Blank. But he could see her, hear her. Harry had told her, relaying the information from Daria. She also knew that mindless chatter was the last thing he needed right now. So she held his hand and waited. Waited for Daria to deal with Serena, praying Serena didn’t die in the process.
“I love you, you know.” This wasn’t mindless chatter. And if he could hear, maybe he’d know she spoke the truth. “I started on that first night. I felt like shit leaving you in that hotel room. I felt even worse when Ann made me realize Harken had fooled me. But you never said anything, never pushed me away like I deserved. I couldn’t get enough of you and I was pathetically glad for the time we had together. It won’t end. It can’t. I’ll reach you, Andros. I don’t dare try just now. I can’t risk it. But I will. With help, I will.”
No response. She didn’t expect any, although she hoped.
The door
opened. They’d taken him to his apartment and she couldn’t help remembering. She’d left the door unlocked for anyone who wanted to come in. it seemed easier than constantly answering the door. She felt like someone sitting by the bed of a loved one in a coma. She’d even put music on low in the background, but when the playlist had run out, she hadn’t bothered finding another one. Silence seemed preferable.
Ann stood in the doorway. “You can’t stay here forever.”
“I need to. Right now it’s where I want to be.”
“Daria will get an answer but it will take time. We can keep him alive until then.”
“He hates boredom,” she said suddenly. “I just know he’s working through equations and formulae, just to keep himself from going mad.”
Ann nodded. “He probably is, yes. I’m arranging something for him. A big screen with some of his current work to scroll through. He’ll need someone to help him who understands. But the TV will have to do for now. The news is interesting.”
Faye picked up the remote and switched on the small flat-screen TV Andros kept on a table opposite the bed. Together, she and Ann lifted Andros and stuffed pillows behind his back so he could watch it.
The bright-faced blonde announcer’s professional smile slowly faded. “And on a more serious note, a small town in Michigan has been the scene of some grisly discoveries today.”
The camera showed a place Faye knew well. The town where she’d grown up, and then a house. The house she used to live in. The blonde’s voice continued in its soulless singsong voice, adding a few lower tones to indicate she understood the seriousness of the situation. “A macabre family business. Evidence has come to light that they have been selling Talents for years, to laboratories that killed and experimented on them. The local mayor says, “We had no idea. The whole town is devastated.”
Chilled, Faye reached for Andros’ hand.
“The police were tipped off by STORM, who arrested an unnamed person earlier and will hand their captive to the authorities by the end of the day. Meantime this person, who we believe to be a female Sorcerer, is being held under the authority of the FBI. She is suspected of being complicit in the murders, even though some of the records discovered by the FBI today have to be nearly a hundred years old.”
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