by Caris Roane
After a moment, when he hadn’t started to fly, she asked in a mumble against his shoulder, “What’s wrong? Did you forget how to do this? I mean, I know you’ve been chained up for an entire year.”
He snorted. “Just taking a breath.”
His voice had a threatening edge. She couldn’t imagine exposing her throat and having him sink in his fangs, but the only other choice was bringing in a third party. And from what she knew about vampires, sex usually accompanied the taking of blood.
The thought both sickened and excited her, especially the thought of this vampire throwing her on her back and taking so much from her. But she’d be feeding the same kind of beast that had killed her family if she serviced Adrien.
She felt trapped again by her situation. Yet what choice did she have if she ever hoped to get Josh back?
Thoughts of her son shook her to her core all over again, so she toughened up. She would do whatever needed doing in order to bring him home safe and sound once more.
She shifted in Adrien’s arms so that she could look up at him. Maybe she scowled, but she said, “I’m prepared to give you what you need once we’re in Paris. I know it’s part of the deal because of the chains, but are you sure I have to hold on to you like this right now?”
“Yes. I’ll regulate my speed, but this probably won’t be much fun. I need to make one pass through the cavern, then I’ll take you the rest of the way to Europe.”
She started to argue—the last place she wanted to be was inside the stench of his former prison—but he began the altered flight, which jolted her senses.
Could she even talk to him during a flight?
The first thing she realized was that she’d left her tent behind; then the path. The next moment she was hurtling toward the wall of rock outside the cave. She cried out and shut her eyes, clinging to him harder, but nothing happened, only a soft sensation like feathers across her skin as Adrien took them through the mountainside.
The movement of the flight slowed so she popped her eyes wide and found herself flying very slowly through the cavern. What she saw, however, sickened her. Lucian and Marius hung from black chains, each in a separate stall, each standing in his filth.
They were able to see Adrien and as he passed through the cavern, each shouted, calling out his name and waving triumphant fists in the air.
“I’ll get back here as soon as I can,” he shouted in return, though the movement of the altered flight seemed to muffle speaking voices.
On a more positive note, she couldn’t smell the cavern.
Adrien sped up the altered flight, and that’s when things went haywire. Dizziness and blackness swallowed her, along with a pain in her skull that made her shriek. She’d never hurt so bad in her life.
“I can tell you’re hurting but we’ve got to get to Paris, the quicker the better.” His voice had a strange resonance through the pounding in her head.
“Okay.” Even her lips vibrated with pain as something wet trailed down her lips and chin.
She clutched at him now and tried to breathe. She felt his chest rise and fall rapidly, the exertion of the altered flight maybe. She could feel that he was expending a lot of energy.
The passing seconds of the flight began to feel like an eternity. When at last he drew to a halt, she collapsed on a woven rug of some kind, facedown. She lay prone, her head on fire. She wiped at her nose, thinking maybe she’d been weeping, but the liquid had a thicker consistency than tears.
She lifted her head. She needed a tissue.
Adrien lay on the floor next to her, his hand on her back. His gaze fell to her lower face. “Your nose is bleeding.”
He pushed to his feet, left her for a moment, and just as he must have met the outer reaches of the chain’s tight hold on them, she heard water running.
He returned a few seconds later with a damp washcloth in one hand and tissues in the other.
She rolled onto her back, wiped her lips and chin, then placed the cool washcloth over her nose. The apartment was dark with no lights on, but right now with her head aching, she was glad of it.
She tracked him as he moved to a wall of closets, which meant she was in his bedroom. He dressed quickly in dark jeans and a tight black T-shirt.
She worked herself to a sitting position. “That was incredibly painful,” she said. She clutched the washcloth with one hand while she blew her nose using the tissues.
Her stomach turned over several times and she worked hard not to throw up. She refolded the washcloth, trying to find a clean spot.
Adrien sat down in a nearby chair and put on a pair of black socks. “I felt your suffering through the shared chain. I got here as fast as I could. Shit. But this isn’t good.”
“Travel is going to be a problem. My head hurts so bad.”
“Yep.”
“Maybe I’ll get used to it. It was okay at first, but when you sped up, it got worse really fast. Can we travel at the slower speed?”
“Sure, but we’d be hours getting anywhere that isn’t on the other side of Paris. Also, if anyone was tracking us or watching for us, we’d be vulnerable.”
“Do you expect an attack?”
Adrien met her gaze as she held the washcloth to her nose. “I have enemies. Daniel does, too. We have fanatic-based groups that—if they catch wind that we’re after the extinction weapon—will try to stop us. Didn’t Kiernan say anything about them?”
“No. He didn’t.” She looked at the washcloth. “My nose has stopped bleeding.”
“You were screaming.”
“I was? I don’t remember. I guess I was. I can’t begin to describe what the pain was like, sort of a dagger through my head.”
“How’s your head now?”
“Getting better fast.”
He grunted.
“What?”
“I thought the chains we shared would be powerful enough to get us through, that’s all. They felt strong enough. I guess I was wrong or maybe just wishful.”
She rose to her feet and glanced around. She pivoted toward him, continuing to dab at her nose. “What are you not saying?” She touched her chain. “I can feel your sudden indecision about something.”
He slid his feet into heavy black shoes, not quite boots but close. “There’s another type of blood-chain, a double, side-by-side arrangement, that could change things for us, but hell if I’m willing to go that far.”
“You may not have a choice. I say we get the chains if it means we can travel more easily.”
His gaze shot back to hers. “What the hell does that mean, that I may not have a choice? So far all that’s required of me is to hunt for the weapon. And right now, I don’t give a damn if it causes you this much pain.”
His sudden anger should have bothered her—after all, he was over two hundred pounds of heavily muscled vampire, and he could break her in half with his bare hands if he wanted to. “I’m not giving you an ultimatum,” she said. “I’m suggesting that in order to get this job done, we each may have to do things neither of us wants to do.”
“We’re already doing that because I sure as hell don’t want to be bound to you like this.” He reached down, put his hand on her arm, and leaned close. “Listen, Lily, I can get us both out of this. I know a couple of very powerful vampires who work with blood-chains. They’ll know what to do, to get these off without either of us dying. And I can make it worth your while, whatever Kiernan or Daniel is paying you. I’m a wealthy man. Would five million dollars get the job done?”
She just looked at him and sudden images of burying her husband and daughter, of attending several memorials for her good friends and neighbors, rolled through her mind like a dark storm.
Josh’s smiling face came next. She felt cold as she said, “Have you got fifty million?”
Adrien’s nostrils flared. “No.”
Fifty wouldn’t have made the smallest difference, either, but she didn’t tell him that. All she said was, “This mission is what I want, what I
need to do.”
He stood up suddenly. “I guess that’s a real fuck you, isn’t it?”
She looked up at him, way up. The vampire was tall, especially since she still sat on the floor. “I guess it is.”
“I can’t believe you’d turn down five million.” He glared at her for a long moment, then his expression filled with disgust. “Typical human, out for what you can get, never mind who gets hurt.”
She snickered. “That’s rich: who gets hurt. And you a vampire. But let me make myself clear to you one last time: You can’t even begin to fathom what I’ll be given in exchange for the weapon, and it’ll be worth every ounce of sweat or knife-like headache, trust me on that.”
She didn’t blame him for his anger. Right now she was his enemy, she had control of him, and she could say yes or no to any of his requests or demands.
He stood up and paced the length of the closets, fuming.
At least the pain in her head had finally dissipated, her nose had stopped bleeding, and she no longer felt dizzy. “Where do I put these?” She held the washcloth and tissues for him to see.
He gestured with his hand to a door to his right, beyond a long dresser. “That’s the privy.”
The bathroom wasn’t far at all, but once inside, the chains tugged at her. “Could you come a little closer? I want to shut the door.”
Though she couldn’t see him, he must have moved because the tension on the chain eased. She discarded the tissues and rinsed the washcloth out.
She glanced around and realized she was staring at black marble, on the walls, the sink, the massive shower, even the toilet. The fixtures were an antique silver. The elegance seemed juxtaposed with the fierce vampire who challenged almost every word she spoke.
At the far end was a second door that probably led to a hall and the rest of the apartment.
As she finished up and washed her hands and even rinsed her face, she met her gaze in the mirror. Josh had her eyes, the same hazel color and roundish shape, which was the reason everyone said he looked like her. But the truth was, he had his father’s mouth and nose, even his strong jawline.
Josh. Her heart sank into her stomach all over again. Josh alive. Her son. She had to get him back. The drive was as powerful as the orbit of the earth around the sun.
She released a sigh, needing to get on with things. The sooner she got her hands on the weapon, the sooner she’d get her son back.
When her phone rang, she drew it from the pocket of her jeans then opened the door but was startled to find Adrien standing there. He leaned against the doorjamb, and she was surprised all over again by how big he was. She also knew that his vampire genetics gave him great physical strength, incredible strength. He really could break her in half if he wanted to.
The phone rang again, but all she could do was look at Adrien.
His brows pulled together as he stared back at her. “Aren’t you going to answer that?”
She nodded and touched the surface of her iPhone. “Yes, Mr. Kiernan.”
“Do you have him in hand?” Kiernan’s voice had a slight rasp, which always made her want to clear her throat. Maybe he was a smoker.
She glanced up at Adrien again. Did she have him in hand? Was that even possible? “I have the vampire with me, yes.”
“Good, because I have bad news.”
Her heart dropped. Was Josh okay?
“We’ve had reports that an element in Daniel’s world has gotten wind of our plans and they don’t like it. You need to tell Adrien to expect assassins. Fanatics. He’ll understand. Now work with the vampire to get your tracker skills functioning as best you can, then have him seek out the latest rumors about the weapon and get on it.”
Before Lily could ask even a single question, like how exactly her mysterious tracking ability was supposed to work, Kiernan hung up.
She met Adrien’s gaze and was ready to repeat the conversation, but he pushed away from the door frame and lifted a hand to silence her. “I heard him. Damn fanatics. And Kiernan can eat shit and die, as far as I’m concerned. How you could ever align yourself with a lowlife like that, well, fuck.”
Lily wanted to tell him that it wasn’t by choice, but she didn’t see the point of trying to argue her case with him. Still, given that he was a vampire, a vampire, it chapped her hide to see his disapproval of anything she did.
She huffed a sigh. “He said you’d understand, so who exactly are these fanatics?”
Adrien narrowed his eyes at her. “You do know that you’re being used by two of the worst men in either species and that there’s a good chance you’re going to die because of it? What do you think of that?”
Lily shrugged and held his gaze. “Then I’ll die.”
He shook his head. “You don’t care if you die?”
“Oh, I care. Believe me, I do care and I intend to stay alive. But this is what I’ve chosen to do.”
“Is it really worth the money?”
“My reasons for doing anything are none of your goddamn business.” She lifted her chin, letting all her hostility toward his kind flow through her. She wanted him to feel her opposition to his vampire world whether Kiernan was an evil human or not, or whether she was doing Daniel’s bidding or not.
He took a step toward her and leaned close to her face. “Well, given that I intend to stay alive, too, I need to know what’s going on in that weak human skull of yours. It might even be to your advantage to work with me.”
For a long moment, probably because the chain vibrated heavily against her neck, Lily felt a powerful urge to tell Adrien everything, about Josh, about the attack on her family, about being strong-armed with Josh as the motivator, but she couldn’t. Even if she trusted Adrien, and she was far from doing that, Kiernan’s rules were simple: No one was to know about Josh, or she could kiss this deal, her life, and her son’s life good-bye.
So for two months she’d lived in this nightmare of fear and hope, of a resurrected son who’d been gone two long years. But he was in the hands of a man who had no qualms about using him as ransom for a mission that would take her deep into the world of the vampire, the last place she wanted to be.
“Right now,” she said, her chin level, “you’re on a need-to-know basis. So unless there’s anything else, I suggest you tell me about these fanatics and give me some idea where we should go to start our hunt for the weapon.”
He grabbed her wrist and shook his head. “Soon you’ll tell me what the hell is going on here, because something’s not right. Maybe it has something to do with Kiernan, maybe it doesn’t. But my instincts are screaming at me that we’re in danger on more than one front. As for the fanatics, there’s more than one group. Each is full of religious zealots intent on keeping the vampire world hidden from the human world—something I actually believe in as well.”
“Why aren’t you part of one of those groups, then?”
“Because they don’t hesitate to kill innocent people if they stand in the way.” He laughed harshly. “The stunned expression on your face tells me exactly what you think of me. You’re actually surprised that I’d hold a position like that, against killing innocents.”
“Yes, I’m surprised.”
“Why? You don’t even know me.”
“I know enough.” She let her hatred fill her words. “You’re a vampire. I don’t need to know anything else.”
She watched his eyes darken, his mouth turn down, his nostrils flare. This time she felt his opinion of her, his loathing of her kind.
He stepped close and breathed in hard through his nose. “I’ve always hated the stench so prevalent in humankind. It has a cloying, grasping quality, a desire for money above everything—the same reason you’ve bound me with a chain around my neck.”
“I think we understand each other pretty well now, don’t you? So let’s just get on with finding the weapon.”
Adrien thrust his fingers into his hair and turned in a circle. She felt his rage and his frustration as the chain all but thu
mped against her neck.
He turned on her and for a long moment as he stood over her, she felt his desire to strike her down, to slam her into the floor. Although her heart rate had skyrocketed once more, she straightened her spine. “Killing me won’t do you any good because you’ll die as well.”
He took deep breaths and finally calmed down. “This is Daniel’s doing and you’re just the fucking messenger, I know that. But I hate your opinion of my kind.” He clenched his fists. “And I hate that the bastard finally found a way to force me to do his bidding.”
“Daniel has asked you to go after the weapon before?”
Adrien shook his head. “No. He knew better than to ask.”
“I see what it is. Through me, he has control of you now.”
“Yes, and it’s about as perfect a plan as he could have constructed. I can’t go after him because I can’t risk you dying—I’ll die. And it’s also true the other way around, especially since you’re extremely vulnerable in our world, not hard to kill at all.” He glanced around. “I need to check my security system and then I need to get armed.”
He moved past her. “Come with me.” He headed to the end of the hall.
She hurried after him knowing that if she didn’t, the chain would tighten.
When he entered the living room, she saw him glance to his right, toward the front door. “Fuck.”
“What?”
“My security system has been compromised.”
Lily glanced at the panel by the door and saw that not one light was on. “You mean it’s off? Right now?”
“Yep. Stay with me. My weapons are over here.” He headed across the room behind a long dark leather couch, in the direction of a partially opened door.
Lily thought she saw something move inside the room just as Adrien hurried inside. She heard a shout and a loud thump. By the time she reached the doorway, Adrien was struggling with another man on the floor, a man who wore some kind of long, hooded black robe, something a monk might wear.
She saw a blade flash. The chains began to tug at her, pulling her forward, but she held her ground.