by M. J. Scott
Rhi looked at me and, just for a second, her eyes swam with terror, as though the real Rhianna had surfaced for a moment. Then she blinked and her eyes burned bright with nothing more than need. “I’m hungry.”
She turned, watching Cilla as the vampires fastened the man’s hands into cuffs bolted to the wall. He didn’t struggle at all. Definitely thralled. Or drugged, maybe. And while vampires fed from humans all the time—humans who volunteered and consented—I doubted that he’d agreed to what was happening here.
“No!” This time it was a yell. “Rhi, no. Listen to me. Think about it. You don’t want to do this. Remember Julie. Remember Tate. This is what he did.”
Rhi’s head twisted back toward me. “J-Julie?”
“Your sister. Remember Julie. She was killed. By a vampire.”
“Shut her up,” Cilla snapped and the vamp behind me, clamped a hand over my mouth. I struggled and tried to bite him but all that earned me was a choking trickle of vamp blood in my mouth, making me want to retch. His hand didn’t move.
Rhi, if anything, had turned paler. “Julie,” she said softly. “Julie died.”
Cilla scowled. “Don’t think about that, dear.” She gestured at Rhi. “You are hungry, aren’t you?”
Rhi swallowed hard. The tip of her tongue brushed her lips as she looked from Cilla to the man hanging from the wall. When she made no move, I thought maybe I’d gotten through to her but then her head turned toward me. Her eyes had gone cold and expressionless like Cilla’s.
“I’m very hungry,” she said.
Cilla smiled and walked over to the man. “Of course, you are.” She pulled out her knife and gripped one of his arms. One quick slash and blood started dripping from his wrist. I could smell it, strong and warm. I knew Rhi could too.
Cilla dipped a finger in the red, brought it to her lips. “Mmmm. Tasty.”
Rhi took a step toward her.
I wrenched my head free of the vamp’s grip. “No.” One last try. “Rhi, don’t do this.”
Her head turned back and she smiled, for a moment looking just like her sister. Then she flowed toward Cilla in one of those too-fast-to-follow vamp moves. One second she was near me, the next she was standing by the chained man. As she reached for his arm, I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to watch. But then almost immediately, I knew I had to. I had to bear witness.
Cilla’s eyes met mine and she raised an eyebrow, as if daring me to do something. Not that I could.
Rhi sucked avidly at her victim’s wrist, heedless of the blood spattering her face. Cilla watched her with an expression close to pride. When Rhi’s gulps slowed, Cilla flicked the knife again and another cut opened on the guy’s chest above his heart. Rhi plunged her face against his chest.
“That’s right,” Cilla crooned. “Isn’t that good?”
I swallowed hard, fighting bile and tears as I watched the wild thing my friend had become feeding. Her victim’s skin grew paler, his breathing coming in gasps. The fact that he didn’t move or struggle—that he seemed to enjoy what was being done—made watching even harder.
Because I knew better. I’d been thralled. I knew that, even though he might be enjoying what was happening, might even find it pleasurable, there was some part of him, deep inside that was still free and knew what was happening. Some part that knew he was going to die. Some part screaming for help.
Help I couldn’t give. My eyes filled with tears and I blinked them back furiously, curling my hands into fists as sorrow and rage burned in my stomach.
“Not so fast,” Cilla said. “You don’t want to miss the best part.”
Rhi pulled her head back, frowning. Blood stained her mouth and her eyes blazed savage blue. Nothing like the Rhi I knew.
Cilla dragged the knife up the pale flesh of the man’s chest, using it to carve a trail through his skin, moving up between his collarbones and around to his neck. “The neck dear—” The knife, hovered where his carotid beat too slowly against his skin“—it’s always sweetest from the neck.”
“You’ll kill him,” I gasped as Rhi’s hand traced the same path as the knife. “Rhi, don’t.”
But she didn’t hear me. Or didn’t care if she did. Her gaze stayed locked on Cilla, like a snake charmed by a flute. Only this was more like the snake doing the charming.
As Rhi bent to drink, I struggled against the vamp holding me. The man’s pulse was fading, harder to hear over the rapid beat of Rhi’s heart and the roar of horror in my head. If Rhi drank much longer he’d die. Of course, if she stopped, he’d become a vampire. One as dangerous as she was to the human population.
I didn’t really know which was worse. But I didn’t have to choose because suddenly there was no sound from his heart at all and he slumped in the chains.
Dead.
Rhianna straightened with a smile, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. “Any more?” she asked.
I leaned to the side and vomited all over the floor.
Cilla laughed as I heaved. “Such a squeamish wolf,” she said. “I’m sure you’ve killed before. In fact, I know you have.”
“Not people,” I managed between retches. “I’m not a murderer.”
“Really?” Cilla asked. “So you don’t consider killing a vampire to be murder?”
Rhi sucked in a breath and Cilla’s smile widened. “Because you have killed vampires, haven’t you?” She put an arm around Rhi’s shoulders. “Rhianna, dear. Are you sure Ashley’s your friend? After all, she doesn’t think vampires are people. That it doesn’t matter if you kill them.”
“I never said that!” But it was too late. I watched Rhi’s face shut down as she looked at me and huddled closer into Cilla.
“Monsters,” she whispered and Cilla’s laugh rang around the room, slicing into my skull like the sound of a thousand mirrors shattering.
Cilla held Rhianna close, stroking her hair. “It’s okay,” she crooned softly, making my bile rise all over again. “Ashley needs your help. It’s what’s in her head that makes her do these things. Remember what I told you? How you could help her? Remember what you did before?”
Rhi glanced at the corpse hanging from the wall. “I made him happy.”
My stomach heaved again. Rhi had thralled him? I stared at her, wondering if there was anything left of Rhi inside that I could get to. If I could bring her back to herself, then maybe I could still save her.
Cilla nodded and drew Rhi back to face me. She shot a glance at Butch and he came around from behind me and busied himself taking down the body.
“Burn that,” she said when he picked up the corpse and hoisted it over one shoulder.
I guess Cilla didn’t want a body hanging around. It might give Rhi a chance to think about what she’d done. Right now, she’d done things the way Cilla wanted, but I wasn’t convinced that she hadn’t just been pushed right off the edge altogether. A mind—even a vampire’s mind, I figured—can only take so much trauma before it shatters.
Rhianna had been balanced over the abyss before Cilla came along.
I tried not to shudder as Butch walked past me and one of the man’s dangling arms brushed my shoulder. I couldn’t afford to lose it. Not with my life and Rhi’s at stake. I kept my eyes on Cilla and Rhi, waiting for whatever was going to happen next.
“Now, Rhi. Ashley’s going to let you make her happy. Aren’t you, Ashley?” Cilla’s hand rested on the knife hilt for a moment. I got the message. Play along.
Easier said than done.
Being thralled by Rhi wasn’t any more appealing a prospect than being thralled by any other vampire. Particularly not the Rhi standing next to Cilla, staring vacantly at me. The one who’d just drained the life out of someone without the slightest speck of remorse.
My skin crawled at the memory.
Maybe it would be like Marco, I told myself. When he’d been in my head, I’d felt safe.
Safer than anybody else other than Dan had ever made me feel.
Dan.
No.
I couldn’t afford to think about him. Couldn’t wonder if the Taskforce agents were riding to my rescue.
Couldn’t rely on them.
All I could do was deal with what was in front of me. Wishing for Dan would only make me weaker.
I had to be strong.
“How will I know what I’m looking for?” Rhianna asked.
“You will,” Cilla said confidently. “Remember, you told me Ashley had something in her head. Something hidden. Remember how you heard it?”
My head jerked up at the words. Rhi had been the one to tell Cilla about this thing in my head.
I closed my eyes, wishing I could just make everything around me disappear through sheer force of will. Where was a portable black hole when you needed one? Somehow knowing Rhi was helping Cilla and Smith was worse than everything else they had done to me.
“I can’t hear it now,” Rhi said, sounding puzzled.
“Just be patient,” Cilla said. She moved toward me and tangled her fingers in my hair, forcing my head back.
“Look at me,” she said quietly.
I did what she wanted, wondering why she was bothering to whisper. Vamp hearing being what it was, Rhianna would hear regardless.
Cilla’s eyes were deep pools of malice. “Don’t mess with me this time, puppy. What I did before was just a taste. No wolf tricks. You let the girl look.”
I nodded, or rather moved my head the inch or so up and down I could without yanking the hair from my head. I didn’t know if I could do what she was demanding. Raising my shields had been beyond my control last time. I didn’t know how to stop myself, to let myself open to mind-rape.
The one thing I did know was that I couldn’t not shield when I was so scared.
I took in a deep breath then another. “I need a minute,” I said, hoping Cilla would believe me. Her grip on my hair loosened and she stepped back.
“One minute. Don’t try anything.”
I nodded and focused on breathing. In. Out. Slow. Nothing but the breath. When my heartbeat started to settle, I tried to think of something to keep the fear at bay.
Slowly Bug’s face formed in my head, blue eyes smiling at me. My heart clenched. Aunt Bug. God, what I’d give to feel her arms around me right now.
My pulse started to speed again and I had to let go of the longing to be with Bug, to be safe, and focus on the memories. I let my mind linger on each line of Bug’s face, summoning the scents I associated with her. Lavender. Roses. Hot, steaming tea. Olives and gin and vermouth.
Rich dark brownies.
My mouth curved upward. The scents of home and images of Bug ran through my head and I wrapped them around me like a blanket.
Rhi was part of that. Part of Caldwell. She’d grown up there just like me. The same places and people formed the bedrock of her memories. It would be okay. I could let her in. I opened my eyes, focused on Rhi’s face, on my memories of her as a small girl, tagging along behind Julie and me.
“Okay,” I said. “I’m ready.
Chapter Seventeen
“Rhianna, go to Ashley,” Cilla said.
I tried to block out her voice. I wanted to think of Rhi and no one else. Rhi and home. I kept my eyes on Rhi, trying to lose myself in the sunny happy colors of the flowers on her dress.
Rhi came toward me, biting her lip again. “I still can’t hear her.”
“Put your hands on her head.”
Rhi’s hands were light, her touch gentle, unlike Cilla’s. It was a struggle not to jerk away, to stay still and breathe. I breathed in the familiar smell of Rhi’s. Drank in flowers and soap. Ignored the blood and fear.
“There’s too much noise,” Rhi said fretfully. “I can hear everyone.”
Cilla sighed. “Focus on Ashley.”
“Doesn’t she need to be able to see my eyes?” I asked. Rhi stood to one side of me. With my hands strapped to the table, it was about the only place she could stand. “If you untie my hands, she can stand in front of me.”
“Do you think I’m stupid?” Cilla said. “If I let you go, you’ll try something.”
“No.” I mentally crossed my fingers behind my back. Thinking of home had given me the faintest glimmer of an idea. A way to reach Rhi. “No, I’ll let Rhi do this, I promise.”
And if it didn’t work, then all bets were off. I’d do my damnedest to rip Cilla’s head from her body, and to hell with the consequences.
“Untie her,” Rhi said. Her voice was commanding and Cilla and I both blinked at her. “She’ll be good. I can tell.”
That seemed to convince Cilla. I tried to think obedient thoughts as she untied my hands and shoved the table back so Rhi could stand in front of me.
I summoned the images of home again as Rhi’s hands cupped my face. Her eyes were gentle sunny blue, just like Julie’s had been. I focused in on them until it felt like the whole world melted away into an endless summer sky.
Blue surrounded me, flowed through me, around me. It wasn’t warm or cold, just blue. I let myself float in it and nothing stirred in my brain, no glow of white light or black wolf appearing to fight Rhianna off.
Blue started to steal through my brain, sliding gently. I felt myself slip deeper and fought to hold on. If my plan was going to work I had to try now.
“Rhi?” I thought. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes.” Rhi’s voice echoed through the blue. “Ash, where are we?”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I want to show you something.”
“Ssh. I’m looking for something. I can feel it. It’s just a little farther.”
The blue grew a little darker, closing around me.
I dug my imaginary fingers into it, holding on. “I’ll show you that, too. But there’s something else you need to see.”
“What?” She sounded curious. Hope pulsed through me. This just might work.
I summoned the image of a mirror in my head. “Can you see yourself?” I filled the image with the Rhianna I’d just seen in the room with Cilla. Looking confused and uncertain. One with drops of blood staining her dress.
“I see. Ash, is that me?” Her voice shook a little. She sounded lost.
It was up to me to help her find the way home. “It’s one side of you. Can I show you what I see?”
“O-okay.”
I let the mirror clear and started pulling memories to mind as fast as I could. All my memories of Rhianna, from the first moment I’d seen her as a newborn to the way she looked standing on the steps of the town hall before the memorial service. Happy. Smiling. Laughing.
I heard her gasp in my head and redoubled my efforts. “This is you, Rhi. This is your life. Remember this.” I shoved memories at her. Julie and me playing in the yard, having a tea party with Rhi and her dolls even though we thought it was lame, her mother baking cookies, her room in their house with its pictures of boy bands and gymnastics trophies. The flowers in the Anders’ front yard. The flag flying over the portico of Caldwell High.
“Remember,” I begged her. “Rhi, don’t you remember?”
Suddenly the memories stopped as if someone had slammed a door on them. Instead, an image of Rhi in her pink dress appeared in my mind.
“I remember,” she said. Her face filled with horror. “Oh, Ash, I remember. What did I do?”
“Rhi, listen to me. We can get out of this if you help me. You have to find what Cilla is looking for. You have to give it to her. But then you have to remember who you are. And you have to help me. I can get you out if you trust me.”
Tears ran down her face and around me the blue darkened further until I was surrounded by swirling indigo. “I killed him. I killed that guy.”
“It wasn’t you,” I said soothingly. “It will be okay.”
“I killed him.”
“Rhi!” It was a shout in the stillness. “Concentrate. Cilla will kill us both if we screw this up. I need you to trust me.”
“I trust you.”
“Then listen to me. Can you find w
hat she wants? The thing you saw in my head at the hospital?”
She cocked her head to one side, like she was listening. “I think so.”
“Okay, that’s good. Because whatever it is, I think it can help you. But you can’t let Cilla know you have it yet.”
“She’ll know.”
“She won’t know. You’re stronger than her. She couldn’t get into my head. You can. So you can keep her out too.”
Rhi took a breath. I felt it shudder through me like a wave breaking. “Okay, I’ll try,” she said. “But if I find the information, then what?”
“We need to get out of here. Dan and the FBI will be looking for us but we can’t wait for them. And we can’t get away with so many vampires around. I need you to get Cilla to get rid of them.”
“How?” The blue lightened a little but it still swirled in agitation. I tried to think soothing thoughts at it until the swirls eased back. Which was good because they were making me seasick.
I outlined my plan quickly, knowing if we took much
longer—though it was hard to tell exactly how much time had passed—that Cilla might just get suspicious.
When Rhi said she understood, I tried not to sigh with relief, not knowing what my body would do if I did. Cilla couldn’t know what had just happened.
“Okay, then we have a plan. Now, let’s find whatever the hell is in my head and you can get out of here.”
Rhi’s image wavered then solidified again. “Ash?” She sounded sad.
“Yeah?”
“Are we really going to get out of here?”
“I’ll do my best,” I promised. “And don’t forget, the cavalry are coming too. Hey—there’s a thought—do you think you could reach Jase?”
“Jase?”
“My assistant, do you remember him?” Rhi had visited me a few times in Seattle. I pictured Jase in one of his suits; trying to remember the last time Rhi would’ve seen him.
“I can try,” Rhi said. “I don’t know...” She hesitated.