“Points for them, then.” Gillian nodded.
She addressed the others and clarified her own thoughts all at once. “All right, since Daily was a genuine priest, he’s not going to have his lair in a church.
“Evzen and Dagr, I’m afraid either your sources really were misinformed or Daily’s putting out crap to lead us in circles. I should have thought of that before I wasted our time here.”
Gillian’s tone was angry. She wasn’t mad at the Sidhe; she was mad at herself. Venus on a biscuit, she needed to get her head out of her ass and start paying attention or they were going to die. She stopped walking and started scanning the area around where they stood with total concentration.
“This is not your fault, Gillian. You only went where we told you.” Dagr tried to soothe the obviously angry Human.
“It is my fault. My mommy- fied brain is in a fog of pregnancy-induced giddiness, and my thinking processes are in hormone hell. Either way, I need to get my game together. We should never have gone through a church’s catacombs looking for a Vampire pseudopriest. We had already discussed this before we went in, but my dumb ass didn’t register it fully.
“All we accomplished was leaving a dandy scent trail any Shifter that Daily has in his retinue could track. I’m a soldier, a goddamn United States Marine Captain, and I know better than to do what we just did. I am really sorry for wasting everyone’s time just now and for possibly making our mission more difficult.”
“Should we buy crosses or holy water or something? There’s a vendor over there selling religious articles.” Kimber pointed to a stall several yards away, interrupting Gillian’s self-recriminations.
“Religious objects like a cross or holy water will only work against certain Paramortals if the wielder is a devoted follower of their own Faith or the Vampire is a staunch follower of his own Faith. I tossed a gold cross into a Catholic Vampire’s face once. Worked really well. He’s still got a scar, from what I’ve been told.” Gillian grinned.
“I’m Catholic. Greek Orthodox even,” Daed offered.
“I said devout. You’re not a devout anything.”
“Point taken.”
He grinned at her. She glared back.
“You got your Star of David on you?” Kimber asked Gillian, half seriously.
“I already told you, I’m not Orthodox. I was raised in both the Temple and in the Unitarian Church, neither of which uses religious icons to be worshipped or prayed to. A so-called sacred symbol of any kind is not going to work for me, nor is a Star of David going to work on Daily,” Gillian said.
“I thought you were Pagan,” Daed stated.
“That too. There’s a concept in all religions about treating others as you want to be treated. The ‘do unto others’ rule is the single common thread in every Faith. That’s why I read other theologies and consider anyone’s prayers genuine when they come from the heart and soul of the person praying, no matter what their personal God or Gods may be.”
“Daily is Catholic,” Aleksei reminded them.
“Yes, but he was also excommunicated, so the core of his Faith isn’t intact anymore. The Church kicked him out. That would shake his beliefs to the bone. Anything with Catholic connotations that we wave, throw or sprinkle at him isn’t going to work,” Gillian explained.
She didn’t want to be standing there discussing religious philosophy at the moment, but it was giving her time to think. Another Human sentry walked by and gave her what looked like a friendly wave. Not the group, just her.
There was something akin to recognition in his face, which made it weird. She’d never been to Prague, and while her face had been splashed all over the news recently and on various magazine covers over the years, she didn’t consider herself notable enough to garner much public recognition.
Jenna’s safety and rescue was foremost in her mind, but this entire situation was playing hell with her instincts versus what her empathy and other senses were telling her. The light dialogue that she wasn’t really paying attention to was giving her time to better process her thoughts. The entire situation was so wrong to her, yet she still couldn’t put her finger on it.
“Gillian, do you know that man who just walked by?” Aleksei asked her.
“No, but you saw that too, right?” She looked up at her tall, scrumptious fiancé.
“I did notice, yes. He seemed to recognize you.”
Aleksei was protective by nature. He was also definitely observant. He hadn’t stayed alive for nearly four hundred years by being a dumbass. If Gillian was uneasy, he was uneasy. She was correct about too many things not adding up since they’d arrived. Now he was certain the waves and friendly greetings they had been receiving from the castle sentries were not necessarily directed at the group as a whole. They were for Gillian. Very odd, without a doubt.
“She is fairly well-known, you know.” Daed beamed at her.
“Not enough for city guards in Prague to recognize me from across a courtyard, Daed.” Gillian fluffed it off, embarrassed. She didn’t like notoriety of any sort.
Trocar spoke up from the back of the group. Everyone jumped. The Grael had been so silent, they’d almost forgotten he was there. “Aleksei, what happened to your former lover after Akabat?”
The handsome Vampire stared at the equally stunning Elf, perplexed. “I do not know. I have not seen Elizabeta since that night and for nearly four hundred years before. Why would you ask something like that?”
“She looks very similar to Gillian, does she not? Someone who did not know both of the women very well might mistake one for the other.”
“Are you saying you think she’s here?” Gillian asked him.
“Why would Elizabeta be here?” Now Aleksei really was confused.
“Because she hates you, Aleksei; Gillian too. Teaming up with Daily on a mission to get back at you both would be logical.” Trocar filled in the thoughts that he’d instigated.
“That would also explain why Jenna might have originally been involved,” Daed mused.
“For Crissakes, Daed, Jenna could pick me out of a mud-filled mosh pit. Plus, she’s never seen Elizabeta that any of us know of, nor did she even know about her,” Gillian pointed out.
Daed persisted. “No, hear me out. Think about it for a moment. Trocar may be right. Jenna leaves Tanis in Cairo to go discover herself. Cairo is a safe place. Too safe for Jenna, with her attention span of a rabid squirrel. So she starts looking for something to do, maybe hears about a job . . . as a bodyguard, attaché, something exciting . . . and figures she’ll hit the soldier-of-fortune trail again.
“She’s flitted off to points unknown on a regular basis for one half-assed reason or another since you all left the service. Meanwhile, Daily and Elizabeta have hooked up. Daily knows what you look like. He’s done his homework.”
“That’s how he found out that I was pregnant! Elizabeta was at Akabat,” Gillian interrupted.
“Of course! Any Vampire would have noticed that you were pregnant,” Aleksei said.
Gill frowned. “You didn’t notice. Nor did Osiris or any of the other big guns. Erzsébet and Sweeney didn’t notice. Neither did Vlad or Sir Georg.”
“I am afraid all of us were distracted by the unfolding events of that night and by fear for your safety, cara. I apologize. I should have noticed.” Aleksei smoothed a gentle hand down her back.
“That is not true. I simply did not mention it. Sweeney was probably too enthralled with his own position in Vlad’s entourage to have noticed, and he is not a Master.” Erzsébet shook her head, smiling.
“I was too preoccupied with revenge that night.” Sir Georg hung his head.
“I apologize as well, Gillian. I was drunk with power and my own insanity. My belated congratulations to you and Aleksei on my unforgivable breach of propriety.” Vlad was clearly mortified. He looked embarrassed; her empathy was even registering his self-consciousness. In fact, he was turning a delicate shade of shell pink. Good grief.
Gil
lian stared at him. Was he kidding? Psycho Vlad apologizing for not noticing she was preggers during an attempted world-species takeover? Apparently he was still riding the post-catatonic megalomania crazy train. Cured, her ass. She’d have to watch him closely.
“I think most of us had our minds on other issues that night, but I did notice. Dionysus did as well,” Osiris enlightened them.
“As did I,” Odin said.
“Well, son of a bitch, why didn’t any of you say anything?” Gillian scowled at all the confessors.
“We are all . . . slightly younger than God and from a time period which is more discreet?”
Oh, ha-ha, Osiris. Well, that was just lovely. The Lord of the Egyptian Vampires was making jokes. Gillian made a mental note to talk to him about his timing. Oops. Daed was saying something.
“Sorry, Daed. I got distracted for a second. Go on . . . Jenna, Elizabeta, Daily . . . I was paying attention.” Gillian waved her hand at him to continue.
Daed laughed. “No worries, pumpkin. It’s to be expected in your condition.”
Ignoring her glare, he continued. “As I said, Daily’s no fool. He would have noticed the resemblance immediately. Elizabeta has had four hundred years to nurture her anger and resentment. Think about it: four hundred years with Vlad, his megalomania and paranoia. Daily would have exploited that after Vlad’s failure at Akabat, maybe even offered her a deal.”
Vlad nodded at Daed’s assessment. “I am embarrassed to admit that he is correct. I did encourage Elizabeta’s vengeful fantasies while keeping her in check until I was ready.”
“What better way to take out you and Aleksei together? Defame you and your relationship, kidnap your friend; force you into a rescue mission while you’re pregnant. Aleksei would surely not allow you to go alone. One, two, three. Elizabeta gets her revenge; Daily gets what he wants and proves his imaginary point; the world goes back to a segregated environment with everyone distrusting one another; Daily cleans up as the new ‘spiritual leader.’ ”
“Gillian is right, then. Even without any obvious danger or threat, the reason we sense that something is wrong is because this is a trap.” Aleksei felt his chest tighten.
“Without a doubt,” Daed agreed.
“I don’t care. Forewarned is forearmed. This isn’t chess, people. This is a good, old-fashioned game of checkers. Daily is telegraphing his punches. If what Daed speculates is true, he knows we’re coming. It’s all on the table, and depending on which moves we make, we’ll either be kinged or taken. We’ve been in situations like this before; at least my team has. We can do this.”
“Evzen? Back to the original question. Which of these buildings is not a church?” Gillian asked him.
Evzen pointed diagonally from where they were standing. “That one, known as the Daliborka; that one, the royal palace; and that one, the castle itself. There is an art gallery in the stables, but I do not believe Daily would be there. It is too open.”
“What’s the Daliborka, besides a tower?”
“The old prison.”
“That’s where Jenna will be,” Gill said firmly.
“How do you know?” Evzen asked.
“I just do. Daily’s using her as a lure on camera. Off-screen, she’s just a toy.”
No one could think of a reason to dispute her thoughts. They set off toward the tower. On the way, Evzen explained that the tower had been named after its first prisoner, Dalibor of Kozojedy. He had been a knight of the realm and sort of a Robin Hood in his day. His crime had been to shelter some serfs who were rebelling against the emperor.
During his incarceration he learned to play the violin, and his music was heard by passersby. The joke among his captors was that a “violin” was also the name of a torture device. The music made by his executioners was a far cry from the sweet sounds Dalibor made during his sentence. Legend has it that the sounds of soft violin music can still be heard coming from the tower. The story made everyone even more uneasy. Gillian supremely hoped they wouldn’t have a pissy ghost to deal with on top of everything else.
When they reached the door, Trocar checked it for any nasty surprises. Suspicions were high that their party was in for an attack at any moment. Things had been going way too smoothly for anyone’s taste.
Not surprisingly, Gillian halted everyone right after Trocar declared the entrance safe. “Look, we can split up and cover more ground. We have more than enough people to search all these buildings quickly. If anyone finds anything, just fire a shot or give a shout-out. The rest of us will come running.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. There are too many tourists around. We might hit a civilian.” Daed frowned at her.
“Definitely not a good plan to split us up, Petal. Especially if you or Aleksei or both are the main targets. We can protect you better within the safety of the group.” Trocar shook his frothy white hair in negation of her idea.
“Seriously? You want to collectively sneak through every one of these remaining buildings?” Gillian was incredulous.
Kimber snorted. “You don’t watch many slasher movies, do you?”
“What does that mean?” Gillian’s eyes narrowed at her friend.
“Everyone knows when you split up the party, people start getting killed. Especially the naughty girls and their lovers. They’re always first to die,” Kimber said with a completely straight face.
Gillian whacked her on the back of the head with her free hand. “Are you kidding me? You’re taking cues on what to do next from slasher-movie rules? You suck, you know that? We’ll just stay together, then. Jesus H. Christ. I have never seen such a whiny bunch of overpowered candy-asses in my life.”
Gillian huffed and opened the door to the tower, still grumbling to herself as she went in. She’d gotten about six steps when it dawned on her that Kimber had aggravated her on purpose. Her thought processes were back online and in full kick-your-ass combat mode. Part of her was grateful. At least she hadn’t gone too soft. The other part was planning ways to exasperate her best friend right back. Later. Get even later.
“Bellissima, you never cease to lighten my heart.” Aleksei chuckled in her mind.
“Shut up, you. Domestic accidents can happen.” She sent him a very clear thought of her “accidentally” shooting him. Her reward was more of his deep, velvet laughter smoothing over her synapses.
There was untoward tittering behind her as she navigated the front part of the castle. No one was quaking in their boots anymore from her infrequent outbursts of temper. She really was losing her touch. Dammit.
“Up or down?” Osiris pointed to the stairs leading to the tower, then the stairs leading down to the dungeon area.
“Down. Daily wouldn’t risk us taking Jenna during a daylight rescue.”
Odin, Evzen, Georg and Hreidmar volunteered to remain on the ground floor by the doorway in case they really had been followed or tracked. Everyone else followed Gillian downstairs, with Pavel taking point again. His senses were more attuned than even Gillian’s empathy. If Jenna really was drugged or bespelled, there was a chance that she wouldn’t register any alarm or concern at being held captive, making it impossible for Gillian to home in on her location.
“Gillian . . .” Though she was two feet in front of him, Aleksei’s voice barely carried to her.
“What?” she whispered back. It irritated her unreasonably that he would speak out loud at all when they were on a covert undertaking.
“I trust your abilities but will protect you if necessary.”
Gillian thought briefly about being annoyed, then let it go. “Ditto.”
She reached back, caught his hand and squeezed it. The warm wash of affection from him was her reward. The stairs wound down to a large round room. A fire pit glowed in the center, illuminating the pale stones that comprised the walls and the dark slate slabs on the floor. There were various niches and doors at intervals along the circular walls. In between were instruments of torture. Some were carefully spaced on c
ustomized racks or hung on the wall. A brazier, tongs, thumbscrews and knives were on their own raised platform.
Pavel had his nose to the ground, trotting around the perimeter of the room. He stopped at a split door inserted flush with the curved wall. Both the top and bottom were affixed with iron hinges and locks.
“In there?” Gillian whispered.
Pavel nodded and backed away. Kimber rummaged in her pack and removed a set of lock picks. When she went to the door, Aleksei stopped her, shaking his head. The Vampire simply reached out and pulled the hinges off, catching the two halves of the door. He laid them carefully against the stones.
Inside was a crumpled female form in a tattered yellow gown. The chocolate brown hair was unmistakable. The fire-engine red streaks were gone, but Gillian could recognize her friend. She went in, gently touching an exposed shoulder.
“Jenna?”
CHAPTER 20
THE figure turned slightly. Gillian’s eyes widened but she gave no other outward reaction. Jenna had definitely been abused. Whether by Daily or one of his pals, she couldn’t tell. Small, nonlethal cuts covered most of Jenna’s body. The front of the fitted yellow dress was dark with drying and fresh blood. They had spared her face; however, the sheer amount of slices on the rest of her body would scar her for life.
“Gill?” Jenna’s voice was raspy. “Is that really you?”
“Of course. Kimber, Trocar, Daed and Aleksei too. We brought a few more friends along as well.”
“How do I know it’s you?”
“What are you asking?”
“Tell me something we both know. Only us.” Jenna rallied enough to scoot away from Gillian and the open door.
“Captain, they are coming,” Trocar warned. His superior hearing alerted him to an alarming number of creatures headed their way.
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