Vermilion Lies

by L. D. Rose

  “Well, I can control machines.” He cast her a wry smile. “They’re much easier to manipulate and far less dramatic.”

  Her eyes widened with wonder. She didn’t think such a trait existed.

  “Don’t look so surprised.” He chuckled softly. “I’m more than a buck with an accent, love.”

  Ha. She didn’t doubt it.

  Out of nowhere, he commanded, “Call Rome.” When she realized he wasn’t talking to her, a dial tone resonated over the speakers, followed by the muted ring of a phone. Within seconds, Rome’s distinct baritone thrummed in her ears and Cindel’s breath caught.

  “Yeah?”

  “Did you find him?” Kayne asked, first and foremost.

  “No.” Cindel’s heart somersaulted at the distress in the Knight’s voice. “We’re scouring the West Side now. Blaze is about to explode and I’ve got to keep him in line. Jon is underground so I haven’t heard from him. I’ve got fucking nothing, nothing but a black hole. Alek cut my link to him.”

  “Shit.” Kayne thumped a fist on the steering wheel, inadvertently honking the horn and nearly sending Cindel through the roof. “Fucking hell.”

  Fear clawed its way up her throat, scrabbling talons against her trachea. She didn’t want to imagine what Alek was doing to Dax at this very moment.

  “Tell me something good, Kayne,” Rome warned. “Or I’m hanging up.”

  “Well, I’ve got Cindy.” The hybrid spared her a meaningful look. “That good enough for you?”

  A silent, nerve-wracking pause. “Is she there with you now?”

  “Yeah, I’m delivering her to you as we speak.” Kayne’s brow furrowed as he eyed her again. Her fluttering heart withered at Rome’s apparent disappointment.

  “It won’t work,” the psychic said grimly. “We can try, but Alek is likely using their newly minted bond to his advantage. He’ll block it, reverse it even.”

  “You can’t track Frosty through her like you did with Val and Blaze?”

  “No, not this time. Alek is an entirely different beast next to Cyrus. If anything, he’ll use Dax to track her. To find us.”

  “Fuck.” Another blow to the steering wheel, without the horn this time. “I think Ballard is planning to strike on Alek’s turf while he’s preoccupied. There’s widespread unrest up here and his leeches are gearing up for something. It’s going to be a giant shit show if we don’t end this now.”

  “Right now, all I care about is getting my brother back,” Rome growled. “We’ll deal with Ballard later.”

  “I’m right there with you, man,” Kayne reassured him. “I want our boy back too. Like fucking yesterday.”

  Another tense moment of silence. “Is she all right? Cindel?”

  “Yeah.” Kayne offered her a faint smile. “She took out Jacques. All by her pretty self, might I add.”

  “What?” Rome didn’t even attempt to hide his disbelief. “Jacques?”

  “Yes, sir. Traitorous bloodsucker was conspiring with our ginger overlord. Wanted to have her all to himself in exchange for Alek. Montague tried to beat Alek’s location out of her, but it didn’t go over well. She went all Sub-Zero on his arse, if you get my drift.”

  “Oh shit,” Rome murmured. “You’re not fucking with me, are you?”

  Kayne barked a laugh. “Golden Eyes, would I ever fuck with you? I’m dead serious, lad. Cindy’s a little damaged, but otherwise well. Flawless victory.”

  A little damaged? Her lips twitched at the irony in his words and pride swelled in her chest. But it wasn’t enough to ease the intensifying dread inside her. She couldn’t rid herself of this horrible feeling of impending doom, not until she held Dax in her arms again.

  Shuffling resounded over the line, and Rome inhaled as if to say something, but Cindel cut him off, unable to contain the anxiety bursting at her seams.

  “I know where Dax is,” she blurted. “I think I know where Alek is keeping him.”

  Another stunned pause from the Senary leader. “Hello, Cindel.”

  “Cielo,” she spilled, steadfast even as Kayne winced. “Does that sound familiar?”

  Another sharp intake of breath. A slow exhale. “The Meatpacking District. Cielo used to be a nightclub there years ago on West 12th.”

  A nightclub. Of course.

  “How do you know this?” His timbre bore an edge of menace, but the shuffling amplified, as if he were running somewhere.

  Kayne eyed her curiously, nodding with encouragement.

  “Ballard. I overheard Caldre and Jacques talking.” Her heart hammered so hard she struggled to keep her voice steady. “Caldre suggested it.”

  Rome cursed and shouted, “Jeep, now!” at someone before directing the conversation back to them. “We’re on our way.”

  Kayne hit the steering wheel again, whooping with triumph. “Go get him, lad!”

  “Cindel,” Rome boomed amidst a dissonance of metallic snaps, male hollers, and slamming doors. “Thank you.”

  Her chin trembled and the backs of her eyes burned. “Please find him.”

  “We will. And Kayne?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Never put me on speakerphone again.”

  Kayne let out a hearty laugh. “What’s the matter, Miss Cleo, couldn’t you tell?”

  “I’m saving my energy. Take her back to the compound. We’ll meet you there.”

  And the line went dead.

  Kayne shot her a grin, speeding even faster as the engine revved under his boot. She was impressed he could see anything beyond the ruined windshield and pouring rain. “If anyone can find him, it’s Rome. I’m getting all tingly just thinking about it.”

  “Take me with you, to Cielo.” She didn’t ask, but tempered the demand with a, “Please.”

  The hybrid’s face sobered. “You do comprehend the shitstorm we’re driving into—”

  “They don’t know Alek like I do.” She raised her chin, determined even if the prospect of confronting that monster again scared the hell out of her. “And neither do you. I can help them. We can help them.”

  Kayne’s eyes leveled with hers, his expression solemn but resolute. “I’m already galloping straight into that battle, lass. If Rome thinks I’m going to stand around and wait, he’s got another think coming. Frosty saved my arse more times than I can count, and I’m not about to twiddle my bloody thumbs while he’s getting worked by Alek fucking Konstantinov.”

  “Then take me with you.” She grasped his forearm. Muscle contracted beneath her grip and she let go, hoping she didn’t cross a line. “Please. It’ll save you time. And I refuse to stand by, either.”

  He gave her a quick onceover. “No offense, love, but you look like hell. The bench might be good for you right now.”

  Anger flared in her veins, her hand balling into a fist. “I can take care of myself.”

  “I’m not arguing that.” He looked at her again, a little harder this time, studying the emotions emblazoned on her face.

  Sensing the opportunity opening up wide, she took another shot. “Going back there may trigger something. If what Rome said about Alek is true, I might be the only chance you’ve got. You don’t want to risk that, do you?”

  Focusing on the road, he contemplated his options, gears visibly turning as a frown tugged at the corners of his mouth. He flipped the wipers on, but the visibility was still terrible, intermittent flashes of lightning illuminating his features. “No funny business? You’ll do as I say?”

  Elation surged over her, flooding her with that fickle hope. “Yes, anything. I’ll behave.”

  “Riiight.” Gunning the car onto the highway, he switched into the high-speed lane, still unsmiling but settling on the verdict anyway. “Then let’s launch this rocket to heaven.”

 
~ ~ ~

  The cattle prod whipped into the arch of Dax’s foot for the second time as pain shattered through his leg.

  He grunted and bit back the scream expanding in his chest, grinding his molars to a near pulp. Alek was just getting started, laughing malevolently, and Dax had to steel himself for another round of excruciating torment.

  No matter what that bastard did to him, he wouldn’t give Alek a goddamn thing.

  Another crack across his opposite foot, a one-two blow from the metal bar. Another explosion of agony, and this time, a strangled whimper escaped him.

  “I’ll break you, hybrid,” Alek hissed. “You won’t win this.”

  Dax didn’t dignify him with a response, only struggled to breathe past the pain, his body slick with sweat. The sire hadn’t stripped him completely yet, but he planned to, keeping Dax suspended on the meat hooks just in case. Alek had flayed off his tattoos, every last one, even the tally marks on his shoulder—the most devastating of them all.

  Bastinado torture had nothing on that level of pain.

  Alek rounded on him, black sleeves rolled up to his pale, blood-spattered forearms, flipping the rusted prod in hand. He smiled up at Dax, obsidian eyes gleaming with pleasure, relishing every moment of his suffering. Earlier, he’d clamped off the catheters, pacing the bloodletting so Dax wouldn’t pass out, only to prolong the agony.

  Dax would’ve surrendered his left kidney for a good KO right about now.

  Picking up a nearby folding chair, Alek sat in it backward, settling in the corroded seat. He tapped the prod against his palm, raising his brow.

  “What a coincidence to find this here.” Lifting the prod, he waved it at Dax, its twin-bladed teeth catching the scarce light. “As if it were meant to be.”

  Dax tore his eyes away, hanging his heavy head, barely able to hold it up any longer. The sire had drained six pints of blood from him, almost half of Dax’s blood volume. He’d been anemic before—especially as a child, when he often refused to feed in fear of turning into a full vampire—but he’d never been sapped to the point where he skimmed the surface of death.

  Except with Cindy. But those circumstances had been entirely different.

  Still, Alek wouldn’t kill him. No, he’d keep him as a blood slave—a fucking souvenir—and a steady source of power.

  The thought of being captive to this monster terrified Dax more than anything else, more than all the pain and suffering in the world.

  More than death.

  Now he was beginning to understand the horrors both Blaze and Cindy had endured.

  Better you than them.

  “Tell me, Dax.” Alek leaned over, swiping a unit of blood off the chopping block and popping its port. “Have you been feeding your brother, Rome?”

  The sire gulped, taking long draws on the unit, drinking Dax’s still warm blood and squeezing the bag like a tube of icing. Dax stared at the stained floor, anger kindling inside him, but his broken body was too feeble to do anything about it.

  Alek’s repulsive swallowing ceased with a satisfied sigh. “Rome. He’s been taking your blood, hasn’t he?”

  As a matter of fact, Rome had. Ever since Blaze’s return—and with the discovery of Valerie’s GPS tracking ability thanks to their blood bond—Rome had been sipping on all of them, even Val and Veronica. Only small amounts, a single test tube, just enough to reinforce and maintain his psychic link to them.

  Sure, it gave him power over them, turning up the volume on their thoughts and feelings, but the security it provided was incomparable. They were all practically invincible to psychic attacks now because of him, and Rome could locate each of them at any given moment.

  Except for now, apparently.

  Dax didn’t say a word, but Alek continued as if he’d read his mind. “He can’t find you because I’m blocking him, dhampir. That’s why I bit you.” Alek poked Dax’s throbbing wrist with the prod and Dax wrenched his arm away, his body inadvertently rocking on the hooks. But his back had gone totally numb, losing all sensation, as if the hooks were now a part of him.

  Alek was still talking. “And with Cindel’s blood in your veins, well, it only enhances my grip on you. Because she’s mine, hybrid, do you understand? I infected her. I claimed her. No matter that our bond is broken because of that dead wretch, Taylon.”

  Dax raised his head slightly, lifting his eyes to meet the sire’s, his dwindling blood simmering.

  And you’ll be joining him soon enough.

  “Unfortunately, I can’t crack those seamless shields of yours.” The prod hit Dax’s temple and he flinched again, eliciting another infuriating chuckle from Alek. “But I’ll find a way. Your brother is no doubt powerful, I won’t deny that, but he’s no god. Rome may dominate the mind,” Alek pushed a finger into his own temple, a maniacal glint in his eyes, “but I rule blood. And blood is what perfuses the brain, the body, the soul. That’s why I can control you, hybrid, even if your brother has your mind locked down tighter than a fort. I can break your blood bond, ripping you right off his proverbial map. Unfortunately for me, Taylon could do the same. Surprise, surprise.”

  Dax gritted his teeth, his fury cranked to boiling, still soundless.

  “Cindel hated it, mind you.” Alek smiled deliberately, flashing his bloodstained fangs, his face darkening with an almost demonic pretense. “I often forced her to do a great many . . . tasks she wouldn’t have otherwise. She eventually learned to enjoy them, to take exactly what I gave her. That female was truly a gift. A priceless piece of property that belongs to me.”

  Dax clenched his raw hands into fists, fingernails digging into his palms. All he could picture was filching that prod and ramming it into Alek’s eye socket. “You’ll never find her,” he finally grated out, his vocal cords torn to shreds.

  Alek pushed the prod beneath his chin, lifting Dax’s head up, the barbs sinking into his flesh. Dax shoved it away, but Alek promptly swung it across his face like a baseball bat. Dax’s vision burst with fucking rainbows from the impact, stars running laps around his skull. Blood dribbled from his mouth as the barbs bit into him again, steering his head toward the sire.

  When the lights cleared, Dax stabbed him with a murderous glare, packed with so much hate he shook from it.

  “I’ll find her, Frosty.” The sire enunciated the nickname with mockery. “And I’ll make sure she’ll never leave me again. Maybe I’ll let you watch, taste her even, or maybe I’ll force you to tear her apart for my own entertainment—”

  “If you touch her, I’ll cut off your fucking hands! I’ll—”

  Paralysis abruptly seized Dax, depleting his remaining strength like a stopper unplugged from a drain. Trapped inside his limp body once again, he couldn’t even voice the raging inferno burning him alive.

  “Ah-ah-ah,” Alek taunted, dropping the prod away. “You’re in no position to make empty threats to me. Blood is power. Remember that.”

  A Temhota soldier suddenly entered the room, a flustered expression on his pallid face as he paused by a banquette, clutching his rifle. “Sire, we must go now. The hybrids are—”

  The vampire didn’t have a chance to finish before he burst into flames, a fireball landing on his back and spreading over his clothes like wildfire.

  Alek leapt to his feet and Dax’s heart soared as Blaze’s rumbling bass rolled through the room like thunder.

  “You’re not going anywhere, you leech motherfucker.”

  And the club erupted into fiery bedlam.

  Alek snatched the donor bags and scrammed, vanishing into the shadows with a fireball on his ass. Flames blasted against the far wall and ignited the rotted wood. Gunfire exploded in every direction, both within the room and outside of it, ricocheting into the building. Glass shattered, windows smashed, doors yielded under kicking boots as his brothers inva
ded the edifice, meeting Alek’s guard dogs with tooth and blade.

  Dax regained motor function after the sire made a run for it, adrenals pumping into overdrive as he thrashed against the hooks with renewed energy, swinging back and forth like a pendulum. The stench of burning flesh pervaded the air, singeing his nostrils while a vampire roasted just under his dangling toes, his blood feeding the licking flames below.

  “Dax!” Blaze appeared before him like an avenging angel, dressed head-to-toe in black with his wraparounds in place. In that moment, with the fire illuminating his buzzed head and savage profile, Dax nearly wept with joy at the sight of him.

  “Don’t let him get away!” Dax pleaded, motioning to where Alek had disappeared. They finally had their sights on the vampire king of New York and the last thing he wanted was for his brothers to lose Alek because of him.

  “He’s mine,” Rome growled as he shot past them, waving a hand as the chains bearing Dax’s hooks snapped under his mental command. Dax dropped into Blaze’s open arms, his brother catching him and breaking his fall, the rich scent of frankincense and myrrh inundating his senses.

  “I got you,” Blaze murmured the same words Dax had said to him once upon a time, carrying him away from the fire.

  Dax wrapped his arms around his brother, hugging his big body tightly, tears welling in his eyes with a relief so profound it briefly drowned out all of the agony.

  “I’m so sorry,” he uttered hoarsely, and he wasn’t sure what he was apologizing for—the fact he got caught or that Blaze had endured far worse than him.

  “Can you stand?” Blaze asked as he slowly lowered Dax to a bare stretch of floor.

  Dax struggled to get his feet under him, but after being foot-whipped and hamstringed, he floundered like an infant. Déjà vu ravaged both of their minds as Blaze hauled him up in a fireman’s carry and Dax gripped his brother like a crutch, feeling more helpless and vulnerable than he ever had in his entire existence.