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He stroked his goatee. “Show yourselves. Don’t worry. I come in peace.” He sat down on top of the metal box.
I can’t believe he knows we’re here.
That’s his Ancestral power.
Lucian, what should we do? I don’t trust him.
Neither do I, but he’s got something important up his sleeve, so here’s how I want this to go. We’ll touch down, and you have a quick look around—and I mean quick. If you can see through the disguise and he’s brought backup, I’ll get us both out of there. Just shout into my head.
Sounds like a plan.
He landed them, and Claire searched the area. All she saw, however, were two women, one of them weak and emaciated, huddled by the far wall.
Daniel just smiled, his arms crossed over his chest.
Lucian squeezed her waist. Claire, are you able to see through the disguise? What can you see?
Just two women.
What women?
Right. I forgot that this is my skill and not yours. But they’re by the back wall of the cave, maybe twenty feet past Daniel. There’s no one else here and I’m sure the women can’t harm us. One of them is really sick. I think they both might be slaves.
Daniel narrowed his gaze at Claire. “So you can see through the disguise I created. You have some serious power, Claire. Now tell me what you see.”
Lucian interjected. “What do you want, Daniel?”
“I want to offer some incentive for your help, but first I had to find out if you had the tracking ability. It appears you do. And yes, I sent the tip through Rumy’s spy network.”
Lucian gestured to the box. “So this isn’t a complete weapon, maybe just part of one?”
“You’ve guessed accurately. It’s of no use to me. I almost had the plans once, but they got turned over to Gabriel, the one you erroneously refer to as your father. He probably destroyed them.”
Claire glanced at Lucian. She didn’t know who Gabriel was or why Lucian might have thought of him as a parent. More questions to ask.
Daniel turned his flecked, light-teal eyes on Claire. “Don’t you recognize at least one of these women?” He swept his hand toward the far wall.
She searched their faces. The gaunt one, who couldn’t be far from death, shifted slightly in her direction as though in pain. She had black hair and her large eyes were very blue. Then she saw the faint resemblance. “Zoey. She’s alive. You brought her here.” Her heart thumped hard in her chest. Her friend was right there.
On impulse she started to move in her direction, but two things happened at once. Lucian held her tight, preventing her from leaving his side, and Daniel snapped his fingers. With that small movement, the other woman gathered Zoey up in her arms and instantly shifted to altered flight. They both disappeared.
Claire felt dizzy. “What have you done with her? Where is that woman taking her?”
But Daniel only smiled. “As for her appearance, she’s been with me for over two years now and is going through the normal debilitation that your kind generally experiences. She doesn’t have long now, but she might survive if you help me.”
Claire would have launched herself at Daniel, ready to scratch his eyes out, but Lucian held her in a tight grip. Don’t let him get to you like that. He’s taunting you. If you want her back, we’ll have to play his game.
She settled down, working to compose herself.
“Claire has spirit, Lucian. You’ll enjoy that in the coming days. A real livewire, but then I knew you’d like her the moment I saw her in Santa Fe. Zoey, on the other hand, was just a lovely bonus. Now, as for my terms, it’s simple. If you want Zoey back, then bring me the extinction weapon. Seems like a fair trade, doesn’t it?” He stood up. “You won’t need to contact me because I’ll be watching you both.”
Then just like that, he was gone.
Her throat grew tight. “I can’t believe she was just here. I barely recognized her.”
Lucian drew several deep breaths. At first Claire didn’t know what was wrong, but then she felt it. “You’re starting to spiral again, aren’t you?”
He nodded. “We need to get back. Now.”
“Let’s go then.”
To her surprise, he didn’t inquire about return directions; he seemed to know the route even though it was miles long and took a number of twists and turns.
Throughout the flight, she remained quiet, hoping that in doing so, she wouldn’t aggravate the growing tension in his body and in his mind.
By the time he brought her to their room, he stumbled as he moved in the direction of the bed. “Claire, you’ve got to call Rumy, now. You’re not safe.” He was breathing hard, struggling to get sufficient air into his lungs.
Using the landline, Claire did. “Rumy I need you. Lucian’s blood-madness has returned. Please hurry.”
“I’m on my way with reinforcements.”
“Good.”
She hung up, but her hand trembled so badly that she had a hard time getting the handset back on the cradle.
Lucian leaned over the bed, his hands planted on the comforter, his eyes squeezed shut.
She felt myriad emotions swirl through the shared blood-chains—rage and fear, deep confusion, even shame.
She just hoped Rumy would get there in time.
But the next moment the door slammed open and Rumy walked in with three powerful vampires, each almost as big as Lucian.
Claire tucked herself into the corner of the room, which was as far as the chain-bond would allow her to go. The tug on her neck made her wince.
She held a hand to her mouth as she watched Rumy’s guards grab Lucian, tackle him to the bed, then work on the wrist restraints. The left restraint was attached to the steel bar on the side of the bed, but another steel loop, located between the halves of what proved to be a split mattress on top of the bed, held the other restraint. The ankles were lashed to the bar that ran across the bottom of the bed.
Lucian snarled and sank his fangs into each of the men in turn as they struggled to secure him. Yelps followed and a mountain of curses.
Lucian’s twisted, furious expression, as well as the madness that flowed through the chains, beat at Claire, speaking to her in a constant stream that kept her heart thumping loudly in her ears.
Once Lucian was subdued, all three heavily muscled guards stood back, checking their wounds. Blood flowed from a number of bites. To Claire’s surprise, however, each of them laughed.
“Damn, he’s strong.”
“Always was. Jesus, look how much I’m bleeding.”
