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45
Lucian
The blood in my body pounded until I could feel it pulsing in my forehead.
Dominic himself was standing in front of us with a smug look on his face. Behind us, there were close to twenty of Bennigan’s women and several other vampires I didn’t recognize. I thought maybe Alaric would’ve been fast enough to run and slip through, but I couldn’t be sure. Dominic was immensely powerful, and I didn’t know what he was capable of.
It meant we had no choice but to stand and let the crowd of hostile vampires keep us trapped on the rooftop outside Anya’s, even as I could feel hints of what was happening to Cara through the bond. Bennigan had taken her somewhere, but she’d finally stopped moving farther away.
I cursed at myself for letting her convince me this plan was our best choice. I should have never agreed to anything that put so much distance between the two of us. I’d let her put herself in danger, but the alternative had been to show Cara I didn’t trust her judgment. To show that I was too bull-headed to let her use her intelligence to get us through this.
So I’d stupidly agreed, thinking I was doing the right thing.
Now I saw the “right thing” would’ve been to get her out of danger and trust that I could smooth over her anger with enough years of making amends.
I also knew I wouldn’t forgive myself if anything had happened to her roommates, who were supposed to have let us know if Bennigan was coming. Their silence meant he’d made it through them, and they somehow hadn’t been able to reach out.
The whole plan had fallen apart in an instant, and now all I could do was stand like an idiot on the roof while Dominic watched me.
“What really happened to you?” I asked.
Dominic had ignored my previous questions, but he finally pursed his lips and gave a little shrug. He looked exactly like he had the last time I’d seen him. Severe, slightly aged, and the owner of the two most dead, empty eyes I’d ever seen. He wore a black ankle-length coat with a high collar and a blood-red tie beneath his vest. “You only supported The Pact because I told you to,” he said.
“We have the night and they have the day. There’s no need to fight for more,” I said.
“You’re more of a fool than I thought if you can’t see it. How long before they find a way to end us? Some machine smaller than a blood cell? Nanomachines that can unmake us—can seek us out and neutralize our kind? What do you think they would do if they knew about us and had the means to destroy us?”
I swallowed. “I think they would try to find out more about us before they made imaginary machines commit genocide.”
“Then you’re naïve. Humanity’s greatest fear is being lesser than. We are better than they are. They will never abide our existence.”
“Why are you helping a thug like Bennigan?”
“Bennigan is a tool. A wise man uses the tools he’s provided. The dull blades can be used to chip away at the objective until the sharper tools are needed. That’s all.”
“Ana Black won’t let you do what you’re wanting.”
The mention of her name caused the faintest reaction in Dominic’s face—a twitch of his eyebrow and a narrowing of his hooded eyes. “Ana Black doesn’t concern herself with mortal or immortal affairs any longer.”
“Maybe you should ask her, then.”
A female vampire emerged onto the rooftop, then whispered something in Dominic’s ear. He gave me one last, lingering look, and snapped his fingers. In an instant, the vampires surrounding us were gone.
I let out a long breath, finally feeling like my lungs weren’t compressed by some unseen fist.
Alaric whistled long and low. “That guy is a dick.”
Seraphina rolled her neck. “Did you see how he reacted when Lucian mentioned Ana Black?”
Alaric nodded. “He was scared. I’m guessing Vlad was telling the truth. This woman must be even more powerful than him.”
I grunted my agreement. “We can talk about that later. Follow me. I can sense where he took Cara.”
“What about Vlad and the humans?” Seraphina asked.
“Cara first,” I said.
I felt a twinge of guilt at that, but I wasn’t going to change my mind. I could deal with guilt and responsibility later. Right now, I needed to get to Cara.
46
Cara
I tried not to sit up straighter when I sensed Lucian coming toward me. It seemed like Bennigan really had called off his people, and that meant Lucian was okay. He was also closing the distance between us fast enough that I could feel it in my chest.
I started breathing heavier in anticipation. I’d need to act fast when the opportunity came.
Bennigan was speaking in quiet tones with Jezabel about something I couldn’t quite pick up when I sensed Lucian was close.
