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I shuddered, not wanting to respond, angry that my body was betraying me. A quiver in my stomach made me catch my breath, and again he laughed.
"You like? Good. What about this?"
He interlaced his hands, cracking his knuckles. The next thing I knew, a line of razor-thin blades ripped across my stomach, slashing a trail of shallow lines that burned along my flesh. Unprepared for the pain, I shrieked and Dredge shuddered, drinking it in. "Scream as loud as you want. There's no one to hear you. No one to save you."
Another line of cuts and the sudden sting of salt water over the wounded flesh. I bit back my cries for the next few minutes as he laboriously began etching thin patterns along every inch of my body, drizzling salt water over each cut, each scar-in-the-making. After the tenth cut, a spiral right between my breasts, I started screaming. After the thirtieth, I was beyond words. And after a hundred, the torture began in earnest.
"Menolly? Menolly? Are you okay?" Delilah touched my shoulder, startling me. She quickly danced away when I hissed.
I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. No time for me to get lost in memories. Dredge had Erin and that meant she was doomed unless we got to her before he had a chance to.
"Sorry… just thinking." I saw Delilah glance at Camille, who was holding a silver arrow made of moonlight. "Did your spell work?" I asked, ignoring the glance that passed between them.
She paled and shook her head. "No. Not a single clue."
"We have five hours till sunrise. We'll have to just start searching the city—" I stopped as Delilah's cell phone rang.
"Chase," she whispered, flipping it open. Please, please let everything at home be okay, I prayed, hoping that for once the gods would be listening. She hung up. "We have to go home. Chase just got a call from Sharah. Four more vamp victims—the FH-CSI team got to them before the regular force heard. They haven't risen yet, but you know they will."
I glanced at Tim. "Tim, we have to go. We have to take care of them before they rise and hurt somebody else. We don't have any choice."
"Can't Chase take care of it? Erin's out there with that monster…"
"I know, and if there was any way I could go get her right now, I would. But we don't have a clue to where they took her. I promise you though, we'll do everything we can. Morio and Camille will drive you." I glanced at them. "Along the way, try to figure out if there's something you can do to locate Erin." I begged them silently to play along, even if they didn't think they could help. Tim needed to hold onto hope for a little while. And I had to go to the morgue and stake some bloodsuckers.
Camille jumped on board. "There are still spells we haven't tried that we can cast at home. Come on, Tim. Menolly, are you going alone?"
I glanced at Wade and Nerissa. "No. Take Nerissa, Iris, and Trillian with you. Trillian, once there, head out to the morgue with Chase. Delilah, Wade, and I will meet you there." I hated putting Delilah in danger, but we had no choice and she was better in a physical fight than Camille.
Things were bad now, but I had a feeling they were going to get much worse over the next few months and here on the front lines, we didn't have the luxury of retreat. As we headed out into the night, my thoughts flashed to Erin and I felt queasy all over again. Whatever happened to her, I prayed it was quick. But in my heart, I knew Dredge would never offer anyone that much mercy.
CHAPTER 10
"Morio, take Nerissa and Iris in your SUV. I'll ride with Camille and Tim," Trillian said.
Camille bundled her arm around Tim and led him toward the door. She glanced back at Delilah and me. "You guys be careful, okay?"
Nerissa held open the door as they hurried out into the glittering night. I turned to Delilah. "You and Wade go on ahead to the morgue. I'll meet you there. Don't play hero—wait for me before going in. Wade, we need stakes. Got any handy?"
He snorted. "Yeah, like I keep those around."
"He may not, but I do." The voice from the door made me jump. I spun around. Roz entered the shop.
"Have you been spying on us?"
"Not exactly. I checked out the zoo like I told you I was going to, then followed your… trace… here." He tugged at the belt of his duster, looking almost bemused.
"My trace? I've got a trace?" Traces were like a magical GPS and usually meant you'd been tagged by some wizard or witch. If I had one, then somebody had slapped a spell on me to monitor my position and I damned well wanted to know who'd done it.
His eyes flickered and he looked surprised. "You didn't know about it?"
I frowned. "If I'd known, I'd have put an end to both the trace and the person who triggered it."
Wade feather-touched my arm. "There's no time to debate whether or not you're being spied on. We have to take care of those newborns before they rise."
"He's right," Delilah said. "We can ask Camille and Morio to find out who's behind it later. For now, let's get moving. Chase will be on his way to the morgue pretty soon and I don't want him there alone. And it's not safe to leave Sharah holding the bag, either. If those vamps rise before we get there, she's dead meat. Or maybe undead elf."
They were both right. I motioned to Roz. "Come with us."
