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I blushed. “Vance! We’re in a grocery store. You shouldn’t be talking about that!”
He laughed. “Talk about what, Karli? Sex?” He pinched my ass before adding, “Or more specifically, how badly I would love to pull you into a stock room right now and have my wicked way with you?”
I swatted his hand away. “Stop it! You can’t make me think about that right now.” Or how badly I wanted him to pull me into that stock room.
He gave me a side hug and kissed the top of my head. “C’mon baby, let’s hurry up and get our fuel so we can get home and make ourselves hungry.” Oh, trust me, I was already hungry. Very, very hungry.
After dinner, and another round of dessert, Vance and I finally broke away from each other to get back to the real world. He needed to check in with Tara at the station so I decided to go back home to pick up some things. In between making love, he had asked me to move in with him. Not wanting to jinx anything, I told him I wanted to wait, but I agreed to move some of my belongings over so I could stay with him more often. I smiled as I recalled how he’d excitedly cleared out a dresser drawer for me.
When I got to my apartment, I found Jake sitting on the steps in front of my door. When he raised his head, I gasped. He looked like hell. “Jake, what’s wrong?” I asked. “What are you doing here?”
He scrubbed his hand over his face. In a gravelly voice he replied, “Karli, Erica’s been missing for over three days. She went to work and never came home. I’ve tried calling her repeatedly, even tried a locator spell, but I can’t find her anywhere. I didn’t know where else to go.”
“What?” I asked. “What do you mean she’s missing? Did you two have a fight?”
He looked down shamefully. “A little one, yeah,” he admitted. “But not anything that would make her leave me. Or I don’t think so anyway…I guess we haven’t really known each other for very long. But I know she loves me as much as I love her. I really think something’s wrong.”
I started unlocking my door. “Did you call the police?”
“Yeah,” he replied. “But they seemed to lose interest after I admitted that we had been arguing. Has she called you? Do you know where she is?”
I opened the door and stepped aside to let him in. “No, Jake, I haven’t heard from her.” And now I was feeling a little guilty for being so removed from the world. After closing the door behind him I added, “C’mon, I’ll try calling her. If I can’t reach her, I’ll get Vance to come over to check it out.”
He pulled me into a giant bear hug, painfully squeezing the breath out of me. “Oh, thank you, Karli! I’m so glad she has you as a friend.”
I dug through my purse until I found my phone. As I started dialing, Jake grabbed it from my hand. “Wha--” I started to say.
He gave me a wicked smile as he threw it across the room. “You know, Karli, now that I think about it…I don’t think I’ll be needing your assistance after all.”
“Huh?” I shook my head in confusion. “What the hell are you talking about, Jake? And why did you just chuck my phone across the room?”
“Dormio,” he said in a commanding voice.
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I asked irritably.
Before I could find out, my world was clouded in black.
Fifteen
The first thing I realized upon waking was that I was gagged and my arms hurt. Bad. The second thing that came into focus was that I was hanging from a rafter, my wrists bound in leather straps. Well, that explained the arm pain. Sluggishly, I lifted my head to survey the area. I was in a large, dark room. An old warehouse perhaps. A single bulb hung overhead, affording me minimal sight. It was drafty in there…probably because I’d been stripped down to my bra and underwear. As the fogginess started to lift, panic started settling in. Where the hell was I? And how did I get here? Think, Karli! The last thing I remembered was talking to Jake in my apartment and then…what? Omigod, I think that bastard spelled me! But why?
A noise to my right interrupted my musings. A slender figure came into view but it was too dark to make out who it was at fir
st. My spidey senses were tingling as the figure came closer. Straining my eyes to adjust in the darkness, I could identify a female form. What. The. Fuck.
“Well, you certainly are a sight to see, aren’t you?” she drawled. “I can see why Vance and Leo are so drawn to you.” Oh fuck. Maria. I knew that bitch was evil! She came into view, standing mere inches in front of me, appraising my nearly naked body lasciviously. I flinched when she began tracing the lines of my bra cups with her finger. As she removed my gag she said, “Don’t even think about screaming, Karli. It will be useless. This place has been soundproofed for the bands that used to play here back in my human days.”
I glared. “I don’t know what you’re thinking of doing, Maria, but Leo will find me and then you’ll be sorry.”
Maria smirked. “Ah, yes I suppose that he will eventually be able to locate you once he figures out that you’ve gone missing. What you seem to forget, is that he and I also have a bond and I could sense him coming with plenty of warning.”
Shit, I didn’t think about that. “I’m sure he can feel my distress right now,” I countered. “He’ll be on his way any time now.”
She smiled even wider with fang. “Oh, my poor, naïve little girl. That’s where you’re wrong. You see, your little witch friend in the other room is very talented thanks to her newly acquired abilities. She has placed wards around the building which block out anyone’s ability to sense anything that goes on within these walls. They won’t last forever, but if she values both of your lives, she will keep them up for as long as possible. I should have at least a few days to have fun with you.”
Erica’s here? Oh hell, what was going on? “You’re lying,” I spat.
“Am I?” Maria paused for a moment as if deep in thought. “Well, I can tell you that Leo is currently at his delightful club in a very…how shall I say, happy mood. If I had to guess, I would say that he is feeding, or perhaps fucking one of his lovely patrons at the moment. Probably both.” I tried not to, but I cringed at the thought which caused Maria to grin before continuing. “Perhaps he’s decided that you weren’t worth waiting for since you decided to screw Vance over him. If he truly senses your distress, he mustn’t care.” She leaned in and inhaled. “I can see why he held out for so long though. You smell absolutely delicious.” She kissed me lightly on the lips, knelt down in front of me, and forced my thighs open.
