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He’d let the stone armor melt away and was moving around the room like a twitchy ferret, rifling through small objects on carved shelves. I wasn’t about to wait around to find out what new horror he was going to unleash on the school.
I summoned up another wave of persuasion, wishing I’d had a goddamn orgy with my men this morning. I could’ve used the extra power.
Plus, I really might not ever see them again.
That thought caused an ache in my heart so intense I almost cried out. I shoved it away to focus back on my captor, concentrating as hard as I could.
“Owen, you’re so amazing. But you need some help. Let me free so I can help you. We’ll find all the things you’re looking for, and then you and I can do finally be together. You just have to let me out first.”
Owen paused, then moved a few steps toward me. I couldn’t see his eyes in the dim light, but he was moving like he was spellbound.
“Good, come closer,” I murmured. “Just get me out and all of your dreams will come true. I’ll give you a kiss for being such a good soldier for Gavriel.”
He was touching the wires now, and I could see his eyes. He was under my spell, but he wasn’t untying me. He was just kneeling in front of me with his hand on the wires, staring off into space.
“Come on, Owen.” It was getting harder to keep the panic out of my voice, to maintain the smooth pull of the persuasion. “These wires are hurting me. You don’t want to hurt me, do you? You want my help.”
That was a mistake. His dazed look twisted into one of disgust, and he pushed away from me.
“You bitch! Keep your filthy tongue to yourself. Nobody needs your help, you hear me? I don’t need anything from you. You made your choice when you bonded with those freaks. You had your chance and you lost it. Fuck off.” Finally doing what he would’ve done in the first place if he wasn’t an idiot, he ripped bits of cloth off of his tunic and stuffed them in his ears. He turned his back on me and kept searching for whatever it was he wanted.
Goddammit. His stupid oversight had given me a chance, but now that he’d realized what I was up to, he’d taken away my best weapon.
“Owen,” I said, leaning toward him as much as I could.
Nothing.
My persuasion couldn’t reach him with his ears blocked, and it pissed me off. I tried shouting, but that didn’t work. Persuasion was a fragile spell. Shouting broke it. I tried projecting psychically, but I hadn’t done real well in that class. Class! Shit! I was missing the finals. Not that it mattered, I realized. Owen was going to kill me anyway.
Think, Piper. Persuasion won’t work, so what’s left?
Shape shifting. Fuck, will that even work?
I closed my eyes and concentrated on being small. Smaller than the loop of wire. But the wire, being of the magical variety, simply shrank with me. Fine. Big, then. I tried to reverse course, morphing back to my regular size and shape, but the wires cut into my flesh, burning through to what felt like bone. I bit my teeth against a scream and shrank down again. Fabulous. Now I wasn’t just trapped, I was trapped in a body the size of a toddler.
I lay on the cold floor trying to think. I had tools, I knew I did. I had people, but they wouldn’t hear me scream down here.
“Oh my God, I’m an idiot,” I muttered to myself. “They don’t have to hear me scream.”
Keeping my mouth shut, I projected my terror and frustration as loudly as I could, sending it along the invisible lines of my connection to each of the men. I was broadcasting like a beacon, screaming mentally for my guys. Jayce could practically read my mind. Xero always felt me when I walked into a room. The other two were the wild cards, but I called to them too. I needed them all to get me out of this.
For several long moments, it felt like mentally screaming into an empty void. But then…
There.
There!
I could feel them. Their energy. It was very faint but getting stronger. Jayce was worried. Xero was quietly panicking. Kingston was annoyed and frightened. Kai was furious.
Good. Be ragey, vampire. Kick his ass.
Closer and closer they came, and I could feel their whole journey. I lost track of what Owen was doing, but it didn’t seem to matter. Ah, a moment of surprise from all four of them. They’d discovered the sub-basement.
I felt a rush of intrigue as they found the sub-sub-basement. Jayce’s heart was beating wildly. I hadn’t known before that he was claustrophobic, but it made sense. Kai was utterly in his element down here in the dark. I pushed out a warning that they should change, gear up into their demonic forms.
They hesitated, and I clenched my fists in frustration. This connection between us was crazy-powerful, and it might just save my life, but it wasn’t exactly as simple as having a conversation with words. I pushed harder.
When they did as I said, it was like a beam of light into my brain. They were pure demon, purely connected. That much power almost made me want to try breaking through the bonds wrapped around me again, but I suppressed the impulse. I couldn’t afford more injuries, not if what I thought was about to happen actually happened.
