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Mordecai appeared inches before her, inside the cage with her, out of the blue, and the humans screamed, but Lauren levitated up and threw her arms around the old god, she was so relieved to see him. He wrapped his arms around her, and the next thing she knew, the landscape around them changed again, and she was inside the house, in the control room, and she dropped from Mordecai’s arms and ran into her mother’s arms.
“I’m okay,” she assured her mother. “I’m fine, but the others taken with me are to be sold as slaves. We have to save them, but I havenoidea where they are.”
“Tell us what you can,” Nathan told her, his hand on her back, and then his arms around both Lauren and her mom, holding them both. “Were you hurt? Are you okay?”
“No one laid a hand on me, and I need to tell ya’ll…” She took a breath and backed away from everyone. “I should start at the beginning, I think, before I tell you who freed me. Is Nick okay? He wasn’t brought to the same place I was — did they take the large predatory shifters somewhere else?”
“The apex predators were left alone, the rest of you simply disappeared into thin air,” Cora told her.
“They had us sorted by what everyone shifted into, but the three humans were in a cage by ourselves. The horse cage was the most full, so that’s the one they processed first.” She shook her head, realized she was getting ahead of herself, and backtracked. “Let Nick and Queenie know I’m okay. How much time has passed? I think I was there for maybe two or three hours, but it’s dark here, which isn’t right.”
“It’s been around thirteen hours here,” Mordecai said, “which means you were likely in Niflheim, though possible in Jotenheim or Svartalfheim.”
“Or Faerie,” her mother said.
“She was in a Faraday cage, disconnected and inactive once sitting in our driveway,” Mordecai said. “Whoever sent it cleared it of all energies so I wouldn’t be able to tell where it came from or who has touched it in recent weeks. The cage doesn’t use electricity as we know it, but it uses a form of it. The giants use it, as do the dwarves, but it’s most common on Nifleheim, where it powers their heat and light.” He met Lauren’s gaze. “Was it cold and damp, where you were?”
“Let me talk to Gavin and Nick, and I’ll start from the beginning and tell you everything.”
Not even two seconds later, Gavin and Nick appeared before her, and she didn’t know who to run to first, but her men resolved the situation because they both hugged her at the same time, and she threw her arms around their necks, emotions spilling out of her, she was so happy to see them.
“We’re underground,” she told Gavin. “You’re safe. I’m safe.” She kissed his cheek, then Nick’s, and squeezed them both tighter. She didn’t know why she’d felt it necessary to tell Gavin they were underground, since it was dark out. Her mind still thought of it as daytime, but it wasn’t.
She stepped back and told her men, “I need to tell my story. The rest who were taken are to be sold as slaves. Wehaveto find them.”
Chapter 30
Gavin had been to Homewood once for a Halloween party, but he’d remained outside and hadn’t entered the house. The first floor had been opened to guests, but he hadn’t felt comfortable entering Kirsten’s home. Vampires don’t need an invitation — that’s one of those myths they’ve helped propagate over the years. He could’ve entered, but he hadn’t.
And now he found himself beamed into one of the most secure areas of her home as if it were completely normal.
And perhaps it was, since Kirsten and Gavin both loved Lauren.
Still, he was on edge and trying not to show it. Mordecai hadn’t stayed long before he was off again. Gavin figured the old god had quickly harvested all the information from Lauren’s mind and then left to handle the situation. Had he recognized the realm? The specific warehouse? The people?
He hadn’t talked to Nathan since shortly after he’d risen, so he gave the room the news they likely didn’t have yet. “Queenie called in the Concilio for help with managing the humans on the road in other vehicles who saw the vans crashing, or who saw the vehicles before she got them moved, since there was no way to explain how there were no injuries,” Gavin told them. “Per the Concilio’s orders, all our theaters except one are open, with the shows running. We have human understudies for the supernatural stars in those productions, and I’m told the backup dancers can spread out. The show Lauren and Nick were headed to has been cancelled because the entire cast is supernaturals. The various managers for that show are spreading out to the others.” He looked at Lauren. “I figure six peoplemightbe able to fill in for you, at least for a couple of days.”
Lauren paced the room. Thinking. Clearly too wired to sit. “I had the idea, while in that cage, that I might have been taken from Midgard to another realm, but the only thing I could be certain of was that it wasn’t Hell, because there was no smell of sulfur.”
Kirsten slapped at her ankle and then scratched it, said, “Finally,” and then grabbed Cora’s arm and the two of them flashed out of the room without explanation.
“The ankle scratch means his Lordship is finally ready to talk to her,” Nathan said. “She’ll do it outside. She won’t bring his energy in the house.”
Gavin was aware she’d tried to contact Xaephan when Lauren went missing, but he hadn’t responded. “So, she has a way to talk to him on a telephone type device, and she won’t actually be in the same room with him?” He couldn’t imagine the Amakhosi allowing her to go directly to the Lord of Lust, though it’s possible he wouldn’t be able to stop her.
Nathan gave him an emotionless stare. “Close enough.”
“And you’re stuck down here with me, the enemy invited into the stronghold?”
“Not an enemy or you wouldn’t be here. How about former enemy whom we’re treating as family?” He sighed. “I’ve come to trust Lauren’s instincts, and any friend of Lauren’s is a friend of mine, but I’m going to need a little time to get used to this.”
* * * *
Lauren wanted to jump up and scream to move everyone to action, but she didn’t know what to tell them to do.
She knew better than to demand her mom take her to talk to Xaephan, buther peoplewere being held against their will and were to be sold as fucking slaves. It was driving her crazy to just stand around and talk as if nothing was wrong.
“Isn’t there something we cando?” she asked Nathan. “And where is Mordecai? I know he looked through my memories and left, is there any chance he’s off rescuing them? Shouldn’t we know by now if he did?”
