BloodGifted (26 page)

Chapter 23

Taken

LAURA

A massive headache woke me. The right side of my face ached and I remembered something hitting me as I opened my apartment door. A tremor of fear rippled through me as I opened my eyes and realised I was bound. Someone had manacled me by the wrists to a metal pole suspended from the ceiling. I tried moving, but my legs had been tied and secured with a short rope around my waist so I couldn’t extend my legs.

I
panicked and a scream welled up in my throat when I heard a vaguely familiar voice.

‘Finally, you’re awake!’ Took you long enough.’ Douglas, the surfer boy who had danced with me at the Ritual crouched low, his face directly against mine. A nasty sneer marred his features.

At the same time another voice intruded—female, cold and hard. I didn’t recognise it, but somehow I knew exactly who it was and turned my head in the voice’s direction.

‘Perhaps if you hadn’t struck her so hard, she would have been with us much sooner,’ it said accusingly.

‘You told me to bring her, no matter how, and I did.’

‘I want her wide-awake before we send Alec our little message. Don
’t we Laura?’ She crouched down and I was face to face with the vampire-in-red. Maris.

I swallowed back the scream and tried to keep my breathing even
as something about her comment sent a shiver through me. It took all my control to stare back at her, defiant, hoping she couldn’t sense my fear. It wasn’t made any easier seeing them both of them wearing long black cloaks. The hoods were thrown back.

‘I wonder how different her blood tastes to
all the others.’ Douglas said. ‘It’s got to be a hundred times better.’ He licked his lips, giving me a glimpse of fangs.

Remain calm
,
I told myself.
Don’t let them smell your fear.

‘Give
it to me.’

Douglas
placed my mobile phone into Maris’s outstretched hand. She stood, took a step back and aimed. ‘Smile,’ she said, but not to me. Was she holding someone else captive? My eyes had begun to adjust to the near dark and I was able to make out shapes and faces.

‘Laura, p
et?’ A weak voice said somewhere to my left.

I knew that voice
, too. Terens. Ignoring the pain in my head, I turned and tried to focus. They had him in some sort of metal cage, on his knees, hands bound behind his back. A long, sharp piece of wood attached to the metal bars—like a stake—was only inches from his chest.

I was shocked by what they had done to him. His fine, pale skin was blackened and horribly blistered and almost all his thick
, auburn hair had been burned off. If not for the diamond stud in his ear, I wouldn’t have recognised him. He’d been deliberately exposed to the summer sun, but not long enough to kill him. It must have been agonising.

Only
monsters could do something like that!

‘What have they done to you?’

‘You’ve been hurt and strung up like a chicken and you’re worried about me?’ He croaked and tried a pathetic sort of laugh. ‘They’ve got Sam as well.’

Ignoring the pain, I turned my
head. Sam, burnt and blackened, was caged and tied as well. A low moan escaped his lips.

My breath caught in my throat
as my fear began to turn to terror.

Maris laughed and
I looked up in time to see her throw my mobile phone to Douglas. She bent towards me and her cold fingers slithered across my exposed abdomen. ‘Your blood is too sacred to be spilt, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have my fun with you.’

I
recoiled from her icy touch but that only made her smile. My mind began to envisage all the ways a person could be tortured and I was convinced she was well acquainted with them all. Without warning, she whipped me across the stomach with a riding crop. I hadn’t seen her holding it.

A sharp, searing pain flared across my body with the same intensity that comes from a bluebot
tle sting. I screamed and doubled over but my manacled hands prevented any further movement.

Douglas laughed.

Tears stung my eyes and as the pain spread and intensified she whipped me again, this time with more force. I screamed again and dry retched as my body reacted to the pain.

‘Stop it, you demented bitch!’ Terens yelled.

I gasped and struggled for air as the dry retching continued and wondered how much I could endure. I knew she wouldn’t kill me—yet—but what other pain was she going to inflict on me. Was this only the beginning? I began to shake.

‘Enough for now. S
mile for the camera, sweetie!’ she cooed, then roughly grabbed my hair and pulled my head so far back I thought my neck would snap. Having done that, she struck me hard across the side of the head.

Chapter 24

A Hunting We Will Go

ALEC

There was one scent I recognised—Douglas. The others were unknown, but not for long. Luc showed me Laura’s bag. She must have dropped it when they took her. Nothing was missing except her mobile phone. Why?

‘There wer
e definitely three of them here, for one defenceless girl!’ he said angrily.

‘I know one of them. Any idea who the others are?’ I asked.

‘No, but let’s go find out,’ he answered, his smile dangerous with fangs.

‘The
scents all merge.’ Jean had come back from scouring the immediate area. ‘They left together. Seems they all had turns carrying her—there’s an unmistakable trail.’

‘They
want us to follow,’ Jake said.

M
y mobile rang. I retrieved it from my back pocket, and checked the screen—Laura’s number. Now I knew why they took her phone. I’d given her my card on our first meeting and she must have added it to her contacts. I alerted the others before answering, then put it on loudspeaker.

‘Alec, darling.’ It was Maris’
s silky voice. ‘I thought you might enjoy seeing this.’

A
n image rolled across the screen. It showed Terens and Sam on their knees in a cage, hands tied behind them, with sharpened stakes a hair’s breadth from their bare chests. They must have been exposed to the sun; both looked blackened, blistered and too weak to raise their heads.

T
he image swung to Laura and Luc inhaled sharply. She was seated on the ground, legs tied together and folded at her side. Her hands were manacled and drawn up high above her head.

Maris appeared next to her.

I tensed as she ran her fingers along Laura’s exposed midriff before producing a whip and striking her with it.

Laura screamed and her body convulsed.

We could only watch helplessly as Maris struck her again and the sound of her screams filled the quiet street. Luc roared and the vampire was free. There would be no holding him back this night. Maris would die at his hand. I recognised Douglas’s laughter in the background.

He was mine!

‘Smile for the camera, sweetie!’ Maris struck Laura so violently across the head she lost consciousness.

We didn’t see any more as my hand crushed the phone into carbon and sil
icon dust. I loosened my own beast and from the collective snarls around me, so did the others.

We got back into the cars and sped after the scent. It led
to a disused theatre in Rozelle. The men were blocking so no one inside would sense our presence. I had no need to do the same as the Serpent Ring on my hand did that for me. Luc had used it many years ago when he and Judith wanted to be together, just after I had become Princeps. I’d pass the ring to him and slip out of my apartment. None of our kind ever knew he was there.

Now it’s my turn to use it,
I thought.

As we stood outside, planning our next move
Laura’s voice whispered through my mind. She must have regained consciousness and remembered the telepathic powers of the ring.

‘I’m outside. Hold on,’
I told her.

Wary lest any of the Bre
thren overhear us, I mouthed my words. ‘Luc, she’s okay for now.‘

He looked at me
then down at my hand.

I nodded. ‘Twenty-two
.’

‘We can take ‘em,’ Cal mouthed
.

‘We need something more subtle. Laura’s in there and if we attack, they could kill her in spite.’
  Luc stroked his chin.

‘I’ve got an idea but
there’s no time to discuss it. You’ve got to trust me on this one.’

‘Give us a hint, at least
,’ Cal mouthed back.

I shook my head.
‘Stay here and cover the exits. I’ll go in alone, get some idea what they’re up to and make it look like I’m going along with them.’

Jake
frowned and shook his head vigorously. ‘As if they’ll—’

‘Jake, Maris
is in there. All I need is a few minutes with her.’ When no one made a move, I mouthed, ‘It’s the only way. They can’t sense my presence while I’ve got the ring. It’ll shield me, not all of you. I can get in among them before they know I’m there, find out their plans then confront her.’

The others exchanged looks.

‘Give me ten minutes and if I don’t call you by then…’

‘You realise how risky
that is? They could kill you!’ Cal said.

I shook my head. ‘Not straight away.’

They didn’t like it but we had few options. ‘We can’t stand here arguing. Trust me on this one and whatever you hear me say in there… don’t react. Don’t barge in until I give the word. Just cover the exits and wait. I have a feeling they’ll come charging out.’

‘All right. T
en minutes, no more.’ Luc gave me the nod and from the expression on his face, he was ready to remove a few heads.

‘There’s a flaw i
n this somewhere, but I’m in. At least I’ll get to see that venomous bitch suffer!’ Cal said.

He wasn’t alone in that.

‘Maris belongs to me,’ Luc added.

No one argued with that.

I took a deep breath and walked in the front entrance.

Chapter 25

Maris

LAURA

P
ain woke me. How long I’d been unconscious I have no idea, but my body felt as if on fire and my hands were still manacled high above my head. I glanced down. Two large, red welts swelled on my abdomen. Maris had left her mark on me.

Myriad thoughts swirled through my head. What had happened to Matt? Was he lying hurt, or even worse?
A dreadful fear clutched at my heart at the thought that Matt could be lying hurt on account of me, perhaps still in my apartment. The neighbours would find him, surely, and ring the police.

‘Laura, can you hear me?’ A vo
ice called softly and I turned my head in its direction. ‘It’s me, Terens. I’m here, pet. How are you?’

‘Everything hurts!’

Terens strained at the manacles that held him captive inside his cage. ‘I’ll kill that creature. Not one of them will leave this place with their heads still attached. I promise you.’ His voice sounded stronger.

I was ex
hausted from the pain and my body ached from its cramped and bound position. Trying to manoeuvre my legs to the other side was pointless, so I tried to relax my muscles instead and flexed my fingers in the tight manacles to restore the circulation. Terens swore loudly and rattled his cage.

‘Where
are we?’ I asked.

‘A
n abandoned theatre. See the dark curtain in front of you? We’re on the stage.’

I could make out the dark walls, floo
r and the heavy roped curtain. Why a theatre? Was it because it was an abandoned building suited their purpose, or was there a more sinister reason? If I trusted to the old adage about bad feelings then I had a distinctly foul one.

‘Why did they take you?’

‘I’m assuming they’re capturing as many of us as possible to reduce Alec’s chances of fighting back.’

‘Then it’s no
t just Maris and Douglas, doing this?’

‘Oh no, ther
e’s more. No way those two could have done this on their own. It took eight of them to grab Sam and me. It appears we have another rebellion on our hands.’

‘So how many?’

‘I sense twenty-two behind that curtain.’ His brow furrowed. ‘One of them feels vaguely familiar.’

‘There’s no way Alec can take them all on, even if he is stronger and faster.’

He shook his head. ‘He won’t be on his own. That’s what they’re counting on. They’re hoping to eliminate all of us tonight—Luc, Cal, Jean and Jake. They’ve already got two of us.’

‘And now me.’

Terens nodded. ‘We’re the bait.’

I was the lure to bring him here, but when I recalled the way we parted, the angry words… I had a feeling he’d come only because he
was obligated to, as my guardian. I glanced up at my manacled hands. The ring had a faint glow. That could only mean one thing. Alec was on his way and walking into a trap.

Then I remembered what he
had said to me last Friday night, about the rings telepathic powers in times of danger. Regardless how angry I’d been with him earlier, I couldn’t bear to see him killed. Closing my eyes I mentally called him. ‘Alec, if you can hear me, it’s a trap. There’s twenty-two of them.’

‘I’m outside
. Hold on.’

My eyes snapped open at the sound of his voice in my head. It
had worked. There’s no way it could have been my imagination.

‘Alec?’ I whispered. There was no answer.

Sam stirred in the other cage and let out a deep groan.

‘They kept Sam
out for longer,’ Terens said, anger tinging his voice. ‘That sow’s arse wanted to hurt him. He’s her sire.’

Well, that explained the warning look h
e sent her at the start of the Ritual. He probably knew her better than anyone else. ‘Is that why she hates him so much?’

‘On the contrary
. She begged him to change her and he spent the next century training the bitch! When she started killing and getting out of control, he threatened to have her executed. For a while she stopped, but at the end of her servitude he set her free and walked away.’

Had Alec done that to her?
Although Terens hadn’t said it aloud, it hung there, all the same. It appeared Maris wasn’t the type to let her man go easily.

Terens leaned himself forward as f
ar as his bound position allowed and turned his head to look past me to Sam. ‘Wake up, Sam. Come on, my brother, you can do this. Don’t let her win.’

Sam stirred and briefly opened his eyes before his head dropped again.

‘Will he recover?’ I asked.

‘We can heal at night
, although it takes a little longer. It’s the day sleep that works best on our kind. I hope he can hang on for another six hours until then. If not I’ll wreak such a vengeance they’ll speak of it among my kind for eternity!’

No idle boast, t
he pain in his voice rang out clearly. He tipped his head back and roared till the ground beneath me shook. The sound reverberated around the walls, the ceiling and through my body like a shock wave. I stared at him open mouthed. Even in his injured state, Terens’s power was frightening. What was it like when he was whole?

He looked a
t me. ‘I’m sorry, Laura. I couldn’t hold it back.’

Panic welled up in me that
had nothing to do with Terens’s outburst. There was no way I could slip my hands through the tight iron that held my wrists. The more I tried the deeper the metal cut into my skin and I risked bleeding as a result. I gave up, never having felt more helpless in my life.

‘They’re g
oing to kill him, aren’t they?’ I may have been angry with Alec, but the thought of him being killed sickened me. I didn’t want to lose him. His kisses the other day affected me far more than I’d been willing to admit.

Some
where nearby, a hideous laugh began. I raised my head to try to locate its source, only to see Maris stroll up and stand before me, hands behind her back. I trembled to think what she was hiding there—the riding crop? Was she going to amuse herself by flogging me again?

I braced myself, determined not to scream this time. There was no way I was going
to give her that satisfaction again.

She didn’t bother to crouch down to my level and I didn’t want to look up at h
er, so I stared at her knees.

Stupid cloak
, I thought.

She bent down, her face
only inches from my own. I turned my head away, but she grabbed my chin and forced me to look back at her.

I tensed and closed my eyes.

‘Look at me,’ she demanded.

What could she do, rip my eyelids off? Actua
lly, she could. I opened my eyes and caught her icy gaze. Her stare was enough to make any snake envious.

She whispered
. ‘I have no intention of killing him.’

Confused, I said,
‘Then why…?’

‘He was my lover
and will be again. All he needs is a little persuasion. You are my leverage. As long as you’re in my hands, he’ll do whatever I ask.’

‘Y
ou want me as your hostage?’

‘No
, sweetie, you’re the power source and once I and my Brethren take a few sips from your little vein’ —she tapped my wrist with a long, red-painted fingernail—‘our strength will be equal to his.’

My blood chilled at the thought of being f
ed on by more than twenty vampires. I’d never survive it. ‘How many?’

‘Don’t worry. You’re no use to us dead. It’s the Principate we want to end
, not the
Ingenii.
That needs to go on otherwise we’ll never be able to daywalk. I need you alive, sweetie. Then maybe in a year or two, I’ll find a nice human to breed you with to produce the next generation of
Ingenii.
’

If she hadn’t been holding my jaw it probably would have dropped.
Yet her smiling manic face told me it was obvious she believed every word. Mental! As if Alec would go along with that. She didn’t know him at all. The word, delusional, didn’t begin to cover it.

I kicked down my fear. ‘You
can’t think Alec would agree to that?’

‘How long have you known him
, four, five days? I’ve known him nearly a century and there are things about him would surprise you.’

I only met Alec a few days ago. Maris was right
on that score, but Luc had transformed him into a vampire and surely he would not have made him my guardian if there was anything questionable about him? Luc was my father and he’d never… No! Maris was wrong. She had to be.

‘You’re delusional!
’ I had to believe that.

She laughed.
‘Oh, you are so naïve. Keep thinking that, sweetie. There’s nothing like misplaced hope.’

I glanced up at
my ring. It glowed strongly and my heart gave a leap. Alec was somewhere close. I managed to twist the ring so the serpent faced my palm then curled my fingers into a fist.

‘I always knew you weren’t right in the head
,’ Terens said from his cage. He’d been listening to our little exchange. ‘As if the other Elders will go along with that!’

‘Doesn’t matter. By the time they hear of it, it’ll be too late,’ she said
and released my chin. I dropped my head in relief.

Maris straightened up and walked over to Terens’
s cage. She ran a pointed scarlet nail down the length of his chest as her eyes raked his body.

‘Pity,’ she sighed. ‘I o
nce considered taking you as a lover.’

‘I’d sooner bed a cockroach!
’

Oooh, that had to be an ego bruiser
, I thought, while trying not to imagine the anatomical impossibility.

She recoiled
and hissed at him. ‘Then I hope you’ll enjoy their company when we dump your bodies in the morning sun!’

She snapped her fingers.
I tensed. The curtain drew back and spotlights flicked on. I blinked at the sudden brightness as we were illuminated to the waiting crowd. It was difficult to distinguish anything in the darkened space before me. But as my eyes adjusted I made out movement. Several rows were occupied—I counted twenty-two—and, surprise! surprise! they were robed in black, hoods draped low over their faces making any individual recognition impossible.

Cowards,
I thought. Some among them must have spoken, maybe even danced with me at the Ritual on Monday night. Yet now, they had gathered for one purpose—murder. As one, they rose and clapped. Some called out, others jeered and laughed.

‘Don’t you realise this will cause a civil war!’ Terens yelled
from his cage.

‘At least we’ll be free!’ Someone called back.

‘To kill?’

‘To be ourselves
!’ Another voice said.

T
he Serpent Ring burned into my palm. Alec! He was near. Yet none of them gave any indication they could sense him.

‘Maris,’ one of the vampires called out
. ‘It’s time.’

His voice sounded familiar, yet I couldn’t place it. As he rose from his seat and made his way to the stage, some of the oth
ers around him did the same. Maris turned to face him, her hands clenched into fists at her side. I could only surmise she had something to hide. Could it be that she had no intention of sharing my blood, or perhaps intended to take more than the others so she’d have the advantage?

As the
unknown vampire came closer his hood slipped to reveal a face I knew—Russell!

I was stunned.

‘Russell! You’re Alec’s friend. How could you?’ I had actually liked him.

He looked at me with mock sympathy. ‘I’m so sorry Laura, but you know how it is.’

‘No, I don’t know how!’

‘You must
understand, you have something we need and Alec is keeping it all to himself. Share and share alike, is what I say.’ He stooped low until his face loomed close to mine and an angry scowl darkened his features. ‘Why should he be the only one able to walk in the sun? You think we enjoy cowering in the darkness?’

Murmurs of approval echoed around the theatre.

His face resumed its usual bored expression. ‘I have nothing against him, really. I like him and I like you, but…’ and he shrugged. ‘This is purely business. Don’t take it personally!’

The bit about the sun I could understand and, perhaps even sympathise, but that last comment was the most lunatic thing I’d ever heard! From my right I heard a derisive snort. Sam had regained consciousness.

‘And how do you suggest she do that,
friend?
’ he asked.

I glance
d at him amazed his injuries had already begun to heal even without the day rest. The charred and blistered flesh was slowly being replaced by smooth, pale skin. His fangs were bared and his eyes gleamed with menace.