In my home in the Ozarks. Did I tell you I have a place there?
No, one more indication how little we know about each other.
I thought maybe you’d like to see it once we take Amber and Tracy home.
Sounds like a plan. But do you know what is amazing?
What’s that?
Only that we’re standing at least thirty feet away from each other and it’s as though you’re right next to me.
It’s pretty amazing.
Amber said something to Claire so that she turned her attention to the younger woman, once more taking her in her arms. But over Amber’s shoulder, Claire’s gaze traveled to Lucian.
Do you know if they’ll be going home soon?
I’ll check with Gabriel.
When he approached Gabriel, he saw the man smile, after which he tossed him a fresh shirt. “When I saw you in just your battle leathers, I thought we couldn’t have you frightening all these women. In case you haven’t noticed, you’re one big sonofabitch.” After Lucian and his brothers had escaped from Daniel, Gabriel had taken them under his powerful wing. He’d trained them as warriors, helping to focus all that they’d endured into a force that could help the world. Lucian thought of Gabriel as his true father.
“Look who’s talking. And thanks.” Lucian shrugged into the shirt, grateful. “So how is everything shaping up?”
“Really well, I’m glad to say. Most of these women haven’t been here longer than a few days, so hopefully we’ll be able to get them back to their homes before too long. A few have been hurt, but we’ll take good care of them.”
“Thanks for coming, Gabriel.”
“My pleasure.”
In the end the doctors declared most of the women fit to be taken home, including Amber and her friend. Only a handful of the young women would require rehabilitation before they could leave his world. Those who had been brutalized, whether raped or beaten, would remain in Gabriel’s charge until each was completely healed.
The whole thing sickened Lucian, this wretched part of his world that trafficked in human flesh. He blamed Daniel, who in the past several decades had built hundreds of clubs across the globe to service a hungry, perverse clientele. Some said his Dark Cavern system, which he personally owned, was dedicated almost exclusively to the trafficking of humans.
The sheer size of Daniel’s operation appalled him, one more reason to get rid of him forever.
Once Gabriel’s team had processed all the women, Lucian agreed without hesitation to personally see that Amber and her friend got home safely.
Gabriel said good-bye without even asking how Lucian was taking to his new Ancestral status. For that, Lucian gave him credit. Gabriel, of all vampires, knew exactly how Lucian felt about rising to his father’s level of power.
Making use of a second and third vampire to carry Tracy and Amber on a slow flight back to New Mexico, Lucian held Claire close. The journey took a very long hour, but because of the less demanding speed, neither Amber nor Tracy complained of headaches or nausea.
Once he had the girls outside Amber’s home, he sent the other vampires on their way. Each took off, heading back to continue their service to Gabriel.
Lucian felt the sudden nostalgic shift in Claire as she looked at Amber’s low, single-story house made of plaster and built with dark, round beams that jutted out at the roofline. The style was popular in the Desert Southwest.
From inside the house, he heard arguing.
“That’s Mom.” Amber’s voice was hushed, her lips trembling. “She always yells when she’s mad or sad.” She turned toward Claire and hugged her. “Thank you so much, Claire, for saving us, but please find Zoey.”
“I will.”
He approached both the young women and after Claire had hugged each of them again, he asked for hugs himself, something he only did when he had a specific job to perform. Claire knew what he needed to do, but neither had felt it wise to tell the girls up front. In this case, they wouldn’t remember, not even a little, where they’d really been for the past few days, or that a vampire named Lucian had actually rescued them.
The girls went to him readily, thanking him for getting them home, for saving them.
Just as each would have pulled away, however, he began the process of sweeping her mind clean. What surprised him was how easy it was now that he had new power. What might have been the work of several minutes became a fifteen-second jaunt inside each mind, exchanging traumatic memories for what would no doubt become a case of “selective amnesia.” They simply wouldn’t remember where they’d been or what had happened to them for the time they were gone.
When he let them go, they turned and walked up the path to Amber’s home, not looking back even once. Lucian could feel how hard this was for Claire: They were getting to do what neither she nor Zoey had been able to do. He drew close and slid his arm around her waist.
The screen creaked, a comforting sound all on its own. Amber knocked on the door and a few seconds later, a woman, clearly Amber’s mother, shouted then screamed as she embraced first Amber then Tracy. The father came next, doing much the same but without the noise. He then got his cell out and called Tracy’s parents.
At that point Lucian’s rage surfaced, a blinding heat of anger at what had almost happened to these girls. He promised himself that one day, there would be a reckoning with all traffickers.
What is it?
Claire asked, looking up at him.
You’re suddenly so angry.
He wanted to answer her, but for a moment he couldn’t even speak.
When the front door closed and both girls were inside, he turned away from the house, glancing down the street. He’d been around. He’d been down a thousand streets like this all over the world. Every culture, in his opinion, was pretty much the same, including his own: Most humans—and vampires, for that matter—worked to take care of their families and their communities. Unfortunately, there were just enough psychopaths around in both species, to destroy hundreds, thousands, and sometimes millions of lives.
We’ve done some good here, Lucian. You need to know that. I can feel how angry you are.
He met her gaze.
I hate this, you know. All this suffering.
So do I. And that’s what I’d dedicated my life to before I was taken—helping women who’d fallen into prostitution.
He nodded.
I know you did.
She then smiled, but there was a glint in her eyes.
I’ve been thinking that there’s something I’d like to do right now.
He glanced at her, frowning. He couldn’t quite pinpoint the sensation that the chains gave off, so he wasn’t sure what she was thinking. Revenge came to mind, but in what way, he couldn’t imagine.
And what’s that?
How about we pay a visit to The Prickly Pear—you know, the club that caused us all so much grief. I understand it’s owned by vampires.
At that, Lucian’s lips curved.
You have a very wicked mind, and I’m liking it. Let’s go.
He knew the location well and had tried several times to get the club shut down. But the ineffective court system in his world never ruled against Daniel or the other more powerful traffickers, using the “secrecy” directive as an excuse for not taking action.
Tonight, at least for this one club, in this one moment, he and Claire would change things. Dawn was already visible on the distant horizon, so the timing worked well: The club would have been shut down for several hours by now, and wouldn’t be open for business for a few hours more. Essentially, there was no one around.
He flew Claire around the back, and after she set up a serious disguise over the whole building, he went inside while she stood guard. He had just started breaking up one of the wooden bar stools when his stomach cramped and a hard tremor went through him again. Fucking blood-madness. He’d hoped that his Ancestral status would have changed that aspect of his current predicament, but no such luck. He really did need a good solid hit of Claire’s blood, and the sooner the better.
He took the wood to the greasy kitchen and turned on the gas stove. Once the pieces caught fire, he threw them through the club.
He kept doing this, tearing stool after stool apart, until the building set up a serious blaze and really started to roar. He shifted to altered flight and left through the roof, flying high in the air, admiring the flames as well as Claire’s violet disguise that kept the stand-alone facility hidden from human eyes, and therefore the local fire department. As the flames rose higher, he kept rising in the air but stopped when the proximity tug of the new set of chains warned him he’d reached his limit. He went in search of Claire.
He found her at the edge of the parking lot and flew to land beside her. The growing sunlight prickled his skin and the backs of his eyes, clear warnings that he needed to at least switch to altered flight. Once in flight, the damaging rays of the sun couldn’t touch him.
He held his arm wide for Claire. She slung an arm around his neck and stepped onto his right foot. The chains vibrated heavily, though, which caused him to focus on her completely because right now a terrible sadness weighed her down.
As the sun crested the horizon and when his eyes burned from too much sunlight, he drew Claire into altered flight.
Sorry, my vampire physiology can’t take this much sunlight.
I understand. Can you fly me once around the building before we leave?
Of course.
He took her in a slow pattern around the entire circumference, then high enough so that she could watch the roof collapse and flames shoot high in the sky.
I’m going to remove the disguise from the property now.
Go for it.
He felt her draw her power in, the power she siphoned from him as though it was second nature, and the disguise vanished.
While in the air, he turned in a 360-degree circle, looking at Santa Fe from a bird’s-eye view.
She remained silent as she leaned her head against his chest, then addressed his ongoing problem.
You need to feed again, don’t you?
I have some cramping but it’s not as bad as before. But yeah, I do.
Then how about we head to the Ozarks? I’d love to see the home you mentioned earlier, and I can take care of you there. How does that sound?
He couldn’t tell her what he really thought, but her suggestion sounded like heaven to him.
And I’m sure you’ll be ready to crawl into bed.
Pretty soon.
As he turned, heading east, she leaned up and nuzzled his neck, then kissed him.
CHAPTER 7
Lucian flew northeast toward the Ozarks and soon passed over the Missouri River. Within a few seconds he hovered over the entrance to his Arkansas home.
It’s a very private system, and I keep my home in particular behind about a dozen layers of shielding disguise. And yes, I paid handsomely for it. But my guess is that you can see through them.
I can.
Part of his payment for the disguising shield included a location sensor built just for him. He tuned in and passed through the disguise in a quick blur of sensation that landed him square in a large cavern. Over the decades, he’d spent a lot of time in this dwelling, more than once when wounded to the point of death during a battle.
Lucian released her, watching as she turned in a slow circle looking at the room.
“Wow, this is almost exotic.” A waterfall cascaded down one side of the cave and passed through a natural breach to a river below. The entire cavern, about a hundred feet long, was on a thick shelf of stone above an underground river. Teakwood tables as well as low leather couches and chairs furnished the space.
“I can sense that you need to eat. My housekeeper knows to keep my cupboards and refrigerators stocked.”
She glanced at him. “You mean, she did this even while you were in prison for a year?”
“It’s a rule I have. Don’t worry. She makes sure any unused provisions are given to homeless shelters. But the upshot is, I can fix you something to eat.”
“Well, I have to admit I’m starving, but are you sure you can wait, I mean, you know, to feed?”
He narrowed his gaze. “It’s important to me that you have something to eat when I know you’re hungry.”
She appeared thoughtful. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”
“Will sandwiches do?”
“Of course.”
He led her to the kitchen and started pulling bread, deli meat, and condiments from the fridge. She sat quietly at the marble island, but he felt her gaze on him, the chains remaining silent as though she worked to keep her emotions in check.