Electric Heat (15 page)

The stasis not only delayed decomposition, but gave the
disease time to spread throughout the whole body. Curiosity got the better of her.
She unlocked her hand and grabbed a single strand of electricity with a twist
of her fingers and sent it into the body.

The corpse jumped, not like it had been shocked by current,
but actually moved of its own volition.

Rylan swore, grabbed her by the shoulders and jerked her
away. “What did you do?”

“It’s a trap.” Her heart launched into her throat, and she stumbled
away from the now still bodies, revulsion coursing through her.

“For us?” Rylan’s voice was sharp, and he hauled her toward
the door.

She shook her head in denial. “I don’t think so. There’s a
spell, a marking on their wrists. When magic touches the body, the spell is
triggered.”

“What kind of spell?” Rylan grabbed the door, ready to yank
it open when she spoke.

“There’s something trapped in their bloodstream. Once magic
hits them, the stasis will fail and they will rise.”

He continued to stare at as if he didn’t understand what she
said. His grip tightened painfully on her arm until her fingers tingled, and he
opened the door. “We need to leave.”

Primal fear coated her like black tar; there was no way to
scrape it off without spreading it more. She wanted to escape in the worst way,
but dug in her feet. “We can’t. We have to burn the bodies. They can’t be
allowed to reanimate.”

Rylan stopped tugging, and she breathed a sigh of relief
that he was finally listening. Vampires were highly flammable, so she needed to
be careful when she lit the fire. Without leaving to gather supplies, her only
alternative was an electrical fire.

She searched the walls for the biggest source of energy,
rubbing her fingers together as she readied to direct a large chunk of it
toward the bodies. The last thing they needed was to set the whole building on
fire. Which meant she had to funnel the majority of it through her. She
grimaced, knowing it wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience. “You need to
stand back—”

“Raven.”

Her back stiffened at his flat tone, the affection normally
reserved for when he spoke to her was decidedly lacking.

The current in the air changed slightly, enough to alert her
that they were no longer alone.

She slowly turned, knowing she wasn’t going to like what she
saw. Five armed guards filled the hall, all pointing really big guns at her
head. “Shit.”

* * *

“You have to listen. It’s a trap.” Raven gripped the bars,
wishing she could reach through and shake some sense into the idiot guards. “I
need to speak to Heloise.”

The men snorted at her demand. “She’s busy at the moment.
You’ll be judged for your offense and escorted out after you pay the penalty.”

Raven paced the cell, trying to work off her fury at being
treated as a criminal when she was working to save their lives. Sure, she broke
into a secure site and planned to burn the only evidence of a crime, but they hired
her for a job, and she was damned well going to do it. It didn’t matter that
they’d fired her from said job yesterday.

Then she stopped short at something the guard said. “Who
will judge?”

“The Prime.” They shot to attention, as if speaking his name
was a privilege.

“Son of a bitch!” Raven wanted to smack herself and whirled
to face Rylan. “That was their plan all along. The victims were selected at
random. Whoever is behind this doesn’t care who dies, they just needed bodies.”

“So all those deaths—”

“—were to lure the Prime to investigate.” Raven wheeled
around, clutching the bars with shaky fingers. “You have to tell Heloise it’s
too dangerous to bring in the Prime.”

The guard laughed as if the whole idea of anything harming a
Prime was a joke.

“They won’t listen.” Rylan was stretched out on the cot,
fighting the effects of the sun as it began its ascent. “Why go after the
Prime?”

She wanted to rip the cell door off the hinges. As if
sensing her intent, the magic imbued into the metal bars flared to life, singeing
her palms, and she backed away with a hiss.

The guards chuckled to each other as they left, and she
wanted to bash their heads together to knock some sense into them. “When the
wild magic killed, it stole magic. It could have killed them much easier any
other way. Crystal said it was hungry. If it wanted magic, the Prime is the
perfect source. He can access an unlimited supply.”

“You have to warn them.” Rylan struggled to sit up. It must have
been close to ten in the morning. He should be out cold.

Raven shook her head. “I won’t leave you behind.”

“They—”

“The instant I walk out of here, they’ll drag you outside in
retaliation.” When Rylan opened his mouth to protest, she held up her hand for
silence, ignoring the way her nerves crawled over her like spiders. “Isn’t not
like they would believe me. I did all I could. What happens next is their own fault.”

“You don’t believe that.” Rylan lay back down, slow as an
old, stooped man. Most vampires stopped functioning as soon as the sun rose and
stayed that way until the sun set. Only the most powerful had the ability to
remain awake a few hours before sunset or after sunrise.

“If it comes down to a choice between you and the witches, I
choose you.”

A bitter smile curled his lips, and his control slipped.
Hunger glowed from his eyes, gleaming black like a living thing. The last time
they were in prison together, she’d felt the same thing. Then she didn’t know whether
he would kill her or not…or if she would let him.

But he had refused to hurt her then, and she knew he
wouldn’t lay a finger on her now even with his addiction riding him hard.

She’d give him her blood if he asked, but the last time had
changed him. Made him stronger. Made him unique even among vampires.

If others ever found out what her blood could do, she was
dead and they both knew it. To keep her safe, he never allowed himself to get
close, never stayed in one place too long for fear others would discover the
truth.

When he left the compound without her so many years ago,
she’d been devastated, but she understood. It was selfish of her, but now that he
was back in her life, she couldn’t bear for him to leave again.

Being locked away with him brought back memories of those
horrible times, and the creature swelled under her skin, ready to rend the
place apart. The current fluctuated wildly, and her body practically crackled
with the demand to be set free.

“You’re thinking so hard I can hear you from over here.”

“You’re reading my thoughts.” She should be furious, but she
had nothing to hide from him. He knew her deepest, darkest secrets and liked
her anyway. She didn’t understand him at all.

He sighed, quite a feat since vampires didn’t need air. “You
were broadcasting.”

“Sorry.” But as she stared at the prison walls, her memories
wouldn’t remain in the past. “I still don’t know who they were trying to kill
when they shoved you in my room so many years ago.”

“Me.” Rylan smiled, but it held no humor. “I was all used
up. They had no more need of me.”

Raven wasn’t so sure. “You were starved. You could’ve killed
me easily.”

“I was done with killing.”

They’d fed him rotten blood until he was half-insane. Then
they fed him mutilated shifters, the ones too weak to heal anymore. It was
their favorite way of getting rid of nasty problems like dead bodies. “They
forced us to do terrible things. You—”

“You saved me.”

Her throat clogged with emotions. “My blood ruined your
life.”

“We all have choices.” He fell silent and studied the ceiling.
“I’ve done terrible things. I didn’t want to live anymore. Then a child began
to speak to me night after night when everyone else had gone. A little girl
locked behind the biggest cage they could construct. You had such courage, such
will to survive that you brought me back from the brink.”

“You stopped killing.” He’d given up. They both heard her
unspoken words.

“I was ready to die.”

“Then they shoved you in my room, waiting for one of us to
kill the other.”

A charmed smile lifted a corner of his lips. “The first time
I saw you, I knew I had to protect you.”

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.” Raven leaned
against the wall and slid down, no longer wanting to claw her way out.

“You did it for me once.” Then he fell silent.

He didn’t breathe, didn’t move, and even though she knew he
was fine, seeing him still as death tore her up with the need to do something
to rescue him.

She clenched her fists, then forced herself to lie down.
Since Durant never joined them, she had to assume he’d escaped. It eased her
mind and allowed her to close her eyes.

It was late when she woke. She jerked upright, not sure what
had disturbed her.

No one had left them food or water, but she hadn’t expected
any.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted movement by the
door. Her head snapped up when Durant padded into the room on silent feet only
a cat could duplicate. Raven pushed herself upright and smiled. “You should
leave. They’ll release us tonight. We’ll be fine until then.”

“Their suspect killed himself.” Durant flipped through the
keys he’d lifted from the guard.

“That makes no sense. The man loved himself too much to commit
suicide.” Then she paused. “Did he have a tattoo on his wrist?”

Durant cocked his head as he recalled the images from the
scene. “I was too far away to tell.”

When he lifted the key to the lock, she held up her hand.
“The cage is spelled. The lock and spell need to be opened at the same time.
Leave. We’re safer behind bars at the moment.”

A snarl curled his lips, but he nodded. “I’ll check on the
tattoo for you.”

“No, don’t.” But it was too late, Durant had already disappeared.

After an hour passed, Raven knew something had gone terribly
wrong. Durant should have returned. She wanted to tear down the buildings to
find him, but it was hours before sunset. She couldn’t leave Rylan vulnerable.

Her rage bounced off the walls, amplifying her emotions and
her animal rose. It would not be soothed. Raven remembered the connection the
alpha had to his pack when they were at the conclave. She had been able to
trace them, even connect to one of his wolves.

She should be able to do the same with her own people.

The only way she’d been able to connect to others had been
through her animals, but they had all vanished when the creature woke. She
didn’t know if it meant they were gone forever, or if her creature had somehow
blocked them, but she needed another way to locate Durant.

She’d always tried to keep quiet, keep her beast locked away.
All it had accomplished was people trying to kill her. Maybe it was time to let
go. Part of her knew she wasn’t being rational, that the creature was
influencing her, but she needed to find out what they were doing to Durant.

If they killed him, she wasn’t sure she would be able to
hold back from slaughtering them all.

She closed her eyes, but letting go was a lot harder than
expected. She concentrated on Durant’s scent, picturing him in her mind.

At first nothing happened.

Then the darkness gradually faded, and a room came into
view. The bond between them was there but weak. A lash of pain spread across
her back, so unexpected she arched under the blow. Her whole back was on fire,
like strips of her skin were being stripped away. The smell of burned flesh
filled her nose. Sweat dripped off her face, and she gritted her teeth to hold
back the roar of pain that worked its way up her throat.

She was in Durant’s body.

And they were torturing him.

His cat was in full charge, enraged and in dreadful pain,
holding onto his human form by sheer desperation. If he changed, he was dead. It
would give the witches legal cause to kill him.

Raven should’ve tried harder to stop him. It was her fault
for even allowing him to accompany her to the compound.

As if he sensed her presence, calmness flooded his system.

He would endure.

Not willing to leave him to struggle on his own, she
gathered what power she could and sent it to his beast. The animal purred in
thanks, then the connection was severed by a slash of claws.

Raven was on her knees, panting, and covered in sweat.
Phantom pain made moving agony.

She needed to do something.

She refused to allow him to suffer.

She contemplated releasing her beast, but the daylight would
kill Rylan. As if sensing her thoughts, his fingers twitched. It was hours before
sunset. She was amazed he could even partially function. It must be sheer
torture to be held immobile and left vulnerable.

No, she needed to use her affinity for electricity.

With a plan firmly in mind, she sat in the middle of the
floor and folded her legs. She placed her hands on her knees, took a deep
breath and dropped all her shields. Power crept toward her slowly, like drawn
to like. She welcomed the slight sting of pain of her old friend, grabbed the
cool heat and began to pull in more and more.

She relished touching the current, had missed its soothing
comfort. Without the vault to hold the electricity, the energy built inside her
body like a ticking bomb. It took close to twenty minutes for the buildings
around her to start flickering. She moved from one building to the next,
ignoring the searing pain of funneling so much electricity and systematically shut
each one down.

By the time she was done, her insides felt raw.

A trickle of blood dribbled from her nose, and she dabbed it
away. Just when her head felt ready to explode, the creature stretched under
her skin as if luxuriating in the churning current. It rolled around, sucking
it down like a starved animal. With each gulp, the searing pain eased. By the
time it was done, she felt gutted. Overfed and drowsy, the creature gave a hum
of pleasure, and drifted back to sleep.