Usually, the Slayers came in a pack, but this man’s confident stride said he didn’t seem to need strength in numbers.
“I’m Andreas Phelan,” he announced, thrusting his hand out to Joseph.
Shocked by the man’s greeting, Joseph shook his hand, feeling the unnatural warmth of his skin. “Joseph Rayd.”
“I’ve heard about you. My grandfather says you’re a man of honor.”
“Is that so?”
Andreas nodded, his tawny eyes going to Chris’s lifemark, barren of leaves. “I’m in charge of the Slayers now.”
“What happened to the previous leader?” asked Joseph.
His eyes went to Joseph’s, and the impact of that steady gaze hit Joseph hard. “I ripped his throat out with my teeth.”
Clearly, this was not a man to fuck with.
“Things are changing, Joseph Rayd,” said the Slayer. “Many of my kind can smell it coming. Things are getting worse.”
Joseph looked at the man who had once been his friend. Chris’s face was bright red with rage, and if it hadn’t been for the magically enhanced bonds that held him, Joseph knew the man would have tried to kill him by now.
“At least we can agree on that much,” said Joseph.
“I’ve heard rumors that you’ve found blooded women roaming the country.”
Joseph wasn’t sure how much to share with a man who, despite how he appeared, was his enemy. “I’m sure they were exaggerated. You know how rumors are.”
Andreas smiled slowly. “I can smell a lie, you know. But I understand. You and I aren’t friends. Yet.”
With that enigmatic remark, he grabbed Chris’s arm and hauled him down the hill. Over his shoulder, he said, “I’ll deliver his body to you when it’s done.”
Joseph stood there for a long time, watching the two men for as long as he could. The next time he saw Chris, he’d be dead. He wanted to remember the man for who he had been rather than what he’d become.
But even more than that, he wanted this to be the very last time he ever had to stand at the top of this hill and sentence another one of his men to death.
They had to find more women. Fast. And it was his responsibility to see that it happened.
Joseph walked back down the hill, feeling a century older than he had on the way up.
Nika was desperate to find Tori and prove to Madoc she was still alive. The man was so stubborn, she knew that unless he saw her with his own eyes, he’d never believe.
Not that he actually had eyes in this state. Neither of them did, but they’d be able to use Tori’s.
If
Nika could reach her.
Dragging Madoc’s mind along with hers slowed her down. She felt like she was trying to swim while carrying a fifty-pound weight, but there was no other way. He had to be with her.
Nika concentrated on the fragile connection she had with Tori. It was even harder to sense now than it had been only a few hours before.
At one point, Nika would have been able to slide along that pathway with ease, landing inside Tori’s mind, able to comfort her and ease her pain. But not anymore. Tori had grown stronger since they’d started feeding her Synestryn blood. Her defenses were more formidable.
Why Tori didn’t want Nika to be with her, she had no idea, but whatever her reasons, Tori was winning the battle.
Madoc’s power slid into her, giving her new strength. Maybe she could use that strength to force Tori to let her in.
With no more than a thought, power flowed into Nika. That single delicate strand that stretched between them seemed to glow bright for a split second before it sputtered back to near invisibility.
Nika funneled energy into that strand, imagining it was an electrical wire spanning between them. The strand pulsed once, then twice, then continued to throb faster and faster until it shimmered.
Victory made Nika feel light, easing the burden of carrying Madoc with her.
Before it was too late, Nika hauled both of them along that strand, barreling through space until they landed solidly inside Tori’s mind.
As always, their mental meeting place resembled the bedroom they once had shared—the place from which Tori had been taken.
It was darker than Nika had remembered. It was night outside the windows. The bedside lamps had been broken. Festering, oily patches coated the walls, rather than purple-striped wallpaper.
Tori sat on the bed, her back to Nika, as she stared out the window. Her hair was long now, pooling on the mattress beneath her. She was bigger, too.
It had been so long since she’d last seen Tori, sometimes it was easy to forget she was seventeen now.
“How did you get in?” asked Tori without turning around. “I thought I was stronger than you now.”
“I had help.”
“A man,” she said, shuddering as if disgusted. “I don’t like having him here.”
“He needed to see you were still alive.”
“He’s seen. Now send him away.”
Nika turned to where Madoc’s mind hovered inside Tori’s. Here, he appeared as solid and real as if they were back in that Gerai house in Nebraska. Confusion tightened his features as he looked from Tori to Nika and back again.
“Are you hurt?” he asked her, his voice gentle with concern.
A dead laugh came out of Nika’s sister as she turned and rose from the bed. Her skin was a sickly white, almost translucent. Beneath, her veins were visible, pulsing with blood too dark to be human. Her blue eyes had once shone with childlike innocence, but now were bleak and desolate. Her hands stretched over her pregnant belly, curling into claws as if she wanted to rip the child from her body.
“I wish they’d only hurt me,” said Tori.
Shock made Nika go cold. She reached for Madoc, fighting the urge to fling herself away from this place and cuddle inside the warmth of his embrace.
“What have they done to you?” he asked in horror.
“I’d say that’s a bit obvious. And if you don’t want it to happen to Nika, then get her out of here before they find her.”
“Time to go, Nika,” said Madoc.
It was a good thing he was not in control here.
Nika turned to him, glowering. “I’ll go when I’m ready. Until then, you just zip your mouth and stay put.” To Tori, she said, “We’re going to rescue you. All I need to know is where to find you.”
“Even if I did know, I wouldn’t tell you. I can’t be saved. It’s best if you go before they get you, too.”
“Maybe you should listen to her, Nika,” said Madoc. “I want to save her, but not at the risk of your life.”
Nika ignored him. “It’s not too late. It can’t be too late.” She’d only just now regained enough sanity and strength to come for Tori. She hadn’t fought through all those years of nightmares only to fail now.
“It is.” Tori’s words were hard and cold—not at all like the child Nika had once known. “Go.”
“I made you a promise.”
“You won’t have to worry about that for long. This thing inside me will be born soon. Most of the girls don’t live through that.”
“How many of you are there?” asked Madoc, his voice a low growl of menace.
Tori shrugged. “I don’t see them. I just hear their screams stop suddenly and know.”
“We’ve got to get you out before that happens to you,” said Nika.
“It’s too late for me.”
Nika sensed that trying to change Tori’s mind about that was a losing battle. But maybe another angle would work. “What about the other girls there? Maybe we could save them.”
Tori’s eyes fell shut and she seemed to be fighting herself. “If he finds you, he’ll hurt you like he’s hurt me. I don’t want that.”
“Who hurt you?” demanded Madoc.
“Zillah. He runs this place, along with a girl who never grows.”
“Maura,” whispered Madoc.
“You know her,” said Tori, as if offering condolences.
“I know of her.”
“Then you know you can’t let Nika come here.”
“Stop it, both of you,” ordered Nika before their conversation got carried away. “I
am
coming, and there’s not a thing either of you can do to stop me. The only question is whether you’re going to tell me where you are, or if you’re going to make me rip it from your mind.”
“I already told you I don’t know. They’ve never let me out. I’ve been in these caves so long, I can’t even remember what sunshine looks like.”
Grief for her sister and her lost childhood welled up inside Nika. She was fighting not to cry, battling for control over her emotions when the room grew bright.
Outside the dirty bedroom window, the sun rose in a brilliant display of orange and pink. The movement was faster than was natural, but every other detail down to the last trailing wisp of clouds and the swaying of the trees in the distance was perfect, as if it had been videotaped.
“There,” said Madoc. “That was my favorite sunrise of all time. Summer 1803.”
Tori reached out until her fingers were bathed in light. Dirt clogged her ragged fingernails and the black blood seemed to flow out of her hand as if hiding from the light. “Thank you,” she whispered. “It’s even more beautiful than I imagined.”
“How did you remember it that perfectly?” asked Nika, trying to focus on something so she didn’t cry.
“I remember everything I see.”
Tori lifted her face to the sun, closing her eyes as she basked in the light. “Do you really think you can save the others?” she asked. “Give them back the sunlight?”
“If we know where you are, we’ll do whatever it takes to get everyone out alive. Even you,” said Madoc.
“I don’t know how to help you, then. I don’t even know what country I’m in.”
“Then stop fighting me. Let me be with you like you used to do. Let that connection between us grow back to what it used to be and I’ll be able to find you.”
“No. I don’t want you with me when this thing comes. I don’t want you with me when I die.”
Fury blazed through Nika, making her grow inside the ethereal context of Tori’s mind. Her head hit the ceiling and she loomed over her sister, her voice a deep boom. “You’re not going to die.”
Tori let out a humorless laugh. “You’re going to have to be a lot bigger than that to scare me. I live with demons, remember.”
Nika deflated, returning to her normal size. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just want you to listen to reason. I’m not alone. Madoc is with me. He has dozens of powerful friends who will help us rescue you. You can’t give up yet.”
“What happens to you if I die while you’re in my mind?” asked Tori.
“That’s not going to happen.”
Tori looked at Madoc. “She knows she’ll die, too. I’ve sensed the knowledge inside her. When things were bad—when the blood they fed me nearly killed me—I sensed her fear of death.”
“Is it true?” Madoc asked Nika. “Will you die if you’re with Tori when she dies?”
“
If
she dies. She doesn’t know that will happen.”
“You’re evading my question. Will you die, too?”
Nika bowed her head. “Yes. I think so.”
Madoc pulled her against his side, holding her close. Even within this nonphysical space, she still felt comforted by his touch. That comfort allowed her the strength to keep fighting for her sister.
“What if I were to promise to leave your mind before the baby comes?”
“It’s not a baby,” snarled Tori, whirling around and baring her teeth. “It’s a thing. A monster.”
Nika held up her hands and kept her voice calm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t understand.”
Madoc’s grip had tightened and his stance had shifted so that he was between Tori and Nika. “I agree with Tori that you can’t risk your life, but what if there’s another way?”
“What way?”
“Did you see anything the night they took you? Street signs, buildings, landmarks of any kind?”
“A few, maybe.”
He looked to Nika. “If I can see those memories, I might be able to figure out where she went.”
“How?”
“I’ve roamed this country for years. I remember everything I see. I might be able to recognize something in her memories.”
“It’s worth a shot,” said Nika. “What do you think, Tori? Will you let him try?”
Tori stepped closer. Madoc pushed Nika behind him as if he needed to protect her from her own sister.
Nika moved out of his reach and saw Tori’s dirty hand press over Madoc’s brow.
A second later, the room exploded in a million shards of light, and Nika and Madoc were flung out of Tori’s mind.
Tori shivered in the cold dark. She kept her eyes closed for as long as possible, holding on to the memory of that sunrise. She could almost feel the heat of it on her skin, the way it had driven back the tainted blood they’d shoved into her.
For a moment, Tori had almost felt like a real person again, rather than a thing to be used.
Tears leaked out from behind her closed lids, their warmth startling against her chilled skin. She missed Nika so much. Having her in her mind had been so nice. So comforting.
She couldn’t let it happen again. If birthing the thing inside her didn’t kill her, she knew what would happen. She didn’t want Nika there when Zillah hurt her again—put another thing inside her.
Before, wishing for death had been easy. She’d had nothing to live for but more pain and loneliness. But now, thanks to Madoc, she found herself craving the sun and its warmth.
She wanted to live long enough to feel sunlight on her skin for real, just one more time.
If Zillah ever found out, he’d see that desire as a weakness to use against her. He’d taunt her with it, dangle it in front of her in an effort to gain her cooperation, then take away all hope of her ever having it.
Tori wasn’t going to let him have this, too. She was going to bury Madoc’s gift deep, locking it away where Zillah would never sense it. And then, when she felt death coming for her, she’d pull the memory out and wrap it around her so she wouldn’t have to die alone in the darkness.