Night's Captive (17 page)

Alec paced the cell, his thoughts churning. He had never felt so empty, never felt so alone as he had when Loni was kidnapped. If he didn’t find her, didn’t save her, he didn’t know what he would do.

She was human and she was taboo, but he didn’t give a damn about that anymore. He’d fallen for her the moment he’d seen her in that alleyway. The more time he spent with her, the more he’d come to care for her.

The more he’d come to love her.

Alec gritted his teeth and fisted his hands at his sides. If anything happened to Loni, he was going to rip Dawson apart, piece-by-piece until there was nothing left of him.

For now he needed to concentrate on getting to Loni and saving her.

Several moments passed before Petra spoke in his mind again.
“I can’t reach Rider. He could be hurt, or the walls could be too thick, or he could have left to get reinforcements. I like to think it was the last option.”

“How’s Erick?”
Alec asked.

“Just pissed that they caught us.”
Petra sounded angry, too.
“Sprinklers went off everywhere. They appeared to be sprinklers for watering grass, but they were shooting out a chemical. It went out in such a wide arc that neither of us was able to get away by the time we realized what they were doing. Without our powers we were unable to fight off the number of the sorcerer’s men that came down on us. I lost everything but my telepathic ability.”

“Damn.”
Alec shook his head.
“We’ll have to hope that Rider wasn’t caught in that shower and that he’s getting us backup. In the meantime, we need to figure out a way out of here.”

Alec looked around his cell. He hadn’t been sprayed so he still had the shifter ability. However it wasn’t possible for him to get small enough to escape through what tiny cracks were around the door. He looked up at the rock ceiling and had an idea.

He went to the cell door and started rattling it. “I need to talk to Dawson.” He rattled it some more. “I want to make a deal with him.”

There was no answer so Alec rattled the door some more. “Come here,” He shouted. “Dawson is going to want to talk with me.”

Alec heard footsteps outside and smiled. He shifted into a bat, flew to the ceiling, and hung upside down as he waited for the door to open.

* * * * *

Loni looked into the dark desert and took a deep breath, coming to a decision on what to do. Instead of trying to find Alec’s friends, she would run back to the house, speeding up time for herself. She would find him and the others and set them free. Along the way her other so-called gifts might come into play.

As far as Alec and she… She’d take things a step and a day at a time.

“Get her.” A voice said from behind.

Before she had a chance to react, big hands clamped her arms and turned her around. Two men had grabbed her and they started to drag her through Dawson’s front gate and back toward his house.

“No.”
She screamed and struggled and fought against the two men but they only clamped their hands tighter and one of them laughed.

Panic made her frantic to get away. If she didn’t, what would happen to Alec and the others? She struggled even more and screamed. Tears of frustration and anger rolled down her face. What would happen to her?

The man who had laughed raised his hand and looked like he was about to hit her. The other man shook his head. “Dawson will get pissed if you hurt her, Todd.”

“You’re such a pansy, Rick.” Todd snorted as he yanked Loni forward. “Can’t see why Dawson lets you hang around.”

“Let’s just get her to Dawson.” Rick turned his gaze away from Todd and he tugged on Loni’s arm.

Todd snorted as they dragged her up the driveway and then onto the walk that led to the front door. Two men guarded the door with what looked like high-powered weapons.

Her heart sank as she found herself right back where she started.

The door opened. The sorcerer stood in the entryway, a thunderous expression on his long face. With his goatee and the darkness of his eyes, she almost felt like she was looking at the Devil himself.

“Release her,” he ordered the men. Dawson’s scar seemed to whiten as he spoke.

The moment the men let her go, the sorcerer touched her arm. Again, cold traveled through her from where his fingers touched her skin. Her arms went stiff at her sides and she couldn’t move them.

Sparks flared in his dark eyes as he said, “Come. Now.”

She felt compelled to obey, like she had no choice but to do what he told her.

They walked into the house and the door slammed behind them, and she found herself alone with Dawson. He yanked her head back by her hair and she cried out from the sudden pain. She tried to get away from him, but her arms were still rigid at her sides and he had a tight hold on her hair.

“Now that I have you back, I think I might take you someplace where we can be alone.” He brushed his lips down the column of her throat, causing her to shudder. “Page and his friends are locked up and there is no one who would dare disturb us.”

“No.” Loni was almost surprised that she could talk. “I won’t let you do anything to me.”

The sorcerer looked bored. “I’ve had enough talk.”

He jerked her by her hair and dragged her to the staircase leading back down to the place where he’d injected her, what he’d called his control room. She shuddered and wanted to fight him but she knew it was no use. She was his captive.

Chapter 21

Alec hung upside down in bat form from the rock ceiling and waited as he heard someone’s footsteps outside his cell door. The slot opened and he saw the jailor’s eyes as he looked through. They narrowed as they flicked around the cell, looking for him.

“Mitch,” the jailor said in a low, urgent tone. “Page isn’t in here.”

“I just heard him say he’s willing to do a deal with Dawson.” Presumably “Mitch” responded. “He’s in there.”

“I’m telling you, he’s not.”

“We’d better check,” Mitch said. In a lower voice he added. “He could be trying something, so be careful.”

The cell door’s lock clanked and the door squeaked as it opened. Two males stepped in, both holding HKs. The two bulky men looked around the cell. One had a full head of blond hair and the other was bald.

“Shit.” From the sound of his voice, the blond was Mitch. “You’re right. The sonofabitch isn’t here.”

Alec shifted into human form at the same time he swung down. His boots connected with Mitch’s head, forcing his skull against the stone cell wall with a sickening
thud
. He slid to the floor, out cold.

At the same time, Alec twisted in the air and landed in a crouch. With one foot, he swept the bald male’s feet out from under him and took his HK.

Baldy started to get up and Alec held the HK to his head. “Move and die.” The male went completely still.

Alec snatched up Mitch’s weapon and then backed up toward the cell door, keeping one HK trained on Baldy. Mitch groaned and stirred. Alec reached the door and stepped out into the corridor, then slammed the cell door shut. Baldy lunged for the door and tried to open it before Alec rammed the lock home.

“Shut up or I
will
shoot you.” Alec looked through the slot and raised the HK. Baldy snapped his mouth closed.

Alec slid the slot closed and looked down the corridor at the other cells. He ran to the first one and opened the slot. “Petra?” he called out. “Erick?”

He slid the eye slot open and looked into the dark cell and saw that Petra stood a few feet away. He unlocked the door and it creaked as it opened. Petra pushed her long red hair over her shoulders as she stepped out of the cell. Alec went to the next cell, found Erick, and let him out.

“We need to get this crud off of us.” Erick swiped his hand down his face. “I can’t shift.”

“My powers won’t work, either thanks to that spray.” Petra put her hands on her hips. “All I can do is short range telepathy.”

Alec handed one HK to Petra and the other to Erick. “Then you’re probably going to need these.”

“Thanks.” Petra gave a nod as she took the gun. “Now we just need to find where they put our own weapons.”

They hurried to the lone windowless door at the end of the corridor. Alec listened at the door. He heard nothing and slowly opened it, then looked out into a hallway.

“Clear.” He shifted, his body transforming into a wolf as he slipped out through the door. Erick and Petra followed, their weapons at the ready. He loped ahead of them, his superior wolf’s sense of smell telling him that for now they were alone.

Alec’s ears pricked and he came up short as he reached the archway before the set of stairs that would lead them out of the dungeon. By the scent of it, two male paranorms were coming down the stairs. Alec looked over his shoulder at Petra and Erick and they nodded in acknowledgement. Alec eased into the shadows while his fellow Enforcers pressed themselves against the wall, to either side of the open archway.

“Dawson wants Page to watch.” A deep-voiced male laughed. “Then he’s going to finish him off.”

A low growl started to rise up in Alec’s throat but he held it back.

“I hear Page is a mimic,” the other male said as their boot steps grew louder on the stairs. “Think Dawson will keep for himself the drug made from that thing in Page’s brain?”

Alec frowned inwardly. The drug made from something in his brain?

Everything clicked into place. The dead paranorms with holes drilled into their skulls and the pituitary gland removed… A drug that gave humans paranormal powers…

Damn.
Why hadn’t they seen that before?

He glanced at Petra and Erick’s faces and saw the same realization in their expressions.

“If Page is a mimic then I’d bet you’re right,” Deep Voice said. “Dawson will keep it for himself.”

“But the drug doesn’t affect paranorms.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Deep Voice sounded thoughtful. “Or maybe since Dawson is a sorcerer it will work differently with him.”

The males reached the archway. Petra and Erick swung around. Petra took on one male, kicking his weapon from his hands then hitting his throat with a knife-hand strike. The male choked, unable to make any other sounds as Petra grabbed his head and slammed his face into her knee. She twisted his head and snapped his neck.

While Petra took care of the first male, Erick got rid of the second. He grabbed the male around the neck and squeezed, crushing his windpipe as he choked the life from him. He dropped the body to the floor.

They grabbed the males’ weapons including a couple of daggers and knives. When they were finished, Alec headed up the stairs in wolf form. His paws were silent as he went to the floor above the dungeon, his ears swiveling as he took in various sounds coming from outside and inside Dawson’s house.

He reached the landing on the next level. Hair stood up on his back and he gave a low growl as he heard Dawson speaking. Alec sensed Petra and Erick behind him. He didn’t look back as he slipped to the door and carefully looked in.

Dawson with two males, one to either side of him. In wolf form, Alec had a keen sense of smell. By the scent of it, these were humans with paranormal powers.

His heart nearly stopped beating. Loni was strapped to a chair, tears rolling down her face.

Dawson held a drill, the bit close to her head.

“Welcome, Page.” The sorcerer glanced over his shoulder. “You’re just in time.”

Alec growled as he moved into the room.

“Unfortunately, my magic will not remove the pituitary of a paranorm through the skull, but a good old-fashioned human drill will allow me access.” Dawson turned on the drill and it made a whirring sound as he started moving it closer to Loni’s head. “Come any closer,” he said, “and I will use it on her now.”

Alec came to an abrupt stop. His heart beat faster as fear tore through him.

“Return to your human form,” Dawson said, looking bored as he settled his gaze on Alec. “And tell your friends to put down their weapons and slide them to my men.”

Alec shifted and clenched his fists at his sides when he stood in front of the sorcerer. “Let her go, Dawson,” Alec said. “I won’t fight you if you take me instead. I know that you want me and my ability.”

Dawson smiled as he stood, the drill stopped but the bit pressed against Loni’s skull. “Very generous of you, Page. Of course you know that you’re not the only one I’ll have.” He looked past Alec. “After all, Enforcer powers will be more than valuable.”

Alec heard Petra and Erick put down their weapons and they clattered on the concrete floor as they each pushed their gun to a human paranorm. Each male picked up one of the guns and they took their places to either side of Dawson again.

“Just take me.” Alec clenched his teeth. “I know you want my power above all others. If you don’t make this deal with me, you will be sorry.”

The sorcerer laughed. “I do not need to make any deal with you.”