MY SHOULDERS SENT lancing pain through my body, my hands suspended overhead, and my feet barely brushing a dirt floor. I jerked, coming awake with a start. I was in a barn or maybe a shed. Dim light filtered in from the outside. It was quiet—the kind of quiet that said I was far from civilization.
Caught and strung up like a deer carcass. My head pounded from whatever he'd used to make me unconscious. "This is really becoming an unwelcome habit," I muttered.
"You often wake up in the secret lairs of your enemies?" Caroline asked in a tired voice from a few feet away.
I craned my neck, twisting so I could look over my shoulder at her, surprised to find someone else sharing the murder shack with me. A thin, ragged-looking Caroline glared back, a worn and weary expression on her face. Locked in a cage just big enough that she could sit upright, but not stand, she looked like she'd gone a few days without sleep or a bath. She was curled in a ball, her naked limbs wrapped around herself, protecting her modesty.
"What're you doing here?" I asked.
She made a small noise of disbelief. "Same as you I'd imagine. Our lovely hosts captured me, stuffed me in this cage, then showed up with you half an hour ago."
My shoulder throbbed where she'd bitten me as if the wound knew its maker was near. "How did they get you? Theo's human, and last I saw, you were more than a match for any human."
Caroline's laugh was raw and tired sounding. "You'd think so. Werewolves tend to fall unconscious after a shift—even demon-tainted ones. He knew where to look. I never had a chance. Next thing I knew, I woke up naked in this cage."
I nodded. I supposed it made sense. Expending that much energy on shifting every muscle, bone and fiber in your body would put anyone in need of a little nap.
"Did he hurt you?"
My body tensed for the answer. There wasn't much I could do right now if he had. It would have been better to leave such things until after we'd escaped, but I had to know.
She shook her head. "No, he's mostly stayed away except when he brought you in."
My muscles relaxed as I counted one piece of good news in this. It occurred to me she might be lying, but if she was, it was something we would have to deal with once we were safe.
Caroline slid me a sidelong look through the bars of her cage. "Sorry about the shoulder and leg, by the way."
I nodded again. There really wasn't much to say to that. She'd almost killed me—but she hadn't. I don't think harming me had been her intent either. Unfortunately, apologies weren't a one-size-fit-all band aid. Even if I could accept it, I doubted Brax or the vampires would.
"I did try to turn you into the wolves," I said.
She laughed, the sound closer to the real thing. "Yeah, you did. Did you really think I killed those people?"
I grimaced. It was all I could manage hanging from the ceiling, my hands numb and my shoulders protesting their abuse. "They had very convincing evidence. Your scent. The demon taint on the bodies. Then there was the fact you almost killed me."
"Still."
"Yeah," I said in a soft voice. "Still."
We were silent for a long moment, giving me time to look around. I revised my earlier opinion of the space. This was definitely a shack or maybe a shed. Not that I knew the difference between the two. It had been stripped of anything that could be used as a weapon or tool to escape. Smart. Doubly smart when you considered the likelihood of either of us getting free of our bonds.
The shack smelled musty and damp, and the faint sound of furtive movements convinced me we had company of the rodent variety. A cat would take care of that. I craned my head back, looking up at the wooden beams above me, noticing the holes in the ceiling that let in the first rays of the morning sun.
Great. I was strung up in what looked like a serial killer’s hideout, and the sun was coming up. Just what I needed.
I twisted my hands, trying to pull them loose or at least ease the strain in my arms. No such luck. Worse, I was pretty sure the stinging in my wrists was from silver, making my predicament that much more painful.
"Can you break your cage?" I asked, trying to distract myself from the discomfort.
"I tried already," Caroline said from where she huddled in the corner of it, careful not to let any more of her skin than necessary brush against the wires. "This thing is silver; even attacking it in my werewolf form didn’t do anything."
I looked over at her, noticing the way she was crouched and the barely veiled pain in her eyes. "All of it?"
Caroline's grim look was all the answer I needed. If the bottom was silver as well, it meant her naked skin was lying unprotected against what was essentially poison to both of our kinds.
"Shit." I yanked hard on my arms, growling when my shoulders screamed in protest before giving up for the moment.
"Such a way with words," Caroline said in a dry voice. She made a soft sound of pain as she shifted, and a new patch of skin came into contact with the silver.
"We're going to get out of this," I said, trying to project conviction in my voice.
"Are you trying to convince me or yourself?" she asked.
"This isn't the first time I've been locked up awaiting death," I said.
"Oh? And how did you get out last time?"
I grimaced. "I didn't really. That came later."
She aimed a dour look my way. "Not helpful, Aileen."
I gave her a jaunty smile, or as jaunty as I could manage in these circumstances. I didn't want to be a downer, but our situation was not good. Even for me.
To my othersight, my chains as well as Caroline's cage had a slight aura to them—one that made me think it was more than silver keeping us here. Talk about overkill. Silver by itself would have been more than enough to keep both of us put. Some type of spell on top of that? Our odds just kept getting worse and worse.
Still, I couldn't let her give up hope. I’d been in bad situations before, and I knew that you had to stay in the right frame of mind. You never knew when the slimmest of chances to escape might come along. You had to be ready to take advantage, and that meant keeping your wits about you and staying determined.
"I thought the military trained you guys for situations like this," she said with a baleful look.
"They mostly teach how to evade capture, or techniques to hold up under interrogation. Either way, I never went to the SERE course so I'm fresh out of ideas." SERE stood for Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape. It was the course the military sent its badasses to and involved a no-holds-barred training regimen designed to prepare soldiers for the possibility of capture. The program was pretty brutal from what I'd heard, so I'd never volunteered to attend. There were just some things in life I never wanted to survive. That was one of them. "Somehow, I don't think name, rank and social security number is going to help us right now."
That got me a sound of grim amusement from Caroline. It felt like a win, even as worry grew inside at her state. She was pale and sweat gleamed on her forehead as the ball she'd huddled into tightened.
"Do you know why they're doing this?" I asked.
She opened her eyes and looked at me. "No, but I know they've been planning this for a long time. They're the descendants you asked me to track down."
"I figured that part out," I said. "I mean, they should be on our side. Not working to kill us."
She shrugged. "You know as much as I do."
There was a creak as the door in front of me opened and the dim rays of the morning sun filtered through. I blinked against the bright light, feeling that familiar lassitude invade my limbs. Thanks to the blood bath Liam had forced on me, I wasn't in any danger of falling asleep. Yet.
A familiar face peered in disgust at me from the door. Lisa looked pissed to see me awake and hanging from the ceiling. "You've got to be fucking kidding me," she spat.
She stalked into the shack, her gaze going from me to Caroline. A growl came from Caroline's cage and my friend was suddenly crouched, her body poised to spring at Lisa.
"Shut it, kujo," Lisa snarled.
"My, my, I had no idea you were so involved in this," I said, turning her attention to me. That was a lie. An inkling had begun forming when I’d seen her photo on Theo's wall. There were also the bodies in the alley. Theo was human. There was no way he could have done that to Catherine and the other. That left Lisa. I suppose it was possible there was another werewolf involved in this, but I doubted it. Often the simplest explanation fit.
Her glare turned my way, and she paced closer to me. "You have no idea what you're talking about."
"What is Brax going to do when he realizes your role in all this?" I asked.
"He'll rip her spine out," Caroline said before Lisa could, her voice close to a growl. "He dislikes traitors."
"And you working to frame Caroline could be constituted as betrayal," I said as if just realizing the truth.
"That's not what happened," Lisa said.
"I don't think Brax is going to believe that. Do you, Caroline?" I said.
The amused noise Caroline made sounded odd coming from a throat half transformed to that of a wolf. It was a thing out of nightmares, your darkest fears given voice. "Not a chance in hell."
"Ah, well, it's been nice knowing you," I told Lisa with fake sympathy.
"There's no way he's going to find out," Lisa said, her voice defensive. I kept my inner smile to myself, seeing the chink in her walls.
"Isn't he, though?" I asked. "He's a very bright man. I'm sure your photo on Theo's descendant wall is going to be a very big clue, and when Nathan wakes up to identify Theo as his attacker, that'll be another glaring arrow pointing right at you."
"Your enforcer friend is dead," she snarled.
I kept my worry to myself, not letting her see how her words affected me. I prayed he survived. As many personal issues as I had with the vampires, I wouldn't wish most of them harm. Nathan, especially. He'd grown on me over the past few days—kind of like fungus.
"Are you sure?" I asked, sowing the seeds of doubt. "Do you really think your human could kill a vampire? We're pretty hardy, you know. Hell, I've survived a hole in the stomach and kept going, and he's way older than me. It'd take a lot to put him down."
Her mouth tightened, letting me know I'd scored. Good. Let her think on that. I wasn't bluffing either. I had no idea how much a vampire of Nathan's age could take, but I was banking that Theo's little magic charm didn't have enough juice to kill him.
Before she could respond, Theo appeared behind her. "What are you doing here?"
She whirled. "You! What is this?"
She waved at Caroline and me. Theo's face tightened as his eyes went to the two of us. He strode in, grabbing his sister's arm and yanking her out.
"We talked about this. You're supposed to keep your distance and let me know if the wolves make any suspicious moves."
"That was before you kidnapped the vampire's bitch. They're involved now and Brax is beginning to ask questions." She lowered her voice. "Dangerous questions."
"I don't care," Theo snapped, sounding nothing like the well-mannered man I'd met in the mansion. "He's your problem. Your presence here could jeopardize everything. Go home."
She yanked out of his grip and spun on him, the skin on her face rippling as if the beast inside was fighting to get free. "We're not done talking about this."
He made a frustrated sound. "Fine, but not here."
She jerked her shoulder and preceded him out of the shack. Theo paused before following her, his face turning slightly towards me. "I'll deal with you later."
I bared my fangs at him. "I look forward to it."
He made a derisive sound of amusement, walking over to the wall where there was a switch. He gave me a smile before flipping it. I jerked and screamed as pain darted down my arms, my feet dancing across the bare dirt in a painful arc.
Caroline shouted at him to stop, throwing herself against her cage again and again.
He watched us with a nasty little smile before he flipped the switch again. My unwilling jerking came to a stop, and I stilled, an agonized moan escaping me.
"Next time you back-talk, I'll leave this on while I attend to my business," he told me.
I didn't have time to answer, my breathing painful as I struggled to gain my strength back. He sauntered to the door, pulling it shut behind him. My ears picked up the faint rattling of the chain as he locked the padlock.
"Aileen, are you okay? Aileen?" Caroline's voice rose in panic as I failed to answer.
I managed to say, "I'm fine." My head sagged forward. What was that? Electricity? Whatever it was had made itself felt. My nerves still fired with remembered pain.
"You're not fine," she snapped.
"I'm close enough," I told her, forcing my head back up. She needed me to be strong. I could at least pretend at it to keep her calm.
She sat back and let out a breath of relief, my response having convinced her I wasn't about to kick the bucket right then and there. "We need to get out of here."
"I know. I'm working on it," I assured her.
"No, you don't." She looked at me directly, desperation on her face. The wolf so close to the surface that it felt like there were two beings present in one body. To my other sight, I saw the burnt umber and black that I associated with the wolf flickering around her body like a halo. "Tonight's the full moon. If we're not out of here by then, I won't be able to control myself during the change."
I stilled, memories of the last time her wolf had attacked me rising in my mind. Fear coated my tongue and it took effort to control my breathing. If it was that close to a full moon, she didn't need my panic contributing to her lack of control.
"We're going to get out of here," I promised. Hopefully, before her wolf ate me.
"I hope you're right," she said, leaning her head against her drawn up knees. "Otherwise, I very much fear you're going to have to kill me."
I felt an instant denial form—one that originated from the very core of who I was. In no realm or timeline, not even a parallel one with an evil version of myself, would I ever consider such an act. "That's not happening."
"It will if you have even an ounce of caring left for me," she said. "If I turn, I won't be me. I'll be a monster intent on your flesh. If that's the case, the kindest thing you can do for me is put me out of my misery."
"It's not going to come to that," I said. "We're going to get out of here."
She didn't respond, her silence letting me know just how hopeless she felt.
We were each quiet, consumed by our thoughts as the day deepened and the morning wore on. I fought sleep with every ounce of my being, drawing on the strength of Liam and Thomas’s blood to stay awake. Knowing what tonight might bring, I didn't want to chance falling unconscious, knowing the next time I woke might be to the jaws of Caroline's wolf ripping out my throat. So good to know my fate once again would be decided based on my susceptibility to the sun.
Before long, the shack door opened to reveal Theo. He strolled inside, his face fixed in that affable geniality that had fooled me before. He didn't look like a murderer or a back-stabbing bastard. He appeared to be a regular guy—perhaps a little bland-looking and definitely too nice for his own good. Too bad this nice guy happened to have kidnapped two women and was planning their grisly deaths.
"Have to tell you, I expected you to be out for the day already," Theo said, coming to a stop in front of me. "I'll talk to that charm-maker. She promised that it would keep a vampire of your strength out for an extended period."
A charm. That must be how he got into the Gargoyle with all its protections. I was betting he had more than one—each tailored for a specific purpose. It must have been how he got so close without either Nathan or me knowing.
"Perhaps they'll give you a refund," I said.
He stared at me for a moment, his lips twisted in wry humor. An emotion not reflected in his eyes, which were cold and unfeeling. "What did I tell you about back-talk?"
He moved to the switch, looking at me as if he expected me to protest or beg. I stared back, blank faced. He made a sound of humor and then flicked the switch. I screamed as my back bowed, my muscles seizing so hard I thought I might be in danger of breaking something. The pain stopped, leaving me panting.
When I got myself under control it was to the sight of Theo, only steps from me as he watched in fascination. "It's my own design," he said. "Tailored for spooks. A blend of magic and human ingenuity. You see, electricity, by itself, hurts but is fleeting. Pair it with a little magic, and it creates something beautiful."
I didn't answer, meeting his gaze with determined eyes as I forced down the pain. Runners will tell you it’s mind over matter—that you can do anything, endure anything. That's bullshit. Everyone has a breaking point. Everyone. The trick to dealing with pain isn't ignoring it. It's embracing it, letting yourself feel it in its entirety, while knowing all things are fleeting. It allowed me to focus on something else—something greater. Currently, that something was what I planned to do to Theo when I got loose. Hint—it wasn't going to be pretty.
"Thought you were dead," I said. "Whose body did we find with Catherine?"
He straightened, giving me a sardonic look as if it amused him that I wasn't a whimpering, gibbering mess. "Pierce. It wasn't hard to convince Catherine to bring him along. He always had a thing for her and thought he could play protector and perhaps earn some points with his patron."
"Did she know what you had planned for her?" I asked, struggling to stay present.
I hadn't liked Pierce the one time I met him. He struck me as arrogant and full of himself, but he hadn't deserved what Theo had done to him. I could only hope his death was quick, and he hadn't been conscious for long, given how much damage had been done to him.
He lifted one shoulder. "She should have—I made it clear on more than one occasion how pathetic I found her—but I doubt it. She was too easy to seduce. It was almost a joy to watch the shock and betrayal in her eyes when she realized what was happening."
"Why are you doing this?" I asked. "You must know you won't get away with it. Liam is having the DNA from Pierce's body run against yours. They're going to figure out you weren't the victim. What are you going to do then?"
DNA testing, unlike on TV, took weeks. They might eventually figure out it wasn't Theo in that alley, but it would take time. Time, I didn't have.
"Yes, but by then you'll be dead, killed by your friend. Such a tragedy that," Theo said with a fake sad face. "And Theo will pop back up telling a story of how he ran and hid after being wounded." He walked back over to the switch. "Best part about this is that it will come out that I'm his descendant, his one ticket to a yearling now that you're dead."
"That's what this is about? Becoming a vampire?" Caroline asked, her voice disgusted.
I echoed the sentiment. He had to be kidding.
He paused, looking over at her and cocking his head as if he'd forgotten she was there. His hand moved to a different switch. Caroline screamed, the sound of an animal in pain. I jerked at my restraints as I watched her writhe, biting my tongue against any protests. If he knew watching her being tortured hurt more than anything he did to me, he would make sure to use her the next time he felt the need to make a point.
So, I watched and said nothing as he made her suffer—self-loathing a ball of snakes in the pit of my stomach.
He let up on the switch and watched with a half-smile as Caroline's sobs of pain filtered through the air. "At first it was about being a vampire. That was before."
I didn't say anything and neither did Caroline, both of us watching as he waited expectantly. A long moment passed before he gave a smile of victory, as if we were dogs that had just learned a trick. He continued as if nothing had happened. "My master opened my eyes to all the wrongs Thomas has done our family through the years. How he is the reason for so much suffering and chaos." He paced toward me, his face taking on the look of a zealot, someone so convinced they had the right of it that even incontrovertible proof held right under their nose wouldn't convince them otherwise. I hated zealots.
"Thomas lost track of his descendants more than a century ago," I said, knowing it was useless.
A blow landed against my ribs, the pain negligible compared to what came when he flipped the switch. "Exactly. He should have turned us then instead of allowing our line to be hunted through the decades."
"You know it was Steven who was responsible for all that."
Fire landed on my cheek.
"Of course, I know that. Who do you think raised me and my sister after he killed our parents?" After that revelation, he paced away from me heading towards Caroline.
"Why do you care anymore if Steven is dead?" I asked, needing to distract him from her. I couldn’t imagine what horrors that vampire had visited on two young children, the descendants of his enemy. Their childhoods would have been difficult. Maybe horrible enough that Theo had a driving need to please his former captor? Enough to carry out his agenda even in death?
He looked over his shoulder. "Another thing that can be laid at your feet."
I watched Theo with wariness, not bothering to deny the accusation. I didn't kill Steven, Thomas had, but I might as well have given it was my blood that proved Thomas had a yearling. That was enough to make him master of this territory, giving him permission to challenge Steven. Everything after that could be blamed on me. I didn't feel guilty about it. Steven had been a monster, responsible for so many deaths and the one I blamed for Caroline's change. Sondra might have been the weapon, but he's the one who put everything in motion.
"This is revenge," I said in understanding. It finally made sense—not why he wanted revenge. I didn't understand that given Steven had killed his parents and probably subjected Theo to a horrible childhood, but if revenge was his motive, it explained why he had struck at Caroline. All for the purpose of making me suffer.
Theo clapped. "Very good. Tomorrow night when she changes—she won't be able to fight it—she'll rip out your throat. Added benefit, this way will no doubt cause both of you maximum pain and suffering. When the vampires find out she killed another one of theirs, they'll be forced to retaliate."
"I doubt it," I said. "They barely blinked when they thought she'd killed you and Catherine. It won't be any different for me."
He lifted an eyebrow, the corners of his lips half twitching into a small, barely-there smile. "Do you think so? Really?" he stepped closer. "Those were companions. Humans. Expendable. Your sire is among the most powerful in their ranks. They won't let an insult like that stand."
I kept my chin lifted, not letting him see how his words affected me, sending a chill down my spine.
"Enough talk. Time for part two of today's plan." Before I could respond, he flipped the switch. Pain coursed through my body, growing and growing as he watched. This time he didn't end it, just waited as my screams got louder.
The blood's power kept me awake and conscious long after I prayed to pass out. It felt like an eternity, all of it spent in purgatory, before my body shut down, allowing blessed darkness to claim me.
As I drifted off my last thought was that I really hoped that the next time I woke, I wasn't staring into the jaws of a demon wolf.