Chapter One
Gagged, trussed up like a rotisserie chicken, and stuffed into the cramped backseat of a low-slung car, Joann Clarkson struggled with both rope and terror. Operating only on survival instinct, she mindlessly twisted and jerked her wrists within their bindings. All she’d accomplished so far was to rub and scrape her skin until it was raw and bloody.
Being petrified with fear made it impossible to think, and Joann couldn’t make any sense of her current predicament. If only she could calm down, find her reason, then, maybe, she could figure out what to do.
It all started when the man burst into the lab where she was working. That in and of itself was impossible to compute as the reinforced steel door was kept deadbolted. Yet, he’d managed to kick it in and right off its hinges.
Cowering, she didn’t know what she expected to come through the busted door—maybe a battering ram—but it hadn’t been one lanky man with dirty blond hair.
He seemed as surprised to find her there as she was to see him. Plainly expecting to find someone else, his expectant look vanished as he glared around the room.
Joann stammered, “You broke the door. You broke it—Wait. Stop. You can’t be in here. Only authorized personnel are permitted. You need to go. Right now, or I’m calling security.”
“You’ll be dead before you reach the phone.” He made the threat softly. Almost gently. “If you tell me what I want to know, everything will be just fine. Understand?”
“Yes,” she whispered in a barely audible tone.
“Where is Dr. Blautsauger?”
“She”—Joann gulped noisily—“She isn’t here.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know. I guess she went home for the night.”
“How long ago?”
“About an hour?” Joann gamely lied. In reality, the Doc had just left, and the two had, probably, scarcely missed passing each other in the corridor.
“No way can I get inside that fortress,” he shouted angrily and kicked over a table. In his rage, he paved a path of destruction throughout the room—breaking and smashing everything he touched.
At first, the sheer violence of his actions held Joann in place. Horrified, she watched as he easily hefted the big microscope—the one so massive she couldn’t pick it up alone. With one mighty swing, he bashed it against the glass door of their specimen refrigerator—sending glass shards flying. Instinctively she raised her hands to protect her face.
Systematically, with wanton glee, he started destroying all the blood samples in the cooler. Soon the white walls and floor were bathed in virulent red.
It was only then that Joann realized she was missing her opportunity. With him intent on demolition, he wasn’t paying any attention to her.
It was her chance to escape. Her right foot slid back first and then the left in a haphazard moonwalk before she whirled around and raced for the exit.
Freedom seemed in her grasp right before he snatched her back inside.
“Oh, no, you don’t, missy.” Snagging the back of her shirt, he jerked her up against him. “I can’t go back empty-handed.” His breath was a sour note in her nostrils. “That means you’re my ticket back in.”
“Ticket for what?” she gasped, the virtually incomprehensible words tumbled over themselves. “I don’t know anything.”
“Maybe not,” he drawled, his gaze held a speculative gleam. “Still you’re better than nothing.”
“No, I’m not.” Joann earnestly assured him. “Really.”
“Oh, I’ve got use for you.” Opening his mouth, he pointed at his weird-looking incisor teeth, and Joann reared back at the sight of them elongating. “You’ll be something to snack on during the drive.” Then he grinned maliciously, and she felt her eyes rolling back inside her head.
And that’s how she ended up in the cramped backseat of some male-ego-stroking car. Her eyes stung with tears though her tear ducts were too dry to produce any more moisture. When she’d first come to, she’d wept with every mile. Wailing loudly until that-that monster pulled over and roughly slapped a piece of gray tape over her mouth. After that she’d fallen into a kind of petrified stupor, where one single refrain drummed in her head with each tire rotation.
Cody. Cody.
What would happen to her precious little boy? Who would take care of him? Would she ever get another chance to kiss those baby-rounded, soft cheeks? Be there to marvel over each new milestone he accomplished? Even at her lowest, depressed over her divorce and lack of money, his sweet face and cute antics made her smile.
It was their silly nightly rituals which soothed her enough she could sleep at night. Laughing as he proudly splashed the soapy foam topping his nightly tub of water. Playing peek-a-boo with the towel as she dried him off. Then clean and clad in a cozy sleeper, they snuggled in the old rocker while she read or sang. He sang too. And if their harmonizing was off-key, well, it was joyful.
Cody. Her little guy. He was her sole focus, and the one and only reason she needed to fight back. For him she was determined to go on living. She was going to be there to emotionally and financially support him as he went through the ups and downs of life.
No one was going to take that away from her.
She had to think. There had to be a way for her to get out of these stupid ropes. If only she had superhero strength. What she needed was a hefty shot of adrenaline—the picking a car off a loved one kind of thing. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to trigger her adrenal gland.
Without a big dose of brute strength, she was left with only mental prowess to outwit her captor. If that was the case, she thought in despair, she was dead meat.
Just thinking about Cody, however, helped to center her and to renew her determination. Like everything else since Bobby took off, things were up to her now. There was no other option but to somehow, someway, get herself free and back to her son.
Suddenly she became aware of the car slowing before it turned off the main road. Her breath caught as the car bumped to a stop. Had they arrived? She’d started the trip unconscious and then she’d been stuck in a personal hell, so subsequently she had no idea of how much time had passed. As far as she knew they could have been on the road minutes or hours.
The man with the freaky teeth, which she hoped were fake, got out of the car and stretched. Then leaning down, he looked at her through the open driver’s side door. His smile broadcasted evil intent, even before he reached for the lever to swing the front seat forward.
“The smell of your blood is driving me crazy,” he said, and the conversational tone almost made the words sound normal. At the same time, he was awkwardly fitting his long length onto the narrow back bench seat beside her. “I think it’s time for us to get better acquainted.”
Despite her bound state, Joann retreated as much as possible. There just wasn’t anywhere for her to go inside the tiny car. Using her trussed legs, she tried to keep some distance between them, but the tussle was humiliatingly brief. All too soon she was pinned between the car frame and his body.
“Ow,” Jo hissed, as he ripped the tape from her mouth. She wouldn’t have been surprised to see her lips still stuck to the adhesive. “Who the hell are you?”
Though he looked startled by the question, he responded, “Vincent Sabriento.”
“Well, Vincent, I only do basic grunt work for Dr. Blautsauger. I. Don’t. Know. Anything.”
“Doesn’t matter,” he retorted. “I’ve been thinking about that. All you have to do is convince the Toltecs that you do.”
“What in the hell are Toltecs?” She shrieked. “I can’t tell anyone anything about Dr. Blautsauger’s work. Because, and I can’t stress this enough, I don’t know her formulas.”
“You’ll figure something out.” Vincent chuckled. Grabbing her by the chin, he forced her head back and held her still. “But right now I’m hungry.” Though she desperately wanted to look away, Joann was utterly transfixed as he peeled back his lips.
Those fangs were, indeed, growing longer. Bigger. Sharper.
“Wh-what are you?” Joann wanted to close her eyes and shut out this new nightmare playing in front of her in hi-def. Just like a train wreck, however, she found she couldn’t look away.
“I’m a Nosferatu vampire though I defected to the other side,” he answered without the slightest bit of shame. “Toltecs are much more fun. Now there’s a bunch of vamps for you that don’t bother with a ton of pesky rules. They pay better too.” His tone turned sulky. “Although lately, I’ve been getting a raw deal.”
His gaze narrowed on her, but she didn’t think he saw her anymore. “At the moment both sides have a bounty on my head. That’s where the Blautsauger bitch was to come in handy.”
“I-don’t-get it,” Jo stuttered, still unable to tear her eyes away from those lethal teeth.
He blew out a long breath to show his impatience with her slowness. “Andris Blautsauger is a bigwig with the Nosferatu. My boss, Mateo Osvaldo is the Toltec leader, and he hates Blautsauger’s guts. I figured if I gave him his enemy’s daughter”—he snapped his fingers—“it would prove my loyalty. See? I’d be set up for life.”
“But—”
“Enough talk,” Vincent interrupted. Dragging her even closer the sight of those gleaming fangs filled her entire world. The screams inside her head transformed into reality as the points penetrated her neck without further warning.
The pain was indescribable. Joann felt as helpless as a small bunny clamped tightly in the jaws of a rabid dog. But, somehow, this was worse. Death wouldn’t bring release because he wanted her alive. He’d make sure she lived so she could repeatedly be violated.
Her senses cried out in denial as her skin crawled. Reeling with the horrible discovery that mythological monsters weren’t so mythical after all—it was like losing her innocence—her mind balked against this new reality.
When the vampire started making pleasurable little grunts as he nursed from her vein, she knew with absolute certainty she’d never feel clean again. She knew she was going to pass out again and decided it was the only way her body could protect her mind from imploding.
Retreat now. Her thoughts grew hazy as darkness threatened her. But later she was going to do her damnedest to get back to Cody.