I awoke lying on frigid concrete, all but my head which was in someone’s lap. I groaned as I opened my eyes. Not again, I thought to myself. The world spun as I righted myself and saw that the lap I had rested on was Grayson’s.

“What happened?” I hissed through clenched teeth.

“Not sure. We were talking and then we woke up here.”

I looked down and realized that our kidnappers hadn’t even bothered tying us up.

“Must be supernaturals,” I mumbled thinking out loud.

“Why do you say that?” His hands were on me helping to steady me.

“No ties,” I jiggled my wrist showing my point. “They must have known that they’d be useless.”

“I’m really getting tired of being kidnapped,” he joked, but I knew he really meant it. I was too.

“I know,” I admitted with a guilty smile remembering what Anton had done to him. “But at least this time you’re a lot harder to kill.”

“True.”

It was dark and damp where we were. At first, I thought perhaps we were in a basement, but the smell of car exhaust was quite pungent. I looked around the room and saw stairs leading to a door that I was sure was locked, but I tried it anyways. Not only was it locked, but it seemed to be spelled shut too. Witches. Remembering my last encounter with witches, and now knowing who was behind it, I couldn’t help but think that Ava was responsible once more. It was just too much of a coincidence.

I scanned the room hoping to find a way to escape that our abductors might have overlooked. There were no windows or doors, with the exception of the one at the top of the stairs. Unsure what else to do and still feeling dizzy, I sat back down and leaned against Grayson.

“We should have never gone to that party,” I mumbled.

Grayson placed a gentle kiss on my hair. “Next time, we’ll go out of town.”

I at him from under my lashes feeling glad that he said “next time,” not because he thought we’d escape, but because he planned on us being together for a next time. After Sebastian kissing me, his words rang through my head that Grayson could grow tired of the drama that followed me.

Grayson looked down at his watch. Hours had passed since we left the party when I heard the sound of metal scrapping against itself as the door at the top of the stairs opened. Then there was the sound of multiple people heading down. I stood and Grayson followed. I didn’t want to be at a disadvantage by sitting on the floor. An opportunity to escape might present itself and we needed to be ready.

There were five men that took a stance in various spots of the room. I felt the small roll of power coming off four of them. Vampires, about one hundred in age to one hundred and fifty, but the fifth was close to five hundred. I inwardly rolled my eyes asking god why he couldn’t let me catch a break.

The oldest vampire stood in front of us. His bald head and scars on his eyebrow and lip might make a human feel intimidated, but we were vampires. Even as a human, Grayson didn’t intimidate easily. Since he met me and became a vampire, the only thing that changed was that he was now more confident.

“Gabriella Carmichael,” he greeted in a how do you do way. “Daughter of the leader of the New York nest, Persephone Carmichael and The First Vampire, Damien Maloch.”

“Do you give everyone you kidnap a history on their own pedigree?” I asked snidely.

“Kidnapped? Who said anything about you being kidnapped?”

“You knocked us unconscious and brought us here against our will. Any court in this country would define that as kidnapping,” Grayson pointed out.

“No, you misunderstand. I only wish for information and then you are free to leave. I will even have one of my guys drive you anywhere you wish.”

I doubted that.

“What do you want to know?” I asked figuring I’d play along until I could work out a plan to get out of there. I looked at where each guy was placed. Two were guarding the stairs while the other two were meant to appear as back up to the leader. I didn’t know if they were it or if there were more up stairs. I strained my hearing but couldn’t catch a single noise outside. It wasn’t enough to convince me that they were alone. I knew they had a witch and perhaps there was a spell cast blocking my supernatural hearing from leaving this room.

“I want to talk about your father, Damien.”

“Not gonna happen,” I declared with a small shake of my head.

The old vampire didn’t seem surprised. “Gabriella,” he spoke to me like we were old friends, “why risk yourself? Your mate?” He gestured to Grayson, “For a man that you barely know? A man who abandoned you?” His words were soft and gentle, which I knew was his tactic.

“It’s Miss Carmichael to you and I’d like to answer your question with a question. Why in the world do you think that I’d believe anything you say? You playing on the daddy issues you think I have, I get, but trusting your word…?”

He grinned, showing a hint of his teeth. “She said you’d be difficult.”

“She?”

“Yes. The woman who pointed me in your direction. You see, I have many grievances with your father, but he is the First. No one knows what would happen if he fell. We all might follow him to the grave. So we must do the second best thing and that’s find ways to hurt him. I was all set to turn my attention to his closest friends, but when she told me that the Great Damien had a daughter…How could I refuse such an opportunity.”

As he spoke the other two vampires standing behind him began moving towards Grayson and me.

“You see, I first sent a few of my men to detain you, but on the night they were sent to bring you in, they never returned. You wouldn’t know anything about that, now would you?”

I didn’t respond, but I could feel Grayson’s eyes on me. We hadn’t spoken of the attack on me since Sebastian had pushed me into speaking about it.

“We found them just before dawn. They had been marked with an angel blade.”

My eyes closed. I hadn’t known how Sebastian killed them just that he had. As angry as I was with him at the moment, I hoped that using the blade wasn’t enough to trace the kills back to him.

“Jim didn’t get too handsy with you, did he? I told him that I wanted you unharmed. Stupid bastard, never could keep his dick in his pants,” he mumbled the last part.

The old vampire seemed momentarily distracted with his thoughts. I looked to Grayson feeling him tense. His expression was one mixed with fury and resolve. I nodded. As if reading my mind, Grayson blurred towards the oldest vampire knocking him across the room, while I did the same to the ones standing in our way to the exit.

I looked back for a brief glance, just long enough to see that Grayson was behind me before I pushed myself as hard as I could and sped up the stairs. Once Grayson crossed the threshold I shoved the door closed. I had no idea if the spell would launch on its own or even how it worked, but I had no plan to stand around to see if it did.

We looked around to find our next move. We were in a parking garage. It was late at night and the area was practically empty.

“This way,” I shouted as the door slammed opened, but Grayson and I were already blurring away. I could see the street view coming in to focus. I wished that they had taken us to an upper level instead of a lower one, then we could have just jumped over the edge, but now we had to go out the same way the vehicles did.

As we closed the distance, I was slammed into like a football player being tackled. I hit a concrete pillar with a hard thud causing it to crack.

“Gaby!” Grayson shouted turning towards me, but the vampires had already surrounded me. I felt hands on me pulling me to stand. There were two vampires on either side of me.

“Take a step closer and she dies!” The old vampire spat.

Grayson was motionless. I looked down and saw a stake pressed to my chest. “Run Grayson,” I urged. The other two vampires were flanking him.

“Move at all and I swear it’ll be the last thing she ever sees.”

“They’re going to kill me either way, Grayson. To hurt Damien. Go! Please!”

I saw the look on Grayson’s face shift. His eyes locked on mine and mine widened. I knew what was about to happen.

Everything happened so fast. I kicked the vampire holding the stake to my heart then threw my weight back making the two holding me lose their balance and release me. Pulling my stiletto off, I jabbed one of the lackeys in the eye before turning my attention to the other. I knew instantly that he was a fighter. He dodged my advances, but made no move to attack. I was becoming frustrated that I hadn’t landed a punch when I was suddenly shoved hard making my feet come out from under me before I crashed to the ground sliding a few feet across the concrete.

I stood quickly trying to prepare myself for the next attack. When I turned, fear paralyzed me. My eyes widened and my mouth fell open in a silent scream. My mind wasn’t making sense of what I was seeing. It couldn’t be. I saw the old vampire standing behind Grayson. Grayson’s head was down. His eyes were wide, fixed on the wooden stake protruding from his chest.

I tried to scream, but no sound came out, then I charged. I didn’t make it more than a few steps before I felt strong arms wrap around my waist lifting me like I weighed nothing. I struggled against them, trying to break free. Even though I knew what a stake to the chest meant I still needed to get to Grayson. I needed to save him and I would continue to try until I saw for myself that his heart had stopped. But in the blink of an eye, I was gone from the garage and standing in Sebastian’s room.

I was released and I spun to face him. My fist was raised ready to strike when I realized who had grabbed me.

“We have to go back,” I begged Sebastian through my sobs.

“We can’t.” His face was filled with anguish, but his eyes were filled with pity.

“We have to! Grayson…” I pleaded.

Sebastian placed his hands on my shoulders, like touching me would make me hear what he was about to say better. “Gaby, Grayson took a stake to the chest. You saw that.”

I shook my head. “No. He’s still alive. He has to be. We have to go back and save him,” I cried.

“Gaby!” Sebastian shook me trying to get me to understand what I saw.

“Please,” I looked up at him, implored him with my eyes as tears streamed down my face. “If you don’t take me, I’ll go by myself.”

Sebastian studied me trying to decipher if there was any truth to my words. Whatever he saw there had him hang his head before nodding. He pulled me tight before dissipating us back to the garage where we had stood only moments ago. I broke away from him and scanned the room for Grayson or the vampires who had captured us, but saw no sign of anyone. Sebastian stood ready by my side with a sword that appeared out of nowhere. There was no hint that they had even been there with the exception of their faint scent and the scent of blood. I looked back in the basement, I checked the floors above, but there was nothing.

I fell to my knees and buried my head in my hands before the tears started streaming down my face once more. I played the scene over and over in my head. Grayson standing there, his eyes on the stake coming out of his chest. I wanted to have hope, to believe that he could survive, but Sebastian was right. It was a stake to the chest and vampires didn’t survive getting hit in the heart.

I sat there waiting to feel the pain of our mating bond to dissolve, like it had when his human life ended, but instead I felt Sebastian’s warm arms wrap around me before darkness came as my grief became overwhelming.