Bound by Flames

“What are they?” I whispered.

“Remnants,” Vlad said, yanking off his mask and wig. Rivers of cruel satisfaction snaked through my emotions before he closed his feelings off again. “They can’t be killed because they’re already dead, and they feed from energy and pain. That’s why not even the strongest vampire is a match for them.”

Were the Remnants what Vlad had wanted from Cat? I’d thought he meant “grave power” as a metaphor. As if to reinforce my guess, Cat strode out of the old station and onto the train platform. Not only did the hideous creatures refrain from attacking her, they swayed in a trancelike way as she neared them, reminding me of snakes and a skilled charmer.

“That’s . . . that’s . . .” Words failed me, but not Vlad.

“An even more excruciating way to die than being burned,” he finished, his palm sliding along my smooth, bald head before he cupped my face. “I cannot take back what was done to you, but I will avenge your pain a thousandfold. That, I promise.”

I wanted to throw myself into his arms, not because of his vow but because he was there and I could. Before I made a move toward him, however, shame seared me, making it hard for me to even hold his gaze. He was determined to avenge me for what he’d seen, but what about the things he hadn’t seen? The things that, truth be told, I could have stopped and yet didn’t?

“Are we safe here?” I asked, hugging the long cloak around me instead of reaching out to him.

As if he sensed my reluctance, he stepped back until his body no longer brushed mine. “Yes. Even Mencheres couldn’t best Cat when she manifests grave power. As I said, it’s unstoppable. However, it’s also recordable.”

With that, multiple small explosions rocked the former station, until black smoke rose up in dozens of places. Just when I was worried about those drawing bystanders, the entire structure exploded in a thunderous detonation that sent a fireball mushrooming into the sky. Cat got pelted with burning debris before she dove out of the way. Then she turned and threw an aggravated look in Vlad’s direction.

“That’s for not saying yes to me immediately,” he muttered without a hint of remorse.

Then he wrapped his arms around me, but not in the embrace I so desperately needed. Instead, he propelled us back into the sky, taking us so high up that once again, I couldn’t stand to look. Tears escape my clenched lids as I locked my arms around him. We might be holding each other out of necessity, but his heat still seared me, his scent filled my nose, and his hair was whips I reveled in as strands lashed my cheek from the wind.

I was so overwhelmed by being back in his arms, it took me several minutes to notice that my right hand kept shooting tiny pulses of voltage into him.

Chapter 17

Vlad flew us through the air faster than I’d known he was capable of, yet it still took almost two hours to reach his plane. He must not have wanted to land anywhere near the station to avoid tipping off Szilagyi’s people. With the wind snatching away everything except the loudest shouts, it meant we didn’t have a chance to talk. I had a lot to say to him, but none of it seemed the type of thing to scream.

Of course, once we reached his plane, then we had an audience in the two pilots who greeted me with utmost respect while also managing not to look at the long cloak that was my only clothing. Our audience expanded when Cat showed up in time for me to emerge from the bathroom wearing the sweater and pants that Vlad had provided. In private, I’d also drained both big bags of blood that came with the clothes, then spent several minutes fighting my body’s response to the blood. Afterward, I tried to clean up, but there was only so much I could do with the small sink and hand soap. When I finally got to take a shower, I didn’t plan on coming out for hours.

The plane took off before I made it from the bathroom back to my seat. Clearly, Vlad was taking no chances about anyone coming after us. He waited for me before he sat down, and when he held out his hand as he had so many times before, I had to fight back a fresh surge of tears before I took it.

If he noticed my slight pause, he didn’t say anything. In truth, the electricity my right hand currently emitted probably couldn’t damage the aircraft, but I savored the simple act of touching him. When I asked where we were going, Cat said to Germany to drop her off. I didn’t ask where after that. Wherever it was, it wouldn’t be to Vlad’s Romania house. That was gone.

Cat sat as close to the pilots as she could, trying to give us as much privacy as the interior allowed. I wasn’t sure, but I also thought I glimpsed the same ghost that had warned me about the attack up there with her, too. Then I forgot about them as Vlad drew a blanket over me once I was settled into my chair. How did he know that I wanted as many layers on me as possible after being denied even a single piece of clothing for weeks?

“You should try to sleep, if you can,” he said, his voice oddly neutral. “You must be exhausted.”

His hand was still curled around mine, but other than that, he didn’t touch me. Aside from vowing vengeance and answering my questions, he also hadn’t really spoken to me. I didn’t know why and I found myself afraid to ask. Yes, he’d gone batshit with rage over those tapes, but the last thing he’d said to Cat in my vision was that he never should have married me.

What if he hadn’t been speaking facetiously in a moment of frustration over my captivity? What if he were still thinking that now? I had no way to know. His face was expressionless and he had his emotions under tight lockdown, which wasn’t what I had imagined when I’d dared to envision our reunion.