Chapter Twenty-Seven
Trixie followed Jade. The dhampir seemed to know where she was going. Sure footed, she led them farther from her bedroom and down a narrow hall to what appeared like a closet until inside they found a hidden spiral staircase that led to the basement.
“Not another dungeon,” Trixie mumbled to no one in particular.
Chris maneuvered past her and Jade. He stared at the dark hole below. “Why is your mother being kept down there? I thought you were both members of this nest. Family.”
Jade tried to move past the alpha with no success. “We were until Sybil discovered what this book can do.” She pushed Chris to descend the stairs and he surprisingly complied. “And vampires don’t do family. I wish I’d never found the fucking thing.”
The stairs ended in a dark room similar to Eoin’s dungeon. “Déjà vu,” whispered Trixie. If she recalled properly, that hadn’t ended so well.
“Which cell is your mom in?” Chris moved a few inches ahead sniffing the air.
“I’m not sure.”
The alpha gave a surprised growl.
“The only thing I know is she’s down here. It’s not like they gave me visiting rights. They always brought her to me.” Jade leaned against Trixie as if exhausted.
“You knew you were doing black magic? Harming people?” Trixie pointed at the leather-bound tome in her arm.
“Not at the time,” Jade hissed back. “It’s only when things started to happen and I grew sick that they realized the book was magical and had bonded to me. I didn’t even know I had magic in my blood. When I refused to do as Sybil ordered, she imprisoned my mother and forced me to work on spells.”
That explained why Jade had vanished suddenly from her job.
“Wait, what kind of spells?” That didn’t sound good, even to an amateur like her. Evil leader plus black magic spells equaled disaster in movies.
The pop of the gun went off, the sound familiar. It wasn’t gun powder fueled, but air triggered. A tranquilizer rifle, like the one in her animal control truck. She glanced at Chris.
He pulled a dart out of his shoulder. “What the—”
Another shot.
He jerked and slapped his ass. His knees buckled. “Run,” he managed with a slurred voice.
Trixie hurried to his side and caught his falling heavy body. She groaned under his weight, even with her vampire strength. No way could she carry him alone. She twisted to ask Jade for help, but she was already running up the stairs like a frightened gazelle.
Two vampires appeared behind Chris. One grabbed Trixie by the arm. The other dragged Chris into an empty cell then locked the barred door behind him.
“You know who I am?” She tugged free of her captor’s hold.
He smirked. “The dogcatcher who arrived with Viktor.”
“Yes.” She nodded, her bubble popped. “That’s Master Viktor to you.”
“Did you catch the other girl?” Her captor shouted up the stairwell.
“Got her.” Someone shouted from above.
Crap, they’d caught Jade as well. Weren’t they the best rescuers ever? Wait until she told Viktor about all this. Prisoners and black magic and all this time they thought Jade had been the mastermind of all evil.
Her guard guided Trixie away from the dungeon back up the secret stairwell into a small room next to Jade’s. A tattoo table was the centerpiece with manacles at each corner. “I thought we were going to see Sybil?” And hopefully Viktor.
“We already have our orders.” The guard turned toward her. “Take off the gown.”
Her every breath jagged, she clutched her neckline. “Excuse me?” Eyes darting around the room, she tried to find an escape, a distraction, anything.
“Take off the gown or I’ll tear it off.” He gave her a soft smile. “It’s not what you think. Now undress and lie on the table.”
Another guard walked in. This one even bigger. “Need help?”
“No, she’s going to cooperate. Right sweetheart?” He nodded for her to start.
Heart in throat, she blinked back tears. She would not give them the satisfaction of seeing her fear. She knew predators like these guys. Seen them on the streets in her neighborhood. They lived off terror. The zipper on the dress was difficult to reach. She’d do what they asked and wait patiently to strike.
“Is Viktor occupied?” Her original guard asked the bigger one.
“Sybil is doing her sales pitch.”
“Think he’ll buy it?”
“If it works? Sure.” The guard glanced in Trixie’s direction as she lay on the table in her bra and underwear. “If this one flames out like the others, then we’re all dead.”
Flames out? Had he said flames out? What deal were they talking about? She knew Viktor. He wouldn’t accept anything from Sybil. Shit.
“On your stomach, sweet thing. Bring in the girl.”
She did as told and her original captor locked the manacles around her limbs. “What are those for?” she asked.
“So, you don’t try anything stupid and force me to hurt you.”
The door opened and Jade was pushed inside. Her gaze was so wide the whites showed all around her irises. “No, not her.” She retreated.
“Jade, we’ve been through this before. Every time you say no your mama gets a bone broken.” The guard crossed his arms. “Do I go break her legs again?”
Jade shuffled across the room, book in hand. “I’m sorry,” she whispered to Trixie.
“Now, if you do the tattoo right this time, Pinky will get to live.” He sounded so chipper Trixie wanted to spit.
He’d said tattoo. She glanced over her shoulder. Jade was preparing inks and her needle gun. Trixie broke out in a cold sweat. Jade was going to ink her with black magic. “What is the spell going to do to me?”
Jade met her pleading stare. “Makes you resistant to sunlight.” She grimaced. “If it works.”
Lowering her voice to a whisper. “It hasn’t worked yet?”
Jade shook her head.
Trixie turned her face away, her attention back on the guards. “Is this where I make a deal? Because I’m ready.” Viktor had said he had heard vampires agonizing screams as they burned under the sun. She didn’t want to burn. Sybil had to find another toy to fight over and Trixie needed to buy herself some time to figure out an escape.
The guard shook his head. “Time for deals is passed. If your sire rejects Sybil’s offer, then you’re the backup plan.”
She squirmed and tugged her restraints. As backup plans went, this one sucked. The nest was placing all the bets on her survival. They had to be desperate to think they could coerce Viktor. If she flamed out, he would kill every single one of them—her heart broke—and he probably wouldn’t stop there.
“Don’t do this, Jade. If Viktor loses his shit, he’ll kill most of Riverbend before they take him down.” Hell, he needed a dragon to stop him. The city only had a wolf alpha and he was out cold in Sybil’s dungeon.
Jade stroked Trixie’s hair before sliding the long strands over her shoulder. “They will keep hurting my mother until I do this.” She pressed her hand in the middle of Trixie’s back. “Hold still. One line out of place and the spell will not work. Trust me, Trixie.”
Viktor searched the party quickly for either alpha or future lover. How long had Sybil kept him outside talking? Bargaining?
“Enough.” He cut his hand across the air. “The magic is unstable, Sybil. No one knows what ill effects it will have on us with time.”
She sighed. “Then we take our time studying it. Any way you want. All I ask is for your patience and support.”
He paced the patio. It would be a lie if he said he was not tempted. To walk in the sun. To be human-like with vampire immortality. The fountain of youth complete. But everything had a price in time. What would theirs be? “If vampires could be day walkers, would not all humans want to turn? Then who would feed us?”
“Humankind can be turned into cattle.” Her matter of fact comment.
He shuddered. Why could Sybil not see this for what it was? The possible end of the world. Their kind had evolved such weaknesses because they had such strength in other areas. There had to be a balance and Sybil was trying to break it. “I did not travel to Riverbend to negotiate. Hand over the book.”
“So, you can take the power for yourself? I think not. Do you take me for a fool?” At those words, soldiers slid out of the darkness surrounding them.
No, he would never think of her as foolish. Sybil had risen in the ranks because her wits were sharp and her heart ruthless. He used to admire such traits. But her bed was cold and her affection colder. He found his soul draining empty around Sybil and she fed his darkness. In those days, he’d had so little control over his bloodlust.
Unlike a certain pink haired dogcatcher who had rescued him like all the other strays. Her love was a beacon he craved. He scanned the soldiers. Young, strong when they had been human, and from their stances, they had some training. Military would be his guess. Modern, newly made, and had no idea what he was capable of.
“Speaking of the sun…” She yawned. “Will you be spending the day?” Mocking him. She twisted her head to the side and spoke to the closest vampire. “Is it done?”
He nodded.
Viktor had been so intent on their conversation he had lost track of time. Morning was upon them, and he had not seen Trixie or Christopher in all that while. “What is done?” He clenched and unclenched his fists. “Where are they? Where are my companions?”
Two of the soldiers stepped forward as if ready for his attack.
“Don’t worry about the girl and the wolf. The nest has kept both occupied. A few of the females even find the alpha attractive, you know. He might make a good pet in time.”
Viktor snarled. “Trixie?” If any harm befell her, he would not forgive anyone, including himself. He should have left her in the safety of the pack. That he considered the company of werewolves securer than his own people convinced him this nest needed purging.
She smiled. “No worries there. I know firsthand how possessive you are. Trixie is quite safe. She’s spending time with the dhampir.”
He jerked his attention away from the soldiers drawing closer. “What have you done?” The dhampir created the black magic spells. The anti-sunlight tattoos that had all failed. He glanced at the fading night in the East. “No…” He turned on Sybil. “Where is she?”
“Somewhere secure.” Sybil smoothed her dress as she got to her feet. “Kill him.”
Before she finished her command, he had her by the throat. Blood pounded in his ears. “You will die if you harm her.”
The soldiers moved as one, taking hold of his arms and trying to pry his fingers free of Sybil’s frail neck. Their efforts did nothing. Would do nothing. They were seedlings to his deeply rooted vampirism.
“Too late.” Sybil pointed, her voice hoarse from his hold.
A streak of sunlight speared the sky.
Reflexively, he retreated deep into the shadow, dragging Sybil and the soldiers along.
Sybil struggled to get free of his hold. So much had gone wrong in Riverbend due to his apathy. How many of the older vampires had Sybil murdered for her need of power? The nest’s well-being was his responsibility and it had gone rotten. All these young fools scrabbling at his limbs thought Sybil a leader when she was truthfully a spider.
They could not remain on the patio any longer without burning. Sunlight burst through the night like a tidal wave and they were directly in its path. He would not sacrifice all these young lives. Not for a spider. Sybil’s role was to protect the nest, make it thrive, give the vampires of Riverbend safe haven. A home.
Instead, she’d corrupted the nest and killed good people in the process. He held her glare and waited a second longer for the sun to reach her precious garden.
Her eyes went wide as comprehension dawned.
Viktor was not a ruthless leader, but he had the capacity to be. Once he saw her understanding, he tossed Sybil far into the gardens, such a distance she would not reach shelter in time, and let the sunlight wash over her.
His speed so fast, he had enough time to shove the young soldiers into the mansion. They tripped and stumbled with the momentum of his power. Some blinked in confusion.
Viktor closed the French doors behind him. His skin smoked as he stared at the suddenly emptying ballroom.
Trixie.
Sybil’s cries of agony tore through the morning quiet but he did not pay them any attention. He focused on the fools in front of him. “Sybil is dead. She led you astray from my laws. You have two choices—self-confinement in your rooms or death. Any vampire I see will die.” The party had been an orchestrated roux to keep him occupied. Trixie’s name was on the invitation. The trap had been for her, not him. “Now, where is my fledgling?” He trembled with his roared question.
Those who had flexed their muscles and thought themselves powerful cowered. They shook their heads and no one gave him the answer he needed.
There was no time. Sybil had done something to Trixie and the sun was on the rise. He stormed across the ballroom, slamming through doors, tearing them from the hinges as he did not bother opening them in his haste.
The sun had risen.
Sybil would not have dared to place Trixie outside. It was a lie he had to believe; otherwise his grip on his darkness would slip. His fall complete.