Текст книги "Chains of Darkness"

Автор книги: Caris Roane

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Текущая страница: 16 (всего у книги 16 страниц)

She felt Lucian’s uncertainly through the familiar vibration at her neck. “We can get out of this, Lucian. Trust me. The disguise will hold long enough, even through the blast, for us to get away.”

He turned to her, his eyes searching her own.

“Okay, this is how we’ve gotta do this thing. The second I lift the weapon and trip the wire, I’ll shoot straight up. You’ll have to hold the disguise tight or Daniel will be after us.”

“Got it.” Claire smiled then eased into a grin. She shrugged. “Easy-peasy. Ready to go with the disguise when you are.” She stepped onto his foot and he slid his arm around her waist, pulling her close. She felt, in this simple way, like she’d come home. All her questions were answered. She knew, in the deepest part of her soul, that this was where she belonged.

Glancing past him, she saw that Daniel seemed intent on their location. “Your father might have figured something out.”

“Then we’d better go. Hold on.”

“Do it.”

* * *

Lucian smiled. Claire had said that to him a lot over the past three nights: Do it.

He pulled a battle chain from his leathers and with a quick jerk of his wrist caught the upper loop with the chain. He’d need that extra distance to keep from having his feet or legs blown apart. He gave a tug to make sure the chain held and sent a shot of pure power down his arm to secure the hold.

“Ready?”

With her arm snug around his neck, she whispered, “Ready.”

Then he headed straight into the stratosphere, shooting skyward with Claire’s dense disguise surrounding them. He pulled the weapon up off the boat to trip the wire then, in that same split second, let the weapon fall back to the deck.

By then he was two thousand feet in the air and moving fast.

He heard the explosion then a moment later felt the power of the blast beneath him, but dimming by the split second until Claire’s voice reached him. Hey, vampire, it’s cold up here and now I can’t breathe.

Lucian had gone far enough and fell away, heading south and west, in a trajectory toward Uruguay and his secure cavern.

As soon as he had Claire safe in his home, in the living room, he checked her for injuries but found none.

“You are fast,” she said.

“Thank God you’re okay.”

“Yeah, yeah. Call Rumy. Let’s find out what happened from where he sat.”

He held her next to him as he made the call. “Tell me everything.” He put the phone on speaker so that Claire could hear as well.

“Gabriel’s guard had orders to stay here until the situation resolved, just in case Daniel made a play for my club. But here’s how it went from my vantage. Daniel and his boys kept flying over the lake until the explosion. Each was blown back a few hundred yards, but unfortunately each recovered. They didn’t turn in my direction but took off, heading east, probably back to Daniel’s lair in the Dark Cave system. So they’re gone, as are the boat and the weapon. The lake’s a mess. I sent a crew out there, under the cover of my own disguise, to get everything cleaned up.”

Lucian huffed a sigh. It was too much to hope for that the blast would have killed any of them. “And Marius? Zoey?”

“Marius said to tell you that he’s fine, but he’s in bad shape, like you were. He’s in blood-madness recovery now. Eve has about a dozen of her girls donating. He’ll be out of the woods in a couple of days. He said he and Zoey know some stuff about the Dark Cave system and he has a plan that’ll probably involve Zoey—but from what he can tell, she’s willing to do her part. She said to tell you, Claire, that as soon as she’s feeling better, she’ll call, and that she never stopped thinking about you. She said you were the reason she’d stayed alive as long as she had. She wanted to find you, if she could, and help you.”

Lucian felt his chains vibrate heavily. He turned to look at Claire and saw tears running down her cheeks. He pulled her to sit down on the couch beside him, holding her close.

“Claire?”

“Just give us a minute, Rumy.”

“Got it.”

Imagine Zoey worried about me, when she was the one who’d been auctioned and used. She covered her face. By Daniel.

Claire, she wouldn’t have known what happened to you, that you’d been in Florida taking care of Josh. She would have assumed you’d been sold into slavery as well.

I know.

He gave her another minute to regain her composure. She pulled a tissue from the pocket of her jeans, a wad of them, and blew her nose. “Sorry, Rumy, I kinda lost it, but I’m back. So Zoey’s fine?”

“Marius had enough strength to get her to the back entrance, but my staff was waiting for them. She’s very weak, but we’ll take care of her, you know we will. One of our medics has her on a blood transfusion right now and we’ve got a healer coming in soon. She’s eating chicken broth as we speak and talking about needing to get back to the Dark Cave system; she says five human slaves die every day and an equal number are brought in to replace them. She seems determined. I recognized the fire in her eye. Looked like your fire, Claire. Damn, I’m glad you’re back. You staying this time?”

Lucian’s heart stopped. He couldn’t breathe. Her answer had more significance than anything else he remembered from his four centuries of life.

She shifted in his direction and settled a hand on his face, staring into his eyes. “Rumy, I’m going to say something to Lucian, but you can listen, too, if you want.”

Lucian met her gaze, his heart slamming around in his chest. Claire spoke softly. “I was in that hotel room maybe an hour when I knew I couldn’t stay in Santa Fe. The moment I saw the chains, the ones Gabriel sent by way of Rumy’s gift, I knew I couldn’t return to my old life. I don’t understand all the forces that brought me here, that landed me in the middle of your life, but if you’ll have me, if you want me, I’ll stay.”

“Do I want you?”

Lucian forgot about the phone and about Rumy. He turned toward Claire and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her hard, driving his tongue deep.

Finally, he pulled back and stared into her eyes. “Do I want you? More than life itself. I never thought to have a woman in my life, any woman, vampire or otherwise. But you came, showing up in the Dark Cave system, in that pit, surrounded with a disguise that fooled even Daniel.

“I didn’t want to let you go the first time, but I thought you should have a chance at the life you wanted. I wasn’t even sure I deserved you.”

“Are you sure now?” She petted his cheek and kissed him, then drew back.

His lips curved up, and he leaned his forehead against hers. “I’ll always doubt that I deserve anything. That’s the truth of what happened to me, the darkness that will always live in me. But I don’t care, either. I want you and so long as you want to be here, with me, that’s all that matters.” He kissed her again.

Rumy chimed in. “Hey, someone bring me some popcorn. This is getting good. I’m hearing slurping noises.”

Lucian chuckled as he drew back and Claire grinned.

Lucian returned to the task at hand, angling toward the phone. “Let Gabriel know that the weapon’s been destroyed. I suppose you’ve already told him about Marius.”

“He knows on both counts, and he’ll be here in about twenty minutes. He might take Marius back with him, but something tells me he won’t be anxious to leave Zoey. I think she might have fed him, as weak as she was. She has recent, unhealed puncture marks in her throat.”

“What does that mean?” Claire asked.

“When the holes don’t close up, death is near. Don’t worry, we got her in time.”

He watched her swallow hard and nod several times in a row.

“Oh, and one more thing, Lucian. Gabriel said he thinks you should join Adrien in the Amazon system. Catch your breath and we’ll all figure out what to do about Marius and Zoey, okay?”

Lucian met Claire’s warm brown eyes once more. How does that sound? Could you handle going underground for a while? With me?

I don’t want to be anywhere else right now.

This time, before he kissed Claire again, he ended the call then turned his phone off.

* * *

“What happened to your hair?” Josh asked the obvious question and it was such a young-boy thing to do that Claire ran to him and picked him up in her arms. Despite how big he was, she swung him in a circle. Siphoning Lucian’s power had a lot of advantages.

So much had happened in such a short space of time that it was hard to remember she hadn’t been separated from him for very long at all, just a few days.

He’d reached that age, however, and pushed her away, his cheeks reddening. “Stop it, Auntie Claire.” But he grinned, and his eyes shone. “I want you to meet my mom.”

Claire turned toward Lily, and a stream of understanding and affection flowed between the women. They were family now, bonded to brothers.

An embrace followed, and Claire’s shoulder grew damp really fast. “Thank you for taking care of him,” Lily whispered. “Thank you, Claire, from the bottom of my heart. I owe you so much. I can never repay the blessing that you were in Josh’s life while we were separated.”

Claire drew back, her own emotions threatening to stampede her, but she didn’t exactly think it would help Josh if the two women in the room dissolved into tears.

The Amazon cavern system, though deep underground, had the most humidity of any of the caves Claire had been in. But a breeze blew through, so that the large living area, decorated in bright colors like Lucian’s Uruguay cave, was very comfortable.

Lucian and Adrien were deep in conversation, each wearing a scowl and standing with his arms crossed over his chest. They would have a lot to discuss, maybe even plans to make where Marius was concerned—or more important Daniel.

Claire kept her attention fixed on Josh and Lily. She wanted to hear their stories, especially what had happened to Josh after she left the Florida compound. Josh related being taken by Daniel and gave a brief description of what had to have been horrifying events at the Pit, that place of execution where Lily and Josh, as well as Adrien, had almost lost their lives.

“You should have seen Adrien.” Josh’s eyes were wide, his voice hushed. “He looked like something out of a movie.”

Lily explained, “He fully embraced his Ancestral power in that moment and saved both of us because of it.” Her large hazel eyes glowed with affection as she slipped her arm around Josh, then glanced at Adrien. Love lived there now, in this newly created family. “I still can’t believe it was only a few days ago. I feel like I’ve lived a lifetime.”

Claire understood exactly what Lily meant. “Same here.”

“So what happened when you left the compound?” Lily asked.

But Claire glanced at Josh. There was no way she would launch into a description of everything that had happened, not in front of a child and especially not Josh, who had suffered enough.

Lily picked up on the cue and told Josh he could play video games for half an hour, if he wanted to.

Claire had never seen a boy leap so fast off a couch, but he came to a screeching halt at the doorway. “Claire?”

She turned to look at him, her eyes once more wet. “Yes?”

“You’ll still be here, right?”

Claire glanced at Lucian then back at Josh. “Absolutely.”

“Good. Adrien bought me a new game. You’re gonna love it. Wanna play now?”

“Maybe in a little bit.”

“Okay.” Then he was gone.

Claire met Lily’s gaze once more, and as before understanding passed between them. She suspected Lily’s journey had been similar to her own, since they’d each bound a powerful vampire to them with blood-chains.

When Lily asked Claire if she’d like to sit down and share a glass of wine, Claire agreed readily. It seemed so normal a thing to accept a glass from Lily—like talking the day’s events over with a girlfriend. In this case, however, events had to do with the monster that was Daniel and the hell he’d put all of them through.

Claire outlined all that had happened, and Lily did the same.

When each fell silent, enough of their histories shared for now, Claire turned to Lucian and Adrien. They still stood together, still scowling.

“Lucian does that a lot. The line between the brows, I mean.”

“I know exactly what you mean.”

“But he laughs more now.” Claire smiled, glancing at Lily once more. “I can at least do that for him.”

Lily reached over and took hold of her hand, squeezing gently. “I’m glad you made it and I’m so glad you stayed.” She spoke quietly. “These men, what they’ve been through…”

“And they’re so deserving.”

“Yes, they are.”

“What’s going on?” Lucian called out.

Claire set her wineglass down and rose to her feet. On impulse—maybe because she was so grateful to be here, to be alive, to be with him—she crossed to him and put her arm around his waist. He held her against him, his expression somber.

The chains at her neck vibrated heavily and she felt a tremor pass through him. He still wasn’t past his blood-madness, but he was holding steady. “We’re just sharing, that’s all.”

“Oh, that’s all.” His lips curved a little, then he kissed her forehead.

She glanced at Adrien. “Please tell me you’re not laying plans to go after Daniel.”

But Lucian’s chain vibrated and carried an edge of rage, something Claire also recognized. “Can’t be helped,” Lucian said. “With Marius free, we have to do something and we know our brother will go after him.”

Claire nodded. “Then what can I do?”

Both vampires stared at her. Lucian glanced at Adrien and smiled. “See what I mean?”

But Adrien turned in Lily’s direction, his expression soft as he said, “I know exactly what you mean, and I have a feeling that whatever we do, it won’t be done alone.”

“No,” Claire stated, lowering her chin. “It won’t.”

At that, both men laughed.

She looked up at Lucian. “I know we’ve agreed to remain here for a while, but I really need to see Zoey, to speak with her just once. Can you arrange that?”

He nodded. “Absolutely.”

An hour later, Claire flew with Lucian back to The Erotic Passage, having surrounded them both with a powerful disguise.

Within a handful of minutes, Rumy led her to Zoey’s room. Claire worked hard to prepare herself for how thin and weak her friend would be. But when she opened the door, Zoey was actually sitting up in bed, the adjustable mattress angled to support her. She had a computer open on her lap, her gaze fixed on the screen. Despite the fact that it was clear her friend was out of danger, her skin showed the outlines of way too many bones.

“Zoey?” She moved inside with Lucian.

Her friend glanced up and her blue eyes widened. “Oh, my God, it’s you.” Her black hair was damp and slicked back away from her face.

Tears started to stream down Claire’s cheeks, as she hurried to the side of the bed and gathered Zoey up in her arms. Claire felt the bones of her friend’s shoulder blades and spine, which brought more tears rolling. She held Zoey for a long time, unwilling to let her go.

Zoey seemed to feel the same way and held on tight as well. “You’re here,” she whispered against Claire’s shoulder.

“I’m here.”

Claire only released her after several minutes. She drew back and asked, “Are you okay?”

Zoey held her gaze. “I don’t know yet. I was so sure I was going to die, but now I’m sitting here looking at you. I still can’t believe I survived.” A haunted look crept into her eyes. “What happened to you, Claire? Where did you go? I mean, Rumy told me you were in Florida, taking care of a kid. Is that true?”

Claire nodded, then gave her a brief history of her time with Josh.

Zoey’s gaze fell to the bedcovers. “No one hurt you.”

Guilt poured over Claire. She’d lived a relatively safe life in Daniel’s compound, but Zoey had endured the unimaginable. “No, I was never hurt. Not like you, but I was as much a prisoner. I couldn’t leave. Rumy somehow stole inside the compound and got me out, otherwise I’d still be there and who knows what would have happened to me.”

More tears fell down Zoey’s cheeks. She fingered the light green blanket next to her. “I’m glad. I thought about you all the time and of course I wondered if you were going through what I was. I lived as Daniel’s slave, his mistress, his toy, his fucking punching bag. You need to know that. I’m not clean. He called me his favorite, but he hurt me.”

Claire took Zoey’s hand and pressed it to her cheek. “None of that matters and there will be time to mend what happened.”

Zoey lifted her face to Claire, her eyes almost panicky. “Is it even possible?”

Claire held her gaze. “Damn straight it’s possible. And we have time, lots of time to make things right again.” She petted Zoey’s thick black hair. “I take it you’ve had a healer with you?”

Zoey gasped. “The healer. Oh, my God. I’ve never felt anything like it.” She spread her free hand to the side, waving it back and forth. “I mean look at this. I’m sitting up, I’m on the computer, I’m talking. By the time Rumy brought me to this room I was about two breaths away from six-feet-under.”

Claire didn’t bother telling Zoey that she’d also experienced the care of a healer or about anything else that she and Lucian had been through. She might have survived a couple of difficult battles over the past few days, but by comparison Zoey had endured two years of a violent war. There would be time enough in the coming weeks and months to explore all that each had endured.

She shared about Amber and Tracy, which of course created a new wave of tears, though this time of gratitude that both young women had been spared Zoey’s fate. When the same dark, uneasy light once more entered Zoey’s eyes, Claire told her how Lucian had burned the Prickly Pear to the ground.

A smile curved Zoey’s lips and for just a moment she looked like the young, carefree woman Claire had grown up with. “I wish I could have seen it. You did the right thing.”

“Slavers owned that damn club so I didn’t have the smallest twinge of conscience in burning it down.”

Zoey shook her head slowly. “Can you believe this world even exists?”

“It’s astonishing.”

She glanced past Claire. “And you must be Lucian, Marius’s brother.” Rumy would have filled Zoey in on everything.

Claire made the introductions, bringing Lucian forward and taking his hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Zoey.” Lucian’s deep voice filled the small room.

For a moment, Zoey’s eyes narrowed as she looked up at him. “I know what you went through. Daniel liked to talk about his sons. I’m sorry.”

“And I’m sorry as well.”

Claire glanced at Lucian. His gaze was centered on Zoey and it seemed to her that an understanding flowed between them, each having experienced the brutality of the same monster. Finally, Lucian said quietly, “We’ll get him, Zoey. My brothers and I are set on that.”

Zoey drew in a breath that sounded like a hiss. “I didn’t know such evil could exist. I really didn’t.”

For a long moment, Zoey shaded her face with her hand. Claire didn’t say anything. Neither did Lucian.

When she’d recovered herself, Zoey met Claire’s gaze, then glanced at the double chain she wore. “You’re bonded.”

Claire looked up and squeezed Lucian’s hand. “We are.”

Zoey glanced from one to the other. “Is it love?”

“It is.” Claire’s eyes grew wet again. She’d sworn she wasn’t a weeper, but events of the past few days had proved her wrong repeatedly. “I’m staying with Lucian, in his world. I never thought I’d say this, but I belong here.”

“You look really happy, Claire.”

Her heart full, Claire nodded. “I am.”

Zoey leaned back against her pillows and released a deep sigh. Claire saw her fatigue and rose from the bed. “I don’t know when I’ll be able to return. Rumy wants us to lay low for a while until all the plans are made for bringing Daniel down.”

Zoey squeezed her hand, then released it. “I’m so glad you came. Rumy had already warned me that you’d have to stay hidden, so I wasn’t expecting a visit, but I’m so glad I got to see you.”

“I’m only a phone call away, and I’ll come anytime you need me. Just let Rumy know.”

Zoey nodded, but her eyelids had begun to droop. The visit had no doubt worn her out.

She let go of Lucian’s hand and would have left. But Zoey looked pained suddenly as she held her arms out to Claire.

Giving a small cry, Claire embraced her one last time. “You’re safe now,” she whispered against Zoey’s ear.

“I’m safe.”

At last, Claire drew back and after turning at the doorway to wave, she left her friend. Lucian called Rumy to let them know they were leaving. As before, Claire wrapped them up in an intricate layered disguise and Lucian held her close as he flew her back to their hiding place.

* * *

After sleeping beside Claire all day, in a private suite in the Amazon hidden cavern system, Lucian awoke to his woman’s sprawled sleeping style, her arm over his face.

He took her hand gently in his and slid it lower, but only far enough to hold it cupped beneath his chin. She shifted slightly, turning on her side to face him, her eyes closed. She sighed softly but didn’t wake up.

His chest swelled. He couldn’t believe this had happened to him, this miracle in the form of a human female.

Claire.

His Claire.

His woman.

The double-chain at his neck vibrated softly, and it was all he could do to keep from touching her. Love had come to him, crashing through his life in the most incredible way, washing away the darkness of the past four hundred years.

Claire had done this not by offering him a simple path to freedom, but by binding him with chains.

He dipped his chin and kissed her fingers very gently. He didn’t want to wake her up. He was content to lie beside her, to let her sprawl, to watch her sleep.

The coming days would be difficult.

Adrien had contacted him just a few minutes earlier, mind-to-mind, letting him know that rumors had shot through the vampire world to the effect that Daniel had located what was now believed to be the last remaining extinction weapon. The Siberian lead wasn’t the only one Daniel had been pursuing.

A battle was heating up, maybe a decisive one that could end with Daniel’s subjugation of the entire vampire world—or if luck would fall just this once to Adrien, Marius, and himself, with Daniel’s destruction.

Claire’s eyes opened slowly. “I really liked the first part of whatever it was you were thinking, and yes, I’ve been awake since you took my hand, but this last part has tensed me up something bad. What’s going on?”

Lucian rolled onto his back, still holding her hand, which caused her to slide in his direction and press her naked body up against his, right where he wanted her. “Sorry, sweetheart. I went from savoring your presence in my life to thinking about you-know-who.”

“Ugh. Please don’t speak his name, at least not before I’ve had my morning, I mean evening, coffee.” She hugged him and sighed. “So what gives?”

“Adrien contacted me a little bit ago.” He tapped his forehead. “Woke me up, too, which was fine, just a little unsettling.” Their shared Ancestral status was allowing them to communicate more easily than ever before.

At that, Claire shifted to lean up on his chest and look him in the eye. “So why are you so distressed?”

“It’s just a feeling, Claire, but I think things are going to heat up. I think we’re in for it.”

“Oh, is that all?” Her brows rose.

He chuckled softly and ran a thumb down her cheek and over her lips. “Thank you for that.”

“For what?”

“For what you always do—making me laugh.”

She sighed, pushing herself up to reach his lips with hers. She kissed him soundly. “You’re welcome.”

“I’ve been thinking that once this business with Daniel is settled, you’ll want to reconnect with your family.”

He felt her sudden alarm through the chains and wasn’t surprised when she lifted up a little more and stared at him. “Lucian, I’m not going back. My life is here, with you. I can’t believe you would even think…”

“Hey, you’ve misunderstood.” He tugged on her to bring her back against his chest once more. “I want to go with you, at night of, course. To meet your family. We’d go together.”

“Oh.” She frowned. “Oh, I see. It’s possible, then? I mean, I thought I had to choose permanently against returning to Santa Fe.”

“I won’t kid you, it’ll be difficult, but we can manage it. If we need to establish a home base in Santa Fe, and live there part-time, we can do that. But there will come a point, especially as it becomes clear that I’m not aging—and you won’t either, by the way…”

“Yes, I know. I mean, I talked to Lily yesterday. They said that humans bound by blood-chains don’t age as fast as ordinary humans. So that will be a big problem.”

“Exactly. And so long as the vampire world is kept secret, at some point you will have to separate from your human family.”

“Hey, what if we faked annual visits to a plastic surgeon?”

He laughed. “Okay, whatever. We’ll figure this out.”

“I have no doubt about that, but thank you.” He felt a sudden wash of sentiment flow through her. “I just never thought I’d see any of them again.”

“You will. I promise you that, with all my heart. We’ll make it work.”

She kissed him again, lingering this time, and her voice pierced his head. So is there any reason why we have to get up right away? Does Adrien need you, or Rumy? Or can we stay here for a few minutes, say about twenty, although with your vampire speed it could be much quicker. She shivered with pleasure.

He drew back, laughing some more and gazing into her soft brown eyes. “I love you so much.”

“I love you, too, more than I thought I could ever love anyone.”

He shifted her to lie on top of him once more and held her tightly against him. “Gabriel is coming over in a couple of hours, so we’re not expected to show our faces until then.”

“Oh, that sounds wonderful. We can take our time.” She squeezed him as she spoke.

Yes, he’d take his time. He’d work her body backward and forward, letting her know over and over how grateful he was that she’d shown up in his life and changed everything.

In just a few short days, she’d become his light and his hope, having bound him with a set of blood-chains that had replaced the dark chains of his childhood.

He could never repay her for a kindness he doubted she could ever truly comprehend. But by God he’d spend the rest of his days letting her know he loved her.