Blind Salvage (20 page)

“I suppose we should get right to it then.” Faris slid up behind me, pinned my arms to my side and licked my neck. “Even if I would prefer you didn’t smell like that rotten water, this will have to do. I want you bound to me before the night is over, Tracker, one way or another.”

I dropped my weight forward, and kicked back, catching him in the ankle and unbalancing his fangy-ass so he stumbled away from me. “Really, you want to play this game again?” A part of me knew I should be afraid of him. Hell, I had been terrified when I’d first met him. But I held the ace up my sleeve now.

He needed me, and I didn’t give a shit about him.

“Ah.” He dusted his hands together, regaining his balance without looking like I’d knocked him off-kilter at all. “Shall we talk about the oath you took? The one that said you will do—what was it now, yes, I remember—all in your power to kill the Child Empress?” His icy blue eyes snared mine and I forced myself to look away.

“You’re a lying piece of shit, you do know that, don’t you? If I’d known who she was, I never would have taken that oath.”

“Please, are you telling me you can’t come up with anything better than that?” He quirked one blond eyebrow. Standing there, all in black, soaking wet and totally bedraggled, he still managed to look better than most men on their wedding day. I had no such thing going for me. On the other hand, I had everything I
did
need to end this.

I yanked a sword from my back and uncoiled my whip with my other hand. “No, nothing better than that today. Unless you want a taste of this.” I lifted my sword hand and pointed the blade at his mouth.

“You’re not even going to thank me for saving you, are you?”

“Alex says thanks,” Alex whispered at my side. He coughed twice and then stood there, shaking, fur dripping onto the carpet. I hoped it left a stain.

Faris gave me a thin smile. “Your wolf has better manners than you do.”

When he moved, I wasn’t ready for it. No, that wasn’t true, I was ready, I just couldn’t match his speed. His shoulder slammed into my chest, and he sent me sailing across the room, tumbling through the air until I hit the wall with a resounding thud I felt all the way down to my boots.

I slid to the floor and pushed myself up to my feet while I fought to catch the wind that had been knocked out of me. My brain didn’t compute what I was seeing, not right away. Alex sat facing me; Faris crouched behind him. In the thick ruff of Alex’s fur around his neck, Faris’ hand was buried deep. The vampire shook Alex hard, twice. “Rylee, I do hate to take this to the extreme, but you are— like always—being difficult. If you won’t let me draw blood and attempt to bind you to me, then we must do this another way. Since I have met you, I have tried to be patient. I have tried to help you. But there is no time left to play the nice vampire.”

Alex scrabbled to get away from him, claws flailing and muzzle snapping, but Faris held him easily.

I didn’t tell him to let Alex go, didn’t ask him what he wanted. I knew. We both did. And there was only one way to make sure that Alex made it out of this alive. The werewolf let out a barking whine as he fought, gasping for air.

“Alex, be still.” I didn’t want this, but I didn’t know that there was any other way. There was no one coming to rescue us, no way they could find us here, wherever here was. Alex settled down, staring at me with nothing but trust in his big golden eyes. There was no way I could betray him, not even for this.

I would have to do what Faris wanted.

Faris smiled at me, wide enough that I could see his fangs clearly. “You understand? Let me be very clear so that there is no possibility of buyer’s remorse here. Binding you to me is tricky at best, and temporary. But what I’ve learned is that you, unlike Milly, wholly stand behind your word. You do not have it in you to break an oath. And you follow your misleading heart, even when you know better. So.” —he tipped his head to one side and smiled again at me— “you will Track the Blood for me so that I will become the Emperor, and you will hold to your oath to kill the Child Empress. And you will swear to both of those things on the redemption of every soul you’ve ever loved. And if you break your oath, I will kill everything, and everyone, you hold dear.”

He tightened his grip on Alex. “To continue this clarity, if you do not swear to these things, I will start with him and kill him now.”

My stomach flopped and my heart sank to the bottom of my guts.

Faris had finally won; he’d left me no choice. I lowered my sword, bitterness flowing through me. How in the world had I thought at any point he’d been there to help me? He was a douchebag who’d had hundreds of years to perfect his motherfuckery. “I’ll kill you for this one day. You know that, don’t you?”

Laughing, the vampire bared his teeth at me. “You can try; I would like to break you to my will. And one more thing, you will also swear that your oaths must be completed when I demand. Now swear it.”

“On killing you? Gladly. I swear on pain of—”

“Do not play with me, Rylee. I am not in the mood.” He shook Alex, who dangled from his hands like a rag doll, his eyes foggy with lack of air.

“Loosen up on him. I will swear to your stupid oath.” I watched as Alex took a deep breath, Faris’ hands easing up ever so slightly.

“What is the Blood we are going after? I need that much, to know if I can do it or not.” Not really the truth, but I needed to stall, and I hoped that with a little more information, maybe I could get us out of here in one piece. Even if it was a long shot, I had to try.

Faris’ eyebrows shot up. “You didn’t read any more of the book of the Fanged?”

I shook my head and he let out an exasperated sigh. “The Blood are the first three vampires, the ones who begat our race, the origin of our lives.”

“Are they dead?”

He barked a laugh and a glimmer of humor sparkled in his eyes. “Well, no more than I am. But they have been interred in a prison to keep them from the world. We have to find their prison so I can drink their blood and seal my life as the new Emperor. Now quit stalling, speak your oath.”

Every gods-be-damned word I spoke burned through to the core of me, acid eating me out from the inside. “I swear to you on the redemption of every soul I’ve ever loved that I will Track the Blood for you, that I will—” Gods, it stuck in my mouth. I swallowed hard. “That I will hold to my oath to kill the Child Empress, done within the time frame you dictate.”

“Well done, Rylee.” He threw Alex toward me, and the werewolf’s two hundred pound frame crashed into mine, taking us to the floor in a tangle of limbs.

“Alex sorry,” he whispered, lips turning down at the edges, as he scrambled off me.

“Not your fault, buddy.” I stood slowly, dusted my clothes off. Alex pressed himself into my leg, and I dropped a hand to the back of his neck. My fingers came away sticky with blood. Anger, hot and sweet, raged through me. Faris would be dead the second I had the chance.

Faris moved to a side table and poured what I knew wasn’t a glass of red wine, though it surely looked like it in the crystal glass. “Now, let us discuss how this will work, our little business arrangement.”

I had to get close to him if I was going to kill him. That was the only way I could nullify my oaths and avoid this whole situation. Killing him was not going to be easy with his speed, but maybe he wouldn’t expect an assault so quickly. I took a step toward him, keeping my breathing slow and even.

“Remove all your weapons. I’m not so easily fooled. I know you, Rylee.” He lifted his eyes to mine as he took a deep drink from his cup. “I do realize you will take any chance you get to try and kill me, so from now on, you drop your weapons when you are close to me unless otherwise directed.”

“Fuck you. That wasn’t part of the oath.” To prove my point, I raised my sword and pulled my second sword from my back. “My oath was to find the Blood you seek, and kill the Child Empress. Nothing in there about not slicing your head in half.”

He let out a sigh and his shoulders slumped. “I realize this is the only way to do things with you, but I’d really prefer to be civil. After all, I’ve done my best to keep you, and your little pack, alive. But, be that as it may, we can do this the hard way. And you will learn to do what I say, when I say it, like the well-trained bitch you will become for me.”

With a flash of movement, he was gone. “The bastard jumped the veil. Where the hell does he think he’s going?” I muttered, as I lowered my swords.

“Alex wants to go.” He limped toward me and tugged on the end of my shirt. “Really wants to go.”

“Yeah, I agree.” I walked to where the long black curtains hung closed and jerked them open. A blank, grey cement wall stared back at me. Of course, there wouldn’t be an actual window. What was I thinking? I snorted to myself. Faris would go to extremes to keep himself safe. The old tales of sunlight killing vampires was more than true, but most of them were so savvy they would never allow themselves to be caught off guard by daylight.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” I muttered, as I strode toward the only other exit, a simple black door with a tarnished silver knob that turned smoothly in my hand. At least it was unlocked.

I opened it and found myself staring at a cement-fucking-wall. I swallowed hard, the realization settling over me as heavy as the four walls and roof I had no doubt were also cement.

Faris had put me in a box of his making, one that didn’t require doors, or windows or a way out, because the bastard could jump the veil and leave whenever he damn well pleased.

Alex poked at the wall with the tip of his claw. “Hmm. Tough shit.”

I stepped back from the wall, unable to take my eyes from it. That was one way of putting it.

S
earching the room
proved Faris was savvy, indeed. There was no alternate exit, nothing I could use to break out. The walls were thick enough that wherever we were, there was no way I was getting through them. But it was Alex who coined it best.

“Coffin.”

I turned and looked at him, his lips trembling as he said it again.

“Alex is in a coffin.”

Fuck it all, he was right, we were in a giant coffin. Which meant we were, most likely, underground. My stomach flopped and sweat popped out on my forehead. I wouldn’t have said I was claustrophobic before, but I’d never been somewhere where there wasn’t even a possibility of escape. I dug my hands into my hair, as the air around us shifted and I spun to see Faris slip through the veil, a squirming sack in his hands.

His blue eyes were cold, and they bored into mine. “I do not think you believe me or my threats. In that, I have done you a disservice. I won’t kill you; we both know that, so I need to make this very clear. You will do as I say, when I say, or your people will begin to die off. I’d use Alex as an example, except I think your friends might notice if he goes missing. But this one, no one except you will notice his loss.”

From the bag came a muffled, “Yous be taking yours hands off the lassie.”

Charlie!

I made a move toward them and Faris lifted the bag high, twisted the veil, and I could see through the opening into a bubbling, spitting pit of lava.

“Faris, don’t do this.” I held my hands open to him, dropping my sword to the heavy carpet at my feet. There was no choice here. “I get it, you’re the boss; you don’t need to prove the point.” A whiff of sulfur curled through the veil, and a vision of the red ogre going under the rushing lava rose to the front of my mind.

Faris tipped his head to one side. “Since you activated this particular volcano, I think this is fitting.” He paused and shifted his stance so he stood sideways to me, his hand that held Charlie dipping ever so slightly. “Do you understand me now? I own you, Rylee. You will do what I say, when I say it. There will be no questions; there will be nothing you do unless I will it until your two oaths are completed. At anytime I can snatch one of your loved ones and destroy them. Up until now I have been … gracious.”

Bile rose in my throat and I forced it back down, counting in my head the thousands of ways I would chop Faris up and feed him to the fishes, how I would make him regret this day.

He, of course, was oblivious. “And you will breathe a word of this to no one. This will be our little secret. Not even your wolf will know of this.”

“Yous thinks I won’t be telling on your ass?” Charlie mouthed off from in the bag.

“Shut it, Charlie,” I snapped, my eyes pleading with Faris. “He won’t say anything.”

Faris shrugged. “Well, I can’t be sure, and you need to never forget this.”

“I’ll give you something else,” I sputtered, thinking only to get Charlie out of this in one piece. To make sure another person I cared for didn’t die on my behalf.

The vampire’s eyebrows rose slowly. “And what would you offer me for his life?”

The bag squirmed and shifted. “Don’t yous do it, Rylee. Not a thing do yous give this bastard.”

I licked my lips. “What do you want?” Fuck, fuck, fuck. How did we get to this point and, more importantly, how the hell was I going to get out of here with all three of us intact?

Faris smiled, his lips lifting so I could see his teeth easily. “Well, there is something your wolf has that I would like very much.”

I glanced down at Alex.

Faris chuckled. “Not that wolf. The one you are fucking.”

The term ‘blood running cold’ finally made sense to me. There seemed to be no heat left in me as Faris’ eyes drifted up and down my body. I shivered involuntarily.

Charlie screamed. “Don’t yous dare. Nothing yous can say will shut me up, vampire. I be screaming yous deception from the rooftops. Rylee, don’t yous fuck him!”

With a casual flick of his wrist, Faris tossed Charlie through the veil toward the lava. Before I could even move, Faris snapped his fingers, and I could no longer see through to the lava. Just the other side of the room. Shaking, I fought to comprehend what had truly just happened. What Faris had done. That Charlie was gone.

“Do you understand, Rylee? Up until now, I have been kind. I am running out of time. I do not think kindness will work with you. Even for your body, I couldn’t have your brownie friend blabbing.”

Charlie was gone, killed because Faris wanted to make a point. That he could destroy those I loved while barely lifting a finger.

From cold to hot, my blood raged with fury, but I could do
nothing.

Faris walked toward me and at my side, Alex bristled, stepping in front of me.

“No hurts Rylee,” he growled through bared teeth.

I put myself between them, pushing Alex away with my knee, more than cognizant of just what Faris could do. On our own, we couldn’t face him. So I was left with bargaining.

“I need to make sure things are settled before I do your Tracking.” I crossed my arms over my chest, struggled to keep my voice even when I wanted to rage at him, slice his head open like a rotten melon, and rip his dead heart from his chest, feed it to Blaz, and laugh when the dragon shit out pieces of the undead blood sucker.

Yeah, I was a little pissed.

“One week is all you get. One week and I will come for you, you and the wolf.” He pointed at Alex.

Alex snapped his teeth, chattering them together before he spoke. “Piece of shit fang head.”

I lifted a hand to him. “Why Alex?”

“Because he’s the weakest link of your pack, but he will make for a great motivator.” Faris winked at me, twisted the veil and stepped through leaving us alone once more.

“How the fuck are we supposed to get out of here?” I yelled, my voice bouncing back to me in the small space.

How the fuck indeed.

There was a major flaw in their plan as far as Liam could see.

“You can’t go after her without me,” he snarled, tension rising in the air like a fog he could almost see and could surely scent.

Milly put her hands on her hips. “It’s not my fault you can’t jump the veil. I don’t understand why, but you can’t.”

Pamela glanced at him, but he shook his head slightly. The less Milly understood, the better.

Jack poked at Liam with his cane. “You’ll just have to wait here, wolf. We’ll bring her back to you.”

That was just it, he didn’t want to wait, but he also knew he was inadvertently stalling them from rescuing her. Stopping them from doing his job. Damn it all.

“I can stay with you.” Pamela moved to his side, concern rolling off her. He shook it off, all of the crap going through his mind.

“Just go.” He turned his back so he wouldn’t have to see them leave without him. Wouldn’t have to see Will, and worse, Milly, rescue Rylee.

They left, jumping the veil back to London, and he paced, his mind churning with all the things he should have done. All the things he had done and shouldn’t have. Like getting after Alex. There was nothing wrong with the submissive wolf; he’d been a better friend to Rylee than almost anyone else. When no one else was there, Alex had been her—albeit squishy—rock.

Things would be different when they came back. He would make things right with Rylee and Alex. First, they had to come back, and he had to believe they
would
come back.

That for once Milly wouldn’t fuck them over and would do the right thing.

That he could trust the witch.

He let out a groan. Of all the people he had to put his faith in, Milly was dead last on the list.

Yet here he was, betting the life of his mate on her.

Sliding his hands over his face, he tried to focus on the good. Rylee would come back, things would be okay.

They had to be.

I paced the small room, AKA padded cell, Faris had left us in. An hour, maybe more had passed since he’d left, and I still didn’t know how to get out.

With little thought, I yanked my sword out and swung it toward the chaise lounge, cracking through the bones of the chair as if they were matchsticks.

“Wrecking stuff?” Alex poked at a vase that stood on top of a side table.

“Yup, wreck it all.” I took another swing, this time toward the paneling that covered the cement walls. Somewhere, there had to be another way out.

Alex let out a howl of excitement and ran in circles three times before laying into things. With his claws, and my sword, we demolished the room. The clatter of porcelain and wood clattering to the floor was a grim satisfaction I clung to. Maybe I couldn’t kill Faris, but I could destroy the fucking gilded cage he put us in.

Fifteen minutes later, we stood in the middle of the room, and I inspected the damage. Destroying the old paintings, expensive material and furniture had been a drop in the bucket as far as soothing my rage. The room looked like an explosion had ripped through it. Bits of feather clung to Alex’s grinning mouth as he smiled up at me.

“Fun, yupppy doody. Alex likes breaking shit.”

I dropped to a crouch beside him, sliding to my ass on the hardwood floor. He lay down beside me and put his head on my thigh.

“Rylee sad.” His long tongue lolled out as he panted.

“Not sad, just—” I didn’t even know how to put it into words. Frustrated, angry, stymied. All those and so much more; guilt over Charlie’s senseless death, fear for the deal I’d been forced into with Faris. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against a chunk of broken furniture. Charlie had been a good friend, one who deserved so much more than a death at the hands of that gods be damned two-faced vampire. But, like always, there really wasn’t time to grieve. Later, always later, right now I had to figure out a way to get the hell out of here. A week, I wasn’t sure I could last a week in here.

We sat there long enough that Alex fell asleep. Twitching and mumbling, he let out a fart that made me gag.

“Damn it all, what have you been eating?” I muttered, waving my hands in front of my face. He just snorted and rolled over, oblivious to the trouble we were in. That we were at the mercy of a vampire who was no longer trying to play nice. That we were well and truly trapped until said vampire decided to let us go, if he ever chose to.

Ignorance is bliss, and all that shit, I guess.

A twist in the air, a feeling of pressure, and the veil split in front of us. I expected Faris, and was shocked as shit at who stepped into the room.

I could have almost expected Pamela, Jack, or Will. But not Milly.

Pamela ran to me and threw her arms around my waist, a sob escaping her. “You’re okay.”

I put one hand on her back as I made eye contact with my ex-best friend. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

Her green eyes met mine, but I couldn’t read them and that made me nervous. “We need to go, before Faris comes back.”

I pushed myself to my feet and nudged Alex with my foot. “Come on, buddy, the rescue party is here.”

With a snort, he scrambled to all fours, blinking sleepily. “Pamie!” He leapt toward the young witch, bowling her over in his excitement, until he saw Milly.