Stealing Fire (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 5) (5 page)

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“D
ad!” she whispered.

He twitched at her cry; his white hair shook with the movement. “Ella?” He squinted at the door, as though his eyes weren’t focusing.

Her hands fumbled at the door, the dim light making it hard to see. She threw up a silent prayer of thanks when she saw the locking mechanism. She didn’t need a key. It was just a massive deadbolt from the outside.

She slid the lock loose and ran to her father. “We need to get you out of here.”

Her father shook his head frantically. “How did they find you? I never told them, I swear! You need to leave. They cannot know about you!”

Ella’s heart broke at his garbled ramblings. “Please, Dad. Can you stand? We need to get out of here.”

Could she make it to her car?
Dad seemed so weak. He’d never be able to run and it was only a matter of time before Lucian realized she was missing.

“You need to go!” he shouted.

Ella froze for a moment, listening for footsteps pounding on the stairs. Nothing.

“Not without you,” she whispered. She wrapped an arm under his shoulders and hoisted him up. Once he was standing, he was more compliant, supporting his own weight and walking on his own.

She tiptoed to the stairs ahead of him and looked upwards. No sign of the brothers.
What the hell were they doing with a dungeon in their basement? Had they planned to put her down there? Why hadn’t the thought of her calling the police scared Lucian at all?
He was the one who suggested it.

Ella crept up the stairs, pushing the questions from her mind. She would have to deal with the whys later. For now, she had to focus on getting Dad to safety.

He didn’t have any obvious injuries, but it was too dark to know for sure, and he seemed so weak. When she reached the top of the stairs, she forced herself to peek into the hall, though it would be hard to hear anyone approach over the thunderous beating of her heart.

The coast seemed clear. The front door was just twenty feet away. Freedom was so close. She reached behind her to where her father slumped against the rail. “We’re going to run, okay?” She squeezed his hand tighter. “I’ve got you. Whatever you do, don’t let go.”

She started for the hallway, but Dad pulled her back. “Ella. They’re monsters.”

“I know, Dad. You’re going to be okay, though. I promise.” Determined not to overthink it, she ran for the door. With her father trailing behind, she couldn’t work up to a full sprint, but soon enough she and Dad made it into the fresh, summer night.

The relief was immediate, but she couldn’t fully relax yet. She reached in her pocket to verify her keys were there. Her phone was in her purse, but she couldn’t risk going back in for it.

Without her phone, there was no frantic 911 call. She wouldn’t be getting any police escort home. It was just her and Dad.

Just like always.

She pulled her father toward the bridge. “We have to go a mile. Then you can rest.”

“They’re monsters. They’re going to take you from me,” he mumbled.

Ella fought tears back at the sight of Dad. His head hung low, feet shuffling over the ground, his eyes bright with worry. “You’re almost safe. Let’s just keep going.”

They made it over the creaky wooden bridge and kept up a slow jog for a few minutes until Ella could no longer see the lights from Lucian’s house of horrors and Dad wasn’t able to run anymore.

She slowed to a walk but couldn’t stop glancing around in a circle with every step. When Lucian first approached her in these woods, he hadn’t made a sound. How did she know he wasn’t stalking her at this very moment? Playing with her and her father like a cat plays with a mouse. Just waiting for the best time to pounce.

Every snapping branch made her jump. Every bird flapping its wings had her looking at the sky, somehow expecting Lucian to fly down from the darkness of the treetops. She listened for the telltale electronic hum of a camera, turning to follow her every move.

She needed to get off Lucian’s territory.

Ella didn’t remember the exact path she’d walked with Lucian, but she knew she was walking in the right direction. If they didn’t come out by her car, she’d just have to flag down the first driver she saw. She’d rather take her chances hitchhiking than with Lucian dragging her and Dad back.

When the road finally appeared in the distance, Ella let out a pent-up breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding. “We’re almost there, Dad.”

They took three more steps before Dad fell to the ground, screaming and clutching his head. “Ahhhhh!”

“Dad, what’s wrong?” She tried to pull him up, but he curled into the fetal position as his cries got even louder.

The sharp sound in the still night had Ella keeping her eyes on the horizon. If Lucian was looking for them, surely he would’ve heard that.

He broke away from her and scrambled deeper into the woods and away from the road. When he was fifteen yards from where he’d collapsed, he leaned against a tree, exhausted eyes falling shut. “They won’t let me leave,” he moaned.

“We’re leaving. It doesn’t matter what they ‘let’ you do. I’m getting you the hell out of here.”

Ella grabbed at his arm and pulled him toward the road, but he held his ground, shaking his head at her efforts.

“You’re going to kill him.” The rumbling voice came from behind her.

To her credit, she didn’t jump. She’d been half expecting him to materialize out of the darkness this entire time.

She bit her bottom lip to keep her defeat from showing as she faced him. “You son of a bitch.”

Lucian cocked his head at the insult. “You’re probably right. I didn’t know my mother all that well.”

Dad pushed himself away from the tree. “Leave her alone! I’ll go back with you. I’ll do whatever you want.”

Ella’s eyes widened as Dad tried to throw himself at Lucian’s feet. She narrowly managed to snag a piece of his shirt and hold him next to her.

Lucian dispassionately considered the offer. “I think I know your secret, old man. This is what you’ve been hiding.”

Dad shook his head and tears escaped his eyes. “Please, no.”

Ella nervously gulped. She’d never seen Dad cry. Not once.

“Just let us go. The road is right there. We won’t tell anyone about this. I promise.”

Lucian turned his glacial gaze on her, the blue of his eyes almost black in the darkness. “You can go,” he offered. “There’s nothing stopping you.”

She stared him down for a moment, waiting for him to rescind the offer or to attack. For all she knew, Cade was hiding in the shadows.

When he said nothing, she pulled on Dad’s shirt. “Let’s go,” she whispered.

Lucian stepped forward. “I wouldn’t do that.”

She knew it.
“But you just said...”

“I said you could go. Your father can’t.”

Ella shook her head in denial. The tears she’d been fighting finally made their way past her defenses and trickled down her cheeks. “Please let him go. What has he ever done to you?”

He cocked his head at her again. It was such an animalistic gesture. Just another reminder of his predatory nature she’d sensed since the moment they met. “I don’t intend to hurt him. I need him and he refuses to help me. I’m desperate and he might be the only person who can save my people. You expect me to let him waltz off into the sunset because you start crying and asking nicely?”

Ella looked to Dad, gauging his reaction.

“You have to leave.” He sounded so hopeless and desperate.
How could she leave him?

“Please,” she breathed. She couldn’t just abandon Dad, to be thrown back in that prison cell.

Lucian took a step toward her. She wanted to retreat but refused to put her father between Lucian and her.

“You need to understand. Your father will die if he goes to that road, and I won’t be the one killing him. Not directly anyway. I have a barrier spell around my property. Humans cannot enter without one of my people moving them past the spell.”

It all made so much sense now. Lucian was bat-shit crazy. “Of course humans can cross. I did.”

The corners of his mouth curved in a wicked grin and Dad moaned again.

“Ella, run!” he shouted, pushing her away from him.

Ella stumbled toward the road, but stopped herself before she fell. Lucian soundlessly appeared right next to her, steadying a hand on her arm. She jerked free from his grip.
Had he walked over to her? How did he move so silently?

“Your father has been keeping secrets from you. The reason you can enter here is because you are not human. At least, not fully.”

She shook her head. “You’re crazy,” she mumbled as she inched backward, cursing every additional centimeter added between her and Dad.

“Twenty-five years ago, your father worked for us. We haven’t had a child born to my race in centuries. Through the wars and battles, our numbers are dwindling. He was supposed to help. Give us a female who could bear our heirs.”

“What’s wrong with you? Are you even listening to what you’re saying?”

A sudden and chilling wind ripped through the woods, pushing Ella’s hair in her eyes and making her feel even more overwhelmed.

“Now that we bring him back to finish the job, he’s refusing to say a damn word. And here you are. Mid-twenties. No idea who your mother is. Somehow able to walk onto my property without so much as a headache. Why do you think the cops didn’t look into your father’s car? Why do you think your father was in so much pain?”

She thought back to how adamant Gus was that the car was not a big deal. How fervent he’d been when telling her to get out of the woods. “That’s why you had me call him. You think that even if he knows I’m here, he can’t get to me.”

Lucian nodded, mouth curving at her slow acceptance. “I’m saying that if I wanted to, I could keep you as long as I wished.” Ella took another step back at the words. Lucian lifted a cold hand and brushed the backs of his fingers down her tear-stained cheeks. “Don’t worry. It’s not you I want. Even if you could bear our children, it takes more than one to replenish a species, and a forced pregnancy isn’t exactly healthy for the child. You are safe from me. I need to know how you were created, though. What makes you special.”

He turned away from her and stalked toward Dad, who still lay limply against a tree. Without an ounce of gentleness, he lifted the old man over his shoulder.

“Stop!” she shouted as her world crumbled around her.

Lucian faced her as though the weight of Dad was nothing to him. “I said you’re free to go.”

“Take me. Find out what makes me different. I’ll help you, I promise. Just let him go.” She wanted to sound brave and heroic, but she couldn’t stop the tears.
What exactly was she volunteering?

Lucian smiled at the offer, and she suddenly realized this was exactly what he’d wanted all along. All the pieces clicked into place. The open door to the basement. The clean getaway. The noises. Dad had barely been moving. He couldn’t have been the one making all the racket.

Lucian let it all happen. Just waiting for her to offer to take Dad’s place.

But she had no choice. If he would truly let Dad go, she’d go back with Lucian.

“I won’t rape you,” he said. “It will be a harsh adjustment and I expect you to be complacent with the tests that will be required.”

Unable to summon her voice, Ella nodded.

And then Lucian and Dad vanished in front of her eyes. One second they were there and the next they were gone. “Dad!”

“He’s right here.” Lucian stood at the side of the road, propping Dad against a tree.

Ella ran over to them, but Lucian caught her before she made it to Dad, pulling her back up against his chest. “It’s time to go,” he warned.

“Let me say good-bye,” she screamed as she struggled to escape his grip. He seemed to consider it for a moment before he released his hold.

She reached Dad, but he didn’t move except for his ragged breathing; his eyes were closed. “What did you do to him?”

Lucian shrugged a big shoulder, as though none of this was his fault at all. “Nothing worse than had already been done. The stress of everything probably just got to him.”

She narrowed her eyes at the callous words. “You were going to leave him passed out on the side of the road?”

“His heartbeat is strong and he doesn’t have a head injury. He’s a smart man. He would’ve made it back home.”

“How the hell would you know if his heartbeat was strong?”

“I can hear it,” he said simply.

Instead of dignifying his ridiculous statement with a response, she switched tactics. “We need to call someone. I won’t let you leave him here.”

She half expected him to fight with her. Instead, he slipped his phone from his pocket, quickly running his fingers over the touchscreen, and put it to his ear. “Hello. I was driving and just found a man passed out on the side of the road.”

Ella remained silent as he gave detailed instructions on how to locate Dad, including nearby landmarks. She didn’t know how he could see anything in the darkness, but he probably knew this area like the back of his hand.

When he hung up, he was smart enough to let Ella have a moment with Dad. She didn’t know what she would’ve done if he’d tried to drag her off.

She probably wouldn’t have done a damn thing. He’d already proved how much stronger he was. He moved silently and faster than anyone she’d ever met. Maybe he wasn’t completely crazy when he said he wasn’t human.

Quicker than she would’ve expected, considering how out in the middle of nowhere they were, the flashing lights of a police cruiser shone in the distance.

“We need to leave.” Lucian spoke from right behind her, but, at this point, his sudden appearance wasn’t surprising.

She pushed herself up, but she must not have been fast enough for Lucian. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her deep into the shadows just as the cruiser pulled over.

She held herself ramrod stiff as the two officers got out. Ever since she first stumbled across him in these woods, Lucian found every excuse to touch her and she couldn’t stand it. He’d effectively ruined her life and hadn’t even batted an eyelash. He could kill her or her dad without breaking a sweat and here he was with one steel band of an arm wrapped around her.