Bloodlines (Demons of Oblivion) (28 page)

Knock me out, tie me up, and leave me in a shockingly white room. Nice.

“Someone had better get me the fuck out of here!” My voice echoed through the small space and my ears rang. Pain thrummed in my head in time with the beat of my heart, a dull ache probably from the drugs they’d shot me with. Oh well—I’d keep yelling. “Get me outta here or I’m gonna be pretty goddamn pissed off!”

No answer.

“Hello! If you’re going to kidnap me, common decency dictates that you’d at least tell me why, you fucktards!”

I tried to sit up; a strap went across my chest and prevented me from doing anything more than bending my head forward. A good, quick jerk didn’t loosen it—might’ve been steel or something.

“You know, I’m pretty sure tying me down like this might present a problem if there’s a fire.” I was certain no one was listening, but talking kept me calm. Well, not really calm, but at least not panicking and screaming ’til I passed out. “Someone’s going to be putting in a call to the fire marshal about this, ’cause I think you’re in serious violation of a few laws here.”

Footsteps and low voices sounded across the room. The far wall wasn’t, in fact, an actual wall, but a Plexiglas sliding door of some sort. I couldn’t make out much beyond it, but the footfalls grew louder. I caught sight of a man’s arm as whoever was out there conferred with someone else. Ah, so I guess someone
was
listening.

“Hey asshole!” I hollered. “C’mon in—let’s chat!”

A moment later there was a beep, a click, and then the door slid open. I strained my neck to see who I was hearing slowly step across the tiled floor...and my lips parted, though words escaped me.

Nate’s piercing blue eyes stared back at me.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

M.I.A.

Nate
...
Nate
...
no,
God
and
Goddess
and
whoever
else—please,
not
Nate
...

I wasn’t sure whether my insistence to the contrary did it, or whether my vision had just been blurry due to my blackout and the bright lighting...but I quickly realized it wasn’t Nate.

His hair was too short, for one thing. It was the same dark brown, but cut close to his skull. Where Nate had a couple of lines that creased around his eyes on the rare occasion he smiled, this man had about twice that, and another few grooves at the corners of his mouth. He had the same straight features as my warlock friend, and was perhaps in his mid-thirties. Maybe he’d’ve been handsome if I wasn’t positive the bastard was responsible for me being locked up.

“You look surprised about something.” Even his fucking voice sounded like Nate’s, deep and commanding.

I swallowed dryly and hoped to hell my face didn’t show how freaked out he left me. “Well, you kinda look like this guy I saw at a party once. But you are like
way
too old to be him. My bad.”

“Ah.” He grinned, but it wasn’t a friendly smile. It was one that twisted my stomach and tickled my throat with worry—it disturbed
me
, a vampire who had caused more innocent bloodshed than just about any human could imagine. Whatever dark thing I saw as his lips slowly curved upward, I was more than certain I wasn’t interested in ever seeing it again.

“You must be thinking of my brother, Nathan,” he continued.

If I hadn’t already deduced Nate’s older brother, Sean, was actually alive and kicking, that certainly sealed the deal for me.

“You know, I think I see a resemblance.” I squinted as I pretended to study his face. “Yeah, I see it now...of course, I didn’t notice that male pattern baldness emerging quite so strongly on
him
.” I nodded to Sean’s head where his hairline was running for cover. “It probably came on out of the blue when you were what, thirty-two? Thirty-three? I’d give it another decade at most. But they do have creams and stuff for that now, you know, unless you think you can rock the bald look. Between you and me, I don’t think your head’s the right shape for it.”

He seemed unfazed by my insults, though I suppose it was worth a try.

“Where’s Nate?” I asked.

“Dead,” Sean replied coldly. “Like the witch and that other one. It’s just you and me now.”

I didn’t blink. “You’d better not be hitting on me, ’cause coming from you, that would be gross.” A lump formed in my throat, eyes burned. Heart twisted. Nate could’ve fought him off...right?

Except Nate said Sean’s abilities were unsurpassed.

Oh god.

“I presume you would like to know why you’re here, Miss Lain?” Sean asked.

I leveled a predatory grin his way. “Nah, I was actually hoping you’d unchain me and we could discuss this in a way I’m more comfortable with.”

“You know, it’s tempting, if only so you could see how useless it would be to attack me.”

“Your father thought the same thing just before I snapped his neck.”

“My father was weak,” Sean replied with a shrug. “And I do believe it would be better to keep you at least partially immobilized. What do you say?” He turned to someone who waited outside the room.

“I think you’re probably right on that count,” said a familiar voice.

Never mind that I hadn’t fed in a week and it felt as though ice ran through my veins—my blood still boiled. As if reading my thoughts, Jamie walked in and leaned against the doorway.

“Sleep well, sweetheart?” he asked, that playful smirk of his causing my more violent desires to call out to be realized. He had been feeding Sean information all this time...what we knew, who was alive...everything he knew about us...

You, motherfucker, are gonna die
painfully
when I’m outta here
. “I was out like a light.” I returned his smile but sent my coldest glare his way. “I kind of had to be after you beat me with a goddamn couch.”

“Aw, you figured out it was me.” He pretended to look defeated. “You’re just too clever, Zara. I’ve only been around you for what...four or five days now? You sure are a quick one. I really am quite hurt that just now you asked about Junior and not me, though.”

His face was going to look
so
pretty later splattered in blood. I just had to get out first. “So this was just about catching me?” I directed at Sean, unable to even look at Jamie any longer. “The other vampires thing was just a lie?”

“She is pretty full of herself, isn’t she?” Sean looked back at Jamie, who nodded.

“I told ya so.”

“No, Miss Lain, this isn’t about you,” Sean said. “And it
is
a vampire thing.” He raised his hand and then made a slight gesture. Three armed guards—carrying both semi-automatics and metal stakes—entered the room to stand behind him. “I had planned to just leave you here, but Jamie seems to think you’d like a look around the place.”

I
would
like a look around, but snark was my top priority. “Actually, it would be super if you just let me go.”

“I don’t think so. Now I’m going to remove the restraints keeping you pinned to the table. You can come for a little walk with us.”

“If you want me to walk, I suggest taking care of the manacles on my legs too,” I said as he unbuckled the straps.

“You can shuffle along—it’s all right, we’ll wait.”

“You’re such a gentleman.”

He unfastened the final strap, then moved several feet away so I could sit up on my own. From there I hopped off the table and moved into the huge corridor outside the room. Everyone stayed at least four feet from me at all times, which told me I still must be some sort of threat to them. A little pride swelled in me at that thought, quashed quickly by the fact I
knew
I was utterly fucked.

Both to my left and right there were at least another dozen rooms, making perhaps almost thirty in total on my side of the hallway, as well as another thirty on the other. The lights above were bright and white as they were in my cell, glaring down. In the huge area between the two halves were groupings of narrow tables topped with computers and monitors.

“Aw, did you make up a little experiment for the science fair?” I asked as they led me down the hall. “Bet you’ll get first place this year.”

Sean towered beside me, perhaps a few inches taller than his brother. “Not quite. One doesn’t need to experiment when one knows what one’s doing.”

As I glanced in the rooms, I recognized some of the faces that looked back. Vampires. All of them.

“So you think this is the way to get in with some Illuminati-wannabes? Abduct vampires?” I laughed. “That’s pretty lame, even for a half-rate warlock like you. If that’s all it takes to impress them, maybe I should try joining.”

“Impress...?” Now it was Sean’s turn to laugh, sinking a lead ball of worry in my gut. “Oh, them. Miss Lain, I’m already in. Decimating North America’s witch population did that. And these,” he gestured around him, “aren’t just vampires anymore. They’re recruits. Soldiers for my own elite army. Nearly invincible, strong, and ferocious.”

I could name a dozen demons
much
better than vampires. “With wills of their own.” I gave a huge yawn and ensured Sean saw me.

“Wills of their own,” he repeated with a smile. He seemed to be anticipating that response. “Your species is nothing but a slave to its desires.”

“So just because you got that idiot over there to join you by waving some money—and probably pussy—in his face, you think you’ve got a goddamn army?”

“Hey—” Jamie began to protest.

“He didn’t do it for the money,” Sean said. “I’m not paying him for this.”

“Nope,” Jamie said. “It’s a complete freebie on my part. He picked me up when I was returning to my employers after the little O’Connor shindig. I’m smart enough to go with the winning side, love.”

“You see, he realized he didn’t have any other choice,” Sean added.

“I realize that too,” I said. “Wanna unchain me?”

“You think me that gullible?” Sean asked.

“Just hoping,” I said with a shrug. “So this is your ‘army?’ Why exactly do you need one now that you’re part some evil secret society?”

“They’ll be handy in the Armageddon.”

“Oh, is that soon?”

“You have no idea,” Sean said with a smile.

I just laughed at him. “Right, because it’s going to be happening any day now...just like people have been saying for thousands of years. Honey, I’m a
lot
older than you—I’ve heard every prophecy, every Nostradamus wannabe, and I can assure you the end of the world is no more nigh these days than it’s ever been. And if the apocalypse happened tomorrow, do you think these guys are going to protect you?” I looked around at the other vampires and rolled my eyes. “Like I said: lame.”

“Tell me, Zara, do you know what happens when a vampire doesn’t feed?” As Sean stopped to face me, Jamie and the guards did as well.

“A couple of late night fast food places get robbed of their workers?” I guessed.

“Not quite.” His smile seemed to falter, and I suspected he was getting tired of my attitude. “Your body, being once human, has certain reactions to what it perceives as a possible famine. If a human has been starving, the next meal is immediately stored as fat. That is what—”

“God, will you
please
skip the ‘always eat breakfast’ speech and just get on with it already.”

“Now that you have a parasite in your brain that requires blood,” he continued, unbothered by my comment, “when you starve, the parasite starts to think there’s something wrong with its host. Like maybe the host isn’t fast enough. Isn’t strong enough. Food must be scarce. When that parasite isn’t getting enough blood...well...how about an example?”

He gestured to the room beside him, and cautiously I walked over.

Behind the Plexiglas, I saw what could only be described as a monster pacing the room.

Maybe it had been a person. Once. But now its spine was elongated and curved slightly, giving it a hunch. His skull was enlarged by a huge, protruding mass at the back of his head, which I assumed was the demonic parasite changing and growing. His wiry black hair was thin, and nonexistent around the bump. Veins, crying out to be filled with blood, bulged from his neck and along his arms. Immense muscles rippled across his arms and throughout his body. They’d given him baggy sweatpants to wander around in, but nothing else in terms of clothing.

“Charming,” I said dryly. “And this is supposed to explain what?”

“Have a good look at him, Miss Lain,” Sean urged me. So I did. I looked at the thing, studied it through the glass as it paced the room. Its nails were long and sharp. Nothing particularly striking there. He had a pair of fangs—at least three times the length of a normal vampire’s—that stuck out from his gums and caused little tears to form on his lip and chin. He looked over at me wildly, his dark eyes revealing only one thought: his hunger.

And then I knew him.

Icy dread chilled my skin, sent shivers over my arms. “Dragomir.”

“Right again, darling,” Jamie said, coming to lean against the Plexiglas. He crossed his arms at his chest and looked amused. “The very same one. Your maker. Only Petey was wrong, as you can see. He’s not dead. At least not in the traditional sense.”

“As one of the oldest known vampires, I caught him first, four years ago,” Sean said. “And it was because of the experiments with him that I knew my plan could be realized.”

Dragomir. Fucking
Dragomir
. Made into...
this
?
Not possible, not possible...
But I blinked and the figure before me didn’t change.

“So this is what happens when vampires don’t feed.” I forced a bored tone back into my voice. “Blah blah—this is incredibly dull, you know. So we get a case of the fuglies. Sure, I’m a big fan of the hotness that is me, but I’m certainly not going to do your bidding because of this.”
Certainly
not
because
you
took
the
strongest
vampire
I’ve
ever
known
and
turned
him
into
...
into
I
don’t
know
what
. My heart thumped erratically in my chest and I could do nothing to calm it, even though I knew Jamie might hear. I was terrified.