Forbidden Touch (20 page)

"Okay!" Ciera shouted, then only hesitated briefly before making herself visible to her company.

The leader grinned. "My, my, my, aren't you a pretty little thing? No wonder Dane is so obsessed with you." He walked closer to her, knowing that she didn't have a choice but to let him do whatever he wanted. He sniffed the air and smiled. "And I smell innocence. You haven't ever been touched. Have you?" he looked puzzled. "How is that possible?"

She stiffened as he touched her cheek. He smiled.

"Does he love you, Ciera?" he whispered in her ear. She quit breathing as the smell of his breath wafted up her nose. She wanted to puke. "It's obvious that you care for him, or you would have run off and left him here with us. Tell me, do you think you can change the outcome because you stayed?"

"You got what you wanted, now let him go. He is a vampire now. There aren't any rules saying that vampires can't know about vampires. I did what is supposed to be done to humans who find out about us. You either turn them or kill them. I turned him, so let him go. My family doesn't want him, they only want me."

The leader laughed out loud for a few moments, and when he finally stopped there was still laughter in his bloodshot eyes. It had been a while since he'd fed. "Your family? Dane is the only one of your family who knows that you have gone Rogue, my dear. He is coming here to collect you." He shrugged his shoulders. Dane hadn't contacted her family or the Elders about what she had done? What? "But you are wrong, Ciera. He does want your friend here. He has a specific purpose for him, and he will not stop until you are his. I may just keep your sweet virgin ass for my personal enjoyment. Like I said before, I'm not afraid of Dane." He ran the back of his fingers over her cheek and she jerked away from him. He smiled again then ran his hand up the back of her head, tangling his fingers in her hair. He grabbed a handful and jerked her head back. He kissed her hard on the mouth and she bit his lip. He shoved her away from him. "You bitch!" He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and looked at the blood when he pulled it away. It looked black in the night's sky, with only the quarter moon to illuminate their surroundings. He reared back and slapped her hard across the face.

She stayed in the position the blow had left her in. Her head was turned to the side and her hair was covering her face. "Where is Dane?"

"Oh, I don't know. He was finishing up some business with a certain psychic and a witch in Arkansas about twenty-four hours ago. He should be along anytime."

Ciera thought that one through. If this guy was telling the truth, Dane had only been a matter of minutes behind them. But he wouldn't have been able to travel during the daylight hours, unless…

The leader laughed crazily. "I can see those wheels turning in that pretty little head of yours. You figured it out, didn't you?"

Ciera could hear a vehicle coming toward them in the distance. It was coming from the Vegas direction. She didn't want to look up. She knew it would be him. As soon as he found out where she was headed, he caught a flight to Vegas to head her off. He had probably caught the first flight out at dusk, and had been waiting hours for her arrival.

She was no longer in disguise, so he would be able to read her clearly. If she had ran and left Mitch here to die, Dane would have still caught her. He is the best at what he does. He had been doing this job a lot longer than she had.

Just like she knew it would, the vehicle pulled off the road and came to a stop only a few feet from them. The engine shut off, the driver's door opened, and Dane stepped out and smiled at her. "It is so good to see you again, Ciera."

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Chapter
31

"Where were you going, Ciera? I couldn't get the psychic or the witch to tell me anything. They were very good at hiding their secrets before their untimely death. Although, I did manage to get your direction out of the psychic's head before I bashed it in."

Ciera's breath hitched on a sob. "You're a monster, Dane."

He shook his head as he smiled at her. "No, I'm not the monster. I'm not even the individual in charge here. The boss and I have a deal, you see. I get you, and he gets your human. It was all planned out from the start. I was the one who suggested to the Elders to put you in charge of the Rogue vampire's murders."

Her eyes grew wide as she stared at him. "You know who the killer is?"

His smile broadened. "Of course I do. I helped him frame your pathetic human." He shrugged his shoulders as he walked closer to her. "I got out of his head that he was headed to the gym that night, then I called my boss to let him know of his whereabouts. He took it from there, and I raced to our parent's house to await your arrival. I knew that you would lie to me. I do have to say that it still hurt my feelings a little when you did. I really do love you, you know."

Her face hardened, she clenched her jaw and spoke through her teeth. "You have no idea what love is."

He slowly closed his eyes and took in a deep breath of air through his nose. "I have waited so long to be the vampire in your life. I knew when he suggested that it be you who brought Mitch over, that there was a huge chance that you would give your heart away, even to a mortal. But you have not given your body to him, and now you won't have the chance. Your feelings for him will fade in time, and you will see that I did this so we can be together."

"What are you talking about?" she said, with pure confusion in her eyes and voice.

"The Rogue vampire is Mitch's father. He knew Mitch would be assigned to a case that big because Mitch is the best detective they have. He also knew that I would be assigned to find him and turn him over to the Elders, so he made me an offer I couldn't refuse. He knew Mitch would refuse to be turned by him, but if he was in love…he may not find it so appalling. And you have played your part brilliantly, I might add." He sniffed the air around Mitch. "He will be a vampire soon enough. And with the power his father possesses, he will make a pungent young vampire."

Her eyes grew wider as she analyzed him. She was having trouble catching her breath. They had set this all up. They had planned for Mitch to become a vampire all along, and now it was her fault that he was. Dane knew she would make the decision to turn Mitch into a vampire to save his life. She had fallen for the whole thing.

A tear escaped her eye, and she flinched as Dane tried to wipe it away. "Awe, Ciera, I am truly sorry to have tricked you, but you made it so easy,"

She met his gaze with her own. "I will never love you. Mitch is a vampire now, so we can be together."

Dane shook his head slowly. He forced his look to be a sad one, but Ciera wasn't buying it. She knew how good he was at his expressions. He wasn't really sad, and he damn sure wasn't sorry. "I'm sorry, Ciera. Mitch is about to be taken away. He will be informed that you were the one who planned all of this, and that you were the one who committed the heinous murders. I'm afraid that he'll want nothing more in this world than to see you dead, my love." His face brightened. "Oh, and to clear up something else. The Elders think that you were the one who killed all those people as well; compliments of me, of course," he said as he smiled mischievously. "I think my exact words to our parents were: I saw Ciera kill the last man with my own eyes. She saw me and then ran off. I followed her for a while, but she has gotten so skilled at blocking me that I lost track of her. I do believe she has gone mad, Father," he shrugged. "They sent me to find you, but of course, we can't go back there. I can't have you telling them what really happened now, can I?" he laughed softly. "Either I am getting better at lying, or our mother is getting worse at being able to sense the truth. She bought every word of it."

Her heart was racing as she looked him in the eyes. She couldn't tell if he was lying. She looked at one of the other vampires. "He said that you were the only one who knew I had gone Rogue."

Dane smiled. "He lied."

"You, bastard!" She went at him with hands and finger nails, but he subdued her quickly, putting her back against the front of his body and holding her arms in place, crossed in front of her.

"Calm down, Ciera. Do you know of one of the hidden places where vampires and mortals coexist? Is that where you were going, love? We can go there together. I can make you love me."

"I could never love you," she whispered through her sobs.

He kissed her cheek gently then breathed in her soft fragrance. "Yes, you could, Ciera, and yes, you will." He pulled a syringe out of his back pocket with his free hand. He slipped the cap off the thin needle with two fingers, then stuck it swiftly in her back. "Never mind telling me, I will get its location out of your head on my own. Sleep now, my love. When you wake up, we will be together."

She let out a soft whimper, then she collapsed into darkness.

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Chapter
32

When Mitch came to, he was lying on his back, tied to a table in what seemed to be the bottom of a tall tower. The stone walls surrounding him were rounded, and he found it very interesting that he didn't have to squint to see the rust on the metal ceiling at least thirty feet above him.

Where the hell am I?
The room reeked of mold and mildew, and maybe a dead rodent or two. Then he heard loud bangs, like someone was trying to beat through the wall. The door creaked open, making him wince from the eardrum busting noise. The loud bangs couldn't have been footsteps, could they have?

The guy that walked to him was way overdue for a bath, and when he began talking, Mitch pulled at the chains that bound him, trying to cover his ears. He was breathing heavy when the guy finally shut up. He hadn't understood a damn word he'd said, because the guy had been screaming at him. He knew that he was mistaken. He knew the guy hadn't been screaming. He'd been talking normally. It was his hearing that was so keen. Was he actually a vampire? And where the hell was Ciera?

He tried to sit up in a panic. He had to find her. Surely if he was still alive, then she would be as well. "Where is…" he said, then lowered his own voice to a whisper because the loud sounds hurt his ears. "Where is Ciera?" he whispered, and his expression was pleading for the guy to tell him.

The guy must have understood that any noise was hurting Mitch's ears, so he talked in a whisper. "She left Vegas with Dane a little while ago."

Mitch jerked on the thick chains, but even with his newly acquired strength, they didn't even bend. "Where has he taken her?"

The guy smiled. "You are misunderstanding, Mitch. She left with him of her own free will. She was waiting for him to arrive so she could leave with him."

"You're lying!" Mitch shouted, then winced.

The guy shook his head. "I have no reason to lie to you. She made it look as though the two of you were running from her family and the police. She was actually the vampire that drained all of those victims. She was the one who framed you. She was trying to get you to trust her so she could turn you into a vampire. Your father has been trying to keep her away, to protect you from her, but she is very smart. He is very upset with Ciera for turning you, and she knew that he would kill her when he arrived. So she chose to leave with Dane. He was helping her. His part was to appear to be chasing the two of you so you would want to become a vampire and protect her."

Mitch's brow furrowed in disbelief. "My father? I've never even met my father. You lie!" he shouted, and tugged on the chains again.

The guy sat in a chair beside the table Mitch was on. "You've met him. You just weren't aware of who, or what, he was. He's been watching over you. He is the only one of our kind that can withstand the sun in solid form. He is hoping that you have inherited his gift," he lowered his head. "Now that he has failed to protect you, and you have become one of us."

Mitch laid his head back on the table and closed his eyes. He didn't know what to believe. He knew he didn't want to believe that Ciera had lied to him. She wouldn't have gone through all they had gone through just to get him to trust her. Alice had told them they were soulmates. He squeezed his eyes shut as hot tears burned them. Unless the psychic and the witch had been in on the lie, too. But he had been the one to show her where Alice was located. He sighed. But she had told him to sit in the vehicle while she went to talk to the woman first. She may have used compulsion on her to tell them certain things. And Ciera had been the only one that knew where Nellie's house was located. She may have known Nellie all along, and the old woman was just playing her part.