Things That Go Hump In The Night (24 page)

Then he demonstrated what else he could do to her, using the
Qibītu-šiptu
.

And she realized that the pain in her head before had been nothing to what she felt now.

Nicole fell to the carpet as tendrils of fiery punishment radiated out from the black cord around her neck, and red-hot agony raced along every muscle and every nerve in her body. Her sense swamped by this new assault, she couldn't even feel the pain from her restraints as she writhed mindlessly, her universe consumed by pain.

Erik made an obscene humming sound, and she felt him stroking her with his fingertips, feeding off her pain and terror as her skin parted and bled beneath his razor-sharp talons.

Nicole wanted to deny him any sound that might aid his pleasure, but the evil thing fastened around her neck didn't leave her any choice.

But screaming worked almost as well as singing in defeating the compulsion to answer his questions.

So she screamed and sobbed shamelessly under his torture and forced her mind to concentrate on the lyrics of the song she had been singing, so that she wouldn't be forced to tell him about Gabriel and the others.

Finally, the pain receded, leaving her curled on the floor at the foot of the bed. She was wrung out with exhaustion, so tired she couldn't move or think. Her bones ached with cold, and her teeth chattered nonstop.

But she hadn't answered his question. That was a small victory.

Nicole knew that she couldn't hold out forever.

No matter what her wolf thought, no one knew where she was. No one was coming for her...

And out here, in the middle of the boonies, Erik had all the time in the world to play his sadistic torture games with her.

Shivering, Nicole curled into a fetal position and watched him cross the room.

He lifted the lid of a large chest standing against the wall.

Inside, she saw trays holding a frightening collection of objects, most of which she could only recognize as things with spikes or clamps, meant to inflict pain.

"You wait here, Nicky, and think about whether you want to be a good girl or a naughty one I have to keep punishing until she learns to obey."

She simply stared at him with loathing, still silently chanting the words of a song.

"Good," Erik said, his voice dripping with sick anticipation. "I'm going to enjoy breaking you to my will, Nicky-pet. Now, you go ahead and study my little toy collection, and think about how I'm going to use them on you."

She shuddered.

"Shape-shifters heal fast, so I can do this over and over again until you're willing to promise me anything,
do
anything, if only I'll stop hurting you. Remember how it was before?" His voice dripped with loathsome nostalgia.

Erik stooped and gathered up the stack of her clothing. The chain and pendant of her panic button were sitting on top of her panties. Erik straightened and smiled down at her.

"I've got to get rid of these, so I want you to stay put and make no attempt to escape. No shape-shifting, either."

She felt the power of the collar rise to reinforce his command. Apparently, singing didn't work on that part.

Not that she had any strength left to move right now, even if he hadn't left her chained up and whammied.

Then Erik left the room. A few minutes later, she heard him leave the house.

Chapter 17 – The Hunt

"Better slow down for this section of the freeway," Mark advised mildly from the back seat.

Gabriel was speeding north at nearly a hundred miles an hour, and they had already left the city far behind.

Mark continued, "There's usually a speed trap set up around here. Don't want the CHP to pull you over."

"Fuck the CHP," Gabriel growled.

But he slowed down to a sedate five miles above the posted speed limit, chafing at the sense that his powerful car was just crawling along now.

Sure enough, in another mile or two, he saw a California Highway Patrol cruiser parked underneath an overpass.

"I hate it when you're right, Mark," Gabriel said.

"It's times like this I really wish
Mi̱téra
had taught us magic," Rafe muttered.

"What, so you could compel your way out of a speeding ticket?" Mark asked pointedly.

"
These are not the droids you're looking for,
" Rafe quoted cheerily.

After a moment, he turned back to glance at Mark, apparently remembering that the shape-shifter was also an official representative of the Council of Oligarchs. He added, "But of course, using magic to bend the wills of mortals without their consent is Bad and Wrong."

Mark gave a long-suffering sigh.

"Try not to sound so disappointed when you say that, kiddo," he advised Rafe, who grinned unrepentantly over his shoulder at the shape-shifter.

Mark turned to Gabriel, who was gripping his steering wheel so hard that his fingers were beginning to cramp.

The part of his mind not occupied with driving reached out for Nicole through their tentative bond.

Sharp pain. Bright light. The prickly feel of cheap carpet under bare skin. Choking terror.

"Break that in half, Gabriel, and we're all fucked," Mark said quietly, and Gabriel forced himself to relax his hands.

Another few minutes crept by with frustrating slowness as the car glided along. Luckily, there wasn't much traffic—rush hour had cleared out an hour or two ago, and everyone was at home in front of their TVs or computers.

Finally, Mark said, "Okay, I think we're clear. We shouldn't see any cops along this next stretch. State budget cuts and all."

Gabriel let out an explosive sigh of relief and stomped on the accelerator. The Tesla surged forward eagerly in a burst of soundless power, pressing all three of them back into their seats.

Don't let us be too late,
he prayed to a God he wasn't sure he believed in.
Please.

* * *

"I got something," said Rafe in a tense, hopeful voice an hour later. "Five miles ahead. Take the next exit...Hah! I was right. That bastard went to ground in Bosque Oscuro."

Guided by Rafe and the modifications his brother had made to the Tesla's large GPS screen, Gabriel left the highway and drove down a narrow road that wound between thickly forested hills. His headlights shone on the massive trunks of towering redwoods at every tight bend and turn.

"Getting closer....1000 meters on the right...800...600..." Rafe breathed. "Okay, slow down now...here! Pull over here."

Gabriel let the Tesla coast to a silent stop in the tiny parking lot of a strip mall that consisted of a gas station, a brightly lit convenience store, and Ming's, a fast-food Chinese place with a neon sign advertising Free WiFi.

"This can't be right," Rafe said, looking around.

Gabriel agreed.

All three of them got out of the car and looked around.

Mark tensed, sniffing the air. "I can smell him."

Gabriel couldn't smell anything but garlic and hot oil from the restaurant, but then again, he wasn't a werewolf.

"He's taking her out for Chinese food?" Rafe asked, sarcastically.

He was holding his open laptop and began walking a slow spiral pattern outward from the car as he peered at the computer's screen, trying to determine the exact location of the geo-tracker.

"Here," he called, coming to a stop next to a dumpster enclosure.

"Oh, fuck," Rafe added unhappily, looking at the huge trash bins.

Someone had carelessly left one of the lids flipped open, which had allowed the geo-tracker's signal to reach the restaurant's wireless network in the midst of a dead spot for cellular services.

She can't be dead!
Gabriel shut out his first, terrible thought that Nicole's corpse had been dumped in the bin.

Why would Erik have brought her all the way out here, if only to kill her? That doesn't make sense. She's still alive. She
has
to be.

He closed his eyes and touched the concealed mark on his throat, straining his senses.

And was rewarded by the sense of Nicole's presence, though it felt terribly weak now.

"She's still alive, and indoors somewhere," Gabriel said tersely.
Thank God
. "I can't tell more than that."

Mark approached them. His gray eyes had turned completely golden, showing that his wolf was partly in control.

"His scent is pretty fresh," he said, his voice deeper and raspier than usual. "He was here less than a half-hour ago. He got out of his van, walked over to the trash bins, and drove away again."

"No sign of Nicole?" asked Gabriel.

Mark looked around to see if there were any witnesses and leaped effortlessly to the top of the six-foot stucco wall surrounding the dumpsters. There, he balanced briefly on the top of the wall, peering down into the open dumpster, before jumping down again.

"Just her clothes and her necklace," Mark reported.

"Think he figured out she was wearing a tracker?" Rafe asked.

Gabriel shook his head. "Nicole told me that Erik used to keep her naked and locked in a cage...before."

It felt like a betrayal of her confidence to tell even just Mark and Rafe that much, but it was important information.

"Okay," said Rafe.

He put the laptop on the hood of the car, making Gabriel wince a little for his paint job.

"I've got the WiFi signal from the restaurant. Now to search for any properties owned by any of the Asura in the area..."

He typed furiously for a few seconds, waited, then scrolled rapidly through several pages of results.

"Lots of stuff in California," he told them, still hitting the Page Down key. "But mostly rentals—apartment buildings and places in the city. The closest place to Bosque Oscuro is a beach house two hours up the road, and it's shorter and easier to get there using Highway 12."

"What if he rented a place around here?" Gabriel asked, leaning close to look at what Rafe was doing.

Rafe gave him a brief, affectionate shoulder-bump. "Good idea, Gabi."

"Don't call me that,
Rafi
," Gabriel said, nudging him back, hard.

Rafe staggered, and the laptop nearly slid off the car. Gabriel grabbed for it and saved it.

"Don't make me come over there," Mark growled from behind them.

"Nice. You almost fucked us over." His hands cradled protectively around his precious laptop, Rafe glared at Gabriel and entered another set of search parameters.

"Hey, this is kind of weird," Rafe reported a few moments later. "Got three houses within a five-mile radius which are currently rented out. It's off-season, so that's pretty unusual."

"All right, time for some old-fashioned legwork," Gabriel said, heading for the driver's side of the car. "You got those addresses, Rafe?"

* * *

The first house was a bust, even before they heard the heavy bass of loud dance music pounding through the woodland stillness.

Lots of SUVs, pickup trucks, and assorted cars were parked in front of the house and along the side of the road for nearly a quarter of a mile. Every window was brightly lit, and there were dozens of people dancing and shouting above the music. Someone had the barbeque going, and the air was filled with the mouthwatering scents of roasting spareribs and spicy sausage.

They stopped just long enough for Mark to hop out of the car, quickly reconnoiter the scene, and confirm what they had already guessed.

"She's not here."

The second house was tucked a long way back from the road and had a long private driveway winding through the trees.

Gabriel parked the Tesla on the side of the road, and the three of them walked quietly up the gravel driveway.

Gabriel's heart began pounding in excitement and sudden hope as they came around the last bend of the driveway and spotted a silver minivan that looked just like the one in the security camera footage.

The house itself was dark, but the front door and parking area were illuminated by a single floodlight.

Mark crouched. Using the deep pools of shadow cast by the surrounding trees as cover, he made his way rapidly over to the van, his steps silent even on the shifting surface of the gravel.

Once there, he paused for a long moment, then waved at them before returning.

"She's here," Mark whispered. "And so is he. I smell them both, and I heard him moving around inside the house."

Gabriel started to rise, and Mark clamped an iron hand around his elbow. "No."

"But—" Gabriel's every instinct screamed,
Nicole's in there! Go save her!

"Kiddo," whispered Mark, "if you wanna get her back safe and sound, you follow my orders."

Gabriel took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. "Okay."

"Good," said Mark, his voice barely audible. "Rafe, stay here and watch the van and the front door. Gabriel, go get the car and back it up the driveway as far as you can while staying out of sight of the house. That'll keep Erik from using the van but will position us for a quick getaway if we need one."

"What are you going to do?" whispered Gabriel.

"Scout out the house and try to come up with a plan that won't get us killed." Mark grinned sardonically. "Okay, go."

Mark met Gabriel back at the car, once he had backed it slowly up the driveway to the last bend. He was thankful for the Tesla's lack of engine noise—the only sound he had made coming up the hill was the crunch of gravel under the tires.

Gabriel popped the trunk, giving Mark access to his Hunter's kit, which was contained in a large black duffel bag.

Rafe and Gabriel received security headsets, designed as discreet earpieces with tiny microphones.

"What about you?" asked Rafe, clipping a small two-way radio to the waistband of his jeans.

Gabriel copied him, making sure that the thin cord connecting his earpiece and radio wouldn't get caught on anything.

"I'm not gonna need a radio," Mark said.

Next, Mark produced a long-barreled tranquilizer pistol and loaded a dart before handing it to Rafe.

"Okay, here's the plan," he whispered. "Rafe, your job is to get Erik out of the house. Be loud and obnoxious, vandalize the van if you can—you know the drill. When he shows up to see who's making a ruckus, make sure you dose him with this—the dart is loaded with Amor Aphrodisios's anti-magic drug." He clapped Rafe on the shoulder. "I taught you to shoot, kiddo. I hope you haven't forgotten your lessons."

"What about a spare dart?" Rafe asked softly as he examined the pistol.

Mark shook his head. "You miss your first shot, Erik's not gonna give you the chance to try shooting him again."

"Great," Rafe said sarcastically. "OK, if I miss, I'll run like hell."

"Good plan," Mark said, sounding serious.

Rafe straightened up and dropped his glamour, as he very rarely did.

The faint glow from the floodlights gleamed on the writhing forms of the snakes that crowned his head, sending strange shadows dancing around him.

I wish I'd gotten real hair, like you and Michael, instead of looking like a freak,
Rafe had told Gabriel once, when they were still boys.

Now he said, "One drunk, obnoxious Child of Lilith, coming right up. This should catch his attention."

"Good plan," Mark answered, sounding serious. "Gabriel, you're with me. Here's what we're going to do..."

* * *

As Rafe left to take up his position near to the van, Mark quickly shed his clothes and shape-shifted into his wolf form.

Gabriel followed the wolf through the trees as they skirted the perimeter of the cleared area around the house. He stumbled a little on the uneven ground, which was blanketed with a dense layer of fallen leaves and needles.

They paused at the back door to the house while Gabriel pulled out the lock-pick kit Mark had given him. He focused the beam of a tiny, flexible LED flashlight on the lock and set to work.

"Okay, Rafe," he said into the radio. "We're in position."

He would have preferred simply to kick in the door and storm into the house to get Nicole, but Mark had insisted on doing it his way.