He thrashed in his chains, hurting himself even more. His wrists and ankles now bled in long red rivulets. His eyes had a red hue and he’d bared his fangs. She could feel his hatred of her as much from the chain around her neck as the power emanating from his body.
He looked like a madman, his body gyrating, his muscles from stem to stern flexing and rippling as he tried to pull away from the wall to get to her.
And yet he was aroused, which told her the other part of the story, that he had a powerful drive toward her he didn’t want to have. This had all the makings of a nightmare.
She ignored that his erection pressed against her stomach. He didn’t even seem to notice his sexual state. Instead, his eyes bored into hers, and as she kept her hands flat against his chest, he finally grew still, though his nostrils moved like bellows with each breath.
The other vampires in the cavern grew quiet as well, as though sensing Adrien’s growing calm. The three men were half-brothers, though she knew little else about them except that they served as a type of policing force for their kind.
As she stared up at him, chills raced over her shoulders and down her arms. Her chest tightened as a strange sensation gripped her deep in her stomach, something that emanated from the chain around her neck. Kiernan had told her it would recognize Adrien since the specialist—something called an Ancestral in the vampire world—had used Adrien’s blood to create the chain.
She opened her mouth to tell him about her current mission and what she needed him to do, but all she could seem to focus on was the shade of his eyes, an exquisite shade somewhere between blue and green, almost a teal but quieter, softened with faint brown flecks.
She realized that she could see really well in the dark, another result of the blood-chain. Essentially, once connected, she’d be siphoning more and more power from the chain and from Adrien himself after she’d bound him with the matching chain. In the meantime, she could already feel the chain at work on her. The vision alone had told her that much.
She looked at his lips, full and sensual. He strained toward her, leaning into her. “You’re my enemy,” he hissed.
“And yet you desire me.”
“I want you on your back, human, then I’ll make you feel just how weak you are compared with my kind.”
“You speak of my weakness, but I’m not the one hanging from massive chains in a prison. You are. How did you get here, vampire? What brought you to this cavern?”
“Treachery,” he muttered.
“Of course. Your kind always has an excuse. But at least we seem to understand each other, I hate your kind and you despise mine. We ought to at least be on an equal footing when I take charge of you.”
“What does that mean?”
She backed away slowly, and as her hands left his chest his gaze fell to the chain at her neck. His eyes narrowed.
“I’ll be taking you out of here.”
“You’ve got a blood-chain.”
“I do.”
“And you’ve got the matching one?”
She nodded. “I was hired by a private individual to take you into my custody and make use of your powers.”
He scowled. “Daniel would never allow that unless he’d sanctioned the release.”
“Who exactly is Daniel?”
Adrien snorted. “Daniel Briggs, the vampire in charge of everything right now, including this lovely prison.”
“I report to Harris Kiernan, no one else.”
The vampire hissed. “He and Daniel work together, a little married couple.”
“I’ve been told to explain a few things to you. First, you’ll be bound to me and we’ll be unable to get more than a few feet apart at any given time. Second, for either of us to remove the chain will mean death to both. Finally, you’ll have to do as I say. And just to be clear, I’m more determined than you can imagine to see my mission through. I’ve got a lot at stake and I will get what I’ve come here for. Or die trying.” She lowered her chin. “Do you understand?”
“You’re saying you’re putting your life on the line for your mission.”
“That’s right.”
“Have you considered that once bound, I might decide to do the same? That I might find living in this state a worthless venture?”
“Yes, but it doesn’t matter. I’ve made the decision to bind myself to you and if death follows, so be it.”
He nodded slowly. “All right, I believe you. So what’s your mission?” His eyes flared suddenly. “Wait, I can sense something from you, about you. You’re a locator, aren’t you?”
“That’s what I’ve been told. That’s why I’m here.”
“And if we form this bond, you’ll be able to find things, is that it?”
“Yes.” She watched as he started putting the pieces together.
“Shit. You’re after the extinction weapon.”
She drew in a deep breath, vaguely aware that she no longer held the washcloth, nor did it seem to matter. “I am.”
“Do you understand the ramifications of this weapon?”
“That it has the potential to destroy the entire vampire race.”
The other vampires shouted suddenly for Adrien to refuse to go with Lily, but he called out, “The human has already said that Kiernan—and therefore Daniel—has turned me over to her. If he has his hand in this, we can be sure he won’t be far behind in trying to get the weapon for himself. Imagine the control he could exert over our race. I have to do this thing.” He met and held her gaze.
Lily saw the strength of him in that moment, his basic intent—and that the last thing he’d ever do was turn over the weapon once he had it in hand.
Great.
She drew a deep breath and set her shoulders once more.
Okay, one problem at a time.
“I’m glad you’re being reasonable.” Lily began backing away from him. “I’ll get your bath ready.”
She turned, picked up the lantern, and headed out, but the farther she moved away from him, the more the stench returned like a furnace-blast of odor. Somewhere, she’d dropped the washcloth.
She picked up her feet and ran the rest of the way.
Once outside the cavern, now fully dark, she jogged back down the path. The vampire who had led her to Adrien waited for her by her tent.
Furious all over again that she was even here, forced by circumstances as heinous as they were outside her control, she delivered her orders, her words clipped. “Give him another hour or so to heal, then get him clean. I don’t care if you have to use pumice on every inch of his skin, just get him clean.”