"Only drink until you're full," Gavin told me this time. I did so, passing back a third of the blood when he held out his hand. How pitiful was I? There hadn't even been a mirror in the bathroom as I combed my hair with a cheap plastic comb. I suppose it was to prevent anyone from making a weapon from it. I couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of weapon I might fashion from a thin excuse for a comb.
Everything Gavin was had been a lie. From his name and accent to those times he'd been almost gentle. Was he only trying to reel me in or placate me, somehow? And I was back to the time frame, as well. Why did he wait? What was the purpose in it? Was he only postponing my capture until I had enough rope to hang myself? Too many questions and no answers. Zero. Nada. Nothing.
Gavin locked me in again and I was back to waiting. He never said when the Council would see me to pass judgment, and I wasn't allowed to speak in order to ask. My prison was underground, so there was no way to get to the sun. Yes, I would have gladly walked into it, if I'd been able. It brought back the memory when he'd instructed me not to mention that again. I had no idea why.
Chapter 14
"Grand Master, we have a problem." Winkler was on the phone and he looked like hell. The beach house looked worse. He'd turned to wolf and shredded the place. Even the huge, flat screen television had been tossed through the newly replaced French doors. He'd found the note when he'd returned from Dallas. Gavin had fooled them all. Most vampires could lay an effective compulsion on werewolves, including the Grand Master.
"I have her," the note said. "She is rogue and will be sentenced by the Council. Under the Peace Agreement, we each punish our own. She is dead to you now."
Winkler read the note to Weldon and then waited while Weldon expressed his own rage. Winkler berated himself, over and over, for not taking Lissa to Dallas with him. She might still be safe. Might be. At the moment, he had no idea if she lived or not.
"Winkler?" Davis crunched over broken glass as he stepped inside the beach house. Davis was Winkler's second, now. He'd chosen and the Pack had agreed. Glen didn't challenge. Davis saw Winkler was on the phone and didn't disturb.
"There's really nothing we can do," Weldon was back, resignation in his voice. We can't even lodge a protest or Wlodek will feel free to do the same with us in the future."
"This makes me want to tear into the first vampire I see and tempts me to go out and hunt one down." Winkler was back to growling.
"I know. You have to fight that urge. This is bigger than either one of us right now. Winkler, this is an order, leave the vampires alone."
"That f**ker placed compulsion, I know he did," Winkler was back to something else he could sink his teeth into.
"And he failed to harm any one of you. His target was Lissa all along. I just can't fathom why the f**k he took so long about it."
"Toying with his kill?" Winkler snarled.
"I've never heard of that before. Of course, that doesn't mean it might not happen."
"What if she's dead?" Winkler was close to howling out his misery.
"Winkler, she most likely is. You have to deal with this. You have to. You've seen wolves go down before. This is no different. A member of your Pack is dead. You must move on."
Winkler sighed morosely at the Grand Master's words and ended the call.
Weldon, however, had just thought of something. He couldn't lodge a protest; Wlodek might retaliate. But there was something else he could do in memory of Lissa. He had no doubt she was dead. Vampires were swift with their justice, as the werewolves were. Opening a drawer in his desk, he pulled out a form edged in gold, with a place at the bottom for his official seal and signature. Weldon began to write.
* * *
"Honored One, this came in the mail for you—it's from the Grand Master." Charles handed over the large manila envelope.
Curious, Wlodek held out a hand to accept it. "Any idea what this is?" Wlodek asked.
"None." Charles was just as curious as Wlodek was, perhaps more so. Wlodek opened the metal clasp and pulled the flap back, withdrawing an official-looking document. Setting it on the desk before him, Wlodek began to read.
* * *
I was huddled in a corner of my cell when Gavin came for me after nightfall. He almost didn't see me at first; I was cowering behind the bed. I felt small. So very small. Was this part of my punishment? Dragging out my fear until I was immune to it and wishing for death when it finally came? "Lissa!" Gavin's voice was harsh and commanding. I rose unsteadily, my chains clinking a little. I still couldn't speak. I'd been told I could move freely, but permission to speak had not been granted.
"You will once again only do as I tell you," he said and what little free will I'd been granted disappeared. "Come. Walk ahead of me." I came. I walked ahead of him. There was a car waiting for us above ground and I was instructed to sit in the back seat. That was where I sat. Gavin climbed into the passenger seat, only it was where the driver's seat would be at home. I wasn't home or anywhere near home. I wanted to whimper except that I couldn't. Tears fell and I couldn't raise my hands to wipe them away.
The drive took nearly an hour (as close as I could reckon it, given my emotional state of mind). When Gavin opened my door and ordered me out of the car, I found myself in a park-like area with trees dotting the landscape. I had no idea where I was and I wasn’t going to find out, in all likelihood. "Sleep," Gavin commanded. I dropped bonelessly to the ground.
* * *
Wlodek twirled a gold pen in his hands as he watched the two captives closely. Edward Desmarais and Sergio Velenci stood at the side of the cave chamber, compulsion keeping them quiet and subdued. Sergio had done the actual turning; that was his crime but at the suggestion and with the complicity of Edward. Despicable, the both of them. Charles was sitting beside Wlodek, busily hooking up the portable power supply to his laptop. Wlodek knew the machine was very efficient but he missed the days of a pen scratching on paper, along with the occasional dip into an inkbottle. He also knew how upset Charles actually was. The younger vampire was tight-lipped and uncommunicative, going about his business and refusing to make eye contact. Charles had been that way ever since Wlodek informed him (barely two hours earlier) that the female would be tried along with the others. Now the entire Council was assembled, waiting patiently for Gavin and the remaining prisoner to arrive.
Gavin carried Lissa as he strode inside the tunnel entrance, finding Stephan and Will guarding it. Will looked Gavin's burden over before turning his head away. It wasn't hard to see what Will thought of the whole thing. Stephan's mouth tightened but he also didn't speak. Russell and Radomir were inside guarding Wlodek, along with any other Enforcers who might be in London at the moment.