Morgan visibly winced, Travis snarled, the scent of sulfur thick in the air, while Jamie’s frown looked thoughtful. “You were together in the club and he left with another woman?” the blonde vampire asked.
Sophia’s lip curled off her teeth. “No. He was walking toward the club where we were supposed to meet when another woman approached him,” she said, her voice rising with agitation, finally landing just shy of a screech as she told them, “She kissed him and he let her!”
Closing her eyes, she took a few steadying breaths before stating in a calmer tone, “They left together right after.”
“I’ll kill him,” her brother roared. “I’ll rip him limb from limb.”
While Morgan tried to calm her irate mate, Jamie was shaking her head and finally said a firm, “No. That’s not Kane. He may have a history of women falling all over him, he may even have a short attention span, but he wouldn’t leave you hanging like that if he had plans with you. That’s not him. No way.”
“You think the witch is playing with him again,” Morgan said.
“Edward told me Kane was supposed to meet with him and his seconds tonight to discuss how the meeting went and plans for the territory going forward. Kane had stressed to each of them that attendance was mandatory, but he didn’t show, and when Edward checked the security system at Kane’s house, he saw that Kane had set it before he left for the meeting the night before and it hadn’t been disengaged since.”
“Did you get a good look at the woman?” Morgan asked Sophia, whose stomach was now rolling with dread. Oh, God. Had that woman put some spell on Kane? If she’d only said fuck the consequences and followed instead of wallowing in her hurt and feelings of betrayal…
Swallowing hard, she told them, “Tall, voluptuous, gorgeous, with perfect looking dark skin. Shit. She was too perfect now that I think about it. The rain didn’t even seem to affect her.”
“Jourdain confirmed that Evangeline can change her appearance,” Jamie stated with a grimace, and then muttered, “I told him to take extra people with him. Why didn’t he listen?”
“So now this witch potentially has Nicky as well as Kane and the search today proved fruitless,” Morgan said, pacing the area with a frown.
How Sophia wished she’d followed, or gotten a plate number off the car they’d driven away in, something. Anything.
Please, let him be all right.
∞∞∞
“Kane,” was said in a loud whisper-hiss right by his ear and he jerked forward from his slouch against the wall. He must have passed out. Fuck, he was hungry, and Nicky was sitting far too close to him. He could hear her heartbeat, the rush of blood through her veins. His fangs punched out in a demand to be put to use. His injuries, he remembered. He’d suffered too much blood loss. He’d need to feed soon, but not from Nicky.
“You need to get away from me,” he snarled in an animalistic voice.
“I can hear him coming,” Nicky hurriedly whispered.
She could hear who coming? What? The bolt sliding on the other side of the door had Kane shaking off the first signs of bloodlust and pushing to his feet. They had a plan, he remembered, and it looked like the vampire, at least, had finally returned. Glancing at Nicky, he mouthed, Are you ready?
Seeing her nod, he palmed the blade and prepared for an attack.
The door opened, the vampire stepped in holding a tray of food, not even bothering to look around as he announced, “Feeding time at the zoo, boys and girls.”
Kane launched himself at the man with a shouted, “Run!” to Nicky, before he sunk his fangs into the vampire’s throat. The tray hit the floor with a loud clatter and Kevin Thompson thrashed in Kane’s brutal hold, but Nicky had made good on her escape. And while the blood was welcome, giving him strength, he had to make sure she made it out of the building, not just this room. So, with that in mind, he thrust the blade into the side of the vampire’s head and tossed the body aside.
The last of the rogues had been dealt with, now it was time to confront a witch.
Leaving the room as quickly and quietly as he could manage with his injured leg, Kane spotted Nicky close to the warehouse doors, huddled between the corrugated metal wall and some tall, industrial shelving. Joining her, she shot him a grimace and pointed. The witch, back in the form that had been captured by the security footage they’d taken from that bar, was pacing in full view of the door, tapping her finger against her lip, deep in thought.
“I’ll distract her,” Kane whispered. “You make a run for it and find Jourdain, just like we talked about, okay?”
Nicky nodded, and as Kane prepared to stand, she surprised him with a hug so tight it had the air in his lungs expelling in a whoosh. Patting her back, he pulled away. “You’ve got this, Nicky. I’m counting on you.”
“I won’t let you down.”
And with that, Kane stood and, despite the throbbing pain of his leg, put on his best swagger, holding his arms out to the sides. “You disappoint me, Evangeline. I expected a better show from you.”
The provocative statement did exactly what he hoped. The witch’s eyes were firmly on him, never noticing the door to the warehouse opening and the wolf shifter escaping into the night.
Evangeline’s eyes went black, similar to what a Turned vampire looked like in a rage, but the skin around her eyes went black as well, making her look disturbingly like she had nothing but empty sockets in her head. “So, you want a show, vampire? I’ll give you a show.”
One minute, Kane was standing with his feet firmly planted on the floor, the next, he was being hurled backward through the air by an invisible force, crashing into the very shelving where he had just been crouching with Nicky. There was no time to catch his breath, no time to take inventory of his injuries. His body was lifted, hurtling again through the air, this time, his back connecting with a concrete support post before he belly-flopped to the cement floor.
Fuck! That hurt. He spat blood out of his mouth and, despite his pain, gazed up at the witch with a taunting smile. “Is that all you’ve got?”
And honestly, he kind of hoped that was all she had. He was hurting badly, couldn’t keep this up for much longer, his vision already darkening at the edges from the pain. I hope you’re fast, Nicky, he thought before his body was airborne once more.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Archer was being brought up to speed with this newest information about Kane when a call from Destin Jourdain came through. “Mister Jourdain. This is a surprise. What can I do for you?”
“I have someone here I think you’ve been looking for,” was grimly stated in that deep, booming voice. “And from what Nicky has been telling me, I think you better bring the Hunters and as many people as you can spare.”
“You’ve found Nicky?” Archer asked, standing so fast he nearly toppled his chair. The others, he saw, rapidly gained their feet as well.
“She found me,” Jourdain replied. “Kane helped her escape from Evangeline, but she still has him.”
“We’re on our way,” Archer growled.
Disconnecting the call, he looked at the anxious faces of the Hunters. “Evangeline has Kane. He helped Nicky escape.”
Morgan was already checking her guns before he finished the statement, and his Jamie was pulling out her cell, likely to call in reinforcements, while both dragons stood snarling with slitted, reptilian eyes, smoke billowing from the female’s nostrils. A fearsome sight indeed.
“We’ll meet at Jourdain’s. Come up with a plan,” he told them. “Nicky will be able to tell us where the witch is holding Kane.”
“If she’s hurt him…” Sophia St. John snarled with a clicking growl that raised the hair on the nape of Archer’s neck. He almost pitied this mysterious Evangeline if the dragon found even a scratch on the Born she had obviously claimed as her mate – almost.
∞∞∞
Kane awoke to find himself stuck to a table, his body screaming in agony. A quick glance down and an attempt to move revealed that
his hands and feet were bound to the table with wire, but worse than that, he was now shirtless, with two rusty spikes embedded, one in each shoulder, pinning him like a butterfly. He even had flecks of rust on his skin from where the witch had pounded the spikes home, most likely with a hammer, dislodging flakes. How had he slept through that? She must have put him out with a spell, that was the only explanation.
“Oh, good,” Evangeline said, her face suddenly appearing over his. “You’re awake. I have to admit I was becoming rather bored waiting for you to come to.”
“So sorry to inconvenience you,” Kane replied dryly. Lifting his head for another look down at his chest, he blew at the flakes on his skin and asked, “What did you do? Go out and find the rustiest spikes you could? It’s a good thing vampires don’t get sepsis.”
Evangeline raised a perfectly arched brow. “Such a smart mouth on you. Tell me, can vampires also regrow tongues once they’ve been ripped out?”
Kane shot her a taunting smile. “Nope, but then you’d be deprived the privilege of my sparkling conversational skills.”
“You do think highly of yourself, vampire. But what else could one expect of the Born? Your species is entirely too arrogant.”
She reached a hand to the side of his head, her fingers stroking his hair. Kane jerked his head away in disgust, but there was only so far he could move. In response, her fingers gripped, yanking at his hair. “I tried to be nice,” she hissed. “Tried to get your cooperation through pleasure rather than pain.”
“Cooperation?” Kane scoffed. “I think you need to look up the definition of that word, lady. What you were doing is called manipulation. That was mind control. Mental rape.”
The pain on his scalp intensified and Kane gritted his teeth to keep from crying out as she twisted her fist tighter in his hair. “I need you alive for my plan, vampire, but that leaves all sorts of pain and very colorful ways of inflicting it at my disposal.”
In too much anguish to keep up the bantering, Kane asked, “Why? What is this all about?”
The tight grip on his hair lessened and she was back to stroking him like a pet. “Control,” she said, her tone implying it should have been obvious. “She who controls the Born controls the territory.”
Evangeline moved away from the table and Kane was forced to lift his head to keep an eye on her as she paced. “With you under my spell, you’d do my bidding. Run the territory as I saw fit, with no one the wiser. You’d be reduced to nothing more than a figurehead, while I’d be the one in control.”
Returning to his side, she looked down on him with narrowed eyes. “I underestimated your mental fortitude. The other vampires I took control of were as easy to mold as wet clay, but you,” she smiled, almost in admiration, her hand returning to his head to smooth the hair she’d mussed. “You have proved a challenge. One that, I assure you, I’m up for.” Leaning close but remaining frustratingly out of biting range, she purred, “I will break you, vampire. And I’ll enjoy every minute of it.”
Kane tried to hold back his grimace. She’d already come dangerously close to complete control over his mind. If it hadn’t been for Sophia, the witch would have succeeded. Only the thought of his dragon had given him the strength to break free. And currently, in his weakened state thanks to the numerous injuries that were making themselves known with near scream-inducing clarity, he didn’t know if he’d have the strength to fight if Evangeline managed to concoct a stronger spell.
Where was Jourdain? Had something happened to Nicky before she could reach the leader of the Order of Witches and enlist the man’s help?
He was searching his mind for another taunt he could throw at her, a provocative statement that would, hopefully, throw her off balance and buy him some more time until the cavalry arrived, when he saw her serene countenance shift to one of rage. “They wouldn’t dare,” she hissed, straightening up and moving quickly out of Kane’s line of sight.
The warehouse doors blew open with a clang and Destin Jourdain, accompanied by a much shorter, older woman in a blindingly neon-green turban, strode in, arms spread wide, a rhythmic incantation on their lips.
An unnatural wind swirled around him and Evangeline screeched. Kane could see her now, her feet leaving the ground as she was held by an invisible force, her back bent at an odd angle. There was a shrill cackle from Evangeline, her arm lashing out and she suddenly dropped to the floor as Destin and his fellow witch were both thrown back.
“You think you can take on me?” Evangeline shrilly screamed.
Recovering from their fall, both Jourdain and the witch that had to be Jamie’s friend, Nedra judging by the colorful clothing, once more began chanting, this time, joining their hands, and quite possibly – if Kane wasn’t mistaken – their power.
It was Evangeline who was thrown back this time as wolves began streaming in with ear-piercing howls and vicious snarls.
A cacophony of gunfire followed and Kane spotted Morgan and Jamie, as well as several others of his vampires. Even the staid and always professional Edward was there with a fierce expression on his face and a machine pistol gripped in his hands.
They’d come for him, Kane thought. All of them working together just as he’d imagined. Vampires, shifters, witches, united against a common threat to their territory.
Evangeline, he noted, was throwing out her hand, sending attacking wolves flying back while shielding herself from the barrage of bullets, but the effort was costing her. She could no longer maintain the glamour that had disguised her true form, her image flickering like an old television with bad reception, yet still, she threw back her head and laughed before yelling, “You brought an army, Destin, and it’s still not enough! You can’t win against me.” Throwing her arm out, this time, she sent everyone flying backward. “You’re all weak!”
They didn’t stay down for long, Kane saw with satisfaction. His people, his friends resumed the fight, and Kane’s gratified smile turned to laughter as he felt a familiar and welcome tingle under his skin. She was here. His Sophia.
Evangeline – who was now completely in her true form – turned those empty black sockets his way as she released another wave of power. “Your laughter is misplaced,” she snarled. “Do you actually imagine they’re winning? They could bring a thousand combatants against me and I’d still destroy them all.”
“They don’t need a thousand,” Kane said with a taunting smile. “They brought a dragon.”
As if on cue, Kane heard the metallic screech of metal rending and a second later, one entire wall of the warehouse had been torn away. A prehistoric roar split the night. Sophia. Gorgeous, powerful, and as she spewed a stream of fire over Evangeline’s head that was sure to leave Kane with one hell of a sunburn, scary as shit. His kind of woman.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Sophia’s rage knew no bounds as she saw Kane secured to a table. The flesh of his torso was marred with angry bruises and blood leaked from injuries at both his shoulders. She also noted that his thigh had been wrapped with a rough cloth that was stained red and his black jeans showed a darker area down one leg where the blood had run unchecked for some time before it was finally bound.
Travis blew out a trumpeting blast as he joined her and shot his own line of fire over the witch’s head. Evangeline was too close to Kane for them to hit her with a direct blast. As it was, he was probably still feeling the burn of dragon fire. Sophia would watch, wait for her opportunity. As soon as that witch moved away from Kane, she was toast – even if that wasn’t the plan they’d agreed on.
Destin Jourdain wanted Evangeline Duvalier contained so that her powers could be siphoned off and cast back into the demonic realm where they belonged. They’d all agreed, but that was before Sophia had seen Kane’s condition. The witch might easily be able to deflect gunfire that was being used more as a distraction so that Jourdain could overpower her with magic, but direct dragon fire for an extended period? It would get through, of that, Sophia had no doubt.
The wi
tch released a surge of power that felt like knives digging under her scales and both Sophia and Travis roared in pain. Wolves were whimpering, howling, staggering under the blow, vampires were hunched over in screaming agony, and blood leaked from Destin Jourdain’s eyes as Nedra collapsed on the floor.
Recovering slightly, Sophia sent out another blast of fire above the witch. In response, Evangeline threw back her head and released an evil laugh. No longer the beautiful woman she disguised herself as, but, in Sophia’s opinion, more like an extra from The Walking Dead. Her form was near skeletal, her skin gray, and almost transparent over tendon and muscle. Her veins were like blackened, climbing weeds that bulged grotesquely under her skin, and her eyes were now empty black sockets in her skull.
Gunfire rang out, and Sophia saw Morgan was on her feet, blood streaming from her nose and trickling like tears from her eyes but that didn’t keep her from unloading her gun straight at Evangeline before she calmly ejected the magazine and slapped a fresh one home to resume firing.
Travis spewed another stream of fire, and Sophia joined him, her foot stomping into the ground to set the foundation shaking and knocking the witch off balance.
Destin Jourdain was crouched near Nedra who looked to be unconscious but seeing Evangeline stumble, he grabbed at the opportunity, and with one hand on Nedra’s shoulder, the other outstretched, his face turned fierce as his lips moved in an incantation. A wind kicked up, seemed to wrap around Evangeline like a mini-tornado, and hold her in place as she struggled to shield against the onslaught of bullets being fired her way as more and more vampires recovered from her previous strike.
A massive wolf with silver eyes that could only be Archer Langley, launched himself on Evangeline's back, teeth sinking into the back of her neck as his head shook with savage intent. The witch’s black blood sprayed out in a wide arc. An ear-piercing screech rent the air as Evangeline attempted to fight off the wolf, and the distraction was enough to allow Jourdain’s magic to pull her forward and away from Kane’s prone body.
A Hunter Found: A Paranormal Vampire Romance (Hired Hunters Series Book 3) Page 14
