by I. T. Lucas
Peter was alone with no backup, and if he got caught, who was going to save Eleanor?
Provided that she was still alive.
Before he did anything, he had to call Turner and get backup as soon as possible. The guy could arrange for Guardians to storm the place in mere hours. He could get them on the clan’s jet, fly them to the nearest airport, and then take ground transportation from there.
Hopefully, they wouldn’t be too late.
Forcing himself to walk instead of running, he headed for the office wing of the lodge.
“Devlin!” He heard a familiar voice call out. “Wait up.”
Henry caught up to him. “Are you heading to the dining hall?”
“No, I need to make an emergency phone call.”
Henry frowned. “What happened?”
“I had a surgery scheduled for Monday, and I totally forgot about it. If I don’t call in time to cancel, I’ll get charged for it.”
“What kind of surgery? Is it something serious?”
Remembering a scene from a sitcom, Peter repeated it verbatim, hoping that the writers had done their research before including it in the show.
“I hope not. I have a suspicious growth in my large intestine, and it needs to be removed. If it’s benign, it’s nothing, but they won’t know until they send it for biopsy.” He forced a smile. “It’s probably nothing, which is why I totally forgot about it.”
“I’ll take you to the office. I doubt anyone is there this early in the morning.” Henry tilted his head. “Isn’t it too early to call the doctor, though?”
“It’s a hospital. There is always someone who can answer a call and take a message. I want to do it as early as possible to avoid the charges.”
“Don’t you have medical insurance?”
“I do. But they wouldn’t pay for a missed surgery.”
“True.”
Stopping in front of the door leading to the office wing, Henry swiped his keycard and opened the way. “I will need to place the call for you. The phones are code protected.”
“No problem.”
He was going to thrall the guy to forget everything anyway.
“By the way. Any idea what happened to Marisol?”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s gone, and her room is empty.”
“Perhaps she decided to leave.” Henry unlocked one of the offices and walked in.
“She didn’t say anything to me. I thought maybe you knew something. I’m worried.”
“Let me check.” Henry booted up the computer and typed a few words. “It says that she left last night.”
“How did she leave? Walked out of here?”
“I’m sure transportation was provided. Do you know her cellphone number? I can call her for you.”
“I don’t. Can you find it in her file?”
“The files of the latest guests are in Emmett’s office. I can go look in his filing cabinet.”
“That would be awesome.” Peter looked into Henry’s eyes. “But first, get me an outside line.”
35
Eleanor
The bedroom door was still locked when Eleanor came out of the bathroom, which wasn’t a big surprise.
Regrettably, she hadn’t worn a watch to her so-called date with Emmett, but given how thirsty she was and how empty her stomach felt, she must have spent the entire night in that room, sleeping off the venom bite and the residual effects of the drugs.
Perhaps she could break her way out?
The fake potted plant wasn’t heavy enough to do any damage to the door, but maybe she could use one of the nightstands?
Lifting one up, she discarded that idea. It wasn’t sturdy or heavy enough. She would have to try to kick it down.
Except, her boots were built for making her legs look good, not for kicking down doors.
If she used her shoulder, it would hurt like hell, and she would probably dislocate it. She wasn’t as strong as a male immortal, and she didn’t have the body mass to do it, but she had to try.
Backing up the farthest from the door the space allowed, she gathered her resolve to run at it full force. If it didn’t work on the first try, she probably wouldn’t be able to do it again, so she’d better put everything she had into this attempt.
On a count of three…
A noise from the other side stopped her before she started the count.
It could only be Emmett, and the only weapon she could grab was the fake plant that weighed less than five pounds.
Tiptoeing to the door, Eleanor held her breath as she plastered herself to the wall next to it. The moment Emmett opened it, she would dart past him and make a run for it. Hopefully, the freaking upstairs door wasn’t locked from the inside.
As the door opened, she waited for Emmett to come in so she could escape, but an entire minute passed with him just standing outside in the corridor, and Eleanor was running out of breath.
She could hear his heartbeat and smell his cologne, as well as the food and coffee he’d brought. But if she could hear and smell him, he could probably hear and smell her. He knew that she was standing right by the door and waiting to make a run for it.
With her lungs screaming for air, Eleanor could no longer hold her breath, and besides, he knew exactly where she was.
“No need to be afraid, Marisol. I brought breakfast, and we can talk.”
Sucking in a breath, she turned and tried to run past him even though she knew it was stupid. He stopped her with one hand, catching her sweater and hurling her back into the room as if she was the size of a toddler, and he had done it while holding a tray piled with food and coffee in his other hand.
Emmett walked in and closed the door behind him. “Please, don’t try to run. It only excites me.”
He was probably using compulsion in his voice again, and she decided to keep on pretending that it affected her.
He might just order her to stay put, and not lock the door when he left.
“Why did you lock me in?” She eyed the tray he’d put down on the bed.
“I needed to take care of a few things, and I didn’t want you to leave before we had a chance to chat.”
“So after we chat, I can go?”
“Let’s have breakfast first. You must be hungry.”
“I’m starved.” She sat on the bed on the other side of the tray and lifted the cover from one of the plates. “What time is it?”
“It’s a little before seven in the morning.”
She picked up a fork and speared a piece of bacon. “Have you slept at all?” She stuffed it in her mouth, her eyes rolling from how good it tasted.
“I didn’t, but thank you for asking.”
Should she bring up the bite? Or should she pretend like she didn’t remember it?
The smart thing to do was not to say anything and let him do the talking. Besides, she was hungry and preferred to stuff her mouth while he talked.
He lifted a sausage with his fork. “What are you, Marisol?”
“What do you mean?” She pretended innocence.
“You’re not human.” He chuckled. “I didn’t sleep because your blood was not only delicious, but potent. It energized me like no human blood ever could. I feel like Superman.”
The piece of bacon she’d been chewing on lodged in her throat.
He really had sucked her blood. She hadn’t imagined it.
Swallowing hard, Eleanor reached for the cup of coffee to wash it down. “Maybe the better question is what are you, Emmett? Are you a damn vampire?”
“Answer my question first.”
It was a direct command, and if she refused to answer, he would know that she was immune to his compulsion. As long as he believed that she would obey his commands, he might forgo other security measures to keep her prisoner, and she could possibly escape.
Until the opportunity presented itself, she could try to give evasive answers, which was possible even under compulsion if one knew how to use the loophole
.
“I’m not a vampire, that’s for sure.”
“I know that you are not. But what are you?”
It seemed like the cat was out of the bag. She could keep pretending and tell him that she didn’t know what he was talking about. Or she could tell him that she was also an immortal and find out what he knew about himself.
Eleanor chose the first option. “As far as I know, I’m human.”
He eyed her with disbelief. “You are very strong for a human woman. Too strong.”
She shrugged. “I’m an athlete. I work out several hours a day. But you are the strongest guy I’ve ever met, and you have damn fangs. What are you?”
“I’m not human.”
Eleanor rolled her eyes. “That’s obvious. Who are your people? Are they vampires too? Are you an alien?” She didn’t really expect him to answer that, but if she were a clueless human, she would be asking those questions.
He tilted his head. “Instead of answering my questions, you are asking your own, which means that you are immune to my compulsion. Have you been pretending all along?”
Damn. He’d figured that out. She’d better step up her acting. “What compulsion? Did you try to hypnotize me? Because I could have told you that I’m not susceptible to hypnosis. I tried it when I wanted to quit smoking, and the guy tried to hypnotize me but couldn’t. I thought that he just wasn’t good enough, so I went to another hypnotist, and she wasn’t able to do it either.”
None of that was true, Eleanor was pulling the crap out of her ass, but he seemed to be buying it. Apparently, his immortal sense of smell was defective as well, and he couldn’t smell it.
“Do you still smoke?”
“Nah. I quit on my own.”
“Good. I wouldn’t want to get secondhand smoke from your blood.” His eyes blazing with an inner reddish glow, he licked his lips. “Your blood is delicious, Marisol. In fact, it’s so good that I think I’ll keep you as my pet so I can snack on you whenever I please.”
The guy was nuts.
“You can’t keep me here.”
He arched a brow. “Can’t I? Who is going to stop me?”
“People are going to miss me, and they will come looking for me.”
“I will just tell them that you’ve left, and that I don’t know where you went.”
“No one is going to believe you.”
He smiled wolfishly. “Oh, I think they will.”
36
Kian
“Good morning.” Turner walked into Kian’s office. “We have a problem.”
“I figured that when you walked in with two coffee cups from the vending machine instead of your thermos. What’s going on?”
“Peter called.” Turner pulled out a chair and sat down. “Eleanor got a date with the cult’s leader last night, and she didn’t return this morning. Her things are gone from her room, and her file says that she left early. Naturally, that’s a lie. We have to assume that she’s in trouble, but Peter can’t help her without backup. I need a team of Guardians, and I need to fly them to Oregon on the clan’s jet as soon as possible.”
Turner was entirely unapologetic about asking for all that, and rightfully so. His part of the mission was over. Leon had gotten Anastasia out of the cult, and she’d confirmed it with her father. Leon staying with her and trying to convince her not to return to the cult was a bonus her father wasn’t paying for.
If she decided to go back, it wouldn’t be Turner’s problem.
Eleanor getting in trouble, however, was entirely Kian’s responsibility. The only reason she and Peter had stayed after Anastasia and Leon had left was that he wanted them to uncover the cult’s secrets, mostly to satisfy his own curiosity, and not because he truly believed that the cult was involved in trafficking.
Except, Eleanor was a wild card, and she might not be in trouble at all. She might have escaped as he had suspected she would.
Leaning back in his chair, Kian crossed his arms over his chest. “I will supply everything you need, but do we know for sure that she didn’t just bail? Her so-called date with the cult leader could have been a great opportunity to slip away from under Peter’s nose.”
“It’s a possibility, but Peter doesn’t think that’s the case. He said that she was dedicated to the mission and wanted to get to the bottom of what was happening to the women who shared Emmett Haderech’s bed.”
“It could have been a well-acted ploy.”
Turner nodded. “Again, it’s possible, but it’s neither here nor there. If Emmett has Eleanor, and he has somehow figured out what she is, we have to get her out and deal with him.”
“If he’s indeed a compeller as Eleanor suspected, dealing with him would be problematic. What are we going to do with him? Lock him up in the keep’s dungeon?”
Turner’s lips lifted in a cold smile. “We will decide what to do with him after we get Eleanor out and figure out what he’s been doing to her and to the other women. If he’s a rapist, I have no problem eliminating him permanently.”
Neither did Kian, but he wasn’t fond of acting as judge and executioner.
“Compelling a reluctant woman to have sex with him is rape, but according to Peter and Eleanor, that’s not the case. They go to him willingly.”
“While we are debating whether brainwashing is considered compulsion, and if brainwashing a woman into thinking that she desires to share her leader’s bed is rape or coercion, we need to assemble the team and send them to Safe Haven. I’m afraid that Peter is going to do something rash and get himself in trouble as well.”
Unfolding his arms, Kian leaned forward. “I hope that you advised him to stay put and not do anything foolish.”
“I did, but he feels responsible for Eleanor. He said that he was going to investigate and gather as much information as he could before our arrival.”
“Let’s get Onegus on the line.” Kian dialed the chief Guardian’s number.
He answered right away. “Trouble before seven in the morning?”
“You guessed it. We need to assemble a team of Guardians and fly them to Oregon. Eleanor is missing.”
“How many do we need?”
“Six should do it,” Turner said. “I’m going to use the fire ploy like we did to get into Gorchenco’s compound.”
“Are the cult members armed and dangerous?” Onegus asked.
“No, but we need to evacuate all the guests and community members so we can get into the cult leader’s secure bunker. First of all, to prevent accidental injuries, and secondly, to save us the trouble of massive mind wipes. Excluding travel time, the entire operation shouldn’t last longer than an hour.
“Do you need Yamanu to cast a shroud over the place? He can create the illusion of a fire without having to plant pyrotechnics. That would save us time.”
“If he’s free, I wouldn’t mind his help.” Turner looked at Kian. “I just don’t feel right about using one of our top assets for a simple mission like this.”
“It’s not dangerous, and I’m going to cancel the one he was supposed to be on anyway,” Onegus said. “I will use his team for this mission.”
“Thank you.” Turner looked at Kian. “Are you okay with that?”
“I’m not okay with canceling the trafficking rescue mission because Eleanor made a mistake, but it is what it is. We have no choice.”
37
Peter
After thralling Henry to remember only the supposed phone call to reschedule his surgery, Peter headed to the dining hall in the hopes of finding someone who knew something about Eleanor’s whereabouts.
If Emmett had her and had decided to eliminate any trace of her, he must have told someone to clear her room and enter the false entry into her file about her leaving the retreat early. It hadn’t had to be anyone he trusted. He could have just compelled their silence, and Peter could see the memory in that person’s head, provided that he found the right one.
By now, the place was quite full, and as Peter stood in
line for the buffet, he scanned for staff members who looked nervous.
Except, none of them did. Either the person who cleared Eleanor’s things wasn’t there, or they didn’t feel any remorse about eliminating evidence of a missing guest.
Could that be a regular mode of operation? Maybe the cult was involved in trafficking after all, but instead of dealing with members, they abducted guests of the retreat?
Even in the sour mood that he was in, Peter realized how far-fetched that idea was. Safe Haven made more money from paying guests than what an average-looking abductee could fetch on the flesh market. It made no sense for them to risk their reputation by having their guests disappear under suspicious circumstances.
Eleanor was the anomaly, and the only possible reasons that he could think of for it was that Emmett had either discovered her immunity and was afraid of what she could tell about her experience with him, or worse, he’d discovered that she was an immortal and was one himself.
Turner had said that the reinforcements would arrive in four to five hours, and he had instructed Peter to stay put until then. Peter had no intention of following that advice. Turner wasn’t his commanding officer, and he didn’t have to take orders from the guy.
Eleanor might be in danger, and he couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. He was a trained Guardian, not a helpless civilian, and he could take damn Emmett Haderech on.
Perhaps Gustav could get him into the cottage?
He could thrall the guy to cooperate, plant a memory in his head that Emmett wanted to see Devlin.
Pushing his plate away, Peter got to his feet. “See you later, Henry.”
The counselor looked at his half-eaten plate. “Aren’t you going to finish that?”
“I’m not hungry.” Peter rubbed his stomach. “I really shouldn’t have postponed that surgery.”
“You can still go and come back after you are well. I’ll talk with Riley to give you a fifty percent discount on your next session.”
