by Julie Wetzel
Zak whined and rolled on the ground, not wanting to leave.
“Please, Zak. I’m going to need help with this.”
The fay whined again before turning back to the night and disappearing.
Darien stood up and sighed. This trap was too well-thought-out for Christian to have accomplished on his own. There were too many variables for the new vampire to have figured out. Someone had to be helping him. Darien turned this prospect over in his mind. If Christian were responsible for Vicky’s kidnapping, was he also responsible for the other two attacks on his person? And if so, what was the man trying to accomplish? Darien looked up to the lit windows of the church and approached slowly, trying to figure out what he was going to do. The sound of voices from inside the church stopped Darien on the stoop. He turned his head to listen, trying to assess the situation inside.
“Let me have her,” a male voice Darien didn’t know begged.
“No,” another male answered. This one Darien recognized as Stanley. “Master Christian promised her that no harm would come to them by our hands.”
“I’ll be careful,” the other male begged again. “She is just so…” The man made a lustful sound that drew a muffled squeak from the object of his desires.
Darien clenched his fist and pushed both of the church’s double doors open so they banged against the inside wall. The sight that met him made his blood boil, and he stepped into the trap.
***
A dozen sets of eyes turned at the sound of the door opening. Christian’s menagerie watched as Darien walked into the church and glared at them all. The old church was lit by a series of sconces along the walls that gave just enough light to see by but left more of the room in shadow. The only bright light was above the altar at the far end of the room.
Darien’s eyes landed on Vicky, bound and gagged on the dais. A man in biker leathers knelt next to her, pulling his hands back from where he had been groping her. Darien’s eyes bore into the pair as he started down the aisle.
The man pulled a knife from his pocket and had it to Vicky’s throat before Darien could get half way down the room. “Not one more step,” he growled.
Darien stopped his advance but didn’t take his eyes off the man threatening Vicky. He looked the offending man over, memorizing his features. The biker had short-cropped hair and was muscular. Darien put him on the top of his list of people that would pay for this insult.
“Good evening, Master Darien.” Stanley’s voice pulled the vampire’s attention away from the pair on the pulpit. “We weren’t expecting you so soon.”
Darien shot the man a withering glance. “I have ways of getting around.” His voice was cold and pointed, with a breathy quality that made it more sinister. “Release what is mine.”
Stanley swallowed at the threat held in Darien’s voice. “No,” he managed to answer without showing any fear.
Darien raised an eyebrow at this.
“There is something important going on tonight, and we’ve been instructed to keep you here.”
Darien glared at him. “Your Master must not care about you very much.”
Another squeak came from Vicky as the man holding her yanked her head back by her hair and pressed the knife further into her throat.
“He’s seen to it that we can handle ourselves for now.” Stanley smiled at Darien. “Why don’t you take off your coat and stay for a bit?”
Darien chuckled coldly. “And what do you have planned for us this evening?” he asked, smiling back at Christian’s right-hand man. The grin that crossed Darien’s face held a hint of threat in it.
“Just a pleasant evening of waiting,” Stanley answered. “Now, take off your coat.”
When Darien didn’t do as he was told, the man holding the knife at Vicky’s throat shifted it, nicking her.
Darien turned at the sudden smell of blood. All humor drained from him, and he ripped his coat off and threw it into the closest pew. He had just opened his mouth to inform them of the consequences of their actions when something cold splashed on his back. Letting out a roar of pain, he ripped the shirt from his body as the holy water burnt him.
Lana backed away from where Darien had been forced to his knees by the sudden shock. “He’s the real thing.”
Glaring up at the bubblegum-haired woman, he held himself. He had been fast enough pulling the water away from his skin that it only blistered and smoked, but the blessing in the church prevented him from healing the damage done.
“I apologize for that.” Stanley squatted down just outside Darien’s lunging range. “We were told to make sure you were the vampire version. Not the face of the company.”
Darien chuckled at this. “You think I have someone running my company for me?” He smiled ironically. “That explains the blessed coffee.”
Stanley gave him a contemplative look.
Darien laughed harshly and lifted himself from the floor. “You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.”
Stanley stood and considered the shirtless vampire’s words.
“May I have my assistant back, now?”
“In a moment.” Stanley pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his pocket and tossed them at Darien. “Put those on.”
Darien caught the restraints and looked at them. He shook his head, amused, and clicked the cuffs closed around his wrists. “Satisfied?” He held the cuffs out for the man to see.
“For now.” Stanley pointed to the pulpit, signaling Darien to head towards his assistant.
The man holding Vicky slipped the knife from her neck and backed away as Darien approached.
Sitting on the raised platform next to her, Darien carefully pulled the cloth they had used to gag her out of her mouth.
She coughed and worked some saliva back into her dry mouth.
“Hey.” Darien helped her to sit up against him. He checked the cut on her neck but was surprised to find it was already healed.
She leaned against him, heavily drugged.
Darien slipped his arms over her head and pulled her up into his lap.
Vicky leaned her head into the crook of his neck and relaxed into his comforting presence. Using what little power he still had, he pushed it out into her, taking in her condition. Other than the restraints binding her and the drug running through her system, he could feel a powerful spell wrapped around her. This had to be what was sealing her off from Zak’s mark. He pushed at the spell slightly and recognized the signature energy of the caster. Darien let out a deep sigh and leaned his head over to kiss Vicky on top of her head. “It will be okay,” he whispered to her and pushed the drug from her system.
Vicky took a deep breath and moaned lightly. She blinked her eyes, becoming more aware of her surroundings. “Darien?” she questioned, rubbing her face into the skin of his shoulder.
Darien withdrew his power from her.
She pulled against her bonds, not sure what was going on. The last thing she remembered was running on the treadmill in the workout room.
“It’s all right,” Darien soothed her.
Vicky looked at his bare skin, then out at the room of people watching them. “What’s going on?” she asked in a hushed whisper, huddling against him.
“We’re waiting,” Darien calmed her. “Just relax.”
Vicky swallowed back the fear working inside her and rested her head into the warm crook of his neck.
His eyes narrowed as he watched the group of people hidden in the shadows of the poorly lit church.
A heavyset woman with mousy brown hair pulled into a ponytail edged her way from the group to where Stanley stood in the aisle. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” she tried to whisper to him, but Darien’s ears picked up the fear and worry in her words. “We weren’t supposed to be here when he arrived. He’s already tripped the spell. How are we going to get out?”
“It’ll be okay, Mary,” Stanley soothed her. “Master Christian will come get us after he’s done.”
Mary turned worried
eyes to where Darien and Vicky sat together. “I don’t like this,” she protested.
“This is the way it’s got to be,” Stanley reassured her. “Just go back and sit down. It looks like we have a while to wait.”
Mary’s eyes held a hint of apology as she looked at the pair folded together. “Can he at least have his coat back?” She looked up at Stanley. “It’s kind of cold in here.”
“Just sit down, Mary,” Stanley said crossly. “He’s a vampire. The cold is not going to hurt him.”
“But—” Mary protested again.
“Just go,” he cut her off and sent the concerned woman to sit in the back of the church.
Darien’s eyes followed her. It touched him that she would be worried about him.
Stanley turned back to Darien. He came down and sat in the front pew. “Sorry about that. We hadn’t quite finished our preparations when you came in,” he explained. “We expected it to take you nearly an hour to reach us, not ten minutes.”
Darien shot him a very toothy smile. “I apologize that my arrival has inconvenienced you.” Darien’s words were hollow with no remorse in them.
Stanley smiled at him. “No worries.” He leaned back in the pew. “We just have to change our plans a little.”
“And what do you have planned for us?” Darien asked quietly.
Stanley shrugged. “Originally, we were supposed to be gone. We were just going to leave you trapped here until Master Christian decided what to do with you.”
Darien glared at him, flashing fangs. “And how were you going to make sure I was truly a vampire?”
“Watching you cross onto holy ground would have been enough to verify that,” Stanley shrugged. “The holy water was a backup.”
Darien nodded his head. “So what’s the plan now?”
“I don’t know,” he answered. “You triggered the barrier spell when you came in, so we can’t get out. I guess we wait.”
Darien’s eyes caught the man that had cut Vicky moving away from the rest of the group, towards them.
“I say we kill them,” he hissed as he got closer to them. “Master Christian will thank us for it later.”
Stanley shook his head and let out a deep sigh. “I told you, Derrick. We can’t do them harm.” He looked up at the other man. “You have already pushed the Master’s promise by cutting the girl.”
Derrick let out a snort. He paused before letting out a short bark of laughter. “What if we didn’t offer them harm?” Smiling, he showing off his teeth.
Stanley cocked an eyebrow at him. “And what do you have in mind?”
“It’s not our fault if he escapes into the graveyard.” Derrick looked at the pair on the dais again. “It is, after all, a large cemetery with lots of places to hide in the dark. Unfortunately, there are no mausoleums to protect them from the sun at dawn.”
Stanley considered this for a moment. “And what about the girl?” Stanley shot the man a sidelong look.
“It’s cold enough outside that she’ll freeze before morning.” Derrick shrugged. “And if not, she’ll burn when he goes up at dawn.”
Vicky shivered in Darien’s arms, and the vampire glared at the men discussing their future.
“You are an evil, evil man.” Stanley chuckled as he shook his head. “But, I guess that’s why Christian keeps you around.” Standing, he turned to face Derrick. “I’m not going to have anything to do with this.” He patted the man on the shoulder and went to the back of the church where the rest of the bikers had gathered.
Grinning at Darien and Vicky, he pulled a gun out from inside his coat. “Get up.” Derrick pointed the gun at them. “This may not hurt you much, but I’m sure she will feel it.”
Darien glared at him for a moment before patting Vicky. “Come on.” He slipped his hands over Vicky’s head, and she scooted out of his lap. Darien looked down at Vicky’s feet, still tied together. Reaching down, he pulled the rope loose so she could walk.
“Harold!” Derrick yelled.
The youngest member of the group stepped towards them. The boy couldn’t have been more than eighteen.
“Grab that rope.” Derrick nodded to a coil of rope on one of the front pews.
Harold picked up the rope warily. “I don’t know about this,” he said, reluctant to help.
“Just shut up and do what you’re told,” Derrick spat at him.
Harold cringed like he was expecting the older man to hit him.
Derrick turned his attention back to their captives. “That way.” He nodded towards the door in the back corner of the room. “And don’t get cute. I don’t think she can outrun a bullet.”
Glaring at the man, he took Vicky by the hand and led her out the door. The cold, winter wind ripped a gasp from Vicky as soon as she stepped into the night. Darien moved so he was blocking most of the moving air, but it didn’t do much good. Without the protection of his coat, the cold air cut into him, and he shivered slightly.
The graveyard behind the church was huge. It must have covered several acres. The old stones looked like broken teeth as Derrick forced the pair farther from the church. When they were about in the middle of the lot, he stopped them next to a tall, thin obelisk.
“Tie them up,” Derrick growled at Harold.
Harold looked from the man holding the gun to the vampire glaring at them. “I don’t think this is a good idea,” he announced one more time before heading over to do as he was told. Whispering an apology to Darien and Vicky, he bound them to the obelisk.
Darien nodded his head to the young man. It was easy to see that the boy was more afraid of what Derrick would do to him than Darien’s wrath.
“Make sure it’s tight,” Derrick growled at the younger man.
Harold had left the rope a little loose but took out the extra slack when the gun-wielding man noticed. Once they were secured to the stone, Harold retreated to the safety of the church. He turned apologetic eyes to Darien before disappearing into the night.
“Now, don’t try anything funny.” Derrick put the gun back into his pocket. “We can see you from the church,” he warned and turned to go back into the warm building.
Darien let out a deep sigh and pulled against the ropes. They were rather strong and chaffed against his bare skin. He stopped pulling when he heard Vicky let out a soft squeak. Relaxing back against the stone, he thought about their situation. The cold rock felt good against the burns on his back, and he turned his mind to them. It only took him a few moments of concentration to get the little power he had left to heal the damaged skin. Once done, he shut his eyes to think about how he was going to get Vicky out of this one.
The cold winter air cut through Vicky’s workout clothing with ease. She shivered against the ropes holding her. The bonds at her hands and the thick rope attaching her to the stone made movement hard, but she pulled her legs up against her front as best she could.
Vicky turned the events of the day over in her mind as she huddled against the obelisk. The last thing she remembered before coming to trussed up was running in Darien’s building. She could vaguely recall a man coming into the gym, but she hadn’t paid him any attention. A thought struck her, and she let out a bit of a sick laugh. She had run through some of the worst parts of the city late at night when she lived in her little apartment, but she had never had any problems. It had been in the safety of a posh building with security that she had ended up being kidnapped. Pushing this thought away, she turned her mind to the rest of the evening.
Vicky could just recall a sharp pain in her neck before the world went black. They must have drugged her with something. She worked her mind over her situation, trying to come up with answers. Why had they taken her? Why did she wake up in a church? Why didn’t Darien have a shirt on? Vicky studied the night as she turned over several possibilities. She couldn’t help feeling that she was missing something. Like something inside of her had been torn away, but she just couldn’t contemplate what it was.
After a few minutes of
silent thought, her eyes caught on something odd among the gravestones. Vicky stared at what she thought was a statue of a woman. She blinked several times at the object, almost certain that it hadn’t been there a few moments before. She shivered as a cold gust of wind found its way around the stone and then gasped as the wind rustled the hair on the statue-woman. “Darien,” she whispered, urgently trying to get the vampire’s attention.
“Mmm?” Darien tipped his head over as Vicky interrupted his thought.
“There is something out there!” she whispered.
Darien could hear her fear and craned his neck around to look at what she was seeing. He had to pull against the ropes, but he was able to spot the woman standing a few rows over. Darien’s eyes went wide at the unexpected sight. “Don’t move,” he warned as the not-so-stone woman dropped to a crouch.
“What is it?” she asked.
“A ghoul,” Darien breathed, watching the creature.
Vicky tensed as the creature slunk towards her with very inhuman movements. The thing stopped a few feet away from Vicky and studied her. The female creature was almost pretty, or she would have been if she would have stood up correctly. She was wrapped in what had once been a white lace dress but was now worn and ragged. Her long dark hair hung in dirty strands around her face. Vicky could see the glint of intelligence as she studied the pair tied to the stone.
The woman moved in an arch around them until she could see both Darien and Vicky.
“Good evening,” Darien greeted the ghoul politely.
The woman cocked her head and considered Darien’s words. “Good evening,” she croaked in a voice long unused. The gravel in the woman’s voice made Vicky want to clear her throat, but she didn’t in fear that it would somehow offend the ghoul. “Ye’ve gotten yourself in a might pinch, vampire,” the ghoul spoke softly to them.
Darien smiled at her. “It seems I have,” he answered and waited to see what the woman would do.
She crept closer to them. “And, pray tell, what ye be doing here?”
