"I know you all have been waiting anxiously for me to finish my recognition software, which will assist in the capture of known criminals," Winkler went on. "The preliminary tests were so promising, but I have come to tell you tonight that the project is a complete failure. The software kept developing glitches, which defied me at every turn. So much time and effort has been spent on this project and it breaks my heart to have to abandon it at this juncture, but the sad truth is, it just doesn't work. I know everyone was hopeful that this would help capture some of the world's most notorious criminals, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Not for me, anyway. Perhaps someone, somewhere down the road, will be able to develop something that will work. I wish them well." Winkler stepped down from the podium, unwilling to take any questions.
"When is he coming back?" Gavin asked, turning toward me.
"Day after tomorrow," I said. "He told me he wants to take care of some business while he's there. I think it probably has to do with naming his new Second. I hope it's Davis. Glen and Phil were a little too close for my comfort." I picked up the remote and turned the television off. "I think I'll go roof-sit for a while."
Gavin went off to the beach; I saw him after a while, walking southward. He came back about half an hour later, taking an occasional turn around the house. I wondered if Winkler would need as many guards as he now had. I doubted it. More than likely, the human ones would go for sure. I didn't know about the wolves. Winkler's announcement to the world that the software didn't work would more than likely get the enemies off his back, which was the ultimate goal and sole reason he'd done it in the first place. We'd had a talk, he and I, about how much money was enough and if notoriety was worth your life. Winkler had made his decision.
I didn't need to walk the perimeter that night; I could see everything just fine from my rooftop vantage point. The night was quiet and peaceful around me, and the only sounds came from the insects, singing their endless song.
* * *
I'd had my shower and my almost pint of blood, brushed my teeth and got dressed in my usual jeans and t-shirt, ready to go to work the following evening when Gavin appeared in my doorway. "What do you need, Gavin?" I asked, tying my athletic shoes.
"Lissa, come here," he said. Puzzled, I looked up at him. I had no idea what he wanted, but went to him anyway. I should have run. I should have leapt out the window, turned to mist or done any other thing to get away from him. But I didn't. I had no way of knowing. I do now.
"Lissa," Gavin's voice had suddenly gone as dark as midnight, "You will do only what I tell you to do from this point forward."
I actually felt the compulsion settle over my brain, taking over my will and leaving Gavin in complete control. I shuddered, my eyes wide. The small part of my mind that could still think was thinking furiously, although I couldn't move a muscle. Gavin hadn't given permission for me to move. Gavin was vampire. Who knew how many other compulsions he'd placed on me to forget this or that? I never remembered seeing him eat anything. Or relieve himself, or do any other number of human things. And—the thought hit me and I might have fallen if I'd been able or commanded to by Gavin—Gavin wasn't just any vampire. The Council had found me, long ago. Why had they waited so long to take me? I shuddered again. Was he going to kill me? Right there, while I couldn't move? Winkler would come back and find a pile of ash (or whatever it was that vampires turn into) in the doorway to my bedroom. Would he know it was me? I was sure by that time that Gavin had not only been placing compulsion on me all along, he'd been doing it to Winkler and the others as well.
My skin quivers when I'm frightened, and it was quivering then. I felt it shivering, but perhaps Gavin had no control over that part of me. He left me standing there while he pulled a packed suitcase out of his bedroom and then started throwing clothing into my bag. Was he getting rid of evidence or was I going somewhere else to die? My ribs ached, I was so frightened.
"You may blink," his voice floated down the hall as he walked toward the kitchen, and he was sucking on a unit of blood when he returned. I blinked and tears formed. His voice had changed—the accent was definitely different. How much of a chameleon was he?
Gavin ordered me to pull my own bag and I did so obediently. I had no choice, following along behind him as he carried his own bag toward the road. A car was parked there, waiting for us. Gavin ordered me into the back seat after stowing both our bags in the trunk. He then climbed in on the passenger side.
The driver smelled a bit like Gavin, only with a much lighter spice. Gavin didn't introduce him; I didn't need to know. I was dead and it didn't matter. I did know, now, that the driver had to be vampire. I just hadn't sorted out the complexities of the scent, yet. There wasn't any time to explore that now.
I looked straight ahead; Gavin hadn't told me I could move from my present position. I sat there, my hands in my lap, still shivering and blinking. Gavin never turned his head, never looked back at me and never said anything to his companion while he drove. I saw we were at the airport after a while, where another private jet waited. This one was larger than Winkler's. Two more vampires waited on us when we drove up. Gavin came and ordered me out of the car while one of the others opened the trunk and got our bags out. I wanted someone to explain to me where I was going and what they intended to do with me, but nobody was speaking to me.
"Go up the stairs, turn to the right and wait for me," Gavin commanded. If I'd ever thought myself Winkler's puppet, that was nothing compared to what Gavin was doing to me now. My teeth were chattering by then, my breaths shaky and almost sobs, but I dutifully walked up the steps to the jet, turned to the right and waited. Gavin grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the back of the plane. Two chairs were there, with manacles and heavy chains attached to them. Gavin shoved me into one of those seats and proceeded to wrap the chains across my body, hooking them into clips on the sides before fastening the manacles on my wrists and ankles. Did he think I was going to escape his compulsion? That was ludicrous. I could no more do anything other than what he told me than I could have flown at that moment.
"Do you think that's necessary?" One of the other vampires finally spoke, nodding toward the chains that held me to my seat.
"Are you questioning me?" Gavin snarled.
"No. I'd never dream of questioning an Assassin." The vampire backed off but I'd caught the tiniest bit of contempt in his voice. He might not have meant for me to hear what followed that comment, but I did. "The mighty Gavin Montegue, afraid of a tiny female."
Gavin moved the chains aside and sat in the seat opposite me while the others found seats toward the front. There were three vampires, aside from Gavin and me, sitting in the body of the plane with another two up front—a pilot and co-pilot. Vampires flew planes. If I hadn't been so frightened, I might have found it slightly humorous.
Gavin could have done any number of things during the flight to keep me from being so frightened, but he did nothing. I sat there with heavy chains crossing over my body, staring straight ahead while the jet took off and flew to some unknown destination.
Dawn was only an hour away when we landed in New York. I only knew that because one of the others mentioned it, but that's all I knew. Gavin unhooked my chains and ordered me to exit the plane. A limousine waited to whisk us to an unspecified location. Someone said safe house. I had no idea what that meant. Was this where I was going to die? In a safe house? If so, then they were using a different dictionary than I normally did. But then these were vampires. I wanted to laugh hysterically at that thought. I was vampire, too, but these were so far removed from what I was at that moment it was frightening. It was almost like watching a humanoid race appear from outer space and change everything you ever knew until it was no longer recognizable.
We arrived at a three-story brick building where I was escorted to the basement. Gavin pointed me to a bedroom where there was a bed in the center and a cot over to the side. I was ordered onto the cot and told to sleep. My eyes closed immediately and darkness de
scended.
* * *
"Yes, we have her," Gavin was speaking into his cell phone. "We should arrive roughly two hours before dawn." He listened for a few seconds. "I can hold her at the prearranged site, but is there no way to convene the Council sooner?" Another period of listening followed by, "Of course, Honored One. I do understand." Gavin snapped his cell closed and glanced over at the sleeping Lissa. She hadn't wakened; he hadn't told her she could. He sighed.
* * *
"Wake." That was the first word I heard. I was still alive. Perhaps it might have been a blessing if he'd just killed me while I slept. Easier for both of us. Gavin was an Assassin. I hadn't imagined that from the night before. "Take this," a unit of blood was placed in my hands. "Drink." I drank. I couldn't finish it but he'd told me to drink. I drank it until it was gone and then coughed up half of it. Gavin cursed and ordered me to clean myself up with a towel he brought from the bathroom. He then flung clothes at me and ordered me to change. Had I said mercurial, before? If there was a greater polarity between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I was seeing it now.
"Shit, Gavin, what did you do?" Gavin flung my bloody clothing into a trash compacter while instructing me to walk in front of him. The others looked like they were ready to leave. The one who'd spoken to him the night before was questioning him again. At least somebody wasn't afraid of him all that much. I hoped he lived over it.
"She can't finish an entire unit of blood," Gavin grumbled. "I forgot about that."
"Well, hell, look how tiny she is. What the fuck were you thinking?"
"Will, this is not the time," Gavin growled.
Will had straight, dark brown hair and more than likely was quite attractive, if I'd been in my right mind to notice such things. Not as tall as Gavin, though, or as wide across the shoulders. "Come," we were back to one-word commands. Once again we loaded into the car and drove to the airport. Once again I was chained to my seat, looking straight ahead while we took off and flew for hours.
Somebody said Heathrow when we landed and I knew where we were. London. Where Daryl said the Council was. I was being taken to the Council. It was going to be a public execution. I blinked away tears. I wanted to sob, but Gavin hadn't said I could. How big a criminal, according to vampire law, was I? What had I done? I suppose I might find out when I stood in front of nameless, faceless vampires. Would Gavin kill me while I stood there, helpless and under his compulsion?
"She's crying." Will again.
"Turn the fuck around," Gavin growled. Will turned around. We taxied in, coming to a stop where another car waited for us. The driver brought out silver manacles and Gavin handled them gingerly while he snapped them on my wrists and ankles. Silver didn't burn a vampire's skin. It made me feel weaker, though. Another chapter for the FVM. There wasn't any need for a manual, now. I was on my way to die and would have no use for it.
"That one looks dangerous, eh?" Definitely a British accent.
"She killed twenty werewolves," Gavin snarled.
Was that my crime? Killing twenty werewolves to save the Grand Master? Did the Council have something against him? Did they want the peace to fail as well? Why hadn't they killed me in Texas? At least I would have been somewhere close to home. I was glad Don wasn't alive to worry over me, now. I was far from home, facing death and I had no idea why.
We drove more than an hour, and I was placed in some sort of cell when we stopped. The manacles were left on my wrists and I was locked in a nine-by-nine cube made of concrete, steel and titanium. The cube was furnished with a small bed only, bolted tightly to the floor. I might have liked a bath, but that didn't seem to be an option. Gavin told me I could move freely but couldn't attempt to escape. I huddled on the bed instead, picking at my silver chains. They were alloyed with something else I could tell, perhaps steel or titanium. I found myself wishing more than once that I'd died from the werewolf bites. It would be over now. I'd always been something of a reincarnationist; the Eastern religions had appealed to me more than others traditionally held in the United States. What had I done in a former life to deserve what I was getting now? Somehow, I knew when the sun rose and I slept.
"Come," Gavin was back and holding the door open. He handed a towel to me when I walked through the door and I was instructed to go before him down the long hallway. At the end was a doorway with a shower off to the side. Gavin unlocked my chains and set them on the sink, ordered me to disrobe, turned the water on and instructed me to get inside the tiled cubicle. The water was colder than I liked, but I hadn't been allowed to speak. I couldn't tell him I wanted it warmer. The taps tempted me as I washed under his watchful eye but I hadn't been allowed to touch them. I was paraded naked down the hallway after drying myself at Gavin's command. Clothing had been left inside the room for me while I bathed. I dressed after Gavin told me to do so. He replaced my chains, too, while someone that I couldn't see beyond the cell door handed off a unit of blood.
"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 fucker 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 fuck 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.
"Winkl
er, 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.
Blood Wager (Blood Destiny #1) Page 20
