by Dannika Dark
“So what am I going for now?”
He looked at me from over the monitor, his hazel eyes sparkling. “Do you really want to know?”
I shrugged.
“Fifteen.”
“That’s brilliant. You might walk away with twenty grand.”
Houdini erupted with laughter, and it was so affectionate and genuine that it was hard to see anything evil in him. “Fifteen million, Raven. Not thousand. I’m a professional; I don’t deal with low numbers. The second bidder is the one that’s pushing the numbers high.”
I leaned forward. “He doesn’t have that kind of money.”
“You’d be surprised how much a Vampire can accumulate in his lifetime. If I’m not mistaken, your Christian Poe has done some rather sketchy jobs in his past that paid well. Fifteen million is an honor. Most girls don’t even get a quarter of that for the final offer.”
I launched to my feet and turned my back on him so he couldn’t read my expression.
Damn, you Christian. Why are you bidding everything?
His entire life fortune was spiraling down the toilet, all for a girl who’d never even told him she loved him. If he won me back, I’d never be able to face him. Every argument would give him an opportunity to throw in my face that he’d wasted millions on an ungrateful lover. And what if he always held it over my head? I could only imagine the conversation…
“Not tonight. I’m not in the mood.”
“I spent fifteen million to set you free. You better get in the mood.”
Whatever future we might have had together would be undone by this.
Was Houdini right about choices? Bad ones leading to good things and good ones leading to bad? The worst moments of my life had led me to Keystone and ultimately into Christian’s arms. Now faced with the prospect of him winning me back, I suddenly wanted nothing more than for him to lose.
“How much time left?” Christian asked, pacing the floor.
“Five minutes and twenty-two seconds,” Wyatt replied, his forehead glistening with sweat.
You could cut the tension with a knife. Without a window, he’d lost sense of time. It was as if they’d been living in that room for years. No one had left in the past five hours—not even to eat dinner.
Christian flattened his palms on the desk, struggling to contain his rage so he wouldn’t break something else. “Keep your fingers on the keys. He will not get the last bid.”
“Blast! He did it again. The seller upped the minimum bid.”
Viktor appeared on Wyatt’s left. “What is it now?”
“Fifty thousand. I need everyone to shut their piehole while I concentrate.”
Christian had expected the other bidder to fall out, but he was putting down high numbers—enough to make everyone nervous. They could only hope it was a phantom account by the seller to get more money, but what if it wasn’t? Viktor had dark circles under his eyes. The rest of them had taken long naps here and there, but even Wyatt was running on fumes.
When Wyatt looked up at him, Christian could see all the little blood vessels in his eyes. “Now?”
“Not yet.”
“What are they talking about?” Claude asked in a hushed voice.
Shepherd cleared his throat. “Christian wants to drop a large number at the end so the other guy will back off. We still have… another three minutes.”
“I can’t take this!” Gem exclaimed. “I’m about to lose all my hair.” Her voice grew distant as she darted down the hall, but Christian could hear her quiet sobs.
Each passing minute brought a new level of torture. Every sound in the room amplified. The biting of a fingernail, tapping of a foot, a gurgling stomach—all slowly ebbing away his sanity.
Christian studied the activity on the monitor, and as soon as a low bid came in, he said, “Do it.”
Wyatt entered in a large number, and with a single keystroke gave up the last bit of Christian’s savings.
They waited for the number to calculate to the current bid, but nothing happened. Suddenly a response appeared.
Your offer has been denied. Thank you for bidding.
“What does that mean? What the feck does that mean!” he roared.
Wyatt had begun typing in the feedback window when the post suddenly vanished, taking them back to the main screen. The blood drained from his face as he frantically scrolled up and down the auction list before hitting the refresh button.
“What the fuck is going on?” Shepherd demanded to know.
Wyatt kicked back his chair and stood up. “I don’t know. We still had time.”
Shepherd’s lips thinned. “He outbid you?”
Flustered, Wyatt answered, still staring at his laptop. “No! That’s what I’m trying to say. He didn’t even accept our offer. Something’s not right. Why would anyone in their right mind end the auction after seeing the amount we just put up?” Wyatt suddenly sat in his chair and buried his face in his hands. “I think I’m going to throw up.”
Christian turned away and stood in the doorway, his back facing the room. The sound of everyone’s panicked voices muffled due to the blood rushing through his head.
All for naught. That cowardly bastard had only been toying with Christian. He’d never intended to give Raven back.
“Jaysus, what have I done?”
Chapter 17
I played with a loose thread dangling from a hole in my jeans and hoped that Houdini would give up asking me to cooperate. I didn’t like staring at my reflection, and if I kept facing him, it was only a matter of time before he pulled me in with his gaze. So I’d taken a seat on the table, my back pressed against the glass and knees drawn up.
“I need you to turn around, Raven. The auction is over.”
“I don’t want you in my head.”
“That’s how it has to be.”
“If you want to scrub my memory, you’ll have to come in here and fight me. Christian’s already seen your face, and you can bet you’ve already got your own file by now.”
I heard him sit on the edge of his table, his mouth close to one of the ventilation holes.
“I know you have no love for me, but loyalty burns deep in your veins whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. I gave you life,” he said, his voice softening. “Do you truly regret what you are? To hate me is to hate what you’ve become, and you’ve never been the self-loathing type. Something beyond my control took you away from me, but you became a stronger person for it. Why would you wish me dead?”
“I didn’t say I wished you dead,” I admitted, the words hollow on my tongue.
“If you build a file on me, then you do. The higher authority doesn’t lock up men like me. They’ll take my head. I don’t know about you, but I’ve grown pretty attached to my head.”
I chuckled and quickly made myself stop. “What does it matter anyhow? All they’ve got is your physical description. Houdini isn’t even your real name.”
His head thumped against the glass. “I’ve spent a long time living as a ghost. It gets exhausting covering my tracks, but what options do I have?”
“Find another hobby?”
“I could have said the same to you when you were blasting men in club restrooms. Do you think what you did back then was wrong?”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“I make these humans immortal. I put them out there in the world, but I have no control over what happens to them any more than a mother does with her own child. Leaving them on the streets would be a far worse fate—you and I both know that. At least with a caretaker, they have a chance to either be happy or rise up and take control. Hardship makes men stronger. You’ll never understand what I do, but it matters. What do you gain from that outfit you work with? Respect? A roof over your head? Because if that’s all they’ve given you, then dear little Butterfly, you’re in for so much disappointment.” He sighed, his voice distant as if he was talking to himself. “Sometimes I forget how young you are. Five, ten, even fifty years of immortality is like speaki
ng to a toddler. You can’t possibly understand.”
I turned my head to the side. “No, I can’t. I’ll never understand how you sleep at night thinking you did me a favor. My Creator was the devil, and my life became hell on earth. I don’t feel sorry for myself, but you have no idea the irreparable damage you caused. I don’t give a shit about your theories—there is nothing that is worth the torture I went through. You think you’re doing those girls a favor, but you’re just serving your own selfish need.”
“Need for what?”
I hopped off the table and turned to face him. “To play God. You don’t want accountability for your actions. You just want to set a chain of events in motion and argue that no matter what happens, you’re not responsible. Isn’t that what you said? Well, how come you keep taking credit for what I became? It doesn’t work like that. If those girls you sold are lying in a pool of their own feces, crying and wishing they were dead, you’re responsible. Each time they get slapped around and drained of their blood, you’re responsible. That’s why I’ve hated you all these years. You made me and then threw me to the wolves!”
When I pounded my fists on the glass, he winced and turned his head away.
“It doesn’t matter if you meant it,” I continued. “That’s what a child says when they break something. I didn’t mean to. That kid knew better than to play ball in the house. So before you scrub away my entire life and ruin me once again, I want you to remember everything I’ve said. If you want to take credit for the amazing immortal I am today, then you also need to take ownership of everything else.”
He squared his shoulders and stood up. Earlier, Houdini had changed out of his black pants and into a pair of faded jeans. He pushed the sleeves of his grey sweater up. “It’s time for you to go, Raven.”
“You took everything from Christian,” I said, lowering my gaze to the floor. “I can’t go back.”
Houdini turned and approached the glass. “You can do whatever you choose. No one is holding you back but yourself.”
I swiftly took off my necklace and pushed the pendant through an airhole, keeping a tight grip of the chain. It swung before him, and he looked between the necklace and me with careful measure. “You said yourself it’s worth millions.”
“Are you giving me your heart? In exchange for what? It’s too late to buy your freedom.”
“I’m buying my sanity. I don’t want you to erase my memories. They’re all I have.”
He furrowed his brows. “Why would I leave you with all the information you need to hunt me down?”
“I won’t.”
He tilted his head to the side and gave me a scathing glance. “I’m not as naïve as I look.”
There was no way I could bring Christian to ruin and continue to work for Keystone. Keeping the necklace was unfair, and returning it cruel. He’d never accept it anyhow. He’d think I was trying to replace all his money. Once again, Houdini had appeared in my life and forever altered its course. I looked wistfully at the necklace.
Houdini collected the stone in his palm, and I reluctantly let go of the chain. “I have your word you won’t collect evidence against me?”
“I think we both know I’m not stupid,” I said, acknowledging Houdini’s power. He’d taken Christian by surprise once, so the threat loomed that he could do it again. Not only that, but he knew where to find my father.
My maker collected my heart and closed his fingers around it. A smile touched his lips. “Tell you what. I’ll hold on to the necklace for safekeeping. When I feel like I can trust you’ll never come after me, I’ll give it back. How’s that sound?”
I nodded.
He briefly swung the chain before sliding it into his pocket. “We’ll see. Time changes people and reveals how good their word is.” Houdini briefly disappeared around the corner before entering the room. “Do you want to bring your clothes?” he asked, nodding at my leather pants, blouse, and studded shoes, which were sitting in a pile on the floor.
I couldn’t take my eyes from the strip of black cloth hanging from his hand. “What’s that for?”
“I have to blindfold you.”
Confused, I shook my head, my back to the glass. “Why? I already know you live in the Bricks.”
“Yes, but you don’t know where. Just because I’m leaving your memory intact doesn’t mean I want to give you more information than you need. You’re also not allowed to see where we’re going. That’s part of the arrangement.”
I sidled past him, nearing the bathroom. “What are you talking about?”
“You didn’t want Christian to win the bid. Not really. I don’t understand your attraction to him, but I suspect you two have been sharing blood.” Houdini ran a hand through his white hair. “I saw the profound despair in your eyes earlier, so I decided not to let him win. You would have blamed me forever.”
I widened my stance, ready to bolt past him. “You can’t do this! You said I was going back.”
A vein pulsed in his forehead. “I’ve had more than enough of your indecisiveness. No matter which choice I make, you decide it’s the wrong one. Well… you can’t have it both ways!”
I took off like a quarterback running with the ball, weaving my way around him. Houdini caught me by the waist and hauled me off the ground.
“Stop your insolence!” he snarled. “I’ve given you everything within my power, and still you fight me.”
His grip was iron, and with just one arm, he brought me down to the floor and sat on my back. I struggled to free my arms, but he’d pinned them with his legs as he tied the fabric around my eyes and tightly knotted it in the back, pulling some of my hair.
“I was hoping I wouldn’t need this,” he murmured. He pulled my arms behind my back and cuffed my wrists. “Maybe I’ll think about retiring if you think about leaving Keystone. You had more to offer the world when you worked alone. Someday I hope you realize that.”
“You arrogant little fanghole,” I growled, still struggling to buck him off.
Houdini leaned in so tight that his mouth grazed my ear. “Too bad you didn’t inherit my strength, but you have all those Mage powers I’d love to learn about someday.” He tenderly smoothed my hair back with his hand. “Despite the circumstances, I’ve truly enjoyed your company. I know you don’t believe me, and you still want to believe that you’re good and I’m evil, but we’re not so different. We’re just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowl. I bet you don’t know what song that’s from.” He rose to his feet and pulled me up. “I wish I knew what you saw in that Vampire.”
In the Breed world, it was a mild insult to refer to someone by their Breed—especially to their face. Given Houdini was half-Vampire, he seemed to have the same feeling about the word as I did. But he had no reason to. Perhaps he just thought himself a better version of what was out there.
Locked in darkness, I turned toward his voice. “You want to know the truth? Christian was the first person who showed me I can trust a Vampire. It doesn’t mean I’ve changed my opinion about them, but I trust him with my life. You were the one who took away that trust. You’re the reason I have no problem killing my own kind.”
His voice grew nearer. “Would my redemption bring you peace? You’ve spent this entire time in captivity trying to change my ways instead of pleading for your freedom. Why is that so important when you don’t even know the women whose lives I’ve impacted?”
“Maybe it would give me hope that someone really can change, that maybe you aren’t all evil.”
I shuddered when he stroked my hair. “Is that how you see yourself? Is that why you’re trying desperately to fit in with that organization? We’re not evil, Raven. I’m glad we had this time together. You’re candid and fearless. Never change. Now I finally understand how the events following your making have shaped your opinion about yourself and the world.”
I took a step back.
He sighed. “I guess I’m not going to win the Maker of the Year award, am I?”
“Do you know who you sold me to? What if he wants to grind me up and eat me for dinner?”
Houdini chortled. “No one is going to pay millions of dollars for a single meal. Maybe he’s just a lonely man in search of a friend. And if not—if he’s a nefarious villain who wants to hurt you—then I have no concerns. You’re a different woman than you were five years ago. Don’t you want to finish what you started? Consider it a form of therapy. I have no doubt you’ll devise an elaborate plan to escape after chopping him up in pieces. And in the end, you’ll be reminded of something you’ve forgotten.”
“Which is what?”
His footsteps drew closer. “That killing is what you do best. Flap your wings and cause some chaos, Butterfly. That’s your purpose, just as giving you immortality was mine.”
Chapter 18
Christian stared at the computer screen. After Wyatt had thrown in the towel and everyone left, Christian rolled his chair up to the desk and sent a private message to the seller.
Nothing came back.
He considered putting a bounty on the man’s head, but it wasn’t worth the risk. As long as this man had Raven, he had power. But if Raven didn’t come out of this alive, nothing would stop Christian from unleashing the darkest part of his soul. She was the link to his humanity.
Viktor entered the room and stood behind Christian’s chair. “There’s nothing more you can do here.”
“It might have been a ruse. You heard what Wyatt said. Sometimes they put up the auction twice to get double the money.”
“It’s been hours.”
Christian spun his chair around. “What do you suggest, Viktor? That I go to bed and stare at the ceiling? For feck’s sake, the woman was all but kicked out of Keystone and still searched every cemetery until she found me. The least I can do is return the favor. What worries me more is how easily you gave up.”
Viktor took a seat in the chair next to him and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “When I began this organization, my intention was to keep a distant relationship. I’m your leader, but I’m also responsible for your lives. I’ve had to make tough decisions in the past—decisions you will never understand. What we do is dangerous, and there is always a possibility we could lose someone. That’s one reason I assigned you partners—to encourage you to look out for each other and have an ally.” His lower lip trembled, and he pinched it thoughtfully. “Raven is a strong, intelligent woman. If we can’t find her, she’ll find her own way out.”
