“I was talking to Rajiv while you were sleeping,” she changed the subject. “He’s Raghu’s younger brother. Only twenty years old. He hasn’t fallen in love with any of the girls in his tribe, and his brother will be head of the tribe for life, so Rajiv decided to leave in search of adventure.”
Carlos glanced at the young man who was watching them with his golden eyes. “How can he take tiger form during the day?”
“Oh, good question.” Caitlyn asked Rajiv in his language, then translated the response. “He says he’s on his second life. He was bitten by a cobra when he was eighteen. When he revived, he was able to shift whenever he wanted.”
Carlos nodded. “If he wants adventure, he certainly found it.”
Caitlyn smiled. “He says he was somehow drawn to me, that he knew I would help him.”
“Like Coco and Raquel.” Carlos’s gaze drifted once again to the bite on her neck. She was the most amazing woman in the world, and she was going to die because of him.
“Do you want to know what happened while you were sleeping?” she asked.
“Yes.” He glanced around the cargo hold. “How did we get here?”
“I woke up when Pat and his buddies were dragging us into a large room. Rajiv was already there. And three vampires, so it must have been after dark. The vampires spoke Thai to Pat but Chinese to each other. They didn’t realize I can understand Chinese.”
“So what were they saying?” Carlos asked.
“They were worried about the silver collars on you and Rajiv, worried that they wouldn’t be able to teleport you. Pat gave you and Rajiv a sedative, then he removed the silver collars. And then the teleporting began. It took a while since the three vampires had to make multiple trips to take us and Pat and his buddies.”
“Where did they take us?” Carlos asked.
“To a small airport. I think it was on an island ’cause I could see palm trees and sand, and I could hear waves breaking. The vampires talked about being afraid to teleport any farther east.”
“Right.” Carlos nodded. “They don’t want to accidentally teleport into sunlight and get fried.”
“So I figure the island was east of Thailand, somewhere in the Pacific. And I assume we’re still traveling east. They offered us blankets, but Rajiv refused his and growled at them.”
“Good man.” Carlos gave Rajiv a thumbs-up.
She pointed to another caged area in the cargo hold, barely visible with the dim running lights. “See those coffins over there? A while back the vampires came down here and climbed inside them.”
“We must be headed into sunlight.” Carlos tugged on his chain. “If I can get into their cage, I could kill them.”
“With what?” Caitlyn asked. “We have no weapons. They took our shoes and belts. My feet are frozen.” She rubbed her bare feet together. “And these bars are really strong. Rajiv already tested them.”
Carlos curled a fist around a bar and shook it. It didn’t budge.
“We might as well wait it out,” she said. “I don’t think any of us know how to fly a plane.”
“Good point. How long have we been in the air?”
“We’re not sure. We don’t have watches, but it seems like a long time.”
“Flying east for hours,” he murmured. “It’s actually a good thing if this trip takes a long time. It’ll give MacKay more time to figure out we’re missing and track us down.”
Caitlyn nodded. “My sister has a strong psychic link to me. I’m trying to send her images of us in a cage on an airplane.”
“You’re amazing.” His gaze lingered on the soft golden color of her hair, the sweet line of her jaw, and the pink perfection of her lips. So beautiful.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she whispered. “Like you’re trying to memorize every detail before I’m gone.”
He swallowed hard. “I’ll never forgive myself if—”
“Don’t say it.” She pressed two cold fingers to his mouth. “I’m going to make it.”
He took her cold hand in his. “Your chances are not good.”
“I’m going to fight,” she insisted. “I’m not going to leave you. You know how stubborn I can be.”
He smiled sadly. “So you’ll survive just to prove me wrong?”
“If I have to, yes. Just because I’m a lousy warrior doesn’t mean I’m not strong.”
“You’re the strongest woman I know.”
“Thank you.” Her eyes glimmered with emotion. “So what will happen exactly? Will I sprout whiskers in a few days? Or have an insatiable desire for tuna?”
His chest tightened. He knew she had to be scared, but she was putting on a brave front. “The change will remain dormant inside you until it’s triggered by the full moon. That’s why the first time is so dramatic and painful. The abruptness of the transformation is more than some people can bear.”
“So I have until the next full moon?”
“Yes. About two weeks from now.”
She nodded, then leaned back against the bars. “Two weeks.”
He rubbed her hand to warm up her fingers. Whenever, if ever, they got out of this mess alive, he wanted to make their marriage legal. Tears came to his eyes when he realized how short their marriage would likely last. “Catalina, will you marry me?”
She squeezed his hand. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Chapter Twenty-eight
C aitlyn was hoping she’d recognize their location when they disembarked, but unfortunately they never left the plane. At one point during the flight, Pat and his armed thugs came down to the cargo hold to check on them. She begged to go to the restroom, so Pat allowed them to go one at a time with an armed escort. Carlos and Rajiv each required three armed escorts.
She hoped Pat would talk to his cohorts so she could glean more information, but they were silent now that they knew she understood Thai. She continued to send airplane images to her sister but had no idea if she was succeeding. After many hours, she finally felt the plane descend and heard the landing gear lower.
When they jostled and bounced a little with the landing, Rajiv stiffened. “What is that?”
“We just landed,” she told him in his language. He was trying to be brave, but she could tell he was nervous. It was his first time to travel by air and his first time away from home.
“Do you know who’s piloting the plane?” Carlos asked.
“No.” She shook her head. “I never saw anyone in a uniform. I think one of their thugs must know how to fly.”
The plane taxied for what seemed a long time.
“I counted about six mortals during our bathroom break,” Carlos whispered.
She nodded. “The guy who escorted me is called Sawat.”
“The huge lummox with the broken nose?” Carlos glanced at the coffins. “It would be better to defeat the mortals before the vampires wake up.”
“You and Rajiv can’t shift with those collars on. And we have no weapons. I think we should wait till we disembark, then try to find a way to escape.”
Carlos’s eyes narrowed as he considered.
“Whatever you do, please don’t get yourself killed again,” she muttered.
He frowned. “It’s not like I enjoy it.”
The plane stopped moving. Caitlyn tensed, afraid that Carlos and Rajiv would try something suicidal when Pat and his cohorts arrived.
They waited. And waited.
Rajiv curled up on the floor and fell asleep.
“Merda,” Carlos muttered. “They’re waiting for nightfall…”
“So the vampires can wake up,” she finished his thought.
The time dragged by. She wrapped the blanket around herself and Carlos and lightly dozed.
A sudden creak woke her up. Carlos motioned with his head toward the coffins. She shivered at the sight of the lids slowly opening.
The vampires floated out of the coffins and landed on their feet. There were all Chinese, as far as she could tell, and dressed in red embroidere
d silk robes. Their long black hair was braided down their backs, and their fingernails were yellow and about six inches long.
They turned their heads toward her and hissed, showing sharp yellow fangs.
She shuddered and huddled closer to Carlos. She hoped she and her friends weren’t breakfast.
“If one of them tries to bite you,” Carlos whispered, “I’ll snap his neck.”
Pat and six men came down to the cargo hold. Sawat opened the vampire cage and bowed as they exited. Pat and the others bowed low. The vampires seized three men and sank their fangs into their necks.
Caitlyn flinched. The men didn’t fight. They quietly submitted, then bowed low after the vampires released them.
“We have arrived in San Francisco?” the tallest vampire asked in Chinese.
“Yes, Master,” Pat responded in the same language. “All is ready at the temple.”
San Francisco? She immediately shot an image of the Golden Gate Bridge to her sister.
“Then it is time for us to go.” The tallest vampire moved toward Caitlyn and her friends.
Pat and his six thugs ran up to the cage. Several pointed handguns at them, while the others grasped the chain connected to Carlos’s silver collar. They yanked on it to pull Carlos toward them. He resisted, but the collar pressed into his throat, cutting off his air. He relented then and let them draw him back. Caitlyn winced when the back of his head hit the metal bars.
With Carlos pinned to the bars, Sawat tugged his T-shirt up in the back. Caitlyn gasped as Pat plunged a syringe into Carlos’s back.
Pat glanced at her. “It’s just a sedative. We need you all alive.”
Sawat smirked. “For a little while.”
Carlos’s eyes flickered shut and he crumpled to the floor. Pat and his thugs did the same procedure to Rajiv, then opened the cage and removed the silver collars from both the cat shifters. The vampires sauntered inside the cage, and two of them grabbed Rajiv and Carlos and teleported away. Soon they were back and teleporting away the thugs and Pat.
The third vampire advanced toward Caitlyn. She stepped back, her heart thundering in her ears.
“When we celebrate the resurrection of Master Han, I will take this one,” he said in Chinese. “I will drain her dry and burn her flesh for my incense.”
She swallowed hard, and sent another frantic image of the Golden Gate Bridge to her sister. The vampire lurched toward her with incredible speed. She jumped back but his long fingernails had curled around her arm. He teleported, taking her with him, and everything went black.
She stumbled when they arrived and fell onto her knees as the vampire tossed her aside. She saw Carlos and Rajiv nearby, lying unconscious on the floor.
She remained huddled on the floor as she scanned the surroundings. They appeared to be on a raised wooden dais at the end of a rectangular room. Beams painted a lacquer red crossed the vaulted ceiling. Bare white walls were trimmed with more red lacquered woodwork. At the end of the room a large brass gong sat between two black doors gilded with gold. Pat stood by the gong, and he now wore a black silk robe with a hood. The six thugs stood along the back wall, armed with large ceremonial swords.
This had to be the temple the vampires had referred to. She spotted the three vampires on the other side of the dais. In the center of the dais there was an altar made of wood, inlaid with gold dragons. On top reclined the body of a tall man dressed in red silk with gold braid.
A chill crept down her spine. The man on the altar must be Master Han.
The gong sounded, and she glanced toward the entrance as Pat struck it again. The entrance doors opened and men filed in, two by two, dressed in black silk robes with the hoods drawn up to cover their heads and hide their faces. Twenty in all, she counted.
The last ones to enter closed the doors, then joined their fellow black-robed monks as they formed five rows with a center aisle between them. Each row had four men.
Pat hit the gong again.
“Master Han!” the monks shouted in unison, then dropped to their knees and bowed forward.
One monk seemed to be slightly slower than the others, Caitlyn noted, as if he didn’t quite know the routine. The armed thugs along the back wall also dropped to their knees. Beside her Carlos and Rajiv stirred.
Pat marched down the center aisle swinging a brass censor that emitted a trail of smoke. Incense filled the air, and the monks began to chant.
Carlos and Rajiv sat up and glanced warily about. Caitlyn figured Carlos was counting their opponents and assessing their chances of defeating them in battle. She didn’t know how well the twenty monks could fight, and there were still six armed thugs, Pat, and three vampires. That made it thirty to three. Really bad odds.
Carlos was one hell of a fighter, and could probably take down seven or eight guys before he was captured or killed. Again. She looked at him and shook her head, pleading with her eyes that he not attempt anything rash.
Pat stepped onto the dais and set his incense burner onto a brass stand. “Guardians, behold your Master!” He lifted his arms as he approached the altar.
The monks sat up and shouted, “Master Han!”
“It was forty-five years ago when Master Han brought peace to the warring factions of the three vampire lords,” Pat announced. “It was Master Han who unified the vampires and their minions to one common goal. It was through Master Han that we grew in power and territory. It was through Master Han that we realized we could take over all of Asia!”
The vampires and monks cheered.
“And then”—Pat’s voice grew sad—“then the unthinkable happened. Master Han and his forces claimed victory over a village in Tibet and requested the most beautiful virgin be delivered to him as a gift. The village sent the girl, filled with poison, and when Master Han drank from her, he fell into a deep sleep.”
The monks murmured their disapproval.
“We rose up to avenge our master,” Pat continued. “We burned the village to the ground and slaughtered all that lived there!”
The monks cheered.
“We brought the Master here to San Francisco, where Dr. Chou is known to have the greatest knowledge of ancient folklore and herbal remedies. For five years we have tried to revive our master.” Pat motioned to one of the monks. “Dr. Chou has long been convinced there is only one way to resurrect our master.”
The monk stood and pushed back his hood to reveal thin, graying hair. “Ancient texts tell us that a corpse can be brought back to life if a cat jumps over it. Not any cat will do. It must be a magical cat of great power.”
“And now we have the most powerful cats in the world!” Pat exclaimed as he gestured toward Carlos and Rajiv.
Caitlyn snorted. That was why they’d been kidnapped? So Carlos could shift and jump over an unconscious vampire? She looked at him and rolled her eyes.
He frowned and shook his head slightly.
And then she realized why he didn’t see the humor in the situation. If he jumped over Master Han, and it didn’t magically cure the vampire, they could be blamed for the scheme’s failure to work. They would probably be executed. And if they fought, they were terribly outnumbered.
Pat pointed at Carlos. “It is time! You will shift and jump over our master!”
Carlos stood slowly, looked around the room, then shook his head. “No, thanks.”
The monks gasped.
Pat flinched. “You do not deny the Master.” He motioned for the six thugs armed with swords to approach the dais.
One of the monks, the one who had moved slower than the others, suddenly jumped to his feet and zoomed toward them at vampire speed. His hood slipped back as he jumped onto the dais, and Caitlyn thought she detected a glint of recognition in Carlos’s eyes.
The vampire monk seized her from behind and pressed a knife to her neck. Her blood chilled with fear.
“You will jump over our master,” Pat ordered Carlos. “Or you will see your wife die.”
Caitlyn’s breath hitc
hed when Carlos hesitated.
He exchanged a look with her captor, then with a shrug, he turned toward Pat. “Go ahead. I’m tired of her.”
She gasped.
Pat’s eyes bulged. “What?”
Carlos waved a dismissive hand. “She’s lousy in bed. She just lays there and makes me do all the work.”
Caitlyn gasped again. Was he serious? Her heart plummeted when she saw all the monks murmuring and nodding their heads in commiseration with Carlos.
“Do not harm her!” Rajiv cried in his language. He ran toward the altar and shifted into a tiger as he leaped over Master Han.
“No!” Carlos shouted.
Monks jumped to their feet.
Rajiv landed on the other side of the altar and shifted back to a human. His pants had remained on, and were now ripped to shreds.
A collective gasp spread over the room as Master Han’s body began to twitch. The monks jumped up and down, shouting in celebration. Master Han floated up in the air, then stood on the altar. His face was covered with a golden mask.
“Oh, shit,” the monk who held Caitlyn muttered in English. He pressed a button on his wristwatch. “Angus, get over here now!”
“What?” Caitlyn turned her head to look at her captor.
He winked. “J.L. Wang at your service.” He handed her the knife, then drew two swords from underneath his robe. He tossed one to Carlos.
Carlos and J.L. leaped from the dais, running toward the thugs. Caitlyn winced at the sound of clashing swords. Some of the monks fled toward the doors, but before they could escape, Angus materialized by the entrance with a group of Vamps. Caitlyn recognized Emma, Phineas, Connor, Ian, Roman, and, to her amazement, her father.
Screams reverberated around the temple as those who challenged the Vamps were quickly killed. Rajiv ran back to Caitlyn, and on the way, he grabbed the brass stand, letting the incense burner fall onto the floor. He stood next to her, holding the brass stand like a weapon.
Sawat jumped onto the dais, his face twisted with rage as he stalked toward her and Rajiv. “I’ll kill you both.” He lifted his sword and charged.
She threw the knife J.L. had given her.
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