by Tina Folsom
“He’s changed. The power he now feels, the power that comes with being a vampire runs through his veins. He doesn’t know yet how to control it. He looks to me for guidance. I am his father now, and he will do whatever I wish.”
“No!” Nina screamed. “I won’t allow it.”
Luther took a step toward her. “Seeing that you’ll be all tied up in a few minutes, I don’t see how you can stop me. I will achieve my goal. Your men will lose their mates, just like I lost mine. They will pay for what they’ve done to me. And your brother will help me, because I control him.”
The hardness in his tone slammed through her bones. Nina knew there was only one way to stop him. Tell him the truth. “You don’t know what really happened to your wife.”
Delilah gave her hand a painful squeeze of, trying to stop her. Why was everybody so intent on keeping the truth from him, when the truth was what could save them?
He snarled, his fangs protruding from his clenched jaw. “I know every agonizing minute of her end.”
“You don’t know the truth.”
Another tug by Delilah’s hand.
“The truth is what I say it is.”
Luther spun around and stalked toward the door, Johan on his heels. Before she could say anything else, Delilah shouted after him, “Samson and Amaury will kill you if you harm us.”
Luther threw an icy look over his shoulder. “Oh, I’m counting on it. Vivian is waiting for me.”
With a loud thud, the door fell shut behind them.
“Oh God, he’s crazier than I thought. He’s prepared to die.” For the first time Delilah’s voice was laced with fear.
Thirty-seven
The mausoleum Luther had built to immortalize his beloved Vivian was a gothic contraption of limestone and wrought iron the size of a McMansion. Surrounded by mature oak trees, it was sheltered from curious eyes. While there were no gates to surround it, Amaury was certain Luther had already been warned about their approach.
After not being able to communicate with Delilah for hours, Samson had finally received a short message from her before communication broke off again. She had been quite explicit: Luther expected them to try to spring the women from their prison: in fact, he was counting on it. He wanted them to witness their mates’ deaths.
Amaury felt his chest contract painfully at the recollection of Samson’s words. All day he and his vampire brethren had worked on a plan of how to get their women out unharmed. And according to Delilah, Nina was in as much danger as she was. Delilah seemed convinced of Nina’s innocence.
While Samson and the rest of the group were still skeptical about Delilah’s assessment, Amaury felt his heart fill with hope. As a former auditor, Samson’s wife had a bright head on her shoulders, and Amaury pinned all his hopes on her belief.
Even though Delilah had been unable to give them the location where she and Nina had been taken to, Samson had suspected immediately where Luther would be.
After Vivian’s death Luther had disappeared, but not before he’d erected a monument to her, a shrine of sorts.
Amaury glanced back into the woods where his friends were hidden. They needed no light. Their superior eyesight would be sufficient to find their way through the dark. Slowly, they tightened the perimeter they’d formed around the property. With quiet commands over their earphones they communicated their positions to each other.
With all of them essentially trained as bodyguards, they knew they were superior warriors, but unfortunately so were Luther and his men. Amaury and Samson were still unclear as to how many other vampires were working for Luther. There had been no time to do any detailed reconnaissance.
Amaury listened to this headset and moved a few yards closer to the building. At a copse of trees he stopped and trained his eyes onto the mausoleum. He picked up movements. He concentrated and could make out two figures near the steps leading up to the entrance.
“I see two people,” he whispered into his mic.
“I have them in sight,” Gabriel confirmed. “Two of them. Going closer now to confirm identity.”
Amaury held his breath. Without making a sound, he glided forward, seeking out the next bush which would provide him with cover.
“Confirmed, Delilah and Nina are on a podium,” Gabriel’s voice came over the headset.
Amaury looked to his right. Samson was taking cover behind the bush next to him. He nodded to him, before he looked back at the mausoleum. Amaury could make out the podium clearly now.
In front of the steps leading into the mausoleum, Luther had built a wooden podium. And on the middle of it, Nina and Delilah stood motionless, their arms behind their backs. He was still too far away to make out more details.
“Wires,” Thomas said through the earphones, “what’s he want with all the wires?”
“I’m approaching from the back,” Ricky announced. “Following the wires.”
“Any sight of Luther?” Amaury asked. One by one his colleagues came back with a “negative.”
On the podium, Nina and Delilah didn’t move. He trained his eye onto them once more and could now see that their mouths were gagged. Luther obviously wanted to avoid that they would call out to their rescuers. Not that it mattered. Both women could still communicate with their mates if they wished to. No gag could prevent them from doing so.
This could only mean Luther was concerned about the women alerting the remaining vampires to something. But to what?
Amaury motioned to Samson that he was ready to approach. His friend nodded and pointed to an opening between two bushes.
Three long strides and Amaury reached the point. He stepped through it. An instant later he heard a click and snapped his head to the source of the sound. He noticed the small round device instantly.
“Fuck!” he hissed under his breath.
“What?” came Samson’s quick reply.
“Motion detectors.”
There were only two reasons for Luther to have motion detectors: to indicate their approach and to initiate a sequence. A look at Samson who had moved next to him, told him his friend had come to the same conclusion. Something was about to begin.
“Shit!”
***
Nina noticed the ticking sound instantly. It hadn’t been there before, she was sure, but suddenly it had started. She twisted her head to look to her side. She couldn’t ask Delilah whether she heard it too.
But something was wrong. Well, quite a few things were wrong, starting with the fact that she and Delilah were tied to a couple of poles. But up until a few seconds earlier, nothing had been happening. Now, it appeared something had started with the ticking sound. And a ticking sound was never a good thing. Any movie buff could tell her that.
Nina craned her neck again, and out of the corner of her eye she could see a flicker of light. Twisting her body a little more, she managed to move another inch and finally saw it: a digital clock, counting backwards.
Well, that solved the mystery of the ticking sound.
Who the fuck switched on the damn bomb?
She’d seen nobody in the vicinity which meant somebody was doing it remotely. The wires suggested as much. After Johan and another vampire had tied her and Delilah up, they’d left them alone. That had been over an hour ago if she had to guess.
Nina? Can you hear me?
The voice in her head sounded familiar.
Amaury?
Was this what Delilah had spoken about? The telepathic communication via the bond?
Yes, it’s me. Tell me what’s happening. We’re close.
Nina adjusted to the voice in her head. It gave her a strange sense of calm.
You’d better come closer fast—there’s a bomb ticking.
There was silence. No answer came from him. Where the hell had he gone?
Amaury, damn it! What are you gonna do about it?
Another few seconds passed before she finally felt the warmth again that came with the thoughts reaching her mind.
Listen carefully. I think we triggered it by approaching.
Idiots!
Is there a clock?
Of course there’s a clock, she answered him.
Can you see the time?
Nina craned her neck once more. Less than ten minutes.
Shit!
Before she could concentrate on replying to him, she noticed a motion to her side. She stretched. From the corner of her eye she saw Eddie. But he wasn’t walking toward her. He crawled along the bushes which grew alongside the stairs, hiding behind them. What was he trying to do?
Her attention was diverted again when a booming voice behind her spoke.
“I see everybody has finally arrived.”
Why was it that every villain had to have his obligatory speech before he blew everything to smithereens?
“Lights,” Luther called out, and a moment later the podium was flooded with light as was the grassy area in front of them. No matter who’d approach them, they would have no way of hiding now.
Luther remained behind her and Delilah, clearly using them as a shield so no vampires trying to rescue them would be able to get a clear shot at him.
***
Amaury looked at the podium. The light gave him a perfect view of the spot where Luther had decided to kill their women. He instantly realized there was no way to get to the podium without being seen. This would not be a stealth rescue operation. This would be all about speed.
Amaury set his stop watch to nine minutes, the time remaining until the bomb would blow.
“We don’t have much time,” he spoke softly into the mic. “The motion detectors triggered the countdown to a bomb.”
“Welcome to my little show,” Luther’s voice called from across the clearing. “I trust we’re all here?” There was a little pause, before he continued. “Good. I wouldn’t want to start without you.”
Amaury aimed his semiautomatic into Luther’s direction and looked through the viewfinder. His target stood right between Nina and Delilah. His finger tightened on the trigger. Luther moved. Pearls of sweat built on Amaury’s forehead as his trigger finger trembled. A look at Nina told him he couldn’t risk shooting. What if he missed? No. It was too risky. Slowly he lowered his arm.
Samson stirred next to him. “I know.” Then he spoke into the mic. “We can’t do anything from the front. Can you guys get to them from the sides?”
“Working on it,” Gabriel’s voice came through the ear piece.
“Ricky, anything on the wires?”
There was no response. “Ricky?”
Samson shot Amaury an alarmed look. “Yvette, Zane—check in the back for Ricky.”
“Will do.” Yvette’s voice sounded through the ear phone, then clicked off.
“No matter what you’re planning to do, you won’t be able to save your mates, just like I wasn’t able to save mine.” Luther’s voice echoed through the night. “I’ve waited for this moment for a long time. I never thought I’d catch two birds with one stone. Frankly, Amaury, my old friend, I didn’t think you had it in you.”
Amaury didn’t give a rat’s ass about what Luther thought. Nina was his, and he would not allow her to be hurt.
Luther turned toward Delilah and brushed a strand of her hair away from her face. A defiant shake of her head was the answer.
“What a lovely mate you have, Samson. When I heard of your bonding a few months ago, I wanted to congratulate you in person. Excuse the delay, but I had things to prepare, you understand. I needed loyal supporters and what better way than to create them myself, don’t you think? After all, you turned all my friends against me. In my moment of grief, I had nobody.”
Amaury remembered the time well. Only, Luther had been the one who’d turned against his friends, pushing everybody away, accusing everybody of wrongdoing.
“You could have saved Vivian. And you let her die. You had the power, yet you didn’t act. But enough of the past. It dies today—with me and your blood-bonded mates.”
It was no surprise to Amaury that Luther was prepared to go down with them. He had to know that both he and Samson would hunt him down to the end of the world. Luther was as good as dead the moment he laid hands on Nina and Delilah.
A quick glance at Samson confirmed his friend was thinking the same thing. Amaury looked at his watch: only six minutes left. He gestured to it and made a sign to Samson, indicating the remaining time with his fingers.
“Gabriel, update.” Samson’s voice through the earphone sounded calmer and more collected than he looked face to face.
“This is Quinn. Found the trigger mechanism. It’s on auto. I can’t deactivate it from here. I need to find the console.”
“Do it.”
“On my way. A word of warning though—I think there’s a manual override somewhere. In case we disable the auto, he has another way of setting it off.”
“I’m looking for it,” Thomas replied.
“Less than five minutes,” Amaury whispered.
“Good night, my friends. And welcome to true darkness,” Luther said. A moment later, he glided back into the mausoleum behind the women, his frame melting into the entryway.
Thirty-eight
Nina shivered. Luther’s last words had given her the chill.
She looked to her side to where Eddie had hidden earlier, but couldn’t see him anywhere. She caught a look at the clock. Less than five minutes remained.
Out in the distance across the grassy area she could make out some shadows. Were they moving toward her, or was this merely wishful thinking?
Seconds later she saw a familiar shape come into view. Despite the darkness, she recognized him: Amaury. Next to him, a slimmer, but equally tall man appeared: Samson.
Nina looked over the edge of the platform as Amaury and Samson continued their approach, unimpeded by anybody. This wasn’t right. It was too easy. Why would Luther leave them alone, so their men could come to free them? It didn’t make sense. Yes, the bomb was ticking, but five minutes would be plenty of time to free them and be far enough away from the platform by the time it blew up. No, something was seriously wrong with this picture.
It’s a trap!
She concentrated on Amaury and opened her mind to him. Frantically, she looked around herself, following the wires.
From the corner of her eye she suddenly saw a movement. Eddie rushed past the platform and toward Samson and Amaury, launching himself onto them. She wanted to scream and stop him, but the gag in her mouth prevented her from it.
Instead she watched as he bounced against Amaury. They fought while Samson continued to approach. A frantic look by Eddie toward Samson told her that something was wrong. Eddie wasn’t fighting to kill them, only fighting to stop them.
Amaury, stop! Don’t hurt Eddie! No further! Stop Samson—stop him now!
A second later Amaury’s command echoed through the night. “Samson, stay back!”
His friend instantly stilled, and so did Eddie. He stopped punching.
“Thank God,” she heard her brother’s voice rasp. Exhaustion clearly showing on his face, he pointed to a spot only a foot ahead of Samson. “Laser beam.”
Nina’s heart pounded.
Amaury still had her brother in a tight grip, but he didn’t appear to want him any more harm. “Talk. Fast.” Amaury’s voice reached Nina’s ears and felt strangely comforting.
“Once you pass that point, the laser beam is interrupted and triggers a second mechanism, and you’ve got sixty seconds for the podium to blow,” Eddie explained.
Nina’s heart stopped. So that’s why Luther had been so confident and left them alone. If the men tried to rush them, they would inadvertently reduce the time on the clock and blow up with them.
She blinked and swallowed hard. This was it. They were so screwed.
“Is there a way around it?”
Eddie shook his head. “The only way to get onto the podium without tripping the laser is from inside the mausoleum.”
Her brother
looked up into her direction. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I didn’t know he’d go through with it. I didn’t realize how crazy he is. When I understood what he was planning, it was already too late.”
Amaury looked at Nina, agony and torture obscuring his beautiful features. Without breaking eye contact with her, he addressed Eddie. “Get us into the mausoleum. Now.”
She watched as Amaury spoke quietly into his mic, then listened to his earphone. She caught his frustrated look, before he huddled with Samson and Eddie. They were speaking too low for her to hear, but their gestures told her they were in disagreement over something.
“No! Are you crazy?” her brother shouteded at Amaury.
“It’s the only way.” Amaury’s reply was just as emotion laden.
He looked at her, a sad look in his eyes.
Trust me.
Nina heard his voice in her head. Trust him with what? What the hell was he up to?
Several seconds later all hell broke loose. From out of nowhere, Amaury’s vampire friends appeared, swarming the area. And then she saw the others, Luther’s men.
Johan stalked onto the scene from behind the mausoleum, together with three others she didn’t recognize. One of them had helped tie her and Delilah up. The others she’d never seen before.
While she still tried to survey the area to understand what was happening right in front of her, she noticed Amaury and Samson move. Like sprinters they ran toward the podium, only faster than any human could run.
Her heart pounded in her ears. Nina didn’t need to look at the clock to know that her last sixty seconds were ticking away. This was how her life would end? Blown to bits? Would it be painless at least?
With a loud thud, both vampires jumped onto the podium and straight toward her and Delilah. One second more and Amaury was behind her.
***
Amaury had pulled the knife out of its sheath in mid-jump and was ready to cut her restraints when he saw them: silver handcuffs.
“Nooooo!” His own cry mingled with that of Samson’s, who was behind Delilah and had met the same obstacle.
“Oh God, Nina,” was all he could say.
He felt her kick against the pole. In frustration he hit against it—it was made of iron, a metal a vampire could bend and break if he used enough force.
