“Mrs. Donovan?” Angel murmured from the backseat. “None of this is Shon’s fault. If you want someone to blame—”
“I don’t give a damn about whose fault it is. You’re demons. All of you. You’re not natural and don’t belong here.”
Shon met Angel’s gaze in the mirror once more. He shook his head, signaling to the older vampire to let it go.
“No matter what you think, there are far worse things out there than Angel or me,” Shon reasoned, glancing at Irene’s profile. “And once we get you home, you are to grab some clothes and whatever else you need to take, and head to Arthur’s brothers in Alabama until the danger has passed.”
Laura’s mother didn’t answer, only stared straight ahead.
Jesus, Shon thought, pinching the bridge of his nose. How had things gone from a dream come true to a complete nightmare in less than twenty-four hours?
* * * *
Shon pulled the car into the parking lot of Angel’s condo and switched off the engine. “I will be so glad when this night is over.”
Angel gripped the door handle. “Unfortunately, it’s only just begun. The elders will be arriving shortly.”
“Shit,” Shon growled. “Things are about to get hairy, aren’t they?”
“I’m afraid so.” Angel turned to look over the seat. “What are you going to do about John?”
Shon got out and opened the back door to the car. “Take him to your condo, I guess. He can stay in the room Laura used.”
The thought of Laura not being there any longer hurt more than Shon cared to admit. He decided he’d check with Ember to see if she’d heard from Laura as soon as he got his brother settled.
Angel stepped from the car. “Gina is not going to be pleased about this. She will seek retribution. You can bet your ass on that.”
“I know.” Shon lifted his brother, tossing him over his shoulder as Angel had done earlier. “Do you think she will run?”
“She won’t run.” Angel shut the car door and started up the stairs. “She’ll have no choice but to appear before the elders once she is summoned.”
Shon followed close behind Angel. “Where the hell are fifteen vampires staying while they’re in town?”
Angel glanced over his shoulder. “I’ve arranged for them to stay at the hotel across the street. It was the closest one to the condo.”
A feeling of foreboding came over Shon. “Great. The noose grows tighter.”
Shon and Angel parted ways at the top of the stairs. Shon unlocked the condo door and stepped inside.
Locking the door behind him, Shon carried his brother to the guest room and laid him on the king-size bed.
Laura’s scent hit Shon square in the face. His stomach tightened with the need to touch her again. Not that she’d ever allow him to after his treatment of her.
Damn it…
Chapter Twenty-Three
Laura winced against the pain throbbing in her shoulders. Her arms had been bound behind her for hours, and her hands had gone to sleep.
The godawful pictures continued to flash overhead until she’d memorized each and every face.
“Ellis?” She yelled to be heard over the mantra of screams and pleading. “Ellis? I need to use the bathroom.”
The door opened to admit a wild-eyed Ellis. He stepped into the room and snatched up the remote. Blessed silence followed.
Laura took a shuddering breath, relief pouring through her with the screams on pause. “Thank you,” she croaked, watching Ellis move closer to the bed.
He gripped her by the arm and jerked her to her feet, leaving Laura to bite back a cry as pain stabbed through her shoulder.
Ellis pushed her forward, nearly planting her face-first into the carpet.
“First door on the left,” he murmured in a deadpan voice as she stumbled through the open doorway.
Laura staggered inside the bathroom and glanced down at the button on her jeans. Mortified that she’d have to ask him for help, she lifted her gaze and met his emotionless stare. “Can you untie my hands?”
Ellis stepped forward and popped the button free on her jeans before yanking the zipper down and sliding the pants to her knees. “Do your business and hurry it up.”
Humiliated beyond words, Laura took care of her bodily needs with the Seeker watching her every move.
“I’m finished,” she ground out, rising to her feet.
He yanked her jeans up and secured the zipper. “Move.”
Laura’s mind scrambled for something to say, anything to divert his attention away from returning her to that dreaded room. “Do you have anything to eat?”
“Not for you.” He gave her a little shove for emphasis.
“Please don’t put me back in there. I can’t feel my hands, and my shoulder is on fire.”
He suddenly spun her around to face him. “You can end your suffering at any time.”
“How?” Laura asked, hating the desperation in her voice.
“Call you friends, Angelo and Ember. Tell them that you are stranded on the side of the road and need their help.”
A smiling Lucius entered her mind, small and trusting. “I won’t do it.”
“We’ll see about that.” He grabbed hold of her arm and dragged her back into the room before tossing her onto the bed.
Pain sliced through her shoulders, wringing a cry from her lips.
“Did that hurt?” He turned her on her side and took hold of her bound hands. “How about this?”
Laura screamed as he lifted her arms high against her back. Something popped, spreading unbearable torment to her left shoulder. The room swam before her eyes until she saw no more.
* * * *
“Wake up, Miss Donovan.”
Laura recoiled from the sound of the Seeker’s voice.
She lay on her side, her hair covering her face. Unforgivable pain pierced her shoulder, throbbing in time with her heartbeat. She held her breath to keep from crying out and letting him know she was conscious.
Ellis brushed her hair back and gripped her chin in a crushing hold. “I know you’re awake.”
Laura’s eyes flew open. She tried to jerk free of his hold, but he only held on tighter. “Are you ready to talk yet?”
“Go to hell,” she spat, straining to keep her weight off her shoulder.
“It doesn’t have to be this way.” Ellis released her chin and quickly stood.
The sounds of his footsteps disappearing down the hall did little to ease her mind. She knew he’d return to hurt her again.
Laura rolled to her stomach and shimmied toward the edge of the bed. If she could somehow get to her feet, she might find a way out.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Ellis placed his booted foot against her broken shoulder and kicked.
A tormented scream escaped her as she landed on her back, twisting her injured shoulder in the process.
Laura wasn’t sure how much more she could take. She’d never hurt so bad in her life. “Ellis?” she panted, blinking up at him through her tears. “I’m begging you to let me go. I can get you money—”
“Shut up,” he snarled, backhanding her across the face.
Blood spread across her tongue from the cut on her lip. “Then kill me.”
Ellis tilted his head to the side. “What did you say?”
“I said kill me, you fuckhead. Do it and get it over with, because I’d sooner die than allow you to hurt Ember or her family.”
“You would give your life for a fiend?”
More tears spilled from Laura’s eyes. “She’s not a fiend. She’s a person with feelings, and has more heart than anyone I’ve ever known.”
The more she talked, the more she realized the truth in her words. Being vampires didn’t make them evil creatures of the undead. They had souls and were capable of tenderness and caring beyond most humans that Laura had ever known.
Her mind drifted to the night she’d spent in Shon’s arms. The gentleness in his touch, the passionat
e way he’d held her, caressed her. He’d shown her what it truly felt like to let go, to feel whole…to love.
And she did love him, she realized, staring up at the horrific images flashing on the ceiling. She always had.
Shon wasn’t capable of the inhumane torture that had been done to the girls in the slideshow. But Gina was, as well as the Seeker.
Ellis’s head suddenly appeared between her and the images moving across the ceiling. Before her eyes, he held a knife in his hand, turning it from side to side. “One last chance to make that call.”
“Fuck you.” Laura spat in his face.
Ellis swiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “I’m going to see that you suffer greatly for that.”
“Oh, God,” Laura breathed, glancing around the room in panic.
The breath exploded from her with the slam of his fist against her stomach. Her knees drew up on instinct as she emptied the contents of her stomach onto the bed.
Ellis wrapped a hand in her hair and jerked her head back. “There’s plenty more where that came from. The choice is yours. We can end this now, and you can go home. Make the call, Miss Donovan.”
“Rot in hell, you impotent piece of shit,” Laura wheezed, gasping for air. “You’re wasting your time.”
A fist connected with her jaw, sending her into blessed darkness once again.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Shon stepped from the shower and dressed in record time. He checked in on his still-sleeping brother before trailing off toward the kitchen. He found Ember standing next to the refrigerator, pouring them both a glass of wine.
“Who knew vampires would be such alcoholics,” Shon muttered, accepting the glass she held up.
Ember smiled. “Makes no sense. We can’t even catch a buzz. I think it’s the taste of it. It lingers on the tongue as a reminder of what once was.”
“Don’t go all philosophical on me, cousin.” He took a long drink. “Have you heard from Laura?”
Ember shook her head. “That’s what I came over here to ask you. She’s not answering my calls or texts.”
“She’s pissed at me.” Finishing off his wine, Shon extended his empty glass toward Ember. “One more?”
Ember poured him a hefty sum. “What did you do this time?”
“I left her a note after we had sex, pretty much telling her I’d had a good time, but that she needed to be gone before I returned.”
The crack of Ember’s palm across his cheek, though well deserved, was unexpected. Shon ground his teeth, biting back his anger. “It’s not what you think, Em.”
“Really? Why don’t you tell me what the hell else it could be? How could you hurt her that way?”
Setting his glass down on the counter, he rubbed at his weary eyes. “I never meant to hurt her. Last night was the best night of my life, Em. I had finally gotten everything I’d ever wanted. And then Angel showed up to inform me that the elders had been called in. Gina already had Laura’s parents. I wasn’t about to endanger her any more by exposing her to the elders.”
Ember’s expression softened. “So, you sent her away to protect her.”
“Yes, but she doesn’t know that. She thinks I used her. It’s killing me inside to know that I hurt her, Em.”
“I’m so sorry.” Ember wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight.
Shon pulled back to look into his cousin’s eyes. “She’ll never forgive me.”
Ember shook her head. “Not true. I’ll keep calling until she picks up. I’ll talk to her, Shon. Once she understands why you wrote the note—”
“No,” Shon interrupted. “She has to believe it’s true until the danger has passed. I can’t have her coming back here right now. Not while Gina is still alive.”
“I agree, but I have to tell her something.”
Shon snagged a rubber band off the counter and pulled his hair back into a ponytail. “Not about me. But it wouldn’t hurt to go check on her. I’m sure she’s talked to her parents by now and knows they’re safe.”
Ember finished her glass of wine. “Angel won’t let me go anywhere with Gina on the loose, but I can send Nita to Laura’s house with a note to call me. I’ll make sure it says urgent.”
“Thanks, Em. You’re the best.” Shon kissed his cousin on the cheek and drifted off toward the master bedroom to grab his boots. His brother should be waking soon, and God only knew what would happen when John realized he’d been drugged.
A snarl came from the guest room, telling Shon that his twin had awoken. He blurred his way to the open door. “John?”
John bounded from the bed, crouching low, fangs elongated. “What have you done?”
Shon slowly extended his arms out to his sides in a show of trust. “I saved your life. Now if you would be so kind as to have a seat, I’ll be more than happy to explain what’s going on.”
“You have no idea what you’ve done.” John’s frantic gaze darted around the room. “I have to go back.”
Lowering his arms, Shon stared at his twin, this stranger that looked so much like him without the long hair. “You can’t go back. She’ll have you killed.”
“I don’t care!” John shouted, taking a step toward the door Shon blocked.
Shon’s body tightened on instinct. “Well, I care. I can’t allow you to return to that sadistic bitch, John. Not gonna happen.”
John slammed into Shon with enough force that he flew across the hall, shattering the sheetrock behind him.
He gripped Shon’s neck. “I will kill you myself if you do not stay down.”
“She’s brainwashed you, John. Fight it. I know you’re still in there. I can see it in your eyes.”
John’s gaze briefly softened, before turning to ice once again. “John is dead, brother. Nothing is left in this shell of a body but what remains of my heart. And it beats for no one but Roxie.”
Shon blinked up at him. “Who is Roxie?”
“My mate. And if I don’t return at once, Gina will drain her dry.”
“She’s human?”
“For now,” John growled, releasing Shon’s neck and jumping to his feet.
Shon bounded up also. “Then let me help you.”
“You’ve done enough damage already. You’re going to get us all killed.”
“I’m not afraid of Calimari,” Shon snarled, holding his brother’s gaze.
“You should be.” John spun toward the door, jerked it open, and disappeared into the night.
Shon grabbed his key off the counter and darted down the steps to his motorcycle. The roar of the engine split the night as he kick-started the bike and sped out of the parking lot in search of his brother.
There was only one place that John would go…back to Gina.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Laura had never hurt as much as she did in that moment. Pain throbbed in nearly every place in her body.
She attempted to open her eyes without success. They were swollen shut.
The insistent screaming continued throughout the room, preventing her from hearing the sounds of Ellis’s presence.
With every ounce of strength she possessed, Laura strained to see through a narrow crack between the lids of her left eye. She was alone in the room.
A shudder passed through her as she gritted her teeth and attempted to roll to her side.
Searing agony shot through her shoulder and stomach with every inch she managed to scoot to the side of the bed.
Laura rolled off the edge, landing face down on the carpet. She could no more hold back the cry that burst forth than she could stop the blood from seeping into the only eye she could see from.
Using her chin against the mattress for leverage, she wiped her face on the sheet, clearing the blood from her eye, and awkwardly got to her feet.
She tilted her head back to get a visual of the room. Both windows were boarded up, leaving her no way out but the door.
Laura clenched her teeth against the agony slicing through her body and st
umbled toward the closed door.
After several steadying breaths, she pressed her ear against the door and listened for several heartbeats before turning her body and twisting the knob. It opened without a hitch.
Please don’t be out there, she silently prayed before staggering down the hall to the bathroom.
Laura bit down to stop her teeth from chattering, all the while listening for signs of the Seeker.
She hooked her shoe on the cabinet beneath the sink and toed it open. Finding it empty save for a few rolls of toilet tissue, she tried one of the three drawers running down the side of the cabinet door.
Scissors. She nearly cried in relief.
Twisting her body around, she inched down to her knees and attempted to pick up the scissors, but her fingers were too numb to move.
Come on. You can do this, she mentally chanted, forcing her hand open with everything she had.
The scrape of the scissors across the bottom of the drawer told her she’d snagged them.
Slowly straightening her knees, she watched in the mirror as she managed to open the scissors and twist them to the correct position.
Laura began to cut through the ropes. She cried, begged God to help her, and after excruciating minutes of sawing away at her bonds, the rope finally severed.
Another cry surfaced with the rush of stinging sensations attacking her hands. The more the feeling returned the more agonizing it became.
“Bitch!” Ellis shouted, the sound of his footballs growing louder as he neared the bathroom.
Laura pressed her back against the wall and held the scissors in a death grip in front of her.
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion after that. As if she were watching it from afar.
Ellis flew into the bathroom, eyes wild and full of fury. He threw up his hands a second too late as Laura screamed and buried the scissors in his shoulder before shoving him forward and falling out into the hallway.
She scrambled to her feet and ran with everything inside her. She ran for her life and for the lives of everyone she cared for. Including Shon.
Shon (The Seeker Series Book 2) Page 10
