by Marie Dry
Mikaela didn’t react to her words. “He didn’t even notice you’d gone.”
“Why isn’t he with you?” Sabrina asked. She tried hard to sound jealous and sad. Frightened of whatever force had control over these women.
Mikaela continued, as if she responded to a conversation happening on a different plane than the one Sabrina existed in. “Everyone knows he has so little regard for you that he never goes home with you.”
Sabrina had never known you could feel so much pity for another human being that your body ached with it. This, sad desperate person used to be her best friend. No, this was her best friend. If it was the last thing she did, Sabrina would find a way to help her. She’d use Mark the way he planned to use her and make him help Mikaela.
“Jo,” Mikaela spat, a truly ugly look on her face, and glared at the door.
Sabrina leaned her head back against the headrest of the chair. Her knee and her body ached. Her heart ached, too, and she could feel tears welling in her eyes. They’d sworn to be friends for life.
She wanted to keep that promise, wanted Mikaela to have a long happy life.
Mark appeared in the doorway. Mikaela lit up and hurried over to him. Jo, who’d appeared in the doorway first, glared at Mikaela.
“Darling, you simply have to dance with me.” It was frightening how normal Mikaela suddenly sounded.
“Why would you want to dance with her?” Jo sneered.
For a long moment he locked eyes with Sabrina. She lifted her chin. Tried to look disdainful and hurt.
Some strange emotion flashed over his face, and she thought he would send Mikaela away. Then his lips twisted into a hard cruel slash. He held out his arm to Mikaela and led her inside and, even knowing why he did it, it still hurt. Jo hurried after them, her fingers curled into claws.
Sabrina had thought. when she met Mark, that they had the kind of love her cousin Jennifer and her fiancé Christopher had. Now Sabrina had to face the fact that they had nothing. All those memories of them meeting and their beautiful wedding were implanted. Not real. Fake
She’d tried not to become bitter after her mother and Jennifer’s deaths, a long and harsh battle. It was only when she met Mark that she started to accept their deaths, because she’d believed meeting Mark had changed her inability to love. To open her heart to be hurt. Instead, he’d used mind control to crash through all her hangups and make her feel what he needed. Fury and a bone deep ache struggled for supremacy.
Careful of her knee, her hands clenched, she got up and limped over to the door. Mark appeared out of nowhere and took her elbow to assist her.
“Where’re Jo and Mikaela.”
“Not here,” he said, so soft she could barely hear him.
He escorted her outside, where Samuel waited for them. Without a word, he helped her into the car. They traveled in silence, and she sensed he didn’t want to tell her. She almost laughed, but, if she started, she’d laugh and laugh and turn into a hysterical maniac. “Tell me, Mark.”
He sighed. “They definitely got hold of her, but she’s still in there, still fighting them.”
“You have to help her.”
“I’ll try.”
She turned and glared at him. “No, you will help her, I don’t care how and who you have to sell your soul to, but you have to help her.”
She turned and looked at the cars in front of them, their red backlights blurring. Not Mikaela, those monsters wouldn’t take her friend as well. “You’ll understand if I expect you to sleep in the spare room tonight.” It was tempting to kick him out, but she was scared to be on her own. She was mad at him, but not stupid. If he could block her from the drogge, she was sticking as close as she could bear with his betrayal fresh in her mind.
The moment the car stopped in front of their colorful house, Mark stiffened. He and Samuel communicated in that silent way they had, and then Mark turned to her.
“Something’s wrong. Stay in the car.”
“Where--”
He was gone.
“He’s inside the house, I know it. Shouldn’t you go in and help him?” she said to Samuel, who stayed behind the wheel.
“He doesn’t need my help, and my job is keeping you safe.”
She was about to tell him she knew he didn’t care about her and make him go and help, when Mark appeared outside and opened the door for her. One look at his grim face, and she knew something terrible had happened in her house.
Chapter 10
“Humans,” he said to Samuel.
The tension in the car eased. Samuel’s shoulders relaxed. If he relaxed because whatever had been done in her house had been done by humans, why was Mark so tense and angry?
He touched her arm through the open window and they materialized in her workroom. Or what used to be her workroom.
Her legs collapsed beneath her. If Mark hadn’t grabbed hold of her, she’d have fallen to the ground. Around her, everything she valued was broken and strewn all over the place. The world tilted around her, for one terrible moment it felt as if the walls came alive and slapped her. She saw Mark’s mouth move, but couldn’t hear what he said. Inside, it felt as if some vicious troll had scraped her raw. This room, this place, was the one space she still felt her mother and grandmother. This was where she came for solace, to replenish her soul.
“Who?” she managed to whisper through desert-dry lips, her tongue swollen as if the moisture had been drained out of it. She followed his glance to the wall. In big red childish letters, two words were written on the wall. Vampire’s hawr.
She whimpered and stumbled back, and he steadied her. Each letter dripped wet and dramatic, looking as if it melted toward the floor.
She shuddered. “Please tell me that’s not blood.”
“It’s not human blood. It smells like cow’s blood.”
She didn’t even want to know how he managed to smell the difference. “Who did this? Was it the drogge?” No, he’d told Samuel it was humans.
He put his arms around her and sighed. “There are amateur vampire hunting societies all over the world. Every now and then, some of them get lucky and find a real vampire. They tend to be over zealous.”
“How did they find you?”
She felt him shrug against her. “Who knows?” he said.
“You’ve been out in daylight. Why would they suspect you of being a vampire?”
He led her out of the room and she went willingly. Tomorrow she’d clean it up, see what she could salvage. Tonight, she didn’t have the energy. This on top of all the other revelations was just too much to process. He steered her toward the bedroom she would never again share with him.
“Normally, I am careful to hide how fast I can move, to be careful not to let my wings appear. Searching for the drogge is more important, at this stage, than appearing human. Some amateurs must have seen me do something that convinced them I’m a vampire.”
“Why do you call them amateurs? They found you, after all.”
“There are real vampire hunters, and they don’t waste their time leaving messages on the wall. They--”
Sabrina held up her hand. “I don’t want to know.”
He looked around, focused on the window. “Samuel found the window they got through. They must have had kids with them. What worries me is that they managed to get inside while I paid for a protection spell.”
“Maybe it didn’t work or it wore off,” Sabrina said. Normally, she’d be concerned about her wooden windows, now she just couldn’t make herself care.
He shook his head, looking grim. “More likely a witch thought she’d get away with cheating me.”
Sabrina shivered. She didn’t want to be that witch when Mark caught up with her. After what they’d done to her workroom and her grandmother’s things, Sabrina couldn’t work up a lot of sympathy. She moved toward the bed. “I’m going to sleep now. The bed in the spare bedroom is made.”
“I’m not leaving you alone, Sabrina. I won’t touch you if you don’t
want me to, but I’m staying in here with you. With the glamor not working, I don’t trust something else not to come through the window and grab you.”
Sabrina didn’t relish that thought either, but he wasn’t her husband, and she wasn’t about to forgive him and allow him back into her bed. “Fine, then you sleep on the floor.”
He jerked a shoulder. “I’ve slept in worst places on harder surfaces.”
He shrugged out of his jacket and shoes and, rolling a towel, lay down on his back. Sabrina put out the light and lay down. She wouldn’t worry about him sleeping on the hard floor. For all she knew, he was messing with her mind right now, and he was lying comfortable next to her, while she thought he slept on the floor. She closed her eyes, rolled over, and went to sleep.
She woke when he drew open the curtains and sunlight spilled over the bed. “Get dressed, we’re going for a drive.”
She held up a hand in front of her eyes and blinked against the sun shining in. “Where?”
“A wine farm.”
Six months ago, she’d have looked forward to do some wine tasting with him. The Cape was known for its wine routes to farms whose vineyards were descended from French grape vine cuttings, brought to the Cape by French Huegenot’s in the late seventeen hundreds. She’d been planning to surprise him with a trip. Now she feared it had something to do with the evil stalking her city. “I don’t really want to go anywhere with you,” she told him.
“I really don’t care. You’re coming with me,” he said.
They left an hour later, after a silent breakfast. The loss of her workroom was a constant ache. Coupled with the knowledge of how he’d lied to her, it was just a miserable morning. Even the fact that Wolf now seemed to like her didn’t brighten the day.
“Why are we going to the gargoyles?” She recognized the road they’d traveled the day he came to collect her after they captured her. Fear gripped her throat until she could barely breathe. Even with Mark there, she feared they’d grab her and put her in chains again. Though if the drogge wouldn’t look for her in their cellar, maybe she should beg them to capture her again.
“I promised you I’d help your friend.”
She could sense he was tense. As if he braced himself to give her bad news.
“You found a way to help her?” she asked. She had the strangest feeling that she wouldn’t like what was about to happen.
His hands fisted on his muscled thighs. “No guarantees, Sabrina. This is her only chance.”
Sabrina tilted her head. For a moment there, she’d thought she heard a muffled sound. But it was quiet. She shrugged and focused on their conversation. “And the other women? Can you help them? Jo?” She wanted to sound detached, but she knew he could hear the wounds in her voice. If this upset a strong man like Mark, if the drogge could scare him, what chance did Mikaela have?
“This is more serious than I realized. Jo is too far gone. The police are keeping it quiet, but this week alone more than fifty women disappeared.”
“How awful,” she whispered. Those women had families. She’d heard reports of missing women on the news. But fifty women in a week. “Can you find them?”
He didn’t reply. The huge farmhouse loomed in front of them, and Samuel slowed the car.
Sabrina shivered and clutched her arms around herself. She’d never be able to look at it without remembering the chains and that cold cellar. “I’m going to need a weapon. If they turn on us, the two of you won’t stand a chance against them,” she said.
“We won’t have to fight our way out. Just make sure you stay close to me.” His eyes narrowed on something outside the window. “Remember, the gargoyle’s favorite tactic is to pick up their enemy in their claws and drop them from a great height.”
“I need a gun,” she insisted.
“They won’t try anything with me. I’d kill too many of them. Their numbers are small and they don’t like to expose themselves to any danger that might lessen their numbers.
The driveway to the house was lined with poplar trees, but she saw no sign of the gargoyles. “I wonder why they don’t have any guards.”
He didn’t glance around. “They saw us coming and have been accompanying us for the last hour. Not even satellites or camera’s will pick them up if they don’t wish it.”
It saddened her, the way he talked of his people as them. “Do you see yourself as a gargoyle or vampire?”
“Since I am accepted by neither group, I don’t see myself as either one.” The very expressionless way he said it, told her how much their rejection of him hurt.
The sun was up and shining down on the landscape around them, the white farmhouse so bright in the sun, it hurt her eyes.
But, instead of being bright and cheerful, the sun felt harsh and unforgiving. When they passed through the white painted arch with the old slave clock hanging from it, it was as if they went through an invisible barrier. Suddenly, gargoyles were everywhere. Some sitting on the gables, some flying around, and some walking on the ground. She blinked, but the strange picture didn’t change.
Most of them appeared like dark threatening shadows. Some perched on the roof, so still they might’ve been statues.
They stopped. Samuel got out and opened her door. She couldn’t help wishing they’d brought a few weapons. Maybe a canon and a getaway helicopter.
“Can gargoyles fly faster than a helicopter?”
“Yes,” Mark said, only giving her a brief curious glance. All his attention was on the front door.
Thailog came out to meet them. He towered over the other gargoyles and today she thought he looked especially mean. Mark was big, but the gargoyle dwarfed him. Still, she could see caution in the way Thailog approached them.
“What do you want on my territory, hunter?” His voice rumbled over his lips and over the vineyards to settle in the mountains as a faint echo.
Sabrina thought it especially creepy and knew he did it on purpose. When he’d kidnapped her, his voice didn’t resonate like that.
Mark stepped slightly in front of Sabrina. “Careful, Thailog, I haven’t forgotten the reason for our previous meeting.”
Thailog crossed muscled arms over his massive chest. “What do you want, half pint?”
“Don’t call him that.” Sabrina couldn’t stand the way they treated Mark. She tried to get out from behind Mark, but he held her back with one arm. Not wanting him to be focused on her when he should keep an eye on the gargoyles, she stilled. One day she’d get her chance, and then she’d get to hurt Thailog.
“You owe me,” Mark said with undisturbed calm.
Thailog looked at Sabrina and smiled. Fear immobilized her. She wanted to run away, but she couldn’t move. Thailog looked behind her and did a double take.
A strange muffled sound came again, like an animal in pain, and Sabrina frowned, trying to figure out what it was she heard.
She turned toward the car and her mouth fell open. Samuel lifted a bound and gagged Mikaela out of the boot of the car. She was dressed in a skimpy black dress and high heels. Her hands were tied and her eyes covered. Several of the gargoyles gave wolf whistles.
Realization dawned and Sabrina swallowed nausea. “Please, you can’t do this. It’s inhuman. How do you expect me to live with my conscience?”
Mark tilted her chin up so that he could look down into her eyes. “You do not have to live with this. This is for my conscience only.”
“Why did you blindfold her?”
“If I uncover her eyes, the drogge may see what she does.”
Thailog threw back his head and laughed uproariously. “I like it. It’s been centuries since I owned a human woman. I’m going to enjoy this.” He made a motion with his head and two gargoyles took the struggling Mikaela inside.
“No, don’t do this to me. What are these things? Sabrina, I know you’re here, help me. You’re my friend. Please, please help me.” Her voice rang with desperation and she kicked and screamed all the way into the house.
; Sabrina rushed forward, but Mark stopped her with a hand around her upper arm.
“No.” While she struggled to help Mikaela, Mark calmly turned toward Thailog. “You will help her, restore her mind, and strengthen her shields.”
“Why should I?”
“They’re on the move.”
Thailog abruptly straightened, all good humor leaving him. He looked around, the gargoyles were suddenly on alert. “Why are you telling me?”
“You help me, or I take my woman on a long vacation and leave the drogge to consume your little kingdom,” Mark said with a bite in his voice that said he would do exactly that.
Sabrina had to clench her teeth not to beg him to take her on a vacation, away from all this craziness. For one weak moment, she considered agreeing to act as if they were married if only it would keep her safe.
“I can protect my territory.”
“Not against them. We both know you need me to hunt the drogge.”
“And in return for you hunting them, I have to heal their acolyte when you won’t even heal your own woman?” He sent such a look of distaste and then fury at Mikaela, that Sabrina instinctively surged forward to protect her friend. Mark held her back.
“I know you can’t heal her, I don’t expect that from you. But you can help break their hold on her mind. I got to her fast enough.”
“If I do this, you promise to wipe the drogge from my city?” Thailog asked.
“No one has wiped them out for centuries,” Mark said. “If it can be done, I will do it.”
“It’s not your city,” Sabrina mumbled.
He acted as if he was king of all he surveyed. They both ignored her.
Thailog cocked his head, wings appearing from his back and his skin and clothes turning to stone. “Deal.”
“Sabrina get in the car,” Mark said.
Keeping a wary eye on the gargoyles, she ran to the car and got in.
