Malaika formed fire in her hands, but each time she formed a ball of it, she had to use it against an attacker. There was no time to use it to help her find Jonah in the darkness. She felt him though, somehow felt he was alive. So was her mother, who didn't stop screaming. But the attackers, and there were many of them, paid her no attention.
She struck again and again with the fireballs, hoping Jake would burst into the room at any moment to save them, but if he had, she couldn't sense it.
There was a loud cracking sound behind her and alarm slit through her heart. Jonah was hurt. Bad. She felt the darkness closing in around him as if it were her own body succumbing to unconsciousness. “Jonah!”
“I'm afraid your boyfriend can't respond now,” came a dark voice from before her. Tremors danced over her skin at the familiar sound. It was the voice of the vampire who'd attacked her in the abandoned building. The vampire who'd abused her mother for years, destroying her innocence.
She judged his distance by the sound of his heavy breath, and spit into his face a second before pain exploded against her temple.
TWELVE
Coldness invaded Malaika's senses first, followed by stiffness. She cracked open her eyelids but couldn't see a thing through the haze of pain.
“She's awake.”
She tensed at the deep gravelly sound of a male voice, her only relief the fact that it didn't sound like the voice of the vampire who'd attacked her before. Her grandfather.
“Should we tell Xander?”
“We were only instructed to watch them.”
Them? Malaika narrowed her eyes, straining. About six feet before her stood two tall, blurred forms. One lean and lanky, the other pretty beefy. As her eyes focused, she saw the gleam of the men's eyes. One was focused on her. The other man's head was directed toward her right, where a soft groan rumbled. She followed the sound and found another man, bent over, on his knees. His arms were raised up, his wrists bound with thick rope to a post at his back. He slowly, as if the mere action heightened his pain, looked up until their eyes met. Despite the deep gash over his right eye, he was the most beautiful sight she'd ever laid eyes on.
“Jonah.”
“Mel.” His head lowered, another groan escaped him. “I feel like I just went toe-to-toe with a truck.”
The men before them chuckled, obviously proud of the beating they'd subjected them to. Anger rekindled itself in Malaika's chest. “Were either of you bastards the ones who knocked us out?”
“Maybe,” came the amused reply from the lanky one. “Why?”
“Oh, I'd just like to know who to kill slower.”
Both men laughed. “And how are you going to do that?” Beefy asked.
Malaika smiled, slow and deadly as she reached inside for her power, and came up with nothing. Looking down, she discovered why the men were so amused by the thought of her doing anything. She was wrapped in another witch's net.
“Don't provoke them,” came a warning from her left, and she turned her head to see an older man tethered to a post just like Jonah. “They'll only hurt you more, the monsters.”
Familiarity struck and Malaika frowned, trying to place the voice. The man was in or around his fifties, with long, gray hair and a hook-like nose. He looked up then and despite the swollen condition of his eyes, she recognized the lower portion of his face. “You're the fisherman I saw in my vision.”
His eyes widened, but just barely due to the condition they were in, before he nodded. “You are psychic too?”
“Yes.”
“Then they'll probably kill you slowly as well, making sure you're completely drained first.”
Fear clogged Malaika's throat as she twisted her head around to look at Jonah. His head was raised, his eyes locked on hers.
“No one will hurt you,” he promised. “I swear with my life.”
The men guarding them laughed. “Listen to the mighty warrior. Tell me, human, what do you plan to do to protect your woman while your hands are tied above you?”
Jonah glared at the lanky man who'd spoke the taunt, his eyes parlaying his dark threat. The man heckling him actually swallowed, clearly unnerved by Jonah's intent. “The last man who tied me up and beat me was just as cocky as you until my brother and his friends burst through the door and blew his ass apart.”
“Your brother will not save you this time.” The lanky guard smiled, showing deadly teeth. He was one of the were-hyenas. “Xander is smarter than the man who last held you captive.”
“That's why you're enslaved to him?”
The men bristled at Jonah's comment. “We are not slaves.”
“Please. You're were-hyenas. Filthy, stupid creatures who can't even exist on your own. You have to be baby-sat by higher life forms so as not to totally screw yourselves.” Jonah shook his head. “It's actually quite sad. All that brawn and not an iota of brain power to back it up. That's probably why it was so easy for me to kill two of your pack.”
The beefy guard took a step forward, but was held back by the lanky guard. “Xander will take care of him.”
“Xander?” Jonah laughed out loud. “What a bunch of pussies. Yes, let Xander take care of me, the weak human. Hell, I don't even think you things come with dicks.”
Both men rushed toward him and Malaika's breath caught in her lungs. What the hell was Jonah doing? She surveyed the room, looking for something, anything to help him, but the room they were in was a basic cell. Hard floors and walls. No décor, no furniture. Besides the table far in front of them which held the weapons Jonah had carried on him before they were taken. She fought against the witch's net and found it gave a little, but not enough for her to do much. Like incinerate the beasts rushing at Jonah. Now that would have been useful. She couldn't call fire. Or wind. The earth was easiest, she remembered, and was hit with a brilliant idea. She was interrupted before she could put it in action.
“Stop!”
Malaika jerked toward the powerful man standing at the room's only door, and recognized him instantly. After all, she'd had a child with him.
The two beasts stopped, growling as they backed away. Jonah paid them no attention, completely focused on the vampire entering the room. The man who'd stolen what was rightfully his.
He'd jumped up as the beasts rushed him, and found though he was tethered to the pole sticking out of the ground, he could still move most of his body. Now his arms were at an awkward angle, but his hands were hidden behind his body, out of view. He half-squatted, half-stood and worked at the rope binding him as the vampire approached Malaika.
“The human is not to be killed yet,” Craig stated firmly, his eyes never leaving Malaika. He reached out and caressed her face with the back of his hand, ripping a roar of disapproval from Jonah.
The vampire turned his gaze toward him then, his eyes dark and full of hate. Jonah quit working the rope as he approached, unsure how observant vampires were, if he could tell his hands were moving behind him. He rose to his full height, knowing doing so would further hide his hands behind his body, and ignored the pain shooting through his arms.
“I should peel your skin from your bones,” the vampire said, stopping in front of him so they were face to face. “You should have never touched what is mine.”
“I could tell you the same.”
Craig's eyes narrowed. “Malaika has discovered the truth then?”
“That you saw our future together and screwed with her real fate? Yeah, she knows you're a lying, cheating dick.”
A grin tugged at the corner of the vampire's mouth, but his eyes remained dead. “I gave her what you never could. And you'll never take it from me.”
Jonah frowned, wondering what the vamp was talking about. “The only thing you gave her was pain and heartache. Distrust. Abandonment. Danger.”
Craig grinned fully now. “She hasn't told you everything.”
“Craig, don't.” Malaika pleaded with the vampire, distraught. Jonah turned his face toward her to see tears glistening in her
eyes. “Please.”
What the hell had she seen?
Craig threw back his head and laughed before turning his gaze toward her. “How sweet. Stand by your man, and all that. Except you forget, I am your man.”
“You stole me from my man and you damn well know it. Haven't you hurt us enough?”
Craig's body tensed, his eyes warmed with rage. “You did not mind. Every time I tasted you, filled your body with—”
White-hot rage filled Jonah and he jumped, ignoring the pain threatening to tear his arms apart as he brought his legs up and kicked the vampire with all the strength he had.
Craig went flying backward, a grunt of pain torn from him before he regained his footing, turning lethal eyes on Jonah. “You miserable waste of flesh.”
“Craig, don't!”
Malaika's cry went ignored as the vampire charged, ramming his fist into Jonah's stomach hard enough to steal the breath from his lungs. Jonah bent forward, reacting to the blow, and fought back bile. He wouldn't give the vampire the satisfaction of throwing up, even though doing so on the bastard's feet was tempting.
“Craig! Stop!”
The vampire backed away, and Jonah pulled himself back up, discreetly tugging at his restraints. They gave a little slack. Not long now, and the bastard was his.
“Leave us.”
Malaika watched as the were-hyena guards followed the command, sniffing at her as they passed. She cringed at the realization they probably wanted to chew on her like they had the bodies of the victims she'd seen in her visions.
Craig stepped toward her, his gaze unwavering. A predator stalking his prey. A cold chill trembled up her spine, but she ignored it, looking past Craig to study Jonah. Craig had delivered a hard blow, one that could have killed a lesser man, but the Porters were made of strong stuff. Which Jonah proved by simply being able to stand. He didn't look at her, but at Craig, the promise of death in his eyes.
“I do not understand you,” Craig said, his tone genuinely laced with confusion as he knelt down to her level. “I gave you everything he could not, yet you still feel such strong emotion for him.”
Malaika met the gaze of the man who'd raided her mind for information without her knowledge, changed her fate for his own personal gain and then preceded to harm the daughter he'd claimed to love. Her stomach churned with self-disgust. How could she have been so blind? “Jonah can give me love. I don't think you even know how to do that.”
His eyes widened. “I have always loved you, Malaika. I wouldn't have changed the course of your life if I did not love you.”
“Wanting to control someone is not the same as loving them,” she all but growled. “If you saw my future, you saw my love for him. You took that from me.”
“I gave you something he never could.” He grinned. “Do not tell me you would trade that in in order to have him in your life?”
“What the fuck is he talking about?” Jonah asked, irritated.
“I'm talking about you not being a man,” Craig stated, sparing a glance in Jonah's direction to gauge his reaction. “You could never give her a child, but I could, and did.”
Malaika sucked in a breath, bracing herself for Jonah's reaction. Her visions had already shown her the pain he'd endured with the knowledge he couldn't give her a child. He looked at her now, mouth open, eyes questioning.
“Malaika?”
She closed her eyes, fighting back hot tears. She didn't want to have this conversation. Not now, not here with the father of her child taunting him. “It doesn't matter, Jonah.”
“Yes, Jonah. It does not matter that you are not even half the man I am,” Craig taunted him further. “I was nice enough to fill her womb with a child, something your useless, sterile dick could not—”
Malaika kicked out and found the witch's net had weakened enough to allow her to move that much. Her foot found Craig's chest and propelled him backward. He landed on his rump with a look of surprise. The surprise grew as she stood and shook off the silvery remnants of the net. “Leave him alone. He is more of a man than you will ever be, and I loved him, even without a child. The only good thing I can say about you is you gave me Deja. I'll always be grateful for that, but even giving me a child could never make me choose you over him.”
Applause erupted from her right, and Malaika turned to see her grandfather standing in the doorway, his smile lending no warmth to his eyes. They were cold and dead. Evil. “I must say, it does fill my chest with pride to have such a powerful witch in my get. That net should have contained your physical movements longer.”
Malaika's stomach rolled again, this time with the knowledge she was related to the beast crossing the room toward her. She waited for him to approach so she could spit in his face again, then remembered what she'd been doing before the attack. And what he'd done to Helen all those years ago. “Where is my mother? What have you done with her? And how the hell did you get into my apartment?”
He waved a hand dismissively. “The wonderful thing about apartment buildings is that once you gain permission from a landlord, you can get inside any apartment you like, and your mother is of no importance. I left her there.”
Malaika studied his face, tried to gauge whether he was being dishonest with her. After all, the man had enjoyed torturing her mother during her childhood. “I saw what you did to her, you sick bastard.”
He grinned. “She may have been of no importance, but I cannot deny she was a tasty morsel. The scent of her fear as I invaded her was like ambrosia.”
Malaika swung her arm, determined to slap the grin off his face, but her wrist caught in his steel grip. “Now, now, little witch. Did your mother not teach you to respect your elders?”
“How the hell did you father her?”
He chuckled, letting go of her. “It's simple birds and bees, my dear. And, obviously, I didn't take the leap into immortality until after she'd been conceived.”
“You're not immortal,” Jonah stated. “Just harder to kill.”
Her grandfather—who she now realized was the Xander the were-hyenas had mentioned—looked at Jonah in amusement. “And I presume you think you'll be the one to prove that?”
“I don't see why not.”
Xander chuckled again. “Your human amuses me.”
“Too bad we're going to kill him once we figure what it is about him that makes him immune to our mind-hold,” Craig interjected, now standing.
Xander shot him a look of annoyance. “I'm not so sure of that. A man with such a strong lock on his mind could be a powerful warrior for our cause.”
“He's the brother of a slayer. He'll never take the change,” Craig argued.
“You are far too new a vampire to have any idea what you speak of,” Xander snapped, “and a mad vampire can be very worthwhile if properly controlled. Unlike those bleeding hearts who saved him once before, I care not how many innocents my creations destroy.”
“What are you talking about?” Malaika asked, her palms growing clammy. She couldn't let them change Jonah into what they were. “What do you need an army for?”
Xander's eyes gleamed as they fell upon her. “You already know of the Blood Revelation. Why else would you have a vision of helping a vampire couple give birth?” He narrowed his eyes on her and his mouth split into a smile. “Don't deny it. I've overheard enough of you and Craig's little chat in here to know you've regained what he took from you. Imagine my surprise when, while hunting, I found a new psychic to induct into my army, and raided his mind, only to see images of my own flesh and blood.”
Malaika cast a glance at Craig and he looked away, his face coloring. Out of shame? Did he actually have a fragment of conscience left?
“Not only did I see you, my granddaughter, a powerful yet untrained witch, but I saw the man you were supposed to have been with before Craig here got a little greedy and changed your course.” He cut Craig a glance, and gave him a nod of approval. “You see, I've seen your human before.” He chuckled at Malaika's surprise. “Th
ere was a man who tried to invent an immortality serum by experimenting on vampires. He tried to catch me, but failed. My curiosity was, however, piqued, so I followed his doings. Your human was abducted by him and rescued by a slayer and a group of vampires, along with the woman—now a vampire—you envision giving birth.”
Malaika shook her head, trying to clear it. “I don't understand. Jonah and I have nothing to do with this Blood Revelation. We're not the chosen.”
Xander rolled his eyes, displeased with her. “No, but you know who the chosen are, and can lead me to them.”
She swallowed hard, and carefully sequestered all thought of Rialto and Aria behind the silver wall in her mind. She shoved Nyla in there as well, for safe measure. “Craig changed my future. Those visions don't mean anything now. Changing the events of my life changed everything.”
Xander laughed. “No, my dear. You can play with fate but what is predestined has a way of happening no matter what anyone does to obstruct it. You did meet the man you truly desired after all, did you not?”
Malaika looked at Jonah, her heart racing. He had a point, and was too clever for her to pull a bluff on him. Shit. “We found each other because of the murders. You led us to each other.”
“No, I did not. Fate led you to one another.”
“Then why the murders?” She shook her head, confused. “Why did you leave the bodies behind, knowing we'd follow? You knew what you were doing.”
“I told you, I was—and still am—building my army for the upcoming war between the light and the dark. My siren snares the psychics, bringing them to me. If they are strong enough to take the change, I turn them into pranic vampires, as I did with Craig. If they aren't, I kill them and let the were-hyenas feed.” He shrugged. “It keeps them from running loose, killing senselessly. As annoying as they can be, they are good guard-dogs, and we need all the force we can acquire. You sensing Craig during the attacks and following him was not planned, but a rather convenient bonus. I must say, I'm rather pleased with the way it worked out.”
Witch's Net Page 20
