“Cara!” he bellowed and began running in the opposite direction.
That’s when I heard Nixie’s voice further inside. “Back off, vampy, before I turn you into a mosquito.” Then she screamed and I took off in the opposite direction that Jaxon had run.
With every step I took, the sinking feeling that we were in deep shit was getting worse. I knew we should have stuck together, but I couldn’t stop myself. Nixie was calling my name, and I had to get to her. I had to kill whoever was harming my friend.
Opening doors down the never-ending hallway, I found more of the same shit. Beds, garbage, and junk—things that were of no importance to me when people I loved were in danger.
Frustrated, I punched the wall, but then freaked the hell out when my hand went through it. Yanking it back, there wasn’t a hole where there should have been, and when I pressed against, there was no give.
“What in the actual hell?” I murmured.
“Oh, sweet Cara. This isn’t hell, but you’re going to wish it was by the time we’re done with you,” a deep, tantalizing voice cooed. “Welcome home.”
The walls shifted, the space around me opening up into a formal dining room straight out of an old mansion, with cream walls, several pillars, a table big enough for twenty or more, and plenty of vampires standing around.
My magic pulled to the surface as I searched around for Jaxon and Nixie, neither of whom could be found. “Where are my friends?”
“A demon, dryad, and fairy? Some friends you keep, my dear. Just know they’re not coming to save you. They’re still in their own little hell trying to save you,” a vampire with pale skin and short blond hair said as he took a step forward. “My name is Demetri Luccovino. It’s nice to meet you, Cara Simmons.”
“How do you know who I am?” I countered.
He shook his head in displeasure. “You’re not a stupid girl, are you? It would be rather disappointing if so. We are the Luccovinos. It’s our job to know everyone who needs to be known, and you are a rather interesting specimen if I do say so myself.”
The last time I’d attempted to use my manipulation on a vampire, it hadn’t worked, but screw it. I really had no other options. “You need to bring me my friends and let us go. We don’t want any trouble with you.”
His brow raised. “You’re strong, stronger than I was led to believe, but that doesn’t change the fact that you can’t convince me to do anything I don’t want to do, child. Now, have a seat.”
A chair slid under me, and I collapsed into it with an oomph. “What do you want?” I demanded.
He stalked toward me, pulling a chair from the table as he moved closer, then sat about five feet from me while the eight other bloodsuckers behind him stayed in their places.
“What I want is more than your mind can comprehend, but I will tell you what I don’t want.” He smirked, then slid his tongue across sharp incisors. “I don’t want anyone to think they can control us. We are businessmen. We have built an empire, and nobody, not even your warden, is going to take even an ounce of that away.”
“So, you’d be happy if we killed him? Because if you let us go, that’s the first thing we’ll do. None of us want anything to do with your business,” I said, hoping he was up for negotiations, being a businessman and all.
“Ah, but sweet Cara, you misunderstand me. The warden is a mere smudge on the map. But you? You put our control at risk, and we need to know why. We can’t let you go until we solve this little mystery.”
Shit. I didn’t know who this asshole thought I was, but I wasn’t going to die by his hands, and he wasn’t going to get the chance to torture me. If there was one thing I’d learned since arriving at Mandora Supernatural Prison, it was that I was worth more than I’d ever been given credit for. The piece of shit vampire was about to find out just how out of control I really was.
Power bubbled within me, begging to be released. I fought my hold on the magic as I stared down Demetri. He didn’t scare me. Nothing scared me in that moment other than being the reason anything happened to Jaxon, Spencer, or Nixie.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Demetri snarled, leaning back as magic began to glow from my hands and the electric shock that I’d been missing finally made another appearance. Apparently, vampires had a way of drawing it out of me.
“Showing you that I won’t be fucked with. Now, let me go or watch me lose my shit,” I hissed.
He eyed me curiously. “Maybe you’re not who I thought, Cara Simmons, but let’s have some fun anyway, shall we?”
He snapped his fingers, and the chair flew out from under me, landing me on my ass. Letting go of my restraints, I screamed, drawing deep within me and pushing everything out that I had inside. Grunts and punches could be heard around me as I reoriented myself.
Standing back up, I nearly collapsed with relief when I saw Jaxon, Spencer, and Nixie circling the room. I had no idea how they’d arrived. Maybe my magic had broken through whatever spell had been on us or it had just been perfect timing. Either way, I was glad to see they were okay.
Demetri still kept his eye on me but stayed where he was. My skin was still flowing with power that he was at least smart enough not to screw with. I wasn’t sure who he thought I was, but I wasn’t going to give him the opportunity to change his mind about simply observing while chaos erupted around us.
Using the training that had been beaten into me for the last six weeks, I moved in to help the others. Jaxon was at my side within an instant, fighting at my back as a vampire charged for me. The bloodsucker’s teeth were elongated, and his red eyes were zeroed in on my neck.
“Not today, parasite.” Placing my hand out, I caught him in the chest as he tried to dive toward me and sent a pulse of shock-inducing magic through him. Electrical currents visibly moved from my arms and slithered up the vamp’s chest. His body convulsed and eyes rolled into the back of his head before he fell to the ground.
I was pretty sure he wasn’t dead, but as long as he wasn’t attacking me, I didn’t care if he lived. I wasn’t going to fight to kill unless I had to.
Nixie, on the other hand, was dropping vamps like flies, but they kept coming in hordes. “This is the most fun I’ve had in ages.” She winked at me and then smacked a vampire with fairy dust. “That’s for making me think I was back in Ireland, you walking-corpse piece of shit.” She followed her words up with a few snaps of her fingers, and I watched in fascination as the bloodsucker turned into dust. She really was a frightening little thing.
Just as I was about to face off with another vampire, a somewhat familiar face containing piercing green eyes and wisps of brunet hair appeared in the shadows, and I had to do whatever necessary to get to him. Realizing I didn’t have time for games, I blasted the vamp coming for me with everything I had, then cringed when his body began to smoke.
I turned away before I could see the ramifications of my actions and searched for my friends before I disappeared to find the man. Jaxon and Spencer were both fighting off more than their share of vampires while Nixie was still having the time of her life up in the air, keeping most of the attention on her instead of me.
“Where do you think you’re going, Cara?” Demetri whispered in my ear, somehow ending up right behind me without me ever seeing him move. I really didn’t have time for more distractions.
Not bothering to answer him first, I slammed an elbow into his gut, surprising him with physical contact instead of magic. “Somewhere you’re not.”
Turning around, I brought my knee up, hard and fast, into his junk, then gave him an uppercut filled with magic that would hopefully keep him unconscious for however long it took me to confirm the man I saw was who I thought he was.
After scanning the room, I couldn’t find him and cursed loud enough to distract Jaxon. One of the vampires got the upper hand and took him to the ground. I made a move to help him but was yanked back into darkness as soon as I took a step forward.
“I’m done with your magic tricks, as
shole. Let me out of here,” I screeched, assuming it was Demetri, then bit the hand that tried to cover my mouth.
“This is what I get for hiring a shifter to do work for me. He should have locked you in solitary,” the man hissed in my ear.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I turned around to put a face to the voice and was thankful my body was still putting off glowing currents of power. My magic lit up the dark space just enough to confirm it was Zeke standing before me. His eyes were the same green as the warden’s, yet they held a glimmer of something good where his father’s had none.
His hardened cheek twitched in frustration. “You need to get out of this place. Your witch powers threw them off for now, but the vampires are curious about you, Cara. Don’t let them get your blood or your life will be over.”
Just to be absolutely certain I was right in my assumptions, I asked, “You’re Zeke, right?”
“It doesn’t matter who I am. I’m going to open a door for you, but you need to make it look like you’ve done it on your own. Get your friends, leave, and don’t come back.”
He might not have thrown off evil vibes like his father, but apparently, he was going to be just as difficult. It very much mattered who he was, and I needed him to see that. “Your father is going to try to kill us if we don’t bring you to him.”
“Then kill him first,” he replied without emotion.
Interesting. So, bringing in the warden’s son was not because he loved the boy so much. Gillian was as bad as I thought he was from the moment I met him. Having that confirmation gave me a sense of relief I wasn’t expecting.
“What about you? Don’t you want out of here?” I asked.
“My job isn’t done yet, and you’re ruining everything I’ve built up to. Now leave before I change my mind and let them figure out who you are.”
He shoved me back hard enough to cause me to trip, and when I righted my footing, I was back in the dining room, surrounded by the fighting vampires and my friends.
Sure enough, a portal-type door opened to my right in the middle of an otherwise solid wall, but I had no idea how I was going to disable the vampires long enough for us to all sneak out and make a run for it without the bloodsuckers following.
“Think smarter, Cara. Show them the powerful witch you were meant to be,” Zeke’s voice whispered in my ear.
Twisting my head side-to-side, he was nowhere in sight, but I heeded his words.
I was a badass witch. I’d been underestimated my whole life, been made to think I was worthless, but I was far from it. Time to show the world I wouldn’t be stepped on anymore.
Chapter 14
Power rushed through me like a furious storm when my eyes found my friends. Nixie seemed to be fairing pretty well, but she was just busy enough with the horde trying to catch her that she couldn’t assist Jaxon and Spencer. Both of my guys were bleeding from various spots along their upper bodies, and Spencer had a swollen eye.
Seeing even the slightest injury on them had my blood boiling, and I let out a scream as I met Demetri’s raging face. “Where did you go, Cara?”
“None of your damn business.” My hand shot out, sending a surge of power straight into his chest that put him on his ass once more. “Jaxon, Spencer!”
With slow movements, they made their way toward me, but it wasn’t fast enough. With one quick glance behind me, I could see the door Zeke had created was getting smaller, and I had a feeling Demetri wouldn’t stay down for long.
“Nixie, we need to do something,” I yelled before sending a vamp crashing into the ones below Nixie’s vantage point.
She zipped toward me, making herself vulnerable by being lower, but hopefully we wouldn’t be around long enough for that to be a problem.
“On the count of three, blast the entire room with your freaky lightning thing you have going on, and I’ll magnify it to make sure they all fry,” she stated confidently.
I was more than aware that these vamps were blood-sucking parasites, but I couldn’t bring myself to murder them all by doing as Nixie suggested. Pushing the electric current vibrating along my skin back down, I waited until I was no longer glowing and called on my normal power to send out a sleeping spell.
The downside? Jaxon and Spencer weren’t close enough to us and were affected as well.
Nixie started to laugh, but I was mortified. “Oh, my gods, what have I done?”
“You bought us time. Now, get over it and let’s get them out of here.”
She flew over to them, and I pulled vampires off of their prone bodies that had fallen when everyone was knocked out. Once Jaxon and Spencer were free, Nixie covered them in her fairy dust that never seemed to run out. When they began floating, I helped guide them and cringed when Jaxon’s head smacked into the still-shrinking magical door. “Oops. Don’t tell him I did that.”
Nixie snorted. “He might ask questions when he sees the gash on his forehead.”
My face paled as I darted out in front of him to inspect the damage. Sure enough, there was a one-inch cut, and it was bleeding profusely.
Nixie flew closer and closed the incision, but the damage was already done. His clothes were covered in blood, and there would be no hiding the injury. I’d have to just make something up later if necessary. Jaxon could very well believe the wound happened during the fight.
At least they were safe, and we were getting the hell out of there. The magical door we went through kicked us out on the main street just in time to see Mason and Blake appear. One look at us had the guys running forward at full speed.
“What the hell happened?” Mason snapped while taking control of Jaxon and Spencer’s floating bodies.
“In the car. We need to get out of here before they wake up,” I answered and began digging in Spencer’s pocket for the keys, only to remember we never had any.
“Uh, Siren? I don’t think Hawk would be too happy with your hand down Ace’s pants,” Blake said cautiously.
“Shut the hell up and get them in the car. Mason, you drive.” Surprisingly, they obeyed my commands, and we all piled into the SUV, except the seating arrangements were far from normal.
After taking the seat up front, I second-guessed my decision and wondered if I should have been closer to Jaxon when he woke up. He was going to be beyond pissed off, but I needed to focus, so I decided to stay put.
“Nixie, back to the prison,” I demanded as confusion came over Mason’s face.
When the fairy started the vehicle and opened the portal with ease, Mason mumbled under his breath, but I didn’t bother to decipher his bitching. We had bigger things to worry about than his ego.
When the portal closed behind us, I ordered Mason to pull over before we were too close to the prison. “What’s going on, Siren?” he asked.
“Well, we found Zeke, and then he disappeared after helping me to realize we needed to get out of there before it was too late. The vampires want me for something. They don’t care if the warden dies. Zeke has unfinished business and isn’t leaving the compound until he’s good and ready. Um, what else? Oh, I accidentally put a sleeping spell on Jaxon and Spencer that I need to undo.”
“Shit.” Mason slammed his fist against the steering wheel. “Wake them up.”
Opening my door, I hissed at the frigid air before fumbling my way to the back. Just as I placed my hand on Jaxon’s chest, I heard the click of a gun.
“Move a fucking muscle and I will blow your brains out,” Alex’s grimy voice said from behind me. I’d given him the perfect opportunity to get the upper hand, considering that I hadn’t bothered to shut the door after I climbed into the back.
“Do as he says, Siren,” Blake muttered, telling me the situation was more dire than just the lanky guard threatening to kill me.
Lifting my hands up, I turned slowly back around to find Alex standing much too close to me with ten other guards behind him, including Deacon. How I had missed that when I got out of the front seat, I’d never know, but there w
as nothing we could do about it.
As I moved away from Jaxon, Alex yanked my hair, throwing me onto the ground. “Stay down unless you have a death wish.”
Guards surrounded the SUV while Alex stayed with me. Not much longer after I was shoved onto the freezing grass, the flutter of wings moved along my neck. Only Deacon knew about Nixie, and as long as he didn’t ask about her, we’d know he was still on our side.
Mason and Blake got out on their own while Deacon took Jaxon, and another guard that I wasn’t familiar with hauled Spencer roughly from the very back.
“Take them to the sublevel two cells until Warden Gillian is ready. He wants a word with them before we get to have our fun.” Alex took a step closer before yanking me back up and trailing his gun down the front of my chest. “Oh, what fun we will have.”
Deciding things couldn’t get much worse, I spat in his face. “Screw you, asshole.”
His head slammed into mine, making me see stars. “You’re going to pay for that, you little bitch.”
Earlier I had been wishing for Jaxon and Spencer to be awake, but as I stared down Alex, I knew it was for the best they were unconscious. Jaxon’s demon might have gotten him killed in a fit of rage otherwise.
But I really did need them to wake up at some point. Though, if I couldn’t touch them, I wasn’t sure how that was going to happen or when. I didn’t imagine my spell was strong enough to last for hours, but even just another half-hour might be too long.
“It’s going to be okay,” Nixie whispered in my ear. I tried to take comfort in her presence, but it wasn’t working.
Before the shock of having a gun pointed at me wore off, Alex slapped a pair of magic-blocking cuffs on me, as well as the other guys, but the restraints weren’t the same ones I was used to. No, they were modified fuckers that pinched into my skin, drawing what felt like small amounts of blood from the underside of my wrist. Warden Gillian was a damn psycho.
With my hands clasped together, I tried to glance back at the others, but Alex jerked me forward with a hard shove between my shoulder blades.
Capture (Elite Supernatural Trackers Book 2) Page 10
