by Riley Storm
Well, so much for that.
Chapter Five
Vlad
He managed to sneak food down to her twice more at irregular intervals, but other than that, Vlad was kept occupied with his other duties with the Cado throughout the following day.
Cado. Duty. What the hell do those two have in common?
Growing more and more jaded with every passing minute, his mind had begun to churn with thoughts that he knew those around him would not appreciate hearing. So Vlad kept his mouth shut, and did as he was told.
As it turned out, nobody else had time for the prisoner either. Rumor was that they had been hired. That was usually how it went. Someone would hire their organization to do things that they themselves could not, or would not, do. The Cado had no moral quandaries about anything, supposedly.
Just Vlad.
The arrival of such news had kept Cratom busy throughout the day, and away from the prisoner, much to Vlad’s relief. He didn’t want any of them near her. His lips twitched, trying to pull back into a feral smile at the very thought of it.
Easy boy, easy.
Taking a deep breath, Vlad calmed himself, pushing images of blonde hair and black skintight material from his mind. He couldn’t afford the distractions that the prisoner would give him right now if he let her into his mind.
Ellyn.
He snarled at himself. Vlad very well knew her name, he wasn’t such a simpleton as to forget it already, but he didn’t need it bouncing around inside his head either. He needed to focus. The Cado were not exactly lenient about keeping those that didn’t believe in their cause within their midst. If anyone got wind that Vlad was having second thoughts…
Maybe that was why he hadn’t been included on the team heading out on this new mission. Cratom had assembled them earlier. Neither he nor Sache had been invited, which spoke of something highly classified. The only snippet he’d been able to overhear had something to do with ‘fatcats’.
Considering he’d heard several of the other Cado refer to the European dragon clans by such terms, he had a suspicion as to where they were headed. But nobody would confirm it to him.
“Teres.”
Vlad rolled his eyes as Liroi strolled up to him.
“What do you want, Oink-Oink?” he retorted, using the much hated nickname.
“Don’t call me that Teres!” the other shifter snarled, striding right up into Vlad’s face.
“Or what?” he drawled. “Are you going to fight me? Oh dear, hopefully someone will save my bacon from you!”
Liroi trembled with barely restrained fury. Vlad wasn’t usually the one to resort to name jokes, but the ‘oi’ at the end of 'Liroi' sounded too much like the pig noise. It was the quickest way to shut him down when he was being an insufferable jackass.
Like now.
“Is this where you threaten me?” Vlad continued. “Tell me to pork over all my money?”
Liroi swung. Vlad ducked, having seen the wild swing coming from a mile away, and drove his fist into the enraged shifter’s stomach, driving the wind from him and knocking him to his knees.
“Now, now,” he said, waving a finger. “Tsk, tsk. Don’t make me do this. My momma taught me not to play with food.”
Liroi lunged forward—just as Vlad had planned. He spun out of the way and lashed out with a foot, hitting Liroi right in the rump.
The other shifter spilled to the floor, leaving a bit of skin behind on the carpet as he went down face-first. It would heal quickly but, in the meantime, it would be an irritating reminder.
“You’ll pay for this,” Liroi snapped.
“Yeah, I know. I’ll go get a scale.”
Liroi frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Because, butchers usually charge by the pound.”
Liroi got to his feet and prepared to come at him again.
“Enough.”
Vlad turned to see Cratom standing there, looking angry, but not ready to intervene.
“Liroi, you’re an idiot. Don’t fight your better. Vlad, go prepare the prisoner. I think it’s time I paid her a visit.”
Vlad tried not to let his reaction show. Cratom was going to be there himself? Damn, he’d hoped that the leader of the Cado would sit this one out. The giant shifter wasn’t someone that he wanted anywhere near Ellyn.
“What am I preparing her for?” he asked, feigning ignorance.
“Interrogation,” Cratom replied, his eyes going flat. “Strip her down, tie her to the chair. We’ll start with the water.”
Vlad nodded once, sharply, making up his mind about a lot of things in that split second. “On it.”
He turned and headed away.
“Vlad.”
The single word brought him to a halt, and he turned to face Cratom. “Yes boss?”
“The cells are that way?” Cratom said, pointing in the opposite direction.
Vlad smiled, doing his best to make sure it was evil as possible, while also buying time for his frantically thinking brain. How did he explain this?
An idea came to his mind.
Well, I’m never going to live this one down.
“I have to take a dump,” he spat. “Not going to chance missing out on seeing her pretty little form squirm just for that.”
Cratom snorted. “Pleasant. Just don’t take too long. I want to watch her squirm as well. And scream.”
“Can’t wait,” Vlad agreed, ‘accidentally’ kicking Liroi in the shins as he headed back toward his quarters. The other shifter hissed and got to his feet just in time for Cratom to start snarling at him.
But Vlad wasn’t paying any attention. He headed for his room as fast as he could, hoping that neither of the other two had seen the flash of alarm in his eyes at the way Cratom had spoken of Ellyn.
He grabbed a few things, stuffing them into his pockets. Then he left, heading down into the bowels of the mansion to where the retrofitted cells were located. Cratom had been quite pleased to discover the existence of the dungeon when the Cado had moved in. It was an unexpected feature that he’d quickly had remodeled to hold his own men if they got too rowdy and needed to cool off.
Vlad slipped down the stairs in complete darkness this time, deciding not to turn on the lights.
“Hello?” he heard her call out as his boots scraped over the stone floor.
“Good, you’re awake,” he said bluntly, coming to a stop at the front of the cell door.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be? It’s only…” Ellyn paused. “Wait, what time is it? Should I be asleep?”
“It’s nine in the evening.”
“Right. So why would I be asleep?” she asked.
“I don’t know. It’s dark in here.”
“Uh, it’s always dark in here,” she pointed out. “Unless the lights are turned on. Which I noticed you didn’t do this time. Nor did you bring food. Plus, you’re breathing a little harder. What’s going on Vlad?”
“I am to prepare you for interrogation,” he said bluntly. “Strip you down, tie you to a chair. Then they will use the water to break you. You will break, everyone does.”
He heard the shiver. “That doesn’t sound pleasant.”
“It will not be. You will tell them everything, and then they will kill you and go after those you told.”
“Well I didn’t tell anyone anything,” Ellyn claimed, repeating the same line yet again.
“We shall see,” Vlad said cryptically.
“So, to interrogation?”
He shook his head, spinning the lock and hauling open the heavy cell door.
“Let’s go.”
“Right. I don’t think so,” she said, crossing her arms and standing pat.
Vlad couldn’t make out her exact facial expression in the complete dark, but his eyes picked up enough to know it wasn’t a polite one.
“There is no time for this,” Vlad hissed. “We must go. Now!”
“You expect me to just go willingly?” Ellyn snapped back. �
��Seriously?”
“If you want to live, yes.”
She dropped her arms and cocked her head to the side. “Did you just hear yourself? You told me that after interrogation, they will kill me. So how is this going to help me live?”
“Because,” Vlad said, exasperated. “I am not taking you to interrogation. I am taking you away. Away from here. You know, like a rescue.”
Chapter Six
Ellyn
Ellyn sized him up. “Is this where you pull off your helmet and tell me your name is Luke and you’re here to rescue me?”
“What?” Vlad sounded confused.
He probably looked it too, but she couldn’t see a thing besides the faint outline of his frame blocking the door.
“You don’t recognize the—? Oh man,” she said, shaking her head when she realized he didn’t have a clue as to what she was talking about.
Not that I look the part of a princess.
“I can escape just fine on my own,” she said, waving at him to move aside. Vlad seemed to have better night vision than her. He’d managed to get to her cell and open it without issue in the near pitch black.
Vlad stepped into the cell and, before she could react, slapped cuffs on her wrists. “I’m sorry, but you don’t have a choice. Come with me if you want to live.”
“Did you just…” Ellyn’s eyes narrowed, and she desperately wished she could see his face right now, to see if he was smirking or not. She wasn’t imagining it though, his voice had dropped a little there at the end, with a slightly European accent. Hadn’t it?
Or maybe it was just wishful thinking.
“Let’s go,” Vlad hissed, pulling the cuffs, dragging her from the cell.
Ellyn thought about resisting, about falling to the ground, making it difficult for him to get her to do anything, but she couldn’t get it out of her head that Vlad seemed genuine. She’d not detected any hints of sarcasm or hidden meaning in his words. Not that she was an expert on it by any means but her gut was actually telling him to go with him.
So she did, following his pulling of the cuffs. They turned right, her brain working to place her body. Ellyn had memorized the layout outside of her cell, and any second now they should be—
“Stairs,” Vlad whispered.
She followed him up, and after a dozen or so stairs there was enough light penetrating the circular staircase for her to see. At this point Vlad dropped the cuffs and let her walk on her own.
They went a few more levels—Just how far below ground was I?—until they neared a landing.
“Wait here. I’ll be back,” Vlad said in a soft voice that was lower than a whisper and crept ahead without making any noise.
He’s taunting me. I know he’s taunting me, she thought, glaring at the back of his head. That’s two references in a row now.
“Okay, I’m back,” he said, materializing out of nowhere.
Ellyn clamped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from making any noise. She thought she could move silently, and that as a thief she could detect sounds most would miss, but he was far better than her.
Vlad had somehow moved around in the semi-darkness without making the slightest of noises. No wonder he’d been able to creep up on her outside without her hearing. The man was a ghost. His stealthcraft made her look like a toddler left to run free through a room full of wind chimes.
“You need to follow me through this next bit,” he told her. “If you try to escape, if you take off on your own, you will be caught. Trust me.”
“Fine, here,” she said, dropping the cuffs into his hand. “Let’s go.”
Vlad looked at the restraints that had slipped from her wrists as if by magic. “You need to wear them,” he growled, putting them back on. “If we get spotted, then you have to act like you’re still the meek prisoner on her way to interrogation. If you don’t have cuffs on, that defeats the point.”
She sighed. “Fine. But I’m not going to run away from you anyway. Not yet. You don’t have to worry about that.”
Vlad made a curious sound.
“Even if I ran from you, my boss would track me down and send someone after me.”
The big man snorted. “I would like to see whoever that is try. That would be a big misstep if they came after us.”
She frowned at his use of the word ‘us’, but didn’t say anything. His statement was all arrogance, and yet strangely enough, very little in what she would normally call ‘bluff’. Whoever this Vlad was, he felt confident of his skills to handle himself.
Who are you Vlad? And why are you helping me?
They set off, walking silently through the maze of halls. Ellyn was proud of the sense of direction she’d developed over the years, it had helped her out in many a sticky situation, but they made so many turns, twists, backtracks and alternate routes for reasons she couldn’t see that Ellyn quickly became lost.
It was obvious Vlad was avoiding something, but whatever it was, she couldn’t detect a darn thing of it. His senses were practically superhuman, and it frustrated the normally alert thief to no end.
Still, she stuck by his side, doing as he said. For now. It would be much easier to escape from one man than a house full of them. Once Vlad got her out and they were free, she could slip from him and—
And do what? If you run, Lex will hunt you down and find you.
Maybe. Maybe not. Vlad was no slouch. Hopefully he would have another plan. Perhaps she could use him to help her find a way to escape even Lex’s far-reaching clutches. It was worth a try, if nothing else.
“What’s your plan?” she said, speaking in that same soft voice that didn’t have the harsh-carry of a whisper. “We’re not getting very far.”
“Oh ye of little faith.” Vlad said, stealing forward across a hallway once he was positive it was clear.
She followed in his wake. He pulled open a door and she blinked to realize they were at the garage.
“Oh.”
“We’re not out of it yet, but it should be a straight shot from here,” Vlad said, pointing toward a truck halfway through the massive indoor parking lot. As he went, he pulled keys from his pocket.
“Straight shot to where?” she asked, splitting off from him to head for the passenger side while at the same time freeing herself from the cuffs and putting them in her pocket.
Vlad noted that and just shook his head. “I’ll have to keep that in mind,” he muttered more to himself than anything, unlocking the truck as they neared.
Ellyn noted how he didn’t answer her question regarding their final location. Either he didn’t know, or he was keeping it a secret from her still. She quickly decided that Vlad wasn’t the type to pull something like this off without a destination in mind. Which meant he was choosing not to tell her. That showed a lack of trust that stung more than it should have.
It seemed to be a habit with him. He didn’t trust her when she said she hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary while surveying the house. Nothing besides the abnormal amount of large security types wandering around, but that didn’t seem to be the sort of information they were after.
“Get in,” he said as she paused short of the door.
“Why aren’t you telling me where we’re going?” she asked. “And why don’t you believe me?”
Vlad’s face crinkled up. “What are you talking about? We don’t have time for this. Get in the truck!”
Ellyn knew he was right. This wasn’t an argument to have now. Not until they were safe.
Will I ever be safe with him?
She reached for the door handle.
“Vlad?” a voice called from the other side of the garage. “What are you doing?”
Chapter Seven
Vlad
Of all the times…
“Sache,” he said, swallowing tightly, hoping his nerves wouldn’t show.
His clanmate came over, quickly taking in the situation, his eyes flicking from Vlad to Ellyn and back again. It was obvious that Sache had figured ou
t Vlad wasn’t taking her to interrogation.
“What’s going on Vlad? Where are you going?”
The fact that Sache hadn’t immediately raised the alarm gave Vlad hope. Maybe there was still a chance, a chance that he could be convinced that the Cado were evil. Vlad smiled happily. They could escape together, and leave this wretched organization behind. As friends, and partners.
“Aren’t you supposed to be taking her to interrogation?” Sache asked, still coming closer, until they were no more than ten feet apart.
“You know what I’m doing,” Vlad said tightly.
“But why?” Sache shuffled uncomfortably.
This was putting a lot of pressure on his friend, and Vlad knew he had to tread carefully. Up until this point he hadn’t tried Sache’s loyalty too hard, afraid of what the end result would be. There was no choice now though, Vlad had to convince him to come with him, to leave this place. And he had to do so quickly, before word got out that he was betraying the Cado.
“Because, Sache, it’s the right thing to do. You know that. I can see it in you.”
Sache looked down, then to the side, then finally to Vlad. “I can’t let you do this. You can’t take her.”
“I have to Sache,” Vlad said softly. “They’re going to kill her. I know you know that’s not what you want.”
Sache frowned, refusing to meet his friend’s gaze. “You’re betraying the others,” he said stubbornly.
“Come on Sache. This place isn’t for us. Whatever else it may be to you, it’s not a good place, and you know that.” Vlad took a chance. “Come with us, Sache. Let’s leave together. Be done with this.”
Sache hesitated, chewing on his lip. For a moment, just a moment, Vlad saw his former friend shine through, the good man that he knew was underneath the layer of hate that had been working its way through Sache lately.
“Where would we go?” Sache asked.
Vlad sighed. There was only one place he could think of to go, one place where maybe they would be safe. It’s not that he longed to go back there, but he was out of options at this point.
“We’ll go back to Five Peaks.”
Sache’s face clouded over.
