“Oui,” she replied. “It is quite shocking.”
In the meantime, Rourke had leaned over and hauled Ray up by his dirty shirt. The chains cinched tightly around Ray’s middle, causing him to gasp. I guess that counted as something else. He brought Ray close to his face and snarled, “If we let you go, you return in two hours. Don’t go anywhere near humans. If you’re not back on time, we hunt you down and kill you. Understand, vamp?” He shook him hard. “And I will make it personal. You will hurt like you’ve never experienced, and I will start by removing your feet at the ankles and move my way up.” Rourke’s power pinged around the cave. Ray felt it too. But this may work, because it was pure strength and not a Master’s order. “This is your test. The only one you will get. You pass it and you’re free. You don’t, you die. This is it, so don’t fuck it up.”
“Fine,” Ray bit out. “I’ll be back in two hours.”
With his other hand, Rourke pulled the chains from the wall in one tug, demonstrating in a single instance what he could do that Ray could not.
The chains dropped to the cave floor, unraveling at once, and Ray shot out of the tunnel before I could take my next breath. He disappeared into the night without looking back, no doubt testing to see if we would go after him.
Naomi made a move to follow.
“No.” I held her arm. “He goes alone. Rourke’s right. This is his test. If he’s not back in a few hours, we’ll decide what to do then. I can’t be in a constant head battle with him. I’ll kill him myself before that happens. Let’s go back to the cabin and figure out the plans. We leave for New Orleans at dawn. You and Ray can meet up with us after nightfall tomorrow.”
Naomi cleared her throat. “It will not be necessary for us to wait. We will accompany you when you leave.”
“What are you talking about? Don’t you have to sleep during the day?”
“Not anymore,” she replied.
Everyone was gathered in the cabin except for Ray. “Run that last part by me again,” I said to Naomi. My hips were pressed against what was left of the counter, my arms folded. “I don’t quite understand what you’re telling me.”
“As vampires age, our abilities strengthen, like most supernaturals. One of those abilities is our tolerance of sunlight. We mainly feed on human blood, which is weak, but as our own body ages, we eventually strengthen ourselves: bones, skin, everything.”
“But sunlight is your ‘vice,’ right?”
“We cannot die from sunlight exposure,” she said. “Or explode as some myths like to portray. Our skin simply gets severely burned, a reaction to the sun’s strength. Our skin is very thin and it’s painful. It takes time to heal, but nothing more. We are also very sleepy during the day; it’s our natural time of rest. We are nocturnal by nature, but we are not comatose when the sun rises. But your blood has strengthened me. I do not feel pain when sunlight hits my skin.” She smiled shyly. “It is quite wonderful to feel it again. It has been a very long time.”
“I understand why this may have happened to you. You’re hundreds of years old and have had time to strengthen your body before you drank from me. But how do you know Ray will have the same reaction? He’s only had my blood for a few hours.”
She shrugged. “I do not. It is purely an assumption. But if your blood worked that way on me, it will likely do the same for him.”
Ray hadn’t returned, but he had a half hour left before his imposed deadline. “Okay, things my blood can do is ramping up to fantastical levels, but more importantly, we have to keep it all a secret,” I cautioned. “Does everyone understand?” I glanced around the group. “We’re heading deep into vampire territory, and if word gets out that I can break bonds and allow them to walk outside during the day, there could be an uprising. The Queen won’t tolerate a single vampire defecting.” If they found out, I imagined it would be like a gaggle of vampires running after me with their fangs out, screaming for sunlight.
A chorus of voices agreed.
I turned to my brother. “After you found Hank, did you find any trace of the wolves who were sent here by Dad to find him?”
Tyler had dealt with Hank. He and Danny had just come in a few minutes ago. “Yes,” he said grimly. “He’d broken their necks and tossed them over a cliff.”
“Did you know either of them?”
“We couldn’t get down close enough to them to get a facial ID, but going by scent I only knew one,” Danny answered. “He’d been a nice enough fellow, but too young to know any better.”