“Gabrielle!” I could hear Andre’s tinny voice shout from my cellphone.
I yanked back my arm as far as I could and elbowed him in the nose. Something crunched, and he howled in pain. Just as I went to push myself to my feet, his arms latched around me, locking me to him and pinning my arms down at my sides.
I wiggled and my attacker grunted. I couldn’t get my arms free, and if I couldn’t get my arms free, I couldn’t hold my own.
My skin began to shimmer and the siren surfaced. “Let me go,” I said, my voice lilting.
Immediately my assailant’s grip relaxed, and I pushed away from him. He got up, confused but still determined to take me.
“Don’t touch me,” I said. “Get back in your car and leave me. Forget this ever happened.”
He turned his back to me, and with jerky movements he walked towards his car.
I sauntered over to my phone, calming my breathing, before I picked up my phone. I wiped the snow off on my shirt and put it to my ear. “The situation has been dealt with,” I said, going for a light, casual tone. I didn’t really pull it off.
“Gabrielle, are you okay?” Panic laced Andre’s voice. I leaned against a tree, my body weak now that the adrenaline had left my system.
“I think so,” I said, placing a hand to my heart as if the action could slow my pulse down. At the back of my mind one thought screamed for attention: why did the devil warn me? What interests did he have in my safety? Or had he known he’d provoke that entire situation by telling me?
Andre’s voice cut through my thoughts. “Did he hurt you? Because if he did, trial be damned, I will rip him apart one limb at a time,” he growled.
Yikes. For the millionth time I was grateful that I was Andre’s soulmate and not someone else. Because he was a scary-ass dude when he wanted to be.
“Andre, I’m fi—”
For a split second a sharp pain flared at the back of my head, and I pitched forward.
And then the world went dark.
Someone jostled me awake. I blinked my eyes open slowly as I was yanked out of a car. I stumbled as a wave of vertigo hit me and fell to the ground. The cold chill of snow bit into my cheek, and I went to cry out when I realized I couldn’t.
Someone had duct taped my mouth shut. Bastards.
“Get up,” a feminine voice ordered me.
I turned my head to look at who was speaking, but my eyes wouldn’t focus.
“I think you hit her too hard, Vicca,” a masculine voice said. The cold bite of his voice let me know that he didn’t particularly care for my wellbeing; he was just stating a fact.
I made a noise at the back of my throat and rolled to my back. As soon as I did so, I regretted it. All of my weight pressed on my hands and arms, which had been bound behind me. I tugged against the restraints, but at the moment I was too weak to break through them, and my captors had done a thorough job of tying me up.
“I’m not a fucking errand boy,” Vicca said. “If the other Elders wanted her to be treated gently, then they should’ve sent someone else to do this.”
I shakily pushed myself to my feet, and then started to list to the left. What had they done to me?
A hand wrapped around my upper arm, and Vicca came into my line of sight. She was beautiful the way queens were—heavy lids, high eyebrows, a gracefully sloped nose, and understated lips that were, at the moment, curled into a snarl. Like my very presence upset her.
She yanked my arm roughly and dragged me forward with her. “You’re being forcefully detained for repeatedly ignoring court summons,” she informed me as she pulled me towards a paved stairway. The man who had chased after me now shadowed my other side. “And this evening you’ll be expected to give your testimony for the events that occurred on the night of our king’s birthday gala.”
Oh man, so this was the coven’s justice system? Andre really wasn’t kidding about their cruelty.
I began to shiver in my damp clothes as we approached a gothic style building. I felt energy thrum along my skin, and I drew in a relieved breath. Andre was somewhere nearby.
The skin at the back of my head prickled as my head injury stitched itself back together. Now that I flared my nostrils I could smell the tangy scent of blood caught in my tangled hair.
Almost as if he read my thoughts, the male vampire leaned towards me and breathed in my scent. His eyes fluttered and a smile tugged at the corners of his lips, as though the smell of it was ecstasy.
Okay, vampires were officially sickos. Andre and me excepted, of course.
The vampire’s eyelids lifted and his smile widened, revealing his fangs. “You’re lucky you’re Andre’s plaything,” he said, “or else we’d be sipping that delicious blood of yours,” he said.
I recoiled from him, my shoulder brushing against Vicca’s side. Without letting me go, she shoved me away from her and straight into Psycho Vamp.
His ran a rough hand down my face, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep it together. “I can smell the siren in your blood. Did you know it calls to us? Begs us to come closer?”
Ew, ew, ew.
“You bite her, and even I won’t be able to save you from Andre,” Vicca warned him.
He glowered at her. “I know that. I wasn’t going to.”
Vicca looked unconvinced, which made me really, really nervous.
It’s going to be okay, I chanted to myself, mostly so that my pulse stayed calm. These beings could literally smell fear, and I didn’t doubt they’d exploit that weakness if they could.
The male vampire drew away from me to open the door for Vicca, and she dragged me in after her. Just as the three of us stepped inside, Vicca’s body went rigid. Behind me, my other captor stiffened.
I was the last to see what had startled the two vampires I was with, but I was now coherent enough to recognize the pulse of energy. Once my gaze met his, I smiled beneath the duct tape.
Waiting for us, arms crossed, was Andre.
Chapter 16