“This place was more than a roof over her head, Christian. Keystone was her salvation. When you strip away a man’s hope, you don’t know what he’s capable of becoming. All we can do is pray for her.”
Christian snorted. “Pray to whom? The Mage gods? The Vampire gods? What god created us?”
“The fates created us. The power that’s behind all the mysteries. Some things are too magnificent for us to see.”
“Like the middle finger I’m flashing at you?”
Niko smirked. “I don’t need to see your finger to know your intention.”
Christian shut down his feelings and locked them up in a tight little box. “I told you not to do that with me. I don’t use my gifts on you, and I’d appreciate the same courtesy.”
“Apologies. Some things are difficult to ignore.”
Christian put his arm around Niko. “Well, no sense in wasting the day away. Let’s have a pint and do some celebrating.”
Chapter 23
When we arrived at Darius’s property, I gritted my teeth and held my chin high. I refused to let him see me as a defeated woman. Superficial wounds and handcuffs aside, Darius was going to learn he was no match for a woman like me.
The guards had removed my gag when, after they’d placed a shirt over my head to blindfold me, I made heaving motions as if I were going to vomit. Hopefully they’d fall for it—I needed to get that strip of fabric away from my mouth. Words were the only weapon I had, and I’d be damned if they were going to deliver me like a prisoner of war.
They guided me from the cab, and we ascended the outside steps to his building. When we entered an open room, they removed my blindfold. I didn’t have time to survey my surroundings as they led me to the left. It felt like a death march by the way the guards flanked me, keeping a secure hold of my arms with me one step ahead.
When the smaller guy opened a door on the right, a gust of air swept my hair back. Everything moved in slow motion, including my heartbeat, as I marched at a determined pace toward Darius, who stood at the far end of the dimly lit hall.
Our footsteps sounded like a stampede against the cement floor. Darius didn’t seem to have a clue about interior decorating. This place had a nightmarish quality to it, as if those white walls were closing in on me.
Darius inclined his head, and a smile touched his lips. One of the men yanked me to the right and shoved me into an empty room.
When I saw the lone chair in the center and a fireplace on the left with a fire going, I backed as far away from them as I could get.
“You said he wanted to speak with me!” I shouted. “Darius!”
“Oh, you’ll get to talk to him,” the big guy said, closing the door. “Just as soon as we’re done asking you a few questions.” He nodded at his partner. “Tie her up.”
The smaller guy was afraid of my fangs, and knowing this, I forced them out and smiled at him. He came at me, arms wide, and I sidled to the left. There wasn’t a single piece of furniture in the room aside from the chair, so that left me with no weapons.
Except for the two in my mouth.
I stood close to the wall and bent my leg to anchor my foot against it, bracing myself to launch at him. His eyes widened when he drew nearer.
“Move it along, Kevin. We don’t have all day.”
“Then why don’t you get over here,” Kevin bit out.
His hands moved close together, and I could see his plan of attack was to grab hold of my neck. He took one tiny step forward and lunged.
I dropped my foot, and instead of attacking him, I channeled my Mage energy and spun multiple times to the right. I flashed across the room, stepped up onto the chair, and drop-kicked the big guy right in the chest.
He wheezed as the air slammed out of him, and I crashed to the floor at the same time he hit the wall. The landing hurt since my hands were still cuffed. Ignoring the pain, I was scrambling toward the door to open it when Kevin grabbed me in a viselike grip, dragging me backward.
I kept my legs stiff, refusing to sit when he tried to move me by force. The air and blood cut off from my head, making my limbs weak.
“Get up, Declan! I can’t hold her for long,” Kevin shouted.
Declan crawled to his feet, one hand on his chest, and stalked forward. With brute force, he kicked my legs out from beneath me and shoved me to a seated position. Then he sat on my lap to keep me still while Kevin wrapped a tight cord around my body, strapping me to the chair before I could sink my teeth into Declan’s back. Both of my ankles were tied to the chair legs, but those bindings didn’t feel as secure.
When Declan finally stood up, he wiped his brow and strode to the fireplace. A log snapped as he gripped the handle of an iron poker and withdrew it from the flames. The metal had a dull glow that made me straighten up in my chair.
“I have a few questions to ask, and you’re going to cooperate, aren’t you?”
I won’t die from this. I won’t die from this, I kept repeating in my head.
He loomed over me with the hot tool. “Who do you work for?”
“I’m self-employed.”