Julian grabbed Francis’s head and immediately stopped the guy’s retreat, but then Julian’s eyes blazed as he gritted out, “I do not like this.”
It wasn’t like the scene was a picnic in the park for her, either. “My blood will link him to me,” she said quietly, so that Rayce would understand what was happening. Based on Julian’s glare, it was obvious he already knew the score. “It will enable me to give him a new compulsion, one that cuts deeper than the other that’s in place.” A suicide compulsion—or at least, that was sure what it looked like to her. Someone had buried an order deep inside of Francis’s mind. One that switched on like a protective mechanism. Only the order wasn’t about protecting Francis’s life—it was about protecting the identity of the person who’d originally compelled him.
She put her hand to his mouth. Her blood dripped past his lips. He tried to spit it back at her. “No, stop, that’s gross—” Francis sputtered.
Julian shoved one hand over Francis’s mouth, forcing the guy to keep the blood.
Rose leaned in close. “You will swallow that blood. You will take it.”
Francis swallowed.
Her breath eased out. “Good. Now you will listen and you will obey me. You will not kill yourself. You want to live. You want to grow old and have a freaking fantastic life. The last thing you desire is to hurt yourself, in any way.”
He wasn’t blinking, just staring at her.
“Let him go, Julian,” she said.
Julian backed away from the human.
“Who put you under the compulsion to ignite that bomb?” But she already knew. Dammit…
“Simon,” he whispered. “Simon Lorne.”
Her stomach twisted. “Tell me about when you met Simon.”
“I…I was at a club. I’d had too much to drink…using my fake ID.”
Jeez, he really wasn’t even old enough to drink.
“I went out back. Was going to puke my guts out. When he—he just appeared.” His words came fast, but they were low, a bit dazed sounding. “He grabbed me…asked if I wanted to play his game.”
Only it wasn’t really a game.
“What all did Simon tell you to do?” Rose asked him.
“He…he said to wait on the boat. He was bringing in a woman, someone he needed. Someone special. He needed me to have the boat ready to go for him.”
Julian started to pace—no, more like prowl. A scary prowl because she was sure she’d just glimpsed the flash of his claws again.
“If he got to the boat with you, we were…we were going to meet the others. If he didn’t come…” His words trailed away and he stared at her, his gaze still unblinking.
“What were you supposed to do if he didn’t come?”
“I was supposed to destroy the boat. Destroy all ties to him. Because he has important work to finish.”
Julian snarled. “I should have just killed that fucking bastard when I had the chance!” He whirled and pointed at her. “See? This is what happens when you try to do the right thing.”
“I didn’t know Simon was a killer!” An asshole, yes, she’d known that. But she hadn’t realized he was the—the ring leader! Dammit. “I thought he was just some human following orders—someone like Francis!” She gestured to the bound man. “Simon smelled human. He acted human, and he sure was screaming like a terrified human when he was trapped in that SUV.”
Julian frowned. “Yes, he was.” Now he seemed puzzled. “I thought he was human, too.”
Rayce cleared his throat. “Okay, so I’ll point out the obvious. Julian, you’re a shifter. That means you have the best sense of smell on the planet.”
“Sh-shifter…?” Francis croaked. “Shifters…vampires…”
They all ignored him. Rayce noted, “If you thought the guy smelled human, then odds are high that he is human. Not like we have a monopoly on evil, you know. Sometimes, humans can be worse than we are.” His voice roughened. “I’ve sure seen that shit first-hand.”
So a human was hunting her? No, that didn’t fit. “A human couldn’t work a compulsion.”
“Not without help,” Julian agreed. “The magical kind. So we have to figure out just where he’s getting that help.”
She eyed Francis. “You said he was going to take me to the others.” Rose crossed her arms over her body. “If he has other paranormals, then he could be using their powers some way. Maybe that’s why he’s after us all.” She leaned in close to Francis. “Where were you going to meet the others? Where are they?”
“I-I don’t know.”
“But you said you were going to meet the others—”
“Francis here was just an insurance policy. Someone to make sure that whatever this Simon had left on his boat—that it didn’t make it into the wrong hands,” Rayce cut in. “I’m guessing the destination was plugged into the GPS or some shit like that. So your mysterious buddy Simon could have been heading out to one of the islands that dot the coast. Or he could have been going back to the mainland. He wanted the boat for a fast exit, and he wanted expendable Francis there in case something went wrong with his plan.”
Hell. “Do you remember anything that might help us?” Rose asked Francis.
His brows beetled down. “He…he said we were going where no one would find us. Only the gators could see him.”