Dalton, Tymber - Brimstone Blues [Brimstone Vampires 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (30 page)

“You have no idea.”

The men stood at impasse for a moment. Bartholomew stepped away first. Tim looked at Matthias and sent him a thought.

“That man is a bloody arsehole.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Tobias will sit in there with Taz, right?”

“Of course.”
Matthias spied his grandfather approaching from down the hall.
“He’s here.”

“Good. She’ll be a nervous wreck if Bartholomew starts in on her with that attitude, poor child.”

* * * *

The men were escorted to an antechamber to wait while the Tribunal convened. Matthias worried, wondering why Taz hadn’t come in yet. He glanced at his watch. She should have been there by now.

Twenty minutes later, Torvald entered the room and approached Matthias. “My driver said Ms. Proctor wasn’t at the hotel when he went to collect her. Do you know where she is?”

“What?”

“Did I not speak clearly?”

“What the hell do you mean she wasn’t there?” Matthias whipped out his cell phone and dialed the hotel. When patched through to the room, it rang unanswered. He finally hung up. “There must have been a miscommunication. She wouldn’t—”

“Wouldn’t what? Wouldn’t disappear into thin air like she’s done twice already?” He leaned in close. “I’m warning you, Hawthorne, if she hurts anyone—”

“She will not hurt anyone. I’m sure she’ll be here. She has the address, maybe she got tired of waiting for your driver and took a taxi.”

“You’d better hope so.”

* * * *

The minutes dragged. Matthias looked at his watch, then at Tim and Albert as they returned. “Nothing yet?” Matthias asked.

Both men shook their heads.

Albert voiced the thought drifting through Matthias’ mind. “Tim, is it possible she’s gone to ground again? After what happened yesterday?”

He shook his head. “Absolutely not. I won’t say she was looking forward to these proceedings, but when I talked with her last night she was ready to have her say and see Caroline punished.” He turned to Matthias. “Something is wrong. I don’t know what, but as much as she was dreading this, she would not miss it. For Rafael’s sake, if nothing else.”

Matthias nodded, glad to hear Tim say it. Tim had raised her. While his fiancée, Taz was in many ways still practically a stranger to him.

* * * *

Taz awoke in a dark room, her hands tied over her head, her feet bound. It took her eyes a few minutes to adjust with only a thin sliver of light sneaking under the door.

It felt like she lay on a bed. She pulled on her arms, felt the resistance. Correction, she was tied
to
the bed.

Moving her feet, she realized while her ankles were bound together, they weren’t tied to the bed frame.

Mistake number one.

She was wide awake now, remembering how she felt after Albert had darted her and she woke up on the corporate jet on her way to Yellowstone. Robertson said she’d shook off the drugs much faster than they anticipated.

Lucky her.

“Taz, baby, get moving!”

The voice was back. Not screaming this time, but urgent and insistent and clear in her head. It hadn’t failed her yet. She’d just been too stupid to pay attention.

She’d never make that mistake again.

She managed to roll onto her stomach. Then she knelt on the mattress and followed the rope to the bed frame with her hands.

Amateurs. Never leave the prisoner’s legs loose. Good grief, even a kid would know that.

The voice chuckled.

Taz smiled despite the situation. It was Rafael’s chuckle.

In the dim light she felt the knot and untied it, then her feet. Quietly, she moved to the door and listened.

The voice said,
“It’s clear.”

The knob turned. The door was unlocked.

Mistake number two. God, don’t these assholes watch movies? I guess they thought I’d be unconscious longer.

Resting her head against the door, she sent her mind out, looking for anyone nearby. Suddenly, as clear as a TV picture, the hallway came into view.

“It’s okay,”
the voice said.
“But around the corner there’s a guard at the top of the stairs.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome
.
”

She didn’t have time to analyze her apparently loosening grasp on reality. She would worry about it later. She carefully pulled the door open, just enough to sneak through, then shut it behind her. With the voice guiding her, she crept to the corner.

“He’s facing away from you. There’s no one else around. The front door is at the bottom of the stairs and there’s no one outside.”

“Thank you again, disembodied voice!”
She no longer cared if she was going crazy. If it got her out of here alive, she’d quit griping about it.

Even if it did sound like Rafe. She didn’t think she could ever bear to call it by his name, that would be too weird.

Too painful.

She’d have to nickname it at some point.

Taz closed her eyes and focused on the guard. He was human, not vampire, not even a hybrid.

Oh, make it just a little easier.

She stepped around the corner. When he turned, she smiled. A goofy grin washed over his face. She pressed a finger to her mouth and he nodded, more than happy to help. She walked to him, her eyes locked on his. She owned him. She held her hand out for his gun and he relinquished it to her, butt first.

How polite.

The voice chuckled.

She moved close enough for the man to hear her whisper. “You never saw me leave. As far as you know, I’m still tied up. If anyone asks, you checked a minute ago and I’m still out like a light.”

He nodded, grinning like a kid who won his own candy store.

“I need your car keys.”

He handed them over, still smiling. “Blue Fiat,” he whispered. “Clutch sometimes sticks between first and second.”

She smiled. “Have a good day.”

“Thank you.”

He would have anything but, once the shit hit the fan, but hey, why worry him now?

The voice chuckled yet again.

She listened for a warning from the voice and cautiously moved down the stairs.

“No one’s around, Taz. It’s clear.”

She slipped out the front door and took the guard’s car. It wasn’t difficult finding her way back to the city, but she needed to focus on the voice’s instructions to locate the building. Matthias still held a heavy mental block against the Tribunal, and even though she could sense he was close, she couldn’t communicate with him. He wasn’t powerful enough to hear her through his mental barrier this far away, and she had to tell him about Bartholomew.

At least Matthias was alive. Once word reached Bartholomew that she’d escaped, would Matthias be safe?

“Pull in here.”

The helpful voice directed her into an underground parking garage and up a stairwell instead of the elevator.

“Third floor.”

She stuck her head through the door and saw the corridor was empty.

“Ladies’ room.”

Well, the voice wasn’t British. No car park, lift, or loo in the helpful advice.

There was someone else in one of the stalls, and Taz turned to leave.

“Wait, Taz.”

She waited. An older woman emerged and smiled at her.

“Ms. Proctor, I assume?” She washed her hands at the sink.

Anastazia nodded, not sure if she was friend or foe.

“Tell her what happened. She’s okay,”
the voice encouraged.

Taking a deep breath, Taz told the story, still not even sure who she was talking to. By the time she got to the doped tea, the woman held up a hand and stopped her. “We don’t have time for more, dear. Follow me,” and led her to a private office.

Taz felt a test bump from the woman. She was hellishly strong, whoever she was.

The woman nodded. “When you feel that, come in. I’ll make sure Matthias is kept safe. We must time this right or Torvald will sense something is amiss. I can protect my thoughts from him, he’s not stronger than me. You keep your barrier in place. Wait here until I call for you.”

Taz nodded, and the woman patted her arm and left.

“Who the hell is she, anyway?”

The voice told her.

Chapter Nineteen

“Matthias, you must look at this from the Tribunal’s point of view,” Bartholomew said.

Matthias gritted his teeth. “I take personal responsibility for her.” Taz was nearly two hours overdue. The last place he wanted to be was in the Tribunal chambers, verbally sparring with Bartholomew.

“But can we risk her losing control?”

“She was overcome by grief. She had only found out about her special nature a few days earlier, and was still not sure how to control her powers. When she fed me to save my life, it triggered an explosive chain reaction. Believe me, this is not something that will happen again.”

Bartholomew sighed. “We cannot be sure of that. I understand you are very fond of her.”

Matthias leaned across the table. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.” He stood and looked at them. “I will, as I said, take responsibility for her. If there is ever another issue, I will take care of it. Personally.”

“You apparently don’t even know where she is right now. How can you take responsibility for a woman you cannot keep under your control?” Bartholomew’s confident smirk chilled Matthias to his core.

Matthias fought the urge to rip the man’s head off.

Dame Agnew spoke up. “I don’t see why we can’t trust Matthias to oversee her. Out of respect for Rafael, and Tobias, I think we should allow this.” She turned to Bartholomew. “Why are you so anxious to incarcerate her, Torvald?”

Bartholomew’s face flushed. Matthias suddenly had a horrible feeling, a worry that there was more to Bartholomew’s protests than the common good, that maybe he had something to do with Taz’s sudden disappearance.

Dame Agnew’s eyes flicked to his, and Matthias caught just the breath of a thought before she looked away again.

“She’s safe, Matthias.”

Matthias strengthened his barrier. Something was going on, and Dame Agnew knew what that something was. He knew he could trust her.