then went in. “Drop the phone, asshole!” they heard him roar. “Now get out here! Right fuckin’ now! Where’s the camera feed go? Ah said the camera feed! For the security cameras, ya fuckwit!” “Jesus,” Drew murmured. His eyes were wide. “Yeah, I know,” Jason breathed. “I’m really uncomfortable with this.” They heard the door of Taylor’s car slam shut. She stepped over to join them, saying only, “My vote is we waterboard this motherfucker with a gas pump until he tel s us everything.” * “Has she told you she loves you?” Alex kept his mouth shut. He stared at the ceiling. He only hated himself more for the way his body reacted to the lithe, sensuous woman laying atop him, speaking in such an adoring yet venomous voice. He wanted to look at Lorelei, yet the thought of meeting her gaze while he was so mortifyingly aroused by this woman was unbearable. He was grateful he was still dressed, and terrified at the thought that he probably wouldn’t be so for much longer. Lydia smiled, tracing her hands up and down his chest as she rocked back and forth on her knees, straddling his hips. “I imagine she lets you feel like you’re in charge…lets you feel like a big man. A big, strong, masterful man. Oh, does she cal you master? Does it help you feel like you’re actually in charge? Like you can trust her?” Alex remained silent. Lydia grabbed at his hair, turning him to one side to lick the side of his neck. The paral el between this and the way Rachel had greeted him just hours before was too obvious to ignore.
“Why won’t you talk to me?” she cooed in his ear. “Don’t you have anything to say at al ?” “Nothing you won’t just use against me,” he said firmly. “Oh, sweet Alex,” Lydia cooed, “I thought you’d be used to that already? You love being dominated by a succubus. Lorelei already has you wrapped around her finger. Don’t you know that? Haven’t you already seen? She plays you like an instrument, and you only want her to play more and more.” Her face loomed over his, split by an animalistic grin. “Doesn’t it get you off? Knowing you have nothing to worry about? Knowing that you can just…lay there and let her take care of everything?” Her hands slipped under his shirt. They were soft. Tantalizing. His mind and body fought over whether her touch was exciting or if it made his skin crawl. “You know I’m going to give you more than she has, right?” Lydia asked, still swaying against his body. “Lorelei’s been holding back on you, Alex. I can tel . I won’t hold back at al .” “You mean you’re going to kil me.” “I mean I’m going to give you pleasures any man would die for,” Lydia smiled. “Don’t worry about Lorelei. She’l get to share. Believe me, I want her to feel every moment of you and I together, right to the very last. I’m nothing if not generous.” “You’re a wretch.” Lydia let out a brief squeal of delight. “He fights! Oh, how he fights. So brave. I know you’re afraid,” she said, placing her hand on his chest. “It’s nice to be cal ed something other than a whore for once.” “Why would I insult whores like that?” The succubus laughed. She pushed herself up a bit, placing her breasts against Alex’s chin as she shifted. “Lorelei, you’ve taught him well ,” Lydia taunted. Then she looked back down at Alex, who would have bitten her just for the
sake of inflicting some sort of pain if he wasn’t sure it would just be another thing to mock him about. “Don’t try to goad me into ending your life quickly, Alex,” she said. “I won’t have it. I want you to leave this world with my name fall ing gratefully from your lips.” She sounded so sure of it. He was chained here, and so was Lorelei. There was nothing either of them could do. She held al the cards and wouldn’t let anything slip. Alex tried not to despair, but he knew she was right. He probably couldn’t hold out against this. Revolted as he was by Lydia and the situation, chances were that she’d probably just drive him out of his mind before long. Maybe with drugs, maybe with sleep deprivation…As resolved as Alex was that he wouldn’t give in to Lydia, he just couldn’t see a way out, and he had a dismally good idea of how outmatched he truly was. Her tongue curled around his ear. Alex turned his face away, roughly trying to bump her head aside in some small show of contempt and resistance, but Lydia just smiled at that, too. She smiled at everything. “Where’s Rachel?” he finally asked in a hushed voice. Lydia raised her head up again, looking down at him with an arched eyebrow. “Ah yes. Your foul-mouthed angel friend. She gave me quite the talking to,” Lydia chuckled. “Almost had me crying and cowering in a corner.” Lydia looked here and there in the room, making a show of gazing over her shoulder. Then she laid back down against him. “Stefan told Warren that their lost ‘brother’ summoned an angel as well as Lorelei,” she whispered. “He thought I couldn’t hear, and maybe thought I couldn’t understand the language. Turns out I’ve gotten around over the centuries. I think he doesn’t want any of the rest of us to know, because he wants to try al this for himself. Silly mortal. “Anyway, don’t worry about Rachel interrupting us, Alex,” Lydia smiled. “She’s already dead.” *
“Ah ain’t fuckin’ torturin’ nobody,” Wade said firmly. “Then how do we get this guy to talk?” Taylor asked, waving at the vampire still pinned under her car. “You don’t,” Lucien grunted. He tried again to position his legs where they could gain some leverage. Again, Drew kicked the legs out from under him. Lucien growled in pain as the car settled down on his back again. “You just die in agony. Your families die in agony. You al spend your last moments on this Earth begging for death!” “Bitch, you gonna spend your last moments on this Earth with that mouth duct taped shut if you don’t shut the fuck up,” Drew warned him. “Look, torture only works on television an’ in the wet dreams of chairborne rangers,” Wade scowled. “Al you get is whatever sort’a confession’s gonna stop the pain. Maybe y’al get the guy to talk, but that don’t make what he says accurate.” Lucien let out a bitter laugh. His eyes darted between the group. The only one who was not part of the conversation was Jason, who was busily looking through the SUV that Lucien and Natalia had brought to the gas station. Off to the side was the gas station attendant, sitting on the curb in front of the mini-mart bound with duct tape. Drew and Jason had less sympathy for the guy when they found out he hadn’t been calling 911. “I don’t suppose your people in that mansion up the road would be open to a prisoner swap instead?” Taylor asked. “You for Alex and Lorelei?” “They might,” Lucien ventured after a moment. “If you were to move quickly.” “Well , there’s that, at least,” Taylor said, looking back to Wade. “I mean obviously they’d just try to kil al of us rather than doing a prisoner swap, so we’d be stupid to try. But that at least confirms they’ve got Alex and Lorelei.” Lucien growled in frustration. The girl was clever. “The Lady will be good to her word! She is always good to her
word! Approach under a flag of truce and it will be honored. Offer an exchange and she will …make arrangements.” Jason came back holding a large sub-machinegun, pointedly not by its handle. It was the kind with al sorts of accessories, from a flash suppressor to a folding stock. “They’ve got a couple other guns back there, too,” Jason noted as he offered the weapon to Wade, who took it with interest. “Yeah, prisoner swap ain’t happenin’,” Wade decided without much consideration. “Your people ‘r likely to jus’ figure they’re al way too tricksy for us simple mortal folk, so they’l jus’ do somethin’ shady to screw us.” He pul ed the magazine out of the weapon with some familiarity. He wasn’t an expert with this particular piece, but he at least knew what he was handling. The odd red rings around the tips of the bul ets made his eyebrows rise. “What’s up with these bul ets?” Wade asked. Lucien only scowled. “Oh, right, y’al ain’t gonna talk.” Wade reloaded the weapon, slung it over his shoulder and then went to his pick-up truck. He pul ed the spare gas canister out of the back and walked in the direction of the gas pumps. “Do you think this bit of theater frightens me?” Lucien snapped. “I was torturing warriors twice your size when this land bore only savages! I’ve seen al these games before! You don’t have it in you, and neither do your friends!” Without even looking over as he passed by, the young veteran asked, “Yeah? So after al that experience, tel me this: How long y’ reckon it takes f’r a guy to learn that some folks just need kil in’?” Lucien’s aggressive demeanor lessened as Wade kept moving. For the first moment in al of this, the vampire seemed a touch unnerved. “Man, we can’t just light him on fire,” Drew protested. “You better start talking,” Jason told the vampire in what was half a warning and half a plea. Taylor just looked on, crossing her arms uncomfortably across her chest as she saw Wade activate a pump and start
fil ing the container. “Wade,” Drew said, “you serious about this?” “Folks, what we got here’s a guy runnin’ around armed and dangerous, answerin’ to no law or authority we know. Ah bet y’al ain’t even an American citizen, am I right?” Wade asked, looking at Lucien pointedly as he brought the gas canister over. “Yeah, figured as much. So he’s answerin’ to some boss who ain’t no legitimate legal power, runnin’ around in mah country with il egal military weapons, kidnappin’ and assaultin’ mah fell ow citizens…y’al get what ah’m sayin’ here? Ah’m good an’ pissed ‘bout Alex an’ Lorelei, but it ain’t just mah friends involved here.” “You’re saying he’s a terrorist?” Taylor blinked. “Maybe not by definition, but it’s the same sorta problem,” Wade nodded. “We’re lookin’ at a dude who makes war on our country without bein’ part o’ any nation. He ain’t gonna accept nothin’ short o’ total dominance, an’ he’l obviously kil anyone who gets in his way. He ain’t gonna back down. An’ we can’t put him on trial.” Wade put the gas canister down on the ground next to him. He threw the safety on the sub-machinegun. Lucien fumed. “It won’t matter if you kil me. You still won’t be able to get into that mansion and save your friends. No mere mortal can cross that threshold tonight.” Wade cocked his head curiously. “Now, why’s that?” Lucien’s eyes narrowed. “The home is mystically warded. As I say, no mortal can cross the threshold uninvited—or any of its other portals. Unless you’ve some way of walking through wall s, you’d best reconsider a prisoner exchange.” “How do we know that the people we want are still alive?” Taylor asked. “They were both to be kept alive for…for the purposes of other bargains,” Lucien admitted. “Not as party favors for you to munch on?” Drew pressed.
“No. Certainly not the demon. Your friend is being kept away from the festivities in part to prevent just such an occurrence. He is in the basement, safe from accidental harm.” “Good to know,” Wade nodded. He put a three-round burst from the sub-machinegun into Lucien’s head. “What the fuck?!” Drew burst. “Woah!” Jason protested. Taylor looked on in shock. Lucien’s head immediately crumbled to ash, as did the rest of his body. Al that was left under Taylor’s car were clothes and ashes. “Yup. ‘s what ah figured,” Wade said. “Some sorta anti-vampire bul ets.” “We didn’t agree to kil in’ him!” Drew shouted, shoving Wade back. “Ah know,” Wade nodded. He put the gun on the ground and held his arms out wide where his hands could be seen. “Ah know we didn’t wanna just kil ‘im. Ah’m not big on that sorta shit mahself, an’ ah never let it happen like that in th’ Army. But ah ain’t in th’ Army now, Drew. We ain’t got no back-up, an’ we got no place to put a captured vampire who just said two minutes ago he was gonna kil al of us an’ al our families. You think he didn’t mean that?” Taylor just stared at the remains. “I feel like I’m supposed to be sick,” she thought aloud. “You prob’ly would be, if’n y’al were lookin’ at a real dead body. But that ain’t. That’s some monster that should’a been kil ed a long time ago.” “In cold blood?” Jason shot back. “While he’s helpless?” “Ah know,” Wade admitted. “Ah know that. But ah didn’t see no other option. If’n’ y’al never talk to me again, ah’m gonna be sad, but ah un’erstand. But right now we ain’t got no other options. They got our friends an’ they’re gonna come after us unless we do somethin’ about it.” “Well , what the fuck do you suggest?” Drew snapped. “Our only source of information’s dead now! An’ we don’t even
know if what he said is true!” “We don’t, but we gotta go with it,” Wade shrugged. “Ah got an idea. Need y’al to help, though. Ah’m sorry, Drew. Ah’m sorry for al of this. Ah’m prob’ly gonna be sorry for the rest of mah life, an’ if ah saw another option, ah would’a taken it. But our boy’s in trouble an’ we’re his only shot right now. Alright? Y’al wanna whup mah ass, you’re the guy t’ do it, an’ it ain’t like I don’t have it comin’ for this. But let’s go get our friends first, alright?” Drew looked at him for a long, hard moment. “You got a plan?” “Ah got half a plan,” Wade nodded. “Th’ rest we gotta make up as we go. An’ ah gotta say, we’re prob’ly just al gonna get kil ed.” “He already took a bul et for me,” Taylor said. “I’m not going to just let him go.” After a long moment, Jason mumbled, “I was gonna bomb my mid-terms anyway.” * He was maddeningly aroused and hated himself for it. Lorelei shared it al . It was as real to her as if Lydia was teasing Lorelei directly, but in addition to her own feelings of disgust, there were those she felt from Alex. The blonde succubus was manipulating her lover’s body like the expert she was, and they were both still clothed. It would inevitably be worse in time. His heart was heavy with fear and worry. He feared as much for Lorelei as he did for himself. His desire for Rachel
had been replaced with the sort of longing that accompanies mourning. Wherever Rachel was, Lorelei considered, she would have arrived by now if she were able. It wasn’t entirely certain, but it was crushingly likely that she was dead. It was curious, though, that Stefan voiced so much of what was in Alex’s memories, yet left out the angel completely. Perhaps—likely, even—that he didn’t actually know what had happened to her, and he didn’t want to give Alex cause to have hope. It was dangerous to al ow captives to feel hope. There was the sound of keys at the door. The locks were thrown open. Lydia stopped writhing over Alex in her torturous foreplay to look up over her shoulder. Most of the previous group had returned, without Anastacia but having added a couple more of the vampires instead. One was in a pin-striped suit; the other wore a trench coat and a longsword strapped to his back. “…spent this time in a spirit journey to the outskirts of the lands of the dead,” Warren carried on as the group entered. “The River Lethe must be passed by al souls on their way to the afterlife. The Greeks knew it as a place where memories of life would be shed, so that the soul might continue on to the afterlife unencumbered by sorrow, by vengeance, by loss.” “I know the mythology,” Blackthorne scowled. “There is no need to be pedantic. Please get on with the point to this.” Warren bowed apologetical y, but with a stiffness that limited any impression of deference. “Symbolism, Lord Blackthorne. As you no doubt know, magic relies heavily on symbolism. Lethe is symbolic of the forgotten memories of the dead. To the living, however, it may often mean quite the opposite. A small dose of this potion will bring great clarity to Carlisle’s memories. It will take a short while for the effects to settle, though, and there are the festivities upstairs to attend. Are you sure you do not want to wait until there is more to see?” “We are al quite accustomed to waiting out tedium,” Blackthorne said assertively. He turned to Stefan. “This aspect of our collective dealings represents something of a wrinkle in our plans to establish a greater spirit of community between our factions, Lord Stefan. We would hate to have it grow into something worse.”