“You are recently changed.”
“Less than a year.” Something in Nathan’s voice dropped, drew Titania further beyond Diego’s protective arm to look. “I haven’t been home, I lost my fiancé, and every one of the Brethren I have met…well, let’s just say they haven’t made a good argument for staying alive.”
“Who created you?”
“Damned if I know.” Nathan snorted. “All I know is one minute I was hanging out with my girl, the next I think I’m getting mugged.” Nathan’s gaze turned bleak. “Except he didn’t steal my wallet. At least Denise didn’t get caught,” he said more to himself. Titania could feel the loss, anger and depression that he battled against, large waves of his turmoil pulsing in the air.
Diego raked a hand through his hair. “Why did you follow us, then?”
Nathan lifted a shoulder. “Two reasons. First, you didn’t try to rub me into the ground the minute you heard me. Second, her.”
Diego shoved her back behind him immediately.
Nathan’s hands shot out. “Look, I’m not going to do anything. If I had the balls, I’d ask you to kill me and get this joke over with. But she’s the reason I knew you had to be different. I’ve never met a…” He gave Diego a confused look. “What do you call a woman vampire anyway?”
Diego frowned at him. “She is my mate. My wife.”
Nathan’s brow scrunched up. “Man. I had no idea. They need to rewrite those Dracula movies.” He shook his head in wonder. He looked up again. “She’s not like a slave or something, then? She’s like us?”
“Why do you want to know?”
Nathan kicked at the dirt, his only release of disgusted anger. “Because I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, that’s why. Am I supposed to make more like us? And why the hell would I want to? I’ve never killed a person in my life. Hell, I was twenty-three when that bastard did this to me. I sure as hell don’t want to do this to someone.”
He was pacing short, agitated, angry steps when Titania spoke quietly from behind Diego. “I am only twenty-three.”
“Cara,”
came the private warning.
She ignored him. “And I’ve only been like this for three nights.”
Nathan stopped short. “Three nights? Are you serious?” She gave him a smile and a nod from behind Diego’s crooked elbow. He pushed her behind him again with a firm hand.
“Have you been feeding?”
Nathan made a sick sound. “Of course. I almost pruned up before I figured out how to deal with it. I thought I was going to die the first time. But for some reason, the whole concept worked.”
“Have you killed to live?” Diego’s voice was low, demanding compliance.
Nathan paced again, too absorbed in his misery to notice the compulsion. He shuddered at the question. “No. I’ve been too terrified to do much of anything except stay quiet and alive.” He shot Diego a stricken look. “Am I supposed to kill? Oh, God. Please don’t tell me those stupid movies have that part right.”
Titania curled into Diego’s side, refusing to hide any longer. Nathan was not a threat. Just very confused and alone. “No, Nathan. They are wrong. Very, very wrong.” Nathan collapsed in front of the tree he had been pacing near. He dropped his head to his bent knees.
“He means it, Diego. He’s lost.”
“I know,
cara
.
But what am I supposed to do with him?”
She scowled up at him.
“
Help him.”
Diego rolled his eyes and sighed. “There goes my peace of mind. Did you see it? It just ran away out of fear.”
She thumped him on the chest with a curled fist, laughing. “Stop it! Nathan, we can help you.”
His head popped up. “You can? Is there a way to reverse this crap?”
“No.” It was a dually spoken answer.
“Oh.” Nathan’s blue eyes darkened with his heartbreak. “So I’ve really lost Denise? I can’t see my parents? All of it?”
“Have you spoken with your parents since this happened?” Titania asked quietly.
Nathan stood again, brushing his hands over his jeans in agitated swipes. “No. Denise was freaked out. They all think I died when no one ever found a body.”
“Oh, Nathan,” she said, her heart in her throat.
“Cara,
concentrate. I can feel you trembling.”
She smiled up at Diego, a weak attempt at best. She cleared her throat. “Nathan. It might not all be lost. But I know this much. You cannot go back to what was.”
Nathan stuffed his hands into his pockets. “So what’s the point? Why not just wait for the sunrise or whatever it is that we do when we die?”
“I cannot answer that. You are the only other I have met aside from myself who holds a certain level of respect for the life that sustains us. And I have been looking for answers for far, far longer.” He looked down at Titania.
“
You are pale, cara.”
“And we have company. I’ll live.”
She didn’t even stumble at the choice of words.
“I never thought I’d say this,” Nathan said, looking at them. “But would it be too much just to call you friend?”
“No,” Titania spoke up before Diego could fill the quiet. “We would like that.”
Diego clamped his hand on her hip, silencing her from saying more. “Forgive us, though. This evening we have something that needs to be attended to.”
“Sure, sure.” Nathan stepped away to leave, almost a hop. “I’m sorry.”
“Diego!”
She felt as much as heard his sigh this time. “Nathan? I am Diego, and this is Titania. You may be counted among our friends.”
Nathan’s gaze warmed. “Thank you. I mean it. I was scared I was the only one, too. The last three I met were so gruesome. I couldn’t even talk to one of them, he was so intent on…” Nathan’s gaze dropped like a stone, unable to put it into words. Titania’s heart clenched a little harder for him, feeling his turmoil, his sense of loss, a finality.
“Hunting?” Diego offered.
“Sure. That works. He wanted to slice me to bits, so I got out of there.”
“Do you have a safe lair?”
Nathan shrugged. “I guess so. I rarely stay at the same inn twice.”
Diego cracked a smile. “Smart. Go into the ravine from here. About three miles north of the ravine head is a safe place.” He held up his hand when Nathan’s mouth popped open. “No, do not tell me where. Never, ever give away your sleeping place. Vampires and humans both can kill you. Never forget that.”
Nathan nodded. “I think I can remember that rule very easily. Thank you.” And like he had never been there, he was gone.
Titania’s hope dropped like a stone taking in the compound from her perch. There was a large house with two separate, unconnected buildings. Tight security along with the ten-foot brick wall, cameras and roaming canine patrols, destroyed the peaceful picture of the Grecian architecture to the three-story home.
“I guess he’s not going to let it happen twice,” she said. “Is David in there?”
“I believe so. There is something about that building.” He pointed to the one on the rear right. “It feels larger than it looks.”
“Maybe something underground like the other one?”
He nodded. “I can find several people inside.”
She closed her eyes and tried to search. There were echoes of feelings emanating from all around them. Titania tuned her focus toward the building, tunneling the emotions into a trail to follow.
She teetered in place when she found the first wave of pain. She felt Diego’s hand, but gritted her teeth and pushed harder. She lost her balance in the tree limbs when the cry for help reached her. Someone inside was reaching out for her. Thankfully, Diego’s hand remained.
“Who are you?”
She concentrated, grasping for the single voice.
“Lily. God, please help us.”
The voice was scared, thin, exhausted, and in so much pain, blood-tinged sweat was forming on Titania’s brow. Her pain roared at Titania, pounding at her directly through the mental path.
Lily’s profile folder had been in the stack they had removed from the lab. She pictured the redhead immediately, keeping the tenuous pathway open.
“We are. We are here to help. Can you tell me where you are?”
The feeling of relief was wrenching. Tani waited while she gathered control to continue to communicate.
“
I’m in a cell. I can’t see very much. They don’t let us out.”
Titania shuddered, then felt Diego, the hand still holding her, comforting, and knew he could hear Lily.
“How many of you are there?”
Lily’s voice reached out to her from the depths of her despair.
“
There are at least three of us. I don’t know. They brought a guy in last night. I don’t know if he’s still here.”
Titania’s heart slammed hard. She took a deep breath. She had to believe David was still alive.
“Are you guarded?”
“Yes. There’s always at least one.”
Titania frowned. How were they going to get them out? Four was more difficult than one.
“Do not worry,
cara
. We will get them all.” She nodded, believing in the conviction in his voice.
“Lily. We need a diversion, and we have help coming. Can you and the others hold out one more day?”
There was a long silence. The stretching length of silence worried her until Lily reached out for her. Her voice was growing more tired.
“
We will. Please don’t leave us here.”
“We won’t, Lily. I am Titania. Keep my name and your thoughts guarded. Tenorio wants me too.”
“I will.”
Titania wiped a hand across her eyes and found herself trembling fiercely when the pathway disappeared. “She’s a very strong telepath. At least she’s alive.” She clutched at Diego’s arm. “She said there were others. David could still be in there.”
“Stay here,
cara
. I want to get closer. I think I have an idea for that diversion. I will try to see how many there are and if David is there.”
“Be careful.”
He leaned over and brushed a kiss to her lips. His shape changed, and he flew from the branches, gliding effortlessly to the roof of the building. This time she stayed a shadow in his mind, feeling as he slipped inside.
Diego moved like a ghost through the structure. Titania could follow his every step.
“
She is correct. There are two guards upstairs. They are alert.”
She remained quiet, letting him search the home. It looked like it once had been a carriage house that had been converted. It was the conversion and what was done within those walls that sickened her.
“Cara
,
David is alive, but he is hurt, weak.”
She refrained from making any sounds, stuffing her knuckles into her mouth instead.
“
How many are there?”
“I found four, five total with David. It will be difficult, but not impossible.”
That update in itself gave her hope.
“
They are weak; two have been tortured. One is in bad shape. I do not know if she will live.”
“Look at her.”
She found the blonde in his thoughts and gasped at the scars on her skin.
“
That’s Tabitha. Oh, God.”
She fought the revulsion at her condition. Her hair was matted and dirty, and her face was severely bruised in a myriad of colors. Her arms and legs were covered with thin, slicing scars and cuts that were in various stages of healing. She was chained by the ankle to her bed. Even through Diego’s path, she could sense the young woman’s pain, the deep-seated aches from severe beatings. How could someone do that to another person?
“
Can you do anything for her?”
“I can try. I can only do so much without showing my presence.”
She sent Diego her strength and undying love for helping at all, then felt the shift as he left his shape. When he regained his body, he shimmered into a fine mist to remain undetectable.
“
She will rest better tonight. She needs medical attention.”
“Why would they do that to her?”
“It is in her memories. She has fought back. But her spirit is nearly gone. She will not last much longer in this environment.”
“We have to get them out tomorrow.”
“We will,
cara.
We will.”
* * * *
Diego helped the woman as much as he could, hearing her breathing ease and feeling her muscle spasms lessen. She was incredibly gifted, had been pushed beyond her endurance. Yet even though the young woman had stayed strong, she was losing the battle. Diego knew from her memories and those of the men in the first fire that she had been abused in more than one way. He could not say if she would ever be healed from her ordeal.
He slid through each cell, checking on each inhabitant. He found Lily resting more easily with a flare of hope on the horizon. David was chained in the cell farthest from hers. He had not given Titania a visual of him. His condition would have torn her apart.
David hung chained by his wrists to wall brackets, his shirt gone. Welts rose on his chest and back. He was slipping in and out of consciousness. Evidently, his most recent round of torture had ended just a short time ago. Blood still seeped from the welts on his chest.
Diego lifted David’s head and, looking into his eyes, claimed his thoughts, searching his memories to discover what had transpired since his abduction. He was proud of David’s loyalty and learned David had told them nothing to substantiate Tenorio’s study of Titania. There was little Diego could do about the torture. It was too strong with too much pain attached to it. Bruises were growing beneath the welts. When one method had gotten them nowhere, they had increased the level of pain. Diego helped diminish the pain in David’s body even as he pushed away the first signs of overworking his own abilities.
When David’s head sagged once more, he managed a light, resting sleep rather than a pain-wracked semi-consciousness. Diego knew he could not be comfortable, but he dared not release him. “Stay with us, David. Just stay strong one more day.”
The last two cells held women also. Both were asleep. For that he was thankful. Their pain was not so deep that Titania would be registering it through him. He had tried to block some of it from her, but it was her natural talent. Pain was a very strong sensation and created all levels of emotions. It was no wonder she tapped into Lily so easily. Lily had been mistreated almost as badly as Tabitha had been.
His lips lifted in a surge of retribution. He would enjoy taking his anger out on Tenorio. He had planned this for Titania. He had planned her abuses, her tortures, to crush her spirit and will, to be able to run tests on her without a fight. Tabitha was nearly at that point. The magnitude curdled Diego’s blood.
With a completed examination of those being held, he studied the walls, the cells themselves, and the doorway out. There were too many to try to rescue tonight, alone, and once the cells were opened, he was positive alarms would be set off.
They needed an escape and a getaway plan. He hated to admit it, but this time, he needed Houston. They needed more hands.
Diego rejoined Titania in the trees, hidden from sight in the shadows of the bowers of greenery. “We will definitely need a diversion. I am not sure all of them can move under their own power.”
Her blue eyes rounded with pain. He cupped her chin, wanting to remove the echoes from her thoughts.
“Do not worry,
cara
. We will get them all. David is strong. I did what I could to help the others.”
“Thank you. For doing anything.”
He swiped his thumb across her bottom lip. Her pain-filled gaze cleared slowly, the depth of their blue becoming sultry as he simply held her with his palm. His own body’s reaction was electric. It did not matter how often he loved this woman, he would always want her. Need her touch, her heated kiss, her passion in his life.
He dipped his head and found the sweet, delicious edge of her mouth. He traced her bottom lip with his tongue, felt the leap of her heart, heard the thunder of it against her ribs. His echoed hers. His blood began to race, to heat with her supple mouth caressing him back. A reaction that still stunned him when before her, very little had ever made his body respond in such a physical way. It was as though they were in tune to each other because her heart beat with an equally rapid tattoo.
“We need to return to the park,
cara
. There is not much time until sunrise. I want to hold you myself and know you are still safe.” After witnessing Tenorio’s evil firsthand, he needed to know she was all right and by his side. Needed to feel her in his arms to know she was safe.
He knew the instant she realized what that statement meant. Could sense the fear in her mind, and feel the torment it caused. That she could still let him down because of her fears. He brushed the back of his hand to her cheek. “
Cara
. I would allow you no harm, ever.”
“But, Diego,” she said, her scared thoughts woven through her voice. “In the ground?”
“It is difficult at first, but not insurmountable.” He would not belittle her fears. He had hated it at first with a deep revulsion of the unknown. It had taken time to learn to embrace the comfort of the cool earth when the sun stole his last breath. “You will be unaware, just as you were at my home.”
“I wasn’t buried alive at your house!” Her hand covered his, her fingers surrounding his in a death grip. “There was a bed. Not dirt. A roof. Not bugs and who knows what.”
“Bugs do not disturb our rest,
cara
. Not because we do not know, but because they do not. I will be with you,
cara
. I would not leave you to face your first night alone.”
She jumped from her perch, landing without making a sound, stalking further into the trees. “I am not going to sleep in the ground, Diego. I can’t. Don’t you understand?” She had stopped a few feet away, her arms crossed over her middle. “I am willing to do a lot of things. But I can’t do that. It would feel like I’m being buried alive.” Her head had fallen forward, the silken sweep of her hair obscuring her features. But he still knew what she was thinking.